9.01.2008

…and the rest of the goings-on

Last weekend, we were off for 7000 BC's annual appearance at the Bubonicon sci-fi show. Headed to Abq after work on Friday (avoiding most of the Indian Market madness) to meet up with the group for dinner, then stayed with Paul and Beth. Up Saturday morning to some strata that we'd brought along, then to the show.



Traffic was undeniably lighter; a fellow bookseller noted that "it is a down economy, and we are selling a luxury," but things picked up and we ended roughly comparable to last year. A big hit was the "40 Rats" illustration we did on Saturday; Bubonicon's mascot is a rat, and in honor of the show's 40th year, the dozen-or-so members who were there created a big illustration (live!) and raffled it off, with proceeds going to Bubonicon's charities. The winner got himself drawn as the 40th rat.



The show was a blur, but as always, a great time. But we grabbed a late dinner, and had to head back home Saturday night, because…

I was up bright and early for a fencing clinic at NMFF on Sunday; our coach's former coach from Northern Colorado Fencers was around to teach a couple days of foil. Already committed to Bubonicon, I could only do one day; Sunday seemed to offer the most for me.

And it was pretty great. Two days probably would've been better, but I think my brain was pretty well filled with tactics and techniques from the just the one day. Plus, my knee — ordinarily prone to soreness and sensitive to overuse — was giving me a fair amount of trouble during the morning's intense workout.

Of course, the trick is always remembering what you learned and how to apply it. Unfortunately (though luckily for my healing), the club was pretty much shut down for the following week for our annual maintenance/repainting.



This past Friday, our friend (and collaborator) Jamie had his usual end-of-summer gallery show opening.



His work, as always, looks incredible. It looks like he's experimenting some with new techniques, and he used the additional wall space he got this year to work even larger-scale.

Saturday was a day of chores, but we did head out to a late anniversary dinner at Max's, a wonderful time that lived up to its review. Our actual anniversary weekend, we were over at Stacy and Jim's for a big Thai dinner and catching up — and working out the last details for Jim's new Web site that Monica's reworked, making it easy for them to update with new pieces and organize by category.

Weather-wise, it's been an odd couple days, cooler than usual and much wetter. Yesterday's la Bajada trip started off in, and was accompanied by, occasional light rain, which gave way to pretty steady rainfall by the time we were supposed to be grilling outside. Today started off all Seattle again, and though it's given way to sun, it's still unseasonably cool out.

We're thinking of making ribs for dinner tonight.

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