Some Updates and My 2007 Book List

Hello!

I recently made some updates to the blog. I took off the "Books since sept. 2007" list and updated it to be 2008. The books that I had read from Sept. 2007 are:

Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen

↓	When Heaven and Earth Changed Places, Le Ly Hayslip with Jay Wurts

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Mutant Message Down Under, Marlo Morgan

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The Mother Earth News Almanac, A Guide Through the Seasons

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Three Singles to Adventure, Gerald Durrell

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Lady of the Mazes, Karl Schroeder

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Son of the Revolution, Liang Heng and Judith Shapiro

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Runaways Vol. 7 Live Fast, Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona

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Runaways Vol. 6 Parental Guidance, Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona

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Family, Pa Chin

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Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett

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Runaways Vol. 5 Escape to New York, Brian K Vaughan and Adrian Alphona

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Runaways Vol. 4 True Believers, Brian K Vaughan and Adrian Alphona

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Runaways Vol. 3 The Good Die Young, Brian K Vaughan and Adrian Alphona

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Runaways Vol. 2 Teenage Wasteland, Brian K Vaughan and Adrian Alphona

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Runaways Vol. 1 Pride and Joy, Brian K Vaughan and Adrian Alphona

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California Sorcery, edited by William F. Nolan and William Schafer

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Pearl Harbor, Robert Goldston

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Barefoot Heart, Elva Trevino Hart

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Showcase Presents Batman and the Outsiders, Mike Barr and Jim Aparo

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Strangers in Paradise pocket book 1, Terry Moore

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Strangers in Paradise pocket book 2, Terry Moore

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American Gods, Neil Gaiman

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Around the World in 45 Years, Charles Schulz

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Identity Crisis, Brad Meltzer and Rags Morales

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Spook Country, WIlliam GIbson

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High Society (cerebus volume 2), Dave Sim

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Happy Days, Laurent Graff

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Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain

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World War Z, Max Brooks

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Cerebus, Dave Sim

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The Ghost Brigades, John Scalzi

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The Complete Bone, Jeff Smith

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The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy

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Thud, Terry Pratchett

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Watchmen, Alan Moore

Not Much of Anything At All (plus my 2007 book list)

That's what I would have to say if you asked what I'd been doing. But it would be a lie! I've been a very busy boy. To start off, I would like to say that I hate me computer and I hate me some Dell. What a piece of poop. Okay, that's out of my system. Since I've last posted I've
-Been to see the dentist for the first time since 2000 or 2001 (I can't really remember). It wasn't too bad. I have to have some enamel filled, but I was expecting to leave the place with dentures.
-I'm taking the Chantix. It seems to be reducing my desire to smoke, but I worry that it seems more of a habitual thing than I thought it would be. There are designated times that I smoke during the day and I seem to always smoke during them. But in times of limbo I certainly don't seem to smoke as much (for example, when I got home from school today at 1, I didn't smoke again until around 8).
-We had some beautiful days in the 70s and we had snow.
-I made some sweet sweet moola feeding Jim's dogs in Asheboro.
-Jed's poor car caught on fire and burned to a crisp. I miss Moon Max and will always remember that he carried me to some absolutely beautiful places. Jed subsequently bought a new "grown up" car.
-Emily and I ate a lot of vegetable.
-I read a lot of Hemingway.
-I bought 3 new pairs of shoes at REI. Magical new shoes, mmmmm!
-The Cloudbook was delayed at least 37 times. I don't even want one anymore.
-I got over my obsession with the Grateful Dead. Now I'm obsessed with bikes.
-I want to sell everything I own (I'd just give it away, but a brother has to turn a profit).
-Emily got a Kindle and loves it.
-I started watching Dark Angel (which I hated when it was on) and absolutely love it. The show is so horrible that I can't help but love it. Plus there are computers, mutants, bicycles, and Jessica Alba. Emily started watching Big Love. I don't like it very much and refuse to watch it with her.
-I got called in for JURY DUTY!!!
-There were two scholarships that I was eligible for that I applied to. No news yet, and I don't have very high hopes. I don't really DO that much, especially at school, which is what I believe that they are looking for.
-I have lots of bills (that's a sad one).
-I watched two sucky anime movies that almost drove me totally away from animation because they were so bad. Then I watched a Miyizaki film and my faith was restored. My Neighbor Totoro is one of the best movies ever made.
-Jed might sell me the roof rack from Max so that I can have one. It is only moderately crispy.
-If Pops reads this he should contact me so I can ask him numerous annoying questions about stupid bike stuff that he is not really interested it. But he has to realize that I don't have anyone here to talk to about that stupid bike stuff and it just sits in my head and then I feel bad for calling him to ask some really dumb question like, "If I buy a really cheap $50 bike from Target will it make me happier than the bike I have now, and if so how can I rationalize the purchase?" When really I will say, "There's a $50 bike at Target that's new and shiny and cheap, and I don't like my bike, what should I do?" I start to feel guilty when I call and have this conversation EVERY time we talk, but I do like some nonsensical reassurance.
-Work sucks. I like the new shift, but I've been there too long. I thought about transferring, but I don't particularly like any of the other stores that much either.
-Emily says I have to study for my chemistry test now, which I rationally know but I don't want to do because it's hard and I'm tired. I leave you with some pictures.



Hello!
I recently made some updates to the blog. The Tata Nano has been removed as a news feed and replaced with the Asus EEE PC, which I'm starting to like better than the cloudbook. My main pic. and profile pic. are new also. There are two new links added as well that deserve a look. I took off the "Books since sept. 2007" list and updated it to be 2008. The books that I had read from Sept. 2007 are:

Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen
When Heaven and Earth Changed Places, Le Ly Hayslip with Jay Wurts
Mutant Message Down Under, Marlo Morgan
The Mother Earth News Almanac, A Guide Through the Seasons
Three Singles to Adventure, Gerald Durrell
Lady of the Mazes, Karl Schroeder
Son of the Revolution, Liang Heng and Judith Shapiro
Runaways Volumes 1-7, Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona
Family, Pa Chin
Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
California Sorcery, edited by William F. Nolan and William Schafer
Pearl Harbor, Robert Goldston
Barefoot Heart, Elva Trevino Hart
Showcase Presents Batman and the Outsiders, Mike Barr and Jim Aparo
Strangers in Paradise pocket book 1 and 2, Terry Moore
American Gods, Neil Gaiman
Around the World in 45 Years, Charles Schulz
Identity Crisis, Brad Meltzer and Rags Morales
Spook Country, William Gibson
High Society & Cerebus, Dave Sims
Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain
World War Z, Max Brooks
The Ghost Brigades, John Scalzi
The Complete Bone, Jeff Smith
The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
(this book led me to briefly corresponding with my all time favorite author, Bruce Sterling)
Thud, Terry Pratchett
Watchmen, Alan Moore

Hello Again

It's been a fast week this week. Last week was slow, but this one is flying by. Emily and I have been trying to go bike riding some and I thought it would be fun to have a picture of her here, unfortunately the picture I took will not load. The weather has been fantastic, especially since my favorite pair of pants finally kicked the bucket. It's been so nice though I can soothe my troubled clothing worries with the wearing of my favorite leg coverings, shorts. School has been fun but really difficult. Sometimes I feel like I'm drowning with all of the things that I am supposed to do. I'm finding that as long as I take one thing at a time it doesn't accumulate as much. The other day at school I was reminded why Guilford is so kick-ass when I passed a guy making armor. Sweet. Lately I've been drawing a lot and decided to put some pictures of Em's up here for your edification. My friend Ashely started a cool new blog here. She's really funny and takes some mean photos. I'm off to Spanish and Chemistry class now. I have a quiz in Chem class today, AAARRRGGHHH!!! Wish me luck.
Okay, I'm writing this paragraph about 5 hours after the first one. The Chem quiz was easy and I got back my first Spanish test, which I didn't do as badly as I thought I did on. My pictures are taking forever to load because someone in this house regularly uses up ALL of the bandwidth doing who the hell knows what. I just finished One Hundred Years of Solitude and I am completely blown away. What a marvelous book. I don't even know what to say about it because I'm so flabbergasted with how astonishingly great it was from beginning to end. I don't think that there was a bad sentence/word in the whole darn thing.


I think that I want to try looking for a cheap road bike (in Greensboro that is no small undertaking). The last road bike I had is tainted with bad memories. So I normally don't think about it. I bought this bike the last semester I was at Wilmington. It was a beautiful silver Peugot that I bought from a local bike shop for a pittance. Even thought I rarely went to class flying around campus on that bike, listening to (I'll date myself here) Deseperacidos, was a magical experience. That was all destroyed though on the day that I was flying home on the great silver beast and the front fork simply divided. I only had time to register a moment of surprise as the front wheel outpaced the bike itself, leaving me and the frame to grapple on the cement over who was going to go after the beautiful front tire that had always led the way. At last, exhausted, I lay wrapped in the post-coital embrace of the jagged remains of the frame, watching as the errant front tire repented of its escapist ways and circled around to gently bop me on the head with a loving and rubbery kiss. I picked up the tire and and the remains of the bike and dragged both home, to the amusement of those that had watched my fall. At home I washed my wounds and shaved my head in mourning for my lost compatriot who had so viciously betrayed me. But now I am willing to put the fork's division down as a matter of rust or age, and not the betrayal of my love that I saw it as then. It is time for a new day to dawn where I am not afraid of the road bike that may bike me, or fork me over. In that vein I am searching for a large road bike, which would support my colossal weight, and bear me into the future on wings of steel and rubber. If anyone knows of a beat up old bike that needs a good home such as mine, where it will be cared for until the end of its days then let me know.

What's Up

It has been a pretty crazy busy week. I just got home from my Thur. night class and I am beat. I rode my bike today (not very far), and it really got me excited about getting back into it. I think I may pick up a book on bike maintenance to see if I can do my own repairs. I enjoyed riding my bike today, but a recent ride of the Kona Africa bike showed me how a bike should REALLY fit. But for now I will do what I can with the bike I have (frugalness and all). Emily and I joined the veggie coop at school and got our first big haul in today. It's a really good deal, at $10 a week you get a huge amount of local, in season produce. We got armfuls of turnip greens and collard greens, 2 massive sweet potatoes and 2 winter squash. We feasted on one of the sweet potatoes this evening, pairing it with Quorn gruyere cutlets (yum). The weather has really been crazy this year. It snowed and then it was 60 degrees, who knows what it will do next? Tomorrow I have to work and then I'm going to attempt to ride to the lake that's pretty close to our house. Emily and I are planning on going to paint pottery and maybe even see a movie (although I doubt that will happen). Have a great weekend!