A quick note from Key West - it's damp, crowded, and it's New Year's Eve. Not especially desirable. The drive down the Overseas Highway was spectacular, with good weather staying with us all this week.
What I'm reading: Alexander McCall Smith's "44 Scotland Street", a readalike to the Maupin "28 Barbary Lane" series. The McCall Smith books are set in Edinburgh and are inspired by Maupin's original serialization of "Tales of the City" in the San Francisco Chronicle.
The personality quiz you see on the right side of this entry - exactly 0 percent of the people taking the test are like me. Finally I'm special.
The cruise was great fun, and while I was suspicious of going at first because of fear of becoming ill, etc., moving along at a stately pace and having everything taken care of for me was relaxing. They (Holland America Line, a division of Carnival) do everything they can to extract money from you during the cruise, so the total cost of the cruise might be 50 to 60 percent over the cost of the stateroom. It was worth it.
An article in today's Allentown Morning Call critical of some solar power installers prompted a letter to the author. Surprisingly, I got a call back from him this afternoon and we discussed the differences between there (Allentown) and there (California) regarding attitudes about electric power generation, distribution, and sales. We agreed philosophically on most points but our perspectives diverged on the acquisition of Montana Power (cheap hydroelectricity for the state) by Pennsylvania Power and Light, the Allentown-based energy company. He favored the acquisition because it lowered his rates; I've been to Montana and know how unhappy they are with the sale of one of their state treasures to carpetbaggers.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
"What do you mean, I can't..."?
My buddy and I were driving the gritty industrial streets of our big parched city today and solving the issues of the financial and diplomatic spheres while reveling in the freedom $2.17/gallon gasoline provides. Our trip took us to an anomalous town known for its industry and its corruption, where we had a sweet lunch (hamburger with cole slaw and club sandwich with French fries with "fleur de sel" - highly refined salt).
We couldn't figure out what to do with the pirates hijacking the ships in the Indian Ocean. My solution - have someone fabulously wealthy from the past endow a "Richard Bruce Cheney School of Public Administration" at Liberty University in Lynchburg, then graduate someone with scruples based in fundamentalist Cristianity of the basest kind and set them free to run Blackwater-type operations until the piracy ends.
My guess is that a grad from the school - the person would probably also be ex-mil - would do some superb covert work which would scare the pants off of the people responsible for funding the pirates, who probably aren't that clever anyway. One extremely creative suggestion popped up which I will not repeat here, but which would not shock someone who read Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle". Oh, come on - it's no worse than "Saw V" or any of the autopsy dramas on television every night!
I'm hoping that we can get a group of people together from work to see the show, "Spring Awakening", while it's still in town. I think the best seats for it would be the on-stage ones, and we have a theater and performance arts graduate (who is working) on staff, it might be a real great experience for everybody.
I have to admit that "Spring Awakening" (here's the link to the original Frank Wedekind play, "The Awakening of Spring: A Tragedy of Childhood", viewed November 21, 2008 on books.google.com) is not upbeat, but the performances are tremendous, and I think it would be an enormous adrenaline rush to be in the middle of all that singing and emoting and on-stage bonking. No, it doesn't end well...it's a tragedy! Everybody claps, however, and the cast is getting "Wicked"-style treatment.
I may have a pic or two to upload along with this.
We couldn't figure out what to do with the pirates hijacking the ships in the Indian Ocean. My solution - have someone fabulously wealthy from the past endow a "Richard Bruce Cheney School of Public Administration" at Liberty University in Lynchburg, then graduate someone with scruples based in fundamentalist Cristianity of the basest kind and set them free to run Blackwater-type operations until the piracy ends.
My guess is that a grad from the school - the person would probably also be ex-mil - would do some superb covert work which would scare the pants off of the people responsible for funding the pirates, who probably aren't that clever anyway. One extremely creative suggestion popped up which I will not repeat here, but which would not shock someone who read Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle". Oh, come on - it's no worse than "Saw V" or any of the autopsy dramas on television every night!
I'm hoping that we can get a group of people together from work to see the show, "Spring Awakening", while it's still in town. I think the best seats for it would be the on-stage ones, and we have a theater and performance arts graduate (who is working) on staff, it might be a real great experience for everybody.
I have to admit that "Spring Awakening" (here's the link to the original Frank Wedekind play, "The Awakening of Spring: A Tragedy of Childhood", viewed November 21, 2008 on books.google.com) is not upbeat, but the performances are tremendous, and I think it would be an enormous adrenaline rush to be in the middle of all that singing and emoting and on-stage bonking. No, it doesn't end well...it's a tragedy! Everybody claps, however, and the cast is getting "Wicked"-style treatment.
I may have a pic or two to upload along with this.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
More Internet noise
Today is the first time that I get to play reader's adviser to a larger audience than normal. Theoretically, my reach is global, and it's daunting to think that I'm operating in the same arena as the big commercial blogs like lifehacker.com or political pundits with points to make or axes to grind. What makes me happy is connecting people with what they're looking for. What gets me riled is a system which systematically or randomly blocks their searches from taking place.
This is a place for freedom of information.
That said, you have my introduction. I'll do a bit more in my profile, possibly paste in a photo, and give salient details so you know why you should be re-visiting this blog. I run to a lot of cool stuff in my job and my personal life, and I'm looking forward to sharing it.
It's Sunday night. My three favorite television shows are on tonight (in the order in which I watch them): Dexter on Showtime, Desperate Housewives (DH) on ABC, and True Blood on HBO. DH is a frivolous and bitchy pleasure, and I think Marc Cherry is on to something. SHO's Dexter follows that network's Weeds in inventiveness and dark humor. I'm not a fan of autopsy dramas or gorefests, but Michael C. Hall's performance is consistent and he has a great cast to work with. As for True Blood, it must have been a real stretch for Alan Ball to decide to create a thriller series out of a bodice-ripping vampire novel series set in Cajun Louisiana, and he's succeeding brilliantly.
Jeff Lindsay has written at four Dexter novels, all set in mysterious, international Miami: Dearly Devoted Dexter, Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Dexter in the Dark, and (in 2009), Dexter by Design. I'd recommend you buy them from my Amazon site, but as a librarian I encourage you to read and return!
The Dexter character has been compared, possibly favorably, with Patricia Highsmith's John Ripley, who had several books of his own. Jeff Lindsay imbued his character with some sort of conscience; Highsmith created Ripley as an amoral man focused on self-gratification. Of the two, I definitely prefer Highsmith, but she's dead and Lindsay is still writing. So Jeff, if you're out there, GO FOR IT!
I have five books of the eight-book "Southern Vampire" series by Charlaine Harris scattered around the house. Scattered around my head is the phrase, "Sookie: I am vampire", uttered (how else would a vampire talk?) from Bill Compton, the compassionate undead male lead. Anna Paquin (the little girl in The Piano) is all grown up and perky, with cute little button earrings, blonde hair which she either wears up or down, depending on Bill's preference, and a slender little body which is built for a tramp stamp but has vampire holes instead. Bill, played by Stephen Moyer and a vet from British film, looks suitably undead with deep-set passionate eyes. Alan Ball captured the bodice-ripping bits and distilled them down to a sweet 12-episode series which is to be renewed for another season. HBO does it right.
Anyway, about the books: they're improbable but fun. Sookie is almost too perky yet is not saccharine, and she's disabled. Pick up a copy of the book or go to the website above to figure it all out. And that's enough of a free ad for HBO from me tonight.
I'm also reading Neal Stephenson's Anathem, and it's just getting interesting. I need to stake these vampires before I finish it.
This is a place for freedom of information.
That said, you have my introduction. I'll do a bit more in my profile, possibly paste in a photo, and give salient details so you know why you should be re-visiting this blog. I run to a lot of cool stuff in my job and my personal life, and I'm looking forward to sharing it.
It's Sunday night. My three favorite television shows are on tonight (in the order in which I watch them): Dexter on Showtime, Desperate Housewives (DH) on ABC, and True Blood on HBO. DH is a frivolous and bitchy pleasure, and I think Marc Cherry is on to something. SHO's Dexter follows that network's Weeds in inventiveness and dark humor. I'm not a fan of autopsy dramas or gorefests, but Michael C. Hall's performance is consistent and he has a great cast to work with. As for True Blood, it must have been a real stretch for Alan Ball to decide to create a thriller series out of a bodice-ripping vampire novel series set in Cajun Louisiana, and he's succeeding brilliantly.
Jeff Lindsay has written at four Dexter novels, all set in mysterious, international Miami: Dearly Devoted Dexter, Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Dexter in the Dark, and (in 2009), Dexter by Design. I'd recommend you buy them from my Amazon site, but as a librarian I encourage you to read and return!
The Dexter character has been compared, possibly favorably, with Patricia Highsmith's John Ripley, who had several books of his own. Jeff Lindsay imbued his character with some sort of conscience; Highsmith created Ripley as an amoral man focused on self-gratification. Of the two, I definitely prefer Highsmith, but she's dead and Lindsay is still writing. So Jeff, if you're out there, GO FOR IT!
I have five books of the eight-book "Southern Vampire" series by Charlaine Harris scattered around the house. Scattered around my head is the phrase, "Sookie: I am vampire", uttered (how else would a vampire talk?) from Bill Compton, the compassionate undead male lead. Anna Paquin (the little girl in The Piano) is all grown up and perky, with cute little button earrings, blonde hair which she either wears up or down, depending on Bill's preference, and a slender little body which is built for a tramp stamp but has vampire holes instead. Bill, played by Stephen Moyer and a vet from British film, looks suitably undead with deep-set passionate eyes. Alan Ball captured the bodice-ripping bits and distilled them down to a sweet 12-episode series which is to be renewed for another season. HBO does it right.
Anyway, about the books: they're improbable but fun. Sookie is almost too perky yet is not saccharine, and she's disabled. Pick up a copy of the book or go to the website above to figure it all out. And that's enough of a free ad for HBO from me tonight.
I'm also reading Neal Stephenson's Anathem, and it's just getting interesting. I need to stake these vampires before I finish it.
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