So Much Stuff I Can't Recall

Summer Read: Back to Murder (by J. Mark Bertrand)

2010-07-13T22:58:00.005-05:00

This week, theChristian Fiction Blog Allianceis introducing Back On Murder Bethany House (July 1, 2010) by J. Mark Betrand

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

J. Mark Bertrand has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Houston. After one hurricane too many, he left Houston and relocated with his wife Laurie to the plains of South Dakota.
Mark has been arrested for a crime he didn't commit, was the foreman of a hung jury in Houston, and after relocating served on the jury that acquitted Vinnie Jones of assault. In 1972, he won an honorable mention in a child modeling contest, but pursued writing instead. Besides his personal website, visit his Crime Genre website at http://www.crimegenre.com/.

The next book in this series, Pattern Of Wounds will come out in the summer of 2011.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Det. Roland March is a homicide cop on his way out.
A missing girl. A corrupt investigation. They thought they could get away with it, but they forgot one thing:
Roland March is BACK ON MURDER...

Houston homicide detective Roland March was once one of the best. Now he's disillusioned, cynical, and on his way out. His superiors farm him out on a variety of punishment details. But when he's the only one at a crime scene to find evidence of a missing female victim, he's given one last chance to prove himself. Before he can crack the case, he's transferred to a new one that has grabbed the spotlight--the disappearance of a famous Houston evangelist's teen daughter.

All he has to do? Find the missing teenage daughter of a Houston evangelist that every cop in town is already looking for. But March has an inside track, a multiple murder nobody else thinks is connected. With the help of a youth pastor with a guilty conscience who navigates the world of church and faith, March is determined to find the missing girls while proving he's still one of Houston's best detectives.

Battling a new partner, an old nemesis, and the demons of his past, getting to the truth could cost March everything. Even his life.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Back On Murder, go HERE.

Summer Read: Relentless (by Robin Parrish)

2010-07-05T17:01:00.003-05:00

This week, theChristian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing NightmareBethany House (July 1, 2010)byRobin Parrish

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Robin Parrish is a journalist who's written about the intersection of faith and pop culture for more than a decade. Currently he serves as Senior Editor at XZOOSIA.com, a community portal that fuses social networking with magazine-style features about entertainment and culture.

He had two great ambitions in his life: to have a family, and to be a published novelist. In March of 2005, he proposed to his future wife the same week he signed his first book contract with Bethany House Publishers. They contracted him for the rights to The Dominion Trilogy: Relentless (2006), Fearless (2007), and Merciless (2008). His science fiction thriller, Offworld came out in 2009. This summer debuts Nightmare, and he's working on another for 2011. Robin and his wife and children live in North Carolina.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

The Nightmare is Coming...

Ghost Town is the hottest amusement park in the country, offering state-of-the-art chills and thrills involving the paranormal. The park's main ride is a haunted house that promises an encounter with a real ghost.

When Maia Peters visits during her senior year of college, she's not expecting to be impressed. Maia grew up as the only child of a pair of world-renowned "ghost hunters," so the paranormal is nothing new and to her most of the park is just Hollywood special effects. In fact, the ride feels pretty boring until the very end. There, a face appears from the mist. The face of Jordin Cole, a girl Maia knows who disappeared from campus a few months ago.

Convinced what she saw wasn't a hoax and desperate to find answers to Jordin's disappearance, Maia launches into a quest for answers. Joined by Jordin's boyfriend--a pastor's kid with very different ideas about paranormal and the spirit realm--Maia finds herself in a struggle against dangerous forces she never expected to confront on the edge of the spirit realm that try to keep the truth from emerging.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Nightmare, go HERE.

Happy Valentine's Day, Pinkie.

2010-02-14T15:25:00.004-06:00

A few years back my sisters, brother and his family, and Dina, Phil and I took my folks on a Baja California cruise. For a belated Christmas gift that year I made iMovie videos for everyone using the pictures everyone took on the trip. This is the one I made for Dina and me.

Happy Valentine's Day, Pinkie. I love you.

259 Words: Thin Place @ Sunset State Beach

2010-02-11T22:52:00.003-06:00

Friday night and Sunset State Beach was strangely vacant. No surfers, no beachcombers, not even the odd dog. Maybe a seagull or two, and a wide swath of golden sand stretching along the eastern side of Monterey Bay. Evening was coming on and I sat on driftwood reading The Blue Fairy Book for a lit class at UC Santa Cruz. Trying to read, anyway. Between checking the parking lot for my wife’s car every few minutes and being equally unable to keep my eyes off the westward dipping sun, it looked like I’d be in for an all-nighter after our weekend camping getaway.

The sunset finally won my full attention. As the sun dropped to the horizon, the sky exploded—burnished amber fire—rivaled only by its blazing reflection in the water, and at last the surrounding sands. A perfect moment of glory—stunning, literally. Then God passed by and it was gone. The air, water, and earth missing the crucial fourth element.

Five minutes later my wife arrived. Traffic jam. Hadn’t seen the sun set. Despite my enthusiasm to share what I’d seen, undergrad English Lit vocabulary couldn’t convey the momentary vision of fire and glory. Spouses shouldn’t keep secrets, but what do you do when you want to tell but are unfit for the task? To this day it haunts me.

Two Things to Check Out

2010-01-18T18:40:00.004-06:00

Mondays through the end of February are $1 pulled-pork sandwich nights at Dickey's. Mmmmm!

Phil's building a blog as part of a geometry project. Check it out.

IKEA Find: Pickled Herring

2010-01-15T23:13:00.003-06:00

Today a co-worker mentioned she'd found pickled herring at IKEA and it was delicious. Well, she started to say it was delicious, but another co-worker and I interrupted her with questions:

Did you have to pickle it yourself?

Did you need an allen wrench to open the can?

Did it say "pickled herring" on the can, but "Flürm" on the shelf label?"

Did you need help carrying it out to the car?

Were there wordless instructions showing how to eat it?

Did a stock person need to get it down off the top shelf?

Was it real fish, or fish flavored pressboard?

We did agree that the Dyson hand-dryers in the restroom are awesome.

Honor Roll

2009-10-09T09:56:00.004-05:00

We break Radio Silence for the following brief announcement:

Phil made the Six Weeks Honor Roll with All A's and 1 B. (Still time to get All A's at the semester.) Here's a couple pix from this morning's assembly.

The Boy and His Class

The Boy and His Certificate

...descending again beneath the depths and resuming Radio Silence....

New States, New Philpix

2009-08-01T21:42:00.004-05:00

Yesterday Dina, Phil, and I took a road trip to Shreveport, Louisiana, and near Texarkana, Arkansas (skirted around the city, never went in). Here's Phil at the Louisiana border. No pic at the Arkansas border because a) it was dark and b) it was Arkansas. Two new states bring the total of states visited to 29, 58%.

This evening sister Julia took us and my brother's family out to dinner. Here's pix from Red Robin in Garland:

Phil
(he had just rubbed his hair with his balloon ... to pick up salt from the table with the balloon, of course)

Cousin Jack

Bill & Brenda

The Whole Group

Julia and Phil, Outside

Running on Ice

2009-07-30T23:23:00.003-05:00

Phil had his first experience ice skating this afternoon. His aunt Julie took him and his cousin Jack to the Dallas Galleria and helped them both get the hang of things. They lasted a couple hours, and by the end of it Phil had let go of the handrail and was tooling around quite ably.

Since Aunt Julie can skate backward (and do hockey stops!), she shot some video of Phil. Enjoy!

It's a Starbucks Pastry Morning (Tomorrow)

2009-07-20T20:01:00.003-05:00

Buy a beverage, get a pastry. What's not to like?

I've got to go downtown tomorrow and test for my ESL certifimacation. Now I can flaunt the don't eat/drink rules on the light rail.

Check it out: Mmmmm...

Never Surrender, Even If You're French

2009-07-19T22:31:00.003-05:00

So's last night I was making French toast. Yeah, for dinner. Overslept in the morning and Dina and Phil had already eaten when I finally got up. Hence breakfast for dinner.

Unfortunately after I had cracked the eggs I discovered the milk had gone bad. Didn't want to cover the eggs and put them back in the fridge and run out to Albertsons. Fortunately I had sour cream. And aerosol whipped cream. Which to subsitute? Wound up splitting the difference.

Note to self ... Mmmmmm....

SRV and Barry

2009-07-15T21:56:00.004-05:00

During today's Laying the Foundation training (for pre-A.P. teachers) we did a narrative free-write while we listened to what someone said was Stevie Ray Vaughan's rendition of "Little Wing." Sounded more soulful/funky than the SRV/LW recordings can find online, but who knows. Anywho, this is what I wrote (with minor revisions).

Barry walked down the street as the lightpoles phased on. A warm breeze blew, mixing the smell of produce, beer, cigarette smoke, and perfume. The evening was amber, and Barry leaned back as he strolled, making it look easy. Making it look good.

A car pulled by, a long car with fins, and Barry nodded. Driving's fine, but a night like this he had to be out in it. Anton, the guy who sold maybe twenty bucks a day in his junk store, caught his nod and returned it, kept sweeping his stoop.

Ladies were beginning to trickle out on the avenue, their workday ending, most—some, their day just beginning at six. But it was good. It was all good. Barry and the ladies admired each other and the drivers of the long cars. It was all good. And more than that, it was right. It was all right.

Barry took a deep breath, inhaled the oncoming night, held it in. Closed his eyes and let it out slow. Slow and fine. Slow and fine and easy.

The exercise was to demonstrate tone. Any guesses as to what I was shooting for?

(Ronny Jordan's "The Jackal" has a similar vibe to the song played in class.)

Ahhh, Biff. What a character.

2009-07-12T22:04:00.003-05:00

Yeah, I know. Two days in a row. Still, this is worth it, I think.

Tom Wilson (Biff in Back to the Future) sings about crazy fans.

Plus, a sneak peek at something(s) I might show my classes next year:

The Haiku songs

and Homonyms!

Enjoy!

Important Freebie Bulletin

2009-07-11T10:33:00.005-05:00

We interrupt this blog silence to remind y'all to head on over to 7-11 today for free mini Slurpees (one per store, you do the math based on how many 7-11s there are in your neighborhood). Go sooner rather than later as there tends to be a limited supply of mini cups and last year the stores I hit in the afternoon had been wiped out by day camps.

Enjoy.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled non-happenings here on the blog.

Moving Night

2009-05-30T08:53:00.002-05:00

The sellers are moving out during the day today; we're loading up a van to move the bulk of our stuff into our new-to-us house tomorrow.

But tonight we'll move a few boxes, fragile stuff we don't trust to the back of the van.

Good Times.

Free Foxes

2009-05-16T20:00:00.002-05:00

Foxe's Book of Martyrs that is.

Pick up a free audio copy at ChristianAudio.com (offer expires ablaze at the stake at the end of May)

Should make the daily commute seem mild in comparison.

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and the Wind ... Sweepin' Down the Plain

2009-05-09T21:15:00.002-05:00

Went to two new places today. Well, new to us at least.

Started the morning by stepping back in time at the Scarborough Faire Renaissance Festival in Waxahachie. Good times. Good bird of prey show and kid-friendly swordmaster duel show, and the joust was OK. Fun parade. Phil and I got swords (2-foot long padded sticks) and did some archery. Phil also played a couple games of "skill," spearing the brass ring first try on the kiddie joust, did not so well with the ping pong-ball crossbows. All in all, a fun six hours in the Sixteenth Century. (Thanks Jennifer for the tix!)

On the way home we decided what-the-heck and drove on up into Oklahoma. No reason. Drove in three or four miles, turned around and headed back home. Still, 'nother state I've been to. Here's the current map.

Cool Like Me

2009-05-04T20:26:00.003-05:00

Just got a copy of Issue #2 of Coach's Midnight Diner, which includes my short story "Hinky Jenks."

Look how cool I am now.

Jealous? Don't be. Order your own copy!

Random Acts of School Fundraising

2009-04-30T20:40:00.003-05:00

The Chik-fil-A in Allen does quite a bit of fundraising for the local schools. We wind up there every couple months to help out Phil's. Sometimes, like tonight, we wind up there when they're doing fundraising for campuses that aren't his. We drop our receipts in those boxes, too.

A few weeks ago we stopped at a CfA drivethru up in McKinney. There was a fundraiser poster plastered on the cashier's window. "Oh yeah," we said, "we're doing the school thing." The cashier handed us our receipt with a pen and asked us to write our child's homeroom teacher's name on the back. I scribbled something starting with a W. I hope Ms. Wrvnshftn appreciated the effort.

Finding Yourself at Wal-Mart

2009-04-28T18:48:00.002-05:00

Stopped by the Wal-Mart earlier this week to Jif and Little Debbie's oatmeal cookie sandwiches, wound up with Mr. Bean's Holiday on DVD ($5 bin) and several bags of Mike-Sell's caramel-flavored Puffcorn Delites ($1 each on the close-out rack).

Hadn't seen Mike-Sell's brand goodness at Wally's before. And since it was on close-out, I'm guessing I won't again....

Still, I am delicious.

Philip Versus the Number Line

2009-04-26T09:48:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was Dina's 49th birthday. Phil wanted to know why that was such a big deal. I told him this was the farthest Dina would ever be from turning 50.

Barely missing a beat Phil announced, "No, when she turns 70 she'll be farther than she is now."

Not exactly the high point of the day for Dina, but she was impressed with his math skills.

Get Thee to the Christian Book Expo

2009-03-20T20:46:00.003-05:00

If you happen to be in the Dallas area, stop on by the Christian Book Expo at the convention center tomorrow and/or Sunday. Discount codes for online registration are available from local Christian book stores, but even without the $5-10 off admission is still worthwhile. A friend and I stopped by today; got a bag of free books; had chats with fellow writers, an acquisitions editor and an agent; sat in on some good panel discussions and workshops. Plenty for both writers and readers.

Attendance was sparse (though it was a workday), so help bring the numbers up so the industry will be back next year.

Two days of Spring Break remaining...

Atomic Spring Break

2009-03-17T20:47:00.003-05:00

Picked up the third season of Moonlighting at Half Price Books for $12. Included in the set is the Taming of the Shrew episode, "Atomic Shakespeare." Unfortunately I'm teaching Julius Caesar, so my students will likely miss out on the immortal line:

Doth bears beareth?
Doth bees bee-eth?

Petruchio Dave does quote the "Friends, Romans, Countrymen" line from Caesar, so maybe I can make it a Where's Waldo/Spot the Marc Antony Reference assignment.

Still five days left on break. Went house hunting today. Tomorrow: Six Flags!

Spring Break Has Broken Like the First...

2009-03-14T23:14:00.003-05:00

...?

Dang it, where's Cat Stevens when you need him?

Anyhoo, Dina, Phil and I are all on Spring Break together this year (last year mine was a week off Phil's). Not a whole lot planned. Six Flags. Looking at houses. Maybe driving up to the Oklahoma border so I can add another state to my "been there, seen that" map. Friday is the Christian Book Expo here in Dallas (well, the whole weekend; I'm just going Friday).

Mostly it's just relaxing and resting up for the Bataan Death March that is the final eleven weeks of school (no breaks at all in April, none in May until the 25th).

Eight more days of not-school. Aaaaaaah.

A Free Drink's a Free Drink, Baby

2009-03-10T17:56:00.002-05:00

... and free fries are a bonus.

Free small drinks and fries at Jack in the Box till midnight tonight.

Just Because It's All You Can Eat Doesn't Mean You Have To

2009-03-06T20:28:00.002-06:00

Or does it?

Went to Red, Hot & Blue for their AYCE Salad and Stew deal.

Ouch.

That said, I'm looking to be miserable again March 10th.

Hat tip to Julia for the Jack's coupon.

Free Tacos Till Midnight

2009-02-24T18:35:00.002-06:00

Meant to blog on this earlier, but today's Free Taco Day at Jack in the Box. Get your coupon, print out (a few), and stop by the nearest Jack's (and the next nearest, and the next nearest...) to pick up your free pair of tacos.

Enjoy!

Fast-Moving Facebook Flair

2009-02-17T19:06:00.003-06:00

For a while now I've had two pieces of ranked Facebook "flair": "Team Spike" is now at #95,465 (923 users) and "Team Willow" is at #437,387 (73 users).

End of last week I made a piece of "Ya Think DiNozzo?" flair, celebrating my favorite NCIS line. As of this morning it was at #406,528 (80 users -- it's now up to 97).

It surprises me some of the things that haven't been made into flair on Facebook. For instance the Team Spike (playing off the Twilight vamps with the Buffy characters) and the DiNozzo thing.

Some of my flairs haven't been so successful, though. My "Faith Manages" flair -- Babylon 5 buzzphrase -- is only at 18 users. My Joe Bob Briggs (only one in Facebook) is stalled at 2. Still, seeing what takes off and what doesn't is half the fun. (OK, seeing-what-doesn't is maybe a tenth of the the fun.)

Not to be left out of any fraction of the fun, Phil has created his own piece of flair (keywords: Rookie, crash). Enjoy.

So Wrong

2009-02-08T18:58:00.003-06:00

I'm just saying: My Little Cthulhu

From the My Little Pop Flickr photo set.

via digg.

Biblical Curse Generator

2009-02-07T21:17:00.002-06:00

Blame Dina for this, but not too much, as it is quite fun.

Take heed, O ye armpit of Satan, for you will be as welcome as a fart in the queen's bedchamber!

O that thou wouldest be pursued into the mountains by sex-mad baboons, O thou plaything of Beelzebub!

Woe unto thee, thou son of thunder, for you will be taunted by the king's concubines!

Have fun!

The "Mostly" Full-Color Diner Cover

2009-01-27T17:30:00.002-06:00

Last time I posted a link to the cover of Coach's Midnight Diner #2 the main illustration was only in black and white. Not so any longer.

Check out the amazing. (A few details to still be filled in, but still ... wow!)

Diner #2: Order's Up!

2009-01-24T19:44:00.003-06:00

Coach Culbertson has posted the author list and story order for Issue #2 of Coach's Midnight Diner. My story, "Hinky Jenks," appears fourth.

Pre-Order for $15.

The Honorable Scientist

2009-01-22T19:59:00.002-06:00

Earlier this week Phil took an honorable mention for his project in his school's science fair. His experiment investigated if a light bulb painted black would get hotter than a standard light bulb. We set up the bulb inside a styrofoam ice chest, poked a digital meat thermometer through the side, flipped a switch connected to a couple 6-volt batteries, and voila!, yes it does.

Phil's project was kept on display in the school's library this week along with all the other winners.

Judge's comment.

Phil and his award.

Midnight Diner: Free Cover

2009-01-20T22:05:00.003-06:00

Coach Culbertson has put a draft of the Issue #2 cover up on the "in progress" Midnight Diner site. Putting the "we so" in awesome there.

My short story "Hinky Jenks" is slated to appear in the second anthology. Start saving your pre-order money.

(If you've already got the Andy Jackson, but don't have Ish the First (my short "In R'lyeh, Jesus Walks" took an Author Choice award), it's only a Hamilton away...buy two.)

Hunting Hula Hoops

2009-01-20T20:55:00.002-06:00

It appears there's a hula hoop season here in Dallas, and it doesn't start for two more weeks. Dollar General: Out of stock for two weeks. Target: Out of stock for two weeks. Walmart: "We usually have them, but we're out now. Check back in a couple weeks."

The Mattel store that was open in Richardson end of last year is closed. Ditto Plano's Toys R Us.

Fortunately the U.S. Toys store in Plano has them and let me poach a couple out of season. Shhhhhh.

And why do I need the hoops of hulage? Venn diagrams, baby! Venn diagrams.

Top Half Million

2009-01-10T13:51:00.004-06:00

The Team Spike Facebook flair is up to 54 users as of this morning. 5200% growth for the week. And a new stat showed up, Overall Rank.

That rank? 493,891.

Woo-hoo!!!

Fun with Flair

2009-01-05T19:58:00.003-06:00

Over the Christmas break I finally spent some time on Facebook, updating my status every day or two, chatting occasionally with friends (though we usually switched over to GMail chat), and messing about with flair (little buttons with fun sayings and/or pictures). Even made some of my own flair. So far the most popular is Team Spike (I made "Team" flair for all the major Buffy the Vampire Slayer vampires -- including the short-lived Vamp Willow -- to go old-school on all the Twilight groupies).

Right now I'm without Photoshop on the MacBook, so I grabbed pix off Google Images and manipulated them using FotoFlexor online before uploading them Facebook.

Thus far I've made seven pieces to "express myself" -- far short of the requisite 37 pieces, though I do have another 27 pieces on my profile page. (Only four more and Stan, the Chotchkie's manager, will quit nag-nag-naggin me...)

Ed Challenge: Baggage Claim

2008-12-27T20:31:00.003-06:00

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.)

Boy Wonder and Then Some

2008-12-20T11:38:00.005-06:00

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:

You are...
smart, funny, cool and sweet...
did I mention nice and old?
Happy 40th.

<sigh>

Take THAT, Stewie

2008-12-18T22:18:00.003-06:00

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."

Laptop Envy

2008-12-15T21:53:00.002-06:00

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.

CFBA: Dark Pursuit

2008-12-05T22:49:00.001-06:00

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Dark Pursuit
Zondervan (December 1, 2008)
by
Brandilyn Collins

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 choices

Novelist 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.

Looking for a Tax Write-Off?

2008-12-02T19:58:00.003-06:00

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.

Say Hello To My New Little Friend

2008-12-01T21:28:00.003-06:00

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.

Things For Which To Be Thankful

2008-11-27T11:57:00.004-06:00

Free Christmas music at the iTunes Music Store
(Tony Bennett and Harry Connick Jr. this week)

More Hulu for the Holidays

New holiday episodes of Monk and Psych tomorrow night

Black Friday bargains
(seriously looking at Best Buy's deals on Apple laptops)

What are you looking forward to most this Thanksgiving? (Besides canned cranberry sauce and being with family ... those are givens.)

The Worst Day to Go to Six Flags (over Texas)

2008-11-22T21:00:00.003-06:00

...was not today.

Sure it was cold this morning, but not rainy, not even windy. Crowds were non-existent; the longest wait we had was 15-minutes at Johnny Rockets at lunch. Only a handful of rides had more than a two-ride wait -- and only then because the workers were letting 6-passenger cars go with a single rider.

Not everything was open, though. All the live shows were closed for Christmas-season preparation, and with the small crowds many food and souvenir shops were closed (no great loss). Still, only a couple rides we were interested in riding were closed (Mr. Freeze and Flashback) -- that the water flume rides were closed didn't bother us in the 50-degree weather, go figure.

Phil had a great time. Favorite rides: El Sombrero (a big spinning hat that tilts at a 45-degree angle as it whirls the kids around) and La Vibora (a bobsled ride -- think trackless rollercoaser in a waterslide flume) and Tony Hawk's Big Spin (a rollercoaster with 360-degree spinning cars). The boy's still a bit shorter than the 52-inch minimum for Batman, which bummed him out.

And even though we know it's unlikely we'll encounter the crowdless environment until this time next year, we went ahead and got 2009 season passes. Maybe Phil'll hit a growth spurt this spring so he can hit all the rides next summer.

See ya at the park.

Vertigo II: Jimmy Stewart Need Not Apply

2008-11-10T18:09:00.004-06:00

...or the ghost of Jimmy Stewart, for that matter.

Alfred Hitchcock's movie Vertigo takes place in and around San Francisco, and chronicles the adventures of Stewart's character trying to track down the woman of his dreams, played by Kim Novak. Unfortunately he's afraid of heights and she isn't.

Good thing Ms. Novak never led him to the site of my current wallpaper.

Makes me a bit woozy, myownself.

Hat tip: digg.

As The Bookworm Turns

2008-11-07T21:00:00.005-06:00

Last month, author Melody Graves arranged a book signing and story reading for herself, author Mike Medina, and me; we all had short stories published in last year's Coach's Midnight Diner anthology. Said signing was to take place next month (see earlier cryptic post), but unfortunately The Bookworm, the independent bookstore it was scheduled at, went under (financially-speaking) earlier today.

Much thanks nonetheless, Melody and David (Bookworm owner). The news is sad, moreso for the folks on the store side. Sincerest best wishes of future success to all.

As to when I'll get to sign my first autograph, stay tuned...

Get out for the Vote, Stay out for the Ice Cream

2008-11-03T21:12:00.004-06:00

Ben & Jerry's is handing out free scoops of ice cream tomorrow, November 4th -- Election Day -- from 5-8pm.

Or be a maverick and go for the frozen yogurt.

Enjoy!

Remember

2008-10-28T19:48:00.004-05:00

Remember, remember the sixth of December:
From two until five o'clock
All persons of reason
Should be in due season
At the Bookworm in Frisco, 'ey wot?

More later.

UPDATE (11/7): Or not. (see 11/7 post)

The Great Gum Gambit

2008-10-27T18:53:00.003-05:00

There's a scene toward the end of The Great Escape where a pair of escaped Allied POWs get themselves captured when a Gestapo dude addresses them in English and they respond in kind. I've adopted this to busting the gum-chewers in my classroom (too often when you directly confront chewers they tuck the gum up in their cheeks and deny its existence).

Here's how to play:

Observe student chewing gum.

Request they spit out the green piece of gum they're chewing*.

Wait for them to pull out their white/red/tan/blue piece of gum and insist it isn't green.

Make them spit out their non-green colored piece of gum

*or whatever color you're reasonably sure the gum isn't.

So far I've busted two perps with this technique. Yeah, perps.

Book 'em, Danno.

The Jeffersons

2008-10-26T16:44:00.002-05:00

President William Jefferson Clinton came to Thomas Jefferson High School on Oct. 15, to support senate candidate Rick Noriega. The evening was as much pep rally as stump speech, and a good time was had by all.

A couple oddnesses: the Billy Joel selections in the pre-event background music mix included "Only the Good Die Young" and "You May Be Right" (which includes the lyric: "You may be right / I may be crazy / But it just may be a lunatic you're looking for"). Might I suggest "We Didn't Start the Fire" next time....

Also, Clinton made the mother of all faux pas with his "barring some miracle Obama will be the next president." Ouch.

Not sure if my vote was swayed; I do think the threat of filibuster is an important check in Congress, but we'll see....

Some pix:

Clinton and Noriega

Clinton at the lectern: 1, 2, 3, 4

Presidential Salute

Near the wings: 1, 2, 3

Phil in the audience

Phil in the aisle, getting closer to the president (the blur by the blurry Texas flag)

And here's a few video snippets from the evening.

In his comments, Clinton mentioned when he grows up he wants to be able to tie a bowtie like John Wiley Price does. If you're not familiar with JWP and his haberdashery, behold.

(Not Quite) Free, At Last!

2008-10-20T18:52:00.001-05:00

But at least under $50 for a tank of gas. Sixteen gallons at $2.559: $41 and change.

Good times.

Turnip Remote Taffy

2008-10-12T01:50:00.003-05:00

It doesn't bother me that I'm #1 on a Google search for "Turnip Remote Taffy," as much as it does that someone would be searching for that in the first place.

It's a Small (and Creepy) World

2008-10-11T21:59:00.004-05:00

Just read this post over at Mark Bertrand's "Write About Now" blog: There's a Story All Right.

Flashback eighteen years ago: Dina and I were still living in Sunnyvale, taking our annual Thanksgiving trip to Eugene, Ore. We're halfway through the Cascades, near Mount Shasta, snow all around, though thankfully the roads aren't icy. Our bladders are full and the roadsigns give no hope of rest stop any time soon. Then we come upon a gas station/bar/store in the middle of nowhere. Ever the gent, I let Dina use the facilities first. She comes out with a strange look on her face, which in my haste to push past her, I take for relief.

Nope. Clawfoot bathtub complete with half-dressed mannequin. I think she had on less than the picture at Mark's site and was more slumped in the tub (it was the middle of night, so she was probably (un)dressed for bed). Same sketchy guy at the bar when I came out, though.

I've almost forgiven Dina for not saying anything about the surprise in the bath ... but, yeah, there's definitely a story.

So Close

2008-10-10T18:41:00.002-05:00

Filled up the car this morning for $3.199/gallon. Final tally: $50.02.

Oh so close to breaking the half-century mark....

Another Thing I'm Getting Too Old For

2008-10-05T22:35:00.004-05:00

Went to the Texas State Fair today. Rode the Gravitron (they call it something like Spaceship 2000, but it's the old Gravitron ride). Big mistake. Managed not to get sick, but it was close.

Also ate many deep-fried things (which I'm almost too old for, but not quite yet). Deep-fried ice cream, coated in chocolate sauce and Pop-Rocks, and topped with a Twizzler? OK. Chicken-fried bacon? Not bad, but needed cream gravy. Deep-fried grilled cheese sandwich? Awesome.

Other highlights: U.S. Marine Drum & Bugle Corps and a kid-oriented science show. Neither was deep-fried, but both were very good, nonetheless.

If you're in the neighborhood, you really should check out the fair. (Parking in Remote Lot 13 entitles you to a free train ride to the fair and back; lifting your hands and shouting "wheeeeeee!!!" is optional.)

Shaun Cassidy's Dark Side on Hulu

2008-09-29T19:05:00.003-05:00

Was looking for something good to watch on Hulu.com tonight and noticed all 22 eps of American Gothic are available for your viewing pleasure.

Gary Cole wickeder than Bill Lumbergh, child star Lucas Black earning his bones as a child star, the ever lovely Paige Turco and Brenda Bakke, and Sarah Paulson as a wackadoo ghost. All from the the twisted doo-ron-ron mind of TV's Joe Hardy.

And yes, like Earth-2 yesterday, this is another show I killed by liking it.

Marcher Lord Go For Launch

2008-09-28T17:20:00.003-05:00

Marcher Lord Press, a small press (publisher) specializing in speculative fiction from/with a Christian worldview is set to launch on October 1st.

MLP is having a launch contest with some prizes that'd make Keanu say Whoa!

Grand Prize: Trip for 2 to 2009 ComicCON in San Diego. (Phil and I would like this very much.)

Other cool prizes include a leather-bound Lord of the Rings, space art, tombstone rubbing of Shakespeare's grave (sweet!), TV series Earth 2 on DVD (yes, please -- this is another TV series I killed by liking it...), and enough books to choke a wide-throated dragon.

Remember to tell them I sent you (my email is chris(dot)mikesell(at)gmail(dot)com).

Phil Wonders

2008-09-26T19:35:00.003-05:00

Phil did an "I Wonder" project for school this week. Those are extra-credit projects where students do research on topics of interest to them and then present their findings in front of the class. Phil decided to research the first schools of Richardson Independent School District, the school district just south of here.

Here's a video of his PowerPoint presentation.

(You might have to pause it after the text comes up on each slide, as the video just jumps immediately to the next slide.)

Misfits Misalign: Congratulations, Heather!

2008-09-21T21:22:00.004-05:00

Last year three members of my writing group, The Misfits, took second place in our categories in the ACFW's Genesis contest.

This year, a fourth member -- the only one of us entered this time around -- took first. Way to go, Heather!

Here's the list of winners.

Shout out to Val Comer whose "The Girl Who Cried Squid" took third in the category I seconded last year (but hers shoulda-oughta taken first based on title alone).

"Nolan McGarry" Revisitado

2008-09-21T20:57:00.002-05:00

Finding myself with a little extra time on my hands tonight, I decided to Google my short story titles to make sure no one had reprinted them without permission -- or worse, claimed them as their own.

No one had, but I did find a Spanish-language review of one of my short stories, "Nolan McGarry: Space Hobo".

Spanish review: aquí; translated via babelfish: here.

Olé

28 Years Later

2008-09-16T21:13:00.003-05:00

No, not Part Three of the zombie series (which would probably be 28 Months Later, anyway, and is entirely beside the point)...

I finally solved the Rubik's Cube!

Yeah! Woo Hoo!! I Rock!!! (OK, I had a little help.)

Still, I can leave the 80s and get on with my life now. Well, as soon as I find Waldo....

It All Happened at the Zoo

2008-09-15T20:24:00.003-05:00

Yeah, a bit late, but here's the pix from our visit to the Santa Barbara zoo last June. Check 'em out:

Otters: 1, 2, 3, 4

Lazy Gibbon

Lemurs: 1, 2

Find the three turtles

Two easier-to-find turtles

Penguin

Hornbill

Gorilla

I'm not one for the whole man-from-monkeys thing, but this is some compelling evidence

Giraffe
(Yes, that's it tongue)

Flamingos: 1, 2

Boat anchored offshore

Next from the archive: More of the Star Trek Experience.

Maybe I Can Stop Googling This Now

2008-09-14T15:43:00.003-05:00

Seems I only grab screenshots from the PowerBook once every four or five months. Hence the challenge of remembering Apple's oh-so-intuitive (ha!) keyboard shortcuts. Hence the Googlage to find the codes.

These codes:

Command-Shift-3: screen capture of your entire screen.

Command-Shift-4: choose which area of the screen you want to capture.

Ctrl-Command-Shift-3 (or 4): capture to the Clipboard.

Now I just have to search the blog to find 'em...

Time Told: Mmmmm

2008-09-08T17:43:00.003-05:00

Turns out the free coffee for teachers deal was legit.

Yay! Mondays in September suck less than any other Mondays.

Legit? Time Will Tell

2008-09-07T18:51:00.004-05:00

Got an email from my sister-in-law with the following announcement.

Sounds good, but...

the ad came at the end of a long chain of forwards

there's nothing about the offer at the Starbucks website

the logo on the cup isn't the new Pike's Peak logo

my sister-in-law wouldn't mind me embarrassing myself showing up for free coffee when none is to be had

Then again, there's nothing at Snopes, so just maybe...

I'll try the drive-thru tomorrow. At least there I can make a quick getaway.

XX

2008-09-03T17:18:00.003-05:00

(no, not Dos Equis; though that doesn't sound bad, either...)

As of about 1:30 this afternoon Dina and I have been married 20 years.

Yay us.

Phauxhawk Phil

2008-08-27T21:43:00.003-05:00

The boy came back from the pool last night sporting a new 'do. Yeah, the fake mohawk/fauxhawk look. Usually he's got the George Clooney comb-forward bangs thing working, so I'm not sure what his inspiration was. Public-school third grade, probably (when he starts thuggin' large with the oversized T, saggy pants, and gold chains, I'll start to worry -- or maybe I'll just hock the gold chains).

Here's his new look: mugshot front and side views.

Counting Blessings

2008-08-24T18:40:00.003-05:00

School starts tomorrow, so before I get overwhelmed by the 100+ blessings making their way through my classroom every day, I thought I'd list some "why it's good to be a teacher" stuff I learned over the summer.

10% discount at Kwik Kar oil change and service shops.

Bonus freebies at Staples: while the rest of the world is limited to 2 or 3 free rulers, or 8-packs of pencils, or bottles of Elmer's glue, teachers get 25.

Verizon discount: still just a rumor, but I heard 30% off. Will have to check it out.

Save the Date: 2/11-12/2009

2008-08-14T10:13:00.003-05:00

U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins (not to be confused with Scottish comedian/actor Billy Connolly) will be keynoting the Highland Park Literary Festival, Feb. 11-12, 2009.

Free admission.

Hulu Vous?

2008-08-07T18:39:00.003-05:00

Prior to Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog I had never heard of Hulu.com. Then Dina asked me if I had caught the season opener of Eureka on the Sci-Fi Channel. I hadn't. She told me to check it out on, yes, Hulu. Since then I've checked out Ep. 2 of Eureka and back eps of NCIS and Psych (also available from cbs.com and usanetwork.com, but Hulu lets you view full screen).

Also noticed tonight when I surfed over there that they've got full-length films (with commercial breaks).

And although DHSAB was off-the-air awhile at drhorrible.com it's up and running there and (full-screen) at the main Hulu website.

Check it out.

Hot Enough For Ya?

2008-08-03T18:23:00.002-05:00

With a heat index of 110F, the safe money's on yes.

Do The Time Warp

2008-07-28T18:56:00.003-05:00

(it's just a step to the left...)

We treated Dina to a celebratory dinner tonight in honor of her new gig at a local school district ("special projects": creating an alien-human hybrid capable of ace-ing standardized tests and telekenisis, or something). A Cheesecake Factory recently opened up near here, so that's where we went.

In the lobby was a sign advertising National Cheesecake Day and CF's 30th anniversary. This Wednesday, 7/30, the restaurant invites you to go back in time thirty years, price-wise at least.

Any slice of cheesecake at 1978 prices. That's a buck-fifty. Dine-in only, so get there early.

Now, if only I could recapture the video game skills I had as a nine-year-old...

What People Are We?

2008-07-28T11:24:00.001-05:00

While in California last month, Dina and I picked up a new catchphrase.

We were at an In-N-Out Burger in Ventura, having lunch. Good times right there. Then a woman came in with five or six little girls, mostly well behaved, but one of the littlest had a meltdown over whoknowswhat? A barrette, someone stole her purple pony, cheeseburgers go straight to her hips? Anything really (and it's not important to the story).

The mom took the child aside and said (according to Dina who was eavesdropping),"We are not a people who throw tantrums in public."

"We are not a people who" is appropriate for so many occasions.

We are not a people who:

shoot first and ask questions later

chew our toenails

import exotic wildlife for culinary experimentation

floss with tinsel

listen to other people's conversations and then mock their parenting skills -- no wait, we are those people

Try it today.

Starbucks Freebies

2008-07-23T13:27:00.003-05:00

Two more reasons to head on into a Starbucks:

Free Music from the iTunes Music Store
Every Tuesday business card-sized coupons go into the CD racks offering a free download from iTunes. This week: Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis (yeah, wouldn't have thought of that duet, but it works) and "Rainy Day Blues." This on top of the 2-3 free songs iTMS gives away every week.

Free drink July 25-26
Got a registered Starbucks gift card? Bring it on down for a complimentary Vivanno™ "healthful beverage with a refreshingly great taste that has nothing to hide." Granted, it's not my usual, but I expect it to be nice, nonetheless.

iCamp II: iPhoto Boogaloo

2008-07-23T12:25:00.003-05:00

Today was Phil's second day of Apple Camp. He got to play with the built-in webcam on modern Macs, as well as the photo editing/manipulation tools in iPhoto. At the end of the session he and new-friend Jacob put together a slideshow of their weird photos.

Next year we might sign up for the Music and Presentation days.

Stay tuned.

iCamp

2008-07-22T17:33:00.003-05:00

Phil spent the morning at the Apple store at NorthPark Center mall attending Apple Camp. Today's topic was iMovie/iDVD. After an intro to the software packages, the campers were tasked with creating an ad for any of the Apple products in the store (with the caveat to not bother the paying customers).

Phil was teamed up with T.J. and Anthony. They shot a bunch of video (they were supposed to come up with a "plan" before shooting ... so much for that idea), then composed and edited it in iMovie and created a title page in iDVD before burning discs.

Here's the result.
(If it plays choppy, let it load all the way before pushing the play button.)

Tomorrow is iPhoto day. Stay tuned.

The "Episode One" You've Been Waiting For

2008-07-16T20:32:00.004-05:00

And no Jar-Jar Binks.

The First Episode of Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog by mastermind Joss Whedon is online now through the weekend.

Introducing Dr. Horrible, who dreams of joining the Evil League of Evil and someday striking up a relationship with Penny, the girl from the laundromat.

Presenting Penny, the girl from the laundromat, who wants to help the homeless, which Dr. Evil says are symptomatic of an imperfect metaphor.

Meet Moist, Dr. H's roommate with the power to make things very, very damp.

And last but not least -- well maybe least, we'll see how things go -- Captain Hammer, Dr. H's nemesis and "Corporate Tool."

Singing! Dancing! Viewer Mail! How can you resist?

The second ep premieres tomorrow, with numero three-o due on Saturday. All three will disappear from the web after Sunday. Hopefully they'll reappear on DVD soon. (They're on iTunes for pay, but online now for free.)

Enjoy!

Regarding Harry

2008-07-14T17:38:00.003-05:00

Harry Guetzlaff, managing editor of The Wittenburg Door, passed away yesterday. A quick glance at "What I've Written" in the left-hand sidebar will give you an idea of his importance in my writing career. More than that, though, he was the first person (other than my brother and his family) to welcome me to Dallas when I moved out here.

I was only able to spend time with him twice, but his grace and friendliness is something that will stay with me (and set the standard for grace and friendliness) for the rest of my life.

For more on his life and legacy, see John Bloom's obit at the Door website.

Godspeed, Harry.

Strange Things Are Afoot at the 7-11

2008-07-11T11:48:00.002-05:00

It's July 11 (7-11). Time for free mini-Slurpees.

Enjoy.

Forgiving Mark Harmon

2008-07-06T15:52:00.003-05:00

I'm sure there's more to it, but I've always believed Mark Harmon destroyed Moonlighting. And blamed him for it.*

When he had his Chicago Hope comeback I wasn't a fan (though I did like the show in general).

As NCIS agent Gibbs, though, he's found his way into my good graces. Great show. Great character. Great slaps upside the head. If you haven't watched NCIS, give it a try. Good fun.

*He also married TV's Mindy, but since they've been married 21 years, and Dina and I almost as long, I think it's fair to check off that boat as having sailed.

The Ocho

2008-07-05T20:40:00.003-05:00

For those of you keeping score, Phil turned eight at the end of last month.

We interrupt this blog for the following announcement from The Simpsons:

Warden: You kiddin'? Look -- [shows painting] he painted a unicorn in outer space. I'm asking you: What's it breathin'?

Homer: Air?

Warden: Ain't no air in space.

Homer: There's an air-in-space museum.

(Episode CABF05: Pokey Mom)

Which reminds me: while on our trip to San Diego, we stopped at the Air and Space Museum in Balboa Park. Here are a few pix of Phil.

Dina and Phil in a kit plane

Dina and Phil by the Apollo 9 orbital craft

Phil by an astronaut spacesuit
(the last time Phil posed with an astronaut space suit he was about 8 months old and looked like this)

A special Staf Trek exhibit was on display at the museum. Phil got to sit in the original Captain's Chair. Let the argements begin: who fills the chair better: Kirk or Capt. Phil?

Knights Tournament at LegoLand

2008-07-03T10:31:00.003-05:00

A week ago we were at LegoLand, down in the San Diego area. Not quite the Disney experience, but we had fun. The ride we spent the most time on was Knights Adventure, essentially a giant robot arm that swings you all around (what it has to do with knights we never figured out). Phil and I wound up riding it three times before the day was over.

It looked like this.

There are five levels of intensity for the ride. Because Phil is a few inches short of the height requirement for the upper three, Level Two ("The Bear") was the most-intense we qualified for and the one we rode every time. Level One was called "The Monkey;" as far as I could tell that one never turned the chair sideways or parallel to the ground. Phil and I decided there should also be a Level Zero ("The Guppy") where you sit stationary and swing your legs for a minute.

The music, by the way, comes from a give-away set of film score samples composed by Christopher Franke, a one-time member of Tangerine Dream who also did all the music for (one of my all-time favorite shows) Babylon 5. Check out his website for more.

Mac Daddy

2008-07-02T22:02:00.003-05:00

Just back from a two-week trip to California. The Powerbook came in handy a couple times. For instance, when we were down in San Diego, our hotel was nice enough but filled with strange little sleep-disturbing noises (when it wasn't too quiet). Dina lamented that we hadn't brought our white-noise machine with us.

"Oh, wait. I have that on my Mac."

And at Burbank airport this afternoon, the Mac was able to get free-wifi (limited to foxnews.com, but it was enough to let us know about the afternoon's hijinks down at LAX) when Dina's PC couldn't.

It was a good vacation. Expect plenty of photos and such in the next few days.

One last Mac vs. PC thing. Anyone got a PC-based DVD-burning solution for my in-laws? (Yeah, the Mac's got it, but they don't have one.)

Reap Yourself a Dark Harvest

2008-06-16T22:36:00.002-05:00

If you'd like a chance to win a copy of Dark Harvest, the anthology I blogged about over the weekend, check out author Michelle Pendergrass' blog.

If contest info's not up yet, it will be sometime before the end of the 17th.

Enjoy!

Ooooo ... Spooky Hoosiers

2008-06-15T09:56:00.002-05:00

(yes, class ... that's assonance: the repetition of vowel sounds.)

Looking for a good read heading on into summer? Check out Dark Harvest, an anthology of short stories written by members of the Indiana Horror Writers. Thirteen dark tales from the nation's (ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump) heartland. Twenty bucks (OK, twenty-two -- double-deuce as they say. They who? Exactly -- with shipping). A buck-seventy per story; less than that, really, because there's some nifty artwork in the book, too. Not too shabby.

Nor are the stories. Shabby, that is. Good stuff here. Haven't finished them all, but those I have, have given chills. Some have provoked thought. Yeah, I know -- scary.

Faves so far: "Goodnight" by Michael West and "Saigon Seventeen" by Michelle Pendergrass*. "Trolling" (also by West) almost lost me halfway through -- so it's that kind of story, I thought -- but it won out in the end.

Looking forward to reading the rest. You should get started.

*Yes, she's a Misfit, one of my writing group. That's why her story's so strong: good writers tend to write good stories. Duh.

Another Gift(card) You Give Yourself

2008-06-07T21:55:00.004-05:00

Linda mentioned in her comment on the last post that she wouldn't have thought to buy the Target USB flash drive gift card, then present it to herself to use on her next Target purchases.

I say, look for more opportunities to give yourself a gift. No doubt I have been influenced unduly by Special Agent Dale Cooper: "I'm going to let you in on a little secret," he told Sheriff Harry S. Truman (no relation) in Twin Peaks. "Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it. Don't wait for it. Just let it happen. It could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot black coffee."

It takes a bit of planning, but here's how to save on those two cups (or more) of good (or at least halfway-decent), hot black coffee.

First: Buy yourself a Starbucks gift card. Maybe for ten dollars. Maybe for twenty. Whatever feels right to you (and your hot black coffee tendencies).

Second: Follow the instructions to register the card. Call a toll-free number. Do it online. Again: whatever feels right, go for it.

Third: When purchasing your next Starbucks coffee, use the gift card. As per the Starbucks Giftcard Registration FAQ: "Brewed coffee refills come at no charge." And if black coffee isn't your deal, "you’ll get syrup and milk options for your beverage on the house," too.

So, if you're tired of office chair catnappery and your closet's full of new shirts from the men's store, gift yourself a Starbucks Giftcard. And don't stop at the second cup. Go for two or three refills. You deserve it.

In fact, order the small ("tall") size coffee to save money up front and maximize your number of free refills.

Hot black coffee. Mmmmmm.

(Warning for folks "new to the coffee": Beware.)

Free(ish) USB Flash Drive

2008-06-05T21:52:00.004-05:00

Shop at Target? Need a 64MB flash drive? Don't completely hate the new live-action Speed Racer movie?

Check out the Target Speed Racer gift card with built in USB flash drive.

To get yours free (without outright hoarking one), follow these steps:

Figure out what you're fixing to spend at the store.

Grab a gift card (I saw them in the birthday card section here in Plano).

Take it to the register and load the card with the amount you determined in Step One.

Go back and buy what ever it was you went to the store to buy in the first place.

Pay with the gift card you loaded in Step 3.

Keep the gift card and go on your way.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Enjoy the content preloaded on the card and/or erase it and load it with 64MB of your own goodies. (Don't grouse; that's like three 1988 hard drives-worth of stuff ... get off my lawn!)

(photo yoinked from OhGizmo!)

Training Up Phil in the Way He Should Go

2008-05-25T22:25:00.004-05:00

OK, so it's probably not what the author of Proverbs 22:6 had in mind, but I've signed the boy up for Apple Camp, held at one of the Apple retail stores here in Dallas.

He's going to the Movie and Photo sessions. (Check availability in a store near you.)

Stay tuned....

Four New Visiting Countries

2008-05-25T14:25:00.003-05:00

Recently four new countries have shown up in my stats log.

Armenia stopped by to see a traffic spike graph from Oct. 2005.

Bhutan wanted to see some bowling scores from Jan. '06.

Kyrgyzstan came for the old Phil-being-"eaten"-by-the-shark pic.

And today Belize took time out of its busy schedule for this classic Phil haircut shot.

Now at 136 countries / 61% of the world (as World66 figures things).

Stealth Money

2008-05-20T20:23:00.002-05:00

At the beginning of 2006 I opened up shop at CafePress. Fiddled with it for a bit, then mostly forgot about it.

Until yesterday.

That's when a check arrived from CP for the "Jesus Loves You / Deal With It" merchandise that's been selling at the rate of one or two per month (seven sold last Christmas!). Woo hoo!

Get one (or two or seven) yourownbadself before the trend explodes.

More Audiobooks To Commute To

2008-05-11T21:13:00.003-05:00

OK, the thing with abridged versions of books (on tape) is that they don't last very long. So I stopped by the library and picked up some unabridged selections:

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King.
I've read the novel. Let's see if Anne Heche can do as good a job (or better).

The Glass Key by Dashiell Hammett.
I've heard good things.

Murder and Obsession, Vol. 1 edited by Otto Penzler.
Eight short stories by the likes of Edna Buchanan, Amanda Cross, Dennis Lehane, and others.

Also, looking through my iTunes library, I came on a couple audio recordings I hadn't listened to yet: Comes a Horseman by Robert Liparulo, and Louis L'Amour's "Merrano of the Dry Country ".

After uploading everything to the iPod (and offloading quite a bit) my 30GB hard drive is down to 30MB. Gotta either make more room or listen to the audiobooks quick.

I Feel So Appreciated

2008-05-06T20:08:00.004-05:00

(...and bloated.)

Today, in observance of Teacher Appreciation Day, Chipotle gave away free entrees to teachers who showed their IDs at checkout.

Four Chipotle restaurants between school and home.

You do the math.

Books I've Listened to Lately

2008-05-01T20:01:00.005-05:00

Been listening to audiobooks in the car for a week or so, now that I've completed the A-to-Z odyssey. These ... not in alphabetical order ... are what I've made it through so far.

Diane - Twin Peaks Tapes of Agent Cooper
Have gone through a Twin Peaks revival here. Got Season One on DVD at Half Price for $15. Picked up the Pilot (with European "ending") on VHS for $3. And this for a buck. Not as fine as a slice of cherry pie at the Double-R, but much better than Nadine Hurley's silent curtain runners.

High Fidelity
Not what I was expecting, but still a good listen.

Accordion Crimes
Got the abridged version, so I missed a few of the "crimes," but Edward Herrmann does great voices, so it balanced out in the end.

Stationary Bike
A short story (uncollected, as far as I know) CD-set I checked out from the library. Quirky King, not terrifying.

Up next: Winter Prey, L.A. Confidential, and Jurassic Park.

Week of (Mostly) Freebies

2008-04-28T20:19:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow, April 29: Free Scoop Day at Ben & Jerry's.

Wednesday, April 30: 31-cent Night at Baskin-Robbins.

Saturday, May 3: Free Comic Book Day at fine comic retailers everywhere.

Enjoy!

CFBA: Winter Haven

2008-04-25T19:43:00.004-05:00

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Winter Haven
(Bethany House April 1, 2008)
by
Athol Dickson

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Athol Dickson's university-level training in painting, sculpture, and architecture was followed by a long career as an architect then his decision several years ago to devote full time to writing.

Athol Dickson’s writing has been favorably compared to the work of Octavia Butler
(Publisher’s Weekly), Daphne du Maurier (Cindy Crosby, FaithfulReader.com) and Flannery O’Connor (The New York Times).

His They Shall See God was a Christy Award finalist and his River Rising was a Christy Award winner, selected as one of the Booklist Top Ten Christian Novels of 2006 and a finalist for Christianity Today's Best Novel of 2006.

He and his wife, Sue, live in Southern California. Visit AtholDickson.com for more information.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Boys who never age, giants lost in time, mist that never rises, questions never asked...on the most remote of islands off the coast of Maine, history haunts the present and Vera Gamble wrestles with a past that will not yield. Will she find refuge there, or will her ghosts prevail on...Winter Haven

Eleven years ago, Vera Gamble's brother left their house never to be seen again. Until the day Vera gets a phone call that his body has been found...washed ashore in the tiny island town of Winter Haven, Maine. His only surviving kin, Vera travels north to claim the body...and finds herself tumbling into a tangled mystery. Her brother hasn't aged a day since last she saw him.

Determined to uncover what happened in those lost years, Vera soon discovers there are other secrets lurking in this isolated town. But Winter Haven's murky past now seems bound to come to light as one woman seeks the undeniable and flooding light of truth.

Haunted Hotel

2008-04-20T21:17:00.002-05:00

Yesterday afternoon the family headed over to Mineral Wells to check out the Baker Hotel (among other things). Didn't see any ghosts, but while we were skulking around the rear courtyard a window upstairs (or some other source of glass) broke. Ooooh ... spooky.

Took a bunch of pix, and since they're spookier in black and white, I tweaked them slightly (but only slightly) in Photoshop.

Front entrance

Lamps by entrance

Another lamp from the entrance

Side wall with spooky tree

Bridge from the pool

Side entrance

Portico of side entrance

Side wall

Windows: 1, 2
(I like the counterweights in #2)

Crumbling pillar

Roof from back of hotel

Interior Pix
(There were enough holes in the ground-level windows to sneak some peeks inside without the hassle of trespassing.)

Lobby

Long view of lobby

Chandelier

Hole in the wall

More spooky pix (and haunted history) here.

We also saw car dealer after car dealer with cars, trucks, and vans that had their windows and windshields shattered. Not abandoned car dealerships. Or poltergeist-infested ones. Just hail damage from a recent storm. Still, kinda hinky to see, though.

Easter Revisited

2008-04-20T21:05:00.002-05:00

Just downloaded a bunch of pictures from the digital camera, including a couple way back on Easter.

Here's good-lookin' Phil

and slighly goofy-lookin' Phil.

We now return you to your previously-scheduled day, already in progress...

Party Like It's 1999

2008-04-20T10:01:00.003-05:00

I finally finished my iPod A to Z odyssey yesterday. Prince's 1999 was the final track (numbered songs come after lettered ones). Yeah, Bowling for Soup's 1985 would've been cooler, but that missed out by being the song before last.

The adventure that began back in September ended seven months later (to the day for the A-Z songs). The playlist swelled from 4,991 to 5,200, so it's not surprising that it took a bit longer than expected.

I think it's time to play with books on tape for a while....