Live from the front

[kinzel]

Well, yes, I have been busy. Besides dealing with such mundanities as a remarkable self-healing tie rod (which is, perhaps not yet a finished issue, this after several trips to the repair shop), my annual physical and it's attendant multiple tests and procedures, and packing and shipping books, I've also been dealing with getting the yard-and-woods in somewhat better order (including removing junk tires and several old office chairs), getting a new UPS for Rolanni's computer, helping select and buy (but not yet connecting) a new printer for the dead-dead-dead Lexmark also attached to Rolanni's machine, packing and shipping books, keeping up with Fledgling, reading some of the books sent for the PKD award judging, driving Mozart to the vet, taking Rolanni to work and picking her up, packing and shipping books...

If you see a pattern, part of it is my fault, and I should apologize. When Rolanni took on her job at an important nearby college of higher education... I became the sole packer for SRM again, a position I once held and felt I knew well. The pair of us had been sharing these duties for some years... and it turns out that the work goes slower when there's one of you. On top of that, the unexpected burst of orders for Hellspark, Partners in Necessity, Low Port, and some of the other Meisha Merlin books we've suddenly been blessed with meant that my pallet's worth of packaging went away very quickly... and needed to be replenished. Alas, the local PO is no longer permitted to store these specialty items in quantity, and some not at all!, they must be shipped in from a central warehouse in the middle of the country), and so I've been getting good at packing and shipping on a "does it fit?" basis .. meaning some orders are over a week old... and perhaps some over two weeks old -- while I waited for boxes.

If you have an order in -- a late order that would be -- for books from Lee & Miller, or from SRM, I'm working on that backlog and will have it out of here by Friday. Really!

Overseas orders have also been getting packed the while, but the ones needing larger packaging were delayed while those Tyvek envelopes came in from a warehouse elsewhere ... since we only have one major office supply store in town they often prefer to stock low and then order-to-order... and so I have promised them that if any of their rivals come to town the one that actually stocks supplies I need right now at 3 PM on a Sunday is the one that will get my business.

The good news out of all this is that I'm now on first name basis with Post Office clerks at four different offices, and I even know the schedule of the "extra" clerk who rotates through three of them and does back-up work at all of them. I guess there's something good in knowing that on Tuesday the window at a particular PO will only have one clerk while at another PO (22 miles away) three clerks will be on...

So, without an actual count, yes, we're getting close to, but haven't sold out yet, of our few copies of Hellspark. On the other hand, now is the perfect time to buy all members of your family (and your friends, and your high-school teachers) a gift of the phonebook-thick newest edition of Partners in Necessity. Please, get them while they're here and free some space in my living room. They come 15 to a case (I don't expect you to buy a case, but hey....) so they take up much more room than the Hellsparks (which came 36 to a case) or even Plan B, at 30 to a case.

So... busy? Moi? I haven't had my coffee yet and I'm here on LJ letting folks know about delays before ...then breakfast, a trip to the college to deliver Rolanni, a trip to the PO to ship a few more books, a short-drive-and-long-wait to the tie-rod inspectors...

and in the meanwhile, the three copies of the German edition of Eine Frage Der Ehere (Conflcit of Honors)are arrived. Hooray!

Comments

[missingvolume.livejournal.com]

With you on the PKD list and Sharon on the Nebula jury you will be swimming in books not your own.

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

You'd think that, but it isn't the case. The Nebula jury has just put out another call for books -- and the PKD in-flow is modest at best. I suspect publishers are trying to -- cherry pick -- which books they send, which is unfortunate, because that gives house-favored authors more of a chance. Of course the years is yet young. My fear is having 50 books show up with a week to go, which will cut chances for those books a lot.

Computer case recommendation?

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

Ooh, someone else who knows something about building a computer. Maybe you have an idea. DH is planning to build us a Linux box and he's looking for a mid-tower case that has an air filter with ports on the top and no doors for the drives (we're afraid the kids would kill the doors...). He was thinking about a Coolermaster case. There are a couple others in the running I think. Just curious to hear what you recommend. One case is the Centurion, but I can't remember who makes that one. I'm just the messenger girl and he's got all the specs with him at work:)

[havocthecat]

Oh, I...where do you keep your ordering forms, please? Partners in Necessity is about the perfect gift for my sister-in-law.

Re: Computer case recommendation?

[keristor.livejournal.com]

The Coolermaster cases are, well, cool. I recommend them, they do actually do the job. So do Thermaltake, I'd personally go for whichever one has the features you want at a reasonable price (being in the UK I don't know the US price range).

Re: Computer case recommendation?

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

Alas, I'm so far away from the day-to-day suggesting of equipment -- not thew same as when I was managing a computer store and got to see what was selling -- and what was coming back very soon broken... when I think back, I guess it's 4 or 5 years since I built a machine myself. I'd do the reviews and ask around trick -- right now I'm typing on a Sony Vaio with the side off of it...it has two fans and soon it'll have the room fan help moving air...

Good luck!

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

Most of the books I just brought back in person from Meisdha Merlin's world headquarters are mentioned here:

http://www.korval.com/specialbooks.htm

A larger, but not totally up-to-date catalog is at:
http://www.korval.com/srmcat2.htm

Thanks!

[baggette.livejournal.com]

OOOOh! OOOOhhhh! I got my copy of Hellspark today in the mail!! Thank you Thank You Thank you!!

I'm already at chapter 5!

Every bit as good as you all said! Thank you!

Re: Computer case recommendation?

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

There doesn't seem to exist a computer case that has all the features we want at any price. (Well, maybe at the $1000 price point for a custom made case.)

(dh left the above comment without telling me if he was finished with it or not. I think it's done though.)