Kurt Vonnegut passed away recently.
Hunter S. Thompson killed himself on my birthday a year ago...
It's official... all of my favorite authors are now dead.
One small consolation is that I'm doing well in my celebrity dead pool.

#	SUBJECT	OCCUPATION	SUMMARY	BORN	DIED	LISTED
1	Charlton Heston	Actor	Heston is the NRA	04-Oct-1924	TBD	06-Dec-2006
2	Fidel Castro	Head of State	President-for-Life of Cuba	13-Aug-1926	TBD	06-Dec-2006
3	Dick Clark	TV Personality	Preserved host of American Bandstand	30-Nov-1929	TBD	06-Dec-2006
4	Billy Graham	Religion	Televangelist	07-Nov-1918	TBD	06-Dec-2006
5	Gerald Ford	Head of State	38th US President, 1974-77	14-Jul-1913	26-Dec-2006	06-Dec-2006
6	Kate Moss	Model	Supermodel known for toothpick figure	16-Jan-1974	TBD	06-Dec-2006
7	Luciano Pavarotti	Singer	Operatic tenor	12-Oct-1935	TBD	06-Dec-2006
8	Studs Terkel	Author	Wrote working class bookWorking	16-May-1912	TBD	06-Dec-2006
9	Roddy Piper	Wrestling	Here to kick ass, chew bubble gum	17-Apr-1954	TBD	06-Dec-2006
10	Kurt Vonnegut	Author	Slaughterhouse Five	11-Nov-1922	11-Apr-2007	06-Dec-2006

The day was February 20th, my 30th birthday. I was attending a workshop one of my co-workers organized on spatial forecast verification methods. I had been feeling weird the day before, but on this day in particular I was in a lot of pain. I had an awful pain in my side, felt exhausted, and had eaten almost nothing all day.

I was preparing to give three presentations the next day at a workshop. I was to give the opening presentation, a talk on the project I'm currently working on, and one that was an overview of the current state of probablistic forecast verification.

I went home early that day, hoping a day of rest would do some good. I decided on the evening of my big 3-0 -- on Fat Tuesday, I might add -- I would rest, since I wasn't hungry, was extremely tired, and had a pain in an odd place.

The next day, the pain in my side had become even worse. I showed up at the workshop, preparing to give my three talks, when my supervisor approaches me and says, "You look awful. Go to Urgent Care right now!"

I sort of nodded my head, not really feeling in the mood to argue. My hubby had the day off and took me in to an urgent care clinic. After a lot of poking, prodding and examining, the doctor sent me directly to the hospital. Do not pass go. Do not even think about going back to the workshop.

There I was... the day after I turned 30, getting my appendix removed.

No career-fortifying presentations, no birthday party... just a back-less hospital gown and one less internal organ (removed via laparoscopy).

Appendicitis - thou art cruel!!

(I still have not finished The Tipping Point. Shame on me.)

Saturday, while my sweetie was enjoying his first professional massage, I was left to my own devices in downtown Boulder. With a little money in my pocket, I headed off to the farmer's market. After about 20 mins of wandering through the controlled chaos, I gave up any hope of finding anything either reasonably priced or useful, and headed off to the Boulder Bookstore.

There, waving to me from the Literature section, I found Kurt Vonnegut's Bluebeard, which begged me to take it home. So, I did. I'm not used to taking home strangers like that, but this was the friend of a co-worker.

After a bout of insomnia later that night, I picked it up and started reading it. I could not put it down until I had finished it! There are only a few authors that capture my interest like that: Hunter S. Thompson, Aldous Huxley, and Kurt Vonnegut. Their writings grab me by the seat of the pants and won't let go until I finish the book, despite how god-awfully late it is.

Although somewhat predictable, Bluebeard struck me as being one of Vonnegut's better works. The book left me feeling satisfied, though it wasn't difficult to pick up on the ending. I very much enjoy how Vonnegut has a way of developing characters in a way that makes them easy to relate to -- even when they do scummy things. Especially when they do scummy things. That is one of the things I love best about his works: the people can just be people, warts and all.

All in all, it didn't stand out much in my mind from a lot of Vonnegut's other works, but nearly everything he writes is terrific (aside from Timequake from what I hear).

I finished Crimes Against Logic pretty quickly (it was a pretty short read at 150+ pages). If you can get past the extremely boring first chapter, it's a pretty interesting book that presents new ways of thinking about problems. Mainly, it teaches how to debate people better and how to define points of contention more clearly. Overall, I liked it. Some parts were hard to follow. Other parts were actually really fun to read, like the chapter on the misuse of statistics.

I told my sweetie he should read it, since he holds some views that are similar to those presented in the book. After reading only bits and pieces of it, he concluded he just can't read other people's whiny, cynical drivel because he prefers his own.

I guess I'm concluding that if you are already well-versed in logic and/or a cynic, you'll probably be bored with it. For those (like me) who aren't usually very cynical, but are interested in the topic, it's a good leisurely read.

Next up, The Tipping Point. Meh.

The nerdiness is bubbling up from within today. I ordered a bunch of books from Amazon:

Crimes Against Logic

On Bullshit

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

Truth, Knowledge, Or Just Plain Bull: How To Tell The Difference : A Handbook of Practical Logic and Clear Thinking
I thought about ordering some "fluff" with it, but it's hard to find good fluff these days. Besides, you can never have too much creative non-fiction. Or Hunter S. Thompson. Or Kurt Vonnegut.

Completely off topic, I find THIS very funny!!

The temperature is almost 100 degrees F outside today -- it's absolutely miserable outside. It also happens to be Friday.

hot temperatures + weekend = time for cocktails

Today's cocktail (when I get home): Cosmopolitans!

~::drool::~

The gals on Sex and the City should for all intents and purposes be completely smashed after having only a couple of Cosmopolitans. Not only do the gals on SatC weigh a combined total of 100 lbs (and thus probably lightweights in the alcohol department), but the Cosmo is one of the strongest cocktails around - with far more alcohol by volume than most cocktails. There is only the slightest bit of mixer in the basic recipe...

Basic Cosmopolitan recipe:
1 oz vodka
1/2 oz triple sec
1/2 oz cranberry juice
1/4 oz lime juice
Pour into a martini shaker with crushed ice, shake, then pour into a martini glass.

There are many different variations you can try with a Cosmo, but here are a few that I think are fun:

The Purple Cosmo:
1 oz vodka
1/2 oz Blue Curacao
1/2 oz cranberry juice
1/4 oz lime juice

The only difference between triple sec and blue curacao is that blue curacao is colored blue. They are both orange liquors. When you make a cosmo substituting blue curacao, the result is a very purple cosmo!
You could also try that substitution in a margarita, but it turns your margarita bright green -- and that's just wrong!! You end up looking like a freak with a margarita that El Chupacabra vomited in.

Grand Marnier Cosmo:
1 oz vodka (preferably, use a high-quality vodka since you're using a high-quality orange liquor)
1/2 oz Grand Marnier
1/2 oz cranberry juice
1/4 oz lime juice

I also recommend giving the flavored vodkas a whirl. They bring a little extra flavor to your cosmo. Lemon, orange, and raspberry vodkas are especially tasty. Yup, I'm definitely going to enjoy sitting around in my robe, watching SatC, and sipping Cosmos in front of my swamp cooler. :)

Here are a list of my latest summertime vices. Feel free to share yours!

Margaritas: It's summer-time, and I loves my margaritas. I've been making these delicious babies from scratch! No more mixes for me! Here's my recipe, which I got from my sweetie:

1 oz. tequila
1/2 oz. triple sec
1/2 oz. Rose's lime
Add sour mix to taste, blend with ice

Variation:
Add a little pineapple juice for a sweeter, pineapple-flavored margarita.

Sweaty Betty: It's summer-time, and it's time for The Boulder Brewing Company's seasonal favorite (and my personal favorite beer of theirs), Sweaty Betty. The Sweaty Betty is a fruity unfiltered wheat beer. It is by far my favorite Boulder-brewed beer. It's perfect for the hot, dry Boulder summers.

Mojitos: What's more refreshing on a hot summer's day than a nice, cool, crisp fresh mojito? This is a cocktail that (I think) orginates from Cuba.

- Crush a sprig of mint in the bottom of your glass with a fork or pestle
- add 1 oz. White Rum (Myer's or Bacardi)
- squeeze and add a 1/4 of a lime
- add ice
- fill with club soda
- add a tiny bit of table sugar
- carefully stir

Sex and the City: As much as I hate to admit it and despite my adamant refusal to watch this show when it was on the air, it's actually a really funny show! I rented a few of the discs on DVD and liked it so much, I bought the entire series. It is classic!!


If you aren't convinced: Any show that prompts Congress to consider making special laws to prevent a show similar to it from ever showing up on TV again, is proof of the power and provocativeness of this show. Even South Park hasn't managed that feat (then again, South Park has been lame since 1999).

Your Famous Last Words Will Be:

"So, you're a cannibal."

LOL...