Thanks everybody for your condolences with Isis. It does mean a lot to me.
Bette called a few minutes ago to let me know Isis was gone. I woke up early to have some extra time with her this morning, normally I only get in a few strokes and then have to leave, which gets the "where did you go" look. This morning I was able to scratch her butt, while rubbing her head (a newer twist this past year) until we reached overstimulation (at which she swats and bites playfully, and gives you the "why did you stop" look at the same time). Then we went to sniff the wild winds, where she sits in front of the open patio door. This is normal for her when it gets cold. If it's warm she'll just go out. I also picked her up twice and hummed to her. And then finally, we petted her, including speed petting (two hands, always one moving on her) until she was annoyed. This is announced when any attempt to touch her is met with a bite or swat with claws, usually while still purring. There was lots of purring this morning from my little broken engine (Isis purred in a two stroke manner). IT may have been me, but her purring this morning sounded different in some way (tonal qualities).
She didn't eat any of her breakfast, only licked up the juice.
I remember bringing her home. We found her in Chagrin South (a local park), trying to catch insects and being generally adorable. There were people at the picnic area near bye and we asked if she was theirs. Nobody knew who she belonged to. The parking area we were near was pretty far from the road. But here was a skinny little black cat, being very friendly. So we took her home and put ads in the papers (nobody ever called). She was so malnourished the vet though she was only a year old when we first took her. Four months later when we had her fixed, the vet adjusted that to two years, but still felt she was born in the fall. So we choose Halloween as her official birthday.
The first few months we us, she would have nightmares and would need to be calmed down. We played with her a lot. For some reason she liked it when I threw her on the bed, and then she'd come back and ask for more. I was about the only one she would let pick her up and carry her. With Bette she would squirm after a minute or two, and except for vets, she didn't let anybody else pick her up.
We lived on the sixth floor in our apartment complex, but we had a balcony and bird feeder. Our little huntress would grab a bird about every week or so. Some days we would come home to find the entire living room strewn with feathers, and a content cat snoozing on the bed. One day when Bette was working in southern Ohio, I decided to sleep late. After several pouncings, Isis decided drastic measures were needed. I heard her come into the room and walk around the bed. I was sleeping close to the edge of the bed, so she was able to release the mourning dove she had captured right in my face. There are few things that will wake you up faster than a somewhat large bird taking off into your face. That was a fun half hour to finally get a blanket over the bird and take it outside.
When we got the house, the first day she was scared. The second day she was running around. And the third day she jumped off the deck and walked around to the front door. A few days after that the presents started. A few chipmunks or mice every day. It was only after about eight years of her being with us that she would sit on our laps, although she preferred Bette's lap, she wouldn't immediately leave mine if I place her there (and petted he). I only got her to eat from my hand once. She never really misbehaved, at least not like other cats do. She only had a few litter box accidents (mostly peeing over the box edge), and we never came home to surprises.
She was a good cat to us. I wish she would have let another kitty into our lives, because I'd want that cat to learn from her, but she was very jealous of us. Even of other humans who came to visit.
I already feel that hole in me where she was. I'll miss her a lot.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Nothing but a good time
So, a non-political blog post. Spending time with Isis, but since she's not a big talker I have time to think of things.
With History of Lighting I can see two places I need to fix things. Then I need to re-examine if I need all four old guys, or if I should cut it down to three (need four to play Euchre).
See, I can talk about writing things.
With History of Lighting I can see two places I need to fix things. Then I need to re-examine if I need all four old guys, or if I should cut it down to three (need four to play Euchre).
See, I can talk about writing things.
Not surprising they're giving none away
Okay, so some plans for this mortgage deal have been floated (well, leaked is what they call it, but it's floating the ballon) from this morning. So, they want to refinance people into new ARMs, starting around 3.5%, but then adjusting in 5 years. Because, in 5 years they'll be able to sell or refinance. Um, wait, isn't that what got us into this in the first place. This is the same fargin' mentality that got us here, only now we're delaying it another five years. Yeah, really good plan. I don't like this concept, but at least refinance people into 30 or 40 year fixed rate loans, maybe at 4 or 5%, but then their rates won't change.
If we're going to do this, let's do it right.
If we're going to do this, let's do it right.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Isis update
Our little kitty has lost interest in eating. We were hoping her appetite would pick back up with giving her straight tuna. She nibbles a little, and she is hungry. This is cat that we would give her a quarter bowl of tuna juice (the water it ships in) and she would drink it at one sitting. Actual tuna pieces were as good as catnip. What she's able to keep down isn't close to what she needs. She is slowing down a lot. And she is very boney now. Most of you know while we didn't have a fat cat, she was a little chubber. So this Friday we'll be putting her to sleep, before her starvation becomes too great. We don't think she's in any pain at the moment, but we're getting close.
One of the signs the vet told us to watch out for is frequent vomiting. At that point her internal organs are shutting down. Well, we think she's not eating because she can't keep it down. Last week when she did try to eat, she would vomit. She still begs us for food while we're eating dinner. She sniffs our plates and the little pieces we give her, licks her lips, but then doesn't eat them.
So the last days we've been paying as much attention to her as we can. She hasn't asked to go outside in weeks.
It seems strange to think that she won't be with us next week.
One of the signs the vet told us to watch out for is frequent vomiting. At that point her internal organs are shutting down. Well, we think she's not eating because she can't keep it down. Last week when she did try to eat, she would vomit. She still begs us for food while we're eating dinner. She sniffs our plates and the little pieces we give her, licks her lips, but then doesn't eat them.
So the last days we've been paying as much attention to her as we can. She hasn't asked to go outside in weeks.
It seems strange to think that she won't be with us next week.
We know that there's always tomorrow
Over on Whatever (you are reading Whatever, aren't you?) John Scalzi makes the best argument for going the regular publishing route I've seen yet. The joy of foreign sales.
Not all agents do foreign sales. And yes, they'll take a portion off the top. Okay, so your agent gets you a contract to sell your book to Botswanna, and you get $2000. The agent takes 15%, or $300, maybe a little more. So you go home with $1700. No agent, and you're probably not getting that sale. So, is it worth it? Hmm, $300 to get $1700, or nothing. Yeah, I'll take the $1700, thank you.
This is like some people who have said they don't want to play the lottery, or take a chance on winning a house, because if they win they don't want to pay the taxes. Hello? What? And the political argument about making more than $250,000 and paying more taxes. Really, you're going to take a paper hat job because you want to keep your tax liability less than 20%. You know, I've gone between tax brackets before. And just hitting above the current one sucks. It really does. But really, $250,000 a year and you think that's middle class? Um, nah. That isn't the richest, but that's pretty damn rich right there.
Sorry, got off track there.
But yeah, it's the agent's job to find markets for your work. They only get paid when they get you money. And then it's a percentage, they have a vested interest in your career and your income now and in the future. Really, better than sliced bread.
There are times when you should go a different route, many very legitimate. However, if you can go the other way, you should try it.
Not all agents do foreign sales. And yes, they'll take a portion off the top. Okay, so your agent gets you a contract to sell your book to Botswanna, and you get $2000. The agent takes 15%, or $300, maybe a little more. So you go home with $1700. No agent, and you're probably not getting that sale. So, is it worth it? Hmm, $300 to get $1700, or nothing. Yeah, I'll take the $1700, thank you.
This is like some people who have said they don't want to play the lottery, or take a chance on winning a house, because if they win they don't want to pay the taxes. Hello? What? And the political argument about making more than $250,000 and paying more taxes. Really, you're going to take a paper hat job because you want to keep your tax liability less than 20%. You know, I've gone between tax brackets before. And just hitting above the current one sucks. It really does. But really, $250,000 a year and you think that's middle class? Um, nah. That isn't the richest, but that's pretty damn rich right there.
Sorry, got off track there.
But yeah, it's the agent's job to find markets for your work. They only get paid when they get you money. And then it's a percentage, they have a vested interest in your career and your income now and in the future. Really, better than sliced bread.
There are times when you should go a different route, many very legitimate. However, if you can go the other way, you should try it.
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash
Okay, so Congress will probably be discussing a new economic stimulous plan in their lame duck session coming up.
First I'll say, this is a really bad idea. We have a lame duck President, and a lame duck session of Congress, and they're going to decide an immensely expensive plan. I don't expect good results.
Second, there are some good ideas out there.
One plan is to extend unemployment insurance. I wholeheartedly endorse this plan. While the official unemployment figures are around 5.6%, the secondary unemployment figure (which includes those who have run out of unemployment, and those who have stopped seeking employment without having a new job in the past year) is running around 11%. True unemployment (which measures how many people are of age and could be employed, but aren't, either in jail, intentional stay at home parents, and a few other factors) runs in the twenty percentile range. So helping out 5.6-11% of people out there, Good Idea(tm).
Another plan is to create a new WPA type program, or to fund infrastructure rehabilitation and expansion. Again, I wholeheartedly support such a plan (although avoiding unnecessary expansion should be an essential part of that, and the bill should focus heavily on the rehabilitation part). This provides jobs, good paying jobs. Those jobs will have a trickle out affect to other jobs. This gets people to work, and gooses the economy directly in a positive way.
There's also a plan being floated, and pushed by a certain Presidential candidate, to buyout troubled loans and refinance them to where they're affordable (fixed rate long-term loans geared to income of the occupants). You may be shocked to hear I'm against this plan. One, well, it pisses me off. I live in a smaller home, a home much farther out than I wanted to be, all to live within my means and get some of what we wanted in a home (mostly being at least .5 an acre of land). I made those trade offs to start in a home that I could afford, and one I hope to be paying off early. It would have been nice to have a 2000 square foot home, with all the fun things like a great room, a separate dinning room, larger bedrooms, a full deck, fireplace, a master bath like one that people think of when they think master bath, etc. I qualified for a $250,000 mortgage (well, actually $450,000 but that was just ridiculous), but didn't feel I could make the monthly payments without being very house poor (right now we're mostly house poor).
I agree that giving money to banks rewarded them for the same behavior, and it is perfectly correct. I believe the $700m bailout law was very weak in enforcement. It should have included stronger provisions for executive pay and stripping "golden parachutes" from most of the employment contracts as a stipulation for accepting money. However, as I've stated before, credit is the spice to the financial market's navigators. The spice must flow.
There's also talk of another direct to tax payer stimulus. Most of the last one went to debt relief (another stimulus to the banks!). Help people get jobs, help them last until they can get a job, help create jobs, and the economy will turn. It won't do it on a dime (well, none of the plans really will). But it will last. And with rebuilding our infrastructure we solve two problems with one bill.
First I'll say, this is a really bad idea. We have a lame duck President, and a lame duck session of Congress, and they're going to decide an immensely expensive plan. I don't expect good results.
Second, there are some good ideas out there.
One plan is to extend unemployment insurance. I wholeheartedly endorse this plan. While the official unemployment figures are around 5.6%, the secondary unemployment figure (which includes those who have run out of unemployment, and those who have stopped seeking employment without having a new job in the past year) is running around 11%. True unemployment (which measures how many people are of age and could be employed, but aren't, either in jail, intentional stay at home parents, and a few other factors) runs in the twenty percentile range. So helping out 5.6-11% of people out there, Good Idea(tm).
Another plan is to create a new WPA type program, or to fund infrastructure rehabilitation and expansion. Again, I wholeheartedly support such a plan (although avoiding unnecessary expansion should be an essential part of that, and the bill should focus heavily on the rehabilitation part). This provides jobs, good paying jobs. Those jobs will have a trickle out affect to other jobs. This gets people to work, and gooses the economy directly in a positive way.
There's also a plan being floated, and pushed by a certain Presidential candidate, to buyout troubled loans and refinance them to where they're affordable (fixed rate long-term loans geared to income of the occupants). You may be shocked to hear I'm against this plan. One, well, it pisses me off. I live in a smaller home, a home much farther out than I wanted to be, all to live within my means and get some of what we wanted in a home (mostly being at least .5 an acre of land). I made those trade offs to start in a home that I could afford, and one I hope to be paying off early. It would have been nice to have a 2000 square foot home, with all the fun things like a great room, a separate dinning room, larger bedrooms, a full deck, fireplace, a master bath like one that people think of when they think master bath, etc. I qualified for a $250,000 mortgage (well, actually $450,000 but that was just ridiculous), but didn't feel I could make the monthly payments without being very house poor (right now we're mostly house poor).
I agree that giving money to banks rewarded them for the same behavior, and it is perfectly correct. I believe the $700m bailout law was very weak in enforcement. It should have included stronger provisions for executive pay and stripping "golden parachutes" from most of the employment contracts as a stipulation for accepting money. However, as I've stated before, credit is the spice to the financial market's navigators. The spice must flow.
There's also talk of another direct to tax payer stimulus. Most of the last one went to debt relief (another stimulus to the banks!). Help people get jobs, help them last until they can get a job, help create jobs, and the economy will turn. It won't do it on a dime (well, none of the plans really will). But it will last. And with rebuilding our infrastructure we solve two problems with one bill.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Other things just make you swear and curse
My thoughts on the "White Supremacists" who wanted to kill 88 black people, decapitate 14 more, and then try to kill Obama?
I guess they never saw this on YouTube (video starts on page load, somewhat loud music). It's very Hollywood, which makes me roll my eyes, but you get the point. Yeah, approach the candidate in a speeding car? You ain't gonna get close.
Just as a point here, I strongly disagree with giving the Secret Service this kind of firepower to use domestically. Why? Because in stopping that speeding car with this, a lot of collateral damage is going to happen. As I remember, a minigun is not a very precise weapon, it's just meant to spew a curtain of lead in the general direction you point the gun. The Service tends to operate in close environments, especially domestically.
Also, considering the various rhetorical flourishes by the right which condemn many things as "domestic terrorism" I'm not hearing that being thrown about it this case. Why? No, really, I want to know. Instead we get this.
And because I'm in a dark mood, I present this joke. "The one good thing about skinheads? They show up really well in infrared scopes."
I guess they never saw this on YouTube (video starts on page load, somewhat loud music). It's very Hollywood, which makes me roll my eyes, but you get the point. Yeah, approach the candidate in a speeding car? You ain't gonna get close.
Just as a point here, I strongly disagree with giving the Secret Service this kind of firepower to use domestically. Why? Because in stopping that speeding car with this, a lot of collateral damage is going to happen. As I remember, a minigun is not a very precise weapon, it's just meant to spew a curtain of lead in the general direction you point the gun. The Service tends to operate in close environments, especially domestically.
Also, considering the various rhetorical flourishes by the right which condemn many things as "domestic terrorism" I'm not hearing that being thrown about it this case. Why? No, really, I want to know. Instead we get this.
And because I'm in a dark mood, I present this joke. "The one good thing about skinheads? They show up really well in infrared scopes."
Revved up like a deuce
I've had a few off line comments about my post a while back stating that as we approach the election and the inevitable fall-out and law suits afterward, especially since Obama is gaining in the polls, that we will begin to experience advanced wing-nuttery.
Some thought I was talking about McCain's apparent forgetfulness that he was a part of Washington while all these horrible things happened that he's now decrying. Myself, I keep waiting for the speech where he says his current campaign motto out loud, "You idiots voted for the wrong guy back in 2000. Now dontcha wish you had elected me?" Well, no, that's not what I was talking about.
This is what I was talking about. (link goes to the Nielsen Hayden's Making Light blog and Teresa's dissection of the letter) (here is the letter without the commentary and referential links) I used to receive such chain letters from friends, until I would get all explodey on them (with references) about how they were accepting something that makes absolutely no sense and could easily be disproven with a simple google search. If you don't want to taint your mind with such wingnuttery, I can sum up by saying that there are those "strong christians" who can't believe that a black man would be popular, so Obama's rise to power has to be due to "Kenyan/Islamic witchcraft" which can only be defeated by "spiritual warfare." No, I couldn't make that up (but I will eventually use it in a story). Both the "curses" and the "cures", to me, smack heavily of Hoodoo and Santeria (which are both, strangely enough, examples of "christianized" African animalism practices).
So this isn't an example of someone "way out there." There is a strong undercurrent in American culture that accepts this form of advanced wingnuttery as truth. I've experienced people saying such things to me in person. At first I thought they were jokes. Then I was flabbergasted to see how such things gain traction in people's minds. Now I tend to be very vocal against it, which I believe is the right course of action.
Having your worldview demolished is a tough thing on the psyche. A large minority of our fellow USians are experiencing this right at this moment as Obama goes from a "couldn't happen" to a "very well could happen" (they aren't at full acceptance yet). If you listen closely you can hear the crashing of paradigms and the crumbling of perceptions. It sounds like sugar glass shattering.
Some thought I was talking about McCain's apparent forgetfulness that he was a part of Washington while all these horrible things happened that he's now decrying. Myself, I keep waiting for the speech where he says his current campaign motto out loud, "You idiots voted for the wrong guy back in 2000. Now dontcha wish you had elected me?" Well, no, that's not what I was talking about.
This is what I was talking about. (link goes to the Nielsen Hayden's Making Light blog and Teresa's dissection of the letter) (here is the letter without the commentary and referential links) I used to receive such chain letters from friends, until I would get all explodey on them (with references) about how they were accepting something that makes absolutely no sense and could easily be disproven with a simple google search. If you don't want to taint your mind with such wingnuttery, I can sum up by saying that there are those "strong christians" who can't believe that a black man would be popular, so Obama's rise to power has to be due to "Kenyan/Islamic witchcraft" which can only be defeated by "spiritual warfare." No, I couldn't make that up (but I will eventually use it in a story). Both the "curses" and the "cures", to me, smack heavily of Hoodoo and Santeria (which are both, strangely enough, examples of "christianized" African animalism practices).
So this isn't an example of someone "way out there." There is a strong undercurrent in American culture that accepts this form of advanced wingnuttery as truth. I've experienced people saying such things to me in person. At first I thought they were jokes. Then I was flabbergasted to see how such things gain traction in people's minds. Now I tend to be very vocal against it, which I believe is the right course of action.
Having your worldview demolished is a tough thing on the psyche. A large minority of our fellow USians are experiencing this right at this moment as Obama goes from a "couldn't happen" to a "very well could happen" (they aren't at full acceptance yet). If you listen closely you can hear the crashing of paradigms and the crumbling of perceptions. It sounds like sugar glass shattering.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Weekend Wrapup and Other Thoughts
I didn't get what I wanted done, but I did finish up "History of Lightning" and did one round of edits. There's two things I need to fix with it, but they're doable. And I think they'll add interest in the story. Took a poem to finish and submitted it. Wrote and submitted two blog entries for the Miskatonic University blog contest.
Was way too distracted by life and work to get into the flow. Didn't sleep well, still tired.
Since I didn't have my standard stations available in Michigan (yeah, I know about satellite radio, but I really object to paying for it, heck, I hate paying for cable TV - but then I have crappy cable TV) I went channel surfing. There is a radio station in Michigan that is already playing Xmas Music, 24/7. OMG. Surely, this is a "the year has been so crappy, you all need a little Christmas right now," marketing thought. I wonder what year it will be when we have the Christmas shopping/music season start in April?
Took me 7.5 hours to get there because of the late start which made me hit traffic at the wrong times. The drive home was only 5.5 hours, and that includes going an extra 45 minutes eastward to home.
Was way too distracted by life and work to get into the flow. Didn't sleep well, still tired.
Since I didn't have my standard stations available in Michigan (yeah, I know about satellite radio, but I really object to paying for it, heck, I hate paying for cable TV - but then I have crappy cable TV) I went channel surfing. There is a radio station in Michigan that is already playing Xmas Music, 24/7. OMG. Surely, this is a "the year has been so crappy, you all need a little Christmas right now," marketing thought. I wonder what year it will be when we have the Christmas shopping/music season start in April?
Took me 7.5 hours to get there because of the late start which made me hit traffic at the wrong times. The drive home was only 5.5 hours, and that includes going an extra 45 minutes eastward to home.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Wictory!
Okay, so instead of wallowing in my own wretchedness, I downshifted into poetry, knowing I could finish one of the several starts I have.
And I did so. I took a little sound poem and pushed it out to (what I hope is) publishable status. A poem of twelve lines, two stanzas, mixing a little Bradbury and eastern Buddhist tradition with a dash of sorrow and baked well.
And it's off to Goblin Fruit (one of the better designed online markets). They gave me a good rejection letter to my last submission there. Hopefully they'll find this more fully realized.
So here's to small victories. I can have my beer tonight with a (somewhat) clearer conscious.
And I did so. I took a little sound poem and pushed it out to (what I hope is) publishable status. A poem of twelve lines, two stanzas, mixing a little Bradbury and eastern Buddhist tradition with a dash of sorrow and baked well.
And it's off to Goblin Fruit (one of the better designed online markets). They gave me a good rejection letter to my last submission there. Hopefully they'll find this more fully realized.
So here's to small victories. I can have my beer tonight with a (somewhat) clearer conscious.
Writing Fail
Okay, so, I built myself up for this weekend, and piled on the expectations, and now that I'm having difficulty becoming engaged in my novel again, I'm experiencing massive fail feelings. I think I set myself up for that.
The company is fun, the place excellent, the conversation good, but I feel like I'm avoiding writing. Now, I have produced some 3000 words so far this weekend, but that feels so small. I'm looking for distraction when I should be linking back into writing. I'm doing a lot of butt-in-chair-hands-on-keyboard time, but not a lot of typing out fiction.
I've done other things. Heck, I even took a nap. I don't take naps (although I haven't sleep well the past three nights). Distraction seeking, it's the new cat waxing.
I think what I really need is a more calm day-to-day life. But that isn't going to happen. I haven't done much work in the back yard this year, and I need to get stuff done. I tried cutting out the freelance and now I'm having the most work of any year to date. Council continues to be a struggle and is taking way too much energy.
And here I am complaining again.
The company is fun, the place excellent, the conversation good, but I feel like I'm avoiding writing. Now, I have produced some 3000 words so far this weekend, but that feels so small. I'm looking for distraction when I should be linking back into writing. I'm doing a lot of butt-in-chair-hands-on-keyboard time, but not a lot of typing out fiction.
I've done other things. Heck, I even took a nap. I don't take naps (although I haven't sleep well the past three nights). Distraction seeking, it's the new cat waxing.
I think what I really need is a more calm day-to-day life. But that isn't going to happen. I haven't done much work in the back yard this year, and I need to get stuff done. I tried cutting out the freelance and now I'm having the most work of any year to date. Council continues to be a struggle and is taking way too much energy.
And here I am complaining again.
Lighting Strikes Twice
Rewrote/edited Lightning. It's now 4041 words, and I cut about 100 to 250 words out of the original, and changed a parcel load of the sentences around, mixed up paragraphs, and restructured the end.
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