In an earlier post, I talked about Copeland's Restaurant. My wife and I went there again today. She had a favorite of hers - Eggplant Pirogue. I had the Filet Benedict from their brunch menu. As usual, everything was excellent; food and service were beyond reproach.
The main website still doesn't have a menu online, but you can look at a menu here.
Sunday, November 28, 2004
Saturday, November 20, 2004
Steak
My wife and I went out to dinner last night. Our meal was OK, but my steak was not prepared properly. This happens to me all the time. I like my steak medium ... not rare ... not well-done ... MEDIUM! Is it so hard to get this right? More than half the time, I get a steak which is either blood red or cooked to a crisp. ARGH!!
OK, I feel better now. Just needed to vent.
OK, I feel better now. Just needed to vent.
Monday, November 15, 2004
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Not bad for an amateur
Just going to toot my own horn here for a minute...
My predictions for the presidential election were pretty good for an amateur, not perfect but way WAY better than any of the pundits and "experts."
The final tally looks to be 286-252 Bush.
My errors were
My predictions for the presidential election were pretty good for an amateur, not perfect but way WAY better than any of the pundits and "experts."
The final tally looks to be 286-252 Bush.
My errors were
- Colorado did not pass the resolution splitting their electoral votes, so the state went to Bush 9-0 (where I had predicted 6-3).
- Iowa (7 electoral votes) went to Bush (I had figured Iowa to be one of the closest races, but I thought Kerry would hang on to it).
Some of the states that were called incorrectly on some of the more popular sites.
- Florida - ElectoralVote
- Hawaii - ElectoralVote, Tripias, DalyThoughts, RealClearPolitics
- Michigan - Wall Street Journal
- Minnesota - Wall Street Journal, Tripias
- New Mexico - ElectoralVote, Tripias, ElectionProjection
- Ohio - PresidentElect, Wall Street Journal
- Wisconsin - PresidentElect
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Dune: House Corrino
I finished reading Dune: House Corrino by Brian Herbert & Kevin Anderson. Let me start by saying it’s better than the first two. Let me continue by saying that when I got to the end of this third book, I was thinking the story could have been told (and told better) in just one book by discarding all the fluffy nonsense and keeping just the meat of the story.
Bad writing. It’s still there, and it hasn’t gotten any better. Just one example of the completely ridiculous phrases is on page 552, “hold on to the gossamer strands of her sanity.” On its own, that phrase is already ludicrous; what makes it even more so is the fact that the authors had already overused (and misused) the word “gossamer” a dozen times.
Unbelievable actions. Literally millions of innocent civilians are murdered without justification, and without repercussions. A universe where governments behaved this way would not survive the reign of one emperor, let alone 10,000 years.
Hectic ending. The last 150 pages are unnecessarily hectic as the authors try to wrap up the many threads initiated by the unbelievable actions previously mentioned. House Moritani, House Harkonnen, House Atreides and Emperor Corrino are all undertaking major military operations. Furthermore, Jessica is in labor, and Project Amal reaches its climax. As if all of this weren’t enough, the authors throw in an additional plot line involving the twisted Mentat Peter DeVries. The motivation for his actions in particular has gone beyond the realm of the unlikely into the realm of mind-boggling-ly (is that a word?) stupid. Usually, when authors have a character do something absurdly un-character-y it’s because of a specific need to move the plot forward, but this particular plot already had WAY too much going on as it was. This additional thread was nothing more than a distraction.
Inattention to detail. I have previously mentioned that the authors sometimes appear not to have read the original Dune Chronicles series. Well, now I wonder if they’ve read their own work. On page 49, they write “A few years ago, distracted by a document he’d been studying, Leto had accidentally crushed the insect.” But that’s not actually what happened in House Harkonnen; what actually happened is that Leto was distracted FROM the document BY a guard and the document fell on the insect.
Freedom. Why do “the good guys” keep using the word “free”? Leto and Rhombur might be good enlightened leaders, but that doesn’t make them any less than complete autocrats or make their peoples any more free than they would be under the Tleilaxu or Harkonnens or Corrinos. This could have provided a fruitful line of discussion had the authors been trying to paint their characters as unaware of their own failings in this regard, but Herbert & Anderson don’t seem to have given this a second thought (despite their excessive use of the word “free”) and never manage to move beyond their naïve notion of good versus evil to explore this idea.
Overall, I would rate it slightly higher than the first two books in the series, somewhere between 3 and 4 stars. Still no masterpiece.
Bad writing. It’s still there, and it hasn’t gotten any better. Just one example of the completely ridiculous phrases is on page 552, “hold on to the gossamer strands of her sanity.” On its own, that phrase is already ludicrous; what makes it even more so is the fact that the authors had already overused (and misused) the word “gossamer” a dozen times.
Unbelievable actions. Literally millions of innocent civilians are murdered without justification, and without repercussions. A universe where governments behaved this way would not survive the reign of one emperor, let alone 10,000 years.
Hectic ending. The last 150 pages are unnecessarily hectic as the authors try to wrap up the many threads initiated by the unbelievable actions previously mentioned. House Moritani, House Harkonnen, House Atreides and Emperor Corrino are all undertaking major military operations. Furthermore, Jessica is in labor, and Project Amal reaches its climax. As if all of this weren’t enough, the authors throw in an additional plot line involving the twisted Mentat Peter DeVries. The motivation for his actions in particular has gone beyond the realm of the unlikely into the realm of mind-boggling-ly (is that a word?) stupid. Usually, when authors have a character do something absurdly un-character-y it’s because of a specific need to move the plot forward, but this particular plot already had WAY too much going on as it was. This additional thread was nothing more than a distraction.
Inattention to detail. I have previously mentioned that the authors sometimes appear not to have read the original Dune Chronicles series. Well, now I wonder if they’ve read their own work. On page 49, they write “A few years ago, distracted by a document he’d been studying, Leto had accidentally crushed the insect.” But that’s not actually what happened in House Harkonnen; what actually happened is that Leto was distracted FROM the document BY a guard and the document fell on the insect.
Freedom. Why do “the good guys” keep using the word “free”? Leto and Rhombur might be good enlightened leaders, but that doesn’t make them any less than complete autocrats or make their peoples any more free than they would be under the Tleilaxu or Harkonnens or Corrinos. This could have provided a fruitful line of discussion had the authors been trying to paint their characters as unaware of their own failings in this regard, but Herbert & Anderson don’t seem to have given this a second thought (despite their excessive use of the word “free”) and never manage to move beyond their naïve notion of good versus evil to explore this idea.
Overall, I would rate it slightly higher than the first two books in the series, somewhere between 3 and 4 stars. Still no masterpiece.
Monday, November 01, 2004
Presidential Election Prediction
Not really politics, just a little attempt at clairvoyance here. I am predicting Bush will win by an electoral vote margin of 276*-262*.
Of the ten battleground states,
Bush: Florida, New Mexico**, Ohio
Kerry: Hawaii***, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire**, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin.
Notes:
(*) Colorado may be splitting its electoral votes for the first time this year (if a ballot initiative on 11/2 passes), so I am predicting Bush wins 6-3 there. Nebraska and Maine can theoretically split their votes but historically one candidate has always picked up all the votes; I'm predicting Nebraska to Bush and Maine to Kerry.
(**) The only two states that I'm thinking are going to go differently than in 2000 are New Mexico (which went to Gore by just 366 votes) and New Hampshire (which went to Bush by about 7200 votes while Nader picked up about 22,200 votes).
(***) Polls show Bush leading in Hawaii, but I think Kerry will pull it out in the end.
Of the ten battleground states,
Bush: Florida, New Mexico**, Ohio
Kerry: Hawaii***, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire**, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin.
Notes:
(*) Colorado may be splitting its electoral votes for the first time this year (if a ballot initiative on 11/2 passes), so I am predicting Bush wins 6-3 there. Nebraska and Maine can theoretically split their votes but historically one candidate has always picked up all the votes; I'm predicting Nebraska to Bush and Maine to Kerry.
(**) The only two states that I'm thinking are going to go differently than in 2000 are New Mexico (which went to Gore by just 366 votes) and New Hampshire (which went to Bush by about 7200 votes while Nader picked up about 22,200 votes).
(***) Polls show Bush leading in Hawaii, but I think Kerry will pull it out in the end.
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