Roadside Picnic

Charcoal Suit and All

Mon, 09 Aug 2021 00:25:22 GMT

I should be on my way home from Indianapolis right now. Tired and refreshed at the same time, happy to have spent a long weekend working and playing with some of my favorite people. But, it's 2021, and this damned virus has just buggered everything.

Good vehicle news - looks like the sunroof drain is unclogged. Bad news - the electrical gremlin reared its irritating head again.

Mom's back at Ephraim McDowell. Heart problems again, and they're compounding her other conditions, and it's just managing all of this as best we can and best she will, and ... well, I'm starting to accept that I may lose her relatively soon.

I'm just tired all the time. Constant low-level tension punctuated by moments of hilarity and frustration and higher tension and everything else. I'm going a little nuts now and then, feels like.

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Edgar Cayce's Dreams

Sun, 14 Feb 2021 15:50:40 GMT

Powered through Friday. Made arrangements with Dad to meet and swap vehicles, and lit out for Lawrenceburg - not Bardstown or Springfield, as Dad had suggested earlier in the day. Whatever. No big deal.

Mom&Dad had a ridiculously large birthday cake for me, and that was really sweet (the gesture, I mean), but I'm not really celebrating this one. Got some of my gear out of the Mariner and into the Canyon - didn't get the air compressor, darnit, and here's hoping that doesn't come back on me. Hugged and chatted and petted the dog and took off up 127 towards Frankfort. The Canyon remains very steady at upper highway speeds, and I was back in Louisville soon enough. I had begged off gaming for the evening, just wanting to rest. And I did.

Overbought at Aldi this morning, but what the hell, if this winter storm manifests like the forecasts say, I'll be glad for a stocked pantry and freezer and refrigerator. Heck, I'm glad for those now. Going out later to get some sandbags for the pickup's bed.

Between now and then, though, listening to a couple episodes of Astonishing Legends and playing with some of the trains I've picked up in the last year and barely run and doing some self-maintenance.

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Red Eye

Tue, 03 Nov 2020 01:28:19 GMT

Tomorrow's going to be one hell of a day.

I'm not planning on watching any election reports - instead, it's going to be hopeful and optimistic stuff. Almost certainly a binge of Star Trek TNG. I'm not optimistic about the election outcome at all.

I finally got some problems with the family's cell phone service sorted out this evening. It took too long to handle, and never should have been a thing to begin with, but whatever. It's done now.

I'm tempting fate saying this, but I think the Mariner's problem has been solved. Well, the charging/discharging problem, anyway. There are still other issues. There was a single incident last week with the electricals, but it hasn't repeated and there haven't been any other problems, so I'm writing the episode off as a transient event until something pops up to tell me otherwise.

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Candy-O

Sun, 26 Jul 2020 16:35:32 GMT

Things finally sorted out so that I could take the Canyon back to Dad. It's a great little truck, no doubt, but for reasons that make perfect sense to me, I'm glad to have my Mariner back.

The drive to and from Liberty was rather nice. I took the old 64-151-127 route instead of 31/150-127 this time - both legs - and it just seemed to go faster coming and going. This was the first time I'd opted to listen to podcasts instead of NPR or music on the drive, and that probably helped, too. Spent a good few hours with Mom&Dad and the dog, and those are precious times.

Met up with Aaron H for our X-Wing match on Friday afternoon. The First Order squadron that I had good luck with Josh S failed badly on this outing. I scored half points on two ships, but otherwise, I brought shame upon my ancestors. Oh well. On to the next squadrons.

The ongoing civil unrest here got a little hotter yesterday. The bluntly named Not Fucking Around Coalition showed up in force - 350-400 armed black folks, and of course the threepers ("security force," my ass) had to be there, too. NFAC outnumbered the threepers about 7-1, and unsurprisingly the cosplaytriots aborted out, as they tend to in the face of any real resistance. Having said that, I'm not going to wholeheartedly lionize the NFAC. While they were assembling at Baxter Park, one of their guys dropped his gun and it went off, injuring a couple of his fellow travelers. On top of that, the organization's leader has espoused some pretty heinous anti-Semitic stuff, and may be a Hebrew Israelite, and there's not much good to say about them.

I really wish that I was getting ready to head to Indy in a few days.

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The Vast of Night

Mon, 20 Jul 2020 15:58:12 GMT

I still haven't been able to swap the Canyon back for the Mariner. Last week looked good, but then The Niece had to move apartments on Sunday and that's the sort of thing that a pickup is built for. Maybe this week, work and weather and life and the vagaries of fate allowing.

I scrubbed Friday night's Delta Green session in favor of getting in some minis time. Won my X-Wing match with a pair each of TIE/fos and TIE/bas. The First Order Interceptor is a heck of a ship, especially with an additional hull or shield point added. I'm going to fly the same squadron in the last match of the test league, half because it was effective and half because I'm lazy.

Moving was taxing, of course. I was dead on my feet for most of the evening, and my legs were not happy. Worth it, though.

I'm a ways into the first Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser collection, and this is just a delight. Adventure, mischief, snappy dialogue, and just enough magic. One of the tales has the pair tasked with robbing a tower built as a treasure house. Along the way, they're warned about an entity of some kind living in and protecting the tower, which of course they ignore. Inside the tower, the Mouser finds a strange arrangement of gems and figures out that the gems compose the mind of a non-human intelligence. I want to do something with this, maybe mixing it up with Mary Gentle's Wild Machines and a KARTAS idea shamelessly stolen.

I learned this weekend that the writer of Mutant Crawl Classics wrote and drew a clever superhero comic strip for UofL's student newspaper back during my first time there! The Masked Cardinal was silly fun.

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Motel

Mon, 16 Mar 2020 18:52:55 GMT

Kentucky saw our first COVID-19 fatality over the weekend - a 66-year-old man, comorbid with a stroke and pneumonia. So, plenty of complicating factors, but there's the data point.

Per this morning's gubernatorial briefing, bars and restaurants are being closed except for delivery and take-out at 5PM today. This is going to be a huge economic hit to a lot of people, and I expect some businesses won't survive this. By a quirk of lawmaking, food trucks are considered take-out-only restaurants here, so they're possibly going to have some better luck.

The local nerd con is still planning to go on over Easter weekend. I think this is pretty irresponsible, to be honest, but I can also see where they're coming from. This is the last incarnation of the con, so the committee wants to give every chance for it to go off and for attendees to have the chance to say goodbye. I'm not saying that I agree with the thinking, but I do understand it. I had planned on going, but I strongly doubt that I'll go. Not worth the risk of contracting, or worse, spreading something.

On a smaller scale, my Hex Games family had planned a private micro-con this coming weekend in Cincinnati. The planned site is somehow affiliated with UC, and they're going to online classes and other measures, so, so much for that. Looks like we're going to try for some Discord games and conversation instead. It'll have to do.

Took my SUV in for what I thought would be a simple front-end alignment last week, and it turned into a much more serious repair. Control arms and bushings were nearly shot, the inside third of my front passenger-side tire was worn down into the belts - explains the recent tendency to fight against holding straight in the rain, I guess. Fate really must smile on fools, small children, and starships named Enterprise.

Dad's newer truck was wiped out last week. Some dumbass kid came around a curve on Dad's side of the road, scraped down the side of the truck and trailer, and forced Dad off the road. Uninsured, of course. His company's going to pay off the truck, at least.

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To be a Lover

Mon, 05 Aug 2019 16:19:49 GMT

This was one of the best GenCon weekends I've ever had. Maybe the best.

I got on the road right at 4PM Wednesday. Traffic on I-65 was heavy going north, and not as fast as it might have been, since there was a lot of construction through Indiana. Lane shifts and lengthy stretches without a breakdown lane and all that. I kept watching my fuel gauge and listening to my stomach, planning to fill both fuel tanks once I got clear of crowded construction zones. By the time I did get clear, I was a few miles from Indy, so, fuck it, I just powered through and went to the hotel. Met up with Alex and Pat and Eunice, got mostly settled in, found something to eat (Five Guys - hadn't been to one in a long time), had the team meeting. A lot of new faces - the most women we've had on the team ever!

Thursday morning, breakfast at First Watch across from the hotel. Everybody and their brother knows about Patachou now, so it gets hammered. Honestly, First Watch is just as good, by my measure, and its menu has more that appeals to me. Got over to the ICC, dropped a couple of things off at the booth, and headed over to R. Talsorian's booth for the Cyberpunk Red starter box. Got to meet Mike Pondsmith, who was very gracious to this fanboy. Back to our space. Played a lot of the upcoming Mistborn board game expansion and watched the crowd. Dinner at Punch Bowl Social, which was okay enough, and during which I learned that my recent weight loss and drastic decrease in alcohol consumption have combined to make me a very easy drunk.

Friday, more Mistborn at the booth. After my shift, got to see Steve, Leighton, and Josh and catch up with their goings-on. Then over to Lucas Oil Stadium for the X-Wing campaign by the Shuttle Tydirium podcast. They had a weekend-long narrative set up, and I was able to get into two of the three nights. I flew poorly and set up things even worse, and got hammered. Won some great prizes, though!

Saturday, repeat. Much better performance at X-Wing, though. Prevented my opponent from accomplishing one of three objectives, and wiped his (numerically and pointwise) superior force from the table. Scored enough points to boost myself into the middle of the pack overall, and second of 11 Rebel players. The Empire won the campaign, though. More great prizes, more good times, and if I go back in 2020, darn right I'm signing up for the campaign again.

Shorter day Sunday. Did my three hours in the booth, then went to the hotel slept. Dinner at Giordano's - darn good deep-dish pizza. Loaded the Mariner, said my farewells, and lit out for home. Made great time on the return trip - less than two hours from getting onto I-65 in Indy and crossing the river, including a stop for gas at Exit 76. Got home, unloaded, slept.

Back to work this afternoon. Not especially looking forward to it, but I'll power through. Later this week, some work on the Mariner - brakes and an oil change - and maybe a trip down to Liberty to see Mom.

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If I Wanted To

Tue, 20 Feb 2018 18:07:56 GMT

Little things.

Doesn't matter that there's three-fourths of a gallon in the fridge; when I duck into Aldi and milk's 78 cents per gallon, I'm getting a couple gallons of milk.

Dad sold both of the Internationals, bought a Kenworth. Same Caterpillar engine, but the KW's cab is so well insulated that I can't here the engine noise when we're on the phone.

Fuck a lot of Rick Pitino. NCAA sanctions were upheld today, so UofL loses a couple years' of records, including the 2013 championship, and a lot of money. Gods, basketball is just shit coming and going.

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If you Leave

Wed, 12 Jul 2017 13:21:22 GMT

Since I bought him, my Mariner's had a little hitch in the steering when I make a left turn. He's needed a front-end alignment, too, just a couple of degrees, so I figured the hitch was part of that and really no big deal. Thursday, turning to back into the driveway, I heard a pop and the power steering faded on the left side. No bueno. Drove around the block, and no other symptoms appeared. Made an appointment with the shop for Monday (yesterday) morning. Drove to Heroes and back Friday evening, power steering to the right, but still nothing on the left. Troubling, but not crippling, and I was planning to drive Mom&Dad's vehicle to the Belle on Saturday, anyway.

Rack-and-pinion were failing. Five hours and some money later, it's replaced, along with tie rods, and realigned.

The Dodgers went into the All-Star break 61-29. Best record in the Majors, a half-game ahead of Houston. The NL lost the ASG 2-1 in the 10th - a little disappointing, but the ASG's just for fun again. Regular play starts back Friday night, at the Marlins.

Broke my losing streak in the October Pandemic Legacy game. Found Patient Zero, unlocked everything the virologist needed, and I'm feeling a little bit hopeful about the final 2-4 games.

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Sundown

Sun, 14 May 2017 02:35:35 GMT

It's done. Commencement was today, and I am a Master of Public Health.

And what a day it was. I got up plenty early to get over to the shop and get the Mariner checked out. Could have been a whole lot worse - broken flex pipe. Relatively inexpensive fix, but a few other issues were identified. These will probably be taken care of in Liberty. To their great credit, the shop here was able to get the repair done in time for me to drive to commencement, saving me the cost of a Lyft. I used one of Dad's cards to park for free at the Galt House, and got back to the arena for lineup and commencement.

Commencement was about what I expected, and I'm glad I brought something to read. My cohort was the very last group to be recognized, so we mostly made the best of it. We decided we would make slow walks across the stage, not crowd or rush each other, just enjoy our last moments as students. It worked. It was good.

Afterwards, lunch with Mom&Dad, and that was a good time. Mom's having some issues with mobility right now, so Dad went back to the hotel garage to get the Canyon and come back to the restaurant to pick her up. And this is where the trouble started.

After, oh, 20 minutes or so, I get a text from Dad - "I can't find the truck." I show Mom, we laugh, and decide that we'll both walk back to the hotel and I'll help Dad. No big hurry, we'll just mosey along at Mom's comfortable speed and when we get to the hotel, Dad will have found the truck and all will be well. This turned out to be a very good idea for Mom's sake.

Dad texted me at about 2PM. We didn't find the goddamned pickup until 3:45. Dad kept saying some combination of parking level and space, so, logically (at least to me), I tried to find it. Well, I did ... and no truck. And Dad says, "Okay, good, this where I was parked this morning before I went out to find breakfast for me and your mommy." And I'm pretty sure I heard that record-scratch sound from TV sitcoms. I managed not to yell, but did raise my voice above conversation level when I asked what. Dad figured that if he could find where the truck was, he could retrace his path to find where the truck is. As I am telling a story, you may have already guessed that this did not work. We found the truck. Pardon - I found the truck. And while I maybe overreacted, I felt myself sliding up my scale of anger. I was silent during most of this search, almost swore at Dad in frustration. Mom had started texting during the search. She was starting to get some anxiety hits. I do not blame her.

Got home a little after 4PM. Tried to take a nap before going out for Housemate's birthday to-do. Had just gotten stretched out on the couch when a serious motherfucker of a muscle cramp hit my left calf. Oh goddamn did this thing hurt. If I move my foot the wrong way, I can still feel a little bit of soreness. Okay, anyway, headed out to the restaurant. Got sick of waiting for flakes to show, so I started ordering - damned good cheeseburger, for the record. I'd had a vibe that this would happen - Diane showed up. About a half-second of eye contact, and, welp, my decision from about this time last year was vindicated like you wouldn't believe. Nothing there. Nothing. Anyway, some good talking with other party members, then off to the bar, and I waved off of that after about 20 minutes because I was just tired.

And now I'm on my couch for a few more minutes before crawling into bed. Tomorrow, I'm either binging on movies over at Village 8, or lying in bed all damn day. I have earned either one.

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