Month: December 2011

  • A full night’s sleep

    22 Dec 2011 » 1 min read about Personal & Family

    I often brag about how we can, when things break our way, get from our house down to Kelly’s parent’s house in Florida in about 4 hours, door-to-door.  Well, yesterday, everything seemed to break our way and we managed to make the journey, door-to-door, in just about four hours. Of course, the weather is a…

  • Packing for vacation: what I squeezed into 601 grams

    20 Dec 2011 » 1 min read about Personal & Family

    I managed to squeeze the following into only 601 grams, or for those more comfortable with non-metrics weights, about 1-1/3 pounds: 18 issues (combined) of Asimov’s, Analog, and F&SF. 4 issues of Clarkesworld 4 issues of Lightspeed 129 books Seasons 1 & 2 (26 episodes) of Doctor Who Season 4 (21 episodes) of Star Trek:Enterprise…

  • My 25 most-played songs

    20 Dec 2011 » 1 min read about music

    I was doing some pruning in iTunes today and happened to look at the Top 25 Most Played list. I present mine below with the following comment: many of these songs are on workout playlists which may explain their numbers. As always, my Rule 34 applies to the musical selections. Fix You by Coldplay (307…

  • On e-book pricing (what Scalzi said)

    20 Dec 2011 » 1 min read about Reading & Books

    Not long ago I posted about how it surprised me that many 1-star reviews on Amazon were entirely because the reviewer didn’t like the price of the e-book–something that the author often has very little control over. Today, John Scalzi offers up his opinion on e-book pricing, and I completely agree with him. As he…

  • Days and nights with the Little Man

    20 Dec 2011 » 5 min read about Personal & Family

    Lately–perhaps because I am rapidly approaching my 40th trip around the sun and have been ruminating on this–I’ve been trying to spend more time with the Little Man. I find myself thinking about him quite a bit when I am at work. There is usually some quiet time in the house when I get home…

  • The post-Seinfeld, Scott Bakula dream

    20 Dec 2011 » 1 min read about Personal & Family

    I don’t ordinarily dream of interacting with fictional characters, but last night I had a strange dream in which I found myself at Elaine’s (from Seinfeld) new apartment. She mentioned that Jerry was going to be moving into her apartment and I was, quite frankly, surprised. It seemed strange that Jerry would be moving into Elaine’s…

  • My first ever Doctor Who episode: “Blink!”

    19 Dec 2011 » 4 min read

    The back-story, for those who missed it: A few weeks ago, I noticed a TARDIS parked across the street from my house and managed to capture a picture of it before it vanished. This got signal-boosted and I was bombarded by an incredulous Internet who couldn’t believe a science fiction writer had never seen a…

  • A few words on Action Comics #4

    18 Dec 2011 » 1 min read about comics, Reading & Books

    I thought that Action Comics #3 was terrific when I read it last month. So I was really looking forward to #4 which made its debut earlier this month. But I have to say that more than anything else, it confused me. Maybe it comes with the territory of being new to comics. The art…

  • Back to writing, reading, and working on end-of-year posts

    18 Dec 2011 » 1 min read about Personal & Family

    Looks like I am finally recovered enough to get back to writing today. I plan on getting a scene in before the day is out and I am looking forward to it. I’m also back to my Golden Age reading, currently working my way through a Malcolm Jameson yarn in the November 1941 Astounding. I’m…

  • Scrivener for iPhone/iPad is in development

    17 Dec 2011 » 1 min read about Technology & Gadgets

    For anyone who might have missed the news, the Scrivener blog made the official announcement: We’ve been dropping hints for a while, but can finally make an official announcement: Scrivener for iOS is now in development. Looks like a version will be released sometime in 2012. This is so cool, and I’m so excited that…

  • Yes, I am still alive

    17 Dec 2011 » 1 min read about Personal & Family

    Sorry for not posting yesterday. I was at work early in the day and suddenly felt sick again so I headed home and slept most of the morning and just took things easy most of the afternoon. By evening, I felt well enough to take the family to the annual work holiday party which has…

  • Security vs. Freedom

    15 Dec 2011 » 2 min read

    I remember a graph from my political science days which had security on one axis (low to high) and freedom on the other (low to high).  As security increases, freedoms necessarily decrease and vice versa. I was thinking of this as I read that President Obama will sign the Levin/McCain detention bill into law. This…