Ramblin' Man

[Patrick Curtin]

You do you jabroney

[Aberzombie]

Some a$@#%*+ thought it would be funny to set off a few big booms at 0230. F%@~er better hope I don't find out who he is.

[Aberzombie]

In other news, I was up a little after 5 this morning to prep some baby back ribs. Now they are happily ensconced in the smoker with some burning cherry wood.

[Aberzombie]

Cherry Wood - sounds like a porn star name.

[Aberzombie]

Sadly, as one of my less than reputable aliases kind of reported last night, the newly demised previous year got one last lick in....

'M.A.S.H.' actor William Christopher dies at 84

R.I.P. Padre.

[Patrick Curtin]

Sad. That show was such a huge deal back in the day. I can still remember it was in heavy syndication and still an active show. You could watch it 3-4 times some days, which was quite a feat in the 5-channel days

[Aberzombie]

Mash is, in my mind, still the greatest show ever to grace the TV screen. Fans of Seinfeld can cum all they want about how much better that show was, but it'll never hold a candle to Hawkeye Pierce and gang.

[Sterling Archer.]

Aberzombie wrote:

....Fans of Seinfeld can cum all they want ...

PHRASING!

[Aberzombie]

Exactly.

[Aberzombie]

Nasty weather for a bit this morning. A heavy thunderstorm, complete with hail, passed through. Delayed me taking the kids to daycare.

[Aberzombie]

Looks like it's going to be a beautiful day, weather-wise. Sunny and a high in the mid-70s. Started off in the 50s.

Not too shabby.

[Aberzombie]

Got a call from my mom yesterday. I won $50 off my Rose Bowl football pool scores.

[Aberzombie]

That phone call was followed up an hour or two later by another: I also won $50 off the Sugar Bowl pool.

[Aberzombie]

So, that's a pretty decent start to my New Year all around.

[Aberzombie]

Now all I need is some luck on the job front.....

[Aberzombie]

Kids in daycare/school. Wife went to work. All is peaceful and quiet in my home.

[Aberzombie]

On the agenda for today:

Pay bills.
Walmart (the boy needs new shoes, and maybe some new pants for both kids)
Kroger (must have more coffee)
Maybe go see Rogue One

[Patrick Curtin]

I want to see the Arrival, but I think i missed my window

[Patrick Curtin]

Yup. It's not playing anymore locally

[Aberzombie]

Rogue One has a 1030 showing in what they call Digital Cinema. That'll do just fine.

[Aberzombie]

Ended up going to the 1140 showing instead. And despite starting to feel blargh about a half-hour into it, I made it all the way through.

It was f$~+ing glorious.

My favorite part was...

Spoiler:

Darth Vader unleashing his badass self on the rebels in the ship.

[Aberzombie]

I caught the film version of Congo on last night. I'd forgotten how much fun that movie was.

The book, of course, was far superior

[Aberzombie]

'Tis a cold, rainy morning here in Houston. I think, with the wind chill, we are actually below freezing. You know what that means, huh?

DIE MOSQUITOS! DIE!!!!

[Aberzombie]

I watched the sequel to Rogue One last night. Pretty decent, as far as sequels go.

[Aberzombie]

I'm tempted to go see the new Underworld movie. Mmmmmm......Kate Beckinsale.

[Patrick Curtin]

Speaking of movies, FaceBook just reminded me I wanted to watch this movie when it came out six years ago. I'm thinking it must be on one of my streaming services by now.

[Aberzombie]

Winter is hitting this weekend, apparently. According to my phone, it's around 12 degF with the wind chill. Brrrrr.....

[Aberzombie]

Well, at least it'll be over and done by Monday.

[Aberzombie]

Stoopid winter.

[Patrick Curtin]

Yep. Stupid winter indeed. I'm stuck in a pile of that frozen water thing, and my boss is being a pissy b****

[Aberzombie]

Well, that was weird.

[Aberzombie]

Apparently, it's the 20th anniversary of the Diablo video game.

I was killing some time today, and logged in to my Battlenet account. They had an update for the anniversary waiting. From what I read, it'll run all through January.

There's a portal in the ruins of Tristram which takes you to a version made to look like the original game. From there, you can make your way to the old cathedral and delve through sixteen levels, fighting The Butcher, The Skeleton King, Archbishop Lazarus, and the Dark Lord.

[Aberzombie]

And, I played through the 20th Anniversary last night. Kicked old-school Diablo's ass. And that was just with my wizard.

Cool thing - you can find a rotten mushroom, use it to brew some weird elixir, and then a chain reaction of events nets you the forge plan for Wirt's Leg.

[Aberzombie]

I'll be on a quest some time this week (maybe today) to find a replacement towel rack bar for one of the upstairs bathrooms. We kept telling the boy not to hang off the rack, but did he listen? Oh, no.....

[Aberzombie]

And I've got to send a box up to my Grammy (dad's mom) in Minnesota. Her birthday is in six days. She'll be 90-something (95 maybe). She's been pretty depressed because she lost a brother and sister within the past few months.

So, I'm sending her a picture frame (picked out by the boy) with the 2016 picture of the kids and Santa Claus. There will also be a card. I'll probably also include a letter to her, from yours truly.

[Aberzombie]

My Grammy is the one who gave me her 1979 Boxed Set of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. It is one of my most prized possessions.

[Aberzombie]

The image I linked is not my copy, just a random image from the internet.

[Patrick Curtin]

I had that exact set. The local greengrocer gave it to me as a birthday gift for my 10th birthday. Are you sure it was '79? I could swear I got mine in '77

[Aberzombie]

Patrick Curtin wrote:

I had that exact set. The local greengrocer gave it to me as a birthday gift for my 10th birthday. Are you sure it was '79? I could swear I got mine in '77

That could be. I was only going by what the picture was labeled. However, now I have a quest!

[Aberzombie]

Just a bit more research and it looks like my set was the Ballantine printing from between 1973 and 1980. From the inside cover, it looks like my copy was 1978.

[Patrick Curtin]

That explains it then. I actually might have gotten it a bit earlier. Now that I'm thinking on it, I'm pretty sure it was my eighth birthday and I just didn't read them until the fourth grade

[Aberzombie]

Huzzah!

[Aberzombie]

In other news....f~#+ you, sickness. Whatever the hell sickness you are. You go to hell! You go to hell, and you die!

[Aberzombie]

Seriously, I got no clue what the shit infecting me right now is.

[Patrick Curtin]

Aberzombie wrote:

In other news....f&%~ you, sickness. Whatever the hell sickness you are. You go to hell! You go to hell, and you die!

FIFY

[Aberzombie]

Ugh! I was feeling better yesterday evening, but this morning (while driving the kids over to school) I started to feel like shit again. F$&&ing stoopid whatever bug.

[Aberzombie]

Oh well, at least I got to smoke that bacon-wrapped pork loin yesterday. Two of them, in fact - it said "whole" on the package, but was split in two.

[Aberzombie]

Mrgh.....

[Aberzombie]

Got my copy of Reaper's Eye in the mail yesterday. So far, it's a great book. Hopefully, Paizo can get more old-timers like Knaak to write more books for them.

[Aberzombie]

Got my notification for (eventual) shipping of Strange Aeons Part 5. Guess I should get around to finish reading part 3. Then I can take part 4 out of the envelope it shipped in.