Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone is having a terrific holiday season!

Cyn and I are having a great (and busy) one, apart from a bout of cedar fever which has cut a bit into the marathon training.

After the Trail of Lights 5K, Cyn and I went to a fun Christmas carol sing-along party and, for Christmas Eve day, we went to see the The Hobbit. (It's very long, but worth seeing :-)).

Then we had a quiet Christmas together.  Here is a pic of our tree this year:

Here are a couple of the gifts she gave me.  The first is my first pair of cowboy boots ever (or at least, since I was around 5).

I'm definitely a Texan now :-).

The second gift was a fossilized shark tooth:

The guy we bought it from said it was from a C. megalodon, an extinct relative of the great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias).  Incidentally, the dinosaur Carcharodontosaurus was named after the great white shark because its teeth are similar.

Finally, the day after Christmas, we went to see White Christmas (highly recommended) at the Zach Scott Theatre, in their new Topfer Auditorium:

Cyn, Me, Bethany Hegedus, Nikki Loftin

 Photo courtesy of Dave Wilson Photography.

Trail of Lights 5K!

The Zilker tree and Moonlight Tower

This year marked the return of the Trail of Lights to Zilker Park after a two-year hiatus.  It also marked the return of the Trail of Lights 5K!

Since Cyn and I have never actually done the Trail of Lights, we thought we'd do the 5K this year.  We were joined by Maggie and Erik Kuntz; and Gene Brenek.  

Me, Erik, Maggie, Gene, Cyn

Refreshments under the tree

Into the mouth of the beast...

Cyn, Erik, and Gene ham it up.

Friday News and Dino a Day wrap up

Thanks, everyone, for visiting the blog for the A Dino a Day: A CHRONAL ENGINE Celebration over the past couple of weeks!

Here's the final list of awesome Austin locations:

• Day 1: BookPeople 
• Day 2: The Driskill Hotel
• Day 3: Whole Foods 
• Day 4: Texas State Capitol Building 
• Day 5: Amy's Ice Creams 
• Day 6: Austin History Center 
• Day 7: Run Tex 
• Day 8: Waterloo Records
• Day 9: Mt. Bonnell
• Day 10: The Book Spot
• Day 11: Barton Springs Pool
• Day 12: U.T. Tower

In other news, the Hunger Mountain - Science Fiction/Fantasy Issue is out!  Go check out my article titled
"The Improbable, the Impossible, and the Willing Suspension of Disbelief in Science Fiction and Fantasy."  The issue also features articles by Austinites Nikki Loftin, K.A. Holt, and Meredith Davis.

Also, I'm pleased to announce that Cynthia Leitich Smith, Nancy Werlin, and I will be teaching the Highlights Foundation "'Whole Novel Workshop: Young Adult' in August!  Founded in 2006, the Whole Novel Workshop is specifically designed for writers of young-adult novels. This unique program offers the one-on-one attention found in degree programs, but without additional academic requirements, lengthy time commitments, or prohibitive financial investments. Our aim is to focus on a specific work in progress, moving a novel to the next level in preparation for submission to agents or publishers. Focused attention in an intimate setting makes this mentorship program one that guarantees significant progress."


Finally, take a look at the cover for Cyn's FERAL NIGHTS:

A Dino a Day: A CHRONAL ENGINE Celebration XII

For the final A Dino a Day: A CHRONAL ENGINE Celebration, Cyn and I went up to the top of the UT Tower on the campus of the University of Texas. The UT Student Union runs tours of the Tower from March through December.  It was the first time I'd ever been up there -- it was closed to the public when I was a student, and didn't reopen until 1999.

Cyn in archway

Me in archway

 

 

 

Looking south toward downtown

Dobie Mall and Harry Ransom Center

 

Darrell K. Royall-Texas Memorial Stadium

Colored lights

Littlefield Mansion

LBJ Library

State Capitol

Engineering Complex and Law School

The long-sleeved T-shirt with T.rex and pterosaurs shows kind of a meteorite shower or maybe an aurora :-). Incidentally, T.rex's arms were about the size of mine.  The T-shirt is from Shirt Woot.

Links to past posts:

A Dino a Day: Day 0: Thundercloud Subs Turkey Trot
A Dino a Day: Day 1: Book People
A Dino a Day: Day 2: Driskill Hotel
A Dino a Day: Day 3: Whole Foods 
A Dino a Day: Day 4: Texas State Capitol 
A Dino a Day: Day 5:Amy's Ice Creams
A Dino a Day: Day 6: Austin History Center
A Dino a Day: Day 7: RunTex
A Dino a Day: Day 8: Waterloo Records  
A Dino a Day: Day 9: Mt. Bonnell
A Dino a Day: Day 10: The Book Spot
A Dino a Day: Day 11: Barton Springs Pool

A Dino a Day: A CHRONAL ENGINE Celebration XI

And, for the penultimate A Dino a Day, it's the T.rex wet T-shirt contest at Barton Springs Pool!  Or something like that.   

Me, tree, shallow end

The cone marks where the diving board used to be

Looking toward the north end

Grimacing, before I take the plunge.  Or maybe there's just something with the goggles.

Splash!

This T-shirt features everyone's favorite theropod superimposed over the Public Library of Science emblem (kind of hard to tell, but it's there).  The PLoS organization publishes the PLoS ONE public access scientific journal, which was very, very helpful in researching CHRONAL ENGINE. 

Here's a link to the PLoS ONE Paleontology collection.

The T-shirt is from the PloS store at zazzle.com.

The photos were taken at Barton Springs Pool in Zilker Park.  For those of you not from Austin, the three acre pool is fed by underground springs and maintains a constant temperature of around 68 degrees year-round.  Needless to say, it is an Austin favorite during the purgatorial Texas summers.  And, yes, Zilker is the same park with the Hartmann Prehistoric Garden.

Links to previous days:

A Dino a Day: Day 0: Thundercloud Subs Turkey Trot
A Dino a Day: Day 1: Book People
A Dino a Day: Day 2: Driskill Hotel
A Dino a Day: Day 3: Whole Foods 
A Dino a Day: Day 4: Texas State Capitol 
A Dino a Day: Day 5:Amy's Ice Creams
A Dino a Day: Day 6: Austin History Center
A Dino a Day: Day 7: RunTex
A Dino a Day: Day 8: Waterloo Records  
A Dino a Day: Day 9: Mt. Bonnell
A Dino a Day: Day 10: The Book Spot

A Dino a Day: A CHRONAL ENGINE Celebration X

Yesterday,  Cynthia Leitich Smith, Liz Garton Scanlon & Shana Burg, and I had a great signing at The BookSpot in Round Rock!  And, for the occasion, I wore this terrific dino T-shirt sweater from fab.com:

Me and owner Danny Woodfill and a very shiny book.

Owners Julie and Danny

Me, Liz Garton Scanlon, Shana Burg, Cyn

Mary Sullivan and Varian Johnson

Cory Putnam Oakes and the new bairn

Links to previous posts:
A Dino a Day: Day 0: Thundercloud Subs Turkey Trot
A Dino a Day: Day 1: Book People
A Dino a Day: Day 2: Driskill Hotel
A Dino a Day: Day 3: Whole Foods 
A Dino a Day: Day 4: Texas State Capitol 
A Dino a Day: Day 5:Amy's Ice Creams
A Dino a Day: Day 6: Austin History Center
A Dino a Day: Day 7: RunTex
A Dino a Day: Day 8: Waterloo Records  
A Dino a Day: Day 9: Mt. Bonnell

A Dino a Day: A CHRONAL ENGINE Celebration IX

RAPTOR CLAUS is coming to town! 

This is one of only two T-shirts in this celebration that doesn't feature T.rex.  Shirt is from Zazzle.com.

The photos were taken at Mt. Bonnell, a 775 foot tall chunk of limestone just west of town. It was donated as a park in 1939.  According to the Handbook of Texas's Mt. Bonnell entry, General Custer used to picnic up here.   

And one gratuitous shot of me making some chocolate chip cookies per the Neiman Marcus recipe (I'm bringing the cookies to the The BookSpot in Round Rock for a signing from 12 to 2 pm today, with Cynthia Leitich Smith, Liz Garton Scanlon & Shana Burg.).  And I'll be wearing tomorrow's Dino a Day T-shirt...

Here are the previous entries:

A Dino a Day: Day 0: Thundercloud Subs Turkey Trot
A Dino a Day: Day 1: Book People
A Dino a Day: Day 2: Driskill Hotel
A Dino a Day: Day 3: Whole Foods 
A Dino a Day: Day 4: Texas State Capitol 
A Dino a Day: Day 5:Amy's Ice Creams
A Dino a Day: Day 6: Austin History Center
A Dino a Day: Day 7: RunTex
A Dino a Day: Day 8: Waterloo Records