Ramblings from the Gryphon Rose

Swash that buckle! Come on, swash it!

2008-10-09T06:46:00.001-07:00

My latest RPG book, The Free Musketeers is now out and available for sale:

This is the first of many books I’m doing for Talisman, and it was a lot of fun to write. I mean, come on! Musketeers? Sweet!

I am Transformed! Again!

2008-09-17T06:23:00.001-07:00

Hey, check it out! My My second Transformers Animated book is now out and available for sale:

It was fun to write, so I hope it’s fun to read. And it has pretty pictures!

Blink blink

2008-08-26T06:07:00.001-07:00

This is so weird.

I got new glasses yesterday. Well, I got new lenses, anyway—I had them put in one of my spare frames, so yes, I still look like me. But new lenses. And they’re messing with me.

Jendaby had been after me for a while to get my eyes checked and my prescription updated—ever since she found out that I hadn’t gotten them checked since a few months before I went to Scotland.

In early 1991.

Yes, it’s been almost eighteen years since my last eye exam.

I know, I know. Things just kept getting in the way. For a while—from the time we moved to NY to when I started full-time at this job, in fact—I didn’t have insurance. And before that I just didn’t have time.

But a few weeks ago we had to go to the eye doctor anyway, to get our daughter’s eyes checked—yes, she needed glasses before starting kindergarten—and to get jendaby’s prescription updated so she could order new contacts. So I finally got mine checked as well.

The eye doctor was not amused when she heard how long it had been. Shocked would be closer.

And yet—my eyes had barely changed at all. My left prescription when up a quarter step. My right actually went down a notch, because they had apparently overpowered it slightly to compensate for my astigmatism there. So now we dropped it back down to where it should be but upped the astigmatism correction.

So ha ha. Jendaby was rather nonplussed to learn that her eyes had changed as much or more in one year as mine had in eighteen. And other than those minor corrections my eyes are in great shape.

But now I have new lenses. In a pair of frames I haven’t worn in at least six years. So the fit is just a little different on the nose and behind the ears. And the lenses! The eye doctor warned that the right would seem a little distorted at first, and it does. I keep feeling like I’m using a camera and tightening the focus—every time I switch eyes or depths of field it takes a fraction of a second for my eye to adjust. It’s very odd, and more than a little disorienting. It should pass in a few days, though.

Meanwhile, my daughter has her new glasses! At first she refused to even put them on, but once she did we could tell they made a difference (though she refused to admit it until we left the eye doctor’s). Buying her a snazzy SpongeBob case and cleaning kit helped as well. And she has a week to get used to them before school starts. Aahhhh!

Shore Leave report

2008-07-14T17:45:00.000-07:00

Well, we made it back from Shore Leave in one piece. It was a good time, if a little frustrating because of the wee ones.

We headed out Friday shortly after noon, and made good time on the drive—both kids were asleep for at least part of the trip down, so jendaby and I were able to talk and laugh and sing songs.

Got to the hotel without any difficulty, checked in, went and registered and picked up our badges, and then just bummed around for a bit. Nobody else we knew was around and up for dinner at the time so we wound up just eating at the hotel restaurant, which was eh but convenient.

Took the kids back to the room after that and got them ready for bed, then I stayed with them so jendaby could go wander a bit. That didn’t work out too well. The kids were sharing a double bed for the first time, and were so excited they were bouncing off the walls—literally. jendaby returned in time for me to head out to the 10pm Pro Party (the con’s en masse author signing) and the kids were still wide awake.

I had a good time at the signing—I was stationed at the far end of the corridor with Dave Mack, Dayton Ward, and Kevin Dilmore, and spent the time in between autographs chatting with them and the charming berkanna (who alarmed me when I introduced myself by announcing that she’d heard all about me already). The signing ran until midnight, after which we all adjourned to the bar until it closed at 2. Then I headed back to bed.

Saturday the kids woke us up early, as is their wont, but it took a while to get everyone dressed and ready. We wandered around a bit, checked out the art show and the dealer’s room, etc. We tried going to see the Boogie Knights perform but the kids didn’t want to listen to music so we had to turn around and head right back out rather than disturb everyone else. We’re conscientious that way. We left the hotel for lunch, finding a nice quiet restaurant (Greystone Grill) a few blocks away and enjoying a nice meal—we had a great waitress, which helped, and the kids were both showing off for her the whole time. Then we came back and I went to do my first panel.

It was called Writing and Managing a Day Job, about how having a day job could both benefit and hinder your writing. But it was close enough. My buddies Glenn Hauman, Bob Greenberger, Dave Mack, and Michael Jan Friedman joined me, and we had a good time talking about our day jobs, how they added to and conflicted with our writing, and how to make it all work together.

After that I headed back up, reaching the room scant moments before my youngest sister arrived with her fiancée. We all repaired to the hotel pool and had a lot of fun—this was the first time either of my kids had been in a pool and they both had a blast. Afterward we dried off, changed, and met up with Glenn to have dinner at a really cool BBQ place not far away. We got back—with a slight detour because the Wegman’s nearby had mini-kegs of Virgil’s Root Beer and neither my soon-to-be-brother-in-law nor I could resist—only a little late for the Masquerade, but my daughter said she was tired. So I took her back up and got her in bed while jendaby kept my son and went to watch the show. He didn’t last long, though, and they joined us less than an hour later. My daughter was still wide awake, of course.

With both kids in bed if not asleep, I headed back down to the bar, where all the other writers had gathered. justcomeinalone and xlillybelle had just arrived, so we hung out with Hildy, berkanna, ineti, Dave, Glenn, and many many others. Yet again we shut the bar down at 2. I hung around for a little more conversation—including a very amusing discussion about klingonguy and his work with nuns (“Nope, can’t use this one—she’s got a . . .”)—before calling it quits.

Sunday we got up and went down to have breakfast with some of the other writers. Then we went back to the room, packed up, and got ready. I had my Time and Business Management for Writers panel, which Glenn joined me on (though he was, ironically, late), and that went well. After that we checked out of the room. Next I went to the SCE panel. We paused afterward to chat with Dayton, Drew, and Jim before saying good-bye, heading to the car, and getting back on the road.

The drive back home took considerably longer than the drive there, in large part because several accidents caused traffic jams along the way. But we finally made it home around 7, ordered pizza, ate, and got the kids ready for bed. Then around 10 jendaby and I both lay down, ostensibly just to rest for a bit—and didn’t wake up until our son started screaming a little after 3. He was having some issues—we think from spider or mosquito bites—and we were up with him until after six. Which meant I got to close my eyes again for less than an hour before getting up for work.

Whee.

It was a good trip, though. Chasing after the kids was a hassle, of course, and their refusal to sleep was difficult, but the panels were good, we saw a lot of good friends, made several new friends, and generally had fun. We’re definitely planning to attend again next year, though I intend to line up a few more panels and also make better arrangements for the kids next time around.

Shore Leave details

2008-07-09T14:17:00.001-07:00

For anyone attending Shore Leave this weekend, here’s my current schedule:

Friday:
Meet the Pros
10pm-midnight
Hunt-Valley Corridor

Saturday:
Heroes: Claire and Present Danger
1-2 pm
Salon A

Writing and Managing a Day Job
3-4 pm
Salon E

Sunday:
Time and Business Management For Writers
10-11am
Derby Room

I’ll be wandering around the rest of the time, of course, and there are a few other panels (SCE, Morality in the Whoinverse) I might sit in on. Jendaby and the kids will be with me. Look for us if you're there!

New Release!

2008-07-07T06:21:00.000-07:00

And, because I forgot in all the July Fourth madness:

Look, another one of my books came out!

My second World of WarCraft novel Beyond the Dark Portalis now officially available:

I got my author copies last month, and it looks great. Apparently it's currently ranked #3321 at Amazon—I have no idea what that means, but it sounds good to me!

Do they make baby gates out of salt?

2008-07-07T06:20:00.000-07:00

Because that might be the only barrier the demonspawn masquerading as my children would actually respect.

Last night after we put them in bed I went into the office to do some work (reading back over a project I finished Friday and was sending in this morning). A few minutes later I heard all sorts of loud thumping—and giggling. Going into their room, I discovered that our daughter had pushed her child-sized wooden chair up against our son’s crib and set a toy bin lid across its arms to fashion steps for him so he could get out. Very sweet, yes, but not exactly safe and certainly not conducive to sleep. I took the chair away and put him back in.

Five minutes later, he was out again. I don’t know how. She claimed he managed it on his own “with his legs.” I have no idea what that means.

After two or three more returns to his crib, I stepped into their room and caught him mid-act—hanging on the side of his crib by his fingers and toes. It was like one of those action movie scenes where the guy has to duck out of an office window and is clinging to the ledge. Swell. Obviously our son can escape his crib at will now. So I got my tools and the necessary parts and converted his crib to a youth bed—took the front rail off and replaced it with two short guards on the sides to keep him from rolling out of bed in his sleep. Now at least he won’t break his neck escaping his bed.

Unfortunately, this also meant he and his sister now have unfettered access to both beds and to the entire room. They spent the next THREE HOURS racing around. Literally. They didn’t fall asleep until some time between eleven and midnight.

And this morning, shortly after six, they were both in our room. And the bathroom. And the office.

Ugh.

I don’t know how we’ll ever keep them contained again.

In other news, I had a really good weekend. Got off work early Thursday, which is always nice. Friday we went to a friend’s party out in NJ, all four of us, and had a great time—excellent company, good food, volleyball, wine, some other kids for our daughter to play with (and jendaby and I trade off chasing after our son the Destroyer of Worlds). Much fun. We had to leave earlier than we might have liked in order to get the kids home—we put them in PJs before we left and carried them up to bed sound asleep—but we still managed to stay and socialize for a while.

Saturday slothshaman and I went to another friend’s party—really three friends’ party, because one was hosting but another was grillmaster and a third was chief bottlewasher. This one was out in Long Beach and we had a blast—AMAZING food, excellent company, nice walk on the beach. Very cool. I got back around 1:30 but jendaby and I still stayed up to watch the Dr. Who season finale. I enjoyed some of it but large parts were just fanfic and I HATED much of the end.

Yesterday was just chilling at home, except for a short run to the grocery store.

And now it’s back to a regular work week. And hoping there’s still a house—and a wife!—left when I get back home this evening.

Okay, this is cool

2008-06-25T07:50:00.001-07:00

I just got an email informing me that I was one of the featured profiles on NextCat. Neat!

I'm terrible at self-promotion

2008-06-03T07:26:00.001-07:00

I always forget to post when I've got new books out! This one's been out for almost a month already:

It's my first children's book (nonfiction, at least) since the PowerPuff Girls book I did several years ago, so it's nice to step back into that arena again. More soon!

Last gasps of the whirlwind

2008-06-03T07:25:00.001-07:00

Well, it was a long and stressful weekend-plus, but not without its good points.

Thursday night I had dinner with slothshaman, xochitl42, her husband (that’ll take some getting used to!), and our pals Raphy and Tom. Much fun! Then xochitl42 and her hubby and I went and saw Indy4. No spoilers—I enjoyed about 75% of it quite a bit, could have done without a major plot element, and hated the climax. I didn’t regret seeing it, though.

Amusing anecdote: We saw the 9pm show, which meant we got out at 11:30. Thursday night. At the E-Walk in Times Square. As we were exiting our theater we heard a wave of laughing and giggling and chatter coming up the escalators, and saw a massive throng of women lined up and waiting eagerly. You guessed it: they were all going to the midnight showing of Sex in the City. Ugh.

Friday I helped xochitl42 prepare for her move. That night we had a few friends over to hang out and relax and goof off a bit.

Saturday was the move. It went reasonably well, actually—not too much stuff, we only got mildly wet (avoided most of the downpour), and no one got seriously injured. Moving out of a fourth-floor walk-up with narrow, twisted, uneven steps, though? Not recommended. Afterward we drove the truck over to our place, unloaded xochitl42’s desk and desk chair, which we’re minding for her until her eventual return, boxed her computer up more carefully, and had pizza before waving the two of them good-bye. Our real farewell will be next Monday but it was still tough.

Saturday night . . . was bad. Our son broke out with in worst hives we’ve ever seen and was having trouble breathing. We called his doc and she said “ER. Now!” Fortunately by the time we saw the ER doctor (who was very nice and saw him right away, thanks to jendaby) his own adrenaline had calmed the reaction down a little bit, and they gave him medicine to take care of the rest. And we now have an epi-pen for him, which is a good thing given the severity of some of his allergies. We think he probably got hold of a pepper flake from the pizza we had for lunch—peppers are his most violent allergy these days. It was extremely scary, and we are very, very grateful that he is okay.

Sunday, not surprisingly, we were exhausted. But jendaby definitely deserved a break, so I stayed with the kids and sent her off to Raphy’s birthday party, where she had a good time. After the kids were in bed I spent my time cleaning the office, clearing off our desk, moving it out of the way, and then moving xochitl42’s desk in and reassembling the computer. It’ll take some getting used to the new setup but it’s nice. Haven’t figured out what to do with the old desk yet—it may take up residence downstairs as a secondary workspace.

I didn’t sleep well that night—I had trouble breathing, either from allergies, dust, a cold, or some combination thereof. Yesterday was work as usual, and I got through it though I probably wasn’t at my most alert. Last night our son was difficult about going to bed, so after we finally got him to settle down we watched Fool’s Gold because I needed some light fluff. It was perfect—funny, silly, playful, and not requiring an ounce of brainpower.

And now it’s on with the week—jendaby’s out tonight, I’m going to a movie screening tomorrow, we might have friends over Friday. I’m hoping to sleep sometime in between.

The whirlwind continues

2008-05-27T08:39:00.000-07:00

. . . or “Now that’s what I call a weekend!”

Last week was fairly quiet—my dad and G came back up Tuesday and had dinner with us before heading back home Wednesday morning. Predictably, the kids were not happy Wednesday—they’d gotten used to having family around, and suddenly it was just jendaby and I. Oh well. I did go on a late-night shopping expedition to stock up and to prepare for Monday.

Thursday I minded the kids so jendaby could go out and see Iron Man and have dinner with friends. She definitely deserved a night out, and I was glad she had a good time.

Friday was the start of Summer Publishing Hours—Oh, how I love thee!—so I got done a little before 1pm and headed home. That night we had part of the usual crew over and played the best worst boardgame ever! We were up until 1am doing that, which was a blast.

Saturday was xochitl42’s wedding! It was awesome! The day was absolutely perfect, the setting—Cedar Hill in Central Park—was gorgeous, the bride and groom both looked great, the ceremony was really nice, and we were all very happy. The reception was also excellent—except for the wedding party families jendaby and I knew almost everyone there, so we had a great time table-hopping and hanging out. We headed back home in the late afternoon and took it easy that night.

Sunday jendaby was out again—popular lady!—so I stayed with the kids and did some cleaning and some picture-hanging. She came home in early evening; I had been planning to head out then but that got cancelled last-minute, so we had dinner and relaxed instead. We watched War, which wasn’t bad—good if brutal action sequences and a decent storyline, though with an obvious twist. I did like the fact that it wasn’t a Hollywood movie, so lacked the standard Hollywood ending.

Monday (yesterday) we had our annual Memorial Day All-Day Cookout and Game. It was great! We had a bunch of people over (eleven of us in all), tons of food ably grilled by the lovely jendaby, an entertaining game GMed by the redoubtable slothshaman, and a whole lot of snarky fun. The kids were a bit of a handful, particularly my son (whose allergies were driving him nuts), but other than a few understandable screaming fits they were mainly just vying for attention, and of course it was much quieter after they went to bed. We didn’t finish the game but we hung out until around 11:30 (we started around 1:30), then cleaned up a bit and went to bed.

And now it’s back to work, but a shortened week and a half-day Friday. I’ve hopefully got a movie-and-dinner outing with friends on Thursday, and Friday and Saturday I’m helping xochitl42 pack and move. And that’s the end of the month—and perhaps the end of the whirlwind as well. For now.

On with the whirlwind . . .

2008-05-18T17:57:00.000-07:00

It’s been a busy two weeks.

Last Friday (the 9th) jendaby and I got together with a few friends as usual. Low-key but nice.

The next day we (all four of us) headed into the city for our soon-to-be niece-in-law’s birthday party. That was fun—we got to see my youngest sister (YS) and her fiancée (YSF) and meet his parents and sister and her family. Everyone was very nice and the kids had a blast—the birthday girl was turning two and the party was at a kids’ gym with padded floors and all sorts of stuff to climb and crawl under. Afterward we and YS and YSF took the kids to Central Park, stopped off at a playground there, then went to the Natural History museum for a bit and finally out to dinner at Brother Jimmy’s. Good day.

Sunday was Mother’s Day, so as usual we went to a Mets game. It was fun but too windy and cold so we only stayed for the first half. We stopped off at a crafts store on the way home, then relaxed and watched Dr. Who that night.

Monday I went to a screening of Prince Caspian with a bunch of co-workers. It wasn’t bad—I didn’t particularly care for the first one (good effects, decent acting, weak story and very little use for several characters) and I thought this one was better in pretty much every way—but hardly brilliant. Going in a group was fun, though.

Wednesday I went to TekServe and they managed to fix my laptop! And it only cost $40, which was totally worth it—they warned that the keys might not work as perfectly as before but hey, I can type again, which is really all that matters. That night my dad and his girlfriend (G) flew in, so the kids and I picked them up at the airport and then we swung back to get jendaby so we could all go to our favorite diner for dinner.

Thursday was quiet for me—work as usual, etc. I did get a cool book in the mail, pursuant to a possible project—more on that if it pans out. And worked out details for another project as well.

Friday I had lunch with my dad and one of his friends at Second Ave. Deli. Still awesome, and since my dad had kindly brought me a muffuletta from N.O. and I’d had it (okay, half of it) for dinner Thursday night I got to have my two absolute favorite sandwiches in the world (a muffuletta and a Second Ave. Deli pastrami on rye) in the space of two days. Happy happy stomach! That night we had friends over, YS came back out to our house, and she and I went to pick my middle sister (MS) up at the airport. It was ugly out but we got her successfully, and everyone had a good time. Got to bed around two.

Saturday we got up and the girls and I took the kids out to the bakery to get bagels and pastries for breakfast. After eating we hung out for a while before taking the kids to the playground. My dad and G came out that night with my aunt and we all went to Sripraphai for dinner. Excellent Thai food! The kids were completely wiped out by the time we were done, so my aunt gave me a ride home so I could get the car and come back to pick the rest of them up. We all hung out for a bit at home before my dad and I made a late-night shopping run to get diapers and a few other necessities.

Today we all got up and had a nice relaxed breakfast—the kids actually didn’t wake us up until nine, which shows how tired they were. Jendaby and I headed out a little before noon to go into the city for a three-way birthday party (threedukes, jon, and xochitl42), which makes the fourth birthday party we’ve attended in three weeks. We were the first ones there by a wide margin but once everyone else showed we had a lot of fun, and it was nice to be adults-only for a bit—my sisters and my dad and G took the kids to the Queens Hall of Science and had a great time. We got back after MS had already gone to the airport, unfortunately, but got to see my dad and G and YS and my aunt before they all left—my aunt to go home and G and my dad to drive YS back to D.C. It was strangely quiet at dinner—it’s been several days since it was just four of us. The kids were exhausted and fell asleep quickly.

Right now, Dr. Who beckons. Then a little work—I’ve got an outline and two pitches to write—before bed. This week should be reasonably quiet, though my dad and G are back Tuesday evening and leave for N.O. Wednesday morning. And of course we have Memorial Day weekend coming up, and a wedding to attend! Busy busy busy, but it’s been a good busy.

I'd type "Oy!" but I seem to be missing the "y" . . .

2008-05-09T06:28:00.001-07:00

Yesterday my son got hold of the laptop.

Apparently he turned it on. That's fine--frighteningly precocious, but fine. But he also decided to streamline the input process . . .

. . . by removing keys from the keyboard.

He didn't eat them--he doesn't usually put non-food in his mouth, thankfully--and we were able to locate them all. But laptop keyboards aren't like regular keyboards. They have little fiddly plastic bits instead of springs. And some of those are now broken or missing. I was able to reinsert some of the keys but not all of them, amd I don't know if it'll ever function properly again, esp. for real writing.

Ugh.

The moral of this story, clearly, is "just because a child hasn't messed with a particular item before, don't assume they never will."

And so begins . . .

2008-05-05T07:29:00.000-07:00

. . . the Crazy Month of May.

This month is going to be a madhouse for us—far more so than usual for this time of year. My dad and my two younger sisters are visiting, we have several birthday parties and a wedding to attend, we’re going to a baseball game, we have friends coming over, I’ve got a story and some RPG projects to write—and of course that’s in between the regular day job and the kids.

Thursday morning I brought the car in to the mechanic to have it checked over—and to finally fix the door handle, which they broke over a year ago. Then it was off to work as usual.

Friday I picked the car up after work—all tuned up but with the door more of a mess than ever thanks to their discovering they needed a second part they had to order and so leaving the door half-assembled in the meantime. Most of the game group was busy but our friend Peter came over to have dinner, hang out, and watch Juno, which was very cute.

Saturday morning we got up, packed, gathered the kids, and headed out to NJ. We visited jendaby’s grandmother for a few hours, and then headed down to Cherry Hill to see my old buddy Rob. Rob and I have been friends since we met in summer camp back when I was twelve. We hung out together a lot as kids, esp. since our parents became friends as well, and kept in touch once I left New Orleans but haven’t seen each other for years. This despite living only a few hours away—for years we’ve both said we should get together but then would get busy. So we finally made it out to see him, his wife, and their two kids. His parents live nearby and came over as well, which was great—I’ve always liked them and haven’t seen them since we got together for dinner after my parents had moved back to N.O. It turned out to be Rob’s younger son’s birthday party, so we wound up being invited to that, which was very sweet, and we hung out until around 8 before heading out to find our hotel—which was way back in the other direction, since we’d chosen one that was near our cousins up in Skillman. We didn’t get in there until around 10, got the kids in their beds, relaxed and took a bath, and then went to sleep ourselves.

Sunday we got up, packed up, checked out, and headed over to Skillman for our newest cousin’s baptism. That was interesting—very pretty church, very involved service. The kids behaved reasonably well. Afterward we headed back to Steve and Jenny’s for lunch, which was great—hanging out with them and our other cousins and aunt and uncle plus Steve and Jenny’s friends. There were plenty of kids there, so ours got to run around and play quite a bit. We headed back out around five and, despite a little Sunday traffic, got home without any real problem. Had some dinner, gave the kids a bath, and then put them to bed—they sacked out almost immediately. We stayed up for a bit, though, to watch last week’s CSI (good ep) and this week’s Dr. Who (miles better than last year’s Dalek two-part debacle by the same author but still with massive plot holes). Then finally to bed.

I’m home today—some stomach issues, which will hopefully pass soon—but tomorrow night I’m off to see Iron Man. My youngest sister’s already in town, so I’ll hopefully see her some time this week, but if not before we’re getting together Friday and over the weekend. And so the craziness continues.

What I've been up to lately

2008-04-30T07:09:00.000-07:00

It’s been a reasonably good week so far:

Last Thursday jendaby and I brought the kids in for Take Your Children to Work Day. They had a blast—our daughter pretty much took charge of everyone (and immediately claimed one of the two volunteers as her own personal attendant) and our son charmed every female in the area and accidentally bullied most of the other boys (including ones twice his size). I was working, of course, but went over to see them when I could and joined them for lunch. After the activities ended jendaby took them over to MOMA, where our son slept while our daughter pronounced criticisms on several famous artists (for more on that see Jendaby’s recap of the day). Then we all went out for dinner and dessert before heading home. Crazy busy, exhausting, but fun.

Friday was quiet at work, and then we hung out with xochitl42, slothshaman, and Mook—dinner and supposedly gaming but we just round up sitting around talking and laughing instead.

Saturday jendaby and xochitl42 went into Manhattan to do some shopping so I manned the parental battle stations solo for the day. The kids were fine, actually. Jendaby was back in time for dinner, and afterward she and I watched In the Name of the King, which was predictably awful but amused us, particularly the Ray Liotta-Matthew Lillard “No, I can chew more scenery!” competition.

Sunday was an “at-home” day—the kids were a bit more difficult so it took both of us to keep up with them. In between we did a whole lot of laundry, cleaned up here and there, read a bit, took a nice walk in the evening, etc. And that night jendaby and I watched the latest Dr. Who ep., which was a lot of fun.

Monday I had my annual job performance review, which went as expected: “You’re performing to your usual high standards, so thank you. For next year—more of the same, please!” Always nice to know your bosses recognize that you’re doing good work. That night feiran kindly watched the kids for us so jendaby could meet me after work—we had dinner (Dallas BBQ—okay, not great) and went to a movie (Forbidden Kingdom—much fun!) and had a very nice time.

Tuesday night I headed home right after work so jendaby could go out—we’re going to be alternating Tuesdays as a “go have fun!” night (and sometimes if feiran accedes we’ll—gasp!—go out together!)—and go dancing in the city. I got the kids dinner and put them to bed, then dorked around on the computer for a while, cleaned up a bit, etc.

This coming weekend we’re off to NJ for our new cousin’s christening and to see jendaby’s grandmother, as well as to catch up with an old buddy of mine. Should be fun!

I ache all over

2008-04-23T07:10:00.000-07:00

It’s been an . . . interesting week.

On Wednesday I found out that my cousin Bob had died. Bob was a really, really great guy: smart and funny and charming and considerate, a great kidder and a huge flirt but also incredibly sharp and wonderfully supportive. He and my grandfather looked and acted a great deal alike, so it was always strange to remember that in fact it was Bob’s wife Sylvia who was my grandfather’s oldest sister’s daughter. Yes, if you’re doing the math, Bob was of the previous generation, or perhaps even the one before that—he served in World War II (on bomber planes) before returning, marrying Sylvia, and going back into the family fur business before eventually leaving that for public school teaching. He and Sylvia were the first family members jendaby got to meet, many many years ago, and they made her feel welcome right from the start. We last saw him a little over a year ago, when my dad was visiting and we all went out for dinner at our favorite diner. A few weeks later Bob and Sylvia headed down to their winter home in Florida, and a short while after that Bob had a massive stroke. He never regained consciousness. But I’ll always remember him laughing and smiling that impish little grin and clasping me on the shoulder even as he ribbed me and flirted with jendaby and charmed our children.

Friday I went to NYComicCon after work for my book signing. That went well—we gave away copies of Tides of Darkness (Beyond the Dark Portal isn’t out for another month or two) and ran out within twenty minutes so I signed a bunch of Creative Couplings for them (they were going to give those away on Saturday) and then headed home to catch up with jendaby, xochitl42 and Mook. We hung out until around midnight or so, then I worked until 4am to finish up something I had to get in that night—not a work project but something for a volunteer position, so it was my own damn fault.

Saturday I went back to the con to wander around a bit. It was jam-packed, of course, but I still managed to make it to most of the publishers and see a lot of the rest of the floor as well. I ran into a bunch of friends, including Glenn, Bob G., Dave, Keith, and Alan, spoke to several editors I knew, and made a few new contacts as well. Then I headed back home.

Sunday I was going over to two friends’ apartment—luckily for me only a few blocks away—to game with them and a few others. That was starting at 2:30. At 2 jendaby and I discovered the laundry room was full of water. We traced the problem back to the toilet but plunging didn’t help any so we simply bailed it out, sopped everything up, and left it alone for a while. I went to the game and hung out there until around 10, when I headed home. My youngest sister and her newly minted fiancé—who were coming up for the funeral and were staying the night with us—got in maybe twenty minutes after I did and we hung out a little bit before all going to sleep.

Monday was Bob’s funeral. The service was nice, though the kids decided to act up a bit and we had to take them out before the end. Then we all formed a funeral procession and drove out to the cemetery, somewhere in Suffolk. After the graveside service we headed back to Sylvia’s apartment and stayed there for a while before going home. That night I realized that my allergies were too severe and too constant to just be allergies—I had apparently caught a cold. jendaby convinced me to take some cold medicine and I went to sleep.

Yesterday my cold was worse instead of better, but I suffered through it and went to work anyway. On the way home I picked up an auger—also known as a drain snake—and last night after the kids were in bed and after I’d taken a nap I went down and used it to unstop the toilet. Yay! We also did the use trash/recycling/changing the cat litter, though jendaby kindly helped with them because the cold was kicking my butt. Then I went upstairs, took more cold medicine, and went back to sleep.

I’m feeling a little better today—still crappy, still plugged-up, but managing. Hopefully it’ll pass soon. Tomorrow is Take Your Children to Work Day here, and we’re bringing both of the kids in for it, which should be fun but could be utter chaos.

And that’s about all the news here for now.

I-Con report

2008-04-10T07:21:00.001-07:00

Wow, it’s already Thursday and I haven’t posted my I-Con report yet! So, without further ado:

I-Con 27 Report

My buddy Dave and I headed up Friday afternoon—I took my daughter to preschool first, and then we drove out. Traffic wasn’t too bad and we got to I-Con around 4:30. Picked up our badges, met up with Glenn, and the three of us headed out for dinner with Glenn’s dad at Tara’s. If you’re ever out in Port Jefferson, I heartily recommend this place! It’s a bar-restaurant, very casual and no-frills, and the food is excellent! And cheap—I had homemade soup, salad, fries, onion rings, and an excellent T-bone for $15. And the hot wings, oh, the hot wings. . . . .

After dinner we stopped off at 7-Eleven for Slurpees—they have Iron Man helmet Slurpee cups! Awesome! Glenn and I had to get them, of course. Dave laughed at us—his loss. Then we headed back to I-Con for my first panel. Kradical and I were the only two of the four listed panelists to show up, so Glenn sat in to keep us company as we talked about writing tie-ins and particularly how to find something you could call your own even in a licensed property. It went reasonably well. Then we bummed around the dealers’ room and the green room for a little bit before heading off to the Destinies radio show for their special I-Con edition. Always fun. After that Glenn, Dave, their friend Audrey and I went to a diner for dessert. Then it was back to Glenn’s mom’s house—she was graciously putting us up for the weekend, though at least since she was out of town she didn’t have to put up with us—where we stayed up talking until 4 before finally calling it quits.

Saturday Dave and I decided to speak with Russian accents all day, both to annoy Glenn and for our own amusement. I think it worked. We got up at 8:30—was supposed to be 8 but oh well—and all got ready quickly before hitting the con and the green room for some breakfast. Another quick jaunt through the dealers’ room and then it was off to my second panel, on Gems from the Slushpile. That was fun—it was half entertainment (“Here are some of the things we’ve seen submitted over the years”) and half education (“Don’t ever submit something like this!”).

Back to the green room for food and then over to True Tales of the Comic Book Industry, which was cool (and the only panel I went to purely as a spectator). That was immediately followed by Bob’s Film Previews, which is always great—we got trailers for Iron Man, Get Smart, Forbidden Kingdom, and others. Dave and I went looking for some of his other friends after that, and finally found them over by the Art Show—we all hung out for a bit and then headed out for dinner. Tip: If a restaurant was closed due to a fire, check to see if it’s open again before going back. Tip Two: Corsets and laughing hysterically are not a good combination, not if you want to ever breathe normally again.

After dinner we hit the cabaret, which had some really great performances (like the Boogie Knights, who I had never actually seen perform before) and some really bad ones (horrible, horrible filk!). Glenn and Alan and Lisa hadn’t really eaten any dinner, so after the Boogie Knights performed we five fled and wound up back at Tara’s for food. Ah, more hot wings! We got to bed around 2, which was better than the night before.

Sunday we got up around 8 again, got ready, packed up, and Dave and I headed out to the LIRR station to pick up jendaby. Yay! The three of us traipsed over to the con, got her badge (thanks to a very good friend), went to the green room and had breakfast. I had a signing at 11 so I went there while jendaby and Dave perused the dealers’ room and the art show.

The signing was good—I was paired with Sarah Beth Durst, a very cool YA fantasy author I’d met briefly at LunaCon, and we had a great time chatting in between signing things. Then it was back to the green room for lunch—yes, my life revolves around food—before my 2pm panel on Lies and Myths About Publishing. This was by far the best of the three panels I did that weekend—we had a ton of people in the audience, everyone on the panel had a lot of interesting things to say, we all had a lot of fun and the audience seemed really pleased as well.

Jendaby had ditched me for the Boogie Knights concert so Dave and I caught up with her down there, and the three of us wandered the dealers’ room and the green room one more time, catching up with a few friends, before calling it a day. We headed out and got home around 5, where deltagrl and the kids were waiting moderately patiently for us. Ordered pizza, caught up, chilled out, and then I gave both Dave and deltagrl rides home before going home myself and collapsing.

All in all, it was a really good weekend. I got to hang out with some old friends, made a few new friends, improved a few industry contacts, was on several good panels, and had a lot of fun.

Signing at ComicCon

2008-04-08T13:38:00.001-07:00

Expect an update on I-Con soon, but before I forget:

I will be signing at the New York Comic Con next Friday (April 18) at 6pm at the Pocket Books booth. If you're around, stop by and say hi!

I-Con schedule

2008-03-25T13:52:00.000-07:00

Before I forget, I have my schedule for I-Con now, in case any of you are attending and want to find me:

Friday, 7pm
Tie-Ins: Putting a Personal Spin on Shared Worlds
S311
DeCandido(M), Osborne, Rosenberg, Greenberger

Saturday, 11am
“Gems” From the Slushpile
S302
Rosenberg, Crawford(M), Gorinsky, Bilmes
Pros share their amusing (and scary) stories of memorable (for the wrong reasons) submissions

Sunday, 11am
Dealer’s Hall
Signing

Sunday, 2pm
Lies and Myths About Getting Published
S302
Rosenberg(M), Crawford, Bacigalupi, Gorinsky, Bilmes
A surprising take on “accepted” ideas about publishing

Apparently I may be on a comics panel as well, though why I’m not sure. If that is the case I’ll update this list and post to let people know.

LunaCon 2008 report

2008-03-18T13:03:00.000-07:00

LunaCon was very nice and very friendly—it helps that we knew a lot of the other program participants already, so it was very comfortable. We drove up Saturday morning, checked in (nice room!), and had enough time to locate Glenn, get downstairs, register, get our badges, and still make it to David’s Life Jam. I only related one story, from the night of my bachelor party, before I had to head out to my first panel. Jendaby told a story while I was gone, apparently, and to good effect.

The World at Your Fingertips panel was fun and the audience seemed to enjoy it, which is always nice. Afterward I caught up with jendaby and the kids in the Green Room, then we all headed off to the Playing in Someone Else’s Sandbox panel, where my son decided he’d rather sit with me on the panel than with Mommy in the audience. He was being well-behaved and quiet, though—and cute, of course—so nobody minded. The panel itself was good, though it wandered off-topic more than a little. Afterward I wrangled the kids for a bit so jendaby could go to a panel she wanted to see—we found the crafts room and my daughter made a hand puppet while my son just had fun handing her things.

We went back to the Green Room for a bit—it makes such a difference having a place you can sit and relax for a bit and get some water or some chips, esp. with kids! Caught up with Bob and Glenn there and finalized plans for dinner, then took the kids back to our room before I headed out to my third panel, the Game Designers Roundtable. That one’s always fun, though this time it was a bit poignant because David moderated it last year—I’ll always remember him storming in a few minutes late, still dressed as Dumbledore/Gandalf from his Masquerade prep, strolling over to the table, leaning his staff against the wall, taking his chair, and then saying, “Right, let’s get started.”

After my panel I headed back to our room to have dinner with Glenn, Bob, jendaby, justcomeinalone, his friend Lisa, and Rick Marshall of ComicMix. Then they all vacated for the Masquerade, leaving me to mind the wee ones.

That was the only bad part of the con for me. Nor was it anyone’s fault, really, just a combination of factors:

1. We only had the one hotel room, so there wasn’t anywhere I could retreat to once the kids were “in bed.”
2. The crib the hotel provided for our son was too low for him, so he was able to straddle the bars and almost climb out. Which he did. Repeatedly.
3. The hotel was charging an outrageous amount for in-room Internet, too much for me to justify paying, so I had no web access.
4. I couldn’t turn off the lights enough for the kids to get to sleep without sitting completely in the dark.
5. I hadn’t brought a book because I figured I’d go online or write.
6. They were being too loud for me to write.

Finally I gave up on getting them to sleep and turned on the TV. The Incredibles was on Disney, so I helped my daughter shift her sleeping bag over so she could watch while lying down and I lay on the bed and watched. She fell asleep shortly after that. My son took longer but finally succumbed, and by the time jendaby returned both kids were asleep. I needed a little breather—fortunately the Swordsmith party was only a few doors away, so I stopped by there for a drink and to hang out with friends. jendaby traded off with me after a little while, so we both got to chat with xochitl42 and others for a bit

The only other bad moment was later that night—around three—when our son woke up because he hadn’t eaten his dinner and was now starving. We’d had to throw out the leftovers because we didn’t have a fridge, and at that hour nothing was open anywhere, nor did the hotel have snack machines. Fortunately a hotel-desk goddess miraculously located and sent up two small boxes of Cheerios, and thus sated our son consented to slumber once more.

Sunday we had no commitments so we didn’t get up until around 9. I took my daughter with me and we went down to the little snack shop and brought back some juice and things for breakfast, then we got everyone up and dressed and checked out. After dropping the bags in the car jendaby went to a panel and I wandered through the Dealers Room and then went to the Green Room to chill. We all went to a panel on geekdom at 1—and knew all the panelists—which was entertaining, and then it was time to bundle everyone back into the car and head on home.

All in all it was a nice show. I had a good time, both personally and professionally, and got to meet some new people and connect with some old friends. Some cons are big and frantic, some are strictly regimented, and some are cozy and friendly and comfortable. LunaCon is definitely in that last category, and I’ll happily attend again next year.

LunaCon this weekend!

2008-03-10T07:03:00.000-07:00

I keep forgetting to post about this, but I’m a guest at LunaCon again this coming weekend. Jendaby and I are going up, and yes, we’re bringing the kids. Whee! We should be getting in some time Saturday morning and we’re staying the night there, which should make life easier—last year I drove up and drove back Saturday, which was a little tiring.
For those attending, or just curious, here is my schedule:

Saturday, March 15th
11 am-2 pm, Mianus River
David Honigsberg Life Jam
I am not listed as a participant and I have a panel right in the middle, but I will be there for the first hour and hopefully the last one.

noon-1 pm, Bartell Room
The World at Your Fingertips
Building your own world is a challenge for even the most experienced GM. Where do you start? What essential information do you need before you can start a game and how much can you invent off the cuff? What tools are available to assist you? Have internet wikis, name generators, and mapping software made it easier to create, or just easier to get bogged down in details?
Participants: Shaughn Bryant, Adam Nakama, Daniel Robichaud[M], Aaron Rosenberg

2-3 pm, Odelle Room
Playing in Someone Else's Sandbox
Learn about the differences in writing work-for-hire books (such as Star Trek or Star Wars) vs. writing creator-owned original novels. How do they differ creatively and financially? What are the pros and cons of each kind of project for a writer's career?
Participants: Ginjer Buchanan, Keith DeCandido, David Mack[M], Aaron Rosenberg, Susan Shwartz

6-7 pm, Poplar Room
Game Designers' Roundtable
Game designers of various RPGs talk about particular challenges of design and worldbuilding. What is the relative importance of setting versus game mechanics? How do you avoid coming across as derivative?
Participants: Leigh Grossman, Georgia Horesh, Aaron Rosenberg

I’m sure we’ll be attending the Masquerade—I know jendaby will, at least—and we’ll be around the rest of that day and night and at least part of the following morning as well.

Oh, come on!

2008-02-28T07:11:00.000-08:00

Last night, as those in the area already know, was seriously f*cking cold.

So of course . . .

Jendaby and I decided to relax and watch some Black Books after the kids were finally asleep. On the way down to the basement she clicked on the heater. On the way back up she checked it, because the house felt a bit cool.

No heat.

So, being a wonder-worker, my lovely wife went down and fiddled with the furnace. I’m good at some mechanical things, she’s good at others—we make a good team. She understands the furnace. To me it’s all a mystery except that there’s flames and gas and stuff.

An hour or so later, she called me to come downstairs. No luck with the furnace. The pilot light wouldn’t stay on—it’d light but went out as soon as she let go the starter button.

Great. It’s past midnight. It’s freezing cold. And we have no heat.

Jendaby thought it was the thermocouple, which we had already had replaced once three years ago. She was pretty sure she could replace it herself if we got a new one. Home Depot carries them.

Home Depot closes at eleven. It doesn’t open again until five.

We then spent the next hour and a half or so digging out every blanket we have, piling them on the kids’ beds and our own, dragging the dehumidifier up from the basement and putting it in the kids’ room—it puts off a fair bit of heat—and then bundling up under the covers. We got to bed around two.

I get up a little after six. Dragged on clothes, got in the car, drove to Home Depot, bought a new thermocouple for ten bucks—it’s amazing how quiet that place is at 6:30 in the morning on a weekday!—and drove back home. My lovely wife then got up, went downstairs, and installed it (with a little help from me, just because the plumbers had screwed the old one in really tightly). And Voila! Heat! Yay!

Now I am at work. I was only as few minutes late, amazingly enough. And the short sleep has not yet hit me, though I know it will, probably after lunch. But at least my wife and kids are snug at home, and I will be able to return to a warm house tonight. My wife rocks.

When you put it that way, it looks like I've been busy!

2008-02-19T13:47:00.000-08:00

Right, it’s been a bit since the last update. Here’s what’s been happening:

* jendaby and I went out for dinner and a movie for the first time since last October (we’ve been out to dinner since then but not with a movie). We saw Jumper, which was fun—not a brilliant film but entertaining and I liked the effects. Shame about the romantic lead’s apparent heroin habit, though—and about Hayden Christenson’s lack of acting ability. Oh well.

* Saw Cloverfield. I enjoyed it—not overwhelmingly so, but I thought it was fun, and a clever way to approach that particular genre.

* Talking to a few people about a few things, still. Some irons go cold, others get added to the fire, still others get reworked and put back in again. And around we go . . .

* Moved our son into our daughter’s room this weekend. Yes, she’s still in there as well. She’s been complaining about nightmares lately and wanted company, he’s been fussing at night and loves being in her room, we wanted to actually get some sleep—it’s a win all around. So far it’s working fairly well. And it’s actually the first time we’ve had a kid-free room in four years, since by the time our daughter moved into her own room jendaby was heavily pregnant with our son. It’s weird getting used to the quiet in there.

* My guest info went up on the ShoreLeave page, so now that’s official, too.

* Turned in an RPG project for Talisman Studios. Much fun, and just the first of many. Oh yes, and they put up a press release about my joining them—you can read it here.

* Found out that Thrilling Tales Quarterly #1 is now out. It includes my first Gunshade story, “Rapid Fire.” You can find out more about the magazine—and order it— here.

This weekend jendaby is taking a trip for fun, leaving me to take care of the whirling dervishes. I’m happy she gets to go but dreading minding both kids on my own for two-and-a-half days. Oh well. I’ll manage.

That’s all I can think of at the moment. If I forget anything important I’ll either edit the post or put up an addendum. You should now wait with bated breath. :)

Since I have a moment . . .

2008-01-29T07:48:00.000-08:00

It’s been two weeks since my last post, and I’m waiting for Design to locate one of their own files (a rush project, natch), so—time for an update.

Let’s see, what’s gone on in the past two weeks?

We had our annual Wassail! party, which was a lot of fun. We had ten guests this year, the largest group ever, and a ton of food (and of course Wassail—for those unfamiliar with it, that’s a spiced hot apple cider drink, usually alcoholic though we let people spike their own). I ran the game, which involved characters from all over (several different worlds/settings, some original and some pulled from movies, comics, books, or TV shows) being abducted by interdimensional slavers and eventually sold as prey in a Hunt which, if they survived, would grant them freedom and riches. It was a bit less focused than usual because of the sheer number of players but I think everyone had a good time.

Last weekend we went out to Mt. Holly, NJ—I had a work project there (more about that some other day, if things work out) and at the last minute discovered that jendaby and the kids could come with me. It’s less than two hours away so we drove down ourselves (instead of riding in a fifteen-passenger van with some of the others, which would have been fine for me but not so good for/with the kids) on Friday night. We were staying at a Best Western and thought we had a suite but discovered that wasn’t true—instead we had a queen bed and no couch. The hotel provided a cot for our daughter and a crib for our son, though, so that was fine. And we did have a Jacuzzi, which was cool. Oddly enough, when we got into the room it had no lights—every single bulb was burned out. Weird. And the TV had no cable. They fixed that, fortunately, since this was the weekend our son decided he actually liked television. Saturday was the Fire & Ice Festival—chili cook-off and ice carving—which was fun. I was working most of the day, but jendaby got to spend time with our cousin and one of our uncles, so that was cool. Sunday I worked in the morning, then we checked out, went out for lunch (if you ever get the chance to eat at the Vincentown Diner, do so!), and visited jendaby’s grandmother before heading home. It was a fun trip, very educational for me, and could lead to some really good things down the road.

In other news, work sucks. I am currently hating my job. There’s more work than I can handle and of course they won’t hire anyone to help but then they complain about the work not getting done on time. Gee, why would that be? Bleah.

On the plus side, I’ve been confirmed as a guest at I-Con again this year. We’re all going and should have a nice weekend. I’m also a guest at ShoreLeave in July, but no author guest page up yet, so expect a link at a later date.

Freelance work is picking up a bit—I’ve got six projects to do between now and the start of May. Yipes! None of them huge, fortunately, but I’m going to be fairly busy for a while.

Tonight jendaby and I are going out to a fancy restaurant because it’s Restaurant Week! Whee!

I think that’s it for the moment. More some other time.

First post of the new year . . .

2008-01-15T12:56:00.000-08:00

. . . and little to say.

It’s been quiet the past two weeks. Well, as quiet as it gets for us, anyway.

The kids are good—a handful, both of them, getting into everything and pushing boundaries and so forth, but still cute and often sweet and still pretty well-behaved, all things considered.

jendaby and I are good—jendaby’s been rocking on her etsy store (http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5448586), doing all kinds of cool craftwork.

Work’s busy but not insane, which is fine. I need to write a project that’s due next month, and to finally sit down and put finishing touches on another one. I’m talking to people about various other possibilities for the year, some in familiar fields and some in new ones.

One thing that’s been a lot of fun this past week has been over at my buddy aaronace’s LJ. He’s been putting up a different original image each day, and inviting people to write flash fiction to accompany them. I’ve done four or five so far, and it’s been a blast—nice and short, very immediate, no quandaries, no licensing issues, no outlines, just short fun fiction.

We had a nice quiet New Year’s—dinner with qadgop and skoobwoman and then home to chill and watch the ball drop. Last weekend we had dinner with them again, and then the next day had lunch with my youngest sister and her boyfriend—I tried not to do too much of the “protective big brother” thing. This coming weekend we have Wassail!, our all-day gaming party. I’m running, and so far I have ten players. Whee! Should be a good time, though—drinks, food, gaming, and good friends.

I may be taking a weekend trip out to New Jersey later this month. More on that some other time, perhaps.

And tonight jendaby and I get to go out on a date! Yay!

Long-ish update

2007-12-28T08:35:00.001-08:00

Just realized it’s been more than two weeks since my last update. Wacky. Time’s moving at a strange pace these days—half the time it feels slow as molasses, but then suddenly I look around and go “hey wait, is it really almost 2008?”

Hanukkah was nice, and I got some cool stuff, including a Tardis cell phone charm, a Carbon Leaf CD, a ton of cool movies, and both seasons of Dark Angel. Whee!

We had our big crazy Newscorp City holiday party on the 14th. Jendaby and I had fun wandering around looking at everything, trying the food in each room (the food is one of the low points of the party, unfortunately), having drinks, occasionally bumping into people I knew, and just checking out the crazy décor and wildly varied outfits. Also, big thanks to xochitl42 for watching the kids that night so all three of us could go.

Last Friday we had a holiday party of sorts for just Children’s Books. It was at work, during the last two hours of the day, in the conference rooms, and was a bit weird—half the time no one was around at all, and then there was a brief period where the rooms were jam-packed. And of course it was the Friday afternoon before X-mas, so a lot of people had already left on vacation. Strange.

jendaby attended a Yule ritual that same night, and I minded the kids so she could go. Fortunately watching the kids was pretty easy, since they both behaved during dinner and dessert and bed-prep and once they’re in bed all’s quiet. I took advantage of the time to watch two movies I didn’t think jendaby would want to see: Bloodrayne2 (cheesey vampire Western whose only redeeming features were Natassia Malthe and Michael Pare) and Grindhouse: Death Proof (odd movie—good dialogue but way too much of it, strangely slow except for a few frenetic moments).

I didn’t have work Monday or Tuesday, so we just stayed home and hung out. Our son turned two Monday—time flies!—and we celebrated by watching him open presents and play with all his new loot and then having cake. jendaby had pointed out a few days earlier that it was like a time-activated switch went off in him somewhere recently, because he’s started saying “No! No no no!” to everything. Ah, the Terrible Twos—here we go again.

The long weekend was . . . long. I love my kids but they’re a handful and they both want my constant attention when I’m there, which is sweet but exhausting. It was also grey out most of the time, which always leaves me feeling a little bleah.

Wednesday I was back at work. There were six of us in my division, out of seventeen. There were four designers, out of something like twenty-five. And I was it for DTP. And of course everyone had left the worktable piled high Friday—and most of it was due Wednesday. Busy busy me. But at least no one put anything new on there.

Yesterday wasn’t as crazy. And today’s been fairly calm. So that’s good.

I’ve got Monday and Tuesday off, so another four-day weekend followed by another three-day week. Despite kid-fatigue, I could get used to this.

Tomorrow jendaby is going out to hang with many of her/our friends. Sunday I’m getting together with some other friends to start a new game (I’m playing, not running). Monday night we have dinner with deltagrl, skoobwoman, and qadgop, then jendaby and I will take the kids home, hang out, and ring in the new year. If anyone’s around and wants to join us, let me know.

And that’s about all for now—I’ll probably post a 2007 rundown/reminiscence some time over the weekend.

Duh. Books!

2007-12-10T08:19:00.001-08:00

In all the recent craziness, I completely forgot to mention that I’ve had two more books out in the past month.

First there’s the new Star Trek: Corps of Engineers omnibus, Creative Couplings.

I wrote the title two-parter with glenn_hauman.

Then there’s Hour of the Daemon, the final book in my Warhammer Daemon Gates trilogy.

I am pleased. :)

Ups and Downs—Mostly Ups

2007-12-10T08:17:00.000-08:00

Well, most of my weekend rocked.

Friday we gamed. Whee! It had been ages since we’d actually played, so it was nice to get back to it. And we basically wrapped up the first Supernatural story arc—and have a lead-in for the next one. Heh heh.

Saturday we had waterworks. Ugh. We’d noticed a leak under the bathroom sink earlier in the week so I called the plumber and they sent someone out (they asked if I wanted to wait until Monday, which would cost less, but I decided I’d rather have it dealt with while I was home). He took a look, said “yep, it’s your [insert plumbing term here]. No problem.” I’d also asked them to check the drips in the bathtub and the shower—both annoying, both there since we bought the house, neither a major issue—and also asked the plumber if he could actually set the sink flush to the wall (it was out about two inches, and couldn’t simply be shoved back because of the pipes). He said, “Oh, sure. I’ll just need to offset the pipe here” and pointed to show me exactly where. His finger grazed the pipe in question—and it burst. No, I’m not kidding. One minute, steady leak. The next—Boom! Water spraying everywhere!

So he and I go racing downstairs for the water main—past a very confused and amused jendaby. By the time we made it down there, shoved the chair out of the way, opened the utility closet and shut down the water, there was half an inch of water covering the bathroom floor—and water pouring from the living room ceiling. Which is actually a good thing—that was water that had spilled behind the sink and down along the radiator pipe, and if not for pre-existing cracks in the ceiling it might have sat there and rotted beams and such. Instead it drained out. But it meant us scrambling to set up towels and bowls to catch it all, and of course confusing the hell out of my son and the cat (our daughter was not feeling well, and was curled up in the basement watching a DVD and sipping ice water).

The plumber was great, though. Fixing the sink only took him about ten minutes—and it would have burst soon regardless, so definitely better it happened while he was right there. Fixing the bathtub (original fixtures, original washers, now nonexistent) took even less time. Fixing the shower took the longest because the plumbing was original and had never been touched so he had to literally chisel the faucet pipes out of the tiles so he could replace them. But now we have nice new pieces in the shower, new pipes under the sink, and no drips or leaks anywhere. Yay!

The rest of Saturday afternoon was fine—my daughter and son were both cranky, her because she wasn’t feeling well and him just because. After dinner and of course Hanukkah candles we left the kids in deltagrl’s able hands and jendaby and I headed into the city.

First stop was feiran’s birthday dinner. That was great—we had excellent food and a great time. Then we all headed to the subway together and took the train together for a few stops. jendaby and I split off at Times Square to catch the 7 over to Grand Central, and from there we walked to our next destination: our friend Tom’s birthday celebration.

That was also excellent. It was in a bar called the Overlook, and they had the whole upper floor for it—really nice place, very cool, and the bartenders and wait staff were excellent. We hung out and caught up with not only Tom but our friends Scott and Jon, neither of whom we’d seen in years. And then we briefly caught up with our friend Nick on the way out as well. Much fun, and really nice to see some good friends. We took a cab back home—easy enough at the hour—and then toddled off to bed.

Sunday was good. I got up around 9 or so and took the kids downstairs to let jendaby sleep a little more. She came down around 11 and we hung out for a bit before I hit the road to go grocery shopping. The kids were much better that night, and after they went to bed jendaby and I checked email and hung out and watched some Sarah Jane Adventures and chilled a bit. Then I went up and collapsed.

So, all in all a really nice weekend, with lots of friends and lots of snuggling. The only downsides were my daughter not feeling well—and she’s doing better—and the plumbing, which could have been worse and is now all nice and fixed.

A little tired, perhaps

2007-10-19T06:58:00.000-07:00

It’s been a busy week.

My dad got in last Tuesday and just left last night—as always it was really good to see him but since he likes to decide everything last minute it’s been hectic. We had a good time, though, and of course the kids were thrilled to see and spend time with Grandpa.

Had my birthday bash on Friday (yes, I am now OLD)—and for those reading this locally who I forgot to invite, I apologize. Mea culpa. Too many plans zinging around at once—I was bound to miss someone. About fifteen of us went out to dinner (Righteous Urban Barbeque, on 23rd between Eighth and Ninth—friendly and fun and reasonably good though not phenomenal food). After that half of us traipsed over to a nearby pool hall (Broadway Billiards Café, on 21st between Fifth and Broadway—a little rundown but in a comfortable way, with plenty of tables and decent lighting, definitely the right choice) to play for several hours. It was great, and I was really glad so many people could come out for it—I was only sad that both jendaby and deltagrl wound up missing it.

Saturday morning I took jendaby to the doctor while my dad watched the kids. We were back before too long (I won’t go into details, but suffice to say there are some medical issues that, while not great, could be far worse and will hopefully resolve themselves soon) and my dad hung out for a little before driving down to Providence to attend the wedding of a family friend (the daughter of an old friend of his—the families hung out together back when I lived in Providence, a long long time ago). I opened presents and had a nice relaxed rest of the day and a very nice evening.

Sunday was quiet, or at least I don’t remember anything in particular from it. No wait, I take that back—had a nice morning, then went shopping at Target, where I bought a bunch of blanket sleepers for the kids, new shoes and a shirt for me, and some Halloween decorations. Whee!

Monday night feiran kindly came over to mind the children. I feel so much less guilty asking someone to watch the kids now that they both go to sleep (not just to bed but actually asleep) by nine!

Tuesday jendaby went off to the city to have dinner with deltagrl, xochitl42, and a visiting LJ friend while Dad and I took the kids out to our favorite diner for dinner. Highlights of that were my daughter spilling chocolate pudding *everywhere!* but not getting upset until she realized she’d ruined the paper doily that they put under the dish and my son flirting with (and completely captivating) a young couple at the next table.

Wednesday over lunch I got to meet jendaby’s friend, who was very nice indeed. Nice quiet evening at home.

Last night after dinner I drove Dad to JFK for his flight home. Funny thing about that: his flight was originally scheduled for 9:45, got delayed to 10:59, got moved back *forward* to 10:00, then got moved back to 9:50. I’m glad we kept checking! Got back home, we watched Supernatural, and then we conked out.

Tonight the game group is over, which is always good. Saturday night I go to pick serpentstar and his family up at the airport. Saturday is also jendaby and I’s fifth wedding anniversary, but we’re actually going out to celebrate on Monday instead.

What else? Turned in a pitch for something yesterday, so we’ll see how that goes. Hoping to finish up several other projects over the next two weeks because I’m thinking of doing NaNoWriMo this year (I know I’ve said this before, but this year I might actually be able to participate!). Waiting to hear back on a few other things. Working. The usual.

WarCraft Q&A

2007-10-11T06:48:00.000-07:00

Last week, Lacey Waymire at the Shadow Council Strider invited me to do a Q&A about Tides of Darkness. It was a lot of fun, and it's now up here. Check it out!

Just catching up a bit

2007-10-08T06:48:00.001-07:00

Thursday afternoon and all day Friday I had InDesign CS3 training for work. Boring instructor, varied student-comprehension, but some good material. I’m looking forward to using the program for real instead of just tinkering with it—it has some nice features that will make our work much easier.

Friday night the game group came over. Jendaby had decorated the house and made a cake because Saturday was my daughter’s fourth birthday! So we ordered food (she was allowed to pick whatever she wanted and went for fish & chips—gee, can you tell she’s our daughter?), sang her Happy Birthday, and had cake. She got to stay up a little later than usual, and then after she and her brother went to sleep we played, which was fun.

Saturday morning my little girl officially turned four. Wow. Time flies—I still remember her falling asleep on my shoulder as a newborn and now she’s in preschool! Amazing. Anyway, we had breakfast and then she opened her presents, and there was much grinning and squealing. I think her two favorites were the jump rope jendaby and I got her (one of several presents from us, of course) and the Little People Animal Circus her aunt got her, though she was also excited about some books and insisted they be read to her right away. We desperately needed to go shopping so after lunch we went to the store (Halloween decorations! Pumpkins!) and also to Home Depot, which the kids enjoyed. Then we ordered pizza—one of Birthday Girl’s favorite foods—and had more cake and finally got her and her brother to bed. I conked out for a while, finally woke up enough to wash up, woke up completely, and decided to sit down and write out a pitch that had been bouncing around in my head. I got it finished, which made me feel like I’d accomplished something myself that day but meant I didn’t actually get to bed until around 3.

Sunday was recuperation and more work. Jendaby had plans for the front yard so I hung out with the kids for a bit. I managed to get some work done on a project while they were watching a DVD, and then did more work while our daughter went outside to help jendaby garden and our son went into his crib for a nap. Afterward our daughter got a much-needed bath (she had had a great time outside and it showed!), then we had something to eat and all took a nice walk. Came back, got dessert, got the kids in bed (she was difficult, he wasn’t), went downstairs and finally watched the first two CSIs of the season with jendaby, then she went up to do some work and I tinkered with the family room window a bit more (spackle tonight or tomorrow!), checked email and LJ, and then traipsed on upstairs for bed.

What else? Got a disappointing email from a publisher early this morning—a mix-up regarding a project, nobody’s fault, really. They want me work with them more, however, so that’s cool. My dad gets in tomorrow and will be with us for most of a week. I’m working on details for my birthday bash this Friday. I’ve got a few irons in the fire that I need to stoke. That’s about it for now.

Back in the saddle

2007-10-01T06:44:00.000-07:00

I’m writing again! Woo-hoo!

No, I don’t just mean this update. :) I mean fiction—specifically, fiction that’s not for an assignment or anything. Just fiction for fiction’s sake.

We were gaming one night a few weeks back, and jendaby came up with the name “Pisces Macnamara.” I immediately said, “wow, that’s got to be a character in something somewhere!” Somehow I added the appellation “wool bastard” to it. And this Saturday the opening lines to “Pisces Macnamara, Wool Bastard” came to me:

“It’s not often you find yourself facing a loaded fish. This one was a bass. They always make me nervous.”

I sat down to write that so I wouldn’t forget it, and wound up typing out about a thousand other words beside. Wow, that felt good! I’ve mentioned to various friends before that for me writing fiction is an addiction—I get a sort of high when I’m writing, like an adrenaline rush, and I get withdrawal symptoms (increased grouchiness, short temper) when I haven’t written in a while. This is the first fiction I’ve written in probably two months, and I suspect my occasional grumpiness since then has been those symptoms, masked slightly by the general good mood I’ve been in otherwise.

Anyway, I don’t really know where the story’s going yet, or how long it will be, or what I’ll do with it once it’s finished. But it feels really good to be delving into it!

In other news—hm, nothing tremendously newsworthy since the last update but things are good. Jendaby’s still busy with freelance work—go, her! She's also had outings the last two weekends while I watched the kids, which is cool. Our daughter is loving preschool. Our son is hysterical and knows it. My youngest sister was up for a brief visit this past week, which was nice.

I’m still tinkering with the basement windows and I’m just about ready for spackling and plastering them now, which will be the final steps before primer and paint. I’m also randomly cleaning up shelves, bookcases, filing cabinets, etc.

We watched the final episodes of Blackpool with deltagrl and justcomeinalone—much fun. I found out that one of my novels is going to be pushed back by a few months, which is disappointing but there’s nothing to be done about it. I watched Highlander: the Source, which was just as stupid as I’d expected. We’re checking out the new shows, and I’m enjoying Chuck and Reaper and willing to give Journeyman, Bionic Woman, and Life a few more chances to prove themselves worthy. Heroes is back—happy happy!

Oh yes, and I went to the dentist last week. First time in five years or so. She told me I have very healthy, very strong teeth—and one small cavity. My first ever. I’m going back tomorrow for a full cleaning and to have it filled. Ugh. I suppose I should be pleased that, in a little shy of four decades, this is the first cavity I’ve gotten. I’m dreading the procedure, though—not because of the drills but because of the possibility of needles.

It’s now October, which is always a crazy time for us: my sister’s birthday, my daughter’s birthday (four!), my birthday (far older than four!), our wedding anniversary (five!), my aunt’s birthday (also older than four!), and of course Halloween. Plus a good friend and his family will be visiting, as will my dad (though at different times). xochitl42 and I are going to see Bloc Party this Wednesday—first concert I’ve been to in years, so I’m psyched. I’m trying to plan my birthday (dinner and billiards, I think) and I’ve got a project to pitch by mid-month, plus something I’m working on with a friend right now. Busy busy.

And did I mention that I’m writing again? :)

Musing about treats

2007-09-11T06:38:00.001-07:00

After talking to jendaby and deltagrl this weekend about how people deserve to treat themselves sometimes, I got to thinking. When was the last time I treated myself to anything? When was the last time I actively went out and did something new purely for fun? When was the last time I bought something purely for fun?

I honestly don’t know. I can’t think of anything. Which makes me realize my life must be pretty boring, or perhaps it’s just that I am boring.

During the week I get up, go to work, come home, hang out with jendaby and the kids, have dinner, give our daughter dessert and then get her ready for bed. Most nights after that I check my email and then write. Some nights I read or watch a movie, usually if jendaby needs to do her work. Once a week our friends come over to game. Once a week (though we missed a week or two) deltagrl and justcomeinalone come over for dinner and a movie. Sometimes deltagrl comes over to just hang out.

On the weekends I sleep as late as our daughter will let me (usually between eight and nine), get up, we all wash up and get dressed and go downstairs, and then we spend the day together. I check email and write a bit in the afternoon when our son is taking a nap and our daughter is watching a DVD. Sometimes I putter with house stuff. Sometimes we go grocery shopping or to HomeDepot, or both. The nights are basically the same as during the week.

So really, outside of work and watching the kids, what do I do with myself? Go online, write, read, watch movies, game, do minor home repairs. That’s about it.

Jendaby and I are hoping to go out more once we get used to our new schedules: our daughter going to preschool, our son going to bed when our daughter does each night, and jendaby’s new freelance work. That will be nice. We can go to dinner, go to a movie, etc.

But that’s the two of us. What do I do for myself? And what do I ever buy?

I stopped buying comic books a while back—too expensive to justify for such brief entertainment and half the time I’d go weeks before getting around to reading them. I don’t buy books—I already have a stack I haven’t read yet, and the few books I do still specifically want are on my wish list for birthdays and holidays. Same with DVDs—I never buy them myself but I often get them as presents. I buy new clothes only when I need them. I buy lunch during the week, but that’s a necessity—not buying it but certainly having lunch. I’m not a big music person, and what CDs I do listen to are mostly from friends or belong to jendaby. I have a slew of action figures but they were all either presents or thrift store/garage sale finds and they already cover the back desk in my office.

The last thing I clearly remember buying for myself that I knew I didn’t need but wanted anyway was a sword. And that was at I-Con two or possibly three years ago.

So, a question to anyone reading, which can be taken both generally and specifically: What should I do to treat myself? In general, what do other people do to treat themselves? And in specific, is there anything you think I should do or get for myself? Because I really can’t think of anything.

If this all sounds like a complaint, it’s not. I’m not whinging about my life. I have a good life, filled with love and laughter. I love getting to spend time with my family and with my friends. I am content enough with my job and happy to be writing. I just wonder if I should be treating myself in some way, and if so what that is. When we were in Chicago, for example paintersam and I got a bunch of different local root beers to try, because we both like good root beer. That was definitely a treat, and though jendaby did try them later it was really for paintersam and I. So it doesn’t have to be anything big. It just has to be something that’s for me.

Another nice long weekend

2007-09-04T07:12:00.001-07:00

Had a nice long weekend.

Thursday deltagrl and justcomeinalone came over for dinner (General Toa’s chicken!) and to watch The Commitments (“F*ck you, you fat f*cker!”). A good time was had by all. :)

Friday was my last short day—ah, alas, the end of summer publishing hours! How I shall miss thee, half-day Fridays! Though I don’t mind being able to get here a little later in mornings, and leaving half an hour earlier at night again will be nice. We didn’t game Friday—people busy, out of town, etc.—so after the kids went to bed jendaby did some more freelance work (she’s such a hard worker!) and I watched a movie (not so much on the hard work!). Oh, and I went grocery shopping, which is nice and quiet at 9pm on a Friday night.

Saturday was more hanging out, relaxing, and jendaby doing some work. I also played with the inside of the family room window—I’ve been having fun filling in the gaps between the new window frame and the wall with various pieces of wood, like a Chinese puzzle box. It looks a little odd now, because of the varied pieces, but it’s nicely filled in and once I seal them all and then prime and paint them or plaster and paint them it’ll look really good. Deltagrl came over that evening to hang—yo, ’sup, girl?

Sunday was another quiet day. Did some general cleanup, watched the kids, hung out, relaxed—I did do a little revision work on a novel and have all but one bit finished, so I wasn’t a complete bum, at least.

Yesterday (Monday) we had friends over: deltagrl, xochitl42, and mook. Jendaby was grillmistress as usual and did her usual excellent job: hamburgers, hot dogs, and kielbasa, yum! I made sweet potato fries, which weren’t as crunchy as usual (I soaked them a bit longer than normal) but were still tasty. We also had salad and, later, ice cream and peach pie. This was the start of our new Supernatural campaign, which I think went well. We wound up playing until around 11, 11:30.

Deltagrl watched the kids for us in the morning, because I had to go back to work (argh!) and jendaby had to report for jury duty. Fortunately they took pity upon jendaby and sent her home. Yay! This means she can take our daughter to her first day of preschool!

Let’s see, what else is going on? I had a brief scare with the shower early last week because the ceiling was damp again, but either that was residual or the extra grout touch-up I did helped because it’s stayed bone dry the rest of the week. I still need to clean up the ceiling a bit, clean up some of the shower tiles, and add a touch more grout in a few places just to be safe, but otherwise I think we’re good.

Got word back about a story pitch—not as positive as I’d hoped but still positive. I have some work to do the first half of this month, and I’m talking to people about various other things as well.

Work is work. ‘Nuff said there.

Our son is now weaned and sleeping in his crib—he does cry some nights when he wakes up, but once or twice he’s actually slept straight through. Yay!

FaceBook is incredibly addictive.

I’m still a bit tired, though not terribly so. But I’m happy these days. Life is good.

Tides dead ahead!

2007-08-27T13:11:00.000-07:00

That was the other cool thing that happened this weekend. I got my author copies of Tides of Darkness! It looks great, and it's officially available now, so anyone who wants a copy, follow the link! :)

Yes, I am well pleased.

Role reversal

2007-08-27T13:10:00.000-07:00

Interesting but good weekend.

Friday, I got home, had a quick bite, and then got to work on the shower grout. Took me about two hours. Then the game group came over, we had dinner, we gamed, etc. Got to bed around 2 or so, which is the earliest we’d managed in days (between Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night we managed ten hours of sleep total. But they were good nights nonetheless).

Saturday and Sunday were a new experience for me. Jendaby had her freelance work to do, so I kept the kids out of her hair. I’ve watched them by myself before, of course, when she’s gone out with friends, but it’s very different when she’s in the house but upstairs and busy. I’ve subjected her to this more than once when I’ve had a nasty writing deadline to meet, so it’s only fair I give her space to work when she needs it. But it was strange for both of us. And now I think she understands better what it’s like—and how hard it is—to focus and work at home. I certainly understand better how frustrating it can be to mind the kids by yourself when your spouse is only a floor or two away but cannot be disturbed.

jendaby completed enough of her work by Sunday afternoon, fortunately, that we were able to have a lovely evening. Then she finished up, I applied sealer to the grout (just to be sure), and we went to bed, tired but happy.

I took a shower this morning—I’d been reduced to taking a bath over the weekend while the grout dried—and the ceiling beneath it was still bone-dry when I left for work. So hopefully that did the trick. I need to clean up the tiles a bit but otherwise we should be good there. Which means on to finishing out the interiors of the two basement windows, and other items on my long to-do list.

Still, a nice weekend, with a few very high points indeed.

Catching up

2007-08-20T06:41:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been quiet for a bit. We were in Chicago for a week, visiting my friend paintersam, which was fun. We were gone from the 2nd through the 9th, and I've been meaning to post details about the trip. But:

1. Our phone went out the weekend we were back. Also, our cable and Internet. It had been working fine when we got home and then suddenly one morning, nothing. Jendaby talked to TimeWarner and they recommended we try removing the router, which we did. And bing! Cable and Internet were working again. But no phone. Which meant our phone router was shot. AT&T does not have any place online where you can order a new router, so it took a while for me to get through (I had to wait until I was at work because waiting 10-15 minutes on a cell phone? No thanks.) to a real person, explain that yes, I had tried everything, and that yes, I really did need a new router. She sent it Monday, it arrived Tuesday, I had it installed that night (more calls to them so they could activate it, of course), and we were back in business.

2. We discovered a leak over the stairs to the second floor—right under the shower. Not good. It was a slow leak, fortunately—a patch of ceiling where the paint had bubbled up and watermarked and it was noticeably damp, but no actual dripping. Jendaby called the plumber, who came out and informed us that it was either a) the lead pan beneath the shower, which is several thousand dollars to replace (and would then require someone to rebuild the ceiling) or b) the shower grout, which I can fix myself. Fortunately they did a test and ruled out option a), so I just need a weekend where I can fix the grout (it takes 48-72 hours to dry and I am not up to taking a bath in the morning before work).

3. Colds. The kids came down with a cold, and then jendaby and I both caught it as well. It hit her pretty hard—I got a mild dose—but still it was a week of sniffling and stuffed-up noses, cranky kids, and little sleep.

4. I went back to work. Judging from the piles waiting for me on the work table, I’d say they missed me. I actually wound up putting in overtime last week, which I never do but it was necessary.

So yeah, we’ve been a bit busy.

On the plus side:

1. Our cousins came back out the weekend we were back, and the two basement windows are now nice and tight. I need to finish the interiors on both, which will require some wood, some caulk, some spackle, and then some paint, but that’s just aesthetic—they’re both airtight and watertight now, and both look good on the outside.

2. The ENnie Awards were this weekend—and Lure of the Liche Lord won! Whee! I need to find out if I get a plaque or a certificate or anything for it. That would be cool.

3. I’ve been talking to an editor and a friend (two separate people) about a possible joint project. It would be a lot of fun if it worked out, but as usual I’m not saying anything until it’s a done deal.

4. Our son is taking more naps in his crib, and one night he actually slept through the night! Whee! Of course he’s refused to do so since then, out of protest, but it’s a start.

5. jendaby got a job! WooT! You can check her LJ for details.

6. I’ve been replacing all the lightbulbs in the house with natural light mini-fluorescents. They’re awesome! They really do look like natural light, they use a fraction the energy of an incandescent, and they last for years! It’s very weird now to be in one of the rooms that can’t use them (both my office and my daughter’s room, plus the living room, need different-size bulbs) because you can definitely see a difference in the quality of light.

7. Hanging out with our local friends again. Yay!

But I will write up the trip, I promise. :)

Exactly the reverse

2007-07-30T07:23:00.001-07:00

Ugh, I am dragging today. Long, long weekend. Not a bad one, just . . . long.

It started out well enough. I finished the first draft of the novel Thursday (ahead of schedule! WooT!) and celebrated Friday by hanging out with some friends and watching Hot Fuzz (much fun, that movie!). A few of us were up REALLY late (but still escaped the dreaded dawn) but were having a great deal of fun, even without olive oil.

Saturday was a working day, but not at the computer. Our cousins came out in the late morning and jendaby and JD hung out with the kids all day while the menfolk (S, Sp, and I) worked on the house.

And here’s where, yet again, my house tripped me up. Our goal was to definitely take care of three things: cut through the wall separating the laundry room and the garage and install a door (right now you have to go outside and through the garage door to enter that space, which won’t work all that well for an office), replace the laundry room window (the original plastic-slat window from the 1940s), and replace the matching window in the family room.

We hit our first snag immediately. My cousin S (who is amazing at this stuff and was completely in charge the entire day) takes one look at the wall and says, “This isn’t cement block, it’s poured concrete.” I, having no clue, say, “Oh? Is that bad?” Turns out that, no, it’s a very good thing—in terms of stability. Our house has REALLY solid walls, apparently. Great for protection—not so much for cutting holes.

Because S doesn’t have the tools for that. Neither does Home Despot (we checked). They rent a circular saw that can cut concrete, but not something this thick.

So we table the whole door question for now and move on to the windows, going to Home Despot for supplies. We decide to start with the laundry room window. We remove the burglar bars on the outside (which were welded in place—again, good for security, bad for replacing windows), yank out the window—and Viola! A pleasant surprise, for once. There was insulation hanging down around the old window so we thought it would be a mess, but actually the frame was in excellent shape and everything was fine. Cut some wood to build it in a bit, installed the window, and Hey, Presto! we can actually see out into our backyard for the first time ever. Nice! Plus this window’s much better insulated than the old one, which will be particularly good come winter.

Then we went and checked out the family room window, figuring this would be the easier of the two—it’s in the window well, so there’s no need for stepladders or anything, and it doesn’t have bars. We manage to get the window out—and part of the wall comes with it.

Turns out the previous owners, when they said they’d never had water damage? Lying out their *ss (which, given other lies, is no surprise). Lots of water damage all around the window. The metal frame? Half-corroded away. The wall on both sides? Crumbling away.

Hence the post title—when I need the wall to be crappy (for cutting a door) it’s rock-solid. When I need it to be solid (for holding a window) it’s crap. Figures.

So we had to get rid of all the crumbly bits, go back to Home Despot, buy cement, come back, build a completely new frame, install it, and start packing cement in around it to fill in the gaps. We took a break in the middle of this for dinner.

Our cousins left around nine-something. Both windows are in. They need a little finishing, but the windows themselves are in place and very solid. Yay! Like I said, my cousin S was amazing. Sp and I spent part of the time standing around watching because there wasn’t anything else we could do to help. Still exhausted, though. After they left I tidied up a little, then we collapsed. Ugh.

Sunday we got up and I applied duct tape to make sure the frames were at least roughly sealed, which proved to be a good thing—it started pouring just as I finished. We went to the store anyway, both to Home Despot to buy a few things (including new bolts for the bars) and then to the grocery to stock up before our trip. Came back, lugged kids and groceries back inside through the rain, then went out back just as the rain stopped and reinstalled the bars.

Next came basement cleanup—I carried the sofa slipcover out (the sofa’s right under the family room window, so it got covered in cement dust, sawdust, and regular dust) and shook it out before setting it aside to wash, dragged the sofa away from the wall, swept up behind it, then jendaby mopped it up and vacuumed the rug and washed all the covers. I also used some cardboard as makeshift filler to cover the holes around the window, both because they’re ugly (they’re only on the inside) and to keep the cat from trying to climb into the walls.

When we looked up again it was eight p.m., so we had dinner and got our daughter to bed. Then I did a little revision work before conking out around one. Didn’t sleep well—not sure why, might be the lack of curtains or the AC or something else—and finally got up at seven-thirty to get ready for work.

Whee!

Busy busy

2007-07-16T12:01:00.001-07:00

Hm, even though I’ve posted several times in the past two weeks it occurs to me that I haven’t put up a genuine update in a while.

So, let’s see—it’s been busy. We had a few friends over on the Fourth, and hung out, and grilled. That was nice. My youngest sister and a friend came up the first weekend of the month to hang out, visit, and go to the Live Earth concert. Also good. gmskarka, the-hemiscyran, and the eldest Skarka child (referred to by my daughter as “You!” or “the Teenager”) came up the following Wednesday and stayed until Sunday morning—it was great to see them and to catch up. My dad is coming up this Wednesday and will be around for a week. Then my cousins are coming over the last Saturday of the month to help with some home repairs. The following week we head to Chicago to visit paintersam and others. It’s a whirlwind, I tell ya.

In other news, I made two major purchases in the past two weeks, and both arrived recently. The first was a laptop—a nice little reconditioned G3 iBook. It came with OS X and an Airport card, and I installed Office as well, so now I can write and check email from anywhere in the house. I’d been meaning to get a laptop for a while so that both jendaby and I could use computers at the same time, but it became imperative when I realized how often my office would be serving as a guest room this month.

The other big purchase was a new bed. We’d bought our old set when we first moved to New York, which was almost nine years ago, so it was time to change out. The new one is MUCH higher—our son cannot climb onto it unaided and our daughter can only just manage—and does seem more comfortable, though I sleep so hard I probably wouldn’t notice if someone replaced it with a small hedgehog in the middle of the night.

Writing-wise things are good. I have now finished three out of the four projects I had due this month, which only leaves the big one left (and it’s not due until the very end of July). I also submitted ideas for something else, which would be very cool if I get it. More on that if it happens.

Work is fine. It’s work. ‘Nuff said.

What else? The kids are good, the wife is good, I’m hoping to do a few small repairs around the house the next two weeks. We’re still watching Traveler and enjoying it. Pocket Books let slip the fact that I’m writing a second WarCraft novel. I like cake.

That should do for now. :)

Let the culling begin!

2007-07-01T12:04:00.000-07:00

It occurred to me the other day that I have books—both RPGs and novels—I will never read. So why do I own them? Because I’m a packrat in general and a bibliophile in particular, of course. But enough is enough. So I’ve decided it’s time to thin my book collection.

Over the next month or so I plan to go through all my RPGs and all my novels. I’m going to keep anything that falls into any of the following three categories:

1. Books I wrote. At least one copy, though if I have extras I’ll get rid of them.

2. Books I like. Things I’ve already read (and, in the case of RPGs, played) and liked enough to consider reading (or playing) again.

3. Books I want. Things I either intend to read/play or want to keep for research purposes. And, in one or two cases, books that have sentimental value, like the first edition Vampire I got back in 1991.

What does this mean? Well, we’ll have more bookshelf space and less clutter. Plus, if anyone has a novel or an RPG they’ve been looking for, let me know—I may have it and be getting rid of it. If you’re local I can just hand it off to you (and you’re welcome to poke through the rest as well). If you’re long-distance, email me and we’ll figure it out. If I’m industrious enough I’ll post a for-grabs list when I’m done sorting, at least of the RPGs. We’ll see if that happens or not.

Quiet . . . of sorts

2007-06-21T07:55:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks have been quiet, and they haven’t at the same time. They have been, in that there hasn’t been anything so exciting I felt I needed to post about it (and anything that came close my lovely wife already mentioned on her lj, saving me the trouble). And they haven’t, in that I’ve been in almost constant motion.

My father-in-law and niece came up for ten days. It was a good trip, if a bit stressful, and nice to see and spend time with them. Our car had some issues partway through and I only got it back yesterday but all seems well again on that front.

I also had very limited computer access during that stretch, which meant I had to get back up to speed on my writing afterward. I turned in one set of novel revisions, and did page proofs for an anthology. Had one hoped-for project fizzle out unexpectedly at the last minute, which was very disappointing. Not that I’m at loose ends—I’ve been working on an RPG project and on the next novel simultaneously.

We had a slow week or two at work, where I caught up on some things that had piled up, and then it turned crazy-busy instead. It’s dropping back down to regular-busy now, finally.

What else? Father’s Day was fine—we stayed home, in part because we didn’t have the car back yet. I did get some very nice things from my lovely wife and wonderful kids, which was sweet.

Not much else, really. Like I said, quiet of sorts. I’m running a one-shot game tomorrow night, which should be fun. We don’t have anything special planned for the rest of the month, though we’re hanging out with good friends at least once next week. My youngest sister will be up the first weekend in July, so that’s cool. I'm still waiting to see what happens with my cousins' babies, and whether I can try to make it up there. We’re planning our trip to Chicago in August, which we’re looking forward to—and by then I’ll have turned in the latest novel and be working on who knows what.

Well, pisser

2007-06-04T07:23:00.001-07:00

My cousin and his wife are expecting their first children—twin boys. Which is awesome.

They want family to come up for the bris. Which is cool. I love my cousins (and really like them, too—a nice combination) but rarely get to see them.

They are currently in Vancouver, which is gorgeous but problematic for travel. I did find an airline with decent fares from here to there, though. Of course, you now need a passport to go to Canada—jendaby and I have them, but the kids don’t.

The bris will be eight days after the boys are born, barring complications, which means the date is still in flux until they are actually born—even more problematic.

It looks like the bris will be July 3—which is a weekday.

My boss has that day (actually, the first half of the week, since July 4 is a Wednesday) off—and only one of the three of us (her, my co-worker, and myself) is allowed to take off at any given time.

Which means, unless the bris gets moved up a few days (to the weekend) or back a few days (end of that week), I can’t go. And even if that does happen, it’ll mean last-minute flights and other arrangements, and probably just me going instead of the whole family.

Insert subject line here.

Good long weekend

2007-05-31T08:55:00.000-07:00

We had a very nice Memorial Day weekend. My dad was still in town (or rather, back from seeing my sister in D.C.) Thursday and Friday, and we had dinner and went shopping Thursday and then went out for dinner with him and my aunt Friday. I had a half-day Friday, which made things even easier—headed home in time for a late lunch and then spent the day cleaning up and so forth.

Saturday was quiet—my dad flew back to N.O. and jendaby and I spent most of the day cleaning and prepping for Sunday. I did get a little work done, and of course spent time with wife and kids—jendaby and I watched Casino Royale after our daughter was in bed. Good movie, and an excellent Bond—the plotting was a little confusing, mainly because it switched focus several times (particularly toward the end), but a lot of fun.

Sunday was Game Day! Deltagrl, qadgop, and Peter came over—we were supposed to have more but justcomeinalone and paleologa both had to cancel last-minute (for completely understandable reasons) and our friend Mook found out Friday that he couldn’t make it either. Four people is enough to run a solid game, though. Jendaby grilled (yes, she’s the family pyro, not me—are you surprised?), we had plenty of munchies and soda and beer, and we played.

I ran an adventure I named “Lockout,” a Doctor Who story using the new World of Darkness rules. I set it up to feature the Companions, and we wound up with Rose, Martha, Adam Mitchell, and Captain Jack (I had more drawn up in case other people attended). I can provide details if people are interested, but suffice to say it took place in modern-day London and involved the gateway between parallel Earths, the Tardis, Cybermen, and Slitheen.

We had a great deal of fun, and the game went very well—we started playing around 3 and ended just before midnight, with a break for dinner, so it mapped out to about eight hours. Deltagrl seemed to enjoy her first gaming experience, and we all had a good time playing the Doctor and his past and present friends.

Monday was recovery and work. We cleaned up, put things away, and I worked on novel revisions—the only problem was the heat, which kept me out of the office in early afternoon (it’s the warmest room in the house). I did get a good deal of work done later, though. And then Jendaby and I watched the latest Dr. Who ep, which was excellent.

Tuesday meant returning to work. But we’re on summer publishing hours now, which means I get here the same time as usual (for me), leave a little later Monday through Thursday, and have a half-day on Friday. I like it.

I’m still working on novel revisions, but I expect to have at least one if not both finished by the start of next week, which is good because my father-in-law and our niece arrive Monday and I don’t know how much work I’ll be able to get done while they’re here. The price I pay for having the guest bed in my office, I suppose.

Sleep is for the weak

2007-05-15T11:28:00.000-07:00

Look look, an update! And in less than two weeks! Gosh!

Had a long, busy, but good time this past weekend. The Nebula Awards were in town, so Friday I went over to meet a few people—ran into mckitterick and another friend there, which was cool. We didn’t have a game that night, so jendaby and I took advantage of the lull to order dinner (mmm, Japanese bento box!) and watch the first two eps of Jonathan Creek after our daughter went to bed. That was fun—it’s a good show, clever and quirky, and the fact that the female lead looks—and acts—a good deal like my aunt only made it more amusing. We got to bed around 2am.

Saturday during the day I did some work and hung out with the wife and kids. Then I headed back to the Nebs for the reception and the Awards Ceremony. James Gunn was inducted as Grandmaster—he was my mentor all through college and grad school, and a major influence on my writing and my critiquing, so of course I was there to help honor him. It was an excellent time—saw a lot of people I know, including some I haven’t seen in ages, and met several new people as well. There was a banquet between the reception and the ceremony but a few of us ducked out for dinner instead, figuring we’d have a nicer, quieter meal and then come back in. That worked nicely. The ceremony ran long, though, so by the time I got home and got to bed it was again 2am.

Sunday was Mother’s Day. We got up as late as the kids would let us (which is to say, not much later than during the week), had breakfast, gave jendaby some well-deserved cards and a small token of our appreciation, I did a little more work, and we made a quick shopping trip. Then jendaby and I dressed up and, after justcomeinalone arrived to selflessly mind the kids for us, we headed into the city so we could see the talented deltagrl’s one-woman cabaret. She was excellent and we had a wonderful time, including dinner afterward with her and a few of her other friends. The three of us took the subway back together, and then jendaby and I chatted with justcomeinalone a bit before he headed off and we carried the two sleeping children up for bed. For the third time, I got to bed around 2am.

And of course it was off to work at the usual time Monday morning. Whee.

I finished the layout project and some page proofs, so now I’m down to two sets of revisions and the novel, plus a new RPG project I’m excited about and maybe a few others on the horizon. My dad’s coming up to visit in a few days, which is always fun but cuts into my writing time, and we’re fast approaching summer, with its trips and visits. I’ve got a whole list of things I want to do around the house this summer, many of which aren’t hard but just require some time to be set aside for the task.

On a completely separate note, I replaced our broken mouse and our wearing-down keyboard with a new wireless set a few weeks ago. They are awesome. Now I find it frustrating to go to work and have to deal with the cord on my mouse there—I keep wanting to snip it so the poor wee beastie can be free, free!

Yes, it’s early afternoon and I’m slightly loopy. Or it could be the weekend, finally catching up with me.

Mind the shell!

2007-05-04T10:30:00.000-07:00

Hm, I need to get back to updating more often. It’s been a little over three weeks since my last substantive post. Sorry about that.

I wish I could see it’s because I’ve been doing amazing, exciting things and have been simply too busy to post.

Actually, that is partially true.

jendaby and I have actually gone out twice—TWICE—sans children this past month, both times thanks to the amazing deltagrl, who offered to mind the kids for us. First we went to a birthday party for a friend, which was very nice. Then we went to a comedy club to see the comedic stylings of our own xochitl42, who was excellent—and then out for dinner with her and many others afterward. It’s been very nice to actually go out and do something fun with my wife as adults instead of just as parents. The fact that both kids adore their sitter certainly makes it easier.

I’ve also seen two movies lately: Hot Fuzz and Day Watch. I recommend both of them, with the caveat that both are odd—if you liked Shaun of the Dead you’ll like Hot Fuzz and if you liked Night Watch you’ll like Day Watch, but if you’re expecting a Hollywood film from either you’ll be disappointed.

What else? We’ve been hanging out with friends, gaming, watching movies, etc. We’re a little behind on our TV shows at the moment, though we did finally catch the most recent Heroes ep last night, which was excellent. jendaby and the kids came in with me last Thursday for Take Your Children to Work Day, which was fun but draining—I don’t know about our children but we were exhausted by the time we got home! Part of that was carrying sleeping children home from the subway, though.

Work is fine. Busy, and my friend who freelances for us is leaving, which could make things a little difficult for a while, though more power to him for the job he’s abandoned us to take. I’m still finishing up that layout project, and gearing up for the revisions, then it’s off to the races with the next book. I’m also reading a friend’s novel for him, which is fun—it’s a good read so far, and the character is enough like him that I can visualize it easily.

Tomorrow I'm hanging with my kids so jendaby can go do the Revlon Run-Walk with several of our friends. We’ve got another kidless outing planned next weekend, and my dad's coming up to visit a few days after that.

And there you have it. My recent life in a virtual nutshell. Probably a walnut. :)

In the interim

2007-04-10T12:14:00.001-07:00

Two weeks can pass quickly, when you’re not paying attention.

So what have I done since my last post?

On Friday the 30th all four of us went to dochyel’s service and funeral, which was as nice as such a sad event could be—many people loved and admired and respected him and that definitely showed. The kids were very well-behaved throughout, the car less so—something bounced up under the car and destroyed the power steering, which made getting back from Brooklyn an adventure (even beyond Brooklyn’s unwillingness to release people, which resulted in our driving around in circles—literally—for an hour).

That evening qadgop and Mook came over to hang out and keep us company, which was nice. Saturday our cousins stopped by, as did my aunt and uncle.

The following Monday I went and sat shiva with dochyel’s widow, who is holding up fairly well, all things considered.

This past Friday I turned in the revisions on my WarCraft novel. Then I had lunch with an old friend I haven’t seen in ages, which was good.

That night we got together with xochitl42 and qadgop and Mook Friday—didn’t get around to gaming but had a nice time hanging out and catching up.

Saturday jendaby and the kids and I went out to NJ to spend time with her grandmother and then spent Sunday afternoon with her cousins (and their extended family). We had a nice time—the day with her grandmother was quiet, the one with her cousins more active and sociable, but both were fun.

We’ve been watching the new season of Dr. Who, which is excellent. We’re keeping up with Lost, more from inertia than anything, watching CSI and Supernatural, and eagerly awaiting the return of Heroes.

I still need to do our taxes, plus I’ve got revision notes for my third Warhammer novel and for another novel I’m doing. I’ve got an RPG layout project to take care of, and an essay to polish up. Then I’ve got to outline the next novel and start writing it. And, as always, I’m tracking down leads and following up discussions to finalize the rest of my 2007 work schedule.

It hasn’t been a bad two weeks. Busy, draining, and distracting, but not bad.

Stunned

2007-03-27T11:48:00.001-07:00

I’m at a loss for words.

One of my closest friends, David Honigsberg, died this morning.

David was only forty-eight. He was a writer, a gamer and game designer, a musician, a computer whiz, and a rabbi. But first and foremost he was a wonderful person: smart and funny and friendly and low-key and incredibly loyal and supportive.

He and I met eight years ago through mutual friends and immediately clicked. His wife Alexandra often joked that David and I shared the same brain, and it’s true that when together we would think along the same lines, so much so that we could often talk and even joke in verbal shorthand. There was a long stretch where we had lunch together once a week, and it was always one of the highlights of my week.

For those of you who were at my and jendaby’s wedding, David was our rabbi. He also officiated at the baby-namings of both our children. We couldn’t even imagine asking anyone else.

I last saw David at LunaCon, and I’m so glad we had the chance to have lunch and catch up. We hadn’t seen much of each recently, because he was busy with schoolwork (he was getting a graduate degree) and we were both busy with family and work, but we kept in touch. We were working on a comic-book project together, which I will do my damnedest to see published in his honor.

Six months ago David suffered a heart attack. It was unexpected, and he recovered beautifully. He recently posted on his LJ that he’d had his six-month review and the doctor was very pleased with how he was doing. But early this morning he had a massive coronary. The EMTs arrived promptly but couldn’t revive him.

Funeral and memorial details will be posted as soon as I know them.

I can’t think of anything else to say. My friend is gone. I miss him already.

Weekend rundown

2007-03-19T07:05:00.000-07:00

First off, though it wasn’t actually the weekend—last Wednesday I got together with friends (including deltagrl and justcomeinalone) for dinner and then to go see 300—xochitl42 and several others joined us after dinner for the movie. 300 was excellent—I really enjoyed it. It’s exactly what you expect, basically: visually stunning, amazing action scenes, lots of rousing speeches. Good stuff. A few of us chatted for a little bit afterward, then deltagrl and justcomeinalone and I headed to the subway together—which involved an amusing escalator incident—and deltagrl and I (plus her spontaneous admirer) took the 7 back together. I haven’t had the chance to just go out and hang out with friends in quite a while and I really enjoyed it—thanks, jendaby, for minding the kids alone for a night so I could go!

Friday the lovely wife and I had qadgop and another friend over for a pre-St. Pat’s Day dinner: corned beef, potatoes, cabbage, Irish soda bread, and both chocolate-oatmeal cookies and Grasshopper pie for dessert, all created by the talented jendaby. Good stuff! We hung out for a while before our two guests figured they’d best head out to brave the horrible weather (it had been snowing/raining freezing rain for something like 20 hours straight at that point).

I was supposed to go to LunaCon this weekend, and wasn’t sure on Friday if I’d make it. But Saturday was clear and cold and the roads didn’t look too bad, so I braved it. I had to trek over to the car first, because the night before I’d simply left it near the mechanic’s (ten or so blocks away), and then I had to dig it out and clear it off with nothing but my gloves for shoveling and scraping tools, but once I did that and managed to get it out of its snowed-in space everything was fine. I misread a direction and wound up losing twenty-thirty minutes getting back on track, but otherwise the drive was okay.

LunaCon: I missed my first panel because of digging out and the driving error, which I felt bad about. Had lunch with dochyel and his charming wife, which was nice. Then I wound up helping run the Time Management for Writers panel, which went well, and sat in on the Editors Roundtable, which was interesting and informative. The Game Designers Roundtable was excellent, the Trek panel less so if only because I had nothing to contribute, and then I went out to dinner with jon_chance, kradical, and several other friends, where we had excellent barbeque and good conversation. Got back, hung out a little, and then drove home, where I managed to maneuver the car into a space right across the street from our house (where it will sit until the snow melts or this weekend, whichever comes first). I left home at 9:30am and got back around 11pm. It was a good day, and I plan to go again next year, though I may actually bring the family and get a hotel room next time so we can hang out at night more.

Yesterday was quieter. I shoved the walk and the sidewalk, which was a challenge—the snow was on top of solid ice so I ditched the snow shovel in favor of jendaby’s real shovel and wound up basically breaking up and then tossing aside large blocks of the stuff. Worked well but today I can’t put pressure on my left palm. This too shall pass.

After shoveling and lunch I went upstairs and finished the first draft of my third Warhammer novel. Yay! That goes off to the publisher today, and then it’s on to the next project.

Also spent time with the wife and kids, gave my daughter a bath, etc. Stayed up way too late, which I attribute to the protein drink I got last time we went to the store—it’s very tasty but it’s a cappuccino thing made with, well, coffee, and I was drinking it after dinner. Silly me.

LunaCon schedule

2007-03-15T06:37:00.001-07:00

I keep forgetting to post this. Gah!
Anyway, I'll be at LunaCon this weekend. Well, this Saturday and maybe Sunday--haven't decided about the latter yet. But if you're there and you care, here are the panels I'm on:

Saturday, March 17th
Superman Returns vs. Batman Begins
11:00 AM-12:00 PM
Odelle
Description: These two films both reinvigorated and relaunched their respective series on the big screen. Compare and contrast their approaches and results. BB started over while SR picked up old threads; did one work better than the other? Are the new leads (Christian Bale as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Brandon Routh as Superman/Clark Kent) right for their roles?
Participants: Jeanne Cavelos, Brandy Hauman, David Mack, Aaron Rosenberg, Michael A. Ventrella

Game Designers' Roundtable
4:00-5:00 PM
Elija Budd
Game designers of various RPGs talk about particular challenges of design and worldbuilding.
Participants: Phil Brucato, Leigh Grossman, Jess Hartley, David Honigsberg[M], Aaron Rosenberg

Trek Literary Spinoffs
5:00-6:00 PM
Bartell
Description: Writers and editors tell you the process they went through to develop literary spinoff series based on "Star Trek," including the Klingon themed Gorkon books, the S.C.E. eBooks, the Titan series, New Frontier, Stargazer and Vanguard.
Participants: Keith DeCandido, Bob Greenberger, David Mack[M], Aaron Rosenberg, Josepha Sherman

The State of Small Press Publishing
6:00-7:00 PM
Poplar
Description: Are the small mammals nipping at the heels of the dinosaurs?
Participants: Aaron Rosenberg, Michael Walsh, Diane Weinstein, Ben Yalow

I also intend to sit in on this one, because, well, it amuses me:
Time Management for Writers
2:00-3:00 PM
Gazebo C
Description: One of the most common excuses would-be writers give for not writing is that they don't have time. Busy writers sit down and tell you how they juggle full-time jobs, part-time jobs, families, and multiple deadlines.
Participants: Jonathan Maberry, David Mack

And I may check this one out as well, to see if I can learn anything useful:
Book Editors' Roundtable
3:00-4:00 PM
Grand South
Description: What are editors looking for, what are they seeing to much of, what annoys them, and what makes some writers a pleasure to work with.
Participants: Ginjer Buchanan[M], Liz Gorinsky, Jennifer Heddle, Anne Sowards

The rest of the time I'll be wandering around and hopefully hanging out with friends. If you can read this and you're going, I hope that includes you. :)

The Warhammer Archie Bunker?

2007-03-13T06:17:00.001-07:00

So last night I was falling asleep at the computer again—curse you, caffeine withdrawal! And since I was busy writing at the time, I found myself writing strange things and having to delete them when I woke up again. I’d fall asleep, write something bizarre, wake up enough to realize it, delete it, start writing again, and fall back asleep. I know at one point I put something about “she has to make the morning meeting” and another time there was something about going to an ATM—this while finishing up my Warhammer fantasy novel, mind you. But the winner was the paragraph I somehow ignored three or four times, before finally reading it and realizing what I had written:

"Alaric found three things about this figure disturbing.
"First off, the man was wearing nothing but a wife-beater and boxer shorts—no armour or weapons of any kind. Yet he seemed confident, even cocky, as if he were daring people to attack him."

The man Alaric is looking at, btw, is a Chaos Champion, a massive warrior dedicated to the forces of Chaos. Here’s the description of him from elsewhere in the novel:

"He was tall and broad, this man, powerfully built, and his strides were those of a warrior, heavy yet lithe. His armour was thick, red plates warring with bronze and black for dominance, and every possible surface was covered with barbs and hooks or decorated with runes and with tiny screaming skulls. Chains hung everywhere, barbs at their ends, and the links themselves seemed sharp. His helm was high-crested and bore at its top a plume of some dark, coarse fur that seemed almost to writhe of its own accord, and in his hands he held a massive battle-axe, its twin blades stained a permanent crimson that seemed to shimmer somehow."

So now I have this image of this horrifying, overpowering figure, in full armor—with a wife-beater and a pair of Hawaiian boxer shorts *over* that.

And probably flip-flops. Or fuzzy bunny slippers.

I really need to start saving these outtakes in a separate file. I could probably get a decent comedy novel out of them. Or at least solid proof in case anyone ever accuses me of being sane.

Seeing double?

2007-03-11T22:09:00.001-07:00

It’s been a long weekend, and mostly a good one, but strange.

Friday night the game group came over as usual. That was fun. We played, and ate (the lovely wife had made chili the night before and we had some left—yum!), and hung out. Got to bed around 2am or so, I think.

My middle sister (we’ll call her MS) came to visit the next morning. She and my youngest sister (who we’ll call YS from here on out) were going to Paris on vacation (along with YS’s friend), but wound up taking different flights, so MS got one from Florida up to here in the morning and then another from JFK to Paris that night. Jendaby was off to hang out with friends for lunch, so we all went to LaGuardia, picked up MS (whose plane was half an hour late), and then drove Jendaby out to Weehawken—there was an accident on the highway that seriously slowed us down but we still got her there on time.

Then we drove back home, put my son in his stroller, and walked to downtown Woodside (with my daughter helping to push her little brother in his stroller) to get lunch and pick up a few last-minute items for MS’s flight.

Ah, but now things got interesting. YS and her friend were supposed to leave D.C. at 3pm. But they didn’t—not because they missed anything but because their plane didn’t take off. Nor did it go at 4. Or 5. They had to catch a 6:30 flight from Newark, and it was starting to look like that wasn’t going to happen. MS was panicking, since she doesn’t speak French or know anybody over there (they were all going to stay with YS’s friend who lives there). I drove her to JFK (the kids were in back), pointing out that if nothing else YS and her friend would catch the flight the next night and meet up with her a day late.

Got MS to the airport on time for her flight and drove home—jendaby had gotten home in the meantime and helped me carry the two now-sleeping children inside. Then I got a call from YS—they were in Newark and it looked like they were stuck until tomorrow. Could they crash with us? Of course, I said. But they called back a little later—the airline had gotten them a hotel room and they were too tired to trek all the way out from Newark. Instead they decided to come see us the next day (Sunday).

Also that night, the curse of Daylight Savings struck. I was up writing and, when finishing up, glanced at the clock and thought, “Oh, it’s only 1:30—that’s not so bad.” Until I passed the bedroom and realized my error. Apparently the computer’s clock doesn’t reset until it restarts. Yep, it was 2:30 instead.

Today (Sunday) MS and her friend came out. They didn’t get to us until after 1pm, though—the curse of Daylight Savings again, and having to make their way here from Newark. I picked up some lunch beforehand (bagels, cheese and meats, cannoli), we ate and hung out for a while, and then my daughter and I drove them to Newark Airport. Which would have been fine if not for the logjam getting into Lincoln Tunnel. We got there on time, though, and they got to their gate without a problem. Then I headed back and hit more ugly traffic—we had left home around 4pm, and I didn’t get home until 7. Ugh.

After that, not too much. Ate some dinner, washed up, gave my daughter a bath, put her to bed, did a little writing, fell asleep at the computer, woke up and wrote a little more, and now I’m getting ready to sign off and sleep myself. I’ve been falling asleep at the computer more often lately, and today a possible reason occurred to me—I’ve switched back to decaf iced tea instead of the caffeinated version. Interesting. I guess caffeine does still affect me after all.

It was great to see both my sisters this weekend, and unexpected. My daughter knew MS was coming Saturday but seeing YS Sunday was a complete surprise and she was thrilled. I did get some work done, though not as much as I’d have liked. I walked a bit and drove a whole lot more. And tomorrow it’s back to work.

ComicCon reminder

2007-02-22T13:32:00.001-08:00

Just a reminder to those who're around: I'll be signing Queen of Blades at New York Comic Con this Sunday from noon to 1pm. They pushed it back an hour, so if you show up at 11am and I'm not there you'll know why. :)

I'll be wandering the floor the rest of the day, so if you're about give me a holler. I'll have my cell phone with me--email me if you need the number.

Well, that sucked

2007-02-18T20:31:00.001-08:00

My Blizzplanet Q&A was tonight, at 9pm. I showed up a few minutes early, just to make sure I had IRC set up correctly. There were over 300 people in attendance.

Too bad one of them was apparently a flaming *sshole.

The Q&A started and I answered a question or two—and then my connection went down. Not just to the chat but to IRC, the Internet, cable, and phone. They’re all through the same router.

It took something like fifteen minutes before I could reconnect to the Q&A. Answered another question—and was kicked offline again.

And this kept happening. The moderator told me that someone had apparently decided to target my IP specifically—every time I set foot in the main channel he sent packets of information to my IP, bombarding it until it was forced to disconnect.

End result? After an hour or more I only managed to answer maybe five questions.

The moderator apologized—he hadn’t expected anyone to try sabotaging the Q&A, and certainly not that thoroughly. He’s collecting the questions, his and everyone else’s, and emailing them to me, so I will still get to respond to everyone. Just not live and in real-time.

I’m pissed. Not at the moderator—it’s not his fault. But at whomever thought it’d be funny to sabotage my Q&A. I figure either it’s some pathetic little loser who gets off on destroying things for other people, or it’s some pathetic little loser who wishes he were a writer but can barely string two words together and so has it in for anyone who actually possesses talent and gets published. Either way, it’s pathetic.

Care for a chat?

2007-02-13T13:29:00.000-08:00

I'm going to be doing a public Q&A this Sunday over at Blizzplanet, talking about the Warcraft novel. It starts at 9pm EST. Feel free to drop by!

Cover me!

2007-02-09T07:38:00.000-08:00

Yep, you guessed it—I've got a cover image for my WarCraft novel. Whee!

I like it.

Convention appearances

2007-02-09T07:36:00.000-08:00

Well, it's cutting things a little close but I've just confirmed that I'm going to be an author guest at the New York Comic Con, which is at the Javits here in Manhattan on February 23-25. I will be signing at the Pocket Books booth on Sunday, February 25, from noon to 1pm.

If you're going to the con, stop by and say hi! I'll be signing Queen of Blades and anything else I wrote that people bring. Plus I'll have a nice stand-up next to me, showing off the cover of—well, see my next post. :)

I'm also going to be a guest at LunaCon, which is March 16-18. No signings or readings, alas, but I'm on several panels. A lot of my friends go to this one every year and it'll be the first time I've made it up there, so I'm looking forward to it. It's only about forty minutes away by car, so I think I'll just commute rather than getting a hotel room.

In other news, Night of the Daemon and Lure of the Lich Lord are now available for sale. Yay!

January draws toward a close

2007-01-23T13:49:00.000-08:00

Just taking a minute for a brief update.

Not that much going on, though, really.

I’m plugging away at the third Warhammer novel and it’s coming along nicely. I’m having a good time with it, as always—it’ll be sad to leave the main characters behind after this one. Maybe I’ll get a chance to tell more of their adventures some other time.

I’ve been confirmed as an author guest at I-Con, out on Long Island in March. This will be the second time I’ve been there as a guest and the fourth or fifth time I’ve gone at all. I’m bringing jendaby and the kids this time, though, which should be fun. I’m waiting to hear back about another con, so I’ll post more on that if it happens.

What else? Night of the Daemon is out in Britain already and will be out here next week. Lure of the Lich Lord, the Warhammer supplement I wrote to accompany NoD, is on the same schedule. That was a lot of fun, getting to write both the story and the adventure/setting, and I hope to do more of that in future.

My dad’s coming to visit this weekend, which will be the usual flurry of unplanned activity. The kids are doing well, recovered from their colds of last week just in time for winter to really hit hard. We’ve started a Mage game, which has been fun so far (just the individual preludes last week, but we’ll be playing in earnest this week).

Our shows have started back up, so we were able to watch Heroes and Studio 60 last night, which was nice. Veronica Mars is tonight! Lost resumes at some point but I find myself no longer caring much. We tried the Dresden Files Sunday and were solidly “eh” on it. We’ll give it two more tries before deciding.

Work is fine—it was crazy-busy the past two weeks but it’s starting to settle down again.

I think that’s it for now.

2006 recap

2007-01-02T10:24:00.000-08:00

Well, it’s now early January (2007 for those keeping track) and that’s usually when I post a short rundown of my previous year. So rather than break with tradition, here we go:

What I did in 2007:

• Published two novels and two anthologies (and two roleplaying game books).

• Wrote three more novels. At least two of those will be out this year. Also wrote one educational book and three roleplaying game supplements.

• Watched my daughter grow from a toddler to a preschooler. She gets smarter, funnier, more communicative, and more self-sufficient every day. She still has issues sharing, particularly with her little brother, but she’s also still a sweetie. Her delighted squeal and huge smile when I get home each evening are one of the highlights of my day.

• Watched my son grow from a newborn to a sturdy infant. It’s been great watching him develop his own personality, which is very laidback and affectionate, and to see him crawling (fast!) and grabbing everything he can reach and watching his sister with loving fascination. He and I also developed a strong bond, and his big grin and excited bounce when he sees me get home is another highlight.

• Spent time with my lovely wife, who is still wonderful and amazing and gorgeous and the love of my life.

• Did a little work on the house, decorated a bit more, etc. The process continues, but every step makes it a warmer, friendlier environment, and more ours.

• Traveled back to Kansas to see some of our good friends. This was the only trip we took this year—no gaming cons at all—and it was great. We also got to attend two weddings while there, both of old and dear friends, which was very cool.

• Went to a con as an author guest for the first time. That was fun.

• Made some excellent new friends, through LJ and through the Malibu. Spent time with friends in general, though never as much as I’d like.

• Gamed a bit, though again not as often as I’d have liked.

• Stayed with my day job, made some new friends there as well, and (hopefully) smoothed out a few wrinkles.

• Became more mobile, thanks to my father’s long-term loan of a car. Which enabled us, among other things, to visit my wife’s grandmother more often, which is great.

• Got to see my extended family (mine and the wife’s) more than once, including a huge turnout for my son’s baby naming (which was beautifully handled by dochyel).

• Had an awesome surprise birthday party, and got an amazing memory-book present, courtesy of my wonderful wife.

All in all I’d say it was an excellent year, professionally and personally. I know some of you were not as happy with 2006, and I hope 2007 is better for all of us, in as many ways as possible.

Now that the candles have all melted away . . .

2006-12-27T14:11:00.000-08:00

Bob pointed out today at lunch that it’s been a little over two weeks since my last update. Thanks, Bob. :)

So what’s happened since then? Not much, actually:

We (the lovely wife and I) went to my annual company party, which I refer to as Newscorp City because it has as many people as a small city. It was entertaining, and it was nice to get out for a little bit, just the two of us.

We drove out to my wife’s grandmother in NJ for the Xmas weekend, which was nice. Had surprisingly little traffic both ways (and none on the way out until I foolishly said something to that effect, at which point traffic literally appeared in front of us. I don’t know my own power, clearly) and a nice relaxing time there. It’s always very sweet watching our little girl with her great-grandmother—they adore one another.

Saw my cousin and his wife and their daughter for a little bit on Monday after we drove back, which was nice. They live in Virginia so we don’t get to see them very often.

I turned in the first draft of my WarCraft novel and the edits on my latest YA book.

I finalized the outline for my next Warhammer novel, which I’ll start writing next week, probably.

We replaced our busted DVD player with the next model up, which oddly does not seem to work as well. I think I may actually need a new TV. *sigh*

We had a nice Hannukah, and all got many presents. My fave was the quesadilla maker my wife got me, which is excellent—I used it that very night to make us dinner.

I also got to read two novels just for fun, which hasn’t happened in a while.

We’ve been watching Torchwood and enjoying it immensely. We also watched the Dr. Who Christmas Special, the Runaway Bride, and it was great fun. I’d forgotten how much more light-hearted Dr. Who is, compared to Torchwood, so it was a nice change of pace. And we’ve watched a few movies and a few episodes of TV shows we got on DVD, like the Tick (the animated version, of course) and Briscoe County. It’s nice to be able to relax for a change, instead of having to chain myself to my desk as soon as I get home.

The kids are both good. The preschooler is as dramatic as ever, but she’s been having more bouts of sharing with her brother lately. The infant is a crawling fiend and fast as a snapping turtle (and if you’ve never seen one of those move, they’re fast!). He’s still itching up a storm but getting a little better, and he’s otherwise a chipper little fellow.

We’re not really doing anything for New Year’s this year, just staying at home. I miss the little gatherings we used to do, and I’m hoping next year we’ll resume that tradition. We’ve also been jonesing for a game, since we haven’t played in a month or more, but hopefully that’ll change in early January.

Work is work, and is that strange mix of busy and quiet this week—busy because people wanted to push projects through before the end of the year, quiet because they all took off on vacation right afterward so there’s no one to hand projects back to once they’re done. It’s a bit of a ghost town, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

And now it’s time to head for home. Perhaps I’ll think of something fun and entertaining to post later. And perhaps not. :) But I hope all of you are well, and that you had excellent holidays and will have a Happy New Year’s.

Quick rundown

2006-12-10T14:38:00.000-08:00

I know, I know.

I really do try to update at least every other week. It’s just busy right now. I’m finishing the first draft of my WarCraft novel—it’ll be done in the next day or two. I’ve got an outline to revise and expand, a review to clean up, a storyline to develop, and a few chapters of another project to fine-tune.

We went to some friends’ holiday party last night, which was fun—didn’t get to stay as long as we’d have liked (or as long as we had in previous years) because the toddler reached her saturation point (AKA past her bedtime and too much stimulation) but it was nice.

This Friday is my work holiday party. And for the first time jendaby gets to go with me, thanks to the babysitting services of feiran. Much appreciated, chica.

Not much else going on. Kids are good but exhausting, wife is good but tired, I’m good but also tired. We've been watching Day Break and enjoying it—right now it's my second-favorite show, right after Heroes (and edging out Supernatural). We're still watching Studio 60, which is still good but not Sorkin's best, and catching CSI when we can. No recent movies, and we haven't replaced the DVD player yet so we're reduced to the networks, a handful of old VHS tapes, and whatever I can pull down on the computer. After this coming week my schedule should clear up considerably, just in time for Hannukah and Christmas.

I’ll post more, including some new covers, soon.

Twelve years ago . . .

2006-11-20T08:43:00.000-08:00

. . . I went out on a first date.

She was bright, beautiful, funny, fiery, and wonderful. We had met a few times, starting with a chance encounter in a mutual friend’s car, and had spent another chance-encounter evening hanging out together just a few weeks before. I was always very nervous around women, at least romantically, but I liked her enough to get up the courage to call her and ask her out.

She said yes. I was thrilled and terrified at the same time.

I went to pick her up and met/got grilled by several of her friends, who apparently decided I was acceptable and let me take her with me. We went to dinner (at the Mad Greek) and had a very nice time. Afterward I asked her if she would like to do anything else—I just didn’t want the evening to end. She said yes. We wound up going to see Pulp Fiction (at Liberty Hall). Then we went back to her apartment and had tea. Her cat came out and jumped into my lap, which surprised her—he didn’t like most guys. And I was definitely not a cat person at the time.

We had a wonderful evening. I asked her out again soon after.

Now we are married and have two children. And I’ve never regretted asking her out that first time.

Happy anniversary of our first date, my love.

Will you still need me, will you still feed me . . .

2006-11-10T08:39:00.000-08:00

. . . when I'm sixty-four?

That’s how old my mother would have been today.

Not so old, really. Still young enough to be spry and active, certainly. Still young enough to chase after her grandchildren, and hold them, and read books to them. Still young enough to chase us out of the kitchen when she’s cooking, and to fall asleep in front of the television and then tell us she’s not asleep when we urge her to go to bed.

It’s strange what time can do. Some days everything seems fine. Then suddenly I’ll think of Mom, whether it’s because something reminded me of her or just completely at random, and I can’t see for the tears. I can still hear her at times, and I can see her laughing and then covering her mouth or tearing up or just smiling. She’s still with me. She always will be.

Tonight I will once again eat Godiva chocolate ice cream in her honor, and I encourage all of you to do so as well. Whether you knew her or not she would appreciate the gesture, and as a good Jewish mother she’d be happy you were eating well.

It’s hard to be sad on a day like this. It’s sunny out and in the fifties, which is perfect weather in my opinion. I have a wonderful wife and two incredible children. I have good friends and close family. I have a good job and a good career. I have a lot going for me. I just wish my mother was here to share it all. But I know that she’s still with us in whatever way she can be, and that she’s proud of us and happy for us and wants us to be happy as well. Days like this, it’s hard to remember that, but that just makes it even more important.

Thanks, Mom. I love you. Happy Birthday.

Hmm . . . new books

2006-11-07T07:41:00.000-08:00

Just found out that the Star Trek Corps of Engineers anthology containing my second two-parter, Creative Couplings--the one I wrote with Glenn Hauman--will be out some time next year. Cool.

That got me to wondering, though, what had happened to my first two-parter, Collective Hindsight. So I did some checking.

Turns out it'll be out in two weeks. It's called Aftermath, and you can find it here.

Nice. Now I just need to get copies, preferably in time to show them off to my family when they come up for Thanksgiving. :)

Catching up

2006-11-07T07:00:00.000-08:00

Let’s see, what’s gone on since my last post?

I wrote and turned in a project, on time, so that’s all good.

Took our daughter trick-or-treating on Halloween, which was amusing. She was dressed as a princess—see the lovely wife’s LJ for pics—and loved going out, loved getting candy, loved seeing other kids. But she was too shy to say “Trick or Treat!”—I got her to the point where she’d at least hold out her bag, while smiling shyly and looking away, then she’d whisper “Thank you” after they gave her candy. Then she’d drag me to the next house. And she insisted I carry her half the time, because she was too scared to stand at the doors. Fortunately the neighbors were amused and understanding. I had fun going around with her, and it’s nice to meet a few other people on our block.

We also met several other kids her age, including a little girl who now lives two doors down. I’m hoping the wife will go introduce herself to them soon—between them, us, and the little girl two to three doors on the other side we could start a nice little local playgroup, which our daughter would love. She’s starving for friends her age, really.

Got together with Qadgop and Mook on Friday to watch noir films in prep for the noir game Mook’s going to run for us. We’ve stopped playing Serenity—the second adventure didn’t really take off, in part because we kept not being able to play, and we were all a bit lackluster about it continuing so I called it off. We’re doing noir (using M&M) for a little while instead, and then playing Mage starting in January, possibly alternating it with something else. So we watched The Maltese Falcon and then Sin City (three-fourths of it, anyway), which was a fun double-feature, and hung out. It was good.

Went out to the wife’s grandmother this weekend—drove out Saturday late-morning and got there in time for lunch, then headed back yesterday just before noon (I took the day off work). It was nice, as always—she’s a sweetheart and adores the kids, and our daughter is always thrilled to spend time with her. We didn’t do much while we were there, though I did manage to read a novel and do some work during the quiet times.

Not much else, really. I’ve got the new novel to start on, and the project I worked on this weekend, plus a biography to write and a YA book to write and another project that needs a background story. Some of those are due this week, some next week, and the novel’s due next month. So yeah, I’m keeping busy. :)

We’re also starting to get ready for Thanksgiving—only two weeks away!—and for paintersam’s visit next week. I’m psyched—I’ve taken the day off next Wednesday so we can run around and hit museums and so forth. And yes, I’m dragging him to lunch with me so he can see the crazies I have to deal with all the time. :)

Home again, home again

2006-10-25T14:02:00.000-07:00

We got back late last night, and yes, I’m back at work today.

The trip was very good. My lovely wife has put up a fairly detailed rundown on her LJ, so you can check it there if you’d like.

The short version:
The weddings were both excellent and very different, and we were delighted to attend both. We got to see lots of friends, which was great. I had very good steak and very good barbeque, which makes me happy. The kids had fun running around, and got to hang out with several other kids. I wandered up on campus and stopped by the English Department, where I got to catch up with my old mentor, James Gunn. I did see several other professors I recognized, and resisted the urge to kick them in the shins. The wife and I got a little time to ourselves for our anniversary, which was nice but got cut short because our son was having mommy-separation issues and screaming the whole time. Oh well. The car handled well, the hotel room was huge, and the flights were fine despite a minor delay on the return.

And that’s about it. :)

Now I have to get back to the writing. I’ve got one project due the end of this month, another I said I’d have in by the end of the month or start of next month, one due mid-November, and one due mid-December. Whee!

Back to Kansas!

2006-10-18T06:41:00.000-07:00

No no, only for a visit. :)

We're flying in tomorrow (Thursday the 19th) in early afternoon, renting a car, and driving on up to Lawrence. I expect we'll be there and checked in by 3-3:30.

Our fourth wedding anniversary is Friday. One of our friends' daughters had kindly agreed to babysit that night so jendaby and I can go out by ourselves for a change.

We have two weddings--yes, two!--to go to on Saturday. Busy busy day.

Other than that, we're at loose ends. So if you're in Lawrence or KC (or want to drive down), give us a holler. jendaby will have her cell phone, for those that know the number. If you don't know it, email one of us with your contact info and we'll send ours back. We'd love to see the rest of our KS friends while we're there, and we've got plenty of time and a car. I'm expecting to spend at least one evening at Munchers, and we're up for lunch, dinner, and anything in between any day except Friday (all good until dinner) and Saturday (booked solid).

I'm also not bringing any work with me. Which will make a nice change, and a real vacation.

Wow

2006-10-14T00:11:00.000-07:00

Today was my 37th birthday. I kept meaning to plan something but kept forgetting. Fortunately, it’s a Friday, and that means a few of my good friends (including xochitl42 and qadgop) were coming over to game. feiran was over as well, since she’d been babysitting our daughter so my lovely wife could get some things done around the house, and said she’d stick around for food and dessert. And my wife was making me a Grasshopper Pie, which has been one of my favorite desserts since I was a kid. So I was looking forward to a nice evening with some close friends.

I got home around 6:30, after going to the store for a few things. qadgop showed up a few minutes later, followed in quick succession by xochitl42 and the rest of the Friday gaming group. My youngest sister called to wish me a happy birthday.

Then we got food—we were doing deli meats and cheeses and salad and chips and such for dinner, nice and easy for everyone to make their own.

Shortly after I sat down with my sandwich my middle sister called. While I was on the phone with her the doorbell rang and Mook went to get it. I was still on the phone, and turned around—to see my youngest sister! She had come all the way down from D.C. to surprise me!

That was a shock but a nice one. Then, maybe twenty minutes later, the doorbell rang again. It was our friend Kim, who claimed she was just stopping by to say hi. A little bit later our friend Amy showed up, as did feiran’s boyfriend, who I’d met at lunch a month or two ago. And then my aunt showed up as well.

And that was when my lovely wife revealed that this was, in fact, all planned. It was a surprise party. She’d apparently been planning it for months, and had completely fooled me! Our friend Raphy even called from Brazil and said he was sorry he couldn’t be there, so he knew about it! I was the only one who didn’t.

We all had food and cake and pie and lots of fun, and then I opened presents. I got many excellent books and DVDs, but easily the coolest present was the one from my lovely wife. She had compiled a scrapbook for me, with thoughts and memories and comments from many of my family and close friends. I was utterly amazed! I haven’t had a chance to read through it properly yet, but just seeing the pictures and the names is a real thrill.

She told me she wanted me to have a really nice birthday because I hadn’t really celebrated it the last few times. And she apologized for the fact that many of our friends didn’t show for the party, and that many she’d contacted hadn’t sent anything for the scrapbook. But I was so impressed, both by everything she’d done and by all those who did respond.

My wife rocks. This may have been my best birthday ever.

Ego-boost or shopping list? You decide!

2006-10-13T08:38:00.000-07:00

A company recently asked me for my publications list, with links where possible. It took me an hour or two to assemble that, but I'm sure it'll prove useful in future. If nothing else, when I finally get my professional site up and running I can just paste the thing in.

In the meantime, I'm putting it here. :)

I was pleased I managed to find links for almost everything. So if you've been missing any of my books, now’s your chance to fill in the gaps.

I did wind up excising a few items that are not available online, mainly older, smaller-circulation things. But if you notice anything else missing please let me know.

PUBLICATIONS:
Novels:
Hour of the Daemon. Black Library. December 2007 (projected)

untitled StarCraft novel. Pocket Books. December 2007 (projected)

untitled WarCraft novel. Pocket Books. May 2007 (projected)

"Night of the Daemon." Black Library. January 2007 (projected)

"Queen of Blades." Pocket Books, 2006.

"Day of the Daemon." Black Library, 2006.

"Tales of the Last War." Anthology. Wizard of the Coast, 2006.

"Exalted: The Carnelian Flame." White Wolf Publishing, 2005.

"Star Trek S.C.E.: Creative Couplings, Book II." Pocket Books, 2005

"Star Trek S.C.E.: Creative Couplings, Book I." Pocket Books, 2004

"Star Trek S.C.E.: Collective Hindsight, Book II." Pocket Books, 2003

"Star Trek S.C.E.: Collective Hindsight, Book I." Pocket Books, 2003. Winner, 2003 Psi Phi Award, eBook Hall of Fame

"Some Assembly Required (Star Trek: SCE, Omnibus Book 3)." Pocket Books, 2003.

"Imaginings: An Anthology of Long Short Fiction." Pocket Books, 2003.

"Legends of the Pendragon." Anthology. Green Knight Publishing, 2002.

"Bubbles in the Middle." The Powerpuff girls plus you club. Scholastic, 2002.

"Star Trek S.C.E.: the Riddled Post." Pocket Books, 2001.

Games:
"Grace and Guidance, The Storem Dragon Covenant Book." Eden Studios, TBA.

"WarCraft Alliance Players Guide." Sword and Sorcery Studio, 2006.

"WarCraft: Lands of Mystery." Sword and Sorcery Studio, 2006.

"Thieves' World: Shadowspawn's Guide to Sanctuary." Green Ronin, 2005.

"The Deryni Adventure Game." Grey Ghost Press, 2005.

"Lord of the Rings: Helm's Deep." Decipher, 2005.

"Blue Rose Companion." Green Ronin, 2005.

"Races of Destiny." Wizards of the Coast, 2004.

"Isengard Sourcebook." Decipher, 2004.

"Fields of Battle: The Guide to Barbarians & Warriors." Decipher, 2004.

"Relics and Rituals: Olympus." Sword and Sorcery Studio, 2004.

"Realms of Norrath: Dagnor's Cauldon." Sword and Sorcery Studio, 2004.

"World's Largest Dungeon." Alderac Entertainment Group, 2004.

"Realms of Norrath: Forests of Faydark." Sword and Sorcery Studio, 2004.

"Mythic Vistas: Trojan War." Green Ronin, 2004.

"Relics and Rituals: Excalibur." Sword and Sorcery Studio, 2004.

"Advanced Players Guide." Sword and Sorcery Studio, 2004.

"Vampire Players' Guide." White Wolf, 2003.

"Star Trek Role Playing Game: Creatures." Decipher, 2003.

"Fell Beasts and Wondrous Magic." Decipher, 2003.

"Asylum: Eastern Seaboard." Clockworks, 2003.

"Dark Inheritance." Mythic Dreams, 2003.

"Realms of Norrath: Everfrost Peaks." Sword and Sorcery Studio, 2003.

"EverQuest Role-Playing Game: Game Master’s Guide." Sword and Sorcery Studio, 2003.

"Creatures of the Wyld." White Wolf, 2003.

"Shields of Justice: A Hero's Almanac." Guardians of Order, 2002.

"Silver Age Sentinels Roll Call Volume 1." Guardians of Order, 2002.

"Horrors of the Wasted West." Pinnacle Entertainment Group, 2002.

"The Great Weird North." Pinnacle Entertainment Group, 2002.

"Call of Cthulhu Gamemasters Pack." Chaosium, 2002.

"Gamemastering Secrets." Grey Ghost Press, 2002. Winner, 2003 Origins Award for Best Game Aid or Accessory

"Dead From Above." Pinnacle Entertainment Group, 2002.

"DC Universe JSA Sourcebook." West End Games, 2001.

"Chosen." Clockworks, 2001.

"Sins of the Blood." White Wolf, 2001

"Jack Vance's The Dying Earth Roleplaying Game." Pelgrane Press, 2001.

"Gotham City Sourcebook." West End Games, 2000.

"JLA Sourcebook." West End Games, 2000.

"Spookshow: Outside Standard Channels." Clockworks, 2000.

"Nights of Prophecy." White Wolf, 2000.

"Asylum: The Staff Manual." Clockworks, 1999.

"The Price of Freedom: The United Federation of Planets." Last Unicorn, 1999.

"Tales of Magick: Dark Adventure." White Wolf, 1999.

"Spookshow." Clockworks, 1998.

"Asylum." Clockworks, 1997.

"Hong Kong Action Theatre! Film Festival #1." Event Horizons Publications, 1997.

"Hong Kong Action Theatre: Cinematic Action Role Playing Game." Event Horizons Publications, 1996.

Age of Empire. Epitaph Studios, 1996.

"The Strange Files of Dr. Sorcis," Mind Ventures Games, 1996.

"Periphery: Science Fiction Roleplaying on the Edge." Epitaph Studios, 1994.

Educational
"Thomas Hobbes: An English Philosopher in the Age of Reason." Rosen Publishing, 2005.

"Madeleine L'Engle." Rosen Publishing, 2005.

"Colleen Doran." Rosen Publishing, 2005.

"Dave Mirra: BMX Superstar." Rosen Publishing, 2004.

"Taig Khris: In-Line Skating Superstar." Rosen Publishing, 2004.

"Gamal Abdel Nasser." Rosen Publishing, 2004.

"Cryptologists: Life Making and Breaking Codes." Rosen Publishing, 2003.

"The Yom Kippur War." Rosen Publishing, 2003.

"Kick Scooters: Techniques and Tricks." Rosen Publishing, 2004.

"Mountain Biking: Techniques and Tricks." Rosen Publishing, 2002.

"Advanced Skateboarding: From Kick Turns to Catching Air." Rosen Publishing, 2002.

"A Beginner's Guide to Very Cool Skateboarding Tricks." Rosen Publishing, 2002.

"The Bermuda Triangle." Rosen Publishing, 2002.

Toddlers with wrapping paper

2006-10-09T11:08:00.000-07:00

This weekend was good.

My darling daughter turned three on Friday. We had the usual gang over that evening, plus my dad (“Grampa!”). The lovely wife made pizza, (one of the toddler’s favorites) and cupcakes. Then there were the presents. My daughter was very excited and enjoyed herself immensely. Of course, Sunday morning she asked me for more presents and then, when I told her those had been for her birthday, wanted to know when her next birthday was. She was not pleased to discover she had to wait an entire year for it to roll around again.

Saturday we went to the Bronx Zoo. Wow. The place is huge—we spent five hours there and still didn’t see all of it. tashaar joined us for a bit, along with her husband and their son, who is our daughter’s playmate. Then our cousins showed up with their two kids, fortunately before tashaar left so my daughter had companions her own age the whole time. We went all over and had a lot of fun. Her favorite thing was the Bug Carousel but I think the tigers were a close second. And the kids did very well, with only minor meltdowns toward the end—and it was five p.m. by then, after a full day of activity and no nap. She went to sleep easily that night. He was okay for a bit but woke up in the a.m. and forced the wife to stay up with him for several hours.

Sunday was quiet during the day, just catching up a bit—on sleep among other things. I got another chapter done on the novel—almost finished now. Last night we went out to dinner with my dad, my aunt and uncle, and some cousins (not the same ones who came to the zoo, these are my dad’s age). That was chaotic but fun—the waiter had a sense of humor, fortunately, otherwise we would have driven him bonkers. Our son had some issues, allergies and teething as usual, but was happy and burbling for part of it. Our daughter had a good time. And was even more excited when she found out Grampa was staying the night with us—she loves it when people stay over.

Not much else going on this week. I’ll have the novel done in the next two days, which is good because I’ve got another project in the works already that I want to finish before our trip next week. My dad’s here a few more days, which is cool. My birthday is Friday but I haven’t had time to really think of anything to do and it doesn’t like there are any movies out I really want to see right now. No biggie—I’ll see the usual gang of friends that night, which is always a pleasure, and the wife has promised me Grasshopper Pie, one of my favorites which I haven’t had for years and years.

Mini-update

2006-10-04T13:57:00.000-07:00

Not a lot else going on right now, other than the fact that I finally caught the cold the wife and kids have had all week. It’s not too severe, though.

I’m working on finishing the novel, and starting on two other projects that are due in the next month. I’m going to be busy through the end of the year, which isn’t a bad thing. If I can stick to the schedule I devised I’ll be able to finish everything without too much stress, just nice steady output.

The toddler’s birthday is this weekend—we’re going to the zoo on Saturday, which should be fun. My dad’s also coming up this evening and staying through next week, which is always nice.

We’re settling into the fall TV season. So far the only three new shows we’ve picked up are Heroes (not bad, fun but not overwhelming), Studio 60 (Excellent—Sorkin is finally back!), and Jericho (enjoyable). For returning shows we have Veronica Mars, Lost, Supernatural, CSI: NY, and CSI. Eight shows total, which isn’t horrendous, and I feel I can miss CSI: NY without concern, at least.

Fairly quiet otherwise. :)

Strange disconnect

2006-10-04T13:50:00.000-07:00

I had lunch with some friends today.

Nothing strange about that. It’s Wednesday. I have lunch with friends—the same group of friends, in fact—every Wednesday. We have for years. Always the same time, always the same place.

Except this week.

This week our usual hangout—a diner that, admittedly, has only so-so food, though their desserts are excellent—was closed for renovations. I got there to find two of the others standing outside. We waited about fifteen minutes, collecting four more people, before leaving a note on the door and heading over to a dumpling house a block away.

The food was considerably better. And comparably priced. The seating was a little trickier—we wound up split into two groups—and the place was too loud for easy conversation, but it was still fun.

And it was a pleasant reminder that I have lunch with these people not just out of habit or some vague notion toward networking but because I genuinely like them.

Too early to tell . . .

2006-09-26T11:27:00.000-07:00

. . . but even so. . . .

In the past two days I've gotten two inquiries about writing work. Meaning, two different places contacting me to see if I'd be interested in writing for them.

Completely out of the blue.

One is a place I've worked for in the past. The other is one I've never worked for.

It's possible they won't lead anywhere, either or both. Who knows? Life is like that. But it's always nice to have people request you rather than having to chase the work. And to have it happen twice in two days?

Yeah, I'm in a good mood. :)

Soon the leaves will turn . . .

2006-09-21T07:13:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know it’s been a while again. Sorry. I’ve put up a meme on LJ but that’s not real content. Amusing, though, at least from those who did respond.

So what’s been going in my life lately? Not a lot, actually. Well, not a lot beyond the usual.

The wife and kids are all doing well. We’re all over our respective colds and such, which is good. The wife’s been to the doctor and things are looking okay—not as good as they could but far better than they might have. My daughter is in full toddler mode, very willful, but she’s still a sweetie. My son has at least one tooth now, if not more—it’s hard to tell, both because they push up before breaking through and because he’s likely to bite your fingers if you try feeling around for them. :)

He’s also crawling! I guess that is big news. We thought he was last week, when he kept winding up several feet from where he’d been set down, but now it’s definite. He’s mobile. Which is scary. He’s also very focused, just like his big sister, so he’ll go after something and if you move it he’ll just look around until he’s figured out where you put it and go after it again.

Last night while watching TV (we watched the premiere of Jericho—interesting and well-done, we’ll definitely give it a shot—and the season premiere of CSI: NY) he was on the floor at one point, playing. Then he decided to see what we were doing so he crawled over to the couch, pulled himself up to a standing position, and grinned at me.

Oy.

Work is fine—quietly busy, which is not a bad thing. I keep forgetting to stand up—I’ll be at my desk for a few hours (some of the longer projects can take a day or even two, as opposed to covers and jackets, which only take a few minutes each) and then get up and my legs will buckle. Not fun. I finally got a new monitor last week—the last one in our department to do so, by quite a ways—and got my computer replaced yesterday, so now I have a spiffy 20-inch flat-screen and a brand new quad G5. Nice.

The house is good and we’ve been leaving a few windows open lately to take advantage of the nice weather. I need to take care of little jobs (the radiator cover, the chair railing, and now the banister rails as well) now that the weather’s turning, before it gets too cold—I don’t relish the idea of painting in snow again. I got the car back—took it to a local mechanic a neighbor recommended and was well-pleased—and running smoothly, which is a good thing since we’ve already had one expedition to NJ and have another this coming weekend.

My other news is that I finally got the contracts on my next two projects, so I can talk about them. I’d already had them lined up but I don’t like to discuss anything until it’s completely locked in. Now it is.

I’m writing a second StarCraft novel, the follow-up to Queen of Blades. And after that I’m doing a WarCraft novel. The titles aren’t final yet, sorry. I’ll announce them when they are.

Between those and my third Warhammer novel I’m going to be busy through the start of next year, maybe until early spring. I’ve got a few smaller projects lined up as well, and I’m doing the hunt for what I’ll work on after that.

What else? We went apple-picking last weekend with Paleologa and others and had a great time. The kids loved it and we have many many apples—my lovely wife made some into caramel apples last night, which were a huge mess but very tasty. We’re off to our cousin’s birthday party this coming weekend, along with a visit to the wife’s grandmother en route. We went to a Mets game two weekends ago, which was fun even though the Mets lost horribly. My good friend Dochyel is in the hospital but is on the mend and will hopefully be released soon. I’m planning to visit him today.

I’m still having trouble squeezing my writing back into a proper schedule. Part of it is that I’ve been utterly wiped lately—I’m trying to get to bed at a reasonable hour but I wake up still tired each morning and by the time I get my daughter to bed I’m having trouble focusing. I can’t really write like that, so I futz around a little bit, maybe work on the one graphics project I’ve got right now, and then give up and go to bed. Ugh. Hopefully I’ll get some proper sleep and be able to stay up and write again soon. Otherwise I’ll be stuck sneaking in moments when I get home and on weekends.

In general, though, things are good. And the weather is starting to turn. Autumn is my favorite season. Oh, and my birthday is less than a month away. Not sure what I’m doing for it yet, perhaps dinner and a movie with friends. It sort of gets swallowed up between my daughter’s birthday, our wedding anniversary, and this year our trip to Kansas. I’ll figure out something.

Bleh

2006-09-07T13:31:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted yet this month. I got a cold last weekend and I've been dragging a bit as a result. Otherwise the weekend was fine, including Monday when I watched both kids so the lovely wife could actually go out for a change.

Work is work. 'Nuff said there.

Writing is moving, though slowly. The cold's knocked me back a bit, and having only one computer at home has been an issue. Starting next week I'm going to push forward again, though. I've got one project I need to finish and two more I need to start, plus a few I need to outline.

Not much else. The kids are both a little feverish today, some sort of stomach thing, but not too bad. We're going to a Mets game this weekend. That should be fun. Oh, and I reconnected with two old friends this week, one by email (Hey, Tom!) and one by phone, so that's nice.

Around and around

2006-09-01T21:02:00.000-07:00

Another week, another month, etc. Time marches on—actually, it seems to be scurrying past, these days.

Not much to report, really.

The kids and the wife are good. My son finally has a tooth through! Now we’re just waiting on the other dozen or so. He’s a good boy but he wants to examine everything, including using the ever-popular “Let me shove you in my mouth” test. My daughter alternates between being helpful and cranky but she is a sweetie and she dotes on her little brother. My lovely wife is tired, as am I, but usually seems in high spirits.

The car is acting strange—the dash lights going out unexpectedly, the radio readout flickering, the car not wanting to start for the first few tries. There’s got to be a loose wire somewhere. What’s annoying is that it wasn’t this bad *before* the mechanic touched it, and he’s down in Rockaway so it’s not that easy to go back and say “you broke it, you fix it.” I just hope we can get it sorted before any of the day-trips we’ve got planned this month and next month.

lexman8’s visit was good, if way too short. He showed up in time for a late lunch Tuesday, went and wandered the streets for a few hours, met me back at work, and then headed out to Queens with me—we stopped off for Thai food, took it home, ate, and hung out until the wee hours. Got up the next morning and took my daughter with us to go get bagels and pastries for breakfast, went back and ate, then trekked into the city so he could catch his train out of Penn Station. Much fun, and it brought back the days when we lived in the same town and got together every Saturday to hang out. Damn. Why can’t you and the wife just move up here already?

Work was quieter this week, which is definitely a good thing. I also went over the page proofs for Night of the Daemon and turned in my corrections. Now it’s back to the current novel. I’ve started discussing the next two with their respective editors/licensors, so by the time this one is finished one of them should be ready to go.

Today was the last of my Summer Publishing Fridays (done at 12:45), and combined with having Monday off this is a nice long weekend. And I’m doing very little with it. We had dinner with qadgop and skoobwoman tonight, and hopefully I’m heading into the city tomorrow to hang with worldforger and keltickefiwolf. My lovely wife is taking a much-needed and well-deserved break on Monday to hang out with one of our friends—I’m thrilled for her, though I admit I’m nervous about handling both kids by myself for most of the day. Our son is very Mommy-centric right now, so this could get rough.

I need to make up a new to-do list for myself. I work best with lists and I haven’t updated that in a while, which probably contributes to the fact that I keep remembering random things I need or want to do and then forgetting about them again. Time to writ it all down again and then hopefully start working my way through it.

Family, friends—and daemons!

2006-08-24T11:43:00.000-07:00

It's been busy lately.

Work was crazed last week and the start of this week. For those of you who saw my private post, it's gotten a bit better the past two days. Which is good, since it couldn't have gotten much worse. But the table is back under control and I can start to breathe again.

I'm still not writing as much as I'd like right now, and I need to get that moving properly again. One hoped-for source of motivation has proven to be a dud, which is a shame.

My dad was here week before last, and my youngest sister and one of her friends were here last weekend. Both visits were nice, though my sister's was too short. My daughter loved seeing her Grampa and her aunt, though. And we hung out on the beach one day with my dad, which was a lot of fun. My daughter loved the water! My son didn’t—the waves freaked him out—but he enjoyed the beach itself.

The house is doing fine—no new wackiness to report, probably because I haven't tried to fix or install anything lately. :) I do have some projects I need to get to, though, esp. now that it seems the weather might be turning a touch cooler finally.

Got the car back—for those who don’t know, I’ve got use of my dad’s car for the time being. It needed some repairs last week but my sister and I trekked down to get it back from the garage last Friday, just in time to get her friend from the airport. It’s strange—for years I had a car and felt weird without one. Then I moved to NY and didn’t have a car and got completely used to that. Now I have one again, at least on loan, and I’ve fallen back into that mindset. Not when in Manhattan, fortunately, but we have gotten used to having the car and to that increased mobility. It really does make a huge difference when you have two kids.

My best buddy is coming up next week, and I'm stoked! It's only for a day, alas, but I'll take what I can get. And another pair of friends may be up some time over Labor Day weekend, which would be cool. Another friend was supposed to come visit then but her plans were scotched by her evil overlord/manager.

In other news, I got materials for Night of the Daemon, the second book of my Daemon Gates trilogy, this week. I've got page proofs to go over, which is unglamorous but cool. But I've got a cover! Whee!

It's a bit darker than the first one but otherwise matches pretty well. And yes, expect skeletons in the novel. Is it just me, though, or does it look like he's offering Alaric (the guy with the sword) his dagger? Kind of like "oh here, did you want this blade?" And Alaric is pulling away, saying "No! I've got my sword!" :)

Yet again . . .

2006-08-01T14:21:00.000-07:00

. . . I go quiet. At least for a little bit. But I am keeping the blog for now.

I’ve been busy, but nothing out of the ordinary.

We went to visit the wife’s grandmother weekend before last, out in southern NJ (near Trenton) and had a very nice time. The kids enjoyed themselves, the toddler especially—we have several very sweet photos of her hugging her great-grandma, who was absolutely thrilled.

Went to Dave & Buster’s off Times Square for a friend’s birthday. It was amusing. Going to see Pirates 2 tomorrow night with some friends, finally. I’m looking forward to it—and to a distant future when the wife and I can actually do such things together again.

I’ve been writing, of course, and the novel is coming along, though I’ve had to put it down once or twice for other things. I just finished edits on my second Warhammer novel, for one—it’s a much stronger book now and I’m well pleased with it. I’ve got another short piece to finish up tonight and tomorrow and then it’s back to the novel again. After that I’ve got another project to work on, and two more I need to start outlining.

Otherwise it’s business as usual. Work’s been busy lately, which is good and bad, and I’ve had my hands full. The kids are good, and fully recovered from the bugs they had a week or two ago. The cat was ill but seems to be doing better now. The wife and I are still a little sleep-deprived but not too bad, and she’s recovered from the serious deprivation of the weekend.

My dad’s coming up to visit next week, and my youngest sister the following weekend. Then we’ve got a two-week gap before my best friend visits—alas, for only a day or two!—followed rapidly by another of our good friends. August will be filled with visitors!

I haven’t done any house stuff in a while, in part because it’s been so beastly hot. I still need to paint the new radiator cover and the chair railing and there are a few other things I want to get done but none of them are urgent.

We’ve been catching up on Dr. Who finally, and have only the last two eps of second season left. We will be sad when they’re done. It’s the only thing we’re watching right now, and that’s up on the computer—if not for the toddler watching DVDs downstairs from time to time the TV would crumble from disuse.

Hm. Not a lot else, really. But that’ll do for now. :)

Anybody out there? Please respond.

2006-07-21T08:35:00.000-07:00

For the past year—wow, I hadn’t realized it had been so long already!—I’ve been mirroring my posts on LJ and Blogger. But more and more of my friends are on LJ now, which means they’re reading my posts over there.

So my question is—is anyone still reading this?

I’ve been considering stopping the blog. It would be one less step if I didn’t have to mirror the posts here. And I prefer LJ—it’s more interactive and has several really nice features, including the ability to friend-lock posts.

So if you are reading this, and don’t have an LJ, and want me to keep posting here as well, let me know.

Thanks.

That clacking sound you hear

2006-07-14T09:16:00.000-07:00

Another week and I’m finally getting around to posting. Shocking, I know, but at least I’m consistent.

So what have I been doing with my time?

type type type type type type
[and so on]

Yep. Writing. I’m well into the next novel now and that’s soaking up most of my free time. It’s going well and should be done on time. And no, I still can’t tell you what it is. :)

Also, our little boy was sick this week, enough so that we took him to the doctor. Turns out he’s got a cold or minor virus and all we can do is give him Tylenol and Advil, but it’s pretty scary when a child that young gets ill. He’s doing better now.
I didn’t wind up getting as much done last weekend as I’d hoped—less writing and none of the household projects, though I did get to spend a nice day with my lovely wife and wonderful children, so that was good.

This weekend was originally supposed to be busy—the wife going out tomorrow and leaving me alone with the kids and me going to a gaming con in NJ on Sunday—but I suspect one or both won’t happen now. The wife has been a little under the weather herself the past few days, plus our boy is still a little sick, and my big reason for going to the con seems to have stalled (a project I co-wrote—we were originally going to be selling it there but that’s tough to do when it’s not even laid out yet).

So that means a little movie- or TV-watching, perhaps—we found a way to improve the volume on our computer enough that we can finally catch up on second-season Dr. Who, yay!—and some hanging out and maybe those painting projects.

Oh yes, and writing.

The long week(end)

2006-07-07T06:31:00.000-07:00

I keep meaning to post about the past weekend. Of course, since my body and brain think today’s Wednesday, it doesn’t feel like I’m all that tardy on the update. :)

The weekend was good, and long in a good way. I’m on Summer Publishing Hours now (have been since Memorial Day, will be until Labor Day), which means starting work a little earlier and leaving a little later Monday through Thursday and getting to leave a little before 1pm Friday as a result. Since I’m usually in early and often leave late regardless I basically get Friday afternoons off for free. Works for me.

So last week I left work around 1pm. I didn’t have to return until this past Wednesday morning, meaning I had 4.5 days off without having to touch my vacation. I know, pity me.

We actually didn’t do that much with the time, which was nice after the whirlwind weekend before.

Friday evening qadgop and xochitl42 came over to hang out and game. Saturday we spent the day relaxing with the kids (who kindly let us sleep a little late—9am, woo!) and then went grocery shopping that night. Sunday was more of the same. It was too hot and too wet to go out so we stayed home, relaxed, played with the kids, etc.

Monday I did some work—okay, I stayed up until 3am finishing some novel edits. I wanted to get it finished so I could start the next project, which I did.

Tuesday saw the return of qadgop and xochitl42, plus our friend mook, for a longer than usual (roughly 2pm-10pm) gaming session. We’re still playing Serenity, for those following along, though this storyline is rapidly drawing to a close. We discussed what to do next and the consensus was for me to run more another Serenity adventure with the same crew. I’m happy to do it, and they’ve certainly got enough plot threads about to lead to some interesting stories. We grilled all manner of meat (the lovely wife’s domain) and produced two batches of fresh fries (my bailiwick) and had margaritas and other drinks. Much fun was had by all. We missed the fireworks entirely and didn’t much care.

And then Wednesday rolled around and I had to drag myself out of bed at 7:30 again. Which is probably why I fell asleep on the couch around 10pm that night, and then again upstairs around 11—I basically tucked our daughter in (after the lovely wife had gotten her ready) and passed out on our bed until the wife woke me just before 1am so I could actually wash up and go to bed properly.

Not a lot else going on. I’ve seen the roughs for my second Warhammer cover—it’s very cool and by the same artist who did the first cover. I’m not allowed to show it off yet because Black Library wants to reveal it in their catalog first, but as soon as they give the okay I’ll have it up here. I’m already working on the next novel, not the third Warhammer but something else—I’ll give more details as soon as I have clearance.

This weekend should be nice and quiet. Gaming tonight, a bit of writing each day, maybe a little house work—I have a chair rail in the loo and a new radiator cover I found for the living room that both need some paint—but otherwise not much going on.

And maybe by Sunday my body will have realized it’s a normal weekend, so I can wake up properly Monday morning.

A Worthy Cause

2006-07-07T06:30:00.000-07:00

My good friend James Wallis, who anyone who does RPGs has probably heard of, is doing a pilgrimage. It's for an excellent cause and James is an excellent fellow. He's looking for people to donate money--not to him, but to Cancerbackup.

James has a blog. It's here:
http://www.magnumopuspress.com/blog/

I encourage everyone to check it out, donate if you can, and spread the word.

Party Rundown

2006-06-27T13:57:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was a whirlwind of family, friends, and activity.

Here’s the rundown:

Friday:
My dad picked up my middle sister at the airport a little before noon and they showed up at the house around 12:30. With lunch, which was good.

Much of the day was spent doing last-minute cleaning and organizing. We picked my friend Sam up at the airport around 5pm—he and I have been friends since we were kids and he came all the way form Chicago for this. My youngest sister’s bus was late getting in so we went to pick her up around 8pm or so.

Came back, grilled dinner (steaks for the guys, salmon steak for my lovely wife, hot dogs for our daughter, veggie burgers and veggie dogs for the girls), did a bit more around the house, then crashed. Sam took the futon in the office while the girls slept on an inflatable mattress in our daughter’s room. She was thrilled—she’s been talking about it for weeks.

Saturday:
My cousin and his wife got in around 10:30 and took a cab to us. We were already up, of course. A final touches to the house and then people started getting ready for the onslaught.

The first wave arrived at 12:30, an hour early—I answered the door in T-shirt and shorts. Managed to change into more presentable clothing a few minutes later.
The actual baby-naming was supposed to be at 1:30 but we delayed until about 2pm because the rain (it poured for most of the afternoon) was slowing down arrivals. All but one guest was here by the time we started, however.

dochyel did the honors, and very nicely, too. Our son was very attentive and well-behaved, as were most of the guests. The actual ceremony is short, so after that it was just hanging out and socializing.

We had a total of forty people over, all of them either family or close friends. Our son was held by at least six different people during the course of the day, and our daughter played with not only her cousins and her playmate but her grandfather, her aunts, and other relatives and friends. My lovely wife did an excellent job with the food (she started cooking on Thursday) and we still had ample amounts afterward despite everyone eating their fill. Drinks we ran pretty close on but we didn’t actually run out; it’s just that afterward there wasn’t much left.

A few people left around 4:30 or 5pm. More left within the next hour. By 8pm it was down to just us, our houseguests, and my dad. Which was fine. We cleaned up, picked at leftovers, hung out, watched SNL (first time I’ve actually watched it since my daughter’s naming—my cousin and his wife are fans), hung out a bit more, then all collapsed.

My cousin and his wife took the sofa bed in the family room, so we had a total of nine people in the house. We could probably fit another one on the living room couch if necessary.

Sunday:
We got up around 10am and nibbled breakfast. My cousin and his wife caught a car to the airport, missing my dad by only a few minutes (he had meant to take them but had forgotten his cell phone and hadn’t called to confirm).

We relaxed and nibbled lunch before taking my youngest sister to her bus. Then a little more time at home and off to the airport (LaGuardia) with Sam, then down to JFK with my middle sister.

My dad spent the night with us, so after all the airport runs we simply relaxed and ate a little dinner and all went to bed at a (for us) reasonable hour.

Monday my dad left early for the airport. I got up at my usual time an hour later to go to work.

It was an excellent weekend. Busy, definitely, but it was really nice to see everybody. As with any event of this nature I wish I’d been able to spend more time with most of the people who showed, and I was happy I got to see my cousins and my friend and my sisters for a bit before and after.

Most of the food is gone now. The house is basically cleaned back up, though for now we might leave the living room in its new, more open configuration. Our daughter misses having her aunts and her grandpa and her cousins staying with us. Our son probably misses having so many people to hold him—he was rarely set down during the weekend because there was always someone else willing to shoulder him.

I think we’re still catching up on sleep.

Busy busy busy

2006-06-19T13:54:00.000-07:00

So this past weekend I:

• Took the family to the bank and to go shopping

• Collapsed a bunch of boxes and moved a few others out into the garage

• Cleared off all the tables on the first floor (all seven of them)

• Hung candle sconces in the dining room

• Hung a coat rack in the foyer

• Replaced the family room light

• Framed several pictures for our daughter’s room and one for the living room

• Removed about eight bags of gravel from the front porch

• Put away some laundry

• Hung another picture

• Organized my tools and hardware

• Brought in several more boxes of paperbacks and put said paperbacks up on the ledges in the family room

• Transferred files off our digital camera

• Set up our new printer (a spiffy Canon Pixma)

• Occupied the children while my lovely wife worked on a big project of her own

I have a whole list of things to do before our families visit this coming weekend. I got perhaps a third of it done this past weekend, which was pretty good.

Installing the family room light, something I’ve been putting off for a year because I was leery of the electrical work, proved to be easier than I’d expected. The previous owners still did strange things with the wiring, and some of the old wiring had to be completely taped up because the casings were utterly disintegrated, but I got it all put together. It works and there were no sparks and no heat on the floor above (something that my lovely wife had noticed with the previous fixture) so I think I did a solid job.

The winner of the “What a colossal mess they left us” award this weekend was actually the coat rack. Which is sad, really. And not entirely the previous owners’ fault, since I’m sure every house on our block has the same construction. But the exterior side walls are old concrete or cinder block and don’t take nails well—they tend to either resist completely or just crumble away. The same goes for drilling—in one spot I couldn’t even get the drill through and in another it left a large hole. I wound up having to cheat it a bit with a nail but the coat rack’s up and looks good and seems sturdy enough. We’ll see what happens once we start hanging things on it.

Oh, and for Father’s Day my lovely wife and adorable children (and cute cat) got me:
• The Cat from Outer Space on DVD
• The extended Sin City on DVD
• A deep-fat fryer: I’ve actually been wanting one of these so I can do my own fried chicken, among other things
• A frying cookbook
• A cookbook of quick-fix recipes

Tonight I’m hoping to repair our DVD player. It stopped working over the weekend and a quick Google search showed that it’s a recurrent problem with this particular model—because it has a standby mode and never fully powers down, a capacitor tends to blow out after 6-14 months. We’ve had ours for eight, so on the shorter side of that window. Fortunately someone put up detailed instructions of how to replace the capacitor. I picked up a soldering tool and a new capacitor today and we’ll see how that goes tonight.

I didn’t get any writing work done this weekend, but that’s okay. It was a nice break. I’m going to be revising my second Warhammer novel next, then finishing up a short RPG piece and starting a new writing project. More on that one at a later date. And of course I’ve got the rest of this to-do list to get through. My dad’s coming up tomorrow, and my sisters will be here Friday.

Should be an interesting week.

Another Wiring Nightmare While Wide Awake

2006-06-12T14:11:00.000-07:00

My goals this weekend were simple: replace the doorbell, replace the light switches in the foyer, hang a few pictures, hang the mirror in the laundry room, and do a little writing.

No problem, right?

Yeah, not so much.

Hanging the pictures was fine. The mirror was more of a pain, since the wall down there is crumbling cinderblock, but I did finally manage to drill some holes that didn’t collapse in on themselves immediately afterward.

The doorbell was a problem and for once I can’t really blame the previous owners. When my friend Paul and I rewired it a while back, we used decent wires, sturdier than you might normally find on such things. That proved to be a mistake. The wires were too thick to fit on the doorbell leads easily and too sturdy to bend easily, which meant I couldn’t push them back inside the wall without having the ends pop off the leads. And the new doorbell was a flush-mount style, so the mechanism had to fit inside the wall—and the hole there wasn’t large enough to accommodate it. Eventually we gave up and did an end-run around it, since my lovely wife has never liked our existing doorbell anyway (and the bell for it is inside a kitchen cabinet, which is ridiculous). We bought a new wireless doorbell, which is much louder and was easier to install (though I did have a few moments of swearing when I drilled into the wall to hang the chime itself).

But this past weekend’s problem child was the foyer. Oh my yes.

We had two switches in the foyer, side by side. Or rather, one switch and one dial. The switch worked the dim overhead light in the foyer. The dial was a timer control for the porch light. We had removed the switchplate back when we painted, before moving in (yes, over eighteen months ago now—how times flies!) and had never replaced it (because they’d carved it to make room for the dial, and it didn’t really fit properly). Which meant that every time we turned on the foyer light we could see the sparks jump from the switch. Not good.

So I bought two new switches and a new switch plate. I’d done light switches before, so this should be no big deal. Right?

I removed the old switches and found four wires. Good, that’s how many there should be. Except that two of them were taped together. And when I removed the crumbling tape I found they were actually twisted together in the middle.

???

So I untwisted them and, suspecting what would happen next, hooked each to its respective switch.

One switch worked. The other? Nothing.

I reversed those two wires.

And again one switch worked. The other one.

Which meant one wire was live and the other not. They’d crossed them to basically split the wire. And I wasn’t all that thrilled about crossing them back again.

It was getting dark and I wasn’t sure what to do about the wires so I figured I’d leave it until Sunday. Which is when I found the next fun bit of information. Because we went to turn on the living room light—and nothing happened.

They’d apparently drawn the power for those two switches from the living room somehow. And without crossing those two wires we didn’t have power in the living room anymore.

Sunday I went to HomeDepot and asked the guys there what to do. The answer? “No, we don’t have a connector for something like that. Just use electrical tape.”

Oh joy.

That’s what I did, though. Shortened all four wires to remove any excess, wrapped each wire separately with tape, re-wound those two wires, wrapped the juncture with more tape, connected both switches, turned on the breaker.

Yep, they all worked now. All three lights: porch, foyer, living room.

And the foyer light is at least three times brighter than it was. Apparently that connection hadn’t been tight, which is why it was dim and why it always sparked. Now at least it’s secure, and securely taped.

But it took me most of the weekend to accomplish that, which I thought would be a half-hour job.

Not surprisingly, that was most of my weekend. I did manage to get in some writing, and to do most of my other self-appointed tasks, though I still haven’t hung sconces in the dining room. And slowly, piece-by-piece, I’m uncovering the idiots’ legacies throughout the house. And fixing them.

Or at least smothering them in electrical tape.

But can I scale a wall with no hands?

2006-06-09T07:52:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know, I went quiet again. That keeps happening to me. :)

Not too much to report, really.

Found out my StarCraft novel is definitely available--people have reported seeing it (nice big displays, too) in Palo Alto and Peoria. And they said it wouldn't play in Peoria! :)

I finished the first draft of my fourth novel and I’m waiting on editorial comments—so far the editor says she likes it but needs me to suppress my “nice-guy” tendencies again.

I turned in the revisions on another project and I’m waiting to hear back on that one as well.

I’ve also got a story pitch out, and I’m outlining two more. Plus I need to write a short piece for something else this weekend. And maybe an RPG if I can squeeze it in. :)

House-wise it’s been quiet. I put up my daughter’s ceiling fan last weekend—same wiring mess but I knew about it this time so it didn’t faze me. I did have a problem at one point because I wired it up, hooked everything up, put everything in place, turned it on—and nothing happened. Which meant a wire had pulled loose (I’d checked to make sure the connections were right before putting everything together fully). I switched off the breaker again, turned off the wall switch, pulled down the fan—and realized I had a problem.

This fan, like most these days, has a handy hook on the mounting bracket. You can hang the fan there while wiring it, so you don’t have to hold it (or have someone else do it, which was one of my jobs growing up).

Except that doesn’t work if you’ve already attached the blades. Which I had.

One wire had pulled loose, out of three. But the other two were still firmly attached. So firmly attached I couldn’t simply pull them loose.

And even if I could, there was no way I could reattach the wires while holding the fan in one hand. And my lovely wife was outside working in her garden, which she doesn’t get to do often enough. And both kids were asleep.

What I wound up doing was very Jackie Chan, only not as graceful. I stepped down from the stepladder, still holding the fan in one hand. Then I hooked my daughter’s dresser with my foot and dragged it to me. Then I hooked one of her Playschool toy chairs and dragged that over, and managed to flip that up onto the desk. Then I balanced the fan on that, which was just high enough that the wires would reach.

Reconnected the loose wire, made sure it was tight, hauled the fan back up, and reattached everything.

And it worked. A little wobbly, which is just because the mounting bracket isn’t as flush as I’d like—secure, just not perfectly flush. But it’s all up and works fine and my daughter is thrilled.

This weekend I’m hoping to replace the doorbell and the entryway light switches. And hang a few pictures. If I’m feeling really brave I might see if I can install a new family room light—it’s only been a year or so since the old one burned out and we had to make due with a pair of lamps down there.

Oh, and we’re going to check out Hex, the British show that just made it over here last night. I’ll let you know what we think of the first episode.

The kids are doing fine. He’s got at least one tooth now, we think, and doesn’t seem to be hurting from teething as much, though his allergies are still giving him hell. She’s also good and still super-cute—we switched her to a closer-to-normal toothpaste this week (from a baby toothpaste that’s actually just to get them used to the concept and the brushing motion), which means she has to spit it out now, and she’s thrilled by this.

The wife and I are good, still moderately sleep-deprived (though this week that was partially our own fault because we stayed up late to watch a movie one night) but otherwise fine. The new computer is up and running nicely. So on and so forth. And soon I get to head home for the weekend—I love summer publishing hours. :)

All for one and one for . . . wiring?

2006-05-30T07:51:00.000-07:00

So this weekend was more fun and excitement—if by “fun and excitement” you mean “discovering yet another odd, confusing, and generally bass-ackwards feature of your home, as left by the previous owners.”

Last weekend, while my dad was visiting, we went to Home Depot. And bought, among other things, a ceiling fan for the dining room. Finally.

I should explain, for those of you who have never seen our home (and what are you waiting for?). The dining room has a hideously ugly chandelier, all elaborate brass-colored curves and sharp edges, with a ton of droplet-shaped crystals dangling from it. It’s ugly, it puts off a ton of heat, and I’m always bashing my head on it because it hangs so low over the table. We’ve been meaning to replace it, well, since we moved in. But first we needed a replacement. We agreed that a ceiling fan would be best but then we had to be able to get to Home Depot together so we could find one we both liked.
Okay, did that part. Found a really nice Hunter five-blade, brushed metal housing with cherrywood blades. Classy, cool, perfect. Done.

Monday I got around to putting it up. I couldn’t do it earlier in the weekend because I was chained to my desk finishing projects. We also had friends coming over to hang out on Monday, and I warned them they might be drafted into helping with this. They said fine.

Suckers.

Qadgop arrived shortly before three, poor fool, and was put to work right away. We moved the dining room table out of the way, opened the box, inventoried the parts, and got to work.

First step was removing the hideous old light. Done. No problems.

Okay, I lie, that was the second step. First was flipping the breaker downstairs so I didn’t electrocute myself. Also done without a hitch.

Next I examined the spot where the light had been. And here was our stumbling block.

I’d fully expected the problem might be with the box. I had to attach a ceiling plate for the fan and I was afraid there might not be a box, or it might be unstable, or it might not have anything around it where I could screw in the plate. Turns out that wasn’t an issue: the box was rock-solid, the screw mounts clearly visible, and they matched the plate perfectly. Done and done.

No, the problem lay in the wiring.

According to the fan diagram I should have had four wires there: a black, a white, a green (or “bare,” which I’m guessing meant tan) and one more for the wall switch.

Well, I did have four wires, in fact.

Only, three of them were soldered together.

WTF?

And that’s not even counting the packet of other wires up there, which were all wrapped up together and not connected to anything else. Those I just shoved back out of the way—I don’t even want to know.

So I had four wires but three of them were linked together. Great. I broke off the soldering and now I had four again. Which is what I should have had. Right?

Except, which one was which? Because these were original 1940s wires, which means the cloth casing had lost any hint of color by now. Black, white, green, tan—your guess is as good as mine. All four were the same color now. Grimy.

All we could do was try different combinations. And, after each one, run down, flip the breaker, and test the fan to see if it worked.

Nope, nope, nope, and more nope.

One time, however, the fan did move. But the light didn’t work. So then I swapped the wall switch wire and the green wire, leaving black and white alone—and now the fan didn’t work either. I switched them back—and it still didn’t work. Despite being exactly the same configuration we’d had a few moments before, when it had worked.

Argh!

Fortunately at this point Ann, Joe, and Ray showed up. And Joe suggested that the three formerly-soldered wires should actually be connected together again. Which meant I was short two wires now. But I tried that, meaning no ground and no light switch.

And that worked.

Hallelujah!

The rest of the assembly was easy and went smoothly, and the fan looks great, lights beautifully, opens the room nicely, and provides a welcome breeze.

But it took three hours to put together. All because the previous owners are, as is increasingly evident, whackadoodles.

Yes, that’s a technical term.

The rest of the afternoon and evening went fine—we grilled (with a pause for thunderstorms), ate (without pause), and hung out. Much fun. And the weekend in general was good—I got a LOT of work done, took care of a few things around the house (including installing air conditioners in all the bedrooms, and just in time), and got to spent time with my lovely wife and adorable children, plus hung out with friends Friday and Monday.

But that wiring!

I’m afraid to find out what the previous owners did to this place next.

And back again

2006-05-17T08:19:00.000-07:00

Yes, I made it back in one piece.
The trip went about as well as could be expected. In other words, most of it was good. One part was rotten.
I got into N.O. a little before 1pm on Saturday. My dad and my youngest sister picked me up. We went back to the Quarter, where my middle sister, my uncle, and his lady friend were waiting. Took a walk, picked up muffalettas and po-boys for lunch, ate on the patio. Then we took another walk and got snowcones. After that we went to a patio party, then out for Thai food. Yes, my family is all about the eating. What can I say? We’re Jewish.
After dinner my uncle and his friend wanted to walk Bourbon Street (she’d never been to N.O. before) so my sisters and I went with them. It was amusing, far less crowded than I remember but still a lot of people having a good time.
Sunday morning we got up, got ready, and went to the cemetery. My oldest sister had flown in the night before and was there when we arrived. And that was when the trouble started. Without going into details, she and our dad have had problems for years, and after my mother’s death it got significantly worse. Nor was this one of her better moments. Her attacking him upset my younger sisters but fortunately the rabbi pointed out that this wasn’t a day about relationships between those still living but between each of us and my mother.
The unveiling itself was fine. It was a short service, only the family and a few close friends present. My youngest sister had wanted each of us to say something but none of my sisters was up to it so it wound up just being me. I talked about how my mother had hated events—she always got flustered—but she loved gatherings, and so she would have been happy to have us gathered there that morning. It wasn’t what I’d planned to say but it seemed appropriate—it was certainly true.
After that we went back to the apartment for brunch, and for the difficult task of going through some of my mother’s things. It’s been two years and it’s time we did that, but it wasn’t easy. Most of it was clothing and the girls each selected a few things they wanted to keep. There was some tension there too, and eventually my older sister stormed out. We took my middle sister to the airport shortly after that. Then my youngest sister and I packed up what each of them had decided to keep—we’d decided it would be easier to ship boxes than to struggle to get things into carry-ons.
That afternoon we took a walk again and got beignets, then took my sister and my uncle and his friend to the airport. That just left my dad and I. We nibbled some dinner, took a walk on the river, and relaxed and watched a movie and read.
Monday we took the boxes to the post office and took a walk. Then I went to the airport. Where I waited two hours before finally getting on my plane, which then sat on the runway for another ninety minutes (they had needed the gate). We had been scheduled to depart at 1:45 and land in New York at 5:46. We didn’t leave N.O. until 4:45, which means we left when we should have been landing.
Somehow the pilot managed to do the trip in two hours, however, so we got in at a little before 8 and I was home by 8:30. That was a nice surprise, and my wife and children were gratifyingly thrilled to see me.
We did tour the city while we were down there, including some of the damaged areas. It’s so strange—in some ways it’s like there are two cities at the moment. The Quarter has some hurricane damage, broken windows and battered roofs and downed trees, but is otherwise fine. But large portions of the city are still utterly wrecked. We did see signs of people moving back in and repairing homes, however. I heard that, other than fast food, seventy-five percent of the restaurants are already back and open again, which is great. And most of the streetlights are working again. So it is getting there, slowly. The mayoral race is this weekend and that could have a major effect on the city’s recovery.
It was certainly an odd trip. I knew there would be some headbutting and there was, but the important thing was that we were all there. And, except for that short span Sunday morning, we had a good time together. Which is what my mother would have wanted.

I doubt it will be either Big or Easy

2006-05-12T22:47:00.000-07:00

I’m heading to New Orleans tomorrow morning (since I consider it to still be Friday, even though it’s almost a quarter to two in the morning). I will be there until Monday afternoon.

Under other circumstances this would be a fun little trip. My dad and all three sisters will be there, as will my uncle and his significant other. The weather may be nice, the French Quarter has had very little damage, and the city still has good food readily available. But I expect the weekend to be a bit difficult because of the purpose for the trip.

We’re unveiling my mother’s tombstone.

I’ll post more when I get back.

Wall-to-wall . . . something

2006-05-11T07:18:00.000-07:00

So in the latest installment of our never-ending “the previous owners were idiots” saga:
The stairs to the basement are carpeted. It’s hideous carpet, and wearing through in several places. I’ve been wanting to do something about it—replacing that carpet has been on my To-Do list since we moved in—but other things keep coming first.

Well, the other day my lovely wife had a small incident with a bag of dirt and rocks (see her LJ for more details). As a result, several steps are now saturated with dirt. Since it was trash night anyway, I figured “let’s tear this old carpet up and toss it out as well. Then I can see what’s under there and, if necessary, find something else to cover the steps with later.”

Ah, this sounds like a good plan. Except I had once again failed to consider the previous owners’ idiocy. Because instead of using carpet tacks and tacking strips to hold down that ugly carpeting, they decided to use nails. Big ones. All along the edges, all across the front, all along the back. Lots and lots of big, rusty nails.

And because it’s a narrow little staircase, there’s no room to get in there with the hammer. And that ratty old carpet is surprisingly hard to cut, though part of that may have been the lack of leverage.

It took me something like twenty minutes to get the carpeting off the first step. And as much or more time to get the next step clear. By which time I was exhausted and filthy. And this was a weeknight, which means I had to go to work the next morning. I had to stop there.

Oh, and the dirt-covered steps? You guessed it—they’re halfway up the staircase.

I managed to cut through the old carpet near the back of the second step and toss out what I’d removed so far. The rest will have to wait until next weekend, probably. I suspect it will take a full day to remove all of it.

Oh yes, and beneath the ratty old carpet? Nicer carpet. And in better shape, at least on those bottom two steps.

Why yes, we love the previous owners. Really we do.

Interview Triple-Play!

2006-05-05T07:46:00.000-07:00

Okay, so a week or two ago everyone was doing the interview meme. It looked like fun but I didn’t have time to answer questions. Then my schedule cleared a bit. So I asked three friends to interview me. And, would you believe it? They all did! So, for those interested:

From xochitl42:
1. What is the one behavior or habit that people have that you simply cannot stand?
I only get to pick one? :)
Okay, going for broad strokes—unreliability. That drives me nuts. If you say you’re going to do something, do it. If you tell someone you’re going to be somewhere, be there. If you don’t think you can, say so—don’t say you can and then not. That’s rude, and selfish, and can seriously screw up other people’s lives.

2. If you could have any one superpower, what would it be?
Teleportation disks, like Ilyana from the New Mutants. That would rock. My best friend could join our game group, I could see my dad and my sisters whenever, we could travel to anywhere.

3. Coming to New York was such a huge step to take--what led you here, and why did you choose to come?
Well, I’ve always loved NYC. My parents were both born and raised here, my grandparents lived here most of their lives, my aunt still lives here. We used to come up to visit regularly when I was a kid, so I already knew the city a little. Plus it’s one of the two places to go for publishing jobs (the other being Chicago, though that’s more magazine than book).
So when we got utterly fed up with Kansas, I decided to come here and try my luck. I came up during the summer and visited with my aunt and interviewed with a few places, just to see what the job market might be like for me. Everyone I talked to said I shouldn’t have a problem finding a job here (hah!). And my aunt offered us a place to stay while we were getting settled.
And we made the move. It was a big step, but I’ve always considered myself a transplanted New Yorker so in some ways it was like coming home.

4. Your sense of humor can, at times, be aggressive and/or relentless. Do you ever worry that you hurt people with it?
Yes. No. Maybe. :)
I worry all the time. About everything. I’m always studying what I’ve done, what I’ve said, what others are doing.
But I don’t unleash my humor at people I don’t know. I reserve it for friends. Usually, when I meet someone, I chat with them for a while before I start making quips. I see what they’re like and get a sense of how they’ll react. Then I loosen up a little and see how that goes.
My real friends are the ones I can be myself with, which means I can be sarcastic and biting and even talkative. I do sometimes worry that a friend will take something I said the wrong way, but most of the time I trust them to know I’m kidding—and to tell me if something I said did offend them, so we can straighten it out.

5. I know that family is very important to you. How has becoming a father changed the way you see the world? And 'm not looking for the cheesy easy answers, here.
Heh, most of the things I would say here are cheesy, though.
Family is important to me. It always has been. I grew up in a tight-knit family of six (total, not kids) and most of us are still close. Getting married meant adding one more to that unit.
But being a dad is different. Suddenly I’m the patriarch. I know that sounds pompous, but it’s true. Suddenly I’ve got people who depend upon me, who look to me for answers and solutions and support and care. It’s amazing.
It’s also an incredible responsibility. It’s a huge burden, but one I’m happy to shoulder.
How has it changed how I see the world, though? I see danger everywhere. All the time. It’s awful, really. I see everything that could harm my children and do my best to prevent as much of it as possible. And some of it is ridiculous, or at least unlikely, like someone shoving us off the subway platform or a drive-by shooting. But I think of it anyway. I can’t help it. I live to protect and raise my kids. That has become my primary objective. Everything else is secondary.

From the_themiscyran:
1) What work are you currently happiest about having written? Why?
The latest one. :)
Actually that is my answer. Right now I’m happiest with the Warhammer RPG supplement I just did and with the first half of my second Warhammer novel.
Why?
Because I’m getting better.
I honestly believe that. I go back and reread some of the things I wrote a few years ago and I still think they’re good but I know my current stuff is better. I get stronger as I go, which means the most current piece is always the one I consider my best so far.

2) Why New York? I mean for you personally, not the obvious answers. :)
Heh, I answered that in the previous interview. :)

3) Which of your own personality traits do you hope your children also have? Which one/s do you really hope they can avoid? Any particular reason?
I want my kids to get my reliability, my common sense, and my level-headedness. I expect they’ll have a sense of humor—my daughter already does—but it’s okay if it’s not the same as mine.
I don’t want them to get my shyness—yes, that’s right, those of you who didn’t know it, I’m often very shy around strangers. I don’t want them to get my frustration with people, or my inability to suffer fools. I don’t want them to get my inability (or refusal) to play the little games that are often so necessary in social settings. I’m not sure if I want them to have my tendency toward self-effacement—while it’s a big part of who I am (not tooting my own horn and such) I know it’s cost me some opportunities over the years.

4) For the most part, your public face seems to be that of a fairly reserved, quiet kind of guy. Is there any sort of loud performance-type thing that you have ever tried or wanted to? Why or why not?
Not really, no. I’m just not that loud. I’d be willing to try karaoke, I think, if it was in one of those places where it was only friends together (and I’d had a few drinks). And I did theater long ago, but I don’t consider that the same thing because you’re putting on a persona rather than being yourself.

5) Best Kung Fu movie EVAR! What is it, and what scene sold it for you?
The Master Killer (aka 36th Chamber of Shaolin aka Disciples of Master Killer aka Shaolin Master Killer aka The Thirty-sixth Chamber), 1978. This movie rocks! I saw it when I was a kid, during the whole Sunday-afternoon Martial Arts theater thing (the same one that inspired us to do HKAT!) and loved it. It’s not only got amazing martial arts but I love the fact that there’s a real story, and real character growth, and you get to follow the character’s progress through the temple and through martial arts mastery.

From serpentstar:
1) Why "gryphon rose"? Your LJ hints that it's a ship, but it also sounds like it could be an heraldic design of some sort.
A ship? That’d be cool.
No, sadly, it’s not that exciting a story. When I was in school and got my first email account I chose “arose” because I liked it more than just putting my first name and as much of my last as I could fit. A little while later a friend showed me how to change the account name to anything I wanted. I was playing a World of Darkness game with some friends at the time and I had a really cool urban werewolf character named Griffen. I also remembered Andre Norton’s books The Crystal Gryphon and Gryphon in Glory. So I changed my user name to The Gryphon Rose. It sounded cool, archaic, very heraldic. I’ve been using it ever since.

2) How has being a Dad changed your life? What are the drawbacks, if any?
Answered above, amigo. :)

3) How do you view your writing work? Is it "just a job," with deadlines to meet and bills to pay, or is it an artistic calling? Does the answer vary depending on the project? If so, how and why?
Closer to calling than job, but really I consider it a vocation. Writing isn’t what I do—a writer is who I am.
That probably sounds pretentious, but it’s not. Because it’s not about selling. It’s just about the writing. I get withdrawal symptoms when I go too long between writing fiction—just ask the wife. Writing for me is an actual need, something I have to do. I love it, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t write because I enjoy it—I write because I must.
Having said that, I do consider writing a job. There are deadlines, it does pay the bills, etc. It has to be treated that way if you’re going to write professionally. You can be a writer and never publish anything, hell, never submit anything. But if you’re going to be a professional writer it is a job and it has to be approached as one.

4) When will we see you guys at DragonMeet or otherwise in the UK again? Did I already mention that both [info]bridiep and I can cook quite well, and that you'd be welcome to stay?
Heh, you have mentioned that, and we’d love to take you up on it. We’d also love to go to Dragonmeet again—it’s one of our absolute favorite cons. Right now the infant is too small to handle a trip like that, and the toddler would handle it but would be running around nonstop. I do have sisters who have offered to watch the kids, though, as soon as they’re both out of diapers (the kids, not my sisters). So we’re thinking in a year or two we’ll be able to sneak away sometimes, which means going back to Vegas and going back to Dragonmeet.

5) Why NYC? Are you guys planning to stay there indefinitely, or like many city-dwellers, do you aim to move to the country someday? Do you miss being able to see the stars?
I’ve answered the “why” question above. But yes, we’re planning to stay here indefinitely. I love New York. I’ve always been a city boy, so country life doesn’t appeal much—there’s so much to do here, so many places to eat, so many things to see, and you can always find something at any hour. That’s great. And, living in Queens, we have a nice quiet neighborhood when we don’t want to wander Manhattan. I think the wife is more interested in the idea of country life than I am, though now that she’s got space to garden I suspect she’s reasonably satisfied. But living some place where I had to drive to get anywhere would drive me nuts. I like being able to walk around, and being able to take public transit.

Not much else to report. The kids are doing well, though the infant is still working on his teeth. The lovely wife and I are good and looking back fondly on those days when we and sleep were regular acquaintances. Work is fine though busy. Writing is good and I’m talking to people about new projects. Have a great weekend!

Low-key Me

2006-04-26T14:10:00.000-07:00

I know, I know.
It’s been a while. I don’t even have the same excuse as last time. Quite the opposite, actually.

I got all three of my major tasks—taxes, RPG supplement, and first half of novel—done and turned in on time by the start of last week. So what have I been doing since then?

Not a lot.

I deliberately took last week off to rest my hands and my brain. I often do that after writing a lot in a short period, and while this was not the most intensive it was demanding enough to require some recharge time.

This week? I don’t know, I’ve just wound up doing other minor things. I fixed the lock on our display case at home, repaired our vacuum cleaner, hung a picture (I think that was last week), sorted through all of my clothes and boxed up a ton to give away, paid bills, sorted some old files and papers, and cleaned a few boxes out of the family room. We’ve been waging war on the ants, though it’s an up-and-down battle. And of course I’ve been spending time with my wife and kids.

So it’s not that I’ve been completely idle, I just haven’t been doing much of note.

The kids are doing fine. Our son is still teething—trying to get all his teeth in at once, actually—but the allergies are down so he’s doing a lot better. Our daughter is good and still as cute as ever—lately she’s wanted me to carry her around again and I’ve told her she’s lazy, so now she’ll hold out her arms, ask me to carry her, then give me a big grin and say “I’m lazy, Daddy.” Super-cute.

The lovely wife is good. She hasn’t gotten as much gardening done yet as she’d hoped, thanks to weather and children, but she is making significant progress and really enjoying it. And we’re doing well. We watched the first two episodes of the new season of Dr. Who and like David Tennant okay, though he’s no Christopher Eccleston.

Work has been fine. Nowhere near as crazed as it was a few weeks ago. We're still busy, but it's back down to manageable levels. And I've been hanging out with some of the designers more, which is fun.

I am working on the rest of the Warhammer novel, and talking to a few people about a few other projects. More on those once they’re definite. Oh, and I got copies of Day of the Daemon the other day, which looks great. I’m still running my Serenity game, which is fun, though I’m way behind on recaps. I can put them up here if people want to see them.

Not a whole lot else, really. But right now that’s not a bad thing.

Yep, still here

2006-04-11T07:33:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven’t posted since the I-Con recap. I’ve got two big projects due at the end of this week/start of next week and I’ve been writing like mad every chance I get. The projects are going well (one is done other than a few stats and the other is on schedule to be finished by this weekend) but it hasn’t left much time for posting.

Things here are fine otherwise. Our son is teething, which is never fun, and he’s also allergic to the neighbor’s tree that extends to right in front of our bedroom window, so he’s been cranky and crying for the past week or so. And who can blame him, with a rash and welts and earaches and a runny nose and swollen gums? Ugh. Despite all this he’s had bouts of cheerfulness where he’ll sit and grin at us and laugh, which is adorable.

Our daughter is doing fine. She’s running around and being super-cute as always. Last night I was getting her ready for bed and she went over to her bookcase (I read her two books each night before bed and she gets to pick them) and said “I have a lot of books!” Then she gasped and said “I left two books in Mommy and Daddy’s room!” She turned around, came over to where I was sitting on her floor, patted me on the shoulder, and said “I’ll go get them, okay? Stay here. Stay in my room. Don’t move, Daddy.” Is it wrong that a part of me wants her to stay this way forever as my sweet little girl?

The lovely wife and I are doing fine. She’s been a bit sleep-deprived because of the infant and we’re both getting allergic reactions to that same tree, but otherwise we’re good. She’s been digging up the front and back lawns so she can plant soon, flowers in front and veggies in back, and she’s very excited about it.

Not a lot else, really. We saw Goblet of Fire this weekend and were underwhelmed. I saw V for Vendetta last week—I allowed myself an outing because I was caught up and even slightly ahead on work—and it was excellent. We tried watching that new show The Evidence but weren’t impressed, but that’s fine because we still have Lost, Veronica Mars, Supernatural, and CSI.

And I think that’s about it. :)

Back from I-Con

2006-03-27T11:23:00.000-08:00

Well, I’m back. Here’s the rundown:

My panels went well (though I owe a big thank-you to ivy03 for providing actual on-topic questions in that one about –isms, which had been both deadly dull and completely theoretical until then). The Fiction in RPGs panel meandered a little but not too badly and the audience enjoyed it, and I managed to keep Peter David mostly on topic on the Transitions panel (which I was moderating). I also sat in on a Cyberpunk panel, but really that was just “Listen to Mike Pondsmith talk for an hour” and honestly none of us were complaining.

The signing was a little boring at times, and a bit strained, but thanks to friends like ivy03 and feiran and xenogenesis and touchstone_7 showing up the time flew past.

The reading was okay, also thanks to ivy03 and feiran. Nice to have my own groupies, even if only for the weekend. :)

The party Saturday night was fun as always.

It was great catching up with people, both RPG friends like Eric and Steve and Patrick and author friends like Bob and Glenn.

The accommodations at Casa Hauman were excellent as usual, and much appreciated.

The Green Room had very good food, and lots of it. We also had excellent barbeque the first night and I had a surprisingly good steak the second night.

I was one of the people interviewed on Destinies, the StoneyBrook SF radio show, Friday night. I’ve sat in before but never participated, so that was both exciting and nerve-wracking. You can listen to the show here:
http://www.captphilonline.com/Destinies/Destinies3_24_06.mp3
I’m the second one interviewed, after the lead from AeroSith.

I found two more action figures for my office panorama.

Then I came home to see my lovely wife and adorable children, all of whom seemed to miss me, and collapsed that night before coming back to work this morning.

Oh, and when I got home I discovered that cover flats and an advance copy of Day of the Daemon had arrived—on Saturday. Two days too late for me to bring them to the show. Sigh.

Some things could have been organized better, admittedly, and the buildings are too spread out for convenient hopping between events, but it was fun and we had a nice time. I’d certainly go again, and hope to be invited next year.

Come to I-Con!

2006-03-23T07:39:00.000-08:00

For those who are curious, and especially those attending, here is my schedule for I-Con 25, which is this weekend out in Stony Brook, NY:

Friday, March 24:
9 pm: Panel--Fiction writing for RPG Worlds, SAC 304

Saturday, March 25:
12pm: Signing, Authors autograph table

Sunday, March 26:
10-10:30am: Reading, SAC 312
11am: Panel--ISM’s in Fiction: Ageism, Racism, sexism, etc., SAC 309
2pm: Panel--Transitions: successfully adapting a story to other media, SAC 311

Come see me, particularly for the signing—I hate hearing that whole “crickets chirping” thing.
I’m a little nervous about the reading, since it’ll be my first. I’m going to read a chapter from Day of the Daemon, which is out next month. I don’t mind reading out loud, of course, but I’m most used to reading my daughter bedtime stories so I’ll have to restrain myself from doing funny voices. Okay, funnier than usual.
The rest of the time I’ll be wandering around. I plan on attending several of the other RPG panels, esp. since a bunch of my friends are on them. And Mr. Greenberger’s Film Previews presentation is a must, as always.

Getting better

2006-03-23T07:38:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update on the medical front.
We’re doing much better.
My daughter’s fever was gone by Tuesday morning, though she was still having stomach pains. Yesterday she was doing even better, and after eating something (french fries, a little corn, maybe a nibble of fried chicken and biscuit—go carbs and salt!) she was actually running around and playing and giggling as usual. Major relief on our part.
My lovely wife is doing better as well, and the little boy is fine except for some skin irritation and the ongoing teething discomfort.

Roto-what?

2006-03-21T07:56:00.000-08:00

My dad and my youngest sister were here this weekend, plus we had friends over Friday night and went to a birthday party Saturday. So it should have been a good weekend.

And parts of it were.

Friday was our second Serenity session—I’ll post a recap later this week—and it was much fun. Things are definitely moving apace. My lovely wife made corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, and soda bread in honor of St. Patrick’s Day (her actually being of Irish descent and all) and we all feasted. The only downside was that we didn’t start the game until after dinner and so it ran pretty late. Sorry, gang.

My sister showed up partway through the game and took my daughter downstairs to hang out and watch videos. We could hear them squealing with laughter (yes, both of them), which was very entertaining. We all got to bed between 1 and 2am.

The next morning we spent more time with my sis and my dad, who had gotten in Friday night but went out to the beach. We all had breakfast and hung out for a while, until our friend Joe came to pick us (the wife, the kids and I) up so we could go to his son Ray’s party—Ray is my daughter’s playmate and best bud. She’s been talking about this party for weeks, and was thrilled to go, to see Ray, and to wear her new dress and new shoes. We had a lot of fun there, chatting with the other adults and watching the six kids play together. Our daughter had a blast.

We got home around 4:30, put her in for a nap, and relaxed a bit ourselves. Not much else went on that day, as we were all exhausted. My sister got back in the wee hours, having been to see friends in the city, and I stayed up to greet her—if you can count falling asleep on the couch downstairs as “staying up.”

And then things went downhill.

Sunday I was woken up by the sound of my daughter crying. Why? Because she’d thrown up all over herself, her stuffed frog, her bedsheets, etc. I gave her a bath and got her into clean clothes, but she threw up again shortly after I brought her downstairs. And that pretty much set the tone for the day. She couldn’t keep anything down, food or liquid, and was listless and miserable. The doctor said it was probably a roto-virus, and that half the kids in the city had it right now. She also said we’d have to take my daughter to the hospital to get an IV if she couldn’t keep anything in her stomach. Fortunately my dad and I went out and got her popsicles and she managed one, plus some Pedialyte. My dad and I took my sister to Penn Station so she could catch her bus back, and then headed back and helped take care of my daughter. After the popsicle she seemed better, and managed several more of them, plus more Pedialyte, until she finally fell asleep that night, utterly exhausted.

We thought that was it. Boy, were we wrong.

Yesterday my daughter woke up miserable again. Not from throwing up—that seems to be over, thank goodness—but from a really high fever and severe stomach pain. She spent most of yesterday screaming in pain, or turning to me and saying “Daddy, ow!” in the most pitiable voice imaginable. Those of you with children will understand when I say that it tore me apart every time she said that. We gave her several baths to cool her down—and despite normally enjoying baths she screamed every time—and tried to get her to drink and eat popsicles to keep her hydrated. Again the doctor said we might need to go to the ER, this time if her fever didn’t drop. But around 11pm we gave my little girl one more bath, followed by Tylenol, and she fell asleep the instant she crawled into bed. She slept through the night without waking, which is great—several times during the day she had dozed off, only to wake up screaming in pain.

I took yesterday off, in part because my wife and I were also under the weather from this thing (my wife much moreso than I) but mainly to be there for my daughter. Today she was sleeping fine when I got up, so I came to work. I’ve talked to my wife since and my daughter is up and eating and drinking—she’s still sore but her temp is below 101ª, which was where the doctor said we needed it.

Not surprisingly, I am tired and sore and stressed. But my daughter seems to be on the mend, which is the important thing.

Serenity, Session One

2006-03-16T12:28:00.000-08:00

Sorry this has taken so long, but I’d said I’d put up a recap of our first Serenity game. Here it is:

Serenity: From a Sow’s Ear
Characters:
DaiXa: captain and doctor
Nelia: gunbunny/security expert
Ronny: pothead engineer
John Wrack: engineer and salvage expert
Tad Williams: pilot (former Alliance, still very military fly-boy)

Session One: Ronny Yi is released after three years of prison on the desert moon Perdition, and steps out the prison doors to find his two friends and partners—the stern DaiXa and the alluring Nelia—waiting for him. They catch up and then take the shuttle from the prison back to Perdition itself.

Meanwhile, John Wrack and Tad Williams have been left on the Lucky 13. Tad takes a stroll and winds up in the spaceport bar while John stays on the ship. A stranger calls, asking if the captain is around, and tells John he’s an old friend who was just stopping to say hello.

The others return, and Ronny meets Tad and John for the first time. John describes the visitor, who sounds suspiciously like Gustavus “Booger” Leale, the local bully responsible for putting Ronny in prison. Nelia informs them all that she has rooms for everyone at the casino, where she’s been working security these past three years to stay close to Ronny. They all go over to the casino for dinner. Afterward Nelia tells the casino owner, Linc, that she’s moving on with the ship. He understands but is sorry to see her go. He mentions that one of the casino regulars had been looking to ship some cargo, and Nelia talks to him—the man is a glassblower (Perdition has nothing but sand and produces a lot of glass) and has a shipment of goblets bound for the magistrate of Hogwash. Hogwash is a small colony on an asteroid that orbits the moon Dizhu, roughly eight days away.

After dinner Ronny and Tad take advantage of the casino rooms to get some sleep. John returns to the ship, however, and Nelia does as well—she goes to install a few new security measures while he’s simply more comfortable there. DaiXa goes back as well.

The next morning they all gather for breakfast at the casino. DaiXa announces that she’ll be seeing patients at the ship for the next few days while they try to find cargo and passengers. They agree to carry the goblets to Hogwash, and find out that one of the men in the bar Tad saw yesterday is looking for passage to Dizhu itself. Nelia goes to meet the man, a sad-eyed bloke named Booth Reilly, and arranges for him to take passage with them. Ronny and John go scrounging for engine parts, and Ronny also looks for pot—he’s jonesing badly. But the only person on Perdition who seems to have any is Booger! Ronny does agree to carry a hand-carved wooden car from one pothead to his cousin on Tusker, however. Tusker is another of Dizhu’s satellites, and the cousin will pay him in pot for his trouble. He does finally find a ship’s mate who offers him a tiny bag of mediocre pot, and Ronny uses the seeds to restart his long-dead garden.

DaiXa has just finished seeing passengers for the day and decides to stretch her legs when she runs into Booger and his two bully-boys not two ships away. She warns the others through their shipcomms, and most of them come running. Nelia, unfortunately, has dallied with a pretty pilot she met in the bar, and does not hear the call. Booger pretends to be civil to DaiXa but turns cold and nasty once he sees Ronny. The thug starts backing away, however, when he realizes he’s outnumbered and outgunned. Nelia shows up just as Booger says something particularly nasty to Ronny. Furious at seeing her friend insulted, she grabs Booger and headbutts him senseless. His two cronies attack, but DaiXa cows the bigger one into picking Booger up and fleeing the scene. The smaller one draws a gun and gets shot by Tad for his trouble, before being clobbered senseless by the butt of John's gun.

DaiXa brings the wounded thug back to the ship and patches him up so he’ll feel indebted to her. Meanwhile Nelia gathers Booth Reilly and warns the glassblower to get his shipment ready. Change of plans—the Lucky 13 is leaving right away. They take off within the hour without any more trouble, and breathe a sigh of relief to be safely away.

The next four days are uneventful. Mr. Reilly proves to be an excellent passenger, quiet and polite and willing to play cards or sit and quietly read a dime novel. Ronny and John go over the ship together, comparing notes—Ronny was the ship engineer but now he’s sharing that role with John, whose approach is more intuitive than studied. The journey to Hogwash is half-over when Tad spots something on the sensors. It’s a ship distress beacon.

They detour to check it out, and find a Naiad-class ship floating adrift. It has no life signs, no activity save the beacon, and a gaping hole in its side. Most of the crew immediately think “Reaver!” but John isn’t so sure.
End of Session One

It was much fun.
Our next game is tomorrow night. I’ll try to get a recap up more quickly this time. :)

Still breathing

2006-03-10T12:58:00.000-08:00

I know I haven’t posted in over a week. Sorry about that. Nothing earth-shattering going on, but I have been pretty busy:
Wassail went so well that I’m starting a Serenity game tonight. Should be fun and I have several things in the works for the players, but of course I’ve been doing prep for the past ten days.
I’m starting my next novel—this is the second in the Warhammer trilogy.
I’m also working on an RPG supplement that ties into that novel. Which is fun, and a little weird, having to think of things simultaneously as fiction and roleplaying material.
The children have been keeping us busy, esp. since our son is already teething—at two months! Ugh. We’re hoping that means he’ll be done with it early as well.
I’m hoping to finally put up the child gate this weekend, and then convert my daughter’s crib to a daybed. That’ll give her more freedom while keeping her safer.
We’ve been watching movies at night thanks to NetFlix. The last two were Sky High and Corpse Bride, both of which were fun. This weekend is The Fog (the remake—yes, I know it’ll be cheesy) and The Swimming Pool.
I’m working on proposals for a few other things I can’t talk about yet.
And that’s about it for now. :)

Wassail recap

2006-03-01T06:59:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday was our annual Wassail—for those of you new to my LJ, we gather for an entire day of food, gaming, and drinking Wassail, a spiced, spiked, hot apple cider concoction. This year we had my wife’s famous Guinness-basted turkey, stuffing, homemade mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and salad (there was bread but it got lost in the shuffle). Dessert was chocolate-orange Guinness cake, pumpkin crunch, bread pudding with spirited sauce, and brownies.

The game this year was Serenity. We were curious about the system, and decided to test it out with a one-shot using the actual crew and ship. Wassail seemed the perfect time to try it.

For those interested, I put up a full synopsis on my LJ. I would put it up here but I'm not sure how to do cuts here and it's a bit long. :)

Everyone had a good time, and we’re actually going to do an original Serenity campaign now, using new characters and a new ship. Should be fun.

If you're interested . . .

2006-02-22T07:35:00.000-08:00

I just posted on my LJ. It's a sensitive issue, though, so I had to friend-lock it, which means I can't post it here. No, my family and I are okay, it's not that--just something pissing me off and I needed to vent. If you're curious and you're a friend and you're not on LJ, email me privately and I'll tell you about it. Or sign on to LJ, friend me, and let me know so I can friend you back.