2009 April | jlake.com

[writing] Pinion editorial revisions day 2

Three solid hours today on Pinion revisions, much progress to plan and possibly a bit ahead of it. I’m pleased.

Posted: 7:11 pm Sun April 26 2009 | Comments(0) |

[photos] More hutongs of Beijing

While I was still in China, I posted a piece on the hutongs of Beijing [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]. Here are few more photos of hutongs, those traditional villages folded inside the big city.

Entrances and doorways. The last photo is Mrs. Wang, whose house we visited.

A portable shop at the entrance to one hutong.

When you park your car in a hutong (only modern or rebuilt ones have alleys wide enough to do this) you cover your wheels to keep the dogs from pissing on them.

Traditional transportation, in this case, tourist style.

Traditional transportation, traditional style.

Mrs. Wang’s courtyard with, yes, a pomegranate tree.

Stuff stashed in a corner.

As usual, more at the Flickr set, which is an edited collection of only hutong photos.

Tags: Child, China, family, Photos

Posted: 7:05 pm Sun April 26 2009 | Comments(0) |

[photos] Your Sunday moment of zen

Your Sunday moment of zen

Tags: animals, China, Photos, zen

Posted: 6:20 pm Sun April 26 2009 | Comments(1) |

[writing] Pinion editorial revisions day 1

I received my change letter from on Pinion last Wednesday. Oddly, it came through on my iPhone while I was in the Tor offices in New York. Such synchronicity! If I wrote that in a story, no one would believe it. Of course, that’s true of much of my life. Ask , she’ll tell you. (At least, I think that’s why she’s always laughing at me.)

Larger than anticipated workload on the revisions. Even so, I won’t have any problem with the June 1 deadline. Because of the workload I am leaning a bit harder than normal on trusted readers, with special help from , and . Saturday was my first day of hands-on-keyboard, after a couple of days of strategizing and general absorption of feedback from multiple quarters. I find revision workload difficult to measure, even more so on this project than usual, but I got about four hours of keyboard time in and I’m happy with the progress thus far.

Anyway, diving back in now for today’s effort.

Tags: Books, Calendula, Pinion, Writing

Posted: 12:08 pm Sun April 26 2009 | Comments(0) |

[books] Green review

Green [ Amazon ] has been Klausnered.

Tags: Books, Green, reviews

Posted: 10:35 am Sun April 26 2009 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad gets sort of political

A reader reacts to Escapement [ Powell's | Amazon ]

More on Google Books from The New York Times

Mum fined for calling son a poof? — Language Log dips into queer sociology in the UK.

Subgroup analysis, wishful thinking and research fraud

US History for Dummies — Helpful hints for conservative “patriots”. Warning: actual facts will conflict seriously with your cherished political beliefs. But if you’re a conservative, you’ve long since grown inured to that. (Thanks to .)

?otD: How many angels can dance on the head of a pinata?

4/26/2009
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
This morning’s weigh-in: 217.4
Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville; The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet by Reif Larsen

Tags: Books, Culture, Escapement, Language, Links, Personal, Politics, Publishing, reviews

Posted: 8:22 am Sun April 26 2009 | Comments(0) |

[photos] Your Saturday moment of zen

Tags: China, Funny, Personal, Photos

Posted: 4:40 pm Sat April 25 2009 | Comments(3) |

[photos] Hiking Dog Mountain

This morning, and I set out to hike Dog Mountain, on the Washington side of the Columbia Gorge. The wildflowers are just starting to come in over there, and we hoped to see some nature.

Unfortunately, what we mostly saw was chilly overcast and winds of 30-40 mph howling through the trees. We walked about 90 minutes up, but the steep trail and lousy conditions were discouraging, so we turned back without summiting. Still, it was a great walk with some lovely scenery.

The trail and some views.

Mount Defiance, on the Oregon side.

Looking west along the Columbia Gorge, Wind Mountain to the right.

More of the trail at this Flickr set

Some flowers and trees.

More flowers at this Flickr set

Tags: flowers, Oregon, Personal, Photos, Washington

Posted: 1:54 pm Sat April 25 2009 | Comments(0) |

[photos] Tiananmen Square

I’m going to start posting short photo series of the various places we visited in China. This may take a while, so perhaps it will just be a regular blog feature. Today’s photos are from April 9th and our visit to Tiananmen Square, immediately prior to our entering the Forbidden City.

The gate itself, at the south end of the square. (Tiananmen means “Gate of Heavenly Peace”.)