Inching Along On Progress

How am I doing on getting anything done for Military History Fest?

Well, I've given up on anything except for order forms and related things for ordering letterpress business cards, and printing the new business cards.

Let's see how the weekend went:

Friday night

Out to get dinner and buy myself some insulated boots, shoes to leave at work, and shoes for Ron. Useful, but not progress.

Saturday morning

Ran errands, including getting groceries, a refill of the dog's prescription, and shopping for the Capricon Cafe. Meds and food necessary, Capricon shopping important, but not progress.

Saturday afternoon

Scanned metal type proofs, determined pricing structure. Progress!

Saturday evening 

(from about 4:55 on) - Taking Robin to get his knee put back together after he fell and whacked the edge/corner of a cinderblock.  Very necessary, but we'd all, especially Robin, have been happier without the excitement. We didn't get home until about 9:30 pm, so that was it for Saturday.

Sunday morning 

Checking Craig's List, as I do most mornings, and found a cabinet full of metal type in wooden cases (trays) for sale, listed Saturday night. E-mailed to see if it was still available, and if so, when can we come buy it, please? Then out to help Ron clean snow off and out from under the edges of cars in the driveway, as Robin is off shovelling duty for a while.

When I came back in, I had a response. Yes, the cabinet was available, call to make arrangements. Which I did. Ron finished up the last bit of shovelling, then off we went to McHenry, with a stop a Menard's for stretch wrap. From the pictures, I though the type trays were like the ones we have, which are 12-1/2" square. At first the salescritter didn't see the roll of 20" stretch wrap, but he found it. I briefly debated just grabbing a roll of 6" anyway, but decided wider would be easier.  Good thing . . . 

Turns out the cabinet is bigger than we realized. The trays are home-built, closer to 24" square. And some of them are rather heavy. We wrapped them in bundles of 3, and I'm glad I got the wide roll of stretch wrap. The seller, who we've bought two sets of rollers from, also threw in a bigger case of type, and tried to give us some quoins (clamps for locking up in the chase), but I insisted on paying him something. 

Home again, home again, jiggity jog. Ron unloaded the truck while I made lunch. Empty, the cabinet, is not too heavy, so it wasn't a problem for Ron by himself. The cabinet is an RCA Victor TV or radio cabinet, faux mahogany or cherry, I think, which would have matched my grandmother's dining room set. And it doesn't look too bad in our bedroom, because there's no room in the spare bedroom, especially with Robin sleeping in there while he can't use his loft (see above, re: knee). 

So, Sunday afternoon was productive in some ways, but not the progress I was intending.

Sunday afternoon

After lunch Ron headed off to the final Capricon meeting, and I finally worked on the order form! Yay! Progress! I was hoping for a half-page order form, but I realized I was going to need a full page for all the necessary information and room to write it down. 

After I got the draft of the order form done, I went upstairs to unwrap the type cases and put them in the cabinet (so Ron could use his bed!). I was insufferably sensible and took my iPad and keyboard, and updated our list of metal type with the new acquisitions - 18 trays in the cabinet, plus the extra large one that's not much use to us, which held 15 fonts. Several of them are ones we have (and will probably combine), or more sizes, plus a bunch of new stuff. Not necessarily ones I would have chosen, plus a bunch of spacing material, some rules (lines), and other odds and ends. Even if it wasn't progress on the intended Sunday project, it was a very good deal!

After unwrapping and making notes on the type, which really didn't take too long, I went back to working on the order form. I made a back side, which lists the base pricing and prices for additions like a second color, custom artwork/polymer plates, etc.  The Capricon meeting was a 3-hour+ slog, so Ron didn't get home until shortly before dinner was ready.

Sunday evening

After dinner, which we ate in the bedroom because Robin and Marmaduke were kind of spread all over the couch, I re-captured the chair by the computer and did some more work. I got a list of available type made, with the proofs, including at least references to the new stuff. I also got started on pages showing  all our available blocks. I got about a third of the way through importing the ones we have scanned proofs for (the rest need to have proofs printed). 

To sum up

Definite progress on the order form an related necessary information for ordering business cards. Alas, the governor didn't close the state offices on account of cold today so I could do some more.

No progress on printing new stuff for us. May or may not get to printing this week, as Robin is sleeping on an air mattress in the spare bedroom, because the current state of his knee is not compatible with sleeping in his loft.

Even if Robin doesn't isn't using crutches or a cane by Friday (highly doubtful), he will still not be mobile enough to help with Military History Fest setup. Pretty sure he'd prefer an undamaged knee and working, though. OTOH, a friend of ours may be available and willing to lend a hand Friday morning.