Private Mars Rocket II

You might be getting old when you are happy about the new shopping carts at the grocery store.

I shop at Mariano's here in the Chicago suburbs. I had to pick up a few items yesterday evening, so I stopped by. They have replaced their old bog-standard metal carts with plastic ones. Since the wheels haven't been beaten to death, they roll more easily, plus the carts are lighter and generally quieter. An all-around more pleasant experience.

Yes, apparently I am old.

Today is my birthday. I will attempt to acknowledge all the greeting I get, but if I miss one please accept my apologies. Since it's otherwise just another day, I intend to work, and I have decided not to fundraise for any particular charities. If you feel the need to make a donation, please send one to your favorite charity.

In other news, I got my initial edits back from World Castle Publishing for "Strawberry Gold." Other than a quick check to make sure I can open the file, I haven't looked at them, so more to come. As soon as we get editing done, I should get a publication date.

Two updates:

1) I only accept Friends requests (on any social media) from people I've actually met in real life.

2) I traded emails with my publisher yesterday - they are currently working on projects submitted in September. My book, submitted in January, has not bubbled to the top. Quote: "it shouldn't be too much longer."

There was a period of years where Rotary business took me to Lake Geneva at least one if not twice a year. Each time, I would pass by signs for the Illinois Railway Museum. Each time I saw said signs, I would say "I ought to visit." Well, I finally decided that a visit wasn't going to happen unless I planned it, and today was the planned day.

The museum is just on the outskirts of Union, Illinois, a solid hour-and-fifteen minute drive from my house. Not liking crowds, I decided that a weekday visit was wise. The place was nearly empty, which was nice, but one exhibit I would have liked to have seen was closed due to the lack of audience. The museum was originally the Chicago Electric Railway Museum, and moved out to Union when they outgrew their old space. I'm not especially a fan of old trains, but you can't understand the history of the 1800s without looking at trains and steamships.

At any rate, I:

1) Rode an authentic interurban railcar.
2) Learned that Chicago had a cable-car system at one time.
3) Ate a Choco Taco ice cream bar. (Hey, I was on vacation!). I had actually never heard of a Choco Taco bar until I saw the local TV news report that they were being discontinued. For those not clicking through, a Choco Taco bar is an ice cream bar made to look like a taco.

Overall, a relaxing day.

Three things make a post, so here's three random thoughts.

Random Thought #1

I recently had cause to watch the WWII movie The Guns of Navarone. In it, there are several scenes in German, but no subtitles are provided. I also noted that the theatrical release of The Battle of Britain had a lot of such un-subtitled scenes. When did the convention change from "learn German, damn it!" to subtitles?

Random Thought #2

On Facebook, I linked to an article which claimed an ancient city in Israel had been destroyed by a meteor strike. The claim was this incident was what caused both the Sodom and Gomorrah story and the fall of the walls of Jericho. Well, Anne Geyer, a friend, did a bit of research and found the people advancing the claims were very shady. Not everything you read on the Internet is true.

Random Thought #3

I found this article about Trump and Evangelical Christians. The subtitle of the article was "How unchurched Evangelicals are helping create a God-and-country lifestyle brand." My response is "Unchurched Evangelicals" are like "undocumented aliens." They are both euphemisms for people who are breaking the rules. This frankly is one of the many things that get my goat when talking to a lot of Trump supporters. I, an out-of-practice Roman Catholic, know more about the Bible they profess to follow then they do."

The other day I stated that my place of employment was offering discounts on pop if you used a debit or credit card. They are offering discounts, but the reason isn't because it's cheaper to use a card. The reason is they want people to test their new contactless debit card and this is the incentive.

Every once in a while I make a mistake.

Various news, provided for your amusement:

Books

Over the weekend, I reduced the price of the ebook edition of The Mars Run to 99 cents. That will be it's new permanent price. I also set it up so that if you buy the paper version you can get the ebook for free. We'll see if this spurs any sales.

Weekend Update

I did very little this weekend. It snowed all day Saturday in Chicago, so I felt no good reason to go out. I usually go out for dinner and cook a steak on Sunday, but I flipped the script on that. As a result, Sunday dinner was Cajun Pot Roast at Chuck's Southern Comforts Cafe, a local restaurant. It was very tasty.

Dreams

I have a recurring dream where I'm trying to get office work done. The problem is my workplace isn't an office, rather it's some kind of house poorly remodeled into an office. Either that or it's an old open space where the battered desks are partitioned off by old furniture. In any event, to make matters worse, there's a shortage of desk space and I keep getting moved out. I wonder what my dreams are trying to tell me.

Chicago got hit with a big snowstorm today. I woke up to 5 inches on the ground and another 3 expected to fall. The bank stayed open, so I had to come in, but when I found the roads to be as slick as greased snot I went to Darien, our hot-site and a bank very near me, instead of Oak Brook. We picked up a couple of guest workers here but very few customers. So far, I've been banging through work, largely because my phone isn't ringing. Wish me luck!

"Learn Your Craft," or how to show one's ass in public.

I was at a neighborhood restaurant over the weekend, and the lady near me ordered Oysters Rockefeller. They were served with Tabasco sauce, as per the menu. The lady found this highly unacceptable, a manager was called, and when Hollandaise sauce or an (in the mind of the customer) substitute was not immediately available our customer told the manager to "learn your craft."

To the great relief of all concerned, the customer left shortly thereafter. There are times and places where getting in high dungeon over a meal in a restaurant is appropriate. When a menu item is served in a timely manner and exactly as described on the menu is not such an occasion.

Writing

So, I got some fiction writing done today. I added a new scene in which we get some backstory about a major character and some unanswered questions. Go me!

Hugos

I have cast my final votes for all Hugo categories I care to vote in. I'm not a graphic novel guy, so I didn't vote there, and I had no opinions on the fan artist, so no votes.

Saturday was a quiet day at Casa Gerrib Norte. The excitement of the day was my attendance at an early-evening screening of Wonder Woman. It was a very enjoyable movie, although the last few minutes of the epic battle between the Big Bad and Our Heroine was a bit tedious. Overall, I highly recommend seeing it.

Sunday was for me also quiet, although one of my downstate relatives had a (very minor) heart attack, so I was getting several updates during the day. In part due to the miracle of modern medicine and the nature of the attack, said relative was sent home after less than 24 hours of hospitalization. Go modern medicine!

Now, if I could just find some time and energy to write, all would be well in the world.