My little blog

I can't wait to move out of this apartment. Tonight the laundry room flooded (floor drain backed up), and our toilets backed up, and one of them overflowed.  Our storage unit in the laundry room also flooded (again). We'll be looking for a pallet this weekend to put our stuff in the storage unit up off the floor. And looking harder for a new apartment, hopefully to move around May.

I have recently talked to a friend who has agreed to give me a copy of the programming database that Conjecture uses for programming.  The only catch is that I need to find someone who can do the tech support - he doesn't have time (I don't blame him, he's got an 8 month old).  It is written in Perl and has an SQL database (not sure what flavor SQL, but definitely one of the free ones), and runs on Linux.  We have a hosting provider, so that is not a problem.

The original coding was done by three different people, over time... so there are some issues that it would be nice to correct.  In addition, apparently everything references the convention that currently uses the program (the name, facilities, etc..).  I have been told that it will probably take someone competent approximately 10-20 hours to get it set up for Lunacon's use.  It will also need to be password protected (most of it is already set up to be password protected, but I would like to make sure that you can only get to the database through a password protected staff site), so that only people who are authorized can access the database.

Unfortunately, Shirt and I are not coders, so we are looking for a volunteer to help us out.  I'd like to eventually have the other fixes done that need to be done, as well as a few additions (the additions are not a high priority).

If you are interested in volunteering, or know someone who might be interested, please contact me at buddykat@gmail.com.

Today I had to do one of the few things I don't like about being a pet owner.  I had to make the decision to send Belle to the Rainbow Bridge.  She was fine this morning, then we went out to run a couple of errands and get lunch.   We were gone less than two hours.  When we got home, Belle wasn't in one of her normal spots.  I called her, and heard her meow from the closet. 

At first I thought she had just gotten into the closet and was hiding; then I noticed that the pillow she normally sleeps on was not where it normally was - it was on the floor next to the shelves.  When I finally found Belle, she was on the floor, and looked like she might be hurt.  I was able to get her to move and figured out that she wasn't hurt; but she was clearly holding herself in place.  When I tried to pick her up, I realized that there was something very wrong - she started rolling over uncontrollably - she looked like she was spinning.  We took her to the vet right away, but unfortunately, there wasn't much they could do.  We don't have thousands of dollars to spend just to try and figure out what was causing the neurologic problem, and the odds were not good that she would get better.

I held her for a while - they wrapped her in a blanket so she would have something to hold on to - and I could tell she wasn't doing well.  She was breathing hard, barely looking around, her nose was getting warm and dry, and then she started panting off and on.  She knew I was holding her, but she wasn't purring - or trying to get down, like she normally would - at all.

I told the vet my decision, and held her while he gave her the shot.  I'll get her ashes back after she is cremated.

For Immediate Release:
 
Lunacon 2011
Dates: March 18 – 20, 2011
Website: www.lunacon.org
 
Location:
Hilton Rye Town
699 Westchester Avenue
Rye Brook, NY 10573
Room Rate: $132.00 per night
 
Come to Lunacon in March, and you’ll join hundreds of Science Fiction / Fantasy readers, writers, and fans for discussions and debate about books and films, science and art, politics and religion, all in the context of the strange and the fantastic. You’ll also find author readings, writing workshops, an SF/F art show & auction, a costume masquerade (newcomers welcome!), a dealer’s room with genre merchandise, and of course, a variety of fannish social events during the evening hours.
 
Author Guest of Honor:
Hugo Award Nominee Lawrence M. Schoen
 
Artist Guest of Honor:
Rachael Mayo
 
Special Guest:
Eric "in the Elevator" Zuckerman
 
Membership Rates
Through Feb 20, 2011: $50.00
At the door: $60.00
 
Day Rates
Friday: $30
Saturday: $45
Sunday: $30
 
If you have any questions about the convention, please ask!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Fandom is a huge, diverse community.  One of the constants is that we try to help each other if possible.

There's a fan in need, and while I can't do more then boost the signal, awareness is just as vital as action.  crabby_lioness is in a scary situation where local authorities are abusing their authority and her children might be taken for her on her neighbor's say so, and all the evidence she attempts to give anyone is being completely ignored.

Please go here and see if you can do anything, even if it's just to boost the signal until we find someone who can help.

moar funny pictures

I will be in Washington, DC for work for a week. I'll be staying at the Hilton Garden Inn on 14th Street, and since hotel food gets boring very quickly, I would like some suggestions for places to go for dinner. I already have Mandalay on my list of "must go" places (which I may not get to - it's not exactly close to where I'll be)... anywhere else I should go? I don't eat seafood, but just about anything else is fine. I won't have a car, so I will be limited to places I can get to using pubic transportation.

If anyone local wants to get together for dinner one night, I'd love to! I'll be arriving on Sunday, July 25th and leaving on Friday, July 30th.

My in-laws recently moved, and with the move, my father-in-law needs new security software on his computer. Before the move, he was using the McAfee provided free from Comcast - unfortunately, Comcast has switched to Norton and it only supports Windows XP and higher... he has Windows 2000. mrshirt did some checking, and unfortunately, McAfee only supports Windows XP and higher also, so we can't just pay to update what he already had.

Since upgrading computers is not an option right now, any suggestions for security / anti-virus software that will work on a Windows 2000 computer? It has to be something that my father-in-law doesn't have to do much with; he's not very tech savvy. mrshirt will be installing it, and since we don't live very close, it would be nice if it doesn't need a lot of maintenance, or if the maintenance is very simple.

Work called, we are officially closed today! Now back to bed to get some sleep...