Confessions of a Reluctant Human

Unread book meme

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 01:19:27 GMT

What we have here is the top 106 books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing’s users. As in, they sit on the shelf to make you look smart or well-rounded. Bold the ones you've read, underline the ones you read for school, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi : a novel
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
The Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveler’s Wife
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran : a memoir in books
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West
The Canterbury Tales
The Historian : a novel
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World
The Fountainhead
Foucault’s Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A Clockwork Orange can I double bold this for reading it twice?
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible : a novel
1984
Angels & Demons
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver’s Travels
Les Misérables
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela’s Ashes : a memoir
The God of Small Things
A People’s History of the United States : 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake : a novel
Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics : a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an inquiry into values
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit
In Cold Blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences
White Teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers

ashes to ashes

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:28:36 GMT

I got pompei in my eye.

http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a100/jadefalcon14/italy/

Home coming!

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 07:36:07 GMT

I leave tonight at 3:30am to head back home. My Indian exile is over!!

Silly game

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:51:01 GMT

http://www.naturalchemist.com/?ref=jadefalcon14

supposedly if I can con my friends into signing up through this link, I get more tokens...
I like tokens >.>

F'ing funny! (aka can't sleep tonight so I keep posting shit)

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:55:57 GMT

toothpastefordinner.com

Can I make it? Seabound in march!!

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 14:46:01 GMT

Seabound is coming to Seattle march 26, the same day I think I get back from Italy.. I really want to see them, but I dunno if I'll be back in time ;_;
Anyone else going heheh?

Link to my India adventures blog

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:41:59 GMT

http://jadefalcon14.wordpress.com/

Insightful inbox spam

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:56:18 GMT

Everywork place is plagued by at least one gay/gal who loves to send out office spam as I call it. Inspirational stories, pictures, dumb jokes, why "insert town, company, whatever" is good... Mostly garbage cluttering up my inbox. Indians apparently love this stuff and having them around increases the rate of inbox spam by a lot. This is a snippet of one such email that was actually interesting to read. It was a IM between a man and God.

Man: What surprises you about people?

GOD : When they suffer they ask, "why Me?"
When they prosper, they never ask "Why Me"
Everyone wishes to have truth on their side, but few
want to be on the side of the truth.

Interesting to think about. No one looks at the good, always the bad.

Fierce Scrapbooking

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 06:09:40 GMT

http://www.sweetpeascraps.com/pages/gallery.php

Kinda weird of me to post. But I was bored at work and found a link on one of my work buddy's IM comments that lead to his wife's scrapbooking blog. Which lead me to here.
I always thought scrapbooking was some lame time-pass of middle-american mothers... Well it still is, but these are far more artistic than I would have given credit for.
Lots of amazing collage work. Take a peek.

Eww...

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:38:16 GMT

Why are all the white guys in hyderabad creepy old dudes?
Gross...

Greeting from India

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 10:00:15 GMT

That other blog I was talking about...
Well its coming I swear!

Until then a picture of me in some silly clothes--sorry it was taken from a camera phone so it sucks...

For you Ornatov!

Fri, 28 Dec 2007 04:27:21 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtvIYRrgZ04

Sorry.. bored at work...

Update!

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 07:10:15 GMT

So I leave Dec 23 for India. I get into india for x-mas eve. Crazy that I miss x-mas by a sliver...

Buying time

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 02:15:28 GMT

I got me an extension of sorts. The time it takes to process my indian visa lets me have one more weekend in Seattle! Yay

You're sending me to India?!

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 00:34:16 GMT

Yeah, work is sending me to India :/ For 2 months... I get to miss everything cool over here. No x-mas with the family, no new years party...
But the company is paying me to go there and when do you get an opportunity like that? Sure, I have to train people, but adventure!
I leave next friday afternoon ;_; I'll make a blog and take pictures for all of you to see!

Test-drive-a-thon part 3: Fit vs. Versa round 2: the manuals

Sun, 09 Sep 2007 20:56:06 GMT

Yay! Finally got to drive a manual tranny Fit as well as test out the versa in manual as well. I aslo got to show Steve the Fit this time around, making a trip up to the Lynnwood honda. It was uncanny, they had the right style in the right color in manual >.> Still being undecided on which car though, fate wasn't enough to get me to take the car off the lot.

Fit:
The first time I got to drive the manual, it was someone else's (ie they were picking it up that day) and I only got to go around the block. The pedals felt cramped and the shifter was higher up from the floor than I was used to. To give it a fair shot, I tried it out again when I could actually "drive" the darn thing. Adjusting my seat more made it less cramped but the pedals still seemed too close together. The clutch was good and the shifter was snappy. It's built so not much movement is needed to get from gear to gear. Still nice to drive though Steve thought it still had some road noise issues.

Versa:
In this car, the act of driving a manual felt more confortable to me. I felt like the pedals were in the right spots and the longer shift stick was more what I've been used to. I felt the versa was more quiet than the fit was driving at higher speeds. And it's a 6-speed, hehe, which I was at a loss on what to do with that extra gear since I've only used 4- and 5-speeds.

I think I secretly like driving the versa manual more. But we'll see when I take Steve to meet the versa later in the week.

Test-drive-a-thon part 2: Fit vs. Versa FIGHT!

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 00:07:25 GMT

Today I finally got behind the wheel of the elusive Honda Fit and took a bus ride out to Bellevue to take the Nissan Versa for a ride. I was a much happier driver this time around, both these cars performing well in the first test drive. Both were, unfortunately, automatics again... But they drove well despite it ^^b

Honda fit --
Good: Good standard features for the price, lots of room for the odd swedish furniture run, felt roomy at the driver seat despite small size of car, MPG pretty sweet
Bad: Surprising not much to say thats really bad about the car. I guess the wait to get the one I want (if i go for it) will be the worst of it.
Ugly: With demand high and the current output of cars low in this area, dealership is cashing in with a 1500k over MSRP ><;; Maybe If i like the fit enough I can haggle something down

It lived up to the hype. Very responsive controls, the auto tranny wasn't shit, and I was pleased with the freeway and hill performance of the car. I took 'er up the belmont hill near the freeway and pushed it, getting a respectable amount of power out the small engine. After the Yaris, it felt good to drive this car. It was with me all the way, no fighting the transmission nor freaking out when the breaks didn't respond like i thought they should.

Nissan Versa --
Good: More powerful engine but still good MPG, roomy interior, felt very smooth on the ride
Bad: Again, not much to really rag on about the car. The material for the seats in the S model kinda replicated suede, which will hold on to sticky stuff (like chocolate) making it a little tough to keep clean. Felt nice though lol.
Ugly: With the car being famous from Heroes, steve will torment me till the end of time with Hiro impressions

I was pleasantly surprised with this one. Right off the lot I could feel the power of the engine compared to the Fit. When one hits the sweet spot on the auto tranny it slipped right up to 60 on an inclined on-ramp onto 520. Very sweet. The pseudo-suede interior was cush, but as I mentioned above, will hold onto chocolate and dirt like nobody's business. Like the fit, the car felt together in all its parts and didn't fight me.

All in all a good day for the driving. Now I'd like to go back and drive some manuals of these. Not too hard with nissan, they have a wide selection of Versa's to pick from. The Fit however, I needed to put in a special request to have them call me if they get a manual so I can drive it. I'm now stuck in a tough call 2-way-tie. Its really up to the nuauces of each car, and what I really want. The fit maybe the perfect one for inner city living. Its a mini-truck when you need it, gets great intown gas mileage, its small and quick. The versa seems to be more for the driving and longer trips. There's also the Rabbit, but the MPG puts it at the bottom of the list of contenders. The toyotas are out.

More research, more driving...

Test-drive-a-thon part 1

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 05:26:59 GMT

I like making informed decisions about most things--especially those to the tune to 15k big ones... I've been in a research/obsess marathon with trying to pick out a new econo-box to replace my aging and failing ford "ghetto salad" escort.
I've spend many nights researching the current line-up and have been trying to get test-drives of them:
VW rabbit/Jetta (guts-wise they're the same car really)
Toyota Yaris
Scion(toyota) xD
Nissan Versa
Honda Fit
Mazda 3

So far I've had a hard time getting manuals to test drive, so everything is compared auto to auto.

VW Rabbit (auto with tiptronic)--
Good: Amazing standard features, amazing warranty. One of the more powerful cars of the group.
Bad: Not sure how I feel about the Tiptronic "pseudo-manual" tranny. Steve would like the auto option though...
Ugly: 23/30 miles per gallon blows marsh gas as far as the other cars I've been looking at are concerned. It's gotta be the 5-banger inside. More power,more displacement, crappy gas milage.

So far it's the best car I've gotten to drive. Even was peppy with the auto tranny. Smooth ride and decent acceleration compared to the others I've gotten to test. The MPG is the real killer for me on this one. And it apparently is very very difficult to get manuals for the rabbit.

Toyota Yaris --
Good: crazy good MPG (as reported by a friend who owns one). Base price is super low (12k-ish)
Bad: Very meh as far as drivability goes. Weak engine was totally noticable in the auto tranny. Felt like effort to even keep at 40 on 99.
Ugly: base model is so stripped it hurts. Interior looks and feels cheap. Breaks suxx0r. Middle HUD setup is weird....

Worst car I've driven so far. Looks and feels cheap. Car drove like a schizophrenic: the handling was tight and zippy, but the breaks felt like crap and so did the acceleration. What good is handling if there's nothing to back it up? The auto felt out of sync and laggy at times I needed power from it(manual might fix that though). The breaks totally freaked me out, I felt out of control when trying to stop.

Scion xD --
Good: better than the yaris offering, felt more like a real car. Decent acceleration, and the breaks felt much better. I felt more in control of the car.
Bad: Still kinda meh to drive over all.
Ugly: The interior is overall alright, but the styling really throws me. Ugly turn-knobs for temp control and such, feels like i'm driving a big powerwheels car. I like the old but good dash stylings, they look much better.

Better than the Yaris but not as smooth overall as the Rabbit. I felt more in control with the breaks this time, the drivability was better. Interior style kinda silly looking, and a nasty driver-side rear blind-spot was no fun to deal with. I wouldn't kill myself if i got stuck driving one, but I think i can do better.

Honda Fit --
Tragically, these sell days, nay! hours after they hit the dealership, making getting a test drive nearly impossible it seems. All the ones currently around were sold. Probably a good sign if they're getting snatched up so fast, but now I have to wait for a call to haul ass to the dealership to get behind the wheel. I have big expectations for this car, its gathered many econobox of the year awards from the likes of Motor Trend and Car and Driver, to name a few.
Hearsey results--more when I actually drive it!
Good: excellent MPG, amazing space capacity, standard features are nice for the price
Bad: Reports from drivers claim the MPG is not that good (still better than the Rabbit though :/ ), weak engine might show (hope to drive a manual...)
Ugly: none that I know of other than a possible big letdown after drive

Nissan Versa --
No results yet, the dealership is so far away. Just based on the reports, this might be the car I want. Good gas milage and a decent 1.8 liter engine to boot! Looks nice, lets hope it drives nice too...

Mazda 3 --
No results yet, may prove difficult to get a test drive of this one. The U-dist dealership doesn't show any in inventory :( May need to see if the 2008 (if they plan on making one anyway) comes out to try. Will try and track down one at another dealership, the MPG to power ratio makes me want to give this a whirl, even though it looks like a boring standard sedan...

If anyone who reads this journal actaully owns any of these cars wants to throw in their two-cents, please feel free. More info for my growing pile.

Dead cars

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 23:14:08 GMT

So my car died again. Stupid pile of crap ><. Maybe me and kitty's cars were secretly twins and mine couldn't take the loss, I dunno. It crapped out quietly, stalling out and letting loose a plume of smoke from under the dashboard as something electrical shorted out. Smells pretty bad...
Anyway, I've been consoling/torturing myself looking a Zs:

*grasps feebly at shiny car*

So beautiful ;_;
Now I need to figure out if I resurrect the escort or look into something newer. Some certified used VW or something. *sigh*

America the lonely.

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 23:42:01 GMT

Americans are lonely people compared to the rest of the world. Appearently we like to start them out young... This article makes me sick...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19293872/?GT1=10056

An answer to what industrial is.

Tue, 22 May 2007 12:11:26 GMT

More found stuff.
http://www.mindphaser.com/index.php?picture=images/pictures/covers/roirinitialcommandbooklet.jpg
This is the inside cover of a cassette case for Frontline's "The Initial Command". The first couple of paragraphs are an explaination of what industrial is, which isn't a bad answer in my mind.
I've been asked before what this "industrial" stuff is, and am hard pressed for a really good answer that isn't just, "well listen to this". Sometimes the listen-to-this approach isn't very good, people get put off by the grinding noise and distorted vocals. They still don't know what it is, but they know they don't like it. And as the years go by, the genre has grown a great deal, stuff now labled as industrial might also find homes in dance, indie rock, or even jazz/blues. I can't say its just electronica with loud noises and distorted vocals, it's much broader than that.
Anyway, enough of my babbling...

Evolution and Intelligent Design

Mon, 21 May 2007 18:16:06 GMT

I randomly ran across this on another blogger's site:
http://www.sciohost.org/ncse/kvd/Padian/Padian_transcript.html

It's a transcript from part of the Kitzmiller v. Dover trial, mostly dealing with a scientist analyzing ID/creationism in the form of the textbook "Of People and Pandas". It's a long one but totally worth the read. There's plenty of good examples why this book, the accepted textbook of ID, is full of it.

Life at MS

Sat, 24 Mar 2007 01:25:26 GMT

So I've completed my first week at microsoft. It hasn't been super hard, just a bunch of training right now. But boy does my job require knowing lots of stuff to do it decently. My background in networking was kinda shaky, which worried me at first. But I get to learn lots of neat stuff about it now. Like how Hotmail is set up. Its fascinating! And now everytime I have my hotmail account go down, I just laugh cuz i know some poor bastard is back in that room trying to fix it. And soon, that poor bastard will probably be me.
As for the MS environment, I like it there. The campus of RedWest is beautiful, everything is clean and well cared for. Everyone there seems really nice, esp. in the SOC. It's a very communal kinda work place. And it's refreshing to work in a place where as long as you do your job, you can go about your business. What I mean is that if i want a break, I take one. If i need a coffee, i can just roll out to the kitchen and get some. Much different than the other jobs i've worked where you couldn't take a piss if it wasn't scheduled.
Guess the only crappy thing about working out there so far is the commute home over the 520 bridge. What a pile! >< I've been getting to work at 7am, the freeway is clear, but getting out at 4pm sucks.
Overall, I like the job ^^b

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 09:49:57 GMT

Hurray! I got a job at microsoft \^^/
I'm still kinda in shock.... :P

Le tragic

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 20:47:08 GMT

I never seem to write much good into LJ these days...
Anyway, i've been layed off my cushy playtesting job, which sucks. Now I need a real one.
So this is a shout out to all you microsoft peoples out there. If you know any graphics, design, or x-box people who's desk you can toss my resume onto, please let me know. I could use some insider help ^^b Thanks!