Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to Eugene, the man who always knows how to make me smile! This picture was taken on our honeymoon. It can be hard to find time to celebrate a special day during the week. We discussed going out for dinner yesterday, but it didn't work out. Maybe this coming weekend we can do something. What do you do if your birthday or anniversary falls on a workday? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

Hope Never Dies and Real Person Fan Fiction

First of all, I'd like to wish my husband, Eugene, a very happy birthday today! You'll always be my knight in shining armor.

If you loved all the Obama-Biden memes (particularly the ones after the 2016 election such as this one), then you might like Hope Never Dies: An Obama-Biden Mystery, by Andrew Shaffer. I read about this book a few weeks ago and immediately put it on hold at my library. I finally had a chance to read it last week. Basically, after an Amtrak conductor dies in what everyone else assumes to be a suicide or accident, Obama and Biden team up to discover the truth. Biden is the first-person narrator. I've never gotten closer to either man than through the voting machines, so I don't know how accurately they're portrayed. Certainly some of their escapades seem a bit unreal, and other reviews I've read say Obama comes across as more remote than he actually is. Still, the pair do make a fun Holmes-Watson couple.

Since I used to write Beatles fan fiction, I was interested in the real-person fan fiction aspect of this book. In the New York Times article I read about Hope Never Dies, the author relates how he met Biden but didn't tell him about this project. The standard disclaimer at the beginning of the book says that "All characters--including those based on real people, living or dead...are used fictitiously." Celebrities do give up some of their rights to privacy, and we live in an age where YouTube can make someone a celebrity (notorious or not) overnight. I still don't think I'd be too comfortable using a living person as a character. Even if I was inspired by a certain aspect of their personality, I'd rather remix with other traits and disguise them. While I may have been able to get away with using John Lennon as a character in Lyon's Legacy and Twinned Universes, he might have drawn attention from the main characters. If I ever get past the block I have with the next installments of the Catalyst Chronicles, then the story will go in a different direction anyway.

How do you feel about using real people in fiction? Does it matter if they're contemporary or historical? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

Exciting Escapade in Elgin

I wasn't able to get this post uploaded for Monday since we were traveling. Hopefully no one minds I'm posting a day later than I normally do.

My husband has been interested in escape rooms since they first became popular. For his birthday this year, I not only gave him a Kickstarter tabletop escape room game but also booked an experience at Escapade 360 in Elgin, IL. We played it last week. 

When I reserved the room, there was only one scenario available—a Sherlock Holmes-themed one. When we arrived, the couple who run Escapade 360 told us there were so many puzzles in that room it would be difficult for a couple to complete them all in the hour. Luckily, they had a second room available that might be a better match for us. It’s set in Leonardo da Vinci’s studio, and you have to find his hidden masterpiece before thieves come to steal it. We had the opportunity to switch, so we did.

I’m not going to give out spoilers for the room. I will say it was smaller than I expected, so it would feel crowded with a full group of eight people. The doors aren’t locked due to regulations, but there’s no time to leave either. There’s a monitor in the room where you can track your remaining time and get occasional hints. We probably got more hints than you normally would, but given it was our first time and it was late in the evening, I didn’t mind. It was still an intellectually stimulating experience. There were a variety of different puzzles to solve, and some of the ways to interact with the items were surprising. Ultimately, we managed to escape with eight minutes left. The owners were super-friendly and helpful. After we finished, we discussed specific aspects of the room before getting our picture taken.

As a writer, I find the escape room concept fascinating. You start anew with the same goal, setting, and obstacles each time, but the outcome depends on the teamwork of the characters. Eugene and I have known each other for 27 years. We have respect for each other’s abilities and are used to working together as a team. There was one point in the hour where we had different ideas on what to do with a particular object in the room. Thanks to a hint, we resolved that quickly and without fuss. If we’d been with other people, I’m sure the dynamic would have been different--and not in a helpful way. With bigger groups who don’t know each other well, I can imagine much more time is wasted on arguments or persuasion. Still, I’d like to go back with a few more friends and tackle the Sherlock room. The game’s afoot!

Happy Birthday, Eugene!

My husband's birthday isn't until tomorrow, and it's hard to celebrate in the middle of the week, especially with our schedules. So I'd like to dedicate this blog post today to him, a hard-working, loving husband and father. Here he is at RenFaire last weekend after his annual fencing match with Alex. Happy Birthday, Eugene, and many more to come!

Happy Birthday, Eugene!

Today is my husband's birthday. With it falling on a Monday, there isn't much we can do to celebrate. We did go out for dinner over the weekend and plan to go out for dessert tonight after Alex's tae-kwon-do class. Please join me in wishing Eugene a Happy Birthday!

Happy Tenth Anniversary!

Tomorrow is my tenth wedding anniversary. (My husband and I have actually been together for twenty-five years, but some of that time was when we were in a long-distance relationship.) For our first anniversary, we took a one-week trip to London. For our fifth, we took a special lunch cruise on Lake Michigan. This year, both of us have been too busy to plan anything and have limited time to take off. We may take an extended weekend somewhere later, when things are less hectic--if that ever happens.

Here are a couple of pictures from the wedding:

and a few from the honeymoon:

Happy Anniversary, sweetie, and many more!

Spike The Corpse Flower

My husband and I used to be members of the Chicago Botanic Garden. We would normally visit two-three times during the summer, and we even had wedding pictures taken there. Unfortunately, we can't get out there very frequently anymore, though we still try to see the inside model train exhibit during the holidays. However, there's one special event we haven't seen yet: a blooming corpse flower. Spike, the corpse flower at the Chicago Botanic Garden, is due to bloom any day. (There's another corpse flower in Denver named Stinky ready to bloom too. According to this article, the flowers are even tweeting to each other. Amazing who's on Twitter these days.)


No one is quite sure when Spike will bloom, though it could be tonight. The garden plans to be open until 2:00 a.m. the day of the bloom.  I don't have the stamina these days to get up in the middle of the night (though I'd still be awake anyway) and drive nearly an hour to smell something terrible, so I'll just have to settle for following Spike at this link.

How familiar are you with the corpse flower? Have you seen or smelled on in person?

Science of the Week, 8/7/15

Here are some of the most interesting science news articles I read this week:

Changing clocks and changing seasons: scientists find role for neuronal plasticity

Paralyzed men move legs with new non-invasive spinal cord stimulation

Starvation effects handed down for generations

High effectiveness found in Guinea Ebola ring vaccination trial

"Aha!" Sudden insights are real--and you can train your brain to have more

What would the world look like to someone with a bionic eye?

Scientists successfully edit human T cells

Giving robots a more nimble grasp

Feed supplement greatly reduces dairy cow emissions

New strain of yeast to be helpful in toxic waste removal

Spaceflight may increase susceptibility to inflammatory bowel disease
(Bad news for astronauts)

Bacteria that prevents type 1 diabetes

Animal-eye view of the world revealed with new visual software

Paleo diet: big brains needed carbs

World-largest petawatt laser completed, delivering 2,000 trillion watts output


Have a good weekend, everyone! I'm taking a vacation day today to get some writing done. I'll tell you how that went on Monday. Tomorrow is also my husband's birthday, so we have dinner and improv scheduled. I hope you have some fun things planned too!

Twinned Universes on Sale for $0.99 From 9/10/14--9/17/14

Quick update on the computer situation: the new hard drive arrived last night. I'm still not sure if I'll install it myself or have someone else do it. I may use PCMover to set up the new hard drive.

Nine years ago, Eugene and I got married. Happy Anniversary, sweetie! May all our days together be as sweet as our wedding cake--with far fewer calories, though.

To celebrate, I'm putting Twinned Universes on sale for one week. Normal price is $2.99, but from today through next Wednesday it'll be $0.99 on Amazon. If you haven't grabbed it yet, now's a good time to do so.

Paul Harrison always wanted to play Hamlet, but he never expected he’d live the role first.
In the aftermath of a family tragedy on 21st century Earth, Paul discovers he’s the clone of Sean Lyon, his great-great-grandfather and a famous TwenCen musician. Suspecting his mother’s death was no accident, Paul comes up with a plan to trick the answers out of the great-uncle who had him cloned. But in order to make his plan work, Paul needs help from Sean himself—and Sean’s time is running out in the TwenCen universe next door. Although Paul’s family lives on the spaceship that travels between the universes, he’s never been allowed on TwenCen Earth. Now, with the help of his friends, his disguise-creating holoprojectors, and a quantum quirk, Paul must make his way to Sean while evading other time travelers who fear he’ll change the history of the TwenCen universe. If Paul is to achieve justice, he must not only risk his own life, but the wormhole connecting the universes. “To be or not to be” was a simple question in comparison....

#Piesforparkinsons

Even I have heard by now of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. However, have you heard of the Pies for Parkinson's challenge? My husband decided to combine the two challenges, but he needed a little help from our son. If you follow the link, you can see the result. Enjoy!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10204950107179329&l=1486736441394191373 

Science of the Week, 8/8/14

The most important thing about today is that it's my husband's birthday. Hope you have a great day, sweetie!

Here are some of the most interesting science news articles I read this week:

Transparent mice allow incredible anatomical views

NASA scientists claim "impossible" space travel engine could actually work

 Companion planets can increase old worlds' chance at life

Research maps 2,000 year migration 

I see what you sound like: extracting audio from visual information

No-power Wi-Fi connectivity could fuel Internet of Things reality

Planet-like object may have spent its youth as hot as a star

Researchers make super-angry, aggressive bugs (like we need more of those)

Adapt or die >= Die sooner to adapt faster

Ibprofen relieves women's hurt feelings, not men's 

Advanced thin-film technique could deliver long-lasting medication

Get Healthy Bloghop--Making Weight Watchers Work for You

Today I'm participating in Alex J. Cavanaugh's Get Healthy Bloghop to share my story.

I've been overweight (or is it just undertall?) for most of my adult life. My weight fluctuated up and down, but for the most part I looked like this (I'm the one in front in red, second from the right):

However, I'm middle-aged, and the warranty on my body is long expired with no chance at renewal. After watching some of my friends deal with health issues, I became more motivated to lose weight. So last year, my husband and I joined Weight Watchers (WW). I'm proud to say I've lost over 30 pounds. See below for a photo taken earlier this month. Despite the trench coat, I think you can see a difference.



Even more importantly, after going past my goal weight last summer, I reached a healthy weight that's fairly stable. I'm not quite at my lowest weight, but I'm within five pounds of it and well within the recommended weight range for my height. My clothing size is lower than what I wore in high school--and I'm still amazed by that. Physically, I feel great--except for the utter exhaustion at times from having to do too much on too little sleep.
I followed the Weight Watchers Maintenance program for a few months before letting my membership lapse. I don't track my intake anymore (which could explain the few pounds I've regained), but I keep what I've learned in mind.

So, what made Weight Watchers so successful for me, and how can you make it work? Here are a few principles that I think were key for me:

1. Having your significant other as a partner--My husband and I made the joint decision not just to lose weight, but to follow the same program. That made it easier to plan our meals, encourage each other, and track our intake/activity. Granted, at times it was frustrating because my husband started off with nearly twice as many points as I did. (Instead of counting calories with WW, you count points. Fresh fruits and veggies are 0 points, while other foods have points calculated based on their nutritional information.) However, we weren't sabotaging each other by choosing unhealthy food either.

2. Cooking at home--Cooking may seem like a hassle when you're pressed for time, but it's so much easier to make nutritious food at home than finding low-point value food at a restaurant. At home, you can control how you cook your food, so it's not fried or loaded with salt and fat. The WW website has lots of great recipes to try. I have a board on Pinterest with over 150 recipes; it's my most popular board.

3. Eating more fruits and veggies--They have 0 points raw, so you can fill yourself up without cutting into your points. Even when cooked, they're a healthy use of your points. I try to make at least one vegetarian meal a week. The strange thing is that after a while of eating more produce and less pastries, I find myself craving quinoa/rice carrot fritters or vegetarian shepherd's pie.

4. Portion Control--Weight Watchers allows you to eat whatever you want as long as you account for it. So I could still work fudge into my food allowance, but at a much smaller size than before. Even today, I still measure out my cereal and milk, chips, and rice/pasta to make sure I'm eating the correct amount.

5. Exercising--Exercising allows you to earn more points. In fact, all kinds of activities (even housework) count. The key is finding something you can stick with and a time you can manage. Since I'm cursed to wake up early no matter how tired I am or when I go to bed, I get up and exercise on the treadmill for a half hour or so every day. What makes this enjoyable for me is reading, so I go at a pace where I can still do that. Of course, running upstairs and downstairs doing chores and taking care of my family helps too.

6. Cutting yourself some slack--If you're on a diet and slip up, you may feel it's hopeless to continue and let yourself stop the program. However, Weight Watchers recognizes people aren't perfect. In addition to your daily points, you're given extra points you can use if you eat too much one day or want to have an extra-special meal. Also, as I said before, you don't have to give up your favorite foods completely, but you may have to reduce how much you eat. I allow myself a mid-afternoon snack at work (sometimes fruit, sometimes a serving of trail mix or a small treat) and a low-cal dessert after dinner. This way, I don't feel deprived and am less likely to go overboard on the chocolate.

Do you have questions about Weight Watchers, or do you want to share your own success story? Please share them in the comments.

Seven Years and Counting

The next Blog Ring of Power progressive interview starts later this week. After this week, we do have interviews lined up into October. However, this is a good day to take a break from writing and celebrate a special day: my anniversary. My husband and I have been married for seven years now. Here are a couple of pictures from the day:

We took pictures at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Even though it was September, it was hot, and our schedule meant we had to go at noon, which makes for poor lighting. It was still worth it, though.

Cutting our delicious cake.

















Only forty-three years to go, Hon. I love you.

A New Hobby

The next Blog Ring of Power interview (featuring Suzanne Lilly) won't start until Wednesday, so I have no interview for you today. Instead, I thought I'd share with you my latest purchase. Hint: it's not related to writing. Instead, it's an archery kit, complete with bow, arrows, quiver, armguard, and a couple of other items. No, I haven't suddenly decided I want to be Katniss or even Merida. My husband suggested it as an activity we could learn together. I figure it'll help me develop some upper body strength, and someday the experience might be useful for writing.

Do you have any unusual hobbies? Have they made appearances in your writing?

Happy Birthday, Eugene!

It's my husband's birthday today. We had an early celebration on Sunday when our families got together to throw him a surprise party at a nearby restaurant. (He didn't suspect anything until I told the hostess the reservations were under my brother-in-law's name.)  Here are a few pictures from the day:

 Cloudgate (a.k.a. "The Bean") in Millennium Park. Our son wanted to go there on Sunday.

 Eugene and Alex splashing in Crowne Fountain.

 Yes, I got my feet wet too--and my son promptly tried on my sandals.

 Getting ready to blow out the candles after dinner.

Our families.










Happy Birthday, Hon, and wishing you many more!

Back on the Blog Chain: My Biggest Accomplishment

Michelle's topic was this round was partially inspired by National Novel Writing Month:

This is the month in creating writing goals and making big accomplishments. What is your greatest accomplishment -- in writing, your life or perhaps something incidental that had a big effect on you?

Amparo posted before me, and Matt will post tomorrow.

I think I would have to say my biggest accomplishment is my relationship with my husband, Eugene. We met over twenty-one years ago. We dated for fifteen years before we got married, and much of that time we were long-distance. If we can go that long and endure so many changes, I'd like to think we can make it through the rest of our lives together. Love you, hon!

A Review Treat and a Sleepy Hollow Trick

Happy Halloween!

I got a nice treat over the weekend; Michelle McLean reviewed Lyon's Legacy over at Operation Awesome. She said, "This book just had a little bit of everything; science, time travel, romance, major character growth, a bad guy you want to smack upside the head, heartache, and hope."She also interviewed me on her blog and on Pots 'n Pens. Thanks so much, Michelle!

I happen to live not too far from Sleepy Hollow, Illinois. Friends who live there invited us to join them at the town's festivities this weekend. There was a costume contest, hay rides, and a chili contest. The main attraction was twofold. The first part of it was a huge bonfire lit shortly after sunset. Although the day was sunny, it quickly got cold in the evening, so I was grateful our friends had reserved a spot as close to the bonfire as we were allowed to go. The second attraction was an appearance by the Headless Horseman about an hour after the bonfire was lit. (I found out later he was actually a she.) He rode in on a horse, carrying a jack '0 lantern by his side. He passed back and forth in front of us a few times, then rode slowly along the barrier so kids could pet the horse before disappearing back into the night. Thankfully, the experience wasn't too scary for a four-year-old.

Here are some pictures my husband took of the bonfire and the Headless Horseman:
































































Enjoy your holiday, and beware of strange horse riders!

We Interrupt This Weekend....

To bring you a very serious photo:

If you don't recognize these men, they're Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood, part of the Whose Line Is It Anyway? cast. They put on their special two-man improv comedy show in Elgin last night. Eugene and I saw them perform a few years ago; it's somewhere on this blog as "Dances With Mousetraps." (The final part of their show involves them doing a routine blindfolded and barefoot with 100 live mousetraps scattered on stage; they call it the most dangerous improv routine ever. They did it again for this performance, though with a different scenario. They were also trying to throw mousetraps at each other, so even though the skit made me cringe at times, you knew they were asking for it.)

Eugene and I got tickets through Groupon earlier this week. Our seats were in the back. We didn't get any suggestions in at this show, but for the Sound Effects act, Brad came up to our row and had everyone take turns doing his sound effects. (Eugene does a much better blowdart than I do.) At the end of the night, we went to the table where they were selling DVDs and bought one. The seller announced Colin and Brad would come out and sign them, so we waited. It was probably about fifteen minutes or so. We were among the first few in line. Eugene took the above picture with his cell phone while they autographed the DVD liner. I'm glad my parents didn't mind watching Alex a little bit longer so we could meet Colin and Brad. Seeing the show was fun enough; getting autographs and a picture just topped it.

Pictures from a Garden

The rain held off yesterday, so Eugene and I decided to spend our "date day" at the Chicago Botanic Garden. The last time we went there was in June, and that was with Alex, so naturally we spent more time in the Railroad Garden exhibit than anywhere else. It was nice to be able to tour the rest of the garden. Here are a few pictures we took (we both used my camera):

Midweek Vacation

I'm using one of my many remaining vacation days today for a Date Day with my husband. (He only works a half day on Wednesdays, so it's easier for him to take that day off.) Our original plans to tour a vineyard fell through, and there's a chance of storms this afternoon, so we will probably go bowling. The important thing is to spend some time together.

Here's a blast from the past to inspire you to take your own holiday: