Spring Break

The beloved family pet died.

My company is laying people off and I may be next.

Things suck.

I think I'm going to take a break for a while and get my head together.

Thanks everyone :)

Let Me In, A Non Book Review

No, I'm not dead. Not yet at least.

Well, it was only a matter of time before something came along that either impressed me greatly, or irritated the hell out of me – and then I'd feel inspired to write about it.

In this case, it's a book. And I'm writing a non-book review, because I've managed to only get halfway through it before deciding it's a complete piece of shite. I pushed myself to get this far, only because I hate leaving a book unfinished. I may yet finish it; but doubt I'll enjoy it.

I purchased Let Me In by John Ajvide Lindqvist because of a positive review I read on RevolutionSF. (This was originally titled Let The Right One In, and was made into a movie in Sweden).

Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk reviewers gave it rave reviews. Things like :

“Oooh it's so EDGY!”

“It's so disturbing you won't be able to put it down!”

“It's not like any other vampire novels!”

The few that did not give it 4 or 5 stars, seemed mostly bothered that the story meandered around and didn't go anywhere and that a lot of material could have been cut; thus creating a much smaller volume (This book is over 450 pages in length).

I agree wholeheartedly with those reviewers - the story could have used a good slashing of it's own content. However this alone isn't enough to make me walk away from a book (I've muddled through many a boring tome).

What killed this story for me was that it certainly wasn't like any other vampire novel I've ever read. Or, any other novel I've ever read, for that matter. This isn't “edgy”, unless you happen like reading about “Peter Files” [sic].

I fully understand that in purchasing a book, you never truly know what you'll get. Reviews are not comprehensive, and something that one person would like, others may not. However, out of 30+ reviews, only a few people alluded the book's child abuse/murder and “Peter File” [sic] character.

To the rave reviewers, this is apparently “edgy” and titillating. Or just plain below their radar maybe? Not important enough to be mentioned? It's a sad world where we're that desensitized to such violence. I found it deeply disgusting, and it would seem I'm the only one.

Why is this titillating? It shouldn't be. It's not as if this is a book educating one about the dangers of “Peter Files” [sic], it's using this as character development. Lindqvist paints this character as though we should pity him. It felt like a deliberate attempt at raising a sensation. Sorry, there's still some of us with a sense of decorum, and that just doesn't fly.

I do, however, highly recommend Theodore Dalrymple's Our Culture, What's Left of It: The Mandarins and the Masses.

In his book, Mr. Dalrymple takes aim at many of the things that are contributing to the disintegration of our society. He has an excellent chapter called “Trash, Violence and Versace: But Is It Art?", which really says it all better than I ever could.




NOTE: I must give credit for the term “Peter File” to Graham Linehan and his television show the IT Crowd.

UPDATE 03/04/2009: I finished the book. My opinion has not changed. Not an entirely bad plot, however it could've been done without the "Peter File".

Learning Curve

Well, I'm in another class this week. I can't complain, it's a good class, and I'm thankful my company is kind enough to educate us.

Along with my regular overtime, I've had to find a way to practice the new language I've learned; so it sticks in my feeble, old brain. As "homework", I'm working on a small application to hone my skills. Hopefully this will keep me gainfully employed.

When I began this blog, I tried to post daily. Now I'm lucky if I have time to do 2 postings a week. I don't want to give up the blog - I enjoy the writing.

So, with the economy in the crapper and my company merging, I may not be writing as often as I'd like.

I'll try and keep this going as long as I can though ! :)

Ashes To Ashes

I finally got my hands on the first season of the BBC show Ashes To Ashes. This is sort of a “sequel” to Life On Mars, with all the main characters except Sam Tyler. This time it's a woman, Alex Drake who gets to “go back in time”.

I won't give away any huge spoilers (I'm hoping BBCAmerica will be kind enough to run these at some point). The story goes that Sam Tyler supposedly lived out the remainder of his life in the 70's, and criminal profiler Alex Drake has been studying his notes about having traveled back to 1973. Of course, she thinks he's a complete loon, until she's shot and finds herself back in 1981 London (instead of 1973 Manchester) with Gene Hunt, Chris Skelton and Ray Carling.

I blew through the 8 episode series in about a week, and it was very cool. Especially Gene Hunt. The writing wasn't as good as Life On Mars though. There were cringe-worthy scenes with Alex meeting her parents, and I found myself thinking, “If Alex Drake studied Sam Tyler's notes on his experiences in 1973, then why didn't she learn something from them?”.

The best episodes were the very first one and the very last one. In between those episodes, adventures ensued. Oh, and there's a David Bowie clown who starts off creepy, then just becomes annoying. Like a stalker. If I was Alex Drake, I think I would've decked him after the 3rd sighting – imaginary construct or not.

Overall, I enjoyed this series and would definitely go back and watch them again. I understand a second series has been commissioned, and I'm looking forward to seeing that eventually.

So here's a bit of the first episode, courtesy of YouTube. A most excellent introduction of Alex Drake to the infamous Gene Hunt.

Sis - if you're reading this, I think you'll enjoy!

I Need To Move Somewhere Warm

It was 8 degrees Fahrenheit this morning, here in beautiful Northeast Pennsylvania.

It's expected to drop to -5 snot-freezing degrees tonight.

I think there's an expected high of 15 by Friday.

I need to move somewhere warm.

It's Not Easy Being Teen

Mom: “Wait for the school bus to stop before walking in front of it, okay? “

Teenager: “What's the big deal? The bus isn't going to hit me.”

Mom: “You don't know that. The road's icy. Just wait by the car til the bus stops.”

Teenager: “It takes too long! If I wait til the bus stops, I'll hold up everyone else.”

Mom: “You're only 20 feet away. It takes about 5 seconds to get from the car to the bus! This isn't Speed .”

Teenager: “Can I sprint to the bus once it stopped?

Mom: “Sure, if you want to skid on the ice and fall on your butt. Imagine how long you'll hold everyone up if you break your neck? Or get hit by a car?”

Teenager: “Mom!” That's not going to happen! You worry too much.”

Mom: “Sorry. It's my job.”

In Real Life

Forgive me if posting is light. We're implementing the largest conversion ever at work, and it's had me working 16 hour days.

I'm hoping to be back to normal again by Thursday :)

Coming up: Shiseido Hydro Powder Eye Shadow, Wexler Eye Cream and Hope In A Jar

Instant Mess

I used to think of instant messaging as something the kids use, with generous helpings of OMG, ROFL, TTFN and smiley faces.

Now it's invaded the workplace - including mine.

My company requires us to log into IM during work hours. I ignored it for the better part of a year, until the whining became too loud. Since I happen to like getting paid, I gave in.

It wouldn't be so bad if I could limit the people who can see me online. Or if I could prevent it from going to “inactive” status every time I go to the toilet.

Normally these settings could be altered, but like many corporate applications, it's locked down and the settings can't be changed easily. (Yep, there's always the registry, but let's not go there. I try to “play nice” with our LAN Desktop people.)

Instant messaging is particularly aggravating when you're working against the clock to resuscitate a server that just ate itself, and Joe Smith on the other side of the country is IM'ing that he'd like a new field on his TPS report.

It doesn't matter if I set my status to “Busy” or “Away”.

“Away” as in “Not Here”.

“Gone”.

“Casper the Ghost”.

How am I supposed to answer? I'm good, but I'm not telepathically tied to my laptop.

LOL, I say.

Happy Holidays !

Sorry posting is light this week. So much going on between getting ready for Christmas and my office trying it's best to make me insane.

I'm working on a Laura Mercier post for December 26th.

In the meantime, here is this year's Doctor Who Christmas Special from Children In Need:




Have a wonderful holiday!

Have You Tried Turning It Off And On Again?

The first time I experienced the joy of being “on call” was around 8 years ago. It was a weekend riddled with code installs, data conversions and other minor disasters. I literally didn't sleep or shower for 3 days.

Back then, we weren't staffed 24x7, so when something blew up, you immediately got called. This wasn't a big deal during the day, but sucked royally at 3:00am. Nowadays, the only time I lose beauty sleep is if there's a huge problem that night shift can't handle.

Unfortunately, we have one guy that calls no matter what. The conversation invariably goes like this:

ME: “Mrrrgh.”

Mr. Vagueness: “Ah, yes. Hello. The application is getting an error.”

ME: “Mrrrgh.....error? What error.....what application? Can you give me some details?”

I support 10 applications. There are literally thousands of errors which could occur. It never occurs to him to provide any coherent details.

This is the equivalent of going to the doctor and telling him you have a pain. Somewhere.