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Book Review: SEVENEVES by Neal Stephenson
On some levels, I am still processing Neal Stephenson’s Seveneves, despite the fact that I finished it almost a week ago, and have read another book and a half (granted much shorter books than Seveneves) since then. I think this is because I have, in essence, two different reactions. Reaction one is the simplest. Stephenson remains a wonderful story teller. And the story of the survival of humans after a disaster that should have destroyed the entire species is one fitting to the scope of his talents. (Readme, on the other hand, while a very long book, felt like too small a story, no matter how great the characters were.)…
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I Think I am Having a Mid-Life Crisis
I think I am having a mid-life crisis, perhaps an early mid-life crisis, as I am still a few months away from turning 40, but one none the less. I have noticed recently that I seem to have a strong desire for something, anything, new in my life – 2nd child, 3rd dog, new car… Now, before anyone panics, let me say very clearly that I am perfectly happy both with my husband and my job. Those parts of my life, I do not want to change. Outside of those two things, though. it is like I am looking to fill some sort of gap with something new, reminiscent of…
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Book Review: Among Others by Jo Walton
Not long ago, I was looking for something to read. Everything I knew I wanted was not yet available from my library. I had lots of holds, but nothing to actually read. So I started combing lists of books from my friends and searching for random “what to read” posts. Somewhere in there, I came across Among Others by Jo Walton. Among Others won the 2011 Nebula and the 2012 Hugo awards for best novel, so I almost certainly came across it in a best of SciFi/Fantasy list. And I can see how you could make an argument that Among Others is an urban fantasy. There are fantastical elements to…
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Geek Culture for my Dogs
A couple of weeks ago, when I gave the dogs a bath, I realized that Junebug’s collar was broken. The clasp no longer worked. We had to make the collar as big as we could and slip it off over her head. This was not unexpected. The clasp on Larry’s old collar (bought at the same time) had broken just a few months before. At that time, I had made a quick dash to the pet store, saw some collars on clearance, picked out a blue-ish one for him, and we were good to go. I spent less than two minutes on the process. We have since moved. So this…
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Book Review: The Peripheral by William Gibson
Just finished reading the new William Gibson book, The Peripheral. I am honestly never certain how to review the newer Gibson books (generally starting with Pattern Recognition). Gibson is one of those authors who the reader must trust. You would think that given the length of his books compared to say, Stephenson’s books, it would be fairly easy to do so. But you have to trust Stephenson through only half the book (roughly) before everything really starts coming together. You often have to trust Gibson through 90%. And while that’s still fewer pages, it can be really frustrating. At the same time, Gibson places absolute trust in the reader. He…
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Thoughts on Pride
I am a white, straight, cisgender female with an above average intelligence from a middle class family that valued education. I have more privilege than some white, straight, cisgender men out there. That does not mean I am not proud of who I am as a person. It does not mean I am not proud of my accomplishments. I have worked hard to get where I am. I have made some difficult decisions. I absolutely am proud of that. But am I proud of being white? Am I proud of being straight? Am I proud of being cisgender? No. I have done nothing to be those things. I was simply…
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House Update
I have not really posted about the house buying process since we found the house we wanted to put an offer in on. So here is a bit of a timeline of the process. We put in the offer on Tuesday night. Our offer was apparently nearly identical to the other offer that was put in. Thanks to our real estate agent suggesting we put in a personal letter about our family and a picture, our offer was the one chosen. Thanks to email and the ability to sign documents online, they counter offered, and we accepted, and everything was finalized by 10pm that night. After that, it was a…
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Mothers’ Day is Complicated
Mothers’ Day (and Fathers’ Day, too) is complicated. Can we all just agree on that to begin with? There are mothers, step-mothers, women who have acted like mothers in our lives. There are mothers we talk to every day, and mothers we only call on Mothers’ Day and major holidays. There are mothers who have passed, recently or not, who we can never talk to again. Mothers we never wish to speak to again, by our own choice, because of what they have put us through. There are families with two moms in the home, and families where surrogates were used. And let’s not forget the single fathers or male…
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5/3 House Hunting: The House
The plan had been to look at open houses on Saturday, and to keep Sunday free for stuff around our house. But a little after 2:00 in the afternoon, we hit a bit of a lull. We had repaired the garage door (one of the springs had broken), and done as much lawn mowing as we could at the time (the battery for the mower was recharging). So I hopped online and glanced to see what houses were open, and were there any I wanted to go take a look at. I found one, and said to C – Hey, mind if I go look at an open house. He…
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5/2 House Hunting: House 4
House 4: $445,000 3 bed / 1.75 bath / 1,560 square feet / 5,508 square foot lot / 1 car carport The Good: Even though this house was only about a block off of highway 99, the neighborhood felt very residential, and I would not have been worried about the kids playing outside. The back yard was dog ready. There was one point of failure (a gap dogs could have gone under) which the current owners had already blocked with a log. The living room area was nice and large, plenty big enough to have people over or to play video games, even using the Kinnect. The kitchen had been…
