Gene Splicer PHD

I think I'm a little outside the bounds of the survey I have a PC that's running server 2008 R2 as a desktop - its windows 7 without all the crap. I also have several virtual machines of various MS operating systems that I use for testing and fixing things (like machine controls and old lab equipment) including Windows 3.11/95/98/2000/XP. My main PC is pretty beefy hardware-wise, its almost server-level. I can run 3 or 4 VMs at a time although it breaks a sweat when I do that. I use Chrome for a browser. I have office 2010 and I use onenote and excel a lot. I have a mac mini running snow leopard and I use that for a lot of testing and some web stuff. And its my Boxee host for streaming Internet stuff to my TV. I have a laptop running Windows 7 that's used for sales-y stuff like presentations/training/demos to customers and accounting. I have several Linux distros on live CDs that I use for repairing PCs and so if a customer has Linux I can work on their stuff. My top ten apps: I use Photoshop and Illustrator for some design work I do, irfanview for thumbnailing graphics, and Snagit for screenshots. I use Camtasia to make training videos, CommitCRM to track my work and bill it, the usual Office apps, Calibre for managing ebooks and itunes for managing music. I also have a really beefy Dell server that I use to host several work-related VMs like web/DB hosting, CRM, and customer system monitoring. I have an ipad that I use for customer demos and reading. But what I use a PC for, aside from work: I read a lot of online fiction, watch movies and TV on it, surf some porn and play games.

Hi CJ, The last time I checked, Circumnavigation readers weren't paying you enough to demand edits. Criticism of what has been written is one thing, and it is how authors improve, but I think there is a difference between honest criticism and complaining, and I don't think you should react to the complainers by changing the story. So my recommendation is that you shouldn't change the story to fit the whims of the audience. Tell the story as written in your brain, if not on paper yet. If you think it needs changes but can't figure out what the changes should be, maybe you should put it on the shelf for a bit. I'd recommend publishing the next chapter, on, say, December 17th. Your only other option is to turn it into a collaborative effort, in which case my contribution (because I will make one) is that I will write a chapter in which - Bridget and Lisa become - Joel runs off with Dirk to start - Atlantis ______________ while under fire and - Trevor and Shane reveal that they are in fact In the meantime, we readers should remember that authors aren't being paid (full stop) to put out the story we want to hear, they're writing the story they want to tell, voluntarily. PS if you want to do this right, shelve the story, but publish a teaser from the next chapter entitled "Everybody Hurts" and cut it off just before you reveal that Signed, Gene Splicer, MVP (new account, long time reader)