Musings of a Boogie Knight

I have achieved house!

2009-10-20T23:40:35Z

With a LOT of help from my brother Bob, and varying degrees of help from several other friends, I have moved enough stuff over to sleep here in the new place tonight. We've brought over food, clothing, and the dogs, but very little furniture so far. However, after I post this, I plan to go pup for a nice long soak in the big new tub and I said that would be when this became home. :-)

I have achieved new house!

2009-09-26T13:15:39Z

I closed yesterday morning on a new home. <RIOTOUS EXCITEMENT!!!!!>

It's a lovely place two miles from my current place. quarter-acre fence yard, 4 bedrooms, 2 car garage, finished basement, hardwood floors, gas fireplace, lots of storage. I am beside myself with excitement.

Bought a bunch of needed odds and ends for the place yesterday and started doing measurements so I can figure out what will fit where. Today, we finish the measurements and go looking at paint -- want to change the sewing room from beige to yellow, want to change the family room from autumn pumpkin to green, want to change master bath room toilet closet from chartreuse to pail blue. Then we need to sand and paint the metal railing for the outside stairs to the basement. And see about aplumber to do maintenance on the sprinkler system and some folks to refinish the back deck (1-2 days work at most) and have to get dirt to fill in under the deck and new locks and...

:-)

What's New? Im buying a house!

2009-09-04T22:33:34Z

I have been babbling about this on facebook since I first spotted the place, but I realized I hadn't mentioned it on LiveJournal...

I have submitted a bid on a house and it's been accepted! The inspection went well and the sellers have agreed to make the only change I requested. We're currently scheduled to close three weeks from today.

It's a brick-front, 4-bedroom, free standing home on a quiet cul-de-sac. It's got a 2-car garage, a fenced yard, a back deck, and I love it. Friends are kind of in shock because I've been at my current place for just under 24 years. Heck, I'm kind of in shock because it's all happening so fast, but I'm looking forward to the change.

Inside the Room of Your Soul

2009-08-15T03:22:25Z

Your Soul is Searching

You are a wanderer. You constantly long for a new adventure, challenge, or even a completely different life.

You are a grounded person, but you also leave room for imagination and dreams. Your feet may be on the ground, but your head is in the clouds.

You see yourself with pretty objective eyes. How you view yourself is almost exactly how other people view you.

Your near future is likely to be filled with great successes and accomplishments. You just need to figure out how to get there.

For you, love is all about caring and comfort. You couldn't fall in love with someone you didn't trust.

Inside the Room of Your Soul

Shore Leave 31 Pt. 2

2009-07-13T22:50:55Z

Sunday was my day at Shore Leave that was just for me. I slept in late and didn't have to be anywhere at any given time.

The only talk of the convention that I saw in its entirety was Chris Heyerdahl's. I had been impressed by him at the masquerade and wanted to make sure I saw his time. His name isn't yet well known (pity) so for those who don't know him, he has recurring roles on a lot of my favorite shows: "John Druit/Jack the Ripper" and "Bigfoot" on Sanctuary, the demon "Alistair" on Supernatural, the wraith "Todd" and the Ecosian "Halling" on Stargate Atlantis, and apparently he'll play a character named Marcus in the Twilight sequel New Moon. He's a very tall, lanky fellow who looks a little scary, but he has a warm personality and a playful sense of humor. He said that Amanda Tapping ("Samantha Carter" on Stargate SG1 & Stargate Atlantis, and "Helen Magnus" on Sanctuary) strongly recommended Shore Leave to him. He also made a point of thanking his Shore Leave escort, Karen. It was obvious that he was having a blast interacting with the fans. After the talk, I thanked him for coming to Shore Leave and being such a great guest. He hugged me.

I did a slow troll through the dealers' rooms, then grabbed my suit and towel from the car and took advange of the (very) hot tub. I then relaxed outside in the shade reading for a bit. Then chatted with friends I encountered in the hallways.

Headed down and caught the second half of the Rachel Luttrell and Jason Momoa (Teyla & Ronan of Stargate Atlantis) talk. What a contrast. She's this slight woman, dressed like a preppy, very calm and composed. She coordinated all the questions. He's this big, sprawling guy in casual (nearly grungy) teenish clothes with a hat pulled down to almost cover his eyes. (He looked like he was fighting his way through a hangover.) They talked about the show and the frustrations of playing the "alien" -- you stand in the back, kinda in the dark, and every now and then you step forward an say a couple words, then back to the background. -- and the fact that before the show neither knew any martial arts -- we had great choreographers. Jason talked about how much he enjoyed the time Christopher Judge (Teal'c) guest starred on Atlantis and their characters had this great fight.

But the best part was when someone asked if they took anything from the set when the show was cancelled. Jason said he was a former professional theif and took everything he could. Rachel said she didnt take anything. She said she would have taken the back from her chair that had her name on it, but when she came back from lunch the last day it was missing from her chair. At which point Jason said, "I so $%&ing totally took that." Rachel was practically speechless and chased him around the stage hitting him. He said he had taken it as a joke, intending to give it to her, then got distracted and forgot. He's promised to find it and return it to her.

Mystery Trekkie Theater was fun, but I'm personally getting tired of folks taking cheap shots at Shatner. Robert Picardo briefly reprised his role as the holographic doctor from Star Trek Voyager as part of the introduction of the Star Trek: Voyager episode they lampooned, "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy". I hadn't seen the original episode, but it was a lot of fun and their comments added to it.

Said my goodbyes and then treated myself to dinner at Outback Steakhouse.

Shore Leave 31

2009-07-13T07:27:47Z

Had a great time at Shore Leave.

I missed the Keith DeCandido Roast on Friday night 'cause I didn't get out of work in time go home to let out the dogs and then make it up to Hunt Valley. So I stayed home, watched the season premiere of Eureka, and finished putting together my new pirate hat. I hear the roast went well, but the roasters took it easy on him. The hit of the event was the puppet Keith that puppetmaker40 made. It was very well done and was even dressed in one of his Boogie Knights outfits. The Knights had fun coming up with names for it -- Mini Keith, Diminutive DeCandido, and the winner "Special K" -- though when he performs with the Knights the puppet will be known as Krad the More Obscure.

Saturday, I had to be at the Hunt by 0900 for a Boogie Knights sound check. Unfortunately, we didn't get to do the actual sound check until 9:55. <sigh> Fortunately, everything checked out okay. Also, on the way up I got a call from D that he wouldn't be there for the sound check, would be there for the concert, and couldn't be there for the masquerade where he was supposed to emcee. So, I got the task of telling the masquerade director he had no emcee. <oh joy>

The Boogie Knights concert went well. We did something a little different this time. We had planed to do a couple songs, then do a song chosen by the audience, then another preset song, followed by another audience choice, etc. Things didn't work out exactly like that, but we did get in the new songs we wanted to get in before we pretty much switched to all "by demand". Luckily, no one asked for a song we couldn't do.

After the concert, we sold a couple CDs and a bunch of folks asked if we had anything new. I directed them to J & H who are the hold-outs in the Knights who don't want to even consider a new CD until we complete the DVD that we started 2 years ago, but THAT won't happen until J gets together with JV or some other sound engineer to rerecord the guitar track. (The original guitar track cuts in and out because there's a short in the guitar's sound plug.) I personally -- and I've said this to them -- feel that we should write off the 25th anniversary DVD as a lost cause, pay L for the work he's done on it, and start something new. Lord knows, we have enough good new songs to fill a CD. If they're dead set on putting out a DVD, another friend has already put together a DVD of our Charity Concert from last year that we could use.

After that, had lunch with shawan_7 , then headed home to let the dogs out. Traffic on the Baltimore Beltway was HORRIBLE. 15 miles per hour bumper-to-bumper all the way from I83 to I95! Coming back (in MUCH improved traffic) I was passed by two motorcyclists. The first had a zebraskin helmet. The second was wearing a full "Predator" mask, complete with dreadlocks streaming in the breeze. :-)

The masquerade only had 19 entries and, for the most part, went without a hitch. (Actually, there were a bunch, but the audience didn't know about them, so I won't mention them here.) The start was delayed because two of the judges hadn't shown up by the time we were to start. It was decided to go ahead without them when one of the two missing showed up ready to go on. The other one never showed. (To be honest, I don't know who the missing judge was.) We were very short-handed backstage -- we had stage manager, shawan7, pusher G, and me as asst. stage manager. We were lacking the second pusher and the kitchen monitor we usually have. Fortunately, there was no group larger than 4, there were no huge props to deal with, and people were well-behaved.

The entries were VERY good. Of special note (in my opinion) were:
"Don't Blink" who did a fabulous job with the angels from the Doctor Who episode of that name,
"Pilates of the Caribbean" that won most humorous by having Tia Dalma using voodoo to make the pirates, and later the ninjas, exercise,
"Federation Credit Report Dot Com" which won "Judges Choice" with their Starfleet Muppets recreating the "freecreditreport.com" pirate restaurant commercial,

and the totally awesome best in show, "Sea Beacon" by a young woman recreating (with the original artist's permission!) a sea faerie from a painting. The diaphonous petal skirts were all hand hemmed, then the edges covered with glow in the dark paint. The wig was hand-dyed a delicate light-bluish-green and then worked to include sparkling lights. The wings were also beautifully done. Just lovely. Made me want to look up the original painting.

After the masquerade sat backstage and had a very pleasant chat with shawan7, G, and M, the interpreter. The Masquerade Director (T) and handed shawan7 and G "Extraordinary Support" awards, then admitted that he hadn't had enough of them made up, so I got "Dazzling Young Fan" instead and the interpreter got nothing. Good intentions on T's part, but not delivered in the most tactful manner..

My good deeds for the evening:
1. Making sure the judges had water and glasses.
2. Making sure the emcee had power for the light at his podium.
3. Running a request from one of the halftime acts to the video team.
4. Suggesting that the judges (while judging) move from the side of the room directly in front of the unclosable doors to the side no visible to the hallway.
5. Finding a den mom who was willing to act as door guard to keep the costumers from approaching the judges during judging. She looked very imposing as I returned backstage.
6. Keeping the contestants from falling off the back of the stage when they came up for awards after all the backstage crew had disappeared.
7. Buying the interpreter a drink at 10-Forward as a thank you for all her help during the Boogie Knights and other performances.

The filk guest of honor, Kathy Mar, as we were prepping her for going on as the second half of the halftime show, looked up at me, did a double take, and said, "Oh you're the Boogie Knight with the marvelous voice. You are by far the best vocalist in the group." I was surprised and my ego was drinking it all up. A couple minutes later after Kathy had gone on stage, her companion gestured toward the interpreter and commented on how great she was. I agreed that she's fantastic. He then went on to comment that he and Kathy had watched her through our concert and thought she was more entertaining than the Knights themselves. Boom, there went my ego, right back down to earth.

I was going to talk about Sunday here as well, but I've dawdled so much in writing this up, that I'm not going to get much sleep tonight. Maybe I'll actually do it tomorrow.

P.S. I apologize, but lately I have been unsuccessful inserting LJ cuts no matter how hard I try.

Productive Day

2009-07-02T21:56:57Z

Inspired by yesterday's bad mail, I took the afternoon off from work to deal with several errands:
1. Closed out Mom's estate bank account before the fees reduced it to negative numbers.
2. Made an appointment to meet with a financial adviser next Wednesday to go over what I'm doing with my accounts.
3. Took my car to vehicle emission testing where it passed with flying colors.
4. Picked up a book of stamps at the post office and picked up a new Sacajawea dollar as change.
5. Grabbed lunch at Pei-Wei. (yum)
6. Renewed my driver's license.
7. Got my oil changed.
and now I'm paying my bills.

I feel virtuous.

WTF mail

2009-07-02T05:17:57Z

Today is the day for annoying unexpected mail.

1. Letter from my Visa card that come August, I will no longer have a fixed rate. It will be based on 6.74 plus the "highest U.S. Prime Rate as published in the 'Money Rates' section of The Wall Street Journal on the last publication day of each month." and goes on to say that an "increase or decrease in the index will cause a corresponding increase or decrease in your variable rates on the first day of your billing cycle that begins inthe same month in which the index is published. An increase in the index means that you will pay higher periodic rate finance charges and have a higher Total Minimum Payment Due. If The Wall Street Journal does not publish the U.S. Prime Rate, or if it changes the definition of the U.S. Prime Rate, we may, in our sole discretion, substitute another index." -- Oh Joy!

But that's nothing compared to letter #2...

from the Maryland Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program informing me that since I missed the 17 June inspection date for my car, my registration will be suspended on 17 July. Never mind that I have no record whatsoever of ever receiving the original inspection notice. <GRUMBLE>
Guess what I'll be doing when I get out of work early tomorrow.

Background Image Meme

2009-06-07T03:13:36Z

Shamelessly snurched from terri_osborne who shamelessly snurched it from tiggerallyn

01. Anyone who looks at this entry has to post this meme and their current wallpaper at their livejournal.

02. Explain in five sentences why you're using that wallpaper!

Photograph I took our last night in Florence a month ago. I like the colors and it reminds me of our trip.

03. Don't change your wallpaper before doing this! The point is to see what you had on!

Apparently, I'm Xena :-)

2009-05-16T16:24:22Z

Your result for The Social Persona Test (What kind of man/woman are you?)...

Quirky Traditional Alpha Female (QTAF): The Rarity

(Image from http://folk.uio.no/thomas/lists/amazon-connection.html)

You have an unusual and unbelievably precious combination of traits, especially in a woman. Not only are alpha females extremely rare, but traditional ones with nerdy/geeky interests are even more scarce. Unlike the other types, I can't give you a description because I'm not sure if you actually exists. I know this is not a compatibility test, but you are the girl of my dreams. (Assuming, that is, that you are also in your twenties and live in New England). Please, oh please message me!

--Bookwyrm85

You are more QUIRKY than NORMAL.

You are more TRADITIONAL than LIBERAL.

You are more DOMINANT than PASSIVE.

When picking a date, consider: Lord of the Misfits (QLAM), The Late Bloomer (QTAM), The Snowball's Chance in Hell (QTBM), or The Manga Geek (QLBM).

Take The Social Persona Test (What kind of man/woman are you?) at HelloQuizzy

Apparently this happened in Antwerp Central Station

2009-05-07T11:12:37Z

Many thanks to cairokate for sharing this. I wish I could have been there...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UE3CNu_rtY&feature=player_embedded

Former Congressman Jack Kemp, RIP

2009-05-04T15:51:55Z

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090503/ap_on_re_us/us_obit_kemp

He was a good quarterback and a good Congressman for Buffalo. My mom worked with him when she ran the office for his Congressional successor, Jack Quinn.

What Kind of Soul Are You?

2009-03-21T14:21:50Z

You Are an Old Soul

You are an experienced soul who appreciates tradition.
Mellow and wise, you like to be with others but also to be alone.
Down to earth, you are sensible and impatient.
A creature of habit, it takes you a while to warm up to new people.

You hate injustice, and you're very protective of family and friends
A bit demanding, you expect proper behavior from others.
Extremely independent you don't mind living or being alone.
But when you find love, you tend to want marriage right away.

Souls you are most compatible with: Warrior Soul and Visionary Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

(Hmmm, I've been told this before.)

Update on Athena

2009-03-13T22:52:16Z

All good news for a change: Athena came through her second surgery with flying colors. This growth was completely benign fatty tissue. The staff at the veterinary hospital were very impressed with how well the previous surgery site has healed. She's home resting now.

Academy Awards

2009-02-23T05:03:03Z

I think this year's award program was a class act. There were only a couple places were I wish they would have done things differently -- like the camera work during the tribute to the fallen -- but otherwise, very good. And a couple places where I laughed out loud.

Update on Athena

2009-02-19T00:33:01Z

Athena got her stitches out this evening and the vet is very happy with her progress.

I got a little more data on the cancer. I totally failed to get the name. (It started with "a" and when on for several syllables.) The vet says this cancer is "locally aggressive" which means it grows and spreads in one area, but doesn't hitch a ride on the blood system and spread to other parts of the body. The vet also said that the biosy indicated that the edges of the sample were cancer-free that is a promising sign that the might have gotten it all. However, I will have to watch the area to make sure it doesn't come back.

They want me to call in a couple weeks to schedule an appointment to get the tumor on Athena's underside removed. That one they think is just a fatty tumor which should be benign, but it is large and they don't want it getting too big to deal with.

So... so far, so good.

My bid for world domination

2009-02-19T00:17:22Z

MsDori's certainly in the right slot.

Boogie Knights at Farpoint 2009

2009-02-16T22:09:54Z

Our concert went well with a full set of Knights and a not quite full room, but the audience seemed to enjoy themselves. My friend shawan_7 tested out her new video recorder and has posted at least two songs on YouTube (Hi def even!):
"Earth Magic Girls" and "Madagascar (a.k.a. Lemurs)".

Update on Athena

2009-02-16T22:05:24Z

Just got off the phone with the vet where Athena has an appointment Wednesday evening to get the stitches removed. The results of the biopsy were in and the news is mixed. What they removed was malignant -- a low grade cancer that doesn't tend to spread. The good news is that they think they got it all, but we'll have to check in a couple months. Which is fine, since I need to take her back in a couple months to get the other growth removed. When I hear anything more, I'll let you know. At the moment, Athena is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and has claimed the prime spot under the computer table.

Update on Athena

2009-02-07T00:39:38Z

Athena is home. The surgery was successful, but took longer than anticipated and they didn't want to keep a "geriatric" dog -- Athena is 12 and a half -- under anesthesia any longer than necessary. So, they only removed the cyst on her back. The possible fatty tumor on her "flank" will have to wait until she's healed from this one.

They've taken biopsies and sent them off for analysis and in 10-14 days I'll have to take Athena in to get the -- FREAKIN' HUGE! -- sutures removed. In the meantime, she's on antibiotics and pain killers starting tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, I'm just happy to have her home and cyst-free.

Here's Frankenthena...

Update on Athena

2009-02-06T00:50:21Z

Well, Athena has roughly half an hour if she wants to eat anything. At 8PM, the food gets put away so that she'll be ready tomorrow morning when drop her off to get the abcessed cyst off her back. Hopefully, they'll also be able to take care of the fatty tumor on her underside at the same time. I suspect she'll be miserable for the weekend, but I've been putting this off for WAY too long.

Since they share bowls, Jack will also have to go without food for the night. (Shouldn't hurt him as he's starting to put on a little weight.) I'll put food in his cage for him tomorrow morning when I take Athena to the vet.

Iced In

2009-01-28T16:25:39Z

Well, we got the ice storm they promised us. Work's status is "starting 3 hours late with liberal leave". I had chipped out the car, crated the dogs, and was just heading out the door when my boss called to say that if I was just coming in for the monthly status meeting, it has been postponed. So, considering I was not looking forward to trying to scale the sheet ice between my parking space and the real road (I live at the bottom of a U, emphasis on the bottom.), I took the day off.

The dogs are happy.

snurched from kradical

2009-01-25T08:15:02Z

Empire Magazine has revealed its list of the 50 Greatest TV Shows ever .
[comment from Smap, "Boy do we have different ideas of what constitutes "greatest"!]

1. Bold the shows you watch/used to watch.
2. Italicize the shows you've seen at least one episode of.
3. Underline the shows you own on DVD (or VCR tape).
4. Post your answers.

50. Quantum Leap
49. Prison Break
48. Veronica Mars
47. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
46. Sex & The City
45. Farscape
44. Cracker
43. Star Trek
42. Only Fools and Horses
41. Band of Brothers
40. Life on Mars
39. Monty Python
38. Curb Your Enthusiasm
37. Star Trek: The Next Generation
36. Father Ted
35. Alias
34. Frasier
33. CSI Las Vegas
32. Babylon 5
31. Deadwood
30. Dexter
29. ER
28. Fawlty Towers
27. Six Feet Under
26. Red Dwarf
25. Futurama
24. Twin Peaks
23. The Office
22. The Shield
21. Angel
20. Blackadder
19. Scrubs
18. Arrested Development
17. South Park
16. Doctor Who
15. Heroes
14. Firefly
13. Battlestar Galactica
12. Family Guy
11. Seinfeld
10. Spaced
09. The X-Files
08. The Wire
07. Friends
06. 24
05. Lost
04. The West Wing
03. The Sopranos
02. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
01. The Simpsons

snurched from kradical

2009-01-23T04:41:18Z

sharon

Sexy
Hyperbolic
Armadillos
Recycle
Obsessive
Numbers

spacefem's mnemonic device generator

Having trouble picturing a sexy hyperbolic armadillo that's into recycling. They're usually so wasteful. :-P

For SMAP, I got Simple Musicians Attack Peppers, which I didn't like as much as an old friend's "So Many Are Perverted" or the egotistical "Simply Marvelous And Perfect".

Obama in Action

2009-01-22T13:05:49Z

Here's something bentleywg brought to my attention that folks might find amusing.

http://gamu-toys.info/sonota/sw/obama/obama.html

A Hong Kong-based company has created a12-inch Obama action figure. Since the site is in Chinese (or Japanese, I do not know the difference, regretably), I can't tell if/how you might order it, but they have lots of entertaining photos showing him in various poses, including some calm (sitting on the accompanying stool talking into the accompanying microphone), active (swinging the accompanying American flag), and unexpected (crossing lightsabers with Darth Vader).