Windows Vista Security Flaw Discovered!

2007 could look to be a bleak year, if one was pessimistic.  My grandparents are starting to change their talk from positive preparation for the inevitable to dejected near-embrace of the inevitable.  It’s beginning to wear on my mother and uncle.  When you start to lose will to live, it’s a slippery slope.  When those around you aren’t strong, what’s to stop you from falling?

Then we have my water leak.  It’s been patched, but I’ve been warned that my house probably won’t be worth scrap in a couple of years.  So I’ve got an option to sell it as junk soon to get enough money for another downpayment or live here long enough to have it fall apart and pay to have someone dispose of its corpse.  Obviously, I’m going to see about getting a second opinion after the convention.  I was happy to have this place paid off.  I don’t want to enter the mortgage game again. 

But hey, I’m physically healthy.  I’ve got great friends and family.  I have a steady job that I enjoy.  I’m working on improving my prayer life.  I’ve been clearing the house of clutter.  I certainly have it better than most in this world, that is for certain.  How can I not thank the Lord for all of that? 

Well, as the title implies, I should already be in bed.  I pray that everyone have a blessed 2007.  Good night.

I’m starting to think these polls are rigged as I scored as Obi-Wan again…

“The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.” ~Abraham Lincoln

Respect His Holy Name

One of my favourite songs from White Christmas is “Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep”.  Maybe because I don’t prayerfully thank Jesus for all of my blessings as often as I should.  The best gift I received this season wasn’t even material.  That doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate the many useful and/or spiffy-cool material gifts I have received.  I don’t think I got a bad gift this year, which I can’t honestly say about every year. 

Christmas celebrations started early this year.  On Friday, our Doctor Who group gathered to watch the back-to-back two-part season finale.  Despite no prior notification, several of us had gifts ready for each other.  Da was in town, down from Tucson, and didn’t miss out on the action.  On Saturday, Steve was down from Vegas.  So he and Wayne showed up for a small social gathering instead of our usual Dark Sun campaign.  Several of us also had gifts ready for each other, despiate no prior notification as well.  It’s humourous how groups of friends can be similar yet different.

Yesterday my maternal grandfather, mother, and I attended Christmas Eve mass at St. Raphael.  They had a new icon of St. Raphael behind the altar, so between that and the tapestry which dates back to when my biological parents and I were still parishoners, there are two totally different representations of St. Raphael in the church building now.  The tapestry used to be behind the altar, but was moved by the previous pastor who felt a crusafix belonged there.  Now the crusafix hangs above the altar with the new icon on the wall behind.  The tapestry remains where is was moved years ago, behind the choir.  It’s been interesting to watch the parish change in small and big ways over the years. 

Father Milt was the presider.  Because he works at both my grandparents’ parish and my parish, it’s like he’s the family priest.  I know he’s the favourite of my mother and grandmother.  I know I don’t believe in having favourites, but he is certainly the priest who connects with parishoners the most of any I’ve ever seen.  I’m sure if I ever contemplated marriage my family would want him to preside over the sacrament.  He asked about my grandmother, and spoke to each of us before mass.  That made Grandma happy when she heard that.

After mass, my grandparents hosted a small little gift exchange and light supper with my parents and I.  For the first time in memory, we did our gifts on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Morn.  Today we returned, as my mother and I cooked dinner for the five of us.  Everything went well, although my grandmother seemed annoyed with herself in how little she could eat and how tired she was.  She’s not very patient with the effects of the chemo. 

So as I look back, I see that I am blessed with wonderful friends and family who love one another very much.  What more could a man want?  Thank you, Lord.

It’s not the best of Star Wars quizes, but I thought it serendipitous that I had received a MR mini-replica of Obi-Wan’s blade as one of my Christmas gifts and here I am quized out as Obi-Wan:

Male Jedi You scored 0% Dark side, 85% Light side, 63% Male, and 0% Female!

hmm…. strong powers of light in you, I sense.

“You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have really lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.” ~Harry Drummond

Where did fortune cookies come from and are they really Chinese?

similar_stranger said, “Somehow your quote makes me feel guilty. Oh well, small mind… at least it works–no?”  I certainly never meant anyone to feel guilty.  After all, journals (including weblogs like mine) are naturally about discussing people.  This here ‘blog is a discussion of me.  Does that mean we all have small minds?  No, my interpretation of the quote is that people that only discuss people are small minded;  those which discuss people and events are average minded;  and those which discuss people, events, and ideas are capable of being great minded.  It’s the natural progression of social development in people, IMO. 

I’ve been catching up on my lj blogs, but not my Xanga blogs.  Normally I do the opposite.  I need more time,  It’s had to believe that Advent starts next week.  My mother pointed out to me that I hadn’t put away my Christmas videos from last year when I pulled them out and placed them atop my television set.  (Why do we call it a set, when it’s a single unit anyway?)  There’s a lot of things I don’t make time for in my life.  I obviously need to reprioritize, something I seem to always be saying but not doing.   

Speaking of bad priorities, check out the most recent Onna Chance for another great gaming moment.  How could you not laugh? 

A week ago Sunday our hiking group resumed, doing the short basic trail between 40th Street and Tatum Boulevard and back.  Afterwards we went to 5 & Diner for breakfast, which was fun.  Then I went home for a nap before mass.  Father Joy read the gospel which inspired one of the best sequences in The Last Battle.  His homily focused on the Communion of Saints, a theme throughout all three readings.

Monday Bill and I went to Chuy’s before finally seeing the new Pirates movie at the discount theatre.  Can you believe that it’s $3 to see a discount movie now?!  The discount prices keep creeping up and up.  (I must be getting old.)  It was OK, but it was like The Empire Strikes Back or Back to the Future Part II in that it was obviously the dark second act of a three act story.  You knew early on in watching the film that it would end unended.  And amazingly, it did so fairly predictably.  That didn’t make it unfun, just not as entertaining as I had hoped.  That may also be part of the long period of anticipation preceding my chance to finally see it. 

Thursday saw a day off from work, so I went with my mother and grandparents to Thanksgiving Day diner at Cracker Barrel (yes, just like last year).  Afterwards we headed back to their place to celebrate my grandfather’s concurrent birthday, where my stepfather joined us.  He received a Marines ball cap from my grandmother, cash from my parents, and The Railroaders (from Bookman’s) from me. 

Friday my mother and I hit the Black Friday sales before I had to go into work.  We hit eight stores in two hours, plus eating breakfast from Jack in the Box while waiting between the stores we had already hit and the stores which hadn’t opened yet.  If you plan your sales out right the night before you can usually get everything you need quickly and without a lot of fuss.  Unfortunately, my mom know what I bought them and I know what she bought me, but that’s the price we pay for shopping when the best bargains are.  Of course, once I was at work it was relatively dead, as we don’t offer any Black Friday sales.  Thus, our holiday customers will hit the time-sensitive sales first and hit us when convenient.  Saturday was kind of slow, too, as usual. 

Saturday after work I also ran the first installment of Chapter Three in Chaos Out of Order, my continuing Dark Sun campaign set 300 years after the normal timeline.  They get some of the mystery so right, but then they get some of it so wrong.  It’s fun watching them slowly solve it, especially when one or the other has the right idea and the others disagree.  I think they’ve all been right at one time or another while the others disagreed.  As long as they’re having fun I’ll continue.

Yesterday I went to BJ’s birthday party at Peter Piper Pizza before my mother picked me up to go to mass.  It was fun, and BJ seemed happy with all of his many gifts.  I can’t recall them all, so I won’t bother trying to list them.  I gave him some Throne War, Netherworld 2, and Two-Fisted Tales boosters, a rule book from 10,000 Bullets, and a box of Deck Protector Sleeves so he finally has enough cards to hopefully build a deck and use the box.  Between the boosters I gave out for demos and those that he purchased at Hexacon, he didn’t have enough yet to build anything remotely playable.  I also had a chance to play Lisa in air hockey, which was enjoyable.  The time went too fast.  Despite my mother being antisocial, she did seem to enjoy talking with Kim and Lisa.  Maybe someday she can get the ladies to see what’s enjoyable about Doctor Who. 

At mass I was supposed to be the first lector, but ended up being the only lector.  Christ the King is a fun mass to attend every year, because before the main procession of the gospel book, altar servers, and priest we have several eucharistic ministers process forward with candles as the music minister announces sacramental and ministerial statistics for the past liturgical year (one stat with each candle that processes forward).  Of all of the parishes I’ve attended on Christ the King, St. Paul is the only one to do this. 

Father Gene noted before mass in the sacristy that one of the altar servers was now sporting an ear ring, and seemed surprised that his grade school allowed such a thing.  He didn’t make the server take it out, just as he never asks me to hide my long hair.  He did mention once again about his desire to retire in the next year.  I wonder if Father Joy would become pastor or if they’d assign us someone else.  In his homily Father Gene discussed kings and kingship, and how Christ is a holy king rather than a material king.

Before and after mass I was part of the team maintaining the Christmas Angels on the trees in the vestibule.  My mother volunteered to help, which was nice of her.  The Christmas Angels are clothing items (green angels), clothing sets (blue angels), or something nice–such as a toy for children–(blue angels) for the poor of El Mirage.  When I first was involved in our parish’s El Mirage Christmas Angels Project, El Mirage was a poor hispanic community in the rural area outside the metropolitan area.  Now El Mirage is mostly composed of upper middle class anglo families and retirees in various cookie cutter developments.  The poor of the community are now disenfranchised by their own city, which is now considered to be part of the metropolitan area.   The more things change, the more they stay the same.  Or something like that. 

Hey, I found my missing Feng Shui sourcebooks Back for Seconds, Thorns of the Lotus, and Blood of the Valiant today while looking for something else completely.  They had been filed with my outdated calendar collection.  Yes, I keep everything.  But, I was actually looking for some stuff I knew I had somewhere that I will be getting rid of after years of storing for absolutely no good reason.  Don’t ask me why the books were hidden with the calendars.  I have no idea.  And, no, I won’t be getting rid of my calendars.  They’re a journal of sorts with various events scribbled in them.  Future generations might want that history. 

Then I submitted some corrections to the RPG Wiki of RPGnet for the Feng Shui entries.  I’ll have to scan some covers sometime to complete their Feng Shui data for the Daedalus Entertainment (and Ronin Publishing) era.  Then I’ll work on inputting all of the Dark Sun data that they’re missing.  Remind me if I forget.  Thanks.

Well, Heroes:  The Best Show on Television will be on soon, so I’m gonna jet. 

Thanks to the_chaos_opera for the quiz:

Horus Sparkling personality, intense will, intelligent, understanding, impatient to exert influence. Colors: male: red carmine, female: gold Compatible Signs: Bastet, Geb Dates: Apr 20 – May 7, Aug 12 – Aug 19 Role:God of the pharaoh Appearance: Form of a falcon-headed man, wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt Sacred Animal: falcon What is Your Egyptian Zodiac Sign? Designed by CyberWarlock of Warlock’s Quizzles and Quandaries

“If an idea’s worth having once, it’s worth having twice.” ~Tom Stoppard

D&D in Nissan?

So, I’ve (obviously) been ultra busy these past few weeks.  I posted a mini-recap as a comment-reply in my last entry.  I just posted some pics from Hexacon XVI on my lj.  I still haven’t successfully attended choir practice more than once, so I’m going to just give up on that.  Supernatural Thursdays and Doctor Who Fridays are still a fun chance to hang out with my friends, and we’ve played a couple more sessions of Chaos Out of Order on Saturdays. 

Father Milt asked me a couple of Sundays ago whether or not the Psalm we were practicing for mass was the same as the week before, and I couldn’t even recall.  Which made me question,  does going to 8am mass even count if I can’t even recall it a week later?  I guess the intent was good, but they say the road to hell is paved with such as those.  So what do I do the next week?  Go to 9:30am mass, which I can barely recall a week later.  Perhaps it’s just a sign of being too busy, but I suspect it’s because I chose to do mass when I have to get up early.  So what do I do to fix the situation, lose more sleep and blog it or quit going to morning masses?  I mean, obviously I can’t control when my cousin visits Arizona, but I could choose to leave a convention (such as Hexacon XVI) early instead of allowing myself time for events to go over their timeblocks.  I’ve done that so I don’t have to accidentally show up late for mass or disrupt people by leaving an event running over.  I dunno, it’s obviously something that needs rethinking. 

Mondays I’ve been still watching Heroes, the best show on television.  Even the other week when I had to work on Monday, Monte was kind enough to let me stop by his place on the way home from work so I wouldn’t miss the episode.  He watches it, too, so it wasn’t too much of an inposition.  He even cooked up a good chicken-pork mix for our dinner.  Last Monday was also Parish Time before Heroes.  I baked anise cookies (using leaf and acorn cookie cutters) with caramel sprinkles for the occassion.    We discussed Wisdom, Work, and Worship and what elements of Catholicism fall under each category.

My mother and I went to Chuy’s for her birthday last month.  She enjoyed her card (which referenced angel food cake, her preferred birthday cake) and a mini-deck of cards I’d purchased for her during our last visit to Disneyland.  She had recently retired her last well-used mini-deck of cards, so it was perfect timing. 

My cousin was in town from Wilkes-Barre on business, but my grandparents held a picnic for him with my parents, niece, and I in attendance.  My cousin from Tucson was disappointed that she couldn’t make it, but the rest of us had a great time.  We all had to miss his wedding in Syracuse the other year, so we pestered him with various questions which he was gracious enough to answer.

For Halloween Jay ran the new Expedition to Castle Ravenloft adventure.  Bill made a 9th level elven fighter, Da made a 9th level dwarven cleric of Temmanon, and I made a 9th level monk.  It was quite fun, and it was great to do a Halloween game again. 

Elections kept me busy, too.  We had a four page ballot, with lots of candidates and propositions.  As soon as Hexacon was over I went into overdrive learning all I could, reading every candidate statement, researching every write-in candidate, reading every proposition, et cetera.  Of course, as happens in a democracy, only some of the people and propositions went my way. 

You are a Social Liberal (60% permissive) and an… Economic Liberal (11% permissive) You are best described as a: Socialist Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

“Great minds discuss ideas, Average minds discuss events, Small minds discuss people.” ~Unknown

What does the “10/6″ mean on the Mad Hatter’s hat from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland?

I keep wanting to make time to post, but life just keeps me busy. Here’s a recap of recent events.

The Saturday group was kind enough to let me cancel last weekend’s Chaos Out of Order session so I could go to a last minute birthday party for a friend. The host family had been sick for over a week, and thus were only able to give a five day notice. Unfortunately, that meant that besides the hosts, the guest, and I, only one other showed up–and he showed up with his son and new girlfriend in tow close to midnight! I guess he had had another party commitment the same night and tried to do both. The rest of those invited were unable to attend.

We still had a great dinner, played some Guillotine and Torches and Pitchforks, Guillotine was one of the birthday gifts our hosts had given, and the guest of honour seemed to enjoy it. I think she was a little bummed so few people showed up, but she did appeciate the fact that at least some of us were there. Hopefully the ladies had a good time the next day, at the spa.

The last few Wednesday nights I have tried to go to Choir practice after work. I’ve been arriving as cars leave the parking lot, and the church is already locked up and dark. It’s yet another example of how I forget when calculating commute time that I’m not as fast as I was before I was injured. I’ll try a few more times, and if it keeps up, then I’ll just have to respectly decline the offer of joining the choir.

Our Doctor Who Fridays have resumed on SciFi Channel, so we’ve been watching the new season of Doctor Who the last two Fridays. The first week of the season they showed the first two episodes, just like last season. That kept us up way too late for a work night. Luckily, just like last season they’re only showing an episode a week thereafter, allowing for a reasonable bedtime. All three episodes have been fantastic, despite the obvious change in tone and direction with the new Doctor this season. It’s been interesting how they’ve been preparing audiences for the Torchwood spinoff these last two seasons. I hope it airs here in the States.

It was good seeing everybody together again, at least the first week. Da was back in town from Tucson and even B was willing to drive from his side of town for the occassion. Asked to bring a vegetable sidedish, I opted to try my hand at carmelized leeks over green tea noodles. Da and BJ seemed to enjoy them, but Kim (not much for many various vegetables) isn’t likely to eat leeks again. By comparison, it was just Jay, Kim, and I this weekend. Even Lisa was out of town this week. Next week I’ll miss out, due to Hexacon XVI. That’s too bad, as I was always a big SJS fan.

This Saturday we resumed Chaos Out of Order. I miscalulated my d20 level progression. I was thinking people level at 1, 3, 6, 12, 24, et cetera, but it’s actually 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28, et cetera. I thought maybe people were leveling too fast. Oh well, thank goodness Rusty caught me on that. We’re finally into a stretch of downtime, which is good since we won’t be playing next weekend during Hexacon.

Last Sunday my mom visisted for a game day. We hadn’t played (other than at my grandparents’ place) in a long time. So we played a game of Torches and Pitchforks and a game of The Game of Life:  A Jedi’s Path.  Afterwards, we went to mass, where I was the first lector and Father Milt gave another of his great homilies.  He reminded us that the gospel message applies to the election season and how we vote for candidates and propositions.  This Sunday I worked on some last minute DAL and KLA items for Hexacon before attending mass with another of Fr. Milt’s homilies.  He spoke of the importance marriage, the importance of working on a marriage from within, and working on a marriage from without by the community–married or single. 

Last Monday I attended the first session of Parish Time for the season, our parish’s continuing religious education for all ages.  We covered the Sign of the Cross before the children went off to their various grade levels.  Then the teens and adults broke into small groups and watched a film and answered questions related to each segment.  After I got home I made sure to tune into the what was left of Heroes, the best show on television.  This Monday I attended another DAL3/KLA1 meeting before coming home to watch Heroes, still the best show television.  If you can watch only one show, watch Heroes.

This weekend is Hexacon, so don’t expect me to return until after the madness is at an end.  Have a happy Friday the 13th everyone. 

“You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.” ~Robin Williams