Category: Uncategorized

You are my Buddy, my handsome Buddy. You make me happy when skies are grey…

Dead pet posts suck. Think of this one more as a celebration of a life well lived.

I was walking in the Snoqualmie river valley, by myself with Buddy. The day was a bit dreary, overcast but at least it wasn’t raining. Buddy was wearing his "Help ’em up!" harness which he actually looked quite high tech in. It would be one of the last times we would actually need the harness for a long while, because he had completely recovered from the stroke that had paralyzed his entire left side two months prior. He was just shy of twelve years old.

The park we visit is a private one called Camp Charlie, and besides Port Townsend is Buddy’s favorite place on earth. It was just me and him, the exercise part of his recovery regimen. In the distance was another dog owner, a man walking with a cane. If Buddy ever saw another person, he had to go investigate and say hello, and to my surprise given his recent problems that day was no different. His gait had changed somewhat after the stroke and although he could run fine, it was more a rocking horse type of motion than his normal full gallop. When I reached the man he was petting a happy Buddy and remarked on his yellow harness, saying he looked handsome in it.

"He had a stroke two months ago. His entire left side was paralyzed so we have the harness just in case while he recovers." I explained.

"You’re kidding," the man said looking after Buddy romping away into the field with his own dog, "I would have never believed it."

That was Buddy. He was a rescue, from a family who simply had no idea what they were getting into when they brought him into their lives.

I was standing outside a steakhouse in Whistler when Rochelle called me from Dallas. She’d seen a flyer of a beautiful Golden Retriever at the laundry mat with the notation "Buddy needs a home." She took it off the wall. "I think he’d be great for your Mom and Ted!" I’ll never know if, secretly, she really wanted him for us all along. At the time we had a cocker mix named Illusion, a cat named Isabeau, and our first dog together: a golden named Hennessey. We were in love with the breed and have only owned goldens ever since. So we took him in with the intent to give him to my parents who at the time were, as they say, in between dogs. They didn’t want the responsibility at the moment and we knew our fallback position was simply to adopt him.

He was a bit chubby when we got him, over 80 pounds, and we took him and his favorite chew rope to the car. Oh he was a rambunctious boy. From the moment he joined our family he asserted himself. He surprised us with his ingenuity, Isabeau would climb up the stairs and taunt him. Buddy had never known stairs, he had no idea what to do with them but he was smart enough to figure out they ended, somehow, above the ceiling of our kitchen. Isabeau would run up to the top of the stairs and hiss, and he would run around the corner into the kitchen one floor below her, stare at the ceiling, and bark. The expression on his face was always "What the…I should be looking at the cat’s ass from down here!"

He was a master of counter surfing, until we attached a cooked chicken breast to a coffee can full of pennies. He never jumped up on the counter again.

We learned early on not to name a dog a common name. Call out "Sport" or "Buddy" at a dog park and see how many dogs you get. But he was our Buddy. And there was no way we were going to change his name.

He flew on an airplane. He swam in the pacific ocean. He loved the Pacific Northwest climate. Except the rain. When it was raining he hated the feeling of the drops hitting his head and he would stand outside, miserably flinching with each drop that hit his head. Oh and while he liked to run around in it, he hated going to the bathroom in the snow. I once had to shovel out a "poop spot" for him because every time he squatted in more than an inch of snow it would touch his butt and he would run away startled.

He scouted the bluffs of discovery bay and the Snoqualmie river valley. He chased an otter once a quarter mile out to sea. I loved everything about him so much I wrote a story about a version of him that lived on forever.

He loved his long gone companions Illusion, Isabeau and Hennessy and Remington Martin. He was our last tie to our life before we moved to Washington state from Texas. He survived a major stroke and recovered to give us another year and a half with him being happy and the king of the house.

He was a good dog. He was our Buddy.

Today I am heartbroken and crushed and all the things you feel when you have to say goodbye to your companion.

And yet I have that most wonderful of sad feelings that when he needed us we were there for him with as much selfless love as he had for us. We guarded against suffering. We ensured his happiness. We gave him brothers and sisters to play with when we were not home. Buddy was not taken from us too early. Just shy of 13 years is great for a Golden Retriever, especially one who had a major stroke a year and a half ago and couldn’t even stand on his own!

In the end, we are our animal’s stewards. They are our companions and we owe them a debt far greater than what they give us. It is our job to give them a life free from pain, full of food, love and happiness.

His eyes were bright. His fur smelled like stale popcorn and warm life.

I will be thankful for him forever, and miss him the rest of my days. Here he is, just after recovering from that stroke, enjoying the beach.

Like a boss.

buddy1

[EDIT: Rochelle and I are ok, and thank everyone so much for their thoughts and well wishes. We were prepared for this for a while, and we have Adia and her niece Eowyn to comfort us. If you’d like to help us out, please consider buying my work like my comedy album A Geekster’s Paradise, or perhaps buying the science fiction short story in part inspired by Buddy called Buddy’s Eye.]

EVERYTHING MUST GO

So I have a box with 25 softcover editions of my first book, A Microsoft Life, and 11 Hardback copies. I asked twitter if people would like signed personalized copies from this stock so here’s the deal!The softcover is $16 plus shipping generated by Paypal. I originally said $15 but I could not find on Paypal where I could include “handling” in order to input the 99 cents the envelope costs so I just added that to the base price. (Seriously the Paypal options are daunting to me.  It’s sometimes hard to figure out just how you want to sell on your site.  Anyways.) There are 25 of the softcovers.There are 11 Hardback copies at $26 a copy plus shipping.VERY IMPORTANT: When you make your order tell me your favorite thing in the “message to seller” box. I will make this part of your personalized inscription.

So! Here you go, a button for the softcover:





 

HARDCOVER IS SOLD OUT

In which I announce what I’ve been working on at GAEMS

 

I’m beyond excited to finally show you this.

Yup, that’s a brand new GAEMS Personal Gaming Environment with United Nations Space Command logos. It’s called the Vanguard, and for right now it’s a Halo exclusive, timed to release with Halo 4.

Our current product, the G155, has been a godsend for me since it released. As I mentioned in my blog entry about joining GAEMS I travel enough that missing out on top games when they come out is a real possibility, and the G155 solves that perfectly. Well, the Vanguard is even better. Featuring a 19” screen with improved viewing angles, more powerful speakers, and subtle case design changes, it’s going to be my mobile entertainment solution for a while.

When I came to GAEMS the Vanguard was extremely close to design complete. I’ve learned so much from our incredible design and manufacturing teams about how you take a product like this from drawing to CAD to samples to manufacture to final product. A ton of work goes into making sure the experience we’re designing really shows in the product. Add to that when you’re creating your follow on to something people already like you want to make sure you don’t take any steps back while at the same time integrating feedback that people had.

For instance a ton of time went into the handle of the Vanguard, and more than once we had to stop and start over to make sure we had something we really felt would work well and be an improvement over the G155. Everyone has a huge investment in making sure you guys think the Vanguard kicks ass.

But the best part was getting to work on something for Halo with 343 Industries. I’m a huge fan of the Halo Universe; I’ve devoured all the books, anime, etc. Hell, a Halo game was the very first video game I was ever credited in! So when the team came up with the idea to approach them over Halo 4 I was all in for that.

At first we thought about doing something Halo 4 specific. But as we worked with 343 we realized that given the shape and purpose of the device, going with a UNSC style made a lot more sense. It was a lot cooler to imagine the Vanguard as a piece of actual military equipment one might see in the Halo universe. Over a period of about three weeks we nailed the look and design working hand in hand with the Halo team. A lot of work goes into design that one might not realize. It’s one thing to have everything perfectly designed in CAD software, it’s another to make sure the actual plastic samples match the colors you want 100%, or that the transfer process for imprinting the logos to the texture of the case are perfectly positioned down to the millimeter.

As a consumer, I’m really pleased this is available from Amazon with their frustration free packaging. I’m so tired of buying a cool product and you receive a box within a box (sometimes within another box!) with wasteful foam and other things. This way you open the box, there’s your Vanguard, and everything is recyclable.

I’ve been so fortunate to get to work with amazing teams on cool products in my life, and GAEMS is no exception. My co-workers kicked ass to help bring this to you.

There’s still a lot to be done to get the Vanguard timed to Halo 4. But I thought you might like a little background on the story of the product.

In which I announce what I’ve been working on at GAEMS

 

I’m beyond excited to finally show you this.

Yup, that’s a brand new GAEMS Personal Gaming Environment with United Nations Space Command logos. It’s called the Vanguard, and for right now it’s a Halo exclusive, timed to release with Halo 4.

Our current product, the G155, has been a godsend for me since it released. As I mentioned in my blog entry about joining GAEMS I travel enough that missing out on top games when they come out is a real possibility, and the G155 solves that perfectly. Well, the Vanguard is even better. Featuring a 19” screen with improved viewing angles, more powerful speakers, and subtle case design changes, it’s going to be my mobile entertainment solution for a while.

When I came to GAEMS the Vanguard was extremely close to design complete. I’ve learned so much from our incredible design and manufacturing teams about how you take a product like this from drawing to CAD to samples to manufacture to final product. A ton of work goes into making sure the experience we’re designing really shows in the product. Add to that when you’re creating your follow on to something people already like you want to make sure you don’t take any steps back while at the same time integrating feedback that people had.

For instance a ton of time went into the handle of the Vanguard, and more than once we had to stop and start over to make sure we had something we really felt would work well and be an improvement over the G155. Everyone has a huge investment in making sure you guys think the Vanguard kicks ass.

But the best part was getting to work on something for Halo with 343 Industries. I’m a huge fan of the Halo Universe; I’ve devoured all the books, anime, etc. Hell, a Halo game was the very first video game I was ever credited in! So when the team came up with the idea to approach them over Halo 4 I was all in for that.

At first we thought about doing something Halo 4 specific. But as we worked with 343 we realized that given the shape and purpose of the device, going with a UNSC style made a lot more sense. It was a lot cooler to imagine the Vanguard as a piece of actual military equipment one might see in the Halo universe. Over a period of about three weeks we nailed the look and design working hand in hand with the Halo team. A lot of work goes into design that one might not realize. It’s one thing to have everything perfectly designed in CAD software, it’s another to make sure the actual plastic samples match the colors you want 100%, or that the transfer process for imprinting the logos to the texture of the case are perfectly positioned down to the millimeter.

As a consumer, I’m really pleased this is available from Amazon with their frustration free packaging. I’m so tired of buying a cool product and you receive a box within a box (sometimes within another box!) with wasteful foam and other things. This way you open the box, there’s your Vanguard, and everything is recyclable.

I’ve been so fortunate to get to work with amazing teams on cool products in my life, and GAEMS is no exception. My co-workers kicked ass to help bring this to you.

There’s still a lot to be done to get the Vanguard timed to Halo 4. But I thought you might like a little background on the story of the product.

SDCC and minor Book update.

So the past 72 hours have been, essentially, crazycakes awesome.  After visiting Austin for RTX (And discussing my draft with my editor, we’re actually at the editing phase folks.  Book should be released SOON.  Can’t wait for you to read it) I had one day of doin’ stuff before I was back on a plane for San Diego Comic Con.

I’m not a huge fan of San Diego Comic Con to be honest.  I love San Diego more every time I visit, but SDCC really has become a place where Hollywood projects seem to have the most focus over, say, comics.  That’s ok for most people, just not really my thing compared to the superior Emerald City Comic Con which has a much greater focus on the artists and writers.  Of course, I might just be biased. In fairness to SDCC though they did announce a new Neil Gaiman authored Sandman prequel. I don’t think you can get more comic news than that, and its sort of a testament to the hollywood aspect that the news seemed completely out of place.

The main reason I try to go every year is w00tstock and because all my friends are in one place which makes it comically easy* to get to see people I love who are scattered all throughout the country. I got in Thursday in the early afternoon and the awesomeness started almost immediately. I’m so ridiculously lucky to have as a friend Marian Call, and she wanted me to join her onstage for her song Shark Week. Sound check was done early so her and I and The Doubleclicks (who I can’t wait to perform with again also) headed out for beer.

San Diego is a fantastic walking town.  It’s like a collision of the best parts of Austin, New Orleans, and San Francisco.  Lots of interesting people, good architecture, and plenty of sidewalk cafes and bars. Oh and good food too. Once you get away from the convention center and the touristy parts of the gas lamp, it’s just a really pleasant place to move around. We settled on a spot not too far from the Balboa theater and chilled waiting for Scott Barkan to join us.

A word about Scott.  He often can be found playing guitar with Marian.  But what most people don’t know is that he has an amazing solo album out.  Besides being a fun person to hang out with, Scott makes music I wish I could equal. 

W00tstock is always a crazy fun event. I swear the cast has more fun doing it than the audience does watching it.  We reprised my idea last year of finding someone with the worst seat in the house and borrowing their camera, then taking it backstage to take crazy photos. As soon as I have the link to the flickr I asked him to post I’ll tweet and link it. I had brought one of the GAEMS Sentry units with me and there was a lot of geeking out over how you take a console experience portable and personal.

And then a wild Levar Burton appeared! For those who’ve gotten a chance to perform at a w00tstock every new one is like a reunion of a theatre troupe.  But when Levar Burton showed up and I got to have an actual conversation with him… Well I didn’t lose my shit at least. He was the special guest to open the second act and sang the reading rainbow theme with Wil.  Which you can enjoy here.

I mean at one level he played Geordi of course.  But I grew up with reading rainbow as well. He’s a very nice person and was gracious enough to take several photos for the fan camera.

Then Joss Whedon was disco dancing with me. No, really.  After w00tstock a few of us went over to Felicia Day’s Geek and Sundry party, where I found myself dancing with her and the one we all bow down to. He has moves.

The very next day involved wandering the amazing show floor followed by 343’s awesome Halo party where Halo4 was playable. The end of the evening revolved around the w00tstock SDCC party hosted by Adam Savage. Where there was a bittersweet geeking out.

I love the TV show Eureka.  And I’m upset that like too many wonderful shows it met an untimely end.  I don’t normally do the “hey take a photo with me” thing with my friends but in this case I could not resist getting a photo with Salli Richardson and Debrah Farentino to express our sadness:

eurekasad

I know so many writers and actors on the show and I firmly believe they created a fun universe that I would love to see more of.

It’s getting on to the point I have to board a plane so I must cut this short.  It’s hard to quantify just how much fun I had and how much I miss getting to hang out with everyone all the time.  I’m super excited people love the new geek hardware I’m working on and I got to perform on stage with my favorite people.