Birthday tidbits

December 12th:

Events:
1098 - First Crusade: Massacre of Ma'arrat al-Numan - Crusaders breach the town's walls and massacre about 20,000 inhabitants. After finding themselves with insufficient food, they resort to cannibalism.

1914 - The largest one-day percentage drop in the history of Dow Jones Industrial Average, down 24.39%

1901 - Guglielmo Marconi receives the first trans-Atlantic radio signal at Signal Hill in St John's, Newfoundland.

Born:
1978 - Nicole, Erica and Jaclyn Dahm, American triplet Playboy models
1970 - Madchen Amick, American actress

Holiday:
Kenya - Jamhuri Day: Independence Day (from Britain, 1963)

Fzzzptphzzpt!

So, late on Sunday afternoon we were sitting and reading and noticed a flicker in the light. Could have been a loose bulb... Then Jessamy came in and said the lights in the bathroom were flickering and there was a buzzing from outside. The transformer on the pole at the corner of our property was makin' noise. So we called the friendly PG&E people. They said they'd be out to check on us in the next two hours. I went and peeked at the transformer again and this time the buzzing was accompanied by arcing sounds and blue-white sparks coming out of the switch thingy that shuts off power to the transformer when needed. (like now) So we called PG&E again... Then there was one last fzzzptphzzpt! and some pieces of ceramic insulator fell from the top of the pole to the street. Then there was no power at all.

We went shopping, like any self respecting consumers without electricity.

A few minutes after we got back to our very dark street and house, the big blue trucks showed up with three fearless animated repair fellows who assured us that they'd have it all fixed in a jiffy. They replaced that switch thingy you see pictured (note the broken bit up on the top left) with a much improved thingy. To paraphrase the repair guy, "Oh we always replace these old things. See how lousy they are?"

All Aboard!

The secret is out so I can tell you all about it now. Our longtime friends Janet and Bob had a party for Bob's 65th birthday. It was a surprise and Janet had been planning it for months. Bob is a train buff and not surprisingly the party was train themed. Janet asked Sharon and I if we could build a train car that had been converted into a diner for the party. That's it above. After we had it put together Sharon said we should have made a tin roof for it. That would have been good.

The party was a huge surprise for Bob despite the fact that Janet had been actively working on it for months and there were 6o guests with a sit-down dinner. It was the classic, "He doesn't suspect a thing!" situation. Happy Birthday Bob!

This was inevitable

There is a documentary, 50 minutes long, called Breasts. I, of course, added it to my Netflix queue.

King of Hearts

Went to a garden party (kind of) the other evening and had a lovely time. We all mosied over to Nona's Cafe in Pacifica for a dee-licious dinner. When we came into the party we were in the middle of a Tarot card reading. Not the kind where the person reading the cards knows what the heck they are doing, just the kind where the party goer reads the card about a person sitting two people away from them.

I know this is full-on blasphemy for my Tarot reading friends, but I didn't have a lot to say about it.

The Pirate festival in Vallejo was fun. There were a lot of things that could have been different, starting with SHADE. It was right on the waterfront with no shade at all. It also needed more street theatre, though there were plenty of playtrons that made walking around interesting if not outright entertaining.

Oops, I did it again

Uh, I forgot to blog...

Valhalla Renaissance fair at Tahoe, two weekends in a row. Weekend 1 was interesting as our fearless leader Rydell was more than a little under the weather. We pulled through OK. I drank too much on Sunday and paid for it with a day long headache. Weekend 2 was much more straightforward, nobody was sick and I left the martini fixins at home. There were some long faces when I said I had left the gin and shaker behind.

Our friend Kurt proposed to his now fiancé Danielle. It was a big surprise to her. He managed to get about forty people to pose for a group photo and then got down on his knee and proposed. She hadn't suspected a thing.

This time around I played Master Robert Collier (clever eh?) the steward of the household of the noble hosting the queen. That's a long way of saying head waiter. I like the acting gig because it requires an infinitesimal amount of acting. I looked fabulous in my borrowed costume, and I only got one snarky comment about my hat, but it was from someone who had just proclaimed her (joyful) state of inebriation. I didn't take it too seriously.

On weekend one we went to the Harrah's eat-all-you-possibly-can buffet in South Lake Tahoe. It was expensive but you could have all the bacon wrapped filet mignon you wanted. They had quite a variety of food, all of which was kinda mass-market. We left full.

So all this fun is really tiring and all and I have been dragging ever since. No matter though, I still found the energy to mindlessly surf the internet a few times and sit around a bunch.

Slacker's Writing Corner

Forgive me father for I have sinned. It has been eight days since my last blog post.

Hey, I was busy! OK?

All through the week I was busily (got that, busily) working on the pool heating system of doom. So now at long last, it's operational. Note I said operational, not completely finished. Looky here:
The miracle you see here only leaks a little. And there is still a truckload of crap to haul off to fill in the various cracks in the Earth near here. With some sorting, the concrete and used wood can go to recycling and there isn't too much else. Does anyone need about 80 feet of used (read; funky) 2 inch PVC pipe?

On a technical level, the original goal of reducing system pressure was a success. I lowered it by about 1/3. I was ecstatic. This was achieved by getting the system off of the roof so the water didn't have to be lifted there, and by eliminating the aforementioned 80 feet of pipe and a buttload of two inch elbows (There's a visual for you) that had been used to make all the funky angle turns up and over the roof. Now we have plenty of flow and that will improve all the things that DIY'er pool owners lose sleep over. The panels are also in full sun longer for even more deliciously warm water.

After a couple of leak fixes, a little paint, and a bit of bamboo screening I can call it really done, or as done as outdoor projects really get. Don't let me forget to patch all the little holes in the roof from the old mounting system.

Oh yeah, I went to work all week too. And we all moved our offices, and I learned even more about all of my coworkers' personalities.

Then on Friday, we went out for a Liquor Cabinet meeting where the ruling elite of Otherbookistan discuss matters of state. Here is a shot of the Empress, Emperor, and Prime Minister (or something like that) at our first stop, The Holy Grail pub in SF.
We had a great time there and then we wandered a couple of blocks to take in Tommy's Joint (an SF Landmark) where we regaled each other with tales from the empire.




Today (Monday) we went to a memorial for Ray. Usually this sort of gathering is attended by a few tens of people. Not for Ray thank you very much. The entire theatre was filled, about 700 seats and the celebration of all of the goodness that Ray had brought took about three and a half hours. It was really great to see how much joy one person can bring. Amazing really.

Last but most importantly, we shared our 23'rd wedding anniversary this weekend. I could say all sorts of mushy stuff here but I will save it for my sweetie.