Time Off

Hope you all have a great, fun week! I'm taking some time off from the blog this week, as my husband is on vacation and we've got tons of friends in town this week and a lot going on.

Those of you going to Comic-Con, have a blast for me, too!!

Commenting Thoughts

If you know me in real life or in any kind of social media, you should probably know by now I like to talk. But I don't just like to hear myself talk. I like to have conversations. I like to respond to people. Yesterday's post is a prime example of that. Plus multi-sided conversations can lead to great and interesting discoveries.

To that end, I've decided I do not like Blogger's commenting system. Eventually, I'd like to go self-hosted and switch to Wordpress, but for now, I'm gonna be cheap and stick with what's free. That means I'm thinking about changing my commenting system on this site to either IntenseDebate or Disqus. I've used both of these services on other people's blogs and like them a lot. What I'm looking for, specifically, is the ability for people to reply directly to others' comments, instead of posting a new comment at the end and using an @ to address the specific person.

From what I've been told, I might lose my old comments on old posts, but I guess that's a price I'll have to pay if I want a better commenting system.

Any thoughts, suggestions, and/or advice on this?

**Edit: After a very short time and lots of feedback, I think I'm going to remain as is for the time being and just to a little research. If it seems to be a good idea in a month or so, I may go to WP. We'll see. I may give up on this silly little idea and do absolutely nothing. But thanks for the input!**

Star Wars Bacon

Yes, you read that correctly. This is one of the many reasons I love Twitter and my geeky friends I've made there. If you are a regular reader of Crayons and Cylons, you know that I am quite the fan of bacon. But as we all should know, I am not the only one. It all started out as an innocent tweet about my dog:

Then it began to elicit responses such as this:

To which I responded:

It began to spiral out of control from there...

...as everyone had their own opinions on the epic epicness of bacon.
But what Nick said caught my attention. I mean, come on. Star Wars bacon?! How incredible is that?!

I issued a challenge. My friends were game...

Lo and behold, there was success!

We feasted our eyes upon this:

Not a TIE fighter, but an AT-AT. Nick's work was astounding. He won the Internets last night!
I would still like to see a bacon TIE fighter. If you ever see one or make one, please share it with me!

While Nick was using his Google skills, fueled by the power of 34 (though, technically, 32, as this was not Star Wars bacon pr0n), other things were happening. Scary things.

I discovered there is a Twitter baconbot. His name is @Bacon_FTW

Then, Nicole had to go and do this:

It led us to Bacon Today, and their story about some crazy guy who's figured out how to DYE BACON! Why would you ever commit such an atrocity?!

Her find started to bring down the bacon high we were all on from the discovery of Star Wars bacon.

But then CT from Nerd Lunch rode in on his trusty PhotoShop steed and presented us with teh awesome.

And with that, I called it a night.

It had been an epic adventure that would not have been possible without the power of teh Tubez. It is both a blessing and a curse. And for that, I thank you, Al Gore's head in a jar.

fin.

Hump Day Hotties #13

I can't help it. The more I watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the more I grow to love Spike. It's not just James Marsters (though he doesn't hurt, right), but the character is just so bloody brilliantly written! Well written characters who are also easy on the eyes are quite possibly the best kind.

 Damn right, I'm impure. I'm as impure as the driven yellow snow.

You'll find her just in the nick of time. That's what you bloody hero-types do.

Don't forget to catch him when Caprica returns this fall. Also, at Dragon*Con. *squee* 

Poetry Blog Hop: Where I'm From

As I've not been doing a whole lot of creative writing in a long time, when @metta1313 suggested last week, an assignment fit for we English teachers, I jumped at the opportunity. I remember the 8th grade teachers using this same assignment as a "getting to know you" exercise with their students a few years ago and thinking how cool it was then. Now I'm trying my hand at the skeleton poem inspired by George Ella Lyon, "Where I'm From". 
-------
I  am from mountains of books

from cookies I bake and novels that consume me

I am from the silver-blue walls 

of my hideaway that hide me from the night

(calm, and at the same time 

mysterious, like a sky before the storm)
 

I am from the delicate, pink petunias spreading,

The errant sassafras against the fence 

whose long gone limbs I remember

as if they were my own.

 

I’m from big holiday dinners and perfectionism 

that makes them complete

from a neurotic, analytical, overly-talkative mother 

and a painfully distant father.
 

I’m from a nose stuck in a book 

and baking cookies at Christmas

and from sitting at a little table 

away from everyone else with my favorite Cousin at meals. 
 

I’m from "Hold your horses!" and "Stop picking your nose!"

and "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."
 

I’m from big family holiday dinners 

with meticulously 

roasted meats and ever-present mashed potatoes

I’m from the suburban South and heaths and highlands,

sweet corn on the cob and whoopie pies.

From the time when my grandma brought home 

all the old books 

on record from her classroom 

when she retired,

my cousins and I hid in the back bedroom

red-striped record player on, Frog and Toad are Friends.

In a box in my closet
where it's not too far away,
are piles and piles of family photos
that I treasure,
but am too distracted to do anything with.
Someday, maybe, a scrapbook or
album, but for now
from piles of memories.
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The Guild Returns

Gamers and RPers of all ages, just a reminder that the awesome web series starring the socially awkward cellist with meta-anxiety, Codex, I mean @feliciaday returns tomorrow! 

If you've never seen it, you can get it at WatchTheGuild.com or on YouTube, iTunes, or through your Xbox. They also run the seasons without any breaks or interruptions between episodes on Netflix Instant Play.

For you, here's the trailer for what's to come in Season 4 of The Guild.

<br/><a href="http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/the-guild-episode-10-the-return/y0y764gg?fg=sharenoembed" target="_new"title="'The Guild' Episode 10: The Return!">Video: 'The Guild' Episode 10: The Return!</a>

If you like The Guild and you're going to San Diego Comic-Con next week, #1, I'm super-jealous of you, and #2, you should check out these panels: 

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Thursday Evening, 5:30: Geek Girls Exist

This incredible panel is brought to you by Geek Girls Network and features Morgan Romine (The Frag Dolls), Bonnie Burton (The Star Wars Craft Book), Marian Call (singer/songwriter), Sarah Kuhn (One Con Glory), Jill Pantozzi (Has Boobs Reads Comics blog), Veronica Belmont (Qore), Kari Byron (MythBusters), and Kiala Kazebee (GeekWeek.com). How can you pass that up?!

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Friday Evening, 5:00: Girls Gone Genre

Visit a panel full of awesome geeky female writers for TV, film, comics, and the Interwebs such as Felicia Day, Marti Noxon (Buffy, Angel, Mad Men, etc.), Melissa Rosenberg (Dexter, Twilight), and Annalee Newitz of io9.com.

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Saturday Afternoon, 2:00: The Guild

What more do I need to say? It's the panel for The Guild, the Streamy Award-winning web series and includes Felicia Day, Wil Wheaton, producer Kim Evey, and director Sean Becker.

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For those of you going to SDCC, I hope you have a blast! Make me jealous with lots of pictures and stories, and maybe bring me back something? :) 

If you're going for the first time (or tenth time) and have questions or advice, check out Amy's post at geek with curves just on that topic! Enjoy, and Excelsior!!

A Little Late to the Party

Because I had other posts I needed/wanted to make after I got back from visiting my grandparents over the Fourth of July weekend, my patriotic post had to wait.

Over the weekend, my grandpa, who is almost 86 years old, and who has advanced Parkinson's Disease, and isn't always very lucid, got incredibly excited about showing us a Memorial Garden in the township his family and my mom's family had grown up in.

A few months ago, my aunt, who had been visiting from California, discovered that the township had laid engraved pavers for everyone from the town who'd been killed in military service, and family members could purchase pavers for anyone else who had served but not died in active service.  She shared this information with other family members in the area.

My grandpa's oldest brother was killed in France when his Jeep exploded early in World War II. Then my grandpa and his brother who was not quite a year younger than he enlisted. By the end of WWII, Grandpa had attained the rank of Technical Sergeant. At the time, it was the third-highest rank for an enlisted soldier. He never did talk much about his experiences to the family, but he gave my oldest cousin a Nazi helmet he brought home from Germany.

Then, one day, when I was about 19, we were watching some made-for-TV-movie about Anne Frank, and my grandpa started telling me about how his unit marched from Marseilles, France through southern Germany, through the Brenner Pass between Austria and Italy in 1945 and how they liberated a concentration camp somewhere around Munich. He kinda glazed over, and then started telling me details that I'll never forget - the skeletal appearances of the prisoners, the way they were too afraid to be liberated, the overwhelming smells, how the prisoners tried to steal the GIs' weapons to attack the Nazi guards... After he shared those harrowing experiences with me, my grandma, who had been listening from the kitchen, pulled me aside and told me he hadn't told anyone about that other than her, to her knowledge, since the end of the War.

I felt honored that he chose to share those memories with me, and I feel it only appropriate to honor my grandfather with this belated Independence Day post. Thanks, Grandpa, for defending our freedom!

Hump Day Hotties #12

I graced the pages with eye candy of the men of Firefly a few weeks ago, and now, it's eye candy of the opposite gender. Time for: 

Women of Firefly

First up, the cute girl-next-door mechanic who often makes quite dirty jokes. 

Everyone loves Kaylee. 

Then there's the classy, yet open (and often hotly ambiguous) sexuality of companion Inara. 

Of course, we have Zoe, who could probably kick your ass. And that's kinda hot. 

Finally we come to the two bat-shit crazy chicks who could destroy you in pretty much an instant, whether it be with her mind or her poisoned lipstick.

River

Yo Saf Bridge (I REALLY wish there could've been more of her!)

Apparently, I'm a Jedi

**Disclaimer: This is a very personal post about religion. I'm not trying to step on toes or offend, and I'm sorry if I do, but I need to say this. I apologize in advance.**

This weekend, I was faced with multiple questions from my mom and grandma about church. As in "Where are you going to church?" not even "Are you going to church?" It's assumed in our family you go to church. And since I was eighteen, I've not voluntarily gone. Now, don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Christianity as a whole, but I do take issues with organized religion in general. I think that religious beliefs are a wholly personal thing, and if someone wants to share it, they can, but it's not necessary.

My biggest issue with the church I grew up in, and my parents' philosophy, is the extreme levels of guilt inflicted on the "believers". As a friend mentioned in a intense Twitter conversation last night, religion tends towards the stick, not the carrot. Not that I need a reward to do things, but I don't want the spectre of punishment hanging overhead for my entire life.

So, with all of this surfacing, again, I began to really think about what I believe. Or as Chris Rock said in Dogma, what I have "a good idea" about. I think that there is some kind of greater power out there, whether it be God, gods, or a completely unfathomable entity, I believe there is something out there that had a guiding hand in life. I also believe in modern science. Those beliefs are a bit difficult to reconcile. Also, I have a very difficult time reconciling it with a lot of what I know from history. So this leads me to my "idea".

I believe that there are two opposing forces in the universe that flow through everything and struggle to maintain a delicate balance. Not necessarily good and evil, more like the ancient Egyptian belief in the forces of order and chaos. In keeping with the idea of maintaining order, I believe people should be nice, follow the rules, and all of that. There's nothing about guilting people into following such a legalistic set of religious laws, just being nice and a good citizen. (Sounds like I'm in primary school again.)

As I started to reflect on all of this, which I'm pretty sure I've not expressed very clearly, I had to laugh. Because I came to the realization that basically, what I believe in, is the Force. Yes, as in the power that feeds and guides the Jedi and the Sith. And when you think about it, it's kinda like the whole order and chaos concept. Egyptians even represented chaos with the color red, the color of Set.

So, yeah, I believe in the existence of the Force. Perhaps I'll get to be a Jedi, perhaps not, but I'll always show my respect to the balance of nature and do my best to stay on the order side of things. Where this fits in the traditional religions, I don't know, because I don't know enough about Eastern religions, but I do know if I ever told all of this to my mom, she'd have a prayer intervention going in five minutes, flat. I just hope that eventually people can come to accept what I believe and stop giving me grief about it. I think there's more than one way to live and believe. Your way may just not work for everyone else.

Peace, and may the force be with you.

Hump Day Hotties #11

I know Thursday is not "Hump Day," but it had to get moved due to Bloggerstock. And as today is my 4th anniversary, I'm going to be selfish, and brag, and post pictures of MY hottie, the Hubs. He's on a business trip, so he can't fight me posting pictures of him on the interwebs. He's cute, hot, adorable, geeky, and a really big goofball!

engagement shoot

wedding kiss

honeymoon in estes park

chillin' in chattanooga

my goofball at work

his caption was "this is how i'd look at your mom"

he has a penchant for raising his eyebrow(s) in pics, especially when drinking...

brewers jam = drunk photographer and drunk subject

my husband, the riker

painfully posed pic at thanksgiving dinner in nyc with dad and stepmom

mmm... on a camping trip this spring. i'm such a shoulder girl!

viva la deutschland! and the sun shines out his armpit apparently...

So, thank you for allowing me to gush over my awesome husband for this week's post. For those of you who've been around for a while, you know he's a pretty awesome geek guy, anyway, but today was dedicated to the fact that I think he's pretty much the greatest hottie around. <3 him so much! 4 years down, decades and decades to go!