Wednesday, June 27
Jack Kerouac's batting averages
In 1948 Jack Kerouac came up with a formula, now lost to history, that he called a "batting average" to calculate his productivity while working on his first novel. I wish I knew the formula, because I'd love to track my efforts. Perhaps I should just come up with my own equation. )The link also mentions the 'On the Road' scroll, which I saw about three months ago down in Denver.)
Saturday, June 23
Space
There might be a place for space in the question of the week, or at least the answer to it. And speaking of space, we saw the International Space Station and the Shuttle Atlantis fly over the Edge of Nowhere two nights in a row, Wednesday and Thursday. Two bright lights, seemingly the same size as Venus (which has been huge in the evening twilight the past few weeks), tracking across the dome of the night sky from northwest to southeast.
I like seeing the space station, knowing its up there, and I remember consciously getting up at 5 a.m. and going out into our front yard and walking up the street a little bit on the morning of Sept. 12, 2001, to see the space station fly over in the pinkblue dawn, and thinking that despite the tragedy and outrageousness of the attacks of the previous day, in the end peace and cooperation would win out. I still believe it, even if..... well, anyway. Someday.
I like seeing the space station, knowing its up there, and I remember consciously getting up at 5 a.m. and going out into our front yard and walking up the street a little bit on the morning of Sept. 12, 2001, to see the space station fly over in the pinkblue dawn, and thinking that despite the tragedy and outrageousness of the attacks of the previous day, in the end peace and cooperation would win out. I still believe it, even if..... well, anyway. Someday.
Wednesday, June 20
Or perhaps ...
Tuesday, June 19
Another clue
Sunday, June 17
Question of the day
Wednesday, June 13
The 100
Thursday, June 7
Definitely
It's definitely felt like the edge of nowhere the past 36 hours here on the south side of the Big Empty.
The wind's been up. Big time. Big, big time. Tremendous time. Some machine measured a 101 mile per hour gust of wind about 20 miles west of here. Our trees have been bending and dancing relentlessly. The prairie grass blows like a green ocean. There were whitecaps on the corporate pond over below my daytime cubicle. Leaves and small branches cover the yard. A neighbor lost a big aspen. IThe birds have been having a heck of a time. Did you know the National Weather Service offers high wind warnings? They do. Need to keep those toy poodles and lawn chairs indoors. It's been like a big dry hurricane blew down out of Wyoming and Montana. It's over.
Now, outside, it's calm. Dark and quiet. We can hear ourselves think again.
Thank goodness.
The wind's been up. Big time. Big, big time. Tremendous time. Some machine measured a 101 mile per hour gust of wind about 20 miles west of here. Our trees have been bending and dancing relentlessly. The prairie grass blows like a green ocean. There were whitecaps on the corporate pond over below my daytime cubicle. Leaves and small branches cover the yard. A neighbor lost a big aspen. IThe birds have been having a heck of a time. Did you know the National Weather Service offers high wind warnings? They do. Need to keep those toy poodles and lawn chairs indoors. It's been like a big dry hurricane blew down out of Wyoming and Montana. It's over.
Now, outside, it's calm. Dark and quiet. We can hear ourselves think again.
Thank goodness.
Monday, June 4
Not your normal book tour
Several publishing houses have set up speakers bureaus, responding to common industry trends of fleeting tastes in mass-market books, shrinking shelf lives in bookstores, disappearing book review sections, and the brief attention span of a media audience hooked on celebrity sound bites. It's a way for authors to continue to raise their profiles and reach new audiences, and as one author notes: "This really helps a writer supplement his income and make a living." So reports the New York Times.
Sunday, June 3
Wicked
Just back from Denver and a busy weekend, the highlight of which was probably seeing "Wicked" on stage today. A swell show. Very impressive.
