Just wanted to throw down a post of various things going on:

Working a lot of 9-10 hour days lately. Pretty busy at work with the start of the new year.

In a month or so I head to the first of advanced linux (specifically RedHat) training.

Went to Dim Sum at Peking Garden in Raleigh. It was delicious, but we were the only people there so it was a little weird.

Lately, no notable food experiences outside of the home. Inside the home there’s been some real magic lately. Orie’s going nuts making new dishes, particularly seafood and Indian dishes.

Been under the weather a little due to allergies, so now I’m on Allegra. This is probably the first year that I’ve really been affected by allergies. It’s been pretty messy.

Over the past two weeks, with the aid of a chainsaw, I’ve cleared between 1500-2000 pounds of trees from my property. The previous owners were messy with the planting, and a lot of them were simply growing too close together to live without bending everywhere. This is also the first step to plant a bunch of cherry blossom trees in the front and back yards.

The previous owners also decided that a fountain in the back would be nice. It is, save for the baby rabbit that fell into it and died, and (way more importantly) the 10 billion mosquitoes that used it like a Zerg Breeding Pool. Bought a sledgehammer and demolished concrete and brick. Great exercise. Oddly enough, more than my arms, shoulders or back, the arches of my feet hurt the most after 2 days of sledgehammering.

Watched the first DVD of Avatar the Last Airbender. Turns out that I do like it a lot. Very fun show.

After working up the courage for years after hearing about it from my buddy Dave Gann, I finally rented Bad Lieutenant from Netflix. I should not have.

Still waffling on whether to go back to Japan this year or not. In any case, my passport expired this year so I need to renew it.

Reading? Not much literature (but very much enjoying the latest Sumomomo Momomo manga (I can’t wait for it to be released in English, it’s currently my favorite manga, and about a million times better than the anime), as well as Yuki-pon no Oshigoto, which is TURNING INTO A LIVE-ACTION TV SERIES?????????

Music: Getting more into soul and hip hop these days, although I managed to TWICE miss seeing Brother Ali when he came through on tour. Also I seem to keep missing the Sunday Hearts of Space broadcasts, so I’ll probably break down sometime and subscribe. As always, still into electronic and experimental, and currently on that front I’m waiting for my best bro to release some more stuff from his once-DC Area teamup with Tobias Kienle “Sixtus V”.

Punching and Kicking: Little. Trying to get back into shape. Still hitting the punching bag every now and then with some wing chun, but I might end up trading it in and buying a weight bench. I’ve been in a serious lifting mood for a while, but the company gym has no free-weights.

Tea: Yerba Mate, Vanilla Chai w/soymilk, Ruibos Caramel/Fruit

Movies: Scary enough, about one a week for the past few weeks. Loved Spider-Man. Hated Aqua Teen Hunger Force save for the first few minutes and one joke here or there. Next is going to be 28 Weeks Later with the gang.

Gaming: Holy crap, too much! Weekly group has one more session of TBZ to wrap up a small campaign that dragged a little too much. Bi-weekly group is doing Savage Worlds Conan for a one-shot (perhaps 2). The irregular meetup crew is looking for some time to meet up and play… ? And Camp Nerdly this last weekend was fun as hell, but very draining (I only got 4 hours of sleep a night, and no idea why). On deck: More TBZ, Beast Hunters, With Great Power, and at some point some good ol Dungeons and Dragons 3E (set in a mythical India).

This weekend: Finding a bedframe replacement. The one that came for free with the bed broke 2 nights ago, so we need to find a real frame now.

Replacing the old broken garbage disposal with an Insinkerator. That’s tomorrow’s plan.

Also: More yardwork, cleaning up rocks, redoing the natural area where the fountain used to be.

That’s it!