Beware the "Sale" Price: I went to the grocery store today. I was only going in for a couple of things so I tried not to think about the pre-holiday craziness that awaited me. Clementines were on my list. Last week they were $5.99 and I was happy to see them on sale for $4.99 today. A dollar is a dollar, right? Right, except that my dear grocery store receipt claims that the original price was $8.88 and would like my "supercard" to claim credit for saving me $3.89. I think not. I've seen misleading sale prices at this store before - the original price goes up while the sale price goes down, creating the illusion of a 20% savings when there's really only a 10% savings - but never quite as impressive as this one. I would have pointed out the absurdity to my cashier but the poor dear was having trouble with basic stuff and seemed to be (hopefully) nearing the end of a very long shift.

Given all the lovely economic factors we're facing lately, I'm sure we'll see a lot more "sale price" manipulation like this. So fun.

Thanksgiving: Cookies are baked, frosted and packed in plastic boxes for safety. Driving will happen tomorrow. Have a wonderful holiday and long weekend everyone!


Black Friday: Threadless is having a great Black Friday sale: all t-shirts will be $9. You can put stuff in your cart now and it will probably still be there on Friday, thus making the Black Friday thing even easier. (If you're not familiar with Threadless, they make silly, strange and off-the-wall t-shirts.) My plans for Friday include pajamas and possibly cinnamon rolls. I will leave the hunting and gathering on the craziest shopping day of the year to braver, stronger, more foolish souls. I just don't have it in me to deal with the crowds, chaos, questionable service and high-density of stupid that Black Friday usually entails. (And, having said this, the Fop will probably try to drag me out somewhere.)

Kittens and cats: The girls are truly growing into their mini-cat title. They've lengthened, gotten sleeker and gained quite a bit of weight. They're starting to look more like cats than kittens but rest assured their kitten behavior hasn't really changed. We are currently receiving broadcasts from the Cat Planet which have the mini-cats flying about the 2nd floor with great energy and bushy tails. Tennyson watches suspiciously. He keeps shifting where he's watching from, though, probably in a vain attempt to not become part of the race track.


Yes, Mr. Paw, karma. He's been retreating to the bedroom regularly for a few hours of peace and quiet so his napping might be back on schedule. I think the kittens are a little much for him some days. He is the Big Cat! and the Boyfriend! (sometimes with more than one exclamation point) so the mini-cats want to follow him everywhere and be as close as possible to him as much as they can. This appears to try his patience. For now, the mini-cats are still contained at night due to Terrible Tasha and her tinkling tendencies. Tennyson is just fine with this.

Long weekend: I don't really have a lot of plans for the weekend. I want to get some organizing done in my closet and my office and figure out some holiday stuff. I know, I'm super-exciting.

Cross-posted from digital-tree.com...

Yes, this is a big tease.

( Pretty! )

We are working on the text to go with the pretty cover. There will be numerous e-formats. No print edition planned for now, but we'll see. It's all part of the grand experiment. Watch the skies, and Book View Cafe. There will be a free teaser chapter when the book is ready to go live.

• 18:50 RT @FakeAPStylebook: Do not abbreviate "Maine." They will call the newsroom and whine in that ridiculous fake accent of theirs. #
• 18:53 @bethmeacham Cai, Pooka, that black guy in DC (even if we want to smack him sometimes). #
• 10:23 "We don't really know, but we're guessing hard": RT @nytimes
  Expert Answers on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome bit.ly/6tx11c #
• 14:56 Camilla begs to differ: RT@TheHorse Off-the-Track Thoroughbred Dubbed 'World's Smartest Horse' bit.ly/4Ic8aM #
• 14:59 @smoemeth I'm plotting a batch tomorrow. Mmmmm Irish bread. #

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We had Ask Editor Laura, and now it's time to put my darling agent Michelle under the microscope! You guys know what to do--post your questions to DA Michelle here, and I'll collect them and send them to her. I will not pass along questions concerning submitting books to her--if you're interested in that, you can visit her website and look at the requirements.

But if you've ever wondered what an agent does, what she does for me, how many times a week I call her up and giggle into her voice mail, etc., now's the time to post those questions! I'll collect them for a few days, then zap them off to her.

On a somewhat related note:

As linked by someone on JournalFen:

Bohemian Rhapsody, as performed by the Muppets



No words for how awesome this is. None.

Given, there's little that involves the Muppets that isn't made of win and awesome, but....

(YTF do I not have any icons of the Muppets on here? Will fix that tonight.)

Prompted by jessenigma26's post on the matter (and I got the link from her):

[Adam Lambert's gay kiss on stage gets 1500 complaints]

First of all, since I missed the AMAs, and in case anyone else didn't see it:

Bah, it got pulled down. If I find another one, I'll put it back up.

First, a disclaimer: Yeah, I love him. I've never watched American Idol past the auditions until this season, during which Mom would yell in here that he was on, and I'd flip it over and watch. And no, this wasn't one of his better performances, music-wise.

Also: Seriously, folks. You watched him on Idol, you know he's gay, and you're surprised by the kiss? If anything, I'm a bit surprised him shoving the guy's face into his crotch didn't get as many complaints as the kiss, since they didn't cut away from that one.

The bigger issue here, though, should be: Who the fuck cares?

I look at something like that, and yes, it was closer to a facesuck than a little kiss, but... Let's compare that to stuff that happens on some of the higher rated television shows, shall we? How many of those involve pretty graphic violence, or language, or near nudity, or what have you? And people gladly settle in for those every week.

I get so. tired. of people getting offended every time someone sneezes. Yes, there's stuff on tv and so on that makes me cringe a bit, but - there's this wonderful invention called "the power button", or the "channel button" on remote controls (or the "x" button, if you're watching something on the computer). It makes whatever you're watching magically go away. And I find that a lot easier - and a lot less stressful - to make use of instead of getting all up in arms every time something happens that I don't like.

And I've never been out of the States, so I really can't talk about other countries - just basing it on what I've seen from other, non-American stuff I watch and so on: Americans are really good at the whole offended thing. And, IMHO, it's usually over the wrong things. Let's get up in arms over a two second kiss but keep watching certain cable news channels that are making a habit of reusing footage and spouting lies and false information and so on. Let's blindly jump on every train and bandwagon because people say we should. Let's go out and trample each other to death over sales prices to get the Next Best Thing, but God forbid anyone dare to try and use our money to make our country a better place.

*sighs* I know I'm lucky to live in the U.S. I know there are much worse places I could be living. And it's not the country I don't like - it's just the idiots in it. Like the joke goes, 99% of [insert despised group here - usually lawyers] give the rest a bad name. And it's so true.

A woman came in the store last night to pick up Adam's new CD, and we got to talking about him (she was such a rabid fangirl to the point of carrying pictures of him in her purse. It was hilarious and adorable, considering she was older than me. XD), since I'd said he was the reason I'd actually watched past the auditions for once.

And then we got onto the topic of him being so flamboyant and so on, and it was so obvious she was scared to death to even mention him being gay. I so wanted to tell her "really, it's okay. I couldn't give a flying flip about who he prefers to go to bed with". But it's so the mindset in this area that I don't blame her for being worried to bring it up. I feel like getting a button for my lanyard with something about "open-minded" or "Southern Christian, but not a bigot" or something like that. Because she's not the first person that's happened with.

I just. *sighs* I guess I wish people would get over themselves, or something. Because things are rarely as big a deal - or actually intended to be OMG Against Them - as they make it out to be.

I so love Adam for this line from that article, though: Lambert, who performed his debut single For Your Entertainment, said that if people had been upset by his performance that it is a "form of discrimination and it's too bad". Because, while he's preaching to the choir there, and the people that need to realize it's prejudice already know it is, at least he pointed it out.

At what age did you spay your corgi? I'm conflicted... I want for Lola to fully develop, but I don't want her to be at risk for cancer, and I don't plan on ever breeding her (she has limited registration, anyway). So she will be spayed eventually; the question is when. I was thinking 6 months, which should be right before her first heat. Any thoughts?

And a picture:

• 18:54 @smoemeth Jane Lynch in anything = awesome. #
• 10:47 @starfall42 You know what that means. PICTURES!!!!! #
• 10:52 @smoemeth If it's apple you can freeze it. Though it should keep. #
• 10:59 @smoemeth Buy two. Freeze one. #
• 15:09 @bethmeacham Are you sure? Or did we bump into an(other) alternate reality? #
• 15:11 RT @bookviewcafe Today's Special from Judith Tarr: - Piece de Resistance - read it for free at www.bookviewcafe.com #

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I was going to use an older guy for today's DGM, but then I saw Nir, and I figured I'd give those of you who like your eye candy fresh a chance to enjoy him.



He certainly does know how to do brooding well, doesn't he?



I mean, shoot, even lying wet and naked on the sand, he's brooding. Maybe the sand is chafing?



I, for one, would be perfectly agreeable to looking at him again in about ten years. Maybe seven. Oh, what the heck, five.

This week's story at Book View Cafe is an encore from last summer and a fan favorite: my medieval cooking competition story (written decades before "Top Chef"), "Piece de Resistance." Enjoy!

And of course there is a Horseblog. This week we're talking about "Doctoring the Equines, or, how to treat various equine ailments in non-Western-technological ways.

While you're at it, don't forget the Wind in Cairo sale. Details here. Just one week left to take advantage of the sale!

Btw if you or your gift list would prefer the e-version, it's available as a PDF download on the site. I have listened to you and will be working on getting other formats up there--those would be available through Book View Cafe. Watch this space.

We have lots of other plans, too. 2010 will be a good year for Cool Stuff From Dancinghorse.

• 18:12 @patinagle I saw her blog the other day. Remember when that used to be high midlist? #
• 14:19 @wojsvenwoj All right, all right. I melted my banana. Now what? #

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• 21:02 ZOMG Greek yogurt ZOMG homemade tzatziki mmmm nom nom nom #
• 22:03 @smoemeth That was what made me try it. ZOMG. You can eat it right out of the tub. It's glorious. #
• 10:04 @smoemeth Safeway carries it here! Going to get some next time I'm over there. #

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I saw these at Acme and thought of Ted and all the other Tastykake addicts I've met.

Yes, my local grocery store is named Acme. Yes, I think that's very cool. The store leaves something to be desired but it's close and convenient. And named Acme!

If anyone actually wants a Tastykake USB mouse or holiday ornament, yes I will go pick one up for you.

But a Tastykake mouse? Seriously?

Cross-posted from digital-tree.com...

• 18:54 @neutronjockey And you can make the pointy-toed boot to do it with. #
• 20:55 This will drive your cats insane. RT @BoingBoing Meow Mix bit.ly/3lBL9E #
• 11:58 RT @FakeAPStylebook "Awesome" implies feelings of reverence or fear. Great Cthulhu is awesome, as is the latest Taylor Swift single. #

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Clunk.

Clunk.

Clunk.

Hear that? It's the sound of me banging my head on my desk. Yes, as those of you who wander the Twitter path know, I had a moment yesterday afternoon when it suddenly struck me that I'd made a serious error in the plotting of the book I'm writing now, and I needed to stop and do some serious replotting in order to fix things.

Normally such moments are about relatively minor things, but this one...*clunk*

So I spent part of last night, and most of this morning working out a replotted structure. This isn't a huge deal, as Editor Laura, in consideration of the Swineyness that held the hub and I in its viral grip a few weeks ago, gave me some extra time to write this book, and thus it's not due in ten days (when it should have been turned in). But still, it's a quarter written and now I have to tear bits of it apart and add new stuff. The good news is that most of what I've written can be worked into the new vision of the book. Yay for salvaging that love scene!

That's what's consuming me today. No actual writing of the story itself, just writing pages and pages of plot. So. Much. Fun.

Clunk.

Happy Friday, everyone!