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Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Intermittent Internet Today

It's windy and has been raining for the last week, you know what season that is: GCI Cable Company Annual Intermittent Service Month. My connection has been down all morning. It's up at the moment, obviously. But the Modem Cable Light is blinking unsteadily. So if you don't hear from me for a while, that's the problem.

Also, a contributing factor may be the couple of small earthquakes we've had over the last 24 hours. Sympathetic fault slips from the big one on the other side of the Pacific Plate I'm guessing. I live directly on top of the Knik Fault, but so far that one hasn't moved. I can't connect to the Alaska Earthquake center long enough to find out what the full story is. Ah the joy of living in rural Alaska. We're used to it. Anyway, no interweebs gives me an excuse to clean closets today, so you know, it's not a wasted day.

I typed this up in advance, in case you're wondering, and sent it as soon as I had a momentary connection. See you all later.

7 comments:

  1. Anyway, no interweebs gives me an excuse to clean closets today, so you know, it's not a wasted day.

    Are you enjoying being a full-time house-husband and dad?

    When Terry was laid off for six months, he thoroughly enjoyed being home full-time. If our retirement plan ddn't call for him to work, we'd both be content for him to work only part time.

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  2. Well, I do enjoy being a full time stay at home husband and dad, but I'm still getting used to it. I feel guilty sometimes, and I feel a bit directionless. Right before I retired my wife took a very good management job with a major shipping firm in the port of Anchorage, between that and my pretty decent retirement check, I don't need to work money wise. Still, I can't sit around for the rest of my life. I'm still on the hook to do some consulting, but I don't want to do that full time and I don't want to do it forever. The knowledge and experience that makes me valuable to the Pentagon is perishable, so I don't foresee it lasting more than a couple of years anyway. On the other hand, I don't think I can work for anybody, I just can't face the whole starting over thing. I've wanted to be a writer my whole life, but you know how it is - there's always a reason not to write. I've written extensively for the military and for professional publications such as Warrior Spirit (the classified specops journal), so I have the skills and experience, but writing fiction is a whole different ball game. I'm working on a novel now, as I think I mentioned :) I promised myself that I'd finish up a number of jobs around the house that I've been putting off (build china cabinets, refurb the kitchen, etc) for a couple of months, then I'm going to get serious about writing full time. My self imposed deadline is 1 November, after that I write 6 hours a day, period.

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  3. That deadline would be just in time for Nanowrimo. :)

    Also, you could probably come up with some interesting memoirs.

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  4. Nanowrimo: I've heard the term, but never was interested enough to look up it's meaning - until now. Thank you, MWT, I believe I shall give it a try.

    Not with the novel I'm writing now, since I've already started it and it is already bigger than the 50,000 word limit.

    However, I have at least 10 additional outlines (I planning ahead for my stellar writing career :0 ), and I think I have one that would be perfect. Thanks again for the suggestion.

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  5. Oh, it's not a limit. That's actually a minimum. ;) Many people go well past the 50k required to win the marathon (some of the insane ones go into the 200ks). I typically end up with around 75k or so. It's a great way to get something started, even if you don't end up finishing the whole story in that month.

    And... woohoo!! Consider yourself pre-friended by at least one person in the forums there. ;)

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  6. Hmmm, guess I'd better read the rules a little more carefully :)

    But, I still would rather start with a different outline than the one I'm working on now. The current book is complex, with involved technology and multiple view points and story arcs - think of your typical Tom Clancy format and you're in the ballpark. Think I'd rather use a simpler form for Nanowrimo. Single view point. I've got a coming of age story outline that I think will do nicely.

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  7. 5 year plans, Jim, always 5 year plans. As I was told when I was but a wee lad, in 5 years you can transition your life to almost anything you want. I feel that same drive to write, and I'm planning on having writing as my retirement job (I hope to be good at it by then). Even with the defined benefit I will (hopefully) get from the union, I'll still need some extra. I'll also have some investements (not as large as they need to be, even at this point) and, if I stay in the politics long enough, some state retirement benefits. Of course I'll still trying with plan A, win the lottery. The clerk that sells me the ticks keeps saying they've pressed the majic winning button for me, but I think their machine in on the blink.

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