robert.admin – Page 198 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

September 26, 2013

Rhine – Day Two – Zurich finally!

Finally, this is the day we actually made it to Switzerland. While most of what I said for the 13th involved the early morning disaster, the second part (waking up at the hotel, having breakfast, then getting a cab ride back in to sit around and casually await our 6:55pm departure) went by pretty smooth. We took off and flew for most of the night, meaning that by Saturday, we’d made Zurich. Even though UNITED AIRLINES told us to our faces that the luggage would be on our flight (“Yes sir, sitting right there. I can see it on my […]

September 25, 2013

Rhine – Day One – Friday the 13th

Did we ever kick off this unlucky day in style. It started on the 12th, roughly an hour after my last posting. We’re sitting sweet and pretty on the plane in Orlando, the plane pushes back, and that’s it. We sit. It’s an ATC hold on planes into New Jersey International because of weather. Finally (after an hour and more of excruciating delay) we’re off the ground and making back time. Good; we’ll be in to Jersey by 8:30pm, plenty of time for our 9:55 departure to Zurich. Wheels hit wet pavement at 8:30pm on the dot, we turn off […]

September 25, 2013

Rhine – Day Zero – Swiss Trip

It’s hard remembering a more planned out trip, or one that I worried as much about. It’s our 25th wedding anniversary – we had to do something special and magnificent and meaningful and fun. What better way than a River Cruise, a slow week down the lazy Rhine amid suspender-wearing goat herders and honest and forelock-tugging bargemen. Sure, why not? Winter Park Go Travel’s Lucienne set us up well. We went to her when suddenly all the cruises booked up (ten months in advance) and she managed to get us the sort of balcony room we wanted, Basel to Amsterdam, […]

September 25, 2013

Night Scribe (DOG EAR)

So you’ve just dinnered with your two Canadian couples, watching the setting sun play over German fields from your riverboat, guzzling down glass after glass of wine. And with all that rich food in your belly, with your wife’s hand in yours, you retire to your stateroom, close the door, loosen your tie, and… And..? Write. Or, specifically, blog. I always blog my vacations – you can find the page HERE. Every trip I take, I try to make a blog entry for each day, and run them one per day on my site so fans (all three of you) […]

September 22, 2013

Existence (Review)

I really didn’t think about how far distances were in space until my friend Jesse and I started working on Solar Trader, a game to be released off our Gridsims.com site eventually. See, Solar Trader deals with flying around this solar system. It’s done with squares, and the distance between Earth and the sun is nine of them. That’s cool, until you work out that Pluto (yeah, still a planet – I’m a purist) is something like 530 squares out (and I’ve flown it – it’s a long haul). The Ort Cloud (where the comets hang out) is something like […]

September 19, 2013

Ramping up (DOG EAR)

I haven’t been too busy over the last half year, outside of writing my twice-a-week blogs (these dog-ears and my book reviews). Really, there were the little things here and there I had to do, helping co-workers’ kids with their homework efforts, reviewing resumes, that sort of stuff. Just low key, low gear stuff. Then it got busy. First off, Jurassic London posted me a entry notice for two collections they are going to produce, two kicky little submissions (one flash fiction, the other a heavier effort) combining the historic and the fantastic. Okay, so I did my research and […]

September 15, 2013

Zombie Apocalypse! (Review)

Zombies. I love ’em. Got into them with Shawn of the Dead and worked backwards through Dawn of the Dead (and other flicks) to understand them more. The appeal, I’ve read, to zombies is the human feeling of being threatened and swamped by mediocrity and obstructions. That these staggering, stumbling things that all get in your way can actually be overcome by a blow to the head. Placed against a no-rules world of an apocalypse, it makes for fun watching. Or reading. Zombie Apocalypse! is a collective effort by a group of writers assembled by Stephen Jones, with the rising […]

September 12, 2013

Purpose (DOG EAR)

I write all sorts of things – short stories, longer stories, ideas I’m playing with, erotica. I blog a minimum of twice a week. I review student work (for co-workers) and even dust up resumes (for soon to be ex-co-workers). I also write the Employee of the Week piece at work. It’s been a while since I’ve really focused on a task (one with deadlines, and one that might mean publication (and money!)). But a posting just came up from a little English publication, a call for short stories, one under 750 words, the other 3000-6000. I’m game. I’ve already […]

September 8, 2013

The Fencing Master (Review)

My book. A book about me. Don Jaime Astarloa is a Fencing Master in 1866 Lisbon. He is growing older, his moves slower. Worse, his clientele is dwindling, not wishing to invest the time into an art that is no longer serving a purpose (pistols are becoming more common). Everything Don Jaime believes in: honor, nobility, the monarchy, the way things were and should be, all that is slipping from him. But Don Jaime (like myself) has decided to maintain himself in his own graces, fixed in his belief of right, of the narrow path and why he should maintain […]

September 5, 2013

Ask Amy II (DOG EAR)

Part II of a series that started with THIS. Instead of coming to me with her concerns she has written an online review that is more of a personal attack on me than a review of my book. She has accused me of “viciously attacking” her, of “not being over my jealousy of her”, and “needing counseling.” None of this is true. I used to feel jealous of her, but the jealousy my fictional character has is much exaggerated from what I actually felt. How can I convey to her that while this fictional character shares many of her attributes, […]