Sleep, Writing, RPGnet, and Columns

Sleep. Slept mostly through last night. This is a very good thing. I figured I'd slowly get used to our strangely angled bed, which is why I've been toughing it out.

Writing. Usually I'd spend a big chunk of today writing on this and that. I was somewhat looking forward to it, because I would have finished the first of the three major sections of the Aldryami book. But, alas, Skotos work has been overwhelming me this week, and there's just too much priority work that still needs to be done, so onward.

RPGnet. One of the things I did while semi-delirious yesterday was rewrite the huge Library page at RPGnet, which keeps track of all the columns. It's been a mess for a while, because it didn't get updated when the rest of the site did last year. The new page is much more attractive, fits into the site style, and uses some clever frontend PHP to fix some problems with the backend PHP (which I didn't write). Good result, even if it did take many hours to convert the scores of columns, and I'm sure it'll make our column editor and columnists happier.

Columns. The whole thing has got me started thinking about columns over at RPGnet. I'm seriously thinking about a player's board & card game column over there, partially to get some of the things I've learned out of my head, and partially to give me the incentive to finish up a major overhaul to the RPGnet Columns that I've been wanting to do for a while. I envision it as a limited introduction to board & card games, that might run 12 columns or so max. Here's what I have in my head right now:

1. Introduction, Discussion of the Genre, and Useful Online Links
   
2. A History of the Genre
   
3. Listing of Major Publishers & What They Do
   
4. Major Games in the Genre (Settlers, Carcassonne, Puerto Rico)
   

Not sure entirely what the next 8 or so columns would include, but they'd follow the same general pattern.

As I'm thinking this over, I can see that I should really use this as an opportunity to prototype my columns software at RPGnet & figure out how to start integrating it with the old stuff.

It Makes No Census

I just finished filling out a couple of U.S. Census forms for Skotos & dropped them in a post box.

They were clearly forms intended to show how well the economy is doing. One tracked capital expenditures for 2003 and another tracked purchases of non-amortized computer & electronic equipment. It took me a bit, but I finally figured out how to make QuickBooks jump through the appropriate hoops to spit out the info they wanted.

However, these forms pissed me off for two reasons:

First, they broadly and clearly stated that filling them out was required by law. So, to be a business owner in the U.S. you now have to not just pay your taxes, but also fill out census forms about your business specifics. Swell. We're really the cradle of free enterprise.

Second, the Census people started phoning regularly as we closed in on the due date (the forms had to be postmarked by tomorrow). I have to say, that makes me really suspicious. So, they get all their forms within the first week of October or so. Then, they spend a couple of weeks cranking the data. And then they have a full economic report, which they clearly hope to show the economy is in recovery ... a week before the elections.

Hmmm.

Should I further comment that I haven't filled out any other forms like this in the last five years of running these businesses?

Coincidence?