It’s been an annoying day here at the box factory. November 15th must be some sort of telemarketing celebration day. I’ve been handling three or four calls an hour from these bozos all day long. It drives me nuts. I have little patience for spammers of any sort. Telemarketers are the worst. I have filters …

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State of the Blogs

For some reason it gives me a bigger thrill to know that I have 34 e-mail subscribers at Animal Intelligence than to know that I have 3400 e-mail subscribers at Get Rich Slowly. Why is that? I think part of it is that I put very little effort into Animal Intelligence. It’s a topic about …

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The Snowflake Method

The snowflake method for writing a novel seems needlessly complex. In general, I think elaborate mind-mapping systems for writing are counter-productive. When I write a story, I have a clear picture of who my characters are — I don’t need to write pages of notes about what they eat for breakfast. At the same time, …

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Cats Like Birds

I was pleased this afternoon to come home and remember that I was supposed to do prep work for dinner. I took out the chicken breasts, cleaned them, and cut them into chunks. Kris had asked me to put the chicken pieces into a bowl, and so I did. I was nearly finished with my …

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A Chip Off the Old Block

Several weeks ago, I drove to Brownsville to purchase a chipper from my cousin Mart. It was a long drive. I left early from work, taking the van through the scenic Willamette Valley highways. I was intentionally trying to avoid the freeway. After nearly two hours of driving, I reached Mart’s house. I chatted with …

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New Themes

Here’s the thing — as much as I love the theme I’ve been using at foldedspace, it gets in the way of things. It’s not appropriate for this site. I did pay $59 for it, so it’s going to get used somewhere. Just not here. Instead, I’m going to spend the next couple weeks playing …

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