April 2025 - Malice Domestic Again

 I made it back to Malice Domestic again in April.  I figured out I hadn't been since 2017.  Quite a long stretch.  But the weekend they picked worked for me, so I was able to go.

For those who don't know, it's a convention for mystery authors and readers. It's held every spring just outside of Washington DC.  It focuses on the traditional and cozy mystery, which is what I typically read.

I had an extra motivation for going since their Malice Remembers author they were honoring was Dorothy Gilman.  She wrote the Mrs. Pollifax series which is where I stole Carstairs.  I co-lead a book discussion of the first book in that series, in fact.  It was such fun to reread it.  The event itself went well with plenty of people talking about our questions.  And, it truly made me happy that the room was about half and half people who had never read the series before but picked up the book for this event and people who were long time fans.  Always happy to find people enjoying the series.

The rest of the weekend was a blur.  I didn't feel like I had the time to really talk to half the people I wanted to talk to.  I did get to meet some of the authors I've started reading in the years since I was last there, which was a treat.  And I met a new author with a book coming out in September that I'm looking forward to reading.

Friday night, I got to have dinner with a couple of friends I've made in the Trixie Belden community.  One of them was at Malice Domestic since she's also an author, but the other lives in the area.  We'd hoped to meet up with more, but they were busy or sick.  

The only down side was that for the first time in over 20 years, I missed the LA Times Festival of Books, which was the same weekend.  

March 2025 - A Milestone Birthday and Some Family Time

In March, I hit one of those milestone birthdays.  You know, the ones that end with a 0.  Obviously, it didn't sneak up on me, but it's still taking some getting used to.

My birthdays often fall during month end close at work.  At my current job, it's quarter end close, so that's even busier.  But, my birthday was on a Saturday this year.  And it happened to be the Saturday that my friends still host their monthly game day.  Yes, they knew, and they made sure I was wished a happy birthday.  And they let me pick where we got dinner from (Chick-fil-a, for the record).  I even won some games that day.  One was a set up, but I don't think the rest were.

The following week, my brother and his family were in town for a day.  The original plan had been to go to Magic Mountain, which I have a pass to this year.  But it was cold and wet most of the week, and that day wasn't looking any better.  We decided to call it off, and then they wound up not opening at all that day anyway.  So they came over to my place and played some games.  It was a good day.

Then, the following week, we spent some time together in Palm Springs.  My parents and uncle and aunt were also there.  I wasn't expecting, but they had cake and ice cream for my birthday.  Yes, we played some games, but we also swam and played some pickleball.  The weather had really changed, and it was significantly warmer than it had been just a few days before.  Considering we were there to swim, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

It was a good month.

May 26th's Joke of the Week

After wondering all night where the sun had gone, it finally dawned on me.

May 19th's Joke of the Week

A guy goes into a lawyer’s office and asks the lawyer: “Excuse me, how much do you charge?”

The lawyer responds: “I charge $1,000 to answer three questions.”

“That’s a bit expensive, isn’t it?”

“Yes.  What’s your third question?”

February 2025 - Rain and a Paddle

We got rain, finally, in February. It wasn’t the entire month, but we had several decent storms pass through. Unfortunately, that did bring flooding and mudslides to the areas that had been hit by the fires in January, but none of that really impacted me. During the worst of the rain, they let us work from home, which was a nice bonus. 

And the last Saturday in the month, I went out paddle boarding again. I’ve only been out one other time since I hurt my shoulder almost two years ago now. This time, my shoulder bothered me less than it had the time before, which I was very thankful for. I’ve got to figure out when I can go more frequently because it was nice to be out on the water again. The water was chilly that day, but the temps were warm enough that it was a very nice day. And hardly any wind. It was nice to be out with the friend who got me into it. Good time catching up with her.

January 2025 - Fires!

In January, LA burned. 

Okay, not all of it, but good portions of it thanks to the dry weather and extremely strong winds. A few people I know did lose their homes, but no one I’m super close to. The fires did get very close to one friend I know from my home town. 

Naturally, this made for a lot of long stressful days. 

Early on, one of the smaller fires was sort of near my condo. The evacuation warning zone was a couple of miles from me. 

There was one fire about half a mile from me one night. Part of a building about half a mile from me burned. The fact that this is all that burned with how strongly the winds were blowing is a testament to how excellent the firefighters are. 

The third week of the month, everyone who reports to my director was in our office in town. And a new fire broke out north of town. It made parts of the meeting very chaotic as people were going to gather things in case they needed to evacuate. Fortunately, everyone and their stuff was okay. But we did cut the last day short.

I was glad when the month ended with the fires mostly out and a little rain to help. Fortunately, it was a minor blip for me, but lots of people are going to have to spend a long time recovering from this.  

May 12th's Pun of the Week

The shovel was a groundbreaking invention.

December 2024 - Home for Longer at Christmas

Yes, I was back in Northern California again for Christmas. But I was back for longer than I would normally get to spend. Despite being hybrid now, they decided to close the office for the weeks of Christmas and New Years. It helped both of those holidays were on Wednesdays. So I packed up my work stuff, including both monitors, and lugged it all to my parents’. I was already planning on taking the Thursday and Friday after Christmas off, but this meant I got to spend a whole with my family, just working two days. 

Of course, it also meant I had a shorter time to get presents purchased and wrapped. I really need to get a better jump on that next year. 

Anyway, because I was up early, I got to go to church with my family twice, including Christmas Eve. And we looked at Christmas lights. Plus I got into enjoy a family tradition - sleeping around the Christmas tree. 

I drove home the Sunday after Christmas, so I was home for New Year’s. I spent New Year’s Eve playing games with some friends who host monthly game days. It was a fun way to ring in the new year. 

November 2024 - Visiting Family for Thanksgiving

 Wow, it’s been a while. I really should post something besides puns, right?

I’m sure it’s no surprise that I went home for Thanksgiving. I mean, I always spend the holidays with my family. It was a smaller group this year since some of the extended family that often comes couldn’t make it for various reasons. 

But we had a great time with those who were there. The food was delicious and the games we played were fun. What else do you need for a great weekend?

Sadly, I had to come home the Sunday after Thanksgiving since I had to be back at work on Monday. It was fiscal year end. 

What was a surprise was that I pretty much had my condo decorated for Christmas before Thanksgiving this year. I always say I’m going to do it, but I actually did it. Considering how busy things were when I got back between work and the rest of Christmas, I was so glad I got a jump on it. I’m not sure it would have happened had I waited for after Thanksgiving, but this way, I got to enjoy it for all of December. 

May 5th's Joke of the Week

 It’s hard to explain puns to kleptomaniacs because they always take things literally.