February 13, 2005
Change is in the Question
Those that know me know I don't tend to use a certain word except in jest. But, sorry, the last two days have been magic.
Peter Mulvey came to the Westcott Community Center (thanks to the Folkus Project. I sat, transfixed, zenning out like a 2-4 staged footstomp over a simple melody that was in love. Mulvey is a different kind of singer-songwriter, the type that's underappreciated, a god on the guitar, a fine wordsmith, witty. Audiences never seem to know what to think. Sure, there's applause, but it feels like there should be something more.
Singing the praises of a great singer aside, there were other reasons to be in a good mood. Like William, I'm writing again. I hammered out five pages of doctor-like scrawl, borderline sock-drawer poetry and another short story. Or perhaps both the same thing. Decisiveness is oh-so-much easier when you have something that can bypass logic and go straight to the lizard part of the brain, tapping into endocrine production that is the one true preludium of unique thought.
High on caffeine, poetry, wine, and virtue (as I please), I headed off to HAD-HOWL for a "what will you do for money?" party. I didn't partake in much of the debauchery, just sat back and watched as madness unfolded. And smiled a lot.
As is often on the weekends, I also had a SUOC outing. Our trip was rather small (most of the young ones were hung over from the night before) and rather ill-conceived. We ended up not-snowshoeing (as in hiking) in Highland Forest. The 4 mile loop proved quite tiring in thick crunchy very cold snow. Poor J-Lo (right) did the hike with her freshly broken collar bone, and lived to tell the tale with cold hand in tow...
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Further back...
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Previous Trips...
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Hiking Mount Whitney, 2007 
Spring Break in West Virginia, 2005
New Year's in Paris, 2003-2004
Coming to America, 2003
Protesting in Berlin, 2003
Prague Bier-Tour, 2002
Dresden, 2002
Recent Reading
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Stealing the Network
I first bumped into the Stealing the Network series when reading the exploits of Joe Grand, one of the book's many hacker authors.
The 'Stealing the ...' series of books follows a rather disparate group of computer hackers as they help a former NSA spook (many of them unwittingly) gather the money he needs to retire.
The stories themselves are not fantastic fiction. The writing is uneven and choppy, the characters are stereotypical and not very well thought-out. What is fascinating about this book series is the technical accuracy of the exploits (at some points *too* accurate, with screen shots and step-by-step instructions).
It's a great series to read if you're a system administrator, or just getting into the wonderful field of computer security.
Rated 
by reid
on March 06, 2011
by reid
on March 06, 2011
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Close to the Machine
Ellen Ullman is one of those authors that somehow avoided my radar. Until now...
Close to the Machine is less a book than a collection of loosely related personal anecdotes from Ellen's time as a very rare thing -- a successful female bisexual independent computer programming consultant.
In the course of her work and relationship life, she learns hard lessons about programming, running a business, being lonely, and loving the wrong people. I found it particularly poignant being a crypto-nerd with difficult times in relationships and a more-or-less NDA'd, secret work life.
This book is a must-read for anyone into running their own business, programming, or anyone dating a person that is a business-a-holic or programmer.
Rated 
by reid
on November 23, 2009
by reid
on November 23, 2009
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The Long Trip Home
I had the joy of dining with the author in Florida. We went to a little Brazilian BBQ where he spoke with our waitstaff in (what I can only assume was) flawless Portugese.
Brian Wyllie spent 1969-1971 living in Brazil working for the Peace Corps. His recent book outlines his trip back to the United States via Bolivia, Peru, and the Carribean chain, by way of bus, train, and sailboat. The format comes spattered with observations from the modern day, and makes me think, "this must be what John McPhee's journal looks like."
The trip sounded like a fantastic one, but I was left wanting more detail...where did the gun (being snuck through customs in a variety of places, no doubt) come from? And how did Geneve's hair smell? Alas, we'll have to wait for another book to find the answers.
Rated by reid
on April 16, 2009
by reid
on April 16, 2009
Structure + Material = Interesting. Keep blogging.
Posted by: Evan on February 22, 2005 04:11 AM