Tigers! Books! Travel!

Tigers Win!

1-7. In the standings, it isn't much of a difference, but man does it look better than 0-7. Seriously. WAY BETTER. Bonderman got a win for the first time since roughly 2004, and the bats woke up a bit. Clete Thomas continues to impress. Happy day(s) are here again, for now at least.

In other news, the Nats stink.

In other news, I finished reading America's Three Regimes, by Morton Keller. This was a good read, interesting and informative. Keller describes the evolution of the political system and parties in particular through the life of the American Nation. Reading it makes me even more upset about the two-party system and it's inability to serve national interests, especially at the end of the book, when Keller talked about the rise of special interests in the political arena. Sigh. I would definitely recommend this book - a shade under 300 pages, and while packed with information, doesn't read like a textbook.

I have moved on to the Wisdom of Crowds. So far so good. I'll write more about it shortly, as it's gotten me thinking a bit. As I read more of these sort of sociology meets technology meets economics books, it's interesting to contrast the ideas and concepts across each of them. Surely they overlap and become sort of repetitive, but each book does have its own interesting and usually valid message that it conveys.

I am also STILL reading Midnight in Sicily, albeit slowly. I have read too much of it to turn back now, and with some weekend travel looming (more later), hopefully I can finally finish it. I am also continuing with my historical fiction. The latest book that Amazon recommended me is The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon, by Richard Zimler. It's a well-written and eye-opening account of the plight of the Jews in Portugal around the time of the Inquisition. I am not sure why I keep ending up reading historical fiction about converted and secret Jews (David Liss books as well), but they are all fascinating, and satisfy my craving for history while still being light and easy reads.

The next couple weeks are going to be busy - here at Sportsvite, we are getting ready to do the first release that will include my work. That's exciting, but pushing code into production is always stressful. The weekends are for travel. This weekend, we are off to Massachusetts to celebrate the first birthday of Jena's nephew William. That ought to be a blast! He's a joy to be around, and it will be great to see Jena's family as well. Next weekend, it's off to Philly to catch a baseball game and hang out with college friends. Then the following week, it's off to the bustling metropolis of Crawfordsville, IN, to celebrate my grandmother's 90th birthday! So exciting! She's still amazingly full of life, and it will be great to see them and the rest of my family. Lots coming up - hopefully I'll have some good pictures to post.