The Year in Reading

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I have long since recalled what prompted me to begin recording the books I read each year. Still, today marks the end of the tenth year. A decade of reading preserved for some reason. As a result, I decided to take a look at a few of the statistics before sharing my 2006 reading list.First […]

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The Week

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It’s a working week so the holiday spirit has moved to the back burner for the moment. We closed another issue early without incident which instills me with some confidence. I’m also working ahead in planning issues well into February so my absence will be minimized when I take a vacation in January.Deb’s parents left […]

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The Answer

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I must do a good job of expressing myself because last week, when I threw out the opportunity for questions, I received a grand total of one.Out of fairness to the person who took the trouble to ask, I provide the answer. Here’s a leading question. Of all the comic book series that you edited, […]

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On This Christmas Day

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Christmas is finally here. As usual, the build up, the anticipation and preparations for the season tend to top the day itself.Robbie proclaimed he wasn’t really in the spirit at all while at college so it didn’t hit him until his return on Wednesday. That day, Deb and I were at a funeral and she […]

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Traditions of the Season

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The Holidays are here and with it come the traditions that make each family unique. For some it’s carols and egg nog and for others it’s Chinese food and movies.Interestingly, Kate and Robbie seem to like the same traditions and we are rather impressed that they hold to them as dearly as they do. We […]

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Remembering

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There’s something about the holiday season and the ending of a year that makes you look back and reflect and there’s always something a little bittersweet about that.Close to home, Deb lost a 93 year old aunt earlier this week. She was a wonderful woman who selflessly volunteered at a nursing home (and elsewhere) for […]

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In Praise of the DVR

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Deb and I are slowly catching up on our prime time television watching. Thanks to the DVR, we’ve managed to stockpile plenty so as each series goes into winter reruns, we can begin watching new shows from their season debuts. We’re caught up on all the network shows and have begun with season two of […]

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A Very Long Night

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Well, last night took longer than it needed to.Despite items 3-8 being on the consent calendar, which included some funding issues, we spent over an hour on item 9 which seemed to finally bring the RTM together in the bipartisan way it was intended to be.Maybe it was because the item under discussion, rebuilding our […]

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The Year Winds Down

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It definitely feels like the year is winding down.We’re pretty much done shopping for Christmas and yesterday brought the tree into the house. Deb and Robbie will decorate it once he’s home from college (some traditions you don’t mess with). Yesterday we put other decorations up around the house and the holiday music was playing […]

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Q & A

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We’re starting to drift into that period when things slow down at work, get busy at home, and people kick back a little. As a result, now might be a good time to take questions from the many readers of this site.Despite the paucity of comments, I get a fair amount of feedback both verbally […]

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DHL Responds

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Timing is everything. Thursday I joined the people bitching about DHL and Friday I came home to find a letter responding to my November 17 complaint.It’s long and wordy, but Deborah Laehu, Customer Relations Specialist says she is “deeply disturbed” by the company’s failure to perform as expected. She says Executive Management in the Norwalk, […]

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Forthcoming Events

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Here’s something a little unusual.The book is still being written, let alone edited and approved, but AVPGalaxy today posted an interview with me regarding Predator: Flesh & Blood.Meantime, Mike and I will be in a better position to discuss the book, and everything else under the sun, at Farpoint this February. They just finalized their […]

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Jumping on the DHL Bandwagon

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Must be something in the air. Or a company that’s not really well run.This morning I noticed a mild rant from Keith DeCandido regarding DHL’s spotty performance.This afternoon, I found my buddy Dayton Ward also commenting on DHL’s inability to do the job right.Which reminded me of a letter I sent to DHL on November […]

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This Looks Like a Job For…

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Normally, I don’t take a lot of internet quizzes but when I saw Keith DeCandido wind up as Green Lantern (one of my all-time favorite heroes), this looked too good to pass up and boy did the answer surprise me.Your results:You are Superman Superman 75% Green Lantern 75% Spider-Man 60% Supergirl 52% The Flash 50% […]

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First Review

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Steven H. Silver at Tangent On Line has a review up for the contents of the April cover-dated issue of Analog. The short fiction review site is new to me but apparently covers all print matter and is fed advance material from the publishers.I now know, for example, that Michael A. Burstein and I share […]

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Getting the Job Done

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“We’re going to stay in Iraq to get the job done. This business about graceful exit just simply has no realism to it whatsoever.”–George W. Bush”There is one thing I’m not going to do. I am not going to pull our troops off the battlefield before the mission is complete,” Bush said in a speech […]

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Week in Review

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Sometime when I wasn’t looking, politics took hold on a larger part of my life. Three days this week wound up being political in addition to work and other stuff.Monday night we had the Democratic Town Committee’s final meeting of the year and much of the district leaders’ meeting was devoted to the 2007 campaign […]

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Improved Spirits

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Maybe it’s the season.Maybe it’s because it is no longer November.Whatever the reason, I’m feeling pretty good right about now. I put so much pressure on myself to get things done in November that December is exactly as I had hoped: manageably busy.With the first draft Predator novel done, I have been able to concentrate […]

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The Good Side to Local Politics

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Last week I was lamenting that a proposed ordinance that might benefit the town needed work. Before the evening meeting ended, fixing the ordinance was turned into an Us vs. Them political football that soured me a bit on Town Government.Last night went a long way to restoring that sense of pride we should be […]

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Bob the Freelancer Update

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Two weeks ago, I was feeling incredible pressure to get things done. Slowly but surely, things have been progressing and I’m hitting my deadlines, both real and self-imposed.As I catch my breath before wading into the Holiday preparations, I figured it was time to provide an update. It’s a busy looking load but actually manageable […]

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