My computer is officially dead.

Over the last year, and especially the last six months, my computer has experienced an increasing number of spontaneous restarts, lockups, and blue screens (known as the Evil Trifecta). Tech support from eMachines insisted that my computer must be infected with spyware, while I have been fairly certain that it was a hardware problem.

Finally I got around to doing a full system restore. Although that process has had its own problems and is not yet complete, my hard drive has been reformatted, and I’m still experiencing the Trifecta. If the issue truly was spyware, then I wouldn’t still be experiencing the problems. This morning’s tech narrowed it down to my motherboard, so I have bowed to the inevitable. I need a new computer.

Posted by on Thursday, September 7, 2006 at 3:28 PM
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Well, I asked Gord a few questions, so now it’s your turn.

Ask me three questions in comments. When you’re done, be sure to post this on your own site (if you have one) so that we can ask you some questions.

Posted by on Tuesday, August 22, 2006 at 4:30 PM
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I recently found Kris Cramer’s excellent Surviving the Muse. Writing & the Procrastination Factor hit me where it hurts—a lot—because I have more ideas than I know what to do with. I am currently so entranced with one of my recent ideas that I’ve stopped working on all but one of my other projects. Through her, I found Writing Fix, which would be like crack if I started using it (and I’m not kidding myself—I really do want to head over there and just try out one of their writing prompts. Maybe I’ll save Writing Fix for birthdays and holidays...yeah, that’s what I’ll do). It’s not called Writing Fix for nothing.

Having the Discipline to Write Daily highlights another issue that many writers face. I’ve been focused on finding an hour a day to write (some days are easier than others), but I am going to switch to either word or page count (probably word).

What she doesn’t mention is my greatest writing diversion: research. Even my fabulous new idea, based in mythical reality, hasn’t escaped the research bug. I have plenty of notes, but not as many answers as I would like.

Something (probably Anne Lamott’s “shitty first draft” phrase) tells me I should start writing it—anyway.

Posted by on Friday, August 11, 2006 at 4:12 AM
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On Tuesday, I planned to meet a friend after work. She’s in from Hong Kong for a couple of months, but this is the only week we can get together.

I arrived a few minutes early and waited in front of the restaurant. Thirty minutes passed, and she still hadn’t arrived. Neither of us have a cell phone, so I imagined that she’d been held up and would soon be here. Still, I went inside and ordered a cup of chai.

Another forty-five minutes went by, and I began cursing myself for not having a backup plan. To relieve the cursing, I ordered a tilapia taco. Eventually I went home, knowing that the mystery would be solved once I got there.

Sure enough, there was a an e-mail canceling our appointment (time-stamped for six minutes before I left my office). She’d had a flat tire and wasn’t going to be able to make it.

Under the circumstances, any sort of backup plan would have been better than nothing. She didn’t have my work number. I didn’t have any way of contacting her except via e-mail.

Posted by on Thursday, July 13, 2006 at 5:32 PM
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The other day my boss returned from lunch and declared, “I’m finally old.”

During lunch, the waitress asked him if he had a son about her age, because her friend looked a lot like my boss. “How old are you?” he asked. “20,” she said. My boss is 38, so it’s possible that he could have a son that age.

But he doesn’t.

The other day one of the salesmen, commenting on the recent frequent absences of the plant manager, said “He’s gone more than Eleanor Roosevelt.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I said.

He looked surprised, then said, “Oh, I guess you’re not old enough to remember.”

“No, but you are,” I said.

“Eleanor Roosevelt and her husband didn’t spend a lot of time together. She was always traveling here and there,” he said.

I wondered about his age, and later learned that he was born in 1926.

When I’m his age, if I want to work like him, I hope that I can.

Posted by on Thursday, July 13, 2006 at 4:51 PM
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I sit on my bean bag, not daring to move, alert both to what I hold in my hands and what might be coming down the hall. Do I hear the soft sound of carpet compressing beneath bare feet? Is there time to hide what I’m reading? What will happen if she comes through the door?

What I should be reading is the Bible, or my Sabbath School lesson, or some Ellen G. White book. What I am reading is innocuous: Little Women, perhaps, or a library book from my public high school. Nothing that she would know about, but all of it more interesting than what I was supposed to be reading. More to the point, it was reading that I chose, reading that was beyond her narrow world.

She never caught me, not any time that I remember, and soon I would be out the door, beyond her physical reach.

---

More Weekly Anamnesis here.

Posted by on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 3:32 AM
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Dear Cuccu,

Thank you for making us aware of your findings with our chocolate. The chocolate was analyzed and found to be a cubic zirconia to the best of our knowledge. This particular product was manufactured overseas, however, the finding was reported to our production director in our sister company for investigation. We apologize for any disturbance and are relieved to here [sic] you were not inconvenienced further. A great deal of care is used in our manufacturing and distribution processes to ensure that our customers receive a quality product.

I can assure you that your experience is a rarity. Our manufacturing sites have several different screening devices in place to detect foreign matter, but unfortunately, the item you encountered managed to get through the monitors. It is not determined at this time how the item got into the bar you purchased.

Etc., etc.

The letter, dated May 16 (arriving by UPS 2nd Day Air yesterday), was enclosed in an insulated box of assorted chocolate products, including:

• Two bars of Dark Chocolate Lindor Truffles
• Two bars of Swiss Bittersweet Fine Dark Chocolate
• One bar of Intense Pear Extra Fine Dark Chocolate
• One bag of 60% Extra Dark Chocolate Lindor Truffles
• One bag of assorted Lindor Truffles
• One box of Assorted Dark Recipes

I am pleased that Lindt picked up on my preference for dark chocolate.

It’s not the million dollars the children were hoping for, but it is a satisfying end to this affair. I won’t even editorialize about the awkward prose of the letter.

Posted by on Thursday, June 15, 2006 at 4:40 AM
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Had my Amazon wish list been up-to-date, spending that gift certificate would have been a speedier affair. As it was, it took all of fifteen minutes to buy:

• Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life by David Allen
• The Fourth Bear: A Nursery Crime by Jasper Fforde
• Reaching for the Invisible God by Philip Yancey
• Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell: A Novel by Susanna Clarke
• The Essential Leonard Cohen

The first two were already pre-ordered for early August, and the rest were already on a list somewhere.

Posted by on Sunday, June 11, 2006 at 11:37 AM
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For the first time in I don’t know how long, my e-mail inbox is empty.

Don’t get any bright ideas (today, at least). Allow me to enjoy this brief moment.

UPDATE: However, the person who just sent me an Amazon gift certificate had the right idea.

Posted by on Sunday, June 11, 2006 at 9:42 AM
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I’ve experienced a few major stressors over the last few years, so it’s a wonder that my finances are in decent shape. Years ago I set up a good system, and it’s that system that saves the day when I’m not able to pay close attention.

Gina Trapani over at Lifehacker writes about her system, which is a lot like mine. All of my bill-paying is automated via NetBank (with the exception of our car insurance, which is automated via our credit union). My NetBank money market account covers the occasional overdraft, thus serving as my buffer account. I have twelve savings accounts at ING Direct, eight of which get weekly automatic deposits. I increase my 401(k) contribution by a certain percentage every year (1% because it’s a new year, 1% when raises come through. I haven’t hit the matching ceiling yet). I also have a habit of checking my bank balance every day, just to make certain that nothing surprising has happened.

Posted by on Wednesday, May 31, 2006 at 12:06 PM
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The Russian cellist finally proposed. Marina said yes.

So if all goes as intended, come the end of September I will once again be winging my way toward Iceland, home of the Blue Lagoon.

It’s a good thing I found my passport, and it’s a good thing I started that travel savings account.

Posted by on Wednesday, May 31, 2006 at 6:13 AM
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When writing a story, you may wish to name your antagonist Upton. Upton lends itself to nicknames such as Upchuck and Up Yours.

Making him tall, paunchy, middle-aged, overbearing, and married to the Other Woman is optional.

No sense in everyone piling on—leave a comment if you think you might use it.

Posted by on Tuesday, May 30, 2006 at 8:30 AM
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“I meant to show this to you,” I said, handing Mr. Cuccu the corner of a condom wrapper. It’s not uncommon for Russell and his friends to leave trash behind after using my car.

“When did you find it?” he said.

“A week or two ago.”

He gazed at the fragment for a moment, then opened the window and flicked it into the windstream.

Posted by on Tuesday, May 30, 2006 at 8:26 AM
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So says David Allen in Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life (page 26). At the Chicago GTD | Roadmap seminar, he also said that “your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.”

I remain astonished at all of the half-baked ideas, assorted ephemera, myriad widgets, nearly useless crap, and occasional flashes of brilliance that daily comes out of my head and onto my notebook or into the voice recorder. On the one hand, it means that I’m not dead yet. On the other hand, how was I managing before I started to write everything down?

GTDers know the answer to that question: not very well. Here’s David Allen again:

Posted by on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 at 3:10 AM
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As noted earlier this week, when I started weight training this month I was unable to do even one modified pushup. Now I can do two.

Posted by on Tuesday, May 16, 2006 at 6:41 PM
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