It has been suggested by a friend that I post a pointer to a useful utility: HideJournal is a free, Java-based utility that allows you to convert every public entry in your journal to Friends Only with one command. This is useful if you suddenly realize you’ve said a lot more in your journal than you’d meant to, you don’t want your family to discover your secret fetish for quivering monkeypants, or whatever. You can find more info in this discussion, and I can post more user-friendly instructions (courtesy of a certain wolph) if needed.

Well, after many hours of installing, reinstalling, and re-reinstalling Windows XP, I’ve gotten my laptop back into some semblance of normal. Just a few more programs to install from CD (GPS software, MusicMatch) ad I’ll be fully up to speed. Fortunately, I didn’t lose any important data – I was able to install a bootable version of Windows to my D: drive and get networking running well enough to dump all the important stuff off to another machine. Naturally, the “System Restore” disks that came with my Vaio didn’t work; after running through installing all three of them, the system wouldn’t boot at all. So I got another XP install disk and built the whole thing up from scratch, drivers, applications, and all. The only thing that isn’t quite right is that there’s some unidentified USB doohickey in there somewhere that it can’t find the driver for, but that hasn’t caused any problems in day-to-day operation so I’m quite happy to ignore it.

So, what’s been going on in the meantime? Well, not a heck of a lot. We went to Thomas and Sherry’s for our Mage/Werewolf game on Monday, which was quite entertaining and resulted in us getting left somewhere in the upper troposphere (fortunately it was in the Umbra, so we should be OK). They’re hosting an evening of board gaming tonight; I’m planning on attending, though takaza may pass depending on how tired he’s feeling when he gets home tonight.

On the job front: not a lot going on. I need to do my periodic shotgun-blasting of resumes to various likely job positions this afternoon. The fruit of last week’s volley was a possibility just south of Cleveland, OH – the recruiter shopped my resume by them and told me today he’s still waiting to hear back. He’s confident I should be able to get at least a phone interview out of it. I also have a possibility, although somewhat remote, at a position in Northlake, IL. This would be really ironic, as it’s with the sister company of my employer when I working in Morris, IL. They’re completely independent, so that wouldn’t figure much in of the hiring process, though. There, too, they have my resume and we’re waiting to hear back. Finally, it looks like the job possibility I had in Lafayette, IN is completely dead, or at least will be through the end of the year. I really hope I’m not still available when they open up that position again!

Well, back to the job boards…

Typing this from my old laptop tonight via web interface. My bright’n’shiny Vaio laptop crapped out this morning and it’s only gotten worse. First Windows Explorer would crash/reopen/crash/reopen/etc., then it just wouldn’t boot at all. I tried a couple fixes and at least moved my data files to the D: drive where they’ll be relatively safe. Tried reinstalling from the recovery CD’s and…no dice. Still won’t boot. I’m going to do a temporary install to D: enough to get networking up so I can move my data files off of it then wipe the who damn drive clean. I have a faint inkling the drive could be dying, but we’ll see what happens after the reformat.

In any case, if I owe you email, be assured I’m working on it and will have it to you in the next few days.

First off, I want to say that the Adams Mark Hotel staff was fabulous! Every single one of them was professional and courteous. Our housekeeper even recognized Takaza from last year! We were sure to leave her a $20 tip – four people in one room for three days can get a bit messy.

Suites are niiiiice. We’re definitely getting one again next year, and four people in the suite is just the right size. It’s not too cramped, you still have room to move around, and there’s room to push stuff out of the way when you want to have people in to socialize.

Anthrocon is freakin’ huge! At just a few dozen shy of 2,000 attendees, they are the largest furry convention, period. And you know what? They’re welcome to it! Midwest Furfest topped out at 685 last year, and it is bound to continue to grow at some rate. To those who say we need to grow and grow fast, I give you a hearty “Fuck you!” With more attendees comes more problems, and I saw stuff at Anthrocon that we have yet to deal with: scary stuff, security issues, stuff that requires the police – not through any fault of AC’s, mind you, just that it’s the problems that come with more people. We’ve dodged those bullets so far, but we need to be ready for them should they come up.

The Dorsai Irregulars are an amazing group of people. Every one of them I spoke with was polite and professional, and they are damn good at what they do.

Working Anthrocon is a lot of fun. I need to work more – if I’m not working, I’m bored! (hint, hint, Giza 😉

A lot of people have commented on how awful Anthrocon was in terms of creepy fanboys and weirdos and people severely lacking in social skills. Y’know, you’re going to get that in whatever fandom you deal with – furry isn’t unique in any way, I assure you! I could let it get me down and wonder why I bother to work to help such a group, but then I remember that there are quality people out there – folks I enjoy spending time with, folks who are 100% With Clue. And the trick is, you find them and you spend time with them. And you remind yourself that these are the people you’re in furry fandom for.

We still need to find a way to streamline Artist Alley checkout. I think a sorting bin with each artist’s name on a separate slot would be useful since the sorting of the receipts at the end of the day was one of the most time-consuming (and frantic) parts of the job. If we could have that done and ready to go, life would be much simpler. We’ll investigate that and present some solutions when we have them. Also, we have some ideas about how to better track the receipt books, which will make life easier if the artist doesn’t put their name on their receipt, or if it’s illegible.

I’m ordering dinner in next year. By far it’s the best way to go, and Pete’s Pizza is mighty tasty. Cheaper than going out, too!

No, not like that, silly! A couple people have said that con reports are long and boring and nobody reads them. Well, the biggest reason I do a con report is so that I can look back at a later date and see what I did when. That’s a good enough reason for me!

And thus we have the dreaded con report for Anthrocon 2003.

Went to Columbus, interviewed, looked like a good job, nice town, blah blah blah…

Didn’t get the job. They said I had “too much R&D experience.” Well, hell – they knew that from my resume when I went in there, now didn’t they?

Well, at least they didn’t make me wait days or weeks for a decision. I’ve got an outside shot at a position in Northlake, IL, but I don’t consider that a good probability right now. Heck, maybe they’ll prove me wrong. In the meantime, I’m putting the job search on the back burner for the next few days and concentrate on Anthrocon.

Lots of stuff going on today – preparations, packing, shopping to be done, scones to be baked. We drive out of here between 6 and 7 AM tomorrow and we want to get as much into the car as possible tonight (the cooler will have to wait for the morning, though). I reckon we’ll pull into the Adams Mark around 4 PM or so. See y’all there!

We got back from Holden Beach last night at around 8 PM. The watchword for the weekend was “rain” – dodging it and driving in it. When we arrived on Saturday at around 4 PM it was in the midst of a nasty thunderstorm. We waited a few hours and at about 7 PM it miraculously cleared up and we were able to head to the beach (which was right across the street). The combination of high tide and strong surf caused by the storms made for killer waves for boogie boarding. We had a great time and I got the crap beat out of my by the waves. We had a nice dinner in with several bottles of wine, sandwiches, and tasty chocolate cake.

On Sunday morning, we lazed about a good bit (and I read a few hundred pages of Harry Potter). We finally motivated for some swimming, but it was a bit of a disappointment. It was right at low tide, and the waves weren’t quite up to snuff (plus you had to walk a good fifty yards out from the beach to get to them because it was so shallow). I packed it in early, and Takaza and Sherry and I went to a local water slide and they had a good time while I relaxed in the shade. Taki’s not a big fan of ocean swimming, so I was glad he got some good water time in over the weekend.

We headed out not long after that, stopping in the tiny town of Wallace, NC on the way back for dinner. Taki took over driving from there and unfortunately got the treat of driving up I-40 in some awful torrential thunderstorms. I’ve never seen storms so bad around here where the interstate floods! We went through two areas where the drainage ditch on the right side of the road had flooded and the right lane of the interstate had a couple of inches of water covering it. We were able to get by but it was a bit unnerving. We made it home OK, though, and crashed pretty early.

Many, many thanks to me_not_you and wildmouse for having us down for the weekend! We had a fabulous time and I hope they have an equally good time with their family this coming week.

And now, I need to shift gears and get my act together today. After doing a bit of laundry, I need to pack again and head to the airport around 3 PM to fly to Columbus, OH for a job interview. I’ll be back tomorrow at 8:30 PM and then I need to think about Anthrocon, but first things first…

Leaving in a few minutes for a nice stay overnight in a lovely place in Holden Beach, NC. Fun will be had by all, I hope. Hey, I might even get a few more pages of Harry Potter read…

This weekend, This American Life meets Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind!

From the This American Life website:
30 Acts in 60 Minutes. Instead of the regular “each week we choose a theme, and bring you three or four stories on that theme” business, this week we throw all that away and bring you thirty stories, yes thirty, in sixty minutes. Or, anyway, that’s our goal. We guarantee at least twenty. David Rakoff, Scott Carrier, The Greatest Dog Name in the World, and more more more. Broadcast the weekend of July 11-13 in most places, or available here next week via RealAudio.

Inspiration for this week’s show came from the Neo-Futurists, whose long-running Chicago show Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind promises 30 Plays in 60 Minutes every single weekend.

Woohoo! Takaza is going to record this one to tape off the air tonight. For those of you wanting to listen to this in the Chicago area, WBEZ broadcasts This American Life Fridays 8-9 PM and Saturdays 2-3 PM. You can also check when it’s on across the world at PublicRadioFan.com and listen in via netcast (PublicRadioFan is da bomb!)

It would appear that some timer on our roommate/landlord’s house went “DING!” because things have been going to hell lately.
House meltdown details

Greetings once again from Anderson, South Carolina! I’m visiting my parents as well as my sister and nephews here. It’s been a good visit, pretty low stress, and the change of scenery is welcome. Right now my dad and I are negotiating about whether or not they need a new computer (their PIII – 650 MHz is showing its five years, and Windows 98 is growing increasingly less stable by the day). We’ll see if he decides to make the trek to Beast Buy today or not.

Last night was a lot of fun – my sister found out that the local Animal Shelter has a program where, every Tuesday, volunteers come and walk some of the dogs there at a local park. It was heartbreaking trying to decide which dog to walk – they all looked like they wanted to go for a nice run. There were a couple of very friendly huskies, but in the end I chose a 1-year old border collie mix who, after observing her enthusiasm and lack of coordination, I immediately nicknamed “Spaz”. Ruth (my sister) chose a 6-7 year old chocolate lab mix named “Miss Mocha,” who was a much better choice with her 6 and 8 year old sons. The group of us took the dogs over to the park and wolked around the lake, and generally made sure they had some good socialization time. My mom and I took a bunch of pictures and I’ve posted them in our gallery. I’ll see about adding some captions when I get a chance, but for now I’m getting pulled away to deal with the new computer stuff. Laters!

Well, that was pretty much the lowest-key Fourth of July I’ve had in years. We didn’t go to any fireworks displays (didn’t want to fight the crowds, the bugs, and the unremitting heat). We went to one party, though we didn’t really stay very long (I wasn’t feeling too sociable). Otherwise, we pretty much lazed around most of the weekend. Last night we had friends over for dinner and Sherry made some delicious enchiladas. I made a variation on a caramel apple pie using puff pastry instead of a pie crust. It was delicious, though there are a few more changes I’d like to make (I think a red wine caramel sauce is gilding the lily – a plain caramel sauce is quite sufficient). We wrapped up moderately early but still didn’t get to bed until late. due to noodling on the computer and such.

Tomorrow will find me on my way down to visit my parents. My sister and nephews (boys, age 6 & 8) are visiting as well, so it should be a fun visit. I’ll be there Tuesday and Wednesday.

On Saturday and Sunday, we’ll be lounging around on the beach, lodging kindly provided by me_not_you and wildmouse – I’m really looking forward to the trip. Should be a nice, mellow weekend, though I hope we have better luck finding restaurants than our previous beach forays.

Following that, I’ll be flying out to Columbus, Ohio, probably on Monday for an interview on Tuesday, then back to RDU on Tuesday night. Then it’s driving off to Philadelphia on Thursday. Whee!

Hmm, things are getting uncomfortably warm upstairs – the thermostat is set at 76 and the temperature is 82. I’m going to run the fan for a bit to see if the coils have frozen up again (it’s happened before), otherwise it’s time to call in the professionals (or rather, have our roommate/landlord call in the professionals…)

Blame zenwolph for this one. His post reminded me of what was going on five years ago. I checked my archives and found this rather amusing post to alt.lifestyle.furry. It’s nice to see that all of the friends mentioned are still folks I’m reasonably close to, plus a brief mention of a certain wolf who would later become a wonderful part of my life.

Duncan discovers the joy of conventions

I just got a call from the recruiter – the company I interviewed with yesterday and they want me to fly up to Columbus for an interview on Tuesday, July 15. I’m guessing that means I’ll be flying out that Monday, interviewing Tuesday, flying back Tuesday night, packing Wednesday, and we drive to Anthrocon on Thursday. Woo!

Well, it’s not Chicago, but it’s closer than NC (and it’s definitely not Kansas City!). I had a phone interview with a company in Columbus, OH this morning – things seem pretty good, at least I think I’m through into the next stage of interviewing. Still have a call in to the recruiter for the Lafayette job to see what the heck they’re up to, but she’s out all week and I probably won’t hear back until Monday.

And so we slide into the holiday weekend with nothing much to show, but at least I’ll have my wuff with me. I’m really looking forward to Anthrocon – it will be a welcome change of pace. We won’t have much money to spend, but half the fun is finding creative ways to keep costs down. OK, we’ll splurge on the two cases of Starbucks Doubleshots, though…

Oh, and as Takaza mentioned, we’re looking for crash space just for the night somewhere between Richmond and DC the Wednesday before Anthrocon so we don’t have to get up waaaay too early Thursday and drive it in a straight shot. Also, if anyone’s interested in doing dinner on Thursday night at con, let us know!

The Carol Stream job didn’t come through. The search continues…

Check out the new and nifty Midwest Furfest website. Rustitobuck done good!

I ache.

Yesterday we had a blast. We left at around 8 AM with wildmouse, me_not_you, Thomas and Sherry for a van trip to the beach! We drove the 2.5 hours down to Fort Fisher State Recreation Area where we spent about four hours frolicking in the surf. Unfortunately, we were there right around low tide and at best it was only three-foot seas, but there was enough waves to make things fun. Donald, Janelle, Sherry and I did some fun surfing (I’m getting better at mastering the boogie board!) even though for the most part the water was only about 2-3 feet deep at that part of the beach. Thanks to Bullfrog I didn’t get too toasted, though of all places I missed getting sunscreen on the backs of my upper arms, so those are a little sore this morning. Also, as ever when you play in the surf, I got pretty beat up by the water – my neck and back are pretty sore, but it was worth it! Because of his ingrown toenail problem, takaza wasn’t able to join us in the surf, but he had a good time relaxing in the shade, chatting with Thomas, and listening to more of Harry Potter on his MP3 player. Afterwards, we had a quick tour of the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher (the jellyfish were attacking Janelle!), then dinner at The Oceanic in Wrightsville Beach. We’ve been invited to join Donald and Janelle down at Holden Beach in a few weeks and I’m really looking forward to the trip!

As for today, I’m still waiting to hear back from the company in Carol Stream. I have no certain date when I’m supposed to hear from them, but I was hoping it would be as early as last Friday or today. Given that it’s a short week, I’m really hoping all the decision-makers haven’t cleared out for the week! Other than that, I’ll be doing laundry and reading more of Harry Potter and the Funny Feeling You Get When You Lean Your Chair Back And Almost Fall, But Don’t.

Edit – 9:18 AM – Donald has posted pictures from the trip! I’ve sprinkled a few links in the above text to their pics as well.

Today’s Friday Five:
1. How are you planning to spend the summer?
Getting a damn job! But in the meantime, attending Anthrocon, going to the beach with friends, and generally trying to hang out and have a social life on the cheap.

2. What was your first summer job?
Hmm…I think it was making minimum wage bagging groceries at Kroger in Anderson, SC. It was a big deal when Kroger came to Anderson and it was supposed to be a super-spiffy store. Funny – Kroger left, it became a Bi-Lo, and now I think it closed.

3. If you could go anywhere this summer, where would you go?
I like the idea of a week or two auto tour of British Columbia. Though a few weeks driving around Europe would be fun, too.

4. What was your worst vacation ever?
That’s tough. I spent a summer in Palm Springs – I loved the company (my aunt and uncle and cousins) but Palm Springs is in the desert, you see. In the summer. We actually fried an egg on the sidewalk, just to prove we could. I tried riding a bike down to the bookstore, six blocks away. I discovered that the dry heat of the desert sneaks up on you – after a two blocks, I was damn near ready to die. I’ve tried to stay away from deserts since.

5. What was your best vacation ever?
My parents lived in France for a few years (in Annemasse, just across the border from Geneva, Switzerland), and I was able to spend the summer with them for a couple years running. The summers in France were fabulous – great food, beautiful scenery, and learning about European culture. I was able to travel around and see some of the most beautiful places in Europe – Amsterdam, Val d’Aosta, Lausanne, Chamonix, Lyon, and of course many days spent just wandering around Geneva.

Well, I’ve got kind of mixed feelings right now.

First off, the bad: Got a call this morning from the recruiter that has the Lafayette, IN job. While her client liked me and still wants to interview me, they have just installed a temporary hiring freeze. She doesn’t anticipate that it will last more than a month or so, but in the meantime any interviews with them go straight to the back burner. Crap. I’d hoped to have a good fallback position in case the Carol Stream job falls through, but I guess you work with what you’ve got.

On the brighter side, we have some good news: Supreme Court strikes down sodomy laws! This is good news on a number of fronts, and not even the most obvious ones (though it’s kind of nice not to have to be an unconvicted felon in the state of North Carolina anymore). Bowers vs. Hardwick (and its stepchild here in NC, the Crimes Against Nature Law) has been used as justification for everything from banning gays from the military to preventing even the mention of homosexuality in school curricula (except, of course, to mention that sodomy is against the law in the state of North Carolina) to barring adoption by same-sex couples. There’s going to be a lot of repercussions from this ruling and I think a lot of good is going to be done. For an excellent analysis of the Lawrence decision, check out this commentary by Yale Law School professor Jack Balkin.

Well, let’s see…the forecast for today – highs in the 90’s, sunny skies, humid, Code Red Ozone Alert, and the UV Index is at 10+ out of 10. Seems like a good day to stay inside.

Not a lot going on this week – just nervously waiting to hear back from various employers/recruiters. Had lunch over at wildmouse and me_not_you‘s house yesterday where we planned munchies for the weekend. On Sunday, a bunch of us are piling into a van way too early and driving down to Fort Fisher State Recreation Area just south of Wilmington for a day of fun on the beach, swimming in the ocean, and maybe visiting the aquarium. We’ll have a nice picnic lunch sometime in the afternoon, then later a tasty dinner at The Oceanic. Then it’s back into the van to be home before it gets too awfully late. Unfortunately, takaza won’t be able to join us swimming, since he had an ingrown toenail cut out yesterday. It didn’t look too bad when I helped him dress it this morning, but it’s still not something I’d want to go dipping into salt water (owowowowow!). It’s cool though – he can hang out with Thomas, who is of the non-swimming persuasion, and listen to more of the Harry Potter and the Order of Fries (or whatever) audiobook (it’s amazing how fast one can rip 23 CD’s!).

In the meantime I’ve got a good bit of cooking to do. Today I’m making a yummy Bolognese sauce (pasta sauce with tomatoes and meat) – if the recipe turns out well, I’ll post it. Then sometime before Sunday I need to make two loaves of bread (for the deli sandwiches), a batch or two of cinnamon scones, and a batch of chocolate chip/peanut butter chip cookies. That’s cool – I enjoy this kind of stuff. Oh, and somewhere in all of that I need to start in on reading Harry Potter and the Order of Hash Browns, Scattered, Smothered, and Covered that I acquired yesterday.

Incidentally, I’ve been listening to MusiKitty Radio for the past couple of mornings – a nice way to start the day. Interesting song in my current music, too – I never knew Bill Paxton was in a band, let alone working with folks from The B-52’s. Great track, rigelkitty!

Yesterday was fantastic, exactly what I was looking forward to. I woke up around 8 AM (wow, sleeping late for me!) and bummed around on the net until datahawk woke up around 9. Rustitobuck stumbled in not long after and we had an enjoyable, if completely unmotivated, morning of chatting and geeking on laptops. linnaeus showed up around noon and we went out for a late breakfast at Sammo’s, a nice little restaurant a block away from Rusty’s place.

After some regrouping, it was off for some geocaching with a nice tour of the area (3 finds, one miss since the clue required net access to solve – grrrr…). Afterwards, sylverfox joined us for a tasty dinner of grilled meats – brats, shrimp, chicken, and hamburgers. Throw in some baked potatoes on the side and it was delicious – Rusty is a grilling fiend with his George Foreman Grill! Innerwolf joined us as we were wrapping up, and we had a lot of fun sitting, chatting, and engaging in the requisite bit of SMOFfing. We got to bed around 12:30 AM, though with the after-lights-out chatting, we probably didn’t get to sleep until 1.

This morning I woke to dim light coming in around the window shades. I fumbled with my watch a bit, pressing a few wrong buttons until I found the one that turned on the backlight – 6:15 AM. Well, I wanted to leave at around 7:30, and since I was awake anyway, I went ahead and showered and finished packing up my stuff, then said my goodbyes to a very sleepy DataHawk. I stopped by the !Hen to get a Sunday Trib just as they were dropping them off – I thought it was oddly late for them to be bringing in the paper, but who knows? So I got my paper and guzzled my second DoubleShot, then got in the car.

When I started it, the clock in the car came on – 6:00 AM. Shit. When I was fumbling with my watch, I accidentally switched it back from Central Time to Eastern Time – I had actually gotten up at 5:15. Ugh. That means I got all of about 4 hours of sleep, which means come this afternoon I’m going to be dragging something fierce. Heck, I feel pretty sleepy now as I sit at the gate in O’Hare Airport writing this. Anyway, my flight starts boarding in about a half-hour and I’ll probably doze a bit on the plane. Only five hours until I see my wuff!

By the way, one neat thing from Friday night. Tincrash passed along three fabulous pictures he drew for Midwest Furfest – you can see one of them now on the Midwest Furfest home page. Really great stuff, fabulous detail, and a great use of the Roaring 20’s theme. Duncan-Bob sez check it out!

So yesterday was action-packed and fun, yay!

The interview seemed to go pretty well. I don’t think I said anything incredibly stupid and I seemed to establish a good rapport with my prospective supervisor, so that’s good. They have someone else coming in next Thursday to interview, then they’ll choose between us. Whichever gets chosen, goes on to Round Two: a full day’s interviewing at the company’s Connecticut headquarters. Once they pass that, (and word has it that if you make it that far you’re golden) there’s Round Three: a half-day interview with the company psychologist. This sounds pretty bizarre, but once it was explained to me I warmed to the idea: the interview focuses on behaviors and how you approach your work. The psychologist then reports back to your supervisor with what type of personality you are and what the best way to deal with you is. This also establishes a baseline, and after three months the psychologist meets with you and your supervisor and you discuss what’s gone right, what’s gone wrong, what needs improvement, and what your goals will be for the next year. Looking back at past jobs, I can say that if I’d had this kind of third-party intervention things would have been much, much better!

Still haven’t heard from the Lafayette job, by the way. They want me up to interview, but they haven’t given me a date. Gee, maybe they’ll only have one round of interviews – how refreshingly novel 🙂

Last night there was another Western Suburbs Dinner at an Irish restaurant in Schaumburg, not far from the MFF hotel. We had a tremendous turnout (deep breath):
datahawk, posicat, Fuzzbear, Tony, Max, tincrash, steviemaxwell, Tybis, Axle, Fox, butterscotchvix, hazardous_roo, linnaeus, rusitobuck, Colin, duncandahusky, hartree, crim_ferret, wyldekyttin, Firewing, damnbear, lthrbear, aureth, jenwolf, neowolf2, Innerwolf, ashmcairo, sylverfox, daveqat, Synicism, moryssa

Whew. Sorry if I missed anyone, but I think that’s everybody. The place was a bit louder and a bit smokier than I would have liked, but the food was tasty (and the cider on tap was divine!). I got to play “social butterfly” a bit and that was fun. Got to meet some folks I hadn’t seen before (howdy lthrbear!) and hang out with friends I hadn’t seen in too damn long. It was just another reminder of how we need to haul our butts back up to Chicago. We even talked a little MFF business, which was nice to get out of the way. My throat was a mess when we got home from the shouting over the noise and the smoke, but it was a great time.

Then there’s today – not much going on, and I like it that way. Hmm – past 11 AM and we have yet to get breakfast. Linnaeus had to go in to work this morning, but at this rate I’m thinking he may well be able to join us for some food once we get motivated. We’re planning on doing a bit of geocaching, and probably cooking up some dinner around here. A low-stress kinda day, and I like it that way!

Tomorrow, I fly out at 10 AM. Back to the arms of the wolf I love – I’m looking forward to that!

Well, that’s it! I’m all packed and ready to head out the door. Looks like I’ve got 29 confirmed names for dinner on Friday, with three maybes (hey, fuzzytoes – since you’re stranded in Battle Ground, you want to come up and join us?). I’ll probably reserve for 35 or so, just in case. I’m sure I’m forgetting something, but I’m so overprepared at this point it just shouldn’t matter. See many of y’all tomorrow night!

Oh, by the way – I grabbed some prepaid Internet access (heck, it’ll be useful at AC too), so I will have e-mail access tonight contrary to what I wrote earlier.

Been a while since I’ve done one of these…

A – Act your age? When appropriate, I suppose
B – Born on what day of the week? Sunday
C – Chore you hate? Landscaping. I love the result, I despise the effort.
D – Dad’s name? Charles Antony (though my name is Thomas Antoni – a mix-up in the birth certificate, I seem to recall)
E – Essential makeup item? Well, I don’t wear make-up, but for heaven’s sake deodorant is a sine qua non!
F – Favorite director? Hmm, that’s a toughie. A tossup between Sam Raimi and Kenneth Branagh
G – Gold or silver? Yes, please 🙂
H – Hometown? Hard to say – I’m lived all over, but right now I count Chicago as my hometown
I – Instruments you play? Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, I took piano and clarinet lessons. Unfortunately, I just didn’t have the knack…
J – Job title? Chemical engineer (process engineer or process development engineer, to be more specific)
K – Kids? Not now, not ever. Period.
L – Living arrangements? Living with my husband, Takaza – we’re currently renting from a friend, but plan to buy a house wherever my job takes us
M – Mom’s name? Catherine Susan (though everyone calls her Sue)
N – Number of people you’ve slept with? Six. I can honestly say I have no regrets.
O – Overnight hospital stays? The only one I recall is when I had reconstructive surgery on my ankle
P – Phobia? Arachnophobia (mild), ophidiophobia (not so mild)
Q – Quote you like? “Groovy.”
R – Religious affiliation? None. I was raised Roman Catholic, but I got better.
S – Siblings? One sister, lives with her family in St. Charles, MO
T – Time you wake up? 6 AM, usually whether I want to or not
U – Unique habit? I am a creature of habit, I need my routines every morning: e-mail, coffee, and newspaper, in that order
V – Vegetable you refuse to eat? Beets. Though Belgian endive is a close second. Everything else is great!
W- Worst habit? Worrying
X – X-rays you’ve had? Good grief, where haven’t I had an X-ray? Broke each arm twice, numerous ankle X-rays, abdominal X-rays…
Y – Yummy food you make? Heh. I make quite a few, but I really like my cinnamon rolls (hmm, I need to post the recipe for those…)
Z – Zodiac Sign? Aquarius, though I give that no credence whatsoever

I’m spending the week in anticipation of Thursday and Friday. The trip is going to be a good one, I’m sure, if only because I’ll be able to spend time with friends (though I know if I weren’t traveling this weekend, I’d be offering to go to Charlotte to help perro out!)

The biggest pain for me today is the fact that when I went to get replacement lenses for my glasses yesterday (the old ones were scratched), something wasn’t quite right. I attributed it to just getting used to the prescription, but it didn’t get any better – my right lens is fine, but everything is rather blurry in my left lens. This results in my depth perception being shot and I tend to get a headache after a while. I went back this morning and the doctor checked everything and came out rather red-faced. Apparently he had written 1.67 where he meant to write 0.67 on my prescription. Ack! They’re having some new lenses rush-delivered and they’ll be in by noon tomorrow, but in the meantime I can only work at the computer or watch TV for about an hour at a time, then I need to take a break. At least the problem will be fixed before I fly out, though!

So, to do before flying out: I’m reviewing a huge list of interview questions, just so I don’t get blindsided with anything. I also need to download some reading material on the company I’m interviewing with, as well as some background on the technology. Also need to print out some good info I found at SeatGuru.com on the best (or at least the not-worst) seats for some of the flights I’ll be on. Oh yeah, and pack, and try on my suit before packing it as well.

Gahh. Time to rest my eyes a bit…

The biggest problem with a sudden spate of great news (like I had earlier this week) is that there’s quite a letdown afterwards when you realize that’s all you get. It’s that feeling kids get after they’ve unwrapped the last Christmas present and realize there’s no more…

Anyway, Brophey and Rasslor are coming up tonight to possibly do a bit of furniture shopping in High Point. One thing’s for sure: when they get here, there will be a gelato run! We’ll also be conducting a bit of con-related business when we accompany them shopping tomorrow – hopefully that will garner more good stuff for MFF.

Theoretically, I’m supposed to be cleaning up the place today, but I just can’t seem to get motivated. At least the laundry and making the beds is out of the way. Well, there’s always LiveJournal for procrastination. I should go down and start dusting and cleaning the counters, then it’s on to sweeping and vacuuming, what fun! Domesticity isn’t pretty, but I’d rather live in a clean(er) house! And with that, it’s off to clean, yay.

Thursday, June 19, 2003
Depart RDU @ 12:20 PM (one stop at CLT)
Arrive ORD @ 3:13 PM

Friday
Interview begins at 9 AM
Western Suburbs Dinner at 8 PM at The Curragh, Schaumburg, IL

Saturday
No plans yet. This is sure to change 🙂

Sunday
Depart ORD @ 10:00 AM (one stop at DCA)
Arrive RDU @ 3:20 PM

I need to get the other company on the phone and see about making plans for them to fly me up as well.

First off, how could Food Network start a new season of A Cook’s Tour and not tell me? Bastards! It looks like they’re on episode 7 this week (9:30 PM EDT on 6/13) – should be amusing: “Kansas City, Houston, North Carolina: The BBQ Triangle”

I just tried Lochjournal after a year and a half of using Semagic. The spell checking of Lochjournal was really crappy; Semagic invokes MS Word and uses Word’s spellchecker, which is fine if a little clunky sometimes. It’s certainly more robust than the one that comes with Lochjournal, so on that basis alone Lochjournal gets the boot.

Finally, check out the latest in electronic gadgets, circa 1983!
Laptops/PCs: GRiD Compass 1101
First clamshell laptop computer. The Compass has a black magnesium alloy case, a gas plasma display, 384KB of memory, and for hacking while on the road, a lightning-fast 1200bps internal modem.
Why do I see this as something posicat will enjoy? 🙂

First it hurts like hell all weekend, now it feels fine come Monday. Neat trick, huh? Go figure. Well, I’ll skip the doctor visit this time, but next time it flares up I’m definitely going to have it looked at.

Not too much going on today, just bumming around the house. Got my prescriptions taken care of – Aetna will definitely not cover Nexium, but my doctor switched it to Aciphex, which is fine by me as long as it works. I’m getting him to write the prescription for 90 days as opposed to 30 days + 2 refills because I’d rather a co-pay of $60 for 90 days’ supply than $30 for 30 days’. Not that you cared, but hey, it’s what’s occupying me these days.

The receptionist where Dan works didn’t show up to work today, and after a bit of a runaround it finally appeared she didn’t care for the assignment. So she’s gone – that’s six receptionists in six weeks. Very impressive. I even volunteered to do the job temporarily (hey, $7/hour > $0/hour, and my unemployment benefits run out this week), but it was decided that if they didn’t get someone into the position permanently, they may lose the position completely due to cost-cutting measures at home office. This raises an interesting possibility: I may investigate temp agencies next week (assuming I don’t hear from GLCC) to see if I can get some short-term assignments. I’d be ridiculously overqualified (yeah, I have a masters in chemical engineering), but I can answer phones and type reasonably fast with the best of them and I can make any Microsoft Office application jump up and do whatever I tell it to. I think it’s probably a low-probability source of income, but it doesn’t hurt to try and it beats sitting around the house all day.

So, Friday found me out geocaching again, trying to find that furshlugginer cache that continues to elude me (no link because geocaching.org seems to be down). As I was wandering about in the woods, my cell phone rings. It’s a recruiter: would I be available for a phone interview in three hours. Oh hell yeah! So I rushed home, printed out a copy of my resume, as well as the detailed two-page (!) job description and a copy of my notes from an earlier discussion with the recruiter. This one’s a doozy – a job in the pilot plant of Great Lakes Chemical Company, in Lafayette, Indiana. Oh man, I’d be all over that! It’s a perfect location for us – rural, which Dan likes, reasonably close to cities, which I like, and close to Chicago, which we both like.

So I chatted with the guy from GLCC for about 40 minutes, and I think we established a pretty good rapport. He stressed that they’re early on in the process and he had more candidates to talk to so he couldn’t start talking about invitations to visit or anything (if fact, I’ll bet I was the first candidate he talked to), but I think my chances are still pretty good. I should hear something within the next week or so. This would be a great job, a great location, and great pay. Keep your paws crossed!

I was riding on a high after that, so I was quite happy when we got an invite from me_not_you to join him and wildmouse for dinner Friday night. The reason for the occasion was Janelle’s final day of the school year – she’s a counselor at a local public high school, and really busts her butt yet receives very little recognition. It was definitely a reason to celebrate (we’ll celebrate more later this week with a shopping trip for Joseph Schmidt truffles and some tasty champagne!). We went to Biaggi’s, which was OK – think Olive Garden’s food in a better setting and slightly more expensive and you’ll be pretty close. We made it an early night, since Takaza had gotten up ridiculously early. Seeing him standing over me wide awake, showered, and bouncy at 6 AM was a truly surreal experience 🙂

Saturday was a downer. We were going to catch a canine Frisbee competition, but it was drizzly all morning and when we went to check it out, they had cancelled it due to rain. Argh! So we went and got breakfast, then bummed around the house for the rest of the day and watched accumulated TiVo goodness. Donald ICQ’d and suggested dinner, so we invited them over. I threw together a quick marinade and tossed a cut-up chicken into it ((canola oil, white wine vinegar, marjoram, shallots, garlic – no salt since the chicken was already brined), Dan, made some delicious mashed potatoes, and I steamed some green beans – simple, but yummy. For dessert, it was a run through a torrential downpour to Silvia D’Italia’s for gelato.

Today was even lazier. Watched some TiVo (highlights from about 8 Great Chefs of the World and learning to make sushi on East Meets West), went to the grocery store for the week’s shopping, and then watched some more TiVo (A couple of eps of Insomniac, as well a couple of Ground Forces). I grilled up some burgers and our roommate joined us for dinner, and Dan made some tasty cinnamon chip scones. A nice evening all around.

Two down notes from the weekend: First off, starting Thursday night my right knee started hurting. It got progressively worse until by Friday night I could barely move it. It’s gotten a little better – as long as I keep moving it, I can walk and get around through the soreness, but if I stop and sit for a while, moving it again it torture. I plan to see the doctor about it tomorrow.

Second, word on the CarolinaFurs mailing list is that Perro‘s apartment flooded last night in the midst of all the rains that swept through the area. Apparently his rug is soggy, but at least got back power early this afternoon. He got off lucky, because apparently the buildings in his complex (which are presumably further downhill) will have to be demolished. Our thoughts are with ya, mutt, and let us know if there’s anything we can do to help!

A couple of folks have pointed out this story which was discussed on Slashdot yesterday. It’s old news, really – current policy for the North Carolina state parks system is that while caches are discouraged (virtual caches are preferred), caches can be placed in a park for up to three months if a $25 fee is paid. The reasoning for this is valid, in my opinion – I have seen places where a path has been work to caches placed off-trail, and a lot of the local vegetation has been disturbed. (OK, the bit about caches having “inappropriate or dangerous items” is a load of crap, though, considering the typical cache contains stuff on the order of toys you’d get in a Happy Meal)

I think there’s a right way and a wrong way to post a cache clue and to place a cache. If placing a cache in the woods, the right way is to put it somewhat near the trail, in a location that will not lead to too much disruption of the natural area. This is an example of a bad cache placement – the cache was hidden in a depression in the ground, under some leaves. This led to lots of tramping around the area, poking into holes with sticks, and pretty much as much disruption as you can imagine.

Geocaching is a lot of fun, but it needs to be done right. “Cache in, trash out” is a good code to follow (pick up trash on your way out), and be aware of where you’re walking. If it looks like getting to a cache might cause damage to the local ecosystem, skip it, and note it on the website – maybe this will drive the cache owner to place it in a less damaging location.

I finally got off my butt and posted the pictures we took at the North Carolina Zoo back in February when we visited with Partran and Luagha. They’re in our photo gallery – enjoy!

Not much going on this week, which is quite a difference from last week. Not much going on on the job front, though there’s a possibility in Columbus that I’m exploring. That would be a pretty good location, but we’ll see what comes to pass. Otherwise, there’s not much on the job listings I follow at the moment, but that can change quickly. So I wait, and call recruiters, and keep the faith.

Yesterday we went over to Thomas and Sherry’s for our bi-weekly Mage/Werewolf game. Just before we headed up there, while I was grilling up burgers on the back deck, we were paid a surprise visit by a local canine denizen – a very friendly guy who looked to be an akita/chow mix (maybe?).
Here’s his smiling face!

Not enough time to write a big journal entry right now. Takaza wrote a nice wrap-up of our weekend, so I’ll spare you that. I’m off to Kansas City in a few hours for a job interview. If I were less frazzled I’d write in detail about why I’m frazzled, but that’ll have to wait a few days. I’ll be back later tomorrow night, and I’ll be off the net for the duration (aaaagh!). Y’all will get a full report on things when I get back.

(Hmm – I just noticed my flight out goes though Midway. Geeze, I thought it was direct. Pity you can’t do much with a 30-minute layover!)

Because sometimes you have to speak directly to the source

Cartoon hidden here to speed loading of Friends’ Pages

Been remiss in updating here, mainly because I’ve been feeling pretty down. Things are on the upturn, so its time to bring things up to date…

This is gonna be a long one…

(LJ was barfing earlier, so here’s another shot at posting this. It should have been posted at 6 PM)

You now, the downside of having wireless access through a cable modem at home is that local WiFi/broadband hotspots don’t quite have the cachet that they could, but hey, it’s nice to have.

So, I’m sitting here waiting for Takaza to show up here at Dakota Grill, which offers the aforementioned WiFi access, allowing me to kill a little time by posting to LiveJournal. Dakota Grill, by the way, not only specializes in the cuisine of North Dakota (seriously – apparently there is a “cuisine” there) but it is also notable for being the only place in the Triangle I know of that offers that most unique of Canadian delicacies, poutine. Mmm, cholesterol goodness. On the bright side, I just discovered that Thursday night is 1/2 price “premium” beer night – hey, I’ll take $1.50 Sam Adams with a smile!

Anyway, after a tasty meal here, we’re headed over to the new Movies at Brier Creek to see The Matrix Reloaded. I’ll post my impressions on it tomorrow, suitably hidden behind a cut tag (thanks, rigelkitty!).

Well, it looks like we’re not going to make the shindig in Blacksburg this weekend – looking at our checking account balance versus the cost for gas and meals for two up there, it looks like we’ll be better off staying at home. We are kicking around plans to go up in June, though, to do some tubing on the New River – vt_komainu, I’ll give you a shout if that comes to pass. Instead, we’re going to check out Artsplosure here in Raleigh, and maybe catch a movie (Lost in La Mancha is opening at Madstone tomorrow, and I still want to see A Mighty Wind). Or we may just lay around Sunday and be slave to the Tivo. Either way is fine by me.

Hmm, my phone isn’t connecting to the Sprint network. This is Not a Good Sign. Given that it’s a reconditioned phone, it could mean that I’m on my way to a new phone. Ick – I’ll have to pursue that tomorrow.

Food’s here! Time to eat.

Well, it has been pointed out to me that I have indeed not posted this recipe, so here it is for your tasting enjoyment. These are wonderful, fudgy brownies.

Brownies with White Chocolate Chunks

Well, that was quite a lovely weekend. We had a nice lazy Saturday morning, then ran a few errands. First, a stop by Total Wine, a new wine superstore in the area. My assessment: I wasn’t particularly impressed by the selection – it seemed like a slightly expanded version of what you might find in the Harris Teeter wine section. They’d never heard of Marquis-Phillips, which is a definite strike against them in my book. I suppose their prices might have been good, though I’m not sure I’d go out of my way to save a buck on a bottle of Beringer Merlot. The beer section didn’t have anything I wouldn’t find at Whole Foods. Given that they’re in a very inconvenient location (in Crossroads Plaza, across from Beast Buy, for you locals), I can’t say I’d go out of my way to go there again. Besides, I’m very happy with the selection and customer service at Carolina Wine Company.

From there it was over to Whole Foods for ingredients to make brownies with white chocolate (have I posted that recipe to LJ? I need to go back and check). We splurged and got European butter (higher butterfat content) along with Ghirardelli chocolate. Once the brownies were made, it was off to fuzzytoedcollie‘s lovely home for dinner with him and darkwolph. I hadn’t met Wolphy before though I’d seen him around Furfest – he’s a very nice guy (and unattached, I hear, for those of you in the market 😉 Stories were swapped, much iced tea was drunk, and we all enjoyed the delicious rotisserie chicken that Joe prepared. Thanks again for a delightful evening, both of you!

Sunday. Well, there’s not much to report about Sunday because we didn’t do diddly, and it was quite wonderful. Our biggest accomplishment for the day was to reduce the list of programs on our Tivo down to two screens – pretty good for a day’s work I’d say! (Though that may be more episodes of “The Fairly Oddparents” than I ever want to see in one sitting again) We were up a bit late catching the disappointing “Survivor” finale (hey, we were pulling for Matthew – yeah he was a freakjob, but he was better than the ditz who won).

So, plans for the week – we’ve got the Mage/Werewolf on Wednesday, then we’re getting the Gang together to see The Matrix Reloaded on Thursday. This coming weekend is up in the air – I’d kind of like to go up to Blacksburg for the CarolinaFurs/VT-Furs meet, but Dan’s not sure. I note that there’s a bunch of geocaches in that area, so that could be a fun diversion. It’s been too darned long since I hiked Dragon’s Tooth, too (great views from there – that page also has some shots from McAfee’s Knob, a hike we did a few years back. Tough hike, but what a payoff!). I’m also thinking a nice Chappie’s Choice at Gillies would be pretty darned tasty. We’ll see what we can work out.

Insomnia sucks.