Michael's Meanderings

I was up at 7am with a headache, read for a bit, then out into the frozen morning to Waffle House for an All-Star Special and coffee. Then back to my room to pack. Most of my stuff fitted back but I'd bought books so...

Read for a bit met filkferengi and arranged to leave stuff in her car. Checked out of hotel, just before the closing ceremony. This was followed by ecumenifilk then open folk. I read to 5 when I returned to Arby's I had a Jamocca shake this time. Back to open filking until 8pm when we left.

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Woke up before eight, and couldn't get back to sleep so read til housekeeping came knocking, then bundled up to go out in the cold to get breakfast at Waffle House. Waffles are really good, coffee is too. Back to hotel where I read for an hour or so until 11am when the first program item. Terence Chua played old songs for nearly an hour.

This was followed by Interfilk guest Andrew Ross. Acapella singing. We then had tales from the super secret guests. First a musically themed story fron Delia Sheman, followedy by a musical performance of Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner.

I wandered in and out of the main concert room during the three hours of 2x10s. Then while most of the con was at the overpriced banquet, I went to Arby's for a roast beef sandwich with curly fries and a mint milk shake (the latter was too sweet). More reading, then at 8:30 back for the GoH concert by Alexander James Adams. This was a resounding success. Back to my room to read while most of the Interfilk auction occurred, but back for the last item, followed by the drawing for the Gafilk quilt, I didn't win. Chatted with nlbarber and filkferengi then off to bed.

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So filkferengi, hms42 and I got to the Crowne Plaza at before 5pm. I checked in and left my stuff in my room. Then to registration to get song book and program. Then to the dealers room where I bought too many books from Larry Smith, checking LibraryThing to make sure I hadn't already got them. Back to my room to leave my purchases. Then off to dinner with filkferengi and 2 other young ladies , I had bar-b-q pork with beans and mash, followed by cherry cobbler. I was totally stuffed.

Back to the hotel and met nlbarber, caught up a bit. She has an iPod Touch too.

Then the opening at 7pm included the traditional singing of Auld Lang Syne followed by toasts.

"My Filk" followed at 8pm where obscure music related questions were asked of teams 1 and B. The final song writing round was a near draw, but the winners were team 1.

This was followed by a concert from Dene Foye, with a mix of serious and funny, self penned and otherwise.

When he finished I pumkined and went off to update LJ and then to bed.

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So after over ten hours sleep I got up and we went off to IHOP for brunch I had ham and scrambled eggs with all you can eat pancakes, I had 8 altogether! We then did various stops, I got some postcards and bought some trousers at Walmart. We also got cat food and some books, on sale at the library. Back home for dinner, chicken and sweet potato, and some TV watching.

Thursday was colder and we didn't stay out though we did return to the IHOP I had sausages this time, but otherwise the same. I hemmed the trouser cuffs on the pair of jeans I purchased yesterday. Read a bit, had a snooze in the afternoon. With dinner of soup and meat wraps watched some more TV NCIS pilot, and Stephen Fry in America!

Friday morning we collected hms42 from Gafilk hotel so we could have brunch together. I had ham again this time with eggs over easy. Also I only had 6 pancakes this time. The weather had been very cold with a light dusting of snow over night. We did hit a couple of icy patches but managed to navigate them without any problems.

After brunch we went to a couple of thrift stores, and I picked up a few cheap books, the other also found interesting stuff. Then back home, finished packing for the weekend then off to the Crowne Plaza and Gafilk.

The last few days, as the snow finally melted, the trains were much delayed. On Wednesday the delay was 53 minutes due to a preceding train being frozen to the tracks! (other parts of the country had it much worse). I've even managed to get a request for a refund in, so I might get some money back.

I also finally booked my Gafilk hotel room, just in time as on-line discounts require 14 days before arrival.

Christmas Eve was a half work day, left at 13:45 and caught the 14:00 from Farringdon to Three Bridges, then caught the train to Horsham, where I was picked up by my sister, then to their home.

Christmas day we were up by 8:00 open presents (I didn't get a large haul) but I did get a Dr Who Annual, a new grey furry cap, and a protective case for my iPod. (Not to mention an actual £20 note!).

Then the parents and I went off to church for the 10:00 Eucharist then back for nibbles, so that Christmas dinner with the whole family was a bit later. After a full Christmas meal of turkey, roast potatoes, sprouts, carrots, peas and Yorkshire pudding, followed by Christmas pudding and cream, I crashed for a couple of hours. The up for the first part of the Doctor Who Christmas Special. Then the Christmas Strictly Come Dancing episode. Saw another couple of iPlayer programs on my iPod then to bed.

This morning I saw Dr Who Confidential, again on my iPod, then lunch. I've been trying to improve the performance of my Dad's PC and believe that it really needs extra memory installed.

This seems to be my default setting in general, and on LJ in particular. I've had a busy 3 weeks and really should have noted this here, but...

Flew directly to Atlanta, on Tuesday 6th, on a flight with three flight designation, AF3622, DL59 and AM5699! All went well till I got to Atlanta when my bag went missing and was discovered after over an hours wait, on the wrong carousel

First, I spent 6 days with filkferengi and spouse, and managed to go walking in the park with one or other of them every day, despite the cold these jaunts were quite enjoyable. In the middle of this visit was gafilk which had been relocated into the hotel basement. Apart from that it went very well with concerts by Barry & Sally Childs-Helton, Larry Kirby, Harold Feld, Emma Bull, and the Ropers. I didn't see most of the 2x10s but did catch filkerdave performing live via the internet.

On Monday our traditional listie (and others) dinner at the Crescent Moon, had to move to Blue Ribbon Grill, due to the former going out of business. nlbarber managed to come, even though due to family issues she had to miss Gafilk. A good time was, I think had by all.

Wednesday brunch was with filkferengi and drsigne at the IHOP, my most visted eating establishment (if I had written every day there'd be more IHOP and other food related material).

Then Thursday I flew back, getting home on Friday 16th and spent the weekend recovering from jet-lag.

I don't normally make New Year resolutions, but I feel that I really ought to be able to post at least once a month!

I finally realised I hadn't posted in over two months and if I don't do so today, I won't have my diary to refer to!

So back at the end of October....

I took some training in Powerpoint, which allowed me to take the final module of the ECDL, which I passed! It's not too technical a qualification, but it's the only the second IT related one I've got (3rd if you count an "OA" level taken in 1978!)

In mid November I went to the Hawth theatre twice. First to see Cirque du Glace - circus on ice. The whole stage was iced over, and most of the performers were on skates. There was ice dancing as well as the usual circus performances. The second was to see Shades of Brown, a one woman show, high lighting issues of skin colour. A tour du force, the writer / performer (Rani Moorthy) was on stage all the time (even when costume changing).

I started watching "Sanctuary" on ITV4 using ITVPlayer as my sky+ box had finally died! Last in the series is going to be on TV this Monday (sky+ box replaced over Christmas). Also have been watching "Merlin" and "Strictly Come Dancing" on BBC1, both now finished and "Fringe" on Sky1 also on my PC with SkyPlayer, but when I tried to view the last episode (ep10) it wouldn't work, so I'll have to find it elsewhere.

Finally booked my flight to Atlanta and hotel for Gafilk, though with the exchange rates and petrol prices it was a bit higher than in previous years. I look forward to seeing friends again, and hearing good music.

I've bought a new camera, as the old one fell apart when I was in Denver last year. It uses an SD card and can record video (but the sound isn't so good). It's smaller and made of metal, rather than plastic, so I hope it lasts better.

Jugging class finished a few weeks back, for this term. It will restart in the New Year, but due to Gafilk I'll miss the first 2 weeks. (previously it was on Monday so with the plane schedules I only missed one week, now it's later so I miss two!) We have been doing quite a lot of passing, with both balls and clubs. I used the new camera to take some video I may post them some time.

December 12th was our staff Christmas party / dinner. It was in the evening and I though the meal was quite good, some how I managed to have two christmas pudding, though I decided not to drink, so that may have balanced out.

I've finally managed to get Ubuntu to run on my eeepc from an SD card, as if it were a writable Live CD and with the wireless function working! I'm using the Eeebuntu Netbook Remix which works like a charm. But it still takes twice as long to boot as Puppy Linux which is also now working from SD Card.

And so I'm nearly up to date. Two weeks ago I saw a double bill of "The Tale of Despereaux" and "The Day the Earth Stood Still" at the local cinema. Then we get to Christmas which I spent with my parents, and sister and her family. Oh yes my niece has just past her driving test, only three month after her 17th birthday, when she first started driving.

On Christmas day we watched the traditional "Doctor Who Christmas Special", followed by "the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special", back home on Sunday afternoon, when I had to go out in the freezing cold to buy my Annual Season Ticket (so I can travel in 2009 at 2008 prices) then back to work on Monday. We did get New Years day off work, and I spent it, as expected reading.

The book list meme has been going around at this time, so I extracted the data from LibraryThing and determined that I read 343 books during 2008. I'm not going to post them all due to space considerations, but it would be really cool if there were a widget which could be set to show the books you'd read over a certain period. A week, a month or even a year.

One of my resolutions was to post to LJ at least once a week, that lasted well didn't it!

My last informative post left me in Atlanta prior to GAfilk, a weekend of songs, music conversation and late nights. I bought a few books. Par for the course. While there was free wifi at the hotel my PDA was not working 100% so no postings. Back to filkferengi's in the evening of Sunday.

filkferengi and spouse take walks most days and while I was there I did take a few walks with them. Even though I've not been much of a walker it was fun, and very healthy, I really should do some when I get back home (as I said last year).

On Tuesday a group of Lois McMaster Bujold fans got to go t dinner at the Crescent Moon (as has become traditional and much interesting conversation and good food occurred) there was free wifi there too!

The day before I left for home I managed to get a replacement power supply for my ebookwise ebook reader, and in the late afternoon we had a very light snowfall, just enough to notice but not enough to cause any traffic problems.

And so back to the UK, first thing was to catch up on the TV recorded on my Sky+ box, which took most of the weekend. Including the first in the new series of Torchwood.

The following weekend I booked an eye test and a week later I got my eyes tested, and I did need new glasses. they were ready the following Friday so I collected them and got fitted before going on to the UK Filkcon 2Tonic. As a result of the late fitting I caught a later train to London so I had to pay the full fair of £93 rather that the less than £50 if I'd managed to leave the city before 4pm! Once I got to Grantham I found 5 other filkers waiting for a taxi. there was nothing available and a phone call the the hotel eventually provided a 5 seater, unfortunately there were by now 7 of us waiting. Luckily an ordinary taxi just arrived and was able to take the remaing pair on to the hotel, where I discoverer I hadn't got a room! I did manage to get the last non smoking room,at the convention rate, so all's well that ends well.

2Tonic the 20th UK filkcon and I believe the 19th I've been to. Filled with music, song conversation and fun. I did buy 3 CDs probably nearly 10% of the attendees had been at Gafilk the month before.

On Monday morning I got on the wrong train and had to pay a further £30 as the ticket I had bought on Friday was not valid on this company's train EVEN THOUGH it was the same route Grantham to Kings Cross. I was not amused.

And so we are now nearly up to date. On Shrove Tuesday I did make pancakes (not great but they were mostly edible) and for lent I have decided to give up chocolate, so far so good.

So Tuesday morning I was able to get up over an hour later than usual, as my flight from Gatwick wasn't due to leave til 11:50.got the train, checked my bag (got a new ticket as the plane had been changed) through security, including the separate shoe x-rays.

After boarding, we left only twenty or so minutes late, then I started watching "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" then lunch (which I got early as I'm on a low salt diet!). I managed to get a couple of hours shuteye. After a nine and a quarter hour flight we landed only 5 minutes late.

I thought we Brits liked queuing, but it took over an hour to get through passport control and then over half an hour to get through security. (why do you need to go through security when you are LEAVING the airport?)

So just over two hours after touch down I reclaimed my bag again, and phoned filkferengi to let her know I'd arrived, and needed pickup.

filkferengi and spouse arrived and then we went off for the traditional Chinese meal at the "Golden Gate" and then it was time to crash (body clock said it was 2am).

I've finally got it all sorted out for my annual visit to Atlanta in January.

The flight is books, the insurance is paid for, and time off from work is confirmed.

Now I have to start thinking about Denvention 3, in Denver, Colorado during August next year.