Sedona Colors

Took a hike at West Fork in Sedona. Pretty fall colors.

Scorpion Hunting

Not too long ago I bought a Black-Light ultra-violet flashlight very similar to this one. As soon as I had it I enthusiastically went around our community at nighttime looking for scorpions especially around all the houses that had reported having had them. I did this for about three nights in a row and was disappointed to find none and blamed the flashlight for not being powerful enough.

Fast forward to last night and a friend in the community tells me that he has also just got a black light flashlight and had recently found a whole bunch of scorpions. With renewed enthusiasm I went out with him last night and we managed to squash 7 of them.This is an image of 4 of the dead scorpions in a bowl being illuminated with the black light.

The West Wing

When we took a vacation to Solana Beach at the end of September we stayed in a condo which happened to have the first season of The West Wing and so we started watching it. It didn't take more than a few episodes to get us hooked and when we got back we scoured Craig's List and found the complete series and started watching.

This has to be the most enjoyable way to watch any series. It's now about 6 to 7 weeks after we started watching it and we're on season five. Each season ends with a great cliff-hanger and I love that we can be watching the resolution in the next few minutes instead of having to wait half a year for it.

When the dialog gets too complicated (I am simple) I can rewind and switch on sub-titles and there are no commercials. I still haven't bought a Tivo but watching this series all the way through has pretty much convinced me to stay away from standard TV programming and go to something that will stream.

Do Not Call Register

Every now-and-then we get a marketing call to sell us something. It's not very often because (1) our number is unlisted and (2) it's on the do not call register. It's ironic that you unlist your number (at a cost) in order not to receive solicited calls and then you have to list it in order to not receive calls.

Well I got a call today asking for money and I asked them where they got the number. It was on some list that they had because apparently we've been giving money to charity and the charity organizations share lists of people like us. I then mentioned that the number is on the do-not-call register. At that point the lady told me that she worked for a Non Profit and they are exempt from referencing the do-not-call list.

The Paradoxical Gym Entrance

I remember seeing this photo of an entrance to a gym a number of years ago and was reminded of it again today. I'm reading a book called The Black Swan and in it he mentions gym members riding an escalator to get to the gym and then going straight on to the stair climber.

I had always been puzzled as to why there would be escalators leading up to the entrance of the gym and I think that I now have the very boring answer. The escalators actually lead from the parking lot to the level where the gym and other shops are - not just the gym. Another explanation that I came up with was that the gym rented the space after the building was built and the escalators were there before. Boring but I'm happy after years of worrying about this that I now have an answer.

Writing a Damn Good Novel

A number of years ago I wrote a novel called Wild Fiction and it was this novel that started this blog although this blog doesn't have anything to do with the novel, it just shares the name and the idea that you can't always trust what you read here.

If you want to read the novel you can do so for free online here: Wild Fiction

I never had the novel published in print (although I know that it is ridiculously easy and inexpensive to do so now) so don't go looking for it on Amazon.

While I was writing Wild Fiction I read a ton of books on how to write a novel. The two best books out of all of them were:



and



These books were also the shortest of any of the "how to" books but don't have any waffle - they are all 100% quality content.

What I love about these books is James Frey's attempt at trying to help you overcome writers block in the first book and then telling you that it doesn't exist in the second book and to just get over it and stop being so bloody lazy.

Enjoy and please post a comment if you've read either of those.

Sandpipers on Solana Beach California

I thought that these Sandpipers that we came across on Solana Beach in California were pretty cool.

Walgreens you suck

My wife calls Walgreens and CVS to find out which pharmacy is cheaper for a prescription she needs filled. Walgreens quotes $11 and CVS $17 so she obviously drops it off at Walgreens. When she goes to pick it up Walgreens say that they made a mistake and that it's $19. My wife asks if they can either honor their original quote or price match CVS and they say they will do neither but my wife can take her prescription back and get it filled at CVS. My wife not wanting to waste another hour and suspecting that the gas will cost $2 sucks it up and gets the prescription from Walgreens.

Walgreens that's BAD customer service - today you are at the top of my list of "Companies That Suck."