More fun with typos

This is the best one yet. Last night, at a Chinese restaurant here in Redding, we spotted this in the seafood section of the menu:

Fun with typos

I've been doing a lot of rapid typing the last few weeks, readying more backlist titles for Kindle. It's great how the computer fixes most typos as you go, but you can still end up with interesting new words.

For instance, I don't believe there is a proper term for someone caught urinating in public. So how about "peeing Tom?"

Also, there's apparently a really loud animal called a "baboom."

So far, my humor book Trophy Husband and my bank heist caper Fool's Paradise are available on Kindle. More titles, including the Bubba Mabry series, are coming soon to Kindle and other e-book platforms.

I'll try to catch all the typos.

Fun with Craigslist

In anticipation of our big move, I'm spending way too much time looking at rental properties on Craigslist. Because people do their own copy-editing on Craigslist, you sometimes find hilarious mistakes, such as the recent ad that began, "Basque on your sun deck. . . "

Here's today's find. In an ad for a nice apartment were the words "ceramic tile threw out the kitchen."

Ha-ha. We all know that's wrong. They mean "thrown."

Civic improvement

Success! The railroad moved the ugly train cars!

You might remember my recent posting about three derelict railroad cars that were parked right in the sightline at a major intersection here in Redding, CA. Motorists stopped at the "T" intersection at Buenaventura Boulevard and Highway 273 got a view of the rusty, graffiiti-covered cars rather than the snow-capped mountains in the distance.

Not long after the post appeared, I got an e-mail from Greg Clark, assistant to the city manager. The city wanted to pursue the matter, and wanted to use the photo from my blog (shot by my wife Kelly) in a letter to Union Pacific.

A few days ago, I noticed the railroad had moved the cars about forty yards down the siding, away from the intersection and behind a screen of trees. Hurray!

I heard from Clark today. He said that City Manager Kurt Starman did indeed send a letter to the railroad on June 1, asking them to move the cars. Clark didn't know of any return communication, but the relocated cars speak volumes.

Thanks to city and railroad officials for listening to a cranky blogger.

You're doing it wrong

Today's tip for aspiring armed robbers: When knocking over a Waffle House at 4 a.m., it's really better if you don't shoot your accomplice.

Police in Davie, FL, had one man in custody after a holdup attempt at a local Waffle House. He had been shot once in the "left hip." His partner, who apparently shot him by accident, fled the scene.

I'm thinking that even a hardened criminal would rat out the partner who shot him in the ass. And hardened criminals don't rob Waffle Houses.

Full story here.

More on Kindle

While I'm waiting for someone to buy our house, I'm keeping myself busy by learning how to put my backlist on Kindle and (eventually) other e-book platforms.

Up fresh today: "Fool's Paradise," a comic crime caper about five strangers who throw in together to rob a bank in Coronado, CA, and the bad, bad things that happen to them. Available now on Kindle for $7.99.

For more, click here.

Newbie on Kindle

I've dipped my trembling toe into the ice-cold waters of e-books for the first time, making my backlist humor book available on Kindle.

"Trophy Husband: A Survival Guide to Working at Home" was published in hardcover by University of New Mexico Press in 2003, and disappeared shortly thereafter. (Kidding. It's still available. There's a whole warehouse full of them somewhere.)

The material in "Trophy Husband" came from my syndicated newspaper column, The Home Front. You can read most of those columns right here on this blog, but I reshaped the material slightly for the book, making it into a self-help guide that's no help whatsoever.

The book got great reviews and my favorite blurb of all time, from Virginia Swift: "If Erma Bombeck and Dave Barry had a love child, it would be Brewer."

Available now at a special introductory price of $2.99. I'd appreciate any feedback from Kindle users out there.

Next up will be my bank-heist caper, "Fool's Paradise." Then I'll start putting the Bubba Mabry books on Kindle as well.

O, brave new world . . .

Not cool, man

Today's tip for aspiring criminals: If there are warrants out for your arrest, it's better to keep a low profile.

I'm paying attention to news out of Santa Cruz, CA, these days, and came across this little police blotter item: Two parolees were arrested after police discovered open booze containers, drug paraphernalia and marijuana in their truck.

How did police know to stop the truck? It was driving on city streets with no brake lights or headlights. At 2 a.m.

Full story here.

Still here

It might look as if I've let this blog go dormant, but that's only temporary. It's been a crazy time around here, and some things are bound to get neglected.

We're still down-sizing our household for our anticipated move to an empty nest in Santa Cruz, CA. We've gotten rid of tons of stuff, and still have one shipment of furniture/furnishings going to a consignment store after someone buys our house.

The house has been on the market three weeks now. No buyer yet, but lots of lookers. Fingers crossed.

Amongst all this household tumult, I finished my latest work-in-progress, a crime novel called 'The Big Wink,' and sent it off to my agent. Now I'm learning about Kindle, etc., so I can make my backlist available for e-readers.

I'm still posting my "Rules for Successful Living" at least once a day on Facebook, so if we're not friends there yet, get on board.

More soon.