Bear Droppings

A Case of the Mondays

2009-12-28T17:46:19Z

I actually like working the week between Christmas and New Years. There's hardly anybody in the office so if you have work to be done, you can actually do it. When the work is done, there is no one to give you a hard time when you space out. I'm in a "space out" period right now.

A promotion potential closes today. I think this makes about 3 times since I have put in for some sort of promotion. This time it sounds like the position was written for me. We shall see. Perhaps the old adage of "screw up and move up" will play out here. My little reservoir fiasco in May perhaps put the bug in someone's ear that I really need to be taken off reservoir operations. *shrugs* It's fun. It's enjoyable. But if you want to pay me a few thousand more a year to NOT do it, ok. Perhaps I'm just being too cynical. It IS getting close to full moon time. For me, it's literally "that time of the month." I have my own little menstruation period that lasts for about a day about 3-4 days before a full moon. I noticed I was getting all pissy reading LJ this morning. It's best if I not make any comments lest I piss someone off.

I noticed another job today that I should put in for (NOT!). It was a hydrologist position in Gallup, NM working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. It must be a VERY popular position. It doesn't close until Dec of 2010. I have a feeling they would accept any warm body that would meet the basic criteria.

Fursuiting on the Plaza '09

2009-12-26T22:56:30Z

As I have been posting, I fursuited the ABQ Old Town Plaza on Xmas Eve. This would be the 4th year that I have done this. I would say that this was a "guerrilla" event, but when we showed up and met the person from the city who was in charge of the event, his greeting of "I was hoping you guys would show up!" made it almost seem like we were expected at the event. I could probably cut-and-paste my reports from previous years and it would apply to this year. We were welcomed with open paws, we posed for dozens and dozens of pics, and we added to the whole "Xmas experience" to those that were in attendance. It was so wonderful to hear from people, "Oh! Yay! We were hoping you'd be back again this year!" It was also great to hear from Kitty who was our handler, "OMG! Someone just slipped me $5!" People were sooooo appreciative! YAY! That's what I was hoping for! Once again the vibe was so positive.

Many thanks to scritchwuff for suiting with me. Also, many thanks to the NM Furs that showed up to have a fun time with us!

OMG! Furrehs!!!1!

There! This is MUCH better!

Yay! More happy kids!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T17:52:46Z

Merry Christmas! May all your nightmares be pink ones!
And be careful if you paw off today! You'll shoot your eye out!

Crackin' My Nuts

2009-12-24T15:21:03Z

Here I am, at the office on Christmas Eve. That can mean only one thing; "The Nutcracker" is cranking out of my computer speakers. This makes about 18 years straight that I have upheld this tradition. I bought the cd's at Costco in Yakima, WA in either '91 or '92. On the last day before Xmas vacation, I always play the cd's. This year they were ripped to .mp3 so I don't have to worry about the wear on the discs. The office is quiet otherwise. My co-worker and I will head over to Carl's Jr for a tasty burger at lunchtime and then we're off for the rest of the day. Tonight I will don my gay apparel, i.e. a fursuit, and entertain all of the folks who come to Old Town to take in the holiday lights. Hopefully there will be lots of pics tomorrow!

I should also mention that we have been having a great few days as of late. zippiner and skitzycat invited us over for dinner on Tue. Then last night we invited them over for cake to celebrate gavyn_lumier's b-day. He will be flying out of ABQ (hopefully) today to head home for the holidays. He, Kitty, myself, and scritchwuff had a nice dinner at a Japanese restaurant last night to celebrate his b-day as well as the holidays. For what is supposed to be one of the better Japanese restaurants in ABQ, we were less than impressed. The company was very enjoyable, though. It's having friends like this that make me very thankful for all that I have. That also goes for the majority of you out there. Some we have met FTF, others not. To those on the "not" list, I hope that can be changed in the future. Either way, I luvs ya all. I hope you have a great Christmas and get everything you want. Just don't post it to LJ on the 26th! *LOL*

Oscar Would Be Proud

2009-12-23T18:40:41Z

I was looking at the list of films that were nominated for Oscars last year, and I realized that I have now seen pretty much EVERY full-length movie nominated in EVERY category. I am only 3 films shy in the "Best Foreign Film" Category, but they are now in the good ol' Netflix queue. I watched the last of the "Best Documentary" category a couple of days ago with "Trouble the Water," about Hurricane Katrina.

How many have YOU seen?

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire
The Visitor
The Wrestler
Rachel Getting Married
Changeling
Frozen River
Doubt
The Baader Meinhof Complex
The Class
Departures
Revanche
Waltz With Bashir
Wall-E
Defiance
The Dark Knight
Wanted
Iron Man
The Betrayal
Encounters at the End of the World
The Garden
Man on Wire
Trouble the Water
Tropic Thunder
Revolutionary Road
Hellboy II
Australia
The Duchess
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
Happy Go Lucky
In Bruges
Vicky Christina Barcelona

Hardware

2009-12-22T15:36:41Z

19 years ago I went to the theater to see a sci-fi flick titled "Hardware". I remember what intrigued me the most was that it was given the newly-created "NC-17" rating. Ooooo! It must have lots of great violence and/or sex! Overall it was of the "killer robot" genre made famous several years earlier by another slightly cheesy movie titled "The Terminator" which, of course, became a "classic."

I like to rate movies based on their "memorability." If you have to ask yourself, "Didn't I see that movie?" it was probably a bad movie. By "bad" I mean that it was typical Hollywood drivel where plots and characters are completely interchangeable. The Bourne series comes to mind. I have seen all 3 movies, but I couldn't tell you a single plot point from any of them. What I love are the small movies that burrow into your brain and sit there for years and years. "Hardware" was one of them. It wasn't all that great, but there were certain things that I remembered. While cruising around the Netflix list I saw it and put it in the queue. Last night it reached the top.

Kitty had never heard of it, so she watched it with me. I told her that the few things I remembered were the radio DJ named Angry Bob that was in the background was voiced by rocker Iggy Pop, there was a creepy, disgusting fanboy-like character who gets ripped apart by the robot, and there was a killer closing song. That was about it. I told Kitty that either I'll hate the movie even more than before or that I'll gain new respect for it, seeing it with different eyes than I had 19 years ago. I'm happy to say that it was the latter. Perhaps it was because I was not expecting great sci-fi or something that it was not that I was able to better enjoy it this time around. It did take me back to 1990, so there was the nostalgia factor. I was also able to get the title to the killer track at the end of the film. It was "Order of Death" by PIL. I still dug it! I also picked up a track by Ministry in the movie that I had missed the 1st time around. So if you're looking for something in the sci-fi/horror genre, give it a rent one of these days.

Happy Solstice!

2009-12-21T15:51:25Z

In 2 hours Winter will officially begin! We in the Northern Hemisphere will welcome back the Sun. It looks like you folks on the East Coast could use a little more solar radiation. We have our own storm moving in tomorrow. With snowpacks right around average, we could use a little more insurance in case things shut off in March as has been happening in the last few years.

Who?

2009-12-19T15:26:44Z

I had an interesting experience last night. Around 3 am I was awaken by a sound of meowing. Now we have Skookum, but she is an EXTREMELY quiet cat. The only time she meows is when her bowl is empty and she catches us in the kitchen. So why would she be just randomly meowing in the middle of the night? I got up and found her sitting peacefully at the top of the stairs. I then heard the meow again. WTF?!? I finally figured out it must be some sort of bird on the roof. Right after I came to that conclusion there was a loud booming "HOO HOO HOO!" Cool! There was an owl sitting right next to the chimney, its calls booming down the metal flue into the fireplace.

I threw on a sleeper and ran outside. Stupid me forgot the flashlight so all I saw was a lump sitting next to the chimney. I ran back inside and grabbed a couple of powerful flashlights. By the time I got back outside, however, it had flown off. Damn. I know we do have owls in the neighborhood, having seen one up on the mesa. It would have been cool to have gotten a good look at one fairly close up and just sitting there. *shrugs* I did get very nice views of the Big Dipper and Orion which were shining brilliantly overhead at that time of the evening/morning.

Taking Christ Out of Christmas

2009-12-18T17:26:09Z

Being raised a Catholic, I was told that the "true" meaning of Christmas was the celebration of the birth of Christ. I blindly accepted this explanation. Later, as I started questioning religion, I saw that the holiday was hijacked from the Pagans (like most religious holidays.) I tended to re-embrace the holiday as a more general celebration of family and friends as well as a time to reflect on life in general. I didn't even mind the commercialism although it is rapidly approaching the level of "ABSURD" especially with the season now starting in September and October.

Anyway, I digress. There has been a cry on the Religious Right that Christmas is being hijacked by atheist liberals. They want to keep "Christ" in Christmas. That's all good and well, but this is also the time of the Solstice and Hanukkah. So saying "Happy Holidays" DOES seem more appropriate since different people are celebrating different holidays.

So a couple of things have happened at the office which I think are really pushing the limit on the separation of Church and State. First, a co-worker forwarded an email to the entire office which explained the religious symbolism to "The 12 Days of Christmas." This REALLY offended me. Had he sent it to just myself, I could have replied with a firm "NOT APPROPRIATE!" as well as forwarding it to our personnel person. Since he forwarded it to the entire office, however, I just decided to wait to see what would happen. I was glad to see that he DID get reprimanded for inappropriate use of email.

The other incident happened the other day as our division was exchanging small gifts. We all get stockings which are hung in the hall. You then drop in small gifts to everyone in the division. I hit up Costco and bought an assortment of candy bars. Someone else put in a lottery ticket. Someone else put in a small puzzle. This gives you an idea of what is normally given. Well, one co-worker gives all of us a nicely wrapped gift. From the shape and feel it's obviously some sort of book. We all unwrap the gift and discover that he has given us all paperback Bibles. You could feel the tension in the room as everyone held their little book. Now on the one paw I wanted to raise heck because I felt it was an inappropriate gift. On the other paw it was a gift. He was not proselytizing. He was not forcing his religion upon us any differently than someone forcing gambling on us with a lottery ticket. One could simply give the gift to someone else or even toss it. I guess I am just finding myself much more sensitive to religious issues like this because of all of the crap the religion seems to be responsible for today, be it supporting the killing of gays in Uganda or the more general idea that religion should be spread through the sword.

Thursday Random Bits

2009-12-17T19:03:18Z

We had our office Xmas party yesterday. I was once again tagged to be Santa Bear although there were only 2 kids in attendance. One was a little boy around 1 who really didn't care but who liked to pet the furry thing and one was a little girl around 2 who wanted nothing to do with the bear, but was very fascinated by him. The office manager wanted to get a pick on Santa Bear's lap. *blush* So overall it was a fun gig, although very brief. For the "dirty Santa" game I ended up with a pretty sweet prize. Someone ahead of me ended up with a raccoon salt and pepper shaker. It was so damn cute! The actual salt and pepper containers were garbage cans. *lol* The person who got it was not happy at all. He thought he was going to be stuck with it, but I came to his rescue. I actually said, "You're very lucky that I am into kitsch and I'm a furry." He was then able to get another present which was much more to his liking.

As an update to my Brian Setzer post, his Facebook page said it was a combination of altitude, vertigo, and dehydration. He was able to do his show in Phoenix the next day. Like I said before, I can certainly understand that. I just hope no drugs and/or alcohol were involved.

I had another childhood flashback this morning. As I was about to walk into the office, the person in front of me opened the door using the handicap button. She made a comment about "the magic door" and I instantly remembered a t.v. show I watched as a child that was locally produced in Chicago called "The Magic Door." Within seconds I was singing the theme song which I probably hadn't heard in almost 40 years. What was funny about the show is that it was actually a Jewish religious show that aired on Sunday mornings. I had no idea it was a religious show! Looking at comments I found on the web about the show, many kids just like me had no idea we were being indoctrinated into the Jewish faith. *lol* To us it was just a kids' show at a time in the day when there were no other kid shows on. I also found several websites that dealt with Chicago TV nostalgia. Oh man! "The Gigglesnort Hotel!" "BJ and Dirty Dragon!" Of course there were classics like "Ray Rayner and Friends" and "Garfield Goose." Holy crap! What memories! I'm sure bjbuttons would also remember some of these great shows.

Jump, Jive, and Fail

2009-12-15T14:52:57Z

Kitty and I kept up one of our new holiday traditions by attending the Brian Setzer Orchestra concert last night. It was our 3rd time attending and our 3rd time at the shitty Isleta Casino venue. At least we had great seats this time, about 6 rows back, stage right. They kept saying it was a sold-out show, but I saw a LOT of empty seats. The show started promptly at 8 which I loved! He opened with the Batman Theme complete with Santa in a Batman mask. WTF?!? I called it correctly that his 1st number would be "Dig That Crazy Santa Claus." He then went into a non-Xmas tune called "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" which rocked. Then came "Boogie Woogie Santa Claus" which was done in typical big band style with some great horn solos. And then Brian set down his guitar and walked off stage. Huh?!? You could tell that something was up. The band quickly went into Glen Miller's "In the Mood" to cover. After that was over, an announcement was made that the show was on hold for 10 minutes. Uh oh. There was lots of speculation that he perhaps had some altitude sickness since all of his previous dates were back east. At the one hour mark an announcement was made that he was taken to a hospital and the show was canceled. Yikes! The event was the lead news story this morning, but no one seems to know anything more. Oh well, at least we will get a refund.

Da Rules

2009-12-14T17:47:50Z

Just before my trip to Denver we had an all-employees meeting where representatives from our regional office in Salt Lake came down to give us all a lecture on "ethics and rules of conduct." It came across to me as a "now you all know the rules so you shouldn't be surprised if we fire your ass" lecture instead. I think their fear was that bad behavior was being incorporated into the culture and therefore had to be nipped in the bud. They said many things, however, that accomplished nothing but pissing off a lot of people and lowering morale even farther down into the dumps. At one point they mentioned that people couldn't get comp time for training, so many people got up and left since their day was officially over by that point. That ticked off and flustered the trainers. Of course they also covered Internet usage and re-iterated that EVERYTHING was being tracked in some massive database somewhere. Are you reading this, Big Brother?

This sparked some wonderful debate in the hallways after the meeting. On the one paw if you followed every rule to the letter there was no need to worry about disciplinary action. On the other paw, who follows every rule to the letter? This also brought up the question as to why don't people follow the rules to the letter? This caused a turmoil in my own mind because I am definitely one to thumb my nose at the rules. Why should I do this? Why do I find it so hard to obey the rules? I came to the conclusion that I am an anarchist at heart. Rules and laws may be a good idea in the overall scheme of things, but 9 times out of 10 they are just meant to deal with the few idiots out there. Nowadays they go by the name of "THAT guy."

Do we need a LAW that bans text messaging in our cars, as an example? How about a general law that says you should drive safely! Then the pendulum swings the other way where cops make up their own rules on the fly to suit their own personal definition of "safe."

I guess I don't believe in true anarchy where anything goes just to suit my own personal whim but rather a form of libertarianism that says that we don't need laws dictating behaviors as long as society as a whole can still function. We need simple rules that say we need to respect one another. The problem with this is that we as a species are selfish and stupid. We need to be told what to do. It's much easier to obey than to think.

There are some aspects to the whole concept of "the rule of law" that just frustrate the heck out of me. We should all except the law as the law, but then where did these "laws" come from? They were made by men, probably men with their own agendas and self interests. Rules and laws are not something divine. Why do we sometimes treat them as such? The argument would then be that since we live in a democracy, we have the power to change the laws through our legislative process. Right. Sure. And I'll leave a tooth under my pillow and get money or perhaps get eggs from a rabbit. I guess I'm just in one of my sociopathic moods today.

Back to Life

2009-12-13T20:09:55Z

I drove back from Denver yesterday. It was once again a nice uneventful trip as the snow stayed up in the high country. Today was designated "decompression day" as I get ready for a somewhat busy week. The biggest thing that I had to do today was give Nevada a bath. I did do some guerrilla fursuiting in Boulder on Friday and my foot paws got completely and totally covered in muddy slush. When I walked, the dirty water then splashed up onto my legs. So it was off to the laundromat this morning for a nice cleaning. The paws are still a little grey, but they're a whole lot better than a couple of days ago. I have a gig at work on Wednesday as Santa Bear, so I hope he's all dried, brushed, floofed, and ready to perform by then.

Speaking of the fursuiting outing, here are some pics from the event! anya_silverfur and myself had a great time (as mentioned in Friday's post). I also forgot to mention that we were not the only suiters in Boulder on Friday. While we were enjoying beer at the Mountain Sun Pub, a group of about 6 folks in cheap rental store suits came strolling in. I was extremely happy about this! Even non-furries are getting into the whole "guerrilla fursuiting" thing! It was like an episode of Trigger Happy TV! Unfortunately my camera was out in the vehicle at the time.

No, Nevada! Not THAT type of fetish!

My "schtick" this evening was walking up to store/restaurant windows and looking in for handouts. I loved watching people looking up and jumping back with "OMGWTF!" expressions.

These little girls loved the big polar bear.

Anya was also gettin' lots of furry luv.

Ever since I started coming to Boulder for classes/meetings I have always wanted to get a pic in front of this bear statue. Mission accomplished! Too bad the Mongolian BBQ is no longer there.

Warm, Fuzzy Feeling

2009-12-12T05:26:29Z

OK, my fuzzy friends, this is how it's supposed to work. I had never met crankycoyote before IRL. We met on LJ for whatever reason. I'm in CO. He's in CO. I like beer. He likes beer. We decide to meet and have some beer. He's an awesome fur! We have a great time talking about all kinds of stuff. Enter 2 other friends of mine who are also CO furs, sphinxbait and anya_silverfur. We like each other. They like beer. They join us for beer. We all have a great time having dinner and more beer. Anya and I want to fursuit. Cranky has never handled before, but agrees to do so. He takes nice pics of the outing. He's happy to hang out with fursuiters and has a great time! We all say our goodnights and contact info is shared between the CO furs who are now friends. A wonderful time is had by all! Awesome!

Pics to be posted once they're downloaded.

Class Dismissed

2009-12-11T23:24:01Z

Training ended on a low note today. We were given a fairly complex problem to solve and given several hours to complete it. I struggled through it but made good headway. When lunch time rolled around, most of the class voted to have burritos delivered. I said, "Screw that!" and headed off to a nearby noodle place. Other folks might like to sit in a computer lab for hours and hours, but I wanted some sunshine and fresh air. It's finally above freezing! When I came back I continued to muddle through the project. I finally got to a point where I was getting error messages I could not fix. The instructor was busy helping others, so I waited. And waited. And waited. Now it's nice that you want to help someone, but that doesn't mean you devote ALL your attention to a couple of folks. Heck, you had been sitting at your desk most of the class and now all of a sudden you want to be Mr Helpful? People were getting up and leaving having completed the assignment (or at least I think so). That was the other problem. There seemed to be no consistent feedback as to if we had completed the assignment correctly. Sure, the model could run, but did it solve correctly? Finally I had had enough. I packed up and left. I had some choice comments in the course evaluation. At least the last part is nothing I need in my job, but it's nice to challenge myself in figuring things out. So now it's time for beer and fursuiting!

Fat, Drunk, and Yiffy

2009-12-11T03:30:05Z

OK. So overzen made a cute little comment to my post the other day. This got me thinking and Googling. THIS is what I found. Booyeah! The world is a sick place, and I'm a happy bear!

2 Down 1 To Go

2009-12-11T02:00:51Z

Another day of training has ended. Today I learned some new stuff that I will hopefully be able to put to good use once I return to work. We shall see.

For the past few days I have not been eating dinner. I have had fairly substantial lunches, so I have not felt like eating much, if anything, for dinner. Today I had a fairly light lunch in anticipation of having a somewhat nice dinner. I had read that the local supermarket had a nice gourmet food section. After class I headed over and saw that the reports were indeed true! They had a sushi chef preparing rolls, so I picked up some nice spicy tuna and avocado rolls. They also had a nice antipasto selection, so I made a nice mixture of olives, mozzarella balls, and stuffed grape leaves. I then headed over to a nearby liquor store for a nice bottle of Washington State Riesling. *burp* Ahhhh! What a lovely meal! I am now nicely buzzed with a pleasantly full belly.

There are a lot of good restaurants here in Boulder, but when you're by yourself, it sucks to eat alone. I could go out with some folks from class, but that would have required planning and coordination. No. I am just fine the way I am right now. I'll hopefully hook up with Anya and Locke tomorrow for some socialization. That would be just fine with me. I would much rather enjoy a meal with friends as opposed to being forced into a social situation where I would have to put on a mask.

CO update

2009-12-10T00:59:23Z

I had my 1st day of training today. It IS the reason why I'm up here, after all! It was a nice easy day since we covered a lot of stuff that I already knew. The weather still sucks, but it's getting better. Hopefully I'll be able to a little fursuiting on Friday night. Right now the temp has already fallen back to 0. I should be wanting to head out to have a nice dinner out somewhere, but I am just emotionally spent. I had a huge burrito for lunch and I don't want to be a piggy.

While I hate this weather, I am very happy that the snowpack has been given a huge shot in the arm. Here are some examples:
Wolf Creek Pass (the upper part of the Rio Grande in southern CO)
12/05 22" of snow 12/9 61" of snow
Cumbres Pass (the upper part of the Chama basin, just above our major reservoirs)
12/05 22" of snow 12/9 66" of snow

Yay!

Theater Hopping

2009-12-08T23:47:31Z

When I first embarked on this trip north, I had 2 possible plans for today. Plan A would be to drive all around northern CO (and possibly southern WY) in search of good trainspotting locations. Plan B, which would go into effect if the weather was really shitty, would be to head to the movies. Since the weather today was REALLY shitty, I put Plan B into operation. I drove a mile up the road to one of the new megaplexes. I had actually thought about walking, but with blowing snow and temps in the single digits, I decided to make the short drive.

I arrived at the theater for the matinee, and the ticket-seller was shocked to see me. I got my ticket for "The Fantastic Mr Fox" and was informed that I would probably have the theater to myself. Nope. 2 more folks showed up just before it began. I must say that it truly was a fantastic movie. I can't turn off the "furry bias" but I was enthralled by the movie. Once again, it was so "un-Hollywood." I had no idea where it was going. There were wonderful bits of randomness and deeper plot points where I least expected them. When it was over, the 2 other people in the theater actually started clapping. Closet furs? *lol*

Since it was still very early I decided to jump next door to see "Planet 51." I really had no desire to see it as a paying customer, but since it was just beginning, I decided to give it a try. This time I WAS the only person in the theater. It was not bad. For a kids' movie, it was actually pretty good. My favorite line when the alien kids see the astronaut naked; "That's a funny place for your antenna." Yeah. ok.

The Shinning (sic)

2009-12-08T16:12:18Z

I had the weirdest thoughts last night as I woke up at around 3a. I started getting depressed that I may end up trapped in this motel room today since a storm was blowing in and temps were not going to break the single digits. My first thought was the movie "1408" which I watched with Free and Fritz over the weekend. I had completely forgotten about this movie until I looked it up on IMDB. It was the movie where John Cusack played a skeptical writer who specialized in haunted places. He stays at a hotel, run by Samuel L. Jackson, where dozens of people have died in room 1408. So he spends a night and the evil spirits do a complete and total mindfuck on him. I normally don't like horror films, but this one was pretty darn good. And of course I had to MST3K with the line, "That's it! I have had it with these muthahfucking ghosts in this muthahfucking hotel!"

I then started thinking of an even better flick for my current condition. "The Shining." Heck, the hotel that was used is only about 50 miles away in Estes Park! There's also the famous "fursuit scene" in the movie, and Nevada is sitting just a few feet away in his critter coffin. In the movie, Jack starts drinking a lot. *eyes the bottle of bourbon on the table*

"All work and no play make Sabot something something."
"Go crazy?"
"Thanks! Don't mind if I do!"

Safe in Colorado

2009-12-07T22:40:54Z

I actually arrived on Saturday, but I have just not had a lot of time to post. The drive up on Sat. was uneventful. It took about 7.5 hours to get to freefox's den in Denver. He then cooked up a tasty dinner for myself and furitz. Many beers were consumed and we ended up staying up until 3a. Of course the next morning it was mighty tough to wake up. It had also snowed during the night, so I had to contend with that. I had to take a slow, leisurely drive up to furitz's place where I would be spending Sunday night. The crappy weather made me just want to hunker down and do nothing. We were content with take-out Chinese and a movie at the Fox Den Theater.

Today I took off on my own to check out the Colorado Railroad Museum. I think the guy behind the desk was shocked to see me. He was about to give me a free admission since the weather was still pretty crappy, but I gladly paid him the admission price as my contribution to the museum. I REALLY took my time reading everything at every exhibit. I had hours to kill, so I just wandered around soaking up all of the great railroad history. I spent a lot of time outside as well since they have a fairly extensive collection of engines and cars. The only problem was that it was about 8 degrees! Yeah, my paws were frozen by the time I was finished. I knew the perfect place to warm up! Just down the road is the Coors Brewery! Whoot! So I took the tour and sampled the beer. This may be a shock to you all, but I actually turned down a free beer! I'm sorry if my image has been forever tarnished, but I actually had to say "no" since I was getting a nice buzz after 2 beers. With snowy/icy roads, I wanted full use of my senses. Responsible Bear is responsible! The brewery is one of the 1st tours I have done in over 15 years since I started brewing myself. Everything made much more sense now! I could also much better appreciate the smell of malted barley and hops. Mmmmmmm.

So now I am hunkered down in my motel room in Boulder relaxing for a bit. Another Winter storm is brewing, but I'm not really concerned. I have Internet. I have t.v. I have magazines (No! Not THOSE types of magazines! *lol*) All I need is some brewski and I can ride out the storm. My training doesn't start until Wed, so I have a whole day to relax. Once again, if any CO furs want to get together for dinner or a movie, just drop me a lion. Of course if the roads are bad, I really don't want to travel far. And Anya, get ahold of me! I have your mom's coffee mug!

"Kabluey" -review

2009-12-04T16:57:15Z

A long time ago someone posted a trailer for a movie called "Kabluey". It looked sort of interesting since it involved a guy who was forced to become a corporate mascot. Well, it finally hit the top of our Netflix queue the other day.

Overall it was a pretty good flick. Being a small, independent film, it was filled with quirkiness which I enjoyed. The plot is that a mother struggles to cope with life due to her husband being deployed to Iraq. She finally asks her brother-in-law to help although he is a total loser. The highlight in his life is getting stoned on fumes from the laminator at the print shop where he worked (before getting fired for getting stoned). He fails at taking care of the kids, so he is forced to get a job as a mascot for a dying dot-com. The suit looks like the AOL running man. I actually kinda liked it in a weird fursuiting kind of way. The proportions of the suit reminded me of quasiskunk's adventure as Miffy the Bunny.

So he does the mascot gig and really hates it. He goes through all of the typical humiliation a mascot must endure when placed in a comedy movie. Eventually he does a kids' party and finally starts to realize the power of the suit. His nephews see him in a "destroying the illusion" moment, but rather than getting freaked out, they find a new admiration for their uncle. Eventually he finds new confidence in himself. Does that sound familiar to any suiter out there?

So overall it was a pretty good flick. If you are a fursuiter, you might find his adventures pretty funny. Some of them included taking a piss, drinking a beer, and running into all sorts of eccentric characters. As I mentioned, as a suiter I found a lot of humor in the flick. Give it a rent if you see it around.

A New Mexico Bear in Colorado

2009-12-03T15:38:10Z

Attn: Colorado Furs!
Just to let you know that I will be up in the Columbine State beginning this weekend for a training class next week. I thought I would make a little vacation out of it, so I will be leaving here on Saturday even though my class doesn't start until Wednesday. I think I have lodging with either Freefox or Fritzfox (guys?) until Tuesday night when I have my official gov't motel up in Boulder. Since I'm driving I'll also be bringing a fursuit with me, probably Nevada in Xmas motif. So if anyone up there wants to hang out, see a movie, do some guerrilla fursuiting, or have dinner, let me know! I definitely want to hit the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden on Sunday or Monday. I know nevermint already beat me to it, but some suiting on Pearl St in Boulder would also rock. If the weather cooperates I might take a drive as far as Cheyenne to do some trainspotting. I have no real set plans, just ideas. Once again, just let me know if you'd be up for some socializing.

Taste of Retirement

2009-11-30T21:35:28Z

I'm back at the old orifice today. It was almost good to be back. I had started to go a little crazy without the usual routine. It got me thinking if that was how things would be after I retire. I was only gone 2 weeks. In those 2 weeks I put in a round trip to Chicago, a con, and a holiday with lots of houseguests. Without my usual routine I found myself drinking more, waking up later, going to bed earlier, and probably eating too much. Now while it was fun, I could see how a person could go totally to hell in a matter of a few months. Here I thought it would be great with nothing to do, but doing nothing DOES get old very quickly. Even if I were to travel a whole bunch, as I found out when I was in Chicago, *clicks heels* there's no place like home! I wanted my own kitchen, my computer, my tv, and most especially my pets. It will be very interesting to see how my attitudes change over time. I guess I am a creature of habit and routine. How does one fill up the time without falling into the trap of sitting on the couch with a beer while watching Judge Judy all day?

Tying Up Loose Ends

2009-11-29T20:54:58Z

The last of the houseguests left at 4am today. albear and dexter_fox hit the road back to LA and right into a Winter storm. Fortunately it seems to be a very El Nino-like storm and is tracking more southerly. They ran into a little rain and snow, but when I talked with them a few hours ago they were west of Flagstaff and in clear and sunny conditions. We certainly enjoyed their visit although it wasn't completely restful since Al had to deal with cat allergies and homework while Dex had to deal with overindulgence in alky. He and I partied very hardy on Friday which led to the drama I posted about that evening. Things got very ugly here at Fur Central, but thanks to good friends like scritchwuff, deviantvixen, and gavyn_lumier, the situation worked itself out on Saturday. Things are much much better now. There was probably a lot of pent up stress after being away for 2 weeks and then hosting a lot of different guests over the next few days. *shrugs* What was done was done.

I promised some pics from the Thanksgiving adventure, so here they are. First is Turkey Goatse.

This was taken soon after I woke up and I was getting the turkey stuffed.

Soon after that Al and I were sitting around talking about the high-quality tequila he brought for us. One was a bottle I had purchased in Ensenada on our cruise in Aug and the other 2 were gifts from his mom who lives in Mexico. We decided to try them all to see what the difference were. It was pretty interesting to taste the slight differences which were reflected in the prices paid.

Finally, here is a pic of the "3 Corners Monument" I discovered on the way to MFF. It's literally in the middle of nowhere, accessible by dirt road.

So today is a somewhat of a do-nothing day. Neglected chores are being taken care of, and we are doing a general de-compression. The weather is nicely crappy so there is little desire to go anywhere although I think I'll take Mesa for walkies to enjoy the Fall/Winter-like weather.