What have I been up to? Ahh, so very much. Mostly related to the two "B"s: bitching and boxes. We got 28 days notice that our office would be moved *before* a month was out. It was... barely. I've never seen such large dust bunnies! And I've never handled so much cardboard. Be that as it may, I (and a lot of helpers) got the entire contents of the headquarters of a 52-year-old company sorted, boxed, and stored or moved by the deadline. [It's amazing what 4 weeks straight of never less than 12 hours a day (please note: overtime is a mythical beast-- rumored, but never actually sighted in the company) can get accomplished.] Not everything is unboxed, but that's what happens when your new corporate holding company moves you from offices and support space to cubes. Nice cubes, but cubes nonetheless. Oh and they came with a warning-- the corners and edges can cut through clothes and have left a significant number of scars on office folks -- thanks! There's some happy news to begin your new corp life with.
In the face of the move and all its side trajectories, I have been sooooo looking forward to LosCon! I must say, while I have enjoyed my time I have, at the very best, been underwhelmed by this year's effort. No a single panel even close to offering cool new books/authors in the field. Usually there are a couple varients of this that are so well attended that people have to sit on the floor and stand along the walls (possibly because the room assigners must have some strange notion that a convention system built initially on a written genre doesn't read--- clue to room assigners: That crowd of people huddled in the door means YOU NEED A BIGGER ROOM, MORON!)
Anyway, no new/cool books panels. No really entertaining panels on arcane but strangely humorous topics. Only 10 entries in the maskerade.
Sure there have been nice moments -- the JPL panels today and yesterday were very good. The panel today on whether or not steampunk is anachronistic was good. I'm sure tomorrow will bring all happiness and sunshine!
Oh and funny of the day. This morning I was up at 7am (it's my HOLIDAY people) because between 8 and 10 am my corporate wellness program rep had an appointment to call me and review my health survey (a way for me to save a bundle on my insurance for next year). I'm up. I'm ready. No blooming call ! I didn't have a panel until 10am and I was up at 7! Oh someone is hearing about this!!!!!!
At least the panels I have attended have allowed me stitching time -- This was my progress as of last night:
I nominated it Ornament Weekend so that's all you get.
Mostly the last few months have been needlepoint months for me. I concentrated primarily on my sister's Christmas stocking (someday I'll find that picture), but lots of other canvases snuck in because I hated working the tree on her stocking. Among the pieces that got attention lately are:
An ornament for me to commemorate ConFrancisco (the first WorldCon I attended -- I've decided I need to stitch an ornament for all my major cons):
I totally fell in love with this piece at TNNA last year. Hopefully I can do justice to it--
The roof is Thread Gatherer wool and the house outines and walls are Belle Soie.
I started this little bookmark because it was going to be "so fast." Yeah Right. Little miss color princess came out and I'm stalled on the cone.
My Zuni bear has a butt-
I still have no idea how I'm going to have him finished.
I simply had to start this guy--
I even made some progress on my shawl dancer
It's gotten way nicer to work on since I quit with the Kreinik and moved on to Neon Rays Plus and Highlights.
And this little ornament which just makes me giggle. It won't make it for this year's tree, but....
Just for the record, though I haven't xsed in forever there is some progress on my Beatrix Potter sampler since I last showed you --
And I even got a dozen stitches in on Lanarte's Arabian Woman:
Yeah, I know, you can really see it coming together. lol
One last thought before I go -- Happy belated Thanksgiving!
In the spirit of the season, I am thankful for:
Cons, even without cool book panels.
Having a job even though I hate most days.
My friends -- virtual and otherwise.
My family who doesn't read my blog as a rule, and that might be a very good thing.
