Author Archives: Morgan

In with absolutely, positively no bang at all.

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Ok.  I was planning on having this fabulous renewal, reentry, reclamation of my blogging existence.  I started with a bang, or so I thought.  Until the next day rolled around, and my video card went poopy dead.  Not completely, not yet, but more than enough to make doing anything on my computer painful.  Like trying to read something upside down through a tank of water.  You can do it, but really why go through the trouble?  Sheesh.

I forgot I had this handy little notebook, which has become my ‘backup’ notebook, lying around gettin dusty.  So I dusted it off and I’m gonna ride it hard like the bitch it is.  At least until I have enough dough for a new fancy dancy super hopped up on electrons-type video card.  The kind of card that makes gamers drool, in multiple orifices.  Yes I do the gamer thang.  Not as hard core as I used to, and not as hard core as some kids I know (and play with oy!), but I do like me some monster killin now and again. 

Anyway back to the card and notebook thing.  You’re prolly wondering why I don’t just ditch with the desktop and go with the laptop; but this laptop was purchased strictly for work, so it just can’t put out the way my gaming system can (or did until a few days ago).  The resolution is for crap.  The colors are wonky.  And the gamma is super dark.  In consideration for all of you who are read that and heard something that sounds like charlie brown’s teacher’s, suffice to say it’s just not powerful enough, especially in the visual category.  Plus I just spent 10 minutes hunting for my delete key

But I can certainly post a blog or three!  Let the revolution continue…and it will be televised!  Or at least internetized

Five Years Later

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Five years later, the Senate finds no link between Iraq and al Qaeda

Five years later, we are no safer, just more aware.

Five years later, there’s a both a big-screen and a made for TV movie. In my mind, the deepest travesty.

Five years later, our country is torn apart by bipartisanship.

Five years later, the American people have little trust in their leaders, and no faith in those leaders’ vision.

Five years later, I am proud to be a New Yorker at heart, but am embarrassed to call myself an American.

GREEK FEST!!!!

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Today was the official FIRST SIGHTING of the Annual Greek Festival announcement! This is always a turning point for me every year…it means, first and foremost, that the Greek Fest is coming soon! Few things put a smile on my face faster than that! Second, it heralds the end of summer, which of course kinda sucks. But fall in the PNW isn’t so bad…it means dried leaves, caramel apples and end-of-summer parties, bike rides to the MAiZE out on Sauvie Island with a little rum in your pocket, and of course, the Greek fest!

This year marks the 55th Annual Greek Fest. It’s all about the food, first of all, gyros and souvlaki, spanakopita and dolmathes. And that’s just the starters…then comes the baklava, kadaifi, rolla, karithopita…and my absolute favorite, the Loukoumades! Man I love those.

Of course the dancing is always fun to watch, once you’ve had your fill of loukoumades and beer. They usually have a stage set up, and have kids from 5 to 18 showing of their greek folk dancing stuff. If you have time to plan, you can opt for the full dinner, which has just tons of stuff – I prefer to graze at the tents though. You can take a walk through the church, if you’re not wearing shorts, and there are crafts and other things to peruse while you walk off your last trip to the food tents. All in all, it’s something I look forward to every year, and makes the end of summer just a little bit easier to welcome.

Time to round up the gang and make plans to go!

It’s a small world after all!

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Category: Music_

Amazing how such an unlikely thing as a video game can give a pop star from India incredible US exposure…in particular Daler Mehndi. The dancing seen in the music video for his song (I think it’s called Tunak Tunak Tun – I do know the album it’s from is called that) is going to be used as a model for the ‘dance’ animation for a new race of characters being introduced in the extremely popular game World of Warcraft. The result is thousands of geeky teenagers all over the US, Canada, Australia, Japan, China etc are passing around his video like wildfire.

Not that I’m a geeky teenager, but the …it’s just ….oh hell. Just watch it, and you’ll understand 😀

Let’s see you not tell anyone about it…

(The sound is a bit off, but it won’t matter.)

Daler Mehndi’s website

Welcome to June

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The following is excerpted from:

http://www.nwhp.org/events/gay-lesbian-pride/history-of-pride-month.html

Pride month is an opportunity to celebrate diversity as well as
support civil liberties and rights for all.

History of Gay and Lesbian Pride Month

The origins of Gay and Lesbian Pride month can be traced back to a turbulent weekend in New York City in June of 1969. On the night of June 27th of that year, the usual crowd gathered at the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s Greenwich Village. New York Beverage Control Board agents and NYC police officers raided the bar to enforce an alcohol control law that was seldom enforced anywhere else in the city.

Raids on gay establishments, however, were common at the time and were conducted regularly with little or no resistance, as fearful gay patrons were physically forced out of their gathering places, sometimes beaten, and often arrested with no just cause. In fact, this raid was the second such raid at the Stonewall Inn that week.

On the night of June 27th, lesbians and gay men spontaneously fought back against police harassment for the first time. The crowd inside and outside the bar erupted into violent resistance against the officers as they singled out patrons to load into waiting paddy wagons. More police reinforcements were called in as local gays and lesbians united in enraged confrontation.

Word spread quickly about the confrontation and large, outraged crowds gathered on ensuing nights to protest the mistreatment historically inflicted on the gay community. These protests came to be known as the Stonewall Rebellion, and the uprising was the catalyst for the modern political movement for gay and lesbian liberation – calling for gay pride and action to secure their basic civil rights.

The event since then has been commemorated by an annual parade held each year in New York City and Los Angeles on the last Sunday in June, a tradition starting with marches on June 28,1970 marking the anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion.

The Stonewall Inn was declared a national historical landmark in March 2000, cited as the birthplace of the modern gay and lesbian civil rights movement.

Now, Gay and Lesbian Pride events and parades are planned annually in the month of June all over the country as well as internationally. Gay and Lesbian Pride Month celebrate diversity and civil liberties and rights for all.

When Hawks Attack!!!!

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Category: Randoms_
It’s fairly common knowledge at the building where I work that we have a family of resident redtail hawks that live there. This year, one of my coworkers has a website where he posts all the pictures that he’s been taking of the family and thier little new arrival. People for the most part are really good about keeping their distance and letting the little family be, but the other day a guy who works just around the cubicle bend from me was outside on the balcony checking out the baby from a distance, when the dad came swooping down and attacked him! Apparently it was quite the event, since the whole floor talked about it all day. I, sadly, was out at lunch. Well, no not really sadly. Thankfully is more like it, cuz then I didn’t have to endure the whole office going on and on for an hour about the ‘incident’.

Anyway check out the site. It’s really quite cool, and he’s gotten some absolutely fantabulous shots of the baby and his first steps…or swoops!

http://www.portlandredtailhawk.com/

Memorial Day Conundrum!

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Category: Randoms_, Family_
This past Memorial Day, I was graced with quite a few options to fill my holiday weekend. I was going to be on my own, T being up at the races in Vancouver BC, and I was determined!! to not spend it at home in front of my computer playin games all weekend. But which one? When the cards where down, I had three options:

1. Drive the Komfort Kastle up to Olympia to spend the weekend with some great friends who I hadn’t seen since last fall. Location: swell little lake house. Food: Awesome pot lucks for every meal. Fun stuff: jet skis and dock fishing and a chance at some cribbage redemption!

2. Spend the weekend up at a campsite with our usual camping buddies. Location: nice little campground up by mt st helens. Food: mostly bring your own, some pot luck possibilites. Fun stuff: lots of cribbage and dice possibilities, and of course playing fetch with the pup and her buddy Jack.

3. The third and final option came at the last minute, Thursday before the weekend. A friend of mine, through some unfortunate circumstances, ended up with an extra ticket to see Nine Inch Nails with Bauhaus. /gasp /choke /choke /gasp!! Forget location, it don’t matter! Food? I’ll eat dirt! (no really I probably will) Fun stuff??? OMG it’s NIN and Bauhuas for chrissake!!!!

Now, you may be thinking that I went with option number 3. And really, I was weighing the options up until the last minute (or would have if I could). But I actually ended up going with option number 1, for the simple reason that it would get me out of the house for the whole weekend. Being that I was gonna be alone at home, I wanted to spend as little time there as possible. Sometimes I like being alone at home. Most of the time I don’t, especially overnight. Also, the other two options would have been far more entertaining for the pup.

The weekend turned out to be a bit stressful, not the relaxing getaway I was hoping for…mostly because of that little stinker I have for a dog. She was a bit…trying. But regardless, I met some nice new people, got to see some great friends, and had awesome food (mmm Thai beef salad rocks!). So although the weather did end up being uber crappy all weekend, it wasn’t a total letdown.

A side note on the irony of this situation…Many years back, when I was pretending to go to college in Syracuse NY, a friend of mine came up to me one day and said “hey guess what, there’s this cool new band playing tonight at so and so club, wanna come and check them out? It’s only 5 bucks to get it!” I turned him down, thinking that some new college band puking on stage wasn’t my idea of a good time. The band? Nine Inch Nails.

Yeah, I’m still kicking myself.

One crrrrrrraaaaazy night!

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I am so exhausted.

Went to a friend’s 40th birthday party last night at the Boiler Room. It’s a tradition that we go there for her birthday, and sing karaoke, and watch the other karaoke stars and disasters, and just have a dang good time. Other traditions that occur on this occasion:

1. My friend will get totally plastered.
2. She will start flirting with everyone.
3. She will stand out on the sidewalk doing crazy physical feats that no one in her condition (trashed) should EVER do, especially without assistance (which is why we’re there).
4. We will stay out until the bar closes down and then go have a really greasy breakfast.

Our job, should we accept it, is to be sure she doesn’t crack her head open, flirt with the wrong person, or stumble out into traffic. All in all it’s pretty hilarious.

Needless to say, we roll on home at about 4am. I was the designated driver, and good thing too, since T was as wasted as our friend (an extremely rare occurence!). But here is where it gets a little ugly: We had to be in Seattle for mother’s day brunch at 11am. Which means we needed to leave at 8am. Which means I only got 3+ hours of sleep. Which means I am SO FUCKING tired it’s not even funny. I even took a nap in the car on the way up, and a nap after brunch, and I’m still tired.

But it was still a good weeked. Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms in my life!