Beautiful day out this morning – we went for a nice 8am constitutional to check out the bay fest pre-opening. Lots of seagulls on the beach waiting in advance for folks dropping bits of funnel cake and corn dog, no doubt!

It got pretty hot by the time we got back – I left in a fairly creaky condition, but was ok, but tired once we arrived home. BHK and I lounged for an hour or two, and then I got a message that boiled down to my going into work on Monday. Too many issues with the project – can’t in good conscience take the day off, under the circumstances. I think that I was more disappointed about not getting BHK’s birthday off to treat her more than she.

After wrestling with that for a bit, we headed back to bay fest for some junk food, people-watching and a bit more exercise. While at the Bayfest I saw Kathy Bauer! I worked with her at Calvert county a little over a year ago, and she recognized me immediately. That crew was the kindest and most fun group of people I’ve ever worked with… a shame that it just wasn’t affordable to work there. We didn’t stay long, but got a couple of veggie egg rolls and some limeade and orangeade which really hit the spot. Between the ‘fest and home, we took another A/c break at Coffee, Tea and Whimsey and ended up purchasing a bottle of wine for the evening’s birthday celebration, some awesome horseradish/garlic dip, some goofy rubber monster key-toppers, and a keen Buddha eye-glasses holder for BHK’s nightstand. Pictures of those… and the ‘fest to follow.

More resting and just goofing around until six came… bhk and I were watching primeval and just soaking up some snooze-vibes with the kitties. I waited for BHK to hit deeper sleep, and went to sneak off to do some wrapping, but it wasn’t stealthy enough – but she relented to nap while I wrapped.

We went to the in-laws for dinner – BHK got her desired Chik-fil-a strips and nuggets, and Chris made her a cake, too. She managed not to be buttered, but Larry psyched her out a few times. Aside from the tasty dinner (I had eggplant, zucchini, and the best corn on the cob of the summer), a little room was saved for the cake.. it was a reduced sugar yellow with chocolate icing… pretty yummy!

Loot BHK got was – card 1 from me – made her cry, but they were happy tears, cards from her grandparents on Larry’s side – in-laws gave her a cat encyclopedia, a ruby and diamond heart necklace w/matching earring-studs, and $100 toward a sewing machine…. very, very generous and appreciated!

The cake – pre-ignition. Don’t worry – BHK will be butter-nosed, yet, dear journal!

Day ended with us lounging at the in-laws living room – Hallmark channel vs the Rock.

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Over at Gamasutra, Steve Fulton has published a massive 23,000-word history of Atari from 1978 to 1981, encompassing ‘… some of the most exciting developments the company ever saw in its history: the rise of the 2600, the development of some of the company’s most enduringly popular games (Centipede, Asteroids) and the development and release of its first home computing platforms.’ Best quote in there for Slashdot readers, perhaps: ‘Atari had contracted with a young programmer named Bill Gates to modify a BASIC compiler that he had for another system to be used on the 800. After that project stalled for over a year Al was called upon to replace him with another developer. So … Al is the only person I know ever to have fired Bill Gates.

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1 year ago – sql programming, chicken doodle, Calypso and coconut shrimp, chittering

2 years ago – won psp, happiness, It’s hot in Topeka, mental jasmine

3 years ago – graypumpkin lj-ing, google desktop, gutter sniping the net, Whiums and sammy-talk, music meme mark II, paper toys, medicines to fight the sickies, carrot top bulks up, bill shatner, billy batson

4 years ago – more travel pix, Coconut Curry Tofu, coulrophagy, scream stolen, updated on JTD, pic of my workplace

5 years ago – broken photoshop friday, wanting to put a transmitter on bro, tidemarker, comic art, yawns, women in spacesuits

6 years ago – moonlight movies, a li’l grumpy

7 years ago – vertiginous, steganography, word association poll

8 years ago – smelly BK, political mailings cost the same