Tuesday, October 7, 2014

What makes you happy? #50

I usually keep a lot of tabs open in whatever browser I'm using. Probably too many, really. I've seen some bloggers do link round-ups as a way of finally dealing with their tabs -- if they've kept it open, it must be interesting, right?
A screenshot demonstration tabs in gedit
A screenshot demonstration tabs in gedit (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Yeah, no.

But as a result, sometimes I accidentally close a tab just by clicking on it, and I don't know exactly what the page was.

"Recently closed tabs" links on browsers are an amazing thing. Oops, didn't mean to close that?  No problem.

I'm not sure who rolled it out first -- Chrome? Firefox? Probably not Explorer, but who knows? But I'm grateful that they did.

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

It's that time of year again!

It's October, and that means NaNoWriMo is just around the corner!

Last year, I just barely won, and since then I've concentrated my shitty novel down to a pretty decent short story that... (can I announce this yet?)

Oh, why not? It's going to be published in Newtown Literary #5! And after it comes out, the rights revert back to me, so I can submit it elsewhere later!

I've played with NaNo projects before, but this has been my biggest success, both within November and after it.

So now it's time to think about what I want to do this year, and as usual, I have a ton of ideas. Let me know what you think of any of these:
  • Your typical "chosen one saves the world" story... but the "chosen one" is a grown-ass adult.
  • A romance novel about an android.
  • Another story in the Steampunk Rome universe I played in last year.
  • Another story in the Clerks-meets-Being-Human universe that, in a perfect world, will one day be an audiodrama podcast.
  • Screw it, I could just write Full House fanfiction. What if the show premiered this season... but was otherwise the same premise?

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

What makes you happy? #49

When my recent illness was at its worst, I wasn't sleeping. I'd wake up something like every twenty minutes to cough violently.  Propping myself up with pillows didn't really help, and using a humidifier only helped a little.

English: Vitek ultrasonic humidifier Русский: ...
English: Vitek ultrasonic humidifier Русский: Ультразвуковой увлажнитель воздуха Vitek (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
After my medicine started working, I finally slept through the night.

It was an amazing feeling.

Any form of catching up on sleep is delightful, but this was something else.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

What makes you happy? #48

So as I mentioned last week, I got hit by a pretty bad cold -- bad enough that I went to the Urgent Care Center. I haven't been to the doctor for a cold since I was a pretty small child.
Pharmacy Rx symbol
Pharmacy Rx symbol (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

He looked down my throat, flinched, and said, "Wow." That's always a great sign.

Basically, my cold was about a step away from being bronchitis. The doctor prescribed some medicines.

By morning, I had improved. Within three days, I had improved immensely. As of this writing (about two weeks from my first symptoms) I'm not 100%, but the tickle in my throat is far more annoying than it is debilitating.

It's such a joy when the medicine works, and quickly.


 Updated 8/7/15 to fix broken link.


Friday, September 19, 2014

Friday Review #49

Sigh, so much for building a buffer.

Anyway, not a terribly busy week, all things considered, but a tiring one. I'm still feeling residual effects of that cold. On the one hand, that gets me out of going to the gym. On the other hand, I'm now starting to feel the effects of not going to the gym.

Cover of "The Giver"
Cover of The Giver
Last Friday, we met a friend for dinner on our way to celebrate my father's birthday in Philadelphia, which we did on Saturday. Drinks with my brother and sister-in-law and some of their friends after dinner. Sunday, I went to church, took the bus home, and caught The Giver, while Chris went to the Giants game with his friends.

Errands in the early part of the week. I had to mail an important package on Monday, which means I had to make my way to the one even remotely convenient post office with late hours. Tuesday was the library and bank, which wouldn't be so bad, except I  had carried around a big bag of loose change all day and the coin machine was broken. The teller suggested I call before I come out.  Yeah, I'm totally going to call you at 7:15 AM to see if your machine will be working at 6:45 PM.

Thursday I went to a REZ reading, which is always interesting.

Not much writing this week. In knitting, my sweater is ready to be washed and blocked, and I picked a bit at my twisty scarf.

In reading, I finished Beyond Shame, started The Neverending Story and Shift, and continued working my way through Team of Rivals.

What have you been up to?

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

What Makes You Happy? #47

A couple weeks ago, I got hit with a cold.  It ended up pretty bad, but it started with a sore throat.

I was really glad to have what I consider to be the Good Cough Drops.

Supposedly, honey is as good for a cough as most medications, and better than some.  The Good Cough Drops (there are a few brands) have a couple drops of real honey inside to sooth -- not to mention, they taste better.

As long as the cold doesn't get any worse, the Good Cough Drops add a bright moment to my 7-10 days of suffering.

Update 8/7/15 to fix typos.

Friday, September 12, 2014

Friday Review #48

This week has really felt like much longer than a week.

Last Friday, some friends who had moved away were back in town, so we joined them for a nice dinner.

Saturday we went to the dentist (no cavities), and then had lunch with Chris's family.

Sunday I had my writing workshop, and then we celebrated Chris's mom's birthday.

Monday Chris went for wings and football with friends, so I got to relax for pretty much the only time this week, and just bought a hero for dinner.  It was so nice.

Tuesday was book club, where we discussed Ancillary Justice and ate Thai food.

Wednesday we went to a ball game as our birthday gift to Chris's mom.

Thursday I volunteered.

And just because this long week is over, that doesn't mean I get to take a breather...


In writing news, I'm working on a murder mystery party kit. I hope to playtest it in a year or so and, if it goes well, maybe sell it to a company.

Cover of "Team of Rivals: The Political G...
Cover via Amazon
In reading news, I've worked on Team of Rivals, which I'm mostly enjoying; I completed Oryx and Crake, which I haven't decided about yet; and (I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, but hell, woman cannot live on fine literature alone) I just started Beyond Shame.  Yeah, go ahead, read the synopsis and laugh.  I'm not gonna say it's good, but it's not bad...

And in knitting news, I got "permission" to give up on the tubular bind-off of my sweater, so mostly I just undid what little I had done (time-consuming!). But I hope this week I'll be ready to wash and block!

What have you been up to?

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Inc.: The Truth About the Office Wallflower

Do you have an introvert in your office, and you just don't know what to do with him/her/them?

The wallflower
The wallflower (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In March of 2013, Ilya Pozin interviewed Bradley Sharkey, and between them, they outlined a list of misinterpreted behaviors of introverts, and what their co-workers can and should do about them:
  1. They're quiet. Yeah, I'll agree with that. I know plenty of introverts who aren't quiet, but they can sure seem that way when you don't know how to get them started.
  2. They avoid large group settings. At least, for any length of time, yeah.
  3. They do not enjoy repeating themselves; in fact, they hate it. Oh, my goodness, yes. If you don't want to listen to me, don't engage me. If you don't care about the answer, don't ask the question.  Small talk is not inherently polite!
  4. They seem OK in one-on-one conversations but withdraw in big meetings. Sure. I'm not really afraid of public speaking. But I really don't want to network afterwards.
The advice attached to the above points really seems like common sense to me -- don't interrupt; don't take it personally if they skip happy hour -- but we all define "common sense" differently, so definitely consider checking this article out.
 


Tuesday, September 9, 2014

What makes you happy? #46

The other day, the wireless mouse on our desktop computer was acting up, and I sent Chris a GChat (Google hangout? I still call them IMs!) to that effect.

Being cute, he told me to sic a cat on it.

I told him I could do one better:



Yep, that's a Micro Squishable T-Rex. Attacking the mouse. Nom!

Doesn't it make you smile?