Christmas Time

Christmas Eve dressed up the tree and then headed over to Nishino eat some Japanese cuisine.

Chrismas Day we dressed up again and headed over to the Woodmark Hotel for a great lunch.

Gift were not exchanged today, we are waiting for my brother and his family this Friday to come from New York down to Seattle.

Those toys.

Features : Radar Online: "The 10 most dangerous toys of all time"

Lunch @ Work

Today work provided lunch. It was good. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, etc. It was all good. We even had pie. Yum. Also our supervisors and managers were serving us the food. Yea.

My Snapfish Calendars.

I got my calendars today and they look great. The pictures game out clear, the paper it was printed on is nice & thick and the date pictures came our clear. One other nice thing about the calendars, there is a picture index on the back of all the pictures. For 15+ hours, it came out great. A lot different than the single picture I had with the other place.

Give snapfish.com a try.

Harry Potter News from The Australian

Click the link below for a little info on the next book"

Puzzling title for final Harry Potter book

Out to the store.

Went to Fred Meyer to pick up a few things. I did notice a few shelves bare (due to power outage because of high winds). Batteries, Flashlight, Lighter Fluid and charcoal, Ramen, Bread and Milk were a few things that were low in supply at the store.

Parents power still off.

Late Saturday and my parent's power at their house is still not on. They are spending the night at my apartment tonight (which my place does have power).

The day of winds.

Due to high winds power was down thru out the area.

Morn: was woken up by my cordless phone was beeping, this was 1:40 am. This was due to my power being out. Went back to sleep for awhile. Woke up, ate some cold cereal and headed out to walk to work. Power was out thru out the area. I avoided the major lights. The power was off up to the street where work was.

Lunch: I was planning on eating at one of the fast food joints, but power was still out. Ended up eating at work.

Work End: I see the light back on and are on at my apartment. As walking back I see lines of car at the gas stations.

I text my friend and he does not have any power yet. With some traffic, he comes over. We walk over for some Chinese food which took about 1 hr and a half. On the way back we do some bowling. With two games: I bowl 92 on my first game and 96 on my second, Chris bowls 68 on my first game and 96 on my second. Ending the day with a DVD.

Check out the other pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/heathbar/tags/wind/

Finished.

Just today I finished the 2007 Paintball Calendars for friends and family. I took a while to get all the pictures scanned and adjusted. There ended up to be over 40 pictures in this calendar. Did a little different this year, and went thru snapfish.com due to the multi-picture format and the cost.

My paintball photos.

I got this email via my Flickr account today about using some of my paintball photos.

Hi, this is sophie araos ,im writing from chile ´cause

i want to ask you for some photos from people playing paintball,


i work at Xplora, it´s a wellness and sports magazine and

in this number we´re planning to write about "paintball" in our

outdoor sports section.


for that reason i want to know if your are able to borrow me some

of your pictures in high quality.


i could apriciate it, ´cause in my country this is a new sport

and there´s not to much information about it, so we want to

let the people know about it.


if you are able please let me know, and tell me if you can send me 2 or 3

photos attatched in mail or maybe how can i download some of them

from your website.


thanks and i´ll wait for an answer.


Sophie

I have sent my reply asking what pictures and a copy of the cover and any pages my pictures show up in the magazine. I am waiting for her reply.

Update (12/17/06): No answer to my email as of yet.

Clean and Fix

Had my teeth cleaned and had a problem tooth fixed. Went back to work and had to make sure I could be understood and not drool while I was on the phone.

It is a cold day.

We had temps in the 20s and snow last night. We were missing about half of the people in our dept for work due to ice and snow.

Used the car for a small trip after work today, I had cracked a window in my car and had ice on the windows inside the car. Its a pain when to scape it off, sence the fan does not work.

The movie I saw today ...

Stranger Than Fiction

Comedy, Voices, Tax Man

Thinking about ...

I was recalling unpacking from my New York trip, I had purchased a mini snow globe and had packed it in the main bag and not the carry on, big mistake. The globe broke. I had wraped up, but only in paper.

My day of shoping.

I did not get up for the 6 AM sales, I got up about 10 AM and headed out.

First stop was Best Buy. Did have to work for a parking spot. Looked around had some great sales on some DVD I already had. There was one I did not have, but did not feel up waiting in the line for that.
Next was Target, found a parking spot quickly and headed in. Picked up a few needed item. Found a good deal on a 512 MB USB Flash Drive.
Last stop was Mervyns, which was having a store closing sale along with the after Thankgiving sale. Picked up some jeans for dad for Christmas & his B-Day (which are close together) and picked up 2 sets of paints and a shirt for a great price. Saved about a good 45% off the retail cost.

Alot of walking but some good deals.

After Turkey Day thought.

Why do kids mix there soft drinks?

Our family went out for our Turkey and saw a child do this and thoughts went back in time. Mix a little Coke, Sprite and Root Beer together. I saw this when I work durring my summers for the YMCA day care. From what I recall it was called a "Suicide".

Here is a little info from Wikipedia.

The Forbes Fictional 15

Check it out:

The Forbes Fictional 15

Happy Turkey Day!

Jones Holiday Packs 2006

Dessert Pack


The good. Flavors (click to see nutritional information): Cherry Pie, Banana Cream Pie, Key Lime Pie, Apple Pie, Blueberry Pie.


Holiday Pack

The Dinner. Flavors (click to see nutritional information): Turkey and Gravy soda, Sweet Potato Soda, Dinner Roll Soda, Pea Soda, Antacid Flavored Soda

Info Page.

The movie I saw today ...

Happy Feet

Happy. Music. Animated.

Preview: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

The movie I saw today ...

Casino Royale

Action. Flashback. Fresh start.

Preview: Spider-Man 3

Info.

Jedi Squirrels

My New York Trip

To start out, I want to say blisters are something you do not want to get on a vacation where you walk most of the time.

Day 1 (my first full day) Friday
- I went to Madame Tussauds of New York.
- Better Burger with Kate before meeting up with Chad at the Comedy Club.
- That night me, Chad nad Kate went to Gotham Comedy Club. Some funny stuff.

Day 2 - Saturday
- Museum of the City of New York
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Day 3 - Sunday
- Monty Python's Spamalot at Sam S. Shubert Theatre
“We dine well here in Camelot, we eat ham and jam and spam a lot.” The Knights of the Round Table come to Broadway to search for the Holy Grail.
- Dinner at Churrascaria Plataforma
The meat cutters are the Bruce Lee of skewering. One by one they parade around at your table, skewer in hand, with a variety of meat.

If that is not enough, Plataforma will grace you with the surprise of the day; a whole salmon, and even an entire roasted suckling pig makes its round about the dining room on a cart to be carved at your table side.

Day 4 - Monday
- Guggenhei Museum, was having a exterior restoration and did not have a main exhibition. With little to see there we went other places.
- We hit a few of the local stores in the area, first one being the Apple Store off of 5th Ave. Its a big glass cube. You go into the front of the cube, I took the stairs down to a huge store space with every Apple product.
- Next was the Disney Store also off of 5th Ave. Four floors of Disney products with great displays.
- Last was food at Carnegie Delicatessen & Restaurant. Large sandwichs.

Day 5 - Tuesday
- The Cloisters
The Cloisters, the branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted to the art and architecture of medieval Europe, was assembled from architectural elements, both domestic and religious, that date from the 12th through the 15th centuries. The building and its cloistered gardens—located in Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan—are treasures in themselves, effectively part of the collection housed there.

Day 6 - Wednesday
Did some shoping: Toys R Us, Virgin Megastore, and other stores.
And finished the night with dinner at Dallas BBQ.

Check out my trip pictures.

Dodge Trucks Exposed

Daughter of the Sun

From a e-mail I got today:

"I know that you enjoy reading, but sometimes it is just too darn hard to find the time to curl up with your favorite book. I am sure that many of your friends are the same way. A lot of people will not even read much any more because of these hectic schedules we lead.

What if I told you that you can now listen to my novel, Daughter of the Sun? And it wouldn't cost you a dime? Interested?

I launched the podcast version of my novel tonight. But what is a podcast? Basically, with the podcast, a new chapter will be released every week until the novel is finished up. It is just a simple .mp3 file that you download to your computer and listen while you work. You can throw it on an mp3 player, like the iPod, iRiver, or any others, and listen while you work out, or do chores. You do not even have to download it. You can listen right from my webpage. Right here:

http://www.lonnieezell.com/writing/daughter-of-the-sun-chapter-1/

That will take you right to the first chapter.

... Lonnie Ezell"

Try the audio podcast, the book was great.

Tank Paintball Battles

http://www.funday.com/step3.aspx?PathCode=all&sel=FDAYTB

My idea.

Here is my idea:

Going to try something new this next calendar and I need your help.

With the below link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/heathbar/sets/72157594284785113/

This has about ten pictures in it currently (more to added as time goes on) and I need some info on the pictures, funny thoughts on the picture(s) or just something funny about the picture.

Maybe a Thought Bubble or a Speach Balloon added to the picture?

Like found at this link: http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/captioner.php

Or maybe a Motivational Poster?

Like found at this link: http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/motivator.php

Try them out. Add you suggestions on on the above flickr account, email them to me, send me a completed item or do all the above.

I got my first response from the above email I sent out:

Hello uncle Heath. For a couple of them I think you should add a thought bubble/speach bubble and I really think their good for the caleneder. The one that caught my eye was the one were someone was pointing at someone and they were covoring their head in the grass. I think that was really funny and it should be have something like one guy crying not to get shot and the other saying something that would be funny for the moment.

from

Benjamin

The month of moving and packing.

Before

After

This month so far I have to pack up my desk three time so far. Once they lowered the desks (see the before and after), next they put new carpet in and the best of all the move down one floor to a total new desk. Today I did do a little overtime in the morning to unpack and set up the new desk. Took awhile, but things are up to par.

Wacky news

1. British University Offering Masters Degree In Robin Hood Studies

Nottingham University is offering a masters degree in Robin Hood studies to provide students an "exciting opportunity on the origins and development of England's most enduring legendary figure."

2. A permanent birthday reminder for mom...

A Welsh mom who kept forgetting her five kids' birthdays has had the dates tattooed on her arm.

3. Couple arrested trying to get sample for drug test

An eastern Kentucky couple is charged with going to an elementary school and trying to get a urine specimen from a nephew to use in a drug test.

The Birthday Month

I got the last birthday present today and the count is as follows:

1) Pokemon: Mystery Dungeon
I have started playing this game and I got a good ways thru it the last 2 days being sich and resting..

2) The Gamers (Dead Gentlemen Productions)
I have watched it twice so far, once the normaly and once with the commentary.

3) Bomberman (PSP)
A great classic game, I have played this off and on sence I got the game.

4) Animusic 2 DVD
This is what I got today, I watched part of it at my parents and they wanted to borrow it. I told them they had to wait till I got to watch it.

Pokémon Mystery of Mew Giveaway!

Want to add Mew to your Pokémon collection? Visit any Toys "R" Us on September 30th from noon to 3pm and Mew can be yours! <see full article>

Being a pokemon fan, I went to the local Toys "R" Us at about 12:30 thinking there would not be too long of a line. I ws wrong, I took me about a hour and a half to wait for the download. I did not mind the wait, not feeling too good, I did not plan on the wait (ie I did not bring my mp3 player).

One thing I did on my birthday . . .

I went to get my Driver License renewed. I get a number and waited for a time. I looked up and saw the sign "Cash or Check". I had little cash, most places take the plastic. I lost my place while I got some cash. I got back, took a number and waited longer. Once I got up to the window, it was fast. Updated some info and then waited a few mins to take a new picture.

Waiting was not too bad, with a mp3 player and a cell phone that plays games.

fd's Flickr Toys

Found a good tool for Flickr user (and other like it). I most cases you need a picture that is online (a Browse... button is offered some time to get the picture off your computer).

fd's Flickr Toys

There are a few ones that I might have a use for:

Create a personalized CD/DVD cover - I could use it on that DVD project I have been meaning to finish.
Framer: Add a customized frame to your digital photographs - There are some nice frames that could be used, I do like the stamp options.

... to name a few.

Geotagging

Flickr recently introduced geotagging to their website, check out the pictures that I have placed. My three main areas I have done are Seattle, Houston and New York area.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/heathbar/map/

My first game convention.

My first game convention was at Dragonflight this last weekend from Friday till Sunday.

Friday started out slow with me going to work. But after work is what I was looking foward to.

Torgoth's Tower 1 (Hero System)
The game started at 7pm with some handouts and blank characters. I was not sure how this was going to work. We were walked thru the creation process, which was easy.

With the Big Book Of All Shtickiness (a reference for character advancement) we picked out our character's race. The standard stuff was a available, but monster races were also available to pick (but only one of the monster type could be used). I wanted to try a monster, quickly chose a Ogre (high strength, but hard to hit with). At this time the game was started in a armor/weapon room with no memory of who they were. There were 3 to 4 tables going on at one time with different GMs, running the group in different locations in the tower. If a player left the area or died he/she would pick up and head over to the other table. As the night went on our character got some of their memory back and progressed in level (which we got to choose Big Book). My Ogre chose to become a Specialist (a Fighter) to get a better to hit roll. With the next advancement I chose Powerhouse (a Wild Fighter) to get the Massive Bludgeon power (does knockback damage to my attack). Durring this time we had two main missions that we were able to win at. The night ended on our group stuck on a puzzle waiting for part 2 the next day.

Next came sleep. A full day at work and and over 4 hours of gaming I knew I would not last a midnight game. There games that sounded good, a GURPS (would like to try it sometime) and Call of Cthulhu (not a game you want to nod off in). Next time I will take that Friday off and rest, so I will be ready for a midnight game.

Next came Saturday, a full day of games.

ReVolver (modified Hero System)
The first game of the day. One part acting (with basic info on the character, making it up as you go) and one part roll playing with stated characters. Good story, my first time playing in a game that used music in it. It sounded good. The game ended basicly on time and with the missing completed. Prizes were randomly given out, I got a Dusty Green/Copper set of 7 dice with the d10 missing. Free stuff is good, I have other d10s I can use.

Torgoth's Tower 2 (Hero System)
The game continued from last night. My Orge advanced two more time, next came Blademaster. My weapon of choice was a Great Club. I got the ok use club instead of a blade, basically renaming it Weaponmaster. The two powers my Orge gained was Sharpen Weapon (adding Armor-Piercing to my club), the second power was Rapid Attack (like the name says, get to attact up to 3 time, depending on the roll). The last upgrade was to Lieutenant (which I used to increase a few stats). The final battle (for our group) came around with a bunch of undead and creatures atacking. We had a plan to get this gold throne cover from a dragon and bash it into pulp. It did look like we were going to attack it, but one of the other players talked to it and made a trade. With a few good hits the item was dead and the main bad guy had a new problem. The main bad guy had his own problem fighting the other 2/3 of the other player and loosing. Time was not on our side, we had gone past the game cut off. We meet almost all of the game goals, Torgoth (the bad guy) would have been take down by on of the player, but fast foward to the end due to time.

Save the porn queens! (Pax Draconis System)
The game was basically a rescue mission. The GM overlooked bringing PreGens so we got make the character. It was easy, but went a little slow with one book and did take away from game time. This is a scifi system and looks to have some good background and history with it. The battle system is different from others I have played it. The battle was towards the end of the game and was a little rushed due to the time for the session comming to a close. The game was fun, for something I have not played. We did rescue the porn stars and got off the planet.

There were a few other games going on at the same time I would liked to play in, but I wanted to try something new.

Hot Springs of Horrors (BESM "Slayers")
I have seen the game books before and was used for anime style game. I thought I would try this out. I know of the Slayers series and seen maybe one episode awhile back. There was a total of three players and the GM. There was a 15 min discussion of the Slayers series (which jumped to different eps and sequels), where I just grinned and nodded. They geeked out. The two other player played the two main lead character and when the game started, they attacked each other (which might be something the character might do). I felt like getting up and head home for the night, but I held up and played on. The second half of the game was a little better and we got to the end of the game about 3am (Sunday). If I play this game again I will play a anime series I know better.

I went home for a few hours of sleep for the 9am game of 7th Sea.

Escape! (7th Sea, d6 ver)
Good turn out on this game, we had 5 player. Everyone had played the game before, except Bob (friend form my Hero game group). PreGens were picked and the game was reviewed. We started on a ship fleeing from a larger ship. We lost them and headed into port. It had been awhile sence I had played the game, it was fun (like seeing a old friend). Some prizes were given out, Bob got voted for best player for the game and picked up a set of dice. The other two item were diced off, I got a Hulk Jiggle Head Pen.

That it for the games I played in. I picked up a Dragonflight Con shirt and preregistered for next years con for $25.00 and also preregistered for ConQuest North West that will be in the same hotel in February 16th thru 19th (Presidents Day Weekend) for $26.00.

On a side note, a few flyers from Dragon's Landing Inn Podcast were left around in a few places at the convention and the "My Other Shirt is Elven Chain +5" shirt from DLI was worn all day Saturday.

Check out my camera phone pictures from Dragonflight 2006.

Mix Master

Check out from Barenaked Ladies:

For the first time in Barenaked Ladies history we are making available for download multitracks of our songs. May we introduce “Easy”, “Wind It Up”, “Bank Job” and “Rule the World With Love” off our upcoming album Barenaked Ladies Are Me. It is our hope that you will remix, re-create, re-edit, re-configure, and realize what you will with these parts in coming up with your own versions. All tracks here are 16 bit 44.1kHz WAV files ready for re-mixing. Cost for all tracks of each song is $2.49.

Check out the remix under each of the titles, then click on LISTEN.

Videos on YouTube

OK Go - Here It Goes Again - good use of treadmills.

Barenaked Lades - Easy - from BNL's upcoming album "Barenaked Ladies Are Me"

Fiona Apple - Paper Bag