* “Portuguese Irregular Verbs”:amazon by Alexander McCall Smith. A self-absorbed eccentric man leads an eccentric life with eccentric friends. Thankfully short. Amazon says 3.5 stars, this seems high. 2 stars I’d say. * “Real World”:amazon by Natsuo Kirino. Curious to read a well regarded novel from Japan. But didn’t do it for me. Callow angst-ridden teenagers, yawn. Amazon says 4 stars, I say 1.5. Couldn’t finish the book. * “Obedience: A Novel”:amazon by Will Lavender. Kind of interesting premise, a psychological game unfolds on a campus, slowly sucking in some students. But the characters were thin and the pacing forced and all a little unbelievable. First novel so here’s hoping practice makes perfect. Amazon says 2.5 stars, why did I buy this book?? I’d say 1.5 stars – I could finish it but I wish I hadn’t. * “The Raw Shark Texts”:amazon by Steven Hall. Another first novel, this one is a crackerjack of a story. A gripping opening, an interesting central premise about memes, great imagery. Really awesome. Amazon says 4 stars, I agree wholeheartedly, an interesting book. * “Rant: an oral biography of Buster Casey”:amazon by Chuck Palaniuk. Chuck, you need therapy. A disturbing tale of epidemic, time travel, moral laxity, bigotry, disease. Interesting, yes. Corrupting, probably. Amazon says 4 stars, I’d agree, though this is a warped book.

Blueberry Buckle Recipe : Alton Brown : Food Network – this was stunningly good. We are determined this summer to eat our way through the whole buckle/grunt/slump/cobbler/crisp/pandowdy/brownbetty spectrum this summer, this week may be a pandowdy week.

Frustrating morning, up early and out to the trailhead but road chained off. Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest - Current Conditions is supposed to have current conditions, and you can also call the North Bend ranger station 425 888 1421. However they all claim the road is open but it was clearly chained off. Grrr. Try again next weekend.

Cougar Mountain photos on Fotopedia - The Photo Encyclopedia – OK this is my first whack at this. I am not certain where Fotopedia will fit in my current suite of photo production and management tools (Canon Digital Photo Pro, Aperture, occasional Photoshop, Smugmug), but it is a great site and a veyr nice piece of client software. The integration with Aperture is nice. Hats off to the Fotopedia team (we are an investor).

Awesome find by Brett – Redtrails, Wish it showed current snow levels!

* “The Walls Of The Universe”:amazon by Paul Melko. Starts out very promising, protagonist and his doppelgänger travelling through a many worlds multiverse, trying to recapture the lives they had. But the deeper emotional themes get swamped by a uninspiring run-of-the-mill conspiracy story. Amazon gives it 4.5 stars, I’d say 3. * “The Stone Gods”:amazon by Jeanette Winterson. Outrage at humanity’s casual misuse of the planet and each other, despair, a smidgen of hope, with hints of Bradbury, LeGuin, Moorcock. Not my taste at all. Amazon says 4 stars, I’d say 2, but some people like this style. * “The Right Mistake”:amazon by Walter Mosley. Great collection of stories about a modern day urban Socrates. Uplifting. Amazon says 4 stars with some saying earlier books in the series are better, I haven’t read them, I liked this one just fine. * “Genesis”:amazon by Bernard Beckett. Modern day retelling of the Genesis story with some twists. Entertaining and thoughtful, short and sweet. Amazon says 4 stars, I’d agree. * “The Good Guy”:amazon by Dean Koontz. Solid action tale. Ending a bit too pat and the underlying conspiracy a bit too standard, but nice tale up to that point. I expected supernatural from Koontz and was pleased that this book was not supernatural. Amazon says 4 stars, I’m good with that. * “Halting State”:amazon by Charles Stross. Good cyber adventure. Stross is reliably entertaining. Another 4 star from Amazon, I like this as well as anything in this set, I might say 4.5 stars.

Cleveland Tourism Video – watch til the end. Hat Tip to MaizeNBrew

* “Alphabet Juice”:amazon by Roy Blount Jr. Fun wordplay. Probably best read as a bathroom book. If you hate word etymologies, crosswords, etc., don’t bother. Amazon says 4 stars, true if you are a word geek. * “The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives”:amazon by Leonard Mlodinow. A little plodding at times but a reasonable discussion about the prevalence of chance in our lives and our continual efforts to force cause-and-effect structures on the brownian motion all around us. The key life lesson is this – persevere and swing the bat as often as you can. And be humble about your successes and forgiving of others lack of success, because luck plays a bigger role than talent. Amazon says 4 stars, I’m ok with that * “Outliers: The Story of Success”:amazon by Malcolm Gladwell. A solid magazine article blown up into a book. Success == hard work, built on top of the opportunities provided us by our unique family/culture. Fun anecdotes. Amazon says 4 stars, it is a well-written book, but a little thin.

Actually, reading The Drunkard’s Walk, Outliers, and The Black Swan as a set would not be a terrible idea for most people to learn about randomness, how it will affect your life, and strategies for coping.

* “War As They Knew It: Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler, and America in a Time of Unrest”:amazon by Michael Rosenberg. Good story of the Hayes/Schembechler rivalry years and the times and changes on their campuses during these years. Enjoyed more than I thought I would. Amazon says 4.5 stars, I think this is right if you are a Michigan or OSU fan or big college football fan.

Official launch of the Kindle DX - Core77. I bought the Kindle and Kindle2 the instant I could. I am holding off on the DX.  Why?

* It is not clear to me that it enhances recreational reading at all – and in fact the size makes it less convenient

* The cost savings on textbooks aren’t large enough for me to get excited yet

* And more importantly the usage model of a textbook is different than that of a recreational book. Lots of flipping to sections, flipping back and forth, index usage, marking places, etc – does the device make this better?

* Can I use it in an open book exam setting?

So I am not sure yet. Eventually the weight savings may compel me but I am not there yet.

@MMP_Utah…@ALMSnotes…ALMS racehub…Miller Motorsports Park…GruppeOrange…SpeedTV schedule

I didn’t note this yesterday tho many did – 2000+ days since OSU has last lost to UM, as the counter on the Dispatch page constantly advises. Still haven’t fully recovered from the shame of the Cooper years but an excellent start. Though the rivalry needs a little more drama if it is to remain the top rivalry in sports.

Good luck this weekend to GruppeOrange Racing in Tooele. Is the ALMS race on TV live? Must look for.

A couple of good primers out on the net:

* A Primer on Index Notation from Colorado Civil Engineering. Practical intro to index notation * A Primer on Index Notation from MIT. A little more theoretical and discussion of use in calculus.

Somehow I did not ever learn about index notation in my past educational life. Time to learn.