Weekend!
Holy cow, is today Friday already?
Indeed it is.
So I’m going to Maryland for a month. Sigh. It’s, apparently, a new guy thing. I am allergic to shellfish so when pretty much any given person brightens when I tell them “I’m going to Maryland”, and they say “You should try these little blue crabs they have there!”, I just think that there’s no way that I can afford that many “I got crabs at fisherman’s wharf” t-shirts.
“I saw this and I thought of you.”
So this weekend will be devoted to squeezing out the last little bits of datenight with Maribou, travel preparation, and general panic.
I’ve never really travelled anywhere alone, you see. I’ve been places as a son and places as a husband and a few places as a visiting friend/relative… but never anywhere as an employee. Well, I went to Fort Collins for a week back in 2000. I wasn’t counting that.
Anyway, I’m sure that you have some work travel horror stories. The weekend before I get on a plane is the best time to share them.
So… what’s on your docket?
I’m going to be taking it easy, checking with you to see if we already have somebody lined up for the next Babyonia and taking the scheduling of that back over, celebrating passing the screening exam, going to soccer, and maybe watching some football.
There are a ton of other things I should do, but I think this weekend I’m going to not do them.Report
celebrating passing the screening exam
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEReport
I have no idea what this screening exam is, but it sounds like passing is a good thing, so many congrats!Report
*raises the roof*
GO YOU.Report
What’s the screening exam for? It sounds big, from Jaybird’s reaction.
I can recap Babylon Squared if nobody else has volunteered.Report
I’ve quite enjoyed the recaps you’ve done, so you got it 😉Report
I am now an official Ph.D. candidate. CGU calls it a screening exam, some schools call it a qualifying exam, quals, or hell. A comprehensive closed-book half-day exam covering 5 of the core classes you take as part of the basic courseload.
Sort of like re-taking the final exam for five classes, all at once. My brain is still full.Report
Oh, you mean your comprehensive exam? (To throw out yet one more term that’s used for the same damn thing *grin*).
That is indeed grounds for congratulations. You made it through an important round of the hazing process. 😉Report
Congratulations! That’s awesome!Report
Congrats! Welcome to the slog.Report
First, a question: Did Maribou give you all those birthday kisses she promised us she’d give? Inquiring minds want to make sure you got all your birthday gifts.
And weekend. I had four (not on, but four!) designs accepted yesterday. This is a BFD for me. All due by the end of November. That’s an even bigger BFD. I will be very, very busy for the next six weeks making a baby blanket, baby cardigan, cowl, and mitts, and writing the patterns so that others can also make them.
Supposed to have a photo shoot this afternoon, but my camera will no longer focus.
There will be bread baking and apple-pie making and leaf-crunching-underfoot.Report
He kept dodging me!! Except when it is too early in the morning for me to remember I’m not only cuddling for myself ;).
This weekend for sure. I am up to 6 cheek kisses (my aunties sent some directions too) and 1 raspberry.Report
There’s probably some interest due and a predicted shortcoming do to close encounters with blue crabs, I’m thinking.
Better get a chapstick.Report
Preparing for Haiti.
There will also be two thanksgiving dinners this weekend (a big ham on Saturday, and a turkey on Monday when my aunt and cousin come for dinner), because my mom is awesome. I’ll probably be helping with the pumpkin pie. After two weeks of being away from home for Thanksgiving, this is very nice.Report
You decided to go?
Wow. Proud.
Details? Please?
And anything that you need? You have friends here who would help in any way we can.Report
Thank you so much! Right now I could really use advice on buying an e-reader – having one would be really handy since I can’t bring a load of books down with me. I need something that’s compatible with my Mac and that lets me get a good selection of classics (i.e., out-of-copyright books – Les Mis, Shakespeare, Jane Eyre, Dracula, Austen’s books, etc.) for free.Report
Oh, right, details. I’ll have a 3-year position as Planning and Reporting Assistant for Mennonite Central Committee. That means I’ll be helping with keeping track of what the projects have actually achieved, whether they’re meeting their goals, what’s working and what isn’t and what can be changed. Since the 5-year earthquake relief project wraps up in 2015 (other long-term programs, especially reforestation, will continue), I expect I’ll be helping with the evaluation on that. I also might be helping train some of MCC’s Haitian personnel in reporting and evaluation methods.
I’ll be in Désarmes, a town ~40km north of Port-au-Prince, in the Artibonite Valley. There’s eight other MCCers there, all Haitian, as well as people who work for our local partner organizations. MCC hires local people rather than internationals as much as possible – which is a mark of a good development agency, because the locals will always have a better understanding of the context and issues than a foreigner will, but also means that I may be the only non-Haitian in the town. Fortunately, I get several weeks of language training in Creole (which, from a cursory first look, has a lot in common with French, making things easier) as part of a home-stay in Haiti before I begin work, and can continue getting language training after my work starts. The Desarmes office will have internet access, thanks to solar panels installed by MCC, so I’ll hopefully have some ability to stay in touch.
It’s not a salaried position, but MCC funds living expenses and travel and provides medical insurance.Report
Nice. Sadly, I cannot advice you on e-readers; but my son took a black and white 3g kindle to Alaska, when there was wifi available, could use it to download all the amazon free books, to use gmail, and wikipedia.
But that was, technology speaking, a lifetime ago.Report
My Paperwhite is awesome. You can read it in any light without eye strain, and it has like 30 hours of battery life.
You are limited to Amazon’s format and pdfs, but I find that more than sufficient.Report
The Paperwhite won’t read plain text?
Anyway, download Calibre (free) onto your computer. It will convert anything (text, html, epub, pdf, mobi, lit, etc.) to anything else, so you can convert anything at all to mobi (Kindle) format.Report
And if it’s in the public domain, chances are you can get a Kindle-ready format from the Gutenberg Project even if it’s not available at the Kindle Store (which it usually is).Report
Mike – Can you explain a bit more about how that works? I downloaded a couple of Google Books, but they just show up for online reading rather than in any downloadable format, and Google’s information on them says they can’t be used on Kindle readers. If I could read Google Books on a Kindle that would be a great option.Report
I second calibre. It is my go to converter and how I transfer books to my kindle fire.Report
KMW, are these the books that are out of copyright? If so, you may just need to download them again. They’re probably available here.Report
1) You rock.
2) Good luck.
3) As someone who is stuck with Columbus Day this weekend (eyeroll), I am VERY JEALOUS THAT YOU GET PROPER THANKSGIVING.Report
We moved our Thanksgiving forward because up here, nobody is in the mood to be thankful for anything in November.Report
Oh, I should’ve clarified – I’m Canadian and I disapprove of this whole celebrating in November thing even though I’ve lived here for 15 years. Still seems like an abomination, even though our Nov. weather is much less miserable.Report
I request a post about Canadian Thanksgiving traditions.
I live in Maine, I know nothing, and here, it’s the best time of year for Thanksgiving. What are the dishes? Tales appreciated. Please.Report
zic, I don’t think it’s very different other than a) the date, and b) football is not a big deal. oh, and of course there’s not aaaaaaaaaaa black friday factor.
otherwise, i haven’t seen anything here that wasn’t within ‘how some family might celebrate’ back home. we… don’t generally have marshmallowy yams?? and people often don’t eat turkey, but instead ham, chicken, goose, or even lasagna – some big feast is required, and turkey is most common, but not required.
in my neck of the woods, it was more likely to be small and intimate than Christmas dinner (which was more of an extended family thing), but I think that is PEI specific rather than Canada specific. Or maybe even just specific to my two different families.
We still gather up the “Thanksgiving orphans” though. I was so gathered a couple of times when I was at McGill and couldn’t afford to go home.Report
Cranberries with the turkey?
That is the taste of the northeast — cranberry and turkey. Cranberries even grow in the tundra and alpine zone in the Presidential range.
And I’m curious about pine nuts; also called Indian Nuts. The native scrub pines, mostly coastal, have edible nuts similar to Pignolia. I don’t know how far north they range.Report
Mmmmm. Cranberries and turkey. Now that is a Wisconsin tradition.Report
zic – For my family’s Thanksgiving, we get together for a big meal that usually centres around turkey (occasionally we’ve had ham instead), plus my mom’s wonderful dressing, yams, green beans with Swiss cheese (my aunt brought them one year, and we all loved them so much that we’ve demanded them every successive year), probably some mashed potatoes, other vegetables, and pumpkin pie for dessert. It’s always delicious.Report
Thanksgiving with the other true north folk: turkey, stuffing, yams (no marshmallows), lots of wine and champagne.
Our ski club holds a ski swap this weekend as well all the beginning of the season meetings. We have a house of people and food but I’m spending most of my time showing up to stuff I have to…. ugh.Report
Weekend trip to SeattleReport
Business or pleasure?Report
Have a ton of fun ND. Give a report on any fancy meals you run across.Report
This week I accepted my relocation offer, so I will be moving to Houston at the beginning of next year. This weekend, I will attack the junk room and figure out what I will get rid of. Maybe.
There should be some time with Dominions 4, and that is a game that can easily suck away the hours.
Perhaps some general housecleaning.
Probably watch a few episodes of The Wire.
I may try to watch last weekend’s Battleground PPV, or at least some highlights.
I want to get back to painting some miniatures that I got.
I need to get in some serious guitar time. I have been neglectful this week.
I have feeling this list is going to get truncated before the weekend is over.Report
last weekend’s Battleground PPV
DUDE IT WAS AWESOME
Except that it ended on a cliffhanger that went on to be resolved on Monday Night Raw.
Which, as much as I enjoyed it, is not any way to run a railroad.
That said, I yelled at the television and then said to Dman “that was one of those shows that reminds me why I watch this crap.”Report
If they do not give a decisive title change soon, and continue to pull shenanigans to give Daniel Bryan the victory, then take the title away again, I will lose interest. I like the HBK ref angle for the next PPV, since there are legitimate reasons he could go either way. I hope it gets proper resolution, however it ends.Report
Congratulations on the upcoming move; here’s hoping it works out well for you!Report
Thanks. I cannot deny being a bit nervous, since I have never lived very far from the place I grew up, but overall I am very excited and looking forward to the change (for the same reason).Report
Houston is great, as long as you keep your eyes closed ;).
Kidding. Most people I know love Houston. I don’t, but I grew up in a very small town, so I have trouble with really big cities.
And you’re only like 2 hours from Austin, so you can always escape to the sane world.Report
I did not enjoy Houston when I visited.Report
One thing I enjoy after watching Wire episodes is to read Alan Sepinwall’s recaps. It’s amazing how much stuff there is in each one, almost guaranteeing I’ve missed something important. Be sure to stick with the “Newbies” versions, if you don’t want the rest of the series spoiled.Report
I’ve finally gotten moving on getting the downstairs organized. I may have isolated the problem with one of my computers, which is great because a computer that crashes twice a day is almost as bad as not having the computer to begin with. I swapped the RAM out and it’s only crashed once since.
I’m also starting to plan my post-XP era. I installed Win7 on one of my XP machines. I need to finish nipping and tucking the OS. As soon as I find a good hard drive to use, I’ll be installing Linux on a different machine.
Seven weeks without a cigarette.Report
Dude. 7 sevens is a good number.Report
My ancient XP desktop can’t be upgraded to 7 (the graphics chipset isn’t supported.) I’m weighing options. Linux would run on the hardware, but neither iTunes nor my favorite contract bridge software does.Report
One thing I am considering is leaving one of my computers on XP, but simply stripping it of Internet access. It’ll be a network machine, but shouldn’t be (as) vulnerable to outside attacks. I’m still looking into the security implications.
One of the limiting factors on my adoption of Linux is Audible, which doesn’t have Linux support.
I still need to look into WINE and see how much I can do with that.Report
I read a description once of how to combine WINE with exactly the right obsolete version of iTunes. I couldn’t get it to work.Report
Have you ever though about putting an Android version on one of the ancient computers and trying to run the mobile app version? I did that a couple of years ago on an old compaq presario that someone threw away outside. Was kinda fun messing around with it for a while.Report
I never did. That’s an intriguing idea.Report
‘Tis the weekend of giving thanks, thus I will be eating a lot of food.Report
I took a much-needed day off today. It is 11:45am and I am still in my PJs so we’re off to a good start. The wife is also off so we are going to go get a good lunch somewhere and maybe run some errands.
Tomorrow is my annual scouting trip to look for new hunting spots. I will be driving backroads, scouring satellite maps and talking to landowners.
Sunday night is the premier of Walking Dead so I have a feeling I will watch 4-5 hours last season during the day just to get me fired up for the new episode.Report
Also, Jaybird, I can’t imagine a month away from home for any reason. Good luck and I look forward to hearing about your adventures.Report
I expect to hate it. I hope to enjoy it.
I bought a 3DS.Report
My own Memphis Tigers are coming to town! And I think we have a shot at taking out Houston. Last week, a blown call lost what would have been a great upset against UCF. So I think the boys will be hungry. The Cougars won’t know what hit them.Report
A bit of shopping for stuff I’ve been putting off shopping for, a bit of sitting on the patio with beer and a book.
Oh, and I just learned that next week, we’re going to see Boy George do a DJ set. File that under sentences I never thought I’d type.
You know, a month away is a long time, but I suspect you’ll find that after the first week, you’ll settle in, you’ll feel really free in the evenings when you’re not working, and it will be a good experience. Just make sure you ask, “Does this have crab in it” before you eat anything, even at McDonald’s, ’cause those people are crazy about their shellfish.Report
I have a handful of friends that I hope to visit while out there. I imagine that that will make it good.Report
I do not doubt, given your general outlook and temperament, at least as I’ve discerned it, that it will be a positive experience for you. It will suck to be away from friends and loved ones, but you’ll make new friends, see friends you haven’t seen in a while (or perhaps in some cases ever), see new places, avoid eating crab you haven’t had to avoid eating before, drink some microbrews you haven’t even heard of because they never make it out of the Delmarva and adjacent areas like Annapolis or Baltimore, hear some music you haven’t heard, and then spend a lot of evenings lying around on a hotel bed with not just anything to do, but without anything that you have to or need to do. Then, after a month, you get to come back to your friends and loved ones, and seeing them will be all the sweeter.Report
Converting a bunch of coder music for Just Me to take to work in her iPod Touch. Stuff I listen to when I’m coding. Goldberg Variations by Simone Dinnerstein. Eno’s Music for Films, that sort of thing. Too many gabby people at work, she says.
Going to a pig roast tomorrow night. I’ll be baking bread and sweet rolls to bring along. Hopefully the weather will hold up and I can make some more autumn pictures.Report
Sweet rolls are a success. Now bring on the pig! Oh yeah, go Badgers!Report
Hanging out at a friend’s place while she comes up with stuff to do with copious green tomatoes. Hopefully getting our new kitchen counter in before Mrs. Dragonfrog gets back to town (though, honestly, not likely). Volunteer shift at the community bike workshop. Thanksgiving dinner at our usual Monday potluck destination.Report
Joining friends & taking all the toddlers to the pumpkin patch for the first time, now that everyone is walking.
Some Borderlands tonight. Maybe get around to post processing my fall color photographs.Report
Just saw this on-line (would like to see in person):
http://c-monster.net/2008/02/28/photos-design-the-elastic-mind-moma-nyc/
I love the piece called Sunumbra.
I want to find some photovoltaic fiber to try knitting with. Any ideas? Nothing’s turned up via google yet.Report
Homework, painkillers, and getting ready for Jay to leave. It’s a wild life, but someone needs to live it ;).Report
Catching up on sleep (the commute from Marin to the South Bay sucks rocks [1]), doing some internal training classes, teaching myself a new programming language, etc. All part of the fun of changing jobs.
1. This is only temporary. Soon enough, I’ll be back riding the ferry to The City every day.Report
Today, I gave Zazzy a “Terrific Lady Day”. Tomorrow is the first Kazzymas of the season. Big days all around.Report