I bought the Sealy cal king that Costco stocks. It's comfy, it's big, it needs a frame.



I cleared off most of the master balcony, though I'm not quite sure what to do with the shelving that's in pretty good shape - albeit pink trimmed. The foosball table is going out there, I think that'll be the place to be come summer.



Heather's departure has freed up prime real estate for a study. My fantasmical workshop of killer apps and photography is now situated between the media room and the garage. I don't really need the upstairs anymore.



I'm rolling right into a second playthrough of Mass Effect 2. The first run was a bit hasty so I could use the finish bonuses for the second, real effort.

• I could almost see Master Chief in the final cutscene. It's a proper second-of-three, plotwise.
• ME1's music was better. The sequel's isn't bad, but it's not quite as distinct nor complementary of the action.
• ME2 consists of more shorter, more numerous missions. The finale is about the length of an average ME1 chapter. It's nice to know doing just one more won't keep you up until three. It also cuts down on the monotony of each dungeon.
• The galactic news bits still inform and entertain, but they don't match the awesomeness of the first since Mass Effect switched anchors. Using the Beyond Good and Evil voice actor for the first one was so clutch.

Democracy is non-negotiable.

?

I finished drywalling the 6x4 loft made accessible by the closet removal. It still needs to be patched, textured, and painted, but that's a breeze. What will it be? Storage space? Cat flat? Panic room?

I patched a couple areas on the lower terrace where the stucco had bubbled. Doing stucco sucks, so I gave thin set a try. The front wall had a couple spots where paint had peeled off, so I took care of that.




The pup may be getting over his fear of water. On our weekly run he charged through the stream crossing that recently swelled and washed away its footbridge. His display of courage emboldened Jes to do the same.

I've given him free reign of the garage now. The first day went well, the second day he learned to open the interior garage door (but didn't thrash the house).



On the third day he ate 31 (I counted) packages of Zack's Brainiac Snacks. Virtually none of it was digested. Curious how he got through so many, I gave him one and watched as he tore it apart with the grace of an intoxicated raccoon. He's considerably smarter now.





There are reviews everywhere, a few other thoughts:

• Darkness is totally the new pink. Empire did it. Batman did it. The sequel is much darker and seedier than the first. Fatalism dominates the mood throughout while there's an emphasis on moral ambiguity.
• Hooray for feedback. No planetary rovering (though it was great in doses). No endless buying/modding/selling equipment that only differs by level number. Load times have decreased appreciably.
• I'm worried that the number of primary characters will make their back stories either tedious or shallow. Thus far, however, I'm highly impressed that they brought back the best ME1er (Garrus). I wouldn't be the first to say the Doctor is awesome for his grim pragmatism and rapid, streamlined, multithreaded conversation style.
• The combat system is a definite improvement over the last, but falls a bit short of combat-centric games such as Gears of War and Army of Two.
• The mid-cinema interjections provide endless fun, but being ready for them is mutually exclusive with stuffing Funyons in my gaping craw.

		My heart sank when i went to HMV at lunch and the guy told me they only received three copies of the special edition and they were all reserved. But he recognized me and started calling around. He managed to track down a store that had it. I went back after work and he had it waiting for me. Even God was seen to shed a tear of happiness that night.		LittleThingies
		I'm finishing up my PS3 game at the moment, hopefully will be done by tonight. I'm gonna spend all weekend playing this game in the dark, my phone will be off. My subwoofer arrives tomrorow, just in time for this game. When I was a kid and mommy told me there will be plenty of time for games when I'm grown up and making my own money. She must have been talking about THIS MOMENT.
KO	Yesterday evening I paid CR an unexpected visit. The sight I saw was jaw dropping: CR wearing grubby sweat clothes tucked away in a sleeping bag on a bean bag chair playing D&D. Next to him was unfinished hot pockets and cereal.
	The smell accompanying the scene was "30 year old unemployed guy living in parents' basement."
	As I left his house, I experienced envy for the first time in a long time.
	DAMN YOU CR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Since Players has canceled the annual Super Bowl event, we've been forced to relocate to a residence.

Feathers in the Cap - Players

• Waitresses > 0
• TVs > 1
• Draught beers > 1

Feathers in the Cap - House

• Entry < $75 Catered food
• Heated(?) pool > 0
• Allowed to shoot dice > false
• Nearest bed < 40ft
• Couches > 0
• Wait-dogs > 0

It looks like there may be an Axis and Allies match coming up. There's been some discussion on possible house rules that might even the field and emphasize creative strategies.

• Curt suggested ipc bonuses for quick turns.
• I'm thinking a roll for free tech at the outset and perhaps a few turns in.
• East African pirates.

Your words are as empty as your future.

?

Cheryl booked us a coveted camp rv site in San Clemente.




The added amenities meant convenient water and an electrical outlet. People thought our Christmas lights were awesome, look for it to be big in '10. I just brought them for fun photo effects.



We didn't let accommodations prevent enjoying what little playoff action there was to be had. Wow playoffs, wow.



The dog had a great time:


I paddled out at Calafia. The water wasn't too bad, but there were a lot of waves reflecting off the shore like Fletcher's at high tide. The strangest thing was watching five foot diameter tumbleweed roll down the shore.



I saw this on the freeway last week. Didn't expect it to end like...



Scared the living daylights out of me. /Poorly shoehorned.

Here I present the photos from this decade that I like technically, aesthetically, or nostalgically. You may notice the post is at the beginning of the decade, I've chosen this as a convention so I can keep a running post for in-progress decades.

The last one can be found here.

I'm not sure which image captured peak-E3 vibe better: the sit-in mech for a game that didn't go anywhere or the pregnant zombie booth babe. This was peak video game degeneracy.

I braved the paintball crossfire to spend some round shooting a team builder. This shot worked out.

Hamming it up for the camera during a muddy flag football match.

Epic amounts of snow in Tahoe that year.

More or less nailed the pan.

A swim off the pier during bioluminescence.

Nerf Russian roulette at the League of Sport pool party - carefree summer days.

Caves, darkness, pointy rocks, halocline. Cenote diving is something else.

Ty pretty much nailed his pose for the Blind Lady Ale House Cape Run.

Manual focus + high shutter speed + a good doggo. There's a third frame if you click through.

It's kind of just another pretty beach photo. For me, it's one of the few shots from my Kalalau journey that doesn't make the soles of my feet recoil in horror.

And so began my side gig of shooting birthdays and xmas cards.

Mine and Ryan's Brazil trip had some great photo ops, I think this walk to the Manaus stadium best sums the experience.

This was the year I upgraded to an Ikelite underwater SLR housing. While night surf photography has never been easy, the new gear enabled much better results.

The following month I was able to recruit in an off-camera flash mount.

At one point I took a look at my underwater housing setup and thought, "What if I took nightsurfing photos but, like, in the daytime." Summer/fall waves aren't impressive, but there's nothing wrong with a nice clean ride in warm water.

Kafka's first snow trip.

Composite photo from the truck race at the Long Beach Grand Prix.

The surreal experience that is the Hawaii manta dive.

This one really captures the hardships and perils of suburban backpacking as we endeavored to taste at every Miramesa brewery in one weekend.

The Gold Cup match at the Rose Bowl was classic US-Mexico, and not in a good way.

Neat rockhopping at The Ranch.

I like the ominous illumination on this one.

A cool panorama from a weekend trip into the hills.

The top of Mt. Hood doesn't have especially good skiing, but it has quite a view.

Diver's (surface) view of Maui.

My favorite from the Europe trip, it's a touristy photo but captures the beauty and verticality of Lauterbrunnen (and Jes).

Stay tuned, in ten years I'll post my next installment.

I started working on a killa chili recipe hoping to pass quals for the Manbird Invitational. Since I'm an open source kinda guy, I'll bore you with pictures and descriptions later.

While the digital negative converter works its magic, I'll to quickly digress into the topic of playoffs. Wild card weekend was pretty meh, except:

• Hooray for the Pats getting embarrassed.
• Also, go Cards. Now, I hate Zonies as much as the next guy, but Warner is practically the same QB as Rich Gannon (well, with a ring) and Fitzgerald/Boldin are just great athletes. That game made watching the others worthwhile.

Actually it'd be great if they became the USA Cardinals. If the Patriots can claim New England and the Cowboys are America's Team, why can't a franchise that's resided in so many major cities claim such a constituency? Then I'd have no guilt about cheering for them.

Here's to the improbable Az-Min NFC Championship.



I thieved/rescued Megan's Italian Stone Pine and I bought a Norfolk Island Pine to add some (eventual) vertical greenery to the yard. Likely spots are the middle section of the front yard and next to the barbecue.



35w halogens have replaced the bulbs in the living room. They're much more directional and suck enough current to make the motion sensor happy.




I painted a piece of osb. You know, for whatever.



Since I could turn a deaf ear to most of the handegg, I re-reorganized the in-wall entertainment center. Now it has room for the woofer.

In other news, plywood continues to go up in the master bathroom, I have some monkey board ready for the next step. Since there's much drywall affixing to be done, I bought a corded drill/driver for the added power.



Onto the chili. Since this was my first attempt, my m.o. was to use quality ingredients not being able to rely on a magical synergy of flavors that is developed over many attempts. I readied all my favorite seasonings, with no intention of using them all - but you gotta be ready.



Copious onions and orange peppers, chopped small because the only chunky thing in chili should be steak. And maybe a very softened garlic clove (gotta try this next time), like the ones at hot pot. It was all sauteed in olive oil and butter, per Rob's instructions.



Next was to cook the beef. With lime, of course.



Quality ingredients, yo. I threw in some nice Italian sausage and greek olives.



Once the meat was about done I added various seasonings. Chili powder, ancho, rosemary, peppercorn, basil, tapatio, and Fire Rock pale.



Then simmered with a can of black beans and half a jar of tomato sauce. Also in lieu of brown sugar I added some of the maple syrup SFS's mom mules across the border for me.

It occured to me that so much work/seasoning is put in to overcoming the tomatoey flavor. I wondered if I just needed to simmer the pot for a very long time (crock style) to let the various elements coalesce into the medium. Or maybe my chili platform should be to use as little tomato as possible so that you can taste the beef, sausage, olive, sesame oil, etc.

The liquid part of the chili isn't bland, but it isn't distinct. The WIN comes when you eat a piece of beef, sausage, olive, or combination thereof. The flavors seem to cling to the elements, rather than suspend in the medium. I crumbled some gorgonzola on each heated bowl to effect some tartness, but never followed through with my aspiration to add a nacho cheese layer.

It's a fascinating problem of taste engineering, and I look forward to further study. Next batch will certainly include bacon, chilis, and more sesame oil.



No chili for the pooch.

I took a brief trip to NorCal. Ted's place is looking good, too bad he can't decide on a railing.



Jon's place has a nice-looking concrete pad and some derelict steel girders. We'll see what happens.



Kaf got a truckload of rawhides and pig ears, but didn't get the chew toy he most wanted. He slept the whole ten hour drive back.



Food was the focus. Deeeeelish. If the above image doesn't turn you into a vegetarian then you're not a pansy.

The annual football game didn't go so well for the noble d'Brickashaw d'Brawlers. It wasn't a shutout, but it wasn't pretty.



Everything's pretty quiet back down south. Jes painted a Serengetiscape that currently resides on the mantle.