Most recent reads:
Currently reading:
Waiting to be read:
I Finished Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson last night. It is always entertaining to read cyberpunk from the 80’s and early 90’s. He reminds me a lot of early Gibson, although I think I like Gibson’s style of writing better.
I have two 6-week classes which start this week, so I imagine the only thing I am going to be reading for the next month and a half are text books and research papers. After that is all said and done, the next book on my list is Richard Morgan’s Altered Carbon.
Yesterday I finished Isaac Asimov’s Robot Dreams, a collection of his short stories from the 1940’s to 1980’s. Interestingly, they republished “The Little Lost Robot” which is already a part of I, Robot. Not that I’m complaining, the U.S. Robotics stories are probably my favorite shorts from Asimov. Also included was the title story “Robot Dreams” which was previously never published (most of Asimov’s shorts were published in SF magazines). Susan Calvin is my hero.
Its been a long while since I read a book for recreation. This weekend I read “Bringing Down the House” by Ben Mezrich, the story of one of the MIT blackjack teams who took Vegas for all its worth in the 1990s. It was a pretty light read for my standards, but entertaining nonetheless. If you are interested in blackjack, Vegas, or just really smart people who take advantage of the system, you would probably like this book.
I’m disappointed how few books I have read so far this year. Last year I did very well, the long Metro rides to FEMA allowed plenty of “me” time with books and SuDoKu puzzles. Lately I feel like I always have to be doing something productive: working, reading research papers, KDE, homework, grinding rep and honour for an epic mount (don’t ask if you don’t know). Having that hour and half of me time every day was nice, even if I had to get up at the crack of dawn for work. I just need to find some kind of break in the day for “me” again. People have suggested going to the local coffee shop to have a break and read a few chapters. Besides the few (more than two chances) bad experiences with a poor product, its not really a scene I could relax in.
Which gets me to thinking… we really need better coffee shops than Starbucks or Caribou Coffee. What ever happened to private establishments? The 61c back in Pittsburgh always seemed to do well, however it was in a more grass-roots area of town in which people were proactive towards supporting local business. Tryst here in D.C. sustains itself enough for seemingly impossible rent, however I suspect its profits are more from food and alcohol than coffee and tea.
Why don’t I like [Insert Chain Coffee Shop]? You mean other than its commercialized appearance and pseudo-pretentious crowd drinking some trademarked concoction of sugar and cream with a dash of coffee? For starters, the coffee itself isn’t anything to write home about, and the price makes it even harder to swallow. Many places have streamlined production in such a way that many of the popular flavor combinations have been reduced to a syrup or a powder, rather than making it from scratch. It is extremely frustrating to see them make a [flavor combination] chai by dumping brownish colored powder mix in to steaming soy milk. Does no one brew/steep tea anymore?
When I think of a coffee shop, I think of the 61c Cafe in Pittsburgh. I want to see a wall of beans, a grinder, and an actual espresso machine. I want to see tins of loose tea, not commercialized tea bags I could buy in the store for a fraction of the price. I want to get water that is the appropriate temperature to steep my tea in or a latte with froth on it. I want to see people sitting at tables enjoying their beverage, not a zoo of people lined out the door to get over-priced coffee which is going to get cold on their way to work.
I haven’t been much of a coffee drinking since college, mostly because I’m particular about my foods and there are no good coffee shops where I live. I don’t make it at home because I don’t have the equipment and Justin doesn’t drink much coffee . Mostly its laziness, but most importantly its because I can’t make as good of coffee as I would like to enjoy. We eat out often, and usually I’ll get coffee when were out and I know its good.
In essence, I think I am projecting my dislike for commercialized coffee shops as a way to express my frustration for the lack of support of smaller businesses. Too often you see mom-and-pop shops move out for larger, sterile corporations. Cookie-cutter planned urban communities (such as the one I live in) have the chance to provide a supportive environment for private establishments. Instead they fill the streets with the same things you see in the next neighborhood over, providing convenience and hurting the local economy.
seele :: Jun.12.2006 :: Books, General :: 3 Comments »
So I forgot to publish this post, some if it is outdated ;P
I still have a bit of homework to do tonight before I can try to do anything else. Ive been waiting for a response to a question on the message board for a day now and no one seems to want to answer it. The homework itself should only take about 30 minutes once I get a response.
I did get my homework done last night in about 30 minutes which was nice. I was a little annoyed how well some of my classmates did not answer my question, and instead acted as if I didnt know what an algorithm was and gave me an unrelated explanation. All I wanted to know was what a certain variable meant because it hadn’t been defined in the example. Luckily one of my classmates knew exactly what I was asking because he had the same question and answered it perfectly.
My other two classes I have only had two reading assignments for, although I will eventually have larger projects to begin working on. I managed to get most of the reading for the one class done last week on the Metro, and the other book I had previously read so I will go over the material in between classes tonight.
I’m pretty happy with the reading selections some of my Ubalt classes have made. Most of the books are either prose/philosophy or reference, so I’ll get good use out of them after the classes have ended. I got back to reading “Digital Ground” for recreation, although it might get put back on the shelf if I can’t find time to read after I stop riding the Metro.
I need to figure out a way to consolidate postings on my KDE blog and my personal blog. Various blogs get syndicated all over the place but one audience always misses out on a story. I wouldnt expect you to subscribe to all of my blogs, but sometimes I wish I could cross-post interesting stuff.
I had good intentions of adding the 2005 usability reports to the KDE Usability website, but I was more interested in playing WoW. I havn’t been able to play since last week, and even then it was only for a few hours the entire week. I managed to get on for a bit last night, but it took forever for me to log in to the Battlegrounds and I ended up going downstairs to watch the Chapelle Show and Southpark with Justin.
Tonight are the second classes of the semester for Ubalt so I will probably get some homework or projects to work on.
So much to do, so little time.
seele :: Feb.08.2006 :: Academics, Books, General, KDE/Kubuntu, Work :: No Comments »