Oct 04 Previews

I see now ADV and Tokyopop have specially custom designed and annoying
listings pages in Previews. A few ads would be OK and keep the listings
in the regular pages, but these are confusing. I see ADV's pages and
wondered where the listings were then realized the ad pages are the
listings. They're not so important that they need to do this - obviously
they think they're more important than they are.


Two new titles by Tokyopop has obviously set off the "Annoyance" meter.
DearS manga - geez, how old is the first tankoubon I got? Anywho, I've
read it, I know what's going on, so I don't have to buy TP's first book
of this.

The other TP annoyance is the listing of Hyper Police manga. I have the
first 7 books of this, and along with the anime, I know what's going on.
I had some plans to translate this myself. It seems TP has a Dengeki
agreement and are raiding their catalog of titles. sheesh. Hyper Police
anime doesn't cover all the manga. I know of only 7 tankoubon and
they're larger than usual, but I think MEE-sensei is still doing the
manga series. Image Entertainment did the anime on DVD and dubbed VHS.
I've had the fansubs for a number of years. ^_^

I would rather see Tokyopop do a few titles well rather than create a
market glut of translated manga that suffers in quality. I know some
people get intimidated when they see too much product, and not knowing
what to buy, walk away.



I don't know why Bandai insists on the incorrect name for "tenshi no
shippo" as "Angel Tales" when it should be "Angel's Tail". Oy vay.


But the annoyance in this section this month is Pioneer's listing of
"Hanaukyou Maids" - I'm using the "tai" kanji of this title as a plural
indicator. Now, they've numbered it as 1, but then they have to add some
stupid name / title for V.1. Just put a number on it and don't think
anymore... Sheesh. A lot (all?) U.S. releases of multiple volume anime
anymore get a number and a name to forget. I'd rather the number be
alone. But that's minor... This first disk of Hanaukyou Maids is only 75
minutes (1 hr 15 m) for the usual Previews Price.

I have seen most of Hanaukyou Maids already. Studio Ironcat was handling
the manga, but cancelled orders for books 4 and 5 two months in a row,
with their first 3 books re-listed this month. I think Morishige is
still doing the series, slowly, but it's up to 7 books last time I saw
anything. It'd be nice if Ironcat could work something with Pioneer
(which is extremely doubtful but hey it's a good idea) - buy the manga,
get $10 off a DVD/ video (like the Dark Horse / Animeigo thing with Oh
My Goddess! years ago)...

Anywho, the anime consists of mainly 15 minute episodes, 15 in all.
Well, I know the first 12 are like that, so that's 3 hours of video
right there. At most this should be a 2 disc release, but even I have
been searching for the last 3 episodes. I love this series among my
short list of favorites. I will not be surprised if Pioneer / Geneon
manages more than 3 discs out of this. The artbox should be a special
order item - collect all the releases and send away for the free box
(after collecting the proof of purchase stickers). This would encourage
sales, I feel, instead of charging an extra $10 for it.

But me wonders if they'll get the new version of Hanaukyou Maids as
well. Ah.. which version will they release first off? The original is
more fun. Caveat Emptor! ^_^

Watch out for nasty bugs

I guess my 2nd niece has had her first (and hopefully only) lesson with
bugs you Should Not Pick Up. I'm not sure what this one was, but it had
some white on it. Jessie brought this one inside until she had some
burning sensation in her hands, as well a spot on her tummy and one spot
on a leg. Mom tried using something that wasn't working, then I
remembered Solarcane that I had and used it. After a few sprays, she
finally calmed down.

But I guess she couldn't exactly win a 2nd day. She wanted something
that I had to get out of one drawer in the kitchen and hit one pinky as
I closed the drawer. The injury was inspected and considered minor, but
Jessie insisted a little chocolate ice cream would make things feel
better. (cheeky!)

Dang. I forgot the other thing I wanted to post.

So dern tired...

Lots of running around done today before and after work...

Dropped off mom's prescriptions at Drug Fart and got money orders for my
obligations this morning.

After work, got expensive dog food for my older sister's dogs. $9.00 for
8 lbs - what is this crap, edible gold?

Went to Wal*Fart. Couldn't get just 2 or 3 boneless country style
ribs... So that went unpurchased. Found ace elastic bandages for $2.97
each, bottle of ibeenpoopin (Ibuprofen) for $7.97 (the big bottle).
Picked up Tidy Cat little box deodorizer. It works so much better than
the Arm & Hammer baking soda based stuff. Honestly can recommend it to
others. Paid with debit card. (oops!)

Priced replacement battery packs for the cordless phone. I'm going to
buy a $9 pack and use my knowledge of soldering to attach the old plug
on the new cheap pack. Depending on the plug, you pay either $9 or $12 -
and it's the same damn battery pack!! 3.6V and all that!! Never pay more
than you have to. I'll see what this week's manga take is before I get
the pack. So in the meantime, the phone downstairs is going to be living
upstairs until the new pack is bought and installed.

Got gas. Didn't get in the area in time to stop at the credit union, so
I go on to Drug Fart. Mom's meds are ready, and processed as hoped. Only
thing is her debit card has a $200 a day limit. I made a $17 purchase at
Wal*Fart.. oops. So I whip out the Visa and go about my business.

I hope being tired right now doesn't make me do something stupid like
last night.... T.T

So anywho I goes to Lowe's...

And I buy this $4 tube of Dry Lok water proofing seal stuff. I borrowed
a caulking gun from a friend (remember to return it) and this past
Wednesday, I got it into the crack at the base of the wall with the
floor on 2 walls where I think it leaked when the rain from Frances went
through. I have no idea how effective it will be since the rain from
Ivan didn't really stay as long. But as long as no more water leaks into
the basement, I'll be happy with the $4 investment. This is something
that should have been done a long time ago...

The dishwasher got a replacement, and with water leaking out of the unit
as my bro in law installed it, apparently tested before shipping. I ran
a load in it last night and the dial ie Timer was working right.

Unfortunately, the U bend at the bottom of the drain is about as old as
the house and rotted through, so that has to be replaced...

Pulling an almost all nighter...

I've had only 5 hours sleep. I basically got to do a marathon
go-through-my-floppies session yesterday, finally finishing up this
round after 4:30 am this morning. I added almost 100 MB of pics and data
to my Archive CD rom. I think when I go through for my other archive,
that bunch I'll start with. I should be able to figure out which ones
don't have any anime pics and go through them first.

My archive? Ever since I bought an Apex DVD player about a year or so
ago and finding out it can do a slideshow from JPG images on a Data
CDrom, I've been going through my floppies (720K and 1.4M) and
organizing them for use on my Apex. But it's also serving other
purposes. It's a good way to gather my entire anime picture collection
in one spot, and add a bunch of other stuff while I'm at it. I started
with the oldest stuff first.

So far, it's around 383MB for Version 8. V.7 was around 289MB. ^_^ I
still have more to do, debugging of pics that lock up the Apex. With my
Mako losing everything, this is also a good way to put all my MBM Epoc
pics in one place along with the software I like using on it. I doubt
I'll reach over 500 MB when I'm done, but hey, it'll be fun trying.

How to make decent milk from dry

Most people hate milk that's been mixed up from dry. Mainly because it
doesn't taste quite right. I've discovered a way to actually mix dry
milk up with water and have it taste decent.

Start with filtered water. Anything else changes the taste.

Get it COLD. That means putting 2 quarts in a container and put it in
the frig. Get it cold, let it sit for a day or 2. Cold water makes the
difference. Get it cold before adding the dry milk.

The other probem with mixing up milk from dry is the ratio of dry milk
to water. The package often gives some sort of odd ratio, like 3 3/4
cups water to some amount of dry milk. For 2 quarts of water, I've been
using 2 and 1/2 cups dry milk. It's essential to get this mixed up
right, and shake it before each use. Eventually the dry milk will
dissolve into a solution and the result will taste like milk. Might be
just under 2% milk, the label claiming dry milk is non-fat. I'm not sure
how to change that, but what I've been doing has resulted in decent
enough to use milk for cereal at least. ^_^ It doesn't taste all that
bad to drink straight from the pitcher.

But getting it mixed is important, otherwise you get clumps of milk
crystals (?) left over that require more mixing. I might try a slightly
different approach to mixing the dry milk with water next time, like
adding 1/2 cup of the dry and mixing each time. ^_^

resend due to bounce: Toxic Parents

Why is it that I ended up with 2 male figures in my life that are
determined to screw up my life?

For example, for years my grandfather was sort of determined to see me
join the school football team or go enlist in one of the armed services.
Football had nothing for me, and I sure as hell didn't want to be in the
army or anything like that. I sort of get the impression that all these
years my grandfather viewed me as a disappointment. The football thing
was so that he could go to the games and brag I was on the team. Then I
find out after my grandfather passed away that HE HIMSELF didn't like it
when he got drafted into the Army-Air Force! I found a letter he wrote
to my grandmother that states this specific fact. If he didn't like it,
why the hell try to make me undergo the same torture?

This was the same grandfather who for years while I was driving the
truck under his name and insurance plan was determined to never give me
a fair break on the cost of insurance. He signed the truck over to me a
few years ago, but not to do me a favor but out of spite. As it turned
out, my insurance on the truck is lower than what I was paying my
grandfather anyway. At least for now.

There was also the final time he gave his family members $100 for
Christmas, but for some reason he didn't want to give me anything. Mom
spoke up for me telling him if Andy doesn't get his $100, then don't
give anyone else anything either. I mean what the hell did I ever do to
him? Well... I have no idea why he bitched about it, but he made some
stupid remark that some times when he came to our house, I wouldn't say
hi or make some point of greeting him. You know, he was just my
grandfather, and I had no obligation to even speak to him. I don't
understand crazy stuff like that. He didn't respect me at all and
couldn't understand why anyone would like videogames or computers.

Anywho to wit: My mom showed me an email she got from my father. (Yes,
he's still alive.) It's because of my own father that I can't understand
why my Aunt's hubby would be on the phone to his own father to talk
about football games they were watching. I have no "bond" of anything to
my own father. I consider him an asshole for things he's done and I will
never forgive him for doing.

Anywho the email... Basically it had something to do with him
contributing to my nieces' college fund thingies, though with the
disclaimer "This could change if Kathy finds out" or if any of his
children produced with Kathy have kids.

Now, I see my old man is "pussy whipped" in this case. If he can't make
simple decisions about his money without anyone else saying something,
and it doesn't put any financial strain on things, then he might as well
give up now. It's his money, free to do as he pleases. He claims he made
offers of "school money" to me and my younger sister. All I remember of
that is one joking reference to paying off my student loan, which he
seemed ready to do something with (I turned it down since I wasn't
serious about that), and then the incident when he got this big SSI
award of over $10K, then offered each of his kids $1K. Of course the
kids he lived with at the time got theirs, but me and my younger
sister... Oh no, we couldn't just have it handed to us. He wanted us to
call him on his personal 800 number and beg for it.

I don't beg for something just because, and especially when others
didn't have to.

Anywho the email... He then makes this comment that shall be
paraphrased: He questioned if I was happy with what I was doing, did I
want a wife and family, that maybe I should get "counseling" or be
forced to move out and live on my own.

Why is he worried about something that he has absolutely no say about???
It's not his life. He gave up saying anything about what I do when I
turned 18. Just because my younger sister has a family, I should have
one too? Maybe I'm waiting for him to die before I have kids? We kept
the fact of my nieces from him, mainly because of things he's doing now.
One of the things I don't approve of is some of the things he's given my
nieces involve religious stuff. I hadn't had much of an exposure to
religion or churches until much later. I don't approve of polluting a
young child's mind with this stuff until much later (10 or 12 is OK I
guess) when they can make an opinion whether or not this "God" stuff is
for them. It's not for me, and I've made an informed opinion of it all.
Some people go to extremes. I do not want to see my nieces become like
that. People in those extremely religious families just creep me out.

Anywho, my grandfather and my own father... not content to leave me
alone and want to try to ruin my life. It's not going to happen. Of
course, I'm not happy with what I'm doing. I took the job I got now
because I had nothing. I'd like something better, but being dependent on
the meager amount I make... leaves little time to seek other forms of
paid torture. Having a family requires more money. And as for getting
married, I haven't been able to find the right person. The opportunity
hasn't happened. Plus the was I was treated all those years ago, no
wonder I have bad social skills. My older sister got to do things, but
not me. And then my father has the nerve to say anything about my life
now? Yeah right.

I won

Basically got the basement dried out. I will investigate products for water proofing basements, either spray products like Leak Ender or whatever as a brush on job. In the meantime, I bought a cheap $4 mop because the floor's gonna need a cleaning.

My Mako got mad

I guess I forgot about my Mako PDA a bit too long this past week (or so)
because last night as I began to think about it for some reason, I
suddenly remembered I hadn't charged it up, but I thought it should
still have some reasonable amount left. Not so last night, as I turned
it on and gave me an angry beep and then proceeded to show me it forgot
everything!!! Argh!!

So last night I went through all my disks (PEOPLE STILL USE FLOPPIES!)
and found a bunch that had stuff I wrote on them to indicate "this has
PDA files on it" and set them aside in a stack. I got the main software
pieces I had on there (Wallpaper manager, JB5 Utilities, sound file
player, MBM Viewer, Penguin, Atomic, RevoDraw, Sketch, but I still
couldn't get Paint to work...), some wallpapers and sound files I had on
there. I even had a backup of my Contacts, about 2 years old, but then I
don't add a lot to it anyway. Jotter stuff I already had pulled off, and
Agenda didn't really have a hell of a lot of stuff since the last time I
copied it off.

It's going to be a minor pain finding everything, but at least the
software I wanted is back on. It installs quickly like the sound and
picture data. My autographs are all backed up on floppies, too. It's my
translations that are going to take a while, as well as the
miscellaneous stuff. I'm going to try to get back on it the stuff I
didn't create on it. I have no idea when or if I backed up stuff I
created on it, other than the Contacts database and the Jotter info, and
Agenda.

This is the first time I ever had a problem with my Mako losing data. I
might end up installing the ActiveSync file for my Jornada, since it has
a 128MB flash card. Memory loss due to no power is not a problem. I've
been wanting to dress it up in a Chii-chan theme for some time now
anyway.

I'll likely be setting up a Mako backup directory starting with my next
Archive CDrom update. Just grab from the disc and stick on my PDA,
simple as that.

And God Said unto Andrew...

"How would you like a nice wet mess to clean up this morning instead of
getting on your laptop and getting those pics you found yesterday?"

In a sleepy stupor, I said "OK!"

This morning, I found water in the basement. It had JUST began to flow
into my room. I got it before it began to ruin anything, and before it
wicked through carpets and into my manga collection in the comic book
storage boxes. Fortunately, nearly all of my collection is in plastic
bags inside those boxes. But other boxes I'll have to replace, and
thankfully, some of those may come from today's delivery at the store.
I'm going to have to invest in some plastic racks or something to keep
my stuff off the very floor if this crap keeps happening.

Anywho God, I have met your challenge and I am fighting back. I will
Win. Right now I have a fan set up to "encourage" the water to flow
somewhere else. Not much water is in my room, and you can imagine my
extreme annoyance - "Where the hell's this water coming from?" Knock
Knock - Who's there? - Ivan - Ivan Who? - Ivanother Hurricane for you...

ttaku...

The ball finally starts rolling...

Finally got the email from my sister regarding what the girl wants. I've
done up a few tapes, still wondering what to put on the last one. Also
planning a couple of music CDs.

The thing for my penpal in Japan finally arrived a few weeks ago, and
last week she finally got it. Also included a baby scrapbook and a bib
for her as well, which really made her feel good. My mother said it was
probably a very nice thing I did, because lots of expecting mothers in
the final month before giving birth usually don't feel good about
themselves. However, according to the email I got, it really cheered her
up, and she even says her husband said "Arigatou gozaimasu!". ^_^

They doesn't make them like they used to

New dishwasher on sale at hhgregg - $148

Delivery, being an employee on the van brings it up the hill off the
truck, on his shoulder no less - $25

Hooking it up and seeing the setting dial ain't working like it should
(ie - 2 hours in Wash mode and doesn't move to rinse or dry...) -
Priceless

So few additions to the blog...

I haven't added much lately. That's because I usually get these great
ideas of something to write while at work. The mind plays odd games when
having to do something completely distasteful. It's not a job, it's paid
torture.

Anywho, I get these ideas, then when I get home - poof! - the idea
evaporates. Someone told me I'm lucky I can compartmentalize work and
not work. If I get asked to bring something in, unless I write a note
down or somehow suddenly remember before I go to work the next day, I'll
completely forget it. So a lot of great stuff I could have written for
the blog, disappears as soon as I get out of my truck and walk inside.

Except for this. I wanted a note as to why all my great ideas never make
it onto this thing. T.T