(no subject)

Oct. 28th, 2025 10:18 am[personal profile] pshaw_raven
pshaw_raven: (Autumn Leaves)
Disney Just Declared War on Resellers AND HIGH TIME, TOO. I know this is a very first-world problem but it's such a pain in the ass. I doubt it will work for RunDisney events, but the enforced "two items per customer" policy seems to work well enough there. A few resellers are fine, and it's a useful service for fans who can't get to the parks for certain items. But the sheer greed of the majority of these jerks makes it disappointing and stressful for the regular park-goers who just want a cool souvenir. I also recently saw that they're fighting counterfeiters in the pin trading community by embedding cubic zirconium into the backs. The stone isn't worth much, but the embedding process is a challenging extra step.

The Biggest Scam in Transportation - highways and how towns can reclaim themselves. (video) America is still pretty car-brained but it's changing in some places.

Analog bags are in - doomscrolling is out. This could easily turn into a rant about a stupid headline I recently saw about "performative reading." But I'll step back and just let you read the article on your own. It would be nice to see more real-world activities being done in places like waiting rooms, but not everyone has the ability to entirely ditch their smartphone. You could even carry a notebook - handwriting is exceptionally good for your brain.

Korean black bean noodles which I was talking about a few days ago. I'm making this tonight and will report back. Maangchi also posted my favorite tteok bokki recipe ever.

In other news, IT'S BULKING SEASON Y'ALL, LET'S GO. I got tired of cutting and ended a little early, since I don't think I can push my weight lower, and I lost a decent amount of fat. But I'm ready to start trying to add weight to the bar again, to stop feeling tired all the time, and just be able to eat some damn food.

In the meantime, I hear Fox at his computer going, "Hmmmm." So I'd better go find out what's up.

(no subject)

Oct. 28th, 2025 07:45 am[personal profile] pshaw_raven
pshaw_raven: (Default)
Things have been unusually busy lately and I need to get on here and respond to comments today. I didn't forget, and I'm not ignoring it. :)

We've been dealing with the fallout from the power steering fiasco, and I think that is taken care of. It also turned out that the tractor was due for routine maintenance and that is done. Cooler weather means I'll be doing my last yard mowing of the season this week.

Last night was interrupted by Crowley seeing this stray/feral cat on the back deck. I call this cat Stumpy because of his short tail, though he may be part bobcat - we're not sure. He's actually quite friendly. Crowley was growling and carrying on, and I ended up locking him in the bathroom for a couple of hours. He wasn't happy about it, but no one can sleep when a cat is singing their War Song.

Once my brain is fully online I'll be back with updates and comments and such.

Ghost Ruck

Oct. 26th, 2025 09:51 am[personal profile] pshaw_raven
pshaw_raven: (Skeleton)
My first official GoRuck event is in the books! It was a lot of fun, but I did not prepare properly for it, mainly because I wasn't sure what to expect. I was certainly not expecting a 35-minute AMRAP circuit before we even got going. Fox bowed out because his leg and foot are actually feeling good, and he didn't want to mess that up. I hung in there for a couple of circuits before I had to admit ... my blood pressure was too low for it, and I felt like I was going to pass out.
But I also noticed a lot of folks modifying the exercises to accommodate various injuries or limitations, and after 20 minutes, only a handful were still doing reps. So I felt less like a lazy idiot.

The course was a 5 kilometer walk around the city with stops at three cemeteries, the "torture museum," (complete with a niche mini-lecture from me about how much of what we think of as medieval torture is, unexpectedly, the Spanish Inquisition), an old military barracks, and crossing the Bridge of Lions and coming back. I made sure to stop and pat each lion because I'm a dork. Fox enjoyed getting out and walking around, and reminded me we haven't actually been to St. Augustine since Kitty died. It was a fun evening.

Until the power steering went out on the truck. We managed to get out of the parking garage though the pump was whining and the steering was making this awful grinding noise and headed to a nearby Walmart. Fox was checking the area around the steering mechanism and it looked like maybe a seal failed, but when we parked before the ruck, it had time to just leak out completely. We filled the pump back up with steering fluid and happily, we made it home without having to stop and do that again. Fox plans to replace the pump and a couple of other parts, and says he should have been checking this on his own but never really thought about it, so it's amazing that we were still driving around with the factory steering fluid.

We rolled up at home at 10:30, way past our normal bedtime, but I took time to get a hot shower and wind down a little. Crowley woke me up at his usual zero-cat-thirty, so I have not slept a whole lot and I feel kind of derpy. But it was worth it, we had a good time, and I liked the event well enough that I'd happily do another, and I know what I'm getting into.

Database maintenance

Oct. 25th, 2025 08:42 am[staff profile] mark posting in [site community profile] dw_maintenance
mark: A photo of Mark kneeling on top of the Taal Volcano in the Philippines. It was a long hike. (Default)

Good morning, afternoon, and evening!

We're doing some database and other light server maintenance this weekend (upgrading the version of MySQL we use in particular, but also probably doing some CDN work.)

I expect all of this to be pretty invisible except for some small "couple of minute" blips as we switch between machines, but there's a chance you will notice something untoward. I'll keep an eye on comments as per usual.

Ta for now!

Black Beans

Oct. 24th, 2025 06:12 am[personal profile] pshaw_raven
pshaw_raven: (Hissing Kitty)
The outdoor kitty's dad finally contacted us - he lives over on another road near here, but farther than even I thought, it's about a mile and a half from us. I run in that area sometimes (more now that there aren't loose dogs anymore). We were able to trap the cat again and hold him and the guy dropped by with a carrier. The cat's name is Tony Hawk - he says he let one of his kids name him. Anyway, he's back home now.

I'm mildly disappointed because I was all excited about ✨new kitty!✨ despite also wanting him to go back to his regular family. I was also a little dubious about adopting a young cat with Crowley still around. I'd like him to live out his senior years in relative calm, and he enjoys being the only cat in the house. Fox was also saying we can go to the shelter when we're ready, and mentioned that I seemed like the type who would adopt an adult cat, especially if they weren't a sprayer. (I would, he's right)

On a totally different topic, but one I love - noodles.

For several years whenever Fox and I are at Disney World and we end up at Animal Kingdom, we go to the Satu'li Canteen in their Pandora area for this noodle bowl that is just delicious. We both get a mixed grill kind with smoked chicken and beef. They used to also offer chili-garlic tofu which was really good. Fox gets his dressed with herb ranch, and Disney actually published a home version of this sauce. The one that a lot of people, including me, really want is the black bean vinaigrette.

I've made a few stabs at this dressing but never could really figure it out, especially how the black beans fit in there. Chinese black bean sauce was WAY too pungent and just very wrong, regular old black turtle beans from a can didn't make sense.

I was watching an episode of Beard Meets Food and he was eating this bowl of Korean black bean noodles, and they mentioned the name of the stuff the sauce was made with. I'm not very familiar with Korean cooking beyond gochujang, and making a spicy sauce for tteok bokki, or spicy sauce over rice cakes. So later in the evening I had this revelation - a literal shower thought. What is that Korean black bean stuff? I bet that's what is in the dressing at Disney! It's black fermented soybeans made into a paste. It's more salty than the Chinese stuff and doesn't have whatever stinky thing the Chinese version contains.

I now have a tub of the stuff and I'm going to try whipping up some black bean noodles this weekend - jjajangmyeon. Vinaigrettes are pretty simple - vinegar, a sweetener, maybe some herbs and black pepper. The Disney stuff is savory but mild. Disney's "spicy" is a step down from Japanese "spicy." *laughs in Cajun* Cracking this recipe would make me feel like an immortal among Disney Adults. Bow down before me, I am the Recipe Whisperer!

It's 50 this morning. Maybe I should have put an extra blanket on the bed.
pshaw_raven: (Florida lakes)
1. What do you see when you are looking out of the window closest to you?
My front yard - bird feeders and a birdbath, the garage, trees and shrubs.

2. Who was the last person coming into your room?
Fox. He's the only other person in the house, so he SHOULD be the only other person in my room.

3. What is the most predominant colour around you?
Either brown or green. I'd say there is more brown.

4. What is right behind you?
A table with books stacked on it, and my phone charger. I'm sitting sideways on the couch, so I also have my back to a window.

5. What is on today's calendar sheet?
Fox has a doctor appointment and lab work, and we're going to do a little food shopping, possibly stop at Home Depot. Depending on how chipper he feels this afternoon we may finish picking up that brush and firewood.

(no subject)

Oct. 23rd, 2025 06:35 am[personal profile] pshaw_raven
pshaw_raven: (Hissing Kitty)
The cat came back, he couldn't stay away.
He was sittin' on the porch the very next day.
The cat came back, he didn't want to roam.
The very next day it was home sweet home.


Guess who showed up yesterday. Actually my next door neighbor caught him in a trap she'd put out for a raccoon that has been getting too close to her chickens at night. (She also caught a 'possum.) Shortly after one of her kids released him, he was on our back deck so we put some kibble and water out for the cat we're now calling "Neko." (Yes it means cat in Japanese, we named the cat "cat." We're dorks.) I sat outside while he ate, but my presence made him anxious. He responded well to a fishing pole toy, so he played with me for a while, but then he seemed like he wanted more food but wasn't willing to come closer while I was there. I gave him a break and went inside.

I just checked out cameras, and he's sleeping on top of the wood cradle. I guess we have an outdoor cat.

Slightly off topic, but for years I thought I'd hallucinated a movie called Banjo the Woodpile Cat but I finally found out in 2001 that it's real. It's a Don Bluth joint. Thanks, internet!

(no subject)

Oct. 22nd, 2025 08:43 am[personal profile] pshaw_raven
pshaw_raven: (Meowdy)
Am I coming down with something? Did I catch some form of crud in Jacksonville? Yuck.

Anyway, we haven't seen the cat since Monday night. The food's gone uneaten and there hasn't been anything on the cameras. I'm going to just hold out hope that his family tried the trick of putting his litterbox outside and it helped him find his way home. There's nothing much around us, except due west of here, where there are several homes, and I know one has free-roaming indoor/outdoor cats. I suspect that's where he is from, because I can imagine him exploring the woods between our side and his side and getting lost less than a mile from his house. Especially a juvenile kitty without a mental map of his territory.

My request to join that local lost and found pets group still hasn't gotten a response so I guess I can log out of Facebook and ignore it again. Thank God. Ugh. Gross.

I've got so much to do and barely any energy. I wonder if going back to bed for a while will help.

(no subject)

Oct. 21st, 2025 09:17 am[personal profile] pshaw_raven
pshaw_raven: (All Work No Play)
Not only do I hate Facebook, I do very poorly in local groups, mainly because of my overwhelming desire to "laugh react" to stuff like this.



Because it's funny.

At Least There Were Books

Oct. 21st, 2025 08:23 am[personal profile] pshaw_raven
pshaw_raven: (Good Medicine)
The cat was back last night, but was back to being very skittish and afraid, so we didn't push him to come to us. I put out some dry food and fresh water and we let him be. My neighbor let me know there's a local Facebook group I could post in to see if someone there has lost him. I despise FB but I was able to log in and I think I found the correct group. I'm now waiting for admin approval to join. The place is a fucking cesspool.

Yesterday was fine, but exhausting. I dropped by Jax Oriental Market and loaded up on inexpensive noodles and produce. I brought a cooler and some freezer bricks to keep the veggies cold. The ramen place Fox wanted me to try was excellent, but I overate and was miserable the rest of the day. I also poked around in an IGA grocery store, which I had never been in and wasn't sure what to expect, but it was really nice.

Despite telling myself I wasn't going to the bookstore, I went to the bookstore. Barnes & Noble is right across from the eye doctor's office. Lead me not into temptation, I can find it perfectly well on my own. And the appointment went as expected. My distance vision hasn't changed - it sucks. My close up vision sucks more and she says I've developed a slight astigmatism. But I'm still good to wear contact lenses, and she said the scan of my retinas showed no problems and my eyes were very healthy. Yay me!

You know you have poor vision when they tell you to read the letters and you have to ask "what letters." On top of that, Fox saw my prescription and said, "Wow, Bird, you really are blind!" Gee. Thanks. :P

While I was out, Fox heard some activity down the road and found someone on a property a couple of lots down doing tree clearing. This guy is looking to build a little deer camp out here, but he's got to clear some space for it. We need firewood for the winter so Fox struck a deal that he'll clear the brush and little stuff away if we can have the trees, and the guy happily agreed. He even showed up later to find out if Fox could brush hog a particular area and was willing to pay him. We're going to just ask for a tank of diesel for the tractor - honestly the free firewood is payment enough. So today we'll head back there and finish hauling the logs off. I spent about an hour dragging branches into brush piles while Fox used the grapple to bring the logs here, and this weekend we'll get the splitter out and process all that. The pine is very resin-y and should make a good starter.

AWS outage

Oct. 20th, 2025 10:11 am[personal profile] alierak posting in [site community profile] dw_maintenance
alierak: (Default)
DW is seeing some issues due to today's Amazon outage. For right now it looks like the site is loading, but it may be slow. Some of our processes like notifications and journal search don't appear to be running and can't be started due to rate limiting or capacity issues. DW could go down later if Amazon isn't able to improve things soon, but our services should return to normal when Amazon has cleared up the outage.

Edit: all services are running as of 16:12 CDT, but there is definitely still a backlog of notifications to get through.

Edit 2: and at 18:20 CDT everything's been running normally for about the last hour.

(no subject)

Oct. 20th, 2025 09:05 am[personal profile] pshaw_raven
pshaw_raven: (Arnold Thumbs Up)
Mattie Rogers, weightlifting champ.

Not sure if this counts as a "gym crush" but I've developed a fixation with this lady. Not just because she's only slightly shorter than me and I can look at her and have physique goals as well as lifting goals, but she's from nearby Apopka.

Okay, realistically, I will probably never lift as much as she can, but I enjoy seeing what's possible. Looking at her arms is just making me want to end my cut early and start training hard again. Because holy shit, girl, you are a fucking BEAST. And I mean that in the best possible way, with little animated sparkles and rainbows.

Alas, I need to leave and go Do Things.

Meow Mix

Oct. 20th, 2025 07:08 am[personal profile] pshaw_raven
pshaw_raven: (Lurking Kitty)
Last night there was a cat on the back deck. We've seen this one the past few days - red reflective collar and all. I thought perhaps one of the neighbors got a new kitty but it turns out he's probably lost, because we were able to lure him to come to us with dry food and he inhaled two dishes worth of chow. The poor little guy was giving those long meows that usually mean "please help me," but we couldn't get him to come inside and stay. Plus Fox and I are both going to be gone all day today with medical stuff, and it seemed unfair to just lock him in the bathroom and leave.

So we'll probably try again later this week if and when he comes back. I've sent a photo of him to my neighbor to see if she might recognize him, but I think he's just managed to wander too far from home and has gotten lost.

I do not want to go into Jacksonville for this stupid appointment. I hate this shit. But there's a new ramen place that opened up nearby that Fox really wants me to go try and report back on, so I guess it wouldn't hurt to get a couple of bao and maybe a plate of omurice. I'll drop by Jax Oriental on my way, and then once the appointment is over head back home. Fox will be getting an MRI on his foot at about the same time. He's got a few follow up appointments later this week, but much closer to home.

Should I get a slice of matcha mille crepe cake? I love matcha desserts, and it seems excessive, but when will I be back that way with Fox? I'm probably not doing Gate River Run, so ... who knows.

I hope that cat is all right. I hope he comes back tonight. Crowley disagrees with me, though, and likes being an Only Kitty.

(no subject)

Oct. 18th, 2025 10:40 am[personal profile] pshaw_raven
pshaw_raven: (Bodhisattva)
Quote from this morning's reading:

"The choice is not between the free market and central planning but in getting the right mix of regulation. No one wants state ownership of production where the absence of competition corrodes the character even more. The answer is not to seek moral perfection which inevitably leads to theocracy and dictatorship. Since it is in man's nature to want more, one learns to live with human imperfection, and one seeks regulation that not only tames the Duryodhanas [evildoers] but also rewards dharma-like behavior in the market."

Gurcharan Das, author and former CEO of Proctor & Gamble India

An interesting combination of morality and economics, which for all of our noise about ethical practices in business, aren't usually seen as occupying the same spaces.Proponents of either state-run or free-market policies tend to paint themselves as virtuous and their opponents as the embodiment of all the ills in the world. It's a philosophy of economics that wouldn't necessarily be out of place alongside EF Schumacher's Small is Beautiful.

kaskade roster

Oct. 17th, 2025 05:11 pm[personal profile] baisemain posting in [community profile] dreamcodes
baisemain: (Default)

mobile-friendly character roster code
code generator with customizable colours + content preview


( KASKADE ROSTER )

(no subject)

Oct. 17th, 2025 05:35 pm[personal profile] pshaw_raven
pshaw_raven: (Perched Raven)
We went to the dump this morning, got that out of the way. It was 380 pounds of stuff.

Three hundred and eighty pounds.

Man it feels good to get rid of things, though. I'm a little embarrassed that we accumulated so much crap, though the vast majority of it was Kitty's, but clearing out space always feels nice. Sure, things have memories attached to them, but how long do you need to remember things? I'm under no illusion about what will end up happening to my stuff after I die. Though I should get some sort of letter or something from the Diary Project about how they're supposed to get my notebooks.

There's still more in there that needs to be sorted and probably tossed. Fox is going to run the carpet cleaner tomorrow and once the floor is dry I'll start putting things back in the closet, hopefully in a more orderly fashion than what we've been doing.
pshaw_raven: (Default)
1. How long ago did you join LJ (or DW)? I joined LJ in early 2001, then DW in ... 2016? I forget.

2. How did you find out about LJ (or DW)? I was an artist on Elfwood when they temporarily shut down. Their page said you could find out more at their LiveJournal, so I signed up at first just to keep up with that situation, then stayed because I started making friends on the site.

3. If someone introduced you to LJ (or DW), is s/he still on your friends list? I think Elfwood is defunct now. But I still have some folks here that I knew way back then!

4. Have you introduced anyone to LJ (or DW)? OMG yes, a lot. I had several people on LJ, but I don't think I have anyone I've gotten to join DW. Maybe?

5. Is your LJ (or DW) public or friends only, and why? It's mostly public. For one thing, I don't have much reason anymore to keep my journal friends-only. When I still lived in Louisiana I worked for the parish government and kept things locked just so nosy people wouldn't find out much about me. It's also good to keep it open here because I have a friend who doesn't need or want to sign up but still likes to read my posts.

Profile

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The Sunset Samurai

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