2002 Archive

Check out 2003's news, 2001's news, or start from the early days!

December 31, 2002:

Spent New Year's Eve with Lee and the Iowa Derscheids in my parents' place up in Iowa. Insanely warm for the season. No snow. Bummer.

December 25, 2002:

Slept in until after noon. Can't beat that. We went to Julie's parents for a brief visit, which consisted of playing Taj Mahal while eating all kinds of great desserts. Lee went to an evening church service at Lakewood, and I spent the evening listening to the Beastie Boys, and mentally preparing to return to work.

December 24, 2002:

Only a few hours at work, then over to the Isenhowers for relaxing with Heather, Gary, and their 6 kids. We came back, watched Lilo & Stitch on DVD, and went to bed.

December 23, 2002:

Okay, let's pretend I didn't work until after 4 in the morning, go home, then bounce out of bed to be right back at work again. Whew, that'd be insane. Nobody'd do that, right?

December 22, 2002:

Went to LaGrange, had Xmas dinner at Lee's parents' new house. They've only been done a week, and it already looks like home. Presents were given and received, etc. I got a call about 6 pm that indicated trouble at work, so Lee and I drove back, and I went back in around 9 pm.

December 21, 2002:

Went to work for a couple of hours, and then drove to Bastrop to hang out with Sam, Laura, and baby Logan. Logan's walking well. Sam and I got in a game of Cashflow 101, an investment boardgame (or "teaching tool") that's sold by the Rich Dad, Poor Dad guy. It was cool.

December 19, 2002:

Sooo much work. I clocked 65.25 hours this week. Not too shabby, except for the gigantic piles of work left to do

December 18, 2002:

Well, after nine and a half hours at work, I'm headed back, to work all night, and all of tomorrow. Then I'm going to work all Friday, all night, and leave for Bastrop on Saturday, Christmas in LaGrange on Sunday, work all day, either have Christmas Eve off or work all day, spend Christmas at home, then work for two or three days straight.

December 16, 2002:

OwlCon's going to be cool.

December 11, 2002:

Up at 4 am again.

December 10, 2002:

More hard work. Gotta finish projects so I can go to Pennsylvania and Las Vegas in January.

December 9, 2002:

Got up at 4 am, put in 12 hours of work, then came home and played Ursuppe, got an absolute beating.

December 8, 2002:

Hauled Jim Geluso's little brother Joe to the airport. It was nice having him around for a little while. PS, can anyone tell me where to change a 200 peso bill besides the airport?

December 7, 2002:

The game party drew more new people than ever before! We played Settlers of Catan, Entdecker, Bohnanza, Falling, Family Business, Merchant of Venus, and Ursuppe.

December 6, 2002:

End of a week where I went in every day around 9 and left around 6. I didn't care for it. Tomorrow is another big board game party, so that'll be cool. I'm considering deleting more computer games from my hard drive. I just don't play enough of them to merit losing the space, and I can always install them later.

December 5, 2002:

Ugh. Need to throw away paper at work.

December 4, 2002:

Put new manuals in binders. It was awesome. Paper goes in, paper goes out.

December 1, 2002:

Ugh, didn't get as much done today as I had hoped, took a nap and watched some Love Hina.

November 30, 2002:

Rapid leg twitches at night kept me awake. Claritin D, I blame you for all the evils of the world.

November 29, 2002:

Sooo much turkey. I think I'm blind. Plenty of relatives and friends joined us. We almost ate all of a 20-lb. turkey, plus other foods too numerous to mention.

November 28, 2002:

Spent eleven hours at work, riding the phones. Not a single call. Oh, well, I did a bunch of organizing. I'm going to start a new time management system that'll make me twice as productive. What will I do with the other hours I'm at work every day? No idea.

November 27, 2002:

Wow, I've been lazy. In the last few days, I was an official Cheapass Games demo monkey for the first time, I drove to Austin and back, I saw my brother-in-law Craig get ordained, I attended an OwlCon planning session, and did a lot of work on OwlCon and at my job. I go to work tomorrow, Thanksgiving day. Why? Because I'm a team player, that's why. Also, I'm an idiot.

November 20, 2002:

Roadrunner email is down again. I stayed home sick for the morning.

November 19, 2002:

Finished last racquetball game for the tournament, with the expected results. I'm rated 2nd or 3rd from bottom, I played the guy who was tied for first. I scored 8 points, total, in 3 games played to 11. A loser is me! At least I got a point in every game.

November 17, 2002:

Roadrunner is having trouble with their email connections... their engineers are working on it. If you've got an emergency, call me instead.

November 16, 2002:

Ran some errands, then went to Jacob and Julie's place. Dylan was fussy from teething, but Jacob and I played one of the new Cheapass games I got in my big package of promos. "Fightball" is a neat game where each player has a deck of cards, and play is made simultaneously into a "playing court". Each card represents a player, a tactic, a ball, or a shot. It's fast and fun. There are six decks, and Jacob and I tried one each.

November 15, 2002:

Done with dealership at noon, went back to work, finished a few things up. After work, I lost another couple of racquetball games, though not as severely as before.

November 13, 2002:

An easy day out at the dealership, with our advance preparation paying off. Had Mexican food for lunch, was great.

November 12, 2002:

Back to the dealership for more training and adjusting the system. Came home, and taught Larry the 2-player Catan card game. He beat me, then I crashed for the night.

November 11, 2002:

I put in a 12-hour day, and had a lot of fun, teaching service advisors and technicians how to use a way-cool dispatching system. It's neat to see how far I've advanced in knowledge. I've been at work for 11 months now, and I still love it.

November 10, 2002:

Also got in a little time at work. Lee and I taught Larry how to play Settlers of Catan.

November 9, 2002:

So busy! Can't... update... web... page...

October 30, 2002:

For her birthday, I got Lee's car cleaned, inside and out.

October 27, 2002:

Not a bad day, overall. Lee and I went to a potluck of sorts. I met several people in her Bible study, all of whom were cool enough. Tomorrow, I'll come home and open another box of games.

October 26, 2002:

Games party! I brought Puerto Rico to the table, and Lee, Larry and I learned it together. It was bizarre, but good. It's definitely a "gamer's game". Inside the box were the following TYPES of components: hexagonal victory points, round money tokens little tiny barrels in 5 colors, 1" square plantation tiles, purple building tiles, big purple building tiles, ship tiles, role cards, map sheets, and the instructions. Oh, also a hillion, jillion little brown circles, about the size of a Tic-Tac. In the other room, I know that Entdecker and Carcassonne hit the table, and I lost track after that. The rain kept people home. I got a few people from work, and the 'usual suspects.' Little Dylan was great. He'll be talking in no time. Jacob and Julie are officially buying a house, mazel tov and buena suerte.

October 25, 2002:

It's so good when I finish projects at work. I shortened my to-do list a lot. Took a great class on Effective Proposal Writing, and learned that someone in my department has ruined the attitude of many, many employees. I also picked up a big table from Jacob and Julie. To finish the day, I went to a new gaming store. It wasn't as stinky as some, and it's fairly close to my house.

October 24, 2002:

Bah, I am filled with hate.

October 23, 2002:

Picked up my car, ahead of schedule and much less expensively than I expected. Got royally hammered at racquetball. Did a few things right, but a few sweet shots is not a well-rounded game. Gluh, I'm still not at 100% from being sick on Monday. Played around with a couple of links. Did I mention I read science fiction on the web?

October 22, 2002:

Being a single-car family is terrible. Lee is now sick, with what appears to be a different bug.

October 21, 2002:

Stayed home sick. Headed to the doctor, who gave me notions and potions. Slept quite a bit, not as much as I would have liked, considering that we're down to one car. Felt a little better, so I went to my first planning session for Owlcon, the Rice University gaming convention. I started asking good questions, and by the end of the meeting, walked away as their Board and Card Game guy. By the power of Greyskull, I have the power!

October 20, 2002:

Birthday party with the in-laws. I got gifts that match my personality: a little keychain Simon Says game, a Half-Price Books gift certificate, and cash on the barrelhead, jack. Felt a little dazed all afternoon.

October 19, 2002:

Got up, emptied the dishwasher, have a few errands to run. I also called Sprint and had them remove a bogus $5 charge from my bill, so I've already made money this morning. Hooray for me!

October 18, 2002:

Glad the week is over. Larry found a new job, so he'll have next week off. I was useful, finally getting my second wind at work. Oh, yeah, plus I dropped off my car at the mechanic's, with newfound brake and transmission difficulties.

October 15, 2002:

Took a self-improvement class at work about effective criticism.

October 14, 2002:

Won a racquetball match, three games straight, then won another game just for fun.

October 13, 2002:

Cleaned my study today, with Lee's assistance, freeing up at least 40 square feet of floor space, removing a garbage-bag full of trash, and hauling two boxes of books to Half Price Books. Don't worry, sports fans, they were bad books that no one will ever want.

October 12, 2002:

I'm about to head for the company cook-off, and so I'm moving laundry around. I've got a full day planned: eating, napping, and going to bed. It's always good to have a plan. [later]: Ohh, so much brisket... can't move. I also won an '80's tv trivia contest, earning a Rubic's Cube for my efforts.

October 11, 2002:

Worked hard for a while, then came home, changed clothes, and went to doctor's appointment. Topped off my day by losing about three hours at a bookstore. That was nice. Company cook-off is tomorrow. Came to a revelation: I have added another automatic response to my repertoire. Whenever anyone says to me: "But you'll always have a mortgage!" I look them in the eyes and say, "That sounds like LOSER-TALK to me!"

October 10, 2002:

Got a lot done, then came home and played Carcassonne with Mike, Larry, and Amie. Lee and I then taught Mike Ursuppe, but didn't finish the game, due to excessive sleepiness.

October 9, 2002:

Chilled out. Supervisor will be gone tomorrow and Friday, so I've made a plan of action that should keep me busy.

October 8, 2002:

Went to Wolf and Ashlea's, played Carcassonne twice. I think we're going to end up doing a bulk order of lots of copies of Carcassonne.

October 7, 2002:

Good to get back to work. Over my lunch break, I got an email from the Owlcon people, begging for me to run even more games. What the heck, I like games. I'm excited about visiting the good people of Atlantis Games, who were very accommodating when I called them this weekend.

October 6, 2002:

Got up at 5:15 a.m. due to leg twitches. I shopped around for good deals on games, also did some planning and reorganizing. Lee and I finished our financial analysis of the last two months. Freedom-day is only 9 years, 9 months away! Wolf and Ashlea came over and learned how to play Falling! and Carcassonne with Lee, Larry, and I. A good time was had by all...

October 5, 2002:

Saw the shell of Lee's parents' new house outside LaGrange, TX. Ate a decent hamburger, drove home, and then Lee and I worked on our finances for a while. We've needed to do that for some time.

October 4, 2002:

Drove out to Bastrop to see Laura, Sam, and baby Logan, also Lee's parents Jeanne and Robin. Ugh, so sleepy...

October 3, 2002:

Got flattened in match one of the racquetball tournament. I took Lee to see "Spirited Away," which Disney opens in theaters nationwide tomorrow. It is the highest-grossing film ever in Japan. Not cartoon, not children's movie, no ifs, ands, or buts. More Japanese people dropped more yen to see this movie than any other, ever. How was it? Great! I'll probably go see it again in a week or two.

October 2, 2002:

(posted over lunch break)- I leave work early for a doctor's appointment. Have been bouncing from project to project, which is not incredibly productive.

October 1, 2002:

Stayed home and went to bed early.

September 30, 2002:

Played Starbase Jeff with Amie and Larry. I like Starbase Jeff. It's got randomness, bluffing, and a hint of gambling.

September 28, 2002:

Saturday of a workaholic: got up at 6 a.m. to monitor processes at work, then went back to bed. Alarm went off at 8:30, got up at 9, pulled weeds on the patio for a while, before coming inside to fiddle with financial paperwork, then losing interest and returning upstairs to work on this website. I hate their existence, but I love the hypocrisy of industry flacks: http://www.auto.com/industry/ulrich19_20020919.htm. Yes, Lawrence Ulrich, I would set my sights on other vehicles, because driving a gasoline-powered giant expensive vehicle is an inherently-unsound practice. Stop endless pollution, free Americans from the tyranny of commuting, and stop killing Americans as they travel between Point A and Point B. Once you do that, I'll go after your guns, drugs, and booze, instead of your vehicles. In other weird news, the UN stands for a lot of things, but mostly, for protecting the little people: http://www.freep.com/news/nw/dwarf28_20020928.htm.

September 27, 2002:

Worked a lot, then went back to work, then came home, and connected to work from home. Don't feel bad for me, because I'm deeply involved in this project, and I offered to help.

September 26, 2002:

Played Carcassonne twice with Larry, Amie, and Lee. Amie won both times. Definitely a good game, though I see Lee's point. Lee wants a more cooperative game, where all players are trying to build the best city possible, without moves where you 'hose' another player. Also burned my throat on a microwaved bite of rice. Deep, deep, deep inside my throat, there is a raw patch which knows no solace unless soothing, cold milk flows over it constantly.

September 25, 2002:

Ran around returning folding chairs, and ended up with Wolf and Ashlea at the Roadside Grill on Bissonnet. I skipped their burgers, which were affordably priced, to pick up a basket of onion rings and a basket of cheese fries. Yes, I had cheese, potatoes, batter, and onions for dinner, in that exact order. Great value, good atmosphere, staff had no problem with Wolf's request: "I'd like that with NO BUN." (Some tasks are better left to others...)

September 24, 2002:

The wheels of justice grind slow but fine. Bumfights, indeed! Took Lee's car to Sam's Club Tire Center to get a tire patched, and ended up reading the new Stephen King book From A Buick 8 while waiting. It took my two favorite H.P. Lovecraft moments, and put them in a short novel. Short for King, anyway. Then I came home and ate more stew. Larry, Lee, and I played Carcassonne. A good time was had by all.

September 23, 2002:

Got up, went to work, then ended up staying up into the wee hours, monitoring computer processes remotely. Made lots of photocopies and screenprints. Beef stew for dinner, and that's good eatin'. My box of games arrived! More reports as playtesting progresses.

September 22, 2002:

Woke up bright and early, had breakfast with Lee before she went to church, and then sipped coffee and watched tiny ants in our kitchen. I figured out their entrance, moved the ant bait right next to it, and then used soapy water to clean off all the invisible chemical trails on all the surfaces past that point. The ants really liked the ant bait. I felt like Thoreau and the Orkin man, all at once. I watched them for about forty-five minutes, then went upstairs, and leisurely checked my email. A little after 10, I strolled down and woke up John, Rod, and Sean. We ate party-buffet-tray leftovers, then played a game of Vinci. Lee came home, and we all chatted for a little while. The travelers headed home shortly after 1 p.m., and I resumed my gastronomic rampage.

September 21, 2002:

Gaming party was a tremendous success. Got coworkers, my cousin, my friends, and assorted hangers-on into the house, and played games from noon until 3 in the morning. I played Starbase Jeff, Falling, Captain Park's Imaginary Polar Expedition, Chrononauts, Jacob's homebrew Settlers of Catan scenario, Settlers of Japan, which had a huge color map mounted on posterboard, Ursuppe, and Give Me the Brain. Everyone raved about the party, as evinced by this direct quote: "Todd, you have the coolest games." Then I stayed up a little longer playing Colossus on the computer, while faint snores from the San Antonio trio emanated from the living room downstairs. I had lots more folding chairs than I needed.

September 20, 2002:

Had to leave early for a doctor's appointment, then picked up folding chairs, drove across Houston on the side streets to avoid construction. Larry moved into our spare room.

September 19, 2002:

Guuuh. Todd am scheduling bad. Stayed late at work to try and make progress on testing a program. Lots of fun, and challenging. I moved the last of Michael's stuff into my room for rearranging.

September 18, 2002:

Work work work! Too much work, not enough sleep. I borrowed a copy of Titan from a guy at Rice. After that, I drove to Jacob's and we discussed his custom Settlers of Catan scenario. The man's a genius.

September 17, 2002:

Yahoo! Actual real work that I'm supposed to do! I also ran around distributing more invitations. Too bad my party is concurrent with a golf tournament and a bachelor party for one of the guys in my department. A few coworkers have RSVP'ed positively.

September 16, 2002:

Molly quit at work today. She hadn't even been there as long as I had. Eight people have quit since I joined ten months ago. That's not too bad in a sixty-person department. I cooked dinner tonight: Grandma Hester had given me lots of samples of her Iowa "grape tomato" crop, as well as one hot pepper. Put those in a skillet with some chicken, threw gemelli in boiling water, and pow! That's good eatin'.

September 15, 2002:

Returned some extra lights to Home Depot, replaced the kitchen vent, put gas in my car. I did all this before noon. In the afternoon, uh, I took a nap.

September 14, 2002:

Whew, preparing for a party means lots of clean-up that I never normally consider. Lee and I put window tinting on one of the four panes of our patio doors. It wasn't too difficult, and actually looks great.

September 13, 2002:

Aww, yeah! Another person I know at work quit today! Survival of the fittest, kids! Work proceeds apace toward the biggest board game bash our house has ever seen, unless, you know, Germans used to live here. Which I doubt, given the condition of the electrical system. Plus the swag hooks, no German would ever stoop to that level. My company is 32 years old today. Everyone that could make it, except the person who quit, crowded into our huge dining hall, and heard our beloved founder introduce many, many employees. There was also political and economic commentary. I'm not sure if he's a super-genius or just a smart guy who also never gives up. Seriously, never gives up. He's an ex-Marine, was top of the class when he got his MBA, was IBM's top salesman a few years in a row, and has kept a steady pace of growth combined with brilliant acquisitions. Want to buy some stock? Too bad, it's a privately-held company! He answers to no stockholder! Muaah ha ha ha!

September 12, 2002:

Learned another person at work quit. He wasn't in my department but he was a good guy. Also passed out invitations to the big gaming bash on September 21, noon to whenever, wander in, wander out. That's going to be great, assuming I have enough food/drinks/chairs to go around. I don't have everyone in the entire universe's address, so email me for details/maps.

September 11, 2002:

Put that project to bed. My supervisor is looking for more work for me to do. Our department awards ceremony meant I left work about 7. Lee had come in because I was told there would be food, invite your spouse. Yeah, no food there. We went to Fuddrucker's for burgers. It was perfect after a long day of work.

September 10, 2002:

Stayed home, rested a lot.

September 9, 2002:

My impossible project at work is basically complete. That's the beauty of the weird ones: when you define the standards, only you know when you're finished. I ate a lot of cake at a coworker's birthday party. Later this week, I'm playing racquetball at least once, and have two big, important meetings to attend. After normal business hours, sigh.

September 8, 2002:

Skipped my being-awake pill, drowsed around all day. Took a brief nap.

September 7, 2002:

When I said "being completely in my element," evidently that medieval element was water. Tropical storm/depression Faye moved inland last night. As I was already forty-odd miles out of Houston on my way to Austin, in cloudy-but-dry conditions, Rod called, saying it had been raining for several hours straight in San Antonio. Sean and Rod required extensive cajoling to drive to Austin, where we discovered a board gaming group about to play the interminable and undesirable Age of Renaissance at every table in the gaming store. We ate lunch and carpooled to "the other store," which was down at Dobie Mall, and paid SIX BUCKS for parking, which was a bargain, considering the other options. The shop was almost deserted; this weekend had Protocon in College Station. I didn't know this in advance, but I generally avoid College Station anyway, and that would have been massively inconvenient for Rod and Sean. We played Ursuppe and Vinci with a congenial gentleman we met, and then played Samurai. The mall store has a huge library of demo games, so it actually makes some sense to drive there and pay SIX BUCKS for parking, so you have access to probably 50 great board games, and another 30 card games. Rod and Sean really liked Samurai, and we played three games, pow pow pow. I hopped in my car, had a miserable time getting out of Austin in the rain, but I only had a couple of patches of pounding rain on the way back to Houston. Traffic was fantastic both ways, probably because anyone with any sense got off the roads entirely. All in all, I had a great time and will definitely keep this journey in mind as a rousing success. PS, also bought "Captain Park's Imaginary Polar Expedition" and another copy of Kill Dr. Lucky.

September 6, 2002:

Made progress on the impossible project, also cleaned a toilet and dropped off my dry-cleaning. If you need me, I'll be in Austin, boardgaming like a fool. That is to say, being completely in my element. Lee will be on vacation for the next few days, so I'm making like a bachelor. I had fistfuls of cereal for dinner... That's an exaggeration. For dinner, I had bowlfuls of Kroger(tm) imitation Corn Chex(tm) which were not bad at all, given their generic nature.

September 5, 2002:

Played three games of cutthroat and won one of them. Took on an impossible project at work, par for the course. I owe a coworker something chocolate, with coconut, and light. This may require research.

September 4, 2002:

My Grandpa Blois has a birthday today. I should send him something, but I'm going to lie around instead.

September 3, 2002:

Bought a mouthpiece to keep my teeth from grinding at night. Teeth were hurting, jaw ached, gums were sore, and I was one cranky cubicle-dweller all day.

August 31-September 2, 2002:

Flew to St. Louis. Hannah "Banana" Davis is quite a cutie, for only being a few months old. The St. Louis art museum was great, and free. I could go back in right now, and spend another hour and nine minutes there.

August 30, 2002:

Will get up at 5 a.m. tomorrow to go to the airport. Nightmarish.

August 29, 2002:

Was not a zombie at work today, accomplishing a whole lot and actually staying longer than 8 hours for a change. Also played and lost three straight games of racquetball with Steve from work. He was really gracious about giving me a royal beating, and I'm looking forward to future matches. His skills are different from mine, and he's got better technique than me and lots of good serve variety... that's a rough combination to beat, but it should make for great 3-player games. I fly to St. Louis on Saturday, fly back Monday. I loves me that flying on holidays! It's so good to know I'm either smarter or quieter than 95% of my fellow travelers, because if I can't outwit them, I can at least sneak up on them. Remember the old saying: "It's better to be thought a fool by some, than open your mouth and be wrestled to the ground by airport security."

August 28, 2002:

Left work early for a doctor's appointment, then went to Jacob and Julie's on a whim. They showed me some of the new They Might Be Giants album, which is being marketed as a children's album, and has some interactive CD-ROM content that would be perfect for 6-10 year-olds. I need to give it a full listen, but I'm thinking that yes, it IS a children's album, and a damn good one at that. Plus it finally puts "I Am Not Your Broom," which hasn't appeared on any normal CD, into the public eye, instead of just being one of their live-performance-only songs. I love you, They Might Be Giants! Come to Houston again sometime!

August 27, 2002:

Last few days were hazy, but somewhere in there, I played Give Me the Brain and Kill Dr. Lucky, and saw the Astros beat the Cincinnati Reds 1-0. Seriously, it was cool when the Astros shut the Reds down with a double play with the bases loaded in, oh, let's call it the fourth inning. It was actually fairly tense. It was my first time at Minute Maid Park, and the ruling corporate hegemony only charged us $6 apiece to watch the millionaires play a child's game. Also, I didn't go to Fry's, and shopping at Ikea is a nightmare for me, which I suspected before, but now know from experience. Yay, empiricism! Boo, consumerism!

August 24, 2002:

Mail-ordered three German games: Carcassonne, Puerto Rico,and Bohnanza, and am excited about the tile-laying, resource-collecting, and card-trading that each one represents. One is back-ordered, so there's no way to know when I'll actually get them. Got them at massive discounts that paid for shipping and more. Lee flattened me at Merchant of Venus again. She is making a pie to celebrate.

August 23, 2002:

Talked to the doc about unusual sleepiness all the time, he said switch medication time around a little. Glad the week's over.

August 22, 2002:

Went and hung out at Jacob and Julie's for a little bit. Jacob's getting more recognition at work, which is cool. I picked up a stack of DVDs and loaned them another stack. Was thinking about staying later, but almost fell asleep right there.

August 20, 2002:

Found out Amie quit at work today. Another cool person, no longer employed. It's sort of sad, because she was a much better worker than me in almost every respect. Other than that, may be playing racquetball tomorrow, which promises to be a festival of pain, due to my complete inactivity. Curse you, Colossus!

August 18, 2002:

I've been playing Colossus. It's a computer version of the old Avalon Hill boardgame Titan. I don't think I'll ever own a copy of Titan, because it's a dicefest that takes hours and hours, and involves players being eliminated from the game for good (bad, bad design attribute in a game that can take several hours to play).

August 17, 2002:

Lee and I played another game of Merchant of Venus, which she won handily. I went to Heather and Amy and Mike's place for a party, which was surprisingly low-key. I ended up playing two rounds of another German import game Carcassonne, and enjoyed it enough that I may go look for a copy somewhere.

August 16, 2002:

Everyone at work weaseled out of racquetball, so that was mildly disappointing. I had a doctor's appointment down in Rice Village, so I cut out of work early. It was about 5 when I got back on I-10 headed out, so I think I could have headed back to the office, and made up the time I missed by staying until 9 at night. I did not do this. I went home instead, and hung out watching anime with Mike before he left, presumably to clean up before the big party his roommates are throwing tomorrow night.

August 15, 2002:

Work was fair-to-middlin'. Lee and I played Merchant of Venus, and she beat me. This usually happens, but I love playing the game so much. I think I'm going to shoot for doing a games party around the end of September.

August 14, 2002:

Watched the first two episodes of Excel Saga again tonight. I still don't know if I like it or not.

August 13, 2002:

Took a long class at work that took up most of the day. Came home, watched Love Hina #2. Overall, was a disjointed set of episodes, and fairly disappointing. Fortunately I also bought volume one of Excel Saga yesterday, and am really looking forward to seeing the rest of that.

August 12, 2002:

Headed over for a quick trip to the Harveys. Hung out, watched a couple episodes of Excel Saga. Nonsensical, spastic anime is my favorite! Review to follow shortly, hopefully.

August 11, 2002:

Flew back to Houston. Wandered around for a while, looking for cheap DVDs, didn't find any, came home and took a nap. It was worth it.

August 10, 2002:

Flew to Kansas City, where Mom and Dad picked me up and drove me to Independence, MO, to see Nathan Smith get married. We were great friends in high school, and he had no idea I was going to show up. The trip was absolutely worth it. Also saw several of my elementary teachers. They look the same as they did then.

August 9, 2002:

Wasted a lot of time at work. I'll be in Kansas City Saturday and return Sunday morning.

August 8, 2002:

Rod came over and played Ursuppe with Lee and I. Lee's amoebas completely dominated the board, just killing and eating everything in their path.

August 6, 2002:

Spent the last couple of evenings enjoying Captain Tylor. Oh, captain, you're so irresponsible! Had a doctor's appointment today, and went to Planet Anime afterward, planning to buy a really expensive copy of His and Her Circumstances (sorry, Rod. Gainax commands me!). All they had was the DVD with the collector's artbox, aka, a cardboard box, for $39.99. So I called them dateless losers, and marched out with my money still encased in my grubby hand.

August 2, 2002:

Had a couple of weird moments today at work. Slipped away to the library on Pinemont and bought four books for a dollar. A mere quarter for a copy of Larry Niven's The Magic Goes Away, a mere quarter for Chaim Potok's The Chosen, another couple books for another couple of quarters. There is no happiness for me greater than that.

August 1, 2002:

Watched some Green Legend Ran on DVD. Wow, I can not believe how poorly that anime stood the test of time. The DVD has no menus or extras, other than a two-minute interview with the director, and a creditless version of the ending theme. Anyway, now that my Irresponsible Captain Tylor boxed set has arrived, I have a reason to live. Work was lame, and incredibly unsatisfying. I had conversations that didn't make any difference, faxed information that wasn't useful, found broken programming routines, and generally wasted my entire day. I'm beginning to doubt the purpose of my job. I'm helping consumerism, increasing the disparity between rich and poor, encouraging the growth of car dealerships, selling my time cheaply, and increasing the stress in my life. On the other hand, it pays the student loans and the mortgage.

July 31, 2002:

Took forever to get data loaded today. Wrapped it up a little after ten p.m., fortunately was at home for the last part of it. Super tired and cranky, could use a day off to replace the extra day of worry between 8pm and 4am this morning. I realized that I am now an expert to at least one person at work. Also experimented with new super-juju computer at work. It's going to save me lots of time in the next year, probably anywhere from two to five hours every month, maybe more.

July 30, 2002:

Called in and got our student loan balances. They illustrate the problem with minimum payments: paying forever. Fortunately, we have cranked it up a few notches, so I think we'll have Lee's paid by the end of the year, allowing us to concentrate on mine. Onward to freedom!

July 29, 2002:

Dave Rich, one of the other installers, quit today. He had given me a lot of training and generally made the department a lot more fun, so I'm sad to see him go. About five minutes after he left, I turned to Amie Badir and said, "Whenever someone quits their job, an angel gets its wings!" Finishing up conversion stuff, not horrible.

July 28, 2002:

Not much happened today. Mailed the mortgage check. Watched a little Love Hina this evening, jumping back and forth between English and Japanese. Still debating a few purchases, and being really irritated that I can find and buy DVDs online, but not in retail establishments, because that would be too easy. Next two days at work are going to be tough.

July 27, 2002:

Will be working intermittently this weekend. Lee and I watched the end of The Prisoner, and I'm disappointed. I'm wondering if I shouldn't just sit down and make a list of the Prisoner episodes that worked, and the ones that didn't. Hmm: Arrival, Many Happy Returns, and The Chimes of Big Ben worked. A, B, and C, Living in Harmony, Hammer into Anvil, and the Schizoid Man were okay, I guess. The other episodes had premises that were non-starters anyway or just totally fall apart in execution. They wasted about an hour each out of my life. I recommend you just watch this volume, with two good episodes and one okay one, and be happy.

July 26, 2002:

Mixed bag at work. Went to the library and got a few books, read one already.

July 24, 2002:

All I did this week so far was work on a conversion, and now I'm behind, and I have to go in this evening to run some more jobs. That's computer-talk for 'punch some buttons and hope for the best.' I got some mail from Capital One with a large-print stamp of "expiration notice." It was a credit card application, of course. I'm going to try and get them busted for either mail fraud or false advertising, or just generally being evil. I'd like to spread the word: my chances of doing business with companies decrease with every credit card application I receive. In related news, Citibank, your lifeforce is running out!

July 23, 2002:

We have some sort of weird bug on our butterfly bushes. It appears to be related to the assassin bug, which eats snails and caterpillars. We don't like snails, but we like caterpillars. Survival of the fittest!

July 21, 2002:

Jacob and Julie and little Dylan came over, and all of us enjoyed a marathon game of Iron Dragon. Uh, kind of enjoyed. It was long and involved. We brainstormed ways of making it better, all of which eventually condensed into 'play Merchant of Venus instead.' Anyway, I bought it, we played it, good enough for me.

July 20, 2002:

I'm going to buy the boxed set of Captain Tylor, and that's that. Half.com, here I come! Citibank is now on my list of companies who are annoying me.

July 19, 2002:

I returned to Houston by flying standby, and then heroically returned to work.

July 14, 2002:

Well, Pioneer picked up both the horrible robot-girl anime shows I've seen recently. They also are going to release the Lupin III second tv series, about fifty episodes' worth. I like Lupin, but the tv shows I've seen, other than the ones Miyazaki directed, aren't anywhere close to as good as the Lupin movies. Don't know exactly when, but the End of Evangelion movie is being released domestically on DVD in September. It's the other end of Evangelion that serves as a counterpoint to the tv series end. The tv series ending was about forty-five minutes of jump-cuts of huge blocks of text, interspersed with motionless characters, as the budget ran out. The director hated the fans' responses, so he put together a full-length movie, full of the gore, violence, and death that he thought the fans deserved. I love it. It's vile, and the main characters don't end well, but hey, Joyce Carol Oates didn't say your heart is magically delicious, did she? I find the End of Evangelion to be a worthy conclusion to a challenging series. In other, non-otaku news, we spent over three hours on the expense-analysis shown in Your Money Or Your Life. It was interesting. I got paid for 282 hours in May, but really ate up a lot more time than that, plus I spent over a hundred bucks just supporting my filthy workaholism. Even counting that May's a five-paycheck month, there's still two extra weeks of work in there somehow. The mind boggles.

July 13, 2002:

Ran scandisk on my computer, which has been behaving erratically, didn't find anything. On Lee's computer, I discovered spyware from the Gator corporation, whose motto is 'we spy on you, so you don't have to. Wait, that makes no sense. Why would you want us spying on you? Anyway, here are some utilities that sound useful but actually install spyware that tracks your websurfing AND downloads huge banner ads onto your hard drive. We love you long time.' It wouldn't be so bad if it was spelled out clearly, but I see a lot of Gator pop-up ads at many sites I visit. They don't say, 'here's a utility, in exchange for your explicit permission to install and run tracking software on your computer.' I fly to Tampa, Florida on Wednesday. Movies are cheap at Half.com.

July 12, 2002:

Got my performance review back today. My "performance is very good" and I "rated a 7 on the attitude scale"! No surprises, good or bad, and a decent raise to boot, with a reminder that getting additional certifications is the way to real money. Lee and I baked some chocolate brownies, and I put coconut in mine. Watched an episode of The Prisoner and an episode of Hana Yori Dango. It was headache-inducingly eclectic. I also figured out that the guy who made that video game Icebreaker that I played way back in the dorm days is the same guy who made the card game Chrononauts. I love insane people that make neat stuff!

July 11, 2002:

Finished, more or less, a test conversion yesterday, but showed up at work today feeling sick to my stomach. Toughed it out sipping a Sprite for about an hour, mapping out which way to dash if I should happen to vomit, and then just said the hell with it and left. Still feeling the sort of disconnected body-dread I would have to describe as "vaguely barfy." Work will have to survive without me for a day. I could just work the weekend to catch up. Thank you, possibly psychosomatic illness!

July 8, 2002:

Man, I hate explaining anything, but of all the things I hate to explain, it's what someone should already have said. It's just so hard to say, "I'm sorry. Other people could have given you this critical information before today, but they didn't, so it's an emergency, right now, this very minute!"

July 7, 2002:

Accomplished little-to-nothing. Watched the Samurai Jack movie with Mike, picked up more Prisoner DVDs, got my own copy of Niea Under Seven. Also wrote a stern letter to the worker's comp people.

July 6, 2002:

Lee and I went to Jacob and Julie's place, and played Merchant of Venus, Chrononauts, and Entdecker. We ate cookies, cake, and a savory pot roast that was great. Dylan was well-behaved, and a good time was had by all...

July 5, 2002:

Watched some anime, went to the bank, bought some stamps, the end. I got today off because of working Memorial Day. I also watched an episode of an anime series called Chobits. It's the second robot-girl anime I've seen in the last week. It's like there's a factory in Japan, cranking out anime about robot girls. Better than cranking out robot girls themselves, anyway.

July 4, 2002:

Went down to Richmond and ate burgers. I made guacamole-or-something, and took a nap. A couple of Logan pix are up in the Photo Album.

July 3, 2002:

Finished work for the week, not that I actually finished anything. Not too sore from racquetball yesterday. I'm looking forward to having a four-day weekend. Lee and I will be headed down to Richmond for grillin' with the in-laws. Friday/Saturday/Sunday, I'm going to do some catch-up on a few tasks around the house, and probably sit around and watch anime.

July 2, 2002:

Played racquetball with Larry and Marco from work. They had played a couple games, we played a couple games of cutthroat, and then Marco pounded the living daylights out of me. This is slated to be a short week, but we'll see. Discovered a major oversight, but will hopefully have everything sewn up by the end of the day tomorrow. If not, I'll end up coming in Friday instead of taking the day off. I've been going through my bookmarks, seeing which sites are live, and which ones are dead. Old Man Murray and the Gaming Intelligence Agency are down, the GIA down for good, complete with mushy-gushy editorials from all the staff. Old Man Murray had been slow to update for quite some time, but I kept going back to read their vile screeds about subpar video games.

July 1, 2002:

Didn't accomplish as much as I hoped at work.

June 30, 2002:

Hung out at the Harveys', and learned Sadie was in town for the day. Good to see old friends again, even if it just makes me maudlin.

June 29, 2002:

Went to Kroger's and bought turkey bacon, avocados, bagels, and eggs, then went to Academy and bought an exercise bike. Came home and reattached Lee's old computer to the network, which required widening the hole in the wall of my study. It's ugly, but it works. I then unhooked the printer from my computer and hooked it up to Lee's old computer. Now Lee can print from her new computer downstairs onto the printer upstairs without having my computer come to a screeching halt every time a document goes through. Last night I watched six episodes of a giant robot anime called "The Big O," and the final episode of the first series is a cliffhanger. It was cool, in certain respects. I spent some time looking for manga and anime episodes on the net. That was basically a big waste of my time (see anime review here for more details).

June 28, 2002:

Fridays are always bad at work. I'm a workaholic. Not that I work hard, or well. I just use work as an abusable escape. Of course, like all addicts, I'm a horrible judge about what is an escape. This week's was a fifty-five hour love-fest. Okay, I made that figure up. I haven't added it up, because I didn't want to spend another half-hour filling out and submitting my time sheet. Fifteen times three is forty-five, plus two times nine is eighteen, plus the two on Sunday, um, equals I'm the dumbest person I've met this year who didn't live in North Carolina or Michigan. I sure hope those are just estimates that are horribly off. Car didn't start today, so replacing the battery last week didn't do the trick. I have thrown my hat into the ring as a GM for Owlcon. I'd like to state for the record, I'm not trying to 'give anything back to the community' or 'spread the joy of gaming.' As far as I know, I was placed on this earth for one reason, and one reason alone: to Kill Dr. Lucky, and if GM'ing slots at Owlcon can get me killing Dr. Lucky for free, all the better. Let's not forget, the last time I was at Owlcon, they showed me Love Hina, and I still haven't fully come to my senses.

June 27, 2002:

Played racquetball with Marco from work. Absolutely killed him in one game, sandwiched between two where he knocked me all over the court. I'm rusty, and he's got a much stronger arm than I have.

June 23, 2002:

Went in and worked for a couple hours, felt sick, and came home. I am going to be exposed to massive pain and suffering for the next five days.

June 22, 2002:

There's nothing like vacuuming the entire downstairs to make you realize that all of us spend our lives coated in a fine layer of dust. I feel like Charles Schultz's Pigpen. This next week is going to be an explosion of work, I think. After this Friday, I should be totally done, done, done, which frees me for other tasks.

June 21, 2002:

My supervisor clarified his position about working extra: He would prefer I work early and/or late during the week, rather than come in on the weekends. Of course, if I were to just come in this weekend, I could do some printing. Lee and I went over to keep Julie company with Jacob out of town. We ate pizza and played Starbase Jeff.

June 20, 2002:

Well, I'm pleased to report that I survived a trip to North Carolina. The conversion data is probably humming tunelessly to itself at the office, waiting for me to return. It's not so much a challenge as a hassle. Most of the tough stuff is out of the way, but I have days of taking screenprints left to go. I'm doing a good job, but I'm not fast enough. I'll finish out the week around 50 hours. This doesn't reflect that I spent six hours in the airport because I couldn't get standby onto a flight back to Houston. The airport had a used bookstore in it, which was unusual. I bought a few books, and read them, one Barbara Hambly fantasy in the terminal, another horror novel on the plane, and about half of a Hunter S. Thompson collection. The horror novel was convoluted, but it broke one of my rules: If you include in your novel a section about the Golem of Prague, use it to close, not open, the book.

June 9, 2002:

I bought a router for our network. My fantastic powers of networking have caused many of the earlier issues to disappear, and Lee's new computer now can get files from my computer, and both computers are up and running on the web and email. I am not going to test print sharing, because I have run out of patience for now. Also, Lee's connection to our employer's mainframe is not working... it is reported to Simply Not Work (tm) from behind a firewall. Um, the router is a built-in firewall, so that's horrible. In other news, CompUSA has changed their return policies, and now charges a 15% restocking fee on returned open items. At this time, I recommend boycotting CompUSA until they reconsider.

June 8, 2002:

Lee and I went to a Casino Night sponsored by my department. We ate fajitas, sipped a little wine, and gambled half-heartedly. We didn't win any of the raffle prizes, but it was cool. I got more positive feedback about various board games I have played with my coworkers. Another game night is sure to follow...

June 2, 2002:

What a week, what a week! I worked five hours on Memorial Day, worked overnight Tuesday finishing a conversion, and cooked dinner Friday for Lee. I fly out again on Monday.

May 27, 2002:

I spent several hours at the dentist on Saturday, and we bought a computer yesterday. I only spent five hours at work this fine holiday, and spent the rest of the day working on the network. I can't get Lee's new computer to admit that my computer is there for file-sharing, but it can "see" my computer is out there when I try and set Lee's to print over the network. Lee's can't "see" the printer, though. We're still deciding how much of Microsoft's office suite Lee needs. That may increase the cost of adding her new computer by another 50% or so. The first time I set up the network, it took me eight hours of cursing and a six-pack of Rolling Rock (for clarity's sake, it was over a two-day stretch).

May 23, 2002:

Okay, I admit, I returned to Houston late Tuesday, the 21st, but I haven't had much energy. I thought I was going to get a day off as soon as I got back, but I was wrong. Also, tomorrow I turn in my six-month review.

May 12, 2002:

Still have a few preparations for my trip tomorrow. I have all-around anxieties about this assignment, not the least of which is that I have plenty of other work that also needs to be done.

May 11, 2002:

Lee and I went to a reception for Jacob, to congratulate him on his graduation from the Rice MBA program. We then went down to Richmond to see the in-laws for Mother's Day. I ate like a pig all day long. Also got my copy of Ursuppe. Lots of baby appreciation today.

May 9, 2002:

The week is almost over, and I still have work left. But enough about me, let's talk about Spider-Man. As many of you know, there is a deep need in the human condition to read comic books about a man with the proportionate strength and speed of a spider. Of course, until the Spider-Man comic was introduced, that just led to free-floating anxiety, causing the Crusades, an Inquisition, and the designing of those hats the Pilgrims wore. Anyway, in spite of the fact that I still haven't seen the Lord of the Rings movie yet, I've seen the Spider-Man movie. Paid full price, and might even go again at matinee prices. Definitely will own on DVD. Lee enjoyed it too, which is saying something. As we walked out of the theater, she said, "I had never really heard Spider-Man's origin story before." She said that because I was going on and on about a single throwaway line in the movie (spoiler). I thought that was genetic. In science class, I'm reasonably sure they said, 'Your genes determine your eye color, your hair color, and which comic-book heroes' origins you know, except for Spider-Man's origin. Everyone knows that.' Lucky me, I ended up with brown hair, brown eyes, and knowing quite a few stories about superheroes. To reiterate, one person who doesn't read comic books and never did, and one person who's a comic book freak went to see Spider-Man, and they both liked it.

May 8, 2002:

Lee and I have reconfigured our cell phone rate plans, so if you have a Sprint PCS phone, we now have a pool of minutes designated just to talk to you. It's that simple. YOU=PCS PHONE, ME=TALKING TO YOU. Kurt Godel is spinning in his grave, right now, over that one.

May 7, 2002:

It's evaluations time at work. I have five double-sided pages of self-evaluating to do, before the list gets passed up the chain of command. Then I will be showered with valuable prizes. This week has been rough. I've got projects that really should be building momentum for the upcoming weeks, and other projects that deserve finishing. I also have to factor in the part where I'm going to be out of town for who-knows-how-long. Made some progress today.

May 5, 2002:

Went in to work to finish a training project. Put the nails in that coffin; see you in hell, training set! From my rough analysis of the time log, the problem was mid-sized tasks popping up in mid-week that required my attention immediately. Ate salmon for dinner, watched volume one and two of the original El-Hazard series. Can't believe it's May.

May 4, 2002:

Mailed out a second payment for Ursuppe, to replace the money order that is evidently delayed in the mail. I'm sure it'll get there, and have enclosed a SASE so my contact can get the missing payment back to me when it arrives. Lee and I went out to 'the Oil Ranch,' a Texas-themed chunk of land about thirty or forty minutes northwest of Houston. We had barbecue at the company picnic, then we left. We saw a lot of the cool people with whom I work. It was hot, hot, hammer and anvil hot. Glad we were there as long as we were, glad we didn't stay even a moment longer. Lee and I got matching strawberry Sno-cone(tm) stains down our fronts. Call me a purist, but I prefer the wholesome honesty of bright red strawberry to blue bubblegum flavor.

May 3, 2002:

My week finishes at 53 hours. Am behind on work anyway, will have to go in on Sunday to finish a training project and give another project a little more time. Played racquetball, won 15-14, lost 14-15, and gave a royal beating 15-7. Am talking about some sort of loose racquetball association of players at work, many of whom are not very serious.

April 30, 2002:

In at 6:15, out at 6. Advanced two projects, one stalled out. Almost done 'for real' with two projects. Hardest part is the calls from clients-can't schedule around them, need to solve their problems. If I don't get work done on the training class, I am going to be in a world of hurt on Friday. Racquetball with Larry from work tomorrow. Don't know if I can survive that. Also learned that my money order for Ursuppe hasn't arrived yet, so that sucks big time; it's been in the mail since the 20th. Need to get to work, so down the road I go.

April 29, 2002:

In at 7, out at 6:30. Advanced one project, two stalled out. One of the people in my department quit today. She had been there only a few more months than I had. Let my words ring out across the land: survival of the fittest! Nah, seriously, she was friendly, funny, and helpful, so the department's taken a real loss, whether they know it or not.

April 28, 2002:

Went into work today (Sunday) to load some converted data remotely, and get some other conversion paperwork done. I'm not as far ahead as I thought I was going to be, but I also grossly underestimated the level of delay I had during the week. The good news: I'm close to finishing off one project. The bad news: I have a class that is supposed to have 40 hours dedicated to it from April 29 to May 3, so I don't know how that's going to mesh with all the other goals on the board.

April 27, 2002:

Drove to Austin, where I met Rod and Sean at a game shop called Dragon's Lair. We played some board games and generally had a good time. I picked up a copy of Starbase Jeff, which I know is out of print, and wanted after playing it at Owlcon. My copy of Ursuppe isn't here yet. I've probably got a good week to go. The new, lowered speed limits on Texas freeways are agonizing when you drive on the weekends. There's absolutely no reason to go 55 when you've gone over the same exact stretch of road going 70 during the week in heavy traffic. The beltway near our house has changed speed limits, too. The official reason that the speed limits were changed is the 1.7% increase in pollution generated by cars going the higher speed. Conclusion: if I get an electric car, I should be able to drive 85. I think the real reason it was done is to discourage commuters from moving even farther out of Houston and then driving into Houston every day. It won't work, because of the preponderance of good jobs all over the city, including downtown. It also won't work because people who buy houses and then discover their commute is vicious don't suddenly and magically find new jobs. They drive the route anyway, hating their lives. I read a Houston Press article that said a fifth of the cars in Houston don't have liability insurance, which they are legally required to carry. Conclusion: removing uninsured motorists from the road would free up space for the responsible types, like me.

April 25, 2002:

More self-improvement, more work, new and different ways of having too much to do. It's actually invigorating. It's like being in a wave pool. The waves start coming and you bob up and down flailing madly, and then they stop for a little while. This weekend, I'm driving to Austin to meet Sean and Rod, who are headed there from San Antonio. It's a great life if you don't weaken.

April 24, 2002:

As soon as I finished one job, another popped up. Ha ha, the first one's not really finished, so I get to go in to work ON SUNDAY by CUTTING SHORT A TRIP TO SAN ANTONIO! Hug me, I suffer! I also went to a self-improvement class about avoiding burnout.

April 23, 2002:

Monday we went to Jacob and Julie's for Chinese food. Today I did more conversion work and went to a time-management class. The schedule is stressful, and it's moving me toward being a fully-operation member of the department. I'm still listed as a trainee, so I need to get that fixed, and get my business cards ordered.

April 20, 2002:

The attic is now insulated. If our math is right, the job will pay for itself in two years. If our math is wrong, we'll just avoid being baked like casseroles anywhere upstairs. I'm still depressed about Damon Knight's death on Tuesday. He edited really great science-fiction anthologies, wrote over a dozen books, and won a Hugo. At some level, I'm still calling myself a writer, and if I can't grow up to be David Foster Wallace or Kurt Vonnegut, I hope I grow up to be Damon Knight. By the way, Knight was 79, the same age as Vonnegut is.

April 19, 2002:

Back in Houston! Actually returned this morning, flying standby to get out of Tampa earlier. The children behind me (boy age 3, girl age 4) took turns kicking my seat for the entire duration of the flight, including the ten minutes we were waiting on the ground. The screaming baby in their mother's lap was keeping her too busy for kid control. I slept through takeoff and landing anyway. I put 56 hours down on my time sheet this week. I also passed my certification test, earning me a raise, as well as qualifying me to get certified in other areas. After you certify in each area of specialty, you "evolve" into a larger, more powerful version of... no, wait, I'm thinking of Fox Kids' Digimon.

April 16, 2002:

Took a certification test today. If I pass, I get a raise. I also fixed my laptop, so I now have the ability to dial up to Roadrunner while almost anywhere in the country. The only catch is, I can't check my normal email account. This shouldn't present an issue, because I won't have enough time on the road to deal with email anyway. I needed the ability in case I had to send conversion files back to Houston. I will be in Tampa, Florida, until Friday night.

April 14, 2002:

I forgot to mention, somewhere in there last week, the handyman broke one of our 220 volt breakers, so our dryer didn't work. He came back today to fix the problem, and had the utter brass to suggest that I give him money for performing this service. Out of character, I stood fast and got it done for free, except, of course, the cost of buying a new breaker. Our breaker box is ancient, and was listed on an electrician's list of "what you probably should pay me to fix" when we bought the house. I figure we'll just replace the whole shebang if anything else goes out. Lee and I cleaned eight garbage bags of old boxes and junk out of the attic. The previous owner must have figured that stuff would serve as insulation, instead of the insulation that should be up there.

April 13, 2002:

Went in to work for six hours, in the data conversion room. I converted so much data, they won't know what to do with it. This is the cool part of my job. The bad part of my job is the endless parade of training that is shoehorned into my schedule, combined with what's essentially homework.

April 12, 2002:

I was so good at work today, I might even get to come in tomorrow (Saturday) for more work! I learned more about building filters in Monarch. I played racquetball with Larry McClelland. He and I played games that ended up with us tied at 14-14, shooting it out. It's amazing. That's the second time it's happened, too.

April 10, 2002:

I now have a cell phone. Why? When you're a Houstonian lost in Detroit at midnight, you don't want to stop to use the pay phone. Evidently cel phones are the way hip young people are flushing all their money down the toilet these days. I have free nights and weekends after 9 p.m., so that's something. I have virtually no daytime minutes, since during the day, I have work to do.

April 9, 2002:

The Handyman Connection came today to install a new thermostat and play with the vent hood over the stove. You'll be relieved to know that we still do not have a functioning vent hood. I'd have done it myself, but 1) I'm not a trained electrician and 2) I'm frightened of dying. The electrician, sensing this, told me this about 277 volt circuits: "Aw, man, they're the worst. It won't kill you, but it'll blow pieces off your body... the legs usually go first." If anyone needs me, I'll be hiding under the bed. I'm only going to get out next week when I get to fly to Tampa, Florida. I'm also making at least one trip in May and one in June.

April 7, 2002:

The Wherehouse Music near us had more anime on DVD, which we bought at dirt-cheap prices. I'm also about to have a cel phone for work purposes. 200 minutes anytime, 1 bazillion night and weekend minutes. I'm not thrilled about shelling out money for a new expense, but I really do need one. Being lost in Detroit would have been much less scary with one, for instance.

April 6, 2002:

I'd just like to say that I have been at the corner of Ford and Mercury in Dearborn, MI. Ya know what's there? A big big Border's Books and Music! Um, down the road are many Henry Ford-inspired/funded structures. It's good to be back in Houston. Just a reminder: new federal aviation guidelines require that if you are escorting a small child capable of screaming continuously, it _must_ be adjacent to me, Todd Derscheid, while I fly. Lee and I bought 145 pounds of dirt for the back patio, and we wandered around bookstores looking for anime. I bought a used DVD on the cheap at Wherehouse Music near the Galleria. I'm excited by the very concept of used DVDs. Thank you, Adam Smith's invisible hand!

March 31, 2002:

Put the finishing touches on my review of NieA Under Seven. Just a reminder, I'll be out of town from April 1-5, on assignment. Later today, I'll dial in to work to change my voicemail with an out-of-town notice, and do some maintenance. After I get back, I take a test to determine whether I stay a lowly trainee, or an actual rep. It's multiple choice, fortunately.

March 30, 2002:

Lee and I went to Planet Anime to return the NieA DVD. I'm glad they wised up and started renting DVDs. We decided on a whim to go to Jason's Deli. I had the Beefeater, a.k.a. a french dip, yum yum. We went to a shop that was holding a going-out-of-business sale, and I bought a few postcards. We finished the day by watching My Neighbors the Yamadas. Review to follow shortly, hopefully.

March 29, 2002:

Work went on and on. I didn't get as much done as I had hoped, and I've made next week much harder for myself. Mike came over and we watched NieA again, along with the third episode of Love Hina, featuring the samurai girl. Mike appreciated it as much as I expected.

March 28, 2002:

Went to Jacob and Julie's picnic Seder (Passover meal) in Hermann Park. I had to pull some strings at work. I scored a lot of points today helping on conversion projects. Still need to set up a frequent-flyer account with Continental. Mike came over tonight. We watched NieA Under Seven and Love Hina, two bizarre pieces of Japanese animation. Time permitting, I'll post a review of NieA soon. (3/31/02: It's up in my anime section.)

March 27, 2002:

My computer seems to be randomly grinding and thrashing less. I'll have to experiment more and see if anything has been hosed, but so far, I'm on the internet, my email still works, my desktop hasn't been reset to hideous default screens, etc. "Any landing you can walk away from is a good one!" I ought to re-scandisk and re-defragment, just to finish out. If I get my act together, I'll be able to dial in to Roadrunner while I'm away on assignment next week.

March 26, 2002:

Downloaded a registry-compacting shareware program last night. It rebooted to true DOS, displayed "EXPORTING REGISTRY" for a long, long time, with no other progress indicators. Finally, I turned off my monitor, put a don't-touch sign up, and went to bed.

March 25, 2002:

Polished off two big projects at work. I have breathing room now; not much, but it's there. Our escrow account is messed up because we don't have a homeowners' exemption yet. Really just a matter of finding the form online, which I did just now, filling it out, and sending it in.

March 24, 2002:

Returned folding chairs borrowed from Home Depot, then took a giant nap. I read Orbit 18, edited by Damon Knight. If I had to pick one literary personage to emulate, other than David Foster Wallace, it would be Damon Knight.

March 23, 2002:

Our new games party was a smashing success. We combined work friends, college friends, and gaming friends without any major scuffles, and everyone who RSVP'd as a definite yes showed up ready to play and on their best behavior.

March 22, 2002:

I was at work until 7, sure enough, but didn't finish everything. I made a lot of progress and will be able to actually finish projects on Monday. Lee and I bought food for tomorrow's party.

March 21, 2002:

If I get as much done tomorrow as I did today, I'll finish everything I need to finish. Of course, I was at work today from 8 in the morning to 7 at night. New Games Party on Saturday is shaping up nicely... my second round of emails has mostly been answered, so once I count them down, I should have a much better idea as to the number of people planning to show up.

March 18, 2002:

My new job's flaw has become apparent: it involves dozens of floating deadlines. I have complex, fiddly tasks that require extensive research followed by sustained effort. I burned some of my files to CD, preparing for a delicate registry-compacting operation. I figure it will either work, or not work. If it doesn't work, I'll have to reinstall Windows from scratch, which will solve my registry-fragmentation problems, anyway. Work better, little computer, work better!

March 17, 2002:

Watched most of Shamanic Princess. I think I'd seen the best parts already in fansub form. I had a huge burst of energy this morning and rearranged my study, moving it much closer to the final form I have in mind.

March 16, 2002:

Went to Fry's Electronics and bought volume one of Love Hina and the complete Shamanic Princess DVD. Lee and I also went to Home Depot and bought plastic sheeting and a vent hood for the stove. We also finalized our taxes.

March 13, 2002:

Made progress on the nagging little projects that I have been dragging around for the last two months. I have a major project starting next week that MUST finish by week's end, so these are the days to finish off the annoyances. Watched "Smallville" tonight. I think I've seen more than half of the episodes in existence. This is neither good nor bad.

March 12, 2002:

As in the old saying, "survival of the fittest," survival of the fittest! By the end of the month, I am going to proof all my webcomics links. Any that have been on hiatus longer than a month, out the door. Bad link, well, I'll do a quick search on Yahoo, and if I can't find it, out the door it goes. By the way, if you catch broken links on my site (other than webcomics for now), don't hesitate to email me. I'm sick, and it's dragging down my performance at work. Fortunately, today didn't require me to perform open-heart surgery. I fell asleep for two hours, bounced out of bed again, and am going to hit the sack one more time before getting up, ostensibly to bake a pan of brownies.

March 11, 2002:

I have returned to Houston, again. Monday to Friday, I was in Philadelphia. It was less grueling this time, fortunately. I picked up some sort of bug and have had the sniffles ever since. I learned Friday that my sister Amy had her baby, Hannah Kaye Davis. Jack and Amy were packing up to move to their new apartment when I called. Saturday, I drove to San Antonio to see Rod and Sean. The comic "Mangaphile" printed one of Rod's stories in issue 14, so those of you who like comics should go pick up a copy. Rod and Sean and I sat around playing boardgames and not much else. Work has me juggling about eight projects, as usual. I thought it would simplify once my training period ended, but it looks like my future will always be a jumbled mess of assignments that are about to happen. I leave town again April 1, headed to Detroit. It's going to be three zany weeks until then.

February 28, 2002:

I have returned to Houston. Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday, I was in Philadelphia. I logged almost thirty hours of work the first two days alone, in addition to the flight time. The job went off without a hitch, and a bunch of us go out for another round on Monday, returning Friday. I didn't have time to see anything, but I did eat a great Philly cheese steak. Tonight I took Lee out to dinner at Texas Land and Cattle Steakhouse. I had the steak, Angus medium well, and Lee had the salmon. We had a coupon for a free entree that took the meal down into the realm of normal prices. Work was hard, because I was tired. Lee's doctor wrote a note saying no more repetitive motions, effective immediately. My NEW GAMES PARTY is only FOUR WEEKENDS away!

February 23, 2002:

I've been doing a little cleaning and organizing in my room. I've given it about ten minutes of half-hearted picking through the items. It could use about an hour of dedicated work that I am not prepared to give. I'm contemplating more shelves, but that would require initiative. There's also the file cabinet, still in the original box. I guess I'll just have to comfort myself with the knowledge that Evan Dorkin is the man, now and forever. Note the mention of Skeleton Key as a Nickelodeon project. I saw it first when Rod bought it. Also, note that good old Sean Connery is reportedly going to star in a film adaptation of a comic book. The comic book in question is the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, an imaginative and delightful pulp-revisionist series. What I've read, I've enjoyed, although I seem to recall that it took too long between issues to come out, and the collection usually showed up in stores as a hardback, which I am not willing to buy.

February 22, 2002:

I drove down to Richmond after work and recovered Lee's car from the mechanic. As I left the driveway, I caught all of a Steve Miller Band song. Then I heard good tunes from Led Zeppelin and the Doors on the way down 59 South. It was a classic rock bonanza. Drivin' along, 9 p.m., when "L.A. Woman" stopped, and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" started playing, I was smiling ear to ear. My first road warrior trip is Monday. It's going to be great.

February 21, 2002:

I haven't done anything except work. No, wait, I finished reading Rebecca Ore's Outlaw School. Not a bad little novel, but the ending came out of nowhere, and was basically jumping forward in time to an epilogue. I think she wrote herself into a corner, then just threw up her hands and said the heck with it.

February 18, 2002:

Back to work. I'm not saying I loafed today, but there was a certain amount of aimlessness to my activity. On the other hand, I worked nine hours today. I'm about to put the nails in the coffin of one project that's haunted me for over a month, and it feels great. In other news, I'm probably going to be in Philadelphia twice in the next few weeks. Wahoo, company per diem takin' care of expenses!

February 17, 2002:

We drove to Louisiana and back to see "the in-laws." Eight hours in the car for three hours hanging out wasn't a terrible trade. Lee and I slept in, having forgotten to set our alarm clocks, and that mistake provided us with enough additional mojo to produce Big Time Driving.

February 16, 2002:

I got a state inspection and an oil change. Lee's car is being weird, so we'll get Buck to fix it. There's nothing like a good mechanic who charges half of Houston's going rate for mechanical work. We drive to Louisiana tomorrow. We are about to alter our student loan payments now that Lee's car is paid off. Hooray, us!

February 15, 2002:

I spent the entire day at work grinding through an accounting practice set. I know it's better to let a computer do math, if the math must be right. I learned it many moons ago, when the plumes of steam from the yaks rose into the icy air of the steppes... uh, all I'm saying is, I spent nine hours at work on what is basically a hazing that you administer to yourself. My trial balance didn't balance, and I never worked out the problem. I eventually redid most of my math in Excel, and caught a few minor errors. I think I made one really large error, and I'm not looking forward to fixing it.

February 14, 2002:

I gave Lee a couple of action figures for Valentine's Day. One of the irrepressible Digimon named Calumon, and the other the Medabot robotic fighter Medabee. I'd link to pictures, but I'm having trouble finding good ones online, due to the extreme lameness of all action figure websites, now and forever. The Calumon action figure wiggles his ears when you flip a little lever on his back.

February 12, 2002:

Racquetball yesterday equals stiff today. It's not actually all that bad. There's an instructor at work who talks faster than anyone I've ever met. I don't know how she does it. Today she taught a three hour class in an hour and forty-five minutes. I spent an hour and a half at a departmental meeting. It was inspiring, actually. They list employees' anniversaries of being hired by the company. Most of the team leaders who I think are cool have been here between three and four years, and they're experts in at least one field and working towards others.

February 11, 2002:

Spinning my wheels on a project at work. I also went to play racquetball with Larry from work. I haven't been on a court in at least eight months. We played to 14-15, 15-14 and 14-15. I missed the final point in the first and third games. I also wore a hole in one of my ankles from my new shoes. It was a blast, except for the part after the first game where we both clutched our chests and complained of chest pain simultaneously. My heart and lungs haven't worked that hard in a long time.

February 10, 2002:

Today I accomplished very little, beyond writing a first draft of a review of Love Hina. I'll post it in about a week.

February 9, 2002:

Bounced out of bed bright and early to stack and restack a pile of games. I attended Owlcon, the Rice University gaming convention today, and it was great. I played some great games, met an old friend from back in the dorm days, went to the anime showing for a short time, and was well served by the admission price. Jacob hung around for the gaming, and took off after the anime showing was delayed as the techs struggled to install software on the machine. Next year, I'm going to run boardgame demos and get in for free. This year, I'm going to save my nickels and dimes to buy the entire Love Hina series on DVD, as fast as I can.

February 8, 2002:

My trip to Oklahoma has been postponed indefinitely. The Philadelphia trip is still on. Tomorrow, I'm going to Owlcon, the Rice University gaming convention. I'm going to play about five or six hours of boardgames, and try and catch some episodes of Love Hina, a fairly new anime series that has been compared to a few other ones that I like. It's based on a dating simulation (the Japanese will make video games about anything. There's a game that simulates being an engineer on a train; if steering the train is too much, you can just ride the simulated train). Got news that a guy in my senior class in high school killed himself, leaving behind a wife and child. I bought some clearance-sale Reeboks for racquetball.

February 7, 2002:

Will this week never end? It's like an extended techno remix of this week. This is the last week I'll have long classes that take up most of my day. After this week, I'll have more time to get my work done.

February 6, 2002:

Got a compliment from my supervisor. I came in early and stayed late to advance several projects, so I really earned it.

February 5, 2002:

Lee and I went to the gym. Our company has this gym, and we can get the membership fees auto-deducted from our paychecks. I liked the look of the racquetball courts but not anything else. I'm also woefully ignorant. I was thinking I would go in, I'd see some machines, recognize them from gym trips of long ago, and have myself a little workout. Didn't happen. I fiddled around but left without breaking a sweat. I also accomplished a lot at work today. I've turned a corner on the computerized instruction modules, and I wrote a page in a manual. Yeah, that's right: ask me! I wrote the book, or at least, that page of it. We also had a dealership visit where a seasoned Software Install vet, two other rookies, and I went to Jack Roach Ford and talked to all the nice employees. They were friendly and upbeat.

February 4, 2002:

They piled more work on me today. Actual work, weird hazing/training work, and further training work. I think my job would be a lot of fun if I could just do it, without all these enriching activities. Another one of the people who started with me quit today. I never actually saw her... she just vanished out of the company's computerized phone directory and I got the story from someone else in her department. It was science-fictiony. I mean, she was at work on Friday, enrolled in classes, in the directory, and today, nada.

February 3, 2002:

We returned the monitor. Lee and I watched the Child's Toy OAV. It was the material from the original series' first eight episodes, condensed into 29 minutes. It wasn't boring but it also wasn't as hyperactive and fun as the original. We also watched "I Can Hear the Sea," a Studio Ghibli work (the animation studio that made Princess Mononoke and My Neighbor Totoro, among others). I originally saw it back in 1995 or so. It's a fairly lightweight teenage slice-of-life romance. The sound and picture on my copy aren't that great. Since there's no violence or sex or magical girls, this has been a hard to find title.

February 2, 2002:

Celebrated Groundhog Day by going on a hideous shopping expedition. I swapped out fluorescent lights in the kitchen and bought a file cabinet. Lee bought a monitor but we discovered that it is defective, so that means a trip to Sam's to return it. Sigh. Mike came over briefly and watched Invader Zim on the downstairs computer on the new monitor, shared off the upstairs computer. Networking is sweet, people. It's the future. We also finished watching Lain. If I miraculously survive the returns process, I might hammer out a review of Lain at some point (note: review is up on my anime page).

February 1, 2002:

If there's anything sweeter than going to a restaurant after a hard day's work and eating like the pig you are, I don't know what it is.

January 31, 2002:

Okay, I admit, I played the Sanctum online demo. I swear, I didn't give them real money in exchange for virtual cards. I'm pretty stupid, but I'm not that stupid.

January 30, 2002:

My fansub order arrived. I've got about 11 tapes full of weird Japanese animation not released in the US yet. Lee and I are working our way through Lain, which is out in the US. We watched the first tape a year or two ago, and never finished watching the rest. See, there's this Japanese girl named Lain, and she's introverted. Then she gets a new computer, and starts hearing God in the Internet. It contains possibly my favorite anime line of all time: "You shouldn't be getting email from a dead girl. But there it is!" Work is presenting diverse challenges. People who started about the time I did have started dropping out.

January 27, 2002:

I started reading my library books. Got some Charles Bukowski, a few graphic novels, and a pile of Philip Pullman stuff. Wow, there's just no knowing which way he's going until he's there. I've got no clue, he's just all over the map. Talked a lot on the phone with my mom and dad, about taxes and so forth.

January 26, 2002:

I'm so glad that past week is complete. I finished my first real challenge at the new job. I am thinking about doing a little work on training materials this weekend to get ahead. I fixed the laundry room doors, the hanging bar in the laundry room, and helped Lee take down the old blinds and put up new curtains in the master bedroom.

January 22, 2002:

Work continues to be a scheduling challenge. I have about eight separate projects, aside from training classes that take up six or seven hours of my day. That means each project can have fifteen minutes, if it asks politely. I also discovered material about a possibly-upcoming Kevin Smith movie, or maybe a couple of them.

January 20, 2002:

I took a little time to listen to some of my older CDs and play computer games this morning. I've been flipping through some recent book acquisitions.

January 19, 2002:

I vacuumed everything I've been saying I would vacuum. It would have been nice to go to the library, but no, they closed today at 6 p.m. and don't open till noon on Monday, for my reading convenience. Michael, Lee, and I stocked up on groceries, then made soups for dinner. We played Merchant of Venus, and Lee won. I hope we get to play tomorrow, too.

January 18, 2002:

I did actual work today, almost all day. Lee and I were supposed to go see Lord of the Rings with some friends, but they postponed, so we went to see Harry Potter instead. I've been looking for linkworthy pages, but all I can find are pages to mock. Also stuff to buy, as always. Stuff I don't even need. Stuff that's too expensive. My computer's acting funny, so it's time to call it a day.

January 15, 2002:

Advanced parts wrapped up today, so the parts managers in the classes will go back to their dealerships. The rest of the week, I might do actual work. Y'know, work-work, not any of the other kinds of work. That would be novel.

January 14, 2002:

Advanced parts class is interesting. It's more challenging and has questions aimed at strategic thinking.

January 13, 2002:

Went over and picked up Jacob, and hauled him up to Fry's Electronics. I didn't buy anything but advised him about scanners. Computer memory is expensive again; the chip I want doubled in price in the last week at every place I checked. I watched an episode of The Prisoner on DVD and went home for a short nap. I later met Mike for lunch at Brenda's Taqueria. I followed Mike back to Borders and turned my speed-reading all the way up for about four hours. I read L.E. Modesitt's The Parafaith War (not the same plot as all his other books, how impressive) and Stacy (?) Horn's Waiting for My Cats to Die, which was okay, I guess.

January 12, 2002:

Lee and I went to a garage sale and bought a bunch of plastic snap-together roads and gave them to the Isenhowers. Little James Madison Isenhower, the 6th one, is three weeks old. I did a crossword puzzle and enjoyed myself immensely. We went to Jacob and Julie's and stared at Dylan Dan Ratner, the 1st one, 6 weeks old. Jacob loaned me a graphic novel, and gave me a bag full of Vision of Escaflowne tapes. To be precise, thirteen hours worth of that, and about four hours of Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure. Tomorrow, I'm going back to Fry's Electronics with Jacob. I'm also playing with a web version of 6 Takes!

January 11, 2002:

Finished parts class. I think I could probably learn everything else I need to know to be a parts counter-guy in about two hours on the job. Looks like a busy weekend. If I don't vacuum in the next two days, I won't accomplish anything of value. I also vow to: 1. figure out that HTML doo-dad where an internal reference lets you jump all over the place on a web-page, and not just start at the top, 2. post my speech from Amy and Jack's wedding, 3. attempt to make my work laptop operate with my webcam, and 4. get enough sleep. Not in that priority, and not in that order.

January 10, 2002:

Class continues. It's still boring. The instructor is doing a remarkably bad job of convincing clients that they're going to like our software, and that the incredibly-expensive security features we provide aren't something you can just 'turn off.' Ugh, parts people! When Lee and I got home, we watched Willow on DVD. That was fun.

January 9, 2002:

Oh, I get it, I'm sick again. Isn't there some sort of extract, or tree root, or moose juice that is supposed to prevent my constant acquisition of 'whatever's going around?' Class is boring, and the people in there are also boring. That is because they sell car parts all day, not traditionally a position that attracts PhDs.

January 8, 2002:

I got a good look at the conversion procedures (i.e. my real job) today. Looks complicated, just the way I like it. I took Lee out to dinner at Collina's after work. Not the good Collina's, the standard by which I judge restaurants, but the close Collina's, staffed by teenagers. They mean well, but it's not the same as getting service from a waiter who makes more in tips than I make in wages, week for week. Anyway, it's still a lot of food, for not much money.

January 7, 2002:

Another round of training classes started at work. Lee and I watched Shrek on DVD, then played with the special features, some of which were actually special. I think we're going to crash early tonight, because this morning was a hellish dragging-myself-out-of-bed experience, at least for me. Napsville Z-Force is go!

January 6, 2002:

Fixed my archive pages: naming is now consistent. All archive pages have consistent link appearances. All archive page internal links have been reverified. I also had a cool notion. I have a laptop from work, and I have a webcam. That means I am probably three hours of swearing away from having a crude and clumsy digital camera! I'll keep you posted.

January 5, 2002:

We drove down and picked up my car about noon. It's driving well. I have a vague notion of impending doom about my car. In the next few days, I'm going to roll over to 100,000 miles. We also visited the public library down in Richmond-Rosenberg. I bought $20 worth of books at their book sale. Thirteen hardbacks, nineteen softcover. I'm also browsing for DVDs online.

January 4, 2002:

Lee and I carpooled again, since my little red car remains in Richmond-Rosenberg having the brakes re-redone. I finally, finally, finally, on my eighteenth day on the job, actually was shown something I will actually do when my training is completed. My supervisor and I talked about losing my only teammate. He was disappointed, but he's been a lone wolf for a long time. He is concerned that I won't be trained as well, since his own tasks are too esoteric for me to 'watch and learn.' I'm pretty sure he wrote all the conversion manuals I read today. Also had about two hours of quality playing-with-my-laptop time at work.

January 3, 2002:

Lee and I made it to work at eight a.m., which was good. I worked four hours on an accounting practice set, am nowhere near halfway done. At quarter to six, Lee called me and told me the front desk called to say our car had a flat tire. I said, "No problem, I changed tires all the time, back at the rental car agency. I'll be done in 12 minutes." The lug nuts had been tightened all the way with an air wrench, just the way they're not supposed to be. I played it safe until I cut my knee on the lug wrench (ha ha... it embedded shreds of my pant leg INSIDE the wound! Laugh at my pain!), and then I jumped on that lug wrench like it was a pogo stick. Total time to put on the spare: 22 minutes flat.

January 2, 2002:

Lee dropped me off at work because my car's brakes are still messed up. Good thing we have tow insurance. While I was at work, I learned I'm not flying to Lafayette, Indiana for my first real work in the field; now I'm riding (!!) out to somewhere in Oklahoma, around the first week of February. Also my only teammate quit around lunchtime because she got another job. I spent the entire day staring at a computer screen, so coming home to work on my web page was a big relief, ha ha. Plans for the weekend: split off archive pages, possibly post a day-by-day vacation breakdown, and post a copy of my speech from Amy and Jack's wedding.

Check out 2003's news, 2001's news, or start from the early days!