Done at Orycon (20111111 Fr - 14 Mo)

[mdlbear]

Orycon was good. Lots of music. A couple of good conversations. Not so much exercise; I gained a couple of pounds. But good.

Getting there was frustrating -- WiFi still wasn't working worth a damn on my netbook, and the way I had our bags stacked made for an exhausting trip from the airport to the hotel on Max. But we got there, around dinner time on Friday (missing a concert that we would have liked to get to).

Saturday morning I nuked the root partition on Barnard and installed Ubuntu 11.04, the last good one before they jumped the Gnome 3 shark. With working WiFi (reconnecting much faster than earlier versions, too), the rest of the weekend went very well indeed from a computerish point of view.

The con itself was great. I spent most of my time either in the concerts (there was a set of tables in back within reach of a power socket), or nearby talking to filkers. Not having a concert slot myself meant that I didn't have to spend any time rehearsing or fretting about not rehearsing, which helped make for a relaxed weekend.

Also adding to the relaxed experience was the fact that Colleen was more independent than she's been in years, able to get up to the room and back by herself. An independent cat is a happy cat, and makes for a happy bear.

It seems that I really need about 8 hours of sleep. Not too happy about that.

I also had conversations with musicians in the airport on both ends of the trip -- I traded CDs with Edward Dee, who had noticed Plink while waiting for the same flight we were on up to Portland. And had a good talk with Jimmy Free in PDX, admiring his skill with a 7-string violin and a looper.

Musical highlights of the con itself included concerts by The Doubleclicks, Katy Tinney, and Betsy Tinney (solo, with cello and looper). Want a looper. I missed most of Alexander Adams' concert in favor of a good conversation with runnerwolf, which was something I'd been wanting to do for a long time. Looking forward to more. A good dead dog in the almost-empty filk room swapping songs and talking with Andrew Ross and two women named Elizabeth and Jennifer whose last names I never caught.

Good con. Good weekend. And we came home to dinner and a clean house, thanks to our wonderful Younger Daughter, Emmy. We win.

1111 Fr Orycon 11-11-11
  * up 6am; W=192.4; drugs, nose, teeth, pack, laundry
  * check flight
  @ Veterans Day: Why America chose November 11 - CSMonitor.com (from
    today's google doodle) -> Google Doodles you'll never see 
  @ Sorry, GOP, But It Looks Like America's Bullsh*t Detector Just Went
    Off | Crooks and Liars (ysabetwordsmith) 
  & more DHCP weirdness.  It seems to get its connection, then drop it almost
    immediately.  Wacko.  And ethernet isn't working either, now.
  * sync barnard
  : networkmanager does work under Oneiric; it's probably just WPA2 it has
    trouble with.  Hmm.  Yup.  works under Debian, and somehow doesn't
    interfere with wicd.  Weird.
  * Liz coming ~11:30; get to airport by noon
  : Met a fellow musician in the airport.  Swapped CDs.  Ed Dee.
    Played Wheelin' (for a bit of showing off)
  * San Jose, CA - SJC  to Portland, OR - PDX  Confirmation # IANAJU
    DEPART NOV 11    1:55 PM San Jose,  CA (SJC) Travel Time 1 h 45 m
    	       	     3:40 PM Portland,  OR (PDX)      Flight #364
  * hotel Lloyd Center Doubletree 1111 Fr - 1114 Mo
    hotel Confirmation # 87585847
  : and of course _neither_ Debian nor Ubuntu connects to the hotel's net.
    Feh.  Natty, perhaps.  Killing wicd doesn't help.
  & Also, I picked up my computer glasses this morning instead of the
    bifocals.  Fortunately they're close enough for distance, I rarely use
    glasses for reading, and I don't have to drive this weekend.  :P
  % I <3 git.  I don't actually *need* a connection.
  : I am reluctantly coming to the conclusion that two suitcases are one too
    many when I'm traveling with Colleen.  The stack is just too ungainly.
    Might go back to Rolly for Conflikt.  Or not; maybe just next Ory.
  * The Doubleclicks.  Funny and sweet - sisters; guitar/uke and cello
  * bardic open filk. Toolmakers, Rosie (picked), Middle-Sized Bear,
    Cicero (request from Vixy), When I Go, Middle-Aged Bear (Colleen)
  : The idea of clamping a music stand onto Chami worked *wonderfully*
    Major win on that one.

1112 Sa
  * up 7:12; drugs, nose, teeth
  * down for breakfast with Colleen 10ish
  * insall of Ubuntu 11.04 worked beautifully.  I win.  Or at least, luck 
    out.  Won't be upgradable for a while because 11.10 has jumped the shark. 
    Connection manager re-establishes connections lightning-fast.  Like.
  % I'm happy not having anything specific to do at this con.  Some good
    conversations already.
  * got in some practice time in between things.  Riverheart, among other
    things. 
  | seem to have pulled something on the right side of my back.  Grump.
  * posted s4s, using DW's web client.  (Cut & paste fronm emacs, of course) 
  @ cflute: rethinking holiday gifts
  : Turns out Ubuntu 11.04 supports two-finger scrolling on the Dell!  That
    plus turning off tap-clicking and turning on ignore while typing actually
    makes the damned thing useable.  Who knew?
  & on the fringes of some good conversations and storytelling, but so far not
    much one-to-one talking modulo a tour of John's new soundboard.
  * open filk.  Uncle Ernie's, QV (request from Colleen)

1113 Su
  * up 8:40ish; drugs, nose
  * verified that Colleen and I have memberships in Westercon 65 (Seattle)
  * skipped most of Alec's concert in favor of a great conversation with
    Runnerwolf and others.  Made of win.  Beth's somebody I've been
    wanting to have a good talk with for a while.  Looking forward to the
    next one. 
  @ Depot Games: Fretboard-Explorer
  @ haikujaguar: The Last Hot Cocoa Recipe You'll Ever Need (Diabetic-Friendly)
  @ Forgot Password Only    Crash-only software.
    Crash-only software: More than meets the eye [LWN.net]
  * 4ish check in - print boarding passes at airport
  * recording the concerts because Chaos asked me to.  Glad I put an 8GB card
    in the zoom.  Betsy Tinney is amazing.  Want a looper.
  * Dinner in the bar -- expensive but tasty.  Joined by Roy & Joan toward the
    end; good talk.
  * Dead Dog filk:  Vampire Megabyte, Waltzing With Bears, Mushrooms, October
    Country -- only 5 people, and only me and Andrew Ross were singing, so...
    Much conversation, which continued for a while in the con suite after
    Colleen went to bed.

1114 Mo
  * up 8:15; drugs, nose, exercise, pack
  : rigging Chami as a music stand works pretty well; that's a keeper.  So is
    using two notebooks, one for my songs and one for TGl.  Slinging Colleen's
    purple bag over Chami works best; the handles don't fit the scooter.
  * Breakfast with Andrew Ross - a matter of good timing
  * I figure, if we leave the hotel by noon we'll be ok time-wise
  & saw a saddlebag set at Brookstone that looks useful.  $50.  Could probably
    go with just that over Chami as carry-on.
  & stopped to talk to Jimmy be Free, and buy his 4-CD set for $40.  7-string
    violin and a BOSS RC-50 looper.  Fun!  Recommends RC-3 for beginners.
  * PDX WiFi actually remembers my MAC address -- didn't get the splash screen
    this time.  Nice.  
  @ What It’s Like To Receive Death Threats | Ferrett Steinmetz 
  * Portland, OR - PDX to San Jose, CA - SJC  Confirmation # IANAJU
    RETURN NOV 14    3:25 PM Portland,  OR (PDX) Travel Time 1 h 45 m
    	       	     5:10 PM San Jose,  CA (SJC)      Flight #2465
  * YD did a great job of cleaning the house and making dinner.  Made the bed
    in our bedroom, too!
  @ esr » Sneaking up on the forge problem
    Roundup Issue Tracker (packaged for Debian) 
  & order new charger for scooter - 4A, $35.  Replaces the 2A charger she has
    now; looks similar.
  * order TP X120e from Abe's of Maine (best price; free shipping)
  @ Protesters discuss, debate in meetings at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza
    after being peacably evicted.  The mayor's chief advisor and the deputy
    mayor have resigned.
  @ Co-founder of open-source social-networking venture Diaspora, 22, dies
  * unload SD card from Zoom into record/2011/11/12-14
  : Raid now in progress on @OccupyWallSt