Chux the Flying Astrosquirrel

waking up...

2008-04-19T14:31:30Z

man, I just can't get awake yet. My fingers ain't working like they should and I want to go back to bed, but at this point know that I can't, and work has already started in the home studio, which at this point is still sprawled into the living room/dining room in the house from when Skan (Fizz) was here programinating the tools that makes it easy to make awesome. The real studio is still trashed, but I did do some cleaning in there.

I need good halloween music for a laser show. we've got a couple holes to fill. - Update: we added the Beetlejuice Theme and NIN The hand that feeds.

This was a Triumph

2008-04-18T19:52:59Z

YAY! someone posted the Still Alive piece I programmed for FCN!

I'm making a note here:
HUGE SUCCESS!!!

Skan did a kickass job at staging and making it all happen! I wish I could have been there, but I'm happy to have contributed in some small way. I see that people had fun with the beams also, I totally feel like I missed out, because well, I did.

By the sound of this, people seemed to enjoy! YAY!

no clue how to embed this...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=r82seKs6jl8

MFF

2008-04-15T04:36:54Z

Well... MFF was a while ago now, but I had a few comments that I thought I would jot down. It was at the beginning of an extended vacation I took. Vacation from the primary employment anyway, as I spent the second week working (and playing Rock Band). So, now that I'm mostly caught up, I figured I needed to take a few minutes to express a few feelings about my first fur con, as the laundry tumbles. Well, actually, that was back in January. Now midway thru April, this post is long overdue. So much so that I’ve missed other cons in the meantime, FCN being the most troubling. But I’ll get to that in another post.

Overall it was a great experience. From the moment I walked into the place and friends started running into other friends, I felt the ear to ear grin, and a feeling that was clearly embodied in the words "I'm home". I got to see a couple friends I've know for a while, got to meet some others that I'd spoken to or chatted with, and got to make a few new ones.

Here are a few comments categorized and alphabetized for mutual pleasure....
Artwork: Saw amazing things that spoke of true talent. Bought a few choice pieces.
Breakfast: Mostly absent
Calamari: Ate it pretty much everywhere. Joe's had the best of the 5 locations we went to.
Drinking: Drank way too much
Entropy: For me the con kept going due to my travels with Skan.
Fursuits: Absolutly amazing, OMG I need one
Gay: I think the largest amount of non-heterosexuals I've ever mingled with, very fun, very entertaining
Home: That feeling I got from the moment I walked in the door
Impressive: there was a ton to experience, and I was impressed by every aspect of it all.
Jerks: not present. Everyone seemed to be really nice.
Kit: Jibba, thank you for this wonderful solution to a thirsty man’s problems.
Lima beans: I don’t remember eating one… where did this come from?
Mundane: I understand this word now, and believe it applied to most things not there.
Noob: I totally had some noob moments, thankfully 2 kept me out of trouble before I did any serious damage.
Outside was cold and nasty to my thin damn-yankee blood inside was warm and fuzzy.
Paws: I got to walk around a little bit while wearing a pair, it was quite excellent.
Quiet: requesting participants in such a con to be quiet in the hotel is really ridiculous.
Rest: not much of that to be found, I think I slept, a little but I don’t recall.
Shamanism: the one and only workshop I really wanted to attend and did. it was a powerful collection of people
Toe: I don't know who saw it but I stubbed the crap out of my toe while running drunk thru the lobby.
Unbelievable: I never expected to have that much fun. I feel like I’m missing out by not being at every single one.
Very awesome: I really enjoyed going, and hope to attend others. Totally pissed I missed FCN
Why: why did I not find out about this stuff until now?
X-Ray vision: would not be as cool as this con was to me.
Yuengling: oh, no that wasn’t until I got to PA. ;-P yummmmm
Zebras... I don't recall seeing any.

I had some trouble trying to do the cut, if it didn't work accept my appologies! -chux

mmmmmmm Egg Nog!

2007-11-13T02:59:57Z

Tis the season, as they say... In this case, I'm referring to that time of year when eggnog becomes stylishly and prominently available. Sure, the over-capitalizmic Christmas displays have been going up since early October, we've blown right through thanksgiving as if it isn't happening this year, and all the stores are getting a jump holiday sales. Sure all the decor and festiveness will stop by December 26th, screw the 12 days of Christmas.

Now, before I go off on a rant, which is not really my intention, let me take this opportunity to simply announce to you, the few kind fools who have put me on the friends list, or to the occasional passer-by, that indeed, the eggnog fountain is flowing once more. It is available, and if I do not drink it all (which is unlikely due to the vast quantities produced each year), you yourself can go and partake of this nectar of the gods.

Spotting furries

2007-11-10T14:20:29Z

So, Thursday was fun. I decided to meet some austinfurs at their weekly gathering place. I was a bit confused as they talked of going to Wing Night, and said that they usually start out at Chipotle in this shopping center and sometimes migrate depending on the weather. So I drove about an hour to get there, found the place and looked around. I got there at about 7:10 and proceeded to look for people that fit the profile.

I saw a couple people at the Chipotle patio, but since I had no idea who these people were, I continued to look. I checked out the Wing Stop and found a group of people that looked like they could fit the furry genome so I asked "Are you the Fursday night group?" and they had "no written all over their face, sow I figured a follow up question would be good. "So, this isn't the yiffy party?", no again. so I stood in line and considered buying wings.

I called my friend Skan and asked how to spot furs in public when one has never met them before, and just as I had asked I saw some. The people showed up with a stuffed fox, as was promised, and I totally found the right crowd. nice group of furs, I got to talk with many of them, and look forward to talking with others next time. Probably had about 12-15 of us there. It was my first furrmeet, having only known one fur, been introduced to another, and digitally connected to my friend's visit to the zoo. (he sent me pics at various intervals and the crowd totally made smiles in the background at me)

The past few days...

2007-11-08T01:35:00Z

OK, time to check the accomplishments over the past few days.

Portal:
play it through twice.....check
cheat a bit when stuck....check
get song stuck in my head.... check
realize the cake is a lie......check
make the radio tune my ringtone.....check

Work:
insult Japanese contractors by confusing one of them with their boss...check
engaged in political battle on campus..... check
dog out idiot coworker.......check
convince boss to let me work from home a bit.......check

Home:
make a mess.....check
clean mess up.....not so much
put off doing laundry......check
realize I need laundry but procrastinated, now realize I must do it tonight......check
put off doing laundry...again......check

Friends:
talk to friends.......check
chat with friends.......check
see some friends.......check
plan dinner with friends.......check
help friends unload 27 foot truck.......check

Financial:
get paid.......check
spend money.......check
pay bills.......check
squirrel money away.......check
print statements from 2005 forward for accountant.......check
deliver to accountant and be asked to be a guest speaker explaining how NOT to start a business.......check

Furry:
make new friends.......check
plan to meet local furs.......check
remain excited about MFF.......check
think about making a tail but little about it.......check
speak with confidence and backbone about the fandom.......check

Personal:
***CENSORED***.......check

I can't draw my way out of a paper bag

2007-11-04T02:34:06Z

Drawing has never been high on my list of skills. I'm perpetually amazed by the drawn art that so many people are exceedingly talented in. I'm not all down on myself, I simply recognize that of the various things that I am good at, drawing is not one of them. This is perhaps why I've enjoyed my latest laser work so much. Using software that primarily focuses on the abstract imagery has really been fun. Creating raw images from oscillations is fascinating to me. it is a different type of challenge.

I'm impressed by much of the art I've seen so far, and I'm really looking forward to MFF.

DaVinci Code

2007-11-04T00:38:55Z

I just watched Tom Hanks run around England with Magneto looking for the Holy Grail. I must say, the movie isn't quite what I expected. I really thought there would be more cryptic stuff in there. I guess it was all the hype. Had some cool moments, I was entertained.

I see why some very churchy people were upset by this movie and its preceding book, but at the same time it's fiction, but then, much of what is written is fiction in some way.

I never read the book, so I don't get to say "The book was sooo much better than the movie". I did read Angels & Demons, and if they are making a movie of that I'll probably go see it just so that I can say that the book was better. it's rare that I read, even more rare that I read something that becomes a movie.

No title does this justice

2007-11-02T21:20:45Z

I received a call yesterday from an acquaintance of mine from the Space Telescope Science Institute, these are the people that have little projects going on like the Hubble Space Telescope (hence their name). Well, the gal there had some really cool news for me that I won't go into great detail on, but I will say that my Astroplarium is going to get a cool free exhibit through the generosity of NASA and the fact that I'm in a high diversity demographic. and that was just the good news... then the fun stuff happened.

This person had just delivered a presentation at the last conference about the Hubble Service Mission 4. She gave me an update to that info and said that all of the gyros will be replaced... man I could eat one of those... all that creamy cucumber sauce.... tasty lamb.... mmmmm. Anyhoo, one of the other things that will happen on SM4, is that a small propulsion device will be placed on the ass end of the Hubble, and this will be used to bring it hurdling toward the planet at the end of it's lifetime, burning up in the atmosphere. Great. a wonderful tool like Hubble gets zero respect. I had another suggestion for the team... before firing the rocket packs, how about spinning it on a 180 and sent it out away from the planet to drift out into the solar system. it doesn't have to move far or fast, just let it drift out there somewhere so if ever we have the resources, it can then be recollected when we are all whipping around the solar system like George Fricken Jetson. The idea was well received, and I had not been the only one to suggest such a thing. it's kinda a no brainer.

But then came the fun. We got to talking about who manages what telescope, because Hubble isn't the only space based observatory out there. and when the time was right I asked "So who is running the Stargate program?" she said she didn't know about that, so I explained a little about it, "based in Cheyenne Mountain, big ring, lots of symbols on it, they can dial out to other worlds and send people to explore..." she actually asked someone else in the office about it, and they too had never heard of it. I could hear the conversation and the genuinely clueless remarks. I lead her on a little more, but I wasn't trying to horribly insult her intelligence, she had just given me a really cool exhibit item, so I filler her in. we had a great laugh about it. I think maybe next time I'll let the person go figure it out on their own or suggest they look into it.

Man I love messing with the pros.

-chux

Happy Halloween!

2007-11-01T01:08:07Z

the little ones come a knocking, ringing my doorbell, begging for candy, disturbing me from my otherwise contemplative evening... I scare them every chance I get... but it's never quite enough. I miss the days of wicked haunts, of fog and strobe, and pools of flowing blood. <sigh> They come to the door in small groups, sometimes just one, or two, not many. Not like the old days in bigger towns. These ones come scarred and stiff, holding out their bags, nearly unable to move, frightened by what may open the door, they are petrified at the possibility of receiving what gift may come through the portal. then the shaking begins, as a low scraping in the trashcan, then a full on thrashing as the chains beat against the steel can. and the little ones run.

life is good.

Autobots, make popcorn!

2007-07-19T05:40:49Z

Ok, just saw the Transformers movie and I was highly entertained. it was engaging and had some cool effects. some of the characters were a bit lame, one of the feds mainly. I was a bit surprised that they didn't tone down Jazz more than they did. He was a bit over the top in the original cartoon, I guess they didn't go too stereotypical for him, mostly just his intro scene I guess.

On a 1-10 I give it a 9.2

I would totally be cool with my car transforming and being my protector.

Tarantula

2007-07-18T03:08:37Z

I actually saw a big damn tarantula out in the open this evening! EEP! It was crawling on the road and up someone's driveway. It must have been about 3-4 inches across. I kept a distance. I'm not a fan of the creepy crawlies, but it was cool to see it.

Chux is in the house!

2007-07-18T02:38:33Z

Ok not use to the Blog lifestyle so mostly this will suck, but I've had some cool things to share lately, mostly some pics so I might post them here or on my website.