Scotto's Wall Scrawls

March Begins! David spent Friday night at his pal in DC's place, but returned to us this morning... after my shots, we headed out to the Museum of Visionary art w/ BHK and David, and then to Edgar Allan Poe's burial site (and his 13 year old at wedding-time cousin-wife ) at Westminster (little known factoid, BHK was the tour guide to the Poe site, and has keys to the crypt there.)

Most of what was done and seen can be expressed in photos... sadly, you're not supposed to take pics inside. ( I did sneak one with the camera phone , however.) clicking on items below will go to larger images. No ghosts captured at the graveyard, but I had fun doing some more stitching.

My favorite bit was probably the giant bird, nest and mirrored egg outside the museum. The egg glittered like an 8 foot tall disco ball in the setting sun.

To be honest, the interfaith art exhibit didn't do a lot for me... I was more interested in the permanent items, including the kinetic sculptures art cars, and painted screens.

Guy in the green hoodie is David, BHK's cousin - I think he had a nice time with us. BHK managed to dodge my best efforts at capturing her candidly.

We caught up with Larry and Chris after sundown - stopped off at cheeburger cheeburger for frings and shakes! My back was tricking up, so I begged off the jam session- hitting the sack with a heating pad early tonight.

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1 year ago - newt and pye's distant relative - Kiddo - the transatlantic airship kitty, GP, tina, gaming, and 2003, transfusion song

2 years ago - memes & links, dino pic, windows live pigs in space mefi, hop sing, haha ray

3 years ago - torn mime video awesome, zombie-like news story, book, idiopathic, Japanese Macaque, choicepoint data theft, duckie bath, yahoo video, kaleidoscope, mapper of doom, viva broward pictures

4 years ago - Blueberry Doughnuts, Meme, Factoid and so on

5 years ago - Dorky-Newt explanation, Vet Visit, AI 20 questions, TV schedule

6 years ago - Evil proggy struggle, baby critters, folks getting fired over weblogs, palm piccies

7 years ago - why wiccans suck

Picture post! Clicken to embiggen! If the thumbnails don't work, try the link to her flickr site above to see!

BHK transferred our photos from the thanksgiving weekend over -

Pyewacket on the 18th - Video also available.
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Pyewacket enjoying a little play time and lounging in the sun. The way he lays on his back cracks me up... Newt's much more conservative about belly-rubs.

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thanksgiving on the 22nd -

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Depending on security levels, some pictures may not enlarge, for privacy reasons.
For a more complete breakdown of what's on my plate, see the notes on the photo enlarged.

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Festival of Trees and the Model Trains on the 23rd

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Choo Choo Trains and Christmas Trees. That's the holiday for me.

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Greek Orthodox Church and Maryland Tree on the 24th.

I especially like the last one... Jesus and John the Baptist... featuring Guest Stars of Satan, a Squid, and a Merman.

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1 year ago - RUN TINY PONY! RUN!, I rock at balderdash, behind on tv, travel things, pictures at the fair

2 years ago - new location pics, kong - king of atlantis, all sent via pda wifi connection at crabby jacks.

3 years ago - father self thing reminder, lj murder drama, questions meme, Hung out with Mel

4 years ago - Tee-Gee, Dan's D20 game, E-books, music, cool hymn

5 years ago - Finn stuff, I get my links sponsor, Newt plays with babies, father memory

6 years ago - evil news, X-MAS, Morning Tarot, thought stream, mayah born, tolkien

7 years ago - Eunuch Mayor, LJ burps, Best compliment

Let's see... to recap the weekend -

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Friday - Gem show was fairly nifty... I got to fool with a $109,000 aquamarine stone, and ate some tasty dessert with the in-laws and BHK.

Positives : Played with Rocks, Tasty food, Obtained a little knowledge on Lapidary, Got some ideas about what to get BHK as presents, Rock Cutter reminded me of Todd, discovered "sno cone" cut

Negatives: 4-5 hours is too long in a folding chair, Mouthy lady across from me, Had to wear nice clothes, heavy rain, we were tardy, I notice occlusions and stone flaws too easily, BHK low blood sugar, Newt accidentally in the walk-in closet the whole time we were gone.

Final Score: More win than fail. If I had to do it again I wouldn't complain, but would plan for uncomfy chairs a bit.

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Saturday - We were going to spend a little time doing chores and then go to the flyball tourney with Amy and her sisters, but got sidetracked after we were invited to breakfast with Larry and Chris. Post Bob Evans, we got the tickle to pick up our copy of Zombie Fluxx at Aardvark in Solomon's.... That sort of turned in to a family trip to BJ's Wholesale with the in-laws, once they heard we were heading south for a moment. Larry And Chris suffered a little bit from sensory overload at Aardvark's, but we were in and out quickly. Just fast enough to grab our ZF and go. I found out that they don't carry warhammer minis, but instead do war machine. I wonder if Eryx and his crew mix and match figures, or if they're purely WH? Once we got to BJ's, a quick trip for some tires for Larry's car turned into Shop-o-rama 2007. BHK and I picked up a few things that we needed, Halloween candy for the kiddies, and two wonderfully discounted wii games ($20 each) - Rampage and Ninjabread Man. Chris decided to play Santa, and bought our cart of goodies as well as their own!

While grocery Shopping, we found some Theme Chocolate -



Sexual Chocolate I've heard of... Forgiveness? interesting. Tranquil and Renew... what happens if you eat all of these at once?

On our way south, there was a trailer on the side of the road hawking flowers, apples and baked goods. By the style of dress, I thought at first that one of the vendors was Amish, but on evaluation of the trailer, she must've been Mennonite - Horses would've had a tough time pulling the thing, but a truck hitch would be fine. Also went to the post office, and got Danny's Anniversary Present, and a Fluxx card "Zombies Eat Brains" promo... you use it in the standard deck, but has a Zombie theme, to be sure (The player who has Death on the table wins if the Brain is on the table.) The Boxed version of HEY! That's My Fish! I was a cruel and heartless player, and beat BHK 3 out of 3 games. I fear my victories will grow fewer in number as we get more players - I'm much better with 4 penguins than with 2.

We also stopped off at Maerten's to get our wedding rings engraved - inside of mine will be "Wing To Wing" and BHK's will be "Oar To Oar", referencing Robert Frost's The Master Speed - last lines of which are:

Two such as you with such a master speed
Cannot be parted nor be swept away
From one another once you are agreed
That life is only life forevermore
Together wing to wing and oar to oar.

The full poem is on my bio page here.

Positives: Zombie Fluxx obtained (Aardvark sold out and was on it's second order!), Hey! That's My Fish!, Free Candy, Free Wii Games, Free Houshold supplies, Social time with the in-laws, ginger snaps and apples, offer to teach me old school biscuit baking techniques.

Negatives: Delayed visit to Amy for a day, no chores done - will probably have to buckle down next weekend, a little skittish about not having my wedding ring

Final Score: BIG WIN! I really can't find much to complain about getting games, chocolate and a lot of good conversation and giggles out of a Saturday. Tried Ninjabread Man, and the controls are tricky, but not bad once you're used to 'em. I bet Bugah will be quite good at it.

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Sunday (Today) - I slept in until 10:30! I never sleep that late, but it must've been quite needed.

BHK and I hustled out the door to visit with Amy before she headed back for New York - got to give a friendly wave and offer support. We didn't ge tto eat together, but BHK and I took in some gorgeous weather, and went for pizza at 3 brothers - Sicilian with ricotta and garlic, BHK got meatballs on the side. Really, really good. Enough left over for dinner and for me to take to work tomorrow for lunch... and for BHK to have a nibble for lunch, too.

Stopped in Annapolis to look at couches at Jennifer's to replace the pink Torquemada-inspired beasties on the living room wall. Some solid, affordable options there... most light at the end of that tunnel yet. Nothing totally sings, but we have a few ideas about what to do now.

ATW man changed to Spidey for Halloween!

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I dig his boots.

We got home and flopped in front of the TV in the treehouse, caught up with The Office, Earl, and Midnight.... and just enjoyed snuggles with Newt in bed. Chris called to invite us over for Veggie soup, but I was too pooped out to get dressed and head over there. They understood, and BHK worked our way downstairs to catch up with some of the Ugly betty and cake making challenge video we had saved there - got sleepy, and we hit the sack shortly thereafter.

Positives: walkabout, moon pies on the road with diet cranberry splash, super good pizza, maybe a new couch soon, offered Amy a chance to come visit, ATW man, Further along on couch search, lots of nice time with BHK.

Negatives: The day was too short!

Final Score: Solid win. Comfy, Autumnal, lovey day.

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1 year ago - on honeymoon in SC, ripley's, voice posts
many pages of pictures taken that day! 1 2 3 4 5 Hooray for Honeymoon!

2 years ago - wilma update, peanuts meets lovecraft
more hurricane fallout pictures taken that day

3 years ago - adp and ri battle, kamal, punkinheads, clock change, katherine harris run over, willed body lawsuits

4 years ago - hospital trip, mr Charlie

5 years ago - babynamer, Drawbacks of a name, newt-tadpole pics, candy-corn thoughts, cat heroclix sculpts, PBS-SOP

6 years ago - musical coding, Network

7 years ago - Hanging out with buddies.

8 years ago - Newt's eyes begin to turn color

Tasty Falafel last night, despite BHK not feeling well.

Took her out tonight, glad that she's up to it... maybe a little cheeburger cheeburger and a road time will jump start her to feeling better for the weekend!

After a tasty garden-cheeburger, frings and cherry chocolate shake, we swung by the store and got her some new jeans, before making a very brief visit to eyeball Comics and Games and Stuff. (Courtesy of The Looney Labs store finder )

Dropped 12 for 3 very inexpensive games - Change! , Cosmic Coasters, and The Very Clever Pipe Game. All of which should be wonderful additions to our games closet, and are pretty small and portable, should we decide to take 'em with us somewhere.

Speaking of new, portable games, Eryx wrote us and mentioned that he's sending us a copy of EcoFluxx as a wedding present! Thanks Eryx! We need to steal him from the UK and have him visit sometime. :)

Also the Labs have recently produced Twin Win, an Icehouse game suitable for use while waiting in line.

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Glass and a Half Full Productions - fun ad by cadbury (via ze) What can I say? I like apes.

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3,000-year-old beehives unearthed in Israel

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My immediate living area's population has doubled by a person and a cat since a little over a year ago. I like it much better that way, as I adore them.

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If want to make myself angry, I picture a pregnant woman smoking.

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Author Madeleine L’Engle died last night in Connecticut, at the age of 89. Best known for her 1963 Newbery Award winner A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels, L’Engle was the author of more than 60 books for adults and young readers.

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Stolen Catalytic Converter from one of our accountant's truck from our company's parking lot.. . certainly not an isolated issue - seems to be happening all over MD and VA

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Doodles... I think that I like flat lines more than pseudo-airbrush textures. .

A Dragon, The Little Prince , and a flurfy tree

The Little Prince reminds me of things I sometimes forget -

"On ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur, l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux"
(It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye).

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um, yikes. I'm surprised... not by New Orleans or Detroit... but by the fact that there's no New York or Miami on there. I wonder how many murders go unreported?

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1 year ago - jojo again, Chase is a creep, acim scuttlebutt (RS came back and left since then),

2 years ago - First notice of SNAKES ON A PLANE, smokin' with Newt and Firpo, morning pre-work report, interdictor shenanigans, ADP and RI duke it out, second life free

3 years ago - Broward PSA, hurricane doodles, freeware

4 years ago - Harvest moon, auto-cashiers, acim two-level split, lynching, cluster move, gender genie, newt-bounce

5 years ago - Sleestaks and Oatmeal, Sculpey and Fimo, Bewitched, cave photo, bad prefixes, dog snoods

6 years ago - lj drama regarding cheaters,lovely long chat where blackie burped, thescents of rose, lavender, gardenia, violette, and muguet (burts bees),Skeletor, Back in 1997, there was an exorcism performed on MotherTeresa, saints.

7 years ago - poopy day, Suzy, Walt Whitman, American Cannibals, Mush, interests, overheard, jail visits

Lots done at work today... a good ending to the week. I have to get with CS first thing on Monday (or after she's back) about streamlining more processes. I'm pretty pleased with the current learning curve and the gang there thus far.

Outside of work - Autorealm - reminder to self - investigate other uses.

Tonight, we'd planned on a visit to see Sweeney Todd - but the venue wasn't up to the task of seating us. However, we may make plans make it easier in the future. (Thoroughly Modern Millie may have better odds.) instead, we wandered around Annapolis, had a lovely bite to eat at Davis' Pub (the onion rings were especially to my liking) and then went to see the latest Die Hard movie. Not bad... took place in Baltimore / DC (sort of a one globby city) and had lots of explosions and beaten up Bruce Willis in it.

We also got to visit the Maryland Kwik-E-Mart - pictures will follow of this nifty bit-o-advertising later in the week. Our Clerks were I. P. Freely, and Mae B. Drunk.

I would really like to get this... (via ectoplasmosis )

During a routine underwater expedition, these unfortunate frogmen were attacked by a giant radioactive octopus! Will their harpoon guns, daggers and pruning shears be enough to defeat this terror of the deep or will they all be eaten alive? Each set includes twelve, 2-1/2″ hard vinyl frogmen and one, 9″ soft vinyl octopus that glows in the dark!

Frogmen vs. Radioactive Octopus

also via ecto -

Count Gottfried von Bismarck, who was found dead on Monday aged 44, was a louche German aristocrat with a multi-faceted history as a pleasure-seeking heroin addict, hell-raising alcoholic, flamboyant waster and a reckless and extravagant host of homosexual orgies…

The great-great-grandson of Prince Otto, Germany’s Iron Chancellor and architect of the modern German state, the young von Bismarck showed early promise as a brilliant scholar, but led an exotic life of gilded aimlessness that attracted the attention of the gossip columns from the moment he arrived in Oxford in 1983 and hosted a dinner at which the severed heads of two pigs were placed at either end of the table.

When not clad in the lederhosen of his homeland, he cultivated an air of sophisticated complexity by appearing in women’s clothes, set off by lipstick and fishnet stockings.

Count Gottfried von Bismarck Obituary

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1 year ago - gamer soap, Christian Democracy myth, death bypasses convictions, ln quiz

2 years ago - Bard's Tale, bro/snarly, solfeggio, Easter manatee rush, Tropical Storms Cindy and Dennis, heroclix, bro relocating

3 years ago - creepy Vizcaya pictures, cake man, Lego zombies, edible panties with twizzlers, Helped Danny set up website, JLU

4 years ago - harry potter quiz, history returns

5 years ago - bad sleeps, odd dreams, bed frame replaced, stats, LJ scam, villain supply, reading Earth, getting used to bro as neighbor, Scotto factoid poll

6 years ago - tirade, suberic, slinky/cult, evil news

7 years ago - got a nice letter from Christin, Emo Philips

Danny at the movies... life size Simpsons!

The Day in reverse:

Sleepy Snuggles – Newt opts to linger in the office, perhaps to keep an eye on the bird outside. I take Pye in and tuck in with BHK for the night.

Big Salad for dinner – boiled egg, lettuce, fake chicken strips, cheese. Nicely filling. Worked well with raspberry walnut vinaigrette.

Puss In Boots w/ Christopher Walken – A musical. Walken covering refuse like a cat, and crouching with a tush wiggle while stalking prey. Made about 20 years ago, and still disturbing.

First Firefly (and then about 2 others flashing in the night) - a pleasant diversion of flickering bioluminescence. I hope to see many, many more.

Full moon between trees. (tried to photograph, but camera isn’t that hi-res)

Mosquito biting (mostly on bhk – she’s much better tasting than I am)

Wounded Cowbird – BHK discovered a cowbird by our feeder, it appeared that his tail feathers were either halfway broken or torn off. Called shelters to help him out, but to no avail. Fortunately the yard is fenced in and fairly predator free, so we put food and a water dish for it, to keep him comfortable as can be hoped. I fear he won’t live too long without the ability to fly. He’s not in any visible pain.

Sequel to Dandelion Wine – came out in October?! I know I’ve been busy, but how could I not have heard about it? It’s a very short book, and at 10% in, I’d say it’s not as great as DW, but still a good 7/10.

Library trip, with hooligans, ambulance rushes past – More and more kids out and about with summer rapidly approaching.

Stop (ME) sign and Cherry Diet Pepsi supplanting diet Dr pepper

Jerky Motorcycle drivers x 3 – tailgating, bobbing and weaving. I doubt that they’ll live through very much of that behavior – hopefully they don’t hurt anyone else when they expire.

Arrive back at Love Cube, five minutes remaining on meter! Nice, since there were six minutes from the prior occupant when we arrived. Credit, one minute.

Blueberry Ice Cream – hand doodled spoons at Annapolis Ice Cream – It was blue angels – blueberry with marshmallow clouds. This town loves the navy, and with good reason.

Back Alley walking, cobblestone brick roads – Stencil of Follow your Dogma, and eye icon

Blue Cream soda at the specialty old time movies / drink store (BHK gets Fizzy Lizzy grape, and pomegranate lip balm)

Store that sold ghost tour tickets is no longer there?

pet specialty store – mug “everything tastes better with cat hair” and some cute overpriced ceramics there.

Crab cake – yum. Better on a bun than on the portabella. Soul’ve gotten the dip and pretzel smothered in cheddar. I think I ran the poor waitress ragged on refills. Best solution, tell ‘em to bring a pitcher to the table. Learn that Annapolis has most surviving 18th century architecture in USA

Joss and all other sushi places closed at 2:30, we discover at 2:40

Annapolis – Walking around, taking in the sights – Crossing guard here and there, some construction.

Discover that we have $2.50 in quarters for parking meters

Difficulty parking in lot – everyone else seems to think it’s a nice day, too.

Opt out of Movies (though Spidey 3, Pirates 3, and 28 weeks later are awaiting in the sequel queue) – too nice a day to duck into a cave with corn.

Opt out of Green Alien Head (decide to play games we haven’t played yet when we get home)

Condo copies and mailing at kinko's

Leave IANA

Met with Prez/CEO for brief overview of benefits and possible offers

Met with Programmer – re: SQL queries – discussed software and strategy/tactics

Met with Group Management person – re: Avectra and group meeting issues

Met with Network folk – re: legacy system, hardware, converting to exchange from pegasus

Arrived IANA

McD’s Breakfast – vanilla iced coffee and mcgriddle egg& cheese

Slow to wake up, 4 of us in bed. BHK, 2 kitties, me.

Scribbles in ref -

Lovely day today... I feel good about my follow-up interview, and should know more by the end of the week if they want me on board.

BHK and I spent the afternoon doing walkabout in Annapolis after polishing off some legal hubbub regarding the condo.

Pictures from our travels:



Not shown, some amazing blueberry ice cream or the fantastic crab cake at Federal House (used to be Griffin's). Annapolis is pretty spiffy - more 18th century architecture in the city than in any other in the USA.

You scored as Agnostic, Agnostics consider the possibility that they may be wrong about God's existence, no matter which side of the fence they stand on. Always willing to objectively evaluate the most ridiculous proof, nevertheless, these guys are skeptics of the Nth degree.

via BHK:
Scotto PSA:Folks. for the safety of small children and animals, if I'm ever staying overnight at your house don't feed me crab cakes. (Scotto addendum - I think it was some horrid chemical reaction with the veggie dogs, personally, but yikes!)

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1 year ago - weather, doodles, network, nat'l drivers test, why can't we be friends,

2 years ago - out and about with with Danny, pics, palm doodles, Lost season 2 trailer, web screenplay, classic story role - wayfarer, year of the monkey, fridge magnet piccies, work senora, kalpa

3 years ago - beekeeping, silly rainbow, day after tomorrow palm review, COH, Danny pic at sushi, D&B, feeling sickie, bro issues

4 years ago - ljmatch, checkup, wet out, bob hope 100, letter from Rachel, banning superman as a baby name, dr doom sued.

5 years ago - bookstore, Viking ships, braids, Underoos, bad Iran Barbie grammar,people watching, photogenic folks, brothel/church/bowling memory

6 years ago - - evil news, phaster search, music poll, first sighting of the man-monkeyin Delhi, The Gambler, meemee sent me a colored picture of bubbles, candid newt pic (one red eye, one green eye!), south of the border, story about my brother and myself when I was 8, space movies.

7 years ago - thankful for memorial day