Friday, December 30th, 2011
Will
It’s the time of year for reflection and introspection. I figured I should look back on the list of things I wanted to do in 2011.
- Move. I decided not to move to a new place in Starkville, because I was pretty certain I would be leaving Starkville. I’ll be moving to Portland in February. Not quite 2012, but close enough.
- Go to my first convention. I went to San Diego Comic-Con in July and had a blast. If I don’t go back this year, I may go to one of the Seattle-based conventions.
- Keep exercising. I kept up the good work I started last year. I’ve lost about another 40 lbs this year. Hopefully, I can maintain my good habits in the new year.
- Buy new clothes. I bought a few pairs of jeans and some underwear before Comic-Con, but other than that I didn’t do so well. Losing weight gave me an excuse not to buy more. The jeans I bought are already feeling a little too big. I’ll do better next year.
- Learn something new. I learned some new stuff for my old job and I’ve already started learning new stuff for my new job.I think that counts.
- Meet new people. I met a lot of people at Comic-Con, but I didn’t meet any local people. I can’t wait to get out and start meeting people in Portland.
- Listen to music more often. I did well at this at the beginning of the year. I even unsubscribed to a lot of podcasts. At Comic-Con, though, I met a lot of podcasters and started listening to all of their podcasts. I’ll work in that next year
- Blog more. Once again, I started out well, but slacked off. I lot of times I do have things to say, but by the time I get around to writing about it, it doesn’t seem like it’s worth it. With all the changes coming in the new year, I’m sure I’ll be blogging more.
I think I did well for the most part. Soon I’ll come up with a list for 2012.
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
Will
I found a flash drive that I thought I had lost. There was a directory on it with over 20 e-books that I had collected a few years ago. I remember that Tor was giving away free e-books for a while, so most of them probably came from them. I didn’t have an e-reader at the time, so I guess I put them away for later. I put a separate reading list page on the site and I’ll update it as I go along. I have enough to read for a long time to come.
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Wednesday, December 14th, 2011
Will

Hamlet, William Shakespeare. This is the first book I read on my Kindle! I wanted to read it because the overall story one of my favorite current TV shows, Sons of Anarchy, is influenced by it. Hard to judge this since it’s so old and the speech is so different that it was hard to understand what people were talking about sometimes. It’s alright. The David Tennant movie version is arriving from Netflix today. Maybe I’ll enjoy that more.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, Stieg Larsson. This is the last book in The Millennium Trilogy :(. What a great end to the series! It was a continuation of the story started in the last book and it tied up all the loose ends nicely. The last 2 books were their own complete story. I know there’s a 4th book in legal limbo, but I would be happy if there were the last one.

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, Michael Lewis. I read this on my Kindle for free thanks to Amazon’s Lending Library thingy. It’s about how one of the poorest baseball teams, the Oakland A’s, managed to win so many games and do well against much richer teams. It’s a good book if you like baseball, which I do, though not as much as I used to. As much as I love statistics, there was too much of it in this book. Maybe I would’ve liked this more if I read it when I was more into baseball. Another thing, I didn’t like the way that players were thought of as chess pieces instead of human beings. I need to read some fiction quickly.
I’m pretty sure there’s a way to embed my Goodreads review here, so I’ll probably do that from now on.
I added all the Kindle books I have acquired to my reading list. Woah! I’m going to try to get through 20 of the unread ones and not add any new ones in 2012. Like that’ll happen.
- Last Argument of Kings, Joe Abercrombie
- A Shadow in Summer, Daniel Abraham
- The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri
- Under the Amoral Bridge: A Cyberpunk Novel, Gary A Ballard
- Magic Kingdom for Sale–Sold!, Terry Brooks
- Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
- The Awakening and Selected Short Stories, Kate Chopin
Ready Player One, Ernest Cline
- Principle-Centered Leadership, Stephen R. Covey
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
- Bleak House, Charles Dickens
- Our Mutual Friend, Charles Dickens
- The Complete Sherlock Holmes Collection, Arthur Conan Doyle
- Go, Mutants: A Novel, Larry Doyle
- The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas
- Serenity Found, Jane Espenson
- Paranoia, Joseph Finder
- Incarceron, Catherine Fisher
- Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks, Mick Foley
- No Mercy, John Gilstrap
- The Deputy, Victor Gischler
- Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
- The Associate, John Grisham
Ford County: Stories, John Grisham
- In Her Name: Empire, Michael R. Hicks
- Assassin’s Apprentice, Robin Hobb
- The Fourth Hand, John Irving
- Daisy Miller, Henry James
- The Turn of the Screw, Henry James
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemison
- 11/22/63, Stephen King
The Walking Dead, Volume 3: Safety Behind Bars, Robert Kirkman
The Walking Dead, Volume 4: The Heart’s Desire, Robert Kirkman
The Walking Dead, Volume 5: The Best Defense, Robert Kirkman
The Walking Dead, Volume 6: This Sorrowful Life, Robert Kirkman
- The Walking Dead, Volume 7: The Calm Before, Robert Kirkman
- The Walking Dead, Volume 8: Made to Suffer, Robert Kirkman
- The Walking Dead, Volume 9: Here We Remain, Robert Kirkman
- The Walking Dead, Volume 10: What We Become, Robert Kirkman
- The Walking Dead, Volume 11: Fear the Hunters, Robert Kirkman
- The Walking Dead, Volume 12: Life Among Them, Robert Kirkman
- The Walking Dead, Volume 13: Too Far Gone, Robert Kirkman
- The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights, James Knowles
- Mercury Swings, Robert Kroese
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
The Girl Who Played With Fire, Stieg Larsson
The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest, Stieg Larsson
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, Michael Lewis
- Completing the Cycle, Mike Lewis
- The Stormcaller, Tom Lloyd
- I Am Number Four, Pittacus Lore
- The Giver, Lois Lowry
- The Day Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
- The Twilight Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
- The Final Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
- Busted Flush, George R.R. Martin
- Suicide Kings, George R.R. Martin
A Dance With Dragons, George R.R. Martin
- Crimson City, Liz Maverick
- Letters to Steve: Inside the E-mail Inbox of Apple’s Steve Jobs, Mark Milian
- Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller
- Batman: Year One, Frank Miller
- Either You’re in or You’re in the Way, Logan and Noah Miller
- The Final Crusade, Chaite Naasiri
- The Darker Mask, George Phillips
- The Hangman’s Daughter, Oliver Pötzsch
- L.A. Noire, Rockstar Games
- The Final Empire, Brandon Sanderson
- The Well of Ascension, Brandon Sanderson
- The Hero of Ages, Brandon Sanderson
- Towers of Midnight, Brandon Sanderson
- A Memory of Light, Brandon Sanderson
- Blue Boy, Rakesh Satyal
Hamlet, William Shakespeare
- Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare
- Private Parts, Howard Stern
- Life on the Mississippi, Mark Twain
- The Prince and the Pauper, Mark Twain
- King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Unknown
The Way of Shadows, Brent Weeks
- Shadow’s Edge, Brent Weeks
- Beyond the Shadows, Brent Weeks
- The Time Machine, H.G. Wells
- The Optimist’s Daughter, Eudory Welty
- The Dragonbone Chair, Tad Williams
- Stone of Farewell, Tad Williams
- To Green Angel Tower, Tad Williams
- Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1 – Unmanned, Brian K. Vaughan
Wednesday, December 14th, 2011
Will

It’s been about a month since I got my first Kindle. I was either going to get a Kindle Touch or a Kindle Fire, both new models. I decided to get a Kindle Touch because of the E Ink (Electronic Ink). I know how much I’ve hated reading books on my computer and I figured the E Ink would be easier on my eyes.
I love my Kindle Touch! I’ll be reading paper books as long as they print them, but I’m getting a lot of use out of the Kindle. I’ve read at work when I needed a break, in the waiting area at the doctor’s office, in the waiting area at the mechanic, on the stationary bike, etc. I feel like I’m getting in a lot more reading. Navigating in the menus is a little slow, but I don’t have to do that much. I’ve had it for a month and haven’t had to recharge it yet. Also, I’m really digging the touch screen. I am very pleased.
Before the Kindle arrived, I already had about 40 books for it. I got most of them for free from Amazon or from author or publisher websites. I won’t have a problem with finding stuff to read for a long time, not that I did before. I’m a little slow to embrace devices that take me away from physical media. Once I do, I’m usually happy that I did. As long as I still have the physical media.
One suggestion that I’ve mentioned before on Twitter. Since I still like physical media, if you buy the paper version of a book, I think Amazon should give you the Kindle version for free or give for a small additional charge. It would be almost like buying a blu-ray and getting a digital copy with it. That way I can read my paper copy at home and read my electronic copy when I’m on the go and not have to worry about carrying a book around and possibly damaging it. I’m sure they’ve already thought of this. Maybe it’ll happen one day.
Tuesday, December 13th, 2011
Will
In case you haven’t heard, I have a new job! I’ve done a bad job of spreading the word, but hey, I have been talking about it since I found out less than 2 weeks ago. My last day at Mississippi State University is Friday, December 16, which 3 days from now and 1 day before my birthday.
The name of the company that I’ll be working for is Tactel US. They’re based in San Diego, but they have offices in Portland and Sweden. I think they even have some positions in the San Francisco Bay area. I’ll be working in the Portland office. The interview process was pretty painless and they made me an offer the week after Thanksgiving. I’m thankful to them for giving me this opportunity. I don’t already know everything I’ll need to know, but I will have a chance to learn.
I’ll be starting on December 19th and working remotely from Starkville at first. Then I’ll take some time off and I suppose that’s when I’ll move. I’m looking forward to it. I’m a little nervous about starting with a new company, working with new people, and moving so far away from my family, but change is good.
I’m sure I’ll be talking about my new job a lot in the coming months.
Wednesday, November 16th, 2011
Will
My first Kindle came in the mail today and it made me realize that I haven’t even mentioned here that I got a new iPhone. Yes, it’s a 4S. I had a 3GS, so this is a big difference from what I had.
I’ve had my new phone for just over a month and I’m really digging it. The retina display, the great quality pictures, and a bunch of new iOS features/apps are all making me a happy consumer. My favorite thing to do is to use Siri to set reminders or write texts or tweets. Asking her funny questions was fun at first, but it got old after a while. I think Siri alone has made it a worthwhile upgrade. So far I haven’t seen anyone looking at me like I’m crazy for talking to my phone.
The new phone itch that I had for a while was scratched. How would I get by without my phone?
Saturday, November 5th, 2011
Will
Speaking of things that aren’t in Starkville. Last week my friend John texted me that a PetSmart was opening in Columbus (about 25 miles away) last Saturday, which was a week ago today. He said that he would be there with his dog, Bailey, and suggested that I bring Reese. I had no idea this store was opening. I hadn’t been to Columbus in several months. I’ve wanted to take Reese to a PetSmart and spoil him for a while now.
I got there with Reese a little after they opened at 9am. John was already there with his cousin, her partner, and all of their dogs. There were so many people and so many dogs there. Like John said, it was like Comic-Con for dogs. The place was packed and it was cool being around so many pet lovers. A lot of them wanted to pet Reese and Bailey. My biggest concern was that sometimes Reese doesn’t listen to me when he sees someone he wants to play with, but he was on his best behavior. He was trying to run off every 5 seconds, but at least he listened when I told him come back or keep going. Eventually I got a cart and we put Reese and Bailey in there. It was much easier to get around the store that way.
The store gave away some free toys and treats. I got a few items for Reese that I had planned to order from Amazon. We stayed away from the adoption area, which is good because I didn’t need to come home with another dog. PetSmart had a picture area in one part of the store and they stopped and asked us if we wanted to get out picture taken for free.
I can see myself using this store a lot for as long as I’m in the area. It’s nice to have a good pet store nearby.
Tuesday, November 1st, 2011
Will
Last Wednesday, I had a cold and took a day off work. I went to Walmart to get some medicine and get a copy of Attack the Block on blu-ray. Attack the Block is a British sci-fi film that a lot of geeks were going crazy about earlier this year. It never played here in Starkville. It came out on video last Tuesday. I shouldn’t have been surprised to discover that Walmart didn’t have the blu-ray and only a few copies of the DVD. I guess Walmart didn’t get many copies because people around here aren’t big on blu-rays or British sci-fi movies. They couldn’t have sold out in 1 day, could they? Grocery stores and drugstores do have some movies, but I doubt that they would have this one. Sam Goody, Blockbuster, and Movie Gallery have all closed. Redbox probably won’t have it for another 28 days if at all. I went home and ordered a copy from Amazon. I’m so tired of having to order everything I want online because Starkville doesn’t have any place that sells them. No real bookstore, music store, video store, electronic store, or clothing store. I don’t mind paying a slightly higher price than I would online if I can drive to a local store to get what I want.
It’s not just shopping that I can’t do in Starkville. When I needed surgery, I had to drive 2 hours and then drive back a week later when I was still recovering. When I was having trouble hearing in one ear, I had to drive 1 hour to Tupelo to see a specialist. When my doctor wanted me to get a spot on my skin checked out, I had to drive to Columbus and the earliest appointment I could get was over a month away. When one of my teeth was hanging loose and causing me a lot of pain, I had to wait a week before I could see a dentist. Since most medical services that are available in town are only open 8-5 on Monday – Friday, I have to take time away from work whenever I need to see anybody. Maybe I’m kidding myself to think it would be different in a bigger city.
I guess I’m just talking myself into leaving Starkville. I can think of many other reasons I don’t like this place anymore. I need to go. It might not be Austin like I had dreamed at one point, but that’s fine.
By the way, Attack the Block was really good! Check it out!
Monday, October 24th, 2011
Will

A Dance With Dragons, George R.R. Martin. This is the latest book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. We’ve been waiting on this book for almost 6 years. I was so excited to finally have it. It’s good, but it moves at a very slow pace. There’s way too much filler. It doesn’t pack as big of a punch as previous books in the series. Hopefully we won’t have to wait nearly as long for the next book.

Ford County: Stories, John Grisham. It probably wasn’t a good idea to read this after reading a George R.R. Martin book. Grisham doesn’t stack up. Ford County: Stories is a series of short stories set in fictional Ford County, Mississippi, which was first introduced in A Time to Kill. This book is alright, but it’s definitely not Grisham’s best work. A lot of these stories would make a good episode of one of the many TV procedural dramas out there.

The Girl Who Played With Fire, Stieg Larsson. This is book 2 of the Millennium Trilogy. It is so good! I think I liked it more than the first book. There was some stuff early in the book that I kept waiting to be important later, but it didn’t really come back up. Maybe it’ll come back up in the final book, which I should be starting tonight.

Ready Player One, Ernest Cline. This is the most fun I’ve had reading a book in a while. It’s set in the near future and the world has gone to crap. Most people go into this online virtual world called the OASIS to escape from reality. The creator of the OASIS, James Halliday, has died, and decided to leave his billions to the person who can find an easter egg that he hid in the OASIS. Halliday was obsessed with the 80s, so the contest to find the egg is filled with references from the 80s. The story centers on Wade Watts, one of the many players hunting for the golden egg. I’m more of a child of the 90s more than the 80s, but I got a lot of the references and I was geeking out the whole time I was reading this book. This book isn’t just one 80s reference after another. It’s about friendship, survival, living in the real world vs. the online world, how we make friends online, etc. I highly recommend it.
- Last Argument of Kings, Joe Abercrombie
- Awakening, Kate Chopin
Ready Player One, Ernest Cline
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
- Go, Mutants: A Novel, Larry Doyle
- Serenity Found, Jane Espenson
- Incarceron, Catherine Fisher
- Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks, Mick Foley
- The Associate, John Grisham
Ford County: Stories, John Grisham
- The Fourth Hand, John Irving
- The Turn of the Screw & Daisy Miller, Henry James
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemison
The Walking Dead, Volume 3: Safety Behind Bars, Robert Kirkman
The Walking Dead, Volume 4: The Heart’s Desire, Robert Kirkman
The Walking Dead, Volume 5: The Best Defense, Robert Kirkman
The Walking Dead, Volume 6: This Sorrowful Life, Robert Kirkman
- The Walking Dead, Volume 7: The Calm Before, Robert Kirkman
- The Walking Dead, Volume 8: Made to Suffer, Robert Kirkman
- The Walking Dead, Volume 9: Here We Remain, Robert Kirkman
- The Walking Dead, Volume 10: What We Become, Robert Kirkman
- The Walking Dead, Volume 11: Fear the Hunters, Robert Kirkman
- The Walking Dead, Volume 12: Life Among Them, Robert Kirkman
- The Walking Dead, Volume 13: Too Far Gone, Robert Kirkman
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
The Girl Who Played With Fire, Stieg Larsson
- The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest, Stieg Larsson
- The Stormcaller, Tom Lloyd
- I Am Number Four, Pittacus Lore
- The Giver, Lois Lowry
- The Day Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
- The Twilight Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
- The Final Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
- Busted Flush, George R.R. Martin
- Suicide Kings, George R.R. Martin
A Dance With Dragons, George R.R. Martin
- Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller
- Batman: Year One, Frank Miller
- Either You’re in or You’re in the Way, Logan and Noah Miller
- The Final Crusade, Chaite Naasiri
- The Darker Mask, George Phillips
- The Final Empire, Brandon Sanderson
- The Well of Ascension, Brandon Sanderson
- The Hero of Ages, Brandon Sanderson
- Towers of Midnight, Brandon Sanderson
- A Memory of Light, Brandon Sanderson
- Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare
- Private Parts, Howard Stern
The Way of Shadows, Brent Weeks
- Shadow’s Edge, Brent Weeks
- Beyond the Shadows, Brent Weeks
- The Optimist’s Daughter, Eudory Welty
- The Dragonbone Chair, Tad Williams
- Stone of Farewell, Tad Williams
- To Green Angel Tower, Tad Williams
- Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1 – Unmanned, Brian K. Vaughan
Wednesday, September 28th, 2011
Will
I updated my resume on Dice recently and applied for a few positions just to see what might happen. Shortly afterwards I started getting a flood of emails and phone calls from tech staffing companies. This has happened before. Talking to them ended up being a waste of time. I think it is best to work directly with the companies that are hiring. I did say that I would at least consider every opportunity presented. I just wasn’t going to go out of my way unless I was really interested. I wish they would pay attention to my location preferences, because I’m being told about opportunities all over the place.
One staffing company presented my resume to Walmart. Walmart apparently acts very quickly. After 1 quick conversation with the staffing company, Walmart was ready to fly me out to their headquarters in Arkansas for an interview. The staffing company made it sound like there was a good chance I could receive an offer while I was there. After thinking about it, I told them I would pass on the interview. I don’t think I was to live in Northwest Arkansas. I think that’s in the Ozark region. It seems like it would be like living in Starkville, maybe worse. The types of businesses I was looking for weren’t close by and it’s one of the most conservative areas in the country. Also, the population isn’t as diverse as I would’ve liked. The cost of living in that area is about the same as Starkville and I would have been making a lot more money, but it wasn’t worth it. I should have said no sooner. Not only do I not like the location, but I am philosophically opposed to working for Walmart. I don’t even shop there anymore unless I need something quickly that I can’t get at the grocery store.
A software company in my hometown area in central Mississippi started show interest in me. Their website says that you don’t have to be Christian, but you have to abide by their Christian-based ideals to work for them. That was an immediate turnoff. I’m fine with Christians, but I’m not one and I don’t think that should be in the workplace unless it’s religious field. I found information online from either current or previous employees. Apparently, you’re encouraged to be a good Christian and support the Republican Party. If, like me, you’re not Christian and Republican, you probably won’t fit in there. I had pretty much made my decision to not pursue them any further when they invited me with just a few hours notice to an event they were having on campus. I declined, saying that I had another engagement. That engagement was going to the gym and getting home in time for the Community season premiere. I haven’t heard from them since.
I’m getting tons of phone calls and emails, but I’m ignoring most of them for various reasons. It’s nice to feel wanted, but it’s also nice that I can be picky. I’ll keep testing the waters for a while.
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