Walrus

As Yogi Berra said, "It ain't over till it's over."  It looks like the election debacle will continue for at least another week or so.  Gore won his case before a highly divided Florida Supreme Court.  I'm sure that George W. Bush is now having a bad day, and that his campaign is filing appeals as I write this before the U.S. Supreme Court.  The Gore camp has to be pleased, this could quite easily swing things in their favor, if the recounts produce the expected number of votes.

A co-worker showed me a pretty useful little program today.  It's called WeatherBug, and it sits in the system tray of your Windows-based computer, constantly updating and displaying current weather information.  Right now, mine is telling me that it's 16 (Fahrenheit) outside. Brrrr! The program also will beep if there's a weather advisory listed for your area.  You can double click on the temperature to bring up even more information such as wind chill, wind speed, humidity, radar maps, you name it! It's all free too, it's such a handy application, I'm considering putting it on faculty computers in the near future...

What I'm listening to today: This morning, I'm listening to the Star Trek: Insurrection Soundtrack.  While I don't like it as well as I like the Star Trek: First Contact CD, it's still a nice bit of moody instrumental music, great for just playing in the background while I'm working.  I think I've liked every single piece of music that Jerry Goldsmith has written for the Star Trek franchise, and this disc is no exception. Listen to a sample at the link above...

I see that Issola, the newest book in the Vlad Taltos series by Steven Brust is now available for pre-order at Amazon.com.  I just put my order in, I've read every book in the series, and thoroughly enjoyed them.  I had the opportunity to meet the author at a convention a couple of years ago, he made quite the impression, walking around with a parrot sitting on his shoulder.  He was a nice guy to talk to, and seemed genuinely thankful for the praise I gave him for his work.  I've sent him a couple of e-mails as well, just with minor questions about a book I just finished reading, or when an upcoming novel would be published, and he's always responded quickly.

If you're looking to try something by Brust, pick up Jhereg, it's the first in the Vlad Taltos series, and is full of witty swashbuckling adventure.

It was twenty years ago today that John Lennon was shot and killed.  I don't remember it, since I was 4 years old at the time, but you can't help but wonder "What if....." 

On a related note, the new Beatles album, 1, is selling like proverbial hotcakes.  I don't currently own any Beatles albums, I may have to pick this one up, it's got all of their good songs, and it's been remastered for better quality, apparently...