So, this week I'm prepping for our vacation over Thanksgiving break. The highlight of my vacation will be me sitting my happy ass on a warm beach for hours at a time. Therefore, I need books.

Not just any books. Cracktastic, girly, froofy books. My current stack of books-to-be-read is heavy on the history, and I don't want any part of that for our trip.

Please, help a girl out! What's your favorite beach read?

Wow, I haven't updated my reading list in over a month. I've been reading like crazy too, so I have a lot to add.

( Books read )
55. Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey (reread)
56. Kushiel's Chosen by Jacqueline Carey (reread)
57. Kushiel's Avatar by Jacqueline Carey (reread)
58. Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey (reread)
59. Kushiel's Justice by Jacqueline Carey (reread)
60. Kushiel's Mercy by Jacqueline Carey (reread)
61. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
62. Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
63. Plainsong by Kent Haruf
64. Eventide by Kent Haruf
65. 1776 by David McCullough

ETA: In non-reading news, I bashed two of my toes on someone else's knee while sparring last night - the whole class heard the crunching sound. The tip of my ring toe is completely purple from the bruising and the girls both say it looks swollen. I'm thinking it's probably broken, ugh. I taped it to the other one today to stabilize it, and it feels a bit better.

1. No NaBloPoMo for me this year. Life is keeping me busy enough as is. The best thing about this year's crazy schedule is that I'm getting in lots of reading. Sitting in various waiting rooms while the girls' do their activities has its advantages.

2. Vacation coming up in just a few weeks. Flight to Orlando, 1 night at Animal Kingdom Villas, a 3-night Disney Cruise, then 2 nights at Saratoga Springs. No parks. Got a deal on a rental car, bought tickets to La Nouba for the girls and myself, and I'm really looking forward to sitting on a beach or at the resort pool.

3. For some reason, I thought the new Avatar movie was the cartoon version, the Last Airbender I thought? I didn't realize it was different, and the commercials I've seen this week make me really want to go see it. SoCal folks, want to go? :D

Waaaay back in July, I was interviewed while at Azkatraz. Aziza managed to track down the clip that was aired in San Francisco just today!

( Books Read 2009 )
50. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
51. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
52. The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton
53. Echo of the Bones by Diana Galbadon
54. Vanishing Point by Mary Sharratt

In Progress:
1. A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman (got left at work for the summer, whoops)
2. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
3. Push Not the River by James Conroyd Martin
4. 1776 by David McCullough

On Deck:
The Last Queen by C. W. Gortener
Katherine by Anya Seton

Lots of reading the past couple of weeks, thanks to the hours and hours I've sat while M prepares for her Cho Dan test. Two more weeks left! I can't find either of my on deck books right now, thanks to our wonderfully chaotic house. I think I might make a trip to the library tomorrow to pick up some other fun reads, as I'm settling back into doing some rereading for ease of effort.

( Completed Books )
45. The Lady Elizabeth by Alison Weir
46. Sarah's Daughter by Ruth Bass
47. Made in the U.S.A. by Billie Letts
48. A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell
49. Mind Over Ship by David Marusek
50. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

In Progress:
1. A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman (got left at work for the summer, whoops)
2. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
3. Vanishing Point by Mary Sharratt

Planned summer reading:
The Last Queen by C. W. Gortener
Push Not the River by James Conroyd Martin
Katherine by Anya Seton

Work starts up again next Thursday and I've got three more books to go from my summer reading list. I don't think I'm going to make it, but I should be able to at least get through one more.

( Book list so far )
45. The Lady Elizabeth by Alison Weir
46. Sarah's Daughter by Ruth Bass
47. Made in the U.S.A. by Billie Letts

In Progress:
1. A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman (got left at work for the summer, whoops)
2. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
3. Vanishing Point by Mary Sharratt

Planned summer reading:
The Last Queen by C. W. Gortener
Push Not the River by James Conroyd Martin
Katherine by Anya Seton
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
Mind Over Ship by David Marusek
A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell

I have about a month of summer to go, so I think I need to pick up the pace a bit.

ETA: Since this is already a listy-type post, I might as well throw this up too.

Summer Projects:
1. Paint Living/Dining Room
2. Repair upstairs hallway hole in the wall
3. Arrange for carpet cleaning (after painting makes sense, don't you think?)
4. Repack junk from attic into plastic crates and cull some old stuff.
5. Clear out the closet under the stairs This only took a long afternoon, w00t.

I think the hole is next, as it won't take long to do, then get ready for painting.

Late in reviewing, since we had to transition into a very busy weekend right after K and I got home from Azkatraz. To sum up: OMGSOFUN!

Thursday morning, we got up at an ungodly hour to catch our flight to SFO. We met up with keytothecage andparadisetome at the BART station before heading to the Parc55. Once there, we stowed our bags in the staff room and got to work. K and I spent most of the day volunteering in registration. It was a great place to be, as we saw loads of happy, excited faces coming into the room. Later on that evening, we helped to pass out swag at the line party and got into a really heated tug-a-war over my Hufflepuff scarf. It ended with her deciding to buy her own the next day. The movie was fun, although I ended up having to walk another staff member back to the hotel (wasn't going to let her walk by herself that late at night!), so I missed all of Lavender's shenanigans. After the movie, we stumbled back to the hotel with the rest of the crowd and fell into bed about 2AM.

Fortunately, Friday morning we didn't have to be up too early - K, Sarah, and ZZ all slept in, while I was up early (about 8). We had grabbed some muffins and fruit at Bristol farms the afternoon before to eat for breakfast, so I wandered off downstairs while everyone else snoozed. After dropping off my quilt in the gallery, assembling the stand, and checking in on K, who was finally awake, we spent the rest of the day volunteering in various capacities. I ended up making an unexpected trip down to Golden Gate park to make a delivery for the Quidditch games, K worked registration and security, and I helped at the merchandise table before it was time to head down for the Wrock around the Rock cruise. We both had a fantastic time just hanging out on the 3rd deck, and I managed to take some pretty-decent looking pictures of the fog rolling in over the Bay Area. By the last hour of the cruise, K was dozing off at her seat, and since I needed to help with clearing the boat after docking, she headed back to the hotel with pinkfinity, Aaron, gwendolyngrace and etakyma. Thanks guys, for keeping an eye out for her!

Saturday, Az officially kicked off - the food at the Welcoming Feast was fantastic, especially the Tofu/Egglant/Brown Rice vegetarian dish. I only got to try 3 different types of cheesecakes. We only managed to make it to one programming session - "Shut up and Rewrite" this day, since we were both volunteering in various places, but we did have the Merlin's Circle reception and Dessert with Chris Rankin that evening. We failed at the mingling thing, but K successfully downed 3 butterbeers in less than an hour and was super-hyper thanks to all of the sugar. I do think our table managed to be the loudest group of cackling fans, so that was a win. Dessert was fun as well, although our table was a bit on the quiet side once Chris joined us. I think we were all just plain tired.

After the Convict Theater breakfast Sunday morning, I dragged K off to see Henry Jenkin's presentation on "Learning From and Through Fandom". I found it to be fascinating, especially given my career and my attempts at sneaking in fanfic-like assignments to my students who take creative writing, but K was not really impressed. She was tired, and ended up retreating to our room to watch POA for a good chunk of the day. Eddie Newquist's keynote luncheon was terrific, and we're hoping that the museum exhibit ends up in LA at some point - I can't really see us taking a trip to go see it all the way in Boston. We played Jail and Bail a couple times through the evening, with K being arrested for "Being a Helpful Hufflepuff" and me being arrested for "Being a Mom" and "Using t-shirts as blankets without a license" (I was watching the Merch table during some downtime and was freezing my ass off). I drabbled my way out of one of those by writing Snape/Trelawney (eww), and paid the other time. K, sadly, did not want to participate. The Fashion Show was amazing, and the ball was enjoyable. But we were tired, and went to bed before midnight. The fatigue was creeping up on us both!

Monday morning, we stumbled out of bed to go see Susan Gunelius' keynote breakfast, which was fascinating. K went back to our room after this for a while, before going to one of the writing panels (can't remember which one it was). We grabbed some lunch later on while I prepped for my roundtable on parenting in fandom. The roundtable went very well - there were only about 15 people in, all but two of them were parents, but we had a very enjoyable discussion. Because it was such a small crowd, I got over my aversion to mikes, so hopefully the recording of the discussion came out well. We'll see when it comes out on the CD-Rom. Right after my session, I headed over to "Teaching and Learning through HP". The workshop opened up with a very fun activity that can be used in the classroom - The Sorting House refuses to Sort and you as the Heads of Houses and Headmaster have to come up with an alternative. 1) What would the criteria for sorting be and 2) How would you inform the public. I talked with Cathy and Becky (the presenters) afterwards, saying that I'd be interested in talking more with them about how I use HP in alternative ed. Unfortunately, because of the timing of my roundtable and the Teaching and Learning panel, I never made it over to Zeum for the MPA, something I really regret. I stuck to my word and only bought one thing at the auction - the "Leaving Gringotts" watercolor, and watch the fun of other people bidding on stuff I really wanted. I was thrilled to discover that Gwen won my quilt, and I hope she enjoys it. :)

By Tuesday, we were all feeling tired and emotional, and thinking about cleanup. It's hard saying goodbye, even though I know we'll see everyone again next year. Once a year is simply not enough. At this point, my memory has failed me, as the last two days went in a blur. But I leave you with my pictures:


( Slideshow )

I miss everyone terribly, and I'm suffering a bit from post-con depression now. The best solution? Throw myself into working on HPEF and Infinitus.

( Books Read, 2009 )
41. Counting Heads by David Marusek (loved this, very surreal, Blade-Runner-ish scifi)
42. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austin and Seth Grahame-Smith (omg, total crack!)
43. Julie and Julia by Julie Powell
44. Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince by JKR (reread)

In Progress:
1. A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman (got left at work for the summer, whoops)
2. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
3. The Lady Elizabeth by Alison Weir

Planned summer reading:
1. The Last Queen by C. W. Gortener
2. Sarah's Daughter by Ruth Bass
3. Vanishing Point by Mary Sharratt
4. Push Not the River by James Conroyd Martin
5. Katherine by Anya Seton
6. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
7. Made in the U.S.A. by Billie Letts
8. Mind Over Ship by David Marusek

( Half Blood Prince )
More cohesive thoughts once I get some sleep - I was up early to print our boarding passes for tomorrow morning and now it's time for the frantic running around. Need to go to lunchtime karate today too to get feedback from last night's test. My knees are killing me this morning from all the jumping. *pops advil like whoah*

Finally all done! Piecing, quilting, binding, everything. Since it's going into the Azkatraz Art Gallery and also into the auction, I thought I'd show a better picture and share a little bit about how it was made.

The Hogwarts House Crest Fabric came from a couple of different places. I received some of the fabric from here_be_dragons a few years back - they were originally curtains in her guest room. Since the whole idea of quilting came from the idea of using every single scrap of fabric available, I didn't think it a bad thing to recycle/reuse. Don't worry, they've been washed! ;) The rest of the Crest fabric I purchased off of eBay in small batches. Everything else came from my own personal stash of fabric. I bought about 1 yard of various blues to use, since I was lacking the correct shades, but the rest of the colors I had various sized pieces.

The blocks are a variation of the traditional Log Cabin pattern, except with a half-square triangle of the Crest fabric. The blocks were paper-pieced, and the sashing cut from a solid blue fabric that also serves as the binding. The quilt's backing is the Crest fabric, and I used 100% cotton Warm and Natural batting. It's quilted in a "stitch-in-the-ditch" pattern, simple squares. The quilt is sofa-sized, 64 inches by 48 inches.

( Clicky for pictures of finished product )I'm making a quilt stand out of PVC pipe using these directions, something that's new to me. I've already smashed my thumb while buying the supplies, so hopefully I'll have better luck when I bring out the hacksaw tomorrow to cut the pieces to length, heh.

( Books Read )
40. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
41. Counting Heads by David Marusek (loved this, very surreal, Blade-Runner-ish scifi)

In Progress:
1. A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman (got left at work for the summer, whoops)
2. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
3. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austin and Seth Grahame-Smith (omg, total crack!)

Planned summer reading:
1. The Last Queen by C. W. Gortener
2. Sarah's Daughter by Ruth Bass
3. Vanishing Point by Mary Sharratt
4. Push Not the River by James Conroyd Martin
5. Katherine by Anya Seton
6. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
7. Made in the U.S.A. by Billie Letts
8. Mind Over Ship by David Marusek

In other, home-related news, we now have one of three ceiling fans installed upstairs. I'm laying on my bed, enjoying the breeze. Our handyman is an old family friend, he's known me since I was 9. Only problem is that he's extremely chatty, and he's driving us all nuts. He'll come back when the other two fans arrive to hook up the girls' bedrooms. I think I'm going to make it a point to have lots and lots of errands to run while he works, heh.

Whee, school's out! Time for lots and lots of reading.

( Books read )
36. Abigail Adams: An American Woman by Charles W. Akers
37. Three Cups of Tea by by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
38. A House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisnernos
39. Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells

I did manage to cross off one of my IP books, but I also added to it:

In Progress:
1. A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman (got left at work for the summer, whoops)
2. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
4. Counting Heads by David Marusek

On deck, a whole bunch of historical fiction:
1. The Last Queen by C. W. Gortener
2. Sarah's Daughter by Ruth Bass
3. Vanishing Point by Mary Sharratt
4. Push Not the River by James Conroyd Martin
5. Katherine by Anya Seton

I got in a bit of a rut the past month, and slowed way down, but I've been stocking up on books for the summer.
1. Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind (J's wanting to discuss the entire series, since he read them last year)
2. Castle of Wizardry by David Eddings (reread)
3. Stone of Tears by Terry Goodkind
4. Enchanter's End Game by David Eddings (reread)
5. Temple of the Winds by Terry Goodkind
6. The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell
7. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
8. The Choice by Nicholas Sparks
9. Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir
10. Million Little Pieces by Jonathan Frey
11. Guardians of the West by David Eddings (reread)
12. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
13. Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
14. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (reread)
15. Guenevere, Queen of the Summer Country by Rosalind Miles
16. King of the Murgos by David Eddings (reread)
17. Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond
18. The Giver by Lois Lowry (reread)
19. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
20. The Progressive Revolution by Mike Lux
21. Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
22. The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
23. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (reread)
24. Messenger by Lois Lowry
25. Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon (reread)
26. Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
27. Voyager by Diana Gabaldon (reread)
28. Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
29. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling (reread)
30. The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
31. The Darcy Connection by Elizabeth Aston
32. City of Glory by Beverly Swerling
33. Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon (reread)
34. The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon (reread)
35. A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon (reread)
36. Abigail Adams: An American Woman by Charles W. Akers
37. Three Cups of Tea by by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

And just like last month, I've made no headway on the In Progess list whatsoever.

In Progress:
1. A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman
2. A House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisnernos
3. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

On Deck:
1. The Last Queen by C. W. Gortener

Well, it looks like our 6-year old printer is on its last legs, so that means it's time for a new one.

I want to get rid of our old scanner as well, so I think a 2-in-1 would be the best best. I don't think I care about color, although that's nice to have. An automatic feeder for scanning/copying would be ideal too.

Any recs? What kind of printer do you have? Do you like it?

Anybody go? How was it? I'd love to hear the nitty-gritty details.

I've had my absentee ballots for today's special election for at least three weeks, but I still haven't filled them out. I am really torn on how to vote on the various propositions, for many reasons.

1. The California Legislature is seriously dysfunctional. The 2/3rds majority vote for budget measures has made things worse. (Ironic how a simple majority was sufficient to deprive people of their civil rights, but to spend anything needs a super-majority.)

2. I really see the need for this special election rising out of that dysfunction. The Legislative isn't willing to compromise one single bit, so they've pawned the decision off to the voters.

3. I see voters being woefully uneducated about the true cost of providing services. You get what you pay for, folks, and you've been paying almost jackshit for many years now.

4. No matter what the outcome of the election (and they're not likely to pass), there are likely to be another round of cuts next year, almost as bad as this year's round.

I'm definitely in the minority out here in California - I think we don't pay near enough taxes. It simply comes down to you get what you pay for, people just don't get that. Or even worse, they don't care. Living in Orange County, I've seen so many anti-tax bumper stickers around here. It really disturbs me that people care so little about their community.

I'm going to vote yes on all of the Propositions, but I'm resentful that it has come to this point.

I've been slowing waaaay down the past month or so.

( Finished )

And I've made no headway on the In Progess list whatsoever.

In Progress:
1. A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman
2. A House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisnernos (this is buried in my car, need to actually dig it out)
3. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

This year Azkatraz will be hosting the Convict Theater Vid Show, a special event featuring vidders in the Harry Potter fandom. The show will be presented twice during the convention: once Sunday during breakfast and again Monday afternoon at ZEUM in the theater. Submissions for the show are due July 1, 2009 and must comply with the rules set forth below.

Rules for the Convict Theater
1. Vids must be Harry Potter themed
2. Vids must be 1-6 minutes in length
3. Encoded using a codec in the Combined Community Codec Pack
4. Resolution must be 720 X 480
5. Encoded at 5500-6500 kpbs bitrate
6. Vids shown on Monday must be R-rated or under, but the vids with ratings above PG-15 will not be shown during breakfast on Sunday

How to Submit a Vid
Please email submissions to vids@hp2009.org including...
1. Your vidder name
2. Vid title
3. Vid rating
4. A link to your vid using MegaUpload, SendSpace or another similar service
5. Any other comments or clarifications about your vid

Please note that you do not have to attend the conference to submit a vid. Your vid does also not have to be "new" or specially made for the conference. As long as it's Harry Potter, we wanna see it!

Finished:
1. Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind (J's wanting to discuss the entire series, since he read them last year)
2. Castle of Wizardry by David Eddings (reread)
3. Stone of Tears by Terry Goodkind
4. Enchanter's End Game by David Eddings (reread)
5. Temple of the Winds by Terry Goodkind
6. The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell
7. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
8. The Choice by Nicholas Sparks
9. Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir
10. Million Little Pieces by Jonathan Frey
11. Guardians of the West by David Eddings (reread)
12. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
13. Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
14. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (reread)
15. Guenevere, Queen of the Summer Country by Rosalind Miles
16. King of the Murgos by David Eddings (reread)
17. Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond
18. The Giver by Lois Lowry (reread)
19. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
20. The Progressive Revolution by Mike Lux
21. Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
22. The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
23. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (reread)
24. Messenger by Lois Lowry
25. Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon (reread)
26. Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
27. Voyager by Diana Gabaldon (reread)
28. Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
29. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling (reread)

In Progress:
1. A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman
2. A House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisnernos (this is buried in my car, need to actually dig it out)
3. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
4. The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan