Our weekend started officially last night, when we both quit teleworking (it poured during both ends of James' commute) and went to Publix to pick up the groceries. (I just gave up and got milk there, too.) Then we drove across the road to Sprouts and I ran in for pork chops and beef bits. On the way home we got our phone call from H.H. Gregg saying they would be there to install the new range and take the old one away between 9:15 and 12:15. Perfect!

Crawled out of bed this morning very reluctantly, but a good thing as they were at our house by 9:30 and were gone before 10:30. It was very crumby under the old range after eleven years, but I swept it all out and then had to scrub the floor underneath on my knees and wipe it off before they put the new stove in. We thought we didn't get a manual and were looking on line for one, but there it was in the storage drawer. However, we didn't get the griddle that was supposed to go with it, just the wok ring. We figured out enough to set the clock. 😊

So here we have a new stove and no time to test it. I wanted to run to Wally World and buy some new slip-on shoes to walk the dog. James came in with me and they had no carts, so he had to limp slowly to the back. But I found shoes my size! Last time I had to get a men's 7, but I found a boy's 5. I also got new Dearfoams scuffs—they cost more than the canvas shoes!

We came home and put the backpacks together and supplied the critters with food and I gave Tucker as long as a walk as I could (it was raining), and then we loaded up the chair and went by Kaiser. James didn't take the chair in because it was raining and had to stand in line about 15 minutes. He was really in pain by the time he got out.

Of course now it's three o'clock on a Friday. Friday rush hour in Atlanta, as the joke goes, starts on Thursday. It was almost an hour to get to the hotel through the freeway, so we followed the GPS on the phone through surface streets. We went through streets near Chastain Park I didn't know existed. However, it at least didn't take an hour!

We arrived at the hotel just in time for registration and to meet Clay and Maggi. Then we had a relatively cheap bite to eat at the hotel, which in this hotel's parlance is $18. (That's for a cup of soup for me and a grilled chicken sandwich with French fries for James.) Then James and I went on to opening ceremonies, with all the guests lined up one row ahead of us. Camille Couduri looks just like she did when she played Jackie Tyler! Plus Alan muffed it at least three times still referring to the convention as "Timegate." 😀

Wandered around chatting to people: Mike Faber, Dawn, Mark Heffernan, Kim and Mike, and finally saw Louis Robinson, whose Facebook posts stopped back in November. I hadn't heard word one about him after that and hoped nothing was wrong. Nothing was. He just got tired of the sturm und drang. I've found it infinitely better since I blocked political posts.

My first panel was about women writers and women in books: is it better for women in books to be portrayed by women writers? Basically the answer was no, a good writer is a good writer, and a man who is a good writer can portray positive women. Also talked about what kind of women they want to see portrayed: Kelley said her ideal was a woman who was competent, humorous, and courageous. They shouldn't be empty vessels waiting to be filled by a man. Lee Martindale said she just strives to write good characters of whatever sex.

Then it was up to the "anti-Dalek room" as James calls it (to get up to it you have to climb stairs) for a review of the new season of Doctor Who so far. I think the consensus was the same as mine: what chemistry between #12 and Bill! They work so well together! And she won't fall in love with him! And she's filled with wonder and not teaching part time or a miracle girl, a proper companion. Why, why, why must Peter Capaldi be leaving now? 😭

The final panel was "British vs. American Television." Louis said he would speak for both because we really only see "the cream of the crop" and there's as bad British stuff as there is American stuff. So the panels basically tried to point out the differences between the styles; long leisurely scenes and different filming methods, character-drive scripts vs. plot-driven scripts; the Brits having panel shows like Q.I.; oh, and wasn't it fun trying to figure out those accents. Of course we had to mention Taggart, where the Scottish accents were as high as an elephant's eye and we so wished for closed captioning!

And then it was time to scoot for home, all traffic being clear and the Braves' game still going on so we had no trouble getting home, and that was the beginning and the ending of the first day.

Labels: conventions, friends, purchases, shopping

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:58:00 PM

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