There's a cat strangler bagpiper on the porch of the church around the circle from our building. Can't tell what's going on, maybe a wedding? I'm not hearing any of the usual funeral tunes.

After about two years of trying, Paul Fischer finally got me down to his VA studio last weekend to record a filk-related episode for his Balticon Podcast. The episode, titled "Filk-o-rama with Rob Balder and Gary Ehrlich", features partiallyclips and I expounding for an hour about the filk program for this year's fast-approaching Balticon. In addition to a couple of live offerings, the podcast also features cuts from Balticon Music GOHs Urban Tapestry and other featured performers.

(Note: There were a few errors in the credits. I've e-mailed Paul about them already.)

Do I want to know why there is a guy in a Super Mario suit standing outside the Westin across from my building?

(Especially since I'm sure the princess is in another castle hotel...)

the_sheryl is next to me typing up a booklist and Malice Domestic review, which reminds me I haven't done a bookpost yet this year. So here are my reads from the first third of the year. It's a shorter list than one would expect given all my travel. OTOH, I've spent large portions of various flights on workstuff, and time at home catching up on newspapers after business trips, which eats reading time.

The list so far:
1. The Forest of Time and Other Stories, Michael Flynn
2. The Heart of Valor, Tanya Huff
3. Empire from the Ashes, David Weber (omnibus of Mutineers’ Moon, The Armageddon Inheritance, and Heirs to Empire)
4. Burning Bridges, Laura Anne Gilman
5. Night Train To Rigel, Timothy Zahn
6. High Steel, Jim Rasenberger
7. Remaking the World, Henry Petroski
8. Cradle, Arthur C. Clarke & Gentry Lee
9. The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, Michael Chabon
10. A Thousand Words for Stranger, Julie Czerneda

And finally we've come to the end of the insanity that's been the first third of 2008. Got back into town Thursday evening, after sneaking onto a slightly earlier flight home from Dallas.

( Drives, Dandelions, and Dinners )

( On To Dallas )

So, with these two trips done, it now looks like I won't be on the road for anything other than a con until late in the summer. Yay!

So far a good conference. The standards committee meetings that were the main reason for my being here were reasonably productive, I think. Nothing too hair-raising, earth-shattering, or spine-chilling. (Corresponding to any developments in wind loads, earthquake loads, or snow loads, respectively...*grin*). Thanks to jet lag, I woke up before the alarm yesterday, so I took a quick stroll along the Seawall. Found a nice pub/steakhouse next to the hotel for dinner last night and chowed down on a prime rib.

There was a reception this evening on the top floor of the Hyatt to kick off the conference. Nice views of downtown and the harbour. Can't say much for the food, which mostly involved either pasta or pork. The conversation was much better. I encountered two former JHU civil engineering grad students whose time overlapped my undergraduate studies. One of them introduced me to a colleague as "the best student I ever had." I managed not to dissolve in laughter. Apparently he managed to forget in the 18 years since I graduated Hopkins that I was at best a C+ student. Also had an interesting conversation with a guy from a company called Flextegrity, that's apparently hawking some sort of scalable, bucky-ball-like system that can be used for everything from walks to walls to (scaled up fully) entire buildings.

After the reception I was still hungry (just having nommed on some cut-up melon & pineapple, and a small piece of overcooked wild salmon), so I strolled down to Gastown. Found an Italian restaurant and had a nice dinner of veal medallions in a wild mushroom sauce. I did get to see the Steam Clock in action.

Arrived safely in Vancouver, with luggage. The Hotel Le Soleil so far seems to be a lovely boutique hotel. I have a suite--sitting room, bathroom, and bedroom. There are bathrobes in the closet, and the wireless is free. I can see the Hyatt (where my conference is) from my room, a very short two-block stroll. I'm betting my room is nicer than my colleagues' rooms over there, and I'm paying less. (Aside to daisy_knotwise & billroper: John Duntemann was on my flight along with another guy from WJE.)

The desk pointed me at an IGA supermarket a few blocks away. Unfortunately they were sold out of Passover stuff for the moment, but I found a fruit salad and a package of Mott's Fruitsations (like applesauce, except this has mango & peach too) that'll do for a snack tonight and breakfast tomorrow (along with the fruit slices and mandel cuts I brought along) until I can get back to the IGA tomorrow.

Surprisingly I'm not completely falling over, considering it's almost 1:30am back East. Maybe it was the brisk stroll to the IGA. But I've got a long day tomorrow, so I should go to bed.

Wishing a Very Happy Birthday to my lovely and devoted partner in Nova- and Luna-herding, the_sheryl!!

Picking up from my brief post Monday with a more complete conrep. As already blogged elsewhere, the fine folks at FilKONtario put on another fabulous weekend. For only the third time in 15 years of attending, I chose to drive, rather than us paying two $450 airfares. Both drives were actually quite pleasant. It took us a little over 10 hours to get up (going the all-highways route via Pittsburgh) and just short of 9-1/2 coming back (via US-15 through Williamsport & Harrisburg). Caught up on a bunch of CD listening, including They Might Be Giants' "Dial-A-Song", a Warren Zevon collection, and the two-disc Lafitte's Return--Pirates for the Preservation of New Orleans Music set. Having taken I-79 up, we passed by Cooper's Lake, which is about as close as you'll ever get us to Pennsic without a kidnapping involved.

( Finding my voice. Literally )

And it's time to go to bed...we'll pick up the rest tomorrow or Tuesday.

As seen in this post, we're having a party on Saturday to celebrate Sheryl's birthday, starting around 2pm. (A week early, but her parents will be here next weekend, plus it's Passover.) Drop a comment here if you need directions.

Home from another fabulous FKO! Made the drive back in an impressive 9 hours and 20 minutes, which included getting briefly lost in suburban Buffalo. (I'll note I did stop to ask for directions.) Ordered and quickly consumed pizza. Found our bedroom trash can overturned and its contents scattered around. Gee...did someone (specifically two furry "meep"-ing someones) miss us? Tivo appears to have recorded Numb3rs and BSG. Yay.

More when I can assemble a con-rep's worth of coherent thoughts.

Both in that I need my morning caffeine, and in that a certain Nova-kitty likes to try and drink out of my glasses and mugs.

(I'll note the kitteh in the picture looks more like Luna, however.)

But for now, I'm a very happy Washington Nationals fan. Watched Opening Day Sunday evening from the comforts of home. One could not have asked for a better inaugural game for Nationals Park--two runs in the first inning and Ryan Zimmerman's two-out bottom of ninth game-winning home run. Well OK, some Nats offense in the intervening seven innings would have been nice too. But I'm not a perfectionist, and the missing offense turned up Monday night at the expense of several hapless Philly pitchers. Anyway, after last year, where achieving basic mediocrity was considered a huge success, two wins are a great start for the New Improved Nationals [Now With 33% More Budget and Organic Home-Grown Owners!]

Meanwhile, I see that my Favorite Player of 2007, Jarrod Saltalamacchia (he of the longest last name in MLB, AFAIK) is starting 2008 at the Rangers' AAA team in Oklahoma. That's OK--in the meantime I can keep an eye on Cubs rookie Kosuke Fukudome, who I figure is an FCC indecency fine just waiting to befall some unfortunate broadcaster.

And in a more uplifting note, here's a news story on four UC Santa Cruz students who won a student robotics by constructing a 20-foot long solar-powered prototype for a "space elevator". The contest was sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineer's Aerospace Division and the prize awarded at a recent conference in Long Beach. Granted, the students aren't the only ones out there pursuing the concept--SF fans may be familiar with The LiftPort Group, who've made presentations at Balticon--but as with the race for commercial manned space flight (XCor, Scaled Composites, etc.) it certainly can't hurt to have multiple teams pursuing the goal.

I've been meaning to post for a few weeks a rant about the latest way airlines have decided to soak their passengers. Namely, the concept of charging $25 for a second checked bag. This started with United, and has now spread to US Air, Delta, and apparently now Northwest. Of course, the airlines are claiming this is needed to cover increased fuel costs. Gee, I guess things like doubling the typical economy rate on some of their routes (like the Toronto to DC/Baltimore routes) haven't quite done the job.

( So now I pay for the privilege of them losing my bag? )

Hmm...maybe I should just either buy a Martin Backpacker or take up the bouzouki (as Beth P. says, "In airports it's a banjo!").