April 04, 2005
I Can Take a Road That'll See Me Through
I was on the road again over the weekend, this time going to New Jersey with my "Scuba Buddy", Al. I deposited him in Philadelphia to be with his beau, and headed over to visit a place I'll never be again.
I rolled into my dad's driveway at around 10pm. A front was coming through, chilly wind and rain blowing. I put on my rain jacket and walked around back. The real motivation in going down was to clean out my dad's house. It is being sold in less than two weeks, and I had a lot of papers in my closet still.
Moving my stuff out was one part depressing, one part invigorating. My dad got the house shortly after my parents divorced, and it was kind of nice having both of my folks within walking/cycling/driving distance (they lived 10 minutes away from each other). The downside, of course, was a constant nagging guilt every time I was at my childhood stomping ground -- I was in a constant state of worry that one parent would feel neglected when I didn't choose their house as my base for Jersey visits. In a sense it's quite fortunate that one moved...trips to the folks can be a little more compartmentalized. And we won't even go into the merits of having a parent living in New Paltz.
Later Saturday evening I met up with some old-skool friends for a birthday party. It was originally intended to be one of those pagan circle things, but continuing rain made us abandon any hope of having the fire pit operating. Instead it was cake, wine, and catching up on old times.
The rain really didn't stop the whole trip down. The Delaware and Schuykill Rivers flooded, closing Route 30 back to Philadelphia. It made for some interesting detours trying to pick Al back up on the way. That and an unexpected illness -- I woke up Sunday morning feeling like I weighed 500 pounds, my whole body aching, and my sinuses feeling clogged -- made me want a slightly faster departure than I had originally intended. After a 14-hour nap Sunday night, most of the symptoms have gone away. Roads really do wear you out, and I've been on them a lot lately. That shows little chance of changing...
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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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The Curve of Binding Energy
John McPhee follows famous physicist Ted Taylor in this piece that was -- and probably still -- ahead of its time.
Originally published in 1973, McPhee outlined the coming security and environmental issues surrounding the plutonium enrichment processes. For the most part, though, McPhee invites the reader to draw his or her own conclusions, although he does point out the ease with which any number of people could obtain the material (though not necessarily the manufacturing prowess) to make an atomic weapon.
The question still sits in my mind after reading -- are we being too paranoid, or not paranoid enough?
Rated 
by reid
on October 01, 2007
by reid
on October 01, 2007
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Zodiac
Zodiac touts itself as an 'eco-thriller,' and it is just that. Told from the first-person perspective of ST (or Sangamon Taylor), the book recounts a roughly six-month period of his life busting big corporations for violating environmental laws.
Not the tree-hugging political activist type, ST is equipped with chem labs, scuba divers, maps, and an organization (GEE International, the Group of Environmental Extremists) that masterfully brings the press into the fold to scare the public with the very real dangers posed by illegal dumping. It's sort of a Sierra Club member's wet dream -- a band of ecowarriors that actually get things done.
ST finds something odd happening in Boston Harbor during his tale: a new form of pollution that could poison everyone on the planet in a matter of weeks. His quest to uncover exactly who and what is causing the latest spike in toxins goes all the way up to the President of the United States, and could end up costing him his own life.
While a neat and fast-paced tale, the novel drags on a bit toward the end, begging disbelief from even the most forgiving sci-fi folk. While not as good as his latest offerings, it's still a great read for those that enjoy a good Stephenson novel (or even those who don't).
Rated 
by reid
on July 17, 2005
by reid
on July 17, 2005
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Cat's Cradle
A few years ago, I attempted to woo an online datee, and she immediately criticized me for my politics. I protested the war on Iraq, which was "a shame." She defended her position of complete noninvolvement by standing behind Vonnegut.
It may seem odd to open a review that way. My assumption is now not that she was an idiot, but that she had only read Cat's Cradle, and only with a rather odd viewpoint.
Cat's Cradle looks at a cold-war world where the personifications of religious, political, and scientific single-mindedness collide to destroy the world.
Vonnegut tells a masterful tale, but it makes me wonder what one person's indifference would do to prevent us from all dying? So for now I will continue to unblindly stop unjust wars, even while I'm only reading.
Rated by reid
on July 17, 2005
by reid
on July 17, 2005