I have shared many pictures here in the blog of the Indian River, aka the Intracoastal Waterway, taken from our fishing pier or when we were out on our kayaks or the pontoon boat. All of this is part of the Mosquito Lagoon, which offers some of the best fishing in the world. The other day one of our neighbors who runs a company called ROV Digital Media posted this picture of Mosquito Lagoon taken from his drone that really puts it all into perspective.
All those little islands you see are mangrove hammocks, and people come here from all over the world to try to catch trophy redfish, snapper, and everything else that lives under the water. If you’re a kayaker or boater, you could spend a lifetime exploring and never see it all. We truly do live in a magical place.
After doing a ton of research and talking to a lot of people who know much more about computers and narration than I do, yesterday I ordered a Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Workstation laptop with Intel i9-10885H 8-Core processor, 64GB of RAM, and 2TB SSD hard drive. I plan to use it just for narrating my books, and not having anything else on it except what I need to get the job done. I sure hope this makes a difference, because I have been so very frustrated with all the problems trying to get Big Lake Ranger done. It’s supposed to be here Tuesday, and I imagine it will take me a couple of days to get it set up. Wish me luck.
After I mentioned in a recent blog post that I used to sell cars part-time for a dealership many years ago, a couple of readers wanted to know if I had any stories from those days to share. As a matter of fact, I do, including two stories about the easiest sales I ever made, another about the one and only time I really slammed somebody into a car that he insisted he was not going to pay my price for, and the time I sold a car to a woman who became a dangerous stalker. If you think you might be interested in hearing some of those stories, let me know.
Be sure to enter our latest Free Drawing. This week’s prize is an autographed copy of The Oil Conspiracy by W.R. Hill. Things get complicated when veteran CIA operative Jack Wilder is called upon to discreetly investigate the assassination of a high-level OPEC oil analyst on the verge of announcing a startling discovery, and then another body turns up, this one Wilder’s best friend, also an oil analyst. Stonewalled at every turn, Wilder struggles to find motives for the two murders even as more deaths occur as he gets closer to discovering the truth.
To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed.
Thought For The Day – Don’t worry about your smart TV and phone spying on you. Your vacuum has been gathering dirt on you for years.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
I would enjoy your stories from when you sold cars. The posts from your days in the newspaper business are interesting, and often amusing, so I know tales from the dealership floor would be also.
When you posted about helping your friends the other day, I was tempted to suggest you add to your non-fiction books, one about tricks to watch for, etc. when dealing with car salespeople.
Hope your new computer solves the issues you have been fighting so long with narration.
Nice laptop ! Lots of everything.
I’m turning green.And it ain’t from all the spinach….
Hope it solves all your problems .
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Yes, I’d like to hear your car selling stories. With your personality they should be hilarious.
Here’s another vote to read about your car selling days. It seems I always enjoy everything you write!
Yes, I am interested in your car selling stories!
More stories please, and thank you so much for all the ones you’ve shared through the years.
Yes, please –stories of your car dealership days.
We love all your stories! Bring them on.
I am in need of a new laptop. Im curious as to why you selected Lenovo instead of a Dell. I have been using Dell laptops for over 20 years. I would not discount Lenovo.
Yes! I would like to hear ask of the stories.
Barry, I have used Dells for years, in fact, both my desktop and current laptop are Dells. But I have found their customer service falling off quite a bit with my last two purchases. When I inquired about my ongoing problems of the computer slowing down or freezing during narration I was told to order another computer. The one they speced out for me was almost exactly the same as what I have now except for the addition of a Dell mouse and keyboard. When I asked how that would solve my issues the tech said he had no idea if it would, but that is what they recommended. Several authors I know who also narrate have Lenovos and seem to be happy with them.
I was looking at Mosquito Lagoon on the satellite view of Google Maps. At the north end of the lagoon, where the South Causeway goes out to the beach, it looks like housing developments are in the lagoon. When I zoom in, that image seems to change to cultivated fields that look like rows of a planted crop. Zooming in further, the rows become trees separated by narrow canals of water with white areas spaced regularly among the trees. There are similar areas further south. It certainly looks man-made. Do you know what these areas are?
We love your stories, yes please! Have the new book but haven’t yet had time to start it. Happy New Year to you both.
Doug, there are some upscale housing developments with man-made canals in that area.
Yes, please. I enjoy all your stories so a new category is great!
Happy New Year to you and Miss Terry! Congrats on the the new laptop, and yup we’d love to hear about your days selling cars.
Of course you have to finish the stories now about being car salesman . There should be a book in that time of your life . Happy New Year