My goodbye party

I'm going to miss my former co-workers at Middlesex Hospital. This is a scene from my going-away party.

Ga. almost leads tour of historic homestead

Here we are at the Nathan Hale Homestead Nathan Haleing it up in the hometown of Nathan Hale - Coventry, CT. Ga. did a report on Nathan Hale last year for school - little idea did she have at the time that she was going to a place that really knows how to celebrate and honor the life of that Revolutionary War hero.

When she was asking detailed questions and whipping out facts and figures during the tour the docent took it all in stride. Of course she did! For who from Arizona doesn't have numerous key points from the life of Connecticut's state hero memorized? 

In addition to his homestead (that's not actually the home he grew up in but his brother lived there), you can see the Nathan Hale Schoolhouse and at least a dozen pictures and statues throughout the state. 

This summer we held it to the Homestead and a couple of his statues and I regret that I only have one summer to give to ... (I don't think I can make that quip work).

This is a scene from Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts. When you go there you're supposed to feel like you're in a place from a long time ago. Most of the actors stay in character and, in a way, you do feel like you're somewhere else in another time. This tinsmith was excellent!

Right before this picture was taken I'd seen a show that had music from the 1840 presidential campaign between Martin Van Buren and William Henry Harrison. I learned that was, in many ways, the first modern presidential campaign. Before 1840 they used to feel that it was beneath their dignity to campaign for office.

Now I can honestly say that it's beneath anyone's dignity when Barak Obama and John McCain talk about anything except the very serious issues that are facing the United States. That's one way in which, I personally wish we could return to 1836 or somewhere before. 

Crafts is another one of the activities they offer at Old Sturbridge Village. Here, Georgia and Katya are making metal candleholders and I'm gazing thoughtfully at my paper cup wondering what I would do without straws and paper cups in my world. How could they drink back then?

Elizabeth Park in Hartford, CT

Neat use of plants, huh? No, I don't know what kind of plants they are.
Being from the desert, I look at all of the green in Elizabeth Park, Bushnell Park and these other places in Connecticut and cringe thinking of the water they use. No, I'm not criticizing. Plants and greenery is a beautiful thing and I salute the creativity of the volunteer gardeners. 

The cringing is thanks to the brainwashing I received as a young man from characters like Pete the Beak and Tucson Water's Beat the Peak program. Why we received such good brainwashing in the 70s and 80s that Tucson was able to grow to over a million residents despite highly marginal water supplies.

This is Pete the Beak. "Save that water, kids!"

In Army basic training you could tell who came from the desert every morning when we were brushing our teeth and shaving. The guys from southern California and Arizona shut off the water at the sink until they needed to wash off their toothbrush or razor. Guys from Pennsylvania and places like that let it run. I know that if Pete the Beak saw that he'd have done some serious ass kickin' and peckin'.

I took lots of flower pictures too but those are on the web all over the place. 

Back from CT

I had a friend from Europe who said this about the United States: "No matter where you go it's always the same." 

Now, to be fair, we were driving from the deserts of southern California to the desert of southern Arizona by way of Las Vegas at the time he said this. Of course he was still making a gross generalization. There's differences in scenery between those deserts though I understand it's not going to be as drastic as, say, the difference between France and Germany.

Today, if he and I were talking, I might mention duckpin bowling as one of the differences between parts of the United States. To all of my friends in the west who've never heard of duckpins, it's this thing they do in the northeast. It's like regular bowling but much harder. They use these little bowling balls like the ones by my daughter in this picture.

What I've been up to (part 3)

So we saw the Mets play the Rangers. You'd swear I was a diehard Rangers fan from the way I've been seeing them lately.

They're going to tear down Shea Stadium after this season. The Mets are going to play in Citi Field, the stadium going up in the background. This is pathetic. Especially the name of the place. No matter how good the new ballpark, in a few years fans of opposing teams are going to call it "Shitty Field." I'm no comedy genius and I can see that. If you've got to have a sponsor for your field, pick a sponsor that you can't make fun of so effortlessly. If the Mets play .500 ball, then they're going to say, "The Mets are playing shitty like their field." And so on.

I hope Citibank is giving the Mets lots and lots of $$$. They're going to need it. Citi. . . shitty . . . it's all about a mindset.

Now that I've been there, take it from me that Shea is a perfectly good stadium. But what I really can't understand is why the Yankees are tearing down Yankee Stadium. That's the House Ruth Built.

What I've been up to (part 2)

This is the giant cross in Groom, TX - the biggest cross in the western hemisphere - a potential computer desktop background for the religious minded.
No, Johnbo didn't actually get in the pond. But those are the ducks of the Joplin, MO KOA outside of our Kamping Kabin. The ducks were great. They greeted us like my schnauzer Binga does but in an avian way of course.
Another inspirational computer desktop photo. This statue is of George Washington Carver as a boy taken at George Washington Carver National Historic Site near Joplin, MO. The woods behind him are where he lived and studied nature when growing up. Now all you need is a recording of the sounds of a brook and that's a whole bunch of nature there for you. Next thing you know you're going be all peaceful and coming up with hundreds of uses for all kinds of things too.
This is Eli Whitney's grave in New Haven, CT. Eli Whitney deserves his own National Historic Site if you ask me. His grave at the Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven, CT is about the best you can do. His museum in New Haven doesn't even have all that much on him - it's a kids summer camp. The cotton gin was a HUGE invention that changed the nation and the world and he made next-to-nothing for it.
Here I'm holding my rubber shoe next to the grave of Charles Goodyear. I'm saying, "Thanks, Charles, for the rubber things I use like the tires on my truck and the shoe."

Continued...

What I've been up to (part 1)

Yesterday John got on a plane for Nicaragua yesterday from Boston. He arrived safely. Friday, I should get to see my women. They're coming in on the train. Here's some of the things Johnbo and I have seen on the way to and around Connecticut. Cuba, MO. This is a cool little town with an idea any little town could copy for the sake of tourism. Get a resident to paint murals everywhere and call yourself the "City of Murals." I took a bunch of pictures of this place and if you want, I'll send them to you. Just ask.
We met up with my cousin Sean at the ballpark formerly known as "The Jake" in Cleveland and saw the Indians take on the Texas Rangers. I'd list the current name of the ballpark but I'm not getting residuals from the sponsor.
Seeing the "sites" at Springfield Armory, NHP in Springfield, MA. New England was big with weapon development - never realized that before. This is a cool park for those with military minds. Actually Samuel Colt could have been my neighbor if it was 150 years ago and I lived a little to the north of where I am living this summer in Hartford, CT. (To make it too clear: I'm living in Wethersfield, CT. Hartford is north of Wethersfield. I'm indicating that if I lived a little north of where I live that I'd be in Hartford, and thus, Samuel Colt's neighbor)

More to come...

The Department of Spirit Research is out in e-book!

It took a year to write and another year-and-a-half to edit. In December it was released, going at least as high as No. 22 on Fictionwise's list of best-selling science fiction novels.

And I didn't even know about it.

It was only after the madness of the holiday season was over that I got a chance to catch up on my e-mail and go shopping for something more to read on my Palm cell phone. There it was displayed in Fictionwise's newsletter and on their website doing very well for a first-time novelist.

It was a pleasant surprise to say the least.

This fine novel is also available at Ereader.com and, of course, from the publisher at double-dragon-ebooks.com.

SF Trails #2 is out!

Getting something you wrote in the mail with a nice cover on it is a great feeling. Science Fiction Trails #2 looks cool and it is. To find out how to get your copy shoot over to www.sciencefictiontrails.com .

Halloween Bounty

I don't remember getting anything too weird in my bag when I went trick or treating as a kid. A neighbor gave me an apple dipped in carmel once. Then there was that ball of popcorn.

Like I said, not too weird.

It's another case for today's kids. On recent Halloweens past mine have gotten toothpaste, tooth brushes, stickers and a can of tuna.

Here's a picture of some of the stranger bounty from Halloween 2007. You've got the bracelet that says "God's Team." There's the coloring book. Some Arabic candy and goodies. Another Bible tract. The "I Love Jesus" notebook. Halloween pretzels.

It seems to me the neighborhood we went trick or treating in got a tad judgmental. Is the Bible tract intended to make some kid a Christian who otherwise wouldn't be? Too late, ma'm. We already are.

As for the coloring book - who's going to want to color pictures about Halloween when they're regularly getting two to three hours of homework a night and it's after Halloween?

Are Halloween pretzels going to make a kid thinner than he otherwise would be?

If you really wanted to be a judgmental about the American society of 2007, how about passing out little cards with exercises printed on them? Card No. 1: The Push-up. Card No. 2: The Sit-up. Card No. 3: The Jumping Jack . . .

That's a business idea just for you, for free.

Nevertheless, trick or treating is a great tradition - one I sincerely hope lasts for many years. Getting the strange thing in the bag every now and then only adds to the fun.

Landscaping of the Future

A map at the following link shows that where I live in Arizona is "abnormally dry" even by the minimal standards of an average of 11" a year of precipitation. Yeah, it's not bad as Georgia is right now, but it's pretty bad nonetheless.

What you're looking at is my bet at what the landscaping of the future will be. No, not the dirt everywhere (though if climate change is real dramatic, what else will it be?). What I'd like to call your attention to is the berm on the right side of the photograph. When it finally does rain, what the intention is, is for the flow of water to be captured by the berm and the one below. Instead of running down a bank into an arroyo, the water will stay, soak in and provide hydration for the grass that's planted there.

I finished this project three weeks ago. Now all I'm waiting for is some rain to see if it works.

http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html

Charles Atlas and Personal Exercise Fads

I have a garage loaded with old exercise equipment. These have been my last eight personal exercise fads going back the last five years:

1. Bike riding
2. Eye Toy
3. The Bun Roller
4. Weight Lifting
5. Running and jumping rope
6. Disc golf
7. Racquetball
8. Going to the gym

Yeah, I switched them around, so it's not like I did one thing and then stopped doing it and started another.

Anyway, my new thing is the Charles Atlas course - maybe not for the rest of my life but at least for the next ten weeks.

I'm very impressed. The course builds muscle mass without the use of one free weight or any other equipment besides a chair. They're isometric exercises - you need no equipment and they leave you feeling better than you started. You do the lessons for about 15 minutes every day and, at the end, you feel like you have more energy than when you started. Ladies and gentlemen THAT is a great exercise program.

It takes care of stretching and strength training - the only thing missing is cardiovascular training. For that, I plan to run a couple times a week.

Anyway, all the best -

Jim

Fried!: Fast Food, Slow Death

If you know me or my work, you know I like to write science-fiction westerns. However, as a former laborer in the "fast service" industry, I couldn't resist the opportunity to write a story for an anthology called Fried! Fast Food, Slow Death. With a few years worth of shifts at Carl's Jr. and Pizza Hut on my resume, I had plenty of experience to draw on.

This November, my story "The FNG" will appear in that anthology published by Graveside Tales.

Science Fiction Trails #2

In my novelette "Grower" that's set in the period just after the Civil War, African-Americans have been freed. Slavers have set their site on another race: trolls. It will appear in Science Fiction Trails #2 scheduled for release by Pirate Dog Press in November.

Another science-fiction western story of mine "The Bullet Magnet" is a reprise of the famous Four Dead in Five Seconds gunfight. It appeared in Science Fiction Trails #1. That paperback is currently available on Lulu.com.