As some folks know a fellow known by some as "Furp" was killed in an traffic accident. LJ:hakeber has the news reports of the accident. The rather well known LJ:unclekage has a short post that's gotten many responses. LJ:Smashwolf seems to to be planning a memorial motorcycle ride and there is now an LJ community ( http://community.livejournal.com/remember_furp/ ) for folks to post their stories and such. LJ:film2edit has a few posts about all this, and she knew Furp far better than I did.

I didn't know him and really only barely met him, I think. I do recall him from my first time at RCFM. He was the guy who drove another guy (who happened to be a Guest of Honor that year) from Wisconsin to Alabama - and back again after the con was over. The Sunday evening after the convention was over there was a bit of an after party planned. I made arrangements to be there but left for some time to repair a fursuit fan setup for LJ:jugularjaguar. I screwed up and had to re-do some of my work, taking considerable time, and so I didn't realize until I got back to the after-party that there was a severe weather warning and there had been tornado reports at a rather late hour. I mention this as the morning after was bright and clear - but I saw Furp and his passenger also leaving as early as I was. Furp made a point of suggesting I keep a radio on for reports of severe weather and road conditions that might have resulted from the night before. It wasn't a paranoid warning, just a friendly comment. From what I've been seeing around LJ, that was nothing unusual for him. He was just friendly and tended to be helpful when he could be.

Current Mood: down

It's been, well, too long. But the ACME Delivery photo gallery for RCFM 2008 ("Deep Six") is finally in place. The parcel pile didn't have everything in it, and one item didn't get delivered as planned, so the original name has been masked out. That one might yet happen someday.

Even before things really began - or maybe after the initial burst, I'm not sure any more - Kiran got the ale while Sarah took care of the ops survival kit (a bit I think I'll be phasing out for cons that have had it a couple times already). Sometime I heard that Registration ought to have a sign that read "Regs Open? NO, not yet." Well, get one.

There was a delivery at opening ceremonies. This was talked about for some time before RCFM and scripted.. to the point that the delivered object was assumed, but how it got there had been forgotten. It was a noose that fit in with the Deep Six theme and the supposed mutiny that had started at closing ceremonies in 2007. Naturally, it was not used. I don't know what became of the rope. I know it's just a knot, but there is something vaguely eerie about tying a noose like that.

PITA and KO got some candy. Actually, PITA, she with the "Unicorns are real... damnit!" icon, also got something with a unicorn on it. And KO... well, RCFM has been around going on seven years now. A few years ago another convention started up in the Rockies and called itself Rocky Mountain FurCon. RMFC. And not only did the name wind up having the initials as Rocket City FurMeet only in a different order, they wound up on the same weekend which made confusion even more likely. Someone suggest KO get "RCFM Scrabble tiles so he can arrange the letters." He did get them and you can see his preferred arrangement of those letters. Someones else, I think, suggested "any DVD" for the DVD collecting Gabriel. Why settle for just one when you can have a couple?

I don't recall what exactly was going on in this photo but somehow it amuses me. I suspect it just caught Setsu at an odd instant is all. The Wheel of Blame chose Jayrith as the karmic lightning rod for the duration of the convention. To ease his burden he got a delivery of a full treasure chest. If it was just chocolate, well, I guess he was to blame, huh?

The next delivery was a bit more complicated that it appears. A friend of Kaiya Softpaw suggested an item or items for her that many conventions ban outright. Curiously, RCFM does not or at least did not when I checked through the convention rules. I asked a staffer or two about it and it was strongly recommended against. Since this is ACME, I tried to twist the definition and make a rather literal version of the suggested item. After several tries, I gave up and tried to contact the person who suggested it and see if there was a substitute. I really wanted to have Orvan delivery something to Kaiya as her fursuit was paired up against Orvan in a fursuit "contest" and didn't want to seem as if I were avoiding that delivery for that reason. I did fully expect what actually happened there: Kaiya walked away with that round. Really, Orvan didn't have a chance. Orvan: partial fursuit, only been to a couple cons, not that terribly outgoing, male. Kaiya: full suit, probably been to more cons or more known to the fandom, energetic, and female. No, that's not sour grapes. Anyway, contact was finally made and a substitute item was suggested. It seemed to work.

Another suggestion was for Brody to get a flyswatter so he could swat those who had been bugging him. That's a silly flower on the side away from the camera. Why? I have no idea. It's ACME, it doesn't always make sense.

The fursuit guest of honor was Lion of the Sun or Lionel. When looking around for something else in a supermarket in the Twin Cities I found cans of Super Lion Energy Drink. I bought some. Later I realized that Lionel was the ideal recipient since his fursuits are augmented for extra senses and such. I did get an extra can for myself. What is the stuff like? It's pretty much a Red Bull knockoff.

Somewhere I saw something about Kia Talon and lollipops. I kept looking for lollipops on the trip to RCFM and not really finding any, though we didn't make that many stops along the way. But rather near or maybe just in Huntsville I found some. I think she liked the delivery.

RCFM tried something new in 2008: A mystery Guest of Honor. The mystery wasn't merely a well-kept secret, it was an unknowable. It could be anyone (other than staff and such) selected by drawing at Opening Ceremonies. Naturally this person ought to have a delivery, yes? But that's a problem because without knowing anything about this person, what to deliver? A mystery parcel, of course! The mystery guest was Sabrina and she got a parcel with some Deep Six themed items, such a dolphin plush and other items. And some not themed at all, but just random con-type items such as candy and caffeine mints.

Smrgol came up with one last delivery item. He'd found some bit of automotive trim from a car the same model and color as Alexander Katz's vehicle. Orvan delivered it. And got quite a reaction. I can only wonder what Alex might be plotting for Smrgol.

Current Mood: finished

Rather than yet another summary of the year, statement of how wonderful or miserable the year was, or resolutions... have a poll not about any of those things!

Poll #2930 Rocket to E4
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Rocket City FurMeet (RCFM)?

Chess?

Should there be a human-sized chessboard with live pieces at RCFM?

Would you be interested in taking part in a live-action chess game?

Current Mood: curious

I'm getting a bit of a head start on things for ACME at RCFM.

I'm looking for suggestions of what ACME should deliver at RCFM 7 (2009), and who things should be delivered to.

( Advise ACME  )

NOTE: Friends replies are NOT screened and will be visible.

Current Mood: curious

Monday
Monday morning was generally uneventful. Jay had packed up almost all of his stuff the night before and I packed up my stuff in the morning. Most things were loaded, breakfast was had (or was it the other way around?), the last few items were loaded and we checked out. As we came around to do handle the checkout, we saw someone just waiting at the curb with a bunch of stuff on a luggage cart. I wonder how many were waiting to actually use it.

An hour or two out I got a phone call. Or perhaps I should say that ACME Delivery got a call. It was from a number I didn't recognize and it was an Atlanta area number. Someone wanted ACME to deliver something. I didn't quite catch who it was, I do recall they mentioned a room number (I think it was 1331 but I'm not sure) nor was what was to be delivered or the recipient mentioned. I explained that I was already well on my way home and so would be unable to deal with that.

The weather forecast for the trip home was for generally lousy weather all the way. There was rain, and someplace in Tennessee or Kentucky I saw some odd clouds that got my attention. As I watched I saw the lower parts going in circles. Uh oh. It was east of us and heading east and we were heading north. Also, it was still slow rotation and not just too big. A while later either it was too far away or had come to nothing. There were no reports of tornadoes in the area on Monday so probably it just dissipated. Fine with me.

We retraced our route and took the IL-4 and I-155 route again, stopping for the night in Peoria. Supper was at a Cheddar's that we'd been to a few years ago with foolscap001 and irpooh when we visited the Jubilee Renaissance Faire.

Tuesday
We stopped for lunch in Cedar Rapids, someplace on Collins Road. It's still odd to see the guy wires from the local TV channel 2 go over the road. Lunch wasn't bad, but it was jarring to enter a place that allowed smoking and didn't have any real separation of smoking and nonsmoking. It was one big room with the ashtrays restricted to one area. As it has been put, this is about as effective as having a peeing and no-peeing section in a pool. I think that the next time I go into someplace and even smell tobacco smoke, I'll turn right around go back out, and elsewhere.

Outside the restaurant one of the newspapers had huge headline about what was obviously a tornado, listing the number of dead, number of home destroyed, number of businesses destroyed, width and length of the swath of destruction. And not saying where or when it all happened, at least that could be seen by looking at the paper through the window in the newspaper box. That was, of course, about Parkersburg, IA and the tornado that hit it on Sunday. A bit up I-380 we saw some trailers damaged at a dealer, obviously the effect of significant wind. But that was about all we saw of the effects of the earlier severe weather.

The rest of the day was uneventful, arriving home a bit before supper time and getting the car unloaded. We decided we weren't going to go out for anything and unpacked a bit and caught up on things some.

I'm sure I left out a bunch of stuff. Some of it will show up after I've dealt with the photos from RCFM. Unfortunately it seems a bunch didn't turn out. A lot are rather washed out and look overexposed, something that I hadn't had to deal with much in the digital age. I guess I get to see just how much GIMP can compensate for that.

Current Mood: calm

( Wrapping it up. )

Current Mood: cheerful

( Things continue... into an odd lull. )

Current Mood: calm

( Things get started. )

Current Mood: cheerful

Wednesday
I was up fairly early and jmaynard and I got the car loaded and were underway at a reasonable enough time. We'd decided we didn't need to make Kentucky or Tennessee and some place in southern Illinois would do for a stopping point. We picked a route that included I-155 so it wasn't as far east as one I had taken a few times, but with the use of IL-4 also managed to avoid St. Louis - saving time, distance, and frustration. This route worked out rather well and we stayed in Mt. Vernon.

Thursday
This was a bit more leisurely getting started as we were past the halfway point and not concerned about being late for anything. If anything, we wanted to not be too early so we wouldn't be waiting around to check in. The timing worked out about right, with the only difficulty being waiting for a luggage cart. This didn't take just too long, and those using the carts seemed to be reasonable about it: use it, release it.

I was pondering having Orvan show up some but there weren't that many folks around, and we hadn't had supper yet. Jay was asked if he could haul some of the cans and bottles from Brody's to the con and agreed. We wound up waiting for that to happen, and then there was the first negative experience. Jay stopped by the main entrance to the hotel and things had been half unloaded and then... nothing. Just waiting and waiting and no word about anything. Evidently it had been decided to have everyone (else?) unload at a different entrance and nobody bothered to either finish Jay's unloading or tell him to change locations. I wound up trying to sort through some of the confusion and snag a cart and finish that unloading - meanwhile many were wondering where all the Coke was, since Jay had most of it. When that was finally taken care of, we went to eat and got into Firehouse Subs just as they were closing, so we had our order to go. And by the time that was done, I was not about to get into suit, though I did stay up and wander about for a while.

Current Mood: calm

Yep, jmaynard and I have returned from RCFM. Now to recover from the trip there, all the goings on of RCFM itself, and the trip home. The car is unloaded. Some things are even unpacked. The rest will likely be a little while. Once all that is done, or even before, preparation for the upcoming Siouxland Renaissance Festival will start.

Current Mood: tired

We (jmaynard and I) got started fairly early. We managed to be on the road around 7:30 AM and reached Mount Vernon, IL a little after 6 PM. It was less than 12 hours on the road, but still a long day. I suspect neither of use stayed properly hydrated, though I think I did manage to drink a bit more water than on the Penguicon trip. I still drank two glasses of water at Cracker Barrel before the food arrived.

Tomorrow's segment of the trip will be a bit shorter in mileage and not have the majority in IL, which is a 65 MPH speed limit state - unlike almost every other state in I've traveled. So getting to Huntsville should go fairly quickly and we can start out a bit later if we like. And maybe I'll manage to drink more water and not feel a bit off upon arrival.

And now the rant: Can we just nuke the snapsh*t idiots already? Please? A small one should do.[1]

I'm using the Mac Powerbook, and I'm not sure if I can edit the hosts file and have it take, which while admittedly something of a dirty solution it's the only solution that actually works every time, forever for getting rid of the craptastic snapsh*t barf when I view some folks journals.

[1] Rant applies to LJ, not IJ. IJ is clearly the sane one here.

NOTE TO SELF: See this and this.

Current Mood: Not as calm as I'd like to be.

I have all the ACME parcels as done as they're going to get without being in Huntsville. The one really troublesome item turned out to have a wonderfully simple substitute, which will be revealed after RCFM.

I think I mainly just have some packing to do and then loading the car. Hopefully jmaynard and I can start off early Wednesday morning. I expect we'll be staying overnight someplace in mid/southern Illinois and making to Huntsville in the afternoon of Thursday. As I recall, we can't check in until 3:00 PM anyway, so there's no point in getting there any earlier.

Tomorrow is either going to go by very fast or very slow, I suspect.

Current Mood: cheerful

Or maybe, ACME Delivery: Lessons from Penguicon.

I'm not sure that the ACME ale went as well as it could have. It's not that what happened was bad, as I know some folks drank it, as evidenced by the odd empty bottle I saw in the con suite. It's just that... well, it seemed to not quite hit as well is could have. I recall that at MFF I was rather busy and didn't do a proper Orvan delivery but just took some to the gopher area. I think that if I do anything with it again, I might just check out room parties and pick one. I was tempted to write "most deserving" but that's hard to say, and "most in need" doesn't sound very nice. Right now I'm debating if I'll do that bit at all at RCFM - though if I read one comment right, someone might be disappointed if ACME IPA doesn't show up. I don't have any recipient in mind, and I don't recall any room parties last year. But then last year Jay & I went for the "Booster" level and I spent a fair amount of time at the Booster (and GoH) Appreciation Party. Therefore I wasn't checking out any of the rest of the con in that time. As far as I can tell, RCFM doesn't coordinate and try to block together room parties, but I could be wrong.

Orvan needs some sort of ribbon dispenser. It's just too awkward to deal with ribbons in a pocket with those hooves. Though now that I have the gold-on-black "ACME Customer" ribbons, they can be included with the delivered items or be attached to the parcels next Penguicon. Also, I should only need the black-on-yellow ACME ribbons next time, so they should be right. Or so I thought, I have reason to add another ribbon, which could also cause confusion. I should probably order a lot more than I did this year. This year I was really trying to get rid those defective things. I'm not sure how such a dispenser would work, but I have a while to think of something.

I'm debating if Orvan should have a holstered pocket knife or such. Many folks don't have a knife handy and have to ask to borrow from someone in the vicinity. Such a thing would have to be clearly not a weapon so as to avoid getting peace-bonded and thus have its utility removed. I've also noticed that some folks choose to open a parcel from the bottom. Perhaps I need to split the top label to make it easier to see the top of the box and where to cut.

While the big huge ACME sack works well for big things, it's not so good for smaller items. Rather than (just) a smaller version, perhaps I need to make, or have made, a pouch. That would allow for smaller items and give Orvan a place to stow odd little items for those who ask him if he has anything for them. Though he might need lots of whatever that might be, once word gets out. This sort of thing is another item I get to think about and be on the lookout for.

And... I need to shed a bunch of pounds. Again, dagnabbit. While I fit into the fursuit well enough, Orvan's belt is rather tight and that needs to be fixed. That's just one of many reasons for me to shed that weight, but it's added to the list.

I've seen a few posts from folks who said that for one reason or another they will not or might not be at RCFM. Also, I have only one or two fairly firm ideas for ACME delivery stuff at RCFM. This is sort of surprising, in a bad way. I expected I'd have a few ideas or get a few from various folks. I had a lot of suggestions for Penguicon and was able (with help) to make most of them work and so that went rather well.

I don't expect to do as much as I did at MFF and Penguicon, but having only two or three items bugs me some. Why? It feels like I'm not doing enough. On the good side, if Orvan isn't doing deliveries all the time, he has time to do other things, and so do I. But I'd still like to have a bit more. I figure half a dozen deliveries is a reasonable lower limit, and that's not counting any spur of the moment things that can happen when someone says, "Hey, could I get ACME to deliver this?"

So since I am wondering who will be at RCFM and what more Orvan might do, here's a poll:

Poll #1495
Open to: All, results viewable to: None

RCFM?

At RCFM, ACME should deliver _____________.

It should be delivered to ____________.

Additional comment space:

Current Mood: curious

I've been getting things together for ACME deliveries at Penguicon in April and RCFM is only a month or so after that. That means I need ACME delivery ideas for RCFM. Both who to deliver something to, what to deliver to them. I don't know everyone well enough to work it all out by myself, so I'm asking for some help.

( Delivery guidelines )

In keeping with #5, replies to this post are all screened so only I will see all of them.

Who can be a recipient? Anybody! This isn't just for Guests of Honor and staffers. If it's just someone you know will be there and have an idea for what to send them, that will do nicely. I probably won't use every idea, just so I have some time for myself, but more ideas are better than fewer.

Generic ideas (e.g. "Chew toys for canines.") are certainly useful and I do not want to discourage those. But the main interest is to try to get things specific to a person.

Thank you for any suggestions.

Current Mood: curious

Sunday afternoon at RCFM 2004 jugularjaguar had been about in his fursuit and had of course become rather heated being active while wearing such a thing. When he removed the headpiece in an area with a fridge, I jokingly suggested he, the guy in the suit, stick his head in the freezer to cool off fast. Between us there was a context switch and he thought a moment and then put the fursuit head into the freezer. Surprisingly, it fit. A few minutes later it was rather cool and jugularjaguar was pondering if this would be a way to start off before donning the headpiece. I don't know if he did that later before he wound up in the pool.

( Preserved comment(s) )

Current Mood: amused

At RCFM Sunday night someone I then did not know or not know well wanted in on the dead dog party but was broke. I made a quick arrangement, effectively giving him a very small sum to gain entry. It would not have been a loss worth worrying about. I really expected not to see it again and get not much more than a "thank you" for it.

That was not the correct assumption. It turns out it was haystack who got a little help that night. I also recall jugularjaguar (well, Draconis, anyway) giving him some grief about the arrangement. And after that, I pretty much forgot about it. After all, how many times does one hear about a repayment that never comes?

Haystack did not forget. He asked for my address a while ago. Today I got the result. A short letter with a sketch on it and repayment of more than the sum I lent him. He didn't have to do that. He did it anyway.

While it is extremely unlikely that Jim Groat is reading this, I can answer his question of Thursday afternoon about my being at RCFM: "You drove all the way down from Minnesota for this? Why?!" Why? To be with some of the coolest, most fun, and most honorable people around, that's why.

( Preserved comment(s) )

Current Mood: impressed

Saturday evening at RCFM there was a dance and someone brought many flexible chemical light glow sticks. There were some short sticks that were rather bright and longer ones that were not as bright. Someone handed me a few of the activated longer ones declaring them to be duds. While they were not as bright as the shorter ones and seemed not to be much when in an already lighted area, they did cast enough light to be useful in a dim room.

The next night, they were still glowing. Now I was curious, how long would they last? I brought them home with me and have been checking them from time to time. At first they cast enough light that I could read, though they did have to be close to the page. They have grown dimmer, but are not yet completely dark. They are of very limited use now.

Last night I checked again and I had to let my eyes dark-adapt for a few minutes before I could see the dim glow. At first I had to not quite look at them. Averted vision is a trick for seeing dim things by not looking right at them. The eye is a bit more light sensitive off of center as it were. The center is better for detail.

I don't know how long it will be until the things have gone truly dark, or at least to the point where my eyes are not sensitive enough to detect any light from them. Being an exponential decay, that could be some time yet. Since the light is no longer bright enough to be useful, it doesn't seem to matter much. Even so, not bad for being a month and a half after activation.

( Preserved comment(s) )

Current Mood: relaxed

kinkyturtle's comment on that thing that is Waffle House.

( Preserved comment(s) )

In an earlier post I mentioned that bigger is not always better. In a followup comment Brody asks how an event can grow and still retain what is desirable about smaller gatherings. My answer, that I simply don't know, is admittedly rather lacking. While I'm not sure I buy into the idea that growth is a proper measure of success, he does have a good question and I do not have a good answer.

I know that those who find a problem or have a problem with something are not always those who have or can implement a solution to that problem or even see a solution. So now I'm asking folks reading if they have any answers to Brody's question. Folks, not just myself, have noticed that size can be a problem. Anyone have an answer to Brody's question?

( Preserved comment(s) )

Current Mood: curious