Who Needs Role Models?

Every dog I’ve ever owned came from the pound or a rescue organization (okay, Homer might not have, but my parents got him before I was born, soI don’t think he counts). But wow, trying to get another dog now that I’m not likely to burst into tears at the though of Shasta has become, ahem, challenging. Some of the challenges:

• every rescue I’ve found lists their available animals on Petfinder. This isn’t a challenge by itself, but it means that you have to use that system to find a suitable animal. And because most of the rescue organizations at best make guesses regarding breed, age, health, training level, whether they like kids or cats, etc. The data is, ahem, suspect. I can’t tell you how many dogs I’ve looked at after searching for “cat-friendly” dogs, narrowing it down to 7 or 8 animals, and having the description say “this dog cannot, under any circumstances, go to a house with cats”. I finally gave up using that search parameter, as it was useless. Same goes for the “young children” parameter.
• just like when we adopted McKinley, there is a huge “application” you have to fill out to even meet these dogs. It’s annoying to me, as I’m sure I’m instantly put on their mailing list (well, instantly in the form of whenever they get around to reading their mail. They don’t let me see any animals or even answer my mail, I just get added to the mailing list. (I’m betting on this, I have no proof, yet)
• but the rescue places are all staffed by volunteers so they don’t have a lot of time to read or respond to email, even if their site says “you’ll get a reply within 72 hours” I figure this must mean hours on Jupiter or something.
• the aforementioned application includes tons of questions about your home, lifestyle, vet, trainer, groomer, etc. which is fine, but so far 2 out of 3 have required references, one required four references - including how long they’ve known you and in what capacity, and they can’t be relatives. (because, I suppose, we all know that Aunt Mary who has been with me and my dogs all my life might be biased and give me a good review, while my co-worker Sarah, who barely even knows I have a dog wouldn’t be…

I just wish it were a little easier. I mean, when we got Shasta, we just walked into the pound, saw him, decided to play with him and his brother, then decided to adopt, filled out the form, paid the fee and went home with a dog. When we got McKinley from Rescue Pup, I found him (on Petfinder), asked to see him, met him, filled out the application, they came and visited our house, and we adopted him. It took more than a day (because of the home visit) but definitely no more than a week. I’m currently on week 3 of trying to find out more about Hope, Darla, and another dog who’s name I’ve now forgotten. I got an answer immediately about Darla, saying “you sound perfect, please fill out an application” so I did, and then nothing. I didn’t get an answer about asking to see Hope until today and all it said was “please fill out an application” when there was nothing on the Petfinder site about an application or anything. I had to dig around to find what I think is the correct application. And finally dog #3 they haven’t answered yet (that’s the one that said I’d get an answer within 72 hours - Jupiter hours, I’m assuming). I would go and adopt from Rescue Pup again, except that all they have are blue heelers, which they won’t place with kids. Since I remember what Brendan’s pant cuffs were like (they are called “heelers” because they bite the heels of the cattle they are herding, and if they don’t have cattle, they bite the heels of the children they are herding), I don’t blame Rescue Pup, but it is annoying because I understand that about that breed. What’s sad to me is that the difficulty I’m having makes me want to go to a breeder. Do you know of any “mutt” large dog breeders I can visit? Luckily the pet store that we go to only gets drop-kick dogs in their puppy consignments, so I’m not tempted to go there to get a dog. But man, if they had any large dog puppies (great dane, mastiff, great pyrenees, akbash, shepherd, wolf hound, etc.) the only thing that would probably stop me is that their prices are insane. So, hopefully my application for Hope will be considered, and maybe I’ll be able to go visit her later this week or this weekend. But I’m not holding my breath.

So, I just finished reading 1632 by Eric Flint last night (from the finalists list). This was a book I saw on the shelves when it came out but I passed it by for several reasons, including:

• I’ve never been a fan of alternate history
• The idea of knights mixed with pickup trucks seemed ridiculous
• And I just didn’t think I would like the book

But I couldn’t have been more wrong! This book was very fun to read. The characters were engaging and I cared what happened to them. The fact that it was set in 1632 was an interesting historical backdrop, and I wanted to learn more about the 30-years war. For example, I didn’t realize that Cardinal Richelieu was a real person. I just thought of him as the villain in “The Three Musketeers” (yes, the Errol Flynn version, I haven’t read the book). The stated goals of the people transported to 1632 Germany were ones I could completely get behind. They seemed like people I would enjoy having as my neighbors. I loved that they decided immediately to draft a constitution and that they did not immediately wall themselves off from the rest of the world. I’m not confident that is what would really happen, but it’s nice to think that it could. Some of the things I didn’t like:

I was reading an article yesterday about how facial recognition is getting so good that there are apps being built for cellphones that can identify random strangers from photos (taken as you walk along with your cell phone). The article was bemoaning the fact that this was a “further invasion of our privacy” and that pretty soon nothing we do would be private. I then moved on to another article that talked about how Google(?) was working on an algorithm that could evaluate the writing style of someone online and make a good correlation as to who actually wrote it. Even if the author had posted anonymously or with a pseudonym. The article was bemoaning the fact that this was a “further invasion of our privacy” and that pretty soon nothing that we do online would be private. But is this idea of “privacy” such a good thing? Ultimately, what it really is is the idea that we can go out in public or online and be anonymous. And some people see anonymity as the same as the freedom to do anything they want. And as we saw in London over the past few days, anything they want seems to cover a wide swath of things that most civilized societies consider wrong. Some examples of things anonymous people do:

Very happy to report that I now am getting both Analog and F&SF delivered to my iPad. The layout is somewhat hard to read in the default mode, but I quickly switched to one column viewing for a better experience. The first story I will read is by Robert Reed. You may be wondering how this will fit in with my goal to read all the SciFi finalist novels, and that would be a good question. To answer let me say that I am easily bored. So if I am slogging through an otherwise good but long book (Matter, I am talking to you!), I can now take a break with a shorter story to mix it up. Plus, I have been reading my dad’s copy of both these magazines for thirty years, and I want them to keep publishing, so I feel I should support them. And both magazines digitally are less than $5 a month with tax, so it’s a great deal. If you have a Kindle or a computer that can use Kindle apps, I recommend getting these magazines. They (along with Asimov’s, which I am debating getting too) provide great short speculative fiction. And now I must return to reading. I have a lot on my list. Status: page 164 of The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. Who has a story in the F&SF I’m reading too.

I have decided to read or re-read all the books on the list of finalists for best Science Fiction and Fantasy from NPR. I just finished Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntyre. This is one of the first science fiction books I remember reading and re-reading. I know I read others before this one, but this one really stood out in my head as something really interesting. Mark was laughing because my copy (most likely from 1978 when it was published) was tattered and worn. Because I’ve read it so many times. Today I’m starting The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. This is another favorite from childhood. I’ve read it easily as many times as Dreamsnake, and I’ve of course seen the movie several times. 1632 should be coming in the mail in a few days. I requested it in a swap on Goodreads, and I’m trying to find 1984 in my collection.

Here are all the finalists in the NPR Science Fiction and Fantasy Vote for 2011. As I finish them I’ll put a ✔ next to them along with the date I finished. If I write a review, I’ll link to it. If you’re curious which ones I’ll be reading for a second (or more) time, I’ll indicate that with a ☞. 1632, by Eric Flint✔ (August 15, 2011) ☞1984, by George Orwell ☞2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne The Acts Of Caine Series, by Matthew Woodring Stover The Algebraist, by Iain M. Banks ☞Altered Carbon, by Richard K. Morgan ☞American Gods, by Neil Gaiman ☞Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman Anathem, by Neal Stephenson✔ (September 9, 2011) ☞Animal Farm, by George Orwell The Anubis Gates, by Tim Powers Armor, by John Steakley ☞The Baroque Cycle, by Neal Stephenson Battlefield Earth, by L. Ron Hubbard ☞Beggars In Spain, by Nancy Kress ☞The Belgariad, by David Eddings The Black Company Series, by Glen Cook The Black Jewels Series, by Anne Bishop ☞The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe ☞Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley Bridge Of Birds, by Barry Hughart ☞The Callahan’s Series, by Spider Robinson ☞A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller ☞The Cat Who Walked Through Walls, by Robert Heinlein ☞Cat’s Cradle , by Kurt Vonnegut ☞The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov The Change Series, by S.M. Stirling ☞Childhood’s End, by Arthur C. Clarke Children Of God, by Mary Doria Russell ☞The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny ☞The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson The City And The City, by China Mieville City And The Stars, by Arthur C. Clarke ☞A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher The Coldfire Trilogy, by C.S. Friedman The Commonwealth Saga, by Peter F. Hamilton ☞The Company Wars, by C.J. Cherryh The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard Contact, by Carl Sagan ☞Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson ☞The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart ☞The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks✔ So far, read: Matter (July 15, 2011) and Surface Detail (September 14, 2011) The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King The Day of Triffids, by John Wyndham Deathbird Stories, by Harlan Ellison ☞The Deed of Paksennarion Trilogy, by Elizabeth Moon The Demolished Man, by Alfred Bester ☞The Deverry Cycle, by Katharine Kerr ☞Dhalgren, by Samuel R. Delany ☞The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson ☞The Difference Engine, by William Gibson & Bruce Sterling ☞The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin ☞Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick Don’t Bite The Sun, by Tanith Lee ☞Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis ☞Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey ☞Dreamsnake, by Vonda McIntyre✔ (August 4, 2011) ☞The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert ☞Earth, by David Brin Earth Abides, by George R. Stewart The Eisenhorn Omnibus, by Dan Abnett The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock ☞Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card ☞Eon, by Greg Bear The Eyes Of The Dragon, by Stephen King The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde ☞The Faded Sun Trilogy, by C.J. Cherryh ☞Fafhrd & The Gray Mouser Series, by Fritz Leiber ☞Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury ☞The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb The Female Man, by Joanna Russ The Fionavar Tapestry Trilogy, by Guy Gavriel Kay ☞A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge The First Law Trilogy, by Joe Abercrombie ☞Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys ☞The Foreigner Series, by C.J. Cherryh ☞The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman ☞The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley ☞The Gaea Trilogy, by John Varley The Gap Series, by Stephen R. Donaldson ☞The Gate To Women’s Country, by Sheri S. Tepper Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett The Gone-Away World, by Nick Harkaway The Gormenghast Triology, by Mervyn Peake ☞Grass, by Sheri S. Tepper Gravity’s Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon ☞The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood Hard-Boiled Wonderland And The End of The World, by Haruki Murakami The Heechee Saga, by Frederik Pohl ☞The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams The Hollows Series, by Kim Harrison House Of Leaves, by Mark Danielewski ☞The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson ☞I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov ☞The Illuminatus! Trilogy, by Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson ☞The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury ☞The Incarnations Of Immortality Series, by Piers Anthony The Inheritance Trilogy, by N.K. Jemisin Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne ☞Kindred, by Octavia Butler The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss Kraken, by China Mieville ☞The Kushiel’s Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey Last Call, by Tim Powers The Last Coin, by James P. Blaylock ☞The Last Herald Mage Trilogy, by Mercedes Lackey ☞The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle✔ (August 6, 2011) ☞The Lathe Of Heaven, by Ursula K. LeGuin ☞The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore ☞The Lensman Series, by E.E. Smith The Liaden Universe Series, by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller The Lies Of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch ☞Lilith’s Brood, by Octavia Butler ☞Little, Big, by John Crowley ☞The Liveship Traders Trilogy, by Robin Hobb ☞Lord Of Light, by Roger Zelazny ☞The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien ☞Lord Valentine’s Castle, by Robert Silverberg ☞Lucifer’s Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle Lud-in-the-Mist, by Hope Mirrlees The Magicians, by Lev Grossman The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson ☞The Man In The High Castle, by Philip K. Dick The Manifold Trilogy, by Stephen Baxter ☞The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson ☞The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury ☞Memory And Dream, by Charles de Lint Memory, Sorrow, And Thorn Trilogy, by Tad Williams ☞Mindkiller, by Spider Robinson The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson ☞The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley ☞The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein ☞Mordant’s Need, by Stephen Donaldson ☞More Than Human, by Theodore Sturgeon ☞The Mote In God’s Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle The Naked Sun, by Isaac Asimov The Neanderthal Parallax Trilogy, by Robert J. Sawyer ☞Neuromancer, by William Gibson ☞Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman The Newsflesh Triology, by Mira Grant The Night’s Dawn Trilogy, by Peter F. Hamilton Norstrilia, by Cordwainer Smith ☞Novels Of The Company, by Kage Baker ☞The Number Of The Beast, by Robert Heinlein ☞Old Man’s War, by John Scalzi On Basilisk Station, by David Weber ☞The Once And Future King, by T.H. White Oryx And Crake, by Margaret Atwood The Otherland Tetralogy, by Tad Williams The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan ☞Parable Of The Sower, by Octavia Butler The Passage, by Justin Cronin ☞Pattern Recognition, by William Gibson Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville The Prestige, by Christopher Priest ☞The Pride Of Chanur, by C.J. Cherryh The Prince Of Nothing Trilogy, by R. Scott Bakker ☞The Princess Bride, by William Goldman Rainbows End, by Vernor Vinge ☞Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke Replay, by Ken Grimwood Revelation Space, by Alistair Reynolds Riddley Walker, by Russell Hoban The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist ☞Ringworld, by Larry Niven ☞The Riverworld Series, by Philip Jose Farmer The Road, by Cormac McCarthy The Saga Of Pliocene Exile, by Julian May The Saga Of Recluce, by L.E. Modesitt Jr. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman The Sarantine Mosaic Series, by Guy Gavriel Kay ☞A Scanner Darkly, by Philip K. Dick The Scar, by China Mieville ☞The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks The Shattered Chain Trilogy, by Marion Zimmer Bradley ☞The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien The Sirens Of Titan, by Kurt Vonnegut ☞Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett ☞Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson ☞The Snow Queen, by Joan D. Vinge Solaris, by Stanislaw Lem ☞Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury ☞Song for the Basilisk, by Patricia McKillip A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell ☞The Stainless Steel Rat Books, by Harry Harrison Stand On Zanzibar, by John Brunner The Stand, by Stephen King Stardust, by Neil Gaiman The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester ☞Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein Stations Of The Tide, by Michael Swanwick ☞Steel Beach, by John Varley ☞Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein ☞Sunshine, by Robin McKinley The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind The Swordspoint Trilogy, by Ellen Kushner ☞The Tales of Alvin Maker, by Orson Scott Card The Temeraire Series, by Naomi Novik The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn ☞Tigana , by Guy Gavriel Kay ☞Time Enough For Love, by Robert Heinlein The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells ☞The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger ☞To Say Nothing Of The Dog, by Connie Willis The Troy Trilogy, by David Gemmell Ubik, by Philip K. Dick ☞The Uplift Saga, by David Brin ☞The Valdemar Series, by Mercedes Lackey VALIS, by Philip K. Dick Venus On The Half-Shell, by Kilgore Trout/Philip Jose Farmer ☞The Vlad Taltos Series, by Steven Brust ☞The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold The Vurt Trilogy, by Jeff Noon The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells The Watchmen, by Alan Moore ☞Watership Down, by Richard Adams The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson Way Station, by Clifford D. Simak ☞We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan When Gravity Fails, by George Alec Effinger ☞Wicked, by Gregory Maguire ☞Wild Seed, by Octavia Butler The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi World War Z, by Max Brooks ☞The Worm Ouroboros, by E.R. Edison ☞The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, by Michael Chabon

I finished Chapter 19 last night. Very stoked. It’s moving along quite nicely. Chapter 20 is currently Offline Web Applications. But I think I need to re-order it to put Web Storage before it.

The other thing writing this is doing is making me more and more interested in writing a new theme for this blog. I’ll make it HTML5, but I’m not sure if I’ll use my art for it or not. I’ll have to think about it. Of course, that isn’t going to happen until after the book is completed.

If you didn’t know, I’m working on a book—Sams Teach Yourself HTML5 for Mobile Application Development in 24 Hours, and it’s been taking up a lot of my time. I just finished chapter 17—HTML5 Links. Whew! And I hope to have chapter 18 done by Saturday. It’s hard because this weekend was the first really sunny weekend we’ve had all year, and I had to sit inside for a good portion of it writing about HTML5 Drag and Drop. (Thanks, Sandi, for the suggestion for how to lengthen it! While I didn’t implement your suggestions—it ended up long enough without any sex scenes—I’m still looking forward to writing Drag and Drop—the “Good Parts” Version!)

I was hoping for a long morning alone with my writing. But instead I got to help clean up a flooded bathroom and attempt to fix the washing machine that hit it’s planned obsolescence date today. Mark thinks the pump cracked. We bought an expensive washer 3 years ago thinking naively that if we paid a lot for a good brand it would last longer than the cheaper model we’d bought 3 years before that. Nope. This time, if the repairs cost more than the cheapest model we can buy we are going out and buying the cheap, no frills model. At least that way in 2014 we will have paid less on our rental. In 2008, we did all this research, but the reality is that washing machine reviewers don’t have 3 years to evaluate a machine. So they really don’t know if they will last a reasonable amount of time. And no, I don’t think 3 years is reasonable. We had the same washing machine my entire childhood with a family of four. My three-year-old son has seen two machines die in this house! (Yes, the last one died about two weeks after he was born!)

Jaryth was downstairs weeping piteously. Mark could not console him. I had no idea what was wrong. Then suddenly he was calm again. Phew, the crisis is averted. Then “I want that!” he yells. And before Mark can respond, “Where’d the zombies go?” Followed by some more crying. I can tell that having a son that is probably going to be a gamer just like his dad is going to result in a lot of humorous statements. He plays Plants vs. Zombies, and when he asks to play he says “I want to feed the zombies.” Of course, that is my fault, as I noticed that since he’s only a toddler and doesn’t understand the point of PvZ he tends to let the zombies through fairly frequently. Thus I said that he was clearly feeding them. He was concerned that the poor zombies were going hungry, so he feeds them his own brain. That’s the generous soul he is. Of course, now he’s back to playing Tozzle. Tozzle is an extremely loud game that he plays at full blast volume almost every day. He plays only three of the puzzles in it: the windmill (which he calls the “mim mill”), the train, and the planes. When he builds the “red one” (the plane with red markings) he then finishes and tells us that we are going to the airport. “We take a plane to Bibi’s house!” he announces over and over.