Weddings and more
First, a quick updated on my NaNoWriMo progress: 2808 words, well short of the 18,337 I "should" have by now. Stubbornly refusing to admit defeat and waiting for the story to catch fire that will get me caught up. Or at least closer to caught up.
Is anyone reading the story so far over in karakwrites? Any comments / criticisms of the story so far?
This last weekend I attended two weddings; both had an undercurrent of "It's about time!" though this was stated overtly at the first and more subtle at the second.
The first was for a pair of friends I met within the last few years through alarin612 and they have both agreed to be a part of the Alternia Comics family. They had been dating since high school and friends and family expressed the "it's about time!" sentiment during the reception. The wedding itself was simple, short and beautiful. The groom, a self-described steampunk, wore tux-tails and a top hat, and was actually ten minutes later to the chapel than planned because he went to different coin shops to find a victorian-era silver six-pence for his bride to put in her shoe. There were less than 75 guests, I think. The round of toasts ended with the groom saying that when he and his now-wife sat down to make the guest list, they decided to only invite those people they would be happier if the invited was present than absent.
The second was for a family friend. Up until 2002 or 2003, most if not all of my Thanksgivings were at their house. This wedding had a longer guest-list, upwards of 150 people. While the first was indoors, the second was an out-door, evening affair near the shore of a reservoir. Beautiful, but chilly, and the wind played merry hob with the microphone. One thing that sticks out in my mind is the music that played as the groomsmen walked alone to the altar: a violin instrumental of U2's "With or Without You." The couple wrote their own vows and both referenced that they had known this wedding was coming since they met at age 13, 11 or 12 years previous. The reception felt crowded, and definitely lacking in seating. I was with my mother and sister at this wedding, and we left early to get dinner.
One thing I've found about being open about my current employment status (unemployed and looking) seems obvious: in talking about it, employment opportunities present themselves. Case in point, at the first wedding, I talked with a new friend about helping him out and taking extra IT work when he's overloaded. And another friend asked me to help her transfer some files archived on 3.5" floppy disks readable only by an Apple IIc Plus, which of course has no ethernet, wifi, USB or firewire capability.
I found a piece of software (ADTPro) which can be used to transfer data from older Apple computers to modern computers over the Apple's serial interface. In trying this program, I ran into a stumbling block I hadn't anticipated; the Apple's serial port looks nothing like what I'm used to calling a serial port. Confusingly, it does have a 9-pin port on the back that a serial cable can plug in to, but the Apple doesn't send serial traffic over that port. Instead, it's ports are round, mini-DIN-8 serial ports, now commonly used in computer audio equipment. For now the project is on hold while a DIN-8 cable is being shipped from an online seller. Since the client is a friend, we agreed on a relatively low hourly rate for this sort of work, and I noted that I would not demand payment if I was unable to resolve the situation. She has, nonetheless, insisted on paying me at the end of two two-hour sessions that have yielded little result so far.
Another opportunity presented this weekend was for a nationally-recognized aerospace manufacturer with an office in Colorado needs a SharePoint administrator. I am reticent to say more at this time, but I remain hopeful.
Is anyone reading the story so far over in karakwrites? Any comments / criticisms of the story so far?
This last weekend I attended two weddings; both had an undercurrent of "It's about time!" though this was stated overtly at the first and more subtle at the second.
The first was for a pair of friends I met within the last few years through alarin612 and they have both agreed to be a part of the Alternia Comics family. They had been dating since high school and friends and family expressed the "it's about time!" sentiment during the reception. The wedding itself was simple, short and beautiful. The groom, a self-described steampunk, wore tux-tails and a top hat, and was actually ten minutes later to the chapel than planned because he went to different coin shops to find a victorian-era silver six-pence for his bride to put in her shoe. There were less than 75 guests, I think. The round of toasts ended with the groom saying that when he and his now-wife sat down to make the guest list, they decided to only invite those people they would be happier if the invited was present than absent.
The second was for a family friend. Up until 2002 or 2003, most if not all of my Thanksgivings were at their house. This wedding had a longer guest-list, upwards of 150 people. While the first was indoors, the second was an out-door, evening affair near the shore of a reservoir. Beautiful, but chilly, and the wind played merry hob with the microphone. One thing that sticks out in my mind is the music that played as the groomsmen walked alone to the altar: a violin instrumental of U2's "With or Without You." The couple wrote their own vows and both referenced that they had known this wedding was coming since they met at age 13, 11 or 12 years previous. The reception felt crowded, and definitely lacking in seating. I was with my mother and sister at this wedding, and we left early to get dinner.
One thing I've found about being open about my current employment status (unemployed and looking) seems obvious: in talking about it, employment opportunities present themselves. Case in point, at the first wedding, I talked with a new friend about helping him out and taking extra IT work when he's overloaded. And another friend asked me to help her transfer some files archived on 3.5" floppy disks readable only by an Apple IIc Plus, which of course has no ethernet, wifi, USB or firewire capability.
I found a piece of software (ADTPro) which can be used to transfer data from older Apple computers to modern computers over the Apple's serial interface. In trying this program, I ran into a stumbling block I hadn't anticipated; the Apple's serial port looks nothing like what I'm used to calling a serial port. Confusingly, it does have a 9-pin port on the back that a serial cable can plug in to, but the Apple doesn't send serial traffic over that port. Instead, it's ports are round, mini-DIN-8 serial ports, now commonly used in computer audio equipment. For now the project is on hold while a DIN-8 cable is being shipped from an online seller. Since the client is a friend, we agreed on a relatively low hourly rate for this sort of work, and I noted that I would not demand payment if I was unable to resolve the situation. She has, nonetheless, insisted on paying me at the end of two two-hour sessions that have yielded little result so far.
Another opportunity presented this weekend was for a nationally-recognized aerospace manufacturer with an office in Colorado needs a SharePoint administrator. I am reticent to say more at this time, but I remain hopeful.