Gone for Three Days

Off the Chicago on a business trip. Should be fun. Only sad I won't get much chance to see the city itself. Such is life.

Hope everyone's week is good, and I'll blog when I can.

I am Spartacus

I am way late on this, but Shakespeare's Sister is a brave woman and deserves all the support she can get, even from an occasional political blogger like me.

And so does Pandagon, who also took the high road.


So I, too, am Spartacus.



Good luck, folks.

Friday Night Mish-Mash Round 1

I was planning to blog last night but ended up at work until 9:15 PM. So tonight, I blog. Three cool things for you this evening:

First, a little history:

Historic pictograph is First Nations view of treaty talks

Very cool to think of someone putting down on paper their view of what was happening. They want the pictograph back in Saskatchewan, but need to raise $175,000 US to purchase it. Haven't found any details yet, but the Royal Saskatchewan Museum is part of the bid, so if you want to help out, give them an email.

Second, a little more history:

Ice anglers discover unidentified shipwreck in Lake Superior

"The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
Superior, they say, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early."

Be interesting to find out what sort of a wreck it is, and how old.

And finally, a little sprituality:

How To Meditate

It's a great litttle website that introduces you to some of the basic skills of meditation, and to Kadampa Buddhism. The meditation information is really good, and it gives a nice bit of insight into the stages of meditation you journey though as a practitioner of this method of Buddhism.

I highly recommend meditation, by the way, no matter what your religion or lack thereof. It calms the mind and body, and helps you to take control of your life.

New Archaeology Links

Been sick for most of a week, and finally got back here.

Archaeology is one of those "if I had another life I'd do this" things for me, and so I've added a whack of Archaeology Blogs to the site. Some are local, some relate to single projects, some cover large areas. Hopefully, there's something interesting there for everyone who wants a look.

Back to work. Have to finish the dishes and maybe write something.

Geek Links!

Been a while since I posted any science stuff, so here's a couple of cool ones I found today.

Archaeologists won't separate prehistoric couple unearthed in eternal embrace

and

Arctic island to house world's first seed vault

And now, I have a proposal to write. And some more of Cold Magics.

Back to work.

Wheeeee!!!

It was great!

Day 1: We got there late, so no skiing, but had a fabulous dinner and shot some pool and got board games from the front desk and relaxed for the evening (yes, we are geeks). Slept without interruption (except to turn down the room heater which would not stop blasting out heat no matter how warn the room got).

Day 2: Skiing!

Now Sara, my lovely wife, had never been on downhill skis in her life, so the larger part of the day was spent teaching her how to get down the hill without killing herself or someone else. Got to say, she picked it up very quickly and was skiing down the longer runs without falling by the end of the morning. She did fab.

As for me, didn't fall once, which is a minor miracle, went down the beginner runs repeatedly, then got the chance, once Sara was feeling confident enough to ski alone, to try my luck at the intermediate runs.

I swear that intermediate runs were much less steep when I was sixteen. Still, made it down those as well, though on one I leaned back so far that My uphll arm hit the snow. Hurt myself but managed to stay more or less upright. Naturally, I did it again. Whee!

And the kid did very well on her weekend with Mum-Mum. Both had colds, so they spent the time indoors, playing, coloring, and watching videos. Mum-Mum had a great if very tiring time and so did Maggie, who went down like a rock.

And that was the weekend. A good time was had by all except Thomas (lead character in Cold Magics and Small Magics) who has been waiting two days for me to get him to the next bit of his adventures.

So, back to work.

Skiing!

That's right, skiing.

My wife and I are off to a nearby resort this weekend for some rest, relaxation and fun while our daughter's Mum-Mum (her maternal grandmother) takes care of her overnight Saturday.

Of course, our beloved Maggie (our daughter) has decided to have a cold and a fever this weekend. Still, Mum-Mum is game and we're heading out (taking the cel phone with us just in case). Fortunately Maggie is now two and both old and big enough for cough medicine. She is sleeping the sleep of the drugged even as I write this.

But that's not the most exciting part. The most exciting part is that we're going skiing!!!

I haven't been on skis in 20 years. Literally. And my wife has only been on them once. Neither of us have proper gear and we're going to rent skis.

It should be hilarious.

So, wish me well, and here's hoping for a minimum of falls as I get me ski legs back.

Back to work...

And then to bed.

When it all goes to...

I'm trying to keep swearing to a minimum. Hence, the incomplete title.

Cold Magics is now363 pages (double spaced, for you writer types out there). The idea is good, the story is good, and it was going along swimmingly until I wrote one really, really good scene about one of the characters. Not even the lead, mind you, but someone important.

It's a great scene, and I was worried it would never fit into the rest of the book, the way it was going. And then I realized why.

Every character you write has a journey (or should). Some have very short journeys. This character's journey is about finding out who she is in terms of one very specific thing, and the scene that I've written is one of the major turning points for her and really about a major theme that needs to be developed. The problem is, that it's not supported by the rest of the book. Which means everything has turned bad, all of a sudden.

It's been bugging me for days; it's put a cramp in the entire process, and it's stopped me moving forward. Now normally, I'd just make a note to myself in the appropriate place in the manuscript and move on, with the idea of fixing it in the next draft. Problem was that, until today, I had no idea how to do that.

Now I do. And I need to go back to 62 to start the process.

Dammit.

Back to work. And I mean, way back...