Interesting Writing Tool

I've always wanted a visual dictionary, but I've never had one. Now, Webster's is providing one online. Free. Its interface still needs work, but it seems like it would be useful anyway. Check it out here.

Funny Pictures

If you want to laugh a lot, check out these pictures of children scared to death of Santa. Poor little tykes.

In other news, I have my wireless network at home completely operational and secure, so that's good news, and I'll begin Operation Build tonight as I foray into the great build-my-own-computer adventure. Perhaps the most important thing of note is that tomorrow is Chester Greeenwood Day. I think we all know just how great a man Chester was, and why he has a day named in his honor. We'll be heading out for the parade, but I think I'll pass on the Polar Bear Club dip in Clearwater Lake. Tomorrow's supposed to be wicked cold out here. Anyone else having any Chester Greenwood Festivities? I'm sure you're all jealous that I now reside in his home town, the "Earmuff Capital of the World."

New Car

That's right. Rose is gone. Traded in. Hasta la vista. Tschuess.

New (as yet unnamed) car is here to stay. The details? 2007 Honda Civic. Blue this time, so I'm no longer being untrue to my BYU roots. There was a crazy good deal at the Ford dealership when we brought our rental car in, and there was this little Civic, sitting there, just traded in as well. Only 4,600 miles on the poor thing, and looking lonely. I'm rather proud of the way I haggled this car down, finally getting them thousands of dollars below Kelley Blue Book. I could sell the car today and make a hefty profit. So this means that I didn't escape having a car payment, but I also have a car under manufacturer's warranty for the next 4.5 years (powertrain)--bumper to bumper for the next 2.5 years. And it's a Honda Civic, only the best rated car around for reliability. And I don't have to worry about what some previous owner did to the thing. It looks brand new, drives like a charm--even has an input for my iPod to play over the stereo. And we can afford the monthly payments by a good margin. Very good news--I'm very pleased.

Toys

My cousin challenged bloggers to post their top 5 favorite toys, and so I'm going to try and do that. Of course, it seems like she was focusing on family toys, and I think I'll list the ones of mine I like the most. The adult-kid toys. But since I'm incredibly indecisive, I'll have to split them up into different categories. Oh--and these are just the things I'm playing with right now. Not in any way an "all time" list. And they're not necessarily in order. Enough disclaimers? So here we go.

Board Games

1--Settlers of Catan--I love this game, and my wife likes to play it, too--which is why it comes in at the top. I also have the 2 player card game version, which is spiffy as well.
2--Ticket to Ride--Easy to play, high replayability, fun for 2 or more. Lots of great reasons to like it.
3--Lord of the Rings Cooperative Board Game--The only game I know where you all get to be on the same team. Way cool.
4--War of the Ring--Incredibly complex, and not for the faint of heart, but there's something so satisfying about either decimating those puny little hobbits on the other team or sticking it to Sauron.
5--The Farming Game--Who knew growing hay, wheat, corn and cherries could be so much fun?

Video Games

1--Angband--It's got ASCII graphics, but I think I've played more hours of this game than any other game out there. Love it, though I recognize it's an aquired taste.
2--Hellgate: London--Like Angband, except with demons and 3-D graphics and explosions
3--Super Paper Mario--Fun mechanics, and I can play it with my son.
4--Wii Sports--Nothing says "dominate" like beating your 3 year old son at virtual bowling. Then again, nothing says "pwned" like having your 3 year old son beat you.
5--Guitar Hero III--Played this down in PA. Loved it. Would love to have an Xbox 360 after that experience, too. Good times.

Gadgets

1--Computer--I'm building a new one. Vista or XP--any suggestions?
2--GPS--Just got a basic hand me down version. I want to go geocaching now.
3--Leatherman--Best. Tool. Ever.
4--Kitchenaid Stand Mixes--How did I ever live without one?
5--Hair Clippers--I hate barbers. This makes it so I don't have to ever go to them. Priceless.

That's all I have time for for now. I'll add links in a bit when I have a second again. Update on the rest of my life? I need a Honda Civic. You got one for me to buy?

Old Friends

I got back from a reunion of sorts last night. Some of my old high school friends were getting together, and I had the chance to catch up with them and see what they had all been doing. I was in the class of '96, which means it's been 11 years since I was in high school with these people. I had a great time, and it was nice to see them all and have a good time. It also got me thinking. I'm very much not the same person I was back then, and my friends are very different people, as well. I've been married for over 6 years--longer than I knew most of them back in the day, since I didn't move to the area until 8th grade. I don't know--my thoughts are kind of jumbled right now, but what I'm trying to get at is this:

1) High school seems to have lasted so long. It didn't. It was done in three years. Half the time I've been married.

2) Things that seemed so important then no longer seem that important now.

3) My high school friends are very good people, even today. It's nice to see how well they're all "growing up," becoming members of society. I hope I seem the same to them, but I guess that's beside the point.

Anyway. This all makes sense in my head, but somewhere between there and my fingers and the keyboard, it's getting mixed up. Maybe when you read it, it'll straighten itself out again.

Happy Thanksgiving (and Update)

I'm down in Pennsylvania for the holiday and having a great time. Yesterday my wife and I headed into New York City to go see Young Frankenstein, which thankfully isn't affected by the Broadway strike. We thoroughly enjoyed it. Great music, acting and fantastic sets. I couldn't believe they pulled off some of the things they did on that stage. We also went to the New York Macy's, which we discovered has 9--count 'em NINE--floors of stuff to buy. I had no idea it was that big.

This morning I managed to get a $280 22" LCD computer monitor for $150 online. I love sales! Then again, I also discovered that our rental car has a totally flat tire--something we'll have to figure out tomorrow. Less than fun.

What else have we been up to? Exploring, relaxing and having a good time. I've been playing Guitar Hero III with my brother, and that's been tremendously fun. The vacation has really felt like just that: a vacation. Very nice.

No Fun Allowed

Yesterday was Not a Fun Day. I had three different car troubles pop up--this after already spending over $300 last month to get the car in supposed working order. So now it's looking like the time has come. I need a new car. Thankfully, it sounds like the current troubles can be fixed for under $100 total. (This is shocking, since the troubles seemed unusually bad--smoke coming from engine, horrendous screeching sound, coolant leaking all over the place, etc.) So I'll be able to use the current car until I can find what I deem a good deal on a newer one, rather than having to scrounge around for whatever I can find right this second. I'm leaning toward a Subaru Forrester right now. Everyone else at campus seems to have one, and they're supposed to be dependable. We'll see what the costs are, though.

Other than that, I suppose things aren't too bad. I mean, I'm leaving tomorrow for a ten day vacation. How could they be bad? The time off will be very appreciated, and I won't even need to take any of my vacation time to do it--it's all saved up comp time, plus holiday time and weekends. Very nice. During this break, I hope to write a Top Secret Short Story. I know what it needs to be about--now I just need to figure out a plot, characters, setting . . . Should be good practice for the next book I'm going to write, which I will resume planning once the short story's done. Fun times. I'm so looking forward to fresh writing it isn't even funny. I've been rewriting since . . . spring? Something like that. Too long.

Chilly

I don't know what the weather is like where you are, but here's it's definitely getting on the nippy side. Tomorrow night's supposed to get down into the teens. This fact, coupled with the ever increasing cost of heating oil right now, makes me very glad to have 4 cord of wood in my yard. (Almost done stacking it, too--yay!) Of course, other than the cold (which no doubt will seem warm in a few more months compared to the temperatures that lie in wait), the weather's been very nice the last few days. Sunny and clear. In less than a week, we'll be heading down to Pennsylvania for a nice long Thanksgiving break, which I'm really looking forward to.

Better still, I've figured out how to rewrite the climax of Ichabod, and I think it's actually going to work. This is a big relief, as it was the weakest remaining part of the novel I had yet to fix. Now to actually write it and see what the test readers think.

Bad Me

I've been getting really bad at keeping this blog up to date, and I apologize for that. It's not like nothing's been going on here in Maine--I just have gotten busy on several projects and posting has fallen in the cracks. What have I been doing, you ask? Well, there was the Halloween festivities (my son was Bob the Builder at one party and a Kitty at another) and there was me getting sick again--something's been going around the library, and it's stopped by me twice now. Yuck. In addition to that there's been wood stacking and further experience with the wood stove, as well as map making at work and website design. To top everything off, I've continued with the Ichabod rewrite, and I'm happy to say that it's going very well. The rewrite has been pretty much painless except for the first act, which has been a very nice change from Lesana. Of course, the first act is the only one that writing group read through back in the day, so I suppose there's a chance that the other acts are going well just because I wrote them how I like them and no one's told me otherwise yet. That'll be where the final round of readings come in. Right now, it's looking like I'll be done with the rewrite sometime around Thanksgiving--either a little before or a little after. Depending on how many volunteers I get for readers, I think I'd like to have this book submission-worthy by the end of the year. A very reachable goal, I'd say. We'll see how that plays out, though. The climax of the book needs an overhaul--that much I'm certain of . . .