Not exactly a book review

I picked up adrian_turtle's copy of Fugue State, by John M. Ford, this afternoon. I've been reading it in bits, in between helping her carry stuff around her lab, dinner, and such. The structure of the story seems to go with that.

When I got to the end, I said, quietly, "Mike, you are a strange man."

I've been reading too many things that have unreliable narrators, or are about the inherent unreliability of narrative, or both. I'll have some things to say about Alison Bechdel's excellent memoir Fun Home in a day or five, and I'm most of the way through Midnight's Children.

Rereading Sorcery and Cecilia between the Bechdel and the Ford was rather a relief.

Not exactly a book review

I picked up adrian_turtle's copy of Fugue State, by John M. Ford, this afternoon. I've been reading it in bits, in between helping her carry stuff around her lab, dinner, and such. The structure of the story seems to go with that.

When I got to the end, I said, quietly, "Mike, you are a strange man."

I've been reading too many things that have unreliable narrators, or are about the inherent unreliability of narrative, or both. I'll have some things to say about Alison Bechdel's excellent memoir Fun Home in a day or five, and I'm most of the way through Midnight's Children.

Rereading Sorcery and Cecilia between the Bechdel and the Ford was rather a relief.

Foot

And this morning my heel is a little tender, which I suspect has to do with having spent three or four hours standing yesterday. Not the strong just-out-of-bed pain it would have been a week ago, but noticeable when I was doing my shoulder stretches. Tea, then heel stretches and ibuprofen.

Addendum: I have now done this, eight sets of the stretches rather than ten because it seems like a bad idea to overuse and possibly re-damage the shoulder in the course of treating the heel. Ten worked last night, I will continue to aim for ten, but not fret at eight.

Foot

And this morning my heel is a little tender, which I suspect has to do with having spent three or four hours standing yesterday. Not the strong just-out-of-bed pain it would have been a week ago, but noticeable when I was doing my shoulder stretches. Tea, then heel stretches and ibuprofen.

Addendum: I have now done this, eight sets of the stretches rather than ten because it seems like a bad idea to overuse and possibly re-damage the shoulder in the course of treating the heel. Ten worked last night, I will continue to aim for ten, but not fret at eight.

Feeling cut off

I know that I'm missing at least some email that I should have received in the last couple of days (I know it exists, because of cc's and the like, but it hasn't reached me). I don't know what the cause of the problem is, although the forwarding from redbird.org to panix appears functional, and I just successfully downloaded a test message I sent from gmail to the redbird address.

If you've sent me something that's gone unanswered in the last few days, please try again. (I realize that posting here won't reach anyone, but it seems better than nothing.) I would suggest phoning, except we're waiting for a repair person for the landline and my mobile reception is sad. I'll try to remember to check gmail for the time being (my username there is v [dot] rosenzweig).

[I'm also going to try actually looking at this entry for comments, rather than assuming they'll be emailed to me.]

Feeling cut off

I know that I'm missing at least some email that I should have received in the last couple of days (I know it exists, because of cc's and the like, but it hasn't reached me). I don't know what the cause of the problem is, although the forwarding from redbird.org to panix appears functional, and I just successfully downloaded a test message I sent from gmail to the redbird address.

If you've sent me something that's gone unanswered in the last few days, please try again. (I realize that posting here won't reach anyone, but it seems better than nothing.) I would suggest phoning, except we're waiting for a repair person for the landline and my mobile reception is sad. I'll try to remember to check gmail for the time being (my username there is v [dot] rosenzweig).

[I'm also going to try actually looking at this entry for comments, rather than assuming they'll be emailed to me.]

Back from Arlington

I spent three days of this weekend in Arlington with adrian_turtle, for general moral support, specific spare hands and random manual labor, and enjoying each other's company. (In the end, she went to her lab Sunday but not Saturday, and I went with her, which was where most of the manual labor came in: I lifted this and carried that and opened the other; thus, I neither went to the gym nor called any of my Boston-area friends.) Other than the work stuff, we hung out in the ways that we will, and did no cooking beyond a pot of oatmeal for Sunday lunch and a rather nice salad as part of Sunday supper (to go with the previous night's leftover barbecue). I think we got enough sleep; I woke her around ten this morning, so we'd have a bit of time before I headed out.

The trip up was annoyingly long, but at least my bus wasn't in either of the accidents that led to major traffic jams. The trip down was smooth, and noteworthy because I added another bird to my life list: a peacock, standing on the grass next to I-84 in eastern Connecticut. (I'd seen plenty in zoos, but by the generally accepted rules of birding, captive birds don't count, and ferals do.)

It's a four-day weekend, which gives me all of tomorrow with cattitude.

Back from Arlington

I spent three days of this weekend in Arlington with adrian_turtle, for general moral support, specific spare hands and random manual labor, and enjoying each other's company. (In the end, she went to her lab Sunday but not Saturday, and I went with her, which was where most of the manual labor came in: I lifted this and carried that and opened the other; thus, I neither went to the gym nor called any of my Boston-area friends.) Other than the work stuff, we hung out in the ways that we will, and did no cooking beyond a pot of oatmeal for Sunday lunch and a rather nice salad as part of Sunday supper (to go with the previous night's leftover barbecue). I think we got enough sleep; I woke her around ten this morning, so we'd have a bit of time before I headed out.

The trip up was annoyingly long, but at least my bus wasn't in either of the accidents that led to major traffic jams. The trip down was smooth, and noteworthy because I added another bird to my life list: a peacock, standing on the grass next to I-84 in eastern Connecticut. (I'd seen plenty in zoos, but by the generally accepted rules of birding, captive birds don't count, and ferals do.)

It's a four-day weekend, which gives me all of tomorrow with cattitude.