Free At Last, sort of
Sep. 17th, 2012 11:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
howeirdThe best thing about being in an over-rehearsed show is after opening weekend you get at least 3 days off each week, sometimes 4. This week we have no Thursday show, so I will be going to Milpitas to see good buddy (we did a few shows together in Menlo Park in the 80s) and amazing actor Jeremy Koerner play Cyrano at Calaveras Theater.
Tonight I went to BASFA for the first time in ages, but many of The Usual Suspects bailed. It was fun anyway.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kevin_standlee said his ride on the California Zephyr was the longest route Amtrak has, but I could have sworn the Sunset Limited was longer, going from LA to Florida. But looking at the current routes, it only goes to New Orleans and takes 6 hours less than the Emeryville to Chicago run. My last train ride to NOLA was when I worked for Sony in October 2003, and I got the impression at the time it was not the last stop, but I guess it was. They were heavily advertising the "Auto Train", which does go to the Orlando area, but not from the west. I took the Zephyr to Chicago in 2002, to connect to the City of New Orleans, then back on the very boring Sunset Ltd. Or maybe I have the years reversed. Yeah, I think so.
There were way too many auction items, and as a result the collectors' items books and magazines I brought did not go for nearly as much as they were worth. A gift book from my sister went for more, as did my Chicon7 art show program book. :-( I'm gladmaurinestarkey didn't mention that all the participating artists got 2 for free.
Work was good today, I used the new PC for what they gave it to me for, to capture some streams of scrambled video (to test out box's descrambler software). I just need the next build to run the tests against.
Lunchtime started with a trip to Lowe's for a Y connector to replace one for the shower which broke before my last apartment move. Missed having a hand-held attachment only once in a while. Also got another fireproof mini-safe. There was too much stuff after my last trip for the two I already have to hold and get the lids closed. While re-sorting the three boxes, I found an envelope from 2008 with enough Thai money that, had I remembered it was there, I would not have needed to buy baht prior to my trip at rip-off prices. I added the stash from this trip, so all the loot is in the same box. The new one is also waterproof, so all the papers went in there (passports, car title, rude note from my first grade teacher to my Mom...). One got all the foreign currency (lots of coins too) and the third has all the US Mint quarters which came out after the 50 states series. The 50 states series collection has its own box, not fireproof.
I also pried the hugely heavy safe which has my sapphire collection out from its nook on the carpet below the shelves in the office closet. It took the claw of a hammer, because this one has no handles. The carpet was not cooperative either. The plan was to transfer the stones to a standard metal file box which I emptied a few days ago, but I got distracted. I found out years ago that most of those sapphires (all star sapphires) are not worth much, having been heat treated and infused to deepen the color and enhance the star. If anyone wants to buy them for cheap for costume jewelry, drop me a line. Photos are here. All the dark blue and dark red ones are heated, the light red and light blue I'm keeping, they are natural. I'm not sure about the grey ones, probably treated. They are mostly between 1 and 3 carats.
Went online and paid the final week's rent here. Auto-pay stopped with the September bill.
Put together one of the U-haul file boxes, and it looks big enough for the whole drawer on my deep cabinet. We'll see tomorrow.
Apartment inspector will come through tomorrow after 1, but I have to work. I'll be at the move-out inspection, though.
Plans for tomorrow:
Work
Pack
Tonight I went to BASFA for the first time in ages, but many of The Usual Suspects bailed. It was fun anyway.
kevin_standlee said his ride on the California Zephyr was the longest route Amtrak has, but I could have sworn the Sunset Limited was longer, going from LA to Florida. But looking at the current routes, it only goes to New Orleans and takes 6 hours less than the Emeryville to Chicago run. My last train ride to NOLA was when I worked for Sony in October 2003, and I got the impression at the time it was not the last stop, but I guess it was. They were heavily advertising the "Auto Train", which does go to the Orlando area, but not from the west. I took the Zephyr to Chicago in 2002, to connect to the City of New Orleans, then back on the very boring Sunset Ltd. Or maybe I have the years reversed. Yeah, I think so.There were way too many auction items, and as a result the collectors' items books and magazines I brought did not go for nearly as much as they were worth. A gift book from my sister went for more, as did my Chicon7 art show program book. :-( I'm glad
maurinestarkey didn't mention that all the participating artists got 2 for free. Work was good today, I used the new PC for what they gave it to me for, to capture some streams of scrambled video (to test out box's descrambler software). I just need the next build to run the tests against.
Lunchtime started with a trip to Lowe's for a Y connector to replace one for the shower which broke before my last apartment move. Missed having a hand-held attachment only once in a while. Also got another fireproof mini-safe. There was too much stuff after my last trip for the two I already have to hold and get the lids closed. While re-sorting the three boxes, I found an envelope from 2008 with enough Thai money that, had I remembered it was there, I would not have needed to buy baht prior to my trip at rip-off prices. I added the stash from this trip, so all the loot is in the same box. The new one is also waterproof, so all the papers went in there (passports, car title, rude note from my first grade teacher to my Mom...). One got all the foreign currency (lots of coins too) and the third has all the US Mint quarters which came out after the 50 states series. The 50 states series collection has its own box, not fireproof.
I also pried the hugely heavy safe which has my sapphire collection out from its nook on the carpet below the shelves in the office closet. It took the claw of a hammer, because this one has no handles. The carpet was not cooperative either. The plan was to transfer the stones to a standard metal file box which I emptied a few days ago, but I got distracted. I found out years ago that most of those sapphires (all star sapphires) are not worth much, having been heat treated and infused to deepen the color and enhance the star. If anyone wants to buy them for cheap for costume jewelry, drop me a line. Photos are here. All the dark blue and dark red ones are heated, the light red and light blue I'm keeping, they are natural. I'm not sure about the grey ones, probably treated. They are mostly between 1 and 3 carats.
Went online and paid the final week's rent here. Auto-pay stopped with the September bill.
Put together one of the U-haul file boxes, and it looks big enough for the whole drawer on my deep cabinet. We'll see tomorrow.
Apartment inspector will come through tomorrow after 1, but I have to work. I'll be at the move-out inspection, though.
Plans for tomorrow:
Work
Pack
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