Zoinks - what a week or so

Last week ended peacefully - got all set to travel. K came home with us, we had a nice evening. We took Ki out for big beers and sushi for his birftday since I will be off the grid.

Saturday, I was a dervish - up early to coach. We perhaps were TOO cautious about the heat, as the morning was actually lovely. Anyway, it was a good day, despite some folks having problems - they know to ask for help and they have. 

I dropped off some files from my alumni association with the curator (he's keeping them so the infrastructure remains, even though we've all given up that anyone will step up to lead - so much easier to criticise than to actually work...anyway..) Then it was home for Tod appreication day. That was simply lovely. We showered and headed to Rockville for a charming japanese lunch, then down to REI for a big bunch of purchases- i finally have all the gear (except for a pack) for two people to go camping. I also got a roof pack for the Escape, and upgraded some of my gear. 

My fellas gave me a massage, then we grilled chicken, roasted corn and veggies and feasted in the twilight. yum!

Sunday morning i was on my own as the boys did their second run - I organized and stowed all my gear, found some problems and remedied them. I did laundry, and even cleaned the car. ah.

Monday, I was up regular time to pack and futz around the house - did a bunch of work on the computer, then headed out to catch a late morning train to NYC. 

Ah, Acela, I love the soo. So smooth, and the quiet car is a wonderful invention! I had a seat to myself for the entire trip. I read, did work on the computer and looked out the window. The hotel was two quick but stifilingly hot MTA trains away - and the Essex House was GORGEOUS.

Gorgeous, but perhaps trying too hard. The super high tech room? Lovely! THe computerized lighting and windowshade system - excellent in theory - but so SLOW as to make it pointless. The highly configured TV computer interface? Neat! But again. so SLOW - oh and if the remote dies, you Can't use the buttons?!? Oh, and the high tech TV can crash? like BSOD? wtf? i just unplugged it and they replaced it. 

Tuesday class was deadly dull - but tuesday night was festive with eclipse77x and hubby - brazillian meat overload. Yum. 
Wednesday class was better - more exercises to 'splain why we need this stuff. Some minor work drama, but nothing impossible
Wednesday afternoon - shopping at Century 21, which was overun with French people. 
Wednesday evening - dinner at Bistro 8 1/2 - Service, Cocktails, appetizer and wine were perfect, the entree not so much - Don't dress halibut in a crispy coating so strong that the fish ends up tasting bland. 
Wednesday Night - NYC Theater Center to see "Damn Yankees" staring Sean Hayes and Jane Krakowski - what ebullient fun - ballet dancing baseball boys? Yes please!
Wednesday Night - Biblical rain - like comedic singing-in-the-rain rain - 57th street becomes river - I slogged back to my hotel as there were no taxis, it was warm and I enjoy some rain. I slipped and fell in the vast, marble lobby, they were solicitious and offered me towels - then sent a congac to my room. aw.

I stayed up a bit working, then was up early to do some paperwork and pack. 
Ah, Acela. Knowing the system by now, i asked the redcap where the quiet car was, and he suggested track 12 - i got a lovely window seat and was again, alone for the entire trip. I did a bunch of work - then met K at union station for lunch. Yum! Food was good too.

I have taken care of 99% of work stuff, so I packed last night - i'm almost ready - one quick trip to the grocery and CVS, and I'll be ready to hit the road to Canada. My travelmates arrive at noon.

I miss the Bug. I miss K.

See y'all in 10 days.

Since I'm headed out next week for travel/training, then off for vacation - Trainer grrl decided to really push me this week - yesterday I did intervals on the rowing machine, mixed with intervals of handstand pushups. My back feels strong! I think I might have abs down there under the fuzz and slight spare tire.

Today, I deadlifted - first a few sets to warm up and perfect my grip and form - then we did a climbing series of one rep maxes - I maxed out at 305 lbs - I managed to do that weight twice! - but I know I probably have another 20-25 lbs in the tank if I reach for it.
grrrrrrrrrrr!

I've crossed some kind of threshold now at four days a week - there are other regulars who are there at least as often as me - one of them started saying 'hey' to me - big tall really buff guy - with a very boyish face. The 'hey' transitioned into 'dude' after a couple of weeks - then earlier this week, when I was doing olympic clean n' jerks the greeting became 'nice set dude.'

So, thing seem to be going swimmingly - after some dark weeks earlier this summer. The new job stuff is perking along - papers have been signed, forms have been submitted, fingerprints taken - could be a week or a month before I hear back on the final offer.

We've put the budget for FY09 into the system early - which is great. My boss is off for nearly three weeks, his boss is leaving in october and his replacement is yet to be named. Congress heads out for august recess - all the politcos are leaving...it's quiet here!

Enginerd and i have come to a detente. I found an entire section of the FAR (federal aquisition regs) that outlines support contractors, and the different kinds of contracts - turns out the kind of contract we're under (non-personal services) specifically forbids prime contractors acting in a supervisorly role to subs. So it turns out the way he wanted to do things was not only annoying, undesired by the client - but actually illegal. Aw.

So...I'm taking some time off.

First I go to NYC Monday Morning for two days of training; I arrive monday afternoon, and depart thursday morning.

Friday, I'm going to meet up with some friends and drive 700 miles to Canada and go Canoeing and hiking and camping for 8 days. Squeeeeeeeee... There's a virtual guide to almost the exact trip planned here.


I'm more than a little excited about this trip. Over the last few months, I've been thinking about stuff - stuff that has come and gone in my life and what is important to me. Losing AIDSmarathon was huge in mnay ways for me - i lost my adored coaching job, I lost the regular circle of friends i'd built there, I lost my regular weekend gig around which i organized things. I also lost being outside for hours every weekend. I also lost regular group interactions - a place where i draw energy and motivation.

Training alone for running, working in my office with the door shut, spending an inordinate amount of time alone - these things kind of sap my energy. I value a certain amount of time by myself - but not TOO much. Clearly I went too far in one direction.

A few weeks ago, Doug ran into an old friend of his - a camping/hiking guy - and he invited doug to go camping - doug demurred, but put me in touch with them. We chatted over the phone a few times, exchanged emails - then went canoeing - two weeks ago, and again last night. John and Ward and their friends are just terrific guys - ages from 60s to 30s, committed outdoorsmen, without manic intensity or crazy competition. We've paddled on the potomac, swum and acted silly, then gone back to John's house for food and wine and hot tubbing with hours of wonderful conversation. just being part of this small group has already reenergized me in ways remarkable and subtle. So, I'm sure it won't be perfect, but it will be an exciting new adventure for me.

The handsome, redoubtable, and funny 

philhasablog

as the DCist notes, this is a crazy idea, badly priced and questionably named.

itrans? change trains! change gender! Can I do that with smartrip?

The best and second best pieces of science fiction i've enjoyed this year were not movies, television or books - they were video games.

Some weeks ago, I finished Mass Effect. It is remarkable on several levels. While I kvetched about long elevator rides, strange vulnerabilities and picked other nits - it is perhaps the finest game i've ever played. j'adore HALO and its children. Sandboxes like Just Cause and Assasin's Creed and GTA IV are wonderful - but only Mass Effect comes close to what I might call interactive fiction. 

Now, clearly, it remains very linear - VERY - but i chose which planet to visit and when - which way conversations went - which direction my characters actions led him. Along the way, small decisions - to speak nicely or harshly, and big decisions - to pursue romance, discuss or fight - and in one case to clearly send an NPC teammate to death - all had repercussions. I even decided whether or not to save the government. It was so interesting! 

There is a moment - the beach scene - where I found myself totally vested in the game - weighing alternatives, measuring the relative value of various NPCs - contemplating the effect on my paragon/renegade meters. In the end, i talked my crazy crewman down and didn't shoot him in the head - but I thought about it.

And, fun - it was difficult, but not absurdly so - especially once you figured out the combat (oh, and the uber powerful weapons at the end helped too). I simply cannot describe my childlike glee during the approach to the final boss battle - when battling on the exterior of a space station - blasts would knock enemies into space, where they floated away, flailing about...pure scifi geek pleasure.

Was Mass Effect particularly new? Not really - most of its elements are recycled - from star trek and Heinlein and Benford, or a dozen others - there were even shout outs to other games like Marathon. What Mass Effect did was take the best of RPGs - like Knights of the Old Republic (by the same company) - and lighten the burden a bit - throwing in better combat (albiet third person shooter style) - somehow this stew of conventions and game elements turnout out not to be a gmish of ick like 'the darkness.' or 'breakdown' - instead it was something terrific.





In the same kind of genre, though much older and much cruder, I just finished the 'adventure' game Dreamfall: The Longest Journey. This clever bit of Sci Fi was great fun, though it ranged in tone from deadly serious to almost farcical - which was a bit jarring. This was really more like a movie or book done in game form - there were a few combat elements, a handful of puzzles - and a good deal of 'what do I do now?' - all which advanced a reasonably  linear plot. While now and then there were choices about conversations - including 'tone' based questions like Mass Effect - this was less interactive on the whole from Mass Effect. It was, however, greatly enjoyable.

The plot borrows liberally from Piers Anthony, Philip K Dick and others - building a mix of sci fi and fantasy with dual worlds (Ideas as old as aboriginal cultures) and dreams. I thoroughly enjoyed it despite its clunky feel and crude animations. What sold me on this game was the quality of the music, the remarkably well acted voices and the environmental sounds - surely a next-gen graphics approach might improve things - but it says something that I can still hear Zoe's accent in my mind - her assistant robot's voice creeps me out - and the music lingers.  I would eagerly devour a sequel, but the creator Ragnar Torqvist is deeply involved in The Secret World - a fantasty/SciFi MMO based on...wait for it...HP Lovecraft.



Looking for new stimulation - I gave up on my third attempt to start Gears Of War - its really really difficult and kidna wears me out. I also punted on BioShock mostly 'cause I wanna invest a weekend in and finish it in one swell foop. I had spent the last of my credits and apology gift cards from Circuit City on Assasin's Creed and GTA IV - so I decided to start Assassin's Creed.

What a world of wonder - while it feels like a sandbox game- it is astonishingly detailed -from the movement of fabric to dust and smoke - I've never seen such detail in a game. The gameplay feels a bit GTA IV ish - sandboxy and mission based - go to x, start y, kill z...

But the fun part of it is that it has the fluid, exhilarating rush through space that made Prince Of Persia: The Sands of Time such a joy - leaping, climbing, jumping, ignoring laws of physics to run up walls....again, geekly joy.

SO, it's the third of july, there is very little happening here.

I've called a staff meeting for my team. Two hours.

They are NOT HAPPY

until, of course, they see that it's downstairs in our corporate conference room...which has a wii console...and I've brought in MarioKart and two wii wheels.

best boss evah - that's me!

When i was a child, i would often go to the big (or so it seemed) old art deco theatre in downtown Renton and watch movies - my mom would drop me and my brother off for the occasional flick - usually something old.

One weekend they had a sci-fi marathon - The day the earth stood still, War of the Worlds - and Metropolis. At the time, I had trouble sitting through the long, quiet film - even with the minimal orchestration of this particular print. But something of the magic seeped out of the screen and pulled me in. In the 80s, when georgio moroder did a version, i dragged a bunch of my goth friends to see it. They were totally high and it freaked the heck out of them.



Metropolis was, until yesterday I suppose, a 'lost' masterpiece - nearly 25 minutes of the original cut was removed to make it more 'accessible' - and then over the years more and more was cut out. Well, the owners have had all but those lost minutes - and now, it appears the nearly complete, original vision of Metropolis may be seen again soon.

To put this in perspective for those not into old old old sci fi - this film cost nearly $7 million dollars in 1927 - adjusted for inflation, that means it cost nearly $200M to make. Those extrasuperperhapstoolong versions of The Lord of the Rings films - this is one of those - from 80 years ago.

squee