tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1482010426379232382024-03-05T06:02:54.749-05:00william lavellThe greatest author you've never heard ofAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026773636371052291noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148201042637923238.post-80489341587558193752013-11-01T00:39:00.001-04:002013-11-01T00:39:54.297-04:00Halloween BoxI was sitting on the couch with my wife tonight after work watching the Halloween episode of Grey's Anatomy (she watches Dr Who with me. Fair's fair) when one of the characters on the show said something about homemade Halloween costumes. Inevitably, my wife and I got to talking about Halloween memories, and she asked me what the best homemade costume I ever had was. The answer came to mind pretty quickly, actually.<div>I was about, oh, five or six, when my dad decided he was going to make me a costume that year. I asked him what it was going to be, and all he would say was that it was a surprise. I had no idea where he was going with this when he appeared in my grandma's yard with a box of stuff I didn't recognize (although now that I work at The Job Which Supports My Writing Habit, a lot of the stuff looks strangely familiar now, ha ha). But he emptied out the box and started attaching the parts to it. He cut armholes and eyeholes in the box, and attached rubber tubes to it. A pair of black work gloves went at the ends of the tubes to make the hands. A 6 volt battery went inside the box with all sorts of wires running all over the inside of the box to lights and tiny speakers, and even a push-button to run the thing. Then, he covered the entire box with tin foil. When he was done, there in all its glory stood the coolest robot costume that little boy had ever seen! It blinked. It beeped. And it got used for a hell of a lot longer than just halloween, let me tell you.</div><div>He knew that I loved science fiction, even then, and decided that this was what he'd make me to wear for Halloween. And I remember it to this very day. Another good ol' day from the good ol' days. Thank you, Dad. I love you too.</div><div><br></div><div>Happy Halloween, everybody...</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026773636371052291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148201042637923238.post-77502694019771383552013-09-11T11:33:00.001-04:002013-09-11T15:48:55.394-04:00September 11, 2013<div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Today is September 11. We call it Patriots' Day in the States now after what happened on that day back in 2001. There are memorials going on today in New York, DC, Shanksville, Pa, where the planes actually fell, and smaller ones in other spots around the world. There are pages on Facebook that are loaded with all sorts of red, white, and blue memes bearing the slogan "Never Forget", and others that are going silent today to show their respect. One page that I read a lot posed the question, "Where were you?" <br><br>It's been twelve years since the towers fell, the Pentagon burned, and a fourth plane was brought down by people who decided to fight back instead of meeting their fate in fear. And twelve years later the events of that day still resound like Pearl Harbor, or the Kennedy Assassination, or the Challenger and Columbia explosions. If you were alive to witness that history, it stays with you, haunts you, and you always remember where you were and what you were doing when it happened.<br><br>I was in a laundromat in East Windsor NJ when the first plane hit. None of us saw it happen, but all the tv stations began to cover the story, and I remember everyone thought it was an accident at first. <br><br>Everybody's first reaction, of course, was "I hope there weren't too many people hurt." <br><br>Then the questions came to mind. <br><br>"I wonder how air traffic control messed up that bad," we said. "How could an accident like that happen?"<br><br>By now, the spinning clothes in the machines were forgotten, and everybody in the place was now huddled around the tiny 13 inch TV behind the counter. That's when the second plane hit the towers.<br><br>That's when we all knew. It wasn't an accident at all. <br><br>I remember when the first tower fell some of the ladies in the laundromat started to cry and the couple of men that were there just hung their heads. This was New York City for crying out loud. How did this happen in New York City? I just stood there in shock as the second tower started to go. It didn't even look real. This was a Cameron or Bruckheimer movie we were watching, right? This couldn't be happening. <br><br>But this was no disaster movie. The World Trade Center wasn't just some movie set that was being trashed for the cameras. I'm Jersey City born and raised. I've been to New York plenty of times. The towers were a part of my landscape since I was old enough to see out my bedroom window by myself. And now, live and in color, one of the towers, and everyone inside, was turning to dust before our very eyes.<br><br>When the second tower fell, the picture on TV fuzzed out to snow. You see, all of the New York stations used to send their broadcast signals through antennas mounted on the roof of Tower Two. So did a lot of radio stations. So when the second tower hit the ground, almost all the media stopped too. There were no more reports of what was happening. Anybody who didn't have cable was effectively cut off from the world. <br><br>I was due into work at 3 that day, so my next thought was to get to work. I'm just a railroader, but I figured that maybe they were going to use trains to get people out of the City, and that if I went to work and did what I do, in some small way I would be helping things. Plus I was still in shock and desperately needed something to do. So I saddled up and tried to go in.<br><br>Little did I know, the NJ Turnpike had been shut down, along with the bridges, tunnels, and train service into and out of the City. So I was turned away. The Parkway was shut down, and all of the free roads were gridlocked, so there was no way to go north. I had to turn back and head home.<br><br>I wound up taking my mother and going to my girlfriend (later my wife)'s apartment in PA. We grabbed some pizza, although I don't remember eating much of it, and tried to get updates on cable of what was going on in NY. The feeling for the rest of that day was, well, fear. Were the attacks over? Or were more coming? Where would those be? What if they decided to hit Philadelphia next? That wasn't too far away. They had just leveled two of the biggest buildings in the world, in one of the biggest cities in the world. If someone could do that to them, what chance did we stand in our little suburban town? Like the rest of the world, we were all spectators at that point, watching history unfold on CNN. But at the time, we had no idea if it was over or not. So like everyone else in the country, we sat riveted to the news.<br><br>Finally at around 6 or so that night, President Bush came on TV and made his now-famous speech about how the attacks on our nation would not go unanswered, and America would stand tall against terror. And I remember feeling that it was too little, too late. Emotionally our country had been falling apart all day, and this was the guy who was supposed to be our leader. I remember thinking "where the hell were you?" To be honest, at this point I don't even remember half of what he said. I just remember that his words that night didn't make me feel any better. <br><br>But I'll tell you what did.<br><br>I went to the store the next day. I don't remember which one. It might have been Target. Someone actually held a door open for me as I was coming up to it. I said "thank you" as I walked through, as I normally do, and the person actually said, "you're welcome." Now on its face, you think big deal, right? But think about it for a minute and ask yourself how often people would take the time to do that. How often did people take that much time and give each other that much respect before that terrible day? And now it was happening again.<br><br>I went into another store, I think the supermarket. Instead of running their carts into each other and trying to get to the $1.99-on-sale tomatoes first like usual, people were letting each other go first. "Please" and "thank you" filled the air, and people, even if it was for just that little while, were being nicer to each other. Instead of droning on doing their business and blocking others out, they were being people again. I suppose it was the idea that after something that terrible had happened to us, people could go back to some normalcy, and maybe even be just that much better. <br><br>Once the roads opened again, everyone that could flocked north. Every able body wanted to help in the rescue efforts at the WTC site, or just to help hand out food and water to the volunteers. Blood donations skyrocketed when they announced on TV that there was a shortage, and donations were rolling in to the Red Cross of food, clothing, and money to help in the relief efforts. When the President sent our troops over to Iraq and Afghanistan, we heard about "Shock and Awe" in the desert. But in my opinion, there were some pretty awe-inspiring things happening back at home, too. <br><br>The WTC attacks were a tragedy, no doubt. But part of healing is to look for positives, and hold on to them. And if there was anything positive to take away from that whole period of time, it was what I just described. When a tragedy happens, people can, and do, come together to lessen their own pain. Whether it's by talking to someone who cares, or by just going out of their way to be a little more polite. It isn't always one grand thing in life that can make it better. It's a thousand little things. Sometimes the normal things can be special.<br><br>And when we remember all that happened on September 11, 2001, and all that we lost, I think we should remember something very important that we found in the aftermath, too.<br><br>Our humanity.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026773636371052291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148201042637923238.post-88845576780232134382013-09-07T17:28:00.001-04:002013-09-07T18:12:12.361-04:00Yesterday and TodayHi guys, it's me again.<div><br><div>Anybody that knows me knows that I work for the railroad, and which one isn't important. And anybody that reads this blog knows that I spend more time writing about real life than I do about science fiction or my books. Because a) I can, and b) let's face it. Where the hell else am I gonna write about this stuff?</div><div><br></div><div>Today I went up to the main maintenance facility for my company. The event was our family day. At first, I wasn't going to go, but at the last minute I figured I would. And now as I'm recording this driving home from there I'm glad I did. I got to see a lot of old friends that I haven't seen in years and it felt really good to be back where I started out on the railroad Even if it was only for a day. </div><div><br></div><div>At the risk of sounding melodramatic the nostalgia was thick in the air today. Like I said I looked at faces that I haven't seen in years. And it reminded me of another time. A time when I was younger and just starting out and everything was new. And when I have a guy running upstairs to the office telling my boss that I'm a racist because I asked him to do his job the right way, I don't think a better time could have come for me to remember all those things than now. </div><div><br></div><div>In 2013, people argue every night because they have to do one more car or pick up one more piece of trash or change one more brake shoe than the next guy. And no, I don't think that the past was Norman Rockwell-esque either because it wasn't. We still had our share of crap in the past too, but it just felt different then. </div><div><br></div><div>There were still people that you didn't like, but for the most part people seemed to like each other. We still argued sometimes over what we had to do, but we didn't seem to fight as much as they do now. Morale was higher and the guys worked together even if they didn't like each other. I made some good friends back in those days and for a while it felt like we were a family. </div><div><br></div><div>There's Audrey, my work mom. If you want to know what kind of person she is, she spent the day today following me around making sure that I stopped at the grill to eat. There's Jimmy, Rafael, Joe M and Elvis (Yes that's his real name. Pretty cool Huh?) who are like brothers to me. No matter how many trains there were or how dirty the job got I always knew that these guys had my back. There's Paul, who was like a grumpy uncle to us. He barked a lot, but never bit. And he always had a crooked grin in the corner of his mouth whenever something silly would happen. They all bonded with me, and over time, they bonded with each other and we made a hell of a group. No matter what it was, we always got it done. And we made some damn good money doing it.</div><div><br></div><div>Then, there were 100 or so men and women that you would see every day on your way through the halls or walking out to the yard. People that you didn't know really well but you spoke to every day, and you noticed when they weren't around. And all of that took a job that could be really hard sometimes and made it that much easier. It took a job that's being made increasingly more impersonal as it's run by corporations now and put a little bit of humanity back into it. </div><div><br></div><div>Going up there today and seeing friends from the past made me really nostalgic today. But a little reminder of where I came from made me remember why I'm so good at what I do. And it made me remember why I took this job in the first place. </div><div><br></div><div>So to Audrey, Rafael, Jimmy, Elvis, Joe, and to anybody else that I left out, thanks for the head check. My love to all of you, and to our days gone by. And if I don't see any of you sooner, I'll see you next year! </div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026773636371052291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148201042637923238.post-33355473029403034332013-08-18T22:12:00.000-04:002013-08-18T22:22:03.368-04:00How I Spent My Summer Vacation, 2013 EditionAs I mentioned last week, I had a week's vacation coming from The Job Which Supports My Writing Habit. I was actually able to get a week in the summer for the first time in a few years. And boy did I need it after all of the stuff that's been going on lately. If you read the blog last week you have a general idea of what happened, and that's all I should say about it. "Don't discuss specifics of your job" rules aside, I really don't want to talk about it anymore anyway. So just suffice it to say that I needed a break from the insanity. <div><br></div><div>Moving on, I spent the first few rainy days loitering around the house, catching up on laundry and tv shows. I bought Michele two seasons of Night Court with Harry Anderson and John Laroquette, and spent my first two days off watching it with her. So many gags on that show that wouldn't get past the censors now. That show isn't politically correct enough to be aired in the 21st century, but it was still funny as hell and I enjoyed watching it. Ah, the 80's... those were the days...</div><div><br></div><div>Finally, on Wednesday, the sun was out, and so was I. I cut my grass, under glares of disapproval from my sharp-eyed neighbors, who I often hear under my window in the morning loudly discussing the fact that I don't cut my grass often enough. Of course, we can't all have a landscaper come out once a week to wake up the people who work nights and sleep in in the mornings. Some of us do our own yard work when weather and work schedules allow. </div><div><br></div><div>Anyway, I lost my audience when I brought my Harbor Freight machete out of the garage to trim my bushes. My best buddy back in Jersey City had one, and we used to use it every chance we could. Now that I have a house of my own, I took the opportunity to buy one for myself.
Anyway, after a little bit of cutting I looked up, and suddenly everybody was gone. It seems that the sight of a 6'1", 270 lb dude in camo shorts hacking at shrubbery with an oversized knife was enough to make them forgive me my sins and mind their own. Not to mention that swinging that thing is very cathartic, too. For only about 5 bucks, you should try it sometime. </div><div><br></div><div>After the yard work was done, I got my cooler out, filled it with ice and drinkables, and did something I've only done a handful of times since we bought this house 6 years ago. I sat aimlessly, in the sun, and relaxed. It was just me, an iPad full of books, and some Smirnoff Ice. Did you know that they make a pineapple flavored one now? Me neither. But I do now, and it is great! When the sun went down, it was Star Trek, Dr. Who, and Farscape on tv. I even got to see the new Superman movie, Man of Steel. I don't want to go all movie critic, so I'll just say that it's nothing like the Salkind films, and leave it at that. </div><div><br></div><div>The next few days were pretty much repeat as necessary. And oh yes, it was. I spent more time out in the sun over this past week than I have in years, and I have to say that from here on out I do NOT plan to wait until my vacation weeks to do it again. I know I said I'd given up on the book until after the summer was over, but I managed to clear my head enough to get back to it sooner. Or maybe I just needed the Smirnoff Ice... </div><div><br></div><div>Whatever it was this week, it worked for me, and I feel better than I did when I left. Hell, I even managed to write a blog for the second week in a row. :) And I plan, weather permitting, to spend my last day off in the sun before I have to think about going back to that place. </div><div><br></div><div>So now that I'm done rambling, what have we learned? I'm going to close this week with my list of: </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>10 THINGS I LEARNED ON MY SUMMER VACATION</div><div><br></div><div>10. That I really needed to get away from The Job Which Supports My Writing Habit after the last few weeks of political correctness gone wrong. As much as I like my job, things were just getting ridiculous.
</div><div><br></div><div>9. That Smirnoff Ice comes in pineapple flavor. Muhaha... </div><div><br></div><div>8. That television was a lot less politically correct in the 80's. And a lot more fun. </div><div><br></div><div>7. That I had forgotten how much fun it is to do yard work with a machete. They can be just as effective at pruning trees and bushes as any other gardening tool if you handle it right. </div><div><br></div><div>6. That watching a 6'1", 270 lb. dude hacking at bushes with a machete can make even the nosiest neighbor more forgiving of what your yard looks like. </div><div><br></div><div>5. That if you haven't tried that Smrinoff Ice Pineapple yet, you really should. It is AWESOME! Just saying... :-) </div><div><br></div><div>4. That I have really missed the sun. Sunshine is good for the soul. :-) </div><div><br></div><div>3. Did I mention that Smirnoff Ice Pineapple was AWESOME? </div><div><br></div><div>2. That I could have been doing all of these things all along, and didn't really need a week off to do them. But it's helped me catch up. :-) </div><div><br></div><div>1. The same thing I learn every vacation, Pinky. That one week off is DEFINITELY not enough!</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>See you next time.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026773636371052291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148201042637923238.post-9666323870681925672013-08-10T20:26:00.001-04:002013-08-10T20:26:18.711-04:00"Fair"-est of them all...<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It's been a long time now that I've been neglecting this blog. It hasn't been intentional, but life has a habit of getting in the way. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; "><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A lot has happened over the last few months, most of it good, but it's kept me busy nontheless. I finished The Argenis Solution and saw its release. I saw The Treos Dilemma take the science fiction category at the San Francisco Book Festival (really proud of that, by the way!), and started on a fifth book. As usually happens in the summer, I've fallen down a bit on my writing, so I've all but put it off until September.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But that wasn't all that I wanted to write about today. I needed to vent a little, and I've decided to do it here, in my space, where I can.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In my heart of hearts, I'm a writer. But even writers have to eat when the books aren't selling, so I also have a "real job", which I affectionately refer to as "The Job Which Supports My Writing Habit". I work for the railroad. Which one really doesn't matter to my story. I've worked at this job for the entirety of my adult life. I started out as a cleaner, worked my way up to mechanic, and for the last couple of years, I have been the foreman of my very own crew. Over the last 22 years, I have met some terrific people at this job, and each person that I interact with has taught me something, whether it involves the job or not. I believe that a part of my job as a foreman is to teach others what I've learned about the railroad over the years, so I try. But even in teaching, I sometimes learn things.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Having said that, what I need to vent about is something that is really disturbing me about this job lately – “fair play”. Now let me explain what I mean, and why I put that in quotes. When I started, the junior man in a crew got some really lousy assignments. But over time, he worked his way up in seniority and made it to the better ones. And if you messed up a job and delayed a train, that task was your job until you learned how to do it right. I went through these rituals, and so did everyone else that started at the same time as I did, and for years and years before. There were two reasons for this. The first was that yes, the younger guys got more work than the senior guys, but the senior guys were 20 years older than us! Sometimes more. They had put in their time, learned their craft, and earned a bit of a break from time to time. The second reason is tied in a little with the first: repetition. The best way for most people to learn their job is to do it. So if you're just starting out and you need to learn how to do your job, doing it is the only way to learn to do it right. With someone to help you if needed, of course. But still, you can't learn the plays if you don't put in the reps, as they say in sports. For a hundred years on the railroad, this is how things were done.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But now, in 2013, we live in an age of “fair play”, where the work has to be given out evenly, whether an employee's skill level can keep up with it or not. And we have to ask our older employees to give up the breaks they've been working 20 and 30 years to earn in order not to offend someone that was just hired onto the job last week. Because if we offend that person, they can now go to management and tell them that their foreman has a personal grudge against them for whatever reason and is "picking on me." In an emergency, when a train has to go out on schedule, you can't just grab the nearest person and run out to the equipment like before, because even though we are paid to work for 8 hours, it isn't “fair play" to call someone to do a task when they have already done one a few minutes ago. And no one bothers with the fact that a foreman shouldn't really be doing mechanical work, even though there are still some of us who do what has to be done anyway to get the train out. But if that requires me to crawl under a train and get my hands dirty, then so be it. But by their thinking, I shouldn't really have to do my own job if I run out to the yard to rescue a crippled train (“fair play” is “fair play”, right?). You would think that the example set by working foreman would make it clear how ridiculous the arguments are, but "Why do I have one more car than he does?", or "why do I have to do this job? What's (insert co-worker's name here) doing right now?" are the only questions that some people ever seem to ask.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Now, the answer you used to get from a foreman in a case like this used to be "because I told you to." The nicer, less hardline version that I have used in the past is, "because that's what I need you to do tonight." 9 times out of 10 when you use the second one, it shows the employee some respect as a person, and in return he respects you enough to do what you told him to do, whether he likes it or not. The really hard-assed version was "do what I told you, or sign out and go home." I’ve never used that one myself, but every time I’ve seen it used, it was effective. The worker always hated the foreman after that, but didn't want to give up the money, so he did his job. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Now whichever you agree with or don't agree with, the thing all of these approaches have in common is that none of them seem to be acceptable anymore. Now, when someone doesn't like their assignment because, "you gave me one more car/train than him," the assignment has to be reworked so that everyone has an “even workload”. When you have a guy who is a dynamo and can run circles around the rest of your men, you have to hold him back and not ask him to do more because, you don’t want to be accused of “favoring” anyone. When you want to give a guy a little less than you did the night before because last night he did over and above, you can’t, because someone will always blaze a trail to your boss’s office to ask why he’s being picked on. Before, you could tell a crew of car cleaners what equipment they had to work and they could agree amongst themselves how to divide up the work, but now it seems that the foreman must micromanage his men and assign them individual cars every night. This way, no one gets that one extra car and feels “picked on”.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I could insert a joke here about handing out participation trophies too, but I think I've typed enough words for now. If I have to write a joke too, it wouldn’t be “fair play”. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I'm sure you can come up with a punchline of your own.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; "><o:p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; "><o:p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Until next time...</span></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026773636371052291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148201042637923238.post-4103750551794585242012-11-22T13:37:00.000-05:002012-11-22T13:37:02.165-05:00Thanksgiving Hi again!<br />
The biggest news since last time is that Hurricane Sandy came through here, and with all the post-Sandy stuff going on at The Job Which Supports My Writing Habit, I've been pretty busy the last few weeks.<br />
There wasn't a lot of damage at all at Casa de Lavell from Hurricane Sandy, which is something I'm VERY thankful for this Thanksgiving. We lost power for three days, and a couple of bits of flashing fell off the roof. But that's the extent of the damage we took. Again, VERY grateful. There are people out there that lost their power for a lot longer than we did, lost their homes, and some even lost loved ones. Did I mention that I am VERY grateful that our damage wasn't that bad??? I am also thankful that my Mom is still with us, after everything she's been through, and still goes through. Stroke, cancer, blood thinners, and all. She's a survivor, and I'm lucky to have someone like that in my life. Then, there's my wife Michele. Through all of our ups, downs, dramas, etc., she has stayed in my life when a lot of other people I know and thought were friends headed for the exits. As she put it earlier today, she's my partner in love, in life, and "a little bit of treason." (Quiet Man reference, for those that didn't get it. Don't call out the black helicopters, lol). Through her, I also met her parents, who are mad, brilliant, and wonderful.<br />
My Dad has been, and continues to be, a positive influence on my life, whether he realizes it or not. And I'll always love him, no matter how long it is between the visits. And there's also my friend Lou, who for about 30 years now has been a brother to me. (Not LIKE, Goat Cheese. You're family.)<br />
I'm thankful as hell for The Job Which Supports My Writing Habit. I gripe as much (and sometimes MORE than) the next guy about my job. But somehow, at the end of the month, I sit here with my bills and my checkbook, and everything works out somehow. I've also made some really good friends at the MMC and at Morrisville Yard who I may not have met otherwise. So again, I know how lucky I am.<br />
Now in the aftermath of Sandy, there are some really great efforts going on to help the people who were impacted by the storm. NJ's First Lady, Mary Pat Christie and others have set up a website to take donations for victims of Hurricane Sandy (www.SandyNJReliefFund.org)<br />
If you feel more comfortable donating to an established charity (and there are a lot of people who feel this way), there's always the American Red Cross (www.redcross.org, or call 732-493-9100 ext. 1245). They are taking financial donations, and also running blood drives, as blood supplies are dwindling in a lot of areas in NJ since the storm hit. Another group taking blood donations is the Community Blood Council of NJ (www.givebloodNJ.org, or call 609-883-9750).<br />
There are dozens of benefit concerts planned across the state, and there are people all over the internet selling various merchandise with the proceeds going to Sandy Recovery. I have to admit I bought a couple of tshirts when I found out that they were donating their profits. The two I bought were on shop.ergoclothing.com, and www.sandyaidrelief.bigcartel.com. The second one is a group that are based in NJ, and I already got the shirts. I bought a few as gifts, sort of donating in my friends' names too. It's a great shirt, and I hope that the money they make on it goes to help someone who really needs it.<br />
Anyway, there's not much else going on right now, except that after a short storm break I'm back to the book. I'm still hoping to be done by the end of the year, but I'll keep everyone posted. In the meantime...<br />
<br />
HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!!!<br />
<br />
BillAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026773636371052291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148201042637923238.post-28511864161341454962012-10-11T19:08:00.000-04:002012-10-11T19:08:23.502-04:00One of those things you don't talk about in public...Hi gang,<br />
<br />
I'm still hard at work on the new book, so I've been neglecting the blog lately. I took a while off to goof around online, and Michele was looking a political site online. Now normally I don't get involved in political discussions, because like religion, my views are personal. And anyway, it's one of those subjects your parents always tell you not to discuss in polite company if you want your company to remain polite.<br />
But, as sometimes happens, my emotions got the better of me, and I just had to speak up on this one posting that went up on the Libertarian section of the site. Not because of who the person was voting for, mind you. But because he said that anybody who didn't vote for either Obama or Romney was throwing their vote away. That really set me off, and I had to post something about it. Since I haven't posted in a while, I thought I'd share:<br />
<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I don't usually talk politics. Normally I keep my opinions to myself. But I built up a little rant reading these posts, and I have to get this off my chest just once.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I didn't vote for Barack Obama the first time he ran because I had never heard of him, and I didn't think he showed me anything while he was running except for a bunch of catchphrases. Forget all the controversies that surrounded him before, during, and after the election, I just didn't think he had what it took to be president. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
He hasn't shown me anything in the last four years as president that's changed my opinion. On the contrary, the fact that he was the first sitting president to appear on Oprah and Letterman while the shape of the country was deteriorating and the fact that I'm paying twice as much for gas as I was when he took office are just more proof (to me at least), that I was right to feel that way.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I am also realistic and know that I live in a state that, while we have a Republican governor right now ("which has worked out SO well," he said sarcastically), traditionally votes democratic. So Romney's got about as much chance of getting the electoral votes here as I do. Obama won here 4 years ago, and I've seen so many of his signs on people's houses that it looks to me like he'll win here again. That's pretty sad that we pretty much know who our state is going to swing towards already, but it's the way the system is.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
That having been said, that's how the system is. It's just like going in some convenience stores. Coke and Pepsi. That's all you get. And it's that way because more people DON'T vote their conscience. If you really think that Gary Johnson is the best candidate on the ballot, then dammit, you should VOTE for him! Everybody complains (and rightly so) about the two-party system, and how it's broken, and how somebody somewhere should do something to FIX it. Well guess what? SOMEBODY is US! Everybody made fun of Clint Eastwood's performance at the RNC convention, but he said one thing that was dead on. We The People DO own this country. At least that's how it's supposed to be. It's ours, and our children's, and if we don't like what our elected officials are doing with our trust, then we need to let them know about it. And the only way to make a real change, and ensure that we have a real choice, is to make sure that we don't just vote for one guy or the other because "that other guy doesn't belong to a major party and he's not going to win." The only way to MAKE the Libertarians a major party is with votes. Give them enough votes to keep them on the ballot if you believe in what they have to say, and let the guys in the suits make them enough money to do the rest. IMHO, if you vote for Romney or Obama just because you think think the other guys can't win, which a lot of people are going to do, THAT will be throwing away your vote.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Don't just settle for Coke and Pepsi because because they're the Big 2.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Sometimes I like a little RC too.</blockquote>
</blockquote>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026773636371052291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148201042637923238.post-37945225851488807952012-09-10T15:59:00.001-04:002012-09-10T15:59:13.990-04:00Review of Donnie Baseball: The Definitive Biography of Don Mattingly by Mike Shalin<div><p>     I just finished reading Donnie Baseball: The Definitive Biography of Don Mattingly by Mike Shalin on my Nook.<br>
    Now let me start by saying that Don Mattingly is my favorite baseball player of all time. I was lucky enough to see him play, and he's the best player that I have ever watched. In my opinion, he played the game the way it should be played; he wasn't flashy, he never put himself above his team or the game, and he never cheated to win or extend his career.    Having said that, I was very disappointed in this book. <br>
     This book sounded like an audition tape for Mattingly's hiring as the Dodgers' manager last year (his hiring was announced while the author was writing the book). It was basically 137 pages (that's what the counter on my Nook said, anyway. It seemed a little longer) of managers, former players, and broadcasters telling us what a great guy he was. Not that I disagree, but I was expecting a few more anecdotes than there were. There was a very short story about Stump Merrill threatening to bench him back in '87 if he didn't cut his hair, and another really short story about Dallas Green playing peacemaker when George Steinbrenner ripped Mattingly in the press in the offseason in '89. There were a few mentions of Mattingly's first wife, Kim dashed throughout, but no mention of the divorce and what led to it. And somewhere towards the end of the book, it was mentioned in passing that Mattingly remarried last year (one brief sentence). Mike Shalin is a good writer, and he tried to cover a lot in the book, but it didn't seem like the people he interviewed for the book gave him much to work with. I realize that Don Mattingly wasn't a hellraiser like Billy Martin or Mickey Mantle, and that there probably aren't a lot of wild and crazy stories to tell. But I'm sure there must be more stories than there were in this book. And after the fourth or fifth time you read that someone said "he was a great guy, he really knows the game and he taught me a lot", it does get a little repetitive. I do have to admit, there was one part of the book where Shalin talks about the fact that Mattingly played the game before steroid use was rampant. He asked him point blank if he would have used steroids if he could have, and brought up Mike Schmidt's quote on the subject. Mattingly's answer was honest, and a little bit surprising. <br>
     I think the best part of the book was the photo section that was included at the end, but even that section left me wanting. Maybe I'm biased and had some unrealistic expectations about this book because Don Mattingly was one of my heroes growing up, but I was really hoping to enjoy this book because I was hoping to learn a few things about him that I didn't know. But I was left disappointed, because it seemed more like a testimonial than a biography. With the material he had, I'll bet he could have written a great article.</p>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026773636371052291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148201042637923238.post-40895408869538742282012-08-12T10:19:00.000-04:002012-08-12T10:19:39.904-04:00How I Spent My Summer Vacation - Part OneHi Everybody,<br />
<br />
It's been a while since I've checked in here. There were some personal things going on in my life over the last few months which I'm going to keep personal, but things are looking up of late. Needless to say that with all the turmoil going on, I kind of left my writing by the wayside a little bit. I recently turned back to it, and cleaned up what I've got a bit, but I can't seem to get any new words on the page.<br />
<br />
Now, I'm still working at The Job Which Supports My Writing Habit. But my inner writer decided that since he wasn't producing anyway, he'd officially take the rest of the summer off, with the understanding that as soon as September starts, I'm going to hit the pad again. <i>Hard</i>.<br />
<br />
So I fired up my Nook (I LOVE my Nook) and I've spent the last couple of months reading. I've read more books in the couple of months I've had this thing than I've read in a looooong time. And I'm reading... you guessed it... CRIME BOOKS! (Because man cannot live by sci-fi alone, my friends)<br />
<br />
I actually started off with a sci-fi book called <i>Blood Oath</i>, which was a Babylon 5 novel. It was written by Michael Straczynski, who created B5, so it flows just like an episode of the series. If you've ever watched the show, you can almost picture Jerry Doyle as Garibaldi and Claudia Christian as Ivanova having the conversations that he writes in the book, so he did a good job of staying true to his characters. It was an enjoyable read, and a good start for my little reading adventure.
Then like I said, I moved on to murder books.<br />
<br />
James Patterson writes a character names Alex Cross, who is a Washington DC homicide cop who is also a psychologist. He's bought in on all sorts of specialized murder and kidnapping cases where there is a strong psychological element to the crimes. He's written 18 of these books to date, and I read them all, so I won't break them all down. But I'll say this much: I like Morgan Freeman, and he did a great job with the scripts they gave him to work with in <i>Along Came a Spider</i> and <i>Kiss the Girls</i>, but the movies didn't do the books justice. They changed the whole dynamic of the character, left out some great supporting characters (He had a partner in the books, but not in the movies. They also gave him a wife, who was dead in the books, and left out his kids and his grandmother). I think the movies would have been a lot better if they'd done their stories the way Patterson wrote the books. But that's just me.<br />
<br />
Another book I checked out was David Baldacci's <i>True Blue</i>. I liked his main character, Mace Perry. She's a Washington DC cop (a great source of crime stories, apparently) who was sent to prison for a crime she was coerced into committing (she was kidnapped, drugged and forced to help in a robbery) and is just getting out of prison. She wants to solve one big case so that she can redeem herself in the eyes of her peers and get back on the force. The best ally she has (and also her fiercest opponent) is her sister Beth, who just happens to be the Chief of Police. Mace spends just as much time fighting with her over-protective sibling as she does trying to solve the case. The ending is one where no one gets quite what they were expecting, and it takes a long time to get there (over 400 pages of gangs, feds, and mayhem). But it's a great starter story if the author wanted to turn it into a series.<br />
<br />
That's just a sampling of the books I've read so far, and there's still a little bit of summer left. So next time, I'll have a few more off-the-cuff reviews for you.
<br />
<br />
Read on!<br />
<br />
- B -Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026773636371052291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148201042637923238.post-32165472948483268132012-07-04T12:35:00.000-04:002012-07-04T12:36:01.454-04:00My Goodreads Review of "Killing the Blues", by Michael Brandman<br />
<a href="<a href="<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8438022-robert-b-parker-s-killing-the-blues" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Robert B. Parker's Killing The Blues (Jesse Stone, #10)" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327928868m/8438022.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8438022-robert-b-parker-s-killing-the-blues">Robert B. Parker's Killing The Blues</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4678962.Michael_Brandman">Michael Brandman</a><br/> My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/360128144">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br /> I thought this was a great addition to the Jesse Stone series. I agree that Michael Brandman captured the late Robert Parker's style very well, and he does his portrayal of the character justice. Jesse Stone is a flawed character with enough virtues to balance out his flaws a little, unlike the character in the tv movies. I think he's written a bit too much on the miserable side for tv, but that's just my opinion. The story was solid from beginning to end, with just enough of the relationships between Jesse, Molly, and Suitcase featured to flesh out the characters. It was nice to see some of the other recurring characters as well (Gino Fish and councilman Hasty, for example) written with most of their nuances intact. I did miss Sunny Randall, as it seems that Mr. Brandman is choosing a different direction than Mr. Parker was going with Jesse's personal life. But if the future stories are as good as this one was, I think I'll get over it. <br/><br/>
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5901907-william-lavell">View all my reviews</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026773636371052291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148201042637923238.post-26043305748639392372012-04-17T08:35:00.000-04:002012-04-17T08:35:54.472-04:00I'm ba-a-a-ck...Hi all,<br />
<br />
I just came back from 3 days in the Poconos with my sweetie for our anniversary. The cabin we stayed at was beautiful, and the scenery was too nice for words. I'm attaching a few pictures. I hope this works. They really don't do the place justice, though.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinRAHa8f2CAMs4mc3ufaQu2ODAO7Q9KuGh4cKDo_fgp6kd9zpckPx6smtAtFVQm5tzHGc-DqryTVC7ofDmZ0lzFOQBzb6Ul59JdCHBZ1XGwA7D91M77Q5RMfU9lPzsr5lA3kegHcxsUcus/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinRAHa8f2CAMs4mc3ufaQu2ODAO7Q9KuGh4cKDo_fgp6kd9zpckPx6smtAtFVQm5tzHGc-DqryTVC7ofDmZ0lzFOQBzb6Ul59JdCHBZ1XGwA7D91M77Q5RMfU9lPzsr5lA3kegHcxsUcus/s320/1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saturday morning view from the cabin</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixGgxjAQ7uXY2x2JfW4gYqFzBuiEsgcr8N9dAiFPh2Lrj4PvmCfXuH6Yf8WAZurTGH0SA15lCOttBF99ht0KFFjp77Qk8T71ranRTB1rrMF-Wk06GRnu8mhXFpF6o9hLagteu_DjwGiTib/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixGgxjAQ7uXY2x2JfW4gYqFzBuiEsgcr8N9dAiFPh2Lrj4PvmCfXuH6Yf8WAZurTGH0SA15lCOttBF99ht0KFFjp77Qk8T71ranRTB1rrMF-Wk06GRnu8mhXFpF6o9hLagteu_DjwGiTib/s320/2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our cabin the other side of the brook</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM2Hl6lUf_9wCvHBGkgq-v5ietYfbObVKOJFvGyBR0WiYky8ohnJZeZmTNa_5qeM39huThr3CP7ldWjCoMnq-XQ7e4MTOPmlYo9slbCdXN3LgfOWgk1XU_2SjYgSMpyh_s4rtPGx4YXVlT/s1600/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM2Hl6lUf_9wCvHBGkgq-v5ietYfbObVKOJFvGyBR0WiYky8ohnJZeZmTNa_5qeM39huThr3CP7ldWjCoMnq-XQ7e4MTOPmlYo9slbCdXN3LgfOWgk1XU_2SjYgSMpyh_s4rtPGx4YXVlT/s320/3.jpg" width="179" /></a></div><br />
The other news of note is that the book contest over at Dream (<a href="http://dreamonus.com/">http://dreamonus.com</a>) is finished, and I got the names of the winners this morning. They are:<br />
Antane Armstrong of Bloomington,IN<br />
Sabrena Pattat of Anderson,IN<br />
Gary Green of Satellite Beach, FL<br />
and Holly Markoski of Shillington,PA<br />
<br />
Congratulations to the winners, and a big thanks to everyone else who entered! There were over a hundred entries, which honestly was a lot more than I thought I'd get. I hope people stay this interested in it!<br />
<br />
Until next time...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026773636371052291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148201042637923238.post-87164517982632177972012-04-02T20:50:00.001-04:002012-04-03T10:21:51.091-04:00Greetings from.....<div><p>Sorry for being away for so long (is it really almost a month?)  An unhealthy level of insanity at the job which supports my writing habit and a lack of interesting things to say have kept me on the blogging sidelines.  A few notes this week, though. <br>
As of this morning I had 81 people entered in the drawing to win one of 4 copies of Treos Dilemma on dream.com.  That surprised the hell out of me, because that's 81 more people than I expected!  I'm so happy about the turnout that I've decided to make them <i>autographed</i> copies.  The drawing goes off on April 15, so if you haven't entered yet, please do!<br>
I've been selling copies of the other two books by hand through very limited word of mouth lately, and I've gotten some pretty nice feedback on them.  I've been told more than once that "I don't usually read science fiction, but I liked your book."  And to me, that's a pretty nice compliment.<br>
And finally, I'm still having trouble getting my head around this myself, but I just got finished doing my first interview as an author!  It was with a blogger named Patti Roberts, and as soon as she sends me the exact link, I'll be sure to get it posted.  I tried to be funny, without coming off like too much of an ass.  I hope I succeeded.<br>
Until next time....</p>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026773636371052291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148201042637923238.post-63471225209437191062012-03-08T16:01:00.002-05:002012-03-08T16:04:15.231-05:00All a-TwitterHi again!<br />
<br />
There have been a few developments since I wrote in last. I had jury duty last week, so I didn't even get a chance to write anything towards Book 4, which I'm happy to say I was well into before I had to go to court. Jury Duty was an experience, let me tell you. I actually got picked for a jury in a criminal case, and I think it's better for everyone if I leave the description right there. I may use some of the details in a book someday, or maybe not. But suffice it to say that it was an interesting week. After a week in court, I'm actually glad to be back at the railyard.<br />
As far as things around here, you may be happy to see that I've redecorated the blog a bit. I found a template online that looked interesting, and tweaked it a little to suit. Knowing just enough code to be dangerous, of course, I was able to finagle a link to my website on the blog too. This way you can check out the website as well. I intend to work that up a bit as well.<br />
I entered the Amazon Breakthrough novel contest right before one of my last postings. That didn't go very well. The Treos Dilemma didn't even survive the first round, I'm sorry to say. But if there's any good news that came out of it, it's that I most likely got thrown out because I messed up on the entry. You apparently weren't supposed to put the author's name on any of the files that made up the entry, and I forgot to take my name off of the book file that I uploaded. I have to remember next year to get some SLEEP before I try to enter the contest. In the meantime, there are plenty more contests to enter!<br />
Which brings me to another point. For once,<em> I</em> have a contest for <em>YOU</em>. There's a website called Dream (<a href="http://www.dreamonus.com/">www.dreamonus.com</a>). It's a reader website that is just starting out, and to get new authors' work out there, they run book giveaways every couple of weeks. The owner of the site reached out to yours truly, and starting this week, you can enter to win one of 4 copies of Treos Dilemma, which is a featured book. The link is <a href="http://www.dreamonus.com/books/84-The-Treos-Dilemma">http://www.dreamonus.com/books/84-The-Treos-Dilemma</a>. The contest has only been open for two days, and there are already a dozen people entered. The contest ends on April 15, so take a chance! You might win a great book to read while you're waiting for your tax refund.<br />
And finally, I let Michele talk me into starting a Twitter account. I didn't really see the need for it, but Dream.com likes their members to use Twitter so they can talk about the books they get through the site with the people who "follow" them. If anyone is interested, my handle is @AuthorWmLavell <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/AuthorWmLavell">https://twitter.com/#!/AuthorWmLavell</a>. I've started following a few celebrities that I check on when I have the time, and it's interesting what some of them have to say. And unlike Facebook, I actually post on there once in a while.<br />
Okay... I feel like I'm starting to yammer, so I'll close.<br />
Until next time<br />
<br />
BillAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026773636371052291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148201042637923238.post-36465202408936168972012-02-17T10:10:00.001-05:002012-02-17T10:10:05.893-05:00Cover story<div><p>There's not much going on this week, as I'm trying to work out the formatting issues with the new book.  It should be ready for launch by March 2 at the latest.  Until then, here's a shot of the cover art for "The Treos Dilemma."</p>
<br/><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA_MlVLQvX_hyphenhyphenieUnisP8WP-T1c4jEcg_jS7XJpi2TuqLaQZ358Yvj_ly6M8kROIdsl1GmkrO0KE309gifq_fUTBemEB4GAouO5Rv0DZY3TjJoqEibi6tzSkzHVOeCoYgMMext8fD6KbHG/' /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026773636371052291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148201042637923238.post-84841300329196589962012-02-03T07:33:00.002-05:002012-02-07T23:47:32.103-05:00Happy Happy....<div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">So... It's been a long time since i posted here. A lot longer than i realized, in fact. Did you miss me? <br />
New year's has come and gone, a birthday whizzed by, and a few developments on the writing front, too. <br />
The Augustine Agenda took an honorable mention home from the London Book Festival a couple of weeks ago. I'm still an unknown, but I'm an INTERNATIONAL unknown now! How great is that? ;-)<br />
I worked a lot of extra hours at my day job, which supports my writing habit, so I've been very scarce as of late. The best (?) one came when I tried to go on vacation this past week. I ended up working Christmas AND New Year's this year, so I said to hell with it, and took my first vacation week the week of my birthday. I thought I'd get some rest, because the third book was almost done. I only had one or two more scenes to write. I even had the intention of entering it in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel contest this year (I missed last year with Escape From Argus). All was looking fine in Writingville.<br />
Then, the contest opened! <i>Yay</i><i>!</i> I thought. <i>I'll</i> <i>just</i> <i>put this in, easy peasy, and get down to the vacay</i>. But just to make sure that I had all of my ducks in a row, I read the contest rules one more time... <br />
That's when the panic at the disco started. The minimum word count for a novel in the Amazon contest is 50,000 words.<br />
I had 41,000.<br />
That's when panic set in. I spent the next 5 days pounding in what wound up being about 1500 words a day into what I thought was a finished manuscript. Until finally, at about 4 in the morning yesterday, I had my word count, and admittedly a better book than I'd had 5 days before. I have to give some serious props to those people who do NaNoWriMo every year. 50,000 words in 30 days every November. I had trouble keeping that pace for a week. To keep it up for a whole month? That's some serious writing.<br />
Anyway, I entered the contest, needless to say. I also put my copyright in, got all of my files off to CreateSpace, and ordered a proof copy of my newest book that night. So watch out for The Treos Dilemma. It's coming soon!<br />
I got some sleep on Thursday, but it wasn't nearly enough. So here I am, back at the railyard, waiting for the inspiration to hit me for Book 4.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026773636371052291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148201042637923238.post-90913419137575820692011-12-30T11:26:00.002-05:002012-02-07T23:47:03.657-05:0012-30-11<div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Hi again! I hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas. I enjoyed the part that I wasn't working for (I worked daylight Christmas eve and 2nd shift Christmas day. Yay...). Santa was good to me, and I enjoyed the time I was home for all it was worth.<br />
The new year is coming in just two days, and it already looks like 2012 is going to have an interesting start for me. I just found out that <i>The</i> <i>Augustine</i> <i>Agenda</i> has gotten Honorable Mention for science fiction at the 2012 New England Book Festival! An Honorable Mention. For my first book. How cool is that?! It just makes me that much more excited about finishing up the new story I'm working on. <br />
I don't have much else for right now, except to wish everyone a safe, happy, and healthy New Year for 2012. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Write on!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Bill</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026773636371052291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148201042637923238.post-57862137010114836962011-12-22T14:12:00.000-05:002011-12-22T14:12:52.542-05:00Here's a gift... I hope it fits! :-)<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Sorry I've been a little neglectful of the blog the last two weeks, but I'm still hard at work on the third </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Vindicator</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> novel. Also, </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I really haven't had anything to rant about </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">lately </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">(nothing that would be interesting, anyway). </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> But since Christmas is this weekend, I thought I'd share a little.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So h</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">ere's a little peak at the novel I've got in the works. Feedback is CERTAINLY welcome! : )</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So on that note... Merry Christmas to all! Enjoy!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">PROLOGUE<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 27pt;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Where am I?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">She woke up in an unfamiliar room. The brightness of the lights burned her eyes, and her nose was assaulted by the odors of disinfectant and recycled air. The space around her was indistinguishable at first. All she could make out was a big, white blur. Then, slowly but surely, things started to come into focus. When they finally did, she was sorry that they had.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">As her haze began to clear, she could tell that she was lying on her back, looking up. She noticed her hand was resting on something cold. She looked down the front of her and saw that she was in an examination chair. She could see her wrists were bound to the arms of the chair with thin metal straps. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“She’s coming to,” she heard a deep, masculine voice say. “Get ready.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">She reached her hands out as far as the straps would allow, and was surprised when she felt the hem of a medical gown. She looked down again and saw her bare legs, which were bound to the chair by similar metal straps. The thin cushions of the chair provided no comfort, and their surface was cold against the bare skin exposed by her short medical gown. She let out a gasp as she realized that the gown was all she was wearing. She could feel the cold air on her bare feet, and when she shivered, the thin metal straps around her ankles dug into them. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Her eyes were focusing well now, and she saw that there were two men standing over her, looking down as she looked up. The first was younger, and judging by the labcoat and scrubs he wore, he was a Lab Tech. She’d never seen him before. Aside from the fact that he was making her uncomfortable with his staring, she knew nothing else about him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The second man, however, needed no introduction. He had a chiseled jaw, dark hair and eyes, and the darkest uniform she’d ever seen. She had no doubts that this was Fleet Commander Straker staring down at her with a satisfied smile on his face. She couldn’t be sure if he was just enjoying his triumph, or if he was getting special enjoyment from her predicament. The thought of either possibility sent a chill through her.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“Where...? Where am I?” The words finally fell from her lips, but they were slow in coming.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“You’re in Dagmar Prison.” Straker’s voice was as icy as the room. “For the last two days, you have been our special guest.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“What do you want from me?” The words were coming faster now.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The commander sneered. “Why information, of course.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“What are you talking about?” she stammered. “I don’t know anything.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“Oh I’m sure you know plenty, my dear.” He leaned in so that his face was almost touching her cheek. “You could start by telling me where the Augustine Resistance is hiding.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“They’re not hiding,” she said angrily. “Your men murdered them all.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“That’s what Jace Ryan told me before he escaped from us,” the commander replied. “Why don’t you tell me where <i>he</i> is?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">She felt his breath on her ear, and it made her shudder involuntarily. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“Jace?” The mention of his name focused her mind. “Escaped? I don’t know where he is. And even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“We’ll see about that,” the Commander replied. “We have something here that may change your mind.” He then turned to the man in the lab coat and nodded. “You may begin.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The man in the lab coat picked up a large needle and a small vial from his instrument tray. She couldn’t make out the writing on the label, only that it was black and orange. The LabTech drew some serum from the vial, and then started towards her with the needle.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“Wait,” she protested. “What are you doing? What’s that?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“I’m going to inject you with a chemical called Compound 50,” the Tech replied with a smile. “Although you may know it better as Samathine. But don’t worry. This shouldn’t hurt. Much.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“No!” She struggled against the straps, but they just dug into her skin as they held her fast. “What the hell is Samathine?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The Tech none-too-gently jabbed the needle into the side of her neck. Her entire body tensed, and she let out an involuntary whimper as the tech pushed the plunger in and the serum ran into her bloodstream.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“No!” she repeated.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Straker pushed the Tech aside and grabbed her by the throat. “Now my dear. You’re going to tell me <i>everything</i> I want to know.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“<i>No</i>!” She struggled against her bonds again, but the attempt didn’t get her any further than her first had.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The serum burned as it passed through her body, from her neck down into her chest. Then she could feel the burn as it passed through her heart and out to her limbs. It was getting harder to remember. Harder to think. Harder to breathe. Darkness was creeping into her mind. She was blacking out, but at the same time, she was still awake. Still aware.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">She was struggling frantically now, but her arms and legs were growing heavier and heavier. For all the effort she was going to, they weren’t moving very far, until finally, they didn’t move at all. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">At that moment she realized that there truly was no escape for her. She couldn’t run. She couldn’t fight. In a final moment of clarity, she realized that there was only one thing that she <i>could</i> do.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So Jade Ryan screamed.</span><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style';"><o:p></o:p></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026773636371052291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148201042637923238.post-60460690989428778042011-12-09T18:21:00.001-05:002011-12-09T18:23:57.974-05:00Tidings of...?<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I actually wrote this about a week ago, but the flu kept me offline for a few days. Anyway, on with the blog, shall we?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Sorry I haven't written in here much, but between writing the book, and working overtime at my real job, I haven't had time to think much, let alone write it down in the blog.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I hope everyone had a Happy and safe Thanksgiving!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I spent some time in Allentown, PA with my in-laws this year, and a great time was had by all. It almost makes me look forward to Christmas again.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I say again because wow, haven't we been innundated with Christmas stuff already? Wal-Mart started putting their Christmas decorations out before HALLOWEEN this year. A lot of people in my town started putting the decorations on their houses the day AFTER Halloween. Ouch! I'm starting to feel like the kid in "Christmas Every Day". He wished it could be Christmas every day, and some magical fairy said, "Okay." So everybody got new presents every day, because it was Christmas, after all. After about two weeks, everybody got sick of it, and after a month, they wanted to kill this little kid for making it Christmas every day! I guess the people who run the big chain stores haven't seen that movie.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">And should I even start down the road of people saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" because we're so afraid of offending people these days? It makes me angry sometimes because I even catch myself doing it, mostly at work. Long story short, I was raised in a neighborhood full of Catholics and Protestants. We always wished each other Merry Christmas. If you had Jewish friends, you said "Happy Hanukkah", and most of them thought it was pretty cool that you acknowledged their holiday. Now, we're so afraid of offending people of a different faith or culture, we go the "don't ask, don't tell" route, and just say "Happy Holidays". I'm not Jewish, but if someone wished me "Happy Hanukkah", I couldn't really see myself getting offended. I'd say it back and go on my way. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">But then again, I've never used religion to determine how I feel about or treat another person. I was taught that it doesn't matter if a person worships God, or Justin Beiber (I picked him because it just sounded funny. And disturbing), or a rutabaga. It's what's on the inside and how they treat others that counts. Tolerance and that whole "peace on Earth, goodwill toward men (and women) thing is what this time of year is supposed to be about, after all. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Isn't it? </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Okay, maybe that subject was a little bit deep to rant about here, because I try to keep this pretty light. But that's what came to my mind today.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So in closing, Have a Merry Christmas. Or a Happy Hanukkah. Or a Happy Kwanza. Or a Joyous Yule. Or a Happy Winter Solstice. And of course... HAPPY FESTIVUS!</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026773636371052291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148201042637923238.post-60360647124367449022011-11-11T21:23:00.001-05:002011-11-11T21:29:12.878-05:00Out There, Somewhere...<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> For anyone who's wondering, I’m hard at work on the third installment of the Vindicators series. I’m about halfway through it as I write this, so instead of NaNoWriMo (for the benefit of you non-writers out there, it’s short for National Novel Writing Month, which is every November), where you try to write a 50,000 word novel by the end of the month, I’m shooting to have a 40,000-45,000 word page-turner finished by the end of the year. I’m running out of year fast, but the pages are starting to fill in nicely at this point.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> Anyway, while I’m trying to get the third novel written, I’m still trying to get someone to notice the other two that I’ve written. To that end, I’ve entered Augustine Agenda in the New England Book Festival, the New York Book Festival, and the London Book Festival (I hope the book does well, but basically I did the last one just so that I could say I did it. I’m going to be an author whose work has appeared at the London Book Festival. See how cool that sounds?).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> I had a few other ideas for “getting it out there”, but they’re not panning out so well. I saw a group online called simply “Books For Soldiers,” which looked really interesting to me. What they do is take books and magazines (no pornography) that are in good shape and send them to soldiers who are stationed overseas. If you want to donate money to their cause, it’s really easy. They even take PayPal, which is great. But if you want to actually want to send them books, you have to become a registered donator, and then they’ll send you want lists. Then you ship directly to the soldiers yourself. That’s a great thing, don’t get me wrong. And if anybody wants to do that, God bless and more power to you. But it seems very involved and time-consuming to me. I wanted something where I could just send X number of copies in to them and they could send them as they saw fit. I’ll keep looking, because I think that’s a great idea, and there’s probably somebody out there that does it. If anyone knows of a group that does, please let me know, because I’d be more than happy to send a box of books to them.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> Another thought I had was to donate them to my local library, and look at other libraries from there. Now before I write this down, let me make something clear. I’m an author. I write books. So bookstores, libraries, and the First Amendment are three things that are near and dear. That having been said, I read the guidelines at my local library for donating books. The guidelines used to be </span></div><ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Set box/bag/stack of books on counter.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Say “I’d like to donate some books.” </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Librarian says “thank you”.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Say “You’re welcome, have a nice day”</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Go on your merry</span></li>
</ol><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> Not anymore, dear friends.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> Now, it seems that the lawyers have gotten involved. I read someplace in the guidelines about authors who self-publish having to sign a Notarized affidavit releasing the library from liability from any damage their books might cause. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> Notarized? Really?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> I write paperbacks, mostly because CreateSpace doesn’t have a hardcover option. I can’t imagine how much damage, outside of a papercut, my books could do. I suppose the corners might be a little bit sharp, but I’m sure that with the proper protective equipment, they wouldn’t be too much trouble, either. I guess I could put a sticker on the cover telling readers to wear their safety glasses when reading my stuff.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> I’d like to say that I understand where they’re coming from on this one, but I really don’t. I guess the only scenario I could think of would be if someone wrote in their book that “So-and-So is a such-and-such”, because if he isn’t, then it’s libel. You see, on-demand publishers – at least the ones I’m dealing with – don’t proofread material for spelling, grammar, or content that could get you sued unless you pay extra for it. You can also pay someone else to do it for you, but my personal choice was to do it myself. So when you read my books, I can honestly tell you that the pre-production was all me. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> Back to the point. If I was So-and-So, and John Author libeled me and I really wanted to sue somebody, I’d just sue John Author, not the library. Are you going to sue the paperboy when the headline of the Sunday paper is depressing? But unfortunately we’re living in a litigious society these days. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> So on second thought, I guess I really can see where the library is coming from. After all, somebody sued McDonalds once and won because – imagine this – her coffee was HOT.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026773636371052291noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148201042637923238.post-8942711486542211892011-10-27T17:40:00.003-04:002011-10-27T17:54:25.115-04:00CUT!<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><i>"With great power comes great responsibility." - Ben Parker, Spider Man #1</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">If you know me personally, then you're probably friends with me on Facebook. If you are, then you've probably noticed that I really don't say much on there. I play a few games, and the people who play on my team (crew, whatever) are a big percentage of my friends list also. I post the occasional check-in from work, with a snarky comment, or from my weekly Tuesday night trip to Super Wal-Mart so I don't have to go food shopping on my rest days. This is also usually accompanied by something like "Cover me. I'm goin' in!" Other than that, I'm pretty quiet unless I see something online I want to share, or somebody else shares something interesting. There are three VERY good reasons for this.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">First, I'm not famous by any stretch of the imagination (the Greatest Writer you've NEVER heard of). And even if I was, I don't think I'm that important that I need to keep people updated to my comings and goings. I think it's annoying when I read in the paper or online about what restaurant George Clooney or Derek Jeter ate at last night, and I wouldn't want to subject people to a constant stream of that from me. My ego isn't THAT big.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Second, I'm basically a simple person. I wake up. I go to work. I do my job. I come home. I go on Facebook for a while. I write. I go to bed. Wash, rinse, repeat. My life is actually pretty boring. Or at the very least, not that much different from anyone else's. And after you've read about it once, I'm sure that's enough for you. Pretty much like real life, I only speak up when I have something to say.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Last, and probably most important, I read what some other people put up, and to be honest, it's kind of scary sometimes. One person in particular (no names) posted about... well... long story short, he shaved a veeeery sensitive part of his body, and felt it necessary to share with all of his friends that he was bleeding. Now any normal person would look at something like this and either a) do a double-take and ask "did I really read this?" or b) laugh their ass off. This particular guy's friend list was split about 60-40 to the laughing side. Through a very strange (to say the least) Facebook "conversation", it came to light that this guy shaved himself with a straight razor (obviously he missed the Billy Connolly concert where he said you have to be kind to yourself), and had himself cut badly enough that he had to go to the E.R. Six stitches later, he was back on Facebook again taking abuse from his pals (I guess somebody stitching that particular part of his body wasn't traumatic enough?).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I like to share sometimes, but I wouldn’t have the balls (no pun intended) to share that much.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026773636371052291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148201042637923238.post-47679070428708663582011-10-20T13:07:00.001-04:002011-10-20T13:08:36.457-04:00Just to get their attention.....<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I love my wife.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Michele works as a medical assistant instructor at a tech school in the next town. One of her students is handicapped with a prosthetic leg. Class was on a break one day, and Michele's student went out for lunch. Michele went out in front of the building for a smoke when a student from another class parked her car in the handicapped spot that her student had just pulled out of. She didn't have handicapped plates or hang a tag, so Michele asked her if she had one. The student responded "Yeah," and breezed past her into the building. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">When Michele's student came back from the store, there were no more handicapped spaces open, so she had to park out in the lot. Michele's truck was in a spot near the building, which she offered to her student, but she wouldn't take it. Michele was annoyed about the whole situation, but held her temper (which is impressive, if you know her).</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">This same person did the same thing again last night, but this time, my wife decided to be an advocate and do something about it. She approached her student, and asked to borrow her leg (yes, you read that last sentence right. She asked to borrow the woman's leg). After giving her a strange look and hearing what she planned to do with it, the woman reached down and promptly removed the leg (I kid you not). So Michele then the leg down the hall to the other classroom (I never thought I'd ever write that sentence). She tells the teacher of the class what happened, and the teacher agreed with her that the student needed talking to. When she saw the leg in her hand (something else I never thought I'd write), she knew what my wife had in mind and agreed with that too. In fact, she offered to take the leg and do it for her (gotta love teachers, lol). </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Michele went into the classroom and set the leg on the desk in front of her, and at that point, you could have heard a pin drop. She asked who had parked in the handicapped spot, and when the student fessed up, she announced, "This is my student's leg. She has a handicapped placard and needs to park in the handicapped spot in front of the building. If you don't have handicapped plates or a handicapped placard, please don't park in the handicapped spot. Thank you."</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">With that, she picked up the leg and marched it back to her student.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Of course on the next break, someone from the class had to approach Michele and tell her that she was offended by the way she handled the situation. Her response? "My mother in-law is disabled, my parents are disabled, and I'M offended that someone who doesn't have a handicapped placard would park in a handicapped spot when there are people here who need them." She also reminded the student that she could have just called the police and gotten her car ticketed. This was cheaper, and visual aids make a great point. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Did I mention that I love my wife?</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026773636371052291noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148201042637923238.post-54256487291244120102011-10-07T08:45:00.002-04:002011-10-20T13:09:14.641-04:00DAMN, I MISS PAUL O'NEILL<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">News flash, baseball fans... Detroit beat the Yankees last night, so no 28th World Title for them this year.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">As a long time Yankee fan, I'm not even upset so much that they lost. The Tigers are a great team. And they're young, so they have all the potential that the Rays had before they blew up against the Phillies a few years ago. The way they played last night, they <i>deserved</i> to win. So here's my problem: what happened to the emotion in baseball?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Sure, guys get upset when a pitcher throws inside, and once in a while they'll get really upset and charge the mound (not condoning, just pointing out). And when a team wins a playoff series there's the obligatory dogpile on the pitcher's mound. But what about those little moments? Here's the best example from last night's game: bases loaded on the seventh with one out. Who's up but my least favorite Yankee of all time, Alex Rodriguez. I refuse to call him A-Rod, and I'm not even going to pretend I'm sorry, either. One swing, a single over the infielder's head, could've put two runs across and change the whole game. Other times I've seen him just stand in with the bat on his shoulder and take the strikeout. But to his credit, he was swinging last night. He at least made the pitcher work for it, but he struck out all the same. In Game 5 of the ALDS. With the bases LOADED, and a chance to put his team ahead. So what does he do? He walks back to the dugout, gingerly puts his bat back on the rack, and goes along on his merry way.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I can't help but think back to older Yankees teams, when they had guys like Don Mattingly (my favorite player ever), Dave Winfield, or even Paul O'Neill. He was the most interesting one to watch, because if they were AHEAD and he struck out, he was knocking the water cooler over and breaking chairs in the clubhouse. Now don't get me wrong here. I'm not condoning tearing up the clubhouse, but when those guys messed up or had a bad game, you could see all over their faces that they were pissed off about it. You could tell that these guys cared about what they were doing, and you could see that it mattered to them when they didn't do well.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">What I see now is that everybody is swinging for the fences every time up, instead of trying to move runners. And if they don't hit one out? Oh well, I'm still making millions guaranteed, so keep it moving. Guys like Mattingly, Winfield, Willie Randolph, Pete Rose (no matter what he did of the field, he was still one of the best players ever, but that's a subject for another day), and a lot of others from that time, cared about the game. And watching them made <i>me</i> care about it too. I just don't see that in a lot of guys they have now, like Rodriguez.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">But then again, Mattingly, Rose, Randolph and O'Neill weren't making 30 million a season, either.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026773636371052291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148201042637923238.post-47397274613023294232011-10-05T15:01:00.001-04:002011-10-20T13:09:40.824-04:00MOW, MOW, MOW<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I just want to start this stream of consciousness by acknowledging that I must be one of the worst bloggers on here, as I don't write in it regularly. I know how terrible I am, and maybe I'll blog about it someday : )</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">(Now if you smiled or chuckled at the irony in that, congratulations. You're one of the people I'm writing to, and welcome. Anybody else... you may as well click off me now, because I don't get much better than this... lol)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Anyway, I just got finished cutting grass (what an exciting day, right?), and I noticed something. I couldn't have been running the mower for more than five minutes when I looked up, and two of my neighbors had brought theirs out and started too. Now I realize that it's been at least three weeks since anybody on my block has mowed, what with the hurricane, and the tropical storm, and then just crappy weather in general. So this is the first time in a while that it's been sunny on my day off (not from writing, from the job that pays..lol). So all our front yards had that 'vacant lot' look about them. But the timing of this was just weird. And it's not the first time this has happened. I thought about it, and I remember that every time I've come out to cut my grass, at least two other people come out too. It's kind of creepy.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Did I get elected the mowing captain of my block or something? Do these people sit by the window and watch for me (or anybody, for that matter) to go out and do something, and then feel like they have to run out then and there too? Does my mower put out a signal to the other homeowners on the block that it's time to mow? Or is it <em>me</em>? Am I psychic like the Mara character in my books? I wonder if I think really hard, can I make my neighbors do <em>other</em> things? <closes eyes and puts finger to temple> <em>Buy Augustine Agenda.... go to Amazon.com and buy Augustine Agenda....</em></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Ha ha... I didn't really think that would work. <checks Amazon.com.> Right. I didn't really think that would work. Ha ha ha.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">But I degress. The timing of it is just so weird. Has this happened to anyone else? I've driven through other neighborhoods and seen three or four people out mowing at a time, so I'm sure it has. But what is it that causes this? Is it a social thing? Is it instinct? Did the cavemen mow their grass in packs too? What is it that drives people to mow in groups? </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">If you're reading this, President Obama (and I know you are. You bought both of my books, right?), I have an idea. If you guys in Washington really want to blow a few million of our tax dollars on another study, I think the next one should be on the "Group Mowing Phenomenon of Suburban America".</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Think that's silly? Of course it is. I meant it to be. But think about this: NASA spent 10 million dollars in R&D back in the day to design something for the astronauts to write with in the zero gravity environment of space. They designed a pen that employed a pressurized ink cartridge and could be used at any angle, even upside down.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The russian space program had a writing implement that could do the same thing. It was called a PENCIL.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026773636371052291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148201042637923238.post-54365425464413112232011-09-27T23:40:00.001-04:002011-10-20T13:10:02.255-04:00CHAPTER ONE, PAGE ONE<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Hi, and welcome to my blog! </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">To introduce myself, I'm Bill Lavell. I live in Central New Jersey with my wife of 5 years. I have a job that doesn't involve creative writing, but even though it doesn't pay as well, I like writing much better. You see, when I'm not "on the job," I write science fiction. I don't think that I'm terribly interesting, but every once in a while, things happen that you just can't make up. And don't worry. I'll be writing about them here.<br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I've written two novels now, so a friend of mine suggested that I should start a website to get my name out there and show the books of a bit. That was a great idea of his, and the writing of book 3 has slowed down a bit, so I figured "what the hell? I'll try and set this up myself."<br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Now before you laugh at me too hard, I'm not completely unfamiliar with HTML. I had a website a few years back, Denimguy.net, which I built and maintained myself (and if you remember that site, you get the gold star for today). I was just learning coding, and how to use Dreamweaver 4 (I loved that program). Anyway, I didn't do too badly if I do say so myself. I ran the site for a year, and then real life got in the way, so I let it go. But that was a few YEARS ago. I managed to get my hands on a copy of Dreamweaver CS5, and I'll tell you, I don't like it AT ALL (just my opinion, though). It seems that coding websites has changed <em>a lot</em> since I was toying with "DenimGuy's Tiny Little Piece of Cyberspace," as I called my site. At least the programs you build sites with have. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I was on vacation this week, so I had time to psych myself up for the job. Finally on Sunday night I was feeling brave, so I opened Dreamweaver and started trying to build a site. I don't know what made me start with a contact page, but that's where I started. I generated an email form on foxyforms.com, which is a great site. "Just copy this code onto your site, and you're all set," it said. "Great," said I.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> So I copied and pasted, saved the file, and tested it out. It was fantastic! I put in a bogus name and email address, typed in a test message, and it went straight to my inbox. The only issue I had was that the form was left justified on the page, and I wanted it centered. No big deal, I'll just highlight it on the design screen, hit the 'centering' button, save the file, and all will be right with the world. So I went through all of my steps, and saved the file with a satisfied grin on my face, and tried the updated file. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">It wasn't centered.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><em>Okay, </em>I thought. <em>No biggie. </em><em>I'll just do it again.</em> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I made the change, saved the file, and opened it. The form hadn't moved one iota.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">"Once more," I told myself. "It'll work this time."</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">"Not a chance," the saved file seemed to say back.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So I opened up a second program, KomPoser, that I had on a USB drive. I went through all of the steps, saved the file, and grinned. "This time, it's got to work," I said.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">When I opened the saved file, my laptop may as well have been laughing at me. The damned form was still in the same spot.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So long story short, I lost count of the number of times I altered and saved, in both programs, just to center a form on a webpage (a normal person probably would have given this up a long time ago, I know. But not me, lol), but after about an hour and a half, and a few chants of "OCD! OCD! OCD!" from the wrestling crowd in my head, the form finally took pity on me and centered itself on the page. So after I pumped my fist triumphantly in the air, I closed the file as fast as I could and went to work on the next page. The funnier/sadder/more pathetic thing about it was that it only took me more time to get that first page right than the whole rest of the site combined.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So I learned three things that night: </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">First, I really miss Dreamweaver 4. Second, I know just enough about HTML to be dangerous. Finally, and maybe most importantly, I need to get out more.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026773636371052291noreply@blogger.com0