A Meerkat's Bolthole

The new television* is successfully set up. The new blu-ray player is successfully set up and hooked into the home network (after a mighty battle** skalds would not scorn to sing).

I am going to celebrate by wailing on a scene that needs to be revised and put to bed. Hey, you have your victory celebrations, I have mine***.






*my friends insisted I needed a 46-50 inch television for the lounge area. My friends are size queens. The 40" does the job perfectly well without overwhelming the space.
** seriously. It was a battle of wills and ice-cold hate and steely determination, and in the end, the player blinked.
*** and, at some point after that, I need to rearrange the artwork, because moving one piece meant everything else had to be reconsidered, too...

Happy Easter to my friends and readers who are observing. I hope the services are uplifting, and the baskets are overflowing...


1. Tech.
I have achieved new netbook! After going hands-on with a lot of models, and comparing price-to-tech, I decided to upgrade to the 10" HP Mini. Her name is Seshat and she is quite lovely. Still light (2.5 pounds) and portable, she also has a much larger screen (up from the 7" of Toke) and more comfortable keyboard, Windows rather than Linux so I don't have to hack the apps I wanted [I'm going for workability here, not geek cred}, a good sound system, and a built-in webcam. All for just a smidge more than I originally paid for Toke. I can't wait to see what $300 will buy consumers in a year or two...

2. Contest
Although the Midnight Cravings contest has closed, you still can enter the "plausibility" contest! and win a copy of one of the first three "Retriever" books in mass market!

3. Social
Had dinner last night at Via Emilia with friends visiting from Los Angeles, and kudos to the manager for not kicking us out (we were a group of 12 and probably sounded like 24). The six bottles of wine we ordered probably soothed his nerves quite a bit. Anyway excellent restaurant at reasonable prices, down on 21st and Park Avenue, and I highly recommend the pastas. They only take cash, though, so be prepared.

4. World Events
Although I've been too busy to do more than glance at the news, I am of an age where the mention of modern pirates brings two words to mind: Achille Lauro. Historical Figures aside, I do not like pirates. I do not find them romantic, or inspiring. I find them reprehensible and worthy of being smacked into a pike-studded wall. And I fear we will see more, not less, as the financial crisis goes on. I almost feel the urge to write about it...but every time I think about starting another short story I am reminded of the others still waiting their turn, for when I get out from under these novel deadlines.

Which leads me to 5. Writing
Unable to make the world take a time-out and straighten up, I dealt with what I can control -- the writing.
I've figured out what was broken in PACK OF LIES and am slowly rebuilding it be better, fast,er, stronger, and longer. On the drive home from Boston on Friday, I started thinking out loud about Vineart 2, much the way I had done previously on that same drive regarding Vineart 1, thinking out Major Points and letting the smaller details rise to the fore, as they often do. My mother sat in the back seat and scribbled down what seemed to be the salient points [I used to have a minicorder for this sort of thing, but it disappeared a few years ago].

Saturday morning, I sat down at my desk and started typing up sort of free-form what I had been vocalizing about the plot. Of course, as often happens, the writing of book 1 has completely changed what I planned to do in book 2 -- so I've been performing terrible genetic experiments, making a hybrid of the original outline and the revised ideas. And -- thank god -- the fire lit in me and I started to get excited about writing this book. Which is good, because that's all I'm going to be doing for six months after I finish PACK OF LIES and MUSTANG.....

Today, I am off to the Park with my outline and Puppy! to see if I can manage both productivity and exercise...

EtA: Contest is closed, and the new netbook is bought. So I'm closing this thread to comments. Winner will be announced soon.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
I was going to post the Author's Letter from MIDNIGHT CRAVINGS to kick off the contest posting entry, but this morning I am posting from a Distant Location on a Foreign Laptop, as my netbook was infected by an alien squid creature (seriously, the screen has a distinct squid-like shape along cracks within the display itself, and pass the toke, the toke is ded).

So. This is the Toke Memorial Contest Post. Leave a comment and be entered to win not only a copy of the new Nocturne anthology MIDNIGHT CRAVINGS but a copy of THE NIGHT SERPENT (by yours truly, aka Anna Leonard) and Chocolate!

You can also leave me advice or opinions about what new netbook to buy, as I'll be shopping this weekend...


(non-lj-ers, please identify your post so I can find you if you win!)

Mmm. Spring rolls, check. They were sort of improvised around available ingredients, but then what in my grimoire isn't?

And while I was having dinner, this came in over the wire. Velly innnnteresting...


Washington, DC - December 9, 2008

Obama Space Team Seeks Public Comment on Space Solar Power White Paper Submitted by Space Frontier Foundation

The Space Frontier Foundation pointed out that President-elect Obama's transition team has published for public comment a white paper entitled Space Solar Power (SSP) - A Solution for Energy Independence & Climate Change. The paper was prepared and submitted by the Space Frontier Foundation and other citizen space advocates, and calls for the new Administration to make development of Space Solar Power a national priority.

The SSP white paper was among the first ten released by the Obama transition team. It is the first and only space-related white paper released by the transition team to date. With 140 comments thus far, it is already among the top five most-discussed of the 20-some white papers on Change.gov.

Foundation Chairman Berin Szoka called upon all Americans to join the discussion about Space Solar Power at Change.gov: "For over twenty years, the Space Frontier Foundation has championed Space Solar Power as a world-changing technology that could do more to improve life here on Earth than any space program or commercial space venture ever. We applaud the Obama transition team's interest in developing Space Solar Power as a clean energy source that could significantly reduce U.S. dependence on strategically vulnerable energy sources."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The full text and related information can be read here:
http://tinyurl.com/54vb2q

not enough to make me change my mind about getting a tattoo, but... man. The possibilities are half-neat, half-scary...

http://www.funtasticus.com/20081120/awesome-tattoos-in-3d/


Meanwhile, I am awaiting the delivery of my New! Shiny! Computer! Well, the computing part of it, anyway, as monitor and keyboard will not be replaced. But faster processor! More memory! Working CD drive! Not Vista!
*stares out window and waits on the FedEx Guy* It's here!

Shopping for wine recently, the following label caught my eye:

"Cheapskate Wine, the Miser Meritage." With the image of a skateboarding heraldic lion holding a glass and a bunch of grapes. Okay. I'm as much a sucker for good labeling as anyone. Then I look at the back: "A fool and his money are soon Parkered."

I'm in love. (Robert Parker: love him or hate him, you have to hate him)

"The Miser mantra:
I am my own connoisseur.
I will trust my taste.
I taste, therefore I scrimp."

All right, for $15 (NYC pricing) I'm willing to give it a try. Good copywriting should always be rewarded.

So. Cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc -- a blend I'm usually fond of. The nose is warm, with dark fruit. The initial taste is rich dark berries, with a hint of cab franc's dry tobacco flavor. It turns dry in the mouth, which I like, with maybe a smidge more tannin than the fruit can support, which is a problem. Overall: for a $10 wine I'd be satisfied. At $15 it's a maybe-maybe-not.

Great label, tho.

http://www.grapecraft.com/grapecraft/catalog/view_product.jsp?product_id=1008

Tech update: phone is still cool and nifty, although I find myself turning off a lot of the 'extra' elements to save battery power (I don't need it to hunt down wifi or support bluetooth all the time). No name yet. New desktop keyboard is still stiff, which is annoying. Also, the cap lock key is in the wrong place. V. Annoying. New optical mouse rocks, tho.

Agent Nathan Bransford with a quick hit on paperback vs hardcover debuts, for those who've ever wondered. It doesn't cover all the bases, but makes a damn good start.

Revisions continue apace here, although at a slower pace than I wanted. Life decided to start tap-dancing on me this week. Life, you have crap timing. And my cell phone is reaching its last legs (it no longer tells me when I have a message) and my contract is expiring this month, so I need to do some serious thinking about cell phones and carriers. I've been happy with T-Mobile, but their available phones aren't thrilling me. A crackberry (or an iPhone, if I change services) is very appealing, but is now the time to start adding costs to my monthly budget? (it would end up being $25-30/month more expensive, probably). On the other hand, my PDA has died, so having a phone that could mimic some of those functions would be very useful...
Opinions, O great Internet?


Meanwhile, polls report that McPalin's unfavorable ratings are tanking the more they get into negative campaigning and mob-incitement. So if anyone's looking to history, we may not have learned anything about how to keep our financals from being kneecapped, but we're not resorting to brownshirts... yet, anyway.
Some discussion last night over fears that people will say "no" to McCain now, but vote "no" to Obama, whether for bigotry or a simpler fear-of-change at the last minute. I hope those concerns are unfounded. I hope that, if you're uncomfortable with the nasty side of John McCain and the full frontal viciousness of Sarah Palin, that you will remember those things when you go to vote. That sort of behavior, IMO, should not be rewarded.

And now there is coffee and work, and more tap-dancing to be done.

Some days I'm convinced the entire human species was a waste of evolutionary energy. And then something happens to make me think maybe we're not so hopeless after all...

Giant 'telescope' links London, New York

LONDON, England (CNN) -- As the first splinters of sunlight spread their warmth upon the South Bank of the River Thames this morning, it became clear that after more than a century, the vision of Victorian engineer Alexander Stanhope St George had finally been realized.

In all its optical brilliance and brass and wood, there stood the Telectroscope -- a 37 feet long by 11 feet tall dream of a device allowing people on one side of the Atlantic to look into its person-size lens and, in real time, see those on the other side via a recently completed tunnel running under the ocean. (Think 19th century webcam. Or maybe Victorian-age video phone.)


Is it gonna solve any of the world's problems? Nope. But it's neat and cool and was designed to bring us together, not tear us apart. Never underestimate that....

Making the Way Uptown Genre Mafia 3-for-3, I have joined kradical and terri_osborne in becoming the proud owner of an Asus EEE PC.

Mine is mint green and white, and named 'Toke.'

(EtA: is amused no one has commented on the name)

Tis wee but mighty.... (and fits on even the smallest of table spaces, and gets many curious and admiring glances. And yes, for those wondering, you can open and use it even when the shmuck in the row ahead of you decides to recline his seat....)

Because what can you do when your new laptop is stylish, subtle, durable, up-front, and is already giving you a run for your money, but name it for one of your all-time favorite leading characters with the same characteristics: John Robie, aka Cary Grant?

H. H. Hughson: You are a man of obvious good taste in everything. Why did you...
John Robie: Why did I take up stealing? To live better, to own things I couldn't afford, to acquire this good taste that you now enjoy and which I should be very reluctant to give up.
H. H. Hughson: Then you are frankly dishonest.
John Robie: I try to be.

-- "To Catch a Thief"



(for those looking for specifics, Robie's a Latitude D520. Matte black and charcoal gray chassis, lovely display, and a keyboard that's a joy to type on)