The Ocean at the End of the Lane

I have plowed through a bunch of books and stories without time to cover them, lately, thanks to being deemed "essential" just as I got used to being at home with time to get things done (that do not cost too much).  I started Reamde by Neal Stephenson, thinking this was the perfect opportunity to get through its 1,040 some pages.  But no, it goes back on the pile.

Neil Gaiman's latest, the Ocean at the End of the Lane, IIRC, came up at the library, amazingly after 200 plus people on the list.  I started it.  It was engrossing and properly creepy.  Then downright scary.  Then I figured we were ready for Act II.  And it ended.

Really?  That's all?  All's well that ends well, essentially?  I'd say more, but major spoilers to discuss it on any level, especially since it's so short...

I'm listening to a Harry Hole, Norwegian cop mystery series.  This one, The Snowman, is also creepy, but they kind of go on and on.  This makes them better as audio books, for me, because I can tune in and out and get things done in the meantime.

I may get back to Reamde, because it started very well.  Snow Crash started well too, but then it meandered, so we'll see.  Reamde has a lot of plots in play from the get-go, so it's about keeping all those balls in the air.  I find Stephenson's brand of cyberpunky economic connectivity pushing the "what ifs" very entertaining, but I think it's probably an acquired taste, especially at such length.

Naomi Kritzer, local author, Wyrdsmiths member, and election guide guru, has a short story up at Clarkesworld called "Bits" that is pretty damn funny.  But it's the Clarkesworld type of Very Adult story, so I'm not gonna link to it.  Aliens meet Suzy Bright.

I can't think of anything else right now, before coffee, so I will stop there.  My brain is also addled from trying to figure out whether we're ever going to get a paycheck for all this work we're doing and get to use leave again.  I had to go in at 6:30 so I could be only a little late to a seminar I paid for three weeks as go, and may have to miss another one that's right in my area of practice, forgoing money and the credits I need to keep my bar license.  And for what, exactly? More unclear and off point every day... 

Really?? That's my word for the week, and I trust it will continue to prove useful...

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TC Marathon and Ten Mile

Yes, that is a banana.  There were a Viking, a (bearded) grandma, and various other intrepid costumes and wigs.  And the frontrunners at mile 15.5, and an early wheelchair runner.  Some were too fast for my camera skills...

I had a long day of biking over to St. Paul, and up Summit Avenue's incline to watch a co-worker (who's working without pay or her usual backup helpers who do a LOT behind the scenes to meet our eve-increasing production goals) run in the ten mile, then back to Minneapolis to mile 16. 

I saw the wheelies and elites flash by, watched the frontunners, saw a friend cruising to a very good PR in the 3:30 range, then people-watched until the friend we were sherpaing for came by in the 4:30ish crowd.  Friend M drove a woman with what sounded like a foot stress fracture to meet her husband, so she could get to Urgent Care.  Sounds like she'd been running on a tiny fracture for some time.  Ouch.

We then biked back to Summit to see her around mile 23 and passed out Gu (brought by M) to many people while waiting.  One woman cried a little because she could not get the last pack open with her gloves on, so we opened it for her.  Hope it helped...  People were pretty thankful, which made me wish I'd  thought of buying a box to pass out in years past. 

Then we took our marathoner to happy hour to refuel with a burger topped with three cheeses, french fries, and fried battered green beans at the Blue Door.  Miraculously, her heart did not stop, and she is planning the next race... Next up, my first half marathon, and then the barefoot runner will have to survive TAPERING for a marathon.  The race is not the hard part, at least for everybody else...

One small step for space science

No thanks to the posturers, but.

Mars-bound Maven to launch anyway.

More on the mission.