Archived News starting from 06-12-2018 and earlier
BlogAfter powering down my latest alt-coin miner and reducing my total power footprint to a 50 watt PC, I finally found a server that only requires 5 watts. I upgraded the
ASUS VivoStick TS10-B017D to a full Win10 Pro and now host this server off of it. At 5 watts, I can happily run a local server indefinitely in this age of cloud computing. I keep kicking myself for not saving my BBS, so this server will live on as long as it can in it's current 1990s design style. Hopefully I get more sections operational, so for now you'll be greeted with a large number of 500 or 404 responses.
After neglecting this blog for exactly one year, I decided it was time for an update. I blame bookface for the lack of updates of course, but really it's because blogs are dead per Senator Kelley. Well no longer! Blogs are not dead! I'm bringing this one back! It's a beautiful 65 degrees today in South Carolina, and 38 in Michigan. The only regret I have from the move is losing all the great Michigan folks that for whatever reason refuse to follow me down here. I can only hope next year I am writing about everyone that also moved.
With a closing date of December 5th finally set, we scheduled our trip to South Carolina to arrive December 30th before the final walk through on December 1st. What to do while we waited for the closing date? Why
visit the underwhelming aquarium of course! We also made a point to hit the beach and drive around the area to get familiar with everything, but the palm trees by far were my personal highlight of the whole vacation.
Our last Halloween in Michigan was typical of the state: cold, dark and rainy. The combination limited us to a total of 10 houses, but Lila was quite happy to go back inside after making the rounds. Lexi did a few more but soon succumbed to the Michigan curse as well. Afterwards we took off the jackets and let the kids show off their outfits for a bit longer before calling it a night. At least South Carolina won't have the cold factor and we can hold out longer even if it's raining.
With the
last baby party having taken place almost a year ago, it was high time to have another. The age increases allowed this party to feature more chaos and a total dance party. Marco and Amanda were inducted into the group despite not ejecting the offspring quite yet, and seemed to enjoy themselves just as well.
Lucys first birthday was apparently farm themed, and Lisa picked a great venue with lots of animals. To be clear, it was not farm animals in a bounce house as the Senator is scheduled to provide, but it was pretty impressive nonetheless. I know for a fact Lucy had an absolutely awesome time because she never stopped smiling, and was quite thrilled with her smash cake. I also learned Marco is in fact the farm animal whisperer as he was inside and bonding with almost all of the animals at some point, while Lila preferred to enjoy them from afar.
Despite cold and rainy weather, I wasn't about to miss the opportunity of a lifetime.
I96 fun day was possibly the only chance I'd get to run around an interstate with my kids for an hour (without getting arrested). Lila was initially hesitant with all my photo requests, but Lucy was happy to get out and crawl on the pavement. After Lila warmed up to the idea, I was able to get several good shots to prove without a doubt she was in the middle of an interstate. Hopefully Lila and Lucy can look back on this trauma free and tell their friends how irresponsible her father was even when they were a toddlers.
Continuing his one-upmanship, the Senator this year had an entire petting farm shipped to his house for Lexis 3rd birthday party. It was agreed the only way to continue this upward momentem next year was to have the petting farm inside a bouncehouse, combining last years with this one. All the kids had photo ops with a replica of Waco, Texas and of course went nuts over the animals. Lucy was handed around like a hot potato as everyone tried to squeeze the last few ounces of baby out of the girl who is quickly becoming a toddler.
With
Tigerbomb in tow, it was time to make one final annual visit to the Renaissance Fair. Lila was quite impressed with all the offerings available to her, and Lucy didn't seem to complain so I can only assume she was equally entertained. Tiger and I both heavily tipped a mermaid in a glass box with bloodshot eyes as it didn't look very comfortable. Lila however got wide eyes and very quiet after seeing a real live mermaid, so the experience was well worth the tip. Some mandatory shots in the jail and the entrance completed our visit, the very last one to the Holly, Michigan Renaissance fair.
With Lila and Lucy clearly underexposed to farm animals, it was time to
familiarize their olfactory senses with the rich combination of manure and spoiled milk that accompanies the state fair. I give Lila credit for the 20 minutes she was able to dedicate to looking at animals before moving on to the various face painting and fair ride opportunities available. She was even careful enough to pick the Mountain Dew car when it was presented as an option, making her father proud. Lisa was of course thrilled to watch Lucy while Lila and I made a point to ride every ride she was allowed on.
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