My People!

Although I had nothing to do with these latest developments from the Guatemalan National Police Archive, I am going to DC next month to work on one of the papers we'll be delivering at JSM in August.

Who oversleeps for an 11am meeting?!

Apparently, this gal. And without even a good excuse - I bolted upright in bed ten hours after going to sleep, and three hours after two alarm clocks went off! I should have at least had a good bender story as an excuse.

Books!

I finished Anathem a couple of weeks ago, and although the bottom line story is a bit of a cliche, the math, aliens, and philosophy in between more than make up for it. As a friend of mine recently pointed out, it's pretty amazing that anyone thought there would be an audience for such a book, but I'm glad someone did! I haven't read either, but I wonder if Anathem isn't the Infinite Jest or Gravity's Rainbow for the math geek crowd.

Having just read Anathem and Little Brother, two of the best books I've read in years, back to back, I'm a bit ruined now. Inevitably, the next thing I pick up will disappoint. So I spent a couple of weeks cleansing the palate and playing catch up on issues of Ms. and Mother Jones. Yesterday I started The Lost Painting, on loan from a friend in exchange for borrowing my Lonely Planet: Dublin (where we both saw the painting in question at the National Gallery). So far it's a quick, enjoyable read, but I'm keeping my hopes modest.

Nathan Fillion

I don't know why people keep giving him jobs, when his presence on a project inevitably spells doom, but damn I'm glad they do. At least, I think I am. I haven't really been paying enough attention to decide whether Castle is worth the trouble.

Subaru

My check engine light keeps coming on, every few weeks (three or four times since January). It only stays on for a little over a day, conveniently going off before I have a chance to take the car in. I know Subarus have a tendency to trip the check engine light if the gas cap is loose, and the first time the light came on was minutes after filling the tank. But the other times have been a day or more post-fill-up. So. What are the odds I can keep ignoring whatever is tripping the light for the next 10 weeks? No other obvious defects - no over-heating, weird handling, etc.