scottobear | 8867 - mon (Reply)

A learned person gently comes, steps carefully.

– Shimizu Hiam

Gave my 2 weeks notice at the County today - Starting on the 18th, I'll be at my new, non-temp gig. I'm really looking forward to it... a few HR things to iron out beforehand - what sort of insurance to choose, etc. I'm looking forward to having my own office again. The commute to Calverton doesn't seem to be as horrid as most folks make it out to be. I commuted for 90 minutes back when I was in Fort Lauderdale. I'll miss the gang at the county... really nice crew. I hope my new team is as nice.

Grilled up veggie burgers and dogs for BHK, in-laws and TM tonight.. it was true potluck - BHK did salad, including peppers form our garden, TB brought chips and buns, and the in-laws did the doggies and brought a big ol' watermelon for dessert. Everyone was nicely full to the brim at the end.

Newest Reads are Fluke and Jamestown - from the cover -

Set in the indeterminate but not too distant future, JAMESTOWN chronicles a group of "settlers" (more like survivors) from the ravaged island of Manhattan, departing just as the Chrysler Building mysteriously collapses, heading down what's left of I-95 in an armor-plated vehicle that's half-schoolbus, half-Millenium Falcon. They are going to establish an outpost in southern Virginia, look for oil, and exploit the Indians controlling the area.

The story is of course based on the actual accounts of the first ten years of the Jamestown settlement from 1607 to the death of Pocahontas in 1617. Set against a cataclysmic backdrop, the book features the historical characters—John Smith, Pocahontas, her father Powhatan, John Ratcliffe, John Martin, and John Rolf—but in an act of wild re-imagination, akin to Baz Luhrman's re-interpretations of Shakespeare (the great playwright of the Jamesown era!), Powhaton is half-Falstaff, half-Henry V (with a psychiatrist consigliere, Sidney Feingold); John Martin gradually loses body parts in a series of violent encounters, while John Smith is a ruthless and pragmatic redhead continually undermining the aristocratic leadership; and Rolf's and Pocahontas's romance is conducted by text-messaging, IM-ing, and ultimately telepathy.

Despite the grim sounding circumstances and large quantity of spilled blood, it's a romantic book, a meditation on history and interpretation, told in language that is endlessly delightful—the jokes, the rhymes, and the rimshot dialogue throw the story's bleak underside into brilliant relief. It's a big book—a cross between the terrific maximalist novels of Barth and Safran Foer and the minimalist magical satire of George Saunders.

So Far, Fluke is the more well-written and interesting of the two. However, I'm less than 25 pages into both.

Comparisons of Baltimore vs DC ... I do need to make a trip to the Yabba Pot sometime soon.

1 year ago - on call, giza pyramid, bunny hop pic, finger people, cosmos animations, fallentoad song, fantastic

2 years ago - full vs goatee, bro & PO, vs & rr try to hook me up

3 years ago - Local con, ADP fix it, free wifi, bro issues, Crew north, Cartoon stuff, rain, bad case

4 years ago - bro goes to ER, Tony & Caroline bad news, pt issues, brothel free to troops, pirate doodle, kraft offer, FIA hoverboats

5 years ago - fumigation drama, pelican preference, cricket magazine, Google labs

6 years ago - life roles, evil news, Paranormal investigation teams that I'd join, Allen Walton, hobo names, $10 webcam, classic Scotto lunch, nice dreams, mammoth riding.

7 years ago - figured out how to hack the info kiosk as the mall of the dead