Listen. Do you smell something?

Things have been way too quiet around here. I apologize, it's been a busy time and lately all my down time has been devoted to unwinding.

Hint to the wary, if you're appliance shopping, beware Sears. Not that they don't sell good appliances (they do), but this afternoon after getting my new glasses readjusted (tomorrow I'll see if I'm still having a problem) I went in to just browse some front-loading washers. If I do end up having a job through this summer I'd really like to upgrade. And they aren't cheap (although they are coming down in price). No, what I want to warn you about is being swarmed by eager sales people. I appreciate they're wanting to help me, but when I say, "I'm just price browsing" that means I'd really rather be left alone to look at the models, their prices, and their energy ratings (BTW, I really hate it when the manufacturers use different metrics on their ratings card, can't we have that fixed with our new regulatory regime?).

Back to the incommunicativeness. This will probably be sporadic for the next month as I read, critique, and write my way to May 16th. Add to that the regular writers group going on this weekend (and we have a bunch o' stories this month) and I really want to make it there. I've been scarce there as well lately. I don't want to be "that guy" in the group.

Ideas have been popping out, and some short stories have been calling like the sirens to Odysseus. Lash me to the main mast of life oh Muse. And sign me out. Or something like that. Hopefully I'll be able to get some story bones out here.

So I may not be as regular a poster between now and the middle of May. Of course now that I've said I'll be a little scarce around here, I'll end up posting 2 and 3 articles between now and the end of May. That's just how it works sometimes.