Sunidesus Speaks
Back in Seattle
First off... Rugby was awesome! I had a ton of fun watching the games and seeing it in person. So cool!
Went to two games on Saturday, the first one against Canada and then the one in the afternoon was against Great Britain. By the end of the second game I was feeling like I had a slightly better feel for how the game works. I mean, I already had the basics from the movie and from reading Zupan's book, but it's a whole different thing watching a game all the way through and not all cut up the way it has to be in the movie.
Then on Sunday was the championship game, got there plenty early and caught the second half of the 3rd place game (Canada vs. GB) and then watched warm-ups and all that fun stuff until the actual game started. They were playing New Zealand in that one. There was quite a bit more knocking over of players in that game than in the other two.
And we won. Yay!
I did take an absolute ton of pictures, but taking pictures in a gym is a difficult prospect, it's this balancing game between blurry and enough light. I pulled my shutter way down so I at least had a shot at non-blurry pictures, but that means I have to brighten every single one of them to have any hopes of getting a decent picture. That is going to wait until I get back to Rhode Island, because the laptop just isn't quite up to the task of that much photoshopping! But it looks like there's at least a couple that approach decent so I should have some that'll be ok.
And after finally managing to get my nerves up I went and asked Mark to take a picture with the frog. Oh, I should explain the frog.
There's this wooden frog that is always waiting for me in the guest room at home whenever I go home on vacation. (I'm not sure where he lives when I'm not there) He always has a note of some kind for me when I get there. This time his note said that he wanted to see Seattle. So I snuck him in my bag when I left and I've been taking pictures of him all over the place.
So... there were a couple other people asking Mark for pictures so I went over and did the "I have a ridiculous question to ask... I have this frog and would you take a picture with him." And he said sure and then I said that I might possibly have a book that I'd love to have signed as well and he said "even better." And he asked someone else to do the picture taking so I could be in it too and was totally cool. I'll post those once I get back to RI too. I had the cover for my DVD of Murderball in there too and the pen I had wouldn't write on it so he went hunting up a Sharpie for me.
And as an aside to Mark (on the off chance you ever stumble across this)... I'm not usually that much of a shaky spaz. I get all freaked out whenever I have to initiate a conversation with someone I don't know. Really doesn't matter who they are and then it of course goes fine (it always does so I don't know why I freak out, there's clearly no reason) and all that pent up nervous has to go somewhere and I get shaky.
So all in all Rugby rocked and I really have to figure out if there's any teams that play anywhere near me.
Sunidesus Reads
The Empty Chair
The Empty Chair, by Jeffery Deaver
Third in the Lincoln Rhyme series by Jeffery Deaver... and it's another re-read.
So... Lincoln, Amelia, and Thom (of course) have traveled to North Carolina because Rhyme wants to have an experimental surgery that he hopes will give him a tiny bit of improvement, but it's risky. They end up getting involved in a local kidnapping/murder case because the sheriff is a relative of one of their friends back in New York.
Everything gets sticky and complicated right quick and in a hurry, but what else would you expect from a Deaver book?
As is usually there's all kinds of personal issues to go along with the plot (which is a huge part of why I like Deaver's books). Rhyme is feeling very out of place, both because of the small town being stared at thing and because he knows how to work a crime in New York, but he doesn't know anything about the area they're in currently so it's harder. He's normally so sure of himself and he just isn't in that situation.
And there's some level of conflict between him and Sachs about the operation he wants. She doesn't think it's worth the risk, he does. I do get the feeling that if they'd just talk to each other about what they're scared of it wouldn't be quite such a bit deal!
Sunidesus Speaks
Leaving Soon
I'm needing to pack up my stuff so I'm ready to go when Keva gets home from work this afternoon. We're going to Vancouver! Yay!
I have no idea if I'll be able to get on-line from there, we shall see. Theoretically my phone is supposed to work up there, but I haven't been able to post from my phone as of yet, but I should be able to get e-mail (the phone e-mail, not my regular one) and IM's and all that fun stuff on it at least.
Sunidesus Reads
The Coffin Dancer
The Coffin Dancer, by Jeffery Deaver
Second in the Lincoln Rhyme series by Jeffery Deaver...
More re-reading! I think I'm mostly going to do a bit of plot stuff since we all know I like this series already.
As opposed to the movie made from the first book, the personal relationship between Rhyme and Sachs doesn't really get going until near the end of this one. He's really almost sweet about it, he's scared and doesn't want to get hurt again or hurt her.
The case is about a professional killer who's been hired to get rid of some witnesses before they can testify before a grand jury. It has the pilots and all kinds of interesting things with planes.
As is normal for Deaver books, all isn't as it seems! But they're so twisty that even though I've read this before it had been long enough ago and convoluted enough that I didn't remember where the twists were. I almost (but not quite) want to read one of his books a second time right after finishing it to read it knowing what to look for. Who knows, maybe I will at some point.
Sunidesus Speaks
In Seattle
I'm sitting on Keva's couch right now!
We haven't done much as of yet, just went out for dinner to a little diner and then wandered down the beach a bit.
And I'm tired so I'm thinking I'm going to read for a bit and then go to sleep!
Sunidesus Reads
The Bone Collector
The Bone Collector, by Jeffery Deaver
First in the Lincoln Rhyme series by Jeffery Deaver...
Like I said in the post for Broken Window, it made me want to re-read the earlier books in the Rhyme series so here we are back at the beginning.
It was really odd reading this one. I'd forgotten how incredibly broken Lincoln was at the beginning of all this. I hadn't realized how much he's changed over the course of the series. It was really jarring seeing him so despondant and having completely given up. Really weird. And Sachs not knowing what to do and all uncertain of herself.
I did enjoy seeing the very beginnings of their working relationship (not really the personal one just yet) again. Getting to know each other and yelling at each other and all of that. Figuring each other out.
I really like this series, and as odd as some of it was (especially in this first one) I'm liking going back and seeing the beginnings again.
Sunidesus Speaks
Home!
So I'm home now, and very happy to be here (kinda tired too, but that's normal since I've only slept a couple hours in the last 24)
Discovered something odd when I tried to post from my Sidekick this morning, (that'd be the entry before this one) I hadn't tried to post from it since I switched to MT 4 and for some reason I now can't get into the "entry body" field. I can get into all the other ones but not that one. And that's kind of an important field! I'm going to have to do some googling and see if I can figure out how to fix that.
Sunidesus Speaks
Weirdness at 5 am
It's very early and I'm in South Attleboro waiting for the train. And 6 had a live shot set up in the parking lot! And I know the photog (who I didn't know had left to work for them) Chatted with him and the reporter for a bit. Weird morning!
Sunidesus Reads
The Vor Game
The Vor Game, by Lois McMaster Bujold
In the Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold, it's the second one I've read but there's a number of different reading orders so there isn't a firm "second in series" or anything like that.
Mr. Miles just keeps getting himself into trouble. He's managed to graduate from their military academy and gets assigned to the middle of nowhere to work on learning how to follow orders. Of course he ends up in the middle of a rather nasty situation politically but it's more that he ends up in trouble because he's trying to do the right thing.
He ends up far from home with the Emperor (who's having a bit of a personal crisis and is trying to run away from home, himself, his responsiblities...) and has to protect him. There's lots of interesting interactions between the two of them. There's something really interesting to me about people like them, people who are raised to be rulers and don't have a choice in their lives. They have incredible responsibility and power, but they never really get to be "normal". Except occassionally with each other. I find it a really interesting dynamic.
The two of them end up back with the mercenary fleet from The Warrior's Apprentice and have to prevent a war.
Sunidesus Reads
The Broken Window
The Broken Window, by Jeffery Deaver
Eighth in the Lincoln Rhyme series by Jeffery Deaver...
Yay for a new Lincoln Rhyme book! I really like this series, I'm always happy to see a new one.
This one had some call-backs to both the first book in the series and the book right before this one (The Cold Moon) which was cool, I don't think that's really happened much in previous books in the series. It made me want to go back and re-read the earlier books.
The plot and story in this one had a lot to do with privacy and data mining companies. How much information about us is really out there for anyone to find. How companies use everything that's out there, all the information about what we buy and where. Every time we use one of those "frequent buyer" cards all that information goes somewhere. There's a scary amount of information available, and what happens if someone who wants to do something nefarious gets ahold of it?
My one complaint isn't really a problem of the book, it's more a problem of reading a book about something about which I already know a decent amount. I know most of the people reading the book aren't going to be very geeky or know too much about the privacy issue or about computers in general. So it's not that out of line that a number of the characters wouldn't either and there has to be a lot of basic explaining going on. But you'd think at least a couple of them would have some awareness of what's happening and not need absolutely every little thing explained to them.
But that's just one little part of it and the rest was very good. I can never figure out where all the twists and turns are going in Deaver's books, I love that. And there's always lots of interesting character and relationship stuff too. Mysteries that are just plot don't do much for me, I like reading books where I can get to know the characters and get attached to them.
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