As usual, we spent the holiday weekend at the_sheryl's parents in Boynton Beach. Except this time we had a 17-month old energetic toddler with us, which made life interesting. For starters, between a not particularly comfortable bed in their guest room and vertical blinds that don't do much to block the sun I don't sleep well anyway; add a toddler waking up at 7:30am wanting a sippy cup of milk and a change and you have a recipe for sleep deprivation. Plus, despite an attempt by Sheryl's parents to remove breakables - and the presence of several actual toys - said toddler still found more appealing items of interest within reach, like the plastic covers off two nightlights, the charger for a cordless phone, assorted magazines, a couple of boxes of tissues, and a few fake shards of grass off the fake plant in their living room.

We did find a few outlets for Sam to run off some energy. Some Googling led me to the Schoolhouse Children's Museum, which he was perhaps just a bit young for, but which can easily be returned to in subsequent years. Sheryl's dad drove us up to the Lantana Municipal Beach, where there was some playground equipment and swings. We took a couple of walks up to the pool so Grandma and Grandpa could show him off to their friends. And we also met my dad and stepmom at her daughter's house in Delray Beach.

We did our best to eat our way across Palm Beach County, including stops at Longhorn Steakhouse, a Chinese buffet, and Mamma Mia. Because that's what you do when you're on holiday along what I joking call "Retirement Row".

Nothing particularly weird/amusing/unusual to note from our TV watching. Partially because I could swear Sheryl's dad stayed up later than I remember from years past, so we didn't get as much control over the remote. Mostly we ended up watching parts of the Science Channel's "Mythbusters" marathon.

Just like last year, our flight home from West Palm Beach (PBI) was delayed over an hour (over 90 minutes actually) due to "air traffic control". One notes that flights departing PBI to the east go right past Mar-a-Lago. So you know who I'm blaming for any flight delays...

And with that, we lazily slide into the end of the year.

After taking a year off from Worldcon to become parents, we made our return with a trip to Kansas City for Midamericon II (aka Bic Mac2).

We had a good time at Midamericon. My only real gripe is that navigating downtown Kansas City was interesting. The Marriott we stayed in was uphill from the convention center (and two long blocks), and the Power and Light District where most of the restaurants were was downhill from both. I swear there were a couple of lunch/dinner expeditions where we managed to WALK UPHILL BOTH WAYS. Add to that pushing a stroller and I swore early on that the week was either going to kill me or get me in shape. Clearly it didn't kill me. The jury is still out on the latter.

The filk program was excellent, including concerts from Cheshire Moon, the Suttons, Kathy Mar, Three-Fifths, Alexander James Adams, and the Tomboat Reunion Concert. Parts of which I watched/listened to from the hallway so Sam could crawl around and babble without disturbing the concerts. Such are the joys of parenthood. On the other hand, at one point during the Tomboat concert when I *did* have Sam in the room and still let him go crawling, he discovered an empty jug from the water cooler, whereupon he started giving Cathy McManamon a run for her money on percussion! 8-)

Separate from the filk program Paul & Storm had a 90-minute concert, which was very nice since we haven't seen them in a while. (And when we have it's often been as openers for Jonathan Coulton, so we only got 30-minute sets.) Most of the room had not heard them before, making it particularly amusing for folks like us who've been following P&S since DaVinci's Notebook days.

I had a concert of my own that went well. A decent audience, probably helped by the fact I was "opening" for Trickster and King. And I felt like it was one of my better performances. The setlist was:

Never Too Late (words and music me)
One More Earworm (words me, music trad)
Through a Child's Eyes (words and music me)
Bridge Shanty (words and music me)
Builder's Song (words and music me)
Come Travel With Me (words and music me)

I used the scheduling to full advantage, putting "One More Earworm" in the set on account of its "My Brother, My Enemy" reference and dedicating "Builder's Song" to Ada. I also referenced Balticon 2013 and the Sundown rollout as part of the inter-song banter. Why yes, I am evil (*grin*).

My only other program item besides the concert was a panel on "The Future of Cities". Alex Jabolow moderated, Brenda Cooper, Renee Sieber and xx were the other panelists. It was an excellent panel. Much of the discussion focused on "smart cities" and how technology and "Big Data" can and is being used to improve the functioning and governance of cities. I contributed a fair amount on resilient cities, since I am spending a fair amount of my professional life these days dealing with that topic. We also talked a bit about dystopias and utopias in science fiction and why there seem to be more of the former.

In other programming, I caught readings by Sunil Patel, Ada Palmer, Rob Sawyer and John Scalzi, as well as a panel on "Cats!", which included Esther Friesner, Tamora Pierce, and the Hugo-winning Naomi Kritzer and a panel/game show on "Your Character Ate What?" with Fran Wilde hosting and Max Gladstone, Elizabeth Bear, Esther, and Scott Lynch serving as a panel offering "helpful" answers to questions about food and eating in SF and fantasy novels. I volunteered for one of the rounds and won thanks to Max jogging my memory about the race of Stone Eaters from N.K. Jemisin's The Fifth Season. I also offered up Sam's grey-and-white stuffed kitty as a mascot for the "Cats!" panel. After finding out we hadn't named said kitty, Tamora declared it "Scoundrel".

We managed to find some time to get away from the convention and enjoy some of Kansas City's other offerings. We blew off the first few hours of the con to visit the co-located Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and American Jazz Museum. We blew off the last few hours to attend a Roysls-Twins game at Kauffman Stadium. Amusingly, this was Sam's first baseball game, which shows you how organized we are given we live within an hour's drive of two major league teams!

Several times I noted with amusement that I have a major work event right back at the Marriott and convention center in October, making this a "dry run". I now have a list of good restaurants to share with my colleagues, including BRGR, the Drunken Fish (sushi, noodles and teriyaki), and the Yard House. And Cosentino's Market if for a quick meal from the salad bar, a pre-made or fresh sandwich to go, or simply a few snacks.

So far in July I have:
-- Attended (and helped run) Conterpoint 2016
-- Gone on a 3-day business trip to Chicago
-- Hosted my in-laws for a weekend
-- Came down with a cold (possibly delayed con crud)
-- Gone on an overnight business trip to Chicago
-- Gone on a 3-day business trip to Casper, Wyoming

I believe I have discovered what it takes to achieve a state of complete exhaustion.

I'm going to bed now.

We got home from another great FilKONtario around 4pm yesterday, tired but happy.

I had been worried my two-decade-plus streak was going to come to an end due either to Sam's adoption not being finalized or not being able to get the right papers in time. Ironically, the Canadian border security agent waved off my attempt to hand her the adoption decree and related documents. We got a few more questions on the way back, partly because I confused the US Customs agent by handing him Sam's bris certificate (which obviously is partly in Hebrew) as proof of his birth date. But no serious problems.

Even more ironically, upon arriving home we found an envelope from the agency's attorney with Sam's birth certificate. HEY THANKS GUYS YOU COULDN'T HAVE GOTTEN IT TO US THURSDAY?!?

Got to spend a fair amount of time with Cat Greenberg and her little one, including being able to sit les bébés in side-by-side high chairs at the Filk Hall of Fame banquet. (Thanks to Dave/Judith/whoever was able to arrange that.) And again at Montana's Sunday evening.

Sam was mostly good, though I had to take him out of the main room a few times. Aunties Judith, Maya, and Beth all got their share of arm time, plus we made sure he got his first Decadent Dave hug (and accompanying knee bounce). There's a possibility he may replace the penguins as FKO mascot next year. Or be co-mascot. Or at least be deemed an Honorary Canadian.

Meanwhile, he caused some amusement at the Dead Penguin. I put him down on the floor at one point to let him crawl around, whereupon he made a beeline across the floor to where Alan and Morva were sitting, knocked over Morva's water bottle, and started playing with it. Oops!

Our Sam and Cat's son are going to blaze a trail of chaos, disorder and mayhem through MidAmeriCon II this summer. It will be a wonder and delight to behold. 8-)

Meanwhile, there was a filk convention going on. Between baby-wrangling and being tired due to recent business travel, I missed parts of some concerts and others were a blur. Cecelia's was fun, and I will almost certainly have "Our Mrs. Reynolds" stuck in my brain for the next month. That or "Passion Flower". (Sorry gundo, your evil schemes fail this time.) batyatoon did well with her Interfilk set, and I was able to join her backing chorus for "Mockingjay". Leslie Hudson had a rockin' set on Friday evening, and the Faithful Sidekicks on Sunday prior to the Hall of Fame concert.

Spent a little less time in open filk than usual, but made the most of it. In the Song Sequitur filk I followed Peggi's recitation of Les Barker's "The Lemmings Reunion" with thatcrazycajun's "Lunacon Hotel". The link? Going from strange critters in a normal hotel to normal(?) people in a strange hotel. And of course swapped Schooner Fare songs with Art Warnecke.

As you may have seen elsewhere, Eli Goldberg and Mark Bernstein were this year's inductees. Both very well deserved. Mark's speech can be found here. Seeing Eli get inducted brings back memories, since Steve Brinich, Sue Cochran, Bill Wells and I used his Pittsburgh house as a way station on the way to and from FilKONtario 4. And Mark is someone whose music, shtick and conversation I've enjoyed for a long time. Speaking of conversation, the part in Mark's citation about holding court in the con suite discoursing on favorite books, media and musicals? My fault (*wink*).

Boskone was good, if busy. I found myself on 6 program items - two concerts (my own and a kids' concert with mewsic), two performer's circles, a panel, and host for one theme filk. Between that and feeding ourselves and Sam, the only non-filk program items I managed were Ada Palmer's reading and Fran Wilde's kaffeklatch.

Note to self: if you feel like you're overscheduled, you probably are. I need to be better about drawing a line on how many items I'll do, especially at a con like Boskone where the overall programming is so strong. I hate to turn program items down; I'm flattered someone feels I bring enough value to a program to put me on 6 items and I don't want to be that person who makes the programming team's life hard. (I've had to deal with that person as Balticon's Filk/Music Coordinator.) But I'm there to see the con too, not just collect a badge and do program items.

Also making the con interesting was my sleep-deprived state heading into the weekend. I'd come off a business conference earlier in the week, getting home late Wednesday before the con. Then we had to get up early to make our train north (see below). So I was not quite running on full speed most of the weekend. Hence the title of this post, courtesy of a comment from runnerwolf as she passed me trudging towards the bathrooms that I looked both wired and fried at the same time. Yeah, pretty much.

Song Sequitur managed again to lead me down at least one unusual byway. After Tony & Vixy did DaVinci's Notebook's "I Wish I Were" and Ben did his "Divine Monkey", I wrapped both themes (wishing and monkeys) together by doing the Kinks' "Apeman".

Setlist from my concert:
"Never Too Late" (words and music me)
"X-Rated Dinner Date" (words me, music "A Chat With Your Mom" by Peter & Lou Berryman)
"The Actor" (words Jeff Bohnhoff, music "The Boxer" by Simon & Garfunkel)
"Bridge Shanty" (words and music me)
"Songs Flying Free" (words and music me)
"Sedona" (words and music me)

We experimented with taking Amtrak to the con, figuring it would be no longer than the car trip, given the vagaries of I-95 traffic, and might be less given the vagaries of traveling with a baby. It worked out fairly well. Going up we managed to grab one of the facing rows of seats, so we could lay Sam across one of the rows for naps and stuff. Going back we managed to get one of the first rows behind the bathroom, where there was enough room (it being technically a luggage storage area) to park the stroller with Sam in it. Navigating the Silver Line wasn't too bad either, even with luggage plus stroller. It helps that weather was fairly mild for Boskone.

We did sneak in a nice Saturday dinner at Salvatore's with a cousin of mine. First time I've caught up with any of my remaining Boston-area relatives in several years.

I got back into town early this morning after several days in Las Vegas for $EMPLOYER's annual trade show/board meeting. It was a successful trip, though as usual the schedule (I flew out Saturday afternoon) meant I did not get a holiday weekend. I do get comp days though, one of which I used today. The others will probably get used on Boskone.

I did not get sick during this year's trip, a great improvement over 2012 (food poisoning), 2013 (sore throat) and 2015 (mild flu).

I got to watch all or part of four Big East basketball games and a good portion of the Chiefs/Patriots game courtesy of Southwest's free (but limited) streaming TV.

I caught up with reaper_g Saturday night for a nice dinner at SEA: The Thai Experience. I had a ginger and pineapple saute with duck and brown rice.

Somebody had the bright idea to allow the new Bourne movie to be filmed on the Strip the same week as a 100,000-plus attendee group of construction industry trade shows and a 60,000-plus attendee gun industry show. And you thought the Beltway at rush hour gets jammed!

This was the last year of a four-year Las Vegas run for the show. In 2017 and 2018 it (and presumably I) will be in Orlando. This should make jcbemis, fla_sunshine and terriwells happy (*grin*).

Now to get ready for a blizzard...

The first full week of 2016 has definitely gone much better than the last week of 2015. Between not sleeping well on the guest bed in the_sheryl's parents' Florida condo, getting home late due to a 2-hour flight delay, and two nights I had trouble sleeping fretting about things I needed to get done at both work and home before the ball dropped in Times Square, I was pretty fried by the time New Year's Eve rolled around. So I had a largely unproductive 3-1/2 day weekend in terms of knocking off any of the around-the-house projects I have, with the exception of cleaning the bathroom and straightening up Sam's room on Sunday. Other than our NYE dinner and Nookery stop, most of the rest of the weekend was spent lazing around the house and watching stuff on the DVR, although we did make it to one round of this month's FSGW Open Sing.

This week has been a smoother ride. I succeeded in my two major tasks for the work week (preparing for $EMPLOYER's upcoming board meeting and readying a couple of code proposals for submission) without too much scrambling or stress involved and made some progress on a few tasks at home. So if I spend most of this weekend knocking more stuff off the DVR, that's fine.

By now all my friends who are down in Atlanta have probably realized that we have in fact skipped GAFilk this year. Even though Sam appears to travel well (at least so far), flying with a little one is always an adventure; getting strollers and formula through security, holding a wriggling baby on your lap for two hours, trading said baby back and forth with Sheryl while trying to eat dinner on a tiny tray table in a cramped airplane seat. Plus, adoption is an expensive business, and even though we're financially OK saving the cost of one con isn't such a bad thing. So we'll miss our friends and Play It With Moxie and all, but hopefully we'll see lots of folks at Boskone next month.

It's been a while since I posted, so I figured I should toss up a quick update.

We made our annual sojourn to the Great White North to help FilKONtario celebrate its 25th year. Much fun was had, many friends were seen. Was delighted to see Steven Joel inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame.

Had to fly directly from Toronto to Memphis for a grueling six days of building code hearings. Luckily, got to fly home a day early, which meant we could join tarkrai and katyhh (who were playing tourist in DC for a week) for a Monday evening concert featuring James Keelaghan, Archie Fisher and Jez Lowe.

Unfortunately, I was also getting the first hints of a cold on Monday and spend the rest of the week with Ye Olde Snot Monster clogging my nose. Still a bit of lingering congestion even today, and definitely not caught up on lost sleep.

On the bright side, between a planned day off Monday, unplanned day off Wednesday, and a mostly-lazy weekend, I'm mostly caught up on currently-running shows.

Thanks to a well-timed invitation to speak at a meeting of $EMPLOYER's Oregon chapter, held in Bend, I was able to make it to Saturday and Sunday of Conflikt. I had a great time, but the weekend was one big experiment in sleep deprivation. For various reasons, my best choices for flights were all early departures - 8:20am, 6:15am, and 8:05am for the IAD-to-RDM (via SFO), RDM-to-SEA and SEA-to-IAD legs, respectively. Which meant I had to wake up at 5:30am, 4:15am and 5:30am to make each of those. The things I do for both my job and my hobby (*grin*).

The con was excellent. It was great to see AJA, Cecelia and Toyboat again (even if Gundo did make sure to play "Wagon Wheel" *twice* for me). And of course all the fine Northwest folks like Jeffrey and Jeri Lynn, CD, JT, Andrew, Dawn, Betsy, Sunnie, Char and Randy, Vixy and Tony, Steve, Colleen and Naomi, and Dara. Plus Kathleen, Judith and Dave, Harold, Josh and Lisa, Bill and Carole, and Paul and Beth. And a long list of other folks I'm probably forgetting. Got a decent amount of singing in, including a 2-fer. Picked up a cute handmade stuffed Totoro from the Interfilk auction and a catnip toy covered with Star Trek logos (titled a "DiNipium Crystal").

My offering was accepted by Nova within five seconds of my tossing it on the bedroom carpetin front of her. A few minutes later, she was batting it around and chomping on it out in the hallway outside when Luna came creeping upstairs. She stopped about a foot away from her sister and immediately started rolling around on the floor. Contact high! Obviously they make some good nip in Washington State. 8-)

Meanwhile, Boskone was somewhat of a mixed bag, and not just because of the snow and chilly temperatures. I enjoyed myself, participating in two panels (songwriting and performance tips) and a re-run of the Fantasy and the Sea Shanty panel. The filk circles were a little smaller than usual but still quite fun, and I was able to catch up with lots of friends. At the same time, between three program items in four hours and an early Valentine's Day dinner on Saturday (to accommodate a Concertino meeting), I missed several program items I would have liked to attend with authors I would have liked to have seen, of which there were unusually many at this year's con. (For example, I totally missed James Cambias, whose A Darkling Sea I enjoyed). We were able to catch Fran Wilde (who Sheryl knows from Buffistas.org) on a Fantasy Bestiary panel and I caught Max Gladstone's reading. We also snuck away from the Saturday filk to catch the Silly Cover Poses session - at which I saved one attempt to recreate a fantasy cover by grabbing one of the plastic trays the hotel had put out for empty glasses and offering it to one of the participnts to use as a shield.

Meanwhile, I was able to escape the cold and snow for a couple of days by flying out to San Diego for a workshop on resilient construction and communities. Took a red-eye home Thursday night since we supposedly had some commitments for today and I didn't want to get home later on Friday. As it happened, our commitments got cancelled due to the snow. Oh well. Took care of a few other things that Needed To Be Done and knocked several items off the DVR.

After reading through my friends' year-end posts, I almost feel guilty posting my own. I know that 2014 really sucked for many of my friends. Several lost loved ones (and many of those I considered friends as well). And several have had career issues, health issues, financial issues, or combinations of all three. So I know many of my friends are glad to see 2014 come to an end.

It was quite a different story in our little corner of Maryland here, where we had a rather excellent year.

Topping the good times was my EPIC turn as FilKONtario's Filk Waif back in April. With help from Art, Heather, Ben, Jason, and Gundo I delivered a rockin' set that included COVERING RUSH FROM A CANADIAN STAGE. I'm still glowing. The concom is probably still recovering.

Following that was the_sheryl's turn as Listener Guest for NEFilk/Contata in June. She assembled a fine Listener's Choice concert and hosted two theme circles.

I'm pretty sure I set a personal best for program participation. It seemed there were only a few weeks when I wasn't preparing for a concert, panel or both at some convention. The activity included a concert and three panels at Boskone; a concert, guitar workshop, and Media theme circle host at FilKONtario (plus two songs in the Hall of Fame concert); the Medieval Dance and a panel at Balticon; a few songs in the Listener's Choice concert at Contata; a concert and three panels (two of which I moderated) at Loncon; two concerts at ConChord (one of my own, plus I backed Matt & Mary for most of their 60-minute Interfilk concert); two panels and co-hosted a Classic Filk song circle at Philcon; concert at Chessiecon. No wonder I feel tired!

We celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary in August with lots of Meat! On! Skewers! and "Guardians of the Galaxy". Because nothing says "celebration of love" like a CRAZY GUN TOTING RACCOON.

While overseas for Loncon, we went to the Victoria & Albert Museum, Hyde Park, Bletchley Park, Forbidden Planet, Trinity College, and the Chester Beatty Library. We took a relaxing train and ferry ride in between the first three and last two.

We're both still gainfully employed and reasonably healthy. (Other than the fact I should work on losing about 20 pounds.) My job continues to interest and challenge me. Between one change in assignments, one new initiative in my department, and one standard reaching the peak of its development cycle, I had a bit more business travel than the last couple of years. 2015 is likely to be busy too.

So yes, definitely a good year for us. 2015 promises to be interesting in a number of ways, also for good reasons.

Back from the annual sojourn to South Florida. The trip was a bit more interesting than usual due to the fact I managed to pull (or at least strain) a thigh muscle during a brisk walk on the treadmill the Saturday before Christmas. I nearly ended up cancelling the trip after I could barely walk from work to lunch (and CVS) to the Metro on Wednesday. However, being a guy, I opted to tough it out and by the time we got on the plane the combination of a pair of Advil and a menthol pain relief pad had mostly restored my ability to walk, not to mention get in and out of a seat. Thankfully, Wednesday was the worst day, Thursday was a significant improvement, by Friday I could almost manage normal walking pace (and didn't have to ease myself in and out of chairs as much), and by today I'm pretty much healed.

Other than that, the trip was about as usual. I am sure Sheryl's dad is happy to return to his usual daily doses of CNN and the History channel, as opposed to Mythbusters marathons, college basketball games, one Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives episode and a couple of Too Cute episodes.

Yesterday we all went to see The Imitation Game. Given our travels in the UK and Ireland this year included Bletchley Park, the filmmakers had a rather good sense of timing. I don't recall enough specifics of Turing's story to comment on how accurate the movie (which apparently is based largely on Andrew Hodges' book Alan Turing: The Enigma is. I did spot one hut that I presume was digitally inserted into the picture, because it doesn't currently exist on the actual site today. (IIRC its location outside the mansion is marked by a concrete curb.) Anyway, if you like WWII history, computer history, cyphers, all things English, Benedict Cumberbatch, or Keira Knightley, I believe you will enjoy the movie. We did.

We also stopped in at the Historical Society of Palm Beach County, housed in the restored 1916 county courthouse. Learned a few interesting things about the county, its founders and some of its claims to fame. Most notably, that the first IBM PC came out of IBM's research facility in Boca Raton.

Now, if you will excuse me, I need to go unpack, and also make the proper obeisances to a certain feline overlord...

Got home last night from a business trip to Wyoming to find our hot water heater was not producing hot water. After several failed attempts this morning to re-light the pilot light, I spent a good portion of the day either trying to find a plumber who was available to make a Saturday call or waiting for said plumber to arrive. Which they finally did in the middle of our just-delivered dinner of Chinese food. Ah well, at least with one thermocouple replaced and one gas line cleaned we should shortly have our usual supply of hot water.

In the meantime, a few of my plans for the day went out the window, and can't be resurrected due to the debut filk circle from 2pm-6pm tomorrow at the BSFS Building (the first in what I hope to be an ongoing series). Among other things, this means I will have to spring for the Nook edition of this month's selection for $EMPLOYER's book club, unless the hold I have on the library's e-book edition comes through tomorrow. At least I managed to sneak out and buy a new flapper valve for the downstairs toilet.

Besides racking up another state visited, the trip to Wyoming was reasonably productive, and the folks I was there to meet with seemed reasonably enthusiastic about the initiatives my employer was hoping they would be reasonably enthusiastic about. They were also nice folks who fed me well. That being said, I couldn't quite shake the feeling I was in a remake of the Sports Night episode "The Hungry And The Hunted." (That would be the one where Josh Molina's character gets sent on an ill-fated assignment to produce a celebrity hunting show.)

Got my panels for Philcon. (I was beginning to wonder if this would be another year I'd find out Thursday night what non-filk events I was on.) I've got three items on Saturday: "Getting Started in Filk" at 11am, "Jewish Folklore in Fantasy & Science Fiction" at 4pm, and "Classic Filk Songs" at 9pm. If I can get off my lazy butt and finish them I may have one or two new songs.

Home from OVFF. Tired cat is tired. Mini-con in the airport; Ellen Weingart and Mark were on our flight (connecting thru BWI to Islip), Tony Parker, Judy Bemis and Kathy Mar all showed up at the same gate just before our boarding time.

The two catnip pads made by janmagic that I picked up at the Interfilk auction have been strategically placed in the house - one in the living room, one in the computer room. Nova has already discovered the one in the living room (*grin*). Photos on G+.

Yes folks, I'm posting a con report ONLY ONE WEEK AFTER THE CON! And with that, hope springs eternal that I may actually get around to the July, August and September (and soon October) bookposts, the rest of the London/Dublin trip report, and perhaps even the full FKO report!

Into an already-crowded October, we shoehorned a trip to San Diego for ConChord. The primary reason was to catch Interfilk guests thatcrazycajun and Mary Mulholland. As some of my readers know, Matt is largely to blame responsible for Sheryl and I meeting at Disclave 1995. Plus, I have been Matt's Trained Pet Guitarist(tm) for several years. So we didn't want to miss their star turn if at all possible. Also, San Diego is a shorter trip than Swaziland.

( Finally made all the domestic filk cons!Collapse )

So, there was a Worldcon a couple of weeks ago. It was a REALLY BIG Worldcon. There were almost 11,000 registrations (including supporters and folks who didn't make the con) and over 7000 people on site at one time or another, both records as I understand.

( An EXCEL-lent Worldcon...Collapse )

We have returned from vacationing and con-going in London and Dublin. Much fun was had, despite the fact we both came down with con crud immediately after Loncon wrapped. Shared van dropped us off around 5pm, unpacked, did our best to placate Nova (Luna, of course, is off hiding somewhere), and ordered pizza for dinner. I expect an early bedtime.

My 3LF comrades will be happy to know we in fact made it to Hyde Park. 8-)

Great seeing lots of old friends from both sides of the pond and meeting some of the UK filkers who haven't made it to our side yet (and who we didn't meet at Interaction in 2005). Big thank yous to Lissa, Anna, Rick, Deborah and everyone else who helped with filk programming and tech at Loncon.

Got to see the Doctor Who premiere with 300+ other fans at Shamrokon. Very cool.

Overall, 2013 was a good year for us.

The significant downer, of course, was Marty Gear's passing in mid-July. A huge loss for the local fan community as well as costuming fandom at large.

This was the year the stars aligned and we finally made it out for Conflikt, which emphatically staked its claim to a spot on my list of BEST! CONS! EVER! Thank yous go out to the many folks responsible for making it such a wonderful weekend, including mysticfig and kaath9 for general awesomeness, cflute for backup on "Sedona", Mr. Wiley and his Fork-estra for the shtick-up on "Beware the Sinister Salad", Team Esty for a nice turn as Interfilk guests, and the concom for throwing a great party.

And then there was Balticon. OMG SASSAFRASS!! The spectacular, ballroom-filling, multiple-ovation-earning premiere of Sundown: Whispers of Ragnarok has certainly earned a place in history as one of the Top Fannish Events of 2013. Need I point out it's eligible for the Best Dramatic Presentation-Long Form Hugo? I'm just sayin'. 8-)

If that wasn't enough to whet everyone's musical whistles in these parts, we threw a Conterpoint a few weeks later. I'm still convinced the rehearsal for admnaismith's Toastmaster concert was even more fun than the actual concert. Not that the concert didn't rock itself. Overall attendance was lighter than I'd hoped, but I think guests and members both had fun.

(Making a note here: agreeing to sing emotional songs in major concerts on Sunday afternoons of cons is a REALLY BAD IDEA AND WILL END IN TEARS.)

We were originally a bit skeptical how the family trip to England and France in August to celebrate Sheryl's parents' 50th anniversary would turn out. Things largely worked out and everyone had a good time. I especially enjoyed the Royal Observatory in Greenwich and the Musee de la Musique in Paris. And the side trip to the Who Store (*grin*).

Said goodbye to Darkover and Clam Chowder in our last convention of the year. Like the Doctor, Darkover has regenerated into Chessiecon. Looking forward to seeing filkertom as Chessiecon's first Music GOH.

Professionally had a good year too, earning a promotion (though I still insist I'm too young to be "Senior" anything) and a bonus.

We'll be heading off to First Night Alexandria shortly. So, have a Happy New Year everyone, and best wishes to all for a great 2014!

As the_sheryl and I enjoy a lazy final weekend of 2013, I realize it's time for another update on our recent exploits.

As usual we took advantage of the holiday to visit Sheryl's parents at their winter home in Florida. This year's trip was a bit more interesting than previous excursions. With Christmas on a Wednesday we added a day to our typical four-day trip. Plus, Sheryl's mom is recovering from another bout of cellulitis in her legs and was even less mobile than usual. So, other than going out for dinner (and one brunch) we generally didn't stray too far from their condo.

We did get up to Lion Country Safari, the main part of which is seen by car. Not one to stop and smell the roses, Sheryl's dad rolled through the driven part at about twice the recommended speed limit. That made taking pictures challenging, but I did get some decent ones. A friend had loaned Sheryl's parents a wheelchair, which made traversing the walkable portion much easier.

Sheryl and I did take advantage of the movie theater across the street from her parents' community to catch The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. We enjoyed it, though I do think I agree with the folks complaining that the additions linking The Hobbit more closely with LOTR are not necessarily positive ones.

Of course, we ate our way across South Florida, including Mamma Mia's and the Kingdom Buffet (thus fulfilling the mitzvah "Thou shalt partake of Chinese food on Christmas Eve"). Meaning I need to spend some quality time with my treadmill unless I want to buy several new pairs of jeans!

Despite an always-welcome visit to New Orleans and a decent Philcon, this still hasn't been a week I would particularly like to repeat.

( And not just because a business trip and con tried to occupy the same spaceCollapse )

I've gotten all my photos from our family trip to London and Paris uploaded, as those of you following my Flickr photostream may have noticed. For everyone else, here's a link to the collection. Worldcon is still pending (along with the last day or two of the London/Paris trip report and Worldcon report).

We went to a party/song circle at Mark Silverdragon's house last night. Lots of food and drink (including Saranac Pumpkin Ale, yum), good crowd, mix of filkers, BSFS and WSFA members. Stayed for two rounds of the song circle before we called it quits for the night.

Today we hit the Maryland Renaissance Festival, which is why we called it a fairly early night last night. Saw Beecher, Irina and Emily from Sassafrass (who were also at Mark's party), and ran into into Rachel and Jonathan from 3LF. Caught sets from Wolgemut, Pyrates Royale, North Sea Gas and The Wallace Band. The latter, one of the special guests for Scottish Weekend, are a trio of youngsters from Russia playing Celtic music, and very well. Also saw the new Shakespeare's Skum show Antony & Cleopatra (As The Nile Flows). Parts of the grounds were a little squishy due to last night's rain, but not too bad.

Meanwhile, I'm busy trying to cram songs into my brain (and dust off old favorites) for the fast-approaching FSGW Getaway. They've made the mistake of letting me co-host a workshop on Humorous Songs. Insert maniacal laugh here.

Picking up the narrative again after a break for Worldcon and Rosh Hashanah. This post covers two days (Saturday, August 24th and Sunday, August 25th) so it's a bit long.

( August 24th: Riding the RailsCollapse )

( August 25th: Paintings and Decor and Music, Oh MyCollapse )

This time last week we were in London. Hard to believe time passed so quickly. Speaking of time (and picking the travelogue up again), we started Friday by oversleeping an hour on account of my failing to hit "save" when setting my alarm. Luckily, we didn't have to be anywhere at a specific time.

( Where East Meets WestCollapse )

( It's Bigger on the InsideCollapse )

Meant to post last week, but got distracted by anniversary dinners and other catch-up. Then something failed in the DW/LJ link. So this post is slightly edited from the DW version.

Two Saturdays ago we headed up to the Pittsburgh area, where Robert Stockton and Martha Underwood hosted a housefilk in place of the unfortunately-cancelled Confluence. There was a decent turnout, about a dozen folks including the hosts, good music, and plentiful food.

On our way home Sunday we indulged my architectural side by stopping at the famed Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Fallingwater. I've been wanting to visit for a while, but we never had time during Confluence trips and I never remembered to suggest it for a free weekend. I enjoyed the tour, both as an architecture (and long-time Wright) fan and from a professional standpoint.

On the way home from Fallingwater we stopped in Ohiopyle for a decent lunch at the Falls Market and Inn.

This past Saturday we day-tripped Shore Leave 35. We caught concerts from Shore Leave regulars the Boogie Knights and the Chromatics (the latter during Masquerade halftime) and talks/Q&A's from Neil Grayston, Amanda Tapping, Saul Rubinek and Eddie McClintock. There was also a memorial for Marty Gear. And Linda Melnick and T.J. Burnside-Clapp teamed up for a Technical Difficulties reunion.

Yep, once more I've managed to reach the end of the year with excess leave beyond my allowable carryover, so my official work year ended last Wednesday. Unofficially I'm workin' the remote access since there were a few tasks I still needed to finish and activities I need to keep an eye on.

As usual, we headed down to Florida for the holiday weekend to visit the_sheryl's parents. Ate lots of food, watched too much TV, read books, took a short walk or two, and spent a couple of hours lounging near the pool, although it was too cold for swimming.

Finally got around to seeing "Skyfall", which I thought was decent. Definitely better than "Quantum of Solace". Some nice nods to classic Bond. And a true 21st-century Q.

Took a 90-minute boat tour along the Fort Lauderdale riverfront, past a bunch of fancy homes, expensive yachts, and a few giant cruise ships.

TV watching included a few episodes of Too Cute, the penultimate and final episodes of Next Iron Chef: Redemption, and parts of the Giants-Ravens and 49'ers-Seahawks games.

When we last left our intrepid traveler, he was hanging out at his cousin's in Seattle between business meetings.

( Gary is very, very sneakyCollapse )