Two more down for the State Game

Some time ago many of us posted maps created at this site, highlighting the states we had visited according to the rules of the State Game. By virtue of an almost overlooked stop at a parkway service area en route to a Maine vacation in 2006, as well as my business trip last fall to the San Francisco area, I am now pleased to be able to update my map with my 22nd and 23rd visited states, New Jersey and California. For the record, I preferred California.



As you can see, though, that still leaves a huge expanse of gray there in the middle and northwest of the country, as well as six states (and DC) east of the Mississippi. I guess the next time I drive to Maine I'll have to make a detour through Rhode Island just to get rid of that pesky little gray spot so close to my home turf. And maybe I should ask my ex if we ever actually stopped in Georgia on the way to Orlando. I'll bet we did, and he would remember it even if I don't. (He would probably even remember the name of the rest area and whether it was on the northbound or southbound route.) Heck, maybe we even stopped in Tennessee.

There's even a passing chance that I might eventually get to DC on business, finally getting past the "airports don't count" rule (I've passed through both Washington National and Dulles); as an employee of a government contractor, I work at a client site in Hampton Roads, but the parent agency is headquartered in DC... and there's been talk of me doing a training session on our software at HQ. We shall see.

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Ayuh.

This quiz (thanks to Jason for the link) nailed my accent perfectly. Uncanny, when you consider that I wasn't even totally sure on some of the questions whether I pronounced them the same or differently.

What American accent do you have?
Created by Xavier on Memegen.net

Eastern New England. Whether or not you pronounce r's, you have the sound of Boston, New Hampshire, and Maine about you.

Take this quiz now - it's easy!

We're going to start with "cot" and "caught." When you say those words do they sound the same or different?

Same, no wait I mean different, maybe, a little bit different... Same Different

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Ten more things you may not know about me

Now that everyone knows those other ten things that you didn't used to know about me, how about ten more?

1. I was the oldest non-swimmer at Girl Scout camp two years in a row.
2. My shortest-term paying job was a one-day temp gig taking inventory at a Hill's in State College, PA.
3. I failed badminton in college.
   
4. On my first "real" (post-college) job, I wore a hard hat and steel-toed work boots -- in the days when, to all intents and purposes, steel-toed boots for women did not exist -- and cleaned fuel oil out of glassware with benzene. Outside of the fume hood. Because it was such a messy process and we didn't want to muck up the hood with Bunker C oil.
   
5. I detest beets and cauliflower.
6. At various times I played a pirate, a juror, a sailor, a portrait come to life, a Tower Warder, a British peer, a town drunk, a Japanese nobleman, a medieval courtier, a shepherd, and a Heavy Dragoon Guard on stage. Five points for identifying which one of those roles was not in a Gilbert & Sullivan production. Another five for identifying what production that role was in.
   
7. I'm a professional photographer who supplied 99 photos for a general chemistry textbook.
8. In grade school I sold candy and other snacks from the cafeteria at recess. I got paid in candy bars. I never told my mother how many I was eating every day.
   
9. My first car was a bright red '83 Dodge Charger with black trim. I miss that car, even though the way it handled in snow (this was in upstate New York) was truly frightening.
   
10. I was once bitten on the ankle by a basset hound. As I rode past its home on a bicycle.

OK, that's all. I promise.

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Ten things you may not know about me...

Carrying on from Tim's lead, here are ten things you may not know about me. (Nothing particularly shocking, sorry.)

1. One summer I performed dozens of splenectomies (surgical removal of the spleen) on laboratory mice.
2. I flunked my first driver's license road test, at the age of 20, for making two improper left turns and committing a dangerous act.
3. I once won a prize from a radio station for identifying the singer of golden oldie Let's Turkey Trot.
4. My favorite color is blue.
5. 24 years ago I broke a bone in my foot tobogganing.
6. I sing tenor.
7. I'm terrified of rollercoasters.
8. Before I decided to go into chemistry, I was majoring in Medical Technology.
9. I skipped second grade.
10. I once smuggled a pair of sheepskin gloves into the country from Canada.
    

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Major Cyborg

Thanks to Shocho for posting the link to the Cyborg Name Decoder. I remember a similar website from several years ago, but that one was text-only and didn't have the nifty cyborg cartoons.

My only problem was deciding which cyborg name I liked better.

The full MAJOR RAKAL (Mechanical Artificial Juggernaut Optimized For Rational Repair, Accurate Killing and Adept Learning) all seems quite appropriate for a Tal Shiar agent, if a bit verbose.



So I tried out the more concise RAKAL (which is what's on my license plate, because it'll only take a maximum of 7 characters). Robotic Artificial Killing and Assassination Lifeform is succinct and to the point, and I like the "assassination" terminology.

Decisions, decisions.

What do you think?

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O Canada!

Considering my somewhat meager showing in the State Game, I thought I'd supplement it with a Province Game just to show that I'm marginally more travelled than it would appear from my state tally. Here 'tis:



As you can see, I've got eastern Canada pretty well wrapped up, plus a jaunt to Alberta (1985? 86? God, I'm losing my mind). And these are no mere pit stops; I've spent probably two to three weeks in each province I tagged. Well, maybe not New Brunswick, but I routinely bought part of my groceries there for the year and a half I lived in the Calais, Maine area, as well as making several overnight stays in St. John, so it definitely counts big time.

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My Entry in The State Game

Mkae posted the official rules for The State Game the other day, where the goal is to visit every state in the US, subject to two rules: 1) You have to physically "set foot" in the state -- driving through doesn't count unless you make at least one pit stop; and 2) Airports don't count.

Thanks to a comment from Kathy on Mkae's blog, we got wind of this website where one can generate a map with the states marked in red. Here's mine.



Only 21 out of the 50 (51 if you count DC); not too good considering I've been around a good bit longer than Mkae. I'm going to have to get a move on if I'm going to hit the other 29 (30) before I die. Too bad airports don't count, or I could add Colorado, Georgia, and DC. Although, truth be told, I've probably "set foot" in Georgia already, on the way to or from Florida. I don't recall specifically doing so, but I can't believe I could have driven through Georgia six or eight times without stopping somewhere to pee. As you can see, my travels have been largely confined to east of the Mississippi, with the notable exceptions of Montana (a vacation trip around 1984 or '85) and Nevada (Vegas, baby -- '97 STCCG Worlds).

BTW, I was on the verge of publishing this when I suddenly realized I had forgotten Alabama: Huntsville, 1996, Star Trek 30th Anniversary... doh. And when I first started checking off the states, I initially thought I couldn't count Connecticut; we used to drive through it on I-84/86 on our way from Pennsylvania to Maine, but I'm sure we never would have stopped anywhere. But then I remembered I took a training seminar in Norwalk around 20 years ago -- check that one off!

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So what would you do with $1000 (or more)?

Stolen from Kosmo:

Assuming it just fell into your lap, tax free, what would you do with:

$1,000 -
I'd like to think I'd add it to my depleted rainy day fund, but in truth I'd probably fritter it away on frivolous things like gas for my car.

$10,000 -
Remodel my kitchen. And then have a party in it.

$100,000 -
Mm, almost enough to pay off my mortgage. That's what I'd most likely do with it, which would make it a lot easier to retire early.

$1,000,000 -
Sell the house, retire to a custom-built home on the Maine coast, and travel around the country to visit my friends who have migrated away in the last year.

How would you spend the dough?

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Jumping on the Johari bandwagon

What the hey...

You can contribute to my Johari window here. And like the other Kathy said, be nice. :-)

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Threes

Stolen from any one of a bunch of blogs I read:

3 JOBS I'VE HELD: webmaster, analytical chemist, technical writer

3 MOVIES I COULD WATCH OVER AND OVER: Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Fiddler on the Roof

3 PLACES I'VE LIVED: Baring, ME; Ithaca, NY; State College, PA

3 FAVORITE TV SHOWS: Star Trek; Star Trek: The Next Generation; M*A*S*H

3 VACATIONS I'VE TAKEN: Banff and Jasper National Parks, Alberta; Glacier National Park, Montana; Newfoundland

3 WEBSITES I VISIT DAILY: drheimlich.blogspot.com, thehellbox.blogspot.com, sudoku.org.uk

3 FAVORITE FOODS: lobster, chocolate, Coca-Cola

3 PLACES I'D RATHER BE: Retired; the Maine coast; in a hammock in my back yard

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What Kathy looks like

If you go by the results of Googling "Kathy looks like"... well, I think she looks like she's got a split personality. (Stolen from Ford Prefect.)

Kathy looks like she's about to burst out laughing.
Kathy looks like she's about to cry.
Kathy looks like a well oiled machine when she digs effortlessly in the garden with this tool!
Kathy looks like she was manufactured in a different country than her step-father.
Kathy looks like a sun goddess in this Ideology tank with orange sequins.
Kathy looks like a Burger-built hull - and will probably stand up to the ice if they saw it loose a couple of times over the winter.
Kathy looks like a doctor and looks very professional.
Kathy looks like a homeless drug addict.
Kathy looks like Maria singing to Captain Von Trapp.
Kathy looks like the leader of the Chozo from Metroid Prime.
Kathy looks like the bright and spirited, beautiful person you said she was.
Kathy looks like she could be an understudy in the musical Wicked.
Kathy looks like a piece of marzipan.

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I'm "It"

The Doctor has tagged me while propagating the latest meme. Now let's see if I can remember what I was doing 10 years ago -- or yesterday.

10 years ago today: August 23, 1995
On this Wednesday, I would have been finishing last-minute preparations for the Cornell University chemistry labs for the fall semester, which probably began the next day (or possibly a week later). Within a few weeks I would make a fateful purchase of two STCCG starter decks at a Trek convention. Little did I know...

5 years ago today: August 23, 2000
Another Wednesday, and again it would be time for the start of the fall semester. But by this time I was only working part-time (four days a week) for the university, and devoting an ever-increasing amount of time to my "remote" work for The Company which I had begun a year and a half before. DrHeimlich's move into the CCG Design department meant that I would once again become the (non)resident rules guru for Star Trek CCG.

4 years ago today: August 23, 2001
OK, I'm cheating a bit here by adding "4 years ago" to my list, but this day was a highly significant milestone for me: it's the day I left my home of 25 years in upstate New York and drove to Virginia Beach to begin a new phase of my life. Four days later I would begin working full time and in-house for The Company. I would stay with DrHeimlich and his housemates for three weeks while apartment hunting.

1 year ago today: August 23, 2004
It's Monday and we're just getting back from GenCon/DecipherCon and the big WARS TCG presentation. I've been rolling out Star Trek CCG 10th Anniversary content for some months now, but it's pretty much stalled due to the WARS focus. In the end, the 10th Anniversary project will never be completed. It's been 10 months since I bought a house, and I'm getting ready to replace the fence in the back yard.

Yesterday: August 22, 2005
My fourth week at my new technical writing job began. Still in learning mode; this place has more acronyms than you can shake a stick at, and half the employees work off-site scattered around the country, so there are still a lot of names I haven't been able to put faces to yet. In the late morning my office door was pushed open by a very large black dog who turned out to be named "Rock" and belonged to the CEO. Weather is hot and humid.

Tomorrow: August 24, 2005
Top priority tomorrow will be to reformat a 38-page Word doc with what looks like about a hundred style sheets in it despite most of the text being in "Normal" style. The margins seem to change at random, and the header appears only on the last three pages, which are incorrectly numbered. I've learned more about Word in the last three weeks than I did in four years of using it at The Company. After work I'll go to community college to take another challenge exam, this one on the Windows operating system. And after that I'll finish reading my homework assignment for my Thursday evening class.

5 snacks I enjoy
Coca-Cola, York Peppermint Bites, Pepperidge Farm Mint Milanos, Krispy Kreme donuts, carrot sticks.

5 bands that I know most of their lyrics
Ha. There were probably five bands that I once knew most of their lyrics, about 30-odd years ago. But I can't remember who they were, let alone the lyrics.

5 things I'd do with a million $$
Retire, build a new house someplace that doesn't have 110-degree heat indexes, travel, buy a top of the line laptop, take up photography again.

5 places I'd run away to
Las Vegas, England, Maine, the Canadian Maritimes, and any place my friends have moved away to.

5 bad habits I have
Too much Coca-Cola, haphazard eating habits, staying up too late, not unloading the dishwasher, letting the grass get too tall.

5 things I like doing
Reading, not using an alarm clock, snoozing in a hammock, being with friends, photography.

5 things I wouldn't wear
Seersucker, capri pants/crops, high heels, earrings, makeup.

5 TV shows I love
If we're talking about current shows, there aren't any. Retrospectively: Star Trek, Star Trek:TNG, Futurama, and, uh... let me get back to you on that one.

5 movies I love
Lord of the Rings: FOTR, Star Trek: First Contact, Fiddler on the Roof, Fantasia, Star Wars.

5 famous people I'd like to meet
Leonard Nimoy, Jimmy Carter, Sean Connery, Patrick Stewart, J.K. Rowling.

5 biggest joys at the moment
A regular paycheck, reading my friends' blogs, blogging, trips to Busch Gardens with Tim and his family, air-conditioning.

5 favorite toys
Laptop, digital camera, reciprocating saw, Romulan Commander action figure, dishwasher.

5 people to tag
Dave(id)
David
Jono
How about three?

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My Top Ten Celebrity List

In alphabetical order:

Sean Connery
Tom Cruise
Michael Douglas
Harrison Ford
Mel Gibson
Matthew McConaughey
Ewan McGregor
Leonard Nimoy
Robert Redford
Patrick Stewart

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