When you appear there's nothing left of you

A couple of seasonal observations...now that the morning outside temperature is down in the 30s, the guayabera shirts are going to have to go back in the closet until spring, since there's not nearly enough hair on my belly or back to insulate them against the cold, cold winds. (This must be how women feel about short skirts, only it's worse for them.) Also, I'm going to have to start being more conscientious about moisturizing my feet, judging from the way my hands look in the morning.

Went to bed fairly early last night after bashing out the first draft of the registration department procedures, which will almost certainly be revised since there's not nearly enough detail in some parts of it. I'd thought we had a procedure file for that department already, but it's either in hardcopy somewhere where I can't find it or I was wrong and neither of the two preceding registration chairwomen got around to doing one. No big deal. Having worked on it full or part-time since this thing started, I could pretty much organize it in my sleep, which is not going to help anyone after this year because I'm not going to be around when most of the heavy lifting is underway. Much like programming, most of the department's work gets done before the convention, but it has to be organized and it has to be coordinated with a couple of other departments lest things get screwed up.

When you appear there's nothing left of you

A couple of seasonal observations...now that the morning outside temperature is down in the 30s, the guayabera shirts are going to have to go back in the closet until spring, since there's not nearly enough hair on my belly or back to insulate them against the cold, cold winds. (This must be how women feel about short skirts, only it's worse for them.) Also, I'm going to have to start being more conscientious about moisturizing my feet, judging from the way my hands look in the morning.

Went to bed fairly early last night after bashing out the first draft of the registration department procedures, which will almost certainly be revised since there's not nearly enough detail in some parts of it. I'd thought we had a procedure file for that department already, but it's either in hardcopy somewhere where I can't find it or I was wrong and neither of the two preceding registration chairwomen got around to doing one. No big deal. Having worked on it full or part-time since this thing started, I could pretty much organize it in my sleep, which is not going to help anyone after this year because I'm not going to be around when most of the heavy lifting is underway. Much like programming, most of the department's work gets done before the convention, but it has to be organized and it has to be coordinated with a couple of other departments lest things get screwed up.

And if it's faded or forgotten in some book

Dropped a little bit of weight this week to bring me down to 419.4, which is good because I'd been worried that I might actually tack on a little weight this week.

Our annual benefits enrollment is coming up next week, and I'm not sure whether I want to stick with Definity, the plan I've been on the last couple of years, or go with Health Partners, which would be cheaper overall but was a major pain in the ass the last time I had to deal with them a few years back. Definity requires a little more attention on account of the large deductible (which never seems to be quite covered by the pre-tax spending account) and the convoluted coverage system - there's a chunk of cash called the Health Coverage Account, the deductible, and then copays after the deductible is paid - but on the other hand they aren't the pains in the ass that Health Partners is. Either way, it'll just be for part of the year since I'll probably be switching to whatever coverage is offered by the school district I'll be working for next fall.

On a related subject, I just got my quarterly statement from the 401k plan, and it's all good news. The bull market and stock split have boosted that part of the Cardboard Box Fund to the point where I'm starting to feel mildly comfortable with the notion of actually retiring for a year or two before I make a permanent move to the columbarium at Arlington instead of just working until I drop. We'll see how things work out.

And if it's faded or forgotten in some book

Dropped a little bit of weight this week to bring me down to 419.4, which is good because I'd been worried that I might actually tack on a little weight this week.

Our annual benefits enrollment is coming up next week, and I'm not sure whether I want to stick with Definity, the plan I've been on the last couple of years, or go with Health Partners, which would be cheaper overall but was a major pain in the ass the last time I had to deal with them a few years back. Definity requires a little more attention on account of the large deductible (which never seems to be quite covered by the pre-tax spending account) and the convoluted coverage system - there's a chunk of cash called the Health Coverage Account, the deductible, and then copays after the deductible is paid - but on the other hand they aren't the pains in the ass that Health Partners is. Either way, it'll just be for part of the year since I'll probably be switching to whatever coverage is offered by the school district I'll be working for next fall.

On a related subject, I just got my quarterly statement from the 401k plan, and it's all good news. The bull market and stock split have boosted that part of the Cardboard Box Fund to the point where I'm starting to feel mildly comfortable with the notion of actually retiring for a year or two before I make a permanent move to the columbarium at Arlington instead of just working until I drop. We'll see how things work out.

Wouldn't be prudent.

I thought for a while about trying to finish Blood Red Skies as part of the whole NaNoWriMo thing, but it would be wrong since the whole point of NaNoWriMo is to crank out a 50K chunk of novel-like verbiage from scratch, and that's not exactly what I'd be doing. BRS already has a beginning, an end, and some parts floating around in the middle, plus some fairly well fleshed-out characters. Forcing it to completion through NaNoWriMo would be like entering the State Fair baking contest using Betty Crocker Cake Mix, and that would be Wrong. Even if I am just a semi-pro.

Still...the notion of forcing myself to write 1650+ words per day (slightly less, actually, since as I said there are already some chunks done) in order to at least have a very rough draft done by the end of the month is appealing. I have time on my hands for the moment, and sitting down every night for a couple of hours to pound on the keyboard might just be the discipline I need to finally wrap it up and get it in a condition to show people and see what they think. I just can't do it within the NaNoWriMo setup.

So tomorrow night it'll be time to kick the tires and light the fires. I have people to kill, planets to ruin, and ships to destroy, with only a month to do it in. I can do this. ^_^

UPDATE/EDIT: It turns out that over the last couple of years that I've been picking away at this I've cranked out a little over 23,000 words, not including the stuff that actually belongs in the sequel, Sad Wings of Victory. (Is it pretentious of me to have a sequel for my unfinished novel already?) So I could be lazy and just do the remaining 27,000 words, or go whole hog and wind up with something closer to 75,000 words, which I think would be a better, fuller more flavorful novel anyway. We'll see what happens.

Wouldn't be prudent.

I thought for a while about trying to finish Blood Red Skies as part of the whole NaNoWriMo thing, but it would be wrong since the whole point of NaNoWriMo is to crank out a 50K chunk of novel-like verbiage from scratch, and that's not exactly what I'd be doing. BRS already has a beginning, an end, and some parts floating around in the middle, plus some fairly well fleshed-out characters. Forcing it to completion through NaNoWriMo would be like entering the State Fair baking contest using Betty Crocker Cake Mix, and that would be Wrong. Even if I am just a semi-pro.

Still...the notion of forcing myself to write 1650+ words per day (slightly less, actually, since as I said there are already some chunks done) in order to at least have a very rough draft done by the end of the month is appealing. I have time on my hands for the moment, and sitting down every night for a couple of hours to pound on the keyboard might just be the discipline I need to finally wrap it up and get it in a condition to show people and see what they think. I just can't do it within the NaNoWriMo setup.

So tomorrow night it'll be time to kick the tires and light the fires. I have people to kill, planets to ruin, and ships to destroy, with only a month to do it in. I can do this. ^_^

UPDATE/EDIT: It turns out that over the last couple of years that I've been picking away at this I've cranked out a little over 23,000 words, not including the stuff that actually belongs in the sequel, Sad Wings of Victory. (Is it pretentious of me to have a sequel for my unfinished novel already?) So I could be lazy and just do the remaining 27,000 words, or go whole hog and wind up with something closer to 75,000 words, which I think would be a better, fuller more flavorful novel anyway. We'll see what happens.