Seriously. Here it is nearly October and it's still over 90 bloody degrees during the day. No rain for days, just some rumblings of thunder on Friday night that came to naught. Just relentless sun over trees that are looking more limp and tired by the day, some of them desperately trying to change color, some of them just giving up. The two oaks out front of our neighborhood have just thrown up their branches in dismay, turned their leaves brown, and shed them posthaste. The scuppernong vines bore fruit, then wilted, leaving mashed grapes thickening to fruit leather on the concrete sidewalks of the main street.

Misery. Sheer misery. We took the opportunity to sleep late on Thursday, James exhausted by three days in the office and the relentless new lights overhead (he calls them "the Nazi interrogation lights"), so ended up at Costco near noon to find out just how many people of all ages are out of work on a Tuesday afternoon. Not just retirees and stay-at-home parents, apparently. We were there to buy additional things that would go off sale on the 29th: more flonase, BreatheRight strips, and Swiffer wet cloths. Better to buy them now when they're cheaper. Also bought Skinny Pop on sale. Came home by way of Publix to pick up twofers.

And that was it. By then it was airless and broiling. We just went home.

Friday we headed out for lunch early. I had done a dumb thing: ordered a book I already had from Barnes & Noble when I had fully intended to order a different one. So I brought the book I was delivered on Thursday and exchanged it (with a 35 cent upcharge) for the one I wanted. James got a "Wargamer" magazine, and then we headed back (we had gone out to Perimeter Mall because James prefers their magazine selection) to Austell, arriving at Hibachi Grill only a few minutes late. Ken wasn't feeling well, but Alice had come, and Mel and Phyllis. Phyllis was already done reading Becoming Superman and passed it off to Alice. We were trading pet stories today, and parental discipline tales.

Normally we would have gone somewhere else after lunch. You guessed it. Too hot.

Saturday all we did was go to Walmart. James needed suspenders and diabetic socks. (His favorite socks were very low in supply; we only found two pair. Nosing around online later I couldn't find them, either. Damn.) Also got some formerly Grade B maple syrup (now classified as Grade A Dark Amber Robust Flavor—could they get any wordier?) and low sodium soy sauce (Walmart brand is lower sodium than Kikkoman), sugarless candy and wild bird seed. I really can't afford to feed them, but I miss seeing my little flock.

Came home by way of Lidl for bread, milk, ground turkey, and chocolate. Found chicken thighs for 79¢/pound. Sunday dinner taken care of [Later: I made cacciatore and there was so much left over we have two more meals]!

We came home, and James was feeling ill for the rest of the afternoon. Not that I was feeling much better. It's not like this is a new thing. I've never liked summer, even when I was a child. The sun gives me headaches, the heat gives me rashes, and if I'm overly hot for too long I get the runs. And after I turned sixteen it was no fun any longer because I had to go to work. I hoped it would get better as I aged; instead I've gotten worse. The heat saps me, saps us so much. Sometimes its scary.

I just wish it would cool off. I know I'm flaky about summer, and I'm used to it. But I worry about James.

Labels: autumn, books, food, magazines, seasons, shopping, summer, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:21:00 PM

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Very puzzled last night; Dr. Salazar was supposed to call me after five as a followup to the medication he'd given me. He never called, although I did find out later I'd gotten a phone call about 2:35 from Kaiser. But if it was him, why didn't he leave a message? [Turned out he was called in to the hospital and tried to phone me early.]

Anyway, because of the medication Dr. Salazar was trying him out on, James was scheduled to go get his eyes checked out today to establish a baseline, as the medication can cause eye problems. The appointment wasn't till 3:20 p.m. and was at Cumberland right near us, so we didn't have to leave until 2:30. So we slept late instead of going to the grocery store, and just for the heck of it James logged on to Kaiser—and discovered we were supposed to see a technician before the appointment, at 2:30. It was 1:45.

You have never seen two people get dressed so fast! We got to the office right at 2:30, and they took us in immediately. It was mostly an eye test like you get for glasses, and they dilated his eyes and tested for glaucoma, too. Actually his eyes are in good shape considering he is diabetic; he has the beginnings of a cataract in one eye is all.

We toyed with going to Barnes & Noble, but even with sleeping late we were both tired out and James still had a sore throat, we figured from the flu shot he got on Friday. So it was home, and pot lucks for supper, and more Babylon 5. I walked Tucker in coolness that was almost too cool in a tank top and shorts. Alas, the low 60s at night and highs in the mid-80s are only a brief respite, and it will crawl back up to 90 by next week.

Since we skipped it Thursday, Friday we had to do the grocery shopping thing: first to Publix for the twofers and lunch meats, then to Lidl. I spent a lot more at Lidl than usual along with getting bread, milk, and more chocolate: they had several things on sale this week that we wanted. One was a shower seat. We don't need it now, but I have always wanted one for our bathroom to straddle over the side of the useless garden tub that we've never used, since sitting on the edge of the narrow tub is very uncomfortable. These shower seats are usually very expensive at the medical supply stores. This one was only $20. They also had one of those bicycle gadgets for only $30, you know, the ones on TV where you sit and read or watch TV and pedal. The ones on TV are $200 (mostly because they have bluetooth). This is much simpler, but the principal is the same.

We also filled up the truck in case the fire in Saudi Arabia made the gas stations jack their prices.

Anyway, I mentioned the new medication Dr. Salazar had put James on. This was supposed to be okay for his kidneys, but side effects could cause water retention. Well, boy did it cause water retention. He gained five pounds overnight. But the most troubling problem was that the cellulitis on his left leg, which had been under control since the catheter and post-TURP surgery, was acting up and he had developed a big blister on his lower left leg, which, despite being covered up, had burst. Thursday night before bedtime I had written a note to Dr. Salazar asking about the telephone appointment, telling him the medication he'd given me wasn't doing any better than my taking ibuprofin every night, and also telling him I was concerned about the medication he'd given James. If it had worked on his arthritis it wouldn't have been so bad, but it has not really done anything for his knee, ankle, and hip pain, and his left hand is still so swollen he can't make a fist or wear his wedding ring. He sent me a return e-mail telling me he'd been called to the hospital for an emergency, that if the medication he had prescribed for me wasn't working I should stop taking it and he would try something else, and that James should stop taking his medication immediately.

Anyway, James noticed how angry the blister and surrounding skin was looking Thursday night, and that his leg was getting swollen, and early Friday morning called up Kaiser. He got an appointment with Dr. Julien at 2. She took one look at it, told us to keep up the saline cleaning and the Neosporin and bandaging, and gave him doxycycline for the encroaching infection.

Saturday we had a full day, with morning and early afternoon for Hair Day. They served chili, so I brought a sandwich (proscuitto on a Lidl "dinner roll"...yum!) and enjoyed the sides, especially the olives in Phyllis' relish tray. It was a great time except for hearing the story about Brad Linaweaver's last few weeks (Brad died over DragonCon weekend). He had pancreatic cancer, and Alex was with him most of that time. Brad was such a sharp, sarcastic, and iconoclastic person that it was hard thinking of him ill and frightened and razor-thin.

We had an hour or so breather and then headed to Dallas Highway and the Longhorn, where David Gibson's birthday party was being held. As usual, we were seated at the rear in a long queue of tables lined up. The waitress was excellent, and we had good convo with the Lawsons and the Boulers at our end of the table, but the food was iffy for some people. My baked potato wasn't quite soft enough in the middle, Alice never got her food done properly, and I understood there were some other foul-ups. So when the check came we were astonished that the manager had comped the entire group (about 20 of us!). Our bill was 27 cents (the tax on the meal).

The sun was already set when we emerged and we drove home with a beautiful sky to our right, first yellow and then fading to orange and pink before going to navy blue and then black. Everyone was hurrying home for the Georgia/Notre Dame game, but we chose Babylon 5 instead. 😀

Labels: birthday, food, health, illness, shopping

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:22:00 PM

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We had to get something important out of the way this weekend.

But before that came Thursday. We got the grocery shopping, that inescapable fact of life, out of the way in the morning. They had chicken and wild rice soup on the soup bar at Publix, which we picked up for a quick weekend supper.

Since both James and Ken had doctors' appointments on Friday at lunchtime, we switched lunch to Thursday. The restaurant du jour was Okinawa, which is at the East-West Connector where Borders (::sob!::) used to be. Only six diners today, since Aubrey was working. We talked about the Breakaway Space: 1999 convention this weekend and wished we were there.

Afterwards James and I stopped at Kaiser to pick up the meds he'd reordered, and then we went home, because it was just too damn hot to be outside. It was almost one hundred today. Summer just won't quit, the wretched beast.

We had finally worked through all the Perry Mason episodes available on Amazon Prime and are now starting Babylon 5 from the beginning. Unlike some people, I really enjoy first season and Michael O'Hare as the commander of the station. He was more like a British series lead than an American one, and I was sorry when he left, even though we didn't know why at the time.

Friday morning we had to find out the results of the PET scan, so we drove out to Glenlake for an appointment with Dr. Shash. He reported that a slight abnormality had shown up in the PET scan: it's in the same small vessel in his heart the doctor let be the last two times. The problem is, if Dr. Shash goes in and fixes it with a stent, the vessel is so small he will have to use the highest contrast dye to view it properly. At this point he feels the contrast dye will do more damage to James' kidneys than the abnormality of the vessel will do to his heart. So we've left it at:

If James gets a chest pain, takes a nitroglycerin, and it goes away, leave it (just let the doctor know it happened). (If that keeps happening frequently, there's something they can put him on.)

If he gets a chest pain, and the nitro doesn't help, we skip going to Urgent Care completely and instead go directly to the hospital Kaiser is affiliated with. Then they do the catherization and we start working on getting the kidneys back to normal. Again.

At least we have a plan of action.

Alas, this means James' teleworking days have come to an end unless the chance of rain is high. With the weather reports we are getting, fat chance. So it is back to him losing 45 minutes of sleep and us eating at night (which is, again, terrible for our weight). Sigh.

On the way home we stopped at Trader Joe's. We wanted to see if they had pumpkin fruit bars yet. They did indeed. And pumpkin soup and pumpkin cookies and pumpkin butter and pumpkin...everything. Even pumpkin dog biscuits, which we bought for Tucker. We have to stock up on the fruit bars because they only have the pumpkin ones in October.

For lunch James stopped at Chicken Salad Chick so I could pop out to buy...guess what...some chicken salad for both sandwiches and after-supper snacks for James. I also ran into Sprouts for a "baby boule," their round loaf of country-style bread. Then when we got home we could have some sandwiches for lunch. Supper was the Publix soup, and more Babylon 5.

We actually may have slept a little later than usual on Saturday. Certainly it seemed like no time at all that James packed up the power chair and went off to his club meeting. As hot and sticky as it was outside, I wanted to rack two things off a to-do list that had existed since spring. I had bought a new hose (ours had a crack in it) and a new nozzle (ours was broken) in the spring. Once the pine pollen is done giving everything a yellow scum in April, I usually wash the porch down. But it's been in the 90s since the pine pollen went away and I just didn't want to go outside for any reason except needing bread and books, so the hose and nozzle have been taking up space in the garage. While it was still shady out front I uncoupled the old hose, threw the whole kit and kaboodle in the trash can, installed the new hose and nozzle, and washed off the porch, finally. I'd put up the autumn wreath, basket, and flag on the 12th, and I took everything down to clean thoroughly before putting them back up.

Sigh, apparently I am incapable of hitching up a hose and nozzle without getting wet. Dammit.

Then I cleaned up and went out. If I don't start using my Tin Drum rewards, they will quit sending them to me. And I wanted to stop at the new Five Below.

I didn't have to stop at Barnes & Noble, but I did. Two mysteries in my series are out, but one is discounted on Amazon, the other isn't. I used my B&N discount for that other, and got a new cross-stitch magazine. Next I went to Five Below, which recently moved into half of the old Sports Authority at Akers Mill shopping center. I was sorely disappointed because they do not stock the dark chocolate Hershey's almond bars like the other Five Below stores do. I was able to get the dark chocolate Reese's peanut butter cups, which we have for desserts.

Then I waited on my double protein to-go from Tin Drum. This will give me enough food for two small lunches next week.

It took forever to get home. I didn't linger anywhere, but stuff kept delaying me. It took four people to get the don't-steal-me gadget off the turntable being purchased by the people in front of me at the bookstore, and longer for me to check out at Five Below. By the time I got home I was starving, but I just had a little bit of my Okinawa leftover and a slice of the boule. I had to save the calories for Taste of Smyrna.

James got home in time to cool off a little, and then about five we set out for the festival. It wasn't blazingly hot, but sticky, and I felt like I was walking through molasses. After all that, Taste of Smyrna was a little disappointing. The Thai people did not show up this year, nor did the Cajun place James likes and who always show up at these festivals. We both had our favorite "drunken pork" on cream grits from Atkins Park, two potstickers from the healthy Chinese dipping sauce folks, and pork barbecue from Williamson Brothers (but, heck, we can get that anytime). James also picked up some of Rodney's award-winning soul food as a lunch. I didn't see anything else that floated my boat. The Italian place was only giving out big meals (chicken marsala and pasta, chicken something else and pasta, etc.), I didn't want Mexican, or deep fried anything. Almost went back for a gyro, but decided not to. We had Bruster's ice cream for dessert, then came home, and went back into space.

How does it get to be Sunday so quickly?

Labels: books, chores, festivals, food, friends, health, shopping, television, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:30:00 PM

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So, we've spent the last three days bouncing around from grocery store to grocery store, with some fun stops in between.

But first there was Wednesday, which was James' birthday. After I tossed some clothes in the washer, I was going to sneak into the bedroom, pull a book out of my stash, pair it with a homemade card. Instead I spent the day being sick. At least cooked dinner and did the laundry. In a half-hearted attempt to make the day festive, I put on Solo: A Star Wars Story, which we still hadn't seen. It was fun—whatever chick-lit for guys and adventure fans is called. James was amused by the solution to the Kessel run story; as we got ready for bed that night, he mused, "So I guess all Han needed to make the Kessel run in 12 parsecs was 'Liquid Schwartz'?" ROFL! (If you do not get this, please watch Spaceballs.)

This is the weekend we always attend the Yellow Daisy Festival; we usually go on Sunday because the crowds are low early in the morning. Alas, we didn't have that option this year. So I had an idea: why not go Thursday? A lot of people will be at work, so it should be okay.

This worked better in theory. First, we had to get up at six since we had to go across town through rush hour traffic. I said to James, "We'll get out there, and then we'll stop somewhere like an IHOP for breakfast, then go to the Festival." Well, we left the house at seven, but by eight were barely twelve miles from home because we had had to stop for gasoline, and then we had to stop for money. So while James availed himself of the Presto ATM at Publix, I went inside and bought us two sandwiches for breakfast instead. By the time we got to Stone Mountain, we discovered that the handicapped lot was nearly full. Of course! It was a weekday! Who was here? All the grandmas and grandpas, and all the stay-at-home moms! Even with us getting the Early Bird admission, it was still crowded.

We also missed several of the regular vendors. They were not on the vendors' list at all, so I assume it was not a "we only attend on weekends" problem. 1st Sergeant Salsa, Meadowcroft Farms, and Smack Yo Mama barbecue sauce were nowhere to be seen. Meadowcroft and Mama may turn up at the Jonquil Festival or the Apple Festival, but if James wants the other he will have to mail order, as we've only ever seen them at Yellow Daisy. Also, One Screw Loose jellies was on the vendor list, but we never saw them. I even went back to the space they were assigned to in the vendor's guide, but it was a metalworker's booth there instead.

We did get more maple barbecue sauce, the first of our two yearly Ginny's Fudge purchases, some sugar-free chocolate cheesecake mix, and of course a purchase from the nice folks from Country Pickins. I was delighted to see that this year she has added some Thanksgiving-themed items, a couple of flat plaques with little turkeys, and some other items. Of course I've already done my own Thanksgiving-themed items and didn't need them. I did get a little vignette of Pilgrims and Native Americans, but broke down and bought a Hallowe'en shadowbox and some additional Hallowe'en items for it (I had bought a few some years ago, to put on the fall shelf in late October, but most of the time I kept forgetting to use them).

We were flat wiped out when we finished right before noon. I considered we might stop at Publix on the way home, or maybe have lunch instead of the breakfast I promised James, but we were exhausted from the heat. We basically came straight home and it took us three hours to cool off properly.

Later on we watched Ralph Breaks the Internet, the second of the Wreck-It Ralph films. Very funny satire on the internet along with the story of Ralph and Vanellope's friendship, and they hit every single internet cliché. Seriously. Right until the very end. The scenes with Vanellope encountering the Disney princesses was priceless. Favorite line:  "Look up there! A big strong man who needs rescuing!" Probably won't buy a DVD of Solo, but will this.

Thursday was the chief supermarket day: both of us in Publix, me running into Kroger for mushrooms and Lidl for milk, ground turkey, and chocolate. However, we had a nice break in the middle of the food restocking: lunch at Uncle Maddio's Pizza Joint with the Spiveys, Aubrey, and the Boroses. We mostly talked about DragonCon; Aubrey won a keen backpack!

Thursday night I went rooting around on YouTube and found both the David Tennant panel that I was able to see (I didn't realize I had missed so little of it; just the chair racing) and the one I missed on Friday, plus the Catherine Tate panel I couldn't get into. There were very few duplicate questions on the Tennant panels, and, of course, lots of Good Omens discussions.

Today we had to gird our loins, due to it being a Saturday, and go to Costco, as we were running out of both trash bags and Breathe Right strips, and James needed generic Flonase. This was relatively painless, though, since we found a handicapped parking space right away, and found all of what we were looking for, with the generic Flonase and the Breathe Rights on sale. Also got him some Hippeas and a "Cook's Country" magazine and sliced cheese, and noted that we had to come back before the 29th because the Swiffer mop sheets were also on sale. We can get more generic Flonase and nasal strips then, too. Today we were just getting things we needed.

A break: a visit to Barnes & Noble. The fall "Bella Grace" was out, with a breathtaking cover of a woman in a sunset, and I also picked up "Blue Ridge Country" with an awesome fall scene on the cover, and "Country Sampler's" autumn decorating issue. The newest Flavia deLuce mystery was out in paperback and 20 percent off, so I got that as well.

We'd forgotten onions yesterday, so I popped into Publix for them, and then we drove to Town Center and the Kaiser office there which is always open because it's urgent care, too, so James could pick up his new medication for his arthritis pain. We are wary of this because it can affect his eyesight, so he'll have to make an eye appointment to get a baseline reading of his eyes and he will have to keep tracking it going forward if he stays on the medication.

We had bought a streaming membership for DragonCon so James could see some of the panels he missed, but they only have Monday up still. So I've switched to YouTube and we're watching the parade as the sun sets and we wander into the sticky evening.

Labels: birthday, books, crafts, DragonCon, events, festivals, food, friends, internet, magazines, movies, shopping, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 8:21:00 PM

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So...life: one day you're in a magical place with costumed figures, intellectually stimulating or funny panels, and friends, some whom you only see once a year. And then you're back home scrubbing the toilet and running to Publix for this week's BOGOs before next week's BOGOs take over tomorrow. 😊

So let me tell you my Publix story.

Monday is my designated day for bathroom scrubs and kitchen floor washing. Since yesterday I was at Dragoncon, this was now today's schedule. Got one bathroom done, then looked up and noticed something we used a lot was out. And remembered it was on BOGO at Publix, but only through today. So I tossed on clothes and went.

I have the Publix app open, am halfway through my list when I realized that earlier I emptied my backpack of everything.

Except my wallet. I didn't have my backpack, but am back to my waist pack. Darnn. Now I was going to have to abandon cart, run home...you know the drill.

Then I happened to glance down at the lower right hand corner of the Publix app, next to the "list" button. "Pay"? I can pay on my phone? Yep, all I had to do was pick a PIN number, enter my name, Google entered the rest of the info, and I was in. Whew.

Got to the cash register and told them I was using the app for the first time, so to let me know what to do. All you have to do after they ring up the order is hit "pay" and then scan the QR code at the bottom of the screen totaling up your order.

Except I forgot to hand the cashier the "Just Cross Stitch" with the autumn cover that I was holding so the condensation from the yogurt cups and the package of turkey thighs wouldn't get it wet. So she rang the magazine up and I thought I had to scan again, but it said it had scanned already.

Long story short it took three people to figure out what was going on (she had to push a button on the register to get the receipt to print out). Seemed like it took forever, but it was only a few minutes, and I still felt bad for the poor policeman in line behind me who was getting his lunch and had to wait for the crazy lady with the phone.

This is the second time Publix has saved my butt since June. Thanks, guys!

Labels: food, shopping

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:59:00 PM

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So after looking at all the DragonCon literature online, I could still not find out what time the DragonCon Store opened. I wanted to buy a streaming membership, only sold at the Store this year and not at registration as last year, and see if they had any stuffed baby dragons or T-shirts left for James. Finally poked around the website, which said the Store at the Marriott opened at eight, so I headed downtown early. A call of nature sent me rushing from the garage to the Marriott, and the first ladies' room was closed for cleaning. Took the escalator up to the next floor. Same here!!! Argh! Trotted past the DragonCon Store, which was not open at well after eight (so much for the website; bad webmaster!) and found that the much-discussed gender-neutral bathrooms were thankfully not being cleaned. A guy started to walk in next to me, saw me, started to turn away, and I said cheerfully, "It's gender-neutral! Come on in!"

(These bathrooms are not the usual awful type of American toilet stalls that have wide gaps on either side of the door, so that by careful posing you could be a creepy peeping tom and see people "doing their business," but are individual little stalls with walls between them and good solid wooden doors with louvers for air. I had no problem using them with guys wandering around. I really appreciate the European-style toilet stall, which they have at Lidl, which are quite gap-free, although rather coffin-like. I did hear one objection to them, from a guy using the other gender-neutral bathroom which was originally a men's room; he didn't want women staring at him using the urinal! Dude, women aren't interested in your dangly bits as much as you seem to think they are. However, a screen there would probably be nice.)

So the store wasn't open, so I trudged over to the Sheraton, picked up two memberships for next year, and stopped at the info booth to see what time the Store did open. Ten. Sigh. So I went back to the Marriott and got in line. They opened pretty promptly and during the wait I chatted with people in line. Alas, the cute sleeping baby dragons were sold out, as well as the T-shirts with the dragon looking remarkably like the Batman logo. I got the streaming membership, and picked up a DragonCon magnet for James' truck, then beat feet to the Hilton so I could at least see the rest of the Elementary vs. Sherlock panel.

This was very egalitarian; at most of these I've been to everyone loves Sherlock and if Elementary isn't sneered at, it's at least given short shrift and a shrug (unless Louis Robinson is on the panel, and then you get a run for your money). This panel had a couple of people who loved both series equally and talked about the pros and cons of each, so when it ended and they proposed to take a vote, I said, "Why? They both stand on their own merits." And so we didn't vote—hurrah!

So this is what I did on my final day at DragonCon: spent all of it at BritTrack, in the basement of the Hilton, with my "peeps." Now, I'd thought about going to the final Orville panel, but only J. Lee and Mark Jackson were left, and I would  have had to hike to the Hyatt. Not today. I stayed instead for "Doctor Who: Mind the Gaps," about all the gap years there have been in the series (the one during Colin Baker, the long long gap after the classic series was cancelled and when the new series appeared, etc.). Alan Siler and the two Robs were on this panel, and we chatted about how we survived during the gaps, including during the big one when Virgin Books "New Adventures" and "Missing Adventures" books kept the series alive. Ah, I remember those days, perusing the new ones at the Science Fiction and Mystery Bookstore (otherwise known to old Atlanta fandom as "Mark's store), and at the late and so lamented Oxford Books.

The third panel of the day was a history geek's (me! me!) dream: "Just Another Monarch Monday." They had a slide presentation of English kings and queens by era (Angevin, Plantagenet, Stuart, etc.) and what movies or television series you might find them in (for instance, in the Plantagenet era you would range from Robin Hood films like Prince of Thieves (and Men in Tights) and Robin and Marian, to Braveheart (Edward Longshanks), the Tudors everything from Charles Laughton's Henry VIII to things like Shakespeare in Love, with the Georges you get into everything from the comic prince in Blackadder III to Queen Victoria, and thus to modern day and The Crown. Really informative and fun panel. Didn't know there was a new movie out about Queen Anne's court.

And then finally, inevitably, what's always traditionally been my last DragonCon panel: the wrap-up, "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish." The trackrunners and volunteers are dead tired, they don't want to take things home, so there are snacks for all while everyone talks about what worked and what didn't. Some of the night stuff sounds like a blast, but we simply can't afford to stay at the con hotels (even the overflow hotels) and take a rest before the nightly revelry. (We stayed at the hotel twice for Timegate/WHOlanta so we could participate in the late-night programming, only to wearily climb up to our room both times after the cabaret/masquerade was over and go to sleep instead, and that was over five years ago!) I snacked on ranch Doritos and plain Fritos, brought crunchy Cheetos and a Coke Zero home for James, tried ham and mustard flavored British "crisps," chatted with folks, and simply enjoyed one more hour with friends until it was time for Butch and I to make tracks for home.

So, no visit to the Dealer's Room for me this year at all. Couldn't really afford it, but regret that I didn't get to go to Artist's Alley (also in the same building; liked it better when they were near the art show) and say hi to Andy Runton and see if there was a new "Owly" book or print out. Heck, never even made it to the art show. As my retirement has proved, even with what seems like all the time in the world, you can't do everything.

Maybe next year...

Doctor Who Gap Years panel: Alan Siler, Robert Alsopp, ?

Doctor Who Gap Years panel: Robert Bowen at right

"So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish..." Rob Bowen in the hat, Caro M. Tidwell (Brittrack director) at his left

And as the Marriott Carpet TARDIS prepares to dematerialize...

Labels: books, conventions, Doctor Who, friends, history, shopping, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:57:00 PM

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Alas, James was out of vacation time (it was used up with his MOHS surgery and followup), so I was on my own for DragonCon for the rest of the weekend. I couldn't afford to pay for breakfast and for the parking as well, so I ate at home and left the house at nine, arriving well in time to get a good parking space at the Courtland Garage and make my first panel.

William Shatner always gets a good crowd, but his panels are never full to the brim, so I had a good seat about ten rows down on the end of a row. Shatner's the only one, too, who seems to enjoy early morning panels, and he came out smiling and in a good mood. The mood was explained by his announcement that he had won a championship with his trotting horse in a competition against 20- and 30-year olds after coming in second and third for years; his trainer is also in his 80s, just like him. You have got to hand it to this guy. He may not remember much about the series that made him famous, but he does not stop going. I mean really: Be like Bill!

Someone asked the question I wanted to ask: were there moments from Better Late Than Never that were filmed, but didn't make it to air? He said they did have some moments in the second series where they had to eat the spoiled fish that came out of the can (during Terry Bradshaw's Viking epic). No one told them the can had to be opened under water to dissipate the horrible smell and to keep it from bursting open (probably on purpose, if you've seen Better Late Than Never), so the can did burst open, liberally spraying cast and crew with fermented codfish. One crew member actually vomited. Later, Shatner recalled with glee, he chased Terry Bradshaw around with a piece of cod. He also did some reminiscing about some of his old roles, like "who would have thought a story about a guy scared of a little Polish man in a furry suit" would become a classic? (Twilight Zone episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet") and how his daughters, when they were little and would fly with him, would urge him "Daddy, do the face!" to the flight attendant.

Some of the panel was taken up with promoting his new show The Unexplained. But, as he told the audience earnestly, isn't everything unexplained? What about Dark Matter? Apparently he asked Neil Degrasse Tyson how they knew Dark Matter existed even though they know nothing about it. But if you think about it, he says, how did we become human? How does life really work? It's all pretty amazing—and it's pretty much amazing that even though Shatner is 88 years old, he wants to keep searching for the answers and know more than he knows. He's so earnest about it that it makes me feel ashamed that I am so fearful.

I had a choice of things for the next panel, but I decided to "go where no man" or, rather, no Linda had gone before: to the Cary Elwes panel. I got there just as they were starting to load the main audience and got my end of row seat, quite happy to be sitting and resting. The two-hour stand yesterday has set my back to tormenting me and I had to put my ankle brace on for the remainder of the weekend.

Don't kill me, but I have never been a big fan of The Princess Bride. I like bits of it, and James and/or I sometimes sent each other or someone off with "Have fun storming the castle," but I'm not crazy about the movie like others are. However, I loved Cary Elwes as the snooty Jonas in Twister and of course as a Robin Hood who could speak with an English accent in Robin Hood: Men in Tights. And his panel was great fun. I bought James his book, As You Wish, as a gift, and he'd already told me this story, but it was wonderful to hear Elwes tell the Andre the Giant story from Princess Bride. Short form: they're performing a scene and he noticed Andre looked a bit distressed. A pause, and Andre lets out a ginormous fart. One that lasts about a minute, with strange up and down sound ululations (and, he added, an incredible smell). Finally it ends and Elwes imitates director Rob Reiner: "Andre, are you all right?" And in another uncanny imitation, he tells us Andre's reply, delivered with a big grin: "I am now, boss!" Too funny. His imitations of other actors are so spot-on! He also talked a little about being on Stranger Things, and that we should petition Netflix to preserve "Starcourt Mall."

Then it was up the Courtland Garage elevator again, across the "Luke Skywalk" to Peachtree Center, to take the "habitrail" covered bridge into the Hyatt to see another Orville panel. Chad Coleman had left, so it was left to Peter, Mark, and J. Lee to answer all the questions. Mark Jackson explained a little more about Isaac's mask, which is held together with magnets! It also has an earphone, a little microphone, and fans in it to keep him cool. He does say his lines on the set, but then overdubs them in post-production as Isaac's precise voice otherwise would sound scratchy. All three men talked about their stage experience as well as other jobs they had held, and Peter Macon talked about some of his favorite science-fiction shows when he was a kid, including Space: 1999 and Star Blazers. We also found out that the plot point in the second season opener, when Bortus goes back to Moclan for his yearly urination, was prompted by Peter's observation to Seth McFarlane that if Moclans only pee once a year, then this must obviously be a Big Thing for them. Hence the "peeing" episode was born.

Happily I was in the Hyatt, so all I had to do was walk out the front door and walk the two blocks to the Westin. The Dealer's Room line was incredible. It went two blocks, turned a corner, went three blocks, then went back around another corner and down the hill. Insane! I never did go to the Dealer's Room, which is a good thing as there is no money for it.

I was at the Westin for the Crusade panel (the sequel to Babylon 5 that TNT hated because it didn't have enough half-naked women and wrestling and fistfights; apparently they killed the show by trying to make it what it wasn't). John Hudgens and Van Allen Plexico from the B5 panel and also Peter David, who wrote B5 episodes and books, were the panelists. I had frankly forgotten most of the Crusade episodes, and I appreciated that they talked about their favorites and the ones they thought were good and the ones that were not so good, so then I could recall the plots. I definitely remember the one with the dedication to the cat! When we are done with Perry Mason, should go back and watch Babylon 5 and Crusade again, but those mid-years are so hard to watch, with characters being tortured or dying.

Next it was down the hill (and that was the quickest way to go, straight down Andrew Young) to the Hilton, where the Classic Doctor Who panel was on once again. This had a wonderful gaggle of old friends (Alan Siler, Rob Bowen) plus Rob Allsopp who has worked on the old and the new series, and others on the panel in a big wonderful discussion of "Who" was your first Doctor, best episodes to show to people who have seen the new series, whether the cliffhanger episodes or the "movie versions" were better, what were classic stories, and about the continuing adventures of the classic Doctors in the Big Finish audios. (Plus I sat next to Roger Nichols and was able to inquire about his broken arm, healed, with an impressive scar on his arm.)

Then it was 5:30. I made a brief trip upstairs to see if I could get in to see Catherine Tate (nope, her panel was already full), so walked down to the Sheraton for "Fearless Fans of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. It was just a nice quiet hour of talking about favorite episodes, favorite characters (mine is Dot; I do love Ashleigh Williams!), favorite outfits of Phryne's, etc. We also talked about the new Ms. Fisher's Mod Murder Mysteries, set in the 1960s with Phryne's niece as protagonist, which is running on Acorn, but which I haven't watched. It got good reviews from the audience, and one of the panelists even said she liked it better than the original! Apparently they are working on three Miss Fisher movies, but no idea about release dates or plots.

I had thought to stay and see a spy panel, but I remembered last night that it was dark by the time we started to drive home. I've always had a problem driving at dusk and the stupid cataract in my right eye just makes it worse. Besides, I was missing my running buddy a lot. So I came home as James was on the last hour of work; it had been a very dull day (but not as quiet as he expected) and he was very glad to leave it and have his dinner while I talked about my day. And of course there were doggie greetings and budgie songs to welcome me home.

William Shatner

Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride, Twister, Robin Hood: Men in Tights)

Mark Jackson (Isaac, The Orville)

J. Lee (John Lemarr, The Orville)

Peter David, writer of everything

Labels: books, conventions, friends, movies, television

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