I went to Vegas last week, that was fun as hell. I went down for NeonCon, they had a LARP section that the Las Vegas domain for the Camarilla was hosting. It ran Oct 29-Nov 2nd, which meant HALLOWEEN IN VEGAS!!! My local Domain prompted to skip ICC to go to this as it was cheaper, closer and on Halloween.

Thursday Oct 30 2008
I went with Stacie, Don and Futch, there where two other cars. We got there around 4pm Thursday, checked in than rested for a bit before gambling than walking the strip. Treasure Island looked very cool from outside, I didn't get to see the show though which make me sad. I did get to see the water show at the Bellagio, that was pretty cool. After walking the strip for a bit we all meet up at Planet Hollywood and hopped on a bus and headed down to Fremont Street, the old strip. The 10+ of us loud and a bit drunk must of been friggin obnoxious on the bus, the locals seemed to not notice us and the tourists sat on the other end of the bus, must of been freaked out. Once we got to Fremont I got lots of free beads and booze while playing penny slots. Than got a massive drink of yummy mudslide doom. Once we had our Yard drinks, Cocktails (I feel like a lush) and beads, we headed back onto the street and watched the ceiling thing show video of hot chicks in sexy Firefighter uniforms. Sex doesn't sell in Vegas, not at ALL. The entire time my buddy Jared freaking out cause he wanted to go to his first strip club and we where all watching the ceiling. A random guy tried to give us "free" stuff, we ran away as he was creepy and nothing is free in Vegas. We went into the strip club, it was a nice one too. We all sat on the runway thing and watch pretty cute girls, okay looking girls and leather faces dance naked for us, I went through my $10 in ones pretty quickly. Stacie and I where the only ones who did not get a lap dance, I paid $20 to get in there, I was just going to sit back and watch. Erin blow $40 on two girls, Jared $200 on two girls (but won it back the next day, and Mike blow $400 on one girl. You can tell the boys had issues holding onto money. However, Mike did throw up on the stripper, I think he gave her more cash cause he felt bad. After the strip club we all stumbled around drunkly in other casinos and eventually made it to a cab and back to the hotel. Mmm drunken sleep.

Friday Oct 31st 2008
I woke up very early for being up till 3am. Very slowly got ready and went down to the Circus, Circus buffet. I had a huge plate of food than my hang over hit. Suck. I didn't eat nearly 10 bucks worth of food, oh well. We walked down to the shop area and saw Ben and Erin they ate and said to hold up and we could all do the tourist thing. Mike ended up meeting us too. We went to the M&Ms store and the Choke a Chola store. Much stuff was bought. We went to the MGM to see the Lion Enclosure, it was closed. Anger! We did end up going to the Secret Garden and seeing Lions, Tigers, Dolphins and Lamas, oh my! Went back to the hotel, got ready for game and went to Vampire. Game was slow and I was tired. Went back, changed eat cheesecake and bed.

Saturday Nov 1st
Breakfast, than Changeling. That was a lot of fun, I met Juliet from the Vegas game, I've know her through online RP for ages now. The game was crazy fun and Gerri lost Morality. At break went to Lunch, back to the Hotel and changed for the next Vampire game. Vampire rocked, Ze've almost reset the local venue. Went back to the hotel, packed, ate dinner than crashed.

Sunday Nov 2nd
Checked out, loaded stuff into the car, checked out the Luxor than home. I will have to say the Luxor looks huge, than you go inside and it's friggin tiny. I was angry at the lack of Egyptian type stuff, everything was just pyramids.

I didn't get to go to any shows which made me sad. No rides, also sad, and I didn't get to take my time, sad. I will have to go again with just the chicka. It was a blast all in all and all the saving and being broke for months so we could go, SO WORTH IT!

Pictures below.

Las Vegas Oct 2008

Rant on Prop 8, the church and who I am.

I've heard a few people saw things to the effect of "It's about time you realized how bad the LDS church is." Okay - there is nothing to realize. I've always known exactly where the church stands on what in everything and still supported them cause there where things I believed in. And there are still things I believe in. I did not do the "right" or "Wrong" thing when I sent in my letter of resignation, it was just what I did. I felt the church did many things it said they would never do, and went about it as sneaky as they could. As long as I have been a member of the church, when it came to voting they said do your homework, do research get a good ideas of all parties involved, and make sure you have your facts, after that pray about it and the Lord will guide you.

Doctrine and Covenants 134:9

All of a sudden, a new prophet is running the church and there reversing there word. Gorden B Hinkley would never of done this. The fact that the church did things like have each ward in Utah donate $2,000 to make the money add up so they could get there tax exempt status makes me sick. The church is doing exactly the things they said they would never do and I feel this is yet another dark spot on the church history books. Yes, for a very long time I've been a bisexual and a member of the church. Guess what? I was LDS before I figured out I liked girls and was active in the church when I knew it was lingering there. Being a bisexual is a big part of me and my life, I have been this way for a long time but I have been LDS longer. I may have left the church, but I still support some of there ideals.

Let me get this straght I do not believe in organized religion. I think its crap, and I think every organized religion is out for them selfs in the end and they always will be. I've seen people of every religion act high and mighty, I see it everyday. The Mormons are just one of them. Call them what you want, I know your religion has a million flaws too, weather you think so or not, at lest I acknowledge mine.

Can't friggin wait!

Michael Phelps is a swimming god.

He did it! He won eight (8) count em! EIGHT gold medals in one Olympic year, which makes like 14 gold total. Holy fucking shit. And I am so excited to say I was in my living room or on my work computer screaming, cheering him on every single inch of the way. And the awesome thing is this kinda stuff has brought America together to cheer, to scream USA! As I have been doing for every event team USA is in. Even when we lose, or don't do well I have still been there cheering them on. Fuck yeah.

Golden Boy Michael Phelps Eager for His Own Bed

Eager for a break, Michael Phelps lets others ponder his legacy while he soaks up the rewards

By PAUL NEWBERRY

The Associated Press

BEIJING

Michael Phelps kept every swimsuit, every cap, every pair of goggles he wore during nine magical days at the Water Cube. Every memory will be savored, too, from goofing off with his U.S. teammates to bowing his head not one, not two, but eight times to receive a gold medal at the Beijing Games.

"There are moments I'll never forget," he said.

Neither will the whole world.

Phelps took down the grandest of Olympic records Sunday in the final event at the pool, helping the Americans rally for a world-record win in the 400-meter medley relay. That victory, one more than Mark Spitz managed at the 1972 Munich Games, assured him a place in sports history and a legacy of, well, does he even need one?

Wait, there's more. In his pursuit of Spitz, which actually began four years ago with six gold medals in Athens, Phelps became the winningest Olympian ever with 14 victories, five more than any other athlete.

Even though the Americans have never lost the medley relay at the Olympics, the latest gold was hardly a breeze. When Phelps dived into the water for the butterfly — the third of four legs — the Americans were third behind Japan and Australia.

But Phelps, swimming the same distance and stroke that he used to win his seventh gold a day earlier, powered back to the front on his return lap, passing off to Jason Lezak with the Americans in front. Australia's Eamon Sullivan tried to chase down Lezak and appeared to be gaining as they came to the wall. But Lezak touched in 3 minutes, 29.34 seconds — the seventh world record of Phelps' remarkable run.

Afterward, Phelps gathered his three mates in a group huddle, then hugged each one of them separately. He thanked them for their role in the last of his three relay wins. They congratulated him for his remarkable feat.

"It was cool," backstroker Aaron Peirsol said. "We got to be a part of it."

Another member of the relay team, breaststroker Brendan Hansen, was most impressed by the way Phelps detached himself from all the hype once he got away from the pool. He'd set a world record in the morning, then go back to the village and act like nothing had happened.

"I'd be like, 'Do you realize what you're doing?'" Hansen said. "And he'd be like, 'Man, the pizza is good today.'"

But deep down, Phelps was soaking it all in — the glory and the minutiae. He had all the medals hanging in his room. By the end of the games, Hansen quipped, they resembled a wind chime.

As much as he relished the actual races, what he really seemed to treasure most were those behind-the-scenes moments. Unlike Spitz, who was viewed as aloof and even arrogant by his fellow swimmers, Phelps got along with all his teammates, even though they all knew he was in a league of his own.

He hung out with them during his down time in the athletes' village, playing cards and the world-conquering game Risk. He made a point to engage the Olympic rookies he didn't know very well. He did what lots of other 23-year-olds did — play hip-hop music and text his buddies.

"I just wanted to make sure I took every single moment in and every single swim in, every single moment with my teammates, so I would remember them," Phelps said. "I don't want to forget anything that happened."

No one else does, either.

Everyone at the pool was mesmerized by Phelps, even if they were competing for another country.

"I couldn't care less about my swims," said Australia's Leisel Jones, who won two gold medals. "To swim in the same era as him has been awesome."

Spitz's record had stood since the Nixon administration. Australian coach Alan Thompson figures it might take even longer for someone to take down the new mark.

"We've been talking about Mark Spitz for 36 years now," Thompson said. "I don't know if I'm going to be alive when they stop talking about this bloke. You wonder if we are going to see someone as good as this again."

After Spitz's performance in 1972, there surely were folks who believed an unattainable record had just been set, that no one would ever collect so many gold medals at a single Olympics. But that merely set a new target for everyone.

Phelps was the one who finally hit the bull's-eye.

"Being able to have something like that to shoot for, it made those days when I was tired and I didn't want to be there ... it made those days easier to look at (Spitz) and say, `I want to do this,'" Phelps said. "I'm just thankful for him having done what he did."

Somewhere, there's probably a child who will head to the pool a little early to get started on his dream of winning nine gold medals.

Phelps surely hopes so. Every chance he gets, he talks of wanting to raise the sport's profile in the U.S., where it barely gets noticed in non-Olympic years outside of neighborhood swim meets. He was the star attraction in Beijing, drawing huge television ratings back home — where the morning finals could be shown live in the evening.

President Bush watched Phelps win two races. Basketball stars Kobe Bryant and LeBron James were there Sunday, rooting him on to his eighth gold.

"The sport of swimming has come a long way so far, and I think it can go even further," he said. "I can take it even further."

The kid who was scared to put his face in the water has grown into the face of his sport. There surely will be plenty of promotional appearances in the days and weeks to come, as Phelps tries to capitalize on his accomplishments while they're still fresh in the public's mind. He hopes to bring everyone along for the ride.

"Mike is opening a lot of doors with what he's doing," Peirsol said. "Hopefully the sport can build on this momentum."

Not that anyone will see Phelps in a LZR Racer anytime soon. He'll take a nice, long break from swimming. The early morning wake-up calls, the grueling weight sessions, the endless laps in the pool — all are on hold for now.

Besides, he has to pack. Phelps will be moving back to Baltimore after spending the last four years in Michigan, where he grew into a man and learned to be on his own for the first time.

Home sounds pretty good to the 23-year-old Phelps, who has a strong relationship with his mother, Debbie, and two older sisters. Phelps' parents split when he was only 7, and the relationship with his father has long been strained, but the women in his life cheered him every step of the way in Beijing.

After the eighth gold, Phelps climbed into stands to give all three of them a kiss. Debbie gave her boy a little extra hug, tears streaming down her face.

"I just want to lay in my own bed for five minutes at least and just relax," Phelps said. "One of the things I'm really looking forward to is getting back to Baltimore."

Not that he's breaking up his hugely successful partnership with coach Bob Bowman. They've been together since Phelps was an overactive 11-year-old, bouncing off the walls when he wasn't beating everyone in the pool. They headed off to Michigan together when Bowman took a job there. Now, the coach is returning to the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, where their relationship was forged.

Phelps plans to return to the pool in plenty of time to get ready for next year's world championships in Rome, where he'll start to tinker with the program that worked so well in Athens and was even better in Beijing. He plans to dump the 400 individual medley, the most grueling race on his schedule, and would like to take on some shorter events.

The 100 freestyle is the most likely addition.

"He thinks it'll be a little easier," Bowman said. "He's more naturally suited for longer distances. It'll be change for him, but I think it'll be a good one."

Four years from now, Phelps has every intention of returning for the London Games, where he'll be able to add to his already remarkable record.

"Bob has a saying, 'Putting money in the bank,' " Phelps said. "When we train every day, sometimes there are workouts you don't like, don't want to do. Bob says you're putting money in the bank.

"I guess I put a lot of money in the bank over the last four years, and we withdrew pretty much every penny in the bank. After Bob and I both grab a little break, it'll be time to start depositing."

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures

Article found here.

Life has been less than fun

• Friend from school died
• Girlfriends grandpa died
• frog died
• got laid off
• Almost got evicted

Lame

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

I got an IM today asking from a good friend if I had seen the new Transformers 2 movie display. I said no at he sent me this. Me being excited does not quite cover it. I loved the last one and actually got to see it a day early. How sweet is that? And Transformers started my love of Clvoerfield. Despite peoples hate for Micheal Bay. I think while he is not a great directer he makes a great blow em up movie.

So if you look at the uber spiffy picture to the left you will see the Decepticon logo with the fist instead of the Autobots. Hmm ponder we say? The picture on the right shows the count down movie display from Transformers 1. One the back of the hand is the Autobots logo and on what I assume is a bomb is the Decepticon logo. I am working on finding more detailed pictures, but for now this is all I have.

more cat pictures

For your entertainment...

more cat pictures

And to make you go AWWWWEEE


more cat pictures

Water pressure blamed for Universal Studios damage

Found here, HOLY SHIT! That makes me sad. And I never got to see the Transformers stuff, really sad. And I loved the Back to The Future court house, I saw that thing when I was a little girl and now its gone. GONE!

White Wolf Books I Must Have.

Lets start off with every Mage book out there :P.



Hunters: The Vigil, looks like it would be a lot of fun to try and Table Top. I think it could be very cool to see how the cam tackles it.



Daeva clan book. I play one Daeva and I also play a character who used to think she was one. I think this book can help her grow and cope with what she "was" for 200 years and now isn't.



This book I am very excited about. I think this along with the Deava book will really help me with Cloey. Maybe help me see where I was coming from or should have and show me what Cloey should be. Or at lest see which route she will take.


Lords of Summer, looks like good stuff. It gives some more info on each Court, which I think is needed and it gives more info on how Freeholds really should be. This excites me.


Winter Masques


Rites of Spring


Autumn Nightmares

Looks like I can safely say every Changeling book as well :P

You know your board when

You make this at work:

more cat pictures

Pundit Kitchen

see more politics and fun!

The Magician and the Parrot

There was magician on a cruise ship, and he was really good.

He was performing the highlight of his show when a parrot walked onstage and squawked, ''It's in his sleeve!''

The magician chased the bird away.

The next day the magician was performing his highlight again (in front of a smaller audience) when the parrot walked onstage and declared, ''It's in his pocket!''

The next day, as he was performing the highlight, he saw the parrot in the crowd. But before the parrot could ruin the magic trick, the boat crashed into a rock and sank.

The magician was lucky enough to find a board to hang on to. On the other end of the board was the parrot.

They stared at each other for three full days, neither of them saying anything, when suddenly the parrot said, ''I give up, what'd you do with the ship?''

We'll miss ya buddy!

So I just found out the coolest security guard in the world just put in his two weeks. *sigh* He is a sweet guy. Always makes me smile in the morning when I get to work. And is forgiving of me when I don't have my badge. Heck once I told him I thought I lost it and he made me a new one no charge. Which is SO not work policy. I am really sad to see him go. So I am going to get a big card or something for everyone to sign and a gift maybe.

Federal Judge Rules That Students Can’t Be Barred From Expressing Support for Gay People

Article found here. Yeah for freedom of speech! I saw the article and it made me smile. Part of it because gay rights moved forward just a little bit. And part of me cause this judge looked at the situation and said someones rights are being violated, period. Check it out below.

Federal Judge Rules That Students Can’t Be Barred From Expressing Support for Gay People (5/13/2008)

Principal Said Rainbows Are “Sexually Suggestive”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT: (212) 549-2673 or 2568; media@aclu.org

PANAMA CITY, FL – After a two-day trial in which a Florida high school principal testified that he believed clothing or stickers featuring rainbows would make students automatically picture gay people having sex, a federal judge today ruled that the school violated students’ First Amendment rights of students. The case was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a junior at the school who had been forbidden by her principal to wear any sort of clothing, stickers, buttons, or symbols to show her support of equal rights for gay people.

“Standing up to my school was really hard to do, but I’m so happy that I did because the First Amendment is a big deal to everyone,” said Heather Gillman, a junior at Ponce de Leon High School and the plaintiff in the case.

Judge Richard Smoak of the United States District Court, Northern District of Florida, Panama City Division, issued an order that forces the school to stop its unconstitutional censorship of students who want to express their support for the fair and equal treatment of gay people. The judge also warned the district not to retaliate against students over the lawsuit.

“Freedom of speech for every person and every idea is one of the bedrock principles on which America was founded,” said Christine Sun, a staff attorney with the ACLU national Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project. “Censorship reflects a deep lack of faith in the American system, and it teaches students exactly the wrong lesson on what America is about. We are thrilled that the court in this case made the importance of students’ First Amendment rights so completely clear.”

The case came about after Heather Gillman and other students approached the ACLU about an atmosphere in which students say they were routinely intimidated by school officials for things like writing “gay pride” on their arms and notebooks or wearing rainbow-themed clothing. According to students, problems began in September of 2007 when a lesbian student tried to report to school officials that she was being harassed by other students because she is a lesbian. Instead of addressing the harassment, students say the school responded with intimidation, censorship, and suspensions. That student testified on Monday, breaking down on the stand as she described the school’s indifference to the harassment she experienced.

During the trial, which was held in Panama City yesterday and today, Ponce de Leon High School’s principal David Davis admitted under oath that he had banned students from wearing any clothing or symbols supporting equal rights for gay people. Davis also testified that he believed rainbows were “sexually suggestive” and would make students unable to study because they’d be picturing gay sex acts in their mind. The principal went on to admit that while censoring rainbows and gay pride messages he allowed students to wear other symbols many find controversial, such as the Confederate flag.

“I am very pleased with the judge’s ruling to uphold the students’ right to express their views on issues that are important to them,” said Benjamin James Stevenson, a staff attorney for the ACLU of Florida. “This whole experience has been important civics lesson about exercising our Bill of Rights.”

Ponce de Leon High School is located halfway between Pensacola and Tallahassee, in Florida’s panhandle. According to the school’s website, about 400 students are enrolled there. Heather Gillman is represented by Stevenson and Robert Rosenwald of the ACLU of Florida, Sun of the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project, and Garrard Beeney, Maura Miller, Meg Holzer, Megan Bradley, Tom Laughlin, and Vincent Liu of Sullivan & Cromwell, LLC.

Gillman v. Holmes County School District, case no. 5:08-cv-34, was heard in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Florida. A copy of the ACLU’s complaint as well as the earlier letter and the school’s response can be downloaded at:
www.aclu.org/lgbt/youth/33859res20080131.html.

For more information on the ACLU’s LGBT advocacy work, visit www.aclufl.org or www.aclu.org/lgbt.

At first I thought maybe the principal really thought things like rainbows put "sex images" in there minds. I would say this is a narrow minded statement but whatever. When I read that he left students do stuff like sport a confederate flag which supports slavery, racism and intolerance, I thought "you are a homophobic ass." And this thought is supported by the schools lack of action when a lesbian student was gay bashed. This proves intolerance. Maybe this man has learned a lesson? I doubt it. One day gay rights will not be nearly the issue it is now, but it will always be an issue. There are still people that think women should not have rights, there are still people that think blacks should be slaves and there will always be people that thing homosexuality is wrong. And you know what? Thats there right. Weather I like it or not, this is America and the wonderful thing about America is you can like or dislike whatever you want. Just treat everyone the same, thats all I ask.

Rapper DMX held on animal cruelty, drug charges

I find my self not shocked, at all really.Which is sad cause I used to kinda respect the guy. He was one of those dirty netty gritty rappers that did what he wanted. He didn't give into the media hype, he was who he was. And apparently, this is a dog abuser. So what respect I had for him is long gone. And I hope he does hard time for his crimes.

Story here.

Nom nom nomie

So I just ate some homemade pizza that I made myself. Good stuff. Not very Italian though. So much sauce that the toppings fell off. yum. I'm trying to think of anything interesting that has happened recently....oh! Denis over at Cloverfield Clues is giving me a free copy of Cloverfield. As some of you may know I have my own Cloverfield blog, well more like a journal. Anywho, I guess he was reading it and saw I do not own the movie and will not be able to for many weeks, I am simply to broke. He knows I love the movie and he sent me an email asking if I wanted a copy! Squee!

Only issue is my girlfriend hates the movie. Scratch that, despises it, worst movie ever to her. Which frankly annoys me cause it feels to me she is unsupportive of my new addiction. I mean I don't care that she doesn't like it, I care that she gets mad at me when she hears the name. I get mad when she gives me crap for liking the movie. Whatever.

Work has been a pain in the neck. I've had to bust my little bum cause this massive conference is going all over the US and Canada and I need to call people to tell them about it. *sigh* So my days of laid back-ness are over. Actually now I think about it, I've gone into this once before. *shrug*

lolness

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Another day, another post.

So a massive Intel conference is coming up which means a large calling effort, guess what I've been doing all day? You guessed it, making out bound dials. *sigh* it's a lot more work than inbound. I'm losing time just typing this. But sigh I say, I needed to blog.

I've got Mage to run tonight, not sure what I am going to do. The PCs have not really been biting on plot i've had. Not sure what to do to keep them interested. I've found they only do something when it directly effects them to a point of it being unnatural.

And I have a new confession, I listen to Miley Cyrus and I think its catchy. Real catchy. Judge me not.

I saw this and just had to laugh

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The Geek Hierarchy - Some close minded douch bags views.

I was going to post the article but it's banned, damn firewall. So the article goes over sub categories of geek. He spent a good amount of time ragging on Band Geeks, LARPers and Furrys. I was annoyed. I fit two of those and my girlfriend fits two as well. Most of his views where like "oh this is just retarded" no reason behind it. It's like my mom saying "cause i said so" annoying.

R.I.P. My little ninja frog.

On Tuesday I came home for lunch and decided to check up on my frogs. I had recently changed there habitat and have been watching them closely. They went from very little water and lots of land to a lot of water and some land. They seemed to like it. I had a tank that was pretty much a 10 galleon terrarium cut in half, which made it a 5, but the base of a 10. Perfect for frogs. I even had this giant rock stuck inside of it. Since the rock was so big and the tank wasn't very tall, I had it laying flat. Which gave them and there live food plenty of room to walk around on. Well, the tank is not made to hold a lot of water, so I decided to get a 10 galleon aqua terrarium instead, as they are made to hold water. I bought a water filter,a lid and called it good. Well, one of the frogs was missing. I freaked out, couldn't find him in the tank anywhere. Stacie and I tore the apt apart and could not find him. So either his frog buddy ate him, which is very unlikely, or he got out and one of the cats ate him. Since they are slightly positions I was even more freaked out. I guess it's just slight enough that the cats will be fine, just an upset stomach.

I cried for a little while and have tried to get over it. I had him for like a good three or four years though. So I am pretty bummed.

With the new tank, the rock is a bit small. It fits inside fine, and since there is only about 7 inches of water it sticks out a tad. But not a lot. Just enough room for a frog to sit on it. Which means the crickets would all drown. Trying to keep my last frog alive I went to the pet store hunting for something to stick in the water. I found the platform thing. Its plastic but the outside rim of it looks like rock. And there is a stick that also looks like rock that holds it up. Its a good foot long. I covered that in purple gravel to match the floor. The frog seems to love it. There is lots of room for him and his food to walk around. I also bought a few small plants and stuck those in there. So its looking really sweet. I will need to take some pictures and post them.

And on another note, MEOW!


see more crazy cat pics

*yawwwnnn*

Wow I am tired. It's been a long week for me. Due to personal issues with a player in the Camarilla I had a stressful time. But It should be pretty much worked out by this point. yay. Oh! BTW The Salt Lake Camarilla was one a local newspaper! Thats my girlfriend and good friend and I all mentioned in the paper. Exciting!

World Horror Con went well. We had a lot of people stop and talk to us about the game and what they needed to do to play near there location. There was some local recruitment but over all it was just recruitment for the game in general, for all over the world. It was a long day. 9am till 7pm. Non stop. Oi.

Child pornography sting — Task force raids homes in Salt Lake Valley

Someone I know has been arrested for being in a child porn ring. Someone I've known like six years. Who has been one of my best friends. I think I may be the most shocked. I don't know what to think.

By Ben Winslow
Deseret Morning News

Published: Tuesday, April 1, 2008 12:18 a.m. MDT

SOUTH JORDAN — The sounds of little children playing nearby carried in the breeze as agents from the Utah Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force raided a home for suspected child pornography.

It was in quiet neighborhoods like this where "Operation Spring Cleaning" was carried out over the past several days, serving 17 warrants for computers and suspects accused of accessing illicit images. Three people were arrested — including a former elementary school teacher.

"It is disturbing. I'd be lying to say it didn't bug me," ICAC agent Coy Acocks said as he prepared to search a home for computers.

The operation was the culmination of weeks of investigations into downloading and trading of pictures and videos of children being sexually exploited.

"We've gone after individuals who seem to be trading on a regular basis and are very highly involved in what we believe is the trafficking of illegal images," said Capt. Rhett McQuiston, the commander of the attorney general's ICAC Task Force.

As they prepared for the operation, Lt. Jessica Farnsworth taped up photographs of a suspect's home. She covered points as officers reviewed briefing sheets. One agent was wrapping up a last-minute arrest warrant and others were preparing to fan out across the Salt Lake Valley.

"Time is wastin'!" Farnsworth shouted to her team. "Perpetrators are out there!"

Arrests

As agents surrounded the townhouse in a subdivision under development in Herriman, two LDS missionaries and a group of children stopped to watch the police activity.

Officers knocked on the door and as soon as it opened, they swarmed inside. Minutes later, Curtis Scharman kept his head down and said nothing as he was led to a police car.

ICAC agents said Scharman, 25, a former teacher at West Jordan's Oak Crest Elementary, was arrested on charges of attempted sexual exploitation of a minor, a third-degree felony.

According to an affidavit filed with the criminal charges, ICAC agents were contacted by a woman who was baby-sitting Scharman's infant son and had been lent a laptop by his wife. The baby sitter found files describing sex acts with children on the computer and called police. ICAC agents noted in charging documents, however, that no child pornography images were ever recovered from the computer.

Scharman was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail and made his first appearance in court to the charges on Monday. The Jordan School District said Scharman had been placed on administrative leave in January and his employment was subsequently terminated. McQuiston said ICAC was still investigating to see if he had any inappropriate contact with students.

Most of the people arrested on suspicion of downloading child pornography know the knock on the door is coming. They have been questioned before, their computers have been seized. The arrests can't be made right away because it takes so long to get the forensic lab results back, so ICAC agents keep in regular contact with their suspects.

"In a way we act as their probation agents," Farnsworth said, adding that in one case she had a suspect call her regularly to keep in touch. Some suspects commit suicide rather than be faced with the prospect of prison time, agents said.

Farnsworth drove quickly into the South Salt Lake apartment complex, a convoy of unmarked vehicles behind her. Clad in bulletproof vests with their guns at the ready, the agents moved up to a second-floor apartment and knocked on the door.

"Police! Open up!" officers shouted.

The man answered and the agents ran inside. Eventually, 30-year-old David Simpson was led out in handcuffs. Simpson has been charged with second-degree felony sexual exploitation of a minor, accused of trading images of child pornography.

"The Australian federal police had done an undercover operation and took down a major porn ring," Farnsworth said. "They only had a screen name and they contacted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children."

The center investigated the screen name, leading it to contact the Utah Attorney General's Office. ICAC agents questioned Simpson and seized his computers. Forensic analysis of his computers led to the discovery of illicit images and the arrest warrant. Simpson is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday.

Search and seizure

At an apartment in Murray, agents carried out computer towers, CDs, iPods and a Playstation console as part of a search warrant executed for child porn — anything that could store an image or a file.

Outside the apartment, agents questioned a man and a woman about what may have been downloaded or traded.

"Through investigative software that's out there for law enforcement, we're able to monitor those kinds of things," said ICAC agent Steve Gamvroulas, adding that law enforcement tries to track types of files featuring children that are traded back and forth by people seeking child porn.

There is no typical profile of a child pornography user, Acocks said.

"It can be about anybody," he said, noting that they have arrested schoolteachers, firefighters and other working professionals.

It is difficult to quantify the level of the problem in Utah, but agents say the state is considered "nirvana" for a child predator. Child pornography Web sites are growing rapidly across the globe, and exploitation is a multi-billion-dollar business.

As they wrapped up several days of serving warrants, McQuiston said the computers seized will lead to more warrants.

"It's kind of the end of one part of the investigation," he said. "But it's going to kick up a whole new one."

Thank you for calling

So my job description has changed. Which requires me to know a lot more product. Oh well. So far it has not been to bad. I am sure I will run into some people that are going to make my life hell. Part of working in a call center I guess.

The line

Where is the line in relationships? When does your partner become the 3rd wheel? Is it okay to ask them to back off so you can have a day to your self? Or with someone else? When can one go "Honey I need "me" time" or "Babe, I am going to hang out with an old friend. Alone." Is that okay? I mean can you not always be attached? When you enter a serious relationship is it than forever a package deal?

see more

Gary Gygax dies at age 69

Oddly enough, there isn't much on this in the web. This man is at lest to me, the father of all gaming. Not just DnD. I feel that modern gaming is what it is today because if this man. I am really sad there isn't more on this yet. I mean I guess there is very little to tell, but I would think more would be put into it. I mean, he was just a very important man.

The sher amount of "Poor Gary falled his saving throw" jokes that I've have ran across is annoying. Tasteless really. Why joke about someones death? Why is that okay? Why is that socially acceptable? I don't get it. It's kinda like the Phelps family protesting Gorden B Hinkleys funeral, it's disrespectful. I do think it's very likely that good ol' Gary would laugh at these jokes though. Anyways, links below. Check em out.

• Wired
• CNN
• Google News Results
• WereGeek
• Wizards of the Coast
  

Remembering Lawrence King

http://www.rememberinglawrence.org/

What kind of sick fuck shoots some kid in the middle of class and destroys a family, ends a life and fucked up a class full of children all in one go cause he didn't like gays? I hope you fry. Fucker.

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1582039/20080221/id_0.jhtml

Happy V-Day!

Yes yes that was yesterday but I was a tad busy.

So my day started out like any other. Good and normal.

Around 10am I got this over whelming smell of gasoline inside my office. Well everyone else smelled it too. A few people started freaking out a little bit cause they thought the building would blow up or something. Whatever. I got a little dizzy but figured the smell would go away. I had a round table meeting with the client so I meet up in our bosses office to start our meeting when one of the girls I work with comes storming in and says "the fire department is here, they are evacuating the building, lets go!" So my Castle training kicks in and I start double checking that everyone is ok and showing them where to go. I run into the bathroom and grab everyone in there and we head outside. The women I work with looked a tad sick, turns out she was throwing up inside the building. NOT GOOD. I grab an EMT so they can look at her and she ends up getting tossed into an ambulance and treated for CO Poisoning.

After about 15 minutes of standing outside the site manager tells us they have opened up the other building to us as this may take up to an hour before the fire department will let us back in. So everyone starts heading over, I am only a little dizzy and was honestly trying to take care of everyone else.

By this point there are like six fire trucks, four ambulances and a has mat team. Awesome! Oh and the news and of course someone is talking to them when frankly they are not supposed too. That would be breaking number 1 rule of "work". NEVER EVER EVER talk to the media. Yeah...she got fired. Anyways we went to the next building, I sat down and got REALLY sick. They sent me back to the site and all the ambulances where gone. They shoved me in a fire truck and put my on oxygen, and kept testing my finger for something. I heard something about my CO levels being way to high. So the EMTs get there and grab me, I get put on a gerny and strapped in, and being a person who has never had this happen before, oh god i was scared. So I am laying there, I cant move, I have a big plastic thing stuck on my face feeding me air and the world wont stop spinning. And the entire time Stacie looks freaked out that I am having this happen to me. They place me inside the ambulance and start asking me all these questions to make sure I am okay. There is some chick sitting next to me for the same thing, I just guess I was worse off. After like ten minutes or so they close the door and we are on our way. At this point I have had three separate oxygen machines on me.

Once I was inside this said ambulance I was really freaking out, never been in one before and now I cant move and am hooked up to a bunch of stuff. I was trying to talk to the EMT to calm down, it worked a bit. I think. Once we got to LDS Hospital I saw a basketball hoop on there wall next to the ER. I actually said "Hey you guys have a basketball hoop! Just like on scrubs!"

...oi...

So I get sat in an ER room thing, lay down and they do all the normal stuff they do when treating someone. They drew blood from my vein, took like five vials. They had to run five separate tests. Needles suck. By the way this guy drawing my blood says "move your hand really big, like your embracing the force." yeah, geek. So he ties the rubber thing around my arm really tight and it hurts like a SOB he than says "oh crap I forgot the needle I will be right back."....WTF!!!!??? ow! He saw all my "suddle" pride stuff and was getting all weird on me. He asks me if I am ok, I tell him my feet are cold, he runs off than comes back with blue slippers, and actually takes of my shoes and socks than puts them on. Weirdo. Later, this chick walks in and says she needs blood. I told her some was just taken and she says "no from your artery. And I am not going to lie, this is going to hurt. A lot." Great. So she stabs me (with good warning) and can't find anything, which means she has to stab my other arm. yay. So I got the REALLY painful part twice. I cried. So painful. Anywho, have a little bit they released me and told me all the CO had gone away. After three hours of being on the oxygen. They send me home. "work" send a cab to pick me up and pays for it. Than sends me home with full pay. Hoping I am not gonna sue. All I have to say is yay workmens comp!

So basically, I had CO poisoning. Scary shit.

So once I was home I slept for a while, watched the news and talked to Koala.

Later that night, my girl and I went out to TGIFridays for dinner and saw Fools Gold, very cute movie. My arms are killing me...

On a much lighter note...


moar humorous pics

The Thumpa thumpa will never stop...

Or so they say? Let's hope so... I sometimes fear Utah will never come around. It will always be this state full of fear and hate. Well, thank god Utah has a nice underground scene, the thumpa thumpa is strong here, just not as strong as other places. But one day the minority will uprise and all those right winged hateful people will worry. I relay on the fact the while Utah is a right winged state, we are also lazy or at lest the Republicans are. I'm counting on it really.

SLC's domestic partners registry targeted by Senate panel

By Derek P. Jensen
The Salt Lake Tribune

Ralph Becker was politic, patient and polite.
That proved no match for a Senate panel whose members argued that the new Salt Lake City mayor's domestic-partnership registry is "repugnant" and advances "the homosexual agenda."
By a 4-0 vote Monday, the Senate Health and Human Services Committee agreed to send SB267 to the full Senate for consideration. Sponsored by Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, the bill would block Becker's newly approved registry - and perhaps the capital's 2006 adult-designee ordinance - for fear it would fracture the foundation of marriage.
"This is nothing but an open checkbook," said Buttars, who argued the "repugnant" registry "attempts to define a class, and therefore, it don't fit."
"Some people may disagree with me, but since America was born, marriage is the cornerstone."
Passed unanimously by the City Council, the registry would serve as a tool for private-sector employers when determining whether to issue insurance benefits to domestic partners.
But much of Monday's testimony - opponents ranged from Eagle Forum head Gayle Ruzicka to former GOP lawmaker LaVar Christensen and former U.S. Rep. Merrill Cook - panned the registry for its perceived violation of Amendment 3, Utah's constitutional ban on gay marriage and domestic unions.

That incensed openly gay Sen. Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake City, who called the criticism "inane and small-minded."
"It's not justified, it's not fair, it's fear based," said McCoy, who attended the debate but missed the vote while presenting another bill. "They think Amendment 3 was a referendum on anything gay and it wasn't. And it shouldn't be interpreted that way."
But it was, particularly by Amendment 3 author Christensen, who helped present Buttars' bill as a representative of Citizens for Principled Government.
Christensen said Amendment 3 deliberately outlaws synonyms or substitutes that "approximate marriage." And he alleged that registry supporters have "a broader agenda" than securing health benefits or visitation rights - which never have been threatened, according to SB267 backers.
Tell that to Cristy Gleave, a lesbian mother who told the committee she was not immediately allowed to see her partner at LDS Hospital after a serious car accident.
That did not sway Buttars, who equated the registry certificate with marriage papers. But City Attorney Ed Rutan rejected the comparison, saying there is "absolutely nothing" in the language that violates Utah's marriage law.
"Nobody in the city is ever going to say, 'I now pronounce you domestic partners,' " Rutan said.
Becker conceded the Legislature could overrule the city but said that would be a "big mistake," given the council's unanimous nod.
"We are operating well within Utah law, and we are trying to do only what is best for our residents," said Becker, who later vowed to battle the bill to the end. "This is a clear example to me of a state trying to override the clear desires of a community."
Becker's soft but stern statement - a sharp contrast to predecessor Rocky Anderson's vitriol - failed to win any converts.
"This issue, as I see it, of forwarding the homosexual agenda, goes against my party's beliefs and my own personal beliefs," declared Sen. Allen Christensen, R-North Ogden.
And Riverton Mayor Bill Applegarth, who supports Buttars' bill, worries that Salt Lake City's registry would spread to the suburbs.
Despite a substitute version of SB267, Becker and Rutan fear the measure also could kill the city's adult-designee ordinance, which provides health-care benefits for adult designees of city employees. Becker noted 78 percent of the beneficiaries are opposite-sex partners.
Two sets of family members who use that benefit attended Monday's hearing but were not permitted to speak.
After the hearing, Melanie Schertz, who insures her ailing mother under the provision, said the Legislature should refrain from defining a "family."
"If they're going after this because a few gay people get benefits," she said, "they're not seeing the whole picture."
Andrea Curtis and her 74-year-old mother, Jean, provided proof as they exited the hearing, slightly shell-shocked.
Mumbled Jean Curtis: "I'm not getting any younger."
djensen@sltrib.com

So here we go again. The very thought of a homosexual having a right in Utah makes half the state sick. Human rights has never been something everyone just had, it's been baby steps. The bully's of the world are full of fear and are narrow minded, and because of that people like me get the shaft. Frankly, I am okay with the term "domestic partnership", marriage has always been to me a spiritual thing and thus the government has no right being in it. Let the homophobia run strong in Utah!

Fat Tuesday

Barack Obama won the Democratic vote and Mitt Romney won for the Republican vote in Utah. All I have to say about Mitt is shocker. The boy won't win of coarse. Than again I pray to god a Republican doesn't win this go around. We need something new.

Romney wins Utah GOP primary; Obama takes Democratic vote

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney won 36 delegates in a winner-take-all sweep of Utah, while Barack Obama defeated Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic primary.

Romney, a Mormon like more than 60 percent of Utah residents, had been expected to win in Utah, adding to his primary win in Massachusetts, where he served as governor.

Obama, an Illinois senator, held a commanding lead with the state's Democratic primary voters. Utah Democrats split their delegates by the popular vote.

The Associated Press made its call based on surveys of voters as they left the polls.

Romney is a favorite adopted son in Utah. He was chief of the Salt Lake Olympics in 2002 and owns a vacation home at Park City's Deer Valley resort.

In Utah, Romney found favor with GOP voters who said the economy and immigration were their main concerns, according to exit polls conducted for The Associated Press.

"It's always great when the people who know you best support you," said Josh Romney, 32, one of the candidate's five sons, who lives in Salt Lake City and works for a real-estate development firm.

Obama had an edge with male voters in Utah, while women appeared evenly divided between him and Clinton, a New York senator.

Voters who described themselves as independents were more than twice as likely to vote for Obama, the survey found.

"There's something going on with Obama," said Utah Democratic Party spokesman Bill Keshlear, describing Obama's appeal.

"It has to do with his youth, his message of hope and enthusiasm. Part of it is generational. A lot of people his age and younger who grew up with hip-hop culture are comfortable with an African-American as president," he said.

Because of Romney's overwhelming support among Utah Republicans and their winner-take-all primary, Arizona Sen. McCain's campaign and that of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee have been all but absent in Utah.

Romney, by contrast, has made several fundraising appearances and ran television commercials here. He raised $5.2 million last year for his presidential campaign in Utah, making it his second-highest yielding state after California, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

For Jamelle Chadwick, a stay-at-home mother in Sandy, Utah, Romney's Mormonism made the difference.

"The standards are important in leadership, like integrity, honesty and hard work," she said, adding that Romney's experience is another plus. "He knows how to solve problems."

I heart ebay

I now have my very own copy of Rob's Party Mix! All I have to say is hell yeah.

New Lappy for me.

So thanks to the government and the state of Utah, I am getting a nice tax return. Just nice enough to get me a good laptop. I briefly thought about a Mac Book, problem is if it breaks, I would have NOOOO idea. If a PC breaks, I can fix it.

Bare minimum of what I need:

• Dual core processor, I prefer Intel as that is what I know. Needs to be 2Ghz don't really need anymore. I wouldn't notice, no one would unless you where processing tons and tons of data per second.
  
• IF I have to do Vista I need 4 gigs of memory, as Vista sucks up 2 gigs on its own. If I can get XP, I would only need 2 gigs, but I would like at lest 3 if not 4 because of all the photoshop.
• 120 gig hard drive
• Centerno plat from technology.

Here is the HP I built:

dv2700t Special Edition series

• Operating system Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)
• Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo Processor T7250 (2.00 GHz, 2 MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
• Display 14.1" WXGA High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1280 x 800)
• Memory 4GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• Graphics Card 128MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
• Personalization HP Imprint Finish (Verve) + Webcam + Microphone
• Networking FREE Upgrade to Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection
• Hard Drive FREE Upgrade to 160GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive from 120GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive!!
• Primary CD/DVD Drive FREE Upgrade to LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support!!
• TV & Entertainment Experience No TV Tuner w/remote control
• Primary Battery 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
• Productivity Software Microsoft(R) Works 9.0
• Included Accessories HP 14" Reversible Notebook Sleeve

All for $1,394.99! That's about the cheapest I could find one. There is a Lenovo which is a sub company of IBM that has close to the same thing for cheaper but not quite as nice that I also built:

• ThinkPad X61 - 1 Year Depot Warranty
• Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7250 NV (2.0GHz, 2MB L2, 800MHz FSB)
• Operating System: Genuine Windows XP Professional
• Operating System Language: Genuine Windows XP Professional US English
• Display: 12.1" XGA TFT, 2x3 Ultraconnect II antenna
• Total memory: 3 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)
• Keyboard: Keyboard US English
• Pointing device: TrackPoint
• Hard Drive: 120GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm Serial ATA (2.5")
• Wireless card: ThinkPad 11a/b/g Wi-Fi wireless LAN Mini-PCIe US/EMEA/LA/ANZ
• Battery: ThinkPad X60 Series 4 cell Enhanced Capacity Battery
• Power cord: Country Pack North America
• Language Pack: Language Pack US English
• Warranty: 7675: Express - 1 Year Depot Warranty

This is like $1,349.99 or something like that. I think it will be about a month before I get my return. I have some still I still need to get out of that and I have an entire free check coming up. I am hoping to get this by like April if not sooner. We shall see!

Spider Bots= Death

So I am sitting at work yesterday doing my happy little job and I get an IM from a co-worker. It said: Hey is this you? :P Well since I work for Haunted House and LARP in full costumes with make up on, I figured there was a picture of me in a bunch of make up or something, I click on it and it asks me to download an application. So I send an IM to said co-worker saying I wasn't really willing to download something, can I just come over to your computer and take a look? Well I get the same exact IM from another co-worker who has never talked to me about some non work related before. The second I saw that I thought "Oh shit" All of a sudden everyone is getting the exact same IM from everyone. Ladies and gens, this is called a spider bot.

So what happened is lets call him Bob got an IM from his mom. Bob looked at this IM with the link in it, this link spidered into everyone in his friend list. Than it spread to everyone on there friend lists, than there friend lists and so forth. The virus none as "Trojan" downloaded onto my computer each time I got the IM, so like fifteen times. I logged out of MSN as soon as I could and than text messaged everyone I didn't work with that I could saying to ignore the IM. The anti-virus stuff automatically deleted the virus, or I thought. About 30 minutes later my IM started freaking out again and I lost all connectivity. Which meant every single tool I use to do my job...POOF!

I did a full virus scan, found the virus and tried to delete it. Didn't work, after trying about 50 things we just had to re imagine the computer. Sucky but no big deal. The way the virus works is as soon as the IM opens up (you click on it) it activates. Well, one guy was on lunch, he gets back and one of our supervisors tells him not to unlock his computer, he ignores her (cause he is an ass and always does what he want.), unlocks it and reinfects the entire office. Can we say douce bag?

We have pretty much gotten rid of the virus at this point but there are still traces of it around. Sometimes I wish I had a Mac...

Feast of Fools and Cloverfield

Feast of Fools talked about me on there podcast today! It was very exciting. So, I started a Cloverfield blog. I just had the long post before, but now I started a blog cause it's just more organized. Its here.

Happy Tuesday?

Hello ladies and gens, happy Tuesday. It's your friendly neighborhood blogger here. I find myself oddly awake for someone who got like no sleep. Oh well. I've decided I truly hate the mornings. I have to hear this beeping alarm on my partners bedside table that gets louder and louder and LOUDER the longer it goes, and since it's on her side, sometimes it takes a while. She hits sleep ten times are we are always late. I stumble into work, flip on my computer and clock in for the day. At this point I should be working, but that doesn't always happen right away. I check my email, my web comcis, and lolcats. THAN I start my day, nice and slow. At some point in the day I turn on iTunes and download the next Feast of Fools, as they toss one out everyday and plug in my iPod as I never remember to charge the thing at home.

At some point I will go on break and do something to suck up 15 minutes. As you all know, most of my free time on a PC has been doing something with Cloverfield, I head home for lunch, come back and work again. Five o clock comes around and I am out of here. w00t? Tuesdays and Thursdays I go play the Camarilla and get to be a geek. It's a Live Action Role Playing game, or LARP. This one is set in modern times and is based of the D10 game World of Darkness by White Wolf.

Sometimes I get to go play Mythic Realms, which is also a LARP but this one has boffer weapons. Those are basically PVC pipe, fun noodle and duct tape to make a sword or a shield. Than you beat the crap out of the other person, it's very stress releasing. That game is a fantasy setting, very Lord of The Rings. I play a big cat. I should post some pictures at some point. It's not for everybody thats for sure. But some very unlikely people play it. Hell, I could see Vin Desal doing it, and rocking.

All about Cloverfield

So I wrote this forever ago and am just now getting around to posting it. :P The parts in red are recently updated.

Ok - Long post about everything Cloverfield and spoilers, however it might explain some stuff and show you the true depth of the marketing they did. I mean there still not done with the viral marketing and the movies been out for a few days. It's awesome.

So lets start with the first site

1-18-08.com

This site came out last Summer when the teaser trailer was introduced for "Transformers" It had a few pictures on it all dated "1-18-08" two of them showed a party while one showed some guy holding food and the rest showed pictures of destruction. It's all flash stuff. If you can bring the non "doom" type pictures to the top of the stack, hold your mouse down and "shake" the picture, they will flip over to show writing on the back. A lot of these pictures are not only dated, but have times on them to show the order of the events.

On roughly 1-14-08 a picture of a few sinking ships. There is smoke poring out and part of it is pixlated, my guess on purpose. The next day another picture was posted in "night vision" of the ships and what looks like planes bombing something. Now if this is true, than SOMEONE knew about the monster before it attacked NYC as the pictures that are not dated are all real time (In theory). The next day from this yet another picture was posted of what seems to be a fishermen or something in a small boat, the water all around him is a dark red. Maybe they killed a second monster? Or maybe its just damn tough. On 1-18-08 yet another picture was posted of a beach with what looks like marine animals (or whats left of them.)

In one of the original images it shows the main charecters Rob and Hud with a girl named Jamie Lascano who has a viral tie in website

JamieandTeddy.com (password: jllovesth)

There are 11 videos (as of 11-21-08) if you start from 1 it pretty much tells a story of this girls boyfriend Teddy, who is working for a company called Tagruato Corp, which is a drilling company and gives off a "Umbrella Corp." feel. Anyways, the videos don't tell a whole lot till about the 3rd or 4th in which Teddy sends Jamie a package which she can't open until December 9th, which was the day that the title of the movie was released along with a longer trailer.

After a few videos of her basically going "I hate you! you never call" she opens the package early to find a Slusho! hat, a sample of Seabed's Nectar which reads "DO NOT EAT", and message from Teddy which says:

Jamie, listen to me, alright this is not a joke. If you're hearing this before we've spoken, then it means that I've been captured by the company called Tagruato. Ok, TAG-RU-ATO. Now listen. You, this is important. Don't call the authorities. It'll screw everything up. Just sit tight and wait to hear from Randy. He knows to call you. We're on their station ok, and it's like they've found something, or they're making something, but the point is, I can't, I'm not going to be calling you again. You're not gonna hear from me again. I just want you to wait for Randy.. he will explain [Jamie stops tape]

She gets all pissy and assumes he is lying and cheating. The common viewer gets that something has gone or is going very wrong.

Slusho, is a sub-company of Tagruato.

In video 6, Jamie calls Tagruato asking for Teddy, they have never heard of him.

In video 8, Jamie opens the packge of Seabeds Nectar, sniff it and makes the comment

"Wow, definitely opens my sinuses, that's for sure"

she than taste it,

"Tastes pretty good...Woah, what is this stuff that you sent me? I feel great, I'm gonna go out..."

In videos 9 and 10 she just goes off about hating him. 9 seems a bit more "hyper" which could be from the Nectar but I am unsure.

In video 11, which was released on 1-18-08 it shows her all dressed up. She says:

"I love you haha, I am finally over you and you know what, I feel like a whole new woman and it’s like it’s gonna be the first night of the rest of my life and and Lily is putting this thing together, and I’m gonna go to it and I don’t know why I just soo like I’m like uh the happiest the happiest I’ve ever been in my whole life and I don’t know I have like MASSIVE amounts of energy I’m gonna have MASSIVE amounts of sex with Schneider and it’s just gonna be great and I just think you should say goodbye to these breast (kisses breasts) cause you’re never gonna see them again and look here (slaps butt) I think you’re pathetic."

This is assuming after her eating more of the Nectar, the charecter "Lilly" is the same person who throws a surprise party for Rob, which is the same party. She is wearing the same dress in this video as she is in the picture on 1-18-08.com, and in the movie it self. At some point the charecter "Hud" is walking around the party filming stuff and shows Jamie, in the same dress passed out on the couch.

She also has a myspace: http://www.myspace.com/jamielascano

Next up is the company known as Tagruato Corp, a drilling company owned by Ganu Yoshida. http://www.tagruato.jp/, a viral tie in site as well. On 1-18-08 the site went "down for matance" a mirror site can be found here:
http://tagruato.cloverfieldclues.com/

-UPDATE- On 1-23-08 This site went back up.

So the site pretty much says they are this awesome drilling company with like 18 locations of something. With a slogan of "Exploring Our World, Ensuring Our Future" you would think there saving lives or something.

Ganus mother was a big fan of making many different flavors of drinks and what not. Was her life dream, when in search for the best ingredient well she never came back, so bummer. The son left this drink Company to his cushion and founded the drilling company. At some point during all this drilling he finds the Nectar that he tasted (god only knows why) and had a dream later basically saying this was the ingredient that would make your moms dreams come true. He goes back to his cushion and Slusho! is born.

http://www.slusho.jp/

There motto is "you can't drink just six" so if we take into account what it did to Jamie in the videos my guess is it does something to the human body and makes them freak out. And guess who is going to be the Vice President of Slusho!? ROB!!! The main charecter for the movie, or at lest thats the theory.

There is also a site called http://www.tidowave.com/, which on 1-18-08 was shut down. Its just a picture at this point, I do not have a mirror site for this one. Anyways, this site is like the "anti Tagruato Corp" site they talk about them distorting mother earth, harming animals and blah blah. There is a post on the site talking about the Seabed's Nectar not being FDA approved, even though the Tagruato site has a blog post saying it is, which is not on the mirror site.

-UPDATE- On 1-23-08 This site went back up.

"Yoshida Brings Happy Flavor to Big Apple Ganu Yoshida left with much fanfare today as he boarded his private Tagruato jet that will fly him directly to New York city in the United States. He will be meeting with acclaimed CEO Glen Warner, owner of BevVo, the largest privatized water manufacturer in the world. "Glen has many ideas for distributing Slusho! through pre-established public waterways," said Yoshida, "I wanted to come here myself to discover them."

Yoshida will spend four days in New York before continuing across the United States on a tour of potential Slusho! manufacturing plants."

There is another post about a Tagruato drilling site blowing up and killing everyone on site off what I think is the west cost, near America. Called the Chuai Station. On 1-18-08.com is picture of men running away from why looks like the drilling site. This picture was added on roughly 1-7-08

A post from TidoWave.com:

"Do NOT return to The Farm. It’s crawling with agents on Tagruato’s payroll.

It’s a set up!!! All of our members know our goals and motivations are preservation of Mother Earth - NOT mass murder!!! Granted, we’re not upset that Tagruato has one fewer “death station”, but we would NEVER kill to accomplish our goals. This is yet another crime on humanity that Tagruato is trying to push off on the innocent.

And let me be clear: we will not stop until we find our missing brothers and sisters. We can’t give up hope.

Wait for Janice’s picture. Then you’ll know where to meet us. Tagruato’s lies will not go unpunished this time. Something happened to our comrades – and that station - and we’re going to find out - even if we have to go all the way to the top!!!"

So what I think happened is either they where drilling and disturbed some creature that has been sleeping for a long ass time. Or Tagruato blew the station up for some reason. I think they might have been drilling for the Nectar, but I also think they where drilling for the "Nectar" or in other words, told everyone thats what they where doing when they where really doing something else all together. Either situation can support that they disturbed the monster. Maybe the Nectar was its food? Or maybe the Nectar is its "sperm" or something like that. Point is more something went really wrong there and Tagruato blamed TidoWave, weather cause they honestly thought they did, or they where covering something up.

Slusho! has been connected to Hereos and other JJ related shows.:http://cloverfieldclues.blogspot.com/search/label/Heroes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slusho

*Slusho also has a big factory in New York, as according to the Tagruato website, they had recently established the ablitly to sell in the U.S.

*People who had registered at the Slusho! website received e-mails of fictional Sonar images prior to the film's release that showed a deep-sea creature heading toward Manhattan.

*There is also an article the talks about a member of the Slusho! team being fired for research in genetic manipulation of Australian Aphynos

http://cloverfieldclues.blogspot.com/2007/11/tagruato-update-rrc-article.html

So my buddy googled the fish and came up with this:

http://www.amonline.net.au/FISHES/fishfacts/fish/agelatinosus.htm

If you have seen the movie, you would know the monster looks very close to that. But I have no idea exactly how it ties into everything.

If you where checking MySpace you could see plenty of advertisements of "Robs surprise party" excursively for MySpacers. So pretty much they held a party with the charecters and I mean the charecters not the actors, for a surpsie party to wish Rob well off to Japan like in the movie. The exact details of the party are scetchy but I do know they gave out a Rob's Party mix cd for the attendees. Good luck finding it for less than 80 bucks.

http://cloverfieldclues.blogspot.com/2008/01/robs-surprise-party-in-new-york.html

The charecters also ALL have there own MySpace, check out these updates on 1-18-08: (you can get to all of these from Jamies MySpace which is linked on the top of the page.)

HUD to ROB - Jan 18 2008 4:03 PM hey man. do you have any like, plans for tonight? cuz I was thinking of watching the complete 7th season of buffy, if you're in

ROB to HUD - Jan 18 2008 4:08 PM That sounds awesome, actually. However, Grimes randomly invited me to see My Fair Lady, he got some free tickets or something. What time are you starting?

HUD to ROB - Jan 18 2008 4:13 PM Time is an illusion, Rob. Lunchtime doubly so.

JAMIE blog post - Jan 18 2008 4:13 PM - Current mood: energetic SOMEONE is seeing me naked tonight - and his name won't be Teddy. Tonight is all about me having fun as a free, single, sexy young woman. This is the start of a new era, I can feel it.

LILY blog post - January 18, 2008 4:35 PM - Current mood: stressed DOES ANYONE HAVE AN ICE BUCKET!?!? - Ahhhhihateboystheyarelazyanddon'thelpahhhhh!

BETH to LIL - Jan 18 2008 4:39 PM Alright, I think I'm still gonna come. I might be late, though.

If you surf all of there MySpaces you will see blog posts, comments and photo comments that help tell the story and round out the charecters as "people".

At the end of the movie it shows Beth and Rob at Concy Island two weeks earlyer. In the background shows something falling into the water, this has some connection to the monster, what we don't yet know.

At the end of the credits you hear Rob whisper what was rumored to "Help us, it's still alive." Or maybe "Help us" and played backward is "its still alive." My thought is Rob says "Help Us" and than you hear a radio transmission of some guy saying "It's still alive." Or maybe Rob is saying "Help Us, I'm/We're Still Alive." Now that be a whole new level of hell.

So all in all everything connects. You can determine how exactly.

At this point you find your self in theory. And lots of it.

Here is one:

The man who did the experiments on the fish was caught and fired, the fish was just tossed back into the sea and ended up at the location was the drilling site which later sinks. The stuff they are drilling, nectar for Slusho is what this animal feeds off of, a few years later it turns into this super evil monster of doom.

It comes to New York to history the Slusho factory cause it has the Nectar.

If you sit and toss around in cloverfieldclues.com you will find tons and tons of stuff. A lot of it saying the drill company and Slusho is very evil.

And there is stuff connecting all the charecters to the various companys. Frankly, I don't think all the information has been released yet, or at lest it hasent been figured out yet.

I am damn sure the drilling peeps have something to do with it, something very important.

Maybe there is more to come maybe there is not. Who knows.

But I am damn sure there is more.