8 posts from January 2007

The police are very active on the last few days of the month around here. I got pulled over by one on my way home from work. I've been sort of courting this ever since I knocked out my headlight two weeks ago. I have an appointment to get it fixed today at 4 pm, no foolin'. It would have been fixed last week, but my mechanic's dad was in town. Then it would have been fixed on Monday but the parts people didn't send the parts because they knew my mechanic was out of the shop. Wednesday I got pulled over, with my gas tank door flapping and my spiffy new tabs ready to put on my plates just as soon as I clean the salt off of them. I guess I should do that today.

It was a non-event. I was going 23 in a 25 zone. I had current license/registration/insurance which is unheard of in these parts. I did the "turn on dome light, make no sudden moves" routine, and said please and thank you and otherwise kept my mouth shut except to note that I was getting the headlight fixed tomorrow. The policeman lady said to have a nice night, and I did.

update: car is repaired!

Just a few images from the MIT Mystery Hunt that ended officially today. The first team "found the coin" which is the official end of the hunt at 2:10 this morning. However, the people who made the puzzle [The Evil Midnight Bombers What Bomb at Midnight - Dan Katz is a co-captain] decided to let everyone who wanted to continue playing keep playing. They kept answering the phone and confirming answers until three this afternoon. The official wrap up was at 5:30 where we learned that Doctor Awkward had won the game. We also learned that Doctor Awkward had two of the crossword geniuses from Wordplay -- Tyler and Trip -- which is cool especially because the winners of this year's puzzle create the puzzle for next year.

I was a bit of help to the team but I have to admit, not much. I'm good with trivia and librarian culture stuff. In this case, being able to identify TV show screenshots and magazines by looking at one letter (part of a ransom note) were helpful but not crucial. I'm also better at on the fly anagrams than the average puzzler, which surprised me but seems to be true. Where I really shone though was in organizing stuff. I was the "puzzle devil" from 2 am to 10 am which means I was in charge of making sure people stayed on task, that everyone had a puzzle and that every puzzle had a person. I updated the team wiki which has all of our puzzles and solutions and links to the jabber chatroom and the Google spreadsheets for puzzles that required them. I also scanned and uploaded all the ephmera that we got. In this case, every winning round netted a certificate and usually a DVD that was its own puzzle. I got these or helped get these copied and on the wiki and this, in addition to my general cleanup and put-away and stay up late skills seemed to have the most direct team benefit.

The biggest fun of the whole event was just getting to meet a ton of neat new people who were, to a T, smart and interesting and usually really funny. I went in knowing a few of the organizers but not much of the team since I'd only puzzled remotely for this team in the past. Getting to be onsite and stay up late and eat pizza and scribble on chalkboards with a bunch of other smartie math, science and computer geeks is something I don't get to do very often and it was a start to finish joy.

A few more pictures at Flickr, as usual. Puzzles are now up in archived format. Seriously, look at these things. My favorite puzzle? This one.

I forgot three of my favorite cover songs by The Mountain Goats.

1. I Saw The Sign
2. Two Headed Boy
3. The Boys are Back in Town

Since U Been Gone - Ted Leo
Smells like Teen Spirit - Dokaka
Oops I Did it Again - Richard Thompson

I already linked to the Hey Ya video by Mat Weddle back in August. Here are a few more songs with the "cover" tag that I like. Sorry for the blind images audio links, I'm not entirely sure how to add more metadata to make them show which one goes to which song.

I dislike shopping and do it as little as possible, clothes shopping especially. Some of this stems from being cheap, but a lot of it has to do with me knowing exactly what I want and being dismayed that I can't seem to find what I want anywhere, at any price. Vermont generally can be bad for consumer options and my little region is often worse. I'll go visit my sister and hit stores that run more to my tastes when I'm in the big city. Otherwise I just wear what I've got until I realize that, for example, my pajamas are so shabby and holey I couldn't wear them in mixed company, or I've been swimming so long I no longer own a pair of sneakers. Also, moths ate every wool sweater I had, which wasn't many.

My next big city visit is a ways off so I went to my favorite little consignment shop -- the place I buy swimsuits which wear out with shocking regularity -- to pick up a few things. It was strange. The place was empty and dreamlike, every rack or shelf seemed to have something that was on my list and fit me perfectly. I tend towards lists in my writing. Here is the list.

1. Nearly new Airwalk sneakers
2. Gently used Redwing steeltoe boots, same size as my existing 13 year old pair. Made in USA!
3. Woolrich wool jacket, red, shiny buttons
   
4. Flannel pajamas in one of my favorite plaids.
5. Three wool sweaters

- J. Crew baggy tan v-neck
- Maroon pullover something
- Purple cardigan made partly of "rabbit hair" according to the tag

So, I think I'm set for whatever is left of "winter" this year. Oh, and the reason I can never go anyplace else, why I'm rooted to the spot here in the land of trees and rivers? I mentioned before that I was cheap, or perhaps thrifty. When I paid for the needs-two-arms-to-hold-it bag of stuff, I gave the woman at the counter $30.

And she gave me back change.