Friday was the Writers’ Workshop.  Before the workshop started, I sat and talked to Rachel Caine for probably ten minutes before I introduced myself.  When she said her name was Rachel, it finally clicked on why she looked familiar–she was the guest of honor.  I then had that “I’m sitting next to someone famous” moment, but she was very cool when I turned all fangirl on her for a couple minutes.  I’ve read the first two books in her YA Morganville Vampire series and they were fun, fast reads.

The writers’ workshop was awesome.  There were four other aspiring authors in my group, and the group was led by Gordon and Ilona Andrews.  Gordon and Ilona are very nice, very cool people.  They gave me great feedback on the story I submitted.  Some of it was critical, but it’s what I needed to hear to be able to see the story through their eyes.  They also said some very, very nice things about my ability, so that was awesome.  I even got a mini shout-out on their blog.  The Jessie in the second paragraph… totally me.  ::dies::

Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday were mostly panels.  I took a bunch of notes but haven’t even started to process everything yet.  All I know is that my To Be Read list just got a whole lot longer.  The con was smallish, but it was a nice size because it felt intimate, like a group of friends getting together to talk books.  I guess I was basing my perspective on A-Kon, which is freaking huge, but I was expecting more people.

Sunday afternoon, thanks to the urging of the greatest husband on the planet, we got to hang out and have a drink with Gordon, Ilona, their friend Reece, and Stina Leicht (who also organized the workshop).  I totally wouldn’t have went over to talk to Gordon without Dustin’s urging, because I never want to be “that girl” that bothers people.  That fear coupled with my seriously introverted nature almost guarantees I avoid talking to strangers, almost-strangers, and especially almost-strangers-that-I-really-admire.   However, Dustin talked me into it, and I compromised by saying I’d just go say thank you and then leave.  A couple hours of chatting later, I realized it was getting late and we really should leave this time.  It was amazing!

It turned out pretty good except that the vast majority of people we talked to during the day didn’t get the reference.   “Dr. Who?”  “No, Dr. Horrible.  Yes, it has Doogie Howser in it.  Yes, it’s funny, I promise.”

The write-in was at Dragon’s Lair, a local comic book/game store and I’m happy to report that the people there are much cooler (they recognized us).  These are my people.  :)

A pic:

The Doctors Horrible

You’ll notice that I’m missing the pocket.  I made it, I was just too lazy to sew it on last minute.

The tally so far is three years, two failed XBoxes.  The good news is that this XBox lasted just over two years (and died just outside of our Best Buy warranty period, boo!) where our last one lasted about a year.  Assuming this trend continues, we can expect four years from the refurb Microsoft sends us.  Hopefully.

This is a huge PITA for us because it means our XBox will now have to be sent into the void that is Microsoft.  The current estimate for repair time on their site is fourteen to twenty-one days.  Are you kidding me?  While this is better than the six weeks it was going to take back in 2007, it’s still crazy.

I’ve read the failure rate is something like fifty percent.  FIFTY PERCENT!  They should have this down to an art at this point.  If you include shipping time, it means we’ll be without an XBox for a month, right when we want to play Halo ODST.

It’s just so damn frustrating.  We love the XBox–the games, online play, and extras are fantastic.  However, we HATE the hardware.  Last time it was a freaking nightmare to get it setup so I could still play the games and expansions we had bought with Dustin’s account.  This time that won’t be the issue, but I’m sure something else will come up.  It’s bad enough that we’re about ready to jump ship and buy a PS3.

A picture for posterity:

I decided to participate this year because I’ve been thinking about writing a novel for a while.  It was a bit difficult since I started November 1st with just a vague idea for a story and no outline, but I managed.  I had to average 1667 words per day to get all 50,000 finished by the end of Novemeber.  I did it, I won!

My badge of honor:

Here’s an excerpt from the not at all edited and not even quite finished novel:

I was shocked awake by a hellacious pounding on the window next to my head. I jumped out of bed, brandishing the wakizashi like a baseball bat. I’m not quite sure how my addled brain remembered to grab it at all. The first thing I noticed was the sunlight streaming through the window. The second was a livid Nicolae burning holes into me with his eyes right outside said window. I shrank back, even though his eyes weren’t glowing red anymore they were just as scary this morning.

He motioned toward the front door and stalked off. I hesitantly unlocked my bedroom door and limped to the front door. My right knee was stiff this morning and my arm was still a bit sore as well. I unlocked and opened it to find a still furious man standing right in front of me.

“You revoked my invitation,” he gritted out.

I stood stunned that my silly idea had actually worked. “You mean that actually works?” I asked. “Vampires or evil or whatever,” I waved in his direction, “can’t enter without an invitation?”

“Yes, now if you would kindly invite me in, I would appreciate it.” The words were bitten off in anger.

I looked at him. I’m not sure inviting a furious vampire into my one sanctuary was such a good idea. He must have seen the hesitation on my face as I felt his power build, though I couldn’t actually feel any of it seeping into the house.

“So help me, Ava McKenzie, if you do not invite me back into my own house I will forget about all promises and you will be fair game just as soon as you step a single toe outside. And since I know how much food is in the house, that will be sooner rather than later.” His smile was absolutely demonic.

I backed away, watching him carefully. I figured now was not a good time to point out that this was technically my house now.

So there you have it.  Let me know if you’d be tempted to read the rest of it based on that snippet.  :)

Seriously though, you should check it out if you have an IKEA nearby. The novelty just doesn’t get old. :)

Due to Microsoft’s stupid DRM scheme, if we get a new Xbox, I will no longer be able to use any of the content Dustin downloaded with his account, because I have the secondary Xbox live account.

Also, since we plan to return it with the Best Buy warranty we purchased rather than waiting four to six weeks for a repair from Microsoft, we’re going to have to do something about all of our saved games. Thanks, Microsoft.

Dustin scowling with the ring:

Closeup of the red ring:

That’s right, you can’t make any changes for the next four days. In fact, they can’t even tell you if the change you would like to make will work… because that part is down too.

We wanted to add an additional number, but instead I think we’re just going to cancel and go with Lingo, because dealing with Customer Service has been horrible on every occasion I’ve needed to talk to them.

In short, go with SunRocket if you’re cheap and you don’t plan to ever make any changes to your account or have any questions for Customer Service. Ever.

After several rounds of testing it was determined that the tumor in her liver was actually a secondary tumor. Several more rounds of testing found a tiny spot of cancer in her breast, but the doctor is not sure it’s the primary tumor, even though nothing else showed up.

The tumor in her liver is too big to operate on, so she is now on chemotherapy to try to shrink it. We’re hoping that the chemo treatments are successful so she doesn’t have to do radiation.

It’s a frightening eye-opener to realize that with all of our science, technology, and medical advances that something can still be “inoperable”.

Overall she is doing pretty well. Her first chemo treatment went okay and she wasn’t too sick, but she still has five more to get through. I would truly appreciate it if you would say a little prayer for her health and recovery.

Even if you can only afford a couple dollars for a pack of batteries, it can still make a huge difference in a sick kid’s life. I encourage you to donate any amount, even if it seems insignificant. Imagine the impact if every gamer (or non-gamer, I don’t care) in the world gave just $1. That small donation for each person could make an enormous impact when combined.

If you really just can’t bring yourself to make an outright donation, consider picking up a Child’s Play shirt from Thinkgeek. All proceeds go directly to the charity.