Snow!

[altivo]

First accumulating snow of the year, just in time for the big Thanksgiving travel rush. Glad I only have to drive to work. Of course, that's on country roads that likely will not have been plowed yet, but by good luck I just had my 4 wheel drive fixed last week and my brakes redone. Perfect timing. My mate will be driving to Chicago later today to pick up his Mom and bring her back for the weekend, but hopefully the interstate will be clear by then and he'll get through the traffic OK.

Still not getting a lot of work done in the con "let down" mode. Frysco's photo of me in the fursuit parade was extremely popular at work yesterday, even though the angle makes me look like Mr. Potato Horse. Now they are all wanting me to fursuit at work. I don't mind that, except that it would be an event involving little kids, not my favorite audience particularly.

I am probably going to put NaNoWriMo on hold for this year, unless it turns out to be an exceptionally quiet weekend. The con put me 12,000 words behind schedule, that's too much to catch up. Yes, I will finish the story, calydor, but probably not by November 30. I do intend to get the podcast out this weekend though. This week's subject: Beatrix Potter and The Tailor of Gloucester.

To everyone I saw at MFF this year, I'm missing you. We need to do it more often. ;P Off to unbury the Jeep now...

*ducks thunderbolts thrown by takaza and duncandahusky*

Comments

[niko-winterset.livejournal.com]

You and your mate have a great holiday weekend and yay for snow. I called home this morning and it was snowing there too....if you can call a flake or two every few minutes snow. :P

Be safe.

Storm

[altivo.livejournal.com]

It's melting already. Headed for a high of 45 degrees this afternoon. But I guess Indiana and Michigan are in for a real blast, up to a foot of white stuff tonight and tomorrow.

You have a good holiday too. Hope your travel isn't too unpleasant.

[scruff.livejournal.com]

Not really relevent to the post, but it's such a cute picture, I just had to share it! *sits on you*

[altivo.livejournal.com]

:)

Kitties are welcome to sit on me as long as they (ouch!) watch their claws. In fact, even cheetahs or bobcats are good with me.

[duncandahusky.livejournal.com]

Heh. For all that I seemed cranky about such statements, I'm already making plans for next year, and actualy looking forward to it. Of course, all the nice comments and reviews I've been reading all over LiveJournal help as well. It appears we're doing something right.

Incidentally, I apologize if my reply about the postcards last night came off as a bit prickly - I was tired, and I'm not altogether happy with my own performance in getting the postcards out the door this year. On the bright side, Takaza and I did some brainstorming and came up with some ways to make the process a bit more efficient. I'll be getting postcards (and e-mails, as promised) out to folks who registered at the con by this weekend.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

'S OK. I didn't see your response yet because LJ is only notifying me of about one in four responses at the moment. Even without looking, though, I can sympathize. I know what that kind of task is like, I do such things myself, and I tried to couch the request as gently as I could.

Some kind of verification really is needed though. I put my sponsorship into the mail this morning in order to make the deadline for the discount. :) E-mail confirmation of receipt is sufficient and perhaps cheaper than mailing postcards. Bare minimum would be acknowledgement of receipt, with amount of payment received. Thanks for listening.

And yes. I think MFF is doing a fabulous job overall. The con is smoothly run, has a terrific variety of activities, and I have enjoyed it immensely both last year and again this year.

[duncandahusky.livejournal.com]

No problem - constructive feedback is always welcome (not that I would expect anything unconstructive from you or most people I know). Some years back we tried e-mail confirmations and the number of issues involved (spam filtering, mistyped e-mail addresses, people just not checking their e-mail, etc.) makes postcards a much more reliable option. The overall postage cost isn't too bad - less than $200, and my budget for Registration is typically around $8,000 - $10,000.

The solution we came up with was preprinting all the postcards and just printing labels for the front. In addition to the address, the labels will note whether it's for a membership or a sponsorship. I don't want to put the exact dollar amount; I'm not really comfortable putting info like that on something anyone can read.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

In all fairness, I should say that registration or check-in at the con itself is a model of smoothness. One of the cleanest, quickest operations I have ever experienced for this sort of thing, whether a bit commercial tradeshow or a little fan gathering. Congratulations on a job well done in that area. :)

[duncandahusky.livejournal.com]

In reading con report after con report (and I've read a lot of them in the past few days) I don't think I've seen a single one mention Registration.

And that makes me happy.

We're the place where people stop briefly before going to have fun - barely noticeable, as it should be. It takes an insane amount of work to get things to that point, though, and I'm glad you noticed :-)

[drelonek.livejournal.com]

Cute suit.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I actually got asked for an autographed copy of that photo this morning. ;P

[hgryphon.livejournal.com]

Hooray for horsies!

[doc-moreau.livejournal.com]

Come to Anthrocon!!!

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Thanks but I think not. I don't really care for travel, to begin with, and I'm tied pretty close here with all the animals I'm responsible for. But more importantly, AC is just too big. I'm a country horse, I don't do well with crowds and cramped elevators and heavy traffic. I never have, and as I get older, my tolerances grow less.

[doc-moreau.livejournal.com]

It's understandable. Cramped elevators... that's an official AC understatement. ;p
Well, I'm still partly young, so perhaps I'll see you sometime if i head to MFF... i need to get the wanderlust out of my system before i have animals to commit to...

[calydor.livejournal.com]

Elevators are good for one thing, and one thing only:

http://www.bash.org/?12431

[songdogmi.livejournal.com]

/* skritches cute horsey nose */

Sorry to hear about NaNoWriMo, but it's totally understandable. (The final reason why I didn't try this year was that I had two vacations scheduled, but both involved Wolf and family, and I knew I'd have a hard time getting enough words per day in.) What I've read so far has been very enjoyable, and I'm looking forward to reading the whole thing.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Nah, don't be sorry. I'm more than half finished, and I will finish it. I just don't want the pressure-strain of trying to get done by the 30th. Other things are more important to me just now, like the podcast and the Thanksgiving dinner. ;) Hope you're going to have a nice holiday weekend, too.

[songdogmi.livejournal.com]

I think it'll be good. If I don't have to pick up Mom, then I only have a half-mile drive to my sister's house. My nephew is cooking the turkey this year; it'll be his first one, so that's a possible point of uncertainty. But I have faith. Here's hoping you have a fine dinner yourself!