This afternoon, at approximately 2:39PM EST my father lost his fight against the cancer that had been slowing him down over the last few years. Thankfully my sister was with him at the end, so he was not alone.

He went peacefully, no pain, and can finally rest.

So, I had two cons this year already. Fursquared and MCFC. I must confess, Fursquared was both a good and bad con, goon in the number of panels and genereal enjoyment, and bad in the interactions both with hotel staff (Totally understaffed for the people present) and convention staff (A staff member was so very rude to me there).

MCFC was, once again, a great con, and I probably would have enjoyed it even more if I hadn't had a roommate that snored so loud I couldn't really sleep. Ah well, I threw the dice and lost that roll. Still, the extra money did come in VERY handy.

On the home front, my father is still hanging in there. He has beaten the odds so far and outlasted the doctors predictions. However, he has stated he is getting 'wobbly', and his legs are nowhere near as strong as they were. I am afraid he is going to be stuck in his chair one day and just say "Heck with it" and stay there until he dies. He is stubborn enough to do it.

I've become even more of a recluse. I haven't talked to family more than once in over three months, mainly because of work, laziness, and exhaustion. I am looking into getting a new mattress/box springs, and also an exercise bike. Something to help me lose this gut I am slowly building. I honestly cannot decide which should be first.

Next year, I am debating toning down the conventions. One will not only allow me more money at the con, but the chance to save up a lot more toward retirement. That is something I have been thinking about, and need to really get on the ball. Right now, the only way I can retire is if I inherit, and that would mean something bad happened, so I don't wanna retire.

Ah well. I'm drunk, bored, and running out of rum. I think I need to get to sleep.

Ok, I am tanked and it's time to announce my two cons for the year. I have locked in Fur Squared and MCFC as my two cons. Now all I have to do is save up the cash for both cons. Tax refunds should help a lot with that, and with any luck, it'll be easy to get all the cash I need.

On the home front, my dad is still hanging in there. He is refusing to let the cancer beat him and is trying to stay active and mobile, although from what I've seen it's getting harder for him. He isn't giving up though, and with luck he will continue up until the end. I wish him all the luck with that. Cancer sucks and I am always afraid I am going to see his emergency number pop up on my phone, but here's hoping that he can keep going.

I am drinking too much. I know this, but with work and the stress from that, coupled with the stress of a family member slowly fading is driving me to kill brain cells just so I can sleep at night (Or day, early morning shifts suck). My mother has taken in a new puppy, far faster than I thought she would. I am hoping to go meet the new pup on my mini vacation this week. Should be an interesting meeting.

Ah well. Life goes on and the half bottle of Rum I drank is making me chatty, I guess.

I've slowly come to a long delayed realization... I am a true introvert. I don't like people, not one bit. Alcohol tends to blur that edge and allows me to function better in a social setting, but unless I am constantly drunk, I am not a pleasant person to be around. Sarcasm and sullen moods are an effective line of defense for me.

This realization was so slow in coming because I work a retail job, where I am forced to interact with people daily. I always had this thought in the back of my head that the quiet and isolation I craved was something that I could bypass, something I could get over and just set aside to form friendships.

I was wrong, and I finally figured out what I was doing. I am a role player. I've gamed most of my life, and I have formed my 'Retail Persona'. It's a mask I wear at work that allows me to emulate a happy, friendly associate that will work to solve your problem. Thing is, when I leave work, I drop that mask faster than you would think and then I am back to my headphones, loud music, and isolation.

And that isolation brings me joy.

It's hard to say this, even though I've been drinking before posting this. It's something that makes me rethink every con experience I've had, and something that really makes me wish there was another way to bypass it. I still have, deep down, the doubts that the isolation is making me truly happy, and I need friends and family around to have a rich, fulfilling life.

However, every time I try to be more social, I find myself pulling out that mask and becoming the work persona again. It is truly the only way that I can relate to people and not just find a dark corner and play on my tablet until I decide it's not worth hiding anymore and leave wherever I am. This becomes more evident when you look at my con experiences. I tend to stay in the back, standing during panels, and when the panel ends I am one of the first ones out the door. I spend too much at the bar trying to get into the friendly mood that the rest of the people have, and at the end of the night, when I cannot afford more booze and I am starting to sober up, I wander back to my hotel room and spend most of the night watching TV. I don't watch TV at any other time, honestly. I don't have cable, Netflix, etc...

The vacation aspect of conventions is something that I don't think I could give up, but the social aspect is one that I most likely will never truly understand, and this makes attending cons even harder in some ways. I could probably get the same level of relaxation and enjoyment if I just got a hotel room somewhere for the weekend and left my home for three of four days. Eat in the hotel bar along with some drinks, very minor interaction with the staff to settle any lingering doubts in my mind, then a long day of TV and occasional trips down to smoke.

That said, I am still going to go to cons. Even with the frustrations I have sometimes, the panels and the environment tend to feed that tiny, little spark of 'perhaps I DO need people around' that I think is the only thing that keeps me from locking my doors and living the life of a hermit shut in until I die.

So, here I sit, four hours after I wanted to go to sleep, eating and wondering just why I can't sleep even though I am totally prepared for this trip tomorrow. Bah. I know that once I get to the hotel I will relax, but for now, just bah.

MCFC vacation starts in 2 days, 10 hours, and 8 minutes. Gonna be a long three shifts at work, I think.

Still don't know if I am going to go to a second con this year, and if so, which con to go to. I am still leaning toward a sci-fi con instead of a Furcon, but I am so out of the loop concerning that genre I don't know if I will fit in anymore. That's what you get when you stop watching TV, I guess.

I am currently starting training for a new spot at work. I can see it being a freakin' headache, but one that is out of the public, so I am already enjoying the learning and the fact I don't have to deal with customers. I am reasonably sure that I will get it all together before I am thrown in on my own, but only time will tell.

Been taking a lot of notes for this job though... more than I've ever had to take for any other. Oh, and of course the timing worked out that my vacation falls smack in the middle of the training time, so I really hope I don't forget everything at the hotel bar. Heh.

And I am preparing for my vacation for the con. 11 days, 14 hours, and 30 minutes from right now until I am on vacation!

There are some things overshadowing my trip, but for the most part I am going to be able to let everything go for a weekend and just have fun, get drunk, and enjoy the panels and hopefully the dealers room.

Got more than enough cash to meet my budget for the trip, and it's been a while since I commissioned a pic, so hopefully I'll get one done this year. Problem is, I've already gotten 'em from the people I wanted to, so if there are no new faces, I'm either going to have to get another done by one artist, or just forgo another commission. Time will tell.

I am torn between leaving at OMG IT'S EARLY o'clock and making it to the hotel in time for breakfast, or just waiting and leaving later in the day to arrive around 2 PM. I'm leaning toward the breakfast and a nice long wind down time before everything starts, but do I really wanna either lay in the room watching TV or sit in the lobby watching people? I'm gonna smoke a LOT if I do that and I have been cutting way back on that... I'd like to keep it that way.

Eh, I'm probably going to leave early. I'll have a day and a half to prep and pack before I go, so there are no time constraints. At least I'll have some darn good food and be ready for all the fun.

So, in a fit of stupidity and a desire to attend a convention, coupled with a four day off stretch that I did not ask for, I decided to take an overnight trip to Fur Squared!

Mind you, I tried to talk myself out of it... but every self imposed argument fell flat. "It's got to be at least a six hour drive around the lake." I told myself. Then I checked... three and a half hours. Huh. "Well, they must be out of hotel rooms at the main hotel. No way is there anything available." Oh wait, there is. "At the door registration for a Friday Badge must be high." Or not.

So, with about fifteen total minutes of planning, I made the reservation, rounded up a change of clothing, and hopped into my car to make the dive to the con!

So that three and a half hour drive I mentioned? Well, it did not take into account the fact I had to travel around Chicago, and the traffic there is murder. Took me nearly six hours to get to the hotel, and wasn't that a fun trip make worse by my GPS. I made sure it was fully updated, maps and all, but it still has the annoying habit of trying to get me to exit and then re-enter the highway.

After arriving at the hotel, I found myself eager for the limited but still interesting programming that evening. I hadn't missed anything yet, thanks to the time rolling back an hour due to time zones. However, I quickly realized that there was an issue that I hadn't expected... I was a little worn out from the drive, and didn't have the usual chance to relax and unwind in the hotel room before I started to attend events. This led to a general lack of enjoyment and caused me to leave at least one panel early, something I haven't done before.

So I unwound in the bar. Had dinner, several drinks, and then headed down to registration. Turns out you can only get a Friday badge on Friday. Wasn't that just wasted time. Ah well. It was late now, so back to the room. Watched some TV and then tried to sleep. Key word: Tried.

So they put the smoke alarm right above the bed, and then a large picture on the wall opposite. Turns out there is a green blinking light on the smoke detector and it reflects so well in the glass of the frame. I noticed it and wondered what the heck it was until I woke up enough to discover the smoke detector.

Then the Thunderstorm blew in. Lightning, Thunder, and heavy rain pounding on the window kept me awake. Oh, and that's when the odd noises started. I swear it sounded like someone was either building something or moving furniture in one of the surrounding rooms.

I got maybe an hour of sleep over the course of the night. Breakfast was the standard fare and enjoyable, the coffee strong, and the weather cold. Oh, and the weather report was talking about snow east of the hotel. At that point I decided that I wasn't sticking around for snow. I packed up (very easy) and checked out. Another extra long drive (Five hours this time) and I was home and crawling into bed to try and rest before work that evening. At least I got another four hours before I had to go in.

I need to start taking these things to heart. GLFC taught ne to always get a room, and F2 taught me to make sure you have a solid plan and the whole weekend.

And I am not sure how to feel about it. About a week ago, a work associate asked where I was going on my vacation in April, and I told him 'To a convention.' He asked what kind, an I said 'Anthropomorphic.' He then asked which con it was, and stated he only really knew of the one in Chicago. Turns out he is NOT a fur, but knows at least one via the internet, and they all agreed to meet in Chicago for MFF a couple years ago.

He didn't really like the convention and decided it was not for him, but being a central location for all of the friends to get together at, they continued to meet over the MFF weekend, for one simple reason.

They got a great rate on the hotel room.

Yes, that's right, they used the MFF booking system to get the MFF rate for the last couple years, but did NOT attend the convention, but instead wandered the surrounding area and just hung out together.

It made me wonder if there were others that took advantage of the convention discount for hotels like that without actually attending the con, and what impact, if any, that would have on said convention. Well, other than taking at least one room from those that support the con.

Like I said, I don't know how to feel about all this. It seems to me that this is something that probably does not happed often, but I now know it does happen and it has me thinking.

So, no real changes have happened over the last three months since I posted. My Dad is still hanging in there, although he has developed a fatalistic sense of humor. He keeps going on about how he isn't going to be around much longer and while he seems to find it funny it serves to remind me that he is indeed very ill and could go at any time. Stupid Cancer.

Anyway, MCFC is locked in. I got the days off, hotel room and am preregistered. Now all I need to do is stockpile the money for the room, food and travel. Should be doable, and I am hoping for another good tax return to assist that goal.

Christmas with the Family was nice. My sister got me a gift card for a local liquor store and packaged it in a wine bottle gift bag. When I picked it up and felt it was so light I said "There's no booze in this!" Then I found the gift card on the bottom and stated "Oh, wait, there IS booze in this!". Heh.

Too many people are starting to leave this world. Friends are having their parents leave as well as the people my family has lost. Age will get us all, but dang it, people are not supposed to freakin' end!

I have discovered the joy that is the Star Wars Galaxies Emulator. I loved that game when it was live and even dealt with the horrible 'improvements' made. The Emulator is running the old game, the one that had unprecedented flexibility and total reliance on player crafting to outfit and arm the other players in the game, coupled with the resources that only a dedicated crafter would get their hands on to make 'Server Best' gear. Prices were outrageous, but it made the game fun for every style of play. The Emulator has a smaller population, and smaller economy, but is still an interesting game and one I am playing too much of to be honest. Still, it's something I enjoy and that's all that really matters.

So, I wrap it up here... My rum is almost gone (bought with the gift card) and I probably should try and get some sleep tonight.

Or perhaps I'll grind out another few thousand in Armorsmith XP.

This evening, around 7:45 EST, my stepmother passed away. She had been ill for a while with Alzheimer's and was in a home. She came down with pneumonia and was going to be attended by Hospice, but passed before they could start.

In a way, it's a relief. Even my dad couldn't go see her, it hurt a lot to see her in that condition, but it's still a blow to him and the family. Personally, I hadn't seen her in a very long time... my father and I were not really on speaking terms, but when he got diagnosed with cancer, I put aside the issues I had and was there. Family comes first.

I really hope this doesn't break his spirit though. He has already decided that the chemo was not doing enough good for him to outweigh the bad stuff it was doing to him, and according to the doctors, he doesn't have a lot of time left without the treatments; a year or two at best according to them. I am worried that one of the reasons he has been fighting everything was because someone needed to take care of Sarah, and now that she has left, well...

Time will tell, I guess. Tonight I raise a glass to Sarah, and remember the positive influence she was on my father. She really helped him turn some things around.

Tonight, I drink in celebration of the life of Grace, the overnight front end manager where I work. I just learned she passed of a heart attack Sunday, a loss to both my store and the world at large. I drink in remembrance of her no BS attitude and the way she could take control of a situation and defuse it without ever changing her opinion.

To a person that I truly only knew through work, even though we would talk now and again. To her unfulfilled plans of retirement and to her family. To someone that would drop everything and go to any length to help a friend in need.

You will be missed Grace. I raise my glass and drink to the legacy you have left behind, and to the memory that will remain forever.

Well, it's been a bit and I think it's time I finally wrote up the review for IFC.

The hotel was a combination of very nice and obviously refurbished. It was odd. Almost like they took an old hotel and built on a modern convention center. One elevator for the area I was in, but only three floors (I was on the second) so stairs were an option, and they became mandatory on Saturday when the elevator broke down.

Overall, the convention was run well. There were a couple of odd things that stood out, but overall everything went smoothly. It seems to be a staple of the smaller con to have a cramped dealers room though. Ugh, that thing was so packed it made moving difficult. Only took one person to stop and browse to nearly close off the lane, and if they had a large tail, it was totally closed unless you moved it.

Scheduling is another thing I've always wondered about when it comes to conventions. Reviewing the schedule, there were some obvious conflicts, mainly on Saturday. Go to the Charity hour and not make the Fursuit dance competition prelims, Rocket League Tourney, Lupis in Tabula, or Cutthroat artist. *shrug* I am fully aware that there will always be conflicts, but there are always some panels that you want to avoid scheduling conflicts. Charity auction shouldn't have things vying against it, you want the turnout for the auction.

Another thing I've started to notice is repetition in panels, specifically performers. Yes, Uncle Kage is a great storyteller, and can entertain a crowd. However, his stories rarely change. Even when a new story is added in, it is one out of several, and the show becomes familiar enough that you start to listen for the variations, for the changes made to allow the story to flow better. It leads me to believe that two conventions a year might not be the best thing, or I should mix it up a bit... one Furcon and one Sci Fi Con.

Overall, IFC is a con I would attend again, but I don't know if I would sponsor or just go attending. The sponsor lounge wasn't as, well, grand as I was expecting. Of course, I have been spoiled by MCFC and their lounge, so it might have just been me. Heh.

The Hotel, however, is one that I would have to think about returning to, simply because of the stupid AC in the room. When it started up, it would give off a loud Thunk, then start blowing VERY cold air toward the ceiling that then flowed down the wall right onto me, chilling me a lot. While it ran, it sounded like water was running through the unit, drawing attention to it's operation. Then it would shut off, all the cold air would drop like a blanket on the room, and then the heat would slowly creep back in from the outside wall, before Thunk and the air restarted. Stupid thing woke me up several times over the weekend and every time it did I had to get up because the flowing water sound... well... *sigh*

So, I am at the laundry mat, taking care of the last load before I pack for IFC tomorrow. I'm thinking of the panels I will be attending, and lamenting the fact it seems the AC has been turned off, so the place is very warm and humid.

That's when an of conversation I was trying not to listen to catches my ear. One of the young girls said she had not done something "In an Eon." Her friend stopped her, asked what that word was, and proceeded to have her repeat it three times. I actually spoke up, confirmed that Eon was indeed an actual word, and her friend wasn't joking with her. Her response was "Oh, a really long time then." *sigh*

Ah well. Laundry done, now I need to put my tail back together, fold up and pack my clothes, electronics, chargers, etc... I am still debating on when to actually leave. It's a four hour drive, roughly, and I don't want to get there too early, but if tonight is like a normal (for me) night before a con, I'll pass out at midnight, wake up at 4 AM and be unable to get back to sleep because of anticipation nerves.

At least my Nextbook is up and running. No problems with it, and the issues I did think were there are actually just changes that Windows made. I do not like them, but you can't turn 'em off. Just another pain in the tail to get used to, I guess.

Still debating on if I should crack open a bottle of wine to drink before bed. Might let me sleep longer than four hours, but would delay my sleep for at least an hour or two, causing me to either have to wake up after less sleep, or leave at a later time.

Update: I opened the bottle. Heh.

So, I am on Vacation. Started as a seven day vacation for IFC, and has, for various reasons, ballooned into a freakin' 16 day vacation, thanks to my sister making emergency travel plans for a trip up to MI and a couple of normal days off. I don't know what I am going to do with myself once IFC is over, but I got some things to do before it begins.

Tuesday is going to be spent dealing with the hangover from two bottles of wine that I have consumed this evening, and going up to the nursing home my Father has been transferred to due to medical issues. He's supposed to be there a week, but we will see. I need to pick up his keys, take out the trash that's been fermenting in the heat we've had and an empty house for a week or so.

Wednesday will bring a day of laundry, packing, and general panic as I pack and prepare for the trip. Probably another trip up to the assisted living place my dad is in.

Thursday, I am going to be heading down to IFC. Leaving around 10 AM for check in around 2 PM. I would volunteer for the con, but my luck has held true. If I volunteer, I am not able to return to that convention for at least three years. It's a valid trend for me and I am not willing to buck the trend and throw my fate to the wolves. Heh.

Anyway, it's going to be a fun run, and if it wasn't for the 60 hours of vacation time and the bonus we are getting on the first check in September, I wouldn't be able to afford this long of a time off. I am going to enjoy it, and drink enough to forget the hell that is work.

Well, after a lot of work and a lot of headaches, along with a lot of money I really didn't have to spend, I now have a functional Nextbook! I am totally keeping the Flash drive I mirrored the 32 bit Win10 on as well, just in case.

Now all I have to do is wait the 11 more days until my vacation starts for IFC. It's a day earlier than expected 'cause my Father has a doctors appointment that day and I need to be there for it.

It's gonna crawl by, I can tell. Ugh.

So, it's been a while. I found out this week that the Nextbook Win10 tablet I have has a serious flaw... There is a reset feature that deletes the OS and the restore drive won't reinstall that. Oh, and according to Nextbook, this voids the warranty, so they now cannot help me reinstall anything.

Oh, and a Win 10 64 bit system will not download the 32 bit OS. At all. Ever. *sigh*

I currently have it resetting after downloading the ISO on my ancient lappy (Running window vista), copying it to my Desktop, and burning the ISO to a flash drive to reinstall the 32 bit version. Ugh, that was a headache three days in the making. I'm calling the bottle of wine I bought tonight the celebratory bottle due to the apparent success of the reinstall. Of course, it reads 83 percent right now, but that's the best result from the last three days.

Wish me luck that the install finishes, and I can start setting up this thing for IFC at the end of the month!

So, I decided to delve into wines to attempt to deviate from the rum heavy alcohol consumption. Tonight, I decided to try an odd wine, a Riesling wine mixed with cherry wine. Sounded odd to me, but figured I would give it a go.

A local Michigan wine, something that I would like to support, was everything I expected it to be. I was hoping for the tartness of the cherry wine coupled with the sweetness of the Riesling, and it had everything I was hoping for. Most wines will last me two or three days, this one was killed off in one evening. It's a 25% cherry 75% Riesling mix, and it has just enough of the tartness to mellow out the sweetness. I really enjoyed this wine, and I will have to add this to the list of alcohol to buy when I want something to drink.

Tomorrow, or perhaps the day after, I've got another Riesling to try. It's a sweet Riesling, and I am worried that it'll be too sweet to be a regular wine. Ah well, time will tell.

So, MCFC. Once again it was a heck of a con, and I had a lot of fun there. I will say though, it was the oddest run up to the con for me.

Due to an unexpected set schedule at work, I had three days off before the Thursday I left for the con. I spent two days vegging out in front of the computer and sleeping, and the last day slowly preparing for the con. Got everything packed, ready to go, and went to sleep early Wednesday. Thursday, I woke up, had my pot of coffee and then realized that I had well over three hours before I had to leave. I've never been that unrushed for a trip to the con. When noon finally rolled around, I hopped in the car and took off into the worst drive I've ever had to a con. Rain, snow, hail, and some of the worst drivers I've ever had to dodge around. The roads, fortunately, never got bad or iced, but there was one stretch where the snow turned them white. Didn't last though. Passed up seven police cars, three in the median roads and four with trucks pulled over. Then there was the road construction... The highway my GPS told me to take was totally closed, and I got very lucky when I had to exit the highway; I made a couple good guesses on turns and got back to the highway after the construction. Still made it there in two hours, thank goodness.

Checked in and spent an hour in the room, setting up a couple things, charging up my tablet (The GPS drains that thing faster than you can imagine) and just relaxing after the trip. Went down to the bar, ordered dinner and my usual rum and coke (The staff remembered me and very nearly had my drink mixed even as I sat down). Registration opened early for preregistered people, and for the first time I was able to take advantage of that. Was nice to get it done early.

The MST3K was great, and playing Kings Cup after was even better. First time I've played that and it was a blast.

Friday was great, several panels to attend and enough breaks in there to get food and such. A couple missed panels because of overlap, but overall very enjoyable. Saturday was a bit odd in that nothing was really scheduled until about 2 PM (Not counting the fursuit parade). However, this was a bit of a blessing because it let me browse the dealers den.

Ugh. The Dealers Den. I have no solution for the single issue in the dealers den, and that is space. It was crowded, cramped, and OMG full of people that felt stopping and standing in the middle of the aisle, blocking off the path, was perfectly acceptable. More than once I stepped into the den to just turn around and leave because I knew I would not be able to navigate the room. I also found that I didn't spend near as much as last year because, for the most part, I already have all the art I wanted from the artists in the den. It has been the same crowd of dealers the past three years, and most of their collections are established with few new pieces being added.

Sunday was a little slow, a good wind down day. The auction was entertaining, but this year I did not buy anything. Bid on a couple items, but didn't win.

There were a couple of things that did get me riled up, but nothing the con itself did. The Furries, however, oh boy. Sitting in a panel in main events, and this guy sat behind me, carrying a huge staff lit with Christmas lights. Bright Christmas lights. Blinking bright Christmas lights. Annoyingly bright blinking Christmas lights that were reflecting in my glasses. I turned and asked him if he could turn off the lights. He stopped the blinking so the lights were solid on, and said "There." I turned back and asked him to turn the lights of the staff off. He stated he did, and I mentioned that the lights are reflecting in my glasses and it was very distracting, and can you turn the lights off. He then decided it was better to move to another seat rather than turn off the lights.

Who the hell goes into a freaking panel with a light source? *sigh*

Once again, the hallways were packed with people. I will never understand why people think it's perfectly fine to block off the whole hallway because they saw someone that they wanted to talk to. Step to the side or talk while walking, don't stand there and make a line of people wait until they say excuse me or just push past you. It's an ongoing issue I have, and once again something that has no real solution. People will always do whatever they want.

There was one small issue with scheduling that I had... I missed both concerts by the GOH's because of scheduling conflicts. Saturday they had the Open Mic and Dragget show against the concert, and Friday there was a Libation Appreciation panel, and I wound up eating dinner during the first part of the show because that was the first real gap in the schedule for me to get dinner that day. No idea on a solution for this one other than clearing the schedule for specific events, and that isn't really practical. I do wonder what the panelists who are scheduled against the main events shows feel about that, but considering the turnout at the panels, a lot of people felt it was worth missing the concert.

So I went and saw the movie I should have known about ages ago, but never heard of because I don't watch TV. I got told about it by another fur I saw at work. I am going to have to start looking more often for things like this, I would hate to think I missed something good because I am a shut in that hates TV.

Loved the movie. It's going to be quite the painful wait for this to come out on DVD. I am still debating buying the soundtrack. Most of it is instrumental, and while it's good, that's not what I usually want to listen to when I am playing music. Decisions, such a pain.

Here it is, a week out from my vacation for MCFC... Got the next two days off so I am working on my alcohol tolerance... I've let that slip during the last year. Not a good thing when I am planning on drinking a lot at MCFC.

Oh, a side note. I quit smoking. It's been just a hair under two weeks now with no smokes and no patch, gum, or vaping. I was determined to quit, not patch the problem and not solve the underlying problem.

I must admit, the alcohol is both helping and hindering, because I really smoked a lot when I drank... but now it's dulling everything, including the cravings. It's very weird.

On the plus side, I can breathe again. No more sleeping while hacking up a lung, and waking up after four hours with a rib busting cough and no real rest. I'm not having to take my asthma meds before bed every evening and I can wake up without coughing like crazy. It's a very nice change.

I'm trying to play WoW while typing this in and failing horribly at WoW. Well, what do you expect for being very intoxicated at 3:41 AM? Heh.

Work was a typical holiday. Waves of busy followed by the dead times. Made for a long evening and I am glad that I don't have to work for two days. With my set days off I only have four work days before my vacation starts. MCFC should be a good con, I've never had a bad experience there, and I'm hoping IFC will be the same. Still don't believe I've preregistered for both cons already. Heh.

Here's hoping for a FAST week and a smooth run up to the con this year!

Even with the nice bonus I'm getting this week from work, I have decided that AC is outside my budget range for this year, so IFC is going to be my second con for the year! Time off request is in at work and I think I've become responsible or something because I already have my room and preregistered for a con in August. I don't believe I have ever been this set up and prepared for an event.

So, here's hoping that the choice is a good one for me and that nothing goes haywire between now and then!

And she is an evil B***h, truly.

My federal tax return was sent out on the 24th, so doing some basic figuring, it would be picked up that day, processed on the 25th, travel on the 26th, process again on the 27th, and arrive on the 28th! Ok, so it was a long shot... and the mail did not arrive before I left for work.

So, stepping out for a smoke, I decided to check the mail again before bed. A large mailer full of ads and a letter for my roommate, no check. Darn. I go to close the door and something catches my eye. It's a small envelope that had gotten stuck in the door of the mail box! And it was my check! I still can't figure out how it got stuck in the freakin' door like that.

So now I have my Con money for the year! Woot! I'll get it dropped off in the ATM tomorrow and then figure out exactly how much I want to spend at MCFC, and how much I need to keep in reserve for IFC, which is looking like my second con of the year.

Although, rumor has it I will be getting a 400 dollar bonus from work on the next check, and my pay raise came through, so perhaps I just might have enough to look into AC this year. It'll depend on how accurate the bonus is, and if the schedule I have now continues. Only time will tell.

Well, MCFC is locked in, room reserved, preregistered, etc... Taxes are done and the money coming back will allow me a second con this year... but which con should I attend? IFC perhaps, it's reasonably close, Hotel rooms are still available, and won't break the bank. AC is a possibility, but room share would be a must and cost wise... ugh. Heck, the 200 bucks round trip driving (including parking) would be bad enough, add in the room and food costs along with assorted con costs and it quickly gets very expensive.

Ah well, something to consider while I am sitting at work going crazy.

So, it's been a month or so now, and I've come to a simple conclusion on the tablet I bought.

I don't like it that much.

Oh, it does everything I could need a windows tablet to do, and I have yet to have it freeze up or lock on me, so in all honesty I don't have any reason to dislike it from that viewpoint.

However, the keyboard is horrible. To be more precise, the connection between the keyboard and tablet is horrible. It cuts out randomly and often just doesn't want to connect up. I had the bright idea to save some space on the limited drives by putting some Pawpet episodes to watch on a flash drive, and using the USB ports on the keyboard to watch them. Three times in the first 20 minutes the connection failed and the video crashed out. Apparently, breathing at the tablet is enough to move it and cause the connection to fail.

Since I moved the shows to the second drive, they play fine, and are something to watch when I have nothing else to do, but man, are those files big and chewing up a lot of room. The tablet has a 32 gig internal drive, and I have a 64 gig microSD in for the second drive, but that's still a very limited amount of space on a computer for this day and age.

The internal speakers are also bad. Very small and produce minimal sound quality. I need a Bluetooth speaker to get good sound. I have one, and it works, but it's just another thing I have to carry around with the tablet.

Bah. Well, I guess I'm stuck with it. At least it works.