Where Personal and Professional Life Collide...

Springfield (MA) city councilor Bud Williams announced that “Jesus is the reason for the season” in the middle of a menorah lighting ceremony.

And then proceeded to goysplain Jewish history to justify his statement.

Protip: don’t do that.

So, DragonCon. A great deal of fun, even if there were a higher number of "wherewhereyou?" missed connections and two bouts with a migraine. Next time, I swear, I will be more organized and set up actual "this is where and when we will be" meetings! Despite that, I had a blast - fabulous people, both the working pros and the attending fans, and those of us who gleefully straddle both categories. I hope that I was entertaining/informative on my panels [and that everyone who picked up a copy of one of my books on the basis of my entertainment value feels it was $$ well-spent!]

(thanks again to everyone who came out to my reading, and no, guys, you are not allowed to steal my laptop to see what else is on there. patience is a virtue [or so I'm told])

However, I did have a rather unpleasant experience at the Westin Peachtree where I was staying, when I came back - after an entire day of panels and whatnot - to find my door left ajar. The workmen who had come in to fix the sink (the faucet handle was broken) had LEFT THE DOOR OPEN when they finished. Nothing was stolen, but I am very aware that not only was that the luck of the day (my laptop, my passport, and other things of value where in the room) but it would have been damned easy for someone to slip in, close the door behind them, and be waiting when I - all unwitting - unlocked the door late at night.

This was bad enough, but worse is that - after reporting this to security and having then confirm that yes, one of their people had left the door open (via the security card reader)... I heard nothing back from the hotel. Not a 'terribly sorry about this,' not even an acknowledgment that the event occurred. When I checked out, I spoke to the manager - who immediately went on the defensive, as "how was I to know, I don't get the security reports, why did you expect anyone to get in touch with you?"

Fail, Westin. Massive fail. You had a scenario where a woman might have been assaulted due to the carelessness of one of your employees. That warrants a write-up for the manager on-duty to follow-up on. To be defensive about it? Equates to this customer as "stop making a fuss and leave us alone." Is that really the impression you wanted to give?

Anyway, I then headed off to the airport, where we ended up with a 3+ hour hold (including an hour on the plane) because Air Force One had shut down Newark Airport (our destination). I will give kudos to Continental/Unite - they were scrambling to get us home, and never once made light of the situation or treated us like idiots... and made fabulous time once we were in the air.

And thus ended my DragonCon Weekend. Next year, WorldCon and DragonCon are on the same weekend, and I'm going to have a hard decision to make....



originally published at Practical Meerkat: A Blog

This morning I returned the rental car to Enterprise, the moment they opened (7:30), mainly to be able to cross it off my 'done' list.

I was greeted by one of the women who works there, about to drive someone back, who asked if I'd need a ride. I said yes, so she waited. Nice. I was greeted in the office by name and asked how everything went. I updated the story, ending with "and then the glove compartment door came off in my hand." The guy - a young man in a rather nice suit - stared at me, utterly deadpan, and then admitted "I'm trying very hard not to laugh."

"It's okay," I said. "We did. Rather hysterically at that point."

End result: I was not charged for the rental, and I watched as they took the car out of service and marked it on the computer as needing repairs from -previous- rental.

Previous to this, the only bad experience I had with a rental from Enterprise was another car (also brand new) that had its emergency brake fail - not dangerous, but worrisome -- and they handled it with the same blend of professionalism and concern. The car itself was sub-par but I am still extremely pleased with the company, and this office in particular.


{this also leads me to believe that it's better to get a 'broken in' car than a brand-new one, when renting.)


(oh, and the guy checking the car in had the same problem with the ignition that I did. So it wasn't "just me." That made me feel much better)

After a long struggle, we have finally thrown the desktop into the proverbial river, and put me out of its misery. The fact that this all started when someone Not Me got the damn thing infected with malware is... a level of frustration I can't even begin to address.

The netbook, and writing longhand, are short-term solutions. Right now? I can't work.

(thankfully, the important files have been saved off-drive, so it's a work interruption rather than an OMFG disaster.)

So. Off to acquire a short-term fix rather than the upgrade I'd planned for next year, and then back to it, hopefully soon.

If anyone feels the urge to offer sympathy, it's appreciated. Even moreso would be your buying one (or more) of my books as a holiday present for someone, so I can afford to buy this new computer to write future books...

When the first three things that happen to you in the morning are:

1. spill coffee grindings
2. spill coffee
3. get hugged by cat who can tell you're annoyed -- who then knocks something off the desk

that gives you an indication of what the day's going to be like.

Plan for the day:

1. make to-do list
2. kill to-do list, one item at a time
3. go back to bed when list is dead.

I am the Master. You....are the passenger.


Um. Yeah.

from bbc.news...

US immigration officials have arrested a Haitian woman after baggage screeners found a human head in her luggage at a Florida airport. Myrlene Severe, 30, has been charged with failing to declare the head on a customs form and transporting "hazardous material".

(me: WTF? it's sort of like getting Capone on tax evasion charges, isn't it?)

She arrived at Florida's Fort Lauderdale airport on Thursday on a flight from Cap Haitien in north Haiti. Ms Severe said that the head was to ward off evil sprits, officials said.

"Severe stated that she had obtained the package, which contained a human head, from a male in Haiti for use as part of her voodoo beliefs," the US Attorney's Office said in a statement. A spokesman for Miami's immigration and customs agency told the AFP news agency that the head was not simply a skull. "It had teeth, hair and skin, and quite a lot of dirt," she said.


*facepalm*