Last night I had to say goodbye to one of the special twins. Jersey and Durga were born June 23, 2007, and after a short while I adopted them from a friend.

From day 1, Jersey was a strange kitteh. She'd swat at the air, run frantically in circles, (ok, not from day 1, but you know) and generally be an unusual handful. Jersey, ironically, was supposed to be a boy. I'd decided on the names Jersey and Durga in honor of two of the best characters ever, from the Halo 2 ARG I Love Bees. Durga being an AI, and Jersey being the angsty techy geek boy who had to put up with her. :)

Jersey, for all intents and purposes, was given to me being told that it's a boy. A very short while later, on a whim, I noticed that, uh... Jersey... is a girl.

Thankfully the name Jersey was unisex, so I could just pretend I always knew :P. From then on, I had two girl kitties, who'd run around and play with each other, yet apart from that were complete opposites.

Durga would come and rub against you for affection. Jersey would butt her head.
Durga would come and lick my hand when I bent down. Jersey would approach then run away.
Durga would lick anything in front of her nose. You'd be lucky if you ever saw Jersey's tongue.
Durga's weapons are her claws. Jersey's is her pee.
Durga's fur is all slick and black. Jersey's is soft and fluffy black and white.
Durga's the small, feminine, sculpted-face kitty. Jersey's the bigger, tougher, butch kitty.
Both would lick each other's rear at the same time.
Durga, by general interaction, is my kitty. Jersey was my roommate's.
Durga's a friendly, come-to-you house kitty. Jersey's an I-do-what-I-want, you gotta catch me kitty.
Durga sits and nestles on you when you're laying down. Jersey will be sitting on your back when you wake up.

Both are cute, tiny little devils.

Two cats, however, was just too much at this time to take care of. Durga is generally much better behaved and a better house cat (at this house at least). Jersey - I don't know, maybe she was just never really as happy and content as Durga was here. But coupled with a number of reasons, and the fact that the humane society is filled over capacity with homeless cats and kittens, starbursidereus managed to find someone who looks like the perfect match for Jersey. Seriously.

We dropped her off last night, and after a little bit of poking around, it looked like Jersey was right at home, and affectionately rubbing up to her new owner right away.

It was a bittersweet farewell, but it was the best for everyone.
It didn't hurt so much that I was getting rid of Jersey, as it did that I was breaking up this dynamic duo who've never been apart from each other. :(
Durga will now be getting all my love. I hope she doesn't feel too lonely now.

Jersey, you'll be missed. A bit. Mostly from Durga though. Be a good kitteh in your new home!
I'm dedicating some upcoming local geocaches to you... ;)

It starts...

Earlier this week, a "flash forward" vision of my life 6 months from now which I shared at a booth at Comic Con was published. I don't know if this bodes well. The Mosaic Collective is collecting these visions which everyone experienced simultaneously, worldwide, for 2 minutes and 17 seconds. Mine was... troubling. =/

I really hope that the Mosaic Collective are trustworthy, and perhaps they'll help protect me if this vision starts to really play itself. Otherwise, I really hope that having this vision published means my future has changed, and I'll remain safe.

Anyway, I've written about the experience in more detail over at Wikibruce: Connecting The World one Experience At A Time.

Well, here's my first mobile iPhone lj post!

In other news, this week will see the end of half-an-era. I've decided that it's time I took one of the dynamic duo away for adoption. Ironically, of Jersey and Durga, the Indian goddess of chaos is far less of a disturbance than the boy-who-was-actually-girl (wow that poses some interesting plot points for ilb!).

At this point, I just don't have the money for two spays, and there no guarantee that would help stop the peeing (which, seriously, is more territorial than bladder/litterbox it seems). Durga, who has a relative angel in that area is far more of a behaved indoor housecat than Jersey.

It pain me to split the sisters up, but it's the best for her, and my and the rest of my house's occupants' sanity. Going to the humane society to verify procedure, and head over tomorrow. *sigh*

For those cat lovers out there - please don't tell me I don't care about my cats because I haven't spayed them. There is time for everything, and I've weighed every choice with many opinions and much experience. This is a choice made now because I care, and it is the best choice right now. I can handle 1 cat, and with a roommate who's said they are MY responsibility, there's only enough love, time, and space for one of them. :(

Farewell Jersey! it's been a blast, but it's also been a few pees too many. Hope your little sister can live withoutcha.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Really I am, I'm alive... I'm just floating around, the side effect being a lack of interaction with Livejournal :(
I do plan to update more, it's just been crazy hectic the last couple weeks...months... etc.
Should I start doing the daily Twitter->Livejournal feed? :P
*sigh*

Nutshell:
Portland & SanDiego - ARGfest and ComicCon were awesome!
Geocaching is going great, still have to log all my finds over the last couple of weeks

Check out this video and following photos from our excursion to the 5/5 (top rating) desert cache "Tomb Raider" just outside San Diego!



And the photo collection!

That's all for now... more coming later :)

I have vastly underused this blog. I've been extremely active using twitter and, and blogging at wikibruce.com, while avoiding using twitter-review tools to post summaries here.
Should I start? :)

So once again, my active updates can be found at twitter.com/thebruce0 and Wikibruce.com. Heck, even my Flickr account has been getting more activity than LJ (and thus thebruce.net) :)

Sorry y'all!
I have a lot of catching up to do... and I will do it... soon... sometime... *sigh*


As a quick status update:
* I'm going to see Star Trek tonight in IMAX. heeeeeeeeeeee!
* I've been keeping quite busy lately...
* I'm a little behind in updating my BPOD (pic-a-day) project for '09. gotta get on that!
* ARGFest Portland and Comic-Con San Diego plans are fully booked for July, heeeeeeeeeeee!
* I has a iPhone!
* Cats are annoying and lovable. I hate that dichotomy.
* I finished Halo Wars. Just need to complete it on legendary now, and finish the multiplayer achievements.
* I want to visit the moon.
* Micropups.

Shutterfly
Srsly, sign up for Shutterfly. They have occasional promotions where you can either redeem or earn free prints. 20-40 prints a couple times a year, imo, is a great deal :D Got my next batch of free Shutterfly prints to put up in my little office cubicle.

Cake
Does PC-Cola (basically no-name coke) and microwavable chocolate cake mix sound like a regular (or trendy?) cake recipe?

Volleyball
Yep. Forfeiting so many games put us in last place in the round-robin. First game of the tourney, we played the 1st place team, and the highest score we got was 15 (games to 25). Three up, three down. Lots of fun though, and the best game was the for-fun game we played after. Good times. Until next year. Hopefully we'll get a more full, committed team :)

Subway Eat Fresh
Customer appreciation day at Subway - brilliant! BOGO day, no coupon needed. Suffice to say, the places, around the city, were packed. Got two footlongs at lunch, and headed to another one on my way home after work for two more. Deal was done at 7, but the place went to was out of bread at 6:30. Anyone willing to wait still got their free sub. Others stopped in saying the other stores they visited were out of bread too. Well I hope they got more customers, in the long run maybe, to outweigh the cost :). But all the stores seemed to be in on it, and not bothered by it, so franchise HQ must have really pushed for it, or offered great reimbursements.
mmm subway...

Viewer discretion advised.
Watchmen. First, TSCC (Terminator, for those not in the know). What..on earth..was with showing a guy get his eye stabbed with a needle? Why could that not just have been implied? Rhetorical question.

Which leads to Watchmen. I haven't finished the novel yet - got through the first 25 or so pages before seeing the movie. Probably should have read more.
I did not expect the movie I saw.
I have opinions from multiple perspectives on this one. (minimal spoilers below? discussion of themes, but no detailed plot points)

* Philosophically - wow; deep, questioning, challenging, difficult to swallow, well written.
* Visually/artistically - loved the cinematography, creativity; you can see the comicbook influence in the visuals, though not nearly as blatant as in 300, for instance. I was watching for scenes that looked like comic book illustrations.
* Visually/content - w. t. f. seriously? How much stuff in there was gratuitous? In a nutshell: lots made sense given the theme of 'human nature', the dark human condition.. but there was stuff in there that simply did not need to be in there. I'm of the opinion that they had to match the shock value the comics introduced in the 80's for content, but relative for today. Stuff you see off-frame is on-frmae, in your face, extremity times 10. An R movie it certainly was.
* Christianally(?) - can't recommend it. Not unless the person is really strong and capable of taking in things that one should not be forced to watch, and doesn't feel that seeing it is condoning it. HOWEVER - it poses amazing discussion points, great subject matter that can give rise to deep, thought-provoking explorations of faith and the supernatural. Bring on a censored version and I'll be more willing to recommend it. While I personally truly enjoyed the philosophical content of the movie, the characters and events- I saw parallels, allegories, analogies, and unanswered questions. The movie was very dark and hopeless, really. But with a theme of 'human nature', how else could it be portrayed?
Inevitability. Humanity is all there is, thus we, in a sense, must overcome ourselves. The lone glimmer of hope is the 'good' humanity can bring amidst this darkness. It's an endless, depressing cycle. ...When it's left as that.

Anyway, point being - depending on who asks me, or from what perspective I'm asked, I'll have different answers about how good the movie is and whether to see it. It's not for the faint of heart, nor the weak of stomach. I think it'll skyrocket, from the die-hard fans seeing it the first week or two, but it'll certainly die off. After hearing reports of people leaving the theatre just after seeing the full (computer generated) body of Dr. Manhattan, and seeing newspaper reviews that can't get past the extreme graphic, violent content in the movie, I think it ultimately shot itself in the foot. And we got to see that foot get shot in slow motion, close up, and in excrutiating detail.
(it's a love/hate thing for me :P)

Now, to finish reading the (tame, by comparison) graphic novel.


ETA:
Trailers
Transformers - niiiiice
Terminator Salvation - Oooooooh
Star Trek - IMAX, most definitely.

Ugh. Too many things have come and gone, and I've been letting LJ gather dust.
Ok, point form, then details...

This Is Not A Game
My order for Dave Szulborski's book "This Is Not A Game" arrived last week! Now, I need to find the time to read through it. It's praised as a wonderful, detailed book about Alternate Reality Games and the genre. I don't think I've heard or seen any critical reviews :).

Dave just got out hospital again, and has been the subject of quite a segment of the community's good thoughts and well-wishes. A campaign was even set up for him called Folding The Wish, when he was first admitted a while back. So I made sure to give my own little tribute in my pic-of-the-day :). I was also fortunate enough two Christmases ago to be randomly chosen as Dave's Secret Santa at Unfiction. That was nerve-racking! I set up a little puzzle for him in the book... I still don't know if he solved it ;) Dave was the brains behind the arg for the movie "The Host" called "Monster Hunter's Club", from whom I received a collectible monster toy of the Bionic Bigfoot.

It's been a privilege to meet him in person at ARGfest, and to have so many indirect communications with him :) hehe. It's great to know he's doing ok again, and I wish him the best for a speedy recovery...

ARGFest/ComicCon
Dates are announced! yay! And the dates are perfect... ARGFest July 17-19, followed by ComicCon July 22-26. Now, it's just a matter of organizing transportation for a week and a half, and accomodations...

ARGFest is in Portland, Oregon, and ComicCon is in San Diego. Which means leaving Buffalo or Toronto, to Portland, joining a big group of people for the exodus to ComicCon in San Diego folloing, then returning from San Diego to Buffalo or Toronto. I have vacation enough for the 8 or 9 days I'll need, but money is the other factor... gotta find out what's available, what's possible, and what's required.

Thankfully, writing for ARGN and Wikibruce, I should quality for a press pass entry to ComicCon (and there's plenty of relevant subject matter there!) which means free ComicCon. Getting to both ARGFest and ComicCon should satisfy my geekdom for the year, I'm sure. There were a couple of other events I was interested in, but I think this year it'll just be ComicCon. I would love to get into E3 one year, but that requires a heavier duty press certification. I don't work for a video gaming magazine or media resource. :)

reminder-to-self: take plenty of business cards to both events!

PS Home Mystery
I just picked up a tip from this 'arginsider' twitter, that something was up in Playstation Home - mysterious text messages and video snippets containing the greek letter Xi... I've had a PS3 for months, but had only begun setting up PSHome. I'd never actually booted it up. This gave me the nudge... Home is pretty nifty, and I believe it's got a lot of potential for...interesting content :). It's still in beta stage, but I believe it's getting to the point of Alpha or full release very shortly...

Anyway, I've reviewed the details at wikibruce: http://wikibruce.com/2009/02/home-is-where-the-mystery-is

( Volleyball )

( Retreat weekend @ Miller Lake )

I think that about covers it. I'm sure I missed something. But I always do. Stupid brain.

Surprisingly fun and addictive! A collaborative thought and forecasting experiment from IFTF (a Jane McGonigal project :)
lab.signtific.org

Go check it out! (the profile embed code doesn't work with Livejournal, so here's the link :)

It works like this: there's a situation (#1 is based on the premise that space becomes free and essential to business, much like the internet today), and you respond. Then others respond. Then others respond. You gain points for responding, and for accomplishing achievements (like how much you've contributed, how popular/controversial/active your contributions are, etc).

This turned out (frankly) better - more engaging - than I thought it would be. hehe.
Also, I earned a MacArthur Genius achievement :) - "Micro-forecast most worthy of five-year funding"

By far my favourite "positive imagination" is:

Artificial Intelligence is birthed, utilizing the entire cubesat network. Too powerful to manage, this literal "Skynet" becomes self aware.

:D

I decided once again to undertake a Pic-a-day project again for a year, but actually beginning January 1 this time.
My previous project (which went through a couple of hiccups in its life) is on flickr here or on thebruce.net. I'm calling this one BPOD though (like APOD. Only Bruce.)
At the end of each month I'll post a summary like last time. Let's see how this one turns out :P
Also, I'm attempting to take all photos in Wide mode... I like the format (though it makes it hard to get nice prints, as 4x6 is pretty much standard)

BPOD January 2009
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30	31

It's been a while since I've just typed and shared thoughts and whatnot... it's easy just to go linking to 'cool stuff' on the web, but that gets too impersonal. I've left LJ in the dust for the past while, due to the twitter effect.

Just a recap - I'm not just on LJ, I'm spread out for various purposes on Flickr (photos), Twitter (general updates, networking, social), Wikibruce (ARGish blogging), and Facebook (find me if you know me)... and yeah that pretty much covers my active sites.

Anyway, so I've been thinking much more on ARGs lately, in the general sense (that means, inclusive of all the possible various names people are using now to describe the genre as a whole, if it can even be 'described' per se)... if you take a gander at recent articles I've posted at wikibruce, there's so much variation in the 'games' being produced now, it's nuts. And the moment anyone tries to create a name they feel best describes..whatever it is they're describing... someone else comes along asking "well what about this game, or that ad, or...?"

So I guess the question is - what am I currently personally interested in, or intrigued by?

1) First, I'm not 'playing' these things (games, for lack of a better term) as much as I used to, but I am watching and observing a lot, and moreso learning from those who are heading up these challenges. No small tasks, they are, whatever the medium or their purpose.

2) I'm greatly impressed and encouraged to see the genre taking on positive goals, 'games for good', considering social/societal needs or beneficial outcomes that essentially focus more on helping others than just pure entertainment value.

3) I think given my full time desk job, I'm more inclined though to watch games closely that do have entertainment value... it's better, I think, if they also have some constructive content (see #1), but usually games that are more 'social' centered require more input and time and dedication. But I think with so much going on, I feel sometimes spread thin, so it's hard to focus on one or two campaigns, let alone games that require active or constant input to be engaging. It's great seeing Jane McGonigal going crazy with the social games though :) like the TSDO (top secret dance-off) competition... More intriguing though is her work with IFTF (Institute for the Future); the motivations they have about 'forecast' games, where a situation is presented, and during a short period of time people are asked to respond to the evolving environment taking place over years to decades, effectively predicting and attempting to 'solve' these questions. World Without Oil is a past project that got a lot of attention. Their most recent project is called Signtific - exploring the future of science and technology. The latest game endeavor launching around Feb 18th is Free Space - the idea that in the (near?) future, occupation of space will be as common, cheap and important as owning a website is today for business. I'm very tempted to get involved with this one :)

4) Occasionally some great discussion threads are posted at Unfiction in which some good debates may ensue at times :). Topics such as politics and ARGs, dead-drops and privacy, controversial commentaries about "ARG"s, and more...

5) I was at an event in toronto recently discussing 'Game Theory' - "Game On! Can Game Theory predict reality in politics, economics and dating strategies?" - I recorded the entire enlightening discussion, an event hosted by the Science Center's Cafe Scientifique. I intend to get the contents of that panel discussion with Tony Walsh, Tom Mitchell, and Star Spider online soon... again, time is the problem :P


More recently though I've been contemplating a story for an ARG that would take a closer look at exploration of the arts, appreciation of the creative aspect of our humanity, and how it can help us in a strive for happiness and belonging... I feel out of my league though seeing some of the depth and immense quality of writing that's coming out of some independent minds in the community, let alone what dedicated organizations and teams are producing :)

Now of course the other problem is ... with a growing desire to explore "alternate realities" as it were, one can't lose focus on "reality" :) whether it's from playing games, or creating them, if it's not your primary focus in life (aka: full time job) then it can't be your primary focus in life. Priorities! :)

Anyway, this turned into an ARG/game centric post, so I'll leave it at that for now...

A couple list memes I've been sitting on for a while...

( Did you... in 2008? )

( 100 things... )

Ok. Well, here's one not-so-positive entry for today...

Not. a good. day.
1) I've clearly broken my resolution to get to work by 8:30am and/or to bed by midnight every day - it's been twisted, shattered, hammered, sliced, diced, minced and grilled to a crisp.
2) Jersey in heat makes me want to claw my eyes out. She's louder than Durga, higher pitched than Durga, more constant than Durga, less appeasable than Durga, and fully more annoying than Durga. She would not shut up all night.
3) Every morning, there's something to pick up and clean up. Why do they insist on nudging and pushing things high on shelves? I should glue or nail everything in the house to its place.
4) I want to save for a vacation in July, but the vet would take a chunk of $.
5) A random woman angrily yelled "WHAT?!" at me this morning while she rode by on her bike on my way to work. Randomly. ......yeah, what?
6) My bus was late. Late + late = later + worse.
7) My bus was slow because of snow. later + worse + snow slow = fury!
8) Deep snow. Cold feet. Snow shoes. Snow IN shoes.

Now to look for some positives... *sigh*

(this entry is littered with exagerration; the writer acknowledges he has much to be happy for; sometimes the bad stuff just has to get blurted out)

My last entry for some reason borked the embed code... lemme try this again:

You must watch this video - and keep an eye on the middle seated guy. It'll lighten up your Monday ;) heehee
Enjoy! (oh and turn up the volume, use headphones, whatever - you have to listen! the entertainium truly kicks in around 1:20)

Secret Santa!

It was late, but it rocked! Unfiction held another secret santa exchange for 2008, and a little faery brought me my gift:
* A truck full of chocolates and candies
* a lifesavers storybook package
* the I.Q. Challenge set of trivia cards (seriously, this is going to be a year of trivia, what with Ringorang throughout the week too!)
* a Shock ball (never heard of it until now - I'm afraid to try it ;)
* and last but not least, a pack of Halo trading cards! (hee, I had these on my wishlist for some time; not overly impressive, but I'm a Halo geek - I love it!)
Oh, can't forget, my cats were not forgetten - they got a box with wild paper packing material to ruffle around and nest in. ;)

I haven't told my recipient who I am yet... perhaps I should; it's good form, yes? :)

IIHF World Juniors hockey

2008-09 brought another year of intense hockey with the IIHF hockey tourney. This year, hosted in Ottawa, Canada managed to beat out the Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Germany, USA, Russia, and Sweden, to take home the gold medal for the 5th straight year. Next year the tournament will be held in Saskatchewan.

Had parties in a few places - my place in full HD glory, starbusidereus' home of the hockey fanatic, and out with other crazy fanatics at McGinnis Front Row for the gold medal game against Sweden.

That's great hockey. NHL? pssh!

Mmmmovies

Over the holidays, managed to catch Yes Man (hilarious!), Marley & Me (tear-jerker!), and Seven Pounds (powerful). Those are my one word reviews; all three are great movies.

I still haven't done that LOTR marathon I'd planned on my 30-by-30 list, but I sat down and watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail again on the tv... so... enjoyable... :D

Closing

And, well, there's no way I can leave you without demanding you watch this video - and keep an eye on the middle seated guy. It'll lighten up your Monday ;) heehee
Enjoy! (oh and turn up the volume, use headphones, whatever - you have to listen! the entertainium truly kicks in around 1:20)

edit: argh! see next entry

( Dec 23... oldest email )
( Dec 24... wishes, cleaning, dinner )
( Dec 25... potluck, boxing day wait )
( Dec 26... big baby, chaos, big game )
( Dec 27... guess )
( Dec 28 - big game, TDK )
( Dec 29... hungry, work )
( Dec 30... hungry, work )
( Dec 31... hungry, pay day, big game, partay, mad durga )
( Jan 1... celebration, food, tears :( )

Closing thoughts

Loved this holiday. No time with my own family, but that's pretty much how we do it now anyway, living so far apart. We have our family time earlier in the year when the weather's better and it's less busy. So I now traditionally spend it with other close families and friends. I couldn't ask for anything more. :) srsly. I'm happy about the tv, but that's just a bonus. I think this year was one of the best, where I legitimately felt all-around happy, content. I spent time with people I love, no stress, no worries, just joy and fun.

A great way to end 2008. :)

It's been too long... yes, I'll be posting a bit in the next day or two :)

Also, Happy New Year!
(...for those who celebrate the Gregorian calendar new year ;)

Welcome to the now, 2009!

• ...the rest of the weekend happened...
• Decided to go for a sub, return movies, and do some banking
• Freezing, wind chill has got to be -30-35 celcius
• Waitin, and the bus is 10 minutes late
• Got banking done first - the only thing that went without a hitch
• Walked, face first to the wind, taking twice as long as usual, to the movie store (numb legs, face falling off)
• Decided to look around and warm up for a bit; picked up another movie (free w/earned points) but had to pay a $4 late fee
• Walked back to Subway for warm fresh food... to find it closed at 8:30pm (no signs or indications, just closed, WAY early)
• Went to Sobeys to grab some stir fry for later, had 15 minutes to the next bus
• Quickly stopped in at Twice the Deal for some pizza to go
• They were slow. Missed the bus by 30 seconds.
• Ate 4 slices and 2 pop while waiting 40 minutes for the next bus (not gonna walk in that again!)
• Just stepping out the door to the bus stop and it passes - 5 minutes early.
• Enfuriated, I decide to walk home anyway; thankfully, not facing the wind.

2 1/2 hours for a typically 30-40 minute trip. I am now going to curl up on the couch covered in warm blankets and watch a movie.

I can has summer now plz?

Well, the effects of the economy are reaching all the way up here to the great white mostly-north-of-the-northernmost-us-cities...

Amidst an influx of reports from American friends of layoffs and cut backs over the past few weeks, I'll add that my company just had a big 'state of the union' to address the effects on us, working in the trucking finances industry (can we say, effect of the 'big three'?). With automotive places shutting down for three weeks completely, many of our clients are obviously feeling the effect. While we're still doing well, we have to be prepared for the upcoming year, so a few changes are being implemented. Nothing drastic, no layoffs, just primarily staff regulations and whatnot, in an attempt to be more 'efficient'. Consider it a 'brace for impact' session.

We're on the outskirts of your hurricane. Sorry for all those who are in the middle, and wish you the best of luck in dealing with the situation.
Now if only there was a payphone to answer...

( So I guess I should probably update the state of things, eh... )

But, on a positive note...
* Laserquest was Awesome
* The conference busy-ness which overlapped my birthday was not for naught; it was an amazing and encouraging weekend.
* Spending limited random time with a few people including starbursidereus and melody2piano on my actual birthday, sitting and chatting and eating in a relatively new friend's living room, was awesome
* I got an enormous (by my standards) amount of birthday wishes via my facebook wall.
* Accepting that sometimes, things just don't work out
* The few very close personal friends I do have mean very much to me, and even though I'm not perfect, they'll still value our friendship, as I do theirs (but I certainly won't reduce the value of the other friendships I have in spite - they're all valuable)
* I have an absolutely amazing community of friends online who I adore, and always look forward to meeting and spending time with whenever the opportunity arises!
Also:
* I saw Bolt this weekend. It..was..awesome! (and I don't mind seeing movies alone, it's great!)
* Yesterday was TDK day, and we had a mini-TDK party at my place with the new PS3 Blu-Ray player. So. Win.
* My plans for a new TV on boxing day are still in motion. That day taunts me so.
* This Is My Milwaukee is mind-numbing.
* Ringorang is evil!

But just to close, finally - I'm good. I'm happy. There are people, even friends, in far worse states than I - I have much to be thankful for. I can't stress that enough.
(and I think I just knocked an item or two off my 30-by-30 list)

until further notice.