Break from work, noonish. To-do list:

- eat something
- play with the Axe
- jot down some story ideas/express a few flights of fancy in writing
- do dishes (verbs and specific nouns help "t-d" items get done while ambiguity detracts; I've made this rule up with no supporting evidence, but I'm sticking to it just the same)
- take a nap, for chrissake
- ( Read more... )

It's been about ten years since I did this with any regularity, hanging out at Starbucks. I just realized that. Here I am again.

My head spins with so many many things to do and investigate and I would feel purely enthusiastic but for the knowledge that this state is only temporary, that soon enough I'll collapse at home feeling overburdened by the ( Read more... )

Sometimes I like to watch late night tv shows all night, queued on my "dvr" machine. The late hours were new and unknown once and the magic of that time carries through. These shows were new and (usually) funny, mostly broadcast live from NY, which sort of put small town Me right there in the SNL or Letterman studio audience, sharing a good ( Read more... )

Sunday.  I never expected to learn this much about electricity.  I knew almost nothing, and now I know something, which feels like a big jump.  In trying to sort out an "audio buzz" issue with my sound equipment, I've had to familiarize myself with some basic stuff about outlet wiring, plug pins, ground loops.  I just want to play some guitar, damn ( Read more... )

How long has it been since I used this journal ( Read more... )

Anybody wonder what it's like to work at Microsoft?

I thought this was really well-written:

http://www.qbrundage.com/michaelb/pubs/essays/working_at_microsoft.html

My first problem with Sallie Mae is that I was granted all of my loans with the suggestion that after college I would be able to consolidate them at a lower interest rate.  When I took the loans out I used no cosigner, and had almost no income.  Directly after college I got a job making $30K annually, tried to consolidate and was told that my debt- ( Read more... )

OK, so one of my favorite authors is Will Christopher Baer. He wrote Kiss Me, Judas and Penny Dreadful and Hell's Half Acre, the first of the three being the best though all of them are good. Anyway. On his site, willchristopherbaer.com, he has an FAQ section. I thought I'd copy the questions here and answer them myself, both of us being ( Read more... )

I sit in front of a window at work that faces a big blue skyscraper with blue-tinted windows. My window looks south, its windows look east over Lake Michigan, and every morning for about five minutes I get this bright blue light channeled right onto my desk. Sometimes its irritating, sometimes surreal, depending on the intensity of the reflection ( Read more... )

So I'm in the market for new boots. There, I said it.

I'm browsing around Zappos.com in the men's slip-on boot category. I'm not looking at prices or brand names, just the pictures. I know what I want when I see it:


( Read more... )