rlfj: Blog

It was noted that a thesis is only needed for a masters; a dissertation is needed for a doctorate. BTW, not all masters need a thesis; I never needed one for my MBA. There was also a correction on the details of the GI education benefits Grim received. Nothing major, but I wanted to be accurate. Fixed. I uploaded a corrected chapter 5.

Chapter 6 is a short chapter. Sorry about that, but chapter size is not a function of word count. It is a function of story segmentation. The next chapter is about something different. That's just the way it works. In any case, enjoy!

Everybody seemed to like the new slogan of RSC: 'If We Can't Make Money Solving Your Problem, We Can Make Money Prolonging It!' Despair.com (a wonderful company) has a similar poster: 'If You're Not A Part Of The Solution, There's Good Money To Be Made In Prolonging The Problem!'

This all reminds me of my misspent youth in the 70s as a chemist. At the time, Dupont had a corporate slogan of 'Better Living Through Chemistry!' My company, a lab division of ITT, had an employee contest for a new slogan. We were an extremely jaded group and totally burned out. The runaway winner was 'Better Cancer Through Chemistry!' The contest was immediately shut down.

Anyway, enjoy!

One of my editors, Old Rotorhead, turned out to have law enforcement experience in Tennessee. He was able to help me writing about the issues Grim will be having in his consulting job in Bethel Hollow. I needed to do a minor rewrite in Chapter 3 and a slightly larger one in Chapter 4. Nothing major, and if you bought the final version, you'll probably never notice. Still, I like to be accurate. Thanks.

The cruise comes to an end, and we learn something about Grim's new job. Should be interesting.

Thanks go to pdkrause for some additional editing and typo assistance. Another reader pointed out a minor error in Chapter 2; the army has drill sergeants, not drill instructors. Fixed.

Social distancing is getting to be crazy. I live in a very small town, and since my mailbox got destroyed by an out-of-control driver two months ago, I've had to get our mail from the post office. The lobby is all of eight feet by eight feet. Yesterday there were four of us in the lobby. Try working out how to keep six feet away from everybody in a space that small.

Enjoy!

You readers are great! I posted a blog item last night about problems with my wife's Kindle Fire. You guys got me the answer inside of ten minutes! You rock! Also, okay, Kindle is Amazon, not Apple. My sincerest apologies to Steve Jobs; Jeff Bezos sucks. I've had problems with Amazon; don't ask.

A few people complaining about laying/lying confusion. Not sure how critical that is, but I uploaded a fixed chapter. Just remember to send me a note on any typos or errors you find.

My wife got her cast replaced with a padded boot and replaced her old-lady walker with a knee scooter. She's getting around pretty good on it, but she's annoying as hell when she zips past and goes "Wheeee!" The docs said she could go back to work, light duty, which would get her out of my remaining hair. She works at the local grocery store and that's still open. Some of the shelves look like they've been ransacked by Vandals (the originals!)

One reader suggested I just stop publishing, that coronavirus would radically affect the events happening in the story and make it untenable. Not sure I believe that. The effects are more economic at the moment than medical. This is not the Black Death, where one-third of the nation will die. At some point, probably by the summer, people will revolt against the stringent measures taken. Yes, the death rate will rise, but people will go back to work. In any case, the story begins in 2018. A current period of time, spring/summer 2020, doesn't occur until Chapter 12. That won't be published until the end of April. Let's see what things look like then.

So far people seem happy with the story. Chapter 2 is just more fun on the cruise. Enjoy!