Time for some Lord-praisin'

A couple of months ago, yet-unpublished Caffeine was entered into the Marcher Lord Select contest. It was one of 49 "premise" entries listed on a forum called "The Anomaly," caused modest buzz, did somewhat well at the polls. I haven't been posting the results of Phases 1 and 2, but now that it's passed Phase 3 my novel will only have nine contenders, and the first 500 words posted. If Caffeine passes Phase 4 in two weeks (only three entries will), it will be requested by Marcher Lord Press and given priority in the "Hmmm... will this sell?" process.

Thanks to everyone who has prayed about this and to those who participated. If you would like to get involved in Phase 4 (reading the other entries too, I hope), you'll find "The Anomaly" forum here .

the August plans 

• No more January 1st updates, No more four-year mandate, Sections are baaaaaack, Limited version branding: All announced in August. Still happening.
• Open formats only: The PNG image format is working well, but GIF will remain the standard format for animated graphics, just for now.
• Open software only: I'm not comfortable with GIMP yet, so the graphics are being made in Photoshop as before. I'll worry about this objective next year.
• Simpler URLs: Recently added objective. Version 28's infastructure will be independent of 27's, using different file names. Whereas "ram.php" now co-exists with "egrabow.php", "frontPage.php", "tis.php", etc., it's "rm.php" replacement will be used for every page on the website. Also, no configuration variable, no exec variable, only the one that determines which page to load.
• UTC Time: Recently added objective. In spite of my low shortwave listenership, I've decided to promote universal time (perhaps the fact that 2179 doesn't have time zones in my book helped this). Since this website is a global thing anyway, why not make UTC egrabow.com's official time zone...
  

I'd like to know if anyone finds the "Config" feature useful, as I've never received feedback about it and am now considering getting rid of it in EG version 28.

Contact me  if you'd like to plea for it's existence.

I just returned from a road trip to New York (I've decided against announcing my vacations beforehand on this website). Rather than taking the usual I-95 up, though, I expermiented a little and avoided the interstates altogether. A big part of the resulting plan was route 17, which I realized could drive the entire length of (bragging rights!) without going far out of my way.

This was the first road trip since the decline of my radio hobby, and I retired the "Roads, Rest, Radio & Relaxation" title (RRR&R 2001, 2002, 2007) for this year's trip. Instead, I am planning on using "Blacktop Classic" (if driving solo) or "Blacktop Invitational" (if driving with friends/family/etc.). The classier names were inspired from professional golf.

After wavering on the decision for several months, I've decided to cancel my MySpace account due to a lack of use/interest, non-existent tech support, heavy advertising, and... well... now everyone seems to care more about Facebook. Though I haven't had issues recently, the recurring problems I'd had logging in didn't help things.

Finally, after I decided to start mirroring my blogs there again (like when it was "EG SP," an extension of egrabow.com), I remembered how hard it is to get MySpace to format paragraphs properly.

I plan to take my account down sometime next month, and my livejournal page will serve as the egrabow_NTC homepage.

Marcher Lord Press, which deals specifically with Christian Sci-Fi/ Fantasy, is holding a "Premise Contest." Let's just say the winners will have a better chance at getting published. I encourage anyone who's interested to sign up and vote for Caffeine (and also some of the other work, you have to pick at least three).

Here is a link to the forum the contest is being held at: http://wherethemapends.proboards.com/index.cgi .

I'm thrilled to announce the release of my 125,000 word novel, Caffeine. This is the realization of two years of work, taking no small amount of time and effort. I have chosen to release Caffeine under a Creative Commons license, which allows readers to download and share it freely. It's my hope and prayer that this work touches lives and isn't quickly forgotten on bookshelves (or hard drives, as it's only available electronically right now).

Having four versions planned (novel-layout, printer-friendly, text-only, HTML) and little time left, I decided that the printer-friendly PDF would be the best/quickest to roll out first. When I'm back in November, I'll create the other three layouts for this website, and work on getting it on e-book sites.

Your comments are always welcome and, if you enjoy Caffeine, tell your friends about it. It's a free download, after all.

I haven't done much with my novel since March, having focused my attention on finding agents/ publishers. After six months of that, I'm returning to my work on the product itself. It's time for my debut novel to debut.

The "RC" stands for "Release Candidate," as I hope these changes will be the last ones that the novel needs. The original draft was completed last August, with work beginning on the official "First Draft" a few weeks later to fill some holes in the narrative. Early this year, the Second Draft tightened up the writing and better defined the direction the story was trying to take. The second draft was sent to several beta testers across the country and used for samples as I pitched to agents and publishers.

I want the third draft to be the last one, before I find myself making changes for the sake of change. Six months is defintely long enough to re-approach my manuscript with fresh eyes, and I've already identified what parts of version 2 I'm not happy with. With the Lord's help, I should have a novel ready to distribute/sell in a couple of months. Then, in 2010, I'll begin work on my second novel.

Caffeine Page

Since egrabow.com started on January 1, 2001, it's become a tradition of mine to redesign things every year on that date. Of course, planning is involved, sometimes beginning several months prior, sometimes the week before, but something big has always been altered/implimented/improved on or around New Years' Day. Then the version number goes up. It's always been scheduled that way.

January 1, 2010 will be the last time that happens.

The last real sitewide redesign was version 7, two and a half years ago. Since then, versions 8 (2008) and 27 (2009) have merely ushered in features that were supposed to be in 7 to begin with. When I decided that I didn't like the navigation and thought about what to do this coming January, I realized that I liked version 7's original NAVbar, and that my changing it since had been just the change-for-the-sake-of-change that I despise. Besides that, I decided that I liked the rest of the site pretty well... no changes really necessary.

The early years of egrabow.com were an excercise in playing around and seeing what HTML can do... then it changed to me tweaking things and finding "my style." I've been slow to realize that I may've actually reached that goal, and that every-year updates no longer have any point. Recognizing this, I've decided that version 28 will impliment what's worked so far, and then leave it be, until I'm genuinely inspired to do something else. My time and effort can then go toward making the existing design more standards-compliant, implimenting long-planned features, streamlining, etc.

Several of my website-related policies will change:

• No more January 1st updates. Of course, I can still do them on that date, and I may still prefer to if inspiration hits me late in the year, but some New Years' will go by without new versions. The version numbers will still be attached to my age, though. If version 28's successor comes three years later, it'll be version 31, not 29.
• No more four-year mandate. The HD logo currently in use was set to expire January 1, 2013... no sooner, no later. This policy also has no reason to exist anymore, so look there it goes.
• Sections are baaaaaack. I got rid of them a few years ago and haven't liked the site navigation since. Time to undo that mistake, although the map has changed somewhat since 2006. The Traffic Information System is also going bye-bye.
• Open formats only. A look at the properties of the image above will show that it's a PNG image. PNG will become the image format of choice on egrabow.com. The animated GIF on the Index Page  will be grandfathered in, though.
• Open software only. I'm not referring to Wake Up! Pro , although it is open-source. I'm replacing "not-free" programs like Photoshop with free, open-source ones like GIMP. I'm also typing this in KompoZer, rather than FrontPage.
• Limited version branding. The fact that EG is in version 27 is displayed prominently on the Index Page  and in the slidebar. "28" will appear only under Website Info . The NAVbar and SLidebar also have public version numbers, which will not exist at all anymore.

Please note the circle behind the "10" in version 28's logo. The fact that EG's start date could be written in binary: "01/01/01" was a big reason for when I registered the domain. Now, we approach another such date, where the last digits are swapped. I decided that this is appropriate, that perhaps my online presence started at "mode zero" (00) back in 1999, then switched to "mode one" (01) when I moved up to my own domain name, which was more reliable, roomy, and customizable. Now, egrabow.com has come into maturity, "mode two" (10 in binary), where I'm beyond experimenting and changing things on whims. We shall see. Of course, now I'm wondering what "mode three" (11) would be... Ah well, one step at a time.

During my years as an active TV DXer, it's been a habit of mine to capture as many catches as I could on tape. Between 1997 and 2008, everything from semi-local low power stations to record breaking e-skip has filled up five VHS tapes (pictured in this post ); that number doubles when I add scattered early recordings as well as the very last ones in '08.

Since new recordings seem unlikely (and since I'm still cleaning out my old VHS tapes), I've brought the recordings together and compiled them into two DVDs. I made the videos widescreen, since 16:9 is becoming a popular aspect ratio, and because I could fit the whole 4:3 recording and have room for information on the side, even including path maps. In all, ten and half hours of recorded static were condensed into three hours of IDs, newscasts, local/national commercials, and whatever else I used to ID the stations.

I don't know if TV DXing is a hobby I'll pick up again, but I'm glad I found a classy way to remember it's first (childhood) run. If anyone is interested in a copy, let me know.

DX/Radio Page
Patchogue TV Logs
Fort Myers TV Logs

I've posted the first "All-Time Top 12 Novels" list on the What I'm Watching Page . As with the TV Shows list, this will be updated every July.
 

2009 All-Time Top 12 Novels
Rank	Title/ Series	Author	Release	Genre
1	1984	George Orwell	1949	Dystopian, Social Science Fiction
2	Atlas Shrugged	Ayn Rand	1957	Philosophical
3	Spin	Robert Charles Wilson	2005	Science Fiction
4	Just a Couple of Days	Tony Vigorito	2001	Philosophical
5	New York Trilogy, The	Paul Auster	1987	Mystery
6	Animal Farm	George Orwell	1945	Political Satire
7	Legend of Drizzt (series, mostly read)	R.A. Salvatore	1990s	Fantasy
8	Dragon DelaSangre (series, some read)	Alan F. Troop	2002	Modern Fantasy
9	Fahrenheit 451	Ray Bradbury	1953	Dystopian
10	Demon	Tosca Lee	2007	Supernatural
11	A Clockwork Orange	Anthony Burgess	1962	Social Science Fiction
12	Dragons in Our Midst (series, some read)	Bryan Davis	2004	Modern Fantasy

The philosophical works did as well as I expected, with "1984" and "Atlas Shrugged" topping the list, and the more recent "Just a Couple of Days" landing #4. I was disappointed with the lack of Christian titles on it, recently-read "Demon" being the highest at #10, and the "Dragons in our Midst" series barely getting in at #12 (the latter is for a YA audience).

The top 12 indicates my preference for deeper, intellect-intensive, fiction mingled with sweeter, imagination-intensive, fantasy. As I search for a publisher for my own novel, I will continue looking for books in the neighborhood of "Christian Philosophical Science Fantasy," and hopefully the 2010 list will dislodge many of the titles on this one.

The TV shows list has also been updated for 2009:

2009 All-Time Top 15 TV shows
Rank	Show Title	Release	Genre
1	Sliders (esp. seasons 1-3)	1995-2000	Science-Fiction
2	Lost	2004-now	Sci-Fi Mystery
3	Stargate SG-1 (esp. seasons 1-5)	1997-2007	Science-Fiction
4	Haibane Renmei	2002	Anime Fantasy
5	Stargate Atlantis	2004-2009	Science-Fiction
6	Kino's Journey	2003	Anime Adventure
7	Touched by an Angel	1994-2003	Family Drama
8	Star Trek: Voyager	1995-2001	Science-Fiction
9	Reboot	1994-2001	CGI Adventure
10	Firefly	2002-2003	Space Western
11	Wolf's Rain	2003	Anime Adventure
12	Star Trek: The Next Generation	1987-1994	Science-Fiction
13	Paranoia Agent	2004	Anime Horror-Mystery
14	Day Break	2006	Action Thriller
15	Outlaw Star	1998	Anime Science-Fantasy

Like the December list indicated seven months ago, "Haibane Renmei", "Touched by an Angel", "Firefly", and "Day Break" have become favorites of mine. "Touched by an Angel", "Firefly", and "Wolf's Rain" are shows I'd originally seen years ago, but have stayed with me over time. "Haibane Renmei" is the highest an anime series has ever gone on the list, and "Kino's Journey" is rising fast, as the 13-episode series is holding more of its "staying power" than... sayyy... Star Trek.

I've decided at last to make the title of my novel public: "Caffeine." Short. Sweet. Meaningful.

I'll still withhold story details, though I'm tempted to post a sample chapter or two. With my TV DX DVD (almost) done, I'm putting focus back on publishing the book: trying more agents, considering my options, and praying for guidance. In the meantime, two other book ideas have materialized, and I need to decide which to develop first. Until a contract says otherwise, though, I don’t intend to hold myself to a schedule for my second book.

Official Caffeine Page

There isn’t much more I add to Wake Up! Pro 2.5, while staying within Visual Basic 6, which was designed for Windows 98. My plans for Wake Up! Pro version 3 involve an entirely different programming language, and support for both Linux and Windows Vista, but interest/money remains too thin to support such goals right now. I’m still an XP user, and an all-over-the-map sleep-schedule has made me a non-user of my own program, which isn’t so good for driving development.

WUP isn’t going away, of course; 2.5 will just remain the current version for a while longer, until I’ve assessed other/newer OSes enough to know what direction version 3 should take. In the meantime, different “flavors” of WUP may be developed by others. The VB source code is available on the Wake Up! Pro page for this very purpose. Of course, let me know if you do, and I can give you a link!

Friday was the end of television.

OK, that's an exaggeration. For most people, anyway. At noon on Friday, the last two full-power stations, WGCU 30 and WFTX 36, switched off their analog signals, leaving Fort Myers with a handful of religious and spanish low-power stations. As I did on February 17, I set up my televisions and shot the shutoffs with my camcorder. You'll find it on YouTube here .   And the Feb 17 video is still up here .

Here are some more links, all of these stations went out with newscasts, montages, or proper sign-offs. Most are shown going to static: WKRG 05 Mobile, AL WGHP 08 High Point, NC KDKA 02 Pittsburgh, PA WLNS 06 Lansing, MI KTCA 02 Minneapolis, MN WFAA 08 Dallas, TX WCIU 26 Chicago, IL WPSD 06 Paducah, KY KATU 02 Portland, OR WLWT 05 Cincinnatti, OH WRTV 06 Indianapolis, IN WISN 12 Milwaukee, WI WRC 04 and WTTW 05 Washington DC WXYZ 07 and WJBK 02 on vintage sets

Last day for analog DX 7 and 10 from Miami were coming in Friday night. WSVN was still in programming, WPLG 10 was simply airing this graphic. Before local WINK 11 shut-off in February, WPLG 10 was a difficult catch.

I'm making a pair of DVDs to replace the VHS cassettes I've been recording my (analog) TV DX on all these years. At some point soon, I'll take another shot at DXing digital. I don't think the hobby will ever become what it once was, but it's a door I gladly leave open.

As for my rants concerning this whole gov't-mandated switchover, I won't add anything to what I've already posted in February .
 

As if I ever left. *wink*

After a couple of weeks away from the desk, taking a breather after more work on the novel, I am now preparing to tackle some projects that aren't book related (almost forgot that there were others!). Is EG among them? 'Fraid not, at least not among the priorities. Most of what I need to do is housekeeping, online, on-computer, as well as some very-analog piles of clutter.

I don't usually post about family stuff, but my stepbrother Johnny just went to the hospital to have a cancerous tumor dealt with. A website has been put up for him at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/johnnyboy. Please remember him in your prayers.

I've decided to focus my novel-publishing attempt to finding an agent in the CBA (Christian) market. Though I'm not ruling out secular agents/publishers, I did create the second draft on the assumption that it'd be marketed as Christian, and competition within that market is also less stiff. Time is limited and I want to keep this process moving, so, I also welcome the prospect of signing with an agent to handle publisher-house stuff. Of course, this increases the time publishing will take, but the direction a good agent provides will make up for that. May the Lord guide me to the right one.

This process has also caused me to commit to something I’ve been doing off-and-on for the past two years: Find other authors who write fiction I like, especially if their genre/subgenres resemble my own work. Their publishers would be the ones more likely to take my novel. And, if I should find a good book or two as a “side effect”, so be it.

I'm thrilled to announce the completion of my 125,000 word novel, at least to the degree where it's ready to be submitted to publishers; please join me in praying that it finds its way to the right one.

So, what have I accomplished since October 23, 2007? Having a full novel typed out definitely feels like an accomplishment (it did back in August, but now, after two stages of editing, it actually reads like a published novel) and, if I may be a little biased, it's one of the best works of fiction I'd ever read. No, that's not biased at all. ;-) It began as an experiment to see if I could write seriously, and it was two months before I mentioned this project to anyone. In March, a year ago, I saw the project as a success and decided to devote more time to it. I also noticed that no existing work (that I could find published) resembled mine, and the Lord laid it on my heart to finish the work without delays. The novel consumed the lion's share of my free time until it was typed-out in August, and again for the First Edited Draft until December. For January, I finally let myself take a break (there was a short break in August, but it didn't count because I had to focus on my promotion/shift-change at work). The break was necessary to let my brain cool off and regain the objectivity I'd need to finish editing; it also gave my test-readers time to give me feedback. With today's completion of the Second Draft, the writing stage officially ends, and my energy can go elsewhere, such as preparing for publishers/agents/whatever else. I have to write a cover letter... I hate cover letters.

Now, unless you were on the short list of test-readers, you might be itching for me to post more on this site. <rampant bias> After all, the novel is the best fiction ever written, so I can hardly blame you, and it'll become a movie and make piles of money, and world peace will break out because it's just that good and philosophical. </rampant bias> I'm still deciding what to put on the Montclair/CAF Page (which won't have the project name, but the actual book title), the synopsis seems likely, once I've begun sending to cover/query letters to publishers.

A couple of years ago, I re-posted items from this blog to my MySpace Page , then called "EG SP". In July '07, I separated it from this site and made it part of egrabow_NTC, using it as the main page for my social networking stuff, and freeing egrabow.com to become more resource/ less personal site. Since then, I've basically done nothing with the MySpace page, and egrabow.com has gone in the opposite direction than I expected. It seems that posting on EG and copying to MySpace was the best way after all.

Beginning today, I'm restarting that practice and will eventually extend it to LiveJournal. The Front Page feature on egrabow.com will become it's NTC page. I'm also looking into setting up an RSS feed.

Last week, most commercial stations in Fort Myers (the english language ones, anyway) ended analog transmission. WTVK 46 abruptly turned off at noon. WINK 11 made a live shot of turning off their transmitter, arguably the best way to go. The two Waterman Broadcasting stations switched to “nightlight” programming, which is a looping NAB-produced video about how wonderful DTV is. WBBH 20 went off at midnight Friday, WZVN 26 is still looping the video.

DXing background and all, this was a moment I chose to witness. I set up 5 monitors and 4 VCRs to capture the switch-offs on Feb. 17. I also used my camcorder, and this led to my first YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgnAQVg_rME . You may notice that the center monitor, hooked up to the converter box, keeps freezing and glitching on WBBH. Yes, this is the future, an unwatchable picture and dropped audio. Thanks for your public service, FCC.

Oh well, over-the-air viewers have been a write-off for decades, anyway. Those who can’t afford/get cable in the fringe areas can be written off with a single sentence: “Some people had trouble converting, <TV station here> received phone calls from confused viewers all day.” I can’t image why they were upset.

As of now, WGCU 30 and WFTX 36 are the only full-power, English-language stations in this market. Miami, Tampa, and West Palm Beach didn’t “switch” to nearly the extent we did.

For those who didn't think digital was a good idea, here are a few links you may enjoy:
DTV causing reception problems for antenna users - DL-Online
Man shoots television after DTV tantrum - KARE 11
Choppy DTV Countdown - YouTube
The Truth About HDTV Signal Strength Reception Issues - YouTube
Goodbye Analog TV - WOWT 6 (NBC) and KYNE 26 (PBS) in Omaha, NE Go Digital - YouTube

After giving myself a month off from the project, I have officially begun the second round of editing my novel. Due to a vacation from work, I'm already done with 40% of it. I’m hopeful that I’ll be finishing this draft in as little as a few weeks. From there, I’ll be looking for publishing options.

As before, I’ll be posting updates on the Montclair/CAF Page. With the release of the second draft, I may decide to post the first 1-3 chapters on EG.

No, I'm not chucking out my VCRs and Tape Decks just yet, but I did take the time last week to clean out most of the old cassettes. Barely old enough to have ever used vinyl records, let alone to own any, cassettes were my first format. The Sony desktop recorder I got in 1990 was one of my first pieces of electronic equipment, and the number of cassette players/recorders peaked at nine, just two years ago (the Sony, three handheld voice recorders, two stereo cassette decks, a portable Casio stereo, a used walkman, and the deck in my car... the last two are gone now).

My first use for cassettes (at age 8) was as a toy, and some of the early recordings of me and my sister survived. I searched through the stacks of cassettes for anything sentimental, including a recording I made of Lady (our family cat) a decade ago, and recorded them to computer where they can be backed up. Also found: recordings of my old radio station attempt and the later work for Webradio WCWP. I've cut the number of cassettes in half, with a few more getting tossed this week.

The VHS tapes were easier, since they were full of Star Trek episodes and movies that I today either own or can download. Once I edit and compile all the TV DX onto DVD, I only expect to have a few left. All the demo material (WBBH/WZVN newscasts and work from college) has been condensed from over a dozen to just three cassettes.

Though I still use VCRs to record TV, audio recording moved to my computer a long time ago; even failing that, I use MiniDisc. I've meant to clean out my cassettes for years now, and its a relief to get around to it. My break from book-editing is coming to an end, and some work will remain to be done, but I'm very happy with the progress I've made so far. Now all I have to do is find something to fill the vacated space on my bookshelf.

Well, the Lord does work in mysterious ways, doesn't He?

After one arduous four-day work week, my partner-in-crime (the nightside director who works the weekends with me) decided that my hours worked better for her. After getting my blessing and the okay from our boss, we swapped schedules and (effective immediately) I am a nightside director. This is something I was hoping would happen eventually, but didn't dream that it would happen this soon. I'm still on the four-day week, of course, but now the two weekdays are those lovely hours I used to have as a Production Assistant. There are a million reasons why this hour shift is a good thing, among them is that I have more time to type this; it will benefit the book, this website, and many other things, by allowing me to make better use of my free time (I'll have more energy when it counts).

My first computer, a 133MHz generic PC I bought from my uncle in 1999, named the “EG133”… no longer has a working motherboard… or video card… yeah, one of those. I tried to fix it but the problem is evasive… and the old clunker isn’t worth so much trouble.

In spite of its ‘clunker’ status (which any 12+ year old PC gets, whether it works or not), I’m sorry to see it go. It was my first and only computer, used regularly until early 2003 when the new EG1400 replaced it (that computer is still the main one). Being the packrat/ geek that I am, I shoved it in my closet for the day it would useful for something again. That day came several months later, when I began testing software and operating system configurations on it. Before 2003 was out, I set it up as my alarm clock (running Wake Up! Pro), which remained its role until last month.

The mouse and monitor already busted, the olde-skool keyboard is the only original hardware left. It makes that wonderful clicky sound you don’t find on newer keyboards, but it also has the old 5-pin connector, which none of my other (newer and faster) computers have. I took down the EG500’s keyboard from my dining room wall and put the 133’s in it’s place… it’s got history, so maybe better conversation can be sparked from the wall décor.

Speaking of the EG500, which I just got from my mom a year ago, it is now the slowest computer, and it happens to just be collecting dust. EG500, I dub thee Wake Up! Pro computer!

The most visible upgrades for 2009, those involving logo-replacement, are now implemented. Hopefully, the v7ing (anyone remember that term? Didn’t think so…) of the EXIT 9 Page will be done next week during the first of many three-day weekends. Happy New Year, indeed.

Also, Happy Birthday to me… sort of. Due to a decision I made back in June, I de facto turned 27 on Thursday, even though my legal birthday isn’t until July. This is one of the many fallouts of early 2007’s self-discovery thing, which rippled through ’08 and will certainly come up in the Year in Review I haven’t typed yet. At 27, I think I’m getting too old for this. ;-)

I guess, more exactly, that this realignment of my 27^th birthday traces to the last one actually celebrated and celebrated in July: numero 25. The 25 Years thing (on this website) not only reminded me how close my birthdate was to the middle of the year (in a week, 27 will be more a more accurate age than 26), but also inspired the “MetaChronology”: a list of all lists that uses chronological order; the former made January 1^st more accurate, and the latter made it easier for the list (since calendar years and ages would be synchronized). Let’s also mention a third factor, one of the self-discovery things I decided I liked: chronic anti-conformity. Anyone can increment their age on their birthday… I’ll do something different just because it suits me… you can put social tradition on the same dusty shelf I left my common sense on.

Full circle: we went from version 8 to 27, using my age as the version number. I came up with this a couple of days after the age-increment-date decision, remembering that EG updates already happened on January 1^st. Since I’d already settled on the HD/ Personal Site theme in May, I decided that version re-numbering worked well.