An annoying aggravating inconvenience

I don't know what my sister is doing now. Apparently there's some GFI
outlet that needs to go in somewhere in the basement. Only thing is the
circuit that powers most of the downstairs (TV, computer, much of the
kitchen) she feels the need to switch off. Upstairs, the bathroom, one
outlet and some part of the kitchen (fridge) are on other circuits.

This means I can't watch TV or use the computer that's on that circuit
while it's off. I hope the router retains the settings.

Anywho, I've waited PATIENTLY for an HOUR. I don't think she planned
this out very well. I know you can install light fixtures and switch out
outlets without turning off the electricity. I've done it and it's
simple science. Just don't touch both wires at the same time. That's all
there is to it.

I don't know what she is doing. Most people, say if they're putting in
an entirely new outlet, usually get said outlet and box in place, run
the wire from the outlet, then if they need to, switch off the circuit
to connect the wires. Much less down time than what I'm putting up with
now.

It pisses me off over inconveniences like this. Yes, she told me that
she was going to do this, but all I thought it was some simple outlet
installation switch out or something. You don't need to turn off the
power. This is bad planning what she's doing now.

She knows I'm annoyed. It might not get her to finish any sooner, but
maybe in the future she'll consider others and plan better.

Ferengi Nosed Over Priced Dvd Guy

Came home early from Kitsunecon

After doing the cooking panel, I was really tired and in some pain, and
I also decided I had enough fun for the weekend so I came home early. I
was looking forward to Sunday Afternoon as my return window. As it is,
Kitsunecon is an anime convention waiting to be discovered and possibly
grow.

The dealers room needed more dealers and more variety. Asian Invasion
was cool being there. There was one other lady in another corner selling
all sorts of nice useful items and some cosplay. I think she made some
money. The Overpriced DVD guy made a sale, and he tends to show up
almost everywhere.

I had hoped to find some "I"s that I don't have or even Eiken books I
missed. I figured I spent enough and that wasn't going to change. I came
to do a good cooking panel at last and I accomplished that. If I get a
chance to do it again, I'll try to do only 2 things, maybe 3. Still, I
managed to make some food that was well received. All those who missed
it, too bad. I really should have taken some more Ibuprofen just before
the panel began. My organized preparation made it easy to get through
what I wanted to do.

As it turns out, coming home early was a good thing another way. My
younger sister who I asked to look after Melody, apparently unlocked the
deadbolt on the back door, so anyone who wanted access but not approved
by me while I was away could get in to the basement, for example, even
though there was access from outside already. The basement door was
unlocked from inside, too. Shows who I can trust. Both people I asked to
watch after our dog claimed allergies. I need to find someone else I can
trust who won't give access to people who don't freaking need it and
take advantage of when I'm away.

It's the principle of trust.

Anywho, Rant over for now. I'm sleeping in. I got a picture of that one
dealer with the DVDs to post. I managed to get a photo of only 1
cosplayer. And that Robert Axelrod who was supposed to appear? He may
very well do that for Sunday. I don't know. There were some other guests
who did appear, though. There were some last second changes made for
whatever reason. I hope they can find slightly bigger facilities and
better promotion. This was sort of like Anime North in its 2nd year.
Just don't grow too fast.

Kitsunecon Day 2

Cooking panel: Mission Acomplished. It was very well received, with the Takoyaki and Taiyaki with chocolate Gnutella being a big hit. It took longer than I am used to when cooking these things with the little electric burner I used, so I barely got to doing the California sushi rolls when time ran out. I filled the 2 hours I was graciously and generously given. The Okonomiyaki was enjoyed but didn't get to cook up the entire batch I mixed up.

I'm hoping to be able to do another cooking panel, possibly with help, as well as a 2nd burner or an electric griddle for okonomiyaki. The only thing I didn't do was CURRY. Oh well. I guess it's better to be over prepared rather than have to strain and fill 2 hours of panel time with 30 minutes of content.

Got to see Adam again, though it was just a wave at the door. I wish he had come in to see the panel. Also got to see more of the Spatula crew that I miss.

The most interesting vendor in the dealers room is the one selling $1, $5, and $10 mystery goodie bags.

Kitsunecon Day 1

This is a little convention just waiting to be noticed. The people are nice, both staff and the few attendees I have spoken to, some who spoke to me first! There weren't many people present early on due to being on the edge of school starting up, but things got livelier at night, which was a good sign.

Other con attendees described one guy in the dealers' room as the Over priced Ferengi-nosed guy. He has several tubs of DVDs but has no clue how to price them so they'll sell. He's got Right Stuf and Amazon to compete with (maybe even eBay) as well as the occasional load found at Big Lots. That was my big anime score of the day - Tsubasa #1, Tokyo Godfathers, and 2 Trinity Blood DVDs I didn't already have - each $3.

I'm not sure of one dealer who might be called White Wolf Enterprises, but when the guy was setting up I saw he had Sailor Moon mugs in stock, and when I bought 2 (1 of each design) he charged me $20 each then later in the hotel room found a sticky with $12 on it in one mug. He might have taken advantage of the annoyance of people hovering around him while setting up.

Ate at Donato's that night which seemed kinda fitting.

Dealer Catching Up On His Reading

Am I really a member of this family?

So anywho, I am preparing for a short trip, if you can call it that, soon. I need someone to watch our dog. The cats will do OK on their own, set up with water and food. The dog is another matter.

One sister can't watch her because she claims she's allergic to our dog. The other sister says she can't watch her either because one of my nieces is suddenly now allergic to dogs.

Who are these people and has anyone gotten a 2nd opinion and treatment???

So I'm faced with having to allow one sister to come out and take the dog for walks and make sure she's fed.

I was hoping to have her out of the apartment for the weekend and almost everything turned off.

I'm not allergic to cats or dogs. I don't know why they are all of a sudden.

DVD Flick, aggravating at times but still works

So anywho, today I want to make a DVD with DVD Flick. 6 files are AVI,
and I want to stick a short clip as an FLV (or maybe it was MP4) at the
beginning. I set it all up and get DVD Flick going.

Just as it's generating menus, I get an annoying error box. The number
is error 91. I try to find out more of this error, and I don't get much.

I rarely get errors from DVD Flick. The software sometimes exits after
saving a project file which I have to reload DVD Flick and re-load the
file (if it got saved completely - otherwise I have to re-do the project
again).

Annoyed, I find myself exiting the software and restarting and reloading
my DVD project. I think. Otherwise I just removed the short clip I
wanted at the start of the disk. This time my disk gets generated and
DVD Flick finishes.

I should see what version I have installed and see if the latest fixes
these sorts of problems. Newer versions are supposed to handle MKVs
better. That would be nice if I got only SRT sub files, but I don't. I
have to pull things out as a separate A.S.S. sub file and an AVI and
then hard code the subs.

I wish I knew what caused problems. If I can't recreate it, I can't
figure it out. The odd thing is the clip I was going to use had been put
on another disk some time ago without any problems at all!

Travel Channel, I am Disappoint

So anywho, that semi-annoying Samantha Brown on the Travel Channel has
this series of 8 episodes of her travelling around Asia, which if you
checked your map, includes Japan. I've been waiting weeks for her show
in Japan to air. According to Travel Channel's website, that was
supposed to be TONIGHT, 8/23, at 8 pm EDT.

Instead, they aired Anthony Bourdain in Saudi Arabia. You can't believe
how pissed I am at this. I like Tony's show; I'd love to go to Japan
with him and or Zimmern in tow (Sapporo anyone?), but when I get told
about and expect a show about Japan to air that I've not seen yet and it
doesn't when it's supposed to, I get really mad. WHEN IS IT REALLY GOING
TO RUN, TRAVEL CHANNEL?? DON'T YOU LIKE JAPAN?

There's a repeat set for this coming Sunday at 8 am. I'm going to find
out what they elect to run instead. What was the major malfunction that
they just tossed out their well-announced ahead of time schedule???

SUCK IT, TRAVEL CHANNEL. STOP TROLLING PEOPLE LIKE THAT. I EVEN GOT A
VIDEOTAPE READY TO RECORD IT. YOU WASTED MY ENTIRE EVENING THAT I WON'T
GET BACK!!

BTW: Zimmern's 3rd show (2nd entirely in Japan) is on this Sunday as
well. This is the one where he visits Nakamatsu-sensei, inventor of the
floppy disk, and tries his hand at being a horumon chef.

At least that's what the schedule says NOW.

Cultural Reference in Occult Academy

I think it's in Episode 2 (maybe 3) of Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin (Occult
Academy) where Abe-sensei tries to compliment one lady on her
dango-style hairdo. He says it suits her, and she takes it as a
compliment, complaining that the kids make fun of her hair comparing it
to "that song." A brief image of "that song" even gets shown in place of
her hairdo with one part missing.

"That song" by the way is Dango San Kyoudai, otherwise known as The 3
Dango Brothers. I have a scan of the CD single, as well as a translation
here:

http://community.webtv.net/MrShoujo/Dango3Kyoudai

How did I know this? A Japanese penpal I briefly corresponded with
around the time "Dango 3 (san) Kyoudai" was hugely popular in Japan
(around 1999 if I remember right) told me about it. She heard it
everywhere and frequently. It was a popular song from a children's TV
show, and like everything in Japan that becomes popular (like a song),
it was covered many times over. I bought my copy, a CD single of the
original version, from CD Japan. There was a CD album of various
versions by different artists.

I think I saw another cultural reference in another episode of Occult
Academy, but I can't seem to remember it now. Oh well.

The other bit I was posting about was I translated another song from
Sailor Moon for a friend for an upcoming wedding. I got to realizing
that I hadn't transferred all my translation work off my Atari 8-bit
disks to 3.5 inch floppies using a friend's Atari 1040ST and null modem
setup. There was a song by Chibi-Usa that I worked on that I called
'Don't make fun of my dream' that I'm missing from my translation
archives. I worked on a good number of other Sailor Moon songs, and
perhaps a few Ranma 1/2 songs. My translation for a Sailor Mars image
song definitely made the rounds on the net.

I don't remember what all I worked on as far as song lyrics - I do
remember working on songs from a Sailor Moon musical. My bigger projects
all got transferred before we had to move in 2003, but sadly it seems a
bunch of my Sailor Moon (and other) lyric translations didn't make it
over. I'm really hoping they did and I just hadn't gotten to the
floppies yet (which I thought I had when making my Archive CD) - if
they're still readable. I have them all stashed away securely - it's
just a matter of finding time to go through and find a drive to read
them, which I definitely have.

I JUST REMEMBERED THE OTHER BIT:

There was an Urusei Yatsura reference in one part where they try calling "Space People" by doing the famous chant.