I’ve recently had a flood of new users sign up here at the old blawg (meaning my Wordpress blog, for those on Livejournal or Myspace who are wondering what in the world I’m going on about), all of them with very strange and phonetically improbable usernames and Gmail addresses. After googling the usernames to see if there was any history with any of them, I found that there is indeed history…usually stretching back all of 39 minutes or so as the Google crow flies. I’m going to make it a habit to delete these as they pop up (actually, at first I typed “poop up”, and on further reflection this may be entirely more accurate). For anyone legit whose new ID I might have just nixed: sorry. There’s really nothing exclusive to signed-on users anyway, and they still have to use the dreaded captcha - it just makes life slightly easier for frequent-flyer commenters. You’re welcome to try to sign on again, be you boy or bot.

The PDF DVD is selling frighteningly well, and preparations are already underway to start the second print run (!!). I fired off a second round of publicity to sites such as Retroblast, Armchair Arcade, etc. last night before going to bed (well, last night…it may actually qualify as “this morning” if you’re going by what time it was), and reviews have started appearing on DP, so I’ve been hit with a new wave of orders. I’m hoping against hope to get new copies in the works this weekend, because I’m about outta the OEGE limited edition. (Fun fact: I have some clear address labels that I was thinking of using to very cheaply turn the OEGE limited edition into the OVGE limited edition, because I actually wasn’t sure that the first 50 copies would be out the door before August. Looks like I needn’t have worried! ) Now I guess the real test is to see if PDF:DVD gets Slashdotted. (This isn’t me asking one of my buddies to do this, by the way - as with the reviews, I’m waiting to see if anyone does it of their own accord.) Here in a little bit, Evan and I need to saddle up and go get more bubble mailers, because I have more orders than I have mailers - and I just picked up a bunch of the bloody things on Sunday night!

Also, a little advance publicity here: I’ll be sharing a table at OVGE this August with Brett Weiss, author of the incredibly detailed and massive tome “Classic Home Video Games, 1972-1984: A Complete Reference Guide”, so if you’re looking for two exhaustive works on video game history, hit him up for the book and hit me up for the DVD in one visit. (If you can’t make it to OVGE, I’ve also added Brett’s book to theLogBook.com Store - check it out!) I’ll also have some other DVDs for sale and - odd as it may seem at a video game show - some loose and carded Doctor Who action figures up for grabs too. (Maybe it’s just because all of my friends with similar tastes show up for this shindig, but I never have any problem moving Doctor Who swag at OVGE.) I’m really looking forward to this year’s show.

In other news, I’m getting really good at inducing hysterical giggles in the boy. Two things really seem to set him off: my rubbing my bald head on his belly (don’t ask me why, but he laughs until he’s almost ready to wet himself), and me making a puffer fish face and blowing on him. Perhaps not surprisingly, I never get tired of doing these things because I never get tired of hearing that little guy laugh. It’s enough to make me think I’m almost getting this daddy thing down.

Othello is doing better and is easing back toward eating dry cat food, with no apparent complications. Slowly but surely he’s regaining his body mass; he’s certainly regained his old attitude.

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My apologies for not getting theLogBook updated on time - I’ve literally spent most of my weekend filling PDF DVD orders (!!). Hopefully everyone who’s gotten one has liked ‘em. So help me God, I’m going to go get a new office chair in the next couple of days, so I thank everyone from the bottom of my…well…bottom. It’s a little unnerving to sit down and feel the seat start to slide down to its lowest altitude like someone’s let the air out of the tires. I look forward to not experiencing that anymore very soon! Seriously though, the response to the PDF DVD has blown me away. At this point, my biggest fear is that I’m not going to have duplication nailed down for the second run while the orders keep coming in. I honestly was not expecting it to blast off like it has. I’ve also learned a few things (the hard way) along the way, including how to generate Paypal links that actually do something helpful. I think you guys would be stunned to know just how much I’m making this whole thing up as I go.

Turbo Turtle, a.k.a. Gamera, has disappeared from the yard - hopefully to go kick back in a body of water somewhere. Turns out he was a humongous snapping turtle…not good for Zathras. I really don’t need to step out my door and have one of my toes eaten by a cranky and huge turtle.

Another thing that’s occurred to me today is that everything I’ve been doing pales in significance next to the loss of life in China and Myanmar. I can barely even begin to process the kind of numbers of dead we’re talking about there, much less what can be done about it. Perhaps it’s just as well that I’ve got all these distractions.

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I’d been saying since the beginning of the year that, since Character Options didn’t get the Torchwood license, whoever did would win me or lose me based on the action figure of Gwen. Looks like they win.

That’ll do nicely until I can have a full-sized Gwen sitting on my desk.

The first wave is Jack, Gwen, a Weevil and the Cyberwoman, and yes, they are scaled the same as the CO Doctor Who figures; the part that bites is that you have to order the entire first wave. I don’t need a Weevil or Lisa to make my life (or my increasingly British toy shelf) complete, but I don’t get a choice in the matter. All I can say is that the other three main characters better be in wave two so I can tie off this collection; I’ve heard rumors that wave two will indeed be Ianto, Owen and Tosh, with Captain John, so that would suit me just fine.

You can get ‘em here. On a completely unrelated note, I’m going to have some Who figures for sale at OVGE, so make sure your wallet’s bigger on the inside than on the outside!

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I stepped outside this morning to take the trash out, and found that we have a pretty sizeable guest in our yard.

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More nasty storms rolled through tonight. No damage on our end, but it wouldn’t have been the first damage of the year if there had been; we finally got the write-up from our insurance company on the work to be done on the house, as well as the check to do it with. It’s not what I’d describe as a small check, and not what I’d describe as small work: new roof, new windows all around, new back door, refinish the deck…I’ll admit that I look forward to having screen windows (the paperwork actually specifies screen windows), as well as a new back door, but I was a little surprised by the new roof thing. That’ll be fun.

In other news, another round of PDF DVDs goes out the door on Monday, due in no small part to me finally openly promoting it on Digital Press and AtariAge. Both communities have a bit of a history of suddenly getting their backs up when someone starts trying to sell them stuff from within, but ya know, I think both communities also know me well enough to know that I’m not a fly-by-night spammer. (Though considering how little I’ve been on AtariAge for the past few years, they might think I am. What can I say? I just don’t quite have the hardcore Atari tunnel vision that some of the folks there do, and I feel a little out of place.) I’ll admit that over the past couple of weeks since the OKC show, it’s been kind of fun to see where I got with just word-of-mouth and a banner about the DVD in my message board signatures, but it’s time to get down to business - I need a new office chair stat. Mine’s broken and it’s driving me nuts to sit on it. :-p

Speaking of video work, I’ve been amused lately by a TV promo about a grocery giveaway that looks like something I would’ve done with the on-screen text being “printed” on “receipts” that scroll up the screen. The really funny thing? This promo is not running on a station I used to work for - it’s running on a station that’s, technically speaking, the competition. Maybe I’m having delusions of grandeur, but permit me a moment to laugh out loud at channel 5 aping some of my old 40/29 promo tricks. (Please don’t mistake this for me pining away for the old job though - one thing I’ve enjoyed about the wild weather this year is being home to take care of my family, rather than getting called in or having to stay hellishly late to wipe someone’s butt and worry my head off about my kid.)

Finally, speaking of my kid, some pictures that only a mother could love: Continue Reading »

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(Othello and Olivia in Evan’s window.)

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In all of the concern about Othello, we almost forgot that today marks two years since we brought Olivia home. Follow her evolution from spazzy kitten to elegant girl kitty in these pictures: Continue Reading »

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Othello is home from the vet, and as I type this he’s enthusiastically chowing down on some Fancy Feast - of which I have quite a bit that I never intended to feed anyone after the Great Wet Cat Food Scare of a year or two ago. All these cans o’ Fancy Feast came as little samplers packed in with cat litter. Right now, they seem to be hitting the spot just fine, which is exactly what we need; due to the same aforementioned Cat Food Scare, we switched off to a regionally-produced brand of dry food - i.e. something that didn’t come from the same mills as 90% of the commercial brands - which Othello now shows no interest in. He now happily chows down on canned food while the other two are locked away temporarily, which drives the kitty kids nuts. Especially when I put his food away and he happily struts back into the baby’s room to lay down on my bed, smelling like canned cat food…which the other two can’t find. Good to be king, eh? But it’s even better that he’s eating. Now let’s see you pack on some pounds, skinny boy.

Got an Avid drive cable in yesterday, so I was able to try out the new Avid drives I got from eBay - remember, the ones that came clanking against each other in a priority mail box with absolutely no packing material whatsoever except for one flimsy piece of bubble wrap between the drives? - and to my astonishment, one of them was not DOA. The other one’s media was so damaged that it couldn’t even get one minute into a low level format. Say it again with me: dumbass! I wouldn’t even be going to the ‘bay for these except that I’m dealing with a slightly older generation of Avid gear. I’d have to buy a completely new setup to get the generation of Avid that uses firewire for everything, and I can guarantee you that I wouldn’t be getting that one for under $425 and a trip to Illinois. (To date, despite a motherboard replacement, three new drives, and new drive cables - which are all kinds of not cheap - I still have yet to sink $1,000 into my Avid.)

Neat stuff comes out of though. I’ll be sending out the next round of PDF DVD orders today or tomorrow, including the first international order (!) and orders from folks who I have no idea who in the world they are. As much as I appreciate my circle of friends picking up copies, the whole “total strangers buying my little DVD that I made” thing is kind of exciting.

Speaking of video games, I finally got Daphne working last night, and played my first game of Astron Belt in ages. I wish I’d accomplished that before the PDF DVD went out the door. Ah well.

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