Still Ain't Dead....

Just busy with a lot of distractions lately, and no muse at a time when I have time to blog! Many things to say about James Doohan, the space shuttle, and baseball... if I get myself back in the writing groove. In the meantime keep hailing the Tiki for me....

No Headstone on my Grave

So, I made it to Shore Leave after all! I found I was able to make a very abbreviated trip down, a single overnight with no hotel reservation, mostly a quick trip down the road to have a few pints with some friends. Just throw a sleeping bag and an overnight bag in the car, grab some beer money and hit the road south. I had a great time, very low-key and relaxing but an opportunity to get together with friends I usually only get to see at the Hunt Valley Inn each July now.

I had to wait until Friday afternoon last weekend to make the final call, so we could find out The Momma's work schedule for the weekend. Once that was settled and I realized I could go it was a question of driving down Friday during the overnight hours, or leaving very early on Saturday morning. I quickly realized I was pretty tired and not up to a 7-hour drive that night, so I determined to do my best to get to bed early so I could be up and on the road by 6am.

Well, going to bed "early" is tough for me in any situation. I work an evening shift, usually getting home after midnight or even 1am, so most nights I don't go to bed until 3am or even later. But after the Sox game Friday night I went to bed, around 11pm, and much to my pleasant surprise I was asleep by 11:30.

And awake by 12:30am... an hour later. At 2am I was still lying in bed awake, and, though tired, not feeling like I was going to get back to sleep. Sigh... I got up, threw my stuff in the car and hit the road a little after 2:30.

While exhausted, I've always enjoyed driving and I tend to do pretty well with long trips... I thought I'd push to get at least as far as New Jersey and then catch a nap in a rest area if possible. I actually drove straight through, and at 8am I was pulling into a rest area in Maryland less than 45 minutes from the Hunt Valley. I realized it was too early even for me to go to the hotel bar, and that my friends would all still be sleeping, so after grabbing a bite to eat I tried to nap in the car for a few hours. This was largely unsuccessful, especially now that it was daylight and getting hotter by the minute, but I was able to doze a bit and at the least got a few hours of downtime. I hit the road again around 11:30am for the last push.

The toughest part was, realizing I was doing this trip on the cheap I wanted to eat something at a fast food joint before getting to the hotel so I wouldn't have to pay hotel prices on lunch, I got off the highway at noon and had to drive past the hotel entrance to go to McDonald's down the road. But I managed it, crammed a few greasy burgers down and by 12:30pm I was walking into my beloved Paddock Bar. Success!

I ran into my friend Anne right away, who was shocked to see me as word had apparently spread that I wasn't coming this year. (I guess some folks do read this space!!) She asked if I had a place to crash yet and offered me a bed in the room with her and her husband Rick... Thank you, that was very much appreciated! And a load off my mind in my now over-tired but excited state. After getting me a room key she took me up to say hi to Rick, who was also happily surprised. Along the way I saw The Little Guy and wife The Maggie and said a happy hello to them... ah yes, this place is home the second weekend in July every year as it has been since 1980!

As the afternoon went on I met up with others one by one, each more fun to surprise. Kevin found me in the bar soon enough (he'd been looking for me in my "office" Friday night as well!), and I also found Hypersue and John M, and Joan & Rebecca and kids in my wanderings around the hotel. After picking up my membership I was coming back up the escalator when Bon Bon, going down the other side, saw me... she was yelling at me about what a sneak I was and I couldn't tell if she was delighted or angry at seeing me! (She was happy.)

I'd seen about everyone except for Towaway, and I'd been hanging in the bar for a while (watching the Sox game, as they were in town playing the Orioles) without seeing him. Thursday night he'd called me at work, when he first got to the hotel, for the traditional "ribbing" call that he was there and I wasn't going this year. He gave me the cellphone number of a friend that was with him as I told him I'd probably call over the weekend; I called that number and left a voicemail saying I was in a bar watching the Sox play the O's and I was thinking of him down there, and as I imagined they had it on at the hotel bar he should go give me a call from the bar so we could say hello while the game was on.

About 20 minutes later I'm sitting at the bar and hear him roar, "You son of a bitch!" (Naw, when Towaway says it it's a term of endearment!) The look on his face was itself justification for the whole drive... not that I'd minded it anyway!

I also had a great time watching the ballgame Saturday with a new local friend. Bruce was from the Baltimore area but it was his first Shore Leave, and as he digs baseball, SF and beer we got along great and passed a few fun hours together through the afternoon and evening.

Don't ask me how, but I made it to 1am before finally going to sleep despite my one hour of sleep the night before. That's probably the earliest I've ever gone to bed on a Saturday night at Shore Leave (and Towaway let me hear about it the next day!), but I was pretty content under the circumstances! I slept until noon on Sunday, thanks to Rick and Anne getting a late check-out.

After getting myself together I was back in the bar at 1:30pm Sunday for the last Sox game (we lost both the Saturday and Sunday games, alas, but the company and the location were great so I didn't mind that much). During the game I had lunch and said goodbyes to folks as they rotated through... I'd originally hoped to stay through the end of the con Sunday but that would make it at least 7pm, and I figured I'd get tired early again so instead I left right after the ballgame ended. By 4pm I was on the road, and despite some nasty traffic through Jersey and New York I was home by midnight.

Though much shortened it was a very enjoyable get-away, and well worth the effort. I can thank The Momma for putting up with me going (a belated birthday present to me, she said, and ironically her birthday was that weekend as well!). Also many many thanks to Rick and Anne for the bed, and to Bon Bon for treating me to a great dinner Saturday evening at Padonia Station, a restaurant we both really love down there.

I understand I missed some of the real excitement of the con, as they had a tornado warning on Thursday night and actually moved all guests from their rooms into the basement ballrooms as a funnel cloud may have been spotted in the area; and the art show room was flooded; and they had a last-minute scheduling problem with their main media guest. But as always happens everything worked out and most everyone had a good time... and I haven't attended much in the way of programming there in quite a few years anyway!

I heard rumors there of Shore Leave as a possible site next year for a 20th reunion for the USS Christa McAuliffe, our local SF fan group, and that'd be a great place for it if enough folks could go. Certainly I'll be looking to drink a few more brews in the Paddock about 51 weeks from now... Kungaloosh, and Hail the Tiki!!

Happy Birthday, America!

We had a very enjoyable holiday weekend. Independence Day has become "our" holiday to host for my extended family, with my folks and siblings getting together for a late afternoon cookout at our place. We rent a fairly small but serviceable single-family house, and though small it's got a very nice, big yard in a great location.

Our gathering was followed by an evening trip for most of us to see the Natick fireworks, conveniently launched from the shopping mall right across the street from my office building (about 25 minutes from home) so we get a nice semi-private viewing party there with other folks from my work. C & I have been watching the fireworks here for many years, and it's been fun to bring along the whole family and a few friends in more recent years. They put on a great show there, and it's quite a shame that I've heard this is the last year they'll be able to stage them there (rumored to be due to construction changes at the mall). Next year we'll likely try the "local" fireworks in Milford, the next town over from us; our friends Elliriel, Taz and family went there this year and Taz says it was quite good.

On the Fourth itself we relaxed. C, The Momma & I went out to dinner in the late afternoon, then watched the Boston Pops concert that evening. And such an awesome fireworks display in Boston again this year!

One thing The Momma and I realized yesterday. We are not Bush people. (No, we knew that before yesterday, but I'm going somewhere with this!) We've never liked him as a president, and don't like most of his policies. We don't really approve of the direction the country is moving in under this administration. But we do love this country, and we know attitudes move in waves... we're not looking to move to Canada, for instance! But we realized yesterday that our grumblings may have had too much of an adverse affect on C, who hasn't heard us talking enough about all the positives of this country amidst our grumblings and so didn't see why we were still so excited about Independence Day. We'll be working to correct that, try our best to find a balance, as much as one can exist for any particular point of view.

Got the car back last week, magic alternator and all. The alternator seems fine, but while the car sat on the lot for over a week the emergency brake apparently rusted On... sigh. I wasn't happy, and they could clearly tell as they didn't even hint at charging me for pulling it back onto the lift and removing the wheels to bang it free. Even I can see it wasn't a related problem but I was in No Mood. Ah well, I'll be passing on using the e-brake as a parking brake from now on I think! At least I know it will stop me should I need it as an actual emergency brake!

DVD Complaint

Last night I finally got around to watching the extended version of "Ray". I've had the DVD for a while but so far had only watched the theatrical cut. While there were some nice extended music scenes, for the most part there wasn't much added by the extended version; still, it was fun to watch of course.

However.... Instead of having two full versions of the film on the DVD, they had the extra scenes stored separately and so when watching that version you would pause and "jump" to the added scene whenever one came up in the film, then jump back to where you left off in the standard cut. I don't mind the jumps all that much, but what was very annoying here was that the film is mastered in 16:9 enhanced mode, but the extra scenes were not! So whenever I jump to an extra scene it isn't widescreen, and so appears squashed flat for the duration of the scene unless I manually adjust the TV out of widescreen mode for each scene.

Hard to believe in this "modern" age of videography that they'd put it together like that, but there it is. The good news again is I probably won't feel the urge to watch the extended version again as it wasn't a significant improvement over the theatrical version.

My Head Hurts

Such a day it's been, going back to last night when The Hey and I went to a midnight screening of the new "Batman Begins" film. I loved it! Maybe not quite the "perfect" Batman film but very well done, and very much Frank Miller's "Dark Knight" brought to the screen. Ah, and yes, the new Batmobile... I LIKE IT!!

After the movie I was talking with my friend Doc, now out in California, and he dropped a bombshell on me - he'd been plotting secretly with The Hey and he wanted to give me a special birthday present this year - a round trip ticket to San Diego for Comic Con! This blew me away not only in scope, but considering how much back-and-forth I'd already gone through regarding this trip. Needless to say though I conditionally accepted, awaiting only approval from The Momma, and the estimate on my poor car... in case it needed more than just an alternator for a few hundred bucks.

I talked with The Momma this morning and considering the only shill I'd need to lay out would be food money at this point, it was an easy Yes.

Then I got the call from the dealership... yup, the car only needed an alternator and a battery. Excellent. It can be ready by tomorrow. Great. It'll be on the up side of $900.

WHAT??!!!

It only needs an alternator and a battery... huh? Apparently Saab must have some kind of rare magic alternator only made during leap years by leprechauns, 'cause it was supposedly that expensive and labor-intensive to replace.

I put it on hold and checked with my preferred local garage up the street. (The only reason I hadn't brought the car there to begin with was they were booked up well into next week.) I gave them the info on the car and what it needed and they came back with an estimate of about $700... considering the average dealership mark-up this actually seemed to just confirm that this mystical alternator must be held on by jewel-encrusted diamond bolts designed for the US military's most advanced vehicles. Yeesh!

I debated moving the car to the local garage to save a little, but in the end it wasn't really worth it. It would still run me $99 for the dealership for the diag work they'd already done, and I'd have to get the car moved to the other garage which still wouldn't be able to work on it until next week. So in the end I gave the dealership the go-ahead and it should be done tomorrow.

Don't know if Ill be able to afford to pick it up tomorrow, but it should be ready. I'm grumpy tonight.

Anyway, this basically runs out the small remainder of the travel fund and pretty much the entire emergency fund, so there will be no trip to San Diego - even though it's close to free - and for that matter no trip south to Shore Leave, either. Even if I could justify taking $100 and going to San Diego next month, it would still mean The Momma couldn't work while I was away. Most importantly at this juncture we need to rebuild the emergency coffers for the next disaster!

Oh, and I've hardly had time to gripe about this yet but my damned laptop died on me this week too... sigh. Not that I can complain too much, it was actually a freebie from work last year when some old ones were phased out, but still obviously not something I'll be able to replace any time soon.

And that means I've gotta read my email from the kitchen (or the basement), rather than from my comfy chair in front of the boob tube... Oh, the horror.

South, Miss Teschmacher?

Life has a way of resolving conundrums.

As mentioned last night I was having a hard time deciding between Shore Leave in Baltimore, and Comic Con in San Diego. Well, my car broke down after posting that missive, most likely needing a new alternator. Not a huge deal but just enough of a setback to rule out any trip to California next month! And possibly enough of a dent that I might not make either trip, though SL does still remain within reach depending on the final diagnosis on the car and a few other fiscal issues to finish budgeting.

Ah, decisions made easy by the wrong means!

An Habitual Creature

I am in some ways a creature of habit.

Every July I go to Baltimore (well, Hunt Valley, MD - about 20 miles north) to the one Star Trek convention I still regularly attend: SHORE LEAVE. I've been going to this convention since Shore Leave 2 in 1980, and apart from 1981 I don't believe I've missed one.

This year the plans are getting complicated, and I'm not completely certain at this writing if I'll be attending next month. On top of some fiscal concerns and some question about roommates, I've also had the stakes raised by a couple of friends inviting me to go instead to COMIC CON the weekend after in San Diego... which, ironically due to certain incentives in the invitation, may be cheaper than going to Baltimore compared to if I were to keep my (now solo) room in Maryland. The money still may not play out for San Diego because of the timing of everything, but it's a possibility.

Comic Con is probably the biggest media-focused science fiction convention help each year, featuring tons of special guests and programming, and movie sneak previews presented by the major studios themselves. And I've never been to San Diego, which is supposed to be a great city.

I haven't attended much of the actual programming at Shore Leave in a great many years. I go because it's become a very special, nostalgic place for me personally and a place where I see a great many friends and acquaintances. And, the Shore Leave hotel's Paddock Bar is one of my favorite casual hang-out bars (albeit only during conventions there)... indeed, the photo of me at the top of this blog was taken in the Paddock some years ago!

I've often felt that I need to return to Shore Leave each year, much as a salmon must return home... or a Vulcan perhaps! This year though there won't be as many of my "hanging out" friends there as other years, though there will still be some. Still, I may find myself spending more "alone time" in the Paddock than even I would enjoy, and less "with friends" time in the Paddock. (Outside of the Paddock? Well, I do get to the pool once in a while....)

In San Diego there will be tons of programming I actually would want to see, and I'd be there with two of my closest friends and hopefully get a chance to see another while on the west coast. And it could potentially be cheaper, though that's not to say it'd be cheap. Apart from the long air trip this would be a very fun experience if the money works out.

But a part of me screams out at the thought of missing Shore Leave, one of My Places since right after I graduated high school! To not be there would be Wrong, but San Diego has more to offer in many ways.

I actually suspect the money issues will make the decision for me as the timing (of paychecks, airfare necessities etc) seems unlikely to work out to my advantage. Either way though this is a tough decision....

I am in some ways a creature of habit.