Celebrate my successes and let me...

25th Keycon in Winnipeg

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:32:56 GMT

...and I'm going to attend.

Tanya Huff is going to be there. 'nuff said.

Rest In Peace Gary Gygax

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:31:12 GMT

...I really enjoyed Basic Dungeons and Dragons... and even Advanced Dungeons and Dragons...

I hope he rests in peace.

But all I can remember is my brother saying, "Roll the dice. Take a breath. Roll the dice, take another breath. Roll the dice, take a step..."

loi (laughing on the inside)

Brrr

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:57:27 GMT

Just gotta say: -41 with the windchill. (Pick degrees C or degrees F...they meet around here).

Underwear: check
socks: check
2nd pair of socks: check
long johns: check (from MEC)
black jeans: check
shell pants: check
undershirt (bright red): check
long sleeve shirt: check
old man's sweater (cardigan): check
skull cap toque from MEC: check
shell coat with liner: check
rockport shoes: check
mitts from MEC: check
face plate from MEC: check
sheer balaclava from MEC: check

Ready for Action!!

Mpls awaits!

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 19:59:33 GMT

Very soon to now I will begin the epic drive to Mpls Minnesota.

Going down with a friend...staying with friends... and...

S H O P P I N G ! With powerful Canadian dollars to back me up!

My first time in the 'States where my dollar is worth more than the US one!! Things were like this when I was young... but it hasn't been like this in f o r e v e r! :)

Lookin' forward to it! :)

The well meaning canvesser...

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 01:58:11 GMT

Hold on to your keyboards kiddies... a bumpy ride ahead!

So, I was innocently... well, as innocently as I could manage... watching Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles on Supernatural 2 (DvD).

There was a sound on the front porch, and a ringing of the door bell.

I answered, and fresh faced blond youngster was at the door.

Clad in my gym shorts, I stepped out onto the porch to talk to him.

He was beautiful. And, from some nature organization I give money to. He was here to hit me up for more dough. So I relaxed down onto one of the bench seats on the front porch.

And let him give me his speal. I noted he head bright blond hair, attractively styled. Bright blue eyes. A handsome face.

His phone rang...or bonged or whatever...

I suggested he was a popular guy.

He blushed, and ignored the call or text message.

He continued his speal. I answer his questions with pleasent mild interest, but deatchment.

I saw he had jeans on, worn jeans. And bright blue STRANGE shoes with something on them. Some weird design. Very arty.

I returned my attention to his right eye.

He was earnest, young, and delightlyfully committed to his cause.

His eyebrows were dark haired, and he had big eyebrows. Oh no. I said big.

My mind flipped into how delicious he was.

I knew I would be giving him money from the instant he showed up at the door. I kinda knew what he was here for since he's the 3rd one to come.

He showed me a pamphlet about some wetlands the Premier has already promised to protect...but hasn't made concrete (bad choice of words) strides in doing...

He told me the group had employed a children's entertainer to teach some kids...and that they were hoping on building from last year's modest effort...move from 2 days to a week.

He tried to give me some literature...or let me read what he had...but really, I had no interest.

I got him to start writing my donation up and went in to get the cash.

Came back out and sat on the opposite bench.

I complimented him on his ability to go out there and fund-raise. It is always best to use the truth when complimenting people. It is much more sincere ;).

He was pleased by this.

He seemed poised to recruit me...and he did try. But my skills don't lie with convincing strangers to follow causes they have never heard of.

He took my money, gave me my receipt and went on his way. Admired. Successful in this transaction.

I went inside...lay down again... and tried to watch the show.

I ate a strawberry. Just one. And imagined kissing him with the taste of strawberries in my mouth. Of saying, back on the porch before he left that he was welcome to come back anytime...but that there would be a price. One very slow, loooooooooong, kiss.

I tried to watch the show, but kept daydreaming of inviting him in. Kissing him. Stroking him. Opening him to the world of pleasure we could share. Exciting his imagination so that he could create such spaces with me again, or with someone else.

You can't pay back, but you can pay forward.

I hope I run into him and his blue shoes again. He is a treasure. And probably all of 18, maybe 20 at the most.

Sam, his name is Sam. Wonderful young man. I wish him the best whereever he fares.

Thar she blows!--Sept 19th again!

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 17:43:54 GMT

Ye be thinkin' that y'erse, ye'll not remember---and then... everywhere you surf...thar she blows! Posts and articles and all manner of treasures reminding ye that today be the day: International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Well matey, I harse to say that while I still have 2 legs, 2 arms and 1 head, I am not carrying a full load, me ship could use some more goods... so prepare to be boarded!! No quarter!

{Well, that went well. Let's just slip into regular talk for a sec: Tennis elbow, a new experience. I shouldn't fight the furniture. I shouldn't fight the furniture. I shouldn't.... you get the idea. There is some debate over the result... I'm damaged but the futon isn't. However, on the plus side for me, the futon is my slave. I sleep on the futon. You could say I sleep on the stomach of the futon--if it had a stomach (thank you Ghengis Khan).

Going to physio.

Rotting my brain in front of the one-eyed wonder: I marathoned through 24 Season 2, 3 and 4. 4 I much better than 3 and 2. Though I now that I stop to think about it, some the story arcs in each season were VERY strong. Then broke down and got Supernatural 2 and Prison Break 2. Partway through Supernatural 2, I'm thinkin'... gosh. They're running out of things to creep me out with/interest me with (characters)/amuse me (dialogue).

I really do like Jensen Ackles when he is a smart-alec. (Like in Dark Angel Season 2). They've made him much more macho (sounding)...though he still looks like a girlie-man. Both Jensen and Jared do really fine jobs acting, it is just that the scripts are lacking. The tension isn't there, the monsters aren't scaring me... whatever.

Time to pause Supernatural 2 and go to Prison Break 2. Probably Wentworth Miller will be a welcome change of pace.

Anyhoo--started this just to say: putting my feet up for a few weeks netted unexpected results: my feet weren't swollen yesterday. Which means, I gotta do it more often.

Left wondering if nasty, decadent (chocolate laded) chocolate chip cookies from Safeway (ate a row last night, +2 more!) have additives...or just that bowling at night Tuesday irritated the feet back to normal...

Yay TV!

Oops--Yay putting my feet up! ;)

=======

Arrr---ye'll be cleanin' the barnacles off me belowdecks if ye don't honour the Pirate code and Talk Like Yer a Pirate TODAY!

LiveJournal auto-post

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 01:16:30 GMT

Night has fallen again on Waikiki.

I took a walk organized by the hostel up to Diamond Head. It was cool. In the end, there was me, (Canadian), a Scottish guy (Tom) and an American (from Seattle) named Andy.

It was fun... then I shade-bathed/sun-bathed on the grass by Queen's Surf beach.

Now, internet.

Making friends, having fun, being laid back.

It's all good.

Back from Germany... and slightly worn...

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 21:23:27 GMT

Just a very quick post to say I'm back from Germany... and am recovering from the nasty salad of: stress, cold drafts and twisting under load... (doing 3 people's jobs in someone else's workspace makes frosty snap--literally!)

Am on anti-inflams and resting...thank God we have a long weekend! :)

Germany was a blast! Will post a pic or two (promise only 1 or 2!) once I figure out how to connect the Sony back to the computer (pre-trip clean-up cleaned away the USB cable! Doh!)

:)

diet

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 17:38:42 GMT

Before you all jump on me: let just say this.

I have about 5 (maybe 10) pounds to lose. That's all. I'm not Karen Carpenter. I don't have people surrounding me telling me I'm fat. I won't die from my diet.

However, I did try to start it off with a day of fasting. Which failed. I ate a big lunch. And someone brought fresh picked strawberries to work. So I had 3!

All that being said, I'm experiencing echoes of my visit to Montreal. This time, I kinda knew what to expect. (Tiny meals, big price tags). I managed to squeeze in a 'standard' American meal: (meat, rice/potatoes, veggies). At that point I found the standard meal to be HUGE. And heavy.

So I came back thinking, I gotta diet. I gotta be more like the Europeans. Less like the Americans.

So, first off: stamp down my chocolate addiction again. Stamp down my caffeinated addiction (which comes hand in hand).

So, my rules: moderation. Yes, you can have 1 cookie. No, you can't eat a row anymore. If you had the cookie, you don't get the ice cream. If you take the ice cream, you get a couple of spoon fulls. That's all. If you take a donut (from the huge supply at work---everyone's birthday is a donut day), take only a small piece (cut it up with a sharp knife on the handy cutting board).

Eat light, eat healthy, but by all means eat.

Skip an occasional meal if you feel like. If you're starving at bed time, eat a small sandwich (if you make a cheese sandwich, you get one slice of cheese, you don't get to fill the inside the sandwich with cheese anymore).

That's it.

We'll see how I do.

oxytocin, stroking

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 00:08:26 GMT

web researching oxytocin: the build a family hormone...

Orphaned babies in Eastern Europe (where money is tighter) limit contact between the workers and babies... these babies have much lower levels of hormones including oxytocin and and a family recognition hormone.

So, if you want to keep your guy, stimulate the relationship hormone through stroking the skin.

Hurricanes and New Orleans

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 23:51:14 GMT

I picked up "Path of Destruction: The Devastation of New Orleans and the Coming Age of Superstorms" from the Library.

I was interested in N'Orleans (where I visited ex-roommates over Hallowe'en one year) and Superstorms.

I wanted to know about why FEMA failed. I wanted to hear first hand accounts from the storm. I wanted to know what happened from the refugee's points of view. (My friend who rode out the hurricane never left her apartment close to the French Quarter (the FQ never flooded).)

The book was fairly compelling, but a hard read.

The short of it is:

1) The Corps of Engineers failed in their storm proofing designs.
2) The price tag for safety was too high.
3) FEMA was cut down by 75% by the Republicans under the Bushes. You can't expect great results when you cut away your workers.
4) Homeland Security got their mitts into things, and they didn't value hurricanes over terrorists. (They're not allowed to by the Administration. The spin is there is a war on terror...you must support the invasion of Iraq. Which we don't call an invasion..but heck, we're occupying Japan (Iwogima (or was that Guam) anyone?), the Phillipines, Cuba (Guantanamo Bay anyone?), Saudi Arabia, and now Iraq.)
And heck, they've had hurricanes every year in the South. No big.

Some people noticed how high the river was getting (despite a ban on publication in the newspaper (where the 2 authors both worked)), and left.

The mayor ordered an evacuation. Got most of the people out. The ones least likely to go where the poorest. (One of my ex-roomates left then, the husband of the two).

Then the storm hit,

Most of the people who remained in New Orleans were people of colour.

People scraped their way to the Superdome (official) or the convention centre (unofficial and unknown to the authrorities). With Comm down, rumour was king. And often rumour was wrong.

FEMA, Homeland Security, anyone who could help, the National Guard and the Army, and the Coast Guard all seemed to be working independently...and at cross purposes. Or felt they weren't allowed to do things.

And don't forget: a FEMA team used to 100 people in a safe base of operations, fully supplied, from near the catastrophe. The new FEMA was only 25 people, and didn't have a proper base of operations. Lines of communication and authority were very long.

And the President was on vacation. Mustn't upset his itinerary with a mere catastrophe that wasn't documented and substantiated by proper channels.

My favourite bit was when the National Guard expected rapists, murderers and gangs were "running" the convention centre. So they approached en masse, and had their weapons out, but aimed low. The people there were none of these things and gladly welcomed the soldiers. So much for intel. (They were almost all people of colour...maybe this fueled that belief?)

One bit of history: Someone researched hurricane activity in the area. In the past 5000 years major hurricanes have ripped through the New Orleans area repeatedly. The last few hundred years is an anomaly of low hurricane activity.

The levee system in place has restricted the spread of silt in the delta, which has strengthened the strength of the hurricanes that come through the New Oreleans area.

If global warming is a reality, the heightened water temperature will increase the severity of storms. (My idea: Perhaps they will come up with category 6 and 7 in the future. )

Anyway. Great info. The book was written by two newspaper journalists who stayed through the whole process: John McQuaid and Mark Schleifstein.

Body Worlds 2 -- a Montréal

Tue, 05 Jun 2007 01:12:25 GMT

Wow. While in Montréal last week, I visited Body Worlds 2.

K folks. This will be gruesome. Don't follow the link if you're easily upset.

Cadavers. Flayed and spread in artistic poses showing us laymen the muscular system, the nervous system, the skeleton (and cartiledge), the digestive system, the vascular system, the pulmonary system, the reproductive system (male and female)... and... probably most importantly: the effects of cancer to various organs.

The most compelling and visually interesting displays are the artistic full body displays. However, a lot of the information about function and disease and such is in smaller displays in the display cases.

The lung section showed healthy lungs, lungs with cancer, and a blackened coal miner's lung. The miner's lung was particularly horrific: jet black. The sign there said that a coal miner inhaled 3 cups of coal dust in a year. No wonder they died so often! The human body can only take so much stress.

The section on fetuses was particularly sad. One woman was quite far enough along in the pregnancy when she died of lung cancer... you could see her exposed lung... all blackened and withered... and the fetus in the womb. Very sad.

They had a display on obesity...a human cross section showing a thin person's organ arrangement...and then the obese person's with the fat in the way, impeding the organs functions...the the fat hanging down in the front. Y-u-c-k.

One of the things I manage to do as a North American is forget that people have genitals. Often the big displays have genitals---without the outer skin, just with main bits and the tubes that naturally connect the bits together.

Things I have learned 'cause of this display: (some of these should be gimme-s, but I didn't know)

-The liver is a BIG organ.
-The one lung is bigger than the other ('cause the heart takes up a lot of room, and is off to the left---though now I wonder if some people have the heart on the right...and I don't mean the left handed!)
-Men's bladders are bigger than womens. (Now guys, imagine how small a woman's bladder is when compressed by a baby during pregnancy. No wonder they need to go so often!)
-Bacteria requires water and fat to grow (which is why these bits are removed in the early stages of plastination)
-You can be a muscleman and be old. The two can coexist.
-Even "perfectly fit" people can die. Young.
-Cancer in the liver makes lots of dime shaped bumps--each one a cancer.
-Cancerous lungs are dark coloured and shrivel up. (I thought they'd get bigger.)
-Plastination is gruesomely compelling.

Personally, I can't imagine donating my body for this procedure.

Anyhow.... this display was educational. And upsetting. It reminded me that our bodies are made of meat. We have organs. I usually only think of 'people'... not collections of muscles, bones, ligaments, organs...

Muslim Immigrants in France

Tue, 08 May 2007 17:38:46 GMT

Europeans "discovered" other parts of the world, colonizing them.

They extracted riches from the colonies, eventually letting the colonies go as recognized countries. When the Euro's divided up the world, they paid no attention to existing divisions, they just lumped together what they liked.

Now, today, immigrants from these colonies have "come home".

In Bordeau, France, Muslims live in a certain quarter of the city.

My friend from Bordeau told me she informed visitors about how to act when they drove through that quarter. Roll up your windows (it was a hot day, and the windows were down as "air conditioning"), don't look at anyone, don't get out of the car. Lock your doors. Don't antagonize them.

The female visitor kept her window down. The car was stoned. Luckily, the stones missed the people in the car. It put a scare into the visitor.

Another visitor, another time. Same drill. Windows were closed this time. Door already locked. My friend's car was not going fast enough for a Muslim couple. They swore (in French) at my friend...and eventually overtook her car and parked at a traffic light. The man got out of the car and shouted abuse at my friend. He approached the car. He tried to get in. He kicked and hit the car. Eventually he started to return to his car. My friend started laughing, he came back. More abuse. His wife in the Hajab ?spelling?, gave my friend the finger.

The male visitor was shocked. This was a modern country, and this was hooliganism.

It gets worse. My first reaction is: If you don't like France, go home. Don't revile where you live, go somewhere you like. However, very likely, the fellow who was so abusive is from there. Born in France, and unemployable.

Canada wanted it's immigrants to fit in. In the 1980s the Federal government came up with a university placement program called COSEP. Career Oriented Summer Employment Program. Basically, the federal government subsidized (or sometimes flat out paid) the wages for uni students to get some work experience. What I didn't know, was that the Feds funded it as investment. An investment against racism.

At the time, for instance, the Canadian Wheat Board (a government corp), only had white workers. No immigrants. People who had strange sounding names were never interviewed. "They wouldn't like it here."

After the COSEP program, people had been exposed to people of different ethnic backgrounds... And found they weren't all that different.

Today, the Federal government (conserative) is planning on abolishing the Canadian Wheat Board (most likely at the behest of big business...so Wheat can be like Beef: independent producers having to deal with very few distributors--who hold all the power cards. Bad barginners will get crappy prices for their wheat...which is good "big" business.

Today's Canadian Wheat Board is multi-cultural.

The office where I work is extremely multi-cultural. Tolerant. Intergrated. Hmm.

Back to France: Imagine: You're Muslim. You're dark skinned. You're born in France. Your parents don't see value in Western education...so you leave school early. No one will hire you. You're not educated enough to know you're in a pit. There's no way out. You're angry. You're a second class citizen in your own country.

The white French have money, cars, houses, vacations, fashions, perfumes... you have very little.

Recipe for disaster. Car burnings. Riots. Hooliganism. Gangs. We just don't get to hear about it all the time.

dog listener

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 03:32:11 GMT

I wanted to understand animals better..so I read the horse whisperer.

Then I ran across the dog listener. A woman from UK.

More than 1/2 through her book I've more or less learned the kernal of book is this:

Dogs are pack animals. Period.
So, in a pack, either your alpha or not.
Most problem dogs think they're alpha.

So:
1) by Token eating before them (alpha wolves eat first)
2) by ignoring the dogs for the first 5 minutes of any meeting (alpha wolves ignore the bad behaviour of the junior wolves (as does the lion and senior lionesses in a pride))
3) by leaving the dogs presence without asking (alpha's come and go at will)
4) by establishing territory the dog is not allowed to enter (alpha's have private territory)

you relieve your dog from

a) having to attack strangers (you acknowledge their barking and you decide how to deal
with the "threat".)
b) attacking family members (all family members should be alpha to the dog. All.) who
try to leave the house

and other bad stuff.

Interesting.

ZOMG! "Blood Ties" coming to CityTV in August!!!!

Fri, 20 Apr 2007 02:12:10 GMT

"Blood Ties will be appearing on CITY TV in August."

Excellent.

Great!!! Woo hoo! Tanya Huff's excellent horror/comedy/drama series of books has finally made it to the small screen! And will be shown in Canada!! Woo hoo!!!!!

Colour me ecstatic! :)

I'm sure it will appear in US before that. UK already bought it.

Sun, 15 Apr 2007 07:29:06 GMT

Competition: the force I have to exert to come out ahead of you.
Civilization: the force that binds people together to work in the common interest.

The former is something "those who succeed" have... the latter is what we all benefit from.

And the latter really got a leg up when writing was invented. Ideas could be kept and shared without direct interaction...

And now, with the internet, we can interact across the entire globe... in more or less real time.

And now we have video imaging (youtube) that can be shared the same way.

Wow.

The possibilities just expanded again.

The Weirdness that is Bowling in a League

Sun, 15 Apr 2007 06:08:18 GMT

Well..we are coming to a close to our bowling league this year...

We've had 3 weeks of "roll-offs"--whatever they are.

We were the 2nd last team for the last quarter (I didn't pay attention to other quarters)...so we went into the consolation 1/2 of the league. The championship 1/2 was the top 1/2, and they bowl against one another. Pinfall + handicap (handicaps level the playing field so that even novice bowlers can win the league) decides your position.

So, we came out on top in the Consolation 3 nights of bowling. Hooray. I didn't gloat about this --and I was supposed to--or so I was told ;)

We are supposed to get some money. And there is a thing called pin money--the bigger your score, the more money you get.

So, colour me oblivious. I bowled. I had fun. I'm ordering my own balls (and bag and shoes). But ordering my own balls (just 2) sounds better to me. ;)

Moneyduck

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 01:06:43 GMT

Does anyone play Moneyduck? I think it would be lots of fun. :)

Bikage begins!

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 23:46:05 GMT

In the spirit of "BETTING ENDS" from that wildly decried English-tv show about Japan...

I began cycling to work this week. Go me! :)

(That show... had some kind of internet component. People were supposed to watch it while also sitting at their computers... It was an interactive show. Also featured in it were "Shake Hands Man"--and "Lady One Question!"--she would ask someone famous a single question (while being videod...the celebrity would answer the question... and the lady would hold the microphone up to the celebrity without asking any more questions...often getting the celebrity to continue talking...until finally...she or he would turn away. This was timed... and the audience had previously had to vote how long the celebrity would talk or at least give her some attention.)

Shake hands man would shake hands with a celebrity and not let go of his or her hand. Again. Timed. And again, the audience were to bet how long the celebrity would continue to shake hands while being videoed openly.

Oh--and "Lady One Question!" was always referred to with an exciting lift to the end of her name.

Sadly, the show was considered racist by Japanese-Britons. Some people have no sense of humour at all.

the scream

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 22:44:39 GMT

Wow. My life is complete. I mean. Really. It is. Why you ask?

I've been screamed at.

Never happended before. I was waiting for the bus. (How sexy is that?) I was waiting for the bus in Honolulu. (Woo hoo! Sexxxier.) I was waiting for the bus after drinking beer. In the afternoon. (How depraved is that!?) On a Sunday. (Drinking on a Sunday? Shame! Shame!)

I'd been on a party boat. A gay party boat... that promised nude swimming. There was no nude swimming. (though I was ready to 'take the plunge' if suitable inducement was present.)

I'd discovered I had a costume malfunction with my existing slinky bathing suit...so I opted to wear a pair of very expensive black underwear...just as form hugging as the slinky bathing suit...and no, not revealing. Just very perfectly designed to conform to the male form in front...and in behind.

I was also wearing a very light cotton shirt--that was mostly black towards the bottom.

So: waiting for the bus. In Honolulu on a Sunday afternoon, around '4.

There was a loud scream from the street. As usual, I identified the source, and location of the scream. It was a now merely smiling black woman, a passenger in a car. (Luckily for us all, just a passenger.) She had an ear to ear grin. She was thrilled. And beaming. And staring right at me.

I was surprised.

20 years ago a guy whistled at me when I was walking home (I had long hair then, and I was slightly slimmmer). He was in a convertible... a passenger in a car. As the car passed me, said, "Oh my God! It's a guy!". I actually relished his discomfort.

But now, 20 years later... and I'm getting screamed at? What is the world coming to? ;)

In other news, my hair was a bit "Leif Garrett"ish. Before the drugs rotted him out. Let's say, at the height of his popularity. Perhaps it was the hair and the "trunks".

In the gay bar, someone suggested I should "go home and get some pants". I was a bit surprised. I mean...everything was covered.

I mention the hair... because during the same trip, I attended a street fair for the football tourney held in Hawai'i this February. I was walking around looking at the performers on various free-stages... and a woman... out of the blue... said: "I like your hair." That was nice, and unexpected. I guess... it should have set me up to be less shocked a few days later when I got screamed at.

Other than that, I just have to report that some ladies of the evening called me sexy (this was when I walked instead of taking the bus--during the aforementioned football festival week.). Being the altruist that I am... I suggested to her that high heels were not really necessary for her trade... she was so beautiful that making her (skinnier than mine!) calves shapely wasn't necessary... they already were shapely without making any extra effort.

Oh--and one of the other ladies squeezed my ass while I was talking to this one. She did it in passing, as I was walking with lady A. I commented on it in my "so-very-cool-way", "She just squeezed my ass!" Lady A replied, "I'll squeeze more than that!" I'm sure I blushed.

I really do lead such a sheltered life. ;)

Oh--by the way... Leif Garrett is gone. Make way Simon le Bon. (of Duran Duran fame). My hairdresser had his way with me on Monday night. He expected $50. I gave him $100. I'm worth it. ;)

quixtar

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 22:02:08 GMT

Or whatever it called.

Brushed by it today. A intensely sexy co-worker came to talk to me privately today.

He basically wanted me to commit my Saturday night to a marketing pitch I'd have to pay $30 for.

At the convention centre.

I did a bit of research on the company (the-team.biz) by using google and "pyramid". There is a lot of opposition to quixtar: www.webraw.com and www.ripoffreport.com both feature it.

Some wiki for quixtar reports that the founding company is the same as the founding company of Amway. Hey, similar scheme: get people to buy products at near retail prices... so they 'somehow' can make money. By convincing others to join.

I tried to follow where the money goes... and my initial summation is this: the parent company of Alticor, makes a lot of money off each sale. I'm going to guess Alticor produces the products, and instead of selling them at wholesale to a distributor (who then sells them to another regional distributor ...where it is picked up by a retailer (the price going up at each level)--they sell through Quixtar with no middlemen.

Based on the $0.19 price for army soldier toys purchased by a local junk shop (Dollar-type store) which sells for $1.00, $1.50 or $2.00 --depending on the manager's whim...We're looking at 79% to 87% to 90.5% profit margin to play with. They throw apparently maximum 25% off retail to the tier one people (the ones who are just starting...can build up a discount of up to 25% off the quixtar "street" price.).

People who "strike out on their own" then gather people beneath them... and they can make money off the people they sign up for the scheme.

So, similar to Amway, but without the Amway name. A more modern Amway?

Shudder.

How's that for content gotmoof?

Athena

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 23:44:21 GMT

Sad to say it.

Just had the mobile vet look at my 16 1/2 year old cat (he said equivalent of 90 years old). She has a mass in her abdomen. It's about 6 inches long, and about and inch and a half wide.

If benign, no big deal. If not, the cancer will have spread so widely that there is nothing they can do. I'm to watch for loss of appetite, scruffiness, and lack of energy. When (If?) this happens, the end is near.

Her nightly yowling is just a search for comfort. She lived in a house with lots of people to give her attention...now most of them are away. She's lonely most of the day.

I try to give her some cuddle time... though my eyes get puffy, and I get itchy all over (turns out, I'm allergic to cats now).

She's given me so much love over the years.

The vet told me to give her treats.

So, I'll enjoy her while she lasts, while she still enjoys life too.

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 23:24:48 GMT

I decided to spend my last day in Hawaii with a couple of German guys from the hostel We drove around the south west part of the island (where I've never been) and also saw the Dole Plantation--though we avoided the official tour and kiddie train ride.

We had a good time...and in the evening we went to Ono Hawaiian Foods (a restaurant) on Kapahulu (near but not in Waikiki). Great Hawaiian food!!! Yum. And: cheap!

Must dash--in Vanc airport and my flight is due to board in about 4 minutes.

Cheers all

PS Note to self: Tobias is pronounced Toe-B-us. Dieter is easy: D-ter.

Night in Waikiki

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 05:03:02 GMT

Fear the Monkey Spit! - People are Pervs -- What lion???!

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 04:06:06 GMT

Echo from the past...

Saw me sleepily sauntering to the restaurant... alone... along the pleasent path by the river. I was "on safari"...staying at a walled compound... I had a 1/2 of a cabin (side by side) to myself... a number of cabins away from the main building... the one with the restaurant.

We were to have breakfast (not my cup of tea at that phase of my life) and then pile in the van to "safari"--or animal watch in English.

We were encouraged to have tea or coffee. The sugar was set out in a bowl with 2 handles. It was coarse African sugar... ie not fine granuals, but coarse thick ones. My body said: no coffe, no tea. No thank you.

I found a seat and watched the crocs in the river.

Sitting was pleasent.

Suddenly seeing the moneky run up and put his/her face into the sugar bowl was "worth the price of admission." Face down, mouth agape, lets say he, he gulped a whole mouthful of sugar. The he gulped another. A server noticed this... and ran over. This scared the monkey away. The server calmly picked up the sugar bowl, shook it, and put it back down. The monkey face print (quite deep) was smoothed away. No trace. Weeeeeelll... that cured me of using the sugar. Ever. Ook. Monkey spit!

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Another day, another monkey. She was a Mom, with baby clinging on her back. She started eating the sugar... and when menanced by the server... picked up the bowl by both handles and ran for it!! While running... she ate some sugar. They disappeared into the distance. (The wiater sure could run!!!) Eventually, he came walking back with an empty cup. My guess is: she threw it at him.

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Another 'safari'--this one by a river full of hippos. I watched the hippos fighting in the water (muddy brown... you could only see their eyes and noses mostly...unless they were biting each other...and my goodness... WHAT BIG TEETH!

At one point I saw a Hippo sort of glide over another one...submerging the bottom one... and I suddenly realized what was happening! I said, "The hippos are fucking!", quite loudly. Well... the railing suddenly was filled with my fellow tourists. People ARE pervs. And... no tv at the lodge. ;)

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In the van, "on safari", the driver stopped by the roadside. In the distance we could see a wild pig. An unhappy wild pig. I could initially see two lionesses obviously stalking him. Their senses alert and clearly calculating how to use the terrain to corner the pig. Then I spotted the 3rd lioness. A triangle of lions. Things looked bad for the pig. The lions closed in... and the pig escaped!!!

At this point I realized the natural colour (tan) of the lion merged easily with the dead yellow/tan grass all around us. I got very nervous. And spotted a lion within 15 feet of the van. Looking more closely at the "new" lion... I saw she/he wasn't alone. There were 7 others right there. 8 lions. One adult female...and 6 adolescents. We had stopped almost on top of them...but since the van doesn't register as a threat... and we don't register as food while inside the van... they ignored us.

Freaked me right out. That taught me that lions are like polar bears... they hunt partly by stealth. Guess like crocs too. Small (yet maximum) effort.

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The cheetahs were the best thing on safari. We 'found them' by driving over to a bunch of other vans. These other vans marked the spot where a mother cheetah and her 3 kids were resting, lying down. While we were there, the kids woke up. And started running around. One of them ran around biting the tailgate on another van/truck, two of them played tag under and around another vehicle... and one ran over to my van and put his (her?) paws on our windscreen. Right in front of me. His eyes were maybe a foot away from mine... he stared briefly into my eyes... and then ran away. At this point, I became very very unhappy with the pop-top... which was popped up. Last thing we needed was a young cheetah IN the van with us (he/she could've run at the van and jumped up to the roof (via that windshield he/she just investigated) and jump into the van. With us. That would just be bad.

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Same trip: we saw a spitting cobra. The driver stopped the van for us... and the cobra obligingly reared up by the roadside. At this point, the driver rolled up his window. Good protection from the cobra's venom. It flings it's venom into the eyes of it's prey. The prey's eyes burn, and it runs away... usually into something... or over a cliff (carefully selected by the cobra). Happy was I when the window went up.

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We also saw an elephant. African elephants can be big. This one was small. But still big enough to trash the van and us. The driver got ready to drive a hasty retreat if the elephant charged... it didn't. Life was good.

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Bought myself a knife--made of of a car strut it seems. Unknown leather scabbard. Don't want to know. (a grey leather...probably some herd animal). At one point I was walking in the dark in jaguar territory... and I realized I needed to have my dagger out and ready if it was going to do any good. In my backpack was completely useless.

I stopped, and armed myself. Sure I was untrained, but I was highly motivated... and suddenly VERY VERY awake and aware.

When I reached the building I saw some of the baboons. They used our building (this one had 2 stories) to get into the trees. The baboons and I ignored one another. Polite primate indifference.

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Ah Africa.