C-Dawg's New Writeups

Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me (fiction)

2008-07-20T23:25:49Z

Another item slowly materialized in the inbox, but unlike the others that he'd been ignoring for most of the morning, which were just smoking a bit around the edges, this one was glowing a dull ochre. He had just almost been about to get up and go to lunch; could he ignore it? With a sigh, he decided not; Hell hath no fury like his secretary when he didn't follow protocol. She was probably already monitoring how long it had been sitting there.

Pushing aside the thoughts of incubus flambé which had been tempting him, he willed the contents of the new arrival into his mind, and it faded away with a slight hint of crackling. It was a report from the Universal Surveillance Bureau. "El HaShamayim has started a new race and seems to be taking particular interest in it. Recommend continued higher level of surveillance; eventual action may be required." A small snort that he didn't feel the need to try to control escaped, accompanied by the barest wisp of…

Rank Has Its Privileges (idea)

2008-05-31T03:12:30Z

This is a saying that, while obviously true in its literal sense — the Captain does have a nicer room than the yeoman — is used to indicate the speaker's resigned dismay at his superior's extra-official benefits. It is particularly appropriate when the higher-up gets away with unseemly/non-regulation/illegal behavior that other people would not.

Officially, the Captain has the nicest room. Unofficially, you get to carry his bag if you happen to be loitering at the foot of the gangplank when he's ready to come aboard.

Of course, RHIP is not restricted to military situations.

Officially, the President of the United States has his own limousine to drive him around. Unofficially, you'd better get out of the street and relinquish your parking spot to him.

And, it's true in the private sector as well.

"How many times have I told you not to drink from from the milk carton?"
"But you do it all the time!"
"I'm the mommy. Now go to your room."

August 21, 2007 (log)

2007-08-21T05:24:28Z

Well, it's been a topsy-turvy couple of months.

Firstly, where for the last two and a half years I've worked for AdECN, I now work for AdECN, a Microsoft™ company. That process started out with the employees being told that negotiations to sell the company were under way, but not with whom (though there had been a few contenders). Then, when things had progressed to the point where there was intent on both sides and i's and t's were being dredged up from the muck for dotting and crossing, it was stated that the company would stay in the Santa Barbara area, likely even in the same quarters, should the deal go through. Weeks later, that was changed to the company would be moved to Washington. With the parties converging on total agreement, some of us were even taken to the Seattle area to check it out, see where we might want to live, meet with folks, etc. Then shortly after that, it changed back to staying here and the deal was swiftly closed. One…

Cream of Spinach Soup (recipe)

2007-08-05T07:28:18Z

Do you remember the nascence of your first love affair? Or any of them, for that matter?

My love affair with cream of spinach soup began approximately twenty five years ago. I don't remember the month or the day, or even the year exactly; I do remember that my friend Marlene was there, and that it happened at the Rue de Paris restaurant in San Jose. On North 1st Street, in San Jose, in fact.

She had wanted to take me to a ritzy restaurant for some reason, now lost to the decay of memory, and that was one of her favorites. I remember nothing else of what was had that evening, but I remember the cream of spinach soup. Looking to the only context I had to compare it, I was sure that Campbell's made nothing like it.

On occasion, I liked to cook for Marlene. And when I cook for someone, it's usually experimental. (One I'll always remember was the whole head of cauliflower, marinated and baked.…

The Marriage Machine (fiction)

2007-07-02T01:13:52Z

"Phone — call Jack."

I'd probably get a ribbing from my best friend, who has been saying for years that I was unmarryable. I don't mind. If your high school sweetheart doesn't turn out to be your lifelong love (and, let's face it, in most cases they shouldn't), I see no reason to just jump in with both feet with the first person you meet after graduation. I'm no better at solving the (gotta take time to know each other well)/(shouldn't spend too much time on the wrong person) dilemma than anyone else; add to that, my mostly solitary lifestyle doesn't cause me to convert strangers at even the average rate, and you get that I've not gone through a lot of potentials in my thirty two years. But now I think I may well have found her.

The house phone bonged in that incredible way that phones have: barely audible, a sound not like any other in the…

Animals in War memorial (poetry)

2007-05-23T21:57:28Z

In the night, the soldiers lay
Reading maps as if by day.
Forgetting the help from conscripted worms,
The soldiers charge and top the berms.