A Curious Statistical Anomaly

As usual, as we near the end of a month, I’m gearing up to get the ezines on line for the next. SFRevu and Gumshoe Review go live with new content on March 1st. It means days are a bit longer and with a bit more stress to add spice.

Meanwhile, I’m also trying to finish the first sock of the first kit of my Rocking Sock Club. This year I joined and the first kit convinced me that I made the right decision. When we receive a package, we’re asked to not post photos of our projects for 30 days. So, sometime during the first week of March, I’ll get some photos up.

Then there’s all the other little projects I’ve been trying to get to. I’ve cleared up my office (once the dining room) a bit. Had to, we’ve got to get all the tax stuff together.

Anyway, since I was clearing some things up anyway, I’ve started trying to use “lists” again. Just writing down what I need to do helps to get me thinking about what’s in the queue and how to arrange those jobs to get them done in a timely manner.

Now if I could only find about a billion more spoons or canned energy or a package of fibro-be-gone, I’d be all set. We’ve finally got the basement floor cleared enough to set up the Wii again. I plan to do something on it every other day until I don’t feel like a wet noodle afterwards. The docs keep telling me exercise will help me deal with the pain and give me more energy. I didn’t see that the last time, but I did lose weight and my arthritis was better, so it’s back to the Wii. But, I do wonder why they coded that little guy with so much attitude — that little appliance can be very snarky.

Oh, well, back to work.

Just sleeping and napping mostly over the last couple of days. How is it that the flu/cold can just knock you out on one day and the next your fine and the day after you can barely move again.

I’ve got to get over this eventually, right?

It seems like today I was busy from the time I got up until and including now — I had a huge TODO list and barely made a dent in it. (Guess it didn’t help having insomnia strike again and again.)

We’re coming up on Capclave which will be from October 16 to 18th in Rockville, Maryland. SFRevu is having a sales table in the dealers’ room. It’s a great small convention focusing on short fiction. This year the Guests of Honor are Harry Turtledove and Sheila Williams.

The Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA) is activating WSFA Press to publish a limited edition book, Reincarnations by Harry Turtledove with Introduction and notes by Sheila Williams. The book will be for sale at Capclave and pre-orders are being taken at the WSFA Press website.

I’m on the WSFA Press publications committee, vice chair of this year’s Capclave, and Editor of SFRevu, Gumshoe Review, and TechRevu.

You can imagine just how busy that all keeps me — and it’s also severely impacting my knitting time. I’ve got Einstein mittens to finish fine tuning, two bears to finish, not to mention the sweaters (3 in various stages of knittitude), and socks (one project in just about every place I might light for an few minutes).

I need a hug. Guess I’ll go find Hyperion. (Anyone get the reference?)C

Just got back home from the WSFA Meeting. Everything is on track for Capclave which is October 16-18. Check the webpage for details.

The WSFA Small Press Award for Short Fiction will also be award at a ceremony during Capclave. Voting has closed and the award has been ordered, certificates printed, and we’re ready for the ceremony.

Big sigh of relief that things are still on track. If you’re going to be in the Washington, DC area during Capclave and you enjoy science fiction and fantasy — consider checking it out.

Got a few more bits to do but the zines are live already and that’s a relief.

Gumshoe Review
SFRevu

Should have them all pressed and polished by tomorrow late afternoon — provided I can get moving with this cold/flu thing I’ve got.

I was sent the link to this YouTube video yesterday and just loved the sentiment and the music. Originally published on YouTube on September 17th, 2009 it is a beautiful tribute by Melodysheep (John).

Here’s what he says about this piece:

A musical tribute to two great men of science. Carl Sagan and his cosmologist companion Stephen Hawking present: A Glorious Dawn – Cosmos remixed. Almost all samples and footage taken from Carl Sagan’s Cosmos and Stephen Hawking’s Universe series.

If you click on “more info” in the upper right-hand area with the links the words are listed so if you have a problem hearing the lyrics you can check the actual wording out.

Enjoy. I did. I miss Sagan’s simple explanations of complex topics and his apparent joy in science.

I was reaching for a book to take it off the shelf and got a pretty bad gash from the dust jacket. That got me thinking that most of the cuts on my hands have been paper cuts. Should books and paper be reclassified as dangerous weapons? Should those TSA people start making us put newspapers, magazines, and books in our check through? I remember that they did forbid books for a while in flights from Britain to the US when there was an incident that had nothing to do with books a while back.

Sometimes, it makes you rethink things, but could it be that they were afraid people would read something scary or incendiary and throw a fit? Do people get passionate about their reading material anymore?

I know that I’ve burst out laughing while reading a passage or been sniffling back sobs and tears and had people step away from the crazy person. Friends have told me that they often react to what they’re reading by laughing, crying, or getting emotional in other ways.

But with my throbbing paper cut, I’m thinking maybe ideas aren’t the only danger that books possess.

What do you think?

There’s been so much going on that I’m still in a tail-spin. Hopefully, since I spent the last three days working about 14 hours each on various things — I’m caught up. Tomorrow, I plan to post a book review of Mr. Darcy, Vampyre by Amanda Grange. So, check back then. I should then be back on schedule.