Umm… it stands for “Nuclear Command Cruiser”. Yeah.
Back when I did a lot of Trek roleplay with the Starfleet crowd, we established space fighter squadrons on our ships, and decided eventually that we needed flight jackets. So we all bought dark-colored jackets in various materials and put Trek emblems on them in configurations that looked more-or-less authentic. Mine’s always been black denim, though it’s gone through different versions as the jackets each wore out. This one has a Next Gen combadge, a USS Yeager patch on one shoulder, a UFP emblem on the other, and a “Team Banzai” graphic on the back. (Why not mix my fictions?)
I’ve worn it a lot, in weather suitable for a light jacket and in practically any social situation that doesn’t require formal wear. I wore it to my Decipher interview, figuring it might help get me a job at a game company that made Star Trek cards. (Seemed to work…) Wearing it always felt like a bit of passive geek defiance: a declaration that yes, I was weird, but not unapproachably so.
Well, I wore it around during the unseasonably warm weekend, and if I needed further evidence that I live in a different world than I did in 1982, I got it. Twice, random strangers highly complimented my ‘flight’ jacket, both times following up with a brief conversation about the latest movie. I’m just not used to this. Eyerolls and smart remarks were once par for the course, but “wasn’t Uhura hot?” is a comment I’m not used to from the gentleman at the auto shop.
Whatever we old-schoolers might have to say about the recent film, it looks like interest in the franchise is back. Combine this with Obama’s public use of the Vulcan hand salute, and I’d say that the 21st century’s brought a different world for Trek geeks. I approve.
Working the technology
I’m really losing patience with Facebook apps that lie to me in order to get themselves installed in my profile. I may never install another unless a user I know messages me directly to tell me how awesome an app is.
I’m refurbishing an iMac 400 DV to give to Jesse Braxton. It’s just gathering dust, and is only worth about $100 now; all she wants is an e-mail, web browsing, and music playing machine, so this ought to fit the bill nicely. The good news is that it will happily run OS X 10.4 Tiger; the bad news is that I cannibalized the memory and HD some time ago for other work, and Best Buy doesn’t seem to sell the necessary bits for nine-year-old Macs. The smallest Ultra ATA drive available at Best Buy is 160 gigabytes, which is large enough to throw the poor iMac disk controller into fits. I’ve secured a gig of memory, but I’ll need to dig a bit for an HD smaller than 128 GB.
Despite my hopes, yesterday was a big chore day, and today is looking similar. I really want to make time to sit down at that sewing machine, though; this is potentially an extremely useful skill that I’ve been putting off for decades. Assuming I have the chops to do it, I wish to wait no longer.
Cleaned out my wallet last night, adding business card contact info to my computer and phone, throwing away receipts, ditching a gas card I’d used up, etc. Somehow, I have four filled-out Hot Topic frequent buyer cards in my wallet. How a 40-year-old guy ended up with those, I don’t know, but it looks like I’ll have to head there sometime in the next weeks and find a t-shirt or something to use them on!
Effort and Reward
First, let us get the day’s whining out of the way. I am in very great pain: as in, I’m hoping to avoid standing up until it is time to leave for the day. My legs and back are screaming at me, wanting to know what kind of idiot I am.
The good news is that almost everything is out of the apartment – one more evening’s work, tonight, should do it. We’ve made a deal with a friend to give the place a professional cleaning tomorrow, and this should leave me clear to turn over the keys on Friday or Saturday. I’ll be relieved!
Last night, my gaming group threw me a late surprise birthday party. Two separate awesome cakes, and some excellent clothes from Jesse. (Starr’s reaction to the clothes: “Squeee!”) Everyone did insist on wearing black to this little event, but heck, that’s hardly unusual for my friends anyway! Thank you very much, guys!
Brief updates
- 17:25 Why is it that in every late-80s picture I have, I look disheveled? #
Sent subspace radio by LoudTwitter
Chilly elbows
Well, fall has arrived in Hampton Roads. We’re getting our usual ration of violent, brief evening thunderstorms; and the leaves are beginning to give up the struggle and drop from the trees. The change I found most notable is the 55-degree morning I walked out into; especially since my White Plectrum jacket has finally given up the ghost, and my Starfleet denim jacket isn’t quite what I want to wear to work. (Oh, and the Starfleet jacket’s falling apart too.) Looks like this weekend will include shopping for something to keep my arms warm.
After reading my tweet about last night’s dreaming, tango suggested a nice white canvas jacket with really long sleeves that buckle in the back. Sounds good for lots of reasons, but it would make the morning commute a bit trying if I had to steer with my teeth.
To Do Checklist
Things to do today, in random order:
1) Have large breakfast so I don’t mope all day.
Completed at 1:00 pm.
2) Call Mom and check up on her. Continue searching for home care.
No answer at Jon Reid’s. Left message on his phone.
3) Clean gerbil cage.
Gerbils looking much happier. Cat still sad this is not a buffet.
4) Get badly needed haircut.
This is being put off for a week-and-a-half due to time and budget issues.
5) Get lamp for spare bedroom.
Lamp secure. Only been meaning to do this for months.
6) Do laundry.
Third load in dryer. That’s all I have energy for tonight.
7) Contact plumber who fixed kitchen sink at Kentland to make payment arrangements.
Number not in phone. Left voicemail with neighbor contact.
8) Try for Azeroth Olympics tabard and pet.
Got tabard. Pet looking unlikely.
9) Clean up living room. Empty dishwasher from last night.
Dishwasher is empty and reloaded. Living room in progress. Vacuum cleaner belt is broken.
10) Make dinner.
Seared then baked chicken randomly seasoned with garlic, lemon, cumin, and cilantro, with couscous on the side. An Iron Chef would be appalled, but it came out yummy.
11) Call local lifestyle group about demo they asked for on Tuesday.
Done. No problem, they just need me to revise the entire presentation, that’s all.
12) Buy new pantz to replace 1 holed pair and 2 pair falling off my hips (good thing, right?)
This is being put off for a week-and-a-half due to time and budget issues.
Back when I apparently didn’t eat
If someone’s Twitter profile page says that they are following 35,000 people, than I somehow doubt that their ‘personalized’ request for me to follow them back means much. It doesn’t help that all their tweets are private. How do I know if you’re interesting if I can’t read your tweets / journal entries / etc.? This is also why I don’t have a MySpace.
Spent all night last night trying to catch up on e-mail correspondence, and in the process, forgot to call my mom and check on her, which I am not especially proud of. I did get the gerbil cage cleaned, though, which I’ve been promising to do for a couple of weeks.
cynical_prophet sent me this picture of myself from 1988. I was kind of down that night, and the pic was a surprise, so I don’t have the best expression. Starr had a fairly amusing reaction: “Is that you!?”
“Yes, it’s me, about 20 years ago.”
“Wait… you still have that shirt!”
“Not that it fits, it’s a size medium or so.”
“More like size Tiny!”
Temperatures are down a little, so I am walking again. Missed yesterday, but I aim for a mile today!
EDIT: Hokey smokes, they are sending my mom home from the hospital on Friday. Now that, boys and girls, is a solid recovery. I know she’s going to love getting to see her kitty again!
