GeeCee's Not-Entirely-Original Miscellany

Okay, so I guess I've got a couple things firmed up. Will be arriving in greater Boston sometime tomorrow evening, although when will depend entirely on when I get my butt out of bed in the morning and what traffic is like. I'll be staying at the Hotel Marlowe since it's about a half mile from the conference location (heh heh, "Microsoft NERD"). I gather that the hotel is near-ish both Lechmere and Kendall/MIT T stops, so I've got that going for me. I have my car, but I plan to move it from the garage as infrequently as possible because you Boston drivers is craaaaaaaazy.

As far as social time, the best option will probably be Saturday night sometime after 8; there's conference-provided free booze happy hour after the sessions, plus allowing for time to get back to the hotel and freshen up. Any interest in dinner on Saturday? Also, suggestions for a reasonable spot? I have no idea what the options are anymore since I haven't been to Boston and really outside the Arisia hotel for a good while. I suppose there's always the venerable Mary Chung (Mmm, scallion pancake. Mmm, dun dun noodles.) but I'm fairly flexible.

I do not need more books. That doesn't mean I don't want to go to the Green Valley Book Fair for an afternoon though, and I'm craving a bit of a road trip. For those of you who've never been, it's essentially an enormous warehouse full of remaindered and overstock books, and I've been known to leave the place with two and a half grocery sacks full of TPB and hardback books after having spent under $60. It's not the place to go looking for some particular title, but it's plenty dangerous to browse. I am going with a budget this time, I swear.

The next iteration of Green Valley will be Aug. 16-Sept.1. Since I'm pretty sure I have plans on the 16th already and traffic on Labor Day weekend will be ever so much fun, I'm thinking I will go on Saturday, Aug. 23. My current thinking is to leave probably around 11-11:30ish (it's usually just under two hours from my door to the book fair), spend a few hours at the fair, get a really late lunch/pretty early dinner possibly in Harrisonburg, and then maybe take the scenic route back out 211, depending on how late it is and how worn out we all are. How many of y'all can I convince to go with? (There are a couple of folks who have dibs on the spare seats in my car already if they're going, just so's you know, but available car space will be finalized closer to the actual date.)

Tickets for Ryan Adams & The Cardinals on Sunday in Charlottesville purchased. I get to indulge my not-so-hidden fangirl, even though it involves a bit of a road trip. Anyone else local interested in going and carpooling? I gotta come back reasonably promptly after the show since I have to be at work on Monday, but since the show starts at 7:00 I'm thinking we won't be back at like 3 AM or anything.

Today's laugh courtesy of the show description:

For the most part, Ryan Adams hopes that he can just play some songs and whatever. If that’s not okay with someone, that’s totally fine, He won’t come into their homes and like, jam on top of their TV sets, or in their face wearing nothing but a cowboy belt with gun holsters and women’s underwear while screaming "Listen to me...look, look what I did… LISTEN TO ME OR PERISH!!!” Then, turn into a gigantic metallic spider and wrap whoever up in electric coils and devour them, only after injecting them with poisons so their insides go to mush.

Well, he’s totally not into that at all, and really sort of keeps mostly to himself these days. He knows that everybody thinks that he is some kind of lunatic, and maybe that’s so, but as long as it’s not in someone else’s yard, and yeah that happens to everybody once or twice, but really.