| still alive |
[Jul. 9th, 2008|09:55 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | home | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  still ouchy | ] |
| [ | music |
| | the guy watering the flowers outside | ] |
thank you for all the pettings and hugs yesterday. <3 it helped.
today = better than yesterday already. Smeared sleep-inducing bpal oils on self, actually slept decently (although not long enough but that's because I went to bed late). Correlation does not equal causation, of course, but it's good enough to try again. (for reference: oils used were 'temple of dreams' and 'water of notre dame'.)
doctor's appointment this afternoon. good times. would like to eliminate this nonsense soon please. hoping for Good Rheumatologist Referral Mojo.
cats believe butterflies are Threats To Our Peace And Security. To be fair they also think this about the guy watering the flowers outside and all dogs.
want to write but will probably nap. hate summer vacation so much.
picture of Miss Cat Diva, taken yesterday:
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| It pays to be nice to your dentist |
[Jul. 9th, 2008|11:30 am] |
( Background info )
Fortunately as an adult, I've found a wonderful dental practice who put patient comfort and satisfaction first. This morning I went in for a cleaning. I was greeted by name at the front desk (they know me) and led back to a chair to get my teeth cleaned by Melissa. I told her, quiet truthfully, that I used to dread cleanings but now I see them as a chance to visit with my friend Melissa.
After my cleaning, I went up front to pay the bill. On the way there, I was stopped by Jo, the dental asistant. Their remodelling next month and she said that Carl has expressed an interest in having a dental chair to use for gaming. Do we want one of theirs? HOW COOL IS THAT!. A free fully automated recliner? Of course we do!
As I payed the bill and chatted with the woman at the scheduling desk (a former cat fosterer like me), my dentist asked to speak to me. He's taking a post-doctoral class on cosmetic techniques and was wondering if I would mind being a guinea pig practice subject. The work would be done by him at the U and I would only need to pay lab fees. Here again, HOW COOL IS THAT! |
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| SCRAM! |
[Jul. 9th, 2008|10:28 am] |
We left off still on Friday night.
There were parties, and lots of them. The MISFITS room even had delivery pizza.
On to Saturday!
Saturday was the least fun day but the best night for parties. By "least fun" I mean in that way where it's just not that bad. I still had a very good time overall, it's just that all the blemishes were on that day.
Has anyone else noticed that the designated Harry Knowles space always had fewer than ten people in it and the smaller Krushenko's room always had more than 20 people in it? I tried to go to Krushenko's a few times this year, the room was always far too overcrowded and consequently hot and stuffy. That room just isn't meant to hold thirty people. Part of why the Knowles' area wasn't very crowded may have been that there was a large, passive-aggressive, hand made sign scribbled on the back of two large envelopes that said something like "THIS IS NOT KRUSHENKO'S! KRUSHENKO'S HAS NEVER BEEN HERE! GO TO THE SECOND FLOOR! THIS IS HARRY KNOWLES LAIR!"
It's no secret that I'm not into what Harry Knowles has to offer, but it's a big convention with may options for many different people. I have been led to believe that some convention attendees are interested in hearing what he has to say, and by "some" I mean "more than six" - which was the mode for what I saw. If I had been a convention n00b, I would have interpreted that sign to mean that visitors were not welcome.
For the actual use that the rooms had, those two spaces should have been swapped, though the circumstances might have been different if Oscar the Grouch wasn't put in charge of signage.
My only Saturday panel was full of suck. It had the same "boss" as the Flying Car panel, but I was grateful as all hell that he was there because it kept the discussion to a minimum and he was the most prepared to debate whether or not global warming was "real," which seems mostly unnecessary to me. The title of the panel was "The Green Panel" and the description was "Many scientists agree that Global Warming is a real threat to the future of Mankind. Some disagree. What do you think? What about alternatives to oil and other power sources? Where's our personal fusion reactors?"
I came prepared to talk about alternatives to oil and the future of fuel. We never got to that in any real sense. One panelist whose name I don't remember described his position as "Devil's Advocate." IDIOT. I never did explain to him what the phrase "Devil's Advocate" means, but it doesn't fucking mean "an unsubstantiated opinion."
The overwhelming majority of the people that were attracted to the panel attend science fiction conventions because they like being part of a "different" culture and they like being perceived as "unique." From there they must find ways to stand out in fandom by taking on views that are absolutely bullshit so that they can be all special-like within fandom, too. Ctein (don't know if he has LJ) made a valiant attempt to explain what constitutes "reasonable scrutiny" and what "peer review" really is. The attendees would have none of it.
See, global warming is made up by scientists so that they can get grant money. Another panelist claimed that he was in favor of global warming because he wanted Minnesota to be a warmer place. I have no idea if it was supposed to be a straw-man argument, it wasn't a very good one if it was because he had no knowledge of what the effects might be aside from "warmer in Minnesota."
o.0
I won't sign up for a panel like that again and I probably won't sign up for any more science panels. I know that the opinions expressed in that room were not an accurate sample of the opinions across the convention and it wasn't worth all the prep time to get nowhere.
While I have offered suggestions about how to modify signage in order to make an event more appealing, I don't have anything good to suggest for how to keep science panels more science focused. I wish I did.
I think Saturday was the day that I had lunch at DQ with ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) hellziggy and 7thstranger. It was just lovely. Overall, I had a nice time on Saturday with a few scattered crummy bits. I'm stopping for a bit now because that wasn't fun to write and I want a break. |
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| Dork Tower |
[Jul. 9th, 2008|10:39 am] |
If I wasn't so busy (and trust me, I am plenty busy), I'd have a long, rambling post about how wonderful CONvergence 2008 was.
Perhaps tomorrow. To make up for this, if you were at CONvergence 2008, post any memories and photos in the comments section here! I'd love to hear what others thought.
****
In the meantime, Monday's Dork Tower is up...
Click here, there or anywhere to see it.
****
And today's Dork Tower is up...
Click here, there or anywhere to see it. |
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| EPIC! |
[Jul. 9th, 2008|10:35 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  cheerful | ] |
I hate that word! Anyway, this does happen to be one of the most EPIC things ever!
http://www.drhorrible.com/
Watch, enjoy, spread the word of Joss.
Thanks and have a fabulous day :) |
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| my box |
[Jul. 9th, 2008|10:23 am] |
If you walked through the dealer's room, you might have seen this guy and his box of boxes. You may have even seen him open it up or close it. It's pretty impressive.
The UglyBox is by pseudomanitou. |
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| A bit of a challange, perhaps? |
[Jul. 9th, 2008|09:29 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  curious | ] |
This one is ranked "Very Difficult" on the site because people taking the quiz there aren't scoring well on it. Most of my friends are movie trivia geeks, so I'm curious to see how well they do. Ask your friends as well.
Play Quiz: Movie Line Jeopardy now! |
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| Symptom Checker |
[Jul. 9th, 2008|06:36 am] |
Time marches on. So does the week.
Last night I did lots o'knitting on the deck. It was such a lovely evening. Also, in no particular order, I put away groceries, did some dishes, talked to CuzGirl (too long since I'd done that), did some star-gazing and talked to my ragazz'. Oh, and had a bad tummy for about 20 minutes. I don't know what that's about. Sometimes I think it just rebels.
I've been playing with Google Earth. I'm a huge map and space geek. I can sit and look at this for hours. Before Al Gore invented the internet, I used to buy world maps (and space maps, and US Maps, and atlases) and spread them out on the floor and pour over them. Maybe I should be a cartographer. Or.. not.
There's not a single meeting on my calendar today. I have many boring desks tasks to do. Consequently, I'm not-so-jazzed about going to the salt mines today.
I've requested mini-date night tonight. He had golf last night, car stuff tomorrow night, then he's off racing for Friday and Saturday. Don't get me wrong - it's important that we each have our own "things" that we do without the other... but sometimes, it's just gotta be *us* time. Heh. I think it'll just be calzones and the couch.. but it's TOGETHER, and that's what's important. We can't let life be so busy that we miss time together. Every day counts.
Every once in a while, I just love to scare myself on WebMD. I wanted to see why my tummy hurt last night (and still a little bit this morning). I either have: colon cancer, a muscle strain, gas pains, gallstones, a peptic ulcer, a heart attack, food poisoning, or constipation. Well. That narrows it down. I think it's most likely the Indian food we had for lunch yesterday. I'm not a doctor, but I play one on the internet.
And now, I must get on with it. Have a lovely day, and I'll talk to you later. Ciao. |
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| Twitter Tweets from the past 24 hours |
[Jul. 9th, 2008|12:00 am] |
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( Behind here ... ) |
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| Free Theater Workshop on Saturday |
[Jul. 9th, 2008|12:56 am] |
On Saturday the 12th from 10am to 2pm, Donna Sellinger and Madeline ffitch of The Missoula Oblongata
will be conducting a FREE workshop Making and Doing: Collaborating on the Impossible Dream. The workshop will be held at Bedlam Theater.
The Missoula Oblongata have produced the Fringe hits Wonders of the World: Recite and The Most Mysterious Day of the Year and are now touring their latest show, The Last Hurrah of the Clementines. You can see this show at Bedlam on Friday the 11th at 9pm or Saturday the 12th at 7pm. Admission is $10.
The Most Mysterious Day of the Year (2007 MN Fringe Festival - photo by Scott Pakudaitis)
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| Tweets for Today |
[Jul. 8th, 2008|09:03 pm] |
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Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter |
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| I could be using my time better than this |
[Jul. 8th, 2008|06:58 pm] |
( Happy quiz: results )
Maybe too simple on the questions, but taking it made a little happy. ^_^ |
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| A Momentary Lapse Of Reason |
[Jul. 8th, 2008|06:28 pm] |
I did the unthinkable today.
I signed up for a triathalon in Sept 2009!
I have been running a lot lately. I broke another record today (after Sunday felt like inhaling a wet sponge). 1.7 mile run, .3 mile walk, .3 mile run, .4 mile walk, .5 mile run. In most cases, the walk was necessary to fight the 15mph headwind. I have a ways to go, but making the progress that I am, I hope to be able to swing it. Stretching out before and after each run has improved my flexibility, too. i have always been self-conscious of my lack of leg flexibility.
Biking has never been a problem for me. I can bike 'til the sun goes down and I'm good to go.
Swimming will take some refining. It has been a while since I have 'formally' swam... swimmed... whatever. You get the idea.
I am at 181#. I'll want to cut that to 170# and add significant tone to my upper body. I have been lifting my weights downstairs when I remember. My meals will have to change. Not a big deal. Learning to cook should be on my to-do list anyhow.
For now, I need new running shoes. My ankles feel the pain first, so that is clearly an impact issue. I need to use my arm radio, too. Running is boring when I'm not thinking about something that upsets me(in an angry way). Nothing is on my mind lately, so I guess that is good.
I foresee a lot of time at the facility this winter... |
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| Seen on the Way Home |
[Jul. 8th, 2008|05:29 pm] |
Here are some Big Boy Toys
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| Mostly about panels |
[Jul. 8th, 2008|03:44 pm] |
I left off at Friday morning, that's where I'll pick up. Friday was a day of panels.
After the CYOA panel, Squeaky wanted to be taken to a job interview, and someone needed to watch the kitty-cat eat, lest she starve. Last year Kitty-cat didn't eat at all while we were gone, gorged herself when we got back, and then became physically ill over the psychological trauma that she had endured for not having anyone around to watch her eat. This year, for having had Friday and Sunday watchies, she's fit as a fiddle.
After watchies and picking Squeaky up from the interview, I arrived back at the hotel a few minutes into the "Where's My Flying Car?" panel. It was a science panel in which one person dominated most of the discussion. I didn't mind so much as I probably had the least to contribute, but I would have liked to hear from some of the other panelists. Is there a name for such a person? The "panel boss" was an engineer and summarized his views at the end with a quintessentially engineer-like statement.
"As an engineer, efficient function IS beauty."
Of course, it was the end of the panel, so there was no time left to debate such a controversial staement, but I wanted to. That's probably a whole other panel, I suppose.
Some time later, soon after vanaabegra was on a panel with Peter Mayhew, he displayed the most restrained and dignified "squee" that I think I've ever seen. He's not the sort to jump up and down and get all social-weirdo, but he was visibly very pleased. Those of you who have been to the house and seen the gaming room filled with Star Wars Legos probably understand. Like any good Lego builder, it was a meticulously accurate and orderly sort of "squee."
The "Doctor Who By Decade - The 70s" panel went well. I was the noob, but I still had a few interesting things to contribute and I was able to find a few new insights into the character. We never did get to talk about the onset of piracy and the importance of home video recording equipment to Doctor Who's legacy, but also, a whole other panel for another day. I am not impressed by people who give "hints" that they've seen unaired episodes of television. You can use Google, good for you, STFU.
The "I Can Has Fluidic Beverage" panel went exceedingly well. The room was too small, the bar tricks all worked, the audience loved us and we got many hallway compliments afterwards. We found the sweet spot of *panel led audience participation* and it fucking rocked. qe_pa has a fantastic sense of timing, I really loved doing that panel with her. geohard should be very happy to know that his "Captain Jack Sparrow" drink has found its way into fandom infamy.
Captain Jack Sparrow:
1 shot Captain Morgan Spiced Rum
1 shot Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey
1 Marshmallow Peep
Place the Peep in your mouth and wash it down with the alcohol. The Peep will expand upon contact with the alcohol, so swallow quickly.
The "I Can Has Fluidic Beverage" panel was my last of the day, so from there, a bunch of stuff happened that was unstructured and more difficult to remember.
Somewhere on Friday night I found out that the Masquerade wasn't the only thing that was televised into the hotel rooms. I hope that the channel 39 programming stays and I hope that it's more widely promoted in future years.
More later, must run. |
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busy
thoughtful
loved