When Big News Hits...

You know, you read posts from writers and they practically scream the good news with their words and grammatical style when they get published. If you follow (or know...) any writers and they get a call or an e-mail letting them know that what they've written will be published, they can hardly contain their excitement.

And we--the followers, friends, family members, acquaintances--we share their joy. They make the moment sound so exciting, because, of course, it is. Sometimes we wonder what it's like to get that kind of news. Sometimes...

Today, I got one of those e-mails.

Xchyler Publishing chose a short story I submitted to be in an upcoming anthology. It still hasn't really sunk in. I must say when the e-mail arrived, it wasn't like I had imagined. I was at work when the e-mail came. I was clearing out my cubicle, boxing up all the stuff I accumulated over the past couple of years and put them in my car. Saying goodbye to friends and memories was weird enough.

Then came the e-mail. I didn't scream and jump up and down. I didn't run out and celebrate by buying stuff I only marginally need. No, I told my friends, and my wife when we went out to lunch. Then I went back to work and finished up the job I've had for five years. After work I went to a play rehearsal and finally got home around 10am, completely tired.

Maybe tomorrow I'll jump up and down and scream tomorrow. Yeah, that sounds like a plan... So, that's how getting my first big news went for me.

Time To Try Something New...

I got the call around 11am this morning. I have gotten so many calls before where the person on the other end of the phone is very nice as they tell me that I was not chosen for a position for which I had applied. When I got the call this morning and the gal began to say that they had interviewed a lot of people, I thought, "Here we go again..."

But, no...here we did not go again.

For the first time in a long time I was chosen for a new position. I'm going to be part of a team preparing our department's computer system  to accommodate Obamacare. I have no idea what I'm in for, but it's time for a change.

My new boss said that they needed me on Monday. That was a shocker. I don't work Fridays (or, I didn't used work Fridays...) so tomorrow's going to be my last day at my old job. The call was exciting to get, but the immediacy of the start date made it weird.

Like anything, I'm going to miss my friends where I now work. I'm moving back to a building where I worked for over 10 years with a longer commute and a whole host of surprises. I think maybe the "weird-ness" has only just begun.

My Old Mac...

I'm a Mac man. I admit it. And if you've followed this blog for any length of time, you know this. I've written about the day I got my new (and current...) Apple laptop. I wrote about my son's clamshell Mac, but today...I saw this.

It's hard now to believe but when I was in high school I took a typing class, and on each desk in the class were typewriters. That's right...typewriters. Sure the school had computers, but only a few and only a few of the kids--the brightest kids in the school--knew how to operate computers. Looking back, I should have been one of those kids.

But I digress... 

Today, while visiting a recording studio, there it was...the Macintosh Plus. It looked just like the one I had. Mine even had the same optional cooling fan that fit so perfectly on top. I learned about computers on a Mac. While in college I worked as a recording sound technician, and we used Macs. If fact, the computer program we were building was a language program to help foreign business men and women better speak English. The program? MacEnglish (I may still have a MacEnglish coffee mug buried somewhere in the basement...). I worked on HyperCard and SoundEdit. Anyone remember those? They were great programs, especially SoundEdit. In fact, I could do wonders with that program even today.

But, the computer program didn't sell and the company folded and I took my little, ancient Mac Plus home with me. I kept it for a few years, but it went the way of many things that leave my house--to the local thrift store. Seeing that off-white box with the tiny screen and the funny horizontal slot today brought it all back to me.  It's such a beautiful little box. Good times...

Vertical Challenge Giveaway, The Sequel...

Here's the post I did today for the other blog I update. 

Couple of thoughts...First, I think this is a great photo. I mean, from an iPhone, it turned out really good. And second, my friend Brian is going to be joining us for this year's Vertical Challenge. So here's what the other post says.

Meet Brian, Dentist, 2013 Bob’s Vertical Challenge Participant

 

We’re doing another giveaway! Brian is sporting the Marker Zip T that we’re giving away before this year’s Vertical Challenge. Just go to our Facebook Site here: FACEBOOK SITE and “Like” our page. Your name will be entered in a drawing and one lucky winner gets the jacket! The drawing goes from now until Midnight, Mountain Standard Time, February 9, 2013. Check out the site! Like it, then get your family and friends to Like it as well.

The 6th Annual Bob’s Vertical Challenge takes place in just 3 short weeks! Please join us on Tuesday, February 26, 2013 at Snowbasin Ski Resort for a great time on the slopes for a wonderful cause. All proceeds of the Vertical Challenge go to ScoutReach, the charity arm of the Trapper Trails Council of the Boy Scouts of America. It’s going to our be biggest and best Vertical Challenge ever! Register NOW using our Online Link! For more details about signing up a team or sponsorship opportunities, please contact Andrea at: aabbott@knoxcap.com, or call 801.447.4200.

Brian’s ready to go! Are you ready to join us?

The Thrill Is Gone...

Ever since I began my little blog just over 2 years ago, I kept looking at the blog stat sheets. I don't know if other bloggers do this, but I find it interesting. So interesting, in fact, that every once in a while, I'll take a screenshot of the stat page. 

 

When I hit 26,000 page views, I took a screenshot. I reached that mark last September. Then two months later I hit 30K (with a little help from my Facebook friends--shameless self promotion...). So I took another screenshot.

 

Then, something strange happened. One of my posts went nuts and I still don't know why. Sometime in December of last year this one post got very popular (I wrote about it in a blog post on 12 Jan 12 and you can read it: HERE...). It continued until about the same time I wrote that post...

And then...

The trill is gone.

I mean, I knew it couldn't last, and really, since I don't know why people were drawn to it. Maybe they never were. Maybe it was some unexplainable internet phenomenon... In any case, it appears I've returned to my usual stat count, about 50-70 hits a day. And I'm okay with that. The blog is more of a writing exercise for me. If people find something of value in it, so much the better. 

Still, I wonder if something like that will happen again. If so, I'll probably take more screenshots. Yeah, pretty sure I will...

The Writing House...

There is a house, a Writing House where everyone is writing... Yesterday I dropped off three of my kids at this house for their weekly writing class. It's for teenagers, but I've hung out a time or two with them while they chatted, critiqued, and basically had a great time.

Several who live in this house are writers (one even a published writer), and several who come to visit are writers, even published writers. The teenagers who come for instruction hope to one day call themselves published writers. The kids discuss their class as I drive them home. From time to time I'll ask them about their stories. They're hard to pin down sometimes--they have so many different works in progress.

Even if I knew nothing else about the family living in this house, I would know that they are good people. They've created a place where my kids feel safe--where they trust each other. In this house my kids feel good about themselves and about the things they've created. There are so many teenagers who desperately need just such a place.

There is a house, a Writing House where everyone is writing. Thank you Hovleys. Thank you very much!

So, How Much Is A 1921 Silver Dollar Worth?

I came across an old silver dollar today that, I can only imagine, once belonged to my dad. My dad was many things, a numismatist, was one of them. As a child I remember finding coins and books of coins in the nooks and crannies of the house my father never finished building. This was 30-40 years ago. I'm sure many of those coins were rare and collectable back then. I can't imagine what they would be worth today.

The coins, like my father, are gone and only memories remain. I suspect being a successful numismatist takes a lot of patience. Back when my father was collecting Amazon or EBay did not exist. Collecting required using your time hunting down the coins, going to coin collecting conventions, or getting lucky and finding that rare coin at either a antique shop or a yard sale.

One coin, a singular item...there's probably a couple of other old coins once collected by my father around here somewhere. My children will most likely never call me a coin collector. I collect words, words I've written with pan and paper and sit idle on my bookshelves. I've written a daily journal since January 25, 1985. I sometimes wonder what will happen to those words... Of course, for anyone who keeps a journal consistently, you don't really collect the words for a financial gain, but to keep going...

And according to Coinstudy.com, my dad's coin is only worth about $31.73. The memories of my childhood and father are worth much, much more.