gigamatic

Do not, under any circumstances, decide to read discussion boards about Transformers.

NO
NO NO NO
NONONONONO

DON'T DO IT.

GAH! HEAD EXPLODING!
*BANG*

PS - Hello to Kelmeister, who was just in my neighborhood.

Posted by gigamatt at 12:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Today, i wiped and reinstalled my g3 iMac running OS X 10.4.8, and used MonoLingual to rip out extra unnecessary language support. Then, I wiped (and am currently installing OS X server on) a G4 tower. That's taking a while.

When I get back from class, I'm going to finish that install, and try to archive/wipe the old Performa under my desk, and get it ready to surplus. And, if I have time, do the same with the dual P3 tower. And, after 5pm, install RAM in my servers.

I can almost see the top of my desk, too. Almost.

Posted by gigamatt at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I totally forgot it's deer season here in the Cowlands this week. I guess I've been in the city too long. Where I grew up, people take excused absences from school for this. Seriously, Monday ought to just be declared a local holiday, since nobody shows up to school.

Got email from my dad -- at 7:30 last night, a truck stopped a couple hundred yards up the road from their house. Dad went out to see what was up, and found his neighbor, Michael M, had had a deer run smack into the side of his pickup, (apparently) killing itself in the process. Michael asked my dad if he could have the deer, as he'd been hunting all day and not seen a single one. (Some hunter, my dad says.) Dad let him take the deer, in the hopes that it really was dead.

Venison steaks. Yum.

Posted by gigamatt at 7:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

i'm slowly coming to realize i'm in a funk. and it's bad. and it's self-feeding. i focus on it, and it pulls me in further. i try to break it, but then everything around me pushes me in. it's time to break out of it before it takes over completely.

i started out bad in the class i'm in. i've missed 3 days because of work. and i continued by frakking up the midterm, really bad. which only was returned 3 weeks later, and, feeling defeated, i didnt put the effort into the paper, which i also frakked up. between 3 weeks of stress and arguments with my family about the funeral, and the now constant "what the frakk are you thinking" with my father and his not taking care of himself, and then a few loud arguments with other folks, i just haven't been able to pull myself out of the muck this quarter.

What's past is past. I've just got to do better and move forward. Seriously.

I can, in theory, do this.

Goals:
1) 2 hrs of reading/study each day/night till the final exam.
2) Eat less. And better. Less trips to the "wheel of death" snack machine.
3) Start going to the gym. Especially once classes are done for break.
4) Start dressing better. Stop being a dirty slob.
5) Once I get the class paid off, start working on saving for a laptop.
6) House stuff. Too much to list here.
7) Card list/Christmas letter
8) Cookbook
9) Cookies

Posted by gigamatt at 11:17 AM | Permalink

So, due to a scheduling glitch, we're hosting thanksgiving on Michigan weekend. Scary.

Our neighbors are coming over, bringing a sister, and my friend KC from high school and her boyfriend, the Safecracker. And of course, Kunstler and his lady-friend. And (fanfare please), my parents will be attending for the first time since 1997. Wow.

I took yesterday and today off from work. I'm kind of a mess. I lack focus. So much so, that I forgot completely about class yesterday. I believe I yelled something like "F*CK" when I remembered this morning. Of course, the Prof's notes don't exist digitally, and she doesnt give us outlines. You either attend and get the material, or you dont. It won't stop me from emailing her GA and asking for a digital copy of her notes. We're the only two who take notes on our laptops.

I joined a gym today, too. I guess that's finally admitting that I have gotten fat. At $10/month, I'm not complaining. We'll see if I can make it there next week at all.

I've finished prepping one entire casserole (zucchini). The turkey is brining, and I still have lots to do. Next is another casserole, and the cranberry sauce. It's all a lot of prepwork, but if I get it all done today, that's all the more time to socialize (and clean) tomorrow.

And hopefully the turkeys (fans) won't riot when the Bucks lose to Michiganders tomorrow.

Posted by gigamatt at 3:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

on monday. i forgot i had plans... in fact, i thought they were for next week. so, i ran some of my errands at lunch. tomorrow, i'll pay the car payment and try to run the rest of them. (the turkey has been ordered).

so, saturday, day of the festival de football, we're hosting a pre-thanksgiving Thanksgiving. I asked that everyone RSVP one way or the other.

The response so far:
Chloe's dad, Hawk's mom, and Hawk's aunt.
KC and The Safecracker.
Gigamom and Gigadad
der Kunstler und seine Freundin

Regrets:
the most fab TA
the T family
Mike M (who must be reading, HI MIKE!)
Jordanica
Mr. & Mrs. B
The Kelmeisters

No answer:
Major Nelson
Cynedd
Mic D

So, if I haven't heard from you... chime in, please. Let me know you're alive, at least.

Posted by gigamatt at 8:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

it's election time again:

SHORT LINES GREET MOST VOTERS, BUT MACHINES MALFUNCTIONED AT SEVERAL PRECINCTS New electronic voting machines malfunctioned today at several Franklin County precincts, and the county's phone system crashed for 90 minutes under the weight of calls.

ID RULES, MACHINES CAUSE VOTING PROBLEMS IN OHIO AND ELSEWHERE Electronic voting machine problems frazzled voters and election workers in dozens of precincts as the polls opened this morning, delaying voters in Indiana and Ohio and leaving some in Florida with little choice but turn to paper ballots instead.

and the funniest headline:

Britney Spears files for divorce from her husband Kevin Federline, citing irreconcilable differences.

Orthodox Jews set fires, stab to stop gay parade

Posted by gigamatt at 4:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

goddammit... migraine level headache. i tried to stop it. didnt work. class in 20 minutes. argh.

Posted by gigamatt at 3:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

sinuses throbbing. bad sleep. not much sleep. horrible monday lays ahead. forgot (again) about class. and a hell meeting this afternoon, along with 2 hell projects today. uncertain what lunch will be, but dinner will have to be quick and dirty, since i have had a smack-in-the-face awakening and need to get back on track with a lot of things.

there is much to do, and not much time to do it. but, careful planning can get the jobs done.

i need to revisit my sent invites and rsvps and speak to nala again re: turkey day(s). i've got to get it all in order.

dad's PSAs are up, suddenly, from where they had been. he's supposed to have another test around the week before thanksgiving, after a month of antibiotics, but he's not sure he wants to wait around for that, and wants desperately to head south. with his seriously bad back and not supposed to be doing anything physical, he climbed up on the roof to un-cap the chimney and will have to climb up to cap it again. i said "why did you do that?" -- he said "because your mom couldn't" - too proud to ask for help, i suppose. if his back spasms or he twists wrong while up there again, he likely (his words) won't survive the fall. "your mom will be a rich woman," he said, without even a chuckle.

i cant even pretend to have gotten through the last 6 weeks. all that i keep thinking about is "what if" scenarios and my mind doesnt stop long enough for me to sleep. gram's gone, suddenly my mom became grandmotherly, and my dad is talking about death matter-of-factly. 50 zillion things came rushing into my head and, being unable to process them, i got stuck in the ever growing quagmire.

i can do better. i have in the past. i can and will. gotta focus.

Posted by gigamatt at 9:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

it's that time of year when my workplace is asking for charitable contributions. i shy away from any org affiliated with united way, and prefer to give thru local offices, so i can ignore half the book they give us to pick from.

usually, i've given money to health charities, based on those family members and friends who have been afflicted by something horrible and deadly, and last year, i gave big to children's hospitals.

this year, i maintained one gift to a health charity, but, found 4 environmental/sustainability/green charities to give to as well. one focuses on farms, one focuses on fuels, one focuses on energy conservation in home life, and one focused on foods. since my grandmother was a big proponent of organic living and sustainability, and this was mentioned repeatedly at her funeral, it was fresh in my mind, and felt like the right thing to do.

however, also due to my changing focus in my own life, i decided to give less this year than in last. i want to think about the future more (family, retirement, home and farm maintenance, etc.) and to do that, i'm going to need every last bit of cash.

Posted by gigamatt at 1:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

last night, before we moved the sink (and after), i was busy making a chili for today's cookoff at work. now, usually, i make 2 or 3 different ones, but by the time i got the first batch going, and was cleaning house, and talking to people who came over to help move the sink, it was bedtime, and i didnt feel like staying up late to make more.

so, it was kind of hot. not my hottest, not my best, but hot.

i didnt follow my recipe this time. i went vegetarian, and added cactus and roasted red pepper. no crumbles, either. 5 beans, tomatoes with onions, tomatoes with jalapenos, tomatoes with green chilis, cubanelles, fresh cayenne, fresh chipotles, and diced green pepper, onion, and garlic. to that, i added 3 kinds of chili powder, cumin, and white pepper.

the chili was hot and full of flavor, but still missing something. could be cocoa powder, which i do usually add. could've also been brown sugar. could've also been beef. but it was definitely a miss on my scale.

fully expecting to lose, i brought my chili into work. and, much to my surprise, there were only 6 other competitors. usually, we average between 10 and 14. sad, but apparently because of the lack of bobbleheads in the prizes, nobody wanted to compete for hottest.

and i won. wtf. this is probably my worst entry in a long time, and it won??? Dar won judges choice, too! has the world gone topsy turvy? (to be honest, hers was the best, in my opinion, and she almost won people's choice too, although that went to another first-time winner.)

Without The Body and Fish who won year after year, I guess it was time to have a new winner... and for even my mediocre hot chili to win Hottest. The judges all agreed it had great flavor, and wasnt just "hot for hots sake."

I won another something for my parents... as usual. They can decide to keep it or give it to my friend Becky -- world's biggest Buckeye fan.

Posted by gigamatt at 1:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)