New Year's Eve Eve...

A busy day around these environs may preclude a blog post tomorrow, [I'm having a 'Lost Souls' New Year's party for those who haven't anything else on their dance card], so I thought I'd take a moment and post links to a few interesting items.


First -- for Spider Robinson and his wife Jeanne...a fundraising opportunity HERE. You can score an e-copy of Lawrence Santoro's LORD DICKENS'S DECLARATION, and help defray some of the costs the Robinson's are facing as Jeanne battles cancer. I read about this on Matthew Sanborn Smith's One Thousand blog, and by posting here, I'm participating in the blog rally for the Robinsons. You can do it, too!


Second -- since my link to the graphic of 20 Things That Happen in One Minute has proved so popular, here's another that caught my fancy today. From my beloved boingboing, of course, here is a graph that compares the cost of printer ink to the costs of other precious liquids [including blood, vodka, crude oil and more...]. Let's just say that there is a reason some people call printer ink 'black gold'.

And finally, one of the writers at whose [metaphorical and thus far electronic] knees I have long worshipped -- the amazing Jo Bourne -- muses about The Odds of Getting Published...and what a person can do to improve 'em.

So there you have it -- a whole lotta link love to end 2009. And now...let's watch for that Blue Moon tomorrow night, shall we?

~kc

Fantastic Friday

Forget Good Friday -- this day is going to be a Fantastic one -- at least for one winner over on Darby Speaks. For today -- this very evening -- the draw takes place for the winner of a copy of A WALK THROUGH A WINDOW (my latest opus), and NEVER A STRAIGHT LINE, a wonderful book of poetry by Canadian author Bernice Lever. In order to get your name in the draw, you were required to submit a poem -- a limerick, to be exact, on the subject of skateboards and boarding.

I'll be posting the winner's name shortly -- did you enter?

If not, you'll have another chance next week, but with a format change. In honour of National Poetry Month (NaPoMo), Darby will be asking for a haiku (though I do believe you'll be spared the struggle of waxing poetic on the subject of skateboards this week...). Check over on Darby Speaks to find out more!

In other news, there's a couple of new posts up at the Surrey International Writers' Conference blog, as things progress apace for the early opening of registration this year. Find out more HERE.

Now, let's see...just for fun. Found this very cool site via Mark Frauenfelder (of boingboing fame) -- it's by Chrome Experiment, and is a lovely musical amusement to take more time out of your day.

And if that isn't enough to pique your fancy, how 'bout a live cam view of a nest of hatching eaglets? The Hancock Wildlife Foundation has their webcam up, and the eagles are parenting one baby so far, with hopefully more to come. I spent a lot of time watching last year... hope you enjoy.

Finally, the picture (above) is of a very cool door Lee Fodi and I spotted in False Creek building (NOT a church) en route to the opening of his friend Alex's art show last week. As the title of my latest book attests, I'm particularly fond of interesting portals, and I have a strange feeling this one just may show up again sometime...

More on Alex Walton and his artwork soon, too.

~kc