Books I miss, or would like to miss.

While in general the selection of books in the US is good, there are some I've been having great difficulty finding. Therefore, if you're stuck for a gift idea for me, and you run across any of these, feel free to consider them. I'm very much in favour of secondhand books, so long as no pages fall out and nobody's been at them with a highlighter.

Barry M. Hughart, The Story of the Stone; this is the middle one in a trilogy, the ends of which I have. I don't know how available it is worldwide, but it's in the "duelling algorithms, silly money" state on Amazon in the US, which means people aren't selling copies.

Goscinny & Uderzo, trans. Bell & Hockridge, Asterix (series); these comics were a major element of my childhood, and I'd love my daughter to have access to them as well. Besides, I can now read them as an adult and understand far more of the jokes than I used to.

Lindsey Davis, M. Didius Falco series; so far, I've seen ONE of these excellent historical-comedy-detective novels this side of the Atlantic. Naturally, I snapped it up, but it was Venus in Copper, and I'd forgotten most of the details of The Silver Pigs and Shadows in Bronze. I'd love to re-read, and indeed to continue reading after I left off (which I think was somewhere around Last Act In Palmyra), and besides, Amazon tells me that the US covers are terrible. No character at all, nothing to draw the eye, and no relation to any events within. Far be it from me to cast aspersions, but I would suggest that a good cover is a particular necessity when dealing with unconventional content.

Dmitry Glukhovsky, Metro 2033; this one is translated from Russian, and distinctly dark. It's since been turned into a very interesting computer game.

We're a little bit busy.

The LA and I are currently in the local hospital. Well, one of at least four I can think of off the top of my head; this one is shiny and new, and ever so concerned about security. They're also very concerned about patient care, which is good. You see, the LA is a patient. I am in a strange sort of state wherein I have elevated visiting privileges; I've actually been sleeping in the hospital the past few nights, but I'm not under any sort of care and they won't feed me at all. I do, however, have an identifying wristband. The reason for this is simple: the LA is now a mother. And yes, this does make me a new father. I've been wandering around with the beatifically shellshocked expression common to such men, mostly wearing the Cthulhu-feet novelty slippers the LA gave me for giftmas a few years ago.

Some musings on Mass Effect's gameplay changes.

The Mass Effect series is noted as having a jarring gameplay change between the first two games. In the first game, your various firearms never run out of ammunition; they instead build up heat with each shot fired, and if this heat hits a certain threshold they deactivate for a few seconds to cool down. This eliminates one piece of tiresome bookkeeping from the game (sadly, many remain, and the interface is not generally of the highest quality) and fits in well with the space opera theme. Below the fold, there will be spoilers, as if that matters...

A surprisingly big step...

Things have been humming along quite rapidly of late. The LA's work schedule has been interesting, and for one reason and another she's currently not driving much if at all. Since my car is currently on limited service pending the replacement of the tailpipe (which, having been bent by backing into a kerb by the previous owner, was always going to fail first) which began shedding chunks the other day, her lack of driving isn't a major imposition; it merely means I'm driving her car, a Prius v. The Prius is a perfectly sensible car, and frankly rather boring; it never does anything hoon-worthy, and being front-wheel-drive, is less than wonderful in twisty bits. My favourite freeway exit is less amusing in the Prius than the Volvo, since the Volvo allows me to steer using my right foot; the Prius is boringly stuck to the road.

Anyway, things have been going along at such a clip that merely ferrying the LA back and forth to work has been accounting for many spoons (essentially, two commutes daily; another reason to drive the Prius, especially since I've developed the ability to exceed the EPA-listed fuel economy in just about any car I drive) and such things as washing the cars have been pushed to the back burner. Yesterday, though, it rained, for the morning, and that resulted in two things; first, I cleaned out the problem gutter, it having been left uncleaned since last year. It turns out that I can confidently state there were about 5 years' worth of autumns in there before; it was MUCH less clogged this year, and I left it as sparkling as was possible given its internal rust. We shall have to replace it at some point, and make sure the replacement is properly painted internally. The second result of the rain was to wash off the dust and pollen from our cars, and while they're not squeaky clean, they ARE now mostly clean.

And that led to the LA deciding to put the Baby On Board magnet into the Prius. She also had me fit the base into which the car seat clips; this was very simple, since I'd actually read the instructions. Set the correct angle, clip the LATCH connectors onto the hardpoints (for those of you in Europe, that corresponds mostly to ISOFIX; they're not exactly identical, but they are largely compatible) and then set a knee on it, force it into the seat, and haul on the tightening strap as though you're hoisting the mainsail. It's solidly connected, which means our impending daughter does have at least one safe transport option once she arrives. She's still due on the LA's birthday (one day before my mother's birthday; what is it with me and women with late-November births?) but if she shows up a little early, we can at least bring her home in safety.

We've also begun packing our hospital bag. The usual toiletries, changes of clothes, device chargers, and so on. We've figured out how best to drive to the hospital, which routes to take and how hard I can get away with hammering the loud pedal at each stage; for that journey, fuel economy will be a non-issue. I've decided to make sure both cars have plenty of fuel at all times, so there's one less thing to worry about.

Going back to the status of my car, the replacement tailpipe is on its way from a warehouse on the other side of the country, since Volvo USA have decided that exhaust parts for cars old enough to vote aren't worth selling. Given my prejudices' incompatibility with the range of Volvos available in the US currently (I dislike turbochargers, front-wheel-drive, and the practice of lifting the suspension of a car six inches and covering half of the bodywork with plastic in order to pretend it's an SUV; Volvo don't sell a damned thing without a turbo, they're effectively all front-wheel-drive, and the only estate they sell now has been lifted and clad) I suspect they're trying to lose me as a customer. Such is life; I shall look for a well-paying job, as the vehicle which most closely matches my preferences on the US market right now is a BMW.

The benefits of cheating

Yesterday, I was in the grocery store, looking at the packets of spices for making various things. some of these, I consider cheating; the "Mexican Rice" packets, for example. That, I can do myself; fry the rice to start with, add cumin, dump in chicken stock and sieved tomato, and then just let it cook. No need to pay far more money for a packet mix that won't taste as good.

Tacos, though, I cheat on. I buy the spice mixes for those, just to make it less fiddly with flour and suchlike. That was why I was looking at the packets. But as I looked, and saw the "Mexican Rice" packets, I remembered that it was a long time since I'd made anything using rice. Then I had an idea; instead of the somewhat boring dinner I had planned, I would instead make some chicken, in a nice mildly spiced sauce, and serve it with rice. I already had everything needed for that.

So I started cooking somewhat aimlessly; this was going to be distinctly experimental. Fry off the roughly cubed chicken and some back bacon, with garlic and onion; add "Enchilada Sauce" spice packet, which is mostly flour with some cumin and paprika; add sieved tomatoes and a decent amount of water. Then I started reducing it; about halfway through, I realised it wasn't going to be sticky enough for my tastes, so I made up a little ooblick to thicken it (cornstarch and water) and added that in, then kept it on the heat, boiling down. It ended up being fairly similar to my "bolognese" sauce, but it definitely tasted Mexican; I'd have been very happy with it as a main course at a Mexican restaurant. The sauce was thick, sticky, and delicious, the chicken was meltingly tender, and it went perfectly with the rice.

And all because I sometimes cheat, and sometimes don't. Cheating on tacos led me to the rack; refusing to cheat on rice caused an idea to sprout, that turned into a very good meal to add to the repertoire.

A guide for the confused

Let's talk about intellectual property for a while. Now, before we go any further, I must note that I am NOT a lawyer (I merely sleep with one) and CANNOT and WILL NOT offer any kind of legal advice. Everything I say here is liable to be incorrect. Do not rely on it. If something I discuss is relevant to you, do your own research and talk to a lawyer.

I'm also going to skate over the discussion of whether intellectual property is a valid concept.

Success!

At the third try, with me actually putting in an order, I finally got the correct wiring harness. To give the vendor their due, they refunded the cost of that order; my final total paid was the same as if they'd sent me the right wires in the first place.

So yesterday afternoon, I sat in a lawn chair and exercised my crimping skills to make a wiring harness. It ended up a yard long, almost unbelievable to think that it would disappear into my dashboard. But, disappear it did, after I'd removed various pieces to expose the necessary connections. As a side note, if I ever find the chap who decided the connections to the rear speakers of my car should be made above the driver's left knee, I would advise him to call for an ambulance immediately; the sheer volume of shouting I intend to direct at him will likely burst his eardrums!

This oddly-located connection meant that I was upside down, laying across the door sill of my car (thankfully I'd found our one-step hop-up to support the parts of me outside the car) with my head in the footwell, one hand reaching deeply into the radio recess with the plug in hand, and the other hand attempting to sneak into the space just above the kick panel to get a hold of the plug to pull it through. Once I'd got it through, I decided to bite the bullet and commit; I lopped off the old plug to pull that harness out. Then it was simply a case of making sure all the remaining connections were solid, and reassembling the dash, and I could reconnect the battery and try it out.

My car now speaks iPod. As a bonus, the new stereo sticks out less than the old one.

I shan't be installing a new stereo any time soon, though. If it becomes necessary, I'll have a professional do it; I found the experience rather painful in multiple ways, not unlike being a combination contortionist and OB/GYN to a box of dull knives.