Chapter the Seventh: In which I meet the Babe.
Being single, I decided that I'd look at some of the dating web sites. I learned a great deal about personal ads--both reading and writing them--and corresponded with some interesting and delightful people. I tried several dating web sites, includingwww.matchmaker.com, www.adultfriendfinder.com, and a couple others. On one of them, www.nicecatch.com, I met a lovely woman named Marilyn. (Personally, I don't think this picture does her justice, so here's another picture of Marilyn and her two daughters. I still need to get a scan that includes Marilyn's son.) This turned out to be real happenstance, as she thought she'd deactivated her profile some months before. Nope, and I'm pleased she hadn't. Marilyn and I have been dating for a couple months now. I think she's very cool: she's a judge for the State of Washington specializing in worker's comp cases, she sings alto with a beautiful, clear, solid voice... oh, and she's a doll! Marilyn also beats me at Scrabble occasionally, which is a real pleasure; I haven't played a good game of Scrabble since I was a teenager and played regularly against my mother. So far, Marilyn's a game ahead of me, but I'm getting the very old and dusty Scrabble reflexes back so she'd just better watch her step! Marilyn's got three kids, 16, 18, and 22, of whom only the 16-yo lives at home with Marilyn. We're doing well together so far. Watch this space for bulletins.
Other news is that I was recently informed that I'd been inducted into my high school's hall of fame. This is Really Big Stuff for me. The award statement was written by Bill Burgess, my drama teacher from Sahuaro High School and a dear friend, as follows: "John is a well-known author of more than 21 books and numerous articles in the field of computer software, many of which have been translated in Japanese, Korean, Italian, Spanish, French, Dutch, German, and Portugese. Several of his books are available in the Sahuaro High School Library. He is highly respected by his peers as a teacher, a technical advisor, a consultant, an author, a public speaker, a musician, a person with great organizational skills, and one who gives freely of his time and expertise in the field." (Looking around at the current number of projects in my office, I might disagree about the organization skills, myself.) I am pleased and flattered beyond words by this. I will also have the pleasure of being inducted with James Gooden, a year behind me at SHS, who has done wonderful things in the theater community in Tucson. We'll be receiving our awards at a presentation in November. I'm terrifically flattered. I hope to see my sister, Lorraine, and visit with a number of friends while I'm down there.
I'm continuing to do a lot of travelling, most of which is for the STC. In September, I'll be doing presentations in Central Illinois, LA, and the San Fernando Valley. (I'll also be stopping in to see my great-aunt Kay in Moreno Valley once again.) In October, I'll be in Honolulu for a conference and a bit of a vacation. In November, I'll be in Tucson as I mentioned earlier, then speaking in Dallas, Tulsa, and Houston. I'm probably going to be a guest at a science fiction convention in November as well, so November will definitely be a way busy month. I'll also be doing something in Vancouver, B.C., in February, and Tampa and Columbus, OH, in March.
The semi-divine and really skilled Margaret Organ-Kean is designing a whole new web site for me. It's getting close to done, but it's not done yet. Keep an eye out for it; you'll sure know it when you see it. Check back sometime in fall and see if we've got the new site up yet.
Book #21, theRoboHELP 2000 Bible, is FINALLY done!! I received my copies in mid-August and it looks pretty darned good! I'm hoping to sell at least a bazillion of 'em. In the "vanity of vanities" department, I'd hoped to get the RoboHELP 2000 Bible, put it on the shelf with the other 20 books I've written or contributed to, and have a whole shelf of books. (Every author's got a "brag shelf" in their home somewhere; I was hoping to have an honest-to-Gawd SHELF.) So, I get the book, I put it on the shelf, and, thick as it may be (1000 pages), it... uh... still isn't quite enough. I'll have to do another 400-500 page book to fill up the shelf. Day-umn! I have to grin at myself. Oh, well, I've a list of people I want to dedicate books to, so I guess I'll have to write another dozen or two.
The MP3 books are getting a whole bunch of publicity: I've been doing a lot of radio interviews all over the country. Time Magazine interviewed me at the end of July for an article on Napster's current woes (once again confirming my position as a pundit on MP3s), but the article didn't run when it had been scheduled (August 7) because of the continuing saga of the Napster legal battles. And I've been having writing book reviews for the STC Journal, which, though pro bono, is sure fun. I have a few other things developing, too, but there's nothing to report yet.
Besides books, I've been doing a number of magazine articles for bothAccounting Technology andPublish! Magazine. I'm also doing some contract writing for a company on the East side that makes an enterprise information portal. No books are planned for the next few months--I'm going to do contract writing for a while while the royalties start rolling in--but I'm looking at a few possibilities. I'm doing some work on expanding my skill set as well: I'll be going for an A+ certification and I may go for a Network+ certification after that, or possibly Linux. I'll see how it goes.
There's not much else right now. Life's a bit uneven at the moment, mostly in getting a bunch of deadlines met, but it's not bad, I'll say that for it! I hope you're doing well, too.
Go back to the Personal page.
Go back to the Home page.
