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Baltimore and Brickfest!
Aug. 16th, 2004 09:17 amNo, Brickfest did not take place in Baltimore. The title is just a very concise description of what I did on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
Daniel's flight came into Baltimore on Saturday. Mom and I went to pick him up. I drove on the way there, which was harrowing because we were mostly on highways and I had to switch lanes a lot. I was a bit frazzled by the time we arrived. Worse, I brought my laptop with me to use, but when I closed it at home it didn't hibernate. Some network program was keeping it from hibernating. When I took it out at the airport I found half the battery drained. I tried to get it to hibernate and it wouldn't, so I was still sitting there when Daniel came. I should have been standing outside the security checkpoint waiting for him. Well, I have the network thing fixed now, and speaking of that,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
scifantasy told me how I can set permissions so I can get my desktop and laptop to network. I haven't tried it yet. That was on Sunday anyway. I'm getting ahead of myself.
Mom drove home, and it rained a lot, because Hurricaine Charley had travelled up to us, although it wasn't so severe anymore and we only got the edge of it. Granny and Grumpy seem to be doing all right (or as all right as possible, considering the circumstances) down in Florida. Since Dad is down there reporting on the hurricaine damage, Mom bullied him into going to check on her parents. Apparently he didn't want to do it, because Granny and Grumpy had been fine when we'd talked to them before the hurricaine, and there were rescue crews all around. He suggested that Mom call her sister Ellen, who lives in Sarasota (an hour's drive from where my grandparents live, and not damaged by the hurricaine) to bring them a disposable cellphone (since they don't have one of their own) and help them with whatever they needed. Dad went to check on them too. Ellen arrived shortly after he did - it took her a while because the roads around Punta Gorda are a mess, naturally. Granny and Grumpy stayed with Granny's sister Norma, who also lives in Sarasota. They might be staying there a lot until they get power and running water back. Mom can't seem to call them on the cell phone they got - either it's not fully activated or Ellen gave her the wrong number by mistake. Either way, it can send but not recieve calls, as far as I know.
Sunday was sort of interesting. Mom woke me up around 9:15 because Valerie had called. She wanted me to go along with her and her friend David (they have the same last name, and both go to CMU, but are not related as far as they know) to George Washington University, where Brickfest was going on. Brickfest, for those who don't know, is a LEGO convention, showcasing various LEGO projects and hosting contests in different categories (for best robot, sculpture, mosaic, what have you). Mom was mad because Valerie hadn't called me the night before and expected me to get ready in 30 minutes, and insisted that Mom wake me up to get me on the phone. I don't have a problem with that, but my mother has a problem with everything. Though I hadn't been planning to go out, I didn't have a problem with doing so. I got ready, Valerie's mother picked me up and took us to the Metro. We met David at Union Station, went back to Metro Center, and took the Red Line to our destination.
Before we went to Brickfest, we stopped at a little deli outside the Metro station to eat lunch. There I ran into Lillian, one of my former French T.A.s at Bryn Mawr. She recognized me (my face, anyway, I don't think she remembered my name), but I didn't recognize her at first, and I had to ask who she was. Though we'd never been friends, it was still cool. It's always cool to run into someone you know. Unless you're bitter enemies or something. Anyway, on to Brickfest.
Brickfest was full of neat stuff. There were a bunch of train sets running around various buildings set up on a long table, which included small buildings, houses, a little Amish village, and replicas of skyscrapers. In the same room, a little further off, was a LEGO replica of Notre Dame, inside and out. Other notable features of Brickfest included the entire Castle section, the mega-setup of the Pirate Game in the Pirates section, a replica of Earthforce One in the Sci-fi section (as well as a bunch of Star Wars things) and a mechanized badger in the Sculpture section. The sculpture was called "Badger badger badger badger," as in the really cracked-out song from the website (I am not providing a link because people who click on it will not thank me for showing it to them, I'm sure), and it waved its arms like one of the badgers in the flash video.
There were also two custom Technix robots that played Connect Four. The same guy built and programmed both of them. One uses a sort of ruler to measure the slots on the Connect Four lattice and see where the player has put new checkers, and the other just "pokes" the rows of holes to find new pieces. I lost to the one with the ruler. Apparently only a few people have beaten either of the robots during all the time the convention has been set up. The last feature - and the best, I think - was the show of stop-motion action films made with LEGOs. They were very funny. Apparently you can get a DVD online. I'm considering it...
After we returned to our neighborhood, I brought Valerie and David to my house so Valerie could show us her Shrek 2 Playstation game. She does not have her own Playstation 2, but plans to get one. I ended up driving David to the Metro so he could catch his train home, and Valerie stayed at my house for a while longer playing her game. I took her home and stayed up too late as usual.
Daniel wanted the car this morning, which means no $4 parking fee at the Metro garage, and that I didn't have to drive - but Daniel driving meant I had to listen to his music, which is questionable at best (it also meant he had to get up earlier than usual, but I don't really care). The night before I showed him how to make coffee, which was easier than he'd thought. Since Mom stopped drinking coffee we only had decaf, except for this little bag of Starbucks "Christmas Blend" coffee, which is what we used. I drank some this morning, even though I knew it would irritate my stomach, which it did.
I seem to have forgotten my lunch. Blast. I'll have to buy some from the little restaurant down the street. Hopefully nothing else will go wrong today.
Daniel's flight came into Baltimore on Saturday. Mom and I went to pick him up. I drove on the way there, which was harrowing because we were mostly on highways and I had to switch lanes a lot. I was a bit frazzled by the time we arrived. Worse, I brought my laptop with me to use, but when I closed it at home it didn't hibernate. Some network program was keeping it from hibernating. When I took it out at the airport I found half the battery drained. I tried to get it to hibernate and it wouldn't, so I was still sitting there when Daniel came. I should have been standing outside the security checkpoint waiting for him. Well, I have the network thing fixed now, and speaking of that,
scifantasy told me how I can set permissions so I can get my desktop and laptop to network. I haven't tried it yet. That was on Sunday anyway. I'm getting ahead of myself.Mom drove home, and it rained a lot, because Hurricaine Charley had travelled up to us, although it wasn't so severe anymore and we only got the edge of it. Granny and Grumpy seem to be doing all right (or as all right as possible, considering the circumstances) down in Florida. Since Dad is down there reporting on the hurricaine damage, Mom bullied him into going to check on her parents. Apparently he didn't want to do it, because Granny and Grumpy had been fine when we'd talked to them before the hurricaine, and there were rescue crews all around. He suggested that Mom call her sister Ellen, who lives in Sarasota (an hour's drive from where my grandparents live, and not damaged by the hurricaine) to bring them a disposable cellphone (since they don't have one of their own) and help them with whatever they needed. Dad went to check on them too. Ellen arrived shortly after he did - it took her a while because the roads around Punta Gorda are a mess, naturally. Granny and Grumpy stayed with Granny's sister Norma, who also lives in Sarasota. They might be staying there a lot until they get power and running water back. Mom can't seem to call them on the cell phone they got - either it's not fully activated or Ellen gave her the wrong number by mistake. Either way, it can send but not recieve calls, as far as I know.
Sunday was sort of interesting. Mom woke me up around 9:15 because Valerie had called. She wanted me to go along with her and her friend David (they have the same last name, and both go to CMU, but are not related as far as they know) to George Washington University, where Brickfest was going on. Brickfest, for those who don't know, is a LEGO convention, showcasing various LEGO projects and hosting contests in different categories (for best robot, sculpture, mosaic, what have you). Mom was mad because Valerie hadn't called me the night before and expected me to get ready in 30 minutes, and insisted that Mom wake me up to get me on the phone. I don't have a problem with that, but my mother has a problem with everything. Though I hadn't been planning to go out, I didn't have a problem with doing so. I got ready, Valerie's mother picked me up and took us to the Metro. We met David at Union Station, went back to Metro Center, and took the Red Line to our destination.
Before we went to Brickfest, we stopped at a little deli outside the Metro station to eat lunch. There I ran into Lillian, one of my former French T.A.s at Bryn Mawr. She recognized me (my face, anyway, I don't think she remembered my name), but I didn't recognize her at first, and I had to ask who she was. Though we'd never been friends, it was still cool. It's always cool to run into someone you know. Unless you're bitter enemies or something. Anyway, on to Brickfest.
Brickfest was full of neat stuff. There were a bunch of train sets running around various buildings set up on a long table, which included small buildings, houses, a little Amish village, and replicas of skyscrapers. In the same room, a little further off, was a LEGO replica of Notre Dame, inside and out. Other notable features of Brickfest included the entire Castle section, the mega-setup of the Pirate Game in the Pirates section, a replica of Earthforce One in the Sci-fi section (as well as a bunch of Star Wars things) and a mechanized badger in the Sculpture section. The sculpture was called "Badger badger badger badger," as in the really cracked-out song from the website (I am not providing a link because people who click on it will not thank me for showing it to them, I'm sure), and it waved its arms like one of the badgers in the flash video.
There were also two custom Technix robots that played Connect Four. The same guy built and programmed both of them. One uses a sort of ruler to measure the slots on the Connect Four lattice and see where the player has put new checkers, and the other just "pokes" the rows of holes to find new pieces. I lost to the one with the ruler. Apparently only a few people have beaten either of the robots during all the time the convention has been set up. The last feature - and the best, I think - was the show of stop-motion action films made with LEGOs. They were very funny. Apparently you can get a DVD online. I'm considering it...
After we returned to our neighborhood, I brought Valerie and David to my house so Valerie could show us her Shrek 2 Playstation game. She does not have her own Playstation 2, but plans to get one. I ended up driving David to the Metro so he could catch his train home, and Valerie stayed at my house for a while longer playing her game. I took her home and stayed up too late as usual.
Daniel wanted the car this morning, which means no $4 parking fee at the Metro garage, and that I didn't have to drive - but Daniel driving meant I had to listen to his music, which is questionable at best (it also meant he had to get up earlier than usual, but I don't really care). The night before I showed him how to make coffee, which was easier than he'd thought. Since Mom stopped drinking coffee we only had decaf, except for this little bag of Starbucks "Christmas Blend" coffee, which is what we used. I drank some this morning, even though I knew it would irritate my stomach, which it did.
I seem to have forgotten my lunch. Blast. I'll have to buy some from the little restaurant down the street. Hopefully nothing else will go wrong today.
