fmsv

02:03 pm - RIP: Abigail (1996-2016)

It was finally time for our cat, Abigail, to take her last journey to the vet. She'd been fading quickly over the past week, and wasn't moving around much at all (just staying in a couple of rooms).

She made it to 19 years and 8 months, and we'd had her since she was 8 weeks old. She was a lovely polydactyl calico cat, who had a wide variety of rules that she followed (she'd sit in my lap on the first floor, but not the second; she'd sit on a blanket that wasn't on someone's lap, but not on that same blanket that was).

I'm going to miss her.

Attached is a picture from her in better days.
( AbbyCollapse )

12:46 am

I'm now caught up with "Welcome to Night Vale". I may now have to look for other podcasts, since WtNV has been working pretty well for me as drive-time listening. If anybody has any suggestions for good podcasts (whether similar to Welcome to Night Vale or not), I'm interested.

12:47 pm

I've got a version of the Convergence 2013 schedule available for iOS devices. The app is pSchedule, in the App Store. Once you have the app, the Convergence information can be retrieved via Prefs -> Data Updates.

The app lets you flag items you plan to go to, search for items in a number of ways (by title,description,location, or participant). You can also relatively easily find, from a program item description, all of the other items that a particular participant is on.

12:41 pm - We're lucky

We've had power the entire weekend so far.

This seems a very spotty set of power outages. On my way back from the Fourth Street hotel, there are 2 intersections with power to the traffic lights, then one without, then Hwy. 100, where everything seems normal. One street in St. Louis Park has 2 trees blown over -- one at about a 45 degree angle, one fully blown over.

Fourth Street is continuing on without power at the hotel. It makes for an interesting convention experience.

07:09 pm - Minicon 48 schedule for iOS

I've got a version of the Minicon 48 schedule available for iOS devies. The app is pSchedule, in the App Store. Once you have the app, the Minicon 48 information can be retrieved via Prefs -> Data Updates.

11:43 pm

In the Mayan Long Count:

Today: 12.19.19.17.19
Tomorrow: 13.0.0.0.0

12:12 pm - Couldn't resist!

Just the time....

08:19 pm - pSchedule (iOS convention schedule app) - Chicon edition

I've got a version of pSchedule (my iOS convention schedule app) available with the Chicon data. There's also an updated version available, with a number of bug fixes, and it now works on the iPad as well.

12:56 pm - Anniversary

Today is our (mine and cowfan's) 25th wedding anniversary. The two of us will be celebrating by going out to dinner, but the rest of you (particularly those who attended our wedding) can help us celebrate by coming to our Minnstf meeting on Saturday.

05:20 pm - RIP Serafina, 1991-2012

( Goodbye to our cat, SerafinaCollapse )

01:16 am

Happy Birthday, cowfan!

09:12 pm

Many thanks to quility, who we ran into at the vet this morning (see previous post for the sad reason we were there).

09:09 pm - RIP Lilith (1991-2011)

This morning, we took our cat Lilith in for that final trip to the vet. She'd been having various health and behavioral problems for some time, and we decided (after a lot of teary discussion) that it was time to let her go. The staff at Kitty Klinic were very supportive, and let us have time alone with her both before and after the shot.

We're going to miss her a lot.

11:43 pm - Renovation data available in my schedule app

I've got the data for Renovation (as well as a new version of the app) available in my iPhone program schedule app (pSchedule). The data is available within the app, by going into Prefs and selecting 'Check for Data Updates'. (All of this is free as always, of course.)

I know that Renovation has an official mobile app, but mine may be better for some uses:

• It doesn't require online access to check the schedule (just to download the data).
  
• It's faster at showing the data for program items.
  
• It only requires iOS 4.0, not 4.3.
  
• I personally like the ability to have several different ways of marking items, but that may be just me.
  

12:16 am

I've put the data for the program for Convergence into the upload location for my iPhone app (pSchedule). The app's available for free in the Apple App Store, and the data for Convergence is downloadable from within Prefs in the app.

(If somebody wants the data for the Palm app, it's available here. If you use it, please let me know.)

12:41 am - Wiscon handheld schedule

I've put the program schedule for Wiscon 35 into 2 handheld formats.

One is for the same PalmOS handheld app that I've had for a number of years. It's available here.

The other is for the iPhone. It's available for free in Apple's app store under the name 'pSchedule'. Within the app, go to Prefs, the Check for Data Updates, then follow the prompts and select 'Wiscon35'.

12:59 pm - Dim Sum on Sun. Dec 5?

If you'd like to come help celebrate cowfan's birthday with us by going to dim sum on Sunday, Dec. 5 at 11:30 AM (at Jun Bo), please let me know, either by responding here or by email.

11:55 am

Nobody on my flist has said anything about this yet, so I will.

Look at Google's homepage. (It's interactive!)

03:27 pm - Party

On Saturday evening, starting around 7, we'll be having a party at our house. It's a combined player piano caroling and joint birthday party for myself and cowfan.

Please come.

11:45 am - Dim Sum on Sunday, Dec. 6?

If you'd like to come help celebrate cowfan's birthday with us by going to dim sum on Sunday, Dec. 6 at 11:30 AM (at Jun Bo), please let me know, either by responding here or by email.

12:27 am - Palm version of Anticipation schedule

It's now available here.

Unfortunately, this doesn't have the program item descriptions, as it was not in the data download I received.

11:21 pm

In case anyone's curious, I haven't generated a release of the program schedule for Anticipation for the Palm yet because I've been asked not to publish the data that I've gotten so far. I'm hoping that this situation will be remedied shortly, but that's what's happening so far.

12:52 am - Program data for Convergence 2009 in Palm format

I've converted the program schedule data for Convergence 2009 into Palm format. It's available here.

11:19 am - Dreamwidth

I've got an account over there now, as fmsv. Not sure what I'll be doing with it yet.

11:57 am - Program data for Minicon 44 in Palm format

I've once again created a Palm version of the Minicon program schedule. It's available here.

10:07 am

( Silly rickroll joke behind cutCollapse )

10:50 pm - Happy Birthday

to minnehaha B.

09:48 am - Voted

We (cowfan and I) got to the polls a few minutes after 7. I was in the voting booth by 8, and finished a few minutes after that. I was number 232 on the voting machine in our precinct.

10:31 pm

Copy this sentence into your livejournal if you're in a non-same-sex marriage, and you don't want it "protected" by the bigots who think that gay marriage hurts it somehow.

12:34 am

Not really a surprise, but:

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 1 or fewer people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

09:15 pm - Palm Program Notes app for Denvention 3

I've made a version of the program schedule for Denvention 3 for the Palm. (The same program that I've been making available since ConJose.) It's current with Denvention's "late changes" page as of this evening.

It's available here.

02:33 pm

I've made a Palm version of the Convergence 2008 program schedule; it's available here.

10:03 pm

Happy birthday, runeshower!!

03:56 pm

05:19 pm - Annual Halloween count post

We had zero children come to our door last night.

I suspect this results from a combination of:

• Our being on a busy street.
  
• There being not many kids to speak of on our block.
  

12:32 am - Harry Potter realization

I just reread the beginning of "Order of the Phoenix", and there's a quote there that, well,
( (potential spoilers lurk here)Collapse )

03:02 pm - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Laura's copy came at 10:30 this morning. She's off at the puppet convention, but gave me permission to read her copy. I just finished it. It's been a looong time since I sat down and read a book cover to cover in one sitting. (Actually, I did get up twice.)

10:29 pm - Minicon program schedule for Palm

I've put the Minicon 42 schedule into Palm format. It's available here.

09:00 pm

I'm here tonight to introduce Minnstf's latest person to leave the WINOLJ family: cowfan. (You can probably guess from the lj-name who this is, but here's a big hint: the computer's in the next room from mine.)

12:16 am

I don't know if we're going to make it to Marscon, but I've made a version of the Marscon program for the Palm. It's available here. (If someone could let chasophonic know, it'd be great.)

11:23 pm

For Halloween, we had more kids than we've had the last two years: two. (Our neighbors brought their kids over.)

11:31 pm

I've got a version of the L.A.Con IV program schedule available for the Palm. It's been updated to contain the most recent data from their website. It's available here.

09:30 am

I don't know if anybody's likely to be able to download it (due to the timing), but I've done a Palm version of the program schedule for Demicon 17, being held this weekend in Des Moines. It's available here.

03:03 pm

5 months and 5 days from now, I will turn 50.

09:34 pm

Gakked from marykaykare; the number of people who read this is small enough that I don't expect much of a response, but I could be surprised:

Look at my LJ interests. Pick one that you find confusing or intriguing, and comment here. I’ll explain what it means and what makes it significant to me.

Then, if you want, please post this in your own LJ, if you’d be so kind, so that I can learn about your interests, too.

05:34 pm

( Latin quotes memeCollapse )

01:48 am - My Theory about Conversation Hearts

I've apparently been talking about this theory for quite a few years, but I don't think I've ever mentioned it on LJ.

If you've ever looked at the sayings on Conversation Hearts, you've probably noticed that they're, well, kind of dated. My theory is that all of the hearts on sale now were originally made sometime back in the 1960s or 1970s[1], when these sayings were actually in use. They've been kept in a very large warehouse (actually, probably a series of warehouses) all this time, and only brought out to be sold around this time of year. The makers have been continuing to make them, however, but they want to use up their old stock first. Eventually, though, we'll see hearts from the 80s and 90s with sayings from when they were made.

My suspicion is that the makers didn't originally plan on doing things this way, but that sometime in the late 1950s, demand for the hearts was way down one year, so they decided to hold their inventory over for a year, while still making the same number. This seems to have worked OK until the early 1970s, when the oil embargo resulted in several more years of low sales. This in turn meant that by the time demand rose again, they had a really huge backlog of hearts, resulting in the situation in which we now find ourselves. (Demand never did get up to earlier levels, though, which explains why there's still such a large supply in the warehouses.) Unfortunately, the manufacture of Conversation Hearts is a very conservative business, and is quite slow to change. They're finally in the process of reducing the number that they produce, so that the datedness of the hearts will probably decrease, but it'll take a while.

[1] When I first came up with this theory, there were hearts that had probably been made in the 1950s, with sayings like "Hep Cat", but those seem to have finally gotten used up.

03:11 pm

http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp11302005.shtml

Just one word: Kestrel.

(First Faye and Marten, and now this. This is an interesting week in webcomics.)

11:03 pm - Meme sheep

09:51 am - Trick-or-Treaters

As seems usual, we had none. I seem to remember having had one or two at this house several years ago, but last year and this year we had none at all.