Done. Done. Done.

Phew.

I’ve just written the words “THE END” after 63,000 words of Darwood and Smitty. The first draft is complete. My goal has been to start pitching it to agents by the end of January. As I’ve scoured the first draft several times, there is mostly just clean-up work and term consistencies to address throughout the draft. I think I’ll be about on target to get it into some hands by then, and we’ll see just what happens from there.

Time to go celebrate by going to bed? Nope, wait — maybe an episode of Scrubs to celebrate. That’s got to be what successful people do.

Nearly Done — the First Go

I guess it’s worth noting that I’m nearly finished with the first draft of Darwood and Smitty. The goal: to have a final draft finished along with a proposal by late January, at which point I’ll start pitching it to agents.

What? You’re an agent? Well then, get in touch. I’ll send you a $5 Starbucks card (this is really ironic, but you wouldn’t know it until you read the book) so that I can treat you to a cup of joe and we can chat over the most unique marketing plan you’ve ever heard for a novel.

 Not an agent? Well, I still like you. And I might still buy you a cup of coffee some day if you’re a member of my mailing list. That means signing up over here.

 Cheers!

The World has Changed.

Like many bloggers, I’ve slipped into a long absense. Last I wrote, our holistic center hadn’t even launched. Now we’ve been in business for several months, and we’re to the point that I’m not scrambling to get things done every moment of every day. Have finally gotten things in place and working pretty smoothly.

Um, so that’s what I mean about the world changing. I mean, everything was different at least for our family 6 months ago. Now, the kids are in school 5 days a week for the first time; wife and I are running a business together; and I no longer tell people I’m a writer.

Hopefully I can tell them I’m an author before long though. Well … that’s been the case for years, as I’ve published several titles, including my most recent, The Quantum Challenge. But these books tend to be for friends, family, clients — not published and distributed on a large scale. But I’m thinking of expanding The Quantum Challenge and doing something more with it. And Darwood and Smitty are in action again, and I’m wondering if I can wrap that up by the end of the year.

Suppose that’s the news for now. Oh, and as for funny posts about the pharmaceutical industry … well, I could have several of those for you, because they just don’t quit with their morbid hilarity. (Did you know that ol’ Merck is getting sued for rotting people’s jaws? Yes sir.) But this is just too much time spent on a blog when I should be helping with the kids or helping Darwood and Smitty to save the world.

Less Addictive … and No Side Effects?

Doesn’t this just add smoke to the smoking gun? According to an Associated Press article that just came out today:

ROANOKE, Va. – The maker of the powerful painkiller OxyContin and three of its current and former executives pleaded guilty Thursday to misleading the public about the drug’s risk of addiction, a federal prosecutor and the company said.

Purdue Pharma L.P., its president, top lawyer and former chief medical officer will pay $634.5 million in fines for claiming the drug was less addictive and less subject to abuse than other pain medications, U.S. Attorney John Brownlee said.

So what’s next? Are you going to have them coming out with drugs that they claim don’t have side effects? If so, how many people will end up showcase the side effects to the world before the FDA puts a stop to it? Another Vioxx-scale event?

The nice thing is, the more people I speak with, the more I find who are tired of the old pharmaceutical game and recognize the industry — at least to some degree — for what it is.

And meanwhile, the industry leaves us no shortage of fodder for fun little posts like this one.

Barbecue Chemistry

People give microwaves a hard time because of the radiation and supposed chemical change that food undergoes when you’re using them.

 Well, I’m not here to defend microwaves, but to put it into proportion: ANY cooking causes chemical change. Heat changes the chemical composition of food, plain and simple. This is why eating RAW foods is really the best way to get unadulterated nutrients.

And yes, that DOES mean some people eat their meat raw. I’m not kidding you. And those who do claim to rarely get sick, and I know one fellow who claimed to have overcome a serious disease condition by doing so. I’m not recommending it myself, though, because I don’t eat a lot of meat, and when I do eat it, you can bet I don’t eat it raw. Couldn’t get myself to try.

Barbecuing, frying, and broiling are all high-temperate forms of cooking that really do the food up good. For instance, when beef and poultry are cooked at these high temps, they accumulate toxins called glycation end products, and these can accelerate the aging process.

Stop barbecuing? We personally don’t barbecue much at all, and we’re talking of selling our barbecue. But I know this is sacrilege for most people. So I’d just say, if you’re going to mutate your food like that, you might go with some raw or steamed vegetables on the side … just so the good, the bad, and the ugly can duke it out inside your gut. That way, you at least have some good guys on your side.

Pharmaceuticals — Doesn’t This Say It All?

As if we didn’t know already … but this is just confirmation. According to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, nearly 95% of physicians in the U.S. receive free meals, drug samples, sports tickets, and other gifts from pharmaceutical sales reps trying to get doctors to prescribe their products.

This of course comes after these doctors have gone through medical schools that are largely bought and paid by the pharmaceutical industry as well.

I think they call this, “Let the buyer beware.”

Solar Energy without the Costs!

Ok, this is the sweetest thing I’ve run into in a long time. And yeah, I sound like an advertisement, but it’s because I love holistic living … especially when it’s easy to do.

So, with the holistic thing in mind, I was looking into solar power for our home, and found out it would cost like $50,000 to have a system installed.

Then I ran into this whole new approach to solar power for the home. Here’s the idea:

No system purchase * No installation cost * No maintenance fees

No permit hassles * No performance worries * No rate increases

You basically RENT the equipment at or below your current electric rates, and lock in those rates for as long as you choose to have your contract.

You can lock in TODAY’S electric rates for as many as 25 years! We’re estimating that we’ll save around $10,000 over 25 years.

Meanwhile, we’re helping the environment and reducing our dependence on foreign energy. NOT BAD.

Want to check out the details?

http://www.stevemccardell.com/solar_power.html

Get TREES Planted for FREE

There’s this great group I signed up with a few months back (Greendimes). For 10 cents a day (just $3 per month), they help to get you off of all the postal junk mail lists in order to help save all the wasted paper and everything that goes into making that paper. They also plant a tree on your behalf every month. In the last 5 months they have:

“stopped over 130,000 pounds of junk mail, planted nearly 75,000 trees … saved over 340,000 gallons of water and processed more than 60,000 catalog cancel requests!”

Their plan is to plant another 175,000 trees by March 22. You can help out by joining their MySpace friends list. For every person who joins, they’ll plant TEN TREES!

http://www.myspace.com/greendimes

This is not a MySpace scam. They’re a legit company, and they know the value of building a network. That’s why they’ll plant the trees. (Plus they want to help save the planet.)

Also, if you want to go beyond joining their MySpace friends list and actually sign up with them (c’mon … it’s dirt cheap) to reduce your junk mail, do so THROUGH THIS LINK:

http://www.greendimes.com/index.html?src=mem&uid=1567

This way, they don’t just plant an extra 25 trees for you. They plant an extra 25 for me too. So your sign-up means FIFTY TREES planted! (How often could you do THAT for 10 cents a day?)

I don’t know about you, but this was a no brainer for me. Thanks for getting involved!

Now What about Vaccines?

A friend of mine just wrote and asked whether we’ve vaccinated our children and what our position is on that subject. This is the e-mail I sent back to her, with brief edits in [brackets] for clarity:

*****

My stance is that it’s a very personal decision that should not be made by doctors or government, and that everyone should have the chance to be thoroughly educated on the topic before deciding what makes the most sense for them. It does appear that some vaccinations have helped to diminish certain life-threatening illnesses, although there is also the argument that the ones that have appeared affective made their debut just as the natural cycle of that disease started to wane. [And there is statistical evidence around this.] But in any case, this “evidence” [of effectiveness] is certainly reason enough to respect those who choose to vaccinate for those types of diseases. In the case of things like chicken pox and flu, I think vaccination is a travesty of special interest pressure on government. Very sad. This is especially true because they are now saying that a single flu shot doesn’t do anything to protect a child, and that now you need to give them TWO for protection. (And this is the one vaccine for children that still contains thimerosol, a known neurological toxin.) 

A challenge with this whole topic is that: 1) many of the studies about vaccination safety are paid for by the pharmaceutical companies; 2) the FDA is largely funded by the pharmaceutical companies; 3) the pharmaceutical industry is ALSO the largest lobbying industry in the nation; 4) medical schools are largely supported by pharmaceutical companies; 5) despite more than 100,000 people per year dying to pharmaceuticals, their risk is considered “acceptable,” while natural alternatives are considered suspect until they kill about 3 people [often who abused the supplement], at which point they are criminal. Doctors generally do NOT study outside their resources that are so heavily influenced by the pharmaceutical industry, but if you go outside it and start reading into independent research, there is a lot of question about whether immunizations do much good at all. And of course meanwhile we are decimating the immune system by pumping children (with immature immune systems AND neurological systems) full of chemicals.

[It is also noted that many doctors do NOT immunize their own children, and many who DO read outside their traditional avenues of learning start to have more open minds about what really works.]

Those who choose not to vaccinate their children are harassed for putting everyone else at risk, begging the question, “If you’ve been immunized, how am I putting you at risk???” And the irony is that, anyone vaccinated with a live virus (which is NOT introduced to the body the way an actual virus would be) is actually contagious, and then heads off to school. AND, whenever there is an outbreak of viruses for which there are immunizations … guess what? The kids with immunizations get sick too! So why are we giving them the shots in the first place? Obviously you can see my personal bias. [Our older child] received some of his initial vaccinations, before we read far enough into this. [Our younger child] never got any. I still respect anyone’s right to choose for their children, until the point that independent scientific evidence gives us a clear answer on these issues. But we decided that the potential benefit was not worth the potential risk. 

Here’s an excellent site for doing some research: http://www.thinktwice.com/ 

Hope this is useful.  Sincerely,   –Steve.

I Feel Naked and I LOVE It!

Man oh man, I can’t tell you how swamped I’ve gotten by spam in some of my business accounts. One was getting about 200-300 pieces of junk mail every day, and if I didn’t put the time in to eliminate it, then it got to 600 in no time, at which point I didn’t want to touch it.

Then a month would go by and I wouldn’t respond to any legimate incoming messages. Yeah, it was bad.

Problem was, I did NOT want to implement a spam filter, because those are worthless. They leave some spam alone, then throw half your legitimate messages and newsletters into the garbage. You spend as much time as ever sorting through.

Then there’s the challenge/response option, which makes a lot more sense but still ends up blocking automated mails that you want to receive (like newsletters) UNLESS you remember to add every last one to your white list.

I even researched one that uses UpPeR- ANd LOWer-CAsE letters as an added key to help filter things, but then I figured my friends and contacts would all have to alter the address they already had on file for me.

FINALLY … today I found a solution that … shoot, just works. So far anyway, it’s been great. I have tested it with addresses not added to my white list, and it sends out a verification notice to them. But meanwhile, I can not only whitelist a bunch of addresses up front … I can ALSO add rules so that, for instance, I can let any e-mail with my name in it slip through. This way, most newsletters sent to me should still make it through without a hitch.

So, I don’t usually go bonkers over a product, but my e-mail today is so empty, it’s left me feeling naked, but not in the “first day of school without clothes nightmare” kind of way. Instead, I can look at my inbox and tell if I’ve got something I actually want to read. Imagine!

Interested to shed your clothes and feel great? Check it out here: ChoiceMail