I've recently decided that I like listening to stuff when I'm walking/biking/driving. And since a) I don't pay to subscribe to any music streaming services (nor is my private collection very impressive), and b) the speakers in my car are so crappy that playing almost any kind of music on it is an insult to the music, I've been listening to ( Read more... )

2016 Book Log ( Read more... )

This year I have gotten my ebook collection in better order, both on my computer and in figuring out how to work with OverDrive so I can check out ebooks from the library. Also, ebook popularity seems to have caught on appropriately, so new releases are usually also available in the digital public library as much as in physical copies, and much ( Read more... )

Last week was Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week and Thursday, my local bar Hough's had a barrel-aged beer night, where they had 32 barrel-aged beers on draft. I joined a group of 7 other people who also like that sort of thing. We squeezed our way into the crowd (and amazingly, eventually found two tables), ordered everything in their 4oz taster sizes, ( Read more... )

I made it a point to get some more reading time in over the break than I usually do, and a quick spin through my collection (electronic and paper) turned up these three, which I finished and enjoyed. I don't usually report on my reading but felt like doing it at least for the first one.

Swordspoint, by Ellen Kushner, self-described as "a ( Read more... )

I have spent a lot of time complaining at great length about cold fingers when I ride my bike in winter around here, and my failure to find a warm enough solution.

When I last ranted about it, danceboy stepped in with perfect timing and offered to send me an old pair of bigger gloves so I could try them with liners, going on the tentative theory that the ( Read more... )

Last week I decided to go to the local Big Database Company Advertisement Day, where a certain large company that specializes in database management systems hosts lots of local database people somewhere nice and try to sell us more of their products. My workplace uses a few of their products already, and they have some other interesting-looking ( Read more... )

I just finished reading Habibi, a graphic novel by Craig Thompson. This review almost certainly has spoilers and possibly triggers.

( Firstly, the book is beautiful )

After last month's angsting about e-readers, I made a choice to go with the Nook Simple Touch, B&N's second gen e-ink-only touchscreen reader. A couple people asked me to revisit the topic with my current thoughts. Disclaimer, I've only used it about a week, and mostly just for reading, so I haven't explored all the options, and I haven't ( Read more... )

Thanks to CSA foods, lunch today contains stuff topped with pesto made from basil, squash blossoms and garlic scape, on a salad of a varied mixture of greens I can't identify half of. Thanks to my garden, I can identify the radish, spinach, and chard greens in it, and my side is a slice of delicious rosemary bread (with a variety of other fresh- ( Read more... )