Things I Know I Know

I sold my house (Finally! Hallelujah!!!!!)

I got a decent price. And, more importantly, survived having the home inspection on the wettest day of the last ten years (and before you ask if the basement was wet--yes, of course, the basement was wet--flood plain, five inches of rain, house built in the 20s--I'm willing to bet there wasn't a basement in my part of town that wasn't).

They did ask for some things to be done before closing, all of them reasonable and all of them doable.

And we close before the end of May!!!

Posted by debco at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

"Sixth Street always goes under first."

"Yeah, and 13th Street is last."

"Not 24th?"

"No, because it goes 6th, South Duff, 30, 24th, then 13th. Then you have to drive 40 miles north to go a mile and a half east.

Plus, don't forget Lincolnway."

"Yeah, but that's, like, a whole 'nother flood."

==

"This is as much water as '93."

"Not even. It wasn't even as much water as '96. Because in '96, the horse pasture was completely underwater and that storm drain thing was shooting water straight up into the air."

"What about the canoes in the grocery store?

"That was '93."

But, really, almost no streets went under this time. Kayaks in the park and sandbagging (with mulch!) at the pizza place. Wet basements everywhere. Because that's why we build on the flood plain.

And I am so lame, I have no pictures.

Posted by debco at 06:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Or at least the four or five people who read here occasionally....

Keep your fingers crossed and wish really, really hard.

Thanks!

Posted by debco at 05:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

My wireless works in my back yard. Yay!! (I need a brighter screen, tho)

Yesterday I talked to a physics class about writing SF & F, which was fun (SarahP, tell JohnP that it was an *all!girl* physics class--seriously).*

Billie did her first pet therapy visit at the hospital which went really well, although there were no patients. Tomorrow we are visiting Girl Scouts.

I am currently working on 'What Makes a River' and the revisions for 'Cowgirls in Space' (or I would be if I weren't typing this).

I probably have other news as well, but I'm pretty sure all of it is just as exciting as this news so I'll save it for another time.

*(Okay, it was a physics class for non-majors and there were two boys, but all the rest were girls)

Gratuitous dog picture (so at least this post is not a total waste of your time):

Posted by debco at 06:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I get this letter from the county treasurer's office that I haven't paid my property taxes which would be, you know, bad.

I pay them into escrow, so it's not like I'm personally responsible and my mortgage is with the credit union which is, all in all, really good. I call them and then say we paid them on the 12th of last month. They call the Treasurer's office, who says--well, hmmm...we applied those taxes to the other house.

So, I'm thinking...let me get this straight. My other house has an eleven hundred dollar credit and the taxes have been paid TWICE in the month of March (according to you), and when you saw that this house had No Taxes Paid On It, it didn't occur to you to think...hmmm, perhaps we made a mistake? My favorite part is that they cannot, apparently, just move that money to the correct location. I (well, the credit union) have to pay the taxes again and they will send the credit union a check for the wrongly credited taxes. They damn well better credit me back the interest.

In other news my assessment hardly went up at all so at least they won't be getting any more taxes from me.

In completely other news, Billie had her first hospital therapy visit today and was her lovely charming self. We're definitely looking forward to more.

Also, I've decided that 'Two is Not a Pattern' is not the next Beth/Paul not-vampire story, which is probably why I was having so much trouble writing it. The story I'm currently working on is: 'What Makes A River':

Paul sends her an email and it drops her jaw because--first-- how does he know her email address and --second--why. Because he never made any promises, never even said--thanks for helping me out that time. But he does--he sends her email. Are you okay? Is all it says. Three words and a question mark and she can't figure out what it means. Is it a general question--in this moment on this day. Does it mean he was thinking about her--hey, just want you to know I'm here. Because it's not that he found her attractive because she's not attractive. Does he know about the Thing in the lake that's not a merman? Is he asking if she's safe?

She answers him--I'm fine, how are you.

For those who worry about such things (...chance...) it will probably (almost certainly) not be in present tense when it's done.

Posted by debco at 07:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I got the page proofs for The Whale's Lover and a check from Asimov's. I don't know what issue it will be in, but someday it'll be in print.

I got the whiny white professor story back so it's on its way out again.

'46 Directions, None of them North,' missed making the Nebula preliminary ballot by one rec. Ah well, as they say, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. It would never have made the final ballot but it would have been very cool to be on the preliminary ballot and I am delighted with the recs it did get.

I've worked a bit on 'Cowgirls in Space,' been pondering a novel idea which is threatening to become average so clearly needs a little more work, and reintroducing myself to linear regression for 'Two is Not a Pattern.

(Me reading about linear regression is a clear example of why I was always an applied rather than basic reasearcher and why I never liked mathematics, but was a whiz at linear regression because I'm reading these sources and they're showing me equations and talking about x and y and I'm thinking--just give me examples, people! Examples! Concrete things to which I can apply some linear regression. I can figure out the freaking theory myself.

Posted by debco at 01:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So, I have been following the mighty battle of SFWA presidents and it is clear that this is a battle of the YOUNG vs the OLD. Never mind that some of the YOUNG are in fact old and some of the OLD are clearly young. That is not important.

So, the first question you should ask yourself as you're preparing to vote in this critical election is--am I YOUNG or OLD.

A quiz to help you with this important question:

--If you have ever said, 'Hey, you, get off my lawn!' Stop taking this quiz right now because you win! You are OLD. (I once ran outside in my stocking feet in the middle of winter and told a guy to damn well stop leaning over the fence to pet my dog, but this doesn't count because the dog was a (albeit friendly) Rottweiler and the guy was a freaking idiot.)

--If you have ever said, 'You think that sounds like a good idea but we tried that in 1942 and war broke out.' Ha ha ha, you are OLD.

--If you have said, 'Who are you?' to someone who is arguing with you online and has just given you their name. You are...well, hmmm, you could actually be either YOUNG or OLD.

--If you actually use RSS feeds, Second Life, Live Journal, My Space, YouTube, wikis, Technorati, IceRocket, Windows Mobile 5, Google Alerts or you know what Web 2.0 is, you are YOUNG.

--If you constantly try to divide people and/or things into two groups and boil complex issues down into the FORS and AGAINSTS, you are OLD. Jeez, what's with that? Just stop it already.*

--If you have already switched to Windows Vista, you are either YOUNG or insane.

--If you have no idea what Windows Vista is, you are OLD.**

--If you keep trying things when OLD people tell you Straight Out that it will NOT work and it is WRONG. Then you are YOUNG. And not just YOUNG, but a Whippersnapper. And no one wants to be a Whippersnapper. No one.

*Dividing people up into YOUNG vs OLD does not count. Really. It totally doesn't. Like, at all.

**(If you have a Macintosh you will never be old, because that is the Mighty Macintosh Secrit--shhh, don't tell anyone!)

Posted by debco at 09:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

--My old house still hasn't sold (and Francisco Franco is still dead). My realtor says that there have been 7 showings in three days so, you know, buy it, someone.

--This house was my dream house two years ago. It's the house I didn't get (because other people bought it for more money than I could) and it's the house that got me on the year and a half house hunting that culminated in me buying my current house.

--And, honestly, I like my new house even better than that house. Except the yard. Because whereas my yard is very nice, that house has a yard that is all the AWESOME. It's a half acre, wooded, deep, deep lot.

--Except that yard is not fenced. At all.

--Except that house is now listed at $50,000 more than I paid for this house (actually more than $50,000 more), which may not be much in California housing dollars but is a lot of money in Iowa dollars.

--And no one keeps that house more than two years (I have no idea why because it's really a very nice house), but they don't.

--And I like my house. A lot. And I like the fact that I didn't pay $50,000 more for it. And I didn't have to pay to put up a fence. And my current plans are to stay quite a bit longer than two years.

--So, huh.

--And good :-)

Posted by debco at 05:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)