I didn't really do anything for my birthday this year, in part because I just wanted some downtime (rather than go to Pantheacon I stayed in a hotel and caught up on my reading, and later on went on a coffee shop crawl) and in part because my birthday gift this was a a road trip to Joshua Tree, California for a long weekend in March.  It's been a long time since I was last in the high desert and, even though it didn't seem like it at the time I was looking forward to both the road trip as …

1128 EST/EDT. Lyssa and I made it into Cleveland, Ohio around 0155 EST/EDT this morning (five minutes within projected arrival time!) The Ferrett is running a Doctor Who marathon today, and Lyssa and I made the long drive to Ohio from DC to join everyone. Some of us have been fans for a while, some of us are new to the series (like Ian, sitting on the floor across the room watching Rose from season 27).

First things first, but not necessarily in that order.. I left work early yesterday afternoon so that I could pick up my …