I decided (on pain of shoulder and asthma attack) to leave thor_leifson with my Gateway boat anchor notebook computer. He has a PC for visiting guests that is gaming capable, with my compliments for excellent hosting during my long, tedious visit.

I spied a netbook at Thor’s Verizon dealer, but they wanted a 2-yr contract together with the thing, so we went to the island’s high-tech superstore, Volde*Mart, to check on models. Higher, and not quite what I cared to buy – especially not without knowing what my total bills for the trip would be.

Turns out the local CompUSA had a markdown on an excellent netbook, the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC. $299, and much to my surprise, once I connected up an external DVD recorder (sold separately), it ran Windows 7 even faster than XP! This was unexpected as the HP uses a VIA chip instead of the more common Intel Atom.

Apple guy is going to get golden showers from PC guy in upcoming ads once Windows 7 comes out at this rate. OS X has much to fear.

These words have been typed by a tiedyed-in-the-T-shirt Apple products junkie.

Well, back home from two weeks in spam town err tsunami central I mean that place in which if Wal*Mart doesn't suit your needs, you're up spit creek oh dammit what's it called sauna baths available 24/7 outdoors everywhere man I have a bad memory for names of places... OH RIGHT! Hilo, Hawaii.

Man does not live by orchid, sushi, beautiful sights, and humidity alone. At least not this man. So I am back stateside, glad I can shop somewhere else other than Wal*Mart for all my shopping needs - like visit a Best Buy or a Target, see a CompUSA for more than a couple trashy computer models, find the best sushi somewhere other than at a Safeway supermarket.

Quaint is a compliment and a derogative, depending on inflection. I have to use it both ways. It's a great way to get away from it all, but as far as living there, even for 2 weeks, it was a throwback to summer camp - complete with sunburn and insect bites, plus getting diarrhea on the trip home and having to use the airline toilet (which for me is real torture).

The true happiness of this trip was meeting and staying with thor_leifson, someone who cooks well, is intelligent and pleasant company, a good host, a knowledgeable guide to Hilo and other islands (which we skipped), and went as far as to enter into a fairly deep degree of personal pain to accommodate me. Thank you very much, Josh.

Yes, despite a temporary loss of luggage upon arrival, island life has suited me. My 17^3rd power birthday was spent with my good friend Josh, driving and visiting places in Hilo, Hawai'i. Beyond the cut will be many pictures showing places I saw from our jeep during the trip (he drove) and walks along the tsunami zone.
( Greetings from the tsunami capitol of the world )

Windows 7 public beta build 7000, and now RC have been installed, used, still running, currently in use, are in use for posting this update - no complaints. SAVE for the 64-bit. P-U. I'm staying far away from that for now... not even mail could install for me. I'm quite excited about this product's release - it's what Vista should have been.

XP owners, this may be the time to cross over. Vista owners, unless you've tweaked your OS to work better, you'll feel you have a computer upgrade after installing 7. (This means Vista can work similarly to 7 with some effort put into registry and services tweaking, of course not all the way.)

3 reasons that've made me convinced to pay for upgrade: Overall speed improvements; Libraries; UI improvements and additions.
( the boring details )

Well, tho I am occupied with Puzzle Quest Galactrix, I really may need to get myself back into an MMO again soon. Though I can play "free" in an MMO where I directed one animation for the goblin, SOE's newly opened Free Realms, I really loathe not having an avatar that doesn't fit my preferential ego-image, i.e., a scaly one.

I reckon I'll return to EverQuest 2, play solo as Iksar and Sarnak, get bored and leave in another month or so.

Here you will see my old boss, Rick Dyer (right) and the Halcyon console I worked on (under the TV set).
( Video behind the cut )

I've had some artwork commissioned from a "furry" artist that does vore artwork, which I wrote a FurAffinity journal entry about here.

I was given reprint permission from Midnight Graffiti for my story Grim Perspective that is currently on Fur Affinity. Note, if you see the artwork in a thumbnail size, you need to click on it for a full-screen view. Also: The comic is read downward in strips.

This is my #1 professional writer's experience, dating to Spring of 1990, in the #5 issue. I appeared in the same issue with Harlan Ellison, K.W. Jeter, and David Gerrold (the latter well known as the screenwriter for Star Trek's "Tribbles" episodes).

I was paid $40 for just 212 words. Probably the highest dollar-per-word rate for a newbie ever or since!

Just a brief update on the Roku Netflix Player I still enjoy using with my HDTV set. They now let you browse and rent or buy Amazon.com movies on the unit. Basically your Amazon media library is available on the Roku, streamed to it. I have not found any HD content yet, but haven't looked very hard.

When Netflix has HD content available for my Instant Queue, I'm not that motivated to go back to pay-per-view with Amazon, but I have to admit, Amazon does offer a lot more titles and some eclectic selections that won't appear on Netflix. Plus, if you buy a movie on Amazon, you have it saved on their servers, not the Roku. Any PC or Roku with your account information will access it from then forward, making a movie library a bit more practical with Amazon.