thebitterguy

So, our Kenmore upright that we'd gotten as a wedding present finally bit the big bag of dust and cat hair, so we knew we had to get a new one.

Cynra & I went to the Sears outlet here in town on Saturday and dropped off our old vacuum for disposal (hopefully they don't just toss it on the trash heap) and to see what they had.

They did have a selection of vacuums for sale. The store here is an outlet store, which means they have some appliances, some vacuums, a couple tvs, and some gear. It's mostly for making catalogue orders and dropping things off for servicing, and picking them up again.

We looked at the various models, and ended up getting a Dyson cannister vacuum. The Animal model, which is supposed to be very good for picking up hair.

So far, it's living up to that.

This machine, while far from cheap, tore through the various cat hair embedded in our carpet. I know it's end of season/shedding time, but this did a great job.

Then, everyone came over and we played Halo until we were sick. madmanofprague's girlfriend claimed she'd never played Halo before. Let me tell you: either she's a quick learner, or a great bluffer.


This song, btw, is on the Christmas album this year.

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Now playing: Isaac Hayes - Mistletoe & Me
http://foxytunes.com/artist/isaac+hayes/track/mistletoe+%26+me

Only a few months late (but cut me some slack, I just got my 360 for Christmas) I've finished Halo 3.

Fascinating how the last level of this is so very similar to the last level of the first one. At least they give you a tail gunner this time. And it's not just driving straight.

Now to get Cynra a controller so we can do the coop and practice for the lan party next weekend.

A Dread warning:

So, yeah. Where I been at?

Thursday night game got cancelled, so Cynra & I had burritos at Chorizos. Actually, niether of us had a burrito, per se. She had the taco salad, and I had a steak fajita. But, yum in any case.

En route, I stopped off at my FNSLCS. They're in mid renovations, so they have the entirety of the front window taken up with long boxes, and sheets of 8x11" paper saying "we are open". I told them they should put up a big sheet that says "I assure you, we are open", but they didn't get it. What the hell kinda comic store guys, right?

We got to get into an argument over what was better, Superman Returns or X-Men: The last Stand. I can't remember what side I took, or even what we decided. But it was fun. I got the Spider-Ham story and regreted it. I got 52 and revelled in the beauty that is Egg Fu.

Saturday was the Halo party. Props go out to rentagurkha for the birthday present, muchas gracias, and to malliabu for a last minute pickup of madmanofprague. atomiks brought his cousin along, and we all got to enjoy the pain of getting pwned by a 12 year old. Ah, did I ever have reflexes that good? We over-ordered Vito's which was a bit of a shock, but that gave us extra pizza, huzzah. Much fun was had, including a set of rocket launcher tourism, where we played rocket launcher slayer on way too many maps.

Sunday was pretty quiet, with some gift cards being disposed of; Cynra picked up Remington Steele season 1 and the complete Alien Nation, and I picked up the only piece of non-WoW Mac software in the shop, the Starcraft battle chest. Huzzah for 1999!

I played a couple missions, and it was fun. Anyone out there still playing Starcraft?

All I know is if it's TRUE, I still might not get one.

Who knows?

Well, that was a good evening. Cynra did the majority of treat handling. A chilly drizzle fell for a good part of the evening, which may have kept a few trick and/or treaters away.

I was sent on a dinner mission (Operation: Pizza and wings) and stopped by one of Mississauga's many comics shops on the way home to pick up the new Astro City. I also picked up the first 100 Bullets trade. I think someone on LJ recommended it yesterday, and it had always seemed interesting so I picked it up. The paper was kinda flimsy for a trade (I'm used to the glossy stuff in trades, I guess) but the stories were neat. The second one? Depressing. I find the backstory is interesting, too. I will pick up book two shortly.

The clerk at the store gave me a Vertigo sampler (Vertigo: First Offences) as a gift. Happy Halloween indeed! I guess he liked my overwrought office worker costume.

We had a few folks still arriving for candy by the time I got home, but it petered out as the evening went along. The cat pumpkin was adorable but appeared to suffer some structural issues, as its head fell off and rolled a couple feet away. Initially, we thought it had been abducted by local pests (racoons or teenagers), but it was eventually found.

We saw the Buffy episode of Smallville (oh, look. Lana is possessed by an evil force AGAIN. Thankfully she has no opeating brain cells, or she'd start to remember things). Very horrid. At least we get to see Braniac go all T-1000 on some guy.

We REALLY need that Legion of Superheroes episode, before the show swirls down into a whirlpool of suck and gets put out of its misery. At least the actor playing Braniac hadn't undergone dental surgery before his takes this week.

D&D game for tomorrow is cancelled, which is unfortunate, but will give me time to tidy up before Halo 2: A Bomb for the Old Guy. Regular game is on Thursday. Must see if Dragon Lady sells long boxes, as I've started to store comix in rubbermaids.

Extended XML rental. Alllllmost finished. Damn Master Mold is tricky. Am I suposed to be shutting off the control panels or something?

Enjoying Halo 2 via Xbox Live. It seems that even the idiots can't ruin that game.

Played some Swordball with mearls (It WAS you, right, Mike?) the other day. Swordball is Oddball (carry a skull for x amount of seconds to win) with only swords.

Discovered a new strategy. If you're about to get smoked with the pointy in swordball, jump off a railing. You'll die, sure, but you'll gain a couple precious seconds while you fall, and your opponent will have to run back to the ball's respawn point to get any score for themselves.

This has been another... useless fact.

Watching Red vs Blue.

God, I love this show.

For those of you who don't know, it's a dramatic piece constructed via the medium of the greatest game ever (Halo).

I'm strongly considering getting a copy of the DVD for entertainment during the next HDIC. It's just that much fun.

Watched some of Hulk Still Rules. Man, how do they get people to spend $30 on this shit?

D&D for today was cancelled due to an unexpected priority for mr_weasel. So pyat, his wife & child, nottheterritory, Mr. & Mrs. Z and Snra and I got together to do geeky things in the afternoon.

It started off with some Halo (got pasted in rocket launchers, but won the Slayer game), and followed up with Settlers of Catann (won by Mrs. Z in an awesome display of sneakiness). I don't know what it is, but I just suck at Settlers. Suck hardcore.

I took along a few card games (Chez Geek/Greek, Counting Sheep, and Grave Robbers from Outer Space), but nothing got played. I should just burn them. End my pain.

I was mentioning to the group about playing Counterstrike online, and about how some super-genius was using the robot voice to sing She Bangs by Ricky Martin. It was very, very annoying.

nottheterritory mentioned how they'd had a cartoon about that in Penny Arcade. So I leapt in the air, scattering the table, and grabbed him by the throat, hoisting him in the air.

"YES!", I screamed. "OF COURSE, Penny Arcade had a cartoon about it. The annoying gits at Penny Arcade do oodles of cartoons about all sorts of things, many of which involve their painful deaths! SO WHY DO THEY KEEP MAKING CARTOONS, IF THEY'RE DEAD ALREADY!"

Okay, no, I didn't. I don't really hate Penny Arcade that much. I just don't love them as much as PVP.Sweet, sweet PVP.

When mr_weasel and I went to GenCon for the first time, I pointed out Scott Kurtz walking the floor below as we rode the escalator. "No," he said. "You're lying. You're just pointing out some morbidly obese guy as a gag." But, no. It was, in fact, Scott Kurtz.

So, I'm reading a cow-orker’s Regal catalogue, and there’s a few chuckle worthy items and a few things I have momentary lapses of reason over (I sit down until the urge goes away).

But there’s one thing that I just find rather off-putting. The Sympathy cards.

I'm not particularly fond of sympathy cards in general, mind you. The convenience of having a dozen or so (Religious or Sincere, which I guess calls into question the sincerity of the religious) seems appealing, but then I realize there's more to it than that.

It seems very insincere, the name of the package notwithstanding. If you want to express sympathy for someone’s loss (or just remind them to Trust in Him), I think you should be willing to schlep down to your neighbourhood Carlton Cards and pick something off the rack yourself, right? Hell, grab a blank one and write "Im sorry yor daad dyed he was a nyce guy".

I mean, I’m already rather perturbed at the fact your average gift shop can sell you a card to let your partner know that the spark has gone out of your relationship, you're tired of having to shoulder more than your share of the chores, and you think they're faking the whole lumbago, so you're leaving town with your hairdresser.

Call me picky, but I think people should have some ability to express themselves with something resembling skill. I never thought I'd lament the loss of the Dear John letter.

Plus, it seems kind of creepy. I mean, you KNOW you'll need some Christmas cards for next year. But sympathy cards? "So, Jed. How's your dad? Feeling better? Shame, that. Your mom? Oh, anything broken? Really? In for how long? Hmmm. Well, let me know. Your wife still have that toothache? How's the dog? Your son still playing hockey?"

Feh.

Yesterday: Went to visit whisper_jeff and adamjury for Halo. Was fun, although in all but 2 games me and Adam spent most of our time standing there with our pants around our ankles going "Thank you, sir, may I have another?"

I DID win King of the Hill. Waahooo!

And the Rocket Launcher game was fuuuun. 25/24/23.