Browse: Page 38
By J. Timothy King on August 7, 2009
Some years ago, A&E ran a special miniseries of Columbo episodes called Columbo’s Favorite Columbos. Peter Falk chose his four favorite episodes from the original NBC series and introduced each one.
Today, I thought I’d do the same thing, with my own 4 favorites. Except that aside from the original episodes, I’m also including any episode run to date, including the made-for-TV movies produced in 1989 and following.
First, a quick shout out to K., who sent me an inspiring email about my recent blog posts and how interesting they were. Thanks so much! I don’t think readers (myself included) realize how good it makes a writer feel when you tell him you enjoy something he’s written. Me, all smiles! Continue reading “My Favorite Columbos”
Posted in Entertainment, Television | Tagged Columbo, murder mysteries, TV |
By J. Timothy King on August 5, 2009
![[image: Sadness, by T. Willson; © 2009 T. Willson CC BY-NC-ND 2.0]](http://blog.jtimothyking.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Sadness-TWillson-cropped-300x199.jpg "Sadness, by T. Willson")
Sadness, by T. Willson; © 2009 T. Willson CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Today, for Wishcasting Wednesday, Jamie Ridler asks, “What do you wish to make room for?” Like most people, I have so much stuff, both physically and figuratively, it’s hard to make room for anything. But what I really want to make room for today is the following blog post, which I’ve wanted to write. But I haven’t had the space for it.
So today, I’m giving up my typical Wishcasting Wednesday post in order to talk about the Mourner’s Kaddish as a prayer for the depressed. Continue reading “A Prayer for the Depressed”
Posted in Judaism, Religion, Wishcasting Wednesday | Tagged death, depression, Hebrew, kaddish, prayer, sadness |
By J. Timothy King on August 4, 2009
Stories teach, not just raw data, but wisdom. Ever since man gained the ability of thought 35 millennia ago, he has told stories. And modern research continues to reveal the constructive power of storytelling.
However, not all stories edify. Like psychotherapy, stories can comfort us or distress us. They can make us better people and better thinkers, or they can cause us to close off our minds and our thoughts. Stories can either educate or indoctrinate.
The stories I write are designed to do more than just entertain. They’re designed to help us grow, to expand our minds, to enhance the way we look at and lead our lives, and thereby to make our lives better. To accomplish this, I use a five-factor process for all my stories, based on the latest psychological insights. Continue reading “5 Points of Life-Expanding Stories”
Posted in Books, Writing | Tagged life, life-expanding |
By J. Timothy King on August 3, 2009
Used Books, by Flikr's "babblingdweeb"; © 2005 "babblingdweeb" CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Holly Lisle’s move inspired me. In the process of moving, she got rid of a huge amount of stuff, and now she has a clean house. Wow. I’d like a clean house, one where everything has a spot and there’s a spot for everything.
As it turns out, we’re coming to the end of our lease, and now we’re looking to move to a cheaper apartment. Which provides a great opportunity to get rid of massive amounts of the stuff we’ve been piling up for the past 16 years.
Included in this stuff are over 5 bookcases worth of books, and some of these bookcases are literally falling apart. Now, there are a number of books I haven’t yet read (and plan to read), a number of books I read again and again (or refer to from time to time), and a number of books that are classics (or that don’t actually belong to me). But that still leaves most of those 5-bookcases-plus of books. I so wish to keep my books, because I’m a sentimental pack rat. (Besides which, they’re still good books, and it would be a shame to waste them.) But we need to make room. So I’ve been doing some soul-searching, and I’ve resolved to get rid of at least half of my old books. Continue reading “Getting Rid of Loads of Books”
Posted in Books | Tagged auctions, moving, used books |
By J. Timothy King on August 1, 2009
Homemade hot dog rolls (with dogs & fries)
My first experiment with using the Dough cycle on our bread machine, to make homemade hot dog rolls: success! True, some of the rolls came out looking a little funny, because I had never rolled homemade bread before. But the good news is that the rolls we rolled last came out the best, so we were clearly getting better with practice. Continue reading “The Bread Machine Chronicles: Homemade Hot Dog Buns”
Posted in Food, Recipes | Tagged bread, bread machine, buns, hot dogs |
By J. Timothy King on July 31, 2009
From now on, I’d like to try to regularly post something simple, lighthearted, and fun each Friday, because I know I can get pretty intense sometimes. Today, I thought I’d share a bread machine recipe that’s become a big hit in my house.
Margaret and I got a bread machine for our wedding, almost 16 years ago. Just recently, I’ve started using it regularly to bake actual bread. In fact, we’ve all but stopped buying bread from the grocery store, preferring instead sacks of bread flour and jars of active dry yeast. A loaf of home-baked bread from the machine costs less than a dollar and tastes better than from the store. The bread machine makes the process relatively painless, because it does all the hard work for you; just put in the ingredients, and 3 hours later, fresh-baked bread. And baking bread at home also provides plenty of opportunity for variety and experimentation.
One of my experiments paid off, because the Little One specifically asked for it yesterday, Daddy’s homemade Craisin®-Nut Bread, badgered me to make a loaf. I wanted to take a picture of it. Unfortunately, I didn’t act fast enough, and it disappeared first. I have to admit, it’s quite tasty, especially warm with a little butter spread on it. Good for breakfast, brunch, or dinner. Continue reading “Craisin®-Nut Bread”
Posted in Food, Recipes | Tagged bread, bread machine, Craisins, nuts, walnuts |
By J. Timothy King on July 29, 2009
"how do you feel right now?" by Bella Lago; © 2009 Bella Lago, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
The most important skill a writer can develop, in any field or genre of writing, is to empathize with his reader, because the reader will always judge your writing ultimately by what he feels. Mastery of this skill has resulted in some of the greatest feats of writing magic, especially among writers of sales copy, and neglect of it has resulted in some of the most notable snafus.
This week, for Wishcasting Wednesday, Jamie Ridler asks, “What do you wish to remember?”
Well, I wish to remember, as a writer, always to feel what my reader feels, which has historically been nigh impossible for me to achieve. Continue reading “I Wish to Remember to Feel What My Reader Feels”
Posted in Books, Inspiration, Love through the Eyes of an Idiot, Marketing, Wishcasting Wednesday, Writing | Tagged communication, psychology |
By J. Timothy King on July 28, 2009
This morning, at my daughter’s sleep study, as we were waking up, I had a profoundly encouraging and empowering daydream. It wasn’t an intentional visualization, something I wanted to see come about, but purely a spontaneous daydream, of the sort that encroaches upon your consciousness in those fuzzy moments just after you awake.
Last night, I brought my elder daughter to her fourth sleep study, but the first that I’d seen her to. Sleep apnea runs in the family, and the Missus suspects that I have it, too. One thing is certain, that I haven’t been sleeping well, and I’ve been perpetually tired. Sleep problems could even be a cause of my depression. So Margaret convinced my doctor to recommend a sleep study for me as well. Last night, I got to see what I’m in for this coming Friday. Continue reading “A Programmer’s Empowering Daydream”
Posted in Inspiration, Job-seeking, Software Development, Stories, True Stories | Tagged career, dreams, interviewing, programming, psychology |
By J. Timothy King on July 27, 2009
The beautiful Jessia Hime in a particularly down moment; © 2008 Jessia Hime; CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
I’ve been updating my software-development résumé, trying some different things in hopes of finding a reasonably productive SD gig. Along the way, I think I may rub a few people wrong, but I think it’s for the best. Because it’s the only way I know to ultimately accomplish my goals.
There’s something about the truly great accomplishments in my life that sets them apart from all the others: they were preceded by devastatingly tough times. One such accomplishment, of course, was meeting my wife Margaret. Before that, I dated girls who were bound to cause me heartbreak; I pursued girls that were bound to make me miserable; when I did meet a nice girl who could make me happy, I was sure to sabotage it (or ignore her). I spent 10 years in heartache after heartache, depression after depression.
But as many times as I swore off girls forever, I continued to play the sucker for the next pretty face that came along. Why? Because there’s an instinctive drive, deep in the heart of a man, that compels him to love a woman. Time and again, that drive forced me on and kept me trying again and again, until I found something that worked.
When the answer finally came, it was so simple, I wondered why I hadn’t discovered it before. Continue reading “Hope through Feelings of Hopelessness”
Posted in Books, Entrepreneurship, Inspiration, Love through the Eyes of an Idiot, Software Development | Tagged career, depression, dreams, hope, love, programming |
The Asshole vs. the Nicest Man You’d Ever Want to Meet
By J. Timothy King on July 30, 2009
A very old friend of mine pointed me to this article at the Boston Herald, about Paul Keigan and his story of how the American dream is over.
Long story short: Paul Keigan started out as a Canadian immigrant 48 years ago, with $96 and the American dream. He got into sales at a car dealership, and immediately he started making friends and repeat customers. Then, 20 years ago, he bought a failing dealership in Franklin, which was to become Keigan Chevrolet.
This year, however, GM, in the midst of its own baptism of fire, has pulled the plug. Continue reading “The Asshole vs. the Nicest Man You’d Ever Want to Meet”
Posted in Business, Entrepreneurship, Libertarian, Politics | Tagged commentary, economy, editorial, recession, the American dream | 4 Responses