Mom's Guide to the Galaxy

Quiet, but for the birds.

On a normal Monday morning walk, half of these cars would be gone from driveways. Some others would already have the spattering of snow cleared off, preparing to leave. Instead, I saw only a handful of cars on my way to the park, rush hour diminished by the Stay At Home order that went into effect Saturday night. As I walked, I listened to the birds.

Snow notwithstanding, the robins have reemerged in northern Illinois for the spring. The couple inches of snow that landed on Sunday had, for the most part, melted itself off the streets and driveways by Monday morning, but remained on the lawns and trees, a fluffy white layer made more pleasant by not needing to shovel it.

The cardinals never left for the winter, but now they’re singing. There are a couple woodpeckers in the neighborhood; I never see them, just hear them as I’m walking. That’s an improvement over the one woodpecker at my old house that started pecking on the wall outside my home office. Occasionally, I hear an owl, and frequently the crows.

For now, I hear fewer cars. They’ll return, after this crisis fades, but for now, I’ll enjoy the birds’ sound effects.

In times of trouble, find your family.

For most of us, the world has shifted immensely in the last week. More people than ever are suddenly working from home, and parents who never considered homeschooling are finding themselves with children underfoot and educators scrambling to produce online lessons.

The initial wave of panic shopping should be done, I hope, allowing grocery stores to return to the new normal – encouraging social distancing as people move through restocked stores. And the kindness may continue… people offering to go shopping for anybody in the neighborhood that can’t or aren’t comfortable going at the moment, photos of goods in a front yard saying “take what you need,” relatives dropping of food for family members in the vulnerable groups. Whether they’re technically related or not, these are the families that hold our neighborhoods together.

Our karate family is similar. Classes are either cancelled are reduced in size at the moment, so karate schools are turning to technology to make sure people stay active and keep training. Many of the schools are streaming classes through Facebook Live, and opening them up to everybody instead of just their students. That is how I attended a local class online on Tuesday, part of a class at Legacy Martial Arts in Pennsylvania last night (I had a meeting rune late), and am prepping for a kickboxing class at Double Dragon Tang Soo Do in Michigan tonight.

Stay active, stay upbeat, and if you’re able, take a moment to help somebody during this mess.

Tech workers rejoice! Kickstarter votes to unionize.

On February 18th, Kickstarter became the first well known tech company to unionize (article here). As somebody whose professional career has always been in technology, I rejoiced, as I’m sure many others did.

I find it interesting that trigger that pushed Kickstarter’s employees to unionize was the decision to cancel a campaign, rather than working conditions. Typically, trade unions engage in collective bargaining related to wages, benefits, and working conditions, rather than a management decision on satire. And that’s where I would see a benefit to unions for tech employees.

As a tech worker, with one exception, I have always been a salaried (or “exempt” – from overtime) worker. While union workers in the private sector are typically paid more, that’s not what I would look for from a union – tech workers are typically well-paid. But we are paid the same whether we work a 40-hour week, a 60-hour week, or an 80-hour week.

What if you work a 30-hour week, you ask? Well, in that case, you’re expected to use vacation time. But those extra 20 or 40 hours a week… are effectively unpaid. And they’re common… ask your friends in IT how many hours they work each week. Pause while they check their phone for the latest work e-mail, because we are always connected now. (But they’re not in the office, it doesn’t really count, right?)

If you’re lucky, you might be given a “free” vacation day to make up for the overtime, like when I worked an entire weekend for a system launch and got… one day. Or that 80-hour work week… no, wait, I received no days off or financial recompense for those extra 40 hours. And that was the beginning of 18 consecutive days in the office during a “hell project.”

As a disclaimer, the company I work for now is awesome in allowing employees to balance work and life, so I’m definitely not complaining about my current position. But management at many companies forgets that we are, in fact, employee humans, who need the time off, particularly in positions where we’re expected to be mentally engaged most of the time. I can assure you, my programming wasn’t up to par by the time I hit my twelfth hour at work, and I usually spent some time the next morning reviewing my code wondering what in the world I had been thinking.

I think Kickstarter unionizing is a good first step. Who’s next?

Stranded on Box Fort Island

Hosting a party at a convention is labor intensive and oh, so fun! Each party has a theme, from Books & Beer (the beer is free, buy a book or two) to Barfleet to the Minneapolis 2073 WorldCon bid (it’s been around for a few years now), and our own Box Fort party. Capricon’s theme this year was the Tropics of Capricon, so our party theme was Stranded on Box Fort Island. In addition to our basic box fort building, a couple team members cut out leaves and birds, and even painted some of them to give the room a tropical feel.

In keeping with the theme, we showed Gilligan’s Island episodes throughout the party – I didn’t realize the first season was in black and white!

We tried to name our drinks appropriately for the tropics… we came up with Banana Booty (Rumchata banana pudding shots), Fireball Island (Fireball whiskey & cream soda), Liquid Sunshine (our non-alcoholic option – mango juice, ginger beer, and lime juice), and Floradora the Explorer (gin, lime juice, crème de framboise, and ginger ale). That last drink was unnamed, so I Googled what the combination of ingredients was usually called, which turned out to be “Floradora”. Adding “the Explorer” seemed like a fun name for a drink on a tropical adventure.

Like last year, we learned from our adventure… we didn’t really need to restock on most of our beverages, and I’ll eventually finish the ginger beer and mango nectar I brought home.

Thoughts on Splintergate

I’m not sure if I actually receive more fantasy books than science fiction ones to review, or if it just feels like it. I’d have to go through my list of books and categorize each one to come up with a number. That said, when I do receive a science fiction book, it tends to stand out, which Splintergate certainly did. This review was published in the November 15, 2019 issue of Booklist. Shortly after I read it, I found myself in line for a rollercoaster at Six Flags talking to some other geeks, and highly recommended the book to them.

Deborah Teramis Christian returns to the world of the Sa’adani with Splintegrate, following the interwoven stories of Hinano Kesada (Kes), a professional dominatrix; Janus, a cartel triumvir; and Metmuri Esimir, a brilliant scientist. Their destinies converge when the Emperor’s right hand, Ilanya Evanit (Eva), embarks on a mission to assassinate Janus just after he travels offworld on a business trip. With assistance from the local authorities and the Imperial Navy base where Esimir explores splitting different facets of a person’s personality into separate clones, Eva rearranges Kes’s world and Esimir’s project to suit her assassination plan. As Eva’s plan reaches its apex, Kes’s life begins to unravel around her, a casualty of a political war she is completely oblivious to. Esimir is impressed with the results of his experiment, yet simultaneously appalled at Eva’s warped approach in using his process, which he realizes matches the Navy’s plan. There is never a dull moment in this thoroughly developed science fiction novel; the adventure and background will delight readers, with cultures and subcultures, science, and interspace politics explained throughout.

Getting involved at a convention

Smaller conventions are typically run by non-profit organizations, and as such, are a labor of love put on by volunteers. I spent last weekend at Capricon, an awesome winter convention in Chicagoland.

You won’t see a lot of big name media guests and lines for signatures at this type of convention. Instead, you’ll have a handful of guests – authors, artists, musicians, and others – who enjoy interacting with other geeks. Take a look at WindyCon’s website for an example of guests coming to Chicagoland this fall.

Conventions don’t magically happen. They’re the result of extensive planning, typically starting more than a year before the event. If this year’s convention can announce the dates and location for next year, that means there’s a contract for the location and somebody has already been working on next year, all while preparing this year’s convention. And that’s just the beginning.

There’s a schedule, generally provided in the program book and a portable version called a pocket program. The schedule encompasses the various departments within the convention – areas that have to be staffed with department heads and more, along with volunteers to help during the convention. Most small conventions have a con suite, which offers food to attendees. That means shopping for food and drinks ahead of time, and having people available throughout the hours that con suite is open, including people who can handle food. (I don’t know what is needed for that, I just know there’s something special.)

There are typically panels – multiple rooms running various topics concurrently – and gaming. Somebody comes up with panel topics and finds people who are willing to discuss those with whoever shows up. If there’s a game schedule, that’s another set of volunteers that somebody needs to coordinate. Even if there’s no game schedule, there’s a games library and a checkout process. Plus registration, operations, security, art show and auction… a lot of people are needed to make these conventions happen.

And then there are the parties, typically run by groups of fans or other conventions… maybe I’ll talk about those next week.

Setting the mood with music

Music is all around us. There’s the hum of the furnace pushing air into the house, the slight rattle as something tumbles in the dryer, the percussive beat to the cat jumping on the counter, and the subsequent crash of a drying eggshell shattering on the floor.

In January, I posted a song on Facebook each day as the first song of the day. These ranged from silly (Mahna Mahna) to fun (Que Te Pasa) to heart-wrenching (Empty Chairs at Empty Tables). My qualifier was that I post the first song I sang – even if just a snippet – on that day. The song itself didn’t necessarily set the mood, starting the day singing is always a good thing.

And assortment of radio stations on Pandora

Some mornings I start by walking on the treadmill; on those days, my first song was more likely to come from Pandora. As you can see from the screenshot, that doesn’t narrow it down much… my stations include Disney, Broadway, 80’s music in English and Spanish, along with some other odd mixes.

At work, if I have any music on, it’s usually classical; I find it hard to focus on working if I want to sing along. In the spring, the music selection will probably be open windows and chirping birds. But for now, there’s snow on the ground and I can’t hear the cardinals at the bird feeder through the closed windows and the humming furnace.

Dolittle… a fun romp with talking animals

Robert Downey Jr. returns to the big screen in Dolittle as an eccentric rich man who takes a young orphan under his wing while demonstrating a tendency towards creating wacky gadgets and talking with animals. I know, it sounds quite similar to his role as Iron Man, but in Dolittle, the British kid gets to keep his own accent. And there are multiple animals, instead of just a talking raccoon. To be fair, Tom Holland may have kept his real accent too… he voices a dog. (The less that is said of Downey’s variable accent, the better.)

We had seen the previews for Dolittle repeatedly and thought it would be an entertaining pair of hours. It’s not high quality literature or cinema, it doesn’t even address the personal and social issues that Eddie Murphy delved into as Doctor Dolittle in his incarnation of the role. The over-arching plot is that Dolittle and sidekicks must search for a miracle cure for the Queen on an undiscovered island, using only notes that Dolittle’s late wife left behind… after they retrieve those notes.

Most of the animals have ongoing issues that Dolittle is supposed to be solving, including a gorilla who’s so frightened of confrontation, he is hesitant to play chess; an injured squirrel who amuses viewers with his occasional commentary; and an emotionally stunted tiger living in the shadow of his brother, who as everybody knows, eats poachers. The silliness is increased by an over-the-top villain who is clearly envious of Dolittle’s rapport with animals and is desperately trying to outdo him on anything.

This movie’s good for a few laughs. If you happen to see it at a theater that sells alcohol (and you’re of an appropriate age), the alcohol will probably help. Especially when Dolittle helps the dragon.

Blending hobbies: crochet and karate

Sometimes it’s fun to blend my hobbies. Over the years, I’ve crocheted assorted images into pillows or towels, and even coasters with Space Invaders aliens. You can see some of them here. Some of the fandom-related items have appeared in art shows at local conventions, looking for new homes.

The karate ones have only been created as gifts and donations. I carry a crocheted karate towel in my sparring bag, and a matching one was donated to the raffle prizes at the 2016 World Championships. (I have no idea who it went home with.) A karate scarf I made with all of our belt colors was auctioned off at a holiday party a few years ago.

Blue pillow with white figure doing a flying sidekick to the right; purple pillow with a white figure doing flying sidekick to the left

When Eagle Academy, the karate school I attend, announced that they were going to have a Casino Night with raffle prizes and a silent auction, I crocheted a pair of karate pillows with flying sidekick figures. The Casino Night (21 and over, of course) is a fundraiser to raise awareness about human trafficking. It’s paired with a Parents’ Night Out event, so kids can play in the awesome gymnastics area across the hall while parents play games in the dojang.

If you’re free tomorrow night (Saturday, February 1st, 2020), considering attending the Casino Night in Aurora from 6:30-9:30pm. The address is 881 Shoreline Drive.

Garden planning for 2020

I got an early start this year and accomplished one of my goals already – laying out a garden plan for the year. The work on it this year is fairly significant, because I calculated and mapped out the gardening space for square foot gardening. It’s a method I’ve been using for several years now, but this is the first time I’ve mapped the space ahead of time at this house.

Square foot gardening layouts for the garden beds and an assortment of seeds for planting

As you can see in the image, I have a decent amount of growing space – each square within a bed is a square foot, so I have 30 in the keyhole bed, and 16 each in the squares. The triangle is a bit awkward for squares, so we decided to try something different there instead of figuring out how 8.76 square feet maps out in a triangle. I ordered a kiwi plant, cute little ones that grow on vines and might survive our winters.

Except for the sunflowers, all of the seeds are allocated for an initial planting date (weather permitting, of course) in one of the beds shown above. The sunflowers will be split between the old shed area and the center of the star bed out front.

You’re probably thinking that I have way more planting area than I have seeds… and you’d be right. I decided not to start seeds indoors this year; I’ll be purchasing tomatoes, peppers, Brussels sprouts, and possibly a couple other plants locally once it’s warm enough to transplant them. That and any basic herbs that don’t come back in the star and the garden tower. The chives, mint, and cilantro always come back, and the dill probably will, but I have to see how the basil, parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme handle the winter.

There’s snow on the ground, so it’s at least a couple months before I can even start the early seeds – radishes, carrots, peas, kale, and mustard greens. But I’m sure spring will sneak up on us faster than expected, and I’m glad I’m ready for it this year, at least when it comes to garden planning.