Monthly Archives: October 2006

Updateroo.

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There have been all kinds of writery things going on lately, and it’s extremely exciting.

and I are going to WindyCon in November! Chicago-area sci-fi/fantasy fandom, here I come. We’re bringing books, teasers, hopefully some ribbons, and the intent to wow them with how awesome I am. Er, my book is. Heh.

The Steven page has been updated with new behind-the-script fiction. If you’ve been keeping up on it, this is the first part where any consequences start to become important.

I am all signed up for National Novel Writing Month. If you’re not familiar, I’ll be attempting to write an entire novel in one month. Yes, indeed, it’s the sequel to The Remembrance.

There are all kinds of updates to my home page, mostly around the “Where’s Dave” section. There are now pictures of each of the events that I’ve been to so far. Not only that, but you can leave comments or discuss the pics that are there. Check it out if you get a few moments. Also, all of these announcements went out a while ago on the Google Group (mailing list), so if you’re interested, or if you have a friend who would be, feel free to sign up.

I think that’s it on the writer front. I haven’t been making a lot of time for writing, but I’ve been sick as a dog for the last couple of weeks, recovering and then not. But that’s another post. :)

Horoscope

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TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In Buddhist tradition, bodhisattvas are seekers who put their service to others above their personal goals–even above their quest for the supreme peace that comes from enlightenment. In the eight-century prayer “The Bodhisattva Path,” poet Shantideva wrote, “May I be the doctor and the medicine/ for all sick beings in the world/ until everyone is healed.” That’s a high standard to live by. In asking you to try it out for a limited time, I’m not expecting perfection. But my analysis of the astrological omens suggests that the people in your life fervently need you to be a source of strong medicine. More than that, you need to initiate the changes in your life that will ensue if you make yourself into a soothing balm, a potent remedy, a love tonic.

Hit me with that meme action.

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Tagged by .

Once tagged by this entry, the assignment is to write a blog entry of some kind with six random facts about yourself. Then, pick six of your friends and tag them; no tag backs. This explanation should be included.

1. In the fourth and fifth grade, I played the viola. I was told that I had great musical talent, but I despised the practicing.

2. A long time ago, I used to doubt if I had the ability to feel emotion. The ironic part is that I would have these giant emotional outbursts/breakdowns randomly.

3. Autumn is my favorite season.

4. Now that I can tell when my hands have dried out, I find myself craving lotion/moisturizer. Once again, will note the irony.

5. My favorite kind of lunch meat is olive loaf.

6. I don’t understand vicious competition – the kind where you don’t just strive to win, but actively attempt to make others lose. It angers me.

I’m tagging , , , , , and .

[Excerpt] Adam’s Name

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Most of us have seen someone out of the corner of our eye that’s not really there. Not many of us have been knocked on our butt by said shadowy being.

—
Seth shrugged and slipped the notebook into a pocket of his hooded sweatshirt. “Ready?” Susan nodded and left the tip on the table. He cast one last glance at the clubbers that had started the whole conversation, and then they were out the door and into the brisk Autumn air. You could feel the heat and the smells radiate off of you into the breeze, and it was one of the reasons that Seth stayed in Michigan. Nothing like a good Autumn.

He was startled out of his enjoyment as Susan fell bodily into him, nearly knocking him over. He caught the brick wall of the Coney with one hand, and Susan with the other. Pain sliced into his palm, and he tumbled to the sidewalk with her.

She was up again in an instant. “Hey, fucker! Why don’t you watch… where…” She turned around slowly, searching the empty sidewalks. “Where did he go?”

“Who?” Seth used his left hand to pull himself up by the brick wall. His right palm was scraped, bleeding, and full of sidewalk grime. Great. He had iodine and bandages back at his place, but this was going to hurt for a while.

“The guy that ran into me! He was drunk; I could smell it on his breath.” She had that same look in her eyes, as if she was waking up from a dream. “He had the strangest eyes. Brown with little flecks of green in them.”

Seth felt a chill in his bones again, and thought that maybe they really had jumped off of some kind of cliff. “You saw his eyes that close when he knocked you down?” He limped over to her, and started them walking to her building.

“No. I didn’t even get a look at them. You know what else? I know what his name is. It’s Adam.”
—

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
10,048 / 110,000
(9.1%)

Horoscope

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TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Roy Rivenburg writes in the *L.A. Times* that there has recently been a rash of mannequin assaults. He cites four people who have been struck by falling dummies while shopping in clothes stores. For example, one victim was hit in the head by a mannequin’s arm when a clerk tried to remove its shirt. I mention this for two reasons, Taurus. First, the planets are aligned in such a way as to suggest that you could, if you’re not careful, get in a tangle with a doll, statue, puppet, robot, or scarecrow in the coming week. Second, you should minimize your interactions with anyone whose expression never changes, whose behavior seems mechanical, or whose actions seem controlled by someone else.

I am in PH34R of the robot menace!

List of Wants for My Environment

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This is for planning purposes only, and in no circumstance should be taken as whining or griping. I feel -so- close to being able to really -live- in my house. I’m spending more and more time there, every day.

These are my priorities, and are by no means the only projects/wants that we have for our home.

    My Office

  • 15″ or so television with RCA input ports as well as coax.
  • More hanging file folders
  • One less non-working television
  • Cable modem for solid internet access
    My Kitchen

  • Plumber to fix the whole “it rains in the kitchen after someone takes a shower” problem.
  • Copper hooks to hang on grates. The hooks will be used to hang pots and pans from
    My Living Room

  • Decent size television that will work with our current receiver and surround sound setup.
  • One less non-working television
  • Walls and a ceiling and floor without holes

I feel better. :)

The intertubes are clogged. WITH MY RAGE.

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I woke up this morning after about 11 hours of sleep. That’s two nights in a row with that volume of sleep, and my body hasn’t felt so rested in a long time. I know it’s needed when the only sinus headache I get is mild.

is sick, and she was catching it before she left for New York. So, it looks like I’m following her lead. Copious amounts of Vitamin C, as well as the aforementioned sleep, are helping my body to fight it off, thankfully.

First thing I did was address a situation that has been frustrating me for weeks now. The wireless bridge that we use for our internet connection hasn’t been able to find a network to attach to, for about 75% of the time. When it does find one, it attaches for just long enough for me to attempt to load a page, and then it drops again. This thing has problems seeing the wireless router that’s right next to it, much of the time.

So, I moved the bridge back out into the hallway (closer to the source), and it picked up signal. It was as slow as dialup, but it was solid. I jumped up and down for joy a little bit, and then started browsing teh intarwebs from bed, where my comforter was still invitingly cozy. After a short while, Buddy joined me, so I surfed and petted the dog. Good times. Eventually, I decided to get up, and set the W2K3 server to update itself while I took a shower. And it was a perfect, relaxing, just-long-enough hot shower. My back muscles and neck muscles relaxed (which is a miracle, lately). I was smiling as I got dressed.

Update was successful, and now with intertubes, there’s no reason that I shouldn’t go and get that USB wireless adapter for that ancient iMac that’s downstairs. It’s not AirPort compatible, but I had found an adapter by Belkin that has open-source drivers (well, the makers of the chipset put out open source drivers, so it’s the same, in the end). It also happened to be the least expensive of the bunch, so I hit the ATM, hopped a bus, and headed to CompUSA in Frandor.

I picked it up, amazed and content that my day of technology was going so well. I decided to ride the bus the long way back so that I could get some reading in. Yup, still working on Wishsong of Shannarra.

By the time I got home and let the dog out, I was a little light-headed and shaky. This confused me, until I looked at the clock. 3:12 PM. I hadn’t eaten yet. SMRT. So, I set some eggs and hash browns cooking, and pop the wireless adapter into the iMac.

This is where things stop being easy. The device registers in the hardware list in Ubuntu, but it’s acting as if there’s no driver installed. Don’t think I can use ndiswrapper with a PC driver on an iMac. Also, I need to download some packages to do that, and the point of getting this was so that I wouldn’t have to run a wire to the iMac from upstairs. And I really don’t want to haul this thing into work.

So, I grab my iBook and bring it downstairs. I start searching for some drivers, and set the W2K3 Server (Alpha-Trion) to download some more updates. At this point, the connection is slower than dial-up. Still there, but crawling. I grind my teeth a little, but I’m able to bring up the Ubuntu forums page, which is about the best font of Ubuntu knowledge ever. And it’s down for some database cleanup. No access.

On the good side of things, the eggs and hash browns were delicious, and hit the spot.

The update on the server dies, because the connection has. I go upstairs, grumbling in my old-man grumble, and move the bridge around until it gets a signal. Nothing stable to be had, unfortunately. So, I packed up my shit, snapped a pic of the Playstation that I’m putting up on eBay, and headed out. After a nice walk, I enter Theio’s to find that my usual spots are taken. No biggie, there’s a table near a plug, so I sit there.

Right in the direct sunlight. In my black shirt and slacks. I started to sweat. IN OCTOBER. There is something wrong with that. I could barely see my iBook’s screen, and I was totally overheating. Thankfully, one of the nearby shaded seats was vacated shortly afterward, and I sit there now. Just out of the sunlight, decently cool, and with an idea to get some online shit taken care of, and then maybe some writing.

I’ve got coffee (stay caffeinated, young padowan), water (but do not dehydrate thyself), notebooks, my iBook (OptimusPrime), and idea to say screw it and put Panther on that old blue-green iMac at home (Kup). It’s funny, but Panther has a lower memory requirement than Ubuntu does.