MM Visits, Just In Time!
Kristen's been sick all week with a rotten cold, which combined with the fact she's halfway through the third trimester of her pregnancy, has totally wiped her out. Luckily (for us anyway) this coincided with week her mom Sheila (MM - mom's mom to the grandkids) had planned to come out. It's been great having her here - her company is always welcome but her help was especially welcome since I had such a busy week between work and NHWP commitments, etc. Today's her last day - gulp - and she's going to be doubly missed; David woke up sick this morning too!

Michael McDonough's Top Ten Things They Never Taught Me in Design School
This from the "Design Observer: writings about design & culture" blog, a top ten list that applies not just to design but all creative jobs. The first one? Talent is about one-third of the success equation. The second (which maybe should have been first!): "95 percent of any creative profession is s**t work." I wish I'd understood this better when I started out ... I don't think I would have done things very differently, but I would have been quite a bit more accepting (and less agitated) toward certain aspects of the ride!

Merles of Wisdom
Went to Writer's Day an SNHU yesterday. Hope Jordan and I are guest editing the next edition of Ex Libris while the Writers Project finds a new editor, and I'd assigned myself to go listen to Merle Drowne give his talk on "Character Driven Fiction" and write about it. Merle's a good speaker (he used to be a teacher) and powerful fiction writer (I really dug Suburbs of Heaven) , and I stopped by the desk to see him afterward and told him I'd gotten some great pearls of wisdom for Ex Libris. He suggested that maybe I ought to think of them as Merles of wisdom. Go figure. A fine writer and a punster besides.

Sometimes Online Actually Makes More Sense Than Print
I love the feel of a book in my hands, and the printed page is never going to be replaced, for me anyway, by a computer screen. But sometimes the digital version just makes a lot more sense. I've been playing with the online version of the Writer's Market, and I love it. The book is a big, daunting tool. The online version allows you to refine your searches and come up with a manageable amount of results - quickly! For me, this has meant more submissions, less thumbing through the book thinking about what an overwhelming number of places there are in which to try and market fiction... It's cheap, too, a couple of bucks a month and you get access to the whole database, which is updated regularly (with the book you only get updates once a year) and an online submission tracker. I love it.

Ana and Chris Visit
We visited Ed and Wendy and their kids, then James was out last weekend, and last night Ana and her beau Chris came out to dinner and we had a splendid time. It's funny, though this has been a devilishly busy spring, we've been lucky enough to connect more than usual with family, too! That surely helps balance the load ...

Encyclopedias Obsolete?
Man, they look so good on the shelf, but is anyone taking them down anymore? We have a set; the family set. My mom was going to get rid of them when she moved to Florida and I couldn't bear to see them yard-saled so I took them. And they do look good on the shelf in the office ... but when I'm writing or researching it's simply faster to use digital reference materials - no matter how much I love the feel of a book in my hands. At one point I thought maybe the kids would use them when they got to school age, but if one can fit a whole set of encyclopedias on one CD now, not to mention the unfathomable resources already on the Web, how much more accessible will reference material be digitally in five or six years? Still, I can't bear the thought of not having a printed dictionary on my desk, and I'm not sure I can part with the printed versions of the encyclopedia, either.

Objections to The Passion: Is It As It Was?
The dean of the school of theology at Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University in Rome addresses some of the criticism that Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ is rife with historical and theological errors. We saw the movie a few weeks ago and came away moved: not only did it accurately deal with the theological subject matter, the cinematography and acting were amazing. Not a flick for the kids though - no matter how much someone wants a youngster to understand this portion of the Christian theology, and how accurately one believes this represents that, everything we teach kids has to be age appropriate. They have to have enough of a frame of reference to contextualize what they're seeing, right?

Gray's Dead; That's Not Right
Well, they finally found Spalding Gray's body, two months after he disappeared from his Manhattan apartment, leaving behind a wife and kids. Sometimes it's hard to imagine how a such a brilliant guy with so much success, a family and the whole dream, could want to kill himself. Other times it's way too easy to imagine ... the way a mind can turn on itself ... and make what's not real truer than what is.

I'll never forget the first time, how back in college, Jim rented Swimming to Cambodia and a bunch of us got together to watch it. I was blown away. Then Monster in a Box. That was my favorite. (What writer doesn't have a monster or two in a box?) There was gray kitten in those days that got named Spalding, right, because it was in a box ... or was it because it was a monster with a bigger head than all its litter mates? Someone will remember.

Now That's Latin For the Homunculus!
Looking for a memorable Latin phrase with which to practice the future perfect tense? How about: Nisi mecum concubueris, phobistae vicerint. "If you won't sleep with me, the terrorists will have won." X-Treme Latin: Unleash Your Inner Gladiator, by Henry Beard, has got it, and then some.

James Pays A Visit
My (big) little brother James paid us a visit this weekend - he looks terrific, lost a lot of weight after having his jaw wired shut for two months (long story). I couldn't get over how good it is to talk to him; I wish we lived closer, or that he did. David loved him!

And We Visit Wendy, Ed and Their Kids
Before James arrived Saturday we went down to Douglass to visit Wendy, Ed, Cole and Shelby. Every time I see the two little ones it seems like they've made quantum developmental leaps! Shelby's so grown up you can have a conversation with her. And I keep thinking she was just born a few years ago...

And I Get On My First Trout Stream of the Season
Ed and I tackled the mighty Mumford while we were down in Douglass. No luck, but is a warmish, rainy day and it gave me a chance to limber up my arm ... and pick up my Mass. fishing license and buy some nicely discounted bead-head Muddler Minnows and Woolly Boogers at Ed's local bait shop. When the fish aren't biting, seems there's always gear to drool over...

Updated and Expanded Family Album Section!
I finally got around to updating the family photos section this weekend. First change: it's dynamic! No more messy html pages to manage. Second change: it's password protected! Online privacy issues being what they are these days, this seemed the best way to go. And really, how many strangers could be that interested in seeing my kids' baby pictures anyway?

If you're family and friends, though, I've set it up so you can add your own pictures as well as browsing ours. Just drop me a note and I'll get you a password.

The final result? Many, many more pictures!

A Single-Malt Adventure Penned for New Hampshire Magazine
A scotch tasting doesn't usually include a meal. Maybe some dry crackers between sips, but hunger sharpens the senses, so purists avoid a big feed with their single malts. But in the frost bitten, spirit-riddled mountains of Northern New Hampshire, when it’s so cold the radio’s announcing school closings, and the night has draped itself like a leaden blindfold over the crags and precipices, and you’re pushing on up to Littleton to do your drinking, your thoughts depart from protocols of food and formality...