Tales of the Tape(s)
It seems as though the universe is conspiring to raise my blood pressure enough to make me sick before I can make it to CGE this weekend. Let’s see…
- The baby room – still not finished. Probably won’t be by the time I go, though I had set that as a goal for myself to get done before I leave.
- Right foot – still killing me. Now my heel is causing me an incredible amount of pain, which makes a certain amount of sense because I’ve been keeping the weight off my toes, but what doesn’t make sense is this amount of pain suddenly hitting me overnight – literally. I went to bed and the heel felt fine. I woke up this morning and I could barely walk. I have serious concerns about getting around like this in Vegas.
- Tapes for CGE. I won two eBay auctions for 10 tapes each on July 8th & 9th from the same seller. Paid promptly by Paypal on the 12th. They hadn’t gotten here by Monday of this week, and I have to leave for CGE on Friday morning, so I started raising hell – first by e-mail, then by messages through eBay, with no response. Finally I filed a Paypal dispute requesting a refend and suddenly the guy starts talking (amazing, innit?). I requested a refund specifically because it’ll take me more than $54 to purchase 20 blank miniDV tapes at retail locally by Friday morning. And so naturally, the guy shipped by USPS, today, and sent a tracking number, at last. Guess what, jack? They’re still not going to get here in time. Avoid “daytrading1” on eBay at all costs. By contrast, a step-up ring I ordered on Monday of this week is already here.
- The “honey do” list. I know I’ve got a lot of stuff to do, but there’s this sudden bum rush of things to do right before I go, and there’s a not-so-little voice in the back of my head that’s just screaming BACK OFF.
I guess I’m getting just a little bit cranky. I know I have lots of stuff I need to accomplish, and as I used to tell a certain TV station owner back in the days when he used to call me up at the station and go on endless tirades about changing luma and chroma settings on the time base corrector, “Bill, I can either do something about it, or I can talk to you about it. Pick one.” (That right there happens to be the kind of quality people skills that keep you in broadcasting for 17 years; if you get even crankier than that, you can escape sooner! 😆 )
By the way, I got pictures this morning of the litter of kittens that our little grey house guest had a while back, and they’re just adorable. I want them all, snuggled up on my pillow, stat. Lucky for them, my niece has already fallen in love with two of them, and I may have found a home for another one or two of them. They’re adorable. I’ll try to post the pictures here before I go to Vegas.
I’m looking forward to the Expo in a big way – this is kind of like my last hurrah with the gang, with Rob, Brian, Paul, Charles and, geez, just about everyone else going. Mat’s bringing me a Face of Boe (everybody should have one!), and I secretly hope he catches video of the TSA screeners puzzling over that one once he’s in the country. 😆 Many years ago, coming back from Promax ’98 in Toronto, I learned that declaring a squeeze toy to customs is a one-way ticket to getting oneself questioned for at least 30 seconds (and keep in mind, this was pre-9/11), so I’m going to enjoy this far too much. It’s a disembodied head from the distant future, and it’s got a recommended retail price of about 15 quid, more or less. (And the great thing is, technically, I already have cats hanging around to tend to it, no additional action figures required. Or maybe not so much tend to it as bat at the little dangly bits.) I’m going to set him up on a shelf in the game room where he can sit and have a conversation with the Ambassador Kosh figure all day.
Hopefully everybody dug the video feature and gobs of pictures I took for this week’s toy review. I’ll admit, I couldn’t help but mess with everyone’s minds by putting the old ’80s TARDIS console off in the background in some shots. And Homsar. (Actually, for anyone who’s been reading the toy reviews since the beginning of this year, Homsar’s gotten to be something of a recurring in-joke. Admit it, he just looks cool riding shotgun in a twin-pod cloud car.)
I’ll try to do some blogging from the Expo this weekend, though it may be pretty brief; I did a “test run” of everything this past weekend when I set up cameras for the baby shower, and it all worked just fine, so we’re set. Even though it’s going to be a working vacation…I’m still more than ready for it to begin, provided my head hasn’t exploded before I can pack my suitcase and make my escape.… Read more
