Asymptomatic

I've been working on some improvements to Pastoid lately. It started out as more of a response to the URL shorteners that keep popping up everywhere and getting all the press, which Pastoid languishes in obscurity.

For those that don't know, Pastoid is a site that serves two major functions. First, it functions as a URL shortener, like the ubiquitous TinyURL. Second, it functions as a pastebin, like pastebin.com. It has a few little extra features that set it apart, and I have a lot planned for it that will break it out as something really different and special from those other tools.

I recently updated the look of the site. It has been getting mostly negative reaction. I think people don't like the grungy purple. Maybe I'll revise it again, but it does affect the change I wanted where the sidebar is moved to the left to allow code sections to expand in the liquid layout on the right. In addition to that, I've been working on the thumbnail improvement project, which is the true impetus for this post....

Over the weekend, I visited Columbus, not just to hang out with skippy at ComFest and buy too much crap at Origins, but to attend and lead a session at PodCamp Ohio.

The side dishes to this entrée are actually better than the meat, but the meat was the point of the dinner, so that's what I'll talk about here. I'm all about focus here. Focus.

I showed up right on time for the welcome session on Saturday and checked in. I hadn't been able to show up for the Friday night meetup because of the previously mentioned "side dishes". I checked in and was shown to the "Speaker Lounge", marked off by signs with martini glasses (with olive!). After a brief welcome from another couple of session leaders in the lounge, we all shuffled down to Room A for the introduction.

I'm not going to do a play-by-play of the rest of the day, because that's already feeling tedious. Let me cover briefly a couple of sessions I did attend, and my overall impression of the camp. more

This post has very little to do with cats, except that they've been rampant distractions while I've been reading lately. They attacked a box of Rice-A-Roni in the pantry, leaving little noodles all over the floor, and also shredded a volleyball with a soft foam exterior. The cardboard scratching things are still used - I think it's just a matter of getting in there and clipping claws. But enough cat news.

I've finished reading a few books recently. The first book is Practical Demonkeeping by Christopher Moore. Practical Demonkeeping is about a demon named Catch (what a preposterous name) who eats people, and his master, Travis, visiting Moore's fictional town of Pine Cove - the setting of many of his books. There, Travis seeks out the device that would free him from the demon that "serves" him, and Catch seeks out a new master that would free him from Travis. Of course, the interaction with the townsfolk leads to much drama, which is the crux of all of Moore's books.

I liked Practical Demonkeeping in that it was light and entertaining. It's certainly not the best of Moore's books. I preferred You Suck and A Dirty Job, as well as the Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove. Still, it was entertaining. Not as many of the characters carry over in this book, and I found myself missing Theo and Molly from The Stupidest Angel. Man, I've read a lot of Moore, haven't I? Another author I'm beginning to think I've read plenty of is Philip Pullman....

In case you weren't aware, we celebrate my birthday on Wednesday this year, June 4th. My birthday is not actually on June 4th, but that's the day I've chosen to celebrate it. I think I've finally gotten everyone on board with the idea.

This year's event is on the Saturday after, and is a bit bigger than previous affairs. It's the culmination of two years' worth of home building, having moved in two years ago August. It's the first time that Berta will be inviting work people over for anything. I've been inviting everyone I meet to come hang out. We're inviting our neighbors all over, too, which is long overdue - I think they secretly think we're weird for not having done so already. So it's not just for my birthday, although that's how the date was chosen, but also just a general summer party, probably the biggest one we'll throw for a while.

As a result of such the event, we've arranged for some special food and events. We ordered a pig from Brandywine Picnic Park. Just today I obtained a small moonbounce for the kids to play on/in. Berta got lamp oil for use in my flaming juggling equipment. I even ordered more than a few miracle fruit for our guests to try, although I've not heard anything yet about their delivery, so I hope they arrive in time or I'm going to have a lot of miracle fruit to eat by myself.

But one thing that's been occupying some significant mental time lately is the Pirate Quest. more

We're trying to get things ready at the house for the BBQ next Saturday (if you haven't RSVP'ed yet, you're almost too late. If you know me and you didn't get an invitation, I must not have your email or it got caught as spam, because I invited everyone, so RSVP anyway.), and although Berta is doing a great job of spiffing things up, we still have the perennial issue with the garage entry area. Between the powder room with the diapers and the litter box for the cats, that area is expectedly a little bit more smelly than I'd like.

Combined with an interest to obtain the usual supplies to take care of that, I also noticed that I was running low on deodorant. Nothing like making the house smell nice and then not smelling very fresh myself. So I decided it was prudent to make a quick grocery run at lunch time to pick up some of these items.

While standing in the deodorant aisle looking for my usual brand, I saw the Axe brand body sprays. I had bought one of these once just to see what they were all about, and it turns out that they're just really, really strong deodorant-smelling perfume sprays. Not really a surprise, given the commercials. But a lack of another product on the shelf led me to recall the following character-building story from my jaded youth....