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The following is a document which I have attached to my syllabi for nearly three years now. It started off as a short list of six points. It has now, as you can see below, grown to nine points.
Enjoy.
American History
Updated: Tuesday, 01-18-2011
Why did I fail the Test?
In order to expedite the learning process and facilitate troubleshooting the potential reasons why students perform poorly on their exams, I have provided this list of primary factors which result in poor performance. This is not all inclusive, but it does cover the majority of poor test score issues.
1. Talking in class: Talking in class is perhaps the Number One pet peeve of the Instructor. Talking during the lecture not only takes your attention off of the material, it distracts everyone around the offending student. It is also THE PRIMARY COMPLAINT of your fellow students. Frequent offenders will be removed from the classroom without debate or discussion.
2. Someone next to you was talking: If you are distracted by a fellow student during the lecture then there is a pretty good chance that you missed something important. It is incumbent upon you to take action to correct this. It is within your right as a student to ask that your peer remain silent during the lecture. If they are unwilling to remain silent, report the behavior to the Instructor for further corrective action.
3. Sleeping in class: If the student is sleeping, the student is neither listening nor taking notes. A frequent excuse is that the course is boring. Part of education is learning to adapt and overcome which includes staying awake, whether you want to or not.
4. Texting in class: If the student is texting the latest non course related social gossip, they are not taking notes. Moreover, they probably aren’t paying attention either. Texting students are obvious to everyone around them to include the Instructor (who sees you hiding the phone under the desk, in your pocket, on your lap, etc). Aside from the fact that the syllabus states texting is forbidden in the first place, it is usually a self eliminating problem. Texting students perform poorly.
5. Poor attendance: If the student is not in class, they are not there to listen, take notes and learn. Reading the textbook alone and cribbing off of the notes of your peers will not suffice.
6. Late to Class: It goes without saying that if you are late to class, you probably missed something important. Tardy students invariably disrupt the class by asking their fellow student what they missed, impeding the learning process even further. Show up on time. It is that simple.
7. Failure to take notes: Learning does not occur by osmosis. The student must be an active participant and in a lecture based class that means taking good notes. Simply listening to the lecture will not work for the majority of the students in this class.
8. Failure to read the textbook: The textbook and the reading assignments are provided as a means of giving the student additional context and the opportunity to THINK about what they have learned. Learning is not just the mere memorization of facts. Learning is about understanding, in the case of history, why things may have happened the way they did and how they pertain to present day events.
9. Listening to your iPod during the lecture: The iPod or similar device is forbidden in any case. If you are listening to it, you aren’t listening to the lecture and you will fail your test.
There are other reasons but if you find that you have one or more of the following symptoms during the course of the semester, this might explain poor test performance. It is up to the student to be proactive and correct the problem.
Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
North Kansas City, Missouri
The Writing Front: Rejected
Maternal Soldier came back today after a rapid reject at the target market. A realistic take on the future of warfare as the protag tries to find herself. Too long though.
Well, I could cut the combat scenes out. 
I’m used to it with this story. It just doesn’t quite seem to make the cut. She’ll get close but not quite. I can’t quite see why it won’t get there.
Oh well. Since my day is not going the best (no, I can’t talk about it so don’t ask, not everything is broadcast here at the Tree) it may as well have come on this day.
The Writing Front: Herodotus, Socrates and Mummies?
I was joking at Facebook about a collision that was taking place in my mind with regard to my two upcoming history courses, Western Civ and American History One. The historical ingredients were all sort of mashing up with each other (perhaps that is how it is for my students?). I’ll, of course, get it all sorted out and running in the right direction by time I lecture.
That said, folks following me at Facebook said, “Write it.”
It is a new wrinkle, away from what I’ve been doing. We’ll see.
The Teaching Front
Prep continues here and there between housework, domestic duties and other obligations. I snuck away from the resupply mission to Wal-Mart to read the Ancient History textbook for my course. I’m really, truly, enjoying this textbook. I have not been able to say that about any of my previous textbooks. Yeah, they are readable but not enjoyable.
In fact I’m starting to think that our real problem is that our textbooks are so completely dumbed down that there is not enough meat and potatoes for the students to latch onto. At this rate we’ll be putting the textbook on Twitter and then the students truly won’t know a fucking thing.
On other teaching news, my second eight week course, American History II, is now maxed out. This semester I’ll have 120 students, which seems less in my mind than previous semesters. I think the reason it seems less is that I am teaching only nine hours this time around and I probably will not have to cover for anyone for longer than a day at a time. When I cover for a peer for a long period, I mentally add those students to my own overall load. So I’ve had semesters where I’ve been responsible for nearly 150 to 180 students.
About the size of two companies of infantry. If only I got an Army Captain’s pay.
Other Fronts
With my courses concentrated on Tuesday-Thursdays, I’ve been pondering part time work. The problem, especially when I am writing new notes, is finding something that will wedge into the rest of my life. I think a potential solution may be to apply for substitute teaching positions at the local school districts. This might provide a little extra money here and there. I’d have to cut a class or two in order to do this, but I don’t forsee being called that often.
I could do security again, but they’ll push for evenings and weekends. My eight week class makes evenings problematic and I hate losing my weekends.
You know, there is a solution here. I just don’t know what it is.
Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
North Kansas City, Missouri
Trinity and I have noticed a disturbing trend in our recent travels through the KC Metro Area (known as “The Black Hole of the Midwest” in Murphy parlance).
Dead cats. Not just one or two here and there, but a lot of dead cats. We find them on the roadsides and while Trinity jokes darkly about their need to see Jesus (hopefully she never feels a need to send me to see Jesus) I suspect something else is going on.
But what? Are the dead felines victims of an anti-freeze addiction? Did they drink the green stuff, which is supposed to be like rock candy to them, get disoriented and wander out into traffic? Or is it something else, like the whatever it was that was causing humans to off themselves in all sorts of horrifying ways in The Happening?
I’ve not seen The Happening, just for the record.
In any case, if anyone has any info, let us know.
Research Project Number – 04
Today is a heavy workday. Trinity is off at her new job, which frees up most of my day, lunch being the exception. One upside of having six chapters to look at is that I can examine the story arc while I edit and revise as opposed to spot checking and tweaking when I get single chapters. Tomorrow is also slated for heavy work as is Sunday.
One ongoing research issue pertains to weapons. We have a character who has a need for different weapons for different missions over the course of the novel. I keep swapping one weapon out for another and this seems to me to be a bit off. I need to find this character a weapon that will serve a number of requirements. It has to be in the inventory no later than March 2003 or something that can be picked up. It must meet the following requirements.
1. Serve as a sniper weapon.
2. Also serve as an assault rifle.
3. Have a round heavy enough to knock the target down and keep them down.
4. Be a reliable weapon.
I think the M-14 is probably the weapon I’m leaning toward for the character. I had pondered using the Stoner SR-25 but that didn’t hit the units until 2005, which is no good. I also thought about a Special Ops mod using a 6.8 mm round but those are still in the experimental stage even today. So that isn’t going to work.
I think a customized M-14 is probably the best bet. I’ll advise the client as time permits.
In my research I did find a very handy shotgun for breeching doors. I’ll have to pass that along as well.
Podcasting: The Limb Knitter at Beam Me Up Podcast
Both parts of The Limb Knitter are now available at the Beam Me Up Podcast, hosted by Paul Cole. I’ve got to say that I am impressed with Paul’s work in converting the story to an audio format. I will be sending him more work as time permits. There are some early works at Bewildering Stories that might well serve.
I think I may send some of my other stories out to podcast venues as well. Tearing Down Tuesday definitely needs to find a podcast home. I’m going to see what can be done in that regard. And some of my unsold material may find homes as well. I think my writing seems to be particularly suited for podcast conversion.
That, my friends, could well be a good thing given trend with regard to podcasting.
Other Fronts
Picked up a vac last night, which Trinity put to good use while I worked on RPN-04. Trinity, for some strange reason, LIKES to clean things. While I do not like living in a rat infested shit hole, I find the act of cleaning to be incredibly depressing, probably because cleaning ALWAYS equals punishment in my life.
We also looked at other things for The Pod. We have a dining room table at K-Mart which will fit the bill. Hardwood and affordable. I’ve got a line on a bookshelf that I am going to need for the office/library area. We are going to pool all of our books. At some point, once the place looks full presentable, I’ll post pics and I’ll show Trinity how to post on her blog as well.
One aggravating fly in the ointment which cropped up was the need for Trinity to have three credit hours as opposed to one in order to get her summer job. She switched over to a different class, which increased her fees a notch. Nothing we can’t handle.
As for myself, I plan on concentrating on RPN-04 until the end of the month. After that, I’ll take things as they come. Substitute work may crop up (in fact, I’m almost certain it will). As for summer jobs, I think I’ll worry about that sometime in June.
Hell, if nothing else, I’ll go work at Worlds of Fun for part of the summer. But Trinity said, and I quote, “Your job is to write this summer. So write!”
I hear, I obey.
Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
The Limb Knitter now available at the Beam Me Up Podcast, hosted by Paul Cole.
Research Project Number – 04
Well, it took me long enough to sort out what the issue was with the latest chapter. Turns out it was a reading malfunction on my part. Once I got it sorted, it was a simple matter to make the changes, which are mainly detail and cosmetic in nature.
The project is moving slowly, partly due to the various disasters which affect life on my side of the aisle and obligations on the client’s side of things. Still, we are moving forward.
The Teaching Front
I got most of the tests from last Friday graded. Results were surpising given the essay question from hell I gave them.
From 1898 to 1919 we have watched the United States of America evolve from a regional power in the Western Hemisphere to a global power on par with the imperialist nation states of Europe. Describe, in detail, the specific historical event which brought about this transition and the motivation behind this event. Further, describe the evolution of American Power from 1898 to 1919. Use additional historical examples from your understanding of the lectures and hte reading to describe your understanding of this time period.
You know, to me, it doesn’t seem that difficult. Yet during the fifty minute period I had only two students turn their test in. The other students furiously scribbled past time and I had to sardine them all into a conference room while they finished. One glaring problem I noticed in the lead up to the exam were outlines which confused domestic policy with foreign policy. This essay question is essentially a foreign policy question (yes, you can split hairs and say that without a good domestic policy you won’t have a good foreign policy) yet outlines provided events from Theodore Roosevelt’s Domestic Agenda.
So I threw a bonus question on the test for five points asking the students to describe the difference between foreign and domestic policy. They also had to provide historical examples from the time period in question.
The majority of the students didn’t bother to answer it. They should have as it explains why some of them had trouble.
That said, results were positive for many.
I do, however, need to generate an essay for the third exam which does not chew up more than fifty minutes. Many students have classes at 0900 and that isn’t fair to them.
Physical Fitness Front
Trinity and I hit the gym today for a workout. We did mainly lower body work as she is due for some medical work on the upper body. We put in three miles around Macken Park on their track enjoying a glimpse of springtime sunny weather. After this we hit the pool for some hot tub and water slide time.
Not a bad way to spend part of the afternoon.
The Rest of the Day
We camped out at Panera’s in Gladstone where Trinity said, “I get more homework done here than anywhere else. Why is that?”
“Because there is food here?” I replied.
Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
Nothing X rated for readers of The Pondering Tree. Sorry to disappoint.
Corner Cafe’s Half a Heifer Burger
Trinity’s youngest son, fresh from Marine Boot Camp, said something about wanting to eat healthy. It is possible to order something healthy at the Corner Cafe in Liberty, Missouri (you may have heard of the town, a guy named Jesse robbed a bank there once) but he got this burger instead.
Since many readers are Burger lovers, I thought I’d show you what the Corps put away on our big day out last Thursday.
Half pound of angus beef with bacon no less. And it is possible to get the full pound of angus to which the Marine commented, “I could have fit it.”
Kids. Cue eye roll.
The Spring Break Photos at Sunset Acres
While the teens of the college campuses went to raise hell on various beaches around the country, Trinity and I made our way to Sunset Acres Bed and Breakfast. Our first night alone with each other took place at this establishment so it has a special connection for us. It was also an opportunity to get some time away to ourselves, recover from the last six months of pure insanity and effect some repairs to our relationship.
Well, here it is. There are three rooms here and we always go with the room whose name I can barely pronounce and can not spell at all without spell check. There is an excellent patio by the poolside and our room is the lower one with the sliding glass door. Plenty of sunshine to be had as well, which both of us, suffering from seasonal affective disorder, desperately needed.
Brenda, our host, had a picnic lunch waiting for us when we checked in. Color us spoiled.
I’m going to have my own gravity well at this point. I can’t quite figure out why I look so cross in that photo. It was a good day, I was a happy man and I had food in front of me. My sinuses were clear (something I couldn’t say about NYC where my sinusues were about to explode) so I don’t know what the deal was.
I probably waited about twenty minutes too late to get this shot. The sun had already set. I’ll spare you the kissing photo we got.
Brenda’s establishment is a working farm in many respects with a sizeable congregation of fainting goats. Yes, the goats do faint if you scare them. No, I have not seen this happen. No, I am not sadistic enough to try it (if only you could make the students faint). Trinity was going to try it until she saw the set of triplet infant goats who were hollering for their food. One of the highlights of the trip was watching Trinity and Brenda feed the goats while I watched.
I am not much of an animal person myself. I don’t actively dislike most animals, but I don’t seem to react to them either. The exception to the rule tends to be horses, who seem to trigger something in me. In any case, I didn’t feed the goats but I did help put down more newspaper because the little buggers have very active bladders.
One advantage of Sunset is the hot tub. We missed it on the last trip but not this time.
It was nice, folks. Crisp and cold outside yet hot and inviting on the inside. Trinity and I enjoyed that tub, which we had all to ourselves, a great deal.
We came back much restored and relaxed. I think the relationship is stronger for it (sometimes you have to get away from everyone who is naysaying the relationship and we have a lot of them running around). It goes without saying that in April we’ll make another trip out there.
I supsect in two weeks of college insanity, we’ll need it.
Summer Prep
I’m beating the bushes for summer jobs in a shitty employment environment. I might snag a course at the last minute but there is no way of knowing. Best not to plan on it.
So again, as with the last two summers since the Exodus from Uniguard, I am trying to find a summer job that doesn’t ruin my life. Something that gives me time to write, which isn’t too strenuous, that doesn’t chew up massive amounts of my time. I’ve got some ideas, one of which is to collect fees for the county at one of their lakes. Another is to apply for a position at Watkin’s Mill, which is a living history park that requires people in period clothing to give tours.
I have experience with that from James Country Mercantile and my time as a Civil War reenactor. Toss in two years of teaching (Jesus, two years already?) and the research credits for John Birmingham and I should be qualified for the job.
So part of the tasking this week is to get applications in for those jobs.
The Writing Front: Fan Fiction
I wrote and submitted another piece of fan fiction for the Without Warning universe created by John Birmingham entitled Coming Home. It probably isn’t up yet but I hammered it out in a couple of hours.
I may do more fan fiction for Without Warning simply because I have a level of freedom in that realm which I do not have in short story markets elsewhere.
The Teaching Front: Spinning up for the Second Half of the Semester
Tomorrow we hop back into the saddle. I start my second eight week class of American History. We’ll hit the ground running hot and heavy, trying to clear Reconstruction as soon as possible. We will also get started on their writing assignment immediately. That will use up the last forty-five minutes of class.
In my 0800 class we are moving up to the second exam. Once I finish World War I on Wednesday we’ll be in striking distance of the test. I am a little behind but not much. The class is moving smoothly enough this semester though a number of people who are not showing up are about to be dropped.
I’ve still got some grading to do for my first eight week class. Grades are due on Tuesday so I’ll try to get that knocked out. Pretty heavy attrition rate this time around. I am not bothered by that. Many students sign up for the eight week classes thinking that they will be easier.
I do my best to disabuse them of that notion.
Finally in my noon substitute class we are moving forward with the French Indian War. The syllabus says I’m supposed to test them this week but that isn’t going to happen. I think I can get them to a testing point by the last Monday of March. We’ll see. I’ll have to talk to the full time peer I am standing in for to see what their status is on their return.
Other Fronts
My new glasses will set me back $725, which is a massive chunk of change. The good news is that my eyes, given how nearsighted I am, are healthy and are correctable. The doc said I was lucky to be correctable to 20/20 vision given my condition. Still, the glasses are a bit high.
Health care? Don’t even get me started. I’m sure The Messiah will mandate mandatory health insurance for everyone. Given my opinion of insurance companies (they aren’t worth a fuck in my opinion) I am sure we will pay an undeclared tax which will make insurance companies richer without providing people like me a damned thing.
Maybe I can use the VA as an exemption, not that they are worth a shit either.
So it goes. Long entry folks.
Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
Aboard the Battlestar Steven Francis Murphy BSG-71
Location: Situation Room
Mission: Pondering
The Writing Front: Rusty
I’m rusty. That is all there is to say about it. I am rusty. Over the last couple of days I have tried to write a few items for various projects, some of which I can’t really get into. They are projects I should have some strength in, mainly combat scenes or scenes leading to combat. And yet . . .
Nancy Kress blogged about this matter a few months back. It is much akin to the sensation one gets after taking too much time away from the gym. I have trouble with certain writing tasks anyway, namely a more leisurely and detail filled descriptive narrative as opposed to the tight, minimalist form I am used to. However it is more than that. I am having trouble with writing tasks I am strong at. Oh, it won’t take as long to get back into the swing but still, the issue concerns me.
Healing Hands of the Killer is up for recycle for an anthology project that will be taking submissions here in the next couple of months. I need to get the dust and rust knocked off the cocks and sprockets or I am going to have a hell of a time getting that story ready. And at some point I really ought to see about writing something new.
Maybe I’ll get to do that this summer.
Speaking of Summer . . .
Well, it doesn’t look like there will be any teaching per se. Though I have heard different stories on this and to be fair, the story changed a couple of dozen times before the semester ended. At the last minute I got feelers to cover one class but I begged off out of a certain level of first year fatigue and an abiding sense of doom over trying to write a new batch of lecture notes on the fly during the summer semester for American History One.
Of course, all I did was delay the inevitable. I spent last fall writing the notes on the fly and in every respect (in my opinion) they are inferior to my American History Two notes.
So here is what I have to do. I have to try and keep my options open for a teaching slot should one appear. I have heard various rumors that something might pop up yet. On the other hand, I can’t count on that slot so I need to find a summer job again.
Oh, and I have to do this when the unemployment rate is at 8.1 percent and rising. Great. The pragmatic move would be to apply to all of the security companies and wait for an assignment. I’d like to do this about as much as I’d like to tenderize my testicles with a ballpeen hammer.
There are, of course, options. I’ll try to apply for some of them this week. What I’d like, if I have to stay local, is to sit at some local lake collecting user fees while reading and writing. That would be ideal even if the pay is not the best. Barring that, there are a couple of out of town options, one of which would be a science fictional option of sorts that I would enjoy. There is the possiblity of traveling to California to stay with Trinity’s relatives (the saner ones, I hope, as the ones in Missouri make Jerry Springer’s guests look down right restrained).
It used to be, once upon a time, that summer was the time of The GREAT HOPE.
Now it is the time of The GREAT UNCERTAINTY.
Things worth reading: Here Be Monsters by John Birmingham and Friends
Awhile back when Journalspace was still operational, John Birmingham set up a sort of round robin writing exercise for a zombie story set in an alternate history circa 1800. The British First Fleel arrives in a place called Sydney to find a ruined city of steel and glass overrun by . . . well, zombies. We are told the story through the eyes of Lieutenant General Sir Watkin Tench in an address to the Royal Society in 1808.
In our own history, if memory serves, the First Fleet would have encountered a world class harbor and settled there. They would not have found Sydney in any state other than her natural one. However some event seems to have zapped Sydney from the future, one where she is infested with Zombies, into this past. Tench relates in chilling detail the efforts of the British sailors, marines and their prisoner-colonists to deal with the Scourge and save the survivors from the future.
This story can be found in the Australian Anthology Dreaming Again edited by Jack Dann. John gave me a copy as part of a gift pack he brought over from the Land Down Under. It is nice to see the finished product of that round robin, even though I did not participate in it. I knew I was out of my depth on the matter.
However, if you can snatch a copy, give it a read. It has my recommendation.
So it goes.
Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
Three Names I go by
Steven
Francis
Mr. Murphy
Three jobs I have had in my life
Soldier
Historian
Writer
Three Places I have lived
The Persian Gulf
South Korea
Missouri
Three TV Shows that I watch
Battlestar Galactica . . .
and . . . that’s it.
Three movies that I have watched more than once:
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
A Bridge Too Far
Gettysburg
Three places I have been
New York City
Corpus Chrisit, Texas
Fort Jackson, South Carolina
Three places I would rather be right now
Australia
New Zealand
Tenured
People who e-mail me regularly
Classified.
Three of my favorite foods
Strawberries
Edy’s Lime Bars
Steak
Three friends I think will repost
Not Required
Three things I am looking forward to in 2009
Seeing if I get classes for the fall.
Traveling
Helping my client out with their novel.
Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
Conventions.
I do not normally do them. In fact, I have a deep and abiding dislike of crowds in general. So when John Birmingham said he was slated to do Comicon and asked if I wanted a pass, I had to admit that I went back and forth in my own head about it.
John will be there, so it’ll be cool.
Umm, so will a pissload of other people, who will probably not be cool.
Granted, I do not consider myself to be the grand purveyor of cool points. Further, as a Civil War reenactor of four years standing (since retired as the war only lasted four, why should I fight longer?) I really do not have much room to snicker at people who dress up in funny clothes.
Well, umm, aside from the reality that the Civil War did happen and reenactors do provide some sort of educational value whereas someone in a Storm Trooper outfit probably doesn’t. And sure, I’ll be the first to admit that some of this gear is pretty cool but to see it all gathered en mass without any sort of regimentation at all is just a bit much.
So when we arrived at the convention center on 34th Street, which reminded one of the Crystal Pavilion of London (though at the time I couldn’t even remember the name of the damned thing, that is how out of it I was) it was a bit . . . strange, to find oneself buffetted by so many levels of Media Fandom. It is easy to see why the Snottier Literati Wannabes of the SF community complain about.
That said, conventions in general are not my thing. I like guns, but I don’t go to gun shows. I like books but I generally do not go to book signings unless John Birmingham is there or maybe Nancy Kress. I’m really, truly, deeply, not a crowd sort of guy. And this place had such a miasma of hormonal nervousness that it put my teeth on edge.
So what’s to say? Well, these folks are potential customers and they all seem to like either science fiction or fantasy. They seem to be younger, in the 12 to 28 age group though there were some older ones running around. They were enjoying themselves and it was their convention. As such, I should not be doing anything more than reporting on what I saw, which was a massive opportunity to open your wallet and shove it down a deep hole for something like Frank Miller’s Black and White Batman, which was on our traveling gift list. Since it was priced at ninety dollars US I immediately hit the Command Veto Button on that Fiscal Fire Mission and informed Trinity that the person wanting that item could find it on Ebay if they liked but I wasn’t subsidizing it.
Birmo and I were joined by CraigWA, Tarl having decided that Friday was a geekout dose too far for him. For a couple of hours we wandered around in various stages of awe, horror, fascination, bemusement and then awe again. I gotta say that the take away prizes were the Stormtroopers and the men dressed up as Ghostbusters, complete with particle accelerator packs.
I think I’d have been more impressed if there had been some test firing of the implements in question but Comicon, as is much of NYC, appears to be a Weapons Safe Zone. The fucking killjoys.
John was slated for a panel on Science Fiction and Fantasy writing which was advertised to be content free. At the same time I had a wounded Trinity back at the local anchorage in need of my attention as well as John’s leave to attend to her if needs must. I was going to manfully stick it out for both panels but after a dose of the first one decided to throw in the towel.
Why? Well, I can’t remember the person’s name but the panel drove on into the standard issue Gender Discrimination Score Points for Political Correctness issue to which my brain muttered, “Ho hum, here we go again.”
Fortunately for me, Trinity called on the cell at just that moment, preventing me from going to Weapons Free on a person I didn’t even know.
I picked up a couple of Star Wars stuffed toys for Trinity, who is a Star Wars fan. She felt bad about not going until she saw the light saber fight on YouTube and some of the flickr shots.
“Maybe staying in bed with a busted knee was better,” she said.
“Babe,” (yes, I call her babe, get the fuck over it because she calls me that too) I said, “a root canal without novacaine would be better.”
Thus it was decided by the Burger Meister, CraigWA and Myself to egress on foot for our lodgings. We made the hike from 34th Street to 52nd in short order. Birmo had to return for a suvudu.com interview (which still hasn’t appeared on the internet as I type this) for Without Warning. Craig, meanwhile, obtained intel on carriage rides through Central Park.
I, on the other hand, had work to do of the non writing related sort. Birmo was slated for a private function that evening so Trinity and I would be flying solo.
More on that later.
Umm, yes, I know there are no pictures. Go to flickr and punch in NYC Comicon and you’ll find a shitload of pictures. Trust me.
Oh, there was one delicious little bit of pleasure to be had. More than a few of my American SF literati PC Nazis attended this function. Without their realizing it, I passed within mere feet of them.
In one case, very close.
Fortunately, I’m not the crazy nutter I’m often marked out to be by these assholes.
Right?
Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
Expeditionary Report: NYC 2009
At 0545 hours Friday morning, Trinity and I flew out on a Midwest Air Boeing 717 for NYC, with a layover in Milwaukee. I had not flown on a plane of any type in sixteen years so the changes were some what interesting. The Midwest Air 717 was fitted with leather seats throughout the aircraft. It was a comfortable flight with no real problems from pressure, ear popping or the like.
We arrived at LaGuardia on time and picked up our bags. The weather was cloudy and cold. A GoShuttle took us from the airport to the hotel.
Now the ride was not much worse than trips I have taken in vehicles in Saudi Arabia and Korea. Vehicles missing each other by mere inches, near collisions, lots of honking, that sort of thing. Trinity, on the other hand, was a bit more concerned.
The first hitch was that we could not check into the room until 1600 hours. Trinity and I, thus, had some time on our hands. The hotel did store our bags while we made our first foray into Manhattan. Among our first stops we hit a hot dog stand, which Trinity said was the best she had ever had, a Starbucks for a hot venti tea (it was cold and I found I was stopped up something fierce), our first run through Times Square (depicted in the below entry) followed by a wandering and meandering trip that brought us to the New York Public Library.
At the Library we signed up for NYC Library cards (which John later pointed out, enabled us to outgeek everyone at Comicon) and toured the building. We did see the fabled reading room on the third floor, which featured an internet facility at one end.
Got into some trouble for hitting the internet (quality time in NYC, is a precious thing, kids) and we’ll skip that part of the trip. Needless to say, some patching up was required.
We finally got checked into the hotel room a little early (for some reason the hotel staff took some pity on us).
So, what to say about the hotel? Well . . . for now, let us simply say that we did not get the best room. We had a jacuzzi bathtub that did not work in jacuzzi mode and it was at least four to six inches higher than any tub Trinity and I were used to. We both slipped in the damned thing.
I slipped getting into the thing, nearly knocking Trinity over. I managed to break her fall (just barely) and save the day. It was for naught as she fell later on getting out, truly busting up one of her legs and putting a hitch in her giddyap for the rest of the weekend.
Birmo himself was tied down with obligations at Random House but he made contact with us around four or so (perfect timing). I met him down in the hotel bar for a drink while we waited for Trinity to get her battle rattle on.
It is interesting to meet someone in person after years of corresponding to them via the internet, first by e-mail and lately by Skype. Birmo has a way of gliding across the floor that he probably picked up from martial arts training. He’s low key in his speech with a very dry sense of humor. We exchanged hostages, fudge in our case from Missouri (he had received a care pack of BBQ stuff previously) and books/wine in his case. Trinity became the proud owner of a copy of He Died with a Felafel in His Hand and I got three books. More on those later.
Took our first true cab ride to 18th Street to meet CraigWA and Tarl of New Hampshire. It was the first cab I’ve flagged down since Korea and I was trying to do this during the height of rush hour and shift change.
“Why is it taking so long?” Birmo asked.
“Yeah, why aren’t the cabs stopping, babe?” Trinity asked.
“It is rush hour and shift change,” I replied. “I read it somewhere. Between three and six is the worst time to try to get a cab. Trinity, why don’t you show some ankle or something?”
I was, however, able to flag one down. With a little bit more effort on Birmo’s part on the communication’s side, we linked up with Craig and Tarl at Rosano’s.
Mexican in NYC? Yeah, it does seem like some sort of punch line to a joke, doesn’t it? It was recommended to Birmo by his peeps at Random House so Mexican it was. I tried to get some photographs but the combination sangria, whiskey and Dos Equis made my photographs virutally unuseable. Craig and Tarl both had far superior cameras and perhaps they came off better.
CraigWA and Tarl both are in the IT industry with the former working in Scotland and the later working in the States. Tarl had reconned Comicon early on Friday and decided one trip was enough.
I wish I could say I heard more of the conversation but by now my left ear felt as if it was stuffed with sludge. Craig and Trinity had a very animated conversation, of which I could hear very little. Instead I talked to Birmo and Tarl, which eventually lead to a discussion about After America, the current project.
An arm wrestling match nearly ensued over the ticket, which Tarl won.
We walked back to the hotel, dropping off various members of our party along the way. NYC is, in some odd ways, smaller than you think, bigger in others. Getting from 18th Street to 52nd Street did not take near as long as it would if you tried that in Kansas City.
After a night cap, Friday shop was closed up. The rest of the events are classified Top Secret Ultra.
Overall, a good first night though I was already catching a horrible cold. My ears were jammed, my sinuses compacted and the tub slippage incidents were rather worrisome.
There was a bit of humor involving some texting but I think we’ll keep that on the downlow.
More on the next pass.
Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
This is a spoof interview from 1966 between two pilots during the Vietnam War. It is pretty funny.
Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
On the Outer Marches
Those that done said stuff