For a change, living in New Jersey is a good thing.

SWEEEEEEET.

Came home from work today to discover the new IN FLAMES CD, Come Clarity, waiting for me. I’d ordered some special limited edition “fan pack” which included some other stuff besides the CD, like a Come Clarity T-shirt and a DVD with a couple videos on it. The fan pack also came with a In Flames patch and a big giant In Flames coaster. Oh wait, it’s not a coaster, it’s a 2-song vinyl EP! Cool! Uh, what the hell am I supposed to do with it?

But anyway, the reason this means living in New Jersey is a good thing is that the official release date for the CD is Feb. 7 in the US, yet here I am holding it in my hands today, the 2nd. The record label, Ferret Music, is located in NJ, so I suspect that’s why I got it so damn fast. Also, because I got an email yesterday saying that my order was on the way, and that the date of receipt would depend on how far away I live from New Jersey.

Another reason to be totally geeked out: a sticker on the wrapping of the CD case promises that Come Clarity is In Flames’s “heaviest and most creatively aggressive outing in years!” which is of course good news. Their last album, while good, leaned a bit toward the wussy side. Glad to hear they’re getting back to the hard stuff.

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Contest: Name That Column

Some good news to report: in addition to my book review column for Intergalactic Medicine Show, I’ll now also be writing an occasional DVD review column.

Now, I didn’t post that just to gloat.  I need your help.  The column needs a snappy title, and I can’t seem to think of anything.  So, a contest!

The rules are simple:

  1. come up with a snappy name for the column
  2. enter as many times as you like
  3. have all entries in by Feb. 15
  4. your entries should keep in mind the “medicine show” concept of the magazine (i.e., my book column is called “Strong Medicine: Books That Cure What Ails You”)
  5. post entries to the comment thread of this post

If someone comes up with a column title that I like and decide to use, I’ll send you, as a prize, some review books that I either have multiple copies of, have read already and don’t want to keep, or have no interest in reading.  Once I select the winner, I’ll let the winner know what books he or she has to choose from. 

Sound good?  Okay, get started!

 

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January 2006 Acquisitions

This month we have new SF from Steven Popkes; a humorous burglar tale from Charles Coleman Finlay; an astonishingly good witch story from M. Rickert (that’s sure to end up on everyone’s best of the year lists); a dumbed-down story from Robert Reed; a tale of religious cartography from Christopher Rowe; a punny body-swapping tale from Robert Loy; a new Imago Bone and Persimmon Gaunt tale from Chris Willrich; a new dark fantasy from Alex Irvine; and the second sale by former Slush Survivor Matthew Corradi.

All this PLUS two, count ’em TWO new slush survivors this month: Kenneth Altabef and Jerry Seeger.

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GroupMind Query: Excel

Okay, so I’m trying to do something in an Excel spreadsheet that seems like it should be really easy, but I can’t figure out how to do it.  

I’m using the spreadsheet in question to keep track of my workout routine (weight, sets, reps, etc.).  In column A of the spreadsheet, I have the names of the exercises.  In the other columns, I have the weight, sets, and reps data.  What I want to do is lock column A, so that when I fill up my columns with data and I have to scroll to the right to see blank columns, column A will still stay on the screen (instead of being scrolled away with the data).  So I guess you could call it setting a false margin or something like that.  I can’t figure out how to do it, and I can’t figure out how to ask Excel how to do it.  Can anyone help?

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The New Printer in My Life

I just got myself a fancy new (well, it’s used, but it’s new to me) printer!  A friend of mine hooked me up with a HP LaserJet 2200d, which is a $500 printer, but I got it for just $85.  The company she works for was liquidating printers that have gone off lease, and so employees are allowed to buy them.  All indications are that this printer should totally kick ass, and printers like this one are built to last.  Plus, friend says that this printer probably wasn’t used and abused very much–the department it was in wouldn’t have been printing out reams and reams of documents as some other departments do.  

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