Saturday
- I returned that missing tape from Cold Oceans to the library, and also the unusable clamshell of tapes for Baseball Anecdotes. Then I tried to order a couple of books on tape from them, for my Dad.
I've
been very unlucky ordering online from LACL, so I thought to do it in
person. It was interesting - the different catalog the librarian pulled
up at his desk only had one of the tapes listed, rather than the two
the online catalog showed. And he admitted that the online process is
funky, that branches often don't get notified of requests. So I ordered
the one, and we'll see what happens. It looks as though the Ventura
County library system has the other, so I may just stop by and pick
that up.
These are the books in the Kydd series. The author has
a small blog at Amazon, but the books are not listed there in any
order. As best I can determine the series would look like this:
Kydd
Artemis
Seaflower
Mutiny
Quarterdeck
Tenacious
Command
The Admiral's Daughter
Privateer's Revenge
Sadly for Dad it doesn't look like #4 and #5 are in audio format. I'll look around a bit, Amazon isn't perfect about that stuff.
Update: Imperfect, indeed. The library at East Riding, UK,
has them in audio "talking book" format, so they exist. Unfortunately I
am not in the UK at present. I also see that www.amazon.ca (Canada) and
www.amazon.co.uk (United Kingdom) have lots of the audio format, both
cassette and CD. But shipping and (possibly) customs duties might apply.
Friday
- well, it did rain a bit, so I had to hunt for something to inspect -
the channel I had planned on working had about six inches of moving
water in it. Fortunately I found a high and dry channel and put in
about six hours, before heading off to Lancaster.
My
friend Roger had his usual incredible Halloween display. I say 'usual',
but really it becomes more impressive every year. There are four
coffins - with inhabitants, black lights, smoke machines, robot rats
and spiders, glowing skulls, spiderwebs and sound effects, and more.
He takes the week off from work to set it up, if that will help you imagine the scope.
Speaking of scopes, my used
Celestron wedgepod has arrived! I'll have to put it all together on
Saturday and see how it works. But it'll probably be raining, so no
observing.
Thursday 30 October
2008
Thursday
- I was almost arrested
today!
Well, not really. As I was pulling out of a flood channel a
local
Ventura County Sheriff stopped me. Seems that there had just been a
hit-and-run by someone in a green/blue Ford Explorer and he thought
that I might be the culprit, hiding in the access road. We talked, he
checked for evidence of recent damage, and my co-worker affirmed that I
had indeed been working for the last several hours non-stop in the
channel.
Not a bad day inspecting, a cloud layer thankfully came in and it was
mostly cool throughout the
day. It looks as though we might get some drizzle in the next few
hours. If it's too heavy I won't be out inspecting, and can head back
to Lancaster.
Halloween tomorrow.
My cat watcher called to say she had returned the tapes to the library,
but one of the cassette's was missing. I found it under my car seat, so
I don't have to buy it ;-)
Wednesday 29 October 2008
Wednesday
- cold in the morning, about 50F, but warming up during the day. Not as
bad as two weeks ago.
Well, the Rays forgot to show up for the series, and that cost them. So
it goes. Dad won 75 cents overall for this World Series. More calls
from the neighbors about loud music and loose women in the offing I
suppose..
.
Tuesday 28 October 2008
Tuesday
- Back at work. It's hot. Slow tedious work.
I still haven't finished another book. The tapes of baseball anecdotes
were bad - all you could hear was garbled noises, the occasional
"..awk...glub...blu...". There was the possibility that is was a
recording that used the different stereo tracks, but playing with the
balance didn't improve things. Well, it was copyrighted 1990, so it's
perhaps 18 years old, a long time for a cassette tape, particularly one
loaned out at a public library.
I switched the calendar over my Ventura desk to October today. Done
with that
chore for another...hey...
Monday 27 October 2008
Monday
- still not feeling good. Called in sick, which is only the first time
on this job, or perhaps the second. So it goes.
Felt better in the afternoon, and edged the lawn. Exhausted afterwards,
but that made it easier to watch the World Series.
Rained out in the middle of the sixth, but tied. In years prior to 2007
the top of the sixth, where the Rays scored the tie, would have been
wiped out and the game awarded to the Phillies. Heck of a way to win a
Series, it'd have been controversial for decades. This is better, a
continuation from where they stopped the game.
Looks like Pena and BJ were finally getting their act together, though
the Ray's were being robbed at the strike zone with called strikes -
even the FOX announcers finally noticed.
Sunday 26 October 2008
Sunday
- feeling a bit under the weather. Not a lot to say.
