Thoughts on second week at Dad’s.

[erastes]

I definitely need a dongle. (cease the sniggering at the back, please.)  The lack of internet access is beginning to be a nuisance and being such a lazy writer and drafter I hate the idea of revisiting the manuscript and looking up all the irritating notes I’ve left myself like [check this--Prussian duelling protocol 1860 - slap? Glove? Water in face?]  or [what’s the term for applying maggots to wounds?  Did they actually have one? Will maggotting DO?] or [etymology: photograph or dageurotype.  Also check spelling of dageurrotype.]

I should be able to get a dongle for about £10 a month - or less, one of the deals is for £7 a month special offer but that’s for 1GB.  I have no idea what this means in real money - is there some way to help your browser cut down on downloads like not showing photos or something?  Would 1GB be any good for me?  I would be more aware of the limits and I wouldn’t stupidly be downloading films, playing games, doing face book, dragon cave or stuff like that when I’m at Dad’s, but googling and checking my flist and email - would that be enough?

Muffled Drum is up to 14K. I’m a bit annoyed that it’s April and I’m only 14k in a new project - but now I’m guaranteed 1k a day five days a week, there’s no reason why I can’t do (quick calculation on fingers and toes)  800k for the remainder of the year.  (falls off chair laughing) sheesh.  No that can’t possibly be right.  *uses calculator instead because she’s really that crap at maths* 8 months with 4 weeks at 5k per week is 160,000. That’s amazing. If I could really do 1k a day five days a week I could write two books in the rest of the year.  So no excuses about writing ONE, then. It would be nice to get two done, though…

I feel a bit sad that I don’t have much coming out--Junction X isn’t sold yet, Mere Mortals is sold barring the paperwork, but Lethe have  limited slots - obviously, all publishers do, and I assume Mere Mortals won’t be on the books until next year. I have Tributary coming out in - hopefully - May this year, but that’s a novella and an ebook (or at least for now, they have the print rights for a year, after that I will try and place it with Cheyenne, perhaps) so it’s a bit depressing that this is the first year that I have nogthing coming out in print.

Starting to get Dad sorted out, his conservatory door has stuck, so I have a man coming around to deal with that, next I have to find him a gardener before the grass gets out of hand.  It’s not that he’s not physically capable of it - he may be 81, but he’s as fit as a flea and can run and walk like a man of 50 (very much fitter than me) but he’s just not interested in doing it, which is a bit sad as mother loved her garden and it’s getting a bit neglected.  There’s a lot of other bits and pieces need doing too, but I’m going to take it slowly and not come rampaging in like some great big nag.  What amazes me is the crap he keeps - receipts all over the house, old batteries, tiny pieces of biscuit, a portion of banana on the windowsill - it’s very odd.

Yesterday I made nice crusty ham rolls with salad, today I made a frittata (of which I’m inordinately proud - I like cooking but I don’t bother just for me) - I’ve decided that I’ll be very Victorian about lunches and we’ll have the same thing each week - different lunch each day but same thing on the corresponding day, because that’s easier to shop for, and easy to do.   Frittata is definitely a success so that’s one, baked potato another day, rolls another one, spicy rice another and meat and salad for the fifth - that’ll do! He’s now attempting to cut the grass, after saying earlier he didn’t fancy it…every moment is a new adventure with an Alzheimer’s patient!  J

Comments

[tiggothy.livejournal.com]

I have notes like that all over the Thing I'm (allegedly) writing at the moment - I've been trying to do it with pen & paper on my lap in the car at lunchtime, but it's not really working :-S I think it's time to change my habits and sit down to it when I get home after work...

[erastes.livejournal.com]

that's sometimes all you can do is force yourself into a new routine - when it all got a bit difficult at work in the last year I used to stay on at work for an hour. A pain in the bum because i got home late, but it meant the office was entirely empty, and I was able to concentrate.

[beckyblack]

Mmm, frittata... even just saying it is fun. I never liked the runniness of a classic omelette, so a frittata is more my thing.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

this was a tad runny on top (see probs re grill below) but otherwise held together very nicely in one lump. :) result. Next year masterchef. Really really NOT btw - too much like hard work...

[aunty_marion]

You can come and cook frittata for me any time.

It's 'daguerrotype', by the way. You were almost right the second time, but had the u and e transposed. Why, yes, I can't help proofreading! *g*

[erastes.livejournal.com]

the only thing that didn't work right was that my father's stove is dual fuel and i assumed the grill was gas like the hob and it's not, so I didnt get to brown the top and melt the cheese properly, but otherwise it was very successful.

It's quite frustating, I have to use Microsoft Works on the laptop--there is a Word programme installed but it's a 25 uses and then that's it unless you tap in the user number, and I can't afford it- and the spell chek on works is very limited. I'll have to take a dictionary over there and leave it there, I think.

[tiggothy.livejournal.com]

Have you tried openoffice.org? It's free and you can still save as .doc files (and it has a prettier default font, lol)

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I'll give it a go - thanks! I doubt the spell check is any better! :)

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

Open Office is great :) I'm not sure about the spellchecker, but it has a nifty "export to .pdf" feature that I use all the time for converting text files to something that can be read by an ereader - great for free giveaways :)

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

All right, I give up - what's a dongle and can't they call it something that doesn't sound rude?

I guess forgetting he didn't want to cut the grass could be one of the few silver linings. The orderly lunches will probably be a good routine for your Dad, as well as easier for you!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

it's a widget that plugs into your usb port (i think) that connects you to the network wirelessly. I suppose i need to do some research as to whehter it's even available in this area - there's still no cable in much of Norfolk, and to get a phone signal I sometimes have to go and sit in the car or run around in the garden...

However it's a double edged sword - i AM writing 1k a day there, quite quickly in an hour or 2 at the most, and i know damned well that if i had access to everything, I'd write as much as I'm doing at home e.g. next to nothing... So perhaps I'll hold off - at least until I'm in a definite routine and have weaned myself off the net dependence somewhat.

[aigooism.livejournal.com]

Ahhhhh. Sort of like Korea's WiBro . . . I don't know what are some limitations on Dongle, but I can assure you that I use about 1.5 gb just by using internet and chat.

. . . But I don't do Youtube, Facebook, or any fancy dancy game stuff.

Anyway, the limitation I have on WiBro are:

It won't work in a basement or above like 10 story in an highriser.

and

It won't work out in the country where the telephone poles aren't dense and everywhere like in a city.

So yeah, that's WiBro.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I think i'll struggle on without for a while - or I'll end up being distracted as much as I am at home - at least I know I'm writing at Dad's...

:)

[leni-jess.livejournal.com]

I found 1 GB in a month adequate when I was in the UK last summer (email, LJing, some googling tourist stuff - then about 800 MB downloading of music in the last day by my brother!). However, there are lots of 3 GB deals that are 15 per month rather than 10.

This is a useful run-down of options that I picked up off my fflist just last night: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/cheap-mobile-broadband

They give some indication of what 1 GB etc means, and also hints on how to avoid automatic downloads, unnecessary pic downloads etc. Pay careful attention to the cost of overruns!!! and check coverage before you buy (the shop ought to be able to go into details).

Frittata, yum! You can change the contents with the seasons, too.

[leni-jess.livejournal.com]

BTW, if you sometimes have to go into the garden to get a phone signal that might mean you'd be out of luck with the dongle, because 3G mobile broadband web access makes use of mobile phone networks to send data, meaning you can connect wherever there's a mobile signal (but where there isn't...). So definitely check with the shop!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

That's a very useful page, thank you! The hotspot availablity for Norfolk is seriously depressing!

[crawling-angel.livejournal.com]

Dongle>>> But I'm at the front and I'm still laughing!

We're experimenting with the bargain halogen oven I bought tomorrow...chicken cooking in a third of normal oven time! Nuked chick, anyone?

Do you lend Dad out to cut other people's grass? :)

[erastes.livejournal.com]

can chicken cook that quickly? won't it affect how tender it is? (You can tell i'm not a masterchef...)

[crawling-angel.livejournal.com]

We still haven't got round to cooking it. When the Boat Comes In got in the way again. We only have four more episodes to watch :(

[semioticwarrior.livejournal.com]

What's a dongle? It sounds like something, the possession of which, would get people off your back about being "qualified" to write gay fiction. Can one really get one for 10 quid a month?

[erastes.livejournal.com]

It's something you plug into your laptop to connect to the mobile network to give you online access - yes, some are £7 a month. However, I've just found that as a BT total broadband user, I qualify for free wifi access if there's a BT user in the area. whee!

[countrygirlxxoo.livejournal.com]

You can download Openoffice for free to use on your laptop. It will open most word documents, and you can save the documents as rich text format (rtf) and open them back up on word. It looks pretty easy to use, and I can guarantee it will work better than Works (just about anything works better than Works). Openoffice is totally free. You can install it on as many computers as you want. Here is the link.
http://www.openoffice.org/

If you use Firefox, you can uncheck the setting that automatically downloads images on web pages which will save a lot of bandwidth. Just go to Tools, Options, click the Content icon at the top, and uncheck Load Images Automatically. If there are certain pages that you want the images to load, you can add it in on the exceptions button to the right of the Load Images option.

If you Internet Explorer, go to Tools, Internet Options, click the Advanced Tab, scroll down to the Multimedia section, uncheck ALL the items under the Multimedia section except Always use Cleartype for HTML, click the OK button at the bottom.

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

Second the kudos for Openoffice! I finally downloaded it and I HAS SPREADSHEET!

[tiggothy.livejournal.com]

a-ha, I should have read all the comments before posting up there about openoffice!

[countrygirlxxoo.livejournal.com]

Does your dad have a landline telephone at his house? If so, you can probably get dialup for pretty cheap. It'll be slow, but you wouldn't have to worry about getting charged a lot for going over your bandwidth limit.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

That might be a good option - I've just found that BT do a free hotspot option by encouraging everyone to join together they share a bit of their bandwidth together with everyone else so everyone can have mobile BB - how lovely and socialist! Whether there's anyone in the area I need, I don't know, but free is GOOD.

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

Nowadays, it seems to be called "maggot therapy." In the past, it seems to have been "wound debridement" or "debriding wounds." Maggots were used on horses as well as soldiers.

As for dueling protocol, it appears that there handbooks available as guides for proper behavior before, during and after a duel. Two still available are The Code of Honor by John Lyle Wilson (1784-1849), a former governor of South Carolina. It was first published online in 1838. It's available online for free. The Dueling Handbook by Joseph Hamilton was published in 1829 and is apparently still being sold.

The Prussian officers were mad on dueling, though it was officially disapproved of for civilians to duel. In the 19th century there was an average of one duel each month between officers of the Royal Prussian Army, many of whom carried dueling scars as the ultimate decoration.

Mark Twain described a students' dueling ground in Germany in A Tramp Abroad, which was published in 1880. So he was close to the right period.

I'll look for more dueling stuff.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I doubt it was called maggot therapy back then, so I think a common man will call it maggotting and be believable...Thanks!

[crawling-angel.livejournal.com]

Maggot therapy it's called but I don#'t know if it was called that then.

Not to self: do not wish to be maggot in next life.

LJ is good at eating comments today. Maybe you should apply LJ to said wounds. *grrrr*

[erastes.livejournal.com]

No really don't want to be a maggot. Hopefully I've already been one...