First order of business:

Happy Birthday, metal_aria!

Current Mood: grumpy

LMAO!!!! Viv--I just came across this entry in my musevoices journal. Lilith and Paul are kibitzing about the difficulties they have persuading their authors to write about them.

It was so nice to read it. I really needed something to make me smile. :)

Current Mood: happy

I came across this article on ex-dividends and thought I'd share.

Making Ex-Dividends Work for You

Current Mood: thinking

Researchers Find Insulin Link to Brain Shrinkage and Dementia

This is a significant development toward finding a treatment for dementia and types of Alzheimer's disease.

Current Mood: geeky

My condolences and sorrow go out to the families and friends of the 12 soldiers murdered today at Fort Hood army base here in Texas, and to the 31 soldiers wounded.

This appears to have been the act of a single person, a military officer, oddly enough, who had been protesting and appealing his upcoming deployment overseas.

My feeling is, the gunman cannot have been right in the head. If you're in the military, deployment is pretty much a given during wartime. You go where they send you. To argue against that is irrational; you obey lawful orders. Apparently, he was quite vocal about his objections to the war and to being sent into it, and this understandably did not endear him to his fellow soldiers. It's alleged that harassment occurred, though I don't know to what extent. That's conduct unbecoming, and it ought not to occur, but as part of human nature, it does. It's basically a group's way of defending itself against someone it perceives as an outsider.

I don't think this man should have been deployed, simply because he doesn't seem to have been emotionally stable enough to have handled it effectively. On the other hand, he was a military psychiatrist and would not have even been stationed on the front lines. And if the military permitted every war protester in its ranks to avoid deployment, it could not function. That would cause a complete breakdown of military discipline.

This is a tragedy, all the way around.

Current Mood: contemplative

An excerpt from Chicken Soup for the Soul:

If you have ever gone through a toll booth, you know that your relationship to the person in the booth is not the most intimate you'll ever have. It is one of life's frequent nonencounters: You hand over some money; you might get change; you drive off.

Late one morning in 1984, headed for lunch in San Francisco, I drove toward a booth. I heard loud music. It sounded like a party. I looked around. No other cars with their windows open. No sound trucks. I looked at the toll booth. Inside it, the man was dancing. "What are you doing?" I asked. "I'm having a party," he said. "What about the rest of the people?" I looked at the other toll booths. He said, "What do those look like to you?"

He pointed down the row of toll booths. "They look like...toll booths. What do they look like to you?" He said, "Vertical coffins. At 8:30 every morning, live people get in. Then they die for eight hours. At 4:30, like Lazarus from the dead, they reemerge and go home. For eight hours, brain is on hold, dead on the job. Going through the motions." I was amazed. This guy had developed a philosophy, a mythology about his job.

Sixteen people dead on the job, and the seventeenth, in precisely the same situation, figures out a way to live. I could not help asking the next question: "Why is it different for you? You're having a good time." He looked at me. "I knew you were going to ask that.

I don't understand why anybody would think my job is boring. I have a corner office, glass on all sides. I can see the Golden Gate, San Francisco, and the Berkeley hills. Half the Western world vacations here...and I just stroll in every day and practice dancing."

Current Mood: contemplative

I worked on NaNoWriMo this evening, continuing my draft of Archon. I'm returning to some of my original conception of Paul and Seth. I've also worked out more of his mother's nature, and I've worked out how one of Paul's mind-sorting subjects, Peter Treadwell, fits into the plot. It'll just be steady work writing it all don, now.

Tomorrow is election day, so Mark and I will head out to the polls after I get off work.

Nova Roma's big, annual election will occur in about a week. Hoo-boy!

Feeling tired, now. I think I'll head to bed.

Current Mood: sleepy

My niece, Kaitlin, is going to sing at the 2011 New Year's Festival in London! She's a student in one of ten American schools whose music students have been selected to sing there.

Video

I am so proud and thrilled for her!

Current Mood: excited

I have joined my husband Mark in writing articles for Associated Content--all because I wanted someplace to print a short roulette article I wrote, and I wanted to get paid for it.

Go figure.

I have now written four articles for them, three of which have been published, two of which are about roulette. It's scary. I never imagined that I would take up casino roulette as a sort of pseudo-specialty. But I love the game, and I see so much BS written about it at some of the gambling sites.

Thank you, baghdaelf, for introducing me to the game, by the way. :) I really, really enjoy it, and I look forward to the next time I'll get to play it.

I will probably write some disability-related articles for them soon. What I want to do is get myself back into the article-writing groove and begin submitting longer work to professional magazines. AC is a good place to start, but magazine and newspaper articles are my eventual goal, as they pay much better. AC, however, is a consistent, fast payor, and you do earn residual income from page views, with them.

Mark earns several hundred dollars a month, now, just on page views. It's amazing. However, he writes several articles for AC a day, while I usually have time to write just one a day, if that. And his articles are about politics and space policy, while mine are more in the general interest arena--or, as I prefer to think of it, the "Cool Stuff!" arena.

My AC writing will slack off in November, as I plan to work on Archon for NaNoWriMo, but I'll pick it back up in December.

TV: Castle, as usual, was excellent, last night, not the least of which for Nathan Fillion briefly wearing his Malcolm Reynolds costume from Firefly.

Daughter: "What is that costume?"

Castle: "Space cowboy."

Daughter: "Dad, there are no cows in space." <--- Wonderful line!

Chantal Gaudiano's Contributor Profile - Associated Content

Read More

Current Mood: motivated

Happy Birthday, Viv!

Wishing you all the best, today, and the love of friends

Current Mood: loving

Today's Weird Thought that Crossed My Mind:

I imagined my Wizarding World character, Paul Graves, walking around carrying a yellow umbrella, like the one I own.

*dies laughing*

It would never happen. The man does the 'formal business suit, black umbrella' thing all the way.

His son, Seth, however, informs me that his umbrella is deep blue.

On Pern, Aerden will use whatever's at hand, or just run out into the Weyr Bowl bareheaded and grouse at the rain.

Current Mood: amused

Happy Birthday, tarlia!

Have a wonderful one! Write something you love. :)

Current Mood: happy

1. Joined a 'Friends of Hoarders' mailing list.
2. Arranged with the Salvation Army to make a pick-up at our home on Saturday. It will be the first of many, if I have my way.

Current Mood: accomplished

I'm going to add USA Mobility (USMO) to my list of stocks I'm interested in buying. Its share price is currently $13.40, and its dividend is $0.25/share, but it has in the past been much higher--$1.65 down to $0.65/share QD. It has held steady at $0.25 for a couple of years, now. I'm content with that, as it shows a likelihood of increasing.

In news, a fund management group just announced that it will use USMO to replace a different stock in its portfolio, so that would tell me the stock was worth buying, even if nothing else had. I will certainly go over to Wall Street Survivor and buy about 200 shares of it now.

From YA
Q: When do you pay taxes on stocks?

A: Good question.

One consideration: As a trader, you may be required to make estimated tax payments. You need to make estimated tax payments at least every three months. This is because your income tax withholding (from your day job) may not be sufficient to pay your federal income tax in full by the end of the year.

Estimated tax is the method used to pay tax on income that is not subject to withholding. Taxpayers must make estimated tax payments if you expect to owe at least $1000 in tax after subtracting your withholding and credits, and you are required to pay the lessor of:

1. 90% of the tax to be shown on your current year tax return, or
2. 100% of the tax shown on your previous year tax return.

You know...These elementary school kids chanting Obama songs are beginning to creep me out. I wouldn't mind it if I thought the kids were doing this on their own. But they sound too well rehearsed. They are being led, and they are chanting campaign slogans.

Seriously, what elementary school kid really cares about politics or is even aware of it? Maybe I was just too busy reading every book I could lay my hands on as a kid, but...I really didn't start paying attention to politics until I was in high school and approaching voting age. My parents were not political activists. We were always more interested in watching M*A*S*H reruns than in listening to speeches by politicians.

This makes me feel very uneasy. I keep listening to what they're saying, and all I can think of is my history books.

Current Mood: uncomfortable

I've decided. I will be doing NaNoWriMo this year. I make no promises about 'winning.' But I do promise to devote at least some time each day to writing Archon. I'm likely to just keep to a sane pace, probably that suggested by novel_in_90.

I thought about returning to The Hand of Vengeance this year, but I'm not ready for that, yet. I just do not want to be in Myrset's head right now; it's too soon.

So I will write Paul's story, set in an original universe, instead, and go back to Myradin's and Myrset's story next year or sooner. After all, why should I wait until November?

My NaNo username is Aerden, if anyone wants to be buddies. I'll gladly friend folks from here there, as well. :)

Current Mood: I must be insane.

I don't know how this works, but it's neat. Try it out!

1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to have chocolate (more than once but less than 10).
2. Multiply this number by 2.
3. Add 5.
4. Multiply it by 50.
5. If you have already had your birthday this year, add 1759. If you haven't, add 1758.
6. Now subtract the four-digit year that you were born.

You should have a three-digit number. The first digit of this was your original number
(i.e., how many times you want to have chocolate each week). The next two numbers are yuur age!

My result was 245, absolutely correct. Weird, eh?

Current Mood: curious

Finance: I have finally worked out my long-term investment goal and how I plan to accomplish it. I just wish it hadn't taken me until I was 45 years old to figure it out. But I guess coming up with the plan now is better than never coming up with one.

Current Mood: accomplished

A profound thank you to pegkerr for introducing me to this singer's work. His name is Samuel Tsui.

This is total awesomeness. It is all the same guy--I thought it was a singing group, at first. His college buddy edited the video to make it look like there are six or seven of him.

Just listen to the total gorgeosity, and know bliss. Listen to it with your eyes closed, and it's even better.

Current Mood: enthralled

Google now runs a free 411 service. Just dial 1-800-466-4411 when you need to know the telephone number of a person or business.

Writing: Link to the amusing story of Titivillus: Patron Demon of Scribes

We can blame all our tyops on him!

I'm working on Archon tonight. This morning, I figured out why Paul is so painstaking and exacting when he sorts minds in my Gnostic Universe. I have his mother and a character named Amelia Steckley (and her scoliosis) to thank for it. :)

Current Mood: happy

A co-worker forwarded this to me in email. Once I began reading, the idea entered the "WTF?!" realm. Very fascinating, but you have to wonder how someone came up with this idea in the first place. Sort of like toad-licking....

Rare Surgery Restores Sight

FRED TASKER. McClatchy Newspapers

MIAMI - A 60-year-old woman blind for nine years has regained useful
vision following a rare operation in Miami in which surgeons removed one of her
teeth, drilled a hole in it, inserted a plastic lens into the hole and
implanted the tooth-lens combination into her eye. It's the first such operation
in the United States, they said.

With 20/70 vision now, Sharron "Kay" Thornton, of Smithdale, Miss., can
recognize faces and read a newspaper with a magnifying glass, and should
get better vision once she is fully healed and fitted with glasses, doctors say.

"We're excited. We believe a lot of patients can benefit from this," said
Dr. Victor Perez, cornea specialist at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute of Miami,
where the procedure was performed.

Thornton lost her vision nine years ago to Stevens-Johnson syndrome, a
severe allergic reaction to medication that blistered and scarred her
cornea, the convex part of the eye that covers the iris and pupil. She wasn't a
candidate for a corneal transplant or an artificial plastic lens because
the eye was too badly damaged, Perez said. A stem cell procedure attempted six years
ago also failed.

Then she was referred to Perez, also an associate professor of
ophthalmology at the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller Medical School, for what he
calls a "procedure of last resort. He recently trained in Rome under Italian
ophthalmologist Giancarlo Falcinelli, who developed a modified version
of the tooth-lens procedure invented by another Italian doctor, Benedeteo Strampelli.

Unique use of eyetooth

Strampelli developed the procedure in 1963, but it didn't catch on for
decades because of serious complications at one point, including the
tooth-lens combination falling out of the eye.

But with Falcinelli's modification, the procedure is spreading in Europe
and Japan, and, now, in the United States. In Ireland, a worker's sight was
restored after his cornea was destroyed by red-hot liquid aluminum in an
explosion at a recycling plant.

The procedure is called a modified osteo-odonto-keratoprosthesis.
Outside experts agree the operation is a first in the United States.

It can be argued that this is suitable for the most severe of cases, in
which the patient has completely dry eyes," said Dr. Claes Dohlman,
cornea specialist at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, a teaching hospital of
Harvard Medical School. In those cases, [the procedure] has a reputation for
long-term stability.

In the Miami operation, Thornton's eyetooth was chosen because it had a
good amount of jawbone and ligament attached, both crucial for it to stay
alive and heal into the eye after being implanted, Perez said. The eyeteeth,
sometimes called canines, get their name because they sit in the mouth
directly beneath the eyes.

Many steps in process

The multistage procedure began when Dr. Yoh Sawatari, a dental surgeon
at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center, extracted
Thornton's eyetooth, shaved it flat horizontally, drilled a hole in it and inserted
an acrylic lens. He implanted the tooth-lens prosthesis under the skin
beneath the clavicle at the top of her shoulder for three months so the
combination could heal together.

Meanwhile, an eye surgeon removed scar tissue lining her damaged cornea.
A month later, surgeons removed a patch of skin from the inside of her
cheek and laid it over her cornea to replace the moist tissue lost to the disease.

Two months after that, Perez extracted the tooth-lens combination from
her shoulder, cut a flap out of the skin over the center of her cornea, cut
a hole down into the eye and inserted the tooth-lens. He sewed the flap shut to
hold in the prosthesis and cut a tiny hole so the lens can protrude a
couple of millimeters out of the eye.

On Labor Day weekend, bandages were removed and Thornton was able to
recognize faces within two hours.

Thornton now is looking forward to seeing her three grown children and
nine grandchildren for the first time in nine years.

Perez believes the patient's prognosis is good. "If there isn't any
infection, I'm optimistic we can preserve at least 20/70 vision for the
next 10 years."

* * *

My comment--That's an awful lot of surgery to go through. I'd have to devote considerable thought to the number of procedures and the expense before I'd consider it. On the other hand, just about anyone who loses their vision is often willing to go to extensive lengths to restore it.

Current Mood: curious

I'm back from FenCon in Dallas. Had a very good time visiting some friends of mine who I haven't seen in years. Lois McMaster Bujold was the Writer Guest of Honor, and she was a pleasure to meet and listen to.

I arrived around 11am on Friday, picked up at the airport by gypsy_anna. We drove to the hotel and checked in, then checked in with the con folks. After that, we explored the dealers' room. There was all sorts of cool stuff in there--t-shirts, costumes, lots and lots of books, CD's, comic books, tarot cards, Norse rune sets, jewelry, and a place selling essential oils.

Our main purpose for attending the convention was to just visit with each other and with friends we've known for years through Pern fandom. gypsy_anna, I, and our friend vdansk held a leadership team meeting for StarRise Weyr in the hotel's hot tub, a tradition that I think we will continue. (g)

I also met vdansk's college roommate Russ and her husband Wayne, two very fun people. Russ is another friend I've known for over a decade, though not well, through Pern.

On Friday, I attended a panel discussion led by rclementmoore about which non-SF TV shows people were watching. Shows mentioned included Burn Notice, How I Met Your Mother, Royal Pains, House, Bones, NCIS, CSI, and Dexter.

On Saturday morning, we attending a reading of rclementmoore's upcoming newest book, which was completely hilarious and had us almost falling out of our chairs. Moral of the story: Be careful what you wear when chasing a calf. :)

I attended some filking by a guy named Tom Smith--very funny man! I also attended the keynote address by Bujold, and I went to the Art Show. Thanks to vdansk, I came away from the Art Show on Sunday with a work of art entitled "Potions Master" by Kerry Maffeo. It's of Snape lecturing, and what I like best about it is that the artist did not use Alan Rickman as the body model. I adore Rickman, but I do like to see individual artists' ideas of what Snape looks like. She also did one of Sprout--again, her own version of Sprout.

I gave in to a bit of childhood whimsy and purchased a knee-length vest, which reminded me of the ones Bea Arthur used to wear on Maude. I always wanted one of those. The one I bought isn't exactly like Maude's, but it's close enough. :)

Other fun stuff--dinner at the Blue Goose Cantina on Friday and then at Firefly's on Saturday. The extremely chatty but attentive waiter who served us at the hotel's restaurant on Friday and Sunday. A postcard advertising a book called The Lute and the Liar by Rie Sheridan (?), which I want to buy, just for the cover. A postcard for an upcoming book about a rookie FBI agent and a blind NSA agent.

I limited myself to two t-shirts: one with the Serenity movie logo on it and a Stargate one that says, "There's no place like (chevron symbol for Earth)." I gave serious thought to also buying one that says "Reality is for people who can't handle the square root of -1."

I attended the ConJour 2010 room tea party, visited with a friend named Bunny who had moved to Louisiana, and then went to bed sometime between midnight and 1am. That was entirely too late to be drinking tea. :)

My friend Susan drove me to the airport from the hotel, and I think I'll be crashing soon. Good night!

I attempt from love's sickness to fly in vain,
Since I am myself my own fever,
Since I am myself my own fever and pain.
No more now, no more now,
Fond heart, with pride no more swell.
Thou canst not raise forces.
Thou canst not raise forces
Enough to rebel.

I attempt from love's sickness to fly in vain,
Since I am myself my own fever,
Since I am myself my own fever and pain.
For love has more power and less mercy than fate
To make us see ruin,
To make us see ruin
And love those that hate.

I attempt from love's sickness to fly in vain,
Since I am myself my own fever,
Since I am myself my own fever and pain.

Current Mood: bouncy