Barbara Hambly's Blog, page 32

Epson Blues

Over a year ago I picked up an Epson RX580 at a yard sale. The seller (the lying bastard) assured me that it "worked fine." "We're only getting rid of it because we got a wireless printer..." May your hair fall out.

When I finally got the driver installed and the printer hooked up, it said that all the ink-cardridges were low. I purchased the quite expensive ink cartridges, installed them, and now the printer is saying that it doesn't recognize any of them.

I hope his house gets infested by ants. (The big ones, like on "Them.")

Any suggestions as to how to get the printer to recognize the ink cartridges, or where to hire a hit-man to teach this guy a lesson?

By Day Six of running, I could jog (slowly) most of the mile-and-a-half course, but my knees hurt, so I'm suspecting I'd better go back to walking.

Catbrains

In the months since I've started doing a little exercise in the evenings in front of the TV, my black cat Rocket will hop up onto the back of the TV chair, waiting for me to be done so she can watch the rest of the program with me when I sit down. (This week it's the Borgias - I don't actually watch broadcast TV, you understand, but DVDs) And, she has figured out that when I pick up the remote and click so the screen goes white, the evening is over and she'll leap down immediately and go on her way. The other two cats are dumb as bricks.

Rocky is the cat of whom I've made a little pet avatar so she can follow me on quests in World of Warcraft.

Chore for the morning: haul that poor old white Eames Chair to the curb, which will involve much twisting and scrunching to get it out of my study, around several tight corners, and out the front door. I can't imagine how I got it into this room. I hope it won't be like George's old desk upstairs, which my friend Hazel had to cut up with a chainsaw before we could clear it out.

Does anyone out there know about Epson Printers?

Spandex Central

Amazing day spent at LA Anime convention. I've always loved anime artwork, and have in the past ten years or so become very fond of a number of anime films and shows; this was my first convention. VERY crowded and noisy, but lots of fun and plenty to see. LOTS of Cosplay, much of which I didn't recognize; some astonishing young gentlemen dancing in the lobby with isolations that any belly-dancer would envy. Found the World's Weirdest Earrings in the "artists' alley" (even weirder than the purple rubber monsters George gave me lo these many years ago). Sat in on a conclave of the resin-ball-joint-doll fanciers. And, a couple of very interesting panels.

But, very tired now. I get to work most of tomorrow.

Adventures in Research - again

Well, getting four boxes of books out of the study had the added advantage of shaking to the surface a map I've been looking for - since Root, Hog is a road-trip book: Benjamin is out of New Orleans, which lets me explore other parts of the country and what was going on in the 1830s. I'm always on the lookout for old city maps, and have a fair collection of them, including pre-Haussmann Paris and pre-Mao Peking (and I STILL don't know where I got that one!). It's one of the things I love about writing historicals: the chance to re-create a place that has been gone for decades or, in most cases, centuries.

Sending away bad dust

Sent away the bad dust of the old year (it counts as the old year anytime before 12th Night) - got rid of 4 boxes of books to the Goodwill, and a printer and a microwave that didn't work. Amazing how having enough rest returns the mind to its original settings, like, "This place looks like an episode of Hoarders... Let's do something about that."

Chapter Two

So, you've started off the story with a bang - finding the head in the refridgerator or the naked girl being devoured by a shark... So now it's Chapter Two and you've got to put in all the pieces of information about whose head that was and why it might have been in the fridge and where did that shark come from? Chapter Two is always fiddley. How much information does the reader need, and how can I avoid the dreaded InfoDump? (And how can I slip in the name of the person who actually Did It in a way that looks casual?)

Or, I can spend the day cleaning the study and taking down the Christmas Decorations. I generally set myself the goal, they've GOT to be down by Twelfth Night (which is tomorrow), because there are few things more pitiful than seeing a Christmas Tree, rusted with age, sitting out by somebody's trash-cans the week before Easter.

I DEFINITELY need to write thank-you notes.

iPod question

I have a 6-year-old classic iPod which has been acting up lately. I knew the battery no longer held much of a charge (and I'm constantly re-charging the thing), but lately it's started cutting out mid-song, and showing only a blank screen. Does anyone know if this is an issue which a new battery (for $100 or so, I'm told) will fix, or whether I need to get a new machine? (For $250 or so - since I will have nothing to do with a Touch). It's a long and tedious drive to the nearest Apple store, so if anyone here knows the answer it will save me a half-day of lost work. (Best Buy for a new machine - if I have to go that route - is a LOT closer and more convenient).

Sunny California

Another clear bright morning. I have gone back to experimenting with running - which I did in my twenties... Day One was not promising.

A day which includes a lot of Taking Care of Business, something which fills me with anxiety. (ANYTHING to do with my Health Care Plan fills me with anxiety).

But SO nice to have an entire month in which to do nothing but write...

Always vexing to be re-reading the final edit on a ms and...

Always vexing to be re-reading the final edit on a ms and discover a plot-hole you could pilot a jawa sand-crawler through. Hasty fixes all around. ("Gosh, COULD they have gotten from Bombay to Samarkand on horseback by morning? Better check on that...")

One reason I took to watching things like Man vs Wild and Mythbusters. Just because Mr. Craig does it on-screen doesn't mean my hero wouldn't break his neck dropping 75 feet from a helicopter into a river.

It's nice to be back eating normal food and getting proper exercise.

Happy New Year

A very excellent New Year's Party - spent a good portion of it admiring my hostess's set of aquamarines (earrings, ring, pendant) but like the Hope Diamond, but exquisite in that lighter color. (Very few people I've actually seen have what the romance writers call a 'porcelain complexion,' but she does, and they were the perfect jewels for it). A bit of networking, a lot of catching up. And a long drive home in the windy cold, WAY before midnight.

Partly this is because I generally stay off the roads after midnight New Year's Eve, partly because I had to rise early. My parents' anniversary is today - Jan 1 - and it's a bit of a drive to their place. 64 years - amazing and wonderful. I get to spend a great deal of today in the car.

All evening, people kept telling me, "You need more online presence... you need to be posting a couple of times a day..."  To be honest, I'd much rather be writing, or working through scenes in my head, which posting interrupts and disrupts. But I'll make it my goal this year to try.

Best wishes to all for a better 2012.