Dale Miller

Whatever was wrong with my car Saturday night seems to be no longer wrong. I was mostly afraid to leave the house Sunday or Monday for fear I would get stuck somewhere on a day I couldn’t get service. I was fully expecting to limp into Little Rock and drop it at the dealer this morning. But it ran just as it should both to and from work. I’m going to try not to worry about it at this point.

I think I amused a few people at lunch today when I headed over to Burger King to grab something quick and came back wearing a cardboard crown.

Life is too short to take it seriously.

It’s been a bit over two months since I updated Librarything, so here is what I’ve read since then:

I went to Riverfest yesterday. The past couple of times I attended, it was to set up wireless access and help at the UALR booth. This time I had volunteered to work a soft drink booth. I showed up a couple of hours early, fortunately just missing the rain¹. I wandered around a bit, bought an overpriced BBQ sandwich and an overpriced, melting ice cream bar, and did my usual girl-watching. Other than an occasional band, there’s just not much at Riverfest I find interesting any more. I suppose it’s too many years of seeing nearly the same things.

The drink tent was actually kind of fun. The Riverfest folks have a real racket going, though. First they make you change your money for coupons, so they already have the cash whether you buy anything or not. Then they seriously overcharge for everything. We were selling bottled drinks for $3.00 apiece. That’s ridiculous, but there was no alternative available. I worked my shift and came home. That’s about all the Riverfest I need this year.

In other news: On the way home my car started acting up. I have no idea what’s wrong with it, but it seems to have little power. The engine ruins fine when it’s not in gear, and once I get up to speed on a flat road it will maintain it fine, but going up hills is a study in frustration. I suspect I’ll have to take it to the shop on Tuesday. I don’t need any more car repair costs.

¹ I think it’s a requirement that it must rain at least once during each Riverfest.

I’ve always rather enjoyed taking a shower on the deck while standing in a rainshower. It just feels neat to have warm water from the two shower heads interspersed with the random cool raindrops.

It’s not so much fun when the hail starts.

As a self-proclaimed nerd, there are two major areas in which I do not fit the stereotype: gaming and video displays. I have never been a gamer, mainly because I’m not very good at it. I don’t have the coordination necessary for many of the video games on the market. That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy some of them for a bit, but in general I’m not good enough to play them at other than the most basic level. Last year I finished “Guitar Hero II” on medium mode, but was unable to complete a single song on expert. Today I hit a milestone. I completed Portal! I did have Jay give me a hand for one section, where I knew what to do but just wasn’t fast enough. But, I think I can be allowed 30 seconds out of the entire game. I might even be able to get through that if I practiced a bit more.

Now on to video. While I would very much like to have a large-screen LCD, I haven’t wanted to spend the money on it. I did, however, pick up a digital-to-analog converter box today, so I can at least watch shows after this year. I am impressed at how good even my old television looks with a quality video signal driving it. Of course, not having a decent UHF antenna, I can only pick up four stations. Since I don’t watch television anyway, that’s not a big deal, but I will probably buy a good antenna sometime, just because.

So yeah, digital television and finishing Portal. That’s pretty much my excitement for the day.

Last night the LRKA had “Twisters Night”, which entailed arranging for a bunch of people to obtain discounted tickets in the end zone for the group to sit together. The folks handing out tickets had a loose definition of “together”, but people were at least in the same general area. This was my first viewing of the Twisters, and, in fact, my first event inside the Alltel Arena. I was fairly impressed with the arena, though less so with the Twisters. I’m not particularly a fan of spectator sports. The arena football concept is interesting, and more enjoyable than many sports that are popular. Since the sidelines are the bleachers, there is no concept of going out of bounds. When a player is up against the sideline, he is literally within reach of the audience. I even saw one football pulled from the hands of a player by a fan. This lends an intimacy to the sport that makes it somewhat more watchable than normal football.

There were a couple of things I didn’t care for, though. I don’t know if it’s endemic to the sport or if it’s just an Arkansas thing, but the entire event is based around the home team. The Twisters came on the field in spotlights, each individually introduced while the opposing team just walked out with no introduction at all. Every time the score was announced, a big deal was made of the fact that the Twisters were in the lead. I much prefer announcers that announce, without obvious prejudice. I also didn’t care for announcing that a pass was “in — come — plete” with dramatic pauses between each syllable. I have the impression that it’s the announcer’s shtick, but it got on my nerves quickly. Again, just call the game.

Of course, I spent most of my time watching the Sirens. I find attractive women dancing to be far more interesting than any football game.

So, I ate a bit too much, watched girls, took lots of photographs, and actually had a pretty good time.

Did you guess a guillotine? If you did, I worry about you. But yes, in fact, I am now the proud owner of a guillotine.

Bringing it home was interesting. It’s almost as if people think it unusual to go driving down the street with a large wooden contraption in the backseat.

You’re jealous — admit it.

I climbed on the scale this morning, for the first time in a couple of weeks. The news was not good. I’ve gained another five pounds, putting me right at 200. This cannot continue. I must, must, must lose weight.I’m now 35 pounds too heavy, and I can fit into almost none of my clothes.

On a related note, I stopped at the grocery store on my way home. I bought no salty/sugary/fatty snack foods. Instead, I bought a couple of the snacks I used to love as a kid — carrots and celery. If I’m going to snack, it should at least be on vegetables. Broccoli and cauliflower are also favorites, but I’ll save them for next week.

I don’t even remember what all has happened since my last post. Here are some observations, though::

1. If you have an opossum coming in the cat door to eat the cat food, a good way to discourage him is to pick up the cat food and leave a large cat food bag with some food in the bottom lying in the floor. When you are awakened at 2:00 a.m. by the sound of the opossum eating, get out of bed, grab the bag (with opossum), jump in the car, drive a mile away and let the opossum out. It’s worked so far, at least.
2. It’s rather odd when someone sends me a MySpace message asking about the status of WebCT — and I can immediately answer.
3. I like having a car that isn’t full of kickball paraphernalia. I unloaded everything on Monday. Now, of course, I can barely walk into the house, but I’ll eventually get it put away.
4. Bernstein is fun to sing.
5. I’m going to miss my Theatre Dance class. Not so much for what I learned, but it was good exercise and had really cute girls in it.
6. You should not encase a kickball in Jell-O and try to use it as the game ball without thoroughly cleaning it. It’s really sticky.
7. I don’t know where the game ball is.
8. I’ve seriously increased my reading rate recently. I also haven’t been sleeping enough because I stay up too late reading.
9. I know i’ve been busy at work when I can’t find time to upload my pictures to Flickr from the office.
10. I now know how to turn a back-hook bra into a front-hook bra, and I have tought the trick to others.
11. If you want to attach a boa to a bra, hot glue works quite well.
12. I want to go buy a large-screen television, but I really shouldn’t spend the money.
13. Ditto for a hot tub.
14. I should write in my journal more often.