Ah the years

Funny how the years roll by but everything here seems like only yesterday.....

Games Games Games

Well as usual I should be doing a thousand other things, but I've been investing 
a massive amount of time in my favorite online hobby - Youplay.it . Youplay.it is a totally free website where you can play the classic turn-based wargames BLUE MAX (a WWI airplane battle game) and Wooden Ships and Iron Men Fleet battles in the age of sail. Both games are really addicting.

Here's a brief summary: Blue Max


My oldest has taken an interest in the game so I pulled out my old boardgame and we've been learning.

Anyway the online version is a faithful recreation of the board game. Players log on and record their moves. Once all the players in a game have done their move orders the site calculates the movements, rolls the damage dice and resolves combat for the round. It's really a great way to play - blows cyberboard out of the water!

Wooden Ships is an old Avalon Hill title that I never really played before, but I knew it was well thought of by the game's fans. Youplay has made this game very playable by taking over all the tedious record keeping. Another winner.

Game geeks out there? log on and lets battle. www.youplay.it user: moonglum01

Holidays

This post is totally pointless, except to serve as a reminder to my list of 'good intentions' - I really did intend to keep up with this blog. Ha, well so much for good intention #333,126,003, it seems to have gone the way of the previous 333,126,002 good ideas and projects on the old to do list.


Path to hell.... and all that.

Well, back for another disaster!

Hey look, It's 12:30 a.m. and I'm in the midst of another self created crisis of epic proportions. Arg. Well I know I am an idiot, proof enough that I'm posting to my nearly dead blog instead of trying to save my bacon and pull this project out of the meltdown I've created.

Oh and I'm even babbling incoherently worse than I normally would.... Nice.

Ok, back to work.

A blue day

Oh yea, it's another day.

Today I feel: melancholy

Why? Hummm, well quite a pile of reasons. I have to laugh, o.k. in this mood it's more of a repressed chuckle, because I don't even have the ability to compose this post.

Ever have one of those weeks?

I had planned on this long diatribe of how I was overly sensitive and misunderstood. Ugh. Yes.. but I just don't seem to have it in me any more.

So let me mention the sky, it looked really cool today. Blue, fluffy clouds. You know, pretty standard stuff but somehow it was just, well, different.

I was driving over a hilly and curve section of the two lane road that runs between my house and work. It's a bit on the dangerous side as there is a steep cliff that drops off into the Susquehanna river valley far below. For some unknown reason there are large gaps in the guard rails, which the locals seem to think were put there the express purpose of them tossing their trash over the side or paring the trailer portion of their eighteen wheelers. It is generally considered by most to be a good idea to watch the road when on this stretch, however I found it nearly impossible to take my eyes off the sky on this morning.

The light from the sun breaking through the sunroof threw that odd shadow across the inside of my car that seems to break the interior into realms of brightness and that of darkness. The effect shifted across the dash and the front seats and caused me to squint occasionally when a beam of sunlight would cross the plane of my room and explode into my field of vision. This is what caused me to look up, and in so doing, I became mesmerized by the sky.

Blue, a shade of blue that only seems to appear at this time of year, the time when everything is ready to explode out of the winter death and be reborn - that moment, that, 'right before' flash. I had to wonder if perhaps it was some trick of the atmosphere that caused this? I mused that it might have something to do with the lack of plants and the pollen they produce, or it might have been, well, who knows, but something about it demanded my full attention, it was so beautiful, so majestic...

Then, as you probably have already guessed, I was jolted back to reality as I heard a loud thump thump thump and felt a sudden vibration roll from my toes to the tips of my ears. I found myself back in reality. My eyes were torn away from the sky and cast to the long stretch of asphalt disappearing around a curve in the road. The curved blue nose of my little blue Pontiac had drifted over the certerline rumblestrips gouged into the faded double yellow lines. A flash of visions of driving on the left like an Englishman on a Sunday constitutional were quickly replaced by a blinding terror at the sight of a line of large trucks barreling around the blind curve.
This could have been bad, very bad.

I suppose in the grand scheme my current state of personal malaise is by far more desirable than the state of nothingness I almost entered on that road today.

F'n sky.

Man Bunker

So ... It seems to be many months since my last post (Well, it does say 'avoidance' in my profile) and so the world's been going on and on. Yes, the title of the blog still fits. For some bizarre reason I thought that once I finished my Masters and all the classes and papers that went with it, somehow things would be less stressful. Ha, ha ha, hahahahahahaaaa (use an insane inflection in your voice and you will get the right laugh).

I'll write about that part of my life some other time, for now it is time for the story of the, "MAN BUNKER"

The man bunker is the new name for the basement, which was until very recently a pretty standard basement - cobwebs, washer/dryer, old junk. One day I decided I needed a small piece of pegboard (that stuff with hole in it) 1' by 2' would do nicely on the wall in my AMITYVILLE HORROR room in the basement. I should take a moment to explain, I have this room in the basement, it's wood with a wood door and a dirt floor, it's been there since the house was built (1910) - it's creepy. There's a lock ok the door and a very small window on the door. The room also has the hole in the floor covered by a rusting piece of metal which I have termed, "THE PIT TO HELL" ~ adds a bit of character to the place. Anyway, back to my story...
but before I go on I should add that I found an old tiara in the pit to hell, how did it get there?? It's really old. So my solution to the whole creepy room was to paint the walls bright white, makes me feel better, like something that comes out of the pit will be more like Grim from Billy & Mandy than say a specter with a chain saw.

SOooo anyway, I went to Chase-Pitkins and I was surprised to see they were going out of business and selling everything cheap. So I bought my pegboard, but I had to by an 8' sheet (smallest I could get). I took that home and thought, "well if I have 8' of this stuff, perhaps I should build a wall out of 2x4s to hang the pegboard on. So back I went for 2x4s and more pegboard (might as well make the wall 10'). The I decided, why not build 2 walls? Then... well... I soon was in over my head. Now I have walls all over, pile of drywall, flooring, ceiling, miles of wire, ugh! I'm in for a few thousand, not counting my contractor and electrician.
- all for a $2 piece of pegboard.

Wow, I survived.

The comprehensive exam is done, done, done.

I really can't believe it. I submitted it at 5am and Dr. ____ sent me a reply about 1pm telling me it looked very good. Could it be that I'm finally finished with this ordeal? No more "I hate Penn State" sessions!?

I should feel something, but I am so drained I just can't seem to accept it.

huh.

Just for kicks I finished another project that's been hanging over me for months. Did that right after I finished the paper (at, like 5:30am).

So it's done - it's really done. I wonder what happens next - I guess I'll get my diploma in the mail at some point (I'd rather be run over than have to go to another graduation ~ graduations, weddings and funerals are the activities I dislike most in this world).

4 hours and 20 more words - that's 5 words an hour!

Ugh

So I have been flipping through blogs like crazy and I came to three conclusions.

1. There are a lot of spam blogs - does anyone actually read them?
2. There are many people out there who are more boring than me! Wow!
3. Some people either have really exciting lives or really great imaginations.

What does this have to do with my exam, well er, absolutely nothing.

I have been singing the rocky song to try to psyche myself up - not really working.


I really do like cheese (was reading my intro line again).

So what am I stuck on you may ask? Ha there really arn't any you's out there, but if there really was they may ask themselves this question. The question is, What is a question you would be asked at a job interview that you would have difficulty answering, and how would you answer it? - Sounds easy doesn't it???? Well, now you have to remember this is a graduate level question where the response is expected to be in depth and relate to concepts and , uh, stuff (well now that does sound intelligent!

Anyway the q for me is about leadership style. iNFps don't have a reputation as leaders and to add to that I test as an 'originator' on the Change Style indicator and fall strongly into the HT/HR section of the LEAD Leadership Style. In otherwords I am a big picture visionary who works best when leading the charge for change. I'm the cheerleader and the idealist. I'd probably be most like Lenin in my leadership style.... Yea that will go over well in an interview.

Interviewer: Describe your leadership style
Me: Much like Lenin, minus the "violent" overthrow of the existing order.
Interviewer: Ah, so just the overthrow of the exisiting order to implement a more just work place for the proletariat masses?
Me: Um, era, right.
Interviewer: OK then,.... next candidate please.


I really have to finish this test.