Recently Read

Unlike Kanye West, I am a proud reader of books. And in the last week, I've finished the latest volume in each of two ongoing fantasy series.

The first was Turncoat, the eleventh volume in The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. Harry Dresden, P.I., is Chicago's only publicly practicing wizard. He has gone from being an outcast under a death sentence for using magic to kill the wizard who mentored him -- self-defense was, in the eyes of the White Council, no excuse -- to being a Warden, one of the Council's magical enforcers. He's grown in power and commitment to doing what is right over time, while never coming close to outgrowing his sarcastic, semi-cynical outlook. He's no straw man; he faces temptation, and while he wants to do what's right, he's the first to admit that sometimes he just can't figure out what is right: Is it sticking to his principles? Is it doing what's going to hurt the fewest people and keep the most alive? Is it staying alive to fight another day? This series is unique, in my experience, in that after 11 books, it is still getting richer and deeper with every volume. The mix of humor, action, philosophy (the ongoing discussion of retribution vs. justice is worth the price of admission), and pure fun is fantastic and should not be missed.

The second was MythOS by Kelly McCullough. It's the fourth volume in the saga of Ravirn, descendant of the Fates from Greek mythology and hacker extraordinare. Yes, hacker, for in this series, magic comes from Chaos, which is the primal force in the universe, and Chaos is tamed with...computers. This time, Ravirn (also known as Raven) and his sometimes goblin, sometimes laptop companion Melchior, along with the Fury Tisiphone, are trying to repair damage done in the previous volumes to Necessity, the mainframe that runs the multiverse they inhabit. Unfortunately, they are swept up in a conflict in another universe unconnected to theirs, where the underlying information infrastructure is based on Norse mythology. You know, Odin, Loki, Ragnarok, frost giants, Valhalla, Valkyries, and all that implies. This is another book that is chock full of action, humor, and deep thought. Consider this passage: When we think of memory, we tend to focus on the power of remembering, of how we learn from our past and how that affects our future. But forgetting is just as powerful as remembering. It allow us to move beyond the pains of the past to live in the present. I think that's simply beautiful.

Kanye West Wrote A Book

And in an interview, he says such gems as: I am not a fan of books. I would never want a book’s autograph. Well, me neither, Kanye. I prefer the author's autograph.

Of course, the real kicker is that this self-proclaimed proud non-reader of books wants us to buy his book.

Nope, not feeling it.

2009 Relay Wrap Up

Our 2009 Greensboro Relay For Life was held on the 15th of this month. It was not an easy year at all for fund raising, but I knew this going into our campaign and downgraded my goal accordingly. It turns out that I set my sights too low, as at last check I was at 175% of my goal. We're still, as far as I know, a good bit under the overall goal for the event, but we have a bank night Tuesday to collect offline donations contributed in the last two weeks, and the campaign is still open until the end of August.

So, how about Relay itself? It would still be really nice to have one more person to stay overnight with Lisa and I, but we had done enough up front prep work that we had a fairly good handle on setting up and decorating our campsite. The theme for our event was Rockin' Relay, and we took as our part of the Rock Era the Disco Days of the 1970s (including our Stayin' Alive team banner for the first participant lap; cancer survivors get the very first lap). Party City had a lot of gaudy baubles, including a pinata in the Travolta pose, and we had a hoot decorating the pop-up gazebo with these. Our on-site raffle of donated restaurant gift cards did quite well, but the donated bread from Great Harvest Bread Company didn't do as well as last year. And between the Starbucks team with their product and the Moses Cone Regional Cancer Center team with Caribou Coffee, our own coffee sales were rather anemic this year. No matter, we still had the only fresh-brewed coffee on-site, and we enjoyed it.

Our planning committee is getting better each year at the symbolic aspects of Relay. They did a superb job with both the luminary and closing ceremonies.

We're one of the sites chosen for the CPS-3 study. Lisa and I are both taking part.

What would Relay For Life be without entertainment? Unlike last year, I did not sing at Relay Idol; I was, however, asked to be our "Simon" on the judges' panel. I've never watched a full episode of American Idol, but I'd read and heard enough about the show to give it a try. I didn't try for completely brutal honesty, but I did have to tell the "boy band" From The Bottom Of My Heart, To That Tree, after their massacre rendition of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, "My ears have been assaulted, and I want to press charges".

Celebrate. Remember. Fight Back. I'd say we covered it all.

Firefly (and Fanboy) week on xkcd

05/04/2009

05/05/2009

05/06/2009

05/07/2009

05/08/2009

Lost vs. Star Trek...

and the winner is...us!

50 - 460: Glue

Glue is a funny thing. It's absolutely familiar -- you do remember Elmer's, with Bessie the Cow on the bottle, from elementary school, right? -- and absolutely overlooked at the same time. Consider it for a minute and make your own list of what you'd use to fasten things together. I come up with zippers, nails, tacks, hook-and-eye door latches, bungee cords, twine, and rope. Where's glue?

Modern adhesives, which we genericize as "glue", are used by craftsmen and builders far more than most people realize. Glue is designed to dry both colorless and odorless, and to often be stronger than the material it's bonding. But unless the person applying the glue has been sloppy and has not cleaned up, we don't see it. It's just there, doing it's job, holding things together.

I've had my brief flirtation with fame. It's fun, for a while, to be recognized and to hear a touch of envy in others' voices. But it doesn't get anything done. I'm rather tired of the one account manager at work who calls me "the celebrity" every time she sees me. No, I prefer to be recognized, if at all, as the guy who gets the job, whatever it may be, done.

I used to frequent the rec.arts.sf.written, and I remember a regular there, one Mark Atwood, whose posting signature was "If you do things right, people will think you haven't done anything at all." I've lived with that, since I was an IT professional through the Y2K scare.

I'm a glue guy.

What We Really Enjoyed in Gatlinburg

Well, we're a couple of hours away from heading home. Our anniversary trip is nearly complete, and here are our favorite things from the week:

1. Room 119 at Zoder's Inn, with the creek and the ducks.
2. Supper at Blue Moose Burgers & Wings.
3. Lunch at The Old Mill Pottery House Café & Grille - the Fried Green Tomato BLT and the Vegetarian Panini.
4. The show at the Sweet Fanny Adams Theatre - Pretty went up on stage!
5. Old standbys - Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies, the Pepper Palace, and breakfast at the Applewood Farmhouse.