Plaid Jammies: I just bought a really fancy golf cart for the lake house. It seats six!
Captain Crossword: Wow!
Jammies: I bought a new coffeemaker for $20.
Jeeves: SHOTGUN!
Monday, August 27, 2012
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Of buying and books and boycotts and bastards
In February, one of my favorite contemporary authors was put through a miserable period of stress thanks to Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Ms. Seanan McGuire tells her story much better than I would, so please go here to read it.
I stopped buying from Amazon years ago, when they said they'd continue to sell magazines about dog-fighting even though dog-fighting is illegal, and I was glad of that when they unfairly de-rated LGBT authors. But I've been a Barnes & Noble customer for ten years, and continued to buy from them, reasoning that it was a one-time error and wouldn't happen again.
Well, it did. In fact, they're doing it right now, and so I am done giving them any of my money. I pre-ordered the book I want from Books-A-Million, and will happily wait until September 4th to read it.
My discretionary spending isn't much. It's a drop in the ocean compared to what Bastards & Noble get daily, let alone yearly. Still, it's my drop, and I will not put it in their ocean until they stop this tactic. *sigh* It's very discouraging that they feel the need to put profit ahead of author relationships, but I guess that's the way the world is going.
I stopped buying from Amazon years ago, when they said they'd continue to sell magazines about dog-fighting even though dog-fighting is illegal, and I was glad of that when they unfairly de-rated LGBT authors. But I've been a Barnes & Noble customer for ten years, and continued to buy from them, reasoning that it was a one-time error and wouldn't happen again.
Well, it did. In fact, they're doing it right now, and so I am done giving them any of my money. I pre-ordered the book I want from Books-A-Million, and will happily wait until September 4th to read it.
My discretionary spending isn't much. It's a drop in the ocean compared to what Bastards & Noble get daily, let alone yearly. Still, it's my drop, and I will not put it in their ocean until they stop this tactic. *sigh* It's very discouraging that they feel the need to put profit ahead of author relationships, but I guess that's the way the world is going.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Quick update
1. I turned down a job in Columbus because I'm not ready to move, but it was nice to have the offer.
2. I ripped off half a toenail a week ago and it still hurts.
3. In the wee hours of Wednesday morning, Mouse got distressingly and messily sick in my bedroom, leading to a 4 a.m. wakeup and much laundry, followed by an excruciating morning as Mom and I worked on an estate where the final balance had to be divided between 14 people in 3 generations. Ack, fractions!
4. We got it done and out, yay!
5. Apparently, some people think it's okay to send 38 or 57 page faxes. No, no it's not.
6. I am still alive. :)
2. I ripped off half a toenail a week ago and it still hurts.
3. In the wee hours of Wednesday morning, Mouse got distressingly and messily sick in my bedroom, leading to a 4 a.m. wakeup and much laundry, followed by an excruciating morning as Mom and I worked on an estate where the final balance had to be divided between 14 people in 3 generations. Ack, fractions!
4. We got it done and out, yay!
5. Apparently, some people think it's okay to send 38 or 57 page faxes. No, no it's not.
6. I am still alive. :)
Sunday, August 05, 2012
Saturday, August 04, 2012
Eventful!
The family schedule for June and July:
June 16th: my parents' 50th wedding anniversary
June 17th: Father's Day
July 4th through the 9th: Jammiesfest
July 13th through the 22nd: My nephews staying with Mom and Dad
July 25th: My father's birthday
July 28th through August 4th: My nieces staying with Mom and Dad
August 4th through August 12th: Most of the whole famdamily staying at Lakeside.
*whew*
Some highlights:
Jay, Sherri and Zeus the Wonder Poodle came for Jammiesfest and rearranged my living room, cleaned all the glassware and alphabetized the books. Yes, I'm a little embarrassed by letting my friends see the cobwebby corners and work on their vacations, but I'm also thrilled at having a living room I can actually live in! And I did take them out for Thai food and make yummy lemon pound cake...
On my birthday, I woke up to a dog who looked like a losing prizefighter. Mr. Mouse had gotten stung or bitten and his right eye was swollen shut. Two vet visits, two weeks in the Collar of Shame, two steroids, two antibiotics and close to two hundred dollars later and he is fine.
The Awesome Nacho remembered that I like lavender and got me a lovely lavender soap for my birthday, and SuperDoughnut got me an adorable birdhouse.
Thanks to the new working arrangements, I got to see my nephews every day they were here.
For his birthday, I took my retro Dad to RetroDog, which was fun. My hot dog was good, Dad's onion rings looked superb and Dad liked it so much he and Mom took the girls there.
I got to see Bookworm Mathgeek for a couple of hours on the 28th, which was my only chance to spend some time with her before December, as she's not going up to the lake (and I'm only going for one day this year).
The girls had a tea party and invited Vegan Lawyer, her granddaughter and her stepgranddaughter. Cupcakes were decorated and frosted and eaten, fancy dresses were worn, t-shirts and hats and birdhouses were painted and a good time was had by all.
Mom took my nieces and I to the Natatorium, and Princess Mathgeek rode the water slide at least 10 times. Tinkerbelle climbed all the way to the top of the stairs, only to be told she was too short. :( So I went up with her and basically bullied the lifeguard into letting her go down once with me. Then they both jumped off the diving board multiple times and swam with me in the current pool. Mom took pictures and said the water was too cold. The next day, Mom took the girls to the outdoor water park and Tinkerbelle was tall enough to ride two of the four waterslides.
My father was so excited about his new tablet that he backed into my car and tore the driver's side mirror loose.
Despite all this, Mom and I managed to complete and send out three notary subpoenas, many letters, and 270 pages of responses to interrogatories. Today I am doing laundry and making a half-hearted effort to clean, and then tomorrow I will drive up to the lake for a few hours, spend some time with Captain Crossword and Jeeves, and then drive home.
June 16th: my parents' 50th wedding anniversary
June 17th: Father's Day
July 4th through the 9th: Jammiesfest
July 13th through the 22nd: My nephews staying with Mom and Dad
July 25th: My father's birthday
July 28th through August 4th: My nieces staying with Mom and Dad
August 4th through August 12th: Most of the whole famdamily staying at Lakeside.
*whew*
Some highlights:
Jay, Sherri and Zeus the Wonder Poodle came for Jammiesfest and rearranged my living room, cleaned all the glassware and alphabetized the books. Yes, I'm a little embarrassed by letting my friends see the cobwebby corners and work on their vacations, but I'm also thrilled at having a living room I can actually live in! And I did take them out for Thai food and make yummy lemon pound cake...
On my birthday, I woke up to a dog who looked like a losing prizefighter. Mr. Mouse had gotten stung or bitten and his right eye was swollen shut. Two vet visits, two weeks in the Collar of Shame, two steroids, two antibiotics and close to two hundred dollars later and he is fine.
The Awesome Nacho remembered that I like lavender and got me a lovely lavender soap for my birthday, and SuperDoughnut got me an adorable birdhouse.
Thanks to the new working arrangements, I got to see my nephews every day they were here.
For his birthday, I took my retro Dad to RetroDog, which was fun. My hot dog was good, Dad's onion rings looked superb and Dad liked it so much he and Mom took the girls there.
I got to see Bookworm Mathgeek for a couple of hours on the 28th, which was my only chance to spend some time with her before December, as she's not going up to the lake (and I'm only going for one day this year).
The girls had a tea party and invited Vegan Lawyer, her granddaughter and her stepgranddaughter. Cupcakes were decorated and frosted and eaten, fancy dresses were worn, t-shirts and hats and birdhouses were painted and a good time was had by all.
Mom took my nieces and I to the Natatorium, and Princess Mathgeek rode the water slide at least 10 times. Tinkerbelle climbed all the way to the top of the stairs, only to be told she was too short. :( So I went up with her and basically bullied the lifeguard into letting her go down once with me. Then they both jumped off the diving board multiple times and swam with me in the current pool. Mom took pictures and said the water was too cold. The next day, Mom took the girls to the outdoor water park and Tinkerbelle was tall enough to ride two of the four waterslides.
My father was so excited about his new tablet that he backed into my car and tore the driver's side mirror loose.
Despite all this, Mom and I managed to complete and send out three notary subpoenas, many letters, and 270 pages of responses to interrogatories. Today I am doing laundry and making a half-hearted effort to clean, and then tomorrow I will drive up to the lake for a few hours, spend some time with Captain Crossword and Jeeves, and then drive home.
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