Gone Fishing (Sort Of)

Obviously I should have, um, toned down my previous rant. Apologies. (I'd delete it, but hey, it is what it is.)

I was annoyed that the upgrade demolished so much of the blog itself, but I was even more annoyed that I lost three hours of my life trying to deal with it (including trying to figure out how to back up the blog before I upgraded, an effort which, ultimately got me nowhere.

Anyway, again I will attempt to repair the damage this weekend. Today, however, I've got to be away from the desk for most of the day and night. A

nd The Husband comes home tonight, and I'd rather spend the weekend with him than with a broken blog. So: the damage will get repaired.

Soon. Soon as I can work up the energy to tackle something I'd really rather not have to mess with.

Because I'd MUCH rather expend that energy finishing Chapter Three, which is on the verge of morphing into Chapter Four. Which means, hey!, I've written about a third of the new book. So at least something cheery is afoot.

I Am . . . .

. . . . headed out of town. To visit The Baby. Who is now eight months old. And gorgeous: His mama's blue eyes. His daddy's rotund pink cheeks and bow mouth. His own spectacular personality.

I intend to spend the next five days goo-ing, ga-ga-ing, and generally babbling, fool-like, over The Baby. For the first time ever, however, I'll be traveling with a "mobile device."(*1)

So in between gazing at The Baby, baby-sitting (because mama and daddy would dearly love to eat one, just one, meal together), and generally hanging with The Family, it's possible I'll tweet, blog, or facebook (am still waiting for someone to tell me if that's a verb) while I'm gone.

Meantime, there's plenty here to occupy the idle among you. Until my return, dear readers, adieu.

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*1: Courtesy of The Husband, who purchased a netbook so that he could remain in communication with all the family as he goes on from The Baby's house to Bilbao, London, and Berlin, in order to, respectively, see the Guggenheim, visit our other daughter, and attend a conference. (I don't like to travel. I don't want to go with him. What can I say? William Faulkner and I have one thing in common.)

Correction To An Earlier (Much Earlier) Post

Christina Engelbert, co-founder, with her father Douglas Engelbert, of the Doug Engelbart Institute, has kindly corrected a factual error on a blog entry I wrote some months back.

The error was in Part 7 of Kids, Beer, and the 1960s (one of the entries in my First Draft Follies series): Douglas Engelbart and Hewitt Crane) worked at the Stanford Research Institute, not Stanford University.

Anyone who's hung around this blog for more than ten minu

tes knows that I'm obsessive about accuracy, so I am grateful to Ms. Engelbert for taking time to note and correct the error. In response to her information, I also changed the live link in that piece so that "Douglas Engelbert" leads to the DBI rather than to the wikipedia entry. (I use wikipedia with caution, and you should, too: many entries are riddled with errors. And in any case, wikipedia should be a first resort for "research," and never a last one.)

Again, my thanks to Ms. Engelbert.

Then You Realize, Life Gets In Your Eyes . . .

With apologies to Kern and Harbach, yes, sometimes smoke, or, in my case, life, gets in your eyes. I'm not without my love, thank god, but a number of out-of-the-ordinary matters and events have drifted, smoke-like, into my face and kept me from my usual blogging routine. (Have managed to maintain my other writing routine, the one that, in theory, will produce a new book.)

All of which has nothing to do with anything earth-shattering or even particularly relevant. Now: back to life-as-usual. I hope.

Live from LA -- Very Tired Person

Have quick access to a computer -- am tired today but SO HAPPY for Anat Baron, the producer/director/writer of "Beer Wars." I hope all of you enjoyed the film. It was a long day, but the green room was lively as the panelists sat around together for hours talking, getting the makeup (ugh), waiting, re-doing makeup (ugh), more talking, more waiting -- and then doing live from LA. I'll be back in Sunday. Till then: enjoy whatever is good this moment.

I Am Out of the E-Office

I leave for California tomorrow morning for the "Beer Wars" event Thursday evening. (*1)

I hope you''ll consider seeing the film. If you're at the event itself, or the reception after, please say hello. I don't own a "mobile" device so unless I come across some wowza internet access during the next few days, I won't be live blogging or tweeting until I return home. (Yes, I realize I'm hopelessly out of it -- but I work at home and rarely travel, so, ya know, why would I NEED a "mobile" device??)

I'll be back in action here at the website Sunday evening or Monday morning. (Am doing some other stuff after the film.) There's, ahem, plenty to keep you occupied in my absence....

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*1: Yes, I live in a place sufficiently "remote" that I need to leave tomorrow in order to be in LA on time for the schedule on Thursday. Film starts at 8 pm eastern time, but the panel participants -- including myself -- need to be in the venue by 1:00 pm.