Back From the Boat, Plus a Couple of Housekeeping Notes
Posted on February 29, 2016 Posted by John Scalzi 14 Comments
First, here’s what my view of the world looked like for much on the past week. The sunset, to be clear, was not always there. The water almost always was. And it was lovely. Currently I’m in the “it feels like the world is gently swaying” phase of getting back into the world; this is because for the last week the world was mostly gently swaying and my inner ear got used to it, and now it has to go in the other direction. I’ll be fine by Wednesday, but today and tomorrow if I’m not paying attention I’ll drift into walls when I walk.
I’ll update you all more on the trip a bit later in the day (or tomorrow, depending), as well as catching up on other things, including news of the world and kittens, but I thought you might enjoy this balcony view to get you started the morning. You’re welcome.
And now to a couple of “back in the world” notes: One, today is the day I triage all the email I didn’t see while I was on the boat and had no Internet. If you sent me email in the last week then you got my automated response telling you I wasn’t likely to respond to it. Most of it I still will not, just due to volume. So if you sent me an email you really wanted a response to, it’d be good to resend it.
Two, the comments on Whatever are on again, as I have returned to be able to moderate, etc. Note that I have made one significant change: The time that each comment thread is open has gone from fourteen days to ten. This is due to an uptick of spam on comment threads, and also the recognition that 90% of all useful conversation on comment threads happens in the first few days, after which most of the discussion appears to be three people snarking on each other about a minor point in the discussion, over and over again. In which case ten days is more than enough time to do that.
I hope your last week was a delightful one. I know mine was. Today’s plan: Sway slightly, catch up on email, post a Big Idea (we have one for each day of the work week this week!), but generally, take it easy. The day back from a long vacation is transition-y, folks. And it’s a leap day! Best to take things slow, I think.
Anyway. Hello!
Welcome back from the cruise John!
Welcome home, sir, and I hope you had a marvelous vacation. We missed your commentary, but are glad you had a chance to get away for a complete break. Looking forward to hearing more about it once you reacclimate to solid land.
Welcome home. I hope you had a wonderful vacation and were able to think up new story lines with which to regale us, your readers.
That was beautiful and I’m kind of jelly but I’m glad you enjoyed! Welcome back. :)
I sent an email but didn’t get a bounce message back…does that mean it didn’t get through?
Good heavens. I had 1100 email to sort through when I got back. I can’t imagine what you have to deal with.
Welcome back, Scalzi!
Parts of my week were delightful (time with, my wife, our boys, my in-laws, and my family), and parts were decidedly not delightful (blocked sewer line, electrical problems, and vermin destroying the heat ducts in our crawl space).
Welcome back, Mr. Scalzi! Hope you had time to do one of the best things on a cruise: sit on a deck chair, sun yourself, and read without feeling that time is way too precious.
The mention of Scalzi scamperbeasts and ship voyages made me wonder about something. Back in the days when boats were wooden and motive power was via sail, ships had cats aboard to deal with the rat problem. Given those old ships’ tendency to sway a lot more than today’s ships, how did cats avoid getting seasick?
Welcome home. Enjoy the last of the “vacation mood” for as long as you can.
Welcome back, and glad you had a good time :) . I can look forward to coming off my diet of crumbs from Random Whatever now ;). And that’s a great pic.
First, here’s what my view of the world looked like for much on the past week.
I see no parking lot.
Thanks for purging the extra two posts I made. I’m sorry, I just had a problem with the computer that made it appear that I hadn’t posted at all. Have a great day!
So, when we arrived from our cruise on on the Oasis of the Seas at the Dayton airport Saturday night, I looked for another MINI Countryman in the economy lot (we’d left my wife’s there during our cruise) but didn’t see one. Which was disappointing – I was going to put a little note on it that said “Hi John!” just for fun. And for your puzzlement. Mostly for the puzzlement…
I just came back from my first cruise. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! Welcome back.