Sunday, June 12, 2005

   And late at night, you always dream of bacon bits and sour cream...

Saturday has wound down finally!

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Well, as promised, here is the deal with the
The Incredibly Difficult Contest!

Okay. If you have been paying attention this week, you should have noticed the subject lines on all my posts. If not, here they are again:

1. It's time to eat a lot of broccoli and drink a lot of beer!


2. Donuts and hot dogs were flying everywhere!


3. I love Rocky Road, so come and have a triple scoop with me!


4. Mr. Cheese Nacho, stay away!


5. Mashed potatoes can be your friends!


6. Sometimes you make me want to build a model of the Eiffel Tower out of Belgian waffles.


7. And late at night, you always dream of bacon bits and sour cream...

All right. There they are. Seven subject lines with a connecting theme. Your mission is to find that theme! There are two possible answers: the obvious answer and the correct answer.

So, I will have a prize for whoever gets the correct answer. For those that get the obvious answer, I don't know what I'll do yet.

This contest will run for a week! Good luck everyone!

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Well, we didn't go to Council Bluffs today. My sister didn't get us tickets and we just didn't feel like driving down there. So we went to see Revenge of the Sith again. That was pretty much the excitement of the day!

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Well... tomorrow will probably see the posting of another part of the story. It still depends on my mood.

Laters!

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Saturday, June 11, 2005

   Sometimes you make me want to build a model of the Eiffel Tower out of Belgian waffles....

Hey! It all fit!

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Friday night is winding down, and I am a bit pissed off at my brother-in-law.

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This weekend is the Renaissance Faire of the Midlands down in Council Bluffs. My sister was going to try to get tickets for my brother & me. Her husband was online earlier tonight and I told him that I wanted to talk to my sister at some time tonight. The jerk shut down the computer and went to bed!!! I really have problems with that guy! He is such a jerk in the first place and I do my best not to let him get to me, but this was something sort of important. I want to know if we're going to even bother going down there. It's a 100 mile drive to get there. Money is tight for my brother & me both right now. (Me more than him, but that's another rant) It would be nice to know if she got the tickets. Grrrr....sometimes I want to kick that man in the balls!

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Sorry about that, but I needed to rant.

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Let's see... what did I do today? I watched half of a show about the Great Barrier Reef... okay, I admit it, I was actually watching it more for the cute Aussie guy that was hosting the show than the fish and sea snakes. Then I watched a show about the Brittanic, sister ship to the Titanic, which sunk in the Aegean Sea during WW1. Then after that, I came up here and got the rest of the way through Chapter 1 of my Java book! Chapter 1 is 4 pages long and it took 2 days to get through! This is gonna be fun.... Actually, I spent most of the past two days getting the computer to where I can actually do some of the exercises and labs. I hope this sinks in. Then my brother woke up and we went to Sioux City for a while.

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Well, I was going to have another section of story for you tonight, but I don't feel like it. Probably Sunday if I'm in the mood then. And tomorrow I will announce the details of The Incredibly Difficult Contest. Woohoo!!!

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And on that note, I'm going to go off in search of some havoc to wreak upon something. Or go to bed. I haven't decided yet....

Laters!

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Friday, June 10, 2005

   Mashed potatoes can be your friends!

Thursday ends with a bang... well, actually more of a low rumbling. It's thundering out there!

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Well, today I actually got a page read in my Java Programming Fundamentals book! Such progress! I actually spent more time trying to get the software installed for the thing than I did reading. I'm still not sure if I have everything installed yet. I'm going to check into it tomorrow a little more.

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Oh. I just remembered that I never followed up on the radar image from the other night. The storms went around us completely! As usual...

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Well, I did threaten you all with another segment of the story. I do have one here, but I don't remember if I put it up before. I know it got to my website at some point, but may not have been posted here. So here it is. I apologize if it's a rerun. For those that don't want to read it, don't worry. I don't care. Just scroll down to the bottom and leave comments about other stuff.

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“The laughter of children, the sakura blossoms in spring, the pride one feels in the accomplishments of their sons. These are the pleasures I have known, Yonaha-san,” Nakamura said as he looked out his office window. “I have never known the joy of grandchildren. Are you sure there’s a grandson?”

“Not entirely, Nakamura-san,” Yonaha said. “All that we have determined is that your youngest son Yoshihiro died in battle in the Satsuma Rebellion. This we have verified.”

“Why have you not contacted my grandson?” Nakamura turned away from the window and returned to his desk. The news of Yoshihiro’s death came as a surprise, but the news of a grandson was even more surprising. He had never thought there would be any children in that union. He remembered the woman Shizuyo that had come between him and his youngest son. She was not what he or his wife would have chosen for their son. Shizuyo is what had driven them apart and Yoshihiro from the estate.

“A servant turned Ashida away. He was rude and claimed Hikaru was ill and could see no one.”

“Hikaru… a fine name,” Nakamura mused. “What was the servant like? Aside from rude?”

Yonaha thought for a moment. “Ashida-san said he was an ordinary man. Perhaps in his thirties or forties for age. Still dressing in the traditional fashion. And an air of authority about him.”

Nakamura smiled. “That sounds like Takeda. He was a close friend to Yoshihiro. They were inseparable. Almost like brothers.”

“What should we do next, Nakamura-san?”

“Go back to Kamakura. Be discrete, but check into the health of my grandson. Ask the local doctor. If he is very ill, send a message right away… no, wait. I will send a doctor with you. My own personal physician will go.”

“Of course, sir. When do you wish us to go?”

“I need to get some things in order first. Send a cable to Ashida-san. Have him look into the state of the dojo, but remind him to be discrete about it. I know how he can be. Send for Takeru, I have some things to discuss with him.” A wave of his hand indicated that Nakamura was through speaking to Yonaha.

Yonaha bowed, “Yes, Nakamura-san. I will do that right away.”

Nakamura returned to the window and looked out over the streets of Tokyo. A grandsonI have a grandson. What is he like? How much of his mother is in him? He was deep in thought when Takeru entered the office.

Takeru cleared his throat to get Nakamura’s attention.

Nakamura did not turn from the window. “The last time I saw my son Yoshihiro was the day he left with his wife,” he said, speaking aloud, but mainly to himself. His tone was not entirely sad, but there was a touch of melancholy to it. “Now word has been brought to me that he has died in battle. Both of my sons are dead, and I have only a rumor of a grandson as heir.”

Takeru was not sure how to answer his superior. “A grandson, Nakamura-san?” he asked. “That is good news.”

Nakamura sighed and turned back to his desk. “Yes, it is, Takeru-san, however it has been brought to my attention that he is ill. I have Ashida and Yonaha looking into things.”

“Is that wise? Ashida-san is faithful, but his methods can be questionable.”

“True, but they are thorough. If anyone can find out anything, it will be those two,” Nakamura said with a small smile. “Now, we need to finish this.” He waved his hand at the paperwork on the desk.

“Of course, sir,” Takeru answered.
The two men went about business as usual, but Nakamura found it hard to concentrate fully on the business at hand. His thoughts kept returning to his grandson. He couldn’t help but wonder how much of the demon would be in the boy, and it worried him more than he realized.

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Well. That wasn't much, was it? But... we'll be seeing more of Hikaru soon!

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I think I'll give you all a heads up... I may be holding "The Incredibly Difficult Contest" at the end of the week. Details will probably appear on Saturday! So, get your thinking caps on!

Laters!

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Thursday, June 9, 2005

   Mr. Cheese Nacho, stay away!

Yadsendew....

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Well. Still didn't study today. I actually ran the antivirus & spyware stuff this afternoon instead of in the wee hours of the morning. Just found a few spyware things and got rid of them right away. No viruses! Whee!

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And why didn't I study? I was running that stuff and didn't want to do anything else on the computer! Don't want to confuse this thing more than necessary, you know.

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Well... I don't know what else to say here... I'm glad you all liked my clover. That's the one I found on my birthday. It's not that big, really. My scanner is set at 300 dpi and things end up nice and detailed... and big!

Laters!

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Additional: After a late night burst of creativity in which I started to play around with CorelPHOTO-PAINT and my last piece of fanart, a "new" submission is up. I had a suggestion from someone that they would like to see the picture in color. Well, it's in color now. And it's not what you all would expect it to be! I must admit I had fun doing this. So...go, look, enjoy.

And now I'm going to go to bed. It's 2:00 am!

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Wednesday, June 8, 2005

   I love Rocky Road, so come and have a triple scoop with me!

Tuesday....

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Okay. Didn't study. Tried to make FrontPage bend to my will at the library. Made a new resumé and sent it off for a job prospect. Spent far too much time getting the following picture to work properly.

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Because I decided to be obsessive about getting my clover to work properly, I didn't get to sites. Sorry.

I should go to bed, but this thing needs to have the anti-virus & ad-ware/spyware things run. Blah...

Laters!

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Tuesday, June 7, 2005

   Donuts and hot dogs were flying everywhere!

Mondane... er, Monday!

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Well, another thrilling Monday has passed me by. I did laundry as usual. Whee. It was rather toasty out today. I think it got up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit somewhere along the line today. Ick. I got a few more birthday cards today. I may be up to 50 now.

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I remembered a few things that happened yesterday.
In the morning, I was sitting and watching "My Life as a Teenage Robot" and there was a lot of motor noise outside. I looked out the window and saw a couple antique tractors turn the corner to go up Main Street. My brother and I went to the front door in time to see about a dozen antique tractors drive by the house and turn the corner to go up Main Street. I have no idea what was going on that they were out like that.

Then as we were taking a walk later in the afternoon (going to our sister's house the long way around), I found a four-leaf clover! I wasn't really looking for one, but as we passed a patch of clover, something caught my eye as being odd looking. It was a four leaf clover! Yay!!! It's in an envelope being pressed flat right now.

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I got a couple more birthday things to share with y'all!

From Matt3402:


And from Ishi (joeyw23):

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I may possibly have another installment on my story in the next couple of days.

Laters!

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Monday, June 6, 2005

   It's time to eat a lot of broccoli and drink a lot of beer!

Sunday! It's still Sunday! I don't care that the thing up above says it's Monday! It's still my birthday!!!!!

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Yes, gang, it was my birthday today. I didn't do anything particularly special, either. My Mom called during the afternoon & we talked a little while. They got me a plant. My sister & her husband made supper for me! Mmm...roast beef, mashed potatoes & peas... It's nice having a professional chef for a brother-in-law! My brother bought me a pack of DBZ trading cards as my birthday card. They're in Japanese. A few more cards came in from my other sister's coworkers on Friday & Saturday. That sister called this evening & we talked for about an hour. She said there may be a few more cards coming yet.
When the cards finally stop coming, I'll take another picture for you and give you a final tally of how many I got.

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And, yes, I do have the right year on my birthday over there in the profile stuff. I'm forty and proud of it! If my oldest brother says anything about acting more mature now that I'm forty, I'm gonna tell him where he can stick it!

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Got this from Inuyasha311. Thank you!!!


Laters!

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Sunday, June 5, 2005

   All Hail the New York Giants!

Saturday... ignore the date up there. It's still Saturday for another half hour or so. It's not my birthday yet.

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So far we've dodged the bad weather, but according to this radar image, there's more out west.

That was snagged at about 11:04 pm CDT. I wanted to get the one from the channel that has the Texas Hold'em Mega Super Hyper Doppler 4000, version 2.0, but for some weird reason they have their radar image set at a truly weird resolution. Oh well... it looks like there may be some weather tonight!

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Well, my brother & I went to see Madagascar today. It was fun. The penguins are psychotic, but the lemurs are insane!! Except for Maurice. He's the only one that has a grip on things. I like Alex, the lion best. But I like Ben Stiller....

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Well... I broke 2700 hits tonight. Thank you all! I roll around in celebration.

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Once again, computer issues have made my time online a bit frustrating tonight. I'm going to try to hit as many sites as I can before the weather hits, or I fall asleep... whichever happens first!

Laters!

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Saturday, June 4, 2005

   *sneezes with great force* Oh man.....

Friday... must keep telling myself it's Friday. Well, for another 52 minutes...

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Yes... I sneezed right as I started to post. I think my brain cell is still intact.

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Well, I did run around with my sister & her family today. We went to LeMars and did some shopping and other stuff. She bought me a very colorful floppy hat at the Goodwill Store. It's way cool. We even went to the farm this afternoon and I took lots of pictures of the horses for the lady on the farm. Here's one of them. I think her name is Baby.

She posed nicely for me, didn't she? And here's two of her dogs. They're not related, but they are both rottweilers.

The puppy is named Sassy and the big one is named Lucy. Lucy likes to lean on me and get lots of attention. She's also got a Chow and a Rat Terrier. I have pictures of them, too, but I decided to stick with these for now. Maybe tomorrow.

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My sister got a kitten from her friend on the farm. He's the only surviving kitten from the litter. That is sad, but at least he got saved from one of the dogs! When my sister said which one she got, I named him for her!! It's Kuroneko!!

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Well, I had lots of problems with this beast of a computer again, so I didn't have time to get to too many sites tonight. I'm so sorry about that, everyone. I wish I could figure out what's causing the thing to get wacko like it does.

Laters!

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Friday, June 3, 2005

   The retaliation countdown has begun!!!

Thursday.

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It started out as an ordinary day. I was going to go out to a farm with my sister to take pictures of horses for her friend in the evening. I was going to study more E-commerce. But no... something had to happen to make my life a little more interesting!

Mornings are "me time." I do whatever I feel like doing... which mainly consists of watching the Weather Channel for about a half hour or more at a time. I'll walk to the post office if I feel like it. I'll sit and watch stuff on TV if I can find something more exciting than the Weather Channel.

Well... this morning was really nice out, so I grabbed the sandals to walk down to the post office. I got there and opened the box. It was stuffed. Little mailbox...lots of mail. A couple small catalogs for my brother... a newspaper ad for a grocery store that we don't go to... and 33 envelopes for me!!!!

Here's the stack of them on the kitchen table before I opened them up.


And here they are all opened up.


My sister in Council Bluffs got many of her coworkers to send me birthday cards. One is not signed but included a quarter with instructions to buy myself "something dirty." One is a card for a 100th birthday.

I have three years to plot my retaliation against my sister. In 2008, she will turn 50.

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Otherwise, I did get my E-commerce book finished today. I didn't get to go to the farm this evening. Something came up and my sister couldn't make it out there. We'll be going tomorrow afternoon sometime.

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I think that's all.... If not, chalk it up to a semi-tired brain cell.

Fluffy!


Laters!

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