This is the story of our little group’s journeys in the areas surrounding Phandalin.  Please be aware that spoilers lie behind the fold.

Worn and Bruised after defeating Klarg and his minions, the party collapses in the cavern and recovers with a long night’s rest.  They search the cave for  treasure and clues about the whereabouts of their dwarven patron Gundren to no avail, only the spoils of a recent raid are evident.

Spoilers below the fold.

I just finished BSG, the whole shebang. It was awesome. Here’s a tip if you’re viewing the final DVD of season 4.5: Daybreak extended is like the Director’s Cut of Daybreak episodes 1-3. I was unsure if it was all, or part of them, and spent some time searching the internets for that info (carefully avoiding spoilers). So watch whichever you prefer, you’ll get about the same content told differently.

‘”Change has come” and we can all work together for a better and united future for all in our country and worldwide.’ That was my mom in the comments tonite. We had a fun little election party, and for the first time in a long time, we ended up happy, not just wiser. And we cheered. McCain’s speech was great. That McCain may have won the election. He was honest, sincere, honorable, clear, and inspiring.

It’s been an interesting couple of weeks. Got my Universal Life Church ministry certificate because a couple friends had asked me to perform their wedding services. This past week was the week. The first was on Sunday, and the second on Friday. I’ve been just a wee bit busy with all of that…meeting families, drinking beer, BBQing, clamming, crabbing, camping, cooking, eating, driving, playing hookie, and petting my dog and smooching my lady.

If any of y’all are interested in checking out an interesting social phenomena or just partying along with soccer, head out to Delta Park this weekend during the daylight hours. Our little subculture called the Moist Coalition is gathering to play in the Classic tourney over Memorial Day. It’s ridiculous, great fun, and full-on immersion in something beautiful. It’s really pretty amazing…so many people, often many have never met, and just good times.

Okay, I’m a bit late to the party, but this is pretty sweet. How many of that bad boys haven’t you plugged two bits into? They’re on tour, the bizarre thing is the order of cities. They are all over the map. Must’ve been the original Pacman algorithm.

After leaving the Mendenhall Glacier, we drove immediately to a beerdrinker’s mecca, the Alaskan Brewing Company, home of the delicious Alaskan Amber and a number of other tasty beers. I was surprised that the Alaskan brewery had no brewpub. From the sound of conversations (though nothing explicit or even really implied), they’ve chosen to respect local pubs who supported them as they grew. It’s a sensible division of labor.

We arrived in Juneau after a long flight on the milk run, stopping in Wrangell and Petersburg on the way to deliver supplies and mail to these smaller outposts. The flights lasted 15-20 minutes each, but the wait at each airport was much longer. I asked if I could get off and take some photos on the tarmac (it was beautiful) and they told me “sure. If you want to be arrested.

“Hey dude, what’re you doing next weekend?” Jay asked me. “Uh, just getting ready to move. Why?” “We were wondering if y’all wanted to go to Alaska or Denver.” “Totally. Which one?” “We’re taking a vote.” “Alaska” No doubt. So we got hooked-up with buddy passes to Alaska. Standby flights, no carry-ons. A lot of airport time. Portland to Seattle to Ketchikan, overnight in Ketchikan, to Wrangell to Petersburg to Juneau.

Halloween was a blast this year, here are some pictures of my adventures. For Halloween lunch, some I went to Popeye’s to check on the competition. Inside, I investigated their operation. I did not expect them to use 11 secret herbs and spices. The key was to find out how many they were putting to use. They weren’t cracking. It became apparent that I needed to dig deeper. So I got me a box o’ chicken and some mashed taters.

There’s a movement to rename NE 42nd Ave to Douglas Adams Blvd. I’m on board, Douglas Adams got it, wrote great stories, and did good things. My only request is that we get to call my street (NE 40th Ave) Infinite Improbability Dr.

In response to NaNoWriMo, an event in which you write a novel in a month, Defective Yeti came up with NaNoReMo (same but read a novel in a month). The event starts today, and the book is Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. I just picked mine up at Powell’s and have read a whopping 2 pages (~15/day is the target). So I’ll be reading along and writing my ficlets.

Something beautiful and Zen about this. And beer+Zen must be good. Credit to marriedtothesea.com

This is genious geek humor. Props anners.

God’s writing checks.

Now shut up and eat.

Just asking…

Beerdrinker zen.

holy cow, this is amazing!

I predict Germany will be the winner of the world cup this year. And here is my proof. Word on the street is that Brazil is favored and I accept that. But is their probability better than 50% to win? I think not. Thus, we must say that a team other than Brazil should win. Looking at the field, Germany seems to be the strongest and carry the greatest odds.

Thisis pretty entertaining. thx moistee.

Ojingo has referred me to perhaps my ideal job. I don’t think I could handle the commute. Another solid opportunity has presented itself with Google.

thx anners for sending me this sweet link from google–it’s the moon!. The first manned lunar landing (remember that game) was 36 years ago today – Apollo 11. Make sure to zoom all the way in, the surface detail is remarkable!

Today had been going pretty well until Fritz sent me this. Let’s just hope that we never face something like this again. The shattered dreams, broken souls, where are they now?

I’m pleased to announce that I’ve achieved one of my longterm goals in life a little early! Go to Google and enter beer drinker OR beerdrinker. You can expect news of other great accomplishments in upcoming posts.

From the IFOCE website: “There is an century-old prophesy within the competitive eating community, dismissed by most, that foretells the rise of the One Eater, a woman who will electrify America.s gurgitators and lead them to international victory once again. Like Joan of Arc before her, this eater will be slender of stature, but mighty in strength. In recent months, the prophesy has been mentioned more and more frequently as the eaters have watched Sonya Thomas excel in nearly every contest she enters.

Happy holidays from WTB?R. Props JP for the link! Anyway, I hope that everyone’s holidays have been safe/fun/relaxing whatever it is y’all’re looking for in a holiday.

thx rayray for pointing out this cool site of balancing rocks. I’ve tried such things and now had nearly the luck as this guy!

I have some fond memories of the election last Tuesday. The last one that comes to mind, thus the one I have to write about first is of the news report (NBC local @ JK’s local HQ, I think) relating the tragedy as it has recently occurred while two guys are making out good’n heavy in the background with some sly salsa dancing. Slowly the camera panned left until the reporter was at the far right of the picture, and then she sidestepped to the center.

via Blue Oregon, a nice little rant responding to the usual conservative hoo-haw. PG-13, but work friendly bee-yatch!

all this poker and medication spam makes me yearn for the days of pr0n and MMF garbage

Bad idea, good story. However, if that’s what you _have_ to do in order to show up, go ahead, just don’t screw it up. Have a fab Halloween.

Beer is good for you! Maybe even better than wine. Or vitamins! Happy friday! It’s good to be healthy again…I think I battled off the remainder of my illness with several yummy beers last evening.

what a clever idea! It’s very retro to actually write. props Kurt, and happy friday from a sick beer drinker.

It’s here. It’s probably been here for awhile. But now you can look up you favorite bands, get their discography, and link to official and fansites. Check out the Encyclopaedia Metallum. I looked up Lacuna Coil immediately. Next I think I’ll check out Tesla, just to see if they count, and then maybe onto a few of the other great hard bands. thx albatross, and have a great long weekend!

This is a fun story. A bear caused some mischief. props Fritz and PStew for the 411.

it’s been awhile. Actually, I’ve been out of town for a week and a half. And I didn’t check email once. It was fabulous. Withdrawals and stress aside, it was cathartic. But I got back and tonite I enabled Spam Assassin on my email account. Hopefully that will prevent the 50+ frickin spams I get everyday (I know, I don’t have it that bad compared to many, but not so long ago, I had almost none).

Little Lost Robot has a link to a fantastic movie that shouldn’t be missed: Office Space Wars in which some guys to a mini-office space with star wars people.

The albatross sent me an entertaining article by the last Queen Fan in America. Be warned, the highs and lows that you’ll share might bring you to the highest plains of Valhalla and the lowest canyons of Iowa. I’ll be in LA for awhile, so posts will be just as consistent as they have been.

This is beautiful, from a sunmanager post, pointed out to me by deetor: Hi Gurus! Maybe perhaps someone can help me with a strange problem on my E10k machine. I install program on machine that run Oracle DB for to my company has get big outsource contract from America. Program I run is called BitchX and here is my problem Gurus: ….

Does anyone have any idea why a chicken cordon bleu is called that? I found a crapload of recipes, none of which contained bleu cheese, which I would have expected, though I saw everything else from gruyere to cheddar to provolone to some crap Emeril likes that I’ve never heard of. I looked it up on babelfish, which said that cordon bleu means cordon-bleu cook. Not satisfied I went nuts and looked up the words individually.

via albatross, an exposition of the Two Things outlook. With examples. Here’s mine. Two things about sysadmin: 1) always be ready to undo what you just did (rollback), 2) google’s responses are as wise as they are hidden…use them often and wisely. What are your two things? Make sure you say what they relate to!

Poor poor kitty. Not sure why I had to post that (thanks to daveed for the image), but prepping for the soccer tournament, actually showing up for work, and wistfully recalling my painful day windsurfing have been occupying all of my brain cycles that I’d normally dedicate to posting all the mega-clever material you’ve come to expect from me.

Today I wrote some haikus for some odd reason but this is not one. really.

I’ve been reading a book on parasites…or was, I put it down for awhile after I started having ‘parasite dreams.’ Abrichar sent me a nice link about one of the classic parasites, the tapeworm. Check it out, it’s a lighthearted romp through this guy’s intestinal tract you won’t want to miss. And the illustrations will just burrow into you retinas.

They sure know how to make you feel special up in Redmond: Getting married? Find tips, tools and the latest trends at MSN Life Events. (from an MSN email footer). Maybe next they’ll have: Dying soon? Visit our online mortuary! Well, it was a busy ole weekend. Had the matriarch side of my family up, and that’s always a good, exhausting time. My bro and I hit it pretty hard when we go out…though I was really good saturday night, mostly because I was pretty well spent from Thursday and Friday.

In an effort to connect with what he quaintly refers to as ‘the people’, prezzo has hit the road with a swagger and some starch in his collar. He scored a brilliant trade at a car lot outside Jersey City where he was able to get the dealership to throw in two pieces of intelligence regarding WMDs along with the ’76 Winnebago he got in exchange for Air Force One. In an effort not to be out-down-homed, he bought 2 sacks of Krusteaz at the local Wal-Mart, espousing the virtues of local business and quality jobs creation.

SHARON FACES KEY PARTY TEST. While I realize that most of the rest of the world hangs onto discos, I didn’t realize that tupperware and swinging were so much the rage. Yes, I realize that I’m totally inappropriate, but I thought it was funny. I wonder how Ariel will stand up. This is the article btw, but the headline was in my cnn international edition daily email.

They wisely left it short but sweet. Titled “Does it matter?” the I received the following text: “Your photo, uahhh…. , you are naked!” with with some jibber-jabber zipfile that I left alone. But anonymous spammer, thank you, that’s the best piece I’ve ever received. On another note, I think most spammers should be imprisoned, fined, and despised, especially for the nasty nasty things they send to people they’ve never met, including children and nuns!

Well, the autonomous race, while cool and scary, can only lead to one thing. Autonomous mobile beverage refrigeration units. I need one of these for my next party. And just to get through the pressures of everyday life. So, if y’all are interested in helping out, let me know in the comments and I’ll setup a paypal account or just figure out a way for you to send me a check.

It’s been awhile. I’ve had this one in my pocket for a day or two, but the steady stream at my cube has prohibited posting. So, a couple weeks ago, Hox and I grabbed lunch out at some west-side Tex-Mex joint, Cactus Jack’s or Willie’s or somesuch. Anyway, the radio was playing a nice 70s-80s selection of tunes, including Heart, Loggins, and then, the crux, Starship’s We Built This City. Hox insisted that WBTC (on Rock and Roll) was the worst song ever.

I’m not sure what/why/how this is, but it’s got a chicken and may be associated with Burger King. via hox.

We learn how it wentwith getting Condi “Tank” Rice on the stand over at Zeros and Ones.

But this is truly the NYT’s finest work. Best. Headline. Ever. thx abrichar.

The Albatross reminded me today of the exitence of the great comic, Get Your War On. The link is to the latest, use your internet wiles to find the rest!

Hasser got his car back. It’s such a violation to have you car broken into, I really feel for him. Kinda makes you feel dirty. So don’t go violating people’s sanctity by busting into their cars and trucks and houses. Better would be to say funny things to them on the bus or the street downtown. Maybe offer up a bite of your sandwich, if you’ve got one. Otherwise, just leave them alone or do something interesting.

okay, this is way cool. I hear that it’s featured in Scientific American, but I haven’t cracked mine yet. Twenty-some teams or more have assembled vehicles to race from SoCal to Vegas. Big whoop…right…there’s no driver, and no remote control. These things are given routes and waypoints, and it’s up to them to navigate. Way cool. The projects involve some tech and robotics firms, universities, and other groups of smarties. My fave so far is Red Team, I like their site.

Maybe not happy. Maybe not fun. But it sure is surreal. They cleared the benches at the buffet table. via Abrichar.

Great news, same-sex marriages are now permitted in Little Beirut. I heard some dude griping about it over lunch. I’ve never heard an argument against that was remotely sensible to me. All that I could do was shake my head. I guess I could’ve said something, but I really wasn’t in the mood. Anyway, way to stay progressive Portland! And no, marriage is not weakened. If anything marriage is strengthened because now it’s even closer to being about love.

“This is the third nomination and first Oscar for…Canada.” Beautiful. As usual the Oscars were full of ludicrousness and hijinks and whacky times watching the big hoohaas pat each other on the back. I did pretty good with predictions, only getting 3 wrong (best actor, one of the sound ones, and something else). For two I was just trying to give the whole LotR thing a rest..jesus, there’re more movies out there, what a bunch of crap.

My Uncle, UC, sent me a story he experienced/wrote. It’s a nice little meditation on the importance of the small things and teh connectedness of life. I’m better for having read it, so (with permission) I am sharing it with you here.

worly world

In a landmark announcement today, prezzo announced plans to move forward with his intentions of ramming through a new constitutional amendment. While the text of the amendment remains unclear, the its substance has been well-communicated. Disturbed after shopping at Bloomingdale’s Country Annex and noticing that the right and left boot salt and pepper shakers were available separately, prezzo declared that he needed to protect “Meals from changing forever” and that “for millenia wars have been fought over spices, so that they could accompany common iodized table salt, and now some renegade trinket manufacturers and merchants are presuming to arbitrarily change the nature of America’s most fundamental family-time.

nice link sent by ciaran, the many fighting styles of Donald Rumsfeld.

From Tair-ists. vie The Left Coaster.

Minnesotans constitute one of my favorite subcultures. Most of the Minnesotans that I’ve met have been really decent people, maybe even all of them. So, it makes me wonder, when I see things like this if maybe we aren’t the ones with the wrong idea. I mean, the entire city of Minneapolis can’t be all wrong. At first it seemed ludicrous, that such a good people would have this bizarre drinking problem, but then I stepped away from the problem.

Funny guy from Defective Yeti has the essential IKEA walkthrough.

via rayray…Dio for America. As a bit of a rocker type myself, I am fond of Dio and see him as a breath of fresh air for the Party of his choice. From his brilliant performances with Sabbath to Holy Diver and beyond (to where…?) I’m with you man, I’ll ride in that van.

I’m posting this for my buddy Travis who doesn’t read this, so you all have to suffer for absolutely nothing. But I just saw that Feb. 28 is the Lebowski Fest in Las Vegas. I don’t know if Travis bowls or not, but that’s not what matters. I don’t know if he’s seen the movie (I’m sure he has), but that’s not what matters. What matters is that The Jesus’s bowling partner will be there, and that they’re serving white Russians.

thanks grandad!

Everybody loves bubble wrap. via abrichar.

Kuro5hin has a neat-o article on guerilla gardening, which is basically to sneak out somewhere and turn some unused plot of land into something useful or beautiful. I have enough trouble maintaining my own little chunk of dirt, so I likely won’t be engaging, but it’s still an inspiring idea.

The good people over at Portland Brewing have released a no girlie-man beer in honor of California’s latest governor, who I’m guessing isn’t much of a beer drinker. I wish they’d release some of it here though. props crafty girlie.

Just thought of something, N and I didn’t send out xmas cards this year because our wrists were already exhausted from all the wedding invites and thank you cards. Since this is pretty much the same list as our xmas card list, just grab you card, scan it into your OCR-capable computer, as merryxmas.txt, and then run perl -pi -e ‘s/Thank You/Merry Xmas/’ merryxmas.txt and that should fill the empty space in your heart.

Be sure to hop onto Sony’s site and vote for the programs you’d most like to see Coming Soon; to D-V-D. I got there because I occasionally work with a nice fellow and today realized that he shares the name of one of my childhood heroes, Silver Spoon’s Ricky Stratton. So, in that internet manner, I googled, clicked, followed, and now, much more so than in a national election, I have control over my fate.

sipping nectar sweet puckering again with glee tangelo come back

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from prezzo it’s that boasting produces results. My article yesterday was sort of my own personal ‘Bring. It. On.’ to the vast potency of mother nature and the oil companies carrying her leash (right?), so of course it was still dry outside when I got on my bike to ride home. Which was right before my pager went off. And I went back into the office.

Per Iggy’s request, I’ll be drinking more beer. Look forward to it.

I generally spell pretty alright. But I’ve found that with spelling in blogs, my best search engine draws happen when I mispell. Take this article. It was my first real draw. It was brief and lame, but they flocked to it. And now this one, that I wrote July 1st has been my top googlor ever since then by a long shot. Unfortunately, I find that sad on many levels. How many kids are there thinking they need ritalin because their friends are on it and they’re sucking down sugar water and sugar cereal and, like me, can’t even spell it.

This is pretty sweet. Props abrichar.

All my blogland friends are invited. Dave and I are having a party at Dave’s place (kinda co-bday, but not really it’s just an excuse, party).

A nice artistic site, Happy Pencil by the guy that’s done a lot of Tool artwork. The lite side is the store (support the artist if you like), and the dark side is the fun, with art, games, and more. via Kieran.

Thank god somebody’s maintaining The National Beard Registry List. If you’ve got a good one, it’s your duty to share it with the world. Me, I can’t really go ZZ because I’m all patchy and stuff. Weird tufts and bald spots. Oh, well, thanks for caring. props abrichar on this one.

Stop what you’re doing. Read this. A gripping tale of tragedy, deception, and, ultimately, betrayal. With a happy ending of course.

Haven’t gotten any research done (though check out Jack Bog and Portland Communique, but browsing Pacific Power propaganda, one thing reached out to me and stuck a thought in my brain: I’d pay an extra $.007/kwh to have my power company be called Surprise Valley Electrification.

but this one’s pretty weird.

Sean at ojingo blog sweetens the stew with a heartwarming tale of Easter fun. Definitely worth a read.

Something’s got to be wrong with me for putting this link under happy fun, but it’s my blog. Actually, something’s probably wrong with me for posting this at all, it’s pretty odd and a bit sick. via the albatross, and it’s always worth posting stuff he sends me, right? Anyway, happy Friday.

In addition to the immense damage GWB has caused to the middle class, the poor, the environment, and foreign relations, he is a poet!. Check this out: Roses are red Violets are blue Oh my, lump in the bed How I’ve missed you. Roses are redder Bluer am I Seeing you kissed by that charming French guy. The dogs and the cat, they missed you too

My grandad was kind enough to send me some funny pictures over email. Here’s a few hand-picked by me because they’re really cute/funny. Update: uh, looks like the imge update thingy doesn’t work as I thought it might, so after I finish what I’m doing, I’ll try to fix it or nix it.

Oh, hey, in case y’all find such things interesting, my dog has a blog. His name is Augie, he’s a sweetie, and he posts weekly (Mondaysish).

Nedra from Crafty Girlie blog has laid the challenge to Sean at Ojingo blog. For one month they have to post regularly (by regular I don’t mean on a monthly basis!), and the loser must treat the other to either the dessert (blech) or 6-pack (yay! my favorite currency!) of the winner’s choice. So who will it be, mild-mannered Nedra, crafty lady, webgeek, or Sean, visitor of foreign lands, wild-eyed and frothy from adventures in the far East?

This is a sweet little tale of love, mischief, commitment, and kangaroo. Certainly a nive way to start the week.

I’m going to see if they’ll code up a less buggy Windows. Happy Friday.

You’re Mexico!While some people think you’re poor and maybe a little corrupt, youknow where it’s at, enjoying good food and nice beaches. You like to take things alittle slower than those around you, and you really wish the air were cleaner, but sometimescompromises must be made. For some reason, Chevrolet keeps trying to sell you Novasas well, even though they don’t really go.Takethe Country Quizat the Blue Pyramid

A tall friend (the albatross) sent a nice link to a NYT (you need registration) article. Check it out, it’ll make you chuckle.

embarked on this little mental exercise: “imagine the world without google.” The freaky part was when I moved from going forward to backward. When I came out of my space-out I shuddered.

Sean over at Ojingo Blog has written a nice bit on My Presidential Life. It’s a good little piece, and I’m particularly pleased because it seems partially inspired by my come again? post. yay. Oh…and we appear to be having a bit ‘o trouble with the anchor links so you may need to scroll down a bit to get to his…it was on the 15th. Update: permalinks happy now. No scrolling necessary!

It is little known that the Bush family refrigerator holds the key to many pieces of neocon poilicy. On a small cream-colored magnet decorated by hand with a rainbow, above a photo of the girls, are the words, “If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, cherish it, if it doesn’t it was never meant to be.” There you have it, the Bush economic and environmental policies. “What about foreign policy?

Type ‘French military victories’ into Google. You feel lucky. So press the button that says so. It’s work-friendly in most of the world. Let it be funny, no matter how you feel.

I’m sitting here looking at BBQ recipes for later today. It’s looking like jerk pork and maybe this gooey burgers in Chile Pepper magazine…pimiento cheeseburgers, a Carolina recipe so you know it’s gotta be good for you. The ingredients run to cole slaw (homemade, of course), mayo, cheese, beefy goodnes, and the oft maligned can ‘o chile. Yeah. But anyway, if you get the chance make sure you lift a pint for our country’s forefathers to thank then for winning and building the freedoms.

BoMa tosses out this funny onion-ish link about next steps in the war on terror and the obvious liberal Hollywood link. Guess I added that last bit myself.

I’m so happy someone got it on film. This is too beautiful .

I couldn’t think of a better title for this post, pointing you to a quicky, must-read article, the content of which I’m not going to spoil for you. Just read it. And thank you Utterly Boring.

for dinner, you’ve gotta have this for dessert.

via defective yeti, a nice web-based geography quiz.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to get good and loaded, while supporting the troops. Here’s what you need to play. Some friends, a twelve-pack of beer for each of you, a bottle of tequila, dice, some poker chips, and a television. Turn the teevee on, and switch it over to local war coverage if it somehow isn’t already.

Here’s what to do. Veg out on the tube with a beer in your hand. Just like most teevee drinking games, most of the action revolves around people on teevee saying and doing stuff.

Walking back from Cha Cha Cha after lunch today, we started discussing our dream burrito. It started with a burrito drenched in a tangy green sauce with cheese, but quickly evolved into a burrito wrapped in bacon and deep-fried chimichanga-style, eventually to culminate in a burrito covered with cheese, dipped in batter, wrapped in bacon, deep fried, then covered with guacamole and just enough vegetables to have that I’m eating vegetables!

This is a fun article from some British people. Take a gander.

Will it suddenly convince GWB that he’s a remarkable twit? Thanks Matt for that one.

The deceptive Iraqis had better watch out…Optimus Prime is heading over.

This is just too darn cool. Not a poll for what kind of toothbrush you would be, it’s a way to find your lego soul.

A fun little post about an evil blimp. I’d thought the guy was going to demonstrate the Hindenberg tragedy to his daughter. Enough rants for now…though I feel one welling up right now about schools and teachers.

Okay, Dave Barry has a blog. It’s pretty good, and has some funny links. Here I shamelessly and honestly offer a number of highlights. In which some Harvard guys fish for squirrels In which we know who to blame when we can’t get our pr0nography Thanks Dave! Cool column too!

Kay, this was fun. I do Unix systems administration. It was pretty fun to attach this to the products here. It’s mildly entertaining just for the variety of packages and the uses of the word Unix. So when you think of me, imagine me manipulating a gaggle of unisex diapers.

I came across this link, which happily reveals all the garbage in my collection for me that I should sell. These guys are doing a real service for humanity here. I’m just fed up with having to hear some of these albums again and again, and have gotten to the point where I can barely stomach seeing some of these albums lying idly on the shelf. I am going to miss my Beastie Boys and Chili Peppers albums though.