Weird Weather

The weather's been really strange this winter. A few bitterly cold or freezing days. Lots of warm days. Lots of wet days. Windy days. Two tornados, including one that passed between my husband's workplace and mine, just a few blocks apart. It makes me really nervous about hurricane season.

Here's the latest contest plug -- You can win a free vacuum cleaner by posting a comment. With seven cats, I could use a really good vac.

"Oh, but 'baby fish mouth' is sweeping the nation."

That's one of the funniest lines in "When Harry Met Sally" and now Baby Fish Mouth is the name of a new line of infant shirts emblazoned with new takes on old movie lines. Cute stuff! Check it out at Seven Dogs and a Baby -- you can post your ideas for new movie lines to put on the shirts and you might even win a shirt for the little one in your life.

I want a portable video player.

I don't need a portable video player. It would serve no useful purpose in my life. I would, however, love to have one. I could load it full of Star Wars trailers and Harrison Ford clips that I now store on CD-ROM. I don't know when I would watch them. Maybe if I have a doctor's appointment, I could watch in the waiting room. That would be cool.

Anyway, I'm trying to win a portable video player. If you'd like to try to win one, too, here's the link to the site. Best Buy provided the prize.

http://www.5minutesformom.com/2848/win-an-insignia-bluetooth-mp3-player/
http://www.bestbuy.com

Weird Dreams

Any other night, my cat Wicket would have woken me up at 3:45am. Today, of course, I wanted to be up at 4am, so I roll over and look at the clock at 5:11am. I rushed to the computer to book my tickets for Ivanov, Ken Branagh's new play at the Donmar West End. Sometime between 4am (10am London time, when the tickets went on sale), and the time I logged on, the booking site crashed. So, I called. Got my tickets, great seats. Then I went back to bed.

I couldn't sleep. I was so excited about having my tickets. Then I got too warm. Then I got too cold. Finally, I was in my living room, only I suddenly realized it's not my house and I'm freaking out when I realize, It's a dream. At that point, I looked out the window and saw an obviously cardboard cutout moon hanging from fishing line, and a small pig ran in the front door to greet me. "I shall call you Presto," I told the pig, then felt bad because Presto is my very overweight cat, then I woke up.

Megapixel Madness

Our first digital camera was a Sony Mavica. We liked it because it uses floppy disks instead of memory cards. Why buy an expensive memory card when you can buy a cheap box of floppys? I used it on trips to Washington D.C., L.A., New York, and London. But, 10 years later, it's now obsolete. The photos are less than one megapixel each. So, on a trip to New York last October, I bought a Kodak Easy Share 6.2 megapixel camera for $99. I didn't research it: Staples was handy to the hotel, the memory card for that one was cheaper than for the other $99 camera they had in stock, and I didn't have much time to make a decision. I've been happy enough with the picture quality, the images blow up nicely, and if I actually sat down with the book and learned all the features, I'd probably be even happier.

The thing is, though, I still drool over double digit megapixel cameras. It would be great for vacation photos and pictures of the cats -- stuff I want to print out or iron onto t-shirts. More megapixels would be good for work, too, where some of the snapshots I've taken have been published in newspapers or the theatre newsletter. It's a luxury I cannot afford, however.

But check this out: the folks over at Momsational are giving away a 12 megapixel Nikon camera.
Give me those nice bright colors, gimme the greens of summer, makes you feel all the world's a sunny day. I want this so bad that I'm telling you about it so that I can earn some extra entries in the giveaway.

http://emomsathome.com/momsational/win-a-nikon-coolpix-p5100-121-mp-camera-courtesy-of-mypictalescom/

So that's the link. If you win, can I borrow it?

Help for Romantic Writers

What the Oscar is the movie industry, the Golden Heart is to romance writers. Now Golden Heart winners and other popular romance authors are sharing tips for creating a successful manuscript. A lot of the elements, such as plotting and character development, can apply to other book genres and screenwriting. Check it out.

The Wet Noodle Posse had such a great time with our month of Golden Heart prep that we're giving away writing tips...one month at a time. In addition to book and critique giveaways, join Q&A sessions and read guest blogs from bestselling writers like Sherrilyn Kenyon and Gena Showalter.

Check out our line-up of topics!

January-Getting Started (goals, choosing story idea, focus, etc.)
February-Character Development (names, physical descriptions, backstory, etc.)
March-Plotting
April - Conflict
May-Research
June-Business side of Writing (market, marketing, promotion, etiquette)
July-Prepping for Conference (both for national and smaller conferences)
August-Inspiration (for stories and for keeping yourself going)
September-Writer Health (physical and mental)
October-GH Preparation
November-Writing Challenges (NaNo, BIAW, turning off the internal editor, etc.)
December-Editing/Revisions

Get great information in a fun community! Visit http://wetnoodleposse.blogspot.com

The Year in Review

Here it is, December 30, 2007. It's been a year of incredible highs and lows for me. It's been really, really busy, too. Hard to believe that it's almost done with.

In January, I won a contest to make a short film. You can read all about the process at my Unofficial Payoff Website. I did a crappy short film back in college, and it was a thrill to make a "real"movie.

At the same time, I was fighting to get a new job as P.R. director for a local theatre. I got the job in February, just after I shot my movie. I gave two months notice at my other job, so I put in about 60 hours a week in March and April. I also went to L.A. to edit the movie and to New York to tape a promotional piece for in-house use at MTV.

On April 24, my movie went live online and my dad passed away from cancer. Don't ever smoke. Cancer is a horrible way to die. Both my dad's parents died of cancer, too, and I really hope I don't get it. I don't smoke, but I figure I'm genetically predisposed to the disease. At least having the movie out there gave me something else to talk about besides how sad and miserable I was.

May 1, I went to work full-time at my new job. I was still depressed over my dad's death, and I found out that I really suck at sales, which is part of my job. Maybe I wouldn't be so bad at it if the economy were better. Just when my old employer advertised two producer positions, things got better at work. When the jobs were filled, I began to question my career change again.

In September, my mom and I took a firearms class at the Sheriff's Office and got our concealed weapons permits. I'm a really good shot! I haven't actually received my permit yet; I was born overseas, and I had to send them evidence that I'm really a U.S. citizen, so that's held things up.

End of October, I won a major prize in an online contest -- $10,000 and a trip to New York City. That was a great way to end the year. I took my college roomie to the Big Apple with me, and we saw three shows. I couldn't spend a whole lot, because we need a new roof, and I also want to go to England in Fall, 2008, to see Kenneth Branagh on stage in London and David Tennant on stage in Stratford. It's taken a full two-months for my husband to finally accept that we are going to England. Now, instead of rolling his eyes when I bring up the trip, he actually discusses it with me. That's gotta be worth something.

On Christmas Day, we continued our tradition of watching one of my favorite holiday movies, "Die Hard." Yes, it is a Christmas movie. It's set on Christmas Eve at a Christmas party. If I ever receive an automatic weapon for Christmas, I will happily use the line, "Now I have a machine gun. Ho, ho, ho."

On December 31, we will follow our other holiday tradition of ending the year by watching "When Harry Met Sally" on DVD. If you haven't seen the movie, it culminates at a New Year's Eve party. I'm sure I have a copy of "Peter's Friends" around here, as well. Another great movie about a holiday gathering. I'm sure it'll be especially poignant this year, since it also deals with loss of friends and family.

We don't have cable, haven't since Hurricane Ivan in 2004. We only watch DVDs. That's why I'd love to win a contest over at 5minutesformom.com -- it's a year's subscription to Netflix, which I have heard great things about, but never tried. One of the distribution centers is supposedly very nearby, so getting and returning movies is very quick by post. If you'd like to check out the contest, here are the related links:

http://www.5minutesformom.com/2755/netflix-orville-contest/
http://www.orville.com


Wishing you all a safe and happy 2008!!

Always Looking for a Handout

If you know me, you know I like entering contests and sweepstakes. I'm even entering one right now.

See, Wyclef Jean has a new CD coming out: Carnival Vol. II: Memoirs Of An Immigrant, in stores DEC 4.

I signed up at Sony and by blogging and telling my friends about the CD, I get a chance to win a trip to meet Wyclef plus a camcorder. I really want a camcorder.

Now I'm off to enter more sweepstakes. I'd really like to take that camcorder on a trip to England.

Ah, the Holidays....

It's been tough already this year and it's going to get worse, I'm afraid. First Thanksgiving without my Dad was okay, just a few weepy moments here and there. My aunt and uncle held their annual feast, but most of my Dad's other relatives weren't there this year, so I guess that made it a little easier. All his clan is getting together for Christmas on December 1, and Daddy's birthday is December 2. Then comes Christmas.

My new job shuts down for the week of Christmas, so I'm going to keep my mind off things by trying to write a screenplay. I had some experience this year, writing a short play in about four hours for "24 Hour Theatre." I also wrote a short screenplay, about five minutes in length, in a couple of hours, inspired by a contest on the website for "The Lot" TV series, but you had to actually make the film to enter the contest, and I didn't have time to shoot it. I tried to get a friend of mine to handle that part, but she was too busy, too. She still wants to make the film sometime. Anyway, I've been thinking about the characters and plot for a science fiction film for a long time, so I'm going to try to hammer out a first draft.

Of late, I've been reading the Mediterranean Nights series from Harlequin. I like a happy ending, but the books seem almost too short; I'm used to reading stand-alone titles I guess. The interesting thing about this series is that each author is adding an intriguing new bit to a mystery that, I'm assuming, will wrap up in the final book.

Here's another book that sounds intriguing. I've only read the excerpts on the author's website, but I love fantasy and romance, and this has the best of both:

ENCHANTING THE LADY
“The imagination of J.K. Rowling and the romance of Julie Garwood
all rolled up into one fabulous novel.”~Erin Grady, author of Whispers
Please visit: http://www.KathryneKennedy.com

Happy holidays! Hope Santa puts just what you want under the tree!

Happy Christmas!

It doesn't feel like Christmas this year. My husband says, for him, it's the weather. It's been up in the 70s lately, though it's a little cooler this Christmas Eve Morning, and overcast. "Looks like snow," Tim would say.

I think I've just been too busy to think about it. Spending time with my dad, who has cancer. Taking the cats to the vet. Working. Applying for jobs. Entering sweepstakes. There's not enough time in the day to do everything I need to do, or feel I have to do, or want to do, and then feel excited on top of it. I have some presents for my parents and for Tim, but I don't feel like any of them are really great gifts.

The whole feeling of Christmas is different everywhere. I was in a store the other day and heard "Silver Bells" on the Muzak. "In the air there's a feeling of Christmas. Children laughing, people passing, meeting smile after smile...." That's how the song goes, but the people I pass generally aren't smiling. They're talking on their cell phones and rushing around, not paying attention to anything else around them.

I think it's more than just commercialism. The world is so fast-paced now. Communication is easier but personal connections really aren't. It's easy to say that we need to simplify Christmas (there's a whole book about it), but you'd have to be really committed -- and not at all competitive -- to do it. It's hard to buy great gifts that people aren't expecting because most of us just buy what we want when we want it.

Maybe it's just me.

Is it different for you? Do you feel Christmas in the air?

Retirement Plans

Today, I took an online poll that asked what I think is the best way to save for retirement. You know - company pension plan, savings, property, mutual funds, etc.

I vote for the Lotto. Old people always win that, right? That's what I'm counting on to get me through my old age. Either that or I'll become a greeter at Wal-mart.

Raising an even more inconsiderate generation

Tim and I went to the movies on Sunday. We saw "Superman Returns", in its third week of release, so maybe it won't be too crowded. Eh-n-n-n-n, try again.

The good thing was, we didn't notice anyone make or receive a cell phone call during the movie. That's a first for the Rave Theatre. Unfortunately, a couple of people brought small children, I'm talking like 3 years old, to see this PG-13 movie. This long PG-13 movie. The one directly in front of us talked almost continuously.

If I went to see a movie aimed at little kids, I would expect to see little kids in the theatre. But come on, people! The least you could do is get up and take the child outside. The family in front of us, the dad completely ignored the child. The mom shushed him a few times.

You have to understand, your life is different once you have children. Every generation, people develop a deeper belief that they can always do the things they want to do, and if they annoy you, well that's your problem. Sorry, that's not the way it works.

It is not my problem that I forked over $14 in the expectation of actually being able to hear the dialogue, music, and sound effects in the film. I expect to be able to watch the movie and think about the movie, not watch the movie while simultaneously wondering why idiot parents brought a 3-year-old to a movie designed for teens and adults.

You need to have consideration for other people around you. If your child is typically quiet and you decide to take him or her to a totally inappropriate movie, and the child starts making noise, take it outside. Ask for your money back if you're not that far into the movie. Heck, if the movie's just about over, it won't hurt to ask. The theatre folks may be impressed enough at your consideration of others, they'll still give you free passes.

If you lose yor money, maybe you'll think twice next time. Teach your kids to be quiet while watching a DVD at home. Train them to appreciate the movie and be considerate of others. Then maybe when they're parents, they'll teach their own children to have common sense.

Black Pepper

My mom and I had lunch Saturday, while shopping for anniversary party supplies. She had a hard time, as she does every time she dines out, finding something that didn't have black pepper in it. She's going to a meeting of her high school class reunion committee soon, and she called the restaurant, and they said they really don't have anything without black pepper in it, except for salads, but the dressing all has the black pepper.

Zantac and some of the other acid medications specifically say not to eat black pepper when you're taking it, and yet, it's next to impossible to find prepared foods that don't have black pepper in it or on it. My mom can't eat it because it makes her sick.

My point is, hasn't anyone made the connection between the increase in acid reflux and stomach problems and the proliferation of foods that are cooked with black pepper? Sure, we're all under increased stress these days, but that can't be the only cause.

And why is it that corn needs to be sprinkled with black pepper? The breading for fried chicken? Grilled steaks? Green beans?

My problem is onions. I don't like them, and they make Tim throw up. Everyone puts it in their potato salad. Some restaurants put it in the coleslaw. I've even found 'em in the green beans. If I can't order it without onions, we won't eat it.

Tim says the problem is that the stuff is all being manufactured -- most restaurants don't cook from scratch anymore. The manufacturers, in turn, are making the stuff faster and cheaper, and they're starting with low grade, tasteless main ingredients, so they add the black pepper or the onions to try to add flavor.

Now, I've read that the veggies we have nowdays are not as flavorful as the ones we used to have. The flavor was bred out as they genetically manipulated the stuff to last longer, so it could be shipped from Costa Rica or wherever.

I wish I could afford to eat organic.

Whatever happened to....

Cracker trays?

My mom and I are working on their 50th wedding anniversary party, and my mom wants to set out the crackers in one of those half-tube cracker servers that used to be very popular, but apparently not many people know what they are any more. I did find some at Orientral Trading Company, clear plastic in a set of three. I guess we'll order some of those since Party City didn't have any, and my mom says everyone in her garden club is looking for them for the table-decorating event they put on every year. They've been using the ones my mom inherited from her mother. Weird how things stop being made. No doubt next year someone will start manufacturing them for Target or Crate and Barrel and then they'll be all the rage, and everyone will act like it's something brand new.

What does it mean, if you dream you were shot to death?

I got shot twice in the chest in my dream last night by an Asian man I've never seen before. He was riding in the back of George Carlin's cab. George was a friend of ours. Tim and I decided to hang out with him for a while after we went back in time and did something important related to the Chinese ambassador and a reception.

Of course, after I got shot, Tim used the time travel device to go back in time and warn me and then he went after the Asian man. And the weird thing is, he opened the cab door and the Asian man looked at him and said, "I knew you had a time travel device." Then Tim shot him in the head.

That's when I woke up. I have nothing against Asians, by the way. Maybe it had something to do with all the news coverage of the North Korean Missile Tests.

Why do businesses ignore the chance for free publicity?

At the TV station where I work, two of our newscasts every day have a business news segment. We run the stocks of local interest, the oil prices and whatnot, on a graphic, and the anchor reads a business-related story. Maybe it's a new store opening, or a big donation to a charity, or something about taxes.

On several occasions, we've contacted a new business, or maybe they're opening a new location, and we ask to come out and shoot some video, and maybe interview a manager, and they either refuse or never call back.

What is the deal?

A 30-second commercial spot has to cost in the hundreds of dollars, if not the thousands, and here we're giving you 30 seconds for free. Maybe 45 seconds. You don't have to hire a cameraman or a writer - we do it all for you. And it's not airing during a commercial break, when people are going to the bathroom or grabbing a soda from the fridge.

I mean, I can see some small businesses maybe not realizing that they can get free publicity and not contacting us on their own. But when we call them and offer a free plug on the top rated news show in the area, why the hesitation?

Weird.

I'm an idea person.

I come up with great ideas, all the time. Ideas for movies, books, TV series, a news program. I have a wonderful idea right now for a tourism-based maritime business that is just perfect for northwest Florida. What I don't have is the time to write my books or the five million dollars plus needed to start my tourism-based maritime business. No, I'm not saying what it is. I'm certainly not going to give away the best business idea to ever hit the Gulf Coast.

The thing is, I know people get paid good money just to think, just to come up with great ideas. How can I get someone to pay me for the good ideas I already have?

Are people just stupid?

So, I go to wordtracker.com, just out of curiosity, to see what the hot search topics are online. The top three are google, ebay, and yahoo. Why are people searching for these terms? Just add the .com and go there. Sheesh.

This afternoon, we went to Rooms to Go, planning to order a pair of nightstands we'd looked at there a couple of weeks ago. We were trying to talk to the same salesperson, but every time we saw her, she was grabbing another new customer that had just walked in the door. So we ended up talking to this little older guy. He was a little older than us, he was older and small. We walked over to the nightstands and asked, "Do you have them in stock or do we need to order them?" Now, we had talked to this chick before and discussed pick-up versus delivery, and she never mentioned that if you didn't want to have them delivered, you have to go to Mobile to pick it up from the warehouse. Huh? That's crazy! That's like a 90 minute drive, one way. "We don't have the room here," the little man told us. "Can you imagine if we had to store all the furniture that people want to buy?" What, you mean like *any other store*? I told Tim he should just call later and ask for the manager and see if that's really the deal or if the little old man just didn't understand how it works. That's just crazy.

What is wrong with me?

Or maybe I should ask, "What is wrong with all the potential employers who completely ignore my résumé?"

Over the past four years, I've applied for at least a couple dozen jobs, some in Pensacola, some in Nashville (Tim wants out of the Hurricane Zone). I've had one interview and few form letter rejections. This week, I was actually going to call and ask, "Did you get my application that I submitted through your website?" But I applied on Sunday, checked back Tuesday and the listing was gone. Meaning they probably already hired somebody, and my application was a reminder to them to take down the listing.

That's right, I usually don't call to follow up. A lot of places specifically say, "Don't call us. We'll call you." (Or not.) I've also been on the receiving end of "Did you get my application?" phone calls -- the person who actually makes the decision doesn't get the call, the secretary does. And you don't want to annoy the secretary.

Maybe it's because my degree is in Theatre. It seems like nowadays, at least from the way the job listings are written, experience and knowledge mean nothing. It's all about the degree. We want you to have this specific degree, or we might accept this one, if you have 18 years experience with this particular computer software, not similiar software (we assume you won't be able to learn anything new), we know you probably won't stick with our company for very long, so we certainly don't want to have to train you. Tim is a really talented artist, but he doesn't know Quark, so he'll never be able to get a job as a graphic artist. Never mind that all he'd be doing is positioning letters and logos on signs at a print shop. Must have intimate if-Quark-was-a-girl-her-daddy-would-come-after-you-with-a-shotgun experience because we don't think you can figure out how software works.

Gosh, I'm bitter, aren't I?

It's just, you'd think that with several years experience as a TV news producer (6 years as I write this), P.R. experience, writing talent, customer service skills, and a background in retail management, I could at least get an interview. Check out my résumé and see for yourself.

It wouldn't be as bad, either, if I felt appreciated at my own job. I'm the best producer they've got, and one person in authority has basically told me that. A lot of people that have no power at all at the station have told me that. But if any position opens up that I could *advance* to - someone is going to be hired from the outside. Someone who obviously has the ability to make themselves sound much better than they are.

Yes, I'm very bitter.

Here we go again....

Another tropical storm headed to Florida. As I write this, the soon-to-be-Alberto is still a tropical depression, but the next advisory's due out in an hour, and it'll probably be upgraded. At least a southbound front seems to be keeping it away from the panhandle. I'VE HAD ENOUGH!!

I've also had enough of sitting around hospitals with my dad. He's going in for yet another surgery on Monday. This time, it's to repair a hernia that was caused by the surgery he had a few months ago to remove a cancer from his adrenal gland. That was the weird, rare mucoepidermoid something cancer. Before that it was surgery to repair an aortic aneurysm. Before that it was surgery to remove and biopsy the huge lump in his neck (non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, that one). The lymphoma was the first surgery, back in 2004. Right before my little Quinnie had his heart attack (by-product of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy), and not long before Ivan the Terrible tried to blow us off the map. If this surgery is the last for a while, maybe my dad can build up his strength and have a few more years left. I'm really worried because he's so weak, now. He has put it in God's hands, but from the way things have been going, I'm thinking God's not so eager to leave my dad here on Earth for much longer. Why? No idea.