threadwalker

Official release day today. Here's the universal book link page: https://books2read.com/b/31zplW

I'm still working on getting more links added. The page was being picky about me adding links manually the last time I tried, so I guessed it might be an issue with the book not being live yet and decided to wait to try again. But it's released through Draft2Digital and has a paperback through Ingram, so it should be available through all the standard outlets.

It's funny: My first two commercial self-publishing projects have both been ones where I'm not counting on actual commercial success. Skin-Singer both because story collections are tricky and because the majority of the contents are previously published. The Theory of Related-ivity because it's an extremely niche interest. This takes a lot of pressure off worrying about how well they'll sell, but it also means I don't have a good metric for what to expect with an actual first-release novel. (We're a long way away from anything like that happening, because the top priority for novels is the next Alpennia book, which I assume will be a Bella release.)

When I was first working on Related-ivity, I wasn't necessarily thinking about publishing it as a book, just as the blog series. But as it got longer, as the footnotes became a more significant part of it, and as I thought about how ephemeral attention to blogs are, I pretty much thought "why not?" Also, since D2D now has an annual threshold requirement for income to avoid the "maintenance fee" they added (to fight AI publications), every little bit of income helps. I didn't make the threshold this year, but maybe next year? I really need to promote Skin-Singer more online. It sells well at in-person events but I'm really bad about doing online promotions.

When I'm doing the PT sessions with my Medieval Torture Devices, it's absolutely essential that I be able to distract myself with tv, so I've been finding new shows to binge that have episodes in the 30-60 minute range. (The total PT takes about 90 minutes. I don't want to get involved in a movie, but I'm ok with hanging out to watch the end of an episode.)

I'm currently subscribed to BritBox which has been offering up some fun mystery series. My latest binge was "Hamish MacBeth" which had a delightful blend of humor, light fantasy (in the "could be coincidence" vein) and the occasional tear-jerker.

Currently I'm watching a show on Apple TV that isn't in my usual wheelhouse, but has the hope of being angry-satisfying (in a "fantasy of justice" sort of way) as well as having a complex time-braided storyline of a sort that I find fun to watch. "Bad Sisters" could easily be triggering to some, because it focuses on a group of sisters trying to dispose of an extremely toxic, emotionally abusive, manipulative brother-in-law. It's comedy, while also being an uncannily solid portrait of a particular type of personality. The type you want to punch repeatedly in the face. Or maybe murder. Which is the point of the show. In the process there are comedic hijinks, hilarious screw-ups, and the sort of embarrassment you get when everyone has personal secrets and will do almost anything to avoid having honest heart-to-heart conversations with their nearest and dearest. It's a very weird show. There aren't really good guys but there's one very very bad guy, and since the show opens at his funeral it's easier to make it through all the awful things he does in the flashbacks.

Getting my new internet equipment set up was both simpler and more annoying than expected. Here's a brief tour.

Equipment showed up late Monday

Decided to do my usual bike/coffee-shop routine (flanked by PT) so it was late afternoon before I began the set-up process. Per instructions, downloaded the "smart home" app and logged in to my ATT account.

The set-up instructions claim the app will provide you an "install equipment" button which will then lead you through the process. The "install equipment" button briefly flashes on screen as the app automatically logs you in and then is no longer visible or accessible. A search through every menu in the app fails to find any other method of getting the set-up instructions.

I called the "dedicated help line for ATT Internet Air" that was provided to me on my service call a week ago. The number is no longer in service and re-directs to the regular service phone number. That number offers a call-back appointment the next day. I hang up.

Now we're up to today. First thing, I called the ATT service number. "Call volume is unusually high, but we can give you a call-back in 15 minutes." OK. I have my phone and headset standing by. The call-back appears on my Apple Watch and I hit "accept". I can hear the ATT agent talking but evidently she can't hear me through the watch. She hangs up. I call service once more at they project a 10 minute wait time. I stay on the line this time.

I manage to short-circuit being told to do the set-up things that I already know won't work and describe my process history to the agent. He says, "Oh, it's just plug-and-play, there's no special process." Evidently the special installation instructions which have to do with verifying the optimal location in your house for the device are mostly unnecessary. We stay on the line while I plug in the device and verify that it's worki...oops. Got a signal then lost it. Reboot.

This time I got as far as logging in to the network on my laptop. Worked fine for about 5 minutes, then as we were moving on to the "register your device" step, the connection was lost again. Reset. No further drop-outs. Started the process to register my device (so it shows up in my ATT account) but -- as I eventually figured out -- every step in the online process has a lag time of about half a minute from pushing a button to getting to the next screen. By the time I figured this out and completed the process, I had let the agent go (after almost an hour on line). Did finally manage to register my device.

The next step is to change the new device's name and password to the ones I'd used for my old device. This will enable all my connected devices to switch over without the need for a new log-in. This actually worked as promised. Yay.

I still haven't placed my new device in its final location. At the moment it's standing in front of my tv, which is suboptimal. The instructions suggest that being behind an appliance can interfere with the signal, but I may try that anyway, since there's plenty of room behind the tv.

I have a different idea for a final state. My media center is an electronics cabinet with the big screen tv on top of it, flanked by two tall IKEA cabinets. I've been thinking for some time about using the space above the tv by installing a shelf between the cabinets. One thought has been to move my book "brag shelf" there, rather than being on the mantle over the fireplace. It would also be an optimal location for the internet device. Today I went off window-shopping for a shelf solution that would fit the space. There's room for a 24x48" shelf above the tv. (I wouldn't want one that doesn't go the full depth because that would ensure that things would fall off the back side.) But I'm not excited about supporting it with brackets that screw into the sides of the standing cabinets. I don't know how well they'd stand up to it. What I envision would be some sort of support structure shaped like this:

__ __
| |
|________|

that would rest on top of the tall cabinets (so I don't have to drill holes in them) with the shelf sitting on top of it. But this feels like it would involve metal fabrication. Alternately, perhaps a structure with horizontal beams across the top of the cabinets and three U shaped supports coming down from it. Like this;
_________________
| | |
|_____|_____|

Maybe I could do some nice woodwork on the visible side. Make use of all those power tools I have lying around. But as I was window-shopping possibilities, it occurred to me that I don't want to start any of this until I have full use of my hands again. So there's plenty of time to do more design work.