Baa, baa, baa

[sraun]

gryphons_lair is doing the 'Five Things You Associate With Me' meme - she picked these for me:

Minn-SF

I'm going to assume this is Minn-StF, one of the common abbreviations for the Minnesota Science-Fiction Society. There is no standard abbreviation - other common ones are MN-STF, Minn-stf, MN-stf, etc.

This is my home science-fiction club. I've been a member since the fall of 1981, and an active member for the vast majority of that time. We have the concept of member (you've signed in at one meeting, you're a member for life) and voting member (you've signed in at seven meetings in the current voting year, very roughly 1 April - 31 March). I haven't missed being a voting member since I became a member. I'm currently a member of the Board of Directors and Einblatt Editor; I have been President, and Vice President / Data Processing, and Membership Secretary.

We sponsor Minicon. I've done all sorts of things for Minicon - most of the Operations positions, Sales, Hotel Liaison, Exec, general volunteer. Minicon was the first science-fiction convention I ever attended (in 1979), and I haven't missed one since.

Puppy Rescue

This can be a soap-box issue - I see the write-up is turning into a little bit of a rant.

I'm a dog person. I currently have three - two full-blood Shih Tzu's, one half-Shih Tzu/half unknown terrier. They are the 5th through 7th dogs I've owned since I bought my house - the first four were all full-blood Shih Tzu's. Every one of those seven dogs was a rescue animal by some definition. I strongly support getting your dog from the local humane society or other animal rescue group. I strongly support spay/neuter. Yes, if you want a puppy with a predictable personality and minimal nurture-based quirks, go ahead and buy one from a responsible breeder - but never from a pet store, and check your breeder's references. If you're willing to deal with quirks, please investigate the rescue efforts!

Ben came from the local humane society. Chela came from one of the local no-kill efforts - she was a puppy-mill mom. Mork, Macguyver & Gizmo came from the local Shih Tzu breed rescue. Precious came from freecycle, and was a former puppy-mill mom. Josie came from a different local no-kill effort.

Chocolate fondue

Chocolate fondue - there is nothing that I know of that has an egoboo/work ratio better than chocolate fondue. As long as you have a double-boiler, it's nearly trivial to make - two 12 oz. packages of chocolate chips (I use one semi-sweet, one milk, and pick something that's a grade or two up from Nestle's) and 8-16 oz. of heavy whipping cream - combine in the double-boiler, heat, stirring occasionally, until smooth. You can always (in my experience) get volunteers to cut up the stuff that's going to be dipped in it. And it always goes over well at parties!

Mongolian barbecue

Khan's Mongolian Barbecue - there are two of them in the Twin Cities. Noisy, all you can eat, lots of meat, lots of veggies, build your own dish - what's not to love? Fill a bowl with your choice of ingredients, add some sauces, give it to the guys running the ... grill?, tell them yes or no to peanuts, they cook it up individually while you watch, and then give it to you for you to take to your table. It's a relatively common destination for a group from a fannish get-together. In general, lunch or 'done before 7pm' is better - the noise level isn't as bad then.

Uncle Hugo's

Currently the oldest SF Specialty Bookstore in the United States, one of my two embarrassment of riches (Dreamhaven is the other). Two of the top SF bookstores in the country, and they're both within two miles of my house! I'll make it to at least one of them once a month, frequently both. Elizabeth is my favorite pusher - unfortunately, since she moved to Uncle Hugo's, her schedule makes it harder for me to see her.


If you want to play along, reply here asking for five things, and then post them in your LJ.

Comments

[xinef.livejournal.com]

Khan's Mongolian Barbecue sounds like Fire and Ice which we went to in Boston a couple of weeks ago. Great fun and good food.

[gryphons-lair.livejournal.com]

Um, why do you abbreviate Minnesota Science-Fiction Society Minn-STF? What's the T for?

I didn't realize Mac was a rescue, too. I thought you got him direct from the breeder. Or did the breeder use the rescue organization to find a home for him?

[sraun]

Re: the T in Minn-StF

Blame it on Hugo Gernsback - he originally titled the genre scientifiction, and the pre-incorporation name was Minnesota Scientifiction Society. The only remnant of that name is the T in the abbreviation.

How I got Mac:

The local Shih Tzu breed rescue is handled by one of the local breeders - Mei San Shih Tzu. I found her through the AKC when I was specifically looking for a Shih Tzu rescue. She had Mork - nice, playful, all black, might have kidney disease. I took him. Turns out he did have kidney disease fairly badly, he died within a year. When I told her about it, she said she would have just kept him herself if she'd known it was that bad, and offered to trade me. I told her no, we'd grown attached, and there were no guarantees - but if she felt really strongly about it, she could give me a replacement when he died.

When he did die, she didn't have any rescues available, but she did have one of her studs. However, she was about to have shoulder surgery, and was under doctor's orders to cut back on her breeding. So she offered Sir Winsalot, one of her prize-winning studs, as my replacement - with the proviso that she reserved stud rights. I was good with that, and assumed (correctly) that she'd want to drop him off. In the six weeks between when we came to this arrangement and when she was able to make the run from Afton to Minneapolis, she did have a rescue come available - that was Gizmo. He was going to be difficult to place - he was seven years old, and had been given up because his owner's had a baby, and Gizmo started leaving soft, squishy, smelly presents next to the crib. That wasn't going to be a problem for me - so I ended up with both Sir Winsalot (called Sir for short) and Gizmo. I renamed Sir to Macguyver, Mac for short, because he could still make little Gizmos.

So, I consider Mac to be a rescue - I didn't pay for him, and I got him from someone who was having to give him up for reasons not entirely under their control.