On the road

I spent almost the entire day today on the road. I covered about 700 miles through Utah and Nevada.

A couple observations:

• For some reason, I just can't get into the Patrick O'Brien books (Master and Commander, etc.). I tried to listen to one of his books on CD today and gave up after about an hour. It's a little weird because I used to love the Hornblower series and other historical fiction books about the British Navy. I'm not sure if my dislike of O'Brien's books is a result of me "maturing" or some difference between his books and other series that I've enjoyed.
  
• After giving up on the O'Brien book, I started listening to Dan Brown's pre-DaVinci Code book "Digital Fortress." It's about the NSA, codes, and international espionage. What's not to like? Unfortunately, I'm about halfway through it and I can safely say that it is a terrible book. The plot has serious holes, the characters are flat, and the dialog is contrived. Nonetheless, I'm enjoying it so far. Despite its flaws, the plot moves fast and it's an interesting concept.
  
• I bought the "Last Kiss" soundtrack last week. I really like Joshua Radin.
  
• I finally caught up on the news today. The ABC news "docu-drama" about 9/11 is outrageous! I'm glad the DNC, MoveOn, and half a dozen other liberal organizations are on the ball with urgent list builders, oops, I mean petitions, to stop it...
  

I'm spending the night in Reno, which is only about 4 hours from Palo Alto, so I should be there by mid-day tomorrow. Horray!