Nat gets the final word

I get quoted – without attribution, and for all of three words – on one of the most-read blogs in all of cyberinformationsuperhighwebspace, Andrew Sullivan’s blog at The Atlantic’s website. Mine is the final reader letter in the entry. (For context: the website has been using the Road Runner’s “Meep meep” to reference Obama’s savvy moves at getting past political opposition. The event being discussed may not – or may- be ecologically sound, but it certainly was a smooth political move.)

I’m anonymously famous!

Saturdays, even on a Sunday

I’m a crossword puzzle doer – not one of those that spend their lives going to competitions and researching words, but I think I’m pretty good.

Now, for those who don’t do crosswords, you might assume that the pinnacle is the Sunday puzzles, the big one. Well, yes, they can take time, but they’re generally not the most tricky. No, puzzles start with the easiest clues on the Monday puzzles and get touger through the week, with the toughest on Saturday – and these days, I generally restrict myself to Saturday-level puzzles (plus Merle Reagle’s Sunday puzzles, which aren’t that tough, but are fun). Usually can’t quite finish the Newsday puzzle, the toughest of the bunch, without a lot of time and a few “cheats” (when you do them online, you can run a check to have the computer tell you which letters you have wrong.) I can finish a New York Times Saturday puzzle (done on paper, rather than on computer – puzzle books by my bed) about half the time, and generally come within a few letters when I don’t.

The Washington Post actually runs a Saturday-like puzzle on Sunday, rather than running a larger puzzle. L.A. Times runs a Saturday puzzle which is often more an example of impressive puzzle contstruction – 4 or 6 15-letter answers in the grid – than of tough clues, but the intimidating look of the clues makes them fun to do. Which leads to the point of this post: to record for my own purposes my quickest-ever solution of an L.A. Times Saturday puzzle. I did this Saturday’s puzzle in 8 minutes, 38 seconds. If only I could do useful stuff that efficiently…

Overlooked

Well, the McArthur Genius Grants have been announced for this year, and once again, I’m not on the list. And this despite the fact that, when my two-year-old daughter was being adamant that she would not eat her vegetables, and seemed trapped in that stance, I created the out for her by asking her if she would eat my vegetables. When she allowed that she would, I scraped the veggies off of her plate onto my plate, then placed my plate in front of her, from which she ate happily. I mean, that’s got to be worth something, right?

It's Friday…

…and, having found the LOLcat generator, goodness help me, I’m LOLcatting.

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Who I am

According to the DNA tests, I am not the father of Anna Nicole Smith’s baby.

In case you were wondering.

Yipes!

I’m the subject of an entry in Wikipedia!

I am told of my place

As I was carrying in the groceries today, the phone rang. I picked it up, and a recorded female voice said “You are currently the only person in this conference.”

Then, silence.

I'm a writer

I’m a writer at heart. But I’m not doing that much writing these days. For years, I had the day alone, and would spend hours seeming not to do much, then get rolling in the late morning through mid afternoon, and write for hours. But now, I’m a dad. I can’t let my brain hang loose until it’s cleared for work.
Stephen King has a good piece at washingtonpost.com talking about what writing is like, and while I cannot say that the truths he speaks are universal, I can say that he gets it right for me. He’s hit it for why writing (particularly fiction) is boring on the outside and scary and thrilling on the inside.

(And don’t worry, I’ve not given up writing altogether. Just doing less of it… and working on a graphic novel pitch with a respected artist that would likely let me get some day care for Allison and thus get the writing done if it sells.)

Who I Am part Whichever

I’m the writer, animator, and closing announcer of this new Public Service Ad, featuring my character Licensable BearTM:

If you want to see it in higher resolution and at much lower bandwidth (about 200K total), click here. And yes, I do encourage spreading the word, adding the video to your blog, and so forth.

Ghost coauthor

Did you know that I co-wrote a book called True Love with my Netscape Navigator Six-in-One co-author? Neither did I!