Making 11 copies of my 13-page story for a writers' workshop, then collating and stapling them, was among my most tedious hours this year. #

Reading the stories submitted for the Turkey City writers' workshop, many mailed in ahead of time. Writing some critiques. #

If seriously, I can't imagine how it's possible to read 11 stories and write quality ( Read more... )

Have been alternatingly attacked by alligators and rescued by good alligators, all played by Erika. She even tells me exactly what to say. #

The laptop is starting to worry me. It wasn't a dead battery. It randomly shuts down, probably from overheating. #

It seems my Insight gas tank is only 2/3rds of the capacity of Mitsu Eclipse,but the gas in it ( Read more... )

Yummy dinner and juicy relationship rumination last night with @renegade500 , @captspastic and Jude. Then came home and slept 9 hours! #

failed to explain to the 4-year-old what "transhuman" means (the question was prompted by the cover of a story anthology by the same title). #

Could not satisfactorily explain why "he has slinkies for arms" - to ( Read more... )

Erika often asks me to let her watch short videos I took of her when she was a baby. She does funny things in them, like babbles in an evil croaky voice (for the record, this 23-second video can be found here as WMV, (~ 2.7 MB), or here as MPEG (~ 3.9 MB)), or tries to stand up and falls over backwards, sending her current 4-year-old self into ( Read more... )

Not-so-free donut day at Dunkin Donuts: you only get a donut if you buy a drink. Small coffee: $1.40. Donut: $0.89. It's not worth it. #

Not worth to me, at least, because I get free coffee at work. But Krispy Kreme gave away free donuts with no strings attached. #

My 4-year-old saw a mirror with a hinge, said it was like a computer. It must have ( Read more... )

Fired off my almost 7500-words-long story to the ApolloCon writers' workshop yesterday. Now I can catch my breath and tweet a little. #

At the Center For Inquiry book club, discussed a boring book with only one other person(though she was interesting).Joys of being organizer. #

Then I went to the Atheist Community of Austin happy hour, only to be ( Read more... )

Elevation Burger has tasty food (I only tried the veggie burger),but the timers on their grills make annoying alarm noises every few seconds #

Erika's playdate with another little girl is going well, except Erika's dad naively assumed the girls will take a nap. Ha ha. #

I spoke too soon. Doors are now being slammed as Erika is melting down. The ( Read more... )

Will take daughter to Zilker park to celebrate her birthday with a group of parents and kids. The fact that it's 2 days late confuses her. #

Daughter keeps asking if her birthday has come again after just 2 days, and if this means she is now 5 years old. #

gave my child a real birthday party for 1st time: pinata, cake, people singing Happy Birthday ( Read more... )

Happy birthday to my daughter Erika, who's 4 today! 4 is also the answer she gives to her favorite math problem:how many people have 8 eyes? #

I'm off to the Door64 Tech Fair. Praying to net deities that they have reliable WiFi and plenty of electric outlets there. #

Can't connect to WiFi at the Goodwill Community Center at Door64 Tech Fair, but ( Read more... )

Went to lunch with Michael Shermer and Center For Inquiry folks. Shermer is a down-to-Earth guy - even stole a fry from someone's plate! :) #

Shermer mentioned wanting to write science fiction like Carl Sagan - use characters and plot as vehicle for ideas. I'll blog about it later. #

In my office there are cans of disinfectant wipes sitting ( Read more... )