Year 50 Day 165

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

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

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!)

Year 50 Day 161

Me standing in my office, wearing a shirt with a print of dragons flying and breathing fire. Visible behind me is a Star Trek art print, and on my desk is a silly plastic octopus skeleton Halloween decor.

Day 161: Since I was doing a presentation for a group of students that had already greatly appreciated my shirt with multicolored dinosaurs, this time I went with dragons, and it was also a hit. I’m going to have to keep track of which shirts I wear for presentations this year to keep them all interested.

Year 50 Day 160

Me standing at the kitchen sink and doing dishes.

Day 160: I’m not much of a food-oriented person, and so have little in the way of cooking skills (though I can manage a pretty darn good take-out pizza or Kraft Mac-N-Cheese). So I make up for my limited usefulness in dinner prep by being responsible for the cleanup. It’s better than not bothering with the kitchen at all!

Year 50 Day 159

Me, with a slight smile, lit entirely in purple.

Day 159: Quite happily, I’m feeling much better today. Not quite back up to 100%, but improvements have most definitely been made. So I’m not nearly as blue as it may appear (though it was fun to play with the lights in my home office window).

Year 50 Day 158

Me sitting in a hospital waiting room, masked, and with an IV line on my right forearm. I have bags under my eyes and look exhausted.

Day 158: All is fine now, but the day started with a late-night/early morning trip to the ER due to localized pain on my left side. The doctor thought perhaps kidney stones, but after bloodwork, peeing in a cup, and a CAT scan (my first…now there’s a milestone for you), I came back medically “unremarkable”. Apparently it was just severe gas. The photo was taken about 4:30 am, after four hours there, and an hour before we finally got to leave with a prescription for some medication. Today is completely blown for anything other than lying around in a sleepy, cranky daze.

Year 50 Day 157

Me outside in front of the Highline College library building, with a group of about 30 people visible behind me standing around and chatting with each other.

Day 157: Had our morning interrupted by a fire alarm! Turns out it was an unannounced drill, so no real danger or anything, but it was definitely an unexpected minor adventure.