November is flying by

This month is just flying by...I can't believe it's Thanksgiving this coming week. 

Just took a three-day weekend to go to Orycon in Portland. It was my first large convention, and the first one where there was costuming. I couldn't resist that challenge, and brought down three steampunk outfits that went over extremely well. All of them featured Edwardian jewelry that had belonged to my grandmother.

The costumes at Orycon fell into four categories: Renaissance/Regency, space opera/superhero, fantasy/furry, and steampunk/pirate. With some interesting crossovers.

While it was fun to go parading around in costumes and getting photographed, I discovered that doing a con in costume has a couple of drawbacks. One is that you have to schlep a bunch of costumes, including boots and hats, to and from the hotel. The other is that you spend quite a bit of time talking with folks about costumes, and that means you have less time to talk with other people about reading, writing, science, politics, etc.

In the future, I'll probably alternate between going to cons as a reader/writer, as a concom volunteer, and as a costumer.

Pictures tomorrow.

A few leaves left

Busy! Realized I'd better take a fall picture or two, even if it's just with the iPhone:

One step closer to "crazy cat lady" status

You don't become a "crazy cat lady" overnight. It sort of creeps up on you, one cat at a time, and then pounces, knocking things over, and somehow you never get around to picking things up again. You're too busy opening cans of cat food, and tossing catnip mice.

I've been to the brink (owning six cats at one point) but now have only three (well, three and one that lives with a neighbor but has vet coverage through me).

What I'm discovering is that you can attain "crazy cat lady" status with only three cats if the three cats are crazy themselves.

My cats are pretty crazy at the moment. The transition from sunny summer to rainy fall is always tough for energetic indoor/outdoor felines, and the deaf white cat, Sheba, is having a particularly bad time of it this year. Having the painters here for a week, which entailed moving her cat tree and other perches out of the livingroom, diningroom, and hall, clearly put her over the edge.

Saturday I found her in the bathroom, up on the counter. She'd unrolled most of a roll of paper towels from under the cabinets onto the counter, and had made a nest out of the towels. The nest was hidden behind the few towels that remained dangling from the roll. When I saw Sheba in the kitchen a bit later, I headed for the bathroom to clean up the mess of towels. There was something heavy in the nest, which turned out to be Zoe, the big tabby.

Later I heard yowling and found Sheba back in the nest. She'd unrolled the rest of the towels and was staring mournfully at the empty cardboard roll over head.

When I finally found the nest empty, I removed the towels and put down a somewhat more attractive looking towel. A few hours later I found Kaylee, the tiny tabby, had take up residence on the towels. And when I went to take a shower this morning, she was still sleeping there.

I now have no counter space on which to put magazines and a box of Kleenex because the space is taken up by a cat bed. And I don't dare put up a fresh roll of paper towels.

Instead, I've moved the cat trees and other perches back into the living room and dining room in the hopes that Sheba and the tabbies will gradually forget about the towel in the bathroom. Unfortunately, the towel is directly across from a heat outlet, so it may remain cat territory through the winter.

It's my fault if he got a parking ticket

Last night a bunch of us headed up to Town Hall for what Hank had billed as "the Jonathan Coulton concert." It was raining fairly steadily, and parking was difficult. We ended up two blocks north of Town Hall, and paid $6 to park in a tiny lot near Virginia Mason -- this after peering at signs that seemed to indicate that most of the street parking required a local resident permit after 6 p.m. We didn't want to risk it.

As we sloshed across the street toward the concert, we saw a dark Mercedes swoop into the "permit only" spot. A conservative-looking man in an expensive trench coat hopped out of the car and hurried off down the hill, carrying an oblong canvas violin case. He seemed somehow familiar, but who did we know who wore a trench coat and played violin? The fellow seemed to be headed to Town Hall, which was even more confusing, since Coulton's band has never included a violinist. Tom considered warning the man about the parking permit requirement, but by now he was far ahead of us, and there was something well-heeled and arrogant about him that made us think he could probably afford the ticket if he got one.

The Coulton "concert" turned out to be Coulton appearing in a supporting role for John Hodgman's book tour. Hodgman, the hapless PC in the Apple commercials, has just come out with More Information Than You Require, a second book of humorous essays.

Hodgman read from the book while engaging in a mock dispute with Coulton -- a set-up that led to Hodgman bringing on stage a possible replacement for the shaggy Coulton -- the even shaggier John Roderick of the Seattle rock band Long Winters. Coulton responded by introducing a possible replacement for Hodgman -- the even more dapper Sean Nelson of the Seattle rock band Harvey Danger. Roderick performed, Nelson performed with Coulton, Roderick and Nelson performed (wild cheers from the crowd), and then Hodgman went backstage and emerged with a ukelele. (Thanks to iamdonte on Flickr for the photo shown here.)

As he led the ensemble in a rendition of "Tonight You Belong to Me," we exchanged looks: John Hodgman was going to get a parking ticket.

When the Q&A period came, I considered going up to the microphone and warning him. But I couldn't imagine myself saying "John, my question is: Did you know your car is parked illegally?"

When the event ended and book signings began, Tom did go up and tell one of the event organizers about the car situation. We noticed on the way back to the parking lot that what seemed to be the same car was still there, as yet unticketed. And, if the Seattle parking folks did catch up with him later in the evening, perhaps he'll have a Seattle parking ticket story to add to his "minor television celebrity" tales.

$200 ocarina

A new third-party app for the iPhone lets you play it as an ocarina by blowing into the microphone and then fingering the "holes" that appear on the touchscreen.

Visit the developer's site to see a video of an iPhone ocarina ensemble performing "Stairway to Heaven." This just has to win an "app of the year" award.

Amazon addresses "wrap rage"

I once called the manufacturers of Sheba's electronic cat-locator collars to complain about the heavy plastic clamshell packaging they use. When you attempt to open one of the clamshell packages using scissors, it splits and shatters into razor-sharp shards of plastic. Of course, the components of the electronic collar remain securely lodged (and taped) in various crevasses of the broken molded plastic.

The customer service rep who answered my call was not particularly sympathetic. She put me on hold while she located a package and scissors. She then got back on the call and started to open the package. I heard little scream, as she was stabbed by a piece of hard plastic. "You're right!" she gasped. "I'm bleeding."

It was hard to be sympathetic.

With a stash of 40 unopened cat-locator collars in the basement, I was delighted to read that Amazon.com has announced a collaboration with manufacturers to eliminate "wrap rage" (yes, it has a Wikipedia listing, which attributes the phrase to Consumer Reports) by the creation of "frustration-free" package. One of the first products to launch is toy pirate ship.

Meanwhile, they are collecting and displaying videos of "wrap rage" experiences — feel free to contribute!

Blog goodness

My friend Rae turned me on to a charming blog co-written by a pair of women in their 80s, with some of the best political writing I've seen online since Molly Ivins passed away. (Oh, what Molly would have done with Sarah Palin's candidacy!)

I'm feeling cheerful about blogging today. A reporter from a major news publication came across something I wrote in Mysterious Traveler a few weeks ago, emailed me, and then interviewed me for a trend story that's scheduled to appear in November. If I'm quoted, you'll be among the first to know. (My Twitter peeps will probably hear about it first.)

Nice that my online life is going well. Wish I could say the same for physical reality. A team of Salvadoran house painters is sanding and priming the living room and dining room...their paint prep work is good, but they didn't cover the buffet, and then plonked a bunch of Venetian blinds on it. Grrrrrr.

What's on the table

This weekend I made an apple strudel with fruit from the columnar apple tree. The recipe, from Cook's Illustrated, included peeled, sliced apples, raisins simmered in Calvados, toasted pecans, lemon juice, and a bit of sugar. You wrap the filling in five buttered sheets of filo dough, score the roll, and bake at 475 for 15 minutes. Cool, slice, then sprinkle with confectioner's sugar. Pretty easy.

I got a new tablecloth for fall at the local consignment shop, Imagine That. Unfortunately, Zoe found it before I put it away, so now it needs to be washed.

I've been swamped with work, including one particularly complicated website catalog that goes on, and on, and on.

My mom is preparing to depart for her winter in Florida (Thursday) and that'll be about the time that the painters arrive to do the living room, dining room, and hallways in exciting new colors. (Well, not exactly exciting, but certainly less neutral neutrals.) Preparing for that will involve moving all the window treatments, pictures, and breakables to the basement, including all the china from the china cabinet. Unfortunately, the previous owners used high-gloss on the window trim, baseboards, and five doors. That will have to be sanded in order for the new semi-gloss to adhere properly, which drove the bids up a bit. After the professionals do the more visible rooms, I'll be tackling the yoga room and bathroom painting myself.

Green light

Lighting at the house took a big step backward this week. The $300 Rejuvenation Lighting fixture with the GU24 incandescent bulb purchased last year was going dim. I removed the bulb and saw scary burn damage where the glass meets the head of the bulb. A call to the 1-800 number for the bulb manufacturer revealed that the GU24 bulb isn't supposed to be used in conjunction with a light sensor, which I'd been using. (Boo! to the electricians, who seemingly hadn't been aware of that when they installed the fixture and the sensor.)

A call to Rejuvenation with questions initially got the answer that it should work with a light sensor, but as we discussed it further, they decided that if I was using a light sensor in the house wiring, I'd need the model of that fixture that takes an incandescent bulb. They then immediately offered to replace my year-old fixture with a new one. So, while I won't be saving the environment using a fluorescent bulb, I will at least be saving it using a light sensor.

Apple TV, demystified

I don't exactly watch TV. Certainly not in the traditional sense. Network TV is something I see and overhear in bars, or at the airport. Cable TV is something other people have that I see if they've recorded something to TiVo.

I just bought a 32" flat screen TV (laughably small, I'm told) so I can watch new DVDs and old videos; my DVD player and VCR are both connected to it.

So far, so good.

But I also use iTunes, and often buy TV shows and movies to watch on my iPhone when I travel. I've thought about watching the movies at my desk on my iMac but...I spend all day at the desk working, and my little office isn't exactly a place to hang out with friends and watch a film.

Apple TV is a way to watch iTunes downloads and rentals on a TV in another room. But I've been reluctant to buy the little Apple TV device (with its not-so-little price tag) because I couldn't quite believe that it could get a movie from my iMac to my TV (two rooms away) without loss of quality.

Now I have a book that explains it all: The Apple TV Pocket Guide by Jeff Carlson (PeachPit Press, 2008)! And I've put Apple TV on my Christmas list.

That feels better

A thousand years from now some archeologist will be pondering over early 21st century skeletons and wondering why we all had hunched shoulders. Or perhaps some of us will be buried in our Aerons and the answer will be obvious: deskwork.

Massage therapist Larry Swanson has assumed the persona of The Office Rat to help us bring a fitness mentality to our office jobs. His Office Rat blog provides a tip a day, many with You Tube videos, to help us combat desk debilitation. Larry interviews fitness and bodywork experts like Reta Wright-Kinghorn (a sleep disorders clinician) and Lara McIntosh (from Wassa Dance), and draws on his own experience as a massage therapist.

Larry is the therapist who helped me figure why I was having trouble with the warrior poses in yoga. He showed me how years of hunching over a keyboard had shortened and tightened the muscles in my chest, making it very difficult for me to release and extend my arms back and out to the side. Some assisted stretching, and persisting with the yoga, eventually solved the problem.

Check out his latest tip, on stretching your forearms.

Still crazy

I spent last week stressing out trying to pull together a 45-minute talk for a blogging conference that took place Saturday at UW. It was hard work, but the conference, BigFoot Blogging, turned out to be worth it. It was the type of conference at which most of the audience members were qualified and articulate enough that they could have switched places with the speakers. The questions really had us hopping.

I have to confess that I needed to spend most of Sunday recovering. (How do the presidential candidates do it? Day after day of speeches!)

The plan for this week was to refocus on my clients' projects. That didn't get off to a good start today when I got tied up trying to express-ship some legal documents to a friend in Korea.

Then an amazing work opportunity appeared in my inbox this evening. Pulling together a proposal will be even more challenging than creating the conference talk and slides. Here we go. Again.

Missing cats in Sunset Hill linked to coyote

For the past few weeks, there've been "missing cat" posters all up and down 34th Avenue NW. Now we know why: A neighbor spotted a coyote on 34th between NW 68th and NW 70th — just six blocks north of us, and one block north of where Smokey lives with his co-owner.

Smokey is not much of a wanderer, and lives in greenhouse in a gated yard. However, our kitties Kaylee and Zoe go out in the evening, and this has me very unhappy, as a coyote can cover quite a bit of territory. They will not be happy if I try to keep them in, but we may have reached that point.

What a week

And there's one more day yet.

I spent last weekend at Foolscap, a science fiction convention, the first one for which I've stayed in the hotel and been immersed in programming and socializing. I had a minor volunteer role, which provided some structure to the weekend. Otherwise I simply went around and chatted with folks -- including an SF dignitary who has the same name as I do (which had led to confusion at a previous con, until the late Anita Rowland came up with the idea of prefacing my name with "The Other" on my badge).

One of the distinctive elements of Foolscap is that it's a highly participative con. Many attendees signed up in advance to be on panels. I was on two, including a late-night exploration of vampire romances. That was particularly weird because, to everyone's surprise, Foolscap was sharing the Marriott with...a vampire convention.

The vampire contingent pretty much kept to themselves, though I did get a few looks as I was going down in the elevator to the vampire panel wearing a long black silk skirt, black high heels, and a black velvet blouse.

Not sure what the vampires were doing, but our programming included late-night story telling, a radio play, a round-robin writing collaboration using manual typewriters, an art show, and an auction (at which I won a celadon green wool scarf knitted by a local author). 

On the way back from the con, I went to a "naked ladies" clothing exchange organized by women in the Seattle contradance community. I brought two dozen tops to exchange, and came away with some interesting items for the steampunk costumes I'm working up for Orycon in November. These included a long wool walking skirt that appears to be a reproduction of an Edwardian skirt.

In contrast to the playful weekend, the week has been a relentless schedule of writing, editing, and meetings, along with interviews with new clients and prospective clients. I've been starting at 7 a.m., and still editing at 11 p.m. My new TV, a 32" LCD, arrived Wednesday and I haven't even tried to take it out of the box yet.

Watched the Palin-Biden "debate" tonight with friends at the Red Door. It wasn't much of a debate; mostly the candidates seem to pretend the other one isn't there. Palin didn't even answer the interviewer's questions. I think it was disgraceful.

Which do you paint first, the walls or the trim?

I'm getting ready to paint a room, and have been looking at online guides to painting, from DIY blogs to paint company how-tos (not as well written as the blogs).

They boil down to about the same thing, except on one burning issue: Which do you paint second (after the ceiling): the walls, or the trim? There seem to be strong arguments for each approach.

Anyone want to weigh in on this, and explain your rationale? I'm all ears, for the moment. In a week or two, I'm sure I'll be all paint and not nearly as receptive to advice.

L'Shanah Tovah!

Cats and rain

Kaylee, the small tabby, failed to wake me up at 5:30 this morning. I woke up a little before 8 and saw her curled up in the "meatloaf" pose (paws tucked under chest) at the foot of the bed. I realized that she'd seen the rain and had decided that "outdoors" is no longer the wonderful place it has been most of the summer.

Fall is here, and even the cat knows it.

(picture of Kaylee and large sister Zoe in sunnier times)

Not enough hours in the day

I write and write and write all day, but not much of it is fiction, and not much of it is paying work either.

Instead, I write emails trying to head various well-meaning advisors off at the pass, post to groups about conferences we're planning, send notes to colleagues about errors and omissions on their websites, and exchange emails with clients about the priorities and pricing of various pieces of work we have underway. Tonight I edited an article for a friend (with a 13-pound cat sleeping on my left wrist).

Tomorrow everything I write will be billable. I swear. And cat-free.

Post-migraine

I used to get stress- and/or sinus-related migraines all the time. Now I get them about four times a year. As a result, I now tend to forget how to recognize them in the early stages.

Last night I was extremely tired at the poker game...so tired that I took at nap on the host's very comfy couch with Tasha the cat. I drove home, bleary and yawning, and went to bed. When I woke up this morning still exhausted, with a splitting headache, chills, and nausea, I realized that the migraine had been starting last night and I'd somehow managed to sleep though it as it advanced to a pretty awful degree. (I usually manage to stop the progression before it gets that bad.)

So I started the day in a hot bath, trying to nibble enough rice that I'd be able to keep down two Tylenol Sinus pills that would start me on the route to recovery. Once the bath had stopped the chills, and I'd taken the Tylenol, I went to bed for five hours, sleeping the semi-hallucinatory sleep I get with a migraine. By 3 p.m., the headache had receded, leaving me hungry and shaky, and rather annoyed because I was still too light-sensitive and tired to go to a friend's birthday kayaking party, which I'd been looking forward to all week. And I had to turn down an invitation for a photography outing at the Puyallup Fair.

But after some protein (my standing post-migraine meal) I put on a hat, went out in the garden, and began slowly to work at gardening tasks, which turned out to be quite restorative. Kaylee, our little striped cat, had guarded me all during the migraine attack, and all three cats came out to join me in the garden as I pruned the overgrowth and staked a few dahlias. Later Zorg and I made a quick run up to Home Depot so I could pick up a gas grill on end-of-season sale to replace the old grill that's slowing losing it.

Now it's 10 p.m. and I'm finally tackling the organizational tasks that had been slated for the morning. I'm going to try to get to bed before midnight and get back onto a normal sleep cycle so I can get to a NIA dance class in the morning.

Yes we scan

A few weeks ago I bought an HP Officejet J5780 All-in-One (copier, printer, scanner, and fax) primarily to photocopy 13 years worth of tax returns.

The convenience of a decent little in-house photocopier cannot be overstated!

It was easy to then hook it up to my Mac as a printer (though the printing performance lags behind the speed and photo quality of the Businessjet 1200 I'd been using).

But things went downhill rapidly when I tried to set up the scan function. The software disk that came with the J5780 refused to install the software (it got into a loop that kept asking me to agreed to install some "customer updates" software). Then, the software I found on the HP site (after some really annoying searching) and downloaded, also had a nasty little loop and wouldn't install.

I spent a few days monkeying with this, and getting increasing steamed. Finally I Googled the problem and found a long discussion about similar frustrations at MacRumors, ending with a link to a page on the HP site with some universal software for HPs that, when downloaded installed, solved the scanning problem. The J5780 turns out to be quite a nice scanner, too.

I'm astonished to find that I'm using the copier on a daily basis. Now I need to splurge and pick up a second printer cable so I can have both printers hooked up at the same time. Oooh!