Monthly Archives: April 2005

Serenity preview!

Hey you! Yeah, you!

Want to see Serenity months before it comes out? Like, next week?

Do you live in Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, Portland (OR), Sacramento, San Francisco, or Seattle?

Go to http://www.cantstopthesignal.com NOW to purchase tickets for an advance screening at 10 PM, Thursday, May 5.

Yes, this movie comes out in September. You really want this chance to see it now.

Edit at 9:08 AM: And it looks like the Chicago showing is sold out. Damn, that was fast.

Your Weekend Recap

Oh yeah, LiveJournal. Right.

So, when last we left our intrepid heroes, they were gearing up for an exciting weekend. Well, not really. Actually, on Friday we stayed in and had a nice evening of domestic bliss, going to bed early, no less. On Saturday, I had to actually make myself useful in the morning and walked down to our State Farm agent and (finally!) get our car insurance moved over to Illinois. Surprisingly, it’s only slightly more expensive, and would have been about the same if I didn’t have a 60-mile round-trip commute. On the short walk there, though, I darn near froze, and I was amused at the snow flurries that were falling. We had decided that as much fun as would be, between Dan’s lingering cough and my crappy knee we would wait a month.

Instead, we headed down to Goose Island Brewpub, where we had lunch with roho, genet, and Roho’s, um, step-aunt-in-law, Lori. The beer was quite tasty – I never realized they brew dozens of different beers, most of which never see a bottle – but the food was rather overpriced fro what we got. I’d go back for beer and appetizers, though! After lunch we walked around Sam’s Wine and Liquors, which is always entertaining. Afterwards we retired back to the apartment to relax a bit. I attempted to nap, though a series of phone calls made that a bit problematic. I finally gave up and got up in time to greet datahawk coming in from the (frozen) softball game. We hung out and chatted and eventually were joined by sylverfox and Linnaeus. Takaza was only feeling so-so and elected to stay home when we headed out for the Carbon Leaf concert. We took our time getting to Martyr’s and when we got there we found out that the show had sold out not long before we arrived. Bummer. Data was working the merchandise table and Jason had bought his ticket in advance, so that left me and Linnaeus out int he cold. Ah well.

I’ll mention here that I actually wasn’t too broken up about missing the show. I love to see bands play live, but there’s so many other things that go along with live shows that are far less attractive – standing for two hours waiting for the band to go on, expensive drinks, loud, stupid drunks, cigarette smoke, and invasions of my jealously-guarded personal space – that unless I really want to see a band, I’ll probably take a pass.

So anyway, Paul and I started walking up Lincoln Avenue, but eventually my knee started giving me problems. Dan was nice enough to come pick us up, and on the advice of a slightly-inebriated fellow outside of the Golden Angel, we picked up burritos at Burrito King (at Lincoln and Addison) for a nice snack. Delicious! I liked their guacamole, too. I really need to go back there and try out some of the other goodies on their menu. We headed back to the apartment and watched some Tivo and relaxed and went to bed. Jason and Data got in sometime around 3 AM, which reminded me of another reason why I’m glad we didn’t get in – I don’t do really late nights well.

Sunday was fun. We never even left the apartment, but we just hung out, watched some TV, played Ratchet and Clank, and eventually cooked up some bratwursts that Paul had picked up from Delicatessen Meyer: Wisconsin brats, Hungarian with lots of paprika, and delicious curry brats! Data headed home around 9-ish and we fell into bed not long after.

This week is going to be interesting. I’ve got a physical exam this afternoon, which means I won’t get home until late. Partran will be joining us for dinner. On Thursday, Dan gets to prep for his Unpleasant Medical Procedure, and Friday I’m taking the day off to be with Dan during his UMP. On the horizon for this weekend, it sounds like I’ll be brewing up a batch of beer with Roho in preparation for Memorial Day.

So that’s the state of the husky. This will be on the test!

Blame daveqat For This

See, Dave invited people to request interview questions. I did, and here are the results:
1. What do you view as your place in the furry fandom?
2. If you could change any one thing about your life, what would it be?
3. You win a gift certificate good for one meal, prepared at your home, by the chef of your choice. Who do you pick?
4. What’s the best meal you’ve ever had?
5. What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?

Here are my answers…

So this is Monday? I think I’ll pass, thanks.

Normally, this would be where I give you a long, detailed (and possibly boring) rundown of how we spent our weekend. Considering how little we did, though, I think I can skip that step, except to boils down to this:
Saturday – Slept late, relaxed, played some Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando, took a walk, went to bed.
Sunday – Woke up early, relaxed, played some Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando, attended an online staff meeting, made dinner, went to bed.

Ta daa! Seriously, though, it was an enjoyable weekend, and with Dan’s recent bout of the flu it was much-needed (he’s definitely on the mend, it appears, by the way). As for the rest of the week, I’m toying with a Northwestern Suburbs Dinner on Thursday night, perhaps. Or would Wednesday night be better? Then on Saturday things get busy. First there’s LAFF Softball, with a picnic afterwards. Then it’s back to the city for a Carbon Leaf concert at Martyr’s. So, who’s going to see Carbon Leaf? Hmm, I see that the tickets are $12 in advance or $14 at the door. Of course, after the $3.50 Ticketbastard fee, suddenly you’re paying $1.50 more for advance tickets. Ummm, I don’t think so.

Finally, if you don’t follow the community but you’ve attended MFF in the past, please do me a favor and drop by to take this short poll about the Restaurant Guide. Thanks!

Pork Shoulder and Shrimp Combo, Baby!

Oog. Hillery’s BBQ for lunch makes for a sleepy afternoon.

Things are pretty mellow at work today – a lot of joking around, and a definite feeling that it is Friday. The only drawback is the knowledge that I have to face Friday traffic on the way home. I swear, Monday starts out decently enough, but by Friday people brains have liquefied and the concept of “driving” must not be high on their list of priorities. On Fridays my commute home can easily bounce from the normal 50 minutes up to an hour and a half or more.

So, my tax forms are winging their respective ways to Raleigh, Springfield, and, um, Kansas City (the latter for federal). North Carolina gets $300, Illinois is giving me back $37, and Uncle Sam gets a whopping $2,400. It’s not a big surprise – that’s what happens when you live off your 401(k) for part of the year. The good news is that we have the money to cover it, though it leaves us a bit thin for the next few weeks.

Unfortunately, it sounds like Dan isn’t doing too much better (and I hope he doesn’t mind me speaking for him). Still running a fever, still feeling crappy, and very few real signs of improvement. He’s got a doctor’s appointment in an hour or so, and hopefully we’ll get a better idea of what’s up, or at the very least some better ways to treat the symptoms that have been beating the crap out of him for the last five days. Obviously, we’re not really going to be too social this weekend, but that’s not bad – a quiet weekend at home (like we’ve been trying to have for the last two weeks and somehow failing 🙂 will be good for both of us. I’d like to do some good cooking as well. Between work and commuting, by the time I get home each night I’m usually pretty tired and cooking anything more than a limited menu is often just too difficult to do. I hate that, because I do love to cook; I love to explore new recipes, new cooking methods, and new flavor combinations. Maybe as the year goes on I’ll be able to do more Cooking-With-A-Capital-C, fun dinners for friends, that sort of thing.

I hope everyone has a great weekend planned! I leave you with some important words of advice: Look Up More!

A meme? From me? Shocking!

Well, mariner42 said I have to 🙂
(Plus, these can be fun…)

Total volumes of music files on my computer:
Well, our MP3 server is currently in storage, but I think it has about 40 Gb of MP3’s on it. At any given time, I probably have another 10 Gb or so of MP3’s on my laptop that are new/I’m reviewing/haven’t gotten around to transferring to my Archos.

The last CD I bought was:
Wow. This is surprisingly tough, since I really don’t buy CD’s anymore. I think it was the eponymous album by eastmountainsouth, a tasty bit of folk/pop with some nice bluegrass elements as well. Hmm – I see the guy of that duo has a new EP coming. I’ll have to check that out.

Song playing right now:
Well, nothing playing at the moment since I’m at work, but I do have the Garden State soundtrack on the flash drive connected to my computer and I was listening to that earlier.

Five songs I listen to a lot or that mean a lot to me:
“Love Will Find A Way,” (movie version), Return to Pride Rock (Lion King II Soundtrack) – This was the song that Takaza and I danced to at our commitment ceremony. It makes me think of him and how lucky I am, and usually makes me cry 🙂

“King of Spain,” Moxy Fruvous – One of their best (and best-known) songs, and a fun song to sing along with. (“Moxy’s “I Will Hold On” is one of Dan’s favorites and is a lovely song, too)

“Consequence Free,” Great Big Sea – Fun, bouncy, energetic. This is a song to get you to roll the windows down, turn it up, and drive really fast!

“One Step Closer,” Linkin Park – Just an amazing, snarling explosion of emotion. I used to play this a lot at my old job, when I was unhappy and angry at the world.

“Maybe Today,” Carbon Leaf – The ultimate rainy-day song to me, contemplative and evocative. One of my favorites by CL.

Bonus songs: “Possession (Live)” by Sarah McLachlan, Iain Matthews’ cover of Peter Gabriel’s “Mercy Street,” “Profiteers” by Spirit of the West, “Accept Me For What I Am” by Consolidated, “He Lives In You” by Lebo M (from Rhythm of the Pridelands).

Which 5 people am I passing the baton to and why:
I don’t like putting the onus on anyone to do this so I’ll leave it at this: if this looks fun, give it a shot!

The second can of Monster is sitting on my desk, mocking me. “Drink me, drink me!” it says…

Heh. “Consume responsibly – limit 3 cans per day. Not recommended for children, pregnant women, or pople sensitive to caffeine.”

Anthrocon Artists Alley/Con Store: Want to Help?

Are you planning to attend Anthrocon?
Do you worry about being bored, or having that awful, unfulfilled feeling that you could be helping out more?
So you want to help keep me from going insane? 🙂

Well, have I got an offer for you! In addition to running Registration for MFF, I’m also running the Artists Alley and Con Store for Anthrocon this year. And I need help!

This year, there’s three areas where I need some help.

1. General assistance. This is going to include helping with sign-ups, dealing with the lottery at the open of Artists Alley, helping set up and break down, and working as a cashier in Artists Alley and/or Con Store. These are the most time-intensive positions. However, this also has the best rewards: A free membership to this year’s Anthrocon, a free T-shirt, registration in Operations (bypass Registration completely!), and a free, delicious staff dinner on Sunday night.

2. Cashiers. This requires less time, and only requires that you work a couple of hours at a time. It’s pretty simple work, and allows you to see a lot of the people at the con since everyone passes through the Alley or the Dealers Room. This requires 10-14 hours of your time over the course of the weekend, and you will get a free T-shirt and a free membership to next year’s Anthrocon.

3. Payout. Over the past few years we have worked up a great system to pay artists quickly in Artists Alley at the end of the day, but the drawback to the system is that it is very labor-intensive. This will only require 3-6 hours over the weekend, and only right when Artists Alley closes each day. I’m afraid there’s no recompense for this except my undying gratitude, but we do have a fun time during payout.

A note about scheduling: Scheduling is pretty rigid due to time needed to count out cash drawers and the necessity of having the correct number of folks on hand at all times. The good news is that you’ll have that schedule in hand at least a week before the con (arranged, as always, to fit around the stuff you want to see and do at the con).

Does this sound good to you? Or do you just want me to owe you my soul in return for volunteering? (the line forms to the left, boys). If you’re interested, let me know in a comment here or an email to alley -at- anthrocon dot org. Please tell me what position you might be interested in and a general idea of when you’ll be arriving and departing (“Friday morning” is as specific as I need right now).

Thanks!
-Tom Brady/Duncan da Husky
Artists Alley/Con Store Manager
Anthrocon 2005

Glad it’s Friday!

Wow, I’ve been slack about updating. Oh well.

So anyway. It’s Friday, yay! I had a doctor’s appointment this morning (no big deal, just some tests that turned out negative – it’s all good), so I didn’t get in until a little after 9. This was offset by the times this week that I left the apartment at 5:30 and got in a little after 6 AM. Ugh. I’m glad I don’t have to do that with any regularity anymore. Anyway, I had allotted enough extra time that if I didn’t get in until 10:30 I’d be covered, but now it looks like I have some extra time. Guess that gives me time to write up this entry and maybe leave a little early. Yay!

LAFF Coffee on Wednesday was OK; little_wolf, perro, and night_watch showed up, along with me and linnaeus, and we chatted for a while. I’m thinking that a weekly thing is starting to wear on me a bit, so I’ll be changing the things around a bit. I think this week will be our last regular coffee gathering, at least on a weekly basis. Instead, I think I’m going to a bi-weekly schedule, alternating between a coffee shop in the city, somewhere on the North Side, and dinner and drinks out in the North/Northwest Suburbs. I need to do some research into what venues will work best, so there will probably be a break where there’s nothing going on. I’m sure everyone will cope.

Last night we had takaza‘s tasty homemade mac and cheese and watched a nice show on the Iditarod finish, followed by our weekly sacrifice of brain cells watching Survivor. We also discovered that sleeping with the bedroom door open is not a happy idea since Marble (Linnaeus’ cat) likes to sneak in, perch on our headboard and, right as we nod off to sleep, meow loudly for attention. The second time he did this, he was tossed unceremoniously from the room and the door was closed. Have I mentioned lately that I am not a cat person?

Tonight we have a party to go to, then tomorrow will be kind of a nice slow wakeup. We’ll be heading up north in the afternoon to tend to Briana (roho and genet‘s fl00fy samoyed) and spend the night up there while they’re off partying in Madtown. And Sunday? No clue. We’ll work on that…

(And they were giving out free cans of Monster energy drink with lunch today. No food coma for me! I’m rarin’ to go!)