My recovery is proceeding. The worst of it was over relatively quickly. It's the last twenty percent or so that seems to be slow - It's not really, but it just seems that way.
I do admit that I am spending less time working. Disruptions like that are always like that. The projects I do are always pretty intense and when I can't do them as intensely, I tend to lose focus and drift for a while. Even when I got back home from the hospital, my ability to work the way I wanted to was limited.
But, things are getting back to normal. They're not quite there yet, but they're a lot closer than they were. I'm also more cognizant of what led to my hospitalization and I've been spending more time in efforts to prevent future recurrences. That's a process that's not complete, but it's moving along.
In short, there have been some significant shifts in how I do things, but there aren't really any new things I'm working on. Still digging through the piles of reading material I've accumulated over the years. Writing has dwindled a bit - I found it impossible to write anything in the hospital, but it's slowly recovering as well.
- Jim
Sunday, June 30, 2013
An exciting week.
I went outside in my socks a couple weeks ago and managed to step on something. We thought it was a cactus needle, but it may have been some kind of thorn. It took us a while to find it though and get it out. It was mildy infected, but we cleaned it up and it seemed good.
Until it wasn't.
Blah blah ambulance got called blah blah kept me in the hospital for two days. I'm fine now.
Anyway, uh yeah. I haven't done anything since Thursday except be sick and sleep. Oh, I did finish a magazine, but it ended up taking me something like three days.
So, that's about it. Just figured I should let everyone know I'm back home.
- Jim
I went outside in my socks a couple weeks ago and managed to step on something. We thought it was a cactus needle, but it may have been some kind of thorn. It took us a while to find it though and get it out. It was mildy infected, but we cleaned it up and it seemed good.
Until it wasn't.
Blah blah ambulance got called blah blah kept me in the hospital for two days. I'm fine now.
Anyway, uh yeah. I haven't done anything since Thursday except be sick and sleep. Oh, I did finish a magazine, but it ended up taking me something like three days.
So, that's about it. Just figured I should let everyone know I'm back home.
- Jim
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
This is going to be difficult to explain because the concept is pretty subtle, or at least it seems that way at first glance. I've been writing or trying to write for years now - decades even. The start date isn't exact because of shifting goals and all that, but suffice to say, it's been a long time.
It's not over yet.
But, things are moving a lot quicker now, and not just in the writing aspect. In the past, I would sit at my desk for hours, working hard, but not getting ahead. To some degree, that still happens, but I think I've figured out how to better manage my time. Again, there is always room for improvement. Still, I'm managing to get things done and get things moving. Writing will always be an inexact science, but other metrics are more easily tracked.
It's amazing how I can write so much and not actually say anything. I can't be really specific - I could say I read fifty pages today or something and it would mean I read fifty pages. Writing fifty pages can mean you wrote on fifty pieces of paper (or its digital counterpart) but kept only three. Then there is the way I write - notes and appendices and ideas and scribbles and maps and blah blah blah. I'm sure there's a quicker way to do it, but that's not the way I can work.
Still, I can say this - I'm actually getting things done. Not just writing, and not just the magazine goal that I've been working on. It's small, incremental improvements, but it ends up being a lot bigger over time.
Anyway, I hope to have something publishable soon.
- Jim
It's not over yet.
But, things are moving a lot quicker now, and not just in the writing aspect. In the past, I would sit at my desk for hours, working hard, but not getting ahead. To some degree, that still happens, but I think I've figured out how to better manage my time. Again, there is always room for improvement. Still, I'm managing to get things done and get things moving. Writing will always be an inexact science, but other metrics are more easily tracked.
It's amazing how I can write so much and not actually say anything. I can't be really specific - I could say I read fifty pages today or something and it would mean I read fifty pages. Writing fifty pages can mean you wrote on fifty pieces of paper (or its digital counterpart) but kept only three. Then there is the way I write - notes and appendices and ideas and scribbles and maps and blah blah blah. I'm sure there's a quicker way to do it, but that's not the way I can work.
Still, I can say this - I'm actually getting things done. Not just writing, and not just the magazine goal that I've been working on. It's small, incremental improvements, but it ends up being a lot bigger over time.
Anyway, I hope to have something publishable soon.
- Jim
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Some things stick with me for a lot longer than they should. Some criticisms can stick with me for years.
Anyway, that got me to thinking about the time I'm wasting even now. It's no secret I've been behind schedule for everything I'm working on now. And so, I've been working to catch up on things. Not kinda working, not sorta working, but trying to spend every moment I have toward that goal. None of these projects are Earth-shattering, and that's the problem - I've treated them that way for years and failed to spend the time on them that I should have.
And yeah, a large portion of this is about that pile of unread magazines. It just bugs the hell out of me. But at the same time, I was at the point where I realized it was unlikely that I would be able to catch up on all of them by the end of the summer. It was an optimistic goal (considering my history) when I started, but it soon became clear that it would be impossible.
I'm not going to blame all of this on that article, but the article did its share of making me think about these things. And so, for me, I've been working at hyperspeed, getting these things done - without changing the rules I've made for myself. I can't skip articles - I have to read the magazines cover to cover. I have to actually read them, which means comprehension. I may not remember every name (I won't; I'm horrible with names), but I will understand what and why and how. Or as much as the article allows me to do so.
Magazines aren't my only project, but I'm working harder on that one than others at the moment. Sadly, after the larger-than-normal effort of the past couple weeks, there are still 58 magazines to go.
One more thing - I am a hoarder. I still have unread magazines older than that from when I was in college or when I was working full time. While deep down, those bug me as well, they don't bug me nearly as much. I had other things to do that took up a huge percentage of my waking hours. Indeed, I had almost no free time in college. The point is that I have all the time in the world now and I just simply don't apply any of it to anything.
Yeah, this is a proxy for another project, but that one is finally moving as well, though more slowly than I'd like.
- Jim
UNM professor: Obese need not apply for PhD
A University of New Mexico professor is under fire for tweeting that obese people do not have what it takes to earn a PhD.
Dr. Geoffrey Miller is an assistant professor of psychology at UNM. He posted the following comment on his Twitter account: “Dear obese PhD applicants: If you didn’t have the willpower to stop eating carbs, you won’t have the willpower to do a dissertation.”
The tweet sparked loads of reaction on the professor’s Twitter account. Several people have also contacted the university.
Psychology department Chairwoman Professor Jane Ellen Smith was shocked when she heard what he’d written.
“The idea that the psychology department here at the UNM or any department at UNM would be discriminating against people because of their size or shape It's just outlandish,” Smith said. “It’s nothing we would ever do.”
Miller has now posted an apology on his account, and said the tweet does not reflect his PhD selection process.
Smith said Miller told her the tweet was part of a research project. Miller, who was already on unpaid leave and working at New York University when he posted the tweet, told UNM officials he’s been sending provocative tweets for months and is measuring reaction to them. UNM is investigating that claim.
Action 7 News reached out to Miller via email for his reaction to the story and to learn more about the reported research project, but he did not return our request for comment.
Dr. Geoffrey Miller is an assistant professor of psychology at UNM. He posted the following comment on his Twitter account: “Dear obese PhD applicants: If you didn’t have the willpower to stop eating carbs, you won’t have the willpower to do a dissertation.”
The tweet sparked loads of reaction on the professor’s Twitter account. Several people have also contacted the university.
Psychology department Chairwoman Professor Jane Ellen Smith was shocked when she heard what he’d written.
“The idea that the psychology department here at the UNM or any department at UNM would be discriminating against people because of their size or shape It's just outlandish,” Smith said. “It’s nothing we would ever do.”
Miller has now posted an apology on his account, and said the tweet does not reflect his PhD selection process.
Smith said Miller told her the tweet was part of a research project. Miller, who was already on unpaid leave and working at New York University when he posted the tweet, told UNM officials he’s been sending provocative tweets for months and is measuring reaction to them. UNM is investigating that claim.
Action 7 News reached out to Miller via email for his reaction to the story and to learn more about the reported research project, but he did not return our request for comment.
Anyway, that got me to thinking about the time I'm wasting even now. It's no secret I've been behind schedule for everything I'm working on now. And so, I've been working to catch up on things. Not kinda working, not sorta working, but trying to spend every moment I have toward that goal. None of these projects are Earth-shattering, and that's the problem - I've treated them that way for years and failed to spend the time on them that I should have.
And yeah, a large portion of this is about that pile of unread magazines. It just bugs the hell out of me. But at the same time, I was at the point where I realized it was unlikely that I would be able to catch up on all of them by the end of the summer. It was an optimistic goal (considering my history) when I started, but it soon became clear that it would be impossible.
I'm not going to blame all of this on that article, but the article did its share of making me think about these things. And so, for me, I've been working at hyperspeed, getting these things done - without changing the rules I've made for myself. I can't skip articles - I have to read the magazines cover to cover. I have to actually read them, which means comprehension. I may not remember every name (I won't; I'm horrible with names), but I will understand what and why and how. Or as much as the article allows me to do so.
Magazines aren't my only project, but I'm working harder on that one than others at the moment. Sadly, after the larger-than-normal effort of the past couple weeks, there are still 58 magazines to go.
One more thing - I am a hoarder. I still have unread magazines older than that from when I was in college or when I was working full time. While deep down, those bug me as well, they don't bug me nearly as much. I had other things to do that took up a huge percentage of my waking hours. Indeed, I had almost no free time in college. The point is that I have all the time in the world now and I just simply don't apply any of it to anything.
Yeah, this is a proxy for another project, but that one is finally moving as well, though more slowly than I'd like.
- Jim
Saturday, June 08, 2013
This is turning into a monthly thing. I don't watch television as much as most people. I have my computer, I have my hobbies. Television isn't interactive enough, I guess. Too much idle time and I end up feeling guilty about not doing something else.
Anyway, my eyes are always bigger than my proverbial stomach. I record stuff that I'm interested in, but I never seem to have time to watch it all. The DVR gets full and I have to watch it or stuff gets deleted. I'm not one of those guys who can sit and watch tv all day. I'm still burned out from watching two seasons of Game of Thrones a couple months ago. Let's not talk about how many episodes I'm behind in that.
So, for the next few days, I'll be all about the DVR, trying to get to it to stop screaming in pain every time I change channels. Then I'll be burned out on it again and go back to reading and writing.
- Jim
Anyway, my eyes are always bigger than my proverbial stomach. I record stuff that I'm interested in, but I never seem to have time to watch it all. The DVR gets full and I have to watch it or stuff gets deleted. I'm not one of those guys who can sit and watch tv all day. I'm still burned out from watching two seasons of Game of Thrones a couple months ago. Let's not talk about how many episodes I'm behind in that.
So, for the next few days, I'll be all about the DVR, trying to get to it to stop screaming in pain every time I change channels. Then I'll be burned out on it again and go back to reading and writing.
- Jim
Monday, June 03, 2013
This is all old news, but permit me to indulge myself in my past for a moment. It's not a pretty picture, but it needs to be said.
After the oft-mentioned "Month of Hell" in May of 2006, there was a year where things went mostly downhill. It took a long time for the factory I worked for to admit that I was injured and meanwhile they forced me to work around it. Not quite through the injury, but close enough that the injury got worse. The surgeon who eventually saw me was surprised the damage was as bad as it was even after she got the x-rays and MRI results. Meanwhile, as I was in both the fog of pain and painkillers, my Mom was steadily getting worse. I tried several times to pick myself up during that year, but reality was what it was. It just wasn't time.
Shortly after my Mom died in 2007, I lost my job. The factory I worked for was tired of the injury and found an opening they could exploit for all it was worth. At the height of the recession, no one wanted to take a chance on a guy learning new skills. I was cocky about the whole thing too - I may not have had a lot of experience, but I could do everything I applied for and figured it'd be pretty easy to get a job. I spent more than a year being cocky, never doing more than play video games because I figured I'd go back to work any day.
Well, as you know, that day never came. Still, between the Month of Hell, the following year, and then the stagnation of the year after that, I let a lot of things slide. The few years since have been a mishmash of periods where I tried to catch up with life followed by periods when I shut life off. The pile of to-do stuff was just too big to handle and I eventually would just quit and play video games or something.
I'd like to say now is different, and it both is, and isn't. On the one hand, this is probably the longest sustained effort I've made to "catch up". I'll be honest here, depending on how you look at it, it's impossible. I could live forever and always find stuff to do. And therefore, my reading list will always be several years long. My video game list will be similar. But there are other projects that just bug me because they shouldn't be as behind as they are. Magazines, for example. Writing. At this point it's probably safe to say that I could live forever and never run out of writing ideas. But at this point it's just as likely, given my track record, of never finishing any of them anyway. Life too often gets in the way and I lose the train of thoughts rushing toward a literary conclusion.
And so here I am. The most I can say is that I'm trying harder. I hope I succeed. I don't think I've given any hope of doing so, but this has been the best effort I've put forth on it all. Don't expect me to be done with anything by tomorrow, but the last couple months have seen progress.
There is one more point I want to make - progress is a double-edged sword. I am notorious for underestimating the time and effort needed to complete a project. It doesn't matter what it is - writing a book, making an RPG adventure, reading a magazine, or doing a virus scan on my computer. It simply does not matter. Oh, I can put a hard drive in a computer, but it'll take twice as long as I thought it would. In that particular case, it was because I cleaned the computer case, moved some wires, and had to hunt down my regular screwdrivers because my power driver was dead. Damn thing.
Anyway, there you go. I'm still mostly working on the pile of magazines that keep calling me. I am working on other projects, but the magazines are where I spend the bulk of my current time.
- Jim
After the oft-mentioned "Month of Hell" in May of 2006, there was a year where things went mostly downhill. It took a long time for the factory I worked for to admit that I was injured and meanwhile they forced me to work around it. Not quite through the injury, but close enough that the injury got worse. The surgeon who eventually saw me was surprised the damage was as bad as it was even after she got the x-rays and MRI results. Meanwhile, as I was in both the fog of pain and painkillers, my Mom was steadily getting worse. I tried several times to pick myself up during that year, but reality was what it was. It just wasn't time.
Shortly after my Mom died in 2007, I lost my job. The factory I worked for was tired of the injury and found an opening they could exploit for all it was worth. At the height of the recession, no one wanted to take a chance on a guy learning new skills. I was cocky about the whole thing too - I may not have had a lot of experience, but I could do everything I applied for and figured it'd be pretty easy to get a job. I spent more than a year being cocky, never doing more than play video games because I figured I'd go back to work any day.
Well, as you know, that day never came. Still, between the Month of Hell, the following year, and then the stagnation of the year after that, I let a lot of things slide. The few years since have been a mishmash of periods where I tried to catch up with life followed by periods when I shut life off. The pile of to-do stuff was just too big to handle and I eventually would just quit and play video games or something.
I'd like to say now is different, and it both is, and isn't. On the one hand, this is probably the longest sustained effort I've made to "catch up". I'll be honest here, depending on how you look at it, it's impossible. I could live forever and always find stuff to do. And therefore, my reading list will always be several years long. My video game list will be similar. But there are other projects that just bug me because they shouldn't be as behind as they are. Magazines, for example. Writing. At this point it's probably safe to say that I could live forever and never run out of writing ideas. But at this point it's just as likely, given my track record, of never finishing any of them anyway. Life too often gets in the way and I lose the train of thoughts rushing toward a literary conclusion.
And so here I am. The most I can say is that I'm trying harder. I hope I succeed. I don't think I've given any hope of doing so, but this has been the best effort I've put forth on it all. Don't expect me to be done with anything by tomorrow, but the last couple months have seen progress.
There is one more point I want to make - progress is a double-edged sword. I am notorious for underestimating the time and effort needed to complete a project. It doesn't matter what it is - writing a book, making an RPG adventure, reading a magazine, or doing a virus scan on my computer. It simply does not matter. Oh, I can put a hard drive in a computer, but it'll take twice as long as I thought it would. In that particular case, it was because I cleaned the computer case, moved some wires, and had to hunt down my regular screwdrivers because my power driver was dead. Damn thing.
Anyway, there you go. I'm still mostly working on the pile of magazines that keep calling me. I am working on other projects, but the magazines are where I spend the bulk of my current time.
- Jim
Monday, May 27, 2013
This is kinda pathetic, I'm sure. But, it's a big thing to me.
Nearly a hundred years ago, or actually... 12? I started playing StarCraft. That's not quite true, but it's close enough. I had it for a while, tried to play it, but couldn't find the time to invest in it to become interested in it. In short, it wasn't until I got to college that I was into StarCraft.
Over the years, college interfered, girlfriends, moving, deaths, the year of hell, etc. I stopped for a long time after my brother died, merely because I was playing the game while he was dying, though I didn't know it at the time. I felt pretty guilty about it.
Since I started writing my yearly resolutions/to do lists, StarCraft and StarCraft: Broodwar have been on it. Some of the time I "wasted" playing my own versions of my own games, some of the time I just spent making my own missions. So, while it's been a long time, it hasn't been a very concerted effort. Still, I finally finished it. I'm pretty psyched.
Actually, over the past couple weeks, I've made a sustained effort and it's paid off. I've gotten better to the point that the end mission was long, but wasn't as difficult as it had always otherwise been.
Anyway, I'm pretty proud. So, I thought I would share.
- Jim
Nearly a hundred years ago, or actually... 12? I started playing StarCraft. That's not quite true, but it's close enough. I had it for a while, tried to play it, but couldn't find the time to invest in it to become interested in it. In short, it wasn't until I got to college that I was into StarCraft.
Over the years, college interfered, girlfriends, moving, deaths, the year of hell, etc. I stopped for a long time after my brother died, merely because I was playing the game while he was dying, though I didn't know it at the time. I felt pretty guilty about it.
Since I started writing my yearly resolutions/to do lists, StarCraft and StarCraft: Broodwar have been on it. Some of the time I "wasted" playing my own versions of my own games, some of the time I just spent making my own missions. So, while it's been a long time, it hasn't been a very concerted effort. Still, I finally finished it. I'm pretty psyched.
Actually, over the past couple weeks, I've made a sustained effort and it's paid off. I've gotten better to the point that the end mission was long, but wasn't as difficult as it had always otherwise been.
Anyway, I'm pretty proud. So, I thought I would share.
- Jim
Call what I do what you will, but I get absorbed into it. Every now and then I look around and notice the world has changed around me. The internet comes on computers now? Will wonders never cease?
So, it is with sadness, but probably little surprise that I find that West End Games, formerly the maker of Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game is liquidating. Not just scaling back or losing some titles because some asshat decided their crappy new Jar-Jar filled movies justified raising the price of a licensing deal, but really liquidating.
I'm not saying it was a perfect system. Where Rolemaster by Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE) was really too much, WEG was too damned simple for my tastes. But still, I'm not a fan of Wizards of the Coast's lame attempts at controlling the entire RPG sector. Thanks for ruining the world WotC.
Yeah, I know WEG's demise started back in the 90's of the last century. I didn't figure they'd last long without Star Wars and indeed, they surprised me by lasting as long as they did. I also know that this liquidation is old news. Sue me. Please refer to the first paragraph.
As much as I post those Dice pictures, I'm not a gamer any more. Not really. I pull the books and binders out every now and then and scrape the dust off, but little more than that. I've purchased... what, one RPG book in the last year? Two? I'm not going to look. It would just make me more depressed.
Ah well. I still have my memories.
- Jim
So, it is with sadness, but probably little surprise that I find that West End Games, formerly the maker of Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game is liquidating. Not just scaling back or losing some titles because some asshat decided their crappy new Jar-Jar filled movies justified raising the price of a licensing deal, but really liquidating.
I'm not saying it was a perfect system. Where Rolemaster by Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE) was really too much, WEG was too damned simple for my tastes. But still, I'm not a fan of Wizards of the Coast's lame attempts at controlling the entire RPG sector. Thanks for ruining the world WotC.
Yeah, I know WEG's demise started back in the 90's of the last century. I didn't figure they'd last long without Star Wars and indeed, they surprised me by lasting as long as they did. I also know that this liquidation is old news. Sue me. Please refer to the first paragraph.
As much as I post those Dice pictures, I'm not a gamer any more. Not really. I pull the books and binders out every now and then and scrape the dust off, but little more than that. I've purchased... what, one RPG book in the last year? Two? I'm not going to look. It would just make me more depressed.
Ah well. I still have my memories.
- Jim
Monday, May 20, 2013
These aren't priorities for me right now which is why they're taking so long to read. At the same time, these MERP books are among the smallest projects I'm working on. Here's the one I just started today:
In addition, I got a new camera and have been somewhat haphazardly taking pictures of various things.
I thought that picture was appropriate for the moment.
- Jim
In addition, I got a new camera and have been somewhat haphazardly taking pictures of various things.
I thought that picture was appropriate for the moment.
- Jim
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
I dislike using the word anniversary to describe it. It's been six years since my Mom died. Six years to the day. I won't say that broke me - I think I broke before that, but it certainly didn't help. I suppose I feel lucky in a way. I had injured myself nearly a year previously and was on painkillers for the aftermath of my Mom's death. It didn't make things easier, really, but it bought me some time.
That's all we all have, I suppose. It's something I sometimes have plenty of.
- Jim
That's all we all have, I suppose. It's something I sometimes have plenty of.
- Jim
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
May is a tough month for me. The fifth was the uh... anniversary of my Brother's death in 2006. The fifteenth will be the anniversary of my Mother's death in 2007. It's not so long really, but it's an awful long time to be broken.
Now, I know in the past, I've promised that things would change. It wasn't a lie exactly so much as a promise I couldn't keep. Even now, it's not like I'm going to flip a switch and be over it. The past six (or seven) years have paid some of that cost, but they've also exacted their own toll.
But the recent past, being all recent and all, has spurred some changes. Positive ones, I think, though self-diagnosis is problematic at best. It is what it is. I promise to try as much as I can. It's the most I can offer.
- Jim
Now, I know in the past, I've promised that things would change. It wasn't a lie exactly so much as a promise I couldn't keep. Even now, it's not like I'm going to flip a switch and be over it. The past six (or seven) years have paid some of that cost, but they've also exacted their own toll.
But the recent past, being all recent and all, has spurred some changes. Positive ones, I think, though self-diagnosis is problematic at best. It is what it is. I promise to try as much as I can. It's the most I can offer.
- Jim
Sunday, May 05, 2013
Today is May 5th. Most people remember it as Cinco de Mayo. I remember it because in 2006, my brother passed away.
Seven years. At times it seems like only yesterday or maybe the day before. Other times it seems like an entire lifetime ago. A lot has changed since then. And a lot hasn't.
I'm not doing much of anything today. Just sit back and drink a couple beers, in honor of Mike.
- Jim
Seven years. At times it seems like only yesterday or maybe the day before. Other times it seems like an entire lifetime ago. A lot has changed since then. And a lot hasn't.
I'm not doing much of anything today. Just sit back and drink a couple beers, in honor of Mike.
- Jim
Saturday, May 04, 2013
Several years ago, I attended UW-Whitewater. One thing led to another and I applied for a Summer RA position. I didn't get it. So, I made plans to work at the pizza place I'd worked at before I went to college.
And... the college called me and offered me the Summer RA position. I'd cancelled all my plans when I didn't get the job, so it was basically me getting paid a small amount of money to live on campus. I didn't have much to do. The work was generally easy and I spent my time working on early versions of the books I'm writing and playing StarCraft. I have to admit, I spent most of the time on StarCraft.
During that time, I made a few friends with the students coming in for the summer programs. There was one in particular that I'd wished I'd spent more time getting to know. It was a weird time for me, a weird circumstance, and I didn't know what I was doing. Opportunities, if that's what it was, they never repeat themselves. Not like that. I know. I tried. And I failed.
Too much time passed in me trying to track her down. Too bad. The more I found out about her, the more alike I found we were.
Dammit.
- Jim
And... the college called me and offered me the Summer RA position. I'd cancelled all my plans when I didn't get the job, so it was basically me getting paid a small amount of money to live on campus. I didn't have much to do. The work was generally easy and I spent my time working on early versions of the books I'm writing and playing StarCraft. I have to admit, I spent most of the time on StarCraft.
During that time, I made a few friends with the students coming in for the summer programs. There was one in particular that I'd wished I'd spent more time getting to know. It was a weird time for me, a weird circumstance, and I didn't know what I was doing. Opportunities, if that's what it was, they never repeat themselves. Not like that. I know. I tried. And I failed.
Too much time passed in me trying to track her down. Too bad. The more I found out about her, the more alike I found we were.
Dammit.
- Jim
Not much has happened over the last week. Trust me, I will still be trying to catch up when rapture comes. And essentially, that's what I've been doing. Oh and allergies, but you didn't want to hear that.
I've set a goal to get a big specific chunk of my backlog done by the end of the summer. It'll be close, but I think it's doable. Barely. That means two things - One, that I'll be working for a while on just a part of the backlog. And two, that the backlog is greater than what I could conceivably finish in four months. Eh, I've been letting it slip and my efforts at getting it under control have been inconsistent.
Anyway, I figured I'd post before people got worried about me.
- Jim
I've set a goal to get a big specific chunk of my backlog done by the end of the summer. It'll be close, but I think it's doable. Barely. That means two things - One, that I'll be working for a while on just a part of the backlog. And two, that the backlog is greater than what I could conceivably finish in four months. Eh, I've been letting it slip and my efforts at getting it under control have been inconsistent.
Anyway, I figured I'd post before people got worried about me.
- Jim
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Nothing much over the last week. A cold, allergies, reading, and more reading. A little bit of writing, but the reading has taken over at this point.
I finished reading The Lost Realm of Cardolan, from the MERP collection.
And I started reading Rangers of the North, from the same collection.
I've also been trying to work on the huge backlog of back magazines I have piled around here. Sometimes I get interested in other projects and those weekly or monthly editions get pushed aside for a later, more convenient time. Well, it's later now.
That's about it. Will post again soon,
- Jim
I finished reading The Lost Realm of Cardolan, from the MERP collection.
And I started reading Rangers of the North, from the same collection.
I've also been trying to work on the huge backlog of back magazines I have piled around here. Sometimes I get interested in other projects and those weekly or monthly editions get pushed aside for a later, more convenient time. Well, it's later now.
That's about it. Will post again soon,
- Jim
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Oh, and for the record, here's some of what I've done over the past couple days:
I watched half of the episodes of the National Geographic channel's The 80's: The Decade That Made Us. It's six hours long. I finished a DISCOVER magazine from May 2013. I started a TIME magazine, April 22nd, 2013. I also worked on a bunch of archives that I've neglected for too long. That's another hole that will never be filled entirely, but it's smaller than it was before.
As I said, it's normally not anything I would write a regular post for and I won't be doing it regularly now. It would have been more convenient if GetGlue would have been more convenient, or at least more stable, but that's life on the internet.
- Jim
I watched half of the episodes of the National Geographic channel's The 80's: The Decade That Made Us. It's six hours long. I finished a DISCOVER magazine from May 2013. I started a TIME magazine, April 22nd, 2013. I also worked on a bunch of archives that I've neglected for too long. That's another hole that will never be filled entirely, but it's smaller than it was before.
As I said, it's normally not anything I would write a regular post for and I won't be doing it regularly now. It would have been more convenient if GetGlue would have been more convenient, or at least more stable, but that's life on the internet.
- Jim
If you checked this page for just the few right (or wrong) moments over the last few days, you would have seen that I was experimenting with a couple changes. No big deal - they didn't work out. I suspected they wouldn't.
Over the past few months, I've been using GetGlue to keep track of the things I do - reading, watching movies, television shows, video games. Stuff like that. I wanted an easy way to post to the blog about the everyday sort of things I do without the obnoxiousness (is that a word) of posting and of reading an entire post of whatever length about the fact that I'm watching Fraggle Rock or something. For the people who get notified about every post I make, it would be doubly annoying.
Well, GetGlue failed. As I was experimenting over the past um.. while, those wise folks at GetGlue discovered that not only are people not using computers any longer, but they're also not reading books or playing video games. I could post that I was, for example, watching a video about MineCraft on Youtube, but I surely couldn't post that I was playing it. Then the widget for the blog posting failed because they didn't believe people used blogs and the whole thing became meaningless. I march to my own drum and GetGlue apparently doesn't.
Ah well. Anyway, this post is just to say that an easier way to determine I wasn't dead when I failed to post regularly wasn't going to happen. I am alive and I'm buried deep into projects of my own making - projects I'm desperately behind in. I *think* I'm catching up, but it's sometimes hard to tell. Catching up in one area invariable leads to falling behind in another. I'm working on these things for longer periods of time, but the sea can sometimes appear to be endless at times.
These late night knee pains are getting worse though. Bad for sleep, but plenty good for getting work done.
- Jim
Over the past few months, I've been using GetGlue to keep track of the things I do - reading, watching movies, television shows, video games. Stuff like that. I wanted an easy way to post to the blog about the everyday sort of things I do without the obnoxiousness (is that a word) of posting and of reading an entire post of whatever length about the fact that I'm watching Fraggle Rock or something. For the people who get notified about every post I make, it would be doubly annoying.
Well, GetGlue failed. As I was experimenting over the past um.. while, those wise folks at GetGlue discovered that not only are people not using computers any longer, but they're also not reading books or playing video games. I could post that I was, for example, watching a video about MineCraft on Youtube, but I surely couldn't post that I was playing it. Then the widget for the blog posting failed because they didn't believe people used blogs and the whole thing became meaningless. I march to my own drum and GetGlue apparently doesn't.
Ah well. Anyway, this post is just to say that an easier way to determine I wasn't dead when I failed to post regularly wasn't going to happen. I am alive and I'm buried deep into projects of my own making - projects I'm desperately behind in. I *think* I'm catching up, but it's sometimes hard to tell. Catching up in one area invariable leads to falling behind in another. I'm working on these things for longer periods of time, but the sea can sometimes appear to be endless at times.
These late night knee pains are getting worse though. Bad for sleep, but plenty good for getting work done.
- Jim
Sunday, April 07, 2013
This isn't going to be a Game of Thrones blog either - but that's mostly what I'm doing at the moment, even when I'm not doing it. Anyway, I'm about halfway through the second episode of the new season and I have a complaint.
No, I'm not going to complain about the books being different, I haven't read this far yet. Nor will I complain that they cut out action scenes. They could double the budget, but action scenes are expensive. No, this complaint is all my fault - As I said earlier, I bought the first two seasons on blu-ray. 1080 looks a lot lot better than 720. HBO HD just isn't HD enough for me, I guess.
All the other complaints will probably wait until after the season. If then. I haven't found much to complain about so far, except for the books' (and the show's) penchant for having such a large cast. Hell, I don't remember my family half the time and there's only a handful of them. I'm horrible with names anyway.
Ah well, back to the show.
- Jim
No, I'm not going to complain about the books being different, I haven't read this far yet. Nor will I complain that they cut out action scenes. They could double the budget, but action scenes are expensive. No, this complaint is all my fault - As I said earlier, I bought the first two seasons on blu-ray. 1080 looks a lot lot better than 720. HBO HD just isn't HD enough for me, I guess.
All the other complaints will probably wait until after the season. If then. I haven't found much to complain about so far, except for the books' (and the show's) penchant for having such a large cast. Hell, I don't remember my family half the time and there's only a handful of them. I'm horrible with names anyway.
Ah well, back to the show.
- Jim
Friday, April 05, 2013
It took a while, but I watched all the episodes, commentaries, and special features on the Season 1 and 2 blu-ray discs for Game of Thrones. I ended up watching the first episode of the new season about five days late. Thank goodness for DVRs, I guess.
Now I'm on to other things. Mostly getting all that stuff off of that DVR.
- Jim
Now I'm on to other things. Mostly getting all that stuff off of that DVR.
- Jim
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Happy Easter!
I know I said I would write less on this blog. This isn't what I meant. I try to write more but I just can't seem to find time.
I got the blu-ray discs for the first two seasons of Game of Thrones. I have to admit, it's kind of weird to like something so popular. The things I like usually get cancelled before they get this far. Weird.
Anyway, my life recently, has been all about trying to catch up with this mountain of stuff I've set before me over the past... decade or more. Things don't even get close to being finished before I pile more ideas and interests on top. I suppose we never finish everything we'd like to finish in life, but this is pretty ridiculous.
Anyway, it keeps me busy.
- Jim
I know I said I would write less on this blog. This isn't what I meant. I try to write more but I just can't seem to find time.
I got the blu-ray discs for the first two seasons of Game of Thrones. I have to admit, it's kind of weird to like something so popular. The things I like usually get cancelled before they get this far. Weird.
Anyway, my life recently, has been all about trying to catch up with this mountain of stuff I've set before me over the past... decade or more. Things don't even get close to being finished before I pile more ideas and interests on top. I suppose we never finish everything we'd like to finish in life, but this is pretty ridiculous.
Anyway, it keeps me busy.
- Jim
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