If you happen to run a Worldcon…

November 19th, 2009

…maybe you should consider, oh, I don’t know, actually paying artists the money you owe them? (I know, radical idea. That’s me, clumsily stepping all over fannish tradition…) Because artists, much like writers, really like getting paid the money you owe them. In a timely manner, even.

Just a crazy thought…

In the Mail: Michael Shea Gets His Cthulhu Mythos On

November 18th, 2009

Added the following to my library (and copies are also available through Lame Excuse Books):

Shea, Michael (S.T. Joshi, editor). Copping Squid and Other Mythos Tales. Perilous Press, 2009. First edition hardback, one of only 750 hardback trade copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new, still in shrink wrap. All the Cthulhu Mythos tales by the excellent, World Fantasy Award-winning author of Nifft the Lean. I expect this to be very popular. $30.

How to make sure you won’t represent me

November 18th, 2009

By sending out mass-shotgunned letters based on dumb keyword searches like this:

From: letters@route.monster.com
Subject: (#263-MH1392) App Support Eng. needed!!!
Date: November 18, 2009 10:01:03 AM CST
Reply-To: ashafer@sigmainc.com

Hello [firstname],

We have an Application Support Engineer need for our client located in Boston, MA. (permanent full-time engagement) We found your profile online, and thought this opportunity might be of interest to you.
–snip—
Sigma caters to more than 40 clients across the country, so hopefully we can work together to place strong candidates, such as yourself, in the ever growing IT industry.

Thank you very much for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Alexander P. Shafer
Recruiting Associate
Sigma Systems, Inc.
ashafer@sigmainc.com
www.sigmainc.com

1. Yes, it was sent out that way, “Hello [firstname]” and all.
2. I’m a technical writer, not an application support engineer.

No, Mr. Shafer, if this the quality of work Sigma Systems does, I don’t want you representing me…

More pictures from RoadRich’s move

November 16th, 2009

Right here.

Books I added to my library this week

November 15th, 2009

And now some book geeking, for those interested in same.

All first edition hardbacks:

  • Howard, Robert E. Conan the Barbarian. Gnome Press, 1954. Fine copy in a Fine- dj with very slight fading to spine. Bought from a book dealer off the Internet.
  • King, Stephen. Under the Dome. Simon & Schuster, 2009. Signed/limited edition (which came out just before the trade), one of reportedly 1,500 copies signed by King, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, with limited edition trading cards, a belly band, better paper than the trade edition, and full-color maps on the endpapers. Bought pre-publication from the publisher.
  • Lansdale, Joe R. Vanilla Ride. Random House, 2009. The latest Hap & Leonard novel. Would have bought a copy off Joe at Armadillocon, but all he had were second printings. From Half Price Books.
  • Moorcock, Michael. The Opium General. Harrap, 1984. A Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. From Half Price Books. Formerly Scott Cupp’s copy.

Handy Moving Tips

November 15th, 2009

During the course of moving all one’s worldly possessions from one location to another, one may encounter certain problems. Among these problems may be: What do I do about this 200-pound stacked washer dryer unit that I have located in my second story apartment up two flights of stairs? As I have recent first-hand experience with this very issue, I thought I would use my hard-won knowledge to elucidate the most preferable options for moving a 200-pound stacked washer dryer (henceforth, “the unit”) .

Therefore, consider the following options, listed in their order of desirability:

  1. Sell the unit to someone who will come around with several burly men to move it out of your apartment.
  2. Pay professional movers to move all your possessions, starting with the unit.
  3. Sell the unit to the people who will be taking your place in the apartment.
  4. Sell the unit to a second-hand appliance dealer, with the proviso that he must come and get the unit with his own team of burly men.
  5. Save the lives of several NFL offensive linemen from a stampeding elephant, at which point they will cry “You’ve saved our lives! How can we repay you?” Then you tell them that you need them to move the unit, at which point they will bitterly realize how you have tricked them, but it will be too late.

  6. Leave the unit as a lovely gift to the new apartment inhabitant.
  7. Abandon the unit.
  8. Put up several signs around your apartment complex stating: “Warning! Do not steal my completely unattended washer/dryer unit!”, each of which includes a map and arrows pointing to said unit, the unit itself being festooned with signs proclaiming “DON’T STEAL THIS!” Human perversity being what it is, this should guarantee that the unit will be stolen in short order.
  9. Do you like blowing things up? (This is a rhetorical question. If you have a Y chromosome, of course you like blowing things up. Very much.) Well, now you have a nice solid washer/dryer unit upon which to satisfy those desires. (Warning: Owner of blog disclaims any and all responsibility for an inadvertent maiming that may ensue from following this course of action. Or for that matter, advertent maiming. But neither will prevent me from posting the videos to YouTube.)
  10. Inform the police that the previous tenant used the unit as part of a marijuana-growing, which will force them to come out and seize the unit as evidence.
  11. Imagine that there are several hundred other detailed ideas for disposing of the unit listed here.

  12. Consider the tranquil eternity awaiting you in the sweet release of death.
  13. Should each and every one of these clearly superior options, for some reason, not be available to you, you may consider, strictly as a last resort, having several of your not necessarily burly friends bring over a dolly and manhandle the unit down the stairs and out to the truck. There are, however, drawbacks to this approach:
    A. The possibility of immediate, painful death to someone below you should your grip slip. Gravity is a harsh mistress.
    B. If you are the one situated below, in addition to the possibility of immediate, painful metal death barreling down an apartment stairway toward you, you also have joy of knowing, at the end of the day, that your shoulder will look like this:

Light Blogging, Friend Moving

November 14th, 2009

Light blogging today today while I help a friend move from Southeast Austin to less South but more East Austin.

Q: Isn’t your blogging usually light every day?

A: Quiet, you! No one likes a smart ass.

Q: If no one likes a smart ass, why on earth would anyone ever read your blog?

A: Good point.

Happy Friday the 13th!

November 13th, 2009

Today’s Magic Word: Triskaidekaphobia

The Economics of Writing (sucks)

November 12th, 2009

John Scalzi on a writer’s income, or rather lack thereof.

Most of these are more true than not. I’m probably in a better position than most, because:

  • I have a day job, and have had a day job of one sort or another (with occasional gaps as long as nine months) for the entirety of my adult life.
  • I’m a cheap bastard. Save my bookshelves, just about every piece of furniture I’ve added to my house was someone else’s castoff, so my house resembles that distinctive decorating style known as “Early College Student.” My TV is an old non-HD hand-me-down. My phone is the cheapest piece-of-crap Verizon had five years ago (and I’ve since replaced it with a used copy of the same model bought cheap off eBay); I suspect Fisher-Price now sells a phone with more functions. It only took me five years to decide that I could finally afford to buy a $10 spoon rest. (You get the idea.)
  • I’m paranoid enough to always keep a good chunk of money in the bank for emergencies. (That’s also why I paid off all the bills I wracked up in my 20s in my early 30s.) Given the additional uncertainties here in the era of Hope and Change, I’ve recently doubled that amount. As former Intel Chairman Andy Grove was wont to say, “Only the paranoid survive.”

I would mention that my health has generally been pretty robust (certainly nothing like the host of maladies that, say, poor George Alec Effinger suffered), but that’s just asking The Giant Frying Pan of Fate to whack you upside the head for tempting it so. So (*cough*) I guess (*wheeze*) I won’t. (*Uh-oh*.)

Anyway, I’m doing a lot better than some, but I’m always looking out for ways to add to my financial cushion, the better to keep the wolves a few steps further from my door. A working spouse would be nice. If you’re an attractive single female, the line forms to the right. (No shoving and, as always, please, no wagering.)

By the way, on a completely unrelated note, I’ve added a Paypal donation button to this page…

Protip: Drive-bys

November 11th, 2009

If you’re going to conduct a drive-by shooting, roll down the window first.

It didn’t take Sherlock Holmes to crack this case…

(Hat tip: Bill Crider. )