Tuesday Tunes

I thought I'd start with a random hit off my computer catalog of music and blog about the first song that played. But, after staying up to watch Brett Favre's magnificent 82 yard touchdown pass in overtime, I changed my mind and decided to do a football song. I'm not talking about the songs performed during the promo spots or at the beginning of the shows, I mean a one-time top 40 hit about football. Sort of.

The year: 1969
The artist: Mel & Tim
The song: Backfield in Motion

You can find the lyrics here.

In football, it's a five yard penalty against the offense- more than one man in motion at the snap, and is called as illegal motion. The referee's signal is described as "Horizontal arc with one hand" and can be seen here.

The song also mentions the penalties of off-sides and holding, and strangely enough, a short baseball reference to balking. Must've been written in October.

I'm not sure when they started using illegal motion instead of backfield in motion, and haven't found any references to the switch. If anyone knows, please share the knowledge.

Jessie

Monday's Moments

I'm not much of a history buff. But every once in awhile I run across something interesting while doing research for a story, or just browsing the web.

For instance, I learned that today is the anniversary of the sale of the first ballpoint pen in America in 1945 at Gimbel's Department Store for $12.50. The marvel of the ballpoint pen shows up in a lot of time-travel fiction, and for the common man prior to 1945, it was pretty amazing.

However, did you know it was patented in 1888? Me either. In fact, the ballpoint pen went through several transformations and patents before the first "Rocket" was sold in the US.

Personally, I still like writing with a ballpoint pen. I like the feel of it in my hands, the movement of making words, the differences in my handwriting depending on my mood and what I'm writing. And my favorite pen?

The Bic Stic, now named the Bic Cristal - black ink, medium point.

Jessie

Sunday Surprise

Yesterday, DH & I went furniture shopping. I like lots of splashy color. He likes neutrals. He got the slate couch and I got a new bookshelf in lieu of the set I really wanted. I think it's a fair trade-off.

So, I've been rearranging books. This morning, I pulled one book off an old shelf entitled, Standing the Gaff. It's been in my family forever. Published in 1935, by umpire Harry "Steamboat" Johnson. I've never read it. I've kept it for sentimental reasons. My uncle Kyle played minor league baseball for a few years, and might've made it to the big league if he hadn't been a mean drunk. By the time I was born, he was pretty much a washed-out has been who lived off my grandparents. He played the harmonica with a natural ability I've rarely seen, built model airplanes with perfection, taught me how to roll a cigarette, and died at an early age. Oh, there are plenty of stories there, but back to the book.

Apparently, my dad either bought or inherited the book, and he's written all through it. Sometimes his name, sometimes baseball stats by inning (probably watching my uncle's games), the birth years for everyone in my father's immediately, family and sometimes it looks like he's just practicing his penmanship. (It didn't help.)

Between the pages of the book, I found what looks like my grandmother's recipe for chocolate pie, a free offer cutout from the newspaper for salad dressing which was never sent in, another cutout of an advertisement, and another cutout, my birth announcement. I sat down, handling that small scrap of newspaper with the utmost care and read about the other births at the same hospital, two girls and two boys, and thought about how far we've come as the announcements started, Mr. & Mrs. John Q. Doe announce of the birth of... No mention of the mother's name whatsoever.

This ratty book which I've kept for years because of my uncle Kyle, held a treasure trove of bits of my family's history. What a nice Sunday surprise.

Jessie

Friday's Fiction

Disclaimer: This is not a review, only my personal take on books I am currently reading.



Barry Eisler Home Page

I picked this book up last weekend at the Expo after meeting the author. It's the first in a series about assasin John Rain.

John is Japanese-American, and doesn't feel fully at ease in either culture. He likes jazz and a good single malt. Does he like killing? I think if you were to ask him, he'd shrug and answer, "It's a living. One I'm good at."

He doesn't really have a place to hang his hat, and although the reader can tell he doesn't have a lot of respect for the nine-to-fivers who simply work for the paycheck and retire, I think he envies the sort of life which offers family, stability.

He believes he's a man without hope...without redemption.

But he has a few rules which belie those beliefs. He won't kill women, children, or a second tier to the principle. Two of those I understand, children (obviously) and the second tier. I don't remember how he phrases it in the book, but it just seems like a stupid risk for little to no return to me. He doesn't explain why he won't kill women, so the reader is left to his or her assumptions.

(Here's where I have to admit I have a hard time wrapping my mind around the Japanese phrases in the story. However, I'm sure it's only my Southern showing through.)

I haven't completed reading Rain Fall, but I can already tell you it's a fantastic story. The fight scenes are written as clean and quick as the kills, and the description gives the reader a glimpse into a Japan which the average reader never sees in other media. John Rain is a mesmerizing character, and I find myself wanting to know this man intimately -- not in a sexual sense, but more like an old friend. The one you haven't seen in a decade, but when you meet it feels like the years haven't passed.

Status: Keeper Shelf

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Jessie

Thursday Thesaurus

Refurbish.

Some suggestions from my handy-dandy thesaurus are: recondition, reequip, repair, restore, recondition, spruce up, & clean up.

Now, I don't have a problem purchasing refurbished products. However, I just saw an ad for refurbished defibrillators.

Excuse me?

When my life's on the line, I do not want the paramedics pulling out a reconditioned, cleaned up, spruced up defibrillator. Call me crazy.

I didn't click on the ad, so I can't make any cost comparisons to a new defibrillator. I don't know what kind of warranty the proprietors offer, or if there are any regulations governing such things. I should hope there are, but it still makes me a tad uncomfortable thinking that some Joe off the street could purchase a refurbished defibrillator, or worse that a high school could. Think about that the next time you see the battery commercial where defibrillator saves the basketball player's life. I'm thinking the effectiveness of the defibrillator should be more important than the batteries.

So, what would you buy, or refuse to buy, refurbished?

Jessie

Free E-Book from Phaze

Hello everybody. As 2007 comes to a close we've decided to conduct a reader's survey to get an
idea of what people want, what people look for, and what we can do to make
people happy. You can see it/take it here:

http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB226ZQ848Y2S

All readers who take the survey will receive a free eBook for their time,
and be put in a drawing to win three paperbacks of their choice.

You might want to peruse the Phaze catalog first at www.phaze.com

Already Missing You

8.24.07: Already Missing You, Dad


First, I want to thank all of you who kept my family in your prayers. All of us, Dad included, appreciated them, the good thoughts, and kind messages.

He passed August 23, 2007, at 3:30 p.m., peacefully in his sleep. He fought so hard for so long (since November 2006 when the first stage 3 tumor was found), and even the morning before he passed, he was trying to get out of bed. His body gave out before his mind and heart gave up.

He and Mom would have celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary this December. His last words were to take care of her, and she was holding his hand when he passed.

9.7.07: The haze is slowly starting to fade, and I'm getting back into what my *normal* everyday life was before last November. Mom still has some health issues, but she's doing very well. I'm looking forward to finishing some of the projects which were ignored, and having some new stories out soon.

Jessie

Why I Write Romance

Why I Write Romance


The answer is really simple. I believe in it. Oh, not the hearts, and candy, and roses, sort of romance the hawkers sale during Valentine's, but the happily ever after.

If you've been reading my blog in the past 7 or 8 months, you know my father is dying of cancer. My mother has a sever blockage in her carotid artery and is having mini strokes. About 2 weeks ago, she had a bad fall in their garage - the washer won. She looked like a raccoon for about a week, but thankfully she didn't break any bones, which is a miracle.

Dad cried as the medics took her out.

Honestly, none of us thought Dad would make it this long. They stopped any kind of treatment 3 weeks ago. He's been in and out of hospice, and we had another scare today. However, he rallied and managed to get out of bed, eat a little, and was sitting at the kitchen table when I left.

He doesn't want to leave Mom.

Their 53 years of marriage haven't been perfect, but it's been perfect for them.

That's why I write romance. It's not a dream, or fairy tale. It does exist, and I've been fortunate enough to have been surrounded by it. My parents found it, my sister and her husband found it, and I found it (17 years this Saturday).

Jessie

Some Serious Catching Up

I haven't been very active lately, but with my parents' health on a rapid decline, well, things get pushed back, and back, and back. Dad is still with us, but I'm afraid it won't be for long.

My website is down. I'll be getting a new one in a few days, but until it's up and running, I'll be using my MySpace page (www.myspace.com/jessieverino).

I'm getting a little writing done, and will finish Statues soon. Look for it in November in Phaze Fantasies from www.phaze.com.

I'm also attending the Women's Expo again this year, and there are some very exciting things going on there. Check out their website at www.womensexpoauthors.com to see the fantastic, and I mean fantastic, list of authors attending, such as Christine Feehan, Dr. Bill Bass, Barry Eisler, Angela Knight, and the list goes on and on. There are also seminars and a dinner scheduled.

Jessie

Oscar, Everybody Loves You, Oscar

Well, I’m sure the winners love him, but the non-winners probably don’t have a whole lot of nice things to say about him right now. However, whether your favorite movies brought home a little gold statue last night or not, everybody can win at Phaze. In honor of winners of last night’s Oscars, all Surges at Phaze are 50% off through Friday! That’s a lot of bang for your buck! And, Sci-Fi, Romantic Comedy, Historical and BBW are all 25% off this week. So feel the Surge and get a jolt of Sensual Energy.

Jessie

The In-Betweens

The cold temperatures finally moved on, and it's supposed to be in the 60's tomorrow. In-between winter and spring.

I'm working on a few new projects. In-between books.

My Mom is now in the hospital, and Dad had his port put in for the upcoming chemo treatments. He can't go to the hospital to see Mom, because his immune system is already so compromised from the radiation treatments. In-between caring for each of my parents.

My DH is working a short call and will probably be unemployed again by the end of the week. In-between jobs.

The other secretary in our office quit, and now I'm working 9-10 hours a day. In-between co-workers.

Man, when you read it that way, it sound like I should be depressed, or stressed, or any other of the various negative emotions out there. It's not easy being in-between all this stuff, but I have great family, great bosses, great editors, and God. I can feel good about the little things I've accomplished. I can feel good about my son and his family getting a house. I can feel good about the fact that Mom & Dad both have fantastic doctors and great attitudes. I can feel good about my bosses understanding my situation and knowing I could be called away at any moment. I can feel good because my IT guy brought me a king size Snickers, and I haven't even opened it yet. I can feel good, because I'm surrounded by love and friendship.

Thanks to everyone who has sent a prayer or thought our way.

I hope everyone is feeling as good as I am right now. If not, I'll send warm thoughts and prayers your way, and a smile.

Jessie

Cold Temps & Salmonella

I don't eat a lot of peanut butter, but about two weeks ago, I bought a jar (low fat Peter Pan) to keep in my office. Working 9-10 hours a day, I felt the little protein boost in the afternoon would help. Uh-huh. Just my luck, the jar I bought is one in the infected recall. I haven't had severe symptoms, except for last Sunday, but I have eaten at least a tablespoon of peanut butter almost every day for the past two weeks. I'm sending the lid back and getting a refund. But what's really scary is I've been delivering dinner to Mom & Dad a couple of nights a week. I haven't handled their food, only the packaging, and I do wash my hands, but we spend almost every minute in their kitchen when I'm there. Thank goodness I haven't handle any of Dad's insulin or needles. I've got to make some phone calls.

To all those buried under snow, I hope you have power and water, and please stay safe. It's cold here (downright frigid for the South - lows in the teens), and I'm ready for spring. The weather people are predicting snow for us tomorrow. Saturday, which figures. No snow day from work.

Dad goes Monday to have the port inserted for his chemo. It'll be an all day thing, and I'm sure it will wear him out. He's now almost bald from the radiation treatments he received and still very tired.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Jessie

Happy Valentine's Day & More

First, some catch up. Congratulations to the World Champion Indianapolis Colts!!! And to Tony Dungy and MVP, Peyton Manning, along with Joseph Addai, Dominic Rhodes, Adam Vinatieri, and all the rest. Gentlemen, thanks for the great, exciting season.

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes. I had a great night with my hubby. He took me to my favorite Mexican restaurant.

Work has gotten a little crazy. I'm now the only support staff in the office, and it looks like the 9-10 hour days aren't going to end any time soon.

Dad completed his radiation treatments and starts the chemo in a little over a week. Me and my family appreciate all your kind words, thoughts, and prayers, and ask that you continue to keep us in them.

MySpace Glitter Graphics



I hope everyone has a fantastic Valentine's Day! Remember, the day is to celebrate love, so be sure to let the ones you love know it.



I'm going to spend the evening with the ones I love and who are important to me - my family. I'll stop by the bakery and pick up something sweet, a cake probably, and then grab my parents some dinner.



The evening will be wonderful. Bittersweet in a way, due to my Dad's cancer, but I know every moment spent with him, with my family, is precious.



My son and his family were going to try to come by Sunday, but didn't make it. So, in true Valentine fashion, I went ahead and opened the candy I'd bought for them and ate most of it. Of course, I'm going to replace it, probably with something better than what I first bought. It wasn't that great. Really, they should thank me. Maybe I'll give him a call and see if I can't guilt him into coming over tonight.



Jessie

Hoping for Snow

Predictions went from 1" - 3", then the predictions changed to 2" - 5". I was sooo looking forward to snow day from work. I set my alarm, despite the dire predictions.

Now I know, most of you reading this are thinking, "Is she nuts?! That's not enough snow to get out of work." However, here in East Tennessee that's enough snow to shut everything down and have almost everyone running to their local grocery store to stock up on the essentials: bread, milk, peanut butter, beer, and toilet paper.

When the alarmed beeped at me this morning, I got up and shuffled to the front door to check on the amount of snow and ice on the road.

Where's my snow?????

To the south.

And joy of all joys, the weatherman is predicting more winter weather around lunch time. Of course, it's supposed to move on through and then warm up so that our afternoon commute home will be okay. (Which means my dad can get to his radiation treatment. I really can't complain about that.)

YUCK!

There's hope for tonight, though. Another front moving through, and it might just bring enough ice and snow to keep me out of work on Friday, which altogether isn't a bad trade.

Jessie

Exhausted

Dad's doing much better. After some extensive testing, the doctors have determined that it is a tumor in his brain, but without brain surgery, there's no way to determine what type of tumor it is. He's taking radiation treatment, steroids, and anti-convulsants. He's taking a few steps on his own, but he's still wobbly. It's going to be a long, hard road ahead for him. He knows it, and still has a great attitude toward the whole thing.

After the past week and a half, spending equal amounts of time at work and my parents, I took Friday off and slept. And slept. And slept. I knew I was tired, but didn't realize exactly how exhausted I'd been. Speaking of work, it looks like things will ramp up there as I'm going to be the only support staff for a while. Thank goodness my DH is laid off, otherwise nothing would get done in my house.

On the writing front, I've been doing very little. I have two stories open now, and will work on them today. Check my projects page for further progress (or non-progress as the case has been lately).

Go Colts!!!!!
Jessie

A Fool's Errand...

...or the world's biggest optimist?

That's the question I kept asking myself yesterday morning. The doctors sprung Dad from the hospital Friday night. So I was at their house bright and early Saturday morning. Made coffee, fought my way through the maze of medications, prepared his insulin injection (the steroids are making his sugar high), and I was ready to sit for a few minutes. But no. Dad was out of cigarettes.

Did I mention he has lung cancer?

He also had a winning lottery ticket. Just a few dollars. (We play for fun when it gets over $200m.)

So, he hands me the lottery ticket and tells me to roll it over, which means buy as many picks as dollars he won, and money to buy him a carton of cigs.

I shouldn't have, but I did. He's flat out told me, my family, and his doctors that he's not going to quit smoking.

Well, what do you expect from Roger the Logger, quite possibly the toughest man in the entire world?

Jessie

"I'm a Logger."

Well, I've had a bit too much excitement this week. Dad went for his 1st chemo treatment Tuesday, but they had done a CT scan on his brain Monday, and the results showed a tumor in the right side of his brain. So, they sent him home with another appointment with a radiologist for Friday. On the way home, he started having seizures. He went back to the hospital by ambulance, and the family was called in.

When we arrived he was still seizing. The ER physician saw indications that the cancer had spread to his liver and possibly his stomach. After a few rounds of really good drugs, they stopped the seizing and ordered a CT scan of the stomach & liver. We were told to expect comfort measures only.

They did the scan late Tuesday night, and we didn't learn the results until early Wednesday morning--there's an abscess on the outside of his liver, probably from an emergency gall bladder surgery he had 4 years ago. We also learned that a brain tumor and a brain abscess look almost identical on a CT scan of the brain, and that the tumor could actually be an abscess. They scheduled an MRI for today, which hopefully will give us a definitive answer.

I was praying for a miracle, I'm not going to argue with the results. I'll take a brain abscess over a tumor any day of the week.

Now, for the title of this post: There's an old Ray Stevens' song entitled, The Haircut Song. Here are some of the lyrics:

Well, Butte, Montana just a'passin' through, one thing I just had to do,
Had to get a haircut and I was worried for my hair.
I had a feeling of impending doom the minute I stepped into that room and laid my eyes upon that barber chair.
It was a macho barber shop. Hair dryers were mounted on a rifle rack. Wasn't no mirrors. The barber chair was a Peterbilt... Barber walked in; he was huge, seven feet tall, three hundred pounds of spring steel and rawhide. Wearin' a hard hat, chewin' a cigar, had a t-shirt on -- said, "I hate musicians."
Threw me in the chair, sneered and said, "What'll it be pal?"
Now a lot of people would be intimidated in a situation like this...I was not. I am what I am, play my little piano, and sing my little songs. I looked him right in the eye and I said, "I'm a logger - just up from Coos Bay, Oregon. Been toppin' trees - quite possibly the toughest man in the entire world."

Dad & I quote the part about playing the piano and singing songs every time we're together. It always pops up in one of our conversations, usually along the line of,

"Well, what can you do?"
"I don't know. I just play my little piano, sing my little songs."

Well, Tuesday night when they finally got him to a room around 11:30 p.m. or so, the nurse came in and asked Dad his name. At this point, he was riding high on the ativan, and he sounded like he'd been on a three day drunk because his tongue was swollen from his biting it during the seizures. He looked her straight in the eye and answered, "My name's Roger. I'm a logger from Coos Bay, Oregon. Quite possibly the toughest man in the world. Just playin' my little piano and singin' my little songs."

The look on her face was priceless, and we were all laughing so hard none of us could explain why he'd answered that way. His name's not even Roger. We have no idea where that came from. And he's still telling the new nurses who come in at shift change that he's a logger from Oregon, even though he's completely cognizant. He had a long conversation with one of the nurses about Oregon and Seattle (where she is from) this morning. (He has been there.)

He kicked us out shortly thereafter, and I haven't heard anything from anyone regarding the MRI. I think I may go home after work and collapse now that the immediate danger is over. The chair I slept in last night at the hospital didn't provide a good night's rest.

Jessie

No Rain, Nor Sleet, Nor Snow...

...can keep an author from a booksigning and reading.

Wow! Donna Wright & I had a fantastic time at the Madagascar Coffee Company in Kingsport, Tennessee last night! We had some nasty weather in East Tennessee yesterday--snow, sleet, a mixture of snow and sleet--in short, it was cold & yucky.

We arrived at 6:00 p.m., and were treated to some really great food and coffee. The shop is absolutely gorgeous, and the back room was perfect for us to mingle with the people who braved the weather to attend the event.

Donna and I both read, though we had to close the door for some of the passages from my works. ;) It was a great crowd, and they all got into the books and participated.

I'm sure we'll be going back soon.

Jessie

Great Weekend

Well, I felt sorta *Blah* all day Saturday, even during the games. But, I'm still riding high on the Colts' win. I enjoyed the Seahawks' win, too.

Sunday, I had just settled down at my computer, the game was on, I had my Fury open and ready, and the doorbell rang. My son and his family stopped by for a visit, and we had an absolutely fantastic Sunday afternoon, and we finished the day with a trip to my favorite Mexican restaurant. Even the little ones enjoyed the food.

All in all, I think I got about 30 words written, but that's okay, because no words can outweigh those memories.

Happy Monday!
Jessie

Stage IV

Bi-lateral tumors. Metastasized. Chemotherapy. Radiation. I could have lived quite happily without ever hearing those words. The doctor didn’t complete the procedure to check Dad’s lymph nodes. There was no point after the scope found another tumor in his right lobe. Didn’t want to put his body through the stress of the procedure when the cancer has already metastasized. Treatment can stop or slow the growth, but at this point there is no cure.

But there's always hope. He’s a fighter, his spirit is good, and his faith is solid. I know those things go a long way in treatment. And I do believe in miracles.

Thoughts and prayers still appreciated.

Thanks,
Jessie