Monday, July 06, 2009

Facebook & Twitter

For those of you who don't already know this, most of my recent online activity has been on Facebook and Twitter. I haven't been posting to my blog here that often. If you want to know what I've been up to, check me out there.

Sean on Facebook
Sean on Twitter

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Postponed to 2010

I haven’t made any progress on reading these this year. I’m going to push the goal to 2010 so I’m not fighting with an unusual reading volume already from reading 100 books this year.

June, 2009 11 Books

1. The Face of Chaos, Anthology
2. The Aliens Among Us, James White
3. Ambulance Ship, James White
4. Sector General, James White
5. Star Healer, James White
6. Code Blue – Emergency, James White
7. Tower Treasure (Hardy Boys #1), Franklin W. Dixon
8. Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris
9. Living Dead in Dallas, Charlaine Harris
10. Club Dead, Charlaine Harris
11. The House on the Cliff (Hardy Boys #2), Franklin W. Dixon

I made up for the short month in May with a very long month in June.

I know I read many of the Hardy Boys books when I was 10 or so but I can’t say I’m a real fan now.

James White’s Sector General stories and novels are awesome and I’m enjoying re-reading them after 15+ years.

I started the Charlaine Harris vampire books when I decided to watch HBO’s True Blood. So far, the books are better than the show.

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

May, 2009 - 5 Books

1. Shadows of Sanctuary, Anthology
2. Eclipse, Stephenie Meyer
3. Breaking Dawn, Stephenie Meyer
4. Storm Season, Anthology
5. The Subtle Knife, Philip Pullman

I spent a significant portion of this month reading a couple of computer books for work. I haven’t finished any of them yet but they put me behind this month and I have some ground to make up.

Friday, May 01, 2009

April, 2009

1. A Spell for Chameleon, Piers Anthony
2. Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak
3. The Way of Shadows, Brent Weeks
4. Shadow’s Edge, Brent Weeks
5. Beyond the Shadows, Brent Weeks
6. The Burning Wheel Fantasy Roleplaying System, Luke Crane and Dan Abram
7. The Burning Wheel Character Burner, Luke Crane and Dan Abram
8. The Stone Rose (Doctor Who), Jac Rayner
9. Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn, Anthology

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Gwen B. Giles (Catalpa) Park.

Completely by accident, Michele and I discovered a park we had never noticed before. We got diverted away from our planned route by a marathon of all things and there, driving through a neighborhood we almost never visit, on a road we never drive, was a vision of everything Sean in a park. I vowed on the spot to visit this park. I kept my vow.

I'm on call this week. I was on the phone with customers until 11:30 PM. At 12:30 AM, I finally got to sleep. At 2:30 AM, I woke to the phone ringing, again. I took multiple calls through the morning and at 6:30 AM, I headed to work, since I knew I wouldn't get any decent sleep. On the way, driving alone for the first time in a really long time, I decided to stop by the park. I took lots of pictures. I also scraped my shins, bruised my right heel and got impressive grass and mud stains on my pants. It was great.

I don't have the ability to get my pictures off my phone right now but I did order a data cable for my phone so soon, I promise. These pictures should be worth the wait.

I'll try to catalog a few of the features that have me drooling over this park. A large wooden play structure, probably 30 feet long or more, with lots of room for climbing, ducking, etc. Numerous formations of short, wide, wooden posts stuck in the ground, some in lines, others in patterns, and still others in clusters. A couple rails at 3 inches above the ground, for balancing on. Dual monkey bars. 3 foot diameter concrete pipes for crawling through and climbing over. A play stage coach and a play viking ship and still another regular jungle gym feature. Large metal post swings, suitable for climbing on. Two sets of great stairs, one with huge parkour potential. Several small cannon emplacements. And throughout it all, large 2 foot to 4 foot boulders bordering everything, just perfect for climbing and running and jumping on. And I guarantee I've left some things out. This place just begs to be played at.

And speaking of, I managed to persuade 3 people from my office to go back at lunch today. It is frustrating that I can't do the monkey bars but I had a blast climbing all over everything, running through the boulders and just making a fool of myself. I could spent months there just playing for exercise.

Monday, April 27, 2009

AFK - Away from Blog

It has been ages since I last posted here. I've been riding the slow train down the slippery slope of laziness and gluttony. Who knows what I weigh today. I can't do a single pull up anymore. I haven't tried a frog stand in ages. I can usually do a single ring dip though and I've been swinging the pendulum slowly back towards activity. In fact, I just did 6 flights down, 20 flights up, 14 flights down of stairs. It is nice to work in a tall building.

On the leisure front, I committed to trying to read 100 books this year. I also committed to trying to read 4 classics this year. So far, it looks like I'm on pace for the 100 book year but I'm woefully behind on the classics. I've been tracking my progress on All Consuming and 43 Things. I find it takes a conscious effort to keep reading and that it forces me to read at times when I might have watched television or played games on the computer or a console. If I can keep my pace, it will be a rewarding year but I don't know if I will do it again.

On the work front, I'm on call at Voxitas again this week. I hope I can get some sleep. The last time I was on call, just as secondary, it hurt my sleep schedule enough to affect my ability to focus and think and may have caused me to get sick last week. Also, TradeHarbor is coming along. There is still hope that they will make it and I might recoup some of my lost income from last year.

A little while ago, we went on a road trip to Colorado to visit one of Michele's friends. I got to play on top of Pike's Peak. Michele didn't take the altitude very well but I loved it. I also found a new cheese, instantly my new favorite, and promptly lost the label so I don't know what it was.

I recently started Netflix again and I'm using their extensive Doctor Who library to do a thorough survey of Doctor Who from the earliest Doctor. There is a lot of material that has been lost but I'm excited to see what I can. So far, the first Doctor doesn't impress me tremendously but I'm enjoying 1960's television production values, especially as I watch the special features on the various disks.

Hopefully it won't be so long before I post here again. If your reading, drop me a line. I'd love to know if anyone gets this.

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

March, 2009 - 7 Books

1. Intergalactic Medicine Show, Orson Scott Card Anthology
2. Ducks: Guide to the Durulz, Bryan Steele
3. GURPS Magic, Steve Jackson
4. Mage-Guard of Hamor, L. E. Modesitt Jr.
5. Callahan’s Con, Spider Robinson
6. Maxnome Foe, John Ringo
7. The Jennifer Morgue, Charles Stross

(I finished 25 books in the first quarter (10, 8, 7) so I am on pace for 100 books this year. I seem to be slowing down though. And so far, my goal of 4 classics this year is way, way off.

February, 2009 - 8 Books

1. Thieves’ World, Anthology
2. Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card
3. Ender’s Shadow, Orson Scott Card
4. Shadow of the Hegemon, Orson Scott Card
5. Shadow Puppets, Orson Scott Card
6. Shadow of the Giant, Orson Scott Card
7. Ender in Exile, Orson Scott Card
8. First Meetings, Orson Scott Card