Middle Earth Rails (partial game, to learn/see only)
Other games played this weekend (so far):
Metro
Ticket to Ride: 1910
1830
Express
Books completed during this weekend:
The Host by Stephenie Meyer – In many ways, it was a better story than the Twilight series. However, having read Twilight and its sequels, you definitely see a common thread or two such that it becomes clear that Meyer both idealizes motherhood and fantasizes about being the object of two men’s affections.
Kushiel’s Avatar by Jacqueline Carey – You know, I really enjoyed the first two books, and this one left me a bit wanting. I slogged through a ton of exposition (meant to make the book readable by new inductees to the series), and it felt like the payoff was minimal. I may have to accept that I liked this series for the sex scenes more than for the plot. (Oh, and I should mention that I found the central romance, between Joscelin(sp?) and Phedre, tiresome from the start. I like Phedre/Hyacinth much more…so that biases me a bit.)
…which I will put after the jump since the content, though filled with euphemism and thus *almost* work safe (but not quite due to some R language), may squig some of my readers.
My school puts all course documents, including syllabus, readings, and class assignments, online, in PDF form. This thrilled me, as I figure I can download them all and load them up on my Kindle, so that they’re searchable and easy to read on airplanes and such.
Their PDFs are SCANNED. That is, they took word processor documents, printed them, and SCANNED them into a PDF. They are *not* searchable, not even on my computer. On Kindle, they show up as images of pages, because the Kindle can’t scale the scanned images like it can with text.
Why? Why do they do this? It is so easy to save any document to PDF. Why-oh-why would they scan them into PDF?
I had intended to work at the office today instead of working at home. My first meeting was early, so I took it from home. When it finished, I tackled some e-mail before I left the computer to get dressed. Upon returning to the computer, I saw another e-mail that needed attention, so I took care of it. Then, I got an IM asking me to hop onto a conference bridge for another meeting. That ran until 1pm. At this point, I really need to get to the office if I’m going to go at all, and I need lunch. I packed everything up, hopped in the car, and started my commute. Halfway to work, there’s a McDonald’s in a convenient spot. I ordered a McChicken (no mayo) and a diet coke. However, as I got to the window to pay, I realized my wallet was still in my school backpack…at home. Oops.
I cancelled my order with the clerk and then had a quick internal debate. I could head on into the office now, having not eaten lunch, and risking Murphy’s Law crashing upon me in the form of an officer pulling me over while I don’t have my license on me. That didn’t seem appealing. I went back home, calling a colleague on the way to see if I could make what he needed from me happen without me being physically at work. As it happens, that all worked out, so I ended up back at home. I obtained my wallet and went to Quizno’s for lunch. I decided to sit on the deck out back to eat, as the weather here today is amazingly perfect, the kind of weather that makes you want to run around outside and eat watermelon until you’re covered in stickiness. I read Traffic on my Kindle while I ate. However, I was feeling a bit tarty and I hadn’t downloaded the next Kushiel book, so I clicked my way into the Kindle store to shop. While purchasing the next Kushiel, I noticed that it was categorized erotica, and that the category was a link. Feeling a bit naughty (and did I mention tarty? up above?), I clicked my way over to it.
Oh my goodness…to steal a deity from the book that led me there…Naamah bless Kindle and Amazon and all their greatness, for today I have downloaded a myriad of samples of excellent erotic stories, enough to keep me satiated for quite awhile.
I have a brand new notebook and 2 brand new black pens. I had to severely restrict myself from buying folders and erasers. This can only mean one thing: I’m going back to school!
I have my first class, Executive Success Skills, tonight at LFGSM. Because this is the digital age, my syllabus, course materials, and assignments are all accessible online. This has meant significantly less school shopping than my heart has desired.
It also means that you can read ahead. I’m a dork, so I’ve already read ahead for what each session of this class covers. The good news is that it should be an easy A. The bad news is that much of it feels like an exercise in mastering bullshit and asshattery (that’s what MBA stands for, right?). But, I figure I can do this one of two ways. I could be cynical and dread all of the aforementioned bullshit and asshattery, thus ensuring that this experience will be enjoyable only at the times when I get to make fun of it. (A good bit of my prior education was spent in this mindset.) Alternatively, I can throw myself into it wholeheartedly, embrace my inner Michael Scott, and, with a little luck, come out of it having had some fun. I choose to let Michael out of the box. Be free!
This also means that I need a new tag for school stuff, preferably one that follows my pattern of using TV and movie quotes. Hmmm…
Much like how Rudy Giuliani became known for nothing more than a noun, a verb and 9/11 (By the way, I’m pumped for Biden), Senator John McCain has put himself in a position where he stands for little more than his time as a prisoner of war during Vietnam.
Today is Pancake’s day. This is the day that I’ve chosen to celebrate Pancake’s birthday. Much like George Washington, Pancake’s celebrated birthday is not the day he was born. We decided to celebrate Pancake’s day on the anniversary of his adoption date (roughly, as we will always celebrate Pancake’s day on a weekend that we are home). Check out the August 2006 archives (click any post title to read the whole post) to reminisce about Pancake’s early times with us.
As his Pancake day treat, Pancake got a new water fountain. I also made him a special treat of tuna for dinner last night. However, the still-full dish this morning tells me that Pancake, despite tuna being his favorite catfood flavor, does not like actual tuna. Strange kitty! Maybe it’s the lack of garden greens?
