Book Log 2009 #30: Enclave by Kit Reed

A former Marine officer, spinning a story of imminent world collapse to the wealthy, opens a school in an isolated and abandoned monastery, and takes in 100 students whose parents are as anxious to be rid of them as they are hoping to save them from the anarchy to come.

Ironically, that anarchy comes to the school when two viruses - one computer, one biological - threaten the survival of both the school and its inhabitants. The officer falls back on SOP (standard operating procedure) to work through the crisis, but when the Lord of the Flies instinct kicks in with both the students and the staff, SOP is SOL.

I did like the book, though I never quite bought that the guy in charge was so blind to the need to adapt to the situation at hand (he clearly never watched Heartbreak Ridge). Still, it was an entertaining diversion.

It's also worth noting that when I read the book there was only one review on Amazon for it, from the notorious Harriet Klausner. The review, and the comments it inspired, were almost as entertaining as the book itself.

Book Log 2009 #29: Capturing Eichmann by Neil Bascomb


I knew a little about the Eichmann case before picking up this book, but quickly found myself drawn into its presentation of things. I was especially interested in how Israel, a young country still fighting for existence, mounted this operation in a country where it had few official connections.

The book reads well, and it quite recommended. I'll also recommend The Perfect Mile, the story of the race to break the four minute mile. I thought I'd read it after I started doing the Book Log, but apparently not.

One clear oversight in talking about turning 40 is that I didn't mention the surprise party the wife threw. Well, it was more of a 75 percent surprise party, as the night before the event the wife got on the phone with my sister, and the first couple of minutes of the conversation (from my end) went something like this:

"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"Yes."
"No."
etc.

It might surprise you that this is not how they normally converse. So I did have some idea that something was going to happen, but didn't realize the scope of things. At least until I got to Salem Beer Works and spent the afternoon with a variety of family, friends and co-workers. I'm assuming a good time was had by all, given the easy access to beer and a birthday cake shaped like beer.

So a belated thanks to the wife for making 40 that much less scary.

So, 40.

It's been a few days, and I can't say that I've had any life-changing revelations, or had the urge to go out and buy a sports car. I have talked to a few people who got to 40 before me, and the consensus is that the transition to 30 was more of a big deal, apparently as it's the age where people really start thinking that they're adults.

I can't say my 30th birthday was a big deal, either. The only thing I remember doing on my 30th was seeing Eyes Wide Shut. By that measure, 40 beats 30 hands down.

Additionally, I think that adding a kid to the mix has a way of refocusing things. Granted, I'll probably wind up being one of the oldest parents among the boy's class/team/playmates, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Not that the age thing matters greatly, as 40 is the new 30. Or the new 20. Or perhaps the new 25? 40 should not be the new 15. And it just may be the new 60. Actually, that last one may explain how CBS improved its ratings. Heck, I'll just be happy to make 41.

This week marks a bit of a milestone for us, as the boy started at day care on Monday. For all of the concern about how he'd react to being in unfamiliar territory with people he doesn't know - most of them other, somewhat larger, kids - he did fine. No crying, no fussing, slept and ate fine. We should have expected that, as he's never put up a fuss when interacting with any of our family and friends, and will pretty much take a bottle from whoever is holding it.

Us parents, though, didn't do as well. The wife actually did very well in the morning, keeping the drop off quick so the emotions wouldn't build up. It helped that many of her co-workers are moms themselves, and those that aren't are certainly sympathetic.

Come the afternoon, though, plans fell awry. After dropping off the boy, the wife takes a bus from the Wonderland stop to her office, and does the trip in reverse after work. Going in, the bus went by the stop a few minutes early, so the wife had to wait for the next one. Not that big a deal, she got to work less early that she would have otherwise.

The problem came when the bus didn't show in the afternoon. This is apparently very rare, and the wife's fellow riders gave the driver an earful when the next bus came along. But by this time, it was clear that the wife was going to be late. So she called me.

I, as luck would have it, was at North Station having just missed a train. I'd have made it except the other train sharing the platform started boarding, and I couldn't fight through the swarm of passengers to get to my train. In any event, it gave me a chance to take her panicked call and plan on taking the Blue Line out to Wonderland, with the first one of us to get there to pick up the boy and then drive to the station to get the other person.

Turns out I was the first one there, so I hoofed over and got the boy. He was sleeping in his car seat ready to go, thankfully only 15 minutes later than planned (the day care provider was very understanding, I suppose she's used to this sort of thing at the start). The only snag after that was the parking ticket we got - the parking in that neighborhood is apparently resident only (which, given its proximity to Wonderland, makes sense in retrospect).

It probably shouldn't be a surprise that the transition to day care is harder on us than it is on the boy, but there it is. I'm just happy we don't have to go through this every day.

I find it hard to belive that the Arena Football League is going out of business, but it looks like that's the case. The league finally seemed to turn the corner in the last couple of years, what with the NBC deal and relative stability in franchise locations.

While I can't say that I know anything about the underlying financial causes of the collapse (other than blaming "the economy"), I tend to think the league was a victim of its own success (so to speak). I know I found myself less interested as the league became more mainstream, and once the Elway Rule brought in free substitution, the league lost the ironman image that was such a key part of its identity. What you had, then, was NFL Lite, and who wants to watch that?

Perhaps the more amusing aspect of this is that af2, the AFL's minor league, never shut down and appears to be going one place its parent league isn't - 2010. While I assume this has somethign to do with the relatively lower cost of running the league, it should also be noted that there's no Elway Rule in af2. Coincidence?