So, yeah, as of this weekend the world has survived another year with me on it. I'll need to work harder on that. Pretty much spent the weekend with family and forgot about work and everything stress-related. It's a good change.

On the plus side, only one more year until my auto-insurance rates go down.

Hey, just tossing this out there, but I'm wondering if anyone going to AC 2008 needs another roomie to fill a room. Some of my original plans collapsed, and I'm scrambling at the moment.

I'm not all that weird and don't take up much space. ^^

Inaugurated the little mini propane grill I got for Christmas, finally. I'm something of a steak-lover (it's the canine in me, hold out a good looking Top Sirloin and you'll have me salivating) and I've always been keen to try and learn to cook it myself.

This was the first time I did it without 'advisory' and it didn't turn out too bad. A little more thoroughly cooked than I usually take (I always go for medium and I think I ended up closer to medium-well), but at least I've got an idea of how hot the grill gets on high and how the digital temperature gage in the grill-fork reads (it's a little low).

Still, tasted alright and I managed to get through it without blowing anything up or setting anything on fire.

Ok, so I don't surf. But I try, so it counts.

Anyhoo, yes, I get to take the one real vacation of the summer (being a first year employee kinda sucks when it comes to building up vacation days) and I'm taking it by heading south to Paradise Island in the Bahamas for 4 days.

Lessee, packing checklist...

Bermuda beach shorts. Check.
Sandals. Check.
Hawaiian Shirt. Check.
Swim trunks. Check
Sunscreen. Check.
Night Club Wear. Check.
Sunglasses. Check.
Cash. Check.
Passport. Check.

Eh, probably some other stuff in there, but I'll manage. See everyone in a few days. Hopefully with a pretty good tan...




Oh, and an update on the Omega Build:

Engine Section: Complete and Painted.
Aft Body Section: Complete, still some touch up painting to do.
Middle Rotational Section: Partially built, still need to paint.
Forward Body Section: A few difficult detail parts painted. No assembly.

Yes, my 18" Earth Alliance Omega class destroyer model finally arrived in it's un-assembled form. Special ordered all the way from England, I think I got the last one they had.

The thing has a lot of parts and needs a lot of careful painting... it's going to take awhile to finish it such that it looks good.

Which is, of course, how any good model should be. The first coat of paint is already on the engine nozzles, it'll probably take one or two more to get them looking evenly colored.

Yes, I am a geek.
Yes, I like Babylon 5.

And for those of you who haven't a clue what I'm talking about, the model is of one of these:

http://www.b5tech.com/earthalliance.....omegaviews.jpg

Had a bit of an incident today with my car. One day a week I have to commute down to Seattle for a 7:30 am start, which means getting up at around 5 am if I want to beat the traffic. So I get up, smack the alarm, curse mornings in general, and then go through my abbreviated 'get the hell out the door routine'.

So I get in the car, start it up, leave my apartment. On the way, it sounds like its idling a little funny and making a random clicking sounds at each gear shift. Part of me is starting to get nervous, but I decide to give it another block or so. Might be a twig or something lodged under the car. So I head out onto the main road towards the freeway, go up the hill. The clicking gets worse with each gear shift, followed by a loud squeal, at which point I'm trying to get off the road. The squeal turns into a thumping sound, and I see pieces of... stuff... in the wake of my car in my rear view mirror.

My mind briefly flashes to the first scene of Serenity.

By the time I get off the road, enough lights on my dashboard are on to make it look like Las Vegas. Power steering quits, and that unsettling idle is getting worse. I stop the car and get out, open the hood.

Both fan belts are in little pieces. The fan itself is a broken stub. The fan shroud is half gone.

Expletive deleted.

I hesitatingly get back in the car and limp it back home. It's still 6:15 am, so I call and leave a message at the repair place while trying to bum rides off co-workers and I eventually get to work (not Seattle this time, just to the Everett branch). I make contact with the repair place when they open and they have my car towed in. They say they've determined what happened, they're trying to figure out why. My stomach drops at the phrase 'the fan took the radiator out with it'.

Just before I clock out for the day, I get another call. The following description reminded me of a Rube Goldberg machine contained squarely under the hood of my car.

Water pump (A) driven by belt (B) siezes up and locks belt pulley (C) in place. As belt (B) is being jerked along locked pulley (C), it gradually works itself loose, wrapping up in other belt (D), which also comes loose and catches up in fan (E), causing it to break up, spraying bits of fan shrapnel into fan shroud (F) and radiator (G). With lack of all of the above, battery (H) will not be charged and water pump (A) will not cool engine (I). This causes car (J) to be forced off road (K), and motivates frustrated driver (L) to beat random thing (M) to death with shovel (N). Frustrated driver (L) then looks to consume large amounts of alcoholic beverages (O to Z).

In short, both belts, the fan, the shroud, the water pump and the radiator all need to be replaced. What burns even more is that I replaced both belts and the shroud less than a month ago as preventative measure. Base estimate is that this will cost me $1000 to fix, give or take my sanity. I can afford it... thankfully I don't spend much and I watch my savings... but it's still a kick in the crotch for my bank account.

...

There are ducks holding me hostage.

There's a flock or a gaggle or a squad or whatever you call a group of ducks outside my apartment door. I mean right outside the door, occasionally bumping into it. And they aren't sleeping or sitting or anything, they're waddling around. The closest water to my place is a good couple miles, so there's no real reason for some mallards to be hanging around at my apartment.

I'm scared to open the door, and I expect them to make ransom demands soon.

Tax refund showed up today, I'm in a good mood. ^^ Probably the last one I'll ever get.

Basically, it was because the computer system where I work was deducting my income tax based on how much it would take if I was salaried for a full year. Seeing as I just started in September, I was making notably less than that.

Still deciding what to spend it on, thinking maybe a new TV since I've still been using my little one from college, little more clarity when playing video games...