Well as I've mentioned before, its been a lengthy break between full conventions for me, so I was quite anxious and excited to be going back to AC this year. sibir_lupus and I were traveling together there, starting out with an early ride to the airport from lillibug on Thursday. Second time using my luggage and it got smashed and broken on the flight in. :P

Thursday was arrival and set-up day. Sibir and I were the first in, wildwolf4paws was driving in later, and Steelclaw Fox was delayed by a broken alternator, not arriving until 10 that night. All together, we had five fursuits explode over the whole room, and thanks to Wild's fans and a borrowed rack, the turn around time on drying was pretty quick this year! Thursday night we all ventured down to 18th street to Primati Brothers, a sandwich shop thats been features on the Food Network. Their thing is that they slap coleslaw and french fries right on the sandwiches.

Friday opened with running around in suit, visiting the Masquerade rehearsal to see if any extras were needed (negative) followed by last breakfast at Steel City Diner. That place (and every restaurant within a couple blocks) was humming constantly! Wild's Pred Panther came out to stalk around the con and was quite a hit from what I could tell, I didn't see many other costumes with the theme that were even close. One of the highlights on Friday was amassing a big group of friends, amoungst them aceswild, ramensnax and his GF April, to hit up Sushi Kim's. Our waitress was quite awesome and turned out to be an internet DJ whose broadcast we would listen to on another day.

Saturday brought around more suiting and activities. Attended the panels on fursuit construction and costume tech that Wild was putting on. Over the course of the weekend, I heard reports of a ZiB being spotted at the convention, however details were sketchy at best - many complained of lingering feelings of deja vu and of being unable to remember exactly where, when, or what happened around him. Quite curious. A definite highlight for me on Saturday was coming in first place in the fursuit games Solo competition! A first for me, I never win anything! The nifty hex badges, fursuit plaques, trophies and such were memorable bits of con bling to take home, thank you triggur and tugrik for creating them!

Sunday we attended another fursuit panel of Wild's, as well as the Hoofers panel. Things always get a little sad as there is that unavoidable feeling of them winding down on Sundays. Dealer's Den closing up early, things shutting down one by one, until even the con center is closed off. The DeadDog in/on/around the Hotel was packed wall to wall, omg! The headless lounge was standing room only at many points!

Special thanks again to Sibir who during the course of the con was called upon to tuck in paws, adjust alien armor bits, zip and unzip suits, wrangle costumers, photograph everything in sight, and suit a few times himself too. I hope his first AC was as memorable as mine was!

It was great to be able to reconnect with so many that I haven't seen in a long while and to feel that feeling of being welcomed back into the fold with open arms. Also, I finally got to meet Lauren Rivers in person, after I missed her debut last year. We needs more zeebahs! So many to shake a paw, give a hug, chat for a minute or just be silly with, I couldn't compile a list of everyone. But thank you one and all! Comment below if you like of any memories and moments I may have missed.

Arrived home yesterday after battles with the TSA, flight problems, and destroyed luggage. After a 20 month hiatus from anything con-related it was an awesome welcome back. Didn't truly realize how much I'd missed it all until I was there, reconnecting with friends old and new. The whole con was great from my perspective, and an awesome way to celebrate/forget about turning 30 on the 4th of July. I will post a more in depth report with pictures and such as time permits, for the moment though I'd like to give a shout out to sibir_lupus whom it was my pleasure to introduce to his first AC. Between wrangling/dressing us suiters, photographing everything in sight, noming on sushi and pho tai, suiting himself, and generally having a grand old time, I'm glad he was there for the whole experience! Thank you one and all, especially the hard (over)working staff!

Naturally I stuck to my resolution to post and comment more by taking half of April, all of May and half of June off from posting or commenting. Go me! Guess I haven't felt inspired to write much, most everything going on has been rather mundane. A few highlights here and there, but they're old news now.

Went to the Sunshine Foundation on saturday with wildwolf4paws and kuddlepup for some volunteer work, doing characters for the Progeria Reunion. Always fun to help out there, this was the second year for me. Zeebah got taken for a ride on a Harley-Davidson trike, hehe. And soaked by one of the kids at the balloon toss with a bucket of water. All in fun, anything for the kids.

I am immensely looking forward to going to Anthrocon next month! Vacation time scheduled, reservations, tickets, etc taken care of, woo! Its going to be epic! By the time July rolls around, it will have been 20 months since my last con (MFF 07) - Almost two years! Thats nearly as long as I've been going to cons! :( Zeebah needs to get out and stretch!

Of course to make it extra special, it will be my birthday during the con (July 4th) so the whole experience will be like one big present. Lots of people I've missed, and just the whole sensation of it all. Anthrocon was my first convention and in many ways it feels like going home again, to see the halls of the Westin and DLC, populated with so many friendly faces.

Had a busy week or so, after the last post. sibir_lupus was up visiting and we went to the parks and such, as well as other fun stuff like tracking down durian fruit at an asian market. twinkie_ottah was also in town, met up with him a few times - Haven't seen him since.. mmm... MFF '07.

What else.. Oh, last night at work we had Barry Bonds come up to the Dining Room, so I've cooked for him now. Might also get a picture in the newspaper, one of the parties tonight were writers that took a few photos and said they would write up their experiences.. that would be cool. First time having a picture in the paper without a fursuit on, hehehe.

... To Downtown Disney!

As some may know, this past September Disney shut down the night clubs on Pleasure Island. They're planning on renovating the whole area and putting in a variety of new shops and such. One of the new attractions is slated to open this spring:

Character's In Flight is a tethered helium balloon ride that will rise to 300 feet for views of the area. Its designed to hold 30 passengers at a time. Apparently, there will be Disney characters on the ride as well, hence the name. The old guest services building in the area is being converted for ticketing and, I've heard, as a staging area for the character performers.

We've been watching the construction of the launch area for the last few months. The actual balloon landing site is constructed over the water, on pylons driven into the lake bed. Apparently, the balloon will also light up and glow at night. The first inflation/lighting of the balloon is scheduled for March 25th! Should be a sight to see from the dining room windows that night! Will be nice to have some characters around DTD too. All we have right now are the strange fairy ladies that sprinkle pixie dust on kids. Yeah, really. o.O

Sometimes its surprising how one can be affected by the passing of someone that you hardly even know. It happened to me earlier last year when Trung, one of the sushi bar chefs at work, was killed in a motorcycle accident. And again recently with the passing of Furp. Can't say that I knew either of them very well, but when you hear that news... It just makes you stop and think, examine your own mortality.

Someone else that I barely knew also passed this month, someone that I doubt very many people knew, at least outside of the state of Maine. In a simple way of saying, he was the greatest skier you've never heard of.

In the winter of 07-08, I moved to Eustis, Maine to get a job for the season at Sugarloaf mountain, one of the larger ski resorts in the state, in the Carrabasett Valley. While working at the Bag and Kettle Pub there, I was able to meet the man a few times, and learn of the legend, but it wasn't until after his passing this month that I finally was able to read more of his life.

His name was Paul Schipper. But to everyone on the mountain, he was known as The Ironman. It was not a spurious nickname, but rather described his determination and singular achievement perfectly. He was a World War II fighter pilot and later flew cargo planes in Vietnam. After the military he became an airline pilot for Eastern Airlines. In 1961 the jet he was piloting exploded on the runway and he to dive from it to survive, the impact crushing his heart, resulting in the aorta of a pig being implanted to keep him alive.

Forced to retire from the airlines, Schipper wanted to prove that he was still healthy enough to do anything. And that was the beginning of what has now been immortalized as Schipper's Streak, one of only a handful of individuals to be honored with having a trail on Sugarloaf named after them.

He never made it to an Olympics or an X-Games. I doubt he ever hit any rails in the park or threw down some massive air over the superpipe. The reason he is the greatest skier you've never heard of is because over the time since he retired, The Ironman skied Three Thousand, Nine Hundred and Three *consecutive* days at Sugarloaf Mountain. That is every day of every season the mountain was open, from 1981 to 2005. For almost 25 years he never missed a single day, taking runs down the mountain even when the lifts were closed and sustained winds over 100 mph battered the summit. He started at age 57 and took the final run of his streak at age 81. It is a record that has no equal, not even close.


I remember once, driving into work. It was the kind of day we loved - snowy, windy, the headlights of my car making a tunnel through the wildly flying snow flakes. The mountain was closed of course, winds gusting so high the T-bars were unspooling as they whipped around the lift wheels. On days like this, the restaurant was slow. No one skiing, no customers to eat, a cakewalk day.

After walking up the long stairs from the parking lot, through the biting cold and driving snow, past the empty ski storage racks at the rental place, with its fluttering plastic flags. Up higher on the mountain, by the motionless Super-Quad lift I could make out a lone figure in black and red, toting skis. Watched as one of the massive snowcat groomers stopped and picked him up before heading up the mountain. I spotted Big Mike, our kitchen manager, someone whom had caroused this mountain for years, standing outside smoking a cigarette.

"You see that guy going up the mountain?" I asked, bemused by the thought of some out of state zipper head hopping a cat and trying to ski on an insane day like today. Big Mike just grinned past his walrus beard and juggled his cigarette to a gnarly paw.

"That," he said, "Was The Ironman."

Well, $669 later, my car's resonator has been replaced with a straight pipe, curing its rumbling, and I've got new brake pads and rotors all around. So much for this years tax return! Of course I had to stomp on it at a few stoplights, just to test 'em out. And I can now once again beat the Civic jockeys off the line without sounding like a semi-truck downshifting.

Wow, that went better than I thought! In the first week of January I decided to try selling some of my creations on Second Life. Thus far, I've made enough off them every week to pay for the rent on my parcel of land! That's about all I had hoped for, so this week marks the first month that SL has paid for itself. Nice. :)

Well, one of my new years resolutions was to post more in LJ and also comment more in friend's journals. Naturally, I had to observe this resolution by taking a month off and not posting anything at all for January! ;)

My holidays went pretty well I suppose, other than scraping by and not being able to give out much for presents. The slow down has been hitting us at work and hours are being cut. But, I did get to go to the awesome Warm Fuzzy Christmas Party earlier in December, which was a much needed weekend away with friends, fun, and plenty of merriment. Thank you all to those responsible for it (you know who you are!)

sibir_lupus came up for a surprise visit on Christmas Day, and Liesl's Mom and other family was in town for a month, so it felt very busy and happy around here, what with cakes, cookies and everything else overflowing the kitchen. My devious bah-humbug plan to sleep through christmas was thus foiled. ;)

So far the new year has been going all right, save for an exhaust leak in my car, which has been annoying.. have to get that fixed, I've been sounding like a tweaked out rice burner every time I pull away from a stoplight. :P

Season's Greetings to all!
Be seeing you next year before you know it!

Watched the shuttle launch tonight, took a brief break at work. We actually set a kitchen timer for it, so we'd know when it was going up. Had a spectacular view of it rising over the water, many of the dining guests all rose and crowded around the windows as well. At this distance it was a bright light rising over Sarasota Springs resort, and we could see the booster seperation just before it hit the top of the picture windows. First launch I've seen since moving here, and probably one of the last I will, at least for the shuttle program.

Y'all have fun out there! I won't be making it unfortunately. I'm getting a little stir crazy: This month makes 1 year since I've been to a convention. If I don't do anything before Anthrocon next year, it will be 20 months - almost two years! :( Urf.

Over most of this summer, $30 in gas was sufficent for a week of running to work and back, about 1/2 of a tank or so.

Today, my car would not even hold $30 in gas, I had to go back and get change after pre-paying.

Enjoy it while it lasts!

Well, I've officially been in Florida for six months! Half a year. Wow..time does fly. Seems like mostly I work all the time, but thats always the case with my schedule. I've got my FL drivers license, and switched over my car registration and insurance. Guess all thats left is to get a local cellphone plan and it will be complete.

I've managed to do a bit of stuff, but there's still lots more I haven't and lots of people down here I haven't even *seen* yet, let along hung around with. Whats up out there peeps, anyone want to do something?! :) Of course, its a bit hard when I work nights and have oddball weekdays off.

Buuuut, I have my Disney ID finally, comp passes, and such. Anyone out there in O-town thats not so jaded by proximity that going to the parks would still be fun? Ehehehe! I haven't been to any of the Disney parks since 1994!

Breaking news! Foxes actually turned out to be useful! What next, flying pigs?!?! ;)

Stuffed toy foxes 'saved my life'

Wow, been too long since I posted.
Whats happened, whats happened...
Been working lots, time has done its funny slip-into-high-speed thing where the days seem to melt by. Thats been good and bad.
sibir_lupus came up to visit, gave me a nice early birthday present, a MyBook back up hard drive, and is now back up again for the holiday weekend.
Speaking of holidays, happy birthday to me! ;D
Sadly I found out I don't get holiday pay at work until I've been there for a year. Awww.
Hope everyone had a great time at Anthrocon. Sad I couldn't make it this year, was a tough weekend for me, but thank you to all those that called, texted, and sent pictures from the con!