One More Sign of the Coming Apocalypse

The end of the Dewey Decimal System??? One more of the meager skills in my wretchedly pathetic skill set is becoming obsolete... the end of the world, or at least my world, is at hand.

On other fronts:

• Tomorrow's scheduled release of Fedora 7 will drop the "Core" from the name (and end the distinction between "core" and "extra.") Good move, Fedora. I'm looking forward to trying Fedora 7 (yes, Uncle Slacker is looking for a new distro... not because Slackware isn't great, but because having many, many packages of ready-to-run software is very good :-)
  

• Speaking of Linux, the Linux-sponsored car in the Indy 500 smashed big-time. Still, seeing the penguin on a car on ESPN was cool!
  

• The Open CD is a great collection of open source software for Windows users. Sure, you could search the web and gather it all yourself, but ISO images and broadband Internet can save the time for more World of Warcraft (or, with this crowd, MySpace ;-)
  

• I took the kids to see Pirates 3 on Monday (since it was a holiday, does it still count as opening weekend?) I'll forego a review as to not spoil anything, but if you haven't seen it, and you do go see it, stay around until after the credits. I think you'll be glad you did. (Even my six year old daughter, who loves Pirates but hates staying for credits, was glad she stayed this time!)

• My son joined Rob and I for our last game of Settlers of Catan, since Rob is leaving to start a new job in Northern Indiana. My eleven-year-old evil genius whooped both of us (laughing maniacally the entire time... cute, annoying, and disturbing all at once.) We played a second game to eliminate the "beginner's luck argument" and the boy genius didn't fare so well. Still, he enjoyed it enough that I think I may have to buy a copy.

• My favorite gaming system that I have never played is getting reincarnated! Of all of White Wolf's World of Darkness games, I loved the setting of Changeling the Dreaming the best. When White Wolf rebooted their World of Darkness, Vampire, Mage, and Werewolf came back immediately, but Changeling didn't seem to be in the cards. Now there's an August release for Changeling the Lost! I think that while I've resisted D&D 3.5, Serenity, and the hilarious (Insert Your Favorite Gaming System Here) for Dummies books (which seem like unconscious parodies to me!), I won't be able to resist the new Changeling. Well, everybody needs their own follies (I just happen to have more than my fair share.)

Later, I hope...

Random Song Quotes

"Port Royal to Tortuga, all the strumpets he would woo, a cross between Keith Richards and that skunk Pepe Le Pew" --Luke Ski, "You Don't Know Jack"

"Not much happening here, nothing ever does" --Bob Dylan, "I and I"

"When you touch me, when you hold me, when you kiss me, it's just like Novocaine, I don't feel anything" --Alice Cooper, "Novocaine"

"I just want to be a lover, not a red-eyed screaming ghoul" --Blue Oyster Cult, "Black Blade"

"Just as I am, I am stiff-necked and proud, Jesus is for losers, why do I still play to the crowd?" --Steve Taylor, "Jesus is for Losers"

"Are we figments of our gin, are we long-lost orphan kin, or the mad descendants of our writer's pen?" --Escape Key, "Girl That's Never Been"

"Take my love, take my land, take me where I cannot stand" --Firefly theme

"No good deed goes unpunished, no act of charity goes unresented" --Wicked soundtrack, "No Good Deed"

For what it's worth, the last one is my current ringtone. And, no, there's no hidden message in here, unless you're John Nash, and then, go for it!

Life at the Moment

Um, end of the semester, sick kids, crazy remodeling plans at work, general craziness at work, wardrobe gradually falling to bits, sleeplessness, weird dreams, headaches, old age, kid with detention, too many borrowed books and movies, a sinking realization of my own total depravity (damn Calvin!)

Blue skies, spring breezes, kids laughing, new sneakers, blackberry jelly, hawks on road signs, trees and trees and more trees, long walks, music, lifelong friends, a grateful and growing awareness of the gift of grace and freedom (thank God!)

What's This?!? A Post???

Long time, no blog, eh? But a scan of y'all's blogs reveal I'm not the only slacker 'round these parts. Maybe you've moved your net lives to MySpace, or maybe Real Life(TM) is actually more interesting than swapping electrons with virtualities? I hope that whatever is going on, that everyone is healthy and happy and full of rainbow bliss (just shoot me now, I've got that damned rosy-eyed optimism thing happening at the moment... 'Had a good day.' 'You had the Alliance on you. Criminals and savages. Half the people on this ship have been shot or wounded, including youself, and you're harboring known fugitives. 'Well, we're still flying.' 'That's not much.' 'It's enough.')

Generic life update: not much happenin' here (well, actually, that's almost 100% false, but let's just let sleepin' dogs lie, shall we?) The semester careens madly towards its inevitable end, Yet Another Graduation. The relative calm of summer is only mildly threatened by those not-so sleeping dogs that we shall continue to tip-toe around. "Work" is, as my Uncle Trapspringer use to say, a completely different word than "play" (actually, my uncle never said that since there is no word for "work" in the kender language. The closest we get is the phrase "involuntary action with pain and/or boredom." Gnomish. on the other hand. has twelve different words that translate to "work" in Common.)

My reading's been all over the place. Most recently, a little book by Peter Kreeft titled Prayer for Beginners. Kreeft, a philosophy professor at Boston College, provides a clear and engaging introduction to prayer that is of value even if you've been praying for years (especially if, like me, you've been at it for years but still feel like an amateur!) I am, of course, biased, as Dr. Kreeft is my favorite living philosopher, but for a book weighing in at 124 pages, it is the work of a few hours (less for some of you) to devour.

I see Twin Peaks season two everywhere, but I can't seem to find season one sitting around in stores. I'm still debating whether I actually want to own that show or just re-visit it. Quark is still not available on DVD even though EVERYTHING else is (hello, Dungeons and Dragons the Animated Series, complete with edition 3.5 stats for those wretched brats! As a former valley elf, "gag me with a mace!" and get Richard Benjamin's greatest role onto disc already!)