Returning Home
We made it home just before 9 PM tonight. I'd write more about the day, but there are more urgent issues. I've managed to rig a few work-around enough to probably be able to get most of my immediate work done on Monday, but it's going to be a real challenge, and I expect to be spending much too much time on the phone with the IT Help Desk trying to get the work machine to be able to start booting normally again. I probably won't be having a lot of fun. But I'm reasonably confident that I can get most things done by workarounds for at least the next day or two. Meanwhile, I must get sleep because I have to be awake again in six hours and I do nobody any favors if I stay up all night working on this computer problem.

Current Mood: worried

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Productive Meeting
We had a good, productive day of Worldcon 2018 planning meetings here at the San Jose Marriott and the SJ Convention Center. Lisa and I decided that paying more for the hotel buffet than we would pay for the Peppermill's massive weekend brunch was excessive, so we walked down to Peggy Sue's and had a fair breakfast for less than the cost of one of the Marriott breakfasts, then joined the herd of cats assembled Worldcon 76 committee for the tour of the San Jose McEnery Convention Center. Things are not the same as they were in 2002, and in particular the former library site was razed and rebuilt as a large ballroom.

( Major Event SpaceCollapse )

After the convention center walk-through, we broke for lunch. I'm pleased to see just how many more options there are for downtown dining than there were fifteen years ago. After lunch, we reconvened for planning meetings of various sorts, such as making sure that every area we have on the convention organization list is assigned to a division. When we got to WSFS Business Meeting, I said, "It's WSFS's area" and explained when people started to opine that it belonged somewhere else, that:

WSFS Business Meeting is managed by WSFS, is a tenant of Programming, acts like an Event, and uses Tech Service.

Yes, we're very cross-functional here.

During one of the meetings in which I wasn't involved, I had a review of my division's timeline items with Bobbi Armbruster, our Mistress of Timelines.

( Final Meeting of the DayCollapse )

With the main meetings out of the way, it was time for dinner. In our case, we had an unhurried dinner at the Indian restaurant out the back door of the Fairmont Hotel before wandering back to the "con suite" at the Marriott. (We were conveniently able to get a hotel room two doors down from the hospitality suite.) We had a pleasant evening socializing with the other folks here. Bruce Farr pulled me aside to review the current state of the WSFS Division budget (no surprises at this time; just marking things as "this is already committed" like the Hugo rocket order and "we'd like to have this but know we can't commit until much later" like tea/coffee service for the Business Meeting.

Earlier than we would have liked we said goodnight and walked the short distance back to our room. Because of the long drive we have home tomorrow, we won't be staying long, although I do have a meeting at 9:30.

My computer still will only boot in Safe Mode, which is not good at all, but at least means there's some hope that we can salvage things. I won't attempt any fixes until we get home where the backups are located.

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To San Jose
As soon as I could get away from Day Jobbe today, we loaded up and headed for the Bay Area. Including grabbing lunch in Sparks, stopping for 30 minutes to see my sister in Sacramento, and dinner in Tracy, it took about nine hours to get to San Jose. This is our first stay in the San Jose Marriott, where we'll be at a Worldcon 76 division heads meeting this weekend.

Unfortunately, my computer refuses to boot up in regular mode. I've managed to get it up in safe mode, and I'll fiddle with it more when I get a chance. I hope it is not serious. I don't have time right now. I need sleep.

Current Mood: tired

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Repairs
Yesterday, I drove us into Sparks in the Rolling Stone to Big O Tires and we paid about $1300 to redeem the Astro for the repairs, including the rear axle, rear brakes, and front idler arms, but not including the new tires ($550) we bought last week separately. Painful, but it is of course very important to have the van in roadworthy condition, with our trip to Arizona coming up in two weeks.

We left the RV parked in Sparks and drove in the Astro to the Peppermill for dinner, where they didn't even have to ask, but directed us to our regular table. We're so predictable.

Logically, we should have tried to do some shopping after dinner, but I was too tired and we did have to convoy home, so we simply drove back to Sparks, where Lisa got the Astro and we drove home and I soon thereafter fell into bed. My Central Time Zone work hours are convenient for leaving time for errands, but they are unsociable for other reasons.

Another accomplishment yesterday was to book the last hotel room in the Arizona trip: one night at the Riverside in Laughlin, where we'll stay on the outbound trip the night before we arrive in Tempe.

Current Mood: accomplished

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Summer Returns
After a few days of snow in the mountains and weather that nearly led to us relighting the fireplace, normal service is being restored, and the temperatures should be quite summery by this weekend.

( Three Days, Three Snow LevelsCollapse )

Unfortunately, the pump on the swamp cooler is starting to give us trouble, and Lisa will have to investigate further before we decide whether we'll have to replace it.

Current Mood: sleepy

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Choppers Overhead
Tuesday evening was probably the best weather we'll have this week: neither too cold nor too hot. We took advantage of the pleasant spring-like conditions to get some work done outside on the house. While we were doing so, we had a flyover.

( Formation of HelicoptersCollapse )

The only thing that kept us from getting more done was impending sundown, and of course the fact that I have to be up before 5 AM for Day Jobbe.

Current Mood: tired

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Summer Snow
Maybe we swapped the swamp cooler and the firewood a few days too soon, as snow came back overnight. A late storm out of the Gulf of Alaska came through yesterday and last night, putting a few inches of snow in the Sierra (chain controls went back up for a while) and giving us high winds and rain in Fernley.

( Not to the Valley FloorCollapse )

Snow didn't make it down to Fernley itself, but it got cold enough that we got one of the heaters out of storage. We've been on the verge of restarting the fireplace for the past two days. I've been holding off because once this storm blow through, the temps are supposed to shoot back up into the mid 30s°C, and I'd sort of like to have some capacity to absorb some of the that heat before we have to turn the swamp cooler back on later in the week.

Current Mood: cold

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Pinball Pain
I can understand small children not understanding that you shouldn't lean against or touch a pinball machine, or for that matter talk to the player while they're trying to concentrate. But I'm less forgiving of adults who think it's just fine to reach across the playfield and block tha player's vision on the middle of the game. And who take offense when you beg them to please not do that.

I didn't have time to engage them further — I was trying to play the game! — but I came up with an analogy that might have worked in this semi-rural area. "If you were out hunting and trying to aim at something, would you think it good for me to talk to you or wave my hands in front of your eyes while you were trying to concentrate on bringing down that big buck?"

Current Mood: annoyed

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Birthday Brunch
I realized yesterday that the plan for Lisa and me to convoy to Sparks to drop off the minivan for the brake work on Monday conflicted with an eye exam I have scheduled on Monday afternoon. So instead we did it this morning. It means they have it all day Monday even if they don't have time to work on it, but that's not a problem. I drove the Rolling Stone and Lisa followed me into Sparks.

After that, we went to the Peppermill buffet to celebrate Kuma Bear's 27th birthday (which was yesterday). I cashed all of our accumulated comps to pay for half of the cost of brunch. Saturday brunch is less expensive and over-the-top than Sunday, but there's not a whole lot on the Sunday menu in addition to Saturday that we'd want to eat anyway.

( Brunch BearCollapse )

After eating, we waddled around the Peppermill as is our wont, contemplating what sort of SF convention we could organize in the convention's space. We think the key issue is what does the Peppermill think about SF genre convention hospitality functions (i.e. room parties). If that is something we could manage, then the Peppermill's function space looks to me like we could run a fairly compact convention in the Westercon-sized range. No, we're not bidding for anything; it's just hard for us to be in convention space without thinking about planning events.

After we got home, we walked down to the fire station, where they were having a small open house, but it was nearly over when we got there, so we moved on and picked up our mail at the post office and came home, where a lie down from the huge meal this morning seems in order. No more meals are needed tonight. I'm just glad my blood sugar reading came in under 200.

Current Mood: full

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Long Delayed Laundry
About three weeks ago, the timer on the washing machine broke. We were able to order a new one, but unfortunately, in the process of removing the old timer, we broke the knob on the front of the washer. So we also had to order a new knob, which cost more in shipping than for the part. Then when it came, it turned out that there was another part (the dial that goes behind the knob, also broken) that you had to order separately. So we ended up ordering parts serially, and the last one (the dial) showed up yesterday.

When the timer arrived, Lisa got it installed, but it was quite difficult to use the washer, as you had to turn the spindle where the knob/dial normally sits with pliers and guess which cycle you were using because the broken dial was what pointed at the markings on the top of the washer. Consequently, we were not doing laundry as much as we would like and were sort of stretching things out.

With all of the parts back in place, there was much laundry to do. I did four loads myself today interspersed between meetings and other Day Jobbery. We're mostly caught up now.

Current Mood: relieved

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Wheels
I worked out this morning that the set of tires we just replaced lasted about five years and we rolled about 63,000 miles on them over that time. That's not too bad. What's also a bit surprising to me is that even with several very long road trips (San Diego, Portland, Spokane twice, Kansas City), we still managed less than 15K miles/year.

Current Mood: thoughtful

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Expensive Trip
Today after work (that is, 3 PM) we drove into Reno to have the minivan's tires rotated and brakes inspected in anticipation of the trip to Tempe at the end of the month. The last rotation was about a year ago, before the Kansas City trip.

Double whammy:

1. The tires are too worn and had to be replaced. $550.
2. There are brake problems on the rear. Worst-case estimate is an additional $850.

The brakes are still serviceable, but definitely need the work done. We'll take the Astro to Big O on Monday to give them a couple of days to do the work.

This will be painful, but of course we need tires and brakes if we're going to take road trips.

Current Mood: disappointed

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Summer Switchover
This past weekend, we acknowledged the move into Summer (without much Spring) by dragging the swamp cooler outside (it's on wheels), removing the racks from the sides, and using the garden hose to blast off most of the accumulated build-up on the racks. We also got some cooler cleaner to tackle the accumulation in the bottom. Much of it is hard-water build-up, but some is from an anti-foaming/air freshener cake we'd been using. I got most of it cleaned. Because so much of it was in the pads in the side of the cooler, we bought new pads and Lisa cut them to fit into the cooler.

Sometime in the next few days I'll do the other half of the switchover, which is to move the remaining firewood from the ready box on the porch back to the wood box, and to put the ready box inside the wood box until we need it again, probably in October. That gives us more space on the porch. Oh, and I'll finally finish digging the last of the ashes and cleaning the glass on the fireplace. Earlier this year during our first warm spell, I cleaned it out, only to be surprised by a spring snowstorm and the need to restart the fire.

Current Mood: accomplished

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Railroad Wedgie
This afternoon, I saw a piece of equipment on the lead car of a Union Pacific intermodal train that Lisa had seen before, but was new to me.

( Union Pacific ArrowedgeCollapse )

Most trains are traveling slowly through the area today due to maintenance work on this stretch. The maintenance equipment is parked on the House Track across the street from Fernley House tonight again.

Current Mood: pleased

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2018 Westercon Changes Venue
The 2018 Westercon in Colorado has moved venues in conjunction with a significant reorganization that involved the convention's "franchise" to hold Westercon 71 transferred to a different non-profit group. They've moved to the Hyatt Regency Denver Tech Center, site of MileHiCon.

This of course has no effect on this year's Westercon in Tempe, Arizona, since each Westercon is independently organized.

The full details surrounding this change are moderately complex, and resulted in my adding four new footnotes to the Westercon History List, but if you are not interested in all of that SMOF-filled room stuff, you only need to know that the convention site is now the Hyatt Tech Center and the 2018 Denver Westercon is actually in Denver (barely) rather than one of its suburbs. (Short version of the details: original non-profit group broke up and dissolved; previously announced co-chair left; original hotel not happy with con suites and room parties; lots of rushing around getting things reorganized; some confusion over whether a Westercon has to get someone's permission to "transfer their flag" to another group; new non-profit took over the convention; new hotel found that understands "our" kind of convention.)

Some of you may have seen this announcement on The List That Must Not Be Named, which is nominally closed. I checked with the convention chair while cleaning up the history list and confirmed that this information could be announced in public before posting it to the Westercon web site.

Current Mood: accomplished

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Return to the Atlantis
We hadn't been to Reno for a shopping trip lately, so we put aside Home Improvement Projects and headed into town this afternoon. All mostly routine. As we left Grocery Outlet, we both were feeling hungry, and Lisa suggested the Atlantis. We haven't been there for a while, so we went over and had lunch at Cafe Alfresco, where some of you reading this may have eaten while you were attending Renovation in 2011 (the weekend before we bought Fernley House).

It was a sign of how many things we had to get and how long it has been since our last trip that we were out around eight hours. Perhaps we'll get back to work on the home work tomorrow.

Current Mood: tired

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Getting Ready to Match the Stars
Westercon 70 in Tempe next month has confirmed that we'll be doing Match Game SF at Westercon this year. We're currently scheduled for one evening show on the final night of the convention, Monday, July 3. Panelists are still being arranged.

We need your questions! I know a number of you out there have been saying you've been coming up with SF/F/genre-related fill-in-the-blank questions (not trivia questions), but I haven't heard from any of you! You can post questions here if you like, or send them to me by e-mail. My @gmail.com address is kastandlee.

Current Mood: excited

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Private Cars and Snow-Tipped Mountains
This morning, Amtrak came by with a private car on the rear.

( Varnish on the TailCollapse )

Also just barely visible in this photo is a tiny bit of snow on the higher peaks of the Pah Rah Range. On June 1. I don't remember snow lasting on the Pah Rahs this late in the year before.

Current Mood: pleased

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Beat the Heat
We had a brief return of spring temperatures today, which is good because we had a bunch of work to do outside this afternoon once I got done with Day Jobbe. (Again, as I'm working Central Time Zone hours, it's convenient for the household work. On the other hand, as I'm up before 5 AM, I need to get to bed early.) Things are progressing here. Much remains to be done, after which I'll have a long photo essay explaining what we did and how we did it.

Alas, warm temperatures return tomorrow. The lovely overcast made it possible for us to get more work done. We can't get a lot done direct sunshine with temps in the Celsius 30s.

Current Mood: accomplished

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Bag Man
We appear to be done with the concrete work for now.

( One bag, one wheelbarrowCollapse )

For various reasons, we ended up with six extra sacks of concrete, which will live in the garage until we take on a future paving project. Not soon, though. My arms and back hurt.

Current Mood: accomplished

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