I offered, and Nilly graciously relieved me of the task, to host a slacker secret santa this year if there is interest. I think if there are at least 5 to 10 people interested it would be worth doing. If you could just stop in to Bureacracy and let us know if there is interest, that would be great!

Re: the above. Judging by emails I've gotten today, there's some confusion as to whether latecomers can still get in on the gift exchange.

I'm happy to continue matching names. OTOH, if Nilly wants to do a separate second round of name-matching, the more people there are the easier it'll be for her to do so.

I've decided to just declare an arbitrary cutoff and pass any more names on to Nilly. So... Nilly and/or Sophia, please email me so that we can pool our collection of latecomers and make sure no-one gets missed. Thanks!

I'm so pleased to announce that Darling Violetta will be our musical entertainment at The Wolfram & Hart Annual Revue. We'll also have deejayed dancing through the night as well as a surprise or two.

DV are the band who wrote and performed the theme song for Angel. Check out their site to hear more.

Hope you can come!

If anyone wants a pair (or two) or wrist sweatbands, e-me and they're yours. (They're swag from the OC party, but they don't say OC or Fox anywhere on them. I have no use for them myself, but it seems a shame to throw them out.)

Slacker Secret Santa: All of you who want to exchange presents with other Buffistas but haven't mailed Dani about it yet, this is your chance!

Please send your info (board name and snail-mail address) to my profile address until the 1st of December. By then, I'll match you up to pairs of givers and recipients, and let you know which is who.

Dani has already sent me the details of the people who slacked in mailing her, so even if you don't get a notification from her, nobody is missing.

Anyone who makes model ships? I have a bunch of tools (rigging tool, hull sanders, etc) and also a 1:100 model, never touched, of the HMS Victory. Hate to give them to my secret santa-ee Goodwill if there's an interested Buffista.

Edit: Taken!

For Bay Areaistas, especially SF/Mid-Peninsula

I'm going to try and kidnap ms. askye Friday evening, and talk her into going down to Palo Alto with me; my friend Meg Waite Clayton is having a champagne book launch for her wonderful novel, The Language of Light. Dinner may well follow or precede. The event will be held at the Borders store on E. University Avenue.

If anyone between the radius of SF and Palo Alto would like to go, I'll be happy to swing by and pick them up. Meg will read, there will be champagne, a good time will be had by all.

Let me know at sf_deb@yahoo.com

Jobma for DH, please. he is at the building waitng for the interview now....

I've already sent out the big email to Bay Area locals, but in case there are out of towners who want to come up, or in case I've missed anyone, here's the formal invite and notification:

TWO BIG BOOK LAUNCH EVENTS!

I want to invite you all to participate in the following events, to celebrate the release of "The Weaver and the Factory Maid" (St. Martin's Minotaur). This is the first book in my new series, "Murder, Music and Ghosts".

EVENT #1:

An afternoon with Tad Williams and Deborah Grabien

Borders
316 W. El Camino Real
Sunnyvale, CA 94087
Saturday, 6 December 2003 at 3:00 pm

EVENT #2:

The official series launch party!

M is for Mystery
86 East Third Avenue
San Mateo, CA 94401
Sunday, 7 December 2003, at 1:00 PM
Reading, Q&A, Signings, champagne and hors d'ouvres

We'd love to see you at either - or both - of these events. An RSVP isn't necessary, although one is always useful (especially in knowing how many cases of champagne to stock!). If you'd like to attend and need a ride, email me and we'll see about arranging something. If you'd like further details about these two events, email me and I'll fill you in.

Hope to see you there!