Tilt-A-Whirl
Book Notes kitt decided around 17:38 on 20 November 2016 to publish this:
I have had this book in my to-read pile for-ev-var. And a day. I think it might have been one of the first books that Mom put on my list, actually.
The book is the first of a series of (currently) eight books about John Ceepak, a war veteran turned cop / detective in a small seaside town, and the murder of a local billionaire. I've had the book long enough that only the first two Ceepak books are listed in the book.
In this book, the local billionaire murder was witnessed by his thirteen year old daughter. The two of them were on the local amusement park Tilt-A-Whirl, hence the title, with the crazy, local, beach bum, stoned guy being the clear suspect.
Except this Ceepak guy has a code, and that's no lying and don't tolerate those who do lie. And so, as Ceepak works with Danny Boyle, the local just-out-of-school, part-time cop, he works through the clues and hints of the murder.
The book has enough twists to be interesting. The Ceepak Code means all of Ceepak's statements are the truth, but the truth has many viewpoints when you can't see all the details. I enjoyed the book. Unsure if I'm going to read the rest of the Ceepak books, but this one was cute.
Night School
Book Notes Posted by kitt at 17:39 on 18 November 2016
Reacha!
Okay, the latest in the Jack Reacher series, this one is a throw back to the mid-nineties, a filler story in the Reacher history. A great thing about this book is that we learn about Reacher, but we also learn about Neagley, which is also a great thing.
The basic plot of the book is that the various intelligence agencies hear about a $100,000,000 deal, want to know what it is, and, realistically, stop it as anything that big being done in secret is going to be bad news. Not knowing the item for sale makes tracking the deal difficult.
What I like about the book is that Reacher doesn't follow a straight path. He misses the bad guy left and right, walking right by, seeing and not seeing him. Of course, Reacher gets the girl. I know, shock.
What I didn't like about the book is this complete and utter bunk "science" that Child tries to pass off:
And best of all, the linear measurement between the bruises on the victim’s buttocks and on her elbows was self-evidently the precise distance between the sharp base of the assailant’s pelvic girdle and his kneecaps. Which after standard deductions for the joints in question gave the precise length of his femur. And the length of the femur was considered an infallible guide to a person’s height.
"And the length of the femur was considered an infallible guide to a person’s height." What a bunch of bullshit. I have a femur right here that you can't tell my height from. Hell, if you use that femur, I am 5' tall, and you'd be off by a lot.
Counter balancing this horrible "science" fiction was Child's commentary about patriotism:
“Do you love your country, Mr. Reacher?” “Major Reacher.” “Perhaps that answers my question.” “I prefer to think of it as healthy yet skeptical respect.” “Not very patriotic.” “Exactly patriotic. My country, right or wrong. Which means nothing, unless you admit your country is wrong sometimes. Loving a country that was right all the time would be common sense, not patriotism.”
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
The ending of the book was INCREDIBLY RELEVANT to the United States in a post 2016 election. The climax was, wow, yes. Reacher's choice. The right one. So relevant.
Again, recommend the Reacher series. Not all at once, but fun reads in pieces.
Morning Walk
Blog Instead of being asleep at 09:16 on 13 November 2016, kitt created this:I went for a morning walk this morning, as I do most mornings. Today's walk felt great, as my legs were sore from yesterday's run in the delicious, "I exercised beyond my normal bounds" sort of ache. I love that feeling of muscle soreness. I believe I'm odd in that delight.
During the walk, I noticed an odd noise I couldn't place coming through my earphones. I took them out and listened. After a few moments, I realized, I could hear screaming. In particular, I could hear an adult male screaming words, children crying "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" and an adult woman yelling incoherently.
I started walking towards the sounds, curious if I would be able to both figure out which house and understand the words being said. As I approached the sounds, the yelling and screaming stopped. I couldn't figure out which house the sounds were coming from, despite narrowing it down to four houses, two on the street I was on, and two on the next street over.
And then the yelling started back up again.
So, there's this idea that people can figure things out for themselves, that calling in an authority figure is the wrong thing to do. Yet, how do you know that the people who are unable to defend themselves have help? I stood on the street as the sounds grew louder, debating calling the cops, thinking they could resolve their issues this is a family matter, until I couldn't stand the anger coming forth, until I realized that no one in the house was going to ask for help, that the children's cries were hard to bear, and that, well, I wanted to help.
I called 9-1-1.
Domestic disturbance.
I didn't wait for the outcome. I saw the officer approach the house as I rounded the corner a block down, but I didn't alter my path or change my pace. I kept walking on my walk.
I don't know the outcome. I don't know if I made a difference. I don't know if I helped, or if I changed that man's anger to rage. I hope I helped. I don't know.
5k
Blog Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 15:42 on 12 November 2016I ran a 5k today.
While I've been walking 10k steps pretty much every day for the last I don't know how long, I haven't been doing any aerobic exercise to speak of. The occasional five sets of 200 jumprope jumps in a row, while intense, aren't really consistent enough to "count" as aerobic. Hard, yes. Aerobic, yes. Long enough timewise to matter? I'm unsure.
And the deconstructed burpees? Yeah, those are all slow paced.
So, inspired by Ben's 5k run this weekend, I went out today to run a 5k-ish. I don't have the exact distance marked out, but it appears to be 3.1 miles on the gmap pedometer site, if I start a few houses (read, "three") down. Which I did. After much fussing. Been so long since I went for a "long" run, do I Strava? Do I Zombies, Run, but without zombie chases? Do I go find my computer, see if I can figure out some music that I haven't sync'ed in years and try to put that on my phone? After hemming for about a minute, I turned on airplane mode, turned on the timer, shoved the phone into my bra and started running.
Even though I wasn't running for time, my expectation was 36 minutes. I managed 2km before the cramps hit me like a truck. Those cramps drive me nuts. They aren't menstrual cramps, but, man, they are in the same place. I had to walk a couple hundred meters before starting back up.
Still, even with the walking, managed a 31:05 5k.
Sooooooooooooo sloooooooooooooooooow.
Still.
First step back to ultimate shape, base fitness.
Well, don't do this.
Blog Yeah, kitt finished writing this at 12:19 on 12 November 2016For the record, don't use a ceramic knife on a glass pie plate to cut pie.
Just saying.
