Home again, home again, jiggedty-jig

I’ve just returned from Jersey, more or less intact. And let me tell ya, I’ve had quite enough of trains, planes and automobiles–subways, buses and taxis as well. Never-mind shopping and hauling overstuffed bags.

But don’t get me wrong, all in all it was an enjoyable visit. I got to see quite a few relatives for the first time since my cousin Shauna’s wedding, including Shauna’s brother Michael who is currently stationed in Japan. It was interesting to take stock of how much I had in common with these blood relations as well as how so very much we do not have in common.

My generation, which includes my Brother Andy, Shauna, Michael are all in business and management—except for me. Add in the various spouses as well as my mother and Aunt Pam and I stand the sole liberal. Well, Kip as well but he was unconscious for most of the trip do to his cold and sinus infection and so could not give me moral support. And actually I suspect Shauna and husband Jim are quietly lefties, but I was uninterested to probe the matter given earlier squabbles I had with others.

Actually, it was nice how relatively comfortable we all were together. We four cousins had an odd bit of bonding over how damn cold the Wisconsin lake water was even in July. Even more so during those early morning water skiing lessons our Grandfather Page insisted we take at ages eight to twelve. (Despite my utter lack of desire to water ski, I actually got quite good and even enjoyed it after a bit)

Mother treated Andy, his wife Heather, his daughter Jessica, Kip and I to the Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall—featuring the World Famous Rockettes. It’s odd, but despite the fact I grew up an hour outside of NYC, I never saw the Rockettes perform. And for me they were the highlight of the show—though the 3D effects of anaglyph animated film that began the show was pretty darn impressive. Beyond marveling at their precision in some incredibly complex routines, their musical numbers were quaintly archaic, very 1920s, which is when I imagine they got their start along with a gazillion other dance choruses.

Kip actually was too ill to go see that show but was thankfully well enough to go into NYC on Sunday to hook-up with Paul and Scott, as well as bop around old haunts, including Books of Wonder. We were also going to meet Julia, but unfortunately she had to cancel due to illness. Still we had fun tromping about lower Manhattan before meeting Scott and Paul for some very nice Tibetan food and conversation. We learned that the first 24 hour comic Paul ever did will be included in a forth coming collection of 24 hour comics which is just too cool. And Scott has finally found an acceptable job as a manger of a translation house—Scott got his college degree in Japanese.

So it was a good visit all in all. Had the undivided attention of a precious seven year-old for much of it, which was kinda fun and tiring. Ate way too much junk, and watched even more TV, a few months quota in a matter of days. Though Jessica did graciously reacquaint me with such Disney classics as Snow White, Cinderella and Mary Poppins.

Somewhat live from New Jersey

So, you may or may not have noticed my scant presence online. Well, there was getting ready for the Holidays, traveling for the Holidays and now surviving the Holidays.

Which have been going well enough considering the usual ill fit of families who gather only occasionally. You now, the little things you disagree about, like eating habits, just how often the TV really needs to be on, politics, relgious tolerance (or awareness), and so on.

Still, having a decent time. And despite the cursed week Kip and I had been having, the plane didn’t crash. Though with the miserable cold and possible sinus infection that has been beating Kip up,* I bet the Spouse would’nt’ve been that put out if it did.

The bruised ribs I aquired last week survived traveling, but are now somewhat worse for the enthuiastic affection of my seven year-old niece, sleeping on a fold out couch and the general holiday jostling that goes on.

I will report more later, after I can connect to the internet with my own laptop. My Mom’s computer not only has a wonky keyboard, but my using it attracts far too much attention from my beloved niece Jessica, who is offended by the attention I give it instead of her.

Happy Holidays to all, which ever you choose to recognize.

*Pretty literally. Kip has gotten a black eye from the internal pressure.

Hello Owen Robert!

Congratulations to Kevin and Jenn Moore on the arrival of their son, Owen Robert Moore!

No details or pictures yet, but I’m sure they will be soon in coming. Actually, here are some earlier pictures, pre-birth if you will.

UPDATE December 22nd: Kevin has posted details on Owen’s arrival, complete with pictures!

Bumps ahead

One of the reasons I’ve not been starting to flesh out my art section or start uploading Wode is, beyond being busy, that I’m at the end of my bandwidth. I’m in the midst of rectifying that, but it does involve untangling a couple of sub-domains as well as setting everything up with a new server.

Hopefully this whole process will be smooth and invisible. But as that is usually not the case, I thought it prudent to mention it before the fact. It should be complete by the middle of January, hopefully much sooner.

And since I am already talking about bandwidth, and have made a stand on net ettiquette earlier this week: there is a picture that I use for a support page in my Bio that people will time and again link to. That is, they use it as an image source on their own site (or more commonly on LiveJournal), as opposed to linking to the page in question. So, essentially, I end up paying to host someone else’s image file. Whee.

The first couple of times I put down to ignorance, and decided to add the following copy on the webpage in question: “About this image! If you want to use it, feel free to copy it to your own server. Do not link to it on mine. I will continue to change the image name and break links. I do not need the extra transfer burden.” The image file’s name is non-descriptive, so to find the image, you actually need to hit the webpage. But people keep using it as there image source, stealing my bandwidth. So I am annoyed. And continue to change the file name.

You knowÉ

Okay, recently I had a comment posted to the journal entry “Wood Mouth Paint” that simply said “I don’t get it” from “Bob.” Whatever.

I actually don’t care about getting random smart-ass comments. If I did I’d have to block most of my friends, right? But “Bob” left his email as “fuck@you.org.” I mulled it over and decided to delete the comment (which added nothing) and Blacklist this “Bob.” I really have little patience with anonymous cowards who think profanity is a stand in for wit.

On a more cheerful note, thanks to H.S.Kim at Kungfool! for the linking to “Wood Mouth Paint”! Glad you found it amusing, it was actually created by my esteemted co-worker Michael Moon, one of my favorite smart-asses