This has been messier than I planned. The blog is getting neglected in favor of life. Go figure! ;) Friday we had what was close to the last major dental work on my wife so Avrora and I hung out at the dentist's office for several hours while my wife had waaaay too much fun. We just have to go back for her to have a crown cemented. We're going to do that on that day that *I* go in for my dentistry fun. I don't have as much to do or even close to it really. However, I still have work to be done that I put fof because my wife's work was so extensive.
I am finished with Furious Gulf. This was a touch disappointing. You could see some retcons underway here. The first was that the Family Bishop were giants for people: the way around aging according to Benford was that people would continue to grow much like repltiles do. We never leave adolescence in a sense. There was no hint of anything like this before, really. There was also no hint of a lot of other stuff. Something that has bothered me some is that the Bishops are supposed to be 'techno nomads', yet there's no hint that they have any sort of cultural shift and difference between them and, frankly, Americans put in a similar situation. There are more differences in my wife's native culture and the USA than these people that have all these differences in technology and lifestyle, nevermind prolly just basic life experiences. I'm sorry I'm not being more specific, but I don't have the book with me. I want to get at least a minimal thought and commentary out here since I've been so neglectful in writing and my daughter is eating my free time. The book itself is readable, but not anything that's really going to be memorable. Pick it up at a used book store or library.
I am currently reading the home building book I mentioned earlier. I went in thinking I knew nothing about the subject - loans, inspections, etc. - other than the basic construction (done a good chunk of it through remodeling my parent's old house with my Dad) and architecture aspects (been reading a lot here for some time). It seems that I have picked up 90% of it already from just reading online and through conversations. Not bad. I'm almost half way through (it's not a big book, really). I'm feeling pretty good about that actually.
Speaking of the house, I have a design. It appears that it would work with some doing. I'll have to walk through the whole kit and kaboodle. It's long and narrow to fit the lot. I've always wanted to name a house. It seems to give it more character. Other designs have picked up other names over timea s I played with different layouts and whatnot. I like using latin for this. It's a little classy IMO and makes for an interesting tidbit for the home. Ever since I started rereading Tolkien to go along with the movies when they came out. I was joking with friends that I ought to name my home Baird-Dur (instead of Barad-Dur, fortress of Sauron). So something a little Tolkien in the name would be cool too. On top of that! I also like comparing the homes to animals. Long and narrow in this case made me think of a serpent. My wife hates snakes, bugs, and especially spiders, so 'serpens' is out: also means that there's no chance that any child we have is going to get to have a snake in the house as a pet...*sighs*. At the moment, I am favoring 'Minas Tursiops'.
Once I am done with the building book I am going to go get a copy of Baxter's Ring. I am willing to give Baxter another try after Evolution. That last one was interesting, but not quite as good as it could have been. It was a gut wrencher in some ways - the future posthistorical aspects, really - and just unbelievable in others. I'd like to see the concept of this done right...but since someone has already done it, I doubt we will. My reading style if you haven't noticed is to place a fiction book between each nonfiction. It allows for a mental rinse and spit after each book.
Next month looks like I am going to need to be using everything nonconstruction related to be the between stuff that fiction normally does. That's not to say that I am not going to get some SF books. I think Stross needs another outing and so does Friedman since the paperback came out of her latest...even though its not as good as the past ones supposedly.
I am finished with Furious Gulf. This was a touch disappointing. You could see some retcons underway here. The first was that the Family Bishop were giants for people: the way around aging according to Benford was that people would continue to grow much like repltiles do. We never leave adolescence in a sense. There was no hint of anything like this before, really. There was also no hint of a lot of other stuff. Something that has bothered me some is that the Bishops are supposed to be 'techno nomads', yet there's no hint that they have any sort of cultural shift and difference between them and, frankly, Americans put in a similar situation. There are more differences in my wife's native culture and the USA than these people that have all these differences in technology and lifestyle, nevermind prolly just basic life experiences. I'm sorry I'm not being more specific, but I don't have the book with me. I want to get at least a minimal thought and commentary out here since I've been so neglectful in writing and my daughter is eating my free time. The book itself is readable, but not anything that's really going to be memorable. Pick it up at a used book store or library.
I am currently reading the home building book I mentioned earlier. I went in thinking I knew nothing about the subject - loans, inspections, etc. - other than the basic construction (done a good chunk of it through remodeling my parent's old house with my Dad) and architecture aspects (been reading a lot here for some time). It seems that I have picked up 90% of it already from just reading online and through conversations. Not bad. I'm almost half way through (it's not a big book, really). I'm feeling pretty good about that actually.
Speaking of the house, I have a design. It appears that it would work with some doing. I'll have to walk through the whole kit and kaboodle. It's long and narrow to fit the lot. I've always wanted to name a house. It seems to give it more character. Other designs have picked up other names over timea s I played with different layouts and whatnot. I like using latin for this. It's a little classy IMO and makes for an interesting tidbit for the home. Ever since I started rereading Tolkien to go along with the movies when they came out. I was joking with friends that I ought to name my home Baird-Dur (instead of Barad-Dur, fortress of Sauron). So something a little Tolkien in the name would be cool too. On top of that! I also like comparing the homes to animals. Long and narrow in this case made me think of a serpent. My wife hates snakes, bugs, and especially spiders, so 'serpens' is out: also means that there's no chance that any child we have is going to get to have a snake in the house as a pet...*sighs*. At the moment, I am favoring 'Minas Tursiops'.
Once I am done with the building book I am going to go get a copy of Baxter's Ring. I am willing to give Baxter another try after Evolution. That last one was interesting, but not quite as good as it could have been. It was a gut wrencher in some ways - the future posthistorical aspects, really - and just unbelievable in others. I'd like to see the concept of this done right...but since someone has already done it, I doubt we will. My reading style if you haven't noticed is to place a fiction book between each nonfiction. It allows for a mental rinse and spit after each book.
Next month looks like I am going to need to be using everything nonconstruction related to be the between stuff that fiction normally does. That's not to say that I am not going to get some SF books. I think Stross needs another outing and so does Friedman since the paperback came out of her latest...even though its not as good as the past ones supposedly.
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