Rains, Sprains and Bonemeals

Firstly, I take no credit for rhyming automobiles with Bonemeals, the Internets had a list of words that rhymed with Automobile and Bonemeal was in there and it does make sense in the narrative..

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Rains:

What more do I really have to say but that single word "rain" to make those in the New England area shudder. We have gotten hit with so much rain up here that we set new March rainfall records for MA, CT and RI. With massive rain comes massive flooding. Tuesday I was hanging and work minding my own business when people start texting and emailing me telling me of their massive flooding problems, now I had already ran into lots of road flooding on the way to work (Rte 193 by the Thompson Speed Way) so I was pretty concerned with the status of our house. Got permission to leave early and my concerns were realized when I got home to find about 3 inches of water in the basement and the river out back up to the driveway.

Went to get a wetvac and found everyone out so I borrowed my friend Mikes. The poor little thing really didn't have a chance with it's little 4 gallon tub. It was quite literally pump for 10-15 seconds and take the thing apart to dump it. While I was working on that Mike was calling around and found us a pump at the Auburn Home Depot. We drove up there and got the last one off the shelf, Home Depot in Auburn has 4 self checkout stations 3 of the 4 had people buying the same item.

After Home Depot we went to Tuesday dinner for a little sanity and some amazing food, Badger and Marie were both at the top of their game. Hung out for a little while and headed back to the basement.

We used our existing garden hose and had little success, the hose was too long and too thin to really get effective pumping. Decided to stay home the next day and go back to work, before starting I went and got a real size hose which made the process much more effective. I had it down to puddles by the time I went to lunch, I was gone for about 30-40 minutes and when I came back it was back up to about 1.5 inches! Pumped some more and with Amber's help I moved some stuff around to vacuum up the dirt, the pump does NOT like all the dust and dirt that was on the floor so getting that up made the pumping much easier.

Jessie came home early and we went out to Providence to see TSO with Kevin and Erin. It was the first time I was at Kevin's apartment and I have to say it's a pretty nice looking place. The concert was great, I personally loved the change of pace of having a new (non-christmas) story. The story was Beethoven's Last Night in which the devil tries to trick him into handing over his music for his soul, he can't figure out how the devil owns his soul in the first place and so Fate brings him back over his life choices. In the end he finds out that the devil lied to him and does not actually own his soul. What I didn't love about the show was missing some of our normal "east coast" TSO members but the good out weighed the bad and the show was very worth it.

I got up way too early the next day to head up to Anime Boston, when I got up I noticed the basement had water almost back up to the original amount. I had no choice but to leave it to Jessie. She has now pumped a few more times and last I heard the water was still coming in but it did at least slow down.

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Sprains:

Major League Baseball opens tonight with the Red Sox playing the Yankees in Boston at 8pm. Luckily I will be leaving the city via train so I won't have to deal with that traffic. The Mets open tomorrow in NY. Another year, another hope right? Or is that another year, another injury? The Mets were crippled with injuries last year and that's the thing that really can't happen two years in a row right? Apparently it can, or so it seems early on.. Carlos Beltran is recovering from knee surgery and will hopefully be back around May, Jose Reyes has just started his spring training and they have no time table for his return, and now Daniel Murphy sprained his knee and is expected to miss 2-6 weeks! That makes 3 of our starting 8 players already on the DL. The annoying thing to me is that we don't even have our best available players on the field to start the season, apparently Gary Matthews Jr got the CF job over Fernando Martinez, who is starting the season in the minors.

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Bonemeals:

Ok, so that one's a stretch, not only is it a bad rhyme for automobiles but it's kinda misleading too. I went with that word for this title because UMass Memorial Laboratories is signing up people for Bone Marrow donation at Anime Boston and their booth is located right next to me.

I had lots of fun at Anime Boston this weekend but it was also lots of work. I got there way too early on Thursday morning after fighting with traffic and the T. I got checked in and met Christian and Mara in the empty dealer room. We watched them put it together and around noon we unloaded the Anime Boston truck and started setup. The vendors started rolling in at 2 and we worked till about 11pm setting stuff up and making sure the vendors had everything they needed.

Friday morning I got down to the dealer room around 8:30 and once again made sure the vendors had everything they needed before opening to the public at noon. Being in the front of the vendor room made for lots of great scenery, unfortunately most of the really sexy outfits were being worn by people far to young to really enjoy them. Nothing to major happened Friday during the day, one vendor was caught selling bootleg bags and I found out that Alex and Alyson were there selling chain mail jewelry. I got Dominion Intrigue for cheap and a really amazing steampunk leather book cover for me to use as Laal in Future Imperfect. Speaking of Laal, I was called Laal by no fewer than four people over the course of the weekend. I guess I have not played FI long enough for people to know my real name. Also, while on the topic of FI, it's nice to know the president of the con.. I got permission for FI flyers to be randomly left around the con and some of the players did exactly that, hopefully we can get some new players out of it.

During the day I went to a Steampunk/Cyberpunk panel expecting to see some cool outfits and stuff to get ideas for FI, instead it was just a rant about how different movies showcase and/or influence the genre. After we closed Friday night I went and got some food and then went to the Cos-Play dating game which was really cheesy, it was an 18+ show where everyone played their character in a dating game. It might have been better if I had known the characters better but I've been so out of the Anime scene that I probably only knew like 15% of the characters. I went to the rave after but only stayed there for a few minutes before checking out the gaming room which was pretty dead. After that I went to the bar across the street and ended up hanging out with some of the vendors. The bar across the street, Bukowski's Tavern, had a lot of really good beers including Maudite on tap! I had a really good beer from Troegs called Hopback Amber, we only recently found that brewery and they are really good.

Back to the dealer floor Saturday morning at 8am. The dealer room opened at 10am and we spent MOST of the day handing out tickets for the Masquerade that started at 6pm. The Masquerade was more or less a cosplay talent show, I went and checked it out after we closed the dealer room at 7 and only stayed for 1 skit which was a dance off between characters I didn't know. Saturday saw some really amazing costumes just like Friday but this time there were a lot more adults.. :)

I took a bunch of pictures and will post them to Flickr later today. One kid "dressed" as a guy from Avatar, I say dressed in quotes because what he did was paint his entire body with latex paint. When I say his entire body I mean it, he had a loin cloth on which apparently shifted while he was in the food court to show his blue privates. He got removed from the con. If you think that was ballsy (pun intended) there was a lady dressed as Leia from Return of the Jedi. Her clothes were made of chain mail and she was wearing nothing underneath but a loin cloth, even at a quick glance you could see her nipples sticking out between the links.

Back to the dealer room, during the day on Saturday a vendor came up with a kid to inform us that the kid had just bought a bootleg toy, we investigated the booth he got it at and found that everything in the booth was a bootleg. I learned a lot from Christian on how to spot bootlegs and we ended up kicking the vendor out which meant we had to hang in the room after it closed to make sure he left peacefully which he did.

After he left I went up to the Artist Alley and spent a bunch of time looking at wonderful artwork. I got an amazing cat magnet, I will put up a link to her site later because I left her card at home.

After visiting the Masquerade and the Artist Gallery I ended up going to an Irish pub for dinner and then to the Formal Dance where I hung out with Christian and Mara's friend Kate. It was awesome to see how much effort people went into to make formal gowns for their cosplay characters. After that I went back to the game room and was uninspired to hang out there because it was really dead again. Went to the rave again for a few minutes and then went to a panel on how to make fan dubbed anime, that was a pretty interesting show actually. The security guard there had nails that made Holly's nails look small..

Found out that Saturday night was more exciting for the security team which ended up having to deal with an overly drunk under age girl and her friends.

Sunday, 8am, dealer room... Spent almost all of Sunday taking pre-regs for the 2011 Anime Boston con which will be April 22-24. After the room closed we took apart everything and I left around 5pm.

You know, when I wrote this I could have just used Trains as one of my points... When I left I found out that the Hynes Convention Center T Station was having construction and the outbound platform was closed, "For outbound go inbound one station"... Went inbound and got off at Copley to find that due to flooding you couldn't go from the inbound platform to the outbound platform... "For outbound go inbound one station".. Went in again and finally got on an outbound train, with all the Red Sox game traffic which means I had to stand with my bags in a cramped train for a few stops before they all got off for the game.

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Got home to find more water fun.. The fridge has started leaking water from the freezer into the fridge and ruining food. Searched the Internets and found it to most likely be a problem with something frozen inside the fridge so we took everything out and loaded up the downstairs fridge and freezer before heading to bed...

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The other week I went to Mythical Journeys: Future Imperfect, it was a great weekend.. One thing that they do that I think is great is that they ask for a Post Event Letter so that the guys who run the game can see what everyone is up to. I think this is a great idea for LARPs to do but I wouldn't want to be the guy responsible for reading them all.. Anyway, here is my weekend...

Friday night could possibly be one of the unluckiest nights ever.. It was certainly the first time I've ever had to res twice in one night. Did a few rounds with Rooster so he could show me the boundaries of our jurisdiction, got into a few fights along the way with Brigands. We found some resources on them and ended up giving a Petroleum and noble metal to Grinner so he could make his Medical unit. I was standing with Rooster while he was talking to someone else and I noticed three people sitting by the water. I went to investigate and as soon as I got close enough I got three quick bullets to the chest from our little Num friends. They picked me up and walked me out past low town to meet up with their scientist. One hysterical DNA extraction later (see favorite cast) my Karma kicked in, I noticed four things, a - my neck was killing me, b - I saw a white lab coat to my right, c - I saw a black trench coat to the left and, d - I saw a clear path ahead. Instinct kicked in and I ran for it. I almost got a full message to Rooster on the radio before a bunch of nums who were waiting around the corner unloaded into my chest again. Not taking chances this time they granted me a quick death and I took the long slow walk to the res bed..

After getting back up I had Grinner check out my neck, he told me that they got my DNA and that he knew how to destroy it if we could get the bottle back. I radioed Rooster and found him in a firefight in low town so I ran to assist with Dink and a few others. After the fight we headed back to where I remember waking up, I saw the white coat and a bunch of other hostiles. We didn't engage, instead we went back to town for re-enforcements. We got re-enforcements including Pulse and headed back up to the area. By the time we got back they were all gone but I did find my shot gun.

We had a few skirmishes with some nums but none of them had any vials. On the way back into town we found some people on the path, we were attacked by the brigands when Rooster identified himself as Marshall. Dropped them and went back to the commissary.

Spoke with Pulse about his still while setting up our camp. We didn't get a chance to put straps on his armor (before the event) so we quickly attached it to him using duct tape. After setting up camp and getting him armored we started wheeling and dealing our resources for the ones he needed. Got most of what we thought we needed and headed to the auto-forge to see he had in storage. We were ambushed in the science center by another group of nums and they dragged everyone out but me. I was bandaged up and we went up to high town to get Pulse and the others back. We stormed a cabin and defeated the nums, I was bandaging Pulse when the nums got back up and we dispatched them a second time. After the interruption I went back to bandaging him up, Frost asked me if it would take a while and I said yes. Just Pulse was coming awake I got shot in the arm, I turned just in time to see the next bullet hit my chest and Frost nowhere to be found. Pulse was shot after trying to radio for help and we both laid there and bled out. We got out of the res bed minutes before the game was called for the night.

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Saturday morning started with me and Pulse cooking breakfast for everyone, Pulse cut up the boar and I cooked it along with potatoes, beans and french toast. Breakfast ended about 10 and we headed up to the commissary for the gathering so that Rooster and Pulse could officially announce their candidacy. After the meeting we went back to the auto-forge to drop of more resources towards his still and found we only needed one more patroleaum.

Came back to the commissary to find the science meeting already in progress so I quietly joined. Spoke with Mabin after about Amps and she said if I provided her the resources she would make me some amps so we headed to the science center.

On the way we ran into a new thaw who was cowering from everyone, she seemed to have something mentally wrong with her (she kept smelling a hospital smell) so Mabin tried to cure psych procedures which only made her more upset. I got her to calm down and walk with me to the rec center. I tried to see if the smell was physical so we had her remove her hat, clothes etc to see if something had the smell on it. We had her sit by the lake to see if the nice smell would help overpower it. After not having any success there I called Rooster over for his opinion and he had little to add. Convinced her to come to the commissary so she could get something to eat and drink to see if that would help. Kept her away of people who obviously looked like doctors or scientists to try and keep her calm so she could remember some of her past. She could not remember as long as the smell was there so I tried to distract her smell with alcohol which apparently was a bit strong because it knocked her down (1 damage from the drink). Got her bandaged and back up, when she came to she saw the bandage and ripped it off causing her to fall back down. Carried her over to Grinner's healing machine and healed her using that.

She was a bit calmer now that she was drunk and the smell seemed to only come back when I asked her anything about her past so I tried to just sit with her for a bit to see if we could help, as the drink started to wear off the smell came back strong so we got her some chocolate which seemed to help for a very short time. I called Grinner over to get his opinion and he suggested his laughing gas, she would not do it unless I did first so we both sat there laughing for the next 5 minutes. After the gas wore off she seemed to be pretty calm but when I asked her about her past the smell came back but this time it didn't seem as strong, she stayed calm but just said she could smell it. Thinking the only thing that will return her past is time I asked her if she wanted to stay with me and Pulse. She agreed, I had someone lend her some new clothes so she didn't have to keep wearing her hospital gown and walked her down to our camp. On the way to the camp we agreed that I would call her Kim until such time as she remembered her past.

Afterwards I came back to the commissary and put in my vote for the election and started walking with Mabin once again to the science center and we met up with the two scientists who were looking for research assistants, I declined but ended up getting the last patroleaum that Pulse needed from them. Mabin went to talk to them and I went to find Pulse. I spoke with Rooster and he told me of Dink's death, then I grabbed Pulse and we went to the science center to build his still. He transfered the resources to the device account but ended up not having the paper he needed to bring the still into game.

Pulse, Carptenter and myself went off site to dinner..

After dinner I went over to the movie, I enjoyed it but didn't stay long as the freeborn were going to meet at our camp. We got the fire going and were updated with specifics for the nights raids against the exile complex and specifics about the exodus list. We broke into groups and I was assigned to Rooster's group which didn't end up going, instead I spent most of the night monitoring the radio, patrolling the area around the commissary and keeping people informed when to expect the refugees so they wouldn't be surprised by strange people walking down the path. During this time I finally got resources to Mabin and she made me some amps, I also got Pulse's back plate attached to his armor so he would be better protected if we were needed in battle. I was playing cards with Pulse, Carpenter and Vos when they called for Rooster because George was coming. I left the card game and went with him to meet George.

A little while later we got the radio call that Buckles had been captured and that Grinner needed help going after him. Frost told us to go so I grabbed Pulse, Vos, Carpenter and Orion and headed up to Aleph Complex. We went up the back way and apparently Grinner came down the other way so when we got there we found nobody waiting. I was getting spotty reception on the radio but after moving about up there I got enough signal to get in touch with Rooster who told us to come back to the commissary, as soon as we got back we found Grinner getting ready to leave so we walked back up with him. We went inside the complex and through the long tunnel to the room with Buckles and lots of hostiles. I was doing good shooting people over Pulse in the tunnel until Pulse finally ran in and I moved up. I only got one more shot in after I moved up before getting shot in the head. Grinner got me up and we finished off the hostiles. Back through the tunnels to the elevator to find we were above max capacity for it. Grinner said he would stay behind and I jumped out as the doors were closing to stay with him. While we waited one of the bodies came in trying to find it's res bed. The elevator came back and we jumped in, the body was trying to get in but Grinner got the door closed just in time to hear it banging itself against the doors. We got back to town and spent the rest of the night around the firepit. People were hungry for late night snacks so we made beans over the fire and put them into shot glasses to invent a "shot of beans".

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Sunday morning was lots more cooking but this time it was far less crowded so I even had a chance to eat before it was all gone. We came up with the "freeborn sandwich" which was a piece of french toast with beans and ham folded up, it was messy and very good. After breakfast we went up to the commissary and heard the happy results of the election. When they started calling names for the exodus I went to the bathroom, when I came out Pulse looked at me with an odd look and pointed across the room where I saw Vos Walker standing in the line. Before I could react Grinner came up and asked what was going on with him and then called for him to come to us. His name was on the list and he didn't know about the refugees taking the place of anyone not wanting to go. We sat him down and sent someone in his place. After everyone left I was talking to Vos about it and was going to hit him with a knockdown from my shotgun when he pushed the barrel at the last second and I ended up hitting Jacobi instead. I got hit with a knockdown punch from behind and went down, after I got up I went over to apoligize and took another knockdown punch from Shlea too.

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Now back to our regularly scheduled big ass-blog... I'm going to end this here because it's getting WAY to long.. Make sure you check out this diversion, it's a 10 part review of Phantom Menace..

---Diversion of the Day