#22

by Perry Wynn

I read this book last March. The publisher asked me to read the manuscript and write a review/quote that was published on the back cover in part and on the flyleaf in whole:

Perry Wynn offers a chilling near-future speculative fiction examination of an America so divided over homosexuality that the only solution is the creation of a reservation for homosexuals to separate them from everyone else. Domestic terrorists and neo-conservative fundamentalists set the course, leaving the rest of the country floundering in their wake. The “bad guys” come across as one-dimensional, but Wynn is able to develop some of the “good guys” into multi-dimensional characters. In the end, the story is less about homosexuality and political intrigue, and more about the ripple of decisions based on love and hate.

weeding dreams

When you can’t get far enough away from work…

I had a vivid dream last night about weeding deselecting in the QA section of books in the library. I must have been thinking too much about what I need to get done this week when I fell asleep last night. I need to evaluate and pull books to be withdrawn from the Mathematics section of the collection, as well as deselect volumes from the periodical storage area. We need the shelf space.

using my PDA

I have found a use for my Toshiba e355 beyond games of Solitare and a portable digital calendar.

Despite having my Toshiba e355 for over five months, I haven’t found many uses for it beyond the portable digital calendar that syncs with my desktop calendar. I have occasionally used AvantGo to download driving directions, and I’ve played many rounds of Solitaire, but neither of these things was enhanced by the electronic experience.

Recently, I began playing with my new Magellan SporTrack GPSr (thanks Anna!). It didn’t take long for me to become a geocaching addict. Now I’m spending the precious minutes after work on sunny days hunting around the area for hidden treasures. When I first started geocaching, I printed out the cache information on the backs of scrap paper. Then I read about different ways to go paperless. I was excited! Finally, I had found a use for my Toshiba that actually enhanced my experience. I downloaded GPXSonar to my Toshiba, grabbed some gpx files of local geocaches, and off I went.

Last Saturday, I started my day of cache hunting by picking one from the list I had downloaded and going from there. Everything I needed to find the cache was right there in my Toshiba — no wasting paper printing out a stack of cache details. I found three out of the four I went looking for and returned home satisfied with my hunt. I was able to use the program to make field notes right when I found the cache, which came in handy later when I went online to log my finds.

I still haven’t found many library-related uses for my PDA, but I suspect that they will emerge with time. Probably, I will get more use out of my Toshiba when I get a Bluetooth card and/or additional memory storage.

css.php