Go White Sox

We had a long discussion, last night, about who to cheer for during the AL/NL playoffs. The final consensus was that as a household we would support the White Sox. The White Sox have had an even longer drought World Series wise; they haven't won since 1917. Knowing the giddy exultation experienced as Red Sox fan last year, I wish that for all White Sox fans.

Great cover art!

Tea Leaves

Every once in a while when I need a little spiritual guidance I have my tea leaves read at Willa's.

This week's reading went like this:

Reading No. 34

Isn't it amazing how much of ourselves we put into people, places, and situations, and then, when we remove ourselves, we find it was only ourselves there and not the others. ~ Pearl A. Burrows

Even though we are always the center of our own universe, we sometimes need to be reminded that we are not the center of everyone else's.

You can't expect the rest of the world to walk to your rhythm.

Walk to your own rhythm.

The Sun

Well, I know where all the fall color is - surrounding Montreal. NASA's Earth Observatory sends out a weekly newsletter highlighting new investigations and imagery. The web site's purpose "is to provide a freely-accessible publication on the Internet where the public can obtain new satellite imagery and scientific information about our home planet. The focus is on Earth’s climate and environmental change". Breaking News on the site included this article on climate change:"SUN’S DIRECT ROLE IN GLOBAL WARMING MAY BE UNDERESTIMATED, DUKE PHYSICISTS REPORT."

I'm reading a new book by Arthur Clarke and Steven Baxter's book "Sunstorm".

"Set in the same universe as Clarke's 2001 and its sequels, Clarke and Baxter's second and final Time Odyssey book (after 2004's Time's Eye) will especially appeal to fans of hard SF who appreciate well-grounded science and humans with a can-do attitude to problem solving. In 2037, the same day the enigmatic alien Firstborn return Bisea Dutt, the heroine of Time's Eye, to her home in London, the city grinds to a halt as a sun storm sends a massive surge of energy to Earth, temporarily destroying the world's electronic infrastructure. This surge presages another, much larger sun storm, due to hit in 2042, which will utterly annihilate life across the globe. Against all odds, the nations of Earth come together to construct a huge space umbrella that will shield the planet from the worst of the barrage." (Publisher's Weekly)

It is a good story and interesting science (fiction and truth) for thought.

A site to check out the sun's daily activity is the Space Weather site. They have great galleries of aurora photographs and lots of other interesting Space info.

Meanwhile, we are waiting for the sun to show itself here. Last week was all fog, then the rains came (close to 7 inches for us over a couple days), and now just cloudy gray gloom with more rain predicted later this week.

Cheering for the Angels.....

As a true Red Sox fan I cheer for the Red Sox and anyone who can beat the Yankees. Ahhh, I'm cheering loudly for the Angels, the White Sox, the Cardinals and the Astros. I am so thrilled to see that the largest payroll in baseball history won't be going any further. Life is good!

Photolife Magazine

I found Photolife at Borders. It is a Canadian publication supported in part by the Canadian government. The articles and the pictures are amazing. Although I don’t think I will spring for back issues I may give myself a subscription for Christmas.

Clearing my head with Sudoku

Thank you - today is a holiday and I could sleep in. I didn’t hit the bed until 12:30 AM this morning after spending over 3 hours trying to clean up my son’s computer. He opened an AIM message from a friend, went to a link, and ended up with the “Freeprod” virus on his computer. I was finally able to remove it by using the “add/remove” function on the control panel. I’m still not sure if I have taken care of it. As much as I love computers this type of thing is a major annoyance.

To keep my head clear while I was working on the computer, I did a couple of Sudoku puzzles. I am “addicted” to the simplicity and logic and try to complete a couple a day. I first heard about them via a BBC online story. Apparently a great many of the UK commuting nation are also addicted. Although you can find puzzles on line I wanted something to play with while I waited out soccer and football games. So I went to Borders and was surprised when I realized I was “late” - there was a large display of Sudoku books. I picked a couple and found the best was “Master Sudoku” by Carol Vorderman. She starts off with a large group of easy puzzles and works her way through medium and difficult puzzles; giving tips and techniques along the way. It was great beginner book. However, I found that my ability to solve the difficult puzzles declined rapidly. I have left her book for a while and moved on to “Sudoku Easy Vol. 1” By Will Shortz. I can’t put the numbers into the puzzle fast enough as it all falls into place - elegant and immensely satisfying.

Power Outage

I was up at 3:00AM this morning reading and listening to the rain and wind. I am a voracious reader; continually checking out the selections at the Library, Borders and Amazon. Yesterday I picked up “Private Demon” by Lynn Viehl and had read a good deal of it last evening while on the stationary bike listening to the Yankee’s game (they lost to the Angels - Yes!!!). Waking up at 2:30 - 3:00 AM seems to have become a habit. I wake, go through the house turning off anything run by electricity and left on by my sons (who could sleep though WMD easily). Then I go back to bed and read for an hour or so. This morning I wanted to finish Lynn’s book. It is the second in the Darkyn series and was very good. I have followed Lynn ‘s books and web blogs over the past few years. Her female characters are kick-ass smart and call it as they see it. I like that!

I finished the book and turned out the light at 3:45 AM, hoping for another couple hours of sleep. Within a minute the power went out and the house was silent. I got up and called the power company. Then I tried to get back to sleep. My attempt was fitful; tossing and turning, listening to the rain on my windows for about three hours until the power came back on. Power outages leave me edgy . I can’t begin to imagine what it must be like to live through the devastation left by the recent hurricanes. Each day I take for granted the ability to do all those little chores: laundry, dishes, cooking, making coffee, writing blogs. So today I am reminded to be thankful for the small stuff.