Here's the current list of books read. Books read since the last update are bolded.

( Books list behind the cut )

I cannot possibly recommend "Song of the Dodo" highly enough. Death Traps told an important, if morose tale, in a mediocre fashion. Fox Company is astounding all the more for being true, although it was at times difficult keeping the names of the Marines apart. Recommended.


No Worries,

Matt

The meme instructions say to list 15 books that impacted your life somehow, and I think it must have also said to ramble on about either the plot of the book or what it meant to you, since that's what I seem to have done. A bunch of my flist did this meme 2-3 weeks ago, and I followed suit, writing up my list in bits and pieces over a few weeks. Enjoy.

( The list be behind the cut )

Holly's birth story to come later, possibly today, but probably not.

No Worries,

Matt

I've got a solid 4 or 5 updates floating around in my head, and given that yesterday was Holly's 1 month birthday, I am acutely aware that I haven't gotten around to publishing her birth story yet... In the meantime, this is one I've been mulling over for a few months now....

What is the etiquette for friending people on Facebook, seriously? I know that there isn't an established etiquette yet, but what to do? I'm friended mostly to friends from High school, college, various workplaces of the last decade, a handful of people I've met here on Livejournal, and relatives. That's all well and good, but what about the fringes of those groups?

Case in point- high school people. I've gotten friend suggestions for people that mocked and ridiculed me for 10 years, and even a few people who were actively hostile and physically aggressive against me. Not gonna happen. I've gotten friend requests from people that I knew of, but didn't know, and people that were most likely really cool people, but we just traveled in different circles. A handful of them i am now friended to, and I enjoy getting to know them as adults. And by now, I've gotten friend requests from a solid 5 or 6 people who I swear I never went to school with, and have never heard of in the slightest, but apparently are in my senior yearbook. Do I friend them or not?

There was a random guy a year ago who friended me with the same name as me. Pretty funny at first. He had over 100 friends all named permutations of 'Matt Dunn', but it got old fast, seeing all of his random updates, especially since he's 14, I'm 33, and we have NOTHING in common other than a name. So, I unfriended him.

Similarly, I'm friended to an undergrad who worked in a lab I was in a few years ago, and other than a few weeks over 2 summers spent in the same room, we have nothing in common. Do I remain friended to her, or delete her, essentially from my life?

What do you guys do in this type of situation?

No Worries,
Matt

I need to be working on my NIH grant submission. I don't have nearly the time necessary to finish it. So, naturally, I am posting here.

Here's the current list of books read. Books read since the last update are bolded.

( Books list behind the cut )

All in all, I think the list is going to stall here, if not for the rest of the year, then at least for the foreseeable future. I have an 8 month backlog of issues of Analog, Asimov's, and F&SF to get through, not to mention a 3 week old baby in the house. =) So, I'll be concentrating on short stories for my reading material for the short term.

No Worries,

Matt

So, I know I promised an update containing Holly's Birth story, and that will come, but first - this:

Willow is in a definite Princess phase. She only wants to wear pink. She has maybe 3 or 4 pink outfits, and they are the only things she wears day in and day out. She got a kid's disney princess jewelry set from my dad last year, and over the last 2 months, she's started wearing the rings, earrings (clip-ons), and necklaces constantly. And add on to that her addiction to Barbie movies.

The fine folks at Mattel have released a slew of direct-to-DVD movies 'starring' Barbie, and we accidentally caught part of a commercial for one a few months ago, and ever since, that's all that Willow has wanted to watch. So, we borrowed a few via Netflix, and wound up giving her one as a Christmas present, and now my father just gave her 3 more for her Birthday.

On the whole, the movies aren't all that bad - they're all computer animated, Barbie usually stars as the main character or as herself telling the story, the music in them is better than some movies I've seen, and the content is strictly on the up-and-up - no winking in jokes to the adults watching. But the thing that gets me is the triplets.

In almost every one of these movies, there is a group of three girls around the age of 5 or 6, who play triplets. One is always blonde, and one is always brunette. The third has waffled from red to blonde to tan to whatever in the various movies. And their names are different in each flick. Yet, they are always there!

So, what's the deal????

No Worries,

Matt

Much to post, and as usual, no time or ability to do so.

Most everyone here has heard the news from me via facebook, but for those who haven't, salixmom gave birth to our second beautiful baby girl, Holly Linnea, last week.

Birth story, uch as it is, to follow time permitting.

No Worries,

Matt

Here's the current list of books read, not counting kids books read to Willow, which include a lot of Curious George, various Berenstein Bears, and a hilarious series I'd never heard of about" Jimmy's Boa". Books read since the last update are bolded.

( Books list behind the cut )

I will say that I am cheating just a bit on the above list. I didn't actually finish Tucker Max's "I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell". I couldn't stomach it. After 30 pages, I felt like I needed a delousing and a shower. It's not that I have anything against 20 year old frat-boy assholes per se. It's the people who are now 30, and not only believe that they were suave slick Gods when they were 20 year old frat-boy assholes, but are still reveling in those times and acting exactly the same way without having grown up, and revel in their debauchery. Needless to say, I don't recommend the book. otherwise, finished these books about a week or so ago. Basically 3 days after my last books update.

Also, currently partway through 'R is for Ricochet' and David Baldacci's "Last Man Standing", but those are going very slowly, as I promised salixmom I wouldn't get hooked on another book when labor is pending.....

Wow. It's been a while since I've updated my books read list in February. In that time, I've quit once job, taken a 6 week vacation in my pajamas, and started a new job. Apparently, I've also read a handful of books. One (Dolores Claiborne) I listened to as an audiobook, and I Very highly recommend that one in particular. It was read by Frances Sternhagen, known to most people as either Cliff Clavin's mother from Cheers, or Bunny MacDougal (Kyle MacLaclan's mother) from Sex in the City. Very very highly recommended.

Anyway, here's the current list of books read, not counting kids books read to Willow, which include a lot of Curious George, various Berenstein Bears, and a hilarious series I'd never heard of about" Jimmy's Boa". Books read since the last update are bolded.

System of the World, by Neal Stephenson

Shock Wave, by Clive Cussler

Wake, by Robert J. Sawyer, serialized in Analog Science Fiction & Fact

M is for Malice, by Sue Grafton.

N is for Noose, by Sue Grafton.

O is for Outlaw, by Sue Grafton.

P is for Peril, by Sue Grafton.

Q is for Quarry, by Sue Grafton.

Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis.

Flood Tide, by Clive Cussler.

Inca Gold, by Clive Cussler.

The Camel Club, by David Baldacci.

The Collectors, by David Baldacci.

Dolores Claiborne, by Stephen King.

Stone Cold, by David Baldacci.

On my plate, I've got a lot of other books waiting to go. I've got 2 Charles Coleman Finlay books about witches fighting as minutemen during the American revolution (1st and 3rd of a series, so I need to get a hold of the second), A book called "I hope they serve beer in hell", several more Sue Graftons, and a trilogy of non-fiction my dad gave me about the campaigns in North Africa and Italy during WWII, plus many others.


No worries.

Matt

Tags: books, books 2009, meme, reading, updates

Regardless of whether you are awake from 4am - 5am because you can't sleep, or because your 36 week pregnant wife can't sleep and is feeling chatty, being awake from 4am - 5 am makes for a sleepy day.

In other news, where is all of my time going? Comparing an average day today to an average day from 5 years ago, my round-trip commute has dropped from 4 hours to 2 hours, and yet I'm not getting any more sleep, not spending any more time in lab, and I certainly don't feel like I'm getting any more quality time at home with my family..... Considering that my life consists of only 4 events any and every day (sleep, commute, lab, and family), where is the rest of my time going?

And on a related note - on any given day back in '05 (to pick a random time when i was commuting from connecticut), I would get up at 6am, be showered dressed and otherwise ready for the day, and walk out the door by 6:45, and then get into lab by 9am. Now, on any given day, I get up at 6am, be showered dressed and otherwise ready for the day, and walk out the door by 8am, and get into lab by 9am.

Am I missing something? How did my morning routine go from 45 minutes to 2 hours? I guess packing lunch in the morning instead of the night before, doing dishes and laundry in the morning, eating breakfast at home instead of walking to the train, and making breakfast and lunch for the wife and kid every morning before leaving really adds up, timewise.

Oh well.

But this brings up another point I wanted to make. I need to lose somewhere in the vicinity of 30lb (~14 kg). I eat a healthy diet, I just eat larger portions than I should, but I don't get enough (read: any) exercise. I really love the idea of running/jogging in the morning before I head to lab, but looking at my timetable above, whuh? Doing a couch-to-5k type deal every morning would just add another 45 minutes to my already crowded mornings. I guess that means doing more of it at night before bed?


For those of you who have gotten into shape - especially anyone with kids - how did you do it??!?!?!?!


No worries,
Matt

So, here;s some updates on the garden,

Front Yard:
The Cherry tree and Peach tree and the Raspberry vine are all fruiting like mad. The cherry has mites, but we hope to get around that. The 4 blueberry bushes all look to be ripe within 2 weeks or so. =) Nothing yet from the Nectarine tree, though some flowers and fruits cropping up on the blackberry bush.

Spent several hours yesterday setting up netting over the berries to keep those thieving birds away. Let's hope it works. Definitely not squirrel proof, or rabbit proof, but I think the birds were the bigger threat regardless. We'll see how it goes.

Back Yard
Planted 4 rows of corn saplings yesterday, and planted seeds enough for 2 more. The tomatoes are all growing like mad, and we even have our first tomato flower, soon to be a yummy fruit! The green beans are all taking off again, and it looks to be a stellar crop this year, same as last. Unfortunately, it looks like most of the snap peas are all dead or dying, though a few gave 1 really fat but short pea pod each. The bell peppers aren't really all that much bigger than when we planted the saplings, so I don't know what's going on there.

We had planted saplings for watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeymoon melons a while back, but cutworms killed all but 1 of them. So, we just planted a bunch more yesterday.

The carrots, like last year, are going apeshit, growing like... well, weeds. Planted 1 enormous broccoli sapling yesterday as well.

The onions and scallions all look good, nothing to report.

Herbs:
The basil is just barely peeking up from the ground. I hope it grows fast, because we're all out of the frozen pesto from last year. Have 2 oregano cuttings from last year that need desperately to get put in the ground.

Finally, Dianella has trays of strawberries germinating in the greenhouse, and pretty soon we'll be planting those in with the fruit bushes out front as a ground cover.

All in all, productive weekend, lots of yummy food. =)

No Worries,
Matt

I love the lyrics quiz meme. I've done it 4 or 5 times over the past 2 or 3 years, and I tend to whip it out when I haven't posted in quite a while. Gee, that sounds like now. So, here it is. 25 sets of songs lyrics are posted below, taken from some of the first tracks that showed up on a shuffle of my iTunes library. Guess the song title and artist name. I make no claims for the suckage/popularity of some of the songs, just that I have them, and at some point enjoyed them. I skipped past some of the more obscure tracks, like Wheatus' "Dynamite Satchel of Pain", which I had listed in an earlier meme, and after reposting it twice, still no one got it... Oye - you people.

( Have fun. )
That's all for now.

No Worries.

Matt

So, On my 40 mile drive in to work this morning, I saw three different people pulled over for speeding. One of them was the guy right behind me. I typically see 3 or 4 per week. Today is was three just this morning. Looks like the State Troopers are stepping up patrolling of the Northern State Parkway.


I think I need to start allotting 10 more minutes for my commute time from now on, and go just a tad slower.

*sheepish grin*

No worries,
Matt

So, for those of you who don't follow George R.R. Martin's 'Not-a-blog', I'll pass on the info for you here....

First off, he was able to officially announce a few weeks ago that his novel "A Game of Thrones" is being turned into an HBO mini-series, which shall begin filming this summer/fall in Ireland. That is all kinds of awesome.

But, as of today, he announced that there is a director signed on, and the first cast member.

As Tyrione the Imp, ..... wait for it.... Elf's own Miles Finch, Peter Dinklage. Sweet!

"You feeling strong, my friend? Call me elf one more time!"

no worries.

Matt

I want a Tauntaun sleeping bag!!!!!

http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/tauntaun.html

That is all for now.

Oh, and started the new job on Wednesday, and I am deleriously happy. I think the last 9 years of living hell were prepayment for actually working in a functional lab with a cool PI. Not to jinx it in the first week or anything, y'know. =)

No Worries,
matt

So, salixmom and I need to buy another car. Starting in April, when I start my new job, we're going to be commuting in opposite directions again, and this time, unlike when we lived in Connecticut, there'll be no mass transit going the right place for either of it.

So, heres the deal. I'm looking for advice. What kind of car would you recommend?

I'll be driving roughly 35 miles each way on the highway. All I need is something with decent mileage, with room in the backseat for 2 carseats. We'd prefer used, but that brings up all sorts of questions. How old? How do you find a reliable used car that isn't just a falling apart collection of replacement parts? oh, and we need it cheap.

How do you guys go about buying used cars, and what kind of car should we get?

No worries,

Matt

So, Happy Darwin Day to all. Today would be the 200th birthday of the man who made all of Biology make sense. (also, this year is the 150th anniversary of the publication of "On the Origin of Species: By Means of Natural Selection"


This one is especially going out to salixmom

I don;t usually just post lyrics to a song as an actual post, but it's stuck in my head today, and I think the lyrics are very fitting.

( 'Earn Enough for Us', by XTC )

Actually, now that I've read through the lyrics, it doesn't seem quite as fitting as it did before. Wow, that song's a lot darker than it seems just hearing it. This guy really doesn't like his life....

So, this morning for breakfast, I made myself a homemade Egg McMuffin - a fried egg with an english muffin (raisin), a slice of cheddar, and 2 strips of bacon. I got less than half of it - Willow ate the rest.

So I made another. And another. And another. I think all told, I only had 1 to 1.5 of the 4! that I wound up making. Willow ate all the rest, and still wanted more! This girl is in serious growth spurt mode! ...and she's already the size of a six year old!


Also, today, she drew her first recognizable picture of people, with heads, eyes, nose, mouth, body and feet. Obviously, I'm not talking Picasso here, but I am very impressed with her attention to detail so far.

Recent Willow quote: "Daddy, Mounds bars don't get up and walk away by themselves! They don't have legs!" - which she said while her pregnant Mommy was upset because I had lost the Mounds bars I had just bought for her.

I know there were a few more things I wanted to put here, but for the life of me I can't remember them. oh well. I'll remember later.

No Worries
Matt

Just to make sure you don't think that my previous "real" post was the start of a trend, I present you with another meme, as yoinked from both brikle and starpush. Fill it out if you so choose. Anonymous replies are (I suppose) allowed, but discouraged.

Enjoy!

♥Be My Valentine Application♥

Everyone knows there's at least one person on LJ, that you would like to be your Valentine. So, here's the application.


Please provide positive answers.

Name:

Age:

Height:

Location:

May I Call You:

Single or Taken:

Would You Date Me:

Kiss On First Date:

Will You Send This Back To Me To Fill Out?:


*What would you do if I...*

I made a move on u:

I kissed you:

I lived next door to you:

I asked you on a date:

I was hospitalized:

I ran away from home:

I got into a fight and you weren't there?

I asked u to have sex?

I asked u out?



*What do you think about my...*

Personality:

Eyes:

Hair:

Body:



*Have you ever....*

Lied to make me feel better?

Wanted to kiss me?

Wanted to kill me?

Broke my heart?

Kept something important from me?



*"X" marks the spot* WOULD YOU....
[ ]Kiss me..
[ ]Hug me..
[ ]Date me..
[ ]grab my ass..
[ ]Kill me..
[ ]***k me ...
[ ]Love me..
[ ]Hate me..
[ ]Hold me..
[ ]Lie to me..
[ ]Hurt me..
[ ]Sing with me..
[ ]Dance with me..
[ ]Grind with me..
[ ]Cuddle with me..
[ ]Let me make a move on you..
[ ]Make a move on me..
[ ]Watch a movie with me..
[ ]Get me a B-day gift..
[ ]Let me borrow your car..
[ ]Be there for me..
[ ]Buy me a drink..
[ ]Bring me around your friends..
[ ]Give me a massage..
[ ]Drink kool-aid with me..
[ ]Take advantage of me..
[ ]Hangout with me...
[ ]Take care of me if I wasn't feeling good..
[ ]Hold hands with me..
[ ]Do something incredibly sweet for me..
[ ]tell me you love me...

5 Books so far, and it's only February 1st. Not bad, even though the first three were 90% read in '08. Oh well. At least I'll have all of February and March to read (explanation to follow in a later post).

Books read in 2009:

System of the World, by Neal Stephenson

Shock Wave, by Clive Cussler

Wake, by Robert J. Sawyer, serialized in Analog Science Fiction & Fact

M is for Malice, by Sue Grafton.

N is for Noose, by Sue Grafton.


No worries.

Matt

Tags: books, books 2009, meme, reading, updates