EphemeralWisps

NOOK the new...

2011-09-15T07:28:00.001-04:00

Well, I finally got another eReader. The Barnes & Noble NOOK the all-new better contrast-lighter-smaller-less-expensive one. I love it. I urge you to try it. I must tell you that you NEED Wi-Fi for the registration process and to download and sync your eBooks when you buy them. I haven't explored the USB to PC yet so cannot say what functions I can do with that yet. BUT, I do like this iteration of the E Ink® technology. I like the price of this unit, and although my ZIRE is still operational and no problems have arisen, the pdb format is sadly left behind, and the NOOK supports epub. Books are quick and easy to purchase on Barnes & Noble once you register your product with your account. In fact, they are too easy to buy! They download extremely fast. I was told they download faster than a friend's Kindle, but I haven't first hand knowledge of that. I have been using the desktop software for both PC and Mac for both NOOK and Kindle now for some time. They are both good products but NOOK really outshines Kindle in my book. Both will sync your reading to either the desktops or the devices as you read wherever you are on whatever you read - say I read a book on my desktop while I eat my lunch, then NOOK will sync my reading to my device later. So far the PC software for desktop doesn't sync, as the Mac desktop version is newer and has nicer features so far. Kindle's desktop software is rudimentary so far for both, but does have the handy option for reading the books with a sepia or black background instead of all that light shining into your eyes on a desktop with a white background to the book pages. White light and eInk aren't the same at all. One interesting note is that you need a book light for both the Kindle and the NOOK because they aren't backlit. Of course the NOOK color is but it is a whole different animal and not in this post. It's an Android Pad and not really a dedicated eBook reader, so since I wanted a dedicated eBook reader, I got the NOOK.

Getting Things Done....O.K...so I am NOT done blogging

2011-06-02T12:45:00.007-04:00

Since the late 1990's I have been getting the emails from the David Allen company. Have I written before about Getting Things Done? Well, he has other books and materials as well, and really, none of the self-help or organizing books, seminars and what-not out there are nearly as good. For usable, down to earth everyday application, you cannot beat David Allen and his chart. Now, the truth is that the paperback book is all you need. You can photocopy that flow chart, use it and keep it in your daytimer-planner-whatever and maybe somewhere there is a digi-download - who knows. I carry that chart in my Day Timer. Back in the old days of early webness, B&N had a free classes online section which they do not have now. I took the class from David Allen on organization and it was invaluable! The part about emails in your inbox and the snail mail at home and work was great - I now try to get the mail and stand up while I tear up the junk and add to the recycle bin. Great stuff. As to email, now that's a hard one to get a handle on, but keep at it and it can work. A refresher glance at the chart can help organize whatever you have. The BEST little thing I carried away from hat class and still remember is the idea of doing SOMETHING in a ten minute period. You know, you always think you haven't the time for whatever you contemplate doing, but you know - if a bit of that can be done in a 5-100 minute time frame, then do it. You will be surprised how soon that task is complete! it really works...from housework to sewing to your daily work flow at work, to the discarding of excess STUFF, and on and on...just do something! I just hope that David's next book will be how to retire, organize that, keep a schedule and keep living!

Is this is post-blog era? I think it is...

2011-01-07T13:57:00.005-05:00

Having blogged a long time now, especially for the evolving technological days we live in, I am really taking a bow and letting this one lie fallow. What's here is here, but that's all folks! Thanks to those few readers...they know where to reach me. That's unless I change my mind and come on back here.

iMac update...

2010-10-12T16:06:00.003-04:00

Two days after taking delivery at home on my iMac, the thing started to sound like a turbo-prop ready for takeoff! Fan noise was amazing - my cat jumped three feet into the air as the sound began without warning! So of course I called Apple. After several calls I was instructed to take my new baby (all 21.5") into our local Apple service center - we are so lucky - our local service center is Small Dog Electronics.I lugged it down there in its original box which, as luck would have it, has a handle! Apparently most people carry them in under blankets but the thing is very unstable off if a desk. Two days later I had it home again - the diagnosis was a blown main board (used to be called the motherboard). Failed all heat tests. Said board replaced and away we go. It is now several months later, all seems well, and she functions soundlessly.

Kirkland, Seattle and observations...

2010-06-02T07:32:00.000-04:00

Having returned from a trip to Seattle and Kirkland, I have to say that I thank God for the quick tickets on Delta Airlines.
A medical emergency had us on the plane within 5 hours of an early morning phone call. That was in March. Things are going well now, and that lets me write a bit more about Kirkland and Seattle. First, kudos to the staff of Evergreen Hospital in Kirkland. A wonderful staff, hospitalists, nurses, therapists and every one of the ancillary staff were helpful, professional and proactive in the best sense of those words.I like it out there. The number of used bookshops is incredible, the verdure is awesome, the air is crisp except when it's so full of moisture you feel like you need gills, and all in all it's a great place to be.The family lives in the Saint Edward State Park area, and the drive up is scenic indeed, with drop offs to Lake Washington providing idyllic views. There's also a good Mexican eatery right on Juanita Drive, small but really tasty!. Getting around is getting easier, and this time I actually knew where I was at several points driving around. One very important discovery was that Trader Joe's is a block downhill from Evergreen Hospital, which came in handy. I love Trader Joe's and wouldn't have been able to discover that unless I had been to Seattle! Although they headquarter in MA, there is no store here in Vermont. There should be, and I wrote and told them so. The second nice store I must mention is Hancock Fabrics. Again, no store here in that corporate line. Now, lest you think I am all about retail, let me sing the beauties of Juanita Bay Park, Saint Edwards Park, and just the scenery on a good day in Kirkland. Cloud City Coffee appears in these photos, again, a great place to sit and surf or just sit and enjoy, and with all the rainy days, getting out to coffee is one of the main passtimes both in Seattle and Vermont as well! In between visiting Washington, I plan my next trip out. I've never been there in the Fall, so maybe that is the next step.

Nook tidbits and iMac Joy...

2010-03-25T13:29:00.005-04:00

First the lovely iMac 21.5. Quiet, quiet, elegant, shiny and new. OH and QUIET. Joy. The display is 1920x1080, which turns out to be not the standard wide width, but is 16:9 aspect ratio and very impressive indeed. This version of Mac OSX is a real grownup version. The version I had been using was embryonic in comparison. Well, I went from Jaguar to Snow Leopard! Quite a leap. Cannot wait to see Burn Notice episodes I miss next half-season!...now - THE NOOK: O.K...the Nook! WOW...you can read your eBooks you have already from eReader.com or Fictionwise or the palm format books one has acquired over the years - all readable on the Nook. I downloaded the user manual from B&N, and there, on page 81 it all becomes clear. I can't tell you how elated I am because Palm and Mac and probably Windows, though I don't know - no longer support syncing on my Zire. The Zire is still fine, but Mac dropped Palm sync a long time ago, and Palm Desktop along with it. SO - a newer reader is imperative in the short run, but it's a longish short run because my eMac is still fully functional and will do the job. If you are attached to outmoded tech, you need your outmoded support hardware to do the job. It does kinda rankle to have to buy new hardware and software and peripherals each time you upgrade. This time I don't have to do that - printer is an HP and the new Mac loves it, and the old Mac supports anything I still want that the new Mac won't support.

Comments....

2010-03-25T13:27:00.004-04:00

Lately I have been seeing and moderating odd comments, and this has sadly led me to stop comments on this blog. I would not like to have to quit blogging, but there is a temptation to do just that. Not quite yet though.

Resist higher eBook prices...

2010-02-10T20:15:00.004-05:00

Suddenly publishers want more money for eBooks. I really know that I will not be paying any $15 for ebooks. No sharing with friends, no cover art, no back cover, no actual paper, and yet they want that price?! The New York Times covers the issue here. AMAZON tried a boycott of a major publishing house, but backed off after a couple days. I hope consumers refuse these prices. When I started reading ebooks, several were free. And then I started buying them at eReader.com, and I think the most I have paid is probably around $12. But after discount offers, it turns out to be less. I think the optimum, price is right around $7, but AMAZON and B&N have put a $10 price tag on eBooks as the optimum pricing. I can agree in theory. The great thing about eBooks is the easily stored library you can tote around with you. I use it traveling. 35+ books are nice to have in a handheld as you sit in the airport, and you can read in bed easily! BUT, at $15 apiece, I do hope the sales plummet and the publishers get a rap on the hands. Take about gouging! There are so many classics in my eBook library - over 1000, and I can start in reading all of Mark Twain or Dickens! I know I said goodbye - but the whole eBook thing is heating up and enthusing my opinion generators!

See you later...but notice eBooks are heating up...

2010-02-06T14:42:00.004-05:00

There is suddenly a lot of interest in eBooks - all sorts of Johnny Come Latelys are getting into the act. Palm could have really promoted them more years ago, but now AMAZON rules with Kindle. Lots of us still use eReader format, and B&N has got that now. I am still waiting for the confirmation that my DRM books from eReader over the past several years would work on the Nook. Or my gaggle of free ebooks as well for that matter. We'll see. I don't really feel like blogging here any more. I am taking a hiatus for awhile, and thinking about blogging altogether. It may be that I am in my post-blogging phase here at the EW site. So for awhile it's "see ya later!" Read some good books, drink some good tea, and take your eyes off the computer for awhile! ;)

eBooks are the new BLACK!

2009-10-22T23:50:00.002-04:00

WOW...and after all this time. Suddenly the whole eBook thing is taking off. See this article from yesterday's ZDNet which talks about the release in November of a Windows version of Kindle from AMAZON. To me the biggest and best news is the Nook from Barnes & Noble. B&N, having purchased the eReader site, has gone headlong into the eReader format, which is the Palm format I have used for the past 8+ years or more. I can't remember. Now B&N has a large eBook section, and you can have your account at B&N become your bookshelf and account for your eReader books. At the eReader site, I have been informed they will maintain separate account info, as they have been doing all along. So options are many. Sony as well has a reader, not too impressive, that I took a look at at Staples. As libraries get into the eBook game, the issues start to pile up. How to circulate? Publisher complaints over book sharing, etc., etc. I hope it will soon be O.K. to share books with friends just as I would a paperback, but I think if publishers could stop us from sharing the paperbacks, they would do that instead of loosening up on the eBook front! Right now, I read books on the Mac, the PC, and the Zire, and don't think any device that is only a book reader should cost more than $99.99. As the field gets competitive perhaps that will happen! I spent the $99 on my second Zire, with the color screen and it does way more than just read my books! So it will take a good price point and real glitz to make me buy a book reading device. So far, I am not impressed. I have seen and handled several Kindles and don't think they are the best the industry can do. I would rather read eReader format on a Netbook if it comes to that - that would be a great device! Small, portable and multi-talented! So far, the state of eBook readers is interesting, but more interesting is the proliferation of versions of eReader for more and more mobile devices.

eBooks, Louis Tracy and Barnes & Noble...

2009-09-29T12:21:00.005-04:00

Now Barnes & Noble enters the eBook arena with the eReader format! I am so very happy to see this happen! The website is sleek and well featured, and the explanation is terrific. I wonder why more people haven't realized that eReader format has been around a long time, and can be read on mobiles of several brands, and on the WinPC and on the Mac. I have been reading them for a lot of years. Options for colors and setup are many, and it all just works smoothly. No need to buy a separate device to read books. Your Bookshelf is also stored for you on the site you choose to use. In addition to their own B&N site, Barnes & Noble own the Fictionwise and the eReader websites as well. Having watched the eBook market and the proliferation of devices coming and going over the last more than ten years, I look forward to seeing even more ebooks out there. The real problem lies in the creeping price increases now that major book sellers and publishers realize the potential. No one wants to pay the full hardcover retail for an eBook no matter the title. I see those prices and wonder who is buying them. Waiting until the mass paperback edition is out usually results in the pricing of an eBook downward to the paperback price or less. Meanwhile, once you have eReader you can get a lot of books free which are in the public domain. I just discovered Louis Tracy recently because of digging for treasure on free ebook sites. Try it, you'll like it!

FINES proposed for going without health insurance

2009-09-08T16:47:00.001-04:00

Yahoo article on Health Care Penalties for non-insured

WHAT? Need I say more? Is this reform?!

Sharon Gless...FABULOUS!!

2009-08-10T23:25:00.002-04:00

Photo: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. I hope this photo is all right to post. I love this lady, and really want to honor her acting abilities here. Always one of my favorites, Sharon Gless has exceeded herself in her very touching, funny and wonderful role as Michael's Mom in Burn Notice, one of my all time favorite TV shows. Not only is this show well written and cleverly conceived, the acting is a treat. With a cast of professionally topflight actors, every week is an hour of the quality television which makes owning my TV worthwhile. I don't own TV shows as a rule, but that rule is shattered for Burn Notice! Madeline is my favorite character, and since I well remember Cagney & Lacey I recognize the character! Very crusty, very practical and educated in the school of hard knocks, this feisty lady has given mature women a lively, rich, funny and admirable icon. I mean I could hang out with this lady and we'd get along fine.

Health Care Plan...I don't think so...

2009-07-30T23:54:00.000-04:00

What is going on with the Congress? How can a plan that penalizes individuals for having no insurance solve anything? And how can a plan that penalizes businesses for not covering their employees solve the heath care costs issues? So many businesses cannot afford to cover their employees, and people who cannot afford insurance sure cannot afford to have fines levied upon them for not having it! What the heck is going on anyway? Until we get health care out of the grip of insurance companies, we will have soaring costs as well as the cost of caring for uninsured. People say they don't want the government involved or "telling doctors how to treat patients" but right now that is what insurance companies have been doing for decades! Your medications, your surgeries, your elder care - all predicated on what the market will float for you. Until the government has a plan and it is administered as a single payer plan, we won't have any settlement of these issues. One idea would be to hire Blue Cross/Blue Shield to administer that plan across the nation. I have the feeling we won't get anything better, and it looks like all the plans I see going through Congress now would just make the whole ball of wax a lot worse! I wanted Obama to win the White House, but I had a bad feeling about winning the minds of America. Any plan that includes fines and penalties for people who don't have insurance now is just plain CRAZY.

USPS Post Office closings?

2009-07-12T14:50:00.000-04:00

The USPS wants to close many post offices around the country because "...[the post offices] are not intended to operate as monuments to a bygone era of postal customer interaction." (from Linn's Weekly Stamp News with a masthead of July 27, 2009. Well, now - as a postal customer, I was hoping that interaction wasn't relegated to a bygone era, and I was even hoping that service and customer oriented USPS services might come back! That bygone era was one in which service was better and the intricacies of the postal system were understood by all. Now you're lucky if the poor postal clerk can keep track of the various fees, regulations and postal rules when you have the temerity to mail something that isn't a regular envelope! So, if this were to mean the closure of many small town post offices, one might ask these questions: where are people going to get packages mailed, and purchase their postal needs? O.K., so I can buy stamps off the Internet, but here's a news bulletin - many people don't have the Internet! WOW. I know. Before this goes into effect, our legislators should certainly look into these plans. The Post Office would like to initiate these closures as soon as this October!

2009-07-01T01:04:00.003-04:00

After finishing Brazzaville Beach I have been power reading through some Dorothy Gilman novels I have piled up. Light reading, but she writes excellently. Tightrope Walker, about a young woman who buys an antique store and finds a note left by a desperate woman, and of course has to embark on a journey to solve the mystery of the woman and the note, was pretty fast reading. Dorothy's best books are the Mrs. Pollifax series, and the very best is her book Caravan which goes beyond the genre she normally stays within and develops into a fascinating cultural story of the Arabian peninsula and North Africa. I have a couple more of her books yet to read, but have picked up this copy of a Marion Chesney book and intend to read a few more of hers as well. This is a bonanza light reading summer!Of course Marion Chesney is M.C. Beaton, under which pseudonym she writes the Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth novels. It's all about keeping my Alan Furst books and my William Boyd books to a slower pace while they gather their strength to write more! I also have Gentlemen of the Road to read, by the incomparable Michael Chabon, and his non-fiction work, Maps and Legends. Powell's Books, Portland, Oregon, has this to say.

2009-06-04T12:39:00.003-04:00

Finished Brazzaville Beach. I should have listened to The New York Times reviewer. Next time I have to pay more attention. This book is not up to Boyd's usual standards, and is in fact a colossal waste of reading time and effort. Although I appreciated the good writing, the plots and the delivery were flat and I found I didn't really care about the characters. Michael Chabon has talked about contemporary literature that is about not much and hasn't a beginning or an end, and this outing typifies that thesis. Just a chunk of a pretty depressing life.

William Boyd...

2009-05-20T16:28:00.003-04:00

Taking a break from Amelia, I am plunging into yet another novel by William Boyd. This time it's Brazzaville Beach. Having just started it, and regardless of the negative comments in the New York Times review, there's no feedback yet, but knowing William, there is hope for another absorbing book.

Meanwhile, in the ebook arena, I am reading Running From the Deity in the Flinx of the Commonwealth series by Alan Dean Foster. One of the most lyrical and fun of that series, after a couple of hum-drum entries. It's almost a comedic farce, and a lot of fun. Running from the Deity is what really happens when an advanced civilization clashes with a world which hasn't space flight or real knowledge of galactic flight...probably a more real picture than Star Trek would give us!

Amelia, Elizabeth, Margaret and Archie...

2009-04-26T23:08:00.009-04:00

Amelia Peabody Emerson and company are marching bravely into WWI in the last book I read in the Emerson series; He Shall Thunder In the Sky. This book is one of the best in the series I am sure. By the time you get to it, you know the family so well, and you know how you want thing to go! The vicissitudes in between are written so skillfully. I have to wonder how Elizabeth Peters keeps it up! Both her skills and her enthusiasm for the family Emerson and Egyptology! I do understand that the lady is an archaeologist, and a good one, so I can feel the same thrill for the subject. I would have been an anthropologist had I read the biography of Margaret Mead in time, but it came to me in my late thirties, and was the inspiration for my going back to college for that BA in Cultural Studies. Ahhh, the memories. To get back on-topic, read Amelia Peabody and you won't regret it!

Lately I have begun to listen to audio books streaming from Librivox. If you haven't already done so, check this out. I don't want anything too somber to listen to while working, so I have listened to a bit of good old Wodehouse, by Jove, and let me tell you he doesn't lose the humor in the passage of the years. Written in 1921 or 1922 and out of copyright, those old stories I heard last week were still riotously funny. Even without Bertie and Jeeves, the early stories are a hoot, and so cleverly done. I mean to say, objet d'art means, to Archie, French for "junk"! That is hysterical. The term had been delivered in the most pretentious possible way, and Archie summed it all up. Oh, that is The Indiscretions of Archie.

Librivox is a volunteer organization. People actually read these books out loud for recording, and you and I benefit from their work. Pretty dedicated bunch, and I really appreciate what they do.

Dortmunder and Thank you Donald Westlake...

2009-03-06T20:54:00.004-05:00

This is Pear Pie, by the way (I didn't make it, my favorite daughter did)...but that's not what I want to talk about. Donald Westlake died just a few months ago, and that was very sad. We don't expect our favorite authors to leave us, somehow, and lately it seems as if a lot of my favorites in the entertainment industry, and in the world of books are passing on. John Dortmunder lived inside Donald Westlake, and sadly, he died as well. I will miss Dortmunder. Something about that pensive, intelligent yet nefarious character appeals to me at a basic fundamental level. Tonight I got good news. There is a 14th Dortmunder book due out in April. Get Real. Thank you Donald Westlake for leaving us with a special gift of laughter once again. I shouldn't wonder if you are just now entertaining angels.

Bernie Rhodenbarr Quote...

2009-03-05T14:04:00.006-05:00

"How'd you break the addiction?"

"I didn't," I said. "I just substituted another addiction for it. I found something even more addictive than running."

"What?"

"Not running," I said. "It's got to be the most addictive thing ever. Believe me, a few days of not running and I was hooked."

--Lawrence Block, The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams]

As referred to in a post just awhile back, this is me. That's my addiction. I love that quote. Just about fell out of my chair when I read it. It's my current eReader selection. Bernie is an interesting character. He grows on you after a book or two.

An Uncommon Read...

2009-02-28T23:41:00.002-05:00

While browsing the books in a local benefit shop, I came across the small book, The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett. I almost put it back, but then I thought: "For a dollar, who cares? I'll try it!" And what an inspired thought that was. This is a treasure, a once in a year find, a delight and a privilege to read. Truly comic, yet touching, it concerns the Queen of England, and a fanciful tale of what her fall into the pit of reading might entail. Buy it, borrow it, read it and enjoy. I drew out the last few pages over several days because I didn't want it to end.

Winter with Amelia Peabody...

2009-01-25T22:59:00.005-05:00

Thank you Elizabeth Peters. Again, I appreciate the sun of Egypt in the background of the droll adventures of Amelia and her crew. Having read my way through a few more Peabody books, and looking forward to a few more before the dawn of Spring and the return of civilized weather, I am more than glad to reflect on the wonderful that is books. What would I have done all these years if I didn't read? There are people who don't read. Perfectly intelligent people who will tell you they don't read. To me it is incomprehensible. Rather like the feeling they must get when I tell a person of what I call the "gym-species" that I don't run, or climb, or bench press, or hike, or ski, or swim, or really - hardly move around at all! They cannot imagine life without the frenetic movement which they so love, and I cannot imagine life without the escape into thought.

The Greatest Generation passes - Francis S. Gibbs 1916-2008

2008-12-23T07:30:00.000-05:00

Dad would have been 92 years old today, but he missed that by two months. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, my father served during the whole of WWII in the Canadian Forces in the RCAF. After leaving the RCAF in 1946, he came down to the US with my Mom (and me) and joined the Army Air Corps. In 1948, when the Air Force was born, we became an Air Force Family. By his retirement in 1973, Dad had over 35 years of combined service. His wish was always for a military funeral when the time came, and a bagpiper. We were able to give him both. An Honor Guard from the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the active duty Minnesota Army Guard did a wonderful job, 21 gun salute and all. We were so very proud. A bagpiper played Amazing Grace, and an Army bugler played taps. Since Dad himself had been a trumpeter, this was especially moving. I was so very thankful to be able to have had these dedicated men of several generations giving their time to honor a veteran who had served so honorably. Our parents are a part of us. When they are gone we suddenly become propelled into real adulthood. The older generation is now me. A constant presence in my consciousness, my father will always be there, now passing through the flowing river of life with my mother. I couldn't have had better parents, nor more interesting ones. Being a military family we had opportunities and experiences others seldom have, and a lot of learning and fun along the way! Rest in eternal peace.

Latte McDonald's style...

2008-12-13T11:54:00.001-05:00

This lady is the CEO of McDonald's. WOW...an Air Force wife who started out evenings in a McDonald's. Can I tell you I am proud! They closed the Dunkin' Donuts that we frequented each Saturday am. Weird sobbing noises ensued. So now there is McDonald's and it is even closer than DD was, by about half a block. We forlornly dragged in and I reluctantly ordered a latte. I don't like sugar in them, so I was afraid of the pre-made stuff. ZOUNDS. Now i am a real McDonald's latte aficionado. Delicious. Hot, and even though more expensive than I like to pay for coffee (I don't often hit Starbuck's because of the silly prices) it seems worth it once a week!

I'm a Mandarin?...what?

2008-12-12T19:31:00.000-05:00

I'm a Mandarin!

You're an intellectual, and you've worked hard to get where you are now. You're a strong believer in education, and you think many of the world's problems could be solved if people were more informed and more rational. You have no tolerance for sloppy or lazy thinking. It frustrates you when people who are ignorant or dishonest rise to positions of power. You believe that people can make a difference in the world, and you're determined to try.

Talent: 33%
Lifer: 54%
Mandarin: 62%

Take the Talent, Lifer, or Mandarin quiz.

Netbook from Lenovo...

2008-11-18T22:54:00.005-05:00

This is a cool little mini-laptop. WOW. I see this as the wave of the future in mobile computing. Large enough to actually see, as opposed to a phone unit, big enough to see a film, yet has the specs you could actually use in a computer while traveling. And at such a light weight at 2.6 pounds? Great. And the price is another happy surprise. This baby goes on my want list. I picture myself keeping my whole ebook library on this, and some music to read by! I think maybe when the next couple generations of this small unit come out it will be time to make a move. See where this trend leads. As a late adopter, I keep my eyes on the prize, but make no move until something has been tested by all those early adopters! CompUSA has a dazzling array of Netbooks and there are many more out there.

High Fidelity and Nick Hornby...

2008-11-17T07:42:00.004-05:00

I've been reading Nick Hornby lately. High Fidelity first. I can just see John Cusack in the story. Why is that? Well, I saw the movie first, and I must say the characterization was perfect in the film. I felt more sympathy for Rob in the book than in the movie, but I love John Cusack's work, so I also liked the movie. A good example of modern British rather alienated characters, the books Hornby writes have a certain grit, and lots of droll humor. About a Boy has the same main character really, except here he doesn't work, and Hugh Grant was perfect for the part!. But he is still a perennial youth, a teenager, a fuzzy-brained idiot really, who hasn't figured out a real life. I haven't finished About a Boy, so the verdict isn't in yet on if I will read any more of Nick Hornby. We'll see.

Forever Ulysses...

2008-10-12T23:46:00.008-04:00

A forgotten novel by one C.P. Rodocanachi, a Greek writer whose focus was on explication of the Greek Spirit through the ages. First published in the UK as No Innocent Abroad , Forever Ulysses was published by Viking Press in 1938. I read Forever Ulysses in just a few days, as it captured my interest in subtle ways. A very dated novel in some respects (published in 1938, it was a history of one Greek who captured the eternal Greek spirit, and at the same time illustrated the times in which he lived). Starting before the turn of the 20th century and ending a few years after the Great War, which of course we know as WWI, since it turned out NOT to be the war to end all wars. I fell over one of Rodocanachi's other books, Athens and the Greek Miracle when a friend found it at a used book store. When searching Worldcat, we turned up this novel, so I placed an interlibrary loan request. The riches that can be had from a simple ILL request know no bounds. Beginning with Ulysses' youngest years, we follow him from the age of six, as he leaves his village in Cephalonia to try his luck at making a living, using his slippery talents. First as a shoe shine boy in Argostoli, a Greek lustro, and then following along through Egypt, the Sudan, and on to America, we follow his adventures through wars and peace, and through many a scheme as he makes, loses and remakes his fortunes, encountering the likes of Kitchener, the Mahdi, and countless others. His final move is back to Greece, and back to his humble village, and his eternal rest. From this vantage point in time, I was lucky to find an archived book review at TIME Magazine. The review dates to January 10, 1938, a week after publication. Apparently there were real life models for Ulysses, including the author's own life! I was reminded of the stories of Aristotle Onassis and Stavros Niarchos as I read the Ulysses story over again. Using his life, and the lives of other adventurous Greeks, Rodocanachi created Ulysses as the behind the scenes mover and shaker of his era, an inveterate deal-maker, businessman, global nomad, and patriot. Ulysses was fascinating enough, imagine the lives of those he was modeled after.

Rex Reed...

2008-10-09T20:01:00.003-04:00

Reading the New York Observer the other day just for the Rex Reed movie reviews. Still the same standard as way back in the late 60s when I used to see him on TV. WOW. Rex has been a mainstay of my movie (O.K. pretentious people out there, my film) interest all these years. He's the kind of iconic name like Marilyn Monroe or Henry Kissinger. He's just always been there in my cultural database. Not for me the mellow tones of an Ebert, though I love the guy's reviews sometimes; no, I prefer the acerbic tones, the irony and the satire I get from reading Rex's reviews. When he likes a movie, I can tell that will be a film worth watching. When he does not, it gives me pause. Sometimes I disagree, but I always respect his insightful opinions and ruthless critiques. You get the feeling no one has EVER paid Rex Reed to simper over their movies! His review of Sex and the City is a scream! I loved the movie for what it was, my chance to see the ladies one more time, but as far as film, he had it nailed! Keep it up Rex, to me you are still that dashingly handsome guy I saw on late night TEEVEE back in the early 70s...

Portis Aloha?

2008-09-30T11:36:00.004-04:00

It's almost like grieving. I just finished Gringos. This was Charles Portis at his best and in the last novel he has written. I won't say his last novel because he just might publish one any minute? Maybe? Please? I do not reread books. That never appealed to me. I have read it, so on to the next book. Not with Portis. I have all five novels and now I must start at the beginning again. I have written here before about Portis. For the pathos without much of the humor, read his short piece I Don't Talk Service No More but for the ironic beauty and gentleness with which Portis treats the average guy trying to make it in this world in some ethereal and usually weirdly comic way, read the novels.

Avocado and Elizabeth Peters...

2008-08-24T20:27:00.005-04:00

A great lunch today. Avocado again! Oh boy, do I ever love avocado. Made the Roast Beef and Avocado Salad for dinner last week. YUMMY. I'll be getting more avocados for sure.

Now for more serious fare. I recommend Elizabeth Peters' series of Amelia Peabody mysteries. Amelia has a thirst for Egypt, pyramids and Archaeological mysteries! You can learn a lot while being entertained. I have read other books by Elizabeth Peters (real name - Barbara Mertz), but her heart is really in the Amelia Peabody character. She is funny, pushy, erudite, loving, inquisitive and very modern for her times. The series is set in the late 1800s and Amelia wears trousers! In order to read these seemingly light reading novels you better have a terrific vocabulary or a terrific dictionary.

HDTV is better than chocolate...really...

2008-08-12T22:27:00.000-04:00

We got HDTV hooked up and WOW...boy...this stuff is terrific. What'll they think of next? I mean the resolution is more than the human eye sees when the human eye looks out on the world. EVERY little pimple on the Red Sox faces is there for all to see. Just in time for a look at the Olympics as well. Again I say - WOW. Luckily the History Channel, and National Geo also do HD, as does the Food Channel, HGTV, Sci-Fi for goodness sake. All my favs. Also get two PBS channels in HD...my cup runneth over. Thank you local TV fiber optic cable provider!

Womanly comportment...hand placement

2008-06-10T23:59:00.000-04:00

So a friend sent me this link to Bitter BettyBlogs the topic being standing positions and what to do with ones ladylilke hands and arms. Interesting tutorial. I can remember some of the advice in this vein in many a publication of my very early youth.

One friends reaction: "Ha ha, the look on the model's face is like, "what is this bullsh*t I'm doing!?" The slenderizing position looks like you're afraid your butt is going to fall of if you let go! AH, but my very favorite! I think we should all go somewhere and express pertness! HAHAHAHAHA! It looks like her arms got put on backwards at the fembot factory! HAHAHA! Oh, and for the love of GOD, the big girls better not let their arms be akimbo! (what?!) It doesn't say why, just don't do it."

Another friends reaction: "I practiced these for a while (in front of a mirror of course!) first #2 to “slenderize the hip line” then I moved on to #3 to “minimize the waistline” but came to a dead STOP when I read “Warning to the overweight” about this position requiring the arms to be akimbo and that I should avoid this-----what the heck??!! If I wasn’t overweight, I wouldn’t be trying to “minimize my waistline”!!! But, I do have to say I agree with you...let’s all go somewhere and express pertness! Or what the heck maybe a cowboy’s (shouldn’t that be cowgirl) hand position----that should be attractive but I’ll make sure I do it symmetrically…"

I remember “Charm School.” YES, I *DID* attend Charm School. I was unimaginably young, the year was 1958. I learned to walk, talk and in general comport myself as a LADY. DO NOT CROSS YOUR LEGS AT THE KNEE. Demurely cross them at the ankle, always holding those knees (naughty KNEES) tightly together...Cross ones little arms at the wrists demurely in the lap after sitting in this lady-like position. We actually WALKED WITH BOOKS ON OUR HEADS to practice the smooth walk. We had a fashion show and learned to walk and turn and pose, much as in this tome on hand and arm positions...hahhahha.

Well, I know how to wear gloves, and what gloves go with what occasions...hats, ditto...all augmented by my mother’s able teaching. She herself however, was NEVER accused of PERTNESS...hahhha...if you knew her you’d know that. She was a capable, assertive, able woman who did everything from knock out walls and remake our old house, to tarring the roof, growing the flowers and veges, and sewing, knitting, doll making and repair, and photography, reading and painting. But, I digress....

Yes, we should be more aware of our INNER PERTNESSES!! But seriously folks, you have to admit that this is a better image than the tattooed woman with her boobs flopping along, her flip-flops matching the rhythm, chewing her gum noisily with her mouth open, slogging through the grocery store, smacking her little ones, yelling at the top of her lungs to the man in her life who is over stuffing frozen meat into his shirt...

Michael Chabon addendum...

2008-05-31T22:38:00.005-04:00

Talking to another Portis fan today I remembered that when I first started to read Yiddish Policeman I had a sudden epiphany. Chabon is the closest thing to Portis I have read. There is a feeling of "kindred spirit" there...some fascination with the ridiculous. A great choice to follow reading Yiddish Policeman is Masters of Atlantis. You'll never read schlock again.

Michael Chabon's Sitka...

2008-05-28T22:15:00.000-04:00

I finished The Yiddish Policeman's Union over the long weekend. I started it a few days before the weekend, and I attempted to make it last longer, but it just would not. It captured me and tunneled me through that oddest of looking glasses and into a parallel universe of Jewish Sitka just before reversion. I lived in Okinawa just previous to that island's reversion to Japan, and there is indeed a surrealistic component to the temporary state of mind in a place which is neither one nor the other quite yet. In Sitka, the reversion has its upheaval religiously and socially, no one knows their fate. To be tossed out ignominiously into a cold world is nothing new to Jewish life, but the population had ignored the 60 year inability to make the Jewish state in Alaska permanent, and was confused and depressed about the coming abyss. Into this Meyer Landsman falls over a body in his flophouse of a cheap hotel whose identity and fate become an obsession for the policeman. Meyer has his own problems - an ex-wife he loves, a friend he counts on, and assorted characters who come and go through Chabon's brilliant world. His fascination with the chess pieces of the dead man's life becomes an unfolding story of a miraculous life, a Holy Man who found the modern world and its convoluted motives too much. I can't say any more because as usual, Michael Chabon has written a completely original novel which has to be read. Any fluid language of bookish critique would be exceedingly superfluous. Do I need to add that I think Chabon the most brilliant writer on the scene? I missed his book signing in Seattle last year by one day, and I still rue that I didn't change that plane ticket...

Alan Furst once more...

2008-04-29T22:25:00.002-04:00

Last night I finished The Polish Officer. Furst (read all about his books in the New York Times) only gets better at crafting the time, the place and the characters. When I have to leave these friends at the end of the book, I am left hoping. I referred to the last novel as depressing in another post, but depressing isn't the right word. The realities of WWII were awful. No poetic effusions I could craft would make that any different. Just awful. The Germans and the Russians tramped over the top of the Poles, and that is just a fact, among many other facts about the period. What happens to people's lives, and how radicalized ordinary folk can become is the eternal theme of Furst's work. The germ of conscience, the surprising surge of honor and bravery in those who had considered themselves ordinary folk, continues to fascinate Furst and it fascinates me.These are novels of merit and worth, not genre novels, not what is referred to, irritatingly enough, as "easy reads." The main problem with good writing is that you can't go back, you can't settle anymore. If tricked into reading Furst or Portis because you thought it was genre, or you thought it looked swell, you are caught up in the search for more. I am a reader. I read as a child; I read whatever I thought looked interesting, and my parents never stepped in (She READS! Isn't it wonderful? They were wonderful). SO, I read voraciously and widely. I am not a writer because so many other people have done that already. Too many as it turns out. So much is drek. Now I only read what I want to read, and there are years of books ahead of me that I may not get to in this lifetime. You can be sure Alan Furst's work will top the pile.

Summer...reading...

2008-04-22T06:30:00.002-04:00

Light reading has captured me for the last several weeks. After finishing Alan Furst's Night Soldiers I was ready for some M.C. Beaton. The Furst novel was so heavy. A depressing, intricate story of Eastern Europe and the Balkans pre and during WWII, it had an ending that was a surprisingly hopeful one. Furst writes with a dexterity and depth not found in a lot of modern writing, and I look forward to each novel. I know his characters now, and each one is a friend. I have a few Beaton books lined up, and just finished another Lawrence Block Bernie Rhodenbarr novel. This time I read The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart and it was the best of the Rhodenbarr's so far! Very witty, very New York. The resolutions of the mysteries in this series do seem pulled out of the woodwork. You don't have the clues in book really, so the books aren't about clever detection as much as about the characters, the city, the humor. I think they make terrific airplane reading, or summer entertainment. Donald Westlake's Dortmunder series is far better plotted, and more entertaining all around, but I will read Rhodenbarr books as I find them, and I love the whole New York City thing.

Ludlum's over for me...

2008-03-25T00:14:00.003-04:00

I began to read The Icarus Agenda and then stopped and checked it back into the library. I think I have maxed out on Ludlum. I have read so may of his books that they are all sort of flowing into each other, each one a plot of megalomaniacs taking over the world. I liked that for the first ten books or so, but now I think I've read enough to have, in effect, read them all. Since reading Alan Furst, the bar has been lifted for any novel I read of any geopolitical topic. I am reading Night Soldiers now, and that's going to take awhile. In eReader, I just finished reading Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. It was like reading a video game. His first novel, it was not at all fleshed out. The characters left a lot undiscovered, and the alternative world was left pretty much unexplained. I did like it though. I am looking forward to the next Gaiman ebook I have, Stardust.

Diversifying...

2008-03-23T14:53:00.003-04:00

I started Eyelets in the Seams so that that topic won't figure heavily in this blog. Since the picture today is of my beloved rice cooker, I may as well extol its virtues a bit. NO home appliance is quite as handy if you like rice. The best small appliance buy I ever made, and I've bought plenty of small appiances (a personal obsession). LOVE it. The only drawback with mine is that there is only one container and no lid for it out of the cooker. One should be able to store rice in the frig in one container and have one for use when the rice runs low.

Not alone anymore...

2008-03-13T12:39:00.005-04:00

After all this time I am not the only family blogger. I'll be adding two sites to the side bar - two my home on the web type sites, one containing a very funny blog. One is the family comedienne, and one the family heavy metal musician. He has less to say. No blog? This is the twenty-first century, and although it is in many ways a shame, everyone could be blogging. See them on the side bar later.

Fiber Optic to the home...BTV

2008-03-11T22:49:00.001-04:00

Let me begin by saying how exciting it is to live in a city with the foresight and initiative to undertake a task of this magnitude. Fiber optic to the home is a great network, and providing telephone, Internet and television as a municipal service is the best idea since Bell made that first call. Read about the current state of the network at 802 Online.

Having heard of this being started in the Mid-West by some small city or other several years ago, I was excited when I heard that my city was thinking of asking the voters if they should go ahead with the plan to bring this to Burlington. The answer was yes, and the plan got rolling. I was waiting for the day the cable went by my house so we could sign up. The only high speed Internet we could get was Adelphia for many years, and then Comcast after their purchase of Adelphia. Service with Adelphia was extremely poor to put it mildly, for both television and Internet, and of course we had to have Verizon phone service. With Comcast, service got measurably better, but the cost was extremely high to have Comcast cable TV and Verizon phone service. The cost savings for all three services with BTV is remarkable. There were delays in the completion of the infrastructure, but we got online with BTV last October.

There have been occasions for using the support provided, and this weekend, after an ice storm of two days, we really had an Internet problem. Here is where the localization of services really pays off. LOCAL service from LOCAL people. We know where they work, and we can call and talk to them. If we had to, we could go down there and actually see them. They don't work out of a sweat shop in Bangladesh, or a bank of phones in South Carolina or California. They work a few blocks down the hill and are part of our community. I am thankful for the support folks at BTV, and I applaud their efforts to make sure we can get the services! Our router seems to be in a group of several problems of the same kind which have been experienced in the last couple days. BTV is sending out an engineer to the homes to check and solve these problems. TRY and get that kind of service from a huge faceless corporation.

Seattle entries finally tuned....

2008-03-07T01:01:00.000-05:00

I finally finished the entry on Seattle from last July! I had pictures to add, and I must say that the picture coding here on blogger is confusing. After many trials, I have the text wrapping well, but the pictures aren't in the order I had envisioned. Here's the link to Seattle entries. I once again found I couldn't stop myself from starting a Ludlum book. This time it's The Aquitaine Progression. In eReader, my new updated version for Windows of eReaderpro, I am reading Prester John, a dated novel by John Buchan. While a swashbuckling adventure, it does illustrate the colonial prejudices common in its time. I love his writing, and have previously read several of his novels set in and around WWI. The new version of eReadPro has a handy bookshelf feature which the software badly needed. I have no idea why it was so long in coming. The Mac version doesn't have it so far. Soon?

Reading through to Summer...

2008-03-05T22:39:00.000-05:00

After a quick read through Robert Ludlum's Holcroft Covenant
I was ready for something a bit less frenzied. It's a long, complex and depressing book, actually. The movie was different in resolution, but had the same ambiance. I then took up Marjory Allingham's The Tiger in the Smoke, a very different sort of book from the usual procedural she wrote. It is a philosophical book, a thinkers story of the evolution of evil, juxtapositioned with good. A morality tale which leaves the reader glad for resolution, and appreciative of the chance to pick up the book at the local grocery store from a charity book heap for the low low price of one dollar. I finished the Allingham book, happy to have discovered a real sleeper, and then took up Alan Furst again. I have bought all the rest of his WWII era novels, as they are so well written and so thick with plotting, philosophy, ethical conundrums, and all the detail of that era in Europe and Eastern Europe of which he writes. His novels could be a class in history all by themselves, but human history, not dry recountings of espionage tales, not fast-paced romps through violence and mayhem, but thoughtfully moving accounts of human experiences at difficult times and in difficult places. Choices or no choices, the characters struggle to survive, to reach decisions made sometimes in the society of ethical vacuum, and always these choices open paths down which our characters struggle to maintain a human dignity, even in the midst of chaos and terror. Mundane daily survival becomes a problem of turmoil and compromise. I am reading Night Soldiers now.

eReader SOLD...winter...blogging malaise

2008-03-02T22:41:00.001-05:00

eReader up and sold to Fictionwise. HHhmmm....I haven't a clue what this will mean for the Palm book format. Motricity decided to get out of the ebook biz and concentrate on their mobile technology lines. Can't blame them, but I liked eReader and never dealt with Fictionwise. The changes so far seem to be backend, and are good so far. Cart remembers you and what you have in it, wish list changes as you add books to cart. These are new changes. So the site is being retooled to bring it up to more current usage practices. I wonder when the changes in book unlock and so on will come if they do come.

AMAZON'S Kindle may be the driving force behind this merger for Fictionwise. There is already ability to get some books with mobile phone technology other than Kindle. As long as Kindle is so expensive and so limiting in format I am not interested as a buyer, but of course I am interested as an observer. It's development is interesting. The ebook readership has not grown to the proportions envisioned back in the early 90s of course, and Kindle might lure a few more people into the fold, so in that way it may encourage other vendors as well.

Winter proceeds - we have broken the ALL TIME record for snow in February and fast approaching the top of the top 10 all time winter snow loads. How wonderful. Could have lived without the honor. Can't do much either way.

Blog malaise sets in every few months...I think post-blogging is hitting me just as post-iPod did! Blogging is at best a harmless narcissistic activity for those of us who can't find enough people in real life to bore, and after awhile it does lose its shiny newness. I could go on about the political climate, how boring is that? Pretty darn boring!

Nuclear Global Warming...

2007-12-13T23:25:00.000-05:00

I see that the latest idea to curb global warming is to build a string of nuclear power plants to replace today's petroleum-based fueled plants?! Talk about your global warming...whose idiotic idea is nuclear power for electrical generation...if you really CARE about global warming and clean power you will support wind power and solar power to the fullest extent possible. If the oil companies had put their time and energy and R&D funds into solar decades ago, we could have had a viable solar power grid by now. Back in the 60's this was the future. Now it looks like the old crispy critter future lies ahead.

Kindle reading device...

2007-11-19T10:56:00.000-05:00

This morning we are greeted at AMAZON.COM with the Kindle announcement and several videos and lots of reading about Kindle, AMAZON's new handheld reading device. We have come a long way from the Rocket eBook, but apparently there is still some work to be done. The Kindle is lovely, make no mistake. Wireless, not dependent on a computer, easily manipulated. Watch the videos...a nice piece of engineering. As with other electronic books, and other devices, the price is hefty, and you don't get what a lot of people call "real" books. At $399, this device is expensive. Books are advertised as being $9.99 or less, and you can buy them instantly because the Kindle uses cell phone technology to search and deliver to your device directly from AMAZON. Newspapers, books and blogs are available, and it even gets your newspaper daily, and your blog updates whenever. The screen is not backlit, and you can read in the light outdoors as well as in. It can also use an SD card for even more than the 200 items we are told it can hold.This is a pretty exciting device really, and my only critiques are the price and the proprietary and non-transferable format of the reading matter. What I love about my Palm handheld with my eReader software *IS* that I can have the books on more than one computer with more than one OS. I have the software on my Mac, on my work PC, and of course on my Zire. I can take that little guy anywhere and read up a storm. It is hard to read outside with it, that's a good point, but I never read outside with it anyway. I also have the books I have purchased on my PC, and backed up on CDs, and I can easily load them unto any Palm I buy. I am on my second device and have had no problems, I simply wanted to upgrade to a color display. Secondly, color - apparently the Kindle has no color. I didn't see anywhere in the demo video where color was apparent. I like to change my background to dark and my fonts to light. I couldn't do this with the Kindle because it has a dull grey background with black font.

In short, this device is exciting, and will surely be a seller just because of AMAZON's huge customer base. As terrific as it looks now, down the road it can only get better!

Newer Toy...Oh my...

2007-11-17T23:53:00.000-05:00

Once you get a geek like me near a computerized sewing machine, you just know the magnetism will cause a spending event. And it just did.This machine, the Husqvarna Platinum 770 is the smoothest, nicest stitching sewing machine yet. The straight stitch equals my Pfaff 1222E at its best. The features are many and varied, and the fonts sew out excellently. It was time to get my ultimate machine. I wouldn't have known this had I not already bought the Madison. All the features making the Madison so handy are also on the Platinum. Viking doesn't short you on features on any of their machines. Having gotten a terrific deal from my local dealer, I now have got to sew non-stop!

Memo to Barnes & Noble...

2007-10-25T23:07:00.000-04:00

Barnes & Noble...what in the world are you thinking? Sending email updates but NO COUPONS! When I see mail from bookstores, or any other business for that matter, I want a coupon! Don't waste my time with who is featured on your book club or whatever you call it, or author profiles or any of that nonsense. Bottom line - COUPON, CODE, FREE SHIPPING - these are the words I want to see. AMAZON doesn't clutter up my email with non-essential mail, and neither should you.

New Toy...

2007-10-08T22:44:00.000-04:00

Fell in love with European design and form follows function and bought a mechanical Husqvarna Viking Sewing machine. Got the limited edition Madison, sold only in the US of A. So pretty and so nice to use. Viking has a few nice touches even at the low end of the line, like three thread cutters - bobbin area, bobbin winding and near the sewing area. Has adjustable presser foot pressure, great and ergonomically placed lighting, drop in bobbin on a slant with magnification in the transparent bobbin cover, needle up front, nice accessory case in the back of the bed area, nice utility stitches, excellent though several step button hole, infinite needle positions, electronic foot pedal with which you can raise and lower needle, and an excellent warranty. And pretty green see-thru bobbins...I like those. Projects lined up are placemats, jammies, skirt and a top. Top was supposed to be a summer top, so maybe I will leave that for several months. More sewing less blogging has been going on...as one can see from the dates on the posts here.

Hamish and Agatha...

2007-09-16T22:53:00.000-04:00

I've been reading Hamish MacBeth and Agatha Raisin mysteries lately - both series written by M.C. Beaton. Agatha is a pushy, and to me admirable, retired early PR person who falls into the middle of crime, then muddles around trying to solve said crime, does a heck of a good job, all the while getting targeted herself while trying to sort out various love interests - all of whom are quirky and not at all predictable. She has several male friends who turn up to complicate matters. The intellectual level of these books is refreshing. Hamish is a rather unambitious Scottish cop who has a nose for trouble, seeing it before it even starts, or is it feeling it? After seeing the television series the BBC made of the Hamish books, I had to read some. I recommend M.C. Beaton for the droll British humor and the expert writing.

45th Reunion...

2007-08-12T23:56:00.000-04:00

So many years? NO.....oh yes...that's right - it is. I posted here in 2004 when I went to my 42d reunion...but it was my first. So many memories and good people. Some very special people in the group, and this time was even better. More old friends, and more amazing facts about the lives of our fellows. I find we get a unique perspective from the vantage point several decades out of high school. I find it hard to put the bond into words, yet there is a something that binds us to our youthful expectations and aspirations and, yes, innocence, that again seems to permeate the air at a reunion. You can return for a moment...

Harry Potter wraps up...

2007-08-07T16:40:00.000-04:00

Suffering sleep deprivation, I stagger to the computer even two days later to put forth an apology for my previous post. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was a wonderful end to a wonderful run. Very few authors sustain the quality of writing that J.K.Rowling has sustained all through the series. I am thinking about rereading them all now that the story is complete. No spoilers here - I'll just say that the story is complete. I laughed, I cried doesn't do it justice. For those teens who have read it - I hope you reread the series later in life as well because there is so much there that living will make manifest.

Since I am constrained from giving any examples and spoiling the pleasure of my friends who haven't finished yet, I can only say carry on.

Harry Potter ruminations...

2007-08-02T07:15:00.000-04:00

Reading Harry Potter 7 is slow. I don't think it is the book, but I have been very involved in learning to fit pants and believe me this is a task for engineers, not me. I am soldiering through though, and should have a pattern for wearable, fitting pants any day now. As many have suspected, ready to wear clothing is not made for real people, but for some mythical creature somewhere who is even more elusive than the Yeti of the Himalayas. So pants fitting class has to come before HP. I have started the book, I have gotten to page 330 or so, but the pace isn't drawing me into the stupor in which I am supposed to be, where I sit mesmerized for hours at a time. This isn't happening.

I think J.K. Rowling's writing is still at the same high bar it was in the beginning; it is the fans who are now jaded and no longer surprised or enthralled by the magical happenings. And, who needs to read it fast? This is the last book...space it out. So, I will be taking my time, even when my reading time is freed up from sewing.

Alan Furst...

2007-07-30T22:44:00.000-04:00

Instead of individual reviews for several of Alan Furst's latest novels, I think a general review is best, and for these reasons: they all have the same ambiance, they all deal with WWII, and pre-WWII, and they are all excellent novels. Furst's name was mentioned in reviews for both John Le Carre novels and Eric Ambler novels, and one comment was that Furst seems to have been influenced by Ambler. To lump Furst into the espionage genre would be a mistake because his writing is evocative, enthralling and always of the highest caliber. Although the main characters are involved in some espionage dealings in one way or another, most of them are caught in circumstances that have directed them into the shade rather than having made a choice. A Russian Marxist journalist who becomes disillusioned yet sees the necessity for anti-Nazi (Dark Star, 1991)activity, a Frenchman (The World at Night 1996, and Red Gold, 1999) of the upper class whose career as a movie director is wobbling already and brought down by the German occupation of Paris and his unwillingness to collaborate, and an Hungarian expatriate (Kingdom of Shadows 2000) who finds himself caught up in plotting by his own and opposing countries and factions - all these men and some of their associates seem to enter the flow of history and join fortune with an integrity and character they are surprised to find in themselves. Furst leaves his stories at a resting place rather than an end and we are satisfied because these stories couldn't have ended in their historical context.

For character and sense of place, Alan Furst's work is a gem of a find. I think we all at times have wondered how we would really act under duress of war and inhumanity, and we only hope we never find out. The characters in Furst's work find out.

I swear I didn't tamper with these results...

2007-07-27T13:23:00.000-04:00

O.K....here we go again, this site is addicting, and kinda fun...heh. Since my favorite pets ARE cats...well, isn't it just strange and maybe...well...magic...that this site knows all? Hahhahha...

Your Ideal Pet is a Cat

You're both aloof, introverted, and moody.
And your friends secretly wish that you were declawed!

What's Your Ideal Pet?

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell...

2007-07-27T00:35:00.000-04:00

Time for a mini-review of JS & MN, the sort of book I call a tome. Very long and tending to drag in the first hundred or so pages, due to the pace being the pace of Mr. Norrell really, the book begins to pick up with the introduction of The Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair, the character about whom the book revolves.

We see Mr. Norrell commit what turns out to be a consummate crime of pride. The succeeding events roll along toward darkest days for Britain and the continent, while a war rages between England and France. Into this steps Jonathan Strange who is much more upbeat and very different from MN.

As most people know by now the book deals with the resurgence in England of practical magic, formerly a lost art, but revived by MR and honed by JS. I found the book to be somewhat precious, in that the style was intended to be Edwardian, and in fact to remind us of Jane Austen. It didn't really remind me of Jane, but I did enjoy this book. It was so different, so original, and so absorbing by the last third of it, that I can't be critical. it was well written, if a bit tedious. Very much worth reading though, especially to fans of Tolkien and J.K. Rowling, as well as those interested in fantasy and good books in general. I am waiting to see if Susanna Clarke writes a sequel.

O.K...O.K...I am not as nerdy as I thought...and not as pretty as she is....

2007-07-19T15:13:00.001-04:00

You Are 48% Nerdy

You may be a bit surprised with this score, but your more of a closet nerd than an actual nerd.
Stop denying your inner nerd! You're truly dorkier than you think.

How Nerdy Are You?

Seattle Spring '07...

2007-07-19T06:50:00.021-04:00

Another delightful trip to Seattle...not so much on the horizon this time, but another nice run of weather, no rain!People out there in Seattle want us to think it's all rain all the time but it isn't. Only once in the two weeks I was in Seattle did it rain, and then only a bit. I guess it all depends on the season you come! Lake Washington is wonderfully lovely on a sunny May day! Out on the water or watching geese at the park on Juanita Bay, all good. This time I did see and enjoy the Space Needle. Downtown Seattle is crowded, and all the things you want to see seem close, although I didn't get to the old square. Next trip! The view from the Needle is terrific, but the admission price too high! It is fun though, and really - I guess we can't put too high a price on fun! It was a dull sort of day but that didn't matter. We sandwiched the trip in before a kid birthday party on an Aikido studio. Nice drive around town in the area around the Needle as well. Funky museum and Music center there made good photo opportunities, and grandchildren made the trip extra fun! Other hi-lites of the trip were various local beaches and just the fun of the buildings and the cafes around the area. Seattle has so many little nifty coffee houses and grand cafes. When I say Seattle I mean the surrounds as well. Kirkland has a lovely downtown with shops and eateries, all very arty.

I liked Bothell and the wonderfully magnificent Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park Towne Centre. They shelve the used books in with the new! Innovative and convenient!

I love the buildings in and around Seattle. They range from the Ravenna neighborhood's lovely old Craftsman style homes to the modern cliff climbing glass and concrete apartment houses on Juanita Drive. The picture in the previous blog entry of the angles is a shot taken in Seattle. I love the sort of buildings there that are terraced up a hill, and the lines created by the interplay of the design are wonderful. As usual, a trip to Microsoft is fun and educational. Spread over quite a bit of territory and even at several locations across town, Microsoft is a fixture in the region, and has helped many a Seattle cause. This time I saw the Visitor's Center, which was not as central nor as large as I had thought it would be, but still a very interesting corporate display. I did tremendously, as always, enjoy my trip! For the aerial view from the Needle my picture shows the great view, but not on as bright a day as some days. The trip up into the observation deck was in an elevator with a lot of glass. you get to watch the ground disappear below as you ascend. You can see Seattle and a bit-o-the-Sound. Then, when you come out into the observation deck itself, you find yourself inside a nicely carpeted area - larger than I thought it would be, and hosting a nice coffee shop/snack bar. Eating a muffin at the top of the needle - the end of a good day's adventures!

Book roundup Summer' 07

2007-07-17T20:05:00.000-04:00

I find myself woefully behind in commenting on recent books read. SO - I will make quick and simple reviews. First up is Helene Hanff, all of whose books I have now read. They make literate and funny reading, her sense of humor is sharp and her insight always to the point. From 84 Charring Cross Road to Apple of my Eye, all her books are engaging just for these qualities. In Apple of my Eye, Helene writes a guide to New York City which was written at a time of economic downturn for the city, and at the same time a nostalgic time just after the World Trade Center was new. It is not a tourist guide in reality, it is more of a love story to the city she lived in so long and loved the most. Her meanders through the city to see sights she had never seen before in order to write the book make great reading, and her always sharp wit enhances the experience. Highly recommended.

Bob Dylan...

2007-07-17T18:50:00.000-04:00

Bob Dylan played here recently. I didn't go to the concert. Those who did talked about it a lot, and the consensus was it was one of the best they'd seen over the years. I have of course always been aware of Dylan....I mean he's a bit older than I am, but we are contemporaries. When he was young in NY, I was in NY going to nurses training, when he was a kid in Hibbing, I was a kid less than 200 miles away in upstate MN. And then he gave the concert here and I live here - weird coincidence or what???

I had of course known about the usual stuff...Blowin' in the Wind, Mr. Tambourine Man etc., but being busy with other things during the 60s and 70s, I hadn't really listened to much Dylan. So this past week I have been overdosing, and enjoying myself. I have always respected him as as writer and felt he would be remembered for a couple centuries more than almost everyone else from the music he was so instrumental in forming, but I hadn't listened to much of the lyrics he sang. What do you know! He really was a genius with words. Those songs resonate with humanity rather than any particular agenda. He says he isn't political, and I think that's true. He's a human though, and that comes through loud and clear.

I would like to pipe Masters of War into every governmental institution right now until they get the message. But the one I have sticking in my head is I Ain't Gonna Work on Maggie's Farm No More...great song, sticks in the head...

They tell me I belong in Barcelona....good call....:)

2007-07-06T09:23:00.000-04:00

You Belong in Barcelona

When it comes to Europe, you don't want to decide between culture and fun. You want art by day and a big party by night.
Barcelona is ideal for you. You can check out some Picasso, eat some tapas, take a siesta, and then dance all night!

What European City Do You Belong In?

No more MacAddict...

2007-03-27T07:47:00.000-04:00

Shockingly, today I found out that MacAddict is no longer the old rabble rousing pub it once was. Now it has been reborn as MacLife. YAWN. Well, I had let my subscription go as I have let Mac World go. They are mainly advertising, although I had gotten some great tips and advice over the years from both pubs. The old MacAddict CDs were a lot of fun. I liked the attitude. A few web pundits are of the opinion that as Apple got more prosperous, and iPod rules, the whole revolutionary Mac "thing" was outdated. That's probably a good point. Probably the most revolutionary thing about Mac at this point is the inclusion of Boot Camp, thus rendering your Mac able to run windows. I expect the next generation of Mac to come with either OS installed already or both. Apple hardware is so much better than other hardware. You can't go back to a plastic black cheapie box after you've had a Mac, but maybe you're a Windows person who wants some quality in the hardware! Great - I am no apostle of Steve Jobs, and if the hardware fits - wear it!

Wintery Seattle trip...

2007-02-10T17:20:00.000-05:00

Had occasion to go to Seattle again sooner than I expected. January isn't usually so wintery there, and people were caught off guard and panic ensued after already having had a bad windstorm that was more damaging than anyone had seen in decades. We were pretty much inside and watching the news people wallow in the weather news as folks abandoned their cars, slipped into ditches and decried the state of the side streets. Indeed the side streets were in bad shape until the weather warmed up and melted them because the municipal authorities didn't get to the neighborhoods much at all due to the main roads being to big a job for the equipment they own around that area. I doubt they budget for snow removal much.We did do an intrepid trip out to Microsoft to look around and get lunch. That was fun, and it was a sunny day! What could be better in the Seattle area than a sunny day? So if you are going to Seattle in winter you will probably need a warm winter coat, boots and gloves just as if you were in New England, at least for a few days if you hit it right. Take your down vest too, can't be too careful.

End of the year wrapup...

2006-12-26T15:39:00.000-05:00

Under gray soggy skies 2006 edges into the past. I have no pretentious words of wisdom, just a long list of things I meant to do and didn't get done. I think that is a good thing. Too many things to do means a reason to look forward to every day! I just bought myself Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell which looks as long as its title. I capitulated to the many reviews in the New York Times as well as less prestigious rags, notwithstanding the rather negative review in the Guardian. I have high hopes for an absorbing adventure. Then, for Christmas I got The Hot Rock, another Dortmunder caper. in fact the very first Dortmunder caper. So - I of course want to romp through the Dortmunder adventure rather than take on the tome! Meanwhile I am reading an older Hammond Innes title Levkas Man from 1975 or so. Having read his excellently written novels before I knew this one would be good, but hadn't realized how good. Boats, Greece, mystery, and good writing - does it get better?

My fixation on the Mac game Quinn, which is a tetris-like game in pretty colors, has resulted in my high score being so high I will never do any better, thus proving sad for me now when my games score pathetically low. Having nowhere else to say that, I thought I would throw it in here.

Technology-wise, no big news. I can't get excited about the new Zune, and living as I now do in the POST-iPod era, I have no interest in new phones that play music. Or for that matter, new phones that do anything but provide phone service. By post-iPod I mean that mine is dead - battery long gone, and I haven't the interest in seeing if a replacement for a 3d gen. iPod is even out there. So, since I live without earphones or buds growing out of my ears, I find myself playing music on the PC at work, the Mac at home, and loving my iTunes library. My friend has a Nano though and she loves it.

My Mac works so well, so quietly and so smoothly that I am now stuck in a groove and so comfy I can't believe she is now almost four! The first week of February 2007, now only a month away really, she hits four, and so far works like a charm. I have every program I need, including this year's big hit (for me) WORD for Mac.

More blogging...better music...

2006-11-21T23:57:00.000-05:00

I read on the Blogger Blog that the number of blog posts are apparently doubling as of the first part of this year. That is probably NOT cause for glee, since most blogs are drek anyway. Perhaps the term blog is not the correct terminology for most blogs, but the more common term journal would be more appropriate because it suggest the daily entry of some random thought or observation. I mean, I feel that now that anyone can do this, as a few years ago it happened that many could do a web site, the quality will of course be subverted. And has been.

My own blog is extraneous because I have no focus, no theme, nothing that it is ABOUT, as my mentor in cataloging says about many books. Still, writing is an outlet that allows for some scope, so the excercise is good for the brain. No one wants to hear this stuff, so writing it is better.

And it gives us something to do while we listen to our iTunes Music Store playlist...right now - Freddie Fender and "Sugar Coated Love", a few minutes ago Toby Keith but - and this is great - before that it was "Limpopo - Crazy Russian Folk and Rock 'n' Roll Music" with "Midnight in Moscow". And before that Josef Strauss's "Music of the Spheres." So you see I have no focus in either this blog or in my music.

Microsoft WORD for Mac

2006-10-24T06:51:00.000-04:00

I did it. I got MS WORD on the Mac and OH BOY. What a relief. I am sorry Nisus Writer and Mariner Write, but WORD blows away all the other word processors for the Mac. I have been soldiering onward with Appleworks and Nisus for the last three years, and now I am sorry I didn't get WORD right away. I didn't get Office because I don't need it. But I need WORD. Mactopia has a nice newsletter and lots of ideas for using the Notebook features and Articles and Tips has resources for projects. I found the interface not only Macish but prettier than the Mac apps I already have. WOW. So, I read everything I could about the Mac Business Unit at Microsoft and it was pretty interesting. Is there hope for convergence of systems? Who knows. The propaganda from Apple about Microsoft is getting a bit worn and tattered at this point. Everytime I read one of my Mac magazines and see someone take another hit at MS over the BSOD I scream. Haven't had one of those on a PC since we installed XP. Get with it, MacHeads. I love my Mac but I also use and like XP on a PC.

Project Runway and Harry Bosch

2006-10-19T10:44:00.000-04:00

The latest hot news from this corner of space is PROJECT RUNWAY winner Jeffrey Sebelia. Didn't like him until I saw the rerun with Angela's Mom. The woman is seriously passive-aggressive, and the whole thing was a tempest in a teapot. TeeVee drama and reality show hype. Uli was terrific at Bryant Park, she will go far and sell lots. Michael's collection was stunning but not as good as some of his work on PR. He is a great guy, has a winning personality and will be successful I'm sure. Laura brings some elegance to the world, but nothing she does is really new...although the silver beaded dress with the chartreuse belting was stunning and the only original thing she did. Again, she should be commercially successful.

But then there is Jeffrey. His style, his originality and his overboard persona won the day and the prize! And I was glad. The world of fashion design isn't about us regular people, it's about verve, raw energy and the buzz of electricity that personifies youth. Some of it trickles down into what we wear or more likely into our accessories here in the doldrums of everyday mainstream life. It's fun, it's hip, and it's a whole big lot of entertainment!

And, Harry Bosch, LAPD, my latest reading obsession. Well written, steeped in angst, fast moving and still cerebral, Michael Connelly is an expert craftsman. I am on the 8th in the series and they are still absorbing and challenging. Can't say that for very many series.

One of these days...

2006-08-02T15:52:00.000-04:00

So, I'm sitting here working and a friend comes in with a just acquired iBook. Yes, the old iBook. Lovely little laptop of my dreams. This little puppy is a sweetie, running Tiger, and ready to jump on our wireless network here. I gave her a nice little tryout. Fate has shown me two Apple laptops in one week, one brand new and one older, but both beautiful. One of these days Alice...one of these days...

2006-08-01T11:50:00.000-04:00

Last Friday I talked to a young woman who was sitting out in the public area with her new MacBook 13". I asked her if I could touch it, feel it, stroke it. She said yes. All I can tell you is that this is the most beautiful computer I have ever seen. I had thought that the 13" screen would be too small, but it is rectangular and wider than it is tall: it is glossy and extremely readable, not like the old PC laptops I have seen and used. She had connected easily to our wireless network, and she told me she loves her new MacBook dearly. I have shopped Mac quite regularly since buying the eMac in 2003. I love my Mac, but have been thinking that replacement time should probably come in a few years, and should probably be a laptop, which I would use both as home and travel computer.

Now - today for some reason I finally saw this column: Switching From Windows to Mac. Robyn Peterson lets us in on his adventures with buying and setting up his new MacBook. It also makes me crave one. He has some minor irritations to relate, but they are really because he didn't get the Missing Manual to Mac OSX yet. He somehow expected things to be the same - menus, installation, etc., as on his PC, even though he knew better.

I use Mac OSX and Microsoft XP, and frankly, XP is a terrific OS for the user who knows to clean out internet files, scan for spyware, use her virii software, and constantly review the directory hierarchy and watch what's going on. For the last 20 years I have been using Windows so there's no sweat with XP. XP is stable. I have never had a BSD on my work computer. Now, on the Mac, using OSX there is just a couple of cleanups to be done, and they are fast and easy. What's "under the hood" in both OS'es is really the difference. Windows has become inordinately tough to ferret through and find out where and what the machine puts there as you use it or install it. I find that constant care and feeding is necessary with the PC, but I can clean up the Mac with the Cocktail Utility every time I shut it down. I also use MacJanitor.

Going from Mac to WinPC to Mac is easy. I don't understand what all the fuss is about. One thing I will do differently on my next Mac is that I WILL purchase Microsoft Office. I would prefer WORD to Appleworks or the Nisus software I purchased, but I don't use an Office Suite much, so I haven't worried about that. But next time, it's Office for the Mac for sure.

As does Mr. Peterson, I use Firefox on the Mac, or even Opera. I tried and purchase Omniweb, but it is overkill, slow, and the preferences are a klutzy interface to wade through. Safari is a day late and a dollar short after using Firefox, and Camino is OK but not as full featured.

In general, I thought his article was fun and interesting. He admits to not looking in manuals or help files online until he hits a wall, so there we have something in common. I use my purchased Mac OSX book to refer to when I need to - I am not a cover to cover manual reader. If he takes that baby to work every day pretty soon the offices of PC MAGAZINE will sprout more Macs...who knows...this could be the start of an unusual inter-OS relationship.

New York Observer...

2006-07-31T07:30:00.000-04:00

On the front page of The New York Observer this morning is a story about the transformation of East 86th Street, a street holding many good memories for me of what is probably considered the stone ages of the early 60's. Mention is made of the Lorelei dance hall, and the Brauhaus, both old haunts of students in the area in those days. 86th Street was "Germantown" and the neighborhood is Yorkville. No mention is made in the article of the old Student Prince - a restaurant and dance venue where I spent many a happy night. All these places are now gone and apparently have been for years. The neighborhood used to be a street of small family business, German bars and eateries, bakeries, etc., and in general a fun night out.

One night, walking back from 86th street uptown to East 98th Street toward the student residence, about midnight, my boy friend and I saw a man with a hood over his head knocking off the tops of parking meters, and dumping the proceeds into a bag. We walked on by as if we hadn't seen a thing, and he paid no attention to us. That was New York for you.

Jeopardy! was good to you Ken...

2006-07-25T22:05:00.000-04:00

Well who knew that Ken Jennings had that good a sense of humor! I knew he was funny sometimes on Jeopardy!, but lookie here who has a blog entry that's a SCREAM! Ken's blog about Jeopardy! is making the news due to some completely humor-free persons who have made complaints and harassed him after reading his blog. Gooood grief. Read and enjoy!!

Seattle...even MORE thoughts

2006-06-27T20:28:00.000-04:00

They say that Seattle has the highest IQ per capita in the US. I am not surprised by this statistic after noting two anomolies. First, Seattle and environs has more book stores, new and used per block than anywhere I have been, including New York. Second hand books are everywhere, and the St. Vincent de Paul store on Bothel Way in Kenmore has a huge used book section running to two rooms and a children's section! You won't see that in a thrift store many places. And the books are not all schlock! I had to hold back so I wouldn't have to drag books home on the plane. In the grocery stores and the usual chain stores there are larger selections of books, including literature than I have ever seen in run of the mill stores. I didn't get a chance to hit any larger book stores in downtown Seattle but I have heard rumors of great finds to be made!The second odd thing hit me in the face while driving around the area of Kirkland, Kenmore and Bothel just on routine errands and scenic tours - the street signs! Where else would you see a sign reading "Road Revision" not to mention "Arterial Ends"! Out in normalville the signs say either "No Thru Traffic" or "Dead End", and the "Road Rivision"; does that mean "Construction Ahead?" My goodness, one would have to have ones handy Pocket Webster's to navigate! There must be a handbook somewhere with Handy Travelers Phrases for Seattle. In the foreign language section perhaps. All in all a good thing to see signs of intellect infusing the landscape. Pervasive sense of civilization, all the while remaining quite the most calm setting of any major city I've visited.

Seattle...more thoughts

2006-06-20T22:57:00.000-04:00

Thinking about Seattle for another month since my return, I realize I really liked it. I liked the area and the undercurrent of a slower pace of life. With so many people moving to Seattle from the urban East and California, I wonder how long this pace of life will last. The climate, like the climate in Vermont, makes casual comfortable garb the norm - boots and wool; fleece and hats abound in both places. And that's summer. No, really. Oh, I admit in summer there are warm days, then it's jeans and tee shirts. After awhile you own no dress shoes in Vermont, and I wonder if that's not true in Seattle too...unless we call clogs dressy. So, all in all, I am looking forward to my next visit, and I can tell you could get used to living there easily.

LibraryThing...it's fun!

2006-06-14T13:58:00.000-04:00

I fell across LibraryThing one evening while surfing for I don't remember what? I was drawn by the exotic scent of organization to put in about 57 of my own books. I have some really nice software I paid for to "catalog" books, and I have tried simple cataloging software that was free. Library thing provides a title search among various countries libraries, as well as searching the AMAZON.COM database, and LibraryThing is web-based, and lives on the web in a Blogger supported site. All you need is the title, author or illustrator name, or ISBN etc. The searching uses Z39.50 protocol across numerous databases (you don't have to know anything about what this means to search, and in fact it should be an invisible aspect of searching) It does require correct spelling - no fuzzy searching here. I paid little attention to the editions I brought in, just the title was the thing because I was trying the "tagging" function. Instead of set Library of Congress subject headings, LibraryThing allows you, the user, to "tag" your individual books with the subjects you feel apply. This is hardly standardized of course, and that's the fun part!

With Library of Congress Cataloging, the cataloger wants to pinpoint the subject of a work so that a heading can be given which describes precisely what the book is "about." Thus a new heading: Distracted Drivers, created when a book only about distracted drivers comes across the desk at LC. So it is not the subject heading which may be searched in a precise hierarchical form, it is the call number assigned the work which is the hierarchical form.

The call number system of the Library of Congress is the most widely affirmed system of categorization of works. There is a book with Dewey system equivalents which point to the LC number equivalent of each Dewey category. Thus, since libraries are arranged by call number, when you go to the library you can browse the shelves in informational clumps. When you search online however, you usually use title, keyword or subject, and the average person has no idea what the LC heading for subjects may be, thus there is a system in place for cross-referencing. If the heading is not an LC heading, you will see a "SEE" reference, and if there are related headings, you will see a "SEE ALSO" reference. You can of course search library catalogs by call number and browse call numbers as well, so you can get a list of works in a given subject area.

I have a theory that today's searchers are putting in a lot of general keyword searches. I know I do, as well as title searches with truncated forms, such as just a few words. The problem here is that on AMAZON you will get about a million hits that you have to wade through. Do people care if they have to wade through a lot of hits? How about if the list was less illustrated and more compact, thus allowing you to roll your eyes speedily down a hundred titles on the page?

Back to the fun of LibraryThing: the tags. These are what they say - metadata tags right in the record with which a searcher will find all the "stuff" with the same tag in the database of LibraryThing. If there is no standard list of tags, pretty soon you are all over the place. Is this good? It well may be good. I found that I gave books tags that perhaps others would not have given those titles, yet when I went back to search, I found that there were others who had had the same general ideas, and thus I saw more titles of works in the same general category of (for example) pulp fiction.

So LibraryThing has energized my thinking and brought a lot of semi-dormant theorizing out of my own wetware database! It feels good to throw off a little dust and rust, and to think about stratified, codified, hierarchified and funified information delivery.

Seattle...trip to Microsoft

2006-06-12T00:26:00.000-04:00

I admit to feeling thrilled to be able to visit Microsoft. Even for those who eschew (or pretend to) Windows et. al., it still remains that Microsoft is a mecca of techies everywhere. The day was sunny, giving the lie to the idea of Seattle and Redmond being constantly drenched with rain. In fact in the two weeks I was there the weather must have been ordered by the Chamber of Commerce because it couldn't have been better! So I saw Microsoft at its best in a sunny happy vista (get it? VISTA?) on a sunny happy day. Just a "civilian" observation - Microsoft recruits the best of the workaholic techie community. These people love to work, they love their jobs, they are fired by the competition of the job, and they also seem more collegial that many corporate cultures. There is a shared pressure, a shared deadline awareness, and a willingness on the part of most to "get-er-done." They work in a clean, modern, comfortable environment in one of the most topographically pleasing spots on earth and they get to dress "business casual." And in Seattle that means a lot of shorts and polo shirts.

We sampled the dining hall's offerings, and I must say the facilities are terrific. A varied selection of food was available, and lots of ethnic foods as well. Delicious! Even in the dining hall there are many themed posters and reminders of the corporate culture, such as in the paper table signs reminding employees who they work for, in case they don't remember.

Microsoft likes to decorate the campus with all sorts of promotional materials about themselves, and it lends a colorful and somewhat festival like atmosphere to the whole place. Colorful banners abound, like this one with a festive decorater touch in a server theme. It hangs in the vestibule of one of the buildings, and is visible from a glass enclosed mezzine up on the second floor. An open, airy building which houses workers in interestingly named corridors like a branching miriad of inner city European streets, criss-crossing and leading who knows where, all abuzz with activity.

All in all a pleasent visit, and one I hope to repeat! Next time more pictures and more exploration. As we drove away, I felt that these 24 years of my computing experience had gotten a terrific treat, no matter what OS I currently use. A bit of history visited.

Seattle...second installment

2006-06-11T22:50:00.000-04:00

Downtown Seattle at the Pike Place Market was interesting. We got there and parked in a garage right at the market. It cost $11.00 for the maybe two hours we were there. It was worth it though, because the streets were narrow and crowded, and finding parking would have been no fun at all. The market itself was not as "grand" as I had pictured it, and in fact bore a certain resemblence to downtown Burlington, Vermont on farmer's market day. Seattle's tourist people should take a real hard look at the Pike Place area, because it seems to be peopled by three sorts. The obviously out-of-town tourist from some tourist factory in the midwest somewhere (where DO they get those same shirts and shorts that tourist wore in 1963?) who walk around faces agog taking in the bizarre sights of the crunchy-hippie-down-and-outs who make up the second group. Unfortunately the nearby park was occupied in one entire half by homeless men trying to catch a few winks wrapped up in their blankets, and bleary-eyed druggies who looked out at the tourists as if the visitors were the odd birds. The third group inhabiting the market is the vendors and the locals who go there to buy. A busy trade goes on, and there are jewelry stalls, art of various kinds, totebags, tee shirts and the like for the tourists, fresh herbs, flowers, seafood, and several eateries, soaps and herbal products, and more. All told a thriving, jostling vortex of humanity packed in like the fish on the displays.The fish market is as you would expect a fish market to be. That whole thing about throwing fish around is really over rated. It looks like guys throwing fish around. Well, I've seen the Fulton Fish Market in NYC, so maybe fish aren't a thrill like they are to some people.I got some lovely honey sticks at a really good price. Less than I could get them in the NorthEast. So that was a good days work.

The crowning glory of Pike Street Market are the flowers. The plethora of bloom was incredible. The variety of flowers was amazing, and the colors and groupings were truly wondrous. The prices for cut flowers were so low that if you could keep flowers for months it would pay to import them from Seattle. I have never seen such lush, large, colorful bouquets. Going rate was $15.00 for a large bouquet better than the local florist could make you for $40.00. Arrangements of these flowers was so professionally done, and so attuned to color and size that if I lived there I would always have fresh flowers and never have to grow any myself!

Seattle...first installment

2006-05-26T21:34:00.000-04:00

Seattle is situated in a wild and wooly topography for a city and environs to grow. Sharp rocks, ridges, forest primeval, more hills and even more forests and rocks. Houses perched wherever a square foot of land allows building, and high density dwellings going up all over. Traffic flows more slowly here than, say in North Carolina or New York, where the average interstate flow seems to streak by at about 80 mph. I'd say it averaged about 55 in Seattle, sometimes slower. Although the traffic is slower, it is more congested than some places, and the lanes seem more narrow? Is this possible? Raised medians between some lanes abound, and any route to "somewhere" is convoluted.The foliage is wonderful, with camellias and other flowering semi-tropical plants in abundance. The forests are different than the Norteastern forests, yet quite similar in feel. Two rain forests differentiated by climate. Huge cedar trees and giant old deciduous trees share space with undergrowth of newer pine, spruce and assorted shrubs. Seattle and suburban settlers value their trees, and many a house is engulfed in trees far nearer the foundations than we in New England like our trees to be!Water abounds. I wasn't aware of the size of Lake Washington, which borders the city of Seattle on the East, and which separates Seattle proper from several surrounding communities which are contiguous with Seattle as far as population intensity, and economy. The Lake is a beautiful fresh water lake with parks around its sides, as well as private dwellings of the well to do. The Seattle area has parks aplenty. Nice times for the kids. The community of Kirkland boasts several nice parks, and plenty of Lake Washington views. Just a drive through the arty downtown area on a nice day is like a mini-vacation to the Lake.Next time thoughts on an afternoon trip to downtown Seattle.

"The Da Vinci Code"...

2006-05-21T23:25:00.000-04:00

The movie is out! And I saw it! Since the book was not that well written, I had hopes that Tom Hanks and Ron Howard would somehow transcend the material and give us a great movie! They did it! The screenplay was tighter, the performances were excellent, the casting spot on, and the music gave a quality that mirrored the ambiance of the book. All in all a fine production. I give it ****. Jean Reno did his usual fine job, Alfred Molina was cast superbly and the rest of the actors likewise. Of course Tom Hanks is his usual BEST, and it is Tom Hanks that pushes this film over the top and captures our imagination. Hanks is REAL. Whomever he plays, he brings character and depth to the role.

As far as this film being in any way threatening to faith or Catholicism, I think you would have to be paranoid or gullible to feel that this work of fiction is in any way worth angsting about. Forget it and have a good times at the movies...movies, baseball and hot dogs - that's what it's all about!

Public Domain threatened...again...

2006-04-08T12:06:00.000-04:00

Big publishing strikes again. The eBook world is plagued by what is really reversal of expiring copyright. Old texts which we enjoy as free or very low priced ebooks are attracting the attention of entities who once had an interest in these texts, and the fact that copyright expired has not deterred publishers from attempting (with some success) to take a long view of their "rights." Today I got word via the Blackmask Online newsletter that Conde Nast is sueing him over a couple of very old pulp stories that someone is making into a movie. There is money to be made, and they smell it. Can the little guy hold out against large corporate aggression and help preserve just a bit of public domain? A court in Maryland will have the first say.

Please hit that link and go see the site, and see all the good work Daniel has done over the years to keep the ebook readership alive and well, and supplied with good reading.

2006-03-29T07:06:00.000-05:00

Another academic scene author has crossed my path. Why haven't I read any David Carkeet before? I fell across The Error of Our Ways recently, and the drollery and situational complications are both entralling and entertaining. Set in a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri; a suburb with academic connections, the story is two threads so far, moving toward one another with inevitable hubbub to follow. More critique when I have finished.

Dortmunder is my current ebook. This time it's What's the Worst that Could Happen and I think the answer is coming up in a few more chapters. Again, Dortmunder has himself in a complex situation, but this time it is of his own making. Can't wait to see if he extricates himself, May and Andy without any lasting ramifications. Again, more to follow. I may have to actually buy the rest of the Dortmunder books in print! Wait - there is always ILL. It is too bad they aren't all in ebook form.

Bill of Rights and the Constitution...

2006-03-24T19:41:00.000-05:00

Both of these are now threatened by the tactics of the administration, under the guise of "protection." Last night I saw Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin on "The Daily Show". He is very courageous. Read his site. See what he says about presidential responsibility.

Winter Darwin, and computerized sewing...

2006-02-14T10:45:00.000-05:00

Winter has its fun days. Like lunch at a warm, cheery place that makes you feel you just might be in a tropical locale...

In other news, I am going to pass some fun days sewing on my new computerized sewing machine, the Kenmore 19233. Computers allow for many more stitch patterns including monogramming, yet sewing is much the same as always.The machine is very smooth and solid. Learning curve is easy, and the weather outside makes staying in at the machine appealing!

For even more tropical vibes, I am reading "A Salty Piece of Land" by Jimmy Buffett. His books are always a terrific escape, and entertaining as well. I did reread "Take Another Road" from "Tales of Margaritaville" first because Tully Mars is also the main character in "A Salty Piece of Land." Who wouldn't want to ride their horse along the Gulf!

Meanwhile the ebook up and reading now is "Darwin's Radio." Interesting premise, good story, but drags along slowly due to all the scientific jargon. Could have been shorter. I already read the sequel with the "speed-through-and-skim" method, so when I finish this I will be done with it. Premise is that what seems like a new disease is the evolution of a new species of human being better equiped than we are to deal with the world as it now is, and to communicate in new and different ways. Interesting. As you could surmise, the rest of us don't seem too happy with "Homo Spapiens Nova."

Goodbye sweet friend...

2006-02-07T15:21:00.000-05:00

We will miss your energy and your love...you were the best companion a man ever had. Goodbye Duchess...go play in the fields of the Lord with B.C., Molly, Maudie, Snuffy and Micky.

Whales endangered by Norway and Iceland too...

2006-01-13T15:13:00.000-05:00

Apparently Japan isn't the only one out there...I thought Norway had stopped whaling, but not so. Iceland has started whaling again, and although their take is small, it does contravene the international agreement. Is there no consortium of countries who can apply pressure?

Several sci-fi books come to mind. Ursula LeGuin's "The World for World is Forest" and Alan Dean Foster's "Cachalot" are two off the top of my head that warn us against rapaciously treating our fellow inhabitants of the universe.

Greenpeace out there for the whales...

2006-01-03T20:09:00.000-05:00

In late December 2005, Greenpeace was on the front lines in the sea near Antarctica trying to put themselves between the Japanese whaling fleet's guns and the minke whales. In small boats off their main vessel, courageous Greenpeacers are fighting the battle the world community is too scared to fight. Although whaling was banned in the 1980s, Japan continues to take whales. This time the "harvest" is intended to be about 1000 minke whales, 50 fin whales and, horrendous as this is to me, 50 humpback whales. The world community stands by with the officially horrified faces and wringing wrists. I guess that old saying still applies:

"If there is no penalty, compliance is optional."

Think about supporting Greenpeace in the struggle to save not only the whales, but the planet.

Catchup...

2006-01-01T22:40:00.000-05:00

Reading: Donald Westlake, Robert Ludlum, Olivia Manning and John Le Carre. Next up: Jimmy Buffet, William Boyd, Charles Portis and Agatha Christie.

Listening: Michael Feinstein, Rosie Clooney, Jimmy Buffett, Jerry Jeff Walker, Russian Balalaika, Gil Shaham, Shostakovich and assorted violin classics.

Making: Top, pants, sewing machine covers, children's PJs...

Working: as usual

Opinions: Love these Dortmunder books, sewing is fun, IS THERE better music for improving the mood than Buffett?

Long time no blogging...is it getting boring? It used to be something new, and in the beginning not many people did it but now everyone and their dog - literally - are blogging, are website building, as lame as most of it is, and the newness and exclusivity has more than worn off...what's next?

Absolute Friends...

2005-11-23T21:26:00.000-05:00

John LeCarre's fans, and I am one, must find the depression quotient in his recent novels rather bothersome. "Absolute Friends" was about the futility of it all really, and it bore the cynical signs of aging of a talent. Not that the subject matter is not believable, but the story is unrelenting, full of propaganda, and all in all quite sad. I thought "A Perfect Spy" was very sad as well, but it was a much better book from the standpoint of writing and readability. I did like the protagonist of "Absolute Friends", and I could almost identify with him. He was a global nomad, a man whose enculturation was not his nationality, an Englishman with an Asian soul and a good heart. His end and that of his friend were semi-self induced, but the whole milieu of the story makes the end inevitable.

Crazy Potter Fans...

2005-10-12T06:58:00.000-04:00

Oh yes, they are already "reviewing" Harry Potter 7 at AMAZON! Some interesting and some kooky ideas and thoughts here, some almost incomprehensible. Makes for a bit of fun though. These books have had a huge influence on reading. Being so well written as well; that's a bonus. May J.K. Rowling power on and give us the apex of her work yet.

It's been a long...long....time!

2005-10-11T19:43:00.001-04:00

Here I finally am again. Serger did send me back to a sewing world. The online sewing world has grown by leaps and bounds. The sewing machine world has moved on to electronic and now computerized...but for sewing I prefer the old-fashioned heavy worker sewing machines. Mine has lasted now for 28.5 years. And the new serger is not something that replaces a sewing machine; it does the edging and can do lots more than I will never use it for. I mean, how many times do you have to serge on some fake pearl trim?! This site is for all the sewists out there...yes, that's really the new name. I guess sewer=sewer...not good.

In the world of Booxter, I finished up the datebase of electronic books, printed the report and am now able to add them as they come. I love a good organization coup.

Fall is upon us, so it's a good time for reading, sewing, knitting and just vegging out by the old tele. I am trying to read John Lecarre's Absolute Friends. Tough getting into that. Have purchased Ayelet Waldman's first "baby-crime" book, Nursery Crimes and that's up next. For deep winter I am saving A Salty Piece of Land from Jimmy Buffet, and the last Charles Portis novel I own. Unfortunately, if Portis doesn't publish soon that's all there is.

Harry Potter 6 was excellent. I prefer the somewhat dark yet magisterial affect Harry has in the latest tome. Snape - WHAT HAVE YOU DONE??!! Well, I theorize that Snape is following orders and that Dumbledore (why does Gandolf come to mind?!) is not finished. Nuff' said.

WinFS...here it is

2005-09-02T06:36:00.000-04:00

I don't know much about the innards or the eye impact of WinFS to the user, but the beta is out, and according to Microsoft and the team who released this, it is going to revolutionize our file management. So read all about it! Oh, and you can SEE and hear all about it here in some very interesting video.

Harry Bosch...and Booxter

2005-08-22T07:29:00.000-04:00

One reason I am not blogging as much is that I have acquired the program Booxter. I wanted to catalog (in a very simple way) my ebooks. After using Books, which is free, I have wanted to get a program that would allow simple easy listings alpha by author, title and sort for years, etc. Booxter is the one program that fills all my needs. It is well worth the fee. I paid up and have listed all my ebooks, except the contents of a large CD I have of Classics. Theses have two indices already - author and title, so I didn't see a reason to duplicate that work. The program is able to give me the simple listing I want - much in the format of an Excel printout, and if I feel the need Booxter can also take images of book jackets, get info from several online sites - AMAZON, several international library databases, and take ISBN info by scanning. So it is quite flexible. I have no need for all the information Booxter can handle, and if I wanted to catalog long lists of other books I would rather there were an LCMARC format for home use out there. I do find the NOTES field most useful; you print only the fields you want.

At the same time I have purchased a few more books, and have been immersed in the Harry Bosch series by Michael Connelly. My goodness...what a good writer Mr. Connelly is. The books follow a certain formula, as is the norm in a genre series. We are not disappointed in Harry. I like the character, I like his introverted personality and I cannot believe there hasn't been a series of movies from these books.

Another electronic toy...

2005-08-22T06:19:00.000-04:00

I ordered a serger. I have never touched a serger. I certainly hope I can use the thing when it comes. It was a really good price (OH HOW AMAZON MAKES THINGS APPEAL), and it purports to be a handy gadget. After using sewing machines for over four decades, I just wanted a new sewing toy. Perhaps now a knit top won't be out of the question. Knits are not impossible to sew on my trusty old Pfaff 1222E, but they are always a bit of a challenge. A serger should provide fast and durable seaming with a variety of interesting fabrics. So I will update my blog audience on that development as time passes.

An Ice Cream War...

2005-08-04T07:09:00.000-04:00

William Boyd got labeled serio-comic with "A Good Man in Africa." Why does each subsequent novel bear that label? "An Ice Cream War" is much more serio than comic I'm afraid. It is beautifully written and quite effective in branding WWI the nightmare that it was, and in pointing out the futility of colonial extensions of war. German and English colonists getting caught up in a poorly run, outstandingly heinous and barbaric slaughter are joined by Britons and American caught in African locales with African peoples and random human flotsam and jetsom whose lives become entwined, and ultimately end in sadness and agony. I took the book traveling, thinking it would provide comic relief, knowing it would be ironic, but not prepared for the wrenching sadness which is the main feeling of the book.

For serious reading, not comic, though irony plays a part, it is the cruelest irony possible.

Extraneous note: Back from North Carolina, back to summer in New England. Why is it so hot this year?

Cable musings...

2005-07-14T06:24:00.000-04:00

We get silver tier digital television, and last night there was nothing better on than old "Seinfeld" reruns. I sat there convulsed with laughter, watching "Seinfeld" and "King of Queens." The movie package is what I prefer to watch, thus squeezing max payback out of the cable bill, and of course high-speed internet is always great, so I shouldn't complain. But lately I have seen the movies I wanted to see, and they just keep rotating around.

O.K...you're thinking I should be reading all those books I have piled up, but why is it that summer encourages sloth? I am reading. Slowly. One eBook and one hard cover. Next week, "Harry Potter 6" is coming, and I want to leave reading space for that. That's my excuse. I need to watch "Blind Date" and leave reading space for Harry.

2005-07-12T07:03:00.000-04:00

Summer reading seems to consist of lighter fare. Right now I am finishing Robert Ludlum's "Matarese Countdown." Sequel to "Matarese Circle." It isn't as bad as most reviewers said, but then the first book was not as great as many felt it to be. I like Ludlum for light reading. His style grows on you, but he tends to not have a knack for bringing the reader up to speed when the book is a sequel. Rather cumbersome boilerplate informs you of who what and why at every turn. In the case of "The Matarese Countdown" there is also the feeling that he wrote it in installments and had feared the reader could easily forget the characters. For instance, the reader is constantly reminded of the nickname of the main character, Beowolf Agate, being a code for Brandon Alan. Sigh. Really, we had that drilled into our skulls in the first book. I don't need every page to say "Beowolf Agate...the alias for Scofield, ace agent..." or words to that effect.

Ludlum had an awkward way with the women in his books. The women seemed to be very stereotyped, no matter what their role, from agent to computer whiz to business ace, yet in a sort of a good way. Always "motherly" or "she beamed in an indulgent way," or "as women will do" sort of thing. Dated, but not insufferably so.

Craving the iBook

2005-07-11T23:38:00.000-04:00

iBook. Small, clean and functional. O.K....so it's FUNKY too. I love the color, and the feel and the look. And it would be so handy to take when traveling. The trouble here is that I don't travel for business, so there is really no excuse. Keeping in touch with friends and family and job when on vacation? I can do that on the phone. Slowly but surely the refurbs and the demos are looking better and better. Apple is out of the refurbs today - but you never know. One of these days...

Minnesota...

2005-07-07T06:20:00.000-04:00

After another great week in Minnesota last month, I thought I would give the picture feature here at Blogger a whirl...this is the Red Lake River south of Thief River Falls, MN. Picture taken by my daughter on her Kodak digital camera. Since this Blogger feature works nicely, I can now add the camper pictures to the Coleman site. What fun!

Thanks Blogger! Not only a classy interface, but great templates, a photo feature, and the ability to tweak templates to my heart's delight. Why any other host for a blog?!

NWA giving extra miles...

2005-06-30T23:44:00.000-04:00

Got two letters from NWA without even making a wavelet. Each letter apologizes for delays in flights we were waiting for, and each letter awards frequent flyer miles as a gesture of good will. Kudos NWA.

NWA and iAir...

2005-06-30T07:04:00.000-04:00

After flying Northwest a couple of weeks ago, let me compare it with Independence Air. Now NWA has been my "vehicle of choice" for flying for some time now. Decades in fact. I have frequent flyer miles. Well, on iAir, after your flight is delayed and you finally take off - you are offered extra snacks and maybe even free bevies of the alcoholic type - one per person. On NWA, you are reminded that trailmix snacks are a dollar and to have that ready when your attendant gets to you. Sigh. They do offer the free granola bars...specially made to taste like a miniscule bit of cardboard, and then there are sometimes free twisty pretzels which aren't so bad a mouthful.

With NWA, you wait in the gate and the gate gets changed so you bag-drag it down to another concourse. You then wait and wait and information is leaked to you, the passengers, only when absolutely necessary, and then you realize the staff themselves are being left in the cloud of unknowing. On iAir they update you every 5-10 minutes even when they don't know any more than they did before. This gives the passenger at least the idea that they know you are there.

It would really cut down on passengers getting all hot and bothered and harassing the staff if the passengers were told more and more often. Even a "We are sorry for the delay and we haven't heard anything more, but we will sure let you know as soon as we know!" would defuse the anxiety level I saw building around me in the airports in June. Independence Air has that approach, but NWA is giving the impression that they don't know and can't cope. When your flight is delayed to the point that you know and they know that you aren't getting to your destination the same day - they should let you know before you hit the airport in between that they have arranged for hotels and transportation. To have to know to go to the counter and wait and ask and grope around for the right place to do all this - well, passengers get mad, they get hostile and they frequently publicize these feelings.