Dr. Grafeldr's 3D House of Pancakes

Best quote of the day. Overheard by me from one of our customers talking to someone else:

"I tried to make my payment online, but I don't have a computer"

Finishing the last little bit of work. After I get outta here and get some dinner, I'm off to see Princess and the Frog. Looking forward to the last major animated movie of this year of very good to spectacular animated movies!

I know there will be some on my friends list who'll get a kick out of this and some that will be ready to throw heavy blunt objects at me. To those folks, I apologize sincerely!



Taken on my way home from work. Couldn't resist snapping the photo! :D

I made it to work only 15 minutes late, despite two road closures and having to shovel all the snow off the truck!

You folks back east have my sympathies!

Seems like a little while since one of these has come up! :)

Happy birthday wishes to michael_011 ! Hope you have a great b-day and a fantastic holiday weekend!

As of today, my credit card has not been charged at all for my room at Further Confusion, even though I did book using the Passkey setup FC brokered. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones, considering several others are having problems with the entire stay being charged. I'm really looking forward to this since we're at the T minus 60 mark till the convention. I so need a furry fix in my life right now and this is just what the doctor ordered. Of course, all this may be moot if my dad schedules his surgery during the con. *keeps paws crossed*

My aunt is in town from Dallas She's currently staying at my parents place. It'll be great to see her since it's been awhile. Can't seem to contact her or my parents right now though. Probably off having fun (damn retirees!).

Plan for the holiday weekend is to head to my parents and help prep T-day meal. Also some quality time with my nephews and some socializing with the relatives. Friday is the Great Christmas Tree hunt up in Apple Hill. Now the interesting thing I heard is there may be a winter storm heading in at that time. Could this be the year we go get the tree while it's snowing? Stay tuned.

I'll either spend Saturday or Sunday with my parents. I'll probably let Tina off the hook for that day though...that's a bit too much family for one weekend!

One more day of work tomorrow, then the fun begins!

Tina's off to ranch sit at her sisters this weekend so I'm on my own till Monday.

I've kicked off the weekend's festivities with a Louisiana Hot Sausage and Garlic pizza from Mountain Mikes and two beers from the 6-pac of Gordon Biersch I bought on the way home. I then plopped into my La-Z-Boy and tuned in to see Joe Thornton get his 600th career assist as the Sharks thumped the Flyers 6 to 3.

All in all, a good start to the solo weekend. Tomorrow I go into work for a few hours, but after that it's anyone's guess.

Yeah, I'm on Earth Eternal too.



Meet Bjorn Grafeldr, Ursine Knight!  Just one of the characters I'm playing.  Yeah, yeah I know -- "But Bjorn! I thought you hated MMORPGs!"  Not quite true.  I actually love gaming.  The problem is I love it a bit too much!  I have enough stuff going on in my life that I don't need an extra time sucker.  I'm giving this one a go due to a few reasons.

The best way to describe this game is WoW Jr. - Furry Edition.  The nice thing is since it's now just in open beta, you don't have a lot of the baggage WoW has.  Right now, the server isn't overloaded with players, there hasn't been time for agendas to be formed or in-game politics to develop.  It's sort of a clean-slate and I frankly quite like that.  We'll see how the in-game world progresses as time goes on.

The other attraction to this game is it's link to my past.  When I first came up with my character's name, I wanted it to be something I could use as an online identity in Furcadia (a game I long since abandoned) but also a new game being developed called Earth Eternal.  The backstory for the game actually influenced my name selection.  So I signed up on the site offering to beta test  and placed Bjorn's profile on the site.  It was the first time that I actually thought about the character in depth and that was what inspired me to begin writing my book.  So if it wasn't for this game, you could be reading LJ entries by someone named "Jumbo HuggyBear" or something to that effect!

As for how the game's going for me, let's just say the bestest clans aren't going to be beating down my door for my services anytime soon!  I've only spent a little time in-world on Halloween night on my laptop., so right now I've got Bjorn at level 5.  My druid char (Thorson Armir) is only at a level 6..   I only got the game working on my desktop today after updating my video drivers, so I might be on a bit more now.

That's it for now.  Off to play now! :)

Poll #1478252 Halloween Wear
This poll is closed.
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 0

We are able to dress in costume for work tomorrow. The only problem is I don't have a costume. What should I wear as an alternative?

EDIT: Poll closed. I went for the Opt Out - just my normal everyday office wear. Yeah I know, I'm boring as vanilla!

Then check this out: http://community.livejournal.com/furcon/479485.html

 I just finished booking some so-cal travel right now.  Great deal!

Had my Saturday gig at work come up today.  Nothing to exciting or notable, other than to distract me from important things to do at home.

Last week I got a late birthday present of a new laptop.  It's interesting in that I'm at a bit of a crossroads as to which OS to use.  I've got a spare copy of XP Professional lying around somewhere, the computer itself is loaded with Vista, and I could go down to the Best Buy right now if I wanted and get the new Windows.  Probably going to opt for XP, if I can find it.  Before anyone asks, no, Linux is not a viable option for what it'll be used for.

( Astroboy reviews and spoilers here )
Next movie on tap: Amelia 

...but (hopefully) an extraordinary day to a certain bear in the mythical land of Poughkeepsie.

Happy Birthday grzzbear !

For a change, I actually managed to get to bed at a reasonable hour last night (about 10:30).  For making it an early night, my subconscious rewarded me with an amazingly vivid dream that has me wanting to work on my book now, rather than go to work. 

I dreamed I was at our local movie theater waiting for a show.  I was stunned when the first trailer that appeared featured the characters from my story, all brilliantly drawn and animated in fluid 2-D.  I recognized all my primary characters and saw some that I didn't recognize or I haven't created yet.  The trailer had all the standard elements you'd expect to find, suspenseful music, some banter among the characters, action sequences, etc.  The last scene that sent some chills down my spine had my namesake main character desperately holding onto a ledge while the elaborately tiled floor he was standing on crumbled away, revealing a large dark chasm underneath.  The trailer then cut to the film title which was blurred out, but appeared to be three words.  That was disappointing, since the title for my story has eluded me so far.

So now I'm a bit pumped!  I fully understand that there is little chance of a movie like this ever being made, much less my book ever being picked up by a major publisher!  Nevertheless, It is stimulating a bit of creativity in me right now.  Before I head off to the salt mines, I'm going to jot down a few things I noted about the dream and some of the feelings I had during it.  Hopefully I can get back to it quickly and churn out a large chunk of work on the book.  Wish me luck!

( Continuing from my last entry finishing up my trip report to Orlando and my return home to the Habitat for Humanity poker tournament. )

Hola boys & girls!  I'm back from my week-long jaunt to WDW and man, do I need time to recover from this trip!

Trip actually started last Thursday afternoon.  Tina and I flew arrived in Orlando late Thursday evening.  After gathering up the rental car, we moved on to the Fairfield Inn near the airport for that evening to save on some of the resort expenses.   The next morning we checked out and hightailed it over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge.  The staff there was awesome, allowing us to check into our room at 10 am.  The only thing I can say about AKL is WOW!  Such an amazing place with spectacular grounds!  Out our bedroom window, we had close up views of giraffes, thompson's gazelles, antelope and others roaming the savanna grounds.  Truely one of the most amazing views I've ever experienced anywhere!

Our target park the first day was Epcot.  I've always wanted to hit that first to drink my way around the World Showcase and to hop on Test Track, an attraction I'm eagerly awaiting California Adventure to complete.  Although it was a short ride, Test Track didn't disappoint.  Neither did Mission: Space, a surprisingly fun simulator.  After hitting up as much of the park as we could, we headed to the place I thought our dinner reservations were.  Turns out I had made the reservations for another similarly-named restraunt located at the Swan hotel.  This is when the running began, a theme that would repeat itself all week.  We made our way out of the park as fast as possible, got on a boat for the boardwalk area of the resort and sprinted to the correct restraunt, only to get there 5 minutes after the final seating!  Needing food of some sort, we made our way over to Kimono's, a sushi bar & lounge in the same hotel.  We plowed through some delicious rolls, including a crawfish roll I haven't even seen at some of the finer sushi places in CA.  I also took the opportunity to knock back 5 draft sakes.  Oh, did I mention this place was a karaoke bar too?   So lets see: add one very inebriated bear, mix well with 70s MOR classics...I'll let you guess what happened next! :D

Saturday was a hangover recovery day for me, but we still managed to hit Animal Kingdom for most of the day.  Didn't do Expedition Everest or Kali River Rapids though, we just spent most of the time at the animal exhibits.  I was a bit dissapointed in these, probably because they don't compare favorably to San Diego Zoo/Wild Animal Park or even Seaworld.  Still had a good time though, until the heat and humidity did us in for the day.

Sunday started out as a chill at the hotel and pool day.   Later that afternoon, I trundled out to the car and set out to the mecca of furry puppetry -- the Funday Pawpet Show.  My original plan was to bring Fandango and Boris (my owl and bear puppets) on the trip with me, but I ran out of packing room.  I also decided I might not be able to keep up with the frenetic pace the show usually moves at, not to mention I didn't want to step on anyone's toes.   Turns out I didn't need them because I arrived at the show at the same time the four other guests (skippyfox . shy_matsi , sunfirelion & duncan_the_dog ) did.  All four were armed with their fursuits, so the evening's entertainment was set! 

I had a great time at the show and I'd have to say it topped the list of highlights for the week!  If you have a morbid curiosity as to what I did while at the show, you can download it here if you move quickly (by the time the next show airs later today).   Very special thanks to yappyfox  for allowing me to witness the magic firsthand.  Also wanted to give some thanks to Herbie, KP, Blitz, and the folks I mentioned above.   It was great finally getting a chance to meet you all and I hope we'll meet up again down the road soon!

That's it for this evening / early morning.  Stay tuned for part two for more on the trip as well as what happens when I meet this guy at the card table!

...and it may be more vacation and birthday celebrating than Bjorn Grafeldr can handle! 



Today marks the first day of my almost two-week long vacation, the longest stretch I've ever taken at one time.  On Thursday, Tina and I embark on our cross-country journey to Orlando, FL and Disneyworld.  Grizzled vets of Disneyland for over 30 years, this will be the first time we've ever visited the Florida parks, or even Florida for that matter!  Our home for the week, as shown above, will be the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

I can't even begin to describe how stoked I am for this trip!  The last significant vacation I took was 4 years ago on my Alaskan cruise and that was only a week long.  Since then, I've had to make due with extended weekend trips to various locals around the west coast.  The last time I was even on the east coast was 1998!   I need to get out of my cave more!

Tomorrow will be a whirlwind of last minute packing and clean-up for our house/pet sitter, then after that I'll either be prowling the parks, or relaxing with a drink in one hand and a smile across my face as I ring in my 44th year on the planet in vacation bliss!

...

☞ Anyone who looks at this entry has to post this meme and their current wallpaper.
☞ Explain in no more than five sentences why you're using that wallpaper!
☞ Don't change your wallpaper before doing this! The point is to see what you had on!



Because I'm a lazy fuck! :P

OMG!  I can't wait for this to be delivered next week!

The NEW World's Most Comfiest Bed

This sucker is exceptionally comfy!  It may even be more comfy than The World's Most Comfiest Bed that I had at the Empress.  Hell, for all I know that may have been a Tempur Pedic!   This miracle of modern sleep technology will replace the mismatched Cal King set that I've had for the past 11 years.

Oh yeah!  I also replaced the Chair of Death.  Much more comfortable in front of the computer now. :)

Next few weeks will be a blur as we get the house reorganized and get prepared for our Orlando visit.  Looking forward to some great vacation time!

Nothing much to report here lately.  Just trying to get some work done around the house before we head out on our trip in two weeks.  My internet activity will probably be spotty while I try to get some of these projects done.

About the only notable thing that happened is my office chair tried to kill me on Friday night.  As I was leaning back a bit I heard a loud snap followed closely by another snap.  The next thing I knew I was on my back on my office floor.  The chair back had completely snapped away from the base of the seat!  Now I know I'm big, but to have a chair fail that spectacularly was something that surprised me.  Looking at the damage, it appears the bolts holding the back to the base carved into the plastic molding to the point that it failed completely when I leaned back that final time.   I picked what was left of the chair and set off to find a replacement command seat the next day. 

After checking a few office supply and furniture stores, I didn't really find anything I liked.  I decided to go for the quick and cheap solution by picking up a temporary replacement at the Goodwill while I ordered a new chair online.  Not a smart idea! 

The temporary replacement I got for 10 bucks is possibly the most uncomfortable  piece of crap I've ever sat on!  I'm typing this LJ entry out now while on this chair and I'm starting to lose some feeling in my thighs and legs!   My lower back also feels like it's cramping up!  To add to the fun, this thing has vinyl upolstery!!  Each time I get up my thighs and back stick to the seat!   It's so painful that I've decided to re-donate this beast to Goodwill and just pick out a new one from Staples rather than wait for one ordered online.

So by this Friday I'll have replaced this torture device with either this or this.  I'm sort of leaning towards the first one because of the comfort of the fabric, but this was a pretty decent chair as well.  I guess I'll know the winner on Friday!

...to rain_oubliette !  As my present to you, I give you the gift of far-out Banana Splits filler!

DISCLAIMER: I cannot be held responsible if the tune in this video gets stuck in your head!

...to the newly-christened badjahsensei ! 

For the next 365 days, I look forward to reading about your accomplishments on your way to achieving your long sought-after goal.

Now go out and kick some ass!