It's three-subject blog-post time. Which means I've fallen behind. First things first: Turkey Trot Last, last week, on Thanksgiving morning, Tim and I went to Clearwater to run the Tampa Bay Times Turkey Trot 10k race. I understand my northern family and friends will likely scoff at what I'm about to say, and they may feel free to do so, but it was freezing! It was about 31 degrees (with wind chill) during the race. That is cold for Florida, especially when it's been in the 70s and 80s in the weeks surrounding that one. It's difficult for me to know what to wear for a cold-weather race, because I know I'll get warm quickly, and I hate being hot during a race. So I wore shorts (which I swear are under my sweatshirt in the picture below), a tank top, arm sleeves, and a headband to cover my ears. While it may seem silly to wear a tank top and full arm sleeves (why not just wear a whole shirt?), I don't like to get sweaty under my arms, and this is a good s...

I'm a copy editor, at least. I recently got accepted by Associated University Presses (AUP), based in New Jersey, to copy-edit manuscripts that have been accepted for publication. These are scholarly works that may or may not be interesting--I have yet to see (a list of current and recent publications can be found on the AUP web site). My first manuscript should arrive this week. I had to take an editing test, which consisted of three different parts of manuscripts sent to me in the mail. I had to line-edit them using my knowledge of the Chicago Manual of Style, a 984-page reference source that I had to quickly familiarize myself with. I agonized over these pages and later lied about the amount of time I'd spent editing them (they pay by the hour). After three grueling weeks, I found out that my editing test was "fine" (good enough for me), and that I'd soon get to take on more work. But the great thing is that I can do it totally in my own time, as long ...