The subject line refers to the number of steps I walked Saturday. It was my first "over 10,000" day since surgery.

I would have walked more if I were at Birds Hill Park in Manitoba for BaggieCon at the Winnipeg Folk Festival, but that's okay. I doubt I would have held up through 26,5XX steps, which is my all time daily record since I started wearing a pedometer two years ago. I set the record at BaggieCon in 2007 after having walked 18,000+ steps the day before.

The entire 127-acre Smith College campus is a botanical garden and arboretum. Gorgeous. I didn't know Susan could possibly walk past even one let alone hundreds of interesting plants without stopping to coo over each one, but she did. Admirably, without complaint or even a comment. There was the rest of the tour group of prospective students, parents, and friends to keep up with.

There any more college tours ahead. July is especially full of them. Susan and Gavi are spending most of the next two weeks here and we have 7-8 more tours on the schedule. They'll then be visiting three more schools on the way home. With luck, I'll be able to join them for Cornell in Ithaca, then a fun day in Corning looking at amazing glass. Fingers crossed!

It will be interesting to compare the tours I'm able to go along on and see how they differ. I thought our tour guide at Smith was fabulous, but Gavi said she was pretty much the same as the tour guides at Carleton, Macalester, and UW-Madison. Wow.

We're building break days into the schedule. We're all looking forward to sleeping in and just hanging out here at Toad Woods all day Sunday. Here's hoping I can plow through a bunch of the items on my To Do list -- the more I can stay on top of my work and other commitments, the more tours I can go along on.

Life is good. I hope the music and fun in Winnipeg is equally so.

Seen in a post forwarded to the mnstf LJ.

Jon Olsen is proposing the creation of a "new, neutral non-profit organization with the goal of serving as a coordinating space between any and all willing fan-run organizations in the region."

The region in question is the Greater Twin Cities Area and the online conversation is starting at League of Wonders.

League of Wonders is meant to be a neutral territory, an effective community builder. And I'd put this statement of Jon's at the core of it all: "oh how I yearn to see us happy together."

Interesting. I wish them luck, and all good things.

Many friends reading this have also debgeisler's posts over the last few weeks talking about the wet, wet, wet, cloudy, cloudy, and wet summer we've been having. This post is for her.

Dear Deb,

You left the Commonwealth we share this past Monday.

Tuesday afternoon brought one long thunderstorm to Wales. Sky rumbles, rain, multiple downpours, more sky rumbles and nothing but clouds, clouds, clouds, and clouds. Rain-drenched clouds.

Tuesday night, lesliet_ma posted the following on FaceBook and Twitter (IIUC): "OMG Garden in the Woods will be closed tomorrow 'while our hort staff clears the trails of debris from today's violent weather.' Yikes!"

Geographic sidenote for non-MA residents:
Garden in the Woods is in Framingham.

Midday Wednesday, she tweeted another update:

Wet tourist in Boston goes up to a kid. “Hey,” he says, “is the weather always like this?” Kid says, “How would I know? I'm only 7."

Wednesday afternoon there was a tornado warning for Framingham and two other nearby communities.

A Savage Woman mentioned the warning on a certain fannish email list in the area. Shortly thereafter, a mutual friend of ours sent this update: "Priscilla reports a house has landed in the front yard.  It's surrounded by little people who are singing."

A mere three minutes later, the Savage Woman responded: "Just what you need, another house to sell ..."

Continuing on with more of Wednesday, the tornado warning was followed by flood advisories. Here in Wales, it rained. Then there was thunder and it rained a fair bit more. It's raining now.

If I stay up long enough, I could easily sleep right through whatever Thursday afternoon's weather brings. There's only one little problem with that: I have errands that simply must be run then.

I fear they may require running rapids, too.

At this point, I find myself hoping Massachusetts avoids the fate of Atlantis. I hope there are roads left for you to drive on when you return home. Please do so soon! We need your sweet rolls to see us through our suffering.

As if the weather itself weren't enough, the forecasters are piling so much insult onto injury that somebody's going to lose control and skid out. As I type these words, so help me, Ghu, Accuweather's home page headline is: "Cool Northeast June Could Mean Snowy Winter."

Gosh. Thanks. That's just what I wanted to be thinking of this damp'n'chilly night.

The article itself includes facts we already knew...

"New England has borne the brunt of the cool and wet conditions. The average temperature in Portland, Maine, has been lower than that of Fairbanks, Alaska, since June 1. Parts of New England have also had 3 times their normal rainfall for the same period."

...and this revolting forecast:

"Over the next several weeks, the Northeast can look forward to more frequent episodes of warmer, more summery weather. However, the overall pattern will continue to favor intrusions of cool air from Canada, preceded and accompanied by showers and thunderstorms. Unfortunately, another such stormy episode is forecast this weekend."

What say we send a few thousand hot air generators north in a couple of weeks and see if we can't break the pattern? Careful analysis suggests that Montréal would just the right spot to cluster them for maximum effect.

Your sodden pal,
Geri

dinogrl posted the following link under the subject line, "This Is Just WRONG." But anything that has sexual positions named "Squidding" and "The Leaping Frog" can't be all bad. I'm impressed by the creators' attention to detail as well as their steady control of voice, tone, and concept.

Scout Walker Kama Sutra

The text is NSFW. The images aren't, either, but few employers would notice that. Warning: the navigation is annoying.

Thirty-three years ago, America celebrated its bicentennial. Anybody else remember the "Hands Across America" campaign? Not the 1986 fundraiser, but the original one that reportedly "failed completely and never took place." Well, Battle Creek, Michigan was along the original route and I was among the 200 or so people who showed up and stretched out along a block or two of the Michigan Mall, holding hands at the designated time. It was lame, but kind of sweet. The three other people I was with that day had great fun forming "Hands Around the Clock Tower" and taking silly pictures of ourselves doing it.

In 1976, I'd never made professional use of a single one of the items currently featured at The Museum of Forgotten Art Supplies. Then again, I never was an artist, not that kind at least. I still need a see-thru ruler (with the right sort of printing on it) to draw two parallel lines. But glancing quickly through the images tonight, I found well over 33 tools I've held in my hands and pieces of equipment I've used to make money in the 33 years since. There are many I still own.

Like the other museum visitors who commented, I use my Pantone books regularly. My loupe, too, actually. You won't find my clear acrylic rollers, X-acto knives, and box of blades among the "Shop at Geri's" merchandise; they're tools I treasure and use enough that I would feel handicapped without them. If you're looking for a drafting table, I suppose we could talk, but I'd certainly miss mine if it were gone even if I didn't miss the debt its sale would pay off. For not being "that kind of artist," I certainly have a surprising number of their tools.

I smiled at the photos of non-photo blue pencils, a KroyType lettering machine, the Haberule, smelly Design markers, waxers large and small, rubylith, Bestine, Rapidograph eraser, and so much more. They're all on my "not yet forgotten, but no longer used" list.

Thirty-three years. So much has changed; so much endures. Two hundred and thirty-three years? Yep, same story. Happy birthday, America. Here's to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Here's to you.

I just submitted my Hugo ballot, finally conceding the point that I just wasn't going to get enough reading done to vote knowledgeably in several categories. So much for my plan to fill my convalescence with Hugo reading.

Reminder to all: the deadline is tonight. If you're eligible and having voted yet, now's the time.

Kudos to Anticipation for sending out multiple reminders, including one today. Even more kudos for including my my membership number and Hugo PIN in each reminder email.

Love, joy, and congratulations to fredcritter and Susan on this, the 20th anniversary of your wedding day.

I remember so much from that day, and from the days and years that followed so swiftly, swiftly. I treasure those memories. Even more, I treasure the two of you.

Added bonus prize: Jeff Healy's BBC performance of the song written by John Hiatt and Fred Kroller, and from 1989 no less.

A trustworthy frind of mine says someone trustworthy says:

For those on Twitter: Set your location to Tehran and your time zone to GMT +3.30. Security forces are hunting for bloggers using location/timezone searches. The more people at this location, the more of a logjam it creates for forces trying to shut down Iranians' access to the internet. Cut & paste & please pass it on.

Okay, this was enough to get me to sign up for Twitter. I'm gerifsullivan there as there were already four other Geri Sullivans. My bio shows me as the Geri Sullivan of Toad Woods. Location and timezone as above; I'll reset it when it's no longer productive to have it as is.

dragonet2 just posted a different link to this. Her subject line? "I can't resist" and neither could I. (I clicked through her Slashfood link to the blogger's original post. Thanks, dragonet2!)

Excuse Me, Waiter...? There's a Large Bird of Prey in My Soup."

Read through to the end.

This isn't Fear of Missing Something, it's Fear of Missing EVERYTHING.

Click through the EVERYTHING to the Thursday night reading of Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream photos that dd_b took at Fourth Street Fantasy Convention.

Look at the pictures; look at the people. Friends and loved ones going on 25 years now, some I've met more recently, and others I so, so, so want to meet RIGHT NOW. (Well, okay, in the morning, over coffee and bagels in the consuite. This is Fourth Street. Please tell me there are bagels in the consuite. It's canonical.)

Look at the program that skzb and casacorona put together. Imagine the conversations that will come of that.

How can I not be there? How can any of us not be there?

dd_b, thanks a kazillion and more for the photos! I look forward to seeing more (and more and more) throughout the rest of the weekend.

For those who are there, and those who will be, I hope each and every one of you has a fabulous time. I certainly would if I were there, and I wouldn't wish you any less.

(Does anyone reading this believe I'm really, truly going to bed now?)

jcbemis and fla_sunshine are visiting right now. I'm thoroughly enjoying their company and tonight, just before going up to bed (I thought!), I added the header to a new page in the Friends of Toad Woods Register so they can both sign the book before heading to Worcester for ConCertino on Friday.

I left the book open on the table and started to head upstairs. Somewhere in there, I realized, wow, I'd just picked up another state. They're my first visitors from Florida since I moved here just over five years ago.

Soon I was tallying the rest. So much for going to bed right then.

In the last five years and one month, I've had visitors from 12 U.S. states (AL, CA, FL, IL, MA, MI, MN, NH, NY, PA, VA, WA) and two foreign countries (Poland and Canada). Given there are only two countries, I wouldn't have predicted that Poland would be one of them.) The repeat and multiple visitors from those states and countries is pretty impressive, too, with the numbers being eight and nine, respectively. ( More stats'n'natter )

If memory serves, during those same five years, I've stayed overnight in 19 different homes of friends and family in nine states (CO, IL, IN, MA, MI, MN, NY, PA, VA) and two Canadian provinces (ON and MB). From memory, again, I've made repeat visits to nearly half of those, and a similar number have been extended visits (1-5 weeks, and if we total the number of nights I've stayed in debgeisler and benveniste's home, they'll either start charging me rent or I'll have the frequent stay equivalent of a Premier Exec for life on United.) So much for thinking I'm not traveling much these days.

I of course now want to look through the Friends of Toad Hall list that Karen Johnson compiled for me as part of the house cooling festivities and see how many more states and countries my "visitors from" map collects from that. There's England, Northern Ireland, Russia, Romania, and Australia for sure, and at least one more Canadian province, I think. I've had visitors from a lot more countries than I've been to.

But I'm on my way to bed, remember? I do. The rest of the map will wait for another time.

See subject line. Not Safe For Work. Totally Not Safe For Work.

( First there was Air Guitar.... )

So, car makers need to move cars. They really need to move cars.

Add to that the fact that we live in the future, and we come to a letter I received in Monday's mail. Balise Toyota in West Springfield sent mail offering a "100% of the factory full base model MSRP" on my trade in if I upgrade to a "new 2008 or 2009 Toyota."

(Please note that I bought my 2003 Toyota Matrix in June of 2002, so they're working to sell new cars from not just the last model year, but the previous one as well).

Of course there's an asterisk on the bold-faced offer. Even the standard roman face says "All customers will receive 100% of the base model MSRP* in trade on a new Toyota." No, they'll receive a trade-in allowance based on that amount less deductions for equipment failure, body/interior damage, reconditioning costs, and mileage adjustments." As in, no customers will receive 100% of the base model MSRP.

Still, they're trying to move cars. And they really got my attention with the gradient-screened call-out in the middle of the page. The headline (and the largest type on the page other than the Toyota logo): GeriSullivan.ToyotaUpgradeEvent.com

( Further detail, including implementation problems, college memories, and other amusements du jour )

Thanks to madrobins and the wonders of Cake Wrecks, I point all at R2-D2: Beneath the Dome. Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. Or, as Mad so entertainingly puts it, The Can from Bollocks.

...for a full 9 hours now. It hasn't stopped raining since I got here. This is not as welcoming as I would have hoped. Mostly, it's just plain wet.

Outdoors only, thank ghu.

I usually throw spam directly into the trash, rarely bothering to open it. When I do open it, and even when I take a close look at the headers, just to see what they tell me, the trash is the usual destination. About once or twice a year, I forward the message to abuse@domain_name. Typically it's to someone I have an account with, when the spam message is even more pernicious than the usual lot.

All I've ever received back is an automated note acknowledging receipt of my message and elaborating on basic computer security matters. Until now. ( Spam Science-Fiction Five-Yearly and see what you get.... )

The 85-mile trip home took most of 5.5 hours today. I built in several breaks, stopping for a half-hour or more pretty much every half-hour of driving. First at the NESFA Clubhouse, then at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, then a welcome visit with nesfan, and finally at the Charleton rest area, just for good measure.

The frequent stops proved to be a good strategy. When I arrived home, I had enough energy to move sixteen packed bags plus two bags of groceries from the car to the first floor of the Zeppelin Hangar. Sorry, fringefaan; it wasn't 3x3, but rather 4x4. (The ants go marching....)

The house is standing, but the window box was somehow knocked mostly to the ground while I was gone and my beloved not-a-gargoyle is now a scattered mass of shards. I suspect a deer came in close to investigate the romaine lettuce growing in the window box, then had the bejeesus scared out of it when it knocked the window box loose from its rack. I supposed it could have been some other animal larger than a squirrel and smaller than a deer, but deer seem the most likely suspects.

I've just started reading Jim Butcher's Dresden Files books. Perhaps magic or wizardry are responsible, instead.

It sure was a good gargoyle. I'll miss him.

Still, it's good to be home.

I took the bag of dirty laundry downstairs and started the dehumidifier -- the basement really needs it. I suppose I should carry a bag upstairs and make sure everything is okay there, too. There's only one problem. If I do, I may well just fall into bed and sleep the sleep of the healing.

Back at Easter, my sister Sue sent a unique basket my way. Foiled-wrapped eggs and Russell Stover treats were nestled between skeins of cotton yarn sent in anticipation of the babe our elder niece and her husband are expecting in early September.

The tasty chocolates are long gone. I've finally turned my attention to the yarn and book of baby washcloth patterns that came with it. I started the first washcloth last night finished the blue baby bunny pattern today. Next up? The yellow ducky is calling my name....

The washcloths are ideal instant gratification knitting. Thirty-seven stitches to a row, 56 rows of knitting and you're done. Knits and purls form the pattern so there's enough variety to keep it interesting for a couple of hours.

After the ducky, I'll probably do the frog. It's in the Garden Washcloths pattern book also by Melissa Burgland Burnham. I picked it up a couple of years ago just for fun and am glad to finally be putting it to good use.

In a mere 4 hours, debgeisler will be driving me to the hospital where I will say my final farewell (and good riddance) to Sir G. Bladder, aka Little Gallbie.

Both names were granted this past week by Mr. Improbable, Marc Abrahams. They make me smile.

We have to be there at 5:30 am; surgery is scheduled for 7:30 am and should be done by 9 or so. If all goes according to plan, I'll won't be staying there overnight. Some people end up staying one night and coming home the next day. If they have to do it the "old way," I'll be in the hospital for 3-4 days and have a much longer recovery period, too. I'm rooting for things going according to plan.

The hospital reportedly has wifi. Deb will be posting some friends-locked entries here, and both she and elaine_brennan are likely to post one or more updates on Little Gallbie's departure, my use of the Comfort Penguin, and other amusements along the way.

If you don't have access to my friends-locked posts and would like updates emailed to you, please send a note to Elaine and ask her to add you to the email distribution list she's managing for me for the next few days, or however long it takes for me to be reasonably back on my feet again.

Elaine's address is elaineb at gmail dot com.

Thanks for all your thoughts and good wishes. Much appreciated!

Bye-bye, Little Gallbie. I'm glad you were happy living here for so very long, and appreciate the clarity and speed with which you made it apparent you're ready to leave. In just a few hours, we'll both be the better for that.

Three huzzahs and thanks to Dr. Paisley for posting this to his LiveJournal: