According to the genderanalyzer, there’s a 99% chance that my blog is written by a man.

Rob and I have been watching Torchwood and trying to figure out the appeal. Last night as we were heading out to Fabulous Girl’s birthday celebration, I finally realized what the appeal is and why it wasn’t hitting me as strongly as other people. Behold, I present a pictorial demonstration.

Please note that this is the way Rob normally dresses when he’s not working at the winery. Witness the period correct suspenders.

So, I can understand, now, the appeal that Torchwood has to other people.

In case you can’t tell, I’ve decided to give myself a vacation. I’m working on things, but not very hurriedly or consistently this weekend. In fact, I think an embarrassingly sizable part of the day consisted of tweaking my new G1. I luuuuuuuv my new phone. It is very shiny.

Rob got home at 3:30 today, which is astonishingly early for him. Thank heavens, I’d already sent the dancing boys home or that would have been terribly embarrassing. He has tomorrow off. Rob. Not the dancing boys. Although, since Rob has the day off, they won’t be coming round either. Probably.

I had coffee and a hamentash at the Hungarian Pastry Shop with Fabulous Girl. It was nice to catch up with her and feel like a grownup with a social life, you know? Afterwards, we went into the cathedral of St. John the Divine, which I’d somehow not managed to go into yet, despite living so close to it. I knew it was large, but the sheer size of it doesn’t hit you until you go in.

The building inspires awe. Pure, simple awe. Though I’m not much of one for organized religion, I do think that this is one of the things that it ought to do. I mean seriously, if you’re going to put up an edifice in the glory of God, it ought to darn well inspire awe. I can worship on my own, but a cathedral is a physical manifestation of the idea that individuals are small and that there are things that are much, much greater than we are. You know?

It helped, of course, that they were tuning the pipe organ for tomorrow’s rededication. It was haunting although at times a little unpleasant when a reed was particularly out of tune. I’ve never heard a pipe organ bend notes before. Pretty darn cool.

As I’m writing this, it strikes me as amusing that I started the day with a hamentash — a pastry from the Jewish holiday of Purim — and then went to a massive cathedral. I have to say, as impressive as the cathedral is, the idea of making cookies seems more practical. Or at least tastier.

My column at AMCtv.com is up and this week I’m asking the question, “Why do fantasy films always kill the parents?”

If you’re like most Americans, you spent yesterday saturated in turkey and surrounded by family. This is the season for family, and as much as we might love our families, there are will be times over the next month when we’ll think that life would be so much easier if we didn’t have to deal with them. But think about what would happen if they actually weren’t around. There’s a curious tendency for heroes in fantasy movies to be orphaned, or at least separated from their parents by some great calamity. Why is it so hard for fantasy heroes to hold onto their parents? Well, there are actually several different benefits to orphaning the young lad or lady. Today we’ll take a look at what happens in fantasy when you take the parents out of the picture.

Swing by and add your take on the tragic role of parents in fantasy films.

Today we took it totally easy. We’d had invitations to go to friends homes for Thanksgiving and turned them down because having two whole days with nothing on the schedule seemed much more appealing. I made blueberry walnut muffins for breakfast.

Around mid-day I realized that we basically had apples and some salsa in the house. Maybe a little more than that, but still, it was not presenting any easy menu options so I ventured out to the store. To my surprise, the stores were a) open and b) no more crowded than usual.

For dinner we had lemon rice, seared ahi tuna with black pepper and sesame seeds, and sauteed mixed winter greens with a tea broth. Afterwards we watched Groundhog Day, which Rob had never seen.

There are many things in the world to be thankful for and today, I’m thankful for a chance to be utterly lazy with my husband.

If you didn’t have to be anywhere at all, how would you spend the day?

Matthew Jarpe, whose blog I quite enjoy, posted this meme today. He says:

In RADIO FREEFALL I used the word meme to describe a mind virus that forces a person to obsess over a single thought until he commits suicide. In retrospect I should have picked another word. Since I wrote the book that word has lost its mysterious obscurity and has been applied to gramatically incorrect cats, zombies, pirates, and lists like this one. Here, you take a list of 100 things that people do and highlight the ones you’ve done.

I was sort of surprised by how many I’d done.  I crossed out the ones I’ll never do, just as an exercise.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumping
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkelling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theatre
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favourite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake ((I waded in the Great Salt Lake, does that count?)
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

That’s 67 or 70, depending on how broad the answers can be on some of these.

You might remember about a month ago I mentioned that Rob had gone in to have his hands diagnosed and that the doctor wanted to get him in for surgery right away, as in that week.  The nerves were dying. He’s been jumping through paperwork since then.  We just found out that his worker’s comp claim has been denied because they’ve said the carpal tunnel is a pre-existing condition.

The problem with this is that it’s not debilitating if he’s not working harvest.  I mean, the problems he’s having are so clearly linked to his job that it’s not even funny.  Right now, he’s having trouble tying his shoes.  This wasn’t an issue before harvest.

We’re been told that he can appeal to a judge, which we’ll try, meanwhile he’s also jumping through the paperwork hoops for our regular insurance.  I’m frustrated, angry and worried about him.

PuppetVision blog is one of my favorite websites because they’re always finding great puppetry video on the internet. Witness this one.

Steve Vitale documents Dave Goelz and Steve Whitmire’s visit to the Atlanta History Center including great video. This is an extremely rare opportunity to see the two men work in full view of the audience. It’s engaging and fun.

I’ve just returned home from the SFWA reception which seemed to be a rousing sucess. Kudos to Bud Sparhawk, the Eastern Regional Director, for arranging it. It was my first one, so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. It turns out that it’s very much like an opening night party, without a show attached to it. Folks dress up, chat and generally seem to have a good time.

I took Rob along since people have been making cracks about my invisible husband at cons. I don’t think he minded and he even smiled in a photo. (Ellen, will you send me that?) I was amazed by how many people I knew. There just wasn’t time to talk to everyone.

I was on a panel today, the Latest News from Mars and as soon as I walked in felt out of my depth. The other two panelists were scientists and here I was, a writer. I mean, one of them brought in a globe of Mars. He was totally ready. I had launchpad, my twitter feed and reading Bad Astronomy to bring to the table.
But astonishingly, I totally held my own. We started with the question of what was the most exciting recent news. The glaciers! were my pick. I figured that the audience would be up on that, too, but it was news to most of them. We had a good dicussion about what this meant for SF in addition to the science of it. I learned that there’s lichen on Earth, plus some insects that can live in our glaciers so it’s not unresonable to posit life in the glaciers. Likely? No, but you just need the what if potential for a cool story.

I was also amazed at how much information I’d retained from Launchpad. Paricularly when we started talking about how the Rovers work. Granted, if I was pressed for detail, it became quickly aparent that I had only a surface understanding, but it was still cool because, as Mike Brotherton planned, I know the frame and the right questions to ask. It was a pretty exciting panel for me.

I’ve just been asked to make a “slaughtered lamb.” Given my name, how can I not?

I’m continuing to have a good time here, although am too tired to sum up properly. Bear with me until tomorrow and I’ll write an actual post.

I have a reading at 11:00 and to at least pretend to sleep before then.

• 16:42 I can tell I’m teaching puppet making at an SF con because one of the students has just made Cthulu. #

• 10:41 The downside to giving a dinner party with “correct” place-settings is dealing with the ridiculous amount of silver afterwards. #
• 11:53 The upside to giving a dinner party with “correct” place-settings is that I love my china and silver. I just clearly need staff for cleanup. #
• 12:26 Whoops.Got our phone bill.All of my Obama calls while in the Calgary airport in were roaming charges. A good cause, but tax deductible? #
• 12:30 Good timing. My phone just died. As in broken. Is the universe telling me something? #
• 12:50 If you were getting a smart phone & a t-mobile customer, what would you get? #
• 14:05 Curses. If I buy the phone at a store, they can’t let me upgrade unless I switch to an NYC number. How stupid is that? Not doing it. #
• 16:52 Finally leaving for Philcon with my new phone. Played with the blackberry and the G1 in the store, settled on the G1. (Hush, Michael.) #
• 19:51 I’m on the River Line heading into Camden. So far, its been painless transit. #
• 21:14 I’m at Philcon and heading for the meet the pros reception. #
• 21:57 OMG I left the Campbell tiara at home. Anyone coming out to Philly from NYC tomorrow? Daft, I am. #
• 22:40 I’m on a panel on websites for writers and explaining twitter. Got anything pithy to say? #
• 23:23 Thanks all for the pithy thoughts, we were trying to demonstrate what twitter is and what it’s good for. #
• 23:24 So, Philcon? Free wifi, which automatically makes this the best con, evar. And well organized thus far. #