About five weeks ago I decided to forgo my usual foods that had caffeine, which would be soda pop and the occasional Rocket Chocolate. My motivation was pretty mild - every now and then I can feel my heart pounding a bit (as if I could hear it) and I wondered if caffeine might be involved.

Today's lunch was cheese sandwich with some fries, and I realized that a Coke would be the absolute most-wanted drink with that. And there's a bunch in the fridge (for my son). And I'm a bit tired of milk, tea and water (my other options).

So I had a Coke with lunch. And, ya know, it really wasn't anywhere near as tasty as I imagined it would be. Convenient I guess, but after this it's going to be even easier to stick to the alternatives.

Heart-wise, I haven't noticed any change one way or the other, so it's probably not caffeine, and may well be nothing more than that one of my three part-times jobs involves a lot of waiting around in a really quiet place.

For the first time since 2008 Mike has a full time job. The offer came Friday morning, by Friday evening they were set. He starts in about two weeks, although he hopes to stop in earlier than that and do the paperwork thing.

He's be working mostly out of an office in Seattle, with the potential for some at-home stuff and the likelihood of occasional trips to the East Coast. Among other interesting parts, they want him to learn to fly a plane. So, very cool.

It will be months yet before we're out of the dire financial straits we're mired in, but at least there's now a path out.

But then I get all reluctant to go into details about why various parts of my jobs are frustrating or tiring, and when I look at what I planned to say it's just boring. It's not like I think there are solutions besides the standard "wait it out" and "try to keep communication open".

So here's a fun thing instead:
Westercon is being held in Seattle this year, and they've put together a fine lineup of Guests as well as some interesting programming. The hotel is getting near to full, so if you are planning on staying the night, best to go book that room.

ECCC is this weekend, one of my favorite events, and one where I rarely make it out from the Studio Foglio table because we're usually kept pretty busy. But I still love to note who else is going to be there, so here's my handy reference (muchly from Fleen):

(Sometimes I've thrown in the comic name, mostly not. I may come back here later and fill in the rest, and add links, and comments, and stuff. Or I may actually get some real work done.)

- Angela Melick - Wasted Talent (307)
- Ben Costa - Shi Long Pang (P18)
- Daniel Corsetto - Girls with Slingshots (309)
- David Maguire (P04)
- Dylan Meconis (223)
- Ed Brisson (F10)
- Erica Moen (223)
- Gordon McAlpin - Multiplex (307)
- Jim Zub - Skullkickers (C11)
- Joel Watson - Hijinks Ensue (307)
- Mary Cagle - Kiwi Blitz (H07)
- Matthew Inman - The Oatmeal (705)
- Randall Milholland - Something Positive (309)
- YukoandAnanth - Johnny Wander (A22)
- Zack Weiner - Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal (206)(Unshelved)

Alaska Robotics (216)
- Could be any or all of Sarah Asper-Smith, Dani Byers, Lou Logan, Bonny Mara, Pat Race or Aaron Suring. Snitched the list of their website, but it doesn't mention who's attending.

Blank Label (210)
- David Willis - Shortpackeded!, Dumbing of Age
- Kel McDonald - Sorcery 101
- Magnolia Porter

Blind Ferret (306)
- Lar DeSouza - Least I Could Do, Looking for Group
- Ryan Sohmer - Least I Could Do, Looking for Group

Halfpixel (102)
- Brag Guigar - Evil Inc.
- Scott Kurtz - PVP
- Kris Straub - Starslip
- Dave Kellett - Sheldon

KsBoom! (402)
- Ryan North - Dinosaur Comics

Periscope Studio (222)
- Aaron McConnell (The US Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation)
- Ben Bates (Sonic The Hedgehog, Mega Man)
- Ben Dewey (Tragedy Series, Star Wars)
- Rich Ellis (Memorial)
- Cat Farris (Flaccid Badger, Frog Song)
- David Hahn (Spider-Man, Fantastic Four)
- Dennis Culver (Odd Schnozz and the Odd Squad)
- Dustin Weaver (S.H.I.E.L.D.)
- Jeremy Barlow (Metalocalypse, Star Wars)
- Steve Lieber (Underground, Whiteout)
- Natalie Nourigat (Between Gears)
- Patric Reynolds (Serenity, Let Me In)
- Paul Guinan (Boilerplate)
- Ron Chan (The Guild, Roy’s Boys)
- Ron Randall (Trekker, Supergirl)
- Sean Kelley (Roy’s Boys)
- Wook-Jin Clark (The Return of King Doug)

Studio Foglio (110)
- Kaja Foglio
- Phil Foglio
- Cheyenne Wright

Topatoco (202 & 203):
- Aaron Diaz - Dresden Codex
- Anthony Clark
- Axe Cop (Ethan and Malachi)
- Chris Hastings
- Chris Yates
- David Malki ! - Wondermark
- Jeph Jacques - Questionable Content
- Jhonen Vasquez
- Machine of Death
- Meredith Gran - Octopus Pie
- Ryan North - Dinosaur Comics
- Sam Logan - Sam and Fuzzy
- Tiny Kitten Teeth
- Tyson Hesse
- Wes and Tony

Unshelved (206)
- Bill Barnes - Unshelved
- Gene Ambaum - Unshelved

Last Fall I interviewed for a position as a veterinarian's assistant. It was part-time, and didn't offer to pay much, but it was close to home, sounded interesting, and at that point (and this) I was going for any job that looked like they would take me. Just after the interview, he got an application from a person with overwhelming qualifications, and chose her (as I would have if I was him).

Saturday he phoned to see if I was maybe still interested. The Fall hire had known her stuff wrt being a veterinarian's assistant, but could not (despite months of trying) come up to speed on running the software needed to log appointments and treatment costs.

Yesterday was my first day there, and I think this will work out fairly well. Like many receptionist jobs, there's a lot of dead time, but I hope to fill that in as I learn more about the business. And like most new things one tries, there are a lot of new words to learn, new procedures to memorize, and a certain level of comfort with biological issues that I haven't exercised recently.

But hey, new job! That will (with agile scheduling) allow me to keep doing my other two part-time jobs! Now we only need to get the spouse and the kid employed, and we'll be golden!

A signal bump, because what else is the internet really for:

http://ursulav.livejournal.com/1489528.html

I just finished a long video chat with my dad, my sister, three of my four brothers and a bunch of kids and close family friends. Most of them are from Chicago, one from Green Bay, all were down in Arkansas visiting with the one brother that lives down there.

He's been having a difficult but so far fairly successful battle with lung cancer, and since he lives so far from the rest of the clan we all don't see him much. So this weekend, those who had the time to spare rented a passenger van and drove down to visit him. Flying across country is not something I can take on just now, so instead we hooked up a laptop there with gmail video chat, and, just because we were trying things, also an iPad2 by Skype. We never did get the video on their side of the Skype session to work, but they already had it through the laptop, so that was fine. Meanwhile, I had two camera angles on them, and we had a long group conversation, just like I was a head in a jar or something.

Pretty cool, and it was great to see and talk with both my brother and my dad. OK, it was of course great to talk with the others too (we all get along really well), but those are the two I see the least often.

Yeay technology!

OK, that's a silly question. Let's try: Do you read speculative fiction books? How about comics and/or graphic novels?
What are some of your favorite resources for choosing what to buy or read next?

Inquiring minds want to know!

I have a second interview scheduled tomorrow for the Personal Banker opening I interviewed for last Wednesday, so, yeay, go me!

There are so many plusses to (potentially) landing this job - I think I would do very well at it, I really crave the routine and support of a day job, and Great Ghu do we need the money - that the few negatives are easy to brush off. But they are still negatives. If the schedule works out as I expect, I won't be able to go to the conventions I was thinking I would be helping at. At least not this year. But we shall see. And it would be worth it. And all that.

In either case - woo, second interview!

No news yet (should I worry?) from the job I interviewed for on Wednesday. I really need something fun to distract me right now.

So it's convenient that yesterday I got a call from Jack Bell, following up on my much earlier offer to sell books for him at Potlatch. See, while he has a storage unit full of paperbacks he wants to find new homes for, he is way too busy, what with running the convention. And I am way too broke to consider investing the membership cost, along with the ferry pass and gas (let's not even contemplate hotel), even though I'm sure I would have the same fabulous time I had at the previous Potlatch.

But when our Powers Combine good things can happen. So Friday I look forward to setting up and selling books at Potlatch, and I really hope folks will stop by and chat. Jack's books will be $1 each, or 6 for $5. I'll have the run of Girl Genius there at regular retail ($25 each including the sales tax), and a box or two of oddities priced all over the map.