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Fortunately, given my decorating style, some of the decorations are compatible with several different hollidays. The upcoming plug-and-play uniform holiday standard (v.555-1212) being developed jointly by the IEEE and Martha Stewart should make entertaining far easier as well as specify standardized condiment tray refresh rates, chip and dip configurations, and impose international sanctions against traffickers in decorations that talk. v.555-1212, of course, is expected to incorporate the existing NAGA (North American Geeks' Association) standard, which began the trend towards holiday unification by standardizing Oct 31 as equal to Dec 25, unifying Halloween and Christmas. |
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"Come on in, I've been expecting you...." |
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Well, okay, maybe I hadn't quite expected this ...but you don't hear me complaining about it either. Rob and Tiffany had been by the evening before to help me get the treehouse straightened up--and it needed it. The conference room still hadn't recovered from having an ISP living it it for a few days, and my project of setting up all the test systems for doing broadband and fiber optic design and modelling under more flavors of Windows[tm] than even Baskin Robbins would know what to do with had filled the living room and hallways nearby with at least as many computer pieces as are owned by many small African countries. |
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Jed also showed up to help (but wasn't able to make it to the party afterwards--or maybe after moving all that equipment, he thought better of it, but he did send his URL to represent him and accept any awards in his place: http://www.rockchucker.com ) and between the four of us, we got the big stuff moved and Darlene and Laura showed up a couple of hours before the party to help with the last of the clean-up. Here we are moving one of the rack cases from the warehouse down into the main server area. The treehouse home network currently has more than a terabyte of hard drive space, which is enough room to install even the complete set of Windows 2000[tm] options and development tools. And, yes, there are reasons why I'd actually want to install the complete set of Windows 2000 options and development tools.... |
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I haven't quite memorized the various Hardware Compatibility Lists that Microsoft puts out, but I'm getting there. Unfortunately, the HCLs very much don't tell the whole story, especially when you're trying to get components not just to work, but to get them to work well and (for real excitement) to work together in the same box. At this point, I know far more about setting up Windows 2000 Advanced Server than I'd ever expected to. Now, that's scary.... And it's even coexisting on the network with Linux and Solaris.... [Cue screams and moans] |
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Back at the Halloween party, some of the guests are engaging in their own kind of networking and discovering new things they have in common....
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How often do you get a better chance to make a dramatic entrance than you do at a Halloween party? (Not that Laura needs the excuse.) |
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I showed the guests a few scenes from my latest movie (still being edited at that time). (to further enhance your browsing experience, some of the scenes that Steve (shown at left) was watching have now been added to the multimedia page) |
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The "Black Widow Cake with Oozing Guts" won the evening's "scariest food award."
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Fortunately, not all the food was scary; some was merely "colorful." |
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Not long after midnight, it was time for the costume contest and people began to head down to the theater to find out who the winners would be this year (and what on earth some of the more mysterious costumes actually were). |
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And, of course, the contestants were eager to vie for these and other exciting prizes....
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Darth Maul and the Princess were among the first contestants. Unfortunately, I had forgotten my lightsaber (one third smaller cheek scars than a regular saber), so the Princess had to defend her realm alone.... At Starcon this year, "Darth Maul" was definitely the most popular costume to be wearing. We had only one at this party, but at one point at the con, I was walking down one of the large hallways amid an entire crowd of "Darth Maul"s--which I really wish I'd gotten a photo of. I just think that was a funny image: me with my fairly ordinary-looking face and more colorful garb in the middle of a sea of dark-robed "Darth Maul"s, all of whom seemed to be nearly a foot shorter than I am. Well, maybe the dress code at StarFest this spring will be similar.... |
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Poison Ivy (shown here with her mask off) won the Golden Boot this year. For some reason, she declined to take it home with her, leaving it here at the treehouse for safekeeping. Her costume seemed remarkably stable for this late in the fall (perhaps she's an evergreen), but that didn't keep her from winning. |
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Cinderella put in an appearance, which was an impressive achievement, considering that it was after midnight and that she hadn't even turned into a pumpkin (even though most of her entourage already had). |
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Darlene really got into the whole "barbarian wench" thing. It's amazing that all the guests escaped unscathed by the end of the night. If she goes down to the RenFest again this summer, she could be dangerous.
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You don't want to know what this contestant is trying to do with her other hand; it's too scary. |
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and the award for br^H^H best presentation goes to....
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Oh, yeah; I didn't have a lot of time for costume preparation, so this year I dressed up as "Microsoft Windows."
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A little after three in the morning, the party guests headed off, leaving me with far more food than I can eat. What to do...? In any case, a great time was had by all! And if you didn't make it this year, maybe I'll see you at Trygve's Halloween 2000! |
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