Every day that I wake up and the world is still here is a joy to me, and a wonder.

I mean everything. With the poisons we dump into the environment, I'm shocked and overjoyed every time I see a wild animal. I'm amazed and delighted when the rain doesn't burn my skin because of the acidity. I'm filled with awe that I can see the stars through the light and air pollution.

Haven't put anything up on this blog for a while. Bought a house, kayaked a lot, generally very busy. I plan to start remedying that, starting with this post.

Tripped across a fascinating quote the other day:

I'm way behind the curve when it comes to having sex. I guess this shouldn't come as a surprise to me, but it's how far behind the curve that is shocking.

Like many people out there, I hate spam. I expect I have less brethren who hate it so much that they make an actual effort to do something about it, but that's me. I report every spam email I get through the SpamCop reporting service, and you should to.

Usually this reporting results in very little, but it generates statistical data that puts pressure on companies to solve the problem and allows mail server administrators (like myself) to decide who to refuse mail from.

It's tax time. That means pain and suffering. For the first time in quite a while, however, I don't feel like it's my fault.

I tried using a service called TaxAct Online. They (allegedly) offer a free service, as well as add-on services for a fee.

I decided to use the free service, because my 2007 taxes should be simple (I didn't do anything fancy with my money in 2007, so the taxes shouldn't be difficult).

Here's my big complaint about precedent-based law: if a party of a lawsuit is incompetent, an unreasonable verdict can be reached that sets a precedent that's difficult to overturn.

Based on this article which contains the entire text of a legal "finding of fact", performing zone transfer could be considered illegal. This is complete nonsense.

When it becomes illegal to access publicly available information, we start to live in a scary world. In points 8, 9, and 10, the court correctly found the purpose and nature of zone transfers.

This is the second Saturday I've spent with Pete Butler and the other two assistant editors, grinding through the slush pile to find stories for Triangulation: Taking Flight. I've already learned a lot about what it's like to be on the other side of the editor/writer wall. Here are some thoughts to help writers come up with stuff that we'll like. I expect that a lot of these points apply to getting your work accepted by most markets:

Pittsburgh Worldwrights is looking for writers.

Worldwrights is a "critiquing group", which is to say that we're a group of writers who aspire to be better writers, and thus submit our work to each other for suggestions on how to improve our writing and storytelling.

The group has lost of few members recently, and is looking to restaff a bit. The magic number seems to be around 10 people, which means we could use 4 more right now to hit the sweet spot.

I was going to see "I am Legend" this weekend, but I thought better of it. Instead, I'm going to find something entertaining to do that doesn't involve crossing the picket lines of the writer's strike.

My 1995 Toyota Celica died this past Wednesday. Those who know me can imagine my insufferable grief at the loss of this vehicle, which I've been driving for so long because I absolutely love it.