HollyKing's Journal

Too funny not to share...

2009-12-30T21:13:21Z

noveldevice posted this and I just had to share it with my friends too. I really needed a good laugh.

Char Siu Hum Bao

2009-12-30T03:22:01Z

I subscribe to The Baking Sheet from King Arthur Flour and just received the latest edition. The first recipe I notice is for char siu hum bao, aka baked hum bao. The next one is for Chili Gingersnaps. The editors have my number for this edition. So many other tasty things to make.

I've moved everything over to the new place. Tomorrow I'll finish up cleaning the old place. Then I'll unpack and arrange my baking gear. Next week? BAKING!

Trivia Returns!

2009-12-29T22:26:44Z

You all might remember how much hollyqueen and I like pub trivia. We haven’t played for a while because all of the places we went stopped doing it. Well I found a new one!

Madrona Eatery & Ale House has pub trivia on Wednesday nights starting at 8:30pm. We'll go tomorrow and would love to have anyone join us. Sadly after that we'll miss the next four weeks as we have classes. After the class we'll be going again so let me know if you want to be added to the invitation list.

The End of 2009

2009-12-29T20:06:20Z

I was reading Level 26 and I was concerned that the “digi-novel” format was going to be just a gimmick that distracted from the novel. I never found out because the writing was so bad I couldn’t choke it down. I've read bad writing before (Dan Brown anyone?) but I won’t torture myself.

A co-worker lent me The Magicians by Lev Grossman. When I first finished The Magicians I didn’t like the ending because it didn’t finish the way I thought it should. However, the more I think about it the more I enjoy the ending because it didn’t tne the way I thought it should.

The Lord of the Rings (All of It!)

2009-12-29T19:55:49Z

That's my reading goal for 2010. To read all of the Lord of the Rings “trilogy”. That's a lot of pages in there. I wonder...

The Hobbit: 276 pages
The Lord of the Rings: 1,157 pages
The Silmarillion: 365 pages
The Book of Lost Tales Part One: 297 pages
The Book of Lost Tales Part Two: 385 pages
The Lays of Belleriand: 393 pages
The Shaping of Middle Earth: 380 pages
The Lost Road and Other Writings: 455 pages
The Return of the Shadow: 497 pages
The War of the Ring: 476 pages
The Treason of Isengard: 504 pages
Sauron Defeated: 482 pages
Morgoth’s Ring: 471 pages
The War of the Jewels: 470 pages
The Peoples of Middle-Earth: 482 pages
The Children of Hùrin: 313 pages
Unfinished Tales of Nùmenor and Middle-Earth: 472 pages

That’ a grand total of 7,875 pages. To finish it during the year I'll have to average 22 pages per day. It will be a bit of a stretch but a goal I don't mind reaching to achieve. Now I just have to come up with some spiffy graphic to chart my progress.

The Marionette Unit

2009-12-27T18:31:32Z

This looks very interesting!

Best Gift EVER!

2009-12-25T21:33:56Z

hollyqueen got me a certificate for a hot stone massage! Not something I would have put on my wish list but something I will totally enjoy. Thanks my love!

Moved

2009-12-22T17:54:12Z

If you still have the address on Madison St your address book is out of date. You can read the first post of this journal or send me email and I'll get you the correct address. The furniture and majority of the boxes were moved yesterday. Just a few things left to pick up and then clean the old place next week. Fun, fun, fun...

Now I just have to get the car repaired, replace our desks, replace my monitor, arrange payments for the hospital and ER doctor, fix my Xbox, unpack oh and try to have a holiday somewhere in there.

Jethro Tull Christmas Album

2009-12-18T23:56:20Z

While listening to the Rogues’ Gallery on the Dividing Line last night I was joking with a few folks about the Jethro Tull Christmas Album. However after hearing some of the music on it I think I’m going to have to buy myself a copy. Scratch that... I will have to buy a copy. I’ll just have to wait until I save up a bit more. I resubscribed to a few magazines and my fun budget is a bit empty at the moment.

In other news ABBA is being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. I think the deserve it. As hollyqueen said, their music makes me happy and want to dance. That’s a good thing in my view and something we can always use more of in the world.

Transatlantic!

2009-12-18T05:08:16Z

Transatlantic is playing in San Francisco at the Palace of Fine Arts. Any of you music fans interested in going? I could swing part of it if someone would share the driving and hotel expenses with me.

Mean!

2009-12-18T04:13:53Z

hollyqueen's mean! She won't let me buy a Contour USB blood meter because I already have two meters. But it's shiny! It's USB! It's pretty with color pictures and did I mention USB?

sulk...

Broken Streak

2009-12-18T02:50:52Z

Until tonight every auto accident I've been involved in while driving involved me sitting at a stop and being rear-ended by another car. Tonight I was the one who hit someone else who had stopped. Entering the Baker tunnel on I-90 a car stopped suddenly, the car behind them stopped and then I stopped. After I had run into the second car.

No one is hurt. No air bags deployed. We traded information and headed home. My car doesn't seem to drive any differently and nothing is leaking out but the hood is buckled and the right headlight is not straight anymore. Now I get to call the insurance company and start that roller coaster ride.

Like I needed anything else to handle right now.

Moving right along...

2009-12-17T18:28:09Z

Stuff is getting packed thanks to hollyqueen and her herculean efforts. Still a bit to do but I think we'll be in shape so I can get everything moved to our new place on Monday. The weather report calls for rain but I don't trust it that far in advance.

Addresses have been updated. Utilities have been shut off. Cable/Internet/Phone installation is scheduled. (Two days with out the intertubes!!!) Moving crew hired. Assistants to help wrangle the moving crew found.

hollyqueen and I have 9 book cases. Nine, which is four more than we need. They are in good condition, does anyone want one or more of them? They won't be available until next Tuesday but after that I want to get them out of there as fast as possible. Also, we have a lot of books we would like to offer friends before we send them off to charity.

Don't I feel special now?

2009-12-15T06:15:02Z

While packing I found my high school commencement program. With a fresh list of names I went to see who I could find on Facebook. The first one I found (DT) has a Ph.D. in Statistics and the next one (JM) has a Masters in Electrical Engineering. While yours truly was expelled and was failing even before that.

Great ego boost for the evening...

Storm

2009-12-13T21:12:00Z

Some words NSFW.

Disney Figures?

2009-12-13T03:53:05Z

I have several ceramic Disney figurines that I bought when I was a collector in the late '80s and early '90s. They just take up space in my home and they've been wrapped in bubble wrap and packed in a box for years. I don't need them. I only think about them when I have to move them again. I would like them to go to a good home. Someone who would enjoy them. Is that someone you?

From what I remember there is Pooh, Shere Khan, Maleficent, Ursula, Cruella De Ville and several more I don't remember.

Another one passes by...

2009-12-12T21:57:30Z

Deleted long whining rant about not getting to enjoy another winter. Feh...

Buckle Up!

2009-12-11T18:40:32Z

Another Appeal

2009-12-10T17:22:11Z

Does anyone happen to have the source code to a program called PDB2MAP? It's contained on the CD in John Robbins book Debugging Applications for Microsoft .NET and Microsoft Windows. The CD was missing in the copy I bought and I've been unable to find the source code for download. MSJ archives don't seem to go back that far.

Keep On Packin'

2009-12-07T22:49:55Z

Confirmed the movers today. We'll have a crew transferring the furniture and the majority of our stuff to the new place on the 21st. If I've offered something and you asked when I needed it gone I now have an answer. Before the 21st. First come first served.

I was hoping to have one last movie night in our current place but with all the boxes there's even less room than normal so I don't think that's going to happen. Oh well...

Packing continues. Thanks to cheesentoast and K for coming over to help yesterday. A lot of books are in boxes and I made a serious dent in Fibber McGee's closet that is the closet in our office.

Make it go away!

2009-12-06T05:26:28Z

We're moving. That means it's time to clean out the closets. I have a lot of crafty type stuff I don't need anymore. Lots of stuff I would rather go to someone who does want it and who could use it. Cross stitch patterns, floss, needles, gears from clocks and watches. All you have to do is come get it.

Need moving help, but not like that.

2009-12-04T18:15:03Z

Monday December 21st at 9:00am I could use some help with moving. I don't need anyone to lift boxes or carry things. I need an assistant to help wrangle the moving crew I've hired. I'll be busy breaking down things like the bed and desks and could use someone to direct the movers to what boxes and furniture needs to be moved and what needs to stay.

You'll get a morning of my sparkling company, amusement at my crap, first view of our new home and lunch and drinks on me.

Anyone?

Leber Hall Sudoku Update

2009-12-03T06:03:10Z

Tonight I finished chapter 3 of Hello, Android. You can see, if you click past the cut, a few more screenshots. So now we have an "about" box, settings menu, the settings page and the new game options. So far the largest problem developing for the Android is working with a new IDE and my bad typing. Funny how Java doesn't like typing @strings/app_title when it should be @string/app_title.

Sudoku Main Menu

Main Menu (Landscape)

Sudoku About

Sudoku Settings Menu

Sudoku Settings

Sudoku New Game Menu

The Black Hole

2009-12-02T22:36:18Z

Yesterday I read about a remake of Disney’s movie The Black Hole (1979). Surprisingly I'm looking forward to this. There was such a huge potential for good horror and science fiction in the original that I hope gets the attention it deserves.

Hello, Android!

2009-12-02T06:33:49Z

Tonight I finally cracked open my copy of Hello, Android by Ed Burnette. So far I've installed the tools on my dev system and started working through the first tutorial app, Sudoku. Here's a shot of my progress so far:

Pretty, eh? Too bad nothing happens when you push the shiny buttons.