Absurd Singularity

I decided this was more of a spew than a blog entry so I moved it to the appropriate place.

Devon's a real bundle of joy. I would like to think for the most part he's a pretty happy kid. Baby requirements are generally pretty simple. The only problem of course is when one or more of these requirements suddenly need to be fulfilled at 4 in the morning.

Sometimes I wonder if Devon's really a cute baby or if I'm just under the influence of the "parent delusion" where every parent thinks their own child is the cutest, most beautiful baby in the world. Pre-Devon, my view on babies was exactly like this guy's. Erin or my mom would be looking at my cousin's kids and commenting on how they look like this or that while I'd just be, "Eh. It's a baby."

Normally we cover him up with a blanket when we put him in his bouncer but lately he's taken to kicking furiously when that happens so that the blanket slides off. All the while giggling happily. Apparently it's a big game to him. I'll keep covering him with the blanket and he'll just keep kicking it off with a smile on his face. It's funny as hell but I'm not going to be responsible if you catch a cold kid.

went to my 1 week post-LASIK exam today and passed with flying colors. Both eyes are now 20/20 and they don't expect to see me back for another 6 months. I did ask them why they kept advising me to use the Artificial Tears eyedrops even though my eyes don't feel dry and the doc replied that because during the operation, potentially a lot of nerves in the area are damaged so even though your eyes are dry, you just don't feel it. So use the drops daily for at least a month to be on the safe side. Right-o, drops it is then.

In his newly-resurrected blog (hopefully you'll keep it around longer this time ;-p), Lee brings us a not-often seen photo. Mmmm..... spaaaammmm..... It's the only food that I like but that I'll only eat when I'm in Hawaii.

I'm not. But I take just a eensy teensy pride in putting together roughly half the furniture we purchased for our home. Basically anything made of wood was painstakingly pieced together by me with two screwdrivers: one battery operated, one hand operated. Granted, furniture has come a looong way if all it takes to put 'em together is a guy with a screwdriver but it still takes a good amount of mental and physical effort, especially when the parts come unlabeled or with baffling instructions.

The latest victim to fall to my meager skills is this 3-piece media center from CB2. I dedicated this weekend to getting rid of the 3 huge boxes taking up our dining room area since they weren't doing us much good unassembled. The middle section I had assembled two weekends ago but hadn't had the time to replace our existing stand with until now. I also took the time to organize, as best as I could, the ginormous mass of cables and wires that are the bane of entertainment systems everywhere. Basically a lot of twist and cable ties liberally applied.

Total time spent? Probably around 20 hours. My hands are chafed up and I'm sore all over, but I think it turned out pretty well. Got some more shelf space now to fill with stuff. ;-p The perfectionist in me desperately wants to shift the tv down to seated eye level but then my mind remembers the major ass-whuppin' that we took putting it up in the first place and says, "Eh, we can live with it."

Following Fe's post, I figured I'd post my own list too:

Bold are ones I've read, italics are ones I didn't finish, and asterisks next to the ones I really enjoyed.

1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
3. Dune, Frank Herbert
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson*
7. Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
15. Cities in Flight, James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
22. Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card*
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling
27. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams*
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice*
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
31. Little, Big, John Crowley
32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute
38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
39. Ringworld, Larry Niven
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson*
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock*
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks*
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

Read: 13
Read & Hated: 0
Read & Loved: 7
Started & DNF: 1

When I threw up this blog, holy cow 3 and a half years ago, I set it up so a bunch of folk could share in the blogging goodness. Times change and blogger attrition took its toll. Most started blogs of their own, others apparently have a really busy social life. Pshaw, who needs 'em. ;-p So I've renamed the blog to something more fitting the times and hopefully I'll get around to messing with the layout and design as well. Stay tuned...

I guess it could've been worse. ;-p

This past weekend I decided it was a good time to give my old desktop a good scrubbing in anticipation of its upcoming delegation to our living room as our backup/data server. This particular unit I hand-built probably around 4 years ago and it's also been that long since I actually cleaned it. Erin's gone over the outside of the case a few times with a damp cloth but that's about it. So needless to say the task seemed a bit daunting when I disconnected it and brought it downstairs. Unfortunately I didn't think about taking any before pictures until after I had started the whole endeavor so you'll have to imagine what 4 years of caked-on dust and grime looks like.

The original plan was to take the computer out onto our balcony where I would used compressed air to blow out most of the dust. The computer had other plans...

Thanks to a recommendation from Lee a little while ago, I started watching a funny lil' anime series called Nodame Cantabile. Brought to you from the same studio who gave us Honey & Clover I & II, the two titles share similar character design and animation but little else. While H&C was more slice of lifey and tended to amble along at a leisurely (sometimes too leisurely) pace, Nodame has a story to tell and rather quickly at that.

With the setting in a Tokyo conservatory, the series revolves around a group of classical music students so if that type of music doesn't interest you, then you may not get as much enjoyment out of it as I have. I won't guarantee that watching this will make you ga-ga for classical pieces, but if you've had any exposure to that type of music and didn't find it lacking, this series could pique your interest once more. But classical music aside, the humor is well done and it's an engaging series. Definitely worth a look. There's also a live-action version of it that you can check out if that style interests you more.