Echos of Me

Coloured Bubbles

2005-12-01T19:51:00.000-05:00

I read this article about coloured bubbles. It took the guy 11 years to get them made. Actually a chemist solved the problem. The picture are so cool; they look photoshoped but I know they are real. Click on the slideshow link to see more pictures. If they were available now I would put them on my wishlist.

Painting and some moving

2005-11-04T21:22:00.000-05:00

Krista got the keys to her townhouse on tuesday and we have been moving boxes over slowly in the car. They are renting a truck to move Mark's stuff from North Bay tomorrow. Then on sunday the rest of Krista's boxes will be moved over since they are charged two days for the truck no matter how long they keep it.

Wednesday night Krista, Dad and I went to Benjamin Moore to get paint. By the time we got their they were closed. We ended up going to Home Depot to buy roller covers and painter's tape. Krista then taped the living room and the window in the bedroom while Dad and I moved more boxes.

Thursday night the paint store was open. Yah! The store has these big paint chips about 1 foot square, that you can buy. I found the green colour, grenadier pond, Krista had picked for the bedroom and she said she loved it. Then we went to Rona to get another paint tray and roller set. Mark and Krista painted the main room blue (buxton blue to be precicse) with the edger and the new roller. Dad and I taped the bedroom and painted with the brush and old roller respectively. It was after 11pm before we were cleaned up and ready to go home.

Friday morning, Dad and Krista painted the living room. After lunch Mom took Krista and I to Costco. Krista bought huge cleaning supplies. Everything she got had a cupon but the cashier forgot to use them. The girl who was packing the cart came out to get us to fix the mix up. It was a $21 dollar difference. Mom droped us off and got to look at the colours. Krista and I painted the bedroom and we had to strech the paint at the end. I think I was putting it on too thick. Mark waited for the cable/phone guy to come and to here from the Uhall place. It took the cable guy 2 hours to set eveything up and they still need to get a wireless router or adapter for their current router.

I am not going to North Bay tomorrow but I will help them unload when they get here.

Filed in: Life

Books Per Month (BPM) Rate Drop

2005-10-28T19:22:00.000-04:00

August: 3 BPM
September: 4 BPM
October: 1 BPM (maybe)

The reason behind this significant drop off is that I am still reading Foucault's Pendulum. The book is harder than I thought it would be. The history is interesting but I wasn't familiar with the subject before; the Da Vinci Code is sparse on historical facts. The writing style is quite different than I am used to, probably since it was originally written in Italian. Oh well, I can when I finish I can always read a bunch of Discworld books to bump up November.

Also, I have spent time carving an artificial pumpkin for Halloween. The design was of a ghost pirate ship and probably harder than I should have attempted. Carving in foam was enough of a challenge. Once I glue a piece back on and take a picture, I will post it.

It has been more than a month since I read The Big Over Easy so I should post my thoughts on it. Maybe I will do all the Fforde books at once.

Filed in: books, life, crafts

Wildlife Photography

2005-10-20T12:01:00.000-04:00

Surfing around the BBC website I found an article on wildlife photography of the year. Below is my favorite one; it is what I imagine Africa to look like.

The snapper fish are impressive as well. Very menacing.

Filed in: photography, animals

Eric by Terry Pratchett

2005-10-04T20:55:00.000-04:00

This is the 9th Discworld novel.

The Discworld series is a bunch of books where the only things guaranteed to be in each book are the flat titular planet and jokes. The character's drop in, disappear for a few books, then reappear. Terry Pratchett's website has a much funnier explanation.

Rincewind the inept wizard returns from the demon dimension in this one. Actually he is summoned by Eric who thinks Rincewind is a demon and wants him to grant three wishes. This does not go well but better than could be expected.

The librarian (my favorite character)only makes a brief appearance but the luggage is trudging along scaring people so that is good. Lots of good discworld fun to be had through time and dimensions.

If you haven't read the other books you can start anywhere but it is more fun to read them all. I really enjoyed Guards! Guards! so that would be a good first Discworld book.

Filed in: books, fantasy, comedy, discworld

Spirits in the Wires by Charles de Lint

2005-10-04T19:50:00.000-04:00

This is another book set in Newford with de Lint's revolving cast of character's that are all connected. It is the story of Saskia, Christy, his shadow and the wordweb. One night Saskia and many others around the world get sucked into their computers. It falls to the ones who created the website to figure out what happened. Though it is about spirits in the internet it is really a contemporary fantasy.

When I read Tapping the Dreaming Tree (a series of Newford stories), I was annoyed that everyone had close friends. The loners were described as knowing lots of people but no friends, except for the one person they could talk to. This person was usually Jilly Cooper, who is only mentioned in this book, so it was more annoying. The fact that everyone know everyone else slightly is understandable in light of the six degrees of separation rule and that members of an artstic community in a town would know of the other members. In practice, when the groups meet up and do introductions it is frustrating. I think if you hadn't read a Newford book before you would be overwhelmed by all the relationships.

The Otherland series by Tad Williams deals with people being sucked into the internet (just their minds) as well and conveys the global nature of the problem better. Williams did have 4 books to tell the story and did so from a more technological point of view with the wealthy elite creating the otherland. Spirits deals more with the myths and the wordweb is a natural extension of the spirit world.

The idea that you cast out the parts you don't want when you are 6 and those parts become a person was new to me. At six I was more active and liked to climb trees would that mean my shadow was girlie then? I'm certainly not the same as when I was six so my shadow wouldn't be either. The book says that Christy and his twin are more like twins. It is strange to think that I might have a twin running around.

In summary the book is interesting but I prefer non-Newford stories.

Filed in: books, fantasy, myths, internet

Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis

2005-10-02T23:05:00.000-04:00

The subtitle is Heatbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players. I can't improve on that succinct description so I won't try.

The book is part auto-biography as it follows the author's quest to become an expert competitive Scrabble player. He starts by learning about competitive play and personalities of the expert players. At first he is drawn in to playing himself learn and just get an idea how he rates. Eventually his desire to win matches the most obsessed players.

I am a horrible Scrabble player. Eventhough the players profiled in the book are so much better than me I don't feel worse about my own skills. As someone who has never gotten a bingo (used all 7 tiles at once), the idea of multiple bingos being standard is like electricity to a caveman: magic.

There is a documentary called Word Wars on the same people. I saw it the video store a couple weeks ago. I don't think I will rent it though. One person in the book is described as looking like Mr. Burns from the Simpson so I don't think he will look the same as the picture in my mind. Also I don't feel the need to learn more.

It is an interesting book but it won't improve my Scrabble game. My Nana has nothing to worry about she will still beat me easily.

Filed in: books, non-fiction, scrabble

Sub Blog

2005-09-28T20:27:00.000-04:00

When I started my blog I wanted a section that I could update showing what I was currently doing. Following the blogger help I created a new blog called currently and modified the template to match the side bar of the main blog.

The template for currently is pretty stripped down; There is no navbar, sidebar, title, description, profile. Basically one post that I will keep changing. I can't figure out how to get rid of the scroll bars on the main blog.

Anyway I am thinking of changing to the Scribe template so this is all practice for that redesign.

Filed in: blog, design

Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson

2005-09-14T17:48:00.000-04:00

The book begins as an alternate history with the people, animals and buildings of Europe disappearing over night in 1912. Strange creatures and plants populate the new continent, which is called Darwinia as its existence seems to refute evolution. The Miracle, as the transformation comes to be called, is attributed to God and religious fervor increases in North America.

The main character is Guilford Law (there are some great names in this book: Elias Vale is my favorite one); he travels to Darwinia as part of a scientific expedition. He is drawn by his curiosity but faced with real danger he longs to return to the family he left behind. When Guilford is given a task to save humanity all he wants a simple life.

Half-way through the book science-fiction enters the mix. In reviews that I had read on the book it seemed people didn't like this change. While I admit that it is jarring at first, the tone of the book doesn't substantially alter. When very technical terms are explained to Guilford, he tries to understand them through his 1920ish mind.

Being from Canada I liked that the British Empire continued from there. I also smiled at the idea of Edgar Rice Burroughs writing stories set in Darwinia. It is always great to find author's who write stand alone novels as so much fantasy and sci-fi is multiple volume opuses. I will be looking for other Robert Charles Wilson books.

Filed in: books, sci-fi, alt-history

White Oleander by Janet Fitch

2005-09-10T18:08:00.000-04:00

Disclaimer: I saw the movie before I read the book.

This is the brutally honest account of Astrid Magnussen's journey through foster care when her mother is imprisoned for murder. It reads like Astrid is telling the story or we are hearing her thoughts.

I only vaguely remembered the movie but as I read, I started to remember it more. While some of the foster homes were removed and plot points changed overall the movie captures the book well. The scene where Astrid shows Ingrid, Paul's art is not in the novel but it could have been.

The influence of art on Astrid is presented stronger in the novel. The way she loves the museum and feels safe there (probably why she makes museums in the end). Her mother's thoughts are always in her head but the artist she is allows her to see beauty in everything. At first is seems drawing is the way she presents her view of the world since she can't talk to Ingrid.

Ingrid is an enigma. In the novel, the Magnussen's vagabond past is presented as Astrid remembers it. The impression is the same in both: Ingrid does what she wants and changes the past to suit herself. With the extra information, you would expect more understanding but Astrid was young and it is just more variations of Ingrid's whims and fear.

Filed in: books, fiction, mother, daughter

Favicon

2005-09-01T21:30:00.000-04:00

I am working on changing the layout of this blog. Html-kit has a favicon generator which is really simple just select a picture and they do the rest. I drew 3 parenthesis in powerpoint and pasted the screenshot into Gimp. I just started using the program so while I'm sure there is a way to align text in there, I didn't feel like searching for the command.

Here is the icon.

Blogger wouldn't let me upload the image so it is stored at a free host I have.

Filed in: blog, design, gimp

Musical Computers

2005-08-29T23:35:00.000-04:00

Sympatico has been down for the past few days so I haven't been posting or modifying my template. Krista has put her computer in her room so I spent part of the day setting mine up. Installing programs is so frustrating because you do one thing and they you need to reboot. Hopefully the crashing problems I was having won't come back.

Saturday was my Nana's 90th birthday party. My cousin was teasing that she didn't look a day over 65, which is not as big a stretch as you might think. When the pictures come back I'll post some.

Well, I am off to Montreal tomorrow to pay my rent and post flyers to sublet the apartment so I may not post tomorrow. Still reading White Oleander; it is good and I forget most of the plot points until I read them again.

Filed in: blog, life, computers

In the Ocean of Night by Gregory Benford

2005-08-26T17:24:00.000-04:00

Nigel Walmsley is an astronaut searching for something. He is sent to destroy an asteroid that has started moving towards the earth. Only it isn't what it is more complicated than that. His defiance of orders sets him on a course that leads to first contact with an aliens. Along the way he learns about human evolution, the politics behind scientific discoveries, the power of religion, the destiny of desk calculators and humanity's place in the cosmos.

Many questions are left unanswered, which is appropriate since this is the first in the galactic center series. I liked the story and the way the stream of consciousness was presented. Good thought provoking science fiction.

Filed in: books, sci-fi, aliens, machines

Books Alphabetical by Author

2005-08-26T16:58:00.000-04:00

This is an incomplete list of the books I have read. It will be updated as I read new books and books I finished before the list started. If I reread a book it will be added to the chronological list. Click the title for a mini review.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Author	Book
- A -
- B -
Benford, Gregory	In the Ocean of Night
- C -
- D -
de Lint, Charles	Spirit in the Wires
- E -
Eco, Umberto	Foucault's Pendulum
- F -
Fatsis, Stefan	Word Freak
Fforde, Jasper	The Eyre Affair
	Lost in a Good Book
	The Well of Lost Plots
	Something Rotten
	The Big Over Easy
Fitch, Janet	White Oleander
- G -
Gaiman, Neil	Coraline
- H -
- I -
- J -
- K -
- L -
- M -
- N -
- O -
- P -
Prattchet, Terry	Eric
- Q -
- R -
- S -
- T -
- U -
- V -
- W -
Wilson, Robert Charles	Darwinia
- X -
- Y -
- Z -

TOP

Yes I read alot.

Filed in: books

Books Reverse Chronological

2005-08-25T17:23:00.000-04:00

These are the books I have read starting Wednesday, August 24, 2005. Click the title for a mini review.

Book	Author	Genre	Pg	Start	Done
Foucult's Pendulum	Umberto Eco	Science Fiction ?	---	10/1/05	---
The Big Over Easy	Jasper Fforde	Fantasy ?	398	9/22/05	9/30/05
Eric	Terry Pratchett	Fantasy	155	9/18/05	9/19/05
Spirits in the Wires	Charles de Lint	Fantasy	448	9/13/05	9/17/05
Word Freak	Stefan Fatsis	Non-Fiction	372	9/7/05	9/13/05
Darwinia	Robert Charles Wilson	Science Fiction	372	8/31/05	9/7/05
White Oleander	Janet Fitch	Fiction	446	8/25/05	8/29/05
In the Ocean of Night	Gregory Benford	Science Fiction	422	8/10/05	8/25/05

Total on Sunday, October 2, 2005: 7

Filed in: books

Categories Drop Down Menu

2005-08-25T16:50:00.000-04:00

Reading Freshblog has made me feel drop down topics/categories are essential to good blog design. If you want to make your own use the code from Escape from Obsession .

For this round the advantage goes to blogger. It took me an hour to do the same in tripod.

Filed in: blog, design

Link Button

2005-08-25T16:01:00.000-04:00

Created a link button using the buttonmaker tool that was posted at freshblog.

What do you think of it? I am going to add it to the side bar. Currently it looks better on the tripod blog but that is just cause I haven't changed the layout here yet.

Filed in: blog, design

First Post

2005-08-25T14:35:00.000-04:00

This is my first real blog. I have had 2 blogs for school projects, one on tripod and blogger. In each case the goal was to make it easier to share files and keep track of progress. Never did convince my team members to post themselves so they were basically my online notebooks for the projects.

This blog will be about me. Specifically the books I read. I had a list of the books I had read in order on an old website but I never updated it. Hopefully this will be easier to update and I will know how many books I read in a year. When I finish a book there will be a mini review; spoiler free impressions that would help someone decide to read the book.

There will also be posts on blog design. For some reason I find it absorbing ... all of my time that is. I am going to run semi-parallel blogs on tripod and blogger, to learn their benefits and drawbacks.

I have other interests but I don't have enough or original things to say.

Video Games: I wait for the price to drop and need walkthroughs so no tips or reviews from me.
Pictures: Don't take many pictures cause I have an automatic 35mm camera and don't go anywhere.
Movies: Don't go the the theater much.
Music: It has been said that my musical taste lies with hippie music. That is probably a small audience.
TV: Most of the shows I like are unpopular.

There will may be the occasional post on topics from the above list.

Filed in: blog