Archive for August, 2008
Dragon*Con, Day 3
Oh, my aching feet. And neck. And shoulder. Oy, vey.
I finally feel like I know my way around a small portion of the vast confusion that is Dragon*Con. I met many people today, and shook hands with a ridiculous number of people before I was able to wash my hands. No, I don’t have OCD, but I am very germ-aware, because I hate respiratory infections with the fire of a thousand hells. Gack.
Anyway. Jewelry! I did my yearly jewelry buying from the fantastic ladies at Raven’s Moon/Spiral Moon (I can’t recall the last name.. it’s either Designs of Jewelry.) I found this great lizard (gecko?) necklace, replete with earrings (overlook my photography skills, which are nonexistent - these pics are ridiculously dark!), a pendant set, and some darling spider earrings. Heading out. Sleep calls. Rather, it shrieks.
DragonCon, Day 2
Highlights:
- Went to a wonderful Torchwood panel with Ianto and James Marsters. (I squee’d. Yes, indeed.)
- James Marsters autograph!
- George Takei autograph!
- Saw Gaius, Worf, Robert Picardo, Chekov, Mal (Firefly), Chiana, Virginia Hey, Adama, Erin Gray, Lou Ferrigno, Wash (Firefly), and several others.
- Took an insane number of photos of some seriously great costumes.
- Went to Imperial Fez for supper. Meh. The service is delightful, but the prices are ridiculous ($4 for a glass of run-of-the-mill lemonade [our waiter actually said it was Minute Maid]), the food, although good, is no more than mildly above average, and the atmosphere is lovely. All in all, it wasn’t worth the $143 (yes, that’s right - One hundred, forty-three dollars) we paid for the two of us.
My feet and shoulders are killing me. Going to hit the sack and dream of Spike!
Dragon*Con, Day 1
Being avid convention-goers for the last decade or so, Mister and I had some idea of what to expect when we ventured into Atlanta this morning. I have to say the day was a success.
Some good things:
- Several great vendors we know from GenCon, e.g. Midnight Syndicate (yay for new T-Shirts and CDs!) and Spiral Moon/Raven’s Moon Design (gorgeous jewelry at great prices), to name a few.
- Meeting Rachel Caine. Like, up close and personal. Getting her autograph AND a hug! She is adorable! I HEART this woman. I ADORE her Weather Warden series.
- Meeting several new authors, (new to me), all of whom I’ll discuss at a later date, because I’m half-snockered by sleepy eyes, but want to get this down before I forget.
- Seeing Laurell K. Hamilton, right in front of me. I squealed. I laughed. I worshipped.
- Being surrounded by some seriously well done costumes. What fun!
- 2 new jewelry sets (Pics to come - again with the sleepiness).
- We tried a new sushi place (yes, it was in the mall, but it was pretty good).
- Abigail and Taz behaved while we were gone (per their watchers)
- 2 new T-shirts
Some not-so-good things:
- The panel on Nephilim stunk. I was ticked. Do not start the seminar by saying you’re going to be neutral on the bible, and people are welcome to believe as they choose, and specifically state that you are going to lecture solely based on research and historical literature, then follow it all up with a comment 10 minutes later that includes the words represented by “OMFG.” Offensive, much?
- I didn’t get picked to ask a question to the Vampire Panel. (sniff)
- The few costumes that were less-than-stellar were really, really less-than-stellar. (Hint: Dear sweet young ladies, please understand that being thin does not = being toned, and that if you wear things that are too tight for you, and things “lap over”, it looks bad. You worked too hard on a costume to look less than darling, therefore, wear things that fit you.
- It is ridiculous that a convention of this magnitude is held in multiple hotels, rather than in main convention center. While I don’t have the specifics, I feel sure Atlanta has one such place. Many vendors were muttering that they thought for sure they’d be in just such a place by this con.
- Rude, ignorant, hateful twerp (Nametag said Ragnon, or Ragnos - something to that effect - with a first name of Jeff) sat behind me during the Nephilim panel, and proceeded to make disparaging jokes to his buddy about how the young lady who sat in front of me did not have the right body size to wear the type of costume she chose. (FYI, she looked great.) I don’t know what your problem is, bud, but I wanted to smack the lips right off of you for being so mean and sarcastic. You were the 1st and only person I ran across today that was downright rude.
All in all, a success. I’m logging off before I fall aslzzzzz….
In Memoriam
I’ve been living under a rock, it would seem. I didn’t realize Don S. Davis had passed away, as it seems like it wasn’t publicized very much.
I met him a few years ago at GenCon, and bless his heart, he must have smiled for hours. He was kind and courteous, and I remember him as very lively and intelligent. He signed autographs, and chatted easily and without the usual rush so prevalent in this type of event.
I’m sad that he’s gone, and my heart goes out to his family and friends.
Rest in peace.
Dragons and Cardinals
Ah, the blissful frenzy of vacation.
We arrived in Atlanta (right outside, actually) yesterday, and enjoyed a quiet, enjoyable night with loved ones. I love the South, with all of its manners, Godawful humidity and moseying madness.
This afternoon, we headed to Atlanta proper to pick up our convention badges. The line stretched around three sides of the Hyatt, and it was delightful to see so many different kinds of people coming together in the common love of Geekdom. I loved it! The line moved forward at a relatively steady clip, and about and hour and a half later, we had our shiny new Dragon*Con badges, Pocket Program and Guidebook.
The best part? The guidebook has an excerpt from the beginning of Swallowing Darkness, the new Laurell K. Hamilton book in her wonderful Merry Gentry series. I. Can’t. Wait! I was practically dancing in my seat on the way home, and kept shushing Mister so I could read in peace. It’s going to be a great book, and I can’t believe I am actually going to meet her! Or see her, whatever! I’m going to be in the same room with Laurell K. Hamilton!
<insert squeal of pure joy>
I could go on and on in the same vein (Vampire pun!) about Rachel Caine and Jackie Kessler, because I’m disgustingly thrilled to be getting to see them, as well. I can’t wait. Have I mentioned that I can’t wait?
Back at the house, I watched the sun set, and walked through dew-laden, freshly cut grass. It was magic. A stone cardinal stood watch over a tiny moat, and all was right with the world.
Dusk in Georgia
Countdown to Dragon*Con
Two more workdays. Two!
This weekend was a blur of house-cleaning. We spring-summer-and-fall cleaned. I’ve darn near sprained an elbow patting myself on the back. Some of my more stellar achievements included:
- vacuumed/wiped down all baseboards
- swept all ceiling corners (whether a cobweb was there, or not)
- scrubbed the bejeebus out of the kitchen floor, then proceeded to bust my arse because it was so slick
- applied leather conditioner to the couch and dining room chairs
- reorganized the kitchen cupboard
- reorganized my bento supplies (I took pics. Possibly to post. Maybe.)
- every single dish, pot, pan or glass we own is sparkling clean
- all of the clothes are … er, wait. Hee. Don’t go there.
- air filters changed and vents vacuumed (asthma + dust = really, really not fun)
- over 50 items of clothing taken to Goodwill (shirts, pants, shorts and a dress)
- 65+ books in car trunk, ready to go to the book trade store
- ~15 brand new things in car, ready to go to work to see if my dear friends would like them
- dusted, waxed, polished, wiped and scrubbed everything I could get my hands on
- liberated the outer fridge of a metric ton of magnets and menus
- scrubbed the sink to a sparkling shine worthy of Flylady
- went through another metric ton of paper odds and ends, and shredded enough to fill a garbage bag
- recycled two full bins worth of cardboard, aluminum, paper and plastic
While it is oh-so-lovely to be currently sitting in a beautifully clean home, my muscles have revolted, as the only thing I can move are my fingers. I caught a quick nap around 5pm today, after finishing the last of the cleaning, and when I woke up, I had the bright idea of heading out to run an errand or two. Imagine my surprise when I tried to put on a pair of jeans, and found that I couldn’t bend down to hold them out to stick my foot in, and even if I’d been able, I couldn’t raise my foot high enough to stick it in the pants leg! I must have looked most comical, now that I think about it. I was actually considering calling my husband to come help me, but then negated the idea as ridiculous. I forced myself to bend down and simultaneously lift my foot, and promptly fell backwards onto the bed in a fit of spasmodic agony. Once I revived and was able to rise - 10 minutes later - I meandered into the kitchen, one hand on my back, and another clutching my sore shoulder. After my adventures in the hell that is back spasms, I’d forgotten to put on my shoes when I was finally able to stand.
So…
Yeah. I slipped on the floor in the kitchen. The clean floor. The shiny floor. The SLICK floor.
I think I actually saw God. He laughed, ya’ll. In a good-natured way, of course, because he’s God, but the point is that the All-Mightly snickered at me. I’d swear to it.
(By the way. Two! Two more days of work, and then I’m off for 8 days! And we’re going to Dragon*Con!)
Is it wrong to be dreaming about actually meeting Laurell K. Hamilton and Rachel Caine? I heart them so.
4:30 a.m.
That’s what time I woke up. Out of a dead sleep, I turned to the Mister and quietly asked, “Baby, did you give Abigail her medicine last night?” Because he is made of pure wondefulness, he merely mumbled “Yes - she got it at 9.”
Now, had it been him waking me up to ask this, I most likely would’ve woken completely up, turned, glared and said “DID I WHAT?” “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?” Not him, oh no. Bless his heart for putting up with my eccentricities and neuroses. The lad’s a saint.
I started to lay back when Abigail chose that moment to perk right up and announce that she had to meet her betrothed out by the lamp-post. Translation: Mom, I have to PEE. NOW. Like, RIGHT now. There’s no use grumbling, because Prednisone’s side effect of drinking a lot and thusly tinkling a lot is alive and well in this dog, and at least she has the good sense to let me know about it, eh?
After letting her back in, I figured I’d get back to my aggravation of trying to figure out why Adobe Flash wasn’t working in Firefox, but was working fine in IE. This has been nearly infuriating, because I HATE to be forced to use IE. I’ve gotten so completely spoiled by AdBlock that it’s actually surprising to see an ad sometimes. I finally found this post, which suggested an incredibly simple fix. In mere minutes, I had Flash! To coin a phrase from my 11 years of MMORPG-playing, w00t!
I had to first uninstall Flash by using the Adobe Flash uninstaller (ridiculous that you have to use an alternate uninstaller, but that’s another story). Incidentally, I learned about the uninstaller from Michael Horowitz.
I heart the innernet.
- Listening: Al Jarreau (Mornin)
- Reading: Gale Force (Rachel Caine)
- Thinking: Whether I want to volunteer, give donations, or do both for the local food bank. See the small banner in the right sidebar? It’s made me focus on how I can help. Check it out!
Laptop Woes
My laptop’s in the shop (since Monday morning), and I was expecting to get it back this afternoon. I just called the shop and was told it was ready, however he was having a problem getting my wireless card to connect.
“Been having trouble with this card?”
“Eek! No!”
“Never?”
“Not since day one!”
“Hmm, it’s not ready then. I’ll get right on it. Don’t worry, ma’am.”
Thankfully, Mister and I have been doing business with these folks for over 10 years now, and know them to be honest, competent professionals. I’m not panicky, but I’d have to admit to an eye-twitch or two. It’s terrible how much I depend on having a laptop. I thought I’d never have one of them, because the screens always seemed so small, and I hate touchpads. In early 2007, my father bought one, and I fell in love with his. Within 6 months, I headed over to Dell and became a lifelong laptop devotee. A mobile PC? Magic! How did I ever live without this darling hunk of metal?
Every couple of weeks, I head upstairs to my old behemoth desktop PC, for the sake up updating all my security progs. It seems dreary and clunky, the keyboard is huge, and the mouse feels like I’m holding a softball. The tower sounds like the space shuttle when I turn it on, and it seems to take forever to boot up. (It shouldn’t, because it’s a fairly decent system, with the exception that it only has 2G of RAM, compared to the laptop.) All these imagined offenses are just that - imagined - because I’m undeniably prejudiced against the immobility of it all. I’ve a 21″ monitor (not flat screen), and what was once a sheer delight to me now seems like I’ve parked a Buick on top of my desk.
Time will tell. Hopefully, I’ll have my beloved Dell back in my hot little hands this evening. Otherwise, I might be forced to *gasp* wash clothes.
On a side note, the new job is going splendidly. Good, supportive management makes all of the difference in the world. For this, I am most grateful.
Edit: (Written on the behemoth.) The PC fellow called at 5:47pm to let me know he’d fixed the laptop, and my preciousss was ready for work. Yay! I then remembered they closed at 6pm, and though they’d probably stay late, I would be in traffic hell. Boo. Hiss. Aghast that these words were coming out of my mouth, I thanked him sweetly for letting me know, and said I’d pick up sweetums the laptop tomorrow. Yeah. I said that. Tomorrow. After hanging up the phone, I spat out the remnants of the molars I’d ground to bits during out brief conversation. Ptooey. So, yeah. Behemoth.
Weekly Blog Challenge: Worst Relationship Mistake
Per the illustrious Lorelle on Wordpress, who publishes a weekly blogging challenge.
Without further adieu:
My worst relationship mistake wasn’t within a romance. It was a mistake made with my best friend, Renee. (Name changed to protect the innocent.)
In early 1996, I went back to college, working on a second degree. The first week of school, a friend introduced me to the computer lab, and I was hooked. I discovered the world of email and the internet, and was soon hooked on chat rooms (which, I might add, were much better back then). The first time I sat down at a computer, I fairly giggled with joy, because I could actually see what everyone else was talking about! The first internet site I ever visited was Zima.com. Yes, www.zima.com. I had seen the address on a Zima commercial, and just typed it right in. When I was younger, the library was a fascinating place for me, and I loved - loved - enclopedias. Here, all in one spot, was the potential to study, discover and read about anything. Anything!
OK, so I’d like to say that I became addicted to researching, but that’s quite honestly shite. I found a chatroom, and started talking with folks. How weird it was, just to type, and have someone type back to me. Instant conversation. What a concept!
There were many chatrooms I visited, including Chatropolis, Chathouse, Websplash, and many others. I don’t even know if these exist anymore, and if they do, I’m sure they’re not the same incarnation as they were 12 years ago. Anyway, I began to make online friends, and found myself drawn to a particular room at one chat site. The folks there were from all over the world, and I was engrossed. It was just fascinating that I could talk to several people at the same time, when we were spread out by thousands of miles. I made dear, dear friends, many of whom I still talk with to this day. (Hi Digger! MWAH!)
I became addicted to the instant gratification of these online friendships, and checked email ravenously. I even took a job as a proofreader at the lab so that I could spend a good deal of time there. Eventually, I found myself thinking about being at the computer all of the time, and fortunately for me, I didn’t have one at home. (I’d have never left the house.)
I graduated college with Renee, and we had been close friends for a few years. She was a wonderful, funny, courageous and amazing person, and I still think the world of her. My visits to her became shorter and shorter, and even when we all had a girl’s night at her place, I found myself giving excuses to “run to the store” or something, when in reality I was going to check my email. I ignored phone calls, spent hours at the computer lab, neglected my studies, my health, and my best friend.
Over what? Chat rooms. Email. People I’d never met, and never would. I let a dear friendship wither because I put her on the back burner of my life, and devoted my time to pixels. (Harsh, but at the time, true, however I met my husband of nearly a decade in one of those chat rooms, so while I deeply regret my actions toward her, I can’t regret meeting the Mister.) We grew apart, and she stopped calling. She tried for much longer than I deserved.
I’m sorry, Renee. I’m sorry that I threw your incredible gift of friendship to the side, when I should have taken the time to thank you for being in my life. I’m so sorry that I didn’t recognize what I was doing to you (and most others in my life), and that I let personal gratification interfere with our bond. We went through so much together, and you were the finest person I knew. I’ve never met anyone else like you, and I think of you often. A few years back, I had a terrifying health crisis, and I thought I was going to die. I bargained with God, like many of us do, and swore to myself that I was going to write you a letter. I was going to pour my heart out and tell you how wrong I was, and how so very sorry I still am, and will always be.
I’m a coward, Renee, and that letter is unwritten. Chances are that you’ll never see these words. The truth is, I’m scared to write it. Here and now, I’m safely ensconced behind a monitor, and it’s easier to write these words to the anonymous public, than to you. I’m sorry for this, too.
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