February 22, 2009

He’s learning…

I had this exchange with my son the other day: <me> Ian, go give that to your mother. <ian> no. <me> ...WHAT? <ian> yes. * ian walks towards jackie

February 21, 2009

Employers and Trust

Lets start off by saying Loyalty is Dead. Companies will do whatever they need to to be profitable, meaning they are willing to screw over employees and customers to please shareholders. Sorry, it’s a fact- it’s the way the system is currently rigged. Blame congress. What really burns me though is the blatant disrespect that some executive teams will have for their employees. Take the following example that happened to a friend of mine.

February 21, 2009

Facebook Integration check

00:52 the greatest compliment I ever got was when groucho marx said “eh, clever boy- keep away from my balloons.”

February 19, 2009

When to Abandon Ship

So lately I’ve been thinking a lot on exactly when you should abandon ship; specifically, what event should be the turning point. So many questions to ask- is the ship sinking? is it sinking on it’s own, or is someone shooting cannonballs at you? Lets presume for a moment that the ship isn’t being shot at by anyone- instead, we’ll say that our route has been cut off by a field of icebergs, and the captain has decided “full speed ahead!

February 13, 2009

I know I’m asking a lot…

But could you please keep professional correspondence to complete strangers free of “SMS Shorthand”. I rly h8 wen u du tht.

February 2, 2009

25 Things about Ziggy

Did you know, Ziggy… has no hair except for his eyelashes. It’s genetic. was raised by a tribe of hairy, barbaric gnomes. fights with two clubs. once helped a flying snakelady crush a landshark with a golden tree. once outsmarted a sphynx. has balls of steel crushed two stone golems without swinging once. lived in a Kender village for a year and left with more than he came with. has worn a sheep disguise on more than one occasion.

January 29, 2009

What’s up?

So I’ve been pretty quiet since I hit 100k words- what’s been going on? Round of layoffs at work Friend diagnosed with cancer Another round of layoffs at work. Jackie became a pampered chef consultant Finances have been wiped out from christmas and getting her PC stuff off the ground. 10% paycut at work Guitar lessons are now done because no one can afford them. Have been reading Manuscript Makeover for ways to improve my book Decided to do an initial cleanup of the first draft of my script, then rewrite the outline before starting draft #2 started yet another opensource project- this time it’s a collection of Nagios Plugins.

December 30, 2008

103,375 words

I recently crossed the 100k barrier and came to a realization- this book is way too long. I think I’m gonna chop it after section 7 (90k words, 360 or so pages) and split it into two books- The Autobiography of Ziggy Swift: The Rise The Autobiography of Ziggy Swift: The Fall This means that the first book is technically complete and ready for a revision. I’d like to finish the rough draft of both books before I proceed with a second draft of the first.

December 3, 2008

Guitar Lessons

So I’ve started teaching guitar again- This time the cash will go directly towards the G-400. As you can see on the sidebar, I’m now a hair closer. My new student is a coworker who is very excited to learn, so that makes things easy on several fronts (schedules, payment, attendance, etc). At this rate, I should have the guitar by next fall- sooner if I pick up another student (which is a possibility).

December 1, 2008

88,056 words.

The Abridged Autobiography of Ziggy Swift has crossed the 88k word threshold as NaNoWriMo ends. I’m not sure if/when it’ll be published- I’m about 1/2 way done with the book and I’m burned out pretty badly. I’ll continue to work on it for the next few months, but I’m not sure when it’ll be finished. I’ll keep you updated as it continues.