Digital Impulses

Duma Key: Mini review

I just finished reading Duma Key @ 2052 this evening and I have to say, Stephen King is truly a literary genius.

The story revolves around "Edgar Freemantle", a wealthy construction business owner who is involved in a terrible accident that causes him to lose his right arm and sustain brain damage.

As part of his recovery, he sees a therapist who recommends that he needs...

Ah, fuck it.  You know what?  Just go read the New York Times review of Duma Key here:

New York Times Book Review: Duma Key

They do a much better job of writing the review than I would.  I read the book in about 10 days and I really, really enjoyed it.  Highly Recommended.

Post "Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows" blues

The same damn thing happened to me in 2005, right after I finished reading Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince.

I was very saddened by the end of that book and just kind of fell into a sort of listless funk.  This time around, it's technically worse, because this is theoretically the end of the road for the saga of Mr. Potter and his friends.

Well.  At least this post breaks the depressingly long string of days without a single post on this blog.

Oh.  Yeah.  About the book. I really, really, really liked it. 

I started reading it on Saturday, July 21, 2007 @ 2:09 P.M. and finished it on Monday, July 23, 2007 @ 4:54 P.M.

I will read it again, at least a couple of more times.

It was a heart-stopping, gut wrenching, emotional roller coaster that until almost the very end has you fearing the very worst. J.K. Rowling is just a superb writer. 

The scene where Harry has to confront his fears and face his nemesis is so impressively written that I was held utterly speechless.

I really hope she decided to continue the series in some form.  She probably won't, since she has all the money she could ever need and more fame than she wants.  *Sigh".

Life

Barnes & Noble and Ritz Camera visits with AJ
This evening after work, my son and I drove over to the local Barnes and Noble bookstore to pick up a couple of titles he was interested in.

Researching a Telephoto lens & a remote control for my Nikon D40
Before the bookstore, AJ and I dropped into Ritz Camera where I spoke with Dan Purdy about getting a Telephoto Lens for my Nikon D40.  Dan showed me a beautiful new 200mmTelephoto lens just released by Nikon that has the VR function included.  This puppy is $250+tax and definitely an addition I will be making to my photography equipment.

While I was there, I placed an order for the ML-L3 Remote Control Transmitter for my Nikon D40.  It is only $19.00, so that one was a total no-brainer.  It will be fun to shoot pictures on a tripod and not touching the camera at all.  Should produce some tack-sharp images.  Woo hoo.

After the Ritz Camera visit, we walked across the parking lot to Barnes and Noble and browsed around for a bit.  AJ found the books he wanted and I ended up picking up yet one more tome on Digital Photography.  We walked over to the coffee shop after paying for our books and got some drinks and then headed home.

Mexico loses to Paraguay 1-0
After the bookstore visit, AJ & I watched a soccer game between Mexico and Paraguay that went on till 9:15 PM or so.   Unfortunately, Mexico lost the game 1-0. 

It was a game that featured a spectacular mid-air collision between to Paraguay defenders where they ended up knocking heads in the air and one of the Paraguay players got a huge, deep laceration to his right-side temple which bled A LOT.  \

That player was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, where we later found out it was like an 8- stich gash and that he would be fine, thank god.

2-mile walk/run
After the game, I put on my running gear and iPod Nano and took off on a 2.15 mile run/walk that I completed in just over 37 minutes.  It was one of the best workouts I have had yet and it felt really, really, good.  I was most happy that I had 3 sections of the walk in which I was able to complete 1 to 1 1/2 blocks of non-stop running at a good pace.  Man, it feels good to be exercising.  W00t!

A gift for a friend

I just ordered a copy of "The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play" for Bert from Amazon.

I know he doesn't like to read much, but I hope this volume wakes something up in him and he is aided in making progress on the things he needs to do to propel his business forward.

One can always hope, I guess...

The Year The Yankees Lost The Pennant

This morning I ordered from Amazon.com a copy of "The Year The Yankees Lost The Pennant", a novel which I first read in 1978, as part of Volume 21  for Spring 1955 of Reader's Digest Condensed Books.  That volume contained:

Volume 21 - Spring 1955

• Good-bye, My Lady - James Street
• The Dowry - Margaret Culkin Banning
• The Day Lincoln was Shot - Jim Bishop
• The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant - Douglass Wallop
• Flamingo Feather - Laurens van der Post

My mom gave me that book to read and I remember one of my friends getting upset with me and going home in a huff because I was reading the book and ignoring him completely.  I have always had the habit of "falling into" a book when it captures my interest and and this was one of those times.

Over the last 29 years, I lost track of that book and was never able to find until this morning. 

I am really looking forward to reading this book again and reliving the story of the lifelong Washington Senators fan and eternal Yankee hater that makes a deal with the Devil to help the Senators beat the Yankees for once in exchange for his soul.

I love the Internet for allowing me to re-experience small pleasures from my youth, such as finding a book that I thought was lost forever.  Happy I am, oh yes indeed.

Cory Doctorow launches "OverClocked"

Cory Doctorow, the SF writer, co-founder of BoingBoing, blogger, former European Affairs coordinator for the EFF, current Wired Magazine correspondent, Fullbright Chair at USC, 'Net activist and the leading Anti-DRM authority on the planet, launched his latest novel, 'OverClocked: Stories of the Future Present' at The Secret Headquarters comic book shop in Los Angeles this evening.

Aside from being mis-lead for the first time on record by Google Maps and getting there 15 minutes late, I had a wonderful time. 

I was able to purchase two copies of 'OverClocked: Stories of the Future Present' (one for reading and another that I got Cory to sign which I plan to put away in a safe somewhere) and then I mingled and perused the awesome selection of comic books and science fictions tomes that The Secret Headquarters had on display.

Here are a few pictures that I snapped while waiting for Cory to read one of the stories from his new novel:

Around 8:00 P.M. or so, Cory read the 1st short story in 'OverClocked', an 800-word vignette entitled 'Printcrime'' that he put together for Nature Magazine a while back. To get an idea of the cool ambiance at the event last night, click on the following link to watch a small quicktime movie:

All in all, I am glad I took the time to go see Cory launch his book.  To purchase the book, click on one of the following links:

• Amazon
• Barnes and Noble

Highly Recommended.

CSS/HTML and Scrabble

Today marks my initial foray into learning the intricacies of CSS in hopes of better preparing myself for supporting a project at work that may involve some hand coding of HTML and CSS.

To that end, I had picked up a copy of Build your Own Web Site the Right Way Using HTML & CSS by Ian Lloyd and published by sitepoint and I found the book easy to read and understand.  I got through the first 2 chapters today at work and look foreword to completing it soon.

This evening was capped off by Bert showing up extremely late to my house to drop off that cursed Dell Precision 360 Workstation for me to look at over the weekend.  Eventually, we arrived at his house and played a single game of Scrabble, I think.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Waiting for the Magical Day
After a long, agonizing 176 day wait, Friday, July 15 2005 arrived. The day that the 6th installment in the Harry Potter saga was to be released.

I bought my copy from Barnes and Noble back in December the instant it was announced. From then on it has been a long, arduous countdown to the magical Friday in July when we would be able to attend the Midnight Party where we would purchase our own copy of the book.

Dinner at The Olive Garden
Before heading over to the Barnes and Noble bookstore on Rosecrans Avenue in Manhattan Beach, I picked up my mom who would be attending the party with me and we went to dinner at Olive Garden. Dinner was OK, the food was good enough, although the service left something to be desired.

The Midnight Release Party
After dinner, we drove over to the bookstore, arriving there about a few minutes after 9:00 P.M. As I walked in there was a table with a Check-In sign for the Harry Potter book reservations. I gave the lady my last name and she gave me a yellow paper wristband with the # 162 on it, that denoted that I had 2 copies of the book available.

I quickly scouted out an empty table in the Cafe where we could sit to wait until Midnight and after my mom found some books to look at, she came and claimed the table while I browsed the books. Eventually I returned to the table with some books to peruse and we sat there in amicable silence until it was time to leave the store.

Waiting in Line
At 11:00 P.M. we were unceremoniously ushered out of the store and told to wait in line where we would be allowed to purchase our books sometime after midnight. There were a couple of hundred people miling about, not very organized, sorta standing in 2 lines, one for the yellow wristbands, to the right of the store, and the other for the orange wristbands, to the left of the store. At 12:15 or so, with my mom waiting in the car, I walked up to the front of the store and found that they had been calling out 10 numbers at a time. As I walked up she called out "151 to 160" and walked back in. I called my mom and she walked over from the car.

Buying the book
Moments later, the lady came back out again and called out "161 - 170". We were marched into the store, I paid for 2 copies of the book and we were able to FINALLY get our hands on the precious book. As we walked out, I grabbed a handful of Release Party posters and we left.

Aftermath
Leaving the store around 12:35 or so, I drove my mom home. When we arrived at her house, I got out to give her a copy of the poster and her copy of the book. What happened? I promptly DROPPED THE BOOK in a PUDDLE OF WATER in her Driveway. It was a small puddle, thankfully, and so I picked it up, gave my mom the other undamaged, pristine copy (over her many protests) and kept the slightly damaged one for myself.

I then drove home, and as exhausted as I was, I read the 1st chapter and forced myself to close the book and turn off the light. I fell asleep almost instantly, with a whole luxurious weekend ahead of me in which to savor this most long-awaited treasure...

A NEW Realm to Explore

Ever had one of those rare but treasured moments when a friend mentions something in passing and casually RIPS ASIDE A CURTAIN to an ENTIRE UNDISCOVERED Universe?

I was just privy to one of those. I happen to be blessed to work with a super-bright collegue who seems to be as big a fan of READING as I am, and she was kind enough to drop a reference to Neil Gaiman and his SANDMAN series of Graphic Novels.

Sam is one of these scary smart people who make you stop and think and reassess yourself continually to make sure you keep up with her intellectually. Hard to do, but a worthwhile pursuit, noetheless.

To say that I am endebted to her would be to painfully understate the case. I'll just say:

Thanks Sam!

You SO Rule!