Date: 2010-02-04 20:22 Subject: The perils of watching too much TV with cats.... Security: Public

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Date: 2010-01-28 21:42 Subject: ... mmmmm ... caffeine.... Security: Public

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Date: 2010-01-17 18:21 Subject: Still in South Carolina... Security: Public

Found this on the beach this morning:


But since it was still occupied, I tossed him back into the surf.



Gorgeous day today, ranging from fog to sun to rain to sun. Gotta love South Carlina in January, when 60 degrees is both possible and common.

Date: 2010-01-16 15:38 Subject: Greetings from the Isle of Palms, SC Security: Public

Toes in the sand
Originally uploaded by AllisonStein

Spending the weekend with my Sweetie's family at Isle of Palms, SC. Here's my obligatory toes in the sand photo. It's a bit chilly, but hey -- a 52-degree rainy day in South Carolina beats any January day in KC.

Date: 2009-12-24 22:24 Subject: Merry Christmas! Security: Public

Merry Christmas!
Originally uploaded by AllisonStein

The weather outside is frightful. Have a safe and Merry Christmas, everyone!

Date: 2009-12-23 17:29 Subject: Mischief clearly doesn't want me to paint today.... Security: Public

Mischief clearly doesn't want me to paint today....
Originally uploaded by AllisonStein

I attempted to paint today. I have a large, fabulous desk. I have the paints, the brushes, the tools. I even have some inspiration and inclination. But I also have a furry assistant who refused to get out of the way. If you find cat hair in my paintings, consider it to be her personal contribution of a mixed media work of art.

Date: 2009-12-11 17:13 Subject: Last minute gift idea: art. You know you want it.... Security: Public

Still looking for a gift for that crazy cat lady on your list? How about Mom or Grandma or your dear old auntie?

Check out my Etsy shop for an assortment art featuring of cats and cute critters. Many of them are very affordable small originals for $15 or less plus shipping. Some are matted and ready to frame. If the one you like isn't, just ask. For my LJ friends, I'll add a mat for free.

I also have a new Zazzle shop with stocking stuffers like buttons and mugs, but I plan to expand the selection to include more images and other products soon.

If you're a fan of my darker art, I still have some prints available for $25 including mat and shipping. Check the Dark Gallery on my website for images and contact me by email for the Paypal info. If you're local to KC, I take cash and I'll cut you a deal if I don't have to ship it.

Date: 2009-12-10 23:55 Subject: I hath tweeted... Security: Public

Tweet Tweet

• 10:54 Star Wars in Concert in KC was fabulous last night - totally over-the-top multimedia experience. Great music, good seats, good time. #
• 13:11 Are Twitter and Facebook having a spat? My tweets don't appear to be cross-posting anymore ...what's up with that? #
• 14:01 @fireflylive Thanks. Seems like every time FB changes something, everything else breaks. #

Date: 2009-12-10 13:05 Subject: I hath tweeted... Security: Public

Getting my LoudTwitter acount working again.

Tweet Tweet

• WED 15:18 Looking forward to seeing Star Wars In Concert tonight at the Sprint Center! #
• THUR 10:54 Star Wars in Concert in KC was fabulous last night - totally over-the-top multimedia experience. Great music, good seats, good time. #

Date: 2009-12-08 15:41 Subject: My loyal studio assistant... Security: Public

My loyal studio assistant.
Originally uploaded by AllisonStein

Two problems with letting the cats into my office/studio: 1) they get cat hair in the paints and 2) they drink the rinse water.

Date: 2009-12-04 10:47 Subject: Is it cold enough for you yet? Security: Public

It's the coldest morning of the season today -- 16 degrees -- according to the local weather geek. Last night, the local weather diva told us to expect freezing drizzle on Sunday evening and six inches of snow on Wednesday morning. I'm not a big fan of cold weather, or the dry air that comes along with it. The mild weather we've enjoyed throughout November has been amazing and much appreciated.

Where I've Been -- I drove to Cincinnati to spend Thanksgiving with family. While there, I explored the Land of Ikea, and the only things that really impressed me were how flat they actually pack their merchandise, and the Swedish meatballs in the cafeteria. My sister thinks the store is really big. She hasn't seen Nebraska Furniture Mart.

What I'm Reading -- To keep me company on the long drive, I listened to "Death Du Jour", a Temperance Brennan mystery by Kathy Reichs. The Brennan character in the novel is quite different from the character in the television show "Bones". She's older, wiser, and more socially adept. The novel is intricately plotted and compellingly written, and kept my attention from beginning to end. I'm looking forward to reading other novels by this author.

What I've Been Doing -- The job search meanders on, as I expect it will until after the first of the year. This town is flush with unemployed marketing professionals. I did get a rare rejection note from an employer, letting me know he had over 100 qualified candidates for the position (which required extensive experience and some old-school skills). Most employers don't even bother to let you know you've been rejected.

What I Just Bought -- I finally bought and installed a new printer so I can actually print stuff in the colors they were meant to be, rather than in their complementary opposite and/or just magenta. I scored a great deal on an Epson photo printer/scanner/copier at OfficeMax. The one I ordered online was put on backorder, so I bought one locally and tried to cancel the order. But the second printer shipped anyway. My sweetie has claimed the extra unit for his own, and is now looking for a good home that will appreciate his old fully-functional Lexmark printer/scanner/copier. My old Canon has served me well since 2002, but it has gone irreparably feebleminded. Alas, it is destined to reside next to its predecessor, neglected and forlorn, in the basement where all of our electronics go to die (because we're too cheap and lazy to pay someone to recycle our dead computer stuff).

Date: 2009-12-02 13:25 Subject: Still testing.... Security: Public

I've tweaked settings on LiveJournal and on FaceBook. I'm still trying to get the two talking to each other.... let's see what happens....

Update 1: Well, THAT seems to have worked. Let's see how long THAT lasts. I think it was a problem with the LiveJournal Connect app on FB.

Date: 2009-12-02 12:02 Subject: Nothing to see here, move along... Security: Public

This post is merely a test to see if my LiveJournal will actually post to my Facebook. All my settings say it should, but it doesn't appear to work. So, there's nothing to see here, move along.

Update 1: Well, that was interesting. LJ threw up a FB permissions screen. I filled it out, authorized what it asked me to authorize, and then went to FB to see if it posted. Not yet... I'll check again later.

Update 2: I gave it 30 minutes to see if it was stuck in a queue somewhere. Still nada....

Date: 2009-11-18 12:18 Subject: Looks like November found us... Security: Public

I keep sitting down to write a post but I keep getting distracted. The cold, gray November weather isn't helping my creativity one bit. On the positive side, the new windows are keeping the house warmer. In the past, the temperature in my office/studio was 3 or more degrees colder than the thermostat setting. Today, it's spot-on, or perhaps a fraction of a degree warmer. I still need to rearrange the lighting up here, and perhaps get brighter, full-spectrum bulbs.

Date: 2009-11-11 09:51 Subject: On job-hunting and home-ownership.... Security: Public Tags: house, job

Good morning, all. I haven’t forgotten you. I check my friends page daily, but I just haven't been posting here. I have, however, been jotting notes to myself on paper, keeping up with my email, posting to Facebook, puttering around the house, and applying for jobs.

Too much time on my hands…
Job openings are few and far between, but you know that already. Add to that equation the fact that I have 20 years of hands-on creative and project management experience as a marketing and public relations writer/editor, but limited direct departmental and people management experience, and the options narrow even further. Basically, I have too much experience for the available hands-on roles, and not enough experience for the available management roles. Looks like I’ll be out here a while.

My goal is to make at least five new relevant job applications or contacts per week.

There’s no place like home….
We finalized the purchase of the house in September after living here for over nine years. Now it’s ours. Prior to closing, the landlord sent in a crew to make repairs. They did a fabulous job of it and went above and beyond the call of duty, but everything was topsy-turvy and covered in plaster dust in the rooms they worked in. So we deep cleaned it.

After the closing, we had new windows installed throughout the house, which meant we had to pack up and move everything that was within three feet of a window – including furniture, window treatments, and many, many books -- and then move it back. I’m still working on putting things back, decluttering as I go. I also need to make the house as toddler-friendly (and as toddler-proof) as possible before Thanksgiving.

Our house is a very, very fine house, with two cats ....
I’ve also started planning our first three remodeling projects – first the bathrooms, then the kitchen. I’m having trouble with selecting paint for the downstairs bathroom, which has entirely too many different colors of tile – cream, green, lavender, black, and two shades of white. If I can find a shade of green and a shade of warm white that work in there, I’ll consider it a win.

... in the yard...
And I raked the yard. Twice. The result was fourteen over-stuffed bags full of leaves -- and that's just the front yard. It needed to be done, and the weather was nice. Don't expect it to happen very often.

I have several other projects in progress, so I’d better get too it.

Date: 2009-11-10 09:12 Subject: This post is sponsored by the number "40"... Security: Public

In honor of Sesame Street's 40th Anniversary I present the following musical moment, selected with the Neil Patrick Harris fans on my friends list in mind:

Date: 2009-10-31 11:00 Subject: Happy Halloween! Security: Public

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Date: 2009-10-13 09:56 Subject: It's official. They've run out of ideas.... Security: Public

This little tidbit was promoted in today's email from the giant bookseller I patronize:

Date: 2009-09-30 09:46 Subject: What were they thinking? Security: Public

On this lovely fall morning, the final day of September, the first music track I hear on StreamingSoundtracks.com is …. “Christmastime Is Here” from A Charlie Brown Christmas. Call me Grinch, but it’s too darn early for Christmas music. It's bad enough that the craft stores start stocking Christmas in July. Can we at least wait until after Halloween to start decking the halls?

Date: 2009-09-29 16:21 Subject: My Archon schedule, and question for the LJ hivemind.... Security: Public

Archon starts on Friday, and I am so not ready! I still have lots of work to do before I leave, including cutting mats for and packaging new art, filling out those annoying mutli-part carbon bid sheets, and prepping for my panels. My schedule is posted below.

Note re: the Saturday 11:10 AM panel on Creating Believable Plots…it’s just me and Guest of Honor Eric Flint, author of the 1632 alternate history series and other acclaimed works. How did THAT happen? I’m speechless. I’ve alerted the program chair that I intend to act as Mr. Flint’s interviewer and moderate the Q&A, similar to the GOH panel I moderated with Ellen Datlow at ConQuesT.

So I pose the question to the great LJ hivemind: what questions should I ask Eric Flint about creating believable plots and keeping the reader intrigued?

FRI 11:00 AM -- Great Rivers B – Art Show opens at 11 a.m.! Come see all the pretty shiny stuff, and buy lots of art!

FRI  5:00 PM -- Cahokian -- Playdoh Sculptures / Children's Programming -- What can you make? (Kendall R. Hart, Butch Honeck, Allison Stein) This is going to be fun. I love watching Butch work.

FRI 7:30 PM -- Great Rivers B -- Artist Reception  -- Meet the artists and see lots of pretty, shiny art! I’ll be there for the first hour, then it’s off to a panel for me!

FRI 8:30 PM -- Salon D:5 -- The First 100 Words -- Getting out of the slush and into the story (Allison Stein, Selina Rosen, Dave Creek, Brock J. Hanke)

SAT 10:30 AM -- Great Rivers B – Art Show opens for the day. If you missed the pretty shiny stuff on Friday, come see it on Saturday and buy lots of art! Bid early, bid often! Bidding closes at 4 pm.

SAT 11:10 AM -- Salon D:4 -- Suspending Disbelief and Keeping the Reader Turning the Pages -- Believable plots (Allison Stein, Eric Flint*) See question above. What should I ask Mr. Flint?

SAT 4:00 PM -- Great Rivers B – Art Show bidding closes. Don’t forget to bid early, bid often! Lots of pretty, shiny art… don’t miss it!

SAT 8:30 PM -- Marquette B -- From the 60's to the 90's and Beyond -- The great stuff we grew up with, and what will our grandkids watch? (Den Dotson, Allison Stein, Van Plexico, Brock J. Hanke) I guess word got out about my media-drenched childhood and current addiction to TV.  Could be fun. However, this panel overlaps with the Masquerade. I wonder if anyone will show up?

SAT 10:30 AM -- Great Rivers B – Art Show opens until noon for last minute quick sales. Don’t forget!

SUN 12:20 PM -- Salon D:4 -- Indiana My Hero  -- Does it get any better than this? Or is he too old to make our hearts flutter? (Bradley Denton*, Allison Stein, Bobbi Meserole*, Linda Wyatt) Not only do I get to talk about one of my favorite movie series (Indiana Jones) and my first big crush (Harrison Ford), I get to be on a panel with BRAD DENTON!! (Eat your heart out, conbarbie ! )