Roadside Picnic

I tested an 11" Macbook Air. The keyboard feels good, but that screen just isn't big enough for me. I tend to have three or four windows open at once, and the small screen didn't feel suited to that. I can make use of the sidebar on the iPad in small doses, and it really is meant to be a limited-use function; I'm just too used to the 13" screen that's been my primary for better than seven years now. Also, the 11" Airs don't have a SD card slot, and while that's not a deal-breaker, I'd rather have one than have to give over a USB port to a reader.

Somewhere along the way, my existing Macbook picked up the firmware upgrade that allows it to make use of an 8GB RAM installation. Apple never publicized this, and I only stumbled onto it when asking around about the machine's lifespan. $55 ain't bad for that kind of improvement.

I passed the biostats midterm with stumbling colors. Just one more exam and this subject and I can part ways. It'll show up again, I know, and I'll manage, but the dosage will be much much smaller.

We closed the SPHIS building on Friday (3/4) due to water line replacement. Turned out to be a boon, as I got hit with some kind of stomach flu Thursday evening. Lovecraft had the Colour out of Space; I had the color out of orifices, and I believe them to be equally unearthly. Like, colors seen only on those arrow-poison tree frogs. Still dealing with some congestion and coughing, but those are minor and don't leave me waiting for the sweet release of death.

One upside to having a weakened sense of smell and taste because of a cold is the easy justification of eating something more spicy than I usually have, and this time, there was Joella's, a hot chicken joint over on Frankfort Avenue. So good, y'all.

This looks like a fast week. I've got a debate tonight, and it should be a lovely train wreck - my wonderful partner and I are assigned the pro side of arming teachers in JCPS. It's an indefensible position, so we decided to just dive into the NRA gibberish pool and vomit out talking points for seven minutes. I'll throw in a personal story - my dad left the Standard Gravure building a half-hour before some asshole walked in and shot 20 people back in '89, and for proper effective cheapness, anecdote trumps data. Normal stuff in the other two classes, and then Spring Break. I have to be at SPHIS part of the week, since offices stay open, but I've got a four-day weekend at the end and hopefully new little toy spaceships to play with.

I finally got out of town on Saturday. Went to Louisville to hang out with D, and it was, on the whole, a very good day. We indulged our craft nerd sides - she has a nifty new mug and I got some new cheeses from a local dairy. Shopping on Bardstown Road, including throwing some money at Ear X-Tacy, 'cause if there's any music store that deserves to stay open, that one's it. Picked up a few back issues at The Great Escape. Dinner at Lynn's Paradise Cafe. Went to a movie, and that's when the trouble started. I'll save you the squishy details, but my stomach went into open rebellion. I made it back to Lexington easily enough, but had a hallucination-grade fever by the time I hit Frankfort.

Sunday was spent dealing with the sick. Dehydrated, continued fever, headache, weakness. I'm hoping it was my peculiar food allergy (strawberries) kicking in rather than a virus of some kind. I took today off to rest up, and the symptoms seem to be gone now.

Oh, the movie? The Wolfman. Not bad - perfectly serviceable little popcorn flick.

Watched the Oscars last night for the first time in a few years. Ben Stiller's skit was embarrassingly bad (and really, who's surprised here?), and the dance program went on waaaaay too long. Happy enough with the results of the night, I guess.

Probably going to drop Daredevil from my comics list. Brubaker spoiled me, and the new guy's not bad, but the tight focus on Hell's Kitchen really worked for me, and that's now gone. I'm going to pick up the second monthly Iron Man title, of course, and probably the new Avengers title, too. DC's launching yet another LSH book, so that'll get added. That'll put me at 5 DC and 3 Marvel titles a month, at least for a while. Unexpected.

Started my Community Emergency Response Team course last week, and I really like it. I like being back in a classroom, learning something new. Stagnation sucks rocks, kids.

Hopefully getting back to the Hollow Earth Expedition game Wednesday night. And I'm running a Traveller one-off in a couple of weeks. Gotta get cracking on that one.

I could do with more days like yesterday.  Had three main options for the day - lay around the living room, go to a party in Knoxville, or go look at something cool.  The last option was the big winner.

I picked up elalyr and tegyrius and off we went to the Air Force museum in Dayton.  I hadn't been in a few years, and the last trip was very very short, so we headed out reasonably early and got there in time for a leisurely walk around.  Lots of good stuff to see, of course - some old familiar exhibits, and a few new ones, like an Avrocar!  The missile/spacecraft tower was open, and rather eerie for me, at least.  The big surprise was placed in an almost innocuous location - tucked along one wall in the Cold War hangar was an honest-to-God MiG-29.  It's a good-looking aircraft, and as Elalyr noted, the information on how this particular plane came to be in the museum's collection was conspicuously absent.

After the museum, some shopping.  Big-ass mall on the northeast side of Cincy for a visit to the Apple store, then over to Jungle Jim's.  Holy cow.  Where to start with this?  It's a grocery, but calling that is like calling Tiger Woods some dude that plays golf every few weekends.  An entire wall of cheeses.  30 linear feet of honeys.  Produce I'd never heard of before.  Aisles set up for goods from other countries - one country to an aisle (or alcove).  Dear heavens, the seafood counter.  Look, if you're in the area, and consider food to be more than just fuel for an organic engine, go.  Set aside a few hours to just wander around.

I slept late today.  Got up around 9:30, played Civ 4 for a while.  Watched The Atomic Cafe.  Watching football.  Writing some.  Will do laundry soon.

Almost finished reading Altered Carbon, and I have really enjoyed it.

Yesterday was shaping up to be a perfectly good day of doing nothing.  I was still in my pajamas when Clayton called around 2 p.m. to see if I wanted to get out to dinner with him and the missus that evening.  We wound up at Corky's, then went to Graeter's for ice cream.  Parked next to a blue-on-white Shelby GT500, then passed a black Ferrari 328GTS on Tates Creek.  Quick hop over to Toys R Us, where I acquired a Barricade Transformer (the Saleen S281 police car).  He's going to remain in car form forever - transforming these things is a bitch compared to the ones I had as a kid.  Out to the Scabbard for some goofing-off time.  Found a Legion of Super Heroes Heroclix starter set.  Grr.  Didn't buy it, but it was a near thing.  Maybe next weekend.

Unloaded some stuff at the city's not-yet-open Half-Price Books yesterday.  Some old gaming stuff (2nd ed Shadowrun, Vampire, Rifts, and Star Trek) and some books that were just clutter, ultimately.  Was expecting a few bucks.  Got about 75 - and some shelf space!  Right now, a large box of Mage and Dark Ages WoD stuff is looking like fodder for used book sales, too.

Went to Culver's for lunch.  Very very good, and honestly cheaper than most fast-food joints for similar amounts of food.  We didn't have any desserts, though.

Making dinner last night, I managed to really smoke up the apartment - lots of seasonings on a cast-iron grill pan.  Oy.

Have discovered Trinity Blood on Adult Swim.  Vampires occupying a far-future Earth after some kind of apocalypse.  It is plenty fun.