colinian

The test nailed me perfectly: Oakland, Fremont, and San Jose. All are in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is where I was born, raised, went to school including high school at Las Lomas (2007) in Walnut Creek which is about 16 miles east of downtown Oakland. I attended the University of California in Berkeley which is 6 milles north of Oakland. I've lived in Berkeley since I started going to school there in 2007, two years in the Foothill dorm, the rest of the time in a house 3 miles from the center of the campus. Colin

I didn't think about that. My next door neighbors get their meds through the mail other than an injectable which comes by FedEx. I can see how parcel post could disappear and be taken over by UPS and FedEx. I don't know if that's a money-maker for the USPS, but if it is their financial picture could become more bleak. Colin

Where I live in Berkeley there are a lot of older people. Many of them can't leave the house without assistance. They would have a big problem if the USPS shut down home delivery. Colin

Doug and I and my brother Chris and his boyfriend Steve live in a small house in Berkeley. We moved here when we started our junior years at UC Berkeley to save money. Every year we "put up" two table-top size decorated artificial trees in our living room and a wreath on the front door. That's it, because we all go home to our respective parent's homes usually the weekend before Christmas and return on the day after New Year's. When we get home we put our two little trees and the wreath away. Colin

A cute story. Teddy bears are good for recovery or just to have and hold when you're lonely and bored. Colin

This is a very cute story with an irritated protagonist and a cutie in Kayla. And poor Bryton; he's being yelled at and it's not his fault. Note to Ayla: "When there are little kids around, assume that you're walking through a minefield. Because you are!" Note to Bryton: "If Ayla only has the TV for entertainment, she's going to be brain dead before the 6 weeks are up. So how come she doesn't have a Kindle or a tablet? Buy her one!" Colin

(This is a slight diversion.) When my little sister was just starting to talk, she used "flutterby" whenever she saw a butterfly. I thing flutterby makes more anatomical sense than butterfly, and it's a cute sounding word, too. Colin

I'm the webmaster for Codey's World. We censor stories. We have a submission policy that is clear yet ambiguous enough so it lets us make decisions that push the edges of the policy both to make it less inclusive and more inclusive — mores change over time. Our submission policy is censorship: Our submission policy is simple: No gratuitous or graphic sex, drug usage, or violence, and no Fan Fiction. Almost anything else is acceptable. Who's the judge? We prefer authors to self-censor what they submit to Codey's World. Otherwise, there are several of us who review unsolicited manuscripts and make the decision if a story is accepted or declined. Why do we have a submission policy that censors what we allow on the site? It's because we have a lot of young teens who visit the site, and we cater to that audience. And it's the policy that Codey established when he started the site. Nothing graphic. Talk about two guys having sex but keep it off-stage and watch your language and how you're describing what's going on off-stage. Too steamy for Codey's World? Submit it to our parent site, AwesomeDude, or to GA or Nifty or someplace else. Colin

11:43 p.m. on Sunday October 12, 2013. I'm signed on to GA reading the latest forum posts. Then I'll get back to a story I'm writing. Colin

It's 12:56 a.m. and I'm avoiding working on a story I need to finish. Colin

Hey, Ieshwar, Happy Birthday! I'm glad to see you're still older than me. Almost exactly two months by my reckoning. So, how's it going, old man? Colin

Here are (somewhat belated) Happy Birthday greetings, Cia! I hope it was a great one and that you had a fun time. Colin

Cross Country Skiing. I have a great set of skis and accessories. We live close enough to the Sierra Nevada to go up whenever the conditions are good and we have the time during the winter. Colin

Are You Scared Yet is also posted on AwesomeDude (http://awesomedude.com/jjjanicki/). Colin

I always single space following a period (full stop). I always use the Oxford comma. Colin

I've always used option 1 (publish chapters immediately after writing them). I've learned my lesson, and I will from now on I'll finish a serial novel, sent the entire novel through a review and editing pass, and then begin publishing chapters. That way I'll be able to maintain a fixed schedule and I'll never be scrambling to finish a chapter or be late (excepting things like my internet connection not connecting, etc.). Colin

Another trick when you're reading a story out loud is to expand contractions. It's becomes it is, can't becomes can not, etc. That will slow you down and encourage you to read more slowly and carefully. Colin

Meh! Trevor will wake up in a hospital bed with Shane sitting next to him the entire time he was in a coma. The entire sequence from Australia to Hurricane Dean was a coma-induced dream. Why is Trevor in a hospital in a coma? That's for the goat to tell us in the last chapter. Colin

Finn, you're in California. UC Berkeley bundles Architecture under the College of Environmental Design and offers BA, MA, MS, and PhD degrees. Take a look at the department website at http://ced.berkeley.edu/academics/architecture/. Click on Programs then Bachelor of Arts and look at this page. Especially look at the Accreditation and Licensure section at the bottom of the page; it tells why UC Berkeley is an outstanding choice for a degree in Architecture. You say that you're not a people person. If you really aren't a people person then get some counseling to help solve that problem. Why? Look at the picture on the BA page. See all the students working together? That's a major part of working toward a degree in Architecture, working on a wide variety of projects with other students and being able to communicate with them and take a leadership role. During your undergraduate years you'll want to have an internship at an architectural or environmental design firm, working with staff at that firm. You'll need to apply for that internship position, and to convince them that they should take you on. Architecture includes being able to market yourself. That takes people skills and the ability to demonstrate that you're a people person. Download the Architecture Major Handbook (the first link below the picture on the BA page). Look at prerequisites and the lower and upper division course requirements. To be successful in Architecture, and not end up as someone who draws and edits someone else's designs on a computer all day, means getting a Master's Degree. If you're going to be considered for a position in a firm that has major construction projects that means a Master of Science degree. When you have a good understanding about the Architecture program at UC Berkeley, contact Undergraduate Advising at (510) 642-4943 and talk to them. Ask to schedule a meeting with a professor or an instructor on the staff (not a TA) and take a trip to Berkeley and talk about your goals and what you'll need to do to be admitted to the Architecture program, and what you need to do to graduate with the degree you need to be successful. Based on your estimate of your family income I think you'll be able to get financial aid that could pay most of your fees and other expenses, though I don't know if the aid includes dorm and meal plan costs. While you're visiting go to the Financial Aid office and talk to them. That means you'll need current family income so they can evaluate your needs. Whatever you decide, good luck. Colin

When I'm stressed, which doesn't happen very often but when it does it's almost always school-related, I go on a hike (4 to 6 hours) or a long walk (my favorite walk is 15 miles round trip). I feel a lot better when I get home. Colin

I'm not clueless (like Rustle is). I'm just flat-out wrong most of the time. Now, if two guys are walking down the street or across campus and I see them holding hands, well, that's a clue that even I can't ignore. Or if they're wearing rainbow T's. But two guys just walking along together? If I'm asked to guess you're probably better off picking the opposite of what I say. Colin

I just went to Amazon and clicked on Subject 19 and the only things in the "Click to LOOK INSIDE" is the cover. There's no way to scroll down. When I click the button at the left labeled "Send sample now" the 13 page preview is downloaded to my Kindle app. I don't have time to screw around with sample downloads to decide if I want to buy a book. If there's a paperback I can select that and the "Click to LOOK INSIDE" has the sample, then reselect the Kindle version to buy the book. Amazon should make it as easy as possible to decide to buy a book, and the "Click to LOOK INSIDE" samples have been important for me and others I know who read using Kindles or Kindle apps. Colin

Have you noticed that Amazon has started dropping previews of Kindle books and when you "Click to LOOK INSIDE" you get a larger version of the book cover? If the book has a paperback version you can switch to that to read the preview. Or you can click a button at the left of the preview windows to "Send sample now" -- click on Tood's title Subject 19 above and you can see an example of what I'm describing. Anyone have an idea about what and why Amazon is doing here? Colin

Come on James, you shouldn't disrespect buttholes. Colin

I upgraded my i3 non-touch-screen Win7 laptop to Win 8 and added Stardock's Star8 add-in for the Start button. I did some tests to see how much slower/faster Win8 is vs Win7. I found Win8 faster for everything I tried (note: this wasn't a comprehensive test). One of the most impressive improvements is restarting after using Hibernate to shut down; it takes less than half as much time. I start up in the 'Modern' interface (ugh! what a stupid name, IMO -- what was wrong with 'Metro'?) Start screen where I have some tiles that show the weather and stock market info, sort of like widgets. Then I do most of my work in desktop mode. All of my software and drivers work except the Win8 version of the Kindle app (it has a major bug that limits the total size of downloaded books; it will be fixed Real Soon Now they say) but the Win7 version installed on the desktop works great as does the Cloud Reader, where by design the Win8 version only works on the Start screen. I'm happy with Win8. I'll upgrade my desktop PCs when I'm finished with grad school after this semester (like my granddad says, "Don't tempt fate, she'll bite you in the ass"). Colin