Phil's Rambling Rants
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Below are the 25 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Phil Parker" journal:[<< Previous 25 entries]
01:56 am
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S J Tucker house concert In an effort to prove that I really am crazy, when I heard that s00j was doing a house concert at Casa Middleton in Waukegan today (Sunday, July 5, that is -- it's still "today" until I go to bed), at 2 PM, I decided that I would go, even though I had already bought my membership and made my hotel reservations for the aforementioned InConJunction. I actually succeeded in my plan of getting up in time to be on the road at 11 AM EDT, which would have actually gotten me to the venue on time, except that I was so stupidly full of myself for knowing where I was going that I didn't actually consult the map. I failed to recognize the area as I came to it, and roads that I was looking for by name were labeled only by route number, so I drove on by and spent at least an extra 20 minutes on my trip. So I missed the first couple of songs.
I'm not going to try to recap the concert in detail. I just want to say that, while I'd gotten enough of an impression of s00j at DucKon that I actually did this trip, I was completely blown away. She was much more than I was expecting. Amazing voice, great guitar accompaniment, wonderful stage presence and showmanship, and some songs that just reached right down into my soul. I'm still riding in the afterglow of multiple musical orgasms. Plus, I'm also aching from laughter. I hope tollers won't take this the wrong way, but I only knew "Alligator in the House" from her. When she does it, it's a fun little song, but with s00j's schtick, it's oh my god I think I'm going to die funny. The Jewish mother alligator just has to be experienced to be believed. However, that hilarity paled to insignificance compared to a number she did in the circle after the concert, "Don't Lick My Toes", in which the singer belabors in excruciating detail how that particular kink just does not work for her. There was a line in there about how it felt like being flossed with warm liver. I laughed very nearly as long and hard as I at DucKon for the Howl for Mayor McCheese.
Absolutely the only thing wrong with the concert was that it was too short. But any more wonderful would probably have burned my brain out entirely, so maybe it's for the best. Even though some people who had said they would be there weren't there, we had a good song circle after the concert. I got to sing some of my moldy old crap filk classics that I don't believe s00j had heard before, starting with Chris Weber's "Beware of the Sentient Chili" in response to her song about the salad of doom. I also got more hugs at the concert/party than I had at the con, and I got to snuggle exapno too.
EDIT: corrected the title of "Don't Lick My Toes" -- I plead lack of sleep when I originally posted.
Tags: filk, friends, music, travel
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09:22 pm
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Back from FKO Made it home in one piece. More later, after sleep.
Tags: cons, travel
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11:06 pm
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Home from GAFilk Made it home safely from GAFilk. Had a great time. Love you all. Pants seeking credit counseling if not actually bankrupt. Must sleep now.
Tags: cons, friends, travel
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01:42 am
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Home safe I came home from ericcoleman's birthday party tonight rather than staying over night. The weather looked to be better tonight than tomorrow morning. It was a bit nasty, but not too bad. I am, however, very tired now, and I am going to sleep.
Tags: friends, travel
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08:47 pm
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Saturday night Chicago weather My Internet connection is so crappy right now that I don't think I have a prayer of extracting real sense from any of the weather sites tonight.
Does anyone up Chicago way have an opinion as to whether, if I drive up to Chicago tomorrow during the day (which I don't think will be a problem), I'll be able to get back again by early Sunday afternoon? The last I heard there was supposed to be some weather coming in Saturday night, and I'm wondering how it looks from up there right now.
Tags: questions, travel
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07:39 pm
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Windycon I have returned from Windycon. Because of my cold, I kept things to a lower key than I might otherwise have, but I had a good time. It was good to spend some time with friends. I hope I didn't give anyone else my cold.
( the longer version )
Tags: conrep, cons, filk, friends, travel
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08:38 pm
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I survived! Enjoyed it even!
In a little more detail: I got up too early Saturday morning. As I was on I-465 around Indy I realized I'd forgotten my phone. Fortunately, I managed to not get lost or have any emergencies on the trip. My first destination was a home on a lake in Rome City, IN (a small town north of Ft. Wayne), for a meeting of the Midwest Exotic Feline Educational Society. I estimated that it would be a 4 hour drive, and it was supposed to be at 12:30 (EDT). I planned to leave at 7:30 (CDT). I actually left at 7:40, and I arrived at 12:41. Pretty darn good estimate. After the meeting, I headed back south a couple of hours to tollers's housewarming, where much food and music was enjoyed. After the party closed down sometime after 1, I crashed in tollers's basement. The alarm rang at 7:00; I wanted to be on the road at 7:30. Even though all I did was get dressed, throw stuff in the car, and leave, it was 8:00 before I got going. I made it to EFRC, got through the day, and have arrived at home. I'm pretty tired, but good.
I have to comment on the canine portion of my trip. tollers's housemates have two Shiba Inus. I didn't recognize the name when I ran across it earlier this week in a context that implied it was a breed of dog. Yesterday, I discovered that "Shiba Inu" is, in fact, Japanese for "absurdly cute". I am not a small dog person, but if Snickers and Secret are fair examples of the breed, I could actually imagine myself owning one. Sadly, I never brought my camera into the house, so I didn't get any pictures.
Tags: dogs, friends, travel
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08:51 am
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Weight steady I checked my weight yesterday; it had been 4 weeks and there was a 2 week vacation in there. Still, my weight came in at 221.4 -- close enough to where it's been.
Tags: life, travel, weight loss
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05:59 pm
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I'm back Just a very quick note to let the world know that I have returned from my travels. My pants are very bankrupt, so if it happened in the last two weeks in LJ land and I'm supposed to know, tell me.
Tags: lj, travel
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09:58 pm
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DucKon report The trip up Friday was uneventful. We left on time (which makes this trip one for the record books) and encountered no traffic or other problems. I-57 was fully open where it had been closed for the tornado. At the rest area at Monee, I asked the attendant if I was heading for trouble, and she advised me that I could expect a significant delay at the intersection of I-355 and I-88 and recommended detouring by way of 75th St to Naper. As I came north, it didn't look like we were heading into trouble, but I decided better safe than sorry and took the recommended detour. The detour was as easy as it could be, but it was surface streets, so it probably added 10 minutes to the trip. I checked in uneventfully, asked to be moved down from the 5th floor, and got moved to the second floor. Room 213, to be exact, which I mention because due to an oddity in building layout this room is ENORMOUS (though slightly irregularly shaped). It was so big that I called the desk to make sure that they hadn't made a mistake and given me a room that was supposed to cost way more than normal, since (a) I didn't want to take a chance that they would try to tack the extra charge onto my bill, and (b) I didn't want to have to worry that the hotel would ask me to move later when they discovered their mistake and I was moved in. They assured me that it was fine, and I unpacked a bit, where I discovered that my neti pot was missing. The saline was there, but not the pot. Grumble.
( Read more... )
Tags: conrep, cons, filk, friends, travel
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10:24 am
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DucKon travel Quick question about getting to DucKon (Naperville), coming from the south via I-57:
Is there any reason that I should NOT take 355 (that is, I-57 to I-80 to I-355 to I-88) rather than the old way (I-294 to I-88)? That is, is I-355 fully functional all the way down to I-80? I'll be coming up Friday after lunch. I know the traffic will suck -- it's Chicago and it's not 3AM. But should I expect it to suck much more one way or the other?
Also, since I have to pay cash tolls, are there any exact change tolls I have to watch out for on that route? Or other gotchas like the toll on that route being way more than it is the other way?
P.S. anyone wanting to join me for dinner or otherwise plan ahead to get together, please say so.
Tags: cons, travel
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07:07 pm
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FKO report ( long and boring account of my trip )
Somehow I've managed to mostly avoid mentioning the various conversations I had with people, the conversations that made me feel like a valued member of the FKO family. I left home on Thursday thinking that I probably should have stayed home, but by Friday night I was very glad to have gone. I may have found a lot to bitch about on the trip, but it was very good to me, and I'm very grateful to all of the FKO concom for all their efforts. I really needed a good con.
Tags: conrep, cons, filk, friends, travel
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10:48 pm
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Home from FKO Made it home safely. Extremely tired, though still pretty wired rather than sleepy; I hope I can sleep when I go to bed (very soon).
A very good con at a time when I needed a con very badly -- much worse than I consciously realized. More later if the gaggage in my life leaves me the time.
Tags: cons, travel
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05:34 pm
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New Year's The quick version of my New Year's trip:
I wasn't as ready to go Sunday morning as I should have been, and I got stressed out about taking longer than I meant to about getting packed. But even though I ended up leaving something like 45 minutes later than I meant to, I was able to grab a sandwich and get to VOTK when I meant to. I got my calendar and the folks there were really happy with the several years' worth of aluminum cans that I dropped off -- out of proportion to how much 40 lbs or so of cans could be worth. I then headed up to Milwaukee and got to filkart's, where we piled into his car and we went to Barisha's for an event that was scheduled to be a group singalong with the local public radio's folk music show. We didn't end up doing much singing, instead hanging out and chatting.
Monday morning Art and I went off to the Milwaukee Public Museum, leaving ithiriel to do work she had to do. From there, we walked to Thai Palace, our favorite Thai place over the years, where ithiriel met us. Unfortunately, Thai Palace seems to started watering down their menu. My "hot" Nam Sod was quite hot, but the curry that followed, while tasty, didn't deserve to be called more than medium, and itheriel ordered her food "Thai style" and survived. From there, we headed to New Year's Eve at Lytheria. The party was fun; I had a good chat with beige_alert, played one game of cutthroat and actually managed to look like I knew what I was doing with a pool cue, and ate more than I should have. The first round of filking was good, with more people than would fit in the filk space, and I did several songs without falling on my face. Then we toasted the New Year, and most of the filkers got sucked into the stupid vortex watching the commercials tape a second time. The second round of the filk was just me and Michael, and I was getting tired. We started leaving around 2, and were actually on our way by about 2:30. We'd decided that ithiriel would ride home with me while filkart drove Jim home in her car. ( and then things got very interesting )
Tags: filk, friends, travel, votk
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07:55 pm
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OVFF report I have returned from the trackless wilds of Ohio, and here is my story. (Pictures, if any, will wait. Far too much to do to dig into that.)
I've been having enough trouble coping with life that my spoon supply was pretty much empty, and this meant that I had a pretty low key con and didn't actually get to very much filking, but I did get to spend time with friends which I really needed.
( the boring details )
Current Mood: exhausted Tags: conrep, cons, filk, friends, travel
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08:40 pm
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Irishfest bummer As I have for the past several years, I headed up to Milwaukee this weekend for Irishfest. I couldn't take time off work this year, so I had to leave Friday after work and come home today, which means I could only go Saturday. This is usually OK; I've done it before. But this year, it rained pretty much the whole day. During the day, things went on mostly as normal, though the crowds were thin, but in the evening, they closed down most of the stages. In particular, Leahy was rained out. Our group spent most of the day at the Celtic Roots stage which had a tent. Unfortunately, with the exception of Liz Carroll and John Doyle, who were of course awesome, I found the acts much less wonderful than the others in our group. Liadan was not bad; they're technically good and sounded pleasant, but they didn't really grab me, and a couple of the other acts really struck me as trying to be Celine Dion rather than trying to be Irish. The day had gotten started on the wrong foot when we were almost there and I realized I had failed to transfer my earplugs to something I brought with me. We spent at least 20 minutes looking for a place where I could buy some while I sat there being mad at myself and feeling like my stupidity was hurting everyone else in the car, and it ended on a bad note when I walked all the way from the Celtic Roots stage at the north end of the park to the Pabst stage at the south end to find that it was dark, because while they'd told us that the Leinie's Rock Stage was closed, they hadn't mentioned that any of the others were. So I walked all the way down the park in the cold, soggy rain, alone because nobody else wanted to hear Leahy anyway, and then turned around and walked back and listened to music I didn't like that the others seemed much happier with. We wandered south to the Tipperary stage where a band called Scythian that seemed to me to be trying to be a fusion of Celtic with bad current club music. They were loud (fortunately I had the earplugs), they were enthusiastic, their audience was drunk and happy, but while there were some pieces of what they were doing that were good, the whole package was awful. As soon as the people in our party who'd bought things to eat or drink had finished them, we wandered on, past Gaelic Storm who were dreadfully loud but not that interesting to the Snug, where a group called Millish was playing the most interesting music of the evening to a crowd of perhaps 20 people. They melded jazz and rock influences into some traditional Celtic stuff and then played some non-Irish stuff that was fun, including a medley of a whole bunch of Michael Jackson songs (instrumental only), and a set of extended solos by the low whistle player, the upright bass player, and the drummer while the fiddler tried to wring out his bow. Each of the soloists demonstrated very impressive chops. But we only got about half an hour of them before they were done for the night.
It was nice to see friends, and there was some good music, but if I'd realized how bad the weather would be I would have stayed home.
Tags: friends, music, travel
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08:17 pm
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Trip to Chicago Instead of being sane and practical and spending the weekend trying to catch up on sleep and Things That Need To Be Done, I headed up to the song circle at alymid's place Friday night, where I got to enjoy a few pleasant hours of music and companionship. Then I drove from Waukeegan to the West Side, arriving at almeda's at something like 1 AM, where I met two beagles who were cute and friendly and one canine visitor who took such a strong dislike to me that she had to be kenneled while I was around. I'm usually quite good with animals, but every now and then I meet one who just doesn't want anything to do with me. I did actually manage to sleep Friday night, though morning came a little too soon. Then we had more beagles, a trip to the Oak Park farmer's market, a trip to the book sale (where I bought a few paperbacks), and a bit of food at the barbecue. I shared my photos with the other guests, who said nice things, and got in the car only an hour later than I needed to. It was 10:30 by the time I could get home and fall into bed, and I was feeling ghastly by then; I ended up giving myself an extra hour of sleep before going to EFRC (which I'll cover separately).
I'm very tired and behinder than ever. But my soul is fed and life feels worth living -- exactly the way it wasn't feeling after just a shortened 3 days back at work.
Tags: friends, life, travel
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10:29 pm
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Safely home from Texas I have returned from my trip to the FCF convention in Dallas. The brief overview:
Wednesday (July 25) I drove down to Little Rock, where I had dinner with msminlr and Morris at their home and we had some good conversation. I shared some of the peaches I'd bought somewhere in northeast Arkansas. I wanted to get closer to Dallas so I'd have more time there on Thursday, and I thought I had time to get to Texarkana, but when I reached Arkadelphia I felt very tired, so I stopped there.
Thursday, I drove to Texas, stopping for barbecue at a Dickey's in Greenville, and made it to the hotel without incident. Friday we had a tour of the Dallas Zoo (including brief looks behind the scenes at their tiger and cheetah exhibits), followed by a membership meeting and dinner at the Southfork Ranch, a tourist trap that claims to be the set of the TV show Dallas. It turns out that it was only the site of some exterior shots; none of the interior of the house was used on the show at all. The house had some very fancy furnishings and decor, but it was much too small to even be called a mansion. Fans of the TV show would find it quite a let down, while those like me who couldn't care less about some dumb TV show thought it was silly. The barbecue dinner was good. It even included live "cowboy music", a troubadour who did quite a professional job working a room that was for the most part pretty indifferent. Even though it wasn't quite my kind of music, I respect the fellow; he did a good job and it was fun. I talked to him a bit and he gave me his card, which read "Yancey Stevens and the City Slickers" (the City Slickers, in this instance, was one guy who sang along a bit and was a foil for the comedy part of the act). Saturday we had speaker presentations and the first ever art show associated with the FCF convention. This was anchored by two professional artists who between them produced images of all 36 currently recognized species of cats. About 4 other artists had some work on display as well. I ended up missing some of the more interesting speakers because I was busy with the art show. The banquet was quite good.
There was some drama at the convention, but overall, it seemed to be much more harmonious than usual, and I am hopeful that FCF will be moving forward more effectively than it often has in the past.
Sunday, I drove down to Tyler to visit FCF Vice President Brian Werner's Tiger Creek, and then went on to spend the night in Mena, AR.
Monday, I visited two FCF members' facilities near Mena. Then I drove back to Little Rock, where I treated msminlr and Morris to dinner at a local Mexican place. I'd meant to drive on to Memphis or so, but I was overwhelmed with fatigue, so they put me up for the night.
Today, I drove home. I have gotten all the pictures copied onto my hard drive, but I have a bunch of work to do to get the pictures I owe various people off to them. Top priority is to try to catch up on sleep, so I'm done with this for now. There's a lot more to say about this trip, and I will try to get to it. We'll see how it goes.
Tags: cats, fcf, travel
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11:15 pm
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DucKon report I'd better write some kind of a report before I forget it all.
We got to the con somewhere around 4. Construction on the tollways created some congestion but it wasn't too bad. The hotel wanted to put me on the 6th floor. I asked the clerk for a lower floor and ended up on 2. This turned out to be the smoking party floor, but the hallway, though slightly stinky, was never really smoky, the room was fine, and if there were any loud parties they didn't run late. I took my art down, got my badge, and checked into the art show. Then started looking for dinner companions, without success, so birder2 and I walked to Schmaltz' and split a pastrami sandwich, knishes, and a salad they described as Greek. Then it was the filk guests' concert. With Frank, Murray, and Moonwulf trading songs, it felt almost like being at Chambanacon 20 years ago. Then there was open filking; I'm struggling to remember any of it. I did Swing the Cat with chirosinger sitting on the floor in front of me trying to write down the chords. It really puffs my ego that a musician of her caliber would be interested in the details of how I play a song. musicmutt sang "Guest Room", his tribute to Dave Alway, and I read Dave's poem "Madison's Mourning". There was an overly-talented (flashy guitarist who also played keyboard, creditably, and piano accordion, the first time I can recall seeing that instrument in a filk) fellow named, if I'm not confused, Gary, who sang what I assume were original songs (or at least lyrics) that were actual thoughtful examinations of things that come up in science fiction stories. I didn't stay stay up terribly late, in the hope of having something left for the rest of the weekend.
( Read more... )
I mostly left out the parts where I got a lot of hugs and words of encouragement about my life situation and had a lot of those brief moments of friendship that are what a con is really all about. I mostly don't remember when they happened, and they mostly don't make good conrep material. But really, they're what a con is for.
Tags: conrep, cons, filk, food, friends, travel
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11:36 pm
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MN pix: Castle Rock trees Castle Rock is a wonderful rock formation just off I-90/94 south of Tomah in Wisconsin. (See my picture post from last year's trip for more about the place.) I took more pictures there this year, and for this post, I'm going to post a few pictures of the pine trees there.
 This little pine tree, half dead but still reaching for the light, speaks of the tenacity of life.
LJ is still wedged, so I'll try putting the other pix in responses.
Tags: nature, pictures, travel
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01:12 pm
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MN pix: Wind Farm Early in my trip, I stopped at the rest area on I-39 near Rochelle, IL, and I took a few pictures of the wind farm that is near that rest area. It was a warm and hazy day. The jaggy effect on the windmill blades is not a JPEG artifacts -- it is atmospheric distortion.
I don't understand why one of the main public objections to wind farms is aesthetic. While they're not as lovely as trees or mountains, I find them prettier than almost any other works of man -- certainly nicer to look at than cell towers, high-tension power lines, or grain elevators.

( another wind farm picture )
Although I didn't take more pictures of them, I was pleased to see at least two more wind farms on my way home through Iowa. Wind energy can't solve all of our problems, but it seems like a no-brainer that we should have a lot more wind power than we do; every kilowatt hour from wind is one less from coal.
Tags: pictures, travel
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09:31 pm
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MN trip I'm back. I had a wonderful, though somewhat damp and of course too short, time on the North Shore and visits with friends on the way back.
( text summary of my trip )
By my standards, I wasn’t taking a lot of pictures, which is to say I only have about 1200 from the trip. I will be working through them, hopefully soon, and I will try to post some to my journal. I will probably dribble out several posts of just one or a few pictures, rather than trying to put together one massive post.
Tags: food, friends, nature, travel
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09:18 pm
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MN trip II Spending some time contemplating the map, I've realized just how far out of my way it is to go from my place to the North Shore through the Twin Cities. This means I'm strongly inclined to go straight through Wisconsin to Duluth on one leg of the trip. The following itinerary makes the most sense for me:
Saturday, May 19: EFRC a day early, finish packing. Sunday May 20: leave Illinois early, spend the night in Duluth. Monday, May 21 - AM Thursday on the North Shore, spending the nights wherever I wind up. Thursday, May 24: dinner in the Twin Cities, evening conversation and hopefully some music (but not all night), spend the night. Friday, May 25: breakfast, possibly early lunch in Twin Cities; travel to Des Moines, visit Neal Smith Wildlife refuge, dinner (late?), music/hang out. Saturday, May 26: depart Des Moines area lunchtime-ish, spend night in my own house. Sunday, May 27: EFRC like normal. Monday, May 28: relax and recover from all that.
If you are in the Twin Cities or Des Moines areas, please let me know your thoughts. If you'd like to see me as I pass through, but this schedule really doesn't work, but my being in Des Moines Sunday and Minneapolis Monday would, let me know. I'd prefer the first schedule, because I think Des Moines is a better place to be looking for a place to stay Friday night of Memorial Day weekend than somewhere in the middle of Wisconsin. There's even an outside chance that I could hit Des Moines on the way up, and Minneapolis on Friday night on the way home, but since I'd have to drive all the way back home on Saturday, I couldn't do justice to it being a Friday night.
If you'd like to have me for a house guest, let me know. I am fine with staying in a motel, but I've been scolded by friends before for staying in a motel in their city.
I'm really hoping for a small music party Thursday (or Monday if it works out that way) night, if someone would be willing to host on my behalf. This, much more than a place to sleep, is the indulgence I'd beg from someone. Except that I think I know the folks involved well enough that they couldn't pass off getting together for music as an imposition.
The other thing I'd like to do is have a good dinner that night -- not a super-expensive one, but hopefully a special place, not a chain that I could eat at in Champaign. I'd like to solicit suggestions of restaurants.
I'll be contacting key people by email shortly as I move into the serious planning stage of this trip.
Tags: friends, travel
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10:13 pm
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Travel to MN Last summer, I combined attending chirosinger and musicmutt's wedding with a few days on the glorious North Shore. I had to return to Illinois to start my new job. I really didn't want to leave, so I consoled myself with a promise that I would return before the full-year Minnesota state park pass I bought expired.
So now I'm planning the return trip I promised myself. The time that seems to make most sense for me is the week before Memorial Day. I want to leave Illinois Sunday May 20 and return Saturday May 26. My thinking is that this is early enough for things to be a little more spring than summer, but before Memorial Day I'm guessing things will be a little less crowded. I'm hoping that my friends in Minnesota can either confirm this thinking or tell me that I'm crazy. (I'm only planning on spending mid-week nights along the shore. I'm assuming that motels will be open but not so busy that I need to make reservations.)
Also, since I expect to be passing through the Twin Cities and optionally passing through Des Moines on the way there and the way back, I'm hoping to have a chance to see some folks in person. If you're in one of those places (or another place along a rational route between Champaign and Duluth) and would be interested in seeing me, chime in. I'm tentatively thinking of going up through Wisconsin, getting to the Twin Cities late Sunday night if anyone cares, being in the Twin Cities Monday (possibly Monday night in Duluth), Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday nights on the shore, Friday night in Des Moines, and coming home Saturday. (I can't be terribly late Saturday, since I will be going to EFRC on Sunday.) I can rearrange the up and back parts as makes sense. Unfortunately, partying on Friday night in the Twin Cities doesn't qualify as making sense, but I could visit Des Moines on the way up, have dinner (just dinner) Friday in the Twin Cities before spending the night somewhere around Eau Claire or Tomah.
Tags: friends, travel
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09:32 pm
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FKO Saturday I'm going to try to write up more about FKO before I completely forget it.
Saturday got started late; I went to bed early Friday night feeling completely drained and I slept as much as I could, and that meant sleeping through the juried one-shots and the DADGAD workshop. (I would have attended the latter despite the fact that it was labeled as being for dummies and I do not self-identify as a dummy.) After briefly raiding the consuite, I went across the street to the teriyaki place, where I shared a table with georgeousgary and the_sheryl. I had a bowl of noodle soup and an order of dumplings, and I found it edible, but only that. Even if it's still there next year, I'll probably go to the Subway instead.
( Read more... )
Tags: conrep, cons, filk, friends, travel
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