The Rest of the Day
Lisa and I were booked this morning to take her father over to Rickreall (about 35 miles west of Mehama) to the Polk County Fairgrounds and the Swaptoberfest ham meet. He wanted to be there early before the good stuff had gone, so I'd simply left my alarm set for the usual time I get up for work, planing to just do my ordinary morning routine that would put us into position to leave shortly after 8 AM to be there when they opened at 9.
This morning, I woke up on my own and checked the time. 7:45 AM! Yikes! Yesterday afternoon, while we were at Lisa's audiologist having her fitted with a sound-generating hearing aid that we hope will allow her to get a better handle on her tinnitus, I silenced my phone and I forgot to turn the sound back on, so the alarm only buzzed for a while at 6 AM and then gave up.
Well, I roused Lisa and we called her father to tell him we'd be a little late, and we engaged in a much-abbreviated version of the morning routine. We weren't all that late, but I was a bit frazzled when we got to Rickreall around 9:45 or thereabouts. After an initial pass through the room, Lisa gave me an item she purchased and asked me to take it to the van. I returned with one of the empty sacks (my World Fantasy Con tote bag, in fact) and retired to the snack bar where I got myself a full cooked breakfast, sat down, and recovered my composure a bit from morning rush.
We weren't actually at the meet very long, Lisa's father having seen and bought everything he came for pretty quickly. Lisa got a bag full of things, and also purchased an new sound mixer. It's a bit old and rather heavy, but comes with a very good storage/tote box, and the owner insists that it worked the last time he used it. But it was way too heavy to carry clear out to the back 40 of the Polk County Fairgrounds' parking lot, so I lugged it to a doorway and Lisa and her father guarded it while I hiked out to the van and brought it back to the main building.
Lisa notes that the foam padding on the inside of the case is old and crumbling and needs to be stripped out and replaced, and then the mixer board itself must be thoroughly cleaned to get any of the foam bits that might have fallen inside it cleaned out. Still, if it ends up working, it's a good purchase, and even if it doesn't the carrying case itself is probably something that would have sold new for more than we paid for the mixer board.
We got back to Mehama around Noon, and after dealing with a few small things, Lisa and I packed my things into the van, I said goodbye to Kuma Bear and her, and I headed south. The trip was uneventful but rainy. I stopped for lunch in Cottage Grove and saw that the Holiday Inn Express next door to where I normally stop there has been de-frocked, having presumably been unwilling to pay for the refurbishment necessary to renew their franchise, like Yuba City. On the other hand, Canyonville is supposed to acquire a new HIX next January, but I see no new construction, so I continue to wonder what hotel is about to change flags; it might be the Best Western on the opposite side of the freeway from the casino. Speaking of the 7 Feathers Casino, I offer them my thanks for buying me another meal; I spent the $20 winnings from blackjack on dinner here in Central Point after going out after the Giants game.
The Formula One race is apparently tonight at 11 PM my time, but I don't know if I'll be awake that long. Besides, I have a long drive tomorrow. At the moment, I don't plan to make the swing through Sutter, because it adds several hours to the trip.
This morning, I woke up on my own and checked the time. 7:45 AM! Yikes! Yesterday afternoon, while we were at Lisa's audiologist having her fitted with a sound-generating hearing aid that we hope will allow her to get a better handle on her tinnitus, I silenced my phone and I forgot to turn the sound back on, so the alarm only buzzed for a while at 6 AM and then gave up.
Well, I roused Lisa and we called her father to tell him we'd be a little late, and we engaged in a much-abbreviated version of the morning routine. We weren't all that late, but I was a bit frazzled when we got to Rickreall around 9:45 or thereabouts. After an initial pass through the room, Lisa gave me an item she purchased and asked me to take it to the van. I returned with one of the empty sacks (my World Fantasy Con tote bag, in fact) and retired to the snack bar where I got myself a full cooked breakfast, sat down, and recovered my composure a bit from morning rush.
We weren't actually at the meet very long, Lisa's father having seen and bought everything he came for pretty quickly. Lisa got a bag full of things, and also purchased an new sound mixer. It's a bit old and rather heavy, but comes with a very good storage/tote box, and the owner insists that it worked the last time he used it. But it was way too heavy to carry clear out to the back 40 of the Polk County Fairgrounds' parking lot, so I lugged it to a doorway and Lisa and her father guarded it while I hiked out to the van and brought it back to the main building.
Lisa notes that the foam padding on the inside of the case is old and crumbling and needs to be stripped out and replaced, and then the mixer board itself must be thoroughly cleaned to get any of the foam bits that might have fallen inside it cleaned out. Still, if it ends up working, it's a good purchase, and even if it doesn't the carrying case itself is probably something that would have sold new for more than we paid for the mixer board.
We got back to Mehama around Noon, and after dealing with a few small things, Lisa and I packed my things into the van, I said goodbye to Kuma Bear and her, and I headed south. The trip was uneventful but rainy. I stopped for lunch in Cottage Grove and saw that the Holiday Inn Express next door to where I normally stop there has been de-frocked, having presumably been unwilling to pay for the refurbishment necessary to renew their franchise, like Yuba City. On the other hand, Canyonville is supposed to acquire a new HIX next January, but I see no new construction, so I continue to wonder what hotel is about to change flags; it might be the Best Western on the opposite side of the freeway from the casino. Speaking of the 7 Feathers Casino, I offer them my thanks for buying me another meal; I spent the $20 winnings from blackjack on dinner here in Central Point after going out after the Giants game.
The Formula One race is apparently tonight at 11 PM my time, but I don't know if I'll be awake that long. Besides, I have a long drive tomorrow. At the moment, I don't plan to make the swing through Sutter, because it adds several hours to the trip.