Saturday, October 3rd, 2009

The Vampires Fail. Must Be All The Garlic I Eat


As I've commented any number of times in the past, I'm a regular blood donor. They call me to remind me every two months, since there's a high demand for my blood. (Imagine the fun anyone who gets my blood must have.) Anyway, they called me earlier this week to ask if I'd be willing to try Apheresis, a process where I just donate platelets rather than whole blood. This type of donation can be done more frequently than regular whole blood donations, and apparently just getting my blood every two months isn't enough for the Red Cross anymore. They're hooked, and they want more.

I went in this morning, and went through the usual routine (health questions, blood pressure check, etc.) before they took me over to the apheresis area. Since apheresis takes longer (they take the blood out of your body, remove the bits they want, and then put the rest back in again) they let you watch a movie while you're donating (since you can't do much else – there's a needle in both of your arms, one for inflow and one for outflow). Each donor had their own DVD player with headphones. I looked through the box and DVDs and chose The Producers (the new one, based on the Broadway musical). I picked that one because I wanted to choose a movie I already knew well, and owned a copy of, on the assumption that I might not be in the donor center long enough to watch the whole movie there.

I was momentarily amused by the notion that the Red Cross might have included a couple of musicals in the box as a subtle test. Since they don't accept donations from homosexuals,¹ would they be monitoring which men chose the DVDs with the show tunes? (If that were true, I probably would have been shown the door immediately if I'd picked All That Jazz.)

Anyway, the donation didn't happen, and not because of my choice of movies (as far as I know). I usually donate from my left arm because I'm right-handed, and because there have been a couple of times in the past when the phlebotomist has had trouble finding a vein in my right arm. (The ones in my left arm jump up and shout "Pick me! Pick me!") Well, apheresis is normally done with a needle in both arms, so they started with my right arm… and apparently the needle couldn't find the haystack. Two of them tried (ouch!) and failed. My right arm has stealth veins.

That was it for today. Apparently, they'd made the most attempts they allowed to make or something, because I was allowed to get up and leave (not without grabbing free cookies on my way to the door, mind you!) They didn't want me to be discouraged, however, because they really really want my platelets. (You know, it's almost creepy when you think about it.) They want me to come back another time and they'll try a different method. I agreed; because hey, it can't hurt to try, right? (I mean, apart from the needles. Duh.)

I'm already worried about how disappointed they're going to be if get another tattoo next year, and then (by their own rules) won't be able to donate anything for twelve months. I'll bet they break into my kitchen and boil a rabbit.

¹I do not wish to debate this in my LJ. I already know it's a point of contention for some of you.

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Monday, April 20th, 2009

"Doctor Who" Statistics

You Probably Don't Care )
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Monday, January 5th, 2009

Richard's First Drag Show

I finally got around to uploading the first page I made for my son Richard with my Drag Show program. It's Richard in the world of Blue's Clues. Note that all of the characters, including Richard, can be freely dragged around the screen and placed at will. (Right-click HERE to download the tranny¹ file to use in Drag Show.) Q also points out that anyone using this or similar Drag Show screens in their browser can simply use the Print Screen button to save the results if they so desire. Originally Richard was the "highest" element, in that he was always on top when two images overlapped, but I switched it around so that he could be behind the other, smaller characters. (The order in which the dragme elements are defined determines which ones are on top of the others – the ones defined first are always "below" the ones defined later.) I have some ideas for tweaks and expansions to the Drag Show program; when a new version is available, I'll announce it in the as_massive_tool community. (Richard has already had fun playing with his avatar in the Blue's Clues world; and for my next trick, I'll be using this GIF to place Richard on the tracks with Thomas and the other trains on the Island of Sodor…)

¹That's short for "transitional data".

EDIT: Crossposted to Allah Sulu's Massive Tool.

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Thursday, October 9th, 2008

Song Lyric Meme, the Super-Challenge Edition

How many of these songs can you name, along with the artist and/or source? (Using Google or other search engines is, of course, forbidden.) Comments are screened so that you can still try to guess even after the first person got it right, and I'll post the answers (with video links where applicable) later.

  1. There's nothing sicker in society than a lack of liquor and sobriety. – Q
  2. Well, it's wrinkly and crinkly and covered in hair; and I don't know what I'd do if it was not there – x0arkadia0x
  3. Zankoku na tenshi no you ni, shonen yo, shinwa ni nare… – phil_g (partial credit), seaya (full credit)
  4. Let me give you some green color and you will ask for more, you will see that you never felt this way before – techempage
  5. Follow orders as you're told, make their yellow blood run cold; fight until you die or drop, a force like ours is hard to stop – techempage
  6. Boom goes London, boom Paris, more room for you and more room for me – aerindipity
  7. Dipidapi dallaa ruppati rupiran kurikan kukka ja kirikan kuu – seaya (partial credit)
  8. A million times I ask you; and then, I ask you over again; you only answer [song title] – outcastspice
  9. Every time I put my hand upon her knee, baby gets angry with me; cuz she's a good girl, I'm a bad boy, but I turn into a sad boy when she says, "Hey take your hands off of me." – howlingcoyote
  10. You smell nice and you're groovy, and we both like foreign movies; my mother says you have that touch of class… – radiant_one
  11. And I don't want to die, I want to see the flowers bloom, don't want to go kaput, kaboom¹
  12. Oh wait I've got one, this'll be a good one, all we've got to do is run up some stairs from the [song title] – Q
  13. Yappappa yappappa, ii shan ten; hashagu koi wa ike no koi – jeriendhal (partial credit), deathquaker (full credit)
  14. I want a girl who will fit me to a T, a woman who'll look good on me… – deathquaker (partial credit), techempage (full credit)
  15. You know it was her own damned fault when God turned that bitch to salt.
  16. Good heavens, Miss Sakimoto, you're beautiful! – jeriendhal
  17. I saw her walking on down the line (yeah), you know I saw her for the very first time – dibob50
  18. tlhIngan SuvwI' qan jIHbe', 'ach SuvDI' vay' ghIH vaj bom vIchennISmoH jIH 'e' vIHarbejtaH.
  19. Do the tears on your pillow roll down as you turn, do they short out the blanket and make the sheets burn? – blargblarg (partial credit)
  20. That was a joke, ha ha, fat chance. – jeriendhal

¹This song contains lyrics in three languages. I was nice and picked out some of the English lines.

EDIT: I'm only listing the person who got it right first, except for partial credit/full credit situations. However, after I post the answers, I'll come back and unscreen all comments here so you can see how many you got correct even if you weren't the first. I'll also unscreen them because some of your comments are amusing.

EDIT: Just in case anyone is wondering, you need to provide as a minimum the song's title in order to get full credit. Partial credit has been awarded (thus far) to people who could not identify the title or artist, but provided enough other information to be worthy of mention. If someone else got partial credit, it's not too late to provide the title and get full credit.

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Wednesday, October 8th, 2008

Oddly enough, even as Kevin was concerned that people didn't care enough about next year's upcoming Rocky Horror convention in KY,¹ Q saw the flyer and came up with the following "promo" … before Kevin had voiced his concerns:


¹That's "Kentucky", not the jelly. Well, I suppose it could be both…

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Tuesday, September 30th, 2008

Writer's Block: The Party Party!

Invent a political party for the nation in which you reside. What does your ideal platform consist of?


View 389 Answers

“MYOB and BYOB!”

(Mind Your Own Business and Bring Your Own Booze¹)

¹You may substitute "Bacon" for "Booze".

EDIT: It has been suggested that "MYOB" could also stand for "Mind Your Overlord Bradwinkle."

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Wednesday, July 30th, 2008

URLia: Thingy Names

ThingyNames.com¹ is a fun and anonymous way to discover what other couples name their private parts. Just vote on names submitted by others, and when you find the name you use, click the, "I use this name, too!" button. Find out how many people like and use the same name you do!

Note that both "tralala" and "ding ding dong" (reference) have already been submitted to this site, but Mrs. Cartman hasn't been up there yet to add "hoohoodilly" or "chacha".

¹I'm told that this site may contain NSFW advertisements. I don't see any, because I'm running Firefox with AdBlock Plus, so I apologize to the first people I gave this link to.

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Wednesday, July 9th, 2008

Gang Aft Agley

All three parts of Star Trek: Of Gods and Men¹ (IMDb, Wiki) are available for free on-line viewing. I saw the trailer for this well over a year ago, and subsequently forgot all about it, but Lori reminded me of it today and sent me the link. It's an unofficial low-budget Star Trek movie which was written and directed by people involved with the TV series, and stars several actors from TOS (some reprising their original roles) and the later series (mostly appearing as original characters, except for Tim Russ as Tuvok). The effects are cheesy, some of it is slow, predictable, and/or unoriginal (i.e. reminiscent of Star Wars)² but overall it's enjoyable if you're a fan (and certainly worth the free admission). It takes place twelve years after James T. Kirk's "death" at the beginning of Star Trek: Generations, when he was sucked into the Nexus; and most of the middle actually occurs on an alternate timeline. That's all the spoilers you'll get.

¹That's a link to the official site, where you can see all three parts but have to give them your e-mail address in order to do so. They're high-quality FLV files which you can fairly easily save on your hard drive for repeat viewings (or for showing other people).
²Speaking of Star Wars, check out this comic "Into The Great Unknown" over at scans_daily.

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Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

Pastafarianism

Before I left for work yesterday morning, Q told me she'd stolen a couple of bucks from me to buy eggs (since she was out and we were out). She said she was planning to make something I like. (She's been having fun trying out new things¹ recently.) She asked me if I had any guesses when I got home, but I hadn't really thought about it too much – yesterday was a busy day at work, and I just generally don't like playing guessing games. I wouldn't have guessed it anyway.

Ravioli.

I love ravioli, but I've never had homemade ravioli before. This was really good, and also rather different from any ravioli I'd ever had before. First of all, the only flour we had at home was whole wheat flour, so that's what the pasta was made of. (She apologized if that made it taste weird, but I happen to like whole wheat; plus, this way I could convince myself that it was healthy and that I was therefore entitled to a second helping.) She used the bread machine to knead the dough, before rolling it out flat to put in the filling (she was just finishing off the last of them when I arrived; she was making and boiling them about half a dozen at a time). The filling was chicken, garlic, and parmesan cheese (puréed in a blender).

All told, it was yummy, and I have an awesome wife who's already trying to decide what to do differently the next time she tries making some…

¹And speaking of "trying out new things", the spearmint Q planted last year is growing like crazy; I'll have to pick a bunch of leaves and try a vodka infusion with them soon.

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Sunday, June 29th, 2008

Yum.

Bacon Salt is supposed to make everything taste more bacony.¹ Today, I put some on a strip of bacon.

¹It's also vegetarian and certified kosher.

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Friday, May 23rd, 2008

Unfortunate Choice of Names

I was just in the liquor store (Say it ain't so!) looking through the vodka selection. More and more countries are making vodka, and selling it here in the USA. Most of them¹ try to choose a name or style that invokes something reminiscent of their country or culture. Understandable, really. Unfortunately, one of the new varieties I saw was Austrialian Boomerang Vodka. Is that really the imagery you want for your liquor, something that will come right back up after you toss it down?²

¹But not all. Only a Sith deals in Absolut.
²Reminded me of the Monty Python sketch about Australian table wines … "Specially brewed for those keen on regurgitation."

EDIT: Oh, in case you're wondering, I ended up buying some PINK vodka (infused with caffeine and guarana), chocolate mint Irish creme liqueur, and Jagermonstermeister for Q.

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Monday, September 10th, 2007

I Know Q Hates It, But...

While everyone else on my friends list is discussing the VMA¹ awards² on MTV,¹ this year an Emmy is going to Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake for Saturday Night Live's … Dick in a Box. According to this article, there's some question as to whether or not the song will/should be performed live at the Emmy Award telecast. I figure if the Oscars could survive a performance of "Blame Canada" from South Park,³ the Emmies ought to survive this. Not, honesty compells me to mention, that I'll be watching the awards show in either event anyway.

¹The first letter of both of these acronyms is almost entirely inaccurate. MTV has hardly any music, and the VMA had hardly any videos.
²Yes, I just said "Video Music Awards awards". Shoot me now.
³South Park is also getting an Emmy for "Make Love Not Warcraft." And people thought the Emmies might be going downhill after they gave a couple to The Shat!

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