Gerald Brandt

I spent the day in Calgary.  Gregor lent me his car, so I managed to get to Chinook Mall to buy some gifts for my boys.  I then spent the afternoon at Joey Tomatoes, reading and revising and outlining.

Right after Gregor got out of work, we loaded up his Gold TDI and started the drive back home.  Right now, we are outside Medicine Hat, and my laptop is, you guessed it, on my lap.

Reading
Kushiel’s Avatar (Jacqueline Carey)

Writing
This list is priceless, I recommend you read it!

I re-read the critiques of “Elya”, and this time it didn’t throw me into a funk.  I made a list of the top concerns, and edited the story.  The original is about 3000 words, but I deleted a scene or two, and added a bit more.  It looks like I’ll be at about 5000 words for the next revision.  We’ll see how it goes.

Ahh, what a day.  The kids (and I) spent a night in the tent.  It took them a LONG while to fall asleep, at least a couple of hours.  I found myself getting more and more upset with them.  Finally, I basically gave up, and left them to their own devices.  I crawled into the tent at about 10:30 PM, and they were sleeping like little angels.  And then they were awake at the regular time, which basically means they were operating on 2 hours less sleep.  That was not good.

By the end of the day, Ryan was bursting into tears for no reason, and Jared was slurring his words, sounding like a little drunk man.  When I finally got on the plane for Calgary, Ryan was crying almost uncontrollably, and Jared refused to let me out of a hug, telling me not to go.  How can he not want me to go, when all I’ve been doing for the week was yelling at him?  I dunno, and I don’t pretend to know.

I ended up sitting next to Brian on the plane.  I had interviewed with Brian several months ago, and if the family would have been willing to move to Calgary, I’d be gainfully employed.  They didn’t, so I’m a stay at home dad instead.  It was good talking to him, he’s a cool guy.

Gregor (my bro) picked us up at the airport, we had dinner and dropped Brian off at his hotel.

I’m now sitting in my brothers living room and typing in a short blog entry, while him and his wife sleep.  I already miss the boys, even though they have been absolute horrors this week, and I can hardly wait to see them again.  Tomorrow, I’ll buy them gifts and have them ready for my return.

That’s all from Calgary today.  Cya.

Reading
Kushiel’s Avatar (Jacqueline Carey)

Writing
The sixteen rules of fiction http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000906.html is a good read.  While you’re there, read his article on the DaVinci Code, it’s spot on.  Make sure to read some of his follow-up articles as well.

I must have built up some pretty bad karma.  I ended up going to the same store three times today, to replace the same item.  Two of them didn’t work right.  Aaargh.  And last night, I came home and found my 4 year old tent up against the stucco of the house, trapped in a corner by the wind.  By the time I extricated the damn thing, the fly was completely shot.  It had more holes than Swiss cheese.  So, I bought a new tent, and it is HUGE.  It’s a two room tent, so Marnie and I can be separated from the kids.  We’ll see how it holds up tonight, since the boys and I will be in it… with a 70% chance of rain and thundershowers.

I’m off to Calgary tomorrow for a couple of days.  I’ll try to post while I’m there, but we’ll see what happens.

Reading
Kushiel’s Avatar (Jacqueline Carey)

Writing
I looked at some of my old stuff, and although parts of it still sing to me, most of it sounds stilted and uninspiring.  Maybe it’s the mood I’m in, maybe it’s really just all crap.  It’s never been bought, so it’s probably crap.  I’d better snap out of this funk, or I’m never going to get anything written.  Is this what writers block is?

A. R. Yngve has a good post on ‘losing your nerve’ here http://aryngve.blogspot.com/2005/08/losing-your-nerve.html

I packed Marnie and the kids into the van this morning.  We were heading out to do some hiking in Whiteshell.  There’s a nice easy trail called MacGillvary Trail, that I thought the kids would really enjoy.  On the way there, we stopped at the Alfred Hole (yeah, A. Hole.  Funny stuff for a simple mind like me) Goose Sanctuary.  It’s mid summer and the number of geese was pretty small, only 145.

While we were there, we found that anything to do with the back country was shut down.  No hiking, no canoeing, no nothing.  We’ve been so hot and dry this year, that the fire hazard is EXTREME.  So, they shut down all access.  It’s better to be safe than sorry, I guess.  They even blocked the trail around the lake at the Goose Sanctuary!

Once we found out, we decided to add an hour onto our drive and head to Kenora.  They have this excellent ‘chip truck’ there.  Fresh cut potatoes, deep fried to perfection.  The best chips ever.  And guess what?  The chip truck was closed.  They ran out of french fries.  This was not turning out to be our day.

We ended up at a bar patio called Hap’s, and had some fries there.  They were good!  Then we drove home, put the kids into the tub, and relaxed for the evening.  The boys were actually in bed at their regular time!

And that, my friends, was my Sunday.

Reading
Kushiel’s Avatar (Jacqueline Carey)

Writing
This site held my interest for quite awhile: http://faculty.ncwc.edu/toconnor/criminology.htm There is so much information on criminology there, it’s frightening.

Nothing much to say today, and it is the weekend, so I normally won’t post (I think).

I asked Gavin to look after the house/plants/garden while Marnie and I are gone.  It’s easy money for him, but he is nervous about killing everything.  He’ll let me know on Sunday.  If he says no, there’s a company in town that will do it as well, for the same money we offered Gav.  So things should still live in this dry spell while we are gone.

We all went out for dinner to Marnie’s bosses house.  I set up their computer, and they fed us.  We all had a good time, I believe.  The kids had a blast, and another very late night.  We finally got them into bed at 10:30 or so.  Once again, Marnie and I carried them in and put them into their beds, already sleeping.

Reading
Kushiel’s Avatar (Jacqueline Carey)

Writing
For those that write Science Fiction, heck even for those that do not, this site has some excellent and up-to-date information for you. http://www.eurekalert.org

Well, what can I say.  Marnie had a crappy nights sleep ’cause Ryan crawled all over her last night.  I offered to go into the tent… I really did.

After Marnie left for work, and the kids had their breakfast, I decided to take them to The Forks.  It’s a local touristy type spot where two rivers meet.  They have a riverside trail that goes for quite a way, and I thought the boys would really enjoy a walk.  When we got there, I noticed that the water bus was in the process of opening, and I remembered how both boys had been asking so desperately to go for a boat ride… so much for the walk.  We hung around for a while, Jared lost his water bottle, we hunted for it.  Same-o same-o.  When the buses opened up for the day, on we went.  Normally it’s $3 per direction, but our driver told us not to worry about it.  He took us to the farthest point north and back again for one fair.  The boys didn’t have enough fun, so we did it again, this time heading west.  The water in the rivers is pretty disgusting, but the ride was fun.  Ryan’s face was just about ready to bust open with the grin he had on.  Jared took the ride in stride, and showed less raw emotion.  We all had fun.

We got back home in time for lunch and Halldor’s visit.  A good time was had by all.  Halldor ended up spending a couple of hours on his laptop, catching up on work email while he’s on holiday.  He took off just before supper, leaving half a beer unfinished.  Sacrilege, and wasteful.

The family headed to Costco after that, and I got a new laptop bag.  My old bag can’t handle the new 17″ laptop.  I was happy when I bought the laptop (and I still am, really).  I just wish I had gone for a smaller unit.  This thing can be a bear to carry.  Hopefully the new bag will make it easier.  The kids fell asleep on the way home, and we carried them into bed.

Reading
Kushiel’s Avatar (Jacqueline Carey)

Writing
For those that are interested in good Science Fiction, Robert Sawyer is a really good bet.  He’s a fellow Canadian, and has some interesting articles on writing. http://www.sfwriter.com/owindex.htm

I went back to my old work (the one I quit in order to take care of my kids).  It truly was a terrible place to work.  No organization to speak of; the boss would change his mind and implementation details with no notice.  The software was basically a hodge-podge of badly implemented routines, creating a buggy whole.  New features were added before bugs were fixed.  I could go on.

Still, the problems created some sort of bonding between the developers.  I noticed it even more so when I stepped down from being a (constantly undermined) manager, and rejoined the ranks.  Where is all this going?  Well, when I left yesterday, I could tell I was no longer ‘one of them’, and I wasn’t being let in on all the stuff I used to.  I expected it to happen, after all I don’t see these people everyday anymore.  Still, I left feeling a little emptier.  I missed the feeling of closeness and belonging.  It may be that some of it was simply knowing that I no longer had the daily adult discussions that I missed.  I love my kids, but I really do miss adult company.  Well, enough of that.

I set up our tent in the backyard yesterday, and the boys and Marnie (she insisted) slept in it last night.  I would have joined them, but we couldn’t find the fourth sleeping bag.  They were in there by about 7:30 PM, so I went for a motorcycle ride and then watched a bit of TV and had a scotch.  The kids were super excited, and when I checked on them at 9:30 PM, Marnie and Jared were asleep, but Ryan was wide awake.  I imagine he created quite a problem for Marnie.

I think tomorrow we’ll go for a hike somewhere, and then Halldor (from Vancouver) will come over for a visit.  I think he really wants to use my wireless more than he wants to see us , but that’s okay.

Reading
Kushiel’s Avatar (Jacqueline Carey)

Writing
Lynn Viehl has a good exercise for sharpening your characterization skills at http://pbackwriter.blogspot.com/2006/06/whats-in-name.html