Not A Dollarshort

Disneyland Photos.

I put up photos from our day at Disneyland.

Out of the seven days we were gone, this was really the only day that really felt like a vacation. Of course, it was a working trip, so that was expected.

The bed and breakfast we stayed at in San Diego was lovely; good breakfasts and fine decor.

Unfortunately, our room happened to be directly under the San Diego Airport landing path. For someone like me, who's not only afraid of flying, but also terrified of planes themselves, this wasn't an optimal situation.

Fortunately, the best way to combat a phobia is by meeting it head-on. So, by the time the thirtieth plane passed over or room, my tears had dried and I was just really pissed off. Part of this anger had something to do with the fact that we had accidentally skipped breakfast, lunch and dinner that day.

Blogathon

Be sure the check out this year's Blogathon. Tomorrow is the deadline to register to participate, but you will be able to sponsor participants until the day of the event.

I participated last year and it was a great deal of fun. I won't be able to take part this year because we'll just be coming back from a conference/vacation on the day it begins.

Vacation? Yes. To Los Angeles to see my grandparents and to San Diego to attend OSCON.

I have six minutes to finish packing and get into the car before the tyrant leaves without me. Believe me, he really said he would leave without me. He said the trip would be a whole lot more fun without my nagging and screaming and incessant chatter. It's true! Don't listen to anything Anil says.

I'm a helpless little flower.

Banjo 1 - Ben 0.

I prevailed over the tyrant and rented a banjo last Wednesday. It's a beginner's Deering Goodtime -- the one that I wanted. And, the nice thing is that the rental fees can be applied toward the actual cost of the banjo should I decide buy the thing.

The fruits of my labor.

Extra points to the person who can actually tell what song I'm playing.

Now, if I only had a banjo strap...

Chief.

Inaction Figure is a project that my sister-in-law Sarah recently started with her two friends:

"Our first product is called The Chief. The chief is a plastic yellow bird with a smug look on his face. He's the king of birds! The Chief was designed by Sarah and built by Devin. When you order him you also get a twenty page storybook which, assuming you can read, makes it a better deal. The storybook, entitled "The Adventures of the Chief" is a work of fiction with few rivals."

Not mentioned on the site, but probably of interest to anyone considering puchasing him, is that he's about 6-7 inches tall. He's $12, a relative steal for a product hand-crafted with love.

If you decide to buy Chief, tell them Mena sent you. I won't get any money -- just some sister-in-law appreciation for supporting her bohemian lifestyle.

Coloring Contest Vote

Cast your vote in the latest coloring contest.

It was a better idea in theory.

For the past couple months, I've been pesterin' Ben to let me purchase a banjo.

He refuses on the understandable grounds that it would be a waste of money.

I'll give him that. But, with Ben, it's also a matter of principle; he sees my desire to buy a banjo as total confirmation that I'm just like my father, a realization that Ben is not yet willing to accept. My dad could fill a small room with all his musical instruments -- some that he plays, some that he can't and others that are just decorative. Ben, a fairly frugal guy, finds this behavior to be incredibly irresponsible.

But, I say, you can't blame my dad -- he loves music and his motivations have something to do with reality and his daydreams not quite synching. No one in my family could play the harp. But did that stop my father from purchasing one? Of course not.

A couple weekends ago, I met up with my mom to celebrate her forty-fifth birthday. I drove up to Petaluma, took her out to breakfast and we walked around town -- stopping at boutiques along the way. When my mom and I passed the local instrument shop, I told her I just "wanted to take a peek."

She instantly recognized the look in my eye.

Mena: Let's look at the banjos.
Mom: I don't think Ben would approve of this.
Mena: Oh, he won't mind. I'm sure of it.
Mom: If you say so.

She, of course, didn't believe anything I was saying.

After hearing the store owner play "Dueling Banjos," I was convinced that I was meant to play the banjo. Keep in mind that even though I spent my teenage years surrounded by mandolins, guitars and violins, I couldn't pluck out a tune to save my life.

When I told my mom I wanted to buy the Deering banjo that the clerk had just played, she became flushed and took out her phone to call Ben.

As you can guess, I walked out of the store sans banjo and with a whole lot of grudgin' directed towards Ben.

When I got home, Ben said I could buy the banjo as long I didn't use any of our shared funds. Considering that we've shared a bank account since we were both nineteen, it's impossible to find any money that just belongs to me.

So, I had the bright idea that I would make a comic book to sell on dollarshort.org; it would be about the saga of the banjo and it would be great! Everyone would buy it to support the banjo cause!

And then, three panels (only one colored) in:

Mena: Who the hell is going to want to buy this stupid comic.
Ben: People like you.
Mena: I like me and I wouldn't waste a dollar, let alone two, on the story of a me and my banjo.
Ben: Yeah, maybe not.

So, my dreams of being a great banjo player have been crushed and all I have to show for it is this silly, pointless, panel.

It makes you laugh, it makes you cry.

I couldn't resist posting this rather entertaining piece of spam that I received today:

From: ()
Date: Fri Jul 05, 2002 08:47:31 PM US/Pacific
Subject: Time Travelers PLEASE HELP!!! 5115

Hello,

If you are a time traveler or alien and or in possession of government or alien technology I need your help! My entire life and health has been messed with by evil beings! If you have access to the carbon copy replica model #50 3000 series, the dimensional warp, temporal reversion or something similar please reply! I simply need the safest method of transferring my consciousness or returning to my younger self with my current mind/memory.

I need an advanced time traveler to work with who can help me, I would prefer someone with access to teleportation as well as a variety different types of time travel. This is not a joke! I am serious! Please send a separate email to me at ...

Thanks

—

The funny thing is, I really want to help this guy out.

Chocolate Crackles

The Red Kitchen, a multi-author recipe exchange site that use uses Movable Type, has just enabled TrackBack for guests to use to post their own recipes -- without having to join as an author.

Here's a favorite cookie recipe of mine to test this out.

Comment error.

It seems as if comments aren't working -- or, at least a server error is appearing when users try to post. I believe the problem has to do with our host and limitations on the amount of cgi resources we're alloted; I'm on the same server as movabletype.org and it's been getting pounded for the past couple of days.

We're hoping to raise some funds and move both sites onto a Rackspace server. Still, that would be a future solution and I need to find out a fix right now.

Update: We signed-up for a dedicated server from Rackspace and will begin the migration later this week. Thanks all who offered solutions or space on their servers.