Nutless Wonder

Well I would have posted a picture but Cindy made off with the camera on her girly weekend trip. Seumas did a lot better today. He was walking around, even trotting sometimes.

Didn't sleep very well last night of course. Seumas stayed in the bed with Cindy and I and that usually results in not sleeping well. It's particularly difficult when you have to prevent the little bastard from licking his wound, while also trying to be unconscious.

The wound is a little pink, but not bloody. His poor little scrotum looks a bit like an overripe cherry which I have to say kind of horrifies me. He used to have those two proud testicles which he displayed so unabashedly. Had to put his lamp shade on him a couple times today to keep him from messing with his wound. He's definitely loving the soft food that Cindy got him. Helps with giving him his antibiotic pill too.

I can tell he's going to bounce back really fast though. Already he's climbing steps. Yesterday I had to pick him up. He got his peanut butter filled bone today that Cindy got this morning and of course within a half hour, both Cordy and Seumas had their bone totally gutted.

Matt came over and I taught him how to play D&D miniatures, during which he promptly kicked my ass. It's an odd game for me. It's the one I continually lose and still can't wait to play it again. After that we had food and beer and rum and bad movies and it was much fun.

Tonight will probably be yet another crappy night's sleep, but with Cindy gone for the night, the dogs are sleeping in the bed. I'm a sucker like that.

We're under attack!!!!

I slept awful last night. Went to bed at 9pm. Boohoo, right? Well, I read for a bit and fell asleep pretty quickly. I don't even remember Cindy coming to bed. That's right, I beat HER to bed. Unheard of.

The next thing I remember, I wake up hearing the transients outside digging through all the neighborhood recycling bins for cans and bottles. I mean, I feel sorry for them and all, and I'd gladly donate any and all recyclables to them so they can get a little cash, but the feeling that a stranger is outside your house rummaging through your former stuff in the middle of the night is not settling. You wonder if they're going to get curious and start walking around your yard or something. Not a safe feeling.

I roll over and ask Cindy if she'd locked the doors before going to bed, and she mumbled that she did.

Good enough. Slipped back into unconsciousness.

Sort of. The next few hours, we are plagued by helicopters swarming the airspace above our neighborhood. Know what that probably means? Police, looking for someone. In your neighborhood, in the middle of the night!

Somewhere in all that I had the following dream:

Cindy and I were at my grandma's house in Boise, but we were the only one's there. There was a homeless guy who knocked on the door. I asked him what he wanted and he wanted to know if he could take his shower for the month.

I told him that we were in the middle of something and said sorry... but he wouldn't go away. He was much larger than me, and in the argument that ensued (in the middle of which I told Cindy to call 911), he attacked me and I ended up putting him on the ground punching him in the neck, yet still getting my ass kicked.

I woke up right around there, and wouldn't you know it, it was 5am. Time to get up. I snoozed a bit more, but it was restless.

Been in a rotten mood all morning. Feeling better now, but WHAT THE CRAP!

My wife made me do this

GenCon Indy 2007

Can you believe this is Nathan and me? So, GenCon went well. For those of you who don't know what GenCon is, it's the largest gaming convention in the country that doesn't largely involve video games. This is role-playing games, like Dungeons and Dragons, collectible card games, like Magic: The Gathering, and all the board games and miniature gaming stuff. Yeah, it's awesome.

What you are seeing above is a piece done by Jason Engle, for the Demon Hunters Role-Playing Game, which will be coming out this fall by Margaret Weis Productions. That's right, the folks who brought you the Serenity Role-playing Game and the new Battlestar Galactica Role-playing game, licensed Dead Gentlemen's Demon Hunters property to do a new role-playing game. So far, the feedback is that it's one of the hilarious good times in role-playing to be had. I co-directed the DVD that will be packaged with the game, and we played it at the booth throughout the con. In the Spring, Ben and I directed the Demon Hunters: Brotherhood Orientation Video, which makes the Demon Hunters RPG the first role-playing game ever to have video content packaged with it. We're nominated for an award for next year already!

The video gathered a crowd like the old days when our movie The Gamers was still new. It was refreshing to see that we could still draw a crowd.

In attendance from our group was also Cindy, Steve Wolbrecht, Chris Duppenthaler, Jen & Dave Page, and Chris and Sarah Ode. We had a blast hanging out with our friends at Margaret Weis Productions.

You can click HERE for more GenCon pictures.

We had a screening of The Gamers: Dorkness Rising, which was packed. That was even on a Friday afternoon at 4pm, when people were running games and whatnot! There was even a panel for Monte Cook that people had to skip out on (Sorry Monte).

We were also invited as special guests to Tracy Hickman's Killer Breakfast, which is this Improvisational show he does, running a game with people from the audience as players, and killing their characters in creative ways. It's really a spectacular and entertaining show. And HUMBLING! We were invited along with people like Ed Greenwood and even Gary Gygax (Co-creator of D&D)!!!

I died in the first 30 seconds at the table when he asked "why are you here?" to which I bent over to the microphone replied in my deepest voice, "I'm Johnny Cash". Apparently that was explanation enough for him, and I was going to answer every question with a Johnny Cash song, but my improv wasn't up to snuff and was dead in a matter of moments.

Well, that's about all I can say for now on the trip. Of course promptly upon returning I got some kind of head cold that laid me out. I went to bed at 6:30pm last night. My sinus still kind of feel like they want to implode. Everyone at the office is getting it too, and I know it's not because of me since people I haven't seen in person in over two months are coming down with the same symptoms on the other side of the city.

Ick.

Allergisick

Either my allergies are crazy or I came down with something, but holy crap do I feel awful. I left LA for GenCon on Wednesday the 15th with a bad sore throat. When I got to Indy, the sore throat was gone and I felt great.

Came back from Indy on Monday, and within hours I was under the weather again. Ug. Went home at noon today from work because I couldn't concentrate. Not good when you're trying to be a good leader.

Going to be spending a lot of time with a Kleenex box and OTC drugs. When my mind is more coherent, I'll post an update on how the convention went. In short, it was awesome. Very reassuring that we can still draw a constant crowd at the booth. Unfortunately sales were down to about half this year. Oh well. That's what happens when you don't have anything new to sell.

Haven't gotten the numbers from the other booth yet. Well, Ta for now.

Knott's in my throat

On Saturday, to celebrate Camille's birthday we all went to Knott's Berry Farm. You can tell I'm not from around here, because when I first heard that's what we were doing I thought to myself "Why the F are we going to a jam factory? How is that all 'Happy Birthday'? Does Camille have a jam fetish I don't know about?"

So yeah, besides jam, they have big roller coasters. One of which scared the piss out of both Cindy and I. We got the picture, but I don't have a scanner so I can't share it. However, I can share the pictures we did take.

Here's us just getting into the theme park when it's 100 degrees outside and all we want is something cool to drink. If you look behind me, you'll find a stand full of ice cold refreshments THAT WE COULDN'T BUY BECAUSE THE DAMNED TWIT'S CASH REGISTER WAS BROKE or something. She wouldn't even accept exact change.

I thought I'd record my demeanor about the whole situation for the rest of you. I'm sure you appreciate it.

Here we are trying to figure out what kind of jam they sell... Oh, and that's our new married couple friends, Katy and Jeremy. They now play D&D with us. They're hooked, and it's my fault. :)

Here's Jeremy and I chillin on the river raft ride that only lasted about 30 seconds after standing in line for about a half an hour.

I actually didn't get sunburned. Although, Katy got soaked. It was nice to have some cool water nearby though, after not being able to buy the obviously cold and refreshing beverages that just teased you as you walked in the gate. I mean that's just evil, people!

And speaking of evil, let me introduce you to Ghost Rider. This is one of the largest wooden roller coasters in the world. It's also one scary S.O.B. This is a ride that when you get off of it, you hurt. It shakes, rattles, and rolls you all over hell and back. I wish I could show you the picture, we both thought we were going to die.


I'm sure it's supposed to be safe and no one has died yet. But wow, let me just say, it's a real trip.

Unfortunately, I think it turns out that Knott's Berry Farm is also in one of the more polluted areas of LA. So either the fact that I was screaming at the top of my lungs, combined with the fact that there's a bunch of screaming kids around, or the pollution, or all of the above... well, what I'm trying to say is that I ended up with an inflamed sore throat for the past few days. I blame Ghost Rider.


Well, tomorrow I leave for GenCon in Indianapolis. So, a sore throat just in time to talk all day to a huge constant crowd. When did fun get so hard on me?

The Don Whisperer

I'm a lazy git. Well, when I'm not working I am. I guess maybe just evenings and weekends when I sleep all the time. Am I working too hard? Am I expending everything I have to offer my new life here in LA at Revchem Plastics?

Truth is, I think I'm actually not lazy per se, as I am inactive. In my old job at Revchem in Tacoma, I was a lot more active. I was running around, pulling orders, carrying heavy things, unloading trucks. I was support for the operations there. Here, I'm the leader of the operations. I have two employees who do all the things I did in Tacoma. So I sit in my chair at work, I talk on the phone a lot, and work out logistical problems, I deal with personnel issues, and then wonder why my back hurts, my body is sore, and I'm sleepy all the time.

The blood, it does not flow... as much. Cindy to the rescue, or something like that. So my darling wife has found new zeal in life through that show "The Dog Whisperer" starring Cesar Milan. She checked out his book Cesar's Way, and over the course of about a week she read it cover to cover. Suddenly, the dogs HAVE to be walked every night, and I feel like a jerk because I'm too tired to go with her. One evening she really wanted me to go with her and I was really not in the mood, and needless to say the air was pensive for a while. All the sudden she wants to do all these new things, and it's starting to impose on me.

Well practicing what Cesar was teaching her, she stayed calm and assertive, and when I was done with my tantrum, I followed our new pack leader. Turns out not only do the dogs need daily exercise and discipline and affection, so does the husband. I began to read the damn book. You know what, the guy makes a lot of sense. His approach is easy, natural, and improves relationships not just with dogs, but with other people. Well, actually, it also improves your relationship with yourself. You begin to understand what kind of role you want in life, and that you are the one who gets to choose what that is, as pack leader. Now it is up to me to also be a pack leader for our dogs. I can't let Cindy be the only authority figure for those two little sausages.

Then, as you probably read on Cindy's blog, the two of us watched the entire disc of "The Dog Whisperer" she got from Netflix. Every single problem the people were having with their dogs was a direct result of not being in control and being dominant over their dogs. Many of examples Cesar used to help the people understand what kind of role they had to take up were examples from their work, or as a parent. If you are calm and in control and provide clear boundaries, you will get the results you want. Allow too much freedom, and there's chaos and you are no longer in control.

I too Seumas for a walk one night using the new leash technique I'd just learned. I took the chain leash, and latched it to itself so it became a choker leash. I put the leash high up on Seumas' neck, just under his jaw, and led him around. We didn't move until he was relaxed and submitted to me going first. Then, with slight corrections which involved a slight tug upward on the leash bringing Seumas' head up, instead of nose to the ground, he was no longer darting in front choking himself to death trying to drag me. In less than a minute he was trotting beside me relaxed and happy as I practiced good posture pulling my shoulders back and filling myself with confidence. It's amazing how much easier it is to breathe when you're not slouching like I am right now as I write this.

Ahem. Okay, corrected.

Suddenly several things clicked into place. I needed this exercise just as much as the dogs. I need to take better care of my body. Just because I'm skinny doesn't mean I'm healthy. So did I go with Cindy tonight to walk the dogs? No, I was too tired and didn't feel like it. Am I going to challenge myself to walk the dogs when I don't feel like it. I'm going to try real hard.

Because like correcting bad behaviors in your dogs, you have to make those corrections before they escalate. If you can be observant enough to correct those tendencies at level 1, instead of trying to arduously try and bring it down from level 10, success will come quickly. This carries over to a lot of areas where there needs to be authority structures. At work it carries over for me as the new boss, where I have to demonstrate my authority, yes even dominance over my employees. I've been a bit soft in my authority there. Some of the personnel issues (preexisting mind you) were allowed to flourish even though I was taking corrective measures. Demonstrating and demanding the respect that is needed to be a good leader requires, REQUIRES not domination but assertiveness and being collected and in control. You're not always going to be calm, you're not always going to be in control, but if you can roll with it in the moment, even more respect will be gained. And then you give respect back when the behavior you observe is what you want. Now of course this only works at one level with humans. On top of that, you have language to deal with. That's a whole other topic. The words you choose to say your piece.

Now that I've digressed, back to me being lazy. (correcting my posture again) Change is hard. Rest is still needed, but so is exercise.

Next, I might reflect on biodiesel and Volkswagons, versus a MiniCooper. In the meantime, here's a little Google search for you: Make your own biodiesel at home!