Books, books and more books.

Writing a book, so I have discovered, isn't easy but the writing part appears to be the easiest part of getting the sod published.  If it is to be an ebook it first it has to be formatted and edited correctly, according to the requirements of the publisher, and this means going through the book carefully.  Then it can be uploaded and still you're not done.  There are other pains in the bum to deal with.  It's a darn sight easier to read the bugger than write and publish it!

Karin's Book "Seven Doors of Time" consists of seven short stories ranging from disasters (such as splitting America in half - nice one there) to Crime, Murder and Time Travel, with a bit of Romance thrown in for good measure.  It cost her $9.99 to get the ISBN number.  To find Karin's Book on line: Click Here the ebook costs just $2.99 but 30% of the book can be downloaded free.

If my own effort ever gets published I for one will be surprised, even so, my first is perhaps just over two thirds complete.  I suppose I just need to get settled in and start bashing away at writing.  I should warn you, while my effort is a bone crunching adventure with lots of bad guys, I can't help sticking humour in it - given that it is partly set in my home town of Oldham.  As I keep telling people, the town once exported cotton but today it exports comedians; you don't have to be a comedian to live there - but it helps.

Missing my pencils

I thought I'd do a sketch of Gabrielle Gifford, now on the road to recovery - but can I find my sketching pencils? No!  I've the sketch pads - different sizes of pad with the right kind of paper, but not even a HB, BB or 4H in sight. I took out the colour and adjusted the contrast to produce this black and white image, then after adjusting the size, printed it out.  Of course I could use Photoshop to produce a sketch, but in my book that would be cheating.

I'll just have to wait until I can purchase a new set of sketching pencils and that means waiting until I can get to the right store that sells them.  Development closed one store in the neighbourhood, a tornado closed another - what next?  Let me guess, a redneck going on the rampage shotgun in hand after being stabbed in the arse (ass) by a super-mosquito developed in stagnant water left over from the Mississippi flood!  That's the problem with mossies here, they can be tiny things that creep under the radar or whoppers that come with full armour and 27mm cannon (or that's what it feels like).  No matter what their size, it sure ain't no pin-prick that they leave.  Well I suppose we have the rest of the summer to fight 'em off.  What puzzles me though are the young things at the Uni just up the road.  They stretch out on the laws like offerings to the gods and not a mossie in sight!

I think I'll go on another hunt and see if I can find my pencils.  When I'm quietly sketching I'm as quiet as a lamb and not my usual nutty self.  And if you don't believe I'm nuts - ask Karin.  She knows.  By the way don't forget to visit our web site.  The links for all Karin's books are there - including the ebook.

Saturday and it's back to the grind!

For someone who is supposed to be unemployed, I'm kept busy.  If it isn't housework, it's something else.  The something else on this occasion I'm certainly not complaining about. Karin managed to get her ebook, "Seven Doors of Time" (ISBN 978-1-4524-9424-1) uploaded and published, and believe it or not she's even had her first sale!  A few more wouldn't hurt (heavy hint, heavy hint), Click Here for the site.

Yeah, okay so the ebook has a cover... well kind of!  The book is a collection of seven stories and I'm sure that Karin will outline them in her blog.

Of course while Karin was uploading I was busy on my laptop updating Facebook and our web site.  Of course I also sent out the appropriate information on Yahoo Groups as well, not that it will reach many, but it's a start.

Karin's first published novels had quite a price tag, but we both feel that the charge of $2.99 for the ebook is not too bad (there is a decimal point in there, so it's just short of three bucks).  I suppose we'll have to wait and see how well the book does, or doesn't do. Our advertising budget is at the moment $0 and that's about it.  Nevertheless, God is good and kind to us.

The Evil Trojan!

Taken Over
My laptop (opposite) had been taken over by a Trojan, a Windows XP Defrag Fraud that would not shut off.  After it ran - pretending to examine my computer - it required the purchase of software to complete the task of removing "Bad Sectors" and defraging the computer (which XP and any windows program can do anyway).  I had no control over my computer but then me being me I was not to be outdone by a computer virus.

The programs in my tray were still running so I ran the anti-virus program.  Even this seemed ineffective when it came to deleting the files it found, so I made a note of the path of the files in particular and shut down the computer.  To keep the story short I then rebooted and pressed F8  Selected safe mode with the Command Prompt (the computer runs in MS DOS) then I discovered none of the directories or files were showing.  At the C:\ prompt I typed Help to list the DOS commands available then typed Help DIR and this displayed the commands available for the directory.  I then typed in the switch -A/ and behold, all the directories and files were listed.  I then used the CD command (Change Directory) with the path to the place where the virus was and again used the switch to locate the virus.  I noticed an additional program that should not have been there, so taking a chance I deleted this along with the files my software had already found.  On rebooting the virus had shut down, but I had still lost control parts of my desktop.

Regaining Control
My Start menu had no programs listed, there were no icons on my screen but I did have access to some parts of the computer.  That's all I needed.  Using help on the Start Menu and some of the advanced features I was able to call up all the hidden files and re-set the folders for my programs etc.  The next job was to go through the lengthy list of files, find the program files and "pin" them to my Start Menu so if they didn't get listed among my programs I could still run them from another place.  While the icons still do not show on my desktop, the main one's I use are on my Task Bar, while I can access my desktop from the taskbar.

With control regained, I downloaded from Microsoft free anti-virus software and updated the files for the software before running it.  The remnants of the Trojan were found and deleted.  The laptops hard drive has been defraged and the Registry cleaned.  Not bad for an old fart who doesn't even have a Bachelor's in Computer Science!

How the Trojan got on to my machine I have no idea.  Even if you already have anti-virus software, the anti-virus software from Microsoft (they have versions for different Windows programs) is worth thinking about.  I now have more than one firewall in place protecting my machine.  Microsoft also offer help in sorting out problems with software. It may be worth visiting Microsoft At Home to see what's on offer and get tips on how to protect your computer.

Into the Storm

It began as a normal day, even if I was feeling a bit under the weather, not exactly sick but not too well.  While on the Internet I checked the weather, storms had been forecast and there it was on the local Doppler Radar, a rather large blob that seemed to get larger as it drew closer.  I told Karin and she said that she had also seen it heading right for us.  Then we heard a tornado reported on the ground in the county across the Mississippi.



So it began.
Karin got our emergency bags together (bags filled with the things we may need if we found ourselves trapped) and placed them by the door to the basement.  I went outside to check on the weather and saw the dark clouds on the horizon to the west, but the clouds above were moving north - not a good sign if the approaching storm was moving east.  Was this an early indication of rotation?  I'd almost been flattened by a tornado before and the idea of going through it again was not very high on my list of exciting things to do!
   I checked the Doppler Radar again, the storm was crossing the river the north and would soon be on us.  Again I went outside to check and the clouds were moving fast in the same direction as before.  Karin and I unplugged our computers and turned them off.  I then checked outside one more time, this time the clouds were moving east, the wind picked up and the rain - heavy rain began.  Suddenly the severe weather sirens went off as if we were in the middle of the London Blitz, so I returned indoors and took the bags down to the basement.  As I did so the lights went out, so I raced back up the stairs to grab my bike lamp so I could light the way for Karin.  Our neighbour from the apartment next door, who had been awakened by the sirens, joined us in the basement while the storm raged outside.  We could hear the wind, torrential rain and hail  hammer against the basement windows.  The only light was from my torch and a torch Karin had packed and we had to remain in the basement until the worse of the storm had passed.

Day into night into day.
The darkness passed, the storm passed and we were again in daylight, but the power was still out.  Karin put the things from the fridge into the freezer so that they wouldn't spoil while I used my cell phone to call in the power-outage.  With no coffee or way to heat the pot, I was beginning to climb the walls after a short while - then I would, wouldn't I?  I settled for Fudge Oreo's and a mug of water.  What do you do without power?  Easy! Watch a DVD on a battery powered laptop.




Welcome to tornado alley.
We didn't see it, we wouldn't have because it had been shrouded in rain.  An EF2 tornado with wind speeds of around 200mph had touched down near Cook St. and Miller St. moving roughly east toward K Mart.  The winds dissipated shortly after it had touched down and a police officer had been able to report it on the ground.  The warehouse for the Pepsi bottling plant had been destroyed, the roof of nearby apartments torn off, cars flipped or smashed by falling branches and the rooftops of other buildings damaged in a six block wide path that ran through the city for a mile and a half. Outside we found flooding, but when the rain stopped, I pulled a fallen tree branch from the drain and scooped up other debris to let the water drain away.  I was able to rescue our trash cans and replace them before going indoors.  The power was still off so we couldn't check on friends and we had no idea of the damage surrounding us.  After six hours the power was back on and we were hardly surprised to learn of the tornado and the damage done.

By the grace of God no one in La Crosse was injured, even though the Cafe next door to ABR Emloyment services had it's windows blown out.  Customers had been taken to the back of the Cafe, so again no one was hurt.  Only the week before the local hospitals had practiced for an emergency alert so they were already prepared for the worse.  Sever Weather alerts are often tested here and people know how to respond.  Of course the Red Cross, Catholic Charities and the Salvation Army are helping those in need of emergency shelter, food and cleaning equipment.

Over that weekend 68 tornadoes touched down with Joplin, MO, of course, was the worse hit.  In a sense we feel blessed, despite the damage inflicted on the city.  Keep the people of Joplin in your prayers and thoughts.

Don't you just love the show "Entertainment Tonight"?  They'll announce with great acclaim the items they are covering for the evening and when at last they get to a particular item, there's bog all to it!  Now we Brits have been supporting America in Afghanistan and Iraq so you would think ET would at least know something about Britain - not a chance!  During 'Tthe Wedding' they mispronounced The Mall - no it's not a shopping mall it's a street you twits!  Even worse, to the great dismay of every Welshman who may have seen the program, they referred to Anglesey as a town when it's actually an island, separated from the mainland by the Meni Strait (a rather wide stretch of seawater).

I thought that maybe that if they can't get 'The Mall' right, it would be something of a giggle to hear them try to pronounce the name of one of the towns on Anglesey:

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.

If that tongue twister doesn't get them all of a flutter nothing will.  They'll no doubt call on Catherine Zeta Jones for some help - at least she can pronounce it (No I can't, but then I'm a Brit poking fun at ET).  Oh yes, the above place name is for real - Google it and see for yourself.

Perhaps we're too far north on the Mississippi to be too threatened by flood waters, we also missed the worse of the storms, but we did get hit with quite a few homes with holes in their siding from the hail.  The river flooded, but not enough to do much damage.  Downstream the river got gradually higher, now their having real problems in the southern states.  Here it was expected because of all the snow, it had to melt and go somewhere and that somewhere is the Mississippi.  We need to keep the folks down south in our thoughts and prayers.

Our web site The Cook Companies looks a little better with a new home page and an updated page for out Catholic links.  It took me a while to check out which links were still working and which were not and keeping abreast of changes to other web sites is a pain in the sitting place.  All four of Karin's books are still listed on our web site and I hope to update some of our pages in the near future.

Corned Beef and Cabbage?

The Real Irish Dish

No I don't mean Enya, I mean the traditional St. Patrick's Day feast of bacon or beef joint, potatoes and greens.  Sorry but corned beef and cabbage is not traditional Irish fare even if it is an integral part of Irish-American culture.  It apparently originated with Irish-Americans in the eastern states who used corned beef in place of the more traditional pork.

One clue to this is a rather simple question: where in the name of heaven would the Irish get cabbage at this time of year?  St. Patrick's Day falls in March - the beginning of the planting season and not harvest time.

The picture above of the half-British half-Irish scruff and his wife was taken at the end of the summer last year.  Right now we have another winter storm threatening later in the week - so much for March being the beginning of the planting season.  It seems to me that the seasons haven't so much changed as somehow become scrambled - freeze in winter and spring and fry in summer and fall.  If we fry enough the red and gold of fall isn't so much the leaves in the trees but us!

In any case, to return to the subject of St. Patrick's Day.  With St. Patrick being the Patron Saint of Ireland and his feast day falling in March, it often falls during the time of Lent.  So the rule is that the Lenten fast is lifted for that one day in Ireland so that the Irish can tuck into their meal and down a pint or two and have a good time.  It's a day on which everyone seems to become Irish.

So on March 17th (four days before my birthday - big hint) have a great St. Patrick's Day, a decent meal and a pint of the black stuff (Guinness).   Lay off the green beer it'll only make you puke!