… because I’m an effete liberal snob. Actually, I’ve enjoyed the game a lot more in the last couple of years since we got the HDTV; I do love the Super Bowl ads, though. I’m very curious to see how they change this year, considering our current high-speed train trip to economic armageddon. If I had to pick a team, I’d root for the Steelers. First, all of America is Pittsburgh now, given the economy.
Second, I’m not going to cheer for any team that never plays home games in the snow.
On to the stats:
On Writing: Not much accomplished this week, due to massive amounts of work for my day (and night) job. I got a few pages further on the revisions of Meet the Larssons, up to page 208. “Jimmies” was rejected not once but twice — one market had it for six weeks, the second for less than 24 hours (love the markets with the fast turnaround) — and is now back out on submission again. I try not to get too wrapped up in the short story submissions; it’s a cold cruel world out there, and editors of even small webzines receive far more manuscripts than they could ever accept, no matter how good they are. Still, I’m particularly fond of “Jimmies,” and I think it’s the best short story I’ve written so far. More than anything else, I feel like it deserves a home. I suppose I could just post it here, but that will be my last resort.
I also made the mistake of typing out a 1200-word summary of a post-apocolyptic science fiction novel. I’ve put a lot of effort into outlining Project Hometown, and expect that to be my next novel when I get further on the revisions to MTL, but this other one — I’ll call it Project Werewolf, even though it isn’t about werewolves — looks like fun. It’s the shiny new object. Pretty.
On Running: Today it was warm enough to run outside, which was wonderful (even though my winter running gear doesn’t fit quite as well as it did this time last year). I took it slowly because of the ice that was still on the ground, but still managed 7.12 miles in 64 minutes (8:59 m/m) — not what I’d like to do, not even what I’ve been doing on the treadmill lately, but reasonable for my first run outside in over a month, especially considering the ice, stoplights, etc. My mileage for last week was just over 20 miles, which is where I want it to be regularly, at least until half-marathon season. Two of my mid-week runs were in San Diego along the harbor, which beats staring out the window on the treadmill hands down. All in all, a pretty good running week.
On the iPod: I’m still working my way through Scott Sigler‘s Ancestor — just two episodes left. I picked up Infected at the bookstore this week, figuring Scott’s given me enough free entertainment. I haven’t listened to much in the way of other podcasts this week while I’m listening to the audiobook. I have noticed that I haven’t received a new episode of Escape Pod in my iTunes feed since January 9. Usually the editor/host, Steve Eley, puts out a new episode every week, and based on the download numbers in his last metacast, EP has the second or third largest circulation of any science fiction magazine (including print). There’s no information on the website about a hiatus, and several of the pages are disabled, including the forums. Steve took a hiatus last fall, and gave advance notice in the feed. Since there wasn’t any mention in the last episode and there’s nothing on the site, I assume this wasn’t planned, and I hope he’s all right.
Final Note: Just saw the commercial for the new Star Trek prequel. My shouted “Yes!” startled the children.
The Unfocused Life 