Lattice of Coincidence
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
Onyx's LiveJournal:
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| Monday, January 25th, 2010 | | 9:21 pm |
Feri Pie Day 01-26-2010 and Pcon Feri Badges
Dear Feri Community, Don't forget to have pie on Cora's Birthday Tomorrow. Also if you are going to Pantheacon this year drop by Anaar's Tombo Studio booth in the vending room to pick up a badge ribbon that reads "Feri Is.." along with other Feri surprises. Blessings, --Onyx | | Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 | | 9:47 pm |
Work Rant
My current boss was a colleague that was recently promoted ahead of me. We have been on an identical career paths for the last 10 years with many competitive stages but I was always a little ahead of him, that is until recently. When our department head left, we both put in for the job. Instead of having one of us leave when the other got the job, they split the job into two parts, partially because they were potentially going to lay us all off mid 2009 anyway so they did not care if they “split the baby.” When the Japanese company rescued us and helped us form a new company, they chose to promote my co-worker to an even higher level and made him my boss. 10 years of working in the same group and I saw how he micromanaged his staff and had a high turnover rate. But he succeeded scientifically- advancing his project to a later stage than my project (partially from luck and partially at the cost of some burned out staff). So it was not a surprise that they would favor him over me given that at this stage in the deal with Japan that his loss would be more problematic for them. I have been trying for months to develop a working relationship with him but he is so over the top in his micromanaging it is infuriating. He seems to think he knows better than me even with my 25 years in science. He has a huge ego and has lately been presenting my project to senior staff at the company and to executives in Japan without even asking me to do it. He initially claimed that it was more efficient to present all the science at once, we did not need to send a lot of staff to Japan, and it was easier for him to communicate with the Japanese because of his recent experience with them. More recently he presented my work to the board and claimed that these were closed door meetings where it made better sense for him to present my work. Then this week he presented my work at a meeting with the Japanese that I was also attended and which I could easily have presented (and with a better understanding of the work). Its clear that he is trying to advance his career and has no concern for my career what so ever. Today, he went line by line through my expense report for the trip to Philly that he also attended. He wanted to know about the most ridiculous minuscule items like a bottled water I bought at the airport. His excuse for this control freak behavior was to “make sure we are consistent in what we expense on our trips.” WTF?. He expensed a lot more beer that I did and he wants to know about a $3 bottle of water?!!! That conversation cost the company more than $3 in lost productivity. I am not sure how much more of this guy I can take before I start looking for another job. At least I will wait until January to start looking because the board promised us a end of the year bonus for getting the company sold to the Japanese. Current Mood:  enraged | | Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 | | 9:56 pm |
| | Saturday, October 10th, 2009 | | 10:49 am |
| | Monday, October 5th, 2009 | | 10:34 pm |
| | Sunday, September 27th, 2009 | | 1:08 pm |
| | 10:23 am |
Onyx Northwest Tour Days 10-14
Day 10: Had breakfast with the wedding party. Got a great picture of Puck seeming to be hung-over or rolling his eyes at something. Next we all drove 30 minutes to Multnomah Falls with the grooms and the rest of the gang. Place is amazing. We saw the beautiful Multnomah Falls then hiked to Wahkeena Falls about a half mile away. Coming back I was alone on the trail from one fall to the other and stopped to look up into the ivy and fern covered corridors leading up into these fey woods. The wind blew through the leaves and time seemed to slow significantly. I suspect it was a doorway to the fey realms, but I did not take the invitation. The rest of the gang left and I drove to the more distant Latourell Falls that required you hike for 1 mile up into the forest. It was worth it because no one else was there and I could stand underneath and be bathed by the falls like a water nymph. ( More pictures... )Drove to Eugene to hang out for a few days with my friend Rob who retired at age 35 with his dotcom fortune. Several of the rooms in his 3 bedroom, 3 car garage has be repurposed as a pulp room, a home brewery, and home theater. Had an amazing microbrew sampler at Hop Valley and loved their Natty Red, an old ale. Spent the evening digging through 1000s of pulps and numerous pulp art books while drinking his home brews. Day 12: Had lunch with Rob’s girlfriend and then on to local comic shop and used bookstores (sadly not as good as Powells). Met Alley Valkyrie at Eugene City Brewery which had some amazing Rogue beers like the Mocha Porter and Old Crustacean barley wine on tap. Rob and Alley gave me an education in Eugene politics and the “scenes.” Might consider coming back for the crazy outdoor festival The Oregon Country Fair. Before departing Alley gave me one of her unique felt “Gnomes” which I am sure Anaar will love. Capped the evening at the “Nile” as a counterpoint to my Portland bar visits last Friday (you have to guess what happens at the Nile). Rob served me a few ounces of his “Sammy Claus” high alcohol content, aged x-mas ale and I was out for the count. Day 13: Spent most of the day and evening listening to and copying German and Scandinavian Heavy Metal music from Rob’s vast collection. Did spent an hour at a local comics artist friend’s house Michael T. Gilbert who does a comic called Mr. Monster that I am a big fan of. Oddly he lives on “Onyx Street,” knows David Spurlock (brother of DRGN) from pulp art book publishing and knows Cat Yronwode (Lucky Mojo) from her days as a comics editor. Had more great Thai food and more high octane home brews before calling it a night.  Day 14: Left Eugene with a trunk full of great beers and headed down hw 5 to haul ass home to spend my Freya day with my lovely wife Anaar. Driving through Medford there was heavy smoke from a forest fire which was clogging my lungs so did not stop for gas or lunch but blazed on to Yreka. Hope the Medford folks are dealing with it OK. Got home by 7 PM and had dinner at Anaar’s favorite old time restaurant Dino’s. Then cuddled with the wife whom I had not seen in 3 weeks because she had been in Germany well before I left on my road trip. “Last stop” on my tour is Web of Wyrd on Sunday (Today!). </div> | | Saturday, September 26th, 2009 | | 4:32 pm |
Onyx Northwest Tour Days 6-9
Day 6: Got to Medford and stayed with Puck and Emily’s family for a couple of nights. Thursday morning went to The Rogue Creamery to buy delicious beer flavored cheeses like Stout Cheddar and Rogue Brews, then drove to Crater Lake for a bike ride a quarter of the way around Rim Road, the rim of the Crater Lake volcano. Park Ranger offered without any suggestions to take a photo then warned me that by wearing all black that I might blend in to the asphalt and be killed by Winebago-driving tourists. Also drove to see The Pinnacles a volcanic formation that look like faerie castles. On the way back stopped at Rogue River Gorge overlook and walked around the white water falls. Drove to nearby “Natural Bridge” and jumped the kiddy fence so I could actually walk over the natural bridge. Made it back to Medford to have dinner with Puck and Emily’s family and discussed Yurts and scented oils as “bottoms.” Puck never misses an opportunity for snark ;).
 ( At least look at the Photos :^) ) | | Friday, September 18th, 2009 | | 12:09 am |
| | Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 | | 9:55 am |
Onyx Tour Day 3 and 4
Onyx Tour Day 3: Drove past the Mendocino Brew company pub in Hopland but is was not yet open for the day :( Got to Avenue of the Giants and drove thru a Redwood (what the hay) . Humboldt Redwoods Founders Grove was amazing. Nice hike surrounded by ancient trees, not too bad. Beer sampler at Eel River Brew was good. Picked up some Barley Wine to age at home. Ferndale was nice but got lost and ended up at Lost Coast Overlook (appropriately) . Walked down to the beach through a thistle field (ouch) and played a bit before noticing the lovely riptides (ouch again). ( more ouches ahead? ) | | Sunday, September 13th, 2009 | | 11:17 pm |
Updated Road Trip info
Mon. Sept 14: Arcata, CA and Humboldt Redwoods Park via Fort Bragg and Ferndale Tue. Sept 15: Crescent City, CA and Redwood National Forest (Mt. biking to Fern Canyon) Wed. Sept 16: Medford, OR, via Cave Junction and cave visit Thur. Sept 17: Medford, OR, Ashland, Rogue River, etc Fri. Sept 18: Portland, OR, Bachelor Party Sat. Sept 19: Portland, OR, Homebrew tasting Sun. Sept 20: Portland, OR, McMenamins-Edgefield Mon. Sept 21: Day hike, Columbia Gorge, OR Mon. Sept 21: Evening, Seattle, WA, special one night only engagement with friends Tue-Thur. Sept 22-24: Eugene, OR, Doomed Planet Records, home brews, Metal, Pulps, and Mythos jam session Fri.-Sat. Sept. 25-26: Hayward, CA, Onyx and Anaar reunion Sun. Sept. 27: Walnut Creek, CA, Web of Wyrd, a Gotha event (www.anaar.info/events.html) | | 9:00 pm |
Onyx Tour Day 2
Delivered the statue for the Star Goddess Shrine to Stone City during one of their work parties. Set Her up in a temporary spot near the Labyrinth because I want the Shrine to be close to the Labyrinth. Scoped out places to build the Shrine and then joined the work party. I cleared Bush (I mean brush) and helped assemble a gazebo-type roof for one of the hot tubs. Tired now, but the real driving starts tomorrow. On the drive back from Stone City at dusk I saw 2 stags and 1 doe ( and did not run over any). I also saw this giant black spider crossing the road that looked as big as a crab and seemed to move like a crab...wtf?  | | 8:40 pm |
Onyx Tour Day 1
The Killers with New York Dolls was amazing. I have not been to a "stadium" show in over 10 years and it was "Shoreline" then as well. Music was great, lightshow and pyrotechnics was cool. Most shows I go to now are smaller venues where that is not possible and most bands I will see don't do it anymore anyway. Good beer is sold "on the lawn" now so thats cool. Lots of teenagers gave it a good energy. | | Sunday, September 6th, 2009 | | 1:10 pm |
Onyx: The Northwest Tour 2009
Sat. Sept 12: Mountain View, CA, Shoreline Amphitheater, audience member for The Killers Sun. Sept 13: Stone City, CA, work party and Goddess statue delivery Mon. Sept 14: Arcata, CA and Humboldt Redwoods Park via Fort Bragg and other microbrew stops Tue. Sept 15: Crescent City, CA and Redwood National Forest Wed. Sept 16: Medford, OR, via Cave Junction and cave visit Thur. Sept 17: Medford, OR, Ashland, Rogue River, etc Fri. Sept 18: Seattle, WA, special one night only engagement with friends Sat. Sept 19: Portland, OR Sun. Sept 20: Portland, OR, McMenamins-Edgefield Mon. Sept 21: Columbia Gorge, OR Tue-Thur. Sept 22-24: Eugene, OR, Doomed Planet Records, home brews, Metal, Pulps, and Mythos jam session Fri.-Sat. Sept. 25-26: Hayward, CA, Onyx and Anaar reunion Sun. Sept. 27: Walnut Creek, CA, Web of Wyrd, a Gotha event (www.anaar.info/events.html) y'all let me know if you live near these stops and want to try to meet up.... Current Mood:  mischievous | | Sunday, August 23rd, 2009 | | 11:41 am |
Happy Birthday Anaar!!
Got her the iPhone for her early birthday present a few weeks ago then spent most of Saturday on the phone to tech support at ATT about DSL and Belkin about the router in order to set up her Apple mail and then sync it with her iPlague. Tech support was frustrating (Language barrier and ignorance of Macs) and a huge time suck but I did it as another birthday present for her. Now she is fully assimilated into the Apple Borg hive. Today I am off to shop for a Black Forest cake cause I didn't have time to make it from scratch. Current Mood: In Love With My Wife | | Thursday, August 13th, 2009 | | 1:50 pm |
| | Tuesday, July 21st, 2009 | | 7:47 am |
Happy Birthday Puck!!
Happy 7-21 day ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) puckdecoyote from your friend the 1-27. Sadly we will be celebrating your farewell as well as your birthday. But don't worry you are still in my lattice-of-coincidence ;) -Onyx | | Saturday, July 4th, 2009 | | 12:45 pm |
| | Thursday, June 25th, 2009 | | 9:41 pm |
Biotech Drugs Need Only 7 Years Protection, U.S. Says
-----Biologic drugs should be subject to generic competition in the U.S. after seven years, the Obama administration said, calling it a “generous compromise.”---- This "compromise" may be appropriate to Roche, Genentech, and Amgen but this will kill inovation in small biotech. Maybe I am in the wrong business..... Current Mood: confounded | | Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 | | 8:52 pm |
Three 's a charm
Years that is. Its been 3 years today since I had 3 cervical vertebrae fused with donor bone and a metal plate. Its only just recently that I could stop the vicodin and can work out extensively in the gym (may have something to do with how well I feel). I am glad I had the surgery and grateful to be this well even if its never going be the flexible neck I once had. Its an odd time for anniversaries. 10 years at the same biotech company. 20 years since tanks rolled into that square in China. Current Mood:  optimistic |
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