robert.admin – Page 174 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

April 21, 2013

A Clash of Kings (Review)

It’s easy to hate House Lannister. After all, they murdered the rightful King. They throw kids off roofs. They behead main characters. They are mercenary and cunning and bad to the bone. And now Queen Cersei has planted her slightly bastardinous (if not incestuously-created) son Joffrey on the throne. Judging from the number of self-crowned kings that spring up (four, at least, not counting Daenerys lurking off in the east with her three dragons), I’m not alone in hating them. Oh, we have battles galore, small skirmishes, sieges, and expeditions beyond the northern wall. We’ve got politics. We’ve got intrigue. […]

April 19, 2013

5K

Under a tent, wearing a purple running shirt, with skyscrapers against the setting sun and everyone chatting and helicopters beating about and like, what the hell am I doing here? And how did I get myself into running a 5K? That’s a long story (thought I still hate Sam for talking me into this). It’s the corporate 5K run in downtown Orlando, a massive event. FedEx had a tent and I’m on the people committee, so here I am. You may have seen, in prior weeks, my miserable attempts to train up for this (and how I kept pulling muscles […]

April 18, 2013

Passion (DOG EAR)

I was in a funk about writing. Just re-upped the site for five years and found myself wondering what the point of all this writing is. There was even a cartoon I saw HERE that said it all for me. Yes, it made me sad, but it’s oh-so-true. And then tonight, my wife and I went to Arby’s. JB was over at the table and I was standing at the counter. The counter-guy had gone off to dump our curly fries into the vat and I was just standing there, thinking my what’s the point of writing thoughts. And that’s […]

April 14, 2013

The Scarlet Pimpernel (Guest Review)

On my first day as a rocket scientist at Nasa, they jammed me into a pod with a fireball of a secretary, a wiry blonde with a winning smile and a very sharp personality. After she marked her turf (and scared me silly), it came out that we were both writers. Lynn Perry and I have been friends ever since. So here is her take on Baroness Emmuska Orczy’s classic. I am a reader….my bulging book shelves, decades old library card and financially abused Kindle account reflect my love of books. Most recently, I reached into history and re-read The […]

April 13, 2013

Showlog – Deland – 4/13/2013

What can we say? When we opened the truck, we found one of the racks had shifted – scenery damage! Then there were the arguments while setting up, and a member storming out. Then, when we did get everything together (it took two hours – people were coming in the door), the layout didn’t come up until after lunch. What a terrible start. Forgive me – I know it’s no longer April 1st, but I had to do that for the benefit of the committee member who is bobbing about on a gulf cruse while we all did the show. […]

April 11, 2013

Perspective (DOG EAR)

Authors love their jacket photos to show them sitting in a studious den with some books, a wonderful view out the window at their back, and wood paneling. And a globe. Like they are going to spin it and peer intently – “Hmmm. I shall send my hero to Madagascar…” The image is that here is where they arrive at their great insights on human nature. My insights on human nature come over the front of my bicycle handlebars when I ride to work. Honestly, I see more of what it means to be human in my commutes by bicycle […]

April 7, 2013

OpsLog – TY&E – 4/7/2013

And the very next day, we’re at it again on the Tipton, Youngstown & Erie. It might be said I operate too much! It was our second run over at JW’s place and it went really well. With the track improvements, we were running something like five trains at once on his main (which is impressive when three of them are passing in one area). Looks like everything is in place – He’s enthusiastic: check. He’s got an idea of what he wants to simulate: check. He’s got a working layout: check. We’ve got a group: check. Time to decide […]

April 7, 2013

Guns, Germs, and Steel (Review)

Jared Diamond got a lot of flak for Collapse, and I got a Dale Carnegie pen for it. That’s the way the world works. For Guns, Germs, and Steel, he got a Pulitzer. So, the basics of the book: mankind spreads outwards from Africa. One wave goes east, along the coasts of India, up the long Russian coast, over the Bering Strait and spilling over the Americas (like Sherwin Williams covers the earth). The other wave moves north and west, settling Europe (as if religious wars, strife and a crushing feudal system can be termed “settling”). In the process, we […]

April 6, 2013

OpsLog – Southwest Virigina Division – 5/6/2013

It’s been a white for this pike, over a year. The SWDRR is a cool look at mountain railroading, where two railroads are forced to share passes. And in this, two dispatchers sit in a side room, me for the L&N, and a fella named John for the Southern. We worked as well as two competing railroads could (but I’ll admit to holding back on of his freights until I could be sure I got some needed switching done at Goodbee). But overall it was fun. Nice to see I can still speak fluid warrant, that I can keep the […]

April 4, 2013

Courtesy (DOG EAR)

I once had an agency dash ( in bold and angry words!!! ) across my introduction letter a message how they couldn’t, wouldn’t and won’t represent an author who couldn’t follow simple instructions. They rejected my offering without even looking. And my crime? They asked for 20 pages and I sent them 22. Because that’s where the chapter broke, and that’s where the story had a nice twist. Like, shit. I understand the dynamics. Authors beg agents. Agents, who are often failed authors, now sit on the Throne of Power, permitting those who come before them to crawl into their presence and […]