The Dog House, Mach 3
Life's been pretty insane since July '98 or so. A
friend and I have been referring to the seven or eight months between August and November
as "Hell" for simplicity's sake, but that really doesn't quite put things in
much perspective. Perhaps this will, if only for me:
- August 5th through 10th, 1998 (60 Days BC,
"Before Chile"): Gen Con. The trip to and from Milwaukee by
car was a known, if dreaded factor. The trips up and down the (non-functioning)
escalators of MECCA to unload on Sunday night was a treat we had not planned on.
Much work and standing on feet. Much Hong Kong Action
Theatre! and Heaven & Earth. Much fun had
by all (until Matt got that ticket on the way home....).
- August 18th through 23rd (54 Days BC):
I flew home to New Jersey for a family reunion to celebrate my grandmother's 85th
birthday. It was a blast! About 100 friends and relatives partying like only
Irish Catholics can. I also got to see some dear friends whom I've not seen for
several years (that's you Alex, Jeff, ABY, and fuzzy and christine). I was almost
home long enough to start to relax. Then I returned to Kansas....
- Labor Day #1: The Weekend (September 4th through
6th, 30 Days BC). After working 'til about 4pm on Friday, I drove
swiftly to KCI, where I nearly missed my flight due to the satellite parking shuttle's
speedy pickup. As it was, I caught the flight to Atlanta for Dragon Con. And a very interesting
flight it was: not only did I talk to Dr. Rogers of KC, but I fell in lust with Alexandra (yes, the one I
wrote the poem about) en route. Alas, it was not meant to be, since she met someone
at the airport gate as I met my cousin Denise (yes, the one I'm still working on the poem
about).
I had a lovely time visiting with my cousin and her
husband Robert. And I worked Dragon Con with John. It was very interesting to
see the show from an exhibitor vs. attendee POV, and I certainly don't endorse the
experience. After the show on Sunday, John and I flew back to Kansas City.
- Labor Day #2: The Week (September 7th through 13th,
27 Days BC): After my timely arrival at KCI Sunday night around
7pm, and the subsequent drive home (thanks Jennifer!), I promply unpacked from Atlanta,
and began to pack for San Francisco: Sprint sent me to the Support Services
Conference and Expo (held at the same time and place as COMDEX). There I studied the
ways of the Knowledge Engineer, like my father before me. It was a gruelling week,
but extraordinarily useful, work-wise. The fourteen hour days were only survivable
due to the free food and alcohol.... While there, I wrote "The Drake" (inspired by
the Sir Francis Drake hotel, where I stayed during the week).
The conference concluded on Friday night, so my friends
Drew (webmaster for West End Games)
and Dave picked me up in SF. We drove at 100 mph in Dave's new white Mercury to
Sunnyvale, where we swiftly found our way to Scruffy Murphy's (home of 22
ounce Guiness Stout draughts, Jolly Rancher shots, and the darling waitresses Anne and
Anita). We imbibed much alcohol, then retired to Drew's place.
The rest of the weekend consisted of hanging out with
Drew while avoiding his girlfriend, playing at a nickel arcade (it rocked!--they had
everything from Ms. PacMan to Gunblade!), touring the Winchester Mansion, and otherwise
recovering from too much Knowledge Engineering. Drew graciously returned me to the
airport, and from thence to the semblance of normalcy that is my life.
- September 22nd and 25th (12 and 9 Days BC):
I was brainwashed by people selling the wonders of Java and the Sprint Intranet User
Group, which kept me sufficiently out of the office that I still hadn't caught up by the
time I left for Chile.
- At long last, after staying up 46 hours straight fighting
writing deadlines, I departed for Santiago, Chile, on the rainy morning of October 4th (0
Days BC). Driving to the airport was a little more cramped than I'd
planned, but I got to squeeze in some quality time with Robert, Misti, and their newborn
Ryun (whom I've been instructing in the important things in life: David Bowie, Great
Cthulhu, oceans, poetry, Rites of Binding and Summoning, and such). For further
details, read all about the
Chile Trip. For those who don't want to, suffice to say that had a
blast and actually relaxed for the first time in about three to six years.
In between the extensive (for me anyway) travellings, I
managed to play racquetball only twice, attend the Richardsons' Barn Raising Party (where
I lusted after Chris' younger sister, but don't tell him), actually saw my dear friend
Stacey once as our schedules were on opposite bodies of water for awhile, attend my first
Chief's game (with a date even!), miss work for the first time in aeons (I got this
hacking cough in mid-September that didn't go away 'til about the end of October; I
suspect it was an early sign of consumption), ate at Chopstix a few times (a great Chinese
lunch buffet a few miles from work), bought my Dell
Inspiron 3200 laptop (which arrived in Kansas--naturally enough--while I was
in California), wrote yet more words for EHP's Swords of the Middle Kingdom, managed
to sleep 6 1/2 hours straight once, drove to the airport one more time than I had really
wanted to (it's OK Kathy, I forgave you while napping at the terminal), and bought some new tunes of note.
Since Chile, I've actually been in one place for two
full weeks, so naturally the weekend of my 29th birthday I'm driving to Columbia, MO, to
visit with my cousin Denise and her husband Robert, my cousin Sheila, and Robert's family.
We'll drink and watch a football game of some sort. If I'm feeling up to it,
I'll drop by to visit the folks at BioHazard
Games and see what new Blue Planet supplements are cooking.
And just in case I've already forgotten the joys of
airline catered food service, I'll be back on a plane to New Jersey for Thanksgiving.
That'll be my last long trip this year, though all bets are off once I've got
vacation time beginning in January: either I'm spending some frequent flyer miles to
visit mi chica mala en Santiago, or I'll be off somewhere else (Aruba or
someplace with an active volcano would both be cool). Or something otherwise fun and
diverting and not in Kansas.
You can also read my older
bio and older life notes for
less-current info, though I'm not really sure why you'd want to.
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