Dispatches from the Abyss - Friday, Oct. 5th

Today was a pretty crap day overall and the only reason for that is that I was BORED out of my noggin'. I was telecommuting today and did not have that much work I needed to do. I got some reading that I had been meaning to get around to done and went and had lunch with Rob but besides that I really did not do too much today. Read a comic or two, took a nap, dropped off and picked up my dry cleaning so I have something nice to wear to dinner and drinks tomorrow, watched this week's episode of Smallville and then monkeyed around on the computer. I swung by a couple of hardware shops searching in vain for some cup hooks which I need to take the next step in getting my kitchen squared away. I figure since I have been living here for six months I might as well go ahead and finish moving in. To finish up the kitchen I need about 20 cup hooks so I can hang all of my mugs and cups with handles above the sink and free up some of my VERY limited cupboard space for bowls. Once I get that done I need to find a longer gas hose for the stove so I can turn the stove 90 degrees and free up a little more walking space in the kitchen. Then I need to find a bar or something to put next to the fridge so I have a little more storage space and work surface. My initial thought is to get some baker's racks and put a cutting board surface on the top. The OMAR from Ikea is just what I am looking for, but with a different top. Maybe on Sunday I will jaunt over to Ikea and check things out because I also need to get a table where I can work while sitting on the couch. Once I have that and my wireless set up telecommuting is going to be, well, I think interesting would be the best way to describe it.

While I was monkeying around on the internet today I started chatting via MySpace mail with Kat. (Yes, that Kat.) In kind of a weird confluence of things we had both been thinking about some of the same stuff lately and I have to say it was really nice to "talk" with her without getting all fucked up in the head about things. $20 says I end up having some fucked up dreams about her in the next week or so, though. My subconscious mind is not a very nice guy. As it turns out her current SO is a pilot and they went to the EAA AirVenture this summer, which is perhaps the largest airshow in the country. As I understand it the warbird community is usually very well-represented there and I believe a few years ago they had all of the flying B-17s in North America there. That would be pretty cool to see. One of these summers I am going to try and do a tour of the airshows in the Great Lakes area and points east. I want to hit the EAA AirVenture, Thunder over Michigan, and the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum's World War II Weekend.

I spent part of this evening cleaning my camera, wiping off my memory cards, and checking my batteries so I am all ready to go at butt-crack dawn tomorrow. I think the gates open at 8 and I want to be down there as soon after that as I can be. I am setting the alarm for 6:45 AM and will try to be out the door as quickly after that as I can be. I made sure to hit the ATM so I have cash but I just realized I forgot to hit the gas station so I am going to have to do that in the morning once I get on the road. Come to think of it I don't even know where there is a gas station in the direction I am going to be headed. Damn. Oh well, there will be a little back-tracking going on. That will give me a chance to get a gas station breakfast in me as well as a couple of bottles of water to take in with me. I am so pumped about going to the airshow again!

While I was cleaning my big lens, a Canon 100-400mm image-stabilized zoom, I realized that the UV filter I have on the lens was screwed on wrong. Now I am going to have to try and remove it once I get done shooting the airshow. Hopefully I can remove it without damaging the lens because that bad boy retails at over $1,500.00 and it is my favorite lens for shooting airshows. I do not want to have to replace it if I can avoid it. (More to the point I can't afford to replace it until I get my annual bonus in April and then I am taking money that should be used elsewhere to pay for the lens.) Maybe I will take it to one of the camera stores in town and see if they can remove the filter for me without damaging the lens.

I tired of Save Ferris. Now I think it is time to check out the Polysics on their MySpace page. Apparently they are releasing their newest album here in the States next week and then are going to be touring to support it. This includes a stop here in H-Town on November 9th. I am going to have to try and remember that. This might be a show worth checking out! I still need to get some of those glasses they all wear then I would be Chick Magnet Prime.

Feh. I am having trouble concentrating right now. There is this pen on my desk that I keep picking up and playing with rather than typing and I still have about 20 minutes of typing ahead of me. Argh!

Yeah, depending on how I am feeling on Sunday I may go hit Ikea and check out a couple of their storage and table solutions and then I need to run by either Bedrock City Comics or Third Planet to see if they have some issues I missed through Nan's over the last couple of weeks. The service over at Nan's has taken a hit recently. Last week they did not pull my comics for me, which is the forth or fifth time this has happened recently and then they did not have the books on the shelves so I could fill my own pull list. :/ Now when I went to pick up my books from this week they had pulled both weeks worth of books but crammed them in the folder so the spines on all of last week's books were bent. I went ahead and pulled what I needed out of the stack and then left the rest sitting near the new comics shelves. Mistakes happen so that is not a big deal but then when I went to pay the guy at the counter, which is one of the younger guys who works there, was barely civil. I had to give him a look before he would apply my 10% subscriber discount to my purchase. All around it was one of those experiences that makes some comic shops shitty comic shops. I have never had any problems with the people at Bedrock City Comics. The only reason I do not have my pull list over there is that it is kind of a pain in the ass to get to from my house and the office. With where they are located it can take an hour or more to get there just because of traffic and they do not stay open past 7pm, so my ability to get there after work is seriously hampered. I may go by and ask about setting things up on Sunday. I have been thinking about leaving Nan's for a while and just have not gotten off my ass and done it yet.

You know what kids? I am going to cut today's writing session short by ten minutes so I can get this loaded to the blog and then get to bed at a reasonable hour. Have fun and I will be back on Sunday. With pictures!

SOUNDTRACK
For right now tonight's soundtrack will be provided by Music Bang on AZN. We'll see how long that lasts because whoever they decided to open up with sucks some serious monkey ass.

Okay, fuck this, now they are running ads. I am turning them off after one song and going to the iPod. Oh snap! I have my Save Ferris CD sitting here. That is what we're listening to now.