January 2, 2002

Back to Work

I've bowed to pressure. I now have a Contact page. Of course, this pressure came from people who already have my email address. Hmmmm...

After some deliberation, I've decided to hide my private email address behind a script. I just don't feel comfortable putting it out on the web for anyone to grab (particularly a spambot). Maybe I'm being too cautious. But the way I see it, my email address is like my phone number. Heck, maybe it's more important -- after all, I've had the same email address for three-and-a-half years, while my phone number has changed three times.

First day back at office, and basically I just made more work for other people. Heh, my kind of day!

I still have a lot of unpacking to do. To avoid that, I picked up a couple of books at the bargain rack at Waldenbooks. The first was If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home by Now, by Sandra Tsing Loh. It's... OK. I like her language and her style. But let's face it: she's taking her shots at... Los Angeles. How hard is that? Plus, I can only take so many sardonic comments and wry observations at one sitting. Pot calling the kettle, maybe, but still.

The second book was The Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Science Fiction. Hey, it was three bucks. And it's not without its charms. Take the cartoon sidebars. When the authors provide an anecdote, they use a cute little cartoon of an astronaut pontificating, labelled, "As You Know, Bob". When they want to warn you about a publishing industry pitfall, there's a cartoon of Robby the Robot, with the title, "Danger, Danger!" How could you not love a book like that?