(no subject)

I think yesterday was a lovely day here in the Bay Area, but i really can't remember. I chatted with my sister as i drove to work. She was at the zoo on a grey day with her kids while teachers had a work day. I can remember what animals she saw while chatting with me! I know in the afternoon i went downstairs to walk on the treadmill, feeling a little guilty i was not walking outside in the sunshine.

Instead i read a novel that i am not exactly enjoying. It is a continuation of the Honor Harrington universe that i have very much enjoyed in the past, but this book frequently indulges in the technical and political exposition far more than in the novels i've enjoyed. I'll admit to having skimmed over some of the universe-building exposition in the novels i enjoyed, and i'm doing a great deal of skipping and skimming in this novel. I am put in mind of The Silmarillion, in that i recognize the exposition illustrates the detail and depth this universe has. However, i don't find reading Jane's (ship and military analysis) reports independently engaging, i don't want to predict the tactical actions the characters use to escape peril, and i have some issues with the politics of the author. What i have enjoyed so much in the Honor Harrington books is the struggles the characters have to do what is right, with deep codes of personal values, in relationship with jerks, heightened by the risks of life and death engagements. There are not many jerks in this novel, and there isn't a strong main character. (Take complaints about Star Wars Episode One, remove Jar-jar, and magnify.)

The good thing about this novel is i can put it down, i do NOT want to stay up late reading it! So, i keep poking at it when i need a diversion.

And i read it when i came home, hoping it would provide a nice break from the day, and that i would then feel energized to work on the presentation i'm giving early this morning. Instead, i just wanted to go to bed early. Not so much a fault of the book, but of reclining to read.

I set the sleep monitor again, knowing Christine was not going to sleep yet. The motion monitor didn't show any evidence of the coming and going that occurred: it's not going to be useful for me.

We've neighbor care on our minds: our next door neighbor had foot surgery and needs a "babysitter" and an older neighbor with a chronic pain disability needs some help. It's been on my mind for months and months that we should have her over or take her food or what not, but energies don't match. For one, the woman is a night owl, and i am not.

Speaking of which, i must go to work. Looks like an east coast-ish day for me.