av8rmike

I'm cross-posting this entry from Dreamwidth for some reason, even though it is all about things LiveJournal. Also, I'm still deciding how much involvement I want to continue to have here (DW).

So, Vegas. I can't do a day-by-day round-up of everything that went on because it's already a little hazy in my memory, but suffice it to say that everything was awesome and we had so much fun. (OK, sitting in traffic for an hour trying to get to Hoover Dam wasn't as fun, but that's life.) Some highlights:

• The house kicked ass, but everyone who was there already knows that.


• Jamie and I trying to make rice pudding in the auxiliary kitchen for 20+ people, then screwing up and subsequently salvaging the recipe.


• Seeing the NV State Museum with gameboyguy13 and teshiron.


• Finding a Lucille's BBQ while hunting for an Original Pancake House.


• Of course, the big Cheesecake Factory group dinner, and meeting up with a friend I hadn't seen since high school (who lives in LV). The long-ass table wasn't the optimal seating arrangement for conversations, unfortunately. If only the people at the opposite end of the table had seen the text messages I was sending them. ;)


• Instead of Melting Pot, Moroccan food at Marrakech (no offense to those who went to MP, but I think we had much better food).


• Collecting "cards" while on the Strip and seeing the Bellagio fountain show.


• The aforementioned driving out to Hoover Dam with more people than I can mention.


• Running into burr86 and hachi while trying to meet up with them at the Atomic Testing Museum.


• Mille Bournes and Monty Python Fluxx (finally!) with ferrell, elyssa, stevieg, and snarkbite.


• MST3k with coffeechica, Glee with danceinacircle, and talking shop with aveleh and the_kitty_kat.

Everyone else I didn't mention, thanks just for being your wonderful selves.

So, as of Wednesday my choices were 1) wait for Verizon to restore my DSL service on May 26th, nearly two weeks after the connection had been disconnected, or 2) pick up a Comcast cable modem and self-install kit and be back online that night.

It ended up being a simpler choice than I thought. =) Even setting up my wi-fi network wasn't too much trouble, and it's so much faster than pokey DSL. Calling Verizon to cancel all my accounts was pretty satisfying.

(Plural because I'm testing out the DW-LJ cross-posting option)

After talking about retail therapy a few months ago, I finally went and did it: I bought a laptop ("good for you!", my dad said). I had plenty of money from my tax refund and just decided to get it over with and buy it. I even took pictures of the un-boxing as if it was a PowerMac. It's just as beautiful as I was expecting, even though it is running Vista. Nothing I can't solve with PC De-crapifier and Ubuntu, if necessary.

This week is also Brahms overload week: Sunday I played the Symphony #2 with the Chamber Orchestra of Mount Vernon Place, we're working on the 4th symphony with Columbia, and playing a watered-down arrangement of the Variations on a Theme of Haydn in my other orchestra. Nothing really wrong with too much Brahms.

Lord help me, I'm coding in Perl and actually liking it.

Sweet! I downloaded a Ubuntu install CD the other day, and it works right out of the "box"! I'm typing this entry on it right now! Here's proof:

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9) Gecko/2008061015 Firefox/3.0

So now what do I do with it? ;)

I'm eating some Breyers' Yogurt, which proudly proclaims on the container that it is "smart!" and "boost[s] your brain with DHA". Of course, when I first look at it, I see "with DNA" and am thinking, "whose DNA?"

Off to Acronym Finder! It's either Docosahexaenoic Acid, Dihydroxyacetone, or Dehydroascorbate. Wikipedia confirms it's the first (an essential Omega-3 fatty acid), as the second is an active ingredient in sunless tanning lotions, and the last is a form of vitamin C. Aren't you glad I'm here to tell you these things?