Dead Beat

I just finished off the latest book in Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series, Dead Beat. It was a really good read, quick and entertaining, with all that I’ve come to expect from the books in this series. Harry’s life has definitely taken a turn for the strange and we’ll just have to wait to see how all of this turns out.

Dead Dishwasher

Before I left for Illinois I started a load of dishes, thinking I’d have some clean ones when I got back. Well, I just got around to emptying it and was greeted with a dishwasher full of water. It looks like the drain pump died, but considering that this thing’s 10 years old, I’m not too heartbroken. I guess I’m going to have to get a new one since I hate doing dishes by hand.

The Drive Home

I hit the road this morning to get back to Lewisville. The drive was pretty uneventful, no serious wrecks or slowdowns except one stretch of I-44 in Oklahoma due to some construction.

It was a nice visit and it was good to see Reese again, especially since he was finally of an age where the magic of Christmas was there. The poor little guy just couldn’t handle having to wait to open presents.

Seeker

I just finished reading Seeker by Jack McDevitt. I’ve been kind of hit-or-miss with his books in the past but the teaser interested me. Almost 10,000 years in the future one of humanities first colonies, launched about 500 years from now, has become a sort of Atlantis like myth. Then a pair of freelance archaeologists come across a relic that appears to be from the Seeker, one of the colony’s ships. With that the hunt is on. It was a good read with an ending that I wasn’t expecting.

It appears that this is the sequel to Polaris, so I guess I’m going to have to go out and read that one now.

The Stonehenge Gate

With a few free hours this evening I finally got to finish off Jack Williamson’s The Stonehenge Gate. I’ve been a fan of Mr. Williamson’s work for a while, and actually had the privilege of taking his science fiction class when I was a student at Eastern New Mexico University.

It’s an interesting book, drags a little in places, but was a lot of fun. I just didn’t get a chance to finish it off because of school and work.

Heading Out For Christmas

A long drive today, just over 850 miles, to get up to Peoria to spend Christmas with Reese. The weather was pretty good all the way up, but there were a few semi truck wrecks that really slowed me down. One on I-44 outside of Rolla, MO that had most of the highway blocked and one on the I-155/I-74 ramp that had two trucks flipped off the side of the ramp. Other than that it was uneventful.

New Palm

Well, my Zire 72 finally gave up the ghost. It’s been on the way out for a while now, with the center pin on the charger connection being loose and therefore unable to charge via the wall adapter. Trickle charging via USB is OK, but slow. So last week it just went dead, no charge in the battery at all. It did it again today, so I went out and picked up a T|X as a replacement. It’s lacking a few features of the Zire 72, like the camera and voice recorder, but I can live without another cheap digital camera and have never used the voice memos so no big deal.

It’s got WiFi, though and that seriously rocks! Plus a lot more memory and the Garnet OS, so all in all a good step up.

Happy Birthday To Me

Today’s my 32nd birthday and due to school obligations I’m spending it finishing off writing a paper for class. The good thing is that I’ve got a week off for Christmas starting tomorrow!