Just this last Saturday I was able to get out and finish taking all of the cross-sectional measurements required to be able to crunch the data portions of my thesis. It's a little strange to feel that portion of the work lifted, like weight, off of my shoulders.. But at the same time, I can feel the weight of all the writing and effort that must necessarily go into my thesis in order to succeed this semester.
Listen folks; the effort for getting things done shouldn't wait until the last minute. You shouldn't put things off until you only have just enough time to get them done. Don't wait for someone to strike the gong; the starting pistol went off a while ago and you just pretended you didn't hear it. Get to work, get a little done every day on everything you can and just watch as your efforts compound into a body of work you can stand behind proudly.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Learn From My Fail: Gloves for Work & Survival
I'm sitting here typing this post with one hand for one reason; the last time I went outside to work with one of my larger knives I didn't put on my work gloves, and boy did I pay for that mistake! I was batoning some wood in the back yard when my knife slipped and rapped my knuckle, splitting it down to the bone and partially severing a tendon.
I own a pair of heavy duty work gloves that use a combination of leather and neoprene molding over the knuckle joints to protect the hands while maintaining manual dexterity. It's hard to say just how much protection my gloves would have afforded me in this instance, but I very much doubt that I would have sustained a more serious injury with them on.
Now, I have and will continue to have difficulty undertaking even mundane tasks until my hand has properly healed and full range of movement is restored to that finger. This may take months, and in the meantime my ability work and protect my household has become very limited. Unload a 1911 and try locking the slide back with one hand to see what I mean. If we were in a TEOTWAWKI situation when I sustained my injury, I can only imagine how this would be without proper treatment. I cannot state this enough; having a hand out of commission is a huge deal and should be avoided at all costs!
Folks; gloves are not expensive, but the function they serve is invaluable. Buy and wear good quality gloves when working with anything sharp!
I own a pair of heavy duty work gloves that use a combination of leather and neoprene molding over the knuckle joints to protect the hands while maintaining manual dexterity. It's hard to say just how much protection my gloves would have afforded me in this instance, but I very much doubt that I would have sustained a more serious injury with them on.
Now, I have and will continue to have difficulty undertaking even mundane tasks until my hand has properly healed and full range of movement is restored to that finger. This may take months, and in the meantime my ability work and protect my household has become very limited. Unload a 1911 and try locking the slide back with one hand to see what I mean. If we were in a TEOTWAWKI situation when I sustained my injury, I can only imagine how this would be without proper treatment. I cannot state this enough; having a hand out of commission is a huge deal and should be avoided at all costs!
Folks; gloves are not expensive, but the function they serve is invaluable. Buy and wear good quality gloves when working with anything sharp!
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Review; Survival Tactics
Survival Tactics is a short story written by Al Sevcik and Irving Novick, about the sole survivor of a mission to a planet that meets disaster. I won't spoil the plot itself, but suffice to say the title of this short story is a touch misleading. I knew this getting into the short story, having read the reviews for this work on Amazon before downloading it. Still, the title lends itself to thinking the short story is about the technical issues surrounding survival, not a short story revolving around one man's feeble attempts at strategy in order to survive. I suggest these authors think more seriously about their titles before publication, lest they run into similar issues in the future.
Like "The Mountain and the City", the writing style of this work is sophomoric. However, "Survival Tactics" runs into the opposite issue. The authors abuse metaphor near constantly with horrible results. These metaphors distract the reader with "Da Fuq?" moments, as the reader tries to figure out how these things made it to print. At no point should vines hanging from trees be described as being "like the tentacles of some monstrous tree-bound octopus". That's just bad writing.
As this is a short story, the main character's background and history is not well fleshed out. This is to be expected and isn't an issue per se, but the information given doesn't lend itself to making me like the character. The main character is a 30 year old man-child that struggles for survival on the aptly named "Waiamea". Why me? Ho hum.
At any rate, regardless of my personal take on the main character the story itself is fine and fast moving. I was pulled into the story despite how technically badly it was written, and I felt moderately satisfied by the, albeit abrupt, conclusion. I'd give this story about a 5.5 to a 6 on my scale. It's not.. terrible, but the technical issues and poor choice in character in my opinion forces me to say it's barely above the range of adequacy. The saving grace of this short-story is the tempo of the story and the writer's ability to draw the reader in. Without these two traits, the bad writing and poor title choice would have placed this story much lower on my scale.
Like "The Mountain and the City", the writing style of this work is sophomoric. However, "Survival Tactics" runs into the opposite issue. The authors abuse metaphor near constantly with horrible results. These metaphors distract the reader with "Da Fuq?" moments, as the reader tries to figure out how these things made it to print. At no point should vines hanging from trees be described as being "like the tentacles of some monstrous tree-bound octopus". That's just bad writing.
As this is a short story, the main character's background and history is not well fleshed out. This is to be expected and isn't an issue per se, but the information given doesn't lend itself to making me like the character. The main character is a 30 year old man-child that struggles for survival on the aptly named "Waiamea". Why me? Ho hum.
At any rate, regardless of my personal take on the main character the story itself is fine and fast moving. I was pulled into the story despite how technically badly it was written, and I felt moderately satisfied by the, albeit abrupt, conclusion. I'd give this story about a 5.5 to a 6 on my scale. It's not.. terrible, but the technical issues and poor choice in character in my opinion forces me to say it's barely above the range of adequacy. The saving grace of this short-story is the tempo of the story and the writer's ability to draw the reader in. Without these two traits, the bad writing and poor title choice would have placed this story much lower on my scale.
Review; The Mountain and the City
I was fairly busy last night. I also finished reading Brian Martinez' "The Mountain and the City", which is a kindle book available on Amazon. He apparently wanted to bolster his readership and offered this first 'book' (more like a chapter of a book) for free in order to entice them into following the series. I gave it a shot, and I'm not disappointed with that decision.
The writing style is somewhat sophomoric compared to that of more polished writers. That is not to detract from the author or the work, merely that this is a good framework for a story that, in my opinion, leaves room for improvement. If Mr. Martinez continues to write into the future then I expect that not only will his stories largely be of good caliber, but they will improve in quality over time. I'm looking forward to reading more of Mr. Martinez' works.
The book itself is a very quick read, taking somewhere around 10 minutes to finish. This is not a negative, just something for the reader to be aware of. The one negative assessment I will assign this book is that it is rather sparse in description. The story is told via a narrative perspective, and the lack of description about things observed and surroundings is a flaw in that perspective. If the author continues to use this style, I would suggest modifying the perspective so that the reader has access to the character's thoughts but allows for more description of the surroundings.
I'd give "The Mountain and the City" about a 6.5 or a 7 out of 10. It's a fairly good story that is adequately fleshed out, but requires more polish and description to become excellent. I will purchase the rest of the stories in the series; I'm as interested in seeing how the story develops as I am in seeing how Mr. Martinez' writing style develops.
The writing style is somewhat sophomoric compared to that of more polished writers. That is not to detract from the author or the work, merely that this is a good framework for a story that, in my opinion, leaves room for improvement. If Mr. Martinez continues to write into the future then I expect that not only will his stories largely be of good caliber, but they will improve in quality over time. I'm looking forward to reading more of Mr. Martinez' works.
The book itself is a very quick read, taking somewhere around 10 minutes to finish. This is not a negative, just something for the reader to be aware of. The one negative assessment I will assign this book is that it is rather sparse in description. The story is told via a narrative perspective, and the lack of description about things observed and surroundings is a flaw in that perspective. If the author continues to use this style, I would suggest modifying the perspective so that the reader has access to the character's thoughts but allows for more description of the surroundings.
I'd give "The Mountain and the City" about a 6.5 or a 7 out of 10. It's a fairly good story that is adequately fleshed out, but requires more polish and description to become excellent. I will purchase the rest of the stories in the series; I'm as interested in seeing how the story develops as I am in seeing how Mr. Martinez' writing style develops.
Review; Guns of the South
I finished reading Harry Turtledove's "Guns of the South" last night. It's not what I would call a short read, and it requires the reader to possess some knowledge of Civil War history in order for it to be truly understood. "GOTS" was still a brisk read and very enjoyable. It was remarkable to read these characterizations of historical figures and to see how Harry Turtledove thought they would react to the circumstances detailed in the plot.
Mr. Turtledove is excellent at weaving together plot threads from multiple vantage points, the braid being looser in the beginning and tightening to a firm rope by the end. The connections between all the major characters become apparent, and the story of each character within that narrative is resolved in manners pleasing to the reader. Mr. Turtledove also engages in the moral and ethical arguments central to the novel, a practice I hardily approve of. Mr. Turtledove's writing style is polished and lends itself to being read easily.
I would give "GOTS" a 9.5 out of a 10. It's an excellent book, and Turtledove keeps the plot moving along nicely without getting bogged down too much in extraneous details. He does do so occasionally, but I've never read a book that didn't. On my scale there will probably never be such a thing as perfection, but "GOTS" comes damned close.
Mr. Turtledove is excellent at weaving together plot threads from multiple vantage points, the braid being looser in the beginning and tightening to a firm rope by the end. The connections between all the major characters become apparent, and the story of each character within that narrative is resolved in manners pleasing to the reader. Mr. Turtledove also engages in the moral and ethical arguments central to the novel, a practice I hardily approve of. Mr. Turtledove's writing style is polished and lends itself to being read easily.
I would give "GOTS" a 9.5 out of a 10. It's an excellent book, and Turtledove keeps the plot moving along nicely without getting bogged down too much in extraneous details. He does do so occasionally, but I've never read a book that didn't. On my scale there will probably never be such a thing as perfection, but "GOTS" comes damned close.
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