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Monday, November 23, 2009
I spent this past weekend at Philcon, Philadelphia's annual science fiction convention which (for reasons I really don't feel like getting into right now), was held at a hotel in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
I had a pretty good time there. I did some gaming, saw a few friends, and there were more room parties than there had been last year (about 5 or 6, which gives you an idea how few parties there were last year). The con continues to have a good dealer's room, and a fairly big art show (though the quality of the art displayed seemed, to me, to be not quite as good as I'm used to seeing at Philcon). The Masquerade, like the Masquerades at most East Coast cons I've been to lately, was small, though the quality was, again, pretty good.
I'm not sure how many people attended the con, because the hotel is so large it wasn't easy to estimate attendance. However, I saw a fair number of teens and college age people hanging out, gaming, partying, and generally having fun--definitely a good thing.
Unfortunately, the gaming area was still the same drafty hallway they used last year, and the game bank was supplied by some gamer, or company, that is mostly interested in miniatures gaming. Not a lot of fun for the rest of us. (Fortunately, a large subset of the games we like best live in the trunk of my car, and we were constantly fetching games from the car to play.)
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif) esrblog was, for his part, frustrated that, through a series of mishaps, the convention once again failed to put him on the program and use his presence to draw new attendees. He succeeded in getting on two panels at the last minute, and they were quite good.
What depressed me a bit about Philcon is not that the con was terrible. It wasn't. But it was entirely too much like last year's Philcon. Even the annoying parts, that various con comm members swore they would do their best to change (like the bad location for gaming and the failure to pick up on esrblog's willingness to do more programming items) were the same.
Having tried and true events at your con is great, but being stuck in a rut isn't. Especially when the con has shrunk so greatly.
I like Philcon, and I want to see it survive. I still have hope that it will. But it hurts to see so much momentum dragging it back to bad old habits.
Current mood:  thoughtful
Sunday, November 15, 2009
...travel mugs and thermoses with knit sweaters, really!
I just saw them tonight at a local Barnes & Noble; unfortunately, I can't find a photo of either type of item on the bn.com website.
But they were there! In green, or pink. Or stripes.
Current mood:  amused
Saturday, November 7, 2009
For many months, my house has suffered from a strange leak onto the ceiling above the basement window. (This matters more than you might think--I have a full, finished basement that we use as a kind of recreation room.) It usually (but not always) materialized when we had a long, soaking rain, sometimes (but only sometimes) coming in badly enough to soak the ceiling tile and wet the windowsill below (which is already looking the worse for wear--sigh).
This morning, I had two guys my regular Handyman Guy recommended come in to look at it. It appears that there's something called a "toilet vent pipe" that connects to this area and has a cracked gasket. There's also a crack in the area around my chimney also (something Handyman Guy had put in a temporary fix on in order to halt the leak in esrblog's office). They can fix both pretty cheaply next week. Yay!
In other news, my neighbor down the block now has his turkeys and Pilgrims in place for Thanksgiving.
Current mood:  relieved
Thursday, November 5, 2009
I was in a Barnes & Noble book store the other day when, to my surprise, I saw this new product, out in time for Christmas.
The website, unfortunately, shows the part of the box without the plastic window that actually shows the product. The product is a children's book called "Elf on the Shelf," and a toy elf, with a stuffed body, plastic head, and dangling legs.
I remember those elves. When I was a kid, they sold them in the drugstores and "five and dime" stores as inexpensive Christmas decorations. I don't think they were $3 apiece, though I don't really remember.
Now, they are selling them, one at a time, plus a suitable children's story and fancy packaging, for (are you ready for this?) $29.95 USD.
Maggie Thatcher was right about one thing; it's a funny old world.
Current mood:  astonished
Well, what do you know? The Phillies didn't win the World Series, after all.
Instead, we got a different kind of horror--a transit strike. (The strike affects all of local transit except the rail lines, but has the effect of making the rails three times as crowded and horribly slow.) Monday, it took me twice as long as usual to get home. Tuesday, our train service was suspended. Not because of the strike, but because of a train car fire down the line. So I drove to work and back--a three-hour commute (as compared to my usual hour-and a half) for the day. Tonight, I waited nearly 45 minutes to get *on* a train, only to be ushered over to one that was nearly empty--while the lines of other passengers were shunted elsewhere.
Yes, it's Commuting Roulette. Pray you never have to experience it. The horror!
Current mood:  snarky
Saturday, October 31, 2009
It's nearly dark in Malvern now, and the first trick-or-treaters have visited us. In honor of the holiday, I figured I'd gratify my friend Craig by posting links to a few photos of my neighbor's Halloween yard decorations.
This one is a long view of the home in question, showing the entire yard, as you walk there from my place. I apologize for the quality; the parents and kids were about to come out (including at my subject's home) and I was not up to coming up with a good reason for why I was taking photos of the guy's house. (He doesn't like me much, for reasons I don't want to get into here.)
This shot shows the tree ghosts pretty well. Here's a shot of just the house from directly across the street; the orange blaze in the front window is the Halloween tree. This shot, taken from a different angle, doesn't show the Halloween tree as well but does a great job of showing off the scarecrow couple swinging from the tree near the curb.
Don't think this neighbor is the only Malvernian who decorates for the holiday, though. Here's a tasteful home on nearby King Street. Even my next door neighbor (the one who wishes I'd tame my bushes more) gets into the act; I assume she does it for the sake of her grandchildren.
I could have snapped pictures of more decorated homes. There are more people than these who decorate for Halloween in Malvern (though not as many as those who decorate for Christmas). But by the time I got these shots, it was getting too dark to get even middling photographs.
Anyway, have a great Halloween holiday!
Current mood:  content
Sunday, October 25, 2009
...and the Phillies may well win the World Series. Again. And the resulting victory celebration will make it nearly impossible for me to get to work. Again.
... and my neighbor down the street has pulled out all the stops in decorating his home and yard. (Yes, there's even more stuff up now than there was when I commented on his decorating efforts in my last blog entry.) He has orange lights on all the bushes. He has orange witch ghosts and white tulle ghosts on the trees. The trees also feature what looks from a distance like scraps of Dalmatian fur but on closer inspection turn out to be small fabric ghosts, with bats printed on them in black. There is a Halloween tree in the front window, with orange lights and little skeletons and pumpkins.
...and it will probably be cancelled due to rain, at this rate. Today, we had a little moat in front of our front door. It didn't last, but in light of the areas of the local roads that were under several inches of water, it was troubling.
I used to like Halloween; it was one of my favorite holidays when I was a kid. But this year, all I can think is, "Meh. I'll be relieved when it's over."
EDIT: I forgot to mention the purple witch hats on the ghosts. Particularly the little ghosts with bats printed on their sheets.
Current mood:  blah
Monday, October 12, 2009
...know how I can tell?
It's cold, now, early in the morning and late at night.
The leaves are finally showing signs of changing colors.
The weeds around my house have stopped growing at exponential rates. Maybe I'll even be able to pull out the worst offenders before the snow flies. :-)
My neighbor down the street has decorated his Halloween tree and has put out his jack-o-lantern lights and strung all the shrubs on his property with tiny orange lights.
Sadly, one thing hasn't changed. It's still raining once every few days.
Current mood:  weird
Saturday, October 10, 2009
What movie do I mean, you ask? Why, "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs," from which esrblog and I have just returned.
It's a whole lot of fun. It's a "nerd as [action] hero (?)" movie. It's a love story. It has a serious message. It's heartwarming. It sends up every TV/movie/popular cultural cliche that stumbles into its path (and that's quite a few). It goes over the top, repeatedly--and then some.
Last, but not least, it's funny. Very funny. Go and see it.
As for my title, just be warned. If you're anything like me, you may not even want to *think* about food for awhile after you've seen this movie. Srsly.
Current mood:  not...hungry
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Okay, no more screwing around. It's been nearly two full months since WBC ended; time to finish the saga.
( Read more... )
Saturday, September 26, 2009
It's been at least a year since I started (occasionally) using Twitter, and since then my thoughts about it have changed considerably.
Originally, I thought it was a stupid idea.
Now, I have mixed feelings about it. I've concluded that Twitter can be very useful. For one thing, it's great for quick, emergency communication (both between individuals, and as a channel for public interest messages). It can be used as a mechanism to summon "flash" crowds for all kinds of purposes. It comes in handy for people who want to send a message but don't have access to a computer (because you can access Twitter with a cellphone or Blackberry) and can't make a phone call (such as in a movie theater during the movie).
But as a way of keeping up with my friends, it lacks a certain something. Since they started using Twitter, I've seen fewer e-mails blog posts from certain friends of mine; now they keep up with me, and I with them, primarily through tweets.
In some ways, I now know more about what they're doing day-to-day, rather than less. But I feel less connected to them, somehow. It's as though my tweeting friends were roommates with different schedules from mine, whose activities I find out about through indirect evidence (like piles of laundry appearing, or outgoing mail and vehicles disappearing, from time to time).
Don't get me wrong; I don't intend to stop tweeting. I'd rather be in touch with my friends than not. But there's something that is both oddly impersonal and a bit *too* personal about Twitter, and I can't really put my finger on what it is or why it bothers me.
Current mood: thoughtful
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Diet Nestea Green Tea with Citrus Flavor. It tastes like "citrus", all right. Specifically, it tastes like St. Joseph's Orange Flavored Aspirin for Children. I haven't had that product in years, but I still remember it clearly.
Ugh. Definitely to be avoided.
Current mood:  bitchy
Monday, September 14, 2009
Yes, I know it's been over a month since WBC ended, but life keeps getting in the way of finishing my account of the event. Unfortunately, it's going to do so again. I'm coming down with something, so I don't quite feel up to finishing my saga tonight. For those of you who were curious, I apologize. For those of you who no longer care, I'll put all of this under an lj-cut.
( Read more... )
Current mood:  satisfied
Monday, September 7, 2009
esrblog and I just got back from TCEP 16.
TCEP is a small gaming convention run by old friends of ours for ...all of their friends. For 16 years, it's been held every Labor Day weekend. They make arrangements with a small hotel for function space, and for three days, their friends from near and far gather to play live-action roleplaying games and other kinds of games. It's a great chance to see people we don't get to see often, and to play games we don't get to play at our local gaming store on Friday nights.
We learned six new games at TCEP: Civilization II: The Card Game (a freebie packaged with a software combo that includes all of the Sid Meier Civilization games); Galaxy Trucker (the game of assembling space freighters out of used plumbing and cruising the galaxy for loads to deliver!); Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries (a 2-3 player version of the well-known game played on a map of Scandinavia); SmallWorld (conquest in a mystery meat fantasy world); and Qwirkle Cubes (like Scrabble but with colored symbols).
It was a great, relaxing weekend. Going to work tomorrow will feel like such a drag by comparison.
Current mood:  pleased
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
I've been watching more episodes of the anime series, Bleach. I've gotten into the second season.
They're not as good now. There's way too much manga-like effects, and Zap! Zowie! fight scenes, and not nearly enough plot. And Ichigo is turning into way too much of a Marty Stu for my taste.
I still want to see what happens when he rescues Rukia, and whether and how he makes it back to the everyday world, but I probably won't watch much more of it after that.
Current mood:  disappointed
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Slept very late today. Spent way too much time watching episodes of Bleach on hulu.com.
Bleach is an anime TV series. As I've been watching, it's occurred to me that the main difference between American TV and Japanese TV that situation comedies are typical of American TV, but not Japanese TVs. Instead, a lot of anime series are a kind of ongoing situation drama, usually among characters with some kind of martial arts or supernatural background. American TV doesn't have anything like that....
Oh wait. Actually, we do have a type of show that is very like that.
We call it soap opera.
Boy, am I slow sometimes.
Current mood:  contemplative
Saturday, August 22, 2009
This morning, we took my computer back to Alpha Computer and had the nice folks there install a brand new power supply. (Cost: $50.)
The Good: KMail, which esrblog had finished fixing right after we got the machine home on Wednesday, still works fine...
The Bad: ...when the machine is up and running. I *still* have periodic crashes, mostly (but not exclusively) when using Firefox, and they've begun to be accompanied by weird visual effects.
The Ugly: The last Firefox crash, which just happened a few minutes ago, bounced me to the Ubuntu log-in screen--which I could not use because my mouse had no control of the cursor. I was forced to turn the machine completely off and then turn the power back on to get mouse function back.
Now esrblog is really stumped. He thinks there may be memory corruption at the heart of it, but this machine wasn't able to read his memory test CD the last time he tried to run it.
At least the machine isn't crashing as often as it did--it's only crashing about every hour or so while I'm using it.
Current mood:  worried
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
So we took the machine to Alpha Computer.
They didn't sell us a new motherboard, because they didn't find a problem. They ran a memory test, had no crashes despite running videos and other stuff on the browser for over an hour. So they vacuumed out the inside and charged us $40.
We brought the machine home. esrblog managed to get fetchmail to pull my e-mail messages off of grelber (our server) into my KMail in-box, and as I was trying to read them, my machine crashed again. It also crashed several times while we were using Firefox.
And esrblog's diagnostic disks? My machine won't read them. Heaven alone knows why.
So I'm still without KMail, and there's supposedly over 1,100 messages waiting for me. That makes me suspicious too (I don't usually get that much e-mail in 5 days) but one disaster at a time, I always say.
At least there have been no crashes while I'm typing this.
Current mood:  distressed
Sunday, August 16, 2009
...with the computer blues again.
My desktop machine (from which I'm posting this) is dying; it crashes, on average, every 5-15 minutes while I'm using it (it happens somewhat less often when I'm not) no matter what application I'm trying to use, even if that's the only application I'm running.
esrblog and I suspect that a thunderstorm that happened while we were at WBC fried something on the motherboard. That seems particularly plausible because there were thunderstorms while we were gone, and something also caused the heater on our waterbed to go temporarily haywire (when we got home, the waterbed mattress temperature was 114 degrees--not what we had set it for, needless to say).
Unfortunately, the best time for me to go in to work late to run the errand to have a new motherboard installed is Wednesday. So I'm unlikely to try posting again before then.
Current mood: annoyed
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
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