Upset Alert

Upset - noun
An unexpected result or situation, esp. in a sports competition

Let me set up the situation:
It was the opening weekend of college football. My wife and daughter went out of town for a 3 day weekend. I scored 2 free tickets to the Mizzou football game against SE Louisiana.

Even the remnants of hurricane Isaac could not stop me from enjoying Saturday's home opener against SE Louisiana . Not too bad a view for free tickets.

And with all of this going on, the inexplicable upset happened.

Not only did I find to time to crack open my latest non-fiction selection, The Young Oxford Companion to the Presidency of the United States by Richard M Pious, I burned through my 50 required pages!

Was it a Young Adult book, yes, but that's kind of like your football team taking on Northeastern Midwest Technical Institute A&M for your first game, it just feels good to get a win under your belt.

The other NF book I am reading, JavaScript: The Definitive Guide by David Flanagan, while chocked full of interesting JavaScript programming tips, is a bit rough to read straight through. I have found there are several really good online resources for learning JS, one I have been having fun with is from Channel 9.

NFL starts this weekend, could there possibly be another upset in the works? I'm gonna say most likely because I'm looking forward to keeping up this pace, I'll be in the double digits before long. Although I'm not going to get too excited considering I have just under 3,000 books to read, but hey, progress is progress.

Time to do the job

Well, despite my duel Nintendo threat in the basement, I was able to crack open my new NF book and read some last night in between the little girl napping and laundry. This is a particularly amazing feat since last night I also loaded up Zanac.

I love how fast this game is. It is a lot like Galaga, but instead of space you are flying above the surface of a planet and they are throwing everything they can at you. Anyway, Zanac holds a special place in my collection. It's the only game that my brother could consistently beat me at. I'm not saying I'm terrible at it, but he was so much better. Obviously I keep trying to get better. I think I did pretty well considering how long it's been.

Tonight I will be breaking in my man cave with the start of the 2012 college football season, South Carolina @ Vanderbilt. I am not rooting for anyone, just happy football is back. I will be interested in seeing the how the Gamecocks and Commodores play though, considering Mizzou is in the same division as they are. The chances of reading tonight are slim to none, but I will try to make time to get some reading in. This will be one of those tests, don't get sucked into just staring at the game than realize you have ignored your wife, daughter, and the world around you. Tonight would be an excellent opportunity to stumble.

I need to summon my inner Hunter S.
"Are we here to entertain ourselves or do the job?"

Time to do the job.

The breaking of the fellowship?

What in the world was I thinking? I just might have sent this project off the rails for good.

Last night, in a silly attempt of nostalgia, I hooked up my original Nintendo Entertainment System AND my Nintendo 64 to the same TV. Not only that, I loaded up The Legend of Zelda and The Legend o Zelda: Ocarina of Time too.

It's dangerous to go alone, take these!

I put my daughter down for a nap, powered Legend on and before I blinked I was already in the level 5 dungeon, battling Digdogger, that giant, orange, one-eyed boss that hates music.

I'm worried that what little time I have left for casual reading in the evenings will be used up collecting rupees and shooting swords.

In an effort to counter this, meet random non-fiction selection #8: 353.0313, The Young Oxford Companion to the Presidency of the United States by Richard M Pious.

Fitting, considering there is an election coming up, or so the negative ads on TV say. Personally I hate politics was a passion, but I also hate monkeys and there is bound to be some primate books on the horizon, so best just to jump in and knock it out.

Back to School

One of the great things I love about back to school, other than not having to go back to school, is seeing all the school supplies. You would think this would be my motivation to buy new pencils, but oddly enough I always have the urge to buy pencils. Not just any #2 pencils, mind you but Dixon Ticonderoga pencils, it's the only pencil I use, and yes i do use them often.

Even though I'm a digital junkie, I take all my notes on paper with a pencil. I have for as long as I can remember. It's my comfort. And when I get bored and feel the urge to doodle, a nice #2 pencil does the job nicely.

After turning in NF books #5 and #6, I decided to stick with the back to school theme and get something to brush up on my programming skills. Meet contestant #7 all the way from 005.2762, JavaScript: The Definitive Guide by David Flanagan. I'm a big fan of O'Reilly books, they helped me out a lot back in college.

I give it 4-5 days before my nightmares return of being back in those C++ classes my junior year.

Press Start When Ready

All right!
The house unpacked, my man-cave is up and running, the initial yardwork has been done, I finished my second reading on Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, and I finally saw the Dark Knight Rises. I am officially ready to get back on track.
I turned in  Tracks in the Sea by Chester G. Hearn and I have to say it will take a lot for another non-fiction book to knock it off it's perch. I really enjoyed that book.

Moving on, I currently have 2 NF books out:
Claim of Privilege: A Mysterious Plane Crash, a Landmark Supreme Court Case, and the Rise of State Secrets by Barry Siegel
and
From Alexander to Cleopatra: The Hellenistic World by Michael Grant

I'm going to focus on them before starting a 3rd selection. It will fell really good to get them read and then start with 3 fresh titles.

Break Time

Time for a short break from non-fiction. Not that I'm getting burned out or anything, but with 1 week till moving into the new house I need to focus.

A break from non-fiction, but not from reading altogether. I am re-reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline in preparation for the Book Lounge Happy Hour on July 26th at The Bridge in downtown Columbia. Now if I can only figure out where I packed that Atari 2600 joystick . . .

The most fun I've had reading a novel in a long time.

Heroes

So the reading project has come to a screeching halt, I'm sad to say. With birthdays, 4th of July festivities, and packing I have had a hard time even remembering where the books were!

I'm still trying to get some reading done at lunch though and I have to say, the more I read about Matthew Fontaine Maury in Tracks in the Sea by Chester G. Hearn, the further he rises in my list of personal heroes.

Currently I have him listed above Forge from the X-Men and below Ash from Evil Dead/Army of Darkness fame.

Shop Smart, Shop S-Mart

Lets hope I can get some inspiration from the honorable Mr Maury and the chiansaw-handed Ash and get back into the swing of things.