dancerjodi

As our friends are off playing in the geeky sandbox that is Star Wars Celebration, I feel like I'm in an odd place.  It is kind of like those first few years that we didn't go to Dragoncon.  There are folks we've met that we only see at these big conventions, and so I'm missing them.  If the bash does end up being a big huge, fun, nerdy dance party, I'll miss that (not sure if it will this year, though).  There is always fun merch to be had, but years after prior Celebrations there are few mementos I look back on and smile about.  I'm kind of sad that we aren't introducing Mina to Disneyland, but I know that she's young and there is a lot there she can't really appreciate (plus the FL park is better).  It is hard to say how the experience would go with a Mina in tow, anyway.  Long-term overnight babysitting isn't an option for us, and so a lot of the things we love the best about the SWC experience wouldn't happen (together) or be so easy, anyway.

The Dragoncon sadness got better each year, and now I don't think much about it at all.  I like seeing costume photos and hearing stories when my friends come back home, but I don't miss it anymore.  Kind of like Manray.  I'm not the person anymore that I was in those days.  I miss those experiences and sometimes that person, but love where I'm at today.  It is a fond sentimentality, not a sad one.

Most of all, I'm excited to check out the new Spring Megafest convention this weekend (thank you for giving us a non-Celebration alternative!) and even moreso, I'm excited about our White Mountains vacation, next weekend.

I tend not to make a big deal about birthdays, but I resolved to do 'all the things I like to do' this year to celebrate my 40th year.  I'm proud of myself for sticking to it, and thankful to Brian for humoring me with my arrangements. :)

We are back! I'm crazy busy but I'm putting this down for future reference, very quickly.

Brian was going to http://chefconf.opscode.com/ so we decided to make a family trip out of it. We love San Francisco and have met many awesome folks there through the 501st and Rebel Legion, in addition to various LucasFilms folks/locations. Going with a toddler was surely a different experience, but Mina did great!

Pics/Video

Mine and Terry's: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancerjodi/sets/72157633401486144/with/8694774001/
Dale Tolosa's: http://s16.photobucket.com/user/Anasian_Skywalker/library/Anderson%20Visit%202013#/user/Anasian_Skywalker/library/Anderson%20Visit%202013?sort=3&page=1&_suid=1367498051652023524187947328762
A video Dale made:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG-582ethHM&sns=em
Brian's: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tk7602/

Mina did well on the plane. She got a bit bored around hour 4 or 5 heading out, and a nice flight attendant entertained her at the front of the plane and shared a clementine with her. On the way back it was a bit tougher. She just couldn't get comfy to sleep, until she ended up falling asleep on us (including, sleeping through the entire landing). Her ears had no issues with the pressure changes.

New things this trip: Japantown! Palace of the Fine Arts! Disney Museum! The Playground at Golden Gate Park! Met up with Lizzy Goat and her gorgeous daughter in the Lakeshore area in Oakland and walked around the Lake there. We got to spend more time with some of our Star Wars CA friends than in previous trips. Bought things at the LDAC office store at The Presido and had dinner with some Clone Wars peeps. Also played in parks with stranger's kids and dogs. Kids really do break down barriers.

Last night, Brian and I decided that we would not stay overnight at Megafest (convention) this year, and would only go Sunday. Complicated, but right for us right now.

Pros
Brian's first event with the 501st, a soft spot for this one
Seeing lots of friends
Promoting our groups and collecting Toys for Tots
Close to home
We have a hotel reservation that's non-refundable

Cons
Crazy crowds (Saturday is bad as it is, plus STAN FREAKIN LEE is a guest)
Can't get there till 3:00 (need to pick up our Thanksgiving turkey at 2:00)
Can't check in until 3:00 to the hotel, and how the hell do we manage that plus our stuff plus Mina's stuff plus the crowds.
None of us have slept well over the last 3 days. Mina is teething and I'm fighting a cold that is not getting better (presumably, due to lack of sleep)
We're not big drinkers, so the bar debauchery doesn't appeal
We're both falling asleep by 10:00 anyway these days
We are hosting Thanksgiving next Thursday, have done 0 prep for it, no groceries purchased, and no time to really do that before Wednesday if we are at the con all weekend (I am not looking forward to day-before shopping, plus I need to prep/cook things on Wednesday - taking the day off work).

So we are eating the hotel room cost, and not going Saturday. We'll see folks on Sunday. You live and learn. Neither of us were excited about this and I was super-dreading the thought of how to pull things off. We're lame and old. But whatever. I'm so relieved to not have this hanging over my head anymore.

EDIT: just cancelled the room and they are refunding my money. I'm sure they are sold out and need all the space they can get. Kudos to the Framingham Sheraton!

Despite the snow, the Woburn Halloween parade stepped off yesterday. Our group (and the number of floats in general) was cut in half, but we did it and had fun. I wrangled for the group, which meant that I wore normal clothes and walked the 2+ mile route to make sure that the troopers with limited visibility and mobility were OK for the event. My feet were KILLING me by the time that we were done, but I'm so glad I pushed myself to do it. Other than that, I felt fine. I'm sure my feet would have been just dandy if we just walked, and didn't stop and start and stop and start and stand around for hours before we stepped off. There were some snafus with setup (less troopers, leaving Jabba at home so that he wouldn't get damaged in the water, not having enough money for our bus rental on hand), but all in all it was a great time. I love catching up with people at the annual 'crowd into the food court at the Burlington Mall' dinner, post-parade. Thank you to all of the organizers, and we'll see you folks at Megafest next month!

Usually after a long troop Brian and I each soak in the hot tub we installed when we re-did the upstairs bathroom. I put my feet in. Preggo ladies aren't supposed to go in water that's higher than 100 degrees. It can raise your blood pressure which isn't good (as it is the rate is raised higher than normal given the extra blood in your body and all the work it is doing growing and supporting a babe). Before I know it, I'll be able to go in there again!

We're going to hand out candy tonight and some folks are coming over to use Brian's vac table to do a run of X-wing helmets, so we'll be chilling with nerds and probably watching some spooky movies. I haven't yet broken out The Nightmare Before Christmas, for shame!

Have a great 10/31 folks! I can't believe November is tomorrow. Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and we'll have to prep for our own dinner. We weren't planning on hosting originally, so we didn't order a turkey from our CSA. Where can we easily get a good, non-hormone and non-corn-fed bird around these parts? I know there is a farm in Andover but we won't be making it up there most likely. A friend worked at a place in Framingham that had them, but not sure about getting out there either. Whole foods? Where do you get your bird?

We got home from our NYC trip yesterday around 5:00. We had a great time, despite having to deal with me moving a bit slower. I'm still fighting this cold (that I am thinking now may actually be something like bronchitis - I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon coincidentally to "check in" on my asthma, since I went to refill inhalers last week and one of them had an expires prescription). We were able to do less walking and stay out less late than usual, but that seemed to be OK with my travel partners who were also tired. I guess I feel better in that they were having a tough time, and not pregnant, with swollen feet and suffering some kind of plague.

We parked at Alewife and took the red line to South Station, where we had time enough to kill and grabbed breakfast in the financial district http://www.yelp.com/biz/scali-cafe-boston before waiting for our Acela. It was about 4:00 when we got into the city. We parted ways to check into our respective hotels, and then once settled Brian and I walked uptown to Carlos' hotel to meet him for dinner. His friend had suggested The Eatery in Hell's Kitchen http://www.yelp.com/biz/eatery-new-york which was just heavenly! I had the best salmon I've had in a long time. We walked back toward Carlos' hotel via http://donnabellsbakeshop.com/ (thanks for the suggestion Gala) and picked up desserts to have in the hotel while watching the Clone Wars Premiere. Our hotel didn't have Cartoon Network available but The Carlos' did! We had an early morning planned for Makerfaire so Brian and I decided to head back to our hotel after the show.

We were up at 7:00 AM (oof), showered and had breakfast in the Tic Toc. I know that the locals aren't nuts about this place, but it is super convenient being attached to our hotel. We've never had to wait for a table and the food is good. I had some gingerbread apple pancakes and Brian had johnny cakes w/ cheddar and bacon (not your average diner fare). We walked up to 42nd street to get the train out to Queens for the faire. Along the way a couple of mariachis got on the train, rode one stop, played one song and got off. Why don't folks do this kind of thing in Boston?

http://makerfaire.com/newyork/2011/ was a lot of fun. It was perfect weather for it, and we were there from open to close. We got to see all of the things we wanted to (minus one conflict between a musical group and a panel). http://www.arcattack.com/ was very neat, and I was so happy that they did the Dr. Who theme song! Carlos had mentioned that this guy http://www.whatiswhat.com/ was going to be there, and I'm so glad we were able to see his short performance. So inspiring! We caught the mentos + coke "fireworks" show, rode on the solar-powered carousel, got to see Bethany http://cyberoptix.com/ for what we think was the first time in 13 years (we are old), caught the life-size mousetrap http://www.lifesizemousetrap.org/ (tap dancing mice!) and checked out all of the vendors and booths along the way. I was actually not so impressed by the size and scope of the Bust Craftacular, which was what I was most excited about initially. I had been reading about the http://www.bust.com/craftacular/craftacular-home.html in Bust magazine for years and always wanted to go to one. It has nothing on SOWA! I thought I would do a lot of shopping for family birthdays and Christmas, but I ended up only getting a couple of gifts, and they were not from the Craftacular portion of the faire. By the end of the day we were both beat, and sat waiting for Carlos to get out of his last panel in the GE solar cell phone charging area. While there we met a guy from NY who is coming to Boston soon and then moving to Cairo for 2 months (he asked us if we'd want to use his car while he was in Egypt). I also chatted with a Mom who had her son in a baby carrier, and was flipping him around from front to back and asked for our assistance in re-strapping. She gave us some advice on the carriers she liked the most with each kid at different stages. It was quite a congenial/we're all nerds here kind of vibe that reminded me of my feelings at Star Wars Celebration last summer, but I digress.

We were starving, and decided to try our luck in Times Square with dinner (I know, I know) since that is where our train from Queens let us off. Yelp gave us some suggestions, and we decided to give http://www.johnspizzerianyc.com/index2.htm a try. I had remembered reading in Frommer's guide years ago that they were one of the supposed best pizza places in NYC, and despite this location being in Times Square it was good. On a Saturday night with no reservations we walked in and were seated within 5 minutes. Though it wasn't fast-food cheap, the 3 of us split an appetizer and pizza and had drinks and it came out to about $15 each for some of the BEST pizza I have ever had. This location (they have a few) is inside of an old church, and so we were surrounded by stained glass, old wrought iron chandeliers and were up high to watch the brick ovens. At first our server was the perfect level of attentive, but then when he came by to ask if we'd want dessert when we were still all eating our pizza we got annoyed. We finished up and headed out of there, all in all the best food experience I've had in the Times Square area. I'm so glad we went. We wandered a bit (Brian and Carlos wanted to get pictures with bad, fat costumed characters) but all we could find was an OK spiderman and of course the naked cowboy. I guess they had regretted not getting a picture with the fat superman the last time they were in the city for Makerfaire.

Though it was only about 10, we decided to call it a night. With being on my feet for most of the day and fighting a cold, not having gotten a lot of sleep the night before (I was coughing all night), having woken up at 7:00 AM *and* having chills (I wasn't sure if I had a slight fever or if it was due to a bit of a sunburn I got while waking around on the faire) I was miserable. Brian called it a night and told me I had to go back to the hotel. We grabbed some drinks and a black&white cookie and headed back (mmm, herbal tea). I wasn't quite ready for sleep but was just content to lay on our bed for a while and we got a pay-per-view movie, finally seeing Super 8. So good! I can see why people had suggested that it felt like Goonies and ET, I'm bummed I didn't see it at a drive-in theater. I slept OK that night - highly medicated with all things that were safe for me to take.

We got up yesterday earlier than I would have liked, but I just couldn't sleep anymore. Showered and packed but we had until noon to check out of the hotel and catch our train home, so we went wandering for breakfast. Brian wanted a bagel and we used Yelp again to find a place nearby. Again, midtown isn't the best place for food in the city but we found a decent place over between Herald Square and Chelsea http://www.yelp.com/biz/bagel-maven-new-york. The bagels were good (not as good as Cafe Bagel back home) and the cream cheese was awesome. They had some amazing looking cupcakes that we considered taking to go, but decided it was too early and we didn't need anything like that. We still had some time to kill, the weather was gorgeous and my feet were feeling good so we started walking downtown a bit. We wandered by a http://www.buybuybaby.com and headed in, our first time in one of these stores. It was good to see in person the baby bags I had put on our registry online (I haven't seen a great selection of bags anywhere else as they had in this store). We picked up some baby monster slippers as a 'babymoon' memento (from Carters). Brian found that there was a Best Buy nearby, so we were able to grab the new Star Wars complete DVD Blu-Ray set, and got some smoothies at Jamba Juice before heading back to our hotel. It was neat that we were able to make our way through a bit of Chelsea, since this is one of the areas we tend to walk a lot when we're in NYC. I knew the Chelsea Hotel had closed for now and it was just sad and strange to walk by it in this state. We chatted a bit about our weekend: how we had a good time and were ready to come home, how it was odd how little we did relative to a normal crazy NYC trip for us, how we still hadn't made it down to the East Village (we haven't managed over our last few trips). We had time to get to our room, use the bathroom, get our stuff and get over to Penn Station to grab the Acela home.

I was so glad to be in my own house yesterday! I had another night of coughing, so at least Brian could sleep on one floor and me on another. We got in and watched the Star Warriors documentary http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Warriors_%28documentary%29. It was so well done and I'm glad to have finally seen it! So many familiar faces. We don't have a lot of food in the house so we went out for dinner at Peking Garden in Lexington (Waltham is lacking in good dine-in Chinese), put our trash out for the night, and watched a bit more of the SW Blu-ray extras before bed. I coughed all night and didn't sleep much, so glad I have that appointment today! I set the alarm for 7:00 so I could shower and drop the car around the corner at my mechanic to go through and check some things out and do some routine maintenance. I'm SO GLAD I took today off, because had I not, I would have been calling in sick anyway. Brian is in the shower and we'll run some errands before my 1:30 appointment. I'm looking forward to a slow, albeit productive day at home.

Brian alerted me to this http://foxshop.seenon.com/gleek-sneak-3d-movie-tickets-framingham-16-framingham-ma/detail.php?p=305622&v=fox_shows_glee_3d-movie-tickets&pagemax=all

I just picked up two tickets for us. He e-mails: "You know I love you, right?!". Heh!

GET THAT L UP IN THE AIR BITCHES!

It really is silly how excited I am about this. :)

Since Christmas fell on a Saturday this year, I had Friday off. Yesterday's snow storm (we got around a foot) left me with one more day, making for one extremely long weekend! I was able to spend a good deal of time puttering around the house cooking, cleaning, organizing and a tiny bit of sewing. It was just heavenly!

We saw family on Christmas Eve at my Sister's house - I can't believe how big all of our nephews are getting! Brian and I were to sleep in the spare bedroom, i.e. Hugho's room, so the two of us slept squished on a small bed with a large Boxer between us. It seemed like a quieter, more meaningful Christmas this year since people seemed to favor the time and the food over the presents.

We watched a lot of movies and TV over the weekend, which is leaving me feeling like a bit of a mush brain because it's not something I typically do. The Dr. Who Christmas episode was great this year (their version of A Christmas Carol, of sorts). Since Brian has been catching up on Smallville it has been all Superman all the time in our house, so we watched the original 1978 movie (holds up wonderfully). Ironically enough, there was a 2-hour documentary on the History Channel on the history of Superman which we watched, which lead us to learn about (and find on the internet) a 70s Superman musical. It was terrible! It was worse than the Star Wars Holiday Special and has a similar fame (aired once on TV, never to be spoken of again). Thankfully, watching the Lost Boys #3 that we had borrowed from our friend Justin a long time ago finally redeemed our weekend. It was just the right amount of cheese, just the right amount of nodding to the original (such a great movie).

This was the first snow storm of the season requiring much intervention from us, and our little snowblower that could (Toro! Toro!) did an excellent job quickly clearing out the 3' pile that the city plows left on the end of the driveway. We are petsitting for our friends Krista and Sean and managed to time things such that their new downstairs neighbor had cleared the driveway already (he let us go through his apartment into the house to get to the cats, since the front wasn't cleared yet). And I had to stop by my old childhood home a few blocks away to check and make sure there was enough water in the boiler. The house has a single steam heat (gas) system, and they were going through a ton of water having to fill it each day, since some of the release valves on the 2nd floor radiators were open too much or were defective. It's still odd to me that there are two apartments in my formerly single-family home. We passed Gram's old house on the way back to ours to see the young couple that lives their now clearing the snow. Part of me is sad that we weren't able to buy her house, but I'm glad that it's got some new life with a young couple and their young child.

It's all about snow and cold lately. This weekend I noticed that my schmancy shearling LL Bean boots that I purchased last year have some stitching coming apart near the ankle, rubbing on my heel just on the left side, and threatening to cause a blister. I went to the Burlington store during my lunch hour to day to see if I could return them and buy something else - bad mistake! There was a huge, huge line and I'm guessing, not much of a selection to buy from too. Hopefully things will return to normal over the next couple of weeks. I'd like to have new, comfy and warm boots to wear on our NYC trip in February. My challenge is always finding something attractive, and comfy, and waterproof, and warm.

NYC! What should we check out? We are crossing our fingers that Spiderman the Musical actually opens safely and that we can see it.

Dinner with some peeps from the dance studio tonight. I've always wanted to check out South Pacific http://www.yelp.com/biz/south-pacific-newton-highlands and some ladies from the studio are going in lieu of our dance class (we are on break until the new year). Oh my body will be happy to get back to class and back to the gym!

We are back from Star Wars Celebration V in Orlando, and our following vacation/park tour. I think the easiest thing to do is post things in list form. Links to pics later once they are all up.

CV was just amazing! It was our first celebration and never before had I felt such a sense of nerd camaraderie. I was sad and close to teary at the last panel - don't say it's over! My ISO hair was the best yet, and Adrianne Curry said I looked hot, so that was also cool. The 501st and Rebel Legion involvement of the convention was epic, and I was very proud to be a member of both groups.

We checked out of the Red Roof on Sunday and headed to Disney Port Orleans Riverside, taking the riverboat to Downtown Disney a few times over the trip. Things of note:
-Sea World, the behind the scenes tour was amazing: petting a penguin and a shark and learning about how the park and their animal rescue efforts work.
-Harry Potter section of Universal was gorgeous but still crowded. An average of an hour wait for stores, 1/2 hour wait to buy a cup of butter beer, 1/2 hour wait to get into the restaurant for lunch. Still, glad we checked it out.
-2nd day at Universal main park, the $40 cut in front of the lines pass is totally worth it. Cheezy Jaws and Terminator 2 and ET rides.
-Epcot next day, took our time and saw all of the silly movies/rides we wanted. Soarin is still awe inspiring. Ate at Marakesh which was eh (though the appetizer was really good).
-Magic Kingdom last day, took our time seeing things we missed the first time. Most favorite were the cheezy 'ride a car through animatronic scenes' rides. I really liked the 'Carousel of Progress', first shown at the NY Worlds Fair in 64. Lunch at the Italian place based on Lady and the Tramp.

I'm glad we did this trip despite the weather. Oh the weather, horrible, horrible - around 100 degrees and extreme humidity. I won't go to Florida in August again unless there is a really good reason for it.

We got home at 10 PM Friday and the lovely Tiamatlady came to pick us up. Trooping the next morning at Liquid Planet in Candia, NH was a lot of fun. Links of photos to share later.

This http://www.telegram.com/article/20100523/NEWS/5230439/1003/NEWS03 is one of my favorite events. What a great time. :)

We finished our den repainting/remodel yesterday. With other (read: basement) projects going on, this repaint took us about 3 months with many breaks in between. We did the rabbit-side wall first a couple of months ago, the fireplace wall last month, and we finished everything up on Sunday. We even ran out for new curtains and pillows. It's comfortable and colorful without being blindingly BRIGHT. I love the line of Liberty of London stuff that Target has right now - I got some great pillows for the couch there.

Wow, our new radiator cover picked up a lot of lint when we painted it - heh.

I can't believe with all of my dance-related injuries and with all of the toe stubbing, shin smashing and knee bashing injuries I've had, I've never heard of this stuff http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnica before. My acupuncturist told me about it tonight, and I now want to pick up a tube for home, work, my car, the basement lair, etc.

Some more Star Wars friends are moving to Waltham! Bwahaha! Does this mean I get a new toaster or something?! Only a couple more transplants and we can build the Watch City Squad. :)

Fireplace, tea, bunnies and Brian . . . all I need now in here are some cats. :)