My Name Is Dan and I Am A Jets Fan...

And no, that's not intended to sound like the beginning of an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting....! I just wanted to reaffirm my membership in Jets Nation prior to the AFC Championship game this Sunday! As a rabid Red Sox, Celtics and (when I care about hockey) Bruins fan, I am somewhat of an odd duck in rooting for the Jets (and New York Football Giants as well). The Jets are pretty much anathema to a real New Englander. But I haven't been a Patriots fan since Steve Grogan retired, and the latest Bill Bellichick era has really turned me off to them. And not just because of the cheating ;-) (Had to get that in there!)

There is actually a lot of similarity between being a Jets fan and being a Red Sox fan (at least, prior to 2004). Like most Jets fans, I always have doubts and expect the 'same old Jets' will show up, and it's the same thing with the Sox, although certainly to a much lesser extant since 2004 and 2007. And the Jets have had the same flashes of good play, just like the Sox in '86, '88, etc. But something has always gone wrong (see Testaverde, Vinny, 1999, when the Jets were expected to contend for the championship).

So I will be watching the game on Sunday, with my Jets hoodie and Jets hat and green turtle neck!

J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS!

MA Senate Election

So the big election in Massachusetts is over, and the Democrats have again been shown (for the third time in as many months - see also governor elections in VA and NJ) that they have completely lost touch with the people. And President Obama has put his political capitol on the line in all three races, and lost each one. If that's not a repudiation of his policies, in sections of the country that SHOULD support them, I don't know what is. The Democrats can blame Martha Coakley for a lackluster campaign, but I think they all - all the way up to the White House, which coordinated this campaign - felt it was a slam dunk once the primaries were over. So by blaming Coakley, they are really blaming themselves for complacency in the face of massive dissatisfaction - with the economy, with the bloated health care bills now being negotiated behind closed doors, with the costs of these bailouts for various industries but not Main Street, and mainly by the arrogance shown by the Democrats in the last year. Unfortunately, I doubt there will be major changes (except, of course, those brought on by the fact that the Democrats no longer have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate) in their approach and, most importantly, attitude. While I'm not a big fan of the tea-partiers, I do think that some sort of protest in that vein certainly reflects the larger sentiments of the population, if not so verbose or radical.

At the same time, the Republicans should not necessarily take this as a validation of their party or ideals. Brown ran more as an independent than a Republican, and frankly, the Republicans have been complaining about many of the same tactics used by the Democrats, they they have used in the past, and would use again if in the same position the Democrats are today. So, the Republicans should not be crowing about this election either, but take a sober look at where they are as a party (too far right, IMHO) and correct course.

I'm interested to see how Brown fares in 2012, when he is up for re-election on the regular cycle. Only thing I am sure of is that Martha Coakley won't be his opponent!

I am going to try to post at least 4 times a week, from this point on. I need to start writing more, and think I can come up with enough topics on which to comment!

Dan's 2010 Reading Plans

I generally try to lay out a reading plan, if not in written form, then in my mind, as I enter a new year. Last year I knew I would be focusing on finding some new authors and reading a lot of fiction. For 2010, I have a couple of thoughts.

There are some series I want to re-read. Specifically, Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series (been years since I read any of those); Tony Hillerman's Navajo Tribal Police mysteries (I've never read them in chronological order); maybe The Dark Tower series by Stephen King (this one I read over a 10- or 11-year period as King saw fit to dribble them out.....). Then there is another Southwestern series of mysteries by David and Amy Thurlo that look good, in the spirit of Tony Hillerman. I may also re-read Asimov's Robot novels.

I also have about 5 Hugh Corbett mysteries left, and Paul Doherty has a couple of other mystery series with different characters that I will look at. Like the Hugh Corbett books, some of them I may have to locate used, as they are a bit obscure.

I also want to read some more classic history - Carthage, ancient Greece, etc. Maybe something on Hannibal, Alexander the Great. I have a pretty good feel for ancient Rome - the start of the Republic and the move into the Empire. I would like to read about the decline and fall of Rome as well. Then maybe move into the Middle Ages. Should be a good year, reading-wise!

Dan's 2009 Reading List

Time to close out the year, from a reading perspective..... I am still reading a book, but doubt I will complete it before midnight tomorrow night - Stephen King's latest, 'Under the Dome'. It's 1,071 pages, and as of now (12/30/2009, 4:00 pm) I am on page 240. This one seems headed towards a 'Stand'-like good vs evil sort of routine, a modern-day 'Lord of the Flies' in a small Maine town that somehow becomes trapped under a (you guessed it) 'Dome'..... But King always does a good job with characters, and I am all about the characters, so I can forgive a little bit of a formulaic plotline. But more about it when completed.

So, with no further ado, the 2009 list, with some commentary afterwards.....

1) Stephen Ambrose – Nothing Like It In The World – Jan

2) Constantine Pleshakov - The Tsars Last Armada – Jan

3) Douglas Preston, Mario Spezi – The Monster of Florence – Jan

4) Dennis Lehane – The Given Day – Jan

5) John Connolly – The Black Angel – Feb

6) Paul Doherty – Crown in Darkness – Feb

7) Paul Doherty – Spy in Chancery – Feb

8) Paul Doherty – The Angel of Death – Feb

9) Harry Turtledove – Opening Atlantis – Feb

10) Steve Berry – The Charlemagne Pursuit – Feb

11) Gerald R Ford – A Time to Heal: Autobiography – Feb

12) Steve Berry – The Amber Room – Mar

13) Paul Doherty – The Prince of Darkness – Mar

14) Dennis Lehane – Shutter Island – Mar

15) John Connolly – The Reapers - Mar

16) Steven Saylor – Roman Blood – Mar

17) Steve Saylor – The House of the Vestals – Mar

19) John Connolly – The Unquiet – Mar

20) Patrick O’Brian – Master and Commander – Mar

21) Diana Preston – The Boxer Rebellion – Mar

22) Steven Saylor – The Arms of Nemesis – Mar

23) Arthur C Clarke – The Last Theorem – Apr

24) William Dietrich – The Dakota Cipher – Apr

25) John Le Carre – A Most Wanted Man – Apr

26) Nick Drake – Nefertiti: The Book of the Dead – Apr

27) PC Doherty – Murder Wears a Cowl - Apr

28) Greg Iles – Spandau Phoenix – Apr

29) Dennis LeHane – Gone, Baby, Gone – May

30) Steven Saylor - Catalina’s Riddle – May

31) Robert Harris - Imperium – May

32) William Diehl – Primal Fear – May

33) David L Robbins – Last Citadel – May

34) Matthew Pearl – The Last Dickens – May

35) Stephen King – Just After Sunset – May

36) Robert Harris – Pompeii – May

37) David L Robbins – War of the Rats – May

38) Robert Masello – Blood and Ice – Jun

39) David L Robbins – The End of War – Jun

40) Steven Saylor – The Venus Throw – Jun

41) Various – The Tainted Relic – The Medieval Murderers – Jun

42) Craig Dirgo – The Einstein Papers - Jun

43) Steven Saylor – Murder on the Appian Way – Jun

44) Bernard Cornwell – Agincourt – Jul

45) Robert Masello – Bestiary – Jul

46) Steven Saylor – Rubicon – Jul

47) Steven Saylor – Last Seen in Massilia – Jul

48) Preston/Child – Cemetary Dance – Jul

49) John Lawton – Blackout – Jul

50) Steven Saylor – A Mist of Prophecies – Jul

51) John Lawton – Old Flames – Jul

52) John Gardner – The Garden of Weapons – Aug

53) Steven Saylor – The Judgement of Caesar – Aug

54) Steven Saylor – The Triumph of Caesar – Aug

55) John Lawton – A Little White Death – Aug

56) Bruce Weber – As They See ‘Em – Aug

57) John Connolly – The Lovers – Aug

58) Anthony Everitt – Cicero – Aug

59) Philip Freeman - Julius Caesar – Sept

60) Daniel Silva – The Defector – Sept

61) Harry Ferguson – Operation Kronstadt – Sept

62) Brent Ghelfi – Volk’s Game – Sept

63) Charles Todd – A Test of Wills – Sept

64) Charles Todd – Wings of Fire – Sept

65) PC Doherty – Assassin in the Greenwood – Sept

66) Brent Ghelfi – Volk’s Shadow – Sept

67) Charles Todd – Search the Dark – Sept

68) Tim Sebastian – The Spy in Question – Oct

69) PC Doherty – The Song of the Dark Angel – Oct

70) John Lawton – Bluffing Mr Churchill – Oct

71) Charles Todd – Legacy of the Dead – Oct

72) Brent Ghelfi – The Venona Cable – Oct

73) Charles Todd – The Watchers of Time – Nov

74) PC Doherty – The Devil’s Hunt – Nov

75) Jeff Shaara – No Less Than Victory – Nov

76) John Lawton – Flesh Wounds – Nov

77) Brian D’Amato – In The Courts of the Sun – Nov

78) Paul Doherty – The Demon Archer – Dec

79) John Lawton – Second Violin – Dec

80) Charles Todd – Fearsome Doubt – Dec

81) Steven Saylor – Roma – Dec

82) Ron Darling – The Complete Game – Dec

83) Anthony Everitt – Hadrian and the Triumph of Rome - Dec

Non-fiction book titles are in bold.

The total of 83 way surpasses previous years since I have been keeping track (I started seriously in 2003). The previous high was in 2005, with 51. This is probably due to a couple of factors -

1) Most of my reading (88%) was fiction in 2009. Since much of my non-fiction
reading tends to be history, which can be quite ponderous tomes, the fiction
tends to move along much more quickly for me.

2) I discovered several new authors this year - Steven Saylor (the Gordianius the
Finder mysteries of ancient Rome); Paul (PC) Doherty (several mystery series
including the Amerotke ancient Egypt mysteries and the Hugh Corbett
mysteries set primarily in England of the early 14th century - I started the latter
series in December 2008); John Lawton (the Frederick Troy mysteries set in
the mid-20th century) and Charles Todd, whose Inspector Ian Rutledge series
is set in post-WWI England. Good mysteries all, and very difficult to put down
once started..... Unfortunately, I've finished the Gordianus series and am
anxiously awaiting a new one!

You'll notice that I only read one Presidential bio in 2009 - Gerald Ford', in February. It was actually his autobiography - the first one I have read in my 'Presidential (and Others) Series'. I could not find a very satisfactory biography of him yet. And I am taking a sabbatical from this series, as Carter is still alive, and I don't believe that there is sufficient historical perspective available yet on any of the Presidents from Carter onwards. This series will probably never be completed, for that same reason.....

As far as the mysteries are concerned, all of them take place in historically interesting points in time - ancient Egypt, the end of the Roman Republic, post-WWI England, World War II, etc. They all blend some range of historical fact or an actual mystery and historical characters with fictional characters and activities - a great combination for a histry and mystery buff! I would especially highly recommend the Gordianus series to anyone interested in ancient Rome. Saylor's books are all built around interesting relationships between actual historical characters such as Cicero, Pompey the Great and Julius Caesar and various fictional characters. Paul Doherty's Hugh Corbett series does the same, with the added twist of using actual historical mysteries that are solved by his main character, the Chief Clerk to King Edward I of England. Again, cool historical intersections abound.

Well, that's about it for 2009, time to close out the list. I have some thoughts on what I want to do for 2010 that I will post separately.

Random Thoughts

Some random thoughts on the first day of school....

1) What is that smell in Piscataway?? Oh, the Rutgers football team and the stinker of a game they put forward yesterday afternoon. It's not RU but P-U!

2) When did we get so polarized in this country? I mean, the President wants to speak to school kids to encourage them to do well in school, and the wack jobs on the right have people convinced that he is going to give them some pro-abortion, socialistic, Obama cult message! I mean this morning, I saw a woman on TV actually say that she's concerned that he will push his political agenda on her elementary school-aged children! She must be concerned that they will try to redistribute the lunch money and snacks from the rich to the poor kids. Ridiculous.

3) An adjunct thought to the above - it's not just whack-jobs on the right but whack-jobs on the left as well, crowing about how they were going to get so much done with a Democratic Congress and Democratic President. So far, what has gotten done? Bupkis, basically. The Democrats can't even keep their own members together, so forget about getting bipartisan support on anything. And with the Republicans not offering anything but 'No', it's not surprising, I guess, that we have become so polarized.

4) The latest controversy at South Brunswick High School is about the wearing of student id's on a lanyard. Al students will be required to wear their id on a school-provided lanyard. So far, with the couple of HSers I've talked to, it's going over like a lead balloon on a lanyard. The rationale is security, 'because people in real jobs have to wear their id's' and so that students get to know each other.... Should be interesting.

Dan

Contact Lenses

I was thinking about contact lenses today, since tomorrow I change this pair out for a new pair. I recently became able to wear 30-day disposable lenses, after years of having to special order lenses and wear them for a year, with monthly soaking in a special solution to ward off bacteria build-up...... These new lenses are pretty cool, although it does necessitate the wearing of inexpensive magnifying glasses when I read or do computer work. No biggie, however. It seems that my prescription has actually decreased a bit as I have gotten older.

It's been exactly 33 years since I started wearing lenses, getting my first pair in the summer of 1976, right after I graduated high school. I never wore the hard lenses, unlike my sister. Soft lenses were just out, and much easier to wear than hard lenses. I remember the first day I had the lenses, I went out and bought a pair of cool aviator style, reflective sunglasses! Those are still much the favorite pair I ever had, although they are long gone.

The lenses back in those days had to be 'boiled' every night. I received a round heater that had a lid with a basket on the top. I had to fill the heater with a certain amount of distilled water, then plug it in. It would boil the water, and the steam would cleanse the lenses (even though they were inside a case - I guess it really just heated up the saline solution inside the lens case to the point where it almost boiled. The downside was that this really had to be done overnight! I can recall forgetting to do it overnight, boiling them in the morning then trying to cool the lenses off by running the case under cold water! Nothing like buring your eyeballs..... I went through a couple of different sorts of heaters, before the early '80's when they came out with the various types of disinfecting solutions that required no heating. Pretty amazing now to look back on those days, when we thought the process was so high-tech!

I also became a sunglasses maven. I've always had several pairs of sunglasses since then, including some very nice - and expensive - Ray-Bans. I still have aviators and Wayfarers that I bought for quite a bit of money in the '80's. Classic styles. Nowadays I tend towards cheapo sunglasses, although I don't really misplace or break them. I currently have 4 pair, including a pair that I liberated from AJ.

Some Random Thoughts

I haven't posted in a while - been doing a lot of 'other' writing - my journal, facebook, Twitter, etc..... But a few things have been floating around in my brain....

If you love historical novels and mysteries, why not combine them? I have been reading several series that are really good - Steven Saylor's 'Roma Sub Rosa' series takes place in ancient Rome, at the end of the Republican era (70 - 30 BC) and feature a character named Gordianus the Finder, who resolves various mysteries involving historical characters such as Pompey, Cicero, Julius Caesar, etc. PC (Paul) Doherty has several series; two which I have anjoyed so far are his ancient Egypt mysteries (they take place in the 1350 BC era) featuring Amerotke the judge, and his medieval series with Hugh Corbett that takes place around 1300 AD. They are all valid mystery stories, with historical characters tightly woven in, and are based on real events that have been fleshed out by the authors. Excellent reading.

I thought this was a great quote by Philip Cioffari - "All writing is a combination of personal details, and things you hear from other people and things you make up." Even though grammatically-challenged, I feel like it sums up fiction writing very well.
Even some news reporting.

I don't know how the Obama Administration expects the carmakers to meet the 35.5 fleet mpg goal by 2016, given their precarious situation, the fact that gas prices have moved off their peak highs from last year and the market-driven products. So in a sense, what this legislatin will do is force the automakers to eliminate vehicles that consumers want to buy, because they will not be able to afford to have them pulling down their mileage averages. Good-bye large SUV's, crossovers, minivans, etc. Another example of the creeping-socialism era that we have entered. And strangely enough, the automakers seem to be okay with this idea. maybe it's because they feel that they have no choice, given how some of them (GM, Chrysler) are being kept afloat by the government.

Why does my dog insist on going through the wastebaskets and eating the snotty toilet paper and tissues? It is getting to the point where I need to either empty the wastebaskets daily or make sure that all of the bathroom doors are closed all the time! I even tried the old 'put the empty wastebasket over her head and bang on it' routine, now she just runs away whenever she sees me coming with one..... Grrrr.