Things I Know I Know

Ok, so my television quit working sometime around December 15th and I finally bought a new one today. I decided when it broke that I could use the break from aimless television watching and it broke right at Christmas time when I most didn't want to spend the money and as time passed I didn't miss it nearly as much as I expected.

I did do some looking before today and let me tell you, televisions have gotten BIG since the last time I looked. Someone at work tried to talk me into buying his old 32" television and I was briefly tempted but took measurements and decided that was too big for the place I had to put it. I thought, before my old one broke for good, but when I knew it was going to break, that I'd probably buy a 27" one because those are nearly the small end of televisions these days, but my god those are BIG too. I know a lot of people with 52" televisions and they do not have family rooms the size of airplane hangers which is about how big a room would need to be to make a 52" television right-sized. I don't need a television that is capable of taking over my house. I just need one that I can have on while I'm also doing other things.

And, plus, I want a television that I can set up in my house without having to rent a truck and invite 50 of my closest friends over to help. Ideally, I want a television that I can move myself if I have to.

So, today I went to Best Buy to buy a television. I figured I would get either a 20" (the size of my old television) or a 24". While I was there, I considered the 27" one more time, but then realized that they are BIG. Things on the screen look BIG. I would have to sit 20 feet away to be comfortable with a 27" television (I know you will all tell me that you have 27" and 32" and even 52" televisions and you sit closer than 20 feet away from them all the time. Just remember, you are not me.)

While I'm wandering in a big circle considering the 20" and the 24" televisions there are other people circling the aisles too. One guy says he's buying a second television and he just wants something smallish. He buys a 27" television because he has obviously forgotten the definition of small. The other guy, who is just ahead of me in the checkout line, buys a 20" television. I finally decide on a 24" television. The 20" guy and I laugh in the checkout line about how BIG televisions have gotten. He says he will have to move things out to make room for the 20" television. He says, like me, friends tried to give him bigger televisions. There would be no room in his living room, he says, if he took one of those BIG sets. I totally understand what he means.

So, I bought my 24" television and I carried it in the house by myself (for certain definitions of the word 'carry') and I unpacked it myself and I set it up myself. And it is totally BIG. And I am very happy with it.

The new BIG television

Posted by debco at 07:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Today is John Henry's eleventh birthday.

Yesterday he had a three-month checkup at the vet school and his lungs are still clear of any visible cancer. YAY!

Nine months ago he broke his leg and I really, honestly believed he was never coming home. But he looks good. He acts good. And today he is eleven.

Posted by debco at 03:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Year's Best Fantasy #6 table of contents:

Eating Hearts · Yoon Ha Lee
The Denial · Bruce Sterling
The Fraud · Esther Friesner
Sunbird · Neil Gaiman
Shard of Glass · Alaya Dawn Johnson
The Farmer’s Cat · Jeff Vandermeer
Crab Apple · Patrick Samphire
The Comber · Gene Wolfe
Walpurgis Afternoon · Deliah Sherman
Monster · Kelly Link
Robots and Falling Hearts · Tim Pratt & Greg van Eekhout
Still Life with Boobs · Ann Harris
Heads Up, Thumbs Down · Gavin J. Grant
Newbie Wrangler · Timothy J. Anderson
Being Here · Claude Lalumière
Mom and Mother Theresa · Candas Jane Dorsey
The Imago Sequence · Laird Barron
Magic in a Certain Slant of Light · Deborah Coates
Single White Farmhouse · Heather Shaw
Read It in the Headlines! · Garth Nix
Niels Bohr and the Sleeping Dane · Jonathon Sullivan
Mortegarde · Liz Williams
Inside Job · Connie Willis

Posted by debco at 02:35 PM | Permalink

I actually think I'll finish a story this month (so hold that mocking, ms chance!), but the last couple of days have been full of new story ideas for me.

Some beginnings:

They have come to Pretoria to hunt the leviathan
--The Whale's Lover (this is the one I think I'll actually finish this month)

Liz is not prepared for a hot air balloon landing in her front yard.

She tells the people in the balloon that, because she has always been straightforward about things. "I am not prepared to entertain going with you at this time," she says though they haven't said a thing. In particular, they haven't asked her to go anywhere.
--Hot Air

Jennie Low swears to God

that the best cowgirls in the world are on the Chadron in Northwest Nebraska.
--Cowgirls in Space

"A Rottweiler is not a butterfly."

This is what my mother says to me when I tell her that I have recently acquired a Rottweiler puppy. It doesn't make a sense, as is true of so many of the things my mother says. So, I ignore it. I also do not tell my mother the source of my new puppy...
--The Butterfly Dog

Florida believes the world will end with a whimper. But, as always, he is full of shit. The world's already ended. And it ended with a bang.

I tell Florida that he should go by Florin or Flynn or something, which would be less confusing for people than Florida. "Why are you named Florida?" people ask him. "Because I was born in Georgia," he says.
--untitled so far

Posted by debco at 08:02 PM | Permalink

Trying to figure out some permissions issue

Update: Still having problems with comments though everything else seems to be working okay. You can make comments and I will see them in email, but they never appear on the site itself...

Entries appear to be working okay.

Update the Second: Comments appear to be fully working again...

Posted by debco at 09:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I managed to score three copies of Asimov's March issue today. So now I have at least seen myself in print.

I am going on another book buying moratorium (yes, I am--don't laugh!), not because I have too many books, but because I have too many books I haven't read. I did buy three books when I was in Borders buying my copies of Asimov's because I finally found three books on the 2 for 3 table that I wanted and it was, like, a bargain and, uh, I had to. Also, I got an idea for a story while I was walking Billie this afternoon and came home to look up research materials and realized that I already have at least three appropriate books sitting on my shelves unread.

I got my replacement digital camera yesterday so I will be able to resume dog blogging soon. Unless, of course, this one stops working.

I did not manage to finish a story for the month of January. I almost finished Later, There will be Fireworks but it got too messy so it has to sit around for awhile until I forget how messy it is. I am currently working on The Whale's Lover and In the Aftermath of Rain.

I have to finish a story before the end of February or chance will mock me.

I did sell two stories last month: Magic in a Certain Slant of Light to Year's Best Fantasy #6 (check out the gorgeous cover) and Chainsaw on Hand to Asimovs.

I am currently reading The Search by John Battelle, Crossing Three Wildernesses by U Sam Oeur, and A Princess of Roumania by Paul Park (I actually haven't started this one yet, but it is next up on my list for when I have to switch from non-fiction to fiction).

Posted by debco at 06:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

A server move appears to have eaten my post from yesterday. I was going to say that I didn't have a copy saved off-site, but thanks to the beauty of full RSS feeds (and the weird fact that I subscribe to my own feed) I'm pretty sure I can recreate it...

Posted by debco at 06:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)