Steampunk festival

On Mother’s Day, Janice and I went to the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation. Waltham, Massachusetts, which was rechristened “International Steampunk City,” hosted numerous events focusing on the subgenre. Steampunk blends 19th century speculative fiction with modern sensibilities and has been growing in popularity.

We liked the museum, which contains artifacts from the real Industrial Revolution. The festival also included historical re-enactors, arts and crafts exhibits, vendors, and of course, fans of all ages in semi-period costumes.

Although the venues were spread out around the museum, Waltham Common, and Moody Street, I was glad to see strong attendance. I hope that the steampunk event brings business to the area and leads to an event that draws more performers and participants.

We also went to the Outer Limits comic shop and had lunch at Margarita’s, whose namesake drink was good, but the service was slow. This coming weekend, the festivities continue with high school chum Damon F.P.’s visit and a cookout!

29 September 2009: Out in the country

This past weekend, Janice and I drove to western Massachusetts for the “Big E,” the Eastern States Exposition, which is the equivalent of a state fair for New England. We left work early on Friday, 25 September 2009, and visited the Holyoke Mall at Ingleside before checking into the nearby Holiday Inn. We had dinner at the upscale shopping mall, and among other things, I found another superhero costume for Halloween.

We then met Janice’s parents, her youngest sister Melinda, and Melinda’s family. After
Josh went for a swim with Janice and Melinda’s father Marvin, we played pool and
foosball, two of my favorite table games, with them and Gary and Amanda. After breakfast at Friendly’s the next morning, we went to the festival, which was crowded because of the nice early autumn weather.

We browsed through the craft square and numerous vendors’ booths, visited the state pavilions and historic buildings, petted some livestock, and of course, enjoyed fair food and refreshing birch beer. There was an impressive butter sculpture of a dairy farm. Although Janice and I didn’t get to this past weekend’s Phantom Gourmet food festival or the King Richard’s Faire Renaissance festival, we like going to such seasonal celebrations.

Our return to the Boston area went smoothly, but Janice’s folks weren’t so lucky — they got into a fender-bender on the way back to Upstate New York. Fortunately, nobody was seriously hurt. Given how infrequently our families come to Massachusetts, I hope that the incident doesn’t discourage them. Speaking of visitors, Damon F.P. and Dexter V.H. hope to visit in the next few weekends.

Work has continued to be demanding, but it should be easier this week with the return of my direct supervisor from her Italian vacation. My evenings have been filled with the usual games and the return of genre television, which I’m sure I’ll blog about more in the coming weeks. In the meantime, let me know what you think and if there’s anything you’d like to see here!

Wednesday, 16 September 2009: Meaty weekends

Friends, I hope you’ve had a good fortnight. I’ve been busy with work during the past two weeks. I helped coordinate TT’s coverage of the annual VMworld conference in San Francisco, and I’ve been transitioning to my new role as an associate site editor, which
involves tracking editorial content from assignment to submission to posting on our Web sites.

For Labor Day weekend, Janice and I drove to Upstate New York to see her family. We spent most of our time at the home of Janice’s sister Melinda, her husband Gary, and their children Amanda and Joshua. Janice’s parents Marvin and Linda also joined us for good home-grilled meals.

Among other things, we rewatched Coraline, and I played Wii Motion Plus and Wii Sports Resort with Josh, Amanda, and Gary. We plan to meet Janice’s folks again at the “Big E,” or the Eastern States Exposition, in western Massachusetts in a few weeks. My own family went to the Delaware shore and will be in Europe in the coming month or so.

This past weekend, Janice and I went to the new Legacy Place shopping plaza in Dedham, Mass. Although the Showcase Deluxe cinemas and Borders Books aren’t open yet, several other shops are, including an impressive Whole Foods. I especially enjoyed checking out its fromagerie.

We also ate at Uno Chicago Bar & Grill as part of a charity event. Like another midrange casual restaurant, T.G.I.Friday’s, the food has improved in the years that we weren’t going there. Closer to home, Stone Hearth Pizza and Wild Willy’s (especially
its spicy Buffalo-style chicken) are still among our favorites.

Thomas K.Y., Beruk A., and I ended up not meeting for 9 because the postapocalyptic “stitchpunk” movie got mixed reviews, but we may meet for Cloudy With a Chance of
Meatballs or Surrogates in the coming weekends. I’ll blog more about the new genre television season once I’ve had a chance to watch more premieres.

The arrival of autumn also brings new comic books and role-playing games. In addition, the Pathfinder: “Holy Steel” and D&D4e “Vanished Lands: the Faith-Based
Initiative” groups have kept me busy, with the former being a classic pseudo-historical dungeon crawl and the latter featuring a recent battle against vampires. Can Halloween be far behind?