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These are going to be short and sweet from now on if they weren’t already.

The Colorado Kid by Stephen King. I only read this book because the new Syfy series Haven is based on it. From the Haven previews, I think it’s only going to be loosely based on the book. Almost the entire book consists of these two old journalists telling their intern a story about an unsolved mystery that happened years earlier. Reading it made me remember why I don’t read Stephen King anymore. Something about his writing style gets on my nerves. I advise passing on this one and just watching the TV show. I read this book using the Kindle apps on my iPhone and my work PC. It’s the first time I’ve read a book that way.

Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis. This was another Sword and Laser pick. It was interesting. Think alternate history WWII with super-powered people that use batteries to power their abilities. I love alt history and I love superpowers and they go pretty well together in this book. I wasn’t really into the beginning and the end, but I really enjoyed the middle. When I started getting close to the end I could tell that this was the first in a series. I later found out that it is the first in a trilogy. If I had known that before I started, I may have waited to read it. At this point, I’m not sure if I’m going to finish the trilogy.  Maybe if I had the other two to read right away I would’ve been more likely to continue.

• Joe Abercrombie, The Blade Itself
• Joe Abercrombie, Before They Are Hanged
• Joe Abercrombie, Last Argument of Kings
• Go, Mutants: A Novel, Larry Doyle
• Serenity Found, Jane Espenson
• Incarceron, Catherine Fisher
• American Gods, Neil Gaiman
• The Law of Nines, Terry Goodkind
• The Associate, John Grisham
• The Fourth Hand, John Irving
• The Colorado Kid, Stephen King
• The Stormcaller, Tom Lloyd
• 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
• Kraken, China Mieville
• The Final Crusade, Chaite Naasiri
• Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 1: Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life, Bryan Lee O’Malley
• Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 2: Scott Pilgrim Versus The World, Bryan Lee O’Malley
• Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 3: Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness, Bryan Lee O’Malley
• Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 4: Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together, Bryan Lee O’Malley
• Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 5: Scott Pilgrim vs the Universe, Bryan Lee O’Malley
• Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 6: Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour, Bryan Lee O’Malley
• 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
• Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare
• Bitter Seeds, Ian Tregillis
• The Dragonbone Chair, Tad Williams
• Stone of Farewell, Tad Williams
• To Green Angel Tower, Tad Williams

As of yesterday, it’s officially summer. Summer used to be my favorite time of the year. I’m sure most of that had to do with being on vacation from school. Summer isn’t as big of a deal now, probably because I haven’t had a summer off from everything since 1997. The thing I associate with summer the most now is the heat. Damn, it’s been hot. But still, summers working for a university in a college town are a little more laid back than the rest of the year.

I don’t have anything excited going on this summer. I didn’t renew my lease on my current place, so I’ll be moving in about a month.

In 2006, I made a Summer Mix CD. I’ve included the track list. I usually bring it out at the beginning of summer and listen to it throughout the season. It’s on my iPod now, so I’ll probably be listening to it even more than normal.

1. “School’s Out” by Alice Cooper
2. “Here Comes the Sun” by The Beatles
3. “Summertime” by DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince
4. “Whoops Now” by Janet Jackson
5. “I Can See Clearly Now” by Johnny Nash
6. “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves
7. “Soak Up the Sun” by Sheryl Crow
8. “Summer of ‘69” by Bryan Adams
9. “Summer” by War
10. “Summer Nights” by John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John
11. “Summertime (featuring P Diddy)” by Beyonce
12. “Girls of Summer” by Aerosmith
13. “Sex in the Summer” by Prince
14. “Hot Fun in the Summertime” by Sly & the Family Stone
15. “If You Steal My Sunshine” by Len
16. “Cruel Summer” by Ace of Base
17. “The Boys of Summer” by The Ataris
18. “And On And On” by Janet Jackson

Update, 2/23
Oops! I had messed up the name of Sheryl Crow’s song. It’s corrected now.

I just wanted to make a quick update on my book list since it’s been a while.

Americans Gods by Neil Gaiman is the first (I think) book in the One Book One Twitter project started by Wired Magazine. The purpose of One Book One Twitter is to get a lot of people talking about the same book. They have a schedule for which chapters you’re supposed to read each week and there’s a Twitter account leading the discussion. I haven’t been taking part in the discussion on the book, but I did like it enough that I read ahead and finished it early.

I’ve heard a lot of good things about Gaiman. I’d never read any of his books, but I had seen the movie Stardust. It’s hard to say too much without spoilers, so I’m just going to go for it. The story is about a man named Shadow who gets out of jail after 3 years. He is hired to work as a bodyguard for a mysterious man named Wednesday who turns out to be a god. This book uses a concept that I’ve seen a few times lately: that gods really exist because people believe in them. When people stop believing, the gods lose their power. You see a lot of old gods and creatures of folklore that were brought here when people settled in America like Loki, Anansi, Anubis, etc. You also see gods based on newer concepts like technology and media. There’s even a god inside the TV. The new gods want to wipe out the old gods. Wednesday is trying to rally the old gods so that they can fight for survival. It’s a good, quick read and I recommend it.

I read The Gathering Storm when it came out last October or November, but never got around to mentioning it here. Brandon Sanderson took over the job of finishing the Wheel of Time after Robert Jordan died. I remember being satisfied with the book overall. There were times where it seemed to drag on with a lot of pointlessness but overall I think he did a great job of keeping it interesting. Right now I just want to know how it ends.

I also read the first 2 books in Joe Abercrombie’s The First Law trilogy. If you like George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, you’ll probably like it. I’ll say more when after I finish the whole trilogy.

I keep adding more to the list.

• Joe Abercrombie, The Blade Itself
• Joe Abercrombie, Before They Are Hanged
• Joe Abercrombie, Last Argument of Kings
• Serenity Found, Jane Espenson
• Incarceron, Catherine Fisher
• American Gods, Neil Gaiman
• The Law of Nines, Terry Goodkind
• The Associate, John Grisham
• The Fourth Hand, John Irving
• The Colorado Kid, Stephen King
• The Stormcaller, Tom Lloyd
• 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
• 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
• The Gathering Storm, Brandon Sanderson
• Towers of Midnight, Brandon Sanderson
• Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare
• Bitter Seeds, Ian Tregillis
• The Dragonbone Chair, Tad Williams
• Stone of Farewell, Tad Williams
• To Green Angel Tower, Tad Williams

I found out last week that Reese had bilateral patellar luxation, grade II.  It means that his knees pop out of place.

After I got back from Austin, he was acting a little weird, sleeping a lot, not following like he normally does, and going off on his own to lay down.  I figured things would go back to normal after he had rested.  After a couple of days, things hadn’t changed much.  One day at lunch I tried to get him to jump up on my like he normally does.  He hesitated, but eventually he tried.  As soon as he did, he started hollering and moving around in a weird way.  He was obviously in a lot of pain.  I took him to the vet and they examined him and determined what was wrong.

From what the doctor said and what I’ve read, patellar luxation is a common defect in his breed.  It’s not unusual for symptoms to show at his age.  A girl that works in the vet’s office said that her 1-year-old had been recently diagnosed with the same thing.  He has grade II out of IV, so it’s not as bad as it could be.   The doctor prescribed medicine that should help with the pain and with the cartilage in his knees.  Eventually, he’s going to need surgery, which is $600 per knee.  After a couple of days on his medicine, he’s back to his normal hyper self.  I don’t let him jump on me, even though I can tell that he wants to.

This is him still groggy after they sedated him for his x-ray.

Well, LOST ended last night and it was very bittersweet. It started shortly the Summer 2004 Olympics, which wasn’t long after I first started blogging. I’ve watched it since the night of the premiere and I never stopped watching. I really enjoyed the time spent watching the show and interacting with the LOST community. We’ve all known for 3 years that this would be the last year and I’m glad they got to go out the way they wanted, but I still hated to see it end.  The finale was excellent and I am very satisfied. I don’t have complaints about the last few minutes that a lot of people do. I can’t wait to re-watch this series when the complete set comes out in August. I’m sure I’ll notice a lot more the 2nd time around.  24 is ending tonight, but I don’t feel nearly as bummed out about it as I do about LOST.

Here’s the first blog entry I wrote about LOST complete with grammatical mistakes. It’s from December 11, 2004.

Lost is definitely my favorite new TV show this season. Of all the new shows that I started watching this season (mostly NBC shows because of all that advertising during the Olympics), Lost is the only one that I still watch.

The show is about a group of plane crash survivors that are stranded on a deserted island. It’s a lot like 24 in that it’s really just one long story divided into many different episodes. Each episode spans approximately one day. I like the way that use flashbacks in each episode to give you background information on one of the characters. It may be hard to pick up on everything if you haven’t been watching since the beginning, but I urge you to give it a try anyway. It comes on Wednesday nights at 7 CST on ABC. The very first episode is being replayed this coming Wednesday.

It has several actors in in that I recognize from other places: Daniel Dae Kim (24), Dominic Monaghan (The Lord of the Rings), Terry O’Quinn (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Earth 2), Harold Perrineau (Oz, Matrix 2 & 3), and Ian Somerhalder (Smallville, Life as a House).

There have been rumors about a death on the show for a while now. This past Wednesday, I thought it had actually happened. Dominic Monaghan’s character was left hanging from a tree by some psycho and the doctor couldn’t bring him back. At this point I’m thinking to myself, “I should’ve know something was up when I saw him on The Late Late Show last night because I haven’t seen any of these people promoting this show before”. I was angry because they were killing off that poor little hobbit. Luckily the doctor went crazy, started back pounding on the hobbit’s chest, and was able to bring him back.

Go Doc!

In the near future, I need to find a new serial drama with a complex mythology to occupy my time.

This past weekend was a 4-day weekend and I took a trip to Austin to see Conan O’Brien and enjoy the city. It was a long drive, but I like long drives sometimes. Austin is now the farthest west I’ve even been in the United States.

Because of the weather and the lack of time I didn’t get to do as many touristy things as I wanted to. I mostly tried to go to restaurants and stores that I wouldn’t be able to go to in Starkville. I ate some very good food and spent way too much money shopping. I enjoyed driving around and getting a feel for the city. Thanks to my iPhone I never got lost. I love my iPhone! I saw lots of cool sites and attractive people. Austin has a very nice, very diverse population.

Conan O’Brien’s show was hilarious. His opening act was Reggie Watts, who I’m pretty sure walked past me on the street before the show. He’s freaking hysterical. Conan’s act was a combination of standup, songs, and skits from his TV show. Once again, freaking hysterical. His special guest for the night was a musician from Austin named Charlie Sexton that I had never heard of. At one point during the show, I laughed out loud so hard and so suddenly that I got this very sharp pain in my side. I couldn’t move for a few minutes. I thought I had literally busted a gut. That spot was hurting me for a few days. It would be just my luck to injure myself at a comedy show. This show was definitely worth it. Can’t wait to see Conan on TBS later this year.

Overall, I had a great time in Austin. I wish I could have stayed longer. It’s a great city and I’m sure I’ll want to go back one day. I’ll probably be traveling by plane that time. I kept forgetting to take my good camera with me, so all I have are a few crappy pics from Conan’s show taken with my iPhone. I put them on my Facebook page.

My latest food-based obsession is Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution on ABC.  Apparently, Jamie Oliver was The Naked Chef.  A few years ago, he started a campaign in Britain to bring healthy food to get rid of all the unhealthy food in the schools.  He’s had success over there and now he’s brought his campaign to America.  The TV show is set in Huntington, WV, which was named the unhealthiest city in the United States.

Yes, it’s a TV show and they are trying to make an entertaining show, but what the show did for me was make me want to eat better foods.  I’ve started eating more fresh food and not so much fast food.  I ordered his book, Jamie’s Food Revolution: Rediscover How to Cook Simple, Delicious, Affordable Meals, and I’ve tried a few of the recipes.  I like the simple, delicious, and affordable part.  They need to be simple because unless it’s a weekend, I’m not going to want to spend a long time preparing meals.  Affordable is great as well.  I don’t want cooking at home to be a lot more expensive than going out to eat.  Delicious is a given.  The recipes I’ve tried so far have been delicious.   It’s fun eating foods prepared differently from the way I’m used to doing it.

Anyway, I’m enjoying the show and it’s motivated me to eat better.  There are 6 episodes and they were on Hulu the last time I checked.

This weekend I discovered that I had snakes under my place.  There a little brick step under the back door and that’s how they are getting under the building.  At first I thought it was just one. I saw it poking its head out once when I took the dog out.  But the next day I saw 2 and they had slithered out a pretty good distance away from their hiding place.  All I had on me was a pooper scooper.  I tried whacking at them with it, but it didn’t do any damage.  One quickly hid and the other climbed on the wall and waved its tail at me before running off to hide like a little bitch.  Damn, they were fast.  Later in the day I got some bricks and covered the opening to their hiding place.  I hope they’re not trapped inside.  I don’t know what kind they are, but there black and slim.  I did some googling and I think might be Southern Black Racers.  Hopefully, I won’t see them again.

A few weeks ago I watched Julie & Julia because I like Meryl Streep and I was catching up on some of this season’s award nominated movies. The movie did inspire me to start cooking better foods. Lately, I’ve been keeping it pretty simple. When I get a new place and get an over that I don’t think is going to kill me is a little more reliable, I hope to branch out some. Maybe I’ll buy Julia Child’s book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, so I can make her beef bourguignon. Either that or I’ll find a cookbook for single guys that don’t want to spend a lot of time preparing meals.

I’ve been a fan of Conan O’Brien since I was in high school.  When I used to stay up late at night, I watched him on a lot on Late Night.  Over time, I didn’t get to see him as much because I was going to bed earlier or doing other things.  When he took over The Tonight Show, I watched whenever he had someone on that I was interested in.  I was highly disappointed when The Tonight Show was given back to Leno.

When I heard recently that Conan might be going on tour, I knew I wanted to go if it came anywhere nearby.  Yesterday, the tour dates were announced.  It took a few minutes to get on the site because of all the traffic, but once I got in I knew that I would either go to Atlanta, Manchester (TN), Dallas, or Austin.  I’ve been to Atlanta recently and I’ll be going again soon.  The Tennessee show is during Bonnaroo.  When I go to Bonnaroo for the first time, I want to stay for the entire festival and it seems like I should’ve already started planning for Bonnaroo if I were going there.  Also, both of those shows are in June and I wanted to go sooner.  I ended up picking Austin over Dallas because I still want to see Austin and I didn’t get to go last year like I wanted to.  It would take something major to stop me this time.  It’s on May 14 and I hope nothing at work comes up in that short of a time.  The tickets are paid for and the hotel room is booked.  I’ll finally get to see Texas for the first time.