dalesql: (Default)
Another end of october, and another Furpocafright is over and done with, for me at least. I read on social media that there is a leftover booze party going on there tonight.

Ran two parties this year. Friday Pie is no Lie party. Featuring tabletalk mini pies. Bought from the tabletalk factory outlet store in Worcester. When I ordered the pies, I asked for a variety, heavy on the pineapple and peach. What I got was about half pineapple, a quarter peach, and a quarter everything else. Which was a little dissapointing. next year, I think I will select and pack the pies myself. The next morning, I went over the the pricerite supermarket near the hotel and found they were selling mini pies for the same cost I paid in the factory store. So I think if I do pies again, buy way fewer in worcester, and restock from local supermarket for the saturday night party. Bought a total of about 18 dozen. Leftover from both parties was about five or six dozen. Some of which I brought home to bring into work tomorrow, most of which I left in the convention Zoo space.

Used the slushie machine with just plain sugar water in it, and fruit flavorings you added to the cup yourself. The slushie mixes from festaurant depot worked the best, so I'll stick with them mostly. the ice cream toppings also worked, but were a lot messier with serving spoons and so on. Cola syrup as a flavoring was also popular, but less so than the fruit ones. Half gallon of Wildberry, about the same in pineapple, slightly less of the peach, about a quart of cola, a quart and a half of lime juice, half a quart of lemon juice.

Notes for next time: Drip tray and big drip tray for the slushie machine needed. People are sloppy so spills, and there was constant drip of condensation on the outside of the tank. Also, bring a cell phone charging squid for party guests. Irrisistable lure for folks with dead cell phones in this age of social media.
I think I need to be a little more descriptive of what the party will feature on the flyers. Emphasizing the all ages friendly agenda and laid back character of the party. Need to do them well ahead of time, not leave them to the last couple of weeks.

PS. Power went out at home around 2am monday morning. Power not back by monday afternoon, so I fired up the generator and ran extension cords around the house to get the phone and fridge working. Power came back tuesday during the day. It's friday now, and people I know are still in the dark from that storm.

I did prove that the CO alarm in the house works. I had the generator about ten feet from the house, but the exhaust happened to be pointing at a window that was open a crack for the dehumidifier hose. Alarms woke us up, and once I opened a bunch of windows, moved the generator further away and pointed the exhaust away from the house. Alarms shut down after a bit and we went back to sleep.
dalesql: (Dale badge)
Six months ago, about this time of day, I was being allowed back into my house to pick up some clothes and our valuables after the fire. Mom and I are still living in a hotel, Dad is in a different nursing home, and the insurance company is still stalling. *insert rant about insurance company abuse of claimants*

I got the CPAP machine for my sleep apnea earlier this week. Slowly getting used to going to sleep with a mask strapped over my mouth and a tube over to the machine. Waking up early in the morning and pulling the mask off for some normal sleep before I wake up. I suppose I'll get used to it. I'm going to have to. But it's a work in progress.

Work is in the process of moving to the new building. We've been packing up stuff and sorting and tossing away stuff for the past couple of weeks. But we are now four weeks out from having to be fully moved over to the new building and more or less operational. and to add more joy to my life, I got told this week that I have to be totally packed up and ready to be moved out a week before everyone else, because I'm being tasked to work for another department the whole week of the move. Meanwhile, everyone is finding old broken stuff as they pack up and bringing it back to me to be repaired. Our regular customers are still having shows and preps and so on, we don't have the luxury of just telling them all that we are going to be closed for a week while moving.

I've asked for the friday before halloween for vacation so I can go to Furpocalypse, but they said they won't approve it until we are fully moved to the new building. so my plans for the con are all jumbled up due to that. *sighs* More stress and frustration.

I hope that the rest of the year is better.
dalesql: (Nom.)
Back home safely, ahead of stormageddon.  (Hurricane Sandi)  Just some light rain for the drive up and at home now.    Work called to let me know that we are gonna be closed monday, so I have a stay at home day monday to relax.   Hopefully we won't lose power to the storm.  I have a generator, so that should guarantee that the power will stay on.  Failing that, got plenty of candles,. lamp oil, and butane for the portable stove, so even if the power does go out, will be just inconvenienced for a while.  Crossing my fingers. 

  FurFright was fun.  Glad I went.  There were, as usual, a few disappointments at the con, but there were good times as well.   Stayed at the Courtyard hotel down the street.  Far superior to the Super8 I was in last year.   As it happened, my room was next to a function room that was being setup for a Saturday morning breakfast meeting, so my wake-up call was the clatter of dishes and silverware being laid out at TFE in the morning.  Slight annoyance that the room I got had a bathtub with handrails, not the roll in shower that I had requested.  But the house was full, so switching rooms was not an option.  

   The Blackjack tournament was a success.   there were the usual oopses and overlooked things, but nothing major.   The con paid for a couple of nice glasses and steins to be etched with artwork for the first and second place winners of the blackjack and poker tournaments.  There was no vore party this year.  Nobody with a room in the main hotel was willing to host one.   the snacks I brought for the vore party were mostly given away to random fans in the zoo space saturday evening.  F  I will once again make an attempt to get a room in the main hotel so I can host the party next year.   Also seriously considering arriving thursday of the con.  Seemed like lots of people did, and will make fridays for me a whole lot less hectic.  Maybe host a smaller party on thursday evening.   Got some nice prints in the dealers room.  I bid on some original art in the charity auction, but it was beat out in the voice auction.   Saw the artwork that tabbiewolf is doing for me in a sketchbook.  A whole sketchbook of art for me by her.  I'm super pleased about that.  Looking forward to getting the completed project next year sometime. 
dalesql: (Nom.)
This past weekend was FurFright. (www.furfright.org) Overall it was not that great a weekend for me, but that was not the fault of the convention. Monday before the con was columbus day holiday, so work was closed, and I was taking a vacation day friday so I could be at the con on friday. And I had a full weeks worth of work to acomplish tuesday through thursday. So I was working 9 hour days those three days, and nearly had to come in friday morning for a couple hours to finish things. So I started the weekend pre-exhausted.

Picked up Mykul at Riverside MBTA station as planned, and we drove down to scenic Cromwell, CT. Checked into the super8, and as warned, I got a smoking room. Hotel didn't have an ionizer either, and the tiny ionizer I'd brought with me was unable to cope with the stench. So I had to take lots extra antihistamine to cope with that, further screwing with my body over the weekend. Saturday night, I woke up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, and saw big bugs crawling on the walls of the hotel room. Bugs creep the heck out of me, so this was profoundly distrubing. I almost got dressed to go sleep in my car the rest of the night, but realized that since sunrise was only two hours away at the time, was not worth it. I really didn't get any more sleep that night. Checking out, I got some plastic bags to bag up my luggage and everything else I was taking out of the hotel room, and when I got home, flooded all of the above with stuff that was toxic to bugs. Unfortunately, when I was checking my luggage today to dump everything into the wash, I couldn't find my dealers room purchases. I fear I left them in the hotel room. If I did, I don't want them now.

Got to the game room at the con Friday, met up with DaveC and Littlewolf and we dealt blackjack for the blackjack tournament friday evening. There was about 20 entrants, and folks seemed to have fun. Unfortunately, the tables were a little to low for me to deal comfortably, and I ended up with a sore back by the end of the evening. Saturday morning, the sore back was rather a torment, and I spent time looking for naprosyn at the local drug store. My back remained very sore for the remainder of the weekend, further cutting into my enjoyment of the weekend.

Saturday I did the con. toured the dealers room and spent money there. less than I had budgeted, as not much really appealed to me. The fursuit parade in the afternoon was the usual assortment of greats, near greats, and also-rans. Saturday evening, I split my time between observing the poker tournament and visiting room parties. Room parties were less than stellar. All of them had one or more of the things I regard as party killers. (specifically, video games, loud music, and/or excess alcohol consumption)

There were also things that the folks running the con were doing that I regarded as a waste of resources and or annoyances. In no particular order they were: Not preprinting the badges for pre-reg. So the pre-reg line was for me about 45 minutes, but the at the door line was only about ten minutes at the same time. Making all attendees sign a 'code of conduct'. Which is a complete waste of member's time and a waste of paper. The convention doesn't need the signature of a member on some code of conduct agreement to yank their convention membership for valid reasons. The overly obtrusive presence of the Dorsai Irregulars doing convention security. Yes, they are effective, but it is my belief that their style of active management of convention activities and members produces more people who are looking for ways to violate the spirit of the rules of the convention while complying with the letter of the rules. ( see: malicious compliance) The convention has a large percentage of underage members, and they were identifying members badges who were underage, as well as requiring parental permission slips for them to attend. There were no adults-only art show or dealers room, or any other adults-only convention events that I knew of. So I don't understand why the convention was going to all that effort for the underage folks.

I did finally get to meet Tabbiewolf, who was as nice in person as I hoped. Beerhorse was not there, so the microbrew beers that I had brought for her to enjoy were left ungiftable. So I traded them to Tabbiewolf for artwork to be drawn for me at a later date. She also drew my up a nice badge with I need to get a photo of to post to my furaffinity account.

Overall, kind of a crappy weekend for me, but most of the bad stuff was nothing the convention had anything to do with. I'm planning to go back next year. This time I am gonna get a room in the main hotel though. I'm considering running a room party saturday evening, one that doesn't have loud music, video games, or alcohol. Just folks socializing and having fun. Since there is already a vore party and a cake party. I'm thinking maybe a theme of "Nom, Nom, Nom, COOKIES!", what do you think?

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