Author Archives: David Crampton

Thoughts from Work

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Feeling very twitchy and anxious. Dunno if it’s the antibiotics that I’m on, a symptom of the upper respiratory infection, or something else entirely. Yay doxycycline!

Stargate Universe is pulling zero punches when it comes to flaws in the characters. Wow. Also, old-school version of “the chair” looks creepy and intimidating. The reference to a dentist’s chair was spot on in so many ways.

Twitchiness and anxiousness have faded. Think it might be related to the brain fogs that were coming with that whole being sick thing. GO TEAM DOXYCYCLINE!

Enjoying the hell out of the newest Ubuntu version on my work laptop. It’s actually using the proprietary ATI driver, and using it well. Methinks it’s a good thing that ATI is now part of AMD.

scp is my friend.

As Aidan prepares to transition from Terrible Twos into Tantrum Threes, he’s ramping up his attempts to verbally control his universe. Now, many religious traditions ranging from Shamanism to modern day monotheisms(msmsmsmsms) have attempted to change and/or improve the world around them by putting voice and will into speech and thereby giving definition to the change that they want.

It’s not working so well for Aidan. He’s got the focus and the determination, that’s for sure. “I not in time-out, Daddy!” while sitting in the time-out chair may be a difficult approach to take, is all I’m sayin’. :)

Caffeine cat is caffeinated. Unreasonable deadlines are unreasonable. “It is what it is.”

Stargate Atlantis – Season 5

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I was hoping that they’d spend the entire season wrapping up the show. Not meant to be, I suppose. Just the last few episodes. I wonder if they were told late in the season’s production that there would be no season six. Parallel dimensions, replicators (srsly, they keep coming back), and Wraith leveling up. Also, last-minute propulsion craziness. I want to bitch about the very end, I really do, but I don’t want to post spoilers.

The stories were solid, the actors were talented, special effects were top notch, and adding makeup to remove makeup… four stars out of five.


Thoughts from Work

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Wordy wordy word words.

Now that I’m feeling more coherent, I’m having a harder time dealing with words. Strange.

Yesterday, I put The Remembrance up for free download. Instead of hosting it myself, I decided to do it through Lulu, since they offer that service free of charge. Don’t know yet how I’ll end up tracking the downloads, since I’m pretty sure that they don’t count “$0.00” downloads as sales. You can find the link here.

If words start coming to me over lunch, I’ll be writing them down on paper. If not, I’ll be fixing dead links in the writery web site.

So, yeah, the dead links are all fixed, as far as I can see. If you find any, feel free to drop me a line and let me know.

After spending some of my lunch hour pondering why environment (both time and place) seem to impact my creativity so much, I shouldn’t really be surprised at my horoscope.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In the beginning of his career, poet Linh Dinh loved to stay up late and write, sometimes riding a creative surge till dawn. The power of the darkness unleashed a stark fertility. He was free to think thoughts that were harder to invoke during the bright hours when hordes of wide-awake people were pouring their chattering thoughts out into the soup. Dinh’s habits changed as he aged, though, in part because he got married and chose to keep more regular hours. But his early imprint has stayed alive inside him. “Now I can write at any time of the day,” he says, “because I always carry the night inside of me.” In accordance with your astrological omens, Taurus, I’m making that your prescription for the coming week: Carry the night inside you during the day.

“I am no destination, I am just a journey.” – Sage Francis, Keep Moving

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Where did the fiction go?

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In visiting the nearly-complete WordPress version of my Writery site (where you may be reading this very post!), you may notice a distinct lack of links to my fiction. Probably because it’s not there.

I am the first to admit it – I have limited WordPress-fu. What I will likely do is create a category for Fiction posts, and then create a page that shows only posts within that category. I’m hoping to find a way to limit the post list that shows up by default to that category as well.

In the mean time, I’ve posted some links to some new-ish and some old-ish stuff over on the Google Group. There’s an announcement coming up regarding The Remembrance, which I will make as soon as I finish fixing the dead links from the website update.

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Samurai Champloo

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Samurai CHamplooThere’s a striking similarity between this version of the Edo (?) time period in Japan’s history, and the futuristic setting of Cowboy Bebop – lack of food.  Not that there’s a general lack of food being grown or being available, just that the main characters can’t get to it.  I’m wondering if that empty stomach gurgle noise is the director’s cell phone ring tone.

The quest to find the Samurai that smells like sunflowers is long, convoluted, and mostly not the focus of the individual episodes.  Though the characters find themselves coming under the watchful eyes of several proto-Yakuza groups, enraged townsfolk – both legitimate and criminal, and secondarily embroiled in Shogun-level politics.

Really, all they wanted was a good meal and a good fight.  Oh, and to kill each other.  Four out of five stars.

Thoughts from Work

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So tempting to log into Google Chat from my Gmail interface.

More words down on paper on my lunch break.  Once again with the not much, but hooray for regularity!  I’m hoping

Horoscope:

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “Dear Rob: I’ve read horoscope columns written by many astrologers, and yours is the only one that’s not prejudiced against at least one of the signs. You really do treat everyone equally. You play no favorites. But that’s exactly the bone I have to pick with you. I’m wondering if you’ve got a passion deficiency or something. It seems abnormal not to display a hint of bias now and then. -Suspicious Taurus.” Dear Suspicious: My own birth chart includes elements of both Taurus and Libra. The Taurus part of me has strong feelings and deep passions, while the Libra part of me is fair-minded and well-balanced. They’ve worked out a synergistic arrangement that allows me to maintain my equilibrium as I feed my intensity. I recommend this approach to you right now.

I think that my moon sign is Libra.  Huh.  Why do I have such a hard time with finding balance?  Is my Taurus set to override?

Chin strap for CPAP machine is at home!  Looking forward to a restful night tonight!

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Thoughts from Work

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Yesterday at work… let me explain.  No, there is too much.  Let me sum up.

I downloaded, installed, and used the Gimp in the space of about seven minutes to fix one of those “You’re joking, right?” problems.  The problem was a big deal, and I’m just thankful that the fix was quick, easy, and done.

This set the tone for the day.  Except for the quick and easy fix part.

I really want to build Hunter’s computer.  He’s probably too old for the Sugar interface, but I have to wonder if something like edubuntu would be too complex.  Probably not.  And then, of course, there’s the issue of connecting to the internet.

The preview for the new Avatar (not Airbender, which is also awesome) movie is amazing.  Watch it.  Now.