Mongologue

I'm living in Rhode Island now!

I've been married 4 years!

My car's paid off!

I'm vaccinated!

I'm.. really not checking LJ anymore, despite all you lovely friends.. I can be found on Telegram and Twitter and many other places under the Chefmongoose moniker.

--Chi

(Yes, I'll be moving to another platform soon. no, I don't trust the new LJ owners. Right now, time sisgning up for somethign new is time I wouldn't have to type this out.)

As most of you should know by now: Getting married! May 20th! Whoo!

...as some of you know by now: There's been problems with the venue for the reception. Plan A was double-booked, and Plan B has a dealbreaker of a restriction. So we're onto plan C, with a plan D as backup. (Something like C-7 and D-2, actually). The current new venue for Plan C is the US Coast Guard Academy Alumni Building. located in New London, CT.  We're going for a physical look on Monday, but everything looks like it'll be a fine place indeed. Nice building, plenty of space, solid facilities...

It's just going to be about 10 times our original projected venue costs.

Now, some friends have organized some crowdfunding to cover the costs. This is tremendously appreciated, as will be any donations. That said: don't anyone feel like they need to donate. We're going to be okay. We're having the reception, and we'll make rent, and all that. We're going to be okay, and if your choice is between throwing $20 at someone with deep financial and medical needs, or us.. do the former.

But! If you want to chip in, info is at https://www.gofundme.com/witchiechiaro . . In addition, a friend of ours has offered to draw a quick doodle for anyone contributing over $10: https://twitter.com/Agent_Elrond/status/860190260650811394

That's the info, all. Thanks for reading!

So it all started with a convention I didn't go to.

The Hyatt O'Hare, hotel of Midwest Furfest for 2015, wanted to join in the fun of a furry convention, and did so by putting a fox kigurumi in their lobby. Unfortunately, more of the reactions to it I saw on twitter were "Enh." 'Sad." "Creepy." But there was the germ of a good idea involved in this.. and I pondered a lot.

And at Anthro New England, I pounced on Mary "Moth Monarch" Capaldi with the idea: to give Anthrocon's partner hotels each a fursona of their own, printed on a carboard standee. As Mary had just been made Anthrocon staff, this was the perfect task for her artistic talents.. and we set to work. Board approval was quickly given, and we contacted Kristen Turner at VisitPittsburgh to help contact Anthrocon's eight partner hotels. Seven of them signed on, and we were off!

Each hotel selected a species, and in some cases the name, of their fursona. Mary and I worked to give them each a unique identity and personailty: Westie (Westin) was an West Highland Terrier as a friendly everyman, while Dub (Doubletree) was a DJ squirrel in Tripp pants. We worked hard to balance gender and body types to make sure it was a diverse crew, much like Anthrocon is.

She made the sketches and handled the main design work, I gave feedback, on the nature of "Make his watch a smartwatch, that'll be hipper."  We sent each sketch to the hotel for feedback and color requests. One nice thing about working with massive hotel chains: you don't get "Deep Red" for a color. You get Pantone 1795C. After final colors and approvals, we were ready to send them to be printed off. Two companies fit the potential bill, and after one got us the test print of Westie eight days quicker than the other, we had our match. Both Westies rode in with me, and the remainder of the standees were delivered to VisitPittsburgh, then the various hotels. (The spare Westie ended up behind Mary's table in the Dealers Room for a while!)

And fortuitously on Tuesday night, Sam "Uncle Kage" Conway, the chairman of Anthrocon, just happened to be in the lobby as I was bringing Westie in...

And the social media explosion we were hoping for began. People taking pictures of and with the standees, and posting them to Twitter and Instagram. They kept discussing which the best ones were, groaning at the punny name of "Mary Otter" for the Marriott, and fan art of Dub appeared during the convention. The hotels themselves enjoyed having them-- at one meeting with the hotel reps, the Doubletree rep said "We love her. I would fight for Dub." And when the Wyndham Grand rep asked where their standee was, and were told 'Your hotel was asked, but declined to participate.." The "oooooh!" of shame in the room was delicious. They're on board for next year, now!

There were subtler effects, too. Hotel damage reports were lessened, and the overall interactions with Anthrocon attendees and hotels were positive- they recognized this project as local support, somethign Pittsburgh has given to our Anthrocon like no other city has done for a furry convention. It's another way that Anthrocon and Pittsburgh support and appreciate one another.

I managed to get my picture with all seven of the standees, which made me most happy. Pictures follow:









I'm justifiably proud of how this project went. My thanks to Kristen Turner of Visit Pittsburgh for help with the hotel co-ordination. our partner hotels for joining us in this, Karl "Xydexx" Jorgenson for co-ordinating with the printer, lifesizecustomcutouts.com for doing the printing and cutting, and most especially Mary Capaldi for her hours and days of work on the art and design.. She's the one who was able to take this project from wacky idea to amazing reality, and she completely earned her staff badge in the process. Read her post about it, and see the all seven characters, here.

So whenever you doubt your ability to accomplish things, whenever a project seems impossible, just remember: there's a hotel in Pittsburgh that six presidents have stayed the night in, and a buffet cook and self-employed artist convinced them having a 6-foot-tall anthropomorphic penguin in their lobby was a good idea. It's possible.

So, there's a lot of updates to cover in the past.. uhm.. while. *cracks knuckles* You all know I have a Twitter at @chefmongoose, right?

As most friends know, I've been a cyborg since February 2015. After some heart issues were discovered, and a good 9 months living with a strap-on emergency defibrillator and medication helping moderately but still concerns.. I had a surgically implanted defibrillator (ICD) put in. It's manage to alert once but not yet shock me. and I've gotten used to it. The first two weeks shen I couldn;t lift my arms above my head were.. a challenge.

Meefer the Escort finally bit the dust, also in February of 2015; a bad axle and a dying clutch and other issues were costly enough to fix it was finally time. 229,000 miles on that car, 15+ years of solid service. I was very content with that car, and now and then i still miss it; taking the curves of Lantern Hill Road at well above the speed limit in neutral was a grand time and I can't quite do that and feel comfortable yet in---

Tug, the (still fairly new) Chevy Cruze! Managed for exceptionally low price with family discount from my Uncle, and a NFCU rebate for the loan, and a USAA rebate for the insurance, and Mom's GM card points, and buying a 2014 model during president's day weekend, etc, etc. It's nice to have things like power windows, USB ports, aux-in for the ipod.. and.. oh yeah.. AIR CONDITIONING. 20,000 miles in on it and very happy.

In late 2014, Gary Benson- my friend since high school- and his wfe separated. He needed money to pay mortgage, I and my roommate Kevin needed cheaper rent. This has been a very good thing for all involved,a nd stayed so when witchiebunny moved in.

Oh, so yeah. witchiebunny . We've been dating since late 2014, after she moved to connecticut. It's been a good time. Lots of complications, lots of mutual concerns and patience.. but fun, laughter, warmth, and love. And I've decided that she's definitely someone I want to keep in my life, and in a thoroughly special way.

So, last Tuesday we went to Block Island, a scenic li'l island off the coast of Rhode Island. A lovely day, from ferry ride to driving about to tasty lunch to the Alpaca farm. And while up at Settlers Rock on the north coast, she looked at the water, and the rock-strewn beach, and said: "I wonder if I should take a rock home as a souvenir."

Luckily, I had a perfect one handy.



So, that's the news. Still the same-ish: Working at VulpineForest, Board of Directors for Anthrocon, Staff Manager for Brand New Conference. Still pretending to be a mongoose on the internet. :)

--Chi

After over seven years, several upgrades, a few reinstalls, and other fun-- it looks as if Snik, my main computer, has finally bit the big one. The BIOS isn't even coming up. I am on a nicely functional laptop until such point as I can get a new computer, which basically means I have until the end of July before I get *really* twitchy.

So, internet, here's the mission. There are two core options:

#1 I buy a complete computer.
#2 Someone sends me a computer.

#3 would have been "I buy pieces and put a computer together", but after the occasionally interesting trouble I had with that last time, I'm not going that route again. If someone else is willing and interested in building me a new computer, or sending me their old one for $, let's talk, and talk promptly.

Needs:
Desktop system, preferably a tower, with room for at least 2 full-sized hard drives, one DVD-Rom drive (Though Blu-ray would be nice).
Buncha USB ports. Ethernet port. The stuff I really expect all computers have nowadays.
Windows (8.1 at this point, might as well leap) is good, Ubuntu is possible, Mac is acceptable if probably too pricey for a desktop.
I have a nice video card (GTX 560) that can go in the system if there's an open PCI x16 slot. There probably should be an open PCI x16 slot, as Dual-monitor capability is a must.
4 gig minimum of RAM. 8 is probably better.

Cost: $700 is a maximum. $500-600 is more the goal.

I will take recommendations of "Buy this" and offers of "I'll build it" or "Want this?" for a few days, and I plan to come to a decision by July 20th. If you have opinions, recommends, or an itch to build and send me a computer, let me know!

--Chi

More for myself than for others, but: September was pretty good and busy a month. October should be pretty nice as well.

Starting off with http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnewconference/ earlier in the month. Thursday drivin' and then trainin' into the city, then stops at Big Booty Bread Co, Two Boots Pizza, the High Line. Convention prepwork including folding T-shirts and stuffing con bags. After that, Korean hotpot with Eapa, followed by shopping and late errand. then crashing in the AirBNB-booked spot only a 5-minute walk from the conference. Friday, Brand New Conference went off as manic but as smooth for attendees as usual. Good times. Nice to have returning crew: this is year four, and the first year of returning volunteers who aren't me. Best after-party thus far, bouncy but not NOISY.

Then a few days later, warphammer came for a quick visit as part of his work travels. Some mellow hanging about; Lazizah bakery where he got to meet Karannia, a visit to Fall River, MA to Battleship Cove; Mongolian grill at Fire & Ice, Clyde's Cider Mill. Always a pleasure when Warp visits, and I hope I'll be able to make it back out to visit him and others in CA sometime, if budget permits.

And then Faire! For the first time since 2008, made it to one: Specifically http://ctfaire.com/ . Pleasantly located this year about 15 minutes from my home and about 30 from my job, so I was able to squeeze in a visit before work. Quite glad to go with Karannia, some of her friends, and for my roommate Kevin to be able to tag along to his first-ever Faire.

Wrapped up the month by being able to go hang with sympolarbear and Thesius for a night at their new pad. This is the first time in the 10+ years I've known Sym that we've got to hang out anywhere that's not Work, Anthrocon, or Sarge's Comics. Should do that more.

October's started with helping Karannia pack some things for her move, then there'll be a They Might Be Giants concert in Providence at Lupo's, and wrapping up the month with cbrenton visiting for a week, including FurFright as a major part of his visit. And lots of overtime at VulpineForest[*1] to fill in the spare time, plus work on Anthrocon stuffs.

--Chi

I don't need to post pictures; they're the same as everyone else's. beautifully white-balanced.

This is the first time, in 20 years of driving, in 13.7 years of owning the same car, in dwelling in New England that I have been snowbound. I could make it to the end of the driveway after fervent shovelling, and the roads were impassible yesterday, and I like on a mid-level road for the Rose City.

Kevin, my housemate, was stuck at work overnight. I'm shovelling my car and the driveway free to try and go rescue him. roads are looking better.

..and the landlady wont; stop talking about the Blizzard of '78.

--Chi

http://www.yourpublicmedia.org/node/22290

http://www.ct.com/news/advocates/latest-news/nm-ht40ncfurries-20120925,0,1733951.story

I think i did better in the Advocate article. A bit radio-flustered, eh.

..as i haven't updated here in a long time (I'm a lot more Twitter-focused of late, catch me at @chefmongoose): Meefer the Escort is at 198,500 miles and still driving. I'm back at VulpineForest for work; going to the gym about 2-3 times a week, still living in Norwich, still a smidgen broke but getting by.

* There are shorter and faster-moving lines for all pre-registered attendees. You'll be on your way in, on average, a third of the time.

* It's $10 cheaper for Attending and Sponsor members- $50 versus $60, and $100 verus $110!

*Only Pre-registered Supersponsors get an invitation to the Supersponsor luncheon, with our Guests of Honor!

* One less purchase to worry about at the convention- you'll get to relax and know it's taken care of!

http://www.anthrocon.org/registration is the direct URL, and it's definitely time to get your registration in. Read the standards of conduct, ready your Mastercard, Visa, or Discover card, and register today! Do tell your friends- especially those first-time attendees who may not know how long the lines will get. There are over 3500 people that have Pre-registered already- join them!

Remember, that's http://www.anthrocon.org/registration !

--Chi

Also follow @AnthroconReg on Twitter for Registration updates!