The journey continues...

Brian Bilbrey October 28, 2012

Dangerous Sandy

A bit of light drizzle, some breezes, and a second day under cloud cover. That's what has happened so far. But Sandy approaches. The patio furniture is stowed in back, the hanging baskets and flag removed from the front, and the generator is tested and ready. I gave Marcia a walk-through on starting it up today, and she feels content with that. At this beginning of things, our rain gauge stands at 2.96 inches, as of 1700 EDT. School countdown: 7 weeks left. * * * Our condolences to the families, friends, and units of these fallen warriors: Chief Warrant…

Brian Bilbrey October 21, 2012

Beginning of the End

If you buy into the Mayan calendar lunacy, then I'll STILL have finished my degree work before the end of the world. I'll have five whole days to celebrate! However, since the degree won't be granted until December 30 ... That'd be hard luck. So the final class, taking me to 71 units completed with UMUC over the last five years, is called "Principles of Web Design and Technology I." It starts tomorrow, and finishes eight weeks from today. You'd think a class like that would be a slam dunk for me, yeah? But since I've essentially been self-trained on…

Brian Bilbrey October 17, 2012

Mr. Penumbra's ... A Review

I've been stalking watching Robin Sloan for a while now. He apparently lives in San Francisco when he's not on the Internets. Robin wrote and posted online a short story called Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, back in 2009. I read it shortly thereafter, and was greatly pleased by the characters, the settings, and the plotting. All-in-all, one of the tightest, shiniest short stories I've read in a long, long time. So, when Robin headed down the Kickstarter path with his first dead trees work, the novella entitled Annabel Scheme, I jumped on the bandwagon, and supported his effort with real…

Brian Bilbrey October 14, 2012

Capclave 2012 #FTW

I had an AWESOME time at Capclave 2012! I got to spend quality time with a number of superb authors, experts, and fans. Among the former were John Scalzi, the Author GoH - as a "Guest" he sure had to work his butt off, but since we all benefit from his work, I'll not whinge on about it. I got him to sign The God Engines (his "cheerful one"), and I had him inscribe Redshirts to Marcia. Thanks, John! I also stumbled across Edward Lerner, Alan Smale, Allen Wold, Jean Marie Ward, Neil Clarke, and many more brilliant, articulate, wonderful…

Brian Bilbrey October 8, 2012

Nine Weeks Left

Ten actual weeks left in my quest to get my first BS. I'm in the last week of my penultimate class, and the instructor just cancelled another assignment. That's nice and all, yo, but I'd been doing research and prep for it. That's the second big syllabus change in an eight week session. Really? I would ask why, but I'd probably be angry at the answer, so it's best to to let that one pass. It's Columbus Day, one of the Federal holidays my employer chooses to observe. So I'll be using today to get ahead of the game on…