or "i am a geek, part XXVI"

I like dice. I like boxes. I can be a little obsessive/compulsive about organizing certain things (certain things. Other things I couldn't care less about. See: my office closet).

So, after a tip from Sheri's mom, I went to the fishing section at wal-mart (you can see why i needed the tip - why else would I be there?) and got a new dice/pencil/marker container. Some people apparently call it a 'tackle box'.

This $4 box can neatly separate all my dice by type (or color, or texture i suppose - though that would be somewhat less useful) in adjustable compartments and also has room to hold my dry-erase markers and pencils. Point is, it keeps all my 'loose' gaming stuff together, making it a lot easier to carry or pack into a bag with books, etc.

So yeah, I think it's pretty cool. I thought I'd post it up here to pass along the idea in case anyone else likes it. Oh, and because it was another thing to take a picture of and post on my site - cause that's sort of an end in itself these days. ;-)

~PS

While digging up some old photos on my computer, I came across one that stuck me interesting.

It was a shot from an older, simpler, less-penguiny time. Specifically, it was the first picture I took of my computer guardians - and it may show some of you which loyal avians have been here since the beginning.

My penguin (and friends) army has since grown 10 or 12 fold, but those loyal first still play vital roles in its day-to-day activities.

To the right, please note the photo of the original troupe contrasted with *most* of today's.

My original guardians were seated proudly atop my monitor. Today's ranks will not fit in their entirety on the shelf above my desk.

Let the rise of the penguins continue!

~PS

This last week was VBS at our church. We decided to do it during spring break this year (like we did a couple years ago) so as not to have to compete with other area churches for attendees.

We had a sort of kickoff/egg hunt last saturday and started the actual program on sunday night and ran it thru wednesday. Overall, I think it went very well.

In addition to my usual duties as A/V / computer-tech guy, I also got to be the "official" photographer for the week. I think I took about 300+ shots - about 160ish of which I felt were good enough for the slideshows that I put up prior to the opening each night (of the previous night's events). I have posted the handful of shots that I feel are truly wonderful in the VBS 2008 Gallery, as well as a few others I thought were pretty good for various reasons.

The weather this last week has been great overall. I even mowed the lawn (well, the front and part of the back anyway) for the first time this year today. Due to this fortuitous circumstance, we decided to go on a picnic friday afternoon at Sycamore Shoals and then walk around a bit. A few more images have been added to the Sycamore Shoals Gallery.

Later that afternoon, Sheri and I went over to Milligan to walk around and take pictures - the campus is mostly empty this weekend due to Easter and it seemed like a good time to shoot scenery without being in peoples' way. Several more shots have been added to the Milligan Gallery as well.

In addition, a few other, random pics have been added to a few other galleries (like the one I've included in this post). All told, I'm sure I took over 500 pictures this last week... EDIT: Actual count of pictures downloaded to my computer from the last week is 706 - which of course isn't counting the ones that i erased on the camera. The actual total for shots taken is probably well over 1,000.

Oh, and there will be some certain, other shots posted a little later... ;)

~PS

(found via BoingBoing)

:-D

~PS

So... ...our power's out. Has been for about the last 15 minutes or so. Longer than it's been out since we've been here.

I've shut my mac down, but the UPS is still powering the DSL modem and my router... ...so here i am, at the lappy, blogging and chatting online in the dark... ...because i can.

~PS

I started working on it around 6:30pm last night, and was up until 1:30am this morning with it - but after 5 hours and two trips to wal-mart, our toilet's guts have been replaced/updated, it is fully functional and it no longer leaks anywhere on the inside or the outside. Sheesh. That was way harder than it had to be.

In other home-maintenance-related news, the score is currently Tree Sapling In Our Basement Window Basin 1, Jared 0. ...though if it ultimately survives having half of its roots dug up and chopped off and the half gallon of Roundup I poured on it, I'll be a bit impressed.

~PS

Just a few random excerpts from my life this last week:

Took Ally to the vet on wednesday; made an appointment to get her spayed. That's supposed to happen on the 24th. By all accounts, she's in good health and very cute. :)

Had a game on thursday; got to use a clever riddle in a situation that actually made sense in-game. Didn't kill anyone.

Ginger made us chicken fajitas on friday and we played some carcassonne and mario kart. Much fun; very tasty.

Saturday, Sheri and I talked some about some future possible home improvement projects, went and bought flower seeds, ate chili and made Nick watch The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: Abridged. It had been a long time since I'd seen it, and it made me laugh. :)

Yesterday was the start of DST. We lost an hour, but I'm glad that there's still plenty of daylight left after work. As the days warm and lengthen, I'll have more and more time to be able to shoot outside. Looking forward to this.

We also had the usual church stuff - which we were on time for because we remembered said DST stuff. I played Brave Saint Saturn's "Estrella" for the special - and I think it sounded really good. Don't think I've ever played a song kapo'd that high (7th!).

After Sheri's usual choir practice, we met up with Dennis (aka TheGreatJabu from the OotS forum). Robb & Edie came over as well and the group of us chatted about random stuff for most of the evening. After our Bored Meetings tonight, we went to Robb & Edie's house to hang out with Dennis (before he leaves town tomorrow) by playing some Killer Bunnies. Dennis seems to be a great guy, and meshes with out little group quite well in terms of personality. If his interview with ETSU's psych. doctorate program went well enough, he may even be moving to town. That would be pretty cool.

Anyway, that's about it for now.

~PS

Given my principle hobbies, I think this deserves a mention on my site.

I have just discovered that Gary Gygax - co-creator of D&D, founder of GenCon, and writer of more games/systems, books, adventures, etc than can quickly be counted - has died today at age 69. Like many gamers I'm sure, I'm sad that I never got to meet someone who had such a profound effect on fantasy roleplaying (more or less starting it).

He will be missed, but his legacy will live on.

~PS

Today was pretty epic. In the interest of making absolutely sure all of us had seen adequate muppetry, we invited a bunch (i believe the final count was 16 total(!)) of people over for the expressed purpose of watching Muppet movies. During the course of the day, we watched Muppet Classic Theatre, Muppet Treasure Island and the original Muppet Movie - all of which were very enjoyable.

In addition to this, there was pizza, card games and we even took advantage of the nice weather to play a couple of games of Kubb with those gathered. I (predictably) took a bunch of pictures of the festivities, the best of which have been posted here in the Muppethon Etc gallery.

~PS