CakeOrPie

So... Work on HouseOfBlank.com has driven me to start tearing apart and rebuilding CakeOrPie.com. I'm still thinking that cool for the 40-something guy might be a good angle. After all, both Voltron and Thundercats are back on the air in new incarnations. Also, the whole "get rich quick a few measly pennies at a time" scheme of being an Amazon affiliate kind of crashed and burned now that they've canned the program for California residents.

Stay tuned, therefore, for CakeOrPie.com 2.0.

Oh, eff you, Ralphs...

I got this lovely email earlier today:

Dear [doofus customer who signed up for our rewards program and gave us an email address for coupons]:

"Kroger [a.k.a. Ralphs] wants you to know that the data base with our customers' names and email addresses has been breached by someone outside of the company. This data base contains the names and email addresses of customers who voluntarily provided their names and email addresses to Kroger. We want to assure you that the only information that was obtained was your name and email address. As a result, it is possible you may receive some spam email messages. We apologize for any inconvenience..."

Oh for crap's sake...  Thank you very much, Ralphs. Just what I needed.

Can I auto-forward all my spam back to Ralphs and let THEM delete it? What if I write them a little note saying my database has been breached? 

Banging on the keys, once more

FADE IN:

A blank page. A WRITER sits at a brand new MacBook Pro, Final Draft freshly installed anew, trying desperately to remember how to do this.

I've got a new script in the works. It's an idea I've been working on, in notes form, for some time now...  The real challenge will be in turning those notes into pages. The inspiration comes in the form of Script Frenzy -- an annual challenge I came across a year or two ago and made a note to try, when I was feeling up to it. Well, I guess I'm feeling up to it...

A bit doughy, but...

I think I've finally answered the "where's this blog going question," and I owe it all to that meme that washed over Facebook a few weeks back -- the one involving cartoon characters from our childhoods. So, it's all a bit doughy right now, but what would you expect from a site whose subtitle is "Where 85% of what is written is only half-baked?" Stay tuned...

Preheating the CakeOrPie oven, once more

OK, I'm back to thinking about this blog. Well, not this blog, actually. A different one. The idea was actually a book idea I had -- one of the few projects I've ever pitched to my wife that she liked right off the bat. (She's got good instincts. Demoralizing instincts, when you're on the receiving end of one of her head shakings, but good, never the less.) Then, realizing that the book's format would lend itself quite well to blogging (and micro-blogging via Twitter), I started to think about it as a blog which would lead to a book.

Now I have to read up on how to protect the idea of something like a book while letting it out in dribs and drabs. I know there are tons of examples out there -- I just have to find them and read them all.

Got An Extra $7k Lying Around For That Wish List Item?

I noticed on Digg.com tonight that there was a scientific tome going for more than $6k for the Kindle edition, and more than $7k in hardcover.  As an Amazon affiliate, I couldn't resist.

So, if you needed a copy of Nuclear Energy, why wait for the holiday rush?  Get it now!

Quick Review: Mayflower, by Nathaniel Philbrick

Mayflower, by Nathaniel Philbrick

Just finished listening to Mayflower.  It's interesting history and Pilgrim myth-busting, but the book is really two: the first is about the Pilgrims and the Mayflower, and the second is about Plymouth Colony and New England as a whole during the Indian wars of the following 100 years.  If you're from the Northeast and have an interest in history (I have two relatives on the Mayflower, including one who fell overboard...), it's worth your time.

Sarah Palin: Already Under Investigation?

"Excellent. Smithers, she'll be perfect for my administration. Contact William Randolph and have him hold the afternoon editions!"

http://www.adn.com/monegan/story/478090.html

The Show So Far

I'm off to a deliberately slow start, as I'd really rather do things well/right rather than do them over again later.  I've played around with different themes here on TypePad, fired up an Amazon Associates account, Google AdSense and Analytics, and I've explored some of the widgets that are out there.

Mostly, I've found that having this blog as an option has awakened (I wanted to say "re-awakened," but that sounded asinine as I thought about it) my senses to the stuff kicking around in the real world that might make for blogmatter.  (Is that a word?  Well, it is now...)  I've actually sent myself a couple of messages reminding myself to write about such-and-such at some point.

Beginning this weekend, I'm going to begin poking around the web and finding sites that guide (or purport to guide) you through this process to see what all they advise.  Of course, I'll share with you all what I find, if only as a memoir for those who pick through the rubble that remains when this implodes, to see where things went horribly awry.

The Circle Expands

I've begun to build a list of links to sites I recommend.  Some are the personal sites, blogs and projects of friends, from both the off- and online worlds.  Others are the works of strangers, but are sites whose excellent work I will seek only to complement, not replicate.

As of right now, they include...

• 43 Folders - Merlin Mann’s personal productivity/life hacks site.
• David Allen Co. - The online home of David Allen, author of Getting Things Done and Ready For Anything.
• Heroes of Lesser Earth - A gaming-related comic by my gaming-related friend, Kevin Pettway.
• L.A. Food Crazy - A great blog for Los Angeles foodies, written by Jess Winfield.  You name it, Jess has succeeded at writing it, from plays (The Reduced Shakespeare Co. presents The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (abridged)), to non-fiction (What Would Shakespeare Do?), to animated hits (Stitch! The Movie, Leroy & Stitch) to -- most recently -- a novel (My Name Is Will)
• Paper Coach - Lou Agresta's blog, which "tracks an aspiring writer's efforts to design then take a course made from easy-to-find books on writing."
• The LoHud Yankees Blog - Beat writer Peter Abraham's excellent blog on the New York Yankees.
• Tim VanOrden's Running Raw Project - Tim VanOrden's quest to see if one can be an athlete while eating a 100% raw vegan diet.
• Yankees Chick - 'Nuff said.

Check them out, and keep an eye on the list to the right for more great web sites I recommend.