Steven Harper's Blog, page 24
August 1, 2022
NOIR Is Live!
I have a story in NOIR, the latest fantasy anthology from Zombies Need Brains!
Colt Smith, private eye, deals with a select clientele. The Fae come to him, and only him, with their problems, and Colt has spent extensive time in the fantastic and addictive Fae realm, even though every trip exacts a terrible price. But now his time in the other realm is running out, and the Fae want him to use it to solve a murder among their own, a murder that will uncover the secret of Colt's own past.
Check it out: https://www.amazon.com/Noir-Esther-Friesner-ebook/dp/B09YSZNBVS/
[image error] comments
Colt Smith, private eye, deals with a select clientele. The Fae come to him, and only him, with their problems, and Colt has spent extensive time in the fantastic and addictive Fae realm, even though every trip exacts a terrible price. But now his time in the other realm is running out, and the Fae want him to use it to solve a murder among their own, a murder that will uncover the secret of Colt's own past.
Check it out: https://www.amazon.com/Noir-Esther-Friesner-ebook/dp/B09YSZNBVS/
[image error] comments
July 28, 2022
Huge LGBT Victory!
Holy crackers! The Michigan Supreme Court did it!
https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/2022/07/28/michigan-supreme-court-law-bans-discrimination-sexual-orientation/10175560002/
This is huge. Absolutely huge! It not only sets law for the State of Michigan, it creates a precedence for the rest of the country. People in other states can cite this to get similar rulings in their own states.
And note that the majority (5-2) opinion was written by a Republican-nominated judge.
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https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/2022/07/28/michigan-supreme-court-law-bans-discrimination-sexual-orientation/10175560002/
This is huge. Absolutely huge! It not only sets law for the State of Michigan, it creates a precedence for the rest of the country. People in other states can cite this to get similar rulings in their own states.
And note that the majority (5-2) opinion was written by a Republican-nominated judge.
[image error] comments
July 26, 2022
I Have Questions
I have questions about this situation:
https://news.yahoo.com/a-north-carolina-city-hired-a-black-town-manager-then-its-entire-police-force-resigned-224423896.html
TL/DR: The entire police force, two city clerks, and the police chief--all White--resigned en masse a month after the council hired a Black woman to be town manager. The cops and clerks say she created a hostile work environment. Now the town has no police force. The White cops and clerks say race had nothing to do with it. Residents of the town disagree.
But I want to know a few things.
1. Why does a town of 2,000 people have a police force of six (five officers and a chief) full time officers and three part-time officers?? By comparison, the town of Stockbridge, Michigan has about 1,500 people. They have a total of TWO cops--one officer and one chief. Did the new manager notice a bloated list of employees and talk about letting some of the officers go?
2. Every person who resigned has refused to say exactly what the manager did to create a hostile work environment. Every. Single. One. It wasn't in their letters of resignation, and they haven't gone on record with any news media I could find. Could it be that they have no documented evidence of a hostile work environment?
3. Does anyone actually believe this wasn't motivated by racism and misogyny?
I didn't think so.
[image error] comments
https://news.yahoo.com/a-north-carolina-city-hired-a-black-town-manager-then-its-entire-police-force-resigned-224423896.html
TL/DR: The entire police force, two city clerks, and the police chief--all White--resigned en masse a month after the council hired a Black woman to be town manager. The cops and clerks say she created a hostile work environment. Now the town has no police force. The White cops and clerks say race had nothing to do with it. Residents of the town disagree.
But I want to know a few things.
1. Why does a town of 2,000 people have a police force of six (five officers and a chief) full time officers and three part-time officers?? By comparison, the town of Stockbridge, Michigan has about 1,500 people. They have a total of TWO cops--one officer and one chief. Did the new manager notice a bloated list of employees and talk about letting some of the officers go?
2. Every person who resigned has refused to say exactly what the manager did to create a hostile work environment. Every. Single. One. It wasn't in their letters of resignation, and they haven't gone on record with any news media I could find. Could it be that they have no documented evidence of a hostile work environment?
3. Does anyone actually believe this wasn't motivated by racism and misogyny?
I didn't think so.
[image error] comments
July 17, 2022
Love and Thunder
Darwin and I saw THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER yesterday.
It was a fun and funny, even silly, with the spectacular special effects we've come to expect. A good evening's entertainment. Though it could have done with 100% less screaming goats.
For fun, we also decided to try the D-seats. These are a block of theater seats that vibrate and rock according to what's happening on the screen. "Haptics that make you feel you're part of the action," runs the ad copy.
They were kind of cool. I liked the sensation of drifting the seats created when something was floating in space or something. But in the end, we both decided they weren't worth the extra money. The motion and vibration became distracting, even annoying, after a while. It was worth trying them, but we probably won't do it again.
And, like millions of other people around the world, we got to see Chris Hemsworth's butt.
[image error] comments
It was a fun and funny, even silly, with the spectacular special effects we've come to expect. A good evening's entertainment. Though it could have done with 100% less screaming goats.
For fun, we also decided to try the D-seats. These are a block of theater seats that vibrate and rock according to what's happening on the screen. "Haptics that make you feel you're part of the action," runs the ad copy.
They were kind of cool. I liked the sensation of drifting the seats created when something was floating in space or something. But in the end, we both decided they weren't worth the extra money. The motion and vibration became distracting, even annoying, after a while. It was worth trying them, but we probably won't do it again.
And, like millions of other people around the world, we got to see Chris Hemsworth's butt.
[image error] comments
Move: Shopping!
A new house requires many trips to various stores. So much shopping!
One of the great things about this place is that it's close to both an At Home store. At Home is like KMart, but funky. The stock continually changes, and they always seem to have new stuff. Darwin and I love the place and they've shamelessly lured us in over and over. We found some wonderful rugs there that were exactly what we needed, and we've found bathroom mat sets and towel sets and bar stools for the kitchen island and a table with a shelf underneath that turned out to be perfect to hide cords for the sound system--and it had matching end tables. We've practically worn a trail to that place.
We've been spending money like water. But it has to be done, so I'm going to enjoy it. :)
[image error] comments
One of the great things about this place is that it's close to both an At Home store. At Home is like KMart, but funky. The stock continually changes, and they always seem to have new stuff. Darwin and I love the place and they've shamelessly lured us in over and over. We found some wonderful rugs there that were exactly what we needed, and we've found bathroom mat sets and towel sets and bar stools for the kitchen island and a table with a shelf underneath that turned out to be perfect to hide cords for the sound system--and it had matching end tables. We've practically worn a trail to that place.
We've been spending money like water. But it has to be done, so I'm going to enjoy it. :)
[image error] comments
Move #6: Shopping!
A new house requires many trips to various stores. So much shopping!
One of the great things about this place is that it's close to both an At Home store. At Home is like KMart, but funky. The stock continually changes, and they always seem to have new stuff. Darwin and I love the place and they've shamelessly lured us in over and over. We found some wonderful rugs there that were exactly what we needed, and we've found bathroom mat sets and towel sets and bar stools for the kitchen island and a table with a shelf underneath that turned out to be perfect to hide cords for the sound system--and it had matching end tables. We've practically worn a trail to that place.
We've been spending money like water. But it has to be done, so I'm going to enjoy it. :)
[image error] comments
One of the great things about this place is that it's close to both an At Home store. At Home is like KMart, but funky. The stock continually changes, and they always seem to have new stuff. Darwin and I love the place and they've shamelessly lured us in over and over. We found some wonderful rugs there that were exactly what we needed, and we've found bathroom mat sets and towel sets and bar stools for the kitchen island and a table with a shelf underneath that turned out to be perfect to hide cords for the sound system--and it had matching end tables. We've practically worn a trail to that place.
We've been spending money like water. But it has to be done, so I'm going to enjoy it. :)
[image error] comments
Move: Loving the Location
Now that we've been living in our new house for about a month, we've come to realize how wonderful this place is.
First, there's the house itself. Downsizing from a large house to a smaller condo taught Darwin and me that we aren't smaller place people. We like room to sprawl. Darwin says that rather than having shared spaces, he likes "dedicated spaces," meaning a space for office work, a space for food prep, a space for recreation, a space for exercise, and so on. There's a part of me that says a three-bedroom house with a finished basement is a waste of money and resources for two men with no kids at home, but another part of me likes having a big house.
So we like our big house. We have an office area separate from the bedroom. We--or I--have a huge kitchen with a gas stove (after thirty years, I finally have a gas stove again). We have a wonderful open concept conducive to entertaining.* We have a finished basement with plenty of room for the exercise machines. We have wood floors that are easier to keep clean than wall-to-wall carpeting. We have a first-floor laundry room. We have a garage.
And there's the location.
The house is on the outer corner of a subdivision. The subdivision is, unfortunately, one of those plastic, every house alike, no trees place. But we're on the edge, so we don't actually have to look at or drive through the plastic. There's also a border of trees on our back yard. Literally a block away, we have farmland and forest and dirt roads, which makes me insanely happy--I can ride my bike in the country again.
We're ten minutes away from downtown Ypsilanti. We're 13 minutes from downtown Ann Arbor. A major grocery store, hardware store, and big-box variety store are all within 5 minutes. And Cottage Inn Pizza delivers to our house.
We love this place quite a lot.
*I know current thinking in housing is to denigrate open concepts on the bounds that your kitchen is in your living room, and what about the smells and the mess when you have people over? My answer to that is, why are you cooking something that smells so awful, and why are you leaving a mess in the first place?
comments
First, there's the house itself. Downsizing from a large house to a smaller condo taught Darwin and me that we aren't smaller place people. We like room to sprawl. Darwin says that rather than having shared spaces, he likes "dedicated spaces," meaning a space for office work, a space for food prep, a space for recreation, a space for exercise, and so on. There's a part of me that says a three-bedroom house with a finished basement is a waste of money and resources for two men with no kids at home, but another part of me likes having a big house.
So we like our big house. We have an office area separate from the bedroom. We--or I--have a huge kitchen with a gas stove (after thirty years, I finally have a gas stove again). We have a wonderful open concept conducive to entertaining.* We have a finished basement with plenty of room for the exercise machines. We have wood floors that are easier to keep clean than wall-to-wall carpeting. We have a first-floor laundry room. We have a garage.
And there's the location.
The house is on the outer corner of a subdivision. The subdivision is, unfortunately, one of those plastic, every house alike, no trees place. But we're on the edge, so we don't actually have to look at or drive through the plastic. There's also a border of trees on our back yard. Literally a block away, we have farmland and forest and dirt roads, which makes me insanely happy--I can ride my bike in the country again.
We're ten minutes away from downtown Ypsilanti. We're 13 minutes from downtown Ann Arbor. A major grocery store, hardware store, and big-box variety store are all within 5 minutes. And Cottage Inn Pizza delivers to our house.
We love this place quite a lot.
*I know current thinking in housing is to denigrate open concepts on the bounds that your kitchen is in your living room, and what about the smells and the mess when you have people over? My answer to that is, why are you cooking something that smells so awful, and why are you leaving a mess in the first place?
comments
Cancer Continued
Last week, I had a video appointment my new UoM oncologist.
Although I had assurances from my original urologist that my prostatic cancer was only something to watch, not worry about, I was still nervous. What if this doctor said, "No, I'm seeing this and that and this, and it's worse than the other guy thought."
But he didn't say that. Instead, he reiterated what my urologist said. This isn't a big deal. It hasn't spread, it doesn't seem to be growing, and the side-effects of any treatment would probably be worse than the condition itself.
His version of "watch" is a bit different, though. He wants a PSA check every six months (instead of every quarter), and instead of an MRI once a year, he said he'd like a biopsy every other year. So that would be next summer.
I'll have to talk with him in more detail about that. At the last biopsy, I was told there'd be no pain, and side-effects would be minimal. I had quite a lot of pain, and side-effects that went on for weeks. I'm not eager to do it again unless it's absolutely, 100% necessary.
But the news continues to be overall good, and we'll take that as a win.
comments
Although I had assurances from my original urologist that my prostatic cancer was only something to watch, not worry about, I was still nervous. What if this doctor said, "No, I'm seeing this and that and this, and it's worse than the other guy thought."
But he didn't say that. Instead, he reiterated what my urologist said. This isn't a big deal. It hasn't spread, it doesn't seem to be growing, and the side-effects of any treatment would probably be worse than the condition itself.
His version of "watch" is a bit different, though. He wants a PSA check every six months (instead of every quarter), and instead of an MRI once a year, he said he'd like a biopsy every other year. So that would be next summer.
I'll have to talk with him in more detail about that. At the last biopsy, I was told there'd be no pain, and side-effects would be minimal. I had quite a lot of pain, and side-effects that went on for weeks. I'm not eager to do it again unless it's absolutely, 100% necessary.
But the news continues to be overall good, and we'll take that as a win.
comments
July 3, 2022
Kidney Stones and Cancer
Moving down to Ypsilanti also meant transferring medical care. A =lot= of medical care. Darwin and I both had to find a new endocrinologist. I had to find a new joint specialist and a new urologist.
It turned frightening.
All the medical stuff down here goes through the University of Michigan's hospital and medical system. It's a monolith, and dealing with them varies from efficient to plodding, and new patients always go to the bottom of the list. I got hold of a joint specialist and got an appointment for late July. Then they called back.
"We were looking at your information, and you need to see a shoulder specialist. The next appointment is in the middle of August."
I was upset. My shoulder still hurts, hurts, hurts, and I need to see someone earlier. "Can I get on a waiting list to move me up if someone cancels?" I asked.
"We don't keep a waiting list. You can call back every so often and check for cancellations, though."
Jesus. Okay, then. Every other day, I called to check. Finally I got an appointment for late July again. I'm going to keep trying for earlier.
Meanwhile, I made a "get to know you" appointment with a urologist. When I went to see him, he listened to my history and announced that I wasn't the urologist for me. I needed to see specialists, one each in prostatic cancer, general prostate problems, and kidney stones. They would call me back to make some appointments the MRI I still had scheduled with my old urologist to see what my cancerous lesions were up to. I drove all the way up for it and endured. I'm not claustrophobic and I've had many MRIs before, but none like this one. It was many thousands of images, all targeted on one spot, and it started getting hot, then hotter, then hotter still. It was getting actively painful. I was just about to hit the emergency abort button when the technician announced it was all over.
This was on a Monday. The "interpret the results" appointment was on the following Thursday. But on Wednesday, I got a notice that they were posted in my patient portal.
I checked the portal and found the radiology report with my PIRAD score. This is a scale of 1 (no cancer) to 5 (definite malignancy). At my last MRI, the PIRAD score was a 3 (iffy chance of malignancy, so keep watching). Now my PIRAD score was a 4--likely malignant.
I went cold. This was bad, bad news. My mind leaped ahead to potential treatments--chemo, radiation, surgery. I was determined not to panic, but it was almost impossible. I told Darwin, and he freaked out completely. It was gut-wrenching and horrible.
Somehow we got through the night. On Thursday, I drove up to the urologist's office and they showed me right in, almost no waiting. I stared at nothing until the doctor came in.
"How are you today?"
"Terrified," I said.
He looked surprised. "Oh? Why?"
I told him. He only shrugged.
"I don't see anything different from last year," he said. "Nothing's grown or changed. You're fine. Still on watch, that's all."
Relief crashed over me. "But why did my score go up?"
A shrug. "There are artifacts on the MRI from your procedure in January that mess with the reading. And a PIRAD is a judgment call--one radiologist's 3 is another's 4. You're fine."
Fuck. Okay, then. I called Darwin at work to let him know, and he was relieved, too.
In the more meanwhile, I called the UofM urologist's office to get appointments, now that the newest MRI was available to them. They FINALLY granted me an appointment with an oncologist, which by itself is a scary thing to say, even with the reassurance from my previous urologist.
In yet more meanwhile, I finally got an appointment with a kidney stone specialist, too. It's a video "get to know you" appointment, so I don't have to go anywhere, which is nice. We'll see what he has to say.
But the latest cancer report is good news!
[image error] comments
It turned frightening.
All the medical stuff down here goes through the University of Michigan's hospital and medical system. It's a monolith, and dealing with them varies from efficient to plodding, and new patients always go to the bottom of the list. I got hold of a joint specialist and got an appointment for late July. Then they called back.
"We were looking at your information, and you need to see a shoulder specialist. The next appointment is in the middle of August."
I was upset. My shoulder still hurts, hurts, hurts, and I need to see someone earlier. "Can I get on a waiting list to move me up if someone cancels?" I asked.
"We don't keep a waiting list. You can call back every so often and check for cancellations, though."
Jesus. Okay, then. Every other day, I called to check. Finally I got an appointment for late July again. I'm going to keep trying for earlier.
Meanwhile, I made a "get to know you" appointment with a urologist. When I went to see him, he listened to my history and announced that I wasn't the urologist for me. I needed to see specialists, one each in prostatic cancer, general prostate problems, and kidney stones. They would call me back to make some appointments the MRI I still had scheduled with my old urologist to see what my cancerous lesions were up to. I drove all the way up for it and endured. I'm not claustrophobic and I've had many MRIs before, but none like this one. It was many thousands of images, all targeted on one spot, and it started getting hot, then hotter, then hotter still. It was getting actively painful. I was just about to hit the emergency abort button when the technician announced it was all over.
This was on a Monday. The "interpret the results" appointment was on the following Thursday. But on Wednesday, I got a notice that they were posted in my patient portal.
I checked the portal and found the radiology report with my PIRAD score. This is a scale of 1 (no cancer) to 5 (definite malignancy). At my last MRI, the PIRAD score was a 3 (iffy chance of malignancy, so keep watching). Now my PIRAD score was a 4--likely malignant.
I went cold. This was bad, bad news. My mind leaped ahead to potential treatments--chemo, radiation, surgery. I was determined not to panic, but it was almost impossible. I told Darwin, and he freaked out completely. It was gut-wrenching and horrible.
Somehow we got through the night. On Thursday, I drove up to the urologist's office and they showed me right in, almost no waiting. I stared at nothing until the doctor came in.
"How are you today?"
"Terrified," I said.
He looked surprised. "Oh? Why?"
I told him. He only shrugged.
"I don't see anything different from last year," he said. "Nothing's grown or changed. You're fine. Still on watch, that's all."
Relief crashed over me. "But why did my score go up?"
A shrug. "There are artifacts on the MRI from your procedure in January that mess with the reading. And a PIRAD is a judgment call--one radiologist's 3 is another's 4. You're fine."
Fuck. Okay, then. I called Darwin at work to let him know, and he was relieved, too.
In the more meanwhile, I called the UofM urologist's office to get appointments, now that the newest MRI was available to them. They FINALLY granted me an appointment with an oncologist, which by itself is a scary thing to say, even with the reassurance from my previous urologist.
In yet more meanwhile, I finally got an appointment with a kidney stone specialist, too. It's a video "get to know you" appointment, so I don't have to go anywhere, which is nice. We'll see what he has to say.
But the latest cancer report is good news!
[image error] comments
Rabbits and the Office
On Monday afternoon, the new office furniture arrived.
See, Darwin and I became tired of the mismatched desks (mine wood, his glass) and chairs and shelves. To solve the problem, we fought wildly over new furniture at the Ikea store. In the end, we got what we both thought would work. Our new desks would run under the main window in the office, mine in the right corner, his in the left. I would have an L-shaped desk for left-handed people, and Darwin the righthanded would have the mirror image.
Between the pandemic and shipping issues, ordering the stuff took some work, but in the end we got everything. It arrived on Monday, in a dozen-odd flat boxes. It all needed to be assembled. With Allen wrenches.
I didn't have the energy to spare for this and neither did Darwin. But on its web site, Ikea helpfully points out that you can hire someone through the Taskrabbit app to put stuff together. I knew of Taskrabbit, but had never used it. I decided now was a good time to start. After I did some poking around on the app, a lady named Christina agreed to come over on Thursday to work on the furniture. She showed up and set to work.
The job actually took her two evenings, nine hours in all. The office was fully assembled at a cost of around $300, a bargain in our minds! Now we could unpack all those boxes marked OFFICE. It was wonderful to get our home office up and running again, with matched furniture, and even more wonderful that we didn't have to assemble all that ourselves!
[image error] comments
See, Darwin and I became tired of the mismatched desks (mine wood, his glass) and chairs and shelves. To solve the problem, we fought wildly over new furniture at the Ikea store. In the end, we got what we both thought would work. Our new desks would run under the main window in the office, mine in the right corner, his in the left. I would have an L-shaped desk for left-handed people, and Darwin the righthanded would have the mirror image.
Between the pandemic and shipping issues, ordering the stuff took some work, but in the end we got everything. It arrived on Monday, in a dozen-odd flat boxes. It all needed to be assembled. With Allen wrenches.
I didn't have the energy to spare for this and neither did Darwin. But on its web site, Ikea helpfully points out that you can hire someone through the Taskrabbit app to put stuff together. I knew of Taskrabbit, but had never used it. I decided now was a good time to start. After I did some poking around on the app, a lady named Christina agreed to come over on Thursday to work on the furniture. She showed up and set to work.
The job actually took her two evenings, nine hours in all. The office was fully assembled at a cost of around $300, a bargain in our minds! Now we could unpack all those boxes marked OFFICE. It was wonderful to get our home office up and running again, with matched furniture, and even more wonderful that we didn't have to assemble all that ourselves!
[image error] comments
