jewel on line at last

How Crabby Am I?

2007-07-24T16:49:00.000-07:00

Well, how crabby would you be if you read an article like this one? It's about man bags (no, NOT what you're thinking!) and has this line in it: Finally, men and women should try to stay safe by not displaying the contents of their bags to thieves. Right. I had no idea I was putting myself in danger by locating thieves (thank goodness for the I'm A Thief! arrow emblazoned on their heads!) and showing them the contents of my purse. No more of that for me!

And then there's this one which begins with this line: Security analysts spotted a gaping security hole in Fox News Network LLC's Web site on Monday. What's the big deal you say? Good for those Security Analysts! Except that yesterday there was this post on Slashdot which makes you think somebody is lying or conflating the phrase Security Analysts with someone who happens to know about technology stumbling upon a stupid network configuration

I haven't posted here because I've been finishing grad school (all done!!) and writing my next book, which is due August 1. eek!

New Year's Crab

2007-02-01T21:06:00.000-08:00

Well, once again I've been busy, and crabby, too. Today, however, not so much. I have a new agent, for one thing, and she got me a great deal for my next two paranormals. My last book earned out and then some, so there's money headed my way, plus the advance for the new books. The anthology story came out pretty good. The dems are in control of congress and I'm in my last semester of grad school, so, like, yeah, thinks aren't too shabby. That's not to say I'm not crabby about some things:

1. Windows Vista is going to force me to a Mac or Linux. I just can't see upgrading to an OS that gives me reduced control and reduced functionality all because I am presumed to be criminally intent on pirating content. Uh, Microsoft, no. I'm not. So now I need to save money for a Mac I guess, or invest the time in learning how to install Ubuntu. Crap. That really makes me crabby.

2. My MP3 player (cost me $35!! and it worked when far more expensive ones were so sucky as to be actually unusable) is finally busted. Now, after three years loyal service, I guess I need a new one. Only I know they're all junk and I'm dreading the whole experience/expense. I don't want an iPod because of the DRM baloney and getting stuck with only iTunes, but even if I said the heck with that and ponied up to the Apple happy-wagon, see #1 above. I can't afford an iPod.

3. The war in Iraq and all the freaky scary talk about Iran. Holy moly! Washington is insane.

4. The iPhone looks so freaking beautiful I want one just to look at it, but I'm hearing little rumblings... Oh, and that reminds me!

5. I am WAY crabby about cell phones. I had to replace my son's cell (twice, but I won't tell that story now) and ended up getting him an unlocked RAZR. I cannot effen believe how great and wonderful an locked phone is. His phone is lovely, it comes with cool stuff that works. My Cingular Crippled RAZR sucks in comparison. SUCKS majorly I tell you. I am never ever buying a phone with service again. Trust me. Don't drink that cheap Kool-Aid any more. Cell phone consumers, we are being ripped off!

6. There must be something else... Like my car getting rear-ended and totaled when I only had $1400 left to pay on it. That made me crabby for sure.

General Crabbiness Level: low at the beginning of this post. Sky high now.

Wow, long time no crab

2006-11-04T20:44:00.000-08:00

Was July really the last time I posted here? Wow. Well, I've been crabby, that's for sure. What about? Stuff like people who want to be writers but don't want to do what it takes to write. Also, I'm waiting for the elections because politicians make me crabby. I'm also crabby today because I'm feeling a bit like I'm coming down with a cold. Ick. General crabbiness level today: moderately high.

Poetry in Spam (Literary Analysis Free)

2006-07-09T20:12:00.000-07:00

From one of my email addresses:

Your cash, nail caster
Translation: A typical Marxian comment on the post-post Modern society, turned round on itself by the casting of nails, referencing by similarity the ancient shamanistic ritual casting bones to foretell the future. A nice foreshadowing of the following two lines.
Your future, pater patratus
The references to the future and the unknowable continue, with the clear reference to Catholicism and Satanic ritual.
Your future, passion-kindling
The poet is advising the reader to write a Romance Novel.*
Your health, office hours
But only if she/he quits the day job.
Luxury Timepieces
The bell tolls for thee, baby. In style.

Look, I didn't say it would be good lit analysis. I'm terrible at interpreting poems anyway.

*Did that. 5 times so far. Plus an anthology.

Please help: missing

2006-06-18T15:01:00.000-07:00

Author Marjorie Jone's daughter is missing. Take a look at this page, and keep your eyes open. You never know.

People who don't answer emails

2006-06-10T18:59:00.000-07:00

Oh, boy, I'm crabby. Why? I've been writing a story for an Anthology I'm in. Cool project. My editor contacts the Crimson City authors, says, hey, I have a July 2007 slot open, you guys interested in doing an Anthology? Yeses all around. The due date, says Mr. Editor, would be June 1 (this would be mid March, by the way) word length of 15-20K words. So, the whole thing's a go by April. Hmm. I think, June 1? Double Hmm. Full time job. School. Soccer mom thing. Holy shit! I asked twice if the due date was really June 1. No reply from Mr. Editor, who is in all other respects, fabulous. OK. I calculate how many words per day I need to finish with time for editing, getting it to readers and re-editing factored in. The answer? 857. Cool. I knuckle down and do so. I email my agent and my editor. Is the due date really June 1? No reply. I finish at 22K, and freak. It's too long! I cut a story line and tighten it beyond belief and I overnight the MS at 20,436 words on May 30th. My contract arrived yesterday and I read it today so I can send it back all signed and get my check.

Here's the words that count: Delivery date: June 15
Word Count: No less than 15,000 no greater than 25,000

Ala. Candidate's Views Startle Democrats - Yahoo! News

2006-05-13T20:17:00.000-07:00

Just shaking my crabby little head in saddness and disappointment. 12% of the vote?

outrageous

2006-05-12T22:13:00.000-07:00

This:

A mobile provider also may have requested that certain features be disabled in the version of a Nokia phone for use on the mobile provider's network. If so, they will not appear in the phone's menu. Contact your mobile provider about feature support and availability.

This really makes me crabby. This is stupid. U.S. carriers are crippling phones so they can rip us off with their too-expensive and half-implemented versions of cool. Why? I would gladly pay more money for cool. But the wireless carriers would rather not understand they're in the business of providing cool. Someday, some Japanese wireless carrier is going to come here and do it right, and then we can have cool phones like we ought to. I'm getting tired of seeing cool phones or features or services and oops, not in the US...

Oh, and another thing

2006-05-07T19:15:00.000-07:00

By the way, I have developed an almost rabid hatred of unpublished writers who like to share their magical method for writing boffo books. Uhm, if your method is so great how come you're unpublished? Have you ever thought that maybe you don't know so much after all and that you should spend more time figuring out to write and less time telling everyone how good your books are?

And you know what else I hate? I hate writers who think Print On Demand (POD) publishing makes them an author. No. It made you a someone who wrote a check and didn't learn a damn thing about how hard it is to write a book a real publisher will pay for.

Writers who think they're fabulous typically aren't.

Insane Jobbers?

2006-05-07T19:07:00.000-07:00

I wear contact lenses. I have always used AOSept to keep my lenses squeaky clean. My eye doctor says this is probably why my lenses last so long. OK. So, a while back I realize I need a new cup thingee disk-o-magic washer callit, but they have only AOSept solution. Hmm. Now, I'm also out of AOSept solution. But now the drug store has only cup thingee disk-o-magic washer callits and no solution. No big deal. Except apparently it is because I have now been to 5 different grocery stores (2 Albertson's, 2 Safeways and 1 G&G) and 3 drug stores and everyone has the cup thingee disk-o-magic washer callit and NO AOSept solution.

Hello? Eye Care Jobber? Are you stupid? These things must be on the shelves simultaneously. You can't trade them off, 3 months one and then 3 months the other. Retail doesn't work like that. I'm really peeved.

Crabbiness Level: Very very high.

Needs no Comment

2006-05-03T06:31:00.000-07:00

timbl's blog | Neutralaity of the Net

Read it at dig.csail.mit.edu/bread...

This makes me crabby!!

2006-04-26T07:39:00.000-07:00

Boy, do I really hate this. Some tech website provides a link to some cook sounding white paper, like say, on SQL Injection. But it's really nothing but a trap to get your data so they can start sending you junk about buying whatever product or service they're pimping. If I were totally stupid and desperate, in order to read this "Free" white paper on SQL injection, I have to fill out this form wherein I MUST give them name, address, email AND phone. Phooey on that. I confess I fell for this crap exactly twice before and in both cases the White Paper was not helpful, insightful or anything but a "Why you need to buy our product/service" marketing baloney. It's not like I can later go back and say, hey that was totally unhelpful, delete all the information I gave you.

General Crabbiness Level: High.

Read more at download.spidynamics.co...

Is this possible?

2006-04-20T17:00:00.000-07:00

I can't remark as to the truth behind these statements. What scares me to my very soul is that this is not the only source of the rumblings. There have been many. They started showing up in the blogosphere about a week or so ago. Remarks and revelations by and about the Whitehouse give me no reason to believe that this Administration has any connection to decency or even common sense. They are stuck in a hawkish world view that became irrelevant in the 1980s. Is my president really and trrly about to make my county the most hated and despised nation in the world? If so, that's a tragedy that breaks my heart.Whatever the truth, I can have an opinion, and here it is: If this country goes to war against Iran as is suggested here and in other places, it is an outrage and a disaster of momumental proportions. Read more at From The Heart of the Matter: Iran and Iraq www.barryeisler.com/200...

TechCrunch » Yahoo Testing Free Wifi Product

2006-04-19T06:15:00.000-07:00

Um, I love TechCrunch honest, but isn't there something wrong with an article that has the word "free" in the headline and the numbers $7.95 and $2.95 in the penultimate paragraph?See, to me, free = $0.00. But that's just me. I'm a stilckler for language. Read more at www.techcrunch.com/2006... I'm on a writing deadline again, so I'm slacking over here.

Climate Researchers Feeling Heat From White House

2006-04-06T09:14:00.000-07:00

Outrageous. Read more at www.washingtonpost.com/...

snubster - beta

2006-04-06T06:05:00.000-07:00

Snubster - The perfect accompaniment for the crabby! Why, that almost makes me un-crabby!. Off to sign up and make a few lists.Read more at www.snubster.com/

Life's Little Irritations

2006-03-27T09:38:00.000-08:00

I'm reading this sswug.org article on the plaugienss of date time data in SQL server, and the article is RIFE with language errors. It's not one of those articles written by someone whose primary language is something other than English. Obviously, this author undestands the English idiom. But he doesn't get the rule about when you use a [some noun] or an [some noun], and there are lots of little typos, missing words, incorrect words. It's really irritating.

Online File Storage - Don't Jump yet!

2006-03-23T07:03:00.000-08:00

There seems to be this bandwagon for online file storage. I guess Amazon A3 is the most prominent. But you know what? Back in the bubble days of 2000 or so, there were a bunch of online file storage companies, X-Drive being one. I used it, they went belly up, and all my files went with them. They were zip archives for my versioning of my then current novel. [Insert frowny-face here]Let's apply some logic to this: What's the goal? To have certain files available from any location (provided you have a computer and access to the net, and let's be realistic, that's broadband access which I don't have). And/Or to have an archive of files for historical/ regulatory reasons. In the first case, the huge huge risk is that the 3rd party with my sensitive files (sensitive to me, anyway) goes belly up. Voila. My files are gone. That hurts. And who is protecting my information from intrusion/snooping? Nobody. And you know what? That applies to the second case, too. Just say no thanks. I bought a 1 GB thumb drive for $50 bucks. My files are on my desktop, my laptop and the thumb. If someone wants them, they have to come to my house or my car and steal them. Or get a subpoena (well, at least I hope they have to get a subpoena).Stay away from this bandwagon. It's the same flawed idea as before.

Treating Moms' Depression May Help Kids - Yahoo! News

2006-03-21T15:22:00.000-08:00

The latest in Doh headlines.

Why?

2006-03-21T12:59:00.000-08:00

Why on earth would bloglines suddenly stop showing the number of subscribers to a blog? It's not like that's supersecret information. It was interesting to know that TechDirt had 20,000 subscribers while Tech.memerdandum had something like 6K. Or that MissSnark was slowly but steadily increasing, or that someone subscribed or unsubscribed to one of mine. Put it back!

Also, I liked reading the blogs where I was the ONLY subscriber. Why take away that I'm special feeling?

I'm home with cold and so am crabby on account of that.

isolatr beta

2006-03-15T06:30:00.000-08:00

Perfect for the naturally crabby. Very funny!Read more at isolatr.com/

TechCrunch - TrustedID

2006-03-14T06:20:00.000-08:00

OK, I love TechCrunch etc. Great blog. But this announcement really frosts me. I don't blame the company. Honest. But I should NOT have to pay to protect my personal data from being stolen and/or used for nefarious purposes. The companies who have my data should protect it. And if they don't, they should reimburse me for my damages and make it right. End of story.

Space tourism companies reaching for the stars - Yahoo! News

2006-03-12T22:06:00.000-08:00

Sure, I can see there's a big difference betwee $22 million and $6,000. But I can't afford a $6,000 vacation. So Pfft to you moonies. Besides, it's totally stupid to even talk about those economies yet. And besides again, who wants to sit in economy-class all the way to outer space? And besides one more time, once you get there, what is there to see except all the junk they left behind before? "Ooh, look, there's what's left of INTELSAT! Honey, take a pciture!"

Read more at news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20...

BoA Bill Pay now offers "deliver by" date - Signal vs. Noise (by 37signals)

2006-03-10T06:47:00.000-08:00

Somebody, somewhere got a clue! I have no desire ever again to have a BofA account, but can the other online bill payers be far behind? This is such a no-brainer! Make it so.Read more at 37signals.com/svn/archi...

Men's Rights Group Eyes Child Support Stay - Yahoo! News

2006-03-09T07:12:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I have an idea. Take responsibility for the birth control, how about that? Look, accidents happen even when precautions are taken, that's the risk of having sex. Funny how this fellow seem to be saying, I had my fun, but I don't want the consequences. Too freaking bad. Fact: a woman carries the pregnancy and no amoung of whining is going to change that fact. If you didn't want a baby, then it's up to YOU take the precautions, not her.

Read more at news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200...