My, oh my, there is simply so much to talk about!
First, the Braves just clinched their 14th straight division title. I can’t say I’m surprised. I don’t know what to expect from the playoffs this year. I think we’re probably going to have to face Houston. I certainly hope that we don’t fizzle out in the first round like we have done the last several years. I mean we’re chocked full of rookies this year, but I worry about our pitching. I hope Smoltzy is feeling better by the first round — we need him in the playoffs. Our problem the last couple years was that we just couldn’t get him the ball with a lead!
Second, I started school. I have many hours of class a day, and I barely understand the professors. Oh well, I’m sure I’ll be more comfortable in the next week. It’s just very hard to get back into the swing of things after so long on the road. The other problem is that I know nothing about EU law. All of us Americans are in pretty much the same boat though.
Third, I’ve been doing a lot of reading recently, most of it in the whole thriller genre (a la Dan Brown). I read all four Dan Brown books (The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, Deception Point, and Digital Fortress), and The Rule of Four. The first time I read the Da Vinci code I wasn’t impressed, but after reading The Rule of Four, I realized just how bad novels in this genre can be. I know that Rule is supposed to be a compelling read, but I’ve got to say that I wasn’t impressed at all. The writing was poor at best, and the plot was completely implausible. I didn’t go to Princeton, but I can make a fair guess that people don’t sit around doing the things the characters in Rule did. I mean seriously, who speaks 6 languages (including, Greek, Latin and Hieroglyph) during their sophomore year.
Unfortunately, the Dan Brown books, while light-years ahead, are hardly literary masterpieces. The plot in the novels, while being implausible, is at least entertaining. Unfortunately, the plot in all four novels are virtually the same. Government agencies, secret societies, the Catholic Church. They’re all the same. The characters as well. Rachel Sexton? Give me a break. Beautiful young intel worker, daughter of the foremost presidential candidate and aide to the president? Are you kidding me? The characters are simply paper thin, they have no dimension to them at all. After two novels about Robert Langdon, I know nothing about him other than the fact the he used to be a swimmer and can get every woman he wants. He’s like the guy’s version of Nora Roberts.
Don’t get me wrong, I thought the novels were entertaining. I just don’t see that writing them can be that hard. I think I should start researching an as of yet unnamed book. If I never write it, who cares? I’ll just start accumulating random knowledge about secret societies, religions, and technology. Eventually I’ll come up with a plot or tire of the exercise. I’m going to do most of my research/writing on a wiki that I’m running locally on my laptop. Maybe I’ll put it online when I get back to the states (or maybe I’ll be sick of it by then). I’ve been running mediawiki on my apple. One pain though — CEU has blocked CVS, so I can’t download the source for the 1.6 branch. I know that fink has a cvs proxy support, but I don’t know how the hell to use it. I don’t have a visible proxy here, they just block ports if they don’t know what they do. My first step is going to be to try to get CEU to open up the SVN and CVS ports.
In another random note, I saw Trek came out with their bikes for next year, but I don’t see the SSLx. I wonder if the Madone 5.9 SSL is the same as the SSLx. I know that the TTx is there. I also don’t see anything about a Lance bike (like the Live Strong bike). Their mountain bike selection is just amazing now. The Session 10 has like 210 mm of travel in the front! Thats just unbelievable! I’d like to get some kind of mountain bike some time, but I’m just not sure what I’d go with. I mean something that rugged is almost certainly a downhill bike, which I’m less interested in than an all-mountain bike or a hard-tail.
The other thing that intrigues me that I saw mentioned by the Fat Cyclist (once yesterday and once a month ago) is the track bike he just got. They’re not that expensive, and real men ride fixed gears. Okay, maybe thats not true, but I certainly think that fixed gears and single speeds are rock solid. They give you a connection to the road that you don’t get from anything else. Unfortunately, using them on a group ride isn’t very practical. Hard to keep up on a climb when everyone else is riding a geared bike. So many bikes, so little time/money/space! I’d like to get a mountain bike, I’d like a road bike, I’d like a single speed or fixed gear bike. I already have a hybrid. The thing is, I really don’t need the best of everything. The fixed/single speed might have to be last on the list. I’m sure I could get a cheap road bike that I could train on. I know Trek sells one for like 600 bucks (the 1000) that has a lot of bang for the buck. As far as mountain biking, I need to build up my legs before I really go out there and do something crazy.