May 31, 2008
May 30, 2008
Better.
The lost data was not recovered, but MAMP was persuaded to cough up its database connections, and Time Machine is now ticking merrily along — although, since it has over a month’s worth of stuff to back up, it’s taking a rather long time. If your Time Machine gets stuck near the end of its backup (e.g. “Backing Up: 3.7 GB of 3.7 GB”) and won’t ever finish, this 5-step process seems to unstick it.
Also, today was our anniversary. Four years without killing each other for the insurance money. Go us!
May 29, 2008
Argh.
For some time now, the laptop has been in the habit of shutting itself off without warning when the battery gets low. The meter will say it still has 20 or 30 minutes, and then ZAP: blackness. Various support technicians have assured me that this is normal behavior with Intel processors (!) and/or that they might ship me a replacement battery if I’ll please jump through these sixteen hoops, since it’s out of warranty. So far I haven’t had time to jump through the hoops, which involve things like running down the battery and letting it sit for six hours.
If I’m running MAMP when the battery shuts down, bad things occur. Tonight, the database for Sekrit Projekt #2 got fried. What’s worse, Time Machine doesn’t show any backups more recent than April 20, even though the laptop’s been plugged in to the drive for days at a time since then. Worse still, restoring config files and reinstalling MAMP hasn’t worked this time; all sites relying on MySQL dbs are now claiming that they can’t establish connections.
Apple’s stuff normally works so well. Right now I want to kick a puppy. Probably wiser to just call it a night, especially since we don’t have a dog.
May 28, 2008
Shadow Unit season finale
Shadow Unit season finale in progress, one installment per night all week. It’s a nail-biter.
May 27, 2008
Laughter of Dead Kings
Laughter of Dead Kings — A new Vicky Bliss mystery, that’d be. Pointing it out because Peters’s site hasn’t been updated in a while, and, well, first Vicky book since 1994, people. I’m chair-dancing just a bit.
May 23, 2008
May 22, 2008
Revisions. Oh joy, oh rapture.
I’ve figured out, more or less, what works and doesn’t work with the overall structure of the novel. The antagonist is barely there. The middle turning point is missing altogether, which I knew, but the first one’s pretty weak too, and the wrong secondary characters are in it. Stuff like that. I’ve also figured out a better backstory and some motivation for the heroine, which is nice.
I’ve gone through the first 60 pages, analyzing each scene. The first scene gets cut; no surprise there. The rest of the first chapter stays for now, but needs something new in front of it. Other things getting cut are the early vignettes that got me started with this book. They’re no longer necessary, and I won’t miss most of them. (Amazing, how letting the manuscript sit for a year drains whatever fondness you still had for it.)
What kills me? The number of sitting-and-thinking scenes. Three in the first 60 pages! As if I didn’t know better! No wonder I thought the first part of the book was a little flat. Good God. Self, internal monologue is all very well and good, but some damn conflict would be nice, mmmkay?
I still need to rename my hero. His first few scenes work better than I’d remembered, but he sort of drips his way through the second half of the book. Should’ve drowned him behind the woodshed ages ago, but if I had I probably wouldn’t have finished. Now I’m going to have to give him a makeover and hope it brings him to life. Argh.
.... in other words, revisions are going well.
Two Hidden Features New in Firefox 3
Two Hidden Features New in Firefox 3 — sexy new toys for web design geeks.
May 20, 2008
How to Make a Handbag out of a Recycled Book.
How to Make a Handbag out of a Recycled Book.- (via Bookslut)
May 19, 2008
May 18, 2008
May 15, 2008
May 12, 2008
Trip photos
Posted every time we stop back at our room. Yeah, all we’ve done so far is eat and sleep. Great vacation, at that. However, we’re now off to do some more touristy things.
May 10, 2008
into the wild blue yonder
The semester from hell being over (FINALLY), we are commencing de-stressing procedures by hopping on a plane to Seattle. Back in a week.
Mail-sorting conversation at our house…
Me, upon finding yet another stack of unopened mail on the dining room table: NOOOOO!
Michael: I found a Playboy offer in mine.
Me: Why don’t I get Playboy offers? All my offers are from Publishers Weekly and book clubs.
Michael: That’s because you know how to read.
May 3, 2008
Iron Man (no spoilers)
Mike summed it up: Best superhero movie yet filmed.
Don’t forget to stay until after the credits.
squee.
