I’ll let the photos do most of the work this week. One key thing to keep in mind about the Vancouver airport is that our flight was delayed by three hours, so we landed shortly after midnight in that time zone – 2am in our home time – on little sleep. Despite that, the airport was distinctive enough that we stopped repeatedly to admire it and take photos. On top of that, when we stumbled into the Pinnacle Hotel Harbourfront at wee hours of the morning, they moved us to a port view room with a stunning view.
A pair of woven hangings featuring native designs hanging in the Vancouver airport.
A native wood carving hanging in the Vancouver airport.
Two wood carved people at the Vancouver airport.
The view of the Port of Vancouver from our hotel room, including a gas station in the middle of the water and a line of sea planes.
The view of nearby buildings from our hotel room, with many trees around and on the buildings.
A giant crab in a fountain outside the Museum of Vancouver, with our visiting plush: a light green bear with brown spots and a blue-footed booby.
An awesome tree that we passed after visiting the Museum of Vancouver.
A duck that approached us as we left the Museum of Vancouver.
A colorful Canada Post box that we saw near the Museum of Vancouver.
A sea plane landing in the water at the Port of Vancouver.
Yes, we took photos in the Museum of Vancouver, but I feel most of those would require extensive explanations as to the lovely exhibits we visited. The plush are named Menta and Henrique (I’ve been told that the H is sometimes silent).
At the end of May, we took a cruise past a small part of Alaska on Holland America. This was our third cruise together, and only our second since the cruise that helped launch this blog. This ship is significantly larger than our last cruise was, with 11 levels and the capacity for almost 2,000 passengers. I’ll have follow-up posts about the amazing excursions we selected and the sights we saw.
If you plan a cruise, there are certainly budgeting items you need to consider. We live nowhere near Alaska, which meant in addition to the cruise price (per passenger) and taxes, we needed to account for flights into one airport (Vancouver, BC) and out of another (Anchorage). (I met a retired couple who realized it was cheaper to stay on the ship for the return journey instead of taking a longer flight home from Anchorage to southern California.)
We opted out of the Have-It-All package, which includes most beverages, Wi-Fi, and “crew appreciation”. Crew Appreciation refers to built-in tips, itemized on a daily basis, which is a nice way to account for the variety of cultures – and different tipping practices – that guests may be coming from. On this cruise, that was $17 per day per passenger, which can add up quickly, so it’s worth doing the calculations to see if the upgraded ticket is offset just by that. The shore excursions can add up pretty quickly too. We added a hotel room for a couple nights before the cruise, partially to offset the risk of flight delays (which turned out to be an excellent plan) and for the opportunity to briefly explore Vancouver.
The photos below are all of, on, or from the ship, showing off our tiny inside cabin, some highlights that stand out (like elevator rugs with the day of the week that get changed daily), and a lovely sunrise photo on the one day when I was up and moving for the 4am sunrise.
A subsection of the Noordam in port, showing some of the floors, an elevator shaft, some lifeboats, and a gangplank for exiting the ship.
Artwork depicting the style of cruise ship.
Two twin beds in an inside cabin. There’s a curtain behind the beds hiding a wall. There’s a stuffed bear on the left bed and a stuffed blue footed booby on the right bed. Each nightstand has a water bottle.
An early morning view of the outside pool on the Noordam. There are no people visible on the deck due to the early hour the photo was taken. (Not that there were many people using that pool when it was open, it was a bit cold outside.)
Sunrise in Alaska from a cruise ship
A rug in the elevator that reads “Wednesday”. The rug was updated daily.
Decorated glass doors to an elevator with windows out to the deck, water is visible through the windows.
A view of most of the Noordam in port, with a smaller boat, Bravest, in front.
Coming straight off an Alaska cruise, you’d think that would be the most exciting thing on my mind. I promise, those photos are coming soon, we just haven’t sorted through them yet. When I had someone check the roof for hail damage, I was hoping they’d say the roof was fine and didn’t need any work. Obviously, that wasn’t the case. However, having a new roof put me in the position to do something I’ve been waiting for… adding solar panels.
When we picked this house a few years ago, it had exactly one tree – the silver maple near the back property line – and a small mulberry shrub. The mulberry is taller now (I’ll trim it down after mulberry season, for real this year), and we’ve planted an assortment of trees around the yard, all still fairly small. In other words, we have minimal sun blockage over the roof, making solar panels ideal. As with many home improvements, I opted to go through Costco when selecting a company. The sales rep was able to come out a couple days after we provided our contact information to the guy at our nearby Costco, and fully explained the process before I signed a ton of documents agreeing to the installation and the financing.
A week or so later (it’s all kind of fuzzy because I dealt with siding issues for so long), someone came out to photograph the space and check our circuit box to see what might be needed there. Sooner than I expected, I received an e-mail offering us an installation date… the week before our Alaska cruise. We deferred, as I had a ton of meetings at work that week, we had packing to do… and we weren’t quite done clearing the space in the garage they needed to do the work.
Overall, the installation went smoothly. There were clearly defined teams working on different pieces of the project – people installing the panels on the roof while another team did the electrical work inside and outside the garage, and another person on day two to install the backup battery. (The options were no battery, just a backup, or a fancy battery and pushing power back into the grid.) There was, of course, one hitch: the electrical team noticed some issues with previous wiring work done in the circuit box which were outside the scope of the equipment they came with. I’m working to get an electrician in to fix the box issues before the inspection, hoping (unlike my siding) for a pass on the first try. The inspecting organization (this varies by locality) will then notify my electric company that it’s approved so they can flip a switch and bill me for far less than they currently do.
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.
Conveyor belt sushi is not a new concept – instead of placing a food order, every table is next to a covered conveyor belt the transverses the restaurant, carrying sushi from the chefs (usually somewhat visible) to hungry guests. One of the puzzles, however, was how much you’d be paying at the end of the meal. Typically (at the restaurants I’ve visited) the plates were color-coded, with different prices based on the plate color, and a reference sheet on the table.
Kura Sushi has taken a different approach, standardizing the plate price and varying the quantity on the plate. The next advantage – besides making it easier for guests to track their spending – is that each table has a receptacle (not pictured, sorry) to slide your empty plates into. In addition to keeping your table clear, it reduces the staff responsibilities at each table.
Of course, the robot delivery drinks helps too. When we first arrived, we were created at the door, and as we were seated, asked if we have visited a Kura Sushi before. If you haven’t, your waiter or waitress will bring a practice plate over, so you can practice popping up the cover and removing the plate. That process needs to be fairly quick, since the plate is trying to escape on the conveyor belt. At my second visit (just a week apart, at different locations and with different people), the entire chain had rolled into a Dragon Ball Z promotion, with a dispenser above every table automatically dispensing a prize when the table reached 15 plates in the receptacle.
That’s standard plates, mind you… there are some dishes (such as the fried scallops) that you can order that come on plates that clearly aren’t intended for the receptacle. There are also soups (miso, ramen, udon) that arrive in bowls… there’s no way they would fit. Those are added to your bill when you special order them.
If you do special order – from the touch screen above your table – the screen will announce your incoming order as it zips towards you on the upper level belt. Even if you special order something, the dishes that you see on the conveyor belt have the same price; all prices are noted on the screen.
Whether the table next to you is playing Kobolds Ate My Baby! or Knuckle Sammich, you’re going to hear people repeatedly shouting “All hail King Torg!” Last year, as 9th Level Games prepared to launch a new edition of Kobold Ate My Baby! through Backerkit, they included an option to purchase a plush kobold.
I don’t need another role-playing game I’m never going to run (please ignore the two others I’ve bought from them since then), but I definitely wanted another plush inspired by John Kovalic’s artwork. I mean, check out the teeth on that kobold… isn’t he adorable?
When he arrived in March, I wavered on what to name him. He looks a bit young to be a king, yet I wanted to pay tribute to those many games of Knuckle Sammich we’ve played. I settled on calling him Prince Torg rather than King Torg (all hail King Torg!). That led us to last week, when instead of saying all hail Prince Torg, it changed to all hug Prince Torg.
Normally when I receive an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of a book, it’s a few months before the publication date. Witchy Winter by D.J. Butler actually released in 2018, and joined my collection within the last year. One of the prizes for a reading challenge at our local library (they now have multiple challenges each year, including winter and summer) was the option to select a book.
You may be familiar with this problem… you’re presented with a decent selection of books across multiple genres, and you’re only allowed to pick one. How do you pick???
Our library simplified the process with some highlights about the book, helping narrow down the selection before flipping to the back covers to read the marketing blurbs. With highlights sticking out of every book, it reduced the immediate list to two or three books. One thing that jumped out for me, as an Illinois resident, was the mention of Cahokia; we visited the site in 2013 near the end of our big roadtrip.
This book hit so many high points for me: well-developed characters, multi-threaded plotlines tying together, various types of magic, and a neat alternate history that still has Europeans in the Americas while retaining Native American civilizations.
But… it’s the second book in the series. There are enough references to the first book that I could probably get away without reading it, yet enough hits at the past action that I definitely want to backtrack. Having just read Witchy Winter, I can then skip to books three and four.
Given the choice, I’d suggest you start with book one, Witchy Eye.
While I’m specifically taking about drawing and painting in this post, I’m really referring to any creative process you want to count, be that crafting, writing, making music… whatever! I’ve found myself needing a creative outlet a couple times recently, the first as I was preparing a bid to co-chair next year’s Capricon with a theme of Let Your Geek Flag Fly. The image below was me thinking through what could fall under that theme and which of those I could represent as meeple. It is certainly not all-inclusive, given how much different material falls under fandom. That said, if you’re not sure which fandom is meant to be represented by a particular meeple, take a moment to read through the ALT text.
More recently, our local library kicked off a Tiny Art Show, distributing mini canvas (3 by 3 inches) with a matching easel, along with a small paint set and pair of brushes. My initial plan had been to draw a person, a phoenix, and a dragon, based on a book I recently reviewed, but I didn’t really like the practice sketch I made. I didn’t even make it to the phoenix, as people – faces in particular, though hands are a difficult spot too – are not my strong suit when drawing. Then it occurred to me that I could draw something based on one of my stories. My most recently published story, “The Box”, in The Spaces In Between, provided the inspiration for this piece. The little green guy holding the sketch (second draft, I drew one on paper first) is a cell phone holder I picked up at the work conference I attended recently.
Happy with the sketch, I proceeded to attack the canvas with an eraser, reducing the lines to mere outlines to reduce how much pencil might show through in the final image. I then painstakingly painted it over three different sessions one dot at a time. It has been many years since I tried my hand at pointillism, and I’m fairly sure this is the first time I’ve tried it with paints rather than markers.
I deviated by making the unicorn pink with a purple mane and tail; she’s specifically mentioned as white in my story. I thought white would look too much like unfinished canvas.
Overall, I’m happy with both results, acknowledging that they’re very different stylistically. What’s your current creative outlet?
Last Friday, we attended C2E2 for the first time as volunteers for the Science Fiction Outreach Project, which gives away free books (mostly science fiction and fantasy) to promote literacy. Given limited time and the size of the exhibit hall, we took a focused approach of visiting just the Writers’ Block and Artist Alley (13 rows!), looking for people who may be interested in space in next year’s dealers hall at Capricon. We hit Chicago traffic coming & going, which is always not fun, though ultimately worth it for attending the event.
On Saturday, we drove a different direction, hosting MarindaCon at a forest preserve to celebrate our dearly departed friend. We gathered with assorted friends – including people who drove from Michigan and Wisconsin as day trips, and some who joined via Zoom – for geeky conversations and a delicious cake (as well as other food). It turned out to be a beautiful day, except for the occasional gust of wind that moved some food and drinks around.
And then, before the crack of dawn on Sunday, I drove through a rainstorm to the airport’s remote parking garage and flew to Washington, DC, for a work-related conference. I took the opportunity to meet up with my cousin and his partner for lunch and some wandering along the National Mall in what was at that point the hottest day of the year. (The next day may have been warmer, but I didn’t make it outside until a late dinner time.) The sheer quantity of food trucks selling ice cream was amazing.
Had I realized that my conference days were 10-11 hour days, I might have taken the time for a nap after our wanderings. As it happens, I’ll be spending the next couple of days trying to catch up on sleep.
It’s been a busy week and my brain is working through a plethora of stuff, so this is a short post. I was super excited to notice flowers on the strawberry plants this week!
Or as I prefer to refer to them… future strawberries.
Great, now I’m hungry. And we don’t have any strawberries in the house. I suppose that’s OK, I know storebought won’t taste as good as homegrown ones.
