Michael Hanscom

Enthusiastic ambivert. Geeky, liberal, friendly, curious, hopepunk; trying to be a good person. (he/him)

Year 50 Day 171

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Me, wearing a orange-and black spider and spiderweb print shirt, black hoodie, black cap, and black mask, standing at the top of bleachers in a dome-roofed gym with the gym floor visible behind me.

Day 171: Almost two years in, and today’s all-staff training/community development event was the first time I set foot in the school’s gym. Partly this is because I have very little interest in most sports stuff. Partly it’s because last year sometime in a presentation about plans for upcoming capital projects (big expensive things like new buildings), the need for a new gym space was stressed in part because this building is in such poor shape it could spontaneously collapse at any moment. That’s paraphrased, and probably wasn’t put quite so starkly, but I wasn’t the only person who came away from that presentation with that impression, so it was darkly amusing that this was the chosen location to gather all of the college’s staff for this event.

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Year 50 Day 169

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Me with a skeptical expression on my face, holding a McDonald's dipping sauce called 'Mango'.

Day 169: McDonalds for dinner tonight, and saw that they had two new (limited time only) flavors of dipping sauce for their McNuggets, so of course we had to try them. “Sweet and Spicy Jam” was just what it said, and the mysterious “Mambo” was a little less sweet and notably spicier, with a pretty strong kick. Both were actually pretty tasty, but the Sweet and Spicy Jam was our preference.

Year 50 Day 168

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Me against a horizontally motion blurred background, as if I was spinning in circles (which I was).

Day 168: Two big projects, one for work (a presentation to faculty) and one volunteer (a website launch), both due on Friday. I pretty much feel like I don’t stop moving; a full day at work, and then puttering on my computer after dinner and until bed in the evening. I know a few of my friends involved with the same volunteer project are in much the same boat. Going to be glad to hit the weekend!

Year 50 Day 167

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Me in front of four identical white IKEA bookshelves. Every shelf has books laid sideways atop the books that are shelved properly.

Day 167: IKEA bookshelves are simple and convenient (and all Fight Club snark aside, I really don’t mind the IKEA aesthetic), but I really do wish the shelf spacing was tighter, or that they were more adjustable. Hardbacks have a good four inches of wasted space above them, and there’s nearly room to get two rows of paperbacks for every single row that these allow. I occasionally daydream about finding the time to replace these with custom-built shelves. Properly done, I could probably increase my book storage in this room by at least 50%, possibly more.

Year 50 Day 166

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Me in the car, with soap covering the side window, and everything bathed in green light.

Day 166: I may be 50, but I still do get entertainment value out of going through a car wash, especially now that they have colored foam and neon lighting. It’s like a disco foam party!

Year 50 Day 165

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Me, wearing a Jack Skellington t-shirt and black facemask, standing in a hotel meeting room with a number of other people sitting at tables and chatting with each other behind me.

Day 165: Today was this month’s Norwescon planning meeting. Our theme for the meeting was Halloween, so I wore my Jack Skellington shirt, while other people had pointed witch’s hats, Pikachu onesies, a corn costume, an Alf mask, and probably other things that I missed or aren’t remembering. Lots of good progress being made — but lots to do over the next few months as well!

Year 50 Day 164

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Me crouched in front of my desk. In the foreground, on the desktop, is a plastic Halloween teddy bear skeleton, with two tiny plastic human skulls at its feet.

Day 164: Happy Spooky Friday the 13th to all who celebrate! Nothing particular happened today, so here’s a peek at my some of my desk decor in my office at home. The skelebear usually sits atop my Mac Mini with the skulls at its feet, like a little sacrificial altar. The bear, of course, came from silly Halloween shopping one year; the skulls were 3D printed by a Norwescon member and hidden around the hotel during the con a couple years back, and these are the two I found and kept (I spotted more, but left them for others to discover).

Year 50 Day 163

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Me next to a white bookshelf with a number of science-fiction books visible. Next to my head is a small bust of Mad Magazine’s Alfred E Neuman with his ‘what, me worry?’ phrase on the pedestal.

Day 163: I inherited this Alfred E. Neuman bust from dad when he died. While monetary value certainly isn’t the point, I tried looking it up once, and if I did it correctly, it could be worth somewhere in the $150-$400 range. If I ever get the chance to head to Antiques Roadshow, this would probably be one of the things I’d bring along.

(Also, based on the tags WordPress is suggesting, I think I blogged about this at some point in the past. But hey, I haven’t done it this year yet!)