Allison Stein's Live Journal

Is it cold enough for you yet?

darkart42@yahoo.com — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:46:49 GMT

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).

Still testing....

darkart42@yahoo.com — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:25:26 GMT

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.

Nothing to see here, move along...

darkart42@yahoo.com — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:01:57 GMT

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....

Looks like November found us...

darkart42@yahoo.com — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:18:23 GMT

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.

On job-hunting and home-ownership....

darkart42@yahoo.com — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:56:24 GMT

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.

This post is sponsored by the number "40"...

darkart42@yahoo.com — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:17:44 GMT

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:

Happy Halloween!

darkart42@yahoo.com — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:00:33 GMT

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It's official. They've run out of ideas....

darkart42@yahoo.com — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:00:56 GMT

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

"A deadly virus turns its victims into the vicious undead when an Imperial prison barge breaks down in deep space with its load of prisoners--criminals and murderers, human and non-human."

A Star Wars zombie novel. It's official. They've run out of ideas.....

What were they thinking?

darkart42@yahoo.com — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:48:31 GMT

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?

My Archon schedule, and question for the LJ hivemind....

darkart42@yahoo.com — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:38:07 GMT

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 ! )

I'm back!

darkart42@yahoo.com — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:44:45 GMT

It's been so long since I had time to post here that I hardly know where to start. Big changes are afoot:

I was let go from my job last week as part of the company's complete re-org of the marketing department -- not an entirely unexpected occurrence. Many of you know that I've been there, done that, several times. I embrace these employment gaps as "creative sabbaticals", because I always come through on the other side recharged, refreshed, and ready to go.

My agenda for the next two weeks is to wrap up loose ends and benefits details from the old job, freshen up my resume and portfolio, dive deeper into the professional side of social networking (LinkedIn, anybody?), get my art ready for Archon, and prepare for my panel assignments.

Speaking of Archon, the draft schedule placed me on some really intriguing panels. When the final schedule is released, I'll post a list. My evil twin conbarbie and I will be arriving late on Thursday. See you there?

I spent several days in San Antonio earlier this month at the National Federation of Press Women Conference. I had a fabulous time, roomed with my best buddy petrini1 , saw many old friends, had a lovely chat with Heloise at the farewell reception, and picked up two third place national awards for my art blog and my reviews of Life On Mars for Firefox News. I attended the "social networking" track of workshops and learned a lot. I am now armed with ideas and techniques for blogging, but I still need to figure out how to make Twitter relevant.

I don't remember if I mentioned that my sweetie and I are buying the house we've been renting for these many years. All the details are falling into place, and the paperwork should be signed next week.

Soon, I will be updating the art blog and freshening up my Etsy shop.

That's all for now. More later!

darkart42@yahoo.com — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 04:55:01 GMT

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11:11 Here we go again.... (sigh) #
15:06 So far, so good.... #

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Zoom....

darkart42@yahoo.com — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:36:12 GMT

Just a quick hit and run. Update coming soon. Really. For now, I leave you with this:

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darkart42@yahoo.com — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 04:55:02 GMT

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08:44 Apparently, it's monsoon season in Kansas City.... #

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darkart42@yahoo.com — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 04:55:02 GMT

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15:09 Rumor has it LoudTwitter is back online....testing...testing... #

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Spoiler Warning....

darkart42@yahoo.com — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:42:31 GMT

I'm gonna say this now and get it over with: I haven't seen the new "Harry Potter" yet, and I won't be watching "Torchwood: Children of Earth" until Mr. Higgins returns next week. So don't be spoiling it for me, okay?

The great yogurt experiment....

darkart42@yahoo.com — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:15:21 GMT

I'm a fan of greek-style non-fat yogurt. It's plain. It's creamy. It's all natural. It tastes great with fresh fruit or a drizzle of honey. The downside: It's twice the price of the typical store-brand flavored yogurts.

Somewhere on the Internet, I stumbled across the explanation that greek-style yogurt is simply plain yogurt with less water in it. The article had do-it-yourself instructions for converting regular yogurt into greek yogurt. The results are in -- gravity works, and it works fabulously!

I started with a family-size tub of plain, all-natural, no-artificial-anything non-fat yogurt. I lined a large mesh strainer with a paper towel and placed it over a bowl large enough to support the strainer and deep enough to leave a couple inches of clearance where the water would collect.

I drained the existing water (about 1/4 cup) from the yogurt container and placed the yogurt itself into the paper-lined strainer, covered it with plastic wrap, and left it in the fridge overnight. This morning, I found 2 cups(!) of water in the bowl, leaving thicker, creamier yogurt in the strainer. Less volume, but more yum. I had some with fresh strawberries and honey for breakfast. Double yum.

So much for that experiment

darkart42@yahoo.com — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:50:20 GMT

Loudtwitter is down, and perhaps for good, due to catastrophic equipment failure. (See
http://loudtwitter.typepad.com/loudtwitter/2009/07/loudtwitter-is-dead-at-least-for-now-1.html for details.)

It was fun while it lasted. Does anyone know of an easy way to post to one of these three -- Twitter, Facebook, and LJ -- with automatic replication out to the others? I still have something that replicates my Twitter to my Facebook, but not LJ (or Dreamwidth).

Suggestions?

darkart42@yahoo.com — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 04:55:03 GMT

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19:44 Had dinner at Korma Sutra Cuisine of India in Overland Park, KS. Always good. Always too much food. Yum. Tonight: Shrimp Curry. Mmmmmmmmmmm #

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darkart42@yahoo.com — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 04:55:04 GMT

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12:54 Epidemic of "Driving While Stupid" today in Overland Park KS. Would you people just hang up the dang phone and watch where you're going? #

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My Soonercon Schedule ...

darkart42@yahoo.com — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:12:04 GMT

It’s going to be an action-packed weekend at SoonerCon in Oklahoma City this weekend! I’ll have art in the show, and lots of programming to participate in with some awesome co-panelists:

FRIDAY

5 p.m. -- Can Art Change The World? (D. Cherry, B. Hodgson, A. Viesca, T. Trammell, A. Stein)

9 p.m. -- Yard Dog Press Party in the Con Suite Always a good time, but beware the Hurling Monkeys!

SATURDAY

1 p.m. -- Can it be fine art if it’s SF? (B. Foster, A. Stein, A. Viesca, B. Hodgson, D. Cherry, T. Harvia)

2 p.m. -- Artist’s Quick Draw Contest (C. Conrad, K. Hopkins, A. Stein, B. Foster, T. Harvia, B. Hodgson)

3 p.m. -- Yard Dog Road Show Always a good time!

6 p.m. -- Setting the Scene: Placement and Composition (A. Stein, B. Young, P. Charlifu, T. Harvia, M. Wytch)

SUNDAY

noon -- Artist’s Jam (A. Stein, P. Bradley, B. Foster, C. Conrad, A. Viesca)

2 p.m. -- Self Promotion and Alternate Marketing for Artists (A. Stein, K. Hopkins, M. Wytch, A. Viesca, P. Chariflu)

3 p.m. -- Fine Art vs Illustration – Is There A Difference? (A. Stein, P. Chariflu, D.L. Anderson, T. Harvia) BTW: I might not make this panel – it’s a long drive back to Kansas City!

Tonight I need to finish my art show prep and paperwork, and then pack for the weekend.Tonight is my last chance to get it all done. Why, you ask? Because my sweetie is taking me to the STYX / REO Speedwagon / .38 Special concert! Rock and Roll!

Testing, testing, 1...2...3...

darkart42@yahoo.com — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 03:17:56 GMT

If all goes well, this will be both my first post on Dreamwidth with a cross post to LiveJournal. A big thank you goes out to alienor77310 for the invite code. So here goes nothing in 3...2...1....

darkart42@yahoo.com — Sat, 30 May 2009 04:55:05 GMT

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08:39 Why our 'amazing' science fiction future fizzled - bit.ly/3IXbZu #cnn #

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darkart42@yahoo.com — Fri, 29 May 2009 04:55:06 GMT

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20:57 There are TWO frisky bunnies in the yard today. You know what THAT means.... #

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darkart42@yahoo.com — Sat, 23 May 2009 04:55:07 GMT

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12:38 Yay! Packing for ConQuesT, I found the red jacket I thought I lost in Tulsa. ConQuesT in 3, 2, 1 ... www.conquestkc.org #

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