Carol Rutz’s Annexe

Been away from my computer and now, I can breathe a bit easier and write about what I have been doing the last month.

First off, I got my internship, working at Ivy Tech–Fort Wayne. It’s a 16-20 hr a week job, and I’m taking summer classes. It is a busy summer for me.

Second, I was State Delegate for the Indiana Republican State Convention and I’m writing up an account regarding what happened there.

And finally…I thought I won’t do that to my lappy, but I did: Due to Windows XP’s ending support lifecycle, I migrated to Vista Business last night. Some bugs to be ironed out, but it will be all right. The desktop is still on Ubuntu Heroic Heron. Stay tuned for further developments.

On April Fool’s Day, I’ve posted exclusive footage from the LCMS headquarters. The nameless Synodical official wanted me to post it on Youtube. And I did.

Yes, in the midst of the whole controversy on Issues Etc, I’ve RickRoll’d the Wittenberg Trail community. But 2000+ WT members is not enough. And then, someone thought of something MOAR epic.

Shea Stadium will joining the ranks of Comiskey Park and the Kingdome as it will be imploded after this season. The most memorable thing about Shea is not the architecture, but the people who attended the concerts and Mets games. Here is footage of The Beatles’ performance in 1965:

When you attend an event at Shea, you will hear the loud sound of the crowd. This year, the Mets organization decided to let the fans choose the final 8th Inning Sing-A-Long. We of the Internet figured that a certain song with catchy lyrics, a distinct voice, and a great refrain should be that final song. That song is none other than Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up. It is also a great tribute to the Mets fandom and the team, who never gave up, even if the losing streak suggested otherwise. Just choose “Other” and fill the song in. We have until Monday to vote. Enjoy your weekend!

After I’ve posted that OSCON registration was open, they added more stuff. One very interesting talk by Kirrily Skud Robert will be on learning protocol for interacting with the non-geek world. I followed a link to a great post on how geeks view the dress code protocols (casual vs business casual, etc).

On business casual and geek casual, they pretty much hit it on the head. But for me, I strayed on the “geek formal” aspect. I am aware about black tie and white tie matters, and I was surprised that no one yet mentioned how various scenes of Anime/Manga featured black tie affairs.

Here are my categories of geek attire:

Muckety-Mucks: You muck about at home or at grocery stores. Sweats and shirt. Degree of wear and tear unimportant. Perfect for marathon movie viewing. Just practice good hygiene.

Geek Casual: T-Shirt or sweatshirt and jeans or pants. Nothing too worn out.

Geek Business Casual: Crisp, ironed non-wrinkled tee, sweater or polo, with Dockers or dress pants. I prefer Threadless t-shirts and any geek-printed shirt whose fabric is from American Apparel. AA shirts are soft cotton and very smooth weave. Denim can be allowed if it’s tailored right (Diesel, 7 For All Mankind, etc)…but YOU MUST defer to the management. In my case, where I’m working now does not allow tees, and denim is only allowed on Fridays (for a small donation to a charity kitty). There I follow Non-Geek Business Casual.

Fancy Casual: When I go to church, depending on feast days and functions I wear either Geek Business Casual, Non-Geek Business Casual or something from Chico’s. Whatever Chico’s sells is Fancy Casual.

Robert noticed that women dressed more like men in Geek Casual. That’s because Geek Attire is unisex. Not only that, it’s also the most forgiving to women’s figures. It cuts down on the catty comments about muffin-tops and it covers up any physical phenomena that women do face (viz. bloating, weight changes, etc).

AND NO, IT’S NOT AN APRIL FOOL.

To me, it means that I will be making plans to head out. Hopefully, I’ll be there (barring anything different).

For me, there will be sessions and tutorials that I want to attend. For example, Akkana Peck will have a tutorial on the GIMP and how to do some magic with that. I want to learn how to use that better than before. And there is this TCP/IP troubleshooting tutorial by Darren Hoch. And of course, there is Zak Greant’s The Age of Literate Machines. He was the first guy who welcomed me into the Open Source community, when I first attended OSCON last year.

The Prediger is hoping that I would return with more pens and shirts for him.

The Nerds series should have stopped at that point when Ogre drank the grog. The straight to TV versions are lackluster. Any fan-fiction material within the Nerd universe would have much better plots and scenarios– even more today with the Internet and all its geekery. Here are some things I’d like to see with fan-fiction:

The Tri-Lambs returned back to Adams College. Ogre realizes that he was woefully deficient in education and wants to learn. He also knew that he will have to deal with the football team– who would make him persona non grata. He worked hard at the books and entered the realm of sports medicine. You remember that arm-wrestling chick? That should have been Ogre’s sweetheart that kept him sane during the transition.

After graduation, the Nerds entered the workforce… but the blankety blank Alpha-Betas attempted to sabotage their advancement. In retaliation, they decided to start a business. (Think Microsoft-style innovation.)

Stan Gable apologized to Ms Childs for his mistreatment towards her and to Lewis. But not before he attempted to win her back when Lewis proposed to her! Along the way, he met his sweetheart…an Omega Nu! He accepted his loss and moved on.

That assumes that the fourth movie is not canon. But if one must use that, imagine this scene:

The Dobsons raised their adopted daughter in the Nerd tradition…but she is torn between style and substance. (Teenage Angst!!!) Booger and her unofficial uncles reminds her that true acceptance is found where one is loved for who she is.

Gary Gygax, the man behind Dungeons and Dragons, died yesterday from conditions related to an abdominal aortic aneurysm. He left behind a huge legacy: the RPG subculture. You may have laughed at the freaks and geeks with graphing paper, dice and plenty of snacks to fuel the campaign– but today’s multi-billion game industry with guilds and gold is the result of that pursuit.

While geekdom will never be the same without Mr Gygax and his creativity, we are assured that we will see him again. He has died with Christ and has relied upon Him for strength. He is now in eternity taking part in the ultimate adventure.

Prayers ascend to his family and his friends.