Author: Vivid Muse

Categories
Twitter/Facebook

25 Random Things

I’m going through my Facebook account and stripping out some info due to the continuing privacy concerns, and came across this “25 Things About Me” note I had posted from February of 2009.  I was curious to see what had changed in the last 14 months, so am attaching here and updating any changes in parenthesis.

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Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.

1. Even after being a mom for almost 18 years, I still question everything I do. (19 years now and still true)
2. I will never stop missing my Mom, or wishing I had shown her more appreciation when I was younger.
3. I forgive myself for not appreciating her more when I was younger, because she knows all now, including how I feel.
4. I’m not able to stand up for myself, or as I’ve recently discovered, those I love. I’m working on it. RAWR! (Making tangible progress on this one! My newest mantra is: Crazy is circling, but I’m not letting it land near me.)
5. I love MMORPG’s that give me a sense of doing something positive in that realm. City of Heroes and Lord of the Rings Online are my preferred games. (I no longer play CoH on any regular basis, it’s now LoTRO all the way.)
6. I’m forever grateful to two friends that pushed Chooch and I along the path towards each other, even though our new life together seems to have cost me their friendship.
7. I love banana flavored Runts. They taste better than bananas.
8. I don’t think you can truly examine something fully if you don’t do a puppy dog head tilt.
9. Cheesecake > Pie /ducks and runs away/
10. My desk is a big ol’ mess, and I’m buried in paper. (I’ve cleaned and re-buried myself countless times. Still true.)
11. Foo Fighters are to my 2000’s what Depeche Mode was to my 1980’s.
12. I want a puppy now, but we’re waiting until we have the money to handle anything that comes up for it. (We have a puppy!)
13. I’m waiting to hear about a job that will make a big difference financially for my family, but the impact on our ‘family time’ will be dreadful. (I got the job and all I speculated was true.)
14. I lost most of my relatives in the grieving after my Mom died. She was the glue.
15. I have made a few friendships in the last year that I truly believe will last a lifetime. (Those I had in mind are still going strong!)
16. My husband is the most perfect man in the world for me. He has the soul of an artist, and many canvases on which he paints. He also does not put up with my bullshit and makes me laugh like no other. (Peas and carrots, yo!)
17. Our bedroom will always be the messiest room in the house.
18. I will never eat pork again, and may eventually be a vegetarian.
19. I love photographs, especially of my family and friends.
20. I’m enjoying the two separate aspects of my life more than I thought I would. I think I’m going to keep them separate.
21. I have just started Battlestar Galactica. Don’t judge me for being late to the party, at least I’m here.  (Done in time for the series finale and loved the full experience!)
22. I live in a world where Wash didn’t die. I need him to still be alive in that world.
23. I’m very excited about where this year will lead us. (The stuff I was excited about rocked, but there was also some devastating stuff that we are still trying to recover from. I have more gray hairs but also deeper laugh lines. Such is life.)
24. I’m re-reading George R.R. Martin’s ‘Songs of Fire and Ice’ series this year, on book 2 currently, for the new release in the fall. I <3 Jon Snow! (I finished the published books and am still waiting for the new release… I <3 Arya!)
25. I do believe in fairies. I do. I do.

Categories
5k Breast Cancer Breast Health Dizzy Friends Health

Sleep In For The Cure / +1 to Awesome People Tally / Earth Day

I finally decided against trying to walk the 5k in the Richmond Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. Having done the race in past years, I know that I’m screwed if something happens because there’s no easy way to get assistance back to the car.

I’m instead doing the stay at home version, and raising donations in my Mother’s name. If you would like to make a tax deductible contribution, please contact me at vivmuse@gmail.com and I’ll send you the link to the donation site.

My goal is $500 dollars, which I’ve exceeded in previous years. I’m hoping that even in this cash-strapped year that I’ll be able to meet my goal.

Also, if you know Greg and/or Carrie Seidman, please take a moment to pray, reflect, or whatever you are comfortable with today as they are at the hospital for the delivery of their first child. I know I’m sending my blessings for a safe and swift delivery and the health of the baby and mother.  This will be one cool kid if her parents are any indication of what she’ll be like.

Happy Earth Day, all! Show your Mother some love today. Whether familial or planetary, she’s the only one you’ve got.

Categories
Chooch Dizzy Exercise Health

To 5k Or Not To 5k. That Is The Question.

The vestibular rehabilitation (physical therapy for people with vestibular migraines) started the end of March, and the protocol is meant to desensitize my body to the dizziness/migraines by triggering the strongest possible symptoms and essentially acclimating myself to them. It will allow me to move around the world in a normal fashion. I hold out great hopes, since this and the medication appear to be my only options for treatment. So far, the exercises are effective in making me extremely dizzy, to the point of being nauseous and migraine-y afterward. So yay, I’m doing it right!

Sadly, after three weeks I’m not seeing much of a difference in the dizziness frequency, intensity or duration. Talking with the physical therapist on Monday, I was able to say that migraines are slightly lessened in frequency in the last week. Realistically, I’ve seen that fluctuate before and am cautiously optimistic at best. I return to the neurologist on Monday to discuss progress and possible changes to treatment.

My favorite part is that I’m moving again, and I’ve missed that more than I can express. My favorite medical related experience since this started was the cardiac treadmill stress test, where I had to work my way up to a steady run with three medical technicians mere feet from me in case I lost my balance. I was in a safe environment to run, and I ran my ass off to sheer exhilaration. It was invigorating, even though I was extremely sick the rest of the day.

Up until the vestibular migraines hit, I was training for the Thanksgiving 5k race, and was up to running for 20 minute spans without slowing my pace. I am very far from this now, but will get there again. I have to. I’ve started going with Chooch on his morning walks with Kaylee, and love it to pieces. Yes, I’m extremely dizzy after the short 1.5 or so mile walk. But I’m MOVING. And I feel safe because he’s right there with me.  I’ve taken one neighborhood walk by myself, and it was a bit longer. I don’t know if I’ll do that again until the dizziness is under better control, as I was very anxious that something would happen. And anxiety makes my symptoms much worse. See the conundrum?

I also love the walks because it’s just us. No twitter, no phone calls, no computer, and only Kaylee to distract us. *Squirrel!* Whether we talk or not, I just love it. We already do a lot together, which is normal because he’s my best friend, but I truly treasure this time with him.

I would love to be able to do my 5k route in the hopes of being able to do the upcoming Race for the Cure, but that would mean getting up even earlier since we walk before he goes to work. We haven’t registered for it yet since I’m so wobbly and never know from one day to the next what I’m physically capable of. We’ve participated in the Richmond race for the last 2 years, and I did countless races in DC in previous years (always as a walker). I really hate to miss it this year, especially since I know two people that are currently fighting for their lives from this horrific and demoralizing disease. It already took my Mother, Grandmother and Great Grandmother and I take it as a personal challenge to walk for all of them.

On a related note, a very dear friend today was saying that as bad as things are for him, he’s glad he doesn’t have to deal with my medical issues. I on the other hand, thank God every day that I’m not fighting for my life. I’ll take the diagnosis I was given GLADLY and with great gratitude.

I’m putting the decision on the race on hold until the weekend, when we will hopefully walk the distance to see how I do. *fingers crossed*

Categories
Cool Links / Clicky Linky

Discovered Bit o'WIN – Drunk History Series by Derek Waters

I am somewhat disappointed in myself for not knowing this exists.  The first one was posted in 2007, but I just discovered it today.  I’m now sharing this, with a warning: If you are under 21, don’t drink or you’ll go to jail. If you’re over 21 and drink, don’t drive or you’ll kill someone or yourself, or both, and go to jail. Most of all, don’t drink to the point of these historians no matter what. I mean, look at them… gross. Funny, but gross.

Volume 1: Alexander Hamilton, starring Michael Cera

Volume 2: Ben Franklin, starring Jack Black and Clark Duke

Volume 2.5: Ben Franklin, starring Jack Black and that chick from Glee (Jayma Mays)

Volume 3: Oney Judge, starring no one I recognize but is hilarious due to hiccups.

Volume 4: William Henry Harrison, starring Paul Schneider. (Happy Mother’s Day, Mom.)

This next one is posted by a different account, but claims to also be by Derek Waters. There are a lot of copycats out there, but lookit the people starring and I think we can assume it’s his as well.

Nikolai Tesla, starring Crispin Glover and John C. Reilly

Leave a comment below and let me know your fave, because I can’t decide…

Categories
Chooch Convention Attendance Games

The First PAX East EVAR!

After tremendous anticipation, Chooch and I attended PAX East last weekend in Boston, MA. Unable to attend on Friday, we enjoyed the convention on Saturday and Sunday. In spite of the shortened experience, it was a fantastic weekend and we hit almost all the things we wanted to see.

I have to say that this was a seamless and tremendously enjoyable convention. We’re not pro’s at this in any stretch of the imagination, but it was so well planned and executed you’d have to be a fool not to appreciate it. One of the smartest things they did was to mail out the convention badges a few weeks before the convention. Instead of having to get in a long registration line we just breezed in, got our bearings and off we went. It was awesome.

Another fantastic detail was the constant presence of the courteous and efficient volunteer Enforcers. You barely had time to realize you were in disoriented before you spotted one to keep you on track. They kept the queues orderly and moving, and all I chatted with were very pleasant.

The only real drawback was that the venue was undersized for the event, which is something that the organizers realized early on. They’ve already committed to a larger venue for 2011 and 2012, which will also be held in Boston. The biggest complaint as a result of the too-small venue was that many were unable to get into events. We didn’t have this problem, likely because we immediately stripped down our intended panel attendance to ensure that we’d see and do what was most important without spending the necessary hour or more to get into less important (to us) events.

Backing things up, we left home at 1:00am on Saturday morning after Chooch took a long nap after work. We were too early for check-in at our hotel, but knew this would be the case and really just made the stop to utilize their parking garage. We hopped on the subway across the street from the hotel and headed in to PAX. We arrived too late to attend the City of Heroes panel, so instead made our way to the queue for the Penny Arcade Make-A-Strip Panel. The queue for the biggest events in the Main Theater was actually a gigantic space on the first level. We settled into line and got to take a look at our fellow con-goers. It will come as no surprise that there were more Nintendo DS/DSi/DSiXL devices in sight than I have ever seen in my life.

We made it through the line, wound our way around the first floor, up the escalators and into what ended up being my favorite experience of the entire weekend. While we had hoped that it would be a live brainstorming of the Penny Arcade webcomic, as we so love on their podcast, it ended up being a Q & A while Mike did the artwork for a strip they had already scripted. I was crestfallen, until about 45 seconds later. It was an absolutely delightful, hilarious and poignant hour and a half. I’m very hopeful that a video will appear, because I doubt the notes I took will do it any justice. I may post those later, but for now want to jot down my thoughts of the entire convention.

We bolted immediately after it ended in the hopes of grabbing spots in the Dungeons and Dragons for New Players session. Chooch has obviously played before, but I never really have and we were excited to remedy this situation. It was packed, and there were no spots open for the rest of the weekend. Bummer. There was apparently a much larger turnout for all of the D & D sessions than were expected, and I truly hope they expand it next year.

We instead made a pass through the Expo, and while there was a tremendous amount of … well, everything… we were both surprised at the under-representation of the MMORPG’s. No WoW, no STO, no Champions, no Aion… It was disappointing on that front to be honest, as I’d hoped to grab phat lewt for friends that play. I’m happy to report that Turbine was represented in a big way for Lord of The Rings Online, which is one of the games that Chooch and I play. They loaded us down with awesome gifts when we told them we’d played in beta and were lifetime founders subscribers. They even let us in on even more loot they were giving out the next morning! Our dear friend and longtime gaming buddy has benefited from our good luck, as we grabbed gear for her birthday the next day. We even got to meet the developers and that was another of my favorite experiences. They really know how to make their players feel appreciated.

After our run through the Expo we headed to the hotel, checked in and collapsed briefly. As exhausted and sleep deprived as we were, there was no way we were going to miss the City of Heroes Meet and Greet at Jillian’s. Feeling slightly recharged, we headed over and to our great delight the event was packed! There had to be over a hundred attendees, and the spread that the CoH devs laid out was fantastic! Shortly after we got there, the pace of the weekend had caught up with me. Dizziness hit me, and a migraine started up. We contemplated leaving, but honestly just didn’t want to leave. We met both Brian Clayton and Matt “Positron” Miller, and even got a rundown from Matt on what we missed during the panel for our City of Heroes Podcast feed. We chatted with a few other players, and had a wonderful time in spite of my symptoms.

After collapsing upon our return to the hotel, we got up early on Sunday morning to make sure we got to the Turbine booth bright and early. We passed by Jonathan Coulton *squee*, and realized that he and Wil Wheaton were doing signings there. We waited out the line for Jonathan Coulton and again enjoyed the queue because of those around us. What an intensely cool guy! We bought his concert DVD since he only performed five or six songs at the They Might Be Giants concert that he opened for in early March. Chooch and I both really wanted more, and are happy that he’s passing through the area again soon-ish. We also couldn’t pass up a second chance at getting a gift for the person that first exposed me to his musical goodness, this time autographed!

Next we hopped into the line to meet Wil Wheaton, and while waiting got pictures of one of the cast members from the Playstation Network show “Testers”. After meeting Wil, we grabbed a bite and headed down to get into line for the book Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins book signing. The wait was again fantastic, and in the ocean of Nintendo handhelds I actually spotted a Sony PSP! We were surrounded by super cool peeps, and the sense of camaraderie that we witnessed all weekend continued. After a long and worthwhile wait, we very briefly got to meet Jerry and Mike. I’m such a huge fan off all they do that I don’t even remember what I said to them, but was disappointed we couldn’t get a picture with them due to the huge line behind us.

We made another pass through the Classic Arcade rooms, mainly because we couldn’t bear leaving. Before you ask… yes, I’m already budgeting for next year. And it looks like at least one of our sons will be going with us!

Categories
Health Household

My Luck Finding HFCS-Free Foods

This is not a comprehensive report after exhaustive research. This is simply a short note after a very quick run through the grocery store for a few needed items. Most of what I was hunting was fresh produce, so no worries about high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) there. The new push for seeking them is based on the results of a recent study released by Princeton University. You folks are smart enough to decide for yourself what it means, so rather than dumbing it down into my terminology I’ll simply link it for your perusal.

A walk down the condiment aisle was where the dread came in, especially after a conversation with my good friend Andrea last week on her experience at the grocery store. Her family is making the switch to HFCS-free life, and while I’m not clearing out my pantry I am trying to re-stock without them. I’ve long believed in the dangers of HFCS and partially hydrogenated oils and have avoided what I thought were the big culprits for years.

After her recent experiences, I realize how far HFCS has infiltrated my pantry and fridge when I wasn’t paying attention. Condiments are filled with them, and Andrea recently reported that every variety of bread in her grocery store contained it. I rarely eat bread, but my family enjoys it. We never buy white, and only go for whole grain but I was braced for pain when I checked the labels of my favorite bread items.

I’m happy to report that all three “Nature’s Own” bread varieties I checked at my local store are HFCS-Free, and even tout this with a banner on the packaging. This is a whole grain brand my family already enjoys, so I was relieved. Every other brand I picked up had HFCS.

The place where I was most pleased was the condiment aisle. While Heinz ketchup has HFCS, the Reduced Sugar variety does not. I have used the RS ketchup for years and enjoy it. This is the only kind I’ll buy now, when the guys’ regular runs out.

Planning on making teriyaki chicken tonight, I checked the label on my usual low-sodium teriyaki sauce and was surprised to find that it is HFCS-Free. The normal variety does contain HFCS, so I’ll be checking the low-sodium food options in the future to see if this is a regular additional benefit to low-sodium foods.  My habit is to buy low-sodium options whenever possible, dating back to LT’s health problems in 2003. It’s one I’ve not felt the need to switch back since it’s no longer needed for him, and even when I was recently told to increase my salt intake I preferred adding salt to my portion rather than increasing the sodium for my entire family when we’re all used to the healthier alternative.

Also, all the Sugar Free Syrup (for pancakes) is also HFCS-Free since it uses sugar alcohols for sweetness. There are other concerns in using sugar alcohols, but I’ll leave it to you to be able to decide for yourself if you want to make the switch to them.

In general I have to say, YAY for my reduced sugar diet!

Categories
Chooch Dizzy Friends Health Weight Loss

Working Hard to Lose Big

I was reading a post by my dear friend Jett and couldn’t help but notice how we are in similar situations. She’s struggling with weight loss, as am I. More importantly, the lack of quick results is affecting our efforts and has us both speculating on how to turn things around.

About a decade ago, I was at my highest weight, around 255. I lost down to 180 or so, but then due to life changes (illness of son, comfort of marriage, illness and passing of my mother) I gained about 30 pounds of that back. Major bummer.

I kicked off a new weight loss program in January of 2008, and slowly watched my weight go down 50 pounds. I had great success using a one-two punch of South Beach and lots of exercise, but also sabotaged myself with holidays,  celebrations and stressful situations. After working extremely hard over the summer, to include training for running an entire 5k for the first time in my life, I was only about 12 pounds from my initial goal weight. I was also at the physical peak of my life when the health issue I’m dealing with hit at the end of October 2009. I went from 4 or 5 days a week at the track or in the gym, I was couch-bound. Before my diagnosis a few weeks ago, I’ve tried several times to exercise to disastrous results. My symptoms increased to a painful level and I would give up again.

I’m now pushing myself to walk every morning with Chooch and Kaylee, as I only feel comfortable doing so when he’s with me. I know if symptoms hit, I’m in the best possible hands. After the dizziness from that subsides, I do my shiny new exercises for my vestibular rehabilitation. I have insane dizziness after that. For instance, today I only felt human again after about 3 pm after finishing the exercises around 10 am and taking a nap afterward. Hopefully, this will fade but I will continue doing the second session right before bedtime since it effects me so strongly. I’m very hopeful that the walking on top of the exercise will also help me in my efforts to get my ass back to work faster!

The end result is that I’m moving again, and this brings me great joy in spite of the after effects. The other change I’m making is allowing myself more fruit, vegetables and whole grains than are allowed on Phase One of South Beach. I never intended to spend this much time on Phase One, and it’s not healthy for me long term. With heart disease on one side of the family and breast cancer on the other, I’m fully aware of the importance of high fiber diets. The foods I’ve added back in this week include carrots, bananas, apples, grapes and pineapple. Also, two high fiber/low glycemic index whole grain servings per day. I’m in heaven, as it feels so decadent to indulge in these on a daily basis.

The initial impact is that my weight is up a couple pounds, but I’m not surprised due to the increase in natural sugars and whole grain carbs along with slightly increased muscle mass. I’m not going to beat myself up, I’m just going to enjoy my sinfully sweet fresh pineapple slices and hope it all shakes out in the end.

I have full faith in both Jett and myself, and know that once we figure out what works for our individual cases we will kick ass and reach our goals.

Categories
Chooch Dizzy

Week one on the new dosage. Meh.

I started the increased daily migraine medication dosage on Sunday, and am really feeling the difference in an increase in the frequency and duration of the dizzy spells. My hope is that this is my body adjusting to the increase from 10 to 25 mg of the migraine medication. Happily, the breakthrough migraine meds do actually seem to help with acute migraine pain, even though I’m only taking a half dose. Chooch and I thought this would be a good start since I find myself to be pretty damned sensitive to the effects of the medication. What can I say, I’m a cheap date.

I felt great on Thursday morning, so got behind the wheel for the first time to run errands. I was fine for the first hour or two, but then fatigue and headache kicked in and after only three hours I was back at home napping due to extreme dizziness and nausea. I’m still waiting to get my groove back from yesterday’s adventure.

I’m looking forward to Tuesday, which is my first session of vestibular rehab (physical therapy for really dizzy frakkers like myself). I’m really hoping they can help me, because I’m about to lose my mind. Silly me, I thought I’d feel better after diagnosis and treatment started. You may know that one of my core beliefs (and personality flaws) include the movie quote “Instant gratification takes too long” from the movie “Postcards from the Edge”.

Now I’m dealing with seasonal allergy flare-up or cold or cooties or something, and I think by itself it would be okay. In combination with everything else, I end up being a party pooper yet again. I’m tired of being the wet blanket, period. If I’m lucky, I’ll be able to get some work done on my new project. It’s kind of tough when I feel this depleted when I need to feel brave and confident in my vision.

Since I’ve been warned about stress taking a physical toll on me at this point, I’m struggling with keeping negativity away even more than ever before. I can feel a tangible uptick in my symptoms when something upsets me, so it’s no longer just a goal to be more positive and avoid negativity. It’s now a necessity, and so my efforts begin in earnest.

My goal is to feel stabilized on the medication so I can drive myself to and from the physical therapist on Tuesday so hubby doesn’t have to miss more work. I know things can always be worse, so I’m counting my Blessings and staying hopeful. Baby steps, yo.

Categories
Chooch Dizzy

Suck it up, Cupcake.

Tomorrow I mail back the heart monitor. In spite of having five days off from it due to equipment malfunction, I’m barely keeping my sanity with this thing. It’s the constant feeling of being tethered that’s getting to me. I wake up in the middle of the night with it poking or itching or whatever and I have to fight the urge to throw it across the room. The pads themselves are itchy and tearing up my skin. The sound of the recording causes my headaches to spike.

Add to that the loneliness and feelings of being trapped due to being stuck at home and unable to drive, not to mention just feeling like spinny crap all the time. I know I’ve got many blessings in my life, and I’m extremely grateful for each one. I’m just really struggling to get through this part to find the solution and get my ass moving again. I’m jealous in a most evil fashion of those that are continuing with their health regimen as I struggle with losing the 20 pounds I’ve gained since this started. And worst of all, I desperately miss our three sons. When M and LT moved out, I had work to keep my attention away from the huge void. Now I’m just knocking around this house that’s too big thinking about them and J, and missing them so badly that I can’t allow myself to think about it. J lives with his mom on the West Coast and I should be used to missing him, but with M and LT gone now too it’s more acute.

If you know me, then you know that I try really *really* hard to stay positive. I know it makes a difference. I’m just desperate to move on to the treatment phase. I completely broke down after the January appointment when they said they still didn’t have a final diagnosis. I don’t know what I’ll do if they say it again. The isolation truly sucks, and luckily I have the phone, internet, I get to see friends (occasionally) and my family (less frequently). I know it could be worse, but I still wish it were just a little bit better.

I think it’s the NEEDINESS that is really getting to me. We’re in the middle of repairing / painting our bathroom and I need to go to Lowe’s. I need to go to the grocery store. I need to go to Costco. Kaylee has a vet appointment. I can’t do any of these things to allow my husband to rest after a really long week of hard work. Nope, instead he has to get up early and take me all these places because I still can’t drive due to the doctor banning me.

I didn’t mean this to be the whiny post it’s turned in to, but with the cooties I picked up at Farpoint it’s made for a very rough week. I can’t even drive myself to the damn doctor. Three different family members live less than a half hour away but I don’t like to ask my family for anything. Now when I’m feeling low enough to actually ask for help I can’t — don’t want to risk them catching whatever bug I picked up.

Our friends were going to visit this weekend and they had to cancel. The gaming party we were invited to? Canceled. All this cleared the way for us to be able to attend a friend’s birthday party, and I’m afraid to go and infect others.

I don’t know why I’m posting this. I’m not looking for pity or anything like that. I just needed to vent, and people shout into the abyss about this stuff, right? It’s actually pretty self-indulgent, as I got to spend copious amounts of time with friends just last weekend. I guess I got used to being around people again.

Going to shake off the blues and get over it. It’s been a rough winter all around, and I’ve just got to stay focused on the good things. After all, tomorrow I lose my leash and I get two days with my honey! Now if I can just keep from driving him crazy…

Categories
Chooch Convention Attendance Dizzy Knitting Podcast Twitter/Facebook

Farpoint 2010

Chooch and I treated each other to Farpoint attendance this year as our Valentine’s Day gifts. Yes, it was waaaaay more than we normally spend for this corporate holiday, but due to the double blizzard whammy and extreme cabin fever we couldn’t resist the lure of friends and stars all gathered together into one big awesome pile of humanity.

Our last minute issue was whether or not the replacement wires for my heart monitor would arrive on Friday so we could leave early on Saturday to get our money’s worth out of the con. It’s not a cheap one at a door price of $75 for the weekend, plus the sharing of room costs with our dear friend Thomas, aka The Command Line. The package arrived on Friday, Hooray for Baldrick! *ahem* Sorry, Chooch has been playing his dvd set “The Black Adder” as our new lullaby as a break from “Seinfeld”.

We got there, and immediately walked right into our friends and luckily in time for Command Line’s panel which included some other friends, Marc Bailey (aka Grailwolf), Nobilis, and Paul Fischer. I was sad that his amazing wife and daughter could not attend due to illness but glad for the time with Paul. My bestie, M.A. in PA, and her hubby Dan Tabor arrived during the panel. It was also attended by our besties Heather Welliver and Grailpup, who are Marc Bailey’s wife and son (for those unfortunate enough not to know who they are).

We attended the Q&A discussion by Felicia Day, and she was as charming and adorable as ever. I had a question I wanted to ask her, but was having some of my health issues and decided against it as I didn’t want to end up stuttering and stumbling while speaking. There were many fantastic questions, and she was extremely entertaining. More later on this fey creature.

Dinner at Bertucci’s with Command Line, MAinPA, Dan, Chooch and myself and we were later joined by Paul Fischer. It was a delightful meal, primarily because of the company. Yes, the food was good but the conversations we have would make any meal enjoyable.

We attended the Masquerade, which was a first for Chooch and I at any con. We intended on staying only for the beginning, which our friends (Fantastic Foe, aka @patman23 on Twitter along with his beautiful wife Lisa and their endearing daughter ‘G’) would be in but ended up staying through a good portion simply because the costumes were so amazing! Our friends were actually there during the entire Masquerade, serving as The Ninjas that were assisting the participants with getting off stage and they even did an adorable but brief performance when they were introduced! They were fantastic and I’m really glad they lured us there with their presence. We left the Masquerade to take some pix of our friends and ended up wandering a bit and making our way back down to the Masquerade in time to see the most exciting auction of the night!

While waiting for the judges to determine the winners, an auction was held to raise funds for Vietnam Veterans of America. The previous two years had earned $3,000 each and the auctioneer was hoping to match or beat that. The real excitement came during the bidding for the coveted ‘Lunch with Felicia Day’ which had a proxy bid was $300.  As Thomas, Chooch and I watched in amazement the bidding continued and finally was won at $5,000! It was amazing to see, especially as Ms. Day was obviously blown away by the amounts being bid for, as she reminded the bidders, ‘just lunch’. She was blushing adorably, but occasionally vamped a bit in an effort to raise the bidding. The gentleman that won the auction was the subject of tweets and conversation for the rest of the weekend. Well done for a wonderful cause!

Afterward, Chooch, Thomas and I luckily were unable to find seating at the hotel bar. I say luckily, because we headed into the dining room instead and ran into a table filled with hawesome (Grailwolf, Heather, Grailpup, Laura Burns, John Cmar and Helen Madden) and joined them. We ended up staying for several hours having a raucous good time. We even experienced the debut of The Green Boner, much to our horror. Laura showed me some of her favorite knitting sites and books, which was a boon for this knitting noob! When actor Lee Arenberg walked through the restaurant we made eye contact and he said hello. He’s officially now my homeboy, right?!?  A few drinks and countless giggles later we split off and headed back to our hotel for an exciting adventure in parking in a snow-filled lot.

Next day found us at breakfast at the hotel restaurant, and I was anxious to get in line for the Felicia Day signing opportunity. When we met her, I was able to ask my question about resources for fun/funky/geeky knitting projects but having put her on the spot she was unable to think of any. It was otherwise a wonderful chat, and we were able to get a better picture with her than we got at Dragon*Con.  As we talked, she said she remembered our conversation back then so am assuming that we are now BFF’s.  I’m relieved to report that I didn’t embarrass myself as much as I did at D*C, when I ‘fangirled’ all over the place. Lookit, I’m growing! We also got a copy of Season 2 of The Guild signed, but there were no copies of Season 3 available yet, sadly.

We visited the Dealer Room, and made some purchases. I was thrilled to discover cartoonist Kevin Bolk and his hilarious comics “Watchbabies” (if the Watchmen were babies), “I’m My Own Mascot”, and “Wookie-Ookies” (Star Wars done with babies). All are creative, intelligent and beautifully done so I bought those items and Mr. Bolk was kind enough to sign them for us. I love finding unexpected new things such as this, and it made the trip through the Dealer Room well worth the time invested.

We later lined up to meet Lee Arenberg. He was delightful and it was a real pleasure to chat with him. We talked about all manner of topics, and he was charming and a truly fun guy! I was sad later when I realized that I forgot to mention our BFF moment in the restaurant the night before. He even gave me his email address to send him a link to our podcast, due to his interest in the topic of blended families. Score!

Our other sightings included Mira Furlan and Sam Witwer. I didn’t recognize the latter when he got on and then off our elevator and then got back off when he realized when we were going up rather than down. He only registered as being ‘teh cexce’ to me at that time, which he definitely is! Ms. Furlan was also there and while I spotted her several times, I didn’t get to meet her.

We caught the tail end of Command Line’s panel Copyright or Copywrong with Steve Wilson and Marc Okrand. I wish we could have met them as well, but they both bolted off in different directions after the panel. We grabbed Thomas, M.A., and Dan and headed out for a tasty lunch at Baja Fresh and returned in time for Dan’s interview with Ms. Day for his wonderfully written blog series on Geekadelphia. I cannot wait to read it, as he was very happy with the interview itself! Dan the Fan? Piffle. Dan the MAN!

Many enjoyable hours in the atrium were spent with friends between panels, events and meals. Laura brought in her case of packed full of BPAL and her knitting and I was very envious of both. Later I got another quick knitting lesson from M.A., this time on purling. Turns out my previous attempts were correct, but I needed M.A. to guide me through it anyways.  All the time spent with friends between other events truly made the weekend even more special. We returned home exhausted but exhilarated with our filled heart containers.