Rutabaga

Our beagle is very happy. R

Well, Judge Heartfeld is da man! But it seems like there must be another chapter coming. R

Michael Arram's rewrite took a great story and made it fabulous. The final story in the series wasn't just rewritten, it was greatly elaborated and probably doubled or more in length. The previous ending, which Michael had told me in an e-mail he wasn't particularly happy with, turned into something quite amazing. I'm still making my way through "Sea Change" which may take another month! R

I'll have to check that out. There is a Sprouts store near me in the former Sport Chalet flagship store location. R

This current "Pick from the Past" appears to date back about ten years on this site, but I could find no topic for it. It is referred to in the past tense in another topic for a different Josh story that began in 2006, hence my assumption about the age of this story. I'm only up to chapter 8 after a lot of reading -- this is a really long story! It certainly has more sex per square inch than many stories I have read, The only other story here that I can think of that comes close is "Aladdin's Awakening" by Joel. Admittedly I have not come close to reading everything here. Anyway, it's early days for me with this story and I can't be sure where-all it's headed, but so far it has plenty of complexity and rampant hormones. R

This is also very tasty -- you twist the bacon strips into spirals, then roll them in brown sugar and lay them out to bake, which cooks the bacon and melts the sugar. I wouldn't have thought this would be good, but after trying this I can heartily recommend it. R

The leading US brand of bacon, Oscar Mayer, offers a maple-flavored version. R

A new short story that, per the introduction, is the "flip side" of the earlier A Strange Warmth. I actually found this story more interesting by not having read the previous one first. It's a nice and satisfying story. I remain curious as to why Mike, the narrator, was in a British prison. I don't think we ever find out, but there is a provocative hint when he remarks that whatever it was would not have been illegal in Holland or Germany. Maybe that comment means more to the Europeans out there than it does to me. R

Nicely done with a nice twist. R

It seemed appropriate to start a thread looking at both of these stories, as they cover the same ground Rashomon-like with different perspectives. Reading "Dream Catcher" left me with a lot of questions that were frequently answered in "Underdogs." Still, after what seemed like a fairly clear direction set earlier in "Teammates," I found myself puzzled by Logan in these later stories. Yet I can totally relate to his confusion at that age. The ending of "Underdogs" seems to suggest an interesting future for Logan, Seth, and Grayson. R

You mean that's not what is already taking place? :-) R

"Le Gouffre" means "the chasm" or "the abyss" in French. Click on the little box with four arrows pointing outward to get an excellent full-screen version. R

I am very happy with NOD32 from Eset. I also scan with Malwarebytes which plays nicely with NOD32. From what I hear, Kaspersky is a better bet than McAfee or Norton. I don't have personal experience with it. I have also heard that it's best not to have two or more concurrent antivirus programs running. R

Ack! Two more new characters! R

Browsing around I found the collaborative story "Collision" that appears to date back to the 2005-2006 era. The navigation page is here: http://awesomedude.com/collision/ I didn't find a regular story thread for this, but there is a prior thread that discussed the process of putting this round-robin story together: http://forums.awesomedude.com/index.php?showtopic=601&hl=collision . It's a pretty good yarn, actually, and worth a look for anyone searching for things to read. R

So that which we are forbidden to use is . . . . . ? R

More like Motel 666. R

So that is what all the fuss is about? R

So that is the solution, it appears. R

Ah, I could so picture the library scene, and especially visualize the quasi-deserted upstairs stacks areas. I lived near a University library like that when I was in high school, and the stacks went up five or six stories of dimly lit metal shelving and stairs. I sometimes found myself skulking up to a remote corner of the stacks where they kept the books on homosexuality. Nobody went there, and nobody wanted to be seen going there, in the mid-1960s. Anyway, a fun new twist in this story. R

Here I am down in Mexico with a shaky Internet connection, but it seemed like someone ought to start s thread for this story! It's an interesting exploration. I wonder if I would have been so articulate at that age. Well, actually, I don't wonder. I wouldn't have been. R

Wonder if an old abandoned mill could be used for-cooking meth? R

And this one is back as a Pick from the Past. Hits home. R

To return to the actual topic of this thread, I think the new organization makes a lot of sense. R