Happy reading camper.

This is not a review.  But I do want to say that I really, really like my Kobo eReader.  I have started reading  Plague Ship by Andre Norton and I am thoroughly enjoying the experience.  It seems quite appropriate to be reading Science Fiction by means of something so futuristic.  I haven't read anything by Andre Norton in many, many years.  I picked-up an electronic version of Plague Ship for free (legally) and couldn't be more pleased.


One other eReader related thing I will mention now – Calibre is a great piece of related software.  To put it broadly, Calibre (also free) is to my eReader as iTunes is to my iPod.  More on this later.


Oh, and yes, I did finish All the Kings Men.  It was a worthwhile read, but I stand by my initial assessment, too many words by 10% or more.

Re-hammered!

We are getting seriously re-hammered tonight.  Intense rain and thunder that sounds like someone keeps dropping empty tanker trucks on the roof.


I am not bothered by thunderstorms.  In general, my attitude is "Bring it on!" even if I am caught outside in one.  I find them invigorating.  I am not sure if Max is unbothered or simply oblivious – either way, he's definitely not frightened.

Hammered!

Well, the Elementals are having a grand time this afternoon.  Here at the house, we are being hammered by a severe thunderstorm.  At my location we are being seriously pounded by lightning that is right on top of us and rain that is falling so hard you can barely make out the houses across the street.  And, of course, there is the earthquake in Virginia.  The earthquake comes as no surprise.  I was feeling foggy and anxious all day, but felt much better since around 13:30, or shortly after the quake hit.


I must take a moment to mention my visit to the main transfer station for the local bus system.  I had to go out and take care of a couple errands, and ended up waiting for the bus home from downtown.  I discovered an especially vile stench there today.  It was something like rancid sauerkraut mixed with extra nasty diaper.  Whenever the breeze from the West died down, I felt like I might die from the odor.  I was actually grateful for the smoke from all the tobacco addicts, since it helped cover the truly awful reek of the week.  Well done Sarasota!

Hip deep in verbiage.

Well, I am over 300 pages into All the King's Men, and nothing has really changed.  It is a good book, but overlong by a fair amount.  I can see why some people would start reading the book and then toss it aside saying, "The hell with it.  Lemme watch the movie instead."  Then all they have to do is decide which filmed version to watch.  (Have a preference?)


Today I finished getting my five job contacts for the week.  Governor Demon Seed's new rules force people to make five job contacts a week now, or else your unemployment benefits are gone.  So now people have to apply to jobs that make no sense because they have no related experience or skills, just to please the Governor.  Somehow, this makes him a "job creator" — or some such tea party nonsense.


What I think is really going on is that the state legislature was put up to the new requirements by the lobbyists for the companies that do all that personality testing for other companies.  Anybody in the job market knows exactly what I'm talking about… the endlessly repetitive tests we are forced to take that ask you six ways from Sunday if you ever take any time off from work, or even better, use 40 out of 75 questions to try and trick you into agreeing that it is okay to steal from your employer.  My guess is that these companies get paid by the head for this testing.  So, they get the governor and legislature to force people to, in effect, take more tests per week, driving up revenue and profits for the testing companies.  Nice work if you can get it.


And Governor Hell Spawn wonders why his approval ratings smell almost as bad as the foul, putrid breath he uses to tell us how wonderful he is.  Makes me wanna puke.


But I'm not bitter.
How was your day?

Slipping into first gear.

This is my first post on this blog.  Decided to start afresh here, especially since my old site will be going away… no longer have the money to pay for hosting services and the price here is right.


I am reading All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren.  I have read exactly two chapters, which translates into 160+ pages already.  That bit of numerical analysis should tell you a lot about the book.  Now don't get me wrong, I like the book and no doubt it deserved its Pulitzer and whatever other accolades; but it has a good 10% or more too many words, at least in the first two chapters.  Makes me feel like Warren had finished an expensive seminar on similes just before he started writing the book.  Oh, and he must have found a brand new favorite thesaurus about that time as well.  Well done Robert!


Coming up on my reading list is The Making of the President 1968 by Theodore H. White.  I think now is a good time to review some election history what with the presidential election cycle getting into full swing.  Not sure if it will definitely be the next thing I read, since acquiring the book requires money.  I have plenty of other books I can read, currently lurking in the memory of the Kobo eReader that I have been blessed with.  So you can keep an eye open for a review of the device as well in some future post here.


It feels good to be writing here, hopefully this will spill over into also resuming work on the book. 


One last thing: a plug for A. Parkers Books and Book Bazaar where I bought my copy of All the King's Men and have, over the years, purchased numerous books about Japan.  There's a great bunch of folks there.


That's all for today, more to come...