Schadenfreude Pie

Obama fans in the readership might want to bake a schadenfreude pie today.

Yes

Yes we can.

Formula One 2008

Regular readers know that I've always been a bit of a car guy, but that I've been obsessed with everything automotive since I acquired my Miata in February. I've had a lot of fun working on Mia, driving her on the track, autocrossing her, and even taking her to work. My direct motorsports experience has gotten me interested in motorsports spectating.

So, I've been following Formula One this season, and I actually watched about the half of the F1 races. Most of the individual races were quite interesting, though I was irritated by at least one example of Ferarri bias. Additionally, watching the driver's championship evolve over this year has added another degree of entertainment. This season the driver's championship was decided on the last corner or the last lap of the last race, which made for tense and exciting spectating.

I plan to watch again in 2009.

PR: Rowing Michael

Sometimes, if the weather isn't optimal, or if my afternoon snack was too large or too late, then I replace the running in the workout known as Michael with rowing. That was the case today.

I managed to set a new personal record on "Rowing Michael" of 20:15, just 23 seconds better than my previous best. I think I'll find posting a sub-20-minute time quite difficult.

Why You Should be Watching Pushing Daisies

Here's a short opinion piece about why Pushing Daisies is the best series on TV, and why you should be watching it. Hear me now and believe me later: you need to watch this show.

Book Review: Rollback

(This review contains no significant spoilers.)

Last night---early this morning, to be honest---I finished reading Rollback, written by perhaps Canada's premier science-fiction author, the Hugo-winning Robert J. Sawyer. Here's my review.

The Setup

The bulk of the story takes place in the mid-twenty-first century. 38 years ago, SETI finally received a message from an alien civilization. The message came from the Sigma Draconis system, 19.1 light-years from Earth. A response to Earth's reply---thus, the second message form Sigma Draconis---has just arrived, but this time, it is encrypted. The woman who translated the first message, Sarah Halifax, is still alive and now 87. In order to give her the chance to decrypt the new message, and to continue humanity's dialog with the Dracons, Sarah is offered a rollback, a new multi-billion-dollar procedure to return her biological age to her mid-twenties.* The rollback does not go exactly as planned, and, further complicating matters, Sarah begins to have difficulties relating to her husband, Don, because of the effective age difference between them. Ethical dilemmas arise through the novel, and others are also discussed.

What I Liked

• Sarah and Don are both interesting people.
• The two main plot lines, the communication with the aliens and the ramifications of the rollback, are both compelling.
• The story moves along quickly.

What I Disliked

• While the ethical dilemmas and marital tension were interesting, I found myself much more excited to learn how the first alien message was translated, what it meant, how the second, encrypted message would be decrypted, and what it meant.

My Conclusions

Overall, I give Rollback 8.0 out of 10. It's quite good, and I recommend it.

* Yes, this is the second consecutive book that I've read which has a significant element of age-reduction about it.

Apple Oatmeal Crumble Recipe

Hey guys! I had a hankering for something sweet and appley the other day, but I didn't want to make an entire pie or an entire pan of apple crisp. That leads to bad, bad things. So, I found this recipe at Epicurious and I tweaked it just a tad (see below for my version). Basically I left out the lemon juice because I didn't have any and I doubled the topping and added more spices. I mean, c'mon! Even with double the topping, you're eating a whole apple and only 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of butter. Did I mention the whole apple? And oats! It's practiaclly health food!

Ingredients

• 1 granny smith apple, peeled, cored, and sliced thinly
• 2 Tblsp packed brown sugar
• 2 Tblsp water
• 1/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• 2 tsp cold butter cut into bits
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Toss sliced apples with 1 tblsp of brown sugar in a small ceramic baking dish. Sprinkle with water. Bake 20 mins.
3. Meanwhile, stir together oats, remaining tblsp brown sugar, and spices. Rub the butter into the oat mixture until distributed.
4. Sprinkle topping over apples and bake 20-25 mins more until topping is golden brown.
5. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. (See?! You're even getting your dairy in. HEALTH FOOD, I'm telling you!)
   

Book Review: Old Man's War

(This review contains no significant spoilers.)

A few days ago, I finished reading Old Man's War, the debut novel of author, blogger, and inventor of the Bacon Cat, John Scalzi.  OMW came in third for the Hugo Award in 2006.  Here's my review of the book.

The Setup

Somewhere around the twenty-third century, the Colonial Defense Force, which is responsible for the defense of humanity's numerous colony planets, is recruiting 75-year-old Earth-living humans.  Most of the recruits assume that the CDF has some way of reversing the aging process, because what good would 75-year-olds be in a military force.  No one knows for sure, though, because those who leave Earth never come back.  The story is told in the first person by widower John Perry as he enlists in the CDF, passes through basic training, and is deployed on various missions.  If you think this description sounds like something Heinlein would have written, then you aren't alone;  all the critics agree, as does Scalzi himself.

What I Liked

• The writing is surprisingly funny.  Hilarious, in fact.  (I'd say the most amusing scene in the book is the one where we first meet the drill sergeant.  If you elect to read this book, let me know if you agree.) 
• The plot is quite entertaining.  Unlike many books I read, there was not a single thread in which I found myself uninterested.
• The story moves along very quickly.  There's no time to become bored with any stage of the plot, because we move on to the next one in short order.
• The universe that Scalzi has built is richly detailed and fully realized.   In particular, the rejuvenation process I mentioned is not, in fact, what everyone expects, but it is well thought-out.  And trademarked.  Additionally, the OMW  universe is populated with numerous interesting sentient species, most of whom seem to be both hostile and deadly to humans.

What I Disliked

• Frankly, I can't think of anything I dislike about this novel.

Conclusion

Overall, I give Old Man's War 8.5 out of 10.  It's the most enjoyable text-only novel I've read in quite some time, and I look forward to reading the other books that take place in the same universe. 

PR: Thruster

Today I set a personal record for the thruster:  167 pounds.  So, um, yay me.

Mickey would be so proud!

Here is a little public service announcement for all of you who shop online...just in time for holiday shopping! I found a website called retailmenot.com. You can go to that site and search for any online retailer and it will list a whole bunch of coupon codes for that store...free shipping, xx% off, $x off your order, etc, etc. They also allow you to provide feedback about whether the code worked for you or not, so each listed code says how frequently it worked for other people.

There is even a Firefox extension available that will automatically inform you if online coupons are available at retailmenot.com for the store whose page you are currently on. Nifty!

I have used codes from this site twice now (once at Macy's and once at PetSmart) and both times it worked out great! Happy shopping!