A Curious Statistical Anomaly

I spent a good chunk of my time today working with a WordPress Plugin to try to get a map of all the restaurants in the vicinity of the Capclave convention hotel.

After hours of work, Hyperion and I managed to get the maps to show. The problem is that it was one map per restaurant. Not good… back to the drawing board. Searching …searching….searching…reading….searching…. you get the idea.

Anyway finally found another plugin that looks like it will easily do multiple items on one map but I’d have to enter all the data again and it has to already be geocoded when it’s entered because it doesn’t do it automatically like the first one did — which is why it was the first one I tried.

Okay, more fiddling and it looks like we can export the database to a file and then import to the new one once we know what it required and in what order — then I’m back in business.

The frustrating part is I have to enter the rest of the restaurant data into the program we’re not going to use to get the geocode for the one we are going to use. That’s another two pages single spaced of restaurants (names, addresses, telephone, number, types of cuisine, average cost of a meal).

I know I’m complaining but really this hasn’t been a wasted day. I’ve learned a lot about geo codes, maps, mapping plugins, and a couple of programming tips. I’m also thinking it’s about time I learned a bit more so I could actually change a program that ALMOST does what I want to doing EXACTLY what I want. (Yeah, I’ll add that to my TODO list somewhere around item 4,789,968,365. That’s it … I just have to live forever if I’m even going to make a dent in this list.)

Meanwhile, if any reader has tackled trying to do a map of multiple items to display on a WordPress page using your own list of places–especially with a roll-over that will list the restaurant when you are over the little marker — let me know what you used.

Hyperion and I only have like a couple of days to get this up and running on the website. Time is getting short and suggestions are welcome — though that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll do more than listen and bang my head on the keyboard for a while for not thinking of whatever myself.

It seems like today I was busy from the time I got up until and including now — I had a huge TODO list and barely made a dent in it. (Guess it didn’t help having insomnia strike again and again.)

We’re coming up on Capclave which will be from October 16 to 18th in Rockville, Maryland. SFRevu is having a sales table in the dealers’ room. It’s a great small convention focusing on short fiction. This year the Guests of Honor are Harry Turtledove and Sheila Williams.

The Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA) is activating WSFA Press to publish a limited edition book, Reincarnations by Harry Turtledove with Introduction and notes by Sheila Williams. The book will be for sale at Capclave and pre-orders are being taken at the WSFA Press website.

I’m on the WSFA Press publications committee, vice chair of this year’s Capclave, and Editor of SFRevu, Gumshoe Review, and TechRevu.

You can imagine just how busy that all keeps me — and it’s also severely impacting my knitting time. I’ve got Einstein mittens to finish fine tuning, two bears to finish, not to mention the sweaters (3 in various stages of knittitude), and socks (one project in just about every place I might light for an few minutes).

I need a hug. Guess I’ll go find Hyperion. (Anyone get the reference?)C

Just got back home from the WSFA Meeting. Everything is on track for Capclave which is October 16-18. Check the webpage for details.

The WSFA Small Press Award for Short Fiction will also be award at a ceremony during Capclave. Voting has closed and the award has been ordered, certificates printed, and we’re ready for the ceremony.

Big sigh of relief that things are still on track. If you’re going to be in the Washington, DC area during Capclave and you enjoy science fiction and fantasy — consider checking it out.

Today was work, work, work — getting books entered, reading for reviews, taking notes and getting set for a WSFA (Washington Science Fiction Association) Meeting in DC. For the next six month or so the club is meeting in DC … usually we meet in Virginia for the first Friday of the month, and Maryland for the third Friday.

If you live in the DC, northern VA, Maryland area and love science fiction and fantasy you should check out WSFA. You can view their website at www.wsfa.org. There’s some great people, lots of nice geeky (SF, fantasy, science, technology, and social) discussions after the short business meeting.

WSFA puts on a yearly convention called Capclave. Capclave is usually held in October. This year it will 16-18 October 2009.
Guests of Honor will be Harry Turtledove as Author Guest of Honor and Sheila Williams as Editor Guest of Honor. The convention will be held at the Hilton Washington DC/Rockville, Executive Meeting Center, 1750 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.

WSFA also presents the WSFA Small Press Award at a short ceremony during the convention. This is the club’s third year giving out this award and the number of nominations are growing each year. The award honors the work of small presses and the short story (under 17,500 words).

Check out the websites to learn more about WSFA and their activities. I enjoy the people, the discussions, and the chance to get involved in the community of fans.

[Besides I needed to do a post tonight and thought I’d talk about a group that I give a lot of my time to. I’m Capclave chairperson for 2010, one of the two webmasters, and the current WSFA Small Press Award Administrator.]
So if you live in the area, come to a meeting and check us out.