Just when you thought you were rid of me...
Let's see, it's been... 3 months since my last update?
No problem! Now where to begin...
I suppose the first thing I ought to mention is probably the thing that has been consuming the most of my free time lately, and is largely the reason why I haven't updated in the last three months:
I've made vague mention of the fact that Teeka and I are helping to plan a furry con that's going to happen in this area next year. I know this is a lame excuse, but part of my reason for not wanting to post was because I wanted to say something about this con, but only after there is something *to* say...
Well, last Thursday evening we went live with our public web site, so there's a lot to say now. Check out:
http://www.allfurfun.com/
Kiefer and I have been doing most of the coding on this site (and really-- Kiefer mostly, especially lately. I'm pretty impressed with how quickly and reliably he's been able to put together the registration system and whatnot that make the site itself pretty useful).
For those of you who haven't bothered to click the above yet, the con is happening in Spokane, WA on March 30 - April 1, 2007. It is a first year con, and we have high hopes for it; The team of staff we've pulled together to work on it are just awesome-- things are coming together quickly, and it looks like it's going to be a smashing success! There's still a lot to do, and several unknowns; But we're working hard and should have most of this stuff figured out, probably in a matter of weeks or less.
Of course, this being the first time I've been on con-planning staff, I've been learning a lot about what it takes to make something like this happen. It's certainly anything but easy; Hopefully none of the mistakes we're undoubtedly making will be show-stoppers for us. I don't think they will be though-- we've got a lot of smart, hard-working people putting this together and so far we've been able to overcome all the challenges we've faced with it (and there have already been a few big ones... it's really hard to get a good hotel for a first year con, where you can't give the hotel staff very good numbers as far as expected attendance up front... but somehow we've managed to do so.)
If you've got some free time toward the end of March next year, we hope to see you there, eh! :)
Anyway, enough shameless plugging for now.... what else...
Teeka's been in school most of this fall, and she's doing very well in it. (Actually, she's doing a VTD assignment right now as I type this. xD ) Of course, some of the medical problems she's been having have made things all the more difficult for her. But she's still managing to get the work done and is (I think) still getting good grades in all her classes, despite not being able to attend classes very often. We've been seeing the doctor a lot over the last few months and undergoing several different diagnostic procedures to hopefully find out what's up with her digestive system. Nothing definite has surfaced so far. That's been discouraging of course-- if we knew what it was, we'd at least have a clue how to treat it. But, we're sticking with it. The last thing we want is for this to develop into something far more serious than it appears to be, so we'll keep seeing the specialists and whatnot until we know what it is. Wish us luck, eh!
Um.... lesseee....
Teeka and I have started playing some World of Warcraft again (although we've not had the time to touch it in about a week. :P) We're on Vek'nilash now, for those interested in gaming with us on occasion. Horde side, of course. ;)
The elections of last week have both pleased and disappointed me in many respects. Overall, I'm glad to see the democrats win both houses of congress. In all honesty, I'm not sure how much they can accomplish with Bush still in the president's seat. But at least we've got some checks-and-balances restored to our government. Hopefully they'll be able to prevent him from screwing things up any worse than they are, at least until he's outta there...
If nothing else, it was awesome to see the sheer turn-out for an off-year election like this. It seems people actually do care about the direction this country is headed...
On that note... I'm not generally a very politically-minded person... but it seems to me that our two-party system has really been the enemy of progress in this country for probably 30+ years at this point. I would like nothing more than to see laws enacted which would prevent the current political parties from growing so large and having such an overwhelming influence on the elections we have. It sickens me to live in a state where almost always all the candidates with an "R" after their name on the ballot are handed an automatic win. It also sickens me to hear "I voted straight democrat this year because I hate Bush." By removing party affiliation, people would actually be forced to get to know what a given candidate actually believes, and how they stand on the issues and make their voting decision based on that. We might actually have a hope of getting better legislation passed, and earnestly considered in congress, rather than the balance always tipping to the political views of whichever party happens to be in power at the moment, our representatives being more worried about losing face among those of their political party than actually representing the views of the people they were elected to represent.
I really, really hope that our new congress is able to pass some reform laws, both affecting current unethical lobbying practices (which favor those with deep pocketbooks), campaign finances, and even campaign tactics... it should be a criminal offense to do some of the things done by... er... a certain party struggling to retain power this year (eg. robo-calling misrepresenting themselves as the opposing party, voter intimidation, etc.)
I know such things are probably far from becoming a reality. But I do have hope, eh...
...
Moving on...
Well, there really isn't much to report on for the last 3 months for me, I suppose. Oh yes! I was interviewed last week for a job with another company in town here. The work I would be doing would certainly be more interesting that what I do now, however, there are pros and cons to both positions... I'd almost certainly get paid a lot more in the position I'm probably going to get an offer for this week; However I'd also have a lot less vacation time, and work might occasionally chase me home on evenings and weekends. In my "old" age, I'm discovering that having more money is far less important to me than being able to spend time with my most beloved one, doing whatever we want to do at the time (which, usually means playing computer or video games, if we're not doing something productive together. ;) I'm reserving judgement until I actually get an offer, of course... but... eh... we'll see.
And... um... I think that's it for now. I should really make another color post soon.
No problem! Now where to begin...
I suppose the first thing I ought to mention is probably the thing that has been consuming the most of my free time lately, and is largely the reason why I haven't updated in the last three months:
I've made vague mention of the fact that Teeka and I are helping to plan a furry con that's going to happen in this area next year. I know this is a lame excuse, but part of my reason for not wanting to post was because I wanted to say something about this con, but only after there is something *to* say...
Well, last Thursday evening we went live with our public web site, so there's a lot to say now. Check out:
http://www.allfurfun.com/
Kiefer and I have been doing most of the coding on this site (and really-- Kiefer mostly, especially lately. I'm pretty impressed with how quickly and reliably he's been able to put together the registration system and whatnot that make the site itself pretty useful).
For those of you who haven't bothered to click the above yet, the con is happening in Spokane, WA on March 30 - April 1, 2007. It is a first year con, and we have high hopes for it; The team of staff we've pulled together to work on it are just awesome-- things are coming together quickly, and it looks like it's going to be a smashing success! There's still a lot to do, and several unknowns; But we're working hard and should have most of this stuff figured out, probably in a matter of weeks or less.
Of course, this being the first time I've been on con-planning staff, I've been learning a lot about what it takes to make something like this happen. It's certainly anything but easy; Hopefully none of the mistakes we're undoubtedly making will be show-stoppers for us. I don't think they will be though-- we've got a lot of smart, hard-working people putting this together and so far we've been able to overcome all the challenges we've faced with it (and there have already been a few big ones... it's really hard to get a good hotel for a first year con, where you can't give the hotel staff very good numbers as far as expected attendance up front... but somehow we've managed to do so.)
If you've got some free time toward the end of March next year, we hope to see you there, eh! :)
Anyway, enough shameless plugging for now.... what else...
Teeka's been in school most of this fall, and she's doing very well in it. (Actually, she's doing a VTD assignment right now as I type this. xD ) Of course, some of the medical problems she's been having have made things all the more difficult for her. But she's still managing to get the work done and is (I think) still getting good grades in all her classes, despite not being able to attend classes very often. We've been seeing the doctor a lot over the last few months and undergoing several different diagnostic procedures to hopefully find out what's up with her digestive system. Nothing definite has surfaced so far. That's been discouraging of course-- if we knew what it was, we'd at least have a clue how to treat it. But, we're sticking with it. The last thing we want is for this to develop into something far more serious than it appears to be, so we'll keep seeing the specialists and whatnot until we know what it is. Wish us luck, eh!
Um.... lesseee....
Teeka and I have started playing some World of Warcraft again (although we've not had the time to touch it in about a week. :P) We're on Vek'nilash now, for those interested in gaming with us on occasion. Horde side, of course. ;)
The elections of last week have both pleased and disappointed me in many respects. Overall, I'm glad to see the democrats win both houses of congress. In all honesty, I'm not sure how much they can accomplish with Bush still in the president's seat. But at least we've got some checks-and-balances restored to our government. Hopefully they'll be able to prevent him from screwing things up any worse than they are, at least until he's outta there...
If nothing else, it was awesome to see the sheer turn-out for an off-year election like this. It seems people actually do care about the direction this country is headed...
On that note... I'm not generally a very politically-minded person... but it seems to me that our two-party system has really been the enemy of progress in this country for probably 30+ years at this point. I would like nothing more than to see laws enacted which would prevent the current political parties from growing so large and having such an overwhelming influence on the elections we have. It sickens me to live in a state where almost always all the candidates with an "R" after their name on the ballot are handed an automatic win. It also sickens me to hear "I voted straight democrat this year because I hate Bush." By removing party affiliation, people would actually be forced to get to know what a given candidate actually believes, and how they stand on the issues and make their voting decision based on that. We might actually have a hope of getting better legislation passed, and earnestly considered in congress, rather than the balance always tipping to the political views of whichever party happens to be in power at the moment, our representatives being more worried about losing face among those of their political party than actually representing the views of the people they were elected to represent.
I really, really hope that our new congress is able to pass some reform laws, both affecting current unethical lobbying practices (which favor those with deep pocketbooks), campaign finances, and even campaign tactics... it should be a criminal offense to do some of the things done by... er... a certain party struggling to retain power this year (eg. robo-calling misrepresenting themselves as the opposing party, voter intimidation, etc.)
I know such things are probably far from becoming a reality. But I do have hope, eh...
...
Moving on...
Well, there really isn't much to report on for the last 3 months for me, I suppose. Oh yes! I was interviewed last week for a job with another company in town here. The work I would be doing would certainly be more interesting that what I do now, however, there are pros and cons to both positions... I'd almost certainly get paid a lot more in the position I'm probably going to get an offer for this week; However I'd also have a lot less vacation time, and work might occasionally chase me home on evenings and weekends. In my "old" age, I'm discovering that having more money is far less important to me than being able to spend time with my most beloved one, doing whatever we want to do at the time (which, usually means playing computer or video games, if we're not doing something productive together. ;) I'm reserving judgement until I actually get an offer, of course... but... eh... we'll see.
And... um... I think that's it for now. I should really make another color post soon.