This was a very different Balticon from any that tigergladys and I have attended before. For one thing, we only attended on Saturday and Sunday. We both had to work on Friday, and there wasn't anything all that interesting going on either Friday evening, or Monday, so we just didn't go.

We also didn't volunteer at all. Usually we'll do at least enough time for the free t-shirt but not this year. I felt a little bad about that, because I know how much work goes into running a con, but I just didn't have the energy to do it. Next year, I promise!

Ok, onto the good! The masquerade and the film festival were both better then last year. A whopping 32 entries in the masquerade (only a couple of which were merely a pair of fairy wings or ears and a tail) and then a whole bunch of movies the worst of which was merely bad (as compared to last years worst agonizingly bad 2 hour long "short" film).

All of the panels we attended were full, and then some. Seeing people sitting on the floor was common. There also seemed to be far fewer conflicts in the schedule this year. I'm not sure how much of that was good luck and how much was good scheduling, but either way, it was good! The con suite also seemed to be better stocked this year, and the coffee was decent. The art gallery had some familiar stuff, but also some neat new things.

The less good has to be the gaming side of things. There weren't really any scheduled games, and there didn't seem to be all that many panels with a gaming theme. With D&D 4th edition and 40K 5th edition both coming out this year I'd have thought there would be something to talk about. I was disappointed.

Because I was so disappointed I went ahead and caved to the temptation of the first D&D 4th edition adventure (with quick start rules) that was for sale in the dealers room. I've finished reading the players guide (only about 15 pages or so) and have started reading the adventure. So far I'm relatively impressed with the new rules that I've read so far, and have actually gone ahead and pre-ordered the D&D4e boxed gift set with the 3 core rule books.

While it wasn't the best Balticon that I’ve attended, there was still a lot to enjoy. There were some great panels like “fanish weddings”, “how to get laid at a con”, “the business of art parts I & II”. There were also some less good panels like Saturday’s “carbon neutral.” It should have been a good panel, but the most well versed person on the panel was an artist, and the most talkative person is an author who didn’t know anything about how water tables work, the effects of melting ice at the poles, the probable effects of increased temperatures, or any willingness to even mention the fact that the US and the rest of the Western World are actually to blame for the massive amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere, it made for a frustrating hour. Sorry, had to vent. Another issue I had was the number of panels I went to where the panellists started out by saying “I don’t know why I’m on this panel.” It doesn’t instil a whole lot of faith in the speaker.

Of course there were a lot of really good things, in spite of the not good things. For instance, Tigs bought me 3 Alternity RPG books and a D&D adventure for really cheap. The Alternity books are really exciting to me because it nearly completes my collection!

The film festival was, as usual, a mixed bag. There were some very good ones, some that made me wonder what drug I should be on to truly get it, and some that were in desperate need of editing. This last one was the saddest, as it was an hour and forty some minutes long, and some of the people who made it were there. People laughed at the unintentionally funny parts, and made fun of the poorer aspects of it, and I just felt bad for them. On the other hand, they really should have given it a test screening in front of an unbiased audience before bringing it to such a big con. The worst part was that they were supposed to be interviewed by Klingon General BurD joH ‘aj after the movie, and there was an announcement that they had left to go back to Harrisburg due to the late hour… while they were still sitting in the audience.

Some of the really good movies included Hide and Seek, a short computer animated film about two robots playing… you guessed it: hide and seek! There was another computer animated film called Delivery about an old guy living outside a futuristic city who gets a very special box. Starship Grove was also very cool. No plot, just a bunch of robots rocking out on the hull of a spaceship. The Bastards of Kirk was funny if you got the jokes (aka watched the original Trek) and the Vibrinator you could tell was a lot of fun to make, and that made it fun to watch!

The masquerade had a surprisingly large number of kids, and a correspondingly low number of adults, and entrants in the master level category were (iirc) completely absent. Never the less, it was still an impressive display, and it makes me a little sad that I haven’t gotten up the motivation to pull out the pirate coats. *sigh*

I met Larry Niven, and had him sign Ringworld, Ringworld Engineers, and Ringworld Throne. I also got a couple of Star Trek books signed, but I never caught up with the guy who translated Hamlet into Klingon.

All in all a successful con, and I can’t wait for next year!

Balticon starts tomorrow. I must admit I am a little disappointed by this year’s panels. I was hoping for more science and costuming. There seems to be an awful lot of writing panels instead. Not entirely a bad thing this year, considering the Lucymonster factor.

I’m also a little frustrated by the times they’ve got for Larry Niven’s signing times. Friday at 5, and Sunday at noon. Considering that Tigs and I aren’t pre-registered this year, there isn’t any way we can make the Friday one. Maybe, if there is someone we know, who happens to be planning on it, they could take one of my books… Please?

Why aren’t I pre-registered to a con I knew that I’d be going to? Well, mostly because last year I had been planning on joining BSFS as a member, which would have negated any need to register. That however, never came to pass. And by the time I thought about it, the online registration had already closed. We won’t make that mistake this year!!

I’m taking tomorrow off, in what is to be stage 1 of the Lucymonster-Balticon Plan™. My initial plan is to take her to either Gunpowder Falls State Park or the Robert E Lee Park. I’m going to get up with Tigs first thing in the morning, and as she leaves Lucy and I will leave too.

After we get back from wherever we end up going I’m going to go grocery shopping and pick up the stuff to make chilli in the crock pot for the weekend. I’m also looking at other dishes that I can make and bring to the con that are easy, and easy to transport. I was thinking maybe a quiche? Suggestions welcome!

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Today is dragging so slowly. I all morning all I wanted to do was go to lunch and read more of Green Mars. I got to do that, and am now 15 pages from the end. 15 lousy pages!! I should have gone back to my office late. Or not wasted time eating. Ah well, I’ll be able to finish it off tonight. Sad that it’s taken me a month to read it, though considering it’s over 600 pages that isn’t too bad. It certainly could be worse, though I think that it’s going to kill the buffer I built up at the beginning of the year. Who knows though, I may squeeze another book in before the end of the month. I’ve gotten a whole bunch from paperbackswap since we started (including Green Mars) and I’ll probably end up with a new book or two from Balticon. It never fails! I’m so glad we have paperbackswap to get rid of the books we don’t want anymore. It helps to bring a little balance to things in our library.

The final Harry Potter book comes out in about 2 months, which means that in about 6 weeks I’m going to have to basically stop looking at the internet. I’m debating which (if any) of the Harry Potter books to go back and re-read. I’m fairly sure I’ll try to squeeze in book 6, but book 5… Maybe. We’ll see.

Gods how this day drags… I gave blood yesterday. It went quickly, but while I was there they had the TV on, and tuned to TBS. Now as you know, Tigs and I don’t have cable (something that my co-workers find absolutely amazing) so it’s weird seeing it. I don’t know what the show was that was on, but it was set in a high school, and I think I have seen it before, and then right after that was The Fresh Prince of Bel Air! I can’t believe they are still showing that! And not only are they still showing it, people are still watching it! No wonder America is getting fatter. Stop watching re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-runs!! The last episode aired 11 years ago this week!!

As is the standard bonus for giving blood I received yet another set of movie tickets. I think I have a total of 6 tickets now, and I know how we’ll most likely end up using 4 of them: Spider-man & Pirates.

1. What are your favorite kinds of flowers? I've always thought lilies were really pretty.

2. Do you have any cut flowers in your home or office right now? What kinds? Some various wildflowers that aren't doing so well at this point that we got in Frederick .

3. Are you growing/planting any live flowers inside or outside your home? What kinds and where? We got a tiny little violet for free at another Frederick event, and I got some sort of flower for secretaries day. There are also a bunch of really hardy plants in the dining room that are able to survive when we forget to water them for a month.

4. Which flowers do you associate with specific people, places, or events? Lilacs remind me of Mum.

5. When was the last time you were given flowers as a gift? Secretaries day.

1. At this moment, how many rolls of toilet paper are there in your house? 5 or 6?

2. At this moment, how many working flashlights are there in your house? 2

3. Do you know where some candles and matches are? No matches, but a lighter.

4. If the power were to go out right now, how long could you probably get by on the food in your house? Presuming we can still use the gas stove, two weeks, maybe more. It would be a lousy diet though.

5. It's someone's birthday, and you've GOT to come up with something to give him or her RIGHT NOW! What have you got? Books. Lots and lots of books!

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I am always boggled about which of my posts gets comments. I was POSITIVE that my last entry about videogames wouldn't get any! I thought it was navel gazing at it's best, and yet, 3 threads, totalling 11 comments. Crazy.

After work I'm taking the car in to get an oil change. I'm past due. I also need to get the fuel injectors cleaned, but that can still wait a bit. I'm kinda looking forward to it, as Green Mars (the book I'm currently reading) is picking up the pace a little bit and an extra hour reading time is welcome. Maybe I shouldn't have picked a 600+ page book to be the one I only read at lunch. Of course only reading at lunch hasn't been intentional; it's just been rather busy.

Tigs and I have another busy weekend ahead. Saturday we are volunteering for an agility trial down in Millersville, and Sunday we are volunteering at an obedience show n go at the club. Funny thing; we're doing all this volunteering because we want to be club members. The way to become a club member is to volunteer at 2 events over the course of 6 months. If you've been paying any attention at all you'll realize that Tigs and I have done far more then our required 2 events, but our 6 months isn't up yet. (It will be up in June. Argh! So close!) There are some summer classes we want to sign up Lucy for, but depending on whether we get our member discount or not will impact our decision about what to sign up for. And we feel bad about asking, cause we both feel like we ask questions to the point of being annoying. We've been looking at the club members we know and thinking to ourselves "how many questions have we asked this person?" (The answer is always "Too Many.")

I really wish they would post a list of the guests coming to Balticon. I want to know what books to bring! There is usually a Star Trek author or two that shows up and I probably have at least one of their books! I did pick up a nice little hardcover copy of Ringworld for Larry Niven to sign from the hospital's thrift shop.
There is also the fact that we need to look at the schedule to figure out our MacGyvered puppy parenting plans for the weekend, since we couldn't find a puppy daycare who would take Lucy. (Less because of Lucy and her impossible personality and more because the only one we found that was open on the weekends was already full.)

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Back from the garage. Minus a car. It turns out that my oil plug was stripped, and they need to replace it. However pepboys didn't have any, and Kia was closed by the time they called. So tomorrow they are going to hunt one down, and then I should get my car back. *sigh* I just wanted a simple oil change...

Five on Friday – Tuesday Edition
If you're out shopping and hear a baby cry, what's your first thought? It’s not mine!

Are the passengers in your car required to buckle their seat belts regardless of age? Required? No, strongly encouraged.

Do you ever feel the need to clean/straighten your loved ones? With your own spit? No. Tigs does this to Lucy though.

Some people are described as having "a face only a mother could love." What people or things in your life do you love unconditionally? I love Lucy and Priya unconditionally, the same way I’ve loved all my pets. You have to love them unconditionally, because you are responsible for them completely.

In what ways are you like your mother? What habits, catch phrases, and tricks have you picked up from her? I’ve picked up a whole lot from my mother, and am still discovering tidbits that I didn’t even know I knew.

We’re buying you a lifetime subscription to any magazine or periodical journal you want! What’ll it be? Maybe Wargames Illustrated? I don’t really know, as I don’t get any magazines currently that I would want a lifetime subscription.

We’re buying you any existing non-chain, one-location-only store and giving you an expert lifetime manager, so that all you have to do is make decisions and watch them succeed or fail! What will be the store, and what will be your first change? Maybe the Book Barn, and I’d put hazelnut coffee back in the haunted house.

We’re buying you any house within a one-mile radius of your own! Which one do you want, and why? Probably one of the ones down Dogwood road, as they are almost rural, have some actual space around them, and are bigger then the one we are currently in.

We’re hiring someone to take care of any ONE specific household chore (except cooking) for the rest of your life! Which chore will he or she attend to? Dishes.

We’re providing the start-up capital for any crazy idea for a business, service, or product you can dream up, giving you total creative control while we finance your dream for five years, after which it must fail or succeed on its own merit! What will it be? A hobby/craft/gaming store that is a cross between The Whiz and That’s Entertainment. Or The Book Barn: Mid-Atlantic branch.

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This past weekend as a blast! Saturday I headed up to the Central PA Hirst Arts Gathering. It was a smallish group (5 total) but I got to meet some fellow Hirst Arts fans, play test a game for the first time, discuss plaster and casting techniques, and even got to cast some of the sci-fi molds! It’s the first time I’ve put plaster to mold for over a year now, and I enjoyed it more then I should have. I must admit I felt like a bit of a noob, which is weird for me. All of these guys have carved their own bricks, made their own molds, and have done successfully more with the hobby then I’ve even attempted. I’m feeling very inspired by it all, and with some luck I’ll be able to channel the inspiration into miniature painting, as that’s my primary hobby outlet at the moment.

Sunday we ended up skipping the BWI trail and going back to the Robert E Lee park again. Tigs and Lucy were still rather tuckered out from their excursion to Frederick the previous day. Once again Lucy went swimming, and this time I filmed some videos of her doing it. They should be up on the hamster journal later tonight.

Tonight we are going to visit the Petsmart dog daycare to see about bringing Lucy during Balticon. I can’t believe Balticon is 10 days away. I hope they get their schedule up soon.

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Edited to Add

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Yesterday was a little frustrating. Tigs and I finally found a day camp that was open Memorial Day weekend to bring Lucy to, and rather then tell us on the phone that they were already booked up; we had to drive all the way down to Columbia to find out! On the other hand at least we now have all their info, including pricing.

Today has been so slow. I’ve gotten a lot of work done, but it just hasn’t helped. My mind keeps wandering, and when it comes back I find that only a minute or two has gone by, and yet it feels like an hour should have gone by.

Tonight is Lucy’s agility class, and last night her school finally posted their summer schedule. What we take will greatly depend on whether we are actually members yet or not. If we are, then there are two classes we want to sign up for, and if not, then we’ll just stick with advanced basic obedience with the canine good citizen test at the end. (The other class is focus & attention for obedience.)

Speaking of classes, mine start in 3 weeks! I’m really excited about it, even though it’s going to be a major distraction to the rest of my life. I mean it’s 2 nights a week in class, plus homework… Mostly I hope they don’t have too much that is assigned on Monday that’ll be due on Wednesday. I just need to keep reminding myself that this is all a series of stupid hoops that I need to jump through in order to advance my pay scale. Cause really, this is all about the money.

Wow... Where to start. The last time I posted was when it was still 11 hours till I picked up the truck, and several more hours past that till we made it out of New England. I owe you all (and myself) a long and detailed update, including the episodes "Adventures in Moving", "Do you think the dining room set would fit in the van?", "Home Sweet Baltimore", and of course "Balticon 40 aka where I was first in line to get Neil Gaiman's signature." However, seeing as it is already late, and that many others have already written much of those stories, and I am writing on tigergladys' overheating laptop, I shall have to save them for later.

Until then, Peace, Love, & Hope!

17 days till we move...

Tomorrow morning at 7 am I'll be taking Swar in to get a tune up and the A/C serviced. Good timing too, as summer is quickly approaching. tigergladys and I packed up almost all of the books up here tonight. The shelves in the bedroom are so empty... And there is still so much left to pack...

We also took a walk down to Price Chopper to get some more packing tape. They didn't have any and we ended up getting some fruit for tomorrow, and stopping at one of the convenience stores and getting some overpriced tape there.

tigergladys has asked me to inform you that she is watching DS9 and that her leg hurts. She has to go to work tomorrow. She hates Kai Winn. (but then who doesn't?)

I can not wait to be moved and then at Balticon... It's going to be nice to have something fun to look forward to right after moving...

Peace, Love, & Hope

In just over a month we will be on our way.... A month!!

I am trying to keep on top of things at work, rather then give in to the restless feeling, the desire to just... get the hell out of here. (Failing, as you can see from this post!) There is still so much left to do, still lose ends that need to be dealt with. Stupid crazy things that just... need to be done. Copies of our medical records, copies of the hamsters vet records, making sure we have all of the documentation we need (social security cards, Ids, passports, etc.), getting the truck, printing directions....

I pulled out some miniatures this past weekend. And I painted them, and enjoyed them, and I needed that. I think that I now need to put them back and try to focus on getting through the next month, getting through moving, getting to Baltimore, and trying desperately to enjoy balticon. (Can you believe the hotel, and the overflow hotels are sold out already?!?!?!)

On an unrelated topic I had a very strange dream. It was a musical that was written, directed, and stared Bing Crosby. I had to find a very gaudy ring that someone who is both annoying and insane had lost. I have no idea where it came from... Sometimes my brain does odd things.

I really need to do something today that is work related. Later!