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Nov. 18th, 2009 @ 10:40 pm
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Just some random stuff because I haven't updated in ages.
If you like historical fiction set in the Middle Ages and aren't afraid of gritty realism, check out The Owl Killers by Karen Maitland. Her first book was a Medieval mystery, a noir sort of thing that I didn't really care for, but this had an interesting plot, dealing with Beguines, pagan holdover folk traditions, and a completely un-romanticized view of the period. You can feel the cold, smell the stench of unwashed bodies. Life in Maitland's Middle Ages is very much like a dwarf - nasty, brutish and short. Very well done.
( Even Jonas wants to be reading this book. )
I've been getting a lot of movies from the library lately. Twilight bored me to death, I didn't make it more than 30 minutes into it. The remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still is really pretty crappy. And as for TV, I'm loving this season of Castle, White Collar is mildly entertaining, and I don't know what that Prisoner remake thing was, but the only thing that made it bearable was the fact that Ian McKellen is so fabulous an actor. Sheesh.
( The men in my life ) |
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Oct. 29th, 2009 @ 09:56 am
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Baby monitors are of the devil.
Seriously, I never had one - they weren't all that in vogue when Thomas was a baby, and when Ellen was born we couldn't afford extraneous stuff, but she got one as a shower gift. Wednesday night, in an effort to give her one night of uninterrupted sleep, I offered to take care of Jonas, figuring I could use the monitor to hear him, since our room is pretty far away from the nursery.
I heard him all right. I heard every damn noise that baby made. If he burped, I heard it. If he cooed or grunted or sniffled, I heard it and it woke me up. Round about 2 a.m., I finally gave up, went downstairs and slept on the couch where I could hear him when he cried and actually needed me, but not otherwise.
I'm just glad it was Wednesday night and not last night, as I'm working 12 hours today - my supervisor is sick, so I'm either here 8 hours or the doors get locked, and then I've got 4 hours at Windsor Woods tonight. It's been dead quiet here, so at least I've been able to get some work done on the paper I've got due Tuesday.
Hope everybody is doing okay - sooner or later I will be able to emerge from all this and have a life again. |
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When you look at the nutritional information on the side of a box of microwave popcorn and read 0mg Cholesterol as OhmyGod Cholesterol!
Or maybe that's an indication that I spend too much time online.
Jonas is still cute and still very time consuming, as babies are. Ellen is doing a very nice job with him, and I try to help out as much as I can. Tim was here for a week, but has gone now - they were getting on each other's nerves, and he wasn't really able to help much as she's breast feeding. His role was mostly changing poopy diapers. I know modern dads are supposed to do that, but you could tell he was kind of out of his depth. And anyway, living without income in his in-laws house was causing stress. Honestly, I don't know what's going to happen with them.
But enough on that. It will work out one way or another, and I keep stressing to both of them that regardless of what happens with their relationship, they will ALWAYS be Jonas's parents and they have to work together to do that. I'm kind of old fashioned about this - once you have a child, that's what matters, not your personal likes, dislikes, desires and whims.
Which brings me to that whole balloon boy thing, which CNN has reported is now considered to be a hoax. The article said they'd investigated the family for domestic abuse but didn't find enough evidence to take action. In my view, putting your kids through something like Wife Swap IS child abuse. Bringing a stranger into your home to care (or not care) for your kids just to get your 15 minutes of fame is despicable. Then using your son to generate publicity for a potential new reality show, putting an entire county (and country!) on alert, expending resources on an unnecessary search and rescue at a time when municipal and county budgets are stretched to the breaking point? They should send this guy a bill.
/rant.
Apart from all that, everything is fine, but between school, Jonas, work (still doing extra hours, and my afternoon co-worker just quit to take a job as a librarian at Lexis, so we're back down to 1 1/2 people AGAIN), I don't have a lot of time for anything else. Until now, I don't think I've been online except to do schoolwork for a week. I'm going to try and change that, though I think it will be a long time till I can make it to an event. Maybe I'll be at Crown for a few hours, though I'm working 1-5 that day, so maybe not. :(
( Of course, another baby picture )
( And it's the end of the world as we know it. Real Old Testament wrath of God stuff ) |
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Jonas was born yesterday at 4:55 pm. He weighed 7 lbs, 14 oz, and is 21 inches long and is doing great! Ellen is also fine. She's tired and not quite sure of what to do with her son, though the nurses at the hospital are great, giving a lot of good info. I love nurses - they exude this wonderful air of competence.
( Pictures, of course! )
And here's another reason why we need some kind of health care reform. Because Ellen is a first time mom and was strep-B positive, the doctors and nurses want them to stay in the hospital at least till Friday. Because Ellen has no insurance, the business office says they have to leave within 24 hours of giving birth. Bureaucrats, not doctors, making health care decisions - that's one of the arguments against reform. Sorry, that's what we have NOW.
/politics
I'm off work today and tomorrow, cleaning up the house and getting ready for baby, and hopefully catching up on some of my school assignments and what's been going on in the LJ world. Plus visiting my new grandson, of course!
( Yet more pictures! ) |
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Sep. 17th, 2009 @ 02:50 pm
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First Patrick Swayze, now Mary Travers. Growing up in the 60's, you couldn't escape PPM's music - we sang Puff in 5th grade music class and most of the rest of their repetoire at scout camp. To this day, "Blowing in the Wind" brings to mind the scent of campfires and the taste of navel oranges with peppermint sticks down the center. When our kids were young, we had a cassette tape of Peter, Paul & Mary's greatest hits that was almost always playing whenever we drove anywhere. Their music has been a part of the fabric of my life forever.
NPR had a great tribute this morning.
On other, less sad news, I finished the blanket I was crocheting for Jonas and it looks pretty good. Next up is a hat, then back to the endless Christmas stockings. I would post pictures, but I can't find the thingie that lets my SD card talk to my Mac.
( Ellen & Baby stuff )
My classes continue to kick my butt - there is SO much reading this semester. The government documents class is the worst, because a lot of the readings are in governmentese, not English. Obviously, the plain English movement hasn't quite percolated to some branches of the Federal government.
Well, enough time wasted on the Internet - I need to get on with the readings, then go back over to Virginia Beach for another 4 hours of work. |
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Sep. 10th, 2009 @ 01:48 pm
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I haven't updated in ages. I write these LJ entries in my head on the way to work, but I never seem to have time to post, or whatever I was going to say doesn't seem worthy of a whole post. I've been working around 8-16 extra hours at Windsor Woods Library, which is fun, but exhausting.
School started last week - I've got Collection Development and Government Resources this semester. The Collection Development class has 5 15 page papers and the Government one has way too much group work. Blah. But after this semester, I've only got 4 classes left.
Tomorrow is one month till Ellen's due date, and I'm starting to get hyped up about Jonas making an appearance. Here he is, at seven months. Is it wrong that I think my grandson looks like an alien? Or a body found in a bog? Yes, I'm awful, I know.
( Pre-Baby Pictures )
Not much else going on. I don't know how you guys with full time jobs get anything done at all - it's all I can do to get dinner on the table, then collapse in front of the TV, and I'm not even working 40 hours! |
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Aug. 26th, 2009 @ 09:57 am
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Rest in peace, Senator Kennedy. What an amazing career - he was elected to the Senate the year I was born, 3rd longest serving Senator, after Strom Thurmond and Robert Byrd. And already today, I've heard 3 comments, 1 from our custodian (expected) and 2 from lawywers that I'd consider inappropriate under the circumstances.
The guy wasn't a saint, but how about we let his body cool before the wisecracking starts? Politics has always been vicious - I remember hearing an NPR report once about political campaigns in the early 19th century where the candidates were accusing each other of everything short of being the anti-christ, but I'd still like to believe we can still be civil in our disagreements.
I went browsing on Amazon and ended up putting 30 books on hold through the library and of course they're all coming in at once. I got 4 yesterday, and then 7 more waiting for me when I got here this morning, and of course no time to read till probably Saturday night. Most of them are non-fiction, but I got the sequel to Janissary Tree and Kurt Vonnegut's Galapagos. I love Vonnegut - his writing breaks rules all over the place and it works so brilliantly because he was a genius.
I'm not going to make it to Coronation, though I think my husband's planning on going. I'm working 10-2 that day over at Windsor Woods. I'll have 64 hours instead of my usual 40 this pay period, which is very nice, as right now I have no idea how I'm going to pay Spring tuition. :( |
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Aug. 25th, 2009 @ 10:40 pm
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Good Gad, Amazon. What in my buying history or wish list gives you the idea that I want email notification about the release of a DAN BROWN book?????
Ick. |
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I actually don't remember what I did on Saturday besides cleaning and laundry, which is hardly worth talking about. I tell you, if ever they discover a way to make fuel out of animal hair, I will be a multi-gazillionaire.
Sunday, aside from painting trim on one window in the nursery, I pretty much goofed off - re-reading Madeleine L'Engle's time trilogy and eating. I snacked on ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) belfebe's pico de gallo with some chips, so fabulous even with jalapenos from a jar, and then for dinner, we had brats on the grill with some of medievalbooks' maple mustard which I'd brought home from Pennsic. A perfect summer meal.
I'm not sure with the easy availability of most foods year round has rendered the concept of seasonal foods obsolete for other people, but there are still some things I only eat 'in season.' Sometimes because you really can't get them - scuppernong grapes, for example, but others because it just feels wrong to me to be eating corn on the cob in January, or chili in June. When I was a kid, there was no supermarket - we had a small independent grocery store, and you ate what was available locally or within a reasonable distance. I miss that. though I do appreciate the produce section at Krogers.
Ellen's *@#&^ cat has brought fleas into our house. We had a huge flea problem when we lived in VB, but since moving, they've been nearly non-existent. No longer. :( So every animal got some Frontline this weekend and I'm picking up some spray for the furniture. Thank God we've got hardwood floors and the living room furniture is leather. Broken, but leather. |
| » The truth is out there |
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What does it say about the state of science literacy in this country when the top result in the astronomy category on Amazon is Chariots of the Gods?
Aug. 24th, 2009 @ 12:20 am
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| » O, Canada! |
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Canada is trying to kill us. Hilarious analysis why Canadians live longer (and other randomosity) from the Nutmeg Lawyer.
Hope everybody has a good weekend. Not sure what I'm doing yet, but I'm sure it will involve either research, cleaning, laundry, yard work, figuring out Facebook and reading. Or maybe all of the above.
Aug. 21st, 2009 @ 10:53 pm
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| » Facebook |
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I have a Facebook now, but I have no idea what to do with it. Maybe this weekend I can sit down and figure out how it works.
That Internet class guy still hasn't posted grades yet, though it's been 6 days since he said he'd do it. It would be nice to know my grade from last semester before the next one starts.
Aug. 18th, 2009 @ 08:29 pm
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| » Health Care Redux |
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Following on my last post, Roger Ebert says everything I'd want to say about this ridiculous death panel nonsense far better than I ever could. I may not have agreed with most of his movie reviews, but he's spot on here. (Thanks, ellid!
After work, I am calling my senators and congressman. I think the majority of people in this country want some kind of health care reform, and we can't allow a few loud voices shouting slogans to stifle this necessary debate. I am not sold on any of the specific reform packages I've read about, but what I am sold on is that we need to do more to make sure that nobody is bankrupted by an illness or accident, and that everybody in this country has affordable access to preventive care.
While there is room for dissent and debate (it's essential, actually), there is no room, IMO, for fearmongering and lies. And anyone who thinks there isn't a problem with health care needs to talk to this lady.
Aug. 18th, 2009 @ 11:59 am
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| » Health Care Confusion |
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Okay, I'm officially confused about the health care debate. I had tuned out of politics during Pennsic and am sort of slowly getting up to speed, but apparently there is much angst on the part of some Republicans about a provision in one of the health care reform bills that authorizes funding for voluntary end-of-life counseling. You know, a doctor sits down with an elderly patient and discusses living wills, options, what hospice is about, etc.
I don't get why this is a bad thing. First off, it's voluntary, but even if it isn't, so what? We're all going to die eventually, and more information about our options is NEVER a bad thing. Do they think that if we don't talk about dying, it won't happen? Stick your fingers in your ear and hum real loud and the Grim Reaper will scamper away to the next guy?
Morons. To hear these folks tell it, we're one step away from goose-stepping Nazis tossing Grandma into the incinerator. Logan's Run was just a movie, people.
Aug. 17th, 2009 @ 01:38 pm
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| » Random Sunday |
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Ellen's shower yesterday went reasonably well, though as I suspected, her mother-in-law's house is a showplace. Gleaming floors, spotless white wall to wall carpet, tastefully decorated. I love my house, but it is in no way a showplace, unless you're trying to show how much dog hair can be accumulated under a sofa. I think before they come over here to visit the baby in October, I'd better do some cleaning and painting. And maybe fix the broken furniture. She got a ton of stuff - 27 people attended, mostly her MiL's friends and neighbors, and most gave bags full of presents.
I got an A in Research Methods. The grades for the Internet Crazy class haven't been posted, though the instructor promised to have them up on Thursday night. Right. I suppose he feels about deadlines like he does about syllabi - restrictive tools of crypto-fascist, imperialist repression. At least the semester is over - 2 weeks' break before the next one starts, yay!
The water damage to my keyboard has pretty much repaired itself, but it looks like the moisture got into the hard drive and damaged a few things. I had Windows XP loaded via VMWare Fusion - that's gone. Fusion still comes up, but it doesn't recognize that I have XP. I tried restarting to see if that would help, but of course, it didn't. And for some reason, when I restarted, my email account wiped itself out. So I lost all my saved emails, which is a serious pain in the ass. Oh well, could be worse.
Very cool maps. Weird and wonderful and somewhat crazy, courtesy of jaylake
Aug. 16th, 2009 @ 09:26 am
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| » A slightly less whiney post on Pennsic, followed by whining |
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( Because it wasn't all bad. )
I was working on my final project for Research Methods yesterday. While trying to throw the cat off the table, I knocked a can of soda into my keyboard (again). Frantic drying and an entire can of compressed air later, it seemed to be working fine. Then the 't' stopped working.
Oh well, who needs 't,' right?
Then the R, then the entire top row of letters. Then those broken letters would start pressing themselves so I'd be typing along and all of a sudden there'd be rows of t's. I got out the wireless USB keyboard and finished my project and made an appointment with the Mac store.
This morning, it seemed to fix itself, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Water damage isn't covered on the warranty. They fixed it last time it happened - I'm not lucky enough to get away with that twice.
Aug. 12th, 2009 @ 10:57 am
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| » Home |
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We got back from Pennsic last night at about midnight. To be honest, we really shouldn't have gone - the entire thing was so stressful I need a vacation from my vacation now.
In addition to making 3 round trips to Cooper's Lake at approximately 18 hours a trip, when we were getting ready to start packing out on Friday, Robert could not find his keys. We turned the tent upside down 3 times, retraced his steps to the parking lot (twice), checked in with lost & found, did everything you're supposed to do, and found nothing.
So we called AAA who put us in touch with a locksmith who would cut us a new key for $200. The guy was surly and obviously didn't want to come out, but short of borrowing someone's car and driving home to get the spare key, it was the only solution. Fortunately, before the guy came out on Saturday, Elaine found our keys back by her tent.
The last in a long string of thwacks on the head from the PTBs, telling me I should have stayed home.
More later - it wasn't all bad, but right now all I can see are mounds of laundry.
Aug. 9th, 2009 @ 01:28 pm
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| » And another loss |
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I just checked my voice mail and saw that I had a call from a number I didn't recognize - it was Talymar. He told us that a member of our household, Andrea Williams (known in the SCA as Margaret von dem Schwartzwald, Laurel, former Baroness of Middle Marches), passed away from cancer yesterday. She's a year older than I am. We were pregnant at the same time - her daughter is Ellen's age.
We haven't spoken in over a decade, as they pretty much stopped playing SCA, but I've known her for over 20 years. She taught me to inkle weave. I would not be who I am in the Society if not for her.
She was kind and gracious and she didn't deserve this. Nobody deserves this.
Jul. 23rd, 2009 @ 02:45 pm
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| » Rest in Peace, Arielle |
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I was going to make a snarky post about lawyers, and then I saw the announcement about Arielle's passing.
I can't say that I knew her well, but in every encounter I had with her, I was impressed with her grace and strength and most of all her courage. She will be missed.
And to those who did know her well and loved her, my heart goes out to you. I've lost two people I loved to cancer - my mother and one of my dearest friends, and it really is a pain almost beyond describing. You are in my thoughts and prayers.
Jul. 17th, 2009 @ 09:27 am
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| » It is 6:57 a.m. |
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And I do not want to go to work.
This pointless spam is brought to you by the letters F and U and the number 666.
Jul. 15th, 2009 @ 06:57 am
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| » Torchwood |
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My butt is numb, my brain is fried, and my laptop has been on my lap long enough that if I was a man, I'd be sterile. But I'm very happy - just watched all 5 hours of Torchwood Children of Earth.
( spoilers" )
Jul. 14th, 2009 @ 10:37 pm
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| » (No Subject) |
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The DVD player I use upstairs in the sewing room went out yesterday, just completely would not turn on. As it's Pennsic prep season, it had to be replaced RIGHT NOW, so we went over to Best Buy for a cheap player so I can watch Firefly while I sew.
$31.99.
We bought our first DVD player maybe 8-9 years ago, and I think it cost close to $300. Of course, our first computer, purchased from Radio Shack around 1991, was about three grand. Amazing, really.
Off to fighting practice, and then we're meeting Ellen and Tim to celebrate her birthday at the Beach Pub (her choice - it's all about the peel & eat shrimp). Then I've to log on to take my midterm, and THEN, will reward myself with watching the first part of the new Torchwood, finally.
Jul. 12th, 2009 @ 12:49 pm
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| » Irony, they're doing it right... |
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Making Light has a discussion of how some U.S. conservative commentators who happen to be Catholic are going batshit crazy over the Pope's new encyclical.
I find this hilarious, because these are the same folks who are quick to criticize ANY Catholic who dares to express concern about the Church's position on abortion or ordination of women or the role of gays and lesbians. "The Pope is infallible, the Pope defines doctrine for the Church, if you don't like it, go be a Protestant." But let the Pope say something in support of the right of workers to organize, or articulate concerns about unbridled capitalism, and it's OMG, the Pope got it wrong, he's mistaken, he's throwing a bone to the left-wing of the Church.
Oh, please.
I'm not Catholic, don't have a dog in this fight, but I have always had respect for the Church's consistent stand for life - I haven't read the new encyclical, but it sounds like it's right in line with that stand, recognizing that life doesn't end at birth, and that inherent human dignity applies to born people just as much as the unborn.
Jul. 10th, 2009 @ 06:39 am
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| » Accuracy in historical fiction |
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Okay, I acknowledge that I am a bit anal about details, but seriously, if you're writing historical fiction, I think you owe it to your reader to at least get the big stuff right.
I was reading in bed last night, a book by Anya Seton. Now, I love Seton's stuff - she's in my top 5 list for historical fiction, and her book Katherine was actually the first piece of adult historical fiction (apart from bodice ripper romances) that I read. She wrote in a different time, with different rules. I get that.
But last night, I'm reading along about this Roman centurion who has come to Britain just before the Iceni revolt around AD 60, and he's thinking about his grandfather's adventure in Britain under Julius Caesar, and the narration mentions Norfolk. And St. Albans, which was, apparently, the capital of the lands of the Catuvellauni tribe.
But...but...but. Norfolk is called Norfolk because it was settled by the Angles, who divided into 'south folk' and 'north folk.' Suffolk. Norfolk. And St. Albans was named for St. Alban (big suprise) who was martyed in the 4th century. In AD 60, there weren't any Angles. And unless those Catuvellauni had the Second Sight and could foresee the coming of Christianity and the martyrdom of Alban, St. Albans would have been called something else (Verulamium, according to Wikipedia). And these references to modern place names threw me totally out of the story.
Like I said, I know Seton wrote in a different time - omniscient narration, and even blatant authorial insertion was more accepted, and I know what she's trying to do - anchor her reader in geography. But it still bothers me. I'll keep reading, but now I'm reading with half an eye to finding more anachronisms and that's annoying.
I know a lot of you read historical fiction - what level of accuracy do you want to see in what you read, and how much inaccuracy can you take before you throw the book out the window?
Jul. 8th, 2009 @ 09:45 am
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| » (No Subject) |
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kethlenda posted a link to this really thoughtful article on New Age bullies. Unfortunately, I've known more than a few of these types. The ones who mouth platitudes about 'creating your own reality' in a way that essentially works out to victim blaming. The ones who think child sexual abuse victims somehow deserve it because they were abusers in a previous life.
I don't actually believe in past lives anymore, but if I'm wrong and there is such a thing, I'm pretty sure that it isn't as simple as abuser becomes abused. Life isn't that neat. And sure, we do, to an extent, create the reality we inhabit, but there's also an objective reality, one of cancer and land mines and car accidents, where rapists are responsible for rape, not victims.
And in my opinion, any belief which leads us anywhere other than towards compassion with the suffering of others is false religion.
Jul. 6th, 2009 @ 09:55 pm
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| » Long time, no update |
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I realize I haven't updated in ages - school is basically kicking my butt this semester. It isn't particularly hard so much as it's time consuming. 18 weeks' worth of work done in 10, and by the time I finish being online for that, it's very hard to be online for anything else.
Like yesterday, I worked through part of my module for Research Methods, then spent 2 hours trying to find websites to help me understand kurtosis (which sounds like a disease. "Did you hear about Sally? She's got chronic kurtosis of the elbow, poor dear...". By the time I'd finished with that, I didn't want to go near my computer, so spent it doing laundry and working on Pennsic garb.
I've redone my Greenland gown pattern to get rid of the non-period princess-y lines and have finished one, cut the second. I've also done the assembly work on an early period undergown, just need to hand finish the seams. Two more of those, a new Viking apron & caftan, at least one peplos and a couple of hoods to go.
Originally, I'd intended to go up to Summer Wars, then decided I would stay home and get caught up with school while Robert went. Well, he woke up and didn't feel like going, and as much as he tries to stay out of my way, when he's home, I get almost nothing done. So we had a quiet 4th - Ellen and Tim came over and we went to Hampton to a gun show, then back here for a cookout. After, we walked down to peer at fireworks through the yards of some of the waterfront properties.
This week, I've got a quiz and a midterm, need to keep on with Pennsic prep and I really want to get back to writing something. I miss it. :(
Jul. 6th, 2009 @ 02:58 pm
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| » Archimedes Palimpsest |
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The professor for the no-syllabus class posted a link to the Archimides Palimpsest Project. Fascinating stuff for anyone interested in medieval bookbinding, historical preservation, digital imaging, the survival of ancient texts, or ancient and medieval history in general.
The project is 10 years old, so everybody else has probably already seen this, but it's new to me - I loved the videos of the conservator disassembling the book, and the explanations of the science involved in imaging. Most awesome.
Jun. 24th, 2009 @ 09:50 am
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| » (No Subject) |
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I just spent an hour going through the list of A&S classes for Pennsic. Why are the classes I want to take:
1) all offered at the same time and
2) only offered once?
And also, if you are teaching a class that has no hands-on component and it's 2 hours long, you had better be a very interesting teacher. 2 hours of listening to talk + stifling hot tent = ZZZZZZ
Jun. 23rd, 2009 @ 11:38 am
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| » Camelot? It's a silly place... |
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As near as I can tell, the only relation Merlin bears to Arthurian legend is the character names. It's fantasy, so I can forgive the bizarre clothing and the magic, and even the tomatoes they were hurling at Merlin when he was in the stocks, but considering the richness of the source material, seems like they could have done better than Camelot 90210 with Arthur the bully picking on nerdy Merlin.
*sighs*
I'll probably continue to watch to see if it gets better, but as of now, I am less than impressed.
Jun. 21st, 2009 @ 09:06 pm
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| » Leaves of Three, Let it Be |
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Or, Leaves of three, Round-up the poor thing to within an inch of its life.
Yes, I just killed what I think is a large bed of raspberry plants because in the dusk, this looks vaguely like this. It wasn't till I was walking back towards the house that I noticed that some of the "poison ivy" had little red growths. This is part of the yard that was basically hidden by the jungle we had removed last year. I had no idea there were raspberry bushes in there.
*headdesk*
Oh well, there really is poison ivy, a lot of it, actually, in the bed so I probably would have had to uproot or kill it all anyway.
I had a good time at Golden Rose, even though I didn't get to see or talk to very many people. It was just too hot. As long as I stayed under the shade back by the trees, it wasn't so bad, but the one or two times I came out to the field, even under someone's day shade, was just unbearable. I swear, the weather this year has been downright weird. The last couple of days have been really cool, the weekend was sweltering, and last week we had hurricane strength winds. What's next? Snow?
The tree company is coming tomorrow to take out the two fallen trees and relieve me of $500, oh joy. Better than doing it myself - I have a fear of chainsaws, probably stemming from viewing Texas Chainsaw Massacre at an impressionable age. I think it was at a drive in. I miss drive ins.
Not much else going on - I've been doing a lot of reading, library books, mostly. I finished Elizabeth Bear's Seven for a Secret, which is sort of a sequel to New Amsterdam, and my biggest complaint was that it wasn't long enough. It's a novelette or novella (never sure what the cut off is there), and I'd love to have had more, especially about the ( cut for spoilers and people who don't care )
Am starting in on January Dancer, a SF about an ancient artifact found in space. I'm hoping for a Lovecraftian sort of thing, though judging from the cover blurb, I think it's focused more on the people who want the artifact than the artifact itself. Still worth a go, though.
Jun. 16th, 2009 @ 10:41 pm
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| » Weekend |
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Golden Rose is back on - Robert gets his bonus today (not the retention bonus, sadly, just the normal annual one) so we can afford to pay the tree service and go to the event. And he's committed to doing a minor heavy authorization, so we're leaving after work tonight.
I'm very excited and totally unprepared. Thank God we don't have to haul much stuff and can take the smaller car.
Hope to see some of you there!
Jun. 12th, 2009 @ 10:43 am
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| » In the dark.... |
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Huge storm came through this afternoon - I mean HUGE. We have tons of large branches down and one tree, and the house is running on the generator, which means freezer, fridge and one or two lights. It also means we have to buy a chain saw (our is hosed) and spend the weekend cutting up trees, so no Rose Tourney. It was iffy anyway, considering how expensive the trip to SC and then the plumber we had in this weekend was, but now it's absolutely off.
I'm at Starbucks, mainly because I wanted to see what response I'd got to the email I sent my adviser asking about dropping the 'Syllabus, we don't need no steenkin syllabus' class. No response yet. I have till 6/15 to drop and still get 80% refund. Sadly, it's too late for 100%.
Thank you, everyone, who gave me opinions on dropping - you all pretty much echoed what I already knew. I may still stick it out - I'm quite sure I'd get a good grade (just try giving me a bad one, considering there are NO standards. I'll go all the way to the university president with that), and it's only 10 weeks. If I drop, that will mean 3 classes in the fall, which would suck. This whole semester is just going to be annoying anyway, as the other class has way too much group work (I hate group work - I refuse to have my grade damaged by people who don't participate or who can't formulate an English sentence with, you know, verbs that agree with subjects.)
Oh well, battery dying, and I need to go pick up more gas for the generator. I'll reply to email and comments when the power is back.
Jun. 9th, 2009 @ 07:51 pm
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| » Weekend |
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I haven't updated for a while, sorry. We left Friday evening to drive down to Landrum, South Carolina to stay with Robert's sister Linda and her husband Doug and my MiL. My stepdaughter Kirstyn had flown in from Arkansas to stay a week before she spends the rest of the summer teaching English in Ukraine, so we wanted to see her. Ellen and Tim drove down and Thomas came over Saturday, so we had a nice little family reunion.
It was very nice, but OMG, Linda's house (which I'd never seen before) is gorgeous. I forgot my camera, so bought a disposable and as soon as I get the pictures back, I'll put a few up, because this place is unreal. It's built into the side of a mountain, 3 stories, about 4000 square feet, I think, all windows and mountain views and lovely professional landscaping. Downside, it's in a gated community, The Cliffs at Glassy, very retired yuppie. Blah.
Ellen was so funny - she wouldn't let Tim get onto the tree swing (it hung over a rock and a fairly rapid descent) and then she wouldn't go to sleep alone because Linda doesn't have curtains in most rooms (no neighbors anywhere near) and she was afraid a bear would see her through the glass and eat her. Or maybe it was glass monsters. I have no idea, but it was so cute. Gotta love those pregnancy hormones.
We stopped at Ikea in Charlotte on the way through and picked up some stuff, then finally made it home around 5, made dinner, mowed the lawn and that's about it. I have a gazillion emails and other online stuff to deal with, but I think that's going to wait till tomorrow.
It's very good not to be in the car.
May. 31st, 2009 @ 08:54 pm
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| » Just rambling, mostly. |
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I didn't get much done yesterday - a few buttonholes on the gown, a brief poke at some editing, but it was just too gorgeous to be indoors. So I worked in the yard, putting in a couple of new tomato plants and a row of zucchini (which I'll regret later when I have to eat it all), and continuing my war against the Virginia creeper that tries to eat our yard every year.
We also got our tent canvas re-folded. It's been in a kind of jumble since we dried it out after Crown. So today, in theory, we pack the Tahoe and trailer, and then head up the road tomorrow around 3:00. In theory.
I'm really stoked about this weekend - we haven't been able to really 'do' Sapphire for several years because of family commitments, and it's one of my favorite events.
In other news, last Friday, I ordered some new sandals for work from this place that wasn't Zappos and they're still not here yet. I checked the confirmation email they sent me when I ordered and it said 6-8 days. I realize that in the scheme of things, that's not very long, but it's annoying me, and definitely not worth the $5 I saved. Next time, Zappos.
On the other hand, considering I've had the heat on at home 2 of the last 3 days, I'm not sure I really needed sandals anyway.
To Do Today (for me, mostly)
1 hour of revision work
Finish buttonholes
Sew neckline
Mark hem to sew in car
Grocery
Clean out car and trailer
Pack garb and accessories.
Is it time to go home yet? Please?
Oh, and to prove how juvenile I am, one of the genealogical resources I was looking at lists bondsmen for early Virginia marriages, and it abbreviates bondsman 'BDSM.'
*snorts*
May. 21st, 2009 @ 10:15 am
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| » Baby Picture!! Kinda sorta... |
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( It's a boy! )
They tell me there's a penis in there somewhere.
So now they're trying out boys' names. Tim likes Jonas, but I think Jonas Elsass is too many ssss'ssss. Pity the poor kid if he has a lisp - it will be like Life of Brian - "Hail Thaethar!"
Today was our annual open house at work, so too much cake and too much smiling at people. Ugh. After work, I went over to Central Library's local history/genealogy room and poked around the family tree. My maternal grandfather's family started out in Fauquier County, Virginia (actually, started in whatever FC was before it was FC, but I'm not back that far yet.)
It's embarrassing! My ancestors were deadbeats. I mean, these guys were being sued over money CONSTANTLY. Seems like not paying bills is a genetic disorder. Going through the Fauquier County Minute Books from 1759 to 1780, members of my family were involved in 24 different court actions. About 3 of those involved the probate of an estate, but the rest were all financial.
I have a lot of projects to finish up before Sapphire plus a ton of editing to do, so spending 2 hours pouring over tax records and land deeds probably wasn't the smartest way to spend an afternoon, but it's like hunting for buried treasure. I'll catch up on the sewing later tonight, and tomorrow afternoon is devoted to editing. Yeah, right.
May. 19th, 2009 @ 04:45 pm
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| » SCA garb question |
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My Google Fu has failed. I'm looking for a website with instructions on the best method to set center gores. I know at one point I had some good instructions for doing that, possibly from an A&S class? but I can't find them now, of course, because I need them.
Help?
May. 15th, 2009 @ 11:25 am
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| » Is it 2010 yet? |
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Oh, Lost. I love you so much.
*sobs*
May. 13th, 2009 @ 11:27 pm
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| » Gardening, Garb and Grad School |
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I went outside yesterday to rake up some more of the side yard - the part we had de-forested last year while we were at Pennsic. I'm planning on putting my vegetable garden there, once all the weeds and ivy and mulch is raked up. Worked about 5 minutes and then the rake handle cracked in half. Oh well.
So since God didn't seem to want me to garden, I headed up into the SCA room and started going through the fabric stash.
O.M.G. I have lengths of fabric that I have no clue why I ever bought, including some "wool" that no self-respecting sheep would lay claim to. I think it's going to the Marinus yard sale at Birthday - I firmly believe that every piece of fabric has a home, just not MY house. But among the utter crap, I found 6 yards of a decent light blue linen so I cut out a gown.
( SCA costume wibble )
I need some more linen for Pennsic projects - anyone have favorite online fabric stores? I've bought from Fabrics-Store.com before and it's okay, but I'd really like to try some other places.
Lost season finale tonight. I have no idea what, if anything, I'm going to be watching on TV come next week because everything I like is finishing up this week. Oh, and speaking of TV season finales, my husband really annoyed me, because we were barely 5 minutes into the House finale when he ( Spoilers for House and Bones )
I also did my management final yesterday. I am so glad I didn't bother to study. Open book, multiple choice, with the questions lifted directly from the text of the book. I realize this class is kept easy because librarians aren't generally all that keen on management and because it's designed to be taught with the meatgrinder Organization of Information course, but still. I had harder classes at Tidewater Community College.
May. 13th, 2009 @ 08:45 am
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| » A real update |
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First things first - Ellen's wedding was 2 weeks ago tomorrow, and it went fine. The weather cooperated, Tim's family turned out to be lovely people, and the park was beautiful
( Pictures )
They actually stayed here the first night and then moved over to his house on Wednesday - I took her out and bought her pots and pans and other kitcheny things that bachelor guys who live on ramen and pizza don't generally have, she took the dishes from my parents' house, and as far as I know, they're getting along fine. He leaves for boot camp mid-July and she's coming back here then and will stay here until he's sent somewhere permanent.
Crown was great - enough people have already posted about it that I won't bother, except to say it was really cool hanging out with people I don't see all the time, and the relatively small size gave it an old-SCA feel that I rarely get at large kingdom events anymore. Next event up for us is Sapphire, followed by University (for me, at least), the Golden Rose Tourney and Marinus Birthday.
One thing, though - it was humid enough that I was having trouble spinning my wool, so I picked up some silk I'd bought at Pennsic last year and decided to mess with it. I'd never successfully spun silk before, but I had the small spindle from Spanish Peacock, and it worked beautifully. I've now got 200 - 300 yards of silk singles. It's not even enough to use as embroidery yarn, but that shouldn't matter so much in weaving. I think it's going to be a veil.
So the Bayeux Tapestry project is kind of on hold due to distraction by the Shiny.
May. 11th, 2009 @ 08:30 pm
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| » Finally! |
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I have my computer back! Applecare was worth every penny. They fixed my laptop, no charge and it's now back in my lap where it belongs. I really thought I was going to have to replace it, because there's no doubt in my mind that the damage was caused by the juice, but apparently someone up there likes me.
Sadly, it didn't come back early enough to save me having to rebuild my project database, but I got it in time to finish up the project and submit it on my REAL computer.
Now, maybe I can get caught up on email and comment replies and actually be online once in a while. I hope.
It's raining again. Still. Always. I'm thinking about investing in an ark company.
Anyway, I'll try to do a proper update tomorrow - hope everybody's been well. I haven't really been on LJ much in the past couple of weeks so I know I've missed lots of posts.
May. 7th, 2009 @ 10:34 pm
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| » Blackstone |
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Blackstone Raids was most awesome, though the 3 hours it took us to get to the Richmond Beltway was not. I was ready to turn around and go home, except that the traffic going the other way looked just as bad, so we pushed on.
The weather was fabulous, though the wind kept knocking over the spear we were using to support the center of our day shade. On the drive home, we made the decision to redo the poles and configuration so we're not relying on spears anymore. Best part was spending some time catching up with Talymar and Melisande. It's hard for me to believe that I've known George for 25 years - I think this Christmas is the 25th anniversary of my joining the household. Over half my life. I feel old.
One thing that bothered me about the event, though, was the mundanes. The site wouldn't allow us to keep them out, which is fine - I've been to a lot of events with mundanes on site, but these were something else. A group of kids with a couple of adults (I think it was a Boy Scout troop) just came up and sat down in Mungoe and Siobhan's tent so they could watch the fighting in the shade. They didn't ask, just sat. I expect better of that from Boy Scouts. Later, when we were cooking our dinner, a couple of kids came over, saying their mom had sent them to see if we were selling food. When we said no, they asked for drinks.
At that point, I got kind of short, and told them to go and see their mother if they needed something to drink. Seriously, what kind of mom sends her elementary school kids to a group of strangers in funny clothes sitting around a brazier drinking wine to ask for food?
Still waiting on word from Apple. I miss my computer very very much. :(
Apr. 27th, 2009 @ 09:03 pm
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| » Friday!!!! |
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Still basically computerless at home, but I've almost definitely made the decision to replace, not repair. Looking at it logically and considering that I was going to buy a memory upgrade anyway, the difference between repair and replacement with a machine with more memory and a better hard drive than mine is about 1/3 more.
So as soon as word comes down from the Mac Gods on high that my repair isn't covered (which I already know), I'm going shopping.
Yesterday after work I got my hair done and then we went over to help paint Tim's house. Ellen was complaining that she doesn't really feel at home there - she says he only lives in his bedroom, which bothers her. It's a very nice house in what looks like a decent neighborhood in Newport News - 4 bedrooms, living room, kitchen with dining area, screen porch, bath and a half, but it's been a bachelor pad and it looks it. We worked on painting, I did some cleaning all the while channeling my mom who used to come and clean my house. There's more to do, so I'll be going back next week, I'm sure.
Then we stopped for dinner at KFC. Oh. My. Freaking. God. I have never had such crappy service at a fast food restaurant in my life. Every time I go to one of those places, I swear I'll never go back. But I do.
Off to Blackstone Raids today, home on Sunday to do some intensive cleaning before Jehan and Samara come in Sunday night. I hope everybody has a great weekend!
Apr. 24th, 2009 @ 10:48 am
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| » Whining, mostly |
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Computers don't like apple juice, not even Apple computers. I discovered that this morning when a small glass of juice went leaping out of my hand to slop over the speakers and keyboard of my Macbook Pro. I sopped it up, and it seemed like everything was fine.
Till I got home and found the screen black and the battery not charging. Panicked call to Applecare, an appointment at the Apple store, and now my computer is on its way to wherever they send them with a probable repair cost of $1200, because apple juice is not covered by the warranty. We're hoping it's covered under the computer rider on our homeowner's - they fixed my old one when I dropped it.
There's also the possibility that it might not be fixable, and to be honest, I'm not sure I want to spend $1200 fixing a nearly 2 year old computer when I can replace it with a better one for $2k. We'll see.
But in the meantime, I'm on Robert's old laptop, which does everything veeeeeerrrrry sloooooooowllllly. My laptop actually worked - it just didn't have a screen anymore, so the 'genius' was able to hook it up to a monitor so I could grab a bunch of my files and stick them on a flash drive, but unfortunately, one thing I couldn't back up was the database I created for my Information Organization class. Which means I have to recreate it from the specs in the report, and re-enter all the data in time to have it tested and write my final report by Wednesday.
All while getting ready for my daughter's wedding, preparing for family from out of town and going to Blackstone Raids. I should just stay home and work, but darn it, I want to go to this event.
Anyway, my access is going to be limited for a while because this thing is just too frustrating to be on very long, and I can't read my Cox account email without going to the webmail site, so anyone mailing me through that, expect delays in replying.
Apr. 22nd, 2009 @ 08:34 pm
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| » Unreal. |
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Dear Virginia Beach ComIT people:
Thank you so much for installing Office 2007 on my computer last night. There's nothing I'd rather do than spend 45 minutes trying to get my email to load. It won't even come up in safe mode and I'm afraid to even try to open Word or Excel. Seriously, seeing "not responding" next to a program five or six times in the space of 15 minutes thrills me to the bottom of my heart - it's better than chocolate, better than ice cream, better than... Okay, when I start to sound like a Sarah MacLachlan song, it's time to move on.
And as you're such experts on technology, perhaps you can explain to me how exactly you expect Office 2007 to run on our 10 year old hardware? As we have pointed out many times, these computers are already so slow they make turtles look like cheetahs in comparison.
No love,
Me.
Yeah, not the greatest morning so far. And if the rumors are true and they're going to put Vista on these dinosaur machines, I'm going to haul the typewriter out of the back and revert to the 70's. I'm sure I've got a polyester body suit and some bell bottoms somewhere in my closet.
Apr. 21st, 2009 @ 08:52 am
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| » Update |
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Update, with cuts to spare the flist.
( SCA BOD meeting )
( Current A&S Stuff )
( genealogy )
( school )
( Family )
Apr. 20th, 2009 @ 02:58 pm
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| » Have anvil, will travel |
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I went up to Tir-y-don tonight and learned how to make brass needles! It was easier than I thought, and the end product actually works. All my needles went through the sample wool and linen, plus easily through my jeans. Not through the fleece sweatshirt I was wearing, though. It didn't like that very much.
( Lookie! )
I'm watching this silly thing on Spike comparing Vikings and Samurai. It's frelling hilarious. Apparently there was no farming among the Norse because all their land was ice. So they all had to be raiders. And Samurai swords really rock at cutting up dead pigs.
Apr. 16th, 2009 @ 10:57 pm
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| » Belated Weekend Update |
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Coronation was lovely. Beautiful weather (okay, a bit cold and windy in the late afternoon), a cool site, and the chance to talk to some people I don't see very often. We used the day shade and it was just big enough, and oh, so much easier to put up and take down than the baronial pavilion. I brought two projects - a knitted mundane sock and my drop spindle and some wool. I tried knitting, but could not make myself sit there in Viking garb with knitting needles - it was anachronism overload, sorry. And anyway, seeing what isenglass was knitting made me want to snap my needles and throw them out. Wow.
One thing, though. Either I A) lose 10 pounds or B) I make all new garb for Pennsic. The budget won't allow option B, so it's time to cut back on the snacks. (She says, as she munches pretzels...) I do want to make some new stuff, though particularly the gown baronessadriana was wearing, one of the Greenland dresses, can't recall the number, but it looked so incredibly comfortable, perfect Pennsic wear.
The wool I was spinning was for my new project - ( Details here, probably not of interest to anybody not a fibers geek )
Anyway, so that's what I'm up to, SCA-wise. I also cleaned my workshop and want to get out the sand casting kit and mess with that too.
Apr. 14th, 2009 @ 06:57 pm
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| » And the 2009 Total Failure Award Goes To... |
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Amazon. Which is made of Fail. What follows is long, but I'm not cutting. I think everybody on my flist knows how to use a mouse, and I rarely post long entries.
A few days back, some authors began to notice that the Amazon rankings for their books had vanished. These are the numbers you find under the basic bibliographic information on Amazon titles that tell how your book is selling in relation to all titles on Amazon, or other books categorized similarly to yours. Authors can use these rankings to get a general idea of sales figures. Readers can use the category rankings to choose books that may be of interest based on other readers' purchasing decisions.
All well and good. Unless your book is deemed as 'adult' by Amazon, then, no rankings information is now being provided. One author asked Amazon why his rankings disappeared and this is what he got back:
In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude "adult" material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature.
Hence, if you have further questions, kindly write back to us.
Best regards,
Ashlyn D
Member Services
Amazon.com Advantage
(Copied from here.)
Right. Here's the kicker – adult, to Amazon, seems to be anything categorized as erotica and anything with gay or lesbian content, or at least anything that has been tagged or marketed as gay/lesbian interest. Only not exactly 'anything,' as you will see, based on searches of Amazon and Amazon UK.
Sarah Waters' Tipping the Velvet? Adult. No rankings.
Alan Moore's Lost Girls? Not adult. Ranking. (This is an adult graphic novel. Trust me on this one.)
Mark Probst's The Filly, a YA novel dealing with gay themes? Adult. No ranking.
Rosemary Rogers' Sweet Savage Love, Kathleen Woodiwiss' The Wolf and the Dove, Bertrice Small's Skye O'Malley? Explicit heterosexual romances. Not adult. Ranking.
Alex Beecroft's False Colours and Erastes' Transgressions? Explicit gay romances. Adult. No ranking.
Nookii: The Grownup Game for Playful Couples? Not adult. Ranking.
The Dildo Master DVD? Not adult. Ranking.
Realistic White Boy Vibrating Dildo. Not adult. Ranking.
You see what I'm getting at? Tell me why a YA novel about a young man trying to make sense of his sexuality is somehow more offensive than a movie in which the product description finishes with: If you fancy some filthy but fun, top notch German hardcore, you should get your hands on this one.?
Or why Tipping the Velvet, which was Library Journal's Best Book of the Year for 1999, the New York Times Notable Book Award and the Lambda Literary Award (among other things) is adult and must not show up in searches and rankings, where Lost Girls, in which Dorothy from Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan's Wendy and Alice from Alice in Wonderland meet up and engage in explicitly drawn lesbian sex is just fine and dandy?
Look, I'm not knocking Lost Girls or any of the rest of these titles that haven't been affected. My point is that if Amazon's goal is to protect the kiddies from adult material, they fail. Utterly. Even if you accept that their intentions are good, they've set themselves an impossible task. They have thousands of items listed - there is no way they can go through that big a database and evaluate each item for 'adult' content. They're making decisions based on sweeping generalizations and that never, ever ends well.
Amazon might want to take a page from the American Library Association and let parents be the arbiters of what's appropriate for their children. I'm not big on telling people what to do, but if you buy books from Amazon (or even if you don't) and feel moved to do so, you can contact them and let them know what you think.
(Note that the information on rankings/lack of rankings is current as of 4/13/2009, and of course may be changed by Amazon without notice. )
Apr. 12th, 2009 @ 09:44 am
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| » Death by Writer |
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OMG, House ( How could you?? )
I spent the weekend basically reclining on the couch, which sucked. Friday afternoon I tried to pick up a 50 pound bag of charcoal at BJs and did something to my back. I could stand up, or I could lie down, but I couldn't sit. Unfortunately, I was supposed to be revising and editing my draft 3 which was due today. Instead I read Stephen King books ('Salem's Lot and Tommyknockers. I had forgotten just how incredibly good King is when he's on. Parts of 'Salem's Lot read like poetry, and nobody builds atmosphere like King. I don't care if the literary types look down on him - the man is a master of his genre.
After many hours with a heating pad and a couple of Vicodin, my back is better. So today I killed myself getting my draft done. I'll be glad when this semester is over.
Apr. 6th, 2009 @ 08:47 pm
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