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![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) skzbrust |
| 2008-07-25 16:32 |
| Chords Wanted: “Spoon River” |
| Public |
| music |
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Google fails to turn up the chord progression for “Spoon River” by Michael Smith. Does anyone reading this know it?
(Originally posted at Words Words Words by skzb. Please leave any comments there.)
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Whoo hoo! The ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) sshg_exchange sign-up post has been made and can be found here. The rules for the exchange can be found here, and it's strongly recommended that you read the rules before signing up.
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Crafty Bastars DC didn't accept me- AGAIN.
I didn't get through the first round of judging at the American Idol thing, and frankly at this point I'm like "hmm, my life is ALL ABOUT singing and art. If I can't really do either terribly well, what the hell's the point..???" Frankly I'm going to keep going with them because I have to- not because I'm that "strong," but at the moment I admit I'm feeling relatively despondent about making a living at-let alone successfully distributing and/or getting acceptance for-either.
I know the "biz" of both of these arenas are supposed to be chock-full of rejection and hurdles, but frell... When ya don't have -that- many opportunities coming at you in the first place, the rejections feel a little more personal, and frankly somewhat markedly more daunting.
..Dammit.
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I managed to get a better pic of the hummingbird moth this afternoon while it was feeding on the budlea.
Hummingbird moth by Me
 We also stopped by the garden center and found this handsome hunk for the garden. I think I want to put him in back of the pond so it looks like he is gazing into the water. Our new garden gargoyle
 Shots of the new quilt with border attached and of course...my small helper Nuit.
 Change the world one loan at a time - visit http://www.Kiva.org to find out how
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![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif) smartbitches |
| 2008-07-25 18:45 |
| Informal Head Count Time: Bitches at the Bear! |
| Public |
http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/index.php/weblog/comments/informal-head-count-time-bitches-at-the-bear/  Thanks to Bitchery reader Jora, we have a heads up on a cool place to meet the San Francisco readers who might not be attending RWA but would like to meet Bitches in person, and an equally cool place for folks at the conference to meet up and have a drink with us.
Bitching Happy Hour will be Friday 1 August at 3:30 pm at the Thirsty Bear bar, 661 Howard Street. It’s on the Bitchery Food & Drink map of San Francisco if you need a visual or you really dig the street view. They have house brews, wine, and tapas, and since I love two out of three of those things, I am there like merde and mon dieu.
We’ll be gathering, drinking, and eating, and we’re looking forward to meeting you. This is open to anyone who wants to come have a drink with us - we hope you’ll come by! To give us a rough idea as to whether you’re going to duck out of work early and drink with the crazy ladies from this here website, leave a comment please so we can get an estimated head count. See you in a week!
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A: This provides students with a unique way to...
OR
An: This provides students with an unique way to...
I know this should be simple, but I can't find it in the Chicago Manual of Style. Preceding the word unique, should I use "a" or "an"?
TIA!
EDIT/UPDATE: Thanks for all of the help. Once more, this group saved me from possible embarassment!
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I'm one of the FFF'er that couldn't make it to the Mini-Con due to things like deadlines and small creatures who call me "momma." And I am intensely envious of my two crit partners (of merry_fates fame) who are both going. And rooming together. And meeting people I wanted to meet.
Sniff.
So I thought I would ask the rest of you (heretofore known as "other unfortunates who were also left behind")
1) which author (doesn't have to be FFF) you would most like to meet
2) in what sort of location/ atmosphere would you like to meet them
3) what one question would you ask them before security dragged you away?
I think mine would be Diana Wynne Jones, someone I admire hugely for her career and her writing, and I'd like to meet her over hot cocoas, and I would ask her if she'd ever written any novels that hadn't gotten published that she wished had -- and vice versa.
How about you guys, you other unfortunates who were also left behind?
- maggie stiefvater
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| oldcharliebrown |
| 2008-07-25 13:41 |
| A General Statement: Michael Cisco and Prime Books |
| Public |
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I am very sorry that we have, in Michael Cisco’s eyes, failed him. And he makes one point that I will concede: we want to improve our ongoing communications with our authors. I hope Michael will allow us to do so in his case.
What I must dispute is that Michael has been cheated. He has not. Our royalty statements are accurate and truthful and easily verified. He has now seen his statement and knows that his royalty payment is accurate. It would be unprofessional for us to share these figures in public and I am sure Michael would agree.
Yes, we have occasionally fallen behind schedule — and then we have always caught up again. (This is hardly a unique condition in small press publishing. Our goal, of course, is to remain on schedule.)
We believed in his book enough to publish it and distributed promotional copies to various places. As Michael points out, it received some very positive reviews, including from Publishers Weekly and Realms of Fantasy. And we continue to believe in his book and look forward to selling many more copies in the future.
We are always striving to be a better company, and I’d like to invite all of our authors to contact us directly with feedback and suggestions about what, in their view, we might be doing better for them. We are listening.
—Sean Wallace, Executive Editor prime@prime-books.com
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http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/index.php/weblog/comments/randy-pausch-1960-2008/  I have a sign on my computer that reads, “It is never too late to change what you might have been” - a quote from George Eliot. I also have one that says, “If you were waiting for a sign, this is it. Do it.” Every now and again I need a kick in the pants to remember that if I really, really want to do something, it’s up to me to get up off my duff and go get it.
Randy Pausch died early this morning, and the last year or two of his life, most notably his lecture and subsequent book, were a friendly and funny kick in the pants to millions of people. Our condolences to his family. And my thanks for the kick.
From the chapter he cut from the book, regarding the memorial footbridge that will be named after him which will connect the computer science building with the arts and drama building at CMU :
I’m a big believer in symbols as a way to communicate. The symbolism of this bridge is just amazing to me because I’ve spent my career trying to be a bridge. My goal was always to connect people from different disciplines, while helping them find their way over brick walls.
I am moved and pleased when I picture all the people who will one day cross that bridge: Jai, our kids, my former students and colleagues, and a lot of young people with somewhere to go.
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Hi! My signing time has been moved from 9am to 3pm Saturday. Yay!! Now I only have to get up early one day this weekend.
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One drawback to the Damn Cat feeling better is that the Damn Cat is yowlingly persistant in getting me up to do the morning routine of feeding the Damn Cat. Its an obnoxious snooze alarm that doesnt let you snooze nor shut it off. He has dry food available and there is old wet food in his dish, but by the Ghods of Felinedom, he must have fresh. (at this point, the soundtrack to Little Shop of Horrors, complete with dialog starts up)
He is still bonkers about the pill pockets, I dread the moment when that changes, but I think they have some kind of kitty crack that is highly addictive in the ingrediants. As long as the pill gets taken, I dont care. My little old man is soft and furry and still gaining weight.
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| lyda222 |
| 2008-07-25 11:13 |
| Birthday Actual Down, One More to Go... |
| Public |
| mason |
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Mason's birthday ACTUAL was a lot of fun. Despite the fact that I had a dream the night before that I forget the classroom presents, everything went off without a hitch. As I did folders on Thursday, I snuck a peek in the classroom before I left and I saw Mason wearing his birthday crown and everyone was whacking each other with the pencils we gave them.
My folks showed up around ten (almost exactly when Shawn predicted they would), and then we all headed over to pick up Mason. I gave them the two penny tour, and Ms. Fry, the librarian, gave them an enthusiastic welcome.
Como Zoo/Como Town amusment park was hot, muggy and a bit chaotic, despite mostly hurding only adults and one child, but I think Mason had a blast.
Then it was back to our house for presents. Many Legos were presented, and, my mother, bless her soul, have Mason a bag of quarters to squander at the coffeeshop on arcade games. Such a thoughtful present! Mason and I both enjoyed the heck out of a handful of those this morning.
Mason gave grandpa the tour of all the video games upstairs, and Shawn, my mom, and I all laid about chatting and recovering from Como Town with much lemonade. After they left, seanmmurphy came by while Mason was in the tub, and Mason looked at him and said, "Did you bring me a present??"
More Legos. Shawn and I are quite happy as we're both hugely fond of Lego kits, so really they were gifts for the whole family.
Despite being pretty pooped out (and not entirely done with my "homework,") Sean and I headed off to Wyrdsmiths. naomikritzer sold a short story to Baen's Universe, and so she bought coffee for everyone, as is our tradition. I got a bit wired on Thai coffee, and so got almost no sleep last night. Now I'm tired, but happy.
You?
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Actually, those are the worst stairs ever. Or, in the words of my contractor, "Those are the worst stairs I've ever seen that were still in use."
Picture, if you will, a flight of wooden stairs. Now divide it roughly in thirds. Take the central third, and twist it, so that the upper right separates from the top third, and the bottom left lifts from the bottom third, as well as the bottom right sliding behind the bottom third. That's what my stairs looked like, once he got the carpet off.
He thought it was going to take most of the day to disassemble the steps, laboriously prying each riser and tread away from the side wall enough to insert the blade of his saw, to cut through the support nails. Instead, the nails were supporting air, the boards just held together by paint and inertia. He hit one tread with the heel of his hand, and three boards tumbled to the floor.
When he measured the staircase walls, after the stairs were removed, he discovered that they were 1 1/2" wider at the middle than at the top. (The second wall wasn't actually ATTACHED to anything to keep it plumb.) Since the stairs were supported by 3/4" cleats... a 1 1/2" space meant the tread could slip between the cleats, instead of resting on top of them. Which is exactly what it did. (The bottom ones didn't fall out completely, only because they were also resting on the floor.)
My contractor grumbled and complained about the quality of the steps, too. They ranged from 7 1/2" to 8", as opposed to being a consistent height and width for every step. No wonder I never felt 100% secure going down them without looking. Even before their recent trick of suddenly giving way under your foot. :-)
But he reassures me that when he's done putting in my new stairs, not only will they be completely up to code, they'll also stand up to use for at least the next hundred years. Yea!
ETA: And now, I have stairs! Stairs that do not move, dip, shimmy, or shift underfoot. Stairs that you can go up or down without needing to clutch the handrail in dire terror. Yea, hooray for stairs!
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bouncy
stick a fork in me
crappy
cheerful
curious
ecstatic
enthralled
groggy
chipper