Stuff to read

A friend pointed me to kottke.org today, so that I could read about Dara Torres, the FORTY-ONE year old former gold-medalist who is trying to land a spot on the US women's swim team. 41. How about that? Click her name for an awesome photo. Kottke.org is full of other things you may want to read as well.

If that's not your style, I've also been checking in with Garden Rant of late. Gardeners are funny in a dry, sometimes unintentional sort of way. They also talk about stuff like permaculture, free booze samples and how best to kill snails. (I'm trying to figure out how to make better use of a splendid back yard; and get more of my mostly chemical-free veggies onto the table. If I knew where my camera is, I'd snap a few shots of the forget-me-nots. They are a huge hit with the bees.)

I've been slowly working my way through Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series. The series is similar to the werewolf or vampire mystery series popular of late, featuring a wizard instead. I'm very much enjoying the monster lore, but am finding limited patience for the protagonist, a self-avowed "gentleman" who is reactionary without much charisma to compensate. The dialogue is clunky but has been steadily improving and the plots really are interesting twists on traditional monster stories.