If I don't die by Thursday, I'll be roaring Friday night.

It's really easy to have 'one more.'

I love going to social events, and I went to a couple last night. The first was at a hotel where they were teasing with their latest upgrade and the wine flowed freely; then it was off to a Bank, of all places, where the vodka was served on small round platters by friendly people who just want to offer...

Well, anyway, I retrieved my car this morning.

Don't drive drunk!

She passed away today, 'my' Aunt that I never knew, yet was so close to someone so close to me. I should feel sad, and I do.

Yet, when the inevitable happens, the grief and regrets, I will remind (((*))) that it isn't sorrow that person wants to be remembered for. That Aunt wants to be remembered for why you love her, and why her memory will not be forgotten.

A mysterious Mindsayer is hanging out in Santa Barbara...

Wouldn't you like to know...

Nope, not tellin'

nener nenerr nenerr nenrrrrrr.......

It's funny, when you watch a film being made from the outside looking in, nothing is really what it seems. The more you observe the more you realize how much you haven't seen. There's so much preparation that had to have taken place, there are so many personalities involved, and the logistics would frighten a Staff Sargent.

There are moments when you just stop and laugh at the comedy, the hardware failures, the lights that just aren't quite right... the banter, the jokes, and the, "Quiet On The Set!"

You're never too old.



You're never too young



to enjoy the adventure.

What's everyone looking at?



LUNCH!



That is NOT our bedroom!

Mess? What mess? I don't see no stinkin' mess!



Wardrobe call..



WTF is happening around here (Taffy has escaped 3 times so far...)

does it take to get it just right? LOTS!

Never a dull moment around here!

Crew Call 6:00 a.m.



What kitchen table?



Nope, not enough lights - lets blow a circuit!

For the next three days my house will be transformed into a movie set. UCSB film students will start descending at noon today and won't be gone until late Saturday night. It should be interesting to say the least...

And no, I'm not giving away the plot... that wouldn't be fair, but there will be a rather racy bedroom scene; I'll leave that to your imagination.

My first programming course was in 1978 and yes, we used punch cards and a dot matrix printer - I hated it. I tried again in 1980 with a dumb terminal hooked up to a mainframe but still hated it. Went to Japan in 1984 and learned to use a Japanese word processor in Japanese - really hated that. Came back to the US and started using ATs and XTs and portables you pushed around on a coffee cart... no hard drive but hey, I had a 1200 baud modem now, so it wasn't that bad. Moved back to Japan and things started to change just about the time Windows 3.1 and the Internet started to get on mere mortals' radars.

Then many moons ago, half a planet away I got interested in computers again. But it wasn't so much the computer than the computer had become a communications device. I was intrigued by Gopher and BBSs; Netscape hadn't been invented yet, but it was clear the direction things were going.

Spring forward a few years and I was in San Fransisco drinking the dot com kool-aid, and that, of course, led to a trip to nowhere... so there I was, a veteran BBS sys-op, owner of a personal vanity web site, author of on-line textbooks, a burned out shell of a poster from Eminds, Utne and Brainstorms. Where to go next?

Mindsay

That was many years ago, and I'm still posting here. That should speak volumes.

Well, fancy that. Good to see old friends drop by on occasion.

I know the allure of those big-city social networking sites... all glitz, bright lights, glittering eye candy and games to play. Then there's the newest electronic leash that only Data could love but enslaves the masses of thumb sore texters... that's not Mindsay.

Years ago, when this site started, there was a great deal of discussion about what made a 'virtual community' vibrant and thrive. Conversation, respect, tolerance, rules of conduct and yes, controlled conflict. For a while that was happening, but nothing ever stays the same. Technology marches on, new toys are delivered under the tree... people move on.

But as you cyber-walk through amorphous threads of electronic existence, remember the garden where the seeds were sown. And return when you can.

Which one is me?

This was 2 blocks from our house.

Quite the party!

More than 300 arrests were made over the weekend during Isla Vista’s annual Halloween Bacchanalia, Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Drew Sugars said Sunday. Another 700 citations were issued.

Yep, saw a lot of that!

Whoa, last night was wild! I'll post pics later but the streets were transformed into rivers of college-aged, costumed, sexed-up, wild things...

The cops were definitely out to take down anyone who couldn't stand up, but for the most part everyone was really well behaved. I'm sure stories will emerge throughout the day.

We have SEVEN cars in the driveway, three revelers sleeping on the living room floor, one on the couch, and who knows how many behind closed doors. It'll be hours before they start waking up.

How do you cure a hangover?