Auto-tune is the mullet of vocal processors.

Peter and Maggie the Nandays and Snuggles the Grey have been staying with a nice woman that is spoiling them rotten. We had the remodeling done, (windows siding and painting, the painting is being delayed due to a death in the family of the contrater that is doing the painting) Snuggles will have her cage in the corner were she wanted it. Yay.
I am getting a smaller cage in the living room Hope that she is not too upset that I am getinng rid of her green cage. Taking it apart I found too many wear spots and rust.
the 80 buck is going to be 220 with shiping but am going to get some extra things too.

The site has a few bargons if you search.

I have to leave the house this weekend so that the rooms can be painted with Killes then painted with fresh air paint.
I am lucky that wile I am in PA there is going to be a program that is offered by the
http://www.aviary.org/educ/avworksh.php Aviary Workshops National Aviary Pgh PA
Am not sure who is runing it. my sister set it up for me. got to love her!
Miss my birds so much. When we went to visit she tryed to convince us that the back room would be fine, and that she missed us.

A lost Greek Orthodox priest who barely speaks English asks a Marine reservist for directions and said reservist chases him down and beats on him with a tire iron. The reservist has claimed the priest did everything from grab at his genitals and make lewd comments in perfect English to scream, "Allahu Akbar."

Again, this is a Greek Orthodox Priest.

Most telling statement in the article: "'That's what they tell you right before they blow you up,' police say Bruce told them." The reservist also has a blog that touts "the benefits of increasing testosterone and human growth hormones." He's claiming, still, the priest speaks perfect English (despite everyone who knows the priest says he only knows a few words), sexually assaulted him, and/or is a Muslim terrorist. He's also claiming the police who arrested him had anti-military bias, despite the face "that sergeant is, himself, a veteran."

The priest doesn't want to press charges, sighting biblical stances on forgiveness.

(edit) And of course the reservist's lawyer is playing the, "He looks weird so he had a right to beat the fuck outta him" card, more or less.


... hate people so much.

(double-edit) The guy also does male modeling for various guy-skin sites. Got news for you, despite what such models claim, the chief visitors of those sites aren't women.

Google has apparently put free wifi in airports for the holidays?

Here's hoping they keep it in place afterwards. So nice not having to pay for it :p

Alex: Have you seen the camcorder charger? Or my canon battery charger?
Matt: No. Have you used them since we moved?
Alex: Yes. Don't worry, I'll find them.

some time passes

Alex: Whatever. We'll go through the house when we get back and find them then.
Matt: Did you check your loft?
Alex: I already looked up there. The cabinets are empty.

more time passes during which I am pretending not to look, but looking...

Alex: Where the fuck are they? Now I can't find my lens cap for the camera itself.
Matt: That should be on the mantle.
Alex: No, the mantle just has the two extra lenses. Not the cap for this lens itself.

lots more hunting and turning things upside down

Matt: What?
Alex: I can't say it. You won't take it the way I mean it.
Matt: Now you have to say it.
Alex: Ok, fine. One of the biggest frustrations about sharing space with someone is that I know exactly where I put things by default. I don't know where YOU put them by default.
Matt: I know. I feel that way about you all the time.
Alex: It's cool. They'll turn up. I know they are here somewhere.

Matt vanishes. I hear him call me from upstairs.

Alex: What?
Matt: You know what I love about you? Even after I tell you exactly where something is, you claim it isn't there.
Alex: (coming up the stairs) They're not. I checked the cabinets.
Matt: Not the cabinets, the suitcase.
Alex: The suitcase won't have them...that's just my....(trails off on the words "photography stuff").
Matt: Did you really check the mantle for your lens cap?

Alex runs downstairs. A moment later can be heard calling...

Alex: Look what I found on top of the Xbox and totally NOT the mantle!

Matt laughs.

For my pen and ink class, we're supposed to do a series [4 pictures] of something. I've chosen to do birds. Specifically, I'm not sure who/what I want for my 4 subjects, but I think as an extra/for fun I'm gonna do one of Kevin from UP. ;)

Would anybody like to give me suggestions of birds/parrots/whatever that you think would be a great subject for one of my 4 pictures? I have some ideas [hyacinth macaw in particular, and also maybe some kind of conure? I had GCC's in mind], but want suggestions. I'll take 'dull' colored ones, bright ones, anything. I'm not sure if I want to do just parrots, or all different kinds of birds. If I did just parrots, I wouldn't be able to do Kevin. :)

When the assignment's finished, I'd be happy to share!

Oh, also, pictures would be fantastic.

And the deed is done, everything in a trash bin.

What's next? A new me.

I mention the move from Mexico to the US as if it had been a traumatic experience, and while it wasn't, it was just an experienced that forced me to change. The world around me was different, the people around me were not into the same things people in Mexico were. It was a tough process, because even though I had extended family 45 minutes away, it just wasn't the same. My 24/7 friends were no longer there, and I never really quite replaced that experience. I became sort of a hermit. My parents tried really hard to do stuff with us, but in the end, life drastically changed for me and my brother when we moved here.

But change is not always bad, no matter how tough. 11 years later, I wouldn't have had it any other way.

I left something behind, but built something new.

Same thing will happen now. I have no connection with Mexico outside of my extended family, culturally, even though I have access to their television, I don't watch it, I don't care for it. For three to four years after moving I still clung to that. But that faded away, because that is no longer my life, my society, my culture. And I expect the exact same thing to happen with this. My connection with Jaime will be severed, he will be a thing of the past, something I will remember but will be alien. It will take time, but I will adapt to my new surrounding, and I will love it, I will love it so much I will not miss the old. It happened before, it will happen again. That's the way my brain works, and I think that's why I cling so much to stuff, because I know that when I let go, I really let go.

Something that is quite ironic considering how paranoid I am about loss. I hate the idea of loss, loss of information, of memories, of data. But sometimes it is necessary, it is necessary to lose something to gain something. It doesn't matter how valuable you think your loss is, chances are that in the life I have yet to live I will find something more valuable. After all, in a period of 11 years I consider my new home, my new surroundings better than the ones I enjoyed for 13 years.

The difference is however, that I'm not replacing one guy with another, I have no interest in that. I'm going to enjoy my life, MY life. That will be the new episode in this book, and just like I learned to live around the new city back when I moved, I will learn how to live with myself. And friends of course. And family. And that's it. Nothing else.

Love can wait. A few years. :P

So, I thought Kurt's dad was awesome in the way he accepts his gay son, and what he is willing to do for him. But after today's episode, Kurt is an equally amazing son.

I love this show, it's just so great. If you aren't watching it, you are really missing out. Gogo, catch it on Hulu.

Also, she has a soul. Wow.

We're leaving early tomorrow for Windycon. In the meantime, here are my children:


The best part is that Alex keeps watching this over and over again, and it makes her laugh like a loon. Hm.

Do your birds like video games?

Vree my DYH Zon is sitting here on my shoulder watching me play bejewelled 2 and responding to the color changes as well as to things blowing up. And she seems to love the Vortex to the next level. And with no body cues from me she seems to hate the "no move moves" voice.....

So share what games your birds enjoy please?

i'm trying to use up all the ingredients in my freezer and cupboard. can i prepare pearl barley and dried lentils in the crock? thanks!

So, I threw all my usual chili ingredients in the crock this morning before showering. Turned it on low (10 hours) and gave it a little taste after about an hour, right before I left for work. Umm.. HOT! Guess I was a little too heavy on the cayenne/chili powder/crushed red pepper... I like it pretty dang spicy, but this had LOTS of kick to it already, and I know it's only going to get spicier while cooking all day. And I've got company to eat this tonight! They're like me--they enjoy the heat--but I'm thinking this is going to be close to nuclear by the time it's ready. I'd really rather not kill my company with this stuff.

Any suggestions on how to tone down the heat a bit? I've heard adding sugar helps, but I'm so afraid I'll add too much and it'll be gross. Anyone? Anyone?

Saturday, I returned to the Apple Store after my first--but probably not the last--disappointing experience in order to try to retrieve my cap which I thought I'd lost (turns out I found it Monday in my rucksack exactly where I'd searched three times for it before). I was surprised to run into a buddy and former bank co-worker since I thought he'd moved to Finland to be with his stunning girlfriend. Well, he had moved to Finland, but they were back in Zurich for the relative light that it offers in the dead of winter months.



Peter turned me on to the MacHeist bundle which offers 6 commercial Macintosh Apps for FREE. Two of the apps in the bundle look especially useful (and sell individually for about 25 bucks each). One app is a little menu bar app that lets you stash notes on whatever you're working on for later recall. It will conveniently synch to the iPhone. The other app is a dead simple word processor that turns your shiny Mac into a late Eighties era TRS-80 word processor. It's just green screen, text and a flashing cursor. It's very useful I take it for tuning out all distractions and then just writing (for NanoWriMo or No).

The only distraction the app does let through is any Lady GaGa movies your iTunes may be shuffling through. If you've set your Gaga Videos to pop up in a separate window which remains on top, they will not be pushed to the bottom--even with high tech turned low tech distraction filters.

The MacHeist bundle. for MacWeenies only, is right here at macheist.com. And today's the last day to snap it up.

Is now up - be sure to read the note at the bottom. :D :D :D

Even though we aren't on the website yet, Bears On The Run will be at Fiesta de Los Osos this coming January! Get your tickets now! NOW!

Don't Prove Me Right made it to the voting process! Please swing by billboard.com and vote for me if you can. I need all the help I can get!