/insert sarcasm/ Joyful news /end sarcasm/ my wireless card has died. The little light no longer comes on to indicate my laptop attempting to make a wireless connection. Don't know when I'll be able to get it fixed, either. Wouldn't be so bad but I'm supposed to be able to find out when the playtest tomorrow is, and where. Kind of hard to check my email with no connection, you know?

Update I got it turned on again. But it's acting kind of wonky and is having trouble keeping the connection.

Got home last night, turned off the alarm & noticed something a little odd; living room lights wouldn't come on. Don't ask me how I failed to notice a complete lack of lights for the last block. The storm (yay rain!) had apparently knocked out the power. I found one of the crank flashlights and read until Chris got home. He was late, thanks to the 43-car pile up on the highway.

Not wanting to go out looking for a restaurant 1) with power, 2) fight that traffic to find it & 3) one that wasn't socked in with everyone else with the same idea, we ordered pizza. The power came on before it arrived. Good thing; reading by flashlight was giving me a headache.

Got a surprise this morning (as I finished my book). It's about 3 days earlier than last month. What a wonderful way to greet the day.

Books: Read vol 4 & 5 of Ranma ½ and also Dead Girls Are Easy. That was pretty good; kind of chick lit paranormal. I half re-read Goblin Hero. I started to read another book but just couldn't get into it.

TV: saw Burn Notice & Monk and then off to bed early. I watched Dr Who & Torchwood this morning after an hour long Batman. I also watched 2 Boston Blackie movies on TCM.

Clothes: blue jeans, violet butterfly fairy t-shirt, butterfly earrings, flower fairy pendant, flower band, hematite band, silver band with silver 'cord' laid on it, 3 pale purple bead/elastic bracelets, 2 darker purple bead/elastic bracelets, & pale blue elastic on my ponytail. I'll probably add navy loafers when I go out.

Packing: I got my RPGA crate packed last night, and most of my Ironclaw bag. The rest, I packed this morning. Chris will take my crate, my clothes, my minis & my map for me (he has the day off & plans to get the oil changed in his car before going to the convention). I am taking with me, my Ironclaw bag, the RPGA bag with supplies for the one round this afternoon, and my laptop.

Water leak update: Chris talked to another plumber about getting our leak fixed. The roto-rooter man gave an estimate when he was here, but it was 4-7 times what we expected, based on the previous leak. So we got a second opinion. To completely replace the pipe section (dig it up, replace, pack with gravel & rebar, etc), this guy's estimate was about 1/3 of what the roto-rooter guy estimated just to fix the leak. Guess which one we're having do the work.

After the plumber, we went & I got the Ironclaw flyers from the nearest Kinko's. The flyers are very nice. Chris & I got supper to go & went home to eat. Less time & less clean-up; both were very important factors.

tv: We we watched a little of Ninja Warrior before the plumber came & then later, while packing, etc, The Bourne Identity but I went to bed about the time Burn Notice came on. I just couldn't stay awake without fretting myself silly.

Then of course, I woke at 5 am & had to talk myself into sleeping another half-hour. That did give me plenty of time to finish packing, load my car & get to work in time to pick up a couple things at the Student Store (new markers, new 'manga' sketchpad, art markers, etc).

clothes: black ~slippers, black jeans, Vorkosigan polo (I have my IC t-shirt in the car to change into before running my game tonight), clip watch, moss agate bead bracelet, ~rope band, fem/dancer ring, Celtic knot ring, flower band, hematite band, knotted earrings, star/tree/moon knotwork pendant & hair up in a ponytail/bun affixed with brown/black wood hairstick.

Tatting! I did it! I finished the edging & finished sewing it last night. All that's left is to trim about 4 stray threads. I started sewing it on & realized that it would look better if I took out the gathering at the front, sewing the edging on & then regathered it. However, that meant that I was about 6 inches short. So, with the entire apron hanging off my tatting, I tatted another half-dozen or so repeats. And I ran out of thread two or three repeats short. So I had to reload the shuttle, join the threads & then keep tatting. I stayed up a little late to get it done, but it is done! And it looks good. I got a little worried that it was a little dark for the apron but it matches remarkably well. It also shows up very nicely against at least one of the dresses.

I still have thread on the shuttle so I'll probably make ecru butterflies & flowers until it runs out. I might make one of Rebecca's (Tatmom) crosses with the size 80 that I accidentally loaded. I have the pattern & everything else ready to go.

tv: while I tatted last night I watched the taped episodes of Burn Notice & the Closer. They were pretty good. When those ran out, I watched an episode of Pop Up Video that I'd seen before. I really don't like the song Waiting on a Friend, but they also had Touch of Grey, so that was good.

books: Finished Curse of Chalion on the way home yesterday. I pulled out Caught Dead in Philadelphia, one of the books I picked up at the thrift shop to read today. Although I also need to read the Living Greyhawk Greyhawk Ruins information & finished reading Currents. The good thing about Currents, is unless the players radically change, I will be running APL 2 or 4, maybe 6, but 4 is the most likely.

clothes: black ~slippers & slacks (forgot the belt today), burgundy knit shirt, 3 women pendant, ponytail/bun with the same hairstick, silver bracelet, hematite ring, fem/dancer ring, circles ring & silver filigree earrings.

Books: Second Sight & Witch Hunt. It turns out that I'd read Second Sight before. Oh well. I liked it. Witch Hunt is a mystery series & I really like it.

tv I taped Burn Notice, all 5 episodes were being shown. I watched the pilot & most of the 2nd one.

Met Cassie, gave her the box of cookbooks. Turns out she teaches food & only has two cookbooks in her classroom. So the addition of 8 or 12 is a very good thing. Someone else in north Raleigh also had something for her. We met at the Fairgrounds & while I was waiting for her I went to grab something for lunch. While there, I asked a couple venders if they had ever seen a tatting shuttle. None of them had, but one of them went to high school with my brother. Small world, huh.

Gaming: Played my mostly cleric, Reed, in the playtest. Despite the fact that most of us have not worked together before, we are doing well with teamwork. It's not short. It's after 11 and I'm hoping that this is the last combat. As it is, I'm very tired & not certain how I'm getting home.

Plan today: I meant to get an early start & go to the flea market. Then they ran the entire season of Burn Notice. I have time enough to watch the pilot & most of one episode. I'll tape the rest.

I'm meeting someone who'll take the cookbooks, then I'm off to the Living Greyhawk Battle Interactive play test. I started more laundry. I really let it pile up this time. Oops.

tatting: need to see how much more to do.

clothes: lilac fairy t-shirt, black jeans, black slippers, black belt, Celtic knot jewelry