March of this year has definitely followed the old adage thus far, not only in terms of weather, but also the general climate of life and work.

Kicking the month off with a bit of turbulence was an excellent trip back up to Rainbow Ridge for a pleasant weekend with some old friends. A new addition to the group this time around was Jack, the 16-month-old son of Brian and Amy. (More on this trip in a future post...)

On the heels of that, there has been getting back to reality and back to work, to finish up the website that I have been working with Matt Harkins on since the end of January. Final changes were completed on Sunday, and the maiden voyage from my hard drive, through the tubes, and out into the Internets was completed Monday night. Here's the finished site if you'd like to check it out. This guy does some pretty fabulous work. Of course, I'm hoping he feels the same about me... ha ha.

Next on the agenda is finalizing the blog architecture and template for author Pat McDermott. She has just completed a publishing deal with a new publisher to redistribute her first novel as an e-book, and the second installment is ready to launch. She asked me to help her get into the world of blogging, and remarked that it seemed a little odd for so many people to write about stuff and expect everyone else to actually care. I agree, for the most part. I blog for my own enjoyment, I honestly don't care all that much who reads this or why. However, in Pat's case, I think it would be roughly the equivalent of a veteran actor doing standup comedy gigs on the weekends to stay on his toes.

In any case, I will certainly make the announcement when her blog is complete, because I am sure she will have a lot of interesting things to share and talk about, her numerous travels not being the least of them. The work on my end is about 95% completed, we have a meeting scheduled this weekend to finalize it and run through her preferences, tweaks on fonts, colors, etc. You can see a preview of the work-in-progress here.

Point is, after a hectic start to March, I think I'm over the hump, at least for the moment. I have a few odds and ends to attend to, and the recent frenzy at my 9 to 5 gig has died down considerably. It's nice to be busy once in a while, but with the lovely weather of Spring just around the corner, it's also nice to be able to relax and enjoy doing nothing, which is what I do best.

Labels: blogging, books, Popov Society, websites, work

Posted by Shag at 9:23 AM

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On the weekend of February 24th, 2007, the esteemed members of the Popov Society (est. 1997, Syracuse NY) came together for their first official winter session.

The meeting was held at the borrowed mountain getaway of Justin Guinan, Doctor of Veterinary Butorphenology and host of this winter's activities. In attendance were myself, "Surly" John Tomaselli, "Pukey" John Laughlin, "Commander" Craig Peterson, "Jeffy Jeff" Jeff Feligno, Brian "Voice of Reason" Rickard, and a dog named Roxy.

The Popov Society typically meets annually during summer months for sessions involving camping, drinking, listening to music, swimming, and other activities too banal or frowned-upon-by-society to mention. The Society was formed in the spring of 1997, when several college students living in the same complex became friends through a series of chance meetings. Almost every member managed to become violently ill from ingesting Popov Vodka, with the curious exception of "Pukey" John, who did not puke at all until a single non-Popov-related incident years later, when he passed out and vomited on the Doorborough couch.

Highlights of the weekend's activities included:

• The assembly of one of the two mystery puzzles contained in a murder mystery game called "C is for Chocolate".
  
• A violent attack from a Satanic ladybug.
  
• Somehow managing to hit myself in the face rather hard with a refrigerator door. My head still hurts and it's 6 days later.
  
• Wondering if Mike Mursch was going to surprise us by appearing over the vast horizon on a magic carpet, blasting Boston and drinking Iron City Beer.
  
• Reading through the book version of "Puppetry of the Penis" that we discovered in the basement.
  
• Discovering the existence of "Bruce Porn Road" only a few miles from our location.
  
• Eating smoked venison sticks, thoughtfully provided by "Pukey" John.
  
• The presence of an actual Swiss German cuckoo clock.

The tentative plan of the Popov Society is to revisit the Stamford, NY house in late June of this year for the summer session, as opposed to the usual camping trips to Arkville or to the Pennsylvania border for mud-soaked weekends at Soaring Eagle Campground. The presence of running water, showers, indoor toilets, and pre-existing shelter make this new location the most popular one yet.

If we return, I have every intention of exploring Bruce Porn Road, as I have read there is a pretty good hike along a gorge nearby. In the meantime, enjoy the photos from our weekend sloth-fest.

Labels: books, photos, Popov Society, travel

Posted by Shag at 5:00 PM

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