Camy's Loft

Captain's Log, Stardate 08.18.2008

A few weekends ago, Captain Caffeine's parents and my parents flew into San Jose. We took them to Sonoma to two of our favorite wineries.

Dad and I drink, but my mom and my in laws do not. However, everyone enjoyed the day. Both wineries have non-wine things to buy like sauces, oils, and vinegars, so my mom and mother in law bought some interesting things. My in laws also enjoyed walking around the wineries and gardens.

And Captain Caffeine? Poor guy deserves a medal because he was the designated driver.

Captain's Log, Stardate 08.14.2008

I thought you might find this amusing.

Since my parents came a few weekends ago, I of course had to clean out the spare bedroom, which is a storeroom the other 360 days of the year.

Captain's Log, Stardate 08.01.2008

Captain Caffeine told me an interesting story he heard on the radio (update: it was in the paper), I think. You know all those fires here in Northern California? Luckily, they weren’t near us and we didn’t need to be evacuated.

However, they (somebody) interviewed some people who had been evacuated, asking them what they took and why.

The answers were very interesting. For example, one guy had like 900 bottles of wine (read: really good, expensive, and probably old) in his wine cellar. He said he’d been torn between wines with monetary value and sentimental value. Originally, he took two $1500 bottles (yes, you read that right—one thousand, five hundred smackeroos) but he put one back to choose a wine with more sentimental value.

This got me and the Captain thinking about what we’d take. A fire evacuation is more forgiving than, say, a tornado evacuation, because you have more time to load up the car.

We’d take:

--Our computers

Although I have to say, I have Mozy.com as my backup system, so that gives me peace of mind to know my writing and business stuff is saved offsite. Plus it’s free and I can schedule it to backup everyday at a certain time.

(If you use this link to sign up for Mozy’s free backup service, you and I both get an extra 256MB free. Click on the Mozy Home 2 GB free on the bottom of the page.)

--Our financial information, which is in a lockbox, and some other valuables in our fireproof safe

--Camping gear

--Our earthquake emergency kit (it’s actually a hard plastic garbage bin filled with essentials)

And then Captain said he’d take his espresso maker. Yes, he values it that highly. And the burr grinder, too.

I’d take my knitting needles and a bit of yarn because NO WAY am I going to be stuck somewhere without something to knit.

I’d also make sure I had all my ebooks on my PDA so I’d have lots to read.

What about you? What would you take?Captain's Log, Stardate 07.22.2008

Captain's Log, Supplemental

Bev is interviewing me at her blog! The hardest question was my 8 goals for 2008. :/

She’s also giving away a copy of Only Uni!

Camy Tang interview and giveaway

Captain's Log, Stardate 06.06.2008

I have joined Plurk. I’m not quite sure what I’m doing, but it’s prettier than Twitter. :)

TinaMats answered a few questions for me. Apparently Plurk isn’t having the kinds of technical difficulties Twitter has (and I don’t know if it’s just my computer, but Twitter pages take forever to load).

If you click this link, you’ll be able to join Plurk and add me as a friend at the same time.

So does anyone know what I ought to do with TWO microblogging sites?

I admit, I have Kindle envy.

Lots of my friends have got Kindles. I haven’t even seen one yet, but everyone says the screen is amazing.

Now, my love of ebooks comes honestly. I’ve loved ebooks ever since I could download them from Fictionwise.com, and I’ve gotten PDAs specifically so that I could read books on them and never be without something to read.

In fact, I will confess that one reason I don’t want an iPhone is because I can’t read ebooks on it.

But Captain Caffeine always advises (and quite rightly, most of the time) not to buy the first version of any piece of technology because there are always first generation bugs.

So another reason not to even put the Kindle on my Amazon wishlist is because there might be a second version in another year and it will probably be even better.

(Another reason is that price tag—yowzers! Uh, no, I’d like to be able to afford groceries this month ...)

So I’ve been continuing to buy my ebooks, but from Fictionwise (which has great prices, by the way, especially if you’re a Club Member), and reading them on my computer or my Palm PDA.

In fact, I prefer reading my Steeple Hill and other Harlequin books on ebook rather than hard copy.

(1) I can make the font REALLY BIG.

(2) I can get the books instantly rather than waiting for shipping.

(3) They’re a little cheaper than buying a hard copy.

(4) In being able to read them on my computer, I can actually knit while reading an ebook, since all I have to do is hit a button to turn the page. Laugh if you dare, but I enjoy being so efficient with my time! LOL

Have any of you bought Kindles? Do any of you like ebooks?Captain's Log, Stardate 05.21.2008

Captain's Log, Supplemental

Today I’m blogging at Girls, God, and the Good Life about BAGS!

Captain's Log, Stardate 05.13.2008

I’ve already confessed my black thumb. Now I confess my sloppy gardening.

I had to transfer my miniature rosebush from the planter into the ground because it was no longer miniature. You can see how I cracked the plastic planter in trying to get the darn thing out, you can see the sweep of dirt from when I dug the hole, and you might also be able to tell that the rosebush is a little crooked. In the background is a lavender bush I successfully transplanted last year (then again, it’s almost impossible to kill lavender, so I shouldn’t be so proud of myself).



I had to transfer another lavender plant from a pot into the ground because I needed the pot. If you look on the left side, you’ll see where the dirt from the lavender is at least an inch above the ground. I figure, it’s almost impossible to kill lavender (yay, me!), and the thing will settle a bit into the ground, right? Right?



Here’s the reason I needed the pot—my thyme (on the left) and rosemary (on the right). I’m hoping I didn’t kill them as I transferred them, because I think it will be really cool to have fresh thyme and rosemary this summer. And the rosemary might even survive the winter.



And to assure you I can’t be completely hopeless, my bearded irises are doing well. In the background are two canes of black raspberries I planted last year which managed to survive my mangled pruning and the winter. The next test is if I actually get raspberries.



Confess, all you real gardeners, I make you cringe, don’t I?

Captain's Log, Supplemental

I'm interviewed in the Santa Clara Weekly newspaper!

Okay, confession time: I have a black thumb. Don’t believe me? Here’s what’s left of the cyclamen that Captain Caffeine gave me for my birthday.




I have come to realize that the only plants I can’t kill are the ones that I don’t even bother to try to keep alive.

For example, my lavender is flourishing. Although considering how hard it is to kill lavender, maybe that’s not a good example. After all, lavender can grow from just tossing some cuttings on the ground, because you can plant the stems and they’ll root.

Anyway, my gladiolas correction: bearded irises (thanks, Ausjenny!) are flourishing this year. Why? I have no clue. They are my “happy accident” plants.

Here is the key to my keeping plants alive—I can’t have been given them, bought them, or planted them. I didn’t plant the gladiolas—they were growing in the yard when we bought the house, and I could tell they weren’t weeds, so I told Captain Caffeine not to mow it down.

I watered it when I remembered to. Nothing happened all year (we bought the house in February). Then the following March, I had one stalk with two small flowers.

They seem to like my sporadic watering, because they’ve gotten more bulbs and lots more flowers, after almost eight years.



How about you? Any gardening/plant-killing stories?Captain's Log, Stardate 04.29.2008

Captain's Log, Supplemental

Captain Caffeine has been on crutches—he tore his Achilles tendon, it’s not bad, but he’s unable to put weight on his foot just yet.

The backyard had become the Amazon jungle. The Captain hates it when the grass—or, more accurately, the weeds become too long.

I admit, I was not a good wife. I did not want to have to clear away the chairs and buckets from the yard. I didn’t want to unlock that nasty garden tools shed that’s infested with spiders. I didn’t want to maneuver the lawn mower out.

The Captain tried valiantly to mow, since the lawn mower is electric and rather sturdy and he can lean on it. However, I finally decided he wasn’t going to give up or come to his senses, so I took over for him.

It’s a lot like vacuuming the carpet, except that instead of my seek-and-destroy mission to suck up every stray piece of dog hair, I had to flatten and raze the foxtails that had taken over the yard.

It wasn’t hard, but that mower is noisy. And it kicks up all kinds of little weed particles that got into my eyelashes and nose and mouth.

But I could understand the Captain’s feeling of satisfaction at seeing a nicely mown backyard. The dog enjoyed herself, running back and forth rather than weaving in and out of clumps of weeds.

Of course, now I’ve got a bit of hay fever and I’m a bit paranoid I won’t get all the grass out of my hair. But the backyard is mowed! That was my testosterone-induced good deed for the day.

Captain's Log, Stardate 04.15.2008

We filed our taxes. Yay! They’re done! I always tell myself, Next year, I’ll start earlier. But I never do.

We use a CPA who charges $500 to do our taxes. Captain Caffeine, being Chinese, grumbles, “Turbotax costs only $80.”

I reply, “Turbotax is cold comfort if we ever get audited.”

I actually do feel more comfortable using a CPA. Since I got contracted, I want to make sure that the taxes on my writing income and expenses are filed correctly. I was never sure I was filing my deductions correctly with Turbotax.

(If there are any writers concerned about that, my friend and writer Danica Favorite-MacDonald works for H&R Block and did a two-hour workshop on taxes at the 2007 ACFW Conference, and you can order the MP3s of the workshop.)

And for those of you who still think that once you get a contract, you can afford a second home on a Hawaiian beach in which to write—Captain Caffeine calculated that I make less than minimum wage.

I’m not complaining. I’m doing what I love. I might need to go back to biology work to supplement my (pitiful) writing income, but that’s okay because I don’t write for the money. I write because I love it and I feel this is what God wants me to do.

What do you love to do? Does it cause you pleasure, suffering, or both?

Captain's Log, Supplemental

I got this from my friend Christa, who knows how much my husband, Captain Caffeine, loves espresso and is working on his barista skills. These pics are supposedly from three restaurants in Vancouver. Captain Caffeine is not quite good enough for lattes like these, but he's definitely working hard to perfect his technique!

Captain's Log, Supplemental

So, you all know I can be a dingbat, right? (No comments from you, Captain Caffeine!)

So I went to get gas a couple days ago. I was impressed I didn’t cause an explosion or something like that. But somewhere in between the pump and ... oh, yesterday around seven p.m., I lost my credit card.

I cannot believe I lost my card. I guess it says something about me that I use it so often, I notice it missing a bare 24 hours after I last used it.

I think it’s somewhere in my car, but I’ve searched and can’t find it. I also checked online and there’s no strange charges on it, so I don’t think it’s stolen, but we called and canceled the card anyway.

What is it about losing a credit card that makes me feel like such a dummy? Like my husband can’t trust me out of the house anymore or something stupid like that.

How about you? Have you lost a credit card or had it stolen?

Captain's Log, Supplemental

No, I didn’t do anything special for you guys (are you kidding? This is me! Helloooooo! I can barely remember to put on matching socks in the morning.)

But CJ Darlington from TitleTrakk.com asked a bunch of novelists to send in their favorite Valentine’s Day stories, and moi is included.

My Most Memorable Valentine's Day Memory

I think my favorite is Angie Hunt’s, although Melanie Wells’ one is a close second. Who knew a horror writer could be so dang funny?

I also posted over at Faithchicks about one of my favorite foods, CHOCOLATE!

And I posted at the Girls, God, Good Life blog about Carnations (it might bring back not-so-fond memories of high school).

Captain's Log, Stardate 02.12.2008

So for those of you who have read Sushi for One, do you remember a radio station Lex mentions called KNBR (the sports leader)?

Well, it’s a real sports radio station that Captain Caffeine listens to practically every day on his way home from work.

So a few weeks ago, they were holding a giveaway for 11 pizzas, and he phoned in—and he won!

They sent the gift certificates for the pizzas, as well as a T-shirt.



(The Captain is being shy and/or weird and/or channeling Wilson from the TV show Home Improvement.)

Isn’t that totally cool?

Captain's Log, Stardate 01.15.2008

I have to admit, I completely suck when it comes to calling friends.

It's not that I don't love them or want to talk to them, I just don't think to call them. I'm not trying to be rude or send a message or anything like that. I'm just clueless.

Luckily, I have wonderful friends who call me. And when they call, we talk for hours. And I have a great time talking to them and catching up.

But a part of me is feeling like a Bad Friend because I didn't think to call them first.

What do you think? Am I breaking a vital rule of Friend Etiquette by not calling my friends occasionally, by letting them call me first? Am I just pathetically thoughtless and ought to be whipped?

And let me say right now, I have awesome friends. They totally put up with me, non-calling as I am.

Captain's Log, Supplemental

Okay, so this might be TMI, but Captain Caffeine snores loud enough to wake the dog.

He finally went to the doctor, who prescribed both an allergy spray and a saline spray for his nose.

Now, I use a homemade saline spray to help me with my sinus allergies. It's just 1/4 teaspoon of salt in 4 ounces of boiling water, cooled and poured into an old contact lens solution bottle so I can squirt it up my nose (maybe that really is TMI).

However, the saline spray prescribed for Captain Caffeine is this tiny packet he dissolves in 8 ounces of water, and he's supposed to discard the excess after using it just once! Talk about a rip off!

He looked online and lots of recipes recommend sea salt or pickling salt, plus baking power or baking soda (I don't remember which).

Do you guys have any recommendations? Why sea salt or pickling salt? Can't he use kosher salt? And why the baking powder/soda? Have you heard any other recipes for this stuff?

On the snoring front, his doctor's trying to get our insurance to approve a night at a sleep lab. He's got sleep apnea and I'm very glad he's finally going to a sleep lab. Hopefully they can find out what can be done to help him get a better night's sleep.

Captain's Log, Stardate 01.08.2008

I'm in an emotional quandary.

I offered to do something for a friend. She said, "Great!" and gave me the info I'd need.

No "thanks," "thank you," etc.

Am I just too old-fashioned, that I expect a "thank you" if someone offers to do something for you?

It also occurred to me that maybe this friend feels so comfortable with me, she assumes she doesn't need to say thanks, that I already know she's thankful.

But something in me just wars against that kind of thinking. I don't care how comfortable you are with me, or how long we've been friends--I want a polite "thank you" if I'm doing you a favor.

What do you guys think? How do you teach your kids about stuff like this?