Michael Ashleigh Finn

No, not with fake wood and a nail gun. I'm not THAT irish. I'll leave that the the Learys.

http://www.fencon.org/guests2009.html

Other news in my busy busy world:

Rewrite of Chapter One of Chessmen is finished, which contained a huge stumbling block that was messing up the feng shui of my amygdala.

Graham Young, husband of best friendling Claudia, sold his first horror story this week! It'll be appearing in a magazine called The Absent Willow Review the day before Fencon.

I actually like my job.

Night time CPAP breathing machine no longer sounds like Dark Vader with hiccups, and new mask is comfortable for a change.

Potential of being required to work from home soon. This is good, as it will get me away from the bloody florescent lights at work, and save me 90 mins a day in travel. Plus, with my constant urge to check email, I'll actually be ABLE to , as my machine will be at home.

 

A friend recently started watching Carnivale and fell in love with it. I started to respond to her post with other suggestions, decided just to do it here.

Some of these will have you going "Duh, that's popular now!" But it deserves to be on this list...which is in no particular order.

( In addition to Dr. Who, I Claudius, et all.... )

Let me preface this by saying I like Apple. I love my Ipod Touch. I don't have a Mac because I like to game....and I like to have a variety of games. But I respect the hell out of OSX et al, and absolutely love multi-touch.

But it's always funny how The Computer of the People often doesn't understand the people:

"...when an analyst asked Cook about the chances Apple will sell a cheap netbook computer, he uncorked. "When I look at what is being sold in the netbook space today I see cramped keyboards, terrible software, junky hardware, very small screens, " Cook said. "Quite frankly it is not a space as it exists today that we are interested in, nor do we believe that customers will be interested in."

Translation: If you've bought one of these, you've been had.

Then he kept going. "People who want a small computer, so to speak, that does browsing and e-mail might want to buy an iPod Touch, they might want to buy an iPhone," Cook said, nothing that Apple has sold 21 million iPhones and 16 million iPod Touches."
 
From: http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/22/apple-steve-jobs-technology-enterprise-tech-apple.html?feed=rss_popstories

Personally, I'd love to be able to do the things my little EEE Ninjatop netbook could do on my Itouch that fits in my pocket. LOVE. But the fact of the matter is, the keyboard on the Itouch/Iphone is MUCH more cramped than the EEE, the screen MUCH smaller, and you have no word processors. I can't MUSH from there either, because no one has gone through the hassle of making an app to allow this and go through the approval process for Itunes.

I bought the EEE because business finally figured out what I...and apparently a ton of others...have wanted for a decade: A small, no frills, easily portable laptop that lets you do basic computing. No singing and dancing, just wifi, browser, word processer et all. Cheap. (It was cheaper than my Itouch, btw.)

Now, if Apple will only figure out that people would kill for a multi-touch tablet PC. Folks have been screaming for one for years.

But then, Apple has a habbit of trash talking things until they release their own, hence the interesting kicker at the end of the above article:

"However, Cook implied, if Apple really wanted to build one, it would not suck, unlike all those other netbooks. "Of course, if we find a way where we can deliver an innovative product that really makes a contribution then we'll do that, and we have some interesting ideas in this space."

Seriously. "The product pipeline looks fantastic for the Mac," Cook added.

Not that those notebooks could ever compare to a Mac, or even a computer. "These very low-priced netbook computers … are really propping up the unit numbers for the industry as a whole," Cook admitted.

So forget about that whole netbook thing, at least until June, or maybe September. Hey guys, we'll get back to you on that. These are not the droids you are looking for, got it? Did I mention we're about to hit more than 1 billion downloads for the iPhone's app store? Really something, ain't it?

Wheee!"

Seriously, I miss Mac being the freedom loving rebels. They've morphed into Disney with a Stormtrooper color scheme.

 Hugo noms are out. For those who don't know what those are, think the genre publishing equivilent of putting "Oscar nominaed" on a resume. That's not hyperbole...for this business, it's that big of a deal.

Remember thatt little project for DBPro I'm a consultant on? Check out the first nom.

Best Graphic Story

The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle

Written by Jim Butcher, art by Ardian Syaf (Del Rey/Dabel Brothers Publishing)

Girl Genius, Volume 8: Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones Written by Kaja & Phil Foglio, art by Phil Foglio, colors by Cheyenne Wright (Airship Entertainment)

Fables: War and Pieces Written by Bill Willingham, pencilled by Mark Buckingham, art by Steve Leialoha and Andrew Pepoy, color by Lee Loughridge, letters by Todd Klein (DC/Vertigo Comics)

Schlock Mercenary: The Body Politic Story and art by Howard Tayler (The Tayler Corporation)

Serenity: Better Days Written by Joss Whedon & Brett Matthews, art by Will Conrad, color by Michelle Madsen, cover by Jo Chen (Dark Horse Comics)

Y: The Last Man, Volume 10: Whys and Wherefores Written/created by Brian K. Vaughan, pencilled/created by Pia Guerra, inked by Jose Marzan, Jr. (DC/Vertigo Comics)

The solution: Keep having Obama nominate folks to positions. The backtaxes paid with every nomination should just about cover it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyTq1B4x3fY

Our trainer from South Texas, visiting the Winnipeg, Canada site to train the new recruits.

It's -43F when this was taken.

We have a Wii at work.

I've always hated golf, but now I'm addicted to Wii Golf.

Not great at the stanard golf game that comes with Wii Sports, usually 3-6 over par.

Just played 4 holes on Tiger Woods, which is supposed to be hard due to all the variables on your swing, plus the courses and physics models...and my score was 3 pars and an eagle (2 under par). I'm MUCH better at the more realistic version than the easy version. What the hell?

They call themselves Accuweather, but honestly, this is not the first time this has happened:

Temp: 35F
Real Feel: 33F


Honest, real temp outside? Mid 40s. Maybe Accuweather outsources their data collection.

I think I have polite tourrette's. I keep wanting to say the word "suck," randomly.

Suck, suck, suckity-sucksuck. Suck.

Not that life sucks. I just want to say it. Maybe it's subconscious therapy.

Writing again. Yay! Typoing worse, boo. I hit the keys, I just don't hit them hard enough. Wide shoulders and chest do not go well puny keyboards. (Actually, not exactly true. I typo less on my ninja top, because my hands stay in one place, just my fingers move.) I deperately want one of these: http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/images/133_blk.jpg
I just don't want the huge price tag.

Michelle got her Black Phoenix Clocket for Christmas, the day after New Years (they were out of stock) http://www.blackphoenixtradingpost.com/loclg_clockwork.gif  (it holds perfume on felt, the silver warms up...)
On the same day, she paid for my gift...a year's membership at Bally's!

I also used a tradein at Fry's and a giftcard from Claudia to get an NVIDIA 9800 GT (I tried to get the GTX, but it requires more power pins than I have in my computer). It's an upgrade from my 7800, and means that not only do I have dual screens (I had that before the move in summer, but that functionality died), but I Fallout 3 doesn't crash and World of Warcraft, which looked good before, is jawdropping in the way you can see paths and towns WAY off in the distance. Seriously, it's like one of those old cartoon maps where cities pop out of lush fields like mushroom pockets.

Finally saw the last episodes of the original Life on Mars and the first few eps of the sequel, Ashes to Ashes. FANTASTIC.  Keeley Hewes may be outdoing John Simm, and Philip Glenister is a true treasure. The man's comic timing is brilliant.

And for those rare people who are wondering if they should pick up the Dr. Horrible DVD...do. Commentary the Musical is top notch and more fun than the original show.  The behind the scenes stuff is great, too.

 The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle by Jim Butcher and Ardian Syaf (Hardcover - Oct 14, 2008)

 Holy ******'n  christ.

Not only did the independant DBPro comic The Dresden Files "Welcome to the Jungle" 4 issue original miniseries (written by Jim) hold its own against the big boys at Marvel and DC, the graphic novel collection of it hit stores a little over a week ago....and landed solidly at Number 90 on the USA Today Top 100!


It'd be on the NY Time's list, but they don't count graphic novels.

Amazon's happy with it as well: #1 for the most popular items in pop culture, which measures the best sellers in comics and graphic novels.

http://www.dabelbrothers.com/index.php?categoryid=16&p2_articleid=25

If you don't know why this is a big deal to me personally:
http://pics.livejournal.com/michael_finn/pic/00001q2h

 1) Spiderbites suck. On the plus side, it's on the outside of the right hand, maybe I'll turn into Peter Parker.

2) I just saw the 2nd trailer for Quantum of Solace. This one may outdo the last one. If so, they've managed to make the original films look quaint. If you never saw the first one....do. Fantastic performances (not something you expect in a Bond film), solid directing, great editing and foley work, and a solid script.
 And the new one is directed by Marc Forster (Stranger Than Fiction)
 http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/quantumofsolace/

"In addition, the bill includes relief for another year from the Alternative Minimum Tax, without which millions of Americans would have to pay the so-called "income tax for the wealthy." -CNN

Now, there's an interesting thing. Does that provision help on THIS year's taxes, 2008, or next years? In order to see a benefit in the near future, it needs to be this year's.

I also have selfish reasons for wanting to know...the EDS buyout of my department was handled in such a way that they threw money at us for the transfer (basically, here's money to stay with the business instead of leaving us high and dry for selling you off.)...but so many bonuses, so quickly, that it pushed many of us into the Alt Min Tax bracket. Meaning most of those boni goes to taxes next year, most like. Making them mostly worthless (especially since they were supposed to mitigate the loss of benefits).

So I'm REAL interested in the answer to that.

 "This show is so much better with gin!!!!!" *giggle*



Later.....


"Why is the room spinning?"
"That's the ceiling fan, dearheart."
"Oh." *giggle*

 Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000168 EndHTML:0000003158 StartFragment:0000000495 EndFragment:0000003141

Typing this sitting in a long line at Taco Bell, because it's the only fast food place open in 10 miles that I've found. A few restaurants are open, but they're packed and doing things like “12 bucks a head, you have you choice of this or that.” Technically, I can eat at home, but crap in a tortilla is at least a change. Of course, I thought that before I've been stuck in the corral behind a line that hasn't moved in 15 mins. Apparently, they're ordering for Yugoslavia up there.

 

Two days post storm. We have electricity but no internet. It's a tad surreal, as to be expected. A few samples:

 

*Every Shell station is swamped and has cops controlling entrances. Other gas stations are just empty. (Did I mention I love my Prius?)

 

*Fry's Electronics has been open since yesterday. They are Faboo.

 

*Signage has been really odd. Some look like they're melting, as they're platic and rubber with supports that have given way. Others are shredded. Occasionally, there's one sign perfectly fine around totalled one. There's a HUGE metal-poled one at a precarious angle over another Shell station (this one does not have people swarming it)

 

*Michelle's parents has a tree fall on their roof. Mostly fine, except it ripped the power cables down, causing a breach in the wall...which lead to water pouring out of their fusebox. Even when their neighborhood gets restored, they're still be without power.

 

 

*When Michelle & I moved in together a few months ago, she lived in the same complex we do now. We checked her old assigned parking space....a tree would have demolished her car. Also, they messed up and changed our apt 3 days before we moved, causing mass havoc with electric and internet because they were slated to the other address and cannot turn on a Susan B Anthony, let alone a dime.

That part of the complex is still without power...if we had not been changed, we would be stuck w/o power, now.

 

Day 3: 70% of Houston w/o power, including most of my own town. It's surreal that we got power back 14 hrs afterwards.

The storm damaged a trunk of the internet, so that needs to be fixed before we get internet as well. Writing this from the 59 Diner, which apprarently has access. Or else I'm hallucinating due to eating Taco Bell yesterday.

 

 Hurricane Ikea is on it's way to delivering fresh water and wind to all the good little boys and girls...we will likely lose internet Fri night through god knows how long. Hopefuly, electric loss will be short.

 

Flooding not likely, and if it occurs, more likely to be exceedingly annoying where I am than life threating. Likewise, our complex is exceedingly solid and will not blow down unless a tornado scores a direct hit.

 

 

Point of all this is to reassure you that if I disappear, it's likely due to connection issues and not life and limb.

 

Forecast for my zip code:
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=Stafford&state=TX&site=HGX&textField1=29.624&textField2=-95.5631


Kickass site for tracking the storm...we're the extreme west side of Houston (It goes: Houston, Stafford, Sugarland. We're on the border of Sugarland and Stafford):
 http://www.stormpulse.com/