Ben's Busy Blog

A brief one tonight... Sorry!

Woke up, rode bike.

Did a couple loads of laundry.

Patched up with spackle around hallway door, where I'll be painting soon.

Researched military tactics on Wikipedia, as I'm working out a concept for Rusted Metal.

Nat cooked stew earlier, and wasn't feeling well later in the evening, hence short entry.

Love, Ben

Today was a somewhat lazy day. I allowed myself to take it easy since I've been so damned fatigued the last few days, and it's still a holiday week.

I cleaned up around the house a little, clearing most of the gift-wrapping debris from the room.

Emptied the dishwasher. Taped up the hallway door for painting. Took some stuff down to the storage room and brought back up some planks to create a makeshift hallway table.

I called the DJ for our wedding, but all I got was his answering machine. I also go the same results when trying to set up appointments again with Nat's therapist. She's up for going again now that she's okay with getting out of the house.

Oof I wish I didn't feel so damned out of it tonight.

Oops, forgot to publish on Thursday. Here's the quick and crappy edition from the notes I'd saved yesterday.

I biked.

I rehung the coatrack. having filled the two old holes, drilled three new ones. Filled holes with clear silicone before sinking anchors.

mom called, asking for directions to phipps. going to our wedding location and doesn't even think to invite us, wtf?

stopped on walnut street on way home. bought myself a bigger hat and bigger scarf at gap. I wanna not get head colds this winter. Also bought Natty a bathrobe, since she bought me the Xbox 360 Premium edition

came home, spaced out

researched 3rcm. Emailed tonight

Today started poorly. After about five hours of sleep, I found myself moseying through the kitchen in search of a refreshing beverage. As my toes crossed the threshold, they encountered something which skittered away from my contact with a tinkling sound. I turned on the light to find that overnight one of the cats had knocked a glass off of the counter to shatter, likely while in search of the bag of catnip that we'd left up on the counter. I loosed a few choice curse words, which inadvertently drew Nat from her sleep to come and assist me in cleaning up the mess. Afterwards I was hard-pressed to go back to sleep for a few hours. That put the day off to an awkward start.

When I did get up, I biked dutifully. Yay.

I touched up the paint in the bathroom. There is absolutely nothing left to be done in there. My new projects are going to be a cable pass-thru from the geek room to the living room, rehanging the coatrack, and painting the door in the hallway.

Nat and I went out to Borders and the Animal Rescue League today. It was entirely a leisurely trip, but Nat did well to push her boundaries and stay out for a few hours. She's really come around lately. Hopefully we'll be able to resume going out more.

Anyway, today was another day of trying to work despite being completely dazed. I feel bad because I didn't apply to a job that I'd been looking at. I have no excuse aside from my own fears of rejection.

Back from the Christmas lull! I biked today, and despite being out of Battlestar Galactica, I still broke 400 calories in 15 minutes. It's gotten quite easy at this point. Nonami dutifully chirruped for her treat after I was done. It was cute.

I was soooo groggy today. It was hard to get moving, but I wanted to start getting my life back on track. I took out copious amounts of trash. I also emptied the overdue cat-boxes. This was all quite fun.

We also dug up addresses for some belated Xmas cards. Nat's lovely handwriting graced the card to our officiant.

We also assembled a care package for someone who didn't make it back to the 'burgh for Christmas. We were just too pooped to make it to the post office with it today, but now we've got extra time to load it up with more good stuff (as soon as we figure out what...).

In the evening, Nat and I watched Little Miss Sunshine. It was really good. Natty's been great lately. She's getting out a lot again, and I'm really proud of her. It looks like everything is really improving around here. I'm happy. I've had a great Christmas after all :)

Tonight was a chili night at our place. After painting the bathroom doorway this morning, most of the day was spent cleaning up and getting the house together. This was definately something that was necessary. There's been a bit of insufficient cleaning up in his house. I spent plenty of time working on this. We also ran out for some errands, but nothing too special. Anyway, my honey needs me, so I'm cutting this short. G'night.

My glands under my chin were swollen last night. Today I can tell that my eustachian tubes are inflamed. My jaw aches back at the joint. I'm more tired than I think I should be... I think I'm getting an ear infection. Fun fun fun.

Anyway, painted bathroom doorjamb. Did some Xmas shopping. Got Xmas cards printed. Spent lots of time with Natty. We played a lot of Wii Sports. I played Zelda for a while in the evening to relax. Earlier I did some wedding wheeling and dealing. Yay...

Anyway, crash time.

I'm falling off in my posting again lately, and it isn't a good thing. I think I've hit a bit of a slump with the Christmas season. I don't know, but I hope that this doesn't last. If I don't get back into gear with things, then I'm just going to have to move the computer into the... erm, old bedroom. *sigh*

Anyway, today I got Nat out of the house and over the river to Target. That was a good step in the right direction, but there's a lot to go through yet before Xmas weekend... which is arriving way too soon. *sigh*

Anyway, I'm morose tonight, but I'm going to keep on hacking.

Today I got up late and didn't bike. It wasn't the most productive day for me personally, but Natty showed a lot of improvement. We went out of the house for a few hours, mostly hanging out at the new Borders. Then she went our again to the grocery store and again to Wendy's. This is a marked improvement for her, especially considering that she didn't have to reach for her Xanax to get through it. I got to read a little She-Hulk, woot.

I spent a little time taping up the bathroom doorframe and devising a door made of cardboard, in order to keep the cats out of there while the paint is drying.

Biked, Sanded, Emptied waste cans. Took out trash, Watched a half hour or so of Hellboy...

... then forgot to post this draft. Oops!

I got up and biked like a good boy today, despite my lack of Firefly.

A good deal of the day was spent Xmas shopping, despite never leaving the house. Nat and I conferenced and discussed away options. I called family with questions about presents. We poured over different stuff on Amazon. In the end we got most of it knocked out, but we'll still have to do some more shopping.

Oh and today I finally received my component cables for the Wii. After some furniture-related difficulties, I hooked it up. Zelda looks incredible now. Investigating at Dave's behest, I got sucked in to playing SSB:M for a while.

I also wet sanded a little of the door... but not for long.

Oh and I got all caught up on Wikipedia. Ugh, I hate my productivity.

I got Natty to get up earlier, and we painted some shelves. I switched off and wet sanded the door for a bit.

I downloaded and installed Visual C# Express and XNA Game Studio Express. This took a bit longer than anticipated.

I put off blogging until too late, and now I'm tired and can't remember anything. Sorry folks.

Ugh, I'm just going to balk at today's post. I wrangled with Google Adsense, because my account is not being created due to nonsense. I tried to get started with eBay, but the practicality of doing that crap while my office is the new bedroom/tv-room... it's just not cricket. I can't work like this, and I'm going to have to have a talk with Natty.

To make up for Monday's TV fun glut, I've largely stayed away from it today, aside from watching some Firefly while biking or over dinner. I should mention that I've been breaking 400 calories in 15 minutes every time that I rode while watching Firefly. I think I should line up another TV series to watch, since this has been so good for me.

I spent a healthy part of the day cleaning up the bedroom. It's now pretty damned spic'n'span (whatever that means). I folded a lot of the loose clothes that were in there, and also vacuumed. I moved around some boxes and stacked books and magazines. The floor is now clear.

I also did four loads of laundry, complete with folding and putting it away.

I implemented my idea for storing CDs and DVDs on a spindle with tags. I created a deep storage spindle, and then used a shorter one to create a sort of inbox on my desk. Tags in the inbox are titled "Anime2Watch", "CDs2Rip", "MP3s2Try", "DatedWhen?" and everyone's favorite: "Mystery disks" While I was making the second spindle, I photographed the process. I'm going to write up an article on this, and maybe submit it to Lifehacker.

With all of these articles that I'm doing, I'm trying to get some attention to the fact that I'm not an idiot and all. That will require submitting my stuff for other people's attention, via whatever service is applicable. If I get attention though, more page hits means more bandwidth. If I get linked by a Gawker media page, I could screw myself up. So anyway, this is all justification for me trying out some Google AdSense... if I get approved first. We'll see if that happens. I'll keep writing articles anyway.

Oh, and don't tell, but I did the majority of Nat's Xmas shopping today via Amazon. Hopefully I haven't screwed anything up.

Oh, and don't let me forget. I want to get cracking on XNA. Of course I also want to write a Firefox extension, retrofit more webpages for my portfolio, and refinish a bunch of surfaces in this house... ugh.

Today we received our new TV, and I spent damn near the entire day trying to completely rework all of our cabling. That which once ran through the receiver, now runs into the TV... but the TV's plugged into the receiver for sound. And some things aren't plugged in at all now. And cable only works via direct coax feed, but not when composite is run over from the cable box, in which case we get sound without video. For hours, I had DVD picture, but no sound. I salvaged and cannibalized RCA cables from everywhere in order to utilize them for composite, component, and SPDIF. I went on a sidequest to find where my velcro cable ties had gone (Answer? To the cats).

Anyway, after it was all over, I congratulated myself by enjoying the tv.

Skipped biking today and took a long shower instead. Cooked up an omelet for Nat's breakfast.

Emptied trash cans. Took out trash and recycling

Put out some links to MediaWiki security article. Updated sitemap for LiquidBen.com

Worked with Natty to put together a list of names and addresses for our wedding guests. We're going to have to ask a few more people for their information.

Went to the grocery store with Natty

Talked on the phone with Mom for a long while. Also talked with Dave. Played a bit too much of the video games today, but I was trying to unwind. Played Zelda & Castlevania. I also played a lot of Wii Sports with Natty. It was a lot of fun.

Today was mostly spent working on finally finishing and publicizing my [http://www.liquidben.com/wiki/index.php?title=Public:MediaWiki_security MediaWiki security] article. I spent hours on that damn thing, but it's up now. A tired huzzah...

Oh, and I also polished more of the dining room today. I tackled the built-in cabinetry, inside and out. Moving the glass out, polishing, wiping down, washing oil off hands, moving glass back in... shelf by shelf... Ugh.

Anyway, I also played a little Wii Sports with Natty. I watched some Firefly. I didn't get too lost on the internet, aside from article research.

As I write today's blog post, I'm sitting on the edge of my computer chair, because the back-half has been stolen by our cat Anya. I feel like a bit of an ass, but she sure is cute, all nestled up against me.

I polished a bit more of the dining room surfaces. I realized that the reason I'd stopped yesterday was that my hands had just become completely saturated with the lemon oil, a rather uncomfortable sensation.

I worked on sanding the bathroom doorjamb some more. I've covered the majority of the space with a makeshift sanding block. I duct taped together a couple wood blocks I'd had sitting around and the taped the sandpaper to it, too. It covered a sizable amount of territory with ease, but it also sanded unevenly, so I've got a lot of spots that need worked out the hard way. I'm quite frankly sick of the job.

I got sucked into Zelda for a bit. My Wii stats say that I played for 3 hours, but I also walked away to help Natty in the kitchen for a bit, so I suppose it isn't so bad.

Today wasn't a fun day for Natty, and I've tried to spend a lot of time with her. I hope that I'm helping and not undermining her independence.

Today was decently productive.

I got up and biked. I haven't mentioned it, but the last few days while I've had Firefly to watch, I've broken 400 calories in 15 minutes every time. It really does just come down to whether or not I've got something to distract/inspire me.

After breakfast, I tested out the lemon oil on the dining room paneling. It worked out really nicely. I did a quarter of the room for the test, and intend to cover more tomorrow.

After polishing the wood (haha), I went back to wet sanding the annoying hinge-side of the bathroom doorframe. Not only is the gap too small for my sanding block, I also have to be careful not to grind the metal hinges to hell. Because I'm wet sanding away lead-based paint, I'm wearing rubber gloves, which make it damned frustrating to hold a piece of sandpaper without wrapping it around a block. Once or twice I've absent-mindedly started wet sanding without putting on gloves, and the skin on my hands just felt... weird. Something's uncomfortable about the effect of that opaque silty water on the hands.

I also worked on copy-editing the wiki security article some more. I printed out a copy and wrote on it with a pen for my changes. I think the fresh look is working out alright.

Oh, and I did the dishwasher and scrubbed out the broiling pan from yesterday. Ran out for some errands with Nat, but not much because she was rather nervous again today. I'm taking time to try and be extra patient. I'm a little uncertain of what the right thing is to say to her right now. I think I should possibly look into some low level psych texts or something. *Shrugs*

Today was nice, because it was a day without a doctor's appointment. I got up and biked while watching a Firefly

I spent a few hours working on sanding around the bathroom door. It went well, but slowly.

Nat and I went out to EB to pick up a preordered Castlevania. Then we checked out Trader Joes. After that we stopped by Home Depot for some rubber seals to put around a drafty door.

Natty and I cooked an excellent dinner together. We'd picked up a top sirloin a day or so previously and had set it to marinate in the fridge. It was good, but I think that the marinade didn't penetrate deeply enough because I forgot to go over the steak stabbing it with a fork first. It still tasted excellent with Natty's homemade marinade, but due to the thickness of the steak, it was recognizable when you were chewing the un-marinated center of it. Still, I shouldn't complain because it was lovely and yummy.

Spent an hour working on Natty's old laptop, trying to get it running Linux. Encountered a problem with it not having enough memory. I cannibalized some memory from Dave's old junker laptop, but I couldn't get Natty's laptop to install/recognize it.

Ran through the Wiki Security article for a bit. I realized that I just had to read it aloud in order to detect passages that needed rewritten. Dave's too busy to stick him with being my editor, so I'll have to play that role myself. I haven't asked Nat seriously because this just doesn't seem like an effort that she's inclined towards.

I also updated a bit of Gunpowder War stuff on the wiki. Had an excellent brainstorming session with Dave, but unfortunately it came a bit late in the night, so it had to be cut off.

Anyway, time to hit the hay with my lovely fiance. I think that the day off after all of the doctor's appointments lately has helped her a bit, but she's still a bit upset about the procedure she got scheduled for yesterday. The most difficult thing to comfort her about are the health issues. You can't say they aren't important. :(

So today we had to get up early (at least for us lately) to get Nat down to UPMC for an appointment with a new doctor. She wasn't a fan, but we set off at the right time. UPMC parking was screwed, so that made us a little late. In the end, the doctor's appointment went off without a hitch. I didn't leave her side today. I helped her through the nervousness. She's been scheduled for a non-invasive test/procedure-thingy, which she's very unhappy about. I'm just trying to be upbeat and keep her mind on why she's doing it. When we got home, I was a little worn out on this

Since this all happened so early, I didn't get a chance to bike. I watched another GitS:SAC to unwind a little. Then I wet-sanded down the edge of the bathroom door. I also upgraded to Firefox 2.0 on the main computer. I did it in order to get the built-in spell checker to run on the wiki security article, of which I'm sick. I'm going to just push that out tomorrow.

Anyway, tired now. It's late. Crashing...

Slept in rather late, because we were up hella late last night. I still got around to biking though. After a shower and a leisurely breakfast/lunch, I realized that it was about time to try to get Nat up for her blood test.

There was a lot of anxiety about the blood test, but we got out the door in time. I think it might have gone a bit easier if there was a fixed time that we had to be there. This would have precluded any debate. When we got there, I was a bit selfish and stayed in the lobby, playing my DS. Since doors were open, I could still see back to Nat... if I looked. Instead she was getting nervous as the nurse made multiple unsuccessful pricks without successfully drawing blood. Finally Nat got my attention and asked me to come back. She was really composed, but I could tell that it was bugging her out. We went and sat in the lobby for a bit, trying to make things alright. Nat wanted to call it off, but I guiltily played bad guy and made her stay. The second try was with a different nurse who was a lot more successful at drawing blood, while I let Nat squeeze my hand tight.

The rest of the day seems like a complete wash, mostly due to lack of sleep. I did some lame cleanup on the wiki security article. I also played Zelda. I spent a good amount of time with Nat too. It just hasn't been a good day for her.

Tomorrow's a trip to the GI doctor, so it will likely be very draining. I'm getting to bed at a better hour tonight, so hopefully that'll help a little bit.

So today was an alright day. I got up and biked while watching Ghost in the Shell: Stand-Alone Complex. That was fun, but it's widescreen, so the subtitles were a little small on our standard definition TV. After my shower, I wound up taking my cereal back through and watching the rest of the disc. Later in the day, I watched a couple more episodes. There goes several hours of my day.

I cleaned the house a little and took out the trash. Loaded and ran the dishwasher.

I tried to do a little proofreading on the wiki security article, but tired quickly.

I did a little sanding on the bathroom door.

I gave up and took Syriana back to Blockbuster. It's just not something I'm interested in watching right now.

Around 1AM, Nat and I had a sudden urge to put up the Xmas tree. It worked out pretty well, although it kept us up rather late. Then on top of that, we wound up playing Wii Sports afterwards until it was rather late.

Today was a lot of little things. I wish I hadn't stayed up so late last night.

Today was somewhat marred by another night of crappy sleep. Tired, I didn't bike, and took really long shower instead.

I have no idea where a large part of the morning went, but I know that I paced and listened to the 1UP Yours podcast. Later I played zelda for a few hours.

For no fun and no profit, I cleaned more stinkwater from base of fridge. In hopes of stopping this, I located the water supply to the icemaker and turned it off. As part of this, I ID'd that the water softener behind the fridge is waaaaay overdue for changing.

I did Nat's hair for her before we went out. We spent a short time at Borders.

I finished my rough draft of the MediaWiki security article though, HUZZAH! (although it involved staying up really late)

Today was a lot of time with Nat, but I also suffered from a lack of concentration when trying to work on my own things.

I got up and biked again today. It went by alright, but I miss my Firefly. Having finished all that I had on-hand, I tried watching Syriana, but that sure as hell isn't good for that. I'll have to remind myself that this is like Traffic. I'll have to watch it with no other distractions... or not get around to watching it and just return it.

I wet sanded a little more of the bathroom doorway for about an hour. Meh. Slow and sloppy, but it does such a beautiful job at revealing the wood. I just wish I was better at the crevices.

Prepped and took Nat to her appointment for her wrist checkup. It was a little rough on the nerves getting her there, but after we met the doctor, things seemed to go alright. She's got a new splint with velcro straps for easy removal. It also seems to hold her thumb in a more proper position. These two traits have made Nat a much happier camper.

We played Wii Sports together again. It's been a lot of fun. She also asked me to watch a Poirot with her, to which I obliged.

Nat caught a glimpse of a myelogram on TV and it gave her a flashback to her horrible medival experience with one, not to mention the lovely spinal headache that debilitated her thereafter.

I poked at the MediaWiki security article some more, but I'm not happy with my progress, especially after I'd promised myself to finish it days ago. Tomorrow... tomorrow... tomorrow...

Here's today's non-chronological reporting of events! (Why that way? Because according to Dave, life doesn't happen that way)

We got out for a nice walk over to UPMC Shadyside today to pick up Nat's wrist X-rays. They gave her all wrist X-rays that she's ever had instead of just this week's. Don't worry, it's just one of those things: Break your wrist once, and it's weak forever after.

Ugh, for some reason water is gathering below the bottom drawers of our fridge. Even more fun was the fact that it apparently pooled enough to drip out onto the floor, whence it was soaked up into my sock. I got to spend a lovely time cleaning it out. I started by ladling it out with a measuring cup, but then eventually graduated to sopping it up with a rag and wringing it out over the basket. Fun!

We also played Wii Sports together again today. It's a lot of fun, but I don't know what the heck I'm doing boxing. I just sort of flail around in real life, and then my boxing avatar flails around even more pathetically.

Now officially addicted, I watched multiple episodes of Firefly today. I highly recommend the show. I also wasted too much time watching South Park on DVD. At least I'm not watching stuff that I don't want to watch.

I'm still trying to knock out that article on setting up security for a MediaWiki installation. It's been slow, because I can't rely on having a few minutes straight for concentration in here.

Anyway, things are picking back up again around here. It's not great, but better at least. Hopefully I'll be able to return to better productivity faster and faster.