Got the films back today for the cover of the upcoming issue of Xero. It looks something like this, though the yellow is actually metallic gold ink. Now to finish with the rest of the magazine…

My wife’s parents are coming into town today; they’ll be staying with us for about a week. We’ve spent the last week trying to “parent-proof” the house–hiding the floggers, taking the handcuffs off of the bed, tucking away all the ropes…

But there’s one place I’m not going to budge, and that’s my photography. I have several examples of my photography up on the wall. The inlaws don’t appreciate it, but it is not coming down.

Goddamnit, it’s my house! If they don’t like my art, fine, but I refuse to try to pretend that it does not exist. I will not redecorate my entire house on the fear that my tastes may offend someone’s sensibilities.

My wife thinks I’m being unreasonable. I think it’s unreasonable to reorder your life to suit someone else’s tastes.

Microsoft is not really a software company.

Microsoft is a gang, kind of like the American Mafia. They don’t shake you down for “protection money” like the Mob does, their racket is shaking you down for licensing fees. They make it so you can’t do business in the IT sector without giving them their cut. They call it “partnering,” but it really means “You don’t do no business ’round here unless Mr. G gets his cut.”

I have a close friend who owns a house that she rents out. Last weekend, one of my friend’s tenants stabbed her husband to death in his sleep; the police were called out, the tenant was hauled off to jail, it was a messy scene.

Did you know there are companies that specialize in cleaning up after violent crimes? I didn’t.

Turns out that homeowner’s insurance covers it, too.

This morning, my friend and I went to the house with an insurance adjustor. The place was a wreck; the crime-scene cleanup team had been and gone, but all the stuff belonging to the tenants was piled up in a heap in the middle of the living room.

Going through all that stuff was really creepy. There were Bibles everywhere; apparently, the woman who murdered her husband was devoutly religious, and had a collection of Bibles and gospel music that would rival the Vatican’s.

Kind of just figures, doesn’t it?

It’s Wednesday,and I’m finally recovered from the weekend. Between Kelly’s birthday, both girlfriends being in town, and entertaining about thirty people on Sunday, it’s been exhausiting…

Tomorrow I get to talk to a new plastics manufacturer about manufacturing the cases for my new sex toy. Very cool!

Tomorrow is Kelly’s birthday. Andrea and Michelle will both be in town to celebrate…yay! I feel like I’m the one getting the birthday present. 🙂

We’re having a party tomorrow and hosting a meeting of PolyTampa on Sunday. So the house will be packed with people all weekend long. It should be a fun weekend.

“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
— Benjamin Franklin

Well, things are finally starting to get back to normal. The TV news stations are finally talking about things other than Osama bin Fuckhead and his band of merry men.

So now the loonies are creeping out of the woodwork. You know, the ones who say “The US government actually staged these attacks, so that they can declare martial law.” (Hello, look around, no martial law declared…) Or the ones saying “We should exterminate all Muslims.” (Sure…and while we’re at it, we should exterminate all Christians because of those looney-tunes who bomb women’s clinics, right?)

And ultimately, besides killing a bunch of people, the attacks accomplished nothing. Buildings destroyed: 2. Lives lost: Several thousand and counting. Economic damage: $20 billion and counting. Effect on the US position as the dominant superpower in the world: A big, fat zero.

“Atrocity is recognized as such by victim and perpetrator alike, by all who learn about it at whatever remove. Atrocity has no excuses, no mitigating argument. Atrocity never balances or rectifies the past. Atrocity merely arms the future for more atrocity. It is self-perpetuating upon itself–a barbarous form of incest. Whoever commits atrocity also commits those future atrocities thus bred.”
–Frank Herbert

Never play pool with anyone named after a city (eg, “Philadelphia Jones”).

Never go to bed with anyone who has a tattoo of a dagger on any part of their body.

Never sleep with anyone crazier than you are.

If someone approaches you with the intention of doing you good, RUN.

If someone says “It’s not the money, it’s the principle of the thing,” it’s the money.

True love doesn’t conquer all.

Money can buy happiness–or at least, make the pursuit of happiness a whole lot easier.

The police are not your friends. The law is not there for you.

If someone says “You’re right, I think we shouldn’t sleep together any more–let’s just be friends,” they still want to sleep with you.

“Art for art’s sake” is the philosophy of the well-fed.

More evil is done by people who genuinely believe they are good than by people who know they are wicked.

People are not basically good. Nor are they basically evil. People are basically selfish.

Cheaters sometimes win. Winners sometimes cheat.

Crime does pay. If you do it right, it pays very, very, very well.

Money can buy you love. And the beauty of it is, you don’t even have to part with the money to get the love.