Julie Barrett's Journal

If You Can't Stand The Heat...

Tuesday, May 14, 2013 10:21:23 AM

Call for an A/C repair!

Ack. I just lost a long entry. I'll make it fast. The A/C repairman showed up on time and has been here for about an hour. I am now feeling cold air here in the office. Maybe it's already fixed!

Tags: Life

Monday Mumblings Is Under The Weather

Monday, May 13, 2013 12:21:22 PM

Too bad, because the weather is lovely.

This, I think, is a combination of stress (see last Monday's post) and a meal that went awry. Saturday night we went out to celebrate my mother's birthday. My brother's band was playing a gig at a restaurant in Ft. Worth. After a horrible construction-related delay we got there late and the service was about the slowest I've seen anywhere. As a result, I didn't get my plate of BBQ until nearly 9 PM. Trouble is, I shouldn't be eating full meals after 8. Between the brisket and multiple birthday cakes, I was stuffed. Meds didn't help much. We had a good time, though.

Yesterday was Mother's Day, and Chris got me some flowers and a card. I also had a couple of pieces of unwelcome news. The first is something I'm not comfortable sharing, but let's just say it left me gobsmacked and I will be processing it for several days. The second is that someone I know who has been ill is now not expected to make it through the week. I spent last night in Insomnia City.

Planned to take today off. Just rest and recover. Instead, the little bits of cleaning and organizing I've planned have turned into a full-blown attack. I have this pile of crap in the living room from my latest hat making frenzy and the impending Dallas Comic-Con. Turns out tomorrow morning (in theory) the air conditioner folks are going to show up to do part two of the repair that started back over Labor Day. Ah, I thought I'd blogged about that one. Our A/C had been having major issues with keeping the house cool. So Paul called out the repair folks. They discovered a couple of parts broken, one of which had to be ordered. And it seems that in order to test this thing properly the temps need to be in a certain range. I could be wrong, but that's what I gathered. While the repair guy was here, I was frantically typing at my computer (the office was at 95F) with a fan blowing over a bowl of ice water in a feeble attempt to keep the temperature down. I had a deadline I was desperately trying to make. A story was due in literally hours, and I'd just come in from Worldcon and ... yeah. I should have been working on the story earlier. I had. I took it with me to Chicago. Trouble was, I had a brilliant idea at the very last minute and had to rework everything. It made for a far better story.

Anyway, Paul called today to set up an appointment and - surprise! - they'll be out tomorrow morning. The A/C has been generally behaving, but temps have also been in the 70s and 80s lately. Also, the warranty runs out this fall, so we really, really want to get this thing fixed. Also, North Texas has managed to exceed its allotted two weeks of spring, and I expect the afternoon temperatures to climb from "pleasant" to "hotter than Hell" any day now.

And my pile of crap is blocking access to one of the vents. So I'd better do something about it,eh? It's mostly things to take to Comic-Con for Thursday setup, but they've got to get to the vent. And I really need to dust and vacuum anyway. So there's my day.

So it's back to attacking the living room. I'll be a better person for it, right?

The phone just rang. It wasn't a phone solicitor, a robocall, or bad news. Things must be looking up. ;-)

Tags: Life

Monday Mumblings Didn't Get The Memo. Again.

Monday, May 06, 2013 9:31:35 AM

Where I have I been? Working my tail off. I have a project I've been trying to finish for a week, and I'm going to get it done today come hell or high water.

There's an adage something along the lines that it's easier to act first and apologize later. Stop it.

Stop. It.

For the last month I have borne the brunt of that policy from many, many directions. Every single time I have to drop what I'm doing and take care of things. Emergencies happen, but as another adage goes, lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.

I just have a few common sense requests:

1. Answer your email. About half of my backlog is due to others not answering simple questions. How long does a yes or no take? How long does it take to drop someone a line and say "I'm still researching that question."

2. Don't fill up my calendar for me. I have an events page here. These are my public events, and I may have private items on my calendar as well. Yeah, the nerve of me to have a life. Before you set a date for an event you want me to be involved in (a meeting, etc.) ask. It's the polite thing to do.

3. Yes, emergencies happen. But this has been one of those months when I've been so busy putting out fires that shouldn't have been emergencies due to lack of planning, that real emergencies totally threw me for a loop.

Yes, I'm cranky. I need sleep. I need a day off. I'm going to work very hard to try to get to everything over the next two days. The first job is this unfinished project. Deadline is approaching, and it's one I can't let slide.

So while I'm finishing my work this morning, please check and see if you owe me an email. I'd appreciate a response so I can carry on. Please, for the love of Ghu do not wait until the last freaking second. When everyone does that, this is what happens.

Thank you.

Tags: Life

Vintage And Thrift Finds

Tuesday, April 09, 2013 3:27:15 PM

It's time for me to recycle clothing for the new con season. I'm very big on vintage and thrift items. Here's the latest haul. I have to apologize for the pictures because it was windy and Honoria Glossop (my dress form) fell over after I brought her outdoors all dressed with the first outfit. Her boobs are now squished and rather high. Uh, oops. Oh, well. It'll work for you to see what I bought.

This was sold as a suit, but now that I get it into full sunlight it's obvious that these are separates. Based on the construction and the zipper on the skirt I'm going to guess early-mid 1960s. And check out the lining in the third picture. It needs a little TLC, but nothing a needle, thread, and a little patience won't take care of. The velvet is in great shape. I may try to find a pencil skirt to wear with this. Matching blacks is going to be a pain, but maybe I can find something acceptable.

This is today's nifty find. The label says Newport News, which is the same as my black riding jacket. Unlike the riding jacket, I can't find this coat anywhere. It's got to be brand new; inside is a little bag with a replacement snap. (The closure is a snap covered by the flower.) This may be a second. It looks like someone started to sew one of the snaps on in the wrong spot and resewed it. All I need to do is carefully snip a couple of stray threads and it'll be just fine. Wouldn't this look lovely paired with cream?

I also picked up a gorgeous evening dress. I'm keeping this a surprise because it's one of two I picked up to wear at WorldCon. Why two? One for backup, of course. I'm a terrible klutz, and leave it to me to stain my dress at the reception.

Tags: Pictures

Monday Mumblings Returns From The Road

Monday, April 08, 2013 4:01:10 PM

We went down to San Antonio for the weekend. While the main purpose of the trip was a WorldCon staff meeting, we had time to do a little exploration around the River Walk area. I thought I'd share a few pictures:

Entrance to Drury Plaza. Very cool fountain:

The San Fernando Cathedral:

Gears in the ground in the park near the cathedral:

Another interesting bit in the same area:

Narrow corridor off the River Walk:

The obligatory view out the window:

Teddy Roosevelt drank here! This is the interior or the bar at the Menger Hotel, where TR recruited the Rough Riders. Pardon the quality, but I didn't want to fire the flash:

A Rough Riders exhibit at the Menger. Note the hats! The saddle is also fascinating.

Inside the convention center:

It was good to get away for the weekend. This was our first road trip with the C-Max, and we took the new State Highway 130 that goes around Austin, Yep, this is the fabled toll road with speeds up to 85 MPH. And hey, it's a great way to avoid the inevitable Friday afternoon I-35 parking lot.

The meetings went well. I won't bore you with the details. Hey, it's not like the meetings were super-secret, but there was a lot of tramping around the facilities, measuring rooms, that sort of thing. It's a nice facility.

Time to finish up a few tasks, fold the rest of the laundry, feed the fish, and start dinner. Ah, Mondays.

Tags: Pictures Life