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Sumiki

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Blog Entries posted by Sumiki

  2. Sumiki
    SUNDAY, AUGUST 3RD, AROUND 2:00 PM: BE THERE AT THE BIONICLE TABLE TO WITNESS THE 2014 HATPIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILE.
     
    SUMIKI AND CO. ATTEMPT TO BREAK THE WORLD RECORD FOR SIMULTANEOUS HATS ON A SINGLE HEAD.
     
    IF YOU'RE THERE ...
     
    BRING HATS.
  3. Sumiki

    ...

    By Sumiki,

    So here's what happened:
     
    I was sitting at my TV, watching some cartoons, when all of the sudden Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, and all of those other dudes came rushing at me. Needless to say, I tried to get away from them, as they looked like zombies. Bugs caught me and threw me into a closet and commandeered my account for a while. Recently, I was able to escape and turn everything back to normal.
     
    EDITBUMP: Good, I didn't miss the promotions.
     
    Kex: We'll miss ya.
    Iruini Nuva: That one's a shock. I haven't seen him online in a long time.
    Spink: Long overdue, man.
    Makaru: We'll miss you too.
    Darth Vader: No surprises there.
    Nukaya Cloud Fire: Wow. I don't think I can take such a long name in that green shade.
    Senjo: Great writing skills = good reporter.
     
    The only one that was predicted was DV, by the members in my "Admin for a Day" blog series. Zeddy would be FL and Velox and I would be FAs if it'd been up to them, though, so maybe it's for the best.
  4. Sumiki

    'murrica

    By Sumiki,

    For the past few years, my sole request for this holiday is to experience one where the floor doesn't vibrate from nearby fireworks.
     
    I doubt I'll ever experience that.
  5. Sumiki

    "Ċool Dude"

    By Sumiki,

    You know, I have noticed an issue in the forum software, and it has to do with the word filter. Don't get me wrong, I like the filter, it keeps bad, bad things from coming to BZP, but the word that changes to "Cool Dude" in the filter simply has got to go. I have four reasons why:
     
    1. It's designed so people don't get their feelings hurt by having someone call them that, but in reality, it's extremely rare for a person to be called that.
    2. There are plenty of other synonyms that are just as bad: "Moron", "Nincompoop", "Nitwit", "Dunderwhelp", "Gongoozler", "Micrencephalus", or "Gink".
    3. Everyone knows that "Cool Dude" is just the filter. (Comparison: a cool dude [non-filter] vs. an cool dude [filter].)
    4. Every BZP member knows what it means and have heard it in the real world before, undoubtedly countless times.
     
    In my opinion, and based on the reasons above, I suggest that the administration remove the "cool dude" filter, and punish members when they insult other members or set designers, and not when they use that word to describe themselves. What's so bad about saying that you're a "cool dude"?
     
    -=< >=-
  6. Sumiki
    So I just sent a PM out, and I see the screen that says "Your message has been sent, they will now be informed that they have a new message". But I realized that it shouldn't be "they", usually only one person has an account and doesn't share it. Plus we don't have a group PM function in BZP. So why does this exist?
     
    -=< >=-
  8. Sumiki

    (Hot) Brown and Out

    By Sumiki,

    We awoke this morning to the promise of a Hot Brown from the Brown Hotel. It was a little past 8:00 when we began getting ready, and we ended up getting there well before ten. The opulent hotel, which dates from the 1920s, remains the capital of swank in the downtown Louisville area despite the miserable decline of the surrounding neighborhood.
     
    The Hot Brown: juicy slices of turkey breast covered in succulent mornay sauce and topped with bacon and tomato slices, all held up by an absorbent bread—ostensibly an open-faced sandwich, but it would remain much too sloppy to try and eat should one put another slice of bread on the top.
     
    We did not get the original original Hot Brown. It was on the menu, but we opted for the buffet, where there was the promise of endless Hot Brown in the form of the Hot Brown casserole, a huge metal dish full of Hot Brown goodness. (The only difference was that there were bacon bits on the casserole whereas the original had strips.)
     
    The richness of our relatively small plates kept us full across the state of Indiana.
     
    We had to avoid some of the more unsavory parts of the Louisville population to get back down the block, but we did so successfully and loaded up.
     
    Our two options to get to Springfield, Illinois: go along the route we went on during our first trip (albeit in another direction) or add a few minutes to the journey by heading up towards Indianapolis and cutting over from there. We chose the latter for the sake of seeing new things.
     
    Once out of the miserable and accursed state of Kentucky, we entered into the slightly less miserable and accursed state of Indiana, where our gas stop took a little too long for comfort. The 55 MPH zones would encourage the Hoosiers—already going 85 in a 70—to careen around us at an even faster clip. Going anything under fifteen over the limit was suicidal.
     
    We made it to Indianapolis, where we curved around the beltway and briefly got on I-74 before getting off on serene, flat, nearly deserted two-lane country roads, where we went due west through tiny town after tiny town. We passed two Amish buggies and many cows doing the "Yoder Salute" (they all had their butts turned to the road). The only stop we made was near the Illinois border, when we got out at a state historic site dedicated to WWII correspondent Ernie Pyle.
     
    This site has a flagpole, a monument (a replica of the one that stands on the site of his death), and a covered bridge with a warning against running through it. It was a small but touching tribute from the citizens of a small town to their hero.
     
    Throughout this long drive, my mom slept intermittently in the back (sleepily apologizing whenever she woke herself up by snoring), while my dad slowly and slowly got more hyper. He mixed up songs and their words, badly mispronounced any proper noun on the road signs, and spouted non sequiturs in real time as they occurred to him: "there were motorcycles out the wee yang yang yang," and "man, plant, food: think about it" were among the greatest.
     
    The road continued on its course through to Illinois, where our hunger first began to come back. While my dad was itching for a Culver's, an upper Midwest chain that we ate at thrice on our second trip, there were none near enough to the road. I spotted a Freddy's location, which I was only familiar with because one had opened near our house and we'd eaten there while running errands the day before we left. Comparable enough to Culver's to satisfy my dad's irrational craving, their burger patties are very thin and cooked quickly, which slightly chars them on the sides. The fresh toppings and thin-cut fries only make it better, and the chain has a Thousand Island-like dressing known only as "fry sauce."
     
    But what really makes the Culver's comparison apt is their frozen custard, which comes in containers so large that the mini size is almost too big to hold with one hand, and the serving size fills the cup to the point that sticking a spoon in it sends melted custard dripping out of the sides. My mom had the turtle while my dad and I stuck to what we loved when we'd tried it at home: a scoop covered in crumbled Reese's cups, banana slices, and about as much whipped cream as frozen custard.
     
    This being on the outskirts of Springfield, we made it to our hotel in about ten minutes. Soon after arriving, my dad and I escaped the confines of the room and went out to explore the town.
     
    Springfield is very clean and almost totally deserted this time of day—surprising for a state capital. The warm summer air was pleasant with the wind from the northern storms keeping the humidity from stagnating. We walked down to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. These twin buildings were closed for the day, but we wanted to get a lay of the land before going there tomorrow.
     
    We talked for a while to a security guard at the museum about the history of the buildings in the area and of modern-day Springfield. He approved of where we plan to eat tomorrow and told us about both the old train station across the street and the place along old Route 66 that claims the corn dog as its invention.
     
    We worked our way around the old capitol building and read various signs about Lincoln's time in Springfield. Many government offices are scattered in small office spaces between storefronts downtown, which gives you a sense of being in the capitol as opposed to just being in the same city as the capitol.
     
    Tomorrow: the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, a local diner, and then on through Peoria to Iowa.
  11. Sumiki

    100% Paradox

    By Sumiki,

    I can't think of anything to blog about so I'll make a blog entry about it.
     
    If I make an entry about it, I can think of something to blog about.
     
    Therefore, by not having anything to blog about, I've found something to blog about.
  13. Sumiki
    We got on the road a little before noon after sleeping in a little bit. Leaving Fredericton was much easier than getting in - just a few merges and we were on the Trans-Canada Highway, first westbound and then northbound to Québec.
     
    We crossed many small brooks and paralleled the St. John River all the way up. We were never more than a few miles from the border with Maine, and made excellent time up the highway.
     
    We pulled into a gas station in Woodstock, which was, to our surprise, full-service. We got some drinks and snacks, topped off gas and oil, and - most interestingly - purchased some lobster-flavored potato chips, which were okay. They had a more general fish flavor, which got gross after three bites.
     
    Around 1:30 we saw a female moose on the side of the road. Aside from a few designated areas (so as to not interfere with migration patterns), the major routes through New Brunswick have specialized moose fences that lead them away from the highway if they get on the wrong side. This particular moose was on the other side of the fence, which was a good sign - the fences are doing their job.
     
    Around the Grand Falls area, signs - which are provincially mandated to be bilingual - began featuring French much more prominently, with the French words first and the English words second and usually smaller. We kept on rolling up the road to Edmundston, the only town of any considerable size before the Québec border. There, the French language was everywhere - most places, there was no sign in English.
     
    Though the town was kind of dirty, reminding us of Elko, Nevada - and nothing about the parts of Elko that we saw was redeeming, except the fact that there were roads out - we had to have some lunch, so we got Subway. It was the most mediocre Subway sandwich I've ever eaten, and that's the nicest thing I can say aside from the fact that it didn't make me sick.
     
    A few kilometers up the road and we entered Québec, the ninth province I've ever been in. It was then that the little English that we saw completely ran out, although we've learned enough through our Rosetta Stone lessons and from observing the bilingual signs in New Brunswick to get by.
     
    We stopped in at the welcome center and talked to the young lady at the desk. We tried out our French phrases, finding that we're not nearly as bad as we though we were. Since most everyone has become bilingual, it wasn't that far removed from our experiences in Chéticamp.
     
    It was in Québec that we crossed back over into Eastern Time, gaining an hour by going from 3:00 back to 2:00. The road also got worse, but the ruts and potholes were welcome, and although the brake was neither hot nor odd-smelling any time we checked it, it's still advisable to give them a good jostling every now and then.
     
    In addition to the obligatory Useless Road Work, the roads after the border featured the most absurd hills, wherein the speed limit would switch from 110 km/h to 70 km/h, which is pretty much impossible when you have a car carrying our kind of weight - not to mention our current brake situation. The few policemen we saw didn't seem to care even when Québécois flew past going much faster than us.
     
    A little after 3:00 we passed the village of St-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!, notable for being the only place name in the world to have not one, but two exclamation marks in its name. There are conflicting theories as to how this name came to be, and even the girl at the welcome center admitted to having no idea why the name is like it is.
     
    We got our first glimpse of the St. Lawrence Seaway at around 3:45, turning westbound and paralleling it for the rest of the day as we approached Québec City. The road flattened, although mountains of considerable size were visible on the other side of the St. Lawrence. Most interestingly was the boardwalk between the highway and the Seaway, which saw use mostly from bicyclists.
     
    At 5:30 we crossed over the bridge into Québec City, which was where the fun began. Traffic was backed up coming out of the city for a considerable distance, and we thought that we'd been able to avoid such a rush hour by coming into the city. But we got stuck in traffic, often boxed in by exceptionally tall trucks in front and Québécois who wanted to get to their respective destinations seemingly as much as we did.
     
    The brakes got tested, but they came through as we inched our way through the heart of the congested city to our hotel. Dad wheeled and dealed his way through a snafu at the front desk and entertained the valet drivers outside. The result: two days in the same room at a cheaper price, with access to the executive lounge.
     
    From our perch, we had a view of the Old City - a walled, fort-like, European-esque city that hugged the shore of the St. Lawrence Seaway, often said to be one of the most beautiful cities in North America. The people looked like ants from our altitude, so it was a good overview of the city.
     
    After eating, we walked across the street to the Québec Parliament Building, modeled after the Louvre and extremely intricate and detailed. Statues and gardens abound outside of the building itself, and the statues that could be Yoderized were Yoderized.
     
    We tried our best to avoid the school groups, but there were too many of them, and we kept lagging behind and catching up to a few of them. We walked down into the Old City, passing under the sally port into the heart of Old Québec.
     
    It's basically like walking under a bridge in Canada and coming out in Europe. The difference is striking, as every building is unique, architecturally interesting, and old. Horse-drawn carriages clopped up and down the streets, and everything was just really interesting to look at. Nothing is boring in the Old City.
     
    While somewhat long, it's not a wide city, and we were able to walk from the sally port to an area fairly close to the water in not a long time at all. We passed extraordinarily intricate statues and overly elaborate fountains, but for all its gaudiness, it fits together. It feels like you're actually in France as opposed to Québec.
     
    After scoping out the sites we want to see tomorrow - including a funicular that takes folks right down the steep slope to the waterfront itself for only a nominal fee - we went back up the way we came. It was then that one of the most bizarre things happened: my dad greeted a maître d'hôtel outside a restaurant with a wave and a jovial "bon soir!" only to have her put out her hand out and give him an enthusiastic high-five. With her hand still held out, I received a high-five as well.
     
    I'm still not sure why that happened, but she seemed happy enough, so we just sort of went with it.
     
    We walked around back up to the sally port, only this time we walked up the steps and on top of the walls, which still are traversable around the city. We took the wall around and made it back to the hotel as the sun set, sampling the coffee maker in the lounge. It was good, but mine was quite tart, requiring four sugar packets of reasonable size to make it palatable. We even had an entire conversation in French, asking the friendly fellow who was in charge of closing the lounge down what time breakfast began and ended. It was short and likely not grammatically correct, but it was successful.
     
    Tomorrow: a day on the town, with a thorough tour of Old Québec.
  14. Sumiki

    2009

    By Sumiki,

    I ordered these sets yesterday:
     
    The Glatorian
    The Agori
    Tuma
    Fero and Skirmix
    Straight and + intersection road plates x2
    Big bunch of bricks x2
     
    For the last two items I got about half off, so I got two for the price of one. I also used a $60 gift certificate and shaved an extra $5 off the order by going through Upromise.
     
    :awesome:
     
    -=< >=-
  19. Sumiki
    We're taking our time going up to BrickFair this year, getting there in two days instead of one. We're just about to head out the door towards Richmond.
     
    I'm pumped!
     
    And I have lots of hats!
     
    This is exciting!
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