Bryce Moore's Blog, page 328

Book Review: World War Z

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
What would the world be like if a zombie plague actually broke out on a global scale? Brooks answers this question in a novel that's essentially a collection of first hand accounts--a style that reminded me of Bram Stoker's Dracula in many ways. It's not for the faint of heart--very much an R-rated book, so to speak, but I for one would love to see it turned into a film. It had a District 9 sort of a flair to ...

Book Review: The Name of the Wind

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Really a fantastic book. I'd heard a lot about this one during my Wheel of Time reread, and I'd wanted to get to it for some time. Rothfuss does a great job creating an engrossing, complex character and placing that character into a full realized world. The conflicts are superb, the supporting cast memorable, and you get the feeling that something really grim is just over the horizon. The one was worth the hype. The only downer i...

Hiring Committees

I'm on a couple of hiring committees right now at work, and I have to say--I wish I had been on some hiring committees before I was applying for jobs back in the day. This isn't to say that I'm unhappy with my job. Far from it. Rather, I think I would have been much more successful as an applicant if I'd had the chance to look at a bunch of other applications. Go figure. As it is, I consider myself lucky to have had everything work out as it has.

You see things differently when you're one of t...

Writing Update

Not a whole lot of time today (too busy trying to dig out from the pile of Work Still to be Done), but I figured I'd give you all an update on what I'm working on right now, writing-wise. Over my vacation, I had the chance to have a long talk with an agent about my writing. (Yes, the agent I've been waiting to hear back from for so long.) It was a no on Pawn of the Dead, alas--for a variety of reasons. His critique of the book was, like his others, fairly deep--meaning that the problems he id...

Snow Day

One of my favorite parts of my job has got to be the snow days. It's like a free vacation day, plopped into your lap at random times. And I don't have to make it up. Very nice. How can people not love Maine? :-)

What will I do with my snow day?

Well, I have to get some writing in on my yearly Newsletter, which needs to be going to print soon. Since I have yet to start it, I'd really better get in gear. Other than that, I plan to take it easy. Decorate the house some, take a nap--that sort of th...

Mikulas and Santa Claus

Yesterday, Mikulas came to visit our house. For those of you who aren't Slovak, that means TRC and DC spiffied up their shoes two nights ago, then left them out. In the morning, voila! The shoes were filled with candy and some small presents. TRC got a WALL-E spinning toothbrush,and DC got a little puppy stuffed animal. They went over very well. Of course, this is also the first year that TRC has gone to school, which means it's the first year he could tell other kids all about how excited he...

Back from the Amish

I'm back in Maine, buried under a sea of Things That Came Up at Work While I was on Vacation. I'm sure you're familiar with it. So instead of a nice detailed blog post summing up everything I did while on vacation (executive summary: got the flu, got better, ate Amish food, slept, lolled about), I'll leave you with a short snippet from TRC. He woke up yesterday morning, sad that the vacation was over. He was about to start crying, then sighed and said, "Oh well. At least we have donuts." Whic...

Catch the Wave (Google Wave, That Is)

Here at work before I head out for PA this evening. Just a heads up to say I don't know how much I'll be posting the rest of this week and next. If I'm intermittent . . . too bad. I'm sure you can get along fine without me for a bit.

As a parting gift to you, I have in my possession eight (count them: eight) invitations to Google Wave. And I'm willing to give them to the first eight (count them: eight) people who ask for one, whether it be by emailing me, commenting on my blog, or signaling to...

Bryce the Plumber

So, believe it or not, there's actually an area of my house that I haven't yet griped publicly about, but which has been a major irritant since DKC and I moved in. In fact, I'd say it's been one of the major irritants--not because it was so awful, but because it was so constant, like a pebble in your shoe in the middle of a race. What is it, you ask? The hot water pressure in the shower.

It has been low since the day we moved in. We had plumbers come to inspect it--they blamed the heating peop...

Amazing Race

I'll admit it: I love the Amazing Race. Which on the surface, doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I hate flying with a sun-hot intensity. I'd rather go to the dentist than go flying (although oddly enough, I have flown to get my wife to go to the dentist . . .) But I love being in other countries and seeing the sights, and I love a good competition. So while I love watching the Amazing Race, I do it with the full realization that I could never actually participate.

And that's okay.

For those of ...