Miscellaneous goings-on:

- Work is a joy. I have become accustomed to operating in ongoing semi-crisis mode because something's going wrong at any given time, and I love it. I love seeing the pressures of schedule and interpersonal conflict force my staff to devise innovative new solutions. I love that we keep getting better every week. I did let go another staffer but I managed to do it in the best possible way, a fair outcome that benefits all. I don't have much time for anything but work (except Elder Scrolls!) but it's worth every minute.

- I did the locking-myself-in-my-apartment-all-weekend-to-work-on-the-site thing, since I've spent a lot of time with friends the last few weekends and the site needed attention, but I only got about halfway through one FIN post and reached an stalemate with writer's block. I don't blame players for taking so long to reply when it takes me so long to write a post, but it does depress me that the game lags so much.

- They're painting my apartment building. It appears they painted shut the exhaust vent for the bathroom, because now the vent makes a horrible fan-in-a-vacuum moaning sound when I turn it on. I'm just glad I woke up in time to move my car away from the building.

- King Missile's Psychopathology of Everyday Life sucks. It's whiny and depressing with no sense of fun or enthusiasm, and track after track consist only of swear words strung together. If you're a novelty act and you've been reduced to strings of pointless obscenities, it's time to go gracefully into that good night, no matter how fun you once were.

- Has anybody seen John R. Edwards? The guy who leads the group in FIN? His phone is disconnected and he isn't responding to email. John Gunter? Mike? Aaron? Anybody?

- My stereo gave me eight good years but it's broken for good. It seems to click off spontaneously and stops making noise, but I can see that the display is lit up and the equalizer pulses in tune with the input. As soon as I touch a button on the remote, it begins BLARING REALLY LOUD, and I have to jump up and run across the room to turn it off. That's super-fun at two in the morning. I guess I'll buy a new stereo this weekend.

- If I don't play Elder Scrolls for a few hours, I begin shaking.


Logical Operator

The creator of Funeratic, Scott Hardie, blogs about running this site, losing weight, and other passions including his wife Kelly, his friends, movies, gaming, and Florida. Read more »

Flak Album

Lately I've been enjoying Aimee Mann's I'm with Stupid. Oh, how I wish she'd saved that title for a duets album. Go »

Gingerbread Office

I don't often join in Kelly's craft projects, and it's even rarer for her to join in one of mine. But that's what happened last week when my company held a gingerbread house contest, and Kelly pitched in to help the team that I signed up for. We decided to make a "north pole branch" of our Sarasota office. Go »

Normal Paranormal

This will offend believers in the paranormal, so read at your own peril. Socially, I've tried to keep it a polite secret that I don't believe in any paranormal phenomena, including the everyday sort. Several of my local friends practice feng shui, buy healing magnets, size people up based on their birth signs, and go to dieticians who tell them not to eat foods of certain colors. Go »

DMV Mystery

My last car, a 1996 Mercury, was registered in my mother's name, so every year in December (the month of her birthday), the registration sticker would be delivered to her at her house and she'd have to pass it to me to put on the license plate. No big deal. A few months ago, I bought a 2007 Dodge in my name, though she co-signed the credit application since I had no credit history. Go »

WLW: Can't

"Can't" is a word that fat people tell ourselves a lot after so many failed diets: We can't lose the weight, we can't succeed. Hearing it from a doctor would seem inconsequential. But it still hurts. Go »

Crikey

I saw a trailer for a new Free Willy movie coming out soon, starring Bindi Irwin. They're going to cash in on that kid for as long as they can, before she breaks down and can't be Miss Junior Croc Hunter and more. Maybe working in the same career that killed her dad is good for her psyche; who am I to be skeptical? Go »