Technical difficulties....

It seems I've been having some problems with my blog today. After some investigation I think the problem may actually lie with Charter, which I am using to host the actual blog pages. I'm hoping it's simply a bandwidth issue and that if I try publishing later again tonight or sometime tomorrow that it will be resolved.

Recommended reading?

Today I finished The Legacy by Stephen Frey. In a way I'm kind of ambivalent about it. On one hand the story was pretty good, it had some decent action, decent characters, and was very entertaining. But on the other hand, it wasn't particularly well-written and it lacked detail. Would I recommend it? I'm not sure....

Next on the list is Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens. This is the Everyman's Library edition, bound in cloth with a dust jacket, and featuring some illustrations by Phiz. It's a daunting 800+ pages; we'll see how long it takes to finish.

Protogé geek....

In my last post I commented on our last D&D session. This prompted Maryanne and Jenni to comment on one of the more memorable NPCs in the adventure, a priestess by the name of Henwen. Henwen's sanity was only so-so, prompting her to spend her days in continual devotions to a number of deities in a run-down chapel.

Yesterday, then, Maryanne asked me about the dieties of the D&D world, asking if Pelor was a standard deity. I tried to explain, with little detail, that most of the deities were a hodgepodge taken mostly from Greyhawk and partly from Forgotten Realms.

It was a pleasant surprise to see that Maryanne had a genuine interest in one of my geekier hobbies.

Action and adventure....

Yesterday was geek day, as we finished The Standing Stone. It was another event-based adventure. It was... OK. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't spectacular, either. I suspect some other DM would have been able to do more with it. Next will be The Heart of Nightfang Spire. I'm looking forward to that one.

On the book front, the next work I'll be tackling is The Legacy by Stephen Frey. I've never read anything by him before, and I don't read much contemporary fiction at all. We'll have to see how it works out. It's 373 pages, but since it's a mass-market paperback it should be a quick read.

Out of ...Business....

I finished Tricky Business. Once again, Dave Barry has written a page turner. This one I think was much better than Big Trouble. Both were entertaining. While character development was good in both, I think the plot in Tricky Business was a little more complex, even hiding several surprises.

At this point I have no idea what's next. I didn't bring anything with me, of course. I knew Tricky Business was a page turner, but never knew I'd finish it so quickly. Monday's post should have another book title.

Ashes to ashes....

Today I was able to finish From the Dust Returned by Ray Bradbury. One of the reasons I picked up the book was because I like Bradbury. The reasons I picked up this copy specifically are because it's a hardcover, and because it's illustrated. It also turns out that the cover art is by the brilliant Charles Addams, most famous for inventing the Addams Family.

Next on the list is Tricky Business by Dave Barry. I enjoyed his last foray in to pure fiction, Big Trouble, which did well enough to be made in to a feature film.

Justice....

Score one for common sense.

Too much Finding Nemo?

Those whack-jobs at PETA are back, this time trying to convince you that fish are friends, not food. I think they may have left Finding Nemo go to their heads.

Plagiarism?

Today I was finally able to finish Boccaccio's Decameron. I'm now convinced more than ever that Boccaccio read Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, or that Chaucer read the Decameron, especially after reading the last story in the Decameron. Other than the names being different, the two share a story that is nearly identical in both texts. Of course, it could have come from a third source altogether that they were both familiar with. The basic premise is similar as well: a group of people telling stories to one another to pass the time. It's a subject to ponder.

Next on the list is From the Dust Returned by Ray Bradbury. I've taken a great liking to Bradbury. He writes truly entertaining, imaginative fiction with great details, but without becoming bogged down in the details. Does that make sense? Probably not.... Let's put it this way. When he writes a science fiction story, it's more about the story than it is about the science. There. If that doesn't explain it, then forget it.

Non-stop action....

If you like military/action movies, check out the real thing.

Semper Fidelis....

If this doesn't move you, you're probably dead, or maybe should be.

Posted in honor of Veterans' Day.

Sidebar....

So Yahoo! Geocities has changed its "Ad Square" to something more resembling a navigation side bar. I kind of like it, actually. While it's a little on the big side, I like the fact that instead of appearing over the top of my content, it appears almost like a frame, kind of pushing my content over so it at least all appears, if scrunched. It's a step in the right direction from Yahoo.

Survey says!

I found yet another political survey, this one somewhat more satisfying than the last one.

My results:

Axis Position
1 left/right +0.7638 (+0.0460)
2 pragmatism +1.3158 (+0.0792)

Fast car....

Maryanne and I both had the day off on Friday, so we decided to head up north early to give us some more time. Unfortunately, we lost some of that time in Rosendale, where we were able to meet the chief of police. Maryanne was driving, and even though she knows what a speed trap Rosendale is, she wasn't paying close enough attention and got clocked at 42 mph in a 30 mph zone.

Trick of a treat....

See if you can figure out who the narrator is in this amusing short story. I should have posted this in time for Halloween.

Vote!

In creating this blog, I entered a description for it: "The musings, ramblings, and rants of a country geek transplanted to a (sometimes painfully) more urban setting."

No time has this been more obvious than during this presidential election. As a person with rural origins, growing up in a fairly conservative community, I'm much more conservative than many of the friends I have in this area. However, I'm still pretty moderate, and some political surveys and tests I have taken have shown that.

That being said... get out and vote! Vote for who you'd like (though I'm hoping you'll vote for Bush), but at least vote. It's not a waste of your time; it's your voice.

Further developments....

Here are some more important developments in the continuing saga of the missing explosives in Iraq.

Needing more truth....

Here's why we need more truth in sentencing.

Tell the truth....

If you're looking for a non-biased opinion of the candidates in this year's presidential election, then look to the other side of the pond. England, long known for an unbiased and no-holds-barred analysis of American politics, weighs in.