Archive

I have now finished the 9th book in the Prey series by John Sandford. Again, this one had a radically different plot but one that still involves a series of unfortunate victims. The criminals in the Prey books are always unique and fascinating but the part I enjoy most is the progression in the life of Lucas Davenport, the detective hero of the series.

Ah, another Elvis Cole novel put to rest... I enjoy reading detective novels but I think I like the Elvis Cole novels best not so much for the detective aspect of it as much as I just like the characters of Elvis Cole and Cole's partner, Joe Pike.

My parents got this lamp for their place. Ahu and I liked it so much we grabbed one for our family room too. Gorgeous warm light. Perfect for reading a book by the fireplace on a cold night.

I ran across this today and about fell off of my chair I was laughing so hard. Finally someone lays out what should be obvious. In particular, I have seen people violating the hair dryer rules in very disturbing ways. I'm always thinking "Is it just me or maybe you're a disgusting freak!!!!" Anyway check this out for a great laugh: http://blogs.slashstar.com/tim/archive/2004/07/14/784.aspx

I really enjoyed this novel from James Rollins. I think I've read all of his books at this point, except maybe one...have to check on that. This one, all 460+ pages, was read over two days. It was tough to put down. The premise of the book centers around some interesting items found at the bottom of the ocean.

When I was looking at the Karate Kid entry, the following recommendation was made:

In the spirit of the new I, Robot movie, check out this link. If I'd seen this at the right age? Totally would be doing robotics instead of programming right now. Then again, can't really do robotics without programming so maybe there's still a shot! (Picture Lloyd Christmas to Mary Swanson: "Sooooo you're telling me there's a chance!!!")

The theme from Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 is called Royale. Really slick, really elegant. Running it on all my workstations now. Screenshots here, here, and here. Grab it from here. Unzip it, drop the DLL into c:\windows\resources\themes, double-click the Royal.msstyle file. Done.

Since Ahu and I moved to West Dundee, my commute has been about 45 minutes in the morning and around 60 to 75 minutes in the evening. I listen to the radio in the car but I do not listen to the brainless talk radio stations. I usually listen to NPR (WBEZ in Chicago) or news radio WBBM 780. 780 gets old quickly because of the frequent commercials and repeating news stories. I enjoy NPR but between 4 and 6:30 PM, it gets a little repetitive and somewhat boring, depending on the stories. So I subscribed to XM Radio last week and, ever since, my time in the car is an absolute joy!

This is one of the best Prey novels that I've read. It's very different from the others in that Lucas Davenport isn't solving a murder mystery but is rather attempting to stop a crazy escaped convict from taking revenge for his recently killed wife and sister.