Author: Polgara

MIT students hack Harvard statue

Pictures of a Muppet Show cake, winner of the 2007 Kentucky State Fair

And a reminder that I have a separate blog for knitting related topics. 😀

Today my cat Trouble is 10 years old–yay Trouble!

ION, I’ve been sick with the plague, or what I imagine the plague feels like. It’s not fun. On the bright side, as of this morning my throat no longer feels like I’ve been swallowing razor blades. On the not so bright side, I’m at work despite the still-sick, because today my former coworker is visiting before flying home to Georgia tonight, and I didn’t want to miss her. I doubt I’ll be up for dinner, though.

Last week was a busy week. I flew home to New England on the 13th. Stephanie got married on the 15th down the Cape, and my lordie but it was a splendid time! Food and celebration and much drink and dancing, with lots of friends, including some I hadn’t seen in many years. Check out nearly 300 pictures of the weekend, taken by me, Nancy and Todd.

After the wedding, I had a couple of days off, then checked into a hotel in Boston for FlashForward2007, my favorite conference of the year. It was a bit marred this year by coming down with the plague on the first day, but it didn’t get really bad until Friday, so I was able to enjoy the sessions for the first two days, as well as the events for the first two evenings. Friday started the serious breathing issues, so I missed several sessions I’d wanted to attend.

Then Saturday, while my friend Kathie was getting married back in Pasadena, I was at the memorial mass for my mom (two years now), followed by lunch with family and friends at mom’s best friend’s house, which was then followed by dinner and board games at my sister’s in-laws (which would’ve been way funner if I hadn’t been so deeply into the plague by then).

Now I am home and finally feeling marginally better, which means full recovery shouldn’t be too far away.

And that is the state of me. 🙂

Yesterday it was 96 degrees in West Hollywood. Everyone in the city was hiding away in their air conditioned homes, waiting for more reasonable temperatures. So of course, the power went out on my block at 4:30pm.

At first, I thought, well, maybe I can tough this out. Then all the aging Russians sought comfort by the pool, right outside my door. Ugh. Worse, I overheard from the building manager that it would take the city 5-7 hours to get power up and running again. Fuck that, I called and begged for safe harbor.

I hung out with her and her air conditioner until 11pm, watching NASCAR (not so torturous as expected, due largely to bitterchick’s frequent trivia interjections) and L&O:CI, then decided it was time to try home again. I stopped at 7-eleven for ice, just in case, but apparently so did everyone else, since 7-eleven was out of all forms of water, both liquid and frozen. Bad sign.

My building was pitch black, which seems like such an innocuous term until you’re in an underground parking garage with no lights and can’t see your hand in front of your face, never mind anything or anyone in the farthest corners of the garage; and then you have to walk through a tunnel, also with no lights, not even at the far end. The gate to the garage was wide open–no electricity–so of course all I could think of was the perfect opportunity that lay ahead of me for every mugger, rapist and murderer, especially since the garage was completely empty of cars–all my neighbors had fled the building for cooler locations (hotels? friends’ homes? 7-elevens? Who knew?) I made it through, of course, but not without constantly “locking” my car with the remote, just to activate the flash of the parking lights, which was way better than no light at all.

I reached the end of the tunnel and headed up the stairs. The lack of light and sound (no air conditioners) was eerie. When I got to the top and saw the completely dark pool and courtyard, I realized I really should’ve gotten my house keys out before leaving the car. I couldn’t even see my door knob to put the key in.

The cats were happy to see me, and I was happy they hadn’t succumbed to the sauna I’d left them in. I’d left my camping lantern by the door, which offered some comfort. I took a quick shower to cool down, hoping it would be enough to allow me to sleep in the heat and the quiet, but no. I’m not accustomed to that much quiet–no radio, no fan, no hum of ACs from outside–nothing but crickets.

I felt claustrophic in the heat and quiet, and finally gave up trying to sleep. I was thirsty, but I didn’t dare open the fridge, for fear of releasing what little cold air was left and spoiling the few spoilable things inside. I posted something pathetic to Twitter from my phone–my only contact with the outside world, and one-way contact at that. I lit every candle I could find, placing them on the dining room table, and spent the first hours of Sunday playing solitaire by candlelight. Around 1:30, I started hearing shouts and machinery–generators. They were working on the power problem someone within a block of my window. Of course, I wondered where the fuck they’d been for the previous nine hours, but more than that, the noise was comforting–I wasn’t the only person left on the block (you think some crazy shit when it’s dark and quiet and you’re alone), and someone was trying to fix the problem. Soon, I’d have my fans and AC back, my lights and radio and TV and connection to the world.

At 3:30, they were still shouting and working, but I was tired of solitaire, so I laid on the couch to try to sleep. Around 4:15, the shouts stopped–but still no power. At five, I got up to blow the candles out.

I woke at 8am, still power-less. The urge to sob was strong. I’d never survive another 90+ day with no power, and I feared the inside of the fridge. The power had been out for 15 1/2 hours. I hopped in the shower to cool down–and boy was it a cool-down, since the water heaters weren’t working. The upside of the heat was that it felt good instead of torturous.

And when I came out of the shower, I heard it–my bedroom fan was on. I ran into the bedroom and saw my alarm clock blinking 12:03–three minutes since the power had returned. Hallelujah!

I haven’t turned the AC on yet, but the fan’s pointed right at me. Mostly I’m happy to have the internets back.

It’s 86 degrees right now, before 9am. I think I’ll try to get what sleep I can, in case this happens again.

I’m so not prepared for a catastrophic earthquake.

Apple Escalates NBC Spat Over ITunes

I say, go Apple!  Sure, it’ll suck to not be able to purchase shows like “Psych” or to check out the new NBC pilots, but that’s a better alternative than Apple caving to industry pressures to raise prices, and by cutting NBC at the beginning of the new season, the network loses a lot of marketing potential for its new shows, and maybe it’ll rethink its hardball techniques.

These are the boxes that held the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows books at last week’s Harry Potter release party at Barnes & Noble. It was a fun shindig, with kids and adults in costume, story circles where an employee dressed as Harry read from The Half-Blood Prince, and a Harry Potter-themed band, singing songs like “I was a teenaged werewolf”. I didn’t stick around for the big release, though; I did that last time, and it was a very uncomfortable and frustrating zoo. This time, I left shortly before midnight, went to the grocery store, stocked up on snacks for the weekend, and bought my book there.

The book was excellent–extremely intense, but excellent. I’ve spent the past week anchoring myself in the Harry Potter world by reading and posting on discussion boards, watching the dvds after work, and laughing at the crazy people.

If you would care to join me, follow these links:

Here’s a wonderful discussion going on at one of my favorite boards. Be warned, it’s all spoilers, all the time, so don’t go there if you haven’t read the final book.
LibraryThing.com’s discussion groups Look for Hogwarts Express discussions first, then branch out to others.
If My Friends List Wrote DH Hilariously funny, deeply spoilery, and heavy with the slash. If you don’t know what slash is, you may find the story disturbing, but try it anyway.
First six HP books, summarized in 100 words or less From readers of the BBC.
Potterpuffs Cleverly drawn artwork illustrating a few of the scenes from the book.
Rowling reveals character points that wouldn’t fit in the book. Squeeeee!
Readers’ reactions From MSNBC’s employees, and I assume their children (The realization that one of the greatest series is over will take a few weeks to handle. Just like how Voldemort wanted, there will be no more happiness. — From a 10 year old!)
A scripted parody of the final scenes
The beginnings of what could be an awesome Neville fic

That should keep you busy. ;-D