Jordan Castillo Price's Blog, page 69
December 5, 2010
You betcha
Duluth Trading Co. has opened up their flagship store in my backyard. It seems like a bold move to put your first and only store in Mt. Horeb, WI, (population 7000) but they must know what they're doing....
My friend has invited me to see what the store's all about this upcoming week, so I'll report back after we see what there is to see. I was contemplating posting their "cure for plumber's butt" video, but this particular radio spot seemed so...regional...I had to choose it instead.
In GhosTV, when I read Jacob's sister Barbara talking, she pretty much sounds like the "you betcha" chick and she cracks me up every time. People from WI, MN and maybe the U.P. will get it. No doubt everyone else is "huh?" Unless they've seen Fargo multiple times. (I put Jacob's origins somewhere between Fennimore and Prairie du Chien, BTW).
My friend has invited me to see what the store's all about this upcoming week, so I'll report back after we see what there is to see. I was contemplating posting their "cure for plumber's butt" video, but this particular radio spot seemed so...regional...I had to choose it instead.
In GhosTV, when I read Jacob's sister Barbara talking, she pretty much sounds like the "you betcha" chick and she cracks me up every time. People from WI, MN and maybe the U.P. will get it. No doubt everyone else is "huh?" Unless they've seen Fargo multiple times. (I put Jacob's origins somewhere between Fennimore and Prairie du Chien, BTW).
December 2, 2010
Hot tub party
Whoo, they let us use the hot tub today after water aerobics. I seem to recall I was in a pretty foul mood a couple of hours ago, but now I just feel like a happy li'l blob of jelly.
Yay. Hot tub.
Holiday gift cards now at JCP Books
Is this another one of those years where you meant to get your shopping done ahead of time, but found yourself giftless at the last minute? Are you going green and trying to cut down on the exchange of “stuff”? Or do you want to let some internet pals know you’re thinking of them with a little holiday treat?
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November 30, 2010
Water aerobics
My first day back at water aerobics was today, yay! I'm not sure how long it's been for me since I stopped going. I'm guessing two years. I recognized about half the students, and about half are new, and of course it's a different pool. The old pool closing was the reason I quit last time, when they moved the class 25 miles away and I decided it was too far. We're not supposed to use the hot tub afterward, darn it. But at least I will get a feel for the place for if I ever want to upgrade to a "real" membership.
Frankly, for $25/mo and the instructor and lifeguard both getting paid out of that before the venue gets paid, I suspect the motel resort letting us use their facilities at all is an act of charity/kindness/promotion.
My body seemed to be trying to talk me out of going with a little panic-attack-like thing and a pretend sore throat. I think it just goes to show that I need to schedule things outside the house so I don't turn agoraphobic.
So I came home wet, itchy and famished. And now I'm waterlogged and loopy-relaxed. Tomorrow I'll be sore. I missed this!
Frankly, for $25/mo and the instructor and lifeguard both getting paid out of that before the venue gets paid, I suspect the motel resort letting us use their facilities at all is an act of charity/kindness/promotion.
My body seemed to be trying to talk me out of going with a little panic-attack-like thing and a pretend sore throat. I think it just goes to show that I need to schedule things outside the house so I don't turn agoraphobic.
So I came home wet, itchy and famished. And now I'm waterlogged and loopy-relaxed. Tomorrow I'll be sore. I missed this!
November 26, 2010
How you like your cranberries
Just for fun, I added a question about how readers like their cranberry sauce to my survey for The Starving Years. Can-shaped sauce was in the lead early on, but eventually homemade won out:
Fresh and homemade 44%Shaped like the can 36%Yuck, no way 14%
And I learned something...cranberry sauce in a can is American. In the UK and Australia, it comes in a jar. (What do you guys have up in Canada? I can never tell when you're gonna swing US or UK style.)
And if you want to read/vote on this month's installment of The Starving Years, I'm going to leave the poll open an extra day. I'm neck deep in PsyCop today so I won't be visiting Nelson, Tim and Javier tonight.
Fresh and homemade 44%Shaped like the can 36%Yuck, no way 14%
And I learned something...cranberry sauce in a can is American. In the UK and Australia, it comes in a jar. (What do you guys have up in Canada? I can never tell when you're gonna swing US or UK style.)
And if you want to read/vote on this month's installment of The Starving Years, I'm going to leave the poll open an extra day. I'm neck deep in PsyCop today so I won't be visiting Nelson, Tim and Javier tonight.
November 23, 2010
Splish Splash
There's a golf resort nearby with a big pool, and I had been wanting to get a pool pass...but some mental resistance was stopping me from even going and looking at the pool, let alone getting a day pass and doing a trial swim. Then I heard my old water aerobics class from a couple of years ago would now be meeting at that pool! What a great way for me to get over my anxiety. It'll be like having a bunch of old friends holding my hand.
They had been trying to sort out the insurance and I just got a call that the class is a go, starting next Tuesday.
So not only is it dirt cheap to go through my class as opposed to buying a pool pass, only $25/mo, but I now have two weekly times I'm scheduled to be there so I won't blow it off, and I know my friends will be there too. Talk about a win/win/win.
And I suppose if I love it enough to go more than two days per week, I can get a pool pass too.
They had been trying to sort out the insurance and I just got a call that the class is a go, starting next Tuesday.
So not only is it dirt cheap to go through my class as opposed to buying a pool pass, only $25/mo, but I now have two weekly times I'm scheduled to be there so I won't blow it off, and I know my friends will be there too. Talk about a win/win/win.
And I suppose if I love it enough to go more than two days per week, I can get a pool pass too.
November 11, 2010
For Tam
I drew her a cat. And drew her.
Dancing.
Dancing.
Cats + Chicago = Win
Since I'm a crazy cat lady (and this is about cats) and since I lived much of my life in Chicago (and this guy is from Chicago) and since we're both web entrepreneurs....
I should probably stop drawing connections and just post the video.
Enjoy.
I should probably stop drawing connections and just post the video.
Enjoy.
November 4, 2010
A productive day
I needed to post still more love for the book 4-Hour Workweek, for reiterating many things I already knew, but needed to hear again.
Work expands to fill whatever time you allot to it - yes indeed, I said that on Packing Heat many, many times and it's true.
The Pareto Principle - a large proportion of your results come from a small part of your work - yep, I know that too.
What the hell do I do with myself? Why is it other authors can write 3, 4, 5000 words per day and I can't? Yes, I do need to think and reflect and research and learn and simmer, I believe that. It's where the connections and motivations in my stories develop. So often I have huge revelations about the relationships of elements in my novels while I'm doing something totally unrelated to writing, usually a "nothing" thing like getting dressed. And I can also see I choose my words more carefully than some authors, plus I'm willing to throw away something that's not quite right and start again so I nail it. But I still don't feel like I'm performing at peak. I've got to figure out a way to stop spinning wheels, but I feel optimistic about it rather than self-flagellating.
The Starving Years is forging into unexpected and exciting territory. Loving it.
Work expands to fill whatever time you allot to it - yes indeed, I said that on Packing Heat many, many times and it's true.
The Pareto Principle - a large proportion of your results come from a small part of your work - yep, I know that too.
What the hell do I do with myself? Why is it other authors can write 3, 4, 5000 words per day and I can't? Yes, I do need to think and reflect and research and learn and simmer, I believe that. It's where the connections and motivations in my stories develop. So often I have huge revelations about the relationships of elements in my novels while I'm doing something totally unrelated to writing, usually a "nothing" thing like getting dressed. And I can also see I choose my words more carefully than some authors, plus I'm willing to throw away something that's not quite right and start again so I nail it. But I still don't feel like I'm performing at peak. I've got to figure out a way to stop spinning wheels, but I feel optimistic about it rather than self-flagellating.
The Starving Years is forging into unexpected and exciting territory. Loving it.
November 1, 2010
Time vs. Money
The other day I was researching the 80/20 rule (also known as the Pareto Principle) when I stumbled across the message boards for the book The 4-Hour Workweek. At some point I had formulated the opinion that The 4-Hour Workweek book didn't interest me, because it was all about starting a business that could be outsourced to someone in a foreign country and raking in some money without working. But the message boards were really interesting.
Yes, some people were all about the outsourcing. However, there were also interesting discussions about how people choose to spend their time. How they deal with information overload, and the compulsion to read hundreds of articles about a subject they already thoroughly know just in case there might be a tiny nugget they can use in there, wasting hours per week on feed readers and newspapers and magazines. Compulsive data gathering to no end. Makework. The 80 percent of crap we do that yields little in return.
Sounded a hell of a lot like my corn vs. hops essay in my last newsletter.
I'm excited. While there may be parts of the book I disagree with, and while I'm already ahead of the curve because I already reached the breaking point and gave up the day job, I have a feeling that the book may articulate a few ideas that are knocking around my head half-formed.
One thread talks about having a "NOT to-do" list--what a cool idea! Also, so far the 4-Hour Workweek book seems to be more about gaining control over your time rather than contriving to make scads of money for its own sake...so maybe my initial impression of the ideas behind the book were just plain wrong. I suspect there was some hype about it that made me go "yuck" so I'm glad I stumbled over the message boards and changed my mind.
Yes, some people were all about the outsourcing. However, there were also interesting discussions about how people choose to spend their time. How they deal with information overload, and the compulsion to read hundreds of articles about a subject they already thoroughly know just in case there might be a tiny nugget they can use in there, wasting hours per week on feed readers and newspapers and magazines. Compulsive data gathering to no end. Makework. The 80 percent of crap we do that yields little in return.
Sounded a hell of a lot like my corn vs. hops essay in my last newsletter.
I'm excited. While there may be parts of the book I disagree with, and while I'm already ahead of the curve because I already reached the breaking point and gave up the day job, I have a feeling that the book may articulate a few ideas that are knocking around my head half-formed.
One thread talks about having a "NOT to-do" list--what a cool idea! Also, so far the 4-Hour Workweek book seems to be more about gaining control over your time rather than contriving to make scads of money for its own sake...so maybe my initial impression of the ideas behind the book were just plain wrong. I suspect there was some hype about it that made me go "yuck" so I'm glad I stumbled over the message boards and changed my mind.
