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December 30, 2008
Pictures!
A couple people have asked when I was going to get around to uploading more pictures.
Here, have some.
Posted by dberger at 9:31 PM
December 24, 2008
Cabin Fever
Another couple inches of snow since I went to bed last night, it's still snowing, and they're predicting it will continue into the late afternoon with continued snow showers tomorrow and Friday.
I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't get a shovel (we don't have a snow shovel, so a flat metal shovel will have to do) and get some of the snow off the back deck. It's all fun and games 'till the deck collapses...
Posted by dberger at 9:00 AM
December 22, 2008
How's the Weather?
It snowed all day yesterday - we've got a good foot on the ground. It didn't snow today, and the temperature barely nudged above freezing for a few hours before dropping back into the mid 20's tonight.
They're predicting continued cold and chances of snow through Christmas day, with rain during the day and sub-freezing temperatures over night.
At this rate, I'll be working from home 'till the April thaw
Posted by dberger at 9:28 PM
Nylon Angel
Just finished the first Parrish Plessis novel - Nylon Angel. I considered a couple times putting it down, but while this may be damning by faint praise, Marianne de Pierres managed to make the plot and setting interesting enough that I stuck with it to the rather unsatisfying end. The characters seemed flat and mostly uninteresting, and I didn't find her particular blend of cyberpunk to be particularly compelling.
I don't think I'll be back for more - if I need a cyberpunk fix I'd rather re-read Neuromancer or Altered Carbon.
Posted by dberger at 9:17 PM
December 21, 2008
Happy Anniversary
To my love, my partner in crime, and my best friend - thank you for another year.
Happy Anniversary, gorgeous.
Posted by dberger at 8:55 AM | Comments (1)
The Strategy of Conflict
Years ago, when I was first exposed to Game Theory, I was quickly disillusioned with the state of the art. Certainly there were brilliant contributors, but the games that could be studied seemed completely arbitrary and so far abstracted from "real life" that I doubted anything practical could come from the exercise.
The Logic of Life made mention of Thomas Schelling, and I added his The Strategy of Conflict to my library hold queue. It arrived several days later, and I've been working through it on-and-off since, finishing it last night.
Continue reading "The Strategy of Conflict"
Posted by dberger at 8:39 AM
December 19, 2008
Hunkering Down
The National Weather Service is predicting a serious windstorm for the eastern Puget Sound lowlands tomorrow. Gusts up to 90mph in some places. They're warning that this could knock out power in some areas for days, perhaps a week or more.
We've got plenty of food, and two gas fireplaces for heat if the power does fail. Candles and flashlights, and a new gas stove in the kitchen.
Here goes nothing.
Posted by dberger at 4:00 PM
December 18, 2008
Snow
It never snows in Seattle.
'cept is has every year for the past four years.
And at present the snow that never falls is 4" deep on the road outside the house.
And King County owns like three snow plows.
Posted by dberger at 12:24 PM
December 17, 2008
An Unexpected Pleasure
I heard Feed The Animals from Girl Talk mentioned on NPR (!) last night, and the brief sample caught my attention. Pretty far afield of my normal listening range, but when I learned you could download first, pay later, I grabbed the album and gave it a spin.
Wow.
I'm totally giving him money.
Posted by dberger at 1:29 PM
On "Christmas Songs"
Dawnise likes Christmas music, and over the years we've reached the agreement that she can start filling the house with the "sounds of the season" on the 1st of December. As an attempt at self-preservation, I've bought her a bunch of christmas albums over the years, trying to add some variety to our musical diet for the month of December.
Continue reading "On "Christmas Songs""
Posted by dberger at 1:08 PM
The Worst Storm that Never Was
For most of the week, the National Weather Service has had a standing Winter Storm Watch for the Puget Sound. Yesterday it turned into a Winter Storm Warning, 90% chance of snow last night, 90% chance of snow today, and 40% chance of snow tomorrow.
A bunch of schools announced snow days.
Myself and many of my co-workers are working from home to avoid the inevitable traffic snarls and potential stranding you get when you mix ice and snow with an ill-prepared municipality, a lack of deicing/snow plow equipment, and hilly roads.
And of course, as of 12:30, I've seen a grand total of 5 flakes.
At this rate it's going to go down as the "not-a-storm of '08."
Posted by dberger at 12:19 PM
December 16, 2008
Cold...
It's been dipping into the low double digits over night, and not climbing above freezing during the day for the past couple days. There's more snow predicted for tomorrow and possibly Thursday, and high temps aren't expected to climb above freezing 'till Saturday.
It's not supposed to be this cold here.
Posted by dberger at 7:22 AM
December 14, 2008
"Nothing sucks like an Electrolux"
As I mentioned elsewhere our vacuum of many years recently self-destructed, so we headed to Costco armed with the 2009 Consumer Reports buying guide to see what they had available.
Continue reading ""Nothing sucks like an Electrolux""
Posted by dberger at 8:22 PM
The 10th Annual Cookie Overload Event
It's hard to believe this was the tenth year Dawnise and I (mostly Dawnise) have been throwing a holiday cookie exchange, but "reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away."
Continue reading "The 10th Annual Cookie Overload Event"
Posted by dberger at 7:57 PM | Comments (1)
December 7, 2008
Hmmmm
Posted by dberger at 10:20 PM
December 5, 2008
Think Outside the (Virtual)Box
My windows notebook started having kittens this morning - and since I was planning to work from home, and can't VPN in from a non-Windows OS, I decided it was time to revisit the state of virtualization on Linux.
Continue reading "Think Outside the (Virtual)Box"
Posted by dberger at 3:09 PM
December 3, 2008
Wanderlust
I may not have been in a rush to read it, but I stumbled across Wanderlust, the sequel to Grimmspace, at the library the other day.
A better book than the first - more nuanced plot, more interesting characters, less predictable.
Perhaps it's just 'cause I'm coming off of a dissapointment, but I liked it. It still has something of a derivative feel to it, but most Sci-Fi does - and the mix was at least entertaining.
Posted by dberger at 10:01 PM
A Belated Thanksgiving/Birthday Update
My birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year, and Dawnise left it to me to decide which would "win."
Continue reading "A Belated Thanksgiving/Birthday Update"
Posted by dberger at 8:03 PM | Comments (1)
December 2, 2008
Life's Too Short
After giving him a hundred pages to "get somewhere" I've returned Anathem to the library unread.
I gave him a couple hundred pages to convince me before I gave up on the first book in the Baroque Cycle. I think I'm just removing him from my "must read" list.
Posted by dberger at 3:20 PM