Or, technically, one moon through several phases in repetition ago, I posted here.  It is time to do so again.  Summer is in its throes with heat, drought, and -- for the library world -- Summer Reading Program.  The high traffic times move from weekends to weekdays, computers are always full, children pack themselves almost sardine-like into meeting rooms to discover plays, snakes, and singing (among other things).  Staff gets grumpier to their boss (aka me) but manages to stay friendly to customers (which is the important part). 

And as always and ever, our A/C quits on us from time to time.  The most recent time was yesterday at noon.  As Lewis Carroll said "The sun was shining on the sea, shining with all its might" -- but it was not the middle of the night.  According the Weather.com it was a lovely 95 degrees that felt like 108.  The building was warm.  Patrons fanned themselves while they stayed glued to their computers to play solitaire and replay snippets of the Michael Jackson memorial service.  Staff continued to work on with fans blowing, hair being pulled up into rubber bands, and deep sighs within smiles.

A/C was restored to us today at approximately 11:30 AM.  I am back to wearing sweaters in the office.

In other news, taking a quick jaunt to Kentucky in a few weeks for a weekend.  The rest of the family is staying longer for their visit, but I shall suffer through flying in order to share at least a few days with the extended clan from my mother's side.  The only other jaunt after that is to World Fantasy at the end of October.

One year later and I am actually further behind (if one counts not moving ahead as going backwards) in my writing than I was last year.  I have almost completely stopped writing anything outside of little vignettes for my characters at the Red Dragon Inn on Dragonsmark, and those are few and far between.  Somewhere in there between the turn of the year and now, I flung my habits of writing into the great netherworld of head hitting brickwalldom.  Yes, you are welcome to use that phrase.  It also came to the real truth that I had to stop sneaking in paragraphs here and there at work and create work for myself.  I had felt guilty.  The writing now feels contorted, and the honest truth is, I'm not a writer.

Also in other news, my camera broke.  Somewhere between lens and camera there is a rattling like that of a burned out lightbulb.  I believe it took one too many abusive drops in the totebag.  I can't bring myself to buy another one, so photography is out as well.

Let's see.  I am still working on 3D rendering.  Sometimes I think I get very close.  Othertimes I am still so far away.  To the left is one of the latest that is somewhere inbetween. 

One day turns into the next much as the one before it.  I work, I go home, I sleep.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  Okay, so throw a dash of swimming in there three times a week and watching movies in from Netflix, ST: TNG, or M*A*S*H and then that sums it up.  Thus the length between times of posting.

But as the Red Queen says: "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!".

Dewey Color Counselor Profile Test


Best Occupational Category
You're a CREATOR
Key Words:
Nonconforming, Impulsive, Expressive, Romantic, Intuitive, Sensitive, and Emotional
These original types place a high value on aesthetic qualities and have a great need for self-expression. They enjoy working independently, being creative, using their imagination, and constantly learning something new. Fields of interest are art, drama, music, and writing or places where they can express, assemble, or implement creative ideas.

CREATOR OCCUPATIONS
Suggested careers are Advertising Executive, Architect, Web Designer, Creative Director, Public Relations, Fine or Commercial Artist, Interior Decorator, Lawyer, Librarian, Musician, Reporter, Art Teacher, Broadcaster, Technical Writer, English Teacher, Architect, Photographer, Medical Illustrator, Corporate Trainer, Author, Editor, Landscape Architect, Exhibit Builder, and Package Designer.

CREATOR WORKPLACES
Consider workplaces where you can create and improve beauty and aesthetic qualities. Unstructured, flexible organizations that allow self-expression work best with your free-spirited nature.

Suggested Creator workplaces are advertising, public relations, and interior decorating firms; artistic studios, theaters and concert halls; institutions that teach crafts, universities, music, and dance schools. Other workplaces to consider are art institutes, museums, libraries, and galleries.


2nd Best Occupational Category
You're a PERSUADER
Key Words:
Witty, Competitive, Sociable, Talkative, Ambitious, Argumentative, and Aggressive
These enterprising types sell, persuade, and lead others. Positions of leadership, power, and status are usually their ultimate goal. Persuasive people like to take financial and interpersonal risks and to participate in competitive activities. They enjoy working with others inside organizations to accomplish goals and achieve economic success.

Okay, maybe this isn't surprising, but I didn't find it all that wonderful.  It was an enjoyable film.  I am glad I saw it, and I did not feel like I had wasted my money.  I think the secondary characters were more interesting to watch than the primary characters, but the only time I really felt any emotional investment was in the first five minutes.  After that it was just a bunch of whiz-bang.

Perhaps it is the growing issue I have with the whole space-time continuum manipulation.  That shouldn't be a spoiler.  That is the modus operandi of recent Star Trek stories.  When Enterprise writers started to lose their way with stories (very early on), they decided to do space-time jump plotlines.  The only truly well done space-time storylines were done by TNG, and even there it started to get old.

There is essentially no cannon for Star Trek.  If a writer doesn't want to deal with the hassle of having to work with history, all he has to do is what J.J. Abrams did  "Hmmm, like the names...Uhura in a mini is groovy....but don't want to deal with the history.  Hey!  Let's obliterate the space-time continuum and then I can do whatever I want!  Rock on!"

I suppose theoretically one could say it already has happened and this is just another of the many quantum possibilities of life...yada yada yada, but there's something to be said for a little bit of continuity.

Anyway, so if we just take this movie as not really Star Trek...adjust your own mind as if you're living in an alternate reality, it is a summer movie with lots of flesh, flash, and fights.  Scotty was a delight.  Chekov was classic, the good kind of classic with a dash of humor, splash of cute, and well performed.  McCoy had some great lines.  Sulu had a nice edge of cool added to him.  Uhura was...not sure what she was honestly.  A plot point? 

Note # 109 of why libraries are lovely things:  Writer's Digest for free.
Word of the day: obligation

So, I was looking over the magazines at the library branch I manage -- just one of those weekly routines to see how things are shaping up, what is right, what is wrong.  The cover of the May/June issue of Writer's Digest having not only Stephen King and Jerry B. Jenkins interview about writing, but also in big bold ochre letters "101 Best websites for writers."  The eternal search for justification to keep trying to do what I long to do every hour of the day -- write something that reaches someone -- anyone!

Writers Conferences scare the living daylights out of me.  This is not unexpected.  People in general that require me to make cogent replies to them scare the living daylights out of me.  I like listening to people -- I love listening to people.   I have many great comments in my head, and they stay there or are used later for some character who is fifteen degrees closer to cool than me (thank you, Bill Engvall).  So, a writers conference is about the last place I want to be, but it is probably one of the places I need to go.  Most of them are disastrously too long for me to attend; however, I may have found one that lasts a week in October.  The worst that can happen is I will apply and they will say no.  The obligation to persevere is a personal one.

Still working out.  Eating like I'm a twelve inch rabbit and not a 5'9" tall human being.  Still not losing weight.  It's a conspiracy against me.  Moving on.

Swine flu tragically takes the life of a young child.  The concern of this strain of flu now elevated, we receive a call at work from administration about having masks, gloves, and disinfectant shipped out to us.  The reality is we work with the public, and the public does not think twice about calling into work -- and then running errands.  We had a patron the other day, hacking, coughing, sneezing, knowing she had a flu - not which type - and freely admitted it while she happily checked out books.  Thanks for sharing.

In other news, the computer that went fri-zazzle on me with a registry error, oh the grim tones of the death knell for a computer, has been repaired and upgraded.  My happy little quad core is now ready to get some renders done, work on some worthy artwork, and tip-tappy away in some online text based RPG -- until Sims 3 comes out in which case I'll likely vanish from the face of the internetly earth -- except the obligation I have to work.  I am also thinking of establishing a website that pulls all of these things of mine together -- the writing, the rendering, the photography, and the obscure chatter.  Another OP (online pal) of mine has a similar project, and I think I'm going to be a fiend and copycat.

And just to share a moments whinge with you few:  I could be seeing Yo-Yo Ma play with the Houston Symphony orchestra next week, but I have a work meeting I'm obligated to attend.  I know...you have crocodile tears for me.

Found a quote in a catalog with no attribution, which torques me a little, because I really like it.  I feel obligated to point out I did not make this up, but it is a part of my new mantra I've been sharing with a few, and I am going to share it here, too: 

...you're dreaming of having an IM conversation with someone whom you really do share IM conversations, and during this dream after you have typed in a few sentences you realize it is a dream.  Floating up into that quasi conscious state, pondering it, your brain sends a "ping" and has devised a response, luring you back into the dream to read said response. 

Too many IM conversations.

Actually, the dream conversation was about losing touch with friends as they move on in life.  Pretty common thing in the real world.  People move, have divergent interests, etc.  However, there was always that thought that in the digital world you would continue to keep in touch.  What's in the way that wasn't in the way before?  The answer, my friends, is time.  Eventually, you really do become just text to someone, the backup friend when flesh and blood friends are temporarily not there.  There's something quite illuminating in considering onesself as the "back up plan" for social interaction.  Illuminating and amusing.

I have been enjoying the swimming routine I've cooked up for myself.  According to outside observation it is working.  Now, if someone would convince my clothes that it is working, we'd all be happy.  Still, it does allow me to listen to audiobooks.  I've never really been able to listen to audiobooks because they put me to sleep -- almost instantly.  Driving, evidently, is a big "no-no."  However, I bought this groovy little MP3 player that has a waterproof case.  I strap it onto my arm, plug in the earbuds that have these watertube caps on them under the swim cap, and swim while listening to an audio book.  "O frabjous day!" -- for those that may not know, that is Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky".  However, currently I'm listening to the Star Wars radioplay.   Next on the swim list -- The Fountainhead

Having a Great Dane myself, (no this is not mine, she's actually small for her size at about 115 lbs), I find Dane humor pretty funny because it is true. In my desperate search for humor, just really needing something to shake off the doldrums, I found this with the LOLdogs section.



moar funny pictures

The only element of this trip that actually constituted camping was the cabin I was in had no facilities.  It had electricity, A/C, heater, and sporadic and mostly useless Internet access.  When we tromped over the the campers where the rest of the family had established their popups and mobile campers, we could add cable TV, a stove and oven to that list of amenities.  I don't call this camping.

That is not to say it was not enjoyable.  The meals alone were better than I have had in several weeks (wretched diet).  First night was lasagna, second night tamales, and the third night ribs.  Each morning there were eggs in some form, cereal, fruit, and toast or muffins.  I'm telling you, camping with the extended family is almost like a fine hotel -- particularly food wise.

I slept on the upper bunk of bunkbeds.  This may have been close to camping as well, because the ground would have been significantly softer.  Every time I needed to roll over I had to wake up and my back was in a disastrous state by the last morning.  However, I must say the facilities were clean, the showers as well (if cramped), and the pool warmed.  Let us not think of the process which caused most of the warming.  Let's pretend it was all the pool heaters.

Nephew, fourteen months now, had his first pool experience -- the splashing little maniac.  Quite fun and his laughs just make one laugh in turn.  Nothing like a little child's unfettered laughter to brighten up one's spirits.  The nieces enjoyed the play time as well in the pool, and it was a good plan after the day prior spent in lines and the heat at SeaWorld.

It has much changed since the last time I visited some twenty years ago.  What a frightening number to state, but anyway, the cost did not quite meet the expectations of what was offered inside.  We saw some shows, and I have a fantabulous picture of one of the killer whales giving us a soaking. 

The second day was a trip to the Alamo, more long lines, and on St. Patrick's day, much green around the Riverwalk to be seen.  Here, too, were crowds as to be expected, but the younger members of our group were getting moody and it was decided swimming to be the better option for the rest of the day.

So, now it is back to work with no vacation in sight until the end of October, and back to the diet.  More baked chicken.  I want tamales.

Since most of my time is no longer spent here at LiveJournal, I could not justify spending the money for an account.  So, in the next couple of days a few visible changes will happen: advertisements will return (yelk), some pictures will disappear, and the layout will change.  This will be no big deal to most, though I am curious as to what will happen to some older posts.

Nathan Bransford, literary agent, has a blog that over the past several months I read almost daily.  Recently he has been on a positivity kick, but today's entry I felt I needed to share.  I know there are other writers, like me, start to debate their sanity over the compulsion and strange delight in writing even though we have never been published.  So, here we have the Ten Commandments for the Happy Writer.

Outside of getting back into writing -- happy day -- I am working on several projects for work outside of the mainstream again -- more videos and graphics.  The addition of work, working out, and return to writing means my reading time is getting eaten away once more.  It is a dangerous thing to allow.  Recently I have been reading Cirque du Soleil: The Spark - Igniting the Creative Fire that Lives Within Us All.  One of the elements it reitterates as the reader makes the journey with a fictional man who has an apprenticeship with Cirque du Soleil is the value of deadlines.  I have never had real difficulty with deadlines.  Of course, there is the quote by Douglas Adams stating "I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by."  The only caveat to the never having difficulty with deadlines is getting books back to the library on time -- and I work here!  It is why I typically end up buying all of my books.   I'm going to the corner in hell for rotten librarians.

It is a beautiful day in the neighborhood today.  Nothing like 80 degrees with a nice breeze.  I had a momentary complaint when after getting my car washed this morning it almost instantly had a light dusting of pollen, but it is just the harbinger of spring.  That and flying insects.

..the more they stay the same.  I have been sucked into the black hole that is Facebook.  Thus this blog went bereft of posting, but mainly because I lacked post worthiness things.  I have read other people's blogs, mainly of those in the writing industry - agents, publishers and writers.  I have not been writing outside of small character vignettes.  It is a simple fact.  I still have six short stories (well four intended to be short stories and two intended to be novels) sitting on my flash drive, carried with me wherever I go in case I have a moment or two to write.  The disheartening reality is what I enjoy writing is not what publisher's want to publish.  It isn't "out there" enough.  Of course, it could be my vocal shyness stifling my writer's voice, too.  Afraid to say things outloud certainly has an impact on saying things in writing.  You can't tell me it doesn't, because the underlying difficulty is being judged.  Tah-dah!

My creative juices have also been drained into learning and improving my 3d rendering.  Progress is being made.  However, I keep thinking of scenes, and instead of writing them and fleshing them out into a story, I start up my rendering software and try to create it there.

In other news, I have started working out.  I joined Life Time Fitness club, and I swim twice a week plus one hydro exercise class, which last week made me feel as if I sacrificed my arms to Poseidon. I feel good about working out, but I just wish it was having an effect.  My virtue of patience is like a block of swiss cheese.

In two weeks, going camping with half of the family.  They have internet at the camping site.  I don't plan to do much surfing the web though.  All I hope is I don't have a run in with snakes.  I hate snakes.  

Every day, or at least every day I am working, I check my various bloglines.  These include a few publishing agents, mostly tech stuff (CNET, Ars Technica), BBC news, a text based RP site, and one job listing site.  I save certain posts because I find them interesting or know I will want to comment on them later.

Let's start with how behind the times I am in learning that the fantasy magazine Realms of Fantasy is closing down with a last issue in April.  Evidently newsstand prices floundering, as with so many others, has directed them to this decision.  It is interesting to me, however, that the creative talents and minds there could not take the influential name of that magazine and make the transition into e-based media.  Would their budget take a hit?  Oh, yes, most likely, but as I have learned from my own profession - a librarian today is nothing like what a librarian was just ten years ago - evolving by using their strengths (their knowledge of the genre, the brand, etc) is worth the bumps and bruises.  Then again, I was not a fly on the wall in the conversations that brought them to this decision, and maybe they have other endeavors they wish to pursue and this was the time.

Hulu.com (co-owned by NBC Universal, News Corp. and Providence Equity Partners) is pulling content from various other sites at the "request of content partners".  Warner Bros Music pulled from YouTube.  The pendulum swing from free to fee is swinging once again.  Was it too much confidence in the dawn of free content will equate to sales?  Is it simply a side effect of the entire economic climate?  Of course, Facebook went to an extreme in this swing claiming user generated content as their own and outraging enough people as to backtrack to their old Terms of Service.  Who owns what?  What's free and what isn't?  All the value of digital materials in contention until people start realizing someone has to work to create what they want, and as I referred to in an earlier post, I would much rather pay for the book of an author than a t-shirt or a bag.  Let me pay artists for what they created, and if I can't afford it?  I'll do without -- or visit the library to borrow it.

And this is just funny: Hazards of BlackBerry-walking  Just further proof that a bulk of our population is so self absorbed as to think the world revolves around them, they deserve whatever they want no matter the costs to others, and everyone else is exponentially rude if not getting out of their way.  Or maybe it is just a few so tied to their electronic gadgets that they make the rest of the friendly users of gadgets look bad.  Darn rotten apples.

More on the amusing side of life: the e-cigarette.  Brought to you again by CNETs Technically Incorrect. 

And last but not least for this trip around things I found interesting, amusing, or peculiar (and this last one covers all three):
Menstrual Calendar Apps...for men  I just...yeah, don't know what else to say about these other than they certainly offer a variety of aids to the human male in trying to adjust to the human female.  Good luck with that, guys.

Quick shout out about Ken Scholes (kenscholes ) for his book release - Lamentation.  Even my library system is getting some copies!  Yay!  I'll have my own copy, but this way is much easier to spread the word while at work.  Yes, I get to influence reading selections.  Frightening, I know.

Tantalizing title, I know, but for full disclosure, it was more my nieces creating the moon in my living room.  They had just watched "Space Buddies" (I refused to watch), and upon discovery of their favorite toy -- a large box that had shipped a piece of furniture -- proceeded to cut it, place styrofoam wings upon it, and break up the remainder of the styrofoam to cover a portion of the floor, dubbing it the Moon.  I have pictures of this that I will have to share later.  In further exploration of the universe, I played a Plutonian Hula Pidgeon when they visited Pluto.  My species was being hunted however, and I was rescued and relocated to Saturn, where upon previously undiscovered aliens roasted me for dinner.

Don't you love the combination of adult and kid imaginations?  Who needs drugs?

All box and styrofoam parts have now ventured to recycling for proper disposal after several crash landings caused the wings to fall off.

Sunday was a much easier day with the usual house chores to be done in preparation for 12 days straight of work.  I can only blame myself for that ridiculous schedule.

Not much writing, though I am on draft 2 of the clockwork fantasy novel.  The more I really look at its elements, it isn't so much steampunk, though part of it is that and the setting is of a fashion.  It is closer to Jules Verne style than today's steampunk.  Four short stories started that I hope to have one finished each month.  Other than that, my writing has been appallingly absent. 

It has been awhile since I posted.  Many OPs (online pals) have gone through a lot of things, loss of family members, addition of family members, moving, life going up, and life going down.  I am pretty much stationary.  My dog seems to be working her way out of the woods after last week's strange episode that doubled her heart rate for several days and required medication to bring it back down, plus various other bodily functions that decided to not function.  Now, we seem to be back to her arthritic hips being the only issue. 

So, here are the latest bits of news that caught my interest of late:

High School was wrong.  It's good to be a bookworm.Open source (gasp!) "ePub reader that allows you to upload, organize, and read your e-books from the Web on your computer, as well as from Web-capable mobile devices including the iPhone." -cnet.com

Crap, I missed it! Bring all your notifications together (music, concerts, and more).  It's evidently in early stages.

Obama signs law delaying digital-TV transition  More delays.  Why does part of me hear the echo of my 9th Grade English teacher saying "Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part."  It isn't like we haven't known this for nearly a year now.  June seems to be the month for everything.  Let's delay..ummm...taxes until June!

Sirius radio prepares for bankruptcy filing Cannot say I'm surprised.  I have had Sirius only for about two and half months because it came with six months free with my vehicle.  I have absolutely no intention of renewing it.  My expectation was more music and fewer commercials.  That was an error on my part.  Evidently commercials plus paying for the service is what Sirius likes.  Now, I'll miss the comedy channels (Bill Engvall cracks me up), but I will not miss much else.  Return to my world of music CDs.

Book publishers object to Kindle's text-to-voice feature  Copyrights of audiobooks seem to be the major concern.  While the article jests about mother's reading out loud to their children, I think the jest would have had more punch if they had thought about the thousands of storytimes in libraries across the country.  Soon, reading out loud will be illegal all together.  Strange how in early times reading out loud was considered the proper way to read.  Honestly, if I had a choice between being put to sleep by a mechanical voice reading to me or an animated (actor's) voice reading to me, I'm going to pick the animated, empathic one.  However, let's just all jump on the bandwagon and Attack the Kindle!


Edit to add:
I think I might have found something I'd like to try.  iFiction  it's iTunes for fiction.  Hmmm...

With the great adversity many citizens are facing these days with layoffs, tightened budgets, adjusting lifestyles, and concern for the future, why I should get all pouty over the fact that The Sims 3 is not coming out until June is beyond reasoning.  It is also true.  Fortunately, I know that my brain will kick in again, and I'll get over it.

----

Night before yesterday my dog, my big Great Dane baby, started to act quite out of her element: refusing food (even the good stuff like chicken or peanut butter), drooling excessively, in house accidents, and most worrisome of all, an abnormally high heart rate.  That night I thought I was going to have to take her to the emergency clinic, called some people over to help me lift her because I simply cannot, but when help arrived my doggy finally got up and moved around.

Yesterday I took her to the vet.  After x-rays, blood work, and an EKG, the vet was still stumped.  We all decided to give her 24 hours to see if she improved on her own.  This morning her breathing was still heavy and heart still racing.  As far as I know, no food has gone in though she has had some water to drink.  So, here I am, facing yet another what do I do moment with my pet.  She's 11 years old, which for a Great Dane is pushing it.  The Vet says, which he is quite right, that she is living on borrowed time.  The question is, do I borrow more for her, put her through a zillion tests to find out in the end there is nothing to be done?

----

In the ever popular, at least with me, publishing topic, Publishers Weekly had an article by Peter Olsen called A Long Winter.  Once more talking about how the industry should change, how it can, but ultimately will it do so with grace or continue this bumpy road.  More and more I think I will explore and venture out into the self publishing route; however, I am always cheering for those new writers who make it with the Big Houses (not jail, though...there's an interesting comparison).

On the opposite side of digital publishing, in a manner of speaking, here is a librarian in the UK looking at how ephemeral this type of publishing can be and what it does to the history of our world.  We're in danger of losing our memories

Time magazine visits Books Unbound, speaking about the next evolution of the industry. Particularly this line about self publishing: "Self-publishing has gone from being the last resort of the desperate and talentless to something more like out-of-town tryouts for theater or the farm system in baseball. It's the last ripple of the Web 2.0 vibe finally washing up on publishing's remote shores. After YouTube and Wikipedia, the idea of user-generated content just isn't that freaky anymore." 

The article touches on fanfiction, the free written novels that are a hit in Japan, and other content on fiction forums (this is probably where my Dragonsmark writing would fall). 

Anyway, just an interesting article.

Sidenote: Inkheart is a great movie.  Paul Bettany is simply fantastic as Dustfinger.

There's no avoiding competition in anything, even something that is supposed to be centering and calming.  Yes, my friends, it's Yoga Wars.  Evidently, traditionalists and those who need to prove themselves better than another person to stay inspired are at odds about this trend. 

We are creeping nearer to release of The Sims 3.  I have a few concerns on it.  Not catastrophic concerns, just things that might be a disappointment.  Others in the neighborhood are supposed to continue to age, progress, etc without control from the player through the developed AI.  This may be answered somewhere else, but does that mean if I go to play a different family my first family will age without me?  Instinct says no, but I'm still not certain.  I, also, regrettably work a 12 day stretch the week it is due to ship out.  Either I'm not going to play much (yeah, right), or I'm going to be tired at work.

Windows 7 -- there is a great deal of talk about the beta, mostly positive.  As one who has avoided Vista, I am wondering if I should prep myself for a Windows 7 upgrade or keep chugging along on XP.  I've no issues with XP actually, and I certainly don't want an OS that's going to eat up power when I'm getting deeper into 3D rendering.  I may have to cave in and get a new mother board and processor in order to use the full capabilities of my hyped up graphics card.  Nah.

I finally caved in and went on to Facebook.  Foolishly added my high school and then deleted it.  I successfully vanished from that radar for quite some time and want to keep it that way.  Facebook has a few interesting applications, but mostly I'm enjoying just keeping up with a few friends and family.

Speaking of family.  My Aunt and Uncle visited from Kentucky recently.  I learned way too much about thoroughbred breeding.  I can't believe I used to defend them thinking that with such expensive investments, surely they take care of their horses.  Gullible me.  My uncle, several years retired from his career as one of the premier equine pathologists, explained to me much of the dangerous practices that go on in the "sport" as well as general stupidity of horses.  I'll avoid the details here.  Let's just say I am seriously disappointed in the discoveries.  Outside of that, it was wonderful to have them visit.  Well, even including that because it was certainly interesting to learn.

Remember my flippant comment about jetpacks?  Well, here you go: "Up, up, and... oh crap!": Ars reviews Jetpack Dreams

There are some dreams that should keep going.  I think jetpacks might be an interesting, if not completely sane, mode of transportation.  Talk about air traffic jams.  But some dreams really need to stop.  Like the run of dreams I have been having in which I die or am almost killed.  In the past few nights I've been shot, clung to and then fallen from a cliff, hit by something of which I do not remember, and most recently (as of last night) nearly run over by an mud slide only to survive that and then be attacked by a wild boar and then a lion.  I recall screaming at myself to wake up as the lion is about to maul me, only to wake up into another dream.  I hate nested dreams.  One night of wonderful, peaceful, restful sleep would be lovely.

In other news, many projects at work all at once.  Two days this week of twelve hour days plus four meetings, and family is coming in this weekend.  Because of this writing has taken a back seat, and in logical and realistic viewpoint that is for the best. 

I watched Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium this past weekend.  While touching upon the preachy and relying a little too much on quirky, it was still a nice movie -- appropriate for Netflix usage.  One line, again a little cheesy, but I very much liked: "Your life is an occasion: rise to it."

I keep reading about this law about children's products and lead testing.  The major concern for my profession is the testing of books -- millions of books -- because of the total lead as opposed to soluble lead issue (among others).  Here is one article that summarizes the concerns, though the title is even more alarming: Congress bans kids from libraries?

I'm skeptical to think the sky is falling, but it just might be and I'm too passive to be in a tizzy about it.  While the law is, like so many laws, well intentioned, I do think they rather skipped some repercussions, such as the library books and books in general.  We will see if there are exemptions, but then exemptions always cause troubles as well.  Just look at the tax laws.  <sarcasm>  "If you produced the book on a Tuesday while the rain was falling and road the bus for two hours northwest, then that item is exempt from testing." < /sarcasm>