theodosia | Entries tagged with weather

So this is what Saturdays are like when you're employed (if only partly and temporarily). They're nice!

Worked about 15 hours this week, which doesn't sound like all that much, but it was hella intense, and also there's the hour-ish commute each way into Back Bay/South End.

It's not like I wasn't working hard, long hours with school and commuting too, but this is a different kind of hard. At least I get to feel virtuous about this, too!

Bending my knees hurts in new & exciting ways this morning. I am newly filled w/ empathy for those for whom this is not temporary.

It's humbling to be frustrated with a vital body part this way. This morning as I'm sitting here writing this, they're STILL complaining, and seriously, I'm beginning to be worried that they could be permanently damaged if I keep this up. I really feel -- not just intellectually empathetic, but really physically empathetic -- for anybody who lives with this.

Heh. Just spent the past 3+ hours working on website graphics, making pretty things!

Putting together pages to display a web comic for a friend, making far too elaborate graphics and then scaling them back, et cetera. I may yet redo all the color scheme, but I'm liking what I've got.

Sending out for Chinese food!
There is SNOW on the cars outside.
Still waiting on food. I don't think it's coming.

Over two hours for food to arrive -- it was supposed to take an hour and change! I actually called the delivery company who said they would waive the delivery fee and give me 15% off, so we'll see what the charge is.

The problem was that when I ordered it was a little bit rainy, but nothing serious. In the hours since, it had started snowing in earnest and the cars were covered and the roads were slippery. So I guess I shouldn't be all that surprised, but still - this is the longest it's ever taken.

Now I wish that I HAD ordered Ethiopian food instead of Chinese, but it worked out to an extra $10 which I just couldn't justify as that is more than I make in an HOUR -- not counting that I'm already ordering HOURS worth of food.

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: Dr. John - I Don't Wanna Know

I thought, therefore I twittered:

Miniature Pets Gallery, 10 good, ten bad. I want a mini-goat, but I might take a mini-mule instead.... ow.ly/zR16

Honestly, some of the cutest small things you'll ever see. Plus-- they bred mini-mules from minihorses and minidonkeys! How mini-cute is that?

Honestly, getting an email from Staples with a 'Your Destiny Awaits' subject is more likely to make me cringe than want to buy stuff....

Seriously, I don't want my destiny to involve office supplies and paper, unless the paper company involved is the one that HRG used to work for on Heroes.

OMG, the application for a pharmacy chain job includes a 20-screen strongly-agree to strongly-disagree personality questionnaire!!??

CVS had an even longer one than the one for UPS that I did the other day. I amused myself by trying to consistently answer the questions the way that I thought they'd want... which is pretty much truthful.

bobby-tables.com: A guide to preventing SQL injection ow.ly/zV1h -- My favorite XKCD cartoon, and the tech advice therefrom.

Yep, a kid named so that if you input his name correctly, you break the database! Very geeky humor, but it makes a good programming point.

Back in real life, I knew a guy with the last name of Abend... which in the days of COBOL applications, broke his college's student database because ABEND means Abnormal End, which was a key phrase to Stop Everything in that language.

I am SO not ready for the sun to be setting around 4:30... but it is. FEH. Who thought up this lousy orbit-thing, anyway?
ow.ly/zYOm -- a picture of the first frost, gorgeous!

I guess these two entries aren't unentirely related... the good and the bad of seasonal variety. In my backyard, Maple A is 95% bare, but a slightly-ragged Maple B soldiers on, so that you have blue New England Asters sitting in a bed of orange-yellow leaves, as pretty as it gets around here.

Spare Cat doesn't want the world, just my half of it... so that she can keep the other half of it under observation....
Dear Furslugs (aka 'Cats'): you're not getting fed until 5 PM EST if I have to lock myself in my room with a pillow over my head.
(You can tell they're furslugs by the trails of shed fur they leave wherever they go.)

Spare Cat's mom caught a break -- she's in Stage 3 kidney failure (AKA not bad enough for dialysis) due to the diabetes, which isn't good news EXCEPT they took a kidney biopsy and there's NO cancer. They may be able to improve the kidney function with drugs, so fingers crossed. Not much chance of Spare Cat going home for a while yet.

Current Music: Diam's - La boulette

I thought, therefore I twittered:

There's still just a thin coating of snow on cars in the shadows where the sun hasn't shone yet. Earliest Boston snow I can remember?

There are still plenty of green trees around, which makes this snowfall all that more AWFUL. I want my summer back... at least I'd be happier if we were having a proper New England Fall, which means 70s and high 60s so you can romp on the lawn in the colorful leaves. I walked through a patch of crackly fallen leaves the other day, which made me smile fondly.

Oooh, cable card installer man is coming tomorrow! Soon I will be i/n/v/i/n/c/i/b/l/e i/n/s/u/f/f/e/r/a/b/l/e/ have 2 digital cable streams.

Some would think that I'm already insufferable about this, but damn, it's neat tech and it's been a while since I upgraded a Useful Toy -- already that double-recording capability has come in handy, so that Rosemary can get to watch Desperate Housewives even if The Amazing Race runs way WAY overtime. Even better if the installation works and we can then get the higher digital channels like BBC-America and TCM and National Geographic and so on. And I can copy shows over to my desktop PC up here and watch when Rosemary wants to watch something different!

Nepal's latest adventure sport: parahawking ow.ly/vfUJ -- Thanks to my friend Larry, because not only do I <3 vultures this is NEAT!

This is genius -- first off, the guy rehabilitates raptors, and then uses them to spot updrafts when paragliding, and you can pay to take a tandem ride with him. Not that I could afford the trip to Nepal to do so (which is described as a paragliders' paradise, because of temperature, prevailing winds and spectacular mountain scenery), but using a natural behavior like this (who doesn't want to see birds when they're flying, up close like that?) is just such a WIN.

JSP rocks, especially after learning Java servlets, which are like learning to dance in ski boots.

For those who don't program, here's the quickie explanation -- for this module of J2EE, we've spent most of the time writing servlets, which is Java code that gets compiled into HTML that be viewed in a browser. Which means that every bit of HTML has to be input into strings that the compiler then outputs. JSP, however, starts as an HTML page that you can include bits of Java into. Thus the sudden freedom, like dancing without your ski boots on....

Current Mood: impressed
Current Music: Violent Femmes - Jesus Walking On The Water

I thought, therefore I twittered:

We got some heavy rain, and now the sun is shining again!

Getting more and more thunder noises -- Muppet took off for a safe hiding place. I'm staying on the patio until actual rain starts!

Patio time finally because my cold isn't too bad and the humidity isn't too bad either. Will probably be ruined by a t-storm later....

Stopped by, computer just in beginning stages of checkup and backup. But this way they know I'm eager, so I think a stop-in helps.

Health-Care Reform - What It Means For You (washingtonpost.com) ow.ly/kHcN -- good Flash infographic link courtesy @chickwriter!

Combined moving the car to avoid streetsweeping, with running out to the CVS for cough medicine et cetera. Still have to run out again...!

Computer repair shop opens @ 10, think I'll drop by while on other errrands. They don't seem like they'd mind.

Current Mood: hot

I thought, therefore I twittered:

Ugh -- bad BAD night of 'sleeping'. Even with the AC on, I kept waking up all sweaty and tangled. Reaction to 90s temps?
I'm feeling unusually chipper and energy-ful for the morning after a bad non-sleepish night. I'd better enjoy it while it lasts....
Reading HEADFIRST JAVASCRIPT on the patio - really excellent textbook!
Finished THE ANDROID'S DREAM, which didn't do much for me for the first 150 pages, but took off like a rocket from then on. Glad I read.
Huh, #saveearl still among the trendy tweets! A sentiment I endorse greatly, but am surprised to find it's so popular.

Sorry, not much time before I have to leave for class! But aside from sweating sweating and then more sweating and a little restorative ice cream, that was my day.

Really, I'd almost forgotten I could sweat this much.

Current Mood: hot
Current Music: Klaxons - Gravity's Rainbow (Soulwax Remix)

I thought, therefore I twittered:

Supposed to be 92 by 2 PM here. It may be time to put the AC in the window?!

In the living room window, that is. I never did get the bedroom AC taken out....

HijiNKS Ensue - "Imagine a hate-filled pineapple" - SciFi's Choice ow.ly/8gWb

Why has it taken me so long to find this web comic? Because their sensibility of fannish media is so close to mine, such as for instance, the cancellation of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles in favor of Dollhouse.

Live wild turkey in my neighborhood! I'm so jealous that this guy got a picture! ow.ly/8iC0

If a turkey came into my backyard, I'd be over the moon, seriously. I love big birds especially, so a turkey would be a fantastic sighting.

Awww, there's a #SaveEarl hash tag. I rarely do hashtags, but this one I can get behind, I love the show. SIGH

I may love it, but I just never seem to post about it here. (I kind of think of it as the Bizarro Supernatural, since it's concerned with brothers who are way too close, on a Mission.) Anyway, I'm surprised and touched that Earl made top of the hashtags yesterday, I guess there are more of us fans out there than I thought.

That distant noise you hear is me purring in satisfaction as I make another leap in understanding OOP. Objects all the way down!

That was when I was working on the current lab -- I wrote a method that created a SQLConnection object and handed it back to the calling method, which worked the first time, and which I understood everything that happened and why. Not necessary, but that way I didn't have to write it out in four places, and then change the login back to the string that works on the school computer (versus my home computer) in four places.
Besides, if I get this done at home, I can skip the first hour+ of class tomorrow morning -- coming in at 9:30 versus 8:30 is huge! Because that's the time set aside for working on the lab, you see.

Woot! Somerville Public Library has a book for me two days after I requested it via ILL. Now I just have to stroll over today...

And it's Head First Javascript which looks to be just what the doctor ordered. When I ran into Bill Shea (my Digital Design instructor) at school this week, he enthusiastically endorsed the series, and I can see why -- he's certainly qualified to be a good judge of instructional texts. I forsee some pleasant self-instruction out at the patio table with the iBook to hand.
Note to self: we're starting our Java module next week, and Head First Java might make a really great supplemental text, and one that might be worth buying with my own precious money.

Old Sturbridge Village Wool Days! Wish I had somebody to go with me! ow.ly/8lMd

I just have so much trouble justifying the hour+ drive for myself, plus the village is more fun if you have somebody to show it to and find out what they latch onto. It's never the same village twice!
Probably still wouldn't be a good day to go -- in the 90s and so much of it is outdoors in the sunshine. And I bet the grapes are sour, too. (But! Sheep! Shearing! Carding! Spinning! Knitting! Weaving! SIGH)

I so need a hammock -- too hot inside to nap, but oh so pleasant in the patio shade even if it's 91F.

I've been saying I need a hammock for the past 9 years, even if I'd only use it for three months out of the year. Yes, I could spread a beach towel out on what laughably passes as a lawn, but I know how many bugs are down there, which is a hazard of being an adult, I suppose.

Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Percy Sledge - When A Man Loves A Woman

I thought, therefore I twittered:

I joined twitter on 20 June 2007 - whendidyoujointwitter.com ?

You know, for once I was early into a trend. I should mark my calendar or something.

Flickr: jack_mord's Photostream ow.ly/4dwa -- fascinating Victorian death photos, oddities. Some very disturbing, beware!

Definitely not for everyone, beware! Like for instance, you ever really wanted to see exactly how distressing leprosy was?

Taming the Bicycle ow.ly/4eqU Mark Twain article on learning to ride a bike!

One of those high-wheeled Victorian bikes, in fact. Find out again why Twain was a famous humorist then and now.

Dandelions have bloomed in the day and a half since I've been out of the garden!

Oooh, 93F... but 20% (yes - 2 & 0) humidity. It's nice if you have some shade and a vanilla non-dairy frozen dessert sandwich.

Learning JavaScript and AJAX in the backyard is harder than it looks. Wind keeps riffling the pages of the book! No, seriously!

ow.ly/4hJp The Torturing of Desired Intelligence, The Daily Dish

"I was concerned that the CIA intelligence was probably derived from torture by the Uzbek security services. Karen Moran reported back to me that the US Embassy had replied that it probably did come from torture, but in the War on Terror they did not view that as a problem."

RT @CupcakeGoth -- Cupcake Goth meets Mini Cupcake Goth: twitpic.com/463iy

cupcake_goth has her Gothic Charm School book coming out soon, btw. In the meantime, she's got a Mini-Me to comfort her....

RT @pollinatewildly: Maybe it would help calm the panic if we called it "bacon fever" instead (RT @paulandstorm ) #swineflu

RT @librarythingtim: "Why is Cataloging Hard?" and why to make it easier tinyurl.com/dewdg3

RT @zen_habits: Very cool:I can't stop watching this 7 second video: bit.ly/kXsde

It's truly neat -- a magnet falling through a pipe-shaped magnet sloooooowwwws its fall down. Startling, even when you know what's coming.

Wow, two or three 90 degree days and we've passed right through spring. No, seriously, it's not just the dandelions that have sprouted -- the bleeding hearts bloomed too, and all the violets, and I'm getting buds on the rose bush already. Also, the damned Japanese bamboo in the corner that I keep having to kill off has sprouted about a foot and half -- no, I'm not kidding. Today's menu of Fun includes getting out the shovel and digging down to get out some of the roots. That only stops it for a while, since the bamboo on the other side of my neighbor's house (and side street) can and does send out suckers that long.

Current Mood: exhausted
Current Music: Dixie Chicks - The Long Way Around

I thought, therefore I twittered:

I joined twitter on 20 June 2007 - whendidyoujointwitter.com ?

You know, for once I was early into a trend. I should mark my calendar or something.

Flickr: jack_mord's Photostream ow.ly/4dwa -- fascinating Victorian death photos, oddities. Some very disturbing, beware!

Definitely not for everyone, beware! Like for instance, you ever really wanted to see exactly how distressing leprosy was?

Taming the Bicycle ow.ly/4eqU Mark Twain article on learning to ride a bike!

One of those high-wheeled Victorian bikes, in fact. Find out again why Twain was a famous humorist then and now.

Dandelions have bloomed in the day and a half since I've been out of the garden!

Oooh, 93F... but 20% (yes - 2 & 0) humidity. It's nice if you have some shade and a vanilla non-dairy frozen dessert sandwich.

Learning JavaScript and AJAX in the backyard is harder than it looks. Wind keeps riffling the pages of the book! No, seriously!

ow.ly/4hJp The Torturing of Desired Intelligence, The Daily Dish

"I was concerned that the CIA intelligence was probably derived from torture by the Uzbek security services. Karen Moran reported back to me that the US Embassy had replied that it probably did come from torture, but in the War on Terror they did not view that as a problem."

RT @CupcakeGoth -- Cupcake Goth meets Mini Cupcake Goth: twitpic.com/463iy

cupcake_goth has her Gothic Charm School book coming out soon, btw. In the meantime, she's got a Mini-Me to comfort her....

RT @pollinatewildly: Maybe it would help calm the panic if we called it "bacon fever" instead (RT @paulandstorm ) #swineflu

RT @librarythingtim: "Why is Cataloging Hard?" and why to make it easier tinyurl.com/dewdg3

RT @zen_habits: Very cool:I can't stop watching this 7 second video: bit.ly/kXsde

It's truly neat -- a magnet falling through a pipe-shaped magnet sloooooowwwws its fall down. Startling, even when you know what's coming.

Current Mood: exhausted
Current Music: Dixie Chicks - The Long Way Around

vernalSnow01, originally uploaded by moxie58.

What I saw out the window nearly first thing this morning, except that the snow hadn't melted off the cars. What a way to begin Spring, huh?

Current Mood: disgusticated

From my current Twitter stream:

07:24 Looking at: Portraits From A Walk Through LA -- wonderful! www.good.is/?p=15843 #
07:51 There must be a little ice coating the tree branches, you can see them gleaming in the sunrise light outside my window. #
10:13 ...the upside of being unemployed -- watching Heroes over breakfast. #
12:21 I should be more excited about U2 playing the Somerville Theatre tonight, but mainly it's going to screw up local traffic. I am OLD. #
16:03 Huh. Elijah Wood may be playing Iggy Pop in a biopic. Fannish worlds colliding.... #
20:16 Looking at: Own a Frank Lloyd Wright home - Boing Boing tinyurl.com/clufr9 #

U2 IS playing the Somerville theatre on the 11th. That's the old movie house/concert venue about a mile from here, right in the middle of Davis Square, so I guess that means we're Trendy again. I hate trendy the way that Lou Grant hates perky.

Anyway, it was already screwing up traffic yesterday, because the police blocked off the street behind the theatre so that hyuuuuuuge equipment trucks could park. I know this because to get around the damned traffic and over to the post office to drop off a letter that couldn't wait, I had to take a strange little detour, so I got to see it from like three different angles.

I am SO not driving in that direction today, if I can possibly help it.

(I understand that the FLWright house link from yesterday was munged, so here's another, since Boing Boing linked to it. Yes, I scooped BB, go team me. Stick with me, kid, we're going places.)

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: "Harlem by the Sea", Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet

From my current Twitter stream:

06:56 the dark side of DST -- waking up in the dark. Cats are correspondingly disgusted. #
07:48 Yesterday it was 60. This morning it's 35 and falling, and thick snow is falling at this moment. #
07:58 Oh crap - 3 to 5 inches of snow predicted for today! March is getting on my LAST NERVE #
14:18 Snow has turned to slush, and holding steady at 35F, so no 3-5 inches as predicted. Thank goodness. #
15:51 Looking at: Birds Stealing Ice-Cream -- via Telophase. Damn cheeky gulls! tinyurl.com/d66qlk #
16:07 Looking at: SF Gate: FL Wright house for sale. Anyone got a spare $2.7M? It's a bargain! tinyurl.com/22jhs8/c/a/2009/03/08/RE0U ... #
17:58 I got to school a little earlier tonight, but still two students ahead of me! #

There's a thin coat of snow on the ground from yesterday, but as we're at 31 and headed higher, so I'm content that we're in Late Winter/Early Spring mode now, where snow is a fleeting phenomenon.

I didn't mention that I saw a robin on the way to the library on Saturday, which is probably the earliest I've seen one around here.

The rest of life remains quite lifelike and probably boring. Recently, I've finished The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, Inda by our own Sherwood Smith (::waves!::), and last night, Magic or Madness by Justine Larbalestier, which was a quick little read and now I've got to get the sequels at the library.

Current Mood: confused
Current Music: Something Corporate - Space

From my current Twitter stream:

08:53 have decided that Chumley is the bargain sport model, Muppet is the luxury model. Both picked up used, too. #
10:32 HUH! I just saw a BEE fly past my window. It's 55 right now, so presumably one could indeed have woken up, but I'm still AMAZED #
15:44 Heartsick over the behavior of a friend. Not the sort of thing you can get angry over, not intent on hurting me. Heedless oblivity. #

Seriously, it reached into the low 60s yesterday and may do the same today, and of course The Official Start Of Spring is only two weeks away, but I was still AMAZED to see a fat black and yellow BEE -- unmistakeable -- fly past my window. Not a whole lot of nectar out there, but at least the snow from last week has completely melted from the ground.

It's DST this morning, and I somehow managed to sleep until 7:30 -- make that 8:30, but since 7:30 is LATE for me anyway, no problem with jumping the clock forward.

I just have to reset the kitchen clocks. My radio-alarm-CD-clock has a dedicated DST button that I push twice a year, which still amuses me. The computers and TiVo reset automatically. Oh, and there's the clock in the car, too.

Also, since it's DST, see to your battery-powered smoke alarms. Yes, even if you have some smoke alarms wired to the house current, you should have the other kind of smoke alarm -- the ones that don't turn off when the power goes out, when most fires occur. If you don't have that kind, and therefore don't have to worry about changing batteries, today would be an AWESOME day to go out and get one.

Current Mood: cranky
Current Music: Amy Winehouse - Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?

From my current Twitter stream:

07:29 Furnace out this morning, successfully re-lit, but so not how I want to start any day. This time I took pictures. #
08:16 Looking at: The Neon Season - Why I Would Not Have Greenlit Dollhouse tinyurl.com/b3rrff #
08:48 Looking at: my basement_snowman Flickr picture flickr.com/photos/moxie58/3322795706/in/photostream/ #
15:43 interesting interval when my cordless mouse battery ran out, especially figuring out what was wrong. #
19:35 Was an hour late to class, but they were doing basic Intro To Java that I already know, so good timing.... #
21:26 @crysothemis -- have you seen rolcats.com/ ? The mistranslations are hysterical. #

SO not the way to start a morning, but at least the furnace started the first time, and stayed on. It would be much more convenient, not to mention economical, if it would just limp through the rest of the heating season, until sometime say in the summer, when presumably I have a job, so that replacing it doesn't involve quite as much physical and financial hardship.

Of course, I took pictures, both for my own reference (yes, I will write up an illustrated instruction sheet) and just cause it makes it more of an Interesting Experience if you share it with others.

(That's one of the great things about having a blog or journal, because it lets me step back sometimes and be more analytical about a situation or event, even as it's going on. Never Run Towards A Fire applies here, too.)

The snow, it snowed all the day long, and was still snowing when I went off to class, late (because I waited until the instructor emailed me back saying that yes, class was ON) and was probably about 10 inches total, except that it was extremely dry, so it practically BLEW off the car.

Class is now on a bonus module, instead of starting up a new sequence. Because there was a change in instructors last year, a bunch of the curriculum was slighted or skipped, so we've got 36 class hours (about 3 weeks worth) devoted to recapping the middle modules. Which is fine by me, I can use the refresher, because those are the ones that I'm still Incomplete on.

Came home, watched Heroes, which kept my interest -- noticed that Eric Laneuville was directing, and he's good. Also for once they came up with an appealing male lead for Claire... and found an excuse for an Underwater Kiss/Buddy Breathing scene, which amused me no end, given my Due South love.

Current Mood: cheerful

From my current Twitter stream:

07:14 Evidently I didn't dream it, I did register for Vcon! Woo! #
09:00 @chickwriter -- Just got the first few flakes here, too. I guess this is the part where March comes in like a white lion. #
10:34 stupid iTouch got a corrupt iTunes db, needs total restore. FEH. Not disastrous, just annoying. #
10:46 Somerville has Declared A Snow Emergency. Hide the children and small furry animals, snowpocalypse is upon us. #

I blame my inactivity for the extreme activity of Saturday, but the cold threatened to come back, so I went nowhere and did very little of note aside from laundry, wardrobe rearrangement and other mundane tasks. Had to skip out on a birthday party but I think they'd enjoy not sharing my germs.

The snow started almost precisely at 9, and it snowed all.day.long but hardly accumulated, maybe three inches. But we're seeing much more coming down today, to make up for it, I guess.

On a brighter note, I did get my membership to Vividcon -- now I just have to hope that I still have enough $$$ to go when August finally rolls around.

Current Mood: geeky

From my current Twitter stream:

07:40 garbage is OUT, despite the Snowpocalypse. #
07:47 Reading: "5 Simple Steps to Clearing the Clutter (painlessly)" (twitthis.com/7j8cof) #
09:44 is amused that #snowpocalypse is now a twitter hashtag -- thanks @matociquala! #
13:50 way behind on getting dressed, and um, other stuff #
13:54 clothing achieved, time to insulate the house #
19:09 #snowpocalypse has changed to slushpocalypse out there. Not necessarily an improvement #
19:44 Watching: YouTube - Her Morning Elegance -- boffo stop motion video!!!1! tinyurl.com/895qrd #
04:43 me, I get insomnia and the urge to start a blog about learning Flash #
06:31 might as well be up for reals now #

I did eventually use a foam-type caulk to seal up all the considerable number of cracks around the cellar door frame, which stopped 90% of the cool breeze that came out of there. Next step is some strip insulation around the door itself, which should take care of most of the rest.

After that I vacuumed quite a bit of cellar floor, which has accumulated all the dust that makes its way down there, and a bunch of spider webs and so on. I feel all kinds of better about the Horrible Basement now.

In the meantime, Snowpocalypse turned into Slushpocalypse, with some serious cat-and-dogging at times. Of course, I had to drive up to Woburn because the programming class I'm retaking was supposed to start... only it turns out, they're behind schedule because of weather delays, et cetera, and the section I'm signed up for is not going to start until Saturday, so aside from meeting the teacher and getting assured I'll have a computer to work with then, it was all for nothing.

The drive could have been worse, though -- despite the buckets of rain, there wasn't much traffic because most businesses and schools had been closed for the rather wet Slushpocalypse.

Current Mood: still wet

From my current Twitter stream:

07:50 6F out again, was expecting colder. Not complaining, exactly. #
08:55 This waking stuff is uphill work, despite sunny sun and coldy cold. #
09:45 Want to go to Arisia. Do NOT WANT to go out in cold 7F. ::whimpers:: #
11:52 At Arisia hearing a reading! #

Arisia enjoyable, though I had trouble finding people -- the hotel is laid out in a tiny maze of floors, and would be a cool place for about 1/3 as many people. It's all wrong for this crowd, especially for the ESPECIALLY clueless fans who stop in the middle of the traffic areas to have an intense discussion among at least five people, which means there's a one-person-size passage for two way traffic RIGHT AT PANEL CHANGING TIME.

Got there in time nearly in time for the start of oracne's 10 AM reading (which was DAMN fine smut). I was unsure about the legality of the parking space I was in, so I went out after Greer's reading and moved my car to a safer one, which was unfortunately a good quarter mile further away -- my cheapitude trumps all, including common sense, but at least I was wearing my heavy duty coat and appurtenances.

I still had a fine time, up to about 4 or so when my personal fresh-by-date expired. Lasted through another two panels, which had friends on them, found yet another friend (Hi, Ellen!) as I was getting my coat, but still departed before 8 PM... and was asleep by 9:30 at home.

This morning -- we're having a Surprise!Snowpocalypse, at least if you're me and didn't see any forecasts yesterday. It's supposed to be 4-6 inches, too, but I'm planning my journey to the con around convenient transportation options....

Current Mood: awake

From my current Twitter stream:

07:08 Cities of the Underworld series is really cool. Also a reason to use 'oubliette' in conversation. #

09:40 the snow is starting to stick. Well, it's 26F, so I guess it would. #

18:47 I should be applying to jobs but just haven't felt like it today #

22:26 Ooh, I have grapes to eat for NYE #

22:26 I need all the luck I can get in 2009 #

Cities of the Underworld is a really neat doc series on the History Channel, which combines archaeology, civil engineering, spelunking, urban exploration, and of course history. They travel to interesting locations like Ethiopia and Los Angeles and so on, checking out sites like the Hellfire Club's fake caverns and mountain top monasteries carved out of caves, underground sepulchres, and look for rare animals like giant blind cave salamanders in Eastern Europe.

The snow turned out to be extremely light and fluffy, we got about 6 inches. I managed to time the clearing of sidewalk and car (partial) just right.

So far, 2009 off to an OK start.

Current Mood: chipper

Luxury is sitting out in the garden with the laptop, feeling the breeze and idly checking the weather radar on your laptop to confirm that there's a thunderstorm headed your way -- about 7 miles out, so I don't have to get up soon.

(Except that my laptop will be out of Battery soon. But I have books.)

It's about 90 degrees out but there's a breeze and the dew point is mid-60s, so it's acceptable to hang out here. I've been cheating on and off, because we have a cold pad that fits over your shoulders like a yoke, so I've been using it as a personal cooling device. :-)

Reread Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett yesterday -- the first time in years, and I found that I couldn't remember the second half of the book despite having quite loved it before So it was double-plus good because it was a pleasant surprise, actually. Now I have to find my copies of the other two Johnny books to see if they have improved as well.

In class, we're still working with Sound Booth, which honestly is dead simple compared to the video editing programs. Now that I know what I'm doing, cutting "Kung Fu Fighting" from 3:19 to 2:00 was quite doable, and perhaps I flatter myself that if you'd never heard the song before you might not notice it's minus the vocal intro and the rather unnecessary long chorus in the bridge.

Current Mood: recumbent
Current Music: patio noises

sunset over Medford, originally uploaded by moxie58.

Took a walk yesterday along the Mystic River, admiring the clouds and the light....

Current Mood: peaceful

Just called the Woburn campus (yeah, the one further away -- go figure) and they're definitely open tonight, which means I'd better haul out the winter gear and get my car shoveled off now while it's still light. SIGH.

Well, I'd just have to dig it out tomorrow morning. But it's the principle of the thing, you know?

PS -- I have some snow pictures up over on my Flicker Account:

predawn snow

midmorning snow

midafternoon snow

And now, to the shovelling....

Current Mood: cranky

Theo's House o' Squee

Cats All The Way Down

December 5th -- Surprise Snow!

November 7th -- Annotations From A Life

October 19th Es Schneit

August 20th - Cat Days of Summer

May 22: Sweating Better Be Good For The Soul

May 21st -- Patio Day

April 28 -- Some of Summer In A Day

April 28 -- Some of Summer In A Day

Vernal Infernal Snow

Mar 10 -- Linkity Link Link

Mar 9 -- March Falls

Mar 07 -- Bee Season?

Mar 02 -- The Furnace of DOOM

March 01 -- DanceThe Snowpocalypso

Jan 28 -- Slushpocalypse

Jan 17 - More Arisia

Dec 31st -- Going Underground

The Weather Report: It's July, What Were You Expecting?

Sunset over Medford

Snow Day, but NO Snow Evening

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