Shadowplay

I'm pretty much ready to go for FiTP tomorrow. I made a trip to Curry's to get a few more of those calligraphy felt tips. Once I clean out all my cartridge pens, I should be ready to go. I always like to offer people in the calligraphy class their choice of pen. This year, I won't forget my dip pen holder, so they can try everything from blatantly modern to pretty danged period.

I'd be tempted to take the Mini. I'll have to think about that one.

I will say one thing--I'm impressed with the umbrella I got from Mini. Today was extremely windy at the GO station and my umbrella turned inside out at one point, but nothing bent and nothing broke, unlike my absolutely beautiful Frank Lloyd Wright umbrella last year. (As I noted Eirik saying on his Facebook page, "you know the Germans, they make good stuff.")

I also got my order of t-shirts in from ThinkGeek in record time. (Too bad Customs nailed me--$40 on a $90 order--yike!) I've got a Knights who say Ni shirt, an "Inconceivable" shirt, a St.FU university tee, and one that says simply "Do not want." I also picked up a cat remote control from them. Instructions: point remote at subject, push any button, hope for the best. No batteries required, powered by positive thinking.

This.

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/610273

And they thought the Grammys were predictable.

Ever since we ordered the new Mini, we've been waffling about the colour. It just didn't grab us like the other shade of blue that was discontinued a couple of months back. Too much silver/grey. We weren't willing to wait and see if we liked it.

So we want over and had them find us one in the Lightning Blue. We had to upgrade to the S model (which means this sucker is actually a small sports car), but we know we'll like the colour. It's coming here from BC and will be here hopefully by the end of the month.

I've made arrangements to get the windshield replaced tomorrow on the Honda thanks to the nasty stone chip (that is now a full-fledged and growing crack) from Saturday. I have to go to the dealership since they don't actually even make it yet in after-market parts; luckily, it costs the same to me ($300 deductible) regardless. The good news is that the dealership at least gets you home and picks you up on a shuttle. I've arranged to work from home tomorrow, and it's a decent day for that--no meetings, just a lot of work on a requirements spreadsheet to get done.

It's been a whirlwind the past couple of days, but a very good kind of whirlwind.

Yesterday evening was the Area 51 Toastmasters contest(which I was running), which went very, very well. Not only was the competition outstanding (and the two winners were from the two clubs I belong to), my budgeting for the food was dead on, and the food itself--wow, I really stumbled onto a good find. I was going to get my fruit and cookie trays from Longo's, but the chick who was taking the orders was on the phone, so I started looking at their full menu while I was waiting and ended up getting the sandwiches there, too. Not only were they cheaper than the ones I'd been looking at, I heard absolute raves about them, and oh my lord, that fruit tray!. I had budgeted for 30 people and got about 36 there, and the food still covered with room to spare, meaning I turned a profit and could pay for my trophies. I don't think it could have gone much better!

Today I finished up the last project for my Advanced Communicator Gold. I chaired two Toastmasters meetings, and chose themes for each that had something to do with my birthday. Had a great deal of fun with that! This evening, we visited the bank and made a big, fat lump-sum payment on the mortgage and arranged to start doubling our payments until it comes up for renewal next year--at which time we will hopefully pay the whole thing off, provided Dad's house sells.

Next was a lovely birthday dinner at the Keg--big, fat shrimp cocktail, wonderful prime rib with the best garlic mashed potatoes in the world. Have a beautiful raspberry creme cake in the fridge waiting for me.

Tomorrow evening, I have a scroll to finish. I also have PMP prep course documents to proofread for my PMI chapter. I may do some of those this evening.

Will be going to London Saturday for Tsivia's Pelican ceremony wrangling. Lots of cats to herd there. And then finally, things calm down a bit.

This has been a very busy weekend. Yesterday, I ran some errands, refreshed my hair colour, finally started the Pelican cloak I've been gathering materials for, and then went over to Lois & Grom's place for a surprise birthday party for Grom. Wonderful food, lots of people, just a nice time. I've got Hector all bouncy to do some research on Norse buildings--we could built one at the Althing.

Today it was the Toastmasters appreciation brunch--great food, and I'm starting to know more and more faces at the District level. They had an incredible speaker--a local guy who climbed Mount Everest with his dad, brother, and sister. He had a wonderful presentation with lots of photos and videos. Because someone climbing Everest isn't the news event it once was, it's easy to lose sight of just how incredibly dangerous it is. His account of how his oxygen ran out on the way back down was frightening--but he made it. He incidentally planted the Toastmasters banner at the summit. Really neat!

The PMI conference call today also went very well--we actually got through the entire agenda in our allotted time. We've got a new Board member in to replace one who resigned, and I think he's going to be fabulous. I wasn't sure I was going to run again for reelection, but I think I will now that my duties have become better defined and I'm not doing meeting minutes all the time.

The busy spell is continuing this week, too--two Toastmasters contests tomorrow, my own contest on Wednesday (and having to prep for it in the next couple of days), my birthday Thursday (chairing two Toastmasters meetings that day, too, and finishing up an educational award!), and Winter War on Saturday. Once that's done, things calm down for a bit.

I'm prepping for yet another trip to Buffalo. There's another piece of Dad's estate that needs some attention, so I'm heading over tomorrow afternoon. This time we've booked a room at the Sleep Cheap and will get to spend some time with my Aunt Kitty. I'm also going to get a chance to drive by a couple of the privately-owned Frank Lloyd Wright houses in Buffalo and stop by the Martin House to see how the visitor centre construction is going.

Upstairs bathroom is now done as well. Was wondering why it wasn't drying as fast and realized it had gotten rather humid in there. (Dave had showered relatively late in the day, and it was still holding some of the moisture, especially when I shut the door. Opening the window did the trick. Also very happy I got an extra quart of paint. I needed it. Tomorrow I'll do some touchup and fix where I nicked the ceiling with the blue stuff.

I've decided to hold off on the red wall until next weekend. I did a lot of squatting and tiptoeing and stepping around stuff, so I'm pretty sore.

The main floor bathroom is now blue. It took two coats (the second a little lighter than the first) to cover. I went over to get an extra quart at Home Depot to make sure I make it through the upstairs bathroom. I think it's going to be easier--less confined quarters there (I kept bumping into wet walls in the downstairs room) and I think the ceiling is lower there. I've got a little touchup to do once things dry downstairs, but overall I'm really happy. The shade is amazing.

It's Sunday morning and I'm prepping for a day of painting. I'm going to tackle the downstairs bathroom first (it's definitely the easiest) followed by the upstairs bathroom. If I get time, I'll do the primer on the sewing room wall. I think I'm going to make a run to Home Depot for a decent drop cloth. It'll be a good investment.

Yesterday went out to Buffalo with D. and Yvonne to see Graycliff, which is the other Frank Lloyd Wright home open to the public. While Graycliff isn't quite the treasure that the Martin house is, it also has a fascinating history--it was used by a religious order from the 50s to the 90s, who did all kinds of funky stuff to the home. The property was purchased by a private group in the 90s to restore and open as a historical site, but initially there wasn't a lot of support from the local media who saw the site as "throwaway Wright". But the group eventually prevailed and has done an amazing amount of restoration work just as a group of volunteers. The outside of the building is mostly restored and they're working on the inside now. One neat thing is that they have a ton of photos of the whole building process and of many of the interior spaces. It's a lovely house from a transitional period for Wright--in between his Prairie period and Fallingwater--and apparently more or less kept him solvent through the 20s. Apparently there are over 3000 letters between him and Darwin Martin regarding this and the Martin house. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable about the whole property.

One interesting sideline is that they had a number of photos of the Larkin administrative building in the visitor centre. It's considered the biggest architectural loss in US history that that building was torn down, and seeing the interior photos, I see why. It was beautiful.

Other than that, got a lot accomplished yesterday. Was able to get to the bank in the States to do some funds transfer up here; found a pair of shoes at DSW, found a very green sweater at Target; got my Red Baron individual pizzas, and best of all the shop at Graycliff did indeed carry the doormat I've been coveting for a couple of years (shipping up here would have been prohibitive.) I also got a cool throw pillow for the living room and a nice set of jewellery. Had a very nice Olive Garden lunch and KFC dinner (why, oh why, does Canadian KFC suck so? The stuff in the States is so much less rubbery and the cole slaw divine, instead of the green sludge they have here.). The one downside is that Wegmans did not have our raspberry lemonade. But since we expect to be back down in Buffalo in a few weeks, we'll just check a different grocery chain.

Glory be! the XBox fairy has brought back Dave's XBox from the dead. I can hear the familiar sounds of Fable II coming from the other room......

The new elliptical machine arrived today. Haven't unpacked it yet. And the junk guys came and hauled away the old bed from the garage. I'll be able to get the car in there shortly.

We've had to take Rocky off the antibiotics for awhile--they seem to be upsetting his stomach. He's scheduled for tooth extraction on Monday.

I'm amazed and impressed. After Tom Daschle withdrew his name for consideration for Obama's cabinet, Obama not only admitted he was wrong, but went on to say why, and that it would be fixed.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/03/obama.daschle/index.html

It is SO refreshing to see a politician take responsibility like this, rather than try to bloviate out of it. People, even the President, are allowed to make mistakes. What rankles is when they try to weasel out of them when the mistakes are exposed. We've had eight years of that (and to be honest, Bill Clinton wasn't the best at admitting his mistakes, either.)

He also clarified that protectionism is not part of his agenda, and that protectionist measures would not be in the economy's best interest.

This morning, on the way in, my iPod shut off because the battery was low. No problem. I turned it off and made plans to recharge it at work. Panic ensued when I hooked it up and it didn't start charging--it just seemed stuck on the "Apple" screen. I briefly panicked and thought about going to buy a new one at lunch--but calmed down and looked up troubleshooting on the Apple site. Managed to get it into disk mode and was hoping I could charge it up and get it into regular mode again, but no dice.

Once I got home, however, I was able to do a reformat and get things functional again. The loss of battery power at a crucial point when I was turning it off seems to have scrambled its little brain. It's now happily reformatted and charging.

I realized on the way home just all the chatter I miss (or maybe it's better to say don't miss at all) with my iPod on. Some woman had a loud cell phone conversation for nearly half the trip back. The evening trains are definitely louder than the morning ones, where all you hear are newspapers rustling.

The guy with the game winner for Pittsburgh is an Ohio State guy.

Great game. Lots of fun to watch.

This Super Bowl is actually entertaining. There was the 100 yard interception and return for a touchdown at the end of the first half. And now a penalty just gave Arizona two points on a safety. Most of the predictions I saw said Pittsburgh would walk all over the Cardinals.

I do miss the good US commercials, though.

Holy crap, Arizona just scored a touchdown and are now *leading*......

Yesterday was a long but thoroughly entertaining day. The Kingdom 12th night/10th anniversary event was wonderful--the only complaint was that the site was small for the number of people who showed up. We saw a number of people we haven't seen in some time, including Marian of Heatherdale and Piero, Nicolae and Sybelle, and a few other formerly very active Ealdormerians such as Valizan. Hector and Sara were there with their three-week-old son. They had a wall devoted to old photos (many culled from the collection on Two Ravens that D. posted awhile back) and a table for relics. Skating and horse-drawn cart rides took place throughout the day. I did get out on skates in garb--although it made me realize how rusty I am with skating.

After Court (highlight: the appearance of the "Ambassador from Gondwandaland" who gave the King some bananas) we headed over to Thorolfr and Eithne's place for Pennsic Solstice, and ended up staying to nearly 1 am. Just lots of pleasant conversation. Found out that there is yoga at Marchmount on Sundays, and I can go partake.

Today won't be quite as fun--I have a PMI board meeting shortly that will go until 2.

Today, they came and plowed our street again. Which meant I had to clear the gunk out of the driveway apron AGAIN. The piles are now about 7' high at their tallest. Look like the freakin' Alps....

I was eyeing a snowblower over at Sears when we were ordering our new elliptical exercise machine. Thing is, to deal with mushy snow, you really have to get one of the two phase gas jobs. I don't want to go there. We just have our lil' driveway.

So we bought a new vacuum instead. It's one of those Dysons, specially made to deal with pet hair. We're really sick of cheap ass vacuums and decided to get a good one this time.

Tomorrow it's off to Twelfth Night/Kingdom 10th Anniversary. I've done a cool scroll for it, where I turned the Maiden's Heart badge into a diapering pattern on the capital. Very happy with it. We'll be hitting Thorolfr and Eithne's Pennsic Solstice party in the evening.

It's been awhile since I've been proud of my American birth, but today was one of 'em. I was able to get down to First Canadian Place to see the meat of the inauguration. They had put up the huge screen they used during the Olympics and the balconies were packed with people. The entire crowd applauded both after Obama was sworn in (despite the oath fumble fu) and after his speech. It's incredible to hear someone that inspirational, so sure that the American people will pull through and pull together. I loved his line about "extending a hand (to belligerent nations) so long as they unclench their fists."

I have not felt that good about the US since the days just after 9-11 when everyone was similarly united. I am hoping that with Obama at the helm, this time it won't be squandered.

OK, I don't think I've ever spent that much money on a single accessory before. I have a new Coach purse. It's the "Addison" model. I think I'm going to be very happy with it. Thing is built like a tank. I've boiled down the failure of the other purse to the strap design--the straps were not meant to bend at all and were single pieces of leather. These are attached to a ring which is then attached to the purse. The leather itself never has to flex.

Thing that sold me on it was the pockets, and the fact it has a bigger capacity than the old purse while being about the same size. I've already put it through the laptop test--fits in there just fine.

So long as I get a few years out of it, I think it will be worth the investment.

The other good news--there's a store called Vivah that has a 40% off everything sale post-Christmas--really nice silver jewellery. I got an unusual pair of earrings there for $10 and threw in another pair with little cubic zirconia stars. They packed them up in a little black envelope--which promptly disappeared around the time my purse disaster happened. I thought they were gone for good--but the envelope just turned up in my car.

Rocky continues to wolf down the salmon treats with pills hidden inside. He'll be on them for two weeks, and then we'll take him back to see how things are. Hopefully we get this heart issue calmed down with the pills, and then he can get the teeth pulled. Thank God he's a wet food cat.

We're STILL waiting to hear when we're going to get the garage door opener installed. Supposedly we were going to be on the fast track after the first appointment was called off for lack of a part, but it's now been a week and we've heard nothing.

Tomorrow is the US inauguration. I wish I could watch it--I might be able to catch a bit in the lunchroom, but I'm in an all-day meeting. I'm almost through Obama's "The Audacity of Hope." It makes me believe that there are still some smart, thinking people left in this world who haven't been beaten down by media spin and being derided as the "intellectual elite."

Rocky's thyroid is just fine. In fact, all of his bloodwork is normal. The vet now suspects it's an infection caused by his bad teeth that's giving him the murmur and the raised heartrate. We've started him on a 2 week course of antibiotics. They have these clever little "pill pockets" now --sort of like semi-moist cat food with a space inside for the pill--to help us avoid the very annoying process of cat pilling. And they work. Rocky just gulped his down. Since cats don't do a lot of chewing of soft food, he's none the wiser that there was a pill in there.

My Mission-style lamp came in today. It's gorgeous. My lighting needs are now completely fulfilled. I may take a few pics this weekend to post. I am definitely thinking a warm golden tone for the downstairs is the way to go when I do my painting. Oh, to be able to use the encaustic technique Wright used at both the Martin and Westcott houses. Things would just glow.

Rocky, who was my Dad's cat, has pretty awful teeth. We just took him to the vet to find out what can be done, and it looks like we're going to be calling him Gums at some point in the future. Vet said she'd never seen such bad teeth. That's going to cost a fair bit, but if there's one thing I don't mind using Dad's money on it's the cat I know he loved. He also has a slight heart murmur and a rapid heartbeat, and the vet is suspecting he has hyperthyroidism, which would explain both that and the fact that he eats twice what the other cats do but is skinnier than everyone except for Victoria. We're having blood tests done. The thyroid issue controllable, although he'll probably need meds. The other possibilities for the heart murmur are either an infection (which he might well have because of the teeth) or nasty heart disease, which would be the worst-case.

I will say he was about the calmest cat I've ever seen at the vet. He started purring when the vet was trying to listen to his heart because Dave was petting him--he had to stop and we all had to ignore him to get him to stop! He also apparently was purring when they were drawing blood.