Grrrr... pics not showing up, links not working... I may have to take my blog (and my site) to another ISP. Anyone care to hook me up with a site I DON'T have to worry about?

Sorry I haven't been active here (or anywhere net-wise) in the past week, but I've been busy either moving stuff from my house to Kathy's in preparation for our big move-in, or working at the newly-reopened Mike's Seafood in Boone. The new restaurant is only a block and a half away from me, so it's convenient for me, at least until I get a better job *crosses fingers*.

As I said, Mike's reopened this past Tuesday, and we've packed them in every night since. A lot of people have been anticipating the reopening, and it's made for busy and profitable times. It's been a bit confusing at first, with everyone looking for supplies and equipment as if we had all been employed in the restaurant business only yesterday, but so far we've managed to survive. Hopefully soon we will have neough people hired to make sure that we all receive a break once in a while.

Kathy and I went to a "goodbye" party up on Howard's Knob tonight, for Loretta, who is moving to the Marshall Islands. Pretty cool shindig, and we met several interesting people, like Joann the retired theatre reviewer, and Isani, who sat in on guitar with us as we played for the huddled masses. I just wish the huddled masses had been a bit more responsive. I wasn't asking for a Bruce Springsteenish outpouring of affection, but a little applause wouldn't have hurt. :(

I really need to get back into contact with people soon. I feel as if I am losing touch with so many people online, and it worries me that I can't seem to maintain those ties. Hopefully, soon I will be able to move my own computer here to Boone, and I can check my e-mail, etc. with impugnity.

Wow, that's a nice bit of typing. Perhaps soon I will be able to contribute more to the cause. *blows kisses to those dear friends who need to hear from me* Back soon, I swear.

A couple of piccies to share:



This is my "new" car. As Han Solo once said about the Millennium Falcon, "She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts."



And this is my Christmas tree. Nice, eh? In any case, you guys have a good weekend. I hope to. :|

Oh, and by the way...



Take the What Cat Are You? test by webkin!

If I were a work of art, I would be Edvard Münch's The Scream. I express the subconscious troubles and anxieties of the world. I hold my head and let loose the primal terror of my innermost fears, surrounded by a lurid landscape which reflects my feeble grasp on reality. Which work of art would you be? The Art Test

Innnnteresting. I wonder how Dr. Elliott, my Art History teacher in college, would score on this?

Spent the night with Kathy last night. Nothing happened Judah-wise to her yesterday; hopefully the first couple of days of the week'll be the end of it.

She has her jury this afternoon, and she's doing it with a head cold (which I think she's given to me). Wish her luck, everyone.

Apparently my last posting to the blog last night went down the tubes, so I'll try again. *grrrrrr!*

Kathy's ex-roomie continues to do his damndest to do... whatever it is he's doing. Monday, he got her phone disconnected, and Tuesday he managed to convince the cable company to disconnect her service. She's reconnected both with password protection, but she's nervous about even letting Heather out to do her business. kathy's thinking of taking out a restraining order, but I'd like to suggest using a .357 aimed at his jewels and the words "Knock off the crap!"

In any case, my parents and I went to ASU to see Kathy perform in a Guitar Ensemble recital. She looked beautiful of course, and sang equally so. Mom and Dad met her mother, and she even invited them to come to her house Saturday night to have dinner.

Yesterday at work was... ummmm, it was. We close Mike's at 2pm to give everybody a break between lunch and dinner. Unfortunately, we had someone come in at 1:58 yesterday. This would not have been that bad except for the fact that they were there until 3:30!!!!! I had to run the register that night, so I had to take the half-hour trip all the way home just to change my shirt and run back in time to be there for dinner. In any case, the Boone restaurant should be open next week *crosses fingers*.

Everybody have fun tonight. Everybody Wang Chung tonight.

An interesting weekend, to say the least. Kathy's (now) ex-roommate finally left Friday, but not before putting another hole in the wall of her trailer. For a while, Kathy's mom was giving her grief about the timing of Judah's leaving and my impending moving in. At one point Kathy said that if it came down between being with me and completing her MA-voice, she'd take me. Fortunately for all involved, her mom relented and agreed to let me move in, for an increase in the rent for both of us.

My parents came up today and brought a "present" with them: a 1985 Chevy Impala. A BIG damn car! lol Fortunately, it gets better gas mileage than the Corsica, and it goes in reverse; that puts it TWO up on the ol' Rusty Rocket.

However, tonight proved that the ol' McGuire luck is as strong as ever with me. I took the Impala to work to see how she runs (diagnosis: delightful!), but when I began to leave the restaurant tonight, I found out that the left rear tire was flat. A couple of people from Mike's helped me to change the tire, b-b-b-but wait, it gets worse! :P

After the tire change, they left and I got ready to head back to the house. Fortunately, I had put on the emergency brake to keep the car from slipping and killing anyone. UNfortunately, however, I discovered that the release for the emergency brake was missing. *sigh* I called my dad to come and help me, but about 5 minutes before he arrived with my uncle in tow, I found the string that the previous owner had apparently used to release the EB. When Dad pulled up, he proceeded to tell me about the string, to which I replied "One step ahead of ya, Dad!" LOL

Needless to say, we're getting new tires put on this thing (I need a nickname for this car now) tomorrow morning. Then it's off to Boone tomorrow night to see Kathy in a Guitar Ensemble recital, and hot cocoa and brownies a la mode afterwards.

Much love to Crink, my dear friend who I haven't been able to talk much to lately. Hope to see you online soon. :X

I found out a little while ago that George Harrison passed away last night. He was the same age as my dad, which makes it even more poignant. I knew that he was stricken with cancer, but for some perverse reason I was hoping he would be able to hang on a little longer. I guess I'm just selfish.

Here's hoping that he and John are catching up on old times and writing new songs together. Me? I'm gonna work on learning a new song on my guitar.



Peace to all.

Okay, after a couple of days of beiing unable to access my internet, I amm back. BTW, I have a new e-mail addy. Write it down 'n stuff. It's...

clintster@apptechnc.net

Anyway, I have an announcement to make. As of January 1, I will be moving in with Kathy. This is because she's having some troubles with her present roommate Judah. He's been scaring the pets, smoking what he shouldn't have, playing LOUD, LOUD music, and the other day he put a hole in her wall. All of which spell E-V-I-C-T-I-O-N. In any case, I'll be there at the beginning of 2002. I'll probably start moving stuff over there in the next couple of weeks, since I'll also be transferring over to the new Mike's location, which is only 1 1/2 blocks from her place.

I'm doing some redesign stuff to my site. Hopefully, I will come up with a whole new design for this page as well. We'll see. :) I'll also finally add a column or two to the site, and maybe even some photos. <> Anyway, that's my life in a nutshell. More later on this blog.

sometimes i worry about you clint :P ...i changed it back to the layout that is on your geo server *coughs* which you could have done too? ;) lol *hugs* glad you had a nice thanksgiving..make sure that you tell the mrs. we all said "hello" :)

Testing...testing...is this on?

Hey all. I need a little feedback here. Can you see the blue background on my blog? I can see it on my computer, but it's totally gone on my girlfriend's comp. Let me know via my "comments" link at the end of the post.

I had a good Thanksgiving. Kathy and I went to her mom's house in Blowing Rock and joined her, Kath's brother, his wife, their son, Kath's friend Loretta, and approximately 3,274 dogs, most of them Westies. Of course we had the traditional Thanksgiving dinner, and some of us even managed to take the requisite post-dinner, Triptophen-induced nap.

Patrick (Kathy's brother) and I managed to do some bonding over the NFL's offerings, and we (the couples) ended the evening relaxing in the hot tub. I didn't have any swimwear with me, so I had to borrow a pair of Carol's (Kathy's mom) cutoffs. I don't know who was more unnerved that I could actually fit into them: me or her.

Still no snow here yet. I don't know whether to be glad or sad by that. At least we have some rain here tonight. It's good to have some of the dust around here beaten down for a bit.

I am 35% ADDICTED TO THE INTERNET.



I could go either way. Deep into the madness of nights filled with coding CGI-Scripts and online role playing games, or I could become a normal user. Good luck!


Take the INTERNET-ADDICT Test at Fuali.com!

I AM 33% GEEK.

I probably work in computers, or a history
department at a college. I never really
fit in with the "normal" crowd. But I have
friends, and this is a good thing.

Take the GEEK Test at Fuali.com!

I won't even put up the result of the punk test. Dammit.

I am 63% Grunge.

I am pretty dirty, all right and, I reek of teen spirit... I would sell my own children for a moldy hotpocket, man. Take the Grunge Test at Fuali.com!

In any case, today is the day before Thanksgiving, and ina little while I'm gonna head to Boone to be with Kathy for the next 48 or so. Her brother and sister-in-law are coming in from Knoxville, so we should have a pretty good time. This is only the second T'giving I've ever spent apart from my parents/family. The first was in 1997, when they were up here, and I ended up having to celebrate with Brian Holloway, a turkey breast, and Tammy (the girl he was most crazy for at the time).

Kathy finally got through her recital "Hell weekend", and seems to have survived with her sanity intact. Mind you, she did get a bit peeved at me Friday as her Opera Workshop recital was coming to a head, but I brought it on her. And for that, I must say "I'm sorry, sweetie." :X

In any case, you guys have a happy Thanksgiving Day, wherever you are.

*waves* blogback code fixed *poof*

Well, well, well, I finally get to update my blog. How's that for a kick in the head?

Things at work are okay, I guess. Business is really starting to slow down. That, and we're getting ready to open up the new Boone location combine to put just the slightest edge on the working environment at Mike's. I'm still trying to find a new job somewhere else (so I can have my evenings free) but so far, no dice.

Kathy is stressing big time right now. She's been in rehearsals all this week for the night of scenes that her Opera Workshop class is presenting tonight and tomorrow. I went Monday night to watch a rehearsal and all I can say is "clusterf*@k". Figure it out for yourself. In any case, she's asked me to come see it Friday rather than tonight, so I can see the best show possible. Other than that, she has to worry about a Collegium Musicum recital Sunday and her juries next month, and papers, and all sorts of stuff. *kisses Kathy on the forehead* Poor baby.

As for myself, today I'm "hermiting it"; I'm taking the day to clean up my place, do laundry, spend quality time with the pets, etc. Man, this place is a mess! Hopefully, I'll get to where it's in a somewhat presentable shape by this evening.

I've decided not to buy Loretta's car. It's nice (nicer than mine, at least), but she wants $1000 down. I'm having trouble holding onto $100 right now, so I think I'll have to pass this offer up. :(

Ah, another fulfilling day at work. Not really, but I thought it'd be more interesting than writing "work sucks" for the 528th time.

While at Katy's this morning, her friend Loretta came over. She is moving to the Marshall Islands to take up a position at a (the?) university there. Meanwhile, she is divesting herself of many of the things she cannot cart over there, including her car.

I'm considering buying it from her. It's a 1990 Dodge Laser, and it appears to be in good shape. She's asking $2000, but Kathy says I may be able to talk her down to $1800 and make payments to her. I'm going to test drive it tomorrow after church to see if it meets my demanding specifications (ie it runs, goes in reverse, is relatively quiet, etc.). Seriously, this could open up whole new worlds for me, if it runs well.

At Kathy's now, listening to the opera Jackie O, which is about- well, if you need me to tell you... ahh, never mind.

I have an idea for a genuine column for the site, but I need to gel it into some kind of readable form first. In the meantime, my friend Aerik has begun a new installment of the 18th Dimention Chronicles. If you're curious as to what the heck I'm talking about, just click on the hotlinked title above. There you can read the original story, or start on the new one. There's also a nifty rendering of me as my character in the story.

Went to a recital tonight. I'll tell you about it later; right now, I'm being pawed at by my kathykat. Did I mention she has *shiver* cold handdds? Br-r-r-r-r-r!!! It's kinda nice in a way, though. Biiieeee!

I had a pretty good evening last night. First, I went to ASU to see Kathy sing in her master class. She did two numbers, and did very well on both of them. She also looked fine, wearing a nice red dress that got her an unexpected compliment from one of her professors.

After class we went to eat at Pepper's, where we split a French dip and I had a bowl of French onion soup. No, we didn't have French fries or French dressing, so just put those thoughts out of your head. :P

Then we went out to the movies, to see Monsters, Inc. Cute movie, nice animation, and I even came close to crying at one point. However, the BIG news (at least for me) came before the movie started. They ran a preview for Star Wars Episode II beforehand, and when it came on, I tightened my grip on Kathy's hand ever so slightly. I won't wait in line to see it like I did Ep. I, but I will see the movie when it comes out in May. Oh yes, I WILL see it. *WEG*