I’m currently working on a new WIP – a m/m contemporary erotic romance called “Forsake Not” that will appear as part of an anthology from Aspen Mountain Press for July 4th. It’s a bit darker and more bittersweet than my usual.

If you’re wondering about the name, it actually comes from the Infantryman’s Creed of the US Army. A line in it says:

I forsake not – my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty.

I’ll post an unedited excerpt as soon as I get one to a stage I think is vaguely acceptable.

Just a quick moment to touch base. This week is a bit crazy – but for GOOD reasons!

The first is that I got a new job. It’s actually exactly what I wanted – a contract job as a programmer-writer for not a lot of pay loss from my prior job. Nearly a miracle in the current climate! I started this last Monday and I’ve been hopping ever since. Other than the typical frustrations of getting things set up and learning the things I need to know but don’t already know, I’m already having fun. I do have to share an office but I have great office-mates and we try to be very considerate of each other. My new boss is a kick. Now I just want to do a great job!

The second is that since I found a new job, I was able to buy a new car. I’d been driving a 1999 Mazda Protege that I’d had since it was new but it was 9 years old and was at the point that repairs would start to be really expensive. The last new car in the family went to Mr. Maura, so it was my turn!

Mr. Maura deserves major kudos, though. Not only did he NEVER argue about getting a new car, the poor man ended up having to do most of the hunting and negotiation while I was out of town! He was even patient when I held out for exactly what I wanted instead of something a bit cheaper. Major husband brownie points!

So I am now the proud owner of a 2009 Mazda3 hatchback in the copper-red mica color! It’s been raining or I’ve been at work, so I haven’t had a chance to take a picture yet, but I’ll try to do so soon. It makes me smile every time I need to drive somewhere.

The really hilarious moment came when I test drove a similar model before I went out of town. I have driven manual transmission cars for 25 years. This is an automatic (great for the commute traffic). I swear my left leg was waving madly in mid-air looking for the clutch and I kept having to chant “Hands off stick. Hands off stick.” to myself. I did bring us to an abrupt halt once (in the parking lot at the start) and I think the poor salesman blanched. On the other hand, Mr. Maura and myself were laughing hysterically.

It’s good to laugh at yourself!

Oh – and on a cold morning – the heated leather driver seat ROCKS!!!!

Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone.

May you tell your loved ones how you feel today!

As part of the “use or lose” benefits before my layoff is complete, I made an appointment to see my eye doctor. I knew my eyes were getting worse – some things were just fuzzier. Knowing it and admitting it or doing something about it are, of course, different things.

Now I’ve worn glasses since I was a teenager and quite near-sighted. As I’ve gotten older, my vision has slowly become less and less near-sighted. For a whole year I sat at a lovely 20/20 and didn’t need to wear any correction at all.

Alas, that time is behind me. I’ve crossed the border into far-sightedness. I can still drive and do most things without correction but being on the computer for many hours means my eyes tire quickly and I should be wearing computer glasses. Trust me, I heard all about it.

Since I was unable to remember where my prior computer glasses went, I had to buy new frames. Now normally I pick fairly conservative and plain frames. But my eye doctor has a new dispensing optician and he talked me into a wild (for me) pair of lime green glasses.

They are a brand called Kaoli and the style is “Orchid”. I picked them up today and, you know, I’m glad I took a chance. They make me smile to look at them and the color is really cheerful.

The cats, however, are appalled. They keep looking at me like they want to know why I have stuff on my face. I’ve cleaned several nose prints off them already.

And I do have to remember that if I’m going to glance at the tv across the room, I need to look OVER the computer glasses, not through them.

I picked up this great tip via Bob Garrett’s pointer to David Petherick’s The Next Web website .

If you are using Twitter’s browser UI, you can get the basic information on another user by typing whois UserName and clicking the Update button. You do need to be logged in to do this but you don’t need the typical ‘@’ symbol before the username.

Twitter will then display the basic information for that user!

Two related commands also available from Twitter’s Browser UI are:

If you decide to follow someone, you can type FOLLOW UserName.

If you want to stop following someone, you can type LEAVE UserName.

Great tip!