jaru

Bumper Sticker of the Day

Wed, 14 May 2008 18:16:38 GMT

Life is like a Corndog.

I don't know why, it just is.

Semi-Annual light bulb changing day

Wed, 07 May 2008 19:43:39 GMT

During our daily ten minute break time at work, I typically take my book into the men's room ( yes, I take a book with me pretty much everywhere I go. Thanks to my warped sense of humor, I've come to actually relish the looks I get, of "You actually read? What are you some kind of weirdo?" ). This February, when I noticed it was getting a little difficult to see in there, I asked my supervisor to let maintenance know that four of the six fluorescent tubes were burnt out; perhaps they could consider replacing them? ( This was right before my last vacation, the second week of February. ) About three weeks ago, seeing that nothing had been done yet, I asked if it was too soon to remind them about the problem, or if it would seem like "nagging", and he laughed and wrote it down again in the log. Two weeks ago, another one burnt out, leaving one lone tube still burning; I pretty much gave up on trying to read in the bathroom. Note that it has been nearly three months since I first mentioned it, and that was after more than half of them were already burned out. I hadn't really been paying attention to the timing before that, but I'm sure that it had been at least a couple of months since the full complement were lit.

This morning when I got to work, however, everything was nicely bright. Between the "box-line" ( my work area ), the office, and the men's room, ( and, for all I know, the women's room ) I think they replaced at least two dozen tubes. It was such a drastic change that I wanted to make sure I wrote an entry about it, so six months from now I can see just how accurate my subject line is...

Quote of the Day

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 09:27:37 GMT

Craig Ferguson, host of "The Late, Late Show", was talking about the fact that the new Jackie Chan/Jet Li movie "The Forbidden Kingdom"
involves time travel. He pointed out that the first one to write about time travel was H. G. Wells, and said, "H. G. Wells was a great writer, but he wrote Science Fiction. Science Fiction writers don't get any respect in the literary community. A Science Fiction writer is like a talk show host: There's no respect, there's no money, and they're always searching for intelligent life among the stars."

Patterned with what?

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:27:01 GMT

At work today, during our daily ten minute break the conversation happened to turn to ties. One of our part-time supervisors then said that his father had recently borrowed a tie from his uncle to wear to a funeral. As they were coming out, the uncle admitted that the tie he had loaned was something of a practical joke: the little blue shapes in the pattern proved, upon closer examination, to be representations of Viagra pills.

The guy telling the story then said, "He spent the rest of the day giving him shit about it."
Our full-time supe, who makes an often futile attempt to encourage people to use appropriate language, said, "Gave him crap about it."
Conceding the point, the first guy said "Gave him a hard time about it, then. "

I interjected, "No pun intended," which apparently only drew attention to the phrasing that no one else had yet noticed, judging by the ensuing groans.

Odd itching

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 01:05:26 GMT

One day late in the summer of 1972, I was over in the next-door neighbor's yard playing in their kiddie pool ( I assume with the children in residence there, though after all this time I have no recollection of them whatsoever ). I somehow slipped and fell against the outer edge at such a strange angle that I managed to open a gash about an inch and a half long in line with my lower left rib. I ran home crying, then spent five minutes dripping blood on our back porch, calling for my Mom, because I had been scolded the day before for coming into the house wet from playing in the water. As she was patching me up, Mom explained that, while following the rules is usually a good thing, there are times when it is appropriate to over-ride them.

Nearly thirty-six years later, I still have a visible scar there, although it's pretty faint.
For some reason I have yet to fathom, it has been itching just at the thresh-hold of irritation for the last three days.
Weird.

Not quite lolcats

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 07:39:54 GMT

I'm not really all that into the whole LOLCAT phenomenon, but this t-shirt cracked me up.

Printer Speed

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:17:30 GMT

About a month ago, I splurged a little and bought myself a new printer, because I found a really good deal on one that was highly recommended by one of the computer magazines I read. It is only a monochrome laser, but since I rarely print anything that really needs to be in color, I decided that I could just keep my old inkjet for those jobs; the main reason I wanted a laser printer was because the inkjet doesn't do that well printing text crisply. Yesterday I happened to think that I hadn't compared the two, so I set my watch to "stopwatch" and printed out ten pages of the same file on each printer, and I was a bit startled at the result.

From the moment I clicked "print" to the last page falling into the out-tray was four minutes, twenty-seven seconds ( 4:27 ) on the inkjet. The exact same ten pages for the laser printer: thirty-seven seconds ( :37 ), almost nine times faster. Quite an improvement.

Bumper Sticker of the Day

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:15:26 GMT

I Started with Nothing --
And I've still got most of it

It came to me in a dream

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 07:26:44 GMT

Remember that Sesame Street segment "One of these things in not like the other?"

Baby duck == duckling
Baby goose == gosling
Baby eagle == eaglet
Baby chicken == chick

Not terribly significant, I know, it just struck me as weird.

If the shoe fits --

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 13:52:30 GMT

Buy two pairs. ( I've also heard it said "Buy it in every color", but in this case they only come in one color, and for work boots I'm more interested in feel than looks. ) So I did.

I kind of have unusual feet, or maybe I'm just picky about different things than most shoe buyers, because I always have a tough time finding shoes that suit me as far as fit and function; looks I pretty much always have to compromise on, because my taste is far too minimalist to suit any company's marketing department. I've learned the hard way to always check to make sure new shoes don't chafe the underside of my ankle bones ( about 2/3 of the ones I try on do ), and with steel-toe boots I also have to check the edges of the toe cap for rubbing against the outer sides of my toes. Plus, I'm a hard-core cheap-skate, and even relatively inexpensive shoes usually provoke a fair amount of sticker shock .

When I first started working at UPS, I wore out a couple of pairs of just regular hiking boots, before I found a brand of steel-toe work boots that suited me. These were manufactured by Wolverine, but carried the brand-name Stanley -- as in, the hand-tool company. [ According to the show I saw on the History channel, Stanley started out making hinges ( they were the first to include the screws in the box, which was just the gimmick to make them out-sell every other brand ), then grew to be a huge company using the strategy now followed by Microsoft -- seek out small, underfunded companies with a good idea, buy them out, use your bigger company's market penetration to sell that good idea to a whole lot more customers, buy out more small companies with the resultant profit. ] For about the next three years I just bought a new pair of these when the old ones wore out, and was pretty happy with them ( aside from the minor annoyance that they tended to develop a squeak in the insole ), but then they got discontinued.

I then spent several months while the last pair of Stanleys gradually disintegrated around my feet looking for a suitable replacement, during which time I found out the hard way that high-top boots are definitely not for me, at least for work boots -- the skin on my feet usually develops calluses rather than blisters, but the same cannot be said for my lower calves, and having chafed-raw blisters six inches up my leg is not only painful it's just plain weird. [ By the way, if anyone is interested in a pair of black, all-leather, steel-toe work boots, size 11W, only worn for about a week, I'll send them to you for the cost of shipping. ] The ones I finally settled on were Skechers, and although they were clearly work shoes, I found it really hard to buy a brand whose other shoes are marketed almost exclusively to "sk8er boiz" ( Ironically, when I was in the store yesterday buying the boots which this post is about, Sk8er Boi was actually playing on their muzak. ). Once I got past that, though, these proved to be pretty good shoes for the purpose, but, like the Stanleys, when it came time to buy a new pair they had been discontinued.

There is a Doc Marten's warehouse near the UPS building where I work, and they usually have an invitation-only clearance sale in mid-November, with a limited number a tickets being passed out to UPS employees. In the past I hadn't been interested in participating in this because my main perception of Doc Martens had been as "goth fashion accessory", but given my experience with the Skechers, I decided to give it a shot and went to the one in 2006. I found a style that I liked, that didn't irritate any of my sensitive spots, and between the fact that my two previous choices weren't around any more, and this was, after all, a clearance sale, I bought two pairs ( $35/pair ), and would have bought more if there had been any more in my size. I messed up the timing last November, and didn't make it to the last clearance sale, but because I had only been wearing one of those pairs for the past year ( still in pretty good shape ) and still had the other pair in pretty much brand new condition, I wasn't really all that concerned yet with looking for new ones.

In fact, when I was in the store yesterday I was actually looking for a pair of dress shoes, with a 15% off coupon from last Sunday's paper, on top of several brands being on sale. When I didn't have any luck on that front, I drifted down the aisle to the work boots while I was there, and found these Timberlands. I think they are the first steel-toe boots I've found in which my toes can't even feel the edges of the toe-cap; even the Stanleys, Skechers, and Docs that I've liked have given me calluses on the side of my big toes where it rubs, and some pairs I've tried on and rejected have been really bad there. The Timberland website lists them at $85, and my final price ended up only $59.50 ( each ), which is a pretty good price for work boots, though of course still more than I really wanted to pay, but they are really comfortable.

How It's Made: Change Machines

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 19:16:39 GMT

For those who haven't encountered it, "How It's Made" is a sort of documentary TV series that shows, as the name implies, how things are made. Each half-hour episode usually explains the manufacturing process of three or four diverse products, with peppy synthesizer background music and narration that tends toward groan-worthy word play/puns ( "groan-worthy" in this case being intended as a compliment ). The third product in the episode I just finished watching was "change machines", which was the reason I tuned in to watch it at a time when I had been trying to catch up on friends-list/mailing-list stuff.

[ It's probably revealing more about my bad habits than I should, but I usually keep one tab of my browser "tuned" to my excite.com page, because even several years after ditching the ISP that originally used it as a home page, it still has far better TV listings than any other web site I've ever located. Most of the other ones people have recommended tend to have me frustrated-ly screaming obscenities at the computer in very short order. ]

As I was saying: I was interested in watching the segment on change machines because I spent nearly ten years working at a video arcade, during which time I spent a lot of hours maintaining several of them ( empty bills/ fill quarters daily {sometimes more than once} ; trouble-shoot as necessary; disassemble-clean-reassemble quarterly ). Although that was about eight years ago now, I would still say I know those things inside and out. Imagine my surprise, then, to find that the company ( "Standard", I think ) that makes the brand profiled in this episode uses a coin transport method utterly unlike the one used by the brand with which I'm familiar ( Rowe ). From what I could see on the program, I think the Rowe version would work better, both from point of view of the customer ( faster coin dispensing ) and business ( easier to clean, more adjustable ), but it's hard to compare a few minutes of video footage against my years of hands-on experience.

Gas prices

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:40:00 GMT

Friday: $3.07/gallon

Monday: $3.11/gallon

Tuesday: $3.17/gallon

Wednesday: $3.21/gallon

ETA -- Thursday: $3.23/gallon

I'm sensing a pattern here...

Sometimes called a "thumb" drive

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:34:17 GMT

I bought a 4GB USB flash drive yesterday, on sale for $20, and I thought it was interesting that it is simultaneously the largest ( capacity ) and smallest ( physically ) I've ever had. It is literally the same length and width as the first joint of my thumb, and just slightly thicker than two house keys. I could easily clip it to my keychain, but there isn't much point as I don't access computers other than my own very often.
According to the Office Max ad in the Sunday paper, the regular price is $27.99, but the web site still has them listed at $42.00, so you could say I got it for less than half price.

Bright College Days

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 20:32:59 GMT

Reflex-01,
originally uploaded by khavrinen237.

.
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This is the first of seven pictures I took of one of Ford's Concept cars at the 2008 Portland International Auto Show, called "Reflex" -- clicking on the picture will take you to my Flickr page where you can see the other six.

Long, long ago, during my first year in college, I lived in a dorm that I had naively selected based on architecture, rather than reputation ( since this was before the advent of the internet, and I didn't know anyone already attending there, I didn't really have any way to research the reputation, and since I had no experience with college life, I probably wouldn't have thought to do so anyway ). Therefore, it wasn't until I was already committed for the year that I learned it had a rep as the "party" dorm. Since I am about as far from being a partier as it is humanly possible to be, this was a poor choice for me, but thing that bothered me most about living in that dorm was the fact that our next door neighbor apparently only owned two tapes. These were "Rio" and "Seven and the Ragged Tiger", both by Duran Duran -- which makes it pretty obvious just when I went to college -- and they played them loudly enough to be heard through the wall, over and over and Over and OVER. As a result, it was several years before I could hear anything by Duran Duran without my temper boiling over, but now I usually only feel a bit of '80s nostalgia.

What does this have to do with the picture of the car? One of the most recognizable of those incessantly replayed songs was "Reflex", so of course as soon as I saw the name on this car, I was stuck with that song playing in my head for the rest of the day.

First photo from the Auto Show

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 17:48:25 GMT

OregonTrailLegend,
originally uploaded by khavrinen237.

.
.
I took a whole lot of pictures at the 2008 Portland International Auto Show, which I will be posting more of once I get them sorted and edited, but I wanted to put this one up now. It ( obviously ) doesn't have anything to do with the Auto Show, it's just a plaque I saw on the wall of the Oregon Convention Center as I was leaving that I found really amusing.

In case you can't read it from the photo ( if you click on it, it will take you to the Flickr page with the full size version ), it says:

The Oregon Trail branched in Idaho, at Fort Hall. The route south to California was marked by a heap of gold quartz, the one north by a sign lettered "To Oregon." Those who could read came here.

--An Oregon Legend

Although I'm from Washington, at that time it was still part of the "Oregon Territory", so I consider it more or less the same thing.

BBQ from where?!?

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 21:08:27 GMT

I got a good laugh out of my Mom today at lunch.

The menu for the restaurant we went to listed "Danish Baby-back Ribs", which she pointed out to me, saying "Danish?!", in a WTF tone of voice. ( Not that my Mom would actually say WTF, but you know what I mean. )

I replied, "You know: round and flat, with cream cheese in the middle."

Left Field of Dreams

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 02:10:46 GMT

I think the dream I just woke up from may just be in the running for the most bizarre one I've ever had, and it's one that's almost impossible to avoid being Freudian about -- though I'm not really like that, I swear .
I was taking a college-level art course ( not something I would be likely to do ) and the teacher was giving us a surprise assignment for the day.
We were to use whatever materials she gave us ( no picking and choosing ) to produce a piece of abstract art that represented our own, um, genitals, and be prepared to give a speech during the next class period explaining in just what way it was representational. The materials I was assigned primarily included a tube of cardboard and wire mesh screen... twelve feet long by ten inches in diameter. ( See? Try and make that not seem Freudian. ) ( I've been deleting the contents of my spam folder unread, honest... )
But it's not quite done being weird yet: For some reason, in the dream it was very important that we were told that this assignment was sponsored by Snapple. ( I'm not real sure where that fits with the "Freudian" angle )

Is there really any way to say that, while I'm comfortable enough with the size of my penis to have never been interested in all the spam about increasing it, I certainly don't think of it as "huge" -- without seeming to be in denial about this dream?

It's only taken me thirty years

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 19:36:02 GMT

For my job at UPS what I do is load packages onto the cars in a specific order, so that as the drivers go through their day, the next package on the shelf should be the next address they'll come to on their route. Since I've been doing this for several years, I can just look at most of the labels and know exactly where the package should go, but there are a handful of exceptions; addresses which get things so seldom that their sequence numbers don't stay fresh in my mind, and I have to look them up on my charts to remember where they should be loaded. One of those which I usually still have to look up, because they hardly ever get deliveries except during the holiday season, is "Rainier Terrace", and part of the reason I have difficulty with it is I keep forgetting that there are two "i"s in "Rainier". Thus, when I look it up on the ( alphabetically arranged ) chart, it isn't where I keep expecting it to be.

Yesterday, reminded by a recent spate of emails on the Bujold list talking about Library Thing, I dug out another box of books that I hadn't entered into my various book databases, and started cataloging them. This box contained mainly cartoon collections ( Calvin and Hobbes, Foxtrot, Bloom County ) and the children's books that I have retained from my childhood ( a surprising number of which prove to be about cats ). In addition, there were also a couple of folders of old school work, which I glanced through curiously -- and burst out laughing. One of these was a report I did on "Washington State" in ( I think ) fourth or fifth grade, which is marked "A-". I would have gotten an "A", except for my spelling: I left out one of the "i"s in "Mt. Rainier".

Books read 2007

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 10:00:01 GMT

My total for this year turned out higher than I expected, mostly because of the fact that I didn't read as many of the longer books on my to-be-read- shelves as I had planned; I just never seemed to be in the mood for any of them when I was trying to decide what to read next. Still, given the number that were in excess of 500 pages, an average above a book every other day is respectable enough, I guess.

{+} = Re-read     {++} = Re-read ( more than 4 years ago )   [R] = Reviewed [CS] = Cover Scan

1.     Dzur, Steven Brust; 285 pgs. ISBN 0765301482 Jan 2
2.     West of Eden, Harry Harrison; 474 pgs. ISBN 0553265512 {++} Jan 21   [CS]
3.     Winter in Eden, Harry Harrison; 350 pgs. ISBN 0553051636 {++} Jan 28
4.     Return to Eden, Harry Harrison; 291 pgs. ISBN 0553053159 {++} Jan 31
5.     Blindfold Game, Dana Stabenow; 313 pgs. ISBN 0312937555 Feb 3
6.     Moon Called, Patricia Briggs; 288 pgs. ISBN 0441013813 {+} Feb 4
7.     Blood Bound, Patricia Briggs; 292 pgs. ISBN 9780441014736 Feb 5
8.     Running from the Deity, Alan Dean Foster; 280 pgs. ISBN 0345461614 Feb 6
9.     Bloodhype, Alan Dean Foster; 249 pgs. ISBN 0345258452 {++} Feb 7
10.    Ghosts in the Snow, Tamara Siler Jones; 465 pgs. ISBN 0553587099 Feb 9
11.    Dealing with Dragons, Patricia C. Wrede; 212 pgs. ISBN 0590457225 Feb 10
12.    Searching for Dragons, Patricia C. Wrede; 242 pgs. ISBN 0590457217 Feb 11
13.    Calling on Dragons, Patricia C. Wrede; 244 pgs. ISBN 0590484672 Feb 13
14.    Talking to Dragons, Patricia C. Wrede; 232 pgs. ISBN 0441795927 Feb 14
15.    False Dawn, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro; 208 pgs. ISBN 0385131445 {++} Feb 16
16.    Pegasus in Space, Anne McCaffrey; 432 pgs. ISBN 0345434676 Feb 23
17.    The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin; 215 pgs. ISBN 0356029476 Mar 1
18.    Carnivores of Light and Darkness, Alan Dean Foster; 344 pgs. ISBN 0446521329 {++} Mar 2
19.    Into the Thinking Kingdoms, Alan Dean Foster; 375 pgs. ISBN 0446608041 Mar 3
20.    A Triumph of Souls, Alan Dean Foster; 406 pgs. ISBN 044652218X Mar 5
21.    Knight Tenebrae, Julianne Lee; 356 pgs. ISBN 0441014399 Mar 6
22.    Knight's Blood, Julianne Lee; 292 pgs. ISBN 9780441014859   Mar 9
23.    Survival, Julie Czerneda; 475 pgs. ISBN 0756402611   Mar 11
24.    Migration, Julie Czerneda; 520 pgs. ISBN 0756403464   Mar 13
25.    Regeneration, Julie Czerneda; 570 pgs. ISBN 9780756404116 Mar 15
26.    The Mote in God's Eye, Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle; 560 pgs. ISBN 0671741926 Mar 19
27.    The Gripping Hand, Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle; 412 pgs. ISBN 0671795740 Mar 21
28.    Earthchild, Sharon Webb; 176 pgs. ISBN 0553236660 {++} Mar 22   [CS]
29.    Earth Song, Sharon Webb; 176 pgs. ISBN 0553239937 {++} Mar 23
30.    Ram Song, Sharon Webb; 220 pgs. ISBN 0553251686 {++} Mar 24   [CS]
31.    Firebirds Rising, Sharyn November, ed.; 523 pgs. ISBN 0142405493   Mar 26
32.    The Dragon and the George, Gordon R. Dickson; 279 pgs. ISBN 0345350502 {++} Mar 27
33.    The Dragon Knight, Gordon R. Dickson; 503 pgs. ISBN 0812509439 {++} Mar 29
34.    The Dragon on the Border, Gordon R. Dickson; 393 pgs. ISBN 0441166571 {++} Mar 30
35.    The Dragon at War, Gordon R. Dickson; 375 pgs. ISBN 0441166113 {++} Mar 31
36.    The Dragon, the Earl, & the Troll, Gordon R. Dickson; 442 pgs. ISBN 044100282X {++} Apr 1
37.    The Dragon and the Djinn, Gordon R. Dickson; 387 pgs. ISBN 0441004954 {++} Apr 1
38.    The Dragon and the Gnarly King, Gordon R. Dickson; 472 pgs. ISBN 0812562704 {++} Apr 2
39.    The Dragon in Lyonesse, Gordon R. Dickson; 505 pgs. ISBN 0812562712 Apr 4
40.    The Dragon and the Fair Maid of Kent, Gordon R. Dickson; 534 pgs. ISBN 0812562720 Apr 6
41.    Daughter of the Desert, Noel-Anne Brennan; 323 pgs. ISBN 0441013945 Apr 9
42.    The Soprano Sorceress, L.E. Modesitt, Jr.; 664 pgs. ISBN 0812545591 Apr 11
43.    The Spellsong War, L.E. Modesitt, Jr.; 657 pgs. ISBN 0812540026 Apr 12
44.    Darksong Rising, L.E. Modesitt, Jr.; 501 pgs. ISBN 0812566688 Apr 13
45.    The Shadow Sorceress, L.E. Modesitt, Jr.; 532 pgs. ISBN 0765340135 Apr 14
46.    Shadowsinger, L.E. Modesitt, Jr.; 597 pgs. ISBN 0765342588 Apr 15
47.    Catnap, Carole Nelson Douglas; 241 pgs. ISBN 0812516826 {+} Apr 16
48.    Pussyfoot, Carole Nelson Douglas; 304 pgs. ISBN 0812516834 {+} Apr 17
49.    Cat on a Blue Monday, Carole Nelson Douglas; 374 pgs. ISBN 0812534417 {+} Apr 18
50.    Cat in a Crimson Haze, Carole Nelson Douglas; 408 pgs. ISBN 0812544145 {+} Apr 21
51.    Cat in a Diamond Dazzle, Carole Nelson Douglas; 414 pgs. ISBN 0812555066 {+} Apr 23
52.    Cat with an Emerald Eye, Carole Nelson Douglas; 384 pgs. ISBN 0812540123 {+} Apr 25
53.    Cat in a Flamingo Fedora, Carole Nelson Douglas; 373 pgs. ISBN 0812565355 {++} Apr 27
54.    Cat in a Golden Garland, Carole Nelson Douglas; 406 pgs. ISBN 0812530365 {++} Apr 29
55.    Cat on a Hyacinth Hunt, Carole Nelson Douglas; 383 pgs. ISBN 0812561864 {++} Apr 30
56.    Cat in an Indigo Mood, Carole Nelson Douglas; 369 pgs. ISBN 0812561872 {++} May 1
57.    Cat in a Jeweled Jumpsuit, Carole Nelson Douglas; 414 pgs. ISBN 0812566742 {++} May 2
58.    Cat in a Kiwi Con, Carole Nelson Douglas; 416 pgs. ISBN 031286955X   May 3
59.    Cat in a Leopard Spot, Carole Nelson Douglas; 380 pgs. ISBN 031285370X May 3
60.    Cat in a Midnight Choir, Carole Nelson Douglas; 406 pgs. ISBN 0812570219 May 4
61.    Cat in a Neon Nightmare, Carole Nelson Douglas; 373 pgs. ISBN 0765345927 May 5
62.    Cat in an Orange Twist, Carole Nelson Douglas; 423 pgs. ISBN 0765345935 May 5
63.    Cat in a Hot Pink Pursuit, Carole Nelson Douglas; 451 pgs. ISBN 0765352680 May 6
64.    Cat in a Quicksilver Caper, Carole Nelson Douglas; 364 pgs. ISBN 9780765352699 May 6
65.    The Last Colony, John Scalzi; 316 pgs. ISBN 9780765316974 May 7
66.    Copernick's Rebellion, Leo Frankowski; 202 pgs. ISBN 0345340337 May 8
67.    The Course of Empire, Eric Flint & K.D. Wentworth; 664 pgs. ISBN 0743498933 May 10
68.    The Buried Pyramid, Jane Lindskold; 498 pgs. ISBN 076534159X May 14
69.    Farthest Star, Frederik Pohl & Jack Williamson; 250 pgs. ISBN 0345307003 May 16   [CS]
70.    Wall Around a Star, Frederik Pohl & Jack Williamson; 275 pgs. ISBN 0345289951 May 18
71.    Mirabile, Janet Kagan; 276 pgs. ISBN 0812509935 {++} May 20 [CS]
73.    Infinity Hold, Barry B. Longyear; 281 pgs. ISBN 0445209526 May 21
73.    Good Omens, Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett; 366 pgs. ISBN 0441003257 May 22
74.    The Grey Horse, R. A. MacAvoy; 247 pgs. ISBN 0553265571 {++} May 23
75.    Factoring Humanity, Robert J. Sawyer; 352 pgs. ISBN 0812571290 May 24
76.    Path of Fate, Diana Pharaoh Francis; 369 pgs. ISBN 0451459504 May 25
77.    Path of Honor, Diana Pharaoh Francis; 379 pgs. ISBN 0451459911 May 27
78.    Path of Blood, Diana Pharaoh Francis; 452 pgs. ISBN 0451460820 May 29
79.    Freehold, Michael Z. Williamson; 660 pgs. ISBN 0743471792 May 30
80.    The Glass Harmonica, Louise Marley; 369 pgs. ISBN 0441008364   June 2
81.    Son of Darkness, Josepha Sherman; 298 pgs. ISBN 0451456661 {++} June 5
82.    Manta's Gift, Timothy Zahn; 408 pgs. ISBN 081258032X June 7
83.    Earthweb, Marc Stiegler; 305 pgs. ISBN 067157809X   {++} June 9
84.    Valor's Choice, Tanya Huff; 407 pgs. ISBN 0886778964 {++} June 11
85.    The Better Part of Valor, Tanya Huff; 411 pgs. ISBN 0756400627 {++} June 12
86.    The Heart of Valor, Tanya Huff; 357 pgs. ISBN 0756404355 June 14
87.    The Integral Trees, Larry Niven; 267 pgs. ISBN 0345320654   June 21
88.    Second Star, Dana Stabenow; 202 pgs. ISBN 0441757227 {++} June 25
89.    A Handful of Stars, Dana Stabenow; 215 pgs. ISBN 0441316158 {++} June 26
90.    Red Planet Run, Dana Stabenow; 230 pgs. ISBN 0441001351 {++} June 27
91.    The Sharing Knife: Legacy, Lois McMaster Bujold; 377 pgs. ISBN 9780061139055 June 29
92.    Arthur, King, Dennis Lee Anderson; 360 pgs. ISBN 006105433X {++} July 2
93.    Salt, Mark Kurlansky; 449 pgs. ISBN 0142001619 July 10
94.    In the Garden of Iden, Kage Baker; 294 pgs. ISBN 0380731797 {+} July 12
95.    Sky Coyote, Kage Baker; 289 pgs. ISBN 0380731800 {+} July 13
96.    Mendoza in Hollywood, Kage Baker; 365 pgs. ISBN 0380819007 {+} July 15
97.    Black Projects, White Knights, Kage Baker; 288 pgs. ISBN 1930846304 {+} July 16
98.    The Graveyard Game, Kage Baker; 298 pgs. ISBN 0765311844 {+} July 17
99.    The Life of the World to Come, Kage Baker; 334 pgs. ISBN 0765311321 {+} July 18
100. The Children of the Company, Kage Baker; 300 pgs. ISBN 076531455X {+} July 19
101. The Machine's Child, Kage Baker; 351 pgs. ISBN 0765315513 {+} July 20
102. Gods and Pawns, Kage Baker; 335 pgs. ISBN 9780765315526 July 20
103. The Sons of Heaven, Kage Baker; 431 pgs. ISBN 9780765317469 July 21
104. Night Screams, Ed Gorman, ed.; 351 pgs. ISBN 0451455126 July 23
105. Trouble Magnet, Alan Dean Foster; 272 pgs. ISBN 9780345485045 July 25
106. The Elvenbane, Mercedes Lackey & Andre Norton; 566 pgs. ISBN 0812511751 {++} July 27
107. Elvenblood, Mercedes Lackey & Andre Norton; 348 pgs. ISBN 0312855486 July 29
108. Elvenborn, Mercedes Lackey & Andre Norton; 382 pgs. ISBN 0312864566 July 31
109. The Diamond Age, Neal Stephenson; 499 pgs. ISBN 0553380966 Aug 6
110. Wizards at War, Diane Duane; 551 pgs. ISBN 0152047727 Aug 8
111. On the Prowl, Patricia Briggs, ed.; 341 pgs. ISBN 9780425216590 Aug 9
112. The Faded Sun: Kesrith, C. J. Cherryh; 252 pgs, ISBN 0886774497 Aug 11
113. The Faded Sun: Shon'Jir, C. J. Cherryh; 243 pgs. ISBN 0879974532 Aug 13
114. The Faded Sun: Kutath, C. J. Cherryh; 280 pgs. ISBN 0886771331 Aug 15
115. The Outposter, Gordon R. Dickson; 251 pgs. ISBN 0671721402 Aug 17
116. Ice and Iron, Wilson Tucker; 181 pgs. ISBN 0385004850 Aug 18
117. Cloud Cry, Sydney J. Van Scyoc; 184 pgs. ISBN 0399119477 Aug 19
118. Dragon Weather, Lawrence Watt-Evans; 553 pgs. ISBN 0812589556 Aug 20
119. The Dragon Society, Lawrence Watt-Evans; 468 pgs. ISBN 0765340542 Aug 22
120. Dragon Venom, Lawrence Watt-Evans; 441 pgs. ISBN 0765341700 Aug 24
121. The Cove, Catherine Coulter; 366 pgs. ISBN 0515118656 Aug 25
122. The Maze, Catherine Coulter; 332 pgs. ISBN 0515122491 Aug 26
123. The Target, Catherine Coulter; 381 pgs. ISBN 0515125628   Aug 27
124. The Edge, Cathering Coulter; 349 pgs. ISBN 0515128600 Aug 28
125. Riptide, Catherine Coulter; 355 pgs. ISBN 0515130966 Aug 29
126. Hemlock Bay, Catherine Coulter; 325 pgs. ISBN 0515133302 {++} Aug 30
127. Eleventh Hour, Catherine Coulter; 337 pgs. ISBN 0515135739   Aug 31
128. Blind Side, Catherine Coulter; 339 pgs. ISBN 0515137200 Sep 2
129. Blow Out, Catherine Coulter; 356 pgs. ISBN 0515139254   Sep 5
130. Point Blank, Catherine Coulter; 355 pgs. ISBN 9780515141689   Sep 7
131. Tales of the Impossible, David Copperfield, ed.; 462 pgs. ISBN 0061054925   Sep 10
132. Hominids, Robert J. Sawyer; 413 pgs. ISBN 0765345005 Sep 11
133. Humans, Robert J. Sawyer; 317 pgs. ISBN 0765346753 Sep 12
134. Hybrids, Robert J. Sawyer; 394 pgs. ISBN 076534906X Sep 13
135. Diagnosis: Terminal, F. Paul Wilson, ed.; 349 pgs. ISBN 0812550889 Sep 14
136. Pursuit of the Screamer, Ansen Dibell; 270 pgs. ISBN 0879975806 {++} Sep 16 [CS]
137. Circle, Crescent, Star, Ansen Dibell; 252 pgs. ISBN 0879976039 Sep 18
138. Summerfair, Ansen Dibell; 272 pgs. ISBN 0879977590 Sep 19
139. Taking Flight, Lawrence Watt-Evans; 271 pgs. ISBN 034537715X Sep 21
140. Recovery Man, Kristine Kathryn Rusch; 374 pgs. ISBN 9780451461674 Sep 23
141. The Bodelan Way, Louis Trimble; 158 pgs. ISBN 0451270908 Sep 24
142. Iroshi, Cary Osborne; 216 pgs. ISBN 0441001300    Sep 25
143. Glaive, Cary Osborne; 296 pgs. ISBN 0441003281   Sep 27
144. Persea, Cary Osborne; 219 pgs. ISBN 0441003974   Sep 29
145. The Raven Ring, Patricia C. Wrede; 348 pgs. ISBN 0812514327 Sep 30
146. Slant, Greg Bear; 505 pgs. ISBN 0812524829 Oct 7
147. The Ring of Truth, David J. Lake; 190 pgs. ISBN 0879979356 Oct 13
148. The Door into Fire, Diane Duane; 290 pgs. ISBN 0812536711 {++} Oct 17   [CS]
149. The Door into Shadow, Diane Duane; 298 pgs. ISBN 0812536738 {++} Oct 19 [CS]
150. The Door into Sunset, Diane Duane; 382 pgs. ISBN 0312851847 {++} Oct 20 [CS]
151. The Genesis Shield, Steven Spruill; 374 pgs. ISBN 0812535081 {++} Oct 23 [CS] [R]
152. Dead Heat, Dick Francis; 342 pgs. ISBN 9780399154768 Oct 26
153. The Blood of a Dragon, Lawrence Watt-Evans; 231 pgs. ISBN 0345364104 Oct 27
154. The Princes of the Golden Cage, Nathalie Mallet; 298 pgs. ISBN 9781597800907 Oct 28
155. The Winter Queen, Devin Cary; 282 pgs. ISBN 0441006817 Oct 31
156. With a Single Spell, Lawrence Watt-Evans; 263 pgs. ISBN 0345326164 {+} Nov 1
157. The Spriggan Mirror, Lawrence Watt-Evans; 365 pgs. ISBN 9780843959079 Nov 2
158. The Myriad, R. M. Meluch; 310 pgs. ISBN 0756402794 {+} Nov 3
159. Wolf Star, R. M. Meluch; 328 pgs. ISBN 0756403243 {+} Nov 3
160. The Sagittarus Command, R. M. Meluch; 357 pgs. ISBN 9780756404574 Nov 4
161. His Majesty's Dragon, Naomi Novik; 260 pgs. ISBN 0345481283 Nov 5
162. Throne of Jade, Naomi Novik; 300 pgs. ISBN 0345481291 Nov 6
163. Black Powder War, Naomi Novik; 271 pgs. ISBN 0345481305 Nov 7
164. Empire of Ivory, Naomi Novik; 404 pgs. ISBN 9780345496874 Nov 8
165. Code of Conduct, Kristine Smith; 348 pgs. ISBN 0380807831 {++} Nov 12
166. Rules of Conflict, Kristine Smith; 373 pgs. ISBN 038080784X {++} Nov 16
167. Law of Survival, Kristine Smith; 394 pgs. ISBN 0380807858 {++} Nov 19
168. Contact Imminent, Kristine Smith; 437 pgs. ISBN 0060503580 {++} Nov 22
169. Endgame, Kristine Smith; 416 pgs. ISBN 9780060503598 Nov 28
170. Season of Sacrifice, Mindy L. Klasky; 344 pgs. ISBN 0451458656 Nov 30
171. The Earth Lords, Gordon R. Dickson; 311 pgs. ISBN 0441180442 Dec 6
172. The Outback Stars, Sandra McDonald; 416 pgs. ISBN 9780765316431 Dec 8
173. The Steel of Raithskar, Randall Garrett; 180 pgs. ISBN 0553237470 {++} Dec 9   [CS]
174. The Glass of Dyskornis, Randall Garrett; 174 pgs. ISBN 0553208276 {++} Dec 9 [CS]
175. The Bronze of Eddarta, Randall Garrett; 165 pgs. ISBN 0553232819 {++} Dec 10   [CS]
176. The Well of Darkness, Randall Garrett; 166 pgs. ISBN 0553237195 {++} Dec 10   [CS]
177. The Search for Ka, Randall Garrett; 180 pgs. ISBN 0553241206 {++} Dec 11   [CS]
178. Return to Eddarta, Randall Garrett; 149 pgs. ISBN 0553247093 {++} Dec 12   [CS]
179. The River Wall, Randall Garrett; 274 pgs. ISBN 0553255657 {++} Dec 13   [CS]
180. The Queen's Squadron, R. M. Meluch; 303 pgs. ISBN 0451451694 {++} Dec 15   [CS]
181. Shadow, Anne Logston; 185 pgs. ISBN 0441759890 {++} Dec 16 [CS]
182. Shadow Hunt, Anne Logston; 181 pgs. ISBN 0441760074 {++} Dec 17 [CS]
183. Shadow Dance, Anne Logston; 215 pgs. ISBN 0441759904 {++} Dec 18 [CS]
184. Dagger's Edge, Anne Logston; 230 pgs. ISBN 0441000363 {++} Dec 19   [CS]
185. Dagger's Point, Anne Logston; 264 pgs. ISBN 0441001343 {++} Dec 20   [CS]
186. Masques, Patricia Briggs; 199 pgs. ISBN 0441520995 {++} Dec 21   [CS]
187. The Throme of the Erril of Sherill, Patricia McKillip; 165 pgs. ISBN 0441808395 {++} Dec 22 [CS]
188. Keepers of the Gate, Steven G. Spruill; 239 pgs. ISBN 0440144418 {++} Dec 23   [CS]
189. The Way to Dawnworld, Bill Starr; 249 pgs. ISBN 0345281667 {++} Dec 24   [CS]
190. The Treasure of Wonderwhat, Bill Starr; 232 pgs. ISBN 0345251571 {++} Dec 27   [CS]
191. Virtual Girl, Amy Thomson; 248 pgs. ISBN 0441865003 {++} Dec 28   [CS]
192. Jewels of the Dragon, Allen Wold; 263 pgs. ISBN 0445200561 {++} Dec 29
193. Crown of the Serpent, Allen Wold; 250 pgs. ISBN 0445206241 {++} Dec 30 [CS]
194. Lair of the Cyclops, Allen Wold; 282 pgs. ISBN 0446362476 {++} Dec 31   [CS]

Weighted slightly toward new reads over re-reads ( 113/81 ), despite the fact that only the first two in December were new. When I decided to re-read the Gandalara cycle after "The Outback Stars", I was surprised to notice that I had done cover scans of all of them for Amazon, and I had a sudden whim to read nothing but other books that I had scanned for the rest of the year. ( OK, I didn't do "Jewels of the Dragon," but I figured that two out of three in the series was close enough. I thought it was interesting to notice that two out of the three had cover art depicting the main character, Rikard Braeth, firing his gun left-handed, despite that fact that it is a fairly major plot point that he has an implant in his right palm that links him cybernetically to his gun. Oops. )

This year I'm going to try to get more reviews finished; if I can do one about every three weeks, by the end of the year I'll have nearly doubled the number I've posted so far.

Weird Weather Timeline

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 21:23:03 GMT

12:34 pm -- At the sound of hail falling on the roof, I look outside and discover something I don't think I've ever seen before: hail and snow falling at the same time. It's very strange, because they fall at different velocities, with the hail stones streaking down rapidly while the snow flakes waft down at a much more leisurely pace. I went outside on my balcony and took some pictures, but falling snow/hail never photographs well.

12:41 pm -- The hail stops, leaving something that see-saws unpredictably back and forth across the border between rain and snow, weighted slightly heavier toward the former.

1:07 pm -- The sun comes out from behind the clouds, melting any remaining white off the ground in a matter of minutes.

Enchanted

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 00:08:53 GMT

Finally got around to seeing the movie "Enchanted" today, and for the most part I really liked it. What can I say, I actually like schmaltz, as long as there is sufficient humor to keep it from being too thick. I did, however, have one technical quibble that I'm sure most people would consider minor ( if they even noticed it at all ), but which really bothered me.

In the scene at the King's and Queen's Ball, just after Edward, Giselle, Robert, and Nancy had introduced themselves around to one another, the conductor announces the King & Queen waltz.
He then turns to the orchestra and strikes up a tune:

That

Is

NOT

a

Waltz!

C'mon, Disney, all you need for a "waltz" is something that's in 3/4 time; it's not that frelling difficult. Sorry, end ( former ) musician's rant.

New Year's weekend conversation --

Sat, 29 Dec 2007 01:03:58 GMT

On the way out the door at work today, had the following discussion about the traditions of the impending holiday with one of my co-workers:

B ( facetiously ): So, you going to get all wild and crazy this weekend?
Me ( thoughtfully ): Well, I am planning on taking a lot of drugs. Of course, they're cold medications, but still, technically "drugs."

B ( laughing ): Well, just remember, the strippers only like you while you're spending money.
Me ( ruefully ): They don't even like me then.

Communication, or Correctness?

Sat, 22 Dec 2007 16:23:53 GMT

The other day I bought a set of ceramic knives at Linens & Things. I've always thought that the idea of ceramic knives was cool, but they're usually so expensive I couldn't bring myself to try one. In this case, between the sale price and the coupon in their flyer I got three for only $40: a small paring knife, a medium-sized chef's knife, and a santoku. This brings me to the topic of today's post -- the word "santoku".

It seems to me like the popularity of the santoku style of knife has just exploded in the last ten years or so; you used to hardly ever see them, and suddenly they're everywhere. Not that I'm complaining, mind you -- I myself think that it's a much more sensible shape for chopping vegetables, since the broader shape gives you more room so you don't rap your knuckles on the cutting board. What bothers me is the pronunciation.

Although the vast majority of places I've seen it written use the usual spelling -- s a n t o k u -- every ( native English-speaking ) person I've heard say it out loud has said "s a n t u k o". My theory for this is that a.) the "o" ending is much more common in English than a "u" ending, and b.) that's the way they heard it from somebody else, so they never really paid attention to the way it's spelled.

The thing I've never quite been able to make up my mind about is, do I say it "uko", and endure the feeling of being wrong but understood, or "oku", and have everybody look at me a little funny? ( Oh, wait, they already do that anyway... )

Interesting Package of the Day

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 17:52:39 GMT

It looks like someone in my route is getting one of these for Christmas.

Not terribly practical, but an undeniable cool factor.

Parents can be so cruel

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 17:13:51 GMT

The name on one of the packages I loaded today: Holly Fern.

I wonder what her middle name is? Rose? Daisy? Iris?