bleh

It is WAAAAAYY too early.

But we both slept late yesterday, so today is the only day to take Rob to Transworld, and it closes at noon today. Hopefully yummy display pieces will be purchased to make up for the lack of sleep.

Then I have a job interview at 1:30 - I am totally stressed out and I left my letter of recommendation at home. (Am at Rob's) So wish me bunches of luck.

Then home for construction of set lists for the gig tomorrow, ironing of garb, and hopefully nappage.

Back to Transworld

I don't know whether it was because it was closing morning or because enough people complained, but the dreaded "PURPLE BADGES ONLY BEYOND THIS POINT" signs had been turned around and the armed guards had apparently found someone else to go hassle, so we were actually able to see the entire show floor today. Since today was only a 3-hour show, we went thru at warp speed, collecting catalogs, and only interspersed by occasional quiet whimpers from the wendy-lady who couldn't quite justify a brocade bodice for $40 or a frock coat for $150 while on unemployment......

As many of the vendors were willing to sell off some of their samples to avoid having to pay the teamsters to pack them, I got a few blinky-pins (including the bat for ladyariyanna) and a Gashleycrumb Tinies mini lunchbox for $5. Rob got a pair of light-up martini glasses, some sort of spinny-light toy, and a salmon-pink feather for his hat. (He has a leather cavalier hat with 37 (now 38) ostrich plumes in it - all different colors. It looks like an entire flock of birds crashed into his head) Many catalogs were collected, including two Indian import companies that have cotton tapestries, belly dance gear, and jewelry with only a $100 minimum order! Also some more sources for wigs and carnival masks, including the nifty lightweight metal ones I was drooling over on Saturday, and some wholesale make-up and special-effects paint companied. Stopped by to say goodbye to the man in the light-up utilikilt, and rode the Helll-evator one more time.

Spend a lot of time chatting with the vendors abotu the two-tier badge issue. Apparently, much was said at the Vendor Party last night, and rather a lot of it was not suitable for the ears of children! I spoke with one guy who sells some really neat light-up stuff (glasses, hats, shirts, etc) who says that he sold 86,000 pieces on ONE ITEM to the haunters last year, and had been wondering why they hadn't been coming around this time.... I suspect that some form of the policy will remain, mainly because a few of the larger vendors (cough.... cough ......RUBY'S...cough...) had told the show that if they allowed any of the smaller vendors and haunters on the floor they would pull out of the show, but I suspect that the restricted area will be a lot smaller and will be by request. One can only hope. (Either way, I may well have a few 'ins' for a full-access pass next year.

Dragged my bag of catalogs out of there and we headed back east. We stopped at McD's for lunch, and so I could make my amazing transformation from 'Haunter-Girl' to "Super-Secretary" in time for my interview. I think it went well, but I will find out when they schedule second round interviews next week.

All wired up.

I don't need to hire experts in any field - I just date them!

I had the old more-USB-devices-than-ports sitch going on, and the $20 e-bay CD burner needs a powered hub, so I have been looking for one on sale for a bit. Rob and I stopped by Microcenter yesterday to see if there were any on the returns table. I decided to come back after we get paid for tomorrow night's gig and get one.

Well, we were hanging about the house last night, and he starts muttering and going through his desk drawers. After some fidgeting and examination of power requirements, he handed me....a powered USB hub. Semi-permanent loan. It's got 4 USB and 3 FireWire ports. (He's currently using a 7-port hub). So I can actually plug everything in at the same time now, and it all works.

He's also extended-loaning me his scanner, which has been sitting in a box under the desk for 6 months. I have heaps of pictures that I would like to scan and archive on CD, so they stop falling out of all the various boxes and albums. So now I have even more projects that I can procrastinate about getting done!