Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.

Right now, there's a lot of buzz going around about a whole lot of issues with the data being presented over at Recovery.gov, the site that's in place to let We The People know where all that stimulus money is going.

ABC News reported last week that there were some serious accounting errors being found in the job creation numbers. That was followed over the weekend by some adjustments to the numbers. And that's lead to cries of "foul!" from both sides of the floor.

Needless to say, the anti-Obama faction is pointing to this and calling conspiracy. The pro-Obama faction is... well... not doing all that much (comparatively speaking). Democrats and Republicans alike are calling for a closer look at the numbers.

That closer has already turned up some problematic things. Most notably is that a lot of the fictional jobs reported came from fictional congressional districts. Things like this only fuel the conspiracy end of things and get the media machine oozing with vitriolic joy as there's some sort of paranoia to draw people into their stories.

Here's the thing: This is exactly how the process is supposed to

I'll bet you dollars to donuts that some of the errors being found are truly accidents--data entry and transfer issues--that, if all of this wasn't being dumped to the public, wouldn't be caught for years. And, if it was, it would be corrected quietly and no one would ever notice how the number of jobs created/saved drops.

Then there's the "business as usual" habit of places getting money from the government (or anyone else) trying to make it look like they performed miracles with that money. It's a sub-set of the "If we don't spend it all, we won't get the same budget next year" mentality that I think causes half of the waste in this country. No matter who's in charge.

Conspiracy rears its head when interested people don't have access to all the facts. It is fueled when more questions are raised than answered.

Transparency attempts to cut through the fog and let everyone see all the way down to the bones of the matter.

Problem here is, the bones are buried deep under lots of thick skin, purposely obfuscated process, and just plain old red tape.

What we're seeing right now is just the tip of the iceberg. We're right to be a little worried about it, but we shouldn't be calling for blood and we most definitely shouldn't be pre-supposing it's a case of the people in charge trying to put one over on us.

At least not yet.

This is just the usual stuff that's been happening behind closed doors for decades (that's right, not just in the previous administration). It's because those doors were closed that it's gotten as bad as it has.

At its best, the press took the initiative to pry those doors open. That doesn't happen half as much as it should any more. Now the 24-hour news cycle is too concerned with keeping people glued to their coverage of scandal, panic, and general fluff that the real investigative reporting that makes The Fourth Estate worthwhile and keeps the rest of the power structure in check (and the public informed) has become a comparative rarity.

The good news is, a lot of organizations have sprung up to keep a watchful eye on the government. (Check out a listing of some over at the Sunshine Week site and the work that OpenTheGovernment.org is doing.) Sites like Recovery.gov make it easier for all of us to do so. And we should. It's our responsibility to watch out for ourselves these days.

There's a big mess to clean up and some of it has been around so long it's become part of the system. It's only with determination and clear heads that we'll be able to clean it up and reinstate some sensibility in our government.

Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.

OK... now that I have this shiny Droid phone (which has a nice keyboard on it, both physically and on-screen, when needed), I no longer have an excuse for avoiding text-message-based things. Gods know I was sending enough texts using the old phone, though doing so grudgingly.

Now you can find me on that Twitter thing: http://twitter.com/kierduros

I've started to go through and add people, but feel free to beat me to the punch. :)

Can't promise that I'll tweet much. It's not like a do a whole lot of fascinating things. But it is another way of keeping in touch, and that's not a bad thing at all.

Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.

On Thursday, I came home to an empty couch and a lot more floor space than I've had in a while. My buddy Josh, who's been staying with me for more than a year now, finally had enough going in his favor to continue his long-paused trip.

When he first rolled into town, the weather was awful and it took him a week or so to dry out. Such is the challenge of a cross-country motorcycle trip. Aiming to not leave under similar circumstances, his exit was postponed about a week from what he had planned. In that time, another mechanical issue or two came up with the bike and he found some good deals on a few other things he had been look for.

He left me with a new wireless router and a set of movies I'd been putting off buying for years.

Josh has done this stint of couch-surfing infinitely better than I did back in 2003.

I stayed with one group of friends for about nine months and another for three or four, plus a bunch of time back up at my parents' place in New York. During that time, I made no money until I finally got around to going through a temp agency. It's one of the reasons I'm in the sticky financial situation I'm in now.

I also didn't have a distinct destination in mind when I left my job with the newspaper. Well, at least not anything after DragonCon that year. It was only because my car broke down (the first time) in the DC area that I decided to stay here. That and I knew a good bunch of people (many of whom I don't see all that often these days)... but mostly because I figured "If the car likes it, it's good enough for me."

Josh is heading, eventually, to Seattle. Laura, his lovely and talented girlfriend, has been there a little longer than he was here. He has a lot of motivation to finish his trip.

I'm still in the middle of mine.

And in that time I've been "in the middle" I've set down some pretty decent roots in the DC area. I know a fantastic bunch of people (and meet more all the time). I've finally gotten into the vague area of "career" that I probably should have been shooting for since I graduated college in 1998. All in all, I'm pretty darn happy.

Most of the time.

Over the past year, I've been made aware, through numerous venues and experiences, of just how quirky I am when it comes to a lot of things. Living alone, it's easy to lose site of that. With someone else around all the time, sharing the same space and meeting the same people, the contrasts begin to stand out.

These quirks aren't all bad things, but some of them (now that I can see them clearly) annoy me a bit. Which, of course, means it's time to work on fixing them.

This time of year is good for that. It's the end of one hunk of a cycle and the beginning of another.

In my apartment, I'm taking advantage of the newly re-opened space and sorting through a bunch of boxes that have been hastily  moved and filled and re-filled at various times over the past few years.

In my head, I'm doing the same thing, on a much deeper level.

When it's all done, everything will be better--on the outside and on the inside.

For now, though, the couch is mine. At least until the next friend in need of a place to crash shows up.

Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.

After what somehow turned into a moderately stressful day at work, I trudged across town in the cold, misty, rain to pop in to the apartment warming party my co-worker was throwing.

Even leaving work later than I planned and getting stuck behind people who were walking way to slow for my tastes (especially for what the weather was doing), I ended up being the first person there. But only for a few minutes... others were close behind.

Before long, the modest (and well decorated--she is a graphic designer and stuff) apartment was full. Mostly of people I didn't know.

Thankfully, as is often the case, my friends have good people in their lives, so it was an absolute joy to meet everyone.

And since they were all new, I could easily fall back on a number of things that people I've known for a while have heard me talk about way too much. ;)

Woodstock (which I never did get around to writing about here back in August). Horror films (which I need to write more about over at ToobTalk). We even somehow segued into race relations, gentrification and economics.

It was almost like being back in college again. Except for the whole not going until sunrise part... the party dispersed a little before 11 p.m.

After weighing my options and factoring in how tired I've been lately, I decided to just head home... where I was more than happy to walk in and find Tank Girl on cable.

Yay Tank Girl and Jet Girl! (Even back in '95 it was clear I was into the "unique" ones...) :)

Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.

For a moment, let's think about organizations.

We've all been part of one (or a few) over the years. I know my name has shown up on the roster of at least a dozen clubs and things going all the way back to when I wasn't quite in the double-digit ages.

Every one works a little differently, gets its "kick" and forward momentum in different ways. Some are driven firmly by membership, others by leadership and some by outside forces. Those different prime movers make for very different dynamics within the group.

Sometimes, those dynamics change. The normal membership may suddenly experience some major shift, removing your "regulars" from circulation for a time. More often, the leadership shifts and either brings in or drives away members. Sometimes external factors just wreak havoc on every plan made or imagined.

And so there is an ebb and flow to every group. When things ebb, momentum can be lost and things can seem quite dismal--especially to those that care about the organization's mission. Often this is the leadership, but not always. It beings to seem pointless to do anything more. What was once more fun than work, becomes more work with less reward.

When the flow really gets going, things can get exciting. They can also quickly flip to the "more work than fun" arena for those in charge. There's not much more disconcerting than having a small group with few problems suddenly become a large group where cliques and infighting pop up like weeds in a well-manicured lawn.

Every situation has its own challenges and every organization that lasts longer than a year faces the same types over time.

The tools to make anything work--or work better--are out there. Thanks to the Web, those tools and success/failure stories are easier than ever to find.

So, I ask you, oh loyal friends and readers: Tell me a story of the best organization you've ever been part of. What made it work so well? Why did you leave it (if you've left it)? How could it be better? And, finally, what drew you to it in the first place?

Once I have my answers, I'll let loose with some of my own stories... though I think many of you have heard the before.

Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.

Wednesdays seem to be popular nights for people with common interests to get together.

This time around it was DC Media Makers.

DCMM is a neat group that I was introduced to when the producers of Browncoats: Redemption made an appearance there a few months ago to talk about the film. I've been going back ever since.

Tonight's wildly diverse mix of people were thrown together into a networking frenzy. That's something a little different from the normal couple of presentations and then chatting about stuff that goes on. From what I saw (and was involved in) it was pretty successful. Lots of people talking about lots of things, sharing ideas, knowledge and information in general. Heck, there were even some neat toys to play with (mmmm... videophone!).

If you've got any interest in "new" media (which isn't quite so new anymore), media literacy, or just getting involved with a whole lot of people into a whole lot of neat stuff, you should stop by the next meeting (where, if I heard correctly, there's a good chance we'll have a documentary filmmaker on hand to run some footage past us or something).

Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.

Last week I hit up my second DC Bloggers Meetup.

While it wasn't quite as crowded as last month's, it was just as enjoyable.

Writing can be a solitary thing. The Internet started to change that with the advent of BBSs. The Web kicked the public side of writing into overdrive.

No more was a writer limited by geography or access to a print shop (and time/money to distribute that printed material). Once the mid-90s hit, anyone could set up a website. I've been online since 1994.

I've been blogging since before there was an "official" term for it. (Nowhere near as well as my friend Kelowna... my life was never all that interesting.)

Today, there are millions of bloggers churning out billions of words and posts a day. Some are more interesting and worth the time to read than others. Many are still solitary creatures.

Well, meetups like this one are helping to change that.

Here's a quick list of who was there last week. Check them out. They're all saying something worth listening to.

Tracy T. --- http://thispersonstinks.wordpress.com
A Glenn – http://jenesaisrein.blogspot.com
S. Polastre – http://www.freeagentwriter.com
Phil – http://www.feedbacksecrets.com
Mike – http://NotionsCapital.com
Nusrat – http://knightleyemma.wordpress.com
AmyinDC – http://www.freeindc.blogspot.com
DaveW – http://www.autumnrain2110.com
Joelogon -- www.joelogon.com/blog
Frank -- http://swordandthescript.blogspot.com/
Jadxia -- http://jadxia.livejournal.com

There will, of course, be more to be said on this subject.

Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.

For a few weeks now, we've been having numerous phone calls come in from a couple of different numbers that only come up on our caller ID as "800 Service".

They never leave messages.

Of course, that means they're telemarketers of some sort.

Today I got fed up and actually answered the phone.

Me: [company name], this is Chris.
TM: ...
Me: Hello.
TM: ...
Me: HELLO!
TM: ...
Me: HELLO?
TM: Hello.
Me: Yes?
TM: I'm calling from the US Do Not Call Registry...
Me: You're calling from the US Do Not Call Registry?
TM: Yes.
Me: The US Do Not Call Registry has been calling incessantly for the last week?
TM: I'm sorry, I didn't know that was happening. We're calling to let you know that we can stop your business from receiving unwanted telemarketing calls.
Me: You're calling as an unwanted telemarketing call to let me know you can stop unwanted telemarketing calls?
TM: Yes, but...
Me: Why don't you not call back and take us off your list. Bye. *click*

A few hours later, the phone was ringing again. Another "800 Service" number. Another of the ones that's been ringing regularly.

Me: [company name], this is Chris.
TM: ...
Me: Hello?
TM: ...
Me: Hello?
TM: ...
Me: HELLO!
TM: (barely audible) [My boss's name]?
Me: Who's calling?
TM: (much more audible) I'm calling from Registrar.com to let you know that some of your services are expiring.
Me: (refraining from calling total bullshit on the caller as 90% of our services are through Network Solutions) For what site?
TM: [Main company website] has... let me see... private domain registration expiring in one month. I can renew that right now for you.
Me: (Still being nicer than I probably should) We take care of that all online. Don't bother calling us back. Bye. *click*

Yeah. At least it's not robo calls. I hate those even more because they're not even keeping people employed.

I get those at home.

Mostly from collections agencies and places offering me a great deal on my mortgage refinancing.

The collections calls are never for me and I live in an apartment.

How's you're day been? Any crazy calls?

Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.

Earth from the Moon: Originally from NASA here

About 14 hours from when I'm writing this, the official 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon.

The challenge to leave our small rock of a home and reach out to the stars was levied to the nation by President Kennedy less than a decade earlier. Without question, this is one of the greatest technological achievements our young species has ever made.

As the decades have droned on, our outward quest for adventure has been delegated to other creations of ours. Satellites, radio waves, computer simulations of what may be. None tap the visceral feeling of hope turned to reality that I've heard anyone who saw those first grainy television images from the most foreign of places we've set foot upon.

We get excited by the reports of the Mars rovers, still going strong long after they were expected to fail. We marvel at the wondrous images returned from the deep cosmos by the Hubble Space Telescope. We cheer and applaud every time a space shuttle launches for it's much closer to home orbit destination. (And we sigh with relief every time it returns without incident.)

All of that is all good and fine. But a lot of people want more. I want more.

I wasn't even close to being born when Niel Armstrong stepped off that last rung and settled oh-so-gently into dust that had never been trod upon before. Thanks to the new technology available for this anniversary, though, I've been able to watch and listen to the original mission progress at We Choose The Moon.

It is awe inspiring.

And I want us all to experience something like it first hand.

For too long we've let ourselves be confined to the small bubble of space that's becoming over-crowded with our satellites and debris from our numerous short-term missions. They have advanced our understanding and served us well, without a doubt. But just a scant few days travel away is a whole new world that we've barely scratched the surface of.
( The advantages of setting up a permanent moon colony... )

Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.

As part of my "Week of doing way too much after work", I hit the DC Blogger Meetup in Adams Morgan on Wednesday night.

I was a bit unsure of what to expect. See, I don't do the whole "MeetUp" thing often at all. Usually (and this is the case with DC Bloggers as well), I hear about an event from someone I know or meet at another event and it just happens to be organized through the MeetUp site.

As with the rest of my life, I don't really need to go looking for stuff--it comes along and I just show up.

Usually, things turn out pretty good.
<!--break-->
And that seems to hold true with this group.

Good bunch of people. Interesting stories. Well written blogs. And all interested in learning new stuff. I think I'll make it a point to show up next month, too.

Now I just have to find the time to read the new blogs I've come across...

I took the "scenic route" back to a metro station from Adams Morgan. Usually, I hike down 18th Street to Dupont Circle. This time I thought I'd switch things up a little and head for the Adams Morgan/Woodley Park/Zoo station.

About two turns in, I realized I was on the wrong street to connect up. But it was a comfortable enough evening and I had plenty of time and I kind of knew where the different streets went... so I just kind of wandered forward.

Eventually, I ended up on Connecticut Avenue, right at the Cleveland Park Metro. Yeah, a little bit out of my way... and oh-so-tempting to pick up tickets to to the 11-ish showing of the new Harry Potter and meet some friends who already planned on going.

If I had done that, though, I wouldn't have been able to get home as both the Metro and the buses to my apartment would have stopped running by the time the film was over.

So, home I went. Satisfied that I had both met some good new people and gotten my exercise for the week. (Though there is a trip to a club planned for Saturday... so there will probably be dancing along with the normal friend's birthday hoopla... making this a very, very active week.)

Tomorrow night it's Refresh DC where I'll be learning about the future of HTML and CSS.

Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.

2009 DC Metro Accident: Originally from the AP (via Google)
District of Columbia Fire and Emergency workers remove a victim from the site of a rush-hour collision between two Metro transit trains in northeast Washington, D.C. Monday, June 22, 2009. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
If you're in the DC area, this news has been unavoidable the last couple of days.

If you're a commuter in the DC area who uses the Red Line of the Metro system, you're struggling through one of the worst times the system's seen. At least the worst time that's not related to tourists and security scares.

I worked from home on Tuesday so I wouldn't have to deal with the crazy problems caused by this terribly accident. Getting home Monday night, just a few hours after it happened, was a challenge. Not as much a challenge as it was for people actually on the trains involved... and far from as bad as those nine who didn't make it out alive.

That's a bunch of bad stuff right there. People dead. Transit disrupted. Expensive bit of commuter equipment destroyed.

The worst thing is that it's starting to look like this could have all been prevented.

I've held off commenting on all this until there was some small amount of actual fact coming through in the news reports. Some bit of investigation that pointed toward an actual cause. There were suppositions and insinuations of mechanical problems and driver error all over the place Monday night. People all up in arms over all sorts of things that had little basis in any facts connected with this particular DC Metro accident.

Now there are some facts and I'm rightly pissed off.

From the LA Times:

Debbie Hersman of the National Transportation Safety Board said the emergency brake was depressed, and the steel rails showed evidence that the brakes were engaged. Investigators also said the moving train had been in automatic mode, which means onboard computers should have controlled its speed and stopped it before it got too close to the stationary train.

This is a system failure. This crash should not have happened.

Back in 2004, there was a similar accident at the Woodley Park metro station, also on the Red Line. One train rolled backward down the track, building up enough speed to end up sitting on top of the front of the train that had stopped at the platform. Thankfully, the trains weren't full of people. But the main train involved in that accident was also one of these 1000 series trains--some of the oldest equipment in use in the DC Metro system.

That 2004 accident prompted a lot of attention from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

From The Roanoke Times:

Hersman told The Associated Press that the NTSB had warned in 2006 that the old fleet should be replaced or retrofitted to make it better able to survive a crash.

Neither was done, she said, which the NTSB considered "unacceptable."

"Unacceptable," indeed.

Metro (and the officials who fund it) knew this could happen--that it already had happened--and the major source of the problem wasn't dealt with.

From CNN.com:

There should be nine data recorders aboard the first train, which will aid the investigation a great deal if they aren't damaged, Hersman said. The recorders provide data on such things as speed, braking and emergency applications. She said there were no recorders on the rear train.

"We've recommended for years that WMATA either retrofit those cars or phase them out of the fleet. They have not been able to do that. And our recommendation was not addressed, so it has been closed in an unacceptable status," she said.

The facts, as they stand now, are these:

• The train was in auotmatic mode
• Auotmatic mode is supposed to keep trains a certain distance apart
• The driver tried to apply the brakes
• The structure of the old cars can not handle a collision without massive internal structural failure
• Nine people are dead

This is nothing short of some sort of negligent homicide.

Unfortunately, since there were no "black box" type recording devices in the 1000-Series cars, we may never know exactly what happened.

All we know for sure, right now, is that this a tragedy that could have been prevented--if Metro had listened to the NTSB, if funding had been there to upgrade the cars, if those upgrade happened in a timely manner, if... if... if...

Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.

On 19 June, nearly two dozen of my classmates and I got together for a semi-informal Class of '93 reunion at Roark's Tavern in Monticello.

The above picture was a little early in the night and some people who were there, weren't when the flash went off.

More on all this later. The important thing is: It was pretty darn awesome.

Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.

Because they look damn good when they're a little evil.

That's Vail holding a nicely wrapped package with a little origami demon head on the front. Inside? A book of Charles Addams' illustrations. Appropriate, in this case.

Vail and Jesse celebrated their 13th Anniversary the other weekend with an Addams Family themed party. They were, of course, the perfect Gomez and Morticia--virtually unrecognizable as their normal much more fair-haired selves.

The cake and creativity, combined with the obvious love they still have burning hot and deep after more than a decade, made the long drive on a Sunday more than worth it.

Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.

I'm not really a music person.

My taste is, at best, eclectic. Things catch my attention because they have an interesting beat or tune or sound in general. I like things that have interesting lyrics or, depending on whether I hear it on the radio or in a club or see it on YouTube or (rarely) some television channel, an interesting look.

Danish band Aqua falls into a number of these categories.

Best known for their Barbie Girl danceable tune a while back (which netted them a number of international fans and a lawsuit from Mattel), they seem to have a lot of fun with their videos. Of course, all of their music starts to blend together after a couple of songs (or so I discovered while picking through YouTube to check out some of their other videos), but maybe some of you out there will find something you like.

Start with this one, a nostalgic little tune that, apparently, marks the band's reunion tour (their official site is here.

I also really dig their Bumblebees video.

Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.

I don't often go out to live shows. I'm not a music person (a lot of my friends are, and some of the knowledge rubs off, so I can almost hold my own in a conversation on the topic), but I do love to see what people I know create.

So, on 15 May, I made the trek down to Jaxx in Springfield to see some people I know on stage. Blind Till Now (pictured above, Video here) were on stage together for the first time. They rocked... and have been requested by numerous people to perform more/get cds or mp3s available and things like that.

The other band I kind of knew people in was Ego Likeness, a local favorite that I've seen perform more times down in Atlanta than I have locally. (All thanks to Dragon Con, of course.) As expected, they also rocked.

The other two bands, Middle Child Syndrome and show headliner Bella Morte, were pretty good, too. No pictures of them because, well, I wasn't getting great pictures to begin with and I don't know any of the people in those bands.

Overall, a good night and I'm really glad I went out. Not much better excuse to hang out with people than to all support the same mutual friends.

Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.

Last month, I hit up my first DC Media Makers meeting, mostly thanks to the crew from Browncoats: Redemption being there to present.

I came away quite impressed by the feel and flow of the people there.

Well, Wednesday night is the next meeting and I'd love to drag some more of you out there.

Full bunch of info can be found here

Quick details are:
Wednesday, Apr 22, 2009 (6:30 PM to 8:00 PM) at National Public Radio (NPR)
635 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC

Featuring:
Bruce Geisert, IT consultant, former board member of Arlington Community Television (now called Arlington Independent Media), and expert in online video production for nonprofits. Hear more from Bruce on open education content publishing (Blackboard, Moodle, Wiki's);

Jeff Carpenter and Peggy Mandanas, two members of the team that worked on the GEICO caveman flash site and had some interesting experiences doing so. They found the project quite useful in learning about user interaction and wanted to share with us.

Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.

Blame Warren Ellis for pointing this out. And blame BoingBoing for being awesome.

Seriously, this is kidna cool.

Then again, how can the phrase "engineering grade bacon" not be cool? :)
<!--break-->

Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.

I'm not at all shy about mentioning the ridiculous amount of debt I got myself into.

Mostly because that year living on couches and on credit cards was a big learning experience. And the three years that came after, where I was working a job that wasn't covering my bills, leading to even more debt, was it's own kind of adventure.

Just a few months ago, I was getting lined up to finally be able to really start paying things down--even despite the bad turn in the economy. It wasn't going to be quick, but there was a plan in motion and the various and sundry parts of it were coming together nicely, one little bit at a time.

Now, the chances of getting out of the debt I'm in have been reduced from slim to none.

The credit cards are all raising their base rate by well more than I'd be able to afford with the balances I'm carrying. If deals can't be cut with them, what little space is left on most of my cards will be swallowed whole by the new interest charges and the minimum payments will well exceed what I can squeeze out of my budget.

That time in the hospital has bills rolling in from all over--just got another two yesterday--and those expenses are unplanned, unexpected and unpayable without the credit cards.

(And let me just say that, for those of you out there who've dealt with a lot more--and more serious--medical conditions than I have: more power to you! This crap is ridiculous. So much more complex and obfuscated than it needs to be.)

So now I am staring down the barrel of bankruptcy once again, except this time I don't know how I'm going to dodge it. (The last few times things have seemed this bleak financially, there were still expenses to cut and buffers to squeeze into.)

It's frustrating to be so close to "winning" on my own terms only to have any chance of that snatched away by a few random occurrences that are well beyond my control.

Good news is, there is more income on the way... and hopefully some more freelance stuff in the near future.

Lots of opportunity, actually.

It's just a matter of timing.

And my timing has always been... odd. Even at my luckiest.

Time to cut back where I can, forgo things (like the X-Conference this coming weekend) that I've been looking forward to for months, and generally suck it up and follow the thousands of other people out there into the legal end of the financial system.

Or, y'know, just stop paying the bills. That would open up a whole lot of money.

But, hey, either way, a new adventure, right? And you all get to watch it play out. (With apologies to those of you who are regularly frustrated by my financial choices, of course... practice your head shaking and *tsk*ing now, you're probably going to need it, as usual.) ;)

The actual quote is "The Love of Money is the Root of All Evil." I have no love for money. I dislike it more and more the further into negative net worth land I get. That should put me well out of evil's grasp at this point.

All I really want is to end up at zero.

Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.

Online right now: the next section of Oceanus Procellarum (Book I) from Oletheros.

If you haven't been reading, go back into the archives and check this out from the beginning. If you like it, you can rest assured there's going to be more. In fact, Book II is available now. (I haven't seen it in full yet, but the little bits I have seen are at least as mind-blowing as Book I.)

And if you want to meet the guy behind it all, he'll be out and about at these venues:

• The DC Conspiracy Counter Cultural Festival (Vienna, VA) on May 24
• Heroes Con (Charlotte, NC) on June 19-21
• Small Press Expo (Bethesda, MD) on September 26-27

Speaking of out and about, if you're looking for something to do and want to support a good cause (and good music), check out Morrigan at this event:

Pre-Party & Adoption Event
Saturday, April 4th, 12-3 PM
with some very adorable WARL doggies
The Wonderland Ballroom
1101 Kenyon St., NW DC
in the outdoor courtyard
202-232-5263
All Ages, Free.

Me? I won't be around this weekend. I'm off in Ocean City being an extra in Browncoats: Redemption... that big damn fan film set in the Firefly universe that'll be raising a good bunch of money for charity.
<!--break-->

Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.

As of right now, I've got a handful of irons in the fire.

Mostly out of necessity, they're going to get hammered into something useful.

The hospital bill is in, I'm running around half the month doing things that cost money, and those credit cards just aren't paying themselves off. Needless to say, the economy kind of ate most of my stocks, which was the only thing even vaguely resembling an "emergency fun" I had around.

Sure, I could take money from my family. They've offered. But they need it more than I do--or they will soon enough (something always goes wrong in my family just when we start to get financially comfortable, at least for the last couple of decades).

Thankfully, I've got a good solid job that covers most of the normal bills.

It's been an abnormal year, so far, though, and I want to get away from toeing the red line.

How am I going to do that? Hopefully, with your help.
<!--break-->
I'm not asking you for money--I don't take hand-outs and I'm nowhere near in a position where begging is justified. I'm asking for a little bit of your time.

Over the next month, I'm going to be launching another few of projects. They all tie in to existing properties you may already be familiar with (since they show up here and there on the web). What I want is to get those existing sites a bit more traffic before the new stuff gets announced.

You can help by taking a few minutes and bouncing through The Searcher Journal, ToobTalk, How to Crush Without Being Crushed and Durosia.com. Find an article or four that you like and talk about in your own blog (with a link back, of course).

That's all I'm asking for--a little word of mouth (or keyboard, as the case may be).

If you like what I write, share it. If you disagree with what I've been saying, point out where you think I'm wrong. If you have a friend who may be interested in anything that's spewed out into the Internet through any of my sites, let them (and everyone else who reads your stuff) know.

See, not all that difficult, right? You've probably done it before (I know some of you have--my Google Analytics tell me so).

And now is a very good time. This weekend I'm heading off to the first batch of shooting for Browncoats: Redemption. That will produce more than a few pictures and some stories.

Plus, there are some other surprises in the future... but only if you're paying attention.

Lend me some time and you'll be rewarded, one way or another.