A thousand words of blah

This guy, who is super clever, as demonstrated by his ability to come up with the oh so witty name shitter, instead of Twitter, is also clearly psychic. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-schwartz/microblogging-with-shitte_b_188816.html

I found this thing after @maureenjohnson linked me to a groovy list of fifty book people to follow. The author of the shitter piece drones on at length about how Twitter is worse than useless, it's actively destructive. And he scoffs at the idea of Twitter journalism.

I wonder if he issued an apology when Iran's communications were locked down following the elections and Twitter and GTalk were virtually the only way Iranians could get the word out about what was happening in their country. That might actually be an interesting read.

What's that word?

Here's a bizarre story about a teacher that assaulted a student with a dumbbell, chanted die, die, die and says he thought he had killed the student. He also describes feeling really peaceful following the attack and wanting to gouge out the eyes of someone who was looking at him prior to the attack.

Jurors have heard that the victim was regularly in trouble for disrupting lessons and classmates had filmed students calling Mr Harvey a "psycho" in the moments before the attack.

Gosh, I can't imagine why they would call him something like that.

The Power of the Mind

You may have seen this already since it's all over the place but in case you haven't, this is the best review ever written. It's for the Secret and it starts a little slowly but then it gets rolling and is amazing.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R2X2TB3S4O5I60

Classic

An author posted shitty reviews of his colleagues' books on Amazon and praised his own. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8641515.stm I can't tell you how many times I've seen the same behavior at my job.

Some schmoe will come onto the boards and trash company A while saying company X is totally fawesome. He'll say he used company X for these deals nobody else could do, blah blah blah, and of course he actually owns company X. Sometimes he'll get five or six usernames all pretending to be clients of his company then freak out when he gets banned for violating our Rules of Conduct.

In the article the historian first pretended his wife wrote the reviews, which is another tactic I've seen from people who got caught. "I didn't write those post! My secretary did!" Or "My wife did!" It's ridiculous.

Even if either of those statements are true your wife and or secretary aren't exactly clients are they? Honestly, it boggles the mind.

Awesome post against Arizona's terrible new law

Will Shetterly had a link to this great piece about why the new, horrible, "anti-illegal-immigration" law is also against Christian core beliefs.

I also really like the comment code, which backs up each piece with a quote from the bible. Like blocking banned users is God's word. Awesome.

http://blog.sojo.net/2010/04/21/arizonas-immigration-bill-is-a-social-and-racial-sin/

Poor kid

I think it's the details that makes the Onion so funny. This poor boy.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/ah-great-i-think-i-got-a-goddamned-monster-in-my-c,17217/

Ah, for Christ's sake. Is that a goddamned monster in my closet again?

What is it with these son of a bitch monsters? Every night with the creaking and the crawling. Enough, already, will ya? Give it a rest! Look, I've brushed my teeth, I've put on my jammies, Mommy's tucked me in—I'm all ready for beddy-bye here, for crying out loud. And now I have to lie here in the darkness like a putz and wait for some stupid monster to tear me limb from limb? Give me a break!

Doesn't he sound like Holden Caulfield?

Tweets of Old

Somehow I discovered this Twitter account today and I'm enthralled. So many tiny little stories.

http://twitter.com/TweetsofOld

Fan of the Great Gatsby?

Or have any feelings at all? Then you should read Kate's most recent Hark, a Vagrant.

http://harkavagrant.com/

Better check those dates

I went to see my hematologist today and the news was mostly good. My iron is sort of hanging on so I don't need an infusion right now, although one is in my future. My PT/INR was much too low, 1.3, so I have to bump up my warfarin.

Mostly he was upset because he accessed my records from when I went to the ER a couple of months ago and the hospital didn't check for blood clots in my lungs, despite me presenting with both a low PT/INR and a cough.

There was a big sign on the wall that warned to check the expiration dates on tubes before drawing any bone marrow. And yes, there is a sad story behind the need for that sign.

Also I verified and yes, I am not eligible for donating bone marrow, despite the fact that they can now get the cells they need from your blood. It's still too pokey for someone on blood thinners. Blah.

Having a bit of a mindfuck week

My emotions have been all over the place this week. I'm heartbroken over the terrible tragedy in Poland, which I don't think I can even really comprehend, but still makes my chest hurt and my eyes tear up every time I think about it.

At the same time I'm psyched that we actually found three possible houses this week, after so many that really didn't work.

I'm nervous waiting to hear about the contract we signed yesterday.

I'm upset that I'm massively behind in Script Frenzy, with only 34 pages where last year at this time I had 70. Ideally I'd like to have 52.

But I'm happy that what I am writing is working well. I just finished a kick ass action scene that involved hiding a very old woman behind a shrubbery then beating up a stalker....

And of course I'm totally freaked out as part of this script is set in Hungary during the war and I'm following some Holocaust twitterers who are saying what was happening on this day x number of years ago. It's all so grim.

Let's Try This One More Time

Sunday we decided to put an offer on a house that is a foreclosure and needs some work. I was going to offer about fifteen percent less than the bank wanted for it and I signed the contract but then my Realtor realized we were missing a page so she couldn't submit. As I was waiting for her to fax them over to us a house I'd liked before that was too expensive suddenly relisted.

This is a house that has been steadily dropping in price for the past year and a half and was now 2o thousand less than two weeks ago, when it went off the market. So we went to see it last night and it's a bit mad, like me. The three car garage has been converted into an office or clubhouse and the house itself could be used as one house, two units or even three, depending on what you do with the doors. There are actually four separate entrance/exits to the home, not counting the fifth to the ex-garage in the back. The landscaping is fabulous, with pink cherry blossoms at the height of perfection in front of the house.

I signed another contract today and we'll see. There is something in the basement that could be mold, or maybe not. If it's not then everything will be groovy and we should be able to move around the beginning of June, which works well as school gets out at the end of May.

And then? A wonderful summer!

The Next Susan Smith?

These commercials are deeply worrying. This woman gives every appearance of not wanting to be a mother or a wife and spends her time hiding from the kids and lying to her husband and herself. Instead of working on the problem or even cutting her losses and leaving, she comes off as someone who I wouldn't let anywhere my own kids. Dad needs to get the kids far, far away and maybe get a restraining order.






These commercials are especially creepy coming a couple of years after the Toyota "our Routans will get you pregnant" campaign. Routans result in pregnancy but once the kids are here you'll hate them and want to move up to the Sienna? Is that the message? It's terrifying.

You Can't Stop What's Comin'

Script Frenzy

I'm massively behind on Script Frenzy, although not nearly as much as I was this morning, when I only had 12 pages. I'm up to 18 now, slightly better.

Read this great post from @capricaseven, who writes about dialogue and how to make it sparkle. Words cannot express my great love for her. http://www.scriptfrenzy.org/eng/node/3591673

Another super sad house

http://www.redfin.com/MD/Baltimore/1015-Desoto-Rd-21223/home/10304849

What did my Twitter feed look like a few hours ago?

There would have been more people on my list except they all went to Wondercon in San Francisco. 6.9 is pretty big. Lisa Snellings-Clark, aka PoppetPlanetMe, is an artist who lives in the desert and was probably closest to the epicenter.

Hope the aftershocks aren't too problematic.

White nose syndrome

I was coming back from dropping Chris off and chatting with Cullen about one of the best summers I ever had, spent roaming the hills of West Virginia, swimming in South Carolina and caving in Kentucky, and ended up looking up one of the caves I enjoyed. Sadly it's now closed, which made me wonder why. My research led me to read about white nose syndrome, which is incredibly depressing, and made me immediately think about colony collapse, which is affecting the bees.

White nose syndrome (WNS) is a poorly understood malady associated with the deaths of more than a million bats

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_nose_syndrome



So sad. Be sure to read the part about impact.

Please save me

I'm reading a book that's gotten massive buzz and was, or is, on the best seller's list. It's quite horrible, with very little happening, loads of purple prose, far too much longing for rude, unattainable boys and consequences that don't make much sense to me. It's also long. I keep thinking I must be nearly finished and realize there are still a couple of hundred pages to go. Sigh.

The next book has a title like Miserable, so I can only imagine what a joy that will be to read...

Still Sick as a Dog

I took a vacation day today and got NOTHING done as I was too sick. I don't think looking for houses is helping my stupid sinuses as so many of these homes are filled with mold. Looked at two houses yesterday and had a severe headache today. It's discouraging.

It's especially annoying when these homes are described as in excellent shape. I hardly thing giant cracks in the foundation and mold climbing the walls is excellent shape. Sigh.