I found two night-light replacement bulbs, wait, scratch that, LED night-light replacement bulbs, for the price of four incandescent. Each bulb has three LEDs in it.
This pleases me to no end.
Probably fairly predictable
TV/VCR combo with broken VCR – check.
Coleco Vision hooked to coax through adapter made by brother from twenty-five year old parts, powered up, and tested – check.
Video and stereo-to-mono y-adapter plugged into the front auxilliary port and into RCA/S-video switch box – check.
Sega Dreamcast plugged in, powered up, and tested – check.
PlayStation 2 plugged in, powered up, and tested – check.
And I thought getting rid of the SETI@Home graveyard would lessen the prevelance of ancient, and yet awesome, electronics in my basement cave. Huh. Now I’ve just got to get this SNES fixed…
Sacrifice.
I am no longer a Transformer collector.
The last of my collection is on eBay.
Growing Up.
Nikki: So you only have a few more Transformers until you’re done eBaying.
Dave: Well, no, because I have Matt’s stuff to put up, and the stuff that
Nikki: I mean, you’re almost done with your stuff.
Dave: OH! It’s an accomplishment, that’s what you mean!
Nikki: Yes. Does it feel like growing up?
Dave: I dunno. Does growing up feel like half painful and half I-don’t-know-what-the-hell-is-going-on?
Nikki: Yup.
Dave: Then yeah, it feels like growing up.
First day of school.
Get up in time to shower before taking Hunter to school – FAIL
Get up in time to have coffee before taking Hunter to school – WIN
Get up in time to take Hunter to school – WIN
Yeah, I’ll call that an overall win.
Banfield Veterinarians ripped us off.
Re-posted from
The Banfield veterinarians inside of the west side PetSmart ripped us off today. My wife took her cat in for a check-up, vaccinations, and to look at a cyst. As we are very mindful of our budget right now, she signed up for their year-long pseudo-insurance discount plan.
She got the estimate, okayed the prices for everything (signing that this was the case), and let them know to ONLY DO THE PROCEDURES THAT WERE COVERED BY THEIR DISCOUNT PLAN.
What did they do? Every single procedure that they had recommended, whether it was covered or not.
The woman repeated back to my wife that they were to only perform covered procedures. They had a twenty-minute conversation about what was and was not covered. And then they tried to say that by signing the pricing agreement, she was consenting to have all of the procedures done. As far as I understand it, it’s like getting a car worked on. You can agree to pricing all day long, but you need specific permission related to actually performing the work.
We paid for about $150 in procedures that we didn’t want. We had intended on getting these procedures done later, once we got used to and trusted these vets. Now we’re locked in to their year-long discount plan (with monthly dues).
Do not make the same mistake that we did. Do not give your business to Banfield Vets in the west side PetSmart.
Writing the Second Novel
Somebody said that writing the second novel is harder than the first.
Oh, wait, it was Daniel J. Hogan. And he said it here.
I definitely get where he’s coming from. I have been far more attentive to The Glass Crown’s shortcomings, as I write them, than I was to those in The Remembrance. I know that once I finish, there will be rewriting and editing galore to make the story flow coherently, and to fill in gaps and inconsistencies.
The Remembrance seemed to flow out of me, once I really got going. I feel like I’m prying out the Glass Crown with a crowbar, word by word. For The Remembrance, getting the stuff in my head onto paper was my primary focus. For The Glass Crown, I want to get the stuff out of my head, and put it onto paper WELL. That’s a whole different class of intimidating.
Self Promotion
The pic shows two copies of The Remembrance, my first novel, on the Michigan Writers shelf at Everybody Reads Books & Stuff. That’s on East Michigan in Lansing, next to Gone Wired and across the street from Emil’s. Location, location, location!
They carry everything from fiction to progressive politics to family tragedy to green living. If they didn’t have something that I was looking for, they ordered it for me. I can’t rave enough about this place.
In other news, Fight or Flight, a webcomic written by me and illustrated by Richard Schlaack, continues to chug along. It updates with either comics or sketches every Friday here. A paper issue is in the works.
Todd’s story is available via the link to the left (if you’re viewing this on my site, and not via rss).
Is there any place you’d like to see me for a signing? Drop me an email (via the contact page) and I’ll see what I can do!