Lake Neuron

You know, someone out there has the exciting opportunity to be the first person in 2009 to buy my novel.

I’m just saying.

I am going to be sending out my first letter to potential partners about the Kenya trip in the next week or two. I recognize that this is, to say the least, an awkward time to ask for money. I’m hoping perhaps I can broaden my circle of partners and get a little less from each one.

I will be co-leading the trip with Gail Drake. Debra Snellen and I were originally supposed to be co-leaders of the 2007 Bolivia trip, but we ended up not taking a team. That won’t happen this time — I know we have at least one team member!

We will be back in the Kibera slums just outside Nairobi. This is where I worked on my first Kenya trip, in 2004, and it’s where the novel is set. We’ll be teaching cottage industries and doing pastoral leadership training.

I already have my first contribution, from some family members who saw me at Christmas. I don’t know the exact cost of the trip yet, but I have some idea.

If you have not been on my mailing list for past trips and would like to be for this one, please let me know. The initial letter will be sent out by snail mail; after that point, I will send newsletters out by e-mail to those who can get e-mail and by snail-mail to those who can’t.

For that matter, it’s possible that someone reading this blog might be interested in making the trip. You can contact me or go to the LEAMIS web site for more information.

At least one reader of this blog indicated that she might give if I put a tip jar (PayPal or Amazon or what have you) here on the blog site. Let me know if that would be preferable. Unfortunately, I don’t have a way to set that up so that it goes directly to LEAMIS. Checks written to LEAMIS are tax-deductible; checks written to me are not.

I’ve had a mild but persistent cold for the past week. Several of my family members had it while they were in Gatlinburg last weekend, so I must have picked it up over Christmas.

I haven’t felt really bad — just been a little sneezy and had a cough. The fact that I’ve taken my little sabbatical the past few days has helped.

I’ve enjoyed the chance to relax. I haven’t been completely unproductive, but I haven’t really done that much either. I haven’t exercised, unfortunately, because of the cold.

This morning, I had to go out to pay my rent, and on the way I stopped by our local library. A few weeks ago, as you may or may not recall, I installed Ubuntu on my second-hand laptop. I’d been meaning since that time to check the wifi connection and see if I had configured it correctly. Ubuntu doesn’t have a native driver for my wifi card, so one must use the Windows driver along with a sort of adapter program.

I’m happy to report that the wifi card worked just fine.

I made jerky yesterday, and have enjoyed far too much of it since that time.

Yesterday, I watched the Looney Tunes marathon on Cartoon Network for much of the day; today, I’m at the opposite end of the spectrum, with “Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.” I’m waiting for the proof of my novel (after my last set of corrections) to arrive; for once, I don’t have to leave a note for the UPS man.

My North Carolina brother sent me a link to this very clever and well-executed mash-up:

I have submitted a video question to the “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” video blog — Jimmy answers viewer questions on Fridays, and they encourage you to send in the question as a video — but I do not think he’s likely to use it.

Back when Jimmy was on SNL, he would occasionally portray Carson Daly, who was working for MTV at the time. Jimmy’s impression always began with “I’m Carson Daly, and I’m a massive tool.” My question — tongue-in-cheek, of course — is whether Jimmy plans on ending his show with “stay tuned for Carson Daly — he’s a massive tool.”

My co-worker Mary Reeves has posted a review of the novel to its Facebook page.

Boy, Hall and Oates have really let themselves go.

Hat tip: Deb.

Kudos to CreateSpace for quickly and professionally addressing my royalty problem. They confirmed that I had, indeed, asked for direct deposit of my royalties, and so they’re crediting my account for the check processing fee which was deducted this month.

A few weeks ago, our business manager informed me that I was one paid day off (PDO) over the amount I could carry forward into 2009. This meant I either had to take a vacation day between that point and the end of the year or I would lose it.

I could not take off Christmas week; other co-workers were already scheduled to be off that week. And, the newspaper business being what it is, that meant I had to work every day except Christmas itself (and some newspapers have to work on Christmas).

So I decided to take New Year’s Eve as a vacation day. And since the newspaper doesn’t publish New Year’s Day, and this isn’t my Saturday to work, why not take Jan. 2 and make it a very long holiday weekend?

So that’s what I’m doing. I’m going to “cheat” and do one bit of web-site related work at some point tomorrow morning, but other than that I don’t have to think about the newspaper until Monday. I haven’t usually gotten to take much time off around the holidays, so this is a little luxury — even if it is after Christmas.

Hat tip to Jennifer: Dave Barry has posted his annual “year in review” column.

I got my first royalty check in the mail today, for the November sales of “Soapstone.”

The bad news is, I wasn’t expecting a check — I had signed up for direct deposit. CreateSpace deducts an $8 “check processing fee,” so I received just under $30 instead of just under $38, which is what I earned.

I’ve contacted customer service to see what the problem is and whether I can get it resolved.

Hat tip to TV Barn:

Weather Channel Accused of Pro-Weather Bias

I got a new pair of pants for Christmas, and wore them to church today. But they were a little too long, and I found myself stepping on the pant legs. No problem; I’m a resourceful bachelor guy with needle and thread. After lunch, I sat down and began hemming one of the pant legs, turning the leg inside out so that the cuff would be on the inside.

Then I began hemming the other leg. I was just about through with the second leg.

You remember when I told you that I turned the first leg inside out so that the cuff would be on the inside?

It would have been nice if I’d done that to the second leg, too.

Although AMC has long since abandoned the original source of its acronym, “American Movie Classics,” it still shows old movies on the weekends.

Strangely enough, AMC and Turner Classic Movies are both showing the same movie today: “True Grit.” AMC just started it; TCM will start it at 2 p.m. Central time, so there will be some overlap while it’s showing on both channels.

Of course, in a situation like this, TCM is the way to go: no commercials, and no editing the movie to make it fit into a particular time slot.

My brother and sister-in-law from North Carolina were in town this week, with their two children. This is the wing of the family I get to see least often, and so I cherish the time I do get to see them.

My 7-year-old nephew, who at this rate should be America’s foremost train expert by the time he turns 9, came by to visit me at what he calls the “newspaper factory” on Tuesday; for the full account, visit my sister-in-law’s blog.