Where are all the wall sconces that Bartlet had?


P072913CK-0285, originally uploaded by The White House.

Regular readers know that I’m a big fan of photography relating to the office of the President of the United States, which is why I’m a huge fan of the Official White House Flickr Stream, and likely would be no matter who the occupant of the office itself.

That said, after looking at these photos of President Obama’s Oval Office for four-and-a-half years now, how is it possible that I never noticed, until this photo right here, that Godawful blue lamp? That thing is terrible!

You can’t see it here, but there’s a matching one on the endtable to the President’s left. Jeez, what an awful lamp. I can’t not see them now, every time I look at an Oval Office photo.

OK, moving on.

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So…parched….


P070913PS-0097, originally uploaded by The White House.

I’ve written in the past about my love of the White House’s Official Flickr Stream, and I’m overdue to share some stuff from there…but this particular photo cracked me up, because there are all these people in this conference room setting, clustered around tables with the President, and only the President gets a water bottle.

Wassat? One of you is thirsty? Well, that’s just too damned bad. You just sit there and watch the President take a nice, cold sip from Hydration Force One!

Heck, a couple of the people in this photo actually seem to be staring longingly at the President’s water bottle! That dude on the left, the one who looks vaguely like James Doohan in Star Trek VI — I think he’s really thinking, “Shit, why did I eat those salted peanuts before I came in here….”

UPDATE: OK, looking at this some more, it’s even funnier. The three people immediately to the President’s left are amazing. The two guys are staring off blankly into space, but neither is staring at the same thing. And the lady in magenta looks like she’s sneaking a text message in under the table!

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Let's go fly a…oh, you know.

Well, I could blog some stuff for you folks. Or I could do stuff like hang out on an Atlantic beach with my family, flying a kite that looks like a shark.

Yeah. See ya! (Vacation ends Saturday, normal life resumes Sunday, work resumes Monday. ‘Day Job’ work, that is. I’ve been writing this whole time.)

But anyway…see ya!

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Godspeed!

Baikonur Mural (201305250001HQ)

As much as I mentally inhabit the world of a science fiction future where spaceships are everywhere, there’s something to be said for launches that look like this (photos below the page break):

Expedition 36 Soyuz TMA-09M Rollout (201305260010HQ)

Expedition 36 Soyuz TMA-09M Rollout (201305260012HQ)

Expedition 36 Soyuz TMA-09M Rollout (201305260015HQ)

Expedition 36 Soyuz TMA-09M Rollout (201305260016HQ)

Expedition 36 Soyuz TMA-09M Rollout (201305260017HQ)

Expedition 36 Soyuz TMA-09M Rollout (201305260019HQ)

Expedition 36 Soyuz TMA-09M Rollout (201305260023HQ)

Expedition 36 Soyuz TMA-09M Rollout (201305260025HQ)

Expedition 36 Soyuz TMA-09M Rollout (201305260027HQ)

Expedition 36 Soyuz TMA-09M Rollout (201305260028HQ)

Expedition 36 Soyuz Blessing (201305270001HQ)

Expedition 36 Soyuz Blessing (201305270003HQ)

Expedition 36 Soyuz Blessing (201305270004HQ)

Expedition 36 Launch Countdown (201305280001HQ)

Expedition 36 Crew Blessing (201305280004HQ)

Expedition 36 Waves Farewell (201305290001HQ)

Expedition 36 Launch (201305290002HQ)

Expedition 36 Launch (201305290003HQ)

Expedition 36 Launch (201305290004HQ)

Expedition 36 Launch (201305290005HQ)


Come on, humans — the stars are waiting! Let’s go!

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More potential cover art

I keep looking through Tumblr for artwork that puts me in various states of mind as I work my way through Princesses II: Back to Rydell High (not the actual title). Here are a few recent instances of such.

The one up there with the blimps — I’m not writing a steampunk, by any means, but there’s a feeling there that’s kind of like what I’m writing, even though the tech is well advanced beyond dirigibles.
Anyway, onward and upward — the other day, I passed the 100,000 word mark, which is cool because on May 1 the book stood at just over 59,000 words. My May goal was to get to 90K words, so I more than exceeded the goal. Now my goal is to finish this draft by the end of July and then move on to a horror/thriller book I’ve been kicking around while I let Princess II: ET Returns to Elliott (not the actual title) rest for a while before editing this fall.
And after the horror/thriller, I think I’ll be ready at last to take another whack at The Adventures of a Boy and the Lighthouse That Loved Him (which is really not the actual title).
Zap! Pow!

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