Yesterday I went to our local Walgreen's to replenish our supply of Arizona Diet Green Tea. I bought ten 23 oz cans from the store cooler and got 10 one gallon jugs from the shelf. I've only been drinking the canned tea since yesterday and I noted, during my last trip to the 'fridge, that I am drinking the second to the last can now. Subtracting 46 ounces (plus about 10 that were left over un-drunk from last night's last can and poured out) from 230, I've had 174 ounces in just under 24 hours. A quick check on Google tells me there are 128 ounces in a gallon.
I wonder if drinking over a gallon of Arizona Diet Green Tea a day is bad for me? I may donate my corpse to science for the answer.
Oh, so I go to the website to put in a link for Arizona Diet Green Tea and they've done a huge site makeover. It's pretty. It's flashy (and perhaps made so with Flash, so excuse the pun). There's a lovely little butterfly that follows my cursor around, flapping its wings and even casting an animated shadow. When I moved the cursor up to the top of the page to click a tab, there was a "clinking" sound effect, like glass bottles of tea clanking together, as it "hit" the edge of the page. So I can't put a link to the Diet Green Tea like I used to do, but here's the site if you want to peek: http://drinkarizona.com/
By the way, here's also music on the site... I hate music on websites for the most part, but this music is cool and I'm leaving the tab open so I can hear the songs - right now they're playing Ginger Rose, "Charlie Brown". There's a player at the bottom of the page with a pop up list of songs. You can turn the music off from there.
OOH! There's a decaf version of my tea - has a black label. The regular version has 15mg. per 8 oz of tea, (that's about half of what's in a cup of regular tea, and about a quarter of what's in a cup of regular coffee). Still, after drinking a gallon, I'm surprised I'm not buzzing around like Apu in that episode of the Simpsons where he thought he was a hummingbird...
I had to disable the pop up blocker for the site to get to the storefront - unfortunately they don't have the decaf on sale by bottle or can, just concentrate. I did discover that there are 11 oz cans of the caffeinated diet green tea available, though.
Ok, enough about the tea.
I brought back my bangs - now I look like the avatar picture I use on a lot of sites and in my AW profile again. By the way, that picture is a cropped and de-colorized wedding photo.
I figure with Denvention coming up maybe it'll help people recognize me. I'll be giving away "Do You Know Dawno?" and "I Know Dawno!" badge ribbons. Find me if you want one.
Still looking for more ideas on how to keep the donations coming in to the Author Advocate Defense Fund.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
Stay Safe Son
Woke up at 4:15 this morning to take my son to the airport for the first leg of his journey back overseas. We got to the airport at 5 and I parked and walked into the terminal with my son, expecting to part with him at the security line. The check in line was very long, but as it turned out, it was because nobody was mentioning the shorter one for my son's airline. I figured it out and he walked over to the shorter line. In about 10 seconds an attendant from the airline came up to him and took him out of line directly to a kiosk, got his pass for him and took us up to the counter where she proceeded to get my son's girlfriend and I passes to go back to the boarding area. Wow! We got an extra hour with him before he boarded the plane.
I tried to get some pictures of him as he was boarding, but they were blurry - I think I had the camera on the wrong setting. Yep, it was set to "close up" - dang. Here's the best of the lot:
I tried to get some pictures of him as he was boarding, but they were blurry - I think I had the camera on the wrong setting. Yep, it was set to "close up" - dang. Here's the best of the lot:
"Smile son!" I said. The kid is such a goofball. I kept my composure - probably wouldn't have if his girlfriend hadn't been there, though. Now it's 5 or 6 more months until he's back. God bless and watch over you, dear - and the same to all the sons and daughters headed over and still there, too.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Thank You, Charles Stross!
Charlie Stross, SF author of The Atrocity Archives, The Jennifer Morgue, Singularity Sky, Halting State, Accelerando, the just released Saturn's Children (and many more), has posted about the Author Advocate Defense fund in his blog today and the fund got a nice run of donations, it's over $1k now. If you can't donate, please post about the fund, because others will donate if they hear about it from someone they trust.
Some good info on how to post about the fund are in this post on Absolute Write by my blogging forum co-moderator L M Ashton - just skip the parts about joining the blog carnival (or not - join AW and join the carnival!) - there's advice about what to say, links to information about the cause and code for a donation button, all in the post. (Thank you again, Laurie, for taking the time to do the post and organize the carnival)
A bit of personal stuff...
Tomorrow is my son's last day home. Three weeks seems like a nice, long time for a vacation from work, but when the job you have to go back to is soldiering in Iraq for 5 or 6 more months, it's way too short. My dad came up from L.A. to visit earlier this week and we had two lovely days with him. We shopped and ate out and just sat around and talked, it was wonderful. My son has caught up with friends, visited Las Vegas, and also taken care of some important stuff he could only do in person here, so I think he'll go back satisfied that it was a good visit.
Otherwhere on the web...
I hope you're all watching Dr. Horrible's Musical Blog. Act II is up now, Act III goes up the 19th. The FAQ's on the Master Plan page are a good read for the background to how the whole thing was conceived.
Some good info on how to post about the fund are in this post on Absolute Write by my blogging forum co-moderator L M Ashton - just skip the parts about joining the blog carnival (or not - join AW and join the carnival!) - there's advice about what to say, links to information about the cause and code for a donation button, all in the post. (Thank you again, Laurie, for taking the time to do the post and organize the carnival)
A bit of personal stuff...
Tomorrow is my son's last day home. Three weeks seems like a nice, long time for a vacation from work, but when the job you have to go back to is soldiering in Iraq for 5 or 6 more months, it's way too short. My dad came up from L.A. to visit earlier this week and we had two lovely days with him. We shopped and ate out and just sat around and talked, it was wonderful. My son has caught up with friends, visited Las Vegas, and also taken care of some important stuff he could only do in person here, so I think he'll go back satisfied that it was a good visit.
Otherwhere on the web...
I hope you're all watching Dr. Horrible's Musical Blog. Act II is up now, Act III goes up the 19th. The FAQ's on the Master Plan page are a good read for the background to how the whole thing was conceived.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Back from Vacation in Vegas Update to Author Advocate Defense Fund News
Just got home yesterday from Las Vegas with my son, his girlfriend and my husband. Stayed at the Venetian, which is beautiful. Two things will keep me from going back, the constant perfuming of the hallways on the way to the room, and the distance from the monorail. I prefer taking the monorail whenever possible to get to other hotels, and from the Venetian you have a long walk out, down the strip and then through Harrah's to get to the station.
We visited the Hilton to have a final lunch at Quark's and ride the Star Trek: The Experience ride (we just did the Klingon Encounter one) before it all closes down in September. On the way home (hubby and I drove) we stopped and bought a couple bottles of Klingon Blood Wine and a case of Romulan Ale.
We went to Zumanity on Friday night and had dinner at Benihana's on Saturday. Don't ask me about the gambling - I didn't come home ahead like last year. I did stay within my gambling budget, but only brought home a little of it. I did hit two pretty big jackpots Friday night and Saturday morning - just gambled with it later and said "bye bye".
While I was gone Neil Gaiman and John Scalzi posted about the Author Advocate Defense Fund. The traffic to the page did take a nice uptick. Unfortunately the Pay Pal script that had been working just fine up to the time I left stopped working. I'm not sure if it's something with Googlepages not liking the script, or what, but when I got back I had some emails saying people had tried the button and it didn't link to anywhere. I've updated the page and will use different coding for the link if it breaks again. There's always the button in the sidebar of this blog, too, if you just happen to be hanging out and decide to help.
A couple posts ago someone suggested starting a blog tour and now there's one going on with the Absolute Write bloggers. Thank you L M Ashton! Now, go give the bloggers some link love, and fund tour in your blog, too!
We visited the Hilton to have a final lunch at Quark's and ride the Star Trek: The Experience ride (we just did the Klingon Encounter one) before it all closes down in September. On the way home (hubby and I drove) we stopped and bought a couple bottles of Klingon Blood Wine and a case of Romulan Ale.
We went to Zumanity on Friday night and had dinner at Benihana's on Saturday. Don't ask me about the gambling - I didn't come home ahead like last year. I did stay within my gambling budget, but only brought home a little of it. I did hit two pretty big jackpots Friday night and Saturday morning - just gambled with it later and said "bye bye".
While I was gone Neil Gaiman and John Scalzi posted about the Author Advocate Defense Fund. The traffic to the page did take a nice uptick. Unfortunately the Pay Pal script that had been working just fine up to the time I left stopped working. I'm not sure if it's something with Googlepages not liking the script, or what, but when I got back I had some emails saying people had tried the button and it didn't link to anywhere. I've updated the page and will use different coding for the link if it breaks again. There's always the button in the sidebar of this blog, too, if you just happen to be hanging out and decide to help.
A couple posts ago someone suggested starting a blog tour and now there's one going on with the Absolute Write bloggers. Thank you L M Ashton! Now, go give the bloggers some link love, and fund tour in your blog, too!
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Another Mention of the Fund!
Origami Unicorn mentions the fund. Thank you Catherine!
Other bloggers are mentioning the suit, and while I'm leaving comments, perhaps if you're a regular commenter/friend on their blog or LJ, it would mean more to them to hear from you about the donation site? Your help is appreciated. Your donations are too - there's a button right over there in the sidebar, for your convenience :-)
Other bloggers are mentioning the suit, and while I'm leaving comments, perhaps if you're a regular commenter/friend on their blog or LJ, it would mean more to them to hear from you about the donation site? Your help is appreciated. Your donations are too - there's a button right over there in the sidebar, for your convenience :-)
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Great Comment About Author Advocate Defense Fund Publicity
This came in comments to my last post - and I think it's worth bumping to the front page.
To be clear, I have been commenting where I can find a polite reason to, but I'm not going to become a comment spammer. The post has to have some relation to Barbara Bauer v Jenna Glatzer . I have also sent emails to a number of those writers and agents mentioned. I'm still waiting responses from some.
There are some names I will definitely email that I hadn't known of or thought about, because I'm not a writer so the "how would you get the word out if it were about your book" part didn't occur to me. I should research this as if I was going to send out a query! All these years on Absolute Write and have I learned nothing?? *grin*
But, the suggestions are all good ones and I thank you, anonymous, for the comment. One question, though - who's Patry Francis?
I've underlined some really important points of the comment, not about publicity, too (bold doesn't work, I've discovered). Anonymous is dead right about the cost of this - these defendants really need your help. I'm not a publicist, nor can I dedicate long hours to this, as I have a day job that demands its own long hours, but I'll do what I can.
I am not a lawyer, and I can't say whether or not this qualifies as a SLAAP suit, but regardless, it will be expensive and they do need help. Please donate!
To be clear, I have been commenting where I can find a polite reason to, but I'm not going to become a comment spammer. The post has to have some relation to Barbara Bauer v Jenna Glatzer . I have also sent emails to a number of those writers and agents mentioned. I'm still waiting responses from some.
There are some names I will definitely email that I hadn't known of or thought about, because I'm not a writer so the "how would you get the word out if it were about your book" part didn't occur to me. I should research this as if I was going to send out a query! All these years on Absolute Write and have I learned nothing?? *grin*
But, the suggestions are all good ones and I thank you, anonymous, for the comment. One question, though - who's Patry Francis?
I've underlined some really important points of the comment, not about publicity, too (bold doesn't work, I've discovered). Anonymous is dead right about the cost of this - these defendants really need your help. I'm not a publicist, nor can I dedicate long hours to this, as I have a day job that demands its own long hours, but I'll do what I can.
How would you get the word out if it were about your book? A press release? You'd notify bloggers and publishers that have high reader volume like Gawker, Galley Cat, and Publisher's Lunch. You might ask some of the better known blogging agents for help,people like Kristin Nelson, Jessica Faust, Janet Reid, Nathan Bransford, Jennifer Jackson, Jonathan Lyons, Evil Editor, and so on.
{break added by Dawno to make it easier for her to read}
Even if they didn't, or couldn't, for legal reasons, add a link in their next daily post, they might not mind if you left one in comments. It never hurts to ask. Remember how we all got together to help Patry Francis?
{break added by Dawno to make it easier for her to read}
Organize a blog tour. (note from Dawno: I've posted about this at the AW blogging board, but I can't organize the tour right now, maybe in a couple of weeks, after my son goes back to Iraq) Get out there and be seen and heard. Faint heart never won a fair amount of money, and I can tell you for fact that's what is needed. Would any one of your readers like to mortgage their home for the cause? That's what some of the defendants are being asked to do to pay their lawyers.
{break added by Dawno to make it easier for her to read}
And have you calculated the number of lawyers involved? (note from Dawno: yes, I know exactly how many lawyers are involved, it's public record who is defending them) Everyone is gung ho to jump on the Babs Bandwagon, but in all honesty, they have no idea at all exactly how much this is costing the defendants. The case is what's commonly known as a SLAAP suit -- litigation intended to intimidate and silence critics or opponents by burdening them with the enormous cost of a legal defense so that they abandon their criticism or opposition.
I am not a lawyer, and I can't say whether or not this qualifies as a SLAAP suit, but regardless, it will be expensive and they do need help. Please donate!
Getting the Word Out Is Hard Work
I've been sending emails to people like John Scalzi and Neil Gaiman, and if anyone blogs again about the case, I will try to make polite and appropriate comments. Other than that, I'm wondering how else I can get the word out about the Barbara Bauer v Jenna Glatzer, et al Author Advocate Legal Defense Fund. (as you can see, I hope that using a link to the site with the name of the case will help getting it into more searches - but I know I'd have to do that a lot to get any traction).
If you have any ideas for publicizing the fund, please let me know!
If you have any ideas for publicizing the fund, please let me know!
Monday, July 07, 2008
Author Advocate Legal Defense Fund Update
The fund has reached $500. I've been sending emails to site owners/bloggers that I think will be friendly to the cause and making comments on blogs that have mentioned the lawsuit in the hopes of attracting more publicity to the fund.
The other day a site called Journal Fen posted a link to something I said in 2006, as well as the link appearing in the comments at NJ.com and this blog had over 200 visits on that day. I'm hoping the person who made the original post will consider linking to the Author Advocate Fund page, too.
If you add the link or mention it on your blog, I'll gladly add you to the sidebar on the Author Advocate Fund website.
The other day a site called Journal Fen posted a link to something I said in 2006, as well as the link appearing in the comments at NJ.com and this blog had over 200 visits on that day. I'm hoping the person who made the original post will consider linking to the Author Advocate Fund page, too.
If you add the link or mention it on your blog, I'll gladly add you to the sidebar on the Author Advocate Fund website.
Saturday, July 05, 2008
A Little Help, Please?
A certain literary agent sued Wikimedia Foundation last year (the information here shows the case was filed Sept '07 - I have also seen a report that the case was filed in January of '08).
On July 1st the case against Wikimedia Foundation was dismissed. Rumor has it the case against two other defendants, (in addition to Wikimedia there were 19 individuals and the SFWA) but I have yet to find any links to support that.
The lawsuit brought this agent back into the spotlight - the most probable precipitating events were pretty much ancient history as far as the internet was concerned. Places as diverse as Information Week, Gawker, and Publisher's Weekly, have picked up on the case in the past few months due to Wikipedia's involvement, as well as a number of writing related sites and blogs.
I mention all this because I was asked to help some of the defendants in this case by setting up and administering a defense fund. The donation button for this fund is in my sidebar. I've also created a webpage with additional information.
The defendants would appreciate your help. One thing you can do is either share the webpage link or link to the PayPal donation page on your sites and blogs.
Lee Goldberg and Author Scoop - Thank you! There have already been visitors to the webpage and new donations to the fund as a result of your mentioning the fund on your sites.
On July 1st the case against Wikimedia Foundation was dismissed. Rumor has it the case against two other defendants, (in addition to Wikimedia there were 19 individuals and the SFWA) but I have yet to find any links to support that.
The lawsuit brought this agent back into the spotlight - the most probable precipitating events were pretty much ancient history as far as the internet was concerned. Places as diverse as Information Week, Gawker, and Publisher's Weekly, have picked up on the case in the past few months due to Wikipedia's involvement, as well as a number of writing related sites and blogs.
I mention all this because I was asked to help some of the defendants in this case by setting up and administering a defense fund. The donation button for this fund is in my sidebar. I've also created a webpage with additional information.
The defendants would appreciate your help. One thing you can do is either share the webpage link or link to the PayPal donation page on your sites and blogs.
Lee Goldberg and Author Scoop - Thank you! There have already been visitors to the webpage and new donations to the fund as a result of your mentioning the fund on your sites.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Thank You Joshua D. Evans!
Joshua posted a comment on John Scalzi's Whatever blog about a website called Pandora. They explain it better than I could:
So, I felt like listening to Sting, and thought I'd test the site to see what they would produce - it was pretty amazing. I love my iPod, but Pandora provides more variety and introduces me to artists I wouldn't have known about. Especially since I don't listen to radio or actively search out new music - this takes what I know I like and then offers up songs in that vein - sometimes they're old familiar ones, sometimes they're completely new - but I'm liking all of them so far.Since we started back in 2000, we have been hard at work on the Music Genome Project. It's the most comprehensive analysis of music ever undertaken. Together our team of fifty musician-analysts has been listening to music, one song at a time, studying and collecting literally hundreds of musical details on every song. It takes 20-30 minutes per song to capture all of the little details that give each recording its magical sound - melody, harmony, instrumentation, rhythm, vocals, lyrics ... and more - close to 400 attributes! We continue this work every day to keep up with the incredible flow of great new music coming from studios, stadiums and garages around the country.
With Pandora you can explore this vast trove of music to your heart's content. Just drop the name of one of your favorite songs or artists into Pandora and let the Genome Project go. It will quickly scan its entire world of analyzed music, almost a century of popular recordings - new and old, well known and completely obscure - to find songs with interesting musical similarities to your choice. Then sit back and enjoy as it creates a listening experience full of current and soon-to-be favorite songs for you.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Just wanted to share one picture I took at the convention today that's too cute not to share here:
I'm pretty tired and rather sore - hauling all my stuff from the parking lot to the table is exhausting. I've pretty much got the loading down to a science - on the last day I'll be taking so much stuff, too. I also realized today that I have some perfect beads for this convention's theme. Little carved skulls, might be bone, too. Oh, well.
My table mate Carlos has been wonderful. Not only do I enjoy his company, but he's been so nice to keep an eye on my things when I have to dash to the restroom or want to grab a snack. He does lovely drawings and I bought a print today that is very clever and quite whimsical.
I also bought one of the items in the art show, a lovely piece made from watch faces and gears. I think I'll put a clasp on the back and wear it as a brooch.
I saw some of my favorite lanyard necklaces go to happy buyers this weekend. I'll miss them, but I'm also glad to know that people really like my work enough to buy it.
My table mate Carlos has been wonderful. Not only do I enjoy his company, but he's been so nice to keep an eye on my things when I have to dash to the restroom or want to grab a snack. He does lovely drawings and I bought a print today that is very clever and quite whimsical.
I also bought one of the items in the art show, a lovely piece made from watch faces and gears. I think I'll put a clasp on the back and wear it as a brooch.
I saw some of my favorite lanyard necklaces go to happy buyers this weekend. I'll miss them, but I'm also glad to know that people really like my work enough to buy it.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Time For Me to Pack Up for the Day
But I'll leave you with some pirates and vampires (?) before I go.
LiveBlogging from Bay Con
Having a very fun time at Bay Con. Meeting lots of very nice people and enjoying the sights of the pirate costumed attendees.
Not everyone is here as a pirate, though.
Things are a bit slow for the moment - people must be attending events or panels. I need to finish a commision, so this will be all for now.
Not everyone is here as a pirate, though.
Things are a bit slow for the moment - people must be attending events or panels. I need to finish a commision, so this will be all for now.
Update: Dawno No Longer Annoyed
Got a personal response from MyBlogLog with the solution to my problem. I needed to sign in under a different Yahoo account. Combination of memory loss, user error, and them not looking at the actual account for the answer before sending me the scripted response. I will take 2/3rds of the blame.
Thank you MyBlogLog for your help. Now, if you're a member - add me to your community!
kthnksbai.
Thank you MyBlogLog for your help. Now, if you're a member - add me to your community!
kthnksbai.
Friday, May 23, 2008
A Bit of Cross Posting - Day 1 at BayCon
I've been talking about showing my beaded lanyards on my other blog for a while now. Today was day one of the convention and the "live" public debut of my lanyard concept. I could just post the link to my other blog, but that would mean you'd have to click over there and I might lose you! So, here's what I wrote:
This is one reason I can't get completely on board with tort reform. If they didn't know the danger, they should. If they didn't care to check, then company should be sued out of existence. The company also had to recall a product in 2007 "may be contaminated with the parasite cryptosporidium, which can cause intestinal infections and diarrhea.
The Food and Drug Administration found the cryptosporidium contamination.
The product, coded 26952V 10/08, was sold nationally through stores and also online. The company has sold 17,600 bottles since November 2006. "
There are enough things to worry about when you're a new mom, and products sold in your chain drugstores by a company that claims their products (and the nipple cream is still on their website under this claim) are "* Obstretician recommended.* All natural ingredients."
In other news:
I loaded up a huge amount of stuff into my car today - much more than I really could have ever used, but I'm one of those people that would rather take stuff I don't use than need something and not have it. You should see how I pack for a weekend trip.Sometimes I see a link in my gmail that I have to click. Today it was Nipple Cream is dangerous. A company put "contains ingredients chlorphenesin and phenoxyethanol that could cause respiratory distress or vomiting and diarrhea in infants, the FDA said," into their cream. What responsible company would put ingredients in a cream for nursing mothers that they weren't 10000000000000% sure was safe for the nursing infant?
Once I had that done, I had to go to an office supply store for a cash box and the bank for change. Got to the convention hotel at 3-ish. The parking was jammed full, but I found a spot on the ground floor - it was almost as far away from the hotel entrance as you can get, but I really didn't want to take the elevator with all my stuff, so I was glad to have found it.
Getting all my stuff together for one trip was a bit of a logistics challenge. I have a large, black nylon covered, rolling "cube" case - it's intended to be a travelling office - inside it were all sorts of bins and things for file folders and office supplies. But because it's wide and not too tall, it's great for stacking other stuff on the top. It also has lots of great zippered pockets inside and out. I had it crammed full.
I also took my backpack for the camera and some miscellaneous beading supplies that didn't fit into the other containers and a messenger bag for my wallet, laptop and a book, a tote with all my beads and the wire carousels to display them, the bead buddy lap desk and the zippered bead container tote. Most of it fit in or on top of the rolling cube. The downside was that I think I was carrying and rolling about 80lbs of stuff and it was a long hike. Tomorrow I hope to get there early enough to get a closer parking spot and I'm definitely not taking in everything. If I decide I need something, I can just go to the car for it.
Was set up and ready to go by 4. It was fairly quiet on Artist's Alley for most of the time, but I did ok, broke even on the cost of registration and the table fee. I hadn't labeled my necklace lanyards, so part of the time I spent putting on price tags. One of my friends from Absolute Write Water Coolerwas there helping a friend who has a booth in the dealer's room and she brought her (Melody Rondeau
No pictures today, but I'll try to take some tomorrow. The theme of the convention is pirates and there are many wonderful costumes being displayed on the convention attendees. Definitely need pictures! Oh, and there was an artist's reception this evening, too, but I was pretty tired and just wanted to get home.
There was also a graduation happening at the venue as well, and a man in a very fancy robe - like you see on professors at college graduations - walked by with an older gentleman in a nice tweed jacket and dark slacks. He took one of my business cards as he walked by. It was one of those times I wished I could read minds - I'm so curious to know why he took a card!
I did work on, and finish, one more lanyard while I was there - one of the hexagon glass bead styles, this one in cobalt blue glass and silver seed beads. Not sure what I'll work on tomorrow - but I have plenty of supplies to choose from!
This is one reason I can't get completely on board with tort reform. If they didn't know the danger, they should. If they didn't care to check, then company should be sued out of existence. The company also had to recall a product in 2007 "may be contaminated with the parasite cryptosporidium, which can cause intestinal infections and diarrhea.
The Food and Drug Administration found the cryptosporidium contamination.
The product, coded 26952V 10/08, was sold nationally through stores and also online. The company has sold 17,600 bottles since November 2006. "
There are enough things to worry about when you're a new mom, and products sold in your chain drugstores by a company that claims their products (and the nipple cream is still on their website under this claim) are "* Obstretician recommended.* All natural ingredients."
In other news:
- I sent my donation to support the Reno bid for the WorldCon in 2011.
- I have a new camera.
- My son comes home from leave in 36 days!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Dawno is Annoyed
MyBlogLog - joined in 2005 - was probably an early adopter. Even paid them to be a premium member. They got bought by Yahoo. Good for the BlogLog guys who probably retired at 30 as millionaires. You know, when I had problems back in '05 or '06 with MyBlogLog and wrote them, I got emails from real people? Well, don't expect that now that Yahoo owns it.
You need a damn "YahooID" to sign in. I gave up using Yahoo for email when Gmail came along. The Yahoo email was all spam. Anyway, when I sign in with the Yahoo ID, I'm asked to "migrate" my BlogLog stuff, so I do what I'm told, and it says I've already migrated. Ok, if that's so, then why doesn't signing in with the bloody YahooID take me to my account page? Why does it, EVERY TIME, ask me to migrate and then tell me I've already done it?
So I wrote to customer service. Explained the problem. Told them I had a Yahoo ID and had migrated, but the Yahoo ID wasn't taking me to my account. Know what they said?
Of course, a merger with Microsoft will solve all those problems, huh? Yeah. Vista, anyone?
I think I'll go bead something to calm down.
You need a damn "YahooID" to sign in. I gave up using Yahoo for email when Gmail came along. The Yahoo email was all spam. Anyway, when I sign in with the Yahoo ID, I'm asked to "migrate" my BlogLog stuff, so I do what I'm told, and it says I've already migrated. Ok, if that's so, then why doesn't signing in with the bloody YahooID take me to my account page? Why does it, EVERY TIME, ask me to migrate and then tell me I've already done it?
So I wrote to customer service. Explained the problem. Told them I had a Yahoo ID and had migrated, but the Yahoo ID wasn't taking me to my account. Know what they said?
We understand that sometimes change is hard, but the opportunity ofUm, did you actually read my email or did some robo-script read a key word and send out an automated POS answer? I don't need help signing up with Yahoo. I need MyBlogLog's people to actually look at the account, figure out what's the problem and fix it.
Yahoo taking in our little MyBlogLog community into its family sounded
too good to pass up!
If you need help signing up with Yahoo, please visit the following link: (link redacted)
Of course, a merger with Microsoft will solve all those problems, huh? Yeah. Vista, anyone?
I think I'll go bead something to calm down.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Sometimes I Get Sent Really Odd Links - Other Times, They're Pretty Cool
The perfect tool for serious nicotine addicts who simply MUST light up as they clip their nails. (And , no, I'm not one of them) My question is, which came first, the clipper and someone thinking, "this should have a disposable lighter attached to it, because every time I clip my nails I really need to have a smoke afterwards" , or the lighter and the guy with a hangnail who tried burning it off and thought, "man, a pair of clippers attached to my lighter would have spared me this agonizing 3rd degree burn"
Teeny-tiny projector OK, that one has promise. Watching a movie on the screen of my iPod while flying cross country was a clever idea but so much detail is lost when the screen is two inches wide and not all of it is used for picture due to the wide-screen format of the movie one downloaded from iTunes. I ended up watching them again on my laptop when I got home. But with a mini-projector, why, you can project it on the seat back in front of you!
Of course, there are folk with concerns about the concept. I think they may have a good point. This also may hasten the day when answering your mobile phone means a 3D image of your caller can appear right in front of you, and you can see body language and facial expressions, which often lead to misunderstandings, and then there's the inability to get a word in edgewise, because nobody can see you jumping up and down in your chair trying to get their attention, as in traditional audio only conference calls.
While things like telepresence are available now, it's not something the general population can access, nor afford, with all the equipment needed. By the way - you can get an R2D2 Home Theatre System from Hammacher Schlemmer for only $2,800 - oops, no you can't they sold out. I am not surprised in the least.
Oh, I mailed off my application for a table at BayCon. If you're in the SF Bay area over Memorial Day weekend, come by and say hi.
Teeny-tiny projector OK, that one has promise. Watching a movie on the screen of my iPod while flying cross country was a clever idea but so much detail is lost when the screen is two inches wide and not all of it is used for picture due to the wide-screen format of the movie one downloaded from iTunes. I ended up watching them again on my laptop when I got home. But with a mini-projector, why, you can project it on the seat back in front of you!
Of course, there are folk with concerns about the concept. I think they may have a good point. This also may hasten the day when answering your mobile phone means a 3D image of your caller can appear right in front of you, and you can see body language and facial expressions, which often lead to misunderstandings, and then there's the inability to get a word in edgewise, because nobody can see you jumping up and down in your chair trying to get their attention, as in traditional audio only conference calls.
While things like telepresence are available now, it's not something the general population can access, nor afford, with all the equipment needed. By the way - you can get an R2D2 Home Theatre System from Hammacher Schlemmer for only $2,800 - oops, no you can't they sold out. I am not surprised in the least.
Oh, I mailed off my application for a table at BayCon. If you're in the SF Bay area over Memorial Day weekend, come by and say hi.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Elbows
My elbows are a wreck. I have a leather upholstered office chair at my computer desk that is wonderfully comfortable but the armrests are plain plastic with a pebbly texture. I rest my elbows on them, apparently way too much. My elbows are very dry and cracked - they feel like sandpaper, actually. So I decided today to do something about it. Not sure if it'll work. I've cut the tops off of some long athletic tubesocks, put Nivea cream on my elbows and put the sock pieces over the elbows to keep the cream from rubbing off. If the Nivea doesn't work, I'll try Eucerin next and probably go with something with a heavy lanolin concentration after that.
If you've successfully fought off sandpaper elbows, I'd love to know your secret.
The temps here are going up fast - it was in the low 70s yesterday and hit 80 today. Tomorrow's prediction is for 92. There's no airconditioning here, so we keep a window fan in the front room and that helps some. We shaved Pudding just in time - he's a long hair, you may recall from previous posts about him, and when it gets hot he gets pretty miserable. I caught him sitting directly in front of the fan today, so I think he's grateful.
I'm about half-way through The Cleaner, the book I bought from the author, Brett Battles, and had signed at the LA Book Fair a couple weekends ago. It's been a very good read. If you like clandestine ops thrillers you should give this one a try.
Bought some new iPod tunes today - decided to get a couple things on my "recommended" list, Peter Gabriel's So album and some early Sting (i.e., a Police album). Some of the recommendations were a tad off the mark - just because I bought James Darren doesn't mean I want Jack Jones, but I get why they thought I might. My Dawno's playlist is getting to be pretty good listening while beading. I hope Matt's new iPod got to him ok.
I'm looking forward to Bay Con on Memorial Day weekend - I wrote about my considering getting table space in Artist's Alley in my Beading Blog, so I won't repeat myself here. Whether I do or not, I will still go to the con.
If you've successfully fought off sandpaper elbows, I'd love to know your secret.
The temps here are going up fast - it was in the low 70s yesterday and hit 80 today. Tomorrow's prediction is for 92. There's no airconditioning here, so we keep a window fan in the front room and that helps some. We shaved Pudding just in time - he's a long hair, you may recall from previous posts about him, and when it gets hot he gets pretty miserable. I caught him sitting directly in front of the fan today, so I think he's grateful.
I'm about half-way through The Cleaner, the book I bought from the author, Brett Battles, and had signed at the LA Book Fair a couple weekends ago. It's been a very good read. If you like clandestine ops thrillers you should give this one a try.
Bought some new iPod tunes today - decided to get a couple things on my "recommended" list, Peter Gabriel's So album and some early Sting (i.e., a Police album). Some of the recommendations were a tad off the mark - just because I bought James Darren doesn't mean I want Jack Jones, but I get why they thought I might. My Dawno's playlist is getting to be pretty good listening while beading. I hope Matt's new iPod got to him ok.
I'm looking forward to Bay Con on Memorial Day weekend - I wrote about my considering getting table space in Artist's Alley in my Beading Blog, so I won't repeat myself here. Whether I do or not, I will still go to the con.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
A Very Happy Mother's Day
My son called from Iraq and my daughter called, too. A bit after my son called I found a bouquet of flowers on my doorstep, from him.
Happy Mother's Day to everyone!
Happy Mother's Day to everyone!
Friday, May 09, 2008
Yeah, I've Got Two Monkees Albums on My iPod...So?
Been listening to my iPod while beading tonight. I was reminded by a post on Absolute Write a while back that there were some pretty good Monkees songs, back in the day. So I downloaded a couple of their albums from iTunes.
Now, I didn't see the Monkees when they were first on in the US, we either didn't get the channel (pre-cable days, folks and we were pretty far from LA so the antenna didn't pick up but one or two stations) or it was past my bedtime when they were on - in '66 when the show first aired I was 9.
I got to see them as re-runs broadcast on Taiwanese TV. I remember enjoying the shows, I was 11 or 12 at the time, so that might explain it. Our TV choices in English were limited over there. I think there was Gilligan's Island, too, but I'm not certain. Would that have been in re-runs in '68 & '69? The only other thing about Taiwanese TV that's notable (at least to me) is that I was in a Taiwanese soda pop commercial - true story! Maybe I'll tell it to you some day.
Anyway, I've skipped some of the songs as they came up in the shuffle - most of the Davey Jones songs are particularly treacle-y. The few that featured Michael Nesmith are as good as I remember. There were also a few that edged up to real '60s flower power music - surprising since it seemed the point of the Monkees was to play it safe for the network and their advertisers.
Hey, "I'm Gonna Buy Me a Dog" is playing right now. Is that Mickey or Pete singing? "...Zulu's? No, I usually won". Well, that was over pretty fast. Now it's Paul Simon singing "Graceland".
My playlist is all over the map. Don Henley's "Get Over It", Sting's "Fields of Gold", k.d. lang's "Bird on a Wire', Maroon 5, The Mommas and the Poppas, Fleetwood Mac, James Darren...well, he was in Deep Space 9 and I kinda like that ol' crooner music anyway - which reminds me, I need to get my Sinatra and Dino back on my iTunes.
Now, I didn't see the Monkees when they were first on in the US, we either didn't get the channel (pre-cable days, folks and we were pretty far from LA so the antenna didn't pick up but one or two stations) or it was past my bedtime when they were on - in '66 when the show first aired I was 9.
I got to see them as re-runs broadcast on Taiwanese TV. I remember enjoying the shows, I was 11 or 12 at the time, so that might explain it. Our TV choices in English were limited over there. I think there was Gilligan's Island, too, but I'm not certain. Would that have been in re-runs in '68 & '69? The only other thing about Taiwanese TV that's notable (at least to me) is that I was in a Taiwanese soda pop commercial - true story! Maybe I'll tell it to you some day.
Anyway, I've skipped some of the songs as they came up in the shuffle - most of the Davey Jones songs are particularly treacle-y. The few that featured Michael Nesmith are as good as I remember. There were also a few that edged up to real '60s flower power music - surprising since it seemed the point of the Monkees was to play it safe for the network and their advertisers.
Hey, "I'm Gonna Buy Me a Dog" is playing right now. Is that Mickey or Pete singing? "...Zulu's? No, I usually won". Well, that was over pretty fast. Now it's Paul Simon singing "Graceland".
My playlist is all over the map. Don Henley's "Get Over It", Sting's "Fields of Gold", k.d. lang's "Bird on a Wire', Maroon 5, The Mommas and the Poppas, Fleetwood Mac, James Darren...well, he was in Deep Space 9 and I kinda like that ol' crooner music anyway - which reminds me, I need to get my Sinatra and Dino back on my iTunes.
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Making Light is Dark Today
If you, as I am, are a fan of the site Making Light, you're probably already aware of this but I thought I'd just add my support and post the "refugee camp" link. http://www.sunpig.com/abi/
Good luck to Teresa and Patrick in recovering their site!
Good luck to Teresa and Patrick in recovering their site!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Click The Link! You'll Thank Me
Just a quick post to recommend Author Scoop. William Haskins and Jamie Mason do a great job of collecting and sharing links, YouTube videos and other bits of news and information and smart commentary that writers and readers alike should all bookmark and visit often. They've done the surfing, all I have to do is go there and click the links. Thanks, William and Jamie!
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Book Fair at UCLA
I don't use the camera phone much, so my finger did end up at the bottom of that picture, I'm afraid. The shot doesn't do any justice to the huge crowd. There were areas with graphic artists, POD publishing houses and then areas for larger publishers, book stores, etc. I ended up getting a signed copy (by the author in person who was at the book fair) of a new book, The Cleaner, a debut novel by Brett Battles. Bless him for braving the heat! I started reading it on the plane, so far it's a page turner, the plot is intriguing, the characters well presented, pace is fast - which is a must have for a thriller, at least for me.
The picture is also a test of mobile blogging, something I haven't used for ages, if I did use it at all the first time I signed up for it. Unfortunately I had to re-engage with the system and couldn't post the picture immediately from my camera to here this afternoon. UCLA is a lovely campus and I was there with an "expert guide" as well. When I needed to use a bathroom she knew exactly how to get me to a nice, nearby, indoor restroom. One of the scenic detours we took on the way to the fair was through the botanical garden. I took pictures of this incredible flowering plant with my digital camera. I have no idea what it is - couldn't find the plaque.
Closer view of the blooms:
I won't go into more detail about the bead shop purchases I mentioned earlier, but you can see pics at my beading blog, if you're so inclined.
It's Hot in LA this Weekend!
I'm down in LA visiting with some friends of mine. Yesterday we visited a lovely bead shop and had fabulous Mexican food at a nearby restaurant. Today we're thinking of visiting the LA Book Fair at UCLA. There's a heat wave here in LA - temps in the 80s. Still, there's a nice breeze and it's been lovely.
I particularly enjoy visits with these friends because along with being able to just hang out and enjoy each other's company, the conversation is lively and intellectually stimulating and I get plenty of exercise as we walked everywhere. I put in more miles on foot yesterday than I usually do in a month. I'm happy to say that I feel great today because I was a bit worried that I'd wake up unable to move my legs anymore.
I signed up with Twitter the other day, just for the heck of it, after reading a couple different blogs about folks who use it. I think it would be fun to Twitter the book fair - just not sure how to do it from my cell phone. I just tested it - it works! You can see me on Twitter as AWDawno.
I wish I could stay down longer and visit with the family, too. I just don't have enough leave time right now to spare as I'm saving as much of it as I can to spend time with my son in July when he comes home on leave.
Bought a book at the airport, Betrayal by John Lescroart. It's a bit hard to read as it uses the war in Iraq as a backdrop for a murder trial in the US. The defendant was wounded in a nasty situation where he lost nearly all of his squad. It's definitely the kind of stuff I don't like to think about.
I'm running low on battery power (forgot my power cord) so I need to close up the laptop now. More soon on my visit, maybe some pics of the book fair, too!
I particularly enjoy visits with these friends because along with being able to just hang out and enjoy each other's company, the conversation is lively and intellectually stimulating and I get plenty of exercise as we walked everywhere. I put in more miles on foot yesterday than I usually do in a month. I'm happy to say that I feel great today because I was a bit worried that I'd wake up unable to move my legs anymore.
I signed up with Twitter the other day, just for the heck of it, after reading a couple different blogs about folks who use it. I think it would be fun to Twitter the book fair - just not sure how to do it from my cell phone. I just tested it - it works! You can see me on Twitter as AWDawno.
I wish I could stay down longer and visit with the family, too. I just don't have enough leave time right now to spare as I'm saving as much of it as I can to spend time with my son in July when he comes home on leave.
Bought a book at the airport, Betrayal by John Lescroart. It's a bit hard to read as it uses the war in Iraq as a backdrop for a murder trial in the US. The defendant was wounded in a nasty situation where he lost nearly all of his squad. It's definitely the kind of stuff I don't like to think about.
I'm running low on battery power (forgot my power cord) so I need to close up the laptop now. More soon on my visit, maybe some pics of the book fair, too!
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Beading, NCIS Flashback Drinking Game, and That Betamax Feeling
I got so busy with beading and posting on my new beading blog that I didn't get around to updating here. I'm trying to establish some foundational tools for marketing my designs and one of them is a blog. Eventually I move to my own website, but I don't have the time to learn all I need to know right now to set it up. I also need to get my business paperwork finalized - licenses, tax ID, that kind of stuff. I'm planning to set up an appointment with my accountant to see how much he can help or at least advise me about.
I'd love to do some crafts shows/fairs, so one of my next projects is going to be building the displays I'll need. I like the idea of using a picture frame with a padded insert - I've seen those at our local Art & Wine festival and like them best. I just have to figure out the right way to construct them. I also wonder just how large an inventory I'll need and what kind of variety. I'm in for some extensive research.
The spouse and I have been watching NCIS on dvd, trying to get up to date so we can start watching the current shows. I'm enjoying it. We have decided that we should do a drinking game - every time Harmon has a flashback to Paris we have to take a drink. There was a time a few discs back where it seemed he was having these fuzzy jumpy flashbacks every two minutes. Thank goodness they're fewer and further between now.
Speaking of dvds, I bought a new player for the spouse for Christmas from Amazon. A HD dvd player. Of course we all know what happened - BluRay is the standard and you can't get HD dvds anymore. Now I know how people who bought Betamax felt. Amazon sent me an email the other day with a certificate code for $50 on Amazon products. My dad just called me and said that I just *must* read the new Jeffery Deaver book, The Blue Nowhere, so I'll put that in my cart soon. There are a couple other books I'm wanting to read, so that $50 won't last long.
Well, I have a 6 am conference call tomorrow - gotta get to bed.
I'd love to do some crafts shows/fairs, so one of my next projects is going to be building the displays I'll need. I like the idea of using a picture frame with a padded insert - I've seen those at our local Art & Wine festival and like them best. I just have to figure out the right way to construct them. I also wonder just how large an inventory I'll need and what kind of variety. I'm in for some extensive research.
The spouse and I have been watching NCIS on dvd, trying to get up to date so we can start watching the current shows. I'm enjoying it. We have decided that we should do a drinking game - every time Harmon has a flashback to Paris we have to take a drink. There was a time a few discs back where it seemed he was having these fuzzy jumpy flashbacks every two minutes. Thank goodness they're fewer and further between now.
Speaking of dvds, I bought a new player for the spouse for Christmas from Amazon. A HD dvd player. Of course we all know what happened - BluRay is the standard and you can't get HD dvds anymore. Now I know how people who bought Betamax felt. Amazon sent me an email the other day with a certificate code for $50 on Amazon products. My dad just called me and said that I just *must* read the new Jeffery Deaver book, The Blue Nowhere, so I'll put that in my cart soon. There are a couple other books I'm wanting to read, so that $50 won't last long.
Well, I have a 6 am conference call tomorrow - gotta get to bed.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
The Cake and the Kitty
Ever get really frustrated? Then you know how this poor kitty feels
One of the grandkitties, Jello, does that on the door to my office (which I keep closed most of the time). She seems to go on forever when I don't open it for her, of course it probably seems that way to me since I'm usually trying to work and getting annoyed at the scratching.
I posted again on my beading blog - if you know beads and can help me find a particular kind of bead that I desperately need to finish something I started, please go visit my new blog: Dawno's Beaded Badge Lanyards and Jewelry
My son called me this morning and he's all safely re-located at his new base. No more internet in the room, though, so we won't be able to IM chat for sometime. I really appreciated that he'd IM me often so I'd know he was ok, especially when I knew he was going on a mission and hadn't heard from him in a while. I was lucky, so many (most, probably) families of soldiers don't hear from their loved ones so much.
One of the grandkitties, Jello, does that on the door to my office (which I keep closed most of the time). She seems to go on forever when I don't open it for her, of course it probably seems that way to me since I'm usually trying to work and getting annoyed at the scratching.
I posted again on my beading blog - if you know beads and can help me find a particular kind of bead that I desperately need to finish something I started, please go visit my new blog: Dawno's Beaded Badge Lanyards and Jewelry
My son called me this morning and he's all safely re-located at his new base. No more internet in the room, though, so we won't be able to IM chat for sometime. I really appreciated that he'd IM me often so I'd know he was ok, especially when I knew he was going on a mission and hadn't heard from him in a while. I was lucky, so many (most, probably) families of soldiers don't hear from their loved ones so much.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Catching Up
I imagine after 3 months of not posting that I've lost most of my audience. If you do check in now and then to see what's up, I apologize for being "dark" all this time. I've come here a number of times in the last couple months, opened the "create post" page and stared at the blank screen for a while, then closed the browser tab without posting. I kept thinking there's nothing to say anyone could have the remotest interest in. Today, however, I realized that I really shouldn't let that stop me here. I mean, it certainly doesn't stop me when I'm talking face to face (it's the way people start yawning or making lame excuses that gives me a clue in real life) So, what the heck, here we go with what's on my mind today.
Beading: I've pretty much decided that I'm going to start a new blog for any rambles about my beading, so I won't afflict you with that here, except occasionally. Like now. I've sold 3 pieces on Etsy, most recently today, which is gratifying and gives me a little "squee" moment every time it happens. (somebody likes it! squee!) And, I've probably made a couple dozen new things since I posted last. I'm also trying new techniques, like making things with wire and chain, learning to connect things using loops and links, and trying wire-wrapping. The wire-wrapping isn't going too well yet, and I might not be patient enough to keep at it, if everything looks like a two year old made it and then the dog chewed on it afterwards.
I'd also love to learn to create beads or focal pieces with metal clay - the whole "need to use a torch or get a kiln" has blocked that for now, since I really don't have a place to use either. Maybe someday.
My son: Ever see a movie or tv show or read about a soldier whose paperback book, Bible, flask, some keepsake from his sweetheart, etc., stops a bullet and saves a limb or his life? Apparently my son's iPod stopped one from hitting him somewhere; I'm guessing arm or leg. He forgot it was in a pocket and it came along on a mission with him and now it's toast but my son is ok. Thanks, Apple!
My daughter: Doing great. Got a call from her the other day all excited because she got an A on a mid-term when she had thought she hadn't done so well. She's also all set with her summer job - working at the Y summer camp again. I think this is year 3 for that? I know last year she directed a gymnastics camp, this year she may try something new - haven't heard yet. But she's great with the kids. Which is why I keep wondering why she isn't interested in teaching elementary school (like her ol' ma did). She says she wants to teach High School. I loved teaching kindergarten, myself. Probably because I like crayons and paste and the complete lack of hormone driven teen angst.
Me in general: I think I feel more like blogging now that the days are longer and the weather is getting better. Winter is really rough on me. I suspect I have a bit of seasonal affective disorder. Out of 10 symptoms I have 8 of them pretty intensely from late October to early April, and two of them to a more minor degree. Of course, I'm too withdrawn and lethargic to get myself to a doctor until it's spring and I feel better and I don't need medical help anymore.
In February my uncle passed away and I spent a week down in Southern Calif. with my Dad, which, even under the circumstances involved, was really wonderful just because it's been ages since I've been able to spend more than a few hours with him in many years. I miss being near family a lot and I truly wish I could figure out a way to get down there. Another "maybe someday" thing - I can only hope sooner rather than later.
Around the web: I've been entertained recently by a series of videos called "You Suck at Photoshop" It's part tutorial and part soap opera presented by a guy, Donnie, who's life is falling apart rather disastrously, and yet he gives these Photoshop lessons - insulting the students all the while. Really funny stuff. If you haven't seen these, and you have a quirky, dark sense of humor, do.
Here's the first one so you can decide if you want to click on the link above and watch the rest of them:
Otherwhere on the web, I'm still faithfully following my favorite online comics, A Girl and Her Fed, Questionable Content, Girl Genius, Sheldon and about a dozen more. Thank goodness for Google Reader and RSS feeds! I bought a Going Postal mail pouch recently (its the second one on the page) and put some buttons I got from A Girl and Her Fed's creator, the Girl Genius site, and the Sheldon store amongst others (like a Star Trek delta badge, Discworld pins, my Sputnik pins from LACon and more). I plan on using it as my convention purse when I go to Denvention (66th World SF Convention) this summer.
What I'm Reading: Just finished Strangers in Death by J. D. Robb (Nora Roberts). I forgot that I'd ordered it from the Science Fiction Book Club, so I have two copies - if you'd like this book, I'd be happy to send the SFBC edition to you free of charge. It's a hardback book in pristine condition, although it's a slightly smaller size hardback than non-book club editions. Use my contact me link to email me.
Anyway, it was another good one. I enjoy reading them because I've grown fond of the characters and can't wait to see how they develop as the series goes on. If you're unfamiliar with the series, it's romance set in the future about a female police lieutenant who meets, falls in love with and marries (in the early books) a very rich, powerful, handsome man, Roarke, with a less than legitimate past he's (mostly) reformed from. In the later books the two of them often work together to figure out 'who done it'. The secondary characters are colorful and fun to know as well. One thing I might note in passing is that there's no dearth of love scenes between Dallas (the protag) and Roarke and they are somewhat explicit.
I've also been reading through David Drake's epic fantasy series starting with Lord of the Isles, mostly in eBook format. My introduction to it was via the Tor.com subscription - which is a really cool deal. Weekly free eBooks in many formats (I use MobiPocket since I have the reader already). They offered the first book of the Isles series and when I finished it I wanted to read more. So I purchased the eBook bundle for books 2 - 7 via the Baen Books WebScription site. Right now I'm reading the latest book in the series, Mirror of Worlds, in hardback. Who says giving away eBooks isn't a smart idea? Got me to spend money on the rest of Drake's stuff, and I'll probably keep reading his work when I'm done with the Isles books.
I've never been a big fan of epic fantasy. I read the Lord of the Rings trilogy because, well, everyone I was friends with in 1971 either was or had read them - I even got notes from one friend in either runes or elvish (I don't recall which). But I've always been more of a SF reader, so with the exception of short stories in the magazines I get (primarily The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction) I don' t go out of my way to read it.
However, I've enjoyed the Drake books. There is a bit of the same things happening over and over - if I'd had to wait 6 months or a year to read the next book, it probably wouldn't have leaped out at me as much. I mean in every book people end up getting lost or kidnapped in some other dimension or time and there are quest-y type things, then at the end they all end up at some place where they all have to be together with the stuff they've learned or gotten to overcome the big bad whatever. This must be SOP for epic fantasy books. Even so, I'm enjoying the writing enough to keep going on to the next one.
By the way, if you sign up at Tor.com you are entered in a cool contest for an Asus Galaxy EEE mobile PC, and you'll get free eBooks, too. And they're good ones - Farthing by Jo Walton and Spin by Robert Charles Wilson were in recent emails - both of which I've read and *heartily* recommend. By the way, this all ends on May 15th when the official site launches.
Ok, this has been enough rambling for two or three posts, so I'll quit now. Glad to be back blogging - hope I can keep it up, at least once or twice a week.
Love!
Dawno
Beading: I've pretty much decided that I'm going to start a new blog for any rambles about my beading, so I won't afflict you with that here, except occasionally. Like now. I've sold 3 pieces on Etsy, most recently today, which is gratifying and gives me a little "squee" moment every time it happens. (somebody likes it! squee!) And, I've probably made a couple dozen new things since I posted last. I'm also trying new techniques, like making things with wire and chain, learning to connect things using loops and links, and trying wire-wrapping. The wire-wrapping isn't going too well yet, and I might not be patient enough to keep at it, if everything looks like a two year old made it and then the dog chewed on it afterwards.
I'd also love to learn to create beads or focal pieces with metal clay - the whole "need to use a torch or get a kiln" has blocked that for now, since I really don't have a place to use either. Maybe someday.
My son: Ever see a movie or tv show or read about a soldier whose paperback book, Bible, flask, some keepsake from his sweetheart, etc., stops a bullet and saves a limb or his life? Apparently my son's iPod stopped one from hitting him somewhere; I'm guessing arm or leg. He forgot it was in a pocket and it came along on a mission with him and now it's toast but my son is ok. Thanks, Apple!
My daughter: Doing great. Got a call from her the other day all excited because she got an A on a mid-term when she had thought she hadn't done so well. She's also all set with her summer job - working at the Y summer camp again. I think this is year 3 for that? I know last year she directed a gymnastics camp, this year she may try something new - haven't heard yet. But she's great with the kids. Which is why I keep wondering why she isn't interested in teaching elementary school (like her ol' ma did). She says she wants to teach High School. I loved teaching kindergarten, myself. Probably because I like crayons and paste and the complete lack of hormone driven teen angst.
Me in general: I think I feel more like blogging now that the days are longer and the weather is getting better. Winter is really rough on me. I suspect I have a bit of seasonal affective disorder. Out of 10 symptoms I have 8 of them pretty intensely from late October to early April, and two of them to a more minor degree. Of course, I'm too withdrawn and lethargic to get myself to a doctor until it's spring and I feel better and I don't need medical help anymore.
In February my uncle passed away and I spent a week down in Southern Calif. with my Dad, which, even under the circumstances involved, was really wonderful just because it's been ages since I've been able to spend more than a few hours with him in many years. I miss being near family a lot and I truly wish I could figure out a way to get down there. Another "maybe someday" thing - I can only hope sooner rather than later.
Around the web: I've been entertained recently by a series of videos called "You Suck at Photoshop" It's part tutorial and part soap opera presented by a guy, Donnie, who's life is falling apart rather disastrously, and yet he gives these Photoshop lessons - insulting the students all the while. Really funny stuff. If you haven't seen these, and you have a quirky, dark sense of humor, do.
Here's the first one so you can decide if you want to click on the link above and watch the rest of them:
Otherwhere on the web, I'm still faithfully following my favorite online comics, A Girl and Her Fed, Questionable Content, Girl Genius, Sheldon and about a dozen more. Thank goodness for Google Reader and RSS feeds! I bought a Going Postal mail pouch recently (its the second one on the page) and put some buttons I got from A Girl and Her Fed's creator, the Girl Genius site, and the Sheldon store amongst others (like a Star Trek delta badge, Discworld pins, my Sputnik pins from LACon and more). I plan on using it as my convention purse when I go to Denvention (66th World SF Convention) this summer.
What I'm Reading: Just finished Strangers in Death by J. D. Robb (Nora Roberts). I forgot that I'd ordered it from the Science Fiction Book Club, so I have two copies - if you'd like this book, I'd be happy to send the SFBC edition to you free of charge. It's a hardback book in pristine condition, although it's a slightly smaller size hardback than non-book club editions. Use my contact me link to email me.
Anyway, it was another good one. I enjoy reading them because I've grown fond of the characters and can't wait to see how they develop as the series goes on. If you're unfamiliar with the series, it's romance set in the future about a female police lieutenant who meets, falls in love with and marries (in the early books) a very rich, powerful, handsome man, Roarke, with a less than legitimate past he's (mostly) reformed from. In the later books the two of them often work together to figure out 'who done it'. The secondary characters are colorful and fun to know as well. One thing I might note in passing is that there's no dearth of love scenes between Dallas (the protag) and Roarke and they are somewhat explicit.
I've also been reading through David Drake's epic fantasy series starting with Lord of the Isles, mostly in eBook format. My introduction to it was via the Tor.com subscription - which is a really cool deal. Weekly free eBooks in many formats (I use MobiPocket since I have the reader already). They offered the first book of the Isles series and when I finished it I wanted to read more. So I purchased the eBook bundle for books 2 - 7 via the Baen Books WebScription site. Right now I'm reading the latest book in the series, Mirror of Worlds, in hardback. Who says giving away eBooks isn't a smart idea? Got me to spend money on the rest of Drake's stuff, and I'll probably keep reading his work when I'm done with the Isles books.
I've never been a big fan of epic fantasy. I read the Lord of the Rings trilogy because, well, everyone I was friends with in 1971 either was or had read them - I even got notes from one friend in either runes or elvish (I don't recall which). But I've always been more of a SF reader, so with the exception of short stories in the magazines I get (primarily The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction) I don' t go out of my way to read it.
However, I've enjoyed the Drake books. There is a bit of the same things happening over and over - if I'd had to wait 6 months or a year to read the next book, it probably wouldn't have leaped out at me as much. I mean in every book people end up getting lost or kidnapped in some other dimension or time and there are quest-y type things, then at the end they all end up at some place where they all have to be together with the stuff they've learned or gotten to overcome the big bad whatever. This must be SOP for epic fantasy books. Even so, I'm enjoying the writing enough to keep going on to the next one.
By the way, if you sign up at Tor.com you are entered in a cool contest for an Asus Galaxy EEE mobile PC, and you'll get free eBooks, too. And they're good ones - Farthing by Jo Walton and Spin by Robert Charles Wilson were in recent emails - both of which I've read and *heartily* recommend. By the way, this all ends on May 15th when the official site launches.
Ok, this has been enough rambling for two or three posts, so I'll quit now. Glad to be back blogging - hope I can keep it up, at least once or twice a week.
Love!
Dawno
Sunday, January 13, 2008
More Beading Frenzy and Other Stuff, Too
I can't stop. Perhaps there's a twelve step program? I now have finished over 100 necklaces, some bracelets -- maybe a dozen, and 10 pairs of earrings (I also made 4 or 5 pairs that my daughter gave as Christmas gifts). I've given away a number as gifts and sold 20. I have a friend who wants a necklace to send to his mom in England for her birthday next month. I'm always a bit amazed that people like my designs. Happy, yes, but still getting used to the idea that something I created appeals to others.
Since I enjoy this so much, and I have had some small success selling them, I decided to set up an Etsy store, as I mentioned in my last post. I've got 21 items up so far and more to come as I get them all photographed and described.
I'm finding Etsy very easy to use and completely lovely online marketplace for handcrafters. I'm quite humbled by the talent of the other store owners. There are so many beautiful items for sale.
The other neat thing I've discovered doing this is how generous with information and advice the other beaders I've met online are. (Thanks, Lee, Julie, Marilee, and Carol!) I really want to take in a gem fair one of these days. I'm also wondering if I should see about setting up as a vendor at some small regional con and see how that works.
Well, I've finished my annual pilgrimage through the Discworld and started on Ha'penny by Jo Walton. It's a great read, so far, not that I expected any less, I read Farthing last year and couldn't wait to get my hands on this one. I love alternate history fiction - I've read all the Flint, et al books about the Ring of Fire universe (1632, 1633, Grantville Gazette, 1634: The Galileo Affair, 1634: The Ram Rebellion, etc.), I also enjoy Harry Turtledove and S.M. Stirling's books. I hope the sequel to The Sky People is good - it comes out in March per Amazon. It's titled In the Courts of the Crimson Kings and it's set on an alternate Mars that was terraformed millions of years in the past and seeded with Earth animals (including various dinosaurs) as well as hominids.
I'm also reading John Elder Robison's Look Me in the Eye. (I can't seem to read only one book at a time - I've usually got a few around the house and if I sit down near one of them, I just start reading it - even if I'd only moments ago been sitting in another room reading a different book - anyone else do that?)
John is a member of Absolute Write and he's been wonderfully generous in sharing with aspiring writers over there. His book, about his life with Asperger's, has been fascinating.
Haven't heard from my son in a while. He ran out of minutes for his phone and I just washed mine*, so who knows when we'll be able to talk rather than IM (and I haven't gotten an IM lately either). But I look forward to asking him about the snow in Baghdad - first snow there in 100 years, I read.
*not entirely washed - I realized I'd left it in the pocket of my jammies and pulled it out as the washer was filling to start the first cycle. I've taken out the battery and am letting it air dry and am also fervently wishing for it to still work. I hate going to the phone store and dealing with the people there. The only visit I can remember that was half way pleasant was back when I got my first cell phone and they were excited about having customers. Now it seems like the staff at these stores are barely a step above flipping burgers in their knowledge and enthusiasm.
Since I enjoy this so much, and I have had some small success selling them, I decided to set up an Etsy store, as I mentioned in my last post. I've got 21 items up so far and more to come as I get them all photographed and described.
I'm finding Etsy very easy to use and completely lovely online marketplace for handcrafters. I'm quite humbled by the talent of the other store owners. There are so many beautiful items for sale.
The other neat thing I've discovered doing this is how generous with information and advice the other beaders I've met online are. (Thanks, Lee, Julie, Marilee, and Carol!) I really want to take in a gem fair one of these days. I'm also wondering if I should see about setting up as a vendor at some small regional con and see how that works.
Well, I've finished my annual pilgrimage through the Discworld and started on Ha'penny by Jo Walton. It's a great read, so far, not that I expected any less, I read Farthing last year and couldn't wait to get my hands on this one. I love alternate history fiction - I've read all the Flint, et al books about the Ring of Fire universe (1632, 1633, Grantville Gazette, 1634: The Galileo Affair, 1634: The Ram Rebellion, etc.), I also enjoy Harry Turtledove and S.M. Stirling's books. I hope the sequel to The Sky People is good - it comes out in March per Amazon. It's titled In the Courts of the Crimson Kings and it's set on an alternate Mars that was terraformed millions of years in the past and seeded with Earth animals (including various dinosaurs) as well as hominids.
I'm also reading John Elder Robison's Look Me in the Eye. (I can't seem to read only one book at a time - I've usually got a few around the house and if I sit down near one of them, I just start reading it - even if I'd only moments ago been sitting in another room reading a different book - anyone else do that?)
John is a member of Absolute Write and he's been wonderfully generous in sharing with aspiring writers over there. His book, about his life with Asperger's, has been fascinating.
Haven't heard from my son in a while. He ran out of minutes for his phone and I just washed mine*, so who knows when we'll be able to talk rather than IM (and I haven't gotten an IM lately either). But I look forward to asking him about the snow in Baghdad - first snow there in 100 years, I read.
*not entirely washed - I realized I'd left it in the pocket of my jammies and pulled it out as the washer was filling to start the first cycle. I've taken out the battery and am letting it air dry and am also fervently wishing for it to still work. I hate going to the phone store and dealing with the people there. The only visit I can remember that was half way pleasant was back when I got my first cell phone and they were excited about having customers. Now it seems like the staff at these stores are barely a step above flipping burgers in their knowledge and enthusiasm.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Happy New Year!
Yeah, haven't posted since Thanksgiving, sorry about that. It's not that I was too busy, but I was preoccupied. I've been doing a lot of beading, spent time with my daughter and my family in southern California and am also trying to catch up on a backlog of books I've been wanting to read.
Just finished most of the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett. I have a few more to go as I skipped the earliest ones and started with Mort, hopped over a few like Small Gods and Soul Music (even though I enjoy the story in that one about Susan).
The reason for this is that one of my favorite ways to go back through the Discworld books is to begin by re-reading the books featuring the Watch. Following the progress of Vimes and Carrot from Guards! Guards! through to Thud! always lifts my spirits. The newer books that have introduced new characters are fun as well - Moist von Lipwig (Going Postal and Making Money) is a great character and I hope there is at least one more book featuring him. Of course the news that Terry has been diagnosed with a rare form of Alzheimers has me a bit down - I hope he overcomes all obstacles for many years to come.
I also skipped the Tiffany Aching books (Wee Free Men, Hat Full of Sky, and Wintersmith) so I'll be digging them out of wherever they're hiding, too. Speaking of which, I ordered some cool stuff from Paul Kidby's site that includes a Jock Mac Feegle statue and a White Horse Pendant like Tiffany wears since I love that design. I hope it arrives soon, I made the order back on the 12th of December.
I've been updating my LibraryThing list, too. Got a CueCat and it's been very handy. One of these day's I'll take my laptop out to the garage where I have my books stored and scan as many as I can. It'll be great to finally have an index of my books.
In other news I received a cool Christmas gift from my husband - a Portable Lighting Studio for Dummies kit! It's very nifty, came with two lamps and a fabric cube that diffuses the light. I'm waiting on a necklace display that's a bit shorter than the one I'm using now to get started taking new pictures of my beaded jewelry. Since I recently opened a shop on Etsy, I'm going to want to take some additional closeups since you can show your work in multiple images there.
We took the tree down yesterday so, aside from the new stuff that was under it, there are no lingering signs of the holidays, which is kind of sad. It went by so fast.
Well, I'll save some other ramblings and maybe put up a picture or two, for my next post - I'll try not to put it off so long this time.
Just finished most of the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett. I have a few more to go as I skipped the earliest ones and started with Mort, hopped over a few like Small Gods and Soul Music (even though I enjoy the story in that one about Susan).
The reason for this is that one of my favorite ways to go back through the Discworld books is to begin by re-reading the books featuring the Watch. Following the progress of Vimes and Carrot from Guards! Guards! through to Thud! always lifts my spirits. The newer books that have introduced new characters are fun as well - Moist von Lipwig (Going Postal and Making Money) is a great character and I hope there is at least one more book featuring him. Of course the news that Terry has been diagnosed with a rare form of Alzheimers has me a bit down - I hope he overcomes all obstacles for many years to come.
I also skipped the Tiffany Aching books (Wee Free Men, Hat Full of Sky, and Wintersmith) so I'll be digging them out of wherever they're hiding, too. Speaking of which, I ordered some cool stuff from Paul Kidby's site that includes a Jock Mac Feegle statue and a White Horse Pendant like Tiffany wears since I love that design. I hope it arrives soon, I made the order back on the 12th of December.
I've been updating my LibraryThing list, too. Got a CueCat and it's been very handy. One of these day's I'll take my laptop out to the garage where I have my books stored and scan as many as I can. It'll be great to finally have an index of my books.
In other news I received a cool Christmas gift from my husband - a Portable Lighting Studio for Dummies kit! It's very nifty, came with two lamps and a fabric cube that diffuses the light. I'm waiting on a necklace display that's a bit shorter than the one I'm using now to get started taking new pictures of my beaded jewelry. Since I recently opened a shop on Etsy, I'm going to want to take some additional closeups since you can show your work in multiple images there.
We took the tree down yesterday so, aside from the new stuff that was under it, there are no lingering signs of the holidays, which is kind of sad. It went by so fast.
Well, I'll save some other ramblings and maybe put up a picture or two, for my next post - I'll try not to put it off so long this time.
Friday, November 23, 2007
A Thanksgiving Card from My Son and his Squad
My son is center front, standing. His sergeant is the one crouching. Hope you and yours had a Happy Thanksgiving.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
My Soldier
If you say a grace at Thanksgiving, and you're inclined to remember the ones over in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places far from home when you do, I'm one of the moms who thanks you for keeping them in mind.
Monday, November 19, 2007
I've Become a Bead Fanatic
You may remember a post I did awhile back, where I talked about my "beading frenzy". And you may not, but I'll talk about the subject anyway. I've continued beading and I've been putting my stuff up on a Flickr page. There are pieces I haven't photographed and put up, but a major portion of it is online. I don't have a piece of styrofoam large enough anymore to hang all my stuff upon. I bought 6 necklace racks with 8 arms each and those have at least one necklace per arm and many have two or three (I've sorted the necklaces on them by colors, so the ones with the colors I have the most of are nearly full).
If you're curious about the names of the pieces, they're all cities. If you're not curious, I hope you skipped this entire paragraph. In some cases the name of the city has some relation to the stone used - even if it's really a stretch. In other cases, it's just a city that popped into my head as I looked at the finished work.
I have a specific way of finishing all my new stuff so I can use most pieces as badge lanyards or eyeglass chains or necklaces, depending on what I need for the day. If you don't know what a badge lanyard is, you'll have to go to the Flickr site and see what I mean.
If you do happen to visit the site and have any comments or maybe suggestions about designs I could do, let me know - you can leave comments here or there. This is a heck of a lot of fun *and* it's the kind of mindless busy-work (at least after I figure out the design I want to make) that helps distract me from any anxious thoughts I have about, oh, say my daughter driving 400+ miles in the middle of the night to come home for Thanksgiving, or my son being over in Iraq. When the noise in my head gets too loud, I just start stringing beads.
I also created a very simple webpage about my stuff that links to the Flickr site. I'm seriously considering putting together a storefront site. I've written the county for my DBA, I have the paperwork for a business license and I'm trying to figure out how to get a tax ID so I can buy my supplies wholesale. Buying beads at the quantity I've been is pretty pricy at retail. I've found several web sites (some were referrals from other beaders I happened to get replies from on Making Light) and some I just stumbled across via Google. I get better prices online, but I don't know if I could get even better ones if I could buy wholesale. Will have to wait and see. Or, if you know, tell me!
If you're curious about the names of the pieces, they're all cities. If you're not curious, I hope you skipped this entire paragraph. In some cases the name of the city has some relation to the stone used - even if it's really a stretch. In other cases, it's just a city that popped into my head as I looked at the finished work.I have a specific way of finishing all my new stuff so I can use most pieces as badge lanyards or eyeglass chains or necklaces, depending on what I need for the day. If you don't know what a badge lanyard is, you'll have to go to the Flickr site and see what I mean.
If you do happen to visit the site and have any comments or maybe suggestions about designs I could do, let me know - you can leave comments here or there. This is a heck of a lot of fun *and* it's the kind of mindless busy-work (at least after I figure out the design I want to make) that helps distract me from any anxious thoughts I have about, oh, say my daughter driving 400+ miles in the middle of the night to come home for Thanksgiving, or my son being over in Iraq. When the noise in my head gets too loud, I just start stringing beads.
I also created a very simple webpage about my stuff that links to the Flickr site. I'm seriously considering putting together a storefront site. I've written the county for my DBA, I have the paperwork for a business license and I'm trying to figure out how to get a tax ID so I can buy my supplies wholesale. Buying beads at the quantity I've been is pretty pricy at retail. I've found several web sites (some were referrals from other beaders I happened to get replies from on Making Light) and some I just stumbled across via Google. I get better prices online, but I don't know if I could get even better ones if I could buy wholesale. Will have to wait and see. Or, if you know, tell me!
Sunday, November 18, 2007
It's Highly Embellished Christmas Sweater Time Again!
Yep, soon it will be December, and I'll be bringing my Christmas sweaters out. I just got a new one from eBay (new to me, in good shape though). I've looked around online and there's a real dearth of Christmas sweaters out there that live up to my standards. To wit:
- Lots of detail, eye-watering detail, medieval tapestry detail
- Gold or silver thread - the thing needs to glow with metallic thread-y goodness
- Beads and sequins are good things
- Colors should be rich and bright, not necessarily complementary, either
- Textures are important, I'm not crazy about anything printed, it should be appliquéd or embroidered on to the sweater
- Buttons, I want a cardigan style, not pullover, and the buttons should be part of the composition of the overall design
- Sleeves. I'm seeing some nice vests, but I don't want a vest, I want a sweater.
Monday, November 12, 2007
LOL Cubicle?
These didn’t really happen. They’re a complete work of fiction inspired by the LOLCat phenomenon…mostly…maybe…
Anyone else have a contribution?
- I’m in your cube reprogramming your speed-dial/removing your call-forward/stealing your headset/breaking the “kick-stand” in back so you have to either wall-mount or replace your phone
- I’m in your cube “borrowing”/changing the height settings/spilling some unidentifiable and smelly liquid on your chair
- I’m in your cube taking your trash-can and putting my broken one in its place
- I’m in your cube “borrowing” your cute pens and multi colored (the company only provides yellow ones) post-it’s
- I’m in your cube after hours calling my boyfriend in [some foreign country] and talking with him for several hours
I’m in your cube sneezing on your monitor and smearing the saliva around with my hand I’m in your cube using your printer and forgetting the last page of the printout of my second mortgage application paperwork with a lot of personal information on it I’m in your cube doodling on the work surface with your black Sharpie pen I’m in your cube “borrowing” the markers and eraser from your dry-erase board, since you have colors I can't find in the supply cabinet
Monday, October 01, 2007
Wandering Around the Web
Favorite Stumble!s of the Day:
Book sculptures
Looking for a new toaster?
The power of a good story - $142.50 paid for a pack of 44 Pokemon cards on eBay
I'm thinking this should be printed, laminated and stuck on the fridge next to another chart that says when you should throw out that pound of frozen hamburger and that last Eggo in the freezer.
Especially for Rob
Star Wars Auditions
And here's Matt the morning he left for Iraq. Thanks again for the kind words of support.
Book sculptures
Looking for a new toaster?
The power of a good story - $142.50 paid for a pack of 44 Pokemon cards on eBay
I'm thinking this should be printed, laminated and stuck on the fridge next to another chart that says when you should throw out that pound of frozen hamburger and that last Eggo in the freezer.
Especially for Rob
Star Wars Auditions
And here's Matt the morning he left for Iraq. Thanks again for the kind words of support.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Thank You
I just got home from my trip to North Carolina. In the pile of bills and junk mail was a card. It advised me that a Mass will be offered on Oct 3rd @ 7:30 am for the safe return of my son. I'm overwhelmed, and so thankful for this - words cannot express how I'm so deeply touched.
I don't know if the person who arranged this would want me sharing their name - but you know who you are and I love you.
I don't know if the person who arranged this would want me sharing their name - but you know who you are and I love you.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Hurry Up and Wait
I spent a lovely few days with my son down in Fayetteville, North Carolina, this past weekend because his unit was going to be deployed to the Middle East on Monday. We shopped, watched movies and ate a lot of food. I put him up at my hotel so he wouldn't have to stay at his stripped down barracks room. I met some of his buddies here and there as we drove around, and one night we had dinner with his sergeant and family. By the way, sergeant is apparently pronounced something like "sar'nt" with a hint of the south in the accent. At least that's what my son's picked up.
His sergeant is smart and has seen two tours in the Middle East already. He seems to really care about his men, which is a relief to me. His parents are very nice as well. It has to be tough on them to do this for a third time; I know it's been quite a challenge for me getting through this one, focusing on making sure my son is center stage and he gets whatever he needs to make his send-off as good as possible.
Yesterday we ran a couple of errands in the morning - he needed to get his rank insignia sewn to a new cap we'd bought the previous day and he wanted to get his hair trimmed up. Then it was off to the base to get checked out of his room. This was around 11. The following are details of the day to the best of my recollection - I might have gotten some of the timing a bit mixed up - but it's pretty close.
They'd told my son to report to formation at 1:00 so we grabbed him some lunch and got back plenty early and hung around with his buddies and their families and wives or girlfriends. One of his buddies is the oldest of 11 kids. The youngest, a 3 week old baby, was there with Mom, Dad and a sister (#3 sibling). Many pictures were taken, I got a few, too. One guys' dad probably filled his 8 meg memory stick. When I get home I'll post some of the ones I took.
At 1:00 they lined up on the field in front of a little wooden platform on the large field that sits in front of his company's HQ buildings. After a while they ran into one of the buildings and soon they were all coming out, staggering under huge packs and hauling overstuffed duffles. I'm guessing my son's gear weighed more than he does, but he ran briskly to his spot with it on his back. Then after some business with their gear, I wandered out to where he was and we stood around some more. A while later they formed up again. Then a large group ran off in another direction to a different building. My son was a good 20 yards ahead of the rest of them - he runs like a gazelle with a cheetah on his tail.
They came straggling back one or two at time to the field with their weapons. We stood around some more. I got to know some of his buddies a bit better - they're a good group of young men. Funny stories were told, lots of teasing happened. By now it's around 3:00. Next formation is at 7.
Now, not knowing whether they'll be leaving or not, each time he had to go form up, we said goodbye. I'd go off to my car to get some A/C and water and eventually he'd call me and say, come on back out. At the 3:00 formation, there's a huge truck for their gear. They load all the gear. I've said goodbye again and am in my car. He calls me again, come back, we aren't leaving yet. I stagger back out. He and I head over to an Arby's just outside one of the nearby gates and had a second lunch. He tried to fill up, since he had no idea when he'd get a chance to eat again.
The sun sets and blessed cool finally arrives. It's been sunny and in the upper 80s all day. I'm surprised I don't have a sunburn. They get in formation again, and they all get some stuff on a lanyard they have to wear for the flight out. We stand around some more. While waiting for this formation to end I sat on a wad of gum. The chaplains assistant had been wandering around earlier with a tub of candy and gum and handing out 120 minute phone cards, about which my son said "this is like gold!". I suspect one of the kids spit out the gum, the soldiers are very good about cleaning up after themselves.
There have been buses coming and going all day - each time a different formation of troops has arrived and gotten on those buses with about an hour or two at most between their arrival and departure. My son's group has been standing around sweating in their fatigues since 1:00. It will be a ripe group getting on that plane later.
Finally, around 8 they're told the next buses that show up will be theirs. The buses arrive. I give my son another huge hug and tell him how much I, and all his family, and the huge circle of friends around us, are proud of him, will be praying for him and how much I love him. He heads for the bus, I head for the car. When the last bus drives off, I head for the road - it's about a 2 hour trip from Fayetteville to Raleigh where I am for the week.
He calls me about half an hour later - he's at "Green Ramp" which means he's at the airfield from which his flight will leave. He's not sure when they'll be loading onto the plane, but he is pretty sure he won't have another chance to call tonight. He promises to call me the next chance he gets. I'll be keeping the cell phone charged and near by in anticipation for the next, oh, 15 months or so.
His sergeant is smart and has seen two tours in the Middle East already. He seems to really care about his men, which is a relief to me. His parents are very nice as well. It has to be tough on them to do this for a third time; I know it's been quite a challenge for me getting through this one, focusing on making sure my son is center stage and he gets whatever he needs to make his send-off as good as possible.
Yesterday we ran a couple of errands in the morning - he needed to get his rank insignia sewn to a new cap we'd bought the previous day and he wanted to get his hair trimmed up. Then it was off to the base to get checked out of his room. This was around 11. The following are details of the day to the best of my recollection - I might have gotten some of the timing a bit mixed up - but it's pretty close.
They'd told my son to report to formation at 1:00 so we grabbed him some lunch and got back plenty early and hung around with his buddies and their families and wives or girlfriends. One of his buddies is the oldest of 11 kids. The youngest, a 3 week old baby, was there with Mom, Dad and a sister (#3 sibling). Many pictures were taken, I got a few, too. One guys' dad probably filled his 8 meg memory stick. When I get home I'll post some of the ones I took.
At 1:00 they lined up on the field in front of a little wooden platform on the large field that sits in front of his company's HQ buildings. After a while they ran into one of the buildings and soon they were all coming out, staggering under huge packs and hauling overstuffed duffles. I'm guessing my son's gear weighed more than he does, but he ran briskly to his spot with it on his back. Then after some business with their gear, I wandered out to where he was and we stood around some more. A while later they formed up again. Then a large group ran off in another direction to a different building. My son was a good 20 yards ahead of the rest of them - he runs like a gazelle with a cheetah on his tail.
They came straggling back one or two at time to the field with their weapons. We stood around some more. I got to know some of his buddies a bit better - they're a good group of young men. Funny stories were told, lots of teasing happened. By now it's around 3:00. Next formation is at 7.
Now, not knowing whether they'll be leaving or not, each time he had to go form up, we said goodbye. I'd go off to my car to get some A/C and water and eventually he'd call me and say, come on back out. At the 3:00 formation, there's a huge truck for their gear. They load all the gear. I've said goodbye again and am in my car. He calls me again, come back, we aren't leaving yet. I stagger back out. He and I head over to an Arby's just outside one of the nearby gates and had a second lunch. He tried to fill up, since he had no idea when he'd get a chance to eat again.
The sun sets and blessed cool finally arrives. It's been sunny and in the upper 80s all day. I'm surprised I don't have a sunburn. They get in formation again, and they all get some stuff on a lanyard they have to wear for the flight out. We stand around some more. While waiting for this formation to end I sat on a wad of gum. The chaplains assistant had been wandering around earlier with a tub of candy and gum and handing out 120 minute phone cards, about which my son said "this is like gold!". I suspect one of the kids spit out the gum, the soldiers are very good about cleaning up after themselves.
There have been buses coming and going all day - each time a different formation of troops has arrived and gotten on those buses with about an hour or two at most between their arrival and departure. My son's group has been standing around sweating in their fatigues since 1:00. It will be a ripe group getting on that plane later.
Finally, around 8 they're told the next buses that show up will be theirs. The buses arrive. I give my son another huge hug and tell him how much I, and all his family, and the huge circle of friends around us, are proud of him, will be praying for him and how much I love him. He heads for the bus, I head for the car. When the last bus drives off, I head for the road - it's about a 2 hour trip from Fayetteville to Raleigh where I am for the week.
He calls me about half an hour later - he's at "Green Ramp" which means he's at the airfield from which his flight will leave. He's not sure when they'll be loading onto the plane, but he is pretty sure he won't have another chance to call tonight. He promises to call me the next chance he gets. I'll be keeping the cell phone charged and near by in anticipation for the next, oh, 15 months or so.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Award Winning Mustaches and Beards
I am a huge fan of the Sheldon comic strip. I even have my own Lucky Duck tee shirt (you have to scroll down about half a page to see it) and signed book editions of the strips - the artist/writer even drew sketches in them which I love to pieces.
In his blog post today he asks, regarding a link he received to the World Beard and Mustache Championships 2007 (who knew?), "...at what point in your life do you go 'You know what? I'm tired of dating or of being attractive in any way. I'm past that. Instead, I'm gonna grow me an Imperial.'"
Good question. However I was more interested in what this guy could possibly have been thinking - and he only got 3rd place.
Yes, I know today is Talk Like a Pirate Day. I am just not clever enough to do an entire post in Pirate Talk. Arrr, me maties, ahoy and avast! That's about the most I can manage.
I did create a special avatar for today...
No grandkitties were harmed in the making of this avatar - it's entirely created in (and I would hope obviously since my skills are poor) Paintbox Pro. Maybe I should go look for a hat to put on it, too...
In his blog post today he asks, regarding a link he received to the World Beard and Mustache Championships 2007 (who knew?), "...at what point in your life do you go 'You know what? I'm tired of dating or of being attractive in any way. I'm past that. Instead, I'm gonna grow me an Imperial.'"
Good question. However I was more interested in what this guy could possibly have been thinking - and he only got 3rd place.
Yes, I know today is Talk Like a Pirate Day. I am just not clever enough to do an entire post in Pirate Talk. Arrr, me maties, ahoy and avast! That's about the most I can manage.
I did create a special avatar for today...
No grandkitties were harmed in the making of this avatar - it's entirely created in (and I would hope obviously since my skills are poor) Paintbox Pro. Maybe I should go look for a hat to put on it, too...
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
A Very Special Pigeon, The "Pina Colada Song" In Real Life and Happy Birthday Smilies!
I've seen articles with pictures of momma mammals raising abandoned babies from other species but I've never seen anything like this pigeon and a baby monkey.
In other news, remember the "Pina Colada" song, which my husband reminds me was actually titled "Escape"? Back in the days before Match.com and online chat, this whiny dude sees a personal in the paper (while lying in bed next to his wife), responds to it (probably not right there in bed), and sets up a meeting at an Irish bar (we all know those are the best places to start illicit affairs) with this intriguing woman who may or may not be a wet, out of shape, alcoholic nympho with sand down her shorts. Oh Henry! It turns out to be his wife! They wander off into the sunset all smiles and renewed passion. Right.
Here's how it happens in real life.
My favorite quote of the piece was "To be honest I still find it hard to believe that the person, Sweetie, who wrote such wonderful things to me on the internet, is actually the same woman I married and who has not said a nice word to me for years."
At least there was no blood shed. Yet. I'm looking forward to some interesting comments on this one, folks.
Finally, the smiley face is 25 tomorrow.
In other news, remember the "Pina Colada" song, which my husband reminds me was actually titled "Escape"? Back in the days before Match.com and online chat, this whiny dude sees a personal in the paper (while lying in bed next to his wife), responds to it (probably not right there in bed), and sets up a meeting at an Irish bar (we all know those are the best places to start illicit affairs) with this intriguing woman who may or may not be a wet, out of shape, alcoholic nympho with sand down her shorts. Oh Henry! It turns out to be his wife! They wander off into the sunset all smiles and renewed passion. Right.
Here's how it happens in real life.
My favorite quote of the piece was "To be honest I still find it hard to believe that the person, Sweetie, who wrote such wonderful things to me on the internet, is actually the same woman I married and who has not said a nice word to me for years."
At least there was no blood shed. Yet. I'm looking forward to some interesting comments on this one, folks.
Finally, the smiley face is 25 tomorrow.
Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott E. Fahlman says, he was the first to use three keystrokes - a colon followed by a hyphen and a parenthesis - as a horizontal "smiley face" in a computer message...Fahlman posted the emoticon in a message to an online electronic bulletin board at 11:44 a.m. on Sept. 19, 1982, during a discussion about the limits of online humor and how to denote comments meant to be taken lightly.
"I propose the following character sequence for joke markers: :-)," wrote Fahlman. "Read it sideways."
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Righi Was Within His Rights
Update on the Michael Righi "Papers Please" story. The Cleaveland Plain Dealer carried an article (I'd link to it but I get a "not found" page when I followed the link from "Writes Like She Talks" Hi, Jill! Like the new site.) on the case and later this article "What Are Your Rights?" appeared. Two excerpts:
and
Looks like Mr. Righi was right.
A store asks me to open my bag. What are my rights?
Customers have the right to say no, said Lewis Katz, a Case Western Reserve University law professor and author of "Know Your Rights." That's why store employees and security guards usually ask permission. Security guards are allowed to search you without a warrant in three specific instances, said Jennifer Brindisi, a spokeswoman for Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann. That's at the border, in the airport and before entering private property. Otherwise, unless you're prepared to take a stand, it's easier to comply, ACLU Ohio Director Jeff Gamso said.
and
Can police force you to present your driver's license?
If you are not driving a car, Katz and the ACLU believe that police cannot demand a driver's license.
Looks like Mr. Righi was right.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Cute and Lucky - More Cute Animals, real and otherwise
Ok, no more politics/current events stuff. Back to the tried an true "cute animal" stuff.
Heartkun - not an urban myth! At least so says Snopes - where I go to check out all things suspicious I get via massively forwarded emails...This adorable puppy has a heart shaped patch of fur. Watch the video on the Snopes page if you need a pick me up. Then go buy a lottery ticket. If you win the big one, don't forget Dawno sent you there...
Speaking of cute animals - have you read Frank's recent post about his new Jack Russell terrier? You should.
I'm a fan of the web-comic "Sheldon" which features a pug dog, a duck and a cute ?salamander? maybe a chameleon? any way, a cute lizard-like animal. That and "Two Lumps" which is a great little strip about two cats - one who's smart and snarky and one who's rather goofy and not too bright.
There's your daily dose of cute animal stuff. Your cheeks should be aching from the smiles - just remember, "no pain, no gain"
Heartkun - not an urban myth! At least so says Snopes - where I go to check out all things suspicious I get via massively forwarded emails...This adorable puppy has a heart shaped patch of fur. Watch the video on the Snopes page if you need a pick me up. Then go buy a lottery ticket. If you win the big one, don't forget Dawno sent you there...
Speaking of cute animals - have you read Frank's recent post about his new Jack Russell terrier? You should.
I'm a fan of the web-comic "Sheldon" which features a pug dog, a duck and a cute ?salamander? maybe a chameleon? any way, a cute lizard-like animal. That and "Two Lumps" which is a great little strip about two cats - one who's smart and snarky and one who's rather goofy and not too bright.
There's your daily dose of cute animal stuff. Your cheeks should be aching from the smiles - just remember, "no pain, no gain"
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Circuit City Apparently Is Exempt from Obeying the 4th Amendment
Mr Michael Righi was detained outside of an Ohio Circuit City Store by the manager and "loss prevention" person for refusing to show his receipt. The comments thread on Mr. Righi's blog post is very interesting in that so many people seem to think he's a jerk (well, most used less nice terms) for contesting the illegal search.
He called the police and was arrested and then released on $300 bail.
My husband and I shop at a local electronics super store and they have the same type of loss prevention person at the front of the store. We walk right past him every time. He has been trained NOT to try and force us to show the receipt. Good for them, because I'm not "guilty until proven innocent" in this country, yet. Accuse me of shoplifting, call the cops and then you can see my receipt and bag. Meanwhile, I'll be on the phone to my lawyer, the ACLU and the Mercury News.
Oh, and I liked the advice given in the comments to the above blog, take the merchandise directly to the returns counter and get your money back right then and there. You want to see my receipt? Bring that nice police officer over here and you can all examine the receipt as you refund my money.
ETA: ok, ok, my husband just reminded me that the 4th Amendment protects me from the government illegally searching me. In the back of my mind something tells me that if the government is prohibited then surely private citizens are equally prohibited - but that would be under some other statute - kidnapping maybe? I shot from the hip - but I know there's a grain of truth in there somewhere...
He called the police and was arrested and then released on $300 bail.
My husband and I shop at a local electronics super store and they have the same type of loss prevention person at the front of the store. We walk right past him every time. He has been trained NOT to try and force us to show the receipt. Good for them, because I'm not "guilty until proven innocent" in this country, yet. Accuse me of shoplifting, call the cops and then you can see my receipt and bag. Meanwhile, I'll be on the phone to my lawyer, the ACLU and the Mercury News.
Oh, and I liked the advice given in the comments to the above blog, take the merchandise directly to the returns counter and get your money back right then and there. You want to see my receipt? Bring that nice police officer over here and you can all examine the receipt as you refund my money.
ETA: ok, ok, my husband just reminded me that the 4th Amendment protects me from the government illegally searching me. In the back of my mind something tells me that if the government is prohibited then surely private citizens are equally prohibited - but that would be under some other statute - kidnapping maybe? I shot from the hip - but I know there's a grain of truth in there somewhere...
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Sumo Sushi Early Birthday Dinner
We've done a few of these birthday dinners for Matt at Sumo Sushi. One year it was closed on the day we chose to go and ended up somewhere else, but this is his favorite place. The owner knows him and gives us fairly special treatment when we come. It's very good food and judging by the constant flow of people, a popular place.
So here's Matt (far left), a couple weeks from being 22, with some of his old friends (a couple of them he's known since elementary school) celebrating.
In less than a month he's off to Iraq - I'm glad I can help him create good memories to hold on to while he's there.
So here's Matt (far left), a couple weeks from being 22, with some of his old friends (a couple of them he's known since elementary school) celebrating.
In less than a month he's off to Iraq - I'm glad I can help him create good memories to hold on to while he's there.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Peek-a-boo Grandkitties
Here's Jello playing peek-a-boo in my office.
Here's Pudding a couple hours later doing much the same
Some days don't you wish you were a cat?
I do.
Here's Pudding a couple hours later doing much the same
Some days don't you wish you were a cat?
I do.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Baby Orphan Hedgehogs and My Failing Vision. Plus! News Flash!
From the Daily Mail: Orphaned hedgehogs adopt cleaning brush as their mother. You really should click that link and look at the picture - the baby hedgehogs are about an inch long and totally adorable. They're named Mary, Mungo, Midge and Slappy. First the teeny duckies, now these. I'm on cute overload.
So, not satisfied with just one dose of cute, I go Google: "tiny cute baby animals" and the first hit is a site called "things that make you go aaahh dot com" DO NOT GO THERE. I didn't read carefully but Google had tagged the site "this site may harm your computer" right on the search page. I clicked the link anyway - having not read the first warning - and Google thoughtfully put up this page:
*Whew* dodged a bullet there!
I'm going in for an eye exam Friday. All those years of "high glycemic index food" are taking quite a toll on my close vision. I now have two pairs of glasses for bead work and my regular reading glasses which I wear constantly - this could be part of the problem because I sometimes try to see things outside the focal range and I'm sure I'm straining my eyes even more before I remember to lower or take off the glasses. I need to get graduated lenses this time around.
Hot off the press - Teresa Nielsen Hayden has announced her appointment (employment?) by BoingBoing to be their "community manager" - She's going to keep the comments, recently re-activated on the BoingBoing site, from turning into a home for spammers, astroturfers and trolls. Yay!! Congrats, Teresa!
Making Light is one of my mostest favorite online places (after AW of course) and it's very much due to the great job Teresa and Patrick do in the comments. It's a light touch and at most a good talking to, until the trolls come out then "wham!" with the disemvoweller!
So, not satisfied with just one dose of cute, I go Google: "tiny cute baby animals" and the first hit is a site called "things that make you go aaahh dot com" DO NOT GO THERE. I didn't read carefully but Google had tagged the site "this site may harm your computer" right on the search page. I clicked the link anyway - having not read the first warning - and Google thoughtfully put up this page:
*Whew* dodged a bullet there!
I'm going in for an eye exam Friday. All those years of "high glycemic index food" are taking quite a toll on my close vision. I now have two pairs of glasses for bead work and my regular reading glasses which I wear constantly - this could be part of the problem because I sometimes try to see things outside the focal range and I'm sure I'm straining my eyes even more before I remember to lower or take off the glasses. I need to get graduated lenses this time around.
Hot off the press - Teresa Nielsen Hayden has announced her appointment (employment?) by BoingBoing to be their "community manager" - She's going to keep the comments, recently re-activated on the BoingBoing site, from turning into a home for spammers, astroturfers and trolls. Yay!! Congrats, Teresa!
Making Light is one of my mostest favorite online places (after AW of course) and it's very much due to the great job Teresa and Patrick do in the comments. It's a light touch and at most a good talking to, until the trolls come out then "wham!" with the disemvoweller!
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