Here it is… October. I think I only made one or two posts in September? Once again, my blogging skills leave a bit to be desired.

Anyhow. National Novel Writing Month starts on November 1st — the goal is to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days.

I’m thinking about taking par this year. I talk about writing alot, but I haven’t really written much of anything in years. This, I think, is my opportunity to try and knuckle down.

More information on this plan as it develops. I just thought I’d put it out there now.

Just a quick update here… Mary had another ultrasound on Sept 1, just before Labor Day. For the edification of those who care, here are the images from that visit.

The measurement (as of that visit) was about 11mm — a little less than half an inch. Everything is going fine as of this posting.

That’s all for now… it’s been a long day, and I’lm looking to go to bed early.

Two quick things I want to plug here. First off is a new webcomic I’ve come across called “No Pink Ponies”. It’s only recently started, and you can find it here:

http://www.nopinkponies.com/

The other pluggable item is a new single from “Weird Al” Yankovic entitled Don’t Download This Song! You can listen to it (and catch a snazzy little animated video for it) here:

http://www.dontdownloadthissong.com/

According to the site, the new album Straight Outta Lynnwood is out September 26.

That is all. Carry on.

Sorry. I realize it’s been about three weeks since my last post. Let’s pick up where we left off…

After “Adventures in Cell Phone Buying”, Monday was a quiet (if dull) workday. It was the third week of my training class — which means that I was more or less sitting there watching my one remaining student do his job. (*Yawn*)

Tuesday… things got interesting again. As I’m getting ready to leave the house I get a call from work. Brenda — who was teaching the training class after mine — had a family emergency and couldn’t be in that day. So I was tapped to take over the class for the day.

Oy. One of the three students was just not getting it. She seemed to understand the concepts just fine, but when it came to transfer those concepts to practical application on the computer… it just wasn’t happening. We were about half-a-day behind schedule by mid-afternoon, and it was obvious that the other two students were getting a little frustrated with the third student’s lack of comprehension.

It was a tough to manage… we had management come in and observe, and they made the call that the third student was just not suited to the job, and she was cut loose.

As Tuesday wrapped, the plan for the class was still up in the air. I had just taught a class, and they wanted to offer it to the other trainers. Turns out none of them wanted it, so it came back around to me (again). Fine by me — it meant I didn’t have to sit around and die of boredom watching Rob (my previous student) do his job. Slight problem — I was on vacation the next week.

But that got sorted out in the end — one of the other trainers, given sufficient advance notice, didn’t mind taking over the class for the second week.

On to Wednesday… get up a little early, head into work for more training. Everything is going well (my toe by this point had more-or-less stopped hurting and the bruise had faded to just a slight blush of blueish red).

Then, at about 8:30 or so, Kara (one of the supervisors at work) comes in to tell me that Mary was on the phone with some news for me. A little concerned, I excused myself from the class and headed out to the central desk. I picked up the phone and said, “Hello?”

Her reply, “Josh, I’m pregnant.”

You could have knocked me over with a feather.

We’ve been trying to get pregnant now for a couple of months. Mary’s been taking a drug called Clomid to help us conceive. Because of the treatments, she’s been having regular blood work to see if the drug is working as it should (there’s no guarantee of conception, but it does force the ovulation cycle, which can be measured with lab tests). Before starting a new cycle of Clomid, a pregnancy test is done — if you’re pregnant, there’s no need to do another round of the drug after all (that, and Clomid can cause all sorts of complications to the pregnancy).

Mary had had a doctor’s appointment on Tuesday (the day before). The standard pregnancy test (pretty much like the one you get at the grocery store — urine based) done in the office had come back negative.

But the blood work, when it came back from the lab the next morning… was positive.

They caught the pregnancy amazingly early — so early that the standard test was negative. Now, it wasn’t 100% confirmed at that point — it was still early, and there was a chance (however slim) of a false positive. They wanted another round of blood work to see if things were progressing as they should.

Long story short, they were, and we were (suddenly) expecting a new addition to the family.

Looking back on it now, it shouldn’t have been too surprising. That weekend (the weekend that kicked off this whole saga), Mary had been sick to her stomach quite a bit — moreso than usual (she’s somewhat easily nauseated). Considering her pregnancy had just started… it was “morning sickness”.

Fast forward a couple of weeks. Regular lab work during this time indicates the pregnancy is progressing normally. Wednesday morning, we had the first ultrasound, our first “baby pictures”, and the first estimation of due date. First off, the pictures (thumbnailed here, click on them for a full-size version).

Given how small the “raisin” (as we’ve taken to calling him or her for now) is, I’ve added a bit of enhancement to help out. In the first picture (top right), there’s a mouse arrow inside that circle pointing to little Aiden or Titania (Aiden Malcom for a boy, Titania Lynn for a girl). In the second and third pictures (top left and bottom right) you might be able to see a couple of cross-hairs used by Dr. Hughes (the OB) to measure how large our “raisin with a heartbeat” is.

Dr. Hughes says we’re about six weeks along, and gave us a due date of April 16th — right around our anniversary (on the 14th), and in the same ballpark as my brother’s and sister’s birthdays (the 3rd and 10th of April respectively).

It’s very cool, and Mary has been after me to post about it. I have, so now she can go off and obsess about something else with regard to this whole thing.

(Just kidding honey. I know you’re going to read this, and I love you. It’s very cool, exciting, and scary all at the same time.)

That was the week that was. Whew. I’m beat.

So… what a week it has been. Perhaps I should start back this past weekend, when Mary and I went down to the lake to have dinner and visit with my parents for one last time before they start their trek back south to get ready for the upcoming school year (they teach at a private school in Maryland).

Anyhow, before dinner I went for a swim — an activity that I enjoy, but don’t get to do very often because I’m often stuck up here in Bangor instead of being able to spend time down at the lake.

There’s a large, flat rock partially buried in the lake bed a couple feet beyond the end of the dock (it sticks up out of the bottom about an inch or two), and it serves as a great place to step when getting into (or out of) the water.

I forgot it was there, and I kicked it. I whacked my foot a good one, and my toe (not my big toe, the “index toe”), was in quite a bit of pain. I stifled a coupel of choice vulgarities (my cousin was visiting, and her two kids — ages 5 and 3 or thereabouts — were down there on the shore), clambered out of the water, and limped up the hill.

My toe was sore for the rest of the evening. When I got home (around 9:30pm or so), I took my shoes and socks off, and found a lovely sight. I’d describe it… but a picture is so much more descriptive in this instance.

Ain’t that a beaut? That was actually taken first thing Sunday morning. The swelling has gone down by now, and that lovely blood-clot red has faded to a dull purple bruise, and it doesn’t really hurt (unless I’m not paying attention and bang my tow on something). Based on the recovery time it wasn’t broken or anything (not that I could have done anything about it, even if it were).

So that was one adventure. The next one wasn’t as physically painful… but it was a bit more annoying.

Okay… on Friday afternoon, after I got out of work, I headed over to the comic shop where I get my bi-weekly (more or less) fix. While getting out of the car, my cell phon e fell out of my pocket onto the pavement. The back popped off and the battery fell out. I scopped it up, popped it back together, and everything appeared to be just fine.

Come Saturday (the day I smacked my toe), I noticed I was having some trouble. The phone kept dropping signal, occasionally displaying the message “Please Insert SIM card” (for those of you without cell phones, the SIM card is basically what makes a cell phone work).

We called customer service, and learned that we had two choices — we could try to get the phone fixed (and pay for the repairs out of pocket), or submit an insurance claim (since we were paying an extra $4 a month for that option). The only cost for the insurance claim would be the deductible, so we decided to take advantage of that. We were transferred over to the caim office, and found out that the deductible was $110.

To hell with this, we thought. We can probably buy a compeltely new phone for not much more than that.

So when we got back into town (about 8:30 that evening), we headed out to the mall, where an outlet of our cell phone provider is located (we usually go their downtown store, but it wasn’t open on Saturday night).

The guy there took a look, and determined that the problem was in the little flap that holds the SIM card in place. It had gotten loosened by the fall (apparently), and as a result the SIM card was loosing connection with the phone circuitry. Fixable? Possibly. Worth it? Given that the phone is about 2 years old… not so much.

So, in order to get a deal on the new phone, we upped our contract. Not a problem — we’ve been very happy with our T-Mobile service (even if their insurance program is a bit of a scam). The choices for noew phone come down to the Motorola SLVR for $140 or the RAZR for $200 (with a $50 mail-in rebate).

Not wanting to spend $200 on a new phone (even with the rebate), I opted for the SLVR.Signed the paperwork, put down the money… no problem.

Well… slight problem. After we got out of the store, I tried to go to download ring tones and such. No dice. The network didn’t recognize the phone. We call customer service (for the second time that day).

Turns out… T-Mobile doesn’t support the SLVR. While I can use it to place calls, I can’t access any of the extra or enhanced services provided. So, more or less, the guy sold me a worthless piece of hardware.

So, the next morning, Mary heads back to the store, intent on getting satisfaction for the problem (by getting the RAZR for free). The owner happens to be working, and is extremely apologetic. It’s policy that they disclose the fact that T-Mobile doesn’t support the SLVR, and the fact that the sales guy last night didn’t… well, it doesn’t bode well for his contrinued employment.

Unfortunately he can’t just give us the RAZR. He does, however, take back the phone from the previous night at full value and sells us a RAZR at a slight discount. Problem solved, the new phone works (and looks) great, and in the end (after the mail-in rebate) will cost us only slightly more than the SLVR did.

Another successful adventure… even if it was a convoluted and annoying process.

Well… this has been a long post already, and I need to write some checks to go out in the mail tonight. I’ll catch up with even more of the adventures of the past few days a bit later. Ciao!

I have seen Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest twice now, and thought I wuould take a moment to scribe a few of my thoughts on it.

First of all, it is not a movie to watch when you’re tired and would rather be home in bed because you have to be up the next monring. I went with my friends Pat, Leanne, and Jon to see the midnight show opening night. I’ve never really been to a big geek premiere event like that, and man was it interesting… in the row in front of us were about a dozen or so high-school age kids, all done up like pirates and such.

However, the movie is long — about two and a half hours — and (as I mentioned) not one to watch when you’d rather be snoozing. My impressions of the movie were colored by this fact, and the fact that it had been… I don’t know how long since I’d seen the first one.

Anyhow, on first viewing I thought it was better than Superman Returns (if you’ve read my review of that, you know that’s almost damning with faint praise), but still nothing spectacular. The kids in front of us (kids… geez I’m old) seemed to be really into it, and had a good time, but my thought was, “Man… these guys will suck down whatever pop-culture fad is shoved at them.”

Anyhow… I went and saw it a second time this past Tuesday with my wife, my parents (who are up visiting from Maryland), and (again) Pat and Leanne. I enjoyed it more the second time around — it’s still a long movie (probably about half an hour too long) with a bit too much exposition, but I was able to pick up bits of detail that may come into play into the third movie (and there will be a third movie — the film ends on an obvious cliff-hanger, and some of the third movie has already been shot).

My recommendation — see it, but if you haven’t seen Curse of the Black Pearl in a while, it might behoove you to go back and check it out first.

Also, I am so itching to play in a pirate-themed game right now.

I woke up this morning to find a wonderful email in my inbox from Jim Flowers, line developer for Earthdawn:

After a (too) long wait, we are pleased to advise that printed editions of RedBrick’s Earthdawn books are now available from:

http://www.lulu.com/redbrick

At time of writing, only softcover versions of the Player’s and Gamemaster’s Compendiums are available. Ardanyan’s Revenge will be added soon, and hardcovers are going through a final proofing cycle now. We will advise separately once they become available.

Should you wish to leap in and grab copies of these books, there are some gotchas that you need to be aware of.

Firstly, the shipping costs on the books vary markedly depending on where in the world you live. This is something that is out of our control, but we would recommend that you play around with ordering single books as well as multiples to see if you gain from it. Also, if you have a group, consider pooling your purchases to save on shipping. We are now able to work through the process of getting our books into the distribution channels — via Amazon, at a minimum — but we felt that you needed to know up front that there is additional cost here. We have no ETA as to how long Amazon, et al, will take; best estimate is 4-6 weeks at time of writing.

Secondly, Lulu partners with printers in the United States (for US customers) and Spain (for International customers). While RedBrick Limited has made every effort to ensure that you receive a quality product from a content perspective, because of the nature of POD (Print On Demand) printing, we cannot guarantee that books from two sources will be identical. Also, please make sure that you keep a record of your Lulu transaction and if you experience any problems with print quality, you will need to complete a Trouble Ticket. Details on shipping and Lulu’s return policy are available from the Lulu web site at this link. RedBrick will be happy to help as best we can with any problems you might have, but you do need to be very aware that we have no direct hand in the printing process, and we are not in a position to replace books.

All-in-all, however, we are extremely happy with the quality of the POD books. We hope you are as well!

Back again, with the promised review of Season One of Doctor Who — this is the season we just finished in the States. I know our friends over in Great Britain are already into Season Two (and I am so jealous). I also know that the season ended here three or four weeks ago, but I only got around to watching it this past weekend.

Anyhow… I enjoyed the series overall. I’ve been a fan of Doctor Who for years… ever since I was a sprout catching the series (with Tom Baker as the Doctor) weeknights on WGBH out of Boston.

This most recent season (with Christopher Eccleston) captured some of the playful magic I remember from the old days, with a bit of weary darkness; Eccleston’s Doctor has seen and done a lot more than Baker’s, and is also profoundly alone on many levels — he’s the last of the Time Lords, and he seems burdened with the knowledge that all things come to an end. In fact, I get the impression that while the Doctor doesn’t want to end his own life, he does have a death wish. In a nice piec e of irony, however, it is when his life is most at risk that he feels the most alive.

The grounding aspect of the series is, as usual, in the hands of the Doctor’s companions. In this season, he is accompanied by a present-day (by our standards) young woman named Rose Tyler, played wonderfully by Billie Piper. In the second half, the two of them are joined by Captain Jack, who brings a more traditional ‘action hero’ flavor to the cast.

For me, the highest points of the series are “The Doctor Dances” (the second part of a two-part World War II era story) and “Boomtown” which, while rather slowly paced and talky, did much to provide insight into the current Doctor’s state of mind.

The series finale was solid, if a bit post-modern (setting up ‘parodies’ of several high-profile BBC reality shows), but ended with a healthy does of deus ex machina; Rose becomes the recipient of phenomenal cosmic power, and rewrites recent events as if they had never happened. In order to save her life, the Doctor takes the power into himself, leading to his regeneration.

Despite the occasional misstep that happens along the way, the first season of the “new” Doctor Who is fun, and provides a nice counterpoint to the realistic , harder-science darkness of Battlestar Galactica. If you’re familiar with the original series, this show (out on DVD in the U.S. tomorrow, actually) should conjure some good memories for you. If you’re not familair with it, this 13-episode season is a great starting point to dive into the long and expansive history of this British science-fiction classic.

I give the first season of the new Doctor Who a B+.

Back again. I have three reviews I want to share with you. In no particular order:

Superman Returns

I went and saw this Wednesday night. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t all that great, either. Honestly, the best part of the experience was seeing the teaser-trailer for Spiderman 3 (completely unexpected, and completely cool — you can see it for yourself here).

Anyhow, in the grand scheme of superhero movies that have come out the last few years(and that I’ve seen), I would place Superman Returns toward the bottom of the list. Now I haven’t seen the reportedly less-than-stellar Daredevil, Electra, or Fantastic Four, but it falls just below the X-Men movies in my opinion.

First of all, the pacing felt off… and I think a big part of that was a lack of high-energy action sequences. There’s a good one relatively early, when Superman saves a plance that Lois is on, but overall the action (what little there is) feels rather… flat.

It lacked the sense of fun that ran as an undertone to both Spiderman films, and the brooding intensity that marked Batman Begins. While the lead, Brandon Routh, made a decent Superman (most notably in his performance as a replacement Christopher Reeve), he lacked Reeve’s natural onscreen charisma, and the emotional/romantic tension that should have existed between him and Lois just didn’t convince me.

Overall, not a truly bad movie, but not one that I have any desire to see again soon (unlike both Spiderman and Batman Begins, which I watch on DVD every so often). I give it a C+.

Cell by Stephen King

King’s second book since completing the Dark Tower series (he published a pulp thriller called The Colorado Kid last year) is good, and caught me offguard a bit. Based on the marketing hype, I was expecting King to give his twist to the classic “zombie apocalypse” scenario. In a way he did, but went farther than I would have expected, and in a different direction.

I was reminded of The Stand while reading it — particularly the ‘apocalyptic travelogue’ and anti-technology themes (it isn’t Luddite by any stretch, but it is cautionary). Cell is much less epic, however, and focused on a single character instead of the dozen-or-more that populate The Stand.

The idea that underlies the premise of the novel — that a techno-psychic pulse acts as an EMP to the human brain, rebooting it to its primitive core, and allowing something new to start developing in its place — is interesting, and since the latter part of that premise wasn’t what I was expecting, I kept reading to see what twist might show up next, and to see if any explanation (techno-babbly or otherwise) was forthcoming from King.

Ultimately, King doesn’t provide an explanation beyond the theorizing of his characters. Ultimately, it doesn’t harm the novel, since the story isn’t about what happened, or how it happened, but how one man deals with it. It’s a character study of a sort, really.

It’s rather quickly paced, which I think dampens some of the emotional impact of what’s going on. We meet these characters and spend time with them, but we don’t get the luxury of the leisurely characterization that, in my opinion, characterizes King’s best work.

The ending is somewhat maddening… it’s a classic The Lady or the Tiger situation, where King allows the reader to decide for themselves what happens next, and that decision speaks volumes about the reader and their life philosophy.

On the one hand, I really like the ending because of the debate that it may provoke among book circles, but at the same time I was left without any concrete resolution… the worst of the immedeate danger is past, but it’s left dangling. Is there hope for those infected by the pulse, or not?

As a final word, I enjoyed the little nods to King’s “Constant Readers” (as he calls them). The main character is an artist, and the references to his graphic novel are obvious tips of the hat to the Dark Tower epic. The other tidbit I picked up on (courtesy of Entertainment Weekly of all things) is that one of the supporting characters — the headmaster of a private school the characters visit — is named Charles Ardai, very likely named after the editor of “Hard Case Crime” (the publisher that released The Colorado Kid).

I give Cell a B+.

That will have to do it for now. I have one more review in mind, but I have to get ready for work. Look for it later this weekend… a review of the most recent season of Doctor Who (well, most recent as we here in the US are concerned).

As you may recall from my previous post, I was teaching a training class at work. When they took the final test on Wednesday afternoon, all three of them passed.

Woot!

Of course, next week is likely to be dull as hell for me. At this stage, they’re more or less ready to handle things on their own, but company policy states they have a week of “protected hours”, and I need to shadow them as a proctor.

Which means I’ll be sitting in a chair watching them do their job.

I’m sure it will be an edge of your seat thrill ride from beginning to end.