Nanowrimo is coming!

First up: everybody say hi to lethendy, joining my Friends list by way of Great Big Sea fandom! Because when it comes to Great Big Sea fans on my Friends list, as the B'ys themselves have been heard to sing, "There's always room for more."

Secondly, pretty much because it's necessary: PANDA CAM! It's the webcam currently aimed at the panda at the National Zoo--the one with a panda cub. It requires you to install Real Player. If you're okay with that, go ogle the panda goodness. Because, well, PANDAS.

Not too much to report on the work front, aside from that as of tomorrow, I'll have two months left on this contract. I'm not looking forward to being unemployed again. But I am looking forward to having more writing time, because...

... although I don't think I'm going to formally participate this year, Nanowrimo time is coming. I could very easily throw either of the SF novels on the queue at this year's effort, but I think I could much more effectively use the time by trying to plow through the last half of Lament. For those of you not on my Writing filter, I'm set to break the 100K barrier as of the next chapter, and I'll only be halfway done with the book at that point. If I want to finish this monster's first draft by the end of the year, I really ought to buckle down hard during my off-time. Nanowrimo could help me pull that off.

I will, however, wave cheery pompoms for those of you out there who will give Nanowrimo a formal go this year! If you're not already on my scuzzboppers community, consider using that as your place to commiserate with others about your adventures.

Also: while I am very satisfied with my shiny new Darcy-at-his-desk icon (snurched from and credited to iconzicons on my userpics page), I have also decided that I need me a Jack-at-his-desk icon from M&C. I am pondering what caption it ought to have on it, too. Perhaps in my copious recovering-from-surgery-time, I shall have to try my hand at icon crafting again!

Tuesday morning miles: 1.0
Tuesday evening miles: 1.75
Wednesday morning miles: 1.0
Miles out of Hobbiton: 285.3
Miles to Rivendell: 172.7

Tell your friends: Support Cindy Sheehan

This in from MoveOn.org:

MoveOn is taking out an ad in President Bush's local newspaper in support of Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq who is camped outside Bush's ranch in Texas asking for a meeting with the president. They'll publish the number of signers and the best comments in a full two-page spread in the newspaper nearest to Crawford (The Waco Tribune Herald) while Cindy holds her vigil. Can you sign and spread the word before the 3:00 PM Friday print deadline?

http://political.moveon.org/meetwithcindy/

I thought that this was a very simple, very nice thing to do. I read the articles about Ms. Sheehan and am feeling for this woman, having the bravery to go and ask Bush to answer her that one simple question. So I signed the petition, and thought I'd pass it along to y'all. Thanks for taking the time, if you choose to sign the petition as well.

Whoa! Zzzzzzzzzzt!

So here I am sitting on the couch tonight, laptop on my lap and my beloved solarbird snuggled against my shoulder with her laptop on her lap in turn. (Yes folks, we're geeks, what can we say?)

I'm poking slowly at Chapter 14 of the book. She's writing email and surfing her LJ and other points along the web, and we're both periodically skitching one another... until we realize that we're getting odd tingly feelings at the contact, and not the kind of tingly feelings one usually gets when snuggling one's lifemate on the couch. Dara rubs my ear--and I hear this bizarre soft noise like a tiny Van der Graaf generator right next to my head. We soon discover that if Dara lifts her hands off her laptop, the weird tingly feeling stops!

Conclusion: Powerbooks are conductive! Who knew?

Meanwhile, since she's joined my Friends list this evening, y'all say hi to twina76, also out of Great Big Sea fandom! And also:

Wednesday evening miles: 2.25
Miles out of Hobbiton: 287.55
Miles to Rivendell: 170.45