Hey y'all

Sorry I haven't written of late, but I'm enjoying my time off and I've relished the opportunity not to have to check any of the electronic leashes that keep me connected to the wider world. Of course my blogging has also been handicapped by the fact that absolutely nothing of interest has been going on in my life.

In the only potentially interesting area, I haven't heard from "the weasel" (the disgruntled student) since he bailed on our face-to-face meeting on Monday. Last I heard is he's busy composing an angry letter outlining all my shortcomings as a teacher and my general moral failings. This letter is supposed to be delivered to my immediate boss. Fortunately the two bosses that I have made aware of this situation seem to be supporting me. We'll see.

Other than that, ... Not much. I've been reading (a lot) and I've even watched a couple of movies. I read a pretty funny book by Christopher Moore, though I don't think it's his best. I've shelved (pun intended) my Moby Dick project. I made it through about 160 pages and I could have continued. I found myself, though, at the point where Melville begins to devote chapters to the biology of whales, the details of fish hooks, etc. and I just decided that I didn't want to spend the rest of July's reading time with that. Hence, I put it down.

Right now I'm reading Cryptonomicon just because I think Neal Stephenson is such an interesting writer. His books are always informative and he does a nice job of moving a story along. I just don't get how guys like Tom Clancy and Michael Crichton are such huge successes while Stephenson is virtually ignored by mainstream readers. I'm not a big fan of science fiction, but some of his "cyberpunk" books seem eerily relevant today. I chuckle every time I hear someone express outrage that people are spending real money to build avatars in Second Life (or something like that). Stephenson predicted that perfectly in Snow Crash. On top of that, his "Baroque Cycle" taught me more about the Scientific Revolution than any history class I ever took. I didn't intend this to be one, but I guess it's now a plug for Stephenson's work. Go read one of his books. Some are better than others, but I've enjoyed all that I've read.

What about movies? I've been to the theater to see "License to Wed" and "Evan Almighty" -- neither of which I'd have gone to see on my own. Still, they were "group outings" and they were okay. I watched Notes On A Scandal at home the other day and I quite liked it. It's a tad depressing, but I thought it was very well done.

Well I guess that's about it for now. I'll try not to be away so long, provided anything of interest happens.