This came from Muskrat_John's Twitter.

"Can't wait for the follow-up to Warhamster - Mortal Wombat #easyvideogames"

How long ago were we making Mortal Wombat jokes?

It only took almost 25 years, but my quest to get a Bachelor's Degree is complete. This morning, I got word that I will get good enough grades to pass all of my classes.

I should get the actual piece of paper in about two weeks if I remember correctly. The graduation ceremony for MSCD for this semester was last Sunday, but I didn't participate. I didn't feel comfortable doing the walk without knowing for sure that I was going to get the semi-magical piece of paper.

I hope to have some sort of party in the spring to celebrate.

Now to get back to the task of finding gainful employment...

President-elect Obama unveiled what some in the press are calling "the 21st Century New Deal."

Some of the goals are to improve America's roads, bridges, and schools, improve access to broadband for students, and create the national medical records database voiced during the presidential campaign.

While the medical records database is fraught with potential privacy disaster, I still think it's a good idea. People shouldn't have to have their blood re-typed, much less go over their medical historywhen they change cities, or even just primary physicians.

America's infrastructure is seriously outdated, and needs a massive overhaul. For years, politicians of both parties have paid lip service to the problem, but nothing has been done due to the hefty price tag. The bridge collapse in Minneapolis may have finally served sufficient notice that something needs to be done now.

As with the original New Deal, this could provide many, many new jobs, at a time when they are sorely needed all over the country.

He's got at least four years. It's time to see what happens.

I love this country. That much is obvious.

What isn't is that I value all of you, even though many don't share my political views, quite often with very little common ground. In many ways, differences are far more important than what we have in common.

I just want to make sure that was said.

Congress, at the behest of the Administration, appears to be on the verge of passing a $700 billion bailout package for Wall Street. Yes, the economy is in trouble, and something needs to be done, but this is the wrong way to go. The entire budget for the U.S. government for 2009 that was approved yesterday and sent to Bush for his signature is only (yeah, only) $634 billion...

@_@

While I'm no economist, and something needed to be done, I think this is the wrong thing to do.

6:00 p.m. update - Even the Green Party and Socialist Party are against this, Libretarians would go into anaphylactic shock if they tried to say they liked it.

How many incumbents will lose their seats in Congress in November over this. Three states have already started early voting, with many more (including Colorado) due to start soon.

I found this picture of George on the report on NDK on A Fan's View. It is on page 22 of the Saturday Cosplayers section.



Like I said, he looks a lot like Rasputin....

I had not been to NDK since 1999. I can't believe how much it had grown since then... @_@

It is amazing and impressive how it is doing. While I spent most of my time in live gaming (go figure), I did wander around the con a good deal, primarily the dealers' room at the Gimme Anime kiosk, chatting with Mark Salisbury, Gookachu, and Beelzebozo, Artists' Alley with Steve Bennett, or at the Asian Cinema Room (I think that's what it's called), and talked to Mark, Peter, Dan, Craig, Katieya, and Rich S, as we admired the Cosplayers as they went to Main Events, and talked about old times, and the possible trip to A-Kon 20 next year.

The Concierge Room is about as perfect a room for Live Gaming as one could ask for. Several tables, a couple TVs, and a computer. Pyro has things well in hand....

MightyBakuDan, thank you once again for the badge. You looked quite professional in the sports coat and slacks. It didn't occur to me until after I finally looked through a program book that you are now one of the directors. That's awesome. You are doing an incredible job.

Wilder Hiryu runs an impressive Video Game room. Too bad I didn't get to say so to him in person. I didn't see him for all the other people playing in there.

George looks more and more like Rasputin each passing year, even if he was in kimono and geta.

Seeing the cosplayers, and crossplayers, did make me feel a bit old though...

When we first got this going, we figured we would be doing well if it lasted more than three years, and got a thousand attendees. Here we are now, NDK just had its twelfth con, and it was looking to break 6,000 in attendance. That makes it easily the largest fan convention in Denver now. If I remember correctly, at its peak, Starcon/Starfest got to just over 5,000, MileHiCon gets about 800-1,000, and GenghisCon and TacticCon about that as well. I even heard one rumor that WorldCon's attendance wasn't as good as NDK's.

As I told Beelzebozo, "What have we wrought?!? What were we thinking?!?"

3 a.m. and I've just watched the U.S. Men's Basketball team receive their gold medals...

Kobe and D Wade are incredible to watch. While I love to knock the NBA as a bunch of spoiled brats, they conducted themselves quite well. It was awesome watching Kobe mouthing the words to the National Anthem.

A few months ago I let everybody know that I would be out of a job sometime this year. For the last week, it looked like it was going to be Sept. 30. Today, I was notified that my services would no longer be required after July 31st. The parent company told the powers that be here that it was taking too long and that they needed to cut things back a lot more than they were planning on, so my end date was moved up, along with a lot of others.

This wouldn't be quite as much of a headache if it weren't for the fact that I am going to start what will hopefully be my final semester at Metro on August 11th. My class schedule is convoluted enough that finding full time work will be very difficult (M/W evening thru mid-October, T/Th afternoon, F morning, and a fourth class online).

My wife is fairly certain though that if I can find a part-time job that we will be okay, just not very much fun.

Why can't things ever be reasonably simple in my life....

By a 5-4 decision, they declared that the death penalty for raping a child to be unconstitutional. They said that the crime doesn't merit the penalty.

How does this compute? The perpetrator effectively gets to destroy the victim's life at least twice. Once in the act, and then at least one more time in trial, and the way defense attorneys do their "job", far more than that.

How is this justice?

George Carlin passed away tonight at the age of 71. The world continues to get darker and colder.

*WARNING* The following is rated R and should not be viewed by anyone who is too immature to get the joke.


And now for your education and in honor of George Carlin's passing, I bring you the 7 dirty words that cannot be uttered on regular TV or radio according to FCC regulations circa 1975:

Shit
Piss
Fuck
Cunt
Cocksucker
Motherfucker
Tits

Thank you.

I found an old organizer of mine today. It dates back to 1991-92. Looking thru the address book, I was amused to find many names I talk to today, and even more that I haven't thought much about in years for various reasons. People I worked with, played Amtgard with, and watched anime with are here. This is bringing back a lot of memories, some good, some not so good.

Email addresses have come a long way since this. The Purple Duck's email address ends in "rice.edu" for instance. Several maiden names as well that I had forgotten, and don't feel an overwhelming need to bring up.

I normally don't think much of the Greatful Dead, but their old lyric always seems appropriate when I reflect back upon my life up till now:

"What a long, strange trip its been."

There is so much there, and yet so woefully incomplete.

An amusing night of drinking would be getting together and trying to fill in some of those gaps in the Iron Mountains Monarchy page...

I am amazed at what the Colorado Avalanche has done the last two days. Bringing back both Peter Forsberg, and Adam Foote. Even if it doesn't work out as far as getting the Avs back in the playoffs, much less the Stanley Cup, this was a great PR move. These two contributed so much to the success of the franchise that both deserve to have their numbers (21 for Forsberg, and 52 for Foote) retired and hanging alongside those of Patrick Roy and Ray Borque. Sakic's 19 will be eventually as well.

This convention was easily my most successful.

I managed to win both Avalon Hill's B-17 on Friday night, and Kenzer & Co's the Great Space Race on Saturday night.

B-17 is normally a solitaire game, but has been a Denver tradition for over 25 years. I have been in the top 10 many times, second once or twice, but this was the first time that I won. It was even more special in that it may never be run again, as the GM that has run it for the last 26 has decided to move on to other games.

In addition, I played in my friend Bill's Epic Lord of the Rings game as the Witch King of Angmar. I don't think I've ever had so many high fives from playing a particular character before. The forces of darkness didn't win, but we had a lot of fun. Taking and holding Lothlorien under the hobbits destroyed the One Ring was the best part. I don't know who was more surprised, the Forces of Light, or me. Watching the Rohirrim bleed themselves white futilely trying to retake Helm's Deep was fun as well.

The Great Space Race is an amusing game to say the least. You play the representative of one of six races marked for extermination by the Emperor of the Galactic Empire. Whoever manages to complete three laps first saves their species. Four players managed to blow themselves up in lap two, and while it was touch and go for a while (having to dodge a black hole that formed when one ship blew up on top of a wormhole will do that), I managed to win. The issue was in doubt in my mind until the last turn when I realized I had pre-plotted my move just well enough to cross the finish line with my last movement point.

Tacticon is in August, starting the day immediately after the Democratic National Convention concludes. I can hardly wait.

64% Rudy Giuliani
62% Chris Dodd
61% Hillary Clinton
61% Bill Richardson
60% John McCain
59% John Edwards
56% Barack Obama
54% Joe Biden
53% Mitt Romney
53% Tom Tancredo
52% Mike Huckabee
52% Fred Thompson
45% Mike Gravel
39% Dennis Kucinich
36% Ron Paul

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

I guess this explains why I feel all of the presidential candidates leave something to be desired. No better than 62%.... Yikes!!!!

The company I work for announced back in April that our division was being sold off, part of it to Ameritrade, the rest (including the area I work for)to a new company being founded by the division president. During the last couple of months, the new company has started hiring people from the current one. I was told today that I was not going to be offered a position in the new company even though no one has the experience that I do with the systems they will be using.

AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Sometime next year, the new company will take over and at least as of right now, I will be out of a job. Time to polish the resume and start looking again. Eight years and this is what I get....