Last weekend, Peter David, a writer of “stuff” – comic books, TV shows, novels, and such – passed away. He was only 68, which in the United States is around retirement age (unless you’re in Congress). Since I saw the news, I’ve been reflecting on the unusual impact Peter David had on my fandom. Picture a geeky butterfly flapping its wings somewhere.
In grad school, a friend and I decided to drive up to Orlando for MegaCon, which was primarily a comic book convention at the time. He wanted to hear Peter David speak; being a Babylon 5 (B5) fan, I wanted to hear J. Michael Straczynski. They were scheduled back-to-back, so we sat down for both. I came out of Peter David’s talk with an awareness that he had written some B5 episodes, a book called Howling Mad, and some funny “But I Digress” columns about Star Wars. I was working in Interlibrary Loan on campus at the time and set some challenges for my co-worker when I asked her to find those for me. (I have since acquired my own copy of Howling Mad.) I followed with my own research into Peter David and discovered that he was listed as a guest at DragonCon that summer.
If you recall my past discussion of DragonCon, it was my first exposure to Out of the Box Publishing and John Kovalic’s work (actually the 2nd year I attended). A few years later, that familiarity with both John and Out of the Box Publishing saw me hanging out at their GenCon booth playing Shipwrecked with a couple who were involved in the now-defunct Chicago Gamers Conclave, a Thanksgiving weekend gaming convention. Attending that convention brought Capricon to my attention, along with a reintroduction to some gamers I had met at Wizard World over a year before, and an invitation to a tabletop role-playing group, where I met my ex-husband.
The ripple effects of that geeky butterfly include exposure to John Kovalic’s work and as a result, my subsequent involvement in Dorkstock; meeting the father of my favorite human child (don’t worry, she knows she ranks above the cats too); and my introduction to Chicago’s fan-run conventions (one of which I co-chaired this year). That’s a pretty big impact for listening to a guy talk about Skippy, the Jedi droid; the “Bear”bylon 5 incident, and a wolf that got bitten by a werewolf.
There was, alas, a casualty from the power outage I mentioned last week. The following Monday, we realized that the large freezer in the garage, which came with the house, was clearing experiencing a meltdown. Not a minor one of the “oops, I left the door cracked open” variety which causes a build-up of ice… the previous build up (from one of those incidents) was clearly melting over the entire contents of the freezer.
At a pause in the mad scramble to squish the contents of a larger freezer into a smaller – and not empty – one, I paused to Google the freezer model, on the off chance that it might be reparable. I haven’t located the serial number, so I don’t know the exact age… according to the search results, the Sears Coldspot freezer model was replaced by Kenmore in 1976.
Needless to say, I was flabbergasted, and have progressed from wondering at its sudden demise to appreciating the quality and extended lifespan of this freezer. We will certainly miss it.
I realize, even in the United States, this is a privilege. But even this privilege has quirks.
You may recall that we had solar panels installed last summer, including a backup battery. (I did incorrectly say we weren’t pushing power back into the grid.) On Saturday morning, as I lay in bed cuddling the cats and scrolling my social media feed, I heard the power go out, and immediately kick back in. As is customary when our power flickers noticeably, our 2.4 GHz network dropped, sending a notification from our thermostat app that it couldn’t communicate with the thermostat. (The thermostat and printer only work on the 2.4 GHz network; almost everything else runs on the 5 GHz.) When I eventually got up, I knew I’d need to reset it through the admin portal.
When I did get up, my first responsibility was to feed the cats. This is where I noticed things being weird – one of the lights in the kitchen weren’t working, others were fainter than usual, and on one, two of the three bulbs weren’t lit. I wondered what sort of power outage would knock out some – but not all – of the light bulbs. This was before caffeine and it didn’t click yet that the power was still out.
While taking my morning shower, the water pressure dropped. That worried me – the well circuit was supposed to be on the battery, so why hadn’t it come back on? (Noting that the circuits were supposed to be accurately labeled shortly after I bought the house; now I’m fairly sure the “well” circuit is actually the water softener’s outlet.) After my shower, I scrambled to check the circuit breaker and the reset by the well. You may recall I gained some experience with our water pressure about a year and a half ago, when a pipe rusted through on Christmas Day. All I was sure of at that point was that the water pressure was really low, and it was way too early to call anyone to help troubleshoot it.
Eventually, I looked at our solar battery and realized that the blue icon I was seeing was not its normal display. Annoyingly, I couldn’t find anything online explaining what the different icons are. That display combined with having to manually light the gas stove are what made me realize that our power was still out and the solar battery was working as designed.
I made myself a micro breakfast to minimize water usage – I had water in the kettle from Friday and grabbed a snack bar. About twenty minutes after I finished, the power kicked back on with all the normal beeps and clicks that come with a power flicker. Including the need to reset the 2.4 GHz network again.
I took a sick day this week. I woke up a couple times during the night feeling poorly, then a couple hours before my alarm that morning, unable to get back to sleep. I dragged my way towards breakfast and realized that I would have a terrible day if I attempted to work. I commuted my way to the living room, booted up my work computer, send out some “I’m sick” messages to team channels, posted an out of office message, and logged out.
I hesitated though, in making that decision, and I realize that’s a flaw in our system. In elementary school, we had awards for “perfect attendance” (it didn’t count excused absences, which I wondered about when I received one), though if you think about it, that’s mostly an award for your parent calling in when you’re absent. As an adult, my early jobs didn’t involve e-mail, so calling in sick was actually calling someone and hoping they didn’t object. (I don’t recall it being a problem, though there was one time when my car wasn’t working where I was asked if I had another way to get into work.)
We shouldn’t have to justify sick days. If anything, people should be encouraged to take them, paid, to avoid sharing their illness with co-workers and, depending on the job, customers. In my case, working remotely, I have to be fairly miserable to call in sick. Fortunately, my boss understands that sick days exist to be used when needed and has never questioned my need to use one.
More specifically, the satisfaction from successfully adulting is weird. I suppose some parts seem more obvious than others, like finishing my holiday shopping early, and having holiday cards in the house already. (A few have made it to the mailbox.)
But there’s the glee of having a new oven and stove, and it hits on several levels. The old oven had an intermittent heat sensor issue which occasionally made baking frustrating. It was the last major appliance in the kitchen from the previous owner, and we wanted to replace it before it forced us to (unlike the dishwasher and refrigerator). The new one is marketed as accessible; the major change from our previous one is that most of the pieces that can be removed are dishwasher safe. And, to my budget’s immense satisfaction, the range was purchased with a Costco gift card.
Now we’re hitting several celebratory firsts… each of those favorite dishes like the first pizza in the new oven, and the first pancakes on the built-in griddle. Yes, that center section of the stove is actually a griddle-shaped burner with a custom-sized griddle! See, that’s one of those weirdly satisfying bits from adulting, along with the warning beep a minute before the timer finishes.
That satisfaction comes from smaller things too, like the new-to-us set of craft drawers, or replacing the difficult to access garage light bulb. And it definitely comes from the new shower head that I installed in the master bathroom. Who knew there was so much water pressure? And the shower draws warm water faster… because there’s more water pressure!
‘Well, that’s a cute idea,’ I thought, when I spotted journals for childhood memories labelled for parents and grandparents. It’s not the first time I’ve bought something like this; I gave my father something along these lines a couple years before he passed away. I don’t believe he used it, so it’s my mother’s to fill in now. This is, however, the first time I considered buying one for myself as we were picking up two Grandma ones (same questions!) to share.
Since I bought it in September, it made sense to start at that date, rather than filling in from the beginning. Oops, I cropped the dates out when I took the photo… rest assured, the questions about Halloween are around that date, not back in January. I’ve taken to reading a question ahead, then setting the journal down to think about it for a while before answering. The questions for September are largely about school, all the way from elementary to high school, and I’ve found myself thinking about things that while not forgotten, are rarely reflected on in my current life. Oddly, it has a bit of a calming effect in what has been a chaotic year of home improvement, convention planning (huh… apparently I haven’t written about co-chairing next year’s Capricon yet), and changes at work.
Whether you find a pre-printed book, one of those online options that provide a prompt every day, or just a blank journal, consider writing down your memories to share with your family. Our lives have changed so much with the advent of household technology that our reflections on the past will be a window into how life has changed.
In the interest of full disclosure, podcasts aren’t really my thing. I prefer to read material rather than listen to it. But when someone you’ve known for two-thirds of your life starts a podcast – with the bonus of it being an interesting subject – you listen to it.
It’s still early, two episodes in, so hop on over and listen to my friend Lya’s Memoirs of a Neurodivergent Latina. If nothing else, it’s a good reminder that there are many different paths for our brains… the way I think through things is probably not the way you do.
If you’re as excited about those two episodes as I am, check out her Patreon as well.
Picture Kermit the Frog flailing his arms wildly about. That’s how my week has felt, between work (somehow more hectic with Monday having been a holiday), medical appointments (physical therapy sessions for osteoarthritis in both knees), and trying to pick all these tomatoes (two for the bowl, one for the mouth…) before they go bad.
So I’m taking the week off, at least in terms of meaningful content. I need to blend the tomato soup now. (Quick recipe: 2 cups of bite-sized tomatoes, 1/2 a sauteed large onion, 2 small sweet peppers, a handful of thyme, single sage leaf, some minced garlic, a sprinkle of salt and pepper, and a handful of cashews, left in the slow cooker all day with a carton of vegetable broth.)
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that I’m following the upcoming United States presidential election with great interest. I commented on the Republican candidate during the last election cycle, which thankfully he lost. That said, poetry is not my usual medium, so it was a bit of a surprise Saturday morning when this got stuck in my brain and insisted on being written.
The energy is good, the message is better: we must save our democracy together. Talk to your neighbor, talk to your friends, let it not be how this government ends.
We will not go quietly into the night while those men, mostly white, cancel our rights. Forty-some years of these trickle-down tricks have made the rich even richer and the middle class sick.
When the middle class struggles, the country does too. Watch your officials, see what they do. If they try to divide us with a message of hate - stop and think, how does that really make America great?
Do they want you to vote or want you to hide? Are you too different from them, so not on their side? Or do they truly believe that each voice should matter? I can’t choose the former, thus I must choose the latter.
Every person that chooses to call the United States “mine” must now make a choice, they must draw that line. If you value each person for their friendly face, regardless of religion, gender, or race, Harris and Walz are the choice you must make, for your brother, your sister, for everyone’s sake.
This was followed by posting a recording of it to TikTok on Sunday.
Check your voter registration, check your early voting dates (where applicable), and research the candidates before our November 5th deadline. While this poem is specifically about the presidential race, your local races are equally, if not more, important.
You may recall earlier in the year when I posted about getting new siding and how great it looked. A couple weeks after the installation, I noticed a section of siding sticking out along the south side of the house. When calling it to the attention of our sales rep, I noticed a small section near the shed that appeared loose. It got worse from there… specifically the day a piece of siding flew off the wall.
The original siding gap that I spotted. It pushed back into place easily, then blew loose any time the wind picked up.
A loose spot of siding near a window – the piece meant to hold it in place was cut shorter than needed, and the siding was cut short, so they tried a patch job with a smaller piece and some caulk.
The small piece of siding that had been caulked on fell off, making the dried caulk visible.
A loose piece of siding just north of the bay window… this is the piece that ended up flying off later.
The same piece of siding as the previous photo a day or two later, now looser, clearing sagging and taking the piece below with it.
A loose piece of siding under the front window.
The top panel of siding is down by the air conditioner instead of attached to the wall.
A loose piece of top siding by the kitchen sink window.
The previously caulked piece theoretically fixed – the piece above it now the appropriate length – but loosens with the wind.
This bottom section by the gas meter looked a little loose… it was. (Spare pieces left from the first repair guy’s siding bundle are stored along the ground.)
A loose section of siding under the bay window.
After a second failed inspection and the third set of fixes (a team this time), I walked around pulling at different sections and found three bottom sections that were clearly loose. This is one of them.
A bottom piece of siding being pulled away from the wall easily by my hand. This is one of the sections I found after three repair crews and two inspections.
It took about 6 weeks from identifying the first issue to getting someone here to fix the problems I had identified, and he wasn’t given the appropriate supplies (additional siding pieces) to do the repairs, so he had to return the next day. (He, yes, singular person sent to repair what a team of people got wrong.) The day after his repairs, the county inspector failed the siding and fascia work for assorted loose pieces that would be a problem. A week later one of the pieces that was theoretically fixed removed itself from the back wall, and it took another week to get a guy out here to fix that and other identified issues, including the ones the inspector noted on his first pass. A couple days later, I noticed that small square near the window appeared loose again, but my sales rep didn’t respond to that text or the one the next week letting him know that the siding work had failed a second inspection.
Conveniently, just under a week later, the company’s office reached out to my insurance for a copy of the approved estimate, and the Claims Adjuster copied me on the reply. I took that opportunity to reply to my insurance and the construction company asking if this was related to the failed re-inspection. And while I received no reply to that message, I did receive a “please leave us a review” e-mail which appears to trigger any time their office receives an e-mail. (I’m fairly sure I’ve gotten one each time I responded to Customer Service.) This e-mail includes buttons to review them on Google, Facebook, or the Better Business Bureau if you’re happy, and a button to contact them directly if you’re not.
I actually had a response from them within the hour and a team (two people!) out here the next day. They fixed – from what I can tell, properly – the issues I had identified. And while it looked good, given the problems so far, I went around and started poking at areas I hadn’t yet and checking everything I could think of, which unfortunately turned up three more sections of siding that were loose at the bottom. My understanding (all new from this year) is that this style of siding is assembled bottom to top, so if the bottom isn’t on right, they have to strip the entire section and reset it.
In addition to how unresponsive the company became until I started interacting with their Customer Service team, there were definitely attempts to shift the blame away from the company. When discussing it with the sales rep this week – he stopped by for the final payment – I was told that because the house is old the studs weren’t where they expected them to be (stud finder, anyone?), and then that they hire the crews without knowing what work they’ve done previously (huh?!?).
As a result, I have both removed the company name from my previous post about my new roof, and removed the Yelp review they had solicited (before I knew about the problems). This is my equivalent of being nice, since they have repaired the problems at this point. That said, if you ask me privately, I will let you know what company not to hire.
