Blankshield

This is mostly a short note to say I'm likely to be Lollyblogging for the next few weeks or so.

At home: Working more-or-less nonstop with Lego stuff for the train show in three weeks. (If I build it, will you come? Sept 18-19, Mayfield trade center. Support my hobby.)

At work: The universe is flipped onto it's ear. As some of you have already learned, I am no longer working at The Place Where I Work, although I am still employed by The Company I Work For. I got a raise, a new title and (finally!) a move back into head office from out here spinning my wheels. I'm very pleased by this turn of events, but it does mean I will be very busy tying up loose ends out here, and for a little while, juggling two jobs while I get out of this one and into my new one.

James

The Gencon report:

Flew out Wednesday with a switch through Denver that got us there late; too late to get into the hall and get badges etc. Also had an odd little hotel shuffle; the Marriot had been overbooked on Wednesday, so we (and a whole lot of other people, it seems) were booked into another hotel a few blocks away just for that day, at their cost. That was actually kind of good because it cut a day of hotel cost off our bill for the weekend.

Thursday morning got up early and moved us and our stuff to the other hotel, after pulling out my setup stuff for Brick Battles. Went across to the con hall and got almost all the way to Hall F before checking a map and discovering that the minis hall wasn't there this year. Went all the way back upstairs to Sagamore. No one from Ad Astra was there yet, so Eric and I had no badges yet. No biggie; they weren't screening at the doors for the gaming halls.

Hooked up with the other Lego gaming guys and started setting up for my 10:00 game. The 10:00 game had 3 of 4 pre-reg's sold, and I filled the 4th slot with one of the Lego guys son who was there this year. Noon game was the same, except with me filling the open slot and the 2 o'clock game was full up. I was really pleased to get the pre-reg's in this year... like a lot of other groups last year, we had trouble getting into the online guide before the con, so had squat for prereg. This year, nearly all of the Lego games had some pre-reg and several were sold out.

From there I hung out at the Ad Astra demo table for a bit, hit the dealers hall and spent my first bundle of money buying a shwack of new games at the Forge booth; it was cool to meet some of those guys as well. Also bought one of the last five copies of Hunta ever likely to exist from Scott Palter. Wandered around the con and didn't do much of anything, just enjoying the experience and the lack of pressure. Much different from last year where I had about 10 minutes to myself all weekend.

Friday morning ran two more games of Brick Battles then sat in for Brick Quest which was a blast (think the Heroquest boardgame, except done in Lego), and I think I might try to make up a set for use in this part of the world.That evening I switched hats and ran a couple demos for Ad Astra, although the Friday night traffic was a bit light.

Saturday pretty much all day I ran demos for Ad Astra. Took a bit of time to myself to walk the dealers hall again; was highly amused by the totally blatant bootleg/pirate DVD sellers. Selling things that don't even exist on DVD yet, like the new Battlestar Galactica. I have to wonder how they get away with that.

Sunday I took over Booth Monkey duty from Ken and that was pretty much my day, except for a brief break where I got a demo of ELFS from Ron Edwards, which was cool. Sunday night Scott took the whole Ad Astra crew out to the Mongolian BBQ which was awesome food, then back in our room we played a new card game Eric picked up called HexHex, which was a blast.

Monday got on a plane, missed a connecting flight, got home late-ish and wrote an RPG in the shower. Still need that waterproof laptop...

James

Off to Gencon in a few hours. mostly packed and ready with a minimal amount of last minute skittering needed. But enough of that.

Waterpark! I've confirmed babysitting for Saturday the 11th of Sept., which is three weeks from today. That's when we're going to the waterpark, folks. Arrange babysitting, juggle shifts, or say "the hell with you, I don't want to go." :) Sorry Bregon, I thought about pushing it back so you could celebrate your new eyes too, but then Raven's back at work, so I lose one of my beautiful babes.

Let me know by Wednesday the 8th if you can come, and I will pay your way. Fail to let me know and you'll have to pay the obscene park rates... ($30)

James

A little while back in here I was talking about musicals and how the world wasn't *really* like that, but I wish it was. Fortunately for me, Kalen is taking after my musical tendencies. On our way home this morning, out of the blue, she starting singing "And I will walk though the fire" from the Buffy Musical.

It's genetic.

James

I am sapped of all energy and motivation. I take no responsibility for the rambling that follows.

Myrna came over on Wednesday and helped me with boring Lego drudgery, which was fantastic of her. Nothing is done yet, but progress was made and the pile of army minifigs I've been avoiding since last year about this time has finally been dealt with.

HLB is stalled while the people who care if it looks hyperauthentic argue about trusses and stuff. It's 90% built, which means we're into the annoying last gasp that always takes longer than the rest of the thing did.

Rafik/Wasp are still in their box; going to crack them out this weekend, probably after I clean the garage. My other plans for the weekend now include melting. It's gonna be a hot one. Memo to self: mow the grass either Tuesday or Wednesday before I leave, otherwise it'll go to long again and my neighbors will give me (more) dirty looks.

I watched the Buffy musical episode on Wednesday and again last night, and it was fantastic. Long establishing shots, a very theatrical feeling establishing shot cutting from character to character without dialogue. Lots of nods to musical 'moments' too. I loved the mustard scene, and the dancing broomsweepers. Yet more evidence that Joss Wheden Knows What the Hell He's Doing. He does such fantastic things with TV that I'd love to see what he does with something feature length.

Employee reviews are coming up; I get mine the day I'm back from Gen Con. I'm less unhappy than I was back at the beginning of the year, but I'm still not "content with my place". I was promised back then there would be some recognition of both my necessity where I am and the difficulties presented working out here. (cf: lack of motivation at the top of the post)

I've gotten around to scheduling my next cowtowing to the system: the first of several MCSE exams is scheduled. Meh. I'm hoping to get the bulk of my MCSE out of the way by the end of the year, but then we're back to that whole motivation issue again, combined with a hefty dose of "what's the point?".

I had a really good cold chicken and spinach salad at BP's last week, with raspberry vinagrette that was really yummy. Speaking of which, it was the farewell luncheon for the Dragon in the Corner, whom I'm pretty sure I've bitched about here in the past, although probably not a lot. Anyway, the Dragon is gone, like a rat from a sinking ship, and it's a cause for much rejoicing. Now all we need to do is get rid of her cheif minion, and we'll only be left with people who actually do work out here. Anyway, the Dragon leaping to safety is part of a major change out here: Place At Which I Work is seriously unhappy with how incredibly incompetant Three Letter Service Provider has been, and so they have dumped them and are transitioning the account to A Different Three Letters Service Provider, who may or may not have been referenced obliquely in 2001: A Space Oddessy. The Company For Which I Work and my own position are pretty safe; we've got a solid track record of doing what we promise and Not Fucking Up, which is not the case with above mentioned Three Letter Service Provider.

So, Friday night gamers: Who wants steak tonight? I feel like a barbeque again.

James
(warned you about the coherency, didn't I?)

Had a good weekend in Saskatchewan. Won a couple for the visiting team.

Projects at home are moving a bit slowly; stalled on the High Level bridge construction due to lack of a few key parts that are, apparantly, rare. Who knew? Haven't yet touched the ships or Lego gaming stuff for Gen Con, although I'll probably break those out over the weekend and do what needs doing. Haven't got anything else stunningly planned for the weekend, except vague intentions to clean the garage up and *extremely* tentative plans to possibly talk Tempest with Mistress. (to her friends, she is Star. To her players, she is Mistress.)

On the Waterpark front, I have not yet set a date in stone, so let me know if you have preferences - it will almost certainly end up being a Saturday in September, as these things go. I will cover tickets for those who wish to come, especially if they are pretty girls, as I can get tickets for quite cheap through work. However, I will say that I'm disappointed in the response rate so far. I've only had two answer, and I know there's more gorgeous babes out there.

James

I had my one month Post Op evaluation last night. My eyes have healed with absolutely no complications, they are well-lubricated so I don't particularly seem to be suffering from even the most common side effect (dry eye). My vision is 20/20 in both eyes, and 20/20 in each eye independantly, albiet a bit on the fuzzy side with the right. This is very happy-making for me. Night vision effects: I get a bit of striated glare (commonly called the halo effect); about the size of a loonie at arms length around really bright lights, and smaller around less-bright lights. Noticable, but not limiting in any way.

On Sunday I went out with a fabulous babe and watched a movie without glasses for the first time in my life. It was grand, even if the movie was mediocre. (sexy chick, cool action moves, and the Predictable Plot of Doom)

Now that it's over a month, and everything checks out, I am once again allowed to immerse myself in water, go in hot tubs and swimming pools, stick my face under the shower and all that jazz.

I would like to, sometime in the not-to-distant future, celebrate by going to the Waterpark. Probably WEM 'cause that's the one I know, but if anyone has other suggestions, I'm open to it. I'll be shamelessly male about it: one of my motivations is to see what I've been missing all these years. To this end, I would encourage all the sexy women I know to come with me, just in case there aren't any sexy strangers there.

Interested?

Well, we survived the long weekend, sickness and all. Mad props to Raven for being primary childcare for large chunks of the weekend while I tried to accomplish things.

Major accomplishment for the weekend: stained the deck. Even the fiddly under-the-stairs bits, and boy were those fun.

Also got started on high level bridge bits; I'm about a third of the way done my bridge section, but haven't done any of the pylons or sidewalk laying, which will be time-consuming and mildly drudgerous. Hey Myrna, can I abuse your offer of help sometime this week? :)

But that's about it. Didn't get any cleaning done, or other Lego work or writing or pretty much anything done except move through a fog of sickness. I guess I did accomplish cooking three gluten&dairy free meals over the weekend. I'm getting used to the idea of scanning ingredients for not just nuts but also 'dairy products' and 'wheat flour'. Someday soon I may be brave enough to tackle some of the recipes in the books that Pixie's mom lent us.

Ok, I'm out.

James