kmusser

Thank you for everyone that joined us for Thanksgiving and for all the happy birthday wishes. We had a lovely turkey day, and the rest of the weekend as well. I allowed myself to be spoiled by zammis and radiant_one. Many games were played, and there was port and cheesecake.

We also acquired a new household member, taking in one of ilostonjeopardy's cats. PeeJee spent the first few days hiding in corners and sulking, but has now decided that getting pettings is not so bad. Piccolo has grumbled about the new addition, but I think she'll get used to it.

This weekend zammis and I are running off to Key West and Pirates in Paradise. We were hoping for sun, but it looks like the weather may not cooperate. Regardless, there will be foofy drinks, and at least it won't snow.

Later this month - I'll also be out of town the 18th to the 22nd - doing the family Christmas a bit early.

Reminder that right after New Years - January 2nd - is Brunswick Games Day - join us for a full day of gaming goodness - Free!

For some light reading: the manufactured doubt industry, blog entry by Jeff Masters inspired by the recent climate change kerfluffle - basically the underlying science hasn't changed, if you want to know the truth on a scientific subject ask a scientist, not a PR person.

Thank you for all the birthday wishes. I was a most excellent birthday.

They Might Be Giants final encore from last night

That career matching survey thing:

1. Model Maker
2. Archaeologist
3. GIS Specialist
4. Landscape Architect
5. Cartographer
6. Drafter
7. Industrial Designer
8. Interior Designer
9. Special Effects Technician
10. Cabinetmaker
11. Electronics Assembler
12. Costume Designer
13. Plumber
14. Set Designer
15. Fashion Designer

Not too bad, in case there are any here that don't know, #3 is in fact what I do for a living.

The holidays went by in a bit of a blur, this was the first year that zammis and I celebrated them with both of our families and while it was good to see everyone it was a little more hectic than I would have liked.

For the obligatory 2006 retrospective and looking ahead to 2007:

It was a good year for me, the big event of 2006 was zammis and I moving in together and that has proven to be a very good thing :-) I also did my first stint at planning on GMing a weekend long LARP with In The Dark Time, which proved successful, but not something I'm in any hurry to repeat (not to say that I won't, just that I'm not in any hurry to). Other gaming included Brunswick Game Day, GCOM Game Days, Balticon, and Euroquest, though I think I did less gaming than usual overall. Pagan events included Free Spirit and Mythical Journays, both of which were awesome, but I didn't do much else Paganwise. Hmmm, looking back on it 2006 was kind of a year of hermitting, spent much more time at home being domestic and not as much being social or travelling. In Discordian news we dug up the 1st edition of the Principia and got a planet named after Eris, so Yay!

For 2007 we'll definitely be travelling again with a pirate cruise and probably trip to Williamsburg/Jamestown planned for spring and in discussion about trips to Peru or Essen or somewhere else in the fall. I also really would like to be more social and see you all more often - so do encourage me to come out of hiding. Also a reminder about our open invite to come visit Brunswick.

And finally happy birthday wishes to liakela and a reminder to come join us this Saturday at Brunswick Games Day. For Games Day attendees, especially those travelling from afar we do have some crash space available for either Friday or Saturday night, let me know if you want to take advantage of it.

I thought I had done this before, but could not find it, so I'm listing them again, mostly for my own reference. 37 World Heritage Sites that I've visited:

Australia
Wet Tropics of Queensland

Canada
Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump
Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks

Estonia
Historic Centre (Old Town) of Tallinn
Struve Geodetic Arc

Germany
Aachen Cathedral
Cologne Cathedral
Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in Essen

Ireland
Brú na Bóinne - Archaeological Ensemble of the Bend of the Boyne

Italy
City of Verona
Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles
Venice and its lagoon

Latvia
Historic Centre of Riga

Russia
Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments

St. Lucia
Pitons Management Area

United Kingdom
Canterbury Cathedral, St Augustine's Abbey, and St Martin's Church
Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd
City of Bath
Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape
Maritime Greenwich
Old and New Towns of Edinburgh
Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites
Tower of London
Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey and Saint Margaret's Church

United States
Everglades National Park
Grand Canyon National Park
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
Independence Hall
Kluane/Wrangell-St. Elias/Glacier Bay/Tatshenshini-Alsek
La Fortaleza and San Juan National Historic Site in Puerto Rico
Mammoth Cave National Park
Monticello and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville
Redwood National and State Parks
The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright
Waterton Glacier International Peace Park
Yellowstone National Park

Yes, I'm still alive. Work is still busy. I'm still sick, but I think I'm almost done with the sniffles. Last week helped get zammis moved in, though the house is still full of boxes and probably will be for awhile. Very glad to have her here though.

On Saturday did a quick jaunt up to Atlantic City to see The Pogues and Shane MacGowan in all his magnificent drunken glory. Now if only we can get Shane and Ozzy to do a duet - comedy gold. The concert was awesome.

Up this week:
finish my taxes
two dates!
gaming in Brunswick on Saturday - if you're planning on attending and want me to bring something specific let me know.
more unpacking
start exercising

Also: http://www.google.com/mars/ is sexy.

I'm back from Minnesota. Travelling was a little awkward with the crutches, but got to see lots of cool folks.

Headed out Friday, plane was late getting in, but managed to find hexar_le_saipe, sporksoma, and Danielle (their little one), who came up from Mississippi, and get the rental car ok. The Minneapolis/St. Paul airport get minus points on accessability though, they have electric carts, but only for one level of the airport, the other levels you are SOL.

Anyway the purpose of the trip is to see holly_lama and stealthmunchkin get married off. Holly's family lives out in farm country - it's about 1.5 hours from the Twin Cities. There is snow, which Danielle is very excited about. We're late for the rehearsal, but find everyone ok, and go hang out of Holly's parent's house for awhile.

Saturday is the wedding, which goes well. The song stealthmunchkin had commissioned for holly_lama is awesome. princemuchao and rainmerlot join us (welcome back to LJ land), I get to chat with them at the reception for awhile, is nice to catch up. Afterwords more hanging out at the farm, I get to meet gentleman_lech, lulybunny, and other cool people who's LJ names I don't know. There were many inquiries about zammis and kaileris - y'all were missed. We played Apples to Apples, so yay. I think it's Andrew that comes up with the criteria of best sounding band name as a winning criteria, which I like. The car needs a shove to leave the farm (fun driving in snow), but I make it back to hotel ok.

Sunday I drive back to the Twin Cities, meet up with one of my high school friends for brunch, which was nice. Then more airport time. MPS airport going back is made easier by the nice people from Hertz that drive me up to the door so I don't have to deal with the non-accessible levels. I do have problems in Chicago, as they find our airplane is broken and have to find us a new one, I do eventually make it home. Thanks to liakela for providing rides.

Now I'm back at work. Ankle is slowly healing, I hope to be walking again by this weekend.

ok, so I've had a look at my own archives to see what happened to 2005 and can now offer some highlights and ruminations.

( 2005 in review, cut because it was longer than I thought )

Hope everyone has a happy Samhain, may the new year bring you joy. This Samhain I dedicate to my grandfather. He wrote me this letter when I was still a baby, I did not discover it until long after his death. Enjoy.
( My grandfather's letter )

'72-'75 Grand Rapids, MI
Where I was born.

Sadly no imagery available for my brief stint in Milwaukee.

'79-'91 Oak Park, IL
Where I spent most of my years growing up, we lived on the block in the center.
The large building in the lower right is my elementary school.
My Jr. high school is just off the edge to the north and now is a completely new building from when I attended.
After my parents divorced ('84?) my mother kept this house.
Two of the houses my father lived in are also within this image.

'86? Zion, IL
Where my father lived briefly before returning to Oak Park. The cross shape layout of the streets is by design.

'88-'91 OPRF, my High School

'91-'95 Macalester College in St. Paul, MN
I lived in 4 different places within this image. The geography building, where I spent most of my time, is the small building near the center of the picture, to the left of the quad.

summer of '92 Blue Bell Lodge, Custer State Park, SD
I'm surprised they had detailed imagery for here, but this is a nice shot of the entire resort. The building in the center is the store where I worked, across the street, set back from the road is the restaurant. The cluster of buildings to the right are the stables.

spring of '94 Rogers Park, Chicago, IL
Where I lived as part of an urban studies program.

'95-'97 Oregon State Univ. in Corvallis, OR
The small, white, funny shaped building in the middle is the geography building. I lived a block up and to the right from there.

'97-'03 Silver Spring, MD
My first home in the DC area, I lived in 2 places within this image (3 if I count the few weeks at kolyada's grandparents).

'03-'05 Brunswick, MD
Sadly no detailed images for my current home, this was as close as I could get.

bonus image - Maryland Faire
Our home away from home.