Last night I finished edits to "Rag-a-bag" just in case Abyss and Apex decide to take a pass. It's been a long time since I submitted it there. I guess I should query them.
Found a market to send "Daddy's Little Girl" off to, but email was wonky last night and it didn't go out. Duotrope was offline last night (or at least I couldn't get to it) so I did it the hard way. Ralan's is an exceptional list, but Duotrope is much easier to use. Story Pilot also as ease of use in searching, although their engine needs some tweaking, and it's a little clunky. Duotrope gives the most information, but tends to rely on colors and 1 letter acronyms which can get a bit confusing (what shade of blue is that, does that mean they accept horror?). Anyway, hopefully email will be less wonky tonight.
Tonight I'll meet Bette at the Sears to have her look at the dishwasher I found. It has the best energy rating of all the models I looked at. It's a mid-priced ($400 on sale) Kenmore. It feels and looks a little cheap (there's a $450 upgraded model that feels a little more solid and has some options), but I like the energy rating on it (320 on a scale from 195-538). While that scale starts at 195 I haven't found a make or model that is below 300. It doesn't have the supper quiet insulation package, but then our current one doesn't either. At the other end, there was a Frigidare that was nice (same energy rating but felt and looked solid), but at nearly $600, it's a bit out of our price range (I think, especially with expensive furnace repairs or replacement). Installation is $139, with a $35 rebate. I'm debating if $100 is worth them doing the work and hauling away the old one. I'm leaning toward yes. I think I could do it, although the soft copper tubing has me a bit concerned, but it'll be a most of the day kind of job. And then I'll have to wait until spring to dump the old one (Village Cleanup Day). But dishwashers seem to suffer from "give the people more, even if they don't need it"-itis. Does anybody really need 6 wash settings? Is the "sanitation" cycle really a concern for people who don't have phobias (and just what is that, do they have a UV purification lamp? I don't know). Now having the choice of a stainless steel tub, that's an option. Or the difference in wire rack construction, I can see that (although, wouldn't they get the price down if they made all their racks the same way and bought on volume?). Even the difference in "quiet pacs" I can see as costing more (although, really, just make the damn things quiet across the board, it works toward your brand).
Yesterday, the one BP station had gas for $3.48. It was a mob scene. Lines of cars out onto the highway. Seriously, it's gotten so bad we're all Jonesing for $3.50 gas.
Tonight I'm hoping to get rewrites on the "Prince Interview" flash done. Yes, I'm doing short stuff first. And I'm not working on new things right at the moment. I keep beating myself up on writing the novel. Right now, though, I'm feeling all spacey and non-focused from life. And I'm anxious about other writing things which I also wrote a query last night, but talked myself out of it and said, "Be cool, dude." We'll see if that last to the weekend.
I also need to do billing for some logo work I did. Just got the final approval on the brochure which I really like, and I like the client, he's a good guy. This one is going in the portfolio. There's a lot of really nice photoshop work (of which I underquoted, but I loved doing it so I took the time to do the full nine yards - we'll see what he says on the final accounting, I'll show my actual time but keep to the quote). It just too way too long to get to this point (I wanted it done by Memorial Day).
So, still a lot to do, but I'm not paralyzed by it. I think those 3000 words this past weekend helped, as did the sleeping in for three days. Sometimes you have to get passed things instead of bottling them up.
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