All the Other Stuff

Healthcare Hits Home

2010-05-19T18:10:00.003-06:00

After almost nine years working for the same company I have decided to leave and go to a much smaller company. The two major factors in my decision to leave were (1) a very good opportunity to do what I love for a long term and (2) a much better healthcare package. I was very surprised by the second reason. I'm moving from a place that employs the equivalent population of a small city down to a place with about 50 people. You would think that a large corporation would have much better buying power than a tiny company, but I guess that isn't the case.

In 2001, I had a great health plan. The monthly premiums were low and most co-pays were about $10. I think the highest co-pay was $50 for an ER visit. Over the years I've seen all these costs go through a 100% to 300% increase. Finally, we had to switch plans from an HMO type plan to a high deductible plan. The monthly premiums were about the same but the yearly out-of-pocket expenses have increased drastically. As an example, the birth of our first child in 2002 cost a total of about $150. That included prenatal visits, delivery, recovery, and the first couple of well-child visits. Similar services for our third child born 12 weeks ago has cost us over $3,000. We're lucky enough to be able to afford these kinds of costs, but I can't imagine what it is like for people making a lower household income.

The new health plan is still a high deductible plan, however the yearly out-of-pocket max is much less than our old plan. We also have a much better health savings account where we can rollover unused money from year to year. The combination of the better healthcare plan and a good job made the decision to jump ship much easier. I only hope that I enjoy the work as much as I think I will.

Books Read in 2009

2010-01-04T22:02:00.003-07:00

Here's the annual list of books that I read this past year:
The Android's Dream by John Scalzi
Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi
The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett
Equal Rights by Terry Pratchett
Sourcery by Terry Pratchett
The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore
Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson
The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett
Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

As usual, almost completely dominated by SciFi and Fantasy. What can I say? I'm addicted.

You Gotta Love Military Propaganda

2010-01-03T10:33:00.003-07:00

Before watching Avatar last night, I saw for the first time the new National Guard: At This Moment movie theater ad. What struck me the most was the faux Carmina Burana O, Fortuna style music. If you haven't seen it, check it out here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVId6JLggNM

Here's O, Fortuna for comparison:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGbFBpP2sL0

About halfway through the ad, Nora leans over to me and says "This reminds me of the recruitment ads from Starship Troopers".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPDmJxLkh1o&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7-PQIuWwLo

I'm sure there's something else I could comment about it (e.g. military propaganda at the movies), but I find it funny that this add strikes up such different images from both of us, neither of which makes us want to join the National Guard.

Say "Hello" To The New Car

2009-02-27T18:41:00.005-07:00

After 8 years of trusty service, I have traded in the Subaru for a used '05 Accord. While I'm sad to see the Subaru leave, it was starting to show it's age and the combination of more frequent service visits and cabin noise drove me to getting a new car. The Honda is by far the nicest car I've ever owned and I'm glad that I could help the economy by taking out a smart loan which I will easily be able to pay off. I would have never been able to afford this car if I bought it new.

Jon Brion

2009-02-18T21:00:00.002-07:00

Today while listening to Sound Opinions, I heard an interview with Jon Brion from 2006. He's a producer (Kanye West, Fiona Apple), songwriter, and movie score composer (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). Apparently, he performs every Friday night at Largo in Los Angeles. One of the things he does while performing is record a live tape loop of drums, then he adds a bass loop, and finally adds a guitar and singing (I take it he also does this with other instruments).

The following video starts with him doing a hilarious rendition of Tom Waits doing Radiohead's Creep. That's followed by one of these looped songs. The video is really poor quality, but you should be able to hear it just fine.

Valentines Day and Music

2009-02-14T20:37:00.004-07:00

It's Valentines Day and I'm sitting at home writing on my blog for the first time in more than a month drinking a Cuba Libre (Rum and Coke for the non-hispanics). Nora is in San Diego for the weekend going to gay bars with her Uncle and his boyfriend. I don't know if I have had a weirder Valentines Day (ok, I have, but I'm not going to get into that now).

I've recently joined a carpool with 3 other people, which is really great considering that we have a 1 hour commute each way and I usually have to drive only once a week. The unfortunate part is that they have completely different political/social views from me. Between their commentary about the effort to overturn Proposition 8 in California ("don't they just get it, being 'tolerant' of gays doesn't mean you accept gays") and having to leave my house at 5:15 AM, it's been a little tough continuing with the carpool. So far, the savings on gas and wear & tear on my car are winning out.

One thing that has made this carpool bearable is that I've started listening to the Sound Opinions music podcast. It's a once weekly hour-long podcast with two music critics from the Chicago area who talk about recent music news, interview artists and producers, review mainstream and obscure albums, and play a lot of good music. They have an archive of podcasts that goes back to 2005, which is great for me since I haven't really listened to much music since I started listening to NPR in 2001. I can't stand commercial radio and I don't have the patience to listen to college radio stations to find the good music. I've had plenty to listen to by combining the new shows with the archived shows, and have found some really great music to boot!

However, I don't always agree with the "Buy It, Burn It, Trash It" recommendations that Jim and Greg make when they review albums. I've bought a couple of duds which they were raving about (Neil Young's Living With War and Tim Fite's Fair Ain't Fair) which I wish I hadn't wasted my money on buying the whole album. After these mistakes, I've signed up for the Rhapsody music service and I can easily say this is the best move I've made all year. For $12.99 a month I get to listen to all the music that I want and gauge what I want to buy (The Loon by Tapes 'n Tapes) against what I think really stinks (Sunday at Devil Dirt by Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan).

Here are some of my favorite albums that I've found specifically through Sound Opinions:
The Loon by Tapes 'n Tapes
Finding Forever by Common
Steal My Horses and Run by Blackstrap
Remind Me In 3 Days by The Knux
Dear Science by TV on the Radio
In Rainbows by Radiohead
12 Angry Months by Local H
The Midnight Organ Fight by Frightened Rabbit
The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust by Saul Williams
This Gift by Sons and Daughters
St. Elsewhere by Gnarls Barkley
Late Registration by Kanye West
Alone II: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo by Rivers Cuomo
Over the Counterculture by Tim Fite
Icky Thump by The White Stripes

Here are some of my favorite singles that I've found through Sound Opinions:
Black Stacey by Saul Williams
Effect and Cause by The White Stripes off of Icky Thump
The Modern Leper by Frightened Rabbit
You Really Got A Hold On Me* by She & Him
Jack Killed Mom by Jenny Lewis
Misunderstood by Common
I've Been Shot by Tim Fite
Dancing Choose by TV on the Radio
Can't Stop Partying by Rivers Cuomo
15 Step by Radiohead
The Iliad by Tapes 'n Tapes
The List by The Knux

*I don't like the album version of You Really Got A Hold On Me by She & Him. You've got to go to the archive of Show #142 on the Sound Opinions website. This recording sends chills down my spine every time I hear it.

What a Fun Show!

2009-01-09T13:21:00.003-07:00

We've been watching "Weeds" as rentals from Blockbuster over the past couple of years. Quick synopsis, suburban wife's husband suddenly dies and leaves no life insurance. She turns to dealing pot in order to keep up her suburban lifestyle. Mary-Louise Parker stars in the show with an excellent supporting cast including Kevin Nealon (who is hilarious as a crooked accountant/city council member/pothead).

We just got finished watching the 3rd season, and the following scene is my favorite from this season (the fist bump at the end is classic):

Books I've Read This Year

2008-12-29T21:41:00.006-07:00

I've been really bad with blogging at the end of this year. I'll blame it on trying to get a good grade on my master's degree class...yeah, that's it.

Here are most of the books that I've read this year:
Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Cherie Priest
Crystal Rain by Tobias S. Buckell
Nimitz Class by Patrick Robinson (a real stinker)
Duma Key by Stephen King
A Fine and Private Place by Peter S. Beagle
Forever War by Joe Hadelman
A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar
Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear
Little Borther by Cory Doctorow
Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town by Cory Doctorow
Superpower: A Novel by David J. Schwartz
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow
Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik
Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick
Forever Peace by Joe Hadelman
The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett
The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett
Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi
Space Propulsion Analysis and Design, by R.W. Humble, et. al.
Space Mission Analysis and Design edited by James Wertz

The last two are sort of cheating because I had to read them for class and I didn't read them from cover to cover, but I did read a majority of them. I'm also anticipating that I'll finish Agent to the Stars by the end of the year. There may have been a couple that I missed, but I think that is a pretty good representation of what I read.

Alright! I'm averaging more than 1 book a month. Let's see if I can bring it up to 2 books a month next year. Of course, that will mean keeping better records.

Honest Scrap

2008-12-26T16:46:00.004-07:00

Julia tagged whoever reads her blog with the "Honest Scrap Award".

So, what does this award mean? It means – “leftovers, fragments, discarded material, and many times truth and honesty is discarded material, considered fragments and left over.” We tell it like it is and let the scraps fall where they may.

The honorees are to:
a) first list 10 honest things about yourself - and make it interesting, even if you have to dig deep!
b) pass the award on to 7 bloggers that you feel embody the spirit of the Honest Scrap.

1. I truly believe that I'm a moderate on most issues, but I know deep down inside that my viewpoints have got to be radical to other people, although I don't think that I would ever admit this to someone in person.

2. I can't stand most forms of remote communication. My least favorites, in order, are: (1) text messaging, (2) instant messaging, (3) talking on cell phones, and (4) talking on regular phones. However, I don't mind e-mail or blogs...don't ask me why, I'm just weird.

3. I like rap music, but I don't like it when the "n" word is prevalent in the lyrics. I don't mind a bunch of swearing, it's just the "n" word. I think it has to do with me accepting the fact that eventually my kids will be swearing (even if they don't do it in front of me) but I will never accept them using that word...ever.

4. The only thing that really keep me awake at night is if I start thinking about things that I've done in the past which I'm ashamed/embarrassed of. If I start thinking about one of these things it will typically take 2 or 3 hours before I can fall asleep.

5. For a period of 6 years beginning when I started in college, I made myself become an extrovert in order to make more friends. I'm back to being an introvert and am very happy for it.

6. While I'm very proud of my Puerto Rican heritage, I often wonder if I would have had the same opportunities in my life if my skin was darker or if I spoke with an accent.

7. If an e-mail says to forward the e-mail to everyone I know, I will never forward the e-mail. I consider it another form of spam and the e-mail will stop with me.

8. I have the worst memory with people's names and/or social situations. I wouldn't be able to remember who I met a couple of minutes ago, what I did last week, or what I said a year ago. Unless we really know each other very well, I will have a hard time remembering you if it's been a couple of years. I've been caught in many awkward situations because I didn't remember the name of someone who I should know.

9. I started playing rugby mostly to spite my mother who didn't let me play any contact sports while I was growing up. What a let down when all she did was say "oh really?" when I told her that I was playing rugby. On the up side, that was were I met my wife.

10. I can't read. OK, not really. But I think my own writing is atrocious. I feel sorry for all (2) of you who read this blog.

Per #7, I will not forward this to anyone. If you (a) actually read this blog, (b) have a blog of your own, (c) haven't already done this, and (d) actually want to do it, then tag, you are it.

Failing...

2008-10-24T09:29:00.003-06:00

Thanks to Jason Heath's Double Bass Blog for this performance by Gary Karr of Failing by Tom Johnson.

HNIC - Hockey Night in Colorado

2008-10-22T20:49:00.002-06:00

We recently changed our service from analog cable to satellite. One of the extra perks is that we get the NHL Network as a part of our package. I was already pretty psyched about this because there is almost zero hockey coverage on any of the major sports networks...instead they're covering something called the "World Series", whatever that is. Then I tuned in on a Saturday night and there were Canadiens on TV...and they knew stuff about hockey...and there was a double header of hockey on...and it was Hockey Night in Canada!

After a little research, it turns out that the NHL Network started including the full HNIC program in it's broadcast this year. I promptly added HNIC to our TiVo record list and declared to Nora that Saturday nights are officially Hockey Nights in Colorado. She kind of gave me a strange look, patted me on the head, and walked away.

By the way, I'm loving the NHL Network commercials featuring the confused head coach talking about hockey; they are hilarious. Here's a good example about Defense and Offense:

If you want to see more, this guy collected a whole bunch of them in one place.

Out of the Dark Ages of Music

2008-10-01T20:56:00.005-06:00

I recently purchased a Korg Chromatic tuner. Up until now, I have always used a tuning fork to tune my bass. Much to my surprise, it appears that I consistently tune and play my bass a quarter tone flat. At first I thought it must have been that I hadn't played the bass in a couple of days and it went flat in that time. So I tuned against the tuning fork and checked against the tuner again. Nope, I was flat. Then I checked the tuning fork to see if it was flat, nope, it was dead on.

Then I started playing. Every time I hit an open string things sounded just a little off. Checked the strings again and they were still in tune. It was me, I involuntarily kept adjusting to the tuning that I've been listening to myself play for years. I'm going to have to do some serious work on my intonation!

Amazing how much a little bit of technology can help your playing. Maybe I should also invest in a metronome...I've skirted along this long without one, but I think that can only really work when you are playing with an ensemble and can hear what the others are playing. I've found it quite difficult to get the pieces to sound right when I don't have a conductor to follow.

Incidentally, I'm now playing Marcello's Cello Sonata 2. It's a nice little piece of music which doesn't involve too much thumb position. Something nice to get me back into the playing habit again. I'm taking baby steps here, play something fun and easy to get my intonation back up to snuff. Maybe then I can try some more technically challenging pieces.

I just realized that I haven't ever posted a picture of my bass. I imagine that only Ryan (of my vast readership of 3 people) would be interested in seeing the pic since he owns a Samuel Shen as well. Accompanying the bass is Señor Frog the Humidifier. Colorado is so dry I basically have to keep him running all year long.

I Miss the Fall

2008-09-30T21:11:00.000-06:00

Today, Julia wrote about how the damp, gray weather puts her into not quite so friendly of a mood. I have to confess that I love just that type of weather. Now that I live in Colorado, we usually go straight from Summer to Winter with about 2 weeks of Fall. I love the nice long Fall seasons that you get out East, especially in upstate New York. It's something that I didn't realize until we moved out here.

I think it all started in 4th grade when I was stuck inside on one of those typical overcast, drizzly Rochester days. I had just gotten Bunnicula in our Scholastic order that week and figured that it would be a good day to read the book. I plopped down in my bean bag chair, wrapped myself in a blanket, and read for the whole day by the muffled light that was coming in from outside. It's one of my favorite childhood memories.

Later on, in junior high and high school, I really fell in love with the season while I was running cross country. There was something magical about running through the parks in Irondequoit during that time of year. Some of my best memories are of running through Seneca Park, Helmer Nature Center, and Durand Eastman Park with a light drizzle and the smell of woodsmoke in the air. Some other great parks in the area were Webster Park and Mendon Ponds Park. God, I forget how beautiful that area is.

I don't seem to understand...

2008-09-27T10:54:00.002-06:00

Watched the debate last night. Something that I don't think anybody who was watching last night was that McCain thinks that Obama doesn't seem to understand much of anything. After the first 20 or 30 minutes, he practically started every sentence with "Senator Obama doesn't seem to understand...".

What I don't understand is why Obama didn't specifically call McCain on it. Sure, he refuted a lot of false statements that McCain, but I think that it would have been a lot stronger if he used McCain's words against him. It would have been perfect when he went down the checklist of things McCain got wrong about Iraq...not knowing where the WMDS were located, being greeted as liberators, no history of violence between Shia and Sunni. Why not add something like "I don't think I'm the one who doesn't seem to understand..."?

Van Halen to Schmitt's Gay

2008-09-20T00:08:00.002-06:00

While I was flipping through the radio channels today, I happened on the opening of Van Halen's "Right Now". The first thing that popped in my head was Crystal Gravy, SNL's spoof of the Crystal Pepsi commercial. That then got me thinking about all the funny "commercials" that SNL did around the same time...my personal favorite being the Schmitt's Gay commercial. I'm not sure how long these SNL commercial links will be valid, but have a look at them while you can.

First, original Crystal Pepsi commercial:

Next, Crystal Gravy. Unfortunately, you'll have to follow the link since YouTube doesn't have it.

Finally, Schmitt's Gay:

Playing the Bass Again

2008-09-17T20:09:00.003-06:00

Nora has classes on Mondays and Wednesdays until about 8 PM. That translates to 3 hours alone with the kids until Nora gets home. We have a nice little schedule where we eat dinner together, play outside together, and then horror of all horrors, I get to practice the bass while the kids plunk away on the piano and/or bang on the mini-drums. This is actually the first time since we moved from Philly 3 years ago that I'm actually able to get some real playing in. It's probably not the most productive practice sessions...what with all the other "music" going on, frequent interruptions from fighting over instruments/toys, and handing my bow over so that the kids can bow while I finger out "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". But it's better than the absolute zero playing I've done over the past 3 years.

As an aside, Julia posted about her own practice sessions today. She mentioned that being a former Suzuki method student, she always tries to pick up a recording of the piece she is playing before practicing. I'm sad to say that this little tidbit was something that I didn't pick up on until about 2000 or 2001 when I was playing with the Main Line Symphony Orchestra. I started playing the bass in 4th grade, played throughout grade school, highschool, and college (I got about halfway through a performance 2nd major), and finally the MLSO after college.

This probably would have helped a lot while I was learning to play more difficult pieces, especially with the Bach Cello Suites which I thought were impossible to play on the bass. Edgar Meyer proved that wrong with this superb performance.

I don't know why it didn't click earlier; it seems so obvious of a thing to do now.

Answers: Lyrics by Fours

2008-09-17T20:09:00.000-06:00

1 - Breaking the Girl by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
I am a man
Cut from the know
Rarely do friends
Come and then go

2 - Hey Lover by LL Cool J
I've been watching you from afar
for as long as I can remember
You're all a real man can need
and ever ask for

3 - Final Hour by Lauryn Hill
I treat this like my thesis
Well written topic
Broken down into pieces
I introduce then produce

4 - Soma by Smashing Pumpkins
Nothing left to say
And all I've left to do
Is run away from you
And she led me up, down

5 - Another Brick in the Wall (Part 1) by Pink Floyd
Daddy's flown across the ocean
Leaving just a memory
Snapshot in the family album
Daddy what else did you leave for me?

6 - Te Conozco Bien by Marc Anthony
Siento pena,
pena porque te quise de veras
rabia porque te di
lo que nunca

7 - The Son Never Shines (On Closed Doors) by Flogging Molly
I saw her there from afar
Her hair grey charcoal
Takes a drag from her tar
I kissed her a smile

8 - Heaven Help by Lenny Kravitz
There comes a time to be free of the heart
I wanna be ready, ready to start
On a love journey, got places to go
Made up my mind and I've got to let you know

9 - Super Bon Bon by Sould Coughing
Move aside and let the man go through
Move aside and let the man go through
Move aside and let the man go through
Move aside and let the man go through

10 - Smile by Weezer
Open the door and let your love come down
Over the wall, you're spinning 'round and 'round
'Cause you wanted some love
I'll make it happen

11 - Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough by Michael Jackson
Lovely is the feelin' now
Fever, temperatures risin' now
Power is the force, the vow
That makes it happen, it asks no questions why

12 - One Tin Soldier by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
Listen, children, to a story
That was written long ago,
'Bout a kingdom on a mountain
And the valley far below

13 - Unforgiven by Metallica
New blood joins this earth
And quickly he's subdued
Through constant pained disgrace
The young boy learns their rules

14 - The Drinking Song by Moxy Fruvous
And the band played on
As the helicopters whirred
Drunk on the lawn in a nuclear dawn
My senses finally blurred

15 - Add It Up by Violent Femmes
Day after day
I will walk and I will play
But the day after today
I will stop and I will start

16 - The Nest by Sons And Daughters
Everything that happened here
Cannot happen when you're dead, she safely said
Worry when you wake tonight
Is it all in you head?

17 - Sin by Nine Inch Nails
You give me the reason
You give me control
I gave you my purity
My purity you stole

18 - Peace Train by 10,000 Maniacs
Now I've been happy lately,
thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be,
something good has begun

19 - Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison
Hey where did we go,
Days when the rains came
Down in the hollow,
Playin' a new game

20 - Bron-Y-Aur Stomp by Led Zeppelin
Ah caught you smiling at me,
That's the way it should be,
Like a leaf is to a tree, so fine.
Ah all the good times we had

Lyrics by Fours

2008-08-20T22:19:00.002-06:00

Meme from Julia:

1. Put your mp3 player or music player on your computer on random.
2. Post the first four lines from the first 20 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song (skip repeat artists).
3. Post and let everyone you know guess (in the comments!) what song and artist the lines come from.
4. Please play fair. Don’t be a dirty rotten cheater and Google the lyrics!

1.
I am a man
Cut from the know
Rarely do friends
Come and then go

2.
I've been watching you from afar
for as long as I can remember
You're all a real man can need
and ever ask for

3.
I treat this like my thesis
Well written topic
Broken down into pieces
I introduce then produce

4.
Nothing left to say
And all I've left to do
Is run away from you
And she led me up, down

5.
Daddy's flown across the ocean
Leaving just a memory
Snapshot in the family album
Daddy what else did you leave for me?

6.
Siento pena,
pena porque te quise de veras
rabia porque te di
lo que nunca

7.
I saw her there from afar
Her hair grey charcoal
Takes a drag from her tar
I kissed her a smile

8.
There comes a time to be free of the heart
I wanna be ready, ready to start
On a love journey, got places to go
Made up my mind and I've got to let you know

9.
Move aside and let the man go through
Move aside and let the man go through
Move aside and let the man go through
Move aside and let the man go through

10.
Open the door and let your love come down
Over the wall, you're spinning 'round and 'round
'Cause you wanted some love
I'll make it happen

11.
Lovely is the feelin' now
Fever, temperatures risin' now
Power is the force, the vow
That makes it happen, it asks no questions why

12.
Listen, children, to a story
That was written long ago,
'Bout a kingdom on a mountain
And the valley far below

13.
New blood joins this earth
And quickly he's subdued
Through constant pained disgrace
The young boy learns their rules

14.
And the band played on
As the helicopters whirred
Drunk on the lawn in a nuclear dawn
My senses finally blurred

15.
Day after day
I will walk and I will play
But the day after today
I will stop and I will start

16.
Everything that happened here
Cannot happen when you're dead, she safely said
Worry when you wake tonight
Is it all in you head?

17.
You give me the reason
You give me control
I gave you my purity
My purity you stole

18.
Now I've been happy lately,
thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be,
something good has begun

19.
Hey where did we go,
Days when the rains came
Down in the hollow,
Playin' a new game

20.
Ah caught you smiling at me,
That's the way it should be,
Like a leaf is to a tree, so fine.
Ah all the good times we had

Answers some time next week...

First Day Of School

2008-08-14T17:24:00.006-06:00

Today was Zoe's first day of kindergarten. Is it sad that I was really excited that she already has homework and that we started doing it as soon as she got home?

I Just Love Technology

2008-07-23T22:35:00.003-06:00

I love to listen to NPR on my way to work. I have an hour long commute, which would be OK if I could listen to NPR the whole way. Unfortunately, about 15 minutes into the commute, I go over a Monument Hill and suddenly I get competing signals from the other NPR station in Denver which broadcasts at the same exact frequency as my local station. It turns out that both stations have signals strong enough so that I have interference all the way up to work. Argh!

I've been filling up my time with some Podcasts and/or books on tape...these have been filling in pretty well...but I really want to hear the news in the morning. I've been stuck with this dilemma for a couple months...that is, until now.

Last month I installed Ubuntu Linux on my computer. The nice thing with Linux is that it comes with a whole bunch of extra programs that help you do what you really want to do. Today on my way home from work I had completely run out of things to listen to on the road. So, instead, I spent the whole time in complete silence thinking of what I could do to fix my situation.

At first I thought up an idea to connect an FM radio to the input jack on my sound card and then have my computer automatically record Morning Edition from 5 to 6 in the morning. Then I thought, "wait, you moron, KRCC provides an audio stream, see if you can record that instead". I did a little research, installed a couple of utilities, and voila, I can now record Morning Edition every weekday morning and have it ready to go on my iPod when I'm ready to leave.

There will be no procrastinating the next time my station holds a fund drive. This extra service that they provide is not cheap and it is allowing me to listen to one of my favorite shows.

The weather's always changing

2008-07-21T21:03:00.007-06:00

It's been really hot in Colorado Springs this past week. Just checked to see if it would be changing at all:

Oh boy! It's going to change by one degree on Thursday! I can't wait!

For your listening pleasure...

2008-07-19T00:10:00.002-06:00

Black Stacey by Saul Williams. I just love this song...smart lyrics, great beat, makes you think. What else do you want?

Bye Bye Boing Boing

2008-07-09T20:35:00.002-06:00

I had to do it. I had to remove Boing Boing off of my RSS feed list. Too many posts...too little time to read them...must remove from Google reader...

Tito's Visit

2008-07-09T20:29:00.003-06:00

Last month my nephew visited us for 10 days. We had a great time with him and we're pretty sure he had fun as well...he's now talking about coming out to take a look at colleges in Colorado!

Finally, here are some pictures from his trip.

Is this the new Big Brother?

2008-06-16T00:01:00.002-06:00

I'm not sure if I'm the only one thinking this, but is Google becoming the new Big Brother?

Why am I thinking this? Let's list off the "free" services Google provides:
Search Engine
Gmail
Google Maps
Google Earth
Google Documents
This Blog along with the rest of Blogger.com
Google Moon
Probably a lot more things that I don't know about, say...Google Laundry Service

One of the things that you'll notice when you sign up for Gmail is that it points to the Google Privacy Policy page in the terms of service. From what I understand, this page is the overarching Privacy Policy for most Google services. The statements that get my attention are the ones about the Log information and User communications. It basically says that they are storing a whole bunch of information about you including the e-mails you send. It just takes a slight shift in the culture at Google in order for these free services to change into more sinister data collection techniques.

The thing that really freaked me out was when I used Google Maps to put in an address and it came up with a high quality street view picture of the address I was searching. Holy crap! Someone from Google walked down that street and took a whole bunch of pictures...enough pictures so that you could go back and forth down the street and swivel the perspective. These guys are everywhere!

The one thing that is keeping me from completely jumping off the Google bandwagon is their sense of humor. At one point, if you zoomed in enough on Google Moon, it showed a whole bunch of swiss cheese. Unfortunately, they took that feature out. However, they still are offering jobs for working on the Google Moon Base, the Googlunaplex. Check them out here. While there are still people at Google which have this kind of sense of humor I'm OK with them keeping my information. However, once they get rid of that site, I'll know that the tide is turning and I'll have to cut all ties with Google. That will signal the change from the friendly big brother who keeps you out of trouble and will play catch with you to the mean big brother who will snitch on you for picking your nose.

Comments on Friending

2008-06-11T20:16:00.003-06:00

I'm finally getting around to the posts that I promised myself I would write when I got more time...

Over a month ago, Ryan wrote a post about how he's been getting a lot of friend requests on Facebook and Myspace lately. One thing that he notes is that he's gotten a couple from people he didn't expect. I'll have to say that I was probably one of them. He's a couple of years older than me, we didn't really hang out in high school; in fact I completely forgot that he played bass (which is obviously a huge part of his life). The thing was, when I saw his name linked with some of my friends, I said "what the hell, from what I remember, he's a nice guy and he plays the bass to boot, I'll friend him". I ended up doing that with a couple more people and before I knew it, I had people that I never thought would be friending me sending me requests. It gives me a nice warm fuzzy to be known. =)

Now, I'm not kidding myself. Many of the "friends" aren't traditional friends by any sense. For a large percentage, it's just of way of saying "Hi, I know you. I'll look at your pictures and see what you've been up to. You can contact me if you want, but no big deal if you don't." However, it's not always like that and I enjoy the random e-mails that I get from people who do more than friend me and read my blog.

High school for me, like Ryan, was not my favorite 4 years. While I don't ever remember being shoved into a locker, I do remember various incidents of people throwing/pushing me. The more memorable ones are:
- Pushed into the pond at the Helmer Nature Center (actually happened before H.S. but I'm still counting it)
- Thrown, repeatedly, into a pool
- Thrown into the bushes
- Pushed into a garbage can

In full fairness, I have to admit that all of these incidents with the exception of the pond involved horsing around with my friends and I gave as good as I got. However, I still remember that you pushed me into the pond Katie Coakley and Monica Williams, and I will never forgive you...just you wait...bwaa ha ha ha! Oh crap, how lame is it that I actually admitted that two girls pushed me into a pond. I'm going to go hide in a locker now.

By the way, Ryan, I own a Samuel Shen carved bass as well. I don't get to play as often as I like, but I love the rich sound that it makes when I'm playing competently.

Geeking Out

2008-06-07T21:22:00.002-06:00

Reason's why I'm particularly geeky at this very moment:
1. I'm writing on my blog on Saturday night
2. from the Ubuntu Linux OS on my computer
3. which I just installed today
4. and configured as a dual boot machine so that I can still play games on Windows
5. while wearing my glasses with only one temple
6. and having to look up "glasses" in Wikipedia to find out that the things that go from the front of the frame and hang over your ear are called "temples"
7. and writing an extremely long run-on sentence but writing it off as OK since the sentence is in list format
8. and thinking it's a good idea to link to Weird Al Yankovic's White and Nerdy YouTube video is good way to pay homage to this geeky post.

OK, I'm going to go have a beer now and see if that makes me any cooler.

Yo Soy Boricua

2008-05-22T21:18:00.005-06:00

Translation: I am Puerto Rican

My brother called me up a couple of weeks ago to tell me that he is engaged. Awesome! One nice perk is that they've decided to get married in Puerto Rico next June, so that means we'll have a reason to fly there next year.

I always get really psyched whenever I get a chance to go back to the island. It's where I was born and I've spent more than a few summers there while I was growing up. For me, it's a time when I get a chance to visit my relatives and get back to my roots.

One thing that always bugged me while I was growing up was that I never really felt Puerto Rican. The linchpins to my argument were (1) I barely spoke/understood Spanish and (2) I didn't necessarily look Puerto Rican. No matter how much my mother and sister tried to convince me, I still couldn't shake the feeling that I was different from other Puerto Ricans. The killer happened about 5 years ago was when my niece said to me "you're not Puerto Rican, you're too white to be Puerto Rican". I was dumbstruck, I couldn't say anything...she hit the nail on the head, it was the fear that I had lived with for all my life; stated out loud, in broad daylight in Durand Eastman park, in a 12-year-old's voice. I was too white to be Puerto Rican.

It wasn't until a couple of years ago that I finally resolved this dilemma. It was my brother's 40th birthday and I decided to fly down so that we could celebrate his birthday together. His favorite place to visit in Puerto Rico is a small town called Boqueron. Boqueron is on the South-West corner of the island, about as far away as you can get from San Juan. As we were driving to Boqueron, I kept hearing a song over and over again on the radio. At first I didn't like it, it was kind of slow and sounded a little sappy to me. I stated this opinion and all hell broke loose in the car. The song was Preciosa by Marc Anthony. This version of the song is basically the unofficial national anthem for Puerto Rico. My brother and sister spent the rest of the drive explaining to me the meaning of the song. As embarrassing as that was, it was one of the first times that someone actually spent some time to explain to me the finer points of my own culture. It's a car ride I'll never forget.

For the rest of the time in Boqueron, I kept hearing the song over and over again wherever I went, you could depend on hearing it at least 2 times a night when out at the bar. As I listened to the song more, I started to catch some more of the lyrics, and get a feeling of what the song meant to me. About halfway through the song, there is a distinct change in the tempo and the beat. I found out later that the original song was written in 1947 by Rafael Hernández and that this extra section at the end was an added update to the song. However, it's this part that spoke to me the most, here is a rough translation of the particular lyrics which really hit me:

Because it's now that I understand
that regardless of what happens
I will always be Puerto Rican
Because wherever I walk
Because I carry it in my blood
Because of my parent's heritage
And with pride I repeat
I love you Puerto Rico

I finally understood. It didn't matter that I hadn't lived in Puerto Rico for most of my life, it didn't matter that I looked white, it didn't matter that I spoke Spanish with an American accent, none of it mattered. There are parts of me that make me different from the people around me in suburbia: I am Puerto Rican and I always have been. The part that floored me was when I realized, specifically because these lyrics had been put into the song, other Puerto Ricans have the same doubts that I do about "feeling Puerto Rican". There are a lot of us who have moved off island, who don't speak Spanish well, whose friends may not even know that they are Puerto Rican. Finally, I'm not the only one.

It's been a couple of years since that epiphany. Whenever I start to get doubts about myself all I have to do is put on this song and sing along as loud as I can. I usually will do this 2 or 3 times in a row. My favorite part is singing the lines "Yo te quiero Puerto Rico". I can't wait to be able to go back and do this with other people.

Here is Preciosa, one of my favorite all-time songs:
Preciosa by Marc Anthony

By the way, part of "going back to my roots" is that I now go by the proper pronunciation of my name. It's Luis as in the name of the city "San Luis Obispo, CA" and not Louis as in "St. Louis".

A Sweet Book

2008-05-20T17:31:00.002-06:00

Just got finished reading Little Brother by Cory Doctorow. It's an Orwellian novel set in 2010 with a high-school senior as the protagonist. Let's just say the novel rings very true for this day and age.

The best part, you don't even have to go out and buy the book in order to check it out. Cory Doctorow is so uber-cool that he has the book available for free on his website. I read the first couple of pages and drove right down to Barnes & Noble to get my own copy. Follow the link for the free version.

Enjoying the outdoors

2008-05-19T21:42:00.004-06:00

Sunday was a beautiful day so we packed up the kids and went over to the Air Force Academy for a hike up the Stanley Canyon trail. It's a really neat 2-mile trail that quickly gains a lot of elevation and then levels out and ends up at a lake. We got about halfway up the trail and then turned around since the full thing would have been too much for the kids. We all had a great time. It's nice to be able to get outdoors again.

Follow the link to see some more pics.

Let's Give a Shout Out to the Nerds!

2008-05-07T18:32:00.006-06:00

And by Nerds, I am using the best possible connotation. I consider myself one and I'm happy to say that my nephew, Tony, is one.

Today Tony and 3 of his friends are flying from Puerto Rico to Denver in order participate in a national math competition. This competition consists of verbal and oral tests in mathematics taken over this weekend. The top 4 7th-9th grade students from every state are invited to attend the national competition.

Here's a sample problem that I posed to Tony which he answered without any problems:
One side of a right triangle has a length of 13. If the other side and the hypotenuse are whole numbers, what is the perimeter of the triangle?

You can try and plug and chug it, but it will take you a very long time since the other sides are very large number. The other way to do it is algebraically. He sent me a very elegant method of solving this problem which was cleaner than the method I used. Can you tell that I'm proud of him?

Please join me in wishing the Puerto Rican team (and Tony) luck in this week's MathCounts competition! (Tony is the one in the white hoodie and brown pants)

To Do On This Blog

2008-05-07T18:07:00.004-06:00

Don't have enough time to write anything of length. Things I want to write about and hope to get to after I'm done with school:
- Tony and Mathcounts (have to do this one today, but make it quick)
- Comment on Ryan's post about facebook contacts and also expound about places I've been thrown rather than lockers I've been shoved into
- Eddie's engagement and Puerto Rico/being Puerto Rican
- Bass Playing (or lack thereof)
- Living in the Mecca for Evangelical Christians

Just one more week

2008-05-07T01:02:00.002-06:00

Just a little over one more week before my class is over and then I don't have to stay up until 1 AM finishing my homework.

We are in so much trouble...

2008-04-30T18:55:00.002-06:00

Mattheus just figured out how to open doors and he likes to wake up early. Even those of you without kids should understand the gravity of this situation: a two-year-old with free reign of the house without parental supervision == really bad news!

We will have to spend the next couple of days hunkering down and getting ready for the destruction. Either that, or we can just put up the baby gate at the top of the stairs. I think we'll go for option #2.

New Pics Posted

2008-04-29T22:16:00.006-06:00

Spent most of the evening loading pictures onto my Facebook account. These were long overdue and the easiest way was to create an album for every year:
2003 (5 pics)
2004 (6 pics)
2005 (33 pics)
2006 (36 pics)
2007 (12 pics)
2008 (12 pics)

Enjoy.

Gotta Love Springtime

2008-04-29T21:37:00.002-06:00

The sun is out, it's warm outside, and the kids are playing in the sandbox. Just another little piece of heaven.

6 years and counting...

2008-04-28T18:27:00.002-06:00

Yesterday, Wifey and I celebrated our 6th anniversary. To tell you the truth these were really easy years. Over this time we haven't had a single fight (in fact we've never had a fight any time in our relationship) and have had only 1 or 2 "discussions". When I was thinking about this the other day I had to double check with her just in case I had forgotten about something. Her response was "No, but why are you asking about this? Do you feel like you need to pick a fight with me?" I guess I must have had my serious face on when I asked the question...she always knows just the right thing to say to get me to laugh.

About the most stressful part of the marriage so far has been the cross-country move to Colorado which has taken us away from all of our family and friends. Probably the worst night of my life happened when Wifey had to have an emergency appendectomy while we were all out here looking at houses on my interview trip. After being stuck in a strange town without any friends and a very tired 2-year-old waiting for your wife to get out of surgery, the stresses of moving to the same strange town aren't quite as bad. Hey, at least we knew the hospitals were good!

In short, these have been the best years of my life. I have a smart, funny, and beautiful wife and our kids have inherited all these traits. I can't wait to see what the upcoming years have in store for us. What more can you ask for?

Rock on you crazy fool!

2008-04-26T08:48:00.002-06:00

Going to my friend's house to play Rock Band today. We're fairly addicted to the game and have been known to play for hours on end without a break. In honor of simulated video super stardom and having to tape bags of frozen peas to my arms attached is a hilarious video review of Guitar Hero III for your enjoyment.

Guitar Hero III Review

Books Since October

2008-04-25T23:36:00.002-06:00

New rating system (sorted lowest to highest):
(1) Made me puke
(2) Did I really need to read this?
(3) Eh
(4) I liked it
(5) Don't wait up honey, I'll be reading until the sun comes up

Contact by Carl Sagan - 10/30/2007
Rating: Eh

Travels with Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck - 11/21/2007
Rating: Eh (didn't finish)

His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik - 11/25/2007
Rating: Don't wait up, reading 'till dawn

Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik - 12/1/2007
Rating: I liked it

Black Powder War by Naomi Novik - 12/18/2007
Rating: I liked it

Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik - 1/1/2008
Rating: I liked it

Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Cherie Priest - 1/19/2008
Rating: Did I really need to read this?

Crystal Rain by Tobias S. Buckell - 3/29/2008
Rating: Eh

Nimitz Class (audio) by Patrick Robinson - 3/20/2008
Rating: Did I really need to read this?

Duma Key (audio) by Stephen King - 4/8/2008
Rating: Eh

A Fine and Private Place (audio) by Peter S. Beagle - 4/15/2008
Rating: Did I really need to read this?

The Forever War (audio) by Joe Hadelman - 4/22/2008
Rating: Don't wait up, reading 'till dawn

A Room with a View (audio) by E. M. Forster - 4/22/2008
Rating: Made me puke (didn't finish)

Currently Reading:
The World's Religions by Huston Smith
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear

The Snape Song

2008-04-25T20:09:00.002-06:00

Zoe just loves this video.

Occasionally she'll just walk around the house singing "Snape, Snape, Severus Snape. Dumbledore!"

I love my new job...

2008-04-24T23:10:00.003-06:00

I just started a new job a couple of weeks ago. It's in this group called "future plans". It's a small group on a really large program that has a lot of influence on the program. Basically, we are the people who do a lot of analysis and determine the direction that the program needs to take in the future. It is very math/science intensive with a lot of independent research going on. In many ways it is a dream job for a math geek like me. I don't even mind the hour long commute to Denver I'm so excited to go to work.

Here's what sealed the deal for me:
Earlier this week, my team lead and I were in his office talking about a new problem we were working on. In jest, he started to write down an equation which he said would solve all of our problems. I then added my own parts to the equation. We went back and forth for a couple of minutes and ended up with a triple integral involving politics, time, and money as the key variables in our equation. I know that this probably sounds like it would be hell for most people, but that's the point. Since I've started my professional career I've never felt comfortable enough to make a math joke like that. In fact, the one time I did try it before, I distinctly remember the querulous look that my friend made and I never tried it again. It hasn't been since I was president of the math club in college that I've been able to do jokes with math.

More Books

2007-02-10T09:25:00.000-07:00

Again, it's been a while. Really quick rundown of the books I've read lately...

Sun of Suns by Karl Schroeder
Kick butt pirate adventure in a world completely enclosed in a huge balloon. Very cool, I liked it and will pick up the others in this series when they come out.

Lisey's Story by Stephen King
Got this book for Christmas. I tried getting into it a couple of times, but it just couldn't hold my interest. Had to put it down once I got to page 50.

The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck
Something that I'm learning as I get older is that I really like John Steinbeck's books. If you had told me that in 7th grade when I was forced to read The Pearl, I would have laughed in your face. Such a good story in this book...I will have to go out and find more of his books.

The Blonde by Duane Swierczynki
Read the book in one night, kind of appropriate since most of the book occurs over the course of a couple of days. I just couldn't put it down until I got to the end. I think I might have a new favorite author.

Currently Reading:
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein (2nd reading)
I'm a Stranger Here Myself by Bill Bryson
The Sagan Diary by John Scalzi (audiobook)
Analytical Mechanics of Space Systems by Hanspeter Schaub and John L. Junkins (for school)

Book Reviews for November

2006-12-09T10:06:00.000-07:00

It's been a while, and I've read a couple of books since the last time I posted. Here are my quick reviews:

Learning the World by Ken MacLeod
This was one of the Hugo nominees for this past year. Synopsis...human civilization has gone a long way towards populating the galaxy, thus far no other intelligent species has been found...up until now. The latest colonization attempt is reaching a world which is populated by bat-people similar in size to human. The world is very similar technologically to the Earth in the 1920's.

This book flips back and forth between two points of view: those of the colonists and those of the bat-people. I actually wish that MacLeod stuck with the story from the bat-people's point of view...to me, at least, this part kept me more interested than on the colony ship. I think what turned me off to the colony ship was that the people on this ship were so different from humans today that I couldn't relate to them...I actually felt closer to the bat-people. Maybe that was what MacLeod was trying to do all along. The ending was a little weak, I was waiting for more stuff to happen and then the book just ended with a convenient resolution. I was kind of disappointed because I was really getting into the story at that point.

The Android's Dream by John Scalzi
John Scalzi is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. Again, Scalzi doesn't delve in any deep concepts/messages, he just writes a really good story with plenty of action and comedy to keep you turning the pages. The book starts off with a chapter-long fart joke assassination of an alien diplomat. In order to prevent the alien race from destroying humanity, which they easily can, a low-level state department official, Harry Creek, who has just the right qualifications (i.e. ex-cop, special forces experience, computer-wiz, etc.) has to track down a genetically modified sheep called the Android's Dream and provide it to the alien race. The only problem is that somebody is killing off all of these sheep and now have their sights set on Harry. I'm afraid of revealing any of the plot twists, so I can't say anymore about the book. Just pick it up, you won't regret it.

My only regret is that I bought this book right away and then found out that Scalzi is offering some signed versions of the book at some of his preferred retailers. I think I will still buy the signed version anyway and give my current version to the library. The great news is that Tor has asked for a sequel to this book...I can't wait to see it!

Encounter with Tiber by Buzz Aldrin and John Barnes
Yes, that Buzz Aldrin. I was actually surprised with the quality of the book. Of course, reading all the technical parts about space travel from an expert was quite exciting for me, considering that I'm getting my Master's in Space Systems. Synopsis...an alien species far more advanced than humans sends a signal to earth with a map to a location on the moon that leads to a library of information from the aliens. The book is divided into a number of parts, some parts deal with trying to get to the library, other parts deal with information obtained from the library (in particular, the telling of some stories from the aliens...this is the part that I enjoyed the most).

It's a pretty good book, which surprised me. I say that because I'm always skeptical of picking up books that are written by more than one author. There's something deep inside me that says, if one person couldn't write it (especially if he isn't an author) it can't be that good. I'm glad to be proven wrong here.

The only thing that I found as a real weakness in this book is one of my major pet peeves when I read novels...a really smart character all of a sudden having such a lack of knowledge in a particular area that another character has to explain it to him, when really the author is just trying to explain the concept to the reader. It really annoys me when an author does this. I don't care if the author has to make a descriptive paragraph or two in order to explain this to the reader...it's science fiction, it's a given that there are going to be some things that a reader doesn't understand. The part that I detest is taking a person so out of character that it is laughable that they don't know the information being explained to them. It doesn't fit in the story, especially when the person has be touted as being uber-smart and is a real distraction for me.

Next Book:
Sun of Suns by Karl Schroeder
(By the way, this book has some real kick-butt cover art. It will definitely be picked up by those people who do judge a book by it's cover.)

Book Review: Cell by Stephen King

2006-10-27T22:39:00.000-06:00

When I read Cell, it reminded me very much about another end-of-the world Stephen King novel, The Stand. Don't get me wrong, they are very different books...however I couldn't stop comparing the two as I read them. So I guess this review will end up being a compare/constrast review.

The Stand:

Population killed off by a biological agent which has become known as Captain Tripps Disease
Very long novel. Complete and Uncut Version comes in at 1,152 pages.
Follows the viewpoints of a number of characters on both sides of the battle which ensues.
Character flaws lead to conflicts later in the novel.

Cell:

Population turned into zombies by a pulse whenever a cellphone is used.
Shorter novel, only 350 pages.
Follows the viewpoints of one main character.
It seems like none of the main characters can make any mistakes at all.

You can probably tell that I definitely preferred The Stand. Here's why:

The kill-off scenario is much more realistic. I think that it is a lot more plausible for the world to be affected by some biological agent than by some pulse which turns into zombies. It makes for a much more disturbing book if you have "this might really happen" in the back of your head while you're reading. While there is a bunch of mysticism in The Stand which definitely takes it out of reality, it still makes for a much better read than Cell.
The length of The Stand allows for much more character development. There are probably a lot of people out there who thought The Stand was much too long, I'm definitely not one of them. I really felt that I knew the characters and it affected me a lot more when some of them died. I had no such connection with the characters in Cell.
The different viewpoints approach in The Stand definitely led to me having a closer connection with the characters. I also liked how Mr. King showed that the people on the "evil" side of the conflict weren't pure evil. Cell was very one sided in this regard. I know, I know, zombies aren't supposed to think so how are we supposed to see their point of view. But think of what might have come if we did see the zombie point of view. If he had explored that path, it might have made for a very interesting book indeed.
Finally, the thing that really bugged me about Cell was that it seemed that none of the main characters could make any mistakes...at all. The teenagers were too smart and centered, the adults were too reasonable, even the cat did what cat's are supposed to do. It really got to me after a while, especially the uber-awesome teenagers. While The Stand had it's fair number of characters that didn't have their flaws (Tom Cullen comes immediately to mind) there were a number who had there flaws. This made them more believable in my eyes.

I'm not saying that Cell is a terrible book. The first couple of chapters really had me on the edge of my seat. I even had to force myself to stop reading during the last couple of chapters so that I wouldn't stay up all night finishing the book. These qualities in themselves definitely put the book in the "decent" to "good" categories. However, after a couple of days of digesting the book and comparing it to The Stand, it really doesn't hold it's own when the two books are put side by side. I really consider The Stand to be one of King's masterworks that will stay with me for a long time while Cell is another one of his books which I've read and will soon forget.

Next Books:
Learning the World by Ken MacLeod
The Android's Dream by John Scalzi

Gotta Love Colorado Weather

2006-10-27T21:23:00.000-06:00

We had a blizzard yesterday. I think we ended up getting somewhere close to 14" of snow. The wind caused a lot of drifting snow which made it much higher in some places. I probably should have taken some pictures after shoveling the driveway...that really would have shown how high the snow had gotten. Below are some pics that we took at 9:00 AM. It continued snowing for the rest of the day and we had substantially more snow by the time it was all over.

Now, here are some pics from 9:00 PM today...

It got up to about 60 degrees today and the sun was shining all day. In just 36 hours the weather went from "you can't see 15 feet in front of you...only go outside if you dare" to "beautiful fall day...I should put on some shorts and enjoy the weather". I'm not sure if I will ever get used to the weather around here.

Local Politics

2006-10-18T21:28:00.000-06:00

Last week I listened to a debate between Jay Fawcett and Doug Lamborn who are running for the US House of Representatives 5th District in Colorado. In case you don't know, the 5th district is considered a republican stronghold which includes such organizations as Focus on the Family. I was quite surprised to hear that the Democrat, Jay Fawcett, is actually in a close race with Doug Lamborn. I think the reason is quite clear if you listen to the debate: Fawcett-Lamborn Debate.

I don't think that I have ever heard a debate where one of the candidates absolutely destroys the other candidate before. This is worse than the first John Kerry vs. George W. Bush debate during the last presidential election. While President Bush came off looking angry and uncomfortable at times, he at least addressed all of the issues and rebutted when he got the chance. Lamborn just stood there and refused to answer point blank questions about how he would do his job. Even mediocre politicians have some kind of answer when asked about what they would do, even if their whole answer is an avoidance of an actual answer (Bill Clinton is the King of this). While I don't agree with all of Fawcett's viewpoints, he has definitely gained my vote. I would much rather have a strong leader representing me in the House than the guy who answers a question with "Next question, please".

Book Reviews for October

2006-10-18T20:58:00.000-06:00

I had to stop reading The Count of Monte Cristo. It's a great book and I was thoroughly enjoying it. The only problem is that school work was getting in the way and it was taking way too long to get through the book. I suggest saving off the book until you have the time to read a 1,000+ page book.

The next book that I read was Spin by Robert Charles Wilson. It was the Hugo Award winner for this year and I wanted to see how it stacked up against Old Man's War (which was nominated for the Hugo as well). While I thought that this was good sci-fi, I really didn't enjoy it as much as OMW. I don't know, I guess I'm much more of a military sci-fi dweeb and can't get as much into the hard sci-fi that is found in Spin. It's a very good book and is definitely worth the read. I just enjoyed OMW much more. In fact, I re-read OMW just to make sure I could do a really fresh comparison between the two. In my eyes OMW still wins.

After that, I read The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Wifey recomended it so I decided to give it a try. For some reason, this book seemed very similar to a lot of other coming of age books that I've read in the past. The only difference was that it was set in Afghanistan. There's something that I now call The Sixth Sense Effect. Here's how it goes: After watching The Sixth Sense you come to expect that M. Night Shyamalan's movies will have a huge plot twist somewhere near the end of the movie. As a result, any more M. Night Shyamalan movies that you watch will not surprise you if and when the plot twist occurs. You're expecting it and it's not going to surprise you when it happens. I found that to be the case when I watched The Village. I have a feeling that more people would have enjoyed the movie a lot more if they didn't know that it was directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The Kite Runner suffers from The Sixth Sense Effect since I've read coming of age books before and I know that some huge revelation would be coming. I guessed what the plot twist would be within the first couple of chapters and the rest of the book was a slog once I knew what was going to happen. It's a well written book, but I don't think that it deserves all the hoopla that has surrounded it.

Next Book: Cell by Stephen King

Oh no, not the knees again

2006-10-18T20:53:00.000-06:00

I've taken about a 3 week hiatus from running. Unfortunately after the Nielson Challenge, I started pushing myself to run faster during my training runs. As a result, my left knee started hurting again (a recurring injury that I've had since highschool) and I backed off to only running once a week for a couple of weeks. Even then, my knee was still hurting, so I stopped running completely to see if that would help. I haven't felt any twinges in a couple of weeks, so it may be time to start slow jogs again. Back to building that aerobic base...

Obligatory Kid Pics

2006-10-02T20:53:00.000-06:00

I just realized that I haven't yet posted any pictures of the kids. What blog is complete without the inevitable kid pictures. Here are some of my favorite of the most recent pictures...

Woo hoo!

2006-09-02T22:43:00.000-06:00

Ran in an event called the Nielson Challenge today. It's basically a 2-mile practice race on a very flat course that occurs on the first Saturday of every month. After your first race, you are given a handicap (pretty much equal to the running average of your top 6 times during the last 24 months, with some incentives added if you run more often) and all other races are run against the handicap. The person who beats their handicap by the largest amount wins the race. It's a pretty neat event considering that you can win the race even if you come in last place...you just have to improve over your average time by the most amount. More details can be found at the Pikes Peak Road Runners website: http://www.pprrun.org/

The reason for the exclamation in the title of this post was because I beat my running goal by a lot! I was aiming to run under an average pace of 10 minutes/mile (in other words, run the race in under 20 minutes) while running negative splits (i.e. run the 2nd half of the race faster than the first half of the race). I ended up running the race in 16:09. My first mile was somewhere around 8:16. That puts my 2nd mile at 7:53! The average for both miles was 8:09. Not only did I accomplish everything that I set out to do, I did it in style! I was able to run the last 1/8 mile at pretty much a full sprint. I used to be able to do this in highschool, but I was usually disappointed in myself because I felt that I had saved too much energy for the end. In this race, I felt like I had worked hard throughout the race and that the sprint at the end was everything I had to give.

One thing that I learned about was that my max heart rate is 188 beats per minute (at least that was the heart rate I had at the finish line). I also realized that my training runs can probably be run at a slightly faster pace. Unfortunately, one of the things that came up this week is that my training runs are taking up too much time. I'll have to reduce the number of times a week that I run from 5 to 3. As a result, I've just totally revised my training schedule between now and October 28th. My goal for this year's race is to run at a 7:39 pace, putting my race finishing time at 23:46. That's a 30 second improvement over today's race pace...I think I should be able to do that over the next 8 weeks.

No, this is not some weird form of driveway art

2006-08-30T20:56:00.000-06:00

We just got a whole bunch of dirt (under the tarp), mulch, rock, and railroad ties delivered. Boy, are we going to have some fun getting this stuff moved from the driveway onto our yard!

Quick Update

2006-08-27T15:05:00.000-06:00

Pleasure reading has come to a screeching halt. Just started my next class in my Mechanical Engineering degree. It is called "Analysis of Mechanical and Aerospace Systems". I feel like I'm woefully unprepared for the course since our text is Modern Control Theory by William Brogan. I've heard a lot of good things about this book, but thus far it seems to be working with the assumption that the student has taken a Controls course. Right now I'm giving myself a crash course in Classical Control Theory and I'm hoping that I'll have enough knowledge to get me through...

Sailing was absolutely awesome. Even though it was a small lake, it was definitely big enough to get me hooked. We did most of our sailing on Sunfish, but I also got a chance to go on a Fireball (definitely too much boat for me) and I spent an afternoon sailing a Butterfly. I had a ton of fun (especially the 2nd weekend when we had fairly steady winds) and I can't wait to get back out again!

Running is still going strong. I'm up to 16.5 miles/week and I will be doing a 2 mile test race next Saturday. My current goal is to finish at a pace under 10 minutes a mile. We will see how that goes.

Still With The Water Issues

2006-08-01T21:32:00.000-06:00

As a follow up to the previous post...

The funny part is that I've waited until now to decide that I want to learn to sail. No, living next to Lake Ontario and the Finger Lakes most of my life wasn't good enough. Moving to Philly didn't suffice either. Nope, I've got to wait until we move to the Rockies where the things they call "lakes" are what most Easterners would call "ponds". About the only place you can sail is in the man-made reservoirs that serve as the region's potable water supply. I'll be taking my first class this weekend in Standley Lake. The image at the left shows a nice comparison of Standley Lake against Conesus Lake in New York. If Conesus is considered a small lake...it looks like Standley is tiny.

Oh well, the "Wildlife Refuge" part of Standley is actually pretty cool. Apparently, they have some bald eagles nesting on the lake and a whole section is blocked off so that humans don't disturb their habitat. Maybe we will see them flying around while out on the water. Now that would be cool!

We've Got Water Issues

2006-08-01T20:56:00.000-06:00

Growing up in Rochester, NY sure did not get me ready for the weather here in the mountains. I always pictured the Rockies to be just like the Appalachian mountains...only much bigger. You know...lush forests, crystal clear mountain lakes, and snow topped peaks. Boy was I wrong. Where Rochester has about 300 days of rain/snow a year, Colorado Springs has about 300 sunny days a year. I've heard the area described as a high plains desert...which I'm guessing is pretty true.

It is extremely dry over here. If you dig into the soil (if you want to call it that), you find that it is actually only sand. In the summer, we get almost daily afternoon thunderstorms which usually dump a whole bunch of rain (and sometimes hail) in about 20 minutes. Then the clouds blow away and it's clear skies for the rest of the evening. The drenching will do very little for actually watering the lawns (and all the water just drains through the sand immediately); as a result, almost every house in the Springs automatically comes with a sprinkler system. You have to let the water run for about an hour every day in order to keep your grass green. I just about had a heartattack last year when I opened my first utility bill which reached $300...$250 of which was the water portion alone.

At that point I decided that having a green front lawn really didn't matter. Our house is located in a portion of the street that doesn't lend itself to playing out front. The solution, out with the lawn and in with the rocks and mulch. We will have a small island next to one of the trees where we will plant native plants. The rest will be rocks. I've rerouted our sprinklers so that they only cover the tiny little island. For the most part, we will keep the back yard the same. At least we will be cutting out half of the watering needs for our lawn.

We've been working on this project most of the summer. We've just finished tilling the lawn into the ground. Now all we have to do is lay down the lawn fabric and bring in the rocks. I'll post some before and after pictures once the project is finished.

On the Road Again

2006-07-28T21:41:00.000-06:00

Seeing Floyd Landis win the Tour de France inspired me to start long-distance running again. Of course, that was before the whole possible doping scandal blew up yesterday. I personally don't believe that he tried to enhance his performance. It would be ridiculous because (1) taking testosterone will not have a significant effect on an athlete's performance until at least a week afterwards, and (2) any athlete who wins a stage of the Tour de France automatically gets tested after the race. Floyd would have to be a complete idiot to think that he could get away with cheating like that. One of the things that I find interesting is that I have seen very little talk about the tests themselves and how the B sample is tested differently from the A sample. Is there any more rigorous testing that occurs the second time around? Does the B sample get tested at a separate independant laboratory? I've heard that the test is a measurement of the ratio between testosterone and epitestosterone, and that these measurements could be different from person to person. Does the test take into account the person's normal ratio of testosterone? I will have to plead ignorance with many of my questions...I'm just frustrated that I can't find the information about the test.

But I digress. Either way, whether Floyd cheated or not, I have still been compelled to start training for my first 5K since highschool. I was never a stellar runner. After 6 years of running cross-country, my best time was 20 minutes and 21 seconds at the McQuaid invitational. McQuaid is a fairly flat course and therefore it is really fast. My goal is to run a 5K in under 20 minutes by Fall 2007. This is a goal that I always had in highschool, but never quite followed through on. It's going to take a lot of consistent work to get there, but I think I can do it. After all, I never really did a good job with my training when I was younger. Here's my plan for getting to my goal:

- Train between now and my 1st race to build my aerobic base. This basically consists of running at 60-75% of my maximum heartrate 5 times a week. I will slowly build up the mileage until I get up to 20 miles a week. This is something that I NEVER did before.
- Run my first race on October 28th, 2006. It will be the Manitou Springs Mayor's Cup. It sounds like a pretty cool race with a whole lot of other things going on, including the yearly Emma Crawford Coffin Races that I've heard so much about.
- Continue training throughout the winter, working my way up to 30 miles a week. This is where living in Colorado Springs will really come in handy since our winters are relatively mild. Once I'm up to a 30 mile/week aerobic base, add interval training and tempo runs to the mix so that I can increase my 5K speed.
- Participate in the Nielson Challenges throughout the winter. These are really cool free 2 mile races that are put on by the Pikes Peak Road Runners. Basically, each time you run, they record the time that you run and then keep a running average of your times. The race is actually against your average. The person who has the best improvement over their average wins the race. These will help gauge how well I'm progressing with my winter training.
- Participate in a number of 5K events leading up to the 2007 Manitou Springs Mayor's Cup. These may include the following events: Tortoise & Hare (another really cool race), Take 5 in the Garden, Sailin' Shoes 5K, Woodland Park Mayor's Cup, and Colorado Springs Mayor's Cup. Descriptions for all of the races can be found on the Pikes Peak Road Runners website.
- Run the 2007 Manitou Springs Mayor's Cup in under 20 minutes!

Why, you say, am I writing this in my blog? So that I'm comitted. I've now posted it and I will be lying to myself and all of my anxious blog readers (all 1 of you) if I don't follow through.

Wish me luck.

P.S. It wasn't only Floyd Landis who inspired me, but also my friend The Wolf. He participated in a triathalon last August (follow this link to read his exploits) and ever since then the bug has been in the back of my mind. In fact, The Wolf also inspired me to start a blog. You'll notice that my first entry in this blog started about 2 months after reading The Wolf's blog.

Sabres Logo

2006-07-28T21:17:00.000-06:00

According to some news around the net, this is the new Buffalo Sabres logo for next year. I hate it and I think many other fans hate it as well. When I heard that the Sabres were going to go back to the blue and gold scheme, I was under the impression that it would be something reminiscent of the orignal Sabres logo with the buffalo and two sabres crossed. It was one of the few logos out there which you could literally read the team's name from the pictures. There are not many teams that could do that. Now we have a buffalo that looks very much like a flying slug or a really bad hairpiece. If you're a Sabres fan and you don't like the logo either, voice your opinion at www.fixthelogo.com. As of the publishing of this post, there are 20,000 Sabres fans who agree with me. I'm not sure if this will make any difference, but it's worth a shot.

Good thing I moved here...

2006-07-14T01:54:00.000-06:00

You're Colorado!

You really enjoy getting high. Even though it's often a lot of work, the
view from the top is almost always worth the effort. Your distance from others makes
your relationship with them rather rocky at times, but they do look up to you. Be very
careful around schools. And stop being quite so focused on the number 5,280!

Take the State Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Book Review - The Theban Mysteries

2006-07-14T01:44:00.000-06:00

The Theban Mysteries by Amanda Cross
Very dated book and a little too hoight-toighty for me. Wasn't worth reading. I'll give mysteries one or two more shots, but if they are similar to this one, I'll have to pass on the genre.

Next Book:
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (2nd time reading this one)

Book Review - Agent to the Stars

2006-07-14T01:37:00.000-06:00

Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi
Funny sci-fi. It's free on-line, so just give it a try. http://scalzi.com/agent/

I'm not a mainstream sports kind of guy

2006-07-07T20:47:00.000-06:00

I'm not your typical sports fan in America. Most of the time when I'm talking to my friends, they only watch certain sports and I'm usually the only one watching others. Here's a list of all the sports that I can think of off the top of my head:

Football:
Let's just say thank God for Tivo. The only way I can watch football is by fast forwarding through all of the commercial breaks, standing around, and commentary that goes on. I can usually zip through a 4 hour broadcast in about an hour and a half. Even then, it's a little too much because my thumb starts to cramp up.

Basketball:
I only watch the NCAA tournament, and that's only to see if the teams I picked in my bracket moved on to the next round. It turns out that I either come in last place, or I look like a genius because I picked Syracuse to go to the final four. Go figure.

Baseball:
Shoot me now. Put me out of my misery. This would be the thing that they would be showing me if I was the hooligan from A Clockwork Orange. I have a feeling that a lot of people will agree with me on this one.

Golf:
Ditto.

Hockey:
I can watch this anytime, anywhere. I'm just so happy that the NHL came back this year. I can't wait until next year.

Soccer:
Here, I'm a typical American. What's so exciting about watching 22 people run around a field for 90 minutes. I made a valiant effort to watch the World Cup this year; I just don't think we're wired to watch that sport.

Bicycling - Tour de France:
Now here's a sport that I can get into. A 3 week battle where the best prepared cyclist with the best team usually wins. I like the drama that this race creates. Don't get me wrong, I still fast forward through most of the flat stages...but I will stop to watch the climbs & sprints and I'm glued to the TV during the time trials.

Tennis:
Yup, I like this one to. I can attribute my fondness for this sport since this is one of the few sports that my father and I watched together.

That said, it's time for me to get caught up on my Wimbledon and Tour de France highlights...

A much maligned post...now that's evil!

2006-06-29T21:05:00.000-06:00

In a recent news article from the Buffalo News, the reporter references the "maligned defensman Rory Fitzpatrick". I don't know if I'm getting defensive since Rory grew up in my hometown and went to highschool with me, but it really irks me when reporters attach "maligned" to his name. It bugged me so much, that I went to look up the definition. Here's what I found:

Malign:
1. Evil in disposition, nature, or intent.
2. Evil in influence; injurious.
3. Having or showing malice or ill will; malevolent.

Wow, that's sounds a little harsh. Don't you think? This isn't the first time I've seen this word associated with Rory or even with other athletes who aren't performing at the top of their games. Yeah they may be out there making some mistakes which may or may not affect the outcome of the game, but come on, do we have to call them evil for making mistakes? I'm pretty sure they are not out there saying to themselves "I'm really going to mess up this play because I really hate this team, town, etc. and I'm really evil". I know it may sound like I'm blowing things out of proportion, but I really can't stand it when people say "Well, they are professionals, they shouldn't be making mistakes like that". I think that's BS. We're all professionals, we are all getting paid to do something professionally, be it flipping burgers, writing software, or playing sports. I really don't like the whole "they get paid so much more than me" argument either, that's directly related to the market price for professional sports. It doesn't make these people any more professional than anybody else. It's a career and I can't imagine what it would be like if every mistake that I made was scrutinized across the nation. Of course, that's one of the hazards that you take on when your job is televized (well, at least it is televized all over Canada).

I guess my main beef is using such strong language to describe someone who is not playing at the top of their game. After all, just the previous NHL season (2003-4) was a career season for Fitzie were Lindy Ruff "was not afraid to put him on the ice for any type of situation" (see NHL.com article). Additionally, he has twice been awarded the Rochester Amerks McCulloch Trophy for community service. This hardly sounds evil to me.

Book Review

2006-06-28T22:14:00.000-06:00

The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi
Sequel to Old Man's War. Didn't quite have me as hooked as OMW, but I still enjoyed it. Definitely give it a try if you are into Military Sci-Fi.

Currently reading:
Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi. I'm actually reading this online at www.scalzi.com.

Next book:
The Theban Mysteries by Amanda Cross

We don't want any!

2006-06-28T21:42:00.000-06:00

Several months ago, wifey put up a sign on our front door that says "No Solicitation". The primary reason was because we kept getting people coming over in the middle of the day trying to sell us new windows, give us lawn care service, save our souls, sign a petition, help a kid through college by subscribing to a newspaper...you get the idea. Without fail, these people would ring the doorbell just after wifey got our daughter down to bed. The dogs would bark their heads off like crazy and nap time for the little one would be shot for the day. That pretty much guarantees no sale at this house...you try selling products to someone just after you have ruined their afternoon.

While the number of callers we get has been greatly reduced, we still get the occasional person who ignores the sign and rings anyway. As if that isn't bad enough they usually ask me if my parents are home. I understand that they are trying to do their job, but it takes all my self control not to go off on them not only for interrupting our family dinner but also for assuming that I'm not old enough to own my own house. I know I'm not being fair, but it's the way I feel.

I'm seriously thinking of putting up a sign in hot pink that says "If you don't know us and you are trying to sell us stuff, please do not ring our doorbell because we don't want any. If you do decide to ring the doorbell, unless the person who answers the door is under 3' tall, you ARE speaking to the owner of the house." I just don't think that I can bring myself to do it because I know that I will blow up at the next unknown person who decides to ring our doorbell. With my luck, it would be somebody trying to do a good deed by returning one of our dogs, or something like that.

It's been a while...

2006-06-28T21:35:00.000-06:00

(originally published on 6/27/2006 in Fubaar's Books)

OK, wow, I totally forgot about my blog. I think I got embarrased with some of the books that I was reading and decided that it wasn't worth it to write a post. It all went downhill from there.

Let's see if I can remember what I've read since last October...

S.M. Stirling's Island in the Sea of Time
Nantucket gets zapped back into 1250 B.C. and the inhabitants have to figure out how to survive without the comforts of modern life. This was a cool alternate history/time travel book. After reading this, I started reading the sequels to this book. It's a fun set of books, but after a while you kind of think to yourself...when is it going to end. The books just keep going and going.

S.M. Striling's Dies the Fire
The first book in a parrallel series to the Nantucket books above. The premise is that a blinding white light originates over the island of Nantucket and spreads over the whole globe (supposedly, this is when Nantucket is thrown back in time). After the white light is gone, physics has changed such that electricity and explosives no longer work. The rest of the story follows the survivors of the Event and what they do to survive. This book had a cool concept, but I got pretty tired of Stirling's writing style. I don't even remember if I finished this book or if I just gave up because I knew there were multiple sequels that I just didn't want to read.

After these books, I got a little tired of reading the same genre over and over again, so I started looking for reading suggestions. Quite by accident, I stumbled on the Nancy Pearl podcasts on NPR. So far, I've liked about 65% the books that she has suggested. She's got two books out called Book Lust and More Book Lust, which are essentially books with reading lists in them. If you're looking for some suggestions, I would highly recommend these as a starting place. Here are the books that I've read from Nancy Pearl's suggestions:

The Prestige by Christopher Priest
If you like magic then this book is for you. It's a novel about two magicians, their hatred for each other, and their secrets that they want to keep the other from finding out. I'm not much for magic myself, but I still found the book intriguing. However, the book got a little weird toward the end and the plot twists actually turned me off from enjoying the ending.

The Calligrapher by Edward Docx
This book is about a playboy who falls desperately in love with a gorgeous woman...Nancy Pearl put this book into her "Dick Lit" category. I didn't really like the protagonist from the start, so I was pretty lukewarm with the book all the way through. Probably since I didn't get involved with the main character's life, I was able to guess some of the plot twists early on in the book.

Flanders by Patricia Anthony
This book is a World War I soldier's account of the war through the letters he writes home to his brother. I really liked this book and will probably read it again at some point.

A Sport and a Pastime by James Salter
No, this book isn't about baseball. I think it was supposed to be some coming of age story, but I couldn't get into the book.

Old Man's War by John Scalzi
What a kick-ass book! I knew that I would eventually get back into Sci-Fi again...I just can't help it, I think it is in my blood. If you liked Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers then you will love this book. Scalzi actually used ST as a model for this book. However, he's not just regurgitating the same sci-fi themes that any old hack can come up with...he's got some really innovative ideas that he weaves into the story. I'm currently reading The Ghost Brigades, which is a sequel to Old Man's War, and I'm thoroughly enjoying that book as well. Check out Scalzi's website (www.scalzi.com). He regularly blogs on the website, still answers fan's posts, and he even has an online novel Agent to the Stars, which I'm reading as well.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Actually, Nancy Pearl didn't recomend this directly. Wifey had started listening to the book on tape again and once I heard it, I just had to read it again. This must be the 5th time I've read the book. However, this is one of the Sci-Fi books that Nancy Pearl does highly recomend.

OK, that's about it. I could say that I will be better at writing posts, but that would be a lie.

Some of the books that slipped through the cracks

2006-06-28T21:31:00.000-06:00

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin - mediocre, at best

Native Son by Richard Wright - 2nd time trying this book. Once I read the preface which told me that this wasn't supposed to be an easy book to read (i.e. you won't like the protagonist), I had an easier time reading it...kind of funny. I was able to appreciate it a lot more this time and will definitely read it again.

The Rama Series

2006-06-28T21:30:00.000-06:00

(originally published on 10/04/2005 in Fubaar's Books)

I completed the Rama series by Arthur C. Clarke a couple of weeks ago and I'm finally getting around to writing my reviews...

Rendezvous with Rama
Premise: In the beginning of the 22nd century, a large cylindrical object enters the solar system headed on a trajectory where it will pass the Sun and then get slingshot out again. The Earth sends a crew of astronauts to check out the object before it leaves. They find that the object is actually a mini-world complete with cities and a sea...the only problem is that the world seems totally uninhabbited except for a number of robots which seem to have biological components (biots).
Review: I loved the concept and the description of the alien world. The only problem is that I finished the book and I was left feeling that nothing happened. The crew landed, got inside, observed the world through some environmental changes, saw some robots, and then left. I kept feeling that there was so much more that could have been done with the book. I almost gave up on the series, but wifey convinced me that the 2nd book had a lot more action in it.

Rama II
Premise: Written in conjunction with Gentry Lee. It's a little less than a century passed since the first Rama craft appeared in our solar system. Since that time, the world has gone through a major economical depression. The world is just getting back on it's feet again when scientists notice another Rama craft approaching. This time, the crew sent up to investigate the craft has a specific goal of trying to capture one of the biots and make contact with the alien species if possible.
Review: Ok, wifey was right, this book definitely had a lot more action in it. Also, the character development was much better...this time I felt like I really cared for some members of the crew, while I despised others. I don't want to ruin any of the twists, so I'll just leave it as a pretty good read.

Garden of Rama
Premise: Jeez, I'm realizing that if I write too much about the premise for this book then I would ruin certain parts of the 2nd book. The same will be true for the last book in the series. So the generic premise is that this is a continuation of the Rama series. =)
Review: This book is basically a discussion on human nature. It asks the question, "what would happen if the human race could start over again, would it follow the same path of war and corruption that we have seen in history?" I don't think that the authors really gave the "start over" concept a really fair chance. Still, it was a very interesting read and there is a killer cliff hanger ending.

Rama Revealed
Review: This book really needed to be cut down. After a while, I just kept saying to myself "ok, I get it, stop beating this dead horse and get to the ending". My suggestion, read the first three books. Then, check this book out of the library and read the first couple of chapters to resolve the cliff hanger ending from the previous book. Then, skip to the end and read the last couple of chapters. Most of the 300 pages in the middle could probably be cut down to 100 pages...this would make it into a much better book.

Next books on my list:
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
Native Son by Richard Wright

My love affair with sci-fi...

2006-06-28T21:28:00.000-06:00

(originally posted on 10/04/2005 in Fubaar's Books)

...started in the summer between my Freshman and Sophmore year in college. I was in Puerto Rico for about 2 months living with my sister and brother-in-law. My brother-in-law introduced me to Frank Herbert's Dune and I was hooked. I quickly read through the first three books in the series, decided God Emperor Dune wasn't worth finishing, and temporarily stopped reading for pleasure when I returned to college.

I really didn't start reading heavily again until I graduated from college. All of a sudden, I found myself with a whole lot of free time at night. I was living with someone else, but he was in law school and way to busy to hang out every night. The free time got split between reading and going to the bars. I quickly went through a lot of the classics...Hyperion, Stranger in a Strange Land, The Stars My Destination, etc. Some I liked, some I didn't. Then I encountered Ender's Game and I was hitched for life. There's just something about the genre that keeps me hooked. I guess its the idea of space travel and colonization of other planets which really interests me.

The big surprise for me, was Stephen King. Wifey introduced me to him shortly after we started dating. Up to that point, I thought that he only cranked out cheap horror books which were good for a quick buck. Boy, was I surprised when I started reading The Gunslinger and found the fantasy/sci-fi side of Stephen King. I loved The Dark Tower series along with all of his other books which tie into the series. I also couldn't put down The Stand; occasionally when I hear someone cough, I think to myself "I hope they don't have Captain Tripps Disease" and a chill runs up and down my spine.

I will occasionally delve into other genres as well. I think my next two favorite subjects would have to be African/African American Literature (Roots, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Cry the Beloved Country, Things Fall Apart, etc.) and then Alternate History Fiction (Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus, 1632, etc.).

The African/African American Literature definitely stems from the way my parents raised me. They always taught me to judge people by their actions, not by the color of their skin. When I read these books, I can still see the discrimination which is still present today...I'm not just talking about African Americans, I'm also talking about Latinos, Asians, Middle Easterners, and anyone else who is chastised for looking different or having a different set of beliefs from the "mainstream" society.

OK, I better stop before I get up on my high horse. The subject of discrimination/ignorance in today's society is definitely way too long of a subject to get into right now. I think I would need a couple of hours of writing in order to get all my thoughts on that subject off of my chest. Until next time...

Down to one

2006-06-28T21:22:00.000-06:00

OK, I give up trying to keep up two blogs. Seeing how often I contribute to this blog, it's probably a wise idea to go down to one...nobody reads either of them anyways. I will retire my books blog and put my book reviews into this blog instead. I think I will also keep my reviews to one line unless I feel particularly passionate about a book...I don't have the time to write a book report for each one I read. Having two kids will do that to you.

Just so that I don't lose some of my previous info, I will copy my book review posts over here and then remove my other blog.

I have been humbled

2005-10-02T19:40:00.000-06:00

I started swimming about a month ago. I was inspired by a friend who was training for a triathlon. I figured that I should start an exercise program and swimming sounded like a good idea. Every time I run, my left knee starts to hurt. I can bicycle, the only problem is that all the routes around me are a little bit too short and if I extend them I get onto some major roads which are not bike friendly. The best low impact sport available is swimming.

At first, I was having problems. I couldn't get past two laps in the pool; after that, I was so out of breath that I either had to stop or I had to switch to breast stroke. Finally, after 4 days of swimming with no improvements, I had an epiphany. I decided to slow down my stroke and see if I could get a more regular breathing pattern than gasping for breath every chance I got. It worked! Slowly over the next couple of weeks, I worked up to 20 laps per workout doing 10 laps at a time. I felt pretty good about myself since my goal is to be able to do 40 laps during a single workout (a little over 1.1 miles) and I was already half way there.

Well, I went in today for my standard 20 lap workout since I haven't been in the pool for over a week. I ended up sharing my lane with a woman who had a lot of swimming equipment with her. She had the full set; hand paddles, kickboard, and flippers. I already knew I was in trouble, I've seen the people in the Master's swim session using these things and they are all fairly good swimmers. I started on my first 10 laps while she was getting ready. While I was working on my 2nd lap she started her workout. A couple of laps later she passed me for the first time. A little while after that, she passed me for the second time. She would have passed me for a third time, but she had already finished her 10 warmup laps while I was still working on my 9th lap!

Don't get me wrong, I don't really care that it was a woman who was passing me so many times, it was just the fact that I was so SLOW! After running cross country for 6 years, I have realized that my top athletic performance was typically on par with the top women athletes. Who really cares. I think the thing that really got to me was when she passed me while using the kickboard without flippers. Translation, my combined effort using my arms and legs was not as powerful as her using her legs alone. Ouch!

Maybe the only consilation that I could take away from this experience is that there is a very slight chance that she could be an olympian/former olympian. After all, the US Olympic training facility is located in Colorado Springs. I think I will go with that assumption and feel better about my swimming ability. =)

Intro

2005-10-02T14:00:00.000-06:00

I like to divide things into categories...a lot. My folders on my computer and in my file cabinet are typically so categorized, that I usually only have one or two items stored in these folders. I realized that if I follow this same concept in my Blogs that I will have 100 different Blogs with only a few posts in each. So, I'm going to go against my instincts and I will only keep two Blogs: one for books/reading and another for everything else. This is my everything else Blog...we will see how it goes.