100 best novels

Karl ElvisLeave a comment

From Darrell at The Realist: Modern Library 100 best novels list. It’s a funny list, and I’m unsure if I much agree with it. Damn good conversation starter though. And if you’re a big reader (and you know you are, yeah, I’m talking to you), take a look at Darrell’s site which is dedicated to […]

From Darrell at The Realist:

Modern Library 100 best novels list.

It’s a funny list, and I’m unsure if I much agree with it. Damn good conversation starter though. And if you’re a big reader (and you know you are, yeah, I’m talking to you), take a look at Darrell’s site which is dedicated to books and reading.

Work is the curse of…

Karl ElvisLeave a comment

Good old Oscar Wilde said “Work is the curse of the drinking class.” Work seems to be the curse of the blogging class as well. I keep thinking of things I want to write about here but I’m so fucking busy. That’s what I get for spending the last several weeks before the holidays mostly […]

Good old Oscar Wilde said “Work is the curse of the drinking class.”

Work seems to be the curse of the blogging class as well.

I keep thinking of things I want to write about here but I’m so fucking busy. That’s what I get for spending the last several weeks before the holidays mostly fucking off.

I’m not just busy — I’m busy on a whole bunch of tasks all at the same time. I’m task-switching so fast I don’t seem to be actually doing anything, and yet I’m spinning all day and can’t seem to carry on a conversation with anyone without dropping the thread.

I would not mind if I were doing work I liked, but right now it’s mostly housekeeping. Soon, I’ll get down to some tool development or some installation, test and configuration of new tools. For now I’m in the where the hell was I phase on everything I was doing two months ago that I’ve been ignoring.

So writing, and blogging, are back-burnered for a little while. Which frustrates me because I’d rather be writing.

Actually I’d rather be drinking, or fucking, but I can’t do either of those at my desk, at least not until later.

Holidays I don’t get

Karl ElvisLeave a comment

All in dreams, I can dream now oh how I I wanna live where it’s like today I wanna live where it’s always this way I wanna live where it’s always Saturday      -Guadalcanal Diary, Always Saturday This is one of the things that brings out the petty peevishness in me. Holidays that only some […]

All in dreams, I can dream now oh how I
I wanna live where it’s like today
I wanna live where it’s always this way
I wanna live where it’s always Saturday

     -Guadalcanal Diary, Always Saturday

This is one of the things that brings out the petty peevishness in me.

Holidays that only some people get. What’s with that?

Presidents fucking day. Nevermind the fact that we don’t have a president right now, since that monkey in the white house never got elected. Nevermind that. The point is, why do my kids get that off when I don’t? Why does my mail man get that off? Why does my bank get that off?

Martin Luther King day. Huh? What? Postman? Yeah, he’s sleepin’. Banks? Stock Markets? All shut down.

What’s the matter with this country? Look at europe; they get every fucking holiday off. They get months of vacation to our weeks. They get to take a siesta, some places, in the middle of the fucking day.

I get up this morning and it feels like saturday, kids playing and all. I poke around and make coffee and don’t much get moving and then suddenly I realize, fuck, it’s a work day, I’m acting like it’s a day off because it’s a day off for my kids.

Dammit, I want my day off. I have stuff to do. I have housework, I have motorcycle rides on a beautiful, mild January day. I have writing I’d like to do, I have cooking I could do with that big tub full of chicken stock. I could go see a movie with my kids. I could do nothing.

But I go to work, where we’re all looking around going, fuck, why are we here? It’s not like most of us are getting any work done.

Sigh.

Life needs more saturdays and fewer mondays. Something’s gotta be done about that.

rss to LJ

Karl ElvisLeave a comment

I’m testing how the RSS feed of The Moronosphere works on LJ. You can ignore this posting, or if you’re Fredlet and love test postings, show me some love.

I’m testing how the RSS feed of The Moronosphere works on LJ. You can ignore this posting, or if you’re Fredlet and love test postings, show me some love.

Coach 4 Hire

Karl ElvisLeave a comment

Looks like the 49ers have a new coach: Mike Nolan. I dunno. I was sorta rooting for Mike Heimerdinger, but that might just be because I was liking the idea of hearing the sports casters say “Mike Heimerdinger” all season. I have so little faith in what York and company do that I have a […]

Looks like the 49ers have a new coach: Mike Nolan.

I dunno. I was sorta rooting for Mike Heimerdinger, but that might just be because I was liking the idea of hearing the sports casters say “Mike Heimerdinger” all season.

I have so little faith in what York and company do that I have a hard time being optimistic; we still need a GM and we still need to build an organization and we still need a great draft, and then York needs to start doing something, anything, right as an owner.

But at least we have a coach quicker than last time, and our choice seems a little less odd.

While I’m on sports, I thought I’d mention that I ran into Mooch (Steve Mariucci) at the gas station in my local town last week. He’s currently coaching the Detroit Lions, but he was the 49ers coach until recently, and was fired for no good reason by York. I have no idea what Mooch was doing here, but he was eating a twinky and laughed at me when I asked him if he was in town to ask for his old job back with the 49ers. Which is, you know, the right reaction to that question.

Blog Year

Karl ElvisLeave a comment

Today marks one year of blogging for me. I had some essay going about what it all means and what I’ve learned and blah blah blah but it just wasn’t happening. I lost interest in it. Still. One year. 185 entries in my blog. I’m surprised. I’ve never kept a journal. I expected to stop […]

Today marks one year of blogging for me.

I had some essay going about what it all means and what I’ve learned and blah blah blah but it just wasn’t happening. I lost interest in it.

Still. One year. 185 entries in my blog.

I’m surprised. I’ve never kept a journal. I expected to stop after a week.

You know, I might just keep doing this. Or maybe not. Who knows?

Stock

Karl ElvisLeave a comment

No, I’m not talking about IPOs or dotcoms. Nor am I talking livestock. Not taking stock of oneself. I’m talking about cooking. Specifically, one of the most basic, core ingredients; something that goes into almost every sauce, stew, soup. Stock.

No, I’m not talking about IPOs or dotcoms.

Nor am I talking livestock.

Not taking stock of oneself.

I’m talking about cooking.

Specifically, one of the most basic, core ingredients; something that goes into almost every sauce, stew, soup.

Stock.

Read more “Stock”

LiveJournal

Karl ElvisLeave a comment

Yet another reason I’m glad I don’t LiveJournal. An unexpected power outage not only took them to their knees, but left them hopelessly broken. A system on that scale with that vast number of users should not find a power outage so unexpected, and should have a working recovery plan that they’ve tested and drilled. […]

Yet another reason I’m glad I don’t LiveJournal.

An unexpected power outage not only took them to their knees, but left them hopelessly broken.

A system on that scale with that vast number of users should not find a power outage so unexpected, and should have a working recovery plan that they’ve tested and drilled.

The folks working the outgage, hats off you you. I’ve done the work you’re doing now, and it’s a hard and thankless task, and I’m sure in the end you’ll get everything working with minimal data loss. You guys deserve credit you’ll never get.

But the cost to the users, the company, the reputation of LiveJournal; that’s enormous and can’t easily be fixed.

I wonder if SixApart, makes of MovableType and TypePad, are now re-thinking the aquisition of LiveJournal?

You know, I’ve had my own blog disasters. But when you host yourself or borrow space for free on friends machines, you expect that. A commercial service on the scale of LJ should know better.

Good luck to the LJ staff and to my LJ user friends; and if you’re finally fed up with LJ, come talk to me, I can suggest some other options.

CJ Cherryh — Essential Sci-fi

Karl ElvisLeave a comment

CJ Cherryh is one of my favorite writers. Not just a favorite sci-fi writer, but a favorite writer overall. She’s written some of the best sci-fi novels I’ve ever read (Downbelow Station, Chanur, Cyteen, Foreigner), and some brilliant Fantasy (Fortress in the Eye of Time, Gate of Ivrel). She’s written a million books. most of […]

CJ Cherryh is one of my favorite writers. Not just a favorite sci-fi writer, but a favorite writer overall. She’s written some of the best sci-fi novels I’ve ever read (Downbelow Station, Chanur, Cyteen, Foreigner), and some brilliant Fantasy (Fortress in the Eye of Time, Gate of Ivrel). She’s written a million books. most of them good, many of them great.

Ok, she’s had a few stinkers. Hammerfall wasn’t so great, and a few of her early novels are of lesser quality. But everything she does is clever, and she’s a truly gifted writer.

She can be challenging. Her books are not easy, and tend to be grim; my friend Scorch (Who’s vanished off the face of the earth near as I can tell) described her typical scenario is “Take a character, put them in a bad situation, then have it get worse. Much, much worse“. But I find her work, all of it, to be very rewarding and worth the read.

But that’s not really what I meant to post here. What I meant to post was a link to this list, which I just found on CJ’s web site:

The Essentials: Science Fiction and Fantasy:

“So you like science fiction and fantasy, but you came in through Star Wars and have
no idea, at your first meeting with fans that have ‘been there’ a while, what they’re
talking about. You’d like to go to the conventions and understand the in-jokes and
talk the talk—and you’d like to know what this wonderful field is. I’ll give you a
list of the essential writers, the ones whose works it’s really helpful to have
read—at least enough to be in the know. Must-reads, for the concepts and/or
characters: or just to understand what the field is, and what all these books have in
common.“

I’m not completely sure I agree with every one of her picks and I think she may have left a couple out. But it’s a great list and a great starting pointg for those new to sci-fi.

Worth a look.