Copied directly from my unofficial transcript:
Spring 2008
Program : American River College
Plan : Accounting Major
ACCT 103 Intermed Accounting I 4.00 4.00 A 16.000
CISA 315 Electronic Spreadsheets 2.00 2.00 A 8.000
Course Topic(s): EXCEL 2007
TERM GPA : 4.000 TERM TOTALS : 6.00 6.00 24.000
CUM GPA : 4.000 CUM TOTALS : 41.50 41.50 166.000
Good Standing
From a rift in the space-time continuum somewhere near the Hyatt Santa Clara, katster emerges from the pocket dimension she has been inhabiting for the last three days.
Tim Powers, our Writer Guest of Honor, was the one that coined the “pocket dimension” idea as he summed up his thoughts on the weekends at closing ceremonies. It’s wonderful, I love it, and I’m going to steal it.
The short of it: Baycon was a blast. I ended up with 64 ribbons, a gopher/gofer ribbon, a Reno Worldcon sticker, a Seattle Worldcon button, and a copy of Orange Soda, the 2008 Baycon fanzine in an hour, which I hope will appear on efanzines.com real soon now. I also have some swag from the dealer’s room, and a silver dollar from 1978 that was given to me in change, and an entire run of the whole official newsletter along with one of the two fake newsletters distributed during con.
I managed to hit all four guests of honor with my “Press Button. Receive Baycon.” ribbon, a feat I was particularly proud of. The gofers went on strike, sorta. (Okay, not really, but I got to make a protest sign that read “Doors Don’t Just Watch Themselves” and I think I’m going to print “Gofer Local #42″ ribbons next year.) I went through all five hundred of the ribbons I printed and ran out at about 2 PM on Sunday. (Okay, I still had some of the Top Sekret Ribbon I printed with ![[info]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
gridlore and kevin_standlee in mind, but I wasn’t giving that one to just anybody.)
The hotel staff had a competition to see which employee could collect the most ribbons.
I managed to lose something during con, too. This year’s particular case of the concrud seems to have found its way directly to my vocal cords, which means, I have next to no voice. Good thing I don’t talk much at work.
I’d say more, but I promised Chris Garcia I’d write up my thoughts (or the crimes of Belgium) for his fanzine, and I have to produce AuGH #8 before Sunday, and I have to work.
But I’ve already bought my membership to Baycon 2009, and am counting the days until we’re at it again.
Saturday night at Baycon! The badge is pinned just about as high as I can get it on my shoulder. The last ribbon is at my ankle. (There are fifty-three ribbons (of which five are mine, as in ones I was handing out) in that chain, plus a gofer ribbon (old habits die hard), a TAFF button, a Seattle Worldcon button, and a Reno Worldcon sticker in the trail.)
Of five hundred ribbons printed up for con, I have about fifty left. It’s been *fun*.
From a review of the new Indy movie, Annalee Newitz of io9.com has the following observation:
The only edge to the film is a clumsy, knee-jerk liberal subplot about how the evil U.S. government suspects everyone of being part of the Red Menace — even Indy! Sounds just like the evil, suspicious U.S. government today! Wow, thanks for the commentary, but honestly if there had just been cooler aliens or a weirder plot I would have been a lot happier.
The movie is set in the 1950s. Now you can see why I just sighed to myself and muttered, “History is dead…”
Look, McCarthyism and the whole paranoia over the Red Menace was real, and it destroyed lives. If you’re seeing parallels to today’s US government in it, then maybe y’ought to be more scared, y’know?
So yes, I’m really going to be handing out ribbons at Baycon, because I just picked up the order from the factory. Here are the shots of the five ribbons I’m carrying. (The fifth one is mostly covered due to the top secret nature.)
Here they are:
They are shiny. Also, any ribbons not given out at Baycon will come with me to the 2008 Worldcon. (Well, okay, except the Press Button. Receive Baycon one, as that’s specifically for this con.)
Anyway, yes, I have shinys. Woohoo and w00t!
I guess you could say that. Anyway, it looks like First Bank SD is trying to make a run at Paypal by rolling out their new Paypal-like service, Revolution. The difference is that First Bank SD is a *real* bank, and thus is insured by the FDIC. It also means they’re unlikely to pull some of Paypal’s shenanigans. (I haven’t gotten hit by them, but I’ve heard horror stories…)
Of course the best part is that if you sign up before today is over (that is, the 15th of May), they’ll give you $25 for starting an account. And as a bonus, if you click via the little icon below, I get $10 for referring you.
The catch? You have to be a resident of the United States or be able to fake it. (They ask for a mailing address and an SSN.) And Cheryl Morgan (who was the person who informed me about it) notes that one person got asked to fax a copy of their driver’s license and utility bill, so be forewarned.
But as far as I can tell, there’s no other obligations. Anyway, the button follows:
Here’s an old shot pulled out of my archives. The shot’s taken from a passenger seat going 75 down I-5 as one drops into Anderson from the hill to the south. This was those last few moments of realizing that I was home after a long trip from the Bay Area.
This photo is better if you click through it. You need the full sized shot to get what I’m getting at. (As it is, you can barely see it.)
Anyway, the reason I bring up this shot is that it’s about the only good shot of Shasta or Lassen I can find on quick inspection of photos I’ve stashed online. Of course, identifying mountains from a distance can be problematic. I remember once going to Adin, which is where my pioneer relatives set up their homestead, and looking westward at the snowcapped mountain.
Adin’s in the Big Valley, where Lassen, Shasta, and Modoc counties all come together. (In fact, the three big towns in the Big Valley — Adin, Bieber, and Nubieber — are all in separate counties. Also, note when I use big, I mean relatively compared to the rest of the valley, because those are small towns.) If you look at a map, and look and see what’s west of this point, you’ll see clearly that it’s Mt. Shasta, the same mountain in this photograph. But it took me several moments to realize that.
I grew up in Anderson. The mountain on my horizon has two peaks, the main bulk of Shasta itself, and a smaller peak called Shastina. The thing is, Shastina is on the west side of the volcano. Thus, when viewed from the east, as I was doing in Adin, there is only *one* peak. My visual cues to say “Yeah, that’s Shasta,” were missing.
Which is why I’m having so much fun with Raven’s photos. She went up to Corning and Orland, which are about fifty miles from Redding, and took pictures. And now I’m trying to identify the mountain, and realizing my visual cues are all wrong again.
That said, I want to say it’s Lassen, but I grew up with a view of Lassen from the west, and Raven’s photo is more from the southwest. This is what Lassen looks like from Redding. Actually, that’s taken from one of the western ridges, but it’s close enough. (And it’s a gorgeous shot. My thanks to the photographer, Duane Langshaw.)
Anyway, the point of the exercise is to show just how much fun it can be to try to identify a mountain from pictures. And if anybody can help Raven out, I’m sure she’d appreciate it.
You might recall my post from the other day in which I wrote about the story of a home run nearly lost but for good sportsmanship by the other team.
Well, here’s the video ESPN put together. Warning: Have Kleenex ready.
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time
–T.S. Eliot, from Little Giddings
This one is going into the quotes file.
Anyway, consider this a thread for open musings. What’s on your mind, folks? Comment away, either here or on LJ.
I may have more to say tomorrow, despite the May death march.
These are the next two weeks in my schedule.
Fri, May 9th: Mom’s 50th birthday. Taking her to lunch. Going out to dinner. Must go down to UCD and pick up paperwork. Must clean house. Homework due in Excel class.
Sat, May 10th: Mom’s family comes for Mom’s bday/Mother’s Day. House must be clean by 11 AM.
Sun, May 11th: Work day to catch up with homework. Need to call Ei and wish happy birthday.
Mon, May 12th: Mom goes back to work. I think I have homework due in Excel class. Work. Need to call and wish tanesmuti happy birthday.
Tue, May 13th: Mom works. I might work. I might be working on final project in Excel class.
Wed, May 14th: Mom works. I work. Final project due in Excel class.
Thurs, May 15th: Mom works. I probably will work.
Fri, May 16th: Mom works. I probably will not, but I will be studying. Need to go to Roseville and pick up ribbons.
Sat, May 17th: Excel Final Exam.
Sun, May 18th: Breathe, because things are about to get ugly.
Mon, May 19th: Work. Mom works.
Tues, May 20th: Mom works. Final exam Accounting. Must have homework done. Must have five article reviews done. May have to work some.
Wed, May 21th: Mom works half day. I work? Mom has appointment with DMV to plead with them to keep her license.
Thurs, May 22nd: Work. Mom works. Ei comes down. Going to see Caspian with Ei. Must be packed for Baycon by this point.
Fri, May 23rd: Drive to Bay Area with Ei for BAYCON!
Yeah, it’s going to be an exhausing couple of weeks.
I finally decided on a ribbon.
It will say:
Met katster.
(still not king)
I’m amused, anyway. :)
Baycon’s coming in less than two weeks! I’m pretty stoked. Baycon was fun last year, and this year I’m actually staying at the hotel instead of commuting from far away. I’m also showing a friend around her first science fiction convention.
(It was pretty easy to convince her to go. All I had to say was, “Hey, guess what? People run around in costume there and nobody thinks they’re weird!”)
Anyway, this year, I’m going to be handing out badge ribbons. (For the confused, that’s why I posted my Baycon badge from last year. The trail of ribbons extending off of it is an example of what I’m talking about.) I haven’t exactly totally decided what they’re all going to say, but besides the already done top sekret ribbon for gridlore, I’ve pretty much decided that I’m going to get one that says “Help! I’m trapped in a ribbon factory!”
I’m still trying to figure out some way of saying ‘I said hi to katster’ in a cool fashion, though.
Also, unrelated, the muttering you may have heard coming from Sacramento was katster studying the preliminary Baycon schedules and wondering *why* Iron Poet and Fanzine in an Hour got put in the same timeslot. ;)