Also, hoping to schedule an interview in the next few weeks for a special episode. Stay tooned!

The Jennifer Morgue by Charles Stross: I’m a fan of Charles Stross’ work. Ever since I read Accelerando, I’ve been picking up various books of his either from the library or the book store. The Jennifer Morgue is the sequel to The Atrocity Archives. Both books are about Agent Bob Howard, who works for the secret organization “The Laundry” which makes sure that us mortals stay fat, dumb, and happy while they make sure that the eldritch horrors out there (think HP Lovecraftian horror) don’t make humanity a tasty little snack. Bob Howard isn’t your typical James Bond cookie-cutter hero; Bob works in the IT department, so the character can be easily related to most of the folks reading this blog. :) The story itself is funny, interesting, and turns the typical spy-thriller tropes on their head. Highly recommended.

Storm Front (Book 1 of the Dresden Files) by Jim Butcher: I must be in an urban fantasy mood, because Storm Front‘s premise is that the things that go bump in the night are real. The twist on this tale is that the protagonist, Harry Dresdin, is a practicing wizard who also acts as a private detective investigating paranormal crimes. This is the first book in the series, and it paints a very interesting, if incomplete picture of Harry’s World. It has the right pacing horror and mystery that makes for a fascinating read. I initially found this series via learning that Evil Hat published their FATE-based RPG based off of this series. After reading the RPG, I started getting into the series itself, and can highly recommend Storm Front as a satisfying read.

The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett: The world of Discworld is a strange and funny place much like our own, except magic is real, and the world is a spinning disc on the backs of tour elephants riding on the back of a giant turtle. And if you can make it past that sentence, you might be a candidate to read this book. Terry Pratchett is the master of the disconnected vignette, so reading this book looking for a connected whole will drive you insane. Recommended for those who like their fantasy with a healthy dose of bad puns and outrageous visuals.

There’s a healthy market of books describing the basics of programming and programming languages. And there are plenty of books act as reference material once you’ve learned the basics. But, there’s now a growing market for books that purport to be the next step for those who have mastered the basics and are now ready to take their skills to the next level. One of these books is Expert Python Programming. Under the covers, this book promises to help the reader to be more productive with Python, both in setting up an efficient development environment environment, as well as packaging it all together and distributing it. There’s also a chapter on test-driven development. The back cover reads like a checklist of good programmer practices that few would argue weren’t laudable, even essential programming goals. Unfortunately, the execution in relaying this information is muddled, and the book reads more like a collection of blog posts rather than a contiguous, coherent work.

Expert Python Programming starts by covering installation of Python, iPython, and setuptools. It also covers selecting an editor. Seriously, if you’re opening a book called “Expert Python”, and the first thing you need to do is figure out how to edit Python code, you might as well just put this book down, because you’re not ready for it yet. Granted, there’s some nice tips about setting up vim so that it doesn’t do bad things with Python code, and I can understand that not everyone that picks up this book may be at a true level of expert (after all, not everyone who reads Seventeen magazine is necessarily seventeen years old yet), but the chapter sets a poor tone for the rest of the book.

The next two chapters for best practices below and above class level were some of the most confusing chapters in the book. I tried very hard to follow along with what was being demonstrated, but try as I might, I felt I needed to refer to other sources to even get close to what was being presented. These two chapters almost made me dismiss the rest of this book, but I persevered. I’m not sure if it was a fault of mine, or if the explanations themselves weren’t enough, but suffice to say, they were a low-point of the book for me.

That isn’t to say that Expert Python Programming doesn’t have it’s good points. The book has god advice within it’s pages, and the author knows his stuff. Unfortunately, the editing and overall direction of the book makes it not as apparent as it could be. I wanted very much to like this book, and I think that with a different editor at the helm, this could be an extraordinary book. This book would be good for those who have already made it past the intermediate / advanced curve of Python. Unfortunately, as presented, it takes a strong will to get the good bits out. Those who would be best served by the advice of this book (beginners, intermediate programmers) will find themselves wanting another resource.

Rating: 4/10

I no longer have the Macintosh machine that I used to download the books. Since I’m running Linux at home, I can no longer use the service. I would love to continue to be able to use the service, but the DRM restrictions make it impossible for me to give you money and get something in return. That’s unfortunate, but that’s my reality. So, staying on a mailing list that gives me no benefit outside of showing me products that I can’t use and deals that I can’t take advantage of. Until something changes (DRM removal, change of Operating System, change of my attitude towards DRM) we’re at an impasse.

Thanks for the book that I did buy while using the service.

Now, I’m sure that my little missive isn’t going to do too much good, but I think there is a need to let publishers know quite plainly that I’m not using their service because I can’t use their service anymore. It is physically impossible, given their restrictions, for me to use their service. I’m quite happy to give them money, and would love to read more books electronically, but because a situation changed in my life, (I no longer have the machine that made it possible to download their books) I no longer have a way to access their service.

Have you had a similar experience with eBooks or any other media?

His response? “I was just joking”.

“I’m not.”, and hung up.

So, on a more personal, and self-serving level, I’m searching for my next opportunity. If you know of someone looking for a Python / Perl developer who has spent the last few years working as a systems administrator, please let me know.

The dreamer has awakened.

That got me thinking about these little food labels that have come up recently on the sides of packages and on the doors of restaurants to warn people of the contents, and I’m not arguing their use for something that’s non-obvious. On the side of the vegetarian sausage, it has a note clearly stating that there’s soy, milk, eggs, and wheat in there. That’s good information that may not be obvious on first glance. This is the kind of thing that folks with those allergies would want to know. I get that.

However, like all good things, some manufacturers go to extremes. Seeing “This product may contain nuts” on the side of a package of peanuts helps nobody who isn’t already keenly aware that there might be some nut-like product inside of a package claiming to contain nuts. I’m pretty sure that if I opened up a can of nuts and received nuts instead of being hit by a spring-coiled snake, I wouldn’t be thanking the person who graciously warned me on the side of the can that there were nuts inside. I’d much rather they warned me there was a spring-coiled snake inside. “This product contains a lame joke that was played out in the late seventies”.

Of course, a perennial favorite is the comments on the facility in which the product is made. “This product manufactured in a facility that processes nuts”. Again, this is useful information for someone who may have a strong allergy to nuts, but may not be aware that the potato chip they are enjoying may have been run down a line that processes peanuts on alternate Tuesdays. I have no problem warning folks of something in the manufacturing process that they may not know already. But, I have to wonder how far they might take it someday:

“This product processed in a factory containing Joe. Joe likes to eat Planters Peanuts while processing our tasty potato chips. He also is a loud drunk and recites bad beat-poetry. Nobody knows why we keep Joe. In fact, if we fired Joe, we wouldn’t need this notice at all. Do you think we should keep Joe? Please call our customer hotline at 1-800-… .”

I wonder too if we get a little peek into the making of our food when we’ll hit the point where we’ll get too much information. Will we be seeing notices about the cleaning practices of the plant? The date the last inspector gave the plant a clean bill of health? Who the idiot was who diverted cow waste into the spinach? And what of those who want to know the faith make-up of the staff preparing their food?

“This product produced in a facility that is 50% Catholic, 30% Protestant, 10% Jewish, 5% Muslim, 4% Hindi, and 1 person who claims she is Wiccan this week.”

Good thing I don’t have a Catholic allergy.

I’d appreciate it if the store would give equal shelf time to the areas of science and technology as they do for the new-age hippie nonsense that seemingly has permeated the store. I understand that it’s fashionable (and possibly more profitable) to cater to the 2012, end-of-the-world folks who believe our planet is doomed to cease to exist because someone in the Bureau of Mayan calendars got lazy and figured some future Mayan might pick up the slack when the calendar ran out, but I’m sure that any reasonable books which counter such beliefs will not be found anywhere in your store. Perhaps the problem isn’t with your stores, and maybe it’s all within the publishers purvey, but it seems that between your store and the website that purportedly picks up the slack from the store, I can’t find anything that I’m looking to purchase. It seems the sections that I care about are shrinking, while the bargain book and woo-woo crackpot areas are growing by leaps and bounds. I’d love to give you more money. Really! Check my Border’s Rewards Card. I love buying books. Please give me the opportunity. Thank you.

Think I got my point across?

Amazon gets it right in that you don’t notice the DRM as much (and when they do, boy do people howl). The Adobe DRM that is in use on most eBook devices is, frankly, a pain in the ass. When publishers realize that most of their customers aren’t going to steal their content, (and those who are going to steal their content likely already have it), we’ll be able to have a serious, and intelligent conversation about eBooks. Until then, I guess we’ll have to suffer several tone-deaf iterations while folks sort out the details.

• Hospitals are amazing places with absolutely caring people manning the floors. When I was in emergency and having my surgery, I could feel genuine empathy from those making sure that I was comfortable, and prepared for what was to come.
• Emergency rooms are some of the most callous places on Earth, not because they don’t care, but because they have to be. Seeing people come in at their worst (in my case literally drawn to a blubbering mess after having wretched minutes before) makes folks have to keep their cool. I’m sure I wasn’t the worst for wear of any of the folks there, especially the hard-of-hearing gentleman next to me.
• I’m a privacy wonk as much as the next guy, but if having a centralized database of my up-to-date medical and insurance information available via a card or some piece of ID would mean I’d never have to fill out another damn essay on my medical history, I’d be the first in line. It really gets old after a while.
• I swear every time I went to the hospital and asked for something, I didn’t do it right, and had to go somewhere else to fill out my particulars so I could get whatever it was that I needed. What a huge pain in the ass.
• I can see why folks get addicted to painkillers. I’m not saying that I had pain that would have made me a junkie had I been less strong, but having some assurance that you could lead some semblance of a normal life if you only take this pill / inject this drug is extremely sexy.
• I can sleep in a hospital, but they definitely like to make sure you don’t get much rest.
• General Anesthesia is a platoon leader, and his goal is to conquer your ass.
• I have never seen more bizarre things come out of my body than during this episode.
• You can fake any kind of wellness if it means you can get out of the hospital sooner.
• Insurance companies do not like paying for prescriptions under any circumstances. It’s not about filling the pill vials that make pharmacists valuable, it’s navigating the 500 different pitfalls that will get an insurance company to make you pay full price.
• Every man gets a queasy look on their face when told about kidney stones,.
• I am fortunate to work for an amazing company, an amazing manager, and amazing co-workers who helped me get through this by picking up my slack, and letting me recuperate as much as I needed.
• I have amazing parents for putting up with the waiting room debacles from today.
• I have an awesome wife who was there for me at every step of the way, even when it was our wedding anniversary plans that were getting preempted by my predicament. I love you, sweetheart.
• I’ve blogged way too much about this whole ordeal.

The long of it was the hour long wait that happened before each phase of the journey, plus an additional fun jaunt through the hospital so I could deliver my precious cargo (f’er #1).

My parents were enlisted to help me get to where I needed to go today because JoDee was teaching during my appointment. The doctor asked me to go and get an X-ray prior to seeing him, so I was under the assumption that the script was faxed and ready to go before my arrival. Ha ha. A quick call to the doctor’s office, and then to the radiologist confirmed that the script was probably still on a pad of paper in the doctor’s office, and not in the hot little hands of those-who-could-irradiate-me. After a few phone calls, though, the hospital and the radiologist had the script, and I was on my merry way.

My parents showed up a little before 11am, and around 11:15am we were able to go to the radiologist’s waiting room. Minutes pass. A half hour passes. The waiting room begins to fill up, and folks are escorted out to their respective diagnostic equipment. More time passes. After around an hour, the front office realizes that they’ve lost my order, and let me know as much. After their realization, I got my X-ray, and was on my merry way.

We caught a quick lunch at The Country Inn, and then raced home so I could present the doctor with my prize (f’er #1). We then raced to the urologists’ office, and (after the requisite paperwork of “no, I don’t do drugs, nor do I have a telephone pole painfully hanging out of my ass” form filling), we sat down and proceeded to once again wait for something to happen. Time passes. Rather than the loose time-frame of “sometime before your visit”, I had an “appointment” for 1:45pm, so I figured that I’d be whisked away to stent-removing paradise, and be out of there at least before 2:30pm. Time passes. A half-hour goes by. Rather than taking my chances again with having my presence go unnoticed, I sauntered up and asked if I was still in the queue. Yes, there’s four doctors here, and my doctor is busy with other patients, please wait. Time passes. Finally, I managed to get in and see the doctor.

I won’t detail the procedure, suffice to say that I opted not to have the local anesthetic like a big boy. After all, 30 seconds of “feeling like you need to pee” is quite alright with me. About 10 seconds in, I wondered if that was wise after all, but before I knew it, the magic trick was over, and the stent was presented. I felt like a proud father.

The doctor didn’t, however, take my stone, and instead issued me a script to take it back to the hospital to have it examined. Yay. So, I was one again sitting across from someone telling them my particulars (which I assured her, hadn’t changed since I last sat across from someone telling them my particulars, assuring them that they hadn’t changed from the few weeks back when I sat across from someone telling them my particulars, assuring them that they hadn’t changed since …)

Fortunately, the metabolic technician, on observing that I had the sample in hand instead of inside some cavity yet to be explored, happily took the sample (marked “One Blasted Kidney Stone” in a 1 qt freezer bag) and sent me on my merry way.

There will still be more tests and such to see why I’m so fertile with kidney stones, but the feeling of being finally done with the ordeal that I had been through; the feeling that I could once again lead my life, and bring in groceries, and finally open up the bottle of wine that JoDee and I bought for our anniversary on May 17th, and the feeling that I didn’t have the possibility of something slipping in ureter-ville, sending me into a low-Earth pain orbit is a complete relief. I was able to lead a life with the stent in me, but it wasn’t “normal”. There was always a reminder that I was sick; that I could at any time have to down my weight in Darvocet, or have to rush to the hospital. The feeling now that I can be “normal” again is a relief.

I actually clicked my heels together in Meijer.

The end of the road to this kidney stone saga? Yeah, I’m ready for it.

The plan is to hopefully get rid of them prior to Thursday. If on Thursday they are still lodged, then I’ll be going in on Friday (6/4) to have them forcibly removed, along with the stent. Otherwise I’ll just be having the stent removed next Monday. (6/7).

More info as it becomes available. If you’d like to see the registry for the new arrivals, please check out the Amazon Wishlist on the sidebar.