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And now we're here.
Apr. 17th, 2017 03:01 pmI've joined the mass exodus from LJ. Howdy, dreamers. :)
Let it Go, Let it Go....
Aug. 4th, 2014 01:55 pmI spent probably 8 hours over the weekend getting stuff out of the basement, and some of that with the wife cleaning out the pantry in preparation for The Move. We have exactly one month from today until the movers show up and we start a new phase of our life, living (back) in the city of Boston.
Most of the time I spent in the basement was going through boxes and boxes of STUFF I had been saving, some of which I had boxed up even before our previous move (13 years ago) into this house, and some of which had never been opened. Some of them had been ruined due to a water-heater blow out a few years ago, and most of the contents of those had been ruined.
Those of you who don't know, it's important to know that my personality is one of, "save that, it might be useful one day or I might want to play with/use/see it again." That extended to computers and computer parts, clothes, toys, gadgets, wires and cables from tech stuff I owned (or had once owned), even beer bottles from when I was brewing beer. Our basement was pretty chock-full of STUFF. Books from College courses we had taken were stored down there. Old appliances we hadn't yet decided to get rid of.
Some stuff was easy to get rid of: The College books are almost 20 years out of date, and of no real use to anyone, so out they went. Beer bottles and other bottles went into the recycling. Old computers, I finally admitted to myself I am going to do nothing with, and so out they went. They'll be put out for the pickers to hopefully take them, and if not, they'll go to a recycler. The monitors I have will go to Stapes, who will recycle them. I got rid of a pile of network, modem, video, sound and other kinds of computer cards. I had already recycled the huge pile of computer cables I had sitting around, and more of those went out to join them. We sorted through bags of shells and rocks we had collected on various vacations, and kept a select few to remind us of the places we'd been to, but chucked the rest out into the corner of the yard for folks to reuse them later on.
The hard stuff for me was the more personal stuff, school papers, things like that. I am keeping letters and pictures and writing that I did in school at various times, but I sometimes had multiple copies of things I was involved in ('Zines, poem collections, etc) and I winnowed everything down to a single copy of all the things. I also discovered the numerous envelopes that my mother had given to me containing the history of the financial aid situation for me when I was in College. Looking through these documents, I learned that my grandfather had loaned us the money for the application to Clark, so we could apply on time. I found out how close I was to not being able to continue College in my junior year due to financial hardship. I found the application letters I had written to the admissions office, talking about my life at the age of 17-18. I found the letters from my grandparents expressing their support and relief that I had gotten into a good College. It also made me realize how much I owe to my Mom, Kate Cox, and how HARD that time must have been for her financially, even with all the financial aid I received. And after I read all of this, I kept a few of the personal letters in that bunch of documents, and I shredded the rest. All told, I probably recycled 500 pages of paper.
I kept things because I always said, "Some day I'll want to look at this stuff again when I'm older." I realized that I'm older Now, and today can be The Day. I can let a lot of this stuff go. There are still many things that are family heirlooms that I have, that I may never let go, but I feel like I'm ready to let myself become a different person now, one that isn't holding on with both hands to my past "just in case." That "just in case" was always a kind of hedge, but the life I am living now is what has grown out of all of these things I was holding on to, so I suppose that everything I've been saving is already inside of me.
Most of the time I spent in the basement was going through boxes and boxes of STUFF I had been saving, some of which I had boxed up even before our previous move (13 years ago) into this house, and some of which had never been opened. Some of them had been ruined due to a water-heater blow out a few years ago, and most of the contents of those had been ruined.
Those of you who don't know, it's important to know that my personality is one of, "save that, it might be useful one day or I might want to play with/use/see it again." That extended to computers and computer parts, clothes, toys, gadgets, wires and cables from tech stuff I owned (or had once owned), even beer bottles from when I was brewing beer. Our basement was pretty chock-full of STUFF. Books from College courses we had taken were stored down there. Old appliances we hadn't yet decided to get rid of.
Some stuff was easy to get rid of: The College books are almost 20 years out of date, and of no real use to anyone, so out they went. Beer bottles and other bottles went into the recycling. Old computers, I finally admitted to myself I am going to do nothing with, and so out they went. They'll be put out for the pickers to hopefully take them, and if not, they'll go to a recycler. The monitors I have will go to Stapes, who will recycle them. I got rid of a pile of network, modem, video, sound and other kinds of computer cards. I had already recycled the huge pile of computer cables I had sitting around, and more of those went out to join them. We sorted through bags of shells and rocks we had collected on various vacations, and kept a select few to remind us of the places we'd been to, but chucked the rest out into the corner of the yard for folks to reuse them later on.
The hard stuff for me was the more personal stuff, school papers, things like that. I am keeping letters and pictures and writing that I did in school at various times, but I sometimes had multiple copies of things I was involved in ('Zines, poem collections, etc) and I winnowed everything down to a single copy of all the things. I also discovered the numerous envelopes that my mother had given to me containing the history of the financial aid situation for me when I was in College. Looking through these documents, I learned that my grandfather had loaned us the money for the application to Clark, so we could apply on time. I found out how close I was to not being able to continue College in my junior year due to financial hardship. I found the application letters I had written to the admissions office, talking about my life at the age of 17-18. I found the letters from my grandparents expressing their support and relief that I had gotten into a good College. It also made me realize how much I owe to my Mom, Kate Cox, and how HARD that time must have been for her financially, even with all the financial aid I received. And after I read all of this, I kept a few of the personal letters in that bunch of documents, and I shredded the rest. All told, I probably recycled 500 pages of paper.
I kept things because I always said, "Some day I'll want to look at this stuff again when I'm older." I realized that I'm older Now, and today can be The Day. I can let a lot of this stuff go. There are still many things that are family heirlooms that I have, that I may never let go, but I feel like I'm ready to let myself become a different person now, one that isn't holding on with both hands to my past "just in case." That "just in case" was always a kind of hedge, but the life I am living now is what has grown out of all of these things I was holding on to, so I suppose that everything I've been saving is already inside of me.
COG-Mechanic: Journal Entry #3
Oct. 16th, 2011 12:48 amI am FREAKED the hell out right now. A Berserker almost made it into camp today. Jesus, those things are scary. It took almost all the Gears unloading on it to even slow it down enough, so that we could get a Hammer of Dawn attack called in on it. Good thing I spent the time fixing up and boosting those Silverbacks, or we would have been SPLATTERED all over the plain. I've spent the whole afternoon patching up computer systems, the EMP from the hammer is so wicked it fritzed out almost everything in the place.
Aside from that little diversion, everything's fine. I mean, aside from the fact that we've attacked twice in a few days. I asked the Gears if that was a normal rate of contact for an outpost like this, but no one seemed to want to answer me, so I'm guessing the answer is, "No." Whatever man, who fucking cares, the COG are so bad-assed, I feel like I could be standing here in my skivvies with Locust pouring over the walls, and I'd end up fucking FINE. Long live the COG!
Aside from that little diversion, everything's fine. I mean, aside from the fact that we've attacked twice in a few days. I asked the Gears if that was a normal rate of contact for an outpost like this, but no one seemed to want to answer me, so I'm guessing the answer is, "No." Whatever man, who fucking cares, the COG are so bad-assed, I feel like I could be standing here in my skivvies with Locust pouring over the walls, and I'd end up fucking FINE. Long live the COG!
COG-Mechanic: Journal Entry #2
Oct. 4th, 2011 11:14 amDay 9 of my first rotation, and this was the first day with any real excitement. Most of my job involves cleaning little bits of bone out of the Lancers' chainsaw mechanism. It takes a lot to jam one of those, but get it stuck into a Locust femur, and apparently it can happen.
Anyway, they sent me out on a refit mission for an outpost on the edge of the patrolled area. They had some heavy equipment out there that was acting up, and I volunteered to go out there with the new patrol and check it out. I hadn't been out there an hour when the intruder alarm for the outpost started going off, and suddenly there were Locust coming over the wire and trying to get over the wall. I started hearing some pretty loud explosions close by, and I was gonna run for the shelter (all I had was my sidearm) but then I heard all the Gears laughing at the perimeter. Apparently, they had taken a page from the Locust tactics manual and mined the entire run-up area to the outpost. Most of the Locust had been destroyed immediately, but there were two or three left out there, standing still, looking around for more mines. It was pretty comical, and soon the Gears started taking pot-shots at the Locusts' feet, making them jump around. A few shots, a hop one way, until inevitably, they hopped onto a mine, and then Kaboom. The Gears just about fell down crying they were laughing so hard. Eventually, they got bored, and shot the remaining Locust drones, and they even let me shoot one, just so I could get my first combat medal! Sweet!
After that, everyone went back to their business of monitoring the recon stations, and I went back to getting their Silverback put back into working order. How they got that much Lambent goo into the interior gearing, I'll NEVER know, and none of them are owning up to it.
PS: I need to look into a shell-casing recycling program for these guys. They expend SO much ammunition, and never police any of their brass. Geez, guys, that shit costs money, you know!
Anyway, they sent me out on a refit mission for an outpost on the edge of the patrolled area. They had some heavy equipment out there that was acting up, and I volunteered to go out there with the new patrol and check it out. I hadn't been out there an hour when the intruder alarm for the outpost started going off, and suddenly there were Locust coming over the wire and trying to get over the wall. I started hearing some pretty loud explosions close by, and I was gonna run for the shelter (all I had was my sidearm) but then I heard all the Gears laughing at the perimeter. Apparently, they had taken a page from the Locust tactics manual and mined the entire run-up area to the outpost. Most of the Locust had been destroyed immediately, but there were two or three left out there, standing still, looking around for more mines. It was pretty comical, and soon the Gears started taking pot-shots at the Locusts' feet, making them jump around. A few shots, a hop one way, until inevitably, they hopped onto a mine, and then Kaboom. The Gears just about fell down crying they were laughing so hard. Eventually, they got bored, and shot the remaining Locust drones, and they even let me shoot one, just so I could get my first combat medal! Sweet!
After that, everyone went back to their business of monitoring the recon stations, and I went back to getting their Silverback put back into working order. How they got that much Lambent goo into the interior gearing, I'll NEVER know, and none of them are owning up to it.
PS: I need to look into a shell-casing recycling program for these guys. They expend SO much ammunition, and never police any of their brass. Geez, guys, that shit costs money, you know!
COG-Mechanic: Journal Entry #1
Sep. 27th, 2011 08:37 pmWell, I made it! I finally achieved my lifelong dream and I finally became a COG today! Well, most of my lifelong dream. They said I was "physically insufficient" for front-line combat (which around here seems to mean under 6'5 and 265lb of solid muscle) so they... reassigned me. They made me a mechanic. Which, you know, is pretty cool! I get to fix the guys' Lancer rifles, oil up the chainsaw for ripping into crunchy locust shells and squishy lambent skins, recalibrate the scopes on the One-shots and shit like that. I also keep the Silverbacks running smooth, and find a way to cram all that ammunition into the magazines.... MAN these guys like to hose out the bullets like that shit's FREE. Oh well, I ain't paying for it!
Jacinto was destroyed just after I joined up, so it's a good thing I got the hell out of there. I saw some shit there that made me decide one day to join up. I was tired of hearing my friends were getting killed by the damned Locust, and all I could do was hide out in the basement and hope they wouldn't find me. Screw that, I wanted to fight! So now I'm doing my part, arming up the Gears to fight the Locust and the Lambents and keep us all from being destroyed. I'm proud to serve.
Oh, I forgot to mention, I'll be on light-duty for a few more days until my back heals up, I slipped on a huge pile of spent ammo casings and went down hard, wrenched my shit up pretty bad. But no worries, I'll be back on top of stuff and doing my part soon!
Corporal Jackson out!
Jacinto was destroyed just after I joined up, so it's a good thing I got the hell out of there. I saw some shit there that made me decide one day to join up. I was tired of hearing my friends were getting killed by the damned Locust, and all I could do was hide out in the basement and hope they wouldn't find me. Screw that, I wanted to fight! So now I'm doing my part, arming up the Gears to fight the Locust and the Lambents and keep us all from being destroyed. I'm proud to serve.
Oh, I forgot to mention, I'll be on light-duty for a few more days until my back heals up, I slipped on a huge pile of spent ammo casings and went down hard, wrenched my shit up pretty bad. But no worries, I'll be back on top of stuff and doing my part soon!
Corporal Jackson out!
Writer's Block: Father figure
Jun. 20th, 2011 08:21 pm[Error: unknown template qotd]
Don't be a drunk (although that was more by his actions than his words)
Don't be a drunk (although that was more by his actions than his words)
Fence Debrief
Nov. 2nd, 2010 06:56 pmThe fence is DONE! I have a back fence again between us and our neighbors, who we've discovered are very nice people.
( The Debrief: )
( The Debrief: )
State of the Fence
Oct. 30th, 2010 10:39 pmToday, with the great help of my friend Chris, we:
Tore out 80 feet of stockade fence
Filled up the old post holes with fill (cinder block bits, etc)
Dug 11 new post holes for the new fence
Excavated eleventy BILLION rocks from the new post holes.
My right wrist wants to fall off. Hurts like hell.
Tomorrow, new fence pieces are delivered, and we put up the new fence.
If anyone wants to help, feel free to drop by around 10am tomorrow. :)
Tore out 80 feet of stockade fence
Filled up the old post holes with fill (cinder block bits, etc)
Dug 11 new post holes for the new fence
Excavated eleventy BILLION rocks from the new post holes.
My right wrist wants to fall off. Hurts like hell.
Tomorrow, new fence pieces are delivered, and we put up the new fence.
If anyone wants to help, feel free to drop by around 10am tomorrow. :)
Finished - or close enough!
Sep. 2nd, 2010 09:22 amPictures of our renovation project, before, during and after!
I'm participating again in a charity race in a few days, an event called the Race Against Leukemia (RAL). Sponsored by the New England Region (NER) of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), the RAL weekend seeks to generate funds for the UMass Medical Center Hospital Leukemia Foundation. This is an event with a more than 20-year history, illustrating how dedicated NER is to giving something back to the community.
So how does it work, and what can you do? Drivers (that's me) collect donations or pledges, and for every $10 of donations I gather, I get one free lap of the course we set up to run on (One "Run"). I can also spend my "Runs" on giving free rides to other drivers.
There are no prizes for winning. This is just a fun event solely for generating donations for the UMass Medical Center. We're racing for fun, and for the RAL itself!
Here's the webpage of what the weekend is about. http://www.ner.org/region/racing-against-leukemia
As this is a charity, this is a tax deductible donation, and I can send you a receipt (via signed PDF)
While $10 buys me a run at the course, feel free to donate less than that. I can add up donations as necessary.
This year, we are utilizing "firstgiving.com" charity donation system. I encourage you to donate through my website there for this event, "http://www.firstgiving.com/wileycoxNER". However, you may also reply here if you wish, or at VolkScirocco@gmail.com if you prefer more anonymous donations. All donations must be pledged at 8/20. Checks are OK, paypal is OK, and if you live local, cash, coins, doubloons and gold bars are acceptable currency. If you make a check out to me, I will make out one single check to RAL for the weekend to cover all the differing ways of payment. :)
Thanks for reading this!
So how does it work, and what can you do? Drivers (that's me) collect donations or pledges, and for every $10 of donations I gather, I get one free lap of the course we set up to run on (One "Run"). I can also spend my "Runs" on giving free rides to other drivers.
There are no prizes for winning. This is just a fun event solely for generating donations for the UMass Medical Center. We're racing for fun, and for the RAL itself!
Here's the webpage of what the weekend is about. http://www.ner.org/region/racing-against-leukemia
As this is a charity, this is a tax deductible donation, and I can send you a receipt (via signed PDF)
While $10 buys me a run at the course, feel free to donate less than that. I can add up donations as necessary.
This year, we are utilizing "firstgiving.com" charity donation system. I encourage you to donate through my website there for this event, "http://www.firstgiving.com/wileycoxNER". However, you may also reply here if you wish, or at VolkScirocco@gmail.com if you prefer more anonymous donations. All donations must be pledged at 8/20. Checks are OK, paypal is OK, and if you live local, cash, coins, doubloons and gold bars are acceptable currency. If you make a check out to me, I will make out one single check to RAL for the weekend to cover all the differing ways of payment. :)
Thanks for reading this!
Me, in my New (to me) 125cc 2-stroke go-kart. SO MUCH FUN!
ImprovBoston Rock Band night
Apr. 15th, 2010 04:40 pmEver wanted to see me in a bad Blond Wig? Singing? Here's your chance! I'm in some others in the album too!
First Race Day of the Season
Apr. 11th, 2010 10:46 pmToday was a very special race day for me, the first event where I drove my OWN VEHICLE at an event. Today my very own 2-stroke CRG Kart was out there, and MAN was it set up badly. Luckily, my co-driver (who beat the hell out of me out there) knows what he's doing with karts, and "suggested" some setup changes that made the kart much more manageable. Next event, newer tires (IE: Not hard and crappy) and hopefully I'll be back in the fight amongst the front-runners in the Kart class. As for now, I was second-to-last. You know what? I LOVED every second of it.
Hannah also won her first class today, her first first-place in Formula Junior B! Hip Hip Hooray! She also reports having an A+ day!
Hannah also won her first class today, her first first-place in Formula Junior B! Hip Hip Hooray! She also reports having an A+ day!
PAX East 2010
Mar. 31st, 2010 10:34 amThis was me playing Bass back there, in Dr. Horrible's (Matt Glidden) band at PAXEast in the Rock Band Lounge. Amazing Shot!
Vandalism on our elected officials
Mar. 25th, 2010 01:45 pmPeople are throwing BRICKS through the windows of our elected senators for having the GALL to vote their conscience, and represent their constituencies, on the Health Bills?
Had I thrown a brick through the campaign office window of any one who didn't vote the way I wanted them to over the past 8 years, A: I'd have run out of bricks, and B: I'd probably have been arrested as a domestic terrorist. I suppose I can take this as a sign of progress?
Way to support the Government, Americans. Let's show the rest of the world we reallY ARE a bunch of petulant children when we don't get our way.
Had I thrown a brick through the campaign office window of any one who didn't vote the way I wanted them to over the past 8 years, A: I'd have run out of bricks, and B: I'd probably have been arrested as a domestic terrorist. I suppose I can take this as a sign of progress?
Way to support the Government, Americans. Let's show the rest of the world we reallY ARE a bunch of petulant children when we don't get our way.
Funny transcription find today: "This is an 838-year-old female who was admitted with complaints of chest pain."
And many other complaints, I might imagine....
And many other complaints, I might imagine....
Party conversation and LOL
Feb. 28th, 2010 12:06 amBest overheard conversation at the party tonight.
Hostess, to a guest (Husband): I'm sorry, but I've forgotten your wife's name, and I wanted to offer her some food. Can you remind me what her name is?
Guest (Husband): Actually, I've forgotten it as well. Can you ask her and let me know what it is? (laughter)
Me: *snerk*
Hostess, to a guest (Husband): I'm sorry, but I've forgotten your wife's name, and I wanted to offer her some food. Can you remind me what her name is?
Guest (Husband): Actually, I've forgotten it as well. Can you ask her and let me know what it is? (laughter)
Me: *snerk*
Workout Wednesday
Feb. 25th, 2010 12:06 pmBack to the Gym yesterday. Felt good to get back to it. I've slacked off entirely, osetnsibly to let my aching shoulders get a rest. I gave them three weeks off entirely, and they're feeling much better. Last week was the first time they didn't ache after WAKING UP in the morning, and I feel like I have a full range of motion with very little pain anywhere.
Still, I went easy on them. The three weeks off overall meant I had to drop weight on all my exercises, and I was planning on doing so anyway, to see what happened.
Bicep Curls were fine. Tricep extensions gave a little twinge that went away after a while. Chest Presses done with a LOT less weight still caused a little ouchy around the top of my shoulder, so I knocked off on those after just half a set. Rowing was fine, I went 3000 meters on the Erg machine with no problems, as well as the Compound rowing weight machine at reduced weight. Obviously, leg work and ab and back stuff was fine. I didn't try pull-ups or dips, I suspect they would produce soreness as well. :(
Today: No more soreness than just muscle soreness.
Not sure what to do from here in regards to the shoulder. Continue to be as nice to it as possible, I suspect. Avoid "press" type movements in working out. Probably save my shoulders for racing season this year (there's a fair amount of shoulder work involved in steering (and counter-steering) a go-kart.
So, that's that (so far)
Still, I went easy on them. The three weeks off overall meant I had to drop weight on all my exercises, and I was planning on doing so anyway, to see what happened.
Bicep Curls were fine. Tricep extensions gave a little twinge that went away after a while. Chest Presses done with a LOT less weight still caused a little ouchy around the top of my shoulder, so I knocked off on those after just half a set. Rowing was fine, I went 3000 meters on the Erg machine with no problems, as well as the Compound rowing weight machine at reduced weight. Obviously, leg work and ab and back stuff was fine. I didn't try pull-ups or dips, I suspect they would produce soreness as well. :(
Today: No more soreness than just muscle soreness.
Not sure what to do from here in regards to the shoulder. Continue to be as nice to it as possible, I suspect. Avoid "press" type movements in working out. Probably save my shoulders for racing season this year (there's a fair amount of shoulder work involved in steering (and counter-steering) a go-kart.
So, that's that (so far)
Got back to the gym yesterday after a little time off for my Montreal excursion (although I did use the little weight room for a short trip while I was there).
I'm still being kind to my shoulders, so no presses of any kind, although I did do some rowing, and the compound row machine. Spent extra time on the bi/tri machines (3 sets), as well as the leg machines, and ab machines. Good albeit short0ish workout, but I think I hit everything I wanted to. Go Me.
I'm still being kind to my shoulders, so no presses of any kind, although I did do some rowing, and the compound row machine. Spent extra time on the bi/tri machines (3 sets), as well as the leg machines, and ab machines. Good albeit short0ish workout, but I think I hit everything I wanted to. Go Me.
