World Record for the next generation!

Firefox is trying to set a record for the largest number of downloads in one 24 hour period. Check it out, and be a part of history. Not to mention it's a good browser and worth the effort.

My kind of message pad...

I rec'd this image in a message my mom sent. Where were these message pads when I was working as an Admin Assistant? It would have been perfect.

Problem is, I'd need a line after the brains entry because so many of the folks that called fit the description that it could have been confusing to know which of the mush brains to tie the stinky message with.

There are a couple others that I'll share later, this one just made me laugh.

Could you find this pad useful? Comments?

Google Supports Earth Hour - will you?

I popped over to Google this morning, well ok it's my home page - but whatever. So when the screen loaded, it was dark.. at first I was confused. It was after 11 am on a Saturday morning, but still - there was confusion.

After reading the little tag line, about the lights I remembered that this is the day for Earth Hour.

From what I understand, from 8-9 pm local time tonight, folks will be turning off the lights, staying home and using as little resources as possible. I think is a wonderful idea. I'm not sure how fab Dub and Neeper will think it is, but we're going to do it anyway.

I'd almost consider going down to my office in Seattle to see from the 44th floor how many folks are participating. Almost!

Support your local Planet.

Participate!

My Marine

I chatted with my Marine in the sandbox this morning via IM. He sent some pix I thought I'd share. There is an 11 hour difference, so when it's 9am here it's 8pm over there. This means most of our chats happen when I'm at work.


I usually here from him where they can use the Internet for 'free', but this location doesn't allow use pf outside media (no USB or CDs) to upload pictures. AND they have a 30 minute limit. It's not a bad thing, the PCs do have IM so we can have a quick chat now and again. I'm sure you're thinking the pic on the right could be anybody, but I actually can see it's my Marine by his hands. This was a chilling reminder that he's 'really there' ~ so far away.

Today when we chatted he was at the 'Internet cafe' on base where he is able to use his laptop for a cost of $5 per hour. Not too costly, but I guess it's located on the OTHER side of nowhere from his quarters and it's a mighty walk.

He wanted me to send pictures so I sent what I had at work, but I'm thinking I'll send more via email later from home.

Anyone interested in sending packages can check back next week. I'll post the address and 'requested items' after I have a chance to wrangle the list from my Mom. She was going to 'type it up' but I still haven't seen it. One thing they can always use is batteries. "AA" and "AAA" are always in demand.

Boy, just looking at this shot makes me tired.

Has this ever happened to you?

Today on the way to catch the bus home, I lost my cell phone. I know, you're asking your self how is this possible? I asked myself the same damn thing when I couldn't find it to check the time.

It was a 'warmish' day in Seattle today, and I stuffed my sweater coat into the rolly computer bag plopped my purse on top and headed off to find my ride home. I work two blocks, a mere two blocks, from the bus stop. Somewhere along the bumpy ride over the curbs and uneven roadway the phone must have bounced out of the pocked in my purse.

When I realized it was missing, I scurried back the way I'd come, to track down my wayward technology. Sadly, it was not to be found on the street so I went back to the bus stop to wait for my coach. Then I pulled out my blackberry, and send an email to Dub, and "I'm thinking.. he never checks his mail.. now what?"

Thankfully my B-berry allows Yahoo! Messenger.. I figured there had to be someone I knew online just after 5pm to contact Dub and let him know I was on the bus, sans phone. I contacted one of the ladies in my writing chapter and she was kind enough to phone Dub and pass along the message.

I was also able to contact my carrier and let them know the phone was MIA. The customer support dude de-activated the phone, so that it could not be used to download things I didn't want to pay for.. and tomorrow AM I'll have it activated again and try to contact whomever has my missing communicator.

To Be Continued.....

Save the Cat! Falls In Love

The GSRWA had a wonderful workshop last Friday, provided by Blake Snyder, author of Save the Cat: the Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need.

Reviewing the 15 Beats from his book helped many in our group see how these movie milestones could be applied to the world of romance writing. I'm excited to see what Beats I already have in my WIP and where the missing ones will come from.

Thanks Blake, for opening a whole new box of tools for me (us) and HUGE thanks to the fabulous Pat White for coordinating it all.

Resolution - Recycled...

Resolved not to Resolve – does that mean I did??

I’m not sure why it is that friends and family expect you’ll make a resolution at the beginning of each year. What is the purpose?

Folks often resolve loose weight, for instance, at the beginning of the year. They make an attempt at it for the first couple days, heck even a month, and then they forget or become to busy and *poof* gone is their resolve.

It’s that way with many things that people think they should do, but don’t want to, or don’t have the strength or will power to follow thru with. Over the years I’ve seen many a friend make a resolution only to watch it go down the toilet. As I’m writing I think hard to find ONE, my own from the past or even one belonging to someone else, I’m aware of that actually was seen through to the end. Not the frivolous mind you – but a heart felt resolution that was completed. Sad to say, I’m at a loss for an example.

Among the many resolutions tossed into the ring each year (see if you recognize any of these) are:

Loose – Weight, baggage (boy or girl friend), clutter, chocolate craving, drinking habit, smoking habit and all other bad habits
Find or Make more time – or family, to read, to write, lost friends, the garage (the inside – of course) and journals
Do’s - finish projects, exercise, correspond, organize, limit TV time to 4 hours per week, cook at home, begin Christmas shopping in July, find a new job, and clean house every week
Do No More – drink (so much), smoke, over eat, stalk the ex-boyfriend, eat out every week (night), spend all free time playing video games, charge all gifts to the credit cards next year, complain about the job and attend gatherings as the wall flower.

My biggest questions or complaints – call them what you will – with the concept of resolutions are:

• Why wait until the first of the year to resolve to do something you may have known about for the last 6 or 9 or even 12 months and should have been resolved to do all along?
• What is so damn special about the first of the year that makes folks want to ‘be a better person’? Shouldn’t we want to be that better person when we realize there is a problem, instead of waiting until the beginning of a new year.
• Do the many cocktails ingested during the celebration on the even of the new year make it that much easier to face the unpleasant task, therefore making it easier to resolve?

So this year (as I have done in the past) I resolved not to make any resolutions.. but again I have to ask, in doing so.. have I then made a resolution?

And would it be better stated, that I resolve not to make a “New Years Resolution” but resolve to make the changes during the year, as needed, instead of waiting 364 days to do something about it?

Food for thought? Happy New Year!!

This post (or most of it) was recycled from a now lost blog post in 2005.

Oh for want of a good meter!

I have had the same little meter <--- to the left, for some time now, but the webservice seems to be scrambled.

I decided to update my word count (because working would be the wrong thing to do on New Year's Eve!) but it doesn't matter what I try, the site will not create an updated meter for me.

I diddled around (techy term for messed with the HTML code) and tried to update the numbers but didn't want to spend the time to figure out how to make the bar move.

Found the NaNo meter at... Language is a Virus and it is very nice, but it didn't much care for being centered in my side bar. I'll figure out how to fix that eventually (maybe) but for now, it will just have to be off center.. like me. This site also has some interesting NaNo Icons I want to investigate later.

I Googled word meters or word count meters, I don't remember which, and found this happy little group. I think Shelli may be using the picometer, the look familiar, and I believe it was her Bloggy I saw them on...

Then there is the progress meter (bottom of the same page) I just had to share. Looks like it has a built in cap at 50k, but it's kinda funny. Check out all this little potato guy's moods. I'm book-marking this little guy for next year's NaNo.

Wednesday: Wander, Wonder or Word Play

Welcome to the first Wednesday Edition of the for the New Year, Wander, Wonder or Word Play.

Wednesday's will be a day to wander around the web, wonder about this and that or play with words.

Today we're going to wonder what is the proper etiquette for a new (as yet unpublished) author. While that's an open question, and likely to be a wonder from time to time, let me be specific. Edit etiquette

I have been reading an book from one of the folks in my chapter, and I have found some things that make me scratch my head and re-read paragraphs to make sure things were comprehend correctly. I'm about 1/2 way thru the book and I've found two different items that have stopped my reading flow cold and I've had to read back a page, sometimes more, to address what seems like a glaring error. I don't know that it matters, but the book is an e-pub.

So my wonder is - should I ask the author about these things, or just let it go? I'm not more than an acquaintance with this author, but we've traded email on the group loop and she's an active member of our chapter even though she doesn't live in the area.

To tell or not to tell, that is the question. I already had planed to send a note when I have finished reading the book, but I also feel a responsibility to author to say something about what I've found. If this is really an error (at least one, yes) and if so, could a correction be made so other readers will not be stopped to wonder. I know I want to know, if it ever happens in one of my books. And them a question too, if the e-pub can be re-published (or uploaded, uploaded or whatever) with corrections if they are needed.

But would you want to know? Thanks for your comments on my wonder, I'll be sure to fill in the details when I have finished the book.

Christmas Cookie Recipe

This is my kind of cookie~~
1 cup of water
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup of brown sugar
lemon juice
4 large eggs
1 cup nuts
2 cups of dried fruit
1 bottle Crown Royal/Whiskey/Rum

- Sample theLiquor to check quality.
- Take a large bowl, check the Liquor again, to besure it is of the highestquality, pour one level cup and drink.
- Turn on the electric mixer...Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl.
- Add one teaspoon of sugar...Beat again.
- At thispoint it's best to make sure the Liquor is still OK, try another cup...just in case.
- Turn off the mixer thingy.
- Break 2 leggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit.
- Pick the frigging fruit off floor...
- Mix on the turner.
- If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers just pry i t loose with a dewscriver.
- Sample the Liquor to check for tonsisticity.
- Next, sift two cups of salt, or something.... who giveshz a sheet.
- Check the Liquor.- Now shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts.
- Add one table.
- Add a spoon of ar, or somefink.... whatever you canfind.
- Greash the oven.
- Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over.
- Don't forget to beat off the turner.
- Finally, throw the bowl through the window.
- Finish the bottle of Liquor.
- Make sure to put the stove in the dishwasher.

Cherry Mistmas

National Novel Writing Month or NaNaWriMo

Update: December sometime

I managed to finish the NaNo challenge, and mark can count myself as a winner..... YEAH!

My total word count was 50,523

Any bloggy thoughts I might have will have to wait until December 1st or 2nd.
All spare words MUST be used for my NaNoWriMo meter.

Check back later!

Meter Makes a Move - FINALLY!!!

FINALLY - I can move the meter on my current WIP above the 10k mark. YEAH!!

I've been adding a few words to the document here and there since the last report in early July, but nothing of any weight that was worth mentioning or updating the meter code.

Today I did a bunch of brain storming with Aura on her book and she's on her way to some very interesting twists and turns with her current WIP.

Then I kicked in on my own work, this weekend I've added an impressive (for me) 2,000+ or so words to my WIP.

10,084 / 85,000

(11.9%)

Madness, Mayhem, Minneapolis and Manuscript pages

Madness - Neeper fell off the bike a couple weeks back, broker her arm and had to have pins put in to hold the bones in place. It's tons of fun wrapping the arm and cast in a plastic bag so she can take a shower. She starts 6th grade this year, which means Junior High or Middle School in our district. Today Dub took her to orientation and picked up her schedule. It's going to be an iteresting year.

Mayhem - Seattle traffic, Airport Security and waiting in line. I missed a 7 AM flight to Minneapolis this morning, and waited on standby until finally being assigned a seat on 10:30 am fight. My own fault, yes, but security was wicked busy taking 55 minutes or more to move thru the line. BLICK. Next time I'm taking the shuttle - that way I KNOW I'll make it.

Minneapolis - I'm here in Little Apples for a few days, which means I might actually accompoish some bloggin' since my evenings will be mostly free. We shall see how it goes. There are supposed to be big nasty thunder storms this evening - and I'm not really looking forward to that. These storms could be filed under Madness or Mayhem - but we'll leave them here for now.

Manuscript Pages - for Aura that is.. calling you out girl. This young lady is supposed to be writing 90 minutes each day this week. I've already called Mario and left a message on his cell phone - and the house phone - to let him know you're supposed to be writing and that he needs to help you out by blocking the card sites. Ok, I didn't mention that yet, but it could come to that if there are not some serious page reports happening this week. I'll be working on mine when I can, and I'm setting myself a goal of 10,000 words for the week and holiday weekend, Lofty - yes, but it can be done. Are you up for it?

Later gators - I'm going to have drinks with a work buddy.

Vacation Post Part I

I have much to tell, and little time so I'm putting up a place holder for my Vacation post.

Dub, Neeper and cousin Chicken went for week of fun in the 'sometimes sun' on the Oregon Coast. I have oodles of snaps to post and a few tales to tell.

I'll be back to fill this in when I'm back in the Emerald City.


We departed from Seattle around 2 PM on Sunday and drove to Portland, OR. Along the way we found a traffic jam just south of Chehalis because of an accident in the north bound lanes, with all the lookie-loo rubber neckers.
Just after that back up broke up there was another one around Centrailia because of a water park they're building on the west side of I-5.

The picture on the left I found on the net is from a Texas Water Park, and the funnel on I-5 is yellow and red, but you can imagine the folks driving by very slowly to take a look. If I head that way again any time soon, I'll be sure to have the camera ready, but we decided that this will be a hazard from now on, just one more reason to drive that stretch of road at night.
Here's a different shot of the Tornado in Darien Lake.

We traveled SW from Portland thru McMinville out to Lincoln City. By the time we made it to where we could see the ocean, it was quite dark. We made it to the cabin at the Waldport KOA around 1 AM, and crashed for the night. It rained quite a bit that night, I was very happy to be in a cabin.

Monday was typical of Oregon Coast weather, it wasn't really rainy, just low flying clouds, almost foggy. Dub and I put up a wind break on the cabin deck so I could make breakfast. We are very proud of our shelter. It was so well protected from the wind that we could sit a styrofoam cup on the bench and even with all the wind whipp'n around it didn't blow away. We stayed around camp, recovering from the long drive but when we ventured out late in the afternoon we headed north a bit to the Devil's Punch Bowl. The tide was in, so we didn't make it to the tide pools, but DID manage to have a late lunch at MO's. Good food and fun.

Tuesday was glorious and we headed south on this day to Florence, to the sand dunes. With Neeper's brokern arm in a cast, we were concerned about sand, so we wrapped her up in a plastic bag like she was headed to the shower, but told her not to try swimming. I'd hoped the girls would be able to climb the big dune like my Bordar and I did when we were kids, but the area has been taken over by ORV (off road vehicle) traffic and we decided it just was not safe for them to try it. The tide was just starting in when we made it to the beach at south jetty #2. The girls and Dub played in the surf, digging for clams and picking up shells. It was very nice to be back in my old stomping grounds, on the ocean where the sound of the wind and waves is very soothing. We BBQ'd dogs that night and made s'mores. Everyone was bushed from climbing around in the sand that day and we all had a solid sleep.

I'll add a few more snaps when I figure out how to download the remaining pictures from the camera, and will post part II (and maybe III) in the next day or four.

Come Fuck Me Pump....

This gives a while new meaning to the "Come Fuck Me Pump" or maybe it's a pump with training wheels.

I like the concept and the proportions are pretty good. it's a little taller than your average truck, though - so you'd want to be careful taking it into a parking garage.

Ya have to wonder just how many pair of shoes you could fit in the trunk (if there is a trunk) or if that heel area is a back seat. Looks like you'd need goggles or a helmet with a face mask, since there is no wind screen. I think I wouldn't mind driving a few mines in this persons shoe!!

What have I done?

Today I had a wilde moment and did something crazy... something I've been puttin' off for YEARS. It's not that I didn't expect to make the commitment in the near future, but what was I thinking? I'm a dabbler, it's what I do, I play with words - and it's serious, but not so when it comes right down to it.

You're wondering what I'm babbling about - I know.. so am I !

Drum roll please..... pthrrrrrrr!

I've been part of a Marine Corps Family Support group since late last year, and this morning I accepted a position with that group to help moderate the myMarine Yahoo! group content. My Marine (son) is currently stationed at Camp Pendleton in California, but I remember what it was like right after he left for boot camp in August of 2006. There was SO MUCH I didn't know about boot camp, the Crops and what to expect that it nearly drove me crazy. (hush you!!)

Being a part of this group has been fun, interesting and a helpful way for me to cope with his pending deployment and to help others as they begin the journey with their recruit as they train and are accepted as Marines. But that wasn't all .. oh no...

... this afternoon, I faxed my application to RWA, yes, this afternoon. You now.. RWA as in Romance Writes of America. Yeah, that organization. I'm excited and terrified at the same time.

Why? Let me count the ways... (and in no particular order)

• First, there's the membership fees. Not that I can't afford it, but I'm sure there is another application for those funds.
• Then, that makes it official. It's like the start of clock - the first official step on the road to be published. YIKE!
• And then, then that means (if only in my mind) that I need to start taking my writing seriously. Which translates (again, in my mind only) to, it's work.

Anyone reading this, rolling their eyes and/or shaking their heads - get over it - it's the way I feel, rational or not, there it is. I'm sure there are others who TOTALLY understand where I'm coming from, and I thank you in advance for your support and words of wisdom.

Then as if all that has gone before was not crazy enough, I marched (ok, clicked) myself over to the GSRWA website, as in Greater Seattle Chapter of Romance Writers of America, and proceeded to submit my application to that group as well.

I know, it's nutzy! My real life jobs, both corporate and domestic, are fucking crazy right now and it's like I've added more nails to my coffin. Well, not so much so, but here's what I'm thinking.

I'm not getting any younger, well ok, that's a given.. but no, not that. I work too much, at work stuff. So IF there are other things besides housework, bills and the four letter W.O.R.K. that I have a responsibility to do then perhaps it will balance out.

And what more responsibility is there than something you've paid money for the privilege to be a part of, really? And I need to make time for my writing, I want to do it, I have voices in my head that sometimes distract me from the W.O.R.K. which is frustrating and counter productive. So what it boils down to is accountability. Being a part of these organizations I hope will level out the effort for the fun work of writing and the W.O.R.K. of earning a living and being part of a family.

That is all the brain dump I have for now... thank you for listening, thank you for your support and thanks for all the fish.

And how much intel?

I often wonder as I'm writing, do they really need to know this? Why is it important?

The scene I'm working on is important, and I guess the thing I have to ask is.. will the book make sense without it?

Maybe, but it would take more explaining later.

AH... I'll leave it in there now but it's not exactly my strongest work.

G'nite all!

6,709 / 85,000

(7.9%)

Words seem to flow like water, now!

In the morning, I finished one of the four books I've been reading. I found an advance reader copy of Cherry Adair's White Heat on eBay and couldn't resist. I've never seen one before and was thrilled to be able to read the book before it came out. I have had the hard back on pre-order for a long time, and expect to re-read it before the conference in October.

I worked some, answered a few emails and was going to work on a form but became distracted by my email and ended up surfing the web a bit then I just sat at the PC for several hours yesterday, working on nothing in particular.

I wanted to write, but the words didn't seem to want to come. I talked with Dub about my inability and his words of encouragement prompted a Q & A session with my hero.

At first he was not very forthcoming, but then the answers started to flow. After that, I started working on Chapter 2 and it was after 11pm when I came up for air. One and a half scenes, 1,638 words later I had to call it quits for the night. I'm sure it will need a good polishing, it always does, but the point is the words did flow - finally. I'm headed back to the waterfall to see what else comes out.

6,200 / 85,000
7.3 %

Lazy Weekend - sorta..

I feel a little bit guilty for not writing this weekend, but then I didn't work either. Neeper spent the weekend with Aura and Mario so we had the house to ourselves all weekend. Seems like she had a good time with A-button and B-button (Mario's Twins - to be renamed later, maybe), but I asked that the computer time be limited, and I'm not sure that was enforced. Out of my control, water under the bridge .. moving on.

I spent most of my time sewing a pair of PJ's for Neeper. It's been a long time, and I was feeling the need to be crafty. Dub worked on Saturday, so I spent some time with George, Brad and Matt (and the rest of the Ocean 11 & 12 crew) while I was cutting, pinning and stitching.

The PJ's are a custom 2 piece job with a longer than usual shirt and shorter than expected (capri length) pants. I intended the shirt to be long, sleep shirt length, so it could be worn on it's own or with the bottoms - and that works pretty well. I didn't want to fuss with buttons or snaps, so I stitched the front together and called it done. It looks a little bit like a Kimono, but she likes them - so all is good. I have muchos more fabric to work on, but this time I'll take measurements before I start cutting. ~ grins ~

I did a little laundry and other chores while I was at it, but mostly me and the cats!

I'm amazed, actually, that I felt much like doing anything. Friday night, after dropping off the Neeper in Seattle with Aura - I picked up Dub and we went to our favorite local watering hole. No wait, I met him downtown, I had a couple Jack/Coke combos while I waited for him to be off work. THEN we went to our favorite local watering hole and Zach was a nice bartender and gave me TALL Jack/Coke combos while we played video games and waited for our dinner. Bar Burgers at the BEST!! Several Jack/Coke combos later, Dub drove me home and I poured myself into our lovely (almost 45 days old) king size bed! AH... and I was out! This was early, actually, around 10:30 or so if I recall correctly.

I tried to watch TV, but I was exhausted and so J/C'd that it didn't pay to stay awake. Dub was in bed a little while later cause he had to work the next day. AH.. what a wild life.

Sunday, not much doing. I whipped the PJ pants together in morning but I needed to measure for the elastic. (oops) It was rainy off and on, and I cat-napped in the office in between chores but that's as close as I was to the computer all weekend.

Monday was total craziness again, and today has been just as weird. I guess I COULD have taken advantage of no interruptions and put some more words on the but it was damn nice doing must what I wanted.

This will not help me finish the MS on time, but.. WILL help me keep what little sanity I have left.

More words on the morrow!

Happy "D" Day to Me!

Today is the one year Anniversary of my Liberation... that is, the day my divorce became final!

It seems like so much longer, but only 365 days have passed. I imagine the length of time from initial filing to signing has something to do with that, but I was shocked yesterday when I realized today was the day.

I'm not sure what I'll do to celebrate, perhaps this weekend I'll do something wicked, but for now - I'll just sing a little song!

Happy "D-day" to me!

Happy "D-day" to me!

Happily Divorced and now I'm a Dragon Day!!

Happy "D-day"

tooooooo mmmmmmmeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Thank you. Thank you, very much. I'll be here all week! ~ Grins ~