A Top 5 Book?

It's a love story.

My French Whore.

Seriously.

It's a simple, short novella written by Gene Wilder. I came across this in my local library when it first came out last year. While I almost passed over it because of the title, I noticed the author and was intrigued enough to read the jacket description. I then checked the book out and devoured it in two days (I'm a bit of a slow reader). It's written in a simple, short, too the point dialect (think Hemingway). Even though not a lot of description is given in the book, you really get to know the characters and their feelings.

If you are looking for a well written, quick read I strongly suggest picking up this book. It moved me enough to place it firmly in my top five books read of all time.

That Gotta Have/Do Thing

Have you ever had something that you just couldn't wait for? Of course you have. For many children it's the anticipation of Christmas. For teenagers it can be specific birthdays (13th, 16th, 18th and 21st - it's all down hill from there, but they don't know it yet and you can't tell 'em). For adults it can be a wedding, the birth of a child or time with a friend or family member you haven't seen in a long time.

I've had all of those and then some. Some of the more odd ones I'll go over below.

July 11th. Just over a week away. What's significant about this day? It's the release of the 2nd generation iPhone. I'm going so far as to take the day off and will be at the Apple Store here at Easton pretty early in the day. Rumor has it they go on sale at 8 in the morning. I've been waiting patiently for a year now for this to come. The first generation was just too expensive when it was first released ($499 and $599 depending on the storage space). I was in the middle of a contract with a perfectly good cell phone and just couldn't justify the cost. Now the iPhone, with more features and better performance, is just $199 or $299. I can justify that.

The last time I did something like this was for the 7th Harry Potter book. I took the day off when it was released, even though it didn't go on sale until midnight. I also took the Monday and Tuesday off after the release to ensure I had enough time to read the book without worrying about getting work done. I have to admit I lost a bit of sleep that weekend staying up to read. Harry Potter has struck a special cord with me and is by far the set of books I've read or listened too the most.

The time before that was Star Wars - Episode III - The Revenge of the Sith. Oh Star Wars, that's just another post for another time.

This is just a small list of this type of behavior. Maybe this is pretty common for it to filter down to these levels? I don't know. But what I do know is where I get it from.

I have this memory that is stuck in my head. Dad came and pulled us out of school early to go see one of the Star Trek movies. I'm pretty sure it was Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. I say that because it was released in 1986 which is when I was in Middle School and that's what sticks out. In the mind of a child (especially one that didn't like school to begin with) this is pretty much at the top of cool list for a dad to do. And it's made a life long impression on me. Fortunately, every movie of significance that has been released since my kids were born have come out during the summer or on holiday breaks. But when the next big thing comes along that my kids love, I'll be pulling them out of school (right along with my vacation day from work)!

Just an aside that I realized and confirmed while developing this post - my dad was a Trekkie. Not in the hard core sense that he would dress up as a Klingon (at least that I know of or want to know of :-). But he bought the toy models. He told me today that there was a Christmas of just Star Trek stuff. Unfortunately I don't remember that, but knowing how I am I'm pretty sure it's true. Growing up I could only imagine my Dad as a stern, serious person. To realize now that he certainly spent time day-dreaming about Sci-Fi stuff just makes me realize how wrong I was in that image.

Thanks Dad for rubbing off on me.

Later.

UEFA Euro 2008

Yep, that's right. Soccer. I admit, I'm a pretty big sports fan. I've been known to watch some obscure stuff from time to time. Even been caught watching Pro-Bowling and Pool. I gave up the fighting a long time ago so no WWE or UFC for me. This, this has me hooked...

This level of soccer is amazing and puts our MLS to shame. The level of skill and stamina these players have is incredible. The coverage on ESPN and ABC shows these guys are running in excess of 8km in a 90 minute period. And this isn't just a simple jog, they are sprinting, stopping, dodging, pushing and pulling to gain ground against opponents that are equally pushing against them. They are organized and you can see how they are working as a group for one purpose. This is unlike the MLS where there is so many turn-overs due to poor foresight or execution. Where our US equivalent are diving and writhing in pain from being pushed down. Come on already, kindergarden was a long time ago.

It's unfortunate, or rather fortunate that this level of soccer only comes around every few years. If it were around more often, it might lose its interest for those like me that find it interesting now. Think of it like "too much of a good thing...".

Later.

Things of Interest

Just wanted to throw two things of interest out here that I came across this week.

HP is releasing a touch-screen Desktop computer. This is significant because I really thought Mac would be the first on the scene with this technology given the success of the iPhone's touch interface. Yes, I'm a bit of an Apple/Mac fan. This computer though will be given serious thought for purchase as the family home PC.

Cancer cure? OK. Given the fact that I just watched I Am Legend earlier this week this one freaked me out just a bit. But seriously, how cool is this!?!

Later

The Beginning

Hmmm. I've wanted to write for a while now. I've been inspired by other blogs that I read, though not necessarily the consistency with which some are written.

With that said, my goal for posts will be once a week. If hot topics come up, I'll post more often. If I get lazy it'll be less often.

Topics will be random, though I suspect they may center around sports mostly. New things when I buy them. Politics might pop up once in a great while, but in general I'll try to stay away.

Later.