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mckitterick Apr. 27th, 2009 02:00 pm)
mckitterick Apr. 27th, 2009 02:00 pm)Hi folks -
Wine
This is cool, had to share: per-capita red-wine consumption around the world:
Click the image to see the story; Click here to see a bigger image.
If I'm reading this correctly, the average Brazilian drinks 0.17 liters/day, while a Luxembourgian drinks nearly 6 liters/day (seriously? Whoah.). Something's wrong in our country, as I've examined this map in detail and can't even find the US. I'm doing my part lately, what with Cork 'n' Barrel having their 20% off wine-case sale this month (only a few days left, Larryville-ites!).
Healing
Sorry I've been such a crappy blogger lately. In large part, this is due to having seriously pulled my right-hand ring finger about a month ago (don't ask), rendering typing a huge PITA. On standard keyboards, we commonly use that finger for O, 0, L, ), and the period - way more than you'd think. I'm typing with 9 fingers now (rather, 7 fingers and a couple of thumbs; why is it called "10-finger typing"?), which is slow - and painful when I forget and use that finger.
Job
The other main reason for the lack of communication is that I've been dealing with possible job-loss next year. Budgets being what they are, I'm an easy way for the University to save a few bucks in the short term, because I'm not tenured. Even so, I have to act as if the job will go on past next year, so I've written a new proposal for the KU Certificate in Technical Communication, proposals for online versions of the courses, reports about which KU schools or colleges my students belong to and the fiscal percentage each school costs the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, a job description for the KU Technical Communication Liaison position (mine), reports on our peer institutions and how their TC programs compare to ours (embarrassing to KU), and much more. I also wrote my yearly review just before all this craziness, which happened at an auspicious time, as doing that made my contributions more present in my mind. Oh, and teach two regular classes and two directed-study classes, plus read a million novels for the Campbell Award, request nominations from the publishers, gather nominations for the Sturgeon Award and put together a list of finalists (which I'll publish soon!), read submissions and select winners for several English Department awards and scholarships, plan for the summer SF program, do some consulting with other KU academic units, and so on.
So I've not only been busy with work - nothing unusual there - but stressed like something fierce.
Storms
I recently bought a 40-gallon rain barrel that collects the runoff from one-half of my garage roof. This is necessary because the new sidewalk I laid earlier this spring gets in the way of downspout drainage. Here's an indication of how much rain we've been getting this Kansas spring: Except for the few sunny days, I've been emptying the thing 3-4 times/day lately, and it's almost always overflowing in the morning. Yesterday, it filled just minutes after each time I emptied it (this is not an exaggeration - we got 6 inches of rain yesterday). This morning, I had nowhere to dump the water, because the alley is flooded and the yard is several inches deep in water, so I just poured it all down my kitchen drain.
Six inches of rain in just a few hours; that would be 54 inches of snow. Holy moly! Most of the grass seed I've put down has washed away *sigh*
Hot-Rod Newport
I've been neglecting my fun project due to the above stresses and time-devourers, plus I had made some uncomfortable discoveries that led me to suspect it hadn't been rebuilt as advertised. So, unsure how to proceed (overhaul the short-block? If I do that, why not stroke it to a 500-inch monster? But that'll eat an extra 30% more gas. So maybe just buy an already-overhauled short-block and sell the current block, saving bucks while getting more cubes, but if I do that I don't want to pull the heads and ruin the head gaskets, but... Yeah, like that), I didn't make any progress. Well, yesterday I finally just said heck with it and removed the last bolts holding down one of the heads to see for myself if the engine was overhauled. Viola! It has been! The cylinders are clean and even still show a bit of cross-hatching, and the piston crowns are imprinted with "0.030" (they're oversized), both of which verify that the engine has been rebuilt - and recently - as advertised. Woohoo! So now I can comfortably leave the short-block as-is and add the performance parts I've been collecting since I bought the car last spring, saving money, time, and fuel.
Writing
Fiction-writing has been on the back-burner as I strive to keep the job and further the KUTC program. Luckily, my editor hasn't yet gotten back to me with novel revisions, though I look forward to those soon. However, we've started talking about the cover and some other cool ideas.
Two of my stories will be coming out in new anthologies this year: Global Warming Aftermaths, edited by Eric T. Reynolds; and Sentinels In Honor of Arthur C. Clarke, edited by Gregory Benford and George Zebrowski.
Finally, I hope to finish my technical-writing textbook before the end of the year - and post it free to the internet for all to use. Though my department's Chair and the school's Dean both think that's crazy and I should sell it to a textbook publisher. I dunno; I kind of hate how much they charge students for textbooks.
Editing
Sounds like I'll be working on an SF anthology soon - with full art inside, too! And the long-awaited Sturgeon Award winners anthology is on the front burner again.
Of course, with all this, I've also been awful about reading LJ, too. How have you been?
Best,
Chris
Wine
This is cool, had to share: per-capita red-wine consumption around the world:
Click the image to see the story; Click here to see a bigger image.
If I'm reading this correctly, the average Brazilian drinks 0.17 liters/day, while a Luxembourgian drinks nearly 6 liters/day (seriously? Whoah.). Something's wrong in our country, as I've examined this map in detail and can't even find the US. I'm doing my part lately, what with Cork 'n' Barrel having their 20% off wine-case sale this month (only a few days left, Larryville-ites!).
Healing
Sorry I've been such a crappy blogger lately. In large part, this is due to having seriously pulled my right-hand ring finger about a month ago (don't ask), rendering typing a huge PITA. On standard keyboards, we commonly use that finger for O, 0, L, ), and the period - way more than you'd think. I'm typing with 9 fingers now (rather, 7 fingers and a couple of thumbs; why is it called "10-finger typing"?), which is slow - and painful when I forget and use that finger.
Job
The other main reason for the lack of communication is that I've been dealing with possible job-loss next year. Budgets being what they are, I'm an easy way for the University to save a few bucks in the short term, because I'm not tenured. Even so, I have to act as if the job will go on past next year, so I've written a new proposal for the KU Certificate in Technical Communication, proposals for online versions of the courses, reports about which KU schools or colleges my students belong to and the fiscal percentage each school costs the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, a job description for the KU Technical Communication Liaison position (mine), reports on our peer institutions and how their TC programs compare to ours (embarrassing to KU), and much more. I also wrote my yearly review just before all this craziness, which happened at an auspicious time, as doing that made my contributions more present in my mind. Oh, and teach two regular classes and two directed-study classes, plus read a million novels for the Campbell Award, request nominations from the publishers, gather nominations for the Sturgeon Award and put together a list of finalists (which I'll publish soon!), read submissions and select winners for several English Department awards and scholarships, plan for the summer SF program, do some consulting with other KU academic units, and so on.
So I've not only been busy with work - nothing unusual there - but stressed like something fierce.
Storms
I recently bought a 40-gallon rain barrel that collects the runoff from one-half of my garage roof. This is necessary because the new sidewalk I laid earlier this spring gets in the way of downspout drainage. Here's an indication of how much rain we've been getting this Kansas spring: Except for the few sunny days, I've been emptying the thing 3-4 times/day lately, and it's almost always overflowing in the morning. Yesterday, it filled just minutes after each time I emptied it (this is not an exaggeration - we got 6 inches of rain yesterday). This morning, I had nowhere to dump the water, because the alley is flooded and the yard is several inches deep in water, so I just poured it all down my kitchen drain.
Six inches of rain in just a few hours; that would be 54 inches of snow. Holy moly! Most of the grass seed I've put down has washed away *sigh*
Hot-Rod Newport
I've been neglecting my fun project due to the above stresses and time-devourers, plus I had made some uncomfortable discoveries that led me to suspect it hadn't been rebuilt as advertised. So, unsure how to proceed (overhaul the short-block? If I do that, why not stroke it to a 500-inch monster? But that'll eat an extra 30% more gas. So maybe just buy an already-overhauled short-block and sell the current block, saving bucks while getting more cubes, but if I do that I don't want to pull the heads and ruin the head gaskets, but... Yeah, like that), I didn't make any progress. Well, yesterday I finally just said heck with it and removed the last bolts holding down one of the heads to see for myself if the engine was overhauled. Viola! It has been! The cylinders are clean and even still show a bit of cross-hatching, and the piston crowns are imprinted with "0.030" (they're oversized), both of which verify that the engine has been rebuilt - and recently - as advertised. Woohoo! So now I can comfortably leave the short-block as-is and add the performance parts I've been collecting since I bought the car last spring, saving money, time, and fuel.
Writing
Fiction-writing has been on the back-burner as I strive to keep the job and further the KUTC program. Luckily, my editor hasn't yet gotten back to me with novel revisions, though I look forward to those soon. However, we've started talking about the cover and some other cool ideas.
Two of my stories will be coming out in new anthologies this year: Global Warming Aftermaths, edited by Eric T. Reynolds; and Sentinels In Honor of Arthur C. Clarke, edited by Gregory Benford and George Zebrowski.
Finally, I hope to finish my technical-writing textbook before the end of the year - and post it free to the internet for all to use. Though my department's Chair and the school's Dean both think that's crazy and I should sell it to a textbook publisher. I dunno; I kind of hate how much they charge students for textbooks.
Editing
Sounds like I'll be working on an SF anthology soon - with full art inside, too! And the long-awaited Sturgeon Award winners anthology is on the front burner again.
Of course, with all this, I've also been awful about reading LJ, too. How have you been?
Best,
Chris
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hope everything ends up for the best. i'm glad to see switzerland is well-represented, as it should be. *hic*
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The figures are for annual per capita consumption, total consumption divided by total population. Daily? I want to open a detox clinic in Luxemburg!
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Good luck with all those piles of work!
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Very cool chart.
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Also, I believe it's consumption per month, not per day. :D
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Hey, need to add you to our tourney-report emails....
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Maybe a publisher would be willing to have you post it, as well as publishing it. And a legit publishing credit would also look good on your CV/resume.
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Keep taking care of the finger.
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why not fill the washing machine, or keep a bucket of it for a couple less city-billed toilet flushes?
Who said "hippie?"
Shut up.
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Yah, if only there was a tank large enough to keep it for that wacky late summer drought. it would probably be yukky and mucky by then, though.
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Hope that the Powers treat you well at the University...
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The crazy part is that everyone on the way up to the financial decision-makers value my work a great deal. THIS. Goldarnit. It is ever thus, it seems, and it's so frustrating! You add so much value with those three or four jobs you seem to be doing simultaneously that it makes one's head spin--and everyone but the bean counters and button pushers knows it. Yet somehow, their votes count the most. It ain't right, I tells ya. Oh well, there's still hope that they'll see the light. And be assured I'll be sending out my black ravens of mind-bending DOOM to make sure they do!!
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And that is hella cool that you'd distribute a free textbook, though you should at least accept donations or something - still accomplish what you're aiming for and yet not be too crazy/magnanimous.
And good luck with everything! Hopefully most of it'll be past so we can relax and/or fight at ConQuest.
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Yes, drinkin' and fightin' and relaxin'!
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so sorry about your finger!! probably would feel better if you spent a little more time at the cork n barrel. :)
i'm glad you're back, chris.