Tag Archives: james

Return from Penguicon.

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Later last night mia_mcdavid and I watched ice cream being made with liquid nitrogen , then ate some of the results. It was a good, rich ice cream.

Afterwards we looked in on a couple parties. I watched some more swordfighting demos by Aegis Academy, then joined Mia at the music circle. This was really quite dead, although we had another nice talk with Frank Hayes when he stopped by briefly. We got to bed about 1 AM. I think James came back to the room about 2:30.

Slept past 9 this morning. Not a lot of convention for me and James, since Mia took us to the airport at 11. This worked out OK, although there was about 1/2 hour of hideous traffic on I-94.

James and I returned home precisely according to plan, again changing planes at O’Hare. James handled the weekend’s air travel very well. I am quite pleased with him.

His laptop computer did not do so well. It was very slow. Perhaps a virus had finally gotten into to it. Or perhaps, as a Windows machine, it was uncomfortable at a Linux event :-)> My little Nokia 770, which runs Debian Linux, did just fine….

This was one of the best cons I have been to in a long time. I need to reflect on why that was. It was quite different from what we have here in Minnesota–what about these differences appealed to me?

Mia is driving home, and is spending the night with family friends in Chicagoland.

Saturday

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It does not feel like we did a lot today, but we finished something that I have been wanting to do for over a year. We rerouted the drainage for the sump pump so that the pipe does not freeze in the winter. It was a straightforward job with PVC pipe, and it worked just like it was supposed to. We tested the pump this evening and it drained correctly without leaking. A project completed, a worry gone.

After that we went to a wedding in south Minneapolis of two friends from colgaffneyis. It was at the home of c_nocturnum and 3stitches officiated. He does a very nice liturgy. This was very pleasant, but we could not stay long at the reception since we had to take James and his friend Matthew (like James an aspie) out to dinner–it is James’s birthday. They get along very well, but an intense conversation between two aspies with shared obsessions can be difficult for others. Fortunately, mia_mcdavid and I had each other. We went to the Macaroni Grill in Rosedale Mall, which has some very nice food that we can appreciate, while also having some basics that James (seriously palate-challenged) will eat happily. We all enjoyed it.

Christmas Eve

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Got through the day with Tom. We had a nice walk around Lake Como, then went home for a while, then went to the 4:30 Church service, after which we went home for dinner. He did well on the walk, at church, and at dinner, i.e., while there was something definite going on. Between events–just hanging out at home–got a liitle tense at times.

He was quite happy to go to sleep in his old bed. James has also gone to bed. mia_mcdavid and I have been watching Christmas concerts on PBS. The St. Olaf College choir was really good.

I suppose I would like to go to Midnight Mass again, but it won’t work with Tom. Still, I have to admit that St. Christopher’s did manage a pretty good show at 4:30. Even at the late service I doubt they will have incense, so it still would not be the same as at our old parish in Evanston.

Thanksgiving Dinner soon

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The monster turkey (40.5 lbs.) is almost done. Vegetables and pie are done. Tom is here–I picked him up from his group home at noon. So far things are going well, but I can never really relax at these holiday feasts. Tom (age 16) is severely autistic, while his older brother’s case of Asperger’s Syndrome means he also requires extra management.