rickvs

As expected, I did not win the $10,000 shopping spree.

This did not prevent me from calling my mother-in-law and breathlessly chirping, "You won't believe what I'm doing *right now*! I'm ... going home empty-handed!"

The single person whose name got drawn from the walk-ups and dropped in with us semi-finalists was also drawn as one of the final five ...so I was rooting for her, just out of a general desire to see the underdog win out. A different one of the five finalists got it, however, so we went away... after using up one of my corollary semi-finalist prizes buying frozen yogurt on the way out. (The last corollary prize -- tickets to look at the model train display which Northpark sets up every year -- will be used sometime in the next week or two. Probably).

And, because I've had a few people ask me about it, here's my list of suggestions on how to play radio contests. Hopefully, many of these are blindingly obvious, but several wouldn't have occurred to me before I bumped my nose learning them.


Guidelines for playing radio contests:
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I'm putting this achievement under a cut tag, 'cause I don't wanna sound like I'm bragging. Much.
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Mr Limbaugh:

Regarding the phrase "negative liberties" ...

I don't think it means what you think it means.

Regards,

Rick

Rachal's got a nerve block scheduled for Monday morning. This should reduce the frequency of her migraines, which may in turn reduce the number of pressure headaches I think the migraines trigger. On the other half of that cycle, we're not sure how well the tinkering with her shunt is reducing the number of spontaneous pressure headaches; we'll have more data on that later.

Rachal and I like my day job being as close as it is (.7 miles). We like it so much that I won't be going on interviews for any more full-time jobs across town, but will continue drumming up such freelance work as I can do in my off-hours, because my almost full-time gig doesn't quite pay as much as I'd like.

In other news, my mother's second knee replacement seems to have gone well. As with the first, she's ahead of the rehabilitation curve, and can walk for short periods without any crutch or cane support (!).

Also, the more-than-possible election of Barack Obama won't be (I'm certain) the nightmare scenario Mom seems to think it'll be, so that's good news of a sort. I have no intention of bringing this point up to her, for fear it'll sound like gloating, but shall continue sending her the occasional Snopes correction to her chain-letter e-mails. There was a time when I'd have been happy to see either party's candidate in the White House, but the more I hear about Sen. McCain's temper, the less I want him anywhere near the big red button.

(Parenthetically, I'm quite pleased with recent political developments here in the USA. A year ago, I was pretty certain that the while the first non-white-guy major-party candidate for President would knock the door ajar, they wouldn't be able to squeeze through it until some later election cycle. I'd love to see President Obama prove me wrong).

Rachal's shunt (the one that keeps her spinal fluid pressure down to a manageable level) got clogged, so she'd been having pretty constant headaches for the last several weeks. Friday she got diagnosed, and surgery was scheduled for Monday. Now she's home, again with half her head shaved, and once the surgery-pain subsides, she should have fewer pressure headaches -- and perhaps fewer migraines triggered by pressure headaches. These V-P shunts don't have a history of lasting very long, so we're looking at options ...Rachal being uninterested in having brain surgery every few months. On other medical fronts, her psoriasis is basically nonexistent now, her vision has improved, and she's also been much clearer-headed these last few months.

In job news, I seem to have found a fairly regular trickle of work, comprised of freelance projects (thanks, oDesk!) and an increasing number of hours at a print shop about one kilometer from our apartment. I'd walk to work every day, if that didn't mean I couldn't spend as much time with Rachal on my lunch breaks :>

Just got back from a sneak preview of the latest Batman movie. I'll not spoil it here, but will almost certainly do so in comments, so beware.

To my surprise, the theater I was at wasn't packed to the gills. This may have had something to do with the radio station announcing the wrong date and location during their giveaway of passes.

I liked it better than _Batman Begins_, which is saying something. The big question I had going in was, would Heath Ledger have gotten as much Oscar buzz for his performance if he had lived?

Yes, I actually think he would have.

I'll answer any other questions in the comments. Nighty night.

Well, we're down to two cats, now.
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So, I've been spending a lot of my work-at-home time hammering on my new company's website, including this glossary:

http://www.routerroom.com/whatwedo.htm

If learning the definitions of a bunch of sign and artwork terms would fill an aching void in your brain, click away. If you happen to notice any typos (or glaring omissions) and care to flag them to me, I'd be grateful. (I've got a couple of hundred entries on there now, and eventually intend to have four or five hundred).

And yes, before you ask, that's my voice narrating the demo video. Keith David was unavailable.

I overheard one side of a cell phone conversation while in a doctor's waiting room this morning.

The esteemed gentleman a few chairs over was concerned about Senator Obama's political viability. His main objections seemed to be:

1) "Obama" rhymes with "Osama". Well, he's got me there; I have no rebuttal.

2) According to this dude, Barack Obama is an atheist. This will come as some surprise, I expect, to anyone at the Trinity United Church of Christ who attended his baptism.

I mean, seriously -- if voting Christians wanna take a pass on Sen. Obama because of his views on abortion, or because he doesn't have enough political experience to suit them, that'd at least be an argument I could listen to with a straight face. But hearing this guy on the phone, both items above seemed to present equally weighty red flags.

I am ashamed to be a Texan.

It's a voting lever, people, not a Wii controller. If you can't cast your ballot from a position of informed opinion, please stay home!

Just got back from an advance screening of _Sweeney Todd_. It was good, but bloody, if that warning affects your desire to see the film. I find that Johnny Depp's singing voice reminds me of David Bowie.

I shall answer any questions about it in comments, so don't enter if you don't want spoilers.

(Now I gotta go dig up music by the Fleet Street Singers...)