Batter Up!

If there is one thing I like about February (other than Ground Hog's Day) it's Spring Training! Why? Because these two things really mean one thing: cold, cold, weather, snow storm after snow storm (I know, I love snow, too - at first!) and the need for several layers of clothing is nearly over. Baseball is the perfect spring sport because it gets me outside; something I need after months being cooped up.

Went to our local team's website today and found that that by purchasing a small season ticket package I'd also get New York Yankees tickets - cool! I love the Yanks almost as much as I love our local boys ... and so does the hubster, so it's a win-win situation.

I Can't Remember!

I finally did something right - I bought a computer that has tons of memory and is still running fast and easy a year after purchase. Because I have articles, research and even manuscripts on my hard drive, I usually use up memory like there is no tomorrow, but the new computer has plenty so I don't have to worry about searching for cheap computer memory at the last minute because I can't save an entire file. My other discovery? The joys of the external hard drive. Love, love, love mine. Seriously. I back up weekly (sometimes daily, depends on the schedule) and don't have to worry about crashes. Plus, that keeps my hard drive cleared for the really big files. Easy fix!

A Publishing Update...

...snagged from Publisher's Lunch ... as you all know, I like to post this little updates because they are great for researching our own books and possible publishers...

The Key
"nice deal" $1 - $49,000, "very nice deal" $50,000 - $99,000, "good deal" $100,000 - $250,000, "significant deal" $251,000 - $499,000, "major deal" $500,000 and up

FICTION

Mystery/Crime
Vikas Swarup's SIX SUSPECTS, from the author of Q&A, the novel that "Slumdog Millionaire" is based on, to Toni Plummer at Thomas Dunne Books.

Alan Bradley's next three Flavia de Luce whodunits, to Kate Miciak at Bantam Dell for Delacorte, by Denise Bukowski at The Bukowski Agency (US).

General/Other
Author of Infidelity and Inside the Crips Ann Pearlman's THE CHRISTMAS COOKIE CLUB, to Emily Bestler and Judith Curr at Atria, and Louise Burke at Pocket.

Isabel Wolff's A VINTAGE AFFAIR, to Kate Miciak at Bantam Dell, at auction, for two books, by Clare Conville at Conville & Walsh (US).

NONFICTION

Advice/Relationships
Star of the VH1 reality show Mystery's THE PICK-UP ARTIST, to Ryan Doherty at Villard, by Marc Gerald at The Agency Group (NA).

Biography
Pulitzer Prize winner David Maraniss's biography of Barack Obama to Alice Mayhew at Simon & Schuster, by Rafe Sagalyn at The Sagalyn Agency (NA).
foreign@sagalyn.com

Business/Investing/Finance
Alice Wood's WEALTH WATCHERS, to Hilary Redmon and Martha Levin at Free Press, at auction, by Stephen Hanselman at LevelFiveMedia (world).

Newsweek writer David Kaplan's THE AGE OF AVARICE to John Mahaney at Crown Business, by Esther Newberg at ICM.

Memoir
Movie producer Robert Evans' THE FAT LADY SANG: The Kid Stays in the Picture II, to Michael Viner at Phoenix, for publication in book and audiobook format in winter 2009 (world).
Rights: Henrietta.Tiefenthaler@phoenixbooksinc.com

Molly Birnbaum's IN SEARCH OF SMELL, to Matt Weiland at Ecco, in a pre-empt, by Anna Stein at the Irene Skolnick Agency (World English).
anna@annastein.com

Religion/Spirituality
John Dominic Crossan's THE GREATEST PRAYER, to Eric Brandt at Harper One, for publication in Winter 2011 and Winter 2012, respectively, in a two-book deal.

Jon Sweeney's THE POPE WHO QUIT: THE BIZARRE LIFE AND MYSTERIOUS DEATH THAT BROUGHT THE MIDDLE AGES TO AN END, to Gary Jansen at Doubleday Religion, by Greg Daniel at Daniel Literary Group (World).

Only Slightly Lost...

One of our favorite places is a little hole-in-the-wall joint in Amish country. Last weekend we decided to go based on our GPS directions - and we got sooo turned around! Last weekend was one of the first not horrid weekends (no snow, sunny skies and our temp was over 25!) so we decided to get out of the house for a bit. All in all it was a fun trip and even getting lost didn't bother me much...just made me a little hungry! I love our GPS, I love that it talks to us but it cracks me up that it took us a good 35 miles out of the way to get to our destination!

Just A Little Redecorating!

So the makeover of the condo has been done for quite a while but I'm still tweaking and fixing little things that bug me. Like the lanai out back. It was old and cracked and ... well, boring! So we dug it out, put down a tile bottom and then added a few new wall fountains. All in all, it's worked well and completely changed how our backyard looks. So much more inviting now! I can't wait until Spring when we can actually enjoy the new lanai on those warm afternoons!

Superbowl Fun-Day!

Just had to report in: it's about 3PM here on the East Coast and the hubster is about 4 hours into the pre-Superbowl programming. I lost track of what exactly is being discussed about 3 hours ago. Why? Because I'd rather watch and enjoy the game and analyze it from every angle for 15 hours beforehand. It did remind me, though, that my Valentine's gift for the hubster hasn't arrived yet. I found some really cool sports gifts; his man-room was in need of a framed picture or two and I got great deals. But if they arrive late.... yeah, I'm off to track those shipments!