JamesSlusher.com

I’ve been hearing alot about the government’s data about the safety of our country.

I could have told you months ago what Bush’s National Intelligence Estimate is. I , and most of the nation, rate it pretty low.

Today is Jonathan David Slusher’s first birthday! Please show him some love in the comments. Someday soon he will be old enough to delve into the archives of Daddy’s blog and read this.

I love you, son. I’m going to enjoy teaching you how to be a man. I’m also looking forward to you teaching me how to be a better man.

This is short and simple: Killing innocent people because you are mad that innocent people got killed is the stupidest f$%#ing thing I have ever heard.

Am I the only person who can’t listen to spoken word and read at the same time? I’ve tried to listen to spoken word podcasts and read stuff on the web at the same time. I can’t do it. I can “listen” to music, though the lyrics themselves don’t register. It’s really more just background noise. I probably couldn’t tell you what song was playing at any given moment, just that something was playing.

So, to repeat the qestion, am I the only one that has this particular infirmity, or is it a shared thing?

Man, have 10 days really gone by since my last post? Unbelievable. My life has become this haze of work, sleep, play with the kids for 10 minutes, talk to my wife for 5, work, sleep, work.

It sucks.

Marilyn has put her foot down as far as me working any more OT. I’m allowed to work Thursday nights on my seven off (I’ve already signed up for the rest of the year), but that’s it. I can’t say I’m actually upset about it. I was kind of hoping she would save me from myself. Once you get into the habit of saying “yes” everytime a crew leader asks you if you want to work, it just gets easier and easier to agree to it. It doesn’t get any easier to work it, just the opposite. But I’m worn out now and I need some down time.

And I miss my family sumfin’ turrible.

And I miss you guys, too. I used to be connected. I used to chat with people and have an “online life” which has netted me some great friends and helped me keep in touch with the old ones. And I miss podcasting, too. These are all situations I need to rectify. These are all situations I am going to rectify. Just let me rest up a bit. After I string together a couple of days of rest, I will begin putting my online house back in order.

When you have a glorious and fabulous life like I do, with a beautiful family, a did-it-ourselves house, and a 1979 F100, you gotta share it, no?

I have become very, very serious about recycling lately. It is quite sad, and somewhat embarrassing, that though I’ve bragged many times on the North Augusta recycling program, I’ve never actually participated in it.

Until recently, that is.

I just woke up one day and decided that what I was doing was shameful. They give you the recycling bags for free. You don’t have to separate anything but big cardboard boxes. Everything else goes into the bags. There was no reasonable excuse not to participate.

They include in each roll of bags a list of all the things they want you to put into them. It breaks down like this:

• Clear and brown glass
• Aluminum and steel cans
• Newspapers and magazines
• Any plastic bottles with #1 or #2 on the bottom
• Pasteboard (cereal boxes, 12 pack drink boxes, etc)

Okay, well that makes up about 1/2 of everything we had been tossing. Half. HALF.

Good god, what have I been doing? I apologize to my kids and all future generations for all the waste I have so cavalierly generated. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again. Ever.

You should think about it, too. How many soda cans do you toss? How many cereal boxes, 12 pack boxes, bottles, etc? How many opened green bean (pork and beans, corn, whatever) do you throw away? I’ve thrown away way too many. And I’m not doing it anymore. I hope you will join me.

This earth is the only one we’ve got. Take care of it. And if you are wondering, there are alot of other things you can do, too.

Minutes ago I saw this headline on Yahoo News and then on Wired News:
S.C. hopes to lead hydrogen economy.

I am so thankful that South Carolina is determined to lead in a tech field. I would like to see South Carolina become determined to lead in every tech field. And lead in tech education, too. That would be the way to take the state forward.

I went to DragonCon this past weekend in Atlanta. Wow. It has been nigh onto 2 decades since my last one and it has changed and not changed in some remarkable ways.

First, you are not a geek. Yes, I mean you, the reader, specifically. You might think yourself a geek. You’re not. You aren’t even close. I saw people that were geeky to a degree that I had only thought was hypothetical. I’ve heard of a theory that states that if one’s enthusiasm for medieval garb and slavish fandom towards aliens with wrinkly foreheads is so great that his/her interpersonal and societal skills stopped completely, they would achieve absolute geek.

It’s not hypothetical anymore. I’ve seen it. It ain’t pretty.

I’m not saying that talking loudly, closely and quickly with somewhat iffy personal hygiene makes one a SciFi/Fantasy fan, or even vice versa. There is a correlation though. Definitely.

Second, there is way more overlap from SciFi/Fantasy fandom into BDSM than people tend to think. Lots more. I don’t care what shows/comics/whatever you are a fan of, wearing a leather corset and a cat o’ nine tails into public is what it is. And you know what it is. Oh, and let’s not forget the transvestites. Let’s never forget the transvestites.

Third, being a slavish fan of anything is gonna cost you hella ducats. There is a certain cynicism in creating a bit of work in order to drive up demand, then creating an artificial lack of supply in order to pressure the prices upwards. I see them do it in card based games all the time and I find the practice abhorrent. Sell your little cards to the nerds at a fair price and print enough for everybody. You’re just being mean. And greedy.

Fourth, Dragoncon is BIG. No, I mean BIG. It was in the Hilton, Marriot and Hyatt for christsakes. Simultaneously.

On a personal note I would like to send a bit of a warning to all the people that want to go watch midgets wrestle: Five healthy shots of Jagermeister on an empty stomach is a bad, bad, bad, bad, bad idea. Don’t ask me how I know, just trust me.

And never take a dude who wears red panties with you to one of these conventions. Don’t ask about that one either.