Saturday Morning in Dallas
Posted on April 16, 2011 Posted by John Scalzi 64 Comments
I was supposed to be home by now, but high winds and the storm system running across the country kept me in Austin another night, which I spent in high style, at the Holiday Inn Express near the airport, at which I ordered in pizza and was out like a light before 10pm. Now I’m in Dallas, awaiting my flight to Dayton. The life of a science fiction writer is always intense.
How is your Saturday?
Sat in driving rain for 3 hours and watched my footy team go down to a team from interstate. Another glorious Autumn Sydney evening.
Sitting in the living room with the dog, watching my wife do the gardening through the living room window… Well, *I* can’t go out to help her, after all who’d look after the dog? :)
Took dog for a walk in the rain. He was like “Seriously, dude. It’s raining. can’t I just pee here?” Later off to the Smithsonian National Craft show
If your wait is a long one, this fanboy’s Saturday could be awesome by treating his favorite author to breakfast, or a cuppa. But I certainly understand that meeting random people is weird.
Up before dawn courtesy of my 3 year old, who is already an accomplished weekend-only early riser. Once I become lucid, the 2011 Homemade “Peeps” Adventure will resume. Never thought I’d dread tasting more marshmallows.
I too was out like a light before 10pm. I’m at work in Omaha (which is in Nebraska) getting some stuff done. Cold and windy. I like jacket weather so it works for me.
At least the winds have calmed down in Dallas today.
Woke up to a dusting of snow. It’s melting now & should be gone in time for my son’s lacrosse game.
Then off to a picnic with about 100 shelties.
Thanks for the “Repo Man” shout-out, JS. That made my morning. Hope your flight and your bod get home safely.
Oh, the usual. Having some tea, finishing a crit for Chang Who Is In Fact Chang, and getting ready for another fun day packed with writing and then possibly some Medal of Honor on the old Difference Engine.
Woke up way too early, courtesy of Simba, our male bluepoint Siamese. Discovered our landline phones (I know, how old-school) appear to be nonfunctional. About to get started on the kleenex box I didn’t get around to finishing yesterday.
Hope you get home soon, and in one piece!
I seem to have something growing in my brain. Ugh. This is not from processing Marko’s crit. It’s from sitting down at the computer right after getting up. And from the dog getting me up last night to poop in the yard. Shit happens. Heh.
Safe travels, John. I swear if I get published and become a touring writer, I will never set foot on a plane. It’s trains and donkeys all the way.
Wherever you go, there you are!
It’s been lovely so far, thank you for asking. I had a nice lie-in which was very refreshing after a stressful week and now I am having my morning coffee and considering what to do with my day.
Toddler with diarrhea and vomiting, but she’s feeling better now.
Also, I’m flummoxed at the impossibility of finding an open car-inspection place in my town on a Saturday morning. Doesn’t anyone work first shift during the week and need to run errands on the weekend?
Got up v. early Saturday and went to the ATT Center to participate in a walk to benefit studies of autism, About 4,000 were registered online to participate – saw a restored vintage hook and ladder fire truck, rescued a runaway dachshund and walked two miles, which is a v. easy bit of light exercise for me.
working on my novel and on cover art for a self-publishing ebook anthology of my short stories.
Chilling with some raisin bran, thankful my beeper didn’t go off overnight and I got to sleep in for once.
Hope you enjoyed the beautiful weather we’ve had here in Austin the last few days. Nothing like a late spring cold* front in Texas.
* not actually cold
Rainy here in Gettysburg, PA. I will probably watch a Chaplin film and maybe crank out some words today for my blog. I just discovered your fantastic blog as a link from Panda’s Thumb, so thanks for the great work! I’ll spend some time today perusing your archives.
I just posted some words on Rainer Fassbinder’s WORLD ON A WIRE: have you ever seen it? Very PKD way before Hollywood began mining (and corrupting, for the most part) his work. Take care:) Alex
Spent the day in New Orleans under less than happy circumstances (long story, family medical problems). On the up side, I did have an excellent po-boy at Guy’s while we waited out the rain.
Rain and sunshine alternating here is SC. The biggest storm is due in a while, and they say we may get a tornado. So I’m staying indoors, and will spend the day curled up with a good book or two.
Working on a paper about the intersection of Buddhism and Shintoism.
Getting a M.Div. is a lot more work than getting a MBA.
I’m having a good day. My wife and I are atttending Starfest, a media SF con held each year in Denver.
Saturday has been quite long already even though the day is still relatively young. I’ve been up with my husband since about 4 am. Poor guy has a fever and can’t keep anything down, including any anti-nausea medicine. Thankfully he’s been able to sleep through the past couple hours, maybe its just one of those weird 24 hour stomach bugs. Here’s hoping!
I saw you’re flying into Dayton, if that’s Dayton, OH be careful when you step off the plane, its quite windy in Ohio today!
Up before the rest of the family this morning. Being the nanny~granny in a blended Asian family comes with many blessings. I do tend towards the ‘baby-brain’ these days so it’s unusual to be in an adult forum. =) Weather typical; fog over San Francisco at the moment but could change at any moment. The Bay breathes in and out.
Up here in Winnipeg it snowed all night. But I got dressed and went to my Tai Chi class. We can’t let a little cold weather and solid precipitation get us down.
I surfed a Draculabot from the Moon!! So you can all suck it!
H/t to The Adventures of Dr. McNinja
Woke up to “presents” from our new beagle (or as we’ve been lovingly calling them “beagle bagels”).
Going out to lunch and a bookstore trip with the husband and kid.
Home to laundry and sewing…I lead an exciting life.
(BTW, I think that Mother Nature gets temporary multiple personality disorder in April. We start with snow and ice…go up to nice warm short-sleeve and shorts weather…then it is all damp and cold today…wow.)
In Houston, awaiting pleasant lunch companion. Weather is gorgeous, lunch will be on a patio… how rarely does one get to call Houston simply gorgeous…
I’d hate to be dealing with airports and schedules in this mess. Just ug. Hope you’re home soon.
And when you get there, you may want to take a look at this when you get the chance (after greetings to wife, daughter, various pets, and so on and so forth):
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/pandemonium-dems-jam-panic-republicans-with-even-more-conservative-budget.php?
Getting ready for the monthly meeting of my local SF club.
It was great to sleep in this morning. Just finished reading Agent to the Stars, which has been sitting around here for a while. Don’t know how many times it made me laugh out loud (even though my wife doesn’t like it when it interferes with her reading). Probably try to get some work done this afternoon, in between checking on those poor Red Sox.
I spend nearly every Saturday morning in Dallas.
Well, Garland.
Long gone- it is Sunday in New Zealand.
The first windy & wet winter storm is here, as well, but we’ll still go to the outdoor farmers market, get our fruit & veggies for the week and do some cooking.
Maybe some mushroom hunting, too.
Spent the morning with my science club (4th and 5th graders) out in the wind and occasional rain at Brukner Nature Center (outside Troy, Ohio). Trust me, you’re not coming home to lovely weather here, either.
We had a good time, but it tuckered me out. Just spent the last hour laying on the couch, half watching the Reds game and half snoozing.
It’s a really, really beautiful Saturday in Texas if you’re not in A) an airport or B) a wildfire area. Think damp thoughts, folks.
It’s gray and rainy near Pittsburgh. Missed the morning entirely due to the awesome superpowers of Nyquil (even without the alcohol in it, it still kicks ass… who knew??) and a considerate husband and family who let Mommy sleep late because she’s sick. When I finally dragged my coughing ass out of bed, instead of feeling relaxed at having gotten to stay in bed for about 14 hours, I felt utterly panicked. Nearly half the day has passed me by… What is wrong with this picture?? Hope you got home safely.
Saturday, 10 o’clock. A small apartment in a small city in Finland. Diary.
I read the blog of a science fiction writer, and wish the pizza deliveries didn’t stop so unholy early here. But no can do; when the sun sets, the bearclans come out and it won’t be safe, not in a city as small and wooded as this. Lately they have even been shaved and stuffed into suits; if they learn the shibboleths too, there will not be anyone left in the morning. By the golden nail of the heavens’ pillar, how foolish we were to think the war was won, just because you can take a stroll in Helsinki without a bear-cane when the summer is high. Now the winter lingers, the knocking at the door comes more often, and less often is a man. But as long as the karhu don’t think to chew the Internet cables, I can still tell the world how we live. As long as… as the next winter isn’t as bad as this was, or there will be no-one to speak into the audient void.
Just the snow, the karhu, and the baying of Winter and his wolves.
So yes, a Saturday as usual in Finland.
I went into London with my Fiance to register our wedding list with John Lewis. And somehow I have accidentally come home with 3 new pairs of shoes. Very good day out!
The day dawned clear and bright. The armies arrayed themselves, facing each other across the unblemished field. One band stood fast before the cardboard towers and crenelations of their fortified outpost. The other group manned the trebuchet, straining as they moved the arm into position.
The ammunition was loaded into the sleeve, and they all backed away. A young man pulled hard on the cable that held the latch in place. The counterweight dropped, and the arm swung around. At the top of its sweep, it flung its missile across the clear blue sky.
One of the defenders raised his sword in defiance. Another stood hapless at the point of impact and was struck. He staggered, and liquid splattered the grass at his feet.
The water balloon… had found its mark.
(We just returned from the birthday party of my cousin’s eleven-year-old son.)
Just finished a nine hour drive to our hotel in Jersey so we can play in New York City for the next few days.
Got woke up early by the tail end of the front that kept you from leaving on schedule, wondering if the winds would make another pine tree in my backyard snap like a twig (didn’t, thankfully), then kept getting up because my 18-year old cat decided it was time to scream for food three times. Finally got up for good after the storm, made coffee for my wife and I, then headed across town for our bi-weekly massages (hey, when you’re in your mid-fifties and getting achy, they’re worth it), then lunch out, shopping a bit, then home to find out my eldest daughter needed a new graphing calculator for her math test at the local community college tomorrow.
NOW I get to print out and e-file our taxes. Woo-hoo!
An absence of dragons devoutly to be wished for, 4/1 ficpranks notwithstanding…
Happy safe returns!
*absorbing John Barnes’ Directive 51 (out in MMPB)*
My house is about 7 miles north as the crow flies from where you are/were at DFW airport. :::waves:::
I Spent the morning and afternoon with family and friends at Scarborough Faire in Waxahachie, about an hour south of Dallas.
It was a beautiful day. The temperature was perfect and the wind was finally down to a pleasant breeze instead of the sign-bending tree-breaking winds we had earlier this week.
Hope you get home soon so that you can enjoy being with your family too.
Woke up at oh dark thirty to random husband noise. Woke up again to involuntary Cat Massage (she starts at the ankle and kneads her way up to the groin, pulling the blankets with her. Funny, if you aren’t the one sleeping.) Woke up again to husband asking if I was coming to breakfast with them (Them being the people going south on a shopping expedition today; I was not) – that was about sixish. Woke up for real about 7:30. Read the internet, assembled a bread pudding and put in the fridge to soak together, did laundry, spent several hours repairing plaster on a church renovation project, which included a nice lunch of things I would never have assembled myself, came home, started another load of laundry, complained mightily on the internet in various places, performed random acts of pet maintenance, ate a peanut butter and Fluff sandwich for supper, and am just about to pull the bread pudding out of the oven.
Argh. Worked 8 hours in the produce department helping a friend, no soda machines at work inside or out, and got to my car and discovered that I had lost my keys somewhere inside the store. Glahhh! wife picked me up & after a 45 minute search found the spare car keys. I hope You got home safe & hugged the wife and your daughter. tomorrow I sleep late & find out later if I locked my keys in my locker accidentally. Does Ginko Biloba work? I’m going to start taking it tomorrow.
Well, woke-up to a power outage (due to the storms yesterday). I was supposed to be traveling today myself, but I postponed my trip due to the bad weather in the Northeast.
All in all, NOT a good Saturday.
Peter Sursi @ #3: Hey, I was there yesterday. Bought a coffee mug in the shape of a hand grenade from a Thai potter (“Please pull pin before putting in microwave”); alas, couldn’t afford his blowtorch teapot.
Too wet today to do much except shop and cook.
Slept all day, now getting ready for a 9-hour graveyard shift. (Protip: If anyone ever offers you a job in radio, avoid eye contact and quickly back away.)
Oh hells yeah! Austin has some great order in pizza not to mention the best Taco Bells in the US of A!
How was my Saturday? Nowhere near as glamorous as yours, and that’s pretty sad.
I had a fantastically creative day. I painted and made postcards to give away all morning (http://pencilshavings.typepad.com/the_postcard_project/) and then napped in the afternoon, despite insane offspring racing each other up and down the hall outside my door. Then did some more painting while husband read to said offspring in the evening. It has been a great day.
Bloody hell. Wish I’d known you were in Austin. Got connectioms there. You could do so much worse … Like Cleveland. Or Cincinnati. Nice town, Austin.
Went to a farmers’ market and bought purple carrots. And beetroot. Now contemplating an all-purple meal, if I can only think of a way to make meat purple.
Suspect I will default to beetroot and feta ravioli, and use the carrots tomorrow.
A tornado skirtted my parents house Saturday afternoon. I drove down to help them rescue books from my mother’s room- where a tree has taken up residence. The family is fine, but some of her autographed copies of Terry Pratchett and Niel Gaimen novels are soaked and dusted with fiberglass insulation. Thankfully, her copy of The Android’s Dream escaped the crazed oak.
Depressing and full of self doubt. Personally in poor shape, and Saturday was like every other sad day in my life.
It”s early Sunday morning north of Seattle so I can make a full report. Saturday was full of errands including getting an appt at The Apple Store to take in my wife’s I phone 4. The problem was confirmed and we left 15 minutes later with a new phone. Much less hassle then expected. We then decided to make the rest of the day “us time” Lingered over coffee at our favorite shop, did a few more errands and went out to dinner. All this while both college age daughters were at home watching old movies. My wife and I got to spend the whole day together just reconnecting after a rather hectic week. Just a lovely day. What was the weather like? You know, I just didn’t notice.
It may not compare to the accidental purchase of 3 pairs of shoes or purple carrots, but it was a darn near perfect day for me.
Whoa, dude…pizza?! You sybarite!
I’d spent all Friday being a Zombie, so Saturday was mostly about washing out the blood, and then a bit of cultural refreshment at the British Museum.
Drove through that very storm to Atlanta for a continuing education course (a review of neuroanatomy and neurocirculation for physical therapists and PT assistants). Drive was moderately scary; course was great; sojourn in the hotel in between was the worst I’ve ever experienced. Walls between rooms apparently made out of crepe paper and my loud neighbors took shifts (11 to midnight, 2 to 3, 6 onward) keeping me awake.
I did get one good line out of it though, from the female half of the couple on the 2 to 3 a.m. shift: “I got a certified letter from [name of hospital redacted] saying ‘it’s time for your annual mammogram’. I ain’t GOT no fucking TITTIES, you ASSHOLES!”
We could have done a lot better for you, John, than pizza at the airport Holiday Inn! But you were exhausted and sleep was better for you than socializing. I did a meeting Saturday, had lunch with a friend, discussing current WsIP. Then returned to Tax Hell to finish the taxes. It is not fair to find out after donating another new copy of a book to the libs that people are now paying over $500 for new copies of the book.
Next time you come to Austin, we’ll do better, if you’re not booked to your eyebrows.
Spent the day at the Regional ADHD Conference, which was very good, then three hours walking through IKEA with my wife. To home, then slept the clock around. I’m still tired.