Book Nook

Sunday, February 10, 2008. 1659 EST. Apartment in Virginia. Sunny, chilly but bearable.

Inspired by my semi-annual living space cleaning, a book check:

Currently reading: A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin

Books on the shelf not yet read (by myself, at least)*:

Code Complete by Steve McConnell
Next by Michael Crichton
Unconventional Success by David F. Swensen
Philip K. Dick: Four Novels of the 1960s (The Man in the High Castle, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Ubik)
The Bridge by Iain Banks
Beyond Tells by James A. McKenna
Escape from China by Zhang Boli
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John LeCarre
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Atonement by Ian McEwen
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
Century Rain by Alastair Reynolds
Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds
Absolution Gap by Alastair Reynolds
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig
Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

*This list is probably not complete. There are likely books hiding somewhere in the piles that I have yet to unearth.

I'll be done with A Feast for Crows in a few days, week tops. Then, the problem is which book do I want to read the most. These all are interesting me, now that I look at the list, and have them on my shelf lined up in a row according to height, more or less.

Heavens, I'm such a geek. I'd go join a monastery and cloister myself away from humanity, but for the fact that I couldn't own books. Everything else, I would be OK with giving up.

***

Good heaven, was last week busy. At the company meeting, I actually broke out my laptop, not to dick around, but to continue working. There's something wrong with that, but I'm not sure what.

I've already left my mark on T.S., if the meeting was any indicator. As the "[T.S.] Awards for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence" were handed out, we saw a parade of the usual suspects in the Info-tech discipline. Best project management, best developer, best business analyst, best salesperson, general excellence. And then, the ultimate award, entitled "Work Hard Eat Harder." Yes, gentle folk, the founders of T.S. created an award lauding the gustatory efforts of A.C. He even received the actual plaque, crystal slab supported in wooden frame. Yes, it said "2007 Work Hard Eat Harder."

This has two ramifications for me. One, I have to get off my ass and start planning more eating contests. But two, perhaps more important, despite my unintentional efforts to murder my coworkers with elevated cholesterol counts, I have actually had a tangible effect on team morale. Now, if only I could make such an effect with my work, but I guess we'll have to give that more time.

***

I broke my only cereal bowl a while back (OK, months back). It didn't stop me from eating cereal, but I was eating it out of a lot of Tupperware. That was kind of sad, so today, while procuring cleaning supplies, I went to the food storage section. Almost picked up a Tupperware bowl (again), when I looked over to the pyrex section, and picked up a pyrex bowl.

Form follows function. F*ck traditional dinnerware. I'm going to now assemble a plate/bowl set of nothing but pyrex. Doubles as food storage, hard to break (already dropped it once), but still an understated effect. This stuff will match pretty much anything I ever get, because it's clear. As you all know, I've got zero style, so need as much help as possible, or the opportunity to minimize style choices.

A quick search on the internets reveals it will be harder than I thought to purchase. Damn you, porcelain. Damn you.

***

Finally had time to decompress. Much needed; I slept so, so much. It makes me want to organize another tackle football game, or go back to sleep.