moving

I have decided to consolidate Dennis Cass is . . . and Dennis Cass Wants You To Be More Awesome into one site.

Please join me at the new Dennis Cass Wants You To Be More Awesome.

I will delete this site and the Ning site in the next few weeks.

Cheers,

Dennis

the Mystery Agent on Book Roast

I was honored to once again be a guest on the delightful Book Roast blog. As I was billed as the Mystery Agent, I wasn't allowed to mention the appearance until now. Thanks again to Chris Eldin for having me. You've given me a year's worth of ideas for Dennis Cass Wants You To Be More Awesome.

returning from his first journey

In response to my last post, leatherdykeuk suggested that I go on a journey to find an old book about computers.

And so I am pleased to present this radically condensed version of 1972's COMPUTER DICTIONARY AND HANDBOOK by Charles J. Sippl and Charles P. Sippl:

Opening line:

"Students, teachers, businessmen, scientists, industrialists and alert individuals in practically all vocations and endeavors are suddenly very amazed to learn of the range and depth of utility of man's newest and most awesome servant, the computer."

[Imagine mostly outdated dictionary business here.]

Closing lines:

"Some of the 'creative' activities by computers which have been described in many experiments are now considered unexplainable by humans. Is this the totally new dimension? A completely new super-science?"

Tell me, Alert Individuals, do Sippl's words still ring true? (I don't know about you, but going forward it will be very hard not to call my laptop the Most Awesome Servant.)

asking you to send him on a journey

One of the nice features of the (relatively) new Minneapolis Central Library is an increased access to older books. If you think procrastinating by reading a book about pandas is fun, procrastinating by reading a book about pandas written in 1923 takes fun to a higher, funner plane of fun-ness.

Nevertheless, there are times when even my prodigious ability to not get things done flags. I find myself attracted to the same topics, browsing through the same stacks, following the same threads. Which is why I'm asking you for your help. Will you please help me waste my time?

Here's the game:

Pick a topic (any topic) and I will venture into the stacks and return with one pristine nugget from books past. Perhaps this nugget will be an anachronism that will invite you to laugh at the ignorance of our recent ancestors. Or maybe I will unveil some Forgotten Truth that will make you quake at the wisdom of those who came before us.

We won't know until we try.

The request lines are open.

saving his blog by killing the conceit

A month ago I decided I no longer wanted to maintain both this blog and my writing/career advice blog Dennis Cass Wants You To Be More Awesome. Rather than say this directly, I thought I'd be clever and pretend Dennis Cass is . . . was in a coma.

The idea was to kill this blog without deleting it, and to do so in a way that was funny or at the very least mildly amusing.

This idea was a bad idea for four reasons:

1. People thought the coma was a cynical ploy for driving traffic.

2. People thought I had given up on the dream.

3. Writing meta anti-posts just as hard as writing real posts.

4. Not funny.

And so I am pleased to announce that this blog is no longer in a coma. All better. Just like that.

I am currently on vacation. When I return to work on September 3rd, Dennis Cass is . . . will enter its fourth (and final) incarnation.

Thanks for the flowers.

feeling his blog slip away

I was working on a post for Dennis Cass Wants You To Be More Awesome when I heard a crashing sound on the other side of the internet. I rushed over to find this blog collapsed . . . in a heap . . . of . . . blog parts.

I'm really at a loss. The encouragement and support people have shown in the past few weeks only makes it harder. Blogs don't just go away, do they?

Tell me they don't.

meeting with the best blog doctors

I've been consulting with the best blog doctors in the country. We stand at my blog's bedside and machines bleep and flowers wilt and not a single, overpaid one of them can tell me something I don't already know.

I feel like I'm in a soap opera.

Am I wearing an eye patch? Is my name Steele? Why can't I forgive Lexi?

They say that it's not me.

Of course it's not me! If I had no words left, then why would things be going so well over at Dennis Cass Wants You To Be More Awesome? If I had run out of ideas, then how do you explain all the progress on the second book? Or the TV pilot?

They say it's not Blogger's fault.

This was from that smug bastard from the Mayo. As if I wouldn't recognize server trouble.

They say that sometimes blogs just die.
I refuse to believe this one. My blog is less than three years old. It's a puppy! A sweet, frolicsome puppy.

It can't die! Not when there's a new slate of writers over at Book Roast. Not when book launch 2.0 is still attracting readers. Not when HEAD CASE: How I Lost My Mind Trying to Understand My Brain is still in stock at Amazon.

Please, stop reading. I cannot bear to think that you'll be here when this blog slips away into the void. Stop visiting. Stop reading. Just stop.