I was sifting through our bookcases the other day, and lo and behold I found the next 2 books in the Sue Grafton series, 'H' and 'I'! Yay! it safely postpones me needing to hop down to the library for a few days. goody goody. That said, I am just a few pages shy of having finished 'H' this morning on the commute in, and I fully expect I'll be finishing it over lunch in a few minutes. So, I'm tossing it on the already read list, though a bit prematurely. I'm sure you don't mind. Also, the final installment of a serialized novel came in this month's Analog: Science Fiction and Fact, so I finished that as well. So, tack on 3 more finished books to the list, numbers 34-36 for the year so far.

( Books read in 2008, an update )

No worries,
Matt

I know most of you aren't reading salixmom's journal, so I'll repost her post here:

Willow is three today!!!!! She went to daycare this morning with a homemade cake :). Although when we told her it was her birthday this morning, all she did was grunt like a forty-something, saying "meh, I am not a year older".

Her auntie gave her tinkertoys (I forgot how much fun those were...) and the first season of smurfs and my parents brought her much cute things from their South Africa trip.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUNCHKIN!


So, yeah, let me reiterate - Happy Birthday Willy-Elly!!!!!!!

No Worries,
Daddy


in other news - I have a racking chest cough that won't go away. pout.

So, I posted last week Saturday about how the Sue Grafton series were quick reads. Apparently, I wasn't kidding. When I posted that, I had just finished B is for Burglar, and was about halfway through C is for Corpse. Well, here it is, seven days later, and I've finished up through 'F is for Fugitive', and I'm already halfway through 'G is for Gumshoe'. Man, these are good. The problem is that I don't currently have most of the rest of the series. After 'G', I've got 'L', 'N', 'P', and 'R'. And none of the ones in between. And I still don't have a current library card, either in NYC (work), or Long Island (home). Of course, my CT library card still works, but I can't imagine the next time I'll be in that state..... hmmm... Anyway, the books are all listed behind the cut. I've finished #33, and am halfway through #34.

( Books read in 2008, an update )

No worries,
Matt

According to weather.com, it's 87 degrees (F) right now (about 31 C for all you aussies), and my lab is so over air-conditioned that I think I need a hot chocolate right about now.

weird.

No worries,
Matt

Rather than make you all read through the whole list to see what I've added since the last time I posted, here's the new book, #29 so far this year (not counting Children's books):

B is for Burglar, by Sue Grafton.

I'd read 'A is for Alibi' four of five years ago and enjoyed, and we've had a dozen or so of the alphabet series kicking around the house, so I figured I'd give them a go. It was a quick read, I guessed the ending probably a little past halfway through, which is far later than I usually figure these things out, so I consider that a good sign for future Grafton books as well. They're all only about 150-200 pages, and they're quick reads, so just from the train and lunch today, I'm already halfway done with 'C is for Corpse'. I think we have all of them up through I, but that means I'm going to need a library card before the end of next week... =)

( Books read in 2008, an update )

No worries,
Matt

Well, not as bad as last time, but I have read 4 entire books since the last time I posted. If it's any consolation, I thoroughly enjoyed all 4.


( Books read in 2008, an update )

Well, reyvin interviewed me last week, and so I owe her some answers.

Here they are....

1. What was the first book you read that you remember? Well, the first book I remember reading is actually the first book I ever read. When my sister was in (first?) grade, somewhere around 5-6 years old, I remember laying on the floor next to her watching her learn to read out of her first reader. It was a 5x7 book with an orange cover and black binding. She would get bored with it and go outside to play, and I would basically just pick up where she left off. She's 3 years older than me, so I guess I was 2.5-3ish. Actually, I think it was the other way around. I would start taking over for her reading, she would get frustrated, and then go outside to play.

2. What is your favorite book to read with your daughter? Is it also her favorite? Anything by Sandra Boynton. She tends to have a different favorite each week, but the Sandra Boynton books are always a big hit. "The Going to Bed Book", "Birthday Monsters", "But Not the Hippopotamus", "Moo, Baa, La La La", "The Belly Button Book", and a few others.

3. How do you think your life will change once you finish school? Are you excited or scared about that? This is a very difficult and loaded question that got a helluva lot more difficult as of this morning. I'll be posting about this in more detail later. I promise.

4. If you had to choose...would you want your daughter to be happy or educated? Happy. Without a doubt. In fact, the more I learn, the more I tend to believe that that really is an either or proposition.

5. What do you most love about your wife?
That's probably the easiest interview question that I've ever had to answer. Out of all my women, she gives the best bl Sorry. Don't know where that came from.... It's how she can make me laugh. No matter what the topic, no matter how un-PC, or how absolutely off kilter, out of nowwhere, or whatever, she has a way of making me guffaw. A lot of times, she's not even trying to, she just makes the most random observations.

Case in point - one of my favorite quotes from her was about a relative of mine, a stereotypical spinster aunt, who just happens to use hula-hoops as belts... "How emotionally destructive can anybody really be with an ass
that big?"

If you want me to interview you, just ask, and I'll give you 5 random questions too.

So, at least 2 ppl on my flist have posted this 3 things meme, and I guess I'm joining in the fray. I've got a bit of a break in my labwork right now, so I'l toss this out and then eat lunch.

So, the meme is to list 3 things that you think no one else on your flist has done. This will be especially hard for me, since basically everything I've done over the course of the last 13 years I have done with salixmom. So, that rules out my first choice for #1....

#1. Within a 24 hour period, had a snowball fight on top of a mountain and played with molten lava by the seaside. Oh, and squeezed in a mindnumbing hike of several miles over a'a' lava (or was it pahoehoe, I can never remember) and getting lost on the hike back.

So, I now have to think of something else......

new #1. was sound asleep in a small, single engine prop plane flying right through a nasty hurricane (but not in the eye).

#2. Represented my state at the National Youth Science Camp in West Virginia the sumer after graduating high school.

#3. Painted a 22 ft by 11 ft mural on a wall in my school, at the request of a teacher.

Hey - just to let everyone know, I'll be in Philly next month, from Sat, July 26th to Wed, July 30th. I'll be attending the annual SDB Meeting (Society for Developmental Biologists), which is being held on Penn's campus. (note to Penn alums - it's actually being held in Houston Hall, and they were offering housing in the high rises. I'm sorry, but I did my 3 years in those buildings. Not going back....)

I'd love to be able to get together with people, if anyone's around. That said, the meetings run from 8am to 11 pm Sun through Tues, and I'll have Willow.... Actually, I'm going to be dumping Willow on my Dad and his girlfriend during the days, but that's a different story altogether. But, they give 2 hours each for lunch and dinner, so if anyone is in the area, I'd be free to get together for meals.

let me know.

No worries

Matt

If you haven't seen it, here's a truly inspiring ad, explaining why you should vote Republican this November (if you're a US citizen, and registered to vote, that is).

*EDIT*: For some reason, on Firefox, this link is showing Al Gore's endorsement speech of Obama. That is not the video I was referring to. What should be showing here is a satirical advertisement about why people vote Republican. As salixmom points out, with the Gore video, my entire post takes on an entirely different meaning.... Oops.



Well, it certainly cleared up my voting dilemma.


No worries

lil_pixie - this is especially for you.....



I haven't read through the info very extensively, but from the first few paragraphs of the profile info, it loks right up the alley of our recent email exchanges.....

Enjoy!

Oh, please forgive me, for I have sinned. I have read 5 entire novels since last I updated this books read meme.... As contrition, I shall immediately endeavor to read 2 more immediately.


( Books read in 2008, an update )

For anyone in need of cheering up - or any fans of Tim Conway, here's an out-take of a skit from the Carol Burnett show. It's one of the Mama's Family skits, back before it became it's own show and Ken Berry took over the character...

It's about 5 minutes long, and the majority of it is the cast trying not to laugh at Tim, but the small amounts of story are worth it.

Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qqE_WmagjY

I think after Jonathan Winters, Tim Conway is my favorite comedian.

As I mentioned here, one half of my life's work has already been accomplished - and not by me.

Well, now I have the dubious honor of telling you that, already, the second half of my life's work has now also been completed, and again, not by me.


I think my professional life is ceasing to have meaning.


No worries,
Matt

I want this book: "Perfect Pitch: The Quest for Collegiate A Cappella Glory" by Mickey Rapkin

A book detailing the year-long course of 3 different college a cappella groups vying for awards, The Bubs (fully - The Tufts Beelzebubs), the UVA Hullabahoos, and the UofOregon Divisi.

Also - and quite unrelated - today is my 32^nd Birthday. I'm now 32, still a student, gladly taking money from my father to buy a lawnmower or even buy my own lunch, make less money than I did when I was 22, make less than half of my wife's salary, and am not even sure what I want to do with my life. ...Wait - isn't the midlife crisis supposed to be in your 40s?


No worries
Matt

I love XKCD. And I just discovered his blag. Check this entry out....

http://blag.xkcd.com/2008/02/27/ballpit-phase-ii/


Also, I really really want this robot:
http://xkcd.com/413/


And, as a lab aside - in order to complete the vast majority of my remaining experiments, I am waiting on some deliveries. It is 4:51pm EST, and they have not yet arrived. If they don't arrive in the next 9 minutes, I basically can't do much more of any lab work until Tuesday. I'm going to cry, but I don't know if it's from happiness/delirium, or melancholy.

No worries.
Matt

I just found out my very first first-author paper is accepted!

Commence the basking in the awesomeness that is me and my crizappy grad school research.

No worries.

Matt

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1135300/

Dollhouse - starring Eliza Dushku (aka Faith from Buffy), Amy Acker (aka Fred from Angel) and Tahmoh Penikett (Karl 'Helo' Agathon from Battlestar Galactica).

Starts this fall on Fox.

Damn, and i thought I was going to give up TV.....

So, it sounds like plans are go for new series Caprica, a prequel spin-off of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica.

Set just over 50 years before the attack of the Cylons against the colonies, as depicted in the miniseries, it will be a family/political intrigue drama, along the lines of 80s hit Dallas, not a space faring action adventure. The story of Caprica will follow 2 families, the Adamas (with now Admiral Adama I'm guessing as a pre-teen youngster), and the Graystones.

General idea is that the show will explain the origins of the first Cylon Centurions, and eventually their rebellion, resulting in the First Cylon War. Mr. & Mrs. Graystone are software designer and neurosurgeon, respectively. Their daughter is killed by terrorists, along with William Adama's mother and brother, and the Graystones meld their specialties to bring a digital AI imprint of their daughter back to life in a robotic form. This is the first attempt at a cylon, and the centurions stem from that. Joseph Adama (Bill's dad) is friends with the Graystones, but is disgusted by what they are doing, and I assume tries to stop them.

I don't know whether to be intrigued, or to say, "Hey, let's not meddle too much with a good thing, shall we?"

Thoughts?


No worries

Matt