Christmas vacation begins at the end of the day. I am taking off Saturday through the end of the year. I'm staying home most of the time, although I am contemplating some northwoods adventure. For some reason
dogsledding has a lot of appeal for me now, although it seems a bit spendy. If that doesn't work out then icefishing and maybe some cross country skiing. I haven't had me ski's out in some time and I either want to use them or get rid of them.
I still haven't managed to see "Return of the King" yet. With out-of-town guests and a lot of work to finish before the holiday vacation I haven't had 3 1/2 spare hours. However, I expect that tommorrow I'll be able to see it.
I've been reading "Listening Point" by Sigurd Olson. I am almost done with "Pattern Recognition", by Gibson. I just finished "John Muir: Rediscovering America", by Frederick Jackson. That came on the heels of finishing "The Yosemite" and "A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf", both by John Muir.
What did I think? Well as much as I like John Muir, his prose is easier to take in small doses. I think he writes a swell essay, but book length prose isn't his strong suit. Definitely a man of his times. I hadn't realized, until reading "A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf" that Muir had spent formative years in Wisconsin, my homestate. I am going to have to check out his haunts on my next trip to Wisconsin.
On Gibson ... I have enjoyed "Pattern Recognition" more than any other Gibson book so far. That said I still find it slow at times. I am utterly nuetral on the book. It's jarring to me to see so much current computer stuff in their, like google and stuff. I really liked the main character's concept that your soul can only travel at a certain speed and that jet lag symptoms are the result of your soul catching up. I don't know if that's original to Gibson, but it's an intersting concept and it does represent the way it actually feels to me. Additionally, the notion of having a character be allergic to brands and trademarks is a really clever idea.
Frederick Turners biography was very good. He had nice style that seemed academic without being boring or tedious.
And the best news of the week. I finally won a chess match at work. Although I am 1-4-1, it's a lot better than 0-5-1. Now I just have to claw my way back up the rankings.
One of many presents my children received was a Little Tykes, Sand and Water table. This device is intended to hold sand and water as one might guess. Knowing sand and water weren't going to be used until the the aforementioned table can be placed outside with the children.
I got the bright idea, from the kids ECFE classes that the table could be filled with other more easily vacuumed items. I chose rice.
After the gift givers left, I fell asleep after a marathon reading session. You can see the results. Ha.
