WEEK 47 2009
Last
Week-
Sun-
Mon- Tue- Wed-
Thur- Fri- Sat- Next Week
Picture of the Week
MAIN
PAGE
First Post,
17 March 2002
|
Seven Years
Ago, This Week, 2002 |
Six Years
Ago, This Week, 2003 |
Five
Years Ago, this
week, 2004 |
Four Years
Ago, This Week, 2005 |
Three Years
Ago,
This Week, 2006
|
Two Years
Ago,
This Week, 2007
|
One Year
Ago,
This Week, 2008
|
Saturday 21 November 2009
Saturday
- Back in Lancaster again. Finished on the way home was Book #76, The Yellow Admiral*
by Patrick O'Brian. This again is an excellent book, the beginning is
an observation of upper class country life in the early 1800's, then a
bit on the extraordinary blockade of France that the British undertook
in all weather & seasons, and finally Jack Aubrey's efforts to
avoid being 'yellowed' - nominally promoted to Admiral but in reality
passed over for further service & promotion - upon peace being
declared. Recommended.
I note that with this years 76 books (so far) I have surpassed my
'books read' total, since starting to keep track in 2005:
- 2005 - 50
- 2006 - 54
- 2007 - 64
- 2008 - 54
- 2009 - 76+ ?
Friday
- put in a couple of long days editing the GIS database. We had a
couple of people do quality control audits over the last couple of
months, now we have too update the tables with the corrected data.
Hmm. I'm almost sure I made updates on Wednesday and Thursday - probably I forgot to post them. I do that, sometimes.
Anyway, Book #75 would be Subspace Encounters
by E. E. Doc Smith. This was volume two in one of Smith's less
successful series - the two really successful series being last weeks Skylark series, and the other being the famous Lensman series.
Thursday 19 November
2009
Thursday
- another day of spreadsheet work. It isn't hard, but it is moderately
painstaking work. We did discover a major issue in the data importation
that we'll have to find a work around for. Not a show stopper, but more
time lost, time we don't really have.
I'm told the malls are playing Christmas music already. Bah Humbug
sez I. Can't they wait until after Thanksgiving? I suppose if my own
business depended for 50% of it's profit on the Xmas season I'd stretch
things as far as I could, too.
Violins and Starships has two YouTube videos of "Early Morning Rain", one by Gordon Lightfoot and the other by....Elvis. Elvis was not too bad, actually, but I think I prefer Gordon's version.
The Peter, Paul & Mary version.
The Kingston Trio version.
The Jerry Reed version.
Yeah, Gordon wins this one.
There was a crescent New Moon
in the west this evening. It looked to be setting well south of west,
but it's hard to gauge from a moving car on the freeway.
Update:
I looked it up. According to the U.S. Naval Observatory online Almanac
it set at an Azimuth of about 239.25 from Ventura. So, a good thirty
degrees south of west. Tomorrow it'll set at 242.5 degrees.
Wednesday 18
November
2009
Wednesday
- another long day.
I
got to talking with a roommate in the evening, and they mentioned
being at the local Target. The one with the escalator that also takes
shopping cards. That sounds cool, so I've added visiting the Mills Road
Target to my bucket list. Cape Horn and H.M.S. Victory are the other
items.
Also Powell's Books in Portland, Ore.
I should probably put more effort into that list.
Note: Monday 24Nov2009 - yeah, these were written last week, but not posted.
Tuesday 17 November 2009
Tuesday
- progress at last. The Inventory and Present Worth tasks are done, a
major accomplishment. But now the database and GIS have to be finished
- big tasks in the limited time available. The GIS guy is showing up
tomorrow, to help start up that task.
We went out to dinner at BJ's over at the Esplanade, in honor of a friends recent birthday.
Monday 16 November 2009
Monday
- back to work.
I finished The Little World of Don Camillo, by Giovanni Guareschi, for Book #74.
This is a fun read, essentially a series of very short stories about a
village priest in Northern Italy, somewhere along the Po River. He has
various battles with the village mayor Peppone, a Communist, but they
are of the "best of enemies" type of combat. Each is out to serve the
villagers in his own way, and though there are serious themes woven
into the stories, things generally turn out for the best - often
despite the combatants. Recommended.
Sunday 15 November_2009
Sunday
- a touch of food poisoning, I think. I threw out all my remaining
margarine & sandwich meats, and cleaned up a bit, maybe next
weekend will be more productive.
Though what could possibly be more productive than reading Book #72, Skylark
DuQuesne? This is the fourth, and last, in the series. Smith
started with a man in a simple flying belt, and ends here with a spaceship a
thousand miles in diameter, capable of destroying entire galaxies.
Richard
"Blackie" DuQuesne had been the anti-hero of the series, continually trying
to kill/best our hero Richard Seaton, but never succeeding. In
this book he makes an alliance with our good guys, in order to defeat
the evil Chloran menace; but as the reader and the good guys know:
"Blackie" is always looking out for Number One and the double cross is
just a matter of time.
I wonder how DuQuesne is pronounced, anyway? Is it "Due"+"kess"+"knee"
or perhaps "Due"+"Cain"?
None of the images as Amazon are of my Pyramid 75 cent editions' cover,
so here it is, somewhat beat up by the last few decades:
Book #73 was
Clifford D. Simak's Time
and Again. This link is to the paperback I own, but the book
was apparently first published in 1951, which feels right. Simak was an
interesting writer, but he never really fit into a writing scene much
past the 1950's. This was OK, but The
Goblin Reservation has always been one of my favorites -
short and to the point. And, of course, Way Station.
