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Christmas wasn’t as great this year as the past few years. People just didn’t have money to buy gifts and I just wasn’t feeling the spirit of the season. What did I get?

• Erykah Badu – New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)
• Calvin Klein cologne and body wash
• a nice shirt
• another gift should be coming

I didn’t realize that people who I thought would be used to animals would react so badly to having a dog around. I guess they like the idea of me having a dog as long as they don’t have to deal with him in person. He had to stay cooped up in 1 room most of the time and he kept whining to get out. This might make going home difficult. It got better, but still. Maybe next year I’ll celebrate in my own home.

Anyway, it’s good to have 2 weeks off from work. I’ve been getting caught up on TV shows that I recorded, movies, and gaming. I’ve still got another week to go.

Rob was here last week and talked about the possibility of George R.R. Martin not finishing his Ice and Fire series. The other night his office was broken into and a few items were damaged/stolen. He makes it sound like he barely missed an encounter with the thieves. So not only could he have had the manuscript for the next book in the series stolen, he could have been hurt as well. Thankfully, he still has hard drive the book is on and he is okay. Just finish the damn book, please.

I did something that I used to think I would never do. I bought an iPod. I’ve changed my mind on it at least 3 times in the past couple of days, but I finally placed the order today.

I’ve gotten the idea of getting an mp3 player in my mind several times over the past few years, but I always change my mind. I really don’t need one. All the stuff I can do on an iPod I can do on other devices. I can even do it better on other devices. However, the iPod has a convenience factor and a coolness factor. Although I am rarely in situations where I have to use the iPod, I’m sure I will WANT to use it once I have it.

At one point I thought that I would buy a Zune if I bought any mp3 player. I’m kinda anti-Apple lately. I changed my mine on getting a Zune after a friend of mine got an iPod. I’ve already ripped all of my CDs to my hard drive using iTunes. I still don’t understand why people get so excited over iTunes. It is something awful. I’ll have to get used to it I guess. I’ve also started organizing the mp3s I already had. I can see myself obsessing over this for many hours, but it’ll be great to be able to listen to any of my songs whenever I want.

I’m excited about finally making it into the 21st century in this area. It should be here by the end of the week. I think I’m going to buy some accessories today.

I recently made my way through Headcrash by Bruce Bethke. It was hard with the Olympics and dog stuff and whatever distractions I could come up with. Headcrash is a cyberpunk novel. The author is the person who came up with the term cyberpunk.

The VR elements of this book reminded me of Snow Crash. I liked this one a lot better, but I still wasn’t blown away. I guess cyberpunk just isn’t my thing. It’s a funny book and good satire. I liked how at the end it was making fun of authors like Tom Clancy and Michael Crichton, whose books I do like to read. Enjoyable book, but I’m ready for something else. Next I’ll be reading Watchmen.

• Headcrash, Bruce Bethke
• Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
• Timeline, Michael Crichton
• Unshapely Things, Mark Del Franco
• Finding Serenity, Jane Espenson
• Serenity Found, Jane Espenson
• On Bullshit, Harry G. Frankfurt
• On Truth, Harry G. Frankfurt
• The Appeal, John Grisham
• Playing for Pizza, John Grisham
• The Taking, Dean Koontz
• Playing for Keeps, Mur Lafferty
• The Night Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Day Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Twilight Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Final Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
• His Majesty’s Dragon, Naomi Novik
• Throne of Jade, Naomi Novik
• Black Powder War, Naomi Novik
• Empire of Ivory, Naomi Novik
• Victory of Eagles, Naomi Novik
• Lyra’s Oxford, Philip Pullman
• Unholy Domain, Dan Ronco
• Elantris, Brandon Sanderson
• Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare

For the first week and a half or so of the Olympics I was really into it. Now I’m getting tired of it. I still leave it on in the background, but I’m usually not paying attention to it. Congratulations to all the winners, but I’m ready for you to be off my TV.  I call upon the youth of the world to go home so I can watch Heroes, Chuck, Life, The Office, etc. I’m also ready to get back on a normal sleep schedule.

There was this one commercial for a lawyer in Tupelo that came on almost every commercial break during the first week or so of the Olympics. It’s so bad that it’s funny and if you see it enough it gets stuck in your head.

It turns out that this commercial ripped off another commercial, which I think is done better.

Playing for Keeps: A Superhero Novel was first released in podcast and pdf form on playingforkeepsnovel.com. My first exposure to it was the podcast version, which is read by the author, Mur Lafferty. The paper version was recently released.

PfK is about group of people that are part of the Third Wave of superheroes. The Third Wavers have super powers, but their powers are kind of lame. Their powers are so weak that they’re considered useless in crime fighting. The main character is Keepsie Branson. Her power is that anything that she owns can’t be taken away from her. Third Wavers are looked down on by the powerful superheroes.

The Third Wavers get involved in a battle between the heroes and the villains in the city. As the story goes on, they learn that their powers are stronger than they initially realized. I really enjoyed the book. It makes me think that characters like Dazzler might not be so worthless after all. Next, I’m reading Headcrash.

• Headcrash, Bruce Bethke
• Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
• Timeline, Michael Crichton
• Unshapely Things, Mark Del Franco
• Finding Serenity, Jane Espenson
• Serenity Found, Jane Espenson
• On Bullshit, Harry G. Frankfurt
• On Truth, Harry G. Frankfurt
• The Appeal, John Grisham
• Playing for Pizza, John Grisham
• The Taking, Dean Koontz
• Playing for Keeps, Mur Lafferty
• The Night Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Day Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Twilight Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Final Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
• His Majesty’s Dragon, Naomi Novik
• Throne of Jade, Naomi Novik
• Black Powder War, Naomi Novik
• Empire of Ivory, Naomi Novik
• Victory of Eagles, Naomi Novik
• Lyra’s Oxford, Philip Pullman
• Unholy Domain, Dan Ronco
• Elantris, Brandon Sanderson
• Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare

So The Wheel of Time is finally being made into movies. This isn’t as exciting to me as it would have been 5 or 6 years ago, but I’m still glad. I think The Eye of the World and the next 1 or 2 should get their own movies, but after that they should start combining books. In some of those later books, not much happens….

That’s probably why the one season per book TV show thing wouldn’t work like they’re doing with A Song of Ice and Fire and The Sword of Truth. Speaking of The Sword of Truth, its series starts up in November.

I finally got around to finishing Night Watch a few days ago. I had been interested in it since I saw the movie when it came out on video. I vaguely remembered parts of the movie as I read the book, but I think I’m gonna have to watch it again.

The book is divided into 3 sections and each section could be its own little short story. At the end you’ll see just how the sections are connected. In this world there are supernatural beings called Others. Others are magicians, vampires, etc. There’s a balance between good and evil Others and 2 groups maintain that balance. The Night Watch (good Others) keeps tabs on the forces of evil and The Day Watch (evil Others) keeps tabs on the forces of good. The story focuses on a Night Watch programmer named Anton who has just been thrust into field work. I really like the book except for the last section. I got bored and just wanted it to end. I didn’t like the ending much either, and I can’t remember if its the same ending they used in the movie. I’ve committed myself to reading the second and I hope the story gets better.

I’ve gotten 4 new books in the mail this week. I don’t think I’m going to finish my 2008 list this year.

• Headcrash, Bruce Bethke
• Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
• Timeline, Michael Crichton
• Unshapely Things, Mark Del Franco
• Finding Serenity, Jane Espenson
• Serenity Found, Jane Espenson
• On Bullshit, Harry G. Frankfurt
• On Truth, Harry G. Frankfurt
• The Appeal, John Grisham
• Playing for Pizza, John Grisham
• The Taking, Dean Koontz
• Playing for Keeps, Mur Lafferty
• The Night Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Day Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Twilight Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Final Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
• His Majesty’s Dragon, Naomi Novik
• Throne of Jade, Naomi Novik
• Black Powder War, Naomi Novik
• Empire of Ivory, Naomi Novik
• Victory of Eagles, Naomi Novik
• Lyra’s Oxford, Philip Pullman
• Unholy Domain, Dan Ronco
• Elantris, Brandon Sanderson
• Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare

I got an email about that postal employee who stole one or more of my Gamefly and/or Netflix rentals. She plead guilty to 1 count of Delaying or destruction of mail or newspapers and 3 counts of Theft of mail matter by officer or employee. She’ll be sentenced on September 29 and any other charges will be disposed of then. I could go out to Los Angeles and speak at the sentencing if I wanted to. I’m curious to see what her sentencing will be, but I don’t want to be involved in any way. No major harm done.

I’m still obsessed with Firefly. I recently re-watched the series and then I read Finding Serenity: Anti-Heroes, Lost Shepherds and Space Hookers in Joss Whedon’s Firefly. It’s a collection of essays about the show. The book was edited by Jane Espenson, who was a writer on Buffy, Angel, and Firefly and is now a writer on Battlestar Galactica. Some of the essay were interesting. Some were boring and I couldn’t wait to get through. I could see the point that some of the authors were trying to make. Some I think were seeing things that aren’t even there. At this point the movie hadn’t been released, so some of the theories have been proven wrong since then. In thee back there’s a glossary where they translate all the Chinese spoken on the show. My favorite essay is written by Jewel Staite (she played Kaylee). She lists her five favorite moments from each episode. That may be the one to read even if you don’t read any of the others.

• Headcrash, Bruce Bethke
• Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
• Timeline, Michael Crichton
• Unshapely Things, Mark Del Franco
• Finding Serenity, Jane Espenson
• Serenity Found, Jane Espenson
• On Bullshit, Harry G. Frankfurt
• On Truth, Harry G. Frankfurt
• The Appeal, John Grisham
• Playing for Pizza, John Grisham
• Night Watch, Sergey Lukyanenko
• Day Watch, Sergey Lukyanenko
• Twilight Watch, Sergey Lukyanenko
• Final Watch, Sergey Lukyanenko
• The Taking, Dean Koontz
• His Majesty’s Dragon, Naomi Novik
• Throne of Jade, Naomi Novik
• Black Powder War, Naomi Novik
• Empire of Ivory, Naomi Novik
• Victory of Eagles, Naomi Novik
• Lyra’s Oxford, Philip Pullman
• Unholy Domain, Dan Ronco
• Elantris, Brandon Sanderson
• Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare