Reading: January issue of Preview
Music: Gerry O'Connor
TV/Movie: Infamous
Link o' the Day: Home Office Snapshots

So you wanna know what kind of loot I scored this week? No...that would be tacky. Suffice to say that it was pretty rad (a term "the kids" use--like phat or...hep). In short: I won. Well, we all won. It was a good year. We went up and down Long Island visiting folks. My rice pudding was a success. We had Chinese food for Xmas eve dinner--which I love. All in all it was a great time. And loot-wise? Like I said. Cool stuff. At one point I took a picture of said loot with me hovering over it like some ancient avaricious dragon guarding its hoard from drunken dwarves and one sly hobbit.

I'll share one thing in particular just because it's a neat picture: a Hallmark keepsake Star Trek ornament--of Captain Kirk being drowned in tribbles from the famous David Gerrold episode. Yes, it has sound. And yes, when you press the button, tribbles rain down on Kirk's head.

If there was any dark spot on the holiday, it's that it was the first one without my father. Because my dad and brothers all work service industry-type gigs, we rarely got together on Christmas itself, but would meet a week later for dinner and exchanging gifts and so forth, but Pretty Maggie and I would often stop by to visit him on our way home from New York. This year, well... we'll still be getting together with folks next week. We soldier on. We celebrate our dad's life and keep him with us always.


Monday after Christmas. The streets bustle with people officially going back to work--those who managed to score Friday off, that is. For us somewhat self-employed, well--we have a little more flexibility. I've managed to get a some work done over most of the holiday week. Sure, it wasn't the most productive week ever, but I got stuff done. The January issue of Medicine & Health/Rhode Island is heading off to the printer today, and the February issue has been started. I'm one appendix and a cover away from finishing a pretty massive tome on the TV series Hardcastle & McCormick--episode guide and everything.

I can see a bunch of future projects on the horizon--possibly a book about silent film star Louise Brooks, director Mickey Moore, 60s TV detective show Honey West and more. I don't do all the Bearmanor Media jobs, but I do a decent number, and these look like interesting projects.

In other news: Forces of Geek gets nearer to launch. We, the bloggers and columnists and such, have received our invitations to start poking around the Blogspot site to learn the ropes. Project X gets closer to its own official launch. A domain name has been acquired. Web-page design has initiated.

2009 looks to be a busy year.


Speaking of busy, it's time to get back to work. Time to restore the work-from-home discipline. With that, today's link goes to Home Office Snapshots a website with...yes....pictures of people's home offices. And you know what? I don't believe them for a second. Most of these desks are pristine. Where are the stacks of papers, reference books, CDs and mail? Where are the coffee cups and bottles of soda? Where's the dang cat stretching out atop the filing cabinet and knocking things over. Where are all the wires?!

Okay, maybe some people can work like that, but I ask you then--where's the soul?

To be fair, there are a few home offices depcited with soul, but you have to look for them. They're in the minority. One of these days I'll take pictures of mine--but why ruin the mystique? I work in the bat cave. It's like V's underground lair. It's the inside of a British police callbox.

It's where the wild things roam.

Let your imagination run rampant.