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Personal update
Jun. 25th, 2013 01:17 pmSince I'm probably about due for one, for those following along.
On Friday, I went over to 4th Street Fantasy, caught about 10 minutes of a panel and rounded up some peeps for dinner. We headed over to a nearby restaurant and had a pleasant buffet style meal. Then we tried to leave to go back to the con. There, as they say, our troubles began. We don't get a lot of hurricane/gale force weather in these parts but seeing as the restaurant lost all power when we hit the lobby and we couldn't see the cars 7 feet away through the rain, I'd have to say this reminded me of my early years (ages 3-6) spent on the Georgia cost. The whole tree through the living room, car floating down the street, howling winds and rain thing made itself pretty memorable, even from waaayyy back then. After a partially successful dash for the car by two of our party (one made it, one returned to the restaurant), one heroic member of our expedition dashed out and made it to the car. She then ferried the rest of us back to the hotel in 2 shifts. Why? Because Dana Baird is made of awesome.
By the time we got back, of course, the hotel's power had also gone out. So we hung out in the lobby for a bit, and when the rain and wind died down, I headed home. This turned out to be a wild ride, what between the flooded streets, the downed trees and branches, the nonfunctioning streetlights and the other drivers. But I persevered and got home in one piece to find the neighbors running about in their yards. Sensing that something was up, I asked one of them, "Hey, what's up?" The answers were: no power, tree fell on one neighbor's car, another neighbor lost a 30 foot fir tree, now blocking our street and a different neighbor lost her garage and all her power and phone lines. We were missing lawn furniture (eventually located) and had acquired a big branch from our immediate neighbors' tree in the side yard. Miraculously, it managed to not hit our house or take out the fence. And even better, there were no major injuries or fatalities around the city from the storm. But it has wrecked havoc on our city's beautiful trees (not to mention the houses and cars underneath them) - almost every city block has some degree of damage. The trees are part of what I love about living here so it's pretty painful to move around town right now.
We spent the night without power (Jana also made it home unscathed) and woke up to no power (or coffee) so Jana journeyed forth to find coffee and bagged ice from one of the patches of the city with power. When she got back, I loaded up the coolers with ice and what I could from the fridge and the freezer. The ever-popular breakfast of perishables then ensued, at which point the power came back on. By then, I had already made my excuses to 4th Street and bailed on my morning panel so it was off to clean up the yard and offer help to others, which took several hours. Then we headed over to St. Paul for an 80th bday party for one of Jana's colleagues. This was pleasant and soothing and ran late, resulting in us dining at the Riverview Wine Bar, before cautiously making our way back home.
Sunday, I woke and determined that I'd be less stressed if I skipped panels and just stayed home and worked. Result: 500 more words on Blood Moon and some edits to a story I'm hoping to get out this week. Then errands with Jana and misc. stuff related to the house refinance and my mom moving out here. Monday was more of the later + dayjobbery, but we are making progress. Now it's back to the novel proposal, and finishing the story and starting the series of guest blogs. Someday, I'll have a day off again to actually just veg out.
On Friday, I went over to 4th Street Fantasy, caught about 10 minutes of a panel and rounded up some peeps for dinner. We headed over to a nearby restaurant and had a pleasant buffet style meal. Then we tried to leave to go back to the con. There, as they say, our troubles began. We don't get a lot of hurricane/gale force weather in these parts but seeing as the restaurant lost all power when we hit the lobby and we couldn't see the cars 7 feet away through the rain, I'd have to say this reminded me of my early years (ages 3-6) spent on the Georgia cost. The whole tree through the living room, car floating down the street, howling winds and rain thing made itself pretty memorable, even from waaayyy back then. After a partially successful dash for the car by two of our party (one made it, one returned to the restaurant), one heroic member of our expedition dashed out and made it to the car. She then ferried the rest of us back to the hotel in 2 shifts. Why? Because Dana Baird is made of awesome.
By the time we got back, of course, the hotel's power had also gone out. So we hung out in the lobby for a bit, and when the rain and wind died down, I headed home. This turned out to be a wild ride, what between the flooded streets, the downed trees and branches, the nonfunctioning streetlights and the other drivers. But I persevered and got home in one piece to find the neighbors running about in their yards. Sensing that something was up, I asked one of them, "Hey, what's up?" The answers were: no power, tree fell on one neighbor's car, another neighbor lost a 30 foot fir tree, now blocking our street and a different neighbor lost her garage and all her power and phone lines. We were missing lawn furniture (eventually located) and had acquired a big branch from our immediate neighbors' tree in the side yard. Miraculously, it managed to not hit our house or take out the fence. And even better, there were no major injuries or fatalities around the city from the storm. But it has wrecked havoc on our city's beautiful trees (not to mention the houses and cars underneath them) - almost every city block has some degree of damage. The trees are part of what I love about living here so it's pretty painful to move around town right now.
We spent the night without power (Jana also made it home unscathed) and woke up to no power (or coffee) so Jana journeyed forth to find coffee and bagged ice from one of the patches of the city with power. When she got back, I loaded up the coolers with ice and what I could from the fridge and the freezer. The ever-popular breakfast of perishables then ensued, at which point the power came back on. By then, I had already made my excuses to 4th Street and bailed on my morning panel so it was off to clean up the yard and offer help to others, which took several hours. Then we headed over to St. Paul for an 80th bday party for one of Jana's colleagues. This was pleasant and soothing and ran late, resulting in us dining at the Riverview Wine Bar, before cautiously making our way back home.
Sunday, I woke and determined that I'd be less stressed if I skipped panels and just stayed home and worked. Result: 500 more words on Blood Moon and some edits to a story I'm hoping to get out this week. Then errands with Jana and misc. stuff related to the house refinance and my mom moving out here. Monday was more of the later + dayjobbery, but we are making progress. Now it's back to the novel proposal, and finishing the story and starting the series of guest blogs. Someday, I'll have a day off again to actually just veg out.