I just noticed that two days ago was the one-year anniversary of my starting this 'blog.

WooHoo.

Other anniversaries coming soon are 11/12(bad) and 11/14(good).

Today VigilanteGirl offered to give me a perm. As unlikely as that would be, even less likely would be her reasoning for giving me said perm.

"Because then you'd look hot," she said.

Maybe, in a dark enough room, to a drunk enough observer, while surrounded by lepers and zombies, I might at times be considered not ugly enough to scare children, but I'm enough of a realist to know that about the best I could ever hope for would be simply average.

Not really worth a second look, but also not worth gouging your eyes out to prevent accidental viewing.

Anyway, back to the hair. It's an interesting story. Okay, it's a story. Okay, I'm just killing time here.

Back in June I was in Las Vegas for a work thing. I may have mentioned the trip a couple of times in this 'blog, but one thing I didn't mention was what the hell was going on with my hair after I returned.

When I'm in a strange city like Las Vegas, where nobody knows me, I can afford to come out of my little protective shell a bit. I always figure that I'll never see any of these people again so what does it matter if I make an ass of myself.

Another thing is that it's kind of like taking a little vacation from myself, and I need those too as I can really be annoying sometimes.

During this last particular trip, fueled by Pyramid Tilted Kilt Ale, I dropped a line on one of the Rio's waitresses. Just a stupid line like you'd hear at just about any bar in the world, but this particular time it sort of worked.

By "sort of worked" I mean I didn't get slapped or laughed at. I got invited to go swimming.

After I'd quickly purchased, and changed into, the world's loudest swimtrunks and Hawaiian-style shirt, RioGirl and I went to the pool and soaked and talked for a couple of hours.

By the time RioGirl had to start work, my hair, toweled off but not combed at all, was completely dry. That's when RioGirl said the magic words.

"You should leave your hair like that. It looks good."

Never before had the words "good" and "hair" and "looks" been used to describe me before. I was sure she was joking.

When I got on the elevator to go up to my room (lucky 13013) I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror.

I looked like a completely different person. In my outrageous clothes and my snazzy new shades and with my fashionably mussed-up hair I looked quite hip and young.

For the next three days I went to my conference as my normal boring business-casual self, then at night I'd transform into YoungHipDude, minus the swimming gear but sporting towel-dried no-comb-shall-pass hair.

I felt that my hair looked really cool like that, and I decided to bring YoungHipDude back to Indiana with me.

Since my return I've never touched a comb or a blow dryer. The first time VigilanteGirl saw my mussed up hair was also the first time she ever said more than two words to me. I felt validated. I bought this gel shit that I smear in my hair, then when it dries I just use my fingers to soften it up.

As my hair grew out I've had a few haircuts since June, and I can no longer get the same look. I either look too scraggly or I look boring like I always have. I guess that the haircut I had just before my Vegas trip was some kind of magic haircut - one that was somehow perfect for the mussed up look - and now I'm back to normal haircuts that are only perfect for the straight-hanging short hair I've worn for years and years.

So that's the story of what's been going on with my hair.

Now stop asking.

Today I scheduled a couple of trips for work.

The first trip will be to San Antonio in a couple of weeks. I haven't been there since Basic Training in 1983. I'll try to make it to The Alamo and see what develops for any other non-conference activities.

The second trip is to Vegas, Baby!

I'll be there for a week at the end of November. I'm really looking forward to this one as I can always fill my nights with shows and fun.

Maybe I'll even get some of my favorite beer, Pyramid Tilted Kilt, while I'm there!

There are only a few things that really piss me off about other people.

Oh sure, I get annoyed a lot, but to really set me off you have to (a)treat people like shit, and (b)do it on purpose.

Once example of this is when you take for granted someone that you ostensibly care about, then whine and moan when they don't ask "How high?" every time you ask them to jump.

A little bit of attention can go a long way for people that don't have the highest self-esteem to begin with, and to ignore them until it's convenient for you, then to expect Pavlovian responses every time you ring a bell, is just flat out rude.

I watched this situation play out today for about the millionth time, and finally the mistreated person spoke up about it.

Yay for her.

Today I went and bought one of the new Sony dual-layer DVD burners.

My main goal with this purchase was to get a drive that would burn anything and since the new drive does indeed work I accomplished that goal.

The ability to burn to two layers is just a bonus, and not really much of one as blank dual-layer media costs about $10 each.

This morning I removed the stupid SP2 from my computer and surprise!

I can burn DVDs and CDs again.

Wait, scratch that.

I can now burn CDs again. DVDs now will not only not burn, they can't even be read by my drive.

Suspecting that SP2 had managed to irrecovably fubar my DVD burner, I went ahead and used goback to add SP2 back to the system, and decided to go out and buy a new DVD burner.

gor-geous
adj.
1. Dazzlingly beautiful or magnificent.
2. Wonderful, delightful.

poof
interj.
1. Used to indicate a sudden vanishing.

After Friday's near-perfect evening I knew that Saturday had its work cut out for it.

As it turned out Saturday was a good night as well, though for different reasons.

My night started out with a quick visit to where VigilanteGirl works to semi-apologize for not calling her the night before as we'd semi-arranged. I think that we also semi-arranged to see each other in the morning but I'm only semi-sure about that.

I arrived at Rich O's right at 8:00, way too early but I keep saying that and it keeps happening.

The played was packed with strangers but I was able to grab a seat at the bar before too much time had passed. I ordered myself an NABC Beaks's Best, remembering how good it had been the night before.

It was still quite good, but I'm thinking that the Beaks's may not be a good choice for the first beer of a session. It was a little bitter.

I'd barely started into my beer when LaptopGirl came in and, not seeing any better prospects, she grabbed a spot at the bar next to me. (LaptopGirl hates sitting at the bar.)

Lately I've been hesitant to write anything complimentary or derogatory about LaptopGirl in this 'blog for fear of unwarranted extrapolations. Tonight I'm still a little hesitant, but I'm also a little tipsy so I'm going to say that she is one very pretty young woman and leave it at that.

Too bad she's got that conjoined-twin thing or whatever going on with her neck. (ha ha inside joke)

While I amused myself with LaptopGirl's attempts to find anyone interesting at Rich O's I enjoyed a Delirium Tremens, a very nice Belgian that I think has less alcohol than the other Belgians I've had lately.

Fairly early in the evening LaptopGirl left for greener pastures and I was left to enjoy a couple pints of Smithwick's. I'm growing more and more fond of this beer each time I drink it, so it will probably be going away soon.

At one point I tried to call VigilanteGirl (who's also waaaaay out of my league) to invite her to Rich O's but I got her voicemail instead. After waiting for a half-hour or so without hearing back from her I went home.

sur-prise
v.
1. To encounter suddenly or unexpectedly; take or catch unawares.

de-li-cious
adj.
1. Highly pleasing or agreeable to the senses, especially of taste or smell.
2. Very pleasant, delightful.

Because of my computer problems I'm writing this entry late on Saturday night.

On Friday I arrived at Rich O's and did my customary survey of the parking lot for the cars of anyone I know. I saw no familiar vehicles, so I was surprised to see LaptopGirl sitting at the bar. After a short time some people left and some other people (thanks, TallLady) changed seats so I sat at the bar and pretended to be keeping LaptopGirl company while in actuality she was so buried in a map of some hiking trail that it would have taken someone a lot more interesting than I am to get her attention.

Speaking of interesting, while I was drinking my first beer of the night, a Smithwick's, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned and was delighted to see my old friend Eric and his lovely wife Terri!

Their company was exactly what I needed - not because I felt that I was lacking in companionship, just because they're good people who I knew would understand me.

Shortly after Eric and Terri arrived LaptopGirl left and sure enough, I was immediately interrogated. The difference between this occasion and every other time I've been questioned about how I'm feeling was that this time my words were taken at face value. What a relief it was to not be pitied!

Anyway, while I talked with my friends we all had some Piraat Belgian Ales. I've already written about how much I like this stuff. I don't think Eric and Terri shared my enthusiasm, for they both switched to much tamer beers (Guinness and NABC Beak's Best) for the next round.

At one point during the evening we were joined by NotGeorge and, after Eric and Terri left, NotGeorge and I spent some time talking about what perverts we both were. I had a Beak's Best myself and it was probably the best glass of that particular beer I've ever had.

Friday was one of the more enjoyable nights I've had lately. Everything was perfect. The company and the beer all flowed and blended together to form a night that relaxed and stimulated me at the same time.

My lack of entries over the last few days was not caused by a lack of things to say.

Well, may be a lack of topics played a small part, but a much larger part was played by Microsoft and their XP service pack 2.

I must have tried a half-dozen times to get that damn thing installed, and once I finally did, I realized that both my DVD burner and my CD burner had become inoperative.

At this point I've tried just about everything imaginable to get my burners working again, with no luck whatsoever.

I'd now like to state, for the record, that Microsoft sucks, SP2 sucks, and I suck for installing SP2 without completely backup my system up first.

Okay, I took all of the orphaned images and moved them into a new gallery.

That was 15 minutes of my life I'd like to have back.