Quick update:
House purchase pending...waiting on bank final approval so can begin scheduling everything.

Working way too friggin' much. Mandatory OT at work, but I need the money anyway...see item #1.

My grandma just died.  Gotta deal w/ that for the next few days until all the resultant activities are done.


Other things:
I've been missing my Saturday afternoon D&D game due to work. 
I've been missing doing any gaming for the past couple months since the other game is on hiatus during Ren Fest.
The city is demanding a few things be done to the house before I move in and they may be more daunting than originally thought.
No end in sight yet for no more mandatory OT at work.

I know it's been a while since I posted.  I feel like my life is a lot of SSDD most of the time.

This week, however, I took a big step to an even larger change...I submitted my first ever offer on a house to call my own.  Of course, like many things, it wasn't as nerve-wracking as I had dreaded.  Had some good and possibly not as good outcomes.
--Good:  I heard back within 36 hrs that someone else had bid higher than me
--Good:  I might have been getting myself in too far over my head with this particular As-Is property.
--Possibly Not-so-Good:  I'm getting discouraged at what's in my price range in the areas I'm interested in and am beginning to wonder if I will have to wind up with a longer-term money sinkhole instead of merely a fixer-upper.
--Possibly Not-so-good:  I had to sign the exclusive representation agreement with the RE Agents I had been using so far, and just at a time when I was considering looking for someone else because I felt they weren't being attentive enough to my situation (two properties that I was interested in and really wanted to see had been on and off the market, each in a week, before they even returned one of my emails).  Now I'm stuck with them until October 1st.  But I've learned they are more attentive to voicemails than emails, so I guess I will have to communicate with them more that way.  I also have the feeling that now that they have my dad's house listed on the market again they may be more attentive to me so he won't get unhappy with them.

As with most things, only time will tell.

Obama halts all regulations pending review

5 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — One of President Barack Obama's first acts is to order federal agencies to halt all pending regulations until his administration can review them.

The order went out Tuesday afternoon, shortly after Obama was inaugurated president, in a memorandum signed by new White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel. The notice of the action was contained in the first press release sent out by Obama's White House, and it came from deputy press secretary Bill Burton.

The waning days of former President Bush's administration featured much debate over what rules and regulations he would seek to enact before he left office.

Interesting a capella version of the 12 Days...

Happy Holidays
To everyone on my Flist!

May all your travels be safe.

I'm not huge into impressing my ideas onto others without invitation, so I won't be considering buying one of these, but I would love to find out how many of these sell in the next few months...

http://skreened.com/someofnothing/barack-obama-meets-buffy-the-vampire-slayer

Others have this, too, but I took it from rosencrantz319

Your results:
You are Jean-Luc Picard

Jean-Luc Picard 70% Deanna Troi 70% Data 66% An Expendable Character (Redshirt) 65% Spock 64% Geordi LaForge 60% James T. Kirk (Captain) 50% Leonard McCoy (Bones) 45% Beverly Crusher 45% Chekov 40% Mr. Scott 35% Uhura 35% Will Riker 35% Worf 35% Mr. Sulu 10%

A lover of Shakespeare and other fine literature. You have a decisive mind and a firm hand in dealing with others.

Click here to take the "Which Star Trek character are you?" quiz...

Note to self:  Don't ever drink a flaming shot again until AFTER the food has arrived!  Definitely, never take two before food ever again. My friend told me that the bouncer complimented me on being a well-behaved drunk.  Is that good?
rosencrantz319 was supposed to remain more sober than me to help wrangle me home and into bed, but he wound up almost as drunk as I was. Friends R&T were there, and  maatnofretstopped by, but I was already too far gone to spend any time chatting with her.  At least the pizza is good leftover, too, so I get to enjoy it anyway.  Saturday was a lost cause as I found it difficult to eat anything or stay awake longer than 3 hrs at a stretch.  Remind me again why people do this to themselves?

For the time being, Doctor Horrible is back on the web for free viewing. It's all one piece, but it has commercials. Enjoy!

 

Wow, I realize CONvergence went by this year with nary a post from me. Not even a hint. I realize I don't post here much, but geez, is that a gaff on my part!

From the OTOH dept: While it was quite nice to see the 4 eps of Doctor Who early, now I haven't had the weekly anticipation of seeing them when my dvr magically makes them appear. LOL (By way of explanation: My current computer has issues, mostly due to being aged in computer years, so I am currently unable to download much of any video content from the web, except for the occasional YouTube short. I'm still quite bummed out about missing Part 3 of Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Sometimes I hate my friends. /jk)

I feel my life is mostly SSDD, but then I chat with my bff who has been tending to others lately and realize we've been on the phone for two hours! So some stuff must have happened that wasn't just SSDD. I haven't been posting on my other blog hardly at all, either. I think it's most likely due to the ennui that has set in related to the stress my current job duties are inflicting on me. I know I'd be happier in another position, doing something else, but there's big competition right now and not many jobs open except for in the area I'm currently drudging through each day. I feel like the educational knowledge completed last year is already leeching out of my brain due to non-use. Put it in the "something's gotta give" column with the other items already listed there.

Fringe Festival coming up soon!

*Now back to your regularly scheduled silence*

"Run Run Reindeer!"

You Are Animal

A complete lunatic, you're operating on 100% animal instincts. You thrive on uncontrolled energy, and you're downright scary. But you sure can beat a good drum. "Kill! Kill!"

Zapt from Sassy_54 & Klicrai ...This is soooo me! tee hee

What Is Your Battle Cry?

Skulking through the freeway, swinging a meaty axe, cometh Cressida42! And she gives a booming roar: "You in some shit now, muhfuh! I shall paint the town a sanguine shade of doom!!!"

Find out! Enter username: Are you a girl, or a guy ?

created by beatings : powered by monkeys

 

Also,

sassy_54is having her birthday celebration!  Yay for birthdays! Even bigger YAYs for IronMan!!!

 

Yanked from fsf_rapier  , who gakked it from pisces3857.
Empire Magazine has revealed its list of the "50 Greatest TV Shows" ever. Below is the list and here be the rules.

1. Bold the shows you've watched every episode of
2. Italic the shows you've seen at least one episode of
3. Post your answers

I like television....

50. Quantum Leap
49. Prison Break
48. Veronica Mars
47. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
46. Sex & The City

45. Farscape
44. Cracker
43. Star Trek
42. Only Fools and Horses
41. Band of Brothers

40. Life on Mars
39. Monty Python's Flying Circus
38. Curb Your Enthusiasm
37. Star Trek: The Next Generation
36. Father Ted

35. Alias
34. Frasier
33. CSI: Las Vegas
32. Babylon 5
31. Deadwood

30. Dexter
29. ER
28. Fawlty Towers
27. Six Feet Under
26. Red Dwarf

25. Futurama
24. Twin Peaks
23. The Office UK
22. The Shield
21. Angel

20. Blackadder
19. Scrubs
18. Arrested Development
17. South Park
16. Doctor Who

15. Heroes
14. Firefly
13. Battlestar Galactica (Both the 70's and current versions)
12. Family Guy
11. Seinfeld

10. Spaced
09. The X-Files
08. The Wire
07. Friends
06. 24

05. Lost
04. The West Wing
03. The Sopranos
02. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
01. The Simpsons

Wow, that's a lot of good tv.  And I've seen so much more than they even have on their list!
But I'm not willing to enter a 12-step program just yet.  I consider myself a functional tv addict LOL.

This past weekend was my (recently) annual pilgrimage to Madison, for OddCon. MOO!  

My friend PJW has been on my case to read George R.R. Martin's WildCards series for roundabout 12 years now, and since Mr. Martin was one of the author GOHs, I got sit in on a few panels to get an idea what they are about, and have decided I will definitely move them towards the top of my To-Read list. 


It was rosencrantz319's first year attending a Madison Con, but said he enjoyed it despite the lack of attendance of many the other Twin Cities regular attendees, since it coincided with Anime Detour at home this year.  It was a quite different experience for him attending a con with 200+ attendees, as compared to the 2000+ he's used to for the Twin Cities' cons.


Rosencrantz actually helped out with the driving on the way back.  Just as well since having to see my mother after an already busy weekend just drains the energy right out of me.  He's kinda trepidatious about driving these days after having had accidents with the past few cars he's had, but he did a good job, especially considering it rained the whole time he was driving. Next year I may just plan on spending Sunday night in Madison, too, and traveling back on Monday instead of Sunday evening/night., as it takes my eyes a few days to recover from being so tired after all that driving in one weekend. (Hence no computer usage on Monday.)  

Happiness is...

Finding pieces of clothing in your freshly-cleaned laundry that aren't yours and realizing it's making you smile.

I even enjoyed rearranging a couple of my drawers to accomodate said other-person's clean clothes.
I feel like the cartoon dog Snuffles after he's been given a treat.  
(Points to those who can name the owner of that somewhat obscure cartoon pooch -- without Googling or Wiki'ing.)

As seen on william_mackean & fsf_rapier 's pages:
The results actually came down to whether my having a furry friend or always questioning the govt was more true.

Which sci-fi crew would you best fit in with? (pics) created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Millennium Falcon (Star Wars) The world around you is at war. Fortunately you know how to handle that with the greatest of ease. You are one of the best at what you do and no one needs to tell you that. Now if only the droids could be quiet for five seconds. Babylon 5 (Babylon 5) 81% Millennium Falcon (Star Wars) 81% Serenity (Firefly) 75% Heart of Gold (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) 75% Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica) 69% Moya (Farscape) 69% Deep Space Nine (Star Trek) 69% FBI's X-Files Division (The X-Files) 50% Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix) 50% SG-1 (Stargate) 50% Enterprise D (Star Trek) 44% Bebop (Cowboy Bebop) 44% Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda) 31%