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Sick Week

I spent much of this last week getting over a cold.

It wasn't a bad cold. I was never quite sick enough not to go into work (I haven't yet trained myself to stay home when I'm sick just to keep other people from catching my cold), but I was still sick. I had a sore throat Monday, nasal drip Tuesday, full sinus congestion Wednesday, sneezing on Thursday, and coughing most of the time. And every day I'd start feeling tired by about 3 pm. So I left early most days, and skipped Ultimate on Tuesday.

By Friday I felt much better, but I'm still a little bit congested. Based on past history, I'll probably continue to be a little bit congested for a week or so.

Along the way, Debbi introduced me to the wonders of Nyquil. It sure did a good job of knocking me out and keeping me comfortable enough to get a solid night's sleep. You gotta love drugs if you're sick.

Yesterday Debbi, Lisa, Michel and I went up to the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield. Yes, we bought lots of jelly beans. It also turned out to be a rare production day for a Saturday, so we did a tour of the plant and got to see things in operation. The procedure is actually pretty cool, seeing how the beans are made in layers, and how the mass production is handled. I was actually rather surprised that it's not more automated than it is; humans are still involved at most stages of production. It's worth taking the tour, if you ever go.

Today Debbi and I went to buy me a futon. I've wanted to get a futon that converts into a chair to keep in my study as a spare bed, and place to sit while waiting for my computer to do something (like finish a scan). Or maybe just sit and enjoy the fresh air and nice view I have from my front room. One of the many places we visited had a neat model which could also be extended as a footrest, so I decided to buy that. With any luck, it will arrive by the end of the week, which would be great since my old friend Matt is coming to visit me starting next Saturday!

This weekend I read Jeffrey Ford's The Physiognomy for the Kepler's book discussion group. It's a weird book, science fantasy really, being structurally about the redemption of a rather despicable character, but being interesting mainly for its peculiar backdrop: The science of the title which measures the character of a man through his physical features. The "Well-Built City", based on the patterns of the mind of the man who designed it. The quest for a human paradise, and the characteristics of the strange fruit purported to be from there. The island of the sulphur mines, run by two brothers and an intelligent monkey. It's really quite inventive.

Unfortunately, despite Ford being a lively writer with a sardonic sense of humor, the story felt kind of empty to me. The protagonist, Physiognomist Cley, seemed like a cipher, his motivations for his reprehensible actions early on being unclear. This made his redemption less satisfying. Many elements of the story seem to lack a concrete purpose and certain events seem to occur for no reason. It reminded me a lot of Sean Stewart's Resurrection Man in its clever design by unsatisfying nature.

I suspect it was meant to be an allegory, though of what I'm not entirely sure. (I'm not very good at reading allegories.) It seems partly to be a topsy-turvy Garden of Eden parable. It's also obviously something of a heavy-handed commentary on how we judge other people by their surface characteristics, but I don't think it's successful on that front. Its message seems muddled, at best.

Anyway, it was an interesting read. I'm almost curious to read its sequel, but probably I'll be too busy with my reading list as it stands for the time being.

Debbi and I are several weeks behind on watching the TV series 24, but we're slowly making our way through it, and having a good time. Man, is it suspenseful, with the tension being turned up every hour. Almost nothing goes as planned for anyone, good guys or bad. We're up to 7 am so far, and it's not too hard to see how it will stretch out to 24 episodes. There's a lot of meat here.

I'm pleased that I guessed who the traitor in Counter-intelligence boss Jack Bauer's team was many episodes ago, though I was truly guessing. It became more clear in the more recent episodes, mainly because everyone else had basically been eliminated. The individual episodes are quite cleverly structured, usually occurring in a handful of locations, which then shift over following episodes. And individual scenes often have some great tricks in them; the inventiveness of the writers to script essential scenes seems endless. They do fall down from time to time in some particulars (it's hard to believe two people would be allowed to hang out immediately outside an emergency operation room, even if one of them is her father), but overall it's very well-crafted.

If you're not watching this series, and enjoy a good suspense drama, I suggest you find someone with tapes of it and catch up. It's worth it.

And if you can't accomplish that at this late date, well, I'm sure a year from now someone will run the 24 24-hour marathon. You won't even have to keep your eye on the clock: The series will tell you what time it is every 5 minutes or so.