matt hackmann - web developer - artist - nerd

Today was the first of our three day long anime convention that is Tokyo in Tulsa. Before you ask, I did not cosplay today. That will be for tomorrow, the largest and busiest day of the con. So far, this year has far and away kicked the pants off of TnT last year. The panels have been better so far (thank you, Todd Haberkorn; you are truly hilarious) and the fact that they acquired the convention center over the cramped hotel has made it much nicer, though it's still cramped. Good times were had and I hope tomorrow will go even better.

But, you want pictures. So pictures you will have. Hit them after the break.

I recently decided that it was time to update my profile picture across the various sites I frequent. This is something I do, on average, every 6-8 months or more (I didn't really bother to calculate the actual average). Looking through my past profile pics on Facebook, I noticed something interesting: they convey a visual history of my beard. My beard is certainly deserving of its own blog post, so I will regale its tale here for the masses!

April 2007 - A couple of straggling hairs, but otherwise nothing. My hand does not deserve to be stroking a smooth chin.

May 2007 - At this point, there's enough hairs that I could probably have cosplayed as Detective Gumshoe quite easily.

October 2007 - Okay, let's face it. 2007 was a crappy year for the beard.

October 2008 - While certainly not filled out, the beard was finally showing some promise of being EPIC. Interesting side note - I had to Photoshop that smirk onto my face

May 2009 - Two years later, the beard is finally respectable enough that it can be stroked in deep thought and look awesome.

October 2010 - After 24 years of beard growing, I think it's finally gotten to the "You don't want to fuck with me" status. The shades help.

Some other interesting things to notice in these pictures:

- My face is almost always pointed away from the camera

- I get fatter as time goes on

I should hardly have to mention anymore my glorious walk for free vacation time. The graph has been sitting there up at the top of my blog page slowly counting up to the grand total of 750,000. And today, one week before deadline, I have hit that total. This little exercise has added quite a bit to my life, from friendly competition with co-workers to some much needed think time. Now, to celebrate this achievement, I give you some more photos of my journeys.

Punny titles aside, I have made more than one allusion to my walking sessions. Currently my graph is telling me that I had a pretty crappy week last week, but that's not what we're here to discuss.

The Pathfinder Parkway has been my preferred walking path of choice for the weekends as it removes me from all the loud roads and reminds me of the lengthy walks I took to the bank in Winter Park via the Cady Way Trail. The Pathfinder runs right along the Caney River, Bartlesville's local body of poisoned water, but it does provide that "nature" feel. But, I could throw words at you all day and not get the point across, so queue up the photo gallery!

Okay, so it has it's downsides. Arguably the most annoying part is the dozen or so oil pumps, but it's amazing the crap I've spotted along this trail. I will, perhaps, update again with more pictures later as these just barely scratch the surface.