C James

Welcome Back, Steve!!!!!! Yep, Francois, mercenary though he is, does seem helpful. Yes, indeed, that Mr. Graeme, he of the prickly personality, is evil indeed! Steve.... you last paragraph has me flabbergasted! How could there possibly be cliffhangers? My favorite of the chapters you've just read was Ragnarok. I'd been looking forward to writing it for a long, long time. A nice, relaxing chapter... Welco me back!!

Horst was perhaps not thinking clearly... how could poor Jerry learn to fly with only one arm? I was worried... There had been threats to my safety if another major character died, and one did. It's so sad in a way... no more signs. Thanks! I wanted to be sure I got the ending right. Jerry did sort of manage to talk his way out the door... That one matter will be in the story. And that Mr. Graeme, he of the prickly personality.... Maybe he'll move to Australia and take up Echidna Ranching? :sword: Eric wasn't exactly heartbroken at the prospect of Jerry's, ahhem, departure.... Eric and Brandon's crazy grenade ploy, while a failure, opened the door for the taking of the plane. They still have a lot to deal with.... for one thing, where will they go? BTW, in case there is any doubt; there were no vauge words at the end of the chapter. Jerry did not survive. Near the end of LTMP, he was hit by that bomb, and it said Vladimer exacted a measure of revenge. This time, no gray areas... it says in the text that he died. And BTW, I COULD have had a cliffhanger if I'd cut the chapter earlier... Left Jerry in midair, no parachute. However, as we all know, I never use cliffhangers..

The Scar, though it was only mentioned in passing in LTMP, is straight. What he isn't is homophobic. He had no qualms at all about kissing Dimitri in public in Rome (in the middle of the Piazza Navona) as part of their cover. He was also quite comfortable in his persona as a gay flamer-shipping magnate, when he needed Instinct's shipping to smuggle the bombs. Jerry isn't the nicest of people, but he's not anti-gay. As for Yuri; The Scar wanted him back because he felt he needs him; Yuri was very useful. As a subtext, he wanted Yuri back so Felecia (whom Jerry hates) couldn't have any form of a "victory". Lol... the adsense revenue goes to GA to help defray the bandwidth costs of hosting my site. I have no control (nor does GA) over what they display, and some of the adds have made me chuckle. **************** Okay, now, about the chapter ending... Notice that, if the final paragraph wasn't there, it would be a cliffhanger. HOWEVER, I added the final paragraph to make it a sort of anti-cliffhanger. (Note to The Frog: See? no cliffhangers!) Of course... I'm prone to doing the unexpected.... so I'll mention in thing; why is Felecia grinning? Oh, BTW, the next chapter is entitled "Falling". Also, I should mention that Changing Lanes has 51 chapters and an epilogue. I know that I've been vague about the total number of chapters, but that's because I wasn't sure until it was all done. Now.. as a question... remember Jerry's intention to release Eric unharmed (? He might very well decide to loop back over the airport, nuke it, and then, keeping his word, release Eric unharmed at ten thousand feet, sans parachute...That would make a fitting end for the story in some ways (Remember my certainty that there would be no sequels?) Wouldn';t that make everyone happy as an ending? Eric would be unharmed at the story's end (with just a slight gravitational issue to deal with) Jerry would get his bomb, and all the loose ends would be neatly wrapped up. So, my question is, would this make our resident amphibian happy? It does seem to fulfill all his requirements.

I was hoping to sneak by unnoticed... I am a shy and quiet lurker, after all...

ROFL! Me and my typos. ROFL!! The Frog is quite correct. Stranger, how he can be so right on things like this, and yet be so wrong when it comes to cliffhangers...

Sorry I've been gone so much! I meant to weigh in on the thread far earlier. Sorry. I've been trying to fix my computer, and, for added fun, my dishwasher chose yesterday to explode. Great catch above on the different aspects of Changing Lanes and LTMP. LTMP was more centered on the brothers, while Changing Lanes is more focused on Eric and the changes in his life. BTW, getting the relationship between the brothers was not easy for me... I'm an old child. And BTW, yes, the plural of "mistakes" was a clue. It means there was more than one fatal mistake. There will be more of the comedy angle in coming stories; its just been lacking from Changing Lanes for a few chapters, due to the circumstances they are in. All I can say is... HH5, be sure to read the Changing Lanes epilogue when it posts.

Happy Birthday, oh AMPHIBIOUS ONE!!! :king: Pull up a lily pad and relax, for today is your day!

Sorry I haven't been online much.. I'm still having computer trouble. Well, Hrmmm, should I release the name of the next chapter? It's "Desperate Measures". BTW, Changing Lanes is now complete, except for editing and final changes. The story has 51 chapters and an epilogue. And, I think we can safely say that chapter 47, Fatal Mistakes, was cliffhanger-free. One thing I ought to point out, the final word in the title of chapter 47 is plural (Mistakes). CJ

Sorry, I had computer trouble (still do) that is causing reboots in my primary OS, and that's the only one with HTML editing ability. That's why Chapter 47, Fatal Mistakes, has been delayed. It's up now though.

Viv, thank you for keeping us posted. Steve, words don't suffice to say how brave you've been. I hope you are home and on the mend soon, and I hope your surgery goes well. There will be dark times, and all i can say is, try to keep focused on a goal; getting out and getting home. Take care, my friend. CJ

Happy Birthday!!!

My suggestion: do your homework, no matter what you're looking for. There has been a great deal of controversy over the claimed mileage of hybrids. I don't know the answers, but it's worth looking into. Another factor is operational cost. Once the warranty runs out (Always check to see what the warranty covers and for how long.. it varies from vehicle to vehicle, and also between vehicle subsystems) you've got great deal more complexity and potential expense with a hybrid. The battery pack alone can cost thousands. One of my major dislikes about hybrids is that some continually start and stop the engine. Starting is always hard on an engine, so I have to wonder what that does to engine life. I don't know the answer to that, either, but its definitely something to look into. Lastly; do the math. Estimate what kind of mileage you are likely to drive per year, and how long you plan to keep the vehicle (Check blue book to see how they hold their value). If you're a low-mileage driver, the extra cost of a hybrid probably isn't worth it. If you drive a lot, especially in cities or urban areas, it probably is. All hybrids are not created equal. The Honda Insight, for example, has garnered some nasty reviews. Here's a link to one, and it's worth reading just for the humor. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/jeremy_clarkson/article6294116.ece?token=null&offset=0&page=1 Personally, when it's time for me to go vehicle-shopping again, I'd be willing to look at hybrids, but I doubt I'd be buying one. I'd be buying an SUV (Necessity for me, as i go offroading and on unimproved roads a lot) so a Prius, along with any other car, would be a no-go. There are hybrid SUV's, but from what I've seen of them (and I haven't looked this year) the extra cost and complexity just isn't worth the fuel savings. One big plus for some hybrid SUVs and trucks; the batteries are hooked up to an AC rectifier, which gives you a heavy-duty 110 AC power source; great for a work vehicle or camping. (I have no idea id hybrid cars have this, but it would be a big plus IMHO) Another thing to consider; serviceability; check under the hood to make sure whatever you are looking at is easy to maintain. For example, a friend of mine bought a car that had the battery inside the wheel well, and to change it you had to take the wheel off and be a contortionist in order to get to the lock-down nuts. A real nightmare. Same goes for poorly located oil dipsticks, etc. One last bit of advice; never, ever make a decision to buy in the presence of a salesman. Think it over on your own. If they claim you'll get a better price now than by coming back in twenty minutes, find a different dealership.

Sorry, but any leftover omlettes are now encased in lava, and thus of the extra-crispy variety. Maybe Jerry will invite them aboard his plane for some more home-cooking? True that there is no security at the airport to worry about. The only minor obstacle is The Scar, his henchmen, and the two remaining nukes. What? You don't like Eric being on the FBI's list? but... I was only trying to make him feel wanted. Doublespeak? From poor, innocent me? That route was used when Eric first arrived on the island. The problem is that the volcanic ash is falling there the wind takes it, and the waind is not constantly from the southwest. Sometimes it's from due west, and that carried the ash east, blanketing the area from the southern tip (just north of it) to the airport. That area was hit the hardest. I used the 1976 ashfalls as a guide. The roads there are not quite what they appear on the map. If you use a map-equipped GPS, you'll see that from the resort to the airport takes a half hour less via the tunnel (I have the map set for Europe in my GPS, because I was there a couple of months ago, including on one of the canary islands). The Taxi driver took Eric via the "scenic" route, which is longer, LoL. On a map, it looks easier, but it isn't. I'm basing this on the GPS tomes, and also what a similar appearing road around the west end of Teneriffe, an island about 60 miles away with similar terrain, is like. I drove it, and it took quite some time. Also, once the heavy ash falls began, the road from the southern tip to the airport was closed. The tunnel route keeps you out of the ash until you are much closer to the airport. Bingo. And BTW, now that the nuclear warhead has gone off in the tunnel, no one will be using it anymore. It was asked above where the beach that Brandon and Chase got married on is on the map. It's abotu a mile north of the resort. It's not on this map, but it's called Playa Zamaora.

Neither that logical drive nor that physical drive are a boot drive for any OS. The drive shows as unformatted in one Win2k install, but not the bare-bones one that I checked with (That shows the drive just fine, and accesses the files). What I'm seriously considering doing is going into the other OS, copying the contents of the drive to another physical drive (I've got about half a terabyte of combined HD storage, so no shortage of room) and then letting the OS that wants to format it do so. My backup media seems fine (I did check, but I'm keeping it disconnected for now, just in case this is a virus) but, this way I'd still have two copies. (I've already done the copying). Speaking of Viri... I DL'd the trial of Avast anti-viri and installed it in the other OS. (I mainly use that one for testing software, and as a backup for the primary OS) It found a virus in the root of C: masquerading as an .htm file and the file date was yesterday, the day all this started. I stupidly forgot to write down the virus type. I removed it as part of a full system scan and rebooted, but so far no change to the HD visibility issue, either in the OS that can see it, or the one that can't. No options for "Import media" in windows explorer or any other disk checking program that I have. I don't recall ever seeing that in Win2k. I have a copy of Norton Ghost, but its an old one. I dug around a bit regarding AVG: it looks like I might not have the latest update packs for Win2k. I never allow the automatic updates, and I haven't checked for updates lately, becuase I heard there were no more for 2k as Microsoft had ceased 2k support. THANK YOU very much for replying. I appreciate it.

I've just developed a very perplexing comupter problem; One of my logical hard drives, F, can no longer been seen as formatted by this copy of Windows 2000 However, it's a dual-boot system, and booting into a different copy loads the drive just fine. This copy (my main one) sees Drive F as unformatted. I'm not entirely sure when this occurred, but I had a sudden shut-down (as if the plug had been pulled) earlier today, and noticed it soon after. I also lost some firefox and google toolbar data, and both thought they were new installations. I have a few tools, such as Partition Magic and Norton System Works, but I thought I'd ask for advice before blundering in and trying to fix it. The system is backed up on an external drive (detached, at the moment) so I'm at no risk of data loss, no matter what. What I would prefer to avoid is any OS re-install, as I have tons of installed software and re-installing would take forever. If I do end up doing a re-install, I might install Windows XP instead of 2000 pro, at least on this partition. The "missing" drive is a logical drive. I have five physical hard drives, partitioned into two logical drives per physical one. The other logical drive on that physical drive works just fine. (the are IDE drives, BTW). Second and possibly related question: My AVG anti-virus no longer updates; it stopped a few weeks ago, when a new version came out. It picks up nothing on a scan, but it's not using an updated virus database. It's offering me AVG 8.5, but it won't install, saying it can only work on 2000, XP, and Vista (and I'm on 2000). Anyone know of any other free virus scanners they would recommend?

I don't understand why most states opt in to DST. I very much like not having to reset all the darn clocks twice a year. So many things have clocks in them these days... IMHO, except for perhaps northern states, DST is both useless and a nuisance.

Eric doesn't know that Jim and Linda are dead. That's why he left that sign for them at the resort. You are absolutely right; I should have included a map. The reason I didn't was that, technically, it's a copyright violation. That's why early on I linking, including from some of the chapters, to google maps coordinates. A map would have been far better. I love the one you found, thank you! The tunnel isn't portrayed quite right on that map; it's probably an older map, or just used out of date data. The small tunnel was replaced by the longer, deeper one ( roughly in the same location) in the story about four years ago. The resort is on the coast, near the town of Las Indias, which is on the map. The zig-zag shown on the map between Las Indias and the sea is the one where they saw the rescue convoy coming down. And yes, it was indeed Jerry who saved both Instinct, and the coastline of the entire North Atlantic Basin! I've been hinting at that here in the forum for a while.. By calling Jerry "Poor, Misunderstood Jerry". I used to say that about the character Eric in "For the Love" (not the same Eric as in LTMP or Changing lanes) because, in the end, he saved the day. Fear not, the pool is still.. sort of intact. It's just full of lava. That would be a true disaster for Eric. ROFL!! Okay... now we've seen chapter 46, I can say this; everything required to save Instinct occurred in chapter 45. So, therefor, it cannot be considered a cliffhanger and I think it's time for you to do your froggish duty and Amphibiously Certify Ragnar

ROFL! Yes... that would need a cutting narrative style, I suppose. ROFL!

Hey now, just because you're amphibious is no reason to malign those of us who are not so aquatically inclined. BTW, the reason for this thread (and we do have a volunteer, who can announce himself if he wishes, but I can't without his express okay) who will be helping on the technical side. Helping with what? The next story to appear on my site after Changing Lanes wraps in a few weeks: Circumnavigation. Its an entirely new story, not a sequel to anything, and its in a different style to Changing Lanes. BTW, I will finish Jake first, it's more than half done (It's a short novel by my standards.. about 12 chapters) though my team hasn't seen it yet, but it will initially appear in Premium. I am hopefull that I'll have enough of a backlog of chapters so that my work on Jake won't delay the posting of the start of Circumnavigation, a week after the end of Changing Lanes.

Thank you Eric!!! You're right.. A nuclear blast underground does leave most of the fallout underground, though a little will often leak out (enough for air samples to detect the blast in many cases). It also has a unique seismic signature. As we saw with the blast in Iran earlier in the story, only the secondary reaction in the Uranium Hexeflouride partially masked the siesmic signature there, but it was still discernible as a nuclear event once they knew what to look for. In an earlier chapter, there was an earthquake in Los Angeles. One of the reasons for it was to show that energy release can be measured in kilotons (or megatons, for a big one). That was among the first clues that Cumbre Vieja would be triggered by a nuke (and why I often mentioned Mount Saint Hellens, which had it's major collapse and eruption triggered by a quake). Okay, now that 45 has posted, I can share an issue that I wrestled with since before chapter one, back when I was laying out the overall plot. It was where would Jerry detonate the nuke? At that point, I did not know that the only road tunnel in the world that transects an acive volcano was, oh so conveniently, located on the northern flanks of Cumbre Vieja. (the tunnel, BTW, is quite real). Before I found it, my initial idea was to use one of the famous water tunnels, which I remembered visiting when I was very young. Those are bored into the mountainsides as water sources. I wrongly thought that Cumbre Vieja had some, but then I found out they were only in the north of the island. Ooops. At that point, the only thing I could think of was a geothermal power station (often, the boreholes those use are large, about 18 inches, and a gun-assembly nuke can easily be made that small, though it would have been a stretch for the Iranians to have made one with a narrow diameter for a first-generation weapon). The idea of a geothermal station on the slopes of Cumbre Vieja isn't as far-fetched as it sounds; tere are such station in active volcanic fields in Iceland. One even inadvertently tapped a magma pocket, once. A station was at one time proposed for Cumbre Vieja, so I was thinking of having it in the story, until I blundered on the runnel. I'm glad I did, because the scene were Eric and Jansen on their first date, are driving through with the nukes is one of my favorites.

Goat roasting?!?! ACK! Here I post a nice, calm, relaxing chapter (Ragnar

This is clear proof that other goats should follow my example, and always stay away from high places. King?!?!? But... but... but... I am entirely undeserving of the "King of Cliffhangers" moniker!! Ya'll know I never use cliffhangers.. right?

Steve; hang in there and GET WELL SOON! Thank you for the update. CJ

hey.. how come The Frog gets a defender, and no one sticks up for poor, innocent me when it's BBQ time?

It's cleverly hidden from frogs, in the thread entitled Contest! We could always make an exception in MikeL's case.