Regularly Expressing

Category: events

  • The Lack of Try-Outs

    We signed my little boy up to play basketball at the YMCA. We signed him up because he’s a bit ADHD and sports are helpful for that. For his age group, at least, there are no try-outs. Unlike many of the other kids on the team, Noah does not yet get basketball. He’s likes running and jumping and throwing the ball around, but he’s not competitive. So he’s not the best player on the team and doesn’t get to play as often. Well, not everyone’s an all-star. Lately, however, he’s been getting less and less game time–even when our team is far ahead or way behind were losing a few points wouldn’t matter.

    Last night I took him to practice, normally my wife’s job, and I really worked with Noah. He actually tried to make a basket and succeeded. I was really proud of him.

    Today was the end of the season tournament. We drove across town and made sure we were there half an hour before the game. I forgot to get a water bottle, and the coach told me I should go out and buy one. I also had to pay for a ticket to watch, which kind of bugged me a little. It was a very close game.

    Noah was never permitted to play.

    I’ve been angry the whole day since, and took it out on my yard. I mowed in the blistering heat, cutting the head off every blade of grass that dared to stand too tall. I took the trimmers to every stray branch dangling over my back yard and cut and wacked. While that helped, I’m still not happy. On re-thinking this whole scenario, I realize that having Noah on a basketball team where he rarely gets to play makes no sense. It won’t help him burn off energy in any sufficient quantity. It used to be the YMCA had more to offer to me. They used to have a YMCA Guides program that I loved, but this YMCA doesn’t support it. My daughter can’t go on our family plan any longer because she’s 21. My wife doesn’t like to swim or use exercise equipment. I may have just found a way to save $70 a month.

    Update: To be clear, I’m not really mad at the coach (who apologized), or the YMCA really. I’m mad at the situation. It’s just not fair and I want something better for Noah and me.

  • The Devil Loves Me

    On a business trip to California I had the good fortune to bump into two pretty famous actors in the Baton Rouge airport. On the left is Ray Wise (a.k.a. the Devil from the television show “Reaper”). On the right is Paul Wilson (a.k.a. one of the two Bob’s from “Office Space”). Who else would the Devil be travelling with besides a corporate killer?

    I got both their signatures. Ray Wise wrote “The Devil loves you.” But hey, his portrayal of the Devil was one of my favorites — up there with Tom Baker’s Dr. Who.

  • Cajun Snowman

    Global warming took a holiday today in Baton Rouge. We awoke to a major blizzard, and being the Northerners we are, we immediately went out and constructed a snowman and engaged in battle with snowballs. We then came in and had hot chocolate.

    Insanely, LSU remained open despite reports on the radio of accidents “too numerous to count.”

    My little boy is home from school, however, as the Kindergarten has a snow day. Not something we ever expected when we moved to the South. And I’m sure it wont last — already the consistency of the snow is becoming more like sleet. We are hoping, however, that our Cajun snowman will last a few days, even after everything else melts.



  • Babelcon Report

    Picture from the Advocate

    Me, Sir Noah, and Darth

    Babelcon is Baton Rouge’s science fiction and fantasy con. It is small, but has been rapidly growing. This year was a major leap forward for the Con in many ways. Excellent care was provided for the halfings (kids) on the Con’s “Shire Track.” My son greatly enjoyed the treasure hunt, collecting more glass beads from hidden places around the con than anyone else.

    Babelcon goers are above average costumers. You’ll find Darth, Klingons, blue skinned elves, blue-black skinned dark elves, pirates, storm troopers, etc. and to cap it off there is always an “Orion Slave Girl Dance” by one of the local belly dance troops. (This is always a family friendly show)

    This year we had three distinguished visitors:

    1. John Hertzler a.k.a. General Martok. When I first saw his picture I thought, “That doesn’t look like Martok, he looks like a nice grandpa.” But after hearing him talk (he actually shed his own blood during his audition for Star Trek) and seeing some of his antics at the Con I thought, “This guy is part Klingon!”

      My wife and John Hertzler
    2. Richard Hatch a. k. a. Zarek was also present. I asked him if he thought he might be a Cylon — naturally he refused to comment. I don’t know, i think if I were him I would have just raised my eyebrows suggestively and said, “By your command.” Anyway, he also got into the spirit. He participated in a knighting ceremony (the Queen of Babelcon was performing them regularly throughout the Con). He even taped the queen’s mouth shut!

      My wife and Richard Hatch
    3. Suzie Plackson, a. k. a. K’Ehleyr (Alexander’s mom, Worf’s girlfriend). She’s a beautiful woman and has recently been branching out into other endeavors (art, music, etc.).

      Suzie Plakson

    Looking forward to seeing how things progress in 2009!

  • The Black Panther Car

    Recently my son and I participated in a pinewood derby. He wanted to make a “Black Panther car” (Black Panther, of course is the superhero known as T’Challa, one of the Fantastic 4 and husband of Storm). Of course, Black Panther doesn’t have a special car so we had to make one up.

    Hopefully Marvel will take notice.

    Here we have a picture of the car just after it crossed the finish line. It won a few times, but did not place overall in the meet. I was kind of disappointed, because I think it is the fastest pinewood car I’ve ever built and last year our “batman car” won 3rd place for speed. Here is our car parked next to its garage, along with it’s first place trophy for car design.
    This is a close up of the car just before the race. You can see the golden frog on its roof. Here is my excited little boy after he got his trophy. As you can see, he’s quite excited.

  • Solar Compute Tiles

    I’m attending the Mardi Gras conference hosted by the Center for Computation and Technology at LSU. The first keynote speaker, Dr. Satoshi Matsuoka, described “solar compute tiles” — essentially the same idea that I suggested in previous post entitled “Infinite Sunshine Computing.”

    His group has apparently been working on this idea for quite a while now and has prototypes. He showed some in his talk, but alas I don’t have any images to link to. It is pretty exciting to see someone working on that idea!

  • Me, The Daredevil

    You may not think of me as a daredevil. But this year at Supercomputing 07 I rode a bicycle upside down and around this insane contraption.

    I had to sign a waver saying I would not sue if something happened to me. I pedaled furiously for a few minutes, then the straps holding me in started to feel like they were coming lose so I stopped and got off. It was pretty fun. If the Fusion IO people bring this ride to Auston fro Supercomputing 08 I’ll definitely be riding it again.

  • The Great Race of 2008

    The “Great Race of 1908” was a race from New York to Paris. Four countries competed: Russia, France, Italy and the US.

    This may not sound so remarkable, but remember that there were no roads and no gas stations in 1908. The racers faced many hazards, from the mud of Nebraska to bandits in Sibera. Sometimes they traveled for long stretches of time with no place to stop for food or sleep. You can read more about the details and hardships at: http://www.greatoldcars.com/The_Great_Race.htm.

    The US won the race in their car, “The Thomas Flyer.” It still runs. I wish I had a car that could last me 100 years. And what’s exciting for me, I saw it during a recent visit to Reno. The fully restored and fully operational car is on display at the National Auto Museum.

    The Great Race is to be reenacted in 2008, on the centennial anniversary of the event. You can watch the countdown to this exciting day at http://www.greatrace.com. To maximize the coolness of this event, the Thomas Flyer will participate again!

  • Armadillocon

    I recently attended Armadillocon in Auston TX. This CON was focused on the literary aspects of sci-fi and fantasy, so there were very few people who attended in costumes.

    I met a number of authors:

    1. Julie Kenner (demon hunter soccer-mom books). There is a picture of me with her at right.
    2. Chris Roberson (see books below) – He participated in the Writer’s Workshop section and graciously provided a critique of the first chapter of a space opera I’m working on.
    3. Alexis Glynn Latner (got a signature)
    4. Louise Marley (got a signature)
    5. Matthew Bey, who writes for Tangent Online, also participated in the Writer’s Workshop and gave me a critique on my first chapter.
    6. I also attended a small party where beer and cookies were provided by Space Squid. They are looking for short fiction, please send them something if you can!

    There were a number of fun sessions where we discussed the physics of the Tardis, who the best Dr. Who was, what it’s like to fall in love with an octopus, and listened to readings by the authors.

  • BabelCon 2007

    We just finished visiting the local Fantasy/Sci-Fi convention BabelCon. The things I had most fun with were:

    The talk by Randal Scott from The Duelists. He discussed medieval weapons and fighting, the errors you commonly see in movies, and the progress we are making in learning how medieval fighting was really done. In a later session, we got to practice some of the actual guards and moves. For me, this was the highlight of the Con.

    There were, of course, many people in constumes to gawk at. At right you see fun couple Padme and Darth in their pajamas.

    Not to be missed was the “Orion Slave Girl Dance” performed by Boundless Fusion. While this was a family-friendly show we discovered that even my little boy was susceptible to the girls from Orion! At left you can see him dancing one of the girls. She performed this part of the show dancing while balancing a sword on her head.

    Of course, there was a lot more: the Bedlam Bards, Catwoman (Lee Meriweather), Chancellor Gauron (Robert O’Reilly), etc.. Hope to see you all there next year!