Del Kytlar's Adventures in the Cluster Worlds

Little League - Week 6

Mon, 12 May 2008 14:21:01 GMT

Week 6 was blessedly brief in comparison with the previous two.

Sunday, May 4th: St. Ephrem Giants 13 @ St. Anselm Lady Hawks 1
Yet another remarkable game by our girls. Christina went 2-for-3 with two singles, two walks, a pop-out, and she scored twice.

Tuesday, May 6th: St. Ephrem Cyclones 11 @ St. Anselm A's 5
The boys moved into a tie for second place with this win.. Austin was 1-for-4, with a single and three strikeouts.

Friday, May 9th: St. Ephrem Giants @ Our Lady of Angels Little Rascals
A rainout, which was fine by us, as Christina would have missed this game anyway to attend a family function.

Season stats:
Austin: 5-for-14 (.357), 3 Singles, 2 Doubles, 3 Walks, 2 Hit by Pitch, 9 Strikeouts, 2 RBIs, 3 Runs, 6 Stolen Bases
Christina: 12-for-20 (.600), 12 Singles, 6 Walks, 1 Strikeout, 3 Groundouts, 3 Pop-outs, 3 RBIs, 8 Runs

Team records:
St. Ephrem Giants: 7W 1L
St. Ephrem Cyclones: 6W 1L

Next games:
Tuesday, May 13th: Giants @ St. Bernadette Lady Knights
Wednesday, May 14th: Cyclones v. St. Pats B
Saturday, May 17th: Cyclones @ St. Anselm Cubs (with whom we are tied for second)

Sportsmanship (or What I Want My Kids To Learn From Organized Sports)

Mon, 05 May 2008 13:42:49 GMT

In what I consider the finest, most noble, moment in all of sports history, two players assist an injured opponent complete her first and only career homerun, at the ultimate cost of being eliminated from the playoffs.

I have to give them full credit here because I'd be quite content if my kids ended their academic sports careers on such a note. Sara Tucholsky of Western Oregon University finally hit the very first homerun of her career (with 2 RBIs), but was injured crossing first base. The rules stated that either (a) she could take a single, and allow another player to run for her, or (b) be called out if her own teammates or coaches touched her to help her. That's when Mallory Holtman, the career home run leader in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, asked the umpire if she and her teammates could help Tucholsky. The umpire said there was no rule against it. So Holtman and shortstop Liz Wallace put their arms under Tucholsky's legs, and she put her arms over their shoulders. The three headed around the base paths, stopping to let Tucholsky touch each base with her good leg.

Folks, they don't make heroes any bigger in my book.

Little League 2008 - Week 5

Mon, 05 May 2008 01:19:18 GMT

Week 5 continued to keep us busy.

Tuesday, April 29th: St. Ephrem Giants 14 v. St. Anselm Lady Eagles 1
Once again, our girls dominate the other team in a game where the mercy rule had to be called three times (i.e.: when one team takes a 12-run lead, their turn at bat ends (no matter how few outs they have). On their next turn at bat, if the other team hasn't scored, then the leading team can only score one run at a time until the trailing team closes the gap.) Christina went 1-for-1 with a single and two walks (walks do not count as "At Bats" for statistical purposes), and she scored twice.

Sunday, April 20th: St. Ephrem Giants 15 v. St. Pat's Hurricanes 2
Continuing their winning streak, the Giants played remarkably well. Christina was 3-for-3, with 3 singles, 2RBIs, and scored one run. She would have been 4-for-4, except a Fielder's Choice ended the inning on her final at bat.

Wednesday, April 30th: St. Ephrem Cyclones 8 @ St. Pats B 1
A fairly average game for the boys, against a team hasn't given us much trouble this season. Austin went 0-for-2, with 2 strikeouts, but he was hit by a pitch and walked once ("Hit By Pitch" also does not count as an "At Bat" for statistical purposes).

Friday, May 2nd: St. Ephrem Giants 17 @ St. Bernadette Bombers 7
This was a game where we expected much stiffer competition, as St. Bernadette's runs a harder program, with more training than our school. However, despite home field advantage, the Bombers were unable to stop our offense. Christina went 1-for-4, with a single and an RBI, as well as walking once, scoring a run, and hitting a pop-out and two ground-outs.

Saturday, May 3rd: St. Ephrem Cyclones 9 @ St. Pats A 8
This game should not have been so close, and should reasonably ended 9-6. However, in the final inning, the umpire insisted on changing a basic rule, which our coach could not overrule. This sudden change cost us two runs, and nearly put us into extra innings. If not for the kids really knuckling-down to stop St. Pats, it could have been a nasty finish. However, the bright side is that Austin broke his slump in grand fashion. He went 3-for-3, with a 2 RBI double, another double, and a single. The coach awarded him a game ball for his performance. Needless to say, he's pumped up to play next week.

Season stats:
Austin: 4-for-10 (.400), 2 Singles, 2 Doubles, 3 Walks, 2 Hit by Pitch, 6 Strikeouts, 2 RBIs, 3 Runs, 6 Stolen Bases
Christina: 10-for-17 (.588), 10 Singles, 4 Walks, 1 Strikeout, 3 Groundouts, 2 Pop-outs, 3 RBIs, 6 Runs

Team records:
St. Ephrem Giants: 6W 1L
St. Ephrem Cyclones: 5W 1L

Next games:
Sunday, May 4th: Giants @ St. Anselm Lady Hawks
Tuesday, May 6th: Cyclones @ St. Anselm A's
Friday, May 9th: Giants @ OLA Little Rascals

Little League 2008 - Week 4

Fri, 02 May 2008 19:16:48 GMT

Weeks 4 and 5 look to be the most manic of any season so far.

Sunday, April 20th: St. Ephrem Cyclones 0 v. St. Anselm A's 0
Cyclones win by forfeit.

Sunday, April 20th: St. Ephrem Giants 15 v. St. Pat's Hurricanes 2
Continuing their winning streak, the Giants played remarkably well. Christina was 3-for-3, with 3 singles, 2RBIs, and scored one run. She would have been 4-for-4, except a Fielder's Choice ended the inning on her final at bat.

Tuesday, April 22nd: St. Ephrem Giants 15 @ St. Ephrem Lightning 2
The first meeting between our girls and the other Junior Varsity team from our school. As with most games recently, the Giants dominated from the first inning. Christina went 2-for-2, with 2 singles, 1 walk, and scored one run.

Thursday, April 24th: St. Ephrem Cyclones 10 v. St. Anselm Orioles 4
Austin and I were forced to leave Bring Your Kids To Work Day early to make this game, but it was worth it. I saw some amazing plays this game. Our centerfielder, N.P., make a terrific throw from deep center to get the batter out at first. Austin, unfortunately, continued to have trouble at the plate, striking out all three times at the plate. These wooden bats are giving him a real difficult time. I have to get him to the batting cages soon.

Saturday, April 26th: St. Ephrem Giants 0 @ Saint Mary Mother of Jesus Blue Angels 7
I missed this game as I was away at the Nebula Awards, but sadly, the girls lost this game to the winningest team in the league. SMMJ is undefeated, as were we, but they don't generally out-score their competition like the Giants do. Christina, like her teammates, had trouble with the SMMJ pitching, going 0-for-2, with a strikeout and a pop-out.

Season stats:
Austin: 1-for-5 (.200), 1 Single, 2 Walks, 1 Hit by Pitch, 4 Strikeouts, 3 Runs, 6 Stolen Bases
Christina: 8-for-12 (.667), 8 Singles, 1 Walk, 1 Strikeout, 1 Groundout, 1 Pop-out, 2 RBIs, 3 Runs

Team records:
St. Ephrem Giants: 4W 1L
St. Ephrem Cyclones: 3W 1L

Next games:
Tuesday, April 29th: Giants vs St. Anselm Lady Eagles
Wednesday, April 30th: Cyclones @ St. Pat's B
Friday, May 2nd : Giants @ St. Bernadette Bombers
Saturday, May 3rd: Cyclones @ St. Pat's A

The Ewok Gospel Song

Thu, 01 May 2008 15:43:09 GMT

I tried a couple of times to embed this video here, but to no avail. My YouTube-fu is no good. Here's the link to a funny video (says the Lando fan).

Picked up from various (not to be confused with sundry)

Thu, 01 May 2008 14:45:13 GMT

Ask me seven questions. Not just any seven questions though. No, to keep it interesting, use the seven questions as per below - just copy and paste the following, replace the blanks with something you want to know/ask (e.g. 3. Chicken or egg and why?), anything you want, personal, silly, surreal or deep, comment away and I'll answer honestly as I can! Then post this in your own LJ and see what kind of things people want to ask you!

1. What do you think of _____________ ?

2. When did you last ____________?

3. __________ or ___________ and why?

4. What did you ______________?

5. What's your favorite ______________?

6. How would you ______________?

7. Who would you most like to ________ ?

Nebula Weekend Report

Thu, 01 May 2008 03:57:28 GMT

Yee-haw, pardners! I'm fixin' tell ya'll 'bout the Nebula Awards weekend in good ol' Austin, Texas, presented by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).

O,K, Enough of that. This Brooklyn boy is not convincing as a Texan.

(ETA: links to other sites should appear in blue, links to Nebula photos should appear in green.)

Friday: I took an early JetBlue flight which landed me in the Texas state capitol by 11:30 a.m. I met up with my roommate for the weekend, Tor Books editor Paul Stevens, and we headed into the con site. As is always my luck, we had a very colorful cabbie. Dressed in jeans, boots, t-shirt and black leather vest, he looked the part of a cowboy. However, he had a thick German accent, which made it difficult to follow the historical tour he gave us as he drove. Of course, I don't know a great deal about Texas history, but once I heard a Texan refer to the men from the Alamo as "deadbeats and criminals", I had to wonder just how accurate his information was.

The Nebula Awards were held at the Omni Austin Hotel Downtown, which may be the best convention hotel in which I've ever stayed. The staff were incredibly helpful, friendly and courteous, and not the least bit put off by the odd science fiction types coming and going. Being a relatively professional function, it's possible that fewer of us wore our genre geekiness on our sleeves than at an ordinary con, but I was pleased with the welcome we received. The rooms had been recently renovated, and even with one elevator out of order, movement was smooth. The hotel shares an enclosed atrium area with an office building. Between the bar, restaurant and lobby areas, there were plenty of places to kick back and relax with friends.

Paul and I met up with author A. Lee Martinez (his Neb report is here), and we had lunch at a neat little place called The Boiling Pot. The gimmick of the place is that they boil up a variety of items (in our case, blue crab 1/2 lb. of shrimp, 1/2 lb. of crawfish, 1/2 lb. of sausage, baby potatoes and seasoned corn on the cob), then dump it out of a bucket onto butcher paper on the table to be eaten sans plates and utensils. Great fun, and sure-fire way to bond with new people. The food was tasty and filling, and the conversation never lagged. Alex even drew a terrific illustration on the butcher paper (they provide crayons even to the adults), which was to be hung on the wall when we left.

I hustled back to the hotel in time to give my presentation on contracts. The presentation was held in a fair-sized ballroom, and I drew 20-25 people (not too shabby for mid-afternoon on the first day of the convention). I somehow managed to cover all the basics of a publishing contract into an hour and a quarter, which was no easy feat now that I'm used to having sixteen classroom hours to teach the same material to my students. Copies of the handouts from the event can be found on this post, which also includes other resource links. Among the folks who turned out for the presentation whom I'd not met in person before: SFWA President Michael Capobianco, Beverly Hale (aka bevhale), Stanley Schmidt of Analog, and Mary Robinette Kowal (aka maryrobinette). Also present, as much I hope for moral support as in hope of learning anything were my old friends Peter Heck and Norton Award Nominee Sarah Beth Durst.

After a fine and simple barbecue dinner with Paul Stevens and Paul Melko (aka paulmelko) at a place called The Ironworks BBQ, we adjourned back to the hotel for the mass autographing session. A great chance to see old friends, like Keith Stokes, Jayme Lynn Blaschke, Lee Martindale, Elizabeth Moon (aka e_moon60), Joe Haldeman and his wife Gay, and meet new folks, like Jack McDevitt, whose work I only recently discovered, David Watson, and Ann Crispin. Nice things were said to me about my presentation, and it was uplifting to be recognized by many people whom I hadn't expected to know me.

Afterward, many of us headed for the hospitality suite. Where most conventions have a hospitality suite in a hotel room, we lucked out this time. The hotel had an old lounge which is going to be turned into a gym in a few weeks. The convention organizers were able to get use of the room for SFWA. There was an actual bar, lots of comfortable seating, and a pool table. The pool table was in poor shape, but that didn't stop a group of us from starting a tournament. Among the shooters: Peter Heck, Nebula Nominee Robin Wayne Bailey, Steven Gould, Geoffrey Landis, Scott Edelman, Chris McKitterick, Anthony Hildebrand, Diana Bailey, Jack Skillingstead, and Nebula Nominee Vera Nazarian (aka norilana). The teams of Robin and Steven, and Chris and Anthony controlled the table for most of the night, but I was just happy winning against Geoff (those physicists really know how to calculate angles), and teaming up with Vera for her first pool game ever.

Saturday: Up moderately early, and joined a pick-up breakfast with Pete Heck (his lovely wife Jane Jewell could not join us due to SFWA business), Anthony Hildebrand and Diane Turnshek at a buffet place, Hickory Street Bar & Grille. We non-Texans were a bit surprised at the selection of Tex-Mex foods on the breakfast buffet, but after we'd gotten the day started with basics like bacon, eggs and waffles, we all dug in for some hearty and spicy fare. Conversation revolved around music, and considering the wide spread of musical tastes, it was very interesting.

Back to the hotel for the SFWA Business Meeting. I won't go into detail about that here, but I had a few, seemingly well-received, comments on some pending issues. I sat with Gordon Van Gelder of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, who helped me run down more members to make a quorum. Afterwards, I had a drink and conversation with Del Rey editor Betsy Mitchell, and then brought newly elected SFWA President Russell Davis up-to-date on my current projects for the organization.

Then it was time for the Nebula Awards banquet and ceremony. Lots of great people, including yours truly, all turned out in their finest. I sat at the Tor table, with editors Paul Stevens and Beth Meacham, Steven Gould and his wife Laura Mixon, Nebula Nominee Tobias Buckell and his wife Emily, Alexis Glynn Latner, and literary agent Steve Mancino. It was a lovely ceremony, though my tablemate Toby did not win, nor did my personal favorite for the Norton, Sarah Beth Durst. Among the highlights: I won the silent auction, and will be receiving my very cool sword/letter-opener very shortly (the TSA would not let me take it on the plane, so it is being shipped to me). I also got to meet Michael Moorcock and Michael Chabon in person. I no longer find myself tongue-tied by meeting most professionals in this field, but I was very pleased to meet these two.

We adjourned again to the hospitality suite, where I spent some time chatting with various folks, including Michael Ehart, and Walter Jon Williams, as well as various and sundry folk already named above. As the hour grew late, more pool was shot, with the same folks as the night before, but with Joe Haldeman joining us, and Michael Capobianco and I making a decent team for several games. Only when the organizers evicted us (including the current and previous SFWA Presidents) at about 2:30 a.m. did we call it a night.

Sunday: Highly uneventful. I had a noon flight home, which I shared with Sarah Beth. We managed to arrange seats together, and actually had one of the longest conversations of our long friendship (see this post for an idea of how long we've known each other). I wandered the airport a bit, and managed to pick up an Austin t-shirt for Austin (duh!) and a cute plush Mexican free-tailed bat for Christina (which it was unfortunately not the season to see the bats emerge from the Congress Avenue Bridge). I arrived home to hugs, kisses and a welcome banner decorated by the kids. We relaxed together by watching Family Guy's Star Wars spoof, Blue Harvest.

All-in-all, a truly enjoyable and worthwhile weekend. I should also heap praise on the terrific group of volunteers who put the whole event together, and provides such excellent service: Karen Meschke, Sandy Del Monte, Laura Domitz, Lillian Butler, Lee Martindale, Beverly Hale, Cheryl Ducoin, Stina Leicht, John Moore and all the other hard-working Texans. Please know that your work was greatly appreciated, and should be considered a tribute to your city and your state.

Miscellaneous mentions of myself and the Nebula weekend:
Sarah Beth Durst's blog
Mary Robinette Kowal's blog
Michael Ehart's blog
Keith Stokes' photos
Jayme Lynn Blaschke's photos
Vera Nazarian's blog

Contracts Presentation at the Nebulas - resources

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:08:47 GMT

Due to a copying error, the following resource sheet was omitted from the materials handed out at the contracts presentation. As promised, I am posting it here, and in the Nebula and Lounge groups on sff.net.

Guide To Online Resources Related To The Nebula Awards Weekend Publishing Contracts Presentation

• General resources:
For a copy of the handout materials from this presentation:
http://www.sfwa.org/contracts/IntroPubContracts5521.pdf

• Copyright resources:
For information on U.S. copyright (with many resources):
http://www.copyright.gov/

For European copyright and other intellectual property rights:
http://ec.europa.eu/youreurope/nav/en/business/development/intellectual-property/index_en.html

For calculating U.S. public domain dates and information about 35th year statutory termination:
http://scrivenerserror.com/c-term.shtml

• Territory resources
For information on current members of the British Commonwealth:
http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Internal/142227/members/

For general information on the European Union:
http://europa.eu/index_en.htm

For information on current member states of the European Union:
http://europa.eu/abc/european_countries/index_en.htm

• Legal resources:
For the Random House v. Rosetta Books decision:
http://www.rosettabooks.com/casedocs/Decision.pdf

For the original Random House v. Gemini (Joan Collins) complaint:
http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cas70.htm

For information on the Joan Collins court decision:
Google on “Random House v. Gemini”

Back from the Nebulas

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 01:25:11 GMT

Tired, but energized at the same time. More to come.

On evolution and creationism

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 18:16:25 GMT

In a discussion thread elsewhere, a friend noted that the complete works of Charles Darwin are now available online, including all sorts of previously unpublished letters, journals and the first draft of ORIGIN OF SPECIES.

To which, I replied:
Nonsense and blasphemy. ORIGIN OF SPECIES didn't evolve from a first draft. On the first day, Darwin created ORIGIN OF SPECIES, and saw it was good. But ORIGIN OF SPECIES was lonely, so Gregor Mendel took one of ORIGIN's ribs, and built up from it a companion for ORIGIN, which was named Genetics.

Little League 2008 - Week 3

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 23:39:33 GMT

Week 3 was slightly truncated, as a couple of games that had been on the original schedule were postponed. Next week will have more action.
Thursday, April 17th, 6pm: St. Ephrem Cyclones 3 @ St. Ephrem Tigers 6
Our first loss of the season, to our intramural rivals. A well-played game where a couple of errors in the first inning turned the tide against us. Though he had no hits in one official at bat (a strikeout), Austin contributed to what success our team did have. He walked once, and was hit by a pitch. Once on base, he was unstoppable. He stole four bases, and scored one of our three runs. So far, of the 9 runs the Cyclones have scored this season, Austin touched home for 3 of them.

On a creative front, Austin began composing a cheer to use at games against the Tigers. The Tigers are coached by the father of one of Austin's good friends, Joe C. Austin picked up on the feline name of the team, and crafted the first two lines of a cheer, which he's still working on:

Joe C. and the Pussycats
Ponytails and wiffle bats

More to follow.

Friday, April 18th, 6pm: St. Ephrem Giants 12 @ Visitation Angels 0
Christina was unable to play this game, as we had a family function to attend. However, the girls continued to dominate their division, and have so far out-scored the competition 29-5.

Season stats:
Austin: 1-for-2 (.500), 1 Single, 2 Walks, 1 Hit by Pitch, 3 Runs, 6 Stolen Bases, 1 Strikeout
Christina: 3-for-4 (.750), 3 Singles, 1 Groundout, 1 Run

Team records:
St. Ephrem Giants: 2W 0L
St. Ephrem Cyclones: 1W 1L

Next games:
Sunday, April 20th: Giants vs St. Patrick Hurricanes
Sunday, April 20th: Cyclones vs St. Anselm A's
Tuesday, April 22nd: Giants @ St. Ephrem (unnamed)
Thursday, April 24th: Cyclones vs St. Anselm Orioles
Saturday, April 26th: Giants vs St. Mary Mother of Jesus Blue Angels

Happy day at the mailbox

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:54:22 GMT

I've just received my joint birthday/Father's Day present from Amy and the kids -- four tix to see Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band at Radio City in June (month of my birth). I'm very excited about this show. Very excited!

First, I've been a major Beatles fan for years. I have every song they ever officially recorded (quite a numebr of songs they never officially recorded), and a decent, but nowhere near complete assortment of their solo work. I've lost count of the number of Beatles books I've read over the years. I've won several Beatles trivia contests (including one at a Beatles party thrown by Michael Whelan, and attended by nothing but major Beatle fans). I had known a lot of their music growing up in the 70s, but never really put it all together in my mind as such a phenomenal catalog until eighth grade or so. Right at that time, John Lennon was killed, which is a horrible, deeply embedded memory for me, but it did spur me to get serious collecting their music.

Obviously, I never got to see Lennon or Harrison live in concert. I saw Julian Lennon live during his Valotte tour. I did see McCartney put on a terrific show back in the early 90s. However, I've been trying to see Ringo since the first All-Starr Band tour in 1989. The closest I ever came was driving past the arena where they were playing while I was returning from a vacation in Cancun. So, this show is the culimination of a long-term goal.

Second, a while back, Christina had me take her to see Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana's 3D concert film. It was a terrific film, and the girl definitely has talent. As amazing as the 3D effects were, and it did look as if she was standing right in front of us, I knew it wasn't the same as being at a live rock concert. We've taken the kids to see some live musical performances (including a Beatles cover band), but again, not the same as an all-out rock concert.

The kids have absorbed my love of the Beatles, and each has their own MP3 disc made from my Beatles CD collection. Each disc holds every song the Beatles recorded, except Revolution 9 and Happiness Is A Warm Gun (Rev 9 wasn't going on the discs from the start, and when I had to eliminate one song to fit the disc, I felt that of all the Beatles' songs, Happiness was the most easily dispensed with). At first opportunity, I'll get back to doing my children's music posts, and include the cover art Austin designed for the Beatles discs. Needless to say, the kids are as excited as I am that their first real rock concert will be given by a Beatle.

Interestingly enough, Ringo actually sings the most kid-friendly of the Beatles songs -- Yellow Submarine, Octopus' Garden, With A Little Help From My Friends and Act Naturally -- so he's sort of been the kids' favorite Beatle since they first heard the band.

In a minor footnote to this show, the All-Starr Band features Ringo's friends from other bands, and each performer get s chance to do their own biggest hits, interspersed with Ringo's. This year, the band features:

- Edgar ("Frankenstein"/"Free Ride") Winter
- Gary ("Dreamweaver") Wright
-, Hamish ("Pick Up The Pieces") Stuart
- Billy ("The Stroke"/"Rock Me Tonite") Squier
- Colin ("Who Can It Be Now"/"Down Under") Hay (whose band, Men At Work, were the headliners at the second rock concert I ever attended. The first was Rick Springfield -- blame the selection of artist on my godmother, who took me to see him for my birthday when he was the hottest thing in music)

I am, of course, guessing at which hits the band will play. I'll try to let you know how my predictions fare after the show. I have created a playlist on our computer of these songs for the kids, so they can familiarize themselves with some of what they may hear at the show.

About which show, I'll say one more time for emphasis, I AM VERY EXCITED TO BE GOING!

Rock, peace and love, my friends.

Little League 2008 - Week 2

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 01:00:44 GMT

Week 1 of the new season was rained out last week, so today we launched into the new season with two back-to-back games.

Saturday, April 12th, 1pm: St. Ephrem Giants 17 @ St. Patricks Hurricanes 5
The season started off with a BANG for our girls. They blew away the opposition with solid hitting, excellent base-running and concentrated defense. Seven of our 17 runs came from a three-run homerun, and a grand-slam by the ever-consistent H. Also contributing mightily was G., a young lady who joined the team last year, and has been steadily improving, who hit a three-run homer. Christina was not only the first batter of the new season, but she had the first hit, and scored the first run. She batted .750 (3-for-4), with 3 singles and 1 run scored.

Saturday, April 12th, 3pm: St. Ephrem Cyclones 6 vs. St. Anselm Braves 1
Luckily, Austin's game was only a few blocks from Christina's field, and the game before us ran late, so we managed to get from one to the other in plenty of time. Austin's new team played an amazing defensive game. They only gave up 2 hits, and made 1 error. Our pitching was superb. Austin went 1-for-1 (1.000), with a single and a walk. He stole second base twice, and scored two of our runs. He REALLY likes stealing bases.

All-in-all, this looks like it will be an exciting year.

Season stats:
Austin: 1-for-1 (1.000), 1 Single, 1 Walk, 2 Runs, 2 Stolen Bases
Christina: 3-for-4 (.750), 3 Singles, 1 Groundout, 1 Run

Team records:
St. Ephrem Giants: 1W 0L
St. Ephrem Cyclones: 1W 0L

Next games:
Friday, April 18th: Giants vs Visitation Angels

Easter cake design

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:30:38 GMT

This year, in lieu of our normal assortment of designed and decorated Easter cookies for the family gathering, we all joined together to design an Easter cake. I haven't decorated a cake in quite a while now, and it was great fun exercising those skills again. Christina designed the Easter egg. Austin designed the bunny. Both helped mix colors and make decisions about details.

The design is posted on my website here. More of my baking creations can be seen here.

Anniversary day

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 16:41:53 GMT

Today marks both the second anniversary of my starting this LiveJournal, and the 19th anniversary of my starting my first job in publishing at E.P. Dutton.

Some background which I don't believe I've refreshed on this LJ since I first posted my credentials two years ago.

1989 - I started out as a Contracts Assistant at E.P. Dutton, moving in about three years to become Children's Contracts Manager at Penguin USA, which had absorbed Dutton. While there, I worked with contracts for Lloyd Alexander, Rosemary Wells, and the Pooh Properties (on which subject I became an expert on the history of both the original books and the Disney versions).

1994 - I became Children's Contracts Director at Simon & Schuster. For various reasons, I refer to this time period as my "lost weekend". Forced to work 12-hour days, 6 days per week takes a toll very swiftly, when one's recommendations for streamlining the workload are ignored.

1996 - I followed my wife to DAW, where I served as Director of Subsidiary Rights, Contracts and Electronic Publishing for seven years. While there, I got my start attending conventions as a professional (I'd attended as a fan for many years before). I joined SFWA as a Affiliate member.

2003 - I saw my first science fiction story published in an award-winning anthology.

2003 - I started my own rights agency. Representing small presses like Wildside, and authors like Harlan Ellison in the sale of foreign, audio and dramatic rights, I'd hoped to transition to representing new writers.

2005 - I taught a Continuing Legal Education seminar on publishing contracts for the Illinois State Bar Association.

2005 - the financial needs of my family brought me back into contracts at Holtzbrinck (now Macmillan), where I am now Associate Director of Contracts.

2006 - I closed the agency, mainly because I could not devote the time necessary to make it grow for my clients.

2007 - I started teaching a course on legal issues in publishing at City College of New York, and will teach it again next Fall.

2008 - I continue writing, having published two short stories and participated in the writing and promotion of Atlanta Nights. I speak at conventions, and look for more opportunities to speak or teach on publishing issues.

I have greatly enjoyed my time in both LJ and the publishing industry, and expect to continue participating in both for a long time.

Holy Thursday

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 15:08:31 GMT

Last night, as they do every Holy Thursday, Christina, Austin and the rest of the Children's Choir were asked to sing with the Adult Choir from the choir loft in our church. Normally, the Children's Choir sings from the side of the altar, while the Adult Choir sings from the loft. They two choirs alternate Sundays.

We also learned on Tuesday that our bishop had chosen our parish for his celebration of Holy Thursday Mass. The kids were very excited to get to sing for the bishop, and they really outdid themselves. Their voices carry much purer and clearer from the choir loft than from their usual location. Whether the bishop was well pleased with the performance, I cannot yet say. However, I was certainly proud of the performance.

As an additional family thrill, my cousin's son (a parish altar server) was selected to personally serve the bishop during Mass.

All in all, a lovely and meaningful Holy Thursday Mass.

Little League 2008

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:38:17 GMT

Just to get things started for the season, we've gotten our team assignments.

Christina remains with her coach of the previous three years, for which we are grateful. He's a wonderful coach, and has really encouraged Christina to become a top player on the team. We'll know in a couple of days if we get to keep our team name, the Bluejays. First practice is tomorrow.

Austin, meanwhile, has been "traded" to another team, along with one of his friends. He's played for four years on the Yankees, but due to a new league rule, the J.V. teams must have a better mix of 5th and 6th graders. So, Austin has shifted to the Cyclones. Austin, a Mets fan like his dad, has never been comfortable playing as a Yankee, so he's pretty jazzed about being one a team named for our hometown minor league team, which is an affiliate of the Mets. We met the new coach briefly yesterday, and he was very encouraging. Austin will get to show his stuff at practice next week, and I'll probably be back in the dugout keeping score for the Cyclones as I did for the Yankees.

Looking forward to a great season, which starts in about three weeks.

(BTW, posting this today is not an oversight on my part. I'm not participating in today's LJ boycott. I find most boycotts and strikes to be pointless, and since I'll be offline for the Easter holiday from this afternoon until Monday, I'm taking care of my own online business now.)

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:44:35 GMT

The same applies to storytelling. Thank you for all the magic, Sir Arthur.

Sir Arthur C. Clarke, 1917-2008

Looking for a fourth for golf

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:42:19 GMT

Party seeking to make a foursome. Applicant must have the surname "Putter" or "Wedge" for 18 holes at Pebble Beach. Send application to Tiger Woods, Jeremy Irons or Minnie Driver.

Nebula awards lodging update

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:04:24 GMT

Many thanks to Jane Jewell of SFWA, who helped me solve my accommodation problem for the Nebula Awards next month. I'm all set, and looking forward to the trip.

"Attached Please Find My Novel" available electronically

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 18:23:09 GMT

My debut short story, 2003's "Attached Please Find My Novel", is now available for reading on the Sony Reader Digital Book device, or on your PC screen. This is my first electronic publication, so I'm curious to see how this works out.

As of the time of this posting, Sony has managed to misspell my last name, though I've sent them a correction notice. The story can be found here, for $0.99. I hope folks will let me know how they like the Sony electronic reading experience.

Lunacon update

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:49:11 GMT

The 7-8pm Friday [Panel Redacted] panel is being cancelled due to a scheduling conflict. My updated schedule can be found here.

This cancellation has absolutely nothing to do with the gentlemen from the CIA who stopped by my house this weekend. Nothing at all. In fact, they weren't even from the CIA, Really.

Edited to add a newly added panel:

SUNDAY, 12-1pm SFWA: What Is It Good For? (Boton)
Jane Jewell (M), Sean P. Fodera

D&D and me

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 01:38:27 GMT

The death today of E. Gary Gygax has prompted me to reminisce a bit about Dungeons & Dragons, and it's role in getting me where I am today.

The first time I experienced D&D was in high school (circa 1981). On a whim, I joined the D&D club, though I'd never played before. I spent 20 minutes with another student helping me roll up my first character (a fighter). I entered the game that was going on, and the Junior, a fellow named Bart, was DMing. Bart killed my fighter about 5 minutes later. I spent another 20 minutes rolling up a new character (a mage). Bart killed him in 5 minutes as well. I quit the club, disgusted by the whole game. Years later, at the 2001 WorldCon, I came across an sf story that Bart had published in a magazine (Aboriginal, maybe). On a whim, I sent him a congratulatory note. He wrote back that he couldn't believe I had contacted him, and that I was one of the first people he'd thought of on 9/11. Bart and I are now extremely good friends.

The second time I experienced D&D was about two years after the first time. Though I hadn't expressed interest, my mom gave me a Basic set for Christmas, but I wasn't much into playing it, and none of my brothers or friends were either. One day, two brothers moved onto our street, and I learned that they wanted to play. I took out my set, and we started a campaign. However, we had a bit of a culture clash. The new guys had moved to our street from Brownsville, a rough neighborhood in Brooklyn. They insisted that switchblades and zipguns were legitimate D&D weapons, and had handmade stat sheets for these new weapons. Needless to say, the disconnect from the medieval world was too much, and I gave up the game again. Later, both of those guys, I learned after we moved away, did time for various offenses.

The third time was the charm. Near the end of college ('87-'88), my family had moved back to our original neighborhood. While I had friends there, I was more often up in Westchester at my college, or in the Bronx with the girl I was dating (an old high school friend of kradical). However, one time, my car was in the shop, and I was unable to go anywhere. I ran into an old high school friend of mine, who told me that he and some other guys I knew slightly were going to play D&D that night, and he invited me to join them (secret_stuff among them). Not enthused about the idea of D&D, but wanting to get out of the house, I went. That was an eye-opener. These guys played for keeps, but cooperatively. They stayed in character, and played detail-oriented, epic, original campaigns. I was hooked.

We gamed together from about 1988 to 1996, when simultaneous marriage, home-ownership and impending parenthood forced several of us to leave the group. While we strayed from D&D occasionally, we always came back to D&D. It was RPG comfort food.

Some favorite moments:
- one guy got tired of DMing a long campaign, and told us one night, "You will all die tonight, and next week we'll play something else." He set hundreds of giants on us. We were toast. However, the DM had built a cascading failure table for magic (part of a "reality breaking down" problem) . Our mage (secret_stuff again) accidentally cast a silence spell around the party. In a desperate attempt to kill just one giant, my cleric hurled a Hammer of Thunderbolts. The DM rolled his custom-made failure table, and came up with "Sound is magnified 1000 times." The Hammer knocked out all of the giants, and we were safe inside the silence. The DM looked at us, and said, "Next week, you all die."

- I left the game for two weeks to go on vacation with my wife. When I got back, I learned that my character (named delkytlar) had disappeared for 17 days, and returned with amnesia. During the following months, Del would have sudden flashbacks, and I would receive envelopes from the DM, who had written up an account of the 17 days, cut it into pieces, and put it in random envelopes. I had to gradually remember the things I'd missed, and decide how much to share with the group. A very immersive experience.

Del became my favorite character of all time. Some years later, when pressed to add a character to an online collaborative story, I turned Del into a space pilot, and he began new life as a scifi hero. Those Internet postings got me my first invitation to write for an anthology. I've since been working on and off on his scifi adventures, and he graciously loaned his name to this LJ.

D&D gave me some wonderful friends, terrific memories, story building experience, the opportunity to become a professional writer, and a nom-de-Internet that gets recognized by people I never knew read here. Thank you, E. Gary Gygax for all that grew out of your imagination. And I promise, when my kids are ready to roleplay, I'll reach for D&D first.

Mike

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:34:20 GMT

Email has been sent. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Reposting: Anyone looking for a Nebula weekend roommate?

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 16:13:12 GMT

Anyone looking for a clean, respectable, non-smoking roommate for the Austin Nebulas? Please let me know. I'm planning on arriving on Friday, and leaving on Sunday. My prior arrangements evaporated suddenly due to the make-up of the final ballot.