My Facts, My Opinions

My grandfather wore an Omega. My dad wears an Omega. My younger brother got an Omega as a graduation gift. I had to have an Omega. So for Christmas in 1993 I got one gift -- an Omega (a quartz De Ville). And I loved it. I bought myself another one, a Seamaster Automatic, when I was in a position to reward myself in 1999. The De Ville's battery died and I haven't worn it for 8 years. I've worn the Seamaster almost daily. It's been diving, sailing, camping, and counted the seconds through way too many boring meetings. They both needed some TLC. And I knew that I'd be taking a trip* in October when I might not want to wear a nice watch everyday. Since it takes 6-8 weeks to get these things serviced (work backlog and parts issues; sometimes longer, sometimes shorter) I figured now was the time to get them tended to. Moving from an analog watch to a digital is a real pain. I want my watches back... ... will blog for a Constellation ... will blog and clean windows for a S...

I haven't been posting lately -- I've been spending my time reading. Nothing special, just stuff to relax and entertain myself. A quick observation: there are some really skilled writers out there telling great stories, and some absolutely shitty ones too. Among the best series I've read in a long time are the John rain books written by Barry Eisler. The basic notion of reading about a professional assasin holds some but limited appeal to me -- but after one book, I was hooked. I've now read the whole series. These books are extremely well researched and written with an incredible eye for detail. Eisler is a fanatic about getting it right. He also has a wonderful gift -- he's among the few writers I can think of that can successfully write switching from 1st person to 3rd person. Seemlessly. And it adds to the narrative. On the other hand Dana Stabenow is awful. I just finished Blindfold Game. The plot had great potential but in her hands it falls way short. Her res...