The buffista-ma is indeed a powerful thing. I am honored to be briefly touched by its benevolence.

Thanks for the kind words & cutie-cute baby pics!

Also: Hey, Nilly!

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The LOST party was a disaster. Absolute. Disaster.

Maya agreed that it was the last fan event we'll do.

However, the fans were UNBELIEVABLY gracious about it, like, holy butt they were awesome. Kat arrived in a gorgeous swingy party dress with pink ribbons and gave me a red velvet cupcake. The World's Hottest Security Team consoled me. Raised 5K for the Children's Defense Fund.

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The LOST party was a disaster. Absolute. Disaster.

Why? What happened?

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Oh, Allyson, I'm sorry.

If you can bear to talk about it, what all happened to make it a disaster?

And at least you got some money for charity, which no doubt will be much appreciated.

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However, the fans were UNBELIEVABLY gracious about it, like, holy butt they were awesome. Kat arrived in a gorgeous swingy party dress with pink ribbons and gave me a red velvet cupcake. The World's Hottest Security Team consoled me. Raised 5K for the Children's Defense Fund.

This is all good. What happened disaster-wise, Allyson?

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Maya planned the party around JJ's schedule, but he didn't come, nor did Exec Prod Damon Lindelof. We had a problem with the bus that was to carry the fans from the hotel to the venue. It got hijacked by another group from the hotel who thought the bus was for them, and so our group was stranded for almost an hour while another bus had to be sent for them.

We had no main cast at all, and only about 70 attendees, so I think Maya went out-of-pocket by about a grand.

Bryan Burk (an exec prod) at LOST came and paid for the bars, because he's just decent that way, so the fans ended up spending their drinking money on the raffle/auction, which was awesome, and saved us some embarassment.

ETA: Also, I'm covered in bruises. Big, nast, purple bruises all over my legs.

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Maya planned the party around JJ's schedule, but he didn't come, nor did Exec Prod Damon Lindelof.

How disappointing about JJ, Lindelof and the main cast (and how annoying about the bus).

Poor Maya--that's not right. Sheeesh. Brian Burk sounds like a class act, as do the fans. Are the bruises from setting up and tearing down?

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Ouch, Allyson. It sounds like a good time could have been had by fans who were willing to go with the flow, though (oh oh oh!), and it sounds like they were, so that's something, anyway... Still, sorry.

Stephanie, those pictures are so cute!

I have now AIDS Walked. I think the key factor is not the 6 miles, but the 6 hours, once all the standing around and the not-walking-very-fast and everything are taken into account. My feets are tired.

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I had an interesting weekend. It actually started last weekend, when I went to see the new lodge that has been built on top of Mt. Magazine, the highest point in Arkansas and for about 400 miles around.

The lodge is very new and fancy, has a conference center, a restaurant, an indoor swimming pool, hot tubs, kiddie pool, and about 65 rooms that all have balconies with valley views. Very nice. There are also a dozen or so cabins to rent. I took pictures, the link is below.

Mt. Magazine is a state park, and when I stopped at the visitor center I found out that they were hosting a bunch of educational programs the following Saturday (the 20th).

So I went back yesterday, mostly for the hang glider demonstration. Pictures are here [link]

(I uploaded the videos last, so they are at the front of the thumbnails. The better stills of the hang gliders are on the later pages.)

Turned out there were several other programs scheduled that looked interesting, so I planned to stay through the evening and drive home late.

Had a good time watching the hang gliders, and didn't get too sunburnt. Left after a couple of hours to go to the visitor's center for a program on the local snakes (my interest was mostly in how to spot them, recognize them, and avoid them).

It was a good program. The link above has a link to the pictures I took.

When the snake program was over I had a few hours to kill before the bat program and the astronomy program, and it was almost dinner time.

The restaurant in the new lodge is pretty fancy--and pretty expensive. I didn't feel like paying $15 or so for the buffet, or more for a la carte, so I drove down the mountain to Paris, Arkansas (pop. about 4000), stopped at the grocery store for apples, carrots, and a couple of deli sandwiches, and went to the town square to eat. I was trying out the new local free wifi hotspot when a guy rolled up on a Segway: [link]

I hadn't realized that Segway had a fat-tire version, but they do: [link] Turns out the local dealer is in Russellville, of all places. I've seen the city model (once) in Fort Smith, which was startling enough, but I really boggled to see one in Logan County!

I left Paris about 7 p.m. and drove back up the mountain. I stopped in at the big field where the astronomy program was going to be held later, thinking I'd scout the road and parking while it was still daylight. There were people already there and starting to set up their 'scopes, so I stopped to say hello. As I parked, something went wrong--the gearshift went wobbly in my hand. What the....?!!!

I pulled the boot up from the gearshift and felt around inside. The link at the bottom had separated. I was 15 miles from a mechanic, 60 miles from home, it was Saturday evening and almost sunset. Not dire, but not good.

Pulling two panels and four screws let me pull up the console around the gearshift. Turns out the joint was not the expected clevis, but a metal ball that fit into a PLASTIC socket, and the plastic had come apart. On the one hand, I faulted the design, because hey! it broke! but on the other hand, it DID last 150,000 miles.

A simple clevis with a bolt and a cotter pin would have been easy to fix. This was a bit trickier.

I scrounged some wire and some zip-ties from the astronomers and a state park ranger, and jury-rigged a repair. Pictures here [link] and here [link]

I gingerly drove home. One concern was (of course) that the repair would fail, but a bigger worry was that the state police have dedicated this weekend to a "Click It or Ticket" campaign, and with the center console removed I couldn't use the shoulder straps--the car has those irritating "automatic" powered (continued...)

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( continues...) shoulder straps with the reels in the center.

So I missed the bat program and the astronomy program, but I was pretty happy to get home safely. Now I just hope that finding and installing a replacement gearshift link isn't too expensive. But that's tomorrow's problem....

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