Got an invite from my old partner on the help desk to hit the coin show at the Baltimore Convention Center today. Seemed like a nice way to enjoy a Saturday, so I caught the light rail into Baltimore and spent the afternoon wandering around lots of really interesting stuff.

I splurged a bit and picked up a few things I needed for a set I'm working on as well as a few things I probably didn't need, but they were still cool. However, I was really proud of myself when I talked myself out of buying some things that I wanted. It was close . . . not unlike my latest blog post on Writer Beware, when you're in the buying mood, it's really hard to say no. But, that's where common sense and discipline has to come in and you have to be able to say "No, not right now" or "No, that's really nice, but I don't think that's a price I'm comfortable paying".

Still, there were some very pretty things there. *sigh*

It appears going to Dragon*Con can be profitable. I was there a few years ago, working a table in Artist's Alley, when some guy came up and asked if I could make change for a $20. I said, "Sure" and he gave me a bill he had just gotten out of the ATM. I thought it looked a little odd, but then I realized it was a Federal Reserve Note from 1928. I was "happy" to give him the change after that.

Well, I had the note appraised at the convention today. It's in really good shape and based on their appraisal, I found out it's currently worth $125 and will probably continue going up in value over the next few years. The people at the appraising company enjoyed the story and suggested I make change for people at conventions more often. Let's just say, I intend to keep my eyes open the next time I'm handling money at a show. *grin*

We had some company this evening and then went out for Mongolian BBQ for dinner. Yep, it's tough having to go through a build your own meal setting where the cook fixes your food right in front of you. As a registered carnivore, let's just say, I get my quota of protein and more on the first trip through, much less the subsequent visits.

Still managed to get March's writing off to a good start. Added 1592 words to the Chronicles and probably could have kept going easily. I'm hoping I can get in a few extra hours of writing tomorrow just to make up for February's undershot.

Time to grab a book, get a little reading in before bed.

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Words for Today

1592 / 1000 words. 159%

Progress on CSD:Dragon Couchant

74025 / 100000 words. 74%

Words for 2008

65127 / 366000 words. 18%

I'm not certain what happened, but I woke up this morning and just felt like crap. Don't know, maybe there's something we're passing around in the family. Maybe it's the weird weather (cold, then warm, then cold, then warm again) that's upsetting my body. Whatever it is, I was just wiped out this morning, so I called in sick and then went back to bed. Slept in until 1345 today, even with the phone ringing every so often from solicitors and the workmen downstairs banging away.

Felt pretty good though when I woke up. Which is pretty much my SOP for illness. If I can sleep it off, I usually get over stuff a lot quicker than if I try to work through it. Call it my mutant healing ability if you will. Course, what I have to do is not sleep SO late that I can't go to sleep at a reasonable time later that night. Especially since I'm a night owl by nature anyway, so getting onto a late-night schedule is way too easy for me.

Took the daughter-unit out with me when she got home from school to get me some lunch and her a milkshake. We hit Arby's since they have Jamocha shakes (my favorite), and then stopped by Metro Coins so I could spend a little of my Christmas money I'd been saving on a couple of Morgan Dollars I'd had my eye on. I really enjoy visiting with Dave and Steve (the two brothers who own the store) and the daughter-unit picked up some inexpensive foreign coins. She was really impressed with the Australian 20 pence coin with the platypus on it. She's not really into "coins" like I am, but she likes the ones with animals on them - Canadian Timber Wolves, Chinese Pandas, etc. Hey, anytime she's into something I am, it's a blow for fathers of teen-age daughters everywhere. *grin*

wishweaver and I took her to Fidos tonight and enjoyed visiting with the other dog trainers and parents while the juniors got to spend some time working with the dogs. Course, next week should be extra fun for the daughter-unit since they're bringing in the new puppies to get them socialized, which is a highlight for the juniors every month. They have every type of dog from Pomeranians to Old English Mastiffs, but collies, irish setters, corgis and labrador retrievers seem to be the most common breeds. They had the most beautiful Standard Schnauzer there tonight along with three black standard poodles that nearly came waist-high on me. If only regular poodles were as calm and well behaved as their standard cousins. *sigh*

Managed to get some writing in this evening, adding 1201 words to Steel on Target. I also finished the first Battle Angel Alita manga series tonight with issue nine. Given where they left the story at, I'm going to have to start picking up Battle Angel Alita: Last Orders pretty darn soon. It's not a book for everyone - pretty graphic in the ol' violence department - but the story is very compelling and the art complements the story nicely.

But, now, bedtime so I can get to work tomorrow. (Like it or not. *sigh*)

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Words for Today

1201 / 1000 words. 120%

Progress on Steel on Target

12968 / 90000 words. 14%

Words for 2008

10926 / 366000 words. 3%

It's amazing how much you can learn about a country by its coinage. One of my friend did his Master's thesis on Propaganda and Roman Coins in the Age of Augustus and surprisingly it was an interesting read, considering it was a thesis (which tend to be VERY dry).

I'm a big fan of the earlier American coins. The Seated Liberty, The Trade Dollar (Liberty sitting on a stack of trade goods), the Walking Liberty half dollars, the Standing Liberty Quarters . . . those were coins that had some personality. These days, our coins are rather boring. No offense to the fans of Lincoln or Roosevelt, but I think I prefer the Mercury Dime and the Flying Eagle Cents.

That being said, Great Britain has started releasing some bullion coins, similar to our American Eagle, the Australian Kookaburra or the Canadian Maple Leaves (not to be confused with the Toronto Maple Leaves for the two hockey fans that read this blog). Being a historian and a bit of a coin buff, I have to admit, these are some beautiful coins. So, I thought I'd share one that I picked up, for those who might be interested:

( Behind the cut to save on bandwidth )

We now return you to your regularly scheduled writer's blog already in progress.

Got home from work tonight in time to get the call from my history project manager. We reviewed the changes she wants made to the chapter. She'd like me to get this to her by Saturday afternoon so she can take it with her to a business conference she's going to next week. However, some of the changes she's looking for are going to take some research, so it'll probably be down to the wire to see if I can get the information or not.

Course, I didn't get much done this evening because I was studying for tomorrow night's test in Astronomy. Yep, test the week we get back from Spring Break. Evil, evil man this professor is.

Received an e-mail from Howard Community College. Apparently one of the poems I submitted last year (too late) for the college's literary magazine was accepted for this year's issue. I've been invited to do a reading of the poem in May and told them I'd be happy to attend. I went to last year's and enjoyed myself. There was some very imaginative stuff last year and I hope it'll be as entertaining this year.

Also, been indulging myself in some numismatic fun. I received my Canadian Silver Wolf Dollars today. A very nice 1/2 ounce silver bullion coin made by our northern neighbors. Of course, the first one I opened and put in the display case was commandeered by the daughter-unit. Ce la guerre.

Cute little devil, isn't he?


Oh well, off to bed and to dream of Carthaginian armor and elephants.

This has been a strange week for me.

After the non-Lunacon weekend, I had a hellacious week at work. No, no gross stupidity on anyone's part, but we're fielding a new system and everyone and their uncle has been second-guessing Tom and me as we work the help desk, making sure we're aware of any little glitch so the techs can jump on it. Plus, there've been two retirements, so half the office has been gone at any one time at this luncheon or that one.

The good thing about this past week was I received a Team Appreciation Award last Thursday. A very nice plaque and a nice little envelope that went along with it. I took advantage of that little surprise this weekend at the Baltimore Coin Show.

Yes, I've gotten back into Numismatics after all these years of not being able to afford it. I don't have much left of my collection from when I was in HS/College. Sold most of it off to pay bills and such back in the 80s. Still enjoy old coins though. (Must be the historian in me peaking through once again.) I picked up several coins from the 1800s (The Draped Bust Half Dollar from 1834 is probably my favorite piece) as well as adding a few more Morgan and Peace Dollars to my collection. If anyone is interested, I'll try and take a few photos and post them.

My partner Tom took Friday off to go to the show before it got crowded. Of course, that's the day the bull feces had to hit the spinning metal blades. Everyone and their uncle needed something from the help desk and it had to be done today. I think I managed to get to lunch around 1:25 (cafeteria closes at 1:30) and did reports that are normally done by 9:30 around 3pm. Nothing serious, nothing very difficult, just lots and lots and lots of requests for my time. If Tom had been there, it would have been cake, but I think I took more phone calls on Friday than I had taken the entire month of February. I've already told Tom he's not allowed any sick days or leave until the system is completely up and running. (So, of course, he had a sick day today. Aarrgh!)

Needless to say, I've been coming home rather brain-dead the past several nights. I've sat down to write, but nothing until this evening. I'm not going to post my word count for tonight, because I spent half my writing time re-reading my stuff and trying to remember exactly where I was going with these stories. Still, it felt good to put words to paper. I'm so far off on my writing goals for 2007, but I'm hoping to get back in gear one of these days.

And . . . there's another writing opportunity appearing on the horizon. Don't know too much about it yet, but it could be very interesting on top of my current commitments. More to follow as I can talk about it.

Time to hit the sack. Daughter-unit's B-Day is tomorrow, so we'll be doing some gift giving/dining out/shopping tomorrow after school and work, I'm certain.