Intentionally Left Blank

Bad News, Invitations, Punishments, and Insights

2012-01-23T12:55:00.001-06:00

Now I’m at a safe place to look back at last week. The week was cruising along, had worked in an exercise routine into my schedule, needed to work in more progress on my writing and editing, two appointments one for the doctor on Thursday and with the CCFairy on Friday. I got invited to a Pampered Chef party and was considering going. So far my next paycheck forecasted a surplus that I should save for my birthday trip and emergency fund, but I could spare $20 on the microwave rice cooked that I’ve had on my wish list for a long time.

Go home Wednesday night and find out that one of my creditors wants to sue me in small claims court over the remaining balance and my inability to pay it. Okay, fine, I still don’t have the money. Also amused by the irony of the amount that is so out of my reach right now only qualifies as worthy of small claims court’s time. I’m ticked off at the marshal who handed my private papers to my parents. I have a meeting with the CCFairy on Friday and hopefully we can get this settled without undue hardship on me.

After that, the second invitation came through Facebook: a free women’s safety seminar for 6pm next Thursday. And my first thought is: “Can’t go! Can’t got ot Pampered Chef either! YOU CAN’T GO!” in the most seething, angry inner voice I have. If it could have separated from my body to beat me up, it would have. As it was, it knocked me back enough from my worries to ask “what the hell?”

The projected surplus hadn’t changed, because it won’t make a dent in what I owe to the creditor. But immediately my mindset is I’m a bad rotten person who should be locked up at home to not get in trouble with money. Brain points out that it’s not free because I would have to eat and spend gas to get to the seminar. I don’t deserve money spent on me. Come straight home and don’t do anything.

That night I went to bed thinking this was my coping mechanism to avoid temptation. I woke up Thursday to a muscle knot where the stress always goes and the idea that I’m grounding myself because I need to be punished over my bad with money. “What the hell” has now become “why do I do this to myself?”

Thursday, I got confirmation that I had maintained my current health even with going off my meds for a few months. I’m back on them and wondering if I should go back off them again. :p

Friday, CCFairy swooped in with an emergency loan to cover the other and kick the judgment off me credit report. I signed up for the credit union’s credit counseling service so I can’t make any financial moves without talking them over with the CCFairy. No arguments from me, since that was my goal at the beginning of the year. I did bring up the punishment insight and admitted I have no idea what to do with it.

I still don’t, but I’m leaning towards accepting the invitations. I double checked my next paycheck forecast and I think I can afford to go to both and not reach the point of can’t pay a bill. That’s where I am today, minus the running around I have to do to actually pay the creditor off. And my mouth is a little sore still since I got the new bridge put in Saturday.

This week: I need to stop typing up blog posts and work on my fiction. ;) I also have to squeeze in sewing time at home. Yeah, I finally feel like sewing again. :D

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Hot Bod 2012 Post 2

2012-01-22T12:52:00.000-06:00

So I had a week and now I need to report progress. I exercised Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I used the rest option on Thursday because I woke up with a knot in my left deltoids muscles that made it painful to turn my neck and it is still present today. Friday through Sunday I skipped, mostly to avoid more pain from the knot.

So Monday I’m going to get back in the yoga groove and make an appointment to see a massage therapist this week because the self remedies I’ve been trying haven’t alleviated the symptoms.

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The BookWorm

Random links

2012-01-19T14:26:00.002-06:00

Good writing advice sent my way:

Just Make the Bed: Overcoming the Problem of Writers Resolutions

Terrible Minds: 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing

A Word to the Writerly Wise

SOPA & PIPA

WWdN: In Exile: Today the US Senate Is Considering Legislation That Would Destroy the Free and Open Internet

Making Light: SOPA and PIPA. Where We Are. What They Want.

Money & Living Hacks:

Get Rich Slowly: Make 2012 Better By Asking the Right Question. This has future budget post written all over it.

Lifehacker: How to Book a $1700 Vacation for $700 by Volunteering This is the first time I've ran across this idea, but I'm intrigued. Vacations have been off my radar for so long as well as charitable giving.

A Food Triage Box Granted, I haven't been wasting as much food lately because I haven't been buying any, but I have ran into this problem before. I think a box of need to be eaten soon would work in my fridge.

Apartment Therapy: How to Clean Your House in 20 Minutes for 30 Days I like the break down of surface cleaning and deep cleaning, but don't know how it would work with the schedule I already have.

Enjoy!

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The BookWorm

After I swore I was never going to give that man any more money

2012-01-18T13:56:00.002-06:00

I’m shilling for George Lucas. After swearing never to give the man any more money, he finally gets “Red Tails” out in theaters Jan. 20th. He is the producer and has been trying to do this movie about the WWII heroes the Tuskegee Airmen for 35 years. Hollywood has been, well, Hollywood about it: i.e. majority black cast, nobody will pay to see it. Cuba Gooding Jr. and Terrence Howard both star in it and people besides Lucas wrote the screenplay and directed it. This is a WWII action movie like “Band of Brothers” and “Saving Private Ryan”, so support it for the Greatest Generation and to prove the studio heads wrong.

Movie Mom: Red Tails Interviews

Due to the way my paycheck falls, I'll have to see it the weekend after it opens. But I will see it in the theaters. I hope you will too.

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The BookWorm

P.S. SOPA protest: I've sent emails to my senators and will be sending more emails to my representatives once I get home.

Hot Bod 2012 Post 1

2012-01-15T12:49:00.001-06:00

It’s so cliché to make a New Year’s resolution to lose weight or get into shape, I’m almost embarrassed to declare this goal that it may be mistaken for the same thing. But my embarrassment doesn’t change the fact that my body can’t do all I ask it to do and I don’t want to hurt when I do it.

So the first step is to see how bad the damage is. I found a three-column journal that never helped me master my finances, but gives me lots of room to record weekly measurements.

Jan. 15, 2012
Height = 158.12 cm
Weight = 197 lbs
Neck = 38.1 cm
Shoulders = 121.7 cm
Bust = 121 cm
Waist = 112 cm
Abdomen = 115.6 cm
Hips = 121.7 cm
Thigh = 65.8 cm
Knee = 40.2 cm
Calf = 40.5 cm
Ankle = 22.5 cm
Upper arm = 31.3 cm
Forearm = 25.7 cm
Wrist = 15.6 cm

Fit Day result = BMI = 36.03 Obese

Step two: Make daily exercise a part of my routine. Primal Blueprint Fitness concentrates on moving slowly, lifting heavy things, and one day of sprinting a week. Since my flexibility has gone to crap, I’ll do yoga on the move slowly days: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

Tuesday and Friday are the lift heavy things days concentrating on five body weight movements: push-up, pull-up, squat, overhead press, and plank. Today I need to assess myself to see what my maximums are to calculate which level to start the exercises at.

Set back already. I had bought an Iron Gym Express in 2012 when I found it on clearance since my attempt at building a pull-up bar on the front porch flopped. Plus I wouldn’t use it when it got cold. So one that you can set up in a doorway seemed like a good investment. Today, I put it together to do the pull-up assessment and found that my doorways are too wide for it to fit. *headdesk*

All is not loss because they packed in a Cardio Jump ropeless jump rope. Jump ropes have been my enemy since elementary school. This lets me jump without something to tie my ankles together.

Assessment Outcome
Push-up = 3 start with Wall Push
Pull-up = 0 and have nothing to do them on
Full Squat = 15 start with Wall Squat
Shoulder Press Push-up = 5 start with Elevated Jack Knife Press
Forearm/Feet Plank = 74 sec. start with Hand/Feet Plank Level 3 (90 sec.)
Forearm/Feet Side Plank = 25 sec. start with Hand/Feet Side Plank Level 1 (45 sec.)

That takes care of the lifting days; what about yoga days? I like my yoga DVD, but I’m not ready for its routine. Luckily, I kept my notes of poses to help my problem areas: hip openers, core strengtheners, chest openers, and weight loss.

Always start with Sun Salutations. Even if I have no time for anything else, that is better than no exercise. Wow, it actually works out. I have four days for yoga and four problem areas.

Mondays
Sun Salutations x 2
Hip Opening Routine

Butterfly
Left Leg Pigeon
Left Leg Head to Knee
Left Leg Happy Baby
Double Pigeon
Butterfly
Right Leg Pigeon
Right Leg Head to Knee
Right Leg Happy Baby
Double Pigeon

Child
Corpse

Wednesday s
Sun Salutations x 2
Core Strengthening Routine

Mula Bandha 30 lifts x 3
Find TA
Happy Baby x 3
Toe Taps x 4 each foot
Bridge Pose x 2
Dolphin Pose
Dolphin Plank Pose
Locust Pose
Downward Dog
Left Foot Low Lunge
Right Foot Low Lunge
Handstand Prep

Child
Corpse

Thursdays
Sun Salutations x 2
Chest Opening Routine

Cobra
Boat
Downward Dog
Right Leg Pigeon
Downward Dog
Left Leg Pigeon
Downward Dog
Fish
Bridge
Table
Cat/Cow Breathing

Child
Corpse

Saturdays
Sun Salutations x 2
Weight Loss Routine

Hero
Camel
Child
Rabbit
Child
Half Shoulder Stand
Plow
Bridge
Table
Right Foot High Lunge
Right Foot Warrior 1
Downward Dog
Left Foot High Lunge
Left Foot Warrior 1
Downward Dog
Mountain
Five Pointed Star
Right Foot Warrior 2
Five Pointed Star
Left Foot Warrior 2
Five Pointed Star
Right Foot Triangle
Five Pointed Star
Left Foot Triangle
Five Pointed Star
Mountain
Right Leg Tree
Mountain
Left Leg Tree
Mountain

Child
Corpse

Yoga is blance, hence my reminders to do both legs. Yes, I have forgotten before. Overall, I feel good about these routines. Let’s see what happens next week.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Geaux Tigers!

2012-01-09T14:14:00.003-06:00

I can't have the TV on and get any work done, so its WWL and all the BCS talk. I want my state to win, evenif I'm not much of a football fan.

But I am a Better Than Ezra fan and they released Death Valley EP. The band started while they were students at LSU and they noticed that most of the fight songs hadn't been updated since they were first written, so they modernized the songs. Enjoy!

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The BookWorm

Something a little bit lighter

2011-12-29T14:30:00.002-06:00

I'm taking a break between planning. I've got the big stuff done, now it's onto boring stuff like the grocery shopping list. Boring, but necessary. So something that made me *giggle!SNORT*

The Bloggess has started watching Doctor Who

Okay, back to getting stuff done.

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The BookWorm

Goals for 2012

2011-12-28T14:22:00.003-06:00

Lessons learned from 2011’s Goals: I need to find my doable point before I can stretch beyond that. While I like the yearly plan and will keep it, I’m going to break it down to what I can accomplish in a month. Carrying the metaphor of Big Rocks, the monthly goals are my Boulders, things to finish in a week are the Big Rocks, and daily chores become the Pebbles. I’m also crossing fingers and hoping that the monthly focus will change some things into daily habits.

The big topics this year: Monetary concerns, taking health seriously, spirituality practice, incorporating writing into my life more fully, and getting non-anxious over submissions.

Monetary Concerns

Specific: Follow the budget set up by the CC Fairy.
Measurable: Update Quicken every day.
Action-oriented: Do the exercise assigned by the CC Fairy. Due on January 20th: a spending diary and reports on my spending habits.
Realistic: Prioritize spending:
1. Food
2. Gasoline
3. Utilities
4. Mortgage
5. Chase Student Loan
6. Family Loans
7. All other loans
Trackable: Update NetWorthIQ badge every month.
- Update the zero-balance budget spreadsheet each month.

Take health seriously

Specific: Follow Primal guidelines on food and exercise
Measurable: Weigh every morning
- Take body measurements once-a-week
Action-oriented: Exercise every day.
Realistic: Lose 4 pounds by next check-up with Dr. Miller
Trackable: Keep a food diary and measurements at FitDay.com
- Fill out the workout log book every day I exercise and show progress at Joe's Goals

Spirituality Practice

Specific: Carve out sacred space in my house where I can store the tools and conduct rituals.
Measurable: Read 365 Goddess.
Action-oriented: Create a new Book of Shadows
Realistic: Celebrate the Sabbats.
Trackable: Journal exercises and Sabbat rituals in the Book of Shadows.

Fiction Writing

Specific: Finish Stellar Gift of Death
- Edit “Words of Parting”
- Edit “Blue Man on the Porch”
- World building for the steampunk mystery
- World building for Piper of Shadows universe
- World building for Zy’s universe
- Edit Forget the Sun for Mez’s 2012 project.
- Write 2000 words a week and pick out a new project once Stellar is finished.
Measurable: Post the weekly total at DUF using the Writertopia progress bar.
Action-oriented: Dedicate at least 30 minutes on a writing project every day.
Realistic: Write what I feel like I can’t not write.
Trackable: Each story has a marathon tracker of its own, and metrics are posted every day at DUF.

Submitting more stories

Specific: Submit to three markets.
Measurable: Enter submissions into Sonar 3
Action-oriented: Look for 12 markets.
Realistic: Look for email markets.
Trackable: Note how anxious I am about the submission in Sonar3.

So now to break down to what Boulders I want to do in January.

January Boulders

Due on January 20th: a spending diary and reports on my spending habits.
Start reading 365 Goddess
Research for Imbolc celebrations on Feb. 2
Self-assessment for exercising.
Take measurements on Jan. 1st
Finish Stellar Gift of Death

Changes to make on my Pebbles list:

Write 15 minutes x 2
Exercise every day and track what is done
Update Quicken every day

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Results For My Lofty 2011 Goals

2011-12-27T07:54:00.003-06:00

How do I think I did with all the SMART goals I outlined for this year? Truthfully, I don’t see any progress on all the fronts I tried to attack. Some I ignored completely, which carried over to how I ignored writing this post over the holiday break. My willpower petered out for doing anything on my list and I ended up watching BBC series of Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries made in the 70’s (and 90% accurate to the books).

Let’s see what I managed to accomplish.

Show progress on paying off debt load

Specific: Follow budget every month. I tried, but picking myself up when I fell off the rails proved to be a barrier. I’m too close, I want to take care of the here and now annoyance, and usually go off the rails due to frustration. 2012 tweak: The next exercise the Credit Counselor and I will do is to set up a budget I can live on and make headway with. I’m hoping it’ll trigger I’m-getting-graded-for-this behavior in me.
Measurable: Update Quicken every day. Now this I think I have finally beat. As long as I don’t go over 15 minutes a day, I haven’t shoved it aside as the dreaded chore and let it build up until I have no idea what’s going on. 2012 tweak: Maintain this progress.
Action-oriented: Find a part-time job to increase income. We all know how well that went. First, I helped Mom with housework for my grandfather until the S.O.B. did something that Dad put his foot down about and got us fired. I was surprised by how long it lasted. Second, the sales job with no demos that I quit in November. At least I did get my parents a vacation out of that. 2012 tweak: As mentioned above, I’m seeing a credit counselor to find a new plan for tackling my debt and budgeting issues. I’m going to be referring to her a lot so she is now dubbed the CC Fairy. I also put in an application but I don’t expect anything to come of it.
- Bring all bills current by Jan. 28, 2011. I got them current and now they’re not current. It’s a merry-go-round chase. 2012 tweak: Girls Just Want To Have Funds: Four Reasons to Stop Scrambling To Feed Your Creditors Before You Feed Yourself: I have to remind myself of this every time they call to harass me. I Come first. Granted, one of the steps with the CC Fairy is to restructure my debt to what I can afford, but I’m a few months away from that step.
- Put the budgeted amount into savings out of the first check every month. If there is overdrawn issues to pay for, it comes out of what should be saved. I never got to the point where I could budget savings. 2012 tweak: Find some money for savings and keep it there.
Realistic: Pay off what I owe Mom, Dad, and Republic Finance using the debt snowball method by Dec. 31, 2011. *Hysterical laughter* Okay, that’s not really fair. It was doable with more income and more income never materialized. 2012 tweak: I’m working towards taking out a loan with my credit union to pay everyone off with a note I can afford to pay. The CC Fairy is one of the steps I have to work on to make this happen, and one I’m rather gung-ho about because I can’t see the forest for the trees at this point. So far we’ve discussed hypothetically refinancing my mortgage to do this, but if I take that route, I’m getting enough money for a temporary roof too.
Trackable/Time-based: Update my NetWorthIQ badge and show the progress. Or lack there of. I haven’t updated it since June. 2012 tweak: Update it only a monthly basis.

Save $1000 emergency fund by March 25, 2011. *Blink* I don’t even know how the math said that was doable. I did set up an ING Direct savings account and have $12.50 out of each paycheck going into it. However I had to raid it twice to try to reach my monthly expenditures. So I’m $944.50 short of the goal as of today. 2012 tweak: Budget in savings. My credit union is also running a savings challenge that I’m looking into. The Balanced Money Formula recommends 20% Savings (which includes retirement accounts, emergency savings, and debt repayment). I would be happy to set aside 10% each paycheck, but I can’t afford it yet.

Take health seriously This is the category that fell into the black hole of can’t-concentrate-on-this-with-bill-stress. Once I have a grocery budget, I’ll be concentrating on this in 2012.

Specific: Follow Primal guidelines on food and exercise
Measurable: Weigh every morning
- Take body measurements once-a-week
Action-oriented: Exercise every day. Use outside play with Atticus
Realistic: Lose 4 pounds by next check-up with Dr. Miller
Trackable/Time-based: Keep a food diary and measurements at FitDay.com
- Fill out the workout log book every day I exercise and show progress at Joe's Goals

Write 182,500 fictional words between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2011

Specific: Write at least 500 words every day. I didn’t write every day and it stresses me out to see me not working by quantitative standards. 2012 tweak: Count by projects, not daily word count (unless I’m in a challenge that requires it).
Measurable: Post the weekly total every Saturday at DUF using the Writertopia progress bar. This year I’ve been fairly good with keeping this updated. 2012 tweak: Continue with this progress.
- Keep track of daily progress with a marathon spreadsheet. This year I’ve been good at keeping this updated too. 2012 tweak: Maintain this progress.
Action-oriented: Finish Stellar Gift of Death by March 20, 2011. I’m still writing this story. 2012 tweak: Finish it already!
- Finish a 5000-word short story for Triangulation submission by March 31, 2011. “Words of Parting” I actually finished and submitted. 2012 tweak: Use the helpful feedback and revise it!
- Finish steampunk mystery Never started.
- Finish another story in the Piper of Shadows universeNever started.
- Finish the "Blue Man on the Porch" Never started. 2012 tweak: All of these projects should be listed under “Specific” and “Action-oriented” should be write every day.
Realistic: Finish four original stories before any fanfiction. *Snort* I so didn’t follow this 2012 tweak: Write what I want to write. Yes, it would be nice to have a stack of stories to throw at the markets, but if I don’t have the how-will-this-turn-out itch, I drag my feet.
Trackable/Time-based: Each story has a marathon tracker of its own, and metrics are posted daily at DUF. This has worked out really well. I have remembered to do this, even if I’ve been a few days late on the postings. 2012 tweak: Continue with this progress.

Submit enough stories to get rid of the anxiety over it

Specific: Submit to six markets by Dec. 31, 2011. I submitted to two markets before I got bogged down with Stellar Gift of Death. 2012 tweak: Submit to three markets, which means I have to get three stories ready for submission.
Measurable: Find a tracking method that I can update without fuss. Sonar3 is fitting my needs at the present. 2012 tweak: Get some data to put in it.
Action-oriented: Look for 12 markets. *Snort* Stellar Gift of Death has been quite the distraction from this. 2012 tweak: Do it.
Realistic: Send out at least one story in February, April, June, August, October, and December. So this wan’t realistic for me at all. 2012 tweak: Base the submission deadlines off the markets I fine.
- Have conversations with the Fear Monger; it helps. Ole Fear Monger has been distracted from my writing by the debt crisis.
Trackable/Time-based: Honestly note the anxiety over each submission on tracking method. Sonar3 lets me keep whatever notes I want on each submission. 2012 tweak: This is a valuable tool, so use it!

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Some Weeks Should Have Warning Labels

2011-12-14T11:42:00.004-06:00

Computer, commute, tire--hey, I'm off the C's! Well it deals with the car so maybe I haven't left the C's at all. let's add crying to the list. I spent a good chunk of yesterday's free time in a depressed funk because of what I have to pay out of the next check. Then I spent this morning working on a debt consolidation list on loan paperwork--namely confirming that the totals nearly equal to one of my take-home paychecks each month.

I didn't want to take out another loan to consolidate, namely because I can be the poster girl for "you can't borrow your way out of debt." And there's no guarantee my credit union will give me one, but if they can get the three biggest albatrosses off my neck for a lower amount that can come out of each paycheck, I may get some breathing room. Breathing room especially important since a second job is not happening.

So I did that math and left for the paying job. After commute hell yesterday, the drive in was smooth and I was ahead of schedule, up to the Capitol building. That's where my tire blew. I managed to get into a parking lot near my building. Roadside assistance changed it to the donut so I didn't lose any time, but buying a new tire was not in the budget!

At this point, I am beyond ready for this week to end. And I think my car got jealous that I wasn't planning to spend any money on it beyond gasoline. Right now, it's been half the day and nothing has blown up, maybe I can work on Stellar Gift of Death.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

What now?

2011-12-13T10:39:00.003-06:00

Yesterday was computer, today was the commute. Interstate 12 Open Following Early Morning Wreck. Luckily, I left home late, otherwise I would have been under one of those pipes. But I got caught in the snarl to find an alternative route into Baton Rouge. There's only thee ways to cross the Amite River and also the huge reason why we need the loop project that idiots keep killing, and I was stuck on the north of I-12 side. When I finally reached Magnolia Beach Road and it wasn't moving either, I called in that I was going home.

I had plans of catching up on chores, figuring out my budget for the next paycheck, and writing. Writing didn't happen. Mom co-opted me for a couple of hours, and budgeting the paycheck put me in a funk that was not conductive to fighting with the manuscript. I'll make up for it tomorrow.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

You Better Believe It's Monday

2011-12-12T09:51:00.006-06:00

After months of being used to my paying job's computer being frozen and wiped a certain way, someone decided to "fix" it for me and changed how it wipes. Now all the tabs I had open in Firefox on Friday are gone; Outlook doesn't want to work right because a certain archive file must now be hand deleted; and between programs freezing up on me, trying to find that damn file, and etc. I'm still fucking 30 minutes late getting anything started!

Before I was thirty minutes late waiting for the computer to finish dealing with the other wiping program and saving changes. Aggravating, sure, but at least once it was done, it worked.

IT keeps going through contractors like Kleenex, which doesn't help. I got the new kid, explained what I knew had been done to my machine and what I thought was going wonky now. He did some remote fixes and they didn't stick. We tried it again, and I decided to test it the next time I shut down over the weekend since it took him over an hour to get through it the first time.

Needless to say, most of what little I got done on fiction was rough draft stuff.

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The BookWorm

I'm Crashing Hard Tonight

2011-12-07T15:12:00.002-06:00

No more shows running until 10pm so I'll probably crawl into bed at 7 tonight to catch up on the sleep I have missed. Though I can't regret seeing the Christmas episodes of Eureka, Warehouse 13, and Haven.

Other good news, Haven IS getting a season 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The season 2 cliffhanger was downright EVIL, and I really didn't want to stalk the makers for a resolution.

In other geeky news, my confession made it to the Once Upon a Time Confessions Tumblr. If you're not watching it, I can explain my reasoning. But tomorrow after I'm not so droopy.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

So I'm Officially Second Job-less

2011-12-05T06:49:00.007-06:00

So the Public Awareness gig didn't come through and I turned in the demo kit for HDP because I wasn't getting any demos. What's going to happen to my cut to the bone already budget? For starters, I'm ignoring all creditors I can't afford right now. No more letting them guilt me into payments that I can't afford when they want it. All money I can spare will go into the emergency fund because I'm tired of the car breaking down and there's no money to fix it. And family debts move to the front of the line, mostly because I feel the worst about it and if Mom takes up bill collector tactics, I'm screwed.

2012 will either be the year I make writing pay for me and can apply those funds to my personal debt crisis or the Mayan Apocalypse happens and I won't have to worry about it any more. I'm working on the first part.

Onwards happier subject matter, I watched the first half of the Neverland miniseries last night. What I liked:

Bob Hopskins as Smee: if Disney ever has to rerecord the audio to the animated Peter Pan, Bob Hopskins must play Smee instead of the guy who played the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland.
Captain Bonnie!: "There is no us!" I will be buying the DVD so I can have a reference for her wardrobe. But her character is filled with such SMART piratey goodness, I'll be clapping to bring her back to life. Screw Tinkerbell. She had me at the astronomy lesson.
Robert Halmi Sr. strikes again: Virgina got wet in The 10th Kingdom, DG got wet in Tin Man, Alice got wet in Alice, and now Peter got wet in Neverland. He's the producer in common on all four, so I'm considering it a scripted Easter Egg.
Minority casting department: Indians played by Native Americans and given something to do besides be colorful background of exotic Neverland.

What I'm iffy about:

the Alchemist figured out holograms: well, I don't think it's a factor in part two and it looked cool, so I'll let it slide
Tinkerbell glows brighter than the other fairies: somebody forgot to tell the CGI department because she looks the same as the rest
Hook is actually Peter's father: *YAWN* I'm so bored by this trope that the antagonist turns out to be the protagonist's missing parental unit. Why can't Hook be Peter's maternal uncle instead? Or another suitor of Peter's mother who took non-related Peter in for her sake? Do I care enough about the rest to fix this issue with fanfic?
Peter the Responsible: For ending up as the poster boy for irresponsibility and lousy memory, this Peter is choke full of responsibility for his crew who will be the Lost Boys, for the Indians, for the orb, for Jimmy. Maybe's there's a moral lesson here? Too much responsibility at too young an age will make you crack so you never want to grow up?

If Bonnie wasn't in it, I don't think I would be buying it on DVD ~~or putting it on my to buy list until I have funds~~.

Added after Part Two: Okay, the second half completely redeemed all the stuff I was iffy about. :D

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Happy Turkey Day!

2011-11-23T07:45:00.002-06:00

My baby sister is hosting this year, so after today, I'll probably be offline until Sunday. Have a great holiday everybody!

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Movies!

2011-11-22T06:48:00.003-06:00

Tor.com is having Muppets Week in honor of the new Muppets movie coming out, which I want to see so bad it hurts. But that's not the subject of today's post. Today's post is why don't I have these movies already inspired by the reviews at Tor.com?

The only Jim Henson movie I have is Labyrinth. None of the original Muppets trilogy nor any of the later ones. I really don't know how this happened, but if I ever get a chance to rectify it (which means I have disposable income for entertainment again), I won't be buying the movies in order.

First up, Muppet Treasure Island. Second up would be A Muppet Christmas Carol.

The third movie in the list is something I'm willing to rent before I buy Detective Dee and the Phantom Flame because I had no idea it even came out last year. To explain, Judge Dee was an actual Chinese official that a Chinese novel was written about. A Dutch diplomat translated that novel and then wrote more stories with the same character. Now a Chinese film has taken back the character for an extravaganza movie like Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes (which I ADORED). Oh heck yeah! I must see this movie at least once.

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The BookWorm

What World Championship of Jousting?

2011-11-16T08:16:00.005-06:00

So last night, Dad asks me, "Do you have National Geographic?"

"Dad, you know I can't afford any magazines."

"No, the channel. They're starting a new show on jousting tonight." He even found a glossy full page ad for the show Knights of Mayhem.

Against my better judgement, I managed to get through an hour and a half of the premier and second episodes. By the first commercial break, I was also Googling to find back up of their claims.

My thoughts on the show: Where's is the armor for the HORSES?! I lost track of how many times the cast reiterated how dangerous full-contact, heavy-armor jousting is breaking lances of solid hemlock. You can put an eye out with a BB gun has nothing on lances. So where is the protection for your most valuable asset!

Knights of Mayhem

New Riders of the Golden Age

Not every troupe armors their horses, but not every troupe shatters solid wood lances either.

I'm glad I'm not in Faire business any more, because I wouldn't hire that foul-mouth bully ever. Which is a shame, because the show they put on at Sherwood Forest Faire looked really entertaining with only relying on jousting. But the "behind-the-scenes" footage with almost every other word being bleeped out and Adams' stances of I'm pissed off let me blow a rookie out of the saddle to feel better is what made me turn the show off before the second episode was done. Tom Conroy's review Knights of Mayhem: jousting jerks sums up this portion of the show.

Charlie Adams: "I'm the world champion in heavy-armor jousting." Another member of his troupe: "I placed fourth at the world championships." Another troupe member Brian: "I didn't get to go to the world championships because of shenanigans!" (He is also flying home between shows which was another WTF moment for me.) Me: "WHAT world championship of jousting? Who's judging? Where is it held? Why all the emphasis (every other bit of dialogue) on making jousting an accepted sport if there is a world championship already?!"

This is the question that drove my Googling. Putting in the phrase "world championships of jousting" was less than helpful. So the I went to Knights of Mayhem's website, think that maybe they listed what they never bothered to say on the show. Charlie Adams' Bio:

California native Charlie Andrews is the World Champion of Full Contact Heavy Armored Jousting. Charlie is not only the current reigning champion but one of four founding members of the Sport. He helped pioneer and evolve the sport into the fierce competition it has become. He co-founded the UJC (Ultimate Jousting Championship) in 2010, it is the premier organized venue for the rising sport. Aside from being the strongest and fiercest jouster in the world Charlie’s unique background makes him the ideal candidate to lead the sport. Charlie has set a new standard for modern day knights, stating “most effective knights are 200 plus pounds and know their way around a horse, it is this barrier to entry that makes this sport tough, not only do you need a trained horse to ride, but you need $5000 worth of armor and nuts the size of the Lone Star State”.Charlie and the sport he co-founded is fast becoming a part of contemporary vernacular, with segments airing on ESPN and the New York Times proclaiming it as the next extreme sport. National Geographic formally announced the airing of 6 episodes focusing on Charlie’s Jousting troop (The Knights of Mayhem) in conjunction with a cross promotion from Nat Geo’s sister company FOX sports. The TV show titled “the Knights of Mayhem” combined with UJC’s live event circuit will soon make Charlie Andrews a household name.

Little things like dates and places for events makes someone feel that you are not talking out your ego's butt. Compare Knights of Valour Shane Adams's Bio

Below is a partial list of some of the major titles won and held by Shane:
2010 - Grand Champion
Light Armour/Games Champion - World Championships, Long's Peak Scottish/Highland Festival
Estes Park, CO
2010 - Grand Champion
Heavy Armour/Games Champion - Gulf Coast International Jousting Championships
Pensacola, FL
2009 - Grand Champion
Heavy Armour/Games Champion - World Championships, Long's Peak Scottish/Highland Festival
Estes Park, CO
2008 - Grand Champion
Light Armour/Games Champion - World Championships, Long's Peak Scottish/Highland Festival
Estes Park, CO
2007 - Grand Champion
Heavy Armour Jousting Champion - World Championships, Long's Peak Scottish/Highland Festival
Estes Park, CO
2006 - Gregor’s Crossing International Heavy Armour Champion
- Grande Prairie International Heavy Armour Champion
- Longs Peak Scottish Highland Festival International Light Armour Champion
2005 - Canadian National Heavy Armour Champion
- WCJA Heavy Armour Champion and Grand Champion
2004 - Canadian National Jousting Champion
- WCJA International Reserve Grand Champion
- Sonora International Heavy Armour Champion
2003 - Canadian National Jousting Champion
- WCJA International Light Armour & Grand Champion
- Sonora International Heavy Armour Champion
2002 - Canadian National Jousting Champion
- WCJA International Light Armour & Grand Champion
2001 - WCJA Grand Champion
2000 - Canadian National Jousting Champion
- WCJA International Jousting Champion
- Dragon's Lair Heavy Armour & Grand Champion
- Calgary Stampede International Jousting Champion
1999 - Canadian National Jousting Champion
- Longs Peak Scottish/Irish Highland Festival U.S. International Jousting Champion
1997 - Canadian National Jousting Champion
- Longs Peak Scottish/Irish Highland Festival U.S. International Jousting Champion

From Shane's bio and details listed in other Knights of Mayhem's bios, the world championships of jousting is held by the Longs Peak Scottish Irish Highland Festival. I'm assuming this is where Charlie has proved himself, but there's no evidence of it that I can find.

Sherwood Forest Faire looks nice and is near Austin. Actually, it's only a little over an hour from my sister's and runs from Feb. 11th through April 1st. At some point, I will be able to do fun things again financially, so its best to be prepared.

It is the best training method to skip getting these guys with little horse experience comfortable with riding and go straight for hitting each other with lances, really? If you believe that, I have a sword in the stone you can pull out and be ruler of all England too. Granted, I'm not the target audience for this show because I do know the history and training that went into making a medieval knight. For all the footage concentrated on a training dummy set up in the joust arena in the first episode, the rookies never used it. Grabbing the rings with the lance is the most boring game to watch ever (and yes, I have seen troupes perform it while explaining why i.e. EDUCATING the audience), but it still teaches accuracy and how to hold the damn lance without splinters ending up in the eyes. Same thing with the training dummy. Actually one rookie seemed to disappear between episode one and two. I hope he came to his senses and ran far away from the Knights of Mayhem and not ended up in the hospital and the producers decided to skip that.

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A Full Week Ahead

2011-11-14T09:20:00.008-06:00

Of the paying job at least. No funeral time nor holidays until Thanksgiving. I haven't heard back from my interview last week, so Candi's comic today feels like an accurate kick in the gut. I'm calling for an update at lunch. And at some point today, asking my supervisor to change my hours to 7am - 3:30pm. Even if I don't get that job, it can only help with my commute.

We successfully got through my grandfather's funeral without an incident which would end up on the evening news. Celebrate the little victories in my family, folks. I got a three day weekend thanks to Veterans Day, which I spent on housework, writing, and confirming that I have no money. I haven't had any work to earn money in two weeks.

At least I finished Chapter 15 in Stellar, dived into the first scene of Chapter 16, and finished Chapter 2 of Tin Man: Prince. Oh and somebody sent me a link where Tin Man: Pirates of the Nonestic was recommended with a nice review. Nice to know I'm doing something right in someone else's unbiased opinion.

Interview: Still reviewing things on their end. *Crossing fingers*

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The BookWorm

Friday of Fun

2011-11-04T08:37:00.009-05:00

A few days ago, I saw a bald eagle on the way home. I thought it was portentous at the time. All raptors are bit of a luck charm, but a bald eagle, WOW! But now I'm wondering what the sighting is portentous of.

Family: my paternal grandfather died this morning. No, condolences necessary. This has been coming for a while and I'm not looking forward to how my father will be screwed over with the settling of the estate.

Second job: I'm looking again and feeling more peeved than panicked. Why when I haven't had any demos all this week? Because I asked about needing to generate leads and was assured I wouldn't have to do that. What actually happens? The only work I got this week was registring people for about an hour and a half for no pay. I got two contacts, but the odds: you need ten contacts to get one demo.

Everybody has been nice, it's a cool product, and it still feels like a great company to work for. But not for me right now with my need for cash NOW! Landing it was a good shot of self-esteem boost that I was in denial that I needed.

So my plans? I'm calling about an interview today and hoping to hear back from a medical test. I need to finish Chapter 15 and start Chapter 16. Taking more vitamin C so I don't catch a coworker's cold. Nearly everybody else in the state is obsessed over the LSU vs. BAMA game, but my only wish is that I could have had a free ticket to resale for a couple of grand.

Overall, it doesn't look like I'm suffering from procrastination as much, which is funny since I just found the perfect description of the whole cycle in Hyperbole and a Half.

Damnit, BMI is still too high for the medical study.

Interview set for Monday. Yeah!

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Crazy Week

2011-10-28T12:38:00.005-05:00

I might get home before 10pm tonight. Training for the second job finished last night, I did really well, I get the demo kit today and go out to canvas a neighborhood for people to demo to. Marketing then takes the names and phone numbers and sets up the actual appointments. But the canvasing only lasts until dark and then I can go home. The end result will still probably be me crashing as soon as I change clothes while Mustard is telling me I'm a bad cat mommy for staying out so late and not letting him outside at all, but I'm not complaining. Mustard would probably tell me I have nothing to complain about.

Those who have met my cat know he's not very vocal. Usually he only does it demanding to go outside by a door. So I know it's bitching at me when he's in the hall herding me toward the bathroom meowing the whole time.

Writing took a hit with all this. I've only managed to eek out a page in the rough draft. The scene isn't giving me any trouble, so I think it has been a matter of focus and concentration getting used up. I only have to schedule three to four demo a week for part-time (I initially thought it was ten) so my fears of decreased writing time are gone. The only drawback I've found is the second job's no jeans policy, which I do understand. But it looks like I forgot today was Friday at the DOI.

Demos are scripted, but they let me tap into my improv skills that I haven't used since I hung up my cutlass. So any time the Fear Monger tries to twist me up to anxiety-addled-me my response is a laugh. "This is no different from renfaire, only I have a lot less crap hanging from my waist." Seriously, I should weigh my belt of renfaire gear ~~if I can find all of it again~~. Fear Monger gets huffy and drops it. I'm also positive Dug-In-Heels Defender has been activated over the whole second job thing. "Mom is acting weird about it. My supervisor flat out told me 'you won't like doing that.' I will prove them WRONG."

Plus I'm broke enough to make prostitution of my mind look like a good idea. How far before I contemplate prostitution of the body? If this job keeps me from thinking that they are viable options, I'm in a much better place. Last plus, I can walk away once I've paid things off. Unfortunately, because of how crazy this week has been, I haven't developed my timeline estimate for when that will be yet. Four of my Big Rocks for this week deal with the Budget and I've only gotten one done so far. I've got a busy weekend planned making up for what I've missed.

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The BookWorm

Naysayers Already

2011-10-25T13:42:00.008-05:00

Janine Melnitz: Do you believe in UFOs, astral projections, mental telepathy, ESP, clairvoyance, spirit photography, telekinetic movement, full trance mediums, the Loch Ness monster and the theory of Atlantis?
Winston Zeddemore: Ah, if there's a steady paycheck in it, I'll believe anything you say.

Financially, I'm so close to the edge, I'm hanging on to a root with my fingernails. So my attitude is totally Winston right now. I've got good vibes about the company, I'm asking questions to make sure it's not a scam to blow up in my face, and overall feel very relieved over the opportunity to earn some money.

My mother who has been spending at least the last six months silently fuming whenever I have needed to borrow money and can't pay it back is now suffering from I'm not saying anything because you're so excited but something ACK! is going to happen to my baby on this new job! I'm not sure what bad she is expecting and really don't want to ask and invite the drama into my head.

My supervisor doesn't think anyone should have to work a part-time job. I asked for my annual work performance raises back. Today she's convinced that I will hate a demo sales job, to which I responded, "If there's a steady paycheck in it, I will sell whatever they want me to."

I am not going to plop my financial statements on either's desk. No one needs the dirty details but me, and hopefully they'll be more in the black this time next month.

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The BookWorm

Political Feel Free to Skip It

2011-10-21T15:52:00.002-05:00

If you really feel Obama hasn't done anything while in office, please read this post from the Daily Dish.

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The BookWorm

Sitting Next to “Peter’s Laws” Poster is a Sign

2011-10-20T09:50:00.004-05:00

I have an interview with a potential second job in less than an hour, and the Fear Monger and the Perfect Girl have ganged up on me. The Perfect Girl is freaking out that I don’t look professional enough, that I didn’t grab the reams of paper supporting items on my resume, and when I tried to wing it from memory, I only filled half a page of the resume. The Fear Monger is focusing on how I can’t afford this meal at Raising Cane’s and what will I do when I get rejected. Not “if” but “when;” the Fear Monger is such an optimist.

The decorating scheme of Raising Cane’s concentrates on framed movie posters and other pictures of pop culture significance along with some stuff for the town or university. I picked this booth to be out of the sun and sat down before looking at what was on the wall. Next to the Easy Rider movie poster is one titled “Peter’s Laws: The Creed of the Sociopathic Obsessive Complusive.”

1. If anything can go wrong, Fix It! (To hell with Murphy!) The audacity of that statement shut them both up and I nearly laughed out loud. When I got to #5 Do it by the book… but be the author! I am convinced I need this poster in my home office.

15. Bureaucracy is a challenge to be conquered with a righteous attitude, a tolerance for stupidity, and a bulldozer when necessary. Maybe a copy for the office cubicle too.

16. When in doubt: THINK! 17. Patience is a virtue, but persistence to the point of success is a blessing. I’m ready for the interview now.

8:00pm Update: I got the job! *Snoopy Dance*

Snoopy Dance taken from this page of Penny and Aggie.

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The BookWorm

Did we just skip autumn all together?

2011-10-20T07:08:00.003-05:00

Temperatures dropped into the thirties overnight and is STILL 36 degrees according to my desktop weather gadget. The DJs this morning keep saying "coldest day so far this fall." This is too damn cold for fall!

Rizzo has shoved my second job search to a new urgency. Last night, I spent two hours fighting traffic jams to get out of Baton Rouge. I finally reached Denham Springs and got back on the Interstate at 6pm. Then, just past the Juban exit, one of my tires goes flat. And by goes flat I mean it had a blowout but stayed on the rim. A nice trucker helped me put the spare on, but now I have to go buy tires, which I have no money for.

I don't know what else to do. I'm looking at a medical study for compensation, but I was over the BMI they were looking for. Convergys rejected me. The home based businesses that I bought this computer for rejected me. I walked away from Craigslist last night seriously considering selling my papers to a site that will sell them to plagiarizing students. I'm telling myself that I'm not desperate enough for that or street-walking yet.

Yes, I was stupid for the last two paychecks. But all the math adds up to I have to get more income in order to keep my head above water. I have a few more ads to check out. Cross your fingers for me everybody.

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The BookWorm

Cleaning out opened tabs

2011-10-19T12:21:00.002-05:00

I will eventually type up the blog posts I have written. But probably not today.

John Scalzi gives out writing assignments based on sci-fi films. If I actually needed a prompt to get me writing, #4 intrigues the hell out of me. But I don't, even if Monday's fire drill at the paying job and Tuesday's power outage at the paying job really knocked my progress off its feet.

Appalachian Prison Book Project Seeks Donations. Admittedly, why I don't weed out my books more often is I want them to go to a good home. Shipping charges may bunt this worthy cause out of my league though.

This year is going to be a pull the costume out of the closet Halloween. So I'm leaning towards Joan of Arc. More likely Joan of Arc taking a rest day, since I don't have a full-plate suit of armor in the closet.

Oh and cruise around Take Back Halloween for more costume inspiration. Their inspiration is to give women more options than just "Sexy whatever" for Halloween. And they gave me a source for Christine de Pizan's hat. Whenever I get to the project again, I can buy the damn thing rather than figure out how to build it.

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The BookWorm

It’s a Lovely Idea But...

2011-10-16T14:06:00.000-05:00

My house has a front porch and a back porch and to accuse me of not using them to their fullest potential would find me guilty. I’ve lost count of the years Mom has been storing the furniture that wouldn’t fit on their garage after she closed shop on my front porch. The carpenter bees have been feasting on the roof joists and ceiling and it’s not screened, so that limits the time one can spend on the front porch without becoming a blood donor.

The back porch is the laundry room and storage shed for my tools and yard equipment. I’m nearly convinced it will cave in and take the back half of the house with it. Remodeling is on my bucket list at this point.

The weather is crisp this weekend, so I put bug bombing my house on my to-do list, which means four hours and thirty minutes out of the my house. So I relocated current writing projects and part of my old desk to the front porch. I had a lovely idea of making myself a writing desk on what space I could carve back for myself on the front porch.

But there’s no way to sit at it with the desktop surface propped on sawhorses. All I have to sit on are rocking chairs and I’m composing this on my knee. Not comfortable at all.

I still love the idea for those times when you have to get off the computer. But I’m afraid I will have to get legs and make a table out of it. The last time I tried that the results were less than pretty. With this piece—formerly the leg of my L-shaped computer desk—I have screw holes already created in it. I’m considering some premade table legs or stair banisters that I can screw in to make it stable and give me leg room. When I get some money.

Second job hunt hasn’t gone so well, so I’m reopening my account at Freelance.com. I had luck there before, hopefully I will again. Now if my true side hustle is writing fiction, I’ve got three and a half hours to make a dent in Stellar’s rough draft.

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The BookWorm

Let's start the countdown!

2011-10-12T12:25:00.004-05:00

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The BookWorm

Things to Share

2011-10-07T13:53:00.003-05:00

Please stand by for a demonstration of relevancy.:
I can't make this shit up -- Why not researching who you are talking and then name calling is a BAD IDEA. But funny for us watch the Internet unleashed.
"Surprise! Meet the Internet. It’s kind of pissed." John Scalzi's take on the situation.
And now Wil Wheaton's.

OneLug recreates the Last March of the Ents from the movie Two Towers DUDE! I didn't know that many black Legos existed. ~~Ssh! Don't spoil it for me if they could use paint, okay?~~

Why Steve Jobs Matters I don't own any Apple products and I don't use iTunes, but the world is better for having had him here and we should all be mournful of his loss.

Can't decide what to read? Use this flowchart to find something. ;)

Okay I think that cleans off this group of tabs.

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The BookWorm

Project 333

2011-10-03T13:48:00.000-05:00

Posting daily metrics at DUF saps my inclination to post here. Something to bear in mind if you feel I need checking up on.

This weekend ended up being a lazy one for me. The crisp autumn air we have been blessed with didn’t give me any drive towards housework. All I managed to do was switch out my closet. Since the end of June, I’ve been following Project 333 and now is time for a progress report.

I haven’t seen a drastic reduction in the clothes I own in total, but only being able to wear 33 items is reducing the number of shoes I have: two pairs wore out and another pair I’m discarding because they hurt my feet.

Another thing that struck me as I continued reading blog posts on Project 333 was the complaints about the neutral basics. Just change up in the next three months was my conclusion until I had an epiphany. I can’t pinpoint when I had it, but I still remember: other people didn’t keep enough clothes to completely change over their wardrobe every quarter. I’m not ready to throw out more clothes than I already have, but it’s not a bad goal to have in mind.

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Almost Doing It Again

2011-09-15T13:28:00.000-05:00

I’m considering a weekly schedule, mostly for “hello, I’m breathing” sake. Posting daily at DUF takes out much of the oomph to post here too.

Lee ended up being much alarm about nothing really. But if I hadn’t prepared for no electricity, the power would have gone out. Only lost one tree on the border of the lawn and the woods and it didn’t hit anything. The enforced quiet time to work on Stellar was a boon I’ve missed in the weeks since—especially this week.

Last weekend I spent with Eric and Suzanne and the break was worth the havoc on my sleep schedule.

This week the home computer is being a pain in the butt. McAfee Security Center developed a tick that I had to contact tech support over (the program came free with the new computer). The fix last night doesn’t seem like it held and now the computer is freezing up the first program opened. Before leaving for work, when I should have been working on budget stuff, Quicken froze up so I told the computer okay, it could reboot and examine the RAM. An hour later it was still logging off. I have no idea what I’m going to find when I get home, but I’ll be running Malware Bytes or something else to see what I’m missing. Unless some of the RAM died, I should have issues with it this soon.

Paying job: 312 lawsuits to go before the backlog of paid for dismissals will be finished. I’ve promised myself the day after I finish them is a vacation day and now it’s easier to slough through them.

Project 333: There’s fifteen days before I switch my current closet for the October, November, December set. So I should probably analyze what isn’t worth saving in this set. I already killed one set of sadals. There’s a skirt I never wore once. Thinking about this reminds me of the formula developed by What Not to Wear for putting together an outfit: “love, like, plus bling squared.” I’ll have to use that as a fine tuner for the next set.

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The BookWorm

Tropical Storm Lee update

2011-09-04T09:05:00.003-05:00

Haven't lost power yet, so maybe we won't. *Knock on wood* But the storm is going nowhere quickly, hovering on our coast and in sending feeder bands of rain. They issued tornado warnings yesterday, but I never saw weather that bad at my house. The center is around Morgan City, but it is very undefined there. The feeder bands are now stretching from Tampa, FL to Louisiana.

The back bedroom leak has nearly filled the bucket, so I need to use a lull and dump that. The kitchen had a few drops when I woke up yesterday morning, but since I spent most of yesterday writing at the table, I never saw more water pour in. The back porch yikes. Even the light fixture had water running over it. I need a new roof, but I can't complain too bad about the water. We need it to put out a marsh fire near New Orleans and my yard is soaking it up like a sponge.

I finished crushing all the cans to get a little exercise during the lulls and to make sure the porch wasn't going to sling junk at my parents' house. I got my words done for NPI and have reached Chapter Eight in the rewrite of Stellar Gift of Death. Today's plans: laundry, dishes, Stellar Gift of Death rewrite, vacuuming, any other housekeeping chores I've put off, paperwork, cleaning up the book list project that I put on hold, and I think that is enough.

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Don't Know Why I want to Remember This

2011-09-02T15:52:00.002-05:00

On the old saw that “relationships take work”:

I think of this in terms of maintenance vs. repair.

All relationships take maintenance, just like cars. For a car, you have to put gas in it, and change the oil, and wash it, and get the engine checked, and rotate the tires. If you don’t, your car will stop running, no matter how good a car it is.

For a relationship, you have to treat your partner with respect and kindness (even when you’re tired and stressed, or mad), consider their needs and wants as well as your own, pay attention to how they’re doing, speak up, respectfully, when you have a problem, and listen honestly when they do the same. You have to make time and energy for you as a couple — date nights, pursuing mutual interests. And if you pay attention to maintenance, when a serious problem does come up (and it does), you have the foundation to weather it.

On the other hand, “relationships take work” should not be used as an excuse to do the relationship equivalent of buying a 20-year-old beater with faulty brakes and no floor, and pouring all of your money and energy into trying to get it to run, because you’re never going to get a reliable car out of it.

If your partner doesn’t care about whether you are happy, doesn’t regard you with respect and doesn’t think there is a problem (or vice versa), all the work in the world isn’t going to make a healthy relationship out of the two of you. If you have to work to put up with them or enjoy their company in the early stages of the relationship, it’s unlikely to improve.

As a corollary, sometimes it’s a great car, just not one that serves your needs. If you have four kids and live in a snowy climate, you’ll regret buying that sports car, no matter how good it looked.

J. Carolyn Hax Sept. 2, 2011 Column

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Really, it’s Friday

2011-09-02T10:55:00.000-05:00

Blogger is trying to roll out a new interface. I tried it, got aggravated, and told them my complaints. So I’m not rehashing here but it is a good opportunity to make sure all my labels are more appropriate to the titles before the old interface goes away. For example, “Zy’s Novel” is now “Stellar Gift of Death” and I decided on “Zy Universe” for a series title (as far as DUF in concerned—this is no reflection on what the books may have).

Already getting rain from Lee as I drive into work.

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The BookWorm

Tropical Depression for the Weekend

2011-09-01T18:54:00.002-05:00

Looks like I better cancel my weekend plans and bunker down. Craptastic, I better ask what are the contingents for NPI.

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The BookWorm

Love Affair with TV Monitor Over Already

2011-08-31T11:21:00.000-05:00

I didn’t think I would be disillusioned over hardware before the sore feet. Well, I was wrong. The whole reason I used the TV is I didn’t want to deal with moving the monitor and its sensitive cord and I was hoping to transition to watching things on the computer more. I thought all the kinks were ironed out.

This morning was a whole new kink. The margins of the desktop moved off screen on all sides. I spent an hour tweaking everything and researching what could cause this. When I finally stopped to get dressed, I had managed to get the taskbar back (except for the Start Button) and the highest screen resolution, which is too high for the recommended setting.

So tonight’s project will be shifting the monitor and seeing how to kink the cord so it won’t put the images on the monitor in the green spectrum. It’s like viewing everything with Emerald City sunglasses when that happens.

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I Haz Standing Desk!

2011-08-30T11:57:00.012-05:00

It's nothing pretty, but it's a functional experiment. My uncle found out you don't clean that type of screen with Windex the hard way and gave the TV to me because I don't have a thinner TV yet. So I figured using it as a monitor was less hassle than trying to set it up in the living room and deal with my old TV. The milk crate and shelf brings the keyboard to the exact height it should be for me, but without being permanent. If the experiment works, I'll look into creating a permanent standing desk.

So far all I accomplished Sunday was making my feet sore. but the only sitting I did was thirty minutes story writing, putting the can crusher together, eating, and the thirty minutes soak I had in the tub to stop the feet from hurting. Adds up to roughly two hours, maybe?

Can Crusher: It's a cheap one Harbor Freight offers that is prone to breaking, but it works with gravity (crushed can falls into the container below it). I haven't killed it yet or tore it off the porch post--which seems what will happen first since mounting it was less than perfect. Anyways, I'm all about consolidating the storage of the cans since I sell them quarterly during the year.

Stellar Gift of Death: Saturday was a planned day off, but Sunday I got distracted by everything else that needed doing. I never got a chance to type anything and really test out the standing desk setup. So the plan shifted to finishing Chapter 7's edit. I got thirty minutes done on that. In theory, concentrating on the revision part on the weekends is not a bad plan, provided I don't have a gazillion chores to yet at my monkey brain and distract me.

Captain America: Finances improved enough to free up the tickets. Oh how awesome it is. It's on my to buy it list.

Dum Dum Dugan: I didn't know you spoke German." Gabe Jones: "Two semesters at Howards before I switched to French because the girls were cuter."

I'd be thrilled with a sequel on just the Howling Commandos, but Marvel thinks there's more money with Iron Man and friends.

Rich's Newest Project: The guy who brought us the Ten Doctors, Forever Janette, Stalker of Norfolk, Outrage of the Zygons, and Seeds of Destruction (Written by Landry Walker) has started a new story.

Have you got the theme music handy?

Why so silent? I haven't posted here since July 21st and August is almost over. What have I been doing? A lot of writing if you look at DUF, and other stuff that I can pinpoint since I'd write out a blog post but never type and post it. Which is a variation of "trying not to think about it." (Hatter in Alice). So don't be surprised if some out of date posts pop up filling in that missing time. I thought about adding it all to this one, but it's long enough already.

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The BookWorm

Finally Got to Test Out the Brilliant Idea

2011-08-15T13:08:00.001-05:00

It’s probably late in the game on a technology scale and it’s late to my game since I meant to experiment all last week with it but failed due to oversleeping. The copier at the paying job can scan papers as a PDF file and email it. I have a box full plus a shelf-full of binders of class notes I cannot just throw away. I also have a scanner but it doesn’t have a paper feeder, so making PDF files at home is such a chore, I haven’t finished the project in years.

Brought a binder to work and was done in ten minutes—including two paper jams, me not sorting out the two-sided from the 1-sided pages so I had multiple files, and me having to scan one set over again because I got my work email addy wrong. Ten minutes.

TEN MINUTES

I’m a little boggled right now, thanks for asking. This project just went from I’ll-never-finish-it to could-be-done-by-the-end-of-the-month before I finished breakfast.

So now that’s my plan: bring two binders to work, scan, and save the PDF files, and put the papers in the recycle bin. When I’m through with the binders, I’ll figure out a way to transport the box full of papers in smaller chunks.

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The BookWorm

Another Month Gone

2011-07-29T12:13:00.002-05:00

Alt. Biker Mice Site and The BookWorm’s Library are back up and running. Hope you guys appreciate that I’m not watching Harry Potter, Capt. America, or Cowboys and Aliens. I’m not upset much. There’s no way to justify spending nearly $20 on entertainment when I have to pull money out of the meager emergency fund to buy gasoline and groceries.

Being a grown-up sucks.

It’s not all doom and gloom. I haven’t projected budget for August yet, but it doesn’t look as bad as July and June have been.

Side Hustle: I like this way of describing what I’m trying to do with a second job. If the hours spent and effort, etc. isn’t strenuous, I’d like to keep it until I can pay for the house remodel. Writing fiction is the ultimate side hustle, but I have a lot of work to get there.

At the same time, I need to figure in this equation: website earns money – expenses for websites = nothing out of pocket. I haven’t gotten any further with this idea yet. I still like the last idea I had but it needs a lot of scrubbing and a complete overhaul before going forward.

To be honest, I have no idea how to fit it into my schedule either.

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The BookWorm

Schedule Changes

2011-07-27T11:40:00.000-05:00

I mentioned briefly that I had cleaned off the schedule in What a Week It Has Been. It was to clear more writing time, I decided to try it even though I shifted to looking for a second job. Daily tasks went from # to 5: make bed, wash dishes for 15 minutes, work on budget for 15 minutes, write 500 words, and set out stuff. Weekly chores went from # to 8.

Today was my first oops because I didn’t go to bed on time last night. Some tasks I’m fine tuning, but shifting the budget work down to 15 minutes is working wonders on staying on top of finances. It’s enough time to update Quicken (as long as I’m sure to do it every day) and to start a more involved budget project like making a spreadsheet to detail my net worth or figuring out how to break down the next paycheck. I do need to update my list of those projects so I can remember what to open the next morning. Hopefully, I’ll remember to do that tonight.

Second job: maybe have a lead on a work from home. Need to apply tonight.

All my Sallie Mae loans are consolidated with the Direct Loan program with an income-based repayment plan. I still didn’t have enough money to pay that, so now it’s in deferment until 7/28/2012. It’s not the best solution since interest is accruing, but I don’t have the cash until I get rid of other creditors. I still need to see how it affects my monthly budget and potential snowballs.

Note for DUF: It puzzles me how quickly I can lose track of what I’m supposed to be doing.

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The BookWorm

Job Hunting

2011-07-26T12:22:00.000-05:00

Look for Staples call center
Look on Craigslist
Look at North Oaks

Wanted: a part-time or full-time night/weekend job.

I haven’t hit the full-out depressed funk stage of job hunting yet. Mostly I’ve been glaring at myself in the mirror. “Why isn’t anything ready to publish? Hmmm?”

There’s no answer.

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The BookWorm

Should I Lie?

2011-07-21T12:07:00.002-05:00

I heard back from Convergys today.

Thank you for taking the time to submit your resume to Convergys. Your qualifications have been updated and reviewed against our openings. Unfortunately, we have identified other candidates who more closely meet our requirements at the present time.

This is why I hate job hunting. I understand really a desire to hire someone unemployed first as opposed to me who has a steady job, but I need to WORK! And the first thing that hit me, is should I lie on the damn application?

I probably won't; I'm too honest for my own good. And I don't want to get slammed with a "you lied on your application" problem. But I could use some good news soon.

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The BookWorm

Sympathetic Magic

2011-07-20T11:29:00.004-05:00

There are spell components waiting to be used in the back bedroom. Don't remember why I didn't actually perform the ritual, but I think I should take some time for magic. Especially after this beginning of this week.

First there was my sobering weekend over the state of my finances. I applied to the position at COnvergys online, but didn't know if I counted as a rehire from 2003, so I didn't call the rehire phone number. I resolved to go see them in person and beg if it came to that, but not on Monday.

A deadline for our tax department was on July 15th and we're in the middle of the assessment season. I didn't get to leave until 6:30pm, stopped for supper, and finally made it home around 8:30pm. So much for rewarding myself with Warehouse 13.

Tuesday's work at the paying job started at 7:00am. I didn't have any time for writing with the work left over from Monday to get out. Don't cheer for my overtime. State workers are compensated with K-time, not money. Now if I don't use any of the K-time to take time off (it is used before annual leave time) for the next few months, they will exchange it for cash, but I have no idea how long I have to wait or how big a balance I must have. If and when, it'll be a nice surprise.

I got to leave at my normal time and on the interstate, Rizzo's engine started making a new noise. "Okay, I have to get that checked out, but nothing's changed with the performance so maybe I'll make it home." Then the air from the AC isn't cold any more even though it's still blowing. I start watched the temperature guage to make sure Rizzo's not overheating again. The needle doesn't move.

Right after I passed the O'Neal exit, the battery light comes on the dashboard. I turn off the AC and the radio, but it stays on. I got off the Interstate and went straight to Denham Springs Tire Kingdom. Verdict: tensioner was making the noise, the AC compressor stopped, and the alternator was dead. Fixed the tensioner and the alternators because I could afford that before the labor. Now I owe Dad more money and didn't get home until 8pm.

"I miss my Hyundai. I never had any trouble with my Hyundai up until I wrecked it."

"That's what my mom said about her Hyundai," the Tire Kingdom clerk said. "No problems until she totaled it."

I left before finding out how much more me and his mother had in common. I also resolved to go to Convergys and not leave until I got a job or ran out of lunch break.

They weren't seeing any walk-ins, but the security guard told me I would be a rehire, so I left a message and found a short cut back to the office today.

Disappointing, especially considered how I screwed up my courage to go out there and make results happen. Even more disappointing is when I got home on time (despite the road construction on Pumpkin Center Road) and saw my answering machine beeping with a message from the governor's reelection campaign. :p So why does all this remind me of the gathered spell components?

They're for a spell to attract money.

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The BookWorm

What a Week It Has Been

2011-07-17T05:37:00.001-05:00

It started last Monday July 11th with fretting about money. Then because I was fretting without the figures in front of me, I went into denial period where I thought I could earn enough to get over the hump by writing articles for Helium at $2 an article. That at least got me to overhaul my daily schedule, which it needs periodically to combat my tendency to keeping adding to the To Do List.

When I got home Friday, payday, I stuck the figures in front of my face to pay the bills and the results were a bloodbath.

Assets = $41,462
Debts = $153,111
Net Worth = -$111,649

The one piece of good news I had was my Direct Loan consolidation package came through and my repayments are now based on my income. And I still don’t have enough income for that. *headdesk*

Faced with the ugly truth, I filled out an online application for the Convergys call center again. It’s a full-time position, just like the one that sent me into sleep deprivation back in 2003. This time I will insist on a saner schedule (I’ll work all Sundays without arguments if I can set Fridays and Saturdays as my days off to sleep. Heck, Friday is even negotiable, how about Wednesdays and Saturdays?). And I will use vacation time to catch up on sleep. Because all my spreadsheet calculations done on Saturday have convinced me it will take longer than four months to accomplish the four goals I came up with.

Second Job Goals

Service car
$1000 Emergency Fund (849.77 to go)
Debt snowball and pay off my highest interest rate debts and everything I owe to Mom, Dad, and Uncle Scott
New temporary roof

In theory and from previous experience, this will keep me so busy, I won’t spend money on other things in my budget and can probably snowflake more cash towards these goals. But I also won’t be surprised if I have to keep this job until after Christmas.

Now I’m going to go work on some fiction while I still have time to do that.

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The BookWorm

Home again

2011-07-09T10:45:00.002-05:00

Finally got home a little before 4am this morning from Austin, Texas. Ridiculous high heat. It's hot in Louisiana but it's not the same kind of heat.

So my websites are down because I can't pay hosting fees until next paycheck. Doubt it's a big concern for anyone but if a download of mine doesn't work, that's why.

My sister's surgery went fine. But she also developed pancreatitis and had an inflammed liver by the time she got to the hospital with the gall bladder. She stayed in the hospital nine nights and was finally released Thursday on the 8th. The fever didn't spike back up and she's restricted on lifting, but since she wasn't having any other issues, Mom came on home with me.

Now I have to go catch up on everything.

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The BookWorm

Commentary post

2011-06-29T15:55:00.003-05:00

Sister made it through surgery without complications! Me and Mom are still on track to head over there and help.

The rest of the post is some interesting things that came up during my blog crawls.

The Daily Dish: When Did We Become Rome, Ctd. "As for me, I believe in this country, and sometimes surprising even to myself, I believe in the ultimate decency of the American people. We can be late imperial Rome, or we can choose not to be. It is that simple. The difficulty lies in what we do after we stop whining." I heartily give that writer an "amen."

BEST Doctor Who shout out EVER! And I though the USB hub TARDIS is pretty darn cool.

EW made Rick Castle their number one dad Every review I do of Castle starts with "Rick Castle is the best father on TV since Bill Cosby. And he really is ruggedly handsome."

That's all I've got for now. Enjoy the links.

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The BookWorm

Impromptu Time Off

2011-06-28T20:36:00.001-05:00

My sister in Texas is undergoing emergency gallbladder surgery tomorrow. We don't have a time yet and it has gotten to the point where her pancreas and liver are also inflamed.

Current family plans: I'll be taking off Thursday, Friday, and probably a good chunk of the week after July 4th to drive Mom to Austin. Whether Mom comes back with me depends on how things go post-surgery.

So just a heads up if it seems like I've fallen off the grid.

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The BookWorm

Focus, don't have it

2011-06-22T09:02:00.002-05:00

I remembered to turn on Bedtime Helper, went to bed on time, and STILL couldn't wake up this morning. I've had my caffeine fix and still want to curl up and go to dreamland. Usually by this point in the morning, my body has grudgingly accepted that we are going to stay functional and lets go. It's not working this morning.

There are too many lawsuits for me to play hokey. I haven't had a chance to work on them so far this week, thanks to other job duties. Same thing can be said for writing too. I think I'll let myself have one more can and then stay on water for the rest of the day.

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The BookWorm

Happy Summer Solstice

2011-06-21T08:55:00.002-05:00

Remember when I said I couldn't count on extra time in the morning? That's because I'm not going to sleep until 10pm and not waking up on time since I haven't had eight hours of sleep.

The aggravation is my fault because I should be using the Bedtime Helper program on my computer to shut it off. If I had more sleep, I'd probably remember to turn it on. :p But nope, I've been relying on the office window cue and the sun hasn't been setting until 9pm.

So I'm celebrating the fact that we start losing daylight from this point until Winter Solstice. Happy Summer Solstice everybody!

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The BookWorm

Good Start to this Week?

2011-06-20T08:33:00.004-05:00

We got called into a meeting early this morning, my computer turned on needing a reboot, and two of coworkers are out sick. Not a particularly auspicious beginning.

I didn't get as much done this weekend as I had planned, typical. So typical I should make that sentence a macro or something and plug it in with the push of an F# key. :p However getting the closet cleaned out and the clothes I don't want/don't fit out of the house was HUGE. Especially since that project has dragged out so long. But I think it deserves its own post with pictures. Which reminds me I still need to write up the sink project that also took much longer than it should have. :p

The other thing that dragged down productivity was my dental appointment Saturday to take off one of my bridges and see what was causing the gum irritation. I didn't need a root canal but my mouth is still sore on Monday. I'm taking prescribed pain killers which is a first for me after dental work. So being off my game should be expected.

"It only took the end of the world for you to finally grow up."

Took Dad to see Green Lantern for Father's Day and was entertained. It's no Dark Knight but given that I'm not a Green Lantern fan, I followed the logic of the film and enjoyed supporting Hollywood South. The set designer did a fine job making New Orleans look like California.

What I didn't get done: chores and any work on Stellar Gift of Death. Then, surprise of surprises, I got to the paying job early this morning and marked up the next two chapters for edits. Now if I could only count on it everyday.

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The BookWorm

Apropos

2011-06-15T15:35:00.003-05:00

Lat week Mom gave me three boxes full of clothes to sort out what I want. It aggravates me, makes me feel like I must be looking like a rag muffin for her to give me so many, and overwhelms me. Then I have to feel o grateful when it really makes me want to bite.

I still haven't finished the job because I decided to clean out what I already had in the closet and remembered what I had packed up last winter (only about two months late to start wearing summer gear). Here it is Wednesday and I STILL haven't reorganized my closet. Or finished the laundry because IT'S TOO MANY CLOTHES! I'M DROWNING IN FASHION CHOICES!

So Unclutter dropped a fashion idea I hadn't heard of before S.W.A.P. (Sewing With A Plan) or building a capsule wardrobe for those who are thread and needle challenged. And when I did a Google search on those terms, I found this site: Project 333.

They are my new best friends. I'm printing out the rules and starting a month early on the next 3 months (which I think should start July 1st).

When I get home today, since everything is out both winter and summer, I'm going to divide everything according to season and for the 3 month divisions. I'm actually excited about facing the clothes again. That feeling disappeared once I pulled everything out of the back bedroom storage. What ABSOLUTELY does not fit and I don't have a sentimental attachment to, is leaving the house.

Hopefully I can follow tonight with the post of what wardrobe pieces I'm keeping.

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The BookWorm

Cute Things the Internet Threw At Me Today

2011-06-14T15:55:00.003-05:00

DC Universe Year 1000

IKEA Hackers: Yummiest Bed hack

Maybe tomorrow I'll have time for actual posting.

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The BookWorm

On-going Situation

2011-06-07T15:45:00.001-05:00

Evangeline Today: Stand Off on Court Street

Everyone here at the Department of Insurance were just told that two of our coworkers with the Fraud Division had gone to serve cease-and-desists to this agent or company and were shot a killed. We don't know anything about the shooter yet.

This didn't happen in our main building where I work, but we're all pretty shook up about it. Remember their families in your thoughts and prayers.

Update June 8: http://www.wafb.com/story/14862919/agent-in-fatal-la-shooting-had-been-cited-on-multiple-fraud-allegations and http://www.evangelinetoday.com/view/full_story/13903778/article-Stand-off-on-Court-Street-in-Ville-Platte-ends-after-six-hours?instance=home_news_lead

The shooter committed suicide and they've released the names of the DOI employees.

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The BookWorm

Weekend over... what?

2011-06-05T19:13:00.003-05:00

I thought I'd be posting about the nice new sink I spent two days putting together. Problem is it's still NOT together. 4 trips to Lowe's and I STILL don't have the missing proper part to keep the drain pipe from leaking. And the only reason I'm not going back to Lowe's right now is that they close early on Sundays.

*repeated headdesk*

Tomorrow morning will be spent cleaning up the construction mess. I'm too pissed off to do it without taking it out on my tools right now.

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The BookWorm

Wake up and pay attention

2011-05-31T15:15:00.002-05:00

CNN: Abortion debate trivializes rape

There is so much to scream about with this whole situation, I can't sum up. You cannot legislate morality. We tried it with the Prohibition, so go study it and learn how it was a failure. And if they don't stop legislating what I can do with my body, I'm going to start a campaign that men have to carry the precious fetuses that they don't want aborted.

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The BookWorm

Two for two

2011-05-30T07:28:00.001-05:00

Thank you to all our fallen heroes who paid the ultimate price. Happy Memorial Day to the rest of us enjoying the holiday.

It's been an interesting weekend, like a mild version of the Chinese curse. :p Friday, it finally dawns on my parents that they need to tell me what my paternal grandfather had done Wednesday that FINALLY made Dad put his foot down and tell Mom she wasn't going down to his house to help his father any more and consequently I don't have a second job any more.

It lasted longer than I thought it would.

By Sunday, the senile old bastard (and before I hear any grief about that, my great-grandparents and my step-grandparents were the ones who loved me and my sisters like grandchildren should be loved and they're all dead.) cut Dad out of his will because Dad wasn't jumping up to go help him. I don't feel sorry for him; he has spent a lifetime building up this karma.

Second not-good surprise: my aunt by marriage tried to arrange a blind date for me. I nipped this in the bud, but the real irritation--besides the why don't you believe me that I'm HAPPY single, damnit! feeling--was I told her that's not how I want to meet this guy. Mom and I outlined a plan that wouldn't put my on display and make all my self-conscious freak-out flare up, and she completely ignored it for a group thing with her church who I've only met two other members of! So who would have my back if it totally flopped? Bueller? Anyone?

So far, my weekend clean-off the project list task has been having the best progress. I cleaned up the outline for Stellar Gift of Death, put a door draft guard on my front door, found out that I can't put off dental work any longer and scheduled it for June, watered the big plants in the yard, cleaned the fridge and freezer and rearranged the shelves, cleaned out the pantry and rearranged the contents slightly, caught up on dishes, and have dusted 2 rooms. I still have 21 items on my list to do on top of my usual chores, but if they don't get finished, they'll be ready to pick up next Saturday. If I don't have a new second job by then.

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The BookWorm

Too Cute!

2011-05-27T14:26:00.001-05:00

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The BookWorm

Friday again

2011-05-20T10:19:00.006-05:00

Yesterday, I thrust my foot into the computer battery under my cubicle desk trying to push back my chair. My foot failed to get friction against the carpet and I wasn't wearing my shoes at the time, so my toes took the brunt of it. The pain is down to my second toe but it still hurts enough today that I'm limping. There was no bruise this morning, but that status may change by the time I get home.

I have finally caught up on my Google Reader's backlog! That has been feeling like an impossible task lately.

So weekend plans: it's a second job day Saturday; I need to catch up on laundry, dishes, and pay bills; and I'd like to get some editing done according to the feedback I got for "Words of Parting."

If I get the editing done, the next task is to research more markets. I have three stories to shop around and I have an irrational fear of the process. yes, darlings, I know it's irrational and it will only get better as I confront the Fear Monger. But I only have so much free time.

Currently in Stellar Gift of Death, I'm handwriting Chapter 15 totally before typing again, hopefully to forestall the short-circuit my brain has every time I reach the end of the longhand notes. It's really annoying and screws with my forward progress.

Pirates 4 is not on the list. Money is still that tight. The next movie will probably be for Father's Day and then crossing fingers that I will find extra money for Captain America and the last Harry Potter. I want to kill off the debt, but those movie experiences I'm not willing to sacrifice. But who knows, the budget may surprise me and I may get to see my cutlass and cannon-fire goodness next weekend.

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The BookWorm

Third Base!

2011-05-18T07:37:00.001-05:00

Third Base!

Rembered the camera

2011-05-16T20:12:00.004-05:00

But the batteries suck at holding a charge and I need to get new rechargable ones. So I apologize fro the crap quality, my camera usually takes better pictures than this.

That swatch of blue with the boats on it behind the buildings and the trees is the Mississippi River as seen from the third floor straight out our lobby windows at about 6:45am this morning.

If the camera had been behaving better, I would have tried for a shot of the Hollywood Casino's paddlewheel casino. Under normal river conditions, it is blocked by buildings and you can't see it from our parking lot. Today you could see portions of it.

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The BookWorm

More River news

2011-05-15T10:39:00.004-05:00

For my international friends, Wikipedia: the Mississippi River. They do a much better job of showing just how big the Big Muddy is, and how many states have been affected by this flooding.

WAFB's River Watch Page: one of the Baton Rouge news stations, the CBS affiliate, with the best online coverage IMHO.

CNN: Evacuations ordered in Louisiana as Mississippi River spillway opens CNN's latest report.

Map of Louisiana: the purple pin is Hammond, where I live. I work in Baton Rouge, and you can see where Alexandria and New Orleans are relative to me. Unexpectedly, you can also see where Natchitoches (where I got my B.A.) is, and the town at the top left corner whose name got cut off is Shreveport where my baby sister lives.

With that clear map in mind, here's an image of where the Morganza Spillway will flood (courtesy of WAFB).

Courtesy of WAFB, this is what it looked like ten minutes after one gate of the Morganza Spillway opened. They ended up opening two, and two more will be opened today.

Courtesy of WAFB and NASA, this image of the Bonnet Carre spillway was taken April 29th with only a portion of its gates open. All of its gates should be open by the end of today.

I'm off to go work on my fiction, so I can drop my fret levels.

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The BookWorm

I keep forgetting my camera

2011-05-13T15:45:00.001-05:00

But the view of the Mississippi River from my office building is pretty awesome (in the quake in your boots way). I keep forgetting my camera even after I tell myself to bring it, hopefully Monday I'll remember to pack it.

Luckily, I live in Hammond. My house isn't in any danger from the Mississippi flooding it or from the measures the Army Corps of Engineers will do to save New Orleans and Baton Rouge. However, I work just a few blocks from the Big Muddy. As you can see on this map.

I want the levees to hold because our disaster plans relocate the Department of Insurance to Alexandria, and despite what those in charge of making the disaster plan think, it is NOT a commutable distance.

Here's a link to a PDF file the Advocate put together showing the spillways they are discussing on the news on a map. I need the visual. Speaking of visuals, here's CNN's Open Story iReporters and regular citizens sending in their footage.

I don't know if the true scope of this is felt yet because it is so slow. The Red Cross will need money to operate shelters that people will be depending on for months. So if you can spare it, think about all the communities from Illinois to Louisiana along Old Man River's route.

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The BookWorm

Reading Quiz

2011-05-09T12:21:00.001-05:00

Via jeymien. *Snort* My online handle is "KLCtheBookWorm" and my signature phrase is "read free!" Is anyone really surprised at the results?

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Literate Good Citizen
Book Snob
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

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The BookWorm

Something laugh about

2011-04-29T15:42:00.002-05:00

30 Nerd Wedding Cakes

For the record, I've got issues with hacking into Jabba the Hutt. If the characters can come off the cake and aren't part of the cake, I'm not nearly as bothered.

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The BookWorm

Pondering Shaking Things Up

2011-04-29T12:11:00.006-05:00

It's Friday. Watched the royal wedding, have plans for this weekend, and I'm already thinking about Monday.

Yeah, I think there's something wrong with me too, but I'm still going to do it.

Monday April 25th - Handwrote, 0 typed
Monday April 18th - Handwrote, 0 typed
Monday April 11th - Handwrote, 0 typed
Monday April 4th - Nothing
Monday March 28th - Plotted work
Monday March 21st - Nothing
Monday March 14th - Language creation
Monday March 7th - Language creation

If it was just Monday with the zeros, it wouldn't be so bad, but the zeros don't go away until Wednesday. So I'm losing quite a lot of the week, made worse if I have a crazy weekend and don't get to write. I don't have any excuses for Saturday and Sunday and Mondays is always swamped with starting-the-week crap. Should I mess with it. After all I'm puttering along with some progress.

Then I look at the marathon spreadsheet for Stellar Gift of Death and it bluntly tells me at this current rate, I'll finish the novel on my birthday in 2013. Ouch.

Looking at the schedule, I gave myself permission to work on a reward project on Sundays, provided I had been diligent about working Monday through Saturday. I have been diligent about not rewarding myself.

Bright idea: work diligently Tuesday through Sunday on Stellar Gift of Death and spend Mondays on the reward project.

The only fear I have about this bright idea is getting pulled into the reward project all week, but if that was going to happen, I think it already would have. I'm willing to try anything until a better idea comes along. And here I am at the end of one month ready to try something new in the next, with a bright idea to recapture Mondays for writing. So I'll switch Mondays to playing with the reward project for May and take notes of improvements.

The Royal Wedding: Trees in Westminster Abbey! They can fit potted trees inside that cathedral. And invisible cameras; I'll have to rewatch the footage to see if I can find them. And Kate's wedding dress suited her perfectly (thus proving I am female and can go oooh! over a frock).

I probably wouldn't have it on if my schedule didn't already have me up at the time. So I got in a little royal wedding research and I wish them a happy marriage.

Plans for the weekend: Spending it with friends in Lafayette for Festival International de Louisiane.

Have a good weekend everybody!

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The BookWorm

I Needed That Vacation

2011-04-25T11:42:00.005-05:00

Projects done: 5 out of 12 quarterly chores, pruned plants, pulled up saplings growing too close to the house, discovered the weedeater has died, filed a stack of paperwork I had been shuffling around for months, dealt with financial paperwork, and finally landed a second job: housekeeping for my grandfather every other week.

This past Saturday was my first day and it's not my preferred choice of second job, but I have hit the point of will do anything legal for pay. It is only two Saturdays a month, so I should managed to still have a life. Which I wouldn't had I gone back to Convergys.

Yes, before the housekeeping offer was made, I was mapping out an interview with their call center to fit into my Monday schedule.

In happy thanksgiving that sleep deprivation wouldn't shut her off again, the Muse buckled down to work Sunday. Equal chunks spent on Stellar Gift of Death and the reward project for being fairly good all week. Hopefully this productive wave carries through this week.

The project I didn't get to complete was importing my BookCAT list into GoodReads. I neglected to make a backup in 2010, so I have to update by checking the list against what sits on the shelves. 1400 books (or nearly there) is a lot to check.

Doctor Who: I did remember to turn on the TV for the new season! No-mouth amnesia aliens are creepy enough in my book to rank up there with the Dalecks and Cybermen and both versions of Delaware the Third are played by a father and son team of actors I have adored for a while--W. Morgan Sheppard (Lawrence Lactavius Limburger for starters) and Mark Sheppard (I ain't listing the roles). Delaware as a character is going to be fun. "Nice wheels" has got to be the best TARDIS recovery ever.

Maybe spoilers for those who haven't seen the first episode yet, so I'm going to use rot13.com to hide it. (This site turns your text into gooble-gook which a reader can copy and have translated back to English. If you don't want to be spoiled, skip the translating effort.

Jr xabj sebz "Gur Raq bs Gvzr" (fb Ryrira xabjf sebz Gra) gung oheavat n GvzrYbeq obql vf ab thnenagrr bs ernpuvat gur cbvag bs ab erghea. Fb gung cneg ernyyl qvqa'g hcfrg zr bapr V tbg bire gur fubpx inyhr. Ohg n ovt guhzof hc ba gung fubpx inyhr! Jung ernyyl tbg zr rzbgvbanyyl jnf Evire gryyvat Ebel jung ure jbefg qnl vf. Phr synfuonpxf gb gur Yvoenel. Bj, lbh tbg zr, Zbssrg.

Gur certanapl erirny: V guvax gur ab-zbhgu nzarfvn nyvraf ner qbvat fbzr oerrqvat rkcrevzragf; funqrf bs pynffvp Terl noqhpgvba gurbel. Nzl naq Ebel zvtug or gelvat gb unir n onol evtug njnl, rfcrpvnyyl fvapr gur Qbpgbe qebccrq gurz bss gb geniry fbyb sbe n ovg, ohg Evire fgnegrq unir gur fnzr anhfrn flzcgbzf nsgre ure eha va jvgu gur ab-zbhgu nzarfvn nyvraf. Fur fgevxrf zr nf n jbzna jub vf ernyyl pnershy jvgu jubz fur funerf ure binevrf jvgu, fb V'z fhfcvpvbhf.

Neil Gaiman's episode in number four: "The Doctor's Wife." Can't wait! This season is going to be a great ride indeed. Geronimo!

Remember: I can bring the spare basket at home to the paying job to corral lawsuit docket sheets. The mountain is threatening to take over my cubicle again.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Well, I'm back

2011-04-20T16:05:00.003-05:00

But not from outer space. Me and Mom ran up to Shreveport and spent Monday and Tuesday relaxing and visiting my sister that lives up there. Just got home, but the drive was much easier than my typical commute. :p

It's really rather scary. I've been driving since 10am this morning it's past 4pm now, and I'm actually considering what I can finish tonight before bedtime to cross off the list. I am SO not used to feeling that way on a Wednesday.

I have the rest of the week off and I'm going to concentrate on getting projects done for the house that I'm always putting off because when the weekend rolls in I'm usually spent energy-wise. It's a novel use of time for me and I hope I have something to show for it when I go to work on Monday.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

I was more lazy this weekend than intended

2011-04-11T07:22:00.003-05:00

Update from the last post: I got the car back on Saturday before the mechanics closed. And I have spent most of last week writing blog posts that will probably never see the light of day as I come to terms with the state of my finances.

Then early on last week, I noticed my left boob going sensitive, brush it with my arm and OW! what the hell sensitive. Then a boil's red spot appears on the side. These things are becoming a common annoyance, so I filed it under waiting until it needs to be lanced by a medical professional.

Up until Friday night when I rolled over on my left side, pressed down on the boob, nearly hit the ceiling jumping away from the pain, and chocking back a scream of pain.

I was at the clinic by 9am Saturday morning (as soon as it opened).

Good news: it is the boil infection and I got around of antibiotics for it. Bad news: the boil isn't coming to a head because the breast has all this fatty tissue it can displace instead.

Saturday I managed to work on budget paperwork. Sunday, I moved all the piles out of my office with the intention of working through them and putting them away. Yeah, I didn't manage that. Didn't get any writing done Sunday either. The boob hurt even without me touching it, hot bath and hot compresses to make it come to a head don't appear to be working either, I was sweaty and miserable, despite the comfortable temperature of my house--quite possible I had a mild fever.

Instead of working, I reread Justice Hall Laurie R. King and FINALLY started denting the taped episodes pile. I found Season 2 finale of Castle, the Season 1 finale of V, started on Season 3 of Castle and found which tapes shouldn't be taped on again because of the results I got the last time.

Yes, I do realize the whole point of taping them was to watch them at a non-sleeping hour NOT after the seasons were long finished. *headdesk* But I haven't turned on the TV in a few weeks, and then I feel guilty for not keeping up, so cue up the vicious cycle.

What I need is to see how complicated setting up a DVR on the new computer will be. But I keep putting that project off because of lack of funding. But then I do silly shite and forget to turn on the TV and MISS the rest of Being Human UK's season! Same thing with Bones, but I blame Fox for taking a month-long break which got me out of Thursday TV viewing habits.

I'm going to sign up for Episode Calender (once the "mentioned on Lifehacker" effect dies down) and hopefully that will help me keep the VCR and DirectTV programed so I can at least tape on schedule.

The boob still hurts today (I just popped two Tylenols), but the red spot had shrunk so the antibiotics are working. I didn't want to take today off too since I have Tuesday off, but depending on how uncomfortable sitting in an office chair is on my boob, I may head home early.

I have emails and comments to respond to--I'm not ignoring you on purpose, Sharp!--and hopefully after sleeping tomorrow, I'll feel up to it. Right now, have give the willpower to the paying job.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Rizzo is sick again

2011-04-02T07:42:00.003-05:00

I finally got home after 9pm last night. And this morning Mustard blinked at the empty driveway and was confused about going outside when it didn't look right.

Left work at 4:30, after a day that ended up being more blah than good. Interstate traffic had thinned out, so I took that route. I had just passed the I-12/I-10 split when my engine gave a little jolt, power steering went away, and the car decelerated quickly. The engine malfunction indicator light popped on and then the low oil pressure light came on. I got the car to the side between the overpasses getting traffic on and off I-10.

Called roadside assistance, then called my parents, then it was a sit and wait. The M.A.P. patrol van finally found me at 5:30-ish. My parents found me by 6, by 6:20-ish, the tow truck finally reached me. Me and my parents then found the mechanics that my roadside assistance recommended who had already closed for the day, and waited for the tow truck. He was a sweet guy, but we didn't get the car dropped off until after 7:30. Supper at IHOP and then home finally after 9:30-ish.

I haven't heard from the mechanics yet, but they just opened an hour ago. I have a phone number, but I'm going to give them a little bit. Plus I just woke up really.

What I'm dreading is my parents to do the sit-down-for-the-facts-of-life talk and to tell me it's time to get a new vehicle. Rizzo still isn't paid off and I'm terrified with a trade-in I will be horrifically upside down with a new car. I want to pay off a car and continue to drive it until I can pay cash for a new-to-me one just once in my adult life!

Midday update: The mechanics called me soon after I posted. The timing belt broke and it will cost $791.29 to fix. I mostly worked it out with my parents and they left to take my grandfather on a trip to Mississippi. And locked their house up tight.

I'm right next door. Without a car.

They left their second car, but the keys are inside their locked-up house. And who has been living next door for eleven years come August and STILL hasn't been given a set of keys to their house for emergencies?

Yeah, I hope the mechanics finish my car before they close today.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Relevant Knowledge was the culprit!

2011-03-26T11:06:00.002-05:00

I don't know where I picked up the stupid data-mining program, but it was on my list to deal with later since it wasn't affecting anything, just giving me annoying pop-ups at odd times.

So I made a new profile and still couldn't see any websites with Firefox. I finally found the instructions on how to run it in safe mode and walla! websites again! Pulled up my old profile, ran in safe mode, and huzzah! websites again! So one of the add-ons is the culprit.

So I see my list and find an add-on for Relevant Knowledge!!! Okay this bitch must die now.

There are various instructions on how to do this by hand and be sure it is gone. While still operating under Windows XP, I had no problems running Revo Uninstaller, so to be sure it will run on Windows 7, I downloaded the 30-day free trial for the Pro version. Zap and Relevant Knowledge is all gone. Firefox works out of safe mode and I am a happy camper again. I have a spare profile should I need it, and now I'm updated to Firefox 4.0 and I have to get used to the new layout.

Next on the list: finish the Triangulation entry and start laundry.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

One thing after another

2011-03-23T19:35:00.002-05:00

I think March is going to go down as the month I'd rather forget as soon as possible.

Commuting fun, budget fun, updating programs at the paying job fun, trying to finish the story for a deadline fun; I get home and Firefox can only come up with 500 Internal Server Errors for EVERY website I try to go to. Move over the IE and the websites are fine.

So far the only consistant solution I have found is to create a new Firefox profile because the one I have been using has probably gotten corrupted. Guess who's ready to crawl into bed the minute she gets home and doesn't want to deal with it.

I'm heading to bed now. I think I can drop writing from my morning chores at home because I have an hour and a half before I'm on the clock at the paying job with the 5:15am leave time and it fit in there nicely this morning. However I am a zombie by the time I get home.

And if there is anything else that can cause the 500 Internal Server Error in Firefox besides a corrupted profile let me know so I can try it as well. This weekend, probably.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Not a happy camper

2011-03-22T07:41:00.008-05:00

The commute has stopped being a pass through Purgatory and has now moved into Hell.

I went looking for current images, but there doesn't seem to be any. Usually, I would provide my own but it's a trade off between driving and photography, so probably won't happen. Geaux Wider has an interactive map showing where the issues are. I take the I-12 corridor since it is the most direct route between my house and the paying job.

Yesterday, it took me two hours to reach the paying job ~~and the day never recovered after that~~. Plus dodging out of the way when a semi decided to cross the yellow line into my lane once I was past the construction zone mess and should have been free and clear. Today it took an hour. I'm used to the evening commute taking that long but the morning commute has always been lighter and finished around 45 minutes, provided there are no accidents. So clearly now everyone is getting up with me to beat the awful construction traffic and they are slowing down to watch the work.

I finally got a schedule that works for me and now I have to adjust it AGAIN. And during daylight savings time when it is nearly impossible to go to sleep because it's not dark enough outside! Annoyed doesn't come close to describing it.

Options: I don't have many. If I leave later to avoid the traffic snarls, that means I need to change what time I start the paying job and when I leave the paying job. I'm saving that headache for shifting to a 4-10s schedule. (A day without driving! Setting a leaving hour late enough to miss the crappy evening commute!)

After filing the above under "not likely to happen unless the state government shift to open for four days a week in an effort to save money," I'm left with leaving home earlier. Right now, I'm aiming between 5:45am and 6am. So if I move it up by thirty minutes, that means leaving between 5:15am and 5:30am.

*GLARES at the daily schedule*

Doing that without changing my wake-up or bedtimes effectively wipes out my entire reason for getting up so goddamn early in the morning: doing the frakking chores while I still have energy to do them.

Shifting everything up so I don't have to remove anything from the schedule, I need to wake-up at 3:09am and goto bed at 7pm.

*headdesk* Great I already have no social life and no television show watching time because I turn into a pumpkin at 8pm. IT ISN'T EVEN DARK YET AT 7 P.M.!!!!!!!!!!!!

I asked about going to 4-10s. Won't fly, our division is too short-staffed right now. *headdesk*

No money for a housekeeper. And no time for chores. Clearly I need a TARDIS for my commute. That would solve everything. And apparently would stop attracting other vehicles to my front grill. I took the surface streets to avoid most of the snarled-up Interstate and a dude started driving his bicycle straight at me! And he wasn't wearing a helmet! He dodged because I had the right away and collusion was avoided but STILL. The last thing I need right now is a wreck.

So yeah, I'm looking for a slightly used TARDIS. Hyper-active Time Lord doesn't have to be included ~~but of course I wouldn't send him away either~~.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

How to Help Japan

2011-03-18T07:25:00.003-05:00

The Daily Dish: How to Help Japan: this post reminded me of a worthy organization that I nearly never think about, Doctors Without Borders.

And I just heard in this morning's news that Japan bumped their continuing crisis up the international crisis scale from a 4 to a 5. I didn't even know there was an international crisis scale but it only goes up to 7.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Murphy is a rat bastard

2011-03-15T08:35:00.006-05:00

Yesterday started off deceptively well. Got enough sleep, got up nearly on time, worked on Mealte's language, balanced the checkbook, and left the house mostly on time. The worse thing I was considering was the possibility of raiding my savings for a fill-up before the next paycheck, but the budget was holding steady and I would have savings available to do that rather than go into red.

Then my engine noise changed and it sounded like I was dragging something just as I started across the I-12 bridge over the Amite River. My first thought was I had picked up something in the construction zone. The battery dashboard light turned on and I got off at the next exit.

Everything looked normal under the hood. But I found a dangling belt under the car, no bigger than the cord to the computer mouse, but frayed and broken and had descended from the engine. No real surprise because I was told exactly what Rizzo needed back in December and belts were on the list, but I was putting it off until the money looked better. I called into work and left a message, then back tracked to the mechanics in Denham Springs.

The good news: while waiting on my car, I finally reached creating adjective and adverbs. They were able to replace my serpentine belt and its tension pulley because most of it was missing (and probably what i heard dragging under the car on the Interstate).

The bad news: paying for the repair has put me in the red by at least $157.

So I crossed my fingers that I can borrow the difference until my next paycheck to avoid overdraft fees, at lunch, dealt with the monthly aggravation and went to work. Where the computer decided not to log me in. It's been a to-and-fro job for the new guy in I.T. because he didn't know and didn't ask me about the special issues with my computer. :p

I finally was able to work at 3:00. I ended up not leaving until 4:30 to finish the biggest batch. Dad loaned me the money, and I got to work on time today. And two of my coworker's computer come up with the same issue I had yesterday.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Ash Wednesday

2011-03-09T12:53:00.003-06:00

The day started off so well, ran a bit late, but no biggie, until I got to work.

*HEADDESK*

I'm not getting into details to spare the guilty. But of us who are here and sloughing through correcting MIA coworker's mistakes are all really thankful it is a short week.

Now I have to get back to creating names in Atsejhk.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Laissez Le Bon Temps Roulet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-03-08T10:01:00.001-06:00

Hail Zulu! Hail Rex! Happy Mardi Gras!

http://www.freesparkle.com

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Automatic Timer and Me

2011-03-07T12:05:00.006-06:00

Due to my ability to sleep through noise, I put a lamp on an automatic timer to turn on to reinforce wake-up time. This morning, it went off first and I don't know how it managed that. This is the second timer I've tried and now it's off-sync with the other clocks too. The first timer wouldn't always turn on when it was supposed to as well as getting out-of-sync.

Is it because the outlet is upside down? Whatever the reason, it worked in my favor this morning. I got through my whole morning scheduled routine!

I wish I could say the same thing about the weekend. I finally got home after 8pm (didn't leave work until 6pm, nasty weather, ate supper, nasty traffic) and what greets me at the door besides Mustard?

[Pic of kitchen ceiling and floor]

Water from the sink to the fridge following the gap in the ceiling. It reminded me of a water balloon fight without the plastic bits. My roof leak has expanded. The back bedroom got wetter than normal too. The buckets I have set up where halfway full and a splash zone of nearly a foot and half surrounded them.

Aside from the fact that I have no money for a roof, I don't want to put a roof on to tear it off when I rebuild the back half of the house. But I can't keep letting water in.

Tarp time? My fear is like with all the sealant we've put on the roof the water will still get past the barrier. *HEADDESK* I don't even know if the blue tarp people are still in business. Is there such a thing as a temporary roof?

Saturday was spent watching the kitchen leak (which didn't leak again), making pretty graphics, and budget number crunching because my income tax refund came in sooner than I had anticipated. Sad to say my splurge was to buy WinZip. Sunday I finally got to the Triangulation entry story. I think I have the transition now, but I still need to clean it up and make sure I make all the points I need to. This morning I finally got back to language creation. Hopefully I can work during lunch, but so far the day has been swamped.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Jumping For Heroes: Band of Brothers

2011-02-21T07:54:00.002-06:00

The cast of HBO's Band Of Brothers are reuniting for a star studded joint event later this year in aid of the Richard Winters Leadership Project, an organization run by Tim Gray Media.

Our mission is to raise funds required to erect a monument in Normandy in honour of the late Major Winters who passed away in January of this year. The project needs $100K to complete the work.

Since I had asked if there was any way to donate to the memorial, I figured I better share this info. So far Neal McDonough isn't on the list of jumpees, but you can donate to the Richard Winters Leadership Project or sponsor a parachute for one of the stars.

And despite my money issues, I am sending this cause something when I get my income tax return. But not a parachute. :D

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The BookWorm

Where Did the Weekend Go?

2011-02-18T08:31:00.004-06:00

Belated Happy Valentine’s Day! Or if you watched Bones last night: Happy St. Valentine's Day Massacre! and pass a tommy gun over here. :D

All the plans I had for last weekend vanished under graph paper. It was an avoidance tactic, but I figured I had earned it. Thursday the 10th, I drove past an Acadian-style house with four rooms across the front and tried to see how that would work with my house remodel—it didn’t.

[IMAGE OF NOTEBOOK SKETCH] Oops, forgot to scan that sketch once I finally got the scanner working last night. Trust me, it was making a rectangle out of my house that could only be navigated in a circle.

When I got home, I Googled “two-story Acadian house plans” and found Authentic Historical Designs LLC. Unlike a lot of house plans for sell which just look like the same house with different colors, there people based their designs on existing houses.

I was inspired. I will give credit to the two-story remodel to my ex, who first brought it up as a solution to add more square-footage to my house. But these house plans showed me how it could actually work. I spent most of Saturday and Sunday making outlines on graph paper. Why graph paper instead of house design software I’ll get to later.

Stairs gave me fits since I don’t want to cut the floor of the original house. Upstairs bathroom gave me more fits because I couldn’t use the sharing one design I liked with the stairs. At one point on Saturday, I was seriously wondering why I hadn’t gone to school to be an architect because straight lines on graph paper I can do and if I had I would know if these ideas would work. :p

Which as of right now, I don’t. IF I build/add on this addition, I would have to turn all this over to a licensed architect and have official blueprints made. DIY Diva: The Evolution of a House Plan details what they went through. But as far as giving me everything I need and lust after in a house, I don’t think I did too badly for an amateur. And the footprint fits in my yard!

Let’s start with the second-floor, which is part of the house I live in now. I open the closed-up door between my current bedroom and the front porch again and the current living room becomes a bedroom too. The current bathroom and current office are both removed to become sitting/dressing rooms/something for the bedrooms. The current kitchen and back bedroom (which are made out of a pine lean-to to the cypress house) are demolished completely for the up-to-code new bathroom, stairs, and library.

I didn’t want people walking through the bathrooms to get to their bedroom; feels like bad Feng Shui and even if it isn’t, it makes me uncomfortable. One of the house plans had this ingenious set up between two bedrooms, and the only changes I had to make is to move the doors and add a way out through the sink chambers.

The back room was built to house the staircase, and then I realized that all that wallspace could be floor-to-ceiling shelves that my books wouldn’t have to share with a TV and DVDs, beds, or computer desks. This is where a professional needs to put in the windows so they won’t hurt my books.

Stairs: I don’t do well visualizing 3D space, so I want a pro to go over the math on these especially.

Now for the totally new first floor! A matching porch is a feature in Acadian-style plantation homes, so I incorporated it. The front door opens into the Great Room, which will probably be where the TV ends up. To the south side of the house, there is the hall connecting the first floor bathroom with two more bedrooms. The bedroom facing the front will be my computer office. The one closer to the kitchen will become an exercise and craft room, but both should be able to accommodate extra guests.

The great room and hall lead to a larger kitchen with room enough for a dining table. From there to use up space created around the staircase, I put in a storage room for the house, a mudroom corridor to the garage, and a laundry room. The first floor ends with an attached garage and a store room accessible through it.

Making it prettier to look at: Last time I got on a plan the remodel kick, I tried using Google SketchUp but never could get the hang of it. Then I moved to another freeware program and couldn't put a roof on. On a whim, I bought HGTV’s Home Design & Remodeling Suite.

Oh where to start with how much I hate this program. HGTV should be ashamed to have their name on it. Impossibly hard to figure out how to use the tools, never could make it understand that the house sits on pilings (all I was trying to do was build a virtual model on the current house to plan a bathroom remodel), and never could get the roof to look right. Then printing out a plan with the measurements, what came out could only be read by microscope and I couldn’t change it!

NEVER BUY THIS PROGRAM!!!!!!!

So I’m looking for a new home design program, but this time I’m searching the reviews first before buying. The names that keep coming up with high ratings are Chief Architect Home Design Suite 10 and Punch! Home & Landscape Design. Chief Architect Home Design Suite 10 offers a 30-day free trial of their Pro version, so I’m leaning towards them. If I can learn the trial version easily, they may have my business.

Playing with Chief Architect Home Design Suite Pro: The tools are easy to figure out and they have tons of tutorial videos on their website. But the two issues I had off the bat I can't find the solution to.

The mouse pointer becomes target lines on the grid where you draw the floor plan. -- I'm sure this is a matter of turning something off, but I couldn't find it and coupled with issue two, it messed up my ability to draw a rectangle properly.
I couldn't read the temporary measurements. -- If I zoomed in close enough to read it so I could see if the wall was long enough, I no longer had enough room to draw the rest of the house.

Mostly, I think I was too tired to deal with it by turning features off and nobody else has claimed it as a problem in their Help sections (probably because it is so simple to turn it off :p).

But what I did find cruising through their Help section was instructions on how to import a scanned sketch and use it to trace the program's version with the bells and whistles. So that's probably what I'll try to do this weekend, though not to the exclusion of everything else.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Sur-reality

2011-02-17T14:03:00.001-06:00

I need to keep track of the spending I’m doing for working at home. The new computer I had to buy regardless, but not the headset. Nor the Ethernet to USB filter that I needed so the Internet won’t shut off if Windows isn’t on. Yeah, I don’t get it either. New phone and second phone line are still potential buys at this point, but I’m waiting for a position to open up first. That’s where I am now. I passed the interview and the computer runs their software, so now I wait until something becomes available.

A whole day to just get house stuff straight would be awesome, but it’s not going to happen. Maybe tonight I can catch up on chores and budget work.

Under surreal moments, I talked to Sallie Mae Friday. Very helpful customer service rep after I told her what I make a month answered, “You’re barely above the poverty line. You’d have to make $4000 a month to afford these loans.” According to their paperwork, a monthly amount representing 150% of the poverty guideline is $1353.75 for a family of 1. So by barely, we mean a hundred dollars after taxes.

It’s one thing to be living under the press of “how to pay, don’t have enough, I’m so bad with money.” So to have a total stranger look at my gross pay, subtract taxes, and say “no you don’t make enough money” takes some getting used to. I feel like the bully has stopped hitting me and ran away.

Don’t get the wrong idea; I don’t have my money under control yet. But at the same time, there is not enough money. I’m not crazy for resenting p.f. bloggers with two-income households. I’m not crazy when someone says ‘be frugal, cut spending” for crying “what’s left to cut?”

Surreal alert indeed: I’ve been five days wrapping my head around this concept (minus two days for the weekend where I buried myself in the house plans to ignore it).

Now I think I’m at a place mentally to make plans and follow those plans. Helpful advice from a Dave Ramsey critic: “keep putting money in the emergency fund because $1000 is not enough to keep most emergencies at bay. Make it automatic and don’t touch it.”

This is a sore spot for my budgeting; I always spend what I put in savings. So I need to make it automatic and not at the credit union, but easy enough to set up. ING Direct has good reviews and easy set up of automatic transfers.

Second point: I need to budget bi-weekly. Monthly setup defeats my motivation and I go into my avoidance routine. When I get paid if when I can pay the bills, ‘nuff said.

Third point: Prioritize the bills. I don’t plan my spending ahead of time and give money to whoever is yelling at me the loudest despite needing it somewhere else first.

Fourth point: Do my tax paperwork. I have everything, I just need to start it.

Fifth point: Find a third job. *Snort* I’m waiting for the second one but I need more income now. I have been considering finding articles to write for Helium and Associated Content. This needs to move out of the maybe column to “do it now!”

Sixth point: Stop skipping budget time. If it takes explaining to Mom that you have to leave for 6pm, so be it.

Seventh point: Eat out once a month only. Before yelling at me that I shouldn’t at all, I known once a month I am late leaving Baton Rouge and have to eat dinner before reaching home. This is different from running late and didn’t cook breakfast so drive through fast food for it.

More advice to keep in mind:
The Digerati Life: How to Make a Budget in 10 Easy Steps
The Digerati Life: The Dave Ramsey Budget: Budgeting Tips for Successful Savers.

This explains a lot

2011-02-11T10:54:00.005-06:00

Take Back Your Attention

What I find truly scary is how oblivious we are to the creep of distractions. I got more writing done yesterday because I was away from a computer than I did all four days I was off last week.

The average for what fits on a handwritten page is 250 words. I can change my 500 words a day goal to 2 handwritten pages and still count when I type. Because I'm not writing with the status quo at all. And there's nothing wrong with the thinking the story up process (yesterday's outpouring is proof of that), so the problem is keep my attention span off the "ooh, pretties" on the computer long enough to get it done. :p

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Baby It's COLD Outside!

2011-02-11T08:55:00.003-06:00

But luckily not wet and causing icy conditions. Cold we can deal with. I dealt with it by realizing I need a hat today and don't have one.

Wednesday, I had a group interview over the phone and computer, a first for me. Now the applied for position was filled, but we were given the opportunity to finish the interview process and then be first in line for the next position that opens up and fits our qualifications. We all went through with the interview process.

Yesterday, I got the notice that I passed the interview and they would be sending their OS CD to test if my computer can run it. After that point, I wait for a position.

Also thanks to the class I had yesterday, my brain got shocked out of the rut and I have most of a scene to type up for the Triangulation entry. My purse notebook shocked the people sitting at my table. The amount of pages written in my purse notebook had them asking "Are you sure you haven't written a novel instead of a short story?"

Plans for this weekend: load the car with computer stuff to donate, pay bills, shop for essentials, clean house, and update websites.

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The BookWorm

When It Rains, It Pours; But I Was Given an Umbrella

2011-02-08T04:35:00.004-06:00

Monday was typical, except for the mail increase from missing Thursday and Friday. Then I got an email from Holly Lisle over shenanigans done in the Rebel Tales name. I have kept quiet because Rebel Tales wasn't open to the public, but this is the market I sent "Covenant of the Restless" to.

Concerned and angry on Holly's behalf, but not alarmed since I figured the heads in charge were taking care of the situation. Then after lunch, I get an email from the application I had left open. The one from the job I thought had been filled on Sunday since I couldn't find my application again. It was reminder to go finish the test.

Before I left work for the day, thirty minutes late because of the mail load, I got another email about Rebel Tales and how it has closed shop. I'm less heartbroken than flabbergasted, and it's more on a personal note. Seriously, I get this after the weekend I just had?

So I rush home to see what the news was on the application. I figured I would try it in IE8 and if it didn't work, I would grab Dad's laptop and go back to IE7 to finish the damn thing. It worked in IE8 (I have no idea what they did, but I'm SO glad they did it) and I finished the application (I think). I have no idea what my scores are, but if I don't get the job now it's not because of technical issues but something personal.

...

Why the hell do I find that comforting?!

Things are looking better personally. I have to find a new market for my story, and I don't know if I'll get the job, but it's Tuesday. :)

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The BookWorm

Depressing Turn of Events

2011-02-06T15:56:00.000-06:00

As some of the readers knows, I'm trying to find a second job that I can do from home. I was looking before my previous computer died back in November and had stumbled across virtual call center, i.e. answering the phone like a call center only from the comfort of your own home. Which beats the hell out of the alternative I did back in 2003, work at a call center full time because they didn't offer any part-time work plus my full-time job with the state with all my benefits.

I bought the new computer specifically to handle this, using specs that are in common for most companies.

Only to find I can't use it to finish the application process.

The first company kept screwing up when they wanted to test that the new PC would work. The web-based program would just fail. So I moved on and found a great one, all the wanted to hire was part-time. Got to the fifth section of the application process and it refused to run. After contact their customer support, that web-based program only runs in IE6 or IE7. Windows 7, which I upgraded to with the new computer, only runs IE8.

*HEADDESK*

You'd think it be as easy as uninstalling 8 and using 7 for a while, but nope. Windows 7 will not run IE7. You have to set up a dual boot on your computer to run XP or a Windows Virtual PC to run XP Mode. The second made more complicated because Microsoft doesn't think Windows 7 Home Premium users "deserve" Windows Virtual PC.

To avoid that mess because the clock was ticking on my unfinished application, I finally got my dad's XP laptop with his admin password so I could install IE7 on it (because he updated to IE8 when it became available). Only to find that the job has been filled and now they only have bilingual positions that I don't qualify for.

I cried. Like a baby. I also screamed a couple of times and kicked the wall (my walls are cypress beadboard otherwise I'd probably have to detail how I had to get myself out of sheet rock).

I know my situation isn't as dire as other people out there. I have my primary job and Mom is feeding me. But I can't keep up with my bills unless I increase my income, much less replace the washing machine that is breaking down, the roof that is leaking, put up new walls and sink in the bathroom, get out of debt, etc.

Yeah, so that's where I am right now. Trying not to burst into tears thinking about it. And original fiction isn't cutting it as a distraction. I keep looking at what I have done today before the job went away and can only think "if this doesn't sell...." Not a happy place to create from. So don't tell on me, but I'm taking the rest of the day off with fanfiction and computer games.

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The BookWorm

"Being Human" fun

2011-02-01T12:58:00.002-06:00

Jeffrey Bee has a fan-comic based on the British version of Being Human called We Are Monsters.

So far I'm tied between Slasher and Role Play as my all-time favorites.

Check them out!

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The BookWorm

Strange Weekend

2011-01-31T07:21:00.008-06:00

I ended up with a four-day weekend because I had an open revolt staged by my body: fatigue that I have never felt before coupled with sinuses acting like a cold or a sore throat was oncoming. I stayed home and dosed myself with Vitamin C and liquids. I thought I would go to the paying job Friday until I slept through all my alarms.

Saturday I got volunteered to help Mom and my sister reorganize the closed-in garage room so Mom can have room to go through the store inventory and decide what to do with it. The only issue I have is there was no clear plan for the boxes of items to donate. Me and sister voted for hauling them away right then, but neither of us knew where to take them. Those boxes ended up right back where they started so Mom can double check them. *rolls eyes*

I ended up with an old steel filing cabinet and a mirror cabinet thingy Mom is positive I can work into my house somewhere because I always need storage.

I am dubious of that claim.

The filing cabinet was a bitch to get inside, but it fit perfectly into the space I have had pegged for my eventual paper pantry. I moved the paper I had been storing in the not-made-anymore Sterlite Ultra drawers and consolidated so much of the spread out storage, I freed up one of the small bookshelves under the leg of my L-shaped desk. I took off that extension since it was broken, and rearranged the shelving. The I had to take the telephone jack apart to shift it so the shelves would fit. Then shuffled the books around.

All this after giving Mom four hours of heavy lifting. I told her that I wasn't moving jack-shit for the next six months. Though, I will break that if the opportunity comes to get my mother's furniture off my front porch so I can use it again.

Shuffling the office and the books made me crave for the built-ins I want to do but still not sure about. One reason for the indecision is money for lumber. Two goes back to how much am I going to change the house footprint when I remodel? If I add a room to be an office, why should I line cypress walls with shelving?

Sunday was a recuperation day by straightening the story folders. Which while needed to be done, took my focus from writing for the umpteenth day in a row. All I can do is hope my subconscious has been plugging away at whatever the problem is, because I have to finish the story while I still have time to edit. :p

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The BookWorm

Blah week?

2011-01-25T07:17:00.002-06:00

That time of the month and fatigue is hitting hard. I'm getting up on time, but find that I don't want to do anything but go back to bed. *headdesk*

Over the weekend, all I accomplished was figuring out that most of the careful instructions I had made in setting up virtual hosts for website work under XP doesn't work under Windows 7. I finally managed to get the Library's sandbox working before running out of weekend.

Part of the problem, I wanted to set the development area so it was portable originally. Very few people do this, and then it turned out I have no where else to really build. :p So in take two, I'm moving everything to the C drive, which is what most online directions tell you to do regardless. :p

Now to get through the day with my eyelids propped open.

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The BookWorm

This makes me realize I haven't traveled as much as I would like

2011-01-24T16:01:00.001-06:00

visited 16 states (32%)
Create your own visited map of The United States

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The BookWorm

And because I needed to share a laugh

2011-01-21T12:28:00.001-06:00

Five Science Fiction Shows Turned Into Children's Books

My favorite:

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The BookWorm

Friday, It Is Friday Right?

2011-01-21T10:57:00.003-06:00

I thought I was doing pretty well nipping the failure panic over Convergys in the bud last night. And then their site is broken and I couldn't apply. *headdeak* Currently waiting for them to respond to the message I sent about the issue. It could be an IE thing on my end, but ugh. Just ugh.

This weekend I'm going back through the list and find the next company to apply to. I also want to catch up on fiction words and do the website updating stuff I have written down to do. I moved website stuff to the weekend rather than trying to dedicate an hour everyday to it. That didn't work at all last year.

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The BookWorm

Day of silent screaming

2011-01-20T12:19:00.003-06:00

Scary how good I am at that now. It's not a skill class I want to be proficient in, mind you, but practice makes perfect.

Bedtime Helper worked, but by the time I finished setting it and the parental controls up, it was time for bed. So because I had to stop at the hospital and check on my grandfather.

Don't with the condolences. Just don't. It's a long story that I don't want to share, but I won't miss him. This is not my usual stoicism at play either. I don't want him to suffer, but beyond that nothing. It killed an hour that I would have had for housework, so I didn't get to finish the list last night.

Today's schedule went much better, got up mostly on time, got things done around the house, some writing, left on time. Then at the paying job, it all went to crappy-ville on four flat tires. Hence the silent screaming at the top of my lungs and listening to Metallica to calm down. No, that isn't a typo.

Second job: I thought I had posted on these plans already. I found a reliable list of companies who offer virtual call center jobs, i.e. working from home. Convergys is on the list, but my old computer failed their tests and then it had the spectacularly long meltdown of trying to get it fixed. So I bought the new computer according to their specs so I could reapply. Because I need a reliable second income, but I don't think I can physically work two full-time jobs again. So the plan is to find a part-time virtual call center job that I can work at nights, weekends, and holidays until debt is paid off and I can replace the roof and remodel my house.

So TONIGHT, provided nothing else goes bonkers, I'm reapplying to Convergys.

Update: The old coot (which is the PG version of what I call my grandfather) checked himself out this morning against doctor's orders. *forehead smack*

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The BookWorm

Bad Habits Resurfacing

2011-01-19T07:09:00.006-06:00

Commute was hell in the morning and by the time I got home, playing games won out over the stuff I need to do. Then I stayed up way too late playing those games thanks to the extra stress caffeine I ingested. :P Woke up late this morning.

It's fairly obvious to me that this won't do. Not for the goals I have for 2011. So the first thing I did was start looking for a program that I can use to block access to the games until I have finished my chores, and conversely turn everything off at bedtime.

First thing I found is Windows 7 has some robust parental controls How to Configure Parental Controls in Windows 7. No kids use my computer, so I tend to gloss over things like that in the control panel. I'm sure it's useless for web-savvy teenagers, but I just need something to make me stop and think NOT to do it. Or at least be a hassle to change it so I can play.

The next program to install is Bedtime Help Pushes You Towards an Earlier Bed Time. The only thing that may be an issue is I usually don't shut down at night, but put the computer to sleep so the programs should be running again in the morning. *Snort* That should show me to go research more thoroughly. There are different options like Hibernate on the Bedtime Help Home Page.

While I'm on an improve Windows 7 kick, Change the Windows 7 Shut Down Button. I accidentally shut down this morning when I meant to hit sleep and it's only the fifth time I've done that. :p

Technically, this stuff falls under the clean office weekly chore I have to do today. Chores to catch up on:

Vacuum
Dishes
Budget
Put out garbage
Clean living room and bedroom
Apply to Convergys. -- Yes, I have managed to procrastinate too long on this. *Shakes head* Time to woman up.

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The BookWorm

I officially declare this week to be a wash

2011-01-14T07:48:00.003-06:00

Or a wipeout. I'm not sure which is worse.

I screwed up my sleep schedule and that has screwed up getting anything done in the morning because I'm waking up with just enough time to get dressed and go to work. Night has been a rebellious la-la-la-I'm-ignoring-my-responsibilities and then going to bed too late.

Good news: this fallow week has jogged stuff loose for the Triangulation entry story. No narration yet, but a clearer sense of what the characters are doing and how they go about it. I already had a good grasp on the why. It will be a 5000-word exercise in maintaining an alien POV that is still sympathetic to the readers, but that will still be a fun ride.

I'm also taking a mini-holiday this weekend. Spening the night with friends in Lafayette, coming back on Saturday. I'd like to do something Sunday with my nephew, but I haven't made any promises since it depends on money and weather. have a great weekend, everybody!

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The BookWorm

Lost USB drive

2011-01-11T07:55:00.005-06:00

Well, now I'm glad I didn't get any writing done at work yesterday because the USB drive I would have put it on is officially missing. *Sigh*

I had it at work and I thought when I couldn't find it that I must have left it at work. Nope. So it's either in the car somewhere, Mustard knocked it off the desk at home, or it got kicked somewhere really hidden when I kicked my purse in a fit a pique last night. The pocket I kept it in was open when I did and lots of stuff went flying out. I searched the kitchen this morning but didn't find it, so I'm thinking home office now. Since it wasn't on my desk where I expected it to be this morning, Mustard probably knocked it off thinking it was a great game or something.

Not losing data is the most important thing, but I still feel out of sorts, even though I downloaded the home computer files to a spare USB drive. What do I work on now feeling, even though I know perfectly well what to do. :p

Oh well, time to shake it off.

P.M. Update: Found it in a box of old computer stuff in the kitchen where it must have bounced when I kicked the purse. Good thing too, because I was about to accuse Mustard of having eaten it.

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The BookWorm

The Cape

2011-01-10T09:54:00.002-06:00

Store Clerk: "You're a superhero; what they call you?"
Vince: "The Cape."
Store Clerk: Pauses. "You work on that."

If you missed the two-hour premier last night, NBC is showing The Cape again tonight 8pm Central before the regular Monday night hour long shows start next week. And as I checked on Internet Movie Database for spelling, it looks like SyFy Channel is airing episodes too.

Even taking into account I can listen to Keith David (voice of Goliath from Gargoyles) recite the phone book, I really enjoyed the beginning and it looks like it's going to be a decent series. The two-hours establishes the origin story of how Vince Faraday turns himself in the Cape, bringing the comic book character he read with his son to life. What I liked hopefully without spoilers:

Deadman was an acrobat and Bruce Wayne trained under an illusionist and escape artist, but these aspects of their origins don't get played up. The Cape brings this to the forefront as the way for a superhero to have the edge over bad guys, and for a way a Joe Blow police officer can master this stuff without being a ninja in a former life. Though they did drop hints about Vince's military background before his marriage and presumably joining the police force, so he may still have a leg up on Joe Blow police officer.

The white-out effect in comics and cartoons when a character wears a mask has always bugged me. (I have a TMNT poster I defaced trying to fix that as proof.) So I really liked that Chess uses creepy contact lenses to achieve the white-out effect in live-action. I still haven't figured out what the mark in the lens is supposed to be. It's too irregular for a cat-eye slit. I'm guessing it's the silhouette of a chess piece.

Summer Glau's character Orwell--an expose blogger--fills in the sidekick/partner role and updates the superhero mythos for the computer age. But judging by the toys we see her and Chess use, I'm guessing she will have ties to the villain. If it's not the revenge for wrongs done archetype, I think it will be a Spoiler background for her.

Building a BatCave on a budget was a hoot, as well as Vince's attempt to build a Zogger. He has established it far from his allies, so I hope he remembers that as he improves his Zogger.

And let's give the creators a hand for tying in real life concerns: the privatization of prison systems and military operations. The Cape starts in with the privatization of the police force and the second hour centers around stopping the company ARC from doing the same to the prison system of Palm City. But I thought it was handled without preaching.

Since they went there already, I'm curious if they will work in copycat media. The Cape is a comic book character first that Vince read with his son. He copies the outfit and adopts the name as a way to have a relationship with his son (and how long before his wife finds out that her traumatized son hasn't made a new imaginary friend?). I can't help wondering what the creator of the comic book would say about that in their universe? I'm crossing my fingers that it won't be up to me to explore it in a fanfic.

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The BookWorm

Friday

2011-01-07T07:51:00.004-06:00

My baby sister is coming in for a visit, my nephew will just die (his words) if he doesn't get to play Monopoly again, I still have a long list of computer-Internet stuff to do, and I've fallen behind on writing.

Busy weekend for me.

Add to that, Mom is getting twitchy that I haven't announced that I have a second work-from-home job yet. Given that I couldn't apply until Wednesday and then I needed to get the updates, back-ups, and missing programs squared away; I think she's jumping the gun a bit.

Computer plans in no particular order:

Set up Thunderbird for all the email accounts I have all over the place. -- I haven't used it before, but I wasn't happy with how Outlook Express handled the email from the websites so much so that I quit checking them.
Clean out bookmarks and Xmarks -- Simply I have put this off too long
Make sure Quicken will talk to my bank again or at least accept downloaded files.
Check that I have everything for Convergys and reapply
Expanded the restored files from Mozy.com and archive
Make sure home server works
Plan out website updates.

Writing: I have a few paragraphs jotted down, but haven't been making my typing time a priority. I also haven't figured out what to write for the Triangulation submission. I should concentrate on that in between computer issues and lawsuits while at the paying job. :p

Yeah, that was a load od not fun earlier this week. For half of last year, we've been working on the lawsuit data entry thinking it would go away in January. Turns out the bill signed says we quit doing them January 1, 2012! So in turn we have to get bitchy with the program builders. Because if we have to use what they cobbled together to get us functional without some improvement, we're all going to go bald pulling our hair out.

That's pretty much it on my end. Later, gators.

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The BookWorm

I'M FINALLY BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-01-05T20:47:00.001-06:00

Working home Internet again! Now I still have to get all my updates and reinstall programs I use before bedtime. But I'm back! *Snoopy dance*

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The BookWorm

I really hate to start a new year this way

2011-01-04T07:44:00.002-06:00

I still have no Internet at home. And I'm so ready to reach out and strangle someone over it. It's supposed to be on by Thursday according to the last customer support person I talked to. What kills me is that I was not told what to do when I called Monday morning!

Now I need to go do something else that will calm my blood pressure down.

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The BookWorm

READ IT!

2010-12-29T13:02:00.000-06:00

It's the Muppet Doctor Who Special, With Our Very Special Guest Star, Matt Smith! This story combines everything we love about Doctor Who with the insanity of the Muppet Show.

Can't recommend it enough; I'm still giggling. :D READ IT!

I have computer!

2010-12-23T08:08:00.002-06:00

The nice shiny Dell Inspiron 570 showed up yesterday and installed easily. But I still don't have home Internet because I have to pay the phone bill. *headdesk* Next paycheck I swear.

So far the only complaint I have is the same one I had while trying to order it: not enough USB ports. It comes with six, but two are gone right out of the box if you want to use a keyboard and mouse. I added a USB hub with four more and now have three unplugged peripherals for the one remaining port. :p So when I stop in Target to pick up my contacts after work, I'll have to see if they carry reasonably-priced USB hubs.

I have to reinstall my programs and get used to Windows 7. So far all I've really done is played a few hands of Spider Solitaire and decided I really don't like how it keeps informing of an illegal move with a pop-up box. I need to find a way to shut that off.

I hope everybody has a great Christmas/Yule holiday and hopefully I'll get to check in again before Dec. 28th.

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The BookWorm

2011 Goals

2010-12-22T15:38:00.015-06:00

Two days on schedule is too soon to say it has sunk in. Since I promptly broke my track record today, I think I've proved that point. Still I got fifteen minutes of writing in yesterday morning for the first time in weeks. So something is working.

Fun exercise: After so badly missing the mark on 365,000 fiction words written in 2010 and then seeing a remark on how you don't write well until you have written over a million words, I got curious over what my lifetime total is. So I made a spreadsheet of all the totals I could easily get. 85 finished stories, but I was able to get totals on all but five for a grand total of 1,067,144 words. Best year was 2009 in which I wrote my second longest novel, finished what I wrote the year before for NaNo, and two short stories sprinkled in. I didn't finish any fiction in 2007, but a look at DUF shows I was busy with writing and the Educator's Guide. But most obvious is that 365,000 words was a huge jump that I wasn't ready for. My yearly average computes to be 46,398 words. Oh and I discovered that I had made this great detail sheet to record things like date I finished and word counts when I finished a story and stopped using it a decade ago. Oops.

I'm supposed to be working on my goals for 2011. So now I'm wondering why I'm trying so hard to distract myself from the making the vague concrete? Well, my monkey brain hates when I want to change things for the better. The biggest change I want to implement is to use SMART technique so instead of wondering what I meant by "get serious about paying off debt," I have a plan.

What do I want to accomplish in 2011?

Show progress on paying off debt load
Take health seriously
Write 182,500 fictional words
Submit enough stories to get rid of the anxiety over it.
Remodel house.

Lovely and vague, that's where my brain goes first. Now to bread each of those with SMART so I have action steps to take.

Show progress on paying off debt load

Specific: Follow budget every month
Measurable: Update Quicken every day
Action-oriented: Find a part-time job to increase income.
- Bring all bills current by Jan. 28, 2011
- Put the budgeted amount into savings out of the first check every month. If there is overdrawn issues to pay for, it comes out of what should be saved.
Realistic: Pay off what I owe Mom, Dad, and Republic Finance using the debt snowball method by Dec. 31, 2011.
Trackable/Time-based: Update my NetWorthIQ badge and show the progress

Save $1000 emergency fund by March 25, 2011.

Take health seriously

Specific: Follow Primal guidelines on food and exercise
Measurable: Weigh every morning
- Take body measurements once-a-week
Action-oriented: Exercise every day. Use outside play with Atticus
Realistic: Lose 4 pounds by next check-up with Dr. Miller
Trackable/Time-based: Keep a food diary and measurements at FitDay.com
- Fill out the workout log book every day I exercise and show progress at Joe's Goals

Write 182,500 fictional words between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2011

Specific: Write at least 500 words every day
Measurable: Post the weekly total every Saturday at DUF using the Writertopia progress bar
- Keep track of daily progress with a marathon spreadsheet
Action-oriented: Finish Stellar Gift of Death by March 20, 2011
- Finish a 5000-word short story for Triangulation submission by March 31, 2011
- Finish steampunk mystery
- Finish another story in the Piper of Shadows universe
- Finish the "Blue Man on the Porch"
Realistic: Finish four original stories before any fanfiction
Trackable/Time-based: Each story has a marathon tracker of its own, and metrics are posted daily at DUF

Submit enough stories to get rid of the anxiety over it

Specific: Submit to six markets by Dec. 31, 2011
Measurable: Find a tracking method that I can update without fuss.
Action-oriented: Look for 12 markets
Realistic: Send out at least one story in February, April, June, August, October, and December
- Have conversations with the Fear Monger; it helps
Trackable/Time-based: Honestly note the anxiety over each submission on tracking method

Remodel house (Good Lord and Lady, can I get any more amorphous that that?)

Specific:Replace roof and exterior walls of back half of house to have a level ceiling.
- Demolish sheet-rock walls in bathroom and rebuild one between hall and bathroom with a pocket door. Put new sink in a new spot. Repair floor. Buy cabinets and shelves for storage. Move hot water heater to another location.
- Enlarge kitchen to add more storage and eating area
- Enlarge back bedroom or add more rooms to separate functions: exercise, sewing, storage, guest room
- Build an office desk from cabinets to function as a built-in
- LaGrange Consulting audit to make house energy efficient and switch over to cenralized AC and heat

Excuse me for a moment.

HOLY FUCKING HELL! There is no way to do ANY of that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I need a new roof. The current roof is probably over twenty years old and we've tried every sealant product to stop the leaks to no avail. But what happens is I replace the roof and then reconfigure the back half of the house next year? New roof again? I haven't even figured out how I want to do the extensions! And I want a profession to go over those plans once I decided! Can I put the roof over and just not demo? ARGH!!!!!!

Okay, I think I'm better now. Remodeling is a project this is so not ready for prime time. Consider it tabled until after I have paid off Republic Finance.

Now I made this list pretty for the sidebar. Eight days before the end of the year to practice these goals.

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The BookWorm