The Ramblings of a Great Dane...

Don de Dieu triple wheat ale to be precise. It was sooo good. I want to point you frist to duncandahusky's LJ since he did a wonderful write up of the night's events. [LINK] I want to thank you all for letting this pup know of the beer tasting. It was so nice to see you all and really hang out away from a con or other major event. I really am looking forward to getting to know you all even more. I am happy to tozier_wah and little_wolf in WI. IL's loss but a great gain for us. :)

I headed to Grand Rapids MI this weekend to see ryanab, a long time friend of mine. We had a good time hanging out, had some good food at a local pub and I have to say the food was great. The major issue i had was the drive there, it was long and there was a major storm front going though at the same time. I had to slow down to a crawl more then once just to see the road. The return trip was not as bad and was able to keep the speed up all the way until Chicago. I hung out with two friends cyan_icewolf and babysprout. It was a good break from the drive and was nice to unwind chatting w/ them. I then drove the the burbs and had dinner with dexcat, invncble, justincheetah, and calapurr. We went out to an amazing resturant that had a beer list that was 2 pages... mmmmmm and had a good meal and chatted up a storm. I then headed out for my 3.5 hour part two of the drive... I called up a few more friends and had a nice long talk with jaeger_fuchs who was on a long drive home himself, so we keep each other awake and company.

I have made one decision, I will be taking Amtrak if I go back to Ann Arbor or Detroit. (unless i can get a cheap flight). Gas cost me about $75, food/munchies was $20, tolls where $ *shrug* (don't know will have to check but at least $10). So about $100 there about not to mentions miles on the car that has 104k now. I priced out the train ticket at $100... bit longer time wise but man I really think it is worth it.

Thanks to everyone for making it a great weekend!

I just got a call from Camera Corner (my local vender for network/server stuff for work and who I buy personal camera equipment though). I had sent my Canon 100-400mm lens in for cleaning since after 5 years of work some dust got inside of it. So in it went for cleaning before the air show season starts up. I was told that it should run at most $150 for the cleaning and re-calibration (since it is fully disassembled to clean). I was shocked to day to get the call back saying they found a problem with the electronics and now it will be about $310 to clean, repair and re-calibrate. The person at Camera Corner did not know what electronics where being replaced by Canon, I just hope it fixes the problem I had with my Canon 10D crashing when using that lens, though it works fine on my Canon 40D. I guess I now know where the $ from Uncle Sam is going...

My Personality

Neuroticism	33
Extraversion	43
Openness to Experience	20
Agreeableness	80
Conscientiousness	71

You rarely get angry and it takes a lot to make you angry, however you are not generally self conscious about yourself. You get overwhelmed by too much noise and commotion and do not like thrill-seeking activities. You are not interested in the arts and do not display aesthetic sensitivity. You find helping other people genuinely rewarding and are generally willing to assist those who are in need. You find that doing things for others is a form of self-fulfillment rather than self-sacrifice, however you are willing to take credit for good things that you do but you don't often talk yourself up much. You take your time when making decisions and will deliberate on all the possible consequences and alternatives.

Take a Personality Test now or view the full Personality Report. The best ugg Boots.

Found a few things not 100% accurate but over all ok. "however you are not generally self conscious about yourself..." i dont dress up or do the suit/tie thing. but I do worry that i am not cute and that... so read into that what you may. "You are not interested in the arts and do not display aesthetic sensitivity." Ok i dont go to plays and have had more then a few corners removed from my gay card because of lack of art appreciation, how ever I did really enjoy the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and a take allot of photos... As for the new experiences... again not 100% since i have had a ton of new experiences in the last 6 months and been beyond excited about them... but i am a home body lol... i am a contradiction i guess :P

So FCN... Got to see and meet some amazing furs. Drank some good beer, though one was a bit bitter for my normal fair. Got to drive fast in Nbowa's car... And realized there are still sucky hotels out there. That was the only downfall for me this con. The hotel... how can it be put, it was hot, humid, bad beds, bad plumbing, bad AC and apathetic staff, though they where alway friendly to me. So now that you got the $.05 tour take a look at my photos i took there. FCN 2008 If you find one you dont want online let me know.

Some of my Favs in no particular order.

Damaron
Perro about to get it
A gay Cyan
My fav fox trying to be scarry
Fav Fire Firghter
Perro and Jaeger hugs
An otter playing with a ballon (was so much fun to watch)
Damaron murrr (from photo shoot)
Damaron (from photo shoot)
Damaron (from photo shoot)
Damaron (from photo shoot)
Light up tail!! NEET
You sure your hand belongs there Damaron?

Well I hope you like!

Jet Der Hundephotograph

I was informed last night about an accident my friend had. His car was t-boned by a drunk driver doing about 50MPH, the guy blew a .263. [Image] As you can see his car it totaled, luckily he escaped with his life though is injured with bruised ribs, a broken shoulder and lacerations. The major issue is the shoulder, this puts him out of work for now since he is a video camera man and can't carry the cam. So this leaves me all kinds of pissed off.

How many years have people been preaching the dangers of this? Well for my family it started a bit over 25 years ago when my aunt was killed by a drunk driver, he got a reckless driving ticket a broken jaw (from the crash) and walked away. Grandma co-founded the local MADD chapter and it has been a family campaign ever since. Does that stop me from having a beer and driving home, no. Should it sure, but i figure 1-2 beers over 2-3 hours w/ musnchies (i always eat and drink)... not a big deal. I would not be blowing a .263 and doing 50 in a city. If you are going to drink more then one... don't drive. Call a cab, get on a train, bus, etc. or have a friend drive. Don't be a douche bag, think you are OK and drive home. You will end up some time w/ your car meeting a tree, bridge, ditch or worse another car. So what does this looser who hit my friend get: DUI w/ injury so = to 2nd DUI and mandatory jail, various traffic violations, civil suits and a fucked car. So you are out... a car, lots of $$$ , maybe your job, and oh you get to see the inside of a cell... nice. Asshole...

Well back from FCN and had a 13.5 hour work day... O_O that was nice... ugh...
So lets see..

Thursday I went down to Chicago land and stayed with perro and darkwolph and their pup Chaos. I want to thank you all so much, it really means allot to me that you put me up with so little notice and dealing w/ me leaving my car & Chaos rocks. I have never seen such a vocal dog hehe and such a mean dog too ;-). We went out to dinner with justincheetah and calapurr. I had a great time and really enjoyed meeting them. :-) Martini night @ Anyway's Pub was good times.

FCN: nbowa and tzup picked me up at perro and darkwolph's place and we headed out to FCN. After seeing some amazing pot holes (there where some that can eat cars for lunch in Chicago) zup proved that nbowa's car can do well over 100PMH ;-) zoooom. Arrived at the hotel, checked in found tiger_sammy *HUGE HUG* (our room mate for the con), I found the toilet plugged up in the room... 2 calls and 2 hours later it was unplugged... I also noticed that I was very warm in the main hotel... Now for those of you who dont know, I am always cold so this tells you how warm and humid it was. woodychitwn i think put it best when he said "Well, I don't think I've ever stayed in such a cheap hotel.  I was physically uncomfortable for the entire stay.  The rooms looked nice, but the beds and pillows were uncomfortable, the AC barely worked..." Woody It was great to meet that crazy guy :)

I really want to thank Perro for introducing me to the Chicago crew and to duncandahusky for the party invite. I had a great time and really got to get to unwind and get to know so many great people. I will be coming to Chi more for sure!

A special *HUG* to mikeyhusky a new and young fur/pilot who was basically our 5th roommate lol, look forward to talking with you more (fur and airplane talk... not much better). A very special *HUG* to damaron. I had such fun hanging out with you, you are one special guy.

Ok, it is 12:20am... I had a LONG day at work and still am short on sleep so bed for now.

Thanks again to EVERYONE. I really appreciated everything.

I will be headed to Furry Connection North this coming Friday. To say I am excited is an understatement. I will be rooming with some great friends (nbowa, tzup, tiger_sammy) and I will be looking forward to seeing a bunch of others ( perro *licks*, 2_gryphon, jaeger_fuchs, etc.) Looking forward to sampling the local micro brew that girtygrin mentioned in a pervious comment to one of my posts.

The one major bummer... I will be missing BattleStar :-( I mean I will Tivo it... but I will have to wait until Monday! Ugh. oh well... Unless the hotel has high enough speed internet to let me stream it... Wait... ya that is not going to happen... furs = not enough bandwidth. Just like at IML, MIR, FC, etc.... chance of getting a good connection... well at WWDC there was... *shrug* we will see but I am not counting on it.

Well I am sure looking at having a good time, next will be a trip back to MI to see ryanab who i am years over due in seeing. I feel bad about that and I miss him al;ot... but I am 100% sure we will have a great weekend. Then IML and the Janesville air show (grrss at the conflict). I am really looking forward to IML this year as well. I have some great new roommates so it will be cool to see them again.

What can I say, I want to know "What the frak is going on." I am very excited about this 4th and final season of BattleStar Galactica. This has far become my fav TV show currnely on, and yes I will be very sad to see it go, as I was with The Sapranos. So if you want to know where the frack I will be at 9PM Centeral... I will give you one guess ;-) I will be trying to figure out "What the frak is going on."

Well it is spring, or so they say. You cant really tell by looking at the still large piles of snow next to my car. And with spring comes air shows and travel. This winter I have done more traveling then normal, but when May and June get here it will be busy time again. So here goes the quick rundown of where I will be headed this spring/summer so far.

April:
FCN 11-14th
Ann Arbor, MI 25-27th to see a long time great friend.

May:
IML 23-26th
Southern Wisconsin AirFEST 24-25th (note a scheduling conflict... grrrs)

June:
Thunder on the Lakeshore 7-8th
Apple's WWDC 9-13th (tentative need management approval) I so want to go back to San Fan
AnthroCon 26-29th

July
Milwaukee Air Expo 12-13th (if it happens)
EAA AirVenture 28th-Aug 3rd (Biggest/best air show in the world and can't wait for my friends to come on up for the show)

Now this does not include weekend trips to Chicago, Madison, the family cottage or else where. Or times my friends come to visit me :)

(edit: forgot a few so added them)

So what's next... Heading to Furry Connection North, i really cant wait for that. This is shaping up to be a fun new con. I have never been to one of the smaller cons so that should be cool really having time to get to know people. Plus hey they have beer for sponsor... cant go wrong with that... oh wait... you can... cheap beer.. ugh. Have to remember to bring good Wisconsin beer...

I also have been setting up hotel room for IML so that is all good. Also booked my flight to AC so I will be at yet one more fur con lol...

AC will be my 5th fur con in < one calendar year. Is that too much? I don't think so, though my checking account might disagree. But I figure with how costly flying is getting and how much it will go up over the next year I should get to as many cons this year as I could and really get the feel of their character. At least MFF and FCN are with in driving distance. Oh that reminds me, I have already booked a hotel room for MFF... have to go back for my 1st anniversary lol

Also as you can tell I have a new avatar now. This is my first bit of furry art. I want to thank ivybeth (FA) so much for it. She was very good to work with and get a recommendation.

Eliot Spitzer Night!

Hey all you baseball fans! Saw this on Countdown tonight.

March 12, 2008 - (Macon, GA) The Macon Music announced today that the team will host “Eliot Spitzer” Night on Friday, June 13th 2008 when the Music play host to the Aiken Foxhounds.

During “Eliot Spitzer” Night, the following elements will exist:

1. The Music have extended an invitation for former New York Governor Spitzer to be on hand and throw out the first pitch
2. The team will give away a New York Vacation including a one night stay at the MayFlower Hotel
3. Client #9 (or fan #9) will receive a free Music prize pack
4. Any fan with the name Eliot, Spitzer, or “Kristen” along with any fan from New York will receive $1 off admission
5. The Music will play Frank Sinatra music throughout the evening in honor of New York
6. Wire Taps will be placed throughout the ballpark this evening
7. ATMs will be available for cash withdrawals not to exceed $5,000 per hour
8. Any fan who has resigned their position will be given $1 off admission
9. The 871 fan will receive a gift certificate for the Macon Music Team store.


HOW GREAT IS THAT!
I could not stop laughing! Now that is good marketing.

Post MFF then came some thinking: what is it that i like about this, what do I want to do think about and want to take part in the furry fandom, and so on. I realized how much I enjoyed my friends both new and old. So after some thinking and some over thinking (shocking for those of you who know me) and after talking with one dear foxy friend jaeger_fuchs and my other dear friend rubberwoof I decided to go to FC. Being a week after MAL I hoped to continue the fun. Well i got sick right after MAL, figured con crud but it turned out to be something worse, or a relapse of what i had in Oct/Nov.

FC was great fun but could be summed up in one word... sick. I was so sick and really looking back at it I should not have gone. Live and learn. I did get the time I wanted with my friend rubberwoof who I had not seen in about 2 years... I cant be apart from that pup for that long again. Got a nice tour of Google and got to shop at Mr S w/ some great guys :) . I really did get to meet some more great furs (theome (i very much wanted to meet this pup), Lycraducttape, Cyan Leopard, Panda, Kellogg, MindDrive, and a bunch of others). I did get to see some of the furs from MFF I wanted to but w/ being sick I did not get to be as social as I hoped/wanted. So that is why FCA was next.

I was talking w/ kuddlepup and he mentioned due to various reasons his roommates could not attend. So like the good pup I am I said let me see if I can make it down... well sure enough NorthWest Airlines had one heck of a deal on a flight. 30 min later not only was KP's roommate issue solved but I was off to my 3rd con ever! What a great time FWA was. Only wish I had been smart enough to remember my camera grrrr. I even bought some new flash diffuser for my cam... oh well... I also did not get out to dance at FWA, at FC i was too sick, but at MFF I had good times on the floor, though I am proof that many white men have no ability to dance :P I am envious of those who have the ability. Via KP I got to meet some great furs (2_gryphon, unclekage, kokoes12, eagle_beagle, yappyfox, electropaw, uggh so many others) And the furs via Nbowa I got to meet ozkangaroo, and tzup! There are a good # of others but my mind is sooo confused w/ out photos to refresh it hehe. Sorry please let me know :)

Anyway... I had a great time a FC and FWA. There that should about catch you all up. Off to FCN next :)

woof

Jet

One thing I have learned is that I am still shy. When I am in a strange place with new people I get quiet. This was most true when it came to wanting to meet nitropup, his invncble, and their friend horny_oryx. Being so new to the event I was simply in information over load and I could not figure out away to talk w/ these wonderful guys for more then a few min here and there.

People like these and the friends mentioned in the previous journal are one of the main reasons i got sucked into the fandom. I have made such great friends at MFF and short time since then. I have also found myself being far more open then I have in years past when it comes to meeting new people at these events compared to other events i have attended.

Woof
Jet

The quick jaunt down furry lane.

I have a few people to blame for this... but mostly jaeger_fuchs. I want to thank him most of all for helping me open my eyes to who Jet really is. I also want to say :-P for causing me to spend all this money lol. It started this past year at MFF since it was local and I had two other really wonderful friends already going to the con (felixkatz and cyan_icewolf). So why not i figured, lets see what this furry thing is all about. I already know that there was this pup side to me and that “furry” style art appeals to something inside.

MFF:
There was something about it, something that called to me. I happened to have some wonderful roommates in Jaeger_Fuchs, tig_wolf, and terkwolf. They really helped this lost and confused pup and did not mind him asking the 101 questions about everything. From this event it was clear, the furry side of me was well panted, just a bit late to bloom (like a few other things in life for me). I was able to take some good photos of some amazing fur suits. Really feel in love w/ some suits from scribble_fox, latinvixen02 and others. I was able to get to know some great people as well, this by far was the highlight of the event. I happened to be w/ a mostly fur suit crowd, and i was simply blown away on how nice the vast majority where to this first timer. From this great group I have gained a good number of really wonderful friends that I would never have had with out this event. To you (Jaeger_Fuchs, Tig_Wolf, Terkwolf, kuddlepup, FelixKatz, tiger_sammy, nbowa and all the rest who i don't know if you have a LJ account yet) I thank you for everything you have taught and shown me.

woof
Jet