In the land of snow and ice

Yup. I’m here in Minneapolis. Home of two of my most favorite 80s musical acts: Prince, the Replacements, and Hüsker Dü. Okay, that was three. So far, I’ll have to say that the people are friendly and it’s very cold. And their pizza is good even if they employ the wrong cut (the grid or tavern cut).

I’m here for a week of meeting the new boss and other folks, doing some training, and getting orientated to the culture of my new employers.

Yes, new employers. I have given up the full-time freelance action for a return to the online news business with an interesting job with a really (so far) cool company. I’m not going to say who they are, because this blog isn’t about them; it’s about me.

Anyway, more about Minneapolis — including a trip to the Mall of America and IKEA (SQUEEEEEE!) — and travel throughout the week. Maybe some about work, too.

John McCain vs. the Environment

According to the Sierra Club:

Two weeks ago John McCain was the only Senator to duck a crucial vote on the future of clean energy in America — dooming to failure the measure that would have helped make renewable energy more affordable and accessible. Now it turns out this missed vote is part of a pattern.

Last week, the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) released the 2007 National Environmental Scorecard giving Senator McCain a score of ZERO. According to the scorecard, McCain was the only member of Congress to skip all 15 crucial environmental votes scored by LCV.

McCain’s LCV score exposes the real record behind the rhetoric — a lifetime LCV score of 24, a history of siding with the polluters and special interests, and a consistent pattern of ducking important environmental votes.

Despite giving the enviroment some lip service, McCain’s voting record speaks much louder. Vote Obama (or Hillary Clinton, if she should win the nomination) in 2008.

Warren Ellis » On The Phone

I link to this not because Warren has a new phone, but because he mentions that he wrote “comics, screenplays and most of a novel” on his Treo 600 that died last night. Wow. That’s dedication.

Email Apnea?

I TOTALLY have email apnea, though not just when reading email. I do it all the time. Breathing exercises DO work (I use several), but you have to really work to stay mindful of your breathing.

Free eBook of John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War

In anicipatory promotion of their big, new SF website, Tor books is giving away the eBook of John Scalzi’s excellent military SF novel, Old Man’s War. It’s one of the best novels I’ve read in the last five or six years. The sequels are pretty good, too.

Open Source Storage Unit #3

I’m totally building an Open Source Storage Unit #3 for our living room to replace our current television altar.

The plans are available from the designer and are really pretty ingenious. I plan on making one when we get back from Germany in March.

65 T-shirt blogs

ALL the t-shirt blogs you’ll ever want/need. It took me about 10 minutes of perusal to spend $100 (well, 100 virtual dollars, as I haven’t actually bought anything yet).

Coen Bros. to make film of The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon

YES! My favorite movie-makers take on one of my favorite writers and a really interesting novel. Read it now before the movie comes out.

Leisureguy’s shaving blog

Leisureguy’s shaving posts from his blog. Lots of great stuff here. I’m about to take the DE plunge, I think. I hate shaving, so I do it only when I have to (meeting with a client, date, etc.) and rarely more than three times a week.

I SHOULD shave every day, though. Part of my “n steps to a new me” plan includes shaving every day. More on the plan as it unfolds.

Welcome to the Culture, the Galactic Civilization That Iain M. Banks Built

Nice overview of Banks’ Culture… erm, culture. Banks is perpetually on my want-to-read list, but I never know where to start, so I just don’t. Maybe this will be the kick in the pants I need to get started on his stuff.