Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

The weather was pretty nice today by local recent standards. No snow falling, partly sunny, and the roads were mostly clear with some icy spots coming down from the Tahoe basin. In retrospect, we probably should have gone out and started the pickup at least once a day, though, as it was a little difficult to start after having sat in the cold -- even in the parking garage out of the snow -- for four days. But it did start eventually, and we made our easy way down to Carson City where we had lunch. As we headed north out of Carson City, Lisa spotted a solar-power store, and decided to stop in and look around. We found a very enthusiastic owner/manager. Lisa was not going to buy anything today (except their catalog), and eventually we managed to disengage enough to continue on to Reno. It wasn't easy; as Lisa said, "He was some salesman." If we do end up living in these parts someday, there's a chance we will go back there, as Lisa is interested in being as off-grid as practical. I realized just how long we'd been at the solar shop when my 1-hour-after-meal diabetes alarm went off just as we were pulling out of the parking lot. (Nice normal test, to my relief.)

( More trip tales )

( Lest you think I only talk about when I win.... )

After a brief stop for groceries, it was back to the hotel, where Lisa took advantage of having a larger bathtub and considerably more hot water than she normally has in the trailer back home in Mehama for a long bath while I got caught up on e-mail and such. Luckily for me, there were no further requests from work while I was traveling today, probably because most of the people who might generate such requests were traveling as well, usually a lot further than I am, because most of them are from back east. (This is a welcome change from me having to go to Chicago for such meetings.)

Lisa brought the map book in from the truck with her. She's got ideas about where we will be exploring tomorrow, weather permitting.

During the day, when Lisa has been around the hotel room playing games on her computer, reading, and so forth, she has left the hotel's keno drawing running on the TV, partially because she likes the music playing under it and partially to keep Kuma Bear occupied. Before going to bed tonight, she took a picture of him with the keno drawings that she says have been fascinating him all week.

( Bear photos behind the cut )

Lisa got dressed up nicely when I gone done with work this evening and we went out to dinner at the buffet at the top of Harrah's across the street. (We had looked at "19," the top-floor restaurant in Harvey's, but Lisa didn't see anything on their expensive menu that she fancied. The two hotels are connected by a tunnel under the street, doubling our opportunities for walking and dining without having to go outside.) We had a nice view of the casino district vanishing under a cloud of snow.

After dinner, we stopped and bought a multi-game keno ticket for Kuma. (As Lisa points out to me, Kuma isn't old enough to gamble, but we bought the ticket for him and took it back to the hotel room.) Unfortunately, the ticket didn't win, and hardly caught any numbers at all. Maybe he's Anti-Keno Bear?

After dinner, I headed up to the room, where Lisa had spent most of the day. The high winds and heavy snow -- winds that I understand shut down the ski mountain -- had left her unenthusiastic about going outside. She had some snacks during the day, but (a) she hadn't had dinner and (b) I'd had a big dinner and needed a walk, and (c) the winds had died down, so it wasn't so bad as it had been. So we got kitted up and went outside for a walk. We walked across to California and down to Raley's, picked up some milk and juice, and then walked back up to Nevada to Bill's Casino, which includes a Subway sandwich shop, and got Lisa a sandwich and a mini-pizza. (I'm not trying to deprive Lisa; that's all she wanted.)

It was snowing medium-hard out there, but as long as we stayed out of the wind, it wasn't too uncomfortable. I felt much better getting a walk after all of today's enforced inactivity.

[The subject line of this message was the tag line of an ad campaign for a Tahoe-area ski resort some years ago. I did not, however, actually fall down in the snow. I merely slipped a few times in it.]

A few days ago, my mother sent this story and photos about her appearance at the Tahoe Arts Festival, July 7 & 8, 2007. I liked it so much I asked and received her permission to share it here.

( Photos and story behind the cut )

Yay for Mom!