Before I get into the usual Sunday Stats, I’d like to say, Happy 150th Birthday, Theodore Roosevelt! I’ve been a fan of TR’s for years, and I’d like to say to John McCain that I’ve read a lot about Theodore Roosevelt,
and I feel qualified to say, Senator McCain, you’re no Theodore Roosevelt. And if you don’t believe me, ask him yourself.
In other news, Mrs. Unfocused has made an herculean effort and gotten all of the kids’ baby and toddler clothes out of the study (and out of the house), and rearranged the furniture remaining so that the study is a place I can work at home, and write, without piles of stuff teetering over my head. That would have been enough for me to feel like it’s Christmas in October, but on top of all that, she found me the perfect desk chair on Craigslist at a ridiculously cheap price:
Sure, it’s used and a little scratched, but some failed start-up’s loss is my tuchus’s gain, which is about the only good thing anyone can say about the economy these days. I’m still listening to Planet Money every day; I keep waiting for Adam Davidson or Laura Conoway to annouce the very special “Everything’s Okay!” episode, but instead, we have today’s topic, on how things are even worse in poorer countries. This does not help my mental state.
Miles run today: 10.16 miles in 1:21:54, an average pace of 8:04 minutes/mile, which is great. It was a beautiful fall day, and my various joints, tendons, ligaments, and muscles, which have been very aware of the implacable approach of my fortieth birthday, were relatively uncomplaining. I beat the Mrs. and kids home, which is always a bonus because I don’t have to feel guilty about holding up the day while I stretch. And I need a lot more stretching than I used to have to do.
What was I listening to on my iPod during my run: Pheddipidations # 158 (“Running the Bay State Marathon”) and Escapepod # 178 (“Unlikely”). Escapepod, if you’re unfamiliar with it, is a free science fiction podcast, which audio-publishes new and previously published short stories. In episode 178, the host, Steve Eley, introduced me to the music of Jonathan Coulton. After listening to a few songs on Coulton’s website, I bought one of his albums (Where Tradition Meets Tomorrow), which I would classify as geek rock (Cory Doctorow used a line from one of the songs as the title of a recent short story, and if that isn’t geek cred, I don’t know what is). Coulton’s a heck of a songwriter, and he makes plenty of his music available for free on his website so you know what you’re buying.
Words written last week: 2,493 words of a new short story. I’m maybe 2/3 done with the first draft, and when that one’s done, I’ve got one more teed up in the Idea folder before I go back to Meet the Larssons, refreshed and ready to rewrite.
In another news, TTB was rejected for the fifth time this week. The rejection was short but personal and somewhat encouraging, which was a nice change, but still a rejection. At this point, I think I’m going to leave it alone for a few months, then take another look at it with an eye to revise it to make it, y’know, better; if I could cut it down to under ten thousand words, that would open up additional markets as well. In any event, I’m going to let it age for a while, and hope that it’s more like wine than an overripe cheese.
Final political note: I took Unfocused Girl and Junior out for a walk the other night to look at the Halloween decorations on the next block. As we got to the corner of our block, Junior looked at the house there and asked his older sister, “Is that where John McCain lives?”
Because, you see, I had told him that John McCain reminded me of the cranky old man who lived on the corner of my block when I was a boy. Last week, Junior had gotten confused and thought that McCain himself had lived on my block. Now he’s taken that one step further, and decided McCain lives on the corner of his block.
There goes the neighborhood.
The Unfocused Life 