Wow. Busy times these days. I've been trying to hit 58 with my main in WoW and Candace and I have been having fun with our Shammies, but that's not what's been keeping me really busy. (Today's post is a brain-dump and some personal rambling, enjoy but don't expect enlightenment :) ) Jeff and I have been collaborating on some stuff that's not really ready for public discussion without ridicule. Looks like neither one of us is going to make it to GDC this year and that kind of delivered the kick in the ass to really move on a new project. So Jeff and I have some cool ideas and great progress around building simple games with a do-what-you-know attitude. Still, getting away to GDC has always been something that energizes and encourages me so that left me jonesing for a conference. I need to see some new places, meet some new faces and keep the daydream pipeline full. Jeff and I talked about Mobile Monday New York with SVG goodness. Candace and I almost did Podcast Academy. Both interesting options but neither worked out for us. In the meanwhile some hard working bloggers out around Vancouver have been organizing the third Northern Voice conference and un-organizing the MooseCamp unconference. They've offered Candace a travel bursary to help cover costs of getting there. That's a strong incentive to participate in something one is already in to. Being the friendly person she is, I've been invited to tag along. Last year I read a little about Moose Camp and thought it sounded like a pretty cool chance to get out, see BC and talk to some other bloggers who are probably more active than me. I really wouldn't have expected I could make it out there this year but here I am making plans. I'm excited to talk to some more avid bloggers than me. I try not to talk about blogging in my blog but I guess that any personal writing (which blogging inevitably is) has to include pieces of the author and a piece of that is blogging. I'm part of the crowd and it helps everyone when we share experiences. Since Candace just found out a few days ago, we had to rush to get plane tickets & hotel. I kind of like the sort of pressure I'm under when it's something I know how to do, so it was exciting yesterday finding a hotel that's near the bus route (Route 44 - UBC/Downtown - PDF) and far enough from the stadiums (have a look at the hotel and the P). The short time frame meant flight prices go up daily but I think we did all right flying from Detroit Metro to Vancouver. Unfortunately, flying from Detroit Metro means we're crossing the increasingly important Canada/US border. This leads to the next part of my story... Crossing from Canada in to the US by air now requires a valid passport. This is a change from the historically very friendly relationship shared across this border. What ever the subtext is, I'm not in a position to make a statement, I just want to go to my conference. And my passport is expired. So last night, after the hotel & flight rush, I had to zip across the city to see my friend who can be a guarantor for my passport application. Luckily I'd already got the photos and the rest of the hoops jumped through a couple months ago. Then this morning I realized that even the fastest turn-around the passport office can do is ten working days if you apply in person. Well actually I knew that but realized that the conference is about nine working days from today. So off I went to plead for expedited service. It's actually not hard to get express service if you bring your travel documents. On my way in to the office I ran in to my cousin Lilly. She's the most productive person I know I'm related to. She DJ's, she cleans houses, she runs a day care, she does construction on her own home, when she needs something done, she does it. I've always had a DIY gene, but she's a level beyond me. She'd just picked up her passport so she can make a trip to Vienna. She and I went and got a number for me at the office & we sat and caught up for an hour or so over coffee. After that I went up and checked the numbers, still another hour to go. I went for a sub for lunch, gabbed on the phone for a bit and before you know it, I was in with only ten minutes waiting in the actual passport office. Nice. The agent who handled mine reminded me that I needed two references (unrelated to me) for my application and told me I could pick it up a couple days early with a $30 express fee. Funny, I went over the application ten times and put sticky notes on it but somehow I still had to have someone give it a once-over before it was done. I'm glad all that's done with and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it'll be there on the 20th when I go to get it. Until then, anybody got ideas for what to do with a couple extra days in Vancouver?