I'm trying to build up a bento stash again, because it's helpful to have stuff that's basically ready-made easy to hand. Yesterday, I had it on my list to make a whole bunch of stuff: onigiri, meat rolls, buffalo soboro, and some kind of mini patties. I already had a crockpot full of chickpeas, so I thought I'd use those for a base. And from that started a four-hour culinary odyssy of trial and error and adding stuff and re-processing stuff and adding more stuff and frying stuff and going to get Kate because I'd lost all perspective and needed someone else to taste them and adding things and frying some more, that ended up with the following reasonably tasty things. (It took so long that nothing else except the rice balls got made, and I made those much earlier.) Keep in mind, this is not an actual recipe, it's more like a better-organized accounting of what I ended up making, inspired by falafel and Maki's green pea mini-burger.

This batch of base was enormous and would probably have ended up making about 30 minipatties. I stopped making them after a while, and have other plans for the rest of the base, though.

Garlicky curried chickpea fritters

2 1/4c cooked chickpeas
2T garlic chives
half a large onion
3 cloves garlic
1/4c flour
3/4c flaxseed meal
2T curry powder
salt and pepper to taste
1/2c cooked quinoa
mixed black and white poppy seeds, toasted, maybe a quarter cup
peanut or corn oil and toasted sesame oil for frying (reminder: sesame oil has a low smoke point)
(next time, I want to add dried onion or shallot flakes to add to sesame seeds)

Process everything but the quinoa and sesame seeds until it's a thick paste. Stop to scrape down the sides a few times. Put it in a separate bowl and fold in the quinoa. Let sit for about 20 minutes, to thicken. It should be thick enough to roll into sticky balls. If not, add more flaxseed meal.

Scoop out heaping tablespoons of paste, roll them into balls, flatten slightly, and dip into sesame seeds on both side. Gently lay into 1/4" of hot oil in a skillet (4 parts peanut or corn to 1 part sesame). Fry until a deep crispy brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels.

I want to drip them in sri racha (aka red rooster sauce, aka hot cock sauce), or in some kind of tangy yogurt sauce, maybe with lemon and/or sumac (because I have sumac, and it's tart).

This is pretty much the beta version of the things. If you decide to play with it, let me know what you do and how it works, please.

Oh, you might possibly want instructions on cooking chickpeas or quinoa;

Chickpeas:
Take some dried chickpeas and soak them overnight. Dump that water off, just cover them with some more, add salt, and cook all day in a crock pot, until they're tender.

Quinoa:
Take some quinoa and twice as much water or broth or any tasty liquid, plus salt. Put it in a pot with a tight-fitting lid. Simmer 10 minutes, remove from heat, cover tightly, and let sit for 20-30 minutes, or until it's soaked up most of the liquid.

Hey All,

Anyone know a place in Portland that sells any stand-up desks plus chairs that fit them (OK, I won't be standing ALL the time). I haven't had much luck on-line despite the rise in popularity. Even the Office Depot's of the world seem to not have much by way of desks that are not killing us slowly!

Thanks.

Hello all! 

I completed the C25k program about two years ago and kept up running for a bit, but am ashamed to admit that I fell off of the wagon. Hard. I've been thinking about starting back up with running, and stumbled over the posts I made on here two years ago. I'm not sure how active this community is anymore, but back then, whether I made a post about being terrified (I'm looking at you, w5d3!) or of jubilant success, I received so much encouragement and support from other members. I don't know if any of those people are still here, but I just wanted to say reading back over the feedback has inspired me to give it another go. This time I think I'll try to obviously rebuild my endurance, but also I'd like to improve on my speed if possible.

Anyway, I just wanted to re-introduce myself as a c25k-er and reassure all of you who are working on it that it CAN be done and you will feel absolutely amazing once you've finished. In fact, I liked it so much that I'm doing it again. :)

Happy running, everyone!

As anyone who's been following my blog for the past few days knows, I had a real blast at World Steam Expo. That was an absolutely terrific convention, which from my perspective was very well run. I met a lot of very nice, fun people there, and was extremely well-entertained in many different respects.

Some of this of course is simply due to my own state of mind and body. I have been feeling better these last few months than I have since April of 2009. So this is me in full form, able to enjoy late night parties, a little bit of alcohol, and pushing my sleep schedule around without disrupting myself significantly. Yes, I'm exhausted now, but it's a fun kind of post-event exhaustion, not the medical-grade exhaustion I've been living with for so long thanks to my excellent cancer adventures,.

But a great deal more of this had to do with the nature of the event. My experience of World Steam Expo was rather different from my usual convention experience, and I've been noodling on what and why. I'm curious to see if I can draw any useful lessons from this.

In no particular order…

Guest Relations

World Steam Expo had one of the best guest relations efforts I have ever encountered. I don't believe I've ever been treated so well by a convention, except when being a Guest of Honor.

At World Steam Expo, I was an author guest — I believe there were five of us, total. I was met at the airport and driven to the hotel. Some logistical snafus which were entirely my own fault were cleared up even before I arrived, thanks to the head of guest relations responding very quickly to help messages from me in transit. I was provided with a call list of guest relations staff and other con com staff, should I need anything, and the few times I did make requests, they were handled promptly and cheerfully. My room was ready with no hassle and no waiting. The con-com had worked with the hotel to keep all the pro guests in a few sections of the hotel, so it was very easy to interact with the other guests without trooping all over the place. At the end of the convention, I was driven back to the airport.

The Green Room was open literally every time I visited it, from fairly early in the morning until very late at night. Three meals a day were served in there for the pro guests. Access was very strictly controlled, which made it a relaxing space, especially for the more recognizable actors, musicians and performers who had fans actively seeking them out. The Green Room kept a well-stocked open bar, and a huge selection of juices and sodas. They had laid on a masseur for the weekend at the convention's expense, with whom pro guests could book 90 minute slots.

Really, we were insanely well-treated. And at considerable expense, with a budget that I frankly wouldn't expect from almost any SF convention. (I assume this had to do with the requirements and expectations of the musicians and performers who were there as pro guests.) This made World Steam Expo a high quality experience for me as an author pro guest.

Being a Side Show at Someone Else's Circus

For the most part, I attend SF/F conventions and genre-oriented writing conferences or retreats, as well as similar events such as the Locus Awards, or the Nebulas when they're not on the East Coast. Reasonably often I am an 'anchor' pro, as I was at Paradise Lost II a couple of weekends ago in San Antonio. This involves being fairly heavily programmed with panels (or lectures), as well as critique sessions. If I'm a toastmaster or a GoH, all the more so. Outside of formal programming, there are always a goodly number of hallway conversations and BarCon discussions about writing and craft and publishing. My time at those events really isn't my own, as I'm working. That's a kind of work I greatly enjoy, but it's still a significant commitment for me to go to most conventions as a pro.

World Steam Expo isn't a writing convention. It isn't even particularly book oriented. This is steampunk, which is more of a costuming and music and art and performance and maker movement than it is a literary movement. Gail Carriger and I and the other writers there were definitely supporting cast rather than the main event.

And that made this convention very, very different.

For one, by my usual standards, I was very lightly programmed. This meant I didn't have to go to bed early in order to leap out of bed early in order to make morning panels or critique sessions or business meetings. That in turn meant I could stay up late to enjoy the concerts and parties.

Likewise, as the days rolled on, I had time to visit the dealer room, attend panels and performances, have a massage or hit the hot tub. Basically, I did whatever I wanted. That's a very unusual convention experience for me.

So while World Steam Expo certainly delivered a great deal of value to me, I was in the interesting position of delivering value as a supporting cast member. Third camel from the left, so to speak. That was a terrific way to see this rich, complex blowout of a convention.

Working a Convention Cold

I think the last time I worked a convention cold was when I attended Orycon in the fall of 2000, before I was even a baby pro. I'd just moved to Oregon that spring, and hadn't yet made contact with the local writer community. I had a story in the convention workshop, along with Deborah Layne and Brenda Cooper, and we were pro'd by among other people Devon Monk and Wolf Read. All of whom are friends now, as are many other people I met that weekend. But going in, I didn't know anyone.

After that, every conference or convention or workshop I attended, whether early on as an aspiring/new writer, or later as a mentoring pro, I knew some people. Usually a lot more than "some". The chain of affinity that develops among any cohesive social group took hold of me.

Except for this time. Going into World Steam Expo, I knew exactly four people who were going to be there. Only one of them did I know even minimally well (@howardtayler), and until he found me in the hall, I didn't even realize he was going to be there. I also knew Evelyn Kreite, though I'd never met her in real life, and G.D. Falksen, whom I'd met exactly once in real life. And Gail, of course, though I know her only casually from the West Coast convention circuit.

My approach was to be friendly to everybody, and chat up anyone who would sit still. Going in, I more or less interviewed the guest relations volunteer who picked me up at the airport. (Hi, Dres!) Then I chatted up Tom Downey, head of guest relations, to the degree that he was free to talk to me amid pre-con madness. After I'd settled into my room, I went down to the lobby to people watch and talk to whoever was there. Met a very nice man named Joel, from Aegis, which led to me meeting Sal and a bunch of other Aegis folks. They gave me a place to take a break, fed me a few times, watched my belongings once or twice, and were generality crazy nice. (It turned out that was where Howard was hanging out as well.) Likewise, very early on I popped into the Green Room, where I met the League of S.T.E.A.M., who adopted me and dragged me around and introduced me to the members of Abney Park and a bunch of other musicians and performers and artists and photographers.

By being open to possibilities, I met a whole bunch of new people, some of whom bid fair to become good friends over time. Usually, I'm spending my free Con time with my old friends, meeting new people as they daisy chain into the world of writers, but that's a much more gradual process. World Steam Expo forced me to make new friends wholesale. And because of that, I got to do a whole lot of other things I would normally have missed out on, like being shot by the H.U.G. gun, or going backstage during the Abney Park concert to be part of the League of S.T.E.A.M.'s surprise on-stage raid on Captain Robert. Plus, there might be some cool new work shaking out of all this, just because. A writing project, at least, and maybe more.

What Does It All Mean?

Heck if I know what it all means. I'm not likely to change my convention-going habits. WriterLand is my home town, and you all are my friends. But I learned (or re-learned) some new ways to experience a convention. I made some terrifically fun new friends. And I should probably stretch my convention/conference habits when time and funds permit.

Also, I'd go back to World Steam Expo in a heartbeat if they invite me again in a future year. If you get a chance to attend, in any capacity, I can't recommend it strongly enough.

Your Tuesday moment of zen.



Flower in the garden at Viejo Rancho Lake, 2006. © 2006, 2012, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.

The current photo series is from my 'favorites' file, hence the dates jumping about



This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Copyediting Process: Questioning What You Know — More on the copy editing process, from editor Gabrielle Harbowy. Also this: Editorial Ego.

Roman-era shipwrecks found in deep waters off Greece

Measuring the Universe — A nice video on how we measure things. (Via threeoutside.)

The Zombie Network: Beware 'Free Public WiFi' — Finally got around to looking this up.

Report: In 10 States, Guns Kill More People Than Cars Do — Because, yeah… never mind. I'm too tired to be snarky about this. (Via danjite.)

?otd: Isn't it nice to sleep where you live?

---

5/29/2012
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (Con time)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 6.0 (fitful, plus airplane napping)
Weight: 244.0 (!!)
Currently reading: Shattering the Ley by Benjamin Tate

Um.

Wow.

Let's see...

I cracked myself out of bed around 8 am yesterday, did my usual morning routine, before discovering that the reading I thought I had at 1 pm was actually at 10 am. Oops. Still, I made it there in good order, and had a pleasing turnout given that [a] it was the first hour of programming on day three of a Con and [b] this isn't a book-focused Con. I read "The Lollygang Save the World on Accident" and did Q&A for a while. It was fun and worthwhile.

Afterwards I diddled around with some folks, before hitting the League of S.T.E.A.M.'s parlor show. Twice. Basically, they were working in character, demo'ing some of their props and gadgets and whatnot. Hilarious fun, though my favorite hands down was the net cannon, a/k/a the H.U.G. gun.

After that I started to wander about, when Lady Ameliorette Potts texted me to come back if I wanted to get shot with the H.U.G. gun my own self. Hijinks ensued.



(The Facebook comment thread on that image is hilarious, by the way.)

Then it was time to go off to the author panel, where I shared stage space with Gail Carriger, G.D. Falksen, Michael Lee and John White. That was a good hour of moderated Q&A with a pretty full house.

Evening devolved an impromptu birthday party in the Green Room for Captain Robert of Abney Park. After that, the evening unfolded. I caught part of League of S.T.E.A.M.'s review of their Web series, and about half the set of Steam Powered Giraffe. I finally decided their music was a fusion of high lonesome, three part harmony and stage comedy. Pretty wild stuff.

Further screwing around ensued, culminating in the League of S.T.E.A.M. conducting an impromptu stage raid on Abney Park during their encore of their concert set. Captain Roberts was H.U.G.ed, then spanked with the punchy fist for his birthday. I went along on this raid as the blogger embed, and it was one of the funniest things I have been part of in a very long time.

Afterward, more partying and dancing and whatnot until after 2 am.

Today is a slow, short day. I'm off to the airport at 3 pm to fly home, arriving about midnight. I do have some serious thoughts about my World Steam Expo experience, specifically about working a Con cold, and about being a very minor sideshow in someone else's world, but for now I'll just say this has been the most fun I've had in a very, very long time. My thanks to the World Steam Expo con com and volunteers, to old friends like @howardtayler and Evelyn Kreite, and to new friends very much including League of S.T.E.A.M..

What a weekend. Now I need a vacation to get over my vacation.

---

Photo © 2012 Ellie Copperbottom, used with permission.

Your Monday moment of zen.



Rock balanced by the_child in the garden at Viejo Rancho Lake, 2006. © 2006, 2012, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.

The current photo series is from my 'favorites' file, hence the dates jumping about



This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

The Fake Magazines Used in Blade Runner Are Still Futuristic, Awesome

The moon: look but don't touch, says Nasa — "He stuck a sign on every tree, saying this is private property…"

It Took Earth Ten Million Years to Recover from Greatest Mass Extinction — Warning, facts not valid for Young Earth Creationists and likely Republican voters.

Glenn Beck in Exile — Don’t cry for the former Fox star—he’s building a 24/7 media empire in his loopy image. I'm pretty sure most conservative media and political figures are cynical opportunists who really do know better and really just don't care. Rush Limbaugh, for example. Beck, though, he strikes me as a true believer with a fervor and distorted internal reality bordering on mental illness.

GOP blames Obama for student debt in swing-state NH, ignores origins of problem — Really, that headline could just be "GOP blames Obama, ignores origins of problem" and it would pretty much cover the past four years.

?otd: Huh? What?

---

5/28/2012
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (Con time)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 6.25 (solid)
Weight: n/a
Currently reading: Shattering the Ley by Benjamin Tate; Of Blood and Honey by Stina Leicht