About the Administrative category
The Administrative category is to highlight my policies and any other details you might need to know about. I don’t expect there will be many entries here, but I wanted them to be easy to find.
About the Various category
The Various category is for, well, anything that doesn’t belong in some other category. I’m new to general blogging, so I’m not sure what I’ll wind up putting here. This category, and maybe other categories, are likely to evolve as I go along.
About the News category
The News category is for posts about what I’ve been up to, mostly writing-related.
Heart valve
February 1, 2023 – I just had surgery to replace my heart’s aortic valve. I’d known for a couple of years it had aortic stenosis (inability to pass enough flow) caused by a combination of a birth defect and aging, but only recently did the condition suddenly jump into the “severe” category and require surgery …
WANT GOLD in Daily Science Fiction
November 15, 2022 – My flash piece WANT GOLD is today’s story from Daily Science Fiction! Here’s the link to the story: https://dailysciencefiction.com/science-fiction/aliens/james-r-hardin/want-gold I hope you like it!
Robot experiment
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 …
Confluence Convention 2022
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 …
Story in Daily Science Fiction
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 …
Story in Triangulation
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.
Vaccination – better late than never
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 …
Pittsburgh Writing Workshop 2021
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 …
Scott Joplin’s birthday
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 …
Dad passed away
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.