September 3, 2022 – A perfect nerd’s holiday! I went to Carnegie-Mellon University’s Robotics Makerspace AI lab and participated in an experiment learning to drive a robot by a combination of voice commands and tilting my head while wearing a hat with sensors in it! And they said they’d pay me for doing it! I’d …
August 2, 2022 – I had a good weekend at the Confluence convention hosted by Parsec, the Pittsburgh science fiction organization (http://confluence-sff.org/). The annual conference was finally back, and in-person! I especially enjoyed reading part of my story “Power to Power” at the Triangulation launch party; I like reading out loud to people. Only bad …
April 18, 2022 – My story WANT GOLD has been accepted by Daily Science Fiction (https://dailysciencefiction.com/)! I don’t yet have any information on when it will appear. More information to follow when I have it. I had a few anxious moments when I misplaced their acceptance email, but I’d just accidentally parked it in the …
April 11, 2022 – My story “Power to Power” will appear in the 2022 edition of Triangulation (parsecink.com), the annual anthology by the Pittsburgh science fiction and fantasy organization Parsec (parsec-sff.org)! Look for it this summer. And thanks, as always, to the Greensburg Writers’ Group for helping me make the story even better.
December 14, 2021 To the unvaccinated: If the surge in COVID cases and hospitalizations has made you question your decision, c’mon and join us! Everybody makes mistakes. Are you man or woman enough to admit a mistake and correct it instead of just digging in your heels to avoid losing face? To the vaccinated (like …
December 12, 2021 – I had a nice time at the virtual Pittsburgh Writing Workshop yesterday (can someone be “at” a virtual workshop?). Being online was good because a lot more agents than usual were able to attend. Being online was bad because I couldn’t meet the other attendees, nor even know whether other attendees …
November 25, 2021 – Happy Scott Joplin’s birthday (a day late)! I just recently got his “Solace” up to speed on the piano. I’d always admired this odd, non-ragtime piece since I heard it in the movie “The Sting” (even though I was a Joplin fan even before “The Sting” came out), but never spent …
My father passed away last Wednesday, Sept. 8. WWII vet, engineer, singer, spiritual seeker, and generally great guy. I can’t complain too much; he was 97, in decent health until the last week, and being well looked after by the Redstone assisted living home, but still … We all miss him.
April 30, 2021 – Last day of “real” work as I retire early (from my engineering job, not from writing!). Less engineering output, more literary output, I hope!
November 24, 2020 – Happy Scott Joplin’s birthday, for any other ragtime fans! True, not directly related to writing, but a big deal to me (kind of like Schroeder from Peanuts and Beethoven’s birthday). His Maple Leaf Rag is what drew me back to the piano at the age of 13, adding that hobby to …