Nice and Pink

Ahhh tis a great thing to have friends, especially those who understand your tastes even better than you do yourself..  Today, I was asked if I would like anything from REI as a couple of my friends from Nike were going there to use a 15% discount coupon that expired today..  I asked that they pick up a couple of Nalgenes, a 16oz and 32oz specifically in Purple..  However, as all good friends would, they realized through keen observation and intuition that my tastes lay elsewhere..  Thankfully, without any request or input from me they kindly corrected my request to the 12oz Toddler Grip-n-Gulp I’d always wanted..  With “Mini grips designed for little hands” and “Rubberized closure” that is “easy to drink from” and “spill-proof” how can I go wrong..  To top it all they realized that by purple I really meant PINK!.  How good it is to have friends such as these. :)  Thanks so much to Sarah Henley and Rich Peters for this wonderful gift!

Canon PowerShot A710 IS

I recently bought a new camera, the Canon PowerShot A710 IS, and after two weeks of ownership I can honestly say it is one of the best purchases I have ever made.  I love photography and take pictures nearly everywhere I go.  That’s not to say I’m any good at photography and would never claim to have mad skillz or even anything beyond a pedestrian interest level of knowledge, but I enjoy snapping pictures nonetheless and can oft be seen pressing my eye against a lens while on vacation.  My 35mm SLR died on me a couple of months ago when the winding post snapped.  I got the repairs appraised at a camera shop but the cost was a little higher than I was willing to pay right away.  For nostalgia, I may yet get that camera fixed, but the incident was more than enough to prompt me to start looking for something new.  I’ve been interested in digital SLR cameras for a long time.  The speed at which they take photographs and the overall kewl factor of twisting dials, turning knobs, and manually setting everything yourself is too much for me to resist.  However, the cost of the models I am interested starts at $1,200 for just the camera body; the lenses are then purchased separately.  Hmm, not so much for right now methinks!  As a purely information quest without any intent to buy, I went looking with my sweetie pie while down in Eugene just to “research prices and features”.  Yeah, cos that’s how it works. :)  You just look for a while at the shiny thing you want without any danger of a purchase occuring.  Whilst in Best Buy, we spent a good couple of hours playing with almost every digital compact and automatic in the store.  We found a couple that were of interest but nothing that truly stood out and we were about to leave when I wandered back down the ample selection for one final look.   I just happened to pick up a PowerShot A710 by Canon, something I’d passed by originally because of the low price.  Almost instantly I was sold.  The weight felt right, the various knobs and buttons fell instinctively under my fingers and I was able to navigate the menu right away without having to think.  It just fit.  Wouldn’t you know, that was the only digital camera Best Buy carries that they didn’t have in stock!  Fortunately, Costco rushed to the rescue by stocking it for roughly the same price.  One camera, one 2GB SD memory card, one happy Stu.  I’ve carried this camera around with me everywhere since the day I bought it.  Love it.  I’m still interested in the digital SLR cameras, specifically the Nikon D70, D100, D200 series and the Canon EOS 5D, but they can wait for a couple of years.  For now, I’m actually having a lot of fun with the PowerShot…oh yeah, and I’m still waiting for the 2 AA batteries to die…185 shots and counting.

The Little People

A few weeks ago, I attended my first World of Warcraft guild meeting for The Little People.  I was invited to join the folk of challenged stature in their quest to vanquish the evil Horde when I first began working at SoftSource back in March of this year.  Since then, I have been playing semi-regularly (no questionable absences whatsoever, no matter what you say Hlokk :)) with the other members on Silverhand.  The last MMORPG I was reasonably absorbed in was Asheron’s Call back in 2001 after I lost interest in Everquest.  I have been part of the massively multiplayer role-playing community since 1996 when a friend of mine introduced me to Aardwolf and to MUDding (multi-user dungeon) in general.  Aardwolf is a text-based MUD that offers a fairly advanced list of features including one of the best NPC questmasters I’ve seen.  Not advanced by any means in terms of its graphical appearance, it has “text prompt” feature with absolutely no attempt at graphical rendition, relying rather on the player’s imagination by rendering everything as text through a telnet client.  The difference that Aardwolf presented to me over the variety of video games I had played over the years was the fact that several thousand other people are also playing in the same game with you at the same time.  Ferociously addictive, do not try playing aardwolf or a MUD in general unless you are decidedly bored with the notion of having spare time during the next half decade.

World of Warcraft has some of the same tenets as a MUD in that you create a character by choosing a race and class to seed your initial attributes and set of available skills before starting out upon a storyline in which you invariably save the world from evil.  You work through a variety of stories in a truly massive area to level up your character by delivering trinkets and whacking various mobs and creatures over the head with a plethora of shiny weaponry.  The biggest difference is the truly amazing graphical presentation that brings the world to life.  Some of the larger battles that involve your group of about five people smashing the snot out of a horde of baddies with all manner of lightning bolts, fireballs, swords, axes, and bludgeonry, can be extremely exciting and very entertaining.  In addition to sharing the concept of quests, guilds, and other D&D facets, it contains and expands upon much of the addictiveness that first sucked me in to playing Aardwolf by working very hard to promote teamwork.  While my attendance on Monday night with the Little People has been unreliable to say the least, Vaelorna (my online character) has now reached level 52 and is hoping to achieve the vaunted 60 before The Burning Crusade is released in mid-January.  The most compelling part of playing WoW has without doubt been membership in The Little People.  Despite having played similar games from the genre for almost ten years I have never before known people I was playing with, nor had the opportunity to play with such dedicated and talented guild-members.  The Little People have been endlessly supportive in helping me progress and be a part of the team despite my oft-displayed ability to endanger success, impede progress, or snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.  It makes a huge difference to be playing with friends.

Here are a few photos from the initial guild meeting.  Picture 1 from left to right is Zelavian, Gnaome (our fearless leader), and me.  Picture 2 is of Xanger, Ilurath, Gnaome, Verhutch, Zelavian, Hotcarl, and Shebah all watching a laptop on which Gnaome was showing off a beta version of The Burning Crusade.  Picture 3 is of myself and Hlokk (who took the other photos).  I work with Gnaome and Hlokk and previously worked with Hotcarl before he left.  It was great to finally put faces to the people I’d been slaying dragonkin and wolves with for several months and something I’d love to do again in the future.  Thanks to Brian for sharing these pictures with me and thanks to the rest of the guild for many hours of demon-slaying fun.

More baby pictures!

Thanks to my dad for sending me some more pictures of Ethan from his first couple of days.  My mum and dad (now Grandma and Grandad – yay!) were there with Ellie and Peter.  I’m glad for the pictures because they let me feel a little more connected with everything despite the fact that I’m on the other side of the world.  I wish I could be there to say hi and even looked into returning to England at Christmas, but with everything happening over here and the exorbitant cost of flying to England, that journey will have to wait until some time next year.  Fortunately, we are planning a webcam chat session with Ellie, Peter, and Ethan in the next couple of weeks.

For now, here are some more pictures.  The first is of Peter (the proud Father) holding his new baby boy while my mum throws pearls of advice from the sideline (with “wagging-finger” feature).  The second is of my dad being scrutinized.  Why is it I think of this t-shirt when I look into those eyes?

The next couple are of Peter holding his son in his lap, and then of Ethan showing the same fondness for cameras that his dad does.

Finally, the all important shots of the baby actually sleeping and of his soon to be much snuggled and drooled-on teddies.

Welcome Ethan!

Last Friday, Meaghan and I were standing in line at Taco Del Mar, absent-mindedly ordering a super burrito combo meal and a couple of tacos when my phone started to ring.  Looking down at the number I was about to ignore, I saw the call was from my brother in law Peter.  As many of you know, Ellie and Peter announced that they were expecting their first child earlier this year.  Then a couple of weeks ago, I learned that they were very close as my sister’s food cravings had transitioned to smuggling Dominos Pizza into her hospital ward.  Answering the phone with anticipation, I said “Hi Peter, how are you?” in my very best “I can’t possibly guess what your news is” tone of voice.  Despite my monster intuition, hearing my (extremely tired sounding) sister announce that Ethan John Douglas Jarrett was born earlier that morning made me jump with joy inside.  I hugged Meaghan, indicated that black beans would be fine on my burrito and then congratulated my sister on being a mum.

This is the only picture I have of my new nephew right now, but I am assured that more are on the way as the chaos of caring for a new infant subsides.  Congratulations to Ellie and Peter for their first-born son, and congratulations to my mum and dad on becoming grandparents!  John Douglas was the name of my mum’s father, whom we lost earlier this year, and its great to see his name live on in my new nephew.  Now I just have to figure out when I can next cross the pond to see my new family member. :)  Better start looking into sorting out that passport!  Until then: Welcome Ethan! I’m glad you made it here safely.

Vacation – Weekend away at the coast

First of all, I’d like to introduce someone very special to me.  I met Meaghan online a couple of months ago and ever since our first date in early October we’ve barely spent a moment apart.  She lives in Eugene, which has certainly put a few extra miles on the odometer, as well a few extra hours on the cell phone, but by taking turns to make the journey on alternating weekends it really hasn’t felt like such a huge distance.  What to say about her?  She’s the oldest of two with a younger sister, sharing roughly the same age gap as Ellie and I.  She works with children, teaching an after school program that covers arts, music, and literature that have been dropped from the regular school curriculum.  Originally a music major in college, she earned her bachelors in English Literature and is about the only person I know to have watched and memorized more lines from The Lord of the Rings than I have.

It takes about an hour and a half to drive from Beaverton to Eugene on a particularly uninspiring stretch of I5, so this Veteran’s Day we decided to take a three day weekend in Lincoln City and drive down the coast for a change.  Despite encountering rain, wind, and even a little snow, we had a truly fantastic weekend together and managed to pack a heck of a lot into three days.

Friday November 10th
The drive down on Friday was both wet and dark.  Route 18 gets waterlogged pretty easily thanks to ODOT’s fastidious maintenance schedule.  After trundling along through puddles and being splashed by passing trucks, we pulled into the hotel parking lot a little after 7:00pm.  Following check in and having deposited our luggage in the room, we ventured forth to Fathoms for dinner; an appealing looking restaurant we had passed just a few minutes earlier.  The Penthouse Restaurant & Bar for the Inn at Spanish Head, it proferred an appetizing menu which, while slightly overpriced, was a very welcome way to end a week.  Refreshed and restored, we returned to our hotel to take advantage of the room’s Jacuzzi and a nice bottle of Christian Moueix Merlot.  A side note of interest in the hotel room was the ridiculously small clearance between the bathroom door and the toilet.  (I took a picture- the style borrowed from the Travis School of Evidencing Photography.)  Talk about having space usage down to a fine art!  To get inside the bathroom, you had to squeeze in between the toilet and the sink, then skim the door through the 1/10th of an inch clearance available to get it shut.  On the plus side, you don’t have to worry about anyone walking in on you.  Were the door thrust open, your painfully dislodged kneecap would give more than fair warning of any untoward intrusion.

Saturday November 11th
Saturday morning was kind enough to treat us to a clear blue sky and a little sun.  Taking advantage of the illusion of warm weather, we shivered our way through a stroll down the beach.  I managed to capture a picture of one brave family playing in the water (silly, silly people!).  I wasn’t about to be so brave as to dive into the water, but it was really nice to just take a couple of days without a phone or a laptop and walk on the beach together on what could arguably be one of the final days of clemency we see in 2006.

Having warmed ourselves enough in the wonderful 22 degree ocean air, we decided it might be time to head to the mall, at least until feeling had returned to both fingers and toes.  The Tanger Outlet Mall sports a variety of stores (albeit mostly targetted towards senior visitors) with very reasonable prices.  A nice lady was kind enough to take a picture of us sitting together on a bench; (the Hanselman School of Photography style will have to be mimicked in a later post).  We ended the day with another walk along the beach, this time a little further South, just walking hand in hand enjoying a beautiful sunset.

Sunday November 12th
Sunday morning heralded a quickened pace as we raced to meet the 11:00am checkout deadline.  After a quick breakfast at a very IHOP-like establishment, we waved farewell to our hotel and made a last stop into the Lincoln City glass studio before turning North to return home.  On the way, we took the 101 highway instead of 18 to make a quick stop at the Tillamook Cheese Factory.  I hadn’t been to the cheese factory until earlier this year when Jenn decided we should visit to celebrate her birthday.  Meaghan had never been and so we decided to stop by to break up the return journey…and, um, perhaps have a couple of cones of Tillamook Mint Chocolate Chip ice-cream!  All in all, an absolutely fantasmic weekend and a great reminder of why its important to leave the cell phone and the job behind once in a while to just get away and relax.

Not Strongbad for Halloween

It bugs me how your costume doesn’t have a not came from a $20 bag level of effort.  Yes, I did the unspeakable and went as bag ‘o costume man this year; officially an inmate/jailbird.  I was hoping to go as StrongBad but a lack of time occured towards the end and I was unable to finish making my costume.  Absolutely no procrastination on my part contributed to the lack of my ability to finish on time.

My costume and I attended a Halloween party in Eugene this year, hosted in part by Meaghan, to meet some of her friends.  Unfortunately, my camera went poopy a few weeks ago and so I was unable to take any pictures of the party myself.  However, some newly discovered friends took a couple of good ones and have agreed to send them to me so that I may post them here.  Meaghan dressed as a hella sexy pirate and, accompanied by her friend dressed as a succubus, we made quite the trio wandering the streets of Eugene.  In costume (partially) before the party we must have looked quite funny at the liquor store picking up our party supplies.

The party was a lot of fun and Meaghan managed to be one of the first people to truly give me a taste of my own medicine.  Puking not only on me, a bedspread, bedroom floor, and then in the taxi on the way home, she set a hell of a record and solidified herself as a true Stu-style kindred spirit when it comes to partying.  Perhaps we have a new random queen in the making?  Having partied to this level many times in the past myself, I really didn’t think anything of it beyond “so this is what it feels like to be on the other side…meh- I’m glad she’s having fun!” :)  All in all, costumes were worn, alcohol was consumed, much dancing occured, several legs were humped, and everyone left intact.  Sweet!  On New Years it is time for me to introduce Meaghan to my friends up here- I can’t wait!

I would have liked to see Trav’s Joust costume and languish in the traditional Meyer Bros Chaos (TM) but I’ll have to wait for the opporunity to witness Adam breaking something at the New Years party!  This should be fun!

Get the door…

I’m only a couple of weeks away from being an uncle and getting pretty excited about it.  When I received a phone call from my mum a few days ago indicating that my sister had been in hospital under supervision, I naturally became concerned.  My mum reassured me that nothing was wrong but, knowing a mother’s instinct to protect from bad news, I naturally remained a little on edge.  Later in the same conversation my mum began to tell me about a phone call they received on the way to the hospital that night.  Apparently my sister has called and requested that my parents “pick something up” for her on their way over.  Naturally, my mother and father assumed this meant a toothbrush, mp3 player, or fluffy toy to cuddle while she rested.  Nope!  In typically Ellie fashion she was requesting none other than the #1 doctor recommended Dominos Pizza!  LOL- good to know that she’s OK and still acting like her usual self.  ”Dominos?  Sure.  You want a couple of beers with that?  Bonbons perhaps?”  I love my sister.  Ellie: You rock!