summer break

Posting will be very sparse in July and August.

Suggestions for summer reading and listening are appreciated. (via comment or e-mail.)

Torrey Pines was a Nail Biter

Whew! What a great US Open. That was entertainment.

• Eagles, Birdies, Bogeys, Tiger’s many Doubles — Scoring was all over the place.
• A hobbled Tiger vs. a guy who has been hobbling with a bad back for years.
• And an Englishman who almost made the playoff.

Link | Dream Round of Golf Becomes a Humbling Test - NYTimes.com

Dream Round of Golf Becomes a Humbling Test - NYTimes.com: “NYT reports on the amateurs who played US Open Torrey Pines setup yesterday. The damage was big! Atkinson (hdcp 8.1) shot 114, Lauer (hdcp 6.2 ) shot 100, Timberlake (hdcp 6.0 ) shot 98, Romo (hdcp 2.2) shot 84. Wow!”

Must be near vacation time | Desolation Island - Book 5 - Patrick O’Brian

My favorite fanatical comment wrt/ this series is “There are only 20 books in the series. It’s just not enough.”

My favorite part of this book was their time in the Roaring Forties. I love the descriptions of the massive waves, how they navigate them, and the massive albatrosses. Feels other-worldly. They went there in a previous book, but I missed the “craziness” of this place. He does a great job on the second voyage thru there.

For those who are new to the series, here is a good place to start Aubrey–Maturin series - Wikipedia. I’d avoid the individual book pages ’cause they have good plot summaries.

Link | Seth’s Blog: Email checklist

Seth’s Blog: Email checklist: “I need to re-read this on a quarterly basis. Great e-mail etiquette. Thank you, Seth.”

Here are some of my faves ( from a list of 36)

• 13. Am I angry? (If so, save as draft and come back to the note in one hour).
• 14. Could I do this note better with a phone call?
• 21. Could this email be shorter?
• 36. If I had to pay 42 cents to send this email, would I?

Sigur Ros is going direct with their new album “Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust”

Sigur Ros: “Their site says the album will be released on June 23, 2008. Download will be DRM-free 320kpbs mp3 for $8.00. I can’t wait. Should be great. I love this band.”

For those who can’t wait Fred Wilson has the song Festival up on his site.

Link | 2008 Memorial In Photos | The Sand Trap

2008 Memorial In Photos | The Sand Trap: “Erik J. Barzeski goes to the Memorial. A great set of photo’s and captions from a golf fanatic for golf fanatics. The Sand Trap is my favorite golf blog and podcast.”

Link | Globe and Mail pay wall comes down » mathewingram.com/work

Globe and Mail pay wall comes down » mathewingram.com/work Interesting. It will be interesting to see how G&M ( and major canadian papers ) evolve in the next decade. I get G&M in hardcopy and subscribe to wsj.com. I’ve found that I read wsj.com a lot more than the G&M (hardcopy) these days.

WooHoo Spokane Wins Memorial Cup

Good Stuff Chiefs! 4 & 0. I really like the team speed. These guys out-skated every team they played.

Looks like the real contest was Spokane vs Tri-Cities It was painful to watch them decimate my Giants in this years playoffs.

Here’s a link to the Game Summary

I’d have preferred the Giants winning, but I’ve also had season’s tix to the Chiefs. They’re my second choice. Excellent stuff.

Audio Magnificence - Anansi Boys

Anansi Boys is the most fun Neil Gaiman audiobook I’ve listened too! It’s a good mix of darkness and comedy. I highly recommend it.

I really like the narrator Lenny Henry. His Spider and Fat Charlie are great. His Fat Charlie’s Dad - Mr. Nancy and Mrs. Callyanne Higgler are over-the-top entertaining.

I really like how Neil Gaiman leverages folk characters like Anansi into a modern story. I thought I didn’t know about Anansi, but it turns out that this is the basis of Brer Rabbit in the Uncle Remus stories.

I’ve been rivetted to Neil Gaiman’s work for the past year. I’ve listened to American Gods and Neverwhere and now Anansi Boys. I’m gonna keep diggin’ thru the catalog.

A Thank You to Marc E for recommending this book. I listened to it twice.