So, Hunter S. Thompson committed suicide over the weekend...
sucks.

I'm going to have to go read Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail
now I guess... as good a time as any.

Yesterday I finally got around to reading Heinlein's Starship Troopers. For some reason I had this idea that it was going to be an incredibly dense and dry book. Best reason I can think of that I had this notion was how action heavy they ended up making the screenplay.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was actually a fast and satisfying read. All first person, like a memoir or retrospective. I understand now why the screenplay had to stray from the book -- a platoon covering a 400 square mile op area does not a good action flick make.

Interesting, yet unexplained, was the method of interstellar travel used by the navy in the book. The so-called Cherenkov drive was mentioned in passing several times, and based on one specific time - distance relationship (6 weeks for a voyage of 46 light years) represented a quite efficient method of faster-than-light travel. I wonder whether Heinlein used that same mechanism or elaborated on it in any of his other work, or whether it was simply a convenient black box.

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I'm heading back to Madison more permanent like this week. See you there, or... elsewhere I guess?

Pleasantly surprised to discover that the little breakfast toaster pastries produced by that doughy little man are actually pretty good.

And I was worried there when I read "cheese flavored sauce".

So, I'm reading a series by Harry Turtledove, author of Guns of the South and basically a really prolific alternate history novelist. The series I'm going through is the "World War" series, in which sometime in 1942, and alien species invades Earth, throwing the existing axis - alliance balance into disarray.

Bottom line - Interesting ideas and plot... but, in all honesty, I could write this stuff... hmmm...

Well, my sister is now the only member of my immediate family to have returned to the old country.

I, meanwhile, am back in Nashville for another week or two or three, depending on my mood, and whether the landlord will give me a rebate for moving out early.

Thusfar I've received suggestions that I get a job in Socal, Chi-town, Madison, and the RoC. Quite a spread... not matter what happens in the next year, I have no doubt that it will be interesting.

Leaving the post office is always a bit of a disappointment.

You enter, arms full of packages, presumably filled with valuable goods or at least interesting information. You wait a epoch or two in a line whose size never seems to change, while your position in it ever so slowly creeps towards the front. You finally arrive to deal with a [actually generally pretty pleasant and helpful, at least at the local branch I visit] employee and pay them some [actually fairly reasonable, considering how reliably they will transport your goods] sum of money. Then you leave, packages no longer in your hand, wallet (or bank account) lighter, and only a small paper receipt to show for your trouble.

Hopefully the packages I sent will bring a slight bit more pleasure or interest to their recipients.
If you're at a CA mailing address with a "C" city, or an OK address with a "N" city, and you read this on a semi regular basis, you probably have a package coming your way.