The non-smoking thing is coming along pretty well. It's been seventeen days, I've only cheated a few times (just a couple drags, I swear) and I haven't been eating more like I thought I would. According to the quit meter I have already saved $71.28.

All that money has gone to my new addiction. They're called mocha yogochinos and they're not easy on the pocketbook. I pay $4.25, not including tip, for 20 ounces of ice, frozen yogurt, herseys syryp and coffee. Lucky for me they're fat free, but I do worry about the awful notion of the body transforming sugar into fat.

Bleh. Sometimes, there is just no winning.

NASA is blowing up a comet on July 4th.

That is so American.

I love it.

Had a good time playing with Google Earth today. I started at Mount Baker then worked my way West to Bellingham and finally South to the colorful patchwork that makes up the Skagit Valley. From there I dropped in on Cairo and saw the Pyramids. I swung by Paris and then Beijing and after a failed attempt to locate the Great Wall, I swept back to Washington to find the Space Needle. My co-worker Mike was kind enough to take me on a virtual tour of the Woodland Park Zoo.

Imagine the future potential. I can smell a holographic memory plug-in for Google Earth in the years ahead.

Vivid dreams truly are an added bonus of the nicoderm patch. At the moment, I can't remember what it was I dreamt last night, but this morning at 6:00 am I managed to find the willpower to stay awake long enough to write it down. This is rare for me. Usually, I wake up and think 'that was cool' and fall right back to sleep confident that I'll remember it when I wake up an hour or two later. Sadly, that doesn't happen as often as I like and the dreamjournal I started two years ago (and flat out neglect) is a lot slimmer than it should be. The dreams I do remember are always great, but I know I've missed out on a lot.

Last night, I was talking with my friend Kris about bio-tech, life-extension treatments and immortality. What will be done about memory when mankind eventually flips the eternal youth switch? He asked. At first I didn't think anything needed to be done because we usually remember what's important. When he asked me how well I remember the past ten years, I confessed that I cannot always recall everything I said and did and saw the day before. Today as I rethink that statement, I wonder how many of my thoughts, feelings and other experiences have been pushed aside and lost forever?

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe:
Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion;
I've watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate.

All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain."

I think it is time to start a journal for my waking life.

First the Death Star and now the Eye of Sauron.

This could prove probmatic with future human ventures in space, but at least we know the Martians are alright.

I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.

Japan wants to help build a lunar base and populate it with advanced versions of today's humanoid robots by around 2025, according to the head of the nation's space agency.

The idea is more than a pipe-dream; it is part of a 20-year plan, called JAXA Vision 2025, that was drawn up by Keiji Tachikawa, a former president of Japan's largest mobile operator NTT DoCoMo, who is now president of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency(JAXA).

As part of the plan, Japan would use advanced robotic technologies to help build the moon base, while redeveloped versions of today's humanoid robots, such as Honda Motor's Asimo and Sony's Qrio, could work in the moon's inhospitable environment in place of astronauts, he said in a recent interview.

Japan's lunar robots would do work such as building telescopes and prospecting and mining for minerals, Tachikawa said.

"I see a big role for Japan's robotics technologies on the moon," he said. "Japanese robots will be one of our big contributions. If there is work where robots can replace humans, they will."

I love the Japanese.

Here's some more pictures of Repliee at the World Expo. I have to wonder what her maker is thinking at that moment. Can someone caption that?

When I started using the anti-smoking patch last week, I was told that I would have strange dreams. As a person who enjoys dreaming, I took that warning with enthusiasm, but my dreams are already strange.

Like everyone else, my subconscious replays the events of the day and calls up my secret desires and fears from the deep recesses of the brain. I also get a fair share of grand adventure and inter-stellar travel. I have journeyed to distant galaxies, explored marine kingdoms at the bottom of the Pacific, befriended dragons and battled menacing necromancers. I have seen a good number of secretive worlds that are otherwise only accessible by rabbit-holes or a wardrobes. I have been many things, taken on many different personas. Indeed, I have a very engaging inner universe.

Last night, I was Major Motoko Kusanagi, rolling through a ravaged Japan inside a spider-tank. I was having a great time until I was cornered in an abandoned warehouse dodging enemy fire while frantically trying to repair my uplink so I can radio for back-up. When I woke up from that, it was roughly 3 am. No matter, I just went back to sleep.

"Connection lost. Connection lost." Repeats the tank's computer system while I endure another hail of armor-piercing bullets. This again? How interesting. I ended up returning to the exact same point in the earlier dream.

Eh... its happened before.

When I woke up a second time, I couldn't help but I wonder. The Major is a cyborg. Do I have a secret wish of one day swapping my inner anatomy for circuits and steel while constantly pondering what it means to be human? Is this what my subconscious is trying to tell me?

I think I watch too much science fiction. I am such a geek.

Eight or so years after the release of the movie We-Do-Not-Speak-About, the good name of the Dark Knight has been restored. Thank you Christofer Nolan, please make more movies.

Also... Christian Bale rules.

What's this? Be still my heart!

"In the wake of the success of the Cassini mission to Saturn, there is overwhelming support for dispatching a spacecraft to Jupiter's moon, Europa - an ice-covered world that may support an ocean, possibly teeming with life.

The ongoing Cassini mission that dropped off Europe's Huygens lander has shown Titan to be an outlandish mini-world, deserving of further, intensive scrutiny. One "trial balloon" of a concept is to study Titan using a blimp-like vehicle that floats over the moon's surface."

Blimp orbiters. Killer! Further into the article there is the mention of a nuclear powered mission to Pluto. Awesome, but I'm rooting for Europa.

"Scientists are keen on resolving for sure "the ocean notion". That is, whether or not an ocean truly exists underneath Europa's icy facade.

A top science goal of the Europa Orbiter would be to confirm or rule out the presence of a subsurface ocean on the moon. Additionally, an intensive study would be done of Europa's icy crust, to scout out possible zones of liquid.

The spacecraft would also scan for organic and inorganic material on Europa - as related to its astrobiology potential and help set the stage for future exploration of the moon."

I pray for chlorophyll.

As of last night, I became a non-smoker. I ran out of cigarettes on my way home from work and instead of buying another pack, I zipped on over to the nearest Rite Aid and bought the Patch. What an expensive and ironic purchase! I never realized you have to over 18 to quit. Thankfully, the cashier had a sense of humor because I couldn't help but laugh when she asked for my ID.

I came home, went on a short walk with my sister and ate an abstract but tasty salad for dinner. The cravings came upon me afterwards, so I descended into the jungle that is my backyard and brought my aggression upon any innocent weed I could find. Male, female, seedling... nothing was spared from my wrath. Sister later joined forces with me and two hours later the overgrowth was cleared like the Brazilian Rainforest.

Yard work is a great therapy. Tonight, the ivy is going down.

I've been thinking about changing the name of my blog for sometime now.

But to what?

"Enter the Faerie" is really something of an inside joke. I coined the term during a conversation between Sister and I to describe the deeper theme of fantasy and imagination. This "Faerie" is not something that's been featured here at all. After browsing the archives, I realize that I've hardly been consistent on any topic.

Because I'm a spastic like that.

I also tend to procrastinate and may never get around to changing the name at all.

The young woman in the picture below is not a human.



She is a 'humanoid robot.'

She's not capable of much just yet. Repliee Q1 can only move her mouth, breathe and look pretty. At least that is what this article says.

How neat!

The Japanese lead the world in robotics. I hear that robots help out in hospitals and patrol malls. Children get to play with robotic pets like Aibo. Honda said once that they would like to see Asimo in every home. I would love to have a robot to talk to and hang out with... maybe I should just move to Japan.

Hmm... but when are they going to get around to developing the Macross?

I could never say enough good things about my dog, Bailey. She is my beloved champion, sworn defender and gatekeeper of the simple castle that sister and I call home. Hanging out, she's just one of the girls, but even during playtime she is always mindful of her canine duty to protect sister and I at all cost.

How has she taken to the arrival of the Odin and Bazil?

She loves them!

It took only a couple days, but the kittens are at ease around her and are already playing together. A dog that plays with cats! Is that cool or what? Funny thing though, as soon as I whip out the camera phone to snap a few pictures, the frolicking stops and Bailey leaves the scene. I have to be covert next time, but I managed to get one shot so far...

Indulge me. Not posting pictures of my new little bundles of joy would be very uncharacteristic of me.

Aren't they precious?



- Odin, the fearless bedroom explorer!




- Bazil, a cat after my own heart.


I have a feeling I will one day become one of those eccentric ancients who shares a big house with her many cats. The type of misunderstood old fossil whom the bully of the block will invent spooky stories about to scare smaller children.