My Town Monday: San Jose, CA
Greetings from San Jose, CA! I'm up here with four fellow class of 2k8ers (in alpha order): PJ Hoover (author of THE EMERALD TABLET), Stacy Nyikos (DRAGON WISHES), Courtney Scheinmel (MY SO-CALLED FAMILY) and Zu Vincent (THE HAPPY PLACE).
So far, we've chatted. Drunk wine. Chatted. Eaten Chinese for dinner. Chatted some more.
Don't worry, fellow 2k8ers, your SCANDALOUS secrets are safe with me!
We're on a panel at the California Library Association's Annual Conference. Which means that, tomorrow morning, I will be standing up and speaking for FIFTEEN whole minutes. Thank goodness I have a very cute power point presentation.
Totally ignoring the evening-before public-speaking jitters, I'm posting about a fun house to visit here in California's 3rd largest city.
Winchester Mystery House
Some interesting facts about the Winchester Mystery House:
Wealthy widow Sarah Winchester, heiress to the Winchester Rifle fortune, began building on this house in 1884.
Construction continued for THIRTY-EIGHT years.
There are 160 rooms in this Victorian mansion.
This house is bizarre, with features like staircases that lead to the ceiling.
The house was built without any master plan, so it's quite the hodge podge.
Building costs were about $5.5 million.
The Winchester House is HAUNTED by people who were killed by Winchester rifles.
You can have your birthday party here.
If you're interested in visiting:
525 S Winchester Blvd
San Jose, CA 95120
(408) 247-2101
Sorry if this isn't my best MTM post. But think of the pressure I'm under. Speaking engagement tomorrow. Holder of SCANDALOUS secrets. Please please cut me some slack. So... I'm off to get my beauty sleep. Think of me (and the rest of the 2k8 gang who are in San Jose) at about 10:30 am Pacific time. Cross your fingers that I don't fall over in a dead faint.
Now, go directly to Travis Erwin's blog. He's our big kahuna boss for My Town Mondays. He'll have a MTM post up himself plus a list of links to other Mondayers.
Sources; http://www.winchestermysteryhouse.com/
Wikipedia
Posts
I hope you have fun and that your powerpoint behaves !!!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your presentation - I know you are going to do great!
ReplyDeleteHave fun!!! And good luck. What an interesting place to visit. :)
ReplyDeleteDoes that mean I can't tell your scandalous secrets either?
ReplyDeleteUh, PJ, you absolutely canNOT tell my scandalous secrets. We pink-promised!
ReplyDeleteOh good luck with your talk. I'm sure you'll be fabulous.
ReplyDeleteI've been to the Winchester Mystery House and it was fascinating. And strange.
Knock 'em dead, Barrie.
ReplyDeleteThat was an AWESOME MTM post!!
ReplyDeleteIt looks like it's that time and you are just about to "go live"... I'm sure you will do great! Btw, very cool house and it would definitely be on my must-see list.
ReplyDeleteTHe chatting and wine are fine, but i'd rather have a disease than eat Chinese.
ReplyDeleteBet you didn't know I was a poet. Neither did I.
I love how you dropped in, 'You can have your birthday party there' right after mentioning it's haunted by a much of murdered (or accidentally shot) folks. :)
ReplyDeletei love places like that! good luck with the presentation! :)
ReplyDeleteJust remember not to read your PPT! Nothing ever so boring. I heard of one person who suggested all you ever need is one slide, too.
ReplyDeleteI need the slides to remind we what to say next. People are there to watch you, and listen to your personal comments, not watch you read your slide!
Good luck with your presentation, you'll be just fine. The post about the Winchester Hotel was interesting and now I'd like to learn a little more. Good writing on your part.
ReplyDeleteWow, Barrie, you've sure been doing a lot of traveling this year. Hope your panel goes well tomorrow. I toured the Winchester house years ago and it was loads of fun. Enjoy your trip.
ReplyDeleteLinda
I'd love to tour the house. How'd your power point presentation go?
ReplyDeleteI saw an episode of the Ghosthunters that featured the Winchester Mystery House. All those stairways and doors that lead to nowhere...fascinating, and more importantly, utterly creepy. I love it!
ReplyDeleteThe house looks gorgeous! I'm glad you had fun with everyone!
ReplyDeleteTeri
Great post with such a jammed schedule, and great, inspiring house, too!
ReplyDeleteI want to go to that Winchester house - it sort of reminds me of my book-writing: decades to build, no master plan, haunted by dead people ...
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the power point was powerful, because you are so funny.
Say hI to PJ and Stacey for me. You guys are becoming such experts.
All the best!
I love the new web design! The colors are wonderful, very teeny and tweeny.
ReplyDeleteI lived in SJ in a suburb called Campbell and visited the Winchester Mystery House several times. It was great fun. Good post!