Category Archives: artists alley

I Hear Some People Relax On Weekends…

Yuck. I woke up a few times last night so I’m really dragging this afternoon. Fun.

Not a bad weekend overall. We were up far too early Saturday to drive down to Naperville to meet up with unclekage, who was in town for Duckon. Breakfast was acquired at Juicy-O (missed you by 24 hours, perro!). As always, the meal was excellent and we had a great time discussing last-minute Anthrocon business. We hung out and talked a bit more (and complained about Anthrocon’s stealing Midwest FurFest‘s ideas on a certain nifty tidbit, though really it was just that they hit on an idea at the same time we did 🙂 then we took our leave. On the way home we picked up a few things from the MFF storage locker and ran a few errands, then takaza took a short nap once we got back home.

A short while later it was down to Lincolnshire to see Kung Fu Panda on the biiiiig IMAX screen with linnaeus, genet, and midwestcougar. The movie was technically excellent – they did a really great job on the textures and the character design, and that was really highlighted on the ginormous screen. The content of the movie…Eh. I’d call it adequately entertaining, but nothing too fantastic. My biggest problem is the same one I always have with stars cast in voice roles – Jack Black spoke and I didn’t see a giant panda, I saw Jack Black. Others may not have a problem with this and may enjoy the movie more, but it didn’t really blow me away.

After the movie Jaycee had to take her leave, but the rest of us drove through a sudden thunderstorm up to Gurnee to meet roho for a tasty Indian meal at Bombay City. Nom naan nom!

Sunday was stressful, even though we didn’t even leave the house. I spent the day working on Artists Alley stuff, programming registers, finalizing documentation, and other fun stuff like that. I got most of what I wanted to accomplish done, but I still have several documents to write up. Dan was working on similar things for the finance office and I think we both got stressed out and started annoying each other. We got it worked out, though, and were able to relax later in the evening.

And here we are, eight days before we hit the road for Pittsburgh. I still have a lot to do, including making the Artists Alley/Con Store staff schedule. It looks like we’ll be getting together with some friends on Wednesday, then next weekend is pretty much shot with Dan’s company picnic and other stuff going on. I should be able to take a breather sometime around July 4th. Yowza!

Oh yeah, LiveJournal. I remember this thing…

I’m late with my weekend recap, but there’s not too much to say. Saturday we spent over at takaza‘s mom’s house with his family, playing various games and enjoying the mountain of food she cooked up for the occasion. On Sunday we didn’t do too much, mainly just relaxed around the house. I had gotten a very specific pain on Saturday night that was causing a bit of concern (on my back, just over the right kidney) that left me feeling rather blah and playing havoc with sleeping that night; that has since dwindled to nothing, so I’m hoping it was just a passing thing. Other than that, a rather unremarkable weekend.

This week finds me in statistics class (yes, again), this time learning about Design of Experiments and Variation Transmission Analysis (not Variable Transmission Analysis, which makes a lot more sense to my mind, but probably a bit too automotive). The glorious thing is that I don’t have to be in at work until 8:15 AM or so, compared to the usual 7 AM, though I’m still waking up at 5:30 AM with Dan. I’m able to enjoy my mornings a bit more, so that’s nice.

It’s still two months away, but Anthrocon is weighing heavily on our minds right now. Part of that is the fact that we have three large cash registers sitting on our dining room table. Both Dan and I are teaching ourselves how to program these for the Artists Alley; we’re hoping that these will help streamline the process a bit and make things easier for everyone involved. I’m still waiting to hear back from a few potential staff recruits; I need at least two or three more folks before I can stem the rising panic I’m feeling.

Which brings me to this: I am taking volunteers for Anthrocon Artists Alley/Con Store. In exchange for at least fifteen hours of your time, you will get free entry into Anthrocon, a free T-shirt, dinner on Sunday night (a nice dinner, too!), and the luxury of bypassing the registration lines and picking up your registration materials in Operations! If you’re interested, leave a comment here or e-mail me at alley-2008 [at] anthrocon.org.

Not much else going on this week. We may have a wah crashing at our place for a day or two during his transition to life behind the Cheddar Curtain, but other than that there’s not too much is going on.

Last Call For Anthrocon Artists Alley Help

I’m running into a bit of a pinch with staffing, so I thought I’d see if anyone in LJ-land would be willing to help…

I need help with Artists Alley Payout at Anthrocon. We’ve got a good number of folks but I need two or three more to really make things run smoothly. What’s involved? Just an hour to an hour and a half of your time on either Friday, Saturday, or Sunday of Anthrocon, starting at 4:45 PM on Friday, 2:45 PM on Saturday, or 3:45 PM on Sunday. It’s pretty easy work – you’ll just have to do one small thing, like filling out receipt forms or adding up numbers on a calculator. What’s in it for you? Um, my gratitude, and the gratitude of the artists in Artists Alley for having expedited their payment. You can help each day, or only one or two days – any time you can spare would be appreciated! If you’re interested, you can comment here, or e-mail me at duncan at wolfhusky dot org. Thanks!