omnibuscortex

2009-05-29T16:41:00.000-07:00

i made cowboy chow. it is good. you mop it up with biscuits.

i also made my tomato sauce. just two jars worth.

i wish i could make a living making, jarring and selling cowboy chow and tomato sauce. it's hard to compete with prego and classico di napoli and fucking ragu is terms of price. i'd have to make a catalog. or maybe sell a small batch at famer's markets.

really i just to sell jars of stuff with my face on it. it's one step closer to getting my face on the 20 dollar bill.

birthday

2009-04-21T11:58:00.000-07:00

Had a wonderful birthday dinner last night at Mon Ami Gabi. Thanks to Ryan for the comp. I also got a new egg poacher. I like it way better than poaching eggs the regular way, by just cracking them into a pot of boiling water. That always makes messy, watery eggs. I like the little shell that forms in the poaching pan. It's like shot glass eggs, also easier to eat.

I've also registered my noble title with the Principality of Sealand. So for the next year or so, I am a Lord, and I have the documents to prove it.

unwanted changes

2009-04-08T20:40:00.001-07:00

i got laid off today. the economy has taken a turn for the awful, specifically in terms of me. it was a nice job too, real easy. maybe too easy. i am frightened that i won't find another job very soon, because i have friends who have been out of work for months. at this point, it is simply inconvenient. in a month, if i still am not employed, i will elevate the situation to a financial emergency.

i must not expect the worst. i cna feel myself doing it already. i must revamp this site, for one. i think i'll have enough free time to do so now.

i suppose now would be a good time to begin dieting.

44 days

2009-02-13T10:05:00.000-08:00

44 days into 2009 and I'm playing catchup with 2008. I've apparently become the pop culture news aggregator and social networking go-to, so I have to stay abreast of all the internet trends. I've signed up for like 20 different social networking sites for my company and I'm looking for more. This has become a much bigger job than I imagined. Not only do I have to set all these up, I have to actually network with the consuming public using them, and update them frequently to maintain some sort of market relevance.

Problem is, the systems these networks run on often SUCK. I'm talking about you, Facebook. I've been putting off signing up for Facebook for a long time because i don't like how it works, but now i'm forced to do it. Ugh. Well, at least it's better than some other sites.

I haven't paid my trash bill in 4 years and got stuck with a bill this week. We weren't aware it was out responsibility. Yes, it was on the lease, but it was one of those little things on the papers that slipped right by and noone said anything about it for years. I even got letters every 3 months, bills really, but not in my name and I sent them to the property management bitch (and she is the very best example of a total bitch) and got no word in return, so how was I supposed to know? I don't read my lease every month. Whatever.

BSG is on tonight and I'm excited.

currently listening to: Stabbing Westward

22 days

2009-01-22T13:24:00.000-08:00

22 days into 2009 and I still don't have a proper couch. I just found out I can't afford a new couch. I was misled by those I thought had my best interests at heart, when I should have gotten things in writing whenever money is involved. Dammit. I'd really like to take people at face value. I'd really like to trust easily. I don't like having to constantly watch my back. I was hoping this year would be easy, smooth. I'm working it out though.

I'm very glad to have a roommate soon, especially one that likes all the same things I do. Well, almost. There's no excuse for owning "Newsies" on DVD. That disc will never touch my Xbox.

My garage is clean and it's taking my garbage days to empty it of collected trash. I'm so used to parking my car on the driveway, I don't know what I'll do when I have the space to park it inside. I don't have enough stuff to fill a garage with, other than a car. Still, it's nice to have things clean and not own a bunch of crap. I like living simply, free of clutter weighing me down to a location.

Couch show chugs along in the new year and I haven't had time to finish the new site. I have so many ideas and no time to realize them. I must make time very soon.

Car's stil acting funny. It's going in on Saturday, after I clean it out.

Packing lunches now. Cheaper, healthier. I feel better about it.

Controlled chaos, threatening to burst it's confines at the seams, rattling its bars, making lewd gestures. I've got a handle on it for now.

7 days

2009-01-07T14:36:00.000-08:00

It's been 7 days since end of 2008 and I've yet to settle into a routine. My homeostatic efforts have been futile, but I'm still trying. I need things to "calm down" before I can tackle bigger projects. However, if I've learned anything last year, it's that nothing ever "calms down". The best I can hope for is controlled chaos. I think I can make do with that.

My garage is almost clean. I can see the floor, and large paths have been carved out of the chaos. Deb helped a ton by forcing me to do it, for which I am grateful. I even found a few old DVDs and CDs I've been looking for. The garbage men will hate me soon. My vision is to be able to park in my garage for the first time in, oh, years.

I'm also making room in my house for another person. To do this I have to clean out my old crap and give away what I do not wear anymore, which has been a long time in coming. "Simplify!" I cry to people with too much junk, yet I have not followed advice. Well now I have to, and it's refreshing. It's especially refreshing to clean out my kitchen pantry. For a long time it was filled with plastic bags and dog bullshit and boxes. No longer. The new girlfriend is an environmentalist, which means far less plastic bags. She's also not a slob about dog stuff, and dog stuff belongs in the garage away from people stuff. As it should be.

I'm designing a new website entirely for the ugly couch show. Membership system and everything. I have to say it here so that it becomes something I must do, not just something I plan to do. And this year we're going to do comic con the right way.

I'm slowly getting back to eating healthy after a holiday season of gluttony. After my headaches stopped and I got off Topamax, I had an appetite again, and I used it. I must atone for my sins so I can look nice in a bathing suit this summer.

I need a new couch. Dogs literally ate the last one.

I need to repair my car. It's acting funny.

I need to enhance this site. It's static. Also need to blog more.

And I need to buy a mannequin for my stormtrooper armor.

ha!

2008-11-11T23:55:00.000-08:00

I can't believe somone paid $46.99 for a picture of me.

eBay: Star Trek the Experience Alien/Starfleet mounted photo

room for rent

2008-11-08T19:47:00.000-08:00

Room for Rent - $650

bsg marathon

2008-11-05T21:59:00.000-08:00

My girlfriend has me hooked on Battlestar Galactica. I'm almost through season 3. I'm hooked now. I want to buy posters and crap. I'm pissed because once I get through this season there's nothing left for me until January when they release the season 4 DVDs. Or, I could just watch season 4 for free on the internet, but it's just not the same.

testing my survey engine

2008-10-24T10:57:00.000-07:00

shiny new everything

2008-10-20T22:40:00.000-07:00

new job.

i am now- eh- ok so i don't have a job title yet, but i think it's going to be pretty cool. and just in time. the economy sucks and business is slow and i need money. i also need a change of pace and a chance to stretch my creativity muscle.

new girlfriend.

oh yeah by the way i have a new girlfriend now. i haven't posted about it for whatever reason, but since i'm posting about new things, here you go. new girlfriend. woo hoo. she's cool.

newly cleaned house.

just got my carpets done. roommate moved out. rearranged all the furniture. cleaned the house top to bottom. I can actually live on my house now and have people over. no fucking dogs in my house. it's nice.

new roommate.

well, not yet, but soon. i'm going to advertise later this week. looking for someone nerd-friendly and drama-free. with a job.

new game.

guitar hero world tour is coming out in like a week! i have it on pre order. party at my place!

Garage Sales and Cleaning House

2008-10-15T09:47:00.000-07:00

The state of the American Garage Sale is alive and kicking.

I made 55 dollars in my last garage sale. I sold various objects d'art, pieces of cutlery, used video games, and knick knacks of odd shapes and sizes. My roomate also sold some clothes and toys to neighborhood children who swarmed about, picking at the toys and doodads and shiny bits.

Of course, the bargain hunters and hagglers were among the first and best shoppers to arrive, and they came early, most before 10 am. These people have the art of garage sales down to an art. Some come seeking specific items, such as cell phones and electronics. Others seek old gold and silver to smelt. Alas, I had neither of these.

I wish I had prepared in advance. Some people bought some old Xbox game at random, and had I been ready, I would have had more to sell them, and been able to eat more than peanut butter crackers for lunch today. These are lean times for Barry.

I sold a few things that I know are worth more than I sold them for, but I could not be bothered to go through the incredible hassle of ebaying them and shipping them. Really, it's more trouble than it's worth. And I don't know the real value, and if they'll even sell at all. Best to just garge sale some things, for easy sales.

I think I'll take some of my clothes down to the used clothing store. I don't think i'll get much for them, but since I'm not wearing those clothes anymore, they're just going to waste anyway. Books as well. I have a few textbooks I know they'll want. I think i'll keep the roleplaying books, though I don't know why.

Since my roommate moved out, I learned the lesson of living simply. She simply had far too much crap to move. I don't want all that crap. I want far less stuff in case I have to move. I only want to keep important things these days. There's just too many books and toys and pictures and knick knacks and collectibles and things worth nothing taking up space.

This season, I resolve to clean house.

Also, I'm looking for a roommate.

financial crisis

2008-09-24T18:02:00.001-07:00

i'm posting this as the president is speaking. i rarely blog about politics, and rarely if ever post live, but this is important.

the president says we need to rescue america from itself. the country is in financial crisis. we're on the brink of depression.

money came flowing in. we all got credit. we all borrowed a lot. we all got loans for businesses. we all got houses. nobody paid anything back. new houses exceeded demand. house prices fell. mortgage holders began to default. securities values fell to shit. fannie mae and freddie mac took a dive. investment banks collapsed. dogs and cats began living together. mass hysteria.

as much as the president says he opposes direct government action in this, the government has to step in to fix things because we fucked up, and i have to agree.

so there's a rescue plan in the works, supposedly. 700 billion taxpayer dollars are on the line. the details i'm sure are going to be available elsewhere and debated ad nauseum.

will it work? i don't know. i see things from the front line. from where i sit, i see friends out of jobs. i see people struggling to pay their bills. i see people choosing which bills to pay. i see people skipping the saturday movie in favor of the dvd rental. and i see everyone really really worried about the future, myself included.

fear

2008-09-06T11:30:00.000-07:00

You may not be aware, but i live in constant fear of the next cluster headache. I fear waking up to the pain. I fear going to sleep. I stay up late and finally collapse exhausted. And this morning I ran out of medication days early. My insurance company won't pay for more until they finish some kind of prior authorization, whatever that means, and that can take up to 14 days. Meanwhile, I suffer in hell. I caught a lucky break today in that I can get a quick refill of 4 shots before they notice. Let's hope they last, because I can feel another headache coming on. I'm so very tired.

My car is also in the shop until monday or tuesday. I don't know what's wrong with it. It's making gurgling noises in the front end. The heisenblat flangulator is misaligned. I need a new rear actuating crogorstat. I hate cars. They're nothing but trouble and misery.

Let's not even get into the family and legal issues. That's just depressing.

Luckily, the footage from the trek closing is done. Paul and I banged it out last night. Now all I have to do is get back to the office and render it and upload it. I figure tomorrow it will be up. Yay, more sad shit.

currently listening to: the sound of my own slow death

what we left behind

2008-09-04T21:50:00.000-07:00

trek is gone. where it went we can not, could never follow.

currently watching: weeds

trek is closing

2008-08-31T21:05:00.000-07:00

Star Trek the Experience is closing tomorrow. I will be there from opening to closing. (I am not there tonight. I am far too tired.) No, I will not be there as Dr. Vlarg. I will be there as me, morning the loss of an institution. I will not mourn the loss of shitty, shitty management from start to finish. I will not mourn the lack of vision, style, or respect for the brand that were rampant. I will however miss the people that I liked. Not all of them mind you, for some of them were turds, but most of them were great good people that got stuck in what amounts to a thankless job for far too long. I will mourn the lack of a nerd mecca to make pilgrimages to. There is none other. I will, I do, miss the job, thankless and payless as it was. To be a Ferengi was a job like none other and I'm glad to have had the opportunity to do so at the time I did.

can't go home

2008-08-29T00:04:00.000-07:00

I keep trying to go home but I can't. Every time I want to go home I get a headache and I have to stay. At this rate I might as well stay all fucking night.

switching gears, again

2008-08-28T22:34:00.000-07:00

Yeah, forget what I just said. I changed my mind again about the headache posts. I said what I said in a weird haze of drugs and pain in an attempt to self-censor myself. I do that far too often. I'll say what I want and you'll have to deal with it and shut up.

I watched the entire first season of Weeds tonight. Normally I wouldn't have time to do that but I was loaded up with drugs and dizzy as hell and couldn't do much else. I couldn't even leave my office I was so fucked up. I'm still woozy now. Anyway, I love this show. I think it's brilliant. I kind of wish I had Showtime so I could watch it regularly. Thank Lucifer for free TV shows pirated on the internet.

no more headache posts

2008-08-25T21:59:00.000-07:00

Rather than bore you all to death about how much excruciating pain I am in day in and day out, I will keep all cluster headache agony related posts to the twitter updates on the side. I'm boring myself.

ugh

2008-08-21T10:13:00.001-07:00

couldn't sleep last night. after i finally got to sleep, i got up at 6 to take pain medication. tried to get back to sleep but only fell off for like 20 minutes at a time. stomach upset. tired. errands to run before i head to the office. this headache bullshit is killing me.

i hate these drugs

2008-08-20T01:49:00.000-07:00

i hate these drugs
i hate these drugs
i hate these drugs
i hate these drugs
i hate these drugs
i hate these drugs
i hate these drugs
i hate these drugs
i hate these drugs
i hate these drugs
i hate these drugs
i hate these drugs
i hate these drugs
i hate these drugs
i hate these drugs
i hate these drugs
i hate these drugs
i hate these drugs

my epitaph

2008-08-19T12:34:00.000-07:00

"here lies barry, stone cold dead."
"his life was odd, or so they said."
"he made some porn, made lots of bread,"
"and he was really good in bed."
"on wine and lobster he was fed"
"hiscar was shiny, compact and red"
"he should have bought a tank instead"
"to dodge that bus that crushed his head."

TA DAAAAA
i just made that up

currently listening to: eric jordan - neverrain

bigger club, bigger prices

2008-08-17T11:07:00.000-07:00

Maas took me to see Tao last night. He works there so we get the handshake-and-nod rockstar entry. Fat double windsor short ties were in season, as were wool coats in 100 degree weather, apparently. And of course, hot asian chicks like schools of giggling clownfish.

I hadn't been to a club in a long time. I have no use for them, since you can't sit down without making what amounts to a car payment and you can barely hear your company, much less actually relax or meet anyone. And I don't dance. Been there, done that.

It's a gorgeous club with lots of eye candy. Girls giving girls massages (though they looked incredibly bored and unhappy to see you), girls in bathtubs of rose petals (we just missed those), psuedo-monastic decor and a beach level complete with cabanas and brutal heat. It's cavernous inside, and easy to get lost.

It's also built to cater to the crowd that wants to spend a ton of money and look like they're having a good time when really all they want is to hook up with someone and get the hell out of there. 500 dollar bottles of 20 dollar booze just to sit, and probably not in a great place with a decent view. If you want girls at your table, that's extra (yes they can provide them), and there's no guarantees of anything other than that they'll drink up your booze.

I don't see the draw in clubs anymore. I look through the alt-weekly paper here and it's all ads for clubs that you just HAVE to go to to see the pretentious club crowd and hear some DJ who's supposed to be famous for flipping records and maybe see a C-list celebrity host a party, which means they will stay triple guarded in the VIP area of the VIP area for the hour that they're actually in the club and then fuck off to rehab or something.

Or maybe they're thinking what I was thinking; that the club scene is bogus and not fun, and that they'll take their apperance money and run to in-and-out burger where they can get a good, cheap burger and a strawberry shake in air-conditioning, relax and actually hear what their friends are saying.

currently listening to: shiny toy guns

when it rains it pours

2008-08-16T20:51:00.000-07:00

I slept all day today and got nothing accomplished. I needed to repay my sleep debt. I have been losing hours of sleep all week and it finally caught up with me. I don't like days like this, especially when I could have been doing a million other productive things. As a result, I'm in the office now at 9pm, toiling away at the computer and I'm wide awake and I have no idea when I'll get to bed and no plans for the night. I think I'll watch the beginning of Battlestar Galactica because i'm allowed to watch those alone. I'm in the middle of my BSG education and I don't want to move forward without my tutor. My hot tutor. I hope she likes the flowers. (I also hope she doesn't read this before she gets them. Frak.)

By opening the door on one opportunity (read: kicking the door in and blowing an air horn), I inadvertently close the door on another. Due to my experiences, I've learned to weigh carefully the decisions that I make, because some of them tend to change the course of your life. You may not think so early on, but chaos theory wins out. If Star Trek has taught us anything, it is that the timeline is a precious, delicate thing. I try to see the future as best I can from this vantage point. I believe this road will yield good things, so I will follow it. I need all the happiness I can get now, because dark times are ahead. Other unavoidable life, work, and family drama are on the horizon. The headaches have also returned.

Still, I cannot help but feel good, and alive.

It's raining out. There's lightning, and a full moon.

currently listening to: megadeth

trek weirdness and good tidings

2008-08-11T22:16:00.000-07:00

I just posted many pictures from the trek con on uglycouchshow.com. I didn't actually go into the con, but I did hang out at Quark's with many old friends. I actually went to see the alien panel, which I was at first skeptical about, but it was well worth the time. It's about time the aliens got a little spotlight time. We were the only good thing about that place for a long time. And I'm glad I got to meet some of the fans i've seen over the years while in costume, and of course some of the aliens I never got to play with.

My office is WAY too comfortable. I actually enjoy going to work. I'm more comfortable there than I am at home. When I get some more money I might consider putting an xbox 360 in there. Then I will never leave.

It's even more comfortable with an absurdly pretty girl on my couch who likes all the geek crap I do. It's pretty awesome how this whole situation is unfolding. I'm really over the moon ab- you know, it just occurred to me that people actually read this nonsense. I mean, I know it's a public blog, but it's easy to forget it's out there for all to see. Hmph. I'll just clam up because I don't want to be all creepy and jinx a good thing.

By the way, this is your reminder: September 19th is talk like a pirate day, or for some, dress like a pirate and get shitty day. You have been warned.

currently listening to: thievery corporation