I’ve MOVED

 As of Saturday, Oct 29, 2011, 100 Words On will be found exclusively over at my new website: www.erinshanendoah.com/100wordson

And as of Sunday evening, the whole erinshanendoah.com site should be up and running.

I’m excited about taking this next step in my on-line presence and hope that my readers will join me in making the transition. You may even find more to love- like my pet or personal finance blogs. Or perhaps you’ll choose to try your hand at super short form writing with the weekly/monthly micro-fiction contest.

Just be warned, before Sunday evening, it’s still a work in progress.

 

Pirates’ Booty

The Queen Anne’s Revenge Project– let’s just start with saying how cool is that for a name? Someone asks what you are doing, Oh, I’m working on the Queen Anne’s Revenge Project. Instant cool.

And not only is the name cool, what they are doing is cool. They are recovering artifacts from one of Blackbeard’s ships, run aground off the coast ofNorth Carolina.

And if you have ever played Sid Meier’s Pirates, you’ll love this tidbit- historians believe that Blackbeard purposely scuttled the ship because he could not afford to fleet of four ships and over 400 pirate followers.

 

MythBuster (ep 175)

Modern explosives are stable- especially ones carried by the military- you know where they have to possibly carry them through a warzone in a pack on a soldier’s back? Yeah, the military is not using anything that blows up on impact. I don’t know that I’d want to cook with it, though, even if you can.

LOVED the throwing guillotines, though I really thought Grant might end up losing a finger. I was glad Tory’s simple design was the one that worked best because it actually seemed like something that could have existed in the era the myth was from.

 

VACCINATE

Poll on MSN: Do you think boys should get vaccinations for HPV?

As of 1:11pm on Tuesday, 29% answered: No, the government should stop meddling with our lives.

 The current anti-vaccine movement is killing me. Not literally, but it will kill our kids. Vaccines were created to prevent terrible childhood diseases that killed thousands of kids. The government mandates vaccines because the health of future generations is a matter of national importance.

The HPV vaccine prevents CANCER.

 Personally, I think the only exceptions allowing people not to get vaccinated should be health ones. (And not the vaccines cause autism BS.)

 

Perceptions in Advertising

It’s funny to me what different people notice about the same thing. There’s currently a Toyota commercial where a guy walks out to an empty driveway and the car is built around him. I hate it because it starts with check text messages and FaceBook, and I don’t think that’s something you should be doing while driving. That doesn’t bother my husband, because the guy’s still in the driveway when it happens.

What does our new roommate notice about the commercial? When he adds a dog, then a bigger dog, both are wearing doggie seatbelt harnesses. That I can support.

 

Doggie Drama

Our Beagle has an infection of some sort. Sadly, it’s one that does not want to clear up and has been going on for over two weeks now.

We just got back from our 4^th visit to the vet for this problem, and our 4^th round of injections. Amazingly enough, Junebug still likes the vets.

We started on a weak anti-biotic, then went to a stronger one, and now we’re at the granddaddy of doggie anti-biotics- Baytril. Hoping this finally gets those swollen glands back to normal, and we can stop the vet visits (at least for a little while).

 

Finding Motivation

I have been lacking motivation when it comes to my fiction writing for a while now. I love to write. I love sharing my voice with others. But I need external motivation. I know this. So, I’ve made a couple decisions.
I am going to submit an excerpt of the novella I am working on, and possibly a short story, to NorWesCon for critique. It will be the first time I’ve ever submitted to a convention, so I’m starting in my comfort zone- a sci-fi/fantasy convention known for a respected writers’ workshop, instead of starting at a literary convention.

 

Finished Watching: BattleStar Gallactica (new version)

Finished watching the last season of BattleStar Gallactica on Netflix last night. Overall the show was really well done. I remember how hooked I was during the first two seasons, how it was must watch television.

But this fourth and final season, it seemed like they were trying to do too much, like they had a ton of story ideas and instead of concentrating on the best ones, they decided to throw them all in there. Heck, the mutiny could have been a season (or a summer web series, like New Caprica) all on its own. Instead, barely two episodes.

 

Culling the Wardrobe

Every Wednesday I wear the exact same sweater. It has short sleeves and is a cardigan type, so it can be worn in the summer over shells or in the winter over long sleeved tops. It is kind of striped in various shades of blue, so it goes with every pair of slacks I own. I love it, and it always helps me get over the hump day blahs.

I’ve worn it every Wednesday for 6 months or so. If anyone has noticed, no one’s said anything. I take this as proof that I can cull my wardrobe without ramifications.

 

MythBusters (ep 174)

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a MythBusters where everything was plausible or confirmed. Even with that, here are the lessons I took away from the episode:

Guys who operate excavators are crazy. Actually, I’ve met a number of heavy machine operators, and I think crazy might be a good adjective for all of them. They say don’t try this at home, but they only got these “myths” because the excavator guys already had.

I would rather take a ride in the duct tape sailboat than in the duct tape plane. I can swim, but I can’t fly.