Sorry for the late notice, folks, but apparently there’s a big snowstorm headed our way for April 1. No, seriously, we’re getting another blizzard at the beginning of April. God bless New England.

Since I don’t want people to drive anywhere during this kind of weather, I’m postponing my birthday party until… well, we’ll figure that out. In the mean time, we’ll be spending the day doing other things.

Update: No, I wasn’t kidding:

If you want to know when the party (and concert) are back on again, you can join the mailing list, add my calendar to iCal or Google Calendar, or just watch the online calendar on this site.

Don’t Panic… Apparently subscribers have been unable to manually renew or upgrade their subscriptions for a while now. That’d be partially my fault and partially the fault of my membership software developer.

I’d bore you with the details, but I’m more of an entertainer than a programmer. Long story short, all Matthew Ebel dot net members should be able to log in and upgrade/renew once again.

Sorry for the inconvenience!

So I’m sitting here ironing the wrinkles out of the NEW Matthew Ebel dot net and chatting with Aaron about what happened in Japan. I don’t intend to make light of the catastrophe that’s going on there, but one thing led to another and I started playing around with the Translation Widget that comes with Mac OS. Apparently, fun things happen when you shift from English to Japanese back to English again.

My favorites so far:

• General Ebel, Commander of the Robot Army
  、Ebel概要ロボット軍隊の司令官
  Commander of Ebel summary robot troop
• Proud Warrior Bird, Destroyer of 10,000 Fish
  自慢している戦士の鳥、10,000匹の魚の破壊者
  The destructive person of bird and 10,000 fish of the soldier which you brag
• Pretty Purple Warrior Bird
  かなり紫色の戦士の鳥
  Considerably the bird of the soldier of purple
• Long Live Tentacle Porn
  長くポルノグラフィーは触手の住んでいる
  To be long the pornography has lived the tentacle

And then there is the strange journey a single phrase takes when you hit the re-translate button repeatedly:

1. Original English Phrase: All your base are belong to us.
2. The base belongs to us entirely, it is.
3. The base belongs in us, completely that is.
4. Completely, there is a base with our that, it belongs.
5. Completely, the base our that of that belongs, it is.
6. Completely, the base to which our that belongs, it is that.
7. Completely, our bases it belongs, that is.
8. Completely, as for our based that, that it is, it belongs.
9. A certain thing and belonging completely is based, because our.
10. Thing of a certain specification and completely as for post, because us it has been based.
11. Because we that had been based, in regard to the post specified thing of a certain specification and completely.
12. It had been based and in regard to the specification of the specification which is the post specified thing of perfection us, because.
13. That to be based, in regard to the specification of a certain specification the post perfection thing us, because it specified.

After that it just started looking like a cross between a George W. Bush press conference and a David Lynch film. At some point it almost turns into a haiku or some kind of ancient Buddhist teaching that nobody will ever understand.

Either way, technology is fun.

I held my first-ever Members-Only After-Party at Texas Furry Fiesta 2011 and, according to the smiles I see all over these photos, it was a success. Nothing like some local beer and friends- many of whom I’d never met in person until that weekend. And we only got one noise complaint from another hotel guest!

If you missed out on the fun, you’re probably not an All-Access or higher member over at Matthew Ebel dot net. Maybe I’ll see you there next time, though!