reading (Murder at the Murder at the Mimosa Inn)

I finished "The Murder at the Murder at the Mimosa Inn" on the Jan. 21st I think. It didn't flow as well for me as most of the Joan Hess books, so it took more than a day to read. This is typical Hess fare, though not as fun as the previous ones. It feels like she was trying to stuff too much into the standard space and didn't manage to get flesh around all the bones.

Some may wonder why I am reading all these Hess books. I'm reading them because they are in the house and I view them as candidates for making room on the shelves. After I've read them I can pass them on with good conscience. And I really need to make the room on the shelves now, so I've put them at the top of my list.

10. Joan Hess "The Murder at the Murder at the Mimosa Inn"

reading (Asimov's Feb '09)

I finished the February edition of Asimov's on the 26th, if I remember correctly. "The Point" was a funny short, short. I'm not sure if "The Coldest War" was a metaphor for current human society, but when I finished that's what stuck in my head. I like the idea of "Pelago" although some of the details of the execution didn't do it for me. It's part of a larger story, so the other shoe still hasn't dropped. "Colliding Branes" is a strange little mixture of farce, social commentary, and stone age traditional story. It plays just fast and loose enough to be forgiven for playing so fast and loose. "The Bird Painter in Time of War" and "The Certainty Principle" were both ended in appropriate ways, one with conclusion the other with sufficient lack of conclusion.

11. Asimov's February 2009

What in the heck have I been doing?!

If you've been wondering what I've been up to lately, here's a short list. Sledding. Went sledding last weekend and it was lots of fun and good exercise. Rebuilding my computer. I had been putting off the bi-annual reformat and reinstall for quite a while. Now that is done and I've got most of my applications working again. I've also made some enhancements to my audio system. Now I've got digital out going to the stereo system and I can remotely control the volume on the system. Last weekend we looked at houses and condos. This weekend we did the paperwork for pre-approval on a mortgage. It will probably be best to drag our feet and wait until mid-summer to buy, but if we find something interesting and irresistably priced I want to be able to go for it. I know prices will probably drop through mid-summer, but if a place needs work, it would be good to have all summer to work on it.

With all the typing and mousing at home and at work, I've managed to irritate my shoulder notably. Typing is painful. Mousing is more painful. I think I'm going to be hitting the Advil and Tylenol hard and trying to mouse with my left had where possible. I've also got out the laptop to provide some variation in keyboard angle. Working on that seems to have helped this morning.