Michael Crichton

I just found out that Michael Crichton has died at age 66. He was by far and wide my favorite author of all time. I always looked forward to his new books and devoted much time to reading his words. His writings always provided a glimpse into the future of new technologies or emerging ideas. His books always made me think about what was really possible in the world. I will miss reading new works from him, but I have the joy of my personal collection and knowing that I can go back and relive his greatness. You will be missed deeply.

The journey to End World.

After more than a year my journey is complete. My quest to the Dark Tower is over. I feel at peace with the world. I feel as if I've accomplished a great task. I feel fulfilled. I was there through the pain, the sorrow, the despair, the joy and the revelation. For a brief time I was Roland Deschain of Gilead, son of Steven, the line of Eld, the ka-tet of nineteen and ninety-nine. His quest to find the tower was my own.

Experiencing this epic tale was memorizing. Words truly can't describe it. There have been few tales that have been this captivating to me. That have truly made me part of the story and to actually feel every emotion.

I am sad that it has come to an end. For a long time I had my quest to keep me company, to go to when I needed an escape from the world. I will miss my friends, my ka mates if you kennit. But ka is a wheel and I know I will once again lust for the path to the tower and I will join my tet again.

Thankee sai. Long days and pleasant nights.

The last couple of days...

I don't want to go to work in the morning nor do I want to stay here. I think I'm ready to go home. At least I only have another few days then I will be on my way home. I am very much looking forward to it. My flight home takes me through Chicago and I know I'm going to miss my connecting flight. I'm actually quite stressed about it. The flights that I was booked on are with different carriers for each leg. First with United, then with American. With the luck I've had with United in the past the plane will be late to leave, cutting my 2 hour time to clear customs and immigration to next to nothing, plus getting back through security at O'Hare is going to take forever. When I flew out the lines to get through the security checks were insane. Would have easily been 60-90 minutes just standing to wait to get into the concourse. I'm fairly confident that I will be stranded there. Nothing about being in Chicago excites me. I've been there before, and have hated it each time even more than the last.

On another note, I picked up The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah and started reading it. If you haven't read the Dark Tower series by Stephen King you owe it to yourself to pick it up. Its been the most enjoyable read I've had. Every book is brilliant and holds on to you till the very end and then leaves you wanting more. I'm fortunate in that I started the series after all the books had been published and didn't have to wait the many years for it to be complete.

When I was out looking for this book I ended up at a fairly large mall. It takes going to a mall to make one remember quickly how much they suck. Too many people and screaming kids are a quick way to make one's eye twitch. In my wanderings I found a Wal-Mart and I have to say its not much different than the ones at home. Same people, same crowd, same everything.

Did some laundry, and god I hate laundromats. I miss having my own washer and dryer. I loathe sitting there and waiting. Actually I hate waiting in general so being in a hot place with a bunch of other people waiting for the laundry to be done is just another great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. And to make things worse having to sit in the sun and wait for the bus to take me there is a pain in the ass too. Makes one remember very quickly why they have a car and how much we take for granted the conveniences we have.

Oh well, it will all be over soon. Hopefully I'll get to have some time at home before I get shipped out again. And to be honest hopefully it won't come again. I don't think I much care for this whole traveling for work gig. It wouldn't be so bad if it was just for a short time, but 4 weeks is a long time to be away from everyone. Living in a hotel room sucks, eating at the hotel is expensive and being stranded here without a car sucks, so in general it just sucks. While I did get to come here on the company's dime if it was for a shorter duration it wouldn't be so bad.