Archive for the ‘General’ Category
Posted on July 15, 2010 - by Nicole Humphrey Cook
I Write Like…
I tried the new site that everyone is tweeting about “I Write Like…” because I was curious. I was shocked at my result for one of my completed manuscripts. After pasting a portion of the first chapter, I was surprised to see this:
So after I checked that out, I pasted a blog post in, and got this one:
So, after seeing these two results, it makes me wonder what the algorithm is that is used to determine these results. I just wish I knew what it was. At any rate, if there was any truth to either of these, I would be a very proud writer, because they are both amazing and gifted. The Stephen King one scares me a little because I don’t think my mind is as demented as his :p
Analyze your writing and let me know what you get!
Popularity: 9% [?]
Posted on July 12, 2010 - by Nicole Humphrey Cook
My 13 Year old is at College!
We dropped our middle daughter off this weekend for a three week visit at a college. It is a program called the Joseph Baldwin Academy, and is an exceptional program. I am really excited for her, but oh my goodness, I miss her like crazy.
You can learn more about the program here, but the gist of the program is this: The Joseph Baldwin Academy offers highly talented students a head start on their future university careers by allowing them to spend three weeks as college freshmen: they move into a residence hall, adapt to living with a roommate, eat dorm food, make new friends, attend a college level class, and work with Truman State’s faculty.
It was actually really awesome to see everything, and to be on a college campus, set up her dorm room, eat lunch with her before we left in the college cafeteria (which I swear resembles a restaurant) and learn about her class.
She is taking a writing course. Yes, I am proud. She is hoping to get selected again next year also – next year she wants to take a Psychology course. This kid is definitely going places.
Anyway, I’m just trying to hang on by a thread. She’s gone for three weeks, and I am dying and we are less than 48 hours into this. Trying to distract myself with anything I can, but its not as easy as I thought it would be.
She did call Saturday night and talk to us for a bit, so that was comforting (plus she sounded great which made it SO much easier!) She’s making friends, having fun with her roommate, her dorm buddies and a few other friends from her district that got into the program also. So I know she is having a blast, I just feel like a mother bird does, when one leaves the next.
Interesting (but very true) conversation my husband and I had.
Me: Well, I suppose we have to let her have wings to fly. I know that’s what we have to do as good parents.
Mike: Not at 13 we’re not supposed to!
LOL I think I feel his pain.
It’s so quiet around here without her, and the other kids have no idea what to do with themselves. Brie and I have been down in my scrapbook room cranking out cards to send her so she gets mail nearly everyday. It’s kept us busy, but it’s not enough.
If I am quieter than usual. That is why.
Popularity: 6% [?]
Posted on June 21, 2010 - by Nicole Humphrey Cook
Texting a Novel
With all the time I’ve spent with Mike in the hospital last week and then doctors visits, and I’m sure plenty more in the upcoming weeks – I actually started a new novel (well, two) that I am “texting”.
I’m actually just writing them between my blackberry and my iPhone and I am only working on them when I am not at home. Why? I’m not sure why, except that I was inspired one day while sitting in the hospital waiting room and I had nothing to write on but my iPhone. I thought it would be fun to start a novel I was only working on while ‘on the go’. My current WIP is giving me fits, and I haven’t exactly written myself in a hole yet, but I am getting close. If inspiration doesn’t grab hold quickly, I might just give up on it. So yes, I am “texting a novel” – sort-of.
I think the iPhone is easier to use, so I’ve been using that one mostly. On my blackberry the keys are too small and my nails are too long and I really AM having to text the novel to myself. On the iPhone, I have great apps that make writing easier and it auto-corrects better than the blackberry does. Have you had the same experience, either with an iPhone or iPod?
I’m compiling a list of my favorite apps for writers for the iPhone or iPod, and am in the process of playing with a friends iPad to determine which ones I like best for that too. Expect those in the next few days or so.
Oh, and for anyone who has the iPad – do I need one? I don’t think I do, because for on the go writing, I already have both an iPod and an iPhone – plus a mini-laptop which fits into my purse nicely. Yes, my purse is fairly large.
I just cannot justify spending that much money on a giant iPod when I already have one – plus a phone, and my mini-laptop is still my fave for ‘on the go’ writing.
Thoughts?
Popularity: 3% [?]
Posted on June 20, 2010 - by Nicole Humphrey Cook
The Truth About Book Signings – (funny, but true)
This is pretty funny, but its terribly true.
It’s kind-of sad, isn’t it?
Popularity: 4% [?]
Posted on June 15, 2010 - by Nicole Humphrey Cook
Quick Update on Mike
If you want the full story, please see the previous post. If you already know what is going on, here is a quick update.
I am so incredibly exhausted, so I am heading to bed with no computer time. He is supposed to be coming home tomorrow, so keep your fingers crossed, that it happens. He is still flat on his back from the stent procedure today, but he’s in much better spirits and attempted a smirk when I asked him to smile.
Thank you guys so much for your support, thoughts and prayers. I feel them. We all feel them. Thank you.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Posted on June 15, 2010 - by Nicole Humphrey Cook
Hearts are Precious…
My life has been such a whirlwind the past three days. I thought instead of trying to explain everything via twitter, and then again via facebook, I would just post the whole story here and let others read it.
Sunday night, Mike decided to pick up an extra shift, so off to work he went. At 10:33pm, I got a phone call from his work. I thought it was him, but when I said “Hello.” I heard, “I am looking for Mike’s wife.”. I knew immediately something was wrong. Why would work be calling me that late unless something was wrong. For an instant I thought about how that day marked the one month anniversary of our wedding. I know God never gives us more than we can handle, but could he have waited a little longer?
The supervisor explained that Mike had been having chest pains, they had called him an ambulance and he was en route to the hospital. I was trying to hold it together and not react, because of the kids. Mike has been having health issues for several months now, but nothing this serious, and a week ago this past Friday, a check up gave him a clean bill of health.
After calling my parents for help, I got kids off to bed, with the exception of Vanessa who I brought with me for moral support, and so she wouldn’t sit at home worrying. Thankfully it took us a few minutes to get out the door, because less than 5 minutes later Mike called from the back of the ambulance. He sounded good, but when he said “I’m fine”, I asked him if he was at the hospital yet. Nope. “Then you’re in the back of an ambulance, and people who call from the back of an ambulance are not typically FINE. I’m on my way.” Sorry, but I was SOOOO relieved to hear from him.
When we got there, we met his ER doctor, and they took him for an XRAY. He didn’t look great, oxygen tube, more heart monitor leads than I had EVER seen before in my life, an IV, shot in the stomach…. it wasn’t looking great. The one thing I can say about Mike, is that in a crisis he keeps such a sense of humor about everything.
They decided after hearing that he had needed two sprays of Nitro in the ambulance before the chest pains had ceased, that they should keep him overnight for monitoring. We got him in his room, settled and Vanessa and I went home to sleep at 3 in the morning.
All day Monday consisted of tests. A lot of tests. We didn’t seem him for nearly 8 hours.
So, first the good news:
EKG looked good.
All blood work came back good.
Initial Dye/Contrast X-ray looked good.
Then they took him for a stress test. Not his favorite thing to do, but he had to do a similar one about 2 months ago, so he was prepared. He passed that one.
He failed this one. He told me he “should have studied harder, I failed it.” (see… the ever present sense of humor)
Then they retested with the Dye/Contrast X-ray. He failed that too.
Turns out, there are some circulation issues on the front part of his heart. They were only looking at the veins, it was too risky to check out the arteries at this point. Why? Because they found enough damage to indicate that he has suffered a heart attack within the past 3 months.
Wait, what?
Yeah. Pick your jaw up. I couldn’t believe it either. He has been walking around for 3 months after having a heart attack. Sure, because that’s normal. And can I just tell you how incredibly angry I am that his original cardiologist missed this? And that nobody has done anything?
Today they put a stent in. When they did the Cardiac Catheterization they discovered two blockage points. One that is 80% blocked and one that is 50% blocked. The interesting (and infuriating) part of this, is that he had a Cardiac Catheterization a month and a half ago – they found one partial blockage at 40-50% that they opted to do “nothing” with except have him take medicine for. These were not done by the same doctors or the same hospital. It shows who the better hospital is also.
So they put the stent into the location that had the 80% blockage. The one that is at 50% blockage is in a dangerous area that runs the risk of a possible heart attack, so at this time, they will treat it with monitoring and medicine.
So that is where we are at right now. I will update here as needed. He is expected to be coming home tomorrow but will be “down” for a few days. Please continue to keep him in your prayers and that there are no further complications. I feel all the prayer surrounding us. I feel truly blessed that he is with us today and that God has a greater purpose for him.
Thanks for everything you guys!!
Popularity: 7% [?]
Posted on June 13, 2010 - by Nicole Humphrey Cook
The Epic Twitter UnFollow Saga
Yeah. So I didn’t know what else to title this post besides “WTF” which is pretty much not appropriate.
First, let me preface this by saying that I absolutely don’t care about this situation other than to simply find the humor in the whole thing. Second, if you are offended by foul language, simply skip this post. The language isn’t mine, btw.
So this morning I decided to clean up my twitter following list a little. I knew I had some people on there that I was following that I really didn’t find their posts all that interesting and most of who I removed haven’t tweeted in awhile. So I did it, it was over.
About an hour later, I get this:
@simplywriting I see you’ve stopped following me, good. I’m returning the favor with a nice “FUCK you” to go with it.
Uhm. Ok.
So, I sent this:
@************* Why thank you. No, really. Now I remember WHY I unfollowed you. 
I just got back on twitter, and the person sent this:
@simplywriting So, you’re afraid of words, eh? Interesting take by a so-called writer.
So, I guess I’m a little confused really. Where/When did I say I was afraid of him/his words/etc.? I just wasn’t interested in his ridiculous tweets that were highly political. So sue me. lol
I really find the whole thing funny. The only thing I did notice after I blocked him, is that we have a lot of the same writer friends, so that’s not great, but I get along with everyone, so really – it’s his problem. Not mine.
Anyway, hope you’ll get a giggle out of the thing as much as I did.
Do people really have that much time on their hands, or care that much about who is or isn’t following them? Does he do that every time someone unfollows him, or am I just special? 
haha!
Have a great Sunday everybody!
Popularity: 5% [?]
Posted on June 10, 2010 - by Nicole Humphrey Cook
Librarians Do Gaga (Hilarious – Must Watch!)
I posted this the other day on twitter, and did not even think about posting it on my blog.
This video might be the strangest/funniest thing I have seen in awhile.
Librarians are fun too – and here to prove it, are the students and faculty from the University of Washington’s Information School. They spend some serious time getting their groove on. And singing Lady Gaga. So funny!
Popularity: 2% [?]
Posted on June 9, 2010 - by Nicole Humphrey Cook
35+ Cool Pictures of the Beloved Fail Whale
In honor of the fact that I have been getting twitter’s fail whale image pretty much all morning, I thought I’d post a post with cool things that people have done using the fail whale. And I have never quite understood the term “beloved” when referring to the fail whale, since it usually means Twitter is having issues or is down. It’s annoying really. But I must admit, the fail whale is cute and these creations are truly awesome!
Can I just say that people are so creative!!
Popularity: 8% [?]
Posted on June 2, 2010 - by Nicole Humphrey Cook
When Bad Writing Becomes Funny
Oh. wow. Sent to me via email quite awhile back, but still totally worth a look at again. Warning: You might laugh out loud, don’t read at work
Worst analogies ever written in a high school essay
- He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pin hole in it. – Joseph Romm, Washington
- She caught your eye like one of those pointy hook latches that used to dangle from screen doors and would fly up whenever you banged the door open again. – Rich Murphy, Fairfax Station
- The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn’t. – Russell Beland, Springfield
- McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty Bag filled with vegetable soup. – Paul Sabourin, Silver Spring
- From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you’re on vacation in another city and “Jeopardy” comes on at 7 p.m. instead of 7:30. – Roy Ashley, Washington
- Her hair glistened in the rain like nose hair after a sneeze. - Chuck Smith, Woodbridge
- Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black dots in the center. – Russell Beland, Springfield
- Bob was as perplexed as a hacker who means to access T:flw.quid55328.com\aaakk/ch@ung but gets T:\flw.quidaaakk/ch@ung by mistake. – Ken Krattenmaker, Landover Hills
- Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever. – Unknown
- He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree. – Jack Bross, Chevy Chase
- The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease. – Gary F. Hevel, Silver Spring
- Her date was pleasant enough, but she knew that if her life was a movie this guy would be buried in the credits as something like “Second Tall Man.” – Russell Beland, Springfield
- Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph. – Jennifer Hart, Arlington
- The politician was gone but unnoticed, like the period after the Dr. on a Dr Pepper can. – Wayne Goode, Madison, Ala.
- They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan’s teeth. – Paul Kocak, Syracuse, N.Y.
- John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met. – Russell Beland, Springfield
- The thunder was ominous-sounding, much like the sound of a thin sheet of metal being shaken backstage during the storm scene in a play. – Barbara Fetherolf, Alexandria
- His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free. – Chuck Smith, Woodbridge
- The red brick wall was the color of a brick-red Crayola crayon. – Unknown
Based on an unoriginal article in the Washington Post
Wow. Just wow. Enough said.
Popularity: 10% [?]
-
Connect with me
