It's been a good con. Colleen flaked out of the Dead Dog at about 10:30; I bailed at midnight. Colleen had me do QV before I left, in part because AJA hadn't heard the whole thing. Got a big smile...next few months. We're so damned close to sounding like a real group that it would be a shame not to go the rest of the distance. Audio when I get home and have a chance to do the extraction.

Busy being toast. Concert last went pretty well; good reaction to Wheelin' and QV. Lost a longer update because of stupid Apple keyboard conflicting with 30 years of Emacs habits. Pants not bankrupt, but required a large infusion of cash this morning. Set list later.

Went down with Colleen for the hotel's buffet breakfast around 8am; I'm eventually due to meet the rest of Tres Gique for "breakfast" but figure that it'll be more like a high-protein lunch; the hotel...else. Between the drug store and the little park next to the hotel in that direction, I got in a nice hour's walk. There's a Denny's just this side of 101 at the corner of Topanga and Burbank.

Well, here we are at ConChord. Got in about 4:30 after an easy trip down 101. Stopped at Solvang for lunch at The Chef's Touch -- made of yum. Small place, very small menu written up on chalkboard... have been able to take two additional people plus luggage, though we could have managed one. So far, the only person who's actually used the scooter has been me. Musical mayhem starts tomorrow.

After a nice walk (which I cut a little short because of pain in my right calf) and lunch, we went over to the nearest mall for some indoor exercise, and in the Cat's case just to get out of the house...damage earlier in the afternoon. Made dinner: rice, and chicken drumsticks in a (bottled) Mexican lemon/lime marinade (in a non-stick 12" frying pan with a little olive oil and butter). Yum.

At the museum yesterday we spotted a man on a nice little folding scooter: almost certainly this one. Either folds up or comes apart; the combination of small wheels, plastic seat, and small battery...my rather limited high school French. Sad: another Great Old One gone. As long as I'm clearing my tabs, here's a link to an article on organizing a web site with git , on linuxworld.com .

Breakfast was an omelette with leftover pesto -- Colleen made wonderful fresh pesto last night for dinner. Spent my time alone in the morning (I get up much earlier than the flower_cat ...seem to recognize the monitor size through a KVM switch even when X is restarted; it may have to boot with the monitor switched in). Loose connections, maybe. That, or I scared them into working.

...So why do I need a wheelchair? Let's get one thing straight at the outset: you don't " need " a wheelchair. If you did, you wouldn't be asking the question. So let's talk about why you might... walking up to the accessibility counter at the airport and being embarrassed because you don't look handicapped? If you're leaning on a cane, nobody is going to think that, even for a second.

When I wrote "With her lover right behind her lookin' fierce and proud" in the last verse of Wheelin' , I wasn't just trying to fit the rhyme and meter, and I wasn't just trying to describe ...and geometry. Sometimes gravity wins; that's awkward. There's no use complaining; that's just the way life is sometimes. What still surprises me was how little I find to complain about.

Having obtained approval from pocketnaomi , who inspired commissioned it by promising to come to ConChord if I would sing a song either by her or about her, here it is at last. Note...of interest to more than a handful of people. But since you might be in a similar situation, or you might know someone who's in a similar situation... (oh, wait -- that's another song altogether).