I got to Atlanta and got to see my parents new house and it is pretty big. I’m helping them fix it up the way they like and that has meant three main things so far; moving things around, investigating the vacuum system, and putting the workout mats in their workout room. I’ve seen both my brother and sister; and cooked tom yom for the whole family plus Lesley. They really liked it and Kim asked for the recipe. I’ve been able to get some work done, but not nearly as much as I was hoping. I’m enjoying the time with the family, but missing Steph.
This was a great continuation of the first diskworld book. I very much enjoyed it and love the characters. The way strange things always come up that should have been there all along is also amusing, and with the style of the books isn’t annoying. If suddenly all rocks become trolls at night, then that doesn’t seem like all that strange an idea; even if they didn’t become trolls any of the previous nights. The ending to the story is epic, and seems to be a little final. It is a shame since I really enjoy the characters in these two books. I look forward to continuing my romp through the diskworld books when reading other things gets too heavy.
The morning of flying to Atlanta I took a little bit too long to pack, which meant I saw the train pull away from the station as I walked up the ramp. Luckily Stephanie was a lovely selfless person, and she picked me up and took me to the airport. I certainly owe her one for that, and should pack earlier in the future. Once at the airport I had a quick lunch and went through security. The flight was uneventful, and I got a lot of good book listening in. I like that there is no requirement to shut off devices anymore. I picked my checked bag up and hopped on Marta. At Lindbergh station Mom and Dad came to get me, and they took me to their new house. It is very nice, and quite big for the two of them. It isn’t as big as the previous house, but it is still quite large. There are some nice touches to the new house; lots of stained and cut glass, big windows everywhere, a nature preserve behind the house, a sauna in the basement, three large porches. I got a good bit to eat, and it was delicious. There is something special about my Mom’s cooking, where you can taste an extra flavor of love that she puts into everything. I stayed up a bit, but got up decently early. I’ll have to see if I can make it to the evening or if I need a nap due to the jet lag.
Steph and I made some delicious Tom Yom with Caryn and Nima. They came over to help us cook, and it was a lot of fun. Since we prepared everything so quickly, I don’t think we got as much of the spice in the soup as we normally do. We had the soup the next day and it was very tasty. Nima and Caryn seem to be doing well, and we should hang out with them more. They are really fun people. They invited us over to their place some time in January for some Persian food, and I’m really looking forward to it.
This book takes the ethical dilemmas of the previous book in the Ender series and pushes it more into the abstract. It looks at many of the grey areas and talks about how manipulation of another being is also wrong, but to a certain degree. This is well exampled as the two viruses at the end, the first is understood and accepted by the aliens, but the second is forced upon an unknowing populous. Both of these seem right in the given context, but they are very differently implemented. I look forward to the next books. The metaphysics was a little odd, especially when the Peter and Valentine show up. I wasn’t expecting that, and it is a big grey area in itself. I think there will be a lot more about it in the next book since he talked about that in the post-word.
This book is good, but not as good as Founders Dilemma. The book touches on a little bit later in the process, and on business instead of people. The focus is nice and we will be doing this very soon, and are already starting on it now. The book talks a lot about good structures about finding out what you don’t know. There is also a great bit about how you should take lots of risks in the short term, but always have the long term in mind. I need to follow my tenant of not having fear, but looking at things logically.
Stephanie and I went to dinner and had a good time about it. We got a lot of small dishes and shared them. They had some of the best stuffed grape leaves I’ve ever had; even Steph liked them and she doesn’t normally like stuffed grape leaves. The beet salad was really good, and we got fries for good measure on filling up. We got desert which was pumpkin bread pudding and galaktoboureko, a dish that had cream filled fried pastries with ice cream. The bread pudding was good but the other dish was better.
This dinner was for us knowing each other about 2 years now. It has been the best 2 years of my life for sure.
Steph and I hung out at Beachhead with Tina, David, Candice, Jeremy, and Lindsay. I worked some while the others painted a bit on the minis and played Mario 3D on the Wii U. We then played some open faced chinee poker. It was fun, and as usual I was having large swings. We all went for long outs on the final hand and all busted, which was pretty fun. Jeremy was the big loser in the round with everyone else being positive. I enjoyed the time just hanging out, but would have liked to have time to join in on the Mario 3D.
Steph and I stopped by the Chocolate Garage yesterday and got some really tasty chocolates. There was one maker that we will probably sign up for a bimonthly delivery from. He is a chocolate maker that lives in Hawaii and grows his own beans. One of the Chocolate Garage owners let us try some of the samples he had sent her. They were delicious.
We then stopped by the Whole Foods and got stuff for more Tom Yom, as well as some milk for hot chocolate and cheese making. We went back to Steph’s place and met up with Jeff, Patty, and Candice. They all had some of Steph’s amazing cheese, and we talked about company stuff.
It's an Exciting World 