stoutfellow (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stoutfellow) wrote2015-01-09 02:15 pm
stoutfellow) wrote2015-01-09 02:15 pm
Vacation
There really isn't a whole lot to say about my California trip. There was the big family get-together on the 20th - a feast, the lighting of the Advent wreath, and the drawing of gift cards (I got one for Olive Garden). There were several smaller gatherings: Christmas Eve with E and her husband, an early birthday dinner at C's, a less-early birthday dinner with E and her husband at Islands, and an actual on-the-day birthday meal at IHOP with my brother. D and I went to several movies - "Interstellar" (decently entertaining, and not too much technobabble); "Into the Woods" (modestly interesting until the sharp left turn at the beginning of Act II, which moved it from "interesting" to "powerful"); and "Night at the Museum 3" (amusing, and melancholy in the closing scenes, as "Teddy Roosevelt" - Robin Williams - said goodbye to the museum guard). I did make one trip to B&N, but didn't buy much - two cookbooks (another slow cooker book, and The Ultimate Soup Bible), a book on Spartacus's rebellion, another Patricia Briggs novel, and an anthology of urban fantasy shorts, by, among others, Butcher, Briggs, Beagle, and Crowley.
I raced through a series of books on Kindle, bringing my total for the year to 80, my lowest total in several years. Notable among these last few were Roald Amundsen's account of his expedition to the South Pole (surprisingly entertaining), a set of papers by Alfred Russell Wallace on natural selection, some classics I'd never read (Peter Pan, Treasure Island, The Island of Dr. Moreau), Elizabeth Gaskell's charming Cranford, and Walter Jon Williams' The Praxis - I'll definitely continue reading that series. I also finished the Palliser novels and reread The Stars My Destination.
My research on polygons progressed a little, more in the way of noticing new avenues of exploration than in new results. I do know quite a bit more about hexagons than I did when I left for break.
Oh, and I found out that the ear trouble I've been having wasn't an infection after all; a good professional-level lavage in both ears was all that was necessary. (TMI?) At any rate, I have full hearing in both ears again - a great relief.
And Monday it's back to work....
I raced through a series of books on Kindle, bringing my total for the year to 80, my lowest total in several years. Notable among these last few were Roald Amundsen's account of his expedition to the South Pole (surprisingly entertaining), a set of papers by Alfred Russell Wallace on natural selection, some classics I'd never read (Peter Pan, Treasure Island, The Island of Dr. Moreau), Elizabeth Gaskell's charming Cranford, and Walter Jon Williams' The Praxis - I'll definitely continue reading that series. I also finished the Palliser novels and reread The Stars My Destination.
My research on polygons progressed a little, more in the way of noticing new avenues of exploration than in new results. I do know quite a bit more about hexagons than I did when I left for break.
Oh, and I found out that the ear trouble I've been having wasn't an infection after all; a good professional-level lavage in both ears was all that was necessary. (TMI?) At any rate, I have full hearing in both ears again - a great relief.
And Monday it's back to work....