It was the first book I read on my new Nook Simple Touch. I love my Sony, but the contrast on the Nook was a lot easier on my eyes.

Purity of Blood

Captain Alatriste and his young ward Íñigo are back with more intrigue from Madrid in the early 17th century. Honor-bound to help an old friend, the captain narrowly escapes a trap, but Inigo is caught up by the captain's enemies who are working with the Inquisition. The story is told by 13-year old Íñigo, who adds glimpses into his future and the captain's, including his crush Angélica, the daughter of Alatriste's sworn enemy:

Up Calle de Toledo came a very familiar black coach, one with no escutcheon on the door and a stern coachman driving the two mules. Slowly, as if in a dream, I set aside paper, pen, ink, and drying sand, and stood rooted as if the carriage were an apparition that any wrong movement on my part might dispel. As the coach pulled up to where I stood, I saw the little window, which was open, with the curtains unfastened. First I saw a perfect white hand, and then the blond curls and the sky-blue eyes that Diego Velázquez later painted: the girl who had led me to within a breath of the gallows. And as the carriage rolled past the Tavern of the Turk, Angélica de Alquézar looked straight at me, in a way—I swear by all that is holy—that sent a chill from the tip of my spine to my bewitched and furiously pounding heart. On an impulse, without considering what I was doing, I placed my hand on my chest, honestly and truly lamenting that I was not wearing the gold chain with the amulet that she had given me to ensure a sentence of death, and which, had the Holy Office not taken it from me, I swear by Christ’s blood I would have continued to wear around my neck with besotted pride.

Angélica understood the gesture. Her smile, that diabolic expression I so adored, lighted her lips. And then with a fingertip, she brushed them in something very like a kiss. And Calle de Toledo, and Madrid—the entire sphere—vibrated with a delicious harmony that made me feel jubilantly alive.

I stood watching, still as stone, long after the carriage disappeared up the street. Then, choosing a new quill, I smoothed the point against my doublet and finished putting down don Francisco’s sonnet.

Soul, in which a godhead was enclosed,

Veins, through which a humor’s fire arose,

Marrow, the seat of earthly passion’s reign,

Will fly the body, but quiddity retain;

Though ash, they will have sensibility,

Be dust enamored through eternity.

The world's his oyster, with an R in every month...

In Robert Osborne's intro, he mentioned that Grant never won a competitive Oscar, which seems scandalous.

Mike and I chatted during my time there, and I think his final design will work quite nicely.

I left around 3:15pm, and listened to the first half of the Super Bowl on my XM radio on the ride back.  Since I was so late I had to skip my traditional visit to my brother-in-law Rob's place, but when I got home I made some Trader Joe's mini-tacos for me and Justin.  I was leaning towards the Patriots, but it was a pretty good game all the same.

I saw Dr. Andrew (Liao) this afternoon, and he agreed that after my multiple-courses of antibiotics, steroids, inhalers, and serious cough medicine, I should be better after this much time.  He referred me to a pulmonologist, and I made an appointment for next Thursday - their first available date.

We arranged for me to ride it down on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, but I was really feeling poorly that day, and did not think it would be best to ride.  We came up with an alternate plan - Justin rode it down to Hal, followed by Carole in her car, and they drove back together.

In mid-December I came down with pneumonia, so I told Hal there was no big hurry on my end - he could take more time if he wanted.  Which turned out to be good - he found a few problems that took time to resolve, including a leaking rear shock that needed to be sent home to GP Suspensions in Portland, OR for a rebuild.

I finally got well enough to ride, and Hal finished his work, and it happily matched up with a separate need for me to drive down his way.  Carole was rear-ended in her 'Vette at a stop sign by the house.  There didn't appear to be any damage, but with a classic vehicle you don't take it to just anybody, so she arranged for a visit with West Coast Corvette's in Orange County - which is literally 2 miles from Hal's house.  We drove down in separate cars this morning, dropped of the 'Vette for an inspection and a few days of maintenance work.  We then drove together in my car down to Hal's, and then I followed Carole back home on my bike.  (Carole wanted to make sure I was really healthy enough to ride.)

It was great to be back on the bike, which is running quite nicely.  The right front brake caliper had been leaking, but the fade was so gradual that I didn't really notice it - but when Justin rode it down to Hal he mentioned how mushy the front brakes felt to him.  Hal did his thing, and now everything is in good shape.

I hope to start riding to work very soon - we're packing the miles onto the Edge at an alarming rate, and it needs some driveway time to get back on pace to meet the lease's mileage limits.  Plus, the weather is nice, and I have a BBG scheduled for mid-May that I need to train for.

Thanks, Hal!

Royal Blood

This may be my favorite of the bunch so far. The Romanian vampire/werewolf angle was done tongue-in-cheek for the most part, and we all hope that Darcy will do right by Georgie one of these days - and I don't mean marrying her...

My rating:

Over the last couple of days, I've been fighting some back-ups in the plumbing system at my house.  It's almost certain that I caused the problem myself - I put some leftover mashed potatoes, cooked carrots, and cooked green beans down the garbage disposal.  Right afterward while I was hand-washing some dishes (with the water running), Carole came in to report that the bathtub drain was backing up - which is never a good sign.

I grabbed my trusty 25 foot 1/4" hand snake, and started working it down the main clean-out.  I spooled out all 25 feet, but the water was still sitting there, so I got in the car to drive to Home Depot to buy a 40' snake.  (In my mind, if 40' doesn't do it, you need to call a plumber...)

On the way, Carole called to tell me that the drain was flowing, so I turned around and came home.  When I got there, the kitchen and bathtub drains were flowing well, but the front bathroom sink was totally stopped up.

My regular snake doesn't fit into the bathroom sink drain, so the next day Carole looked for one of those 3 foot Turbo Snakes at Target, with no luck.  Yesterday, I stopped at OSH and got a Turbo Snake and an 8' 1/4" auger snake, which has an end piece that fits into the bathroom sink drain.

The Turbo Snake did nothing - it's good for minor hair clogs, but not for anything serious.  I fed the 8' auger snake all the way in, and the water began draining, but very, very slowly.  I headed back to OSH and got a new 25' 1/4" snake - the kind with the orange plastic case that holds the snake.  When I got home, I cut down the head so it was small enough to fit into the bathroom sink drain.

All 25' went in, and the drain went from very, very slowly to just very slowly.  I talked it over with Carole, and we decided to let it drain until there was no standing water in the sink, and then use Liquid Plumr.  When I poured it in, the sink had stopped draining completely, so the chemicals just sat there in the sink.

Just before she went to bed for the night, Carole filled up the sink with hot water to the level of the vent, to dilute the chemicals.  This morning, we found that the sink had drained a little - it was about 2" below the level of the vent.

With nothing to lose but a little bit of time and effort, we decided to re-snake the drain. If it didn't work - and I didn't really expect it to - we would call a plumber out on Monday to fix it, expecting to pay upwards of $300 for the service.

I got about 10' in when I got that very satisfying sound of standing water rushing down the drain.  I kept going for another 3'-4' just to be sure, and then left the snake in place while I ran the hot water on full for about 10 minutes - both to make sure the drain was really open, and to help wash down any left-over debris.  I pulled the snake out, and kept the water running for another 5 minutes or so, with no backup.  Yay!

Snaking a drain is a messy business, so I had to clean the sink, the counter top, and the faucet really well.  I reinstalled the drain stopper, and it's now all back to normal.

All this before noon - it has already been a productive day - and now there's no need to further complicate an already difficult Monday by calling a plumber, waiting for him to arrive, hovering around while he works, and writing a big check.

Now that's satisfaction.