I didn’t get any writing done this morning as my session was taken up with preparing supporting material for a grant application. These things are long shots, as a rule, but if I don’t apply I definitely won’t get one, so it’s worth a couple of hours of my time, I figure. I only have one more document to prepare and it should be good to go.
I found out this morning that my story “Garden of Earthly Delights” from Damned Nation will be reprinted in a forthcoming anthology. I’ll post more details as they become public.
The technology editor in the Houston Chronicle wrote good things about Microsoft’s new, free antivirus suite, Security Essentials, which launched yesterday, so I decided to try it out on my laptop. McAfee is a real pig on that computer, which has a small (by modern standards) hard drive and relatively low memory. So I uninstalled the old program and downloaded and installed the new one. McAfee is free for me anyway since it comes with our DSL, so it’s not a financial decision. Just wanted to see what effect it has on overall performance on that machine. Stay tuned.
Apparently the tsunami in Samoa didn’t affect Survivor. Could have been a hell of an immunity challenge. Might have wiped the smug grin off Russell’s face, at least. It’s been a rough week or so over in that part of the world, with typhoons, earthquakes and tidal waves. It’s hard to imagine a 10 foot wave heading your way.
This week’s Mad Men started out with three interesting scenes. Three major characters are shown in recumbent positions. Don is face down on the floor in a motel, his wife is lying on an elegant couch looking somewhat post-coital, and Peggy is naked in bed with an as-yet-unidentified man. The episode then backtracks to show the stories behind these snapshots. Poor Don, mugged and then forced to solidify is false identity. Conrad Hilton is turning into a much less likeable character than he seemed when Don first met him at the party. Roger Sterling is something of a horses’s ass these days, too. No mention of the fate of the secretary who took the unfortunate ride on the Deere.
NCIS was perturbed at the end of last season, and the pendulum is slowly returning to status quo. Ziva is making amends and Tony is getting over his anger with her. Abby’s tirade was priceless. Some good red herrings in this episode, too, though I don’t think they explained to my satisfaction how the real killer knew enough about the other person’s high school traumas to be able to simulate them at the murder scene.
9 Dragons is sailing along. Harry Bosch is in Hong Kong now, traipsing over territory that I’m familiar with, which is fun. The funicular up Victoria Peak. Wan Chai, Nathan Road, etc.
