Thursday, November 2, 2000

by the Wunderland Toast Society

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• Wanted: Chrononauts Demo Rabbits!
• A3PViI Part 6: Vote for Ralph! (Unless...)
• GinohnNews: Hello to the Hallows
• Three new signatures in the Icehouse signatorium: Barber Pole, V3, and YKK
• Ginohn has a new hero, a new Hankism, and a transcript of more ouija typing
• I updated the Icehouse page (check out Liam's Gigantic List of Icehouse Links

As I mentioned last week, Kristin's grandmother finally merged with the infinite, after a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease, and although we've got way more going on than we can really deal with right now, Kristin decided to catch a ride with her mom and dad and attend the memorial service in South Carolina. With room in their Mercedes for just one more, Alison decided to tag along too, while I chose to stay behind and hold down the fort. Of course, the secret truth is that, much as I love the girls, I was thrilled by the prospect of 4 days with the house all alone to myself, so I happily helped them pack and bid them on their way.

It sounds like they had a fine trip. As funerals often are, it was something of a family reunion, and while such events are certainly somber, the family reunion aspect can be great fun. Besides, when someone reaches an age like 97, a funeral is not a tragedy but a celebration of that person's life, and Grandma Wunderlich got exactly the kind of send-off she would have wanted. Her soul has gone up the exit ramp to Heaven, while her body is being sent down to a lab for analysis. There, her brain tissue will be used by doctors and scientists working to conquer this terrible disease. Who knows, her own offspring might benefit from the research.

Anyway, Kristin enjoyed seeing her extended family again, catching up with their lives, introducing them to Alison, and showing off Chrononauts. Here we see Alison taking a photo of Kristin with her cousins, in a photo taken by Kristin's dad. (Don't worry, Alison didn't cut her hair, it's just pulled up front.)

Oddly enough, this all happened within a 90-minute drive of Asheville, NC, so Kristin and Alison combined this trip with a visit to our friends there, Erskin and Marcella. (They tried to hook up with Liam too, but were unsuccessful.) Kristin had already enlisted Erskin's help in updating the MadLabRabbits.com site in conjunction with the Chrononauts Demo Program which we are launching this week, and it was great to be able to do the final debugging of the system together in person, rather than over email. They also hashed out many of the details of the next project for the Mad Lab Rabbits site - The Icehouse Game Inventors Club - which will give all of those rabbits who play with pyramids a system to sort and organize and rank all the different games you can play with an Icehouse set. It was an excellent visit. Anyone want to help us promote Chrononauts this fall? We've got uncut decks to give away!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I spent the weekend living like a hermit and loving it. A weekend with the house to myself is the ideal vacation for me, and I found it both relaxing and productive. I picked up our second N64 game, Star Wars Ep.1 Racer, which was a fantastic bargain at $5.99 used, I started working on the next annual issue of the Geronimo Inquirer, and I had some breakthroughs on Secret Project 44-CC, which is coming along so nicely that we're talking about trying to release in time for Toy Fair next year. I also baked a surprise birthday cake for Kristin; her birthday fell two days before Origins this year, and of course we were so busy then that she got kind of gypped on the celebration... specifically, I still owed her a birthday cake. So, with some of my first free time in months and enough time alone to really make it a surprise, I staged a little party for her return, complete with an assortment of gifts. (She was particularly delighted with this incredible Mach 5 toyset, that came complete with Spridle and Chim-Chim figures that fit in the trunk.)

Then it was Halloween, and Kristin and I stayed home to give candy to the neighbors, while Alison went downtown to help her dad costume up a dozen or so underprivileged kids for a night of trick or treating (which was for some their first ever). The candy bar art this year featured the design of the new Jack-O-Lantern rubik's cube sculpture that Alison created, which for a change we'd set up in the window facing outward, so that it could be seen by the kids on the porch. Alison also created a digital template we can use from now on to create these designs, which is how we were able to use the design on the candy bar art even before putting the cubes together.

As for my own impending birthday, here's what I want: the defeat of GW Bush, with Nader getting at least 5% of the vote and the Democrats retaking (or at least tying for control of) the House, plus of course, passage of all six of this season's drug law reform initiatives, and a cake.

Go Green: Vote for Ralph! (Unless...)

PS: We're hosting another Pop-Tart Cafe at Philcon on Nov 18th - Mark your calendars!