The 40th Anniversary, the announcer guy told us, is the Ruby Anniversary and that's probably why Michigan's State Tree is lit all in red (with a white star topper). I don't believe this is the 40th year that Michigan has had a State Tree, but it is the 40th Silver Bells in the City, with an outdoor market and --- for most of those years --- an ( Read more... )

Where were we? Oh yes, outside The Rezzanine in whatever Pittsburgh suburb Bridgeville, Pennsylvania is. When Pinburgh was its original concern we often made a dinner trip to Condado Tacos, a build-your-own taco place an easy walk from the Anthrocon Convention Center. We were nowhere near that easy walk anymore and I think that location might ( Read more... )

Our pet rabbit did not die today. This does not mean that we, or he, are perfectly happy. More underneath the cut, for the sake of people who are not up to hearing about pet health. But it is still in a good spot, right at the moment.
( Read more... )

Over on my humor blog a new MiSTing started its sharing. And I went on with a bunch of nonsense, not all based around wherever the heck area code 661 might be. Want to see more? Sure you do; it's all right here ...

• MiSTed: The 72 Hours Saga, Part 1
• In Which I Leave My Spouse Helpless With Laughter
• Statistics Saturday: Some Symptoms
• ( Read more... )

While bunny_hugger had her better-but-not-enough second half of the Women's International Pinball Tournament, what was I doing? Milling around some, naturally. Having a little bit of popcorn and regretting I hadn't stashed more bagels or doughnuts while they were out earlier. Movie theater popcorn is nice but, c'mon, you can't make that a meal. ( Read more... )

Back after lunch. Round 4 of the Women's International Pinball Tournament sees bunny_hugger, seeded 49th for her first three-player group. There's been a single three-person group all along, owing to there being 63 players attending. Scoring, based on how many people you beat on each of the three games, is multiplied by 1.5 to compensate for having two ( Read more... )

So what was I doing, while bunny_hugger got more angry at the idea of pinball? Mostly puttering around. The whole mezzanine had tables on free play, apart from the designated tournament areas, so I could wander around and look at them. Occasionally agree with some other guy who was there that this was a heck of a table. Some of them were ones I knew well ( Read more... )

The Women's International Pinball Tournament began about 10:30, with everyone gathered around for greetings, brief description of the rules of the tournament and the instruction to not play tournament games except as part of tournament play. And a group photo, involving the usual sort of fussing and inability to just tell people, short people up ( Read more... )

I'm sorry, I was too busy today to write up the next step in the Women's International Pinball Tournament, 2024 edition. Please enjoy a double dose of pictures from the Silver Bells parade last November instead:

( Read more... )

That's a fair description of Kennywood. Sunday we got up, in time to stuff plates full at the hotel breakfastery. The goal: the Women's International Pinball Tournament, at whatever the ``Rezzanine Esports Facility'' was. We had the choice to go there Saturday and at least scout it out, but Kennywood was more important, and it's not likely ( Read more... )