NANOWRIMO – I’ld like to buy a vowel
It’s almost that time of year again, yes in 13 days it will be November. November is a time for Turkey, at least one wedding I know of, and of course lots of inspiration and perspiration from writers. Novemeber is of course, National Novel Writing Month or NANOWRIMO for short. The goal of NANOWRIMO is to get people writing and also to get them to write a 50,000 word novel by the stroke of midnight on Novermber 30th. It does not have to be an awe inspiring, prize winning novel, it just needs to be complete. And a deadline is a great motivator.
Use this as an opportunity to write the “Great American Novel”.
(or at least an opportunity to write, even if you’re not American)
Some Obligatory links :
NANOWRIMO FAQ
SIGN UP NOW
And my personal FAQ about NANOWRIMO :
Will you be participating this year?
Unfortunately, NO. Due to my wedding and Honeymoon I will be gone for a little over 50% of November and as wacky as 50,000 words in 30 days sounds, 50,000 in less than 15 days sounds like asking for a world of hurt. That being said, I will be writing the days I can. And you may think it is a lame excuse but it’s what I’ve got.
Have you ever participated?
No. The first time I found out about NANOWRIMO was the middle of last November. I found out about it through a friend’s blog as he was participating. I did use it as an opportunity to get off my butt and start writing and one of those writing outlets is this Blog (created mid November 2004, November 13th to be exact).
How about in 2006?
That is the plan.
Why should I participate?
- To say you did
- To have fun writing
- To potentially meet other people in your area writing their 50K words.
- To go to the “Thank God It’s Over” Party
- Why not participate?
Harry Potter Sparks gunfire
The BBC reports on the Potter craze gone awry.
How to get hired, or at the very least, how to get me to take a 2nd look at your resume
I was taking a look at some resumes this week and I was taken aback at the state of most of resumes that were submitted. So here are some basic rules for anyone who cares to listen :
1. Use spell check.
2. Use punctuation, at the very least use an occasional sentence and end it with a period.
3. If you use an Objective section, make sure the objective somehow applies to the position for which you are sending in your resume.
4. In your work history/class description(for a new grad) make sure you actually describe what you did not just that you did it. For example :
I worked on a group project where I wrote the network code for a program that did X in C++ and used a CVS repository to store the code. The code was developed in a Solaris environment using the GNU compiler.
Which one of those two comes off better? In the first you would probably end up with a list of buzzwords somewhere on your resume with no context, in the second you can forego the list since your buzzwords are there and in context. OK, the example was a bit contrived but you get the idea.
5. If your GPA is below a 3.0 don’t put it on your resume. GPA’s are optional on a resume and a verbal 2.7 comes off alot better after you have wowed them in an interview.
6. The truth will set you free. If you worked part/full-time to pay your way through school, say so, don’t just say you waited tables. It will make that 2.7 or even that 3.9 look alot better.
7. A lie will damn you. Don’t pad your resume, even if you’re a very smooth talker padding may ruin an otherwise great interview if you happen to get caught.
Potter mania to begin again…
Several headlines are now showing that book 6 of the series : Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, will be released on July 16th, 2005. I’ll never forget walking into Costco picking up my Order of the Phoenix book, walking over to get some bagels and then walking past the now more than half gone palate of books on my way to the checkout. What are the chances it will be that crazy this time?
Dude, a linguistic Study
If you have ever found yourself using the word dude then you should head over to take a sneak peek at this CNN article.A linguist at the University of Pittsburgh has written a paper on the subject which, among other things, discusses the “effortless kinsmanship” that the word brings.
So here’s to you dudes!
Fun with Cryptology : The Davinci Code
Over Thanksgiving I finished reading “The Davinci Code” by Dan Brown, I was hesitant the read the book at first because of all the buzz surrounding it (I guess I am just contrary) but finally broke down when I needed something to read on the flight. I walked into the airport bookstore and there it was staring at me with its glossy cover, beckoning me to purchase it. Several of my dollars later I was onboard my flight reading away. The story revolves around Harvard Symbologist, Robert Langdon, who receives a late-night phone call asking for his help with regards to a bizarre murder at the Louvre museum in Paris. And then a mystery begin to unfold. I’ll stop the synopsis there as I don’t want to unintentionally give anything away. It was a good read. I thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to end and finished it rather quickly. One thing for the traveling reader that I really liked is that, for the most part, the chapters are fairly short so its very easy to get to a stopping point if you need to put it down so you don’t miss your connection. Does the storyline ruffle quite a few feather? Very much so. Or at least I can see where feathers would be ruffled. Of course you must remember that this is a work of fiction and although it has enough facts interspersed throughout to give it a very good sense of realism, at the end of the day it is a book meant to entertain not provide any definitive historical evidence.
The book gets a thumbs up.
Now if you haven’t read the book you might want to stop reading here. Also if you are familiar with the book and consider yourself someone whose feathers would be ruffled, stop now as well. The book draws from several tiny bits of “enigmatic” history/rumor. Like :
The Rennes-Le-Chateau Mystery
The Magdalene Cult
The Gnostic Gospels
The Gospel of Q
The Priory of Sion
Also more recent non-enigmatic info :
Opus Dei
Louvre Pyramid
The Dead Sea Scrolls
The Merovingians (not just the guy in the Matrix sequels)
As well as The Templars, The Cathars, etc.
No matter on which side of the ruffled feather crowd you stand, the book has a side effect of having you think more about your religion and maybe asking some questions which is really never a bad thing.
I like how he throws in some facts with his fiction and so I’m about start Dan Brown’s first Robert Langdon Book, Angels & Demons . I’ll write that one up as well when I’m done. His third book is supposed to have something to do with the Masons and I’ll hazard a bet it will have something to do with this place.
Why not?
Well instead of just spamming some of my friends with countless links and sarcastic commentary I figure I would expand my audience or at least switch to an “opt-in” model for my ramblings. So this is the result of that line of thinking.
I must warn everyone that I am a geek and honestly had to resist the urge to open with a very slashdotty “First Post” post. Luckily I resisted that urge, right up through the second sentence.
So we’ll see where this experiment goes and hope for the best, but first, here are some links that I thought were interesting from this past week :
The ad that let this company be the #1 item on “The dumbest things on Wallstreet this week” and the pesky other matter which also made them #5. Thank god I don’t own alot of their stock … oh wait … I do. Crap.
And of course the disturbing, “point on the doll where the robot touched you” article.
Now Reading
Planned books:
None
Current books:
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The Shadow Rising (The Wheel of Time, Book 4) by Robert Jordan
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A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 3) by George R.R. Martin
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1776 by David McCullough
Recent books:
- Lamb by Christopher Moore
- The Demonata #6: Demon Apocalypse (Demonata) by Darren Shan
- A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 2) by George R.R. Martin
- The Demonata #5: Blood Beast (Demonata) by Darren Shan
- Demonata #4, The: Bec: Book 4 in the Demonata series (Demonata) by Darren Shan
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