Category: This & That

Go Canada!

Excuse me while I gush.

I’m not normally a hockey fan. Not what I would call a sports fan in any way, shape or form. Pretty much a total klutz and perennial bench-warmer when it comes to my own athletic abilities. But I have been glued to Team Canada’s progress throughout the 2010 men’s Olympic hockey games since the 1st American-Canadian game back in the whatever-round-that-was several days ago. The press has been saying all along that hockey is “Canada’s game,” but I’ve never really felt that way (I know, boo-hiss on me). For one thing, lacrosse is Canada’s official sport (I don’t even know why, as hockey is definitely the most-played sport). For another, in the NHL, Canadian hockey players play on American teams and American players play on Canadian teams. It’s like a big family reunion with talented cousins playing alongside equally talented cousins. But there’s something about the need to prove yourself on home soil. Especially when Canada doesn’t usually perform anything like Americans at most Olympics. But we did ourselves proud this Olympics. Winning the gold medal in men’s hockey during overtime was the icing on the cake.

Canada won 14 gold medals this Olympics—the most gold medals won in any Olympics by any country, regardless of whether the games were held on home soil or not. For most Canadians, I would think that’s pretty mind-boggling. We’re happy to win silver and bronze medals. Heck, we’re happy to be in the running. Overall, we placed third in total medal count, with 14 golds, 7 silvers and 5 bronzes. Total medals = 26. Germany beat us out with 30 medals, 10 of which were gold, 13 silver and 7 bronze. And Team U.S.A. won the medal count with 9 gold, 15 silver and 13 bronze (total 37 medals). (If you’re wondering where I retrieved these stats, click here). But, ahem, we won 14—count ’em and weep!—14 gold medals! Us! Little ol’ Canada!

:::Cheering!! Waving the flag!!!:::

Go, Canada, go!

And now back to your regularly scheduled blog programming (excuse me for interrupting).

My Eyes Are Crossed

I’m halfway through formatting a requested manuscript to a publisher’s specifications. My eyes are literally crossing, so I decided to take a break. Remember back in the old days when you just typed up the manuscript and mailed it in? And the typesetters worried about formatting? It still works that way with a lot of publishers, but more and more publishers are asking writers to submit their manuscripts pre-formatted to their specs. Not “just” epublishers, either. Because I’m a Capricorn and prone to paying attention to details (when I feel like it), formatting a manuscript is something I don’t take lightly. If an editor is seriously considering two manuscripts, and one is wonderfully, perfectly formatted while the other is chock-full of mistakes, which do you think she’s more likely to acquire? I fool myself into thinking it would be mine.

So, what are my writer buddies up to? Any submission tales to recount? Can you identify with my formatting issues? Or is it something you don’t even consider when you submit a manu?

I haven’t totally familiarized myself with Windows 7. Formatting and submitting the manuscript has to take precedence. Now that I finally have all my old programs loaded (and it appears that all will work in Windows 7, although one or two might be tad glitchy), it was time to take a break from playing with the new operating system and get back to work. I’ve charged my new netbook, but I’m a long way from checking her out.

Oh, I have to buy a new scanner. Mine is too old for any Windows OS since XP. I’m giving it to My Liege…for his office (I like to call it his “hovel”)…in the crawl space. Yes, indeedy, my husband’s home office is in the crawl space. That’s where I worked between computers. It’s really quiet in there, but you can’t stand up straight. And the dog always wanted me to lift her in. Which of course I did. She laid at my feet beneath M.L.’s desk as I worked on his docked laptop.

Don’t ask my why his office is in the crawlspace. It’s not like I forced him to work there. Okay, maybe I did.

Once I get this manuscript off and have played with Windows 7 to my satisfaction, I’ll take some pictures of the hovel and post them for your enjoyment. I think I already have a picture or two somewhere in my files, but the eyes remain too crossed to go look for them.

Delbert December 2005 – January 2010 R.I.P.

It’s official—my computer  is dead! Delbert needs a new hard drive (on top of the virus issues which first sent him to the shop), and now that Windows 7 is out (Delbert had XP), My Liege and I decided it’s time I get a new tower. I don’t need a monitor, speakers, etc., so it shouldn’t be too much damage. The cost of replacing the hard drive is too high to seriously consider for a 5-year-old computer.

So now I’m researching new towers while continuing editing/polishing the requested full manuscript on M.L.’s or Youngest Son’s laptops. The computer dying lost me a good two days on the manu request, which was further complicated by the fact that I went to Mexico to celebrate a milestone birthday in the company of my parents. I had a wonderful time and just returned Friday night. Will post pictures once I have my new computer. I’ll probably get another Dell. This will make our second Dell desktop purchase and we’ve also made two Dell laptop purchases in the past. M.L.’s job offers a discount that is usually too good to pass up. The computer techs who looked at my hard drive told me they see the fewest hardware failures on Dell above all other brands (no, they don’t sell them),  so that gives me good incentive to be a repeat customer.

In Mexico, I was able to check on my email using my father’s laptop, but somehow couldn’t find time to research Delbert replacements or work on the requested manu in nice, sunny weather. Instead, I read a ton of books, spent quality time with the ‘rents, and visited an out-of-the-way beach (IOW, not the beaches in front of the hotels). I haven’t gone somewhere in the winter for 13 years, so it was a nice change. Unfortunately, M.L. had to stay home for business considerations, and it was a good thing he did. The weather is wreaking havoc in my part of the continent, alternately freezing and melting. We had a huge melt while I was gone, and M.L. spent my birthday attempting to protect our basement from flooding. He did a great job, but the old detached garage that houses his motorcycle suffered some damage. Better that than our house!

If he had gone to Mexico with me, I can’t imagine what a mess the basement would have been in when we got home.

Anyway, this is my convoluted way of saying that I’ll be scarce on-line until I have my new computer all set up and files transferred, programs loaded, etc. I do have a guest blogger visiting next week, and luckily I scheduled her posts before I left. So that guest blog and book give-away will still go ahead. I won’t be visiting blogs, etc., myself until I’m on my own computer again, but I promise I’ll catch up with my blog and Twitter and Facebook (Scrabble!) friends when I can.

“Evil Landlady” Arrested for Fraud

Check out this article about the woman who tried to fleece Eldest Son last summer (I referred to her on this blog as Evil Landlady). He got his deposit back—only after we tracked her down at her house in September. Sounds like he was one of the lucky ones. He also helped another student get that student’s deposit back.

He was told a different story than the one cited in the article. He’d arranged to rent a room on her main floor, not the 2-bedroom suite in the lower level. She asked for half a month’s deposit, which was provided, then later told him the room had been ruined in a fire while she was out of town. Events similar to those cited in the story ensued, down to the “friend” contacting E.S. to say E.L. was traumatized by the fire, lost her cell phone, and the latest we heard before my husband and E.S. showed up on her doorstep was that she’d moved to a different town. Not!

Ah, karma.

Pop In, Pop Out

Of my blog, that is.

Two quick things.

  1. I received an unexpected (unsolicited) “manuscript submission opportunity,” shall we say, so I’ll be scarce around the blog until mid-January. Keep checking back, but if I’m only posting once or twice a week, you’ll know why.
  2. Mystery author Wendy Roberts is my first guest blogger of 2010. Wendy’s blogging next Wednesday, January 6th, and is giving away not only her December 2009 release, DEAD AND KICKING, but also the first in her Ghost Dusters series, THE REMAINS OF THE DEAD. Her promo post is going up Tuesday, January 5th. This is just a heads-up so you know when to come back.

Procter-King……….out!

Green Christmas

We had a green Christmas for the first time I can remember. We’ve nearly had a green Christmas at least twice before. I distinctly remember one year back when I was around ten, or eight, or twelve (hey, it was a long time ago, the memory’s rusty) when it didn’t snow until Christmas day. And then it snowed dump trucks on us! I was so happy. Of course, I didn’t have to drive in it.

Same thing happened about a decade ago. No snow until my brother and sisters had to brave the roads for Christmas dinner at my house. Then—kablooey. Tons of snow.

I know other areas of North America are getting pummeled with the chilly white stuff as I type. Is your part of the continent white or green?

Oh, before I forget, congratulations to Lisa G., who won the Super Secret Santa Give-Away on Nobody Writes It Better! My romantic comedy, BORROWING ALEX, was included in the give-away. I’ll get the book in the mail to you this week.

Thanks to everyone who entered. I hear we had a good turn-out, which means we’ll hopefully hold another give-away next year.