recent events and random rambling
J.D. Salinger is dead. And, for the one person on my friends-list who might get the joke, "I still think the protagonist is an asshole."
AmazonFail, again. Sigh. While I'm not thrilled with the idea of paying more for early edition ebooks, I'm also not thrilled with the idea that my favorite authors might not be able to afford to write for a living. While a lot has been said on the issue, as a reader I'll throw out two things. First, what I pay for when I buy hardback is mostly getting the story now, rather than waiting for paperback. One benefit of buying the kindle edition instead, in addition to a slight price advantage, is that all the readers in our house can get the book at the same time - up to six devices can access the same library. For some series, this is reason enough to go with the Kindle version.
There are a lot of people who complain about ebooks because of the ephemeral nature of digital media. Ebooks in general I don't mind so much - paperbacks aren't known for durability after all - but I do have a minor objection to closed-format books. The Kindle has gotten mixed reviews from us as consumers. The good: small, readable, supports multiple devices in addition to the reader, free re-download of archived materials, very convenient to grab new books, very portable library. The bad: closed technology, yankback, entry cost, very convenient to grab new books. (My wallet thinks the last is a bad thing). I wish the kindle app for iphone allowed me to push books there from the baen free library, but so far I haven't figured this out.
I wish Amazon would stop trying to WalMart the book business; too many good authors are hard to find. I wish, in fact, that they'd chase the backlists more heavily. I have my own list of out-of-print books I'd love to see offered in ebook form, and keeping books in publication as ebooks should be easier than keeping them on shelves in bookstores. I suspect that negotiating the rights for books that have fallen out of print might be the most expensive part of the whole process.
Politics
I'm not sure Obama has really brought his A game to the healthcare debate. I did see some of the clips of his meeting with the republican leadership, and I'm glad to see him stepping up.
The repeal of DADT didn't have a sponsor in the senate last time I heard. My senators will be hearing about this. (A side note on this issue. Steven Barnes commented on his blog that he stopped worrying about gays thinking he was sexy when he realized they were complimenting the same things that straight women were, and that this was just a compliment. I stopped worrying when I realized that if 99 percent of straight females think I'm unattractive... ) The issue of gays in the military makes me wonder about our priorities. "Don't worry about being killed, at least you're safe from being oggled."
On that note, can the military stop lecturing me on sexual ethics until the word "Tailhook" fades a bit? What's next, the Mormon church lecturing me on normative marriage? (wait. nevermind.)
Politics really has left CNN for Comedy Central.
personal
My cholesterol level spiked as of my last blood donation, right after the holidays. Going to the doctor for a more discriminating test on Monday. (Lab work today, discussion Monday.) I recently was run into the ground in Aikido; my endurance is pitiful. I need to work out more, and work harder at staying in shape. I'm hoping for aikido two to three times a week; I've rejoined the Y and am going at least once a week to do cardio, for at least four "make me sweat buckets" sessions a week. We'll see if this improves matters, if not I'm going to have to make more time for physical activity. I'm also starting (intermittently) to keep a journal of what I eat. If I have to write it down, there's less desire to actually eat that bag of chips or whatever.
I hope I don't have to give up mocha; the local coffee shop makes a perfect dark chocolate mocha.
work
For those of you that know what I'm working on, the first metacritic reviews of the game are coming in. Mixed reviews, not as good as we hoped but about what I personally expected. A fun game if you like the genre, and better to work on than my last.