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Being of the sort that likes to engage of conversations of a lively sort, at some point or another I tend to end up in discussions of politics and/or political outlooks. It was during such a conversation recently that the book Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand once again popped into the subject matter. I would like to say that I have read Atlas Shrugged, and that I could talk about the points that it makes, but alas that is not so. While I have owned a copy of the book for nigh on 7 years, it has been in my wife’s reading pile for the majority of the time.

Atlas Shrugged

Price: $16.50

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As a result of this conversation however, I decided that it was high time for me to get another copy of Atlas Shrugged and begin reading this colossus tale. Turns out the person that I was speaking with had his copy at hand, and was more than willing to part ways with it for the time that it would take for me to make my way through it. So I brought it home and began reading.

His Majesty’s Dragon
by Naomi Novik
Published: 26 March 2006
Rating: 8/10

His Majesty’s Dragon (Temeraire, Book 1)

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This is the first book in the Temaraire  series. As indicated by the title, this is a series about dragons. However, this book takes a twist on Dragons and the world in which they exist. Most novels dealing with dragons take place in universes that contain magic or realms that are far different than our own. Naomi Novik takes a different approach. Hers is an alternate history. The time frame is that of Napoleon in France at war with Brittan. In this alternate reality, dragons exist, and are used by the military as fighting beasts.

There are two main characters in this book. The most obvious is the dragon. However, the story is not told from the perspective of the dragon, but instead from the dragon’s master/companion. The dragon’s partner is the other main character of the book, and the story revolves as much around the character dynamics as it does about the dragons.

I have recently added a wiki/faq section to the site. This is mainly for my own notes and thoughts, but I find that if I am working on something, then someone else has as well. You may or may not find the information useful.

I could have waited until I had populated it more fully, but better partial information than none. Most of the items will be computer related, but you never know what I might start looking into.  This being said, I have also not determined how I am going to handle comments. Currently they are disabled. This is mainly due to the wonderful fact that spam bots would fill up the entire thing in about 20 days if I was not careful.

To this effect, I may have to enable some sort of feedback loop to help minimize those types of responses.

Mountain biking is an inherently dangerous sport. Riding through the woods on two wheels with branches, roots, and other nonsuch leads to the very high potential of being injured. The injuries can rank from the minor scratch to ending up in a cast, or two. Even with these dangers, I would rather run into a tree than to be taken out by an auto while on a road bike.

Recently at a race, I took a bad spill on a downhill section. While nothing was broken, I had some major bruising. I had to take about a week off to recuperate, but no major issues. These types of crashes are the ones that you are glad to have.

Now last week, my foot came unclipped due to sliding on a root, and my eggbeaters (pedals) swung around and slapped me in the shin. For all intents and purposes it was a minor accident. However, the shin is a bad place for wounds. The skin is taunt and shallow depth to the bone. Needless to say after continuous bleeding for 4 hours I went the emergency medical clinic.

As I stated earlier, the first 3 days of the Red Hat rapid track training went by in a blur. The amount of information covered was more than I believe a lot of people could absorb in the short time frame. There were a number of people at the training claiming that they were going to fail the certification exam at the end of the week.

Day 4.

The first half of the day was spent finishing the course material. In a strange twist, the stuff that we covered on the last day was some of the easiest items that we had covered all week. During the training I was able to pull out my laptop and answer a few emails that needed seeing to. While the material covered in the last day did not seem that important it is where I spent the second half of the day that made all the difference.