Monthly Archives: January 2012
Breaker, Breaker…
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I Heard the News Today, Oh Boy
I have actually had some loyal BC readers (all of whom are both attractive and intelligent) ask me when I do my writing. Now, usually only other writers are interested in how and where other writers write, so it’s nice see that readers and other people have an interest in this question. When people ask me this, my initial thought is “In the kitchen…with a knife…” but I usually mumble something like “Whenever I get to it,” or “When I’m slammed up against a deadline.” So, there’s nothing much to see there but I don’t want to disappoint units of loyal readers so I thought I’d make the topic a bit more grandiose and write about (cue the trumpet fanfare):
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The Modesty Rail
the sky
is blue
(self-evident)
and clear
looks like it
goes out to
eternity
( self-evident
and not true)
true that it fades
into near nothingness.
we fly
through the blue
and come back
in hours
some birds
fly for
days
if they are
lucky
satellites circle
without effort
as if
they are never
coming down
(not true)
they fall
all of them
after a while
through the near nothingness
through the blue
flaming across
the sky
red
orange
yellow
flowers against
the Large Place
of the
blue
(true)
–Dan Verner
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10,000 Hours
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A Serious and Smiling Writer
Her poetry has been published in Ignite Your Faith (formerly Campus Life Magazine) and her debut novel, Some Kind of Normal, was published by NorLights Press in 2009.
She also takes amazingly beautiful photographs. Indeed she has been put here in this place for a time such as this, and we are all better off for all that.
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Neighborhood HR Lady Comes to Town
Dan Verner: This is another classic thread, HR Lady. Will you be visting FB again soon with your magic carpet bag, flying above the city with your little pink parasol while charming chimney sweeps sing and dance on the roofs, at the same time contracting odious diseases from unprotected exposure to coal dust?
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Some Random Jottings
I know, every post could have the title of this one, but I do have a collection of random subjects to write about, so today is as good a time as any.
Lions and Tigers and…Panthers?
My dad’s financial guy extraordinaire, Mike Washer, was telling me that my dad told him that years ago there was a park ranger at Manassas Battlefield Park (about six miles from where we live) who was tired of deer overrunning the place and got some panthers to let loose and control the deer population. Since then there have been panther sightings around the area, including the Battlefield, Haymarket and Prince William Hospital. If you see a large black kitty cat, do not approach him/her/it. Raise your hands high above your head, back away slowly and intone “Nice kitty, kitty” in a low voice. Be careful. It’s a jungle out there….
Smarty Pants and Other Similar Appellations
I am indebted to Chorale soprano extraordinaire Marcy Pratt for this linguistic invention. Here’s the actual Facebook back-and-forth that we had about a new “pants” expression that Marcy used:
Marcy: Jessica Chastain played the blonde heroine of the Help (not the snotty pants [role]). 🙂
Dan: I love the idea of a “snotty pants” role. It’s just intuitively understandable. We had a security guy at school we called “Mr. Grouchy Pants.” Because he was.
Marcy: Yes, funny to think about now that you mention – “I’d like to audition for the Snotty pants role, please?” :)
Dan: I see it as a role type, kinda like an ingenue role or a best buddy role. “She was best know for playing Snotty Pants roles in a variety of films that spanned decades…”
A few days later, this series:
Dan: Look, Marcy, it’s Miss Snotty Pants’ sister! She has written a book!
Marcy: GREAT book, by the way! 🙂 LOVE Tina Fey!
Then, recently I found this passage in an article about a change in editorial leadership at the New Yorker magazine:
Who Knew? EZ Pass, i Phones and Automatic Backup
OK, so I’m not an Early Adopter when it comes to technology. We still have VCR’s and had the original NuTone intercom/radio that came with the house in 1967 when it was built, right up until we remodeled the kitchen about three years ago. So we just got EZ Passes for the cars. Incredible! When we drove to New Jersey to catch the Jersey Transit to Manhattan, we used the pass for tolls. Worked like a charm and saved us probably 15 minutes in travel time. We don’t use toll roads much but when we do, it’s EZ Pass all the way. Who knew?
And then daughter Amy’s bf Chris #2 (Macgee) gave me his iPhone 3 when he upgraded to a 4. It’s an incredible piece of technology and came in very handy when we were in New York for determining things like which way to go when we came out of the subway and the location of nearby restaurants. I can also check email on texts on the fly. Who knew these things were so useful?
And then there is my newest friend, Automatic Backup. Blogspot, which I’m using this very second, backs up my work every a couple of minutes or so. This has saved me hours of work when the power goes off or I hit an unknown combination of keys and lock the computer up or clear the post I’m working on. Who knew how useful this was?
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