You can accomplish a lot before 10:30 on a Saturday morning, if you start early

Posted on 2 June 2012 | No responses

The kids had me up at just after 5am on this lovely Saturday morning. And while they managed to get back to sleep, I could not. I decided to put the time to good use. Kelly (with the help of her dad, when he was here last week) really cleaned up our backyard area. They got rid of lots of weeds, cut back pushes and shrubs and trees, and cleaned it all up so that it looked good. We decided to add some mulch around the edges, so I was out the door at 6am to head over to our local Home Depot (which is just across the major intersection down the street from our house). I’m not a huge fan of going to Home Depot when it is crowded, but they open at 6am and while it was not as desolate as I imagined it to be, I was able to park up close and get in and out quickly, which is what I was aiming for.

I picked up 10 bags of mulch (2 cubic feet per bag) and loaded it in to the back of the car. I then came back home, brought the mulch into the backyard and proceeded to lay it down in the areas we’d designated. Here some before-and-after shots:

Northwest side (before)		Northwest side (after)
Northeast side (before)		Northeast side (after)
Southeast side (before)		Southeast side (after)
South side (before)		South side (after)
Before		After

When I finished, it was only 7am, so I figured, why stop here? Keep the momentum going! I laid the last bag of mulch I had in the front of the house. I think I need about 8 more bags to thicken up both the back and the front to the proper depth.

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Some various notes to wrap up the (busy!) month of May

Posted on 1 June 2012 | No responses

May is a wrap and thank goodness for that. It had to be one of my busiest months in recent memory. Here are some notes wrapping up various things from May. I’m clustering them together in one post rather than writing separately about each.

1. I turned in my first book review column for InterGalactic Medicine Show yesterday. I reviewed two books for the June column, Million Writer Awards anthology, edited by Jason Sanford; and 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson. You can find out what I thought about each of those books when the column appears. I think it will get posted sometime soon. Of course, I’ll let you know when it’s posted.
2. Speaking of InterGalactic Medicine Show, issue 28 was released yesterday with a lead story by Brad Torgersen (who I interviewed for SF Signal earlier in May). Also a pretty amazing cover by Nick Greenwood.
3. May turned out to be the busiest month on the blog as well. I recorded over 66,000 visits in the month of May. That’s two-thirds of what I had in all of 2011. The weekly Going Paperless posts seem to be popular and well-received and that makes me happy.
4. I got the June issue of Locus in my email inbox this morning and discovered my picture in the magazine for the first time ever. It was the group photo of all of the Nebula Award winners and accepters, and as I accepted an award for Ken Liu, I was in the group photo. I’m standing between Joe Haldeman and Mike Fincke, which is very cool. Even if I never did anything else in science fiction, I can claim that I appeared in Locus.
5. There isn’t much time to exercise in my schedule, but I try to walk as much as possible. I talk a walk every morning at 10am. I walk to pick the Little Man up from school. I walk to the grocery store. In May, I walked some 284,000 steps, or nearly 150 miles. That will have to do for now, I suppose.
6. I haven’t been doing much fiction writing lately. I have one story out at the moment, and I’m hopeful, but we’ll see. I have 3 stories in various stages, but very little time to work on them. I was stirred to action after the Nebula Weekend, but just haven’t found the time. Maybe in June?
7. My Vacation in the Golden Age posts suffered in May because I didn’t have much time to read those magazines. I expect things to return to normal in June, with Episode 39, covering the September 1942 Astounding coming out on June 11
8. I did find time to tweak the template for this blog and so far, I’m happy with the results, although I’m not 100% finished with my tweaking.

So, May is over, June is here, and I’m hoping June will be somewhat less busy than May. I can use the break.

Articles I read in May 2012

Posted on 1 June 2012 | No responses

Early in May I started keeping track of the significant non-fiction articles I read, just like I keep track of the short fiction I read (to say nothing of the books I read). I started partway through the month, but I figured I’d report out those as well, for anyone who might be interested. This was a fairly slow month of article-reading mostly because I was busy with other types of reading. And when I say “article” I mean an article of substance. I’m not talking about the editorials at the opening of the science magazines, but the in-depth articles they contain. I’m not talking about a micro-review in a media magazine, but an in-depth interview or profile. And as with the short fiction lists, I’ve bolded those articles I find particularly good. Here are the articles I read in May:

1. The Devil and Gregg Allman (excerpt) by Gregg Allman (Rolling Stone, 5/10/2012) [5/11/2012]
2. The World According to Money by Paul Solotaroff (Rolling Stone, 5/10/2012) [5/11/2012]
3. Ready for the Fight by Jann S. Wenner (Rolling Stone, 5/10/2012) [5/11/2012]
4. Levon Helm by Mikal Gilmore (Rolling Stone, 5/10/2012) [5/11/2012]
5. Bombing is a Fine Art by Willy Ley (Astounding, August 1942) [5/12/2012]
6. Master of the Game by Brian Hyatt (Rolling Stone, 5/24/2012) [5/12/2012]
7. The Hand Behind the Throne by Gavin Edwards (Rolling Stone, 5/24/2012) [5/12/2012]
8. The Many Lives of Adam Yauch by Brian Hyatt (Rolling Stone, 6/7/2012) [5/28/2012]
9. This Year’s Girls by Vanessa Grigoriadis (Rolling Stone, 6/7/2012) [5/28/2012]
10. Maurice Sendak: King of the Wild Things by Jonathan Cott (Rolling Stone, 1976) [5/28/2012]
11. Take Me Home by Ray Bradbury (New Yorker, June 4 & 11, 2012) [5/29/2012]
12. The Golden Age by Ursula K. Le Guin (New Yorker, June 4 & 11, 2012) [5/29/2012]

I think I might have gotten in some science magazine reading prior to May 10, but as you can see, I finally discovered Rolling Stone and was more or less obsessed with that magazine for the rest of the month.

Every one of the non-fiction magazines to which I subscribe come in electronic format. For those interested in the nonfiction magazines I try to read each month, here is the list:

Short fiction I read in May 2012

Posted on 1 June 2012 | No responses

This month’s reading was better than last month, but it was of much narrower focus. I read almost nothing that came out recently until last night, when I started Allen Steele’s latest story in the July Asimov’s. I might also have read even more short fiction were it not for several other things keeping me busy this month, including reading a new novel. Here is the short fiction I read in May:

1. Waldo by Robert Heinlein (as by Anson MacDonald) (Astounding, August 1942) [5/6/2012]
2. Deadlock by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore (Astounding, August 1942) [5/8/2012]
3. Non-Zero Probabilities by N. K. Jemisin (Million Writers Awards Anthology) [5/8/2012]
4. Faithful Soldier, Prompted by Saladin Ahmed (Million Writers Awards Anthology) [5/8/2012]
5. Arvies by Adam-Troy Castro (Million Writers Award Anthology) [5/8/2012]
6. Jackdaw by Ross Rocklynne (Astounding, August 1942) [5/9/2012]
7. There’s a Hole in the City by Richard Bowes (Million Writers Awards Anthology) [5/10/2012]
8. The Tome of Tourmaline by Ken Liu (Daily SF, 5/9/2012) [5/10/2012]
9. Time Marches On by Ted Carnell (Astounding, August 1942) [5/11/2012]
10. Ray of Light by Brad R. Torgersen (Analog, December 2011) [5/11/2012]
11. Horus Ascending by Aliette de Bodard (Million Writers Awards Anthology) [5/11/2012]
12. The Link  by Cleve Cartmill (Astounding, August 1942) [5/12/2012]
13. Killigan’s Lunar Legacy by Norman L. Knight (Astounding, August 1942) [5/12/2012]
14. The Image of Annihilation by Jack Speer (Astounding, August 1942) [5/12/2012]
15. Destiny and Uncle Louis by Joseph Gilbert (Astounding, August 1942) [5/12/2012]
16. The Anecdote of the Negative Wugus by L. Sprague de Camp (Astounding, August 1942) [5/12/2012]
17. Impediment by Hal Clement (Astounding, August 1942) [5/13/2012]
18. Blue Ink by Yoon Ha Lee (Million Writers Awards Anthology) [5/14/2012]
19. Fields of Gold by Rachel Swirsky (Eclipse Four) [5/18/2012]
20. Eros, Philia, Agape by Rachel Swirsky (Million Writers Awards Anthology) [5/19/2012]
21. A Song to Greet the Sun by Alaya Dawn Johnson (Million Writers Awards Anthology) [5/19/2012]
22. Time to Say Goodnight by Caroline M. Yoachim (Million Writers Awards Anthology) [5/20/2012]
23. The Fisherman’s Wife by Jenny Williams (Million Writers Awards Anthology) [5/22/2012]
24. Intertropical Convergence Zone by Nadia Bulkin (Million Writers Awards Anthology) [5/22/2012]
25. Urchins, While Swimming by Catherynne M. Valente (Million Writers Awards Anthology) [5/23/2012]
26. The Shagri-La Affair by Lavie Tidhar (Million Writers Awards Anthology) [5/23/2012]
27. Elegy for a Young Elk by Hannu Rajaniemi (Million Writers Awards Anthology) [5/23/2012]

And as always, if you are looking for inexpensive entertainment, a subscription to one of the many terrific science fiction and fantasy magazines out there is cheaper than an evening out at the movies.

My interview with Nancy Fulda (@nancyfulda) is now available on SF Signal

Posted on 31 May 2012 | No responses

While at the Nebula Weekend, I finally had a chance to meet fellow-Codexian, and Hugo- and Nebula-nominated writer, Nancy Fulda, in person. We sat down to chat about her award-nominated story, “Movement” and other things. You can find the interview over at SF Signal.

Looming deadlines

Posted on 30 May 2012 | No responses

I have a number of deadlines looming, both at the day job and with upcoming writing assignments, so I may be somewhat more scarce than usual online for the next several days. I do have things to post about, like the current science fiction issue of the New Yorker, which I started reading last night. Reading that also lead to some thoughts on digital magazines in general.

I was out of the office yesterday and while catching up on my email this morning, I listened to the terrific interview with economist and New York Times columnist, Paul Krugman, on Episode 61 of the Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy. If you haven’t listened to it yet, go check it out.

Going Paperless: Spring cleaning, or archiving your paperless data

Posted on 29 May 2012 | 2 responses

I had a number of people suggest that I talk about my process for archiving my paperless data and since we are rapidly approaching the end of spring, I thought I’d do it as a kind of spring cleaning post. But first a confession:

I don’t archive my paperless data.

At least, not yet. I’ve been using Evernote to go paperless for about a year and a half now and have had no need to archive. The thousands of notes that I have in Evernote don’t “get in the way” the way piles of paper at home might. That said, archiving is more than just paring down the data you store, it’s making sure that data is still accessible if you need to access it later, and in that sense, I archive all of my data regularly.

That said, here are some tips I would use for archiving if I wanted to keep down the clutter in my various virtual notebooks.

Have a process for archiving your data

There are many ways in which to archive paperless data. I list several of them below. By now, regular followers of these posts should know that I’m a process-oriented person. Having a process helps to ensure that archiving data happens in a consistent manner, which is important for retrieving it. The process does not have to be complex and you might incorporate it as part of other things you do on a fairly regular basis. I’d suggest something like the following:

1. Determine how frequently you’d like to review your paperless data for archiving
2. Determine the scope of your review (are you going to review all of your documents or just a subset of them)
3. Determine a method for archiving your paperless data (see below).
4. Add the archiving task as a regular event on your calendar so you don’t forget to do it.

I said I don’t archive my paperless data in the sense that I pick and choose notes to clean out. I do, however, perform regular backups of all of my paperless data and this (as I describe below) is perhaps one of the most important forms of archiving. Here is what my process looks like based on the steps above:

1. Frequency: monthly
2. Scope: all of my data
3. Method: XML export to external disk
4. Added as a recurring event on the last day of each month on my Google calendar

The method you choose to archive your paperless data will vary depending on your needs. Some methods allow you to maintain your data’s structure. Other’s allow for faster review and export. Below, I list four methods but I am sure there are others.

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Remembering science fiction writers who serve(d)

Posted on 28 May 2012 | 3 responses

In Episode 38 of my Vacation in the Golden Age, which covered the August 1942 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, John Campbell had this rather telling news to report in his In Times To Come column, regarding what the War had done to science fiction:

As previously stated, L. Ron Hubbard and Robert Heinlein were both regular navy men. With the outbreak of war, they were in, and Astounding out two top writers automatically. In rapid succession since, we’ve gotten word that “This one’s probably my last for the duration” from Anson MacDonald, L. Sprague de Camp and Isaac Asimov.

Schneeman was drafted in the spring of 1941, released as one of the over-twenty-eight group in the fall of ’41, and, of course, taken back after December 7th. Cartier went in late last fall. Rogers is in the Canadian army now.

I sometimes have a vision of these Golden Age writers as being cooped up in their tiny apartments, or gathered together in some basement doing their writing without much concern for what is going on in the outside world, but when you look at the history of the genre in the Golden Age, it is clear that nearly every able-bodied science fiction writer served in the military in some capacity. Asimov, Heinlein and Clarke did. Frederik Pohl served in Europe. Cyril Kornbluth was in the Battle of the Bulge. H. L. Gold also saw combat in World War II. Jack Williamson served, as did L. Sprague de Camp and many other writers who went on to some measure of fame within our genre. Some of them never fully recovered from their service.

I find it interesting that we know many of the names of the writers who served during World War II, but we know few of the names of the men and women of our genre who serve today; this despite the power of the Internet. I know, for instance, that Hugo-, Nebula-, and Campbell-award-nominated writer Brad R. Torgersen serves in the reserves. I know that Myke Cole also serves. I saw him present an award at the Nebula Weekend in his dress uniform.

I’m grateful for the service of all the men and women who volunteer (and those who were drafted, back when the draft still existed), but I am also humbled by those of my fellow writers of science fiction, fantasy and horror who have put their beliefs into action. Often times, as a writers, our words are our weapons, but we sit safely behind out computers when we write them. It is an honor to know folks like Brad and Myke–and there are certainly others that I am not aware of–who have made sacrifices that include their writing careers, to help protect our freedoms.

So on this Memorial Day, I’m thinking of Brad and Myke, but also of Isaac and Robert and Sprague and Arthur and Cyril and Frederik and Jack and all those other who had the courage, voluntary or not, to serve our country.

A great picture of me and Kelly

Posted on 28 May 2012 | No responses

Yesterday, we took the kids and grandparents to the National Zoo. Being local, we (and by we I mean Kelly) know to arrive early. Technically, the exhibits don’t open until 10am, but if you get there art 8 or 8:30, the animals are often out, parking is easy, and the zoo is not crowded. Plus, it’s not stifling hot and you can leave by 10:30 having seen everything.

In any case, we arrived early, saw lots of animals, and the kids had a good time. At one point, toward the end of our visit, I snapped a picture of me and Kelly (or is that Kelly and I?) that I think turned out to be a particularly good one. In lieu of other programming today, I thought I’d post it:

Spring planting

Posted on 28 May 2012 | No responses

Last October, we ripped out the bushes we had in front of our house and replaced them with mulch surrounded by a nice little fence. It was always our intention to plant something there, but late October is not the best time for planting. We made it through the winter and most of the spring, and finally, today, we have completed our little projects, planting four small plants and cleaning the area up to make it look (hopefully) a little nicer. Here is how it looks today (for comparison, see the photos at the link above):

And here is the sliver to the right of our front door that we’d done nothing with last October:

We are pretty happy with the result. It took about 2-1/2 hours to get it all done this morning and since it is on the way up to above 90 degrees today, I’m pretty hot and sweaty at the moment. But I think it was worth it.

REMINDER: Vacation in the Golden Age, Episode 39 out on June 11

Posted on 28 May 2012 | No responses

Just a reminder to anyone who might be curious as to why Episode 39 of my Vacation in the Golden Age is not posted today. I delayed it two weeks to June 11. Hope you are having a relaxing holiday weekend. I’m heading out to plant some new bushes in front of the house. I then hope to spend a good portion of the day reading more of Kim Stanley Robinson’s 2312.

Going iPad: One Year Later

Posted on 26 May 2012 | 4 responses

It was one year ago this past Thursday when my iPad 2 arrived in the mail. So I thought it would be a good time as any to review my experiences with the tablet over the last year. To sum up the experience, however, the iPad was well worth the cost. Indeed, with the various apps I use, I have probably saved several times the cost of the device in labor-savings, efficiencies, and other cost-saving uses.

The things I use most frequently

In the year that I’ve had to play and experiment, I’ve put together a “home” screen for my iPad that reflects my daily use and behavior.

Starting on the bottom are the apps I use most frequently. They are there because they’ll appear on any page I happen to be on. I think that my home screen reflects three activities that I do a lot of on my iPad:

1. Reading (Kindle, Zinio, iBooks, Reeder)
2. Writing and capturing information (Evernote, Paper, Penultimate, OmniOutliner)
3. Social Networking (Gmail, Twitter, Facebook)

There are also a few apps here that I use to relax: SiriusXM satellite radio, Music, and HBO GO.

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