Published on
October 11, 2009 in
General.
![Logo_ncod_lg[1]](http://www.aaronhulett.com/postimages/HappyNationalComingOutDay_EEB/Logo_ncod_lg1_thumb.png "Logo_ncod_lg[1]")
Today, October 11, is National Coming Out Day [wikipedia.org], a day meant to bring discussion about issues faced by the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. You can read more about it at the Human Rights Campaign [hrc.org]. This year is a little more interesting as we’re currently fighting for domestic partnership rights here in Washington state. Referendum 71, as it’s known by, brings same-sex domestic partners, as well as seniors in committed relationships, the same rights as married couples, even though it’s not recognized as marriage. Given this is an ‘off year’ for elections, voting is going to be interesting, and I’m of course mentioning it on Twitter and Facebook now and again. You can find out more about Referendum 71 at the Approve Referendum 71 website [approvereferendum71.org]. If you’re here in Washington state, please remember: APPROVE referendum 71 when you get your ballot in the mail.
Happy National Coming Out Day everyone, and in case you haven’t picked up on it by now, well, here you go. I’m gay!
I’ll start by explaining my absence. I’ve been very active on Facebook which is the reason for zero blog posts. Facebook is nice in that I can quickly throw a message there and those on my friends list can comment, and while for a bit I was using Twitter to post updates I started avoiding it as it’s set for open viewing rather than friends only like Facebook. And given I was updating Facebook all the time, I left the blog sitting here.
So what now? Well, I need to blog more. I know several people are following me here that aren’t on Facebook (sorry parents, you can’t be my Facebook friend) and I need to get things back on track here. Next, I need to use Twitter more. As part of that, I included my Twitter feed along the sidebar to the right, meaning you can quickly see what I’m up to in between blog posts.
I also updated the blog software and this busted some plug-ins, meaning you might notice a few things here or there that don’t quite work like they did before. If you run into these, please throw a comment in for this post just in case I missed it. I’ll admit, though, that the older the posts are, the higher chance they’re busted. I did work on the Magnum XL-200 video posted in the CoasterMania 2008 blog post, but that might be troublesome for some. Maybe I’ll upload it to YouTube, but I don’t like the idea of my videos being part of a giant pool of videos that just anyone can do whatever with, but, maybe I’m too paranoid and need to take off the tin foil hat.
And the site is no longer valid XHTML (the little W3C image in the sidebar). Translation: the site might not render correctly sometimes. When I get a chance, I’ll dig around and see what needs changing like I did last time I made some major changes. Until then, there might be an oddity here or there, but, I think it’ll be very minimal from the errors I saw called out.
3am – I’m headed for bed. Catch ya later. 
Published on
May 8, 2009 in
General.
Yes, a post is long overdue. I’ll see if I can get a blog entry up this weekend, but, in the meantime, if you’re wondering what I’m up to, I do post updates on Twitter. Just head over to http://www.twitter.com/amhulett.
//A
Published on
January 6, 2009 in
General.
I used to have the video embedded here, but I took it out given it always started automatically (despite my telling it not to) when the page opened. If you’d like to see it, head over to The Onion [theonion.com].
Published on
December 17, 2008 in
General.
From the National Weather Service again:
IN THE EAST PUGET SOUND LOWLANDS INCLUDING CITIES SUCH AS BELLEVUE…ISSAQUAH…NORTH BEND…AND BONNEY LAKE…SNOW IS EXPECTED TO PICK UP IN INTENSITY THIS EVENING AS A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM SAGS SOUTHWARD. EXPECTED 2 TO 6 INCHES OF ACCUMULATION BY THURSDAY MORNING. TEMPERATURES WILL FALL FROM THE LOWER 30S TO THE MID OR UPPER 20S OVERNIGHT CREATING ICY CONDITIONS. SNOW WILL BECOME MORE SHOWERY THURSDAY MORNING.
We were in the mid to upper 30s Fahrenheit all day, but we hit 32 F when I came home this evening. There was moisture on the roads that I imagine will turn to ice overnight. I have tire chains if I have to drive somewhere, but I’ll most likely walk to work and not worry about it until I slip on the sidewalk or something.
Of course all this was supposed to happen during the day, but it never materialized. Massive school closures today, and for the north and south areas from us, it made sense as they did get quite a bit of snow, but for the Seattle area, we saw maybe a few flakes. Local weather reports suggest the Olympic Mountains to our west blocked it from heading over here, and it’s still doing so right now it seems. We’ll see in the morning what happens.
Published on
December 15, 2008 in
General.
From the National Weather Service:
…WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM LATE TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT…
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SEATTLE HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WATCH…WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM LATE TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT.
HEAVY SNOW IS LIKELY OVER WESTERN WASHINGTON ON WEDNESDAY. FOUR TO EIGHT INCHES ARE POSSIBLE IN CERTAIN AREAS…INCLUDING THE EAST PUGET SOUND LOWLANDS…THE NORTHWEST AND SOUTHWEST INTERIORS…AND THE STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA AREA. SNOW IN THESE AREAS WILL BEGIN IN THE NORTH LATE TUESDAY NIGHT AND SPREAD SOUTH WEDNESDAY MORNING. BY WEDNESDAY NIGHT THREE TO SIX INCHES OF NEW SNOW ARE POSSIBLE.
So here it comes, a giant snow event. And with temperatures set to stay at or below freezing until Saturday, that snow won’t be going anywhere. We broke a record today set back in 1964, the record was a low of 20 degrees, and today’s low was 19.
As long as the power holds things will be fine. It went out a couple times yesterday leading me to reset appliance clocks a few times. I do have some Duraflame logs I can burn in the fireplace to keep warm, but food would be reduced to peanut butter sandwiches and a handful of other things such as a couple apples and such. I don’t imagine that happening, though.
One thing I do know – I can’t wait to see my electric bill next month. Ugh!
Published on
December 11, 2008 in
General.
I was up watching some of the Woot-off items while waiting for the laundry to finish drying, and just before I was going to call it a night, they had this thing on there. And no, I didn’t buy one. It was $9.99 + $5 shipping and called “Candi, the USB pole dancer†[woot.com]) Powered by USB – truly the lonely nerd’s dream gift LOL. (No, do NOT get me one!)
Here’s their demonstration video (and I love the laugh at the end).
Interested in some specs? From Woot:
- Powered directly from the USB port on your computer and possibly entertain you any time of day or night
- 30 second dance track
- Multi-colored disco lights, recreate an authentic night club atmosphere
- As music plays, the dancer spins around the pole, moving up and down as she spins
- Connect an MP3 player and she will dance to your favorite music
- No batteries or software required
Published on
December 3, 2008 in
General.
This crossed my desk from a few sources, and given I enjoyed a few laughs, I’ll share it with all of you.
Website this is from is here [funnyordie.com].
Yesterday I and over 5,000 others gathered in Seattle’s Volunteer Park to rally against California’s passage of Proposition 8 and to support marriage equality. This was just one of many taking place across the country in a huge coordinated effort which had expectations of over 1 million participants. The rallies across the country have roots here in Seattle – it all started here. Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels declared yesterday, 15 Nov 2008, “Marriage Equality Day.â€
After a few speeches in the park, we marched down to Broadway and turned onto Pine to end at the downtown Westlake Center. I’m really glad I went and I’m glad my friends invited me to march with them. Two of them are registered under Washington state’s domestic partnership, and I can’t wait for them to one day enjoy marriage equality here and all over the United States.
I took pictures of course – you can find them via the Gallery link in menu at the top.
Published on
November 12, 2008 in
General.
After not attending last year, it was really fun to go to this year’s CoasterMania! event at Cedar Point. You know the drill: exclusive ride time, free lunch, some swag, more exclusive ride time, Q&A with park management – translation: a good time.
I didn’t really take many pictures this time around (just how many pictures of Magnum do I need?). So instead of pictures, here’s a small video of Magnum XL-200 at its first hill and some of the second hill off in the distance. I shot this with my digital camera, so it’s not exactly camcorder quality, but still good for the Internet I think.
I was of course exhausted from this trip. During the day I went back to the hotel room to both grab a nap and to cool off – it was reallllllly hot and humid out! But, that really hot day led up to a nice and comfortable evening and our exclusive ride time on Magnum was absolutely great! Shorts and a t-shirt, just great! And, this year, if there was no one waiting in the row to get in the train, we didn’t have to get out! I went round and round and round and round on the thing, and I loved every minute of it. I hope next year we get more of the same – I’ll definitely be back! 
Ok, one picture. Each year they make signs for CoasterMania! and have them near the rides they open for exclusive ride time. After the event, they throw them away, sooooooo…
You can click that for a larger version.
Like two years ago when I took the sign home with me, Northwest Airlines freaked out when I wanted to check it, thinking it’d be totally destroyed. But, it made it back just fine. I want to hang them in my office, but I haven’t solved how yet. Have some ideas? Let me know in the comments.
![Logo_ncod_lg[1]](http://www.aaronhulett.com/postimages/HappyNationalComingOutDay_EEB/Logo_ncod_lg1.png "Logo_ncod_lg[1]"){kind=logo}
Today, October 11, is National Coming Out Day [wikipedia.org], a day meant to bring discussion about issues faced by the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. You can read more about it at the Human Rights Campaign [hrc.org]. This year is a little more interesting as we’re currently fighting for domestic partnership rights here in Washington state. Referendum 71, as it’s known by, brings same-sex domestic partners, as well as seniors in committed relationships, the same rights as married couples, even though it’s not recognized as marriage. Given this is an ‘off year’ for elections, voting is going to be interesting, and I’m of course mentioning it on Twitter and Facebook now and again. You can find out more about Referendum 71 at the Approve Referendum 71 website [approvereferendum71.org]. If you’re here in Washington state, please remember: APPROVE referendum 71 when you get your ballot in the mail.
