I now understand where the inspiration for "The Matrix" came from. While "The Matrix" is not an out-and-out rip-off of Neuromancer, it seemed fairly apparent to me that the book strongly influenced the Wachowski brothers in creating their world. This is explored in depth in the excellent Wikipedia article which can be found here. Wikipedia also has a good entry on Neuormancer which can be found here.

Anyway, I found the book to be so-so. I think it is one of those books that is much better read than listened to. Gibson's writing style can be quite poetic at times, and I think it might sound better in one's own head than through one's ears. It is also one of those books where the creation and immersion in the "world" is more important than a taught, clear plot.

We had tivo'd the first two two-hour episodes, but our Time-Warner Scientific-Atlanta DVR ate them. Thank goodness for our friend Bill, who was kind enough to lend us his good old fashioned VHS tape!

Jeanie and I both agree that this is by far the best season yet - and that's pretty amazing given the first three seasons.

Talk about a show keeping you on the edge of your seat! There have been a few times where I actually found my heart beating fast from the suspense! And talk about surprises!

If you haven't been watching it, it might be hard to jump in after eight hours have already passed. Of course, the web site can get you up to speed. If not, my guess is it will be out on DVD shortly after the season ends, and will be well worth the cost of the rentals.

In watching 24, it occured to me that my ideal book on tape would be written just like a season of 24.

Any suggestions?

I am definitely adding him to my list.

I really enjoyed the book. I liked the characters and the plot had a good pace. There was a nice balance of detail in the descriptions - enough to provide atmosphere, but not so much as to slow things down.

I found it interesting that this book used a combination of first and third person perspective. It was also interesting in that the audio used two readers - one female, and one male. The lead character is a female, and her parts are all first person, and of course these are all read by the female. The rest of the narrative is read by the female reader as well - except for the part of the murderer who is male.

I also liked the fact that the plot involved an active killer - as opposed to a story in which the murder has already occured and the focus is on solving the "who done it." I guess I'm more of an action/suspense person than a murder/puzzle person.

If you want to read reviews, Amazon.com has good editorial and customer reviews.

I'm already looking forward to Patterson's 3rd installment of his Women's Murder Club series - "Third Degree." I may even go back and read his first in the series, titled, surprisingly enough, "1st to Die."

Okay, to start out, you'll need to bear with me a bit so I can get through the back story...

I first heard Robert Starling on the radio in the late seventies or early eighties and immediately liked his music.

You may have heard him too and not even know it...

His song "Welcome To The Island" was selected by CBS Sports as the theme for the Heritage Golf Classic at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. His instrumental, "Windy Hill," was selected as the theme for the PBS series Almanac.

Jeanie also liked him, and when we were dating, we would go listen to him when he played at a local Raleigh restaurant called Mountain Jack's. We bought all three of his albums, and even bought a "Hopeful Romantic" T-Shirt. Even though I haven't listened to the LP's in many years, I still wear the T-Shirt around the house or to exercise.

A number of months ago, I heard about a new on-line music download site called e-Music. I thought they had an interesting concept - a reasonable monthly subscription fee for a fixed number of downloads, with the ability to buy additional blocks of songs also at reasonable prices. They have a pretty good web site with decent searches, and a good download manager. While they didn't have much of a catalog of current popular music, they had quite a selection of Indie and eclectic music. They had a good selection of classical, bluegrass, new age, and "world" music. They also have a pretty extensive catalog of Steeleye Span and Renaissance, if you're interested. They also had a free two week trial that came with a number of free downloads. They had enough "interesting" music to justify a few months of membership, but then I ran out of music I was interested in and cancelled.

A few weeks ago, I got an email from e-Music inviting me to give them another shot - for free for a month, including fifty more downloads. Cool, I thought, I'll give it another try.

Unfortunately, they didn't have a whole lot of new music that was of interest. I figured that they might have some stuff from some of my favorites from the past that I only had on vinyl, so I started searching artists - Dan Fogelberg: no, Mike Cross: no, Carly Simon (due to Little Black Book): no. I had gone upstairs to take a look at the albums I still have to see if there was anyone else I should search for. Hmm, Robert Starling? Not a chance, but, what the heck?

And there he was! Turns out that he had just put together a sort of "Greatest Hits" titled "Artifacts," and it was available for download.

Well, download I did and had a wonderful trip down memory lane listening to his songs. The album page on e-Music also had a link to his website StarlingSong. Why not take a look I thought.

Imagine my surprise when right there on the main page, he had an upcoming appearances section, and he was scheduled to be playing in Raleigh at Tavola Rossa!

So, yesterday, around 4:00 PM, I told Jeanie "I'm going to go out and run a few errands. Be dressed and ready to leave the house at 6:00 PM."

A little before six, I returned home. We got into the car and off we drove - Jeanie clueless to my plans. We drove to Crabtree Valley and then scooted behind it to go to Tavola Rossa. Neither of us had ever been to Tavola Rossa, although we had been to to physical building - back when it had been the Cactus Flower.

Robert was playing in the bar, and fortunately, there was a table near his spot in the corner. Jeanie (even though she didn't have any idea and hadn't seen him in nearly twenty years) recognized him immediately. Since the dining area was separate, and we had gone primarily to listen to Robert, we chose to eat in the bar.

Robert tends to play mostly covers in a bar situation, unless someone specifically asks him to play his own songs. Of course, we had gone to listen to him play his songs, so I stepped up and asked...

We ended up getting very lucky. Shortly after we arrived, the bar emptied out. It felt like Jeanie and I got our own private Robert Starling concert. Not only did Robert play a number of our old favorites, but he shared a number of new songs he has written that he is hoping to record sometime soon. I really hope he does record a new album - some of the new songs were really good. As if that wasn't enough excitement, Robert sat down to talk with us on two of his breaks. Talk about feeling special...

We ended up staying for a little over four hours, and had a wonderful time.

I guess sometimes, you can go back...

While it is billed as a romantic comedy, and though it is both funny and romantic, it is not your typical romantic comedy - the movie actually has some deeper themes, and a darker undercurrent. It makes for both an enjoyable and thought provoking experience. I would NOT suggest this as a "date movie," or a movie to rent if you just want to snuggle and feel mushy after an hour and a half.

One scene now ranks as one of my personal funniest of all times. I laughed so hard and so long that I made myself wheeze.

If you like Carly Simon's music, the movie is worth watching just for the score.

As usual, I am avoiding providing a general review and will leave that to the experts. I was somewhat surprised at the overall low rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and I think some of the reviews provide too much information (spoilers), but if you want other opinions, I still think RT is a good place to get a fairly unbiased, broad perspective on a flick.

Well, if one takes reader reviews on Amazon.com as a benchmark, then I am definitely out of the mainstream.

I found the book to be extremely slow and never really got into it. Yes, I was surprised at who the killer turned out to be, but I didn't really care either...

I did enjoy the occasional sarcastic humor of the main character, but I found the first-person perspective distracting. This is the first first-person perspective book that I can remember "reading," so I don't know if I just don't like the style in general, or if it was just this author.

I have one other Grafton alphabet series mystery in the queue, but the reviews on Amazon.com are weaker than for F is for Fugitive, so I'm guessing I might not make it throught it, in which case, I might have to put Ms. Grafton on the "B" list.

After a number of phone calls and faxes, I did get the various physicians to agree to send my pertinent medical records to the FAA for "additional review." It still astounds me that the FAA is making me jump through so many hoops of fire, and I'm afraid that they're not done with me yet. My guess is that after they finish reviewing my records, they will require that I undergo a battery of tests to prove that I am fit to operate an airplane. I could see if I was flying a plane full of paying passengers, but to just allow me and maybe three other people at most - who would be knowing and willing passengers - to fly seems a bit much. What exactly is the federal government so concerned about? Is it my safety, or the safety of others? And if it is the safety of others, which others? The others in the plane, or the others in the air or on the ground? It seems to me that there is a huge inconsistency between the FAA and the rest of the universe. I don't believe that the federal government requires commercial bus drivers to undergo physicals, yet they are responsible for many more lives than I am when flying. And what about truck drivers driving tanker cars full of toxic or flammable items? Alas, I am but howling at the moon...

I had almost decided that if I don't get my certificate after my review I would just give up. But, I really am enjoying my flying, and I have really started looking forward to having it as a hobby, and I can't stand to let "them" beat me.

I was thinking "what's the point in taking another lesson and spending more money if I'm not going to get my certificate?" Jeanie had encouraged me to fly, even if I had no chance of ever getting my certificate. Her thought was that if I enjoyed flying, I could just continue to fly occasionally, even if it always had to be with an instructor. While that line of thinking does make sense, the reality is that I am a goal driven person. I know intellectually that "life is a journey, not a destination," but sometimes it is the destination that drives me to achieve, thus, while I will continue to enjoy flying with an instructor, I am committed to making every effort available to get my medical so I can do the kind of flying I really want to.

Anyway, I went back to Empire Aviation and this time flew with Ben. Ben is a relatively new CFI - in fact he told me that I was his first "student" that already had his private certificate. Ben is a really good instructor and I enjoyed flying with him. He definitely pushed me. Granted, Brandt was probably being really gentle since it was my first time in the saddle, but I guess Ben decided that it was time to put the spurs to the horse. He quizzed me on procedures and regulations throughout the lesson, made me do all of the radio work (although he was kind enough to coach me on what to say before I had to press the mike button), and even had me run through a simulated lost engine procedure.

Rather than just staying in the pattern at Lake Ridge, he had me fly to Person County airport, which is just a short hop away. We did some power off stalls, more slow flight, some turns, and a couple of full stop landings on Person County's paved runway. We ended the hour with a landing back at Lake Ridge, which was much more challenging than Person County due to the fact that Lake Ridge has trees right at the end of its short, grass strip.

I didn't think any of my landings were very pretty, but Ben said that they really weren't bad at all.

Once I get my medical, Ben said that I'd probably only need maybe one more hour of instruction, and then a couple of hours of ground school before I'd be ready for my BFR.

I still find it fascinating that flying can be such hard work, yet be so much fun. Even between last time and this, I gained just enough comfort to be able to spend a few moments looking out the window rather than having to concentrate 100% on just maintaining altitude, attitude, heading and airspeed. My guess is that once I get ten or twenty hours back under my belt, it won't be quite as much work, which will make it all the more fun.

I got this one from Audible.com.

Support for Audible's .aa format was recently added to my Creative Jukebox Zen Xtra. The download worked like a champ, and the sound quality was consistent and good.

This was my first exposure to Tami Hoag. My experience was good enough that I'll give her another try.

I found the book to be a bit slow to engage me at the start. There was a lot of character development and good detail in the narration, but it took a while for me to get engaged by the plot. Once I did get engaged however, I stayed engaged right up to the last word. I found the characters believable and interesting, and the plot had a heck of a twist that I absolutely did not see coming.

Even if the book hadn't been part of a free trial, I still would have found it worth the price.