BYBS: Thanksgiving

Image from PopCap's Plants vs. Zombies

Let's get one thing straight: I have a lot to be thankful for.
Roight?
Roight!

This means that, by singling out one thing, I am in no way diminishing my appreciation of the other things.
Well, actually, I am.
This is not the point you're looking for.
I can go about my post.
Move along!

At any rate, I want to single out a cheesy computer game and a half-way decent book as two of the things to call out for this particular posting.  I'd talk about all the stuff in the past year that I'm grateful for, but I'm saving that for New Years.

The game is Plants vs. Zombies which is entertaining because its silly nature and catchy music hearken back to the good ole days of yore when video games were video games,  men were men, women were women, and sheep were very nervous indeed.

The book, Surface Details by Iain M. Banks, is something of a mixed blessing because it addresses a realm that I had thought of writing about; specifically virtual worlds.  But Mr. Banks got there first.  And did it with a lot more skill than I can muster.  But it's a good read all the same and I highly recommend it, though you really have to like Iain's (do you mind if I call you Iain?) style to enjoy it.

Now excuse me, I just unlocked the cabbage throwing part of PVZ...

BYBS: Discourse

picture by smannion@flickr.com

I'm a member of a book club and we just got finished discussing a book I had recommended.  Normally, I am (ahem) somewhat less than thorough with respect to reading the book beforehand.  This time, since I was the one who was supposed to lead the discussion, I felt more of an imperative to be prepared.  I'm not a big fan of using stress to bring out the best in oneself, but I did learn more because of it.

Another benefit that I got from the experience were the insights that others brought to the discussion.  It was interesting to see what other people thought about some of the concepts in the book: how they differed from what I thought, insights that I would not have gotten on my own.

BYBS: Presentations

A more interesting talk than the one I gave.  Photo by andyp uk

This weekend I got a call from a friend because he heard about a presentation I am going to give in a few months.  The nice thing about this was that I had not mustered the motivation to keep in touch and this whole presentation business got it done for me.  So something good came of doing the presentation.