We put in a bid for the Parkdale house over the weekend. We offered pretty much everything he was asking/giving with the addition of a contingency on the sale of our current house.
He accepted.
So, sometime in the next couple of months we need to sell our house, pack and move. (Assuming, of course, that the inspection on Thursday doesn’t turn up any major problems.) I never thought I would move from a 1955 ranch into 1927 colonial.
I’ll try and get some pictures posted.
Last weekend we were in San Diego for a wedding and bit of family reunion. It was the first time mom and dad; my brother, his wife and kids; and Sarah and I have all been together.
The wedding was Friday (friend of the family’s kid). It was interesting because the bride is Indian. Her and her family are Christian, and the ceremony proper was Christian, they did infuse it with some Indian traditions. The groom was escorted in by musicians playing some Indian music (of course); the bride arrived in a palanquin; she had henna painting done on her hands; and the bridesmaid’s dresses had an Indianesque pattern on them (the dresses themselves being fairly traditional Western dresses).
Anyway, a couple of photos. 1) Rachel at normal speed. 2) Uncle Tim and the kids.
Once again Alfred Bester comes out as one of my all time favorite authors. Psychoshop, which Bester didn’t finish, was completed by Roger Zelazny — another Science Fiction author I respect.
The novel is a weird romp through all of time as a reporter works on a stroy of the Psychoshop — The Black Place were the Soul Changer will exchange any unwanted aspect you have for something else. Suffer from unwanted premonitions? Trade them in for something else, like good luck.
There are elements of Dr. Who, Total Recall, The Minority Report, etc., and I always have to remember that Bester came first. (Though maybe not with this novel. I’m unsure of the timeline for all of these novels. But Bester did have significant impact on all of Science Fiction — he is, after all, one of the founders of the genre.)
There is one flaw in the book. It seems to go along just fine, then about two-thirds of the way through the twist happens and it (sort of) rushes to conclusion. I attribute this to its unfinished state and Zelazny taking over. But who knows what Bester left behind for Zelazny to work with.
Overall, if you like SciFi, you owe it to yourself to pick up any Alfred Bester work. I’ve now read The Stars My Destination, Psychoshop and a couple of short stories. I’ll be picking up The Demolished Man and Virtual Unrealities (a collection of short stories) to fill out my Bester library. (These are all Vintage Press works. They have done very nice reprints with introductions from Greg Bear, Neil Gaiman, Harry Harrison and Robert Silverberg.)
I just held a silver medal from the Athens 2004 Olympics Games.
Kara Lynn Joyce, daughter of one of our VPs, won two silver medals in swimming — one for the 4X100 Freestyle Relay and one for the 4X100 Medly Relay.
I never thought that I’d actually get to hold an Olympic medal. How very cool for me. Congratulations to Kara and her family (dad looked awful proud) and thank you for sharing with everyone here.