Month: May 2007

I got two emails on Tuesday from Google. Seems like Jeff Barr, whom I know a little bit got similar recruiting emails. Coincidence that all of this happened on Tuesday?

Unlike Jeff, now at Amazon, I’ve never spoken to Google about working there, so there was less dissonance, just surprise. Although I have several good friends at the company (and appreciate the referral) and a lot of respect for many of Google’s products and services, I’m captivated by my current job…and that was my reply.

I’m just thrilled to be in Jeff Barr’s class. 😉

The Lives of Others is the best movie I’ve seen since Amadeus. I won’t attempt to summarize, but I will share my comment regarding a story that starts in 1984: “It wasn’t that long ago.” See the film, and you’ll understand. Wow.

Metacritic score of 89, 54th on the all-time list. Admittedly, all-time doesn’t go back through the entire history of film, but still an interesting list.

Unbelievably, it’s been two weeks since this event. But so it goes.

A fortnight ago, the wife brought me to see Will Shortz over at Berkeley, as part of the Cal Performances series. The NYTimes crossword puzzle editor and enigmatologist extraordinaire just walked on stage, talked about the history of crossword puzzles, answered questions, and led the entire ~2,000 seat auditorium through a series of verbal puzzles. Nothing terribly hard, but his “Beat the Champ” game divided the entire audience into two ad-hoc “teams,” in an effective, polite, competitive game.

Maybe American culture is on the decline, but getting a collection of people together to simply enjoy verbal gymnastics makes me think we’re not all done yet.

Two days later, I soaked up the sun in the left-field bleachers at SBC / Pac Bell / AT&T Park watching the visiting Mets edge out the Giants in an afternoon game. Yes, I skipped out before the 9th to head back to work, but a pleasant afternoon. And I’ve been here long enough that this Yankees fan doesn’t think twice about rooting mildly for the now hometown Giants.

Still, if I had to choose, I’d go with Shortz and the rest of the word geeks again. 😉

The only really tough question is… what would my mother choose: watching her Mets win or quietly enjoying matching wits with the former Games editor, whose various puzzles have tickled her mind for at least two decades now? Mom?

Spider Robinson wrote a very solid Robert Heinlein book in Variable Star. I didn’t realize it was so new (Sept, 2006) when I picked it up at the library a few weeks ago. I’m rarely so up to date. 😉

Variable Star weaves in some faithful sci-fi themes: space colonies, not-so-friendly aliens, faster-than-light travel, and telepathy as the answer to faster-than-light communication. What was new to me was the label “Fermi’s Paradox” for the lack of intelligent life we’ve observed so far around the universe. “Where is everybody?” is the apocryphal question. This book, in the background, points out that you may not want to know the answer to the question.

These teasers aren’t doing it justice. It’s not a great book, but it was fun to read.

The Chronicles of Prydain were one of my favorite series of books growing up. I just re-read all five because the boy dove in a couple of weeks ago. He’s now read them all and is re-reading them. The books sit in a stack on the floor, and he returns to Taran and Eilonwy and all the rest again and again. This weekend, we’ll take them back to the library, and pick up the last few of the Narnia series. I didn’t jump in to re-read those, after my The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe experience ~18 months ago. But Taran and the rest of this Lord of the Rings “lite” saga haven’t worn out their welcome yet.