Saturday, December 27, 2008
Ed Challenge: Baggage Claim
One of the things I liked best about the TV show Ed (besides actress Julie Bowen) was the ridiculous bets Ed and his friend Mike made with each other (Ten bucks if you touch that guy's bald spot. Ten bucks if you yell "I love kitties" at the top of your lungs. Ten bucks if you order your meal in rhyme.).
In the same spirit, here's the wager: Ten bucks to the first person who goes to an airport baggage carousel, picks up a piece of luggage and loudly announces: "I claim this bag for France ... and glory!" Send me the vidclip, I send you the ten-spot. 16-Century explorer garb optional.
(Dina took a pass on the wager when we landed at LAX earlier this week, so I'm passing it along to you. And Misfits, unless you take the wager you can't dibs it for a story.)
In the same spirit, here's the wager: Ten bucks to the first person who goes to an airport baggage carousel, picks up a piece of luggage and loudly announces: "I claim this bag for France ... and glory!" Send me the vidclip, I send you the ten-spot. 16-Century explorer garb optional.
(Dina took a pass on the wager when we landed at LAX earlier this week, so I'm passing it along to you. And Misfits, unless you take the wager you can't dibs it for a story.)
Labels: $10 wager
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Boy Wonder and Then Some
Third grade means actual letter grades for Phil. Yesterday he stewed most of the time his teacher handed out certificates to students who earned "all A's and B's" to the kids in the class. Poor Phil, no certificate for you.
Oh, wait ... there's a certificate for straight A's.
And I get one?
Oh. OK, then.
In other news, Phil made me a card for my 40th birthday (today, we're going bowling later). The message on the card:
<sigh>
Oh, wait ... there's a certificate for straight A's.
And I get one?
Oh. OK, then.
In other news, Phil made me a card for my 40th birthday (today, we're going bowling later). The message on the card:
You are...
smart, funny, cool and sweet...
did I mention nice and old?
Happy 40th.
<sigh>
Labels: Third Grade
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Take THAT, Stewie
Back in Sept. '06 I linked to a Family Guy clip (since removed from YouTube) where Stewie razzes Brian about "that novel [he's] been workin' on."
Well, it took longer than the year I mentioned in the post (about 4 years, one month, total), but the novel is done. Done and sent forth to find its way in the world.
One more thing I can check off the "before you're 40" to-do list.
<sigh>
Now to start work on my Sherlock Holmes/Pygmalion musical: "My Dear Watson."
Well, it took longer than the year I mentioned in the post (about 4 years, one month, total), but the novel is done. Done and sent forth to find its way in the world.
One more thing I can check off the "before you're 40" to-do list.
<sigh>
Now to start work on my Sherlock Holmes/Pygmalion musical: "My Dear Watson."
Labels: Writing
Monday, December 15, 2008
Laptop Envy
The day after Thanksgiving I got a new laptop, the upper-end MacBook. And while I am loving it, there's something newer I've got my eye on.
Behold: The triBook.
OK, so it's a prototype mocked up by the staff at MacLife magazine. Totally fake. And not in any way real.
Still, it's a sweet, sweet dream. Aaaaaahhhhhh.
Behold: The triBook.
OK, so it's a prototype mocked up by the staff at MacLife magazine. Totally fake. And not in any way real.
Still, it's a sweet, sweet dream. Aaaaaahhhhhh.
Friday, December 05, 2008
CFBA: Dark Pursuit
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Brandilyn Collins is known for her trademark Seatbelt Suspense®. She is currently working on her 20th book. For chances to win free copies of her work, join her Fan Club on Facebook. Here’s what Brandilyn has to say about why she wrote Dark Pursuit:
In John Milton’s Paradise Lost Satan’s followers, kicked out of heaven, boast about storming the gates and reclaiming their territory. Beelzebub scoffs at their boasting as merely “hatching vain empires” and suggests a different revengeful scheme: seduce mankind away from God. So Satan visits the Garden of Eden to teach humans the very thing he and his cohorts have learned to be futile—the dark pursuit of hatching their own vain empires instead of following God. He presented man with this “gift” of death, disguised as life. And man fell for it.
Upon this theme of man’s fall and spiritual blindness, I created the characters and events in Dark Pursuit. The story clips along at a fast pace, with much symbolism running underneath.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Dark Pursuit—A twisting story of murder, betrayal, and eternal choicesNovelist Darell Brooke lived for his title as King of Suspense—until an auto accident left him unable to concentrate. Two years later, reclusive and bitter, he wants one thing: to plot a new novel and regain his reputation.
Kaitlan Sering, his twenty-two-year-old granddaughter, once lived for drugs. After she stole from Darell, he cut her off. Now she’s rebuilding her life. But in Kaitlan’s town two women have been murdered, and she’s about to discover a third. She’s even more shocked to realize the culprit—her boyfriend, Craig, the police chief’s son.
Desperate, Kaitlan flees to her estranged grandfather. For over forty years, Darell Brooke has lived suspense. Surely he’ll devise a plan to trap the cunning Craig.
But can Darell’s muddled mind do it? And—if he tries—with what motivation? For Kaitlan’s plight may be the stunning answer to the elusive plot he seeks...
Read the first chapter of Dark Pursuit, HERE.
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Looking for a Tax Write-Off?
Sure you could write a check to your church, put "baptismal dunk-tank" in the memo.
Or "extra-slidey pew polish." Or "sparkling Communion juice."
Or you could do something really cool.
ccPublishing NFP is a 501c3 nonprofit, publisher of the (once quarterly, now biannual-till-the-economy-turns-around) Relief Journal and Coach's Midnight Journal. Both publications feature Christian writing that "won't make you gag": literary fiction, non-fiction, and poetry in the Journal, good genre fiction in the Diner.
A week of Christmas deals starts up tomorrow, so you can write a check, get a subscription, a mug, or who-knows-what-else (probably not pew polish, though). Or you could just write a check and help out with the non-pledge drive. See the graphic below to see how much more needs to be raised to fund 2009's efforts.
Tote bag not included.
Or "extra-slidey pew polish." Or "sparkling Communion juice."
Or you could do something really cool.
ccPublishing NFP is a 501c3 nonprofit, publisher of the (once quarterly, now biannual-till-the-economy-turns-around) Relief Journal and Coach's Midnight Journal. Both publications feature Christian writing that "won't make you gag": literary fiction, non-fiction, and poetry in the Journal, good genre fiction in the Diner.
A week of Christmas deals starts up tomorrow, so you can write a check, get a subscription, a mug, or who-knows-what-else (probably not pew polish, though). Or you could just write a check and help out with the non-pledge drive. See the graphic below to see how much more needs to be raised to fund 2009's efforts.
Tote bag not included.
Labels: Coach's Midnight Diner, Relief Journal
Monday, December 01, 2008
Say Hello To My New Little Friend
I got some bonus money last month (don't ask how, it involves voodoo math that makes my brain hurt), which came in handy in replacing my aged (5-ish year old) PowerBook with a new MacBook.
A lot has changed in five years.
I had been running the 10.3.9 version of the operating system (OS X); now I've got 10.5.5. So new to me are the multitouch trackpad (tap click, 2-finger scroll, 3-finger back/forward navigation swipe, 4-finger application switching, etc.), the built-in camera, the new iTunes "Genius" feature, etc.
The only thing I'm bummed-ish about is I can no longer stick the Dock at top of the screen. The left side works OK, but I really liked being able to get it completely out of the way except when I wanted to empty the trash.
The magnetic power connector is kinda nifty. Tripping over the cord causes it to disconnect from the Mac, rather than tumbling the laptop to the floor or damaging the connector. Seems I'm tripping over the cord more often than I remember with the PowerBook, tho.... The keys on the keyboard are different, but they're not problematic; and with the model I got they're still backlit. The glossy screen doesn't reflect glare nearly as much as I thought it would, but it's so bright the old PowerBook screen seems very dim by comparison. And I can't seem to remember that tap-clicking doesn't work with the old model....
All in all, I'm really looking forward to the next five years with this Mac.
A lot has changed in five years.
I had been running the 10.3.9 version of the operating system (OS X); now I've got 10.5.5. So new to me are the multitouch trackpad (tap click, 2-finger scroll, 3-finger back/forward navigation swipe, 4-finger application switching, etc.), the built-in camera, the new iTunes "Genius" feature, etc.
The only thing I'm bummed-ish about is I can no longer stick the Dock at top of the screen. The left side works OK, but I really liked being able to get it completely out of the way except when I wanted to empty the trash.
The magnetic power connector is kinda nifty. Tripping over the cord causes it to disconnect from the Mac, rather than tumbling the laptop to the floor or damaging the connector. Seems I'm tripping over the cord more often than I remember with the PowerBook, tho.... The keys on the keyboard are different, but they're not problematic; and with the model I got they're still backlit. The glossy screen doesn't reflect glare nearly as much as I thought it would, but it's so bright the old PowerBook screen seems very dim by comparison. And I can't seem to remember that tap-clicking doesn't work with the old model....
All in all, I'm really looking forward to the next five years with this Mac.
