BECAUSE bisexuality conference this weekend

I’m not so much tempted to go to the conference, (here’s the schedule) as possibly interested in a) watching the keynote speaker, b) the “Cabaret Entertainment” provided from 8 to 11 on Saturday night, and c) the MN premier of “Bi The Way”, a documentary film about bisexuality, featuring, among other things, an interview with Ani Difranco. Here is the poster for the movie screening (pdf), which is actually free to the public (although space will be reserved for conference attendees.

The conference costs like $45, which, while totally reasonable, will probably mean I’ll skip items a & b above. I’m going to try and make it to the movie screening though.

Interesting peek into my online method/madness: I did not twitter on this topic, though I wanted to, and may yet even link to it on facebook. Twitter has become an extension of my iPhone game promotional arm. Does that make me a twitter sellout? (As if selling my previous twitter account hadn’t already solidified that status…. ha!)

There is no spoon. :(

I’ve never before understood how powerful and devastating it can be to lose a truly beloved pet.

On Tuesday night of this week, Florence and I arrived home, and as we walked in the door, we watched our cat Spoon start convulsing and die, right before our eyes. It happened extremely suddenly, and I cannot really express the sadness and helplessness that we both felt watching his last agonizing breaths wheeze out of him.

This post is one I’ve been composing in my head and meaning to write since that night, but (so far) this is only a fraction of what I meant to say. So maybe this is more of a placeholder. One thing I really want to do this weekend is post all my best pictures of Spoon to flickr, in a special commemorative set.

Rest in peace Spoon, you were loved. And you will be missed.

Disasters large and small

By now, you’ve probably all heard about the 35W bridge that collapsed over the river. I had left early that day with Florence for a doctor’s appointment, and was already home by the time I heard about it. I had noticed a lot of sirens coming through the screen door, but didn’t really think twice about them until Mike called me to let me know what was happening. Florence and I immediately started watching CNN (on mute *shudder*) for pictures and live footage.

In spite of the location of the bridge (smack-dab in between home and work if you take the freeway), I didn’t know anyone who was involved in the collapse in any way. There were a flurry of work emails that night, asking everyone to check in.

At almost the same time, my friend Sarah is living in Japan, and she was dealing with Typhoon Usagi. She said she spent the time indoors, reading Transmetropolitan, which is now medium-high on my reading list. I really like what I’ve read of Warren Ellis’ work, and hadn’t heard of this 11-volume sci-fi epic until she brought it to my attention. (Thanks Sarah!)

Yesterday, the mn fringe festival started. I’ve got a short (but growing) list of shows I wouldn’t mind seeing, but so far my enthusiasm for the festival is less urgent than it has been in past years.

I can think of several reasons, the wedding is really starting to seem eminent, for one thing, and another is that I’ve got a looming work deadline (on monday) that is unlikely to be met if I don’t work a bunch this weekend. I actually worked a 16 hour day yesterday trying to finish one aspect of the project that I’d been putting off (there were plenty of other aspects to work on) until last Monday when I began to work on it in earnest. I’m fairly certain it should have been a two-week portion of the project. Anyway, t’s an internal deadline, but not really any less important for that because other people are waiting for my code. After I left work last night (2:30am), I waited for the bus for about 25 minutes, and then just ended up walking the two miles home.

I’m writing this post waiting for the cats to finish eating, (we give them 15 minutes, but it’s been 10 and they haven’t touched their bowls in 5) after which I’ll take a shower and head in to the office.