Bryce Moore's Blog, page 236

I Have Angered the Internet Gods

(Kudos to you if you recognize the movie frame there.) It’s clear. I’m not sure how I did it, but I must have done something to make those mighty gods of the internet mighty angry with me. Maybe I squashed a bug, or slandered Bill Gates, or made one too many disparaging remarks about cats–but whatever I did, I’m reaping the whirlwind now, my friends.

It started when I came back from Florida. No–before that. The internet would spontaneously just stop working at home. Enough that I got to be on first name basis with most of the Fairpoint tech support crew. (Not really) I hoped that some time away would make it happier.

I was wrong.

The internet completely gave up the ghost on Monday, after a brief flirtation with the abyss on Sunday. It’s not my network–I know that’s set up properly. My guess was that the router had died, but I needed to convince Fairpoint (my provider) of that. Which meant persuading them to send a techie over to the house in person. And because this is customer service, you know that’s not going to end well.

The first “appointment” they gave me? “Tuesday before 7pm.”

You read that right. I asked, “You mean like between 4pm and 7pm?”

No–sometime before 7pm. On Tuesday. Because apparently “specific” isn’t a requirement in the internet biz. (Honestly–what if I tried to run my life like that? “I’ll pick you up sometime before Christmas.” Sheesh.) Oh yeah–and someone had to be home for the techie when he came. Because no one has anything else to do with their life than hang out at home (with no internet) and wait for a support technician.

Thankfully, Denisa would be home that whole day, so everything looked good.

Until 2pm on Tuesday, when a robot called me to inform me that they had to reschedule the appointment for Thursday between 8am and 5pm. (Hey–it was more specific than last time. Maybe they felt bad.) Denisa had to be gone for some of that timeframe, so I had to go home from work early and hang out waiting.

The techie finally showed up, ran a couple of tests, and proudly announced that there was nothing wrong with our internet. The modem was just hot back where I’d stuffed it behind an end table.

We were skeptical, but we also checked to see if the internet was, indeed, working. It was. Now, right before it conked out, it flirted with the abyss–if you’ll recall. It would work for 10 minutes, then stop for 20. Work for a half hour, then die for two hours. However, good luck convincing a technician of this. Apparently the tech support school’s class on “Fixing the Internet” resembles a big game of Jenga. If you can throw a fix up that’ll last until you’re out the door, you’re home free.

Ten minutes after the techie left, our internet was back to broken.

O great and powerful internet gods, please take pity on me, this humble peon.

I called Fairpoint up, of course. Let them know what I thought of their tech support, and how I wanted a new modem. They’re FedEx’ing one now, and they gave me $20 bucks back off my bill, so apparently my Irate Customer voice was working in fine shape yesterday. But in the meantime, we’re back to no internet at home.

Four hours after I got off the phone to complain, a robot called me from Fairpoint. “We’re happy to say that we’ve fixed your internet. Our technician was out earlier today, and everything’s good to go.”

I hung up on the robot. Something tells me he didn’t take it as the insult it was intended to be. That’s the problem with robots.

Anyway. If you see less of me online than normal, know it’s because I’m still just a user in the hands of an angry router. Hopefully things are back to normal by next week. When your internet is your phone, your TV, and your children’s entertainment . . . you’re very thankful you have a good DVD collection.)

PS–And none of this mentions that fact that Facebook has relegated my auto-posts to outer Mongolia. If you haven’t seen my last few posts, scroll down and enjoy them. I’m going to be posting to FB by hand for the next while. You can also always just subscribe to my blog and have it delivered to your email each day. To do that, leave a comment below–when you do, it’ll give you the option. Assuming the angry internet gods don’t decide to monkey with that, too.)

Fighting Clutter: The Horizontal Surfaces Tax

I’ve been waging a long term war with clutter in my house. Long term as in “same long term as my diet”–meaning like in any war, there are significant troop movements on both sides of the battle front. There are times when I make a concerted effort to beat back the forces of clutter, only to have that clutter plot a sneak attack in the middle of the night. Suddenly, the house is bursting at the seams again, and I’m not sure how it happened.

Before the big Disney vacation, clutter had been waging one of its strongest offensives in quite some time. When we got home, it looked for a while like all hope was lost, as Disney clutter had stowed away in our suitcases, ready to pounce out and reinforce the normal clutter as soon as the zippers were loosed.

Something had to be done.

Typically. I’m the Anti-Clutter General in Chief. I lead the charge in major battles, reining clutter in somewhat and assigning it to other members on our attack squad, who then (hopefully) extinguish their assignments with gusto. In practice, this isn’t always the case. And I realized this last time that that had to change. I needed a complete team, 100% behind me. It was clear a simple pep talk wasn’t going to cut it.

I had to motivate them with something that would matter. And that motivation would have to be money.

But on the other hand, I can’t afford to continually be offering bounties on clutter piles. Instead, I had a brilliant moment of inspiration. An epiphany.

The Horizontal Surfaces Tax.

I had studied my enemy for years, and I knew that the greatest bastion of clutter offenses rested on this simple premise: if it’s a horizontal surface in my house, clutter will invade it incessantly until that surface is swarming with toys, papers, doodads, junk mail, and a variety of detritus. To date, the battle has been waged one surface at a time. I’ll completely wipe out clutter in one area, then move on to another–only to discover that clutter crept back to the original area when I wasn’t looking.

That had to stop.

So what I’ve done is this: I completely clean off a surface. Make it 100% clutter free. And then I’ve mustered my troops: Denisa, TRC, and DC (MC doesn’t count yet. Her main weapon is drool, and that just doesn’t tend to accumulate.) I inform them that the now-clean horizontal surface has been declared a declutterized zone, and a standing bounty is put into effect. Anyone caught leaving ANY UNAPPROVED ITEM (paper, toy, phone, iPad, dish–you name it) is subject to paying a Horizontal Surfaces Tax to the finder of that item. The tax is 5 cents per item for children, 10 cents per item for adults. So if TRC leaves his 3DS on a declutterized zone, and I find it, he owes me 5 cents. If Denisa leaves an item and DC finds it, Denisa owes DC 10 cents. Plus–the violator has to clean up the item in question, then and there.

It’s a simple principle. So simple I wondered if it would actually work. My family seemed skeptical. They’d witnesses cunning attempts to squash out the cluttering hordes in the past, and they knew those attempts had all failed. But they agreed to go along with me. (TRC even tried to declare his room a declutterized zone, meaning any parent leaving anything there would have to pay him money. This motion was quickly voted down.)

There are currently 6 declutterized zones in my house. My side table. The top of my bureau. The kitchen hutch. The kitchen corner cabinet. The living room bookshelves. The living room end table. These zones have been 100% clutter-free for five days now. Step by step, I continue to eradicate clutter in new areas, freeing my house one zone at a time.

I think we might be on to something. If nothing else, this is the longest those areas have stayed clean since we moved into the house.

In this war, you have to take victories where you can get them.

Taking a Five Year Old on the Tower of Terror

I’ve made plenty of questionable parenting decisions in my life. In my defense, they all seemed like a good idea at the time. (Remind me to tell you of the time I broke my son’s leg by going down a slide with him because I thought it would be safer than sending him down the slide alone.) But I’m the dad of the family, and that generally means (in my family) that I’m the one who’s there to push the boundaries. To see what the kids will really do.

To get the five year old to go on the Tower of Terror.

In our last trip to Disney, DC was tall enough to go on any ride she wanted, and young enough to not have the common sense to be scared of anything. Space Mountain? No problem. Expedition Everest? Seven times in a day. And so on the last day, when it was just me and the kids at Hollywood Studios, the subject of Tower of Terror came up. As in, “Do we want to go on it?”

TRC eyed the ride speculatively. A huge drop (more than one, really–and did you know it’s not technically a free fall? They actually have a motor that makes you fall faster than gravity, to increase the thrills), scary backstory, screams echoing across the park. He’d already faced his biggest fear (caused by our last trip to Disney, when I took a five year old on Dinosaur and possibly permanently scarred him for life. (Although on this return trip, he decided he wanted to go with me on that ride and thoroughly enjoyed himself.)) So he was thinking he could do anything by that point. “Sure,” he said.

Which left the matter with the five year old. She also gave the ride a once over. “Is it scary?” she asked.

I nodded. “It’s like the Haunted Mansion, but scarier. And then they drop you in an elevator multiple times.”

She hesitated.

“Sort of like when you and TRC try to jump in an elevator to make it feel like you’re weightless,” I added. Because that’s what dads do.

Her eyes lit up. “Okay!”

And there was no Denisa to say otherwise. She was back at the hotel, tending to a sick MC.

Off the the of us traipsed to see what terrors awaited us.

DC and TRC aren’t quite as enthusiastic ahead of this ride. I wonder why . . . 

At this point in time, I have a confession to make.

I’m scared of the Tower of Terror.

I don’t like enclosed spaces, and I don’t enjoy airplane turbulence at all–which is what the Tower of Terror and other free fall rides most remind me of. I didn’t really want to go on that ride at all, but if you think peer pressure’s bad, it doesn’t hold a floating candlestick to kid pressure. There was no way I was not going to let my kids go on a ride they wanted to go on.

If you’ve been on the Tower of Terror, you know they do their darnedest to up the thrills. In typical Disney fashion, the mood and ambience is just right, and the cast members are suitably creepy. TRC and DC both clearly started to have second thoughts as we waited in the short line. (Fastpass for the win, my friends.) Outside in the day, it had all seemed like lighthearted fun. Down in the basement of the Hollywood Tower hotel, with an introduction about how the place was haunted, and the lights constantly flickering?

Maybe this wasn’t a good idea after all.

That’s when my Dad Instincts kicked in. No way were my two kids the ones who were going to turn tail and run from a ride. They’d decided to go on this ride, and by gum that’s just what we were going to do. Never mind the fact that all three of us now didn’t want to. I assured them all that it wasn’t really that scary, and we soldiered onward.

In some ways, however, I think kids are like dogs or horses. They can sense fear. And no matter how much I tried to portray otherwise, they could tell Dad wasn’t completely comfortable with the ride we had picked.

DC asked to hold my hand. She gripped it tightly. And I began to second guess my Dad Instincts. “Do you want to skip this ride?” I asked them both.

And that’s when peer pressure kicked in. (There was a lot of pressure in that line. I swear.) Neither of them wanted to admit they didn’t want to be on the ride, so they both said they wanted to go through with it.

The elevator door opened, and we took our seats. DC had my hand in a death grip. The girl’s got some strength in those tiny fingers. Through the Tower of Terror our ride went, twisting and turning its way to the inevitable free fall ahead of us. And TRC and DC both got more and more tense.

“Is this it?” TRC asked the first time we came to a pause, staring at a blank wall ahead of us.

“You’ll know it when it happens,” was all I said.

DC’s grip made me wonder if she spent her evenings doing hand exercises.

Up we went. And up and up. And with each rise, my kids on either side of me realized that meant we only had that much further to drop.

What goes up, must come down.

And down we came. Once. Twice. Three times. Four times. It’s random, you know. So no one knows how many times you’ll fall. DC’s shoulders hunched in fear, and TRC kept wondering if it was over. My hand was crushed to a fine powder by the time the ride was done.

Silence for a few beats.

“Was that it?” DC asked.

“That’s it,” I said. “Want to go again?”

They both looked at me, then looked at each other. “I don’t think we need to,” TRC said.

“Yeah,” DC said. “Once was enough.”

But hey–there were no tears, and no breakdowns, and we all lived to tell the tale. I’m sure with some physical therapy, my hand will recover one day.

All part of a fun family trip to Disney World.

Policing the Roma: Catching Up on Old News

So while I was off rubbing elbows with Mickey, Eeyore and friends, I missed word of a huge blow up involving a number of Roma families from Greece to Dublin. This might all be old news to you, but it’s new to me, and I wanted to take a moment to blog about it.

The basic facts run as follows: Greek police performed a raid on a Roma settlement, looking for illegal drugs and weapons. During the raid, they came across a blonde haired, blue eyed girl that a Roma couple claimed had been given to them. The couple were arrested on suspicion of kidnapping. Now it appears that the girl is the daughter of a Bulgarian couple who had given her away to another family because they couldn’t afford to feed her. It appears the story was much more complicated than it was at first glance.

Meanwhile, police in Dublin thought they’d found a similar case. Seven year old blonde girl living with a Roma family. So they snatched the girl to safety, away from those evil child stealing gypsies. (Deep breaths, Bryce. I gotta calm down a bit here.) Another boy was taken from a Roma family in Ireland around the same time. Both children were returned a day  or two later. Why? Because it turned out they were actually the children of the Roma couples in question.

People like to say it’s okay to portray “Gypsies” in fairy tales, because no one actually believes they exist. But the stereotype of the child-stealing Gypsy is exactly what everyone’s knee jerk reaction was in these instances–and it’s why more people need to be made aware of what’s actually happening.

Police have been taking children away from their parents because they think the kids don’t look enough like the parents. There’s no doubt racial profiling was involved here, and it’s just plain wrong. I don’t walk around with birth certificates of all my children handy on a moment’s notice, ready for when the police demand to see them. Why would I? They’re my children. And yet Roma couples need to, on the off chance that their kid’s skin isn’t dark enough?

Don’t get me started.

(That all said, I realize child trafficking is a thing, and it’s abhorrent. I just wish the focus were on the trafficking, and not the race of the accused–which seems to be why the story gained some much traction. Especially since it seems in hindsight that this huge trafficking ring police were worried about was just a wild overreaction, based on stereotypes.)

I’m irate about this, and I need to settle down some. But I didn’t want it to slip back into the newsblur without me at least highlighting it and addressing it somewhat. Did I miss some parts of the story in my absence? What else did people hear about this? I’d be very interested to know.

Video Game Review: Rocksmith 2014 Edition

I’ve extolled the wonders of Rocksmith before on my blog. It’s this absolutely fantastic video game that has the side effect of teaching you how to play electric guitar and bass. Guitar Hero or Rock Band on steroids.

And they just released a new version while I was away on vacation.

50+ new songs, supposed awesome new features–I simply had to buy the thing. I’ve had some time now to play with it a fair bit, and I’m here to give you a verdict. It should come as no big surprise that the verdict is a resounding “BUY THIS GAME” for anyone remotely interested in playing guitar or bass. As before, the set up is simple. You take your electric bass or guitar and plug it into your PS3/XBox 360/PC/Mac. You don’t need a specialty controller–your guitar is the controller. There are more than 50 new songs to choose from (and you can import your old Rocksmith songs over all at once for a $10 fee). There’s everything from The Police to Aerosmith to The Cars to Iron Maiden, plus hundreds of downloadable songs, with more coming out each week. (At about $3/song, if you choose to buy them.)

Notes come down a “musical highway” similar to Guitar Hero. The difference here is that they correspond to real strings and frets, as opposed to colored buttons on a junky plastic fake guitar. You’re playing along with the real song. They’ve removed the part that you’re supposed to play. So you hear what you’re doing, as you’re doing it. However, since we’re not all guitar gods, they adjust the difficulty to your ability. If you’re an absolute beginner, you might have to play one note every few seconds. They fill in the rest with the original part. As you get better, you’re responsible for more and more of the notes. It adds them as the game senses your ability growing, until by the end, it’s all just you.

The game’s added some great features that make this an even better purchase now than it was before.

Session mode–You can put together a drummer and supporting instruments. They’ll play base chords, and you get to improvise along with them. The game does a fair job introducing you to the principles of how to do this, so you’re not just tossed to the wolves and forgotten. It’s a pretty cool set up.
Mini-Games–The games have been improved dramatically. They’re actually fun to play, and they still do a good job helping you practice guitar fundamentals, whether it’s honing your chords, getting your picking technique down, or learning your scales. Makes me wonder how far we are from a Pianosmith.
The songs themselves offer much more complete information, including which fingers to use, and tips on how to get better on each song. You’re not deluged with information, though. It’s a fine line to walk, and they’ve pulled it off effortlessly.
Riff Repeater–the game has a built in way for you to “level up” your playing ability on each song. With old Rocksmith, you had to exit a song, go to a particular piece, practice that, then exit it again to pick a new part of the song to practice. That’s all gone now. You can be in the middle of a song, bring up the riff repeater, and choose what part of the song you want to work on–how slow you want it adjusted, how difficult you want it to be (how many notes)–you name it. And once you’re through practicing, you can go and finish the song, right from there.

Really, one of the biggest differences is the absence of waiting. With the old game, there were a ton of load screens and tuning checks and menus. Those are drastically diminished, so you can just play. There’s even a mode that lets you pick how long you want to play for, and then it goes from one song to the next with no wait between. Fantastic.

Now, a disclaimer. This game doesn’t make learning the guitar easy. It’s still a skill that takes lots of practice and work. So don’t think you’re going to get the game and go from a know-nothing to a know-everything in a week or two. I’ve been playing it pretty steadily for two years now, and I’m to the point where there are some songs that I have down solid, but there are plenty of harder songs that I still really struggle with. What the game does is make it possible to learn in a fun manner. It’s perfect for me, and if you have any experience learning a new instrument, I think you’ll really enjoy this game.

In the end, I’d say this is a game for pretty much anyone interested in playing the guitar. It’ll start with the very basics and go all the way up to advanced technique. If you’re already a pro, I suppose it might not hold as much interest–though the sessions mode and the tons of amp choices might persuade you. It’s not cheap, but compared to the cost of taking lessons, it’s a real steal.

Anyone else out there already playing it? Let me know what you think!

Technology and News Hiatus

As I mentioned in my post yesterday about my trip, I did my darnedest to go without technology while I was away. For the most part, I was successful–but it didn’t come without its price. I didn’t check news, didn’t check sports (well–I did check Fantasy Football, but that doesn’t count, right?), didn’t check email, a lot of Facebook and Twitter, didn’t keep tabs on all the blogs I follow . . .

It was very refreshing, though it did take some willpower to stick to it.

Now I come home, and I have a slew of emails and blog posts I need to wade through with a machete to get some sort of order going again. It’s a process that I don’t enjoy at all. I just feel overwhelmed by information. (Not a good feeling for a librarian to have.)

This is why usually on vacations I’ll take time periodically to sift through the news and make sure I’m not missing anything vital. Yes, it means that I don’t have a real break, but it also means that I’m not way behind when I get back home and have to work again. I suppose one could make the argument that I should just ignore everything I missed and move on fresh, but that’s not quite how it works. Part of my job is to be in the loop about what’s happening in the technology world. To be aware of upcoming trends and to have some idea as to how they might impact my library–and libraries across the state. So while I don’t have to go over everything with a fine tooth comb, I do need to be reasonably certain I haven’t missed anything vital.

It all leaves me with a big headache, since the time I’m devoting to catching up on all that information is time I’m falling behind on other things. I come home and am just mentally drained. Yesterday was Halloween, and it was a mad dash to get everything set before we went out trick or treating at night. In the rain. Hectic.

In any case, that’s what I’m up to for the next while, work-wise. And taking a break from writing for that long? The fingers are rusty, my friends.

But yay for vacations!

A “Quick” Report on Disney

[image error]Astute readers might have noticed a lack of freshness in the last week and a half worth of posts. Probably because I wrote them all last Sunday in a binge of blog writing efficiency. I’ve been at Disney World since Tuesday–just got back last night. The trip was a bunch of fun and very relaxing (in a hectic way), but I made a conscious decision before I left that it really would be a vacation–no writing, no blogging, no emails (for the most part), very little social media. I didn’t spend all that money on a Disney vacation so I could go down and do everything I normally do every day.

I was successful in my goal, but I’m also very behind on a whole slew of projects now. So forgive me if I’m a bit scattered the next while. (And did I mention it’s Halloween–today!?!)

However, I wanted to take a bit of time and report on how the Disney vacation went, in case anyone out there’s planning something similar in the not too distant future. (I wrote all about the planning process back when that happened, too.) Three kids–9, 5, and 6 months–and two parents, six days of parks, one rest day, two days of travel . . . Any which way you sliced it, it was going to be an adventure. Here’s the rundown:

The Resort

We stayed at the Pop Century resort. This was my first time staying on-site at Disney, and it was a different experience than I’d pictured. First up, somehow I’d always imagined the resorts being like hotels. The rooms are like hotels, yes–but the resorts themselves are BIG. Lots of walking involved. Going down to “the lobby” meant a ten minute walk. There were three pools across the property, but I just hadn’t taken into account how spread out everything would be. That’s not a bad thing–just something that I wasn’t expecting. The resort itself was very nice, despite being on the low end of the budget scale. The rooms were cleaned everyday like clockwork, the staff were all super nice, and there were tons of things to do. Pools, arcades, outdoor movies, playgrounds, parties–it really felt like there was something you could do whenever you wanted to do it. The room itself was snug (especially when you added a crib), but you’re not there to lounge in the room. You’re there to go out and have fun. So I found it more than adequate. I’d definitely consider staying there again.

The Transportation

We didn’t get a car. Disney picked us up from the airport, and we took Disney buses everywhere. It was smooth as silk, really. We never had to wait more than 10 minutes for a bus. They got crowded at times, but it was definitely worth not paying for a rental car. Denisa was always offered a seat, since she had MC in her arms at all times. People were kind and understanding. The downside was that we were locked into Disney. No going for groceries. No Harry Potter Land at Universal. But again, it was easy and cheap–and that won out with out budget.

The Food

We were on the Disney Dining Plan, which we got for free. I’d read up about it ahead of time, but it didn’t prepare me for the chaos that was the food court of a Disney resort. We got there the first night and were just overwhelmed with choices. It took finding a manager and having a 5 minute chat to figure out what in the world we were supposed to do. That said, once we had it down, it was very easy. I think the biggest part of the problem is probably that Denisa and I are used to clearly defined rules. The Dining Plan seems a lot looser than that. What can count as a snack or a dessert or a drink–it’s all very freewheeling, and it took a while to understand that and just go with the flow.

But the food itself was good, with a few complaints. First up: breakfast. There just was no option that I liked for breakfast. Whenever we got that meal, I felt like I was using my dining plan poorly. In the future, I think I’ll bring some bagels or cereal or granola to munch on until I eat an early lunch and a late dinner. There’s only so many times I can do pancakes/waffles/eggs/sausage. I’m not a breakfast guy. Second was the kid options. The adult meals had tons of variety. The kids had the same choices, time after time. Grapes. Carrots. Apples. Cookie. Sandwich. Snoozeville. DC was not impressed, and stopped eating. (A daughter after her mother’s heart.) Mix it up a bit, Disney!

That said, I clearly enjoyed the food. I gained 7 pounds. (Sigh) And now I know more about how it works, so next time will be even better. I’d say the Dining Plan was definitely worth it–mainly because it was free. It avoided tons of hassle, let us explore new restaurants, and made life much much easier. I’ll try to get it next time, too. (Ideally for free, though.) I’d say the food we consumed would likely have cost $1000 out of pocket if we’d paid for everything, but I want to look at that number a bit more carefully to see how accurate it is.

The Parks

Great, as always. We had perfect weather. Low 80s each day. Just hot enough to make you want to go on a few water rides to cool off. We brought ponchos, but we never saw a drip of rain. (A slight misting one day for about 15 minutes, but who’s counting?) The crowds were heavy in EPCOT and Magic Kingdom, but sparse at Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. October really seems like it’s a perfect time to come. The Food & Wine festival at EPCOT was tons of fun–got to eats lots of different food from across the globe. I also took the kids over to DisneyQuest on our down day, and they loved that. All the arcade games you can play. (It helped that the entry fee was included in our package.) Really, the kids seemed to be in nirvana the whole time.

New Fantasyland in Magic Kingdom was nice, but still very incomplete. The main ride (a Snow White coaster) occupies the middle of the whole thing, and it’s very much under construction, so it was hard for it to feel cohesive.

The Magic Bands were super. Little rubber bracelets you wear–they had your whole ticket attached to them. They were our room key, credit card, park tickets, meal vouchers–everything. And PIN codes are attached, so it’s not like someone could just swipe mine and use it to charge up a storm. I didn’t think they’d be that useful, but they were. Big thumbs up here.

I used RideMax again, and I’m glad I did–even with the smaller crowds. The longest line I waited on was about 10 minutes. It takes a bit of knowhow and some finesse, but it really streamlines the Disney experience. We went on all the rides we wanted to, most of them multiple times.

Would I Do It Again?

You bet. I love me some Disney World. It’s the vacation I went on the most as a kid, and I love being able to do it with my own children. It’s expensive, yes–so it’s nothing I’ll be doing for the next few years–but I love how each time we go with the kids, it’s a different experience. DC went on all the rides, as did TRC. (Well, DC didn’t go on Dinosaur–TRC had warned her of that one. But they both came with me on Tower of Terror, though I think DC about had a heart attack, and didn’t want to go on it again. The girl’s fearless, though. We went on Space Mountain–her first coaster. When I asked her what she thought after, she said, “I prayed.” Then I asked her if she wanted to go again, and her face lit right up. No hesitation there!) Last time we went, our kids were much smaller, and so what we did and didn’t do changed. Next time, it’ll be different again. I love watching my kids grow through the same rides I grew through, if that makes sense.

(That said, I’m definitely starting to feel older. My back and feet just killed at the end of each day. The things I’ll put up with to make sure my kids have a great time . . . )

Great to have another Disney Vacation in the record books, with a slew of great memories and pictures to look back on later.

 

Book Review: Red Seas under Red Skies

Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It’s a sign of how well my new Kindle Paperwhite is working out for me that I’ve already finished a lengthy fantasy on the thing. I loved The Lies of Locke Lamora, and I’ve been looking forward to the sequel, so I decided to use the excuse of a new Kindle to try it out with a good book. (Well, I assumed it would be a good book–thankfully, I was not disappointed.)

Like the first, it’s a heist book at its heart. Locke and Jean have left their home city of Camorr and gone on to look for fresh meat in other cities. They pick another major city and set about trying to figure out how to bilk as much money from its elite as possible. As with most heist books, knowing more about the novel is actually a bad thing. You want to be surprised.

How did this one stack up against the first? Fairly well. The characters are well drawn and compelling, and the writing’s top rate. Where it fell short was in the plot. Bluntly put, it was just too scattered. There are casinos and taverns and pirate ships and everything in between. I felt like it lacked focus. Another complaint I had was the way the book was put together–it keeps zig zagging between flash backs, and it all felt a tad too haphazard to me. (Plus, the book starts with kind of a cheap prologue. I dislike gimmicks, and this one felt very gimmicky to me–as if Lynch didn’t have confidence in the rest of his story to keep our interest. Maybe it’s just me.)

In a different book, I probably still would have been blown away by the writing and characters. In a followup to a piece of awesome like The Lies of Locke Lamora? I couldn’t help feel somewhat disappointed. Again–it’s a solid book, and I’m glad I read it. I just wish . . . it had tried less and done it better. I think it was overly ambitious. (Easy to see how that would happen, working on a followup to such a great book.)

In the end, I think it’s more of a 3.5 out of 5 stars, but in a situation like that, I always give the author the benefit of rounding up.

(Also note that Lynch’s writing–while not overly violent or sexualized–does have a fair bit of language, so it’s not for everyone.)

View all my reviews

Blogger vs. WordPress

It’s been a few months since I switched from Blogger to WordPress, and I thought this might be a good time to take a moment and reflect on the change. Was it a good one? Without a doubt–for many different reasons. First up, it brought my blog and my website under the same domain. It’s all one solid piece of cloth now, and that means that when people come to my blog, they see everything about me at once–my bio, my books, my reviews. The whole shebang. It’s been a wonderful tool for discovery–I’ve been keeping an eye on my statistics, and I’ve been very happy to see people clicking from one post into related posts, then over to info on the books. That’s one of the main reasons I made the change, and to have it actually work . . .

Wunderbar.

Second? WordPress is a breeze to use. I much prefer it to Blogger, really. I can schedule my posts well in advance. The tagging and organization tools are easier to use and keep a handle on, the sharing to social networks is smoother and more seamless . . . The list goes on and on. Plus, it’s wonderful to get out from under the Google dome. Blogger (owned by Google) has a pretty tight handle on things, and I like being on my own.

So would I recommend that everyone make the switch?

Not necessarily.

In my case, it really helped that I paid someone to design the new WordPress site for me. It’s something I might have been able to do on my own, but if I had, it would have taken me way way way waaaaaay too much time to figure it all out. WordPress has a lot of great widgets and doodads to make your site or blog awesome, but that’s both a blessing and a curse. You have to figure out which doodad is the right one for you–and then figure out how best to use it.

It’s a lot of effort.

Still, if you’re serious about having a web presence, it seems like a no brainer. I’m much happier where I am now, and I feel like the money I spent was definitely worth it.

Anyone have any questions for me? I’d be happy to do my best to answer them.

Diagnosis: Roof

We had some roofers come to give us an estimate on how much it’ll take to pay to have the roof fixed, and it wasn’t pretty. Turns out there’s already three layers of shingles on there (two asphalt and one cedar), and that all needs to come off before it can be redone. PLUS, there’s no real sheathing present–just big wide boards with three inch spaces between them. (You’re not supposed to be able to look on the underside of the roof and see nothing between you and the shingles, you know?) So it needs plywood put down, too.

It’s going to be more than $5,000, people.

Yikes.

We’ll be getting some more estimates, but I’m not sure it’ll look any rosier, and that’s going to take a real chunk out of our savings–enough that I’m somewhat regretting buying that trip to Disney World. Then again, what was I supposed to do? Expect that I’d have to pay for a new lawn mower, new roof, fixed snow blower, fixed degus, extra house work . . . all at once? We have emergency funds we can tap into if we need to, and in the mean time, it looks like I’ll just have to write more. (Selling a new book would be wonderful at any time, but EXTRA wonderful right now . . .)

That sound you hear? It’s just me breathing into a paper bag.

The joys of having a 170 year old home . . .