Ketherian's Notebook

It may not be my themesong, but this song is most certainly on my soundtrack of life.
Paul Kelly - Dumb things (links to the lyrics).

The Life that's Mine
I'm snowed in by paperwork at home. Trust me, this is good (annoying, tiring, and aggregating, but good) because that means AnticipationSF has more members and more money. I've been loath to write about what's going on with the WorldCon because (a) my world view (haha) is so very small and (b) I deal with da money. So, really - how much should I write about data entry, cheque processing, credit card processing, and answering questions (everything from the very polite, very formal to the inane and back). I won't post the questions for fear of hurting someone's feelings or worse, invading someone's privacy.

I do need to know a lot more about badge security and creating regulations for registration. Fortunately, for me, most everything registration-related can be found online.

Otherwise, me and mine are well. I saw a few friends on Saturday night and went out to Kanda on Snowdon. I don't think they're quite as good as the one on Boulevard Sources in Pointe-Claire, but it might just have been an off night (or maybe I didn't order the right things). The restaurant was busy and it really showed on the black-attired staff. We left a decent tip then headed out. We tried to rent a movie but our tastes were so different that we couldn't agree on one. So we went back to RD's place to play a "quick" game of Talisman. 4th Ed is much prettier, but essentially the same game as 3rd. We played the speed version (you only have to trade in 5 pts to get a strength or craft); it doesn't seem like much--but it did speed things up.

We ended the game when RD got the Crown of Command. I was playing the Prophetess and I had the pixie, the princess and the unicorn as followers. Talk about being a girly-girl. RD played something more akin to Ash; which was pretty funny in all it's ass-holiness. BM played the monk with fervor, being the first in (and first out) of the second ring.

Monday everyone was back at work, and while it was busy it was also kind of fun hearing about vacations and seeing pictures. I went out to Lunch with lsoulban. He was fresh back from Gen*Con and (bless him) he brought me swag. He brought me back a signed Mouseguard book! *Glee* And dice. Oh goodness. The dice. I now have a crown royal box *filled* with dice (mostly miss-matched sets) and a small bag of my favourites. He also brought me the official gen con memorial set of dice (he called it the crayola explosion of dice). :) *happy dance*

I spoke with FT last night--mostly about Anticipation stuff. The question of how to process reg stuff more quickly came up. The answers (a) get more staff & give them homework (b) more people processing at once (c) don't validate before processing (d) scan it all and figure it out later.

The problem with all of them relates to data retention (I don't want to loose forms or have them damaged if I have to give them out to get them processed), and data security (if we don't validate, we're guaranteed to introduce errors which will take more time to get out later). My little home scanner really isn't up to the task, so maybe going to kinko's (or the Quebec equivalent) and getting it all scanned in is a good idea. So much to research...so little time.

Tonight PJ came over with her daughter in tow to do more Anticipation stuff. Lets just say it didn't go as planned. Dinner was fine (a fritatta, steamed broccoli and maple-glazed pork that was a bit overdry), but the paperwork took on a new dimension of FOOBAR. I've passed the problem up the ladder to see if it can be solved in good time. Fingers crossed. *Edited to add* and it's fixed. Now back to entering data.

In the PodCasts:
Listening to the Best of the Sunday Edition in the Summer (Aug 18, 2008) - Andrew Pyper comments that less and less people want to write about books and more people want to actually write books. It's an interesting statement. The podcast is interesting and Andrew Pyper is a good speaker.

On Cooking and Food:
I'm a big fan of Gordon Ramsy. Normally when someone drops the F bomb, I
find it rude and horrible, but somehow Gordon Ramsy makes it almost OK.
These short commercials are fantastic. I'm not really sure these adds show the attractiveness of the catering sector, but they are fun to watch. Thanks to Serious Eats for the link.

On Comics/Gaming:
David Peteren's blog brings great news and a cute Gencon poster. I've got the
mouseguard RPG on my wishlist. :)

General links
Talking to pirates. An interesting tale. The link to the game is here.

Wow. Marisa McClellan (over at Slashfood) found an amazing (and easy) desert on the net. Chocolate-stuffed bananas on the grill. It's one of those deserts I'm now really excited to try.