Seeing and Reading the Stars

When I'm at work, I don't have a lot of spare time to surf the web. Little chunks of time, here and there. Way back when, I think it was LL who turned me on to Google Reader and I was saved. I was definitely at that point where I had more "must read" blogs than spare time. Since then, blog reading has been a breeze. Commenting, not so breezy as anyone who reads the feeds knows. Today is the first day Google Reader is just not working. Oh, it loads up enough that the little tab at the top teases me with "hey, four of your favorite blogs have been updated", but that's it. I've left it up in hopes of it miraculously loading on it's own, flooding my laptop with blogging goodness, but no, it taunts me by increasing the number; 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 14, 18, 21!! I am not happy.

Disgruntled (and SORE from yesterday's workout), I took a short break to do some laps up on the helideck. It's pitch-black on the bow and the moon is down (Steph). The stars were incredible and I took a few extra minutes to lie on my back and just watch the heavens. The milky way was brilliant. Spread across the sky, sort of like a line of puffy clouds. Very cool, our outer spiral arm. I couldn't help but imagine our galaxy and what it would look like to the outside observer, which made me think of Galaxy Zoo and the fact that Zoo II is coming soon...

Finally, speaking of space-whomever was kind enough to let me know that Peter F. Hamilton started a new series last year-thanks (LL?) . Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained were good, long reads. Well, I should note that Peter has started a new set of books set in the Commonwealth universe, though about another 1,500 yrs in the future. All I will say is that a few old faces pop up, some that you wouldn't expect. It's also not a fast read, nor such a fast-paced story as the Commonwealth Saga. Little, or no action, The Dreaming Void, feels a little dull and forced like he's trying desperately to keep it interesting. Nonetheless, as a few old Commonwealth friends pop into the picture, I've decided I'll bite when the sequel comes out. Ozzie only knows if the next two will be any better, but he's one helluva good author.