Joys of home ownership

Nothing fatal, just the usual upkeep. Four hours spent mowing, picking up doggy landmines, mowing, taking the straw and pots off the seedlings and assuring myself of their good health, mowing, picking up the mines I missed the first time through, and mowing.

Inside now. Cubs are on in the background, but the Hawks will be on at 2. I keep telling myself that from here on out, it's all gravy. They need another year or two of seasoning. Yeah. ::nods:: I'll keep telling myself that.

There is a sports bar across the street from the Concourse. They might show hockey on one of their screens...

Joys of home ownership

Nothing fatal, just the usual upkeep. Four hours spent mowing, picking up doggy landmines, mowing, taking the straw and pots off the seedlings and assuring myself of their good health, mowing, picking up the mines I missed the first time through, and mowing.

Inside now. Cubs are on in the background, but the Hawks will be on at 2. I keep telling myself that from here on out, it's all gravy. They need another year or two of seasoning. Yeah. ::nods:: I'll keep telling myself that.

There is a sports bar across the street from the Concourse. They might show hockey on one of their screens...

Final Wiscon schedule

Heading for Madison on Wednesday. Looking forward to the whole thing--the extra day to footle around and work, seeing friends I see once a year, walking up and down State Street, popping into small shops that smell of incense. Not having to cook for a week. The Farmers Market.

Final schedule below. The recession panel is new.


Writing in the Recession Fri 4:00 - 5:15PM

Moderator: Jennifer Pelland. Barth Anderson, Kristine Smith, Deb Taber

Most publishing houses have cut back on buying manuscripts during the recession. It's very likely that several small presses (both book and magazine) will fold before things get better. As the market gets more selective and more conservative, what do writers need to do to weather this financial storm?


Phantom Maids and Ghostly Ladies Fri 9:00 - 10:15PM
Moderator: Catherine Lundoff. Valerie L Guyant, Sarah Monette, Kristine Smith

Women have been writing, selling and starring in ghost stories for centuries. Authors from Sarah Orne Jewett to Shirley Jackson to Dorothy Allison have written women into a prominent place in the ghost story tradition. By turns tragic, terrifying and comic, ghost stories provide timeless entertainment. Let's talk about why they endure and what they have to offer. Are there lessons to be learned from the ghost stories of the past? What lies in the future for a good spectral read?

What's in the Air? Sat 1:00 - 2:15PM
Moderator: Neil Rest. Jed Hartman, Geoff Ryman, Kristine Smith

Electronic connectivity is accelerating: your computer is a TV showing movies from the net, your cellphone is a GPS device and plays games and music, you can play electronic TV with a Wii. How much more connected can we become? Is Ryman's Air technology a possibility? What will this mean for who we stay in touch with? How can these lines of communication become reins of control?

The SignOut Mon 11:30AM - 12:45PM Capitol/Wisconsin

John Joseph Adams, Barth Anderson, Eleanor A. Arnason, Melodie Bolt, F. J. Bergmann, Alex Bledsoe, Suzy Charnas, Richard J. Chwedyk, Lori Devoti, Moondancer Drake, L. Timmel Duchamp, Carol F. Emshwiller, Eileen Gunn, Anne Harris, Deborah Lynn Jacobs, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Sylvia Kelso, Ellen Klages, Naomi Kritzer, Ellen Kushner, Ann Leckie, David D. Levine, Kimberley Long-Ewing, Kelly McCullough, Sarah Monette, Nancy Jane Moore, Pat Murphy, Larissa N. Niec, Nnedi Nkemdili Okorafor, Jennifer Pelland, Sarah B. Prineas, Mary Robinette, Margaret Ronald, Benjamin Rosenbaum, Geoff Ryman, Fred Schepartz, David J. Schwartz, Ekaterina G. Sedia, Nisi Shawl, Delia Sherman, Kristine Smith, Jennifer K. Stevenson, Caroline Stevermer, Kathryn Sullivan, Catherynne M. Valente, Monica Valentinelli, Joan D. Vinge, Morven Westfield, Laurel Winter, Phoebe Wray, Patricia C Wrede, Doselle Young, Janine Ellen Young

Taste memory

So. Over the course of Medical March, I had one test the prep for which involved drinking something vile. Really vile. "Please don't let me throw up" vile.

And now, as I lie here typing, I can taste that stuff. I do, every so often. Not actually, of course, but the memory is almost as bad. It's as if it traumatized my taste center, or something.