I Love The Girl...

We just finished watching the original (Swedish) version of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, which is the 3rd in the trilogy that started with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and continued with The Girl Who Played With Fire.  I loved all three of them, although the first is still my favourite, thanks to the mystery angle that's such a big part of it.  I also greatly enjoyed seeing Prometheus's Noomi Rapace in all three films, as I think she's a wonderful, unconventional actress.  I'll watch the American versions, I'm sure, but I suspect it's going to be hard to match the gritty realism of the originals and the fine, low-key quality of the acting.  Highly recommended to anyone willing to read sub-titles in pursuit of being thoroughly entertained.

Another Year Ends, 2012 Edition

In just a few hours (in this part of the world, anyway), 2012 will become history instead of an exciting glimpse into our possible future, as it was when I was a kid.  Canadians will remember it as a year that had no NHL hockey to watch after early June, or possibly as the year the Blue Jays got serious about making the postseason again.

For me, personally, 2012 was a good year.  I finished and published my 2nd novel, and got about halfway through my 3rd.  Just for good measure, when Julie was over last night, she and I spent an hour or so somewhere between midnight and 3:00 a.m. discussing a new story idea I've had recently, and in the process plotted out a fairly significant portion of a 4th novel.  She liked it so much that she said, "I know you're going to hate what I'm about to say, but I almost wish you'd start writing this one instead of finishing that one!"  I didn't actually hate that comment, but I also have no plans of abandoning the current work.  Instead, I'm excited at the thought of having another story already in-hand, something that wasn't true after either Game Over or No Brother of Mine.  It's a very nice position to be in, indeed.

Vicki and I had a great year together, traveling to Orlando with one set of family members and to Las Vegas with another.  And of course in just a few weeks, we'll be "on the road" again, off to see Tammy and her boyfriend Ryan in Australia.  That's a lot of travel for me in a 9- or 10-month stretch, but I'll probably survive it somehow.  And the time with family has been greatly appreciated.

We added Jonesy to our family in 2012, and I can't adequately express how much joy he's brought to my life.  As Vicki would say, he's so my cat!  He spends as much time as he can manage on my lap, and is rarely very far from me the rest of the time.  I find it hard to believe that we've only had him 6 and a half months, as it now feels like he's always been here.

2012 was also all about welcoming great-niece Emma into our home, as she started her university career with us.  We haven't seen her in a couple of weeks now, but she'll be back in 6 short days, and we can hardly wait.  Jonesy's especially counting the hours until he can resume his campaign of terror against her, which we all know is really a budding romance between the two of them.

Anyway, it's almost time for Vicki and I to settle in to watch a movie or two and ring out the old year in our typical fashion.  I hope everyone reading this has a lovely evening and a thoroughly satisfying 2013.

Counting Down To 100: 6 To Go

Thanks to a Kindle purchase of No Brother of Mine almost 2 weeks ago and today's sale of a paper copy to a neighbour, we're run the NBoM tally up to 94 copies!  I'm still cautiously optimistic that we'll hit 100 before we leave on our Australian trip late next month, but it's definitely going to be a challenge.  I delivered 35 flyers within another part of our neighbourhood yesterday morning, although today's sale came from a batch Vicki and I had distributed more than a week earlier.  In other words, I'm trying!  Just half a dozen more sales to go for this big milestone achievement.

Speaking of No Brother of Mine, a few days I received the following comments from an Ottawa-based relative of mine:

"Loved your book - though I spent the first few chapters trying, in vain, to find tight parallels with real family history. Once I started treating it as just a good story, it got better and better!"

The Amazing, Secret Legacy Of TV's Quincy & Oscar Madison

Actor Jack Klugman, best known (depending on your age) as either Oscar Madison on the TV version of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple or Dr. Quincy on the Quincy, M.E. (Medical Examiner) show, died recently at the ripe old age of 90.  He had a fine acting career over several decades of his life, but as The Washington Post reported recently, his contribution to the advancement of medical science was much more significant.  When I saw the WaPo headline, I assumed that Quincy, M.E. had sparked an earlier version of the CSI-phenomenon, increasing the general public's interest in the field of forensics.  But no, this was even bigger than that.  Go read and you'll see what I mean!

I'd never heard this particular story before, although I probably watched the Quincy, M.E. episodes in question and was just too young to be aware of the larger context surrounding them.

On Robots And Robber Barons

Here's a a great op-ed piece on what's happening to the wages of the various work forces these days, by Paul Krugman. For those friends of mine in the high tech industry, you may find it particularly interesting, since it sounds like our wages are being suppressed just as effectively as those of so-called blue-collar workers who didn't spend all that time in university earning fancy degrees.

Our Christmas Without Gifts? Just Lovely!

Vicki and I had a great Christmas today, giftless as it was (by my choice).  We watched a Bond movie (Tomorrow Never Dies) because Showcase was running a Pierce Brosnan-as-007 marathon, went for a walk after dark to see the neighbourhood lights, and are about to try out the new Ratchet & Clank game that we've been saving for today.  I don't think we missed the gift exchange at all, and I know I didn't miss the stress related to buying all that stuff leading up to today.  Julie did break the embargo slightly, however, as she dropped by this afternoon to deliver some sweet treats and a personalized tree ornament that sums up the highlights of 2012 such as "Fun in Vegas", "Roadtrip to Florida", "Walks with Cooper", "Emma", "Missing Tammy" and "No Brother of Mine" very nicely.  She's pretty clever at thinking up novel and personalized presents, even if she's not all that good at playing by the rules!

Anyway, I think next year we'll go back to normal, especially if Tammy's back and comes for a Christmas visit.  Skipping a year will just make us appreciate that event all the more, I suspect.

A Good Year For Football Playoffs

How do I know, when the playoffs are still 2 weeks away from even starting?

That's easy... today the Bengals beat the Steelers on a last second field goal and eliminated Pittsburgh from any chance at making the postseason! 

The 6 AFC teams are now set: New England, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Houston, Indy and Denver.  The NFC is a lot less settled, with only 3 of the 6 entrants decided (Green Bay, Atlanta and San Fran).  I can't believe the Saints didn't do better this season and will be sitting out the playoffs, but I guess that's the thing with there being only 16 games to play: anything can happen.

I'm already pumped for the 11 matches that will decide this year's champions.

Breaking News: World Doesn't End!

It's already December 22nd in parts of the world - including where Tammy is - and civilization continues to exist, unfazed by the so-called 'Mayan catastrophe.'  People will go on killing each other, both quickly with guns and slowly with greenhouse gases, and we'll eventually probably go extinct.  But not this week, at least.

Car Horn For Bicycles

I've railed before about the way some car owners abuse their vehicle's horn by pressing their door lock button repeatedly until the horn honks... because, you know, that's easier than just pressing it once and not bothering everyone around you!

Well, maybe I'll soon be able to get a car horn for my bike that will allow me to use that device for the sole purpose it was intended - to prevent accidents and near-misses from happening!  And if I do put one on my bicycle, I promise not to use it to say "Bye" to people standing on their front porch waving at me as I'm leaving or to assure myself that I've locked up my bike as I walk away from it.  Because I actually try to avoid bothering other people.

End Of An Era

After spending something like 10 hours today trying to get my Java database applications (Comic Catalogue and Meal Planner) working on my recently-wiped laptop, I think I'm giving up.  I remember it being a huge hassle setting up when I got this laptop last year but this tops even that experience.  It's always challenging, as Windows 7 functions differently than Vista, which was different than XP, and so on back through Time.  Today, however, I ran into brand new problems that I suspect are related to changes to MySQL since I last downloaded it.  First, it required that .NET 4.0 be installed on my machine, which I almost couldn't believe when I saw the error message.  After biting the bullet on that, Windows Live Connection started failing on my laptop, affecting both my Windows Live Mail app and my access to Live Messenger.  While I was dealing with that, I noticed that my Comic D/B app was exhibiting problems such as none of the comic titles having any issues in them!  When I looked into it, I saw that there seems to be a difference in how this version of MySQL handles numeric data from past releases.  At that point I realized I'd have to go into the code and change a whole lot of queries to get them to work... and the life just went out of this project for me.

I've had my comic collection catalogued - first on paper, then on a D/B - since I was about 10 or 11 years old.  As of today, it looks like I'm ending that practice.  Every time I get a new laptop or have one break and need to be re-imaged, the thing I dread most is having to get the Java D/B apps to run again.  I've made notes on it each time, but they're always woefully out of date by the time I use them again thanks to so many environmental changes in the software that I rely on.  So I'm just not going to play that game anymore.  I figure this is probably a major step in me abandoning Windows entirely, and moving to either a Mac or iPad.  Microsoft simply makes their world too complicated to live in, and so I don't think I will, for much longer.

Of course, this means I'll no longer be able to tell you exactly how many comics I own, but I think I can live with that more easily than the alternative.  And Vicki had stopped using the Meal Planner several months ago, so that's not a huge loss.  Still... it makes me a little sad, and feel a little old.

Counting Down To 100: 8 To Go

With another neighbour purchasing a copy of No Brother of Mine this morning after receiving my flyer, the total number of sales on that book has now hit 92.  We're so close to 100 at this point that I figure it's time for a countdown.  I'd love to reach the century mark before the end of the year, but that's probably a stretch.  Instead, I'm setting myself the goal of getting there before we leave for our Australia trip in late January.  Even that's asking a lot, but hey, if you don't aim high, you'll never know what you could've accomplished!

Of course, if you're still looking for the perfect Christmas gift for that hard-to-buy-for friend or family member, you could solve that problem of yours with a mere $20 and an e-mail to me!  I keep getting great feedback from everyone who's read No Brother of Mine, to the point where people are starting to ask what other books I've written because they want more of me to read... which definitely speaks volumes, if you ask me.

A Few Small Updates

1) My heel is, uh, healing quite nicely!  It's all scabbed over and generally doesn't hurt unless I try to do too much in a shoe without a bandage over the affected area.  I expect it'll be 100% in another week-ish.  I may try a walk with Julie before then, her schedule permitting, but it won't be of the superlong variety like the one on which the injury happened.

2) My cough hasn't entirely gone away, but it's much, much, much better than it was during our trip to Vegas.  I did both yoga classes this week as well as cycling class, and none of those had been possible over the preceding month.  I'd sure like to see a full return to health soon, but for now: I'll take this!

3) The broken laptop was only gone for part of 5 days (Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon and back on Tue), which seems more than reasonable to me.  They had to replace the hard drive and various other parts related to heat-control, and so I've had to restore all personal files from backups (which, thankfully, were being done daily) and reinstall all of the software for Office, our camera, Java, etc.  That's still continuing, although I've been up and operating quite well since sometime this afternoon.

4) I'm now working on Chapter 6 of the new novel, and it's going swimmingly so far.  I'm about 5 or 6 pages in and enjoying it immensely.  Chapters 5 and 6 are really fun, and I imagine some of you will quite like them when you get a chance to read them next spring.

5) Tomorrow is Tammy's 26th birthday, although technically it's already past her birthday as far as she's concerned, since Melbourne is something like 16 hours ahead of us.  It's hard to take in that she's that old, but I guess the calendar doesn't lie. 

6) Emma leaves on Sunday for 3 weeks at her other home, and we don't plan to miss her at all.  So there.

7) There is no 7th item.

Happy 12-12-12!

Today (as of a few minutes ago) marks the last time most of us will ever see a date where the 2-digit day, month and year are all the same.  We've had a dozen of them over the past 12 years, starting with 01-01-01 in 2001 and ending now.  So live it up, and if you were born on Dec 12, 2000 that means that you're turning 12 today, on 12-12-12... so you get to celebrate extra hard this year!

Hunkered Down In Basement

No, the supposed Mayan apocalypse hasn't come a week and a half early (by the way: there's no such thing)... I've just had a laptop give up the ghost on me (again) and have to rely on my basement PC for my access.  This meltdown is covered under an extended warranty, though, which means I just have to wait for it to be fixed, shipped back to me, and then reload all of the software that I'm sure will be missing after they wipe my hard drive.  I've got a much better automated backup system in place now, between my laptop and Vicki's, than I had for the last laptoptastrophe, and so I don't think I'll have lost much, if any, data this time around.

Anyway, expect even lower than usual blogging output for the next week or so.

My Latest Affliction

Yesterday, I let Julie lead me on the longest walk I've done since I've been sick. I asked her to walk a little more slowly than we usually do, and she did; I asked for a few rests along the way, and she graciously complied. The whole time, I was worried that I'd overdo it and start coughing or just plain pass out, but neither happened.

Instead, as we were on the final leg of our journey, I noticed that my right heel was sore. It kept getting worse, and for the last half km or so, it was all I could do to limp back to Julie's house. When we got inside, I took off my sock and saw that something in my right boot had caused a blister on the heel, covering an area larger than a toonie! The skin came completely off as soon as I touched it, leaving the skin raw and exposed. (There's a small piece of material missing from the inside heel of the boot, apparently, which is what caused the irritation. Time for a new pair of boots, I guess!)

Here's what we're talking about:

When I got home, Drs Vicki & Emma put ointment and a bandage over the affected area and after a few hours it stopped hurting.  It was tough to find a position to sleep in that didn't sting, but I must've eventually.

This morning I thought I'd go to yoga class, only to discover that putting a shoe on, even over the bandage and a sock, caused so much pain that I couldn't take more than a few steps before it was too much for me. Looks like I've traded in one ailment for another, which impresses me not at all. I've now missed more than 3 weeks of yoga and cycling classes, and am getting fed up... and very out-of-shape!

Public Shaming Works

About an hour ago, I finished Chapter 5 of the new novel.  I'd started it before Vegas, worked on it quite a lot yesterday, and so it only required another couple of hours today to wrap it up.

It was an interesting chapter for me, because I thought I knew where it was going before I began writing it, and then it went somewhere else entirely.  I'm still trying to decide if I'm 100% happy with the new direction, but for now it's good.

One other thing distinguishes this part of the book from the rest, and that's the fact that I decided to build a subtle little trick into it that I'm fairly confident no one will ever spot and appreciate.  I'll eventually have to tell someone, I suppose, just to get a reaction for it.

Anyway, 5 chapters are in the bag now, and I expect there are about twice that many still to go.

Public Shaming Time

I'd gotten back on a good roll with novel # 3 before the Las Vegas trip, but I haven't written a word since.  We've been back 2 weeks now, so I think that's about enough of that.  I need to set a longer term goal soon, but for now I'm putting on the record that I'll get Chapter 5 done this weekend.

There.  I've said it in public.  Now I have to do it, right?

The Latest In The Medical Saga

My current illness, which has lasted, in various forms, about a month and a half now, just keeps on hanging in there.  I went to the doctor today - my 4th visit over the past 6 weeks - and she confirmed that my ear infection has mostly cleared up.  However, I'm still coughing a fair bit and am exhausted after even a 1 or 2 km walk, as I discovered earlier this week when I walked to the mall and back.  By this point even Julie's beginning to express frustration that I'm not available to her as a walking partner, and she's pretty understanding about such things!

So the doctor gave me a prescription for an inhaler to use whenever the coughing's bad.  It's supposed to help clear up the airways somewhat.  We'll see how that goes.  She also instructed me to use a Netti pot, which I only know about because Emma had to buy and use one a couple months ago to address a bad sinus headache she was getting.  I tried it for the first time tonight, and it's very strange: you basically pour warm salt water up one nostril in the hopes that it'll come out the other... yeah!  I had a lot of trouble getting the water to do that, which probably means my sinus passages are, indeed, plugged up.  By the end of my first attempt, though, I was getting a little bit of flow, and some disgusting mucus was coming out.  I apologize that I don't have photos to post of that - I know, what was I thinking? - but you'll just have to take my word for it.  I'm hopeful that tomorrow's ritual will go better, and that eventually I'll be rewarded with some free-flowing movement.  The doctor seemed firmly convinced that this is what's going to take care of the post-viral issues I'm having, so I'm certainly willing to give it the ol' college try.

This is definitely the longest I've ever been sick, and I'm really, really ready for it to be over.

Mitt Romney's 47%

Yesssssss.  That feels good.

A Harrowing Look Inside The Music Streaming Business

I'm always interested in articles that shed light on how various entertainment industries work.  As a writer now, I'm particularly drawn to anything related to publishing, as I find myself dipping my toes into that tepid bath.

And then there's the music industry, which I get a great deal of enjoyment from, while lacking any direct involvement in.  I've got a copy of David Byrne's How Music Works, for example, and look forward to reading it as soon as I get through some of my current pile.  In the meantime, though, there's this Pitchfork article about music streaming services Pandora and Spotify.  The revenue numbers provided in it are horrifying to anyone who imagines musicians actually making a living from their work.  As the author notes, those services appear to exist solely to make money for their investors and provide their users with easy access to music.  That's all well and good, but what of the artists providing the actual goods in question?  I get so irate these days when I think of people enjoying the fruits of others' labours while the labourers get next to nothing (or, in the case of actual pirating, nothing).  Maybe we're simply approaching a point in history where art really won't be considered to have any intrinsic commercial value, but all that can possibly do is discourage most people from making it.  The only ones who'll bother, I suppose, will be those who don't need to be paid for their efforts.  Mitt Romney's Greatest Hits can't be far off, I guess!

When I read articles of this sort, I think: just keep publishing my books, selling them one copy at a time, and count myself lucky I can even make that much money.  It's sad, really.

Just One More Reason I'm Thankful I Don't Live In Kentucky

Not that I needed any, but this would certainly do it! In case there was any doubt as to just how backwoods that state continues to be, well into the 21st century, they've got a law requiring the acknowledgement of Almighty God as the only thing keeping them safe.

Future Post-Apocalyptic Historians Take Note

Apparently, in my original Vegas write-up I inadvertantly attributed a couple of photos to the Venetian hotel complex when in fact they were actually taken inside the Wynn (or Wyrm, as Meena calls it).  Those would be the shots of the waterfalls and colourful indoor display.

I wouldn't want anyone responsible for the virtual reconstruction of the early 21st century, (aka "before the Fall"), with only my blog to go by, to get that wrong.

And here are a few more Vegas photos, as a reward for reading this far, locations unknown:

and our wine-and-smoothie treats

 not to mention my brother getting grabby with Meena

Black Ops II Progress Report

For the fearless few who care, I'm now through Day 4 of Call of Duty: Black Ops II online play, and it's been the usual bout of obsessive playing, as Emma and Vicki can attest to.  I've logged somewhere around 12 or 13 hours, I think, which really isn't all that much when you consider that 4 days have almost 100 hours in them!

Last weekend was a Double XP Weekend for those of us who bought the Nuketown 2025 map (it just came with my pre-order, but yay!).  That meant I could level up twice as fast as normal, and I did: going from nothing to level 43 (Brigadier General, I believe) over that span.  I started off well, then tanked as is more usual for me on new maps.  My kill-to-death (KTD) dropped briefly below 1.0 on Friday, and then bounced back up after I unlocked and started using the Target Finder attachment for the default assault rifle (MTAR).  That addition improved my skill considerably, and I started kicking some serious butt.  The Target Finder helps you spot enemies more clearly - always a problem for me, as the allies and enemies never seem to look any different to me - and gives you better feedback as to whether or not you're aiming at your target or not. 

My real goal for the weekend, though, was to get to level 40, as that's where the SCAR-H assault rifle is unlocked.  For the past several Call of Duty games, the SCAR-H has been my go-to gun, and I eagerly awaited trying it out in this version.  I got there last night, and was rewarded with a familiar feeling piece of weaponry.  However, I had to then unlock its attachments, just as I'd done with the MTAR earlier, and so it was only this afternoon that I got the Target Finder for it.  Since then, I've been on a big roll, pushing my KTD from around 1.20 to nearly 1.30, which is a higher standard than I've achieved with any consistency before.  I'm also learning the maps now, which allows me to run around them more confidently and pick better locations to reload or call in UAVs, for example.  I was planning to add the Extended Clip attachment, as I'm always running out of ammo, but just a few minutes ago I unlocked the Scavenger perk (which picks up ammo from dead bodies) and started using it.  I promptly went through a match only dying 3 times, and only had to worry about ammo once (after I'd stayed in the same high point for too long, with no dead bodies nearby).  It's a lot of fun figuring out the loadout in this game, as they've placed serious limitations on it, and it really is a zero sum game: after getting the essentials, you always have to give up something to get something new.

My next milestone will be level 53, at which point the Claymore finally becomes available to me.  I can barely wait, although I've been getting good use out of the Bouncing Betty that's kind of similar.

Loving the game so far, and haven't even tried the campaign or zombies mode yet.  That'll come later, when I burn out on the online play, as I'm sure I soon will.

A Few Vegas Photos

I should have mentioned in my original write-up that the entire Vegas trip was organized and booked by my brother, Rich, who even went so far as to print off our boarding passes (leaving and returning) after telling us just to show up with our passports and baggage.  I'm used to Vicki taking care of all those sorts of details when we travel, and therefore I think she found it particularly enjoyable to be able to just sit back and have everything done for us.  He did a great job of it, too: it all came off without a hitch, from the flights and hotel rooms to the rental car and Cirque du Soleil tickets.  He should really consider a new career as a travel agent!

While we didn't take a lot of photos on our trip, we did manage to snap a few.  Prepare yourself for a brief tour of Sin City, led by someone who barely remembers any of what happened there...

Here's our rather huge room at the Palazzo, which is 'attached' to the Venetian (for those who thought I was making that pilates-like name up):  

Here we are standing outside the waterfalls at... I'm guessing... the Venetian?  My already poor sense of direction was even weaker than usual because of how sick I was:

Vicki and Meena fit right into the beautiful display that was up somewhere in our dual hotel complex:

One topic was never far from my mind, no matter how many miles we travelled:

 
On our second last night, if memory serves me, we walked to the Bellagio fountain show:

which held our rapt attention:

And on our final full day, Rich and I hit the comic stores:

And then it was time to head home and be greeted by Emma and her neglected roommate:

Now I just need to get rid of this viral infection that's plagued me for a month, and life will be good again!

On Vegas, Near-Death Experiences And Video Games

Vicki and I got home last night after a six-day trip to Las Vegas with my brother, Richard, and his wife, Meena.  I had a lot of anxiety about the trip, for months beforehand, because I travel so poorly and wasn't relishing the idea of inflicting that reality upon my brother and sister-in-law.  Little did I know that I'd not only be sick for the trip, but would actually get sicker as the vacation went on!  And yet that's exactly what happened.

I'd gone to the doctor with a persistent sore throat about 3 weeks before our departure date, and was given a prescription for a nasal spray to address my diagnosed "post-nasal drip."  About 10 days later, my throat was somewhat better but my chest was now congested and I was coughing extensively, so back to the doctor I went.  That particular visit netted me nothing but assurances that it should pass on its own and a suggestion to use cough suppressants and Tylenol in the meantime.  As it proceeded to not get better, my concerns about the trip to Vegas continued to grow.

I actually considered cancelling out and just sending Vicki without me, but she seemed to really want me along, coughing or otherwise.  I tried to prepare the other two travelers for what they had awaiting them, but I don't think I did it justice.  Within a scant few hours of getting together last Friday evening, though, I'm guessing they got the idea.  I've never coughed so much, or with as much obvious distress, as I have for the past week.

Vicki had a great time, however.  She partook in the three main activities of Vegas: gambling, shopping and eating.  I tagged along, as best I could, but sometimes had to bow out just to give the rest of them a break from my hacking.  We did take in a Cirque du Soleil show that was amazing - "Love", featuring Beatles music - and I kept it together for most of that, except whenever the dry ice would hit me.  Other than that, the cigarette smoke in the casino made it particularly hard to breathe, and I was brutally ashamed of how little walking I could do before being exhausted, but somehow I survived.  I expected to drop dead at any given moment.

On the flight home yesterday, my left ear wouldn't pop when the plane descended toward Detroit, and I was completely deaf in that ear for the next several hours.  This morning, I booked my third trip in a month to the doctor, and Vicki accompanied me this time.  Looking into my left ear, the doctor said, "That doesn't look good at all."  Apparently I now have an ear infection - maybe always did, although she looked in that same ear two weeks ago and didn't see anything - and am on amoxicillin.  I also had chest x-rays done, which I'm told came back clean.  I'm still confused as to how the ear infection could be causing all the trouble I've had for the past month, but on the other hand maybe the amoxicillin will just wipe out all vestiges of the virus.  I can only hope!

When we got home last night, Emma was excited and relieved to see us after the better part of a week by herself.  I took that to mean that she'd missed us, just as we'd certainly missed her.  She had a million things to tell us, and stayed up late to bring us up to date on everything.  This morning when she left for school, I think she was on the verge of tears at the thought of leaving us for the weekend.  But she'll be back Sunday night and then the three of us should have lots of quality time together between now and the Christmas break.

While Vicki did most of the shopping in Vegas, I did manage to come home with something I'm quite excited about.  Rich and I spent Wednesday afternoon going to comic stores.  Before you jump to any conclusions... that was his idea!  Seriously.  And he wouldn't even hear of skipping the final store we'd scouted out, as he told me, "No, I was promised three comic stores, and three comic stores is what I expect to see."  At the second store, Alternate Reality Comics, I saw a great display of original artwork on the wall and got talking to the owner about it.  He has an impressive collection of the stuff, including some pieces I'd love to own, but it was his jaw that dropped when I casually mentioned my Watchmen page.  It was clear that getting one of the extremely rare Moore/Gibbons pages from that seminal series was something he'd always aspired to, but hadn't managed.  Unfortunately, none of his artwork on the wall was for sale, but I did spot an item I've only ever heard of, but not seen: the 17" x 13" hardcover Original Art Edition of Alien: The Illustrated Story by Archie Goodwin & Walt Simonson.  It's a massive art book featuring a comic book adaptation of Alien along with lots of other goodies related to the film.  Since I was missing Jonesy, big-time, I figured getting something that's sure to include his namesake was a good idea.  It should make an excellent addition to my Alien collection.

Emma had kindly brought in the special package that I'd pre-ordered months ago, which had arrived on Wednesday while we were away: Call of Duty Black Ops II.  I was thrilled to see it, but also frustrated that I felt too sick to even try it out last night.  Instead, it had to wait until this afternoon to be unwrapped.  I've now played 3 or 4 online Team Deathmatches, and surprisingly have an early kill-to-death ratio of 1.82:1.  Usually I start off terribly, amassing a KTD well below 1.00 at the beginning, and have to struggle to bring it up to respectability.  Somehow this time I've gotten lucky and been put in games with total noobs, resulting in the impressive early stats.  I'm not going to complain, as I definitely needed a pick-me-up.  But I also don't expect it to continue.

My other near-death experience involves my laptop.  It decided to encounter serious hardware problems of some sort literally an hour before we left for our vacation a week ago.  Vicki and I had to scrap the plan to take my laptop, and took hers instead.  She was nice enough to let me use it extensively during the time away, which provided a much-needed balm for my sick self.  However, I spent considerable amounts of time worrying about having to deal with my computer when we got back home, and was quite depressed and stressed about it.  When we arrived last night, I powered it up just so I could see what error message it was giving, and lo and behold! it came up fine.  I don't know what the problem was last week, as I didn't have any time then to look into it, or if it's likely to reoccur anytime soon.  But at the moment it's working fine once again.  Strangely miraculous, that.

And that's the past week, in as much detail as I can manage in my weakened state.

More On Denialism

Paul Krugman has a great article on how far down the rabbit hole the Republicans willingly and willfully fell in the run-up to this year's election, as well as a look back at some of the same behaviour during the Bush Jr era.  I love the way they actually felt empowered by 'unskewing' the polling data until that it became supportive of their unrealistic views.  Usually that sort of thing has caused enormous problems for the rest of us - see the economic disaster under Bush, as well as the ongoing climate change denialism - but in this case, it actually did a lot of good.  It kept them out of power for another 4 years and gave Obama another shot at fixing things.  That's a tall order, I know... but it still beats the alternative!

Life In The Parallel Universe

It's seemed for a while now that some of the Conservatives in the U.S. live in a parallel universe with some significant differences from our own.  You know the universe I'm talking about: where climate change is a hoax, the planet is only a few thousand years old, lowering taxes on the rich magically improves the situations of everyone, and evolution's still - at best - a crazy theory that could never be proved.

Well, in the aftermath of this week's election results, we can add another line item to that list of differences: the reliability of polls in predicting outcomes, and by extension, how math works.  Romney was apparently shocked by what happened as the election returns came in.  Why, when it had been so clearly forecast by a multitude of polling-aggregators?  Well, as an article at Huffington Post puts it:

'[T]he campaign was unprepared for this in part because it had ignored polling that showed the races favoring Obama. Instead, it turned to its own internal "unskewed" polls, which it believed more accurately reflected the situation on the ground. They didn't.'

That's what life must be increasingly like for those folks.  They know, to their very core, all kinds of things that just keep turning out not to be true.  That's pretty rough, but I find it hard to feel sorry for them.

A Great Day For America And The World

Yesterday's U.S. election went as well as any left-leaning observer could've reasonably expected.  And it went just about exactly the way Nate Silver, at FiveThirtyEight predicted it would, based on his aggregation of thousands of polls.  If Florida goes to Obama, as it looks like it will, then Silver will have gotten all 50 states right, as well as most of the Senate races.  And yes, Elizabeth Warren, one of my favourite voices on economics, will be sworn into the U.S. Senate in January!

Now that it's over, here are a few reflections and observations on what it all means:

• Nate Silver FTW!  It's fun to watch the same Conservative attack dogs who, just a few days ago were claiming that Silver's results were "skewed" by his liberal bias, suddenly declaring that "he just averaged the poll data; he didn't do anything special."  That's right, you dummies: he didn't do anything special, and yet it was still more than you could manage!  Makes one wonder what value any of you have, doesn't it?
• So yeah, the rampant denialism about what the polls were saying about the election, among Conservatives especially, was soundly and dramatically thrashed.  What are the chances that those folks will learn anything useful from that experience, such as what that might say about their similar attitudes toward climate change and evolution?  (Slim to nil, is my guess.)
• In my mind, the single most important outcome of last night's events is that Obamacare will survive long enough for the American people to get used to it.  Yes, there are going to be problems with it, and likely some will hate it.  But what won't happen, that's been occuring with shocking regularity over the past couple decades, is families won't be going bankrupt when someone gets sick any longer.  And people won't decide against visiting a doctor about a condition out of fear of not being able to afford it.  I personally believe that, once they get a taste of this - a watered down version of what the rest of the industrialized world takes for granted - there'll be no chance of ever getting rid of it.  Welcome to the second half of the 20th century, America!
• Mitt Romney, the Etch-A-Sketch candidate, has finally been erased from the political landscape. He may enjoy firing people, but in this case he couldn't even land the job in the first place. Romney can now continue not caring about the 47% of Americans who he views as parasites, and in fact can just go back to focusing on the top 0.01% of income earners, which is where he does well.
• These results aren't going to make the country to our south any less divided, but that would've been true even if Romney/Ryan had won.  The growing diversity within the U.S. - blacks, latinos/latinas, gays - is something that those who fondly remember an America that never was just aren't going to accept.  It's possible, maybe even probable, that their children will, but that's at least another 10 years away.
• Having said that, the fact that several states legalized gay marriage last night is huge!  These are examples of a popular vote favouring it, rather than a judge or political figure.  That shows real progress, if you ask me.  But, of course, as someone tweeted overnight, the real progress comes once it's not called "gay marriage" any longer... but just "marriage."
• And did I mention that Elizabeth Warren will soon be a U.S. Senator?  I can't wait to see what effect she has on that stodgy out institution when she gets there.

Anyway, it was a truly exciting night. I coughed most of the way through it, unfortunately, but at least the good guys (and gals) won. And that lessened the pain considerably.

All Signs Look Positive

I'm not taking anything from granted, but I am encouraged to see that FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver now has President Obama's chances of getting re-elected tomorrow at 91.4%, which is certainly the highest it's ever been.  If accurate, that's an amazing example of peaking at the right time. It's the sort of thing that, in sports, usually results in championships (see: 2012 San Francisco Giants).

Considering all that's riding on tomorrow's outcome, I really hope Silver knows what he's talking about.

Weird

I always operated under the conviction, growing up, that Marvel Comics fastidiously avoided mentioning characters from their rival, DC Comics, even going so far as to refer to DC as "our Distinguished Competition" rather than by name.

And yet I just read a Marvel comic from 1979 (when I would've been all of 16 years of age) that included not one, not two, but three ads on which DC's Batman appeared!  Master of Fung Fu # 83, from December 1979, featured two Saturday morning cartoon advertisements, one for The SuperFriends on ABC and another for the Batman - Tarzan Hour on CBS, as well as a rubber mask promo that had Spidey, the Hulk, the Red Skull and Batman masks!  I guess I must've been skipping over those pages completely when I was a kid.  I wouldn't believe it now if I hadn't just seen it with my own two eyes! 

Speaking of eyes: I'm happy to report that this comic also had an ad for X-Ray specs, a longtime mainstay of comic book ad pages.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find one for Sea Monkeys (sorry, Meena!).

3rd Novel Progress Update

I think my Facebook post from this morning says it all:

My deadline for getting Chapter 4 of the new novel done? End of this week. 

Actual time when I got Chapter 4 complete? This past weekend! 

It's true: I don't just hit deadlines; I beat them senseless! ;-)

Good Brain Teaser

Courtesy of BoingBoing comes a nice little puzzle: 4 Men in Hats

I didn't figure it out, but I should have. I blame my illness!

That Obama, What A Job Killer!

Conservatives keep beating the same drum: President Obama has been bad for jobs! And yet the data shows:

Where the shrinking job market in the U.S. recently has been, of course, is in government positions. Forced by Republican obstruction in the House of Representatives and elsewhere, and fueled by an absolutely moronic misunderstanding of how austerity affects a recession where interest rates can't go down, millions of jobs within the eduction and public service sector have been slashed. So-called 'deficit hawks' insisted on those cuts with one breath, while demanding tax reductions for the wealthy in the next (so much for cutting the deficit!), and so the government rolls have shrunk significantly. Meanwhile, as the graphic above shows, the private sector's been pulled out of the death spiral George W. Bush put it into.

I can't remember seeing quite this level of dishonesty and dismissal of the facts among one of the parties since the Watergate days.

What I Love About Writing

Actually, I love lots of things about writing, but here's one in particular that I always comment to Vicki about when it happens (and now the poor woman has to read about it here, too):

I get a huge thrill when, as I'm thinking about some aspect of the current novel, I suddenly realize there's a perfect bridge between two disparate parts of the story.  It always hits me as such a revelation that I wonder if maybe, somehow, I'd always subconsciously planned for it to come together like that.  And then I recognize that that's bullshit and I just got lucky!

Had one of those tonight for novel # 3, and it's a beauty.  But if you ask me later, I'll always claim I planned it this way!

Halloween 2012 Comes And Ghosts

Vicki and I got in the Halloween mood tonight by watching the season premiere of The Walking Dead (recorded a couple weeks ago, but we're behind in our show-watching thanks to the baseball playoffs).  I think it was an excellent choice, as Vicki was visibly disgusted by one scene near the end.

As far as trick-or-treaters go, I had predicted 11 and Vicki had gone with 16.  She won, by a hair, because we got 14.  That's down a bit, but close to the usual fare:

2012: 14
2011: 15
2010: 18
2009: 19
2008: 19
2007: 18
2006: 12

Looking at those results, you might wonder why I went so low with my estimate this year (lower than we've gotten over the past 6 years).  Well, I figured the rain we were getting would keep the kids away.  And in fact, we only got 4 groups this year (2, 2, 8, 2), which I imagine is the smallest turnout in that sense.  But that one gaggle of 8 kids put us over, and so I came in low.

You Know I'm Sick When...

Today I had to reschedule my semi-annual Agile lecture at the university.  It was supposed to go tomorrow, but my sore throat of the past two weeks has morphed into a chest cold + coughing if I talk much.  So now I'm slotted in for next Thursday at my alma mater, and hopefully all will be well by then... especially since we leave for Vegas not long after that!

Right now, though, I continue to feel like crap.

New York City Under Water: A Glimpse Of Our Future

Scenes like this are going to become more and more common, as we continue to heat up the planet with all of our self-indulgent excesses.  So get used to it, people.

Chapter 3 Complete

So far, so good.  I worked away on the new book for the past 4 days (counting today), and Chapter 3 is now done.  It came together fairly quickly, no doubt because I'd been thinking about the story for those 2 months when I wasn't writing.

I'm hoping for similar success on the next chapter, which I intend to start and finish over the next week and a half.  And once I get that far, the book will be about 1/4 of the way complete.

Tigers Go Out With A Whimper

They managed to make a game of it tonight, but after having been outscored 12-3 over the first 3 games (and shut out in 2 of them), the writing was on the wall.  Game 4 went to an extra inning, as the Tigers finally produced a bit of offense, but the Giants were just too much for them, by a score of 4-3.  Prince Fielder disappeared at the plate in this series, continuing to challenge Alex Rodriquez for the title of "most overpaid player in the postseason."

Last time Detroit appeared in the World Series, they at least managed one win against St. Louis.  This year it was a clean sweep by San Francisco.  Oh well, at least the boys from Motown got that far, which is better than 28 other teams.

Joss Whedon For Romney

By far the most shocking of 2012's political endorsements:

10 Days Until History Is Made

The 2012 elections in the States happen in a week and a half, and there's obviously a lot riding on them, as usual. To appreciate how important these things can be, just imagine if Al Gore had been the president, starting in January of 2001. Assuming September 11th had transpired the same way, it's doubtful that President Gore would've used that event to justify an attack on Iraq, as they had nothing to do with that terrorist attack. Nor is it likely that the guy who believed in creating a figurative 'lockbox' for his country's Social Security and Medicare programs would've presided over the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.  He certainly wouldn't have cut taxes for the wealthy in his first term, as Bush did, creating the perfect environment for a recession to develop in.


As for this year's election, the country stands to lose its first, admittedly timid foray into universal health care if Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan win.  They both believe emergency room care is just fine for those who can't afford anything better, and it's that brand of 'compassionate conservatism' that voters will bring about if they elect those two.

Among the other races to be decided on Nov 6th, the one that I'm most interested in - by far - involves Elizabeth Warren's run for Senate in Massachusetts.  Yes, that Elizabeth Warren.  Fortunately, Nate Silver, over at FiveThirtyEight, puts Ms. Warren's chances of winning at 92%!  I firmly believe Senator Warren could have a huge, positive impact on the Senate, if she gets there.

On The Surface Of An Alternate World

Great article on the Microsoft Surface, written by someone who's obviously (and self-admittedly) an Apple devotee.

My favourite line in the article, describing his interaction with one of the store salesmen:

"It was like arguing with a Tea Partier."

He does a great job conveying the alternate universe aspect of the Microsoft attitude, and so comparing it to the delusional Tea Party fits perfectly.

I'm closer to buying a tablet PC at the moment than I've ever been, and reading this article certainly didn't give me any reason to consider the Surface as an option.

Back On That Horse Again

After an unplanned 2-month hiatus from it, I finally got back to working on the 3rd novel yesterday.  I have no good excuse for why so much time passed with no progress, but I've committed to getting 2 new chapters done before Vicki and I head out on vacation in a couple of weeks.  That'll bring the total to 4 chapters, which would be a nice chunk of the book.

One positive sign was that it took me no time at all to get back into the swing of things once I decided to do it, no doubt helped by the fact that I've continued to plot out aspects of the story while I was busy not writing it.  I know the broad strokes of what happens in these latest 2 chapters, and just have to do the actual work to get them down on the page.  I definitely seem to need deadlines, though.  On the previous novels, I always had Julie nagging me for new chapters, and I guess I miss that this time around.

Fewer Horses And Bayonets

I was mostly watching Game 7 of the Cards-Giants game last night - which ended up being a blowout, and hence one of the least exciting Game 7s ever - but between innings I was checking out the third and final Obama-Romney debate.

I'd have to say that Obama was both the 'card' and the 'giant' in that one, based on some of the commentary I've read this morning.  One exchange I did get to see was Obama's response to Romney's tired routine about how the current administration is planning 'devastating' cuts to the military, citing the decrease in the number of ships, for example, that exist today compared to 100 years ago.  The President had the perfect comeback to that:



"We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them.  We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines..."

That, Mr Romney, is what's known as 'being schooled.'  Following which, Mr. Obama says, "You're welcome.  And don't forget to do your homework next time!" 

None of which is likely to stop Romney from trotting that same meaningless statistic out some more over the next two weeks... but it really ought to.

Marvel Really Knows How To Make Movies

I especially love the reference to New York at the beginning!

I can only dream of what the DC Universe-on-film, beyond Nolan's Batman, would look like if it were handled this well..

Tigers Going To World Series, Among Other Things

I wouldn't have believed it possible about two months ago, but the Detroit Tigers just swept the Yankees in the ALCS, sending them on to the championship series next week.  Who they'll face there is still up in the air: St. Louis leads San Francisco 2 games to 1, and are up 2-1 in the 4th inning of Game 4.

In other baseball news: there was a casual mention during one of the playoff games this month that "... of course, Houston will be moving to the American League next season."  That would be the Houston Astros, for those who don't follow baseball.  Now, just as Milwaukee moving from the American League to the National League in 1995 felt "wrong" to me for years afterward, I'd expect  this transfer to make me go, "Huh?" whenever I'd see the Jays playing them so much next season. 

Or maybe it won't.  Because the deeper implication here is that this will both balance the two leagues relative to each other - each will have 15 teams, where there'd previously been 16 in the NL and 14 in the AL - and 'unbalance' them internally by going to an odd number of teams.  The significance of this latter change stems from the fact that baseball teams play most days, with usually 1 or 2 off days per week.  For that to happen with an odd number of teams in each league, there are going to have to be a lot more interleague games, starting next year.  In fact, most days will feature at least one interleague match, since 15 teams obviously can't all be active if they can only play each other.  This means interleague play will become much more common, making the interleague matchup of the World Series less special, in a sense.  So that should be a bit odd.

Having said that, I'm kind of looking forward to the new 15-team league setup.

I'd Estimate That Went Pretty Well

Today's workshop on Relative Estimation, a topic I haven't covered in about 5 years, was actually a lot of fun. How do I know that? Well, I didn't get much sleep last night, thanks to a very scratchy throat over the past few days, and yet I still enjoyed the session immensely.

I could tell that the attendees started off a little unimpressed about having to spend a day in training, and visibly unconvinced about the snake oil I was apparently there to sell them on. They weren't rude about it, but the vibe in the room was pretty easy to read.

By the end of the day, though, most if not all of them were enthusiastic practioners of relative estimation, and excited to tell me how much they were looking forward to using their new skill. The results from my feedback form would seem to bear that out, as well:

Effectiveness of the presentation portion: 8.8 out of 10
Effectiveness of the hands-on activities: 9.6 out of 10
Overall effectiveness as an intro to the topic: 9.2 out of 10

Wow. Those may be the best results I've ever gotten. I'm quite sure the 9.6 (9.6!!) is the single best score I've received on the hands-on portion of any workshop I've led. I hope I get more opportunities to do this particular material, as it's clearly a big winner.

Little Nemo In Google-Land

You really should visit Google today if you want a treat from the early days of comic books.

Off To Talk About Estimation Tomorrow

In what I consider to be a criminally perverse case of insane scheduling, I'm actually working tomorrow, just two business days after my last workday!  I know, right??

Actually, it's a good thing, as I'm finally going to get to talk about Relative Estimation.  When I do my Agile 101 workshop, it doesn't seem to matter who the audience is, they always want to drill way down into this topic when it comes up.  I have a grand total of 2 slides on it in the Agile 101 material but could easily spend a couple hours talking about it if I didn't put my foot down and insist that we move on.  I get so many questions, and receive so much skepticism about how it could ever possibly work, that I always end up saying, "You really ought to bring me back to do the full-day Estimation workshop if you're that interested, as that's the only way to do it justice."

And now I'll be doing exactly that.  Here's hoping I've still got the magic touch when it comes to Story Points and the rest of it...

Baseball Delivers In Division Series

For the first time since the League Division Series was introduced in 1995, all four best-of-five match-ups went the distance this year.  Despite the Reds winning the first two in San Francisco, they couldn't get a single win at home and lost in five.  And the Tigers needed three games in Oakland to pick up the single win they needed after starting 2-0 at home in their series.  The other two series started off with splits and then went all the way before St. Louis and the Yankees advanced to their respective League Championship Series.

I managed to see most of every one of those 20 games, and while a few were blowouts, even those sometimes held surprises (Washington blew a 6-0 lead in Game 5 to lose 9-7 to the Cards, for example).  Most were exciting from start to finish, and for that I say: thank you, MLB!

Busy Again

I'm into another busy spell right now, as I've got an Agile 101 session to do this Friday, and am also preparing to do my first-in-years Relative Estimation workshop next week.  The last time I did one of those was in California, back in 2007 (I think), when I was still a full-time employee.  I've wanted to revive this particular material for a while now, and finally I'm getting the chance.  If it goes well, I may even try to promote it around among my other clients.  I know that back in the day, this was a very popular workshop, prompting one of the managers in the California office to say that it was the best training his people had ever had.  That's the kind of feedback you don't get very often.

Another Anniversary Missed

Just like I did last year, I completely forgot to 'celebrate' the anniverary of this blog when it came around on October 1st.  Bad Matt!

Kimota94's Place is now 6 years old, and possibly starting to show its age.  My posting is at an all-time low, indicating a certain lack of engagement with the blog, I suppose.  Having Facebook and Twitter competing for my time hasn't helped, and I just find that there isn't as much going on in my life that I want to post about these days.  It's possible that I'll get back into it more once the current book gets back on track, though.  But I do apologize to those out there who wish there was more to read hereabouts.

Still.... 6 years of blogging must be some sort of achievement, right?

My Year Without Christmas Gifts

As I mentioned earlier today on Facebook, I've made the heretical decision to forego the giving and receiving of Christmas gifts this year (after clearing it with Vicki, of course).  I always find the pressure of figuring out what to buy, as well as providing clues as to what I'd like, at best exhausting, and at worst, stressful.  Since this Christmas season will fall squarely between trips to Vegas in November and Australia/Hawaii in the January-February timeframe, I've been trying to figure out ways to reduce my stress level over that stretch.  This seems like a good solution, and plays into my anti-consumerism tendencies of late, as well.  It's one thing when you have children in the house and are buying them presents, but Christmas gifts between grownups just feels ridiculous sometimes.

So we'll see how this particular experiement goes, and what it tells us for future years.

Baseball Fever Starting To Set In

I haven't paid that much attention to the 2012 baseball season up to now, mainly because I've been trying to watch (and therefore stress over) less sports lately.  The National Hockey League appears to be doing everything they can to help me, in that regard, as it's looking like we night have another shortened NHL season ahead of us... if that.  Add in the debacle of the replacement refs in the NFL, and it doesn't really feel like I've been missing all that much.

But as the final few days click off the MLB season, I'm being drawn back in.  The Tigers are making a run for the postseason, despite me having written them off weeks ago.  And the new Wildcard format - whereby 2 teams in each league get wildcard berths, but then have a one-game playoff to decide which team advances to the League Divisonal Series - is making for some exciting finishes.  I'm watching the Tigers and Twins right now, having watched all of the Jays - Yankees game earlier this afternoon, and that probably matches my seasonal total coming into today.

In other words, I should soon be primed and ready for the start of the 2012 MLB postseason!

Zero Theorem Sounds Interesting

I absolutely love a couple of Terry Gilliam's films (12 Monkeys and Brazil), and have enjoyed a few others. Until just now, though, I hadn't heard anything of his current movie project: Zero Theorem. It definitely intrigues me, even just from the little bit of information contained here. I like the casting choices revealed there, and the enthusiasm that Bleeding Cool's film-geek Brendon Connelly has for it after reading the screenplay.

Yay... something new to look forward to on the silver screen!

How Not To Write Comic Book Reviews

I love this extremely well-thought-out article on the art of comic book reviewing. It touches on all of the areas that I think most 'outsiders' get wrong, including the rather shocking lack of general knowledge some critics bring to the task. As the article writer points out:  

'Imagine if a critic wrote (of a prose novel) that “the straightness of the lines of text reflect the narrator’s matter-of-fact perception of the word, and the ordering of the letters from left-to-right functions as a subtle reference to his growing political conservatism as he comes of age over the course of the novel.” 

This would be silly.'

And yet it's not at all uncommon to see critics unfamiliar with comics as an artform go on at length about its "juxtapositioning of words and images" or how it "has complete command of the reader's eye, leading us from one scene to the next."  Dude, that's what comics are! And if you don't understand that going in, then maybe you're not (yet) qualified to write a review of one. Just saying'...

Use The Force, Harry

Emma just brought this to my attention as a fine start to a Monday morning:

I know this has been around for awhile, but it still delights me because of all the geek buttons it pushes. It's like it was genetically-modified to cause the greatest possible consternation within the typical nerd mind with the fewest possible characters and images. My hat goes off to whoever came up with it.

Somedays You Just Have To Be Lucky

I just happened to check our SARA (cable box) guide this afternoon, to make sure that tonight's episode of Doctor Who was going to record.  I've got it set to record all new episodes of the show, but I still don't entirely trust the crappy programming within SARA to always work when left to its own (heh) devices.

As it turns out, it wasn't even SARA that was going to screw us over tonight.  Instead, it was the data providers this time.  They had Stargate Universe as being scheduled on Space at 9:00 p.m., rather than the good doctor.  I was skeptical of that fact, so I checked the webpage for Space, and sure enough, it was supposed to be Doctor Who.  I hoped they'd fix their data before showtime, but just in case they didn't, I set Stargate Universe to record, too.

As I type these words, it's 9:30 and the Guide still claims that SU is on, even though a quick check of what's recording confirms it's actually Matt Smith and his TARDIS.  Once again, my lack of faith has saved me.

Had I not thought to check into this today, I'd be some kind of pissed off tomorrow when I discovered we had no new Doctor Who to watch!

The 3 Amigos

Cats and dogs, living together!

The Old Guy Can Still Bring It

Musician Peter Gabriel is 4 years older than my brother Richard (to the day!), meaning that he's in his early-60s now. So it can't be all that easy to run around a stage for a 2-hour show anymore, and yet he's still managing to do that, somehow.

Vicki and I saw PG and his band at the Air Canada Centre on Wednesday night, and were thoroughly entertained. It's not quite the spectacular show it used to be, but I'm willing to give a little on that front, considering the age of everyone involved.  He did all of his fan-favourites, including the entirety of the So album (the tour is actually called "So - Back to Front").  I'd forgotten just how great a song "Digging in the Dirt" is, when played live.

I took some photos during the performance, but most of them are pretty crappy. We were just too far away, or I suck as a photographer (take your pick). Anyway, here's one of the better ones, showing the entire group but highlighting "the big three" (left to right) - Tony Levin, David Rhodes and Peter himself:

That was the 7th time I've seen PG in concert, and the 5th time for Vicki. I think that officially qualifies us as 'fans... don't you?

Reality Check On Romney

I love it when people who've had opportunities handed to them on a silver platter all their lives take to disparaging those who haven't. It's a very peculiar form of blindness, it seems to me (who wasn't born into any kind of wealth), because the folks making those remarks generally seem to have a very skewed perspective on just how lucky they've been compared to almost everyone else. They'll get their first job thanks to an influential parent pulling some strings somewhere, and then criticize others for their 'lack of initiative' in finding work. It'd be funny if it weren't so sad.

Which brings us to Mitt Romney's latest, and possibly greatest 'gaffe' - being caught on tape speaking his mind about "the 47%" who support President Obama, who don't pay any federal income tax, who are "dependent upon government, who believe they are victims..." He wraps up this rare, honest glimpse into his personal worldview with:

"My job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

This is a man who's had everything handed to him his entire life and yet believes he deserves to be elected President of the United States. Has there ever been a more obvious disqualifier for any serious candidate for that lofty position?

[Update the next day: As commenters on various political blogs have quickly pointed out, Romney's dismissal of those who don't pay any federal income tax is incredibly ironic considering the tax-evading lengths he's gone to with his foreign bank accounts. Not to mention that he refuses to release any of his own income tax returns prior to last year's. Just unbelievable.]

Never Let Facts Get In The Way Of You Making A Point

I love how this current American election cycle has really brought to light the way in which some people are playing fast and loose with the facts. But even more than that, I love how often, and how quickly those folks are being called on it! Paul Ryan's Republican Convention speech earned him the hashtag #lyinRyan while the speech was still going on, for example. And even some of the TV journalists are finally stepping up in this regard, such as Soledad O'Brien's takedown of Peter King over Conservative's often-referenced 'Obama Apology Tour' that had the audacity to never actually, you know, happen.

This sort of thing must just seem so unfair to those who live in a universe where all they have to do is say something in order for it to be true!

Why I Collect Comic Books

There are lots of reasons I might give on any given day for why I've spent the time and effort (not to mention money) to build up a 30,000-issue comic collection over the past 40+ years. The one that comes to mind at the moment, though, is that I love the fact that I can usually find just the right series to re-read when I'm looking for a certain type of story or vibe.

I loved Master of Kung Fu (subtitled, The Hands of Shang-Chi) for most of its decade-long run from 1974 through 1983, which I would've been reading between the ages of 11 and 20. I was especially impressed by Shang-Chi, a rare minority lead character at the time, and his Eastern philosophies. However, in those days, I wasn't of an age where I could really appreciate his views for just how admirable they were. So when I recently went looking for something that would inspire me in a certain way, I happened to think of MoKF (as it used to be known) and so far it hasn't let me down. I'm only about 20% of the way into the run at the moment, but I'm up to the point where it really started to take off. And best of all: these are comics that I've only ever read once, back when they first came out... which means that most of the stories are "like brand new" to me! What a thrill! The characters and plots have aged amazingly well, for the most part, making them - on average - better than the vast majority of modern series coming out today. I'm finding I can barely wait to read each successive issue, all of which are fortunately waiting for me right where they should be, in the appropriate box down in our basement.

And so, today, that's why I collect comic books...

No Brother Of Mine Is Going Into The Hospital

The neighbourhood flyer for No Brother of Mine that I distributed a little more than a week ago just continues to produce results.

A few days ago, we received a call from a neighbour affiliated with the gift shop at St. Joseph's Hospital, wanting to know if I'd be interested in getting some copies of the book into that particular venue. Since I hadn't yet managed to place any of my books into any store, I was naturally thrilled at the prospect! After a bit of discussion, we decided on 6 copies, which should be arriving there tomorrow. I was assured that the sales clerks in the shop would read the store copy of NBoM, and if they liked what they saw they'd be likely to recommend it to hospital goers who arrived looking for something with which to pass the time. I happen to think that my 2nd novel is the perfect prescription for battling boredom (see what I did there, with the medical analogy?), and so this could be a marriage made in heaven.

Since the people running the gift shop like to support local authors, the 6 copies in question have already been bought by the store, rather than being sold on consignment. The store will make a couple dollars of profit per copy, as I sold them at a small discount. If those then sell out, I'll be asked for more of the same. I was told that they actually sell quite a lot of books, which makes sense when you consider how much waiting tends to go on in hospitals. If there's enough demand for NBoM over time, they might even do an Author Signing event at some point, as they've apparently done that sort of thing in the past. Obviously I'm not counting on anything like that happening, as I'm just happy to have made a half dozen new sales with the potential for more down the road.

Yay, promotional flyers!

Beautiful 9/11 Remarks By Joe Biden

On the site of Flight 93's passenger-initiated crash 11 years ago today, U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden delivered some remarkably tender thoughts for the family members of the passengers of that flight. Drawing on feelings he's experienced regarding his own personal tragedy nearly 40 years ago, Biden put things in exactly the right context, such as with this section:

"My hope for you all is that as every year passes, the depth of your pain recedes and you find comfort, as I have, genuine comfort in recalling his smile, her laugh, their touch. And I hope you’re as certain as I am that she can see what a wonderful man her son has turned out to be, grown up to be; that he knows everything that your daughter has achieved, and that he can hear, and she can hear how her mom still talks about her, the day he scored the winning touchdown, how bright and beautiful she was on that graduation day, and know that he knows what a beautiful child the daughter he never got to see has turned out to be, and how much she reminds you of him. For I know you see your wife every time you see her smile on your child’s face. You remember your daughter every time you hear laughter coming from her brother’s lips. And you remember your husband every time your son just touches your hand."

If you haven't yet lost anyone close to you, those may just seem like words. But they're a lot more than that to those of us who have.

Good Results From Another Agile 101 Session

Vicki and I did yet another Agile 101 workshop on Wednesday, and in the process received some of the best results yet on our 1-page feedback form that we hand out at the end:

Effectiveness of the presentation portion: 9.1 (out of 10)
Effectiveness of the hands-on activity: 8.7 (out of 10)
Overall effectiveness of the workshop as an intro to Agile: 8.9 (out of 10)

As usual, I was completely drained and brain-dead by the time we were done. Still, it's all worth it when the attendees are that satisfied with the day!

I Guess I'll Just Keep Watching This Channel For Awhile

So what if it's turned into a fishing show? Who's going to disturb that little angel?

Emma's Not The Only Home Invader Coming, Either

It looks like we'll have Cooper and Finley for another extended visit in the second half of the month, which should make for a busy house once again (3 humans + 3 cats + 1 dog). Here are a few photos from around the time they were all last here, in late July.

Three animals, all looking in different directions:


After the boys went back home, Lucy looked visibly relieved:


As for Jonesy, he took it all in stride and was just chillin' out with Vicki when things finally quieted down:

Our Last Few Hours Of Freedom

Great-niece Emma is scheduled to move in sometime this evening, at which point "everything changes," as Vicki said this morning. I've given up trying to wrap my head around just what life with Emma is going to be like, because I think it's impossible to guess and hey, we're going to find out soon enough anyway. I suspect it's going to be good for all of us, though...

If nothing else, it'll probably mean more time spent around the kitchen table, like this moment from a few weeks ago (Em and I were doing a logic problem together, while Vicki worked the camera):

One Hobbit, In Three Servings

In case you missed the news that Peter Jackson's The Hobbit has grown from two films to three, now you know it. And what's more, here's the actual release schedule for the trilogy:

The Hobbit Part 1: An Unexpected Journey - December 14, 2012

The Hobbit Part 2: The Desolation of Smaug - December 13, 2013

The Hobbit Part 3: There and Back Again - July 18, 2014

That's right... we'll only have 7 months to wait between parts 2 and 3, not the usual year that was established when The Lord of the Rings was coming out over three consecutive Decembers.

And if you haven't just mentally added that data to your "list of important upcoming dates" then I'm not sure I even want to know you...

Flyers = Sales?

Despite a complete dearth of responses by any of you to my request for feedback on the idea of a neighbourhood flyer for No Brother of Mine, I went ahead and printed up 50 copies anyway. This morning I distributed them into mailboxes in our general vicinity, and this afternoon we got our first sale as a result! That more than pays for the printing costs, meaning that this particular operation is already in the black now.

Hopefully we'll get more than just the one sale, though.

[Update Sep 4/12: And we got our second sale as a result of the flyers today. Now we're cooking!]

[Update Sep 8/12: Two more sales courtesy of the flyers, bringing the total to 4!]

[Update Sep 12/12: As I posted about above, six additional sales came along thanks to someone in the neighbourhood who works at the St. Joseph's Hospital gift shop. Total now stands at 10!]

Well, At Least Paul Ryan Made History Last Night

Too bad for him he made history by delivering the most dishonest convention speech ever!

Comic Sans Font Gets No Love

I used it affectionately for the chapter titles of my AgileMan books, but apparently even the artist whose work inspired Microsoft's creation of the Comic Sans font, the great Dave Gibbons, has no love for it!

Pink Floyd - "Moonhead" 1969

This little gem is downright surreal:



Read more about it here, if you're so inclined.

Whenever I watch video of moon walks, I'm always terrified that one of the astronauts is going to rip a hole in his suit, despite the fact that I know that nothing like that ever happened. Sort of like the way I get nervous watching my DVD of Game 7 between the Rangers and Canucks from 1994.

"It's A Quagmire"

I don't know whether to laugh or cry after reading this New York Times article about online reviews and how many of them are fake. I've tried to nag people to review (or at least rate) my books on the various websites they're sold on, but it's sometimes like pulling teeth to get anyone to do so. (Thanks, once again, to those who have done it, though. Much appreciated!) And now I find out that I could've just been paying for positive reviews, like so many other authors apparently have.

Somehow I think I'm still better off without that, however. I'm happier counting on a growing word of mouth campaign to eventually build up a large enough reading audience to keep me writing. To paraphrase those old Smith-Barney ads, I'm trying to be successful the old-fashioned way: by earning it!