Not bike to work day

Friday, May 29th was scheduled as a make up day for Bike To Work day in San Diego.

Instead of biking to work, I had yet another day in the boot, trying to immobilize to support better recovery for plantar fasciitis.  Eighteen days down, ten to go.

I've switched to shorts every day.  If our "May Gray" would go away, I might actually get some color on my legs.  Its unlikely, but possible.  I'm curious to see if I return to slacks once the boot is gone, or if I use this month of boot with shorts to become a "shorts all the time" person again.  We'll see.

Instead of riding my bike, I got to drive today. Just like every other day with the boot.  I like my car, so that's a good thing, but I'd still prefer to be healthy and free to ride.  Soon.

Cool Jazz Spy (review)

Not a blog post, but content I generated; a review I posted on Goodreads.  Are you on Goodreads?


COOL JAZZ SPY by Paul J. Bartusiak

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I'll attempt to remain spoiler free.

Cool Jazz Spy is a spy novel with a technology focus. Like many others in the genre, he takes inspiration from current events and weaves a tale around reality. Being grounded in reality, we may still be surprised where things end up. It is my hope that we don't live through the attack that Mr Bartusiak describes, and hope that our defenses are better able to withstand any such attacks.

On to the book itself.

It almost feels as if there are two books here, one focused on the technologies used in the attack and one a cloak and dagger action story. The segues are handled by focusing on those featured in the action side and their brief forays in to the technical side.

As is common to the genre, the author starts off with a hook, pulling the reader in to the story and trying to lock the reader in for the duration. This introduction is good, and sets the tone that there is to be a cyber aspect to this thriller. It takes a while for the reader to resolve "why" some of the things that happened in this introduction happened; perhaps a bit more of the answer would set a stronger hook?

The technical chapters can be quite dense, almost tedious to read, while the action chapters flow much more rapidly. I fear that Mr. Bartusiak may lose some readers with the early technical chapters -- later in the book, by the time the reader is involved in the story, it is easier to accept them and move forward. Bear in mind I am a software engineering professional, I've worked in this general arena for twenty years; my read is definitely influenced by that - looking for the details, trying to mesh them up as realistic or not, etc. Someone outside the industry might more rapidly move through these areas.

The action chapters flow quite quickly, as one expects for action.

The book ends with the current story arc completed, but the stage is set for a follow on. Whether that is with the protagonist, the next cyber activity, or a look at life after the attack, the door has been left open.

Finally, I received this book from the author. Thanks Paul!



View all my reviews

A boot and a shot!

After four months of not running, my plantar fasciitis is better.  The amount of pain had gone from THIS MUCH to about this much but it just wasn't no pain.  Since there's still pain, and I want to get back to the point of no pain, I went to see the podiatrist again on Monday.  

I was given a steroid shot and an 'air cast' with instructions to follow up in 4 weeks.  The foot has been immobilized with a walking cast held together with velcro.  I can take it off to sleep, shower, and drive.  The doctor did not include 'drive' in the list, but I cannot work the clutch with it on, so it comes off to drive...

Immobilized.  No running or cycling, awkward walking.  For at least four weeks - it wil be a follow up appointment, not necessarily the release to be active again.

I feel like Robocop walking the halls.  ka-chunk.  step.  ka-chunk.  step.

My activity tracker comes up with lower goals daily.