General

Literature — Comments Off on Caught with my book pants down
09
Dec 04

Caught with my book pants down

Damn. Damn. Damn. I’m devouring this book, A Storm of Swords, and I’m quickly starting to realize that there’s no way in hell the sequel is going to be out in time for me to read when I finish this installment.

This series is very good as I mentioned earlier. In thinking about it today, I realized a few things that make it exceptional:

  1. It is character and plot driven. Fantasy novels often get caught up rhapsodizing over the setting, the history, the culture, and fantastic elements of the story and forget about the story itself. In this series the details support and help move the plot forward. Sure, there are swords, dragons, giants, and the other fantastic trappings you would expect, but it is in service to the narrative. The characters make the story come alive and the plot gets you involved as a reader.
  2. On a related note, the details provide richness. This richness fleshes out the world, it doesn’t distract.
  3. The world is fantastic but realistic. The characters are complex. Some “bad guys” do good things, some “good guys” do bad things. There are few overt judgments and no priggish morality. If I may be heretical, The Lord of the Rings was often tedious in its simplistic view of good and evil.
  4. The entire series is wall to wall with action, intrigue, sex, violence, and good dialogue. It is unpredictable. Anything can happen to anyone and any character can die at any time even if he or she seems essential.
  5. The story is told from several different points of view and these points of view are often conflicting. The reader is given an opportunity to think about what’s actually going on, which is rare.

Let’s just say I’m glad to find a good series to enjoy. It’s not heavy reading, but I think you might like it.

General — Comments Off on Ugh
08
Dec 04

Ugh

Somehow I screwed up my stylesheet and overwrote it, and of course, my backups do not work.

Update: Yay, I had a copy at work.

Cool Tools / Personal — 4 Comments
07
Dec 04

Take my word for it: Razors

Let’s talk about something easily overlooked… shaving. As upwardly mobile primates, we somehow decided along the way that we needed hair removal to maintain an illusion of youth and smoothness. This has been a hassle ever since.

For the past couple of years, I’ve been a daily shaver with few exceptions. I usually even shave on the weekends to prevent the brown and red stubble that looks like wheat smut coating the lower half of my face. Let’s face it, most men don’t look so hot with facial hair. The special few might, but I’m not one of them.

So, after using the Gillette Mach3 for several years I switched to the Schick Quattro, probably because I figured four blades were better than three. For the last couple of weeks I had to start using the Mach3 again because I ran out of blades for the Quattro. Now, I actually prefer it to the Quattro for a couple of reasons. First of all, I like the way the Mach3 head swivels and the angle of the razor itself. Also, it’s light. I feel more like I’m pulling it lightly across my face whereas the Quattro feels heavy and awkward.

Here’s something that annoys the crap out of me. Why are razorblades so damn expensive? This is not some technology handed down by alien benefactors. It’s 3-4 sharp pieces of metal wedged into a plastic bar. Why does this cost 12$ for 8 blades?

While I’m on the subject I’ve also found a shaving cream I’m very happy with. It’s made by Aveeno. It helps you get a better shave and makes your skin feel nice and smooth. It’s bonus that it gives your face a nice oatmeal smell.

Personal / Science — Comments Off on Shooting stars
07
Dec 04

Shooting stars

I’m surprised I forgot to mention this but on Thanksgiving night as I was driving back from my father’s house in the country, Jody and I spotted a meteor streaking across the night sky in front of us. It was so close you could see sparks and fire flying off of it. It must have been bigger and farther away than it seemed because it moved slower than you would expect. I wish I could have seen where it landed. Maybe then I could have found baby Superman. It was strange being out on a country road, in the dark and quiet and seeing something like that happen right in front of you.

General — 4 Comments
06
Dec 04

Interesting films and things

  1. I’m interested in watching the Sci-Fi channel’s miniseries based on the Earthsea novels by Ursula K. Le Guin. Unfortunately, I do not have cable. Maybe I can download it when it finally airs as I’m sure someone will have a torrent up for it. It has one of the guys from LOTR and the luscious Lana (Kristin Kreuk) from the WB’s Smallville.
  2. Alaric sent out a link to the new Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie movie, “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”, by the director of the “Bourne Supremacy”, which I really liked. I’m tempted to pick up one of the Ludlum novels to check and see if they’re any good.
Literature / Software / Internet — 3 Comments
05
Dec 04

Little bits worth mentioning

  1. My mom called and told me she got promoted to Vice President at whatever the name of the company is that she works for. I’m proud of her.
  2. We had the McRib challenge today. A friend of mine (who shall remain nameless) ate 8 McRib sandwiches. It was excruciating to watch. I don’t think I could have held down more than 2.
  3. I’m in the thick of a new (new to me) fantasy series by George R.R. Martin. You know a series is going to be good when the author has two middle initials. The books are engrossing, especially for their level of detail. I do find myself getting annoyed by the recurring mention of certain words or phrases. It’s hard to read when you keep rolling your eyes. All in all, they are excellent as far as fantasy novels go. If you go to his website, he has a section where he lists what he’s currently reading, which is cool because I like getting book recommendations from authors.
  4. If you’re like me, you don’t make a lot of money. So, it’s good to know where it’s going and how much you have squirreled away in different accounts and locations. For that reason, I heartily recommend Microsoft Money. I’ve been using it for almost 2 years since it came preloaded on my laptop. I liked it, so much that I bought the 2004 edition some time last year. Microsoft Money connects to my bank and downloads and organizes all my transactions. I can pull reports on how much I’ve spent on coffee throughout the year, for example, and it does other things like provide reminders to pay bills, etc. Microsoft Money has really helped me get my financial house in order. I can honestly say that it has saved me thousands of dollars just because I have a handle on my money situation. Knowledge is power. I haven’t tried Quicken, but I would assume it does a lot of the same things.
General — Comments Off on Google AdSense
03
Dec 04

Google AdSense

I’m trying AdSense ads out on the right of the page. Let me know if you hate it or if you don’t care. I like trying new things and I’m curious if you can make any money at it, which would help defray the costs of having a website.

If anyone wants help trying this out, let me know and I’ll be glad to help you. You can read about it more here.

I just realized that I’ve been blogging steadily for 4 years. That’s kinda cool and kinda embarrassing. I’d like to lock a lot of the entries just because I don’t feel the same way anymore about a lot of things, and I don’t even feel like the same person. I’d rather not have people read things I wrote during very different periods in my life and assume that it is representative of anything about me. On the other hand, I guess it is a document of sorts. I’ll think more about it. There is a lot to be said for starting with a clean slate.

Literature / Personal / Quotations / Religion/philosophy — Comments Off on I like lists and bullets
30
Nov 04

I like lists and bullets

I haven’t been inspired to write long entries and I find little notes to be more helpful lately.

  • Soundtrack for today:
    1. Pantera – This Love You have to love caveman lyrics like: “You keep this love, fist, scar, break”
    2. Notorious B.I.G – Hypnotize It just came on the radio. Nice sampling.
  • Christmas wishlist:
    1. XM MyFi
    2. Treadmill (I have a spare tire that needs puncturing especially if I even think about going to my 10 year high school reunion.)
    3. Books by or about Otto Weininger. I’ve always been perversely fascinated with history’s heretics.
  • Provocative William Blake quotations:
    • Active Evil is better than Passive Good.
    • Drive your cart and your plow over the bones of the dead.
    • The fox provides for himself, but God provides for the lion.
Personal / Software / Internet — 4 Comments
29
Nov 04

Short Jots

  • The holidays could have been better and it could have been worse, but I’m glad to have it behind me. It was nice to visit with some of the family, and it’s interesting to see what changes from year to year. The food was great and I got to visit with both parents. On a scale of 1 to 5, the whole experience rates a 2.
  • We got to finally meet Sab’s friend Justin last Wednesday. He came in from San Luis Obispo to visit. We went to Hyde Park Bar & Grill for dinner, which Sab seems to love for some reason. Justin was very cute and funny, and everyone seemed to have a lot of fun. He’s the kind of person who needs to move to Austin because he’s easy to talk to.
  • I spent about 20 hours this weekend just playing World of Warcraft by Blizzard Entertainment where some of my friends work. It’s super-addictive. Here are just a few things I got to do in game that were really cool:
    1. Tamed a mountain lion and named it “Meow”. She fought by my side until level 15 when I ditched her for a Hyena I named “Giggler”. Apparently, I’m damn creative with pet names. (screenshot)
    2. I fished for a long time off the docks and banks and pulled up some clams with pearls inside as well as all sorts of fish.
    3. Helped get rid of Alliance players (Dwarves, Night Elves, etc.) who invaded our area. PvP is fun! It’s also something EQ2 lacks.
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