Random crap with Uno.

[Unorthodox]

So, we finally got around to upgrading everything behind the curtain at work in an effort to allow the average joe to operate the dang thing.  It had come to a point where I was literally the only person able to get the finicky thing to operate at all, and usually at reduced capacity then. 

Anyhow, to give you an idea, this was a system that's used by 6 different organizations, being paid for by a 7th.  Since I was the only person able to run the old one well enough anymore, I was in charge of dishing out specs for the new one to the contractors and ensuring everyone's needs are met. 

The old system was the very finest in turn of the century touch screen technology.  Once the brains of the outfit fried, everything went to hell without some serious programming on the back end to get things running. 

The upgrade, to quote one of the organizations:

"Let me get this straight: You upgraded the system by taking us back to the 60s?" 

The accessible panel is now just a bunch of backlit buttons and a few dials.  It looks like it would belong on the OS Enterprise.  The good is no one can access the brains anymore and mess things up.  We also split all systems apart, so no longer when one goes down, they all go down since there's no central coordinating brain.  Infinitely more approachable since messing with any one system will no longer throw unrelated ones off due to that central processor.  This makes repairs tons cheaper in the future.   

Downside being the person in the chair needs to have just a tad more brains to know which system is messing up now. 

[E_T]

forward into the past...

[Geo]

forward into the past...

First step of going Back to the Future!

[Unorthodox]

[intercourse gerund] goddamn pricks. 

I need to take a moment to figure out a more reasoned response, but someone's clearly attempting to steal my logo. 

[Spacy]

Oh my.  Well, did you copyright it?  I don't know nuth'n bout the law on that, but I think you can go after people, seriously financially, if you can prove theft.  Course, that almost sounds like a pita also.

[Unorthodox]

I honestly don't know much either. 

At the moment, it's a case of if I bring it up it gives them more publicity than staying shut.  And, technically it's Aro's work, which I got permission to use, granted, so probably legally would have to come from him. 

Just another [jerk, sphincter], honestly.  Local artist.  Been supporting them for 3 years, they have my card and have seen our shirts around their events, and I'd talked to them about making some new shirt designs with a rendition of the chimera and/or barghest with the logo as well.  Yeah...

It's been a rough year, Halloween wise anyway. 

Good news is Ed is nearly finished, just waiting for some garden things to grow so I can finish him. 

The super secret test for half the yard worked better than anticipated in it's secondary purpose.

The basic template for the front yard this year is based around this scene: 

! No longer available

The tombstones are easy with the pallet material I have left over from yard work being the main driver.  I also wanted the mounds, and had been thinking on ways to make that work as easily as possible. 

Well, since some areas, the sod is struggling as the soil under it is poor to non existant/gravel.  This reminded me of an experiment in Arizona from when I was working there.  Though I'd never seen the end results, they were broadcasting coconut coir into the lawn so that it would retain moisture. 

So, I bought a couple bricks at the pet store, expanded, and worked out I need 3 bricks to make a decent mound.  Not as clean as those above, but good looking for disturbed/fresh graves.  This qty worked with my budget.  Raking that coir into a troubled area has yielded immediate benefits.  So, we've gone full bore into the coir mound plan.  I'll scoop it up after and broadcast it over the lawn. 

Back in 2008, we did 6 graves.  In 2012, we did 9 + the tomb. 

I'm going all in, shooting for from 16-20.  Just in the front.  Stupidly cheap, easy, and cliche.  It will also be loved by most folks as a result.  I can suck it up and have something I don't love for the year. 

I think we're going to leave the back mostly clean this year.  Let the circle stand on it's own with some candles and maybe pumpkins.  Still working on a plan for the side. 



 

[E_T]

Have you contacted Aro about it?  See what his take is on it?  Say hi to him, too...

I thought that was Tuko's backside...

Some of the stones in the Circle look similar to some of the headstones in the first part of that tGtBtU scene, where Tuko rolls into the headstone...

[Unorthodox]

So...

Those of you who know what I do may or may not have seen the news a month or so back.  But, we had a booboo.  Not my company, not my job, but the system had a booboo. 

Anyhow, when you have a booboo, there's a host of fallout on the hows and the whys and the whos, etc.   

So I'm in a meeting to discuss the whats.  The hows and whys are very closely guarded secrets, mind you.  So, the meeting is being run by several AF folks, one of whom I've worked with for 15 years, and knows I understand the full picture.  In the meeting are three companies.  I've worked with one, for another, and am presently with the 3rd.

After the what's, they were going to report the how and the why findings.  Present company man asks me to exit the meeting when the whats are done so they can discuss the how and the why. 

AF person says wait just a moment:  Uno, how long we worked on this system together?

15 Years. 

AF: In all that time, I've seen you pick up a lot more than folks give you credit for.  Did you ever get those patents on the system?

Those belong to company E. 

Jaw drops from the others. 

AF: But you made them, right? 

Yeah, just fixing what needed to be fixed. 

AF: So, do you know the hows and the whys here? 

I don't see that data with this company, but if I had to guess, I'd say it was A or B, because of a problem with C based on the timing of the booboo. 

STUNNED stares from the room. 

AF:  How sure are you? 

It HAS to be C.  It would only affect A or B.  I'd have to see the trajectory data to tell which it was. 

AF: Why are you so sure it's C? 

Well, D happened earlier in the night, and that's always been hell on C.  I'm frankly shocked the test wasn't delayed for D. 

AF:  How soon did you come up with this theory? 

About a minute after the test failed. 

AF, looking at the rest of the room.  SO WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU GUYS BEEN TAKING SO LONG FIGURING THAT OUT FOR? 

I left.  I got called to the principles office for a chat about how much, exactly, I understand on the system. 

[Unorthodox]

Have you contacted Aro about it?  See what his take is on it?  Say hi to him, too...

That gets tricky as Aro's based in Brazil. 

It's annoying, but not a lot we can do.  I'll give karma a shot, let her handle it for a bit at least. 

[Geo]

I left.  I got called to the principles office for a chat about how much, exactly, I understand on the system.

What was your answer? Something in the realm of "Sorry, that's classified/compartmentalized"?

Nothing I remember reading in the news here about a failed test, but if it is what I googled up, I had no idea things were moving forward on that front again.

[Unorthodox]

Part of it is we are in a bit of transition locally.  Our fearless leader has been shuffled off to save a different program, and the interim guy hardly knows me at all. 

Someone in my position typically doesn't know a whole heck of a lot outside my area of expertise, which has very little to do with the actual system. 

But, I've had a wide swath of experience over the last 20 years, and have always been a quick study. 

There is VERY little on the system I haven't physically handled and modified. 

I come from a program who's sole purpose was taking the system and frankensteining pieces of it to create new things with differing capabilities, some of them fairly radical departures from the system's design. 

As such, I know the what goes where and which does what better than most of the engineers here.  Engineers tend to be very focused, this guy knows his pieces very well, but not necessarily how it interacts with all the other pieces.  I'm kind of the polar opposite.  I know very well how all the pieces fit together and are meant to work, but not necessarily how one piece is built/functions at the technical level. 

Since this contract is mostly about providing the technical support level, there aren't a lot of big picture people, or really much need for it.  So, I'm especially something of an anomaly here. 

So, it's easy for me to say which pieces failed the test and how it cascaded...technically what inside of those pieces and how to prevent, not so much. 

[Rusty Edge]

I have this mental picture of Uno sitting at his desk in a double breasted lab coat  and a placard that says Frankenstein.

[E_T]

that has The Pumpkin on the placard, too...

[Unorthodox]

https://www.evermore.com/

So this place is opening this month here, finally. 

They've been hyping it up for years.  I've heard so much about their professional sculptors and how amazing everything is going to be.  My interest was genuinely piqued.  They had a opening party last night and first descriptions are leaking out, while there was clearly a no photos clause to anyone who attended, they did have a booth at the FanX this weekend (comicon). 

I've had several people who attended contact me saying I had done a great job of fleshing out their Halloween story. 

Seems they've taken the overall concepts I've been working with since 2010 and applied them to a theme park scale.  But, a lot of local folks know where those Harvest witch concepts have originated, even if I've never fully managed to bring the spider woman/Yaga Baba elements to my yard.  I've always operated as if it was a continuous presence creating the things in my yard. 

Not surprised or upset.  It's a good theme with a lot of directions it can go.  I'd personally like to see a whole theme park done with it, and they reportedly went celtic with it, where we all know I'd certainly go more Mayan/Aztec. 

Then I see these from their booth. 



Alright...That there is a prebuilt jack o lantern sold at Zurchers a couple years back.  A purchased costume chest, a wally pelvis, and some sticks with the same cliche messy great stuff 'corpsing' that is lazy/popular amongst a lot of haunters these days. 



And that is a pool noodle/paper mache chest and a funkin they carved.  Also more interesting arm to the left. 


Look, I'd rate either of these at middle tier of a home hobbyist.  And those uber plain tombstones aren't helping anything.  But maybe this was just the stuff too lame for the park they had left over so threw it up at the FanX...It doesn't inspire much confidence in me for attending the park. 


Then I look at the tickets for the park...
$50 season pass.  Good year round from 10AM-4PM
$30 day pass for a childrens trick or treat from 5-7 PM
$30 night pass for adult event 8-10 PM 

This is a damned nightmare.  I spoke at length before how much a travesty the disneyland halloween party is, trying to shuffle guests out mid-day for the special priced event.  An event that if you buy a ticket to you can't go to the park till mid day either.  Maybe great for locals, but miserable for those of us traveling. 

Now you're trying to do that TWICE!  Logistically speaking ALONE it's a nightmare if you have ANY kind of crowd. 

Well.  I wish them luck.  Ludicrous pricing structure, IMO. 

[Buster's Uncle]

...Staggers the mind, the thought of going big on Mayan/Aztec, don't it?