1. Leave a comment, saying you want to be interviewed.
2. I will respond; I'll ask you five questions.
3. You'll update your website with my five questions, and your five answers.
4. You'll include this explanation.
5. You'll ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed.

My questions are from Heather of gravitylens.org. Her questions and her answers are archived on her site as well.

1. You get one book and one CD on your desert island. What would you choose?

I'll take Steely Dan's The Royal Scam. It was either that or Aja. I know, there's a massive contingent of you who are surprised that I didn't pick Jonatha Brooke's Plumb, but that's a definite third-place finisher. If I'm stuck on a desert island, I'm going to be pissed, and I want snarky bitter music to go along with it. Aja is the better album of the two, but Royal Scam would more suit my mood.

Thanks to Andrew for pointing out that I forgot to answer the other half of this question...

Complete & Collected Works of Jane Austen. I assume such a book exists. It'll do quite nicely. It's either that or I want the complete & collected works of David Brin.

2. How's that pile of knitting coming?

Actually, I don't knit much in summer. It doesn't make much sense, since it's the same temperature in the house year-round, but at the end of spring, I begin to lose the driving urge to knit that I have in wintertime. The grey sweater I started last fall is about half done right now. The pattern is brain-dead simple, and I've thought about bringing it to 'con to work on during the brain-dead times.

My other halted project is a scarf for a friend, and I'm slowly admitting to myself that I probably need to undo my work so far and pick a simpler pattern. It's just proving to be a bit too much for me. I have a beautiful, beautiful yarn, and I should probably just do something simple to show it off instead of trying to gild the lily. Plus, it makes it more likely that I'll finish the project before 2005.

I wanted to do a new rasta hat for 'con. It isn't going to happen. Graphics work took priority.

3. You play mother hen to the techops geeks at DragonCon. Why?

When you guys first invited me to work 'con, I didn't know my ass from an XLR cable, and I didn't know my way around the hotel. The first time I managed to navigate from Centennial to Harris and looked in the Box Of Cables, I had the sinking realization that I was in way, way over my head. I think it was Jessica who said, "Well, we need someone to feed the geeks at 'con. You do that here in Huntsville. Why not there at 'con?"

I still have issues with the job sometimes, mostly because there's a bit of cult of personality on tech staff that says 'you are what you know how to fix.' Quite frankly, if something blows up, I can't fix it. It's easy to translate that into a feeling of inferiority.

The best part of doing what I do is that it gives me an excuse to talk one-to-one with virtually every person on tech staff. The first year that Jeff and I worked 'con, we didn't know anyone on staff except for the Huntsville crew (which was much smaller then). We would show up for the pre-con gatherings at Thomas' house and just not know who to talk to. Everyone else already knew each other, and I remember distinctly feeling like an outsider. After 'con, that wasn't an issue any more; we were part of 'the group,' and we ... belonged.

I remember what it was like, and that makes it easier to approach people who are new to tech staff. Sometimes it's as simple as, "I'm Amy. This is my spouse. You need to know who Thomas, Suzan, and Jody are." (Pointing ensues.) "He runs the whole shebang, she runs the equipment room, and he's the night manager for Centennial. If you don't know what to do, or where to go, one of these people is very likely to know. If you don't have a specific job, you should go either to the main techops office or to Harris, and you'll undoubtedly get drafted for something."

Short version: I remember what it was like to be the newbie.

4. Favorite late-night snackage?

Phish Food! It and Jamoca Almond Fudge are the two best ice cream flavors, ever.

Though, strangely, I've had this bizarre craving this past week for toasted peanut butter sandwiches. Toast the bread, slather on the peanut butter while the toast is still warm. I'm thinking maybe I just haven't gotten enough protein lately.

5. It's 2am. You have code you really want to finish RIGHT NOW. What do you drink to stay awake?

I know it's dull, for all you drinkers of Red Bull, but my answer's just going to have to be mundane: anything with over 0.00002 micrograms of caffeine does the trick. Even just a single soda will do it. I've never had any of the uber-caffeinated energy drinks, mostly because I'm not sure I want to see what that much caffeine will do to me.

There are a few of you who will remember my taking a caffeine shooter a couple of years ago at dragon*con. That night, I learned what a sensitivity to caffeine really meant. Within thirty minutes I was so wired that I couldn't sit still at a midnight screening + live-action performance of Rocky Horror. I had to get up and pace the hotel...and I paced until six a.m., when I decided that I absolutely had to get some sleep.

I went back to our hotel room, lay down in bed, and shut my eyes. No sleep. I basically levitated quietly for two hours, gave up, and got up.

I might actually try that caffeine shooter again at another 'con, but I certainly wouldn't take it anytime after eight p.m.