Filler Material

The novelty of working at Chapters has definitely worn off with the end of the holiday retail season. Much has happened and less is happening.

Now that my work hours are being reduced, I can work on my thesis again. That also means time for my side-project on a rails-to-trails report. It also means less time for blogging. Lot of interesting things are happening but nothing blog-worthy. I'll have to keep a more vigilant eye.

I also noticed less personal blogging about me, hence this post. Being in a constant state of fatigue isn't fun, but after reading "Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures", I realize of course, that this is nothing. Though the story about Dr. Chen falling asleep while driving and the things he does to keep himself awake resonated with me because I do the exact same things (pinch self, slap face, sing loudly and badly)...maybe it's universal.

One thing about Chapters though. It's forced me to read more, which is great. Being introduced to so many new books, but it also means there are many I want to buy, but can't, many I want to read, but don't have time to. There's always a catch.

But of the books I've read that I want to recommend, it's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan and "The Dodecahedron or A Frame for Frames" by Paul Glennon. I've read at least seven books since I started and those two are by far my favourite. The former a non-fiction and the latter a fiction, so a recommendation for both sides of the aisle, I guess

All Things Kottke

Like Metafilter, Kottke is a site for me to find out about interesting stories, events and blog-worthy materials. These last few days have seen a smattering of interesting links. For your viewing pleasure:

1) On a desert island, if I could only take 5 comedy movies with me, they would have to be, off the top of my head: 40 Year Old Virgin, Grosse Point Blank, High Fidelity (yes, TWO John Cusack movies), Old School, and Dogma. I could live on those 5 comedies for the rest of my life. What would YOUR picks be?

2) On "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire", A good explanation on why contestants blather on about inane stories of their lives on their way to a cool million dollars.

3) Most people barely know about web 2.0 and what that means (while those who do know, generally hate the term), so why do we need web 3.0?!

4) This is supposedly a banned, un-aired ad for the XBox 360. I can totally understand why someone might not want this shown on national television, but man do I love it!

5) Finally, people who know me will know that Google Earth and Google Map are my (not-so) secret nerd-love apps. Well, someone's now provided historical maps that can be overlayed as layers on Google Earth. So for example, you can see existing 3-D buildings in the context of a New York 1836 street layout. This app just keeps getting better and better.