Dudes, these Santa Cards I made are available at Topatoco! He is in the festive spirit wink wink.

So either shinysayyadina or I, or both of us, have been sick or trying to not be sick for a few months. This has been generally not fun, especially since we just have not had the energy to do a whole lot and see people and enjoy the summer...and fall...Um, months indeed.

We did go to Faeriecon last weekend, which was a lot of fun. There were a lot of vendors we liked and a lot of music as well. There were panels, and while some looked cool they were not really what we cared about and I don't think we made it to any.

Music-wise:

I got to hear S J Tucker again, twice! I did not buy her stuff at the con because I already have it, and/or shinysayyadina does. I would have if I didn't have it already though.

There was a local MD band called Telesma who I liked a lot. They are a bit hard to describe...rock band that also has primitive instruments, and human voice as instrument. Not many vocals with words. A little while back they did a concert where Alex and Alison Grey painted live on stage as the band played, and are doing that again this year, which I would totally go see if it were not on Hogswatch day! Bought both their live and studio albums.

Big fun was Faun, which is a German pagan band. I don't think they categorize well. They are sort of like the Medieval Baebes but with men and playing their own instruments. (Turns out some of them played on the Baebes last album.) Percussion guy, mostly old style drums, keyboard/electronic guy, pretty violin, hurdy-gurdy, vocals etc, girl, pretty bazouki, hurdy-gurdy, vocals, etc guy, and staggeringly pretty bagpipes, recorders(?) and vocals girl. At long last a hot, girl piper! Although more pretty than hot, did I mention pretty? Dang. To be fair, if I was into boys, I would be raving about the male vocalist. My height, with medium length very blonde hair and cheekbones of death. Is right up there with Bowie and Depp on the "If I had to pick a guy to have sex with" list. Also, everyone they interacted with before and after the show talked about nice how they all are, much more than would be called for to be polite. They came out to sign stuff and talk to people after the show, and were, indeed, just darn happy and nice and seemed to be really enjoying talking to everyone. I ended up with both a live and studio album, and would have gotten more had I enough funds. I had an easy time picking which ones to get, as the 2 I got are not yet available in the US. Both are signed by all of the band. I am going to watch and hope they get to the US again.

I don't usually pimp music, but I would encourage people to look into the aforementioned if at all inclined.

We also picked up a variety of art things, and shinysayyadina picked up one of the best hats ever. I pretty much pushed my budget right up to the breaking point, which I generally do not do. I had to get cards from people who I really wanted to buy from but just could not this time.

Other stuff...Work remains fine. I am very, very lucky to be in the position I am in right now, where I don't have to worry much about my job. I am trying as best my energy allows to get the apartment looking nicer and generally improve stuff here, even if that is going slowly at the moment. Still having fun cooking, and looking forward to Thanksgiving, Hogswatch, and Hogswatch Day.

Oh, and we officially adopted To Mini Thereion 0.666. We are also Fostering a Syrian Hamster who we got to name. :-) We ended up calling him Jack, for a variety of reasons, including Parsons, Skellington, Pumpkinhead, Daniels, and others. He is very shy and will need careful attention. He is also bi, meaning that unlike the other hamsters, he runs on his wheel facing both left and right.

I hoping to feel better and have more energy for the rest of the year.

Music heard and seen today:

- A strangely inspired concert by voice-and-clarinet duo Ah! You Sitting Comfortably, starring my good friend Pete W. The programme was all music by living composers, with whom the duo had worked-- and the preparation showed. Each piece was a bizarre, fantastic little story: my favourite, Flimminilap by Stephen McNeff, featured two people on a train drifting in and out of conversation and music on the way to a station whose existence is debatable. The last piece, Atem by Mauricio Kagel, is strangely moving: a solo clarinettist has increasing difficulty turning breath into sound; she plays feebly on several different reed instruments by turns before falling dead to the floor. It's music about the loss of music, and I liked that.

- 6comm at the Underworld in Camden. I arrived late-ish for the one decent opening act-- but heard all of the two who sucked hairy goat balls. (Very seriously, mind you.) One girl who showed some promise had to cut her set short because of a CD malfunction. 6comm himself started strongly, making his ritual gesture with his bell-festooned axe before settling down amid his usual morasse of stage-smoke and percussion instruments. What I like about 6comm is his soundworld, which is unique to him. Using percussion, samples and synths, he builds up this astounding sound-atmosphere which takes you right out of this world. Over this, he sings (his voice is surprisingly good; his lyrics, more often than not, total bollocks. Usually the words are kind of indistinguishable, which is a bonus.)
He played a few good songs before all his keyboards simultaneously died on him, so he was left with just percussion, looping and samples. It was interesting to see how he handled the situation, and it was great to see him improvise, but in the end he sadly admitted defeat and wandered offstage, shaking his axe.

- On the way home I stopped for some takeout meze at my neighbourhood Middle Eastern place (tasty, cheap and open late: what more could one ask?) The guys that know me were on shift, and as usual, they put on some dance music. Usually I just smile and show them a move or two-- but I'd been hearing extraordinary music all evening and not dancing, so I took off my coat and shoes and cut loose. A girl at one of the tables stood up and joined me: it turned out she knew me from dance class! So everyone at her table stood up and started dancing too, and we ended up having a brief dance party while I waited for my takeout. (They smiled and charged me £5.)

What have we learned about music today?

From the first concert: Music is what you think it is.
From the second concert: When you're in the zone, let nothing throw you out of it.
From the last dance: Without music, the human race would have no reason to shake its booty.

Good night and sweet music to you all.

With the lovely help of libunnyfoofoo And as near as I can tell, everything is good. The wires aren't mismatched, the gfci tests right.. and all should be well. All I need now is to schedule an inspection and we are done.
woo!

Today, I slept in. Therefore, my plans for this morning are being moved to tomorrow. Which is to say at 10:20am we shall stare at Men Who Stare at Goats, and hope that the goats don't stare back at us. After this, we will try out a new-to-me Dim Sum place, both as a test drive for my birthday and to celebrate the occasion of today. I know this is very last minute, but should anyone feel inclined to stare at goats or dumplings with us, please do!

Goats will be at Columbia mall, dumplings at Asian Court on rt 40 in Ellicott City. I estimate getting there just past noonish.

The cause for celebration is as follows: twenty years ago, after an evening of partying and packing and saying goodbyes and not saying them and not at all sleeping, at an ungodly hour of the morning we walked out of this here house (which I think was not quite so garish at the time, and did not have a what-the-heck-is-that in second photo next to it), and never looked back. We got on a bus and rode it out of a country that's no longer there. There's a few memories of the event here, written at 10th anniversary (and at 5th of the other end of the journey).

So (as my dear spouse coined) Happy Expat Day to me and my family.

we were in the middle of a move and had no internet access for most of october. :-(

i'm interested in a room at either the marriott or hyatt, checking in on either thursday or friday, and checking out on monday.

if you can help me out, please email lafemmedesfemmes at gmail dot com.

thanks!

Today is my father’s birthday as you can probably tell from the title of this entry.

I love my dad very much. He has always been in my corner when I have needed him. He has inspired me, encourage me, and love me. I know that I am so very lucky to have him in my life.

I love watching him with Caroline. He is really good with little kids. I watch him and remember when he did the same things with me when I was Caroline’s age. He made sure that he was part of our lives even when he was working late on some experiment or teaching a class or helping a graduate student. I can remember him reading to me. I still have the well worn copy of “Wind in the Willows” that we read through. It has traveled with me all over the place.

He encouraged all of us to read both by reading to us and reading in front of us. I think that is something that people forget when they encourage their kids to read. Children learn by example so seeing the adults read books, magazines, and newspapers, the child learns that this is normal and expected behavior. I can remember walking into the living room and both of my parents were reading when I was pretty young. Caroline thinks that reading is an activity that everyone in the family does. She has observed Ariel, Peter and me reading for pleasure and she is starting to do it herself.

He encouraged our love of science. I don’t think I would be as interested in how the physical world works if it hadn’t been for my dad. He use to take us to the planetarium and to look out telescopes to see the stars. He made us boxes so we could look at the eclipse safely. My parents signed me up for science camp at the Fernbank Science Center. I still have the telescope I made there oh so many years ago and it still works too.

He encouraged us to expand our vocabulary. Both of my parents made sure that we didn’t pick up any of the accents of the places we lived. Probably why more people have me pegged as a Canadian than they should. I tell them that I grew up in Atlanta and their first comment is, ‘You don’t have an accent.’ And I give credit to my parents for that. My father helped us with what words meant and if we used the wrong word or slang, he would tend to give us the correct word to use. I have been told that my vocabulary is rather erudite and I give credit to my father for that.

So Happy Birthday Da! I love you and Caroline told me to write that she loves her Pop-pop.

I am grateful that my parents gave me the tools I need to succeed at life.

A bit late but there is a bit of a time difference with Arizona...

Happy Birthday to ktnzgtklws! May the coming year be full of joy.

So, once upon a time, we had a storm door on the front entrance to the condo. We ended up taking it down during the unpleasantness of 2005 because the bottom aluminum panel had come loose, and there was no real way to put it back in place. I mean, I had gaff taped it in place so that no one would get hurt, but we did not believe that it would pass inspection. So, down it came. We bought a new one shortly thereafter, but I had measured incorrectly or something (Dude! It was *4* *Years* *Ago!* You're lucky I remember it happened), so we took it back. Since then, we haven't had a storm door. I'm actually a little surprised that the condo association hasn't said something.

Well, regardless, we decided that it was high time that we replaced the door. We like to be able to open the door and let air in, just not the local flora and fauna, so to speak. We especially like to have it open when the oven is running full bore for several hours. So, I took careful measurements at several points along the door frame and we headed off to Home Despot to buy the door.

Now, I normally avoid Home Despot like a slug avoids a salt lick. My reasons for this are personal, and I do not wish to rehash this topic. However, I was unable to find any storm doors of the sort we were looking for ont he Lowe's website, adn I was on the Home Despot site. Which is odd, since normally, I can find things easily on the Lowe's site.

But I digress.

We found the door we were looking for, as well as some ratchet straps, paid for everything and left. Once home, I unboxed the door, verified that all the parts were there, and went inside for lunch. I took the instructions with me so I could review them while munching on the mos excellent grilled cheese sammitches that mousecat0 made. Looked simple enough!

Oh, how wrong I was.

See, I made a few silly assumptions. The first and greatest of which was that when the door said it was 36" x 80", that it would actually *be* 36" x 80". Not so. And I first realized this when I went to fit the side of the doorframe to see where the screw holes would be and found that the storm door frame was ~1.5 inches shorter than the doorframe. After various amounts of measuring, brainstorming, and planning, it seemed like the best plan of action would be to build out the top of the doorframe sufficiently for the door to close the gap. This, of course, would require a second trip to the store. So, off I went to Lowe's to get the lumber and some Liquid Nails. This was accomplished reasonably quickly.

However, assumption #2 rose up and bit me in the ass: that I had screws long enough. This would prove to be incorrect. And was only realized when I got home.

::cue wailing and gnashing of teeth::

Went out again, this time to a smaller local place (Strosniders). Got the screws I needed, as well as some paint, and headed home. Cut and installed the lumber. Painted it. Got out mousecat0's Dremel and cut the frame sides to fit the new space. By this time, it was 1800 hrs, dark outside, and I had had enough for the day.

After brunch on Sunday, I started installing the door. Top section of the door frame went in fine. Attached the hinges to the door fine. Hinge side of the door frame went in with minimal difficulty. I closed the door to see how it fit...

Remember the above assumption about the dimensions of the door? Yeah, here comes the second bite in the ass. There was a gap of approximately .75 - 1 inch.

Oh ^$#&(&%%#@@^&$*&%##@%

Back in the car. Tried to get the necessary lumber at Home Despot. Nope. They were frickin' useless. No shims, no 1/2" anything. Shoulda known better. Should have gone straight to Lowe's. Which was the next stop. And which was where I found the necessary lumber.

Back home. Cut the lumber. I knew I had the screws (checked before I left). Finished installing the door. Works almost perfectly. It's a little tight at the bottom, I'll need to adjust that sometime. Right now,

I.

Don't.

Care.

It's up. It's in. It's DONE. It works.

I'm sure ironkite probably has some good reason to offer as to why the damn door wasn't the advertised dimensions. Or maybe someone else does.

So, what lessons have we learned today?

• Home Despot can continue to eat a bag of dicks.
  
• Assumptions continue to make an "ass" out of "you" and "umption"
  
• I may not be the worlds greatest repairman, or ready to go pro on construction work, but I still got it.
  
• There is no such thing as a "Murphy-free" project.

I have to give props here to my kids. F & B were very helpful during this. Not just because they could hold things or hand them to me, but also because they help me limit my cursing... ;-)

No, I'm not going to continue the lolspeak. I don't have a titanium spork to carve my eyes out.

So, Hi. Been a while.

Not much. How 'bout you? Really not sure why I call...

*slap* stopthat!

What, me? In a wierd headspace? Couldn't be.

So, yeah, I know I haven't written. Every time I tried, the words just wouldn't flow.

OK, time for a BULLET LIST OF DOOM (tm)
( But I'll be nice and put it behind a cut )
Remember: You woke up on the proper side of the grass this morning. By definition, that makes this a good day.

Peas. Out.

Caroline is back at home. She had a very wet cough this morning that was so severe that she almost hurled. It would be a distraction to send her to school in that condition and she was feeling very tired as well. I would rather give her another day to recover than push it and have the school nurse send her home due to the cough. So she has the weekend to recover and will be ready to go back on Monday.

The weather is not that kind either. The wind and rain are whipping around the house. It is pretty wet and nasty outside right now and looks like it is going to be so for the next couple of days.

In other news Peter’s episode of Ben 10 Alien Force is airing tonight on Cartoon Network at 8:30pm and again tomorrow at 8:00am. It is called In Charm’s Way and I am quite proud of my husband for this achievement. He also gained lots of points at Caroline’s school because he wrote an episode of this very popular series.

I have an interesting writing opportunity that I have to do a little research on before I see whether I can land it all the way. It is a subject that I enjoy and know quite a bit about.

Today I plan to restock the larder and a couple of other errands I need to get done before the weekend.

I am grateful that Peter’s episode is airing tonight.

1. Gay Pimp or Hard Gay, and why?

Gay Pimp hands down. Because he's actually gay, and sexy, and dirty, and hilarious. And I want his outfit. With rhinestones.

2. What was the first job you ever held?

Where I had a W-2 and everything? Working in a hunting and fishing warehouse pulling orders and packing them up for the delivery trucks. Very glamorous.

3. What would you never do, even for a million dollars?

Defile an animal (eating the dead doesn't count nom, nom), child, or dead person.

4. If you could have me bake anything for you, what would it be?

Oh my god, your scones! The rose tea one's!

5. Leather or sequins?

Sequins, hands down.

Remember, Montreal! I'm going to be at Expozine this weekend! You should come.

I realized today that the comic I was working on was going to take longer than I thought, so I made these up real quick before I take off for Montreal! You go to one of these things, and it's four days gone like a flash. Not that anyone checks the internet on the weekend, but still. In any case, I like the Kiss elves.

Store!

So I think I can gripe about outfits of dancers on a TV show.

( Top 16 )

I took Caroline to the bus stop this morning and she was happy to see her little friends and they were happy to see her.

I would like to thank everyone for your good wishes, prayers, energy, and everything else. Y’all are good people and don’t tell anyone tell you different.

Our GP put Peter and me on Tamiflu to help either to prevent or shorten our possible H1N1 outbreak. So far we are fever free and feeling OK so far.

So now I pick up the pieces from all the stuff I threw to the side because my child was sick. It has been a bit of a hectic since August. I though our October was going to be a little slower but then we went to Australia and New Zealand. November, however, is going to be a bit slower before we get to our very busy December.

I am grateful for Caroline going to school today.