Derek > Recent Status Updates

It's time to retire my long-time handle so as not to be confused with this creep. As they say, "a man who defends himself at trial, has a fool for a lawyer."

I bought this for the title. Worth every penny. And, btw, Harper—what were you thinking when YOU changed the title to "Year of the Tiger"...booooring.

I bought this for the title. Worth every penny.

I can't believe I lost track of this. I don't remember when I started it, but I remember really enjoying it. Then, I must have put it down to read a library book that I'd put on hold, and totally forgot about it. Now I have to start all over--and I still haven't caught up to where I was last time...

The younger son was at UC Riverside, the elder a sous chef in Seattle.

"You must eat well when he comes home."

"I won't let him in my kitchen. He destroys it…. He's used to other people cleaning up after him."

I had a friend (sadly passed) who was extremely proud of his son the chef. I got the impression that when he came home, cooking was competitive. I'll have to ask his mother if this rings true.

These guys are too smart.

Eight men meet. The boss+the owner of a dry goods store, the spare-parts guy at the farm supply store, the FedEx guy, a motel clerk, a hog farmer, the counterman at a diner and one's just a goon. Now, I know smart people who choose jobs like this—one of the brightest guys I know drives a city bus—but 6 of them (the goon's an idiot)? They're just too bright to all be in dead end jobs.

I really shouldn't read these book's when I'm alone with the dog. I tend to giggle, and that gets her all worked up...

"We should assume they have guns."
"But only temporarily."
"You're nuts."
"Maybe," Reacher said. "But never forget it was Uncle Same who made me this way. I passed every other course, except driving."

I wish Tepper was a bit better at (or more concerned with) science. She says of Earth's "space elevators": "There's been some talk of building more of them as ocean-based platforms, but the last time that was tried, a tsunami took it out." Please! Tsunamis don't work that way. At sea, you're unlikely to even notice the wave. It certainly will be smaller than many "rogue" waves.

On paying the late fines:
PATRON: Oh, well, I didn't know when December started and you guys didn't tell me.

I'm a little ticked with my library because this week I got the notice when my wife's books were due, but not mine... but it's still the best deal in town and I happily pay my fines!

OK. I've never done this with Stephenson, but the library wanted it back, and I can't see a reason to keep it. When my e-copy hold comes up at the library, I'll give it another shot...

And just today my wife suggested I didn't actually like non-fiction. I'm howling at this one.

I must say thought that when the author says "this surprising exchange occurred:"
WOMAN: Do you have books on different countries?
ME: Yes! What country are you looking for?
WOMAN: Hawaii.

Only Americans would actually find that "surprising". The rest of us expect such geographic ignorance from Americans.

Others (many) have complained about Stephenson's obsession with engineering detail rather than character development. I think it's worse than that: he has an obsessive need to explain things his readers should already know. He tells us that after the "Agent" a new calendar is used. The first time he uses that, he explains. And the second… He feels he needs to explain "EVA" (twice). Assume intelligent readers, Neal!

"Two of the larger pieces…were headed right for each other." I don't think even trained astronomers could tell with nothing more than a 6" telescope that two rocks, say a quarter the size of the moon, at the moon's distance from earth, were actually going to collide rather than pass one in front of the other! Certainly not a group of elementary students.

I could live with all the technical details if they were even correct! In one week, half a dozen meteorites have struck the earth, and more than one has killed people, and he says "The death toll…far beneath… statistical ground clutter of shark attacks & lightning…" ? Worldwide, lighting kills 6-24000 people yearly. Possibly an order of magnitude higher, but probably not. Sharks kill 1 or 2 people a year!

i keep waiting for this to start making sense, even while in sure it's never going to. Come on! When you learn that your wife has been lying to you continuously for years it's time to say "I don't care if you ever come back!"