Adventures of a Freelance Murray Slaughter

i am going to be hosting theloriest for a couple weeks

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 08:02:16 GMT

starting tomorrow. would people like to come over for a casual potluck on Friday to keep her properly socialized?

seeds!

Sun, 23 Dec 2012 06:16:21 GMT

I am a member of Mike the Gardener's seed club (https://averagepersongardening.com/), and I get a little packet of 4 seeds every month. And 8 the first month, and some on my birthday, and some from his overflow program, etc). I have a LOT of seeds. and many of them I will use. But some in an apartment, I just do not have space for, or they want more sun than I can give them, and a couple, like the onions/carrots, are doubles. I have the following to trade/offer: Rutabaga (American Purple Top), Parsnip (Hollow Crown), Carrot (Chantenay Red Core), Cauliflower (Snowball), Spaghetti Squash, Onion (Evergreen Bunching), Celery (Utah, GMO-free), Okra (Burgundy).

They are all organic seeds, they all have a price on them of 89 cents or $1.29. I'll trade them for seeds of any herb but dill (I have 3 types), grape tomatoes, and especially mint. I'm willing to give them away, especially if you want to give me some of the produce after (except the cauliflower. you can keep that). Will also be happy to take various growing things (pots, potting soil, starters, etc). Message me.

cleaning

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 09:31:27 GMT

(I am going to make more of an effort to take my...less one line things from facebook and post them here, compiled (the below is actually 3 entries), for the sakes of those of you who do not read FB. Those of you who do read FB will get more of the sort of thing I am really good at - snarky one and two line comments, which FB is much better for, and you'll get it faster.)

I had a migraine yesterday; I went to bed at 5pmish and woke up at 2am. which is why I am cleaning house at 4:00am. If I could start a business cleaning houses at 4am, I'd be set...I've done Laurie's kitchen at this hour twice now. I just never want to clean during daylight. Tyler once said it was living with a really unpredictable house elf (I don't clean every night, or even really consistently, but I get in these moods).

I was just out in the front room, doing a little of the fussier post-party stuff (putting new candles in the tea holders so they are ready for next time, things like that) when I noticed that the Ducky Virgin Mary has been returned to the nativity (she took a runner last night and was missing). I suspect that TJ (my roommate) found her, but I'd really rather believe it was a Christmas Miracle.

I have been reading a book on speed cleaning recently. One good suggestion it had was to put the things you use most often in a small bucket, so if you find you are needing something often, it's the bucket you grab. I extended this a little; my bucket has Pledge, Windex, a hammer and nails, a small screw collection, my powered screwdriver, some sponges, and a microfiber cloth.

I cannot currently find my bucket.

Arisia Schedule

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 08:07:45 GMT

which basically adds up to "I am handicapped and I cook."

Disability and Fandom
Griffin, Sat 10:00 AM
Many fen have disabilities, and they aren't always obvious to the outside world. Are these disabilities barriers to full participation in the fannish community? What can conventions do to make sure every fan gets the full convention experience? What can all fans do to help their fellow fen who need it?

Crafting Spirits: Home Brewing and Distilling
Independence, Sat 7:00 PM
Home brewing and distilling have exploded in popularity in recent years. Come learn the difference between an ale and a lager, or a vodka and a gin. Discuss brewing techniques, trade recipes, and share stories. Sampling must be saved for your hotel room!

Foodcraft: How Science Can Reinvent Your Kitchen
Independence, Sun 1:00 PM
Foodies are always inventing new scientific techniques to prepare their favorite ingredients in exciting new ways, but are these modern miracles available to someone on a budget? Or is the Modern Kitchen only a pipe dream? Learn the wonders of sous vide, sonic cavitation, and food grade centrifuges.

Who wants grenadine?

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 20:54:08 GMT

I was thinking of doing a batch of it. 12 ounces of fresh grenadine, proper pomegranate base, in a squeeze bottle, $10 each. Any interest? I need 10 bottles pre-ordered ($5 deposit) to make it possible (part of that is finances to buy the supplies; part of that is the supplies make enough for 18 bottles, and I really don't want a gallon of grenadine for myself ;-) )

things that I need that people often throw out.

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 06:25:03 GMT

I would be happy to get old ones that I could play with; I have not refinished any furniture in ages, and I am sort of itching to.
- 2 tall bookcases
- short bookcases
- a coat tree
- little wall shelves
- a swiffer wet jet
- a mop
- a wine rack
- a television so we can play Rock Band
- end tables

I am also keeping an eye out for really good prices on poster frames that will fit a one-sheet (27"x40"). I need 3 of them.

we are having problems with our doorbell

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 15:59:08 GMT

stephen cannot hear it if his door is closed, I cannot hear it in the front room, and TJ and I cannot hear it downstairs at all. vibrantabyss has no problem hearing it in the front room (he did not check downstairs or with Stephen's door closed). Anyway he says we're free to put up a wireless one at our own expense, but 2-chime bells seem impossibly rare and pricey. I want to borrow one, if anyone has one, to see if a single chime, placed at the front of the apartment instead of in the kitchen, might be hearable upstairs and down.

Does anyone have one available for a few minutes of testing?

scary, scary food porn.

Sun, 18 Nov 2012 00:30:04 GMT

it's not safe for any environment whatsoever, and then you realize that's Patrick Stewart doing the god damned narration, and you're THIS IS AWESOME AND WRONG WRONG WRONG.

posted for everyone but especially for browngirl.

i do not think it needs to be said

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 11:19:09 GMT

but people keep getting all "I have been posting about this on Livejournal," so it needs to be said; I read LJ about once a fortnight. I'll eventually see what you say, because 2 weeks of posts is usually about 30 of them, but I am not reading it regularly; I have backed up my journal and moved on.

Don't assume you're telling me *anything* by posting it here. If you are inviting people to parties through LJ, you are missing me. If you need me to know about something, email me with a link to LJ, or if you are on FB, share your LJ post to it, and I will read it.

Likewise, if you are not following me on FB, you are missing most of what I say, too; I know some of you have FB issues, and that's fine, but it has become my go to of late because of the instant nature of the transmission, and because my brand of one-liners simply works better over there.

foxhole news.

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 14:48:21 GMT

I wonder if Romney would have won if Fox News had not been around. I do not think that any Democrat supporting person I know took his election as a given; there were a lot of people fretting about it. But 'liberal' news outlets (most notably MSNBC) always had a 'but he might lose' bit to it. It was a possibility. Fox never admitted that; even when I was reading 538 and trying to figure out why Republican friends were talking momentum that I did not see. Looking at opinion coverage right before the election, people like Peggy Noonan were insisting Romney had it in the bag. Fox pundits were there constantly; hell, Rove was arguing with the numbers people live on the air. People on that side of the spectrum never seemed to think it was even a possibility Romney would not win; they were fed cherry picked information that told them he would. I wonder what the possibility is that because they drank the kool-aid, they did not make changes to their campaign at either the strategy or the grassroots levels that might have helped them. If everything is working (and they were repeatedly told it was), why change?

coffee for the peepels.

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 20:33:34 GMT

so today I have went out and gave the voting masses free coffee. I was making short posts about it to Facebook, but I know some y'all don't read that, so I figured I'd agglomerate the short posts here for you because it will make you happy. Especially if you are browngirl.

7 hours ago
The stories of people spending 1hr to 90 minutes, *already*, waiting to line impress me. Thanks, everyone. For those of you who have voted already, would it be worth it for me to brew up a couple pots of coffee, put them in the 2 gallon insulated cooler, and cart them over to the lineup?

6 hours ago
ok. on the third carafe. if anyone is in the area and would like to meet me at teele fire station at 10:30 with some 2% and (more importantly) paper cups, that would be awesome. I am going to bring simple syrup, I think, instead of sugar. Let me know.

5 hours ago
50 cups of coffee, 48 12oz cups, a litre of almond milk, 2 quarts of simple. I should prolly pick up cow milk. since I have simple, do you think I need stirry things?

3 hours ago via Mobile
Taking a cup... "so who is funding this?" "uhm, me?"

2 hours ago via Mobile
"Are all Canadians as awesome as you?" "Oh, I sure hope so."

about an hour ago via Mobile
41 cups of coffee given out, 3 refills, 2 people with their own travel mugs filled. Home for lunch!

19 minutes ago
So I had developed a little speech, "Why are you doing this?" people would ask. "Well, I'm Canadian, so I can't vote, but I appreciate that people are coming out in this cold and waiting 2 hours to vote, and I wanted to do something nice for all of you."

One time, I started it, "Well, I'm Canadian," and paused a little longer, and the woman I was saying it to thought I was done, and she laughed and said, "From what I hear of your people, that's enough!" (this was not the same person who asked if all canadians were as awesome as me.)

12 minutes ago
Other amusing bit: while I was giving out coffee I was trying to be very non-partisan; I would say neutral things about just thanking people for voting, regardless. One person asked me who I supported, though, and I looked down at the coffee and said, "Well, I took my personal supplies, and spent an hour and a half brewing coffee, and then I took public transit, and came down here to redistribute my wealth to the public because I thought it might help you. So I bet you can figure out who I *don't* support."

8 minutes ago
also somebody tried to give me a $20. which even if I wasn't doing it because it just seemed like a nice thing to do for people and I like it when I can do a random act of kindness, especially when it involves food, was way beyond even Starbucks levels of pricing (it was a 12 oz. cup.)

it's the most wonderful time of the year. except...

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 06:43:17 GMT

it is time for my annual sit down and compile all the movies that are coming in the first 6 months of 2013, so that I can start approaching people to give me (and Arisia) stuff. Generally I look for things that have devoted geek fan followings (so though the next Schwarzenegger film is a western, and the Colfer film is a high school movie, they go on the list).

Then I also look for geeky documentaries, animated anything, fantasy, superheroes, SF, and horror films. In addition to this, I usually get publicists offering me stuff that isn't actually genre, but they need to push, and I let them (which is why we were given 300 Man on a Ledge insulated tumblers last year, which I took because they were $4 tumblers and people love tumblers).

I am up to the end of February now, and I have 9 movies, after filtering through about 40 films being released in Jan/Feb. I have hit my first SF release of the year - a family CG animated film that looks like it is only saved from direct to video because its the Weinsteins. Everything else is horror. Horror/comedy, horror/zombie, horror/supernatural, etc. Pure Texas Chainsaw Massacre horror, too.

things I need around here

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 02:42:59 GMT

a couple times recently I have said, 'oh I picked up an X' yesterday, and been told 'oh, if I knew you needed that I have one in my basement/closet/storage/garage'. So if you have any of these things and were not throwing it out because it's perfectly good and someone might want it, here's your chance. Nothing is OH MY GOD NOW or anything, just household set-uppish:

- curtain rods: we have 4 windows with hooks for hanging rods, or I can go for those springy types
- curtains: yay/damn this place has a lot of windows. They are all the 24"x64" types. 4 in the front room, 2 in the comfy room. I have some lace ones for the kitchen but they don't match.
- bathroom caddy
- drainboard/drying rack
- cookie sheets
- side tables (just little ones. a few places where one might be handy)
- coat rack (you know the stick and peg type?)
- porch furniture

I also have a crapload of pegboard stuff, including two 4-foot long, 8" wide retail hanging displays (I kept canned goods and packets in them) that I have no space for here, if anyone has a pegboard system and wants them.

accessory swap?

Fri, 26 Oct 2012 03:41:37 GMT

would anyone in the Boston area be interested in an accessories swap? purses, scarves, jewelry, ties, belts, etc?

evil.

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 19:30:48 GMT

last night I had two notable dreams, one in which someone who sort of wanted to cuddle with me on a sofa at a con took a phone call, which turned out to be from an ex, and he started crying in the middle of it and begging her to take him back.

the other one I had was that the phone call I am waiting for at home today, and after 10 seconds we were cut off, and I could not call them back (the number in goes to a call bank, not the individual), and they counted it as me missing the appointment, and I was not eligible for the assistance as a result.

The lesson I have decided to take from this is not "I am stressed out about being lonely, and about finances," and instead, "Phones are evil."

somerville unloading help needed tomorrow (friday)

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 23:24:57 GMT

people of the internet: I need people to help unload Shazza's car at my new place in somerville tomorrow night. We are not sure of the time; ideally we'll load the car up, then I will call you to meet us in Somerville, giving you half an hour or so notice. (6 to 8ish). If anyone has a second car and also wants to carry a load up, awesome, but otherwise what we really need are unloaders at that end.

moving and stuff

Sat, 22 Sep 2012 10:55:16 GMT

there were several people who said they would be able to help me move tomorrow, but most arrangements were made before I went to Kentucky, and I am sort of freaking out this week (I had a seizure in kentucky, a few hours before I was supposed to travel, resulting in me having to push myself stupid hard for 36 hours because of two really ignorant pilots in order to get home, with the result being when I did collapse, instead of being for the usual 5-6 hours, it was 2 days where I kept having small seizures).

anyway, the point is I remember certain people, and I know there were more, and I specified tomorrow (sunday), and now I am suddenly running with my head cut off, so if you said you would help and can email me, I will love you forever. Vehicles are welcome, and you can work in quincy, somerville or both if you want to (we are going to try things in shifts so that people can take a break).

there will be chinese after for peeps. and the weather is supposed to be partly cloudy but a decent temperature (70) . mail to thespian@sleepingcat.com for more info/addresses.

i have no time to post this

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 07:43:00 GMT

in full, but I will need people to help me move on the 23rd of September. It is happening a little early because I have been asked to present my products in a class on syrups at the Boston Cocktail Summit, on October 4th, and so need to spend some time from the 25th-30th in the commercial kitchen prepping things.

I am moving from a first floor apartment to a first floor apartment. At this end there are 4 steps or a half step depending which exit you use. At that end (owned by jjv), there are 5 steps or 7 steps, depending on the entrance used.

people who have offered to help in the past (especially about Pour Industries) would be welcomed. If you cannot help on the 23rd (when goddessfarmer will have her truck here), but you have a car (or if you can help another day AND on the 23rd) I have packed a LOT in easily-moved-in-a-car bankers boxes.

I will order pizza. Recommendations on pizza places by Clarendon Hill will be welcome, as neither Pinky's nor Beauty's delivers there, which makes me sad. Coming back to Somerville, but Denied!

never rains but it pours.

Mon, 03 Sep 2012 21:24:01 GMT

Damn. Just got asked to do a big thing at the Cocktail Summit for Pour Industries. WIth some big, established names in syrups. It would be a great break; but it does involve some investment - probably about $300. there would be a big advantage; I was planning on the kickstarter in October now that I will be in Somerville again (there is a community kitchen I can use there but I need to be a resident). but aside from needing to raise the money...I need to decide if I can do Camp Runamok, move in the last week of September and be prepped for doing the a professional panel by the 4th.

i tell ya...

Sun, 02 Sep 2012 12:17:38 GMT

shit gets REAL when you start taking your furniture apart, man.

so there is this.

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 01:12:48 GMT

1. I am moving back to Somerville on October 1.
2. I need 2 roommates. Rent is $650 a room. There is also a room that would be a suitable home office (it is not a legal bedroom), in which case the rent is $487 a room.
3. I am more than open to someone with a cat. In fact, I would welcome one; small is lonely, she has never been an only cat before.
4. There is a LOT of shared space.

there will be more details on this later; I cannot really show the place until the beginning of September, because there are tenants in there right now, but I thought I would get this out to my friends now, in case you know someone who might be looking. I am hoping to find working person/grad student types who are more settled. Also because of the nature of my hobbies, this would likely not be the place for anyone who requires a kosher kitchen, has contact food allergies, needs no alcohol in the house, etc. On the other hand, it might be the place for someone who might like 'here, I am trying this new thing with strawberries macerated in thai lime syrup with rum and coconut water'.

not posting much lately

Sun, 19 Aug 2012 11:37:38 GMT

mostly because most of what I post is cheap one liners on facebook.

but I thought some of you might like this animated gif. Someone else created the initial gif, but it only went one way, so he peeked and then disappeared. I reversed it, and also added a longer start time so it would take a moment before it became obviously not a still image.

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 04:41:40 GMT

He went away about three hours ago.

A life, part 2.

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 18:47:47 GMT

Ulysses was main consolation when Chiya died, about a year and a half later (on the first day of the Toronto Worldcon - which was why I did nothing there but my job). She was the sweetest, most loving cat I had ever known, but Uly stepped up to help.

He moved with me to Boston the next year, and became known around the community for being a particularly quirky cat. The bedroom we lived in in Harvard Square had a window that looked out over the roof of the side porch, and I left the window open for him. I often came home to find the was seated on the roof, watching me intently. I would wave at him and he would miaow happily and go running inside to greet me. He has always been incredibly happy to greet me at the door, but there is a secret - he listens for me, and comes running. For a long time I thought he waited at the door for me (Chiya used to), but it seems he had better things to do with his time. Once in a while I could sneak in, quietly, and he would come out of the bedroom, looking pretty affronted, because he had been called out.

A Life.

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 16:42:12 GMT

ulysses is sleeping in the bathroom right now, so let me tell you about him. He started out as a house cat in one of those college houses where peopple are there for a semester or two, in Guelph, Ontario, near the university. I have never known if he was needy because of that, or if he was always the sort of cat who needed someone to centre his life, and he never had it. At sometime in this period he was declawed.

When that house broke up, one person, A, took him. He was 4 or 5 at the time. She moved to Toronto, and lived with the infamous C for about a year, then moved out. C is not a pet person, and he resented Ulysses being dumped on him - A promised she would come and get him, and pay for his food, but never did. A few months after they broke up, in July 2001, C contacted me on LJ (we had dated, on and off, since high school), and after a month or so, I went to visit Toronto, where they lived.

Cats have always loved me. There is no cat out there who will not, with a little coaxing, come to me, even if you insist, almost proudly, that 'My cat just doesn't like people.' The first morning of my visit, C went to work, and I woke up to Ulysses nudging my hand so that he could sleep in my arms. Though he lived with Chris another 8 months, he became my cat that morning. He tried to pack himself in my luggage when I left (and I do not mean he got into the suitcase; I mean he got in, burrowed, and got himself situated. The luggage was closed and by the door when we realized we had not seen the cat in a while.

I moved to Toronto the next spring, and after I had been there 2 months, in June 2002, C got arrested. He assured me I did not need to bother with the cat, he would be out in a day or so on bail. I took the cat home with me anyways, the day after that...we always said that he would take Uly back, but I do not think either of us actually believed that the cat lady (there were 3, and Ulysses was the 4th) would give him back. C was under house arrest and probation for the next year, and it became quite moot.

Ulysses respected Chiya, mutually adored Ashke, and ignored Weasel. I often found Ulysses and Ashke lying on the bed, very solemnly cleaning each other's faces. Ashke has been a foundling, a feral cat who never let me lift him up, not once. He died of lingering issues from injuries he got as a kitten about 4 months after Uly came to live with us. I have always been grateful they had each other.

End of Part One.