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Amy really surprised me with this gift at Christmas. She was not sure if I would like it, so she only purchased 1 AeroGarden. I recently ordered 3 more, because it is a blast.

“What is the AeroGarden?” you say. An AeroGarden is a cool little inside Aeroponic Garden (similar to Hydroponic, but the roots are in 100% humidity air rather than water) made by AeroGrow. You have 7 seed pods per unit and just put in the pods, fill up the water to the line, add the two starter nutrient tablets and plug it in. The water automatically pumps into the sponges holding the seeds and the clear plastic “bio-dome” cups keep moisture in until the seed sprouts. Once the leaves form, you remove the clear plastic cover and let it grow. And grow they do, up into the compact fluorescent grow lamps.
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Dark Chocolate Dipped Ginger Altoids. Yes, it sounds weird. I don’t understand how they made it through marketing. I don’t think they had any type of focus group for these. I have a rule that I will try anything once. That is if there isn’t a high likelihood of death. I think this is why blowfish is so expensive, for the malpractice insurance for those that die after eating it. I don’t plan on trying blowfish any time soon. But I’m game for Dark Chocolate Dipped Ginger Altoids.
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The best thing I can say for the new I am Legend movie is that it made me aware of Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel of the same name. I decided to give it a read before the movie came out. If you haven’t read it yet and plan to see the movie, don’t read it until after the movie. It will ruin the movie for you. Not in how much it gives away of the movie, but in how much the movie doesn’t give you anything.

Spoilers will follow for both the book and movie. If you are interested in either, just bookmark this and come back after you have read/seen one or both. You are warned.
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When I was looking at lathes, I talked with many people who had tried and liked either the Jet Mini or the PSI Turncrafter Pro lathes. I could not find many that had used both, to get an idea of the differences between them. Now owning a PSI Turncrafter Pro and having taken a class and used a Jet Mini for 5 hours or so, I decided to summarize the differences.
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I have just finished building my first rear wheel using The Bicycle Wheel as a guide. This book will teach you the technical aspects of the bicycle wheel in both structural principles and practical methods. After a couple hundred miles on my new wheel, it is still true as an arrow.

This book debunks myths and gives you the confidence to repair, build, and rebuild wheels. I can honestly say that I no longer fear any wheel repairs. It has given me one less thing to worry about during my upcoming cross-country trip.

The only warning I can give is about Jobst Brandt, not his book. If you run across him in the Newsgroup or in person, you will quickly find out that he is a very opinionated person. Most of his opinions are correct, but don’t ever argue with him. Jobst has to be one of the bigger know-it-all jerks I have seen on the Usenet. I guess everyone has their failings, but his book is first rate.

The Bicycle Wheel ISBN: 0960723668 at Amazon

I’m sorry, you can no longer win $15,000 by reading this book. It was the announcement of the solution to the 10 cipher challenges, located in the back of The Code Book, that made me aware of this book. Money aside, if you are interested in learning of the history of codes and ciphers, this book is for you! Did you know that Mary Queens of Scots was killed by Queen Elizabeth, because her code was not strong enough to foil the code breakers of the time. Have you ever heard of the Navajo Code Talkers that offered the US Marines a method of secure ground communications in World War II? (Probably more so after the Windtalkers movie.) Do you know the full story behind the breaking of the German’s Enigma Code in the same war? Do you know that the first computer was build in England, not the US?

I knew most of the above facts before reading this book. However, as with most people’s understanding of history, my ideas were seriously flawed in the details. This book allows you to start out with the world’s earliest codes and learn how to do a little code breaking of your own. If you are at all interested in either the technical or historical history of code breaking, you will enjoy this book. This is the first technical history book that read like a good piece of fiction. When you realize that the action packed stories are historical fact, the book only shines more.

The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography ISBN: 0385495323 at Amazon

I have to admit that I was intrigued when I read the summary of this book. A novel by John Grisham about a third string NFL quarterback, escaping his terrible past to play professional football in Italy. Nothing about lawyers? This sounds interesting, if not just to figure out why John described.

Normally the novel isn’t quite as good, when an author writes completely out of their “comfort zone”. That is definitely the case here. It doesn’t have the same fire as a typical Grisham thriller. That isn’t to say it is a bad book. I enjoyed the read and it was fun to see a different side of this author.
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As soon as I realized that my recumbent would allow me to complete my dream of riding a bicycle across the country, I started research all over the web. While reading through the many trip reports of coast to coast touring cyclists, two things became clear. First, I would be riding the TransAmerica trail created by Adventure Cycling in 1976 (the year of my birth). Second, I should purchase, read, re-read, and take along Donna’s book.
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This is a book I happened on by chance. I picked it out of the new book section of the library by the title and checked it out after reading the inside cover. I’m glad that I did. While I only rate it 4 out of 5, it was an interesting book and worth reading.

The book is centered on telling the story of a Royal Navy officer and his trials to survive against impossible odds. The main story is set during the Second World War on the continent of Antarctica. The British Royal Navy sends a small force to establish a weather station while also carrying out a top-secret mission. A German U-Boat intercepts the periodic weather forecasts and is able to triangulate the stations position. The station is attacked when the protagonist and a junior man are off taking core samples. Upon returning, they find the station totally destroyed and the commander barely clinging onto life. As they race for the northern peninsula, the adventure begins. If they don’t make it in time, the ice will make rescue impossible. And a winter without a proper shelter is impossible to survive in this harsh continent. In the end, only one man survives. He claims to have lost his memory of the events before his rescue and he longs to return. Then we are able to learn why.
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This is the second book by Patrick Robinson I could get my hands on. I really enjoyed reading Kilo Class and I enjoyed this book as well. It is set a couple years into the future, so Patrick gets to play with some technology that isn’t around quite yet.

The novel is an interesting story about a seriously skilled agent from Iraq. He infiltrated Israel’s navy and was trained as a submariner. His employer decides that he is too large of a risk and attempts to eliminate him. After walking across the desert to escape Iraq, he makes a deal with Iran to help commit acts of terrorism using his submarine skills.

A satisfying book to a Clancy fan.

HMS Unseen ISBN: 0099269058 at Amazon