Of Adrenalin Rushes, Oakland Trips, and Birthdays

Nearly two weeks ago was my birthday, and it was great. The day after I flew off to Oakland to visit with Carl, the Horde, and game at Big Bad Con. I had a blast and learned a few lessons that I am really glad I got refreshers on, and some that I really wished I didn't have to have refreshers on, but they were good.

Yesterday, I had quite the adrenalin rush. The church had rented a one-armed lift, a cherry picker with a basket. It was good to 40 feet straight up in the air. We started by plugging some places in the roof of the church at about 30+ feet in the air, and getting really antsy; but then Gary took it up into a tree with an electric chainsaw, in the rain.

I followed suit and found that it was a lot easier to do than I thought it would be, especially once I got down to actually sawing the limbs. The work itself made a far better focus than the height, and so the fear melted away in the details of the work. Jet had a blast sanding and spray painting safety rails for a ramp. John did a lot of work clearing out gutters. It was a good morning, we got a lot done, and I've been recovering for most of the rest of the weekend. But I wanted to write up at least part of my Bay Area trip. I think, tonight, I want to get to everything but the games during Big Bad Con, and detail the games, themselves, in my usual way...

( My Birthday, getting to Oakland, Cory Doctrow's book signing, and the day spent going to Santa Cruz and back via Los Altos. )