Blog reading habits

I got 9 hours sleep last night, and it felt GREAT (I went to bed before 10 pm). I've been having some problems sleeping lately plus it's been a more than hectic week. I generally need about eight hours a night or I start losing it at some point during the day: harder to concentrate, etc. I envy the types out there who can survive regularly on six hours or less.

If I lived alone and never needed to hang out with people, I suspect my sleeping hours would probably end up being from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Maybe even 9 pm, waking at 5 a.m. What about the rest of you? I think everyone has a natural sleep cycle, but most of us have to adjust it for other people.

According to this article, if you routinely fall asleep within 5 minutes of lying down, you probably have severe sleep deprivation. That sure describes me, but I've heard conflicting opinions on this subject. This topic has come up before, and I'm determined to do some research and find out the truth. More on this in a future Blathering!

More tea!

My brother-in-law told me about a new tea shop near Yonge and Eglinton, so I went to check it out yesterday. Say Tea has a nice selection of teas and tea-related gifts, and I picked up some Ginger Rooibos and Darjeeling Margaret's Hope when I visited.

I've gotten more curious about Rooibos (pronounced "roy-boss") recently, and not just because of the odd name. "Rooibos" is Afrikaans for "red bush," and has become more popular in Western countries because of its lack of caffeine and high level of antioxidants.

Blog-reading survey results

A while back I posted a blog-reading survey on Wufoo. Next time I do this, I'll ask about RSS. 65 people responded, many of whom don't normally post in LJ.



I already gave the raw numbers but here are a few interesting facts and comments:

Several of you (mainly on Livejournal) say that blog-reading is the easiest and most convenient way of keeping up with friends.

Most of you scan rather than read because you have too many blogs to keep up with on a regular basis, only reading the entries that interest you.

Many of you have separate groups of blogs, such as friends' blogs vs blogs of interesting people you don't know personally, and work-related blogs.

A few excerpts from comments people posted about blogs:

"I don't think blogs are a fad. I think, as we move into an ever-increasing world of digital media, we will see more and more of this dissemination of our world online (YouTube, Google services, syndicated newsfeeds, accessible media space for Joe Shmoe next door) . In ten years, most TVs will have Internet access, and most computers will be TV capable. We will be able to seamlessly integrate our desktop world with our media world. TVs will be the wireless widescreen monitors for our laptops (some already are). I don't think we will have the same attachment to paper media as we do now. Internet magazine subscriptions anyone? To-Do lists you can keep posted and update from anywhere, that can follow you from desktop to Cellphone or Treo, automatically updating on your fridge, blog..."


"I tend to read blogs of people who are interesting - which is why I haven't friended everyone who friends me. I understand that a lot of people are too busy to read everyone's blogs, and people should be under no obligation to read something if they don't want to."

"I'm not a very social person, and LJ is pretty much the only thing that makes me feel like I have friends. I rely very very heavily on it to keep me updated on what is going on in the lives of people I care about, and to get input and validation from those same people when I'm having trouble and need help and support. I also enjoy reading other blogs - news and writing blogs, blogs by crafters, just for information and fun."



"I tend to scan the LJ friends-page and light on entries that are particularly well-written or that interest me due to the subject matter or the person writing. I also visit a few additional personal blogs (friends) and a few devoted to particular interests (theology, writing, comics, regional, etc.). I try to keep my blog varied and interesting in subject matter -- yup, it's mostly for me, but I'm cognizant of the fact that there's an audience. So I'll follow, say, a political rant or religious ruminations with, say, a post about cheese, or about whatever oddball typo I came across in my copy-editing of the day. (My favorite recently: a MARITAL arts demonstration. Heehee.) I tend to enjoy blogs that do likewise (can't stand the all-angst-all-the-time blogs), unless I'm particularly looking for a narrowly focused blog."



"I find it a relaxing and interesting way to decompress and a good way to keep in touch with people I've met and whose company I've enjoyed. Yet like most "relaxing and interesting ways to decompress," it can get awfully addictive and take more time than it should; I tend to give myself time limits, particularly if I have duties I need to get to."

Some non-LJ blogs that people mention

http://randomreality.blogware.com/

http://realefun.blogspot.com/

http://justzipit.blogspot.com/ (not updated regularly.)

http://www.malville.com/ (wonderful writing and illustration, but no longer updated regularly. I think you should look over the archives here; I think you'd like this one.)

http://dishitupbaby.typepad.com/ (Again, wonderful writing but no longer updated regularly.)

Specific blogs that are everyday reads include Making Light (Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden), Firedoglake, Hullabaloo, BoingBoing, Growabrain, and Metafilter; frequent (no less than every three days) checks include Orcinus, Whatever (John Scalzi), Riba Rambles (Lis Riba), Pharyngula (PZ Myers), The Sideshow (Avedon Carol), Slashdot, and Waxy (mostly for the links; his actual entries are infrequent).

http://lleo.aha.ru/dnevnik (Leonid Kaganov's blog, completely in Russian).

Daring Fireball and Signal vs Noise

Boardgamegeek follow-up

Boardgamegeek.com photo with Jeff in it! Boardgame News editor Rick Thornquist is explaining how to play the game, Imperial.



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Straight on 'til morning

I recently finished reading two novels for young people, both very different. The first is Jeanette Winterson's Tanglewreck. A fun premise, and I like the idea of "time tornadoes." Also finished The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, a book I picked up at Liberty Bookstore in Ohio. Some fine writing here, and stories within stories. I love the fact that books are considered precious treasures. I also loved the heroine, Liesel. This is not a happy book, and I found it so intense that I had to stop reading several times (usually because I was crying and had to find tissues), but it was well worth the read.





The revamped Writersmarket.com is online! It looks like unless you're a subscriber, however, you are no longer able to access any of it, including my Market Watch column. There are still some quirks that need to be worked out, so if you notice wonkiness in my Market Watch page over the next day or two, please be patient, thanks.

Yesterday, I asked readers to suggest captions for the following cartoon:



Here's what you came up with...

"So let's get this straight - the DHARMA Initiative will give me how much for the island?" (lord_korak)

"But it says the offer is valid for all frequent fliers..." (demoneyes)

"I don't believe in ferries..." (demoneyes)

"But I promise I will only fly on my breaks" (Judith & Dave Hayman)

"Look, the deal said kids fly free, right? Okay, well I've got ten boys, all under the age of 12. I don't see what the issue is. Oh, and are spears and tomahawks okay for carry-on?" (Afroswede)

"Someone must fly there. Second star on the left, straight on till morning." (electricland)

"I'll have a word with Wendy about the little bastards, principal." (barkerland)

"Yes, yes, lagoons and pirates and adventure. But don't you have any nice boring vacation packages?" (blueeyedtigress)

"Of course, all 24 of us will be travelling as unaccompanied minors..." (oreouk)

"24 of you??!!" (sdorn)

"Yeah, so I'm looking for somewhere kid-friendly, that would have a large population of six-to-twelve-year-old girls at any given time..." (sweetmusic_27)

"I'm suspended..." (keristor)

"I am sorry Mr. Pan. Your previous record shows that you have behavioural problems, gang connections, bully the handicapped - the gentleman, I believe, was missing a limb - and worry reptiles. You are not suitable for this job." (shannachie)

"I'm really sorry, Mr Pan, but the crocodile will have to travel in the hold. Whether he's carrying your alarm-clock or not." (aunty_marion)

"You'll never have to worry about paying my retirement benefits." (mbumby)

"Well, I'm really looking for an all inclusive package somewhere that I could just relax and feel like a kid again..." (cardela)




As I posted recently on Livejournal, I'm writing a song about GAfilk for Urban Tapestry to perform (in concert or open filk). Thanks to everyone who has posted suggestions so far. Some fun ideas here, and I'm learning a lot about GAfilk and Atlanta as well. :-)

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running on ooblek

Above: I was doing a quick doodle for today's Blathering, and Peter Pan just popped in there without me really intending to put him in. Any suggestions for a caption? :-)

I booked Urban Tapestry's flights to GAfilk yesterday through Travelocity.ca. I did try a travel agent to see if she could match the prices that Jodi found on Travelocity, but it was no go...turns out the agent would have to add service charges that would push up the fees.

If this is the case for most flights, I wonder how in-person travel agencies survive? Perhaps because some people are uncomfortable with booking flights online. Or maybe they make most of their money from travel packages that include hotels and other services.

A survey for you travelers out there: When you book flights, do you prefer doing this online or in person / over the phone? If online, what service do you use?

Anyway, I'm happy our flights are booked. :-) There were several ways we could have done this, but after discussions with the GAfilk concom we decided it would be easiest if we booked our own flights then have the convention reimburse us. I used XE.net to convert Canadian to U.S. dollars based on that day's conversion rate.

This whole process would have been so much more of a hassle before the Internet.




Writing update:

A while back, I had mentioned that an associate editor at a publishing house had passed my mss up to the head of the imprint. It's been two months, but I know it could be a lot longer. :-)



Meanwhile, I'm just about finished revisions based on the helpful comments from an editor at another publishing house. Many thanks to Luisa, Reid and Jodi for proofreading my revised mss! I'm grateful to those who slogged through Round #1: Jeff, Ruth, Allison, Dave C., and Parki. My agent will be submitting the revised version to the first editor (the one who made the suggestions).

Running On Ooblek!

A long while back, I talked about Ooblek, a mixture of cornstarch and water which becomes a collodial suspension. When it sits in the bowl, it's liquid. Once you apply pressure, it changes state to become a rigid solid. Explanation: the cornstarch particles don't dissolve in the water but float instead, making a thick liquid. When you put sudden pressure on the water (like smacking down your hand), most of the water runs out from between the grains, leaving the solid cornstarch particles behind. When you take the pressure away, the water runs back again.

The result is VERY cool, and it's a great outdoor summer activity with kids. And as you can tell from this YouTube video, also with adults. Thanks to Jeff for the link!



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Rand and Erin visit (part 2): friends, music and tea

WritersMarket.com and my Market Watch column is offline today while the site is majorly revamped. I haven't seen the new design yet, so am excited; the site hasn't changed in quite a few years and I'm sure will greatly benefit from a facelift. In theory, WritersMarket.com will be back online tomorrow at 9 a.m.



But back to Erin's and Rand's visit. We've been trying to arrange a visit for about almost a year now, but scheduling just hasn't worked out. I see the two of them occasionally at conventions, but only for the usual snatches of conversation or somewhat hurried meal between programming items.

I especially enjoyed getting some one-on-one conversation time with Erin. Friendships with couples is enjoyable, of course, but it's a much different thing than being able to spend time with a friend by themselves. It was fun to be able to chat with another writer about writing, and getting to know Erin a bit better.



Erin and Rand were able to take off work early on Friday, and they offered to take me out to dinner to a restaurant of my choice. I had a craving for food that was bad for me since I'd been very good all week, so I chose Duff's Wings, where fried mozzarella sticks and a plate o' deep-fried wings satisfied my craving. Thanks, E & R! For dessert, we dropped by Hollywood Gelato. Yum.

Erin and Rand were great houseguests. Like me, they each seemed to need some quieter (non-socializing) time each day, so we each spent that time doing our own thing. Erin and Rand would usually pull out their laptops and use the wireless access:



Jodi and Allison joined us on Saturday, and we had a great afternoon of conversation, music and tea. We listened to Chris Conway's and Mich Sampson's newest CDs, as well as some Jonathan Coulton music that Rand and Erin had brought. I've been hooked on Jonathan Coulton ever since hearing Tony Fabris perform Skullcrusher Mountain and Your Brains in his concert at OVFF. My favourite Coulton song is Skullcrusher Mountain so far...I've had the song on repeat for embarrassingly long periods of time since OVFF; I bought it and some other Coulton songs, but can already see that I'm going to be buying some albums as well. :-)



Lunch was a "make your own sandwich" affair with pulled pork from Cumbrae's, sliced meats, and other fillings along with rolls I had picked up from the bakery that morning. Dessert: chocolate-covered strawberries. I couldn't find insta-chocolate for dipping, so I melted semi-sweet chocolate chips instead.

Much tea was drunk throughout the weekend, and we talked about tea memories as we lingered over our choices. "1001 Nachts" (which I'm drinking right now, in fact) will always remind me of Juliane Honisch in Germany. Cardamom Cinnamon: Beckett Gladney in California. Blood Orange tea: Katy Dröge (who gave me some in Germany) and Anita T. (who introduced me to the stuff in her flat in Vienna). Casablanca tea: Kristen Chew, who got me hooked when she asked me to bring her some from Paris (because of course I had to get some for myself, too!). I love my "Debbie" tea mug from Lissa Allcock in the UK, and my Penguin tea-timer from Crystal and Steve. And I still use the Teavana tea-infuser I bought during Boskone in Boston: more wonderful con memories.



We did some music on Saturday afternoon as well. Allison, Jodi and I played some of our newer songs, including our new J.K. Rowling song, and Rand asked if we could do Allison's "A Twinkle In His Eye" for Erin. He had made the request in open filk at OVFF, but we never had the chance.

Dinner: a chicken stew recipe I had gotten from my mom-in-law, who got it from a Cooking Light magazine. I took out the onions for Erin. Side dish: make-your-own salad set-up, since everyone had such differing tastes. Dessert: lava cakes and fresh raspberries. Wine: a nice Shiraz, courtesy Jodi (thanks, Jodi!).

There were quiet moments during that day as well, when Erin was looking through my Guest Graffiti book for the first time, Allison was doing cross-stitch (I had asked her to sign the cross-stitched Christmas ornament she made for me) and Jodi was signing the Kathleen Sloan cookbook for Interfilk.



During a conversation about animated movies we liked, we discovered that Erin had never seen Lilo and Stitch, so we decided to watch it. Allison, Jodi, Erin and I all bawled, of course. I'm sure Rand was bawling inside, though he won't admit it.

;-D



On Sunday, we met my friend Parki for lunch at Cha Liu, a dim sum place on Yonge Street. It was Erin's first exposure to dim sum! In the photo below, Rand demonstrates his own unusual technique in holding chopsticks before showing her the standard technique.



After dim sum, we visited Sugar Mountain and a couple of bookstores before Parki headed back home. Rand, Erin and I went to a drugstore to pick up some allergy pills that aren't easily available in the U.S. as well as dropping by The Tea Emporium, where Rand and Erin stocked up on favourites as well as a few new teas. We managed to squeeze in one more visit to Hollywood Gelato (you can never have too much gelato, after all) before they had to drive back to Buffalo.

The photo yesterday, by the way, had Erin modeling her new Will Write For Chocolate t-shirt. I had originally ordered the shirt for myself from my Cafepress store but found that the style was in Youth size only, and the Medium was too small for me. But it fits Erin perfectly, yay! I ended up ordering XL, which fit me comfortably. Most of the other styles are in regular Adult sizes, never fear.



A fine weekend with good friends. And Jeff's home now, yay! He had loads of fun at BoardGameGeek.con, played over 40 games, came 18th in an elimination poker game that started with about 120 people, won a boardgame to take home, bought some new games.





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Erin and Rand visit (Part 1)

Had a really wonderful weekend with my friends Erin and Rand, who visited from Buffalo. I'll post more when I've had a chance to catch up a bit with work, but meanwhile you can see photos from the weekend and read Allison's report from Saturday.

One note, however: E & R convinced me to watch the first episode of Heroes and I'm totally, completely hooked.

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