*Big DumpTruck*

Yard Sale Weekend

It's the family's annual yardsale. I normally sell NOTHING but I had a great day today. Got rid of a lot of stuff, actually. I still have plenty left for tomorrow, but I don't know how much of it will go. I was selling a lot of baby things, which do well. I actually sold 4 (!) strollers. I mean, who owns four strollers, anyway? Well, I did but I don't anymore. The one big item I would LOVE to sell tomorrow is the old lawnmower. It works great, I guess, it's just too heavy and smelly and noisy for my taste. That's why I bought the electric one, which I love, by the way.

I also got a sunburn on my nose. I guess I was in more sun than I thought today. I just didn't even think about it, but now I've got a lovely red schnozz to show off to the world.

Okay, I'm exhausted, when is the earliest I can go to bed, anyway?

Almost Friday

Another week of looking for a job and ending up at the beach and an amusement park. How did THAT happen? Well, I know how it happened. When I originally became unemployed back in January I was not a happy camper. Tied with marriage woes, well, I just had no energy to do anything. The fishies weren't biting my resume hook, etc. Just when the good weather started, I got two temporary gigs in a row. HEAVEN, except why on earth did it have to be just in time for the summer?

I didn't take ANY time off from the Allmerica gig, because I couldn't bear to lose the money in my paycheck. Simple as that. So no real "vacation-y" activities since September 2001, really. But I have a different attitude right now. Maybe it will wear off, but in case another gig popped up post-Labor Day, I wanted to be able to say that I took Junior to the beach at least once this summer. Ditto the amusement park, which, by the way, was subsidized by his father. *waving*

Anyway, grinding out resumes again. Besides, it's raining. I really didn't want to beach it in the rain. (But I'm not against going back next week or the week after if I don't have an interview lined up and the weather is right. Then we can say we went TWICE this year. Woo hoo!

Stupid Boston Bartenders

Okay, time for another check-in on this STUPID Opie and Anthony thing. Once again, I don't think they should have been fired for this. I think simulating sex in a Church is wrong. But THEY weren't having sex in a Church. Okay, so given that...

Now bartenders in the Boston area are boycotting Sam Adams products. These bars are only hurting themselves, because I've heard people have been calling radio stations to boycott the bars that are boycotting Sam Adams. Idiots. You own a bar. You don't have any right to get all high and mighty. When oh when oh when will these good Catholics stop pointing fingers and throwing stones? I'm almost embarrassed to say I'm Catholic. And even after Koch DID apologize in print ads about his involvement, one of these self-righteous 'swipes had the nerve to decide the apology wasn't good enough because he didn't include wording that he'd never do it again. Hey, pal, he didn't need to answer to you in the FIRST place.

I think I'll run out and buy some Sam Adams. I don't need it, but I would like to show some support. And I hope these holier-than-thou tavern owners take a HUGE hit in the wallet.

Wow, It's Enough to Drive You To Drink Milkshakes

Spent 4 hours on the job search this morning, and it sucked all the happy out of me. I'm just amazed at how sparse things are. Shouldn't more of us be living in cardboard boxes?

Tomorrow I'm taking a break from the job hunt effort; Junior and I are going to have a fun day together, even if it kills us!

p.s. Still working on the screenplay. Wrote a scene that I really really liked. That's gotta count for something, right?

Yeppers, My Article Will Be In Tomorrow's Probe

The Daily Probe is updated on Tuesdays, and my article from Saturday WILL be in it (I see an advance copy). Should I try to let Rodney and Dean know that I immortalized them?

No Visitors?

I refuse to accept the Nedstat information that says so far today nobody has visited this page. Bull-hockey. Heck, *I've* visited it, and *I* am not there.

So okay, I'll pretend it's a banner day and I've had more visits than any other day in history. Feel free to hit the reload button, too.

I'm off to the beach. Just for a little while, anyway. Then back to the jobhunt (in case the DET people are reading. *wink*)

Waiting for Tuesday

Duncan Sheik's new CD - Daylight is being released on Tuesday. Amazon sent me an email to let me know it was coming, I have no idea how they knew I would actually WANT that piece of information. I must have clicked on something, somewhere.

People Magazine gave it a rave review...said he was like John Mayer's older brother. Now I have to skim my archives to figure out if I actually compared John Mayer and Duncan back when I first discovered John. Maybe the People Mag reviewer reads this blog? Naaaaah. I found it! Click halfway down.

Strangely, not that satisfying

I'm still doing the chat support thingy, and as I type my messages to the mysterious "Dean" I can't help but think "Man, I thought chatting with guys online was supposed to be sexier than discussing firewalls and routers."

Do you think I should ask him what he's wearing?
(update: I just decided to turn this into a short article for the Daily Probe. I'll let you know if it gets published."

I Love Technology

I am using an online chat system to communicate with HP support (had a question about how to update my BIOS if I don't have a floppy drive, because the downloadable file requires it. You know, typical head scratching time. It's nice to be able to communicate real-time with tech support.

Davezilla Isn't From the Godzilla people? I had no Idea!

Love this cease and desist letter the Godzilla company send Davezilla. Cause you know, I was all confused and stuff. Did all the other Zillas get a call, or did they pay royalites to Toho?

As Seen on TV

I've gotta tell you that Allen L. is the Dumper of the Day. Maybe of the week. He has done an amazing thing: Found me 4 places where I can buy Ginsu knives. I know you are chuckling to yourself thinking "Cheap commie bastard buying Ginsu knives when Amazon can speed you some Wüsthof Classic 10-Piece Knife Set with Block for a mere $369. Why, the Ginsu knife set of ten knives is only $2! Barbarians! Why not just tear your food apart with your hands?!"

Well, because the Ginsu knives are just the best I've ever used. In fact, my mother has been begging me to find her another set. They aren't easy to find, but Allen, bless him, sent me lings to 4 sites, and then I found the $2 bargain (plus shipping) over at an amazon z-shop. If you want information on other sets, there's a site called http://www.goginsu.com. I can't vouch for their prices.

Friday

It feels a lot like Thursday, actually.

Hey, I've made one small space over on the right where you can purchase an ad. It has to be 150x120, and I have to approve it, but the price is cheeeep. Click over there for more details.

I think I've also built a link for code so you can put a button for this site on YOUR site. I may have done it wrong. If I did, I'll fix it.

404 from the future

I was on weblogs.com looking to see if my recent blog update was listed and saw a listing for what appears to be William Shatner's blog. In the grand tradition of Wil Wheaton's blog, I'm sure. The site isn't configured properly, but I just want to be one of the first people to link to his site, if and when it's up and running.

Still Deathmatching

I still play Paranormal Deathmatch about once every 2-3 days. Just to see how badly I've been beaten while I was away. The other night I was killed 5 or 6 times, which is something that can happen to you in a game. You get killed, and then reincarnated with lots of lovely health. That should happen in real life.

Oh, and yes, I wrote a letter to the FCC about this Opie and Anthony thing. It may surprise one or two of you, but I wrote a pro-O&A letter. Now I'm the last person to condone people having sex in a church, be they employees or just tourists. But I happened to be listening to the show that day. Unlike most of the people who wrote or called the FCC, I actually know what was going on. And trust me, nothing that was broadcast over the air was indecent. You're going to have to believe me, because I have no reason to lie. I never even believed that all the couples participating were actually doing anything anyway. I mean, there's be a cell phone call..."they just did it in the stairwell at XYZ and now they're doing it at ABC." C'mon, are these humans? Who can have sex 10 times in 3 hours?

Anyway, hearing someone say "Okay, they're doing it in the cathedral" isn't obscene in and of itself. Nor is it necessarily true. We're talking about a cell phone call on a radio show. They could have been in the next room.

If the couple in question was caught doing something they shouldn't have, well, that was their choice. Nobody told them to a) participate, or b) go to the church. At what point are the participants responsible? I mean, the prize wasn't even anything that great.

Oh great, I just read this on the newswires: "The New York-based shock jocks, criticized by Catholic groups for broadcasting a live account of a couple allegedly having sex in St. Patrick's Cathedral, had their nationally syndicated show canceled Thursday. "

You know, there were a lot of really horribly offensive things they've done on their show that should get them fired, but I don't think this was it.

Another Fine Thursday

Got my last direct deposit from my last job today. I love direct deposit. I'd like to kiss the feet of the person who invented it. I love waking up with fresh new money in my checking account.

My library books are officially 2 days overdue. I wasn't feeling up to returning them yesterday, and then all hell broke loose with the passenger-side window of my "new" car...it won't go up. So I had to get it to a garage, get them to take it (Hey, I don't want it exposed to the outside universe with the window stuck down) and then get a ride from my mother. Not really how I was planning to spend the evening, but people don't normally plan these things anyway.

And now I just found out there's something wrong with the server that hosts this site. I wonder when I'll actually get to post this message?

Current Webcam Photo

In case anyone is wondering, the contributors to the Top Five list were comparing coffee making methods this morning, and that's a photo of my new setup. I just put the grounds in the filter in the top, and pour hot water in the top. It drips out a hole at the bottom. Basically it's the basket from a one-cup coffee maker if you removed it from the water-heating-up part.

And that's my Mickey cup. It's from 4 years ago. *sigh*

Note: If you are reading this in the future (hello!) the picture is probably not of my coffee cup. It might be of me. Do not pour hot water in my top. Thank you.

It's All In the Details

On day 3 of the jobhunt, I found an interesting listing on monster.com. Thing is, I was hoping to keep my commute 45 minutes or less, so I actually ran a search on mapquest to see how many miles away this one job is. What I thought very interesting is that the driving instructions actually being in my driveway. That's a level of detail I didn't expect to see. Yes, it tells me to
Start out going Northeast on [my street] towards [other street] by turning right.

Whew! What if I had gone the wrong way exiting my drive? I might have been lost forever!

Cool Massachusetts Information

I had no idea this page existed before today, but it's VERY cool. It's a listing of all the unofficial names of Massachusetts towns, sections of towns. Around here we have Whalom and Cleghorn on the list. Very interesting info, although I don't know how useful it is. Unincorporated and Unofficial Names of Massachusetts Communities

An Interesting Job Opportunity

Like a good little unemployed person, I'm doing my daily job search. I found this listing on Monster and am now contemplating a career change. To heck with learning PHP and writing for a living.

Gee, thanks Google

""it" is a very common word and was not included in your search"

PHP it is

I'm just going to take Beth's advice and learn PHP instead of ASP. Well, "learn" is relative. Let's see how far I get before I take up shuffleboard and wearing my jammies all day.

Blog Hopping

Ahhh, I love Blog-hopping. I start off from weblogs.com and pick a site from one of the ones above the fold. Today, after only two jumps from "favorite blogs" lists I ended up on My Trailer is Bigger Than Your Trailer. A lovely find!

Note to Self:

For goodness' sake, if everything is going along swimmingly, DO NOT TOUCH THE AC AND BLOW A FUSE IN THE LIVING ROOM!

Luckily, I knew what to do because we had that funky problem with the upstairs bathroom blowing the circuit in the kitchen (i.e. turning off the coffee maker). I just panic that the circuit overloading will cause my walls to catch fire. Cause that would be bad. Now I'm afraid to turn the AC back on. It's still nice in here, so I'll wait a few. The great thing is that Junior got to watch the little TiVo movie that only plays when the system has been reset. He loves that movie.

Sa-WING battah!

It must be love because there is no other reason to explain why I was outside in the 93 degree weather playing wiffle ball with a four year old. You see, they can't hit that well. And when they throw the ball back to you it usually ends up nowhere near where you are standing. We worked some on the throwing back part, so that eventually I didn't have to move much. But for the most part, I was counting the minutes until we could go back inside.

Does that make me a bad person?

ZUG

Jiminy Christmas, why didn't anyone tell me ZUG - The World's Only Comedy Site was back online? Huh? Huh? I used to be a regular, and then during the boom they stopped publishing (cause they were making real money doing live webcasts as part of Media Shower. WIthout boring you with details, I ended up doing a search on a VERY old email address I used to use, and found three matches...one of them in the Zug site. Holy cow, there I was, yammering back in 1998 about bagged milk.

So I don't know how the site has changed, it looks different, but I'll take what I can get. Woo hoo! Go Zug! Glad you're back!

Is that a Llama in your pickup, or are you just....nevermind

Got an emergency Blog alert from Mr. Dump. He called to tell me he was driving down the road and there was a kind of a pickup truck with a llama in the back...and it was spitting on passing cars!

It's bad enough to be distracted by a llama in a pickup, but dammit, if I got hit on the windshield by a llama loogie (let's see the search engine hits for THAT!) I'd throw up.

And yes, Mr. Dump's side mirror was a victim. Gah.

p.s. Why is llama spelled with two Ls? I mean, don't we get the point with the first L? Lloyd is spelled similarly. Can someone help me with this one?

Day 1

Well, first day, and I am keeping Junior Mint home with me. I am wondering if the campout tonight will be cancelled because it is REALLY WET outside. Far be it for me to complain about any kind of rain at all, it's sorely needed. But why, of all the nights, the one we had plans to sleep outside?

Oh, yes, and two pages of the screenplay are written. At least I don't have to have the fear of a blank page. I used my Amazon referral bonus to buy the low-end scriptwriting software and man, can I tell that I should have bought the high end one. I assume I could upgrade later on, but I don't see that kind of money appearing between now and when the project greenlight script has to be submitted.

Okay, I have to finish a little work and then start my errands for the day. Today's the day I drop off the van and pick up my "new" used car.

Yup, I Was Right

Jennie checked in and pointed out that not only is the Shaun CD cheap, it qualifies for free shipping. I hope you kids are all able to order your copies before they run out.

It's a good day, relatively. Had a big honking alcoholic drink at the going away lunch. Caught a buzz on the first half-inch of liquid, so everything is jolly good fun now. Check with me tomorrow when I'm officially unemployed, 'kay?

Wart Bubbles

Last week Mr. Dump had some warts burned off his hand. He'd gone in to have an ear infection diagnosed, but the Dr. told him it would be a good idea to get rid of the warts, so he said "ok." When he came to pick up Junior after his appointment, the two ex-warts were now these giant, inflated-looking blistery "wart bubbles" as Junior dubbed them. I laughed at them.

So today I go to the Drs office for something female related.
(Me to doctor after my feet are in stirrups and he asks me to scootch forward "Gee, this is exactly what I wanted to do today"
His reply, as he's sitting on the stool facing what must be a glorious sight: "No offense, but this isn't what I wanted to do today either." Har. He's funny that one. He's the guy who told me I should only eat homemade soup after I attempted to remove the top half of my left index finger with a soup can lid.)

Anyway, after he's done doing what it is I needed done, he touches this thing I've had on my leg for approximately 15 years.
"Have you had this a while?"
"Well, ya, for a long time. You've seen it before."
"Has it changed at all?"
"I don't think so. I have another one over here" (I point to another one on the back of my leg that's sort of the same but not. I've had that one even longer.)
"I don't' think it's a wart, but I think we should try to burn it off."
"Uh, okay." Hell, I'd asked him to do that a long time ago and he said we didn't need to.

How many other things has he burned off people in the last week? Is it Freeze-a-Wart week? So now I've got a big wart bubble (even if it isn't a wart, but it might be) on my leg and damned if that doesn't hurt. Plus I have an overwhelming urge to just pop the darned thing, but I think that's considered bad. And there, folks, is your "too much information" for the day.

A Deal At Any Price

Shaun Cassidy's Greatest Hits for only $5.98! Holy cow, at that price you can buy a couple and give them as gifts. I'm pretty sure I'm going to hear from Jennie about this one. *waves to Jennie*

They have others, too. I just wasn't into Leif Garrett that much. And the Bay City Rollers. Ahhhh, good times.

Mushroom Update

Apparently the movie Spy Kids II has a Shiitake mushroom joke (note the correct spelling). I learned from a mushroom expert that it's an ancient Japanese word pronounced "shee-TOCK-ay." I did not know that.

Reading Reading Reading

I made good headway into the book How Not to Write a Screenplay last night. I'm totally digging that book. It was EXACTLY what I was looking for - how often does that happen on the first try? What it's given me is a good sense of what to leave OUT of my screenplay, which is almost more helpful than a list of what to put in. I'm happy to see that since my last foray into the world of screenwriting (back when I was a member of the screenwriter's forum on pre-AOL Compuserve) the spec script (what I'm attempting) is a lot more conversational. It's hard for me to explain what I like about it, but when he tells you when to NOT name characters (as opposed to naming even the least little person) you're on the right track.

It's Schteamy out there

There are days when I really appreciate having an indoor job with full blast AC. When I get home tonight Mike the Fish will probably start yelling at me for leaving him in the house without the benefit of cool air, but I just can't justify leaving the AC on all day when he's the only one there. It's 99 out there today, and that's just not one of my favorite temperatures.

We'll get home and MAYBE it will be cool by the time we go to bed. Oy.

Taking it on the Chin

I read a quote on the Taking it on the Chin blog and just wanted to share. If you like what you see here, please feel free to visit the site, so I don't have to feel bad about not adding her site to my list of frequently visited sites. This is from an entry describing those Dunkin Donuts Watermelon donuts. (Gah!)

"The flavor is overpowering, yet it falls short of its watermelon target. It's watermelon from a time far in the future, the 25th century, say; a time when watermelons no longer exist and their flavor has been reconstructed from contemporary accounts provided by people with Alzheimer's."

Weird Links - Web WWWeirdness

Randy likes me! Woo hoo!
(Note, the "weird" page is one of my other pages, not this one.)

Busy Day at the Dump

I love looking at my web stats in the morning and seeing them predict a busy day. I love busy days. I want to have 250+ people a day visit the blog or the dump, but instead I've been averaging 50 or so on each. That's still nothing to sneeze at, considering I have no naked pictures to share. And throwing a few .mp3s of me singing popular songs is NOT going to improve traffic.

But today should be busy, because the email notification that the dump has been updated went out. Right now I'm expecting 100 hungry customers, so I'm going to go start the tapioca pudding. Gotta have snacks.

Okay, It's Up

The New Dump is up and running.

How's The Weather Down There?

Oops, forgot to finish the dump!

I ended up being busier yesterday than anticipated, so I didn't actually remember to finish updating the dump. Bad Jody!

I did pick up a book I'd been looking for, but didn't decide if I should bother with the screenwriting software or not. I wish it was just downloadable. I think I'd be faster about it if I could use it 15 minutes from not, rather than having to wait for it to be shipped. I did poke around some store websites and it's not something you can just buy at Staples.

Did I mention I bought a coffee table for $77 yesterday? It's worth WAY more than that, but I was at a scratch and dent/warehouse sale and scooped it up, cash and carry. I'm so happy! I haven't had a coffee table in here since junior was born.

Sunflower Seeds

In the store here at work they sell sunflower seeds. But not the kind I expect to buy (roasted and salted out of the shell). They sell the in-the-shell kind. Okay, we're in an office building, not a dugout. I can't just spit all these shells on the floor. Actually yesterday I noticed that they finally got the "good" kind on the shelf. Whew. Crisis averted.

[added later] Ooh, hey, if you accidently drop some on the floor you may as well be in a dugout.

Ooops

I just wrote a giant entry to put in the main Dump and accidently posted it here. Yes, that's right, I'm updating the dump.

Thinking of Becoming a Screenwriter

I'm considering taking my NaNoWriMo novel from last November and turning it into a screenplay for the new Project Greenlight. The plot of the novel screamed screenplay anyway. If I was going to be working for the next few weeks, I'd pick up a copy of Movie Magic Screenwriter 2000 but facing only 5 more days of employment makes me hang on a bit tighter to my cash. You know, for the little stuff. Like the 400 pounds of bananas I'm forced to buy Junior each week.

Because the bossman here said he thinks he'll be calling me back in 6-8 weeks I may try to just find a parttime job to combine with unemployment. Well, obviously I'll still try to get contracts via BirchBark, or, heaven forbid, a full-time position. But I wouldn't mind coming back here for another contract.

Boo Boo Belly

Yesterday's Lunch lasted well into last night.

And I invented a new phrase today. "Mental Meatball" Please use it often.

Overheard at Lunch

I should sent this over to "In Passing" (see link on the right) but I didn't hear it in San Francisco so it probably doesn't count.

While waiting in line for my beef and shitake mushroom lo mein (which was gross, by the way. Maybe get some meat that humans can chew, wouldja?) a woman looked at the sign to see what they were serving at that station and said "Shit-take mushrooms? Shit take? What's that?"

I should have said "Two steps down from a spit take."

Funny and Stuff

Okay, my sides are hurting. Rated R though, for language and, um, well, Hey kids! I think mom has cookies on the counter. Safety Chart.

You can tell that I'm feeling the need to conserve. I dragged Junior to the library with me. I ran out of "fun" reading, and obviously can't just run willy nilly to Barnes and Noble right now. I thought maybe I'd leap into current events by finally reading Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections. This copy is the big meaty hardcover. Impress your friends. I also picked up yet another Nora Roberts book, which means I can delete this one from my cart over at Amazon. I love to shop at Amazon, fill my cart, save things for later and fill my wishlist. 90% of the stuff I pick out never gets purchased. I've also been known to cancel orders once I place them. I love Amazon.

I got Junior a couple of books as well. He prefers the book store because of the Thomas the Tank Engine Display.

Bambino's Curse: Diary of a Red Sox Fan

Way cool website here, especially if you too are a Red Sox Fan. I'm a fan, even if having a whole gaggle of Sox personnel on my fantasy baseball team is keeping me in 7th place (out of 10 teams). In fact, funny thing...some of my non-Sox players are now on the team, thanks to the Cliff Floyd trade last week.

I call him Cliffy. Because he's my pal and has been a good member of my team. I have no idea how he feels about being called Cliffy, for the record.

I Don't Think Lunch Agreed with Me

Blah. I thought we were going somewhere nice (the restaurant at a golf course) but we went somewhere else. Isn't that always the way?

Going Out to Lunch Today

The group I work for is having a going-away lunch for one of the members. I'm going to pretend it's for me, but I won't say anything out loud. It will be my secret going-away lunch. Because there is still a slight chance I won't exactly be going away. I do need to offer to work part time until the next contract comes up in October.

This is my first lunch out since starting here in May. I was just thinking the other day that when interviewing back in May I expressed interest in telecommuting, etc., and I never really did that either. Or called in sick. I wonder why I've been so healthy lately (she asked, dooming herself)?

Testing

Just making sure I didn't break anything. *still waving at Greg*

Updating

I am planning some maintenance to the entire site. I'm going to try to get comments up and running here in the blog, but to do that, I need to move everything over to a new server. I don't know if that means the site will be unavailable for a period of time, or what, but I just wanted to give a heads up in case there are issues between here and there. I'll try to make this invisible to you, the fine readers of the Big DumpTruck.

Special thanks to my ISP Net1Plus for being so damned helpful. *waving at Greg*

Like Living in an Easy Bake Oven

Whew! Another one. Unfortunately, I've put off mowing as long as possible. I tackled the front this morning, will do the back tonight or tomorrow. I couldn't have done the whole thing even if I'd wanted to.

I was going to just draw in some crop circles, hoping that maybe Mel Gibson would swing by. It would be better to look at than all this crab grass. Seriously, is there an easy way to banish this stuff? I would like regular grass, and I've got this stuff taking OVER the lawn. I don't want to spend any money on it though. Can I maybe just have Junior pee all over the lawn or something?

Food Review: Yoplait Whips

I am having one of those "There aren't any other adults watching so I'm going to have a buffet" dinners tonight. Two ears of freshly pressure-cooked Gove's corn at mom's house (hey, I buy the corn, she cooks it, everyone's happy), 4 carrots with a splash of ranch dressing, 6 crackers with a slice of Land 'O Lakes white American cheese, and a Yoplait Whips. Yes, I went grocery shopping, why?

Okay, I'm thinking that making yoghurt light and fluffy just means lower volume, but I could be wrong. The flavor I bought to try is "Cherry Chiffon". I hope it doesn't taste like cloth.

It doesn't. It's the consistency of Cool Whip. I don't know if that's bad or not. If this was chocolate yoghurt (do they make that?) it would be like eating mousse. So as long as you aren't looking for something to fill you up, I think I'll give Yoplait Whips a thumbs up. But I still like the regular ones better.

Hot and steamy

Gah!

I shouldn't complain. But I will. Someone please turn off the humidy...please! I have to mow my lawn and I cannot get myself interested at all in this heat.

I Totally Don't Need One of These

I would like to have a talk with the "artist" who decided that this would be a good idea for a windchime.

I Work[ed] With This Guy!

It's his last day today, he's going on to bigger, better, closer-to-home things. I wish I had known about his site Clampants earlier. This piece is on Flag Etiquette

Uh Oh

Looks like my contract isn't going to be renewed...anyone have any need for a writer?

I am already being quoted on the

I am already being quoted on the web for my fake blog article in this week's Daily Probe. A friend (who happens to be the Probe web goddess) send me a link to a blog that has included it in HIS blog. Go here for evidence.

Too Much

I think the Mondo Giant Size cup they offer for fountain soda in the cafeteria is just a wee bit too big. I feel ill. Nobody should consume that much root beer in one week.

Other People's First Novels

I picked up a book at a library book sale a few months ago, and I'm just getting to it now because it finally floated to the top of the pile. It turns out it's Nora Roberts' first novel Irish Hearts, republished almost 20 years after first publication. That made me a bit nervous. She's written approximately seven billion novels, and I've been reading the more recent ones. She's had a LOT of practice in 20 years. She's spent a lot of time improving (one would assume). Would reading this be like reading something from Ms. Writing 101?

Well, no. It's better than what Ms. 101 would produce. It's not as tight as her current books, but it's readable. I'm about 40 pages in and I've started to ignore the excessive use of adverbs that Stephen King's On Writing taught me to hate. So while I'd rather read a NEW Nora Roberts, I'll survive this one. And if you want a copy of Irish Hearts click on the above link and you can buy a used copy for six cents.