The Approach of April and the Blogging From A to Z April Challenge 2012

So, if you've been following my blog lately, you may notice a new widget thingy to the left which is called Blogging From A to Z Challenge. What is it, you may be asking yourself?

From the sponsoring website, Blogging From A to Z April Challenge 2012, comes the following explanation:

"Can you post every day except Sundays during this month?  And to up the bar, can you blog thematically from A to Z?
 
       Most of the time if you subtract Sundays from April, you then have 26 days--one day for each letter of the alphabet.  When April 1st lands on a Sunday you begin on that day which will be the only Sunday you would post during that month's challenge.

        Using this premise, you would start beginning April First with a topic themed on something with the letterA, then on April second another topic with the letter B as the theme, and so on until you finish on April thirtieth with the theme based on the letter Z.  It doesn't even have to be a word--it can be a proper noun, the letter used as a symbol, or the letter itself.  The theme of the day is the letter scheduled for that day."

In other words, the goal is to write a blog every day, except Sundays (with the exception of this Sunday, April 1st) and do so using the letters of the alphabet in order for the title/theme of your blog. The madness of this challenge is compared to Nanowrimo, which I have participated in the last 3 years and have won it all 3 years. 


Blogging is my weakness as I often find it difficult to find something worth writing about that people would care enough to read about. I had tried to do this at the first of the year with the Writing Madness of Oz blog posts, but Life conspired against me and I found myself blogging very sporadically.

Now, I'll have another go at it and try this challenge. I've been planning my blog posts with a calendar and such and we shall see how well I do.

The Writing Madness of Oz meets Old Man Winter!

So I see where it's been a month since my last posting. Let's just say it's been an interesting month. We spent a week offline thanks to weather and it's effect on our equipment. Oddly enough, I never missed the Internet Machine once during that week.

The Writing Madness of Oz has continued unabated and The Ozian Adventure of Pickleless & Blu is now 22 chapters done and only a few left to complete this unique tale. I thought it was going in one direction when the story veered off into a whole new direction. You gotta love how Oz does that!

I've also been having some wierd dreams ever since I got the bone. Strange dreams of entrapment, being chased and always a knife somewhere, though it never hurts me! I wonder what it all means?

School is doing well and I plan on making a cloud in the lobby of Neil Hall on campus as part of my class on Weather & Climate.

My wife has been counting down the days until Oz-Stravaganza! 2012 in Chittenango, New York. It's stands at 77 days as of today. She really looks forward to this fine festival... as do I. For us, it's our yearly vacation and we never fail to have a wonderful time. This year looks to be no different, though I look forward to a special gathering with some wonderful people who have helped me greatly in my healing process related to Justice for Heavenlee!

Overall, it's been a mild winter and our heating bills have been mercifully low. Lots of stuff here and there going on and next week, a great concert here in town should prove to be a good time. Life is good!!!

James C. Wallace II
Royal Liaison to Princess Ozma

The Writing Madness of Oz rolls on and I Find something Most Unusual!

So the last few weeks have been filled with writing, teaching and attending auctions. In other words, business as usual... with one exception.

Yes, that is a human bone and no, that's not blood on it. This was another one of my unique finds at the auction barn. Turns out it's a teaching aid and the red markings are locations marked out for muscles. There are also blue marks where tendons attach. My wife freaked out when I handed it to her. Turns out she ain't big on handling human remains. Go figure?

The writing madness of Oz has also gone on very well. 17 chapters are now complete and our heroes have made it back into The Bright and now look to save the day for one very special rainbow. I wonder where Polychrome is?

James C. Wallace II
Royal Liaison to Princess Ozma

Consumer Alert! Pizza Hut Refuses Customer Order!

I had a very unpleasant experience this evening with our local Pizza Hut restaurant, which is located at 3040 Wabash Avenue in Terre Haute, Indiana.

I had called the store at 9:54pm to order 2 large specialty pizzas. When the lady answered the phone, she answered politely enough and asked how she could help me. I proceeded to order and was told that they would be unable to fulfill my order. I asked why and was told that it was too close to closing time. I reminded her that it was not yet closing time and asked if she was refusing my order. She hesitated and explained that their ovens were turned off. I asked once more if she was refusing my order and she said that she was. As a customer with money to spend, I expect a store to remain open and ovens on until closing time, not 6 minutes beforehand. Having worked at many a pizza place in my youth (I met my wife of 28 years while we both worked at Showbiz Pizza Place), I know how the business works. While we may not have liked it when someone would come in near closing time, we always accommodated any order up to and including closing time.
I called another store here in town and they were happy to take my order and expressed surprise at my experience with the other store as they thought the other store closed at 11pm, like they did.

I am very displeased and will no longer do business with that particular store.

I would suggest to anyone reading this that you consider refraining from doing business with the Pizza Hut store at 3040 Wabash Avenue in Terre Haute, Indiana.

I know I will.

James C. Wallace II

Hard Times in Oz!

It's been a rough week as I watch a parent grow old and feeble. My hope for full recovery is now in view and I expect the old broad to outlive us all!!!

Still I write and have been for some weeks now. I'm 15 chapters in and another 10 to go. I'm just not blogging what with all the this and that... and even some of the other.

Pickleless & Blu have hopped a train and are escaping in plain view.

I'm reminded of a book I received as a gift some months ago. Scarecrow and the Tin Man have escaped as well from the theater and gone on a crime spree.

I think Pickleless & Blu are immune from prosecution.

And now for some Radium!

James C. Wallace II