I died of a snakebite.



You died of a snakebite on Oregon Trail.

How'd you die on Oregon Trail?

Take Other Caffeine Nebula Quizzes

The server is down at the moment, which means my internet connection is also off. This doesn't leave me much to do. It is excessively quiet here today. Most of the staff are in a diversity training for the better part of the day. Those that aren't are at a job fair till the end of the day. This leaves a total of three people here. Including me. Four if you count the guy working on the computers, and he wont be here long.

I stopped at the comic store just up the street from work yesterday. It's only the... third time I've been there in the last year and a half. It is a very very small store. They don't even carry magazine boxes. They we're however having a sale on all their CCGs. I picked up a couple of packs of Pirates of the Barbary Coast, and pulled the pirate character Wesley. As in the Dread Pirate Wesley! The painting even looks like him, except that it has a little more lip fuzz. I'll link to the pictures as soon as I have internet connectivity again. Linked!

I am very sadly behind on my reading. As it is the end of April I should be around book 16. I am near the end of book 11.

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Books 9 & 10
John Adams
By David McCullough
A very very good read! An honest look at the man who is probably my greatest historical hero. He found himself, and put himself in the center of every major political event from the trial of the British soldiers in Boston to the placing George Washington at the head of the continental army, to serving as ambassador to several major European nations, to being the first vice-president and then the second president, and being the father of the 6th president. Through all that he ran a farm, wrote volumes of letters, and had one of the most solid loving marriage to one of the most amazing women of her day.

STARRISE AT CORRIVALE (Star Drive: Harbinger Trilogy book 1)
by Diane Duane 2.5/4
I've been a fan of Diane Duane's books for a while now, from her Young Wizards series to her Star Trek novels, and this one, while not outstanding, was a solid into to the Star*Drive universe. I've got the roleplaying books, and have even played it a few times years ago, but I decided to hunt down this series when I ran across books 2 & 3 at a used book store. The story was your basic falsely accused hero trying to redeem himself. The aliens were different enough and fleshed out enough to be more then humans in funny masks. It was definitely good enough to continue on to the next book.
One of the biggest disappointments was the surprising number of typos, and the poor setting of the margins (or poor printing of those pages) that made a few pages difficult to read. I don't know if that last bit was just my printing of the book or all of them, but it made me bend the spine more I like doing.

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Audio Books!
I am almost done listening to Portuguese Irregular Verbs by the author of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. While enjoyable, it didn't have quite the same charm as his other series.
I have also finished listening to Portrait In Sepia. Good story, though going through 3 generations kinda took a while.

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Lastly I can not believe how much this miniature sold for!

Xenocide
By Orson Scott Card 3/4
Book 3 in the Ender series, and the first one that I read. Enders Game and Speaker For The Dead I listened to the audiobooks. I have to say that I think this was the weakest book so far, yet in such a strong series even the weakest still proves to be a good read and well worth it. And like every other series I am currently in the middle of, I look forward to the next book!

1776
Written and Read by David McCullough Audiobook
At once brief and yet comprehensive, this is the story of George Washington's struggle on the battlefield against the greatest military force in history. From the Colonists stunning victory at Boston, to their near fatal defeat at New York, and wrapping up with the shocking turnabout at Trenton this is a wonderful introduction to the military aspects of the early revolution. Now I just need to finish up the last 200 or so pages of John Adams...

Currently Reading: Star Trek Deep Space 9: Prophecy and Changes

Oh, and I finally get to use my new Book Wyrm icon!

X-posted to 50bookchallenge

Last night I finished my 8th book of the year: The Planets by Dava Sorbel. Just prior to that I had finished Lord Fouls Bane. In aiming for 50 books this year, I am a little behind. Not so far as to make the goal impossible, but definitely harder.

Today I finally finished listening to The Thralls Tale. This was the longest audio book I have listened to, in both actual time it took to sit through it, and in the amount if time it felt like. There was a lot of description where it really wasn't needed, and not enough in other areas that would have helped me visualize it more. I felt bad for Katla, a Christian slave who was raped, and had a silent psycho daughter, and only brief moments of happiness throughout the whole book. I hated the daughter Bibrau, and Thorbjorg the Seeress and mistress of the other two... I felt bad for her, not because of all the tragedy she goes through, but because she witnesses and suffers so harshly from the coming of Christianity upon her shore. I'm glad I finished it, and I even liked the way it ended. However I think that it could have been trimmed down without losing much in the process.

Continuing on the topic of books, moving them is going to be a lot of effort. Both tigergladys and I have large libraries, and not much overlap within. I have already dropped off several bags to the Book Barn. I know that I have packed at least 30 boxes of books in Niantic. I also know there will be more. My Role Playing and Wargaming rule books have yet to be packed, and I have a shelf full of them... Plus there are all of my toys, miniatures, games, and assorted other crap that I have accumulated over the last 25 years.

And for something completely unrelated, a new user icon! My favourite quote from The 10th Kingdom.

Hope everyone's day is a little more interesting then mine...

Peace, Love, & Hope

I just finished listening to Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. Wow. Really wow! The readers that performed this book were excellent, and I enjoyed how different readers read during different characters sections, and the way they interacted when they did. On top of the performers was the story itself. I can't believe that I missed this one when I was younger!! Why didn't someone tell me about this sooner?? This book was the Sci-fi story that I was looking for! And I can't wait till the sequel arrives at the library so I can listen to it too. After that I shall have to read the rest of the books in the series, as they are only available on tape, not on CD. I don't feel this is a hardship, for if they are as well written as Ender's Game, I shall devour them!

More then just enjoying good books, I am finding that audiobooks are a great way to enjoy my morning and evening commute. It is giving me 2 hours a day of literature that I might have otherwise skipped over. For instance I listened to Skinny Dip, a book I would have otherwise skipped in favour of something in the sci-fi/fantasy or mystery or historical genres. But I really liked it! And I look forward to exploring all new books that I might otherwise would have skipped.

I think that it's sad that today there aren't any radio dramas on the air. NPR on the weekends is the best that is currently available with shows like "This American Life" and "A Prairie Home Companion" but they don't help me during the week when I do the majority of my driving. I can't save them to a CD and listen to them at will... not yet anyway. And while I do enjoy getting my news from NPR I tend to do that during the day. So, I shall continue to enjoy audio books!

Anyone have any recommendations?