mmm

Muffud's Chocolate Porter [3/15/2008]

For my birthday, Dan made a batch of chocolate porter. Here are some pics from the brewing:

Too bad the pics from the bottling day were lost.
Thanks Dan and Amey for the yummy present!

Porter Sampling No. 3 [2/19/2008]

Brewery	Name	Location	Short Description	Rating
Sinebrychoff	Porter	Kerava, Finland	Thick, Good for Breakfast	94
Darwin Brewery	Original Flag Porter	Durham, England	Clean, Tasty, but Low Alcohol	89
Okocim Brewery	Porter	Poland	Disappointing	75
Flying Dog Brewery	Road Dog Scottish Porter	Denver, CO	Nice Flavor	94
Sea Dog Brewing Co	Riverdriver Hazelnut Porter	Portland, ME	Nutty, Low Alcohol	92
Anchor Brewing Co.	Old Foghorn Barleywine Ale	San Francisco, CA	Good, Not a Porter though	90
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.	Porter	Chico, CA	Yummy	94
Flying Dog Brewery	Gonzo Imperial Porter	Denver, CO	Decent	89

started a draenei shaman [2/18/2008]

Finished Plague Year [2/18/2008]

Without 24 this season, I have been craving action and suspense. Plague Year delivered. For me it was a gripping story and didn't have any labored or unnecessary scenes. The writing style was neither too flowery nor too choppy.

I think Cam's character was almost comforting, like Jack, strong and steady. He provided the needed weight to balance out Ruth's rockiness. She was a bit annoying in parts.

I think this book proves it's possible to write a nanotech-gone-wrong themed book that doesn't end up sounding like it's preaching bio-Luddite fanaticism. I'm looking forward to the sequel.

Finished Shadow of the Giant [2/09/2008]

It was nice to get to know Alai even better in this book, and to get glimpses into the voices of some of the other battle school kids.

It was a little weird for me that Card left Randyll un-found.

And I was never really convinced as to why Bean couldn't have stayed on earth, or Petra gone with him. Was it just to round out Peter's story and give him some humanity? I'm not sure Peter deserved Petra, or that he needed rounding out.

I wonder if Card will write any more books in the enderverse. I'd like to know what happened to Bean and the kids on the ship.

Finished Shadow Puppets [1/29/2008]

I think this is probably my least favorite of all the Ender/Bean books so far. The whole stolen embryo thing was too predictable and too obvious to seem realistic. I couldn't believe Petra suspected Volescu did not have a non-destructive test, but, she didn't suspect he'd help Achilles. I also had a lot of trouble believing that Bean and Petra would not have taken the embryos with them or had much more security to protect them.

Also, will Peter ever realize his parents aren't dumb? Even when they saved his life he was grateful, but, didn't seem to realize they always know more then he thinks they do.

The only thing I really liked was getting to know Alai better in this book.

Porter Sampling No. 2 [1/15/2008]

Brewery	Name	Location	Short Description	Rating
Bear Republic Brewery	Big Bear Black Stout	Healdsburg, CA	Hoppy, Flavorful	89
Stone Brewing Company	Stone Smoked Porter	Escondido, CA	Very Smokey	85
Beer Valley Brewing Co	Black Flag Imperial Stout	Ontario, OR	Strong Alcohol 11%, Hoppy, Thick/Heavy	92
Ballast Point Brewing Co	Black Marlin Porter	San Diego, CA	Decent	86
Rogue Ales	Shakespeare Stout	Newport, OR	Nutty, Yummy	90
Great Divide Brewing Co	Yeti Imperial Stout	Denver, CO	Very Hoppy, Strong Alcohol, Flavorful, Rich	89
Bison Brewing Co	Chocolate Stout	Berkeley, CA	Yummy	89

Finished Shadow of the Hegemon [1/15/2008]

It was hard for me to imagine a strategist like Bean transforming himself into a soldier fighting on the ground in a combat situation. However, I wasn't surprised by his courage and dedication. Will he ever open up to Petra?

Petra's voice was very believable. I wonder what she'll think of Peter. I also wonder what Peter was doing while in Haiti, and how he was changed by losing Valentine.

Finished Ender's Shadow [1/09/2008]

You'd think covering the same time period and a lot of the same events as Ender's Game only from Bean's perspective would be too predictable and lack the suspense of the original. Well Card pulled it off. I was just as interested this time through Battle School.

The timing was great: I didn't think any parts of the story were too long or too short. I think the editors may have listened to readers complaints about too much philosophy/theoretical diversions in Xenocide and Children of the Mind. Personally, I wasn't bothered by it in those books. But, I can see how those criticisms may have made this book a cleaner read and kept it at the right length.

Card really succeeded in getting me invested in Bean's character. I was happy to find he continued writing more books with Bean. I'm interested to see him grow (literally and metaphorically).