His face was streaked with tears. She lifted it.

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothing that your touch didn’t just fix.”

She smiled.

This place needs a little fiction to spruce it up. I’ve written a lot of technobabble, more than one essay, and done my share of navel-gazing. I have the beginnings of an idea for a novel, or at least a story of some length, but I haven’t actually written anything for it. Today the weather was really nice, and work was really lousy, so I stepped outside for a few minutes and the words just came streaming out. I’m not participating in National Novel Writing Month this year — got another project taking up my time — but I’d like to give it a go next year.

Until then, here’s a taste.

(more…)

She took the order ticket from the cashier, punched it savagely onto the spindle. This guy always ordered the same thing. Stupid frapped drinks that took 5 minutes to make.

Free space on the screen wants filling up. He didn’t know if he was the right man for the job. The white expanse taunted him. He could always shut the laptop and try again tomorrow. No joy.

The fog obscured most of their faces, but as I peered around the square I could make out details here and there. A strand of red hair drifting across one squinting eye; a hat knocked askew by the drifting rain.

In this week’s Startup Junkie column, I explain The Business Experiment and why I’m participating. It’s like free business school. Really interesting stuff for bizgeeks — and maybe for you, too, if you’re thinking about a career change and want to get your feet wet.

My brain was partially unoccupied at the moment. The area between my ears was a blank slate when the jolt came — an interruption that cleared the remaining wisps away.

In a Colaspot article the other day, Bryan shared his weekly schedule. I’ve heard that this is a good time management exercise — it lets you see how your time during the week is (mis)spent. Since my life seems to be getting busier by the day, if I’m ever going to do this, it should probably be now. I started tracking yesterday.

Wednesday:

• 6:30 wake up, get ready, short workout
• 7:00 Baby up, computer maintenance & email
• 7:40 turn Joshua over to Stephanie, finish getting ready for work
• 8:00 leave for work
• 6:00 get home, dinner
• 6:30 leave for band practice
• 8:15 post-practice chitchat
• 8:45 leave for home
• 9:00 home, TV / wife time
• 10:00 Stephanie to bed, shower
• 10:45 home computer todos, colaspot style guide
• 12:30 bed

Whew. Hope I can make it through tomorrow.

A moment had never been captured so brilliantly, clearly. One short, staccato laugh carried with it more implication than a thousand arguments.

As of Thursday, October 27, my main brain once again has an Apple logo on it. You may recall that I was expecting to wait until Halloween to get it — ground shipping from Shanghai and all that — but FedEx really pulled a fast one on me. It showed up at my door on Thursday — twenty-five hours after leaving China. Yeah, there may be some International Date Line magic in there, but I don’t believe so. Major cool points to Apple and FedEx for managing customer expectations and then brilliantly exceeding them.

The Powerbook is a great machine, and I’m really enjoying it. I’ve even been able to buckle down and do some actual writing with it. I expected to spend a good week tweaking and playing on it, but as soon as I got all my settings and apps copied over from the iMac (a process that occurred flawlessly while I slept), I wanted to start writing with it. So here’s my first post from the Powerbook (well, yesterday’s Startup Junkie ping was the first, but who’s counting?).

I had to sell my first Powerbook because it wasn’t suited for the job I was trying to use it for. It feels good to know that this one is serving its exact purpose so far.