I Am Flying, With the Help of an Airplane
Posted on May 14, 2011 Posted by John Scalzi 97 Comments
To be fair, the airplane is doing most of the work.
I bought inflight internet at extortionate rates, but then I get to write it off as a business expense because I’m on tour, so that downgrades the rate from extortionate to merely excessive. So, hi! How is your Saturday so far? Please tell me and don’t spare the detail, because I wish to get full value from this expensive wifi.
Are you using your cloud-based computer? Does it work better when hanging with real clouds?
Yardwork. bleah. Next I get to do an oil change. Will treat myself to doing a batch of laundry later.
First day of vacation…
So far my Saturday has been a bit ‘meh’, but thanks for asking all the same. I’ll be missing Doctor Who to have dinner with friends and then those so-called friends are going to force me to watch the Eurovision Song Contest. You’d be doing me a big favour if you killed me now.
Thanks.
My Saturday is great, John. Doing a little catch up work for a couple of legal clients and putting in for a part-time gig which might help round out my solo practice. This morning, I took the kids down for a donut – the big one likes the chocolate bars, the little one likes sprinkles – while we let Mom sleep in. Later today, it’s science fair at the preschool with lots of baking soda and vinegar rockets at the like (I imagine the specific impulse of baking soda and vinegar has to be about 3, but it’s still fun). Later, hopefully before the rain comes in, I’m hoping to get in a little geocaching with my son and nephew. Right now, though, I’m going to help my son count the money in his piggy bank. Thanks for asking.
Just picked up a Sears GT6000 garden tractor. Can’t attach the mowing deck; missing a parts pack. Sigh. Still, will be cool to finally mow the
lawnweeds. And for winter, will be able to throw on tire chains and a snow plow blade. No more getting snowed in!So, my day so far; need to call Sears and head back to the store, assuming they received the parts pack with tractor. After this, if the winds die down, will try a raku firing and maybe block out my web comic: Victorian Chicks in Space (VCiS). So far, have an Edwardian lady waking up along a road out in the middle of nowhere, America, getting a ride from a guy in a beat up Camaro, who like to listen to The Monkees. COOL!
I got to sleep in this morning for the first time in recent memory — and I needed it! Hubby is making breakfast for me. Biscuits and steak. Yum! Of course my idyllic life will change when my moody teenaged daughters wake up. But hey! Life is good, anyway.
EmeraldCite:
I went ahead and brought my netbook, on the theory that occasionally I might be somewhere i would not have a connection to the Internet. Like on a plane, for example. Silly, silly me.
I have to take the cat to the vet today. She’s overdue for shots.
Other than that, it’s raining, with more forecast for several days. But then, since I live in SW Ohio, you likely knew that.
I have to finish the research for a paper on the intersection of Buddhism and Shintoism, which has been really interesting so far. Then I have to get at least a few pages into writing a sermon on Universalism.
I’m just a computer geek, so this sort of writing is really difficult for me.
I’m headed to a bear-safety orientation for my field crew here in Anchorage. We are flying them into the Alaska wilderness for a month and a half project. Plenty of air machines involved including three different helicopters, and a couple of different fixed wings. Oddly the crews will also have Internet connection in their camps. I love technology.
Woke up, got out of bed
Dragged a battery powered mower across my lawn
Found my way to the garage and plugged it in
And looking up, I noticed water falling on my face
Found my soap and grabbed shampoo
Cleaned myself in seconds flat
Found my way downstairs and had some brew
And somebody spoke and made me do more chores
Ah
Saturday so far…
Slept in. Rather nice after a long work week and a nice trip to Lexington. Heard a sweet sneak peak read of a rather cool book that will come out after the world might end.
Reading a new addition to my library Fuzzy Nation. Rather enjoyable so far.
If I could be spending today reading this awesome new book I just downloaded on my Nook**, it’d be a great day, but as it is, I have to go help my Mom pack her house.
**The only reason I’m reading it on my Nook is because MY Barnes & Noble didn’t have Fuzzy Nation in stock when I tried to go buy it.
I’m sitting in my office, watching football streaming across the internet and waiting for a SQL query to finish.
I would not recommend this as an exciting way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
In a bit I’m gonna head over to Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore’s 18th birthday bash. I’m assuming you’ll be there sometime during your Clarion week?
I’m working overtime today and tomorrow – commencement for our state university and I’m part of the maintenance crew, so not much of a regular weekend for me.
But one of the others is a good cook. Brunch today, egg sandwiches tomorrow.
My morning started with a phone call from my sweetie in Afghanistan. Immediately, I will be heading to the local purveyor of donuts for a coffee and hash browns, then out of the city to the farm, to pick up eggs and salad greens and to see where my fruit and veg will be coming from this summer.
And that is a terrible run-on sentence, but it’s Saturday morning, and my internal editor can’t much be arsed to care. She hasn’t had that coffee yet, see.
Well, last week my daughter had a severe mysterious diaper rash that lasted about 6 hours, possible pink eye (ruled out, even though her daycare was infested), a very high fever for 2 full days, an ear infection, and a “touch” of bronchitis (we believe the fever was related to those last two points). Meanwhile, my husband is finishing his master’s degree during a one-week “intensive” class (8 hours each Saturday, 4 hours each weeknight) while we’re both working full-time. And now *I* have pink eye. In both eyes. Pink eyes. This month sucks.
I’m glad I’m not so bored I want to read about my Saturday morning.
I fixed my cable tv remote control.
Two days ago, I suddenly stopped being able to change channels. I worked and worked at figuring out how to do it, and then I realized that I push buttons all the time — I’m a good typist and a good musician. Not world class at either, but better than the general population.
And the problem exists on both the Harmony universal remote I usually use and the remote that came with the set-top box.
So I googled “comcast tv remote unresponsive” and came up with a post that said turning the box off for a minute or so might help, so I did that this morning, and it seems to have worked.
Oh, and I found out that my brother and sister-in-law will be redeployed to Afghanistan, probably in January (his second tour, her third). So, yes. Fun times.
You have my sympathy, Richard. I spend way too much time waiting in SQL hell.
Slept in. About to negotiate whether the out-laws come here or we drive there to spend the afternoon together. My vote is we don’t have to drive 200 miles round trip.
Wishing we had BBC America so we could watch Neil Gaiman’s Doctor Who episode tonight, but looking forward to seeing it tomorrow at a friend’s house.
Enjoy that expensive internet!
I was going to hike Mt. Tolmie but it’s looking like it might start thundering down with rain any minute so perhaps I’ll just conquer my local coffee shop instead and finish reading a Clash of Kings. After that, I’ll probably take my birthday gift certificate to Bolen Books and get some new reading material. Any suggestions? ;)
QueenTess/Adrith: My best wishes for your relatives/special people to have a safe tour overseas, and a speedy return stateside!
My Saturday so far has been a whole lotta same ol same ol. Woke up, snugggled in bed with hubby for a bit, then Simba (male bluepoint Siamese) decided to sit on top of us and announce his desire for breakfast. Got up, got dressed, took meds, fed cats. Came in here (my office) to work on my latest kleenex box (facebook.com/jennifer.r.ewing, you’ll have to friend me if you want to see pics). Caitlin (female sealpoint ragdoll) is sleeping in her usual spot on top of my desk. Hobbes (male tigerstripe) was just here; he and Simba have departed for parts unknown (master bedroom, if I had to guess). Probably gonna spend part of the evening with my inlaws. Fortunately, I love them a whole lot more than I do my own Parental Units.
:-)
Working on my Big Bloated Epic Fantasy. It’s harder than it looks. I can’t imagine authors doing multiple books like this. They must know something I don’t. I needed to know the exact date a quarter of the way through the book so I had to go back and take notes. Silly me. So that was more info than you needed to know, but you are paying for this so I might as well make it worth it.
Hey can you see Russia from up there yet?
Thanks you for asking. Today I bit the bullet and listed Meteor House’s first book, The Worlds of Philip Jose Farmer 1: Protean Dimensions, on amazon.com.
Posting to my blogs and pestering total strangers. Why?
Bought Fuzzy Nation on Thursday, finished it late Friday. Great read! I’m a big Piper fan, and enjoyed his Fuzzy stories, although not as much as his other work, largely because the good guy/bad guy differentiation was too stark to be easily believable. I found your characterizations much more realistic. Besides, it was fun seeing Papa Jack as a scheming, hustling rogue :).
I’m currently working on some art, but we’re preparing to meet you at your signing today! Woo!
My mother bought Fuzzy Nation from the book club and we’re still waiting on it. (This is the downside to the book club, to be fair.) This is my second Saturday off my slavish retail job in a row and a third isn’t coming since my manager has issues saying “No,” in this case to people scheduling time off on top of one another.
My saturday has so far been spent planting out baby sunflowers (too big to still be called seedlings, too small to be actual plants), guzzling large amounts of tea, and anticipating the Neil Gaiman Dr Who episode which will be on in an hour’s time.
Sunflowers planted are of the varieties, Big Smile, Red velvet, and Chocolat. I’ve also planted out some Japanese Aquligia baby plants. And some Sundial Lupins. I have some foxglove seeds to plant too. But I’ve saving those for Sunday.
I am better today than I was this morning at 3AM, when my back injury woke me up. On the bright side, since I was awake and not drifting off very soon, I took the time to devour Fuzzy Nation. It was the good.
Hmm. Well, I cooked breakfast (scrambled eggs with spinach, mushrooms and feta – yum!), and then I made some instant coffee (don’t judge me!), and now I’m not grading papers (final grades are due on Wednesday. I hate grading papers. I’m really close to tossing them down the stairs and giving grades based on which step they land on). I’m also in the process of half-assedly planning a trip to Kansas City next month – I need to do research, and my application for a travel grant was rejected, so I need a place to stay that costs nothing. And a teleportation device – whose working on those?
Nothing to say, but it gladdens my heart somewhat to know that these are probably the most expensive words I’ll ever type! Provided you’re still on that plane when you read them…
Oh Vishnu – too many student papers – who is working on teleportation devices, rather than what the hell I wrote.
It’s probably too late, but how is the internet on the plane for Streaming some WAR (Cisco kid was a friend of mine)
It’s my Birthday today. Not planning on doing any work on the novel and later I’m having cake, but then I will run my D&D game so I guess there is some work after all.
Booked the cat in for her annual jabs, returned a book to the library, and managed to unexpectedly bump into a secondary school friend who I’ve never gotten to see much since those days. No prizes for guessing which of those was the most enjoyable :p
Since then, I’ve been helping re-pot our decking plants. It’s not quite done, but it’s shaping up nicely.
Had a pleasant surprise when I opened my Color Nook. Fuzzy Nation had arrived, I pre-ordered it a couple of weeks ago, now the hard part…I’ll reread Piper before I read yours, it’s been 20+ years and I want to revisit his world before I dive into your version. After reading The Lost Colony then Zoe’s tale, I expect it to be awesome, BTW, am I a stalker if I have an e-shelf named John Scalzi?
KenS:
No, that makes you a valued reader!
Doing Laundry! Ignoring mopping!! About to go knit! I know, it’s all excitement all the time around watercolorland!!! Someone come give my dog a bath! Oh, and vacuum!! Thanks!
I got $150 in gift certificates (60th birthday) and burned thru them in about an hour. Bought everything B&N that had your name on it. Maybe that will ease the pain of your plane internet connection. Trying to limit my purchases to $30 per week.
I’m the guy who had you sign Zoe’s Tale (Armadillocon 30) so I could go to a gun show on Sunday, don’t lend that one out!
I just finished reading Fuzzy Nation in two days and I’m drained. Nice update to the story.
I’m heading into work to fix an emergency. This is boring because I had planned to be buying a book off you and getting you to sign it. Boo. Stupid work.
My day’s been interesting, thanks for asking. :)
I spent most of the morning at dress rehearsal with the 3-12 year olds at church. Tomorrow we’re doing a play during services. I am the assistant director (otherwise known as the child wrangler) and despite the cries of “I’m bored!” and my near-constant admonishing “No, you cannot beat him with your sword” I think it will all turn out as it was meant to be. After relaxing on the interwebs for a while, I’ll be heading out to my friend’s for a shindig… the annual Beer, Burgers and Birthdays celebration.
and Odin, my rather obnoxious cat, wishes to make his presence known, as he keeps wandering across the keyboard.
@ #8 Hugh57
Wow, we’re having the same day so far, except I’m in NC. Took Psyche, the psychotic calico, to the vet. Overcast, sprinkling.
About to go to discount flooring store in Raleigh with younger son. Then Mexican food and watch the most recent Game of Thrones that my older son recorded, because we don’t have cable. Knit while watching, then finish reading Among Others. Excitement galore.
Went to watch my granddaughter at a piano competition. Soon will spend some time helping rehabilitate a guy in a half-way house. Opera opening night (Falstaff) tonight. Just typical Saturday stuff.
Hoping to make it to Borderlands in San Francisco tomorrow — will there be bacon?
I’ve been a fan for years. I’ve read most all of your books and recommended the Old Man’s War series to almost all of my friends. Imagine my level of upset finding out that your visit to Seattle comes no more than 4 hours after i get my tonsils cut out. I will be too drugged up and useless to make my way out to see you. Enjoy Seattle, John. I hope you get nice weather because this place is beautiful in the sunshine.
I’m getting ready to go to the SoCal Cosplay Ball, which means I can’t see you today. A shame, because I still have some of those “Mediocre Walloons” badge ribbons left over from when you came out for LosCon.
But my lovely wife and I will be wearing our “Kristi Smart” coats, so we’ve got shiny peacock feathers tonight. It won’t be “cosplay” for us, but we are trying to dress up and get into the spirit of things.
The vest I’m wearing features some lovely purple and cream silk brocade on the lapels and collar. Since I don’t have any off-white shirts of any kind, I’ll be pairing that with a long sleeve purple button-up shirt.
The event is being held in the hills of Sierra Madre, and is being run by a bunch of fans who think anyone over 26 is “old.” We’re in our late forties, so we’re used to be twice as old as the participants, and organizers too in this case.
The four people organizing it are pulling it off from a standing start, and I want to help support their efforts. And it’s only $25 for an afternoon and evening at this lodge up in the woods, with dinner and a dance, and everyone dressing up nice. Probably the cheapest ball I’m likely to attend this decade.
I overslept this morning and panicked when I realized that my kids bus should arrive any second, then I remembered it was Saturday. Then I panicked because I had to leave for a meeting in 15 minutes. Now I am back at home relaxing until I need to go to my daughters Bridging ceremony.
I got up, made breakfast ( bacon, waffles, eggs), cleaned the kitchen, and sat down to surf for a bit. I”m heading out to do some shopping and errands.
Me, I started with house cleaning and laundry, and debating whether I want to read Fuzzy Nation in the lovely hardcover that Amazon sent me, or if I want to shelve that one, and buy a copy for my Nook. Still haven’t decided.
Then, I stopped by Whatever, and read the comments here, and rushed off to Amazon to buy The Worlds of Philip Jose Farmer 1: Protean Dimensions. Thanks for the heads up, Mike! I hope you can get it to South Carolina quickly. I’ve been a fan of all things Farmer for a long time.
Not that I’m not a fan of all things Scalzi as well, of course. But I started reading Farmer in high school, and since I started high school before you were born, John, I couldn’t read any Scalzi works then.
My Saturday is great…I am reading Fuzzy Nation on my iPad, slowly, because I don’t want it to end.
I have cycled 6 miles in the sun to go to a large secondhand bookshop and bought books by Moorcock, Vance, Brooks, Hugh Cook, Chris Wooding, Robert Holdstock, Tepper, Sara Douglass, Hambly, Rawn and Tanith Lee – that’s 19 books for £35, including 2 hardbacks. Then cycled back home 6 miles half of which time it was raining. Next week: take my bike on the train to go to a different secondhand bookshop, then a train back to manchester for more bookshops and if i have enough time a train out to yet another secondhand bookshop. Yeah I just started a new job after 3 years unemployed so i have money to spend (which does include preordering Little Fuzzy, yay)
Up at 6:30 to feed allegedly starving cats and walk and feed dogs. Back to bed at 8:30. Up again at 10:30. Laundry, lunch (pasta with tomato-and-cream sauce), websurfing, more dog walking. As soon as middle daughter is done with her brunch shift at work we’re going to see “Thor” (unless she’s working late, in which case–tomorrow).
Matinee price at the movies here is up to $7 now for regular 2-D features. God, I feel old.
Got up, went to get a huge breakfast with my girlfriend and another friend at a diner nearby, and then checked out the huge sale the Penguins are having today. Did not buy a game-used hockey stick, but got a pilsner glass and a player shirt (yeah Paul Martin!).
After that, I went to donate blood, was told that I have a temperature of 99.6 and can’t, so I went back home with my girlfriend, finished reading Fuzzy Nation (which I enjoyed immensely), and just got back from picking up some groceries.
So, yeah. Fairly busy day for me so far.
Just spent the morning and part of the afternoon finishing “Wise Man’s Fear”. Not a bad way to spend a rainy Saturday. Tonight is Doctor Who. At this very moment I am putting off doing housework.
I spent three hours pulling weeds on my front lawn. Now I’m trying to recover from kneeling so long on the grass. Getting old sucks.
By the way, I’m way excited to see you at the signing in Salt Lake City this Wednesday. You’ll be only the second author who I’ve gone to a signing for. (Brandon Sanderson is the other, but he’s local, so it’s easy to get to one of his signings).
Lets see.. I woke up at the butt crack of dawn on my birthday.. ya know which happens to be today.. couldn’t sleep so I busted out my Kindle (early birthday present from someone who really likes me) and started reading a book by some weirdo writer named John Scalzi
oh uh yeah.. *grin* Enjoy your flight!
camping I’m unseasonably cold (and rainy) weather with my son’s cub scout troop. Tonight I even have a tent large enough where I don’t have to assume the fetal position all night.
Started my day by heading over to the University Bookstore where I picked up a copy of Fuzzy Nation and my ticket to Kane Hall on Tuesday. (You must be something if I’m willing to drag myself over to the U District twice.) I was happy to discover that Saturday morning at 10 may be the only time parking is humanly possible over there. Then it was back home for moving the three little chicks from their brooder in the basement out to check out the coop they’ll be living in one day, while I put down new bedding. In a minute, it’s out to clean the grown birds’ house, so they’ll all be fine when we leave for our weekend getaway, ending with a gourmet meal at the Willows Inn on Lummi Island.
So, like most days, good stuff at either end, with a lot of chicken shit in the middle.
Spent the day thus far showing my mother (83) the sights hereabouts,
helping her re-schedule her return flight, and finding an early lunch for
us both. Double-Doubles were mutually enjoyed, yay!
Saturday thus far: Woke up, got the kids breakfast, brought the trash to the garbage dump, then went and graduated from college at age 41 (never too late, right?). Felt very, very old doing the whole cap-and-gown-pomp-and-circumstance thing with all the 20-somethings, but A) I wasn’t actually the oldest person getting my Bachelor’s and B) the whole experience was pretty cool and only slightly surreal. So, pretty good day so far :-). Also – stay in school, kids – from what I understand, college is significantly easier if you finish it *before* you have a full-time job and 4 children…
Well, my sister is getting married today, so that’s pretty much my day. Hopefully it goes well, for her sake. But right now I’m waiting for the ceremony to start, surrounded by people I don’t know.
Hopefully my little story helped justify the cost of WiFi.
Am I a stalker if I have a cat named John Scalzi?
I have internet again! Thus far today I checked flights, made coffee, waited for the cable guy, desperately tried to get my landlord to show up to give the cable guy access to the backyard (which she did, at a jog, for which I love her), took a load of stuff to the salvation army, and bought a new scratching post for my cat. Please god let him actually use it. I win at productivity today. Or at least I will once I get this press release written…
Have a great event in LA tonight!
Went to bed at 3. Got up, made breakfast, …, kissed wife goodbye and went to a meeting. Where I didn’t have to give the presentation I was up until 3 finishing. I’ll save it for some other emergency presentation. Stopped at a Half-Price books, bought nothing. Stopped at restaurant supply store, bought big scoopy silicone spatulas and a #24 ice cream scoop.
I have to recommend you look at http://skysurvey.org; there are downloads there to tempt you to exceed your bandwidth limit. Safe journey.
I’ll not be driving over to Westwood (from Covina) to see you today — mostly because, being now “profoundly deaf” means that I’d only be looking at you, which (to be perfectly frank) is not likely to be a particularly thrilling experience, so I’ll settle for ordering one of those rare non-signed copies through my local independent bookstore. I also didn’t drive down to Carson for the International Printing Museum’s Program on Wooden Type, but spent the morning & early afternoon hacking away at weeds in the back yard. There are (I suppose) worse ways to spend one’s remaining hours.
I’m watching the historic opening of the Morganza Spillway here in LA and worried about all the folks who are probably going to get flooded and hoping it does some good for others. Catfish, my cat, is playing with his new catnip mouse and trying to distract me but right now it’s not working too well.
Looks like my day is about as exciting as everyone else’s. Housework & such. And doing a swell job of procrastinating on it as well…like reading 67 comments on your blog.
Hmph, looks like the recycling by the door is not going to get to the respective collection bins on its own!
Drove my car-less, no-driver’s-license sister around to do her shopping. Watched the first half hour of a very strange movie. Checked Facebook. Checked Fark. Checked my Smashwords sales (still abysmal). Got the mail. Now, writing words you’ll never read. Dreading going to my second shift job. Wishing I had the money to buy Fuzzy Nation. And wishing you well on your book tour.
I spent the day at Bristol ComicCon, met Bryan Talbot, chatted with Paul Cornell, then watched Neil Gaiman’s Doctor Who episode with a bar full of comics fans..
It was a good day.
Woke up, got a haircut, out to lunch, now sitting in Barnes & Noble waiting for the signing to start. Unfortunately did not have time to grab a In-n-Out themed gift.
So far it’s been pretty good, although I did not sleep well last night. I was up several times in the night, and finally got up at about 6 to make coffee and start the morning. However, my stomach was feeling a touch odd, so the coffee grew cold on my desk while I made sure the Internet had survived the night, and then I went back to bed. I managed to get several more hours of quality shuteye, then woke up and drank my cold coffee, feeling much revived. Then I started a stew, and now the house smells good.
Considering I had to work, it’s been not too bad a day. Finished up my apazine so I can get it in the mail Monday. Caught a glimpse (via the TV set up in the meeting room of the library here) of the gates on the Morganza Spillway opening and the water flowing out. For us in Baton Rouge, this is a good thing as it means we can stop watching the river water creeping up the levee. The last picture I saw, it was getting very close to the top.
But best of all, I’m counting down the hours until my v*a*c*a*t*i*o*n! A whole week and a half away from work—ah, joy.
finshing up the paperwork for getting a recipe published,
Just got back from a Russian Food Festival, and will be going to a Greek Food Fesival in June.
Boise Idaho has a very large immigrant community, there are some advantages to this.
Need to do a review of a book, too.
I just drove 74 mph on I-20 for 360 miles from Dallas to Midland Texas today to get home to my bride, Mary Nell. Well worth it. Takes 5.5 hours. I could have flown but then my silly car would have been left behind in Dallas.
Cut the back 40 (more like back 2 compared to your lot, but it is my slice of earth). Fell asleep watching Top Gear on PVR and now trying to enjoy a drink on the deck whilel text-complaining with my friend 2 doors over about the guy between us cutting his lawn at 8pm — run mower for 45 seconds, stop, empty bag, lather, rinse repeat for the past 1/2 hour.
Overall, a fun-filled day!
I spent my working day on the phone, talking to some people who were idiots (although most were not). During breaks, I read (and am still reading) a book called Red Mutiny. A good book.
The new kitten has been checked out by the vet and given his first set of shots. The trauma instigated a 6 or so hour nap…
You’ve no doubt landed by now but I went to the dentist, went to yoga, bought some flowers and veggies at the greenmarket, headed home, made dinner and then dialed up the internet to find out what was happening to the mississippi. Am pleased to hear I’m not the only one interested in the Morganza Spillway.
Hopefully your flight is finished by now. I am up late tonight because I was finishing Little Fuzzy. A wonderful read and the very end made me a little teary. Now I have to be patient until June to get a coot of you version here in the UK.
Spent most of the day at our annual Himalayan Faire: Tibetan and Indian food (mo-mos, yum!), music, incense and Bollywood dancing. Oh, and chanting monks this year. And connecting with a lots of friends I haven’t seen in awhile. And having to walk with two canes and hurting anyway (yuck).
Hope your trip is going well.
Update: Got my birthday present (Fuzzy Nation) a week early because kid wanted to go to bookstore. Finished it already. Awesome read, and the line beginning “Get off…” made me jump up and dance.
Data point: the Barnes and Noble in Athens GA turned out to have ordered 2 copies…both of which were still on the shelving cart in the back of the store. On the one hand: IDIOTS! On the other hand, if they weren’t idiots, I would not have been able to acquire the book today, so there’s that.
Minnesota was cold, damp, and miserable today. Seriously crappy. We had some friends over so that their kid could trade Pokemon with my kid (on DS) and then we went to see some kids perform a school production of “Bye Bye Birdie.” Which was a pretty good day for how utterly awful it was outside.
I am hoping for better weather tomorrow in which to go biking.
Woke to my son’s alarm going off because he’s off camping with his Boy Scout troop and didn’t turn it off for the weekend. Crawled back into bed to try to get a little more sleep because I was up too late last night finishing Little Fuzzy. Gave up and got ready to go teach three PTA training classes all day. Picked up a couple of large pizzas to split with my other son and watched Kick Ass. Wrapped up the day by finishing conquering the world as Caesar in Civ V.
I spent most of my Saturday on an airplane from Denver to Dallas, reading, of all things, Fuzzy Nation. So I’m glad you asked, despite the fact that this post surely comes too late for you to read it over exorbitant airplane wi-fi.
We drove south for an hour to Tacoma to go to Cabela’s for a camping gear sale. We went this weekend because we figured travel will suck next Saturday, what with the Rapture and everything.
Actually, in Seattle proper, we doubt we will even notice the Rapture. But the state should be empty from the Cascades west into Idaho.
Well, I can cover my entire Saturday by now, since it’s past midnight.
I got up early, got picked up by my sensei, and trecked out to Frankfurt, KY to judge a karate belt test. Got to meet some excellent students, and spar a guy nearly a foot bigger than I am, who fortunately has good control to go with his excellent kicks. I traded him kicks for punches to the floating ribs, since I couldn’t reach his head. Afterwards he treated us to lunch out at a very nice little Mexican restaurant. Then we drove home, I helped my husband put the hatchback on his project Porsche (get your own Porsche, considerable assembly required!), had a nap, studied some Japanese, talked to several people in other states, fed the kids, and am now winding up by catching up on my computer reading before heading to bed.
Do you not have a mobile wifi plan, or does that not cover inflight wifi (Boingo?)
I taught a friend how to crochet. Knit a few rows on the sock I worked on at the Columbus signing. Did some cleaning. Found out that friends that had been at the signing had their car hit while they were parked there. If you drove the new car, I hope yours was ok. I’ve been carrying Fuzzy Nation around all day, now I get to sit and read for a bit.
Went to the Scarborough Faire in Waxahachie, TX. My red-headed 15 month old son gave away plastic gold coins to anyone who caught his fancy, mostly pretty girls, not surprising. We ate steak on a stake, watched falconry, feats of strength, bravery, and my son’s ability to charm anyone within twenty feet of his Dragon Wagon. We laughed, we cried, it moved us, John.
That title… thought I was reading Hodgman until I double-took the lower case!
You know that way, when you’ve been on The Onion for half an hour, then check another news site?
And some of the headlines make you think you’re still there?
How was my Saturday in Northern Virginia? In a word: Wet.
“I bought inflight internet at extortionate rates”
See Louis C.K.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r1CZTLk-Gk
Of course you don’t have to pay…
My Saturday was spent staking food trucks for the Food Network’s Food Truck race before going to a movie with friends. After the movie, we found the food trucks and then proceeded to stand in line for 3 hours on for chance to eat gourmet grilled cheese and be on TV. (the service wasn’t that bad, the line was that long, and we got in the shortest, quickest moving one.)