The weather is gorgeous and I got very spoiled last week. But, I’m mostly working on editing at the moment, taking a break between that and avoiding getting to cycling. My very first Blockbuster rent-by-mail DVD arrived today. I can start cycling to Season Two of True Blood. I can finally see Season Two of True Blood!
Book sales seem to be picking up again after flatlining for a couple of days. I’d put through some changes on Amazon that finally posted to the detail pages, that might have been part of the issue.
Baker & Taylor has been scaring me to death in a most annoying fashion. Either they work a 24-hour shift down there or they have an automated system designed to avoid peak hours–but their faxes come in at around 4:00 a.m. The trouble is, because of health issues in my family, when I get an unexpected phone call at that time of night, I have a panic attack. I’m an insomniac at the best of times, the last thing I need right before bed is an adrenaline rush! I’m finally learning not to panic unless I don’t hear the fax beep, but it’s taken three or four pre-dawn calls to get there. At least I’m getting book orders, but, gods. I have enough white hair, the blue shows up very well as it is, thank you very much! 🙁
This week’s local paper reports that the town wells are at their lowest levels ever, on top of the Bemis well still being offline. The mandatory outside water use ban remains in effect indefinitely. We might get some serious rain on Monday. (Of course. Laundry day! But I can’t complain!) I’ll keep my fingers crossed! If we don’t get some good soaking rains, we’ll have a dud foliage season, and that wouldn’t be good for the local economy at all. On the bright side of that topic–okay, the slightly less gloomy side–today the Labor Department reported that Massachusetts reported strong job gains in July. That’s great, because employed people can buy books. 🙂
As far as my garden goes, I’m getting lots of tomatoes, but not more than I can eat (and I gave some to Dad). The marigolds and cornflowers are thriving in the dry conditions and will be included in my garden every year from now on. I won’t give up on the carrots until the very last bell has rung, but I don’t have high hopes.
I’m unhappy because my August issue of Locus, which was supposedly mailed on July 29, still hasn’t arrived, and I’ve been told that at least one of BLUM’s titles is listed in it. The June issue was very late, too. I was just on the point of asking Locus to send another copy (which they will do) when it arrived. It’s a pain–I subscribe precisely to get the magazine in a timelier fashion than I’d get it from the newsstand, and there hardly seems to be any point! The Fortean Times is delivered like clockwork and it’s printed in the U.K.!
I went up to Dad’s for a little quality time watching the Patriots’ pre-season game last night. I think Dad finds me a bit of a downer. I take the plays very seriously and I never assume that they’re going to win until the final call, no matter what the spread is at the half. Dad gets so enthusiastic in predicting how well the team will do…and then when they lose, you can actually see the dark rain cloud following him around and leaving puddles on the floor. 🙁 I don’t like it when they lose, either, but I tend to critique the plays more harshly no matter what the score is. I’m not a fun football buddy. :-(.
I hope everyone attending 5Pi-Con this weekend is having a wonderful time!