Lunch

My orange, from lunch. And no, it's not a blood orange.

Best Exchange at Work Today

At the front doors at work:

Guy: "Hi, I'm Brock."
Woman: "I'm sorry."

I'm pretty sure her name was Sari, or something similar. Makes me want to change my name to Sod Off.

Jubilation Day

This was on CMT this morning. Sometimes having background noise on is great when it delivers up something worth listening to. A great song and a funny video by Steve Martin (yes, The Jerk Steve Martin).

Bicycle Film Festival

I spent much of the last four days at a movie of some sort.  Thursday-Saturday I was at the Bike Film Festival in Minneapolis.  Thursday for two shows with Kyle and Ming.  Friday for two shows with Kyle.  And Saturday for a show with Kyle, my wife, and daughter.  A lot of bike movies. Sunday I topped it off with the last Harry Potter movie in 3D. We had to go for a convertible ride to the art park north of Stillwater on Sunday just to make up for all the weekend indoor time.

Contrary to Ming's contention that sexism in the bike shop industry seems to be a made up problem, I really enjoyed Dudey Free Zone at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.  Even though they shut it down two minutes early because the museum closed.  The two things that stuck out were how almost every woman complained about men taking tools right out of their hands.  And the woman at Sunrise Cyclery who said some guy lifted the back of her pants to check out her calf without asking.  Her humorous observation that she'd ventured beyond the no dudes zone behind the counter was proof to me that it wasn't a bitter, made up, problem, but something being faced by people who were tired of it, but still had a great sense of humor.  Ming and Kyle had an extensive discussion about it on Facebook, and I chimed in today that it reminded me of the uproar around the Flashbelt conference in 2009.

Labor of Love, earlier that night, about a woman doing the Race Across America was amazing.  Caroline van den Bulk's 3000 mile trip, where she timed out only about 55 miles from the finish, but went the distance anyway, was an amazing look into what happens to someone who only sleeps 12 hours in 12 days while otherwise pedaling constantly.  It should come as no surprise that a complete emotional meltdown is part of the charm, although having your coach mock cry at you would come as something of a surprise (he did apologize to her on a tape recorder in the car after she finally got going again).

Some other notables. The Bilenky Junkyard Cross:


I liked Le Tour De Kagawa, a search for Udon shops, although that was primarily about the personalities of the Udon eaters/bicyclists, and not the riding.

I've blogged about My Commuted Commute before (thanks to Mean Mr. Mustard), about the bike lane in NYC.

Mark Ronson's Bike Song...excellent music video:


And the Tom Schroeder cartoons about bicycling stories in MN were wonderful, both Bike Ride:


And The Bike Race:


Sunchasers, about disabled cyclists, should have been better, but the editing wasn't very good. So you were often faced with long parts that weren't illuminating of the characters of the women involved.

Sunchasers Karissa Portrait from Irvin Coffee on Vimeo.

Eryn enjoyed how at one point the video started skipping during the credits, and the audience would clap. And stop. And clap. And stop. In time with the skipping. The Bike Film Festival audience is an extremely good-natured crowd.

Raccoon

I was watching the Daily Show the other day and saw the Fox News blurb about how her fast food meal was the equivalent of eating a live raccoon.  Really?  Avoiding the issue that they're probably trying to send subtext, I went fact checking.  Fortunately, someone had already done the math for me.

"Starting weight: 15 lbs (range for adult raccoons appears to be 10-50)
Weight excluding hide, head, intestinal contents, etc.: 7.5 lbs
Remaining weight after subtracting 1.5 lbs (20% of 7.5 lbs) from bone = 6 lbs
At 20% body fat, 1.2 lbs (545 g) of fat
At 60% muscle, 3.6 lbs (1634 g) of muscle
At 75% water weight in lean muscle, there would be 0.9 lbs ((409 g) of protein
At 9 calories/g for fat and 4 calories/g for protein, there would be 4,905 calories from fat and 1634 calories from muscle
Estimated grand total: 6,530 calories in a whole raccoon"

However, I'm not willing to believe your average raccoon is only equivalent to 8 Chipotle chicken burritos without beans or sour cream. While there's less math involved, I find this breakdown more compelling.

"Nope. Racoons have way more calories than that (at least adult ones). Granted, the gentleman did specify a live raccoon, which would require more energy to digest. Raccoons (apparently) weigh in at about 3.5 - 9kg for an adult. 85g provides about 217kcal. Let's say the raccoon to be ingested by Mrs. Obama is on the low end, say 5kg. 5000g / 85g is about 59. So, 59 * 217 is 12803kcal. And that is for a modestly sized raccoon! Even if this raccoon is feisty in the extreme and puts up a hell of a fight, the most you are likely to expend during fisticuffs is 257kcal (165lb 30y/o male fighting the raccoon for 20 minutes). Let's also say that your body expends 10% of the energy provided by the live raccoon in question to work extra hard at digesting the raw meat (as opposed to easier-to-eat-and-digest cooked meat). That still leaves about 11306kcal (12803 * .9 - 217) unaccounted for!"

If you distrust my gut calorie reaction, raccoon is listed on calorie counter. One (1) pound of meat is about 1100 calories, so a 5KG/11 pound racoon...12100 calories. More like 12 burritos. That gels with my expectations.

Did I mention Fox is full of dicks? I don't know how many calories are in a dick. But one of my favorite articles ever was the Straight Dope's determination of calories in semen. Enjoy today's nutrition information.

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

I'm a Martian

I just feel I should share this based on my love of Marvin T. Martian: I'm a Martian.

Lyrics:
Every time you see me, you earthlings turn and run.
I don't know what your problem is.
I'm really super fun.
I'm a Martian!
Not a great white shark.
I'm a Martian!
I play frisbee in the park.
Come over to my party.
It's not that long a trip.
You'll be glad you made the journey
for my seven-layered dip.
I like sharing cheese pizza.
You see, I'm not so bad.
Do you like little puppies?
I make them in my lab.
I'm a Martian!
I hope for you know ill will.
A Martian!
Does someone need a chill pill?
My name's Marvin, I'm a Martian!
La-la-la-la-le-la-la-lee-lee-lo
Let's share a lemon soda.
And talk about our feelings.
But don't insult my helmet
'Cause then I'll hit the ceilings.
I've got a laser!
And it's pointed at your planet.
It's my laser!
So don't take me for granted.
I'm a Martian!
Boom-shaka-laka
I'm a Martian!
Shaka-laka-boom.

Harrey Podder

Courtesy of Geek Chic Daily, Harrey Podder.  Eryn tells me it's dumb...but she has little tolerance for mockies when it comes to Harry Potter.

Tim Pawlenty

I really hope this is easy to see.  I've been reading a lot lately.  And by a lot, I mean by mid-year I'm almost at the exact same number of pages I read total last year.  Admittedly, last year was horrible.  I blame managerialnessosity.  The state of/in which one is a manager.  And a vaguely first-year manager.  I've quit telling people "it takes two (2) years to get good at your job" because it freaks out executive management.  But it's the truth.  Year one is a total %!*/*&*%$%-fest.  Particularly if the training style is "just dive in and see how you do."  About year .75 you realize, f-it, I'm doing, not asking.  Year 1.25 you think, these people aren't necessarily smarter than me, just more experienced.  And year 1.75 you begin to believe, I'm better at this than at least one other person, unless I'm deluded, because it's possible I'm the worst manager and I only think I'm at least second-worst.  But then I could always go on sheer numbers which state, I've gone from two to twenty reports, and from a few project in one project space to four projects in four project spaces with numerous real projects within each.  Of course then I just sit in my cube, cry on my team pancakes, and wonder why no one will give me 15 contiguous minutes to code up a TFS to Open Source scanning tool using Powershell and a few business rules.

Anyway.  Reading.  Been doing a lot.  And looking for a few dystopias.  But the other day I was content to just look for whatever sort of "science fiction" the Dakota County library system had to offer.  Particularly as they now show their recent acquisitions in reverse chronological order.  I was paging through the results, and on page four (4), lo and behold, "Courage to Stand: An American Story" by Tim Pawlenty.  If it weren't ironic enough that it shows up under science fiction, it's below "Sweet Farts: Rippin' It Old School" and only just above "Night of the Living Trekkies."  Keep that in mind if you vote for him in a primary.

Wayward Betty

Mean Mr. Mustard let me know that someone I had previously blogged about was back on campus.  Work campus.  Not school campus.  And he let me know she has a blog.  All for the price of a pancake.  He's a great friend.  So this is a bit of an experiment.  I strongly recommend Kate's blog, Wayward Betty.  It's good writing.  Funny.  Writing for the sake of writing - not a mix of comical observations, software and beer links, and variegated mental masturbation (e.g....the sort of "nod to nothing") in which I indulge.  As someone with a master's in writing, I can appreciate her blog for what I should do, but refuse to do.  And while I fail to believe anyone worthwhile comes from Milwaukee (let's see how carefully my wife reads my blog), Kate's stories are enjoyable and descriptive.

But my experiment relates to my own blog, and the bloginess that is blogging and reading other blogs and being mentioned by bloggers without knowing that you have been mentioned.  Kate...if you ever find your way here, via redirect tracking, casual search of Google, statcounter, or some other similar tool, my challenge is this, can you find yourself on my blog?  Don't start digging through the last few days or weeks or even months.  Think back to when you last worked with the esteemed Mean Mr. Mustard and myself, even though you might not know us from Adam...s...es.  Can I use a plural for Adam if I mean it to refer to the saying that refers to the Biblical Adam?  After all.  There was only one.  Dibs on Adam.  Mean Mr. Mustard gets to be "you don't know him from Eve" if Adam requires the singular.  If you just can't figure it out, lob a guess my direction and I'll confess to the correct post(s).  There's not a dearth of writing so, like horoscopes, there's no shortage of ways to see yourself in at least one bit of writing.

Sincerely, Scooter and Mean Mr. Mustard/Eve (by Proxy).

Software Links VI (and other articles of interest)

• Refactoring Javascript with kratko.js - an interesting way to apply statistical analysis to your javascript refactoring.  You can try it on the page by using their simple bookmarklet on the page and the window object.
• 9 Tips on How To Improve Yourself as a Web Designer - read, write, talk, build.  It's surprising how few developers and designers actually follow that advice.
• 10 Tips to Boost Your HTML Forms Performance - label above the field and don't mask your password are particularly interesting.
• 5000 Free Math, Physics, And Engineering Video Tutorials And Lectures - Khan and MIT are the bulk of them, but these will be cool to share with Eryn.
• 45+ New jQuery Techniques For Good User Experience - so many easy little javascript widgets for autocomplete, navigation, file trees, book widgets, and more.  Although I'm not I'll ever have a need for a robot on my web pages.
• Content Management Assessment Worksheet - I post this because I think the first three sections would be fun to ask any developer when doing their mid-year review and discussing their projects year-to-date.  "I'm going to go ask your stakeholders if they can give me an elevator pitch. Your review partially relies on their answer."  Unfortunately, I might have to mark down my own assessment in such a case, although anyone who had me as their stakeholder could be guaranteed I have a pitch of some sort.
• Jalapeño and beer brined pork chops - I really want to try them.  And as a bonus, you get to learn about "Pork Chop Theory".  "According to Dupree, if you cook one pork chop in a pan on high heat it will burn. But if you cook two pork chops in a pan, the chops will cook evenly as each chop’s fat will feed the other. As Willis has written, “It’s the ultimate in giving, sharing, and developing mutually beneficial partnerships and relationships. It’s not about competition, it’s about sharing the fat, sharing the love.”"
• Fit or Future, Which is More Important When Hiring? - my focus is usually future, although I better get the impression your piece doesn't fit because of the skill selection, not because of a lack of foundation knowledge.

Porn Gun

Eryn kept asking me if I wanted to see the porn gun. "Dad, do you want to see the porn gun?" "Do you, it's cool?" "There's a video of the porn gun!" "It's a real life porn gun."

Wow...no thanks honey.  And maybe it's time to have another talk about what you're looking at on the computer. She showed it to me anyway.

Software Links V (and other articles of interest)

• 5 Books to help you become a better software engineer - I disagree about The Pragmatic Programmer, but I did enjoy the others.
• Beer Archaeologist from Long Reads - Dogfish is so freaking cool. "But will the za’atar—a potent Middle Eastern spice mixture redolent of oregano—clobber the soft, floral flavor of the chamomile? And what about the dried doum-palm fruit, which has been giving off a worrisome fungusy scent ever since it was dropped in a brandy snifter of hot water and sampled as a tea?...The truest alcohol enthusiasts will try almost anything to conjure the libations of old. They’ll slaughter goats to fashion fresh wineskins, so the vintage takes on an authentically gamey taste. They’ll brew beer in dung-tempered pottery or boil it by dropping in hot rocks. The Anchor Steam Brewery, in San Francisco, once cribbed ingredients from a 4,000-year-old hymn to Ninkasi, the Sumerian beer goddess."
• Nailing down non-functional requirements (Infoq) such as "General 'ilities' of the system such as scalability, interoperability, maintainability, portability, performance and security".  I fully agree about the trickiness of making this work as well as getting it in the backlog and in front of the business unit.  I'm particularly sensitive to the issue, because lately I've been tasked with handling our Open Source tracking for the department, including porting the scripting of the process from AntHillPro back to Powershell scripts (AHP keeps failing on us), considering the OWASP scanning schedule, including writing up a standard "bundle" for partners interested in our security stack, and determining the best way to automate some of our testing within the constraints of two development FTEs for half a dozen products.
• Why Most IT Departments Are Modeled After a DMV (Even Yours!) -  How to codify saying "no".  "Campaign rhetoric aside, governments have a bit of a vested interest in slowing down change in the way government works. Governments are meant to be stable, reliable and predictable -- and change opposes those goals...My problem is that ITIL pretty much abhors change. No, not on paper -- on paper, ITIL manages and controls change. In practice, IT organizations use ITIL as a blunt instrument to halt change."
• It's getting real...in the Whole Foods parking lot.   Thanks to Betsy Burton (@betsyphd). I wonder if I should form a competing gang over at Kowalski's.

Etiquette

I've noticed that sometimes at the soda fountain, no matter how wide the machine, the next person in line won't get ice or water, despite the fact that I'm filling my diet soda from the far end, effectively several feet away.  Usually it's a guy that's standing there waiting until I'm done.  Which leads me to wonder, is this some sort of misplaced urinal etiquette?

Josh Davis

The Nerdery keeps a pretty cool list of videos for speakers and interviews and other multimedia at their place of work.  Recently, they had Josh Davis, an artist and technologist, speak.  I don't think I've ever heard anyone drop quite so many f-bombs during a technical, or at least semi-technical-presentation.  Which is great.  I think most code/tech needs to be described in terms used by the people developing it. Warning - almost 90 minutes long.

By the way...taking into account this video and the next one...I'd like to shame my company by stating that I heard - and this is grapevine until I confirm it tomorrow - that the ad hoc chess club at work was booted from playing at the cafeteria and had to move their activities off site to a local coffee house because chess/gaming isn't allowed in the cafeteria after a certain time. If that's true, I think I'll be dropping a comment on the CEO's blog to ask him exactly what sort of culture they're trying to cultivate at work and whether he has a place where a chess club could set up camp. Then again, maybe chess is better with fancy coffee.

Josh Davis at The Nerdery from The Nerdery on Vimeo.

And I wish this happened where I work:

Rebecca Black's Friday on Rock Band from The Nerdery on Vimeo.

Forgotten Grandma Photos

I don't think I posted this after the trip from Denver to Sidney, as Pooteewheet pilfered some of them for Facebook, and that can trick my brain into thinking I already said something about them.  But better late than never, particularly as my father can find them online and share them with her.

While we were getting grandma settled into the trailer, Eryn set up her sculpture garden for her.


The squirrel in the front is new.  When we were at the grocery store, Eryn picked out a new addition.  She had several choices, but felt the squirrel was best.  Grandma was exceedingly happy to get a new animal that Eryn picked out herself.


A different view.


Eryn also got a new sweatshirt.  I was worried that it was white.  And too big.  But she's always growing, so the size wasn't as big of an issue.  It looks really nice on her and she looks just like an official Sidney Eagle.


Grandma (Great Grandma) and Eryn right before Grandma drove us to Williston in the rain storm that later turned into several inches of snow.  I believe there's an 88 year difference between the two of them.  Pretty neat to have a great grandma who's still moving and can hang with you at that age.

My Little Serenity

A thank you to Jewel Staite (who runs the food-dedicated blog Happy Opu) for her Twitter about Nathan Fillion staring in "My Little Serenity", an amusing spoof on YouTube.

107 miles

Yesterday, I biked 107 miles. I've been telling Ming I wasn't tired at the end of our 60 mile MS ride and 63 miles into the second day of Bike the Border, but it was just talk. I couldn't prove it. So I figured I'd go out and make sure I wasn't lying to him or to myself. Additionally, I wanted to break the 100 mile mark, something I haven't done since I was 15 and biked to northern Wisconsin and northern Minnesota with classmates. So I got up and hit the road by 6:00 a.m. and aimed for the north shore of Lake Minnetonka, where there was a trail (Dakota Rail Trail) I wanted to try. My first stop was at The Depot in Hopkins for a depth charge and a piece of banana bread. Looking at the GPS, with the break, I was averaging only about 10.4 mile per hour. This was sort of expected. There are a lot of stops in the city, and I didn't have the GPS in front of me (the back for mounting on my bike didn't fit, part of my neverending odometer woes). So by the time I got to north Lake Minnetonka, I was looking for any way to force myself to go faster. The answer was two guys on road bikes who were spinning along at about 17 mph. I vowed to keep up with them, despite the embarrassment it would cause them being shadowed by a mountain bike. By the time I got to St. Bonifacius, I'd moved my average from 10.4 to 14.5.

That was part of the point.  To a.) use a mountain bike, not a road bike, as I'd always claimed I wasn't tired on the mountain bike, b.) to get a variety of terrain, hills and flats, c.) to get a variety of surfaces, dirt and tar, and d.) to average at least 11 mph.  I managed all of those, as Highway 7, which attached St. Bonifacius to Victoria was seriously hilly, the Minnetonka LRT was dirt (and mud...it was raining for my last 50 miles), I was on the mountain bike, and I averaged 11.4 mph, including a stop for breakfast at The Depot and lunch at Chipotle (13.3 average moving speed).

The most important things I learned on the trip were, 1.) there's a restaurant called Maggie's in Wayzata that's 30 miles from my house, perfect for meeting Kyle and open at 7:00 a.m., 2.) there's a bike/coffee shop in Wayzata,  3.) seriously hot joggers average one every 33 miles in the further burbs, 4.) there's a bistro to try in St. Bonifacius, 5.) the Dakota Trail doesn't stop at Waconia, as it does on my map, but continues to County Road 25 in Mayer, MN, and will eventually continue until it joins with the Luce, 6.) 107 miles is rough and makes you feel like you're getting a spanking the next day when you bike to ice cream with your daughter.

A memorable point of the ride was when I called Pooteewheet at the 75 mile mark to tell her I'd be home sometime around 4:00 p.m.  For a moment, while lying on a bench south of Lake Minnetonka, I felt like I was passing out because there were so many spots in front of my eyes.  Then one landed on me and I realized it was a gnat, and I felt much better.

Given the trend, I shouldn't have to do the next 100 miler until I'm 69.

What I'm Listening To Lately

The Decemberists, Rox in the Box


Arcade Fire, We Used to Wait


Seether, Country Song


Mumford and Sons, The Cave

Minot

Ming and I biked the Bike the Border ride last weekend.  140 miles - 38 the first day, 68 the second day, 32 the last day.  The ride went from Glenburn, ND, to Berthold, to Mohall, and back to Glenburn, in a big circle north of Minot.  The 9 hour drive each way was definitely a pain in the a**, but good company, so there was lots to talk about.

I apologize in advance for the quality of the pictures.  My camera white compensation has died and in any lighting, it now takes pictures with a greenish tint.  Replacing it is a goal for the week.  I'm not sure if it's related to loaning it to three eight year olds, but I have my suspicions based on the timing of the issue.

Me in Glenburn, imitating a hula tree art project.  They didn't put this together just for us.  The guy had several pieces of art in his yard of a similar sort, many involving beer bottles.  There were only about 68 people on the ride - 150 was the limit for the ride - because of the weather and flooding.  There was water everywhere.  The fields were saturated. The roads and parking lots were buckling.  The hills were sliding loose.  Ducks were EVERYWHERE because everywhere was comprised of giant lakes of water in fields that wouldn't go away because the ground was already saturated.  What I remember about the area when I was a kid was how dry it was - not this year.  Because of the water in the fields and the mosquitoes, they let us sleep in the local schools each night.  Ming and I never so much as cracked a tent pole or sank a stake.  There was even air conditioning.  The only impediments to a good night's sleep were wooden basketball floors and Neil the Canadian PM snoring after drinking too much.


Ming took this picture in Mohall.  It's Chiveworthy.  I may have to ask him if I can submit it.  Mohall was weird.  Their school had cages for the lockers and equipment.  Not like lockers.  More like prison cages with locks on them that sealed off areas.  And there were no stall walls.  Which sucks if you need to relieve yourself.

The best thing about the second day was that it was beautiful out.  70s and sunny the whole 68 miles.  A definite difference from the previous day where the last 6+ miles were uphill into the wind while it was raining.  Of course, that made the 38 challenging, so there you go.  The nice thing about ending up in Berthold after the first day was the principal at the Berthold school was super nice.  She actually drove people around in the bus to avoid the rain, and did a smores cook out on the front lawn.  I was happy to spend money in her town, even if, as we heard, the local restaurant shut down an hour early because the owner couldn't handle the (68) bicyclists coming in for dinner.  Ming seemed to like the second day fine until we got to the hill at about the 63 mile mark.  Big hill.  Very big hill.  I think between the hill and running out of water, he was ready to be done.  But he still wasn't ready to enter Dad's Back Door.

We ate at the Paragon Cafe in Mohall.  I strongly recommend against it.  It wasn't bad.  But the waitress was brusque.  Exceedingly so.  I thought it was just Ming and me, but later, in the gym, we heard the story making the rounds about how crabby she seemed to be toward everyone.  For dinner we ate at the burger joint instead.  They looked overwhelmed by the cyclists, but put in the effort to make sure food was moving and still be pleasant.


This is from Minot, after the ride, at the bookstore.  Ming looked for a book to read throughout the ride.  Several Cenexes and three towns, and he couldn't find so much as a good magazine.  He borrowed my copy of Zombie, Ohio, and enjoyed it.  Maybe people are afraid to go in the bookstores because they're furry porn shops?


Charlie's, where we ate breakfast after the ride.  Apparently a favorite of anyone over about 70 in Minot.  That's a good sign if you're a breakfast person.


Ming and the ape.  Two women brought the ape along as they travel with it everywhere.  We met the ape, some local teachers, two women who were married to guys working at Minot Air Force Base, a guy who works at the base, Erin the teenager and her dad (I pointed this out to Eryn, insinuating she should go on a ride with me), Neil the Canadian PM, Archie the old guy (who laughs when he pees - sorry if you're reading this Archie, but it's true), the organizers of the ride, and a variety of other folks including a postmaster from closer to Williston and Bob from Minot.  We met a group of women aged late 30s to early 40s as well.  I joked that Ming should take his ring off, at which point he admitted it was already off because his wife didn't want him to lose it on the ride.  Maybe she'll rethink that next time.


The pump at Donnybrook.  I used to pump water here into large cans to haul up to the farm for Grandpa Harry.


Me at the Donnybrook sign.  Ming said I was disrespectful because I farted in the field.  I pointed out I was just leaving a bit of myself in Donnybrook.


Ming reading Zombie, Ohio.  This was our regular sleeping quarters.


Mohall was home of the bombers.  I thought this was amusing because there's that saying "build schools not bombers".  I bet they don't use that saying in Mohall.


All the bikes in a hallway.  No one wants a wet seat.  No one wants wet feet either, which is why I bought shoe covers.  Then put on a brand new pair of sneakers, not realizing they were much bigger than the sneakers I used to try the rain covers.  Doh.


From our trip up and back.  A Nazi Native American.


Ming in Glenburn, readying his bike.


Jamestown, home of the giant buffalo.  I took Ming there just to check it out.  I learned the other day that Audrey, from work, is from Jamestown.


In Jamestown, the slippery slope has slidden.  Ducks and alligators openly kiss.


The last day was short, but windy.  Erin's dad told us the wind would pick up later in the morning until it was at 10-20 mph, and earlier was better.  So most riders set out about 5:30 a.m.  It was a good choice, because the last three miles were some serious pedaling for not much speed.

I mentioned it was wet.  This is what many of the hills looked like.

Another picture of hills:

And Audrey sent me this picture of Canada.  This is the same river that flows through Minot.  When we were in Minot, it looked just like the picture on the left.  I can't imagine it looking like the picture on the right.

And finally, a nice video of our drive into Minot.  We had Pooteewheet's new car.  Hope she doesn't mind that we drove it through a river.

Zombie, Ohio and Mieville's Kraken

I took Scott Kenemore's book (yes, book, not eBook) Zombie, Ohio, along on the Bike the Border ride Ming and I went on last weekend around Minot, ND.  Ming grabbed it to read as I was also reading China Mieville's Kraken and he hadn't brought anything.  Which turned out to be a wise decision as nowhere within 30 miles of Minot, ND, was there a book to be purchased.  Most of the towns we were in a.) didn't have a bookstore, b.) didn't have a gas station that had books, unless they were Christian, and c.) didn't have a gas station that had a magazine.  Seriously, several Cenex's and not a magazine between them.  Everyone in North Dakota obviously uses an eReader and purchases their books in digital format or has them delivered directly to the front door via Amazon.com.  I strongly recommend Zombie, Ohio.  A very solid book in the Zombie genre.  At times it's like The Road.  At other times it's like The Postman.  And in places it's sort of a mystery novel and love story.  Without ruining it, the plot revolves around a zombie who finds that he's not your average dumb, slow zombie, but a one in a million/billion smart zombie who can talk, reason, plan, and emote.  You can do the math from there.  What does he do about his penchant for eating brains?  Is he a good zombie, a bad zombie, or both?  Definitely a clever twist.

Which is more than I could say about Kraken.  I really liked Perdido Street Station, The Scar, and even Iron Council, which was a bit more ponderous than the other two.  King Rat, which was sort of same genre of urban magic, although sans giant squid, was thoroughly enjoyable, particularly if you'd read any Gaiman or Emma Bull (you can read my lengthy post about King Rat and War for the Oaks here).  Kraken was not. It sort of hopped all over the place.  And at times, Mieville came back to the thread of the story with references to things that had happened that he hadn't covered in text.  Which was damn strange given Kraken was over 500 pages.  He could have written the same story, with just as much depth, in 200-300 pages.  The last 40 or so had the most interesting aspects of the story and I shouldn't have had to breathe deep and utter, "Finally."  I'll channel one of the folks on Amazon who sums it up well, although I'd push the % down to about 30%, "The characters are flat. 75% of the way through the novel I realized I really did not care what happened to these characters and I only finished to see how the mystery was resolved."