Travel preparations for TrotCon and BronyCon made at last.
An on-going part of the preparations is reminding my manager and coworkers that I'll be completely unavailable on those days. I mean it. Yes, really, really unavailable.
Thanks to the family vacation and these outings, my coworkers will need to cover for all the "big push" deployments this summer. I still expect calls.
I took the first vacation day of the year and hit up three Toys-R-Us locations on the first day of the liquidation.
Discounts were and continue to be slim. Best bargain so far: Star Trek TOS and NG Kawaii Cubes. They started at 79¢ and are down to 39¢. Only Uhuras and Orion Girls were left on the last visit: sexism or racism? Anyway, I bought the entire stock of eight and have given away six.
I am unable to pass up bargain ponies.
Every Monday night at "Savers" is a 50% off sale. In non-pony merchandise, I got a purple dress shirt for a few dollars and an awesome $5 coffee maker that took two hours to clean.
I've also brought home bait like this...
...which didn't clean up half bad, if you exclude her pink hooves.
As the stain won't come out with anything I've tried, sun fading is up next, if it would stop !@#!ing raining around here.
G3.5 Pinkie gets gets a spa day under a desk lamp.
Goodwill ponies are few but my wife grabs them when she sees them, regardless of generation. So far, not a single G1 for me to brag about on MLP Arena.
Pretty good for a first try, but I still need practice.
Savers provides a record haul.
That's a whopping $9.50 worth a ponies there. I'd no idea what I was buying. When I posted on MLP Arena, somebody was super excited to see I found a G3 Stylin' Rarity. Oh. So that's who that was.
One of the fashion Pinkies is destine to go to Miss K, but I want to do her hair first—the pony's that is.
And back to TRU for the Nth time.
Probably $3-4k of stock piled in the middle of that aisle. The "Mare-Y Go-Round," I think, is a terrible toy at a terrible price: $40 full retail for a pair of figures? They have tinsel in their hair, sure...
However, it's a TRU exclusive and Rarity is one of the figures, so when the price drops below $10—sigh—I'll have to buy one. Or maybe two or three.
One afternoon, I served as a heating pad for this very tiny guest.
"Ninja" is a lumber yard foundling who spent a few hours with us while his owners were wrapping up the school year. I forgot these came in such a small size. Couldn't even stand or walk around; moved in slow motion. He's grown up in the past weeks and has become a normal hellion of a kitten.
My first full month with Apple's watch helped me get in better cardiovascular shape, but I didn't loose weight.
I'm still up about twenty pounds and two waist sizes from my best. My goal fades in the distance, but we'll see what we can do for BronyCon so I can squeeze into decent clothes for the Gala. Perhaps I can pick up a single-use outfit at Savers so I won't feel too bad when I can't fit into it by October.
Apple tracks my senile wanderings around the house.
The automatic stop for workouts in iOS 12 will be appreciated.
Getting cards in order for TrotCon.
Target got me started with their stupid $3 Rainbow Dash tins, so I collect now I guess. Anyway, I promised Miss K we'd have a card trading session. That way maybe her father and I can keep her from spending an inordinate amount of her savings adding duplicates to her collection.
Don't worry vendors: I assure you she won't be going home with a dime.
On this visit, TRU shelves start to empty.
I found this difficult to believe, as they really didn't lower prices. Must have been good enough for someone, because they are barer now.
Somebody gives a damn!
This came after spending ninety minutes in a screen share going over how to use various browser's debug tools to determine a CSP issue. The problem only manifested itself in Chrome because why should there be any consistency in the world of security?
And since your mentioned ponies...
It is getting to the point where everybody at work knows about me and ponies, well, to some degree. When I first started back in 2012, I lived in fear. No, really. I thought they might use it as an excuse to fire me.
World's changed a bit.
Disaster strikes!
Well, not that bad, but the once-expensive monitor I purchased to make YouTube videos—yes, about pony toys... why'd you ask?—developed a flaw. It is supposed to be fixable, a mechanical issue, but I found the line too distracting to work with (work-work that is, not pony-work) and ordered a replacement.
Rarity looks very small on a 4k display.
The five year old monitor this replaced was "only" 2560x1440. The improvements are nuts and the prices nuttier, lower actually, but I'll still try to fix the old one so it can replace a 24 inch 1080 from VL&E. They go all out for us.
Hey! Look! Writing stuff finally!
They had a sale. Shocked? I've updated to Scrivener 3 and am checking what's new before I move over Hippogriff. Scrivener 2's still installed in case I run into issues.
What-a-mess!
Emblematic of my life: a heap of half-finished projects, stacks of obsolete and broken items. We'll keep chugging along anyway.
Who knows. I might have that cleaned up by New Year's day. Might.
Hope to see many of you at July's conventions! As always, thanks for reading. — OGM
Yay! If you pick up an extra Rarity, I'd enjoy having her. Looks like you've been busy! Is Miss K going to be at TrotCon or BronyCon? It'll great to see you again, my friend!
If you pick up an extra Rarity, I'd enjoy having her.
Explain this unfathomable concept called "extra Rarity"...
If you look at the final picture, just to the right of Twilight's big bum, you'll see a Ty Rarity sitting there. TBH, she's a basket case: ink stains and gum in her hair and all. Musta been a rough party, but I could not leave her suffocating in that bag as she hung on the wall. Couldn't.
We'll see what we can do to make her special again, eh?
Is Miss K going to be at TrotCon or BronyCon?
She and her Dad are coming to TrotCon on Friday, likely late. Like me, they are just hours away, but she'll just be finishing up camp that day.
It'll great to see you again, my friend!
Looks like a lot of familiar faces won't be there, so you and I will have to hold down the fort.
Yay! If you pick up an extra Rarity, I'd enjoy having her.
Looks like you've been busy! Is Miss K going to be at TrotCon or BronyCon?
It'll great to see you again, my friend!
4890561
Explain this unfathomable concept called "extra Rarity"...
If you look at the final picture, just to the right of Twilight's big bum, you'll see a Ty Rarity sitting there. TBH, she's a basket case: ink stains and gum in her hair and all. Musta been a rough party, but I could not leave her suffocating in that bag as she hung on the wall. Couldn't.
We'll see what we can do to make her special again, eh?
She and her Dad are coming to TrotCon on Friday, likely late. Like me, they are just hours away, but she'll just be finishing up camp that day.
Looks like a lot of familiar faces won't be there, so you and I will have to hold down the fort.