Color me joyful -- Among Others by Jo Walton received this year's Nebula Award for Novel.

In honor, and because I simply can't think of anything else to do with all this emotion while putting the finishing touches on a layout that needs my attention tonight, I'm listening to Janis Ian's Welcome Home.

Congratulations, Jo!

...Gavriella Levy Haskell, 2012 winner of the Emogene Mahony Memorial Prize for the best essay on a literary subject written by a first-year student! It was one of 16 prizes awarded by the English department at Smith's Ivy Day Awards Convocation.

Gavi's paper was on Peter Mark Roget, of Roget's Thesaurus. I enjoyed her enthusiasm when she told me about the paper back in April, a few days after she finished it. I look forward to reading it soon.

Emogene Mahony received her Bachelor of Arts from Smith in 1900. Thanks to Google, I found various past winners of the award, including a 1957 newspaper article mentioning that year's winner. The only other things I've learned about Emogene is that she was an Associate on staff at the American School of Classical Studies in Rome in 1907-1908, was listed in the Woman's Who's Who in 1914, and that her name also graces a Smith Music Prize for proficiency at the organ. Oh, and she lived in Scarborough on Hudson, NY, in 1916-1917. (I love living in the future.) A directory from the American School of Classical Studies that dates from the mid-1930s or later states Emogene died January 15, 1925. :-(

I love learning even these small tidbits about a woman I'd never heard of before today. Smith awarded more than 100 prizes today, most of them named for (and presumably funded by the gifts of) Smith alumnae.

'Twas a good day.

On Friday, May 14, 2004, I handed over a down-payment only a few thousand dollars less than the full purchase price of Toad Hall 21 years earlier and closed on the Zeppelin Hangar and Toad Woods.

Today, I spent the afternoon at Toscanini's enjoying conversation and ice cream with several likely suspects from Improbable Research as a French documentary crew filmed us both collectively and individually. I heartily recommend Gus Rancatore's Pear Chardonnay Sorbet. If you like pears, anyway. From past experience, you can't go wrong with any of the flavors, though I must say that I had Grape Nut ice cream once (at Richardson's) and don't see any reason to compare the experience with the offerings of this supposed regional favorite at any other ice cream parlor, even if it was invented in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. (Written with a wave to kaffyr.)

The Zeppelin Hangar is considerably more filled than it was the day I moved in. Susan and Gavi are here for another week (yay!), Tillie and Jinx have taken up residency, and word has spread among the items at Brimfield that the Cardis (my Matrix) will hold most anything, making it easy for all sorts of things to follow me home. Eight years ago, it was the Wicker Awesome. Last week, 14 elephants and the feet of another fit in with room to spare. Okay, okay, 12 of the elephants are more literally elephant's heads and in the form of drawer pulls. The awkward 2-tier mahogany table I've used as an end table ever since the sofa arrived from Minnesota along with the rest of my belongings has been supplanted by an elephant cabinet. Each of its 12 drawers has an elephant-head drawer pull, there's an elephant on each end, and, yes, elephant feet on the bottom. The drawers hold a goodly amount of yarn. Win.

And so life continues. Long may it do likewise.

Life is busy. Good busy. Full plate of work, Susan & Gavi here, many fine adventures.

The piece of equipment from Daddy's basement that was thought to be a bearing press or an arbor press turned out to be a Dexter Gate Valve Disc Cutting Machine, made by the Leavitt Machine Company of Orange, Massachusetts. An employee of the current day company, Dexter Innovative Solutions identified the machine from photos I sent to him. He also kindly scanned and sent me 5 pages from a 1931 product catalog. Having the patent number from the catalog helped me further determine the machine's age. Daddy's was marked "Pat.Ap'pd.For" so it was most likely made between January 9, 1920, when the patent application was filed, and June 27, 1922, when the patent was issued. Neat.

It's no longer in the back of my car. The three boxes of wood patterns are gone, too. The May Brimfield show is this week. I'm ever so proud and delighted that I actually went up, talked with dealers, and sold the stuff for a price that met my goals. All in a couple of hours Wednesday afternoon, so that was a win, too.

The other recent delight came Sunday noonish when our informal town historian showed up on my doorstep and handed me 103 pages of Squier family genealogy information dating back to the 1530s or thereabouts. Yowser. I've only spent a few minutes glancing at the pages while counting them. What a treasure.

Susan has been helping me identify ways to rearrange stuff on various shelves and in various cabinets so as to reduce annoyance and make better use of storage space on the main floor of the house. All of the Candlewick crystal and assorted wine glasses are now in cupboards instead of sitting on open shelves in the living room. Huge win! I've never liked the visual appearance of the crystal on those shelves and it got dusty as all get-out, too. Similar progress made in several other areas.

So much for briefly, eh? Brevity is as common to me as clear, flat surfaces are. As in no, nay, never, or at least not for any prolonged period of time.

Onward! Cheers to all.

...so she can then fly to Sapporo, Guam, Fukuoka, Seoul, Hong Kong, or Tokyo on a Hello Kitty jet.

Or she can start in any of those cities for her side trip to Taipei.

Because buttonlass will Want To Know:

Magic Jet flies Taipei-Sapporo (BR116/115) daily and Taipei-Guam (BR20/19) on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Apple Jet flies Taipei-Fukuoka (BR2106/2105) every Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday; Taipei-Seoul (BR160/159) daily.

And here's a comprehensive inside look at the Hello Kitty Global Jet, which flies Taipei-Hong Kong (BR857/858) and Taipei-Tokyo (BR2189/2197) daily. (Heads up: there are lots and lots of photos. The Hello Kitty Bonanza kicks in about 25 images down.)

With a tip o'the links hat to smofbabe, who titled her post "This Week's Sign of the Apocalypse."

19 minutes and 30 seconds of non-stop reasons I'm so glad we're living in the future.

Bonus material for debgeisler, benveniste and PLATO lovers everywhere starting at 10:25.

With a tip o'the link hat to elisem, I present "Roger Ebert: Remaking My Voice," filmed at TED2011 in March 2011:

I plan to head over to Kendall Square in Cambridge (the one in Massachusetts) tonight in order to catch the lively cast reading Improbable Research Reports at Voltage Coffee & Art. It runs 6-8pm. I hope to see some likely suspects there.

Last spring, a Japanese cobra lily (Arisaema sikokianum) followed me home from Hideko Gowen's stall at the Minneapolis Farmer's Market. It was simply too stunning, too beautiful to do anything else.

To my joy, it survived the winter and is now happily blooming at the base of the Bonus Rock here at Toad Woods. I noticed it at dusk Wednesday evening, the white Jack (spadix) glowing in the light cast from the garage. I'll try to get a reasonable snapshot in daylight and post it soon.

In other news, I loaded 240 pounds of water softener salt into my car, then hauled it indoors and downstairs where it's now doing its thing and saving the laundry from an unwelcome rusty tint. Said laundry is sorted and has slowly started making its way from pile to washer to dryer and back into the basket, clean and folded.

It's good to be home.

Chicon 7 membership rates increase on April 1st. Buy yours today or tomorrow for the best price!

Much coolness to be had there, including (personally) my 30th faniversary. Yes, there will be a party. How could there not?

The book drive continues at the NESFA Other Meeting this coming Sunday, so we don't have final numbers yet. If no more books are donated (say it ain't so!), pgdudda's guess of 800 would come closest. Unless we were using rules from "The Price is Right," in which case replyhazy would take home the prediction prize.

drpaisley wins the "how many will fit in Geri's car" poll. He said "more than all of them" would fit, and that has, indeed, proven to be the case.

Congratulations, all!

The bookshelves in the Toy Room yielded another 106 books, mostly paperbacks. I fiercely culled my hardcovers during my move east 8 years ago; there were weight costs for the move and volume costs for the months of storage between selling Toad Hall and buying Toad Woods. I culled paperbacks, too, but with considerable leniency.

Hmmm. 662 + 106. There I was at 768 books. You know where this is going, right?

Yep. There were 5 more books on those shelves I could part with.

Total books for the Science Fiction Outreach Project in my car = 773

In the back seat.

Yes, there's room for more. I bet I could fit another 50-100 books spread across the box tops without losing sight lines. Maybe more. Given my car, probably more. Plus tuck places in the hatch area after I load luggage and kipple in.

Hmmm...southern route. Maybe I'll stop at Fanhihall and see if Joe has any he can part with....

I love my car.

Currently in my car. In the back seat of my car:

-- 245 books donated by Ben Yalow
-- 171 books donated at the NESFA Clubhouse, including 67 from Tony Lewis and 80 from Lisa Hertel
-- 28 books donated by Mark & Priscilla Olson
-- 99 books donated by Geri Sullivan
-- 119 books donated by Seth Breidbart and other Lunacon Book Raffle winners, transported to the NESFA Clubhouse by Sharon Sbarsky

Total in Geri's car: 662 books. Science fiction/fantasy/genre hardbacks, trade paperbacks, paperbacks, ARCs, and one audio book.

Already in Chicago:
-- 4-6 shopping bags of books from Neil Rest

( 4-part harmony )

I'm heading downstairs to the Toy Room. There's still room in the back seat for my computer bag (as planned.) And there's room for more books.

To be continued....

(The book count, not the convention.)

...I'm all for it!

Well, I'm all for it and more anyway, but my last two experiences with health insurance and medical care are both unique in my experience.

First, it's Open Enrollment time for my health insurance. I opened the envelope containing insurance rates for the next 12 months with my usual trepidation. Crogglement followed. My rate for the same plan as last year dropped 10%, from $562 to $506/month. The annual savings will pay for the new tires going on my car on Wednesday, and the tires will most likely last far longer than the year.

Digression: it's way too warm out to put a couple thousand more miles on the snow tires I bought after the October storm wreaked havoc out here. I'm gladly taking the credit for the lack of winter since. It's the first time I've bought snow tires in my life so of course we had an all-season winter. Win. End digression.

Second, I had my annual mammogram this afternoon. Or, as my sister put it, "Happy Boob Squish Monday." When the digital images were all recorded and stored, and I was back in my bra and top once more, the tech invited me to take a rose from the container of individually wrapped roses (with baby's breath and greenery) on the counter in the exam room.

It's the first time I've ever been given a flower at a medical appointment. First time for the nipple stickers, too.

Lower costs, roses, and nipple stickers! Who knew this was the future of health care in America? It was certainly news to me. Welcome news at that. Except for the nipple stickers. They were just plain entertaining. Smallest pasties I ever did see.

This became my new favorite Irish folk song last year. I don't remember where or how I stumbled across "Traditional Irish Folk Song," so many years after Dennis Leary first recorded it, but stumble I did. "We have no heads!"

Hey, kaffyr, does the mandolin player eerily remind you of a certain FB so near and dear to your heart, or is it just me? The resemblance isn't that remarkable, but something about the guy's smile, haircut, head tilt, intent focus, lanky build, and overall body language combined to leave me thinking of no other. A few years back, for sure, though it was all in the future back in 1993 when the show was recorded:

"Darth Vader In A Kilt On A Unicycle Playing Bagpipes"

Yep, you read that right. 'Cause why not, right?

MCFI's book drive from the Science Fiction Outreach Project has just passed 400 books and we're looking for more! Progress as of March 15th:

In my car:
-- 245 books donated by Ben Yalow
-- 33 books donated at the NESFA Clubhouse, including 17 from Tony & Suford Lewis
-- 28 books donated by Mark & Priscilla Olson

At Toad Woods:
-- 33 books culled from upstairs shelves
-- 66 paperbacks culled from shelves in the Toy Room

At the NESFA Clubhouse:
-- 5 books in the SF Outreach donation box

Already in Chicago:
-- 4-6 shopping bags of books from Neil Rest

Current total: 410 books + Neil's donation

The Prediction Poll remains open. C'mon over and see me demonstrate how I don't know the difference between a circle and a square.

More Book Drives and drop off points
Susan de Guardiola is organizing a SFOP book drive down at Lunacon this weekend. If you're going to Lunacon, you can drop off adult, YA, and kids science fiction and fantasy books there. Novels, short stories, anthologies -- all are welcome! As before, fans can also donate books at the NESFA Clubhouse, and at the NESFA Other Meeting at the Hertels on Sunday, March 25.

Joel Phillips announced there will be a SFOP book drive at Minicon on Easter Weekend. Donated books will be heading to Chicago from all directions!

Donating Books by Mail
If you're not able to bring books to Lunacon, the NESFA Clubhouse, the NESFA Other Meeting, or Minicon, you can still participate in the SFOP Book Drive by sending books to:

Chicon 7
Attn: Science Fiction Outreach Project
P.O. Box 13
Skokie, IL 60076

SFOP recommends sending them via USPS Media Mail.

Please send books by Saturday, March 31 to assure they arrive in Chicago in time for C2E2.

The Science Fiction Outreach Project looks forward to giving away the donated books to readers at the Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo next month, and to chatting up fandom and conventions in the process!

No shit, there I was....

Earlier today, I asked for extended hotel checkout so as to have time to submit my Hugo Nominations. The deadline is 11:59pm PDT tonight. I didn't want to wait until the very last moment, and knew I'd be busy this evening.

The ballot is online. I spent some time at eFanzines.com -- I'd earlier decided on 4 nominees and used it to refresh my memory about Hugo-worthy fanzines published last year.

As check-out time neared, I raced over to the Hugo Awards page on the Chicon 7 website. Filling out the ballot was easy; I'd compiled my nominations in another document so could cute and paste them into the ballot.

Cut, paste, cut, paste, through the categories I was nominating in, the ones I felt knowledgeable enough about to judge not just whether I found a work Hugo-worthy, but that also belonged among the best of 2011.

Cut, paste, review, review, *Submit*!

I clicked the Submit button, watched the page go, and put my laptop to sleep.

Just a few minutes ago, I picked up email after not being online for 9 hours. "Hmmmm," I wondered. "Why don't I have a message confirming my Hugo nominations?"

I clicked over to my browser and saw the Hugo ballot still there. Complete with wording at the top asking me to confirm my submission. Oops. I'd rushed through the process too quickly, needing to get on with the rest of my day.

I looked through my ballot, noticed several odd text characters from the cut'n'paste process I'd used -- the ballot didn't recognize tilde or the typographer's quote marks.

I clicked the ~"Edit Ballot"~ button, fixed those (inadvertently deleting a capital "T" in "The" in the process), checked the ballot one more time, and clicked the all-important Confirm Ballot button.

Up came the webpage saying "Nominations submitted" at the top instead of ~"Please confirm..."~

On my next email pass, in came the expected message from Chicon 7 Hugo Administration, "Hugo Nomination Confirmation."

Whew.

So if you also rushed through the nomination process -- or will be doing so in the next 3 hours and 55 minutes -- make sure you Submit AND Confirm.

This public service announcement brought to you by a grateful Hugo nominator.

Science Fiction Outreach Book Drive Progress: March 10th

In my car:
-- 245 books donated by Ben Yalow

At Toad Woods:
-- 33 books culled from upstairs shelves

At the NESFA Clubhouse:
-- ???

Current known total: 278 books

Color me curious

The MCFI-sponsored book drive for the Science Fiction Outreach Project at C2E2 runs through Sunday, March 25. Please guess how many books will be donated to the MCFI book drive, and how many of those books will fit in my car. (We'll ship the rest as needed.)

If you're on LJ, you can use the poll. If not, please respond in the comments. Thanks!

Poll #1825542 Prediction: MCFI SF Outreach Book Drive
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 10

Predict: How many books will be donated to the book drive?

Predict: How many of the donated books will fit in Geri's car?

Because it has to be here:

Need more room on your bookshelves? Want to help attract science fiction & fantasy readers to fannish activities such as Worldcon and also other cons, gatherings, and clubs?

The Science Fiction Outreach Project (SFOP) will put your extra genre books to good use, giving them away to readers next month at C2E2, the Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo. Each book will have a bookmark promoting Worldcon, local conventions, and the groups sponsoring the outreach project.

MCFI is one of those sponsors, giving SFOP a donation and running a book drive. We're collecting books at the NESFA Clubhouse through Wednesday, March 21st and also at the NESFA Other Meeting at the Hertels on Sunday, March 25th. Books donated to the project can be the lure for new fans!

SFOP's primary sponsor this year is Chicon 7. You are actually donating the books to them, and they are a 501(c)(3) corporation.

( How to donate books in person, by mail, and other 4-part harmony )

More About the Science Fiction Outreach Project
Last year, SFOP was at Wondercon in San Francisco, where they gave away some 6,000 books they'd collected from fans, clubs, publishers, and more. Reports in File 700 and on the SFSFC website. Plus photos of the booth at Wondercon and other parts of the huckster's room by magscanner.

The Wondercon SF Outreach was sponsored by RCFI/Renovation, Chicon 7, London in 2014, CanSMOF, SFSFC, LASFS, MCFI, NESFA, and SCIFI as well as a private donor. Seven conventions hosted book drives. Similar efforts are underway this year: there was a book drive at Capricon and there will be one at Minicon, too.

You don't have to be a member of Facebook to see what Science Fiction Outreach Project – USA is posting there.

If you have additional questions, please contact me. Thanks! I look forward to seeing just how many books will fit in my car....

Edited to correct WonderCon photo credit to magscanner.

Dr. Seuss's Oh, the Places You'll Go!, in a brilliant, collaborative project filmed at Burning Man.



With a tip o' the link hat to peoppenheimer.

Saturday morning's virtue involved getting up and gathering up garbage and recyclables to take to the transfer station. The recyclables involved breaking down a few dozen boxes stacked up in my garage and flattening them into an ever-growing pile in the back seat of my t/a/r/d/i/s/ car.

I kept separating out packing materials and flattening cardboard until 30 minutes before the transfer station closed. I might have made it through half of the boxes; all I really know is that the site lines in the garage are a foot or two lower than they were when I started.

At the transfer station, the worker helping me empty the car noticed the Penzey's magnet, "Love people. Cook them tasty food."

"Where's my tasty food? You can't have a bumper sticker like that without also having tasty food."

I quite agreed with him and grinned my way through an apology for not having any tasty food in the car. As we continued unloading cardboard, he told me about how happy he is to have finally found the missing ingredient -- red rice wine vinegar -- for the hot'n'sour soup he wants to make. He found it at an Asian grocery in Amherst. "That one on Hwy 9?" I asked. Yep.

As I was leaving, he reminded me to bring tasty food next time, and made another comment about his hot'n'sour soup, which of course prompted me to say how much I'd love some of it.

Then I came home. It was 18 minutes before noon, when the transfer station closed.

To the kitchen! Time was short.

I melted some butter in a frying pan, tossed a flour tortilla in, flipped it for a light coating on each side, and sprinkled McCormick Bush Spices and garlic on the surface. Then came the shredded 6-cheese Italian blend and some crumbled bacon on the theory that everything goes better with bacon. Then I added more cheese.

(The bacon was a first. I've made these tortilla wedges before, occasionally with deli-sliced meat though usually just with cheese and spice.)

I folded the tortilla in half and quickly pulled together another box of recyclables, including the paper from the full shredder bin while the cheese melted and the tortilla browned. Hey, if I was going back to the transfer station anyway....

I flipped the cheesy-bacony-spicy tortilla, browned the other side, pulled out a paper plate with hearts all over it (to cover the "Love people" part of the slogan), and was pleased to see the whole thing easily fit into a gallon ZipLoc bag for easy, clean, heat-retaining transport.

Out of the pan and to the cutting board for the sandwich. Five of the six wedges fit on the plate without stacking. I ate the sixth. Quality assurance, don'cha know?

A bit too cheesy; a bit too subtle on the bacon though it added to the smokiness of the bush spice blend Aussie Fan David Russell sent my way.

Then I was off to the transfer station. The guy was a few inches away from having the gates closed, even though my car clock said 11:56. I pulled up assertively: "I brought the tasty food!"

Another one of the guys called out, "well, you tried" as another car pulled in behind me. He told me what a miserable morning it had been, and how after hours in the cold and rain, "you develop an attitude." They didn't care that they were closing early; they just wanted the hell out of there.

He took my recycling as I went up to the gates with the sandwich, and to help close them again. The latches weren't inclined to seat securely in the icy ground, and the guy's bare fingers were getting the worst of it from the frozen metal.

As soon as he had the gates closed, I handed him the warm plate. ~"Oh my gosh. What is it?"~

"An international grilled cheese sandwich," I said, explaining the ingredients. He was quick to agree that everything goes better with bacon and wants to know more about the Australian Bush Spices.

I turned to head back down to my car.

~"Wait, I can't let you leave without seeing me have a piece."~

His verdict was swift and clear: "This is tasty food!"

He was reaching for the second wedge as I reached my car. But first, he held out his hand in thanks. It was chilled through and through. "Tasty food makes everything better," he said. "I don't know what bush spices are, but they sure taste good on this." I told him it's a blend and that I'd bring the specifics* next time.

We exchanged first names. As I drove off, it looked like Bill might be going to share his tasty food with his two co-workers. Or maybe he was just going to gloat. :-)

I find the joy of the day in all sorts of things. Even my local equivalent of taking out the garbage. Big fun, and now I'm filled with good cheer. Onward!

* Salt, rice flour, sugar, onion, garlic, pepper, paprika, celery, nutmeg, oregano, marjoram, parsley, rosemary, soy bean oil, bell pepper, colour, lemon myrtle, mountain pepper, lemon aspen.

Edited to correct a few typos.

I took advantage of the day's traditions and proposed to carnyjack that we go to Minicon this year. He said yes, thereby deftly avoiding the penalty of having to buy me 12 pairs of gloves, a dress, fabric to make a skirt, or the suitable alternative given that it was Minicon I was proposing, not marriage.

Minicon! Music! Great GoHs*! Good fun! Peeps, I expect. Peeps and oh, so many of the Usual Suspects, including some who have shown up and become Minicon regulars since I was last there a full five years ago.

* Author GoH: Ted Chiang
* Fanzine GoH: Christopher J Garcia
* Artist GoH: Frank Wu
* Special Guest: Brianna Spacekat Wu

Minicon 47 will be my 27th Minicon. Jack's not far behind that. We're looking forward to it.

You? C'mon! Add to the fun!

It started snowing shortly before noon. It took most of two hours for it to start sticking to the pavement hereabouts, but it's been making up for that ever since.

Happy Leap Day, everyone! Before it's over, I may well have the opportunity to leap into a pile of snow for the first time since the October storm dumped a foot of snow and knocked out electricity for most of a week.

AKA "I love my car, chapter the manyeth"

I'm fine. I'm bemused and bewildered to report that my car is fine, too. I can't speak for the deer.

I hit a deer, or rather, a deer moved into the side of my car as I was driving along Hwy 20 toward Sturbridge tonight. I saw the doe just before impact and had my foot on the brake pedal; I was probably going 40-45 mph at that point.

There was a loud bam-thud sound upon impact, but that and having seen the deer is the only evidence I can cite. I'll look again in daylight, but I've looked 4 times under various lights already and my car shows no sign whatsoever that it came into contact with anything, let alone an adult doe. There's no difference in how it drives or handles, either. Not that I could tell tonight, anyway.

I grew up in Michigan and lived in Minnesota for 25 years. The possibility of hitting a deer is never far from my mind. Before hitting one at interstate speed in November '97, I always thought the first thing I'd have to do was to regain control of the car. The surprise that time was that I never lost control. I loved my car then, too, and was ever so thankful that the destroyed windshield held together under the impact of the deer hitting full-body directly in front of my face. Still, there was no question that I'd hit a deer, and a couple thousand dollars worth of damage came with the experience.

I didn't lose control tonight, either. But it never occurred to me that my car could sustain that kind of collision without showing a single sign of it. Color me surprised...and grateful.

This feels like my best Boskone yet. Two reasons, from what I've been able to figure out so far:

1) My at-con responsibilities are very light, and they fall into the "helping out" rather than "organizing/running" mode. I'm also not hosting a party. I'm a new junkie, so am especially enjoying helping out in Registration as I've never helped with at-con reg at Boskone before. I've learned 3 different jobs, also fun.

2) The Boskone schedule on the Guidebook app has transformed how I experience programming, especially the daytime program. I've already been to 8 program items, which is more than I've been to in the last 5 or 6 Boskones combined. I'll probably make it to a few more items tomorrow. I pretty much always make it to the Saturday night awards ceremony and related play/theme event/whatever, and I usually make it to the Friday night reception, though sometimes not until the last half-hour or so. But daytime program? Some years I've not made it to any, much as I had items checked and starred in my printed pocket program, full of desire and intention to attend, only to then fill those hours with other activities year after year after year. Guidebook let me move those items to daily schedules. My Kindle Fire knows what day it is and takes me immediately to the correct schedule, showing me just what I want to see.

I'm also having bunches of truly fine and relaxed conversations with a wide variety of friends as well as a few people at their first Boskone.

More details later; I'm going to be up early Sunday morning to help with Registration and another part of what's making this my best-ever Boskone is the fact that I came into it reasonably well-rested. I've been running a few hours short every night here, as one so easily does at conventions. I'm determined to sleep for several hours rather than continuing to write and surf the web until the sun rises.

G'night, all.