Feedback, Flushed and Freebies

The word of the week is opportunity.

Sept 17 -Feedback!

As I've already mentioned, yesterday I sent out my novel's manuscript to a few people to get some feedback, vital to making a good draft into a GREAT second draft. I'm hoping to get enough feedback that agrees on the good parts AND the bits that need improvement, but not so much that I can't handle it all. Hence only a few people, for now - too many and I'd spend more time reading feedback than implementing the recommended changes.

In the evening I received some other feedback from my writer's group, who I hosted in the SkyLounge. It was a sub-group, focusing on a novel we had each written, going chapter by chapter. I received some very positive feedback on the first and second chapters of my novel, which was very uplifting and useful. I also gave some solid feedback on the works of the other four people there, who are all solid writers and more used to this sort of thing than I am, as it was my first time in such a group. Which means they were rather forgiving of my gaffes and errors, for which I was grateful. We'll be meeting again in a month's time, when I am expected to have re-worked my first and second chapters using their critiques.

Sept 18 - An almost-free NEW printer?

It's very odd that Providence has been providing me things of late as needed; I'm in NO way unhappy with it, but today was a good example:

For about six months now I've been looking for a good, inexpensive laser printer, as I knew I'd likely have to print a manuscript or six once my novel was finished. Well, I finished my novel and did print up half a manuscript on the HP P1102W that I'd bought as a one-day special( only $30!!! )at the end of 2011. But the little tyke can't handle extended print jobs and my manuscript is almost 400 pages right now. So I've kept my eyes peeled but there's been nothing I'd want to lay out money on for less than $200.

Today while traipsing through Value Village, what should I spot but a sleek HP printer on a shelf? A quick look confirmed it to be a P1606dn, a solid home office laser that only came out in 2010 and in great shape! For $20 it was worth taking a chance on, despite missing two paper trays; there was no toner cartridge either, but that's to be expected. I got it home and ordered an aftermarket toner for another $20, which arrived just two days later from Vancouver; plugging it in, I powered the laser up and to my delight it worked perfectly. The print count said that NO pages had been printed; it was an UNUSED and BRAND NEW printer!!! So instead of paying  upwards of $300 for a new 1606dn plus around $80 for an 'official' toner, I got it all for only $40 - talk about luck!!!

The printer is networkable, meaning I can print to it using its own email address from ANY device( like my phone )no sweat. It's also full duplex, which lets me print on both sides of a page automatically. I printed out the final 200+ pages of my manuscript in less than twenty minutes, which is incredibly fast. The print quality is HP-excellent as always and I'm just thrilled that I found such a PERFECT local bargain!

Sept 19 - A Publisher in October ???

Speaking of signs from the universe:

Today I JUST found out about an opportunity to submit my novel to a publisher!

It's BIG news, as a well-known publisher is making an OPEN call, allowing ANYONE to submit a manuscript to them - even if you don't have an agent, like me! Incredibly, they're VERY keen to get scifi or fantasy submissions… it's like someone heard that my novel was done and popped up this opening!

So I'm under another self-imposed deadline now, to whip my first draft into as close to second-draft shape as I can in LESS than three weeks! While the submissions to the publisher don't have to be in absolute-perfect shape, it cannot hurt my chances to weed out ALL the major bugs, fix a lot of the little ones and add as much as I can from my notes into the novel before I submit it. It's THE BEST chance I'll have to get my novel in the hands of a publisher in the industry and I WILL NOT miss this chance!

Sept 20 - Colds and Job Searching

The universe works in mysterious ways.

Yesterday, I found out I have a chance to submit my novel to a publisher fairly easily, IF I work HARD for the next three weeks on the manuscript… and today I discovered that I've picked up a cold.

CRAP. But so it goes…

My job search is progressing slowly; there's not all that many jobs I'm keen on applying for locally, at least that are listed. I'm going to REALLY push trying to find those 'hidden' jobs, the ones that I'd likely be better suited for and enjoy more than I might a 'standard' job in retail or somesuch. I'm really just looking for something to  a) Pay the bills and let me get ahead a little  b) That won't suck the energy out of me so much daily that I don't have anything left to write with   c) That I might enjoy doing   - none of which are unreasonable goals; I'm certainly not trying to pay a mortgage or raise a family with my pay.

I've thought about putting together a video resume`, but it just seems like overkill. However, THIS guy takes the cake for awesome creative video resumes. He's trying to get in on the just-announced TV series S.H.I.E.L.D. with Joss Whedon:

Sept 21 - Sick Stinks

Whatever bug I've picked up is now in full swing, having gone from my throat to my nose and sapping all my energy to boot. I did very little during the day today save domestic tasks, sleeping when and how I could. Which wasn't much.

One thing I did do was to discover an online repository forElfQuest! This was a comic I remember coming across when I was growing up in the Eighties, a hybrid mix of fantasy and scifi which caught my interest.

Now you can peruse EVERY ElfQuest comic ever made, for free! I'm not all that familiar with the series, but there's a devoted following out there so that does tell me there's more than a few good tales to be had in these comics. I'll peruse them more thoroughly when I have more time and more energy…

Sept 22 - Feeling Absolutely Awful

The people upstairs woke me four separate times last night, so that by the time morning rolled around I felt inhumanly exhausted. Not to mention feeling the cold in full swing. I managed to get a couple of hours sleep before they woke me again; at that point I just gave up and tried to get on with my day. I didn't end up doing much and had to leave soon after lunch due to the people upstairs moving a LOT of stuff around. I felt horrible, like I was walking around in a waking dream; even sitting on the patio at Moka House for an hour did little to restore any feeling of humanity. Or energy; I've almost never felt this close to being beside myself. Most of my evening was a blur of spot-naps for fifteen minutes and TV; thanks to some chicken soup for lunch and dinner I managed to get a little writing done but the words kept blurring. My feet and hands are cold, which tells me that the bug is sapping my reserves of energy…

However, my fortunes reversed themselves after dinner: in the morning, I had texted the couple upstairs about the noise levels keeping me from sleeping. Turns out the noises around lunch were them rearranging various bits of furniture upstairs! After dinner, they texted me, having VERY generously put forward making changes to their sleeping arrangements to deaden the sound of tending to their young kids in the night. They mentioned making other changes too, all of which added up to a 90% reduction in the sounds from overhead. It was wonderful and a testament to having a polite, open dialogue with your neighbours instead of letting emotion get the upper hand. I went to bed with a VERY changed mood, no longer a sleep-deprived zombie but just a tired guy hoping for a better night's sleep…

Sept 23 - Recovery Day

Last night I slept wonderfully, all due to the people upstairs after talking with them yesterday evening. It wasn't a perfect night's sleep but I did feel somewhat rested, even given my cold-wracked head. I spent the morning writing up part of my blog and then napped for a bit, which actually helped as my nose cleared up and I could smell my lunch, which was a pleasant change. I even went out for the afternoon for a few hours to sit in the sun and just try to enjoy the day, which was easier as my nose no longer looked like I'd been using sandpaper on it. Apart from the dark circles under my eyes, I felt closer to human today than I have for the last forty-eight hours. More chicken soup for dinner also helped, as did watching Flushed Away, a cute animated yarn that I've enjoyed a few times over the years; English accents always make a movie more enjoyable for me for some reason. Weird, eh?

I'm really hoping to dive into editing my manuscript tomorrow using the feedback I've received so far, if I get my energy levels back. Even if I don't, I NEED to, as the clock is ticking to make my novel the BEST it can be before I submit it in less than three weeks. I HAVE to get it done, to the exclusion of all else; this is an incredibly rare opportunity and one that may not come again for a LONG time. No pressure…

Driving, Dozing and Dragonboys

The word of the week is calcite.

Sept 10 - Treehouse Village!

Oh, treehouses - you seemed so simple as a child. Get boards, nails and hammers, pick a tree and a few hours later, you had… a mess. Which was pretty much as far as my friends and I got, scavenging materials from nearby construction sites and borrowing tools from our dads. Those were the days.

Now I've discovered that there's an entire community of treehouse lovers( nuts? )in Costa Rica, calling themselves Finca Bella Vista. They are dedicated to living 'off the grid' as well as being respectful of their environment, both worthy goals in and of themselves BEFORE you get to the cool part: they ALL live in treehouses! In a forest, no less! Have a gander at their website and take pause to consider: would YOU move to Costa Rica if it meant you could live as fabulously as they do? I'm considering it - lightly.

Sept 11 - Remembrance

Eleven years since 9-11. The horror and shock have faded.

But the memory endures. As do the scars.

I ask: what has the world learned? And I can't come up with a good answer.

Still. After all this time.

Sept 12 - Dragonboy

I love animation, I really do. Ever since I was a little boy, I've always loved seeing animated stories in every form and from every source. There's something about animation, I think in that it can literally do ANYTHING and take you places that regular film can't; the newer CGI still needs to tell a story and not just be done for F/X sake alone. It's the story that keeps us entertained, and enriches us.

There's a great story in Dragonboy, a charming short tale about a boy in a play who discovers that he doesn't have to be a prince to win the fair damsel's heart. I love this short; it really tugs on all the right emotional heartstrings… especially the one where I, too, feel like I'm a boy again, in a dragon costume. Or at least, I could have been.

Sept 13 - Vancouver Trip!

Up early and out the door by 9am today to catch the bus to Swartz Bay to get the 11am ferry sailing. Why? Because I was going to Vancouver today! Last time I did it with little research as to the 'how' and I ended up paying more than I'd have liked; this time, I researched the heck out of it. Bus to ferry, ferry to Tsawwassen, bus to Skytrain by the airport, Skytrain to downtown Vancouver! Total cost was less than $50 round-trip for all the transportation combined; cheap!

The total travel time was a little under five hours, all with someone ELSE doing the driving, which was good as I still don't do well going over water( thanks, Dramamine! ). I picked a little café and recharged the battery on my new cell; I'm disappointed that it only lasted a little past lunch. However, the viewing from the café was spectacular through the windows and I happily people-watched from the patio until dinnertime.

The view of English Bay that evening. Incredible!
I love the two people sitting at the sun-trail's tip!

What perfect weather to be outside! Sunny and calm and in the low twenties; I met my friend and we went to English Bay to pick a place to grab some grub. We took up a sweet spot on the patio at Milestone's, the same as the last time I was there( the wait at the Cactus Club on the beach was insane )and the viewing was incredible. We ended up there for a few hours and caught the sunset pictured above; it was simply amazing and a good experience of what people living in Vancouver get to enjoy - weather permitting. After that, it was time for a few drinks at Earl's on Robson St which I'd passed by a few times when I was last in town and thought would be interesting. The wait staff were excellent and I'll be sure to stop in again whenever I'm next in town. Heck, we ended up with a 'mistake' plate of appetizers from the kitchen that were simply delicious, tasting all the better for being FREE!

It was just a great night all around.

Sept 14 - Sleep

Ergh… the problem with a late night is that sometimes it runs smack into an early morning, as it did today. I ended up with about 3.5 hours of sleep and I felt it all the way home, but unfortunately I wasn't able to nap on the ferry or on the bus; I'm just too uncomfortable to do that. I also tend to drool while sitting upright and snoozing, so be warned. I missed a bus in the AM and so I didn't get back home until 12pm, which was fine as I immediately flaked out for a solid four-hour napcrash. Thankfully, the people upstairs were out and I felt much more balanced when I awoke. I was able to get in a few solid hours of work on my manuscript in the evening and felt the better for it.

I've taken a small break from using my sleep tracking app on my phone, as my case still hasn't arrived. I'm not going to put my 'thin and light' SIII within range of flailing elbows each night until it's properly protected. I don't like losing all the data for consistency's sake, but there's no help for it until the case arrives. Soon.

Sept 15 - Cars

Having access to a vehicle of your own used to be one of the rites of passage to adulthood. Walking was too slow, the bus was too unreliable and riding a bike was only as good as the weather. Cars gave you freedom, and that was addictive... until you realized how MUCH your car was costing you for that freedom.

Cars are unreliable, expensive beasts that eat through your wallet with ease. I've had my fill... I *may* get a new-used one again in the future, but ONLY if I deem it *necessary* for a long-term job... or a family. Where I am now, physically and in life, I don't need one. Which I like a LOT. :-) Just being able to easily walk everywhere I need to and easily hop a bus to get anywhere else really makes my wallet happy - plus I never get stuck in traffic!

Sept 16 - Manuscript!

Since I was woken by the people upstairs at 3am and again at 6:30am, I thought I'd get a head start on my day. So I dug into my manuscript to badger it into shape, copying in the last few chapters and then spending the morning getting it all shipshape. It's not as easy as you think; there's always a LOT of errors in a first draft and even fixing things like a misspelled name takes careful work. Otherwise all you've done is add ANOTHER error. Ensuring it's all properly formatted, that chapter and scene breaks are all put in correctly and that you haven't copied one title over another or put a chapter out of place… there was a lot of work to tidy, but I got it all done a little before noon. After that I created an encrypted PDF that can ONLY be printed and not copied / edited / etc, which I sent out to my few lucky Beta Readers along with a fair number of questions for Feedback Purposes. Now THAT felt GOOD!

In the super-sunny afternoon I went over to take a gander at the inaugural Victoria Chalk Art Festival downtown. It was the PERFECT day for it: the sun was shining without a cloud in the sky! The main art piece inside the Bay Centre was impressive and almost finished by the time we got there( see below )and some of the other pieces were done by then outside. I have to say I was a little disappointed by the art on display, as only two of the dozen were 3D perspective work - the least of them all was still leaps beyond my own talents, but I had high expectations I suppose. They were creative and colourful and lovely for works that will be gone by tomorrow and I enjoyed them as much as I enjoyed the happy crowds of people that came out to see them. I hope they're back next year, bigger and better!

It's been an odd week: everything sort of steamrollered in a soft and cushy way to end up here on Sunday night, with the blog coming together rather easily in an hour or so. This week coming looks to be nothing BUT job searching every day, as I'm done the manuscript and there's nothing else major on my plate. Just the little things that I can attend to here and there as needed. That's a good feeling...

People, Phones and Pressure

The word of the week is passion.

Sept 3 - School Of Life

Holy Guacamole, is it September already?

While I don't have to start school, I do have to ramp up my job search as I only have a few months of EI left.

 

No pressure.

Now that I've been 'armed' with the information from the WorkBC seminars last week, I feel fully prepared to dive into my job search with focused efforts - no more blanketing advertised jobs with resumes and hoping for an interview. Given that I've been awake well before 7am for the last few months, I feel like spending the day job hunting will be just like having a day job, which is the whole idea - and you can insert that old saw about writers not quitting said jobs here, thankyouverymuch.

I want to find a good job. Not necessarily the perfect job, but one that I can enjoy going to every day, to be valued and to get value for the effort I put in. Just to make a living from it and to pull ahead a little each payday is all I'm looking for; if I find more, all the better. My focus for the next year is to finish revising my novel and to publish it in some major form; the job will serve that end and to keep me from editing from a cardboard box in an alley somewhere. 

It's going to be an interesting year…

Sept 4 - NEW PHONE ARRIVES!

Imagine my surprise when the doorphone rang and it was a delivery: my new Samsung Galaxy SIII was here a week early!

Excited, I took a few pictures before unboxing it carefully and checking it out. It was a LOT lighter in the hand than I had expected, a practical featherweight compared to my brick of an HTD Desire HD( 134g vs 164g ). It is sleek and very sexy-looking and FAST: the screens zip under a touch and apps load in an eyeblink.

There's a LOT of features that come with this phone which I won't bore you with( THIS ARTICLE covers them exhaustively, if you feel so inclined to find out ). Needless to say, I'll be happily fiddling with it for many months to discover them all. One feature I LOVE is that it has a built-in barometer, a rarity among smartphones and tablets still - meaning I can FINALLY check to see what the local air pressure is like in real time to help manage my headaches more precisely. It's a revelation!

I'll try not to wax too poetic over what amounts to a new toy, but at the same time I have to say this: if it does WHAT I want WHEN I want it to and FAST, then it ceases to be a toy and instead becomes a useful tool. Heck, the bonus 48gigs of Dropbox space alone makes my head spin! :-)

 

Sept 5 - Remembering Ray Bradbury

Two months ago, Ray Bradbury passed away, leaving a legacy as a writer equaled by few.

I was surprised to learn that he and I shared something in common: we both felt that the only long-term solution to the survival of the human race was to leave Earth and settle other planets. Bradbury is well-known for his support of space exploration and the settlement of Mars in particular: his Martian Chronicles were read by many of the early astronauts and are still popular today, though I myself have not read them for decades. As to what we shared: I remember way back when I was in grade school being horrified to learn how fragile Earth was and deciding firmly that I would design some spaceships "to get people to other places in case of disaster" with the same though in mind as Bradbury. To get people OFF this planet and onto others so as not to have too many eggs in one basket, so to speak.

This week I scanned almost all of my early artwork and posted it to my FBook account. It's work I've never shown anyone save my parents and sister over the years and that sparingly; you ask why? It's that for the longest time I was ashamed of the pictures, that they were juvenile and not 'art' per se; I had( and still lack )any skill at drawing. What little I do have comes from being precise and patient with a ruler, as you may see from the picture above: I love detail. I took great pleasure in drawing what I did, when I did and I didn't do all that many over the years; most of my imagery remains in my mind, unable to be expressed by my hands onto a medium save through words.

Which is why I'm a writer, not an illustrator. :)

 

Sept 6 - Mega… VOLCANO???

You know those Big Things that might be changing the world yet you don't take too seriously since they aren't happening in front of you, like global warming ? You can add the Yellowstone Supervolcano to that list. I just found out from this article on io9.com that the magma chamber under the park is MUCH more MASSIVE than previously believed. So big, in fact, that it could lead to an Extinction Event.

Scary!

There's the consolation that if the thing goes off, it won't matter where in the world you are - the ash and smoke it will release will make Mount St. Helen's look like a preview trailer for the Yellowstone Main Event. Makes me wonder if the people on Doomsday Preppers know about this yet…?

Sept 7 - TED Success

The TED Talks are wonderful things: ideas from the top minds in the world that ANYONE can listen to and watch without having to pay huge fees. I've installed the app already on my new phone and I try to watch whenever I can.

One of the more interesting ones I've come across is 'The 8 Secrets of Success' which seems simple enough. Have a look at the video, or the poster below:

You can download a PDF to rate yourself in each of the eight categories here.

Going through each of the steps, I can see some areas where I need to improve and others where I'm actually doing rather well. Getting myself up to speed in all eight categories will take some work but I'm a LOT closer now than I was even five years ago when I first set foot in BC.

That makes me rather happy. :-)

Sept 8 - Jarring

For over a month now I've been waking up at 6:30-6:45am. Involuntarily. I've tried to find out WHY it's been happening, from things I've been eating the night before to light from the almost-closed curtains to noises. In the last week, I've woken up on my bleary-eyed own around that too-early time to hear NOISE. Specifically, what has sounded like a door slamming close at 6:45am. Today I set my alarm again for 6:30am to be up in time to LISTEN for whatever's making the sound… and I succeeded!

It's the next door neighbour, not the ones above.

Since the kids usually have had me up around 7:30am regardless since we've moved into this place, the difference of less than an hour may seem trivial - it's not. There's a HUGE difference between waking naturally and being jarred from your sleep, over and over again - right now, I'm feeling that difference. It's affecting my health and it frustrates the HELL out of me that a good night's sleep is beholden to the ignorance of others. I do NOT enjoy feeling like I'm not in control of my life and that feeling is only intensified by a lack of sleep - the bags under my eyes don't need more company.

I spent ALL of the afternoon on a patio at Moka House on Cook St with a new friend. It was wonderful. :-) To the point where it was dinnertime and I was reluctant to go and eat; I didn't want it to end. What a lovely day, the last gorgeous weather we will see of the summer, so I hear. I'm glad I spent it outside.

Sept 9 -Dullness

Ugh, from blue sunny skies to overcast and raining in the afternoon today; what a difference!

I didn't get up to much today, as the weather change had me feeling tired and blah. As well, the hint of a headache threatened to go full-bloom for most of the day, but thankfully it didn't do more than that.

Some of the day was spent prepping and listing my HTC Desire HD phone for sale on eBay. I reset it to factory defaults and checked it as best as I was able to ensure it is in salable condition. Amusingly, once it had been WIPED it was perky and fast again, a good indicator to me that I was asking too much of it. Then again, I wanted it to do the things I NEEDED it for daily; since it couldn't hack it, it's going 'bye.

The evening saw me watch my copy of There's Something About Mary, which I haven't seen in many years. I was less impressed with it this time around, perhaps because I saw the 'Extended Edition' which focused in the main on slapstick antics and less on making the story more solid. I'm a writer, so go figure I was more interested in that then seeing Ben Stiller get mauled by a small dog. Cameron Diaz was a lovely vision as always and she really shines in this film; I think that's why I've kept it around so long… it can't be for the zipper scene, which I ALWAYS thought should have remained visually in the minds of the audience - they should NEVER have show the frank and beans! A little mystery goes a long way…

It's nose-to-the-grindstone week; lots of searching to do and a time deadline on top of that. Not to mention getting the novel manuscript whipped into shape and sent out to my beta readers… I'm not sure which I'm more excited about: finding a great job or getting some much-needed novel feedback!

Novel first draft is FINISHED!

The word of the week is perspective.

Aug 27 - Farewell to... Zellers?

I wandered through a Zellers today at the Hillside Mall, mainly out of morbid curiosity. I'd shopped a fair bit there over the years, but not for the last five or so. Maybe longer. I'd always gone in with a shrug of the shoulders and the thought 'Maybe I will find something good today' in mind. I never really did.

Today was no exception; of the masses of pawed-through merchandise in all the departments, I ended up getting a pair of AAA Lithium batteries for about 30% off. That was it.

Soon Zellers will join the ranks of Eatons, Woolco and K-Mart among the dead or chains of stores that couldn't figure out how to compete. They maintained a stock of merchandise but couldn't maintain a lead in their markets, where consumers tempted by choice and price often went elsewhere. The occasional rare 'Hey, that was a good bargain!' experience is not enough to keep people coming back…

I can't say I'll miss them. Their toy section was always so-so.

Aug 28 - A hard day's writing

As you may have guessed, the theme for this week's blog is writing. LOTS of writing.

Today was a hard one for it; EVERY kind of distraction you can think of tossed itself at me. From a fender-bender RIGHT OUTSIDE my window to the kids above staying in for the day, it was trying. A constant flow of heavy trucks and emergency sirens hammered at me from the road while feet hammered at me from above, so I bundled my things and escaped upstairs - or so I thought.

Would you believe that a pair of seagulls picked TODAY to chase each other around on the roof? Right outside the SkyLounge, they decided to have some kind of lover's spat for an HOUR! I yelled at them through the windows, tossed a few pebbles nearby and tried ignoring them. Eventually they left and I managed to finish the other half of the chapter, but I was worn out for the day...

Aug 29 - The Earth Moved!

While writing the second-last chapter of my novel today, the earth shook. It was an earthquake!

A brief one, registering 3.0 on the Richter Scale - have look here.

It happened after 3pm, as the sun was shining. I was tossing words onto the page and then I myself was tossed for a moment. It felt and sounded like the idiot woman in the condo above had moved a huge heavy something-or-other across the floor, which she has done several times before. So I simply ignored it and moved on with my writing for another hour, thinking nothing of it.

Only after we were done for the day did I hear on the news it had been an earthquake; oops! Nothing fell off the walls and there was no reported damage anywhere. The epicenter was RIGHT UNDER where I was writing at my parent's place in Langford; it seems that even Mother Nature tried to toss a distracting rock into my creative pond while I was trying to finish the novel! Sheesh!

Aug 30 - NOVEL COMPLETED!

I wrote the final chapter of my novel today. The first draft's done.

WAHOOO!!!!

I wasn't certain that I'd hit my self-imposed deadline of August 31st 2012 when I started writing in earnest back in June 2012. As of then, I had only six chapters partially completed after six months of effort and my arms weren't letting me write any faster. I was stymied physically and creatively.

Teaming up with my mother proved to be the catalyst: I was freed to CREATE and not be distracted by the details of spelling and minor typing errors. The words began to flow and by the end of July I was often completing about a chapter per day and averaging half a chapter a day since the start of July when you worked in days when I didn't write.

Completing my novel today felt exhilarating! Then I felt exhaustion crash over me; it's been a LONG ride.

Now the hard part begins: making it BETTER. I have lots of notes. :-)

Aug 31 - Incentive!

The first thing I did today was call about a new cell phone. I promised myself that if I finished my novel's first draft by the end of August, I would treat myself by replacing my crazy-making HTC Desire HD cell...

With a Samsung Galaxy SIII - now THAT was incentive for me!

I wasn't sold on it though; the thought of signing another 3-year contract gave me the willies due to my bad experience 2 years ago with Telus and a new LG IQ phone. But: whilst in the mall earlier in the week watching Zellers dry up, I noticed that the Telus store had a sign out the front with 'Trade Your Phone In For Credit' plastered on it. Once I was back home, I looked up 'trade' on their website and discovered that my HTC Desire HD is worth $65 if I traded it in for a new phone. Which is a LOT more than I thought I'd get for it; even at twice that, they're still selling on eBay. Curious, I then worked a few numbers: if I sprang for a Samsung Galaxy SIII on a 3-year contract( gah! )I'm looking at $160+tax, minus the $65 credit, minus a $20 'loyalty credit' leaving me with about $75. Which was approaching a good thing!

So this is what I did today: I called Telus and spent over an hour wrangling a deal with the rep, who ended up crediting me $65 for my current HTC phone AND I don't have to hand it over… so I can SELL it for $180 on eBay, I hope! AND, it gets BETTER: There's a 'loyalty bonus' of $20, plus Telus is giving away 5,000 Scene Points( equal to 5 free movies! )for each contract renewal or new phone until Sept 30th - that's worth $75. PLUS: All Samsung Galaxy SIII's come with 50gigs of DropBox cloud storage FREE, which is worth $99+tax  / year. What's the total, you ask? The phone cost me $160+tax, but with the freebies and credits, I ended up AHEAD by over $350! So in the end, they PAID me to get a Samsung Galaxy SIII; THAT is what I call a deal!

My new 'superphone' should arrive in a little over a week. Yay!

Sept 1 - A Day Off!

Today was great: nothing planned except to enjoy the day!

Except I was really, really tired; for some reason I couldn't fall asleep last night until 2am and the usual early noises work me at 7am… so I was pretty tired; I had went to see the new Spiderman reboot last night at the IMAX and it was finished well before 11pm, so it wasn't that. Or was it?

Anyway, I spent part of the day out with my sister just wandering the downtown area, enjoying the crowds; there were 3 cruise ships in so there was a lot of people-watching to do. I even found a great fall jacket at MEC that I received Full Sisterly Fashion Approval on, so I'll be back to get in very shortly. Cool!

The lack of sleep hit me in the early afternoon, so I passed out for a bit and then went to Moka House to soak up some of the great sunshine. There were again a ton of people out and it was just great to be within easy walking distance of such a perfect afternoon hangout spot. No hedgehog today, though!

Sept 2 - 250 Posts? Um…

Almost two months ago, I wrote what I thought was my 250th post. I was wrong...

It's today. Oops.

Seems I neglected to go through my ENTIRE list of posts to winnow out over a half-dozen drafts that were tucked in there( written but not posted )that threw off my count. So there you are: live and learn.

It was a fairly lazy Sunday for me, one again without any online gameplay - my arms are simply not up to it. I did however find a HECK of a deal for XboxLive points! A place called CrazyGameTime.com in the USA is currently selling points for about 12.5 cents per point or 30% off retail. So I picked up 4000pts for $50.00 CAN all told - quite the deal and fairly easy process to complete online. Best of all? No duty!

In the evening I watched a few episodes of Arrested Development with my sister; we're both fans of the show. Even though I've seen it previously a few times, I try to go a few years between viewings just to make the zaniness all the more fresh when I see it again. The twists and turns of the writing are wonderful, as is the cast - I was tickled to hear that the FOURTH SEASON is currently underway for release on NetFlix in 2013!!!

A few weeks from now and my compiled manuscript will be on it's way to a few lucky beta readers! So far only a few people have asked and I am being rather careful about sending it out - it's a year of my life in the form of a single file and I want to ensure it stays safe! I'm hoping the feedback I get will better inform my second draft and really tighten up the novel!