..And deeper in debt!
So, it's my birthday again. It seems like they just keep coming, like an on-rushing train in that proverbial tunnel where the light isn't quite what we think it will be when it arrives. Honestly, it seems kind of impossible to me that I'm still chugging along, but, according to the actuarial tables, I should expect about another 30-odd years of life. Which is a good thing because, in spite of being statistically middle-aged, I come from...
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It's never too late to get inspired!
I know that I've missed almost a full week of December, but, well, I don't think it's too late to share a month-long photo challenge.
Daniela Bowker, over at Photocritic.org, shared a 30 Day Photo Challenge she found via Twitter a couple of days ago, and I thought I'd kick off this month's Friday links by passing it along. The idea originally comes from the folks behind the Twitter account @Just_Go_Do_It and is a different...
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So, at this point, you should be just about done with your novel for NaNoWriMo.
If you've kept pace, in the next 24 to 48 hours, you should be wrapping up your 50,000+ pages and breathing a giant sigh of relief.
You'll want to step away from the writing tools of your choice and take a break before editing your fledgling star into something that people will want to not only read, but tell their friends about having read. But, first, you're...
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If you're doing NaNoWriMo this month, and you're reading this post, you're either so far along on your book that you have time to burn, or you've given up.
Please, don't give up.
In 2011, John Scalzi wrote about "being fictional", which was his take on Elizabeth Bear's post regarding how she is, in the minds of fans who have not met her, essentially, a fictional person. It's an interesting thought, I think, that someone can think they know us so well...
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The infamous science-fiction workshop lexicon of "things to not do".
Over the years, so much has been written about what to do and what NOT to do in fiction that it's a little overwhelming sometimes.
Personally, when I write, I'm almost always trying to write fantasy or science-fiction, or what is sometimes referred to as "speculative fiction". On the surface, that seems easier, since, essentially, a writer can make up virtually every and any aspect of their fictional universe, but, good speculative...
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So, in support of NaNoWriMo, this month, I've decided to serve up nothing but writing-related links.
At a week into the process of writing your novel, you should be well on your way. But, maybe there are some back-story details you'd like to fill in. Maybe a character who needs an odd name, or who's pockets you need to fill with random stuff. Maybe you need a fictional timeline for a fictional nation. Or, maybe you need a wacky science-fiction invention...
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A new screwdriver set, with a complete set of long-shaft bits, and a special set of "tamper resistant" bits for work. Purchased because the original in-house installers of a projector are all claiming ignorance now that we have to replace it.
Luckily, Harbor Freight Tools had a sale and this whole set was less than $20!
The screws in question, incidentally, are the "hex" or "Allen wrench" style with a post in the center. Kind of deceptive and frustratingly hard to identify when you don't know their name!
Published via Pressgram
NaNoWriMo starts today, but I won't be participating this year.
Maybe next year, after my life is just a little more settled and I've spent a year getting my writing chops back.
Writing here, or any non-fiction, is relatively easy for me these days, but writing fiction is another kettle of fish. I used to write all the time and, especially right after college, it flowed easily and well. I would say, in my own estimation, that I was writing fiction at...
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Wow, I almost forgot to post this week!
It's funny, but I skip just a couple of times and all of a sudden I'm out of the habit of posting a Friday Fun Link. Well, hopefully, I'll get back into the rhythm of regular posting again, one step at a time. Since getting married, I've decided I need to start doing more things like that, which I used to do when I first met my wife and we started dating. Like...
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Where was this when I needed it?!
If you don't work in the IT industry, you may think of us all as the stereotypical "pencil-necked geeks", but you'd be wrong. That's especially true of those of us who have had the pleasure of doing regular work in large data centers or server farms. When you see those long racks of endless servers in ads on TV, consider this, someone had to lift them all into place. And, if you think that laptop you have to lug through airport security is heavy, then you never, ever want to have to lift a server into place in a server rack. Consider this; a Dell PowerEdge 2950 server, which is a pretty standard or average size, weighs almost 60 pounds. When you have to lift that into a server rack, you have to hold it steady while lining up the sliding rail assemblies so that they lock into place in that server rack. Now, imagine controlling 60 pounds with that kind of fine motor control over your head.
Yeah, and that's not even mentioning the big UPS units that often run more than 200 pounds.
So, that's why so many IT people are really actually quite well built, at least when it comes to upper-body strength. (It's those damn chairs and keyboards that make the weight stack up around the middle!)
But, today, I got an email from a company advertising a product called ServerLift.
Now, regular readers know that I'm pretty mercenary, so I rarely advertise anything for free, but this product looks like genius! This thing will, according to their product literature, will lift up to 500 pounds and will let you wheel that load right up to the rack and glide it right in. I haven't used one myself, because I don't work in a big server environment at the moment, but the video makes it look like lining things up is pretty simple. And, best of all, it looks really stable and secure, so there's less possibility of dropping a server or, like I have, bending a rail that wasn't quite lined up right.
I cannot tell you how many times I have wished for a product just like this one! And, so help me, if I ever get into a position where I'm in charge of a big data center again, I'll be finding out how much these are so I can work it into the budget.
I can only imagine how many broken toes this would have saved over the years!
