hsapiens
29 January 2008 @ 09:38 am
Amy and I prevailed against The Yoga Curse this past Saturday -- with the help of [livejournal.com profile] yams69 and his family -- and I finally took my first yoga class. I had way more fun at it than I ever expected and I can hardly wait for the next one. :)

What is the Yoga Curse? I'm glad you asked... )

It was worth the tribulations in getting there but I'm hoping we've banished the Yoga Curse and can just enjoy the classes without the hurdles from now on.
Tags:
 
 
Current Mood: determined
 
 
hsapiens
22 January 2008 @ 03:39 pm
I've been absent from online for-ever. (I hear that said in an 80's Valley Girl accent.) There's no way I can catch up after nearly three months of absence so I'm just going to jump in:

- Thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday almost two months ago. It was my 11th annual 29th and I'm thinking next year I might have to admit to having made it to 30. ;)

- Thank you to [livejournal.com profile] paddies, who sent me a lovely Christmas card through the snail-mail. I don't know if you'll see this but it arrived on Christmas Eve so your timing was perfect!

- [livejournal.com profile] yams69, give me a call when you're back in town and ready to go do something low-key and baby-friendly. :) Sadly, I can't take a day off since I'm the only experienced employee in Houston this week but I leave the office at 4 p.m. most days.

Read more... )

ETA:
I knew I'd forget something important! Thank you to [livejournal.com profile] evil_moopie for the pink panties, to [livejournal.com profile] mlspikie, and to [livejournal.com profile] ivorygates for the lovely LJ Gifts for, respectively: who knows why, my birthday, and for my birthday AND New Year's. I think that's everyone who gave me nice presents but I can't figure out how to access my prezzies on LJ and the e-mails announcing them have disappeared. (See above computer whining.) If I've left someone off, please accept my apologies.
 
 
Current Mood: guilty
 
 
hsapiens
05 November 2007 @ 06:52 am
It seems that waiting for breakfast becomes my LJ update time. I'm packed and ready to head back to Texas. Next year's con moves to Cherry Hill and I can't say that I'll be sorry to never again stay at this hotel. On the plus side, the elevators worked this time. I have a nice view of the Manhattan skyline and it is particularly convenient to get into the City but Secaucus is not my idea of a great vacation spot.

Random con thoughts:

1. The shortest route between Point A and Point B in Secaucus involves an extended tour of industrial parks and at least one turn into a scary-looking garage.

2. Michael Shanks was early to the breakfast and spent a long time at every table. He wore black leather and black denim. I'm not so clear on what's up with the hair but it was obvious that whatever it was, it was on purpose. I might not be down with it but I was so ridiculously thrilled that he wasn't wearing a baseball cap that I was willing to forgive and forget.

3. Michael Shanks gave us a deliciously evil laugh when we were discussing his casting as Lucifer in the upcoming Rage of Angels. He remains optimistic that the project will be produced.

4. Do not ever get between Jay Acavone and his $150 jar of facial cream.

5. Tony Amendola reads Shakespeare beautifully. The fact that he followed it with a theatrical reading of doggerel and bad internet jokes only proved I'd happily listen to him read anything.

6. Kate Hewlett is an excellent playwright. This was a wonderful discovery last night. She's also a fun guest and clearly enjoyed being onstage.

7. Cliff Simon? He is still incendiary hot. They tailor his wardrobe on the show and it's all real leather. Oh yeah, and since he's "ripped" (his words), they made a decision to remove the sleeves from most of his wardrobe in the forthcoming movie. The guys (MS and RDA?) made sport of him for this while filming.

8. A third movie script is being written. I have no idea if that means we'll *see* a third, but Brad is penning one.

9. Alexis Cruz is still a thoughtful kind of guy but the cabaret act is not one you'd expect from a guy who was on the schmaltzy, Christian-fest Touched by an Angel.

10. Paul McGillion's Scottish accent reasserts itself in direct proportion to the hotness of the woman standing in front of him. :)

11. I'm still sorry that Steve Bacic couldn't make it.

12. Cons are still all about the friends. No surprise that I had fun with the usual suspects ([livejournal.com profile] selmak, [livejournal.com profile] janiekins, [livejournal.com profile] triciabyrne1978) but also with [livejournal.com profile] niamaea, who turns out to be exactly as cool and nice and pretty as I suspected. I got to know a lot of people from Gateworld this time around. I would be willing to wade into the abyss in order to keep up with Dave and Marla, who were just plain wonderful.

13. Meeting [livejournal.com profile] triciabyrne1978's family was...interesting. It's good to know that she comes by her smut gene naturally.

14. The hotel bartender didn't get to us often but he "made up for it" by forgetting to include the mixers. However, a glass of tequila really isn't an improvement over the margarita I ordered. Not that that stopped me from drinking it.

15. Creation Cons are MUCH MUCH MUCH more enjoyable when they're run by a really nice, laid-back guy. With the exception of a few incidences, it was easy to forget that we were at a Creation Con. It was the (mostly) pleasant event that I suspected a con could be. I almost don't feel overcharged. ;)
 
 
hsapiens
30 October 2007 @ 08:44 am
Just dropping a quick note from the lovely wifi at Panera. Vacation thus far has been excellent. Fall is late this year, I guess, because I had beena ssured this was too late in the year for stunning fall color but the trees are a beautiful green, gold, orange, and red along the routes I've taken. Since last Friday, I've been to Maryland (Columbia, Baltimore, and Rockville), Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and now Flemington, NJ.

Ramblings to help me remember but probably not of general interest unless you're bored at work. Much talk of museums and visiting with friends. )
 
 
hsapiens
26 October 2007 @ 03:05 am
Due to the lowered weight limits on luggage, I had to pack a second bag to check. I could have fit it all into one except it would have weighed too much. I think I've reached parity in my packing between clothes and technology. With a cell phone, an iPod, a camera and its accessories, an external HD for holding photos, a laptop, and all of their chargers I'm traveling tech heavy. I had been so proud that I'd pared back my packing for 11 days to one pair of shoes, 3 sweaters, and 1 jacket. And still I'll be loaded down as if I'm moving my house.

I have to be at the airport by 5 a.m. so I need to hustle out of here. Happy birthday, [livejournal.com profile] mcroft!
 
 
hsapiens
24 October 2007 @ 11:35 am
Has anyone received tickets yet for the Con in NJ? I haven't yet but I've dug out my statements and printed copies to have in hand when Creation inevitably bungles the tickets.

So, here's the final itinerary I've come up with. Not a whole lot of changes. I need to get to NYC earlier than planned so that I can catch dinner with [livejournal.com profile] la_directora before she takes off to work on a film. I've added in a side trip to the Smithsonian this coming Sunday, though I know it'll make me weep for all of the stuff I *won't* have a chance to see.

Itinerary )

[livejournal.com profile] yams69, [livejournal.com profile] mcroft, and [livejournal.com profile] immlass -- PLEASE look over this schedule and make certain it still works for you. If not, don't be shy about telling me. I can happily adjust so that I spend more time at the Smithsonian or I can go to Manhattan a day earlier and catch more time with [livejournal.com profile] la_directora, maybe a full day at the Cloisters or some time at the Frick? There's always more to do than I have time so you won't hurt my feelings. :)
 
 
hsapiens
23 October 2007 @ 09:44 pm
I just saw that Alexis Cruz will again be appearing at the NJ con! Woo hoo! I'm still seriously bummed to be missing Steve Bacic but Alexis was a really nice guest. He has a lot of depth and is a *thoughtful* guy. Very interesting. I'm sorry I won't have Steve to drool over but Alexis is also very pretty. Now, if only they'd book Teryl. *sigh*
Tags:
 
 
Current Mood: satisfied
 
 
hsapiens
23 October 2007 @ 11:38 am
Just heard from my family. One of my uncles lives with his family in Ramona, CA and has already evacuated. They (he, my aunt, their 3 dogs, 2 cats, and 3 parrots) are staying with my other uncle and his wife, who lives in Carlsbad, CA. There's already a half inch of ash in the yard in Carlsbad. :| They're prepping the house and yard as best they can but there's not a lot you can do against a hurricane with fire instead of rain. :| :|

Hope everyone on my f-list and your families are doing okay. And I hope California gets some rain STAT.
 
 
hsapiens
14 October 2007 @ 11:40 pm
86 icons posted over at my graphics LJ:
44 Stargate SG-1
10 Teryl Rothery & Michael Shanks as themselves or other roles
07 Eureka
25 Babylon 5

(Multi-fandom post of 86 icons, total)
 
 
hsapiens
11 October 2007 @ 03:03 pm
Happy Coming Out Day!

Happy (Belated) Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends!

Happy (Belated) Columbus Day to my American friends who celebrate the day!
 
 
hsapiens
27 September 2007 @ 03:25 pm
The Better Half has a band, the Flying Fish Sailors, and they recently won the Houston Press 2007 Award for "Best Pirate Band." I don't know how much competition there is for the award, and I kind of suspect that someone made up the category in order to give the guys an award but hey, who's complaining? An accolade is an accolade. They've collected many honors in their two decades as a band but another one is always welcome.

On a related note, band member [livejournal.com profile] mrkamikaze has vintage, out of print, live recordings of blast from the past events: 1995's Blarney Fest and 1996's Son of Blarney Fest -- they're available for FREE download. Thank you, [livejournal.com profile] mcroft, for making these rare recordings available! As always, the in-print Flying Fish Sailors catalog is available from Amazon. :)
 
 
hsapiens
21 September 2007 @ 02:15 pm
Oct. 26 - Nov. 5: TEN DAYS!!! Woot!

I've bought my tickets and made my hotel reservations. )

My plane tickets cost me $5 since I cashed in a wad of frequent flyer miles. Quite the savings over the nearly $400 it was going to cost otherwise. :)
 
 
hsapiens
13 September 2007 @ 05:20 pm
I don't post a lot of meme results any more, but [livejournal.com profile] jalabert will appreciate how appropriate it is that I came out as "blue." If only there were a True Blue crayon!



You Are a Blue Crayon



Your world is colored in calm, understated, deep colors.

You are a loyal person, and the truest friend anyone could hope to find.

On the inside, you tend to be emotional and even a bit moody.

However, you know that people depend on you so you put on a strong front.



Your color wheel opposite is orange. Orange people may be opinionated, but you feel they lack the depth to truly understand what they're saying.

Tags:
 
 
hsapiens
11 September 2007 @ 06:17 pm
[livejournal.com profile] hwrnmnbsol has just posted one of my all-time favorite Tales from the Job Site, CHONNNGGG. I first read the story almost a decade ago and I still love it.

In high school, he went to a rival school and was my academic nemesis. I lost out to him all too often. It wasn't just in math or science -- one talent geniuses weren't uncommon and I could have taken comfort in being better than he in SOMETHING -- but math, science, literature, writing, history, and on and on...he was always winning the places I wanted. I'm sure he had no idea that I would mentally groan when he'd walk in the test room.

He didn't necessarily endear himself by turning up in my college freshman orientation group (ARGH!) and immediately dating the woman in the group with whom I'd bonded. He was sort of omnipresent. I doubt he was aware of how he'd thwarted me for years when we each still teenagers. Fortunately, I've mellowed over the years and now I can appreciate that, if I had to lose out to someone over and over and over and over and over (ok, I may still hold it against him a tiny bit), it was to someone who is brilliant.

And now, I want to go and get up to some stack mischief -- but you'll have to read the piece to get that. ;)
 
 
hsapiens
11 September 2007 @ 09:26 am
"Setting an example is not the main means of influencing another, it is the only means."

This was the Einstein quote of the day a couple days ago and I had reason to reference it yesterday in a discussion of those whose sole contribution to problem solving is telling others what they're doing wrong. I just wanted to stash this some place where I could find it in future discussions.
 
 
hsapiens
04 September 2007 @ 12:38 pm
Attended [livejournal.com profile] zencohen's wedding in Austin over the weekend. I didn't get to do much of the socializing I'd planned since we had to hastily rearrange our plans to take the dog with us since in-house sitting was no longer an option due to continuing a.c. woes. However, we did make it to the wedding and reception. It was a blast seeing old friends, some of whom I hadn't seen in 20 years. (Don't mind me, that's me crying over my lost youth in the corner.) Catching up with friends, hearing about their kids, what they're up to...it was all good. It was also good to see how happy [livejournal.com profile] zencohen was. I hadn't met his bride previously but she's obviously good people if she has his seal of approval and makes him that happy.

It was wonderful to see a bit of Austin, too. I haven't been there in ages and I'd managed to forget how much I love the town. I have to remember to make road trips more often.

~~**~~

While cooling my heels in the hotel, I started reading Harry Potter. I'm now finished with Book 4 and trying to decide if I want to be spoiled as to who is going to die in the remaining books because I'm a wimp. :|
 
 
hsapiens
29 August 2007 @ 08:28 am
I noticed this morning, while waiting for the coffee to brew, that I wasn't cold. This is unusual because Joe's sleeping temp is well below my comfort zone. I thought maybe the thyroid meds were finally doing their job and I was "normal" -- that is, not shivering at about 76 degrees. Had some coffee and, as usual, warmed up. 30 minutes later, I was even warmer. Uh oh. Checked the a.c. Yup. It's dead.

Luckily, the better half was planning to be home today before any of this happened; he has been saddled with the unpleasant task of arranging for repairs. Tomorrow, we'd planned to both be home before hitting the road this weekend. If it isn't fixed tonight, we're planning to take the dog with us to a hotel. Not the most auspicious beginning to a long, holiday weekend.
 
 
Current Mood: bummed
 
 
hsapiens
26 August 2007 @ 10:15 pm
69 Icons over at my graphics LJ...

45 SG-1
10 SGA
04 Behind-The-Scenes Commentary on Stargate
05 Calvin & Hobbes
05 Eureka

(Post of 69 icons, total)
 
 
hsapiens
21 August 2007 @ 03:25 pm
Over at my graphics LJ, I posted a tutorial for the icon of Dualla I'm using on this post. Turned out to be more of a discourse on how I use the selective color tool than an icon tutorial. The post is here:

http://community.livejournal.com/isapiens/6351.html
 
 
hsapiens
16 August 2007 @ 08:45 pm
So, looks as if the forecasters missed the boat a little on Tropical Storm Erin. Specifically, the Weather Channel stationed their "man on the scene" down in Corpus Christi but it came in a bit north of there and put Houston on the dirty side of the storm. For those who don't live in tropical weather territory, that means that we're on the side of the storm where the winds are coming in from over the Gulf and are thus the most rain-laden. Glad I'm on vacation because the route I usually take home was underwater this afternoon. That would have sucked but I avoided that fate. Yay!

Erin never worried me but I'll admit that Dean makes me nervous. That one looks likely to develop into a killer storm and the water temps are primed to make it deadly. Luckily, Joe will be in town for Dean so I'll have help in closing down his business, my office, and our house before evacuating if it looks like it's headed this way. That's a nice bonus over 2005's Rita fun when I got to do that all on my own.

~~**~~

Thank you to whomever nominated some of my SG-1 icons for a Stargate fan award. I didn't know that the nomination period had opened - I'm not getting my memos! - and I had no idea there was room to nominate icons. I've nominated fic and videos in the past but don't recall ever seeing an icon category. That was completely unexpected. In fact, when I got the notice, I thought, "Oh dear, someone nominated the brilliant fic, Speak the Living, that [livejournal.com profile] paian wrote for me during the Teal'c ficathon and my name has accidentally been used as the author."

So, I was shocked that the noms were actually for me. I'm touched and honored. Thank you. :)