A Book per Week

Once again I tracked my reading on betterbydecember.com. I completed 52 books in 2025 (see table below for the titles the dates I finished reading each book) which works out to a book per week. While not as many as in 2024, as Dogberry said in Much Ado About Nothing, “Comparisons are odorous”. Regardless, I quite enjoyed reading various each of the books.

1/6/2025The Goodbye Cat
1/24/2025Butter: A Novel of Food and Murder
1/31/2025Wind and Truth: Book Five of the Stormlight Archive (The Stormlight Archive, 5)
2/6/2025Red Country
2/12/2025The Human Division (Old Man’s War, 5)
2/17/2025The End of All Things (Old Man’s War, 6)
2/20/2025Bushido: Code of the Samurai: The Soul of Japan
2/22/2025Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden’s Syndrome (The Lock In Series, 3)
2/25/2025Lock In: A Novel of the Near Future (Lock In Series Book 1)
3/1/2025Head On: A Novel of the Near Future (The Lock In Series, 2)
3/5/2025Collapsing Empire (The Interdependency)
3/9/2025Consuming Fire (The Interdependency)
3/13/2025Last Emperox (The Interdependency)
3/20/2025The Android’s Dream
3/21/2025The President’s Brain Is Missing
3/25/2025Fuzzy Nation
3/28/2025Agent to the Stars
3/30/2025The Mythmakers: The Remarkable Fellowship of C.S. Lewis & J.R.R. Tolkien
4/4/2025Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded: A Decade of Whatever, 1998-2008
4/13/2025The Seventh Function of Language: A Novel
4/24/2025Dragonsteel Prime
4/29/2025Half a King (Shattered Sea)
5/5/2025Half the World
5/15/2025The Door-to-Door Bookstore: A Novel
5/26/2025A Little Hatred (The Age of Madness, 1)
6/4/2025The Trouble with Peace (The Age of Madness, 2)
6/10/2025Half a War
6/18/2025The Wisdom of Crowds (The Age of Madness, 3)
7/19/2025A Day of Fallen Night (The Roots of Chaos)
8/3/2025Quantum Computing for Everyone
8/8/2025The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, 1)
8/16/2025The Obelisk Gate (The Broken Earth, 2)
9/2/2025The Stone Sky (The Broken Earth, 3)
9/6/2025Ultralight Backpackin’ Tips: 153 Amazing & Inexpensive Tips For Extremely Lightweight Camping
9/20/2025Isles of the Emberdark: A Cosmere Novel (Secret Projects)
9/25/2025Dragons of Autumn Twilight: The Dragonlance Chronicles
9/28/2025Dragons of Winter Night: The Dragonlance Chronicles
10/8/2025Dragons of Spring Dawning: The Dragonlance Chronicles
10/13/2025Black Company (Chronicles of The Black Company, 1)
10/18/2025Shadows Linger (Chronicle of the Black Company)
10/23/2025The White Rose (Chronicles of The Black Company, 3)
10/26/2025The Silver Spike: The Chronicles of the Black Company
10/31/2025Shadow Games: The Fourth Chronicles of the Black Company: First Book of the South
11/3/2025Dreams of Steel (The Fifth Chronicle of the Black Company)
11/8/2025Bleak Seasons: The Sixth Chronicle of the Black Company (GLITTERING STONE/GLEN COOK, BK 1)
11/15/2025She Is The Darkness: Book Two of Glittering Stone: A Novel of the Black Company (The Chronicles of The Black Company 8)
11/27/2025Water Sleeps: A Novel of the Black Company (The Chronicles of The Black Company Book 9)
12/8/2025Soldiers Live (The Chronicles of The Black Company Book 10)
12/21/2025Port of Shadows: A Novel of the Black Company
12/23/2025Pietr the Latvian (Inspector Maigret)
12/26/2025The Late Monsieur Gallet (Inspector Maigret)
12/27/2025Just Stab Me Now

As is my want, I like to consume in bulk read multiple books by the same author (often, but not always in a series). There were only ten books that I read in 2025 where I didn’t read another book by the same author. The table below shows a summary of the “multiple book” authors and the number of their books which I read. While Georges Simenon is at the bottom with only two books, expect to see over a dozen of his Inspector Maigret books on my 2026 list.

Author(s)
Number of Books
John Scalzi13
Glen Cook11
Joe Abercrombie7
Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman3
N. K. Jemisin3
Brandon Sanderson3
Georges Simenon2

Considering all the other things I have going on in life, I think averaging a book per week is pretty good and a cadence I hope to continue. 2026 is already off to a fantastic start in terms of reading and I hope to at least match the book per week again.

A Stroll Around Portland

The other weekend, my Wife and I wanted to go for a stroll around downtown Portland. Since we wanted to be down by the water, we decided to give the Classic Downtown Waterfront Loop Walk a try. This is a summary of our adventure:

  • Since I dislike driving downtown, we opted to take the Max.
  • The most convenient stop for us was Old Town/Chinatown MAX Station which put us at the second section of the route, but since it is a loop it doesn’t much matter where starting.
  • I’ve driven across the Steel Bridge at least once and ridden the Max over it numerous times, but this was my first time crossing it on foot.
  • The picture above is an AI-filtered selfie with the Steel Bridge in the background.
  • The weather was cold, but sunny and beautiful so we chose to not cross over the Hawthorne Bridge, but rather keep walking.
  • The OMSI provided brief respite where we were able to drink water and utilize the “all-user (gender-neutral) restroom” that is located in the hallway near the Kendall Planetarium.
  • We walked over the Tilikum Crossing Bridge. While crossing, we took another selfie with the Marquam Bridge in the background. The image below is an AI-filtered remix.
  • We checked out Poet’s Beach, but were not overly impressed.
  • As we headed north along the west bank of of the Willamette River, we started encountering various people headed to a protest.
  • A family with young kids holding signs with offensive language offered us some of their extra signs. We politely declined.
  • In lieu of participating in the protest, we walked over to Mother’s Bistro and ate a fantastic brunch. I had the Wild Salmon Hash.
  • In a highly unusual display of judicious consumption and showing extraordinary restraint, I did not get a Fresh-Baked Pecan Cinnamon Roll.
  • Without waddling too much, we made our way back to the Old Town/Chinatown MAX Station, caught a train, and made it back in time to warm down before heading to the school district Honor Band concert.

This year my Wife and I made a goal to go on more little adventures. This counts and I’m we’re tracking it on Better by December.

AI-filtered remix of The Girl Child in “concert black” after the concert

Still More Sheveling

It’s been two-ish years since the last official sheveling of my desk so a 2026 National Clean Off Your Desk Day observance was necessary.

My "before" desk
Before

A new type of clutter this time around was a number of boarding passes and luggage receipts mixed in with the typical receipts and random papers. Here are other “discoveries” from the sheveling:

  • Cell phone case (for old phone)
  • 4 ESP8266 NodeMCU boards
  • DHT11 and DHT22 sensors (first bought the “11’s”, but decided they weren’t accurate enough so purchased the “22’s”
  • Platypus water filter
  • 80″ x 60″ cloth map of the world
  • Volume III of The Feynman Lectures on Physics
  • Luggage scale
  • Garage door opener backup battery
  • 4 Unused USB cables of assorted types and lengths
  • Assorted candy left over from Christmas
  • A birthday card from my Baby Sister
  • 11 Metal mint containers
    • 6 empty
    • 1 holding various expired insurance, business, credit cards
    • 4 containing original contents)
  • 5 USB power adapters
  • Ordered list of the first 18 Inspector Maigret books
  • COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card
  • 2 Mediocre USB chargers with “bonus” functionality (one has a light and the other works as a hand warmer)
  • Sticky-notes with tuition amounts and due dates
  • Stickers
    • Durston
    • trek10
    • Maglula
    • #MakeGoodChoices
  • Flossers and dental floss
  • Hammock
  • 2 vaccination receipts (flu and DTaP)
  • 2 Jury Summons (one for me, one for Boy#3)
  • $1.44 in coins
  • Map of the Classic Downtown Waterfront Loop Walk
  • 3 Juggling Bags
  • 2 “FunSize” bag of Swedish Fish Mini that expired 10 July 2025
  • 2 Sticks Extra Long Lasting Flavor chewing gum that expired 18 May 2021
  • 2 Garage door openers (I think there might be two more somewhere else . . .)
  • 16 Picks for guitar and/or banjo
  • Funnel
  • 1 Tootsie Roll of unknown age
  • 2 Ham Radios (handheld)
  • 2 Rubber Locusts
  • The 7th Dragonball
  • 6 Rubber Snakes
After

With the new year and the new sheveling, it’s only natural that my mind wanders back to the various events of the past couple of years and all the things that have changed. Three kids in college. A new job. Financial changes. Increased travel. Milestone birthdays. Adventures (some more fun than others). As I set new goals so that I can be Better by December, I think that, just like my desk is looking better, the future is also looking bright and full of potential.

A Natural Reader

2024 was a good year for reading. There were various things in 2024 that weren’t so good, but it was a good year for reading. I read all or part of various series including The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Mistborn, Jeeves and Wooster, and The Saga of Recluce. One series my daughter threw my way was “The Naturals”.

I’m probably not the target audience for The Naturals, but my daughter is and I don’t dislike her and am curious as to what she reads and enjoys. I consider the week of reading time spent to consume the four books in the series to have been enjoyable. Despite the somewhat predictable and formulaic narrative, it was a nice detour from the more intense and attention-requiring Malazan books.

So in 2023 I read read 48 books. I completed 72 books in 2024 (see table below for the titles the dates I finished reading each book). So far 2025 has been a better year overall, but not in terms of books read. But of course, 2024 was a good year for reading . . .

01/01/24The Bonehunters: Book Six of The Malazan Book of the Fallen
01/06/24Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II’s Greatest Rescue Mission
01/07/24A Stroke of the Pen: The Lost Stories
01/17/24Reaper’s Gale: Book Seven of The Malazan Book of the Fallen
01/20/24The Lost Metal: A Mistborn Novel (The Mistborn Saga Book 7)
01/22/24Jeeves in the Offing
02/04/24Toll the Hounds: Book Eight of The Malazan Book of the Fallen
02/07/24The Sunlit Man: A Cosmere Novel (Secret Projects Book 4)
02/19/24Dust of Dreams: Book Nine of The Malazan Book of the Fallen
02/20/24The Naturals (The Naturals, 1)
02/22/24Killer Instinct (The Naturals, 2)
02/23/24All In (The Naturals, 3)
02/24/24Bad Blood (The Naturals, 4)
02/26/24When I Whistle
02/28/24Sputnik Sweetheart
03/18/24The Crippled God: Book Ten of The Malazan Book of the Fallen
03/19/24The Kamogawa Food Detectives
03/31/24Chinese Fairy Tales and Legends
04/03/24Japanese Folktales: Classic Stories from Japan’s Enchanted Past
04/05/24Data Pipelines Pocket Reference: Moving and Processing Data for Analytics
04/12/24Deciphering Data Architectures: Choosing Between a Modern Data Warehouse, Data Fabric, Data Lakehouse, and Data Mesh
04/14/24The Color of Magic: A Discworld Novel
04/18/24The Light Fantastic: A Novel of Discworld
04/23/24Equal Rites: A Discworld Novel
04/24/24Cost-Effective Data Pipelines: Balancing Trade-Offs When Developing Pipelines in the Cloud
04/27/24Mort: A Discworld Novel
04/30/24Sourcery: A Discworld Novel
05/04/24The Magic of Recluce (Saga of Recluce Book 1)
05/07/24The Towers of the Sunset (Saga of Recluce Book 2)
05/11/24The Magic Engineer (Saga of Recluce Book 3)
05/15/24The Order War (Saga of Recluce Book 4)
05/26/24The Death of Chaos (Saga of Recluce Book 5)
06/01/24Fall of Angels (Saga of Recluce Book 6)
06/06/24The Chaos Balance (Saga of Recluce Book 7)
06/11/24The White Order (Saga of Recluce Book 8)
06/18/24Colors of Chaos (Saga of Recluce Book 9)
06/23/24Magi’i of Cyador (Saga of Recluce Book 10)
06/24/24Go for DevOps
06/30/24Scion of Cyador (Saga of Recluce Book 11)
07/07/24The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
07/10/24Wellspring of Chaos (Saga of Recluce Book 12)
07/13/24Ordermaster (Saga of Recluce Book 13)
07/14/24Natural Ordermage (Saga of Recluce Book 14)
07/17/24Mage-Guard of Hamor (Saga of Recluce Book 15)
07/21/24Arms-Commander (Saga of Recluce Book 16)
07/24/24Cyador’s Heirs (Saga of Recluce Book 17)
07/28/24Heritage of Cyador (Saga of Recluce Book 18)
08/05/24The Mongrel Mage (Saga of Recluce Book 19)
08/07/24The Power of Truth: Individual Problems and Possibilities
08/11/24Outcasts of Order (Saga of Recluce Book 20)
08/14/24The Mage-Fire War (Saga of Recluce Book 21)
08/17/24Fairhaven Rising (Saga of Recluce Book 22)
08/19/24Annihilation: A Novel (Southern Reach Book 1)
08/23/24Authority: A Novel (Southern Reach Book 2)
08/31/24Acceptance: A Novel (Southern Reach Book 3)
09/06/24Borne: A Novel
09/08/24The Strange Bird: A Borne Story
09/17/24Dead Astronauts: A Novel (Borne Book 2)
09/22/24The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Volume 1: Charmed Life / The Lives of Christopher Chant
09/29/24The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Vol. II: The Magicians of Caprona and Witch Week The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Vol. II: The Magicians of Caprona and Witch Week
10/09/24The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Vol. III: Conrad’s Fate and The Pinhoe Egg
10/14/24The Librarians and The Lost Lamp (The Librarians, 1)
10/21/24The Blade Itself (The First Law Trilogy Book 1)
10/31/24Before They Are Hanged (The First Law Trilogy, 2)
11/11/24Last Argument of Kings (First Law Trilogy Book 3)
11/21/24Best Served Cold
12/12/24The Heroes
12/14/24Kaiju Preservation Society
12/16/24Old Man’s War (Old Man’s War, 1)
12/20/24The Ghost Brigades (Old Man’s War, 2)
12/22/24The Last Colony (Old Man’s War, 3)
12/24/24Zoe’s Tale: An Old Man’s War Novel (Old Man’s War, 4)

Do Trousers Matter?

P. G. Wodehouse has long been an appreciated author in my home and in particular his Jeeves and Wooster books (and also the television series based on those characters and their adventures). The various Wooster-ish hi-jinks are always amusing and the superhero Jeeves savings the day is always satisfying.

Some years ago, I started purchasing early editions of Jeeves and Wooster books as presents for my Wife. I originally tried first editions, but found those, for the most part, to be prohibitively expansive and difficult to obtain (although I have found a couple including a first edition of the Italian translation of The Inimitable Jeeves). So we now have a mismatched but memorable collection.

Most recently, for our Silver Anniversary, I purchased a silver cow creamer (although it’s Modern Dutch which was hundreds of dollars cheaper than some silver cow creamers). I also purchased a first edition (but probably not first printing) of Jeeves in the Offing. And since I knew my Wife and I would both want to read it while lounging in bed or eating snacks, I also purchased a cheap, used paperback of Jeeves in the Offing.

As I find myself reading more ebooks, I sometimes am annoyed when reading a “real” book and realize that I can’t just tap a word I don’t know to get a definition or when I accidentally crease a page. Also, in a house already full of full bookshelves, digital storage of hundreds of books is certainly space-efficient. But still, I enjoy the tangible aspects of flipping through the pages of a book and somehow find the pace more relaxing. In addition, I quite enjoy the smell of new books and also the smell of old books.

And when the tangible book is associated with a memory of a person or experience or event, that makes the book extra special. Each of the “old” books in our Jeeves and Wooster collection was carefully researched online and thoughtfully purchased. Each book also contains quotes that are now verbalized in public while being shared as a private joke. While the words in each book may be available in a variety of formats, the books themselves now represent something more.

Do books matter? Yes! At least some do. Our Jeeves and Wooster books matter. I may thoroughly enjoy zipping through a dozen ebooks purchased as a bundle and appreciate the stories and literary value and other aspects, but don’t think I’ll become as connected as I do to actual books. And if I ever do feel *that* strongly about an ebook, I’d almost certainly purchase a physical copy–a first edition if I could afford it.

2023: Reading Like It’s 1986

Early in elementary school I was not much of a reader. I could read fine, but wasn’t really motivated to read a lot on my own. That changed for me when the family moved [back] to Belgium and I started fifth grade with Ms. Pamay.

Wendy Pamay is one of my favorite teachers of all time. She introduced me to Shakespeare as our class worked on “The Scottish Play”. We sewed frogs. We sewed books. We even sewed frog books. But the thing I remember most about fifth grade was reading. Every week we would fill out a 3×5 card for each book that we had read–along with basic bibliographic information we would also write a few sentences giving a summary of the book. Also, to earn an “A” we were supposed to read 350 pages per week. At first it was hard for me, but by the second half of the school year I was exceeding and sometimes doubling that amount. I had become a reader.

Despite learning to love reading, I didn’t enjoy filling out the 3×5 cards and recording what I read. So once fifth grade ended, I continued being an avid reader, but typically didn’t keep track of what I read beyond my memory.

After I created Better by December I decided that along with tracking things like pushups and situps, that I would also track the books I read. And so, here are the 48 books which I read in 2023 (and the date I finished reading each book):

01/07/23The Priory of the Orange Tree
01/12/23Jade City
01/24/23Jade War
02/02/23The Golden Apples of the Sun
02/13/23Jade Legacy
02/15/23The Reflection on Mount Vitaki
02/19/23The Dream Thief
02/20/23Clockwork Princess
02/26/23The Perfect Perfume and Other Tales
03/03/23Card Sharp Silver
03/09/23Prohibition Orcs
03/12/23Clockwork Heart
04/01/23War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches
04/08/23Shadow Warrior: The CIA Hero of a Hundred Unknown Battles
04/13/23Steampunks and Other Heavy Hitters
04/15/23Fiction River Presents: Sorcery & Steam
05/29/23A Kamigata Anthology: Literature from Japan’s Metropolitan Centers, 1600–1750
06/03/23The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England (Secret Projects 2)
06/08/23Tress of the Emerald Sea: A Cosmere Novel (Secret Projects 1)
06/19/23The Dark Forest
06/21/23Milky Way Railroad
06/28/23A Shameful Life
07/01/23Doomsday Match (The Dresden Codex Book 1)
07/04/23Yumi and the Nightmare Painter: A Cosmere Novel (Secret Projects Book 3)
07/21/23Death’s End
07/24/23The Funny Business
07/27/23Skeleton in the Closet: A Dragon Business Adventure
07/30/23Eat, Drink, and Be Wary: Satisfying Stories with a Delicious Twist
08/04/23The Nyte Patrol: Book One
08/06/23Lover’s Moon (Canadian Werewolf Book 5)
08/10/23Superhero Portal : An Action-Packed Superhero Origin Story (Dice Ford, Superhero Book 1)
08/12/23Fat Vampire
08/19/23The Magic Touch
08/21/23Behold the Ape
08/24/23The Hole
08/25/23Tales from the Wood: A Modern Fairytale
08/28/23Myths and Magic: A Humorous Fantasy Adventure (The Faerie King Trilogy)
09/04/23A Cat’s Guide to Bonding with Dragons: A Humorous Fantasy Adventure (Dragoncat Book 1)
09/04/23Deadlands: A Novel
09/09/23A Good Running Away (Misplaced Mercenaries Book 1)
09/13/23Just Another Day in Suburbia
09/14/23Nowhere Man
09/20/23Gardens of the Moon: Book One of The Malazan Book of the Fallen
10/07/23Deadhouse Gates: Book Two of The Malazan Book of the Fallen
10/22/23Memories of Ice: Book Three of The Malazan Book of the Fallen
11/11/23D Day: June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II
12/02/23House of Chains: Book Four of The Malazan Book of the Fallen
12/18/23Midnight Tides – A Tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen
Books read in 2023

I don’t have a goal to read any particular number of books. Some books I read have under 200 pages while several had over 1000 pages so I don’t consider the number of books to be too significant. Similarly, I do not track the number of pages since the amount and difficulty of content per page varies significantly between books.

Without recording things on betterbydecember.com, I probably would have guessed I’d read about 30 books over the course of the year, but now, as I did in fifth grade, I’m tracking each book I read. Reading is awesome and I am a reader. Thank you, Ms. Pamay.

Better by December

At the end of 2022 I had scheduled vacation days, but plans fell through and I found myself with extra time to kill. I generally do better when I have something to keep me out of trouble, so I built a web application.

With the new year rapidly approaching I was starting to think about goals that I had for 2023 and how to track them. I again wanted to do 10,000 sit ups and 10,000 pushups over the year. Also, my Wife and I wanted to go on 150 walks together. In addition to goals, I also wanted track other things such as the books I read and the number of days I played guitar. The hope was by doing those things I’d be a better person by the next December.

For those who might be interested in the basic architecture, here’s a summary of the various pieces I built and/or assembled:

  • I have a “december-back” repository on Github (currently the repository is private) which does most of the work for the service. I wrote that in Golang.
  • I have a “december-front” repository on Github (currently the repository is private) which provides the web user interface for the service. I wrote that in JavaScript/TypeScript using React.
  • The “december-front” project is built using npm and the resulting artifacts are stored in an AWS S3 bucket and delivered via Cloudfront.
  • The “december-back” project is packaged into a Docker image and published to a registry via a Github action.
  • Docker containers are spun up in AWS ECS (Elastic Container Service) on Fargate.
  • Route53 on AWS takes care of domain registration for betterbydecember.com and also provides all the DNS goodness and ensures requests are correctly directed to the front or back end.
  • An EC2 Load Application Load Balancer can direct traffic to one of two different regions and also takes care of all the https certificate goodness.
  • All the data is stored in a DataStax Astra database since it’s “a database I want to use“.

The web app is available at https://www.betterbydecember.com/ and anybody can try it out. It’s been over a year since the basic functionality was complete and I started using it to track my progress. I met my 2023 goals and feel like I became Better by December. Now that 2024 is in full swing, I’ve set new goals and am actively working towards becoming Better by December.

Sheveling Like it’s 2024

It’s been a year since I last sheveled so it’s time for my 2024 National Clean Off Your Desk Day sheveling.

Before sheveling

Along with the typical dust, receipts, and miscellaneous bits of paper and trash, I found things such as:

  • An empty box of See’s assorted chocolates
  • 1.5 bags of Ginger Chews (original)
  • Half full box of “Megamix” Mike and Ike candies
  • One-third of a large Toblerone
  • Yellow paper crown
  • Thirteen guitar picks
  • Tin of Trader Joe’s Organic Pastilles Gingermints
  • Cheap combination lock
  • Four juggling bags
  • Doctor Who hat (with white pompom)
  • Tangram set missing one piece
  • Name tag
  • Six chip bag clips
  • Two sets of flashcards (Korean)
  • Rubber locust
  • Assorted paperclips
  • Whistle keychain
  • Seven expired credit and insurance cards
  • Someone else’s keys (that needed to be returned)
  • Program from the Westview performance of “School House Rock Live! JR.”
  • Rubber light-up flower ring
  • Mask (lower face, not my “Man in Black” mask)
  • Two bank statements (now shredded)
  • Ghibli-themed Reversi game
  • Luggage label
  • Effective Java: Third Edition
  • Program from “Westview Band and Choir Present…Sleigh Ride Songs & Deserts”
  • Five snowflake multitools
  • Receipt for my Zamberlan Anabasis Mid GTX Hiking Boots
  • Goodwill tax receipt
  • Notes from a meeting and various numbers/timings as I was measuring performance of a data import task
  • Program from the Westview Choir 2023 Awards Concert
  • Hand-doodled diagrams for an eventing architecture
  • ESP8266 with attached submersible thermometer
  • Kermit the Frog water bottle
  • Old wallet
  • COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card (card was in the same place from when I last sheveled)
  • 75 cents in change
  • Yo-yo string
  • Empty Altoids tin (amazingly only one)
  • Garage door open (was actually expecting to find two–not sure where the other one is…)
  • Bookmark
  • Pointy bit for electronics screwdriver set (since returned to case with other bits)
  • Dice set (including the D10 that I couldn’t find when I last sheveled)
After sheveling

Apparently it’s been six years to the day since I first recognized “National Clean Off Your Desk Day” with My Sheveled Desk. And of course, like every time before, now my office is in dire need of tidying . . .

Not The Jungle

I think Upton Sinclair’s novel is one of the most misunderstood novels. Published in novel form in 1906, it was intended to be a sort of communist manifesto to inspire the working man to band together. Instead, it inspired significant changes in the US meat processing/packing industry. This post is not about The Jungle.

Half a century later, in 1957, Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged was published. From a literary perspective, beyond the obvious moral commentary, the writing contains elements of adventure, mystery, romance, and science fiction which makes it tricky to be placed in a bucket with similar. But the underlying message is generally understood.

Atlas Shrugged

To say that Atlas Shrugged is a thinly veiled promotion of capitalism, liberalism, and similar “isms” is being generous in suggesting any sort of subtlety, but that’s not to say that is not an enjoyable read. Like many pieces of literature, Atlas Shrugged can be read in multiple ways, but I think most people read it in one of two ways. First, it can be read as a tract proselytizing the various philosophies, ideals, etc. being exemplified in the text. Alternatively, the reader can skim over the lengthy monologues by the various characters and instead just focus on the engaging narrative. The choice is up to the reader and there isn’t necessarily a “right” way.

As a note of personal history, the specific two-volume set published by Easton Press shown above was acquired as an anniversary present. Similar volumes spotted in a locked cabinet at https://www.powells.com for an exorbitant amount in mid September, it took a few months of online searching (and a failed attempt when received in a less-appealing burgundy binding) to obtain the tomes at a reasonable price.

In my mind, I always compare The Jungle and Atlas Shrugged because there are so many ways they are similar and different. For example, both were trying to promote certain ideologies (albeit very different ones). Both are reasonably well-written and engaging stories. Also, for a long time, paperback copies of both were on the same shelf in my office. But this post is not about The Jungle . . .

More Sheveling

Once again it is the second Monday in January and hence National Clean Off Your Desk Day. Time to shevel, but perhaps my desk isn’t in as bad of shape as years past?

At work today there were a lot of times where I would work for several minutes but then need to wait for a couple minutes while tests or other checks ran. During those breaks I would grab a couple of things off the desk and figure out what to do with them. Here are some of the items I encountered:

  • Two tape measures (in case one is under a stack of stuff when I need it).
  • Empty bag that previously contained peach Jolly Ranchers (the best flavor).
  • Printed Allergen Guide for Buffalo Wild Wings.
  • Two ice scrapers (for car windows).
  • Fitbit charger (for a Fitbit model I haven’t owned in years).
  • Empty bag that previously contained Ginger Chews.
  • Invitation to 2022 Christmas Eve Musical Celebration (it was a nice event, but less-well attended than previous years likely due to the weather). Later on I also encountered the program.
  • Three handkerchiefs (two nicely folded, the other crumpled and it may or may not have been used for its intended purpose).
  • Two garage door openers (this was a surprise as I was expecting to find three–I did eventually locate the third one in the pocket of my biking jacket).
  • A rubber locust.
  • Various notes from work including notes about six people I interviewed (we hired one and he’s great).
  • Page of notes from previous job.
  • Empty, reusable cloth bag that previously contained beef jerky.
  • Ninja brand tabi socks.
  • Tickets to the Portland Choir & Orchestra 2022 Christmas concert (it was a great show).
  • Many receipts. In all they totaled around $4670.
  • Peppermint bark and two candy canes (from circa Christmas 2021).
  • Two not-so-smart light bulbs (one went psycho and just flickers like crazy, the other won’t connect and so just functions as a regular bulb).
  • Three masks and my COVID vaccination card (card was in the same place from when I last sheveled).
  • Goggles.
  • Most of a dice set (cannot find second D10).

My desk looks a lot better. The floor of my office, not so much . . .