Stormsdream Journal & News

Journal: The Unreasoned Principle

keith@stormsdream.com (Keith Jones) — Sat, 4 Feb 2012 16:07:00 PST

Right, short journal entry. See how that goes. Probably looking at an aberration here.

I was thinking about principles and how they can get you into trouble. In general, they are good to have. Good to believe in something. Stand by something. Have standards, will travel.

No, I'm not going to bother trying to define what I'm talking about outside of saying principles are things felt strongly about. Willing to make decisions about life, the universe and everything based on them. Stand up to people because of them. Go with people on principle. [...]

News: Discount Pricing at Barnes and Noble

keith@stormsdream.com (Keith Jones) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:48:00 PST

It may have taken long enough that I had actually started to worry I had done something wrong, but all three paperbacks are finally available at Barnes & Noble again. Even better, The Faire Folk of Gideon and The Etymology of Fire are both on sale. I had nothing to do with this. My guess is that B&M is trying to undercut Amazon's price. Fortunately, I'll still get my dollar and change regardless of whatever B&M charges. Wonder how long it will last.

Journal: Spoken Versus Written Rhythm

keith@stormsdream.com (Keith Jones) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 16:41:00 PST

The best part of my little test of LibreOffice last week was that wasn't even close to what I had planned on writing about. I had actually had something on my mind. Sure, just one of those things that probably wouldn't interest anyone other than my own little self but that's hardly the point. I had actually had something I thought I could ramble on about, which doesn't happen as often as I might like. It's that whole dilemma I refuse to stop going on about.

I want updates on my website. Stagnation is death and all of that. Sure, I've got no reason to believe that anybody is paying attention to the website; therefore, it don't matter none if it's updated. Hardly the point. Stagnation is death, as already stated at the beginning of this paragraph.

However, I don't want updates just for the sake of updating. That's even worse than stagnation. Boring people out of their minds with the shear triviality of the updates. Good way to drive people away even faster than a stagnated site. [...]

Journal: Testing LibreOffice

keith@stormsdream.com (Keith Jones) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:02:00 PST

Trying out LibreOffice for the first time so this may not be the most spirited or interesting journal entry that I've ever posted, which is a good way to start these things off, by the way. Don't worry. Nothing to read here. Move along.

Or, stick around. Hear the tale of how I discovered LibreOffice. Got to love that name. Wasn't planned, I understand. Just sort-of happened, but I'm not going to tell you the story of LibreOffice.

I've been using OpenOffice.org for those people who haven't been keeping track. Just didn't want to spend the bucks on the latest and greats version of Microsoft Office. I've been quite vocally of the opinion that Microsoft Office really kind-of peaked with Office 97. It's all been downhill since then what with one improvement and modification after another. Simply can't leave well enough alone. I limped along with Office 97 for years and years and years. Refused to upgrade. Couldn't stand what they had done to the place. [...]

News: All Three Revised Proofs Approved

keith@stormsdream.com (Keith Jones) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 12:51:00 PST

All three books were revised and submitted to Createspace. The new proofs arrived in the mail this past week. They looked good so I clicked approve. Thought I was going to be charged a revision fee but that hasn't happened yet. Keep checking Barnes & Noble's website but the books are still only available for the Nook eBook reader there. I'm really hoping this is just one of those dissemination of updated information things. They are available at Amazon so I remain hopefully that I didn't screw things up too badly.

The revisions were minor. Fixed a couple of typos, which remains one of those can't win things. Find and fix a typo or two. Finally release the revised version. Two days later find more typos. Well, one new typo anyway, but it is on the very first page of The Magic Flute. Failed to capitalize the first word in a sentence. Managed to resist the urge to hit myself repeatedly in the face with the book.