Mar
9
invasion of the filk
Filed under work, travel, California, unusual, humor at 11:19 pm | 4 Comments
I’m in San Jose on a work trip this week (a few camera phone pics for your enjoyment). On Thursday evening I was in the hotel lobby waiting to go out to dinner with some friends when I couldn’t help but notice an influx of people.
We suspected this group of people was here for a convention of some sort, and that theory was soon confirmed. But seeing a sign about “Open Filking” didn’t exactly answer all our questions. After a weekend of research and observation, I think we’ve learned the basics.
The convention in question is the Consonance 2008 Convention. As the site describes, it is “the San Francisco Bay Area filk convention.” Filk is generally considered folk music, usually with a science fiction or fantasy theme … or about computers or cats. Filkers, then, are the people participating in this musical movement. Furthermore, if our hotel parking lot is any indication, bumper stickers appear to be an important trademark of filker vehicles. Here are some additional resources, if needed. After seeing some names and pictures in my research, I realize I rode the elevator with some famous and influential filkers this weekend.
Now that I’ve laid the foundation, I trust you’ll enjoy some example filking.
Feb
21
my first quake
Filed under California, vacation at 8:56 pm | 3 Comments
Thank you for all the notes of concern. I want to assure you we are fine. We survived my first earthquake here in CA.
OK, no one really checked in to see how we were doing, and I doubt it made the news anywhere but here. (It was only a 5.0, and barely warranted a few paragraphs on the back page of the paper.)
My major disappointment is that I didn’t notice the earthquake. Rachel and I were enjoying Micah’s nap time by catching up on some TV, and didn’t even notice. Rachel’s parents had to mention they heard the quake. Alas …
Dec
31
pics from CA trip
Filed under travel, California at 8:47 pm | Leave a Comment
Rachel and Micah recently took a trip to Southern California to visit Rachel’s parents. Here are a couple pictures from the trip.
A photo shoot on the beach, at Oceanside:
And my personal favorite. This is Micah on the plane ride home:
That’s my boy.