Party People in the house say "hey"

"When kids hit one year old, it's like hanging out with a miniature drunk person." - J. Depp

My daughter is turning four in just a few hours. I've broken away from the weekend-long festivities to blog about....the cake...of course.

A week before, I had asked her what kind of birthday cake she wanted - and she immediately started spouting off names of her favorite cartoon characters, nearly hyperventilating herself. The crucial elements included:

Ni-Hao Kai Lan

Dora the Explorer

Hello Kitty

The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse characters

We also browsed through Google images for some source material that was acceptable to her. Once I had a rough idea of what to construct, I started Photoshopping a montage. This was going to be a photo-cake, so I had to plan accordingly.

For extra-credit, I found a rounded font similar to the Ni-Hao Kai Lan logo, color-matched the text and utilized some of the decorative inserts and elements. With photo-cakes, it's best to put the text in yourself, rather than risk having the baker write something in icing.

Here's the end result:

Bugs in the boobies

Now that I have your attention...

I've been using the Emerald viewer for quite a while now - the implementation of breast-physics was just too good of a feature to pass up. However, there are a few things that have now tempted me away from the jigglyness.

1. I started to experience more and more Transaction errors with Emerald. I'll get a message box that will say something to the effect of "your transaction could not be processed." Shame on me for not capturing the exact text for you. But the end result is that I lose a linden here and there, while my balance temporarily goes to -1, requiring a relog.

2. The introduction of Linden Labs' SL 2.0 Beta viewer. There are several new features being introduced with this new viewer, some of which include:

a. Browser-like navigation for teleporting

b. A new sliding-menu motif for the main user interface

c. A separate tattoo-layer for avatars

d. An alpha-mask layer for avatars (no more invisiprims)

e. The ability to apply shared-media as a texture to a prim face. Not only video, but also browser sessions

I should re-iterate that the SL 2.0 is still in beta release, so expect the usual bugs, fixes, and changes. They've done a major overhaul on it, so you'll no doubt be fumbling around trying to find new ways of doing old things. Performance seems to be (for me) about the same for this viewer compared to Emerald.

If you're an early-adopter, or just curious, give it a look.

Less than three hours to go...

Let me just say that this election has shown me something that I'd never thought I'd see. I know I had the support of my friends at the start of this election...but what I did NOT count on, were the friends of those friends coming out to support me.

People I had not heard from in a year just teleported in and freely gave their support. Then, THEY started asking their contacts to vote also. I sit here before you a humbled man.

Thank you, everyone who voted, and those of you who wished to, but could not. The results are still a long ways off, but with friends like you, there's no losing.

Happy Chinese New Year

One thing I like about being Chinese...we get to celebrate the New Year twice.

The Kitchen Gods smiled on me tonight, since I was able to make the following dinner without triggering the smoke alarm:

Pan-fried potsticker dumplings

Bean-thread long-life noodles

Steamed broccoli

Soy sauce chicken

Broiled bacon-wrapped prawns

Oranges

Gung Hay Fat Choy, y'all.

Happy Valentine's Day

Wishing you hopeless romantics out there a happy St.Valentine's Day.

Here's what I made my valentine:

Start with a heart-shaped chocolate cupcake

Dip some strawberries in chocolate-espresso syrup

Throw on some vanilla cream-cheese mousse

Needs crunch...so use an Oreo cookie

Some more chocolate-espresso sauce for the pornographers.

HVD - ILU

Running!

My fellow citizens, it has come to this.

Forty-eight hours ago, I was informed of my nomination to be the next Mayor of Hard Alley. Running under the Teabagger Party ticket, I have thrust myself completely (ow) into this campaign. My friends have called upon me, and I fully intend to answer that call without delay, extra fees, or roaming charges.

But I cannot do this alone. There are just too many hairy palms to grease and too many poles that need holes. I am, therefore, calling you back, collect. Together, we can.

The election day is on Saturday, February the 20th. I can only surmise that voting equipment will be available for everyone to (ab)use on that date at that time. Between now and then, we must fight our way to victory. I have already initiated the first salvo in a long, hard, sweaty, throbbing political war. My friends, we battle an unknown enemy but I implore you to remain focused in our goal: The goal of putting me into that seat of power.

Show the grid that The Teabagger party will not lie limp in defeat. We are robust and full-bodied. We dive headfirst into the rolling waters. We dip ourselves into the gaping maw of the unknown.

If you would like Teabagger Party campaign promotional materials to display, please contact me. I have posters, buttons, and teabag pasties - all with full-modification rights at your disposal. Samples have been inserted below.

My name is Takashi Alekseev, and I approve this message.