Friday, May 30, 2014
Hello, Summer
Ben was having a rough afternoon after school (where he was one of the "Citizens of the Month" for May) and since I worked from home, as soon as I finished my end-of-the-week report we went out to the backyard.
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Week 58 & 59 (Final)
Sunday, 9:00 pm -- I think it's time to bring this experiment to a close. I've tried a number of different methods to address my chores and my to do list. I've treated them like a challenge to see how many I could do. I've tried to plan them like a sprint. I tried to make a game of it. I think the thing that's worked the best is when I can spend a few minutes the night beforehand reducing the list for the next day, looking at the stuff I should do. What I have learned in the past few distracted weeks that I'm more likely to get stuff done when I at least check my list. Also, if I can plan out longer periods with my family like we were doing a few years ago I'll have a better chance of success.
Book Review: Horde
Horde (Razorland #3) by Ann Aguirre
And we're right back in it. And there's a lot to be in. The final chapter of the Razorland triology could easily by two books. And it would have been fair to do so, if only it weren't the rule that this genre be in trilogies and not quadrilogies. I know I'm critical of long books, wishing that the authors had tightened up the writing, edited themselves and so on. (Kind of like I should have done with this sentence.)
However, in this case, I really wouldn't cut anything. But it does read as two acts. You know what's coming... the titular horde has been growing and something's gotta give. The uneasy tension or looming disaster has to get all resolved before the end of the book. But how? The odds seem too great.
Having seen first-hand what happened when the enclaves of New York refused to work together and then again what happened to Salvation, Deuce is convinced that the key to the survival of the human race is to band together to stand up to the horde. Sadly, this message is not an easy sell.
Deuce finds herself with a small army and they begin to travel from town to town to recruit for their army. The soldiers are weary, exhausted, too small to take on the horde and discouraged. Time for a change in tactics. All this is an opportunity for further growth of our young heroes as the battle looms ever closer.
I don't want to spoil the story for you, but it's what you expect and what you don't expect, a satisfying conclusion that's not entirely forgone. When all is said and done, you can see elements of the journey stretching back all the way to the first book, an author who knew where she was going and who delivers. (Which is sadly what I couldn't say for Mockingjay and Allegiant.)
Enclave (My Review, Amazon.com)
Outpost (My Review, Amazon.com)
Horde (Amazon.com)
And we're right back in it. And there's a lot to be in. The final chapter of the Razorland triology could easily by two books. And it would have been fair to do so, if only it weren't the rule that this genre be in trilogies and not quadrilogies. I know I'm critical of long books, wishing that the authors had tightened up the writing, edited themselves and so on. (Kind of like I should have done with this sentence.)
However, in this case, I really wouldn't cut anything. But it does read as two acts. You know what's coming... the titular horde has been growing and something's gotta give. The uneasy tension or looming disaster has to get all resolved before the end of the book. But how? The odds seem too great.
Having seen first-hand what happened when the enclaves of New York refused to work together and then again what happened to Salvation, Deuce is convinced that the key to the survival of the human race is to band together to stand up to the horde. Sadly, this message is not an easy sell.
Deuce finds herself with a small army and they begin to travel from town to town to recruit for their army. The soldiers are weary, exhausted, too small to take on the horde and discouraged. Time for a change in tactics. All this is an opportunity for further growth of our young heroes as the battle looms ever closer.
I don't want to spoil the story for you, but it's what you expect and what you don't expect, a satisfying conclusion that's not entirely forgone. When all is said and done, you can see elements of the journey stretching back all the way to the first book, an author who knew where she was going and who delivers. (Which is sadly what I couldn't say for Mockingjay and Allegiant.)
Enclave (My Review, Amazon.com
)Outpost (My Review, Amazon.com
)Horde (Amazon.com
)Friday, May 16, 2014
Feed Sift (05/16/2014)
ENGADGET -- Microsoft tests Live Tiles you can use without leaving the Start screen
SETH GODIN -- You are not the lowest common denominator
BASIC INSTRUCTIONS -- How to Utilize and Counteract Sarcasm
HUFFINGTON POST -- How to Get the Most Out of Your Netflix Subscription (h/t Lori)
I, CRINGELY -- Big Data is the new Artificial Intelligence
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
People pleaser
So I asked Siri if it would be raining tomorrow. (ok, it was a few weeks ago before the weather got awesome, I've just been a little delayed).
But still, this is goofy. Either the data's wrong or the presentation's wrong. I wonder if this comes from testing it only in Cupertino where it's always sunny.
But still, this is goofy. Either the data's wrong or the presentation's wrong. I wonder if this comes from testing it only in Cupertino where it's always sunny.
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Regret is a Choice #leadercast
I was reading #Leadercast tweets on Friday and came across this one. Ever since then, "regret" has been rolling around in my head, waiting for me to tease it out.
There was suddenly a flash of recognition. That's what I love about events like these - where you can get away from the typical every day and be forced to think differently. And so I've been thinking about regret. What it is, and what it isn't.
Regret is a choice.
I can be sad about things that have happened. Lament, despair, mourn. But regret is different. Regret is active, present tense. Regret is self-incrimination for a failure to act or for a failed act. I regret that I... I regret that I never... I wish I hadn't... If only I had had the courage to...
Armed with this knowledge, we can set about to right that which we regret. We may find ourselves in circumstances of our own making - whether years in the making, or ones that will take years to clean up. But they are ours.
If we can choose to regret, we can choose to change.
I'm choosing to change. I've lived too long feeling bad about circumstances that I wrongly felt were outside my control. They are in my control, I was just using excuses. The man was keeping me down, but I was the man.
Enough of that. Time to live without regrets.
So right, @TrinaKLee - I tell my daughter boredom is her choice and fail to realize regrets are of my own making/inaction. #leadercast
— James Lamb / tvjames (@tvjames) May 9, 2014
There was suddenly a flash of recognition. That's what I love about events like these - where you can get away from the typical every day and be forced to think differently. And so I've been thinking about regret. What it is, and what it isn't.
Regret is a choice.
I can be sad about things that have happened. Lament, despair, mourn. But regret is different. Regret is active, present tense. Regret is self-incrimination for a failure to act or for a failed act. I regret that I... I regret that I never... I wish I hadn't... If only I had had the courage to...
Armed with this knowledge, we can set about to right that which we regret. We may find ourselves in circumstances of our own making - whether years in the making, or ones that will take years to clean up. But they are ours.
If we can choose to regret, we can choose to change.
 |
| etsy.com |
I'm choosing to change. I've lived too long feeling bad about circumstances that I wrongly felt were outside my control. They are in my control, I was just using excuses. The man was keeping me down, but I was the man.
Enough of that. Time to live without regrets.
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Book Review: Enders (abandoned)
Enders by Lissa Price
Part 1, Starters (My Review) proposed an interesting twist on the post-apocalyptic world - a world-wide war waged using biological weapons killed the all the middle-adults. Children were inoculated, the elderly were inoculated, but due to a shortage of inoculations and the assumptions that the middle-aged would be robust enough to survive, they weren't inoculated and, well, died. Leaving a world of children and elderly. Children who had living grandparents were taken care of, but the rest of the children fended for themselves, trying to avoid capture and institutionalization.
Medical science advances allowed the elderly to live longer and a new technology, à la Dollhouse made it possible for a company to allow the affluent elderly to "rent" teenagers - allowing them to participate in activities that their elderly bodies couldn't handle, like sports and partying. (There were all kinds of rules about what you could and couldn't do and you put up a rather large bond against doing anything that would put your "host" in jeopardy. Microchips and wireless technology allowed the sleeping elderly to control the teens while their own brains were asleep. The microchips also prevented things like using the teen bodies to kill someone else.)
In Starters, a teenager, Callie, was forced by circumstance to enroll with the company that offered this service. But she began coming in and out of consciousness and was able to communicate with the person renting her - a grandmother hoping to find her granddaughter who had enrolled with the company and then gone missing. A conspiracy is uncovered where the company was planning to offer permanent rentals and by the end of the book the company is exposed and dismantled, but the company's founder has escaped.
In book two we learn that the microchips can also be triggered to explode, killing the host. Oh, and the chips can't be removed without killing the host. So the founder, now in hiding, is still able to reach out and access the hosts and is working to rebuild his "army."
It is an interesting concept, but I struggled to keep reading and finally gave up about 12 chapters in (of 26). I even tried reading the last few pages to see what the final outcome was and realized I just didn't care. I hate to say that, but it's the truth. There are more books than I'll ever be able to read in my lifetime, so I just decided it was time to set this one aside and move on to the next one. I won't like every book I read, but I feel really guilty when I set one aside. I've never had a book published so I feel like I shouldn't be in a position to judge a book (funny, I don't feel the same way about movies or television) but, yeah, it's time to move on.
Part 1, Starters (My Review) proposed an interesting twist on the post-apocalyptic world - a world-wide war waged using biological weapons killed the all the middle-adults. Children were inoculated, the elderly were inoculated, but due to a shortage of inoculations and the assumptions that the middle-aged would be robust enough to survive, they weren't inoculated and, well, died. Leaving a world of children and elderly. Children who had living grandparents were taken care of, but the rest of the children fended for themselves, trying to avoid capture and institutionalization.
Medical science advances allowed the elderly to live longer and a new technology, à la Dollhouse made it possible for a company to allow the affluent elderly to "rent" teenagers - allowing them to participate in activities that their elderly bodies couldn't handle, like sports and partying. (There were all kinds of rules about what you could and couldn't do and you put up a rather large bond against doing anything that would put your "host" in jeopardy. Microchips and wireless technology allowed the sleeping elderly to control the teens while their own brains were asleep. The microchips also prevented things like using the teen bodies to kill someone else.)
In Starters, a teenager, Callie, was forced by circumstance to enroll with the company that offered this service. But she began coming in and out of consciousness and was able to communicate with the person renting her - a grandmother hoping to find her granddaughter who had enrolled with the company and then gone missing. A conspiracy is uncovered where the company was planning to offer permanent rentals and by the end of the book the company is exposed and dismantled, but the company's founder has escaped.
In book two we learn that the microchips can also be triggered to explode, killing the host. Oh, and the chips can't be removed without killing the host. So the founder, now in hiding, is still able to reach out and access the hosts and is working to rebuild his "army."
It is an interesting concept, but I struggled to keep reading and finally gave up about 12 chapters in (of 26). I even tried reading the last few pages to see what the final outcome was and realized I just didn't care. I hate to say that, but it's the truth. There are more books than I'll ever be able to read in my lifetime, so I just decided it was time to set this one aside and move on to the next one. I won't like every book I read, but I feel really guilty when I set one aside. I've never had a book published so I feel like I shouldn't be in a position to judge a book (funny, I don't feel the same way about movies or television) but, yeah, it's time to move on.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)