This weekend Edmund and I traipsed to Boskone 47 a Science Fiction convention in Boston. We’ve been going every year since 2006 (or thereabouts) and it is one of our favorite events.

So what is so special about Boskone? It’s small. It has great panels with many to choose from. It has one of the best Con-Suites I’ve ever experienced. The gaming area is well-run and a lot of fun. And the people are awesome. My in-laws came again this year, and they love it as much as we do. It’s nice to have an event that works for geeks of all ages!

This year I challenged myself to make a balloon monster for the art show. I also wanted to see if I could sell any more of my monster art pieces I’ve been making for the last couple of years. Friday afternoon, after we checked into the hotel, I made this:

And Edmund hung my art:

Then I took a nap – as I had a couple of hours of sleep the night before. Fortunately I woke in time for the art show reception, which started at 10 pm. Edmund and I hung out with Henry (my father-in-law), listened to jazz, and I drank my free drink while Edmund enjoyed an $8 beer. Then he finished my drink for me.

Saturday I woke up earlyish and attended some panels. First up was one about the Middle Ages. Then a panel on the newest Start Trek movie. Next I attended one about Avatar. However, the most thought-provoking panel was titled “the Heroine’s Journey”. It was a discussion on Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s journey and how, especially in fiction, different the female journey may or may not be from the journey of the male.  I am still processing the discussion and will write about my thoughts later. Good stuff.

Saturday night we shared a large pizza with Ed’s parents, Chris and Henry, then Chris and I hung out in the hot tub for an hour and had a nice talk.

Sunday I got breakfast from the Con-Suite, bagels FTW! The art show ended and to my great surprise, especially since no one bidded on anything all weekend, I sold 2 of my monsters:

Someone also bid on my Balloon sculpture, which was nice because then I didn’t have to take it home.

My friend Linda visited (nickname L2K), we’ve known each other since 2000 when we took an acting class together when I was living in Boston. I haven’t seen her in a couple of years, so it was great to catch up!

After a nap, we order out for some Mexican food and Ed’s parents joined us again for dinner. The convention was officially over. However, many people stayed later for the “Dead Dog” party held in the Con-Suite area. Edmund and I rolled down at around 9 pm to see what was happening and we started playing some games. Ed and I played Stoner Fluxx, next Edmund played the Great Dalmudi with a bunch of others while I read and played a solo game of set. Then we played Dominion Seaside with 3 then 5 players, and ended out leaving after 1 am. Great people, great times.

Frankly, no one follows my blog. I’ve had nothing to follow. I post things now and again, videos, updates, pictures; but never regularly, and nothing really substantive.

I am hoping that, with my new WordPress blog, that I can turn a new leaf, make more posts and write substantive stuff, if only for my own personal development.

To that end, look for posts on/about:

• Feminism
• What I’m doing
• Geek stuff
• Going back to school
• You name it!

Okay. Let’s do it to it!

So, I am almost at the end of the fourth week at my new job. Yes, I got a new job! (If you follow me on twitter (look to the left), you probably already know this.) I am working as a Jr. Programmer/Analyst at a marketing research firm in Kennebunkport. Well, I am working for Aquent, a staffing agency for marketing companies, and my assignment is a temp-to-permanent. And I want to tell you a secret: I love it! Love it!

I still haven’t figured out everything I will be doing, but the things I have been doing, learning Wincross, coding for both SPSS and Wincross, creating tons of crosstabulation tables (working on a project that had 241 tables for one version of the survey and 344 tables for the other version.) It’s challenging, fun, and it’s the kind of work I love, the kind with a finish point. When I complete a project, I can just move to the next one. Well, the way it will work, when I get totally up to speed, is that I will have many projects going at the same time.

That project I have been working on, wow, it has been very hard, and frankly, probably should have gone to one of the more experienced programmers. However, it fell through the cracks and it wasn’t on anyone’s production schedule, so I was asked to pick it up. I am so glad I got to do it. Because now, any other project will seem easy in comparison!

Oh, the picture above is from this February’s Boskone. I brought my art to sell and I sold 2 pictures! (I realized I didn’t mention it on the blog earlier.) (And I wanted to use a picture.) (So now I have.) (times two.)

How are you doing, internet?