9.30.2010

From Twitter 09-29-2010



10:00:25: This week's Spotlight Shop is Jewelz Creatives. An amazing supply of catnip toys for your addicted pet. http://ow.ly/2GtMJ
14:42:26: Working at home makes my knees ache. I walk around a lot and, at home, I'm barefoot. At work, I've got shoes on so there's less impact.
17:05:07: Amazing handmade scents available in the shop of Absin the dragonnfly, the featured shop on Artfire this week: http://ow.ly/2Lm4J
17:10:06: Bocote wine bottle stopper, my item of the week on artfire. http://ow.ly/2Lmi0


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9.29.2010

From Twitter 09-28-2010



10:00:28: This week's Spotlight Shop is Jewelz Creatives. An amazing supply of catnip toys for your addicted pet. http://ow.ly/2GtMq
16:45:59: It's weird working from home. Doing it for the next week or so.
17:05:02: Amazing handmade scents available in the shop of Absin the dragonnfly, the featured shop on Artfire this week: http://ow.ly/2Lm3n
17:10:02: Bocote wine bottle stopper, my item of the week on artfire. http://ow.ly/2Lmh5
17:50:37: RT @ ArtFire: Win an Amazon Kindle! Hurry and sign up for the ArtFire $5.95 Pro Account Deal, price goes up 10/1/10 http://bit.ly/KindleGD


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9.28.2010

Artfire: Featured Shop: Absin the dragonfly


Want a new perfume? Looking for a gift for that special someone or a treat for yourself?

 Then this week's featured shop, "Absin the Dragonfly", is the place to go!  Amanda has a large selection of fine perfumes in her shop.

She's set up for folks who want to get a whiff of a variety of the available scents before committing to a purchase.  She offers a sample pack of scented tester papers for just the cost of shipping.
 
She also has a variety of sample bottles, something for everyone's needs...get just 1 bottle, a 6 pack, or 13 pack of different scents. 

Amanda is currently offering FREE shipping on all orders.  Just use coupon code:  GRAND OPENING

Aikido Saturday Afternoon - 09/25/10

Aikidoka:  Tim, Trey, and Troy.

Ukemi: normal warmup

The Walk: Twice as usual

Releases:   I was the uke for right-side while Trey was uke for left-side with Troy as tori.

Techniques:

We did a run through of his demonstration again.  We then spent the rest of the afternoon on Oshi-taoshi, just to make certain he did not obsess over 1-5.

It's fun being on the receiving end of the armbar and tweaking tori's technique while laying face down and facing away from tori.  As long as tori takes it nice and slow and doesn't rip my arm off.  Trey and I commented that receiving this technique a bunch gives both of us a nice stretch of our muscles.

At the end we did some Go Kata while kneeling and Trey did some reps on Kote Gaeshi.

Aftermath: Sore knees from the active knee work.

Aikido Friday Night - 09/24/10

Aikidoka:  Tim, Trey, Brad, Trey

Ukemi:  normal warmup

The Walk: twice

Releases: with Troy

Techniques:

We spent most of the evening working on waki gatame.  I worked with Brad while Trey worked with Troy.  We then swapped off for a bit.

At the end of the evening, we did a run through for both folks on their next belt demonstrations.  Troy will be doing his demonstration this next Friday.

Aftermath: None of note.

Aikido Thursday Night - 9/23/10

Aikidoka:  Tim, Trey, Troy
.
Techniques:

We did some work on the standing portion of San Kata, if I remember correctly.  I had did some work playing with a few bits from Go Kata.  Weird stuff.

Aftermath: None of note.

From Twitter 09-27-2010



10:00:29: This week's Spotlight Shop is Jewelz Creatives. An amazing supply of catnip toys for your addicted pet. http://ow.ly/2GtMd


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9.27.2010

From Twitter 09-26-2010



10:00:13: This week's Spotlight Shop is Jewelz Creatives. An amazing supply of catnip toys for your addicted pet. http://ow.ly/2GtLZ
10:00:13: This week's featured shop: Art By Sunfire. She has a wide variety of fun stuff in her shop. Take a look! http://ow.ly/2GtJg
10:05:04: Artfire item of the week: a Slimline style pen turned out of Ambrosia Maple. It really is a gorgeous piece of wood. http://ow.ly/2GtSx
18:40:04: I jumped the gun. Haunted Willow is this week's featured shop. She's got some great decorations for Halloween. http://ow.ly/2HboS


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9.26.2010

From Twitter 09-25-2010



10:00:18: This week's Spotlight Shop is Jewelz Creatives. An amazing supply of catnip toys for your addicted pet. http://ow.ly/2GtLR
10:00:18: This week's featured shop: Art By Sunfire. She has a wide variety of fun stuff in her shop. Take a look! http://ow.ly/2GtIT
10:05:04: Artfire item of the week: a Slimline style pen turned out of Ambrosia Maple. It really is a gorgeous piece of wood. http://ow.ly/2GtSg
12:56:00: 3-27/64 is not the same as 3-27/32. $100 mistake.
18:40:02: I jumped the gun. Haunted Willow is this week's featured shop. She's got some great decorations for Halloween. http://ow.ly/2Hbol


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9.25.2010

From Twitter 09-24-2010



09:42:12: Packing tape being applied: the sound of an office move in progress.
10:00:23: This week's Spotlight Shop is Jewelz Creatives. An amazing supply of catnip toys for your addicted pet. http://ow.ly/2GtLE
10:00:23: This week's featured shop: Art By Sunfire. She has a wide variety of fun stuff in her shop. Take a look! http://ow.ly/2GtI9
10:05:14: Artfire item of the week: a Slimline style pen turned out of Ambrosia Maple. It really is a gorgeous piece of wood. http://ow.ly/2GtRL
18:40:05: I jumped the gun. Haunted Willow is this week's featured shop. She's got some great decorations for Halloween. http://ow.ly/2HbnM


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9.24.2010

From Twitter 09-23-2010



09:55:05: This week's featured shop: Art By Sunfire. She has a wide variety of fun stuff in her shop. Take a look! http://ow.ly/2GtHq
10:00:25: This week's Spotlight Shop is Jewelz Creatives. An amazing supply of catnip toys for your addicted pet. http://ow.ly/2GtLn
10:05:08: Artfire item of the week: a Slimline style pen turned out of Ambrosia Maple. It really is a gorgeous piece of wood. http://ow.ly/2GtRu
18:40:04: I jumped the gun. Haunted Willow is this week's featured shop. She's got some great decorations for Halloween. http://ow.ly/2HbmX


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9.23.2010

From Twitter 09-22-2010



01:00:05: I jumped the gun. Haunted Willow is this week's featured shop. She's got some great decorations for Halloween. http://ow.ly/2Hbmp
09:55:08: This week's featured shop: Art By Sunfire. She has a wide variety of fun stuff in her shop. Take a look! http://ow.ly/2GtH2
10:00:24: This week's Spotlight Shop is Jewelz Creatives. An amazing supply of catnip toys for your addicted pet. http://ow.ly/2GtKE
10:05:08: Artfire item of the week: a Slimline style pen turned out of Ambrosia Maple. It really is a gorgeous piece of wood. http://ow.ly/2GtOZ


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9.22.2010

From Twitter 09-21-2010



09:55:07: This week's featured shop: Art By Sunfire. She has a wide variety of fun stuff in her shop. Take a look! http://ow.ly/2GtGu
10:05:11: Artfire item of the week: a Slimline style pen turned out of Ambrosia Maple. It really is a gorgeous piece of wood. http://ow.ly/2GtOQ
18:40:03: I jumped the gun. Haunted Willow is this week's featured shop. She's got some great decorations for Halloween. http://ow.ly/2Hbls


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9.21.2010

From Twitter 09-20-2010



09:55:05: This week's featured shop: Art By Sunfire. She has a wide variety of fun stuff in her shop. Take a look! http://ow.ly/2GtG3
10:05:07: Artfire item of the week: a Slimline style pen turned out of Ambrosia Maple. It reall is a gorgeous piece of wood. http://ow.ly/2GtNM
18:35:02: I jumped the gun. Haunted Willow is this week's featured shop. She's got some great decorations for Halloween. http://ow.ly/2Hbkj


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9.20.2010

Artfire: Featured Shop: Haunted Willow

This week's featured shop is Haunted Willow.  She's got a wide assortment of primitive stuffed dolls and critters, along with some great Halloween decorations.


Aikido Saturday Afternoon - 9/18/10

Aikidoka: Tim

Ukemi:  Light stretching

The Walk: None

Releases:  None

Techniques:

Sensei and I worked on the 8 double-bokken techniques from Koryu Dai San No Kata.  It went pretty well.  I tapped him on the noggin, lightly, only a couple of times.  We tried to work out the differences between Sensei Haygood's set and Sensei Higashi's set as published in her book.

The differences that we found: 

1.  S. Higashi has tori starting a full attack on all techniques .  S. Haygood has tori in a waiting position.

2.  Haygood's second technique has tori moving to the left and the third to the right.  Higashi's is exactly opposite. 

3. On the eighth technique, S. Higashi has uke and tori separating after each strike by uke.  S. Haygood has the swords always engaged.

4. On the eighth, S. Tim and I worked out a sensible transition for tori from the scond block to the third block.  It only works if the swords are constantly engaged as in S. Haygood's methodology.  If you separate after each strike it is no good.


Aftermath:  None of note.

Aikido Friday Night 09/17/10

Aikidoka: Tim

Since we didn't have the equipment to do any double-bokken work, we called it a night without getting on the mat.

Aftermath: none

From Twitter 09-19-2010



01:00:04: Artfire's got a great deal to encourage folks to sign up as sellers. $5.95/month for life. Sign up now. http://ow.ly/2EUsq
17:50:02: It's a guild free-for-all in the Shops with less than 10 sales this week. Check out our blog: http://ow.ly/2EUn1
17:55:02: Artfire's got a great deal to encourage folks to sign up as sellers. $5.95/month for life. Sign up now. http://ow.ly/2EUsK


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9.19.2010

From Twitter 09-18-2010



05:55:02: Artfire's got a great deal to encourage folks to sign up as sellers. $5.95/month for life. Sign up now. http://ow.ly/2EUr8
17:50:03: It's a guild free-for-all in the Shops with less than 10 sales this week. Check out our blog: http://ow.ly/2EUmN
17:55:02: Artfire's got a great deal to encourage folks to sign up as sellers. $5.95/month for life. Sign up now. http://ow.ly/2EUrq


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9.18.2010

From Twitter 09-17-2010



05:55:02: Artfire's got a great deal to encourage folks to sign up as sellers. $5.95/month for life. Sign up now. http://ow.ly/2EUqc
17:55:03: Artfire's got a great deal to encourage folks to sign up as sellers. $5.95/month for life. Sign up now. http://ow.ly/2EUqI


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9.17.2010

Aikido Thursday Night - 9/16/10

Aikidoka:  Tim, Trey.  Troy was watching from the sidelines; he's got a bit of a bum knee.

Techniques:

We spent the first part of the evening reviewing 1-14 of Koryu Dai Yon no Kata.  I was having a rough time, and I expected it.  It's been a rough week at work.

We then worked with Trey on Owaza Ju Pon.  He had about as much trouble with his stuff as I did with mine.  We attempted: kata otoshi, aikinage, shihonage, and kote gaeshi.

Here's hoping the next few nights are much better.  U-G-L-Y is the word for the day.

Aftermath: None of note.

9.16.2010

From Twitter 09-15-2010



09:25:21: Virginia Beach Quilter is this week's spotlight shop. See some of the fun and fabulous quilt she makes and customizes: http://ow.ly/2zKAa
17:50:02: It's a guild free-for-all in the Shops with less than 10 sales this week. Check out our blog: http://ow.ly/2EUlu
17:55:02: Artfire's got a great deal to encourage folks to sign up as sellers. $5.95/month for life. Sign up now. http://ow.ly/2EUoA


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9.15.2010

From Twitter 09-14-2010



09:25:07: Virginia Beach Quilter is this week's spotlight shop. See some of the fun and fabulous quilt she makes and customizes: http://ow.ly/2zKA1


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9.14.2010

From Twitter 09-13-2010



09:25:07: Virginia Beach Quilter is this week's spotlight shop. See some of the fun and fabulous quilt she makes and customizes: http://ow.ly/2zKzJ


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9.13.2010

Weekend update

Friday:

Aikido

Saturday:

Blueberry muffins
Aikido
Picked up some plywood and did some work on my current commission in the shop

Sunday

Grocery shopping
Picked up some more plywood and did more work on the current commission.
Grilled out steaks
Watched a bit of football over at the in-laws.  Our TV needs a bit of repair, so we're without the tube for a bit.

Aikido Saturday Afternoon - 09/11/10

Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Brad, and Brent.

Ukemi: I got a full warm-up set in.  I also did a fair amount of work with Brent.  He had a headache, so we stopped since we couldn't tell the cause.

The Walk: Twice.  Then I spent a large amount of time with Brent going over details.  Specifically working on the backwards portion of the goblet step.

Techniques:
I worked with Brent on "punch the dummy" and he had some successes and seemed fairly chuffed about it..

I got some work in with Trey on 8-14 of Koryu Dai San no Kata

Aftermath: I was a puddle of sweat after the afternoon was over.

Artfire: Featured Shop: All of 'em!

This week we're featuring everyone.  Everyone gets a little extra exposure.  There's something from each of the active guild shops.

There's no time like the present to get to work on the holiday shopping lists!

Without further adieu...




1.   Madmoravian                          2.  Jewlez_Creatives

3.   Enchanted Beads                     4.  Spiral

5.   Designing Rose                        6.  Jewelry by Andrea

7.  Art by Sunfire                          8.  Beautiful Death Creations

9.   Absin the Dragonfly               10.  Chichi Chick

11.  Haunted Willow                    12.  VaBeachQuilter

Let me know if you find a favorite shop amongst all of these gems!

From Twitter 09-12-2010



09:20:02: I'm the featured shop in an artfire guild this week. My item of the week is my Rebel Alliance stained glass. http://ow.ly/2zKuI
09:25:03: Virginia Beach Quilter is this week's spotlight shop. See some of the fun and fabulous quilt she makes and customizes: http://ow.ly/2zKzC


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9.12.2010

From Twitter 09-11-2010



09:20:05: I'm the featured shop in an artfire guild this week. My item of the week is my Rebel Alliance stained glass. http://ow.ly/2zKur
09:25:05: Virginia Beach Quilter is this week's spotlight shop. See some of the fun and fabulous quilt she makes and customizes: http://ow.ly/2zKzo


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9.11.2010

Aikido Friday Night 09/10/10

Aikidoka: Tim, Trey, Troy

Ukemi:  Normal warm-up

The Walk: Once

Releases:  Troy did the left side with me and right side with Trey. 

Techniques:

Troy got to work on 1-5 with both of us, figuring out the differences in initial off-balances and the various timings.  He had some real issues with me this evening, specifically on Gedan-ate and Ushiro-ate.  He was visibly frustrated by the end of the evening.

I, as tori, worked with Trey on 1-7 of Koryu Dai Yon no Kata.  It went fairly fell.

I, as uke, ran through 1-17 of Ju Nana Hon Kata with Trey.  We then also did 1-5 of Owaza Ju Pon.  He did really well.

Aftermath:  Extreme tiredness.  Two ibuprofen for the evening.

From Twitter 09-10-2010



09:15:08: I'm the featured shop in an artfire guild this week. My item of the week is my Rebel Alliance stained glass. http://ow.ly/2zKuf
09:25:08: Virginia Beach Quilter is this week's spotlight shop. See some of the fun and fabulous quilt she makes and customizes: http://ow.ly/2zKzf


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9.10.2010

Aikido Thursday Night - 9/9/10

Aikidoka:  Tim, Trey

Techniques:

We spent most of the evening working on the first 7 of Koryu Dai Yon no Kata.  I was tori most of the evening, but Trey did get some time as well.  It's interesting, taking some of the releases and extending them into techniques.

The frightening thing is the syllabus Sensei wants me to work on for my Sandan demonstration.  The 50 techniques of Koryu Dai San no kate (34 weapons and 16 open hand) and 25 in Koryu Dai Yon.

Gonna need a couple of ukes for that, I'd think.

Aftermath: None of note.

From Twitter 09-09-2010



09:15:09: I'm the featured shop in an artfire guild this week. My item of the week is my Rebel Alliance stained glass. http://ow.ly/2zKtY
09:25:07: Virginia Beach Quilter is this week's spotlight shop. See some of the fun and fabulous quilt she makes and customizes: http://ow.ly/2zKz5


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9.09.2010

From Twitter 09-08-2010



09:15:09: I'm the featured shop in an artfire guild this week. My item of the week is my Rebel Alliance stained glass. http://ow.ly/2zKtO
09:25:16: Virginia Beach Quilter is this week's spotlight shop. See some of the fun and fabulous quilt she makes and customizes: http://ow.ly/2zKys


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9.08.2010

From Twitter 09-07-2010



01:00:05: Haunted Willow is the spotlight shop this week. Check out her amazing stuff : http://ow.ly/2zKwY
09:15:06: I'm the featured shop in an artfire guild this week. My item of the week is my Rebel Alliance stained glass. http://ow.ly/2zKtE


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9.07.2010

Mike Edwards, ELO Cellist, dies

The Electric Light Orchestra is one of my top 5 bands of all time.  Mike Edwards was one of their founding members as a cellist.

He lost his life to a runaway bale of hay.

Weekend update

Friday:

Aikido

Saturday:

Blueberry muffins
Went early to aikido to take pictures for the ARMA folks
Aikido
Dinner with K & K at Durango's

Sunday:

Some time in the shop turning a commissioned pen
Grilled out dinner for the in-laws and some family friends

Monday:

Took the dogs for a walk in a local park
Hid out from the rain.  T. S. Hermine started to make her arrival down south felt
Watched "The Wolfman".  I'm glad I did not see that in the theatre.

Aikido Saturday Afternoon - 09/04/10

Aikidokas: Tim, Brad, and Troy.

Ukemi: I got a partial warm-up set in

The Walk: Once.  We then went from there into explorations of where the Walk shows up in techniques.  We showed some Koryu Dai San techniques.  Brad and Troy got to play with one or two on me. 

Releases: Troy and Brad worked with each other.

Techniques:

Troy demonstrated 1-5, both sides with me as uke and did pretty well.


Brad demonstrated 1-9 on both sides with me as uke.  A couple of stumbles, but still, pretty good.

Aftermath: None of note.

Aikido Friday Night - 09/03/10

Aikidoka: Tim, Trey, Troy

The Walk: Twice

Releases:  Troy did the left side with me and right side with Trey.  It's good practice to work with varying sizes, especially with a constant change.

Techniques:

Troy got to work on 1-5 with both of us, figuring out the differences in initial off-balances and the various timings.  Good work.

Aftermath:  None of note.

Aikido Thursday Night: 9/2/10

Aikidokas: Tim, Trey

Trey and I worked on the kneeling portion of Koryu Dai San no Kata all evening.  I made it through all of the techniques.  Trey made it through the first four.  That means I took my first Kote Gaeshi that started from a kneeling position.  We'd all been a bit apprehensive about how that would work with my height, but it happened quickly and easily.

Aftermath:

Knees were sore on Saturday and are still a bit worn today

From Twitter 09-06-2010



09:15:04: I'm the featured shop in an artfire guild this week. My item of the week is my Rebel Alliance stained glass. http://ow.ly/2zKtq
09:20:03: Haunted Willow is the spotlight shop this week. Check out her amazing stuff : http://ow.ly/2zKwn


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9.06.2010

From Twitter 09-05-2010



09:10:31: Thanks to all of the artists who participated in Armadillocon's Art Show. It was very, very successful. #armadillocon
09:20:02: Haunted Willow is the spotlight shop this week. Check out her amazing stuff : http://ow.ly/2zKvY
21:15:02: I'm the featured shop in an artfire guild this week. My item of the week is my Rebel Alliance stained glass. http://ow.ly/2zKsz


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9.04.2010

Armadillocon 32: a recap

I spent last weekend in Austin, running the art show for Armadillocon 32.  I think this is the 6th or 7th year in a row that I've been in charge.  If the sales are any indication of the state of the economy, we're coming out of the doldrums.  We had 37 artists, one did not show up after requesting space.

It ended up being a nice layout, and a number of folks were heard to comment on the quality of the art.  I think we did a good selection of art this year.

Thursday:

Up bright and early (5:30 a.m.) to do final packing and hit the road.  I made it Granger around 9:30 a.m. and picked up my order of kolaches and 6 links of sausage from the store in town.  Then it was on to Austin.  I stopped at Central Market for my weekend supply of root beer and then made my way to the hotel to do a partial unload.

I then drove down Lamar to Aikido of Austin where I dressed out and joined them on the mat for a workout session.  It's amazing.  They had about 12 to 14 people on the mat for a lunch time session. (We struggle to get 3 folks for an evening session.  Admittedly, it's a Friday evening session, so that probably has something to do with it.)  I had a good time and it was interesting seeing how another branch of the aikido family works.

From aikido, it was back to the hotel to finishing unload the truck.  After that, I had a couple of hours of free time until the pre-con dinner.  So, I went down to the pool, caught some rays and did some swimming.

The pre-con dinner was at a nearby Mexican restaurant, more inner than Tex-Mex.  Pretty good stuff.

After dinner, it was time to assemble the art show.  It took us about 2 hours to build the show.  I then hung around with Diesel LaForce while he hang a small portion of his collection of art from his days as a TSR artists.  It was amazing!  While he was hanging art, I was laying out the show yet again.  I think I did that about 4 times before I was finally happy.  I also distributed the boxes of mail-in art to be at the spots where they would get hung in the morning.   I got to bed around midnight, I think.

Friday:

Up bright and early for breakfast in the hotel and then off to the art show to start hanging art.  Tomi Welch provided a priceless amount of help in helping me hang the art.  We were ready to go by about noon, and folks started coming in around then.

We were open until around 7 p.m., when the Dealer's room closed.  Due to the layout of stuff this year, the Art Show had to close when the Dealer's room did.  Not ideal, but it did mean I got some rest this weekend.  Dinner was at North by Northwest, a brew pub nearby.  It was pretty good.

Saturday:

Up bright and early for breakfast in the hotel and then off to the art show.   The day pretty much flew by all the way through the auction.  We had 13 pieces go to auction where Cat Conrad and Rhonda Eudaly did a fabulous job getting folks to bid.  We did a total of $4900 sales in the art show for the weekend. 

Dinner was in the hotel restaurant due to time constraints.  I had a conversation with the waiter recommending changes in their Creme Brulee.  The dish it was made in was large and flat which made the large of amount of caramelized sugar overpower the flavor of the custard.  I recommended they change the dish to be taller.

Sunday

Up bright and early for breakfast in the hotel and then off to the art show.   If Saturday flew by, Sunday was exceeding speed limits.  the next thing I knew, the art show was torn down and all of the artists were checked out.  We unloaded the art show supplies at the storage unit and headed off to the post-con dinner at County Ljne Bar-B-Q.  It's ok stuff, not great.

Back at the hotel, I had to do final paperwork and packing of the mail-in art for mail-out on Monday.  Laura Domitz and Jimmy Simpson did a fantastic job of packing up the art for me.

I hit the Dead Dog party for a bit, and then went to bed.

Monday:

Up early, without breakfast, to pack the truck and to try to hit UPS, USPS and FedEx when they opened so I could mail out all of the packages.  I think I managed to get on the road by 9:30 a.m.  I made it home by about 12:30 p.m.

Next year, I do it all over again.