Daily Doings at the Line of Death Bar & Grill

Those of you who know me know that integrity is one of my core values. How do I define integrity? When my head, my heart, and my gut all align. There is another form of integrity -- more like a code of conduct.

Anyway, I was reading this article on paganwiccan.about.com titled "Because Christianity Doesn't Own Faith", and it mentioned a site called Blogging With Integrity. So I checked it out.

Over the years I've been here on LJ, I've tried to treat people and their opinions fairly and with respect. I've welcomed both agreement and disagreement. Granted, there have been a few exceptions, but I'm human and sometime make mistakes.

I liked the site and what it proposes. So much so that I signed their pledge. And proud to display their badge here:


I encourage those of you who blog to go to the site and read what they have to offer.

Today was the grand opening of the Ollie's Bargain Outlet in Miami Twp., near the Dayton Mall. I had shopped at one in Buffalo NY last year, and was looking forwrd to the opening of this store.

Needless to say, the place was packed, and the staff members were busy greeting everyone.

There are some occupational hazards to bargain shopping. 1) Forget bringing along a shopping list; what you see in the store is what you can get. 2) Try to buy only what you need, not what you want or what can be useful someday. 3) What you see in the store may not be in stock the next time you're in the store. 4) Have a set amount of cash in mind when you shop.

That said, I headed into the store, and was greeted warmly. Some notable buys: A long-reach stapler for $10, a CompTIA A+ study guide (published 2009) for $10, a Beginning CSS book for $8, a CompTIA Security+ study guide (published 2009) for $8, a charging pad for $8. All told, I spent over my target amount, unfortunately.

This will be a nice addition to Big Lots, Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, and Mendelson's. I'd definitely go back there. Maybe next month.

This coming weekend is Marcon, a large science-fiction convention in Columbus, Ohio. Once again, I'm not going to be able to afford to attend. Conventions have become a luxury for me., And I shouldn't be wasting money on frivolous things like science fiction conventions when things like mortgage, food, and prescriptions have a higher priority.

But it goes deeper than that. For the past several years, I've not been happy with going to conventions. I'd see my "con friends", but only in passing. It's rare that I would spend more than 5 minutes with any of them. And that makes me question the depth of those friendships. I've come to the conclusion that conventions are a lousy place for socializing, as everyone else has their own agendas --- panels, activities, the dealers' room, and so on. I often walk away, feeling like I'm a stranger.

I used to enjoy conventions. I'd meet new people, try out new things, and have a blast. But I think those days are gone for me.

It's been a while since I've posted to LJ. Life's been busy.

Fri 5/6: Went to the Day-VEST monthly business meeting. Then had lunch at Bob Evans with a friend from Columbus who needed some data recovery work done on three old IDE drives. Then hung out at Mendelson's for a couple of hours. Then worked the hot dog stand at the Dayton Dragons game. (I wasn't watching the game; I was too busy fixing brats and serving nachos.)

Sat 5/7: Drove to Amelia, Ohio (east of Cincinnati) to participate and observe the Cincinnati Beltane Pagan Pride Day. It was held at a private residence with a huge backyard. There were a few vendors, along with workshops, an ADF ritual led by the host grove (Mystic Ash Grove), and a maypole. I took the back roads to get home, as my rear brakes went out on I-275 on the way down. (I survived the big hill on route 132 near Loveland.) Then hung out at Rick's place and watched Toy Story 2 in Blu-Ray.

Sun 5/8: Called Mom. Went to UU services. Took M to Chuck E. Cheese as she wanted to go there, despite my protestations. Then we went to Cox Arboretum. Then went home and conked out while watching the final episode of The Amazing Race.

I am now getting my brakes fixed. I thought it would be an expensive job, so I cashed in a few savings bonds beforehand. I was right about the cost. The cause of the problem? A bolt that came loose and rattled around inside the brake drum. As soon as they're done, I'm headed to one of my part-time gigs.

Meanwhile, the data recovery I've been doing has hit a snag. The dd operation I did completed early Sunday morning, but the file it yielded contained no salvageable files. So I'm trying something different now. Every 64th block on the drive is bad or unreadable, slowing things down tremendously. I wonder if Spinrite is better at handling bad blocks than GetDataBack.

In the past couple of weeks, I've been getting a lot of nibbles (interest from recruiters). I've had a few bites (interest from cients) as well. This past week, I had 3 interviews, and two are on deck, waiting to be scheduled.

Meanwhile, I'm working on a data recovery issue. A friend had a Seagate FreeAgent Go external hard drive that would mount but would not display data. So I said I'd take a look at it. I ran several tests, including GetDataBack. It appears that there's a bad cylinder on the drive, as every 64th block is bad or unreadable. Right now, I'm using the Unix power tool "dd" to make a raw copy of the drive to another good hard drive, so I can do my data recovery there. The problem is, this dd operation is going to take at least 5 days.

Once I get all my stuff together and organized, I'm afraid I'll end up like this fellow. Is that my ultimate goal in life? Heck, no!

But seriously....this picture came from an article in the April 2008 issue of IEEE Spectrum which discusses the stockpiling of obsolete electronics.

Oh well. Better to have an organized warehouse filled with old electronics than a disorganized landfill with the same old electronics.

I spent this evening shredding old receipts and sorting out more bills.

Earlier this week, I spent a couple of hours sorting out bills from last year, and going through receipts from 2000.

It seems that I spend an awful lot of time chasing down little slips of paper.

It doesn't help that I have papers in every room of the house. I need an office where I can keep all these papers in one place.

I think I need an administrative assistant.

I used to be so organized. Now I'm just overwhelmed.

This coming weekend is Millennicon, in Cincinnati. I thought about going on Saturday, only to see filkertom and other local fans. But I'm still unemployed and don't have money for conventions. And if I did have the money....I probably wouldn't go anyway. They lost my convention business years ago. I'm quite sure I chronicled about it here some time ago.

The weekend of April 1-3 is FilKONtario, Again, I don't have the money to attend, and I don't have the money for a passport. Once of these years, I'd like to return. It's been 8 years since I last attended a FKO.

Over here in the States, we do the census in years ending in a 0. But I suspect that in some countries, they're done in years ending with 1.

Anyway, I'll play.

2011: Still in the condo. Divorced for 4 years. Currently unemployed. Worried that I might lose the condo due to foreclosure. Marcus is still around. Bubastis and Lady died in 2002. Oreo died in 2004. Merlin died in 1997. Added Mercury 8 years ago.

2001: In the condo for nearly 3 years. Happily married to my [first] wife for 2 years. Working as a contractor at GE AIrcraft Engines. Adopted two cats, Marcus and Merlin, in the summer of '99. Bubastis, Oreo, and Lady are still around.

1991: Been in an apartment in Kettering for nearly 2 years now. Dating a woman in Columbus whom I met via GEnie. Working for Battelle. Adopted Bubastis the previous year.

1981: Still at my parents' home. Counting down the days until my high school graduation.

1971: Liiving with my parents in Tonawanda, NY. In the 2nd grade at the local elementary school.

Had two interviews on Thursday.

One was with a homebuilder based in northern Kentucky. They were looking for a front-end web developer, using XML, XSLT, and Adobe Flex, for their marketing efforts. I'm more of a back-end person. And they found someone else who was more proficient in this skillset than me. (I thought I was a longshot to begin with.)

The other was with a local consulting firm who had an out-of-state client wanting to do some data migration. While the interview went well, the client got a case of cold feet and is re-revaluating their project. So this one's on hold.

In the meantime, I'm helping out a friend rebuild a computer system for one of his clients. The motherboard on it -- and presumably the CPU as well -- went kablooey. He was able to order a replacement motherboard, which came in yesterday. The motherboard was installed last night, but it doesn't seem to like having two video cards installed. I'll play around with it some more this weekend.