Abstract Thought of the Day

Congratulations, Anonymous A-holes. You have prodded my page just enough to warrant me going to comment moderation. I hate to do it, as it inconveniences me, but then you're inconveniencing me by making me waste time sorting through your lines of crap that have nothing to do with whatever it is I want to talk about.

Thank you, in advance, for giving me one more thing to sort through while trying to get the site back up to speed. Much obliged.

I'm Back, Baby! I'm Back!

... well, sort of. I've been pretty much gone for the past month and a half. And while the past month was due mostly to not having much time for updates between work and NaNoWriMo, the last half was due to me getting a little lazy. Seriously, I had time for the page before, how could I not now, right? Right?

Okay, so it's going to take me a little time to get back into the swing of things. But don't worry. Before you know it, you'll be ready for me to go on hiatus again... er...

Minor (But Important) HouseKeeping

Some may have noticed a few... minor changes to the layout of Casa de House (and also to our sister site Planet Houston!). After railing about how indifferent and/or insensitive I thought Cris Collinsworth was being last weekend over many players, coaches and officials wearing pink trimmed accessories, it occurred to me that I hadn't done anything about it myself.

And while I'm sure I would look just dashing in a pink piece of clothing, I'm much more active (and visible) online. So for the remainder of the month (and possibly some time after it since I started so late) both sites will sport pink layouts in support of breast cancer awareness.

Because frankly, I have a mother and sisters, friends and acquaintances, and many have gone through a scare or two in their lives (several of which they probably never even shared with me). A little color change is the very least I could do.

Random HouseKeeping

Jeez, even the HouseKeeping isn't on schedule. Anyways...

Just to let you know what's up, I've been busy, but not necessarily with things here. Okay, obviously I haven't been spending time here. Mea culpa and junk like that.

First, Planet Houston Podcast is still running strong. Yes, I've gotten a little... zanier, shall we say? But the fact remains that the show's still being produced. I at least have it worked down to the point where the show can be produced in around an hour. So it should stick around for the time being.

Also, I'm still sort of collecting essays and posts together for a compilation. No, I still don't have a timeline for that. No, I haven't worked on my other book like I was supposed to. I've been busy, and I hate to admit that confidence took a brief nosedive for a second or two. But talking someone else up managed to pick me back up, too, so back to work on that, also.

Also, as a testament to just how behind schedule I've been, this update on how far behind I've been has sat around as an unfinished draft for the better part of two weeks. That makes no sense, whatsoever.

But hang in there. We're still doing what we do, even if it takes us a little while to do it.

HouseKeeping: The Path of the Writer

So I mentioned a week or so ago that I would get around to publishing at least one item within the next year. I'm still not sure what exactly will come out, but I have had a few ideas for things that I think might work well.

The first idea would theoretically be the easiest, and that would be to just do a compilation of some of my better rants and essays here. In my head, that would be simpler than any of the editing and rewriting I'd have to do to get my previous work together, even though I would probably end up editing a lot of crap... er, gems of gold before I put them in book form. The con side would be that all (or most) of the material would be available for free on the site. But the pro side (and what I would probably aim for) is that I could include any of a number of items that I may have worked on but never gotten around to posting. A bit of a bonus incentive for all both of you that stop by regular enough to have read all of the stuff I've posted.

That's assuming that I really care about that as an action, anyway. Honestly, I'll probably buy a copy, and then that'll be the end of it. I've thought about doing something wacky like offering up the proceeds to charity. But then I'd have to find a charity, and then I'd have to pretend that someone would buy it. Still, stranger things have happened.

The other option is to throw one or more of my independent projects together and put it out there. That's a much bigger kettle of fish for me to fry, though. If nothing else, it puts me into the position of exposing some of my work to the public (even if the public, in this case, would be a limited capacity). That, and I'm not really in love with my first major effort. And I told myself I was saving my next major effort for my NaNoWriMo project this year. Still, I might just say screw it and put it out there, anyway. It's probably better than I think it is, and if nothing else, it sets up the lead characters for the other stuff I have planned for them.

So that's that. I'll figure out which of either path I'll be taking over the next month and change, and presumably something should be out there by the end of the year (or early next year... I make no huge promise on the timeline).

This Week's Housekeeping

... which shouldn't imply that this will become a weekly thing.

What to say, what to say... there is so much going on these days. First of all, Planet Houston Podcast is still going strong and will continue to do so for the near future. There will probably be a few more Tuesday evening broadcasts before it's all over, but the desire remains to keep doing it. Thanks to everyone who has and continues to offer support.

Also, I have to announce that I am now on Twitter. Yes, I gave into the darkness within, but it does seem to have its uses. If nothing else, it could provide more access for some of the other things I am working on.

And speaking of that, you may have noticed that I posted several excerpts from a former writing project of mine (items that all one of you commented on... grumble, grumble...). Well, I've been bouncing around the idea, and looking at this Lulu.com thing that a few people I know seem to be utilizing, and I've decided... why not? So sometime in the not so near future (probably early next year at the rate of progress I seem to move at), I will publish... something. Whether it's going to be a previous project, some new project, or some compilation of old items, I can't say. But at some point, I will need some support... the moral kind if not the financial kind.

So that's what I'm up to. Unfortunately, it means a somewhat major commitment for me, but the end result should be a pretty good thing. I hope. At least I can always say that I did it.

Some Minor HouseKeeping

Minus all that soup stuff that my bud Ivan talks about. Mainly because he took the only can of soup that I'd use...

So the blog has gone a bit... absent the past week or so. I've been working on stuff, for reals. Granted, I've mostly been working, but I've done some writing, too. In fact, I'm working on a series of short works/observations that I'm tentatively calling "Words of Impact".

It's a closer look at a few words that we may tend to overlook or take for granted at times. I guess my "Perspective" essay could be considered the opening volley of that exchange. I have a handful more that I'm working on, but I still need more time to refine them, lest they all end up sounding like they're just me babbling about same thing over and over again. And nobody wants to be Bill Cathcart.

Oh, snap! WTO-see you later, dawg! handle that burn.

Anyways, expect to see those in some way shape or form starting this weekend. I hope. One can never tell for certain.

HouseKeeping: More Apologies

First, apologies for not getting any new updates up at Casa del House. It's been a crazy few weeks, and I haven't had the free time I thought I would, and the podcast blah, blah, blah, no one's missing me, anyway.

But, seriously, I am working on some things. In fact, if I don't get them done soon, they become irrelevant. So I need to get on those.

And also, I'm watching Gundam 00, one of several shows capable of saving any bad to mediocre day and making it into an awesome one.

Updated HouseKeeping

If I do this for one more week, it'll almost be like I have an actual schedule or something. Anywho, the week starts out on a bit of a down note in RL, as my delicious vacation week comes to a close. But hey, at least I am still employed... at least I hope so.

As for the site, things should go pretty smoothly for the week. I have a few major articles I'm working on that should be out before the week is over. And of course, I'll find some more stuff to ramble about before then. And oddly enough, I'm currently debating whether or not I'm going to attempt that podcast thing that all the hip kids are doing. It can't be that hard... right?

Even More HouseKeeping

As of this afternoon, I've officially joined the Facebook. I also managed to reactivate my deviantART account, which I had actually forgotten that I had. Of course, it's not like I had added any art or anything. Anywho, I should be updating both over time, although with deviantART it will probably take a good while before I get around to doing anything concrete.

A Brief Primer on Leaving Comments

Now, don't get me wrong. I love a good comment as much as anyone. In fact, probably more than anyone. Nothing makes my day more than seeing that a post I've made has a comment attached to it. I almost always try to post a reply (for people that might stop back by), and I'm usually so thrilled that someone's dropped by out of the blue that I will visit their page(s) and even follow them if I so choose. But that doesn't mean that I'm not paying attention to what gets said. As such, I'd just like to make this clear for the official record:

1) Any and all comments are welcome, so long as they are the opinion of the commenter and don't contain any excessively vulgar or offensive language. I retain the right to loosen or restrict this policy as needed (although I doubt I'll need to).

2) I'm perfectly fine with links being provided in comments, so long as A) they are in some way related to the post and B) they are not blatantly obvious spam posts/links. Again, this is at my discretion, but it's fairly obvious when someone has or hasn't bothered to read a post prior to making a comment.

3) Along those same lines, I could not be bothered to care about a ridiculously long rant someone generates over... well, anything. Especially if it looks like they just did a mass search for related topics, then cut and pasted said comment into every place they possibly could. Especially if they do so anonymously.

In fact, while I love a good anonymous post as much as the next person, but it goes without saying that they may come under more scrutiny. I shouldn't have bothered with this, since I know that anyone that bothers breaking any of these rules won't manage to read this anyway, but I figured I'd just put it out there.

HouseKeeping: Going for Broke

Okay, this week is when I make new friends and acquire new enemies. The schedule is set for chaos and/or bedlam with a side of the loony.

First up is the first of two articles on Marvel and DC's most recently finished big events and my opinions of both. As has been hinted, this will not win me friends at either editorial department.

Also on the agenda for the week, more of the insanity that was my NaNoWriMo project. Seriously, this time. I've actually done some rereading and editing and everything. And when I get extra fed up with it, I'll just post some random parts that I haven't even looked at since I typed them. Oh, but that's dangerous for me.

And I'm sure I'll find other stuff to go on about, too. That's fairly obvious.

Housekeeping the HouseKeeping

I've decided to forgo the 'Best Of...' lists this year. For one, there's only a small handful of things I've actually see/read/etc. the past year. I'm not sure, but I think I can literally count the number of films I saw in a theater on one hand. If anything, I'll compile a year end message for later on today/tonight, and maybe get around to some personal bests at the first of the year.

Or... I could just wait until I have a year's worth of stuff under my belt and put it off indefinitely. That certainly sounds more like me, doesn't it? Ah, consistency.

End of the Year HouseKeeping

So, the year's on the close, and since everyone else is doing their own highlight reels I might as well fake mine, too.

Of course, I have three days and not as much material to work with, so mine will be terribly shortsighted and zany. Which I'm sure will be terribly surprising for anyone who stops here.

At any rate, look for my "2008: Best Of..." series. Coming soon, as it has no choice but to do so. Also, I'm sure I'll do one big wrap-up post somewhere around the end of the year (or possibly the first of next year; no need to tie my hands too much, here...).

General HouseKeeping

You see what I did there? I... yeah, it's stupid.

First, a few general notes about the site. I'm right in the middle of doing some minor renovations. For one, I'm playing around with the template code so that the site generates read more tags and restricts part of the post to its own page. I'm doing this mainly because I have a tendency to get long winded at times, and it helps keep more posts near the top of the page.

What this does mean, however, is that now every post has a "Read More!" link at the end of it whether it has more post left or not. I may figure out a fix for this, but until I do I'll make sure to note when a post has more text beyond the front page.

I've got some more things planned, but they'll probably have to wait for another few weeks. My life is NaNoWriMo and sporadic posts here until the first of December.