Bryce Moore's Blog, page 167

Memories of Grandpa Coltrin

I lost one of my last two living grandparents yesterday. And I’ve made a habit when that happens of taking a moment to write down the main memories I have of each as a sort of tribute to them. It’s been lovely to read what my cousins and siblings have been saying on Facebook, though I’ll admit I don’t have quite the same connection, as Grandpa Coltrin didn’t enter  my life until I was 8 or so, but he once that happened, he would periodically pop up, usually as he came to stay with us for weeks at a time, often in the summers. (At least, that’s how I remember it. Now that I’m trying to pin down dates, I find my memories are fairly fuzzy of specifics.) That said, here are the experiences that stand out most to me:

He and my brother Joel got in an epic “double or nothing” betting match over table tennis one summer out on the back porch at our house in New Jersey. They’d started with a simple dollar bet that Grandpa Coltrin could beat Joel in a match. Joel lost, and he demanded to have a rematch at double or nothing odds. Grandpa Coltrin kept agreeing to the deal, and I have no idea how much Joel ended up owing, but it was an awful lot. Joel was quite upset. I don’t know if he learned anything from it, but I certainly was persuaded that gambling is a bad idea.
Grandpa loved to sit up in the guest house and watch television. Often Spanish soap operas, as I recall. But the TV up there didn’t have a channel changer, and he didn’t like having to get up to change the channel. So he took two broom handles and tied them together and used that to be able to reach the television buttons. Simple. Free. Elegant.
He liked to challenge me to get in better shape. I think it’s somehow fitting that the post I wrote the day he died was about how I finally am in better shape. I remember him encouraging me to run and to do leg lifts and just be more physical. If I’d followed his advice way back when, I’d probably be a lot better off for it. Sigh.
Around me at least, he always seemed to be in a perpetually good mood. I don’t ever remember seeing him irritated or angry. Certainly not later in life. He had a great way of just taking whatever the present gave him and accepting it. Making the best out of it that he could and if there wasn’t a way to make the best out of it, he’d just move on. It’s a mind set I would like to be able to master, but I think I’m decades away of being able to really do it.
We went out to visit him at his farm once or twice, but my memories of the trips aren’t super clear. I remember going to a convenience store for treats(?), and I remember dogs, and I remember learning about irrigation. None of it stuck too clearly with me, however. I wish they were crisper. Wishing doesn’t change things, though.
Later in life, I’d always get updates about him in passing, and they always seemed to be a series of grand adventures. He was off in China exploring with his sons. He’s gone up to Yellowstone or over to California. I literally never knew when he might show up when I was in Utah. I’d run into him at a family dinner or a trip to the city. I was amazed at how active and vibrant he was, even well into his 90s. It seemed like the man had just stopped aging and was just living the dream. He’d have a few run ins with medical issues, but he always seemed to bounce back. I didn’t even know he was sick until I got word he’d passed away.

My thoughts and prayers are with all the people he touched over his life. There’s a lot of wonderful things to look back on, remember, and celebrate. He will be missed.

 

Some Trump/Clinton Debate Thoughts

I had successfully managed to avoid watching Trump debate until last night. I’d hoped he wouldn’t make it out of the Republican debates, and that I’d save myself a whole bunch of time and wasted energy by skipping hearing him bloviate at all.

Oh to be so lucky.

Last night, I watched the debate, because this is the future of our country, like it or not, and I wanted to see what was going on. And I’m here to report on what I personally took away from the debate. I haven’t read any commentary about it. I haven’t even checked my Facebook feed that much.

A bit of a reminder about me, to put this into context. I was a staunch Republican for years. I was (and actually still am) a big fan of George W. Bush, but then I also voted for Obama when he first ran. That was (obviously) the time when I started really making a shift in my views on politics, and it mainly came down to one person: Sarah Palin. I was so disgusted that my party could try to hold her up as a valid candidate for Vice President. I couldn’t vote for any ticket that had her on it. I went back to voting Republican last time, when I voted for Romney. Today I consider myself an independent, though I’m still listed as a registered Republican.

I also really dislike Donald Trump and what his rhetoric has been doing to the country. It’s mind boggling to me that the Republican party could have nominated such a man as its candidate. There are many Republicans I could have voted for. I will never vote for Trump, regardless of what he tries to do to distance himself from the terrible things and ideas he’s nurtured and encouraged.

So clearly I’m not unbiased. On the flip side, my experience with Clinton is mixed. I remember really disliking her when her husband was in office, but then again, I was also in high school at the time and wasn’t exactly a super informed citizen. I’ve heard many of the arguments against her, but I haven’t really made up my mind as to how many of those arguments are rooted in reality. (Trump and many Republicans of his ilk these days seem to believe they can create reality by just shouting something over and over. That’s not how it works.)

Anyway. Enough preamble. Here’s what I thought:

Trump came out quite strong for the first third of the debate. He was speaking about economic policy, and he got in some good comments about what he’d do differently and what’s being done wrong in the country today. He wasn’t nearly as overbearing as I thought he’d be, and I was actually surprised by how well he managed to keep things under control. I was worried for the first thirty minutes, honestly. If he could keep this up, I thought he had a chance of persuading voters that what they’d heard about him and his demeanor in the past was wrong.
Then the last 2/3rds of the debate came along, and he fell back in line with his previous self. He was obnoxious and rude. He veered away from making reasoned arguments and instead just resorted to saying “Wrong” over and over. He got involved in big explanations about things that didn’t make a whole lot of sense. He stumbled over trying to explain what he had said or hadn’t said, drawing in other people to explain it, as if they’d be able to come up on stage and confirm he was right.
Clinton stayed on message for almost the whole debate, I felt. She was cool and collected, regardless of what Trump threw at her, which was impressive. I imagine Republican talking heads are accusing her of being smarmy or oozy, but I saw someone making reasoned arguments the whole time. I didn’t agree with everything she said, but I appreciated her candor and willingness to admit she was wrong.
The biggest weakness Trump seemed to have was himself. As soon as the moderator or Clinton would use his own words against him, he went off the handle, trying to show how he didn’t say that or how he didn’t mean it like it had been said.
I doubt the debate did much to change the minds of anyone who wasn’t on the fence. I imagine Clinton supporters thought she did wonderfully, and Trump supporters (or as seems more often the case, Hilary haters) thought she was a lying politician and he showed keen business acumen.
For undecided, I can’t help think Clinton made a much better case. Trump just had too many “huh?” moments. For example, when called out on potentially not paying any taxes, he said that made him smart. He was using the laws to get personal advantage. Yet then he criticized Clinton’s staffers for pleading the fifth, how is that not the same thing? They’re using the laws to protect themselves. When he defended himself for not releasing his tax returns, he said he was just doing what his lawyers told him to. So are her staffers not supposed to do the same thing?

Bottom line for me is that I walked away from debate impressed with what Clinton had to say. I’d heard a lot of negativity around her, but I didn’t see it for myself. I’ve heard the Republican arguments against her, but I can’t help thinking a lot of those arguments are just sour grapes. Things like Benghazi and the email scandal sound much closer to the same arguments people make about George W., 9/11, and jet fuel vs. steel beams. There’s more than a bit of tin foil about them, especially at this point, with so much investigation having been done.

Before tonight, I wasn’t sure who I would vote for, other than that there was no way I’d vote for Trump. Ever. After tonight, I’m very much leaning toward voting Clinton. I’ll continue to hold off completely making up my mind until Election Day, unless (as I’ve said before) there seems to be any realistic chance Trump will win. At that point, I’ll very much vote Clinton to try to stop that from happening.

But as is usually my habit, I wanted to break things down using pop culture. And for today’s pop culture analogy, we’ll turn to The Three Amigos. Voting for Trump is like voting for El Guapo. The man is successful, yes, but his success comes at the expense of the people. He’s also a huge jerk, and pretty much evil. Voting for Clinton would be more like voting for Dusty (Chevy Chase’s character). Sure, he’s done some boneheaded things (shooting the invisible swordsman, talking about pruning the hedges of many small villages, etc.), but pretty much anyone would be better than El Guapo.

Don’t vote for El Guapo.

What did you think of the debate?

How to Feel Better, Sleep Better, and Think Better

Look. I know this is totally anecdotal evidence here. I’m a librarian and an author, not a doctor. But maybe this one anecdote can help other people, so that’s why I’m sharing it.

I used to go to the doctor. A lot. I was feeling crummy pretty much all of the time. Couldn’t sleep. Came down with just about every bug going around. And I was tired all of the time. Not in an “I like to complain about feeling tired and sick a lot” sort of a way, either. This was an “I feel bad enough that I’m going to go to see doctors to find out what’s wrong with me.” And I did. I was on different pills. I had heart tests done. Sleep tests. Saw multiple doctors.

Some of the things worked, but nothing for very long. They weren’t sure what was going wrong with me. I thought it might be chronic fatigue syndrome, but I really had no clue.

Fast forward a decade. How am I feeling now? Pretty good, really. I’ve gotten ten years older, of course, but I fall asleep easily almost every night. I get sick rarely. I’m fully awake during the days. I have plenty of energy. I’m also not on any medications. So what made the big difference?

I think it’s a combination of things. All of which were in my power to change. I just didn’t want to actually change them. Here’s a rundown:

I lost weight. At my peak, I was 240 pounds. I’m now around 190. 50 pounds is a lot of pounds.
I started a regular sleep schedule. I go to bed each night between 10 and 11. I get up each morning around 6. Sure, I vary from that every now and then, but almost never more than once or twice a week. I also stopped napping almost completely, no matter how tired I am.
I cut processed sugar out of my diet for the most part. I still eat it (especially at conferences), but my baseline level of sugar is a lot less than it used to be. (And probably still too high, particularly this week. But it was my birthday . . .)
I began to exercise regularly. Yes, it’s about as lame of an exercise as you can get (jogging in place while watching Netflix), but it’s something I can fit into my schedule easily, and I can do it every day.
I improved my diet. (Well, the credit for this mostly goes to Denisa. She cooks very healthy meals. It also goes to having enough money to buy healthier options at the grocery store.)

I can’t say that the reason I feel so much better now is 100% due to lifestyle changes. Maybe I was allergic to something in Utah? I have no idea. But I wish I would have done all of this sooner. Before I turned to doctors and pills, why didn’t I try doing the other things that are free, but harder to do?

I think some of it was because I wanted the fix to be easy. I wanted to continue living my life the way I had been living it, and I wanted someone to give me something that would enable that. We didn’t find anything, but if I’d stayed in Utah, I probably would have kept looking.

This isn’t to say that modern medicine isn’t worthwhile. I’m a firm believer in it. But I also think a healthy lifestyle (sleep, diet, exercise) should be the go-to first step for anyone who wants to improve their health. I know that sounds like one of the most obvious statements I’ve ever made, but it’s one thing to know something, and quite another to actually do it.

Living this way is harder than living the way I was before. It takes time and effort, and there are plenty of times I’d rather binge out on brownies or just not exercise one day. But it’s a price that’s totally worth what I get in return, and I’m happy to continue to pay it.

Apple Watchilicious

I’ve been considering it for quite some time. Circling the waters and playing with the idea in my mind. And with the latest hardware upgrade, I finally decided to go ahead and get an Apple Watch. (It’s my birthday present. Yessss… My precioussss… We wants it. Give it to us!) I preordered it, but I waited for my birthday to actually open it up and put it to use.

For those of you wondering, I bought the Series 1 version, not the Series 2. Why? Because it’s significantly cheaper and I don’t really need the GPS functionality or the water proofing. (If I ever do run, I can just bring my phone. And me? Swimming laps? Not unless I hit my head really hard in the next while.) The Series 1 is *not* the original Apple Watch. It’s been upgraded with the latest components. It’s just lacking those two add ons.

For the size, I went with 42mm, and I’m glad I did. It’s not like it looks that big, and the extra screen real estate is always a plus.

Why did I buy an Apple Watch?

My Pebble was getting tired. I’ve had it for a year and a half now, and the screen kept getting all sorts of lines across it whenever I’d get an update. It’s out of warranty, so I’ve got no luck there on getting it replaced.
Having used a Pebble now for a year and a half, I know for a fact that I like smartwatches. I like being able to keep track of my fitness using them, and getting updates on them is another big plus. Having a watch that’s designed specifically for my phone makes a whole lot of sense, and should only improve on what I found good about the Pebble.
It’s just cool. I’ll admit it. I’m a tech addict, and having something as shiny as the Apple Watch makes me happy. So sue me.

I’ve been using it for the past few days, and I really love it so far. (Who wouldn’t after such a short time?) The activity tracker is nice, and being able to see it so easily and steadily does help me keep it in my mind. (It also taps my wrist when I’ve been sitting too long without standing. Judging by how often my wrist gets tapped . . . I sit an awful lot.)

It blows the old Pebble out of the water in all areas but battery life, but that’s okay too. I’m already used to charging my phone every night and checking the battery levels on my iPad. What’s another device, more or less?

Is an Apple Watch for you? It might not be. If you don’t like watches or don’t see the need for one, it’s not like it adds a ton of abilities to your iPhone that you wouldn’t have otherwise. If you don’t care about keeping track of steps or activity levels, then that’s another big strike against it.

But it’s still awfully shiny . . .

Interview w/Middle Grade Mafia

With a new book comes a slew of new book reviews at various sites. It’s been fun watching them trickle in, and I particularly liked the one by a site called Middle Grade Mafia. Here’s the highlight:

“With a fast pace, a clever premise, a likeable main character and just enough danger to keep readers reading The Memory Thief is a must read.”

You can check out the whole review at their site.

But wait! There’s more!

They asked me to do an interview with them about writing the book, and they just published it for the world to see. Here’s a taste:

Middle Grade Mafia: Each author’s path to becoming a published author is unique. Please share your journey to getting THE MEMORY THIEF on the shelves.

Bryce Moore: After VODNIK came out in 2012, I was at a point where I’d completed all of my current novels, and I wanted to try something new. My wife and I at the time had a series of medical appointments in Portland, almost two hours away from our house. So we had plenty of time in the car together with nothing to do but talk. On one trip, I was stressed because I had no time to get my writing done that day, and my wife suggested we come up with a story idea as we drove. We came up with the magic system (how to steal . . .

(Read the rest of it here.)

Birthdays and Book Trailers

One of the things I’ve been looking forward to most with my new book coming out was the chance to see the book trailer Adaptive (my publisher) would put out for it. They do one for each of their novels, and they’re always pretty awesome. As the author, I haven’t really had any say when it’s come to deciding what the cover will look like, and I certainly didn’t have any say in the book trailer. How would someone else present my book in 90 seconds or less? What choices would they make as far as what scenes to put in, or what style to use?

Well, if you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you’ll know that the trailer was released yesterday, exclusive to Barnes & Noble. You can see it in all its glory here.

I love it. It’s got just the right mixture of creepy and interesting. It uses quotes directly from the book (though I’m pretty sure Louis isn’t the one who makes that promise . . .). The carnival scenes are spot on. The memory selections are awesome. And then there are little details that if you know the book you know what they mean, but they’re subtle and not in your face: the cabinet in the mist behind the title, with just a hint of what might be glowing bottles. Twins in the stroller. Baseball. Space race. The movie projector.

This trailer was made by people who really get the book, and that makes me very happy indeed.

Will the trailer make any sort of a big splash for the book? I have no idea. It’s not like book trailers are the latest rage. (What’s the last book trailer you watched?) But it certainly can’t hurt it. I’d like to think anyone who watches that trailer will remember the book and be interested in finding out what happens in it. We’ll see, I suppose. But for me, just being able to see the trailer and how cool it turned out was a great feeling, and a lovely birthday present.

Oh right. It’s my birthday. I suppose I should talk about that for a moment as well.

I actually feel pretty great about my birthday today. I feel like I’m in a good spot at work, at home, and in my life. I’ve managed to lose most of the weight I wanted to, and I’m definitely in the best shape I’ve been in in probably 20 years. Home construction has been rocky, but we’re coming out on the other side of it now, and we can hopefully just put that bad contractor in our rear view mirror and never think about him again. The kids are doing well in school, Denisa’s have a great time teaching and baking, I have a new book out.

Life is good.

Of course, as I write that I realize that a lot of life comes down to perception. I do believe there’s a lot of truth to that glass half empty/glass half full thing. I mean, just last night I was sitting there on the floor of the new construction, sanding the walls in preparation to put a coat of poly on them, thinking over all the things I have to get done and trying not to hyperventilate. (Because dust.) How can I turn around today and say that things are going swimmingly?

Life is always a mix of good and bad. You can pick out the pieces that support the narrative you want to tell. You can have everything going your way or nothing. I personally find it more useful and motivating to look at the good. It helps pick me up for when I have to deal with the bad,

Anyway. Thank you all for the great birthday wishes. No need to get me a present. Just buy my book and review it online!

When Student Evaluations Attack

I didn’t originally want to be a librarian. I wanted to be a college English professor. I got an MA in English from BYU, and through the course of that program I taught a number of freshman composition classes and advanced composition classes. I enjoyed teaching, but I didn’t adore it. I don’t mind being up in front of a class, but it can be draining. That said, I really liked getting to know most of my students, and I liked being able to help them become better writers.

The one thing about teaching that I unequivocally did NOT like was student evaluations.

In theory, they make sense. Give the teacher a chance to analyze his or her teaching to see where things can be improved. Some honest feedback can’t be bad, can it? But in reality, these evaluations often didn’t end up being so hot, and for a variety of reasons.

First, the students who are doing the evaluation have just gone through a semester of having you evaluate them and their work. This might come as a surprise to some, but not all students are actually good students. (Being blunt here. Sorry.) However, almost all students think they’re good students, much in the same way that everyone likes to complain about how many awful drivers there are on the road, but no one ever steps up and admits to being an awful driver. If a student did poorly in a class or on an assignment, then it couldn’t be because they did poorly. It had to be the teacher’s fault. So class evaluations could turn into a form of student revenge.

How many times in the professional world does an employee evaluate his or her supervisor? While a case could certainly be made for that being a useful process, it rarely happens. Generally it only comes up when the supervisor is doing such a poor job of supervising that the employees go around him or her and complain to the higher ups.

Second, often the students just wouldn’t care that much about the evaluations themselves. They’d fill them out quickly, paying little attention to the responses. Because they were almost always done with a scale, the results felt very random. “My instructor is good.” Do you strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree? What does that even really mean?

The worst thing about it was that I felt like these evaluations could have a real impact on my future career. And so when things didn’t pan out for the whole PhD option, evaluations were the thing I missed the least. (Let’s just leave it at that.)

These days, I still get evaluations now and then. I get a yearly one from my supervisor, and I give yearly evaluations to the employees I supervise. But there are few surprises there. When issues come up, it’s not like we wait until the yearly evaluation to iron things out. But I also still teach a class occasionally, and so I get student evaluations occasionally as well. And they still leave me flummoxed. Not all of them, but some of them. I’ll read them over and wonder what in the world went on. If I was even in the same class that some of these evaluations are based on.

Of course, it’s important to reflect on your performance from time to time to see how well you’re doing. And I’m all for constructive feedback, and I suppose in some cases, the only way you’ll really know what a person thinks is when that person can speak anonymously. But if there’s one thing every comment board on the internet ever has taught us, it’s that when people can speak anonymously, they often stop behaving and speaking as people. Even on evaluations.

But since none of it really impacts me or my career these days, I can just sort of shake my head, shrug, and try to think of ways I can improve in the future, instead of worrying what this might do to me financially.

Book reviews, on the other hand . . .

The Fair: Then vs. Now

It’s fitting that on the eve of the official release of THE MEMORY THIEF, I’ll be heading to the fair where the book is set. (Technically it’s set in the “Livingston Fair,” but this was just a cheat I made so that if I got any details of  the “Farmington Fair” wrong, I’d have an excuse for why they’re wrong.)

We first went to the fair eight years ago (we skipped the first year it was here, probably because it was only about a month after we’d moved, and we were still pretty dizzy from the new surroundings.) A lot has changed in the meantime. For one thing, MC is almost as old now as Tomas was then. Denisa and I also have a bit more disposable income than we did eight years ago.

Before, I wrote a post trying to work through how I should balance the rides Tomas wanted to go on with the amount of money it would cost to go on them. I think we ended up letting him pick one ride. It was $4. Today, we’re going to buy all three kids ride bracelets for $15 each. (Though we do make the older kids pay for their bracelets on their own. Because we’re mean parents like that. (And we allow them to have some jobs ahead of time that they can do to earn some extra cash.))

We’ve gone through different stages at the fair. Years ago, it was mainly a time we could meet up with our friends and have our little kids run around and see the animals and the exhibits. Now it’s becoming more and more important to our kids that they be able to meet up with their friends and go on rides together. I’m okay with that up to a point. I don’t honestly think the fair is the best place in the world for kids to run around unsupervised. There’s a lot of people there, and plenty of opportunity for things to head south. So I think that even when Tomas is in high school, I’m not just going to pat him on the back and let him stay the whole time at the fair at the drop of a hat. My plan is for it to continue to be a family affair.

Animals aren’t as big of a draw now as they were then, though MC is still a big fan. We still enter a bunch of different items into the various contests (another way the kids end up paying for their tickets.) Last year I think DC won the most: something like $28 in prizes. Not bad for a seven year old at the time.

Any which way you slice it, the fair’s an event the whole family looks forward to, year after year. If you’re going to be there tonight, say hi when you see us!

If you’re heading over to the fair this evening and want to picture where the action of THE MEMORY THIEF takes place, the tent from the first chapter would be off to the far right as you enter. Over by the stadium, right next to the fence. (Of course, it doesn’t actually exist. Or at least, it didn’t last year . . . )

Netflix Recommendation: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

I’m always on the lookout for good things to watch on Netflix, and I’d heard rumblings about Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. I read the book back in the day, and I remember liking it, although thinking that it had a ton of characters and was fairly slow. Fortunately for this mini-series, those are exactly the sort of traits that turn into assets on the screen.

The premise is that magic is rediscovered in 19th Century England, although there are only two people who can actually do it: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. They develop a sort of love/hate relationship as they try to explore the new field. They also take part in a number of historical events (all now tweaked by the existence of magic, of course.)

Take Jane Austen and add just a dash of Game of Thrones, and you’ve got a fair approximation of this, with the exception being that four episodes in, it’s pretty much squeaky clean. (No need to worry about language and sex in this series, though I doubt kids would like it much.)

Denisa and I are 4 episodes in, and we’re really enjoying it. (There are 7 total, I believe.) It’s compelling television. Well acted and interestingly plotted, and it’s hard to guess what’s going to happen next. If you’re looking for a new show to binge watch, look no further. (Though it will sadly only take you a tiny bit of bingeing to get through it. Who doesn’t miss the days of finding an excellent entire new series just sitting there waiting for you? Battlestar Galactica. Buffy. Sigh.)

Anyway. Any of you out there seen it already? What are your thoughts?

Insulation Strikes Back

A short “moral of the story” tale for you today, and (like a lot in my life at the moment) it involves insulation. Last week I was taking down all the insulation that had been up in my garage before. (You’ll recall the fun little story I wrote about that experience.)

Well, one snippet I failed to mention in that story was that at one point I was taking down insulation right over my head, and pieces of it drifted down through the air, softly, gently.

Right into my left eye.

It wasn’t a big piece that got in there. I blinked and it was more than a little uncomfortable, and I was worried, but the feeling passed, and I kept working. Fast forward ahead two days, and I’m lying in my bed and my left eye starts going crazy. Watering like mad. It feels like all the eyelashes have come to have a party in there. So I go to a mirror to check things out, but it looks like the eye is clear. I flush it with water and move on with my life.

The next day, I’m complaining about my eye to Denisa when I suddenly realize that’s the same eye I got insulation in. Insulation batting is basically glass. I’m aware of this, but this is the first time I thought “Oh no. I might have sliced my eye somehow.”

I go check things out in a mirror again, but of course there’s still nothing there. However, the bit of Googling I do afterward convinces me that this is serious, and I shouldn’t mess around with it. So I make an appointment with my eye doctor the next morning. He takes one look and sure enough, there’s a big slice off my eyeball. He’s impressed it didn’t hurt me more, because apparently it should have. A lot. He drops some dye in my eye (because I guess you get to do that if you’re an eye ninja or something) to check if there’s any insulation left. He also turns my eyelid inside out to check up inside there.

This is a less than pleasant experience.

Long story short, I get a clean bill of health, but I need to be taking antibiotic eye drops for the next several days.

Moral of the story? If you get insulation in your eye, go see a doctor. And don’t rub your eye.