![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
In Which We Prepare for Trips
Sep. 14th, 2018 09:56 amT-.333 months for a trip to Toronto
This is the latest in the now long string of Rebooting the Web of Trust design workshops. It's actually in Mississauga, not Toronto, but as far as I can tell, the one is a suburb of the other, with the Toronto airport right in between. Sadly, this time around I'm not going to be able to see much of the city I'm visiting. The problem was that the organization reimbursing my trip had very strict rules on travel: the flights had to be the day before and the day after the event, unless there was prior authorization, so I couldn't give myself a day or two in addition to the work, like I did in Boston and Berlin last year. And, that's actually the second work-trip in a row where that's happened, though when I was down in Santa Barbara, I minimized my time there due to kidney stone: I didn't want to be hiking around their parks or something when doing so could give me a big attack a long way from home.
The particular rigamarole for this flight also required using Orbitz (or another price comparison) as our basis, and I am entirely shocked how crappy many of their flights are. There were a vast number of them that had layovers to the tune of 30-45 minutes. I mean, I like *long* layovers to reduce stress, but I don't even know how you make it from one airplane to another in that short of time, especially when they close the doors 10-20 minutes early nowadays and especially when I'm pretty sure I'd have to get through customs on one of those layovers). Fortunately, I found some non-insane layovers within the price range allowed.
Anywho, I have a very late flight coming back from Toronto, at ~6pm on the day after the workshop, so that should give me some time to scoot over to Toronto proper and see what there is to see, though I'll have a bag to haul around when I do.
So, prep.
Sunday was the flu shot. I've found it very frustrating in recent years that Kaiser doesn't start doing its flu shots until the start of October. I guess they're trying to keep their flu vaccine the most powerful during the height of flu season, which is the winter months. But two years running I've been traveling at the very end of September and/or start of October and I of course wanted to have my flu shot active before then. So it was off to CVS instead. Back when I used to go to Berkeley Family Practice, I'd often have a sore arm for a week after my flu shot, which really made me reconsider getting them. This time it was more like a day. (The last few CVS shots have also been quite good.)
Monday was the hair cut. I usually get it buzzed a few weeks before these business trips.
And that's most of my prep as I got my plane tickets a week or two ago and C. has dealt with housing. I'll need to get some trail mix next week for the plane and/or for snacking in Toronto. And some packing, but I'm planning to go super minimal (cf., hauling a bag around Toronto). My laptop, my iPad (with Hoopla comics), some cords, four changes of clothes, an autumnal coat (maybe; it's 85 degrees!!! in Mississauga today!, but the 10-day forecast shows 50-degree days around when I'm heading out there), my RWOT notepad, and the aforementioned trail mix should do it.
T-16 months for our move to Kauai.
On Tuesday we undertook step #2 of our Kauai prep. We took the cats to the vet. This is part of a procedure where we get them two documented rabies shots and one rabies antibody test.
I thought the cats might already have rabies shots on file with the vet, but it turns out not, which surprised me. So we got them both their first rabies shots at that vet and got signed original documents of them, which is piece of paper #1 for our files. We need one more, at least 30 days after this one, but we'll probably get them about a year from now. Meanwhile, the next step is going to be the rabies antibody test, after the rabies vaccine has taken full effect. Apparently Hawaii suggests at least 10-14 days later, the vet suggested a month, so we scheduled that vet-tech appointment for exactly a month later.
The vet also checked up both cats. Lucy had lost a little weight, but we think it's in her normal up-and-down. Callisto, unfortunately, had a serious problem. She has very red, inflamed gums and probably a cavity! Which means our poor kitty who loves eating is probably in some pain while eating. (And we probably have a ~$1,000 oral surgery coming up for her. Thank goodness for pet insurance, where we can just assume that the insurance will cover most of the cost, whether that actually happens or not.)
Berkeley Dog and Cat has always had what we consider a weird obsession with dental care for animals. But this is a case where it's apparently entirely warranted, probably because Callisto's underbite keeps bacteria and such constantly eating at her teeth and gums because she never closes her mouth.
Poor kitty!
We got a dental consultation scheduled as soon as we could (about a week after Toronto) and we'll probably need to bring her in every year or two to look at her teeth.
The whole evening after we brought the cats back from the vet, Lucy was obsessive about trying to get out of the house. Running around yowling and going for the door any time it opened. It's totally weird behavior, because she never cares about the outside ... except last year she did the exact same thing after we took her to the vet!
Weird!
(Both times, by morning she'd forgotten about it.)
Before Toronto I also wanted to finish up some writing projects.
First was Meeples Together, which I received redlines of on Monday. Pleasantly, the editor said that it was a well focused book that didn't take a lot of editorial work. C. pushed for several rounds of refocusing, which obviously helped, and I also feel like I got better at wordsmith editing while working on Designers & Dragons a few years ago. I was able to complete work on the redlines a bit ahead of schedule and the editor and I did our last back and forth today, which puts it back out of my hands until I see the laid-out text to OK in a few weeks.
Second is Designers & Dragons, where I have five major expansions and a few bits and bobs promised before the end of the month for the German translation. I'd like to get the major stuff done before I leave, at least to the point where it's just waiting for my final edit. (Final edits are easy to do on planes; research, less so.) So far I've handed over Chaosium and Paizo, I just got an OK to do a final edit of Wizards of the Coast, I have Fantasy Flight Games out for comment, and I'm accumulating notes for Evil Hat. (Whew!) But that all means it's going well.
The other planning for travel is getting up ever earlier, to prepare for the Toronto time zone (EDT). This week I got up at 8, next week I'll get up at 7, and I hope to push to 6 in the few days before my flight. (I'll then probably need to push back one more hour when I hit Toronto.)
I always try and take advantage of the early wakeup with some early hikes, so tomorrow I hope to get to the hills before 9am, and enjoy some chill but warming weather as I climb ..
This is the latest in the now long string of Rebooting the Web of Trust design workshops. It's actually in Mississauga, not Toronto, but as far as I can tell, the one is a suburb of the other, with the Toronto airport right in between. Sadly, this time around I'm not going to be able to see much of the city I'm visiting. The problem was that the organization reimbursing my trip had very strict rules on travel: the flights had to be the day before and the day after the event, unless there was prior authorization, so I couldn't give myself a day or two in addition to the work, like I did in Boston and Berlin last year. And, that's actually the second work-trip in a row where that's happened, though when I was down in Santa Barbara, I minimized my time there due to kidney stone: I didn't want to be hiking around their parks or something when doing so could give me a big attack a long way from home.
The particular rigamarole for this flight also required using Orbitz (or another price comparison) as our basis, and I am entirely shocked how crappy many of their flights are. There were a vast number of them that had layovers to the tune of 30-45 minutes. I mean, I like *long* layovers to reduce stress, but I don't even know how you make it from one airplane to another in that short of time, especially when they close the doors 10-20 minutes early nowadays and especially when I'm pretty sure I'd have to get through customs on one of those layovers). Fortunately, I found some non-insane layovers within the price range allowed.
Anywho, I have a very late flight coming back from Toronto, at ~6pm on the day after the workshop, so that should give me some time to scoot over to Toronto proper and see what there is to see, though I'll have a bag to haul around when I do.
So, prep.
Sunday was the flu shot. I've found it very frustrating in recent years that Kaiser doesn't start doing its flu shots until the start of October. I guess they're trying to keep their flu vaccine the most powerful during the height of flu season, which is the winter months. But two years running I've been traveling at the very end of September and/or start of October and I of course wanted to have my flu shot active before then. So it was off to CVS instead. Back when I used to go to Berkeley Family Practice, I'd often have a sore arm for a week after my flu shot, which really made me reconsider getting them. This time it was more like a day. (The last few CVS shots have also been quite good.)
Monday was the hair cut. I usually get it buzzed a few weeks before these business trips.
And that's most of my prep as I got my plane tickets a week or two ago and C. has dealt with housing. I'll need to get some trail mix next week for the plane and/or for snacking in Toronto. And some packing, but I'm planning to go super minimal (cf., hauling a bag around Toronto). My laptop, my iPad (with Hoopla comics), some cords, four changes of clothes, an autumnal coat (maybe; it's 85 degrees!!! in Mississauga today!, but the 10-day forecast shows 50-degree days around when I'm heading out there), my RWOT notepad, and the aforementioned trail mix should do it.
T-16 months for our move to Kauai.
On Tuesday we undertook step #2 of our Kauai prep. We took the cats to the vet. This is part of a procedure where we get them two documented rabies shots and one rabies antibody test.
I thought the cats might already have rabies shots on file with the vet, but it turns out not, which surprised me. So we got them both their first rabies shots at that vet and got signed original documents of them, which is piece of paper #1 for our files. We need one more, at least 30 days after this one, but we'll probably get them about a year from now. Meanwhile, the next step is going to be the rabies antibody test, after the rabies vaccine has taken full effect. Apparently Hawaii suggests at least 10-14 days later, the vet suggested a month, so we scheduled that vet-tech appointment for exactly a month later.
The vet also checked up both cats. Lucy had lost a little weight, but we think it's in her normal up-and-down. Callisto, unfortunately, had a serious problem. She has very red, inflamed gums and probably a cavity! Which means our poor kitty who loves eating is probably in some pain while eating. (And we probably have a ~$1,000 oral surgery coming up for her. Thank goodness for pet insurance, where we can just assume that the insurance will cover most of the cost, whether that actually happens or not.)
Berkeley Dog and Cat has always had what we consider a weird obsession with dental care for animals. But this is a case where it's apparently entirely warranted, probably because Callisto's underbite keeps bacteria and such constantly eating at her teeth and gums because she never closes her mouth.
Poor kitty!
We got a dental consultation scheduled as soon as we could (about a week after Toronto) and we'll probably need to bring her in every year or two to look at her teeth.
The whole evening after we brought the cats back from the vet, Lucy was obsessive about trying to get out of the house. Running around yowling and going for the door any time it opened. It's totally weird behavior, because she never cares about the outside ... except last year she did the exact same thing after we took her to the vet!
Weird!
(Both times, by morning she'd forgotten about it.)
Before Toronto I also wanted to finish up some writing projects.
First was Meeples Together, which I received redlines of on Monday. Pleasantly, the editor said that it was a well focused book that didn't take a lot of editorial work. C. pushed for several rounds of refocusing, which obviously helped, and I also feel like I got better at wordsmith editing while working on Designers & Dragons a few years ago. I was able to complete work on the redlines a bit ahead of schedule and the editor and I did our last back and forth today, which puts it back out of my hands until I see the laid-out text to OK in a few weeks.
Second is Designers & Dragons, where I have five major expansions and a few bits and bobs promised before the end of the month for the German translation. I'd like to get the major stuff done before I leave, at least to the point where it's just waiting for my final edit. (Final edits are easy to do on planes; research, less so.) So far I've handed over Chaosium and Paizo, I just got an OK to do a final edit of Wizards of the Coast, I have Fantasy Flight Games out for comment, and I'm accumulating notes for Evil Hat. (Whew!) But that all means it's going well.
The other planning for travel is getting up ever earlier, to prepare for the Toronto time zone (EDT). This week I got up at 8, next week I'll get up at 7, and I hope to push to 6 in the few days before my flight. (I'll then probably need to push back one more hour when I hit Toronto.)
I always try and take advantage of the early wakeup with some early hikes, so tomorrow I hope to get to the hills before 9am, and enjoy some chill but warming weather as I climb ..
