Nerd things...

So....Avengers.....

OH MAH GAHD!!!!!

Went and did the Avengers Movie Marathon (Iron Man 1&2, Incredible Hulk, Thor, and Captain America) before the midnight release. Totally worth the 15 hours I spent in the theater. Never again, though. Can't imagine any film coming out that I'd need to sit through that much time for.......maybe Justice League....Joss Whedon's Justice League.

I've been catching up on some shows on Netflix, and I've tried re-watching X-Men: The Animated Series, Spiderman: The Animated Series, and a bunch of other shows that I loved when I was younger. Unfortunately, it's just not the same. Don't get me wrong. I still love the shows, and have magical, sparkly, youth tinted memories from the shows, but it's just not the same...

I finally finished Dollhouse, and it was everything it should've been. Except, as usual, it was cancelled. DANG IT!!! I tried watching it back when it was airing, but I only caught the first half of the first episode, and being the Whedonite that I am, I couldn't jump in without knowing everything (which is why I never watched Buffy). Joss Whedon and Amy Acker always make me cry....

I did, however, just find Star Trek: The Next Generation on Netflix. I started watching "Encounter at Farpoint", and other than chuckling at beardless Jonathan Frakes (Commander William T. Riker, for those who don't know) and the awfully young Wil Wheaton (Shut up, Wesley!), it was just as good as I remember. I'm about halfway through the episode, and I've pretty much decided that it shall become my life until I'm done with it. No TV, very little gaming, and only what errands I HAVE to do.

I watched some of Star Trek (TOS) when I was a kid, as re-runs, but I was young enough that Picard will always be my Captain. Kirk was great, but I grew up with the Enterprise D. It will always be home, in my little nerd heart.

I'm a Trekker, or Trekkie, or Star Trek Fan. I don't care what you want to label me as. It applies. I'm the hardcore "Um, actually, let me correct your facts." Trekkie, that folks hate, and I'm also the "Oh, you silly silly tar monster. Leave Tasha alone." fan who can poke fun at what was and still is, in all honesty, ridiculous fun.

Movies and Jobs and Junk...

Originally written a week ago:

So I saw "Cabin In The Woods" last night. It was quite fantastic. Witty, suspenseful, and overall awesome. The monster design was absolutely superb, and once again, I'm proven right in the "I'll see anything with Joss Whedon involvement". The ending completely blew my mind, and even now, I've got that vague "WTF did I just watch?" feeling mixed in with the "Holy crap! that was awesome!".

My Sweetheart is about to start her new job. I'm nervous, but excited. (She started last Monday, and it is awesome.)

Embarking on a journey...

Well, kinda. I'm learning Russian. Or trying to, anyway. It's so much fun it's ridiculous, and it's getting much easier to read the Cyrillic alphabet. I still can't type in Russian, of course, because my keyboard is in English, and it'd be entirely too complicated to learn the alternate keys on my current keyboard. Maybe I'll just go with an online Cyrillic keyboard.

Also, my work computer has gone COMPLETELY RETARDED! I'm hoping IT&S gets back with me so we can make this thing work like it's supposed to.

I'm working now, but have a date with my dad, little bro, and best friend for some gunpowder therapy (time at the gun range), and I can't wait.

Hey, look! A blog post!

When I spend time with my wife’s family, I feel at home. Her mom’s family, her dad’s family, it doesn’t matter. They’re all super welcoming and laid back (even the uptight ones), and I feel at ease.

Mostly.

At holidays where everybody gets together and I am put in a group of people whom I may have met once or twice, I feel super awkward. Especially when the relationship to the family is just barely there. With my family, it’s Parents, Siblings, Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents, and Cousins. That’s what qualifies as family.

With her it’s....everybody. Grandpa’s brother, her aunt’s aunt by marriage, brother’s uncle’s nephew’s cousin. Anybody and everybody can be counted as family, and to their face, they have to be treated like family. Even when everybody hates them. It’s all “shake hands and make nice”.

Add in the alcohol content and the fact that I only have one drink, maybe once or twice a year, and things get really weird.

Not that I’m complaining. I have no cause for complaints. I just don’t get it sometimes. Maybe the “family” portion of my brain is wired wrong. Lord knows I’ve got enough dysfunction in my family to share....

Ugh...

Well, my ER flooded today. I'm so soggy it hurts. During the flood, we had some jackass upstairs having friends bring alcohol into the hospital "to party". When we tried to disallow such practices (Because you're in a freakin' hospital, stupid!), was the response a calm, collected "I'm sorry."?

No.

"Show me the policy that says I can't drink in the hospital."

Are you fucking serious?

Okay. I can think of two, right off the top of my head.

1. Your doctor didn't put that on the strictly controlled diet that you're on while a patient in the hospital, therefore, no alcohol.

2. Alcohol (for all intents and purposes) is considered a chemical in the hospital setting. All chemicals must be approved by our Engineering department, and a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) must be created for said chemical. As our Engineering department did not buy the alcohol that your friends brought in from a licensed vendor, they're not going to do the work required to make your outside adult beverages legal in the hospital. You're welcome to try and get it approved on Monday, though.

Some people.........

Well...crap...

Well, it's going to be about $800 to fix my car. Soon as we get it back we're going to try and sell it, and then try to buy a brand new car for my Sweetheart. I'll get her car and she'll get the new one. I'll be regressing by 4 years, but she'll be leaping ahead by ten, so it works out.

Not much else going. Did laundry last night and played some X-Box with my best friend (which sounds much more girlie than it should). Working today, tomorrow, and Monday, as always. Should be going to pick up my car Monday afternoon. That's pretty much it.

Oh, and we've changed our plans for the honeymoon. Instead of the Lake Tahoe, Seattle, San Louis Abispo route, we're going to go to Florida and do Disney/Universal. I'm so excited.

Fuckity Fuck Fuckballs...

So, the flooded car from yesterday? Yeah. It wasn't there when I went back for it. I called Houston PD, who said that they didn't tow it. I called the Clear Lake (my area) office of HPD, and they said they didn't tow it. I called the Precinct 8 Constable's office (which was right across the street from where I was parked), and they said that they didn't tow it. I called wrecker services, impound lots, and everybody else I could think of to make sure that I didn't file a false police report and waste the valuable time of HPD's officers.

A really nice HPD officer came out and made the report, gave us a case number, and we were on our way home. Got home, started cooking dinner. Was in the middle of cooking up some bacon for "Breakfast for dinner" when a knock came at my door. I answered, and there stood a (super nice, very helpful) Precinct 8 Constable.

Constable: "Good evening, sir. Did you by chance file a police report on a stolen vehicle earlier tonight?"

Me: "Yes, sir, I did."

C: "Okay. Good. Let me be the first to apologize. We did tow your vehicle, because it was parked in a "moving lane", but someone on the day shift dropped the ball and didn't get the report entered in a timely manner, which is why HPD now has a stolen vehicle report on file for you. I'm very sorry."

He then gave me all the info I'd need to retrieve my car, it's location, and the number of the place where it was stored. He was super helpful and apologetic about stupid day shift taking 10 fucking hours to get a report entered.

So we went to the storage lot, called the guy, and waited with another HPD officer (who was also super helpful) who cleared the report out of the system and made sure we were going to get home okay. The wrecker driver let us use his jump box (self contained jumpstart) to try and get my car started, but she wouldn't. Dang. He went ahead and towed us back to the apartment, and so now I've got my car back, $300 later.

So, yeah. For getting my car stolen-but-not-really-stolen-for-a-questionable-tow, I'm actually feeling okay with how things worked out. Now I just have to worry about getting my car fixed.

Stuff and Junk (have I used this title before? Probably)

Well, I'm still married. We had our first married fight last night. It sucked, but no more than any of our other fights in the past. We smooched and made up, and then caught a few hours of sleep before I had to get up for work.

Oh, and apparently when it rains solid all night long, my car gets flooded on a street that hasn't flooded since we moved in. So that's fun. I'm going later today to try and start it. Moved it off to the side, and parked. Hopefully I won't get towed. Last time we had a car flood, we let it sit and dry for a couple of hours, and then were able to jump start it. Fingers crossed that the same happens tonight.

*sigh* Other than that, not a whole lot going on. It's been crazy busy at work the last two weeks. Not always crazy calls, but seriously high call volume. Spent most of the day yesterday running lost and found back and forth for people, and last weekend was a nightmare.

Here's hoping that things aren't entirely insane today. I'm not going to say the "Q Word" or the "S Word" in reference to work. If I do, I'm guaranteed to get slammed with calls. I don't know why that's a rule, but it is. From the time I started working, if someone said "It's really Q Word.", we'd invariably have a rush. Doesn't matter the job.

Well, I suppose that's it for now, so I'll just sit here and try to let my shoes/socks/pants dry a little bit more.

Well, I'm married. I gotta say, it's a lot like being engaged, except that whenever my wife (giggles) says the word "husband" (giggles) I tend to giggle (giggles). The wedding went off without a hitch. Except for getting hitched. And life is awesome.

Blargh!

Gah! I'm getting married in six days!

So yeah. I've been away, stressing and doing stuff to get prepped for the big day. Sorry for not posting more regularly. I'm here, I promise.

Ghost stories....

So, let's talk about ghosts. And before you say it "I a'int afraid of no ghosts!". 

I'm not sure whether ghosts exist or not, or what (if any) form they take. I am sure that I've seen things I can't explain. Whether or not they were ghosts, I can't tell, and will probably never know. Figured I'd share them with you. 

I used to do Security for Marriott. One of their properties here in Houston is actually two separate hotels, housed in a single building. The building (http://www.marriott.com/hotels/hotel-information/travel/houdt-courtyard-houston-downtown-convention-center/) is beautiful, and it dates back to 1921, and was the first office building in Houston to have air conditioning. It amazed me that I could still walk through the internal garage, and see where the old office halls were based on the gorgeous tile work still present, still smooth and shiny (though not perfect) from decades of polishing. If you ever get the chance to stay here, you totally should, if only for the history factor. 

Incident 1:  

Still running through this building, just outside the elevator lobbies, are the old mail slots. Glass fronted tunnels that go from the top floor to the basement, where the old mail room was once housed. These tunnels are probably six inches deep, and maybe ten inches across. They're painted black on the inside, so sometimes they seem much deeper than they actually are. 

I was walking through the halls one night doing one of my nightly patrols, and started at the end of one of the halls on the fourth floor. As I walked, nothing seemed amiss. I checked doors, lights, fire extinguishers...all the normal things to check. As I passed the mail slot, I glanced over, and I saw a gaunt, gray skinned man in a suit swing forward and hit the glass. He was hanging by a noose, dressed in a button down shirt and tie. He swung up and hit the glass, and then swung backwards, as if the glass was the apex of his swing. As he began to swing back towards the glass, he looked right at me, grinned, waved, and vanished.

Now, obviously the mail slots aren't that deep. Or wide. Or tall. He seemed to be hanging in an indeterminately large black space. 

Hm....

Incident 2:

A few months after Incident 1, I was again patrolling, late at night, and started down one of the hallways. Now, when I enter this hallway, I have a clear view all the way to the end of the floor. As I opened the door to the floor from the stairwell, down the hall I saw a woman. She was young-ish, probably in her mid twenties, and was very pale. Not like, goth makeup or Casper-see-through pale, but pale. She had strawberry blonde hair that was cut short, and was very curly. She wore a white dress similar to this ( http://ghetto-prom-dresses.biz/images/sundresswhite/white-cotton-sundress4.jpg [also, what's up with that title?]). She looked at me, smiled, and then walked through a solid wall. 

There wasn't a flash of light, or wisps of smoke or anything. She just walked through the wall. I stayed very still, listening for the close of the hollow metal door to her room, that surely I had missed seeing. Nothing. I walked up to where she'd gone through the wall, and it was indeed a solid wall. I touched it, just a wall. No warmth, or eerie cold feeling creeping up my spine.

Just your average girl who walks through walls.....

So yeah. Ghosts? I dunno. Maybe.

Brace yourselves....my wedding is coming....

So, yeah. I'm getting married in twenty days. And I'm FREAKIN' OUT!

Not about being married, so much. I've been with my Sweetheart for four years, and I couldn't love her more if I tried. But this whole getting married thing is killin' me. Gotta get clothes, gotta get this decision made, gotta get that decision made.

I'm being asked so many questions I don't know the answer to it's ridiculous. And these aren't "Which do you prefer?" questions. Oh no. These are "Which way should it be?" and I could pretty much ruin the whole ordeal with the wrong answer. And I certainly don't know the right answer.

Also, because I completely forgot...

In the past few weeks, I've discovered JT Ellison's Taylor Jackson books. It starts with "All the Pretty Girls", and then moves on like an awesome train wrapped in T-Rex bacon and smothered in ass kicking sauce.

In short, YOU NEED TO READ THESE BOOKS!

I'm totally addicted, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to become the guy who finishes the books and then bugs the author once a week through her Twitter (@thrillerchick) with complaints about how it's taking too long for the next book to come out, and asking inane questions that she has no desire to answer.

So, yeah. Look forward to that.....

Back in the saddle....if I had a saddle....

Okay. I know I fell off the radar as far as the comic goes, but I rectified that (a little bit) today, by posting a new strip. I need to build up a real life buffer, and not one that just lets me skate by for a day or two.

It's raining here. It has been since late last night. An absolute downpour. This is the first time it's rained steady for more than about an hour since last April, so I'm ecstatic about it. I love the rain so much. I can't wait to go home (in about two and a half hours) and snuggle in and listen to the rain.

Also, I'm getting married in like 27 days. Fuckin' woah. How the hell did the wedding jump up that fast? I see you, you sneaky life changing event, you.

Work, blah blah blah, work. I've got a new ship to design (I do that from time to time, designing spaceships for the RPG where I play). It's fun. I dig it. Only problem is that my home computer still works off of the new MS Paint. Lame.....

Back at it...kinda...

So, yup. The wedding is just around the corner. Seems like every time I turn around there's something else to be stressed over, and it's creeping up on me faster than I'd like. I'm not afraid of being married. I've been with my Sweetheart for over four years, and I figure if she hasn't kicked me out yet, I'm doing pretty well.

Getting married, though, terrifies me.

Went shooting last night. Me, dad, little bro, best friend, stepmom's dad, and father-in-law's best friend (not sure why we invite Dave places [kidding]). Probably shot 120 rounds through my pistol between us. All in all, it was an AWESOME night. Going to the gun range just makes ya feel all manly and 'Murican. Not "American", mind you, but "'Murican". Fired my Taurus .40, Dave's Sig .40, and my little brother's Taurus 9mm. Put two mags in a six inch grouping, with most of them through the same chopped up hole.

Felt pretty good, man.

Tried to go see "The Devil Inside" last night, but the stupid theater oversold, and there were just a few single seats and a crap ton of "Oh, no, I'm saving this for someone.". When you go to the movies, I'm pretty sure you're allowed to save a seat.

As in, one seat.

As in, "No, you fifteen year old Jersey Shore lookin' shithead. You can't save these five seats. Get your little spray tanned, hair gelled ass up before I break your fucking head open and you have to explain to all your little fake guido (and I only use that word because that's what you identify yourself as) friends how you lost their prime seating to a fat white boy."

So, yeah. I didn't get to see the movie. Maybe tonight....