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12/30/2003 Entry: "Some random stuff" Man, I ate some Dinty Moore beef stew last night that made me very sick. Ugh. You ever eat anything that made you so sick, you won't be able to eat it again for years? Yeah. That sick. It looks like I'll be a judge for the Katsucon Anime Video Awards again this year, because Keith politley asked if I'd do it again. He just wants my big screen TV! :-D No, seriously, I love doing this. Sure, 90% of the videos are boring crap, but the 10% that aren't sure make up for it. Some have been so good... I cried (the Miyazaki "Golden Slumber" one, and the fake trailer for Metropolis got me last year). I am such a wuss for musical scores sometimes. Last time, we judges had to wade through tons of bad Sailor Moon fan service stuff, a few disturbing violent porn selections, and a lot of just really dull, uninspiring clips to get to some that were golden. Although, sometimes after 10 dull clips, we'd over-appreciate some that were not as dull, simply because our brains hurt, and our attention span was desperate for a change. But those get weeded out after the second pass. When I judge anime music videos, I go more for the deeply moving, and roaringly funny, rather than subject matter. There was one video I liked where it was dedicated to the abuse that Lupin III's Cooper Mini survives. Another was Goldenboy done to "Pretty Fly for a White Guy." I didn't truly appreciate those until I saw the Goldenboy series. I am also going to be the technical Cosplay judge, which was a pretty interesting learning experience last time. Note to Katsucon Cosplay entrants: I favorably judge on effort and humility. A good technical job will shine on its own, you don't need to be a primadonna about it. I mean, don't be shy, sit in a corner, and say nothing when I ask you questions, but don't jump in my face and nail yourself to the cross, either. Having the illustration that inspired you is a BIG plus (and thanks to the majority of you that did). The guy running pre-reg this year has assembled a team to help him, forcing me to slap my head and go, "THAT'S what I should have done!" And it's not like anyone didn't tell me. Oh well. Lesson learned. Thanks for your wisdom, Tom. All this week, since Christmas Eve, I have been learning a few new skills. I have started up with OpenBSD again, after having left it for a while to learn more about Slackware. I have also learned more about networking, and how household cable (TV, Internet) work. These all have to do with stuff I do at work, of course (since we test networks), but I have been working on personal side projects to see how my cable router and firewall work, and how secure it really is. It's not the best results, but I suppose it's better than having my PC directly connected to the Internet. So I am working on improving security.