Here is Chas's obituary from the Roanoke Times (http://www.legacy.com/roanoke/Obituaries.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=121155364)

Charles Alan (Chas) Novak, 36, of Christiansburg, died Saturday, December 6, 2008, as a result of a automobile accident. Preceded in death by his mother, Roxie Reynolds Novak; and his grandparents, Charles and Mary Novak, and Charles and Elenor Reynolds. He is survived by his father Charles Novak, of New Brington, Pa.; his fianc�e, Kellee Lewis, and her children, Celia Lewis, Amanda Lewis, Laura Lewis and Jessica Lewis. He is also survived by his aunts and her husband, Mary Jane and Leo Curto, of Midland, Pa., Susan Fosnaught, of New Brington, Pa.; cousins, Melissa and Robert Landsbaugh, David, Nancy, Cody and Shayla. The family will receive friends from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, December 11, 2008, at The Horne Funeral Home. The funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, December 12, 2008, in The Horne Funeral Home Chapel with Dr. David Goodpasture officiating. Interment will follow in Sunrise Burial in Fairlawn. Online condolences may be sent by visiting hornefuneralservice.com. The Novak family is being served by Horne Funeral Service, Christiansburg.

Well, just got done with the visit from the landlord, apparently the town had blown things way out of proportion, she thought there was so much damage that the house would be condemned, apparently the town had told her that the walls and carpet were all covered with mold, etc. Instead, there are a couple places where there are water stains on the ceiling that need to be fixed, some tile work needed in the kitchen and one bathroom, some minor outside work, and the trees and bushes all need some trimming, but nothing of the level that the landlord was expecting to see based on what the town told her. My stress level has dropped several thousand percent.

Current Mood: relieved

Well, it looks like I'm in charge of scheduling RPGs for Technicon, although I don't think I'm in charge of Gaming in general. Now I just need to know how much space and how many badges I'll have, and I'll be able to start lining up games. If anyone out there is interested in running anything, let me know. :)

Current Mood: calm

I usually don't do these meme things, but this one looks like it could be humorous.

If you woke up and I was in bed with you, what would be your first thought?
(Now post this in your LJ and find out what mine would be)?

It's been another week, still haven't heard anything back from the Tcon chair about whether I am needed to run gaming. At this point I'm going on the assumption that I will be doing it unless I hear otherwise. I've started to touch base with my various gaming contacts and started to think about scheduling and the types of games I would like to have there. I was a broad variety, and at least a couple solid tracks of pre-scheduled games that can be put in the pocket program. I really need to know how much space and how many staff/volunteer badges I will have available. I also need to know where the line is drawn between Schpiel (I know I spelled that wrong) and Gaming, for example which group something like a Magic or HeroClix tourney would fall under.

Current Mood: blah

Well, I haven't posted in a while, I should probably post more often.

First, the high level stuff. Kids are doing good, work is too busy, spending way too much time playing City of Heroes (as usual). I broke the lawnmower about a week ago (just lost a bolt, easy to replace), I need to go ahead and fix it so I can mow the lawn before it starts to look like a jungle.

I volunteered to handle gaming at Technicon 25. It's actually been over a week since I volunteered and I haven't heard so much as a "thanks for the offer, we'll let you know". If I'm doing it, I'd like to get started lining things up ASAP, I know the con is still many months away, but that time goes quickly. Laura volunteered to do Children's Programming again too (actually in the same e-mail), likewise she hasn't heard a single thing back. I sincerely hope this isn't an omen of what the con will be like this year.

Well, back to work. Got a 6 week project to do and 2 weeks to do it in.

Current Mood: bored

It seems I neglected to mention to anyone (other than my coworkers) that I was going out of town for a week with the entire family. We left on Monday the 7th, flew to LA, relaxed, vacationed, went to John's wedding (I was a groomsman), and came back last Sunday.

Cali was beautiful, the wedding and reception were really well done (Steph and John make a cute couple), and other than locking my keys in the van when we were supposed to be heading to the Airport on the way out of town, everything went remarkably smoothly.

The only thing I would do different next time is scheduling the return trip better, we landed in Charlotte at 11:45pm, and still had to drive 3 hours to get home after we got our luggage and got out of the Airport.

Current Mood: cheerful

Just found this, I'm sure some of you will relate. I think the guy hit the nail on the head, although I'm not to the point of wanting to quit the IT industry.


http://www.lifereboot.com/2007/10-reasons-it-doesnt-pay-to-be-the-computer-guy/

Edit
Since it appears that the original site got dropped from the traffic, here is a mirror:

http://www.lifereboot.com.nyud.net:8090/2007/10-reasons-it-doesnt-pay-to-be-the-computer-guy/

Current Mood: apathetic

Just in case PlatypusGirl comes to my LJ trying to figure out who I am and why I'm posting comments to her LJ, yes you do know me, you have known me and my wife for years, and I'll probably see you at T-Con while my wife is running the kids room. :)

Just heard that they captured the guy, no details yet though.

Current Mood: relieved

Well, today was a bit stressful:

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/79080

Laura and the kids were at Rainbow, which was in the area that was locked down. She managed to be able to leave at 2pm, and just to my work in Roanoke. She really didn't want to be at home alone with the kids. Hopefully I'll be able to leave here shortly instead of being stuck here until 5:30p.

I really don't think that the guy will ever see the inside of a cell. Either he will get away or he'll go down in a shoot-out with police.

Current Mood: anxious

This one is for Tony. I'm sure you can improve it, and I want to see the final result. :)

Lego Chocolate Printer

How stupid are teenagers today? Take a look at this: http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/64377

• Stupid: Breaking into a supply closet in the hotel where you are staying on your class senior trip to NY City and stealing 7 cans of paint.
  
• Stupider: Somehow getting out onto the roof of said 20 story tall hotel with the paint and deciding to throw the cans (not just the paint) off the roof at the vehicles parked below.
  
• Ultimate stupidity: The hotel was across the street from a police precinct, and they ended up damaging 2 police cars, 3 police scooters, an officer's personal vehicle, and actually hitting an officer.
  

Current Mood: confused

Go to Wikipedia and look up your birth day (excluding the year).
List three neat facts, two births and one death in your journal, including the year.

Facts:
1) 1879 - Announcement of the discovery of artificial sweetener saccharin.
2) 1951 - The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting Presidents to two terms, is ratified.
3) 1991 - Gulf War: U.S. President George H. W. Bush announces that "Kuwait is liberated."

Births:
1) 1934 - Ralph Nader, American consumer activist
2) 1940 - Howard Hesseman, American actor

Deaths:
1) 1936 - Ivan Pavlov, Russian physiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1849)

The Lumina isn't worth fixing. It would cost $1100-$1200 to get it back on the road, and then it would still be a car with other issues and 200k miles on the odometer.

I found a cheap car that I want. But it's more than my available funds, and I doubt it will be around long enough for me to save up the cash. Plus I need something to drive back and forth to work ASAP (as in preferably before the end of the week).

I found a little used car lot that will sell for $500 down, $200/mo on anything under $4000, but I can't get there when they are open due to my work schedule, and they refuse to provide me with any sort of list of cars that they have available under $4k; they said that I needed to just come by and test drive some. I don't want anything outrageous, just Year/Make/Model/Mileage/Price, so I can do some research and narrow down what I'm looking at ahead of time. Looking at their lot after hours, they have a few interesting cars, but most strike me as being priced about $500-$1000 high.

My credit is still in the toilet; we were barely able to get the van back in August (and the interest rate on that would shock most loan sharks). I could afford $150-$200/month as a payment, but I doubt I can get any sort of financing, so that knocks out going through a reputable dealership.

I really don't want to ask friends or the in-laws for money. If this had happened 4 weeks later, everything would be fine. Taxes would be filed and the return would be on its way and my bonus check for work would have already come in. But I really can't go without a car for the next 3-4 weeks. *Sigh*

Whatever I get, it has to be able to make the daily 80 mile commute on the interstate, preferably can seat the whole family in an emergency, and I would like reasonable gas mileage (at least 23-25 highway). Any ideas from the peanut gallery?

Current Mood: cranky