March 2008 Archives

I've come down with a cold this last week. I took Thursday off work to try to rest and get better, but I don't think it really helped. I still feel like I've got a pool cue ball lodged at the top of my throat and it's not a very pleasant feeling.

Yesterday, this somewhat painful and uncomfortable sensation in my throat begat the beginnings of a scratchy cough and I knew (actually, my wife knew) once I tried to lay down in bed and go to sleep, that scratchy cough would become a pesky inhibitor to sleep.

Sure enough, when I tried to lay down and go to sleep last night, the itchy throat kicked in and I was overcome with a compelling need to cough.

Knowing I had to do something about this in order to sleep, I threw some clothes on and drove over to the neighborhood Smith's grocery store in search for some sugar free (because I'm diabetic) cough drops. I quickly found a couple flavors and headed in the direction of the self-checkout station. On my way, I passed their selection of books for sale and I decided to see what they had. I was pleasantly surprised to see they had Glenn Beck's book in stock. It's only been in stock one other time before that I can remember looking. After looking through the hardcover books, I decided to do a quick pass through the paperbacks to see if there was anything interesting. That's when I found "The Blue Zone" by Andrew Gross. I had heard Gross talking about his new book "A Dark Tide" on the radio and thought I might like this book.

That was between 1:30 and 2:00 in the morning.

I decided to let the cough drops work their magic for a little while before I attempted to sleep again, so I started reading "The Blue Zone." I ended up reading about 150 pages of the book before climbing back in bed (fell to sleep without any problems at all). Then, I read some more this morning, and then finished it tonight- about 22 hours after purchasing it.

I think it goes without saying that it's an easy read.

The story is also an easy one to get into. Kate Raab is the central character in the story and is a graduate student doing some kind of research in genetic biology in the New York City area. Her father is a respected and well known trader of gold and other jewelry commodities.

The story begins with Kate's father being arrested for being involved in a money laundering scheme that was connected to Colombian drug cartels, a charge he firmly denied any knowledge of.

As the government explains the evidence they have against him, they also explain they can work a deal wherein he and his family get witness protection in exchange for his testimony against other people higher up in this scheme. After much deliberation, he decides to go ahead and take the deal. While it seemed he really didn't know what his clients were actually doing with the gold he was selling to them, he knew enough about the transactions and the people involved for the government to build a strong case.

Kate is 23 years-old, about to get married, and working on groundbreaking research in her field. When offered the opportunity to flee into the witness protection program, she declines despite knowing it will be very difficult for her to maintain communication with her family once they go into the program.

Several months later, government authorities go to Kate with news that her father has disappeared and they believe he may be involved in a murder and that her life may be in danger. From here, it seems Kate's whole world gets turned upside down as she tries to figure out why her father was charged in the first place, why he's gone into "the blue zone" (a phrase used for someone in witness protection who has gone missing), and who these people are that he was allegedly involved with and testifying against.

Gross's writing style seems very contemporary and somewhat formulaic. While he does a good job of building suspense and mystery, I can't say he did it completely convincingly. There were a couple times, albeit rare, when I saw something coming that was intended to draw a big gasp of shock from the reader.

In the story, Kate is an insulin-dependent diabetic and was diagnosed just a few years prior to the events in the book. That's interesting to me because I am also a type-1 diabetic and have only been for seven years or so. Gross's handling of the diabetes was a little weak. I think he could have done his research better on the symptoms of high blood sugar and low blood sugar because I didn't buy everything he said about Kate's condition throughout the story.

Twice in the story, a character receives a surprise call on their cell phone. In each case, the character is shocked to hear the voice on the other end of the call because they assumed the call was from someone else. This bothered me because it's a cell phone! Come on! Every cell phone has Caller ID and if it wasn't whoever they thought it was, they would at least see that the number was different or that the Caller ID information was being blocked. I mean, who answers their cell phone blindly anymore and says, "Hey, honey"?!

That being said, this guy is a good storyteller. I'll probably get his next book when it goes to paperback because the premise is interesting.

If you like suspenseful thrillers where the protagonist is thrown into a situation they don't understand and they have to work against all odds to find their way out, you'll probably enjoy The Blue Zone.

I keep meaning to post some reviews of some of the books I've been reading, but it seems like I never do. So, to placate myself, I'm doing some quickie-reviews of a stack.

"An Inconvenient Book" By Glenn Beck

Oh, you were really surprised when you came across this book review, weren't you? Yeah, I'm a big Glenn Beck fan. Proof of just how nuts I am about Glenn Beck: I wrote a Perl script to convert the live streams on the Glenn Beck Insider site (which include bumper music and other types of material not fit for the "podcast" MP3s) into MP3 or Ogg files I can listen to when I want. Yeah. I'm a fan... a geeky fan.

Okay, so about this book... It is very, very good. In my opinion, this is how all conservative pundits and talk radio jocks should write their books. While a significant chunk of the book is about hot political issues like illegal immigration and global warming, there are chapters about less political topics... like going to the video store or tipping service staff. It's a pretty well-rounded capture of what goes on in the mind of the third-most listened-to talk radio host in all of America.

The layout of the book is also impressive: Every page is printed in 4-color process and the text is accompanied by charts, graphs, and humorous drawings/pictures that go along with the topic at hand. The designers also gave each page a seemingly unique watermark, or background, that gives it a well-handled, worn look- like maybe you've spilled a cup of coffee, or in the case of Glenn, a can of Coke Zero, on it, by accident.

From my perspective, as a rabid fan of Glenn's, I found the book a bit lacking in detail. That is, aside from the packaging of the book itself, there really wasn't much new here for me, content-wise, that I hadn't already read on Glenn's site, heard on his radio program, seen on his television program, or experienced myself at one of his stage shows. But... hey... I'm the exception here. If you've had some exposure to Glenn Beck or none at all, this book is an excellent way to jump in and find out what he's about.

Want to buy the book? Head over to Amazon and get it. It may be hard to find at your smaller local bookstore as it has been one of the top New York Times bestsellers since its release in November of 2007.

"The Real America" By Glenn Beck

Stop laughing, already. So, when I ordered something like six copies of "An Inconvenient Book," I went ahead and bought a copy of Glenn's previous book, "The Real America," which was written before I became turned on... uhm... exposed to Glenn (2003).

I enjoyed "The Real America" more than "An Inconvenient Book" because it's more about values and contains more personal history from Glenn about his battle to overcome alcoholism, his conversion to a member of the LDS church, meeting his now-wife Tania, and finding success in the world of talk radio.

There were parts of "The Real America" that made me put the book down and say "Wow," to myself.

A recurring topic with Glenn is "pivot points" -- significant events in a person's life at which things change. Glenn characterizes these moments as so memorable you can remember the song that was playing on the radio, or the pattern on the wallpaper in the room. This book gives you a unique insight into Glenn's personal pivot points and how he has been able to use these to make himself into a better person.

So, a little less humor and a lot more heart.

Buy it at Amazon.

"Twilight" By Stephenie Meyer

If you know anything about the Twilight series of books by Stephenie Meyer, you know they're found in the "teen, fantasy" section and they're hugely popular among teens and young adults... especially girls.

How I came to read this book is quite interesting. I was searching Amazon for books on the development environment Eclipse so I could become more proficient with it at work when I ran across a link to the book "Eclipse" by Stephenie Meyer. It is the third book in the Twilight series. I couldn't tell what it was about, exactly, but a little digging told me that Meyer was a graduate of Brigham Young University, currently lived in Phoenix, AZ, and the series was about a young girl's relationship with a vampire.

I found that interesting, but I know vampire fantasy novels are almost a dime a dozen, right? I mean, Ann Rice popularized the genre quite a bit with the goth culture over the last twenty years and then you've got the popularity of films like The Lost Boys, the Blade series, and the television shows Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel. Sure, it would seem there's plenty of interest in vampires, especially for young readers.

I didn't buy any of Stephenie's books at that time. I just ordered my Java and Eclipse IDE books and went along my merry way. Then, a couple days later, I was chatting online with my friend Jennie and she asked me, point-blank, if I had read the Twilight series of books by Stephenie Meyer. No, I replied, and before I could tell her it was interesting she asked because I just recently ran across the books online, she started yelling at me (as much as a person can yell in an instant messaging session) that I HAD to read them, they were absolutely awesome, etc., etc.

Within a couple days, I had a copy of "Twilight" in my hands, compliments of Jennie. She actually wanted Christine to read the book (because Christine's a girl, you see) and included a short note inside instructing Christine to go to Stephenie Meyers' website after she finished Twilight and "read Edward's version of Chapter One, but don't do it until you've finished the book!"

Christine wasn't really that interested. So, after a week or so, I decided to take a peek and started reading the book. Within minutes, the surface of my hands became like Gorilla Glue and my face grew blinders on each side of my eyes so that I could see only the pages of Twilight and nothing else.

It's a good book. It draws you in.

The story tells of Isabel (Bella) Swan, a junior in high school who moves to the Pacific northwest to live with her father in a small rural town. While attending high school there, she meets Edward Cullen, the member of a somewhat peculiar, but beautiful family. Bella eventually learns that Edward is a vampire, as is his entire (adopted) family.

Meyers creates her own breed of vampire and picks and chooses what characteristics to borrow from popular vampire lore. Meyers' vampires have no aversion to crosses or holy water; They don't die when exposed to sunlight (but they are affected by sunlight, which is why the Cullen family has settled in a small town in an area that gets very little direct sunlight); They can't (usually) control your thoughts.

That being said, vampires in Meyers' books are very dangerous. The Cullens are a rare group that have chosen to exercise self-control over their blood lust in order to coexist with humans, but they are the exception and not the rule. Meyers' vampires are effectively immortal and have superhuman strength (and speed).

Twilight is a gripping tale of suspense, mystery, teen drama, romance, and a little horror. It's not gory, but it's not sanitized either. I wouldn't recommend the books for anyone under the age of 12.

Incidentally, a film based on the book is currently in production.

Buy your copy today at Amazon dot com!

"New Moon" By Stephenie Meyer

Once you've read Twilight, you just have to read the second book in the series, "New Moon" because you're dying to find out what happens to Bella Swan. I didn't bother waiting to get Jennie's copy of book number 2. I just went out and bought it.

"New Moon" picks up a few months after the events at the end of "Twilight." Things are going pretty well for Bella and Edward, but then Edward mysteriously leaves and tells Bella to, in short, find another boyfriend.

The bulk of the book then follows Bella as she mind-numbingly tries to cope with the loss of her loved one and begins spending time with Jacob Black, a young Native American who is more of a friend of the family than a love interest (although, he doesn't quite see it that way). Bella doesn't admit it, but she's really using Jacob to exercise new masochistic impulses she has been developing since Edward left.

Good book, but nowhere near as good as "Twilight." If that was the end of the series, I'd say don't bother reading it, but it's not the end of the series. You have to read "New Moon" to understand what happens in "Eclipse," so, it's worth it.

Buy it, where else? A-Ma-Zon!

"Eclipse" By Stephenie Meyer

You knew this was coming, didn't you?

And now, we get to "Eclipse." I bought it at a Barnes & Noble in Los Angeles because that's where I was when I finished the second book.

The third book in the series makes up for the slowness of "New Moon" and, in my opinion, rises above both of the preceding novels to be the best of the crop.

Bella Swan, constantly occupied with becoming a vampire herself so that she can have immortality (and immortal love with Edward) finds herself caught between Edward (who obviously has come back), the affection of Jacob Black, the Cullen family, the less friendly non-human-coexisting vampires, and a pack of werewolves that exist to do one thing: eradicate vampires.

Oh, and she's also trying to finish and graduate from high school.

Yeah. Lots more action in this one. And, we learn more about what these vampires can and can't do, the history of the werewolves, the excruciating process someone goes through being "transformed" into a vampire, and some great history on the Cullens.

I thought this was going to be the end of the series because of the way the book ends, but book number 4 is coming to bookstores Fall 2008.

Get "Eclipse" at Amazon.com.

A couple weeks ago, I got an e-mail message from an old friend that I went to school with from first grade until high school. She was inviting me to join a social network she had set up using the Ning platform. I signed up and have been spending a little time there catching up with the couple dozen people who have signed up as well.

This is the first time I've ever heard of Ning. I'd be interesting in hearing what some people in-the-know, as far as social networking is concerned, think of them.

In related news, if you're an alumnus of the Granger High School class of 1990 and you have not received an invitation to the class Ning site, drop me a line with your e-mail address and I'll get you invited.

Talk about a frustrating experience!

A couple weeks ago, I had to go to a customer's office to do some network troubleshooting work. On my way, I received two text messages, in quick succession, on my phone (Palm Treo 700p w/ Sprint). I began to go to the text messages to see what they were and the phone "rebooted."

Now, this isn't a regular thing, but it's not unheard of for a Treo to reset. But this was no regular reset. My phone went into a nasty reboot loop-- never quite coming back up to normal operation. It would get to a certain point in the boot-up process and then reset again.

I tried just about everything I could think of (short of doing a hard reset that wipes all your data from memory) and nothing helped. I ended up taking my phone to the Sprint repair facility later that day. I went back in an hour or so and got the phone back to find they had done what I didn't do: a hard reset. All my data was gone. I had it backed up, but it's still a pain to restore everything.

It wasn't long before I realized the Sprint repair center didn't just do a hard reset on my phone. They also upgraded the firmware and the new firmware is abundant with annoying bugs that drive me nuts!

Several basic functions that had no issues before now have glaring issues. Here are some of the things I am having to deal with:

• Favorites button Quick Key in Phone application does not work. This is, essentially, a speed-dial function that lets you assign a keyboard key to a favorite contact from your address book. By holding down the assigned key, that person's number is dialed. Worked fine before. Doesn't do anything now. This sucks.
• Call list population is very undependable. I might get an alert that I missed 2 calls, but when I go to my call list to see who those two calls were front, they aren't on the list. If I make a call using a favorites button, the outgoing call isn't recorded in the call list.
• Ring tone and alert sounds "fade in." This seems like a "volume escalation" feature, but I've double and triple checked (and then some) that the escalate volume checkbox in the Sound preferences is not checked.
• The On Demand application freezes the Treo. I used to use the On Demand application frequently to check weather reports and read News Of The Weird news articles. Now the only thing On Demand is good for is freezing up the device. The only way to remedy the problem is to do a soft reset or remove the battery.
• Deactivating the keyguard to delete or view messages is difficult. The Treo will act like the keyguard is active, but the normal "Keyguard: Press Center button to unlock" message does not display on the screen. Very frustrating.

Has anyone else seen these problems with their Treo device?

Should I take my phone back to the repair center or will they just do another hard reset and tell me that's all they can do?