Author Archives: David Crampton

Bad News, Great News, Old News, and Just Plain News

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Bad News
My iBook is pretty much dead. A week and a half after the tube on our TV starts to die, the display on the laptop is getting -no- info. I can’t even get anything on an external monitor. I’m going through the motions, as time permits, to diagnose the problem. Thanks, for those motions. :) PRAM reset didn’t help, and it’s not the battery. Next step is removing the non-onboard RAM.

This, of course, has been limiting my access to LJ, my email, and most importantly, my class notes.

Great News
The hardcovers have shipped! I got the news yesterday, and so will probably have the books in hand tomorrow. Thank the gods for them showing up before the signings! :)

Old News
Tomorrow, I turn 29. And, just like every year that I’ve been in school, I have an exam on my birthday. This year it’s Islam.

Just Plain News
Egads, I didn’t miss Senioritis. Oi! Motivation! Get back over here! Yes, yes, Writing Projects. I’ll get to you soon. Just give me this week, Bob Spammit. *shakes fist at heavens*

I can’t beleive that the 6th is almost here! I’m all bouncy and nervous and excited as hell. One of the barristas at Gone Wired told me that people keep asking her about the signing, so I should expect a lot of people. We can’t keep that place stocked with the free teasers. They just keep disappearing. There should also now be some at Clem’s Collectibles in downtown Lansing. I’m also fairly certain that, after Saturday, some may end up on the West Coast. Of the United States.

Reminder:
Saturday, May 6th, starting sometime around 8:30 PM: The official release party on IPM Radio. They’ve even got a bit there in their news blurb for next time! If you’re coming, and haven’t pre-ordered or reserved a book, we will have extras to sell! I will be happy to sign anything and everything, including teaser CD’s. If you can’t make it out, and have a decent connection, crank it! :) I will be reading a few selections from the novel, both from the teaser, and from later on in the novel. Don’t miss it!

Sunday, May 7th, starting at 2 PM: Signing at Gone Wired Cafe. This promises to be a much more subdued, but just as big, gathering. There are rumors *wink, wink* of DJ’s spinning some good tunes for background music, as well as what my mother would affectionately call “snackies.” I will be signing like a crazy person, and will also sign anything and everything here, including the teaser CD’s (provided we have any left).

The teaser can also be downloaded from davidmcrampton.com.

I hope I didn’t forget anything. :)

Horoscope

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TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Recently I had minor eye surgery to close some tiny holes in my retina. It wasn’t a big deal–just a preventive measure–and it didn’t have any effect on my actual physical vision. The best part of the experience happened because of the nurse who prepped me for the procedure. She used a felt-tip pen to write “YES” over my right eyebrow, ensuring that the surgeon wouldn’t aim the laser into the wrong eye. I didn’t wash off the “YES” until 24 hours after the operation, and was pleased at the unexpected effect it had. I found myself using my eyes more aggressively–with a greater hunger to study my surroundings. It was as if the written “YES” had given me a subliminal suggestion to switch on a figurative “YES” in my perceptual apparatus. Now I’m recommending this trick to you, Taurus. It’s a perfect astrological moment to perk up your seeing. I dare you to write “YES” over both of your eyebrows.

Political Leanings Quiz

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You scored as Old School Democrat. Old school Democrats emphasize economic justice and opportunity. The Democratic ideal is best summarized by the Four Freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.

Old School Democrat
90%
Green
90%
New Democrat
65%
Libertarian
50%
Pro Business Republican
15%
Foreign Policy Hawk
10%
Socially Conservative Republican
0%

What’s Your Political Philosophy?
created with QuizFarm.com

Brain Dump – Holy crap, my head a splode!

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So, I went to Penguicon, right?

Did I go to any panels? No.
Did I go to the masquerade/dance? No.
Did I see/listen to/interact with any of the special guests? Uh, no.

I -did- reconnect with a crap ton of old friends. , , , to name a few. I also ran into and Tom quite often, and got a ribbon to attach to my convention badge after holding their brand-new baby, Ivy. I also got one for Dan and Moonbeam’s wedding.

I don’t think I’ve met either Dan, nor Moonbeam. I certainly didn’t attend their wedding. ;)

There was an observation made at the convention, about the age of convention-goers. There were the expected graybeards, with their t-shirts and suspenders. There were a lot of geek/nerd parents chasing after kids that had obviously inherited some store of caffeine from their aforementioned parental units. Most of these parents were a bit older than and I, but not by much. And then, of course, there were the people that were my age, give or take on either side.

But there were teenagers. People that were either under 18, or just on the plus side. Young blood, so to speak. Their presence was remarked upon (I don’t remember by whom), and then someone said, “thank god for that.” It wasn’t the response that I was expecting.

Conventions were getting older. This, I think, is related to a scene of convention-goers. You know, like the rave scene, the gamer scene, the goth scene… there’s the metro Detroit area convention scene. The same people go to every con.

What’s with that?

It’s like a repeating, roving hotel party with Guests of Honor and topics (Linux, Science Fiction, Anime, etc.) as excuses to get together and party with other geeks. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not speaking out against geeks getting social in hotel settings. Freakin’ go for it.

I may be naive, but I thought Linux cons were for Linux people, because they were interested in things of and relating to Linux. The same with Anime cons and SciFi cons. Thinking back, I’m not sure if this was ever the case.

MooCon, Origins, and GenCon, which were my first experience with conventions, were gaming cons. Sure, drunken debauchery happened, but it was pretty obvious everywhere that RPGs and their related offshoots were the primary focus of those present. I avoided ConVocation because I heard that it was nothing but a big orgy with a filmy pagan excuse. I’ve never looked in to going back. Then there was ConFusion. No one ever made any bones about what this con was about… hanging out with old friends from across the state and country, be nerdy, and possibly get some action. The fact that it’s run by Ann Arbor’s SciFi community has never seemed to matter.

Two years ago, at the last PenguiCon that I attended, open source was exciting. Install fests cropped up wherever anyone booted up a machine with Windows. Knoppix was passed around like candy. The Chaos Machine… okay, the Chaos Machine actually brings me to my point (finally).

This year there were no install fests that I could find. I installed OpenOffice.org on my iBook in my hotel room. Sure, people were around with their laptops, checking their gmail and their friends’ blogs, and probably their *shudder* MySpace accounts, but where were those to spread the Open Source message to ready and willing installees?

They were busy competing for the coolest room party. But on Saturday night, after word went out that the Chaos Machine would be dismantled at 9 AM, much of the younger crowd moved in on it. Where others of us had simply tweaked and re-built the machine that had already been built (I kept getting hit with marbles, damnit, I had to DO something), these people constructed whole new scaffolding, interconnected two disparate systems with a suspension bridge (supported by duct tape, mind you), fixed some broken toy motors and cobbled together a new raiser ladder out of two older, broken ones. They got it. They got it way more than I had.

So, as I delve back into the world of conventions, I have hope in a place that my grumpy old man personality is trying desperately to deny. The next generation of nerd kicks some serious ass.