Why, yes, I am cleaning out my in-box. Why do you ask?

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 11:50 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I apologize for the rather scattered information herein. I may be going "off the grid" soon.

Spoke to my sister. Mom and Dad went to the GP regarding one of his conditions. The doctor suggested hospice. It seems that Dad has statistically reached the point where people in his condition (Parkinson's) die, and there are signs that he is declining.

He did not hear this (she was with the doctor, he was in the waiting room), but yesterday he was sitting there with his head in his hands saying over and over again "I'm dying, I'm dying". This freaked her out. She called the hospice people today. For now, it is for in-home help.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 10:22 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Planet Stories has retired. But don't worry, he hasn't gone far.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 10:34 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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O.K., the day (and the year) isn't over yet!

So what have I got planned for today:

Buy food for non-vegetarian meal (tomorrow's dinner guests). Buy food for vegetarian meal (vegetarian guests) for tomorrow lunch. Go to pet store and buy dog food and fish food. "Winterize" lawn mower (I think the grass has stopped growing, finally!!!) Finish updating blog with missing reviews, end of year items, etc. Go to firehouse and do the things the idiot president said he would do to relive the treasurer's burden (the treasurer would be me)...but which I found out he hasn't, so I get to do it anyway!

Maybe finish reading a couple more books...almost there, almost there, almost there!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 12:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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To try and shorten our right-hand column, here's a consolidation of all my reading links. The current year will always be available in the right-hand column, as well as on this list.

Best Fiction
Best Non-Fiction

1996: The Year in Books
The Missing Years: 1997 to 2000 (with some overlap on 1996 and 2001)
2001: The Year in Books
2002: The Year in Books
2003: The Year in Books
2004: The Year in Books
2005: The Year in Books
2006: The Year in Books
2007: The Year in Books
2008: The Year in Books

2004: The Year in Shorts
2005: The Year in Shorts
2006: The Year in Shorts
2007: The Year in Shorts
2008: The Year in Shorts

The Death of Captain Future and Other Stories (and Other Stories)

My World Turned Upside Down

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 03:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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To try an shorten the length of our right column, I've put up a posting of my favorite links here.

110 Stories
1632
Ad Astra Games
Altair VI
Angry Astronomer
The Art Department
Bad Astronomy
(I Read) Baen(ed) Books
Stephen Baxter
Baxterium
(The) Best Introduction to the Mountains
Black Five
BLDG BLOG
BoingBoing
(The) Book of Voices
Mike Brotherton
Lois McMaster Bujold
Catgirls
Centauri Dreams
A. Bertram Chandler
Discworld Reading Order
Discworld Wiki
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
Bob Eggleton
Eldritch Dark
Greg Egan
(A) Few Notes on the Culture
Flying Sauce
Freefall
Neil Gaiman
Geometry Junkyard
The Gunroom
Stevenhartsite
How Stuff Works
James Lileks
Lord Dunsany
Lunar Captures
The Manifold
George R. R. Martin
Stephan Martiniere
Jack McDevitt
(The) Minister of Minor Perfidy
Moleskinerie
Elizabeth Moon
New Scientist
Numb3rs Blog
Patrick O'Brian Wiki
(The) Panda's Thumb
Pastelogram
Mervyn Peake
Terry Pratchett
Alastair Reynolds
Rim Worlds Concordance
Spider Robinson
Ronzobot
Robert J. Sawyer
John Scalzi's Whatever
(The) James H. Schmitz Encyclopedia
Karl Schroeder
Science Blogs
Science Fiction Time Lines
Space Opera, Miles and Me
Allen Steele
Stellarium
Systemic
Michael Swanwick's Flogging Babel
Talking Squids in Outer Space
Teahouse on the Tracks
ThinkGeek
Tough Guide to the Known Galaxy
Tough Guide to the Singularity
Ultan's Library
Uncyclopedia
Urban Dictionary
(The) Jack Vance Archive
Marc Van Name
Vexxarr
Wolfe Wiki
My World Turned Upside Down
Worlds of Possibility
(The) Year of Living Musically
Michael Yon Online

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 01:36 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Just finishing the second cup of coffee of the day. Despite what one John Scalzi might think, it doesn't taste like a##. Hot or cold. Ah well, he's got a thing about cats. Go figure. more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:59 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Read the entry here. Please keep David Portree and his daughter, Samantha in your thoughts.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:19 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Regular posting to resume soon, I hope! Here's what I've been about.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:02 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Just one of those FYI things. I'll be posting my old book reviews and book reading lists (1996 onwards) as well as doing reviews for my 2007 books (some stuff already up). So there will be a fairly rapid clip of posting until I get the archived materials up, then a more stately, regular process of blather. Just in case anybody is panicking over the volume...1996 list, with some comments, should be up later tonight.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 06:45 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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In case you all missed it, I've gone and found a co-blogger to assist with the posting duties around here.

"Planet Stories" (which nom de blog I may shorten to PS ), has already provided more original content in a day than I have all year. PS's old blog echoed many of the interests I hold dear: SF, space, reading, Legos, and other fun geeky trivia.

I hope you enjoy the new material as much as I have. It certainly helps me to have someone else playing some new themes for a while.

Posted by: JohnL at 08:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Hey, what's this? Somebody new is posting to TexasBestGrok? more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:06 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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