poll: star trek women?

Happy birthday, Parki!

Looks like Scott, Amanda, Zoë and Beckett have all caught colds. :-( Hopefully the plague won't spread much further.

Allison and Jodi are both back home. Allison's pretty much over hers. I spent much of yesterday sleeping but then got so bored of just staying at home that I went out and rented five DVDs: A.I., Kate & Leopold, From Hell, Ghost World, Dragonfly.

My mini-reviews:

A.I.: I didn't dislike it as much as when I first saw the movie, but only because I can skip vast chunks of the movie at a time. Jude Law is my fave.

Kate & Leopold: I'm a sucker for unrealistic sappy romances with Hugh Jackman, so sue me. My main beef: surely they could have done SOMETHING original with the usual time travel romance plot.

From Hell: Haven't seen this yet, probably later today.

Ghost World: Liked it except for the ending, which I hated.

Dragonfly: Thought this was semi-okay despite Kevin Costner's presence. Big gaping questions in the plot were distracting, though.





Scary Link of the Day:
The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins: Leonard Nimoy with go-go girls!
(Thanks to Parki for this link)

Poll: women of classic Star Trek

Browse this gallery (thanks to Cory of BoingBoing for this link); which of these was YOUR favourite? I only wish each of these photos was linked to the specific episode info.

My personal favourites:

Edith Keeler, who was in my favourite Classic Trek episode, "City of the Edge of Forever".

The Romulan Commander, who deserved to win.

Vina and Marta, because they were green.

Nurse Chapel, because I had a thing for Spock, too. And Number One, who only got to be a strong female senior officer in one pilot episode.

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Today's Blatherpics:

	Colour-sorted M&Ms at a candy store that Scott and Amanda took me to in Claremont.
	Krispy Kreme outlet.
	Scott and Cora in Claremont.

poll: sleep/naps

I am Queen of Naps. I challenge anyone to a Nap Contest. I will win. I have napped in cars, planes, bathtubs, canoes, tents, churches, movies. My favourite nap ever: dozing in a canoe as it drifted down the Nahanni River (Northwest Territories). Best general nap place: cottage. I tend to get carsick pretty easily, so in childhood got in the habit of learning how to fall asleep very quickly on long car trips.

At Conchord, someone told me that if you can fall asleep within ten minutes of your head hitting the pillow at night, you're sleep-deprived (it generally takes people longer to fall asleep). If that's the case, then I've been sleep deprived all my life.

I generally don't nap during the day unless I'm on holiday, mainly because I don't want to get into that habit. Since coming home from Conchord, however, my cold has knocked me into perpetual nap-mode. I think I've spent more time asleep than awake lately.

Hm...speaking of naps, I think I may take another one after posting this Blathering...

Poll: What are your sleep/nap habits?

When you have the opportunity, can you nap? How fast do you fall asleep? Are you a light or heavy sleeper? Do you have any sleep rituals? (i.e. a special pillow, have to read first, etc.) How long do you sleep every night, on average? How much sleep do you need every night to feel like a human being in the morning?

Answer here

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Today's Blatherpics:

	Zoë napping in her car seat.
	One of Zoë's favourite toys, Crusty Monkey. (Don't ask)
	The incredible folk music store and museum that Scott and Amanda took me to in Claremont.

toronto: a FUN city

It's my mom-in-law's 65th birthday today. Happy Birthday, Ginny!

Sad news: our friend Reid and his entire Mac team in Toronto got laid off from Roxio on Tuesday. :-( See his journal entry for details. If anyone out there has work for a team of Mac developers who work really well together, please do contact Reid (whose picture is above). They're really hoping to stay together as a team.

I slept most of yesterday, feel a bit better today. I hope Jodi's doing okay in L.A. Apparently Beckett's come down with The Bug, too. :-(

Our friend Helen has been visiting, but I'm afraid that my hostessing duties have been limited to staggering out bleary-eyed into the living room and asking how she's doing.

Several people told me about this chocolate-related job (thanks to Rob Wynne for the URL). Holy cow, they must be deluged with applications right now. Especially since I've sent in two dozen already under various pseudonyms...

;-)

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I've mentioned the Catholic World Youth Day backpacks in past Blatherings. My friend ScottM went out and got me one! For those interested, here's a close-up of the goods.

The backpack strap is nicely padded with a Canada logo in black print plus a plastic pocket for id:





The tag inside the backpack is one from Correctional Service Canada in Drummond, with the phrase, "Making Safe Reintegration Work":





A colour brochure about Ontario, Canada:





A plastic World Youth Day candle holder (with prongs on the inside to stick the candle on) and candle:





A small wooden cross on a string:





The official World Youth Day map by MapArt, with World Youth Day event locations marked in Toronto, special maps of Exhibition Place, Downsview Lands, and downtown Toronto, and a TTC map:





I had to cringe at some of the interior text, however. Like the following, which seems to try a bit too hard to emphasize the FUN aspect of Toronto:

"TORONTO: THE FUN CITY

The Fun City

With a dazzling array of performing arts, cultural and sporting events as well as street fairs, festivals and parades, Toronto is indeed Canada's City Of Fun. From cold winter to hot summer, Toronto is alive with festivities and fun."

Augh.

But onto the other backpack goodies. There was a World Youth Day pin:





A cityscape postcard:





A bunch of other postcards:





A plastic rosary:





And a Catholic World Youth Day scarf:





If there are any World Youth out there reading my Blatherings, I'd love to hear how much of this stuff you've actually used/kept. Thanks for the backpack, Scott!

still sick

Cold is worse today, ugh. So much for plunging back into my novel writing. I still haven't finished unpacking from my trip; I unpack a little, lie down and rest, unpack some more, lie down again.

Jodi's worse, too. :-( She's still in L.A., though. At least I get to crash in my own bed. Looks like I left my cellphone in the hotel room. Jodi says she'll give it to me next we see each other.

Glad you're feeling somewhat better, Allison! Good luck with your flight home today.

Today's Blatherpic:

Cora jamming with Scott Snyder and Jeff Bohnhoff at Conchord. Their recent comments in Blatherchat are amusing.

JeffB: "Ash Productions was fantastic indeed. Another highlight was the down-home Blues that Cora laid down Sunday morning."

Scott: "I agree! That chick can wail!"

:-)

home!

Dead tired, didn't sleep much on the flight, which got into Toronto around 6:15 a.m. this morning. Jeff met me at the bus stop to help carry my bags home.

I've caught up in my Blatherings, though...please do check out the entries and photos I've added since Thursday. The new entries start on Friday.

Many heartfelt thanks to the Conchord concom and those who attended the convention for inviting Allison, Jodi and me, and for making us feel so welcome! We had a wonderful time.

I'll post more con highlights and photos over time. Because I was a guest, I didn't take as many photos at the convention as I usually do. If any of you have photos of the Urban Tapestry concert and/or me at Conchord, I'd love to see them. I feel somewhat egotistical asking for photos of me, but as a photographer, I don't tend to be in most of the pictures taken with my camera, and I like to have photos as momentoes of trips I've enjoyed.

Going to bed now to try getting rid of this cold.

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Today's Blatherpics:

	Sunrise from my plane window a few hours ago.
	Zoë Snyder, while I was pushing her around in the shopping cart in a Target outlet last week. She's holding my purchase, a Marilyn Monroe DVD ("Some Like It Hot") that I couldn't resist for $9. I was going to watch it on the plane coming home, but worked on my Blatherings updates instead.