Stolen surreptitiously from razorbagel...

You know how sometimes people on your friendslist post about stuff going on in their life, and all of a sudden you think "Wait a minute? Since when were they working THERE? Since when were they dating HIM/HER? Since when???" And then you wonder how you could have missed all that seemingly pretty standard information, but somehow you feel too ashamed to ask for clarification because it seems like info you should already know? It happens to all of us sometimes.

Please copy the topics below, erase my answers and put yours in their place, and then post it in your journal! Please elaborate on the questions that would benefit from elaboration. One-Word-Answers seldom help anyone out.

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Few of my thoughts lately have required a full journal entry, and Facebook has been my place of choice for quick status updates for some time now. But I figured it was time for an update of sorts and that requires a few more characters than FB allows.

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http://www.americantolkiensociety.org/hobbit_day_and_tolkien_week.htm

It Comes In Pints!

Everyone's musing about their reaction, two presidential terms later, to the events of that bright September day way back in 2001. But amidst all the "never forget!" and varying degrees of worn-on-your-sleeve sentiment, I worry that we'll forget the lessons we SHOULD have learned...and in many cases have not.

Certainly "forgetting" is unlikely, for anyone who was paying attention, but especially for someone with my particular circumstances. I'd spent the prior eight years considering implications of mass casualty terrorist strikes, training incident commanders and firefighters and hazmat crews and cops and medics what to do if something like this ever happened. My one and only trip to the WTC complex was in the company of the NYC emergency operations team, on a lovely and memorable night, amidst two weeks spent "training the trainers" in locations all around the city. That particular week I'd been doing admin stuff at a desk at the police training center just up the road.

On 9/11/01, I was listening to NPR and just turning onto Norbeck Road in Olney when the news hit. Stunned, after a brief call to Mom, I continued on to work, though of course little got done that day. Once the horror of what had happened sunk in, and reports started coming in, I got in touch via Instant Messenger with a friend who was a student at a college just across from Manhattan, and who had a pretty clear view from his dorm room. I scrambled to reach a contact at my old company to see if any of our friends had been killed....some had, it would turn out, including the very nice fire chief who'd given me a tour of the fire museum on Randall Island. I watched the stuff we'd predicted -- the panic, the realization of our vulnerability,the desperate need for direction -- unfold, and watched as some of the training I'd helped give was applied. Seldom have I felt so proud of work that I'd done, even a tenuous connection. I feared for the many men and women whose training certificates I had printed, and frequently turned my gaze to the various service patches that were gifts of the Police, Fire, EMT, and Hazmat folks in NYC.

We panicked; some led, some followed, some ran around screaming on the sidelines. We rallied and some made noble sacrifices. I am not one of those who believes that all 3000 people killed that day were "heroes" -- but certainly those who chose to fight back on Flight 93 were, and certainly those who lost their lives saving others were. I have seldom been prouder of my country, and of the world community, than I was in the months at the end of 2001.

However, the cynical warmongers and profiteers quickly turned what should have been a national rallying cry and an unparalleled chance to reach across the aisles, to reach across the borders, to *unite*....and instead twisted that energy to their own petty aims. We wasted the moment and let Bin Laden get away; we pissed away resources in Iraq that could have been spent bringing those responsible to justice. Instead of really figuring out why they were so pissed and doing something about it -- not to make Bin Laden's ilk happy, but rather to deny them easy recruitment -- we played right into their hands. Faith in our government dropped to an all-time low while the outward symbols of empty patriotism were celebrated. Talk of "real" Americans persisted through the most recent election.

Mind you, virtually *everyone* thought Saddam had at least *some* WMD and he was a right bastard, but our nearly unilateral action cost us the respect and support of our allies. And really, those stretch beyond the ill-fated invasion of Iraq, and the bungled and wasted moment in Afghanistan. We let fear and greed and uncertainty herd us like sheep into doing things that were shortsighted and stupid. And worse, we let the pettiness and xenophobia have an increasingly prominent and unchallenged place in our national rhetoric. In short, we let ourselves be manipulated (by the decidedly non-liberal and obedient press, the political opportunists, and the corporate interests) into being stupid, angry dogs rather than the sheep we had been.

And now we have the fruits of that -- when our duly elected president can't even tell kids to stay in school without the nutjobs complaining that he's up to something, and where some asshat congressman can heckle the president during an important speech and think that, somehow, it's okay because he was angry. Worse, he called the president a liar *in public*, in an official joint session of our government. Had he been remotely correct, it would be almost understandable, but he was demonstrably and factually incorrect.

From that point of national and international unity to this?

We have collectively forgotten what it is to be American -- or at least, what it ought to be.

American values are codified and made official in the founding documents of our nation, and yet we twist and ignore them for brief political and monetary gain. Equality. Liberty. Justice for all. Not just for those folks who live here and aren't brown with hard-to-pronounce names, strange food, and foreign religions. We've retreated into easy greed and abhorrent attitudes toward our fellow man. Did 9/11 somehow give us license to distrust the Other? Have we forgotten that the the OTHER big terrorist incidents have all been *domestic*, by people like Tim McVeigh and the Unibomber?

So while some have taken issue with the recent rededication of 9/11 as a national day of service, I'll throw my lot in with those who would rather turn this horrible memory into something constructive. Merely "remembering" isn't good enough -- nor is paying lip service and making pretty speeches. We should turn those feelings into practical results. We need to pay attention and get involved in making the world better. Because the lessons of 9/11 are that compliance and ignorance and arrogance make people hate us -- not without reason -- and that we ignore our fellow man (no matter where he lives or what he believes) at our peril.

Yesterday, after working out, housework, a bit of WOW, some laundry, and a dinner of excellent sashimi, I went to the bookstore, ostensibly to pick out a gift, but primarily because I was in need of books.

(To those who've been to my home, me saying I need books is like Julia Child saying she could probably stand a visit to Williams & Sonoma.)

So I picked up a particular book (Good Omens) that I'd read before, but apparently I didn't have, and several comics (specifically, the trade collections of the semi-recent JMS run of THOR, which was good stuff, and some assorted manga). And I picked up the gift card for my goddaughter Zoe, to celebrate her having read over 180 books this summer (more than ten times the amount her school suggested). Ended up reading THOR until the wee hours.

Today I got up, worked out, had a bowl of mini-wheats. Hit the grocery store for staples. Made chicken salad out of leftover chicken, prepped celery for snacking, and boiled a few eggs. Got the vacuuming and laundry done.

Starting with lunch, I had the very nice pleasure of an afternoon in the company of my goddaughter Zoe, who starts 2nd grade tomorrow, and her mommies, who came over for lunch and a visit. Though we'd talked on the phone, it had been several months since we'd actually had a proper visit, and there was lots to catch up on. We ate chicken salad sandwiches (except for Zoe who opted for PBJ) and had chips and dip and pickles, chatting the whole time.

I discovered that this summer, Zoe has read the aforementioned 180+ books; discovered she has mild asthma and was allergic to her cats, which meant sadly giving the cats away; has begun keeping a pair of frogs-- sorry TOADS -- and feeding them crickets she catches herself with a bug-net; has played basketball and gone swimming and otherwise done healthy outdoor things; and just yesterday accidentally disturbed a wasp nest and got stung by four wasps, though because of her allergies there were enough antihistamines in her system that the bits barely registered. She had a cool funky hat and one of those frilly-yet-sloppy outfits that little girls that age manage somehow to pull off, and she had a blast playing with the cats, who adored her. While here, she proved to be still ticklish and giggly (to be expected), but also sturdy -- on the little playground here, she took the slide at about Mach 8 and landed on her butt, pretty hard, but laughed it off.

We briefly hit the mall (which proved a bit of a chore because the Virgin Fest was across the street at Merriweather), and while Mom returned something, we went off to spend her gift certificate since the bookstore was right there. The Magic Tree House series had a new book and she'd been looking forward to it, and there was enough to pick out two more books thanks to a promotion. Then it was off to Five Below, where a few neglected school supplies and a new basketball and baseball bat were obtained.

And then we said our goodbyes, with big hugs and smiles. She still thinks I'm pretty cool, which is amazing in and of itself. And she was reading before the car left the lot, which I thought was pretty awesome too. (And not the new books -- the one she'd already been reading, because she hadn't finished that one yet.)

As for me, I came back home, shucked some corn and boiled it up, grilled a steak (yay for having a functional grill again!), fixed a salad (fresh fat cherry tomatoes from Shae & Eileen's garden, nom nom), poured a hard cider, and had a fairly healthy, quite pleasant dinner, while reading.

I feel that on some level my batteries are being recharged. This is a good thing. :)

Jim’s Three Bean Sausage & Rice Dish

5 Italian sausages, cut up
1 small/medium onion, diced
1 large bell pepper, diced (I used leftover red, yellow, and green peppers)
1 fresh jalapeno or other hot pepper, to taste, diced
2 TBSP minced garlic (I use the stuff in the little jars or fresh when I have it)
2 cups white rice (uncooked)
1 can black beans, drained
1 can red beans, drained
Half can blackeyed peas, drained (left overs, could have used the whole can)
Crystal red hot sauce
Worcestershire sauce (Lee & Perrins)
A bit of Chicken stock (or water; I usually have one of those little re-sealable boxes in the fridge anyway)
1.5 tsp Cayenne powder
1 tsp Cumin
Hearty pinch oregano
Crushed black pepper

In a separate pot, cook the rice while you prep the rest.

In a large 4-quart heavy bottom pan (I used a cast iron Dutch oven with a drizzle of olive oil), brown the sausage under high heat, then remove. Add a bit of oil if needed, then sauté the peppers and onions and garlic in the sausage fat, just until the onions start to sweat, then add the sausage back in. Reduce heat to medium/low. Drain the beans, then add them to the pot. Season to taste with cayenne pepper and cumin and oregano; stir to mix thoroughly. Add a fair amount of hot sauce (probably about 10-12 hearty glugs), about 3-4 glugs of Worcestershire sauce. Mixture should be somewhat wet, but if not add just enough chicken stock to keep things from sticking – a splash or two should do. Fold in as much warm, cooked rice as your pot will safely hold, mixing thoroughly with the other ingredients. Cover, turn off heat, and set aside. (Will keep warm in the pot for some time, and is easily heated, or you could stick it in a VERY low heat warm oven, but may want to add a bit of extra stock if you do that.)

You probably won’t need to add salt or pepper to this – the sausage and sauces take care of the savory side pretty well.

I’ve made variations on this many times over the years but really liked the variety of beans in this batch. And like most Dutch-oven meals, it’s a great way to use up leftovers in the fridge – it’s pretty flexible with substitution.

I don't think there are any spoilers here, but I'll put this behind a cut anyway.
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I think this film has the potential to finally be the hit Miyazaki deserves, if for no other reason than that it isn't just merchandising. I hope it succeeds.

"I can't play, I have a job to do," Sasuke explains to other children and adults at several points during the film. I wonder if that's Miyazaki musing on part of what makes his films so magical for the adults who watch them. (It's a little longer than I thought, too -- but I didn't notice and there wasn't much fidgeting from the kids in the audience.)

It's an optimistic, truly magical little tale -- go see it, preferably with kids.

Hey, if you're going to actually be animated, you might as well use your own face as an icon!

That's me at 1:53, in command. For all the good it does me!

So last night I watched a reality show, which I wouldn't normally do. I like DIY shows but have little use for most "reality" programs.

In this case, I made an exception because it featured a friend of mine.

The show was TLC's LOTTERY CHANGED MY LIFE, the episode is called "Wiccan Millionaire", and the winner in question is my friend Bunky Bartlett, whom I've occasionally mentioned here. I've known Bunky and his family for about 17 years now (holy crap!), and I have watched his life evolve over the last couple of years. He has always been an odd duck with a big heart and a pretty level head for practical things, balancing out his more esoteric personal beliefs; while the money has definitely changed his life, it hasn't really changed *him* all that much. It's just him with more money and freedom and fewer worries. I was, frankly, curious to see how he was portrayed.

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More thoughts from this year's con...

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Here's my semi-long-form write-up about Otakon 2009.

Part One: The Unbelievable Pre-Con Roller Coaster of DOOOOM!
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Darn you, sundancekat!

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So Friday was my birthday. (WARNING: THIS MAY SOUND EMO BUT IT ISN'T MEANT TO!)

( Spay or neuter your long entries! )

I still have a lot to do (list coming soon, but probably F-locked), but at least I'm not completely wiped before the con starts. I actually forced myself to get reasonable sleep...here's hoping it's enough to get me through the week!

Tomorrow, the roller coaster starts.

...and so far, I'm not impressed.

Though there were two homemade cookies and a printout saying "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" on my desk when I got in, and that was nice.

Interested parties can see the status of my kitchen remodel here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=87830&id=504992848&l=e4c77aa939

In other news, Sushi King in Columbia was a delightful dinner choice for composerscott and me. The food was good, even if it wasn't as cheap as one might have wished -- the "Pretty in Red" roll was yummy.

...To let you all know that I did NOT in fact turn into a zombie and eat my cats, the neighbor, and the pizza delivery guy.

Kitchen stuff starts ASAP this coming week. I've begun packing up the kitchen, and find myself vaguely digusted by the stuff in the corner -- you know, the stuff you don't use that often and when you dig it up it's got that "please clean me!" grime layer on it. I am sweaty and not yet done, but it'll be time to head over to Granny's for a father's day cookout. That should be a nice time, even though I won't be able to stay long.

Last night I went to my friend Bunky's place for a pool party. He has this fabulous pool: huge, saltwater, filtered by waterfall, heated, and with fiberoptic lighting. It rocked, and it was very relaxing to just play in a nice pool among friends. Later, there was a bonfire and some drumming, and I got to release a lot of stress there. Combined with a burger and an ear of sweet corn, some decent booze, and the company of friends I haven't seen in ages...well, it was a fantastic way to relax. Despite an hour drive home, late at night, I was energized and relaxed at the same time, and when I got home, I slept like a log.

nongamer is getting OLDER tomorrow!

I figured out what the smell was.

It's me.

Mystery of the missing cat is solved too. While I still can think straight, I'm sending the little one outside where she'll be safe.

Have phoned the police. Took a good twenty minutes to get through, they're sending someone. I told them to send SEVERAL people but it sounded a little nutty on the phone.

Hell, *I* probably sounded nutty on the phone, but then again 911 operators don't usually lose their calm like this woman did tonight. And that was twenty minutes ago.

It's kind of surreal. I forced myself to go into the bathroom and look at myself. It's no wonder my scalp was itchy. Still, the hair mostly came out cleanly, so hopefully someone can make use of it -- and it's a relief to be rid of it so long as the itching has stopped.

When I found the cat, I screamed, Tim next door knocked on the door, wondering what was going on. Before I realized it, there was a mess all over the floor and I *still* can't figure out where it all went. And I'm still hungry -- that's the crazy part.

Yeah, it's funny how detached I feel right now. I mean I'm suddenly full of energy. I kinda feel like I should go out, but then again, the police are on their way.

I know I should feel bad, or ashamed somehow. But whatever's happened, it just doesn't bother me anymore.

Ah. Somehow I got distracted. Did I put the cat out or not?

Finally got irritated when I woke up again. Still no pizza.

Even more bizarre - I phoned the pizza place and they said the guy left hours ago, but never returned.

Oh wait -- there's a pizza car outside.

...except it must belong to a visitor, it doesn't look like it's moved for hours.

The cats still want no part of me today. In fact, I don't know where Fuu is hiding. The stupid little one got freaked out by something and she's hiding under the sofa.

I'm in a foul, grumpy mood. Have been eating like a crazy person and I think maybe I may have something wrong with me. And that SMELL....it's not exactly bad, just smells a little weird, and I haven't figured out where it's coming from. I thought about emptying the litterbox but I don't think that's it.

I don't know what happened to that pizza I ordered. I dozed off for a while, so maybe I missed the pizza guy.

Like, nutty hungry. Ate pretty much everything in the house. Then fell dead asleep.

When I woke up today everything felt a bit stiff and my scalp was itchy. Coughed up what felt like half a lung. Now everything smells a little....off. There is one thing, a new smell that I haven't identified yet, but I think perhaps something in the house has gone off.

Ugh, I really needed to do laundry, too....

Fell asleep on the couch, still craving something.

The cats are avoiding me.

Think I'll order pizza. I don't feel presentable so no going out....not when a meal will come to me.

If you aren't tech minded, or into problem solving madness, just skip this entry.

RECAP:

* [CLIENT] wanted something pretty simple: link to a particular blog in a new blogging site.

Complication: new blogging site sets a particular set of three domain-wide cookies that render our site utterly unusable.

Maddening factors at play:
* The cookies are inherited from the top-level domain, and there are several places where they might be obtained.
* We don't use any of the problem cookies within our site. It doesn't care whether they even exist. However, just having them in the collection of cookies rendered the entire set of cookies inaccessible, and threw server errors.
* Problem occurred no matter how we got to blog site -- even building a custom RSS reader caused browser to acquire the problem cookies.
* Problem only affects our site; myriad other technologies and code bases are in play elsewhere in Client's world.
* Because of how cookies work, the only place I can test is on client's servers.

So we knew precisely what cookies were the problem, but once they had been set, ANY interaction with the cookie collection caused an unrecoverable error. So we couldn't override the cookies, either.

Glimmer of hope:
* If we set local cookies with the same name BEFORE visiting the blog site, ASP saw those rather than the universal ones we didn't care about. So long as the visitor hit us first, there was no problem.
* Blog site confirmed that deleting those cookies would not harm interaction with their site at all -- they'd just be rewritten if needed.

So the problem became this: how can we kill a cookie that we can't see?

News from On High:

Blog site discovered that the cookies are written in a newer encoding standard, and classic ASP simply does not understand them at all. They confirmed with Microsoft that it was a known bug and that Microsoft had no plans AT ALL to fix it, as Classic ASP is effectively abandoned.

Well that's all well and good -- we've seen it coming for some time -- but we have a massive and complicated site that will take time to rebuild in .NET. Recoding for this is NOT an option.

The answer was this:
1. Before anything else is processed on the page, write local versions of those three cookies.
2. Surround the cookie-writing block with error handling; on error, bounce over to a cookie-killing ASP.NET page, and pass in the originally requested page with all the relevant info.
3. Cookie killer page overwrites the bad cookies, and sends back a page that immediately redirects the visitor to the originally requested page.

There was an issue in timing of writing the cookies and redirecting (I ended up using a meta refresh to handle that part, and writing the destination page with a message on the actual response page, so that if meta-refresh didn't work you could click the link), thanks to some finicky stuff about when cookies versus other information gets sent back to the browser.

It took hours of me tweaking the code, and probably 60 trips back and forth to the dedicated VPN box from my dev machine (about 90 feet each way), but eventually we got it loaded up and tested out.

In the end, it worked! So now visitors either get inoculated (with local cookies), or they hit a page that fixes the problem.

Caveat: Making it possible to click a link to a website and return later ....took 10 people two months and a LOT of hours to find out it was broken functionality on Microsoft's part, and then about 1 day to build an effective work-around.

I've been busy as hell lately, as Otakon has cranked into high gear and work has ramped up and all this planned downtime winds up being squished into the corners of my life....

Anyway, most of my posting lately has been very brief -- chatter on Facebook, primarily, but also the occasional post here or lengthy reply. For the handful of people who actually read this and wondered what was up, I'll just say "sorry" and move on.

Anyway, it's con season. That means lists.

1. Finish a bunch of stuff for work by this afternoon.
2. Finish laundry currently in dryer.
3. Get press releases together for upcoming guest announcements.
4. See if I can't get the storyboard notes translated quickly.
5. Take care of paperwork for medical card.
6. Fax credit card stuff to hotel.
7. Send a note to interpreter staff to put them in touch with travel agent.
8. Figure out what I can delegate out to Mike.
9. Get bios to publications
10. Sort out plan for Dad's birthday.
11. Get to see UP and LAND OF THE LOST.
12. Obtain about 15 plastic tubs and begin packing up kitchen.
13. Follow up with contractor on status of cabinets and estimated start date.
14. Fix headlight issue (later today!).

Well anyway that's my life. How's yours?

Assuming my part of this gets done quickly, it's gonna be a busy week for guest announcements.

1. Completed catering request on Friday, aka "$3.50 + tax + service charge PER CAN OF SODA" goddammit! Guests will now have food and drink available in the green room. Sent off to Matt.

2. Being in a train, undisturbed and without Internet for 3 hours on Sunday gave me time to finally catch up on a bunch of email. LOTS of work got done, yay!

3. Tonight we announce Musical Guest #2 (collect the set) and within the next 24-48 hrs I'll draw the winners of the "Guess the Guest" contest. Stay tuned at 9pm, give or take a few minutes...

4. Tonight I will also finalize contract for Musical Guest #3 and Musical Guest #4, with luck. Announcements (and contests, if time permits) as soon as I can manage them.

5. Tonight I need to send out reminders to a few american guests that I need confirmation and info so we can announce them. Then I need to give ALL their names to Akira to arrange travel.

6. Tomorrow, with luck, we'll get final confirmation of a Seiyuu guest, and with luck will announce by end of week.

7. Hoping to hear by Weds of this week on two more J-guests.

8. Owe my staff an email with info-dumpery in it. In particular I need to begin summoning interpreters.