Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in drahkar's LiveJournal:

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Monday, July 14th, 2008
9:36 am	Hurrah for press! http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/12905.html (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 11th, 2008
10:36 pm	Flying!!! So… Last time I was in China, my grandfather passed away, and I had to fly back early to get to the funeral. Delta was my airline, but I was on codeshares run by Korean Air. Delta had nothing to get me back on time, so I booked a new round-trip on China Air (not to be confused with Air China…) from Hong Kong to Seattle and back with a big break in between. Delta said that wouldn’t be a problem, they’d put my return HK-Seattle flight off a couple months, but that I would need to have a death certificate with me when I checked in to avoid the $200 re-booking fee. So this trip I took China Air out here, and then today got to the airport and went to check in at the Korean Air counter. The lady there told me that I wasn’t booked onto the flight, that I only had a reservation (note that emails from Delta that I have say differently), and that I would need to pay $200 for a booking. So I told her that I had been told something totally different by Delta. She argued with me for 10ish minutes, then called her manager, and she argued with me for a while. Then the manager called the Delta Hong Kong office, and didn’t get any confirmation to let me get on the plane (after she was on hold for a while). We argue a bit more, then the counter agent says I should call Delta US. I do, and while I’m on hold they close check-in for the flight : ( I get through to a Delta operator, who is AWESOME, probably the best customer service experience I’ve had. Ever. She goes through, listens to what I say, says that there is a very specific note on my reservation backing me up, that the Korean Air agents should be able to see. So the Delta operator asks to talk to the lady at the counter. And proceeds to yell at her for about 10 minutes about what how screwed up she’s made everything, and about how she isn’t doing things right, and about how I should be let onto the plane even though the flight is full. She’s loud enough I can hear some of what she says coming from my phone. The lady at the counter keeps telling her no, that she won’t acknowledge my ticket, so the Delta lady asks to talk to me, tells me that she’s made sure that my ticket is actually booked, but that the lady at the counter is being a total dick (that’s what she said, yes) and doesn’t want to take care of anything. While she is telling me this, the lady at the counter packs up her stuff and leaves. So I hand the phone to a different Korean Air rep, who also refuses to do anything, no matter what the Delta lady tries. Finally I get the phone back and she is *frustrated* and tells me exactly what she thinks of the Korean Air customer service (she wasn’t complimentary). She then goes through and rebooks my flight, as, by this time, my original flight was already done boarding. She did up a whole new ticket, took off any of the issues of the last ticket, and got one of my legs as first class. Sadly, the ticket kinda sucks, but she assured me that it was the fastest way should could figure out to get me home, and after her 30 minutes of fighting like crazy for me, I believe it. So, instead of leaving here at noon, I leave here at midnight. Instead of flying Hong Kong – Seoul – LA – Seattle, I am now flying Hong Kong – Seoul – New York(!) – Seattle, and instead of arriving at 10:15 pm Wednesday, I now arrive at 8:20 pm Thursday. But, hey. I get a lot more frequent flyer miles! Like, an extra 6,750 ; ) This is so going to suck... (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, May 2nd, 2008
2:30 pm	Unfinished Book Meme (Stolen from Shteevie) What we have here is the top 106 books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing’s users. As in, they sit on the shelf to make you look smart or well-rounded. Bold the ones you've read, underline the ones you read for school, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish. ( Apparently I've still got a few to go... ) Overall, I think I am decently well-read... now why is it that I can't spell worth a damn? (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, April 17th, 2008
6:20 pm	Las Vegas So I've just had two people pull out from being able to go down to Las Vegas next week to demo games for two days at my booth at the GAMA trade show, and I need to replace them. So... Anyone free to go down to Las Vegas on Monday, stay for Tuesday and Wednesday, and fly back Wednesday night? If so, let me know! I've got hotel rooms all booked, and I'll take care of the plane tickets as soon as you let me know that you can make it! All you need to do is show some game retail store owners how to play some board games that will be at the booth, and have fun with it! Give me a call (817-992-8037), text message, or email (dan@bucephalus.biz) if you'd like to come along! (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, March 20th, 2008
4:44 am	Chaining boosts... 70 emails sent, 120 emails deleted, 3 POs generated, 2 invoices generated, 3 new art projects assigned, lots of getting ready for this weekend done, a bunch of other things finished or started... ...and on cup #13 of Earl Grey, and a second 6-hour power down the hatch. Tomorrow is full of meetings, so looking for adrenalynn to keep me going until latish tomorrow night, when sleep will be most welcome. All-nighters are more fun when there are other people around ;) *huge hugs* (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 12th, 2008
9:05 am	More news like this, please... WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- A dolphin swam up to two distressed whales that appeared headed for death in a beach stranding in New Zealand and guided them to safety, witnesses said Wednesday. The actions of the bottlenose dolphin -- named Moko by residents who said it spends much of its time swimming playfully with humans at the beach -- amazed would-be rescuers and an expert who said they were evidence of the species' friendly nature. The two pygmy sperm whales, a mother and her calf, were found stranded on Mahia Beach, about 500 kilometers (300 miles) northeast of the capital of Wellington, on Monday morning, said Conservation Department worker Malcolm Smith. Rescuers worked for more than one hour to get the whales back into the water, only to see them strand themselves four times on a sandbar slightly out to sea. It looked likely the whales would have to be euthanized to prevent them suffering a prolonged death, Smith said. "They kept getting disorientated and stranding again," said Smith, who was among the rescuers. "They obviously couldn't find their way back past (the sandbar) to the sea." Along came Moko, who approached the whales and led them 200 meters (yards) along the beach and through a channel out to the open sea. "Moko just came flying through the water and pushed in between us and the whales," Juanita Symes, another rescuer, told The Associated Press. "She got them to head toward the hill, where the channel is. It was an amazing experience. The best day of my life." "It was looking like it was going to be a bad outcome for the whales ... then Moko just came along and fixed it. They had arched their backs and were calling to one another, but as soon as the dolphin turned up they submerged into the water and followed her." After the rescue, Moko returned to the beach and joined in games with local residents. Current Mood: okay Current Music: Secret Vows (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, March 4th, 2008
6:32 pm	Dear Jake, I miss you. Your friend, Daniel (Comment on this)
Friday, January 11th, 2008
10:03 am	fridays are always easier. *smile (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007
11:48 am	A New House Well, for my once a year update, I just bought a house, and will be moving in at the end of July. My new address is 701 N 86th St. The house is on the corner of 86th and Fremont, 1 block north of 85th, 2 blocks west of Aurora. As per usual, everyone is welcome to stop on by any time. (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, August 4th, 2006
8:03 am	To think we could have him... Instead we have Mushroom Cloud Rice. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/hardtalk/5244666.stm This in an interview with the French Foreign Minister on BBC. He strikes me as one of the most intelligent people in politics today. His goal comes across clearly as the well-being of people, not the political goals of his country. It is long, about 20 minutes, but well worth watching for a good interview about the reality of war and peace between the West and the Muslim worlds. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, August 1st, 2006
2:43 am	Once again, still alive I guess I'll just toss a post up once a year or so saying that. Booooooored at the moment, waiting to go to the airport in about a half hour to fly from Hong Kong to Taipei after spending all day typing work stuff and looking out over the amazing city of HK. Pretty much all of last month was spent traveling, and most of August will be as well. I miss Amy a lot, as I have not seen her in 3 weeks, and won't for another week. So, yah, still alive. Working more than playing, bu happy, very. See you again in a year LJ (well, I'll reply to any random comments, as usual, but likely nothing else). -Dan (11 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, May 23rd, 2005
9:54 pm	Yes... ...I am still alive ;) Current Mood: determined Current Music: "Shakin' My Cage" - Joe Perry (13 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, February 10th, 2005
5:55 pm	LotR this Sat at the Cinerama This Saturday the 12th the Cinerama is running a showing of all three extended versions of Lord of the Rings. Several people whom I have already purchased tickets for can no longer make it to the showings. They are $35 each. The doors open at 10 am, the first movie starts at 11 am, and there are two 1 hour breaks, one each between each movie, which finishes everything up by about 11 pm that night. I will be waiting in line either late Friday night or very, very early Sat morning. If anyone is interested in showing up, I have 4 tickets unspoken for. Drop me an email or call me at 817-992-8037. After the movies, we plan to do drinks ;) (20 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 21st, 2004
12:18 am	Polls... ( Polls from various people, 1 I really like ) Feel free to look if you'd like. hattrickflyer, hawaii_boy, thejared, & scifigal might find it a bit amusing, and perhaps appropriate. Current Mood: peaceful Current Music: The Final Countdown - Europe (8 Comments |Comment on this)
12:08 am	Home again, home again Well, I am finally back in the wonderful Pacific Northwest. I have been here for 2 weeks, though I have been damned busy for all of that time. I finally had time today to through and read all the friend posts from the last 3 weeks. I've made some of the comments that I want to make, but I've got some long posts to make before too long. As soon as I can take the time to do them, I will. Life update time ;) I am at my fathers in Anacortes now. I got back from Europe on the 30th of Nov, was in Federal Way for 1 night, then went to GenCon SoCal in LA. I was there until 2 weeks ago exactly (Monday the 6th) with a bunch of good friends and a lot of gamers. It was quite nice. For work for the last 4 months I have been working on Anachronism, a new card game that is partnered with the History Channel and is basically warriors from the past getting into an arena and beating the crap out of each other. I love it. I like working with history, I like working with the people I'm working with, and I like being in charge of things ;) All of this feels good. I am currently the Production & Line Development Manager, which basically I make sure that there is a product made for the Marketing guys to sell. I am (likely) going to be back in Seatle permenantly as of Jan 4th. I'll be moving into a house with Dan Carew and Jeff Malcom, two good friends who I've known for some time. We've got a nice big 2500 sq ft house that will fit the 3 of us and as many gamers as feel like showing up. So, yah, it'll be fun times. The first week back in Seattle I spent working on the Tibbles and Toku eBay store. Mike and Nissa L and I got a bunch of auctions posted, a bunch of L5R and Magic sorted, etc. So far that seems to be going quite well. I look forward to how well it continues to go. The last year and a half have been crazy. I have been around the US, around Europe, I've lived everywhere and nowhere at the same time, I've changed (a lot), and I'm no longer the same person that many of you know. I look forward to getting to know y'all all over again. I really want to just settle down for a while and just live a simple, stable life for a year or two (or longer, we'll see), but I still have this gnawing wanderlust, so we'll see how that takes to the whole settling down in one place thing. I've got a couple of other work projects, and some projects just for the fun of it. Overall, I think that it'll be a great couple of next months. My cell number is 817-992-8037. My email is still d_tibbs@hotmail.com. Feel free to drop me a line if you want to hang out sometime. Life is smiling. Current Mood: contemplative Current Music: Shelter From The Storm - Bob Dylan (18 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, November 27th, 2004
10:46 pm	So very true...             card games are love brought to you by the isLove Generator It knows. I am such a dork. Current Mood: amused Current Music: None - *grrrr* (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 24th, 2004
11:08 pm	WTF? #1 song in Germany, both music and music videos... Call On Me - Eric Prydz Lyrics: "call on me, call on me call on me, call on me call on me, call on me call on me, call on me call on meeeee, I'm the same boy I used to be I'm the same boy I used to be call on me, call on me call on me, call on me call on me, call on me call on me, call on me call on meeeee, I'm the same boy I used to be" (Repeat over, several times) WTF? How is that a song? Current Mood: confused Current Music: Call On Me - Eric Prydz (Comment on this)
Monday, November 22nd, 2004
3:05 pm	Internet Day I guess today is Internet Day. I have been sitting in front of this here computer in downtown Rome for about the last 4 hours, just reading lots of friends LJ entries, pricing out plane tickets for my travels when I get home (oxymoronic, isn't it) and just in general using the computer, typing, etc, to relax and feel closer to a whole bunch of friends that I miss a hell of a lot. I think in a bit I will go walk up the Palatine hill and try to feel inspired by the workmanship of 2000 years ago. It usually works. We'll see if today is any different. Current Mood: listless Current Music: She Thinks His Name Was John - Reba McEntire (4 Comments |Comment on this)
3:04 pm	Pulled from various ppls LJs. I saw some good questions that would have made me think (and did, in fact) so I figured I'd post this up as well. This is the problem with LJ, we all think we are so close, and we know nothing about each other. I'm going to rectify it. I want you to ask me something you think you should know about me, something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about. Ask away. Current Mood: depressed Current Music: On The Verge - Colin Raye (10 Comments |Comment on this)
11:43 am	Mother I really only seem to post here when really good/bad things happen to me. I guess I just like to use this as a way to vent some of my energy/frustration out of me and onto the rest of you. So, thanks, for taking some time out of your day to hear my highs/lows. So far I have just plain not had time or energy to post much about my very long sojourn to Europe, but basically I have now been here for over 2 months, I have gone through a lot of different towns, stayed with a lot of very different, very wonderful people who I can now call friends. It has been a good time overall, and I really do like to travel, but now I really do want to come home. I am tired. Especially after last night. My last two trip segments are Rome and Germany. I was going to go to Amsterdam with Jared and Carter, but we never quite made it up there and my mother decided to come over to Europe after all (she was planning on coming to France for a few weeks originally, but could not make it). My grandmother has never seen Rome, though she has been all over most of the rest of Europe, and my (not so) little brother James decided to come along as well. So I was to have my mother, brother, and grandmother come join me in Rome for 7 days. Sounds good. I really have not had a chance to spend much time with any of them in about 6 years, and I do miss them. In fact, I do not think I have been in the same place as any of them for more than 1 day at a time in the last 6 years, and no more then 2-3 times each year. My grandmother is getting pretty old, and my mother brought along a wheelchair for her, and my brother got his plane ticket paid for so that he could push her around and make sure that she could get to wherever we were going without much trouble. So I showed up here from Germany last Thursday morning and met them at the airport when the got in. We took a cab downtown to a nice little hotel just outside of the Roman Forum (really old place with really old things that I really like). We spend the next 4 days touring around Rome, seeing St. Peters, the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, etc. Grandma can get around ok with the wheelchair, and things go fairly well. My brother goes out and finds a nice little Irish Pub that he can get Guiness at, and he hangs out there in the evenings while I usually spend the evenings wandering around Rome. Last night (Sunday) I head out to said Irish Pub to spend some time with my brother. It was about 5:30, James had just gotten there, and we both spend the next 5 hours or so drinking Guiness, playing pool, and just chatting about whatever. It was a really nice time and I learned a lot about my brother and his life. I already knew the physical details (live-in GF with daughter, construction worker, lives in my dad's old house, etc) but I had not really ever had a chance to talk to him about it all. He seems quite happy with his life, but he is terribly missing his GF and her daughter. I am impressed at the depth of his dedication and love for her. She is a very lucky lady. I took off a bit earlier then he did and headed back for the hotel and fell asleep. I woke up to him crying (missing GF and her daughter horribly, remember?) and to my mother telling him to be quite (she was in a different room, but had decided to come in to comfort/get him to stop crying). She was not helping and her "shush"ing him was starting to go far past comforting into commands, as if his crying was embarassing her. So I sat up and said "Holly, please leave, you are not helping." (we have always called our mother by her name). She tells me to shut up. I say no, that she needs to leave. She tells me to go back to sleep. I repeat once more that she needs to leave and go back to her room. She tells me that I am an asshole. I decided to wait and see what happens. Holly has stopped with her shushing and just sits there for mabey a minute and a half. Then she says (in her best commanding voice) "If you don't stop crying, I am going to call a doctor." I think and say "What the fuck?" I then tell her to get out, that she has no idea what she is doing, and that she is not helping things at all. She responds by telling me that I am a mean, angry, ungratful person that she does not want as a son. I tell her that this is not about me, it is about James, and that if she wants to discuss me that we can do that tomorrow, but tonight James is the only concern. She continues to rail on me, telling me that she does not want me in her life, and she slaps me across the face while my brother continues to cry. I continue to tell her to get out, which she finally does, but not before making a few more choice comments on her feelings to me. It was a little longer then this shows, but I cannot remember it perfectly. Those were the major events, and they might have been in a slightly different order. My mother and I have always had a fairly good relationship, and while we have clashed, it has very rarely degenerated into any kind of name-calling (I think I can remember 2 other times in my life) and she has never said any of the things that she said last night. To say that it hurt like hell is an understatement. I am not sure why she said what she said, and I do not know what I did to bring it on. When she left, my brother just said "Thank you". I would do it again if I had it to do over again. My mother can be a mean lady when she wants to. This morning we were going to go on a bus tour to Pompei, the small town south of Rome that was covered in ash in 73 AD by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. I was there 9 years ago, and I loved it. I was very much looking forward to going there again. Instead, I got up this morning and booked a flight to go back to Germany ASAP. My mother expects me to get over this and be back to the same place that we were before. I won't. I will not be talking to her unless necessary until she decides to offer me an apology. I do not think my mother has ever apologized to me for her actions. I am having a fairly hard time of this, because I do not know if she will apologize ever. I do not want to forever lose my mother, as I love her, but I will not walk away from the words that she threw at me last night. I have to stay here one more night, as the earliest flight to Germany that I could get leaves tomorrow morning at 8:30 am. I am not sure what I will be doing tonight. I guess I will just wait and see how my day rolls out. I know that I want to see some more sights before I leave Rome, but I am not sure if I am emotionally up to it. I have not had a chance to let the tears that I am holding back fall, but I am sure it is only a matter of time. Current Mood: disappointed Current Music: Billy Dean - I Miss Billy The Kid (13 Comments |Comment on this)