Kinda dull

So, nothing much going on at work today. I've got things to do but they aren't very interesting. I actually have some stuff that would be exciting, except that I'm waiting for others to give me what I need. That's one part of the job that drives me nuts. Waiting for other people. Ugh.

I'm currently reading the Lucifer set of trade paperbacks. I collected the single issues for a while, but then stopped, sold them all, and then got all the trades. Probably not the most economically efficient way to do it, but it saves space. I'd have to say it's a good read. It's not the greatest comic I've ever read, but it is interesting and has a good premise. Basically, Lucifer, who gave up his reign in Hell in the Sandman comics, winds up with his own creation. Shortly thereafter, God abandons this creation. Lots of intrigue and drama ensue. I still have two books to go, so I don't know how it all winds up. I'll report back later.

At the same time, I started listening (books on cd) to The Age of American Unreason. It's very interesting, since it is about our culture's disdain for intellectualism and rationalism. This is a topic that I'm very interested in because I don't understand why Americans think that way at all. There's lots of talk about education and we all grow up being told about the importance of education, but then we have no respect for the educated and no understanding of science. It's also one of the things that I really can't stand about the Bush administration, as I think the President and many of his appointees exemplify this idea. I'm on disc 4 of 12. So, it will be a while before I'm done.

On a side note, I've been trying out books on cd since January and have discovered that I prefer non-fiction to fiction on cd. For some reason, I just get sick of the fiction books and have to get the actual book and read it. I think I only actually listened to one entire novel without resorting to the printed version. I think it has something to do with the same voice being used for all characters or something. I have no problem with the non-fiction and in some ways prefer it over reading the books. I don't know if this is common or not.

Getting Started

So, this will be the first post on my blog. Obviously, I'm a little late to the party on the whole blog scene. I guess you could say I was just waiting for all of the trendy people to move on to the latest thing. Plus, I don't how dedicated I can be to this. But, I'll give it a try.

Now, first of all, I guess I should introduce myself for the one person reading this that doesn't already know me. I'm a guy in my late 30's, who's married to a beautiful woman (Lacey), with two school-age children. I think I'll leave it at that, otherwise, why read any more posts?

Since I just finished a book, I'll start off writing about that. Today I finished Little Children, by Tom Perrotta. This was made into a movie, which came out last year. I enjoyed both. The movie sticks pretty close to the book, although there are minor characters that are more fleshed out in the book than in the movie. Both Lacey and I actually read his latest book, The Abstinence Teacher, prior to seeing the movie. We both really like it and once I realized that he wrote Little Children, I wanted to read that, too.

Anyway, the basic plot is that a man and a woman meet at a playground where their children play and have an affair. Obviously, it's the characters that are important in this one.

To me, the title refers not to their children, although all of the characters' lives are centered on children, but how their lives are affected by events in their childhood or at least at a younger change. And it's not that they had great tragedies in their childhood that 'made them what they are', but that how in their mundane lives, they are reminded of certain events (a remark by a former boyfriend, things that happened in college), and that these events influence their decisions now. This was one of the things I liked, because I could identify with these "blasts from the past" popping up and coloring how I look at things now. There is also a character that is a sex offender that was treated in a realistic way and I think this lends an interesting twist to things.

Now, I'll leave you with a link to some concert footage of Talking Heads circa 1980. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g8lFmsCXhg