AFK: January 2008 Archives

(not the same as revisions, but we have some of those too)

I'll be in NYC this weekend for various reasons, the most writerly of which include a weekend lunch with my agent to go over the last round of revisions and meeting up with Matt Cody, author of the upcoming Powerless, to coo over his newborn son. I'm told his amazing wife will be around as well, so that's a bonus.

The primary reason for the trip is, of course, to finish packing up the last of my fiance's things in anticipation of her move out to Denver next week. I can't describe how happy I am that we're finally at that dream-like future place that was always there and never here, and describing things is what I do for a living.

The last five days or so have prevented me from providing the high quality distractions from whatever-it-is-that-you're-supposed-to-be-doing-instead-of-reading-things-on-the -nternet, and for that I apologize.  Rather than fix that by delivering actual content, I thought I'd just talk about what's been keeping me from updating.

My daughter has contracted ... something.  The doctor believes it's shingles, but is also testing to make sure it's not a staph or strep infection (I didn't even realize you could get a strep infection externally), which are both a bit more of a problem.  Shingles (think localized chicken pox) is apparently more painful in adults, and the girl has been in remarkably good spirits despite itchy spots on her side and a slight fever.  The biggest problem at this point has been daycare, which she can't visit until everything she's recovered.

In canine news, Dizzy has a pretty serious series of 'attacks' on Saturday, involving a lot of muscle seizures and utter disorientation and loss of equilibrium.  I was able to narrow down the cause of that to dehydration, but the reason for the dehydration (she still won't go anywhere near a bowl -- I have to give her water with a turkey baster) is still up in the air.   The most recent news from the vet's test is good; it looks like it's some kind of thyroid gland under performance, which can be treated with supplements in her food.  I'm already inclined to believe that diagnosis, as it would explain some lingering questions regarding her general fitness. (The fact that when she and Jake eat the same amount of food, and are the same size, she gains weight while he loses it.)

That's been most of my spare time in the last few days.  Whenever I've had a few minutes to myself I've worked on the new website layout and cleaned up some old directories on the server that desperately need it.

Things to do this month: revisions on Hidden Things and scheduling flights to New York (both for the end of this month and in April).  I'm looking forward to meeting with my agent, face to face.

Things not to do this month: devote any more brain power to wedding reception seating arrangements.