Another recent video game I picked up on sale was Subnautica: Below Zero, a follow-up to the 2018 original. I really enjoyed the original; in fact, I still occasionally fire it up to play. This new entry, however, was only mildly enjoyable.

Crafting was a joy in this game, as it was in the original; there are tons of things to make, and you have to explore the world (scanning stuff in the process) to learn what's useful and what's not. The world is definitely much smaller than in the original, but the biomes are a little more diverse: they look vastly different from one another. Some of the biomes were fairly inventive as well (the floating lily pad islands being one memorable one). The story was mediocre, but what really bothered me was the lack of direction in the game. Most of the time you're not sure where to go or what to do. The original did a great job of nudging you in the right direction. In it, you would pick up distress calls from certain locations, each of which was usually near some point of interest that helped you progress.

In this title, however, there's none of that. Often, you just have to stumble upon the right place to move the story along. There are many maze-like areas of the world map, some of which were frustrating to navigate. This makes finding some of those key locations very difficult. All of the above-water locations were a nice new addition, but were equally confusing to navigate. This game either needs an in-game mapping function (maybe something that you have to craft), or it needs better nudges for the player. I eventually had to break down and look online for the location of a few key places; some of them are incredibly well hidden, which is odd given that they are key to moving the story forward.

I've already uninstalled this game (I don't envision playing it again), but it was fun while it lasted. I'll definitely check out any sequels that get made, if only because the first game was so memorable and fun. My verdict: C+.

Back in November, I picked up Doom Eternal on Steam during a weekend sale. It's a relatively old game now (released in March of 2020), but having kids means I don't game as much as I used to. I'm glad I picked it up on sale, because the game was a letdown. How this game got such stellar reviews is beyond me. Maybe it's a sign of the state of first person shooters these days?

As is expected from an id Software game, the game's graphics are stellar. Even on my old rig it looked great and played smoothly. That's about where my praise ends, however. Combat in this game is a chore. Ammo is super limited, which is clearly a design decision to force you to use the game's "glory kill" mechanic. Levels, though beautiful, are the now-typical arena-hallways-arena style design: fight enemies in an arena, then walk through some hallways (or do some jumping puzzles) to get to the next arena.

A few of the enemies were fun, with a number of callbacks to the original, but some of them were a real pain to deal with. I ended up having to lower the difficulty of the game just to get through it; some of the arena battles were just too much of a slog. The story is weak, though I didn't expect much in this department; all id Software games traditionally have terrible story lines.

All in all, I don't envision playing this game again. On my typical letter-grade scale, I'd give it a solid D (for disappointing).

I only recently learned that the movie Jaws was based on a novel written by Peter Benchley. Though not terribly surprising, it was something I didn't know. On a recent visit to my local library, I picked up this book and gave it a read. What a fun novel! The shark attacks, of which there are obviously several, are often seen from the shark's viewpoint. I thought this was pretty clever. As you might expect, the book differs from the movie in several ways, but I couldn't help seeing Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, and Richard Dreyfuss in my mind's eye as I read about these characters. It's a fun and easy read that I recommend.

Last night I completed Endurance by Alfred Lansing. It chronicles the ill-fated voyage of the boat by the same name, captained by Ernest Shackleton in 1914. The boat, which was discovered under the Weddell Sea earlier this year, got stuck in the Antarctic ice in early January 1915. The crew had to disembark and then struggled for the next year and a half towards civilization (the Endurance sank in November of 1915). The final group members were rescued in August of 1916.

This book reads like an incredible work of fiction, but to know that everything in it is true is mind-boggling. What I truly find amazing is that every member of the party survived the ordeal. The conditions that these men had to endure were about as bad as it gets, and yet they managed to make it through. I highly recommend this book!

My eyesight is pretty bad, which makes reading the time on the clock next to the bed a challenge at night. Since 2016, my wife and I have used a projection clock / radio combination, but it had a number of drawbacks:

• The display uses bright blue numbers, which is hard to look at in the dark
• The display is either too dim to read in the daytime (and just right at night), or it's just right in the daytime and too bright at night
• The time from the projection feature is too small for my poor vision
• The projection feature is also too dim to see in all but the darkest rooms
• Our cats chewed up the tiny antenna on the radio, rendering it useless (not that we used it much anyways)

Frustrated with all of these features, I picked up this projection alarm clock from Amazon. It's terrific:

• This clock uses red numbers, which are way easier to read at night
• The primary display isn't too bright or dim (and you can control the brightness across 4 levels)
• The projected time is larger than my previous clock
• The brightness of the projected time is controllable; I use the brightest setting, which makes the numbers quite readable on the ceiling
• There's no radio to fool with (or antenna for cats to chew)
• It has a USB port to slow-charge your phone, which is nice but not something I plan to use

At only $25 (I got it on sale for $20), it's a nice improvement to our bedroom. The only drawback I can think of so far is that the clock is ridiculously light, making it easy to slide around on the bedside table.

I hate doing plumbing repair, mostly because it's often so hard to get right (and doing it wrong can be disastrous). The toilet in our downstairs half-bath has had a number of issues over the years, all revolving around leaky internals. I've repaired the thing myself a couple of times, and even hired a plumber to fix it once. Yet the leaking innards always resurface. I'm not sure if our city water is to blame (our water appears to be harder than I might consider ideal) or what, but it's been a thorn in my side for a while.

The leaks returned recently, so I went to the local home center to pick up replacement parts. I've always used the FluidMaster brand toilet repair parts, mostly because that's what was available. This time around, however, I noted the Korky brand parts. I decided I'd give these a try as a change.

All I can say is wow! Installing these parts seemed way easier to me this time around than in the past, and they are all very well made. It's very clear that thought was put into the design of everything in the kit. To put the cherry on top, these things are all made in the United States, which is something I can definitely get behind.

Time will tell if these parts hold up or start to have leaks like my previous fixes. I'm cautiously optimistic about this brand, however, given how easy the installation was. If you're in the market for toilet repair parts, be sure to look for the Korky brand. I'm very impressed with it.

Since late 2017, I've used the Logictech M705 Marathon wireless mouse at work. I loved everything about this mouse. It had great battery life, even when only using 1 AA battery (it supports two batteries for even longer life, at the expense of extra weight). The weight of the mouse with one battery was terrific; not too light and not too heavy. To top it all off, it had great extended button placement at my thumb, allowing me to quickly browse back and forward in my web browser with a quick click.

This past December, however, I started noting phantom double clicks when single clicking, a problem that quickly got annoying. Searching around the internet informed me that this is a common problem with Logitech mice, and is a sign that the physical switch under the left mouse button is failing. I immediately headed to Amazon to pick up another M705 when I discovered a ton of negative recent reviews. Apparently, Logitech has actually changed that product, dropping some features and cheapening the body, while keeping the same model number (how can any company rationalize doing this, by the way?).

Persuaded to stay away from the newer model, I opted instead for the Logitech M585. Having had this new mouse for a few months now, I'm fairly pleased. The mouse is smaller physically, and not as sculpted as the M705, which is a minor drawback to me (the M705 had a real nice feel in the hand). However, this new one still fits my hand well. Pointing accuracy is dead on. The 585 supports moving between multiple machines, but it requires external software (on both systems), and that was enough of a barrier that I didn't bother.

Time will tell if the mouse holds up to daily driving, but so far so good.

One of the things we had to do after having our daughter was to child-proof a number of things around our house. Ensuring that bookcases (and similar furniture) didn't tip over was of primary concern, so I looked for various options. After trying some strap-style tie-downs (which didn't work worth a darn), I found the Hangman Anti-Tip Kit, which is marketed partially towards anchoring furniture in earthquake-prone areas. This device is simple to install, and is as solid as a rock. Highly recommended for those in a similar situation.

Our garage has been lit by two 60-watt incandescent bulbs for as long as I've lived in this house (over a decade now). Until recently, that never really bothered me. Now that I'm into woodworking, however, and now that it gets dark early in the evening, the lack of light really started to strike a nerve. In thinking about potential solutions, I initially thought I'd install some LED strip lights in the ceiling, but doing this meant I would (a) have to mount the lights to the ceiling and (b) adjust the wiring for the existing sockets to accommodate for these new lights.

I found a much better solution in these deformable lights, which I picked up on Amazon. There are a million variations of these, from a million different Chinese companies, but these were some of the cheaper ones I found. The lights simply screw into the existing socket, and you can then point the three paddles in the direction you desire. I haven't used them a ton yet, but wow, the difference in illumination is night and day. I highly recommend them. Here's a picture of our garage taken tonight, with no flash:

A few weeks ago, my wife and I watched the film All the President's Men, about the Watergate scandal. I had seen the movie before, but it was a real treat to watch it again (it's truly an excellent film). Seeing the movie got me interested in the book on which it was based, so I picked up a copy from my local library.

Wow, what a read! This book ought to be required reading for American citizens. Though it's a non-fiction book, it reads like an action adventure novel. It was difficult to put down, and was a real eye-opener into just how corrupt our politicians are. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

I have always liked a good flashlight. As a kid, I even asked for a 5-cell D Maglite for Christmas (which Santa brought!). This past December, I picked up the ThruNite Archer 2A flashlight from Amazon, based on a review from The Wirecutter. At $30 it's not cheap, but boy is this thing great.

It uses two AA batteries and puts out an incredible amount of light. There are four brightness settings, ranging from dim (great for when your eyes are adjusted to the dark) to blindingly bright. I also like the fact that it's compact; you could easily store this in a bag, car console, or junk drawer without taking up much space.

Since I bought it, I've put it to use in a number of ways (looking for dropped items in the car, using it on walks at night, and hunting under furniture for lost cat toys). I highly recommend this spectacular flashlight.

Back in March of 2010, I mentioned that I had a goal of visiting and photographing every single state park in my home state of North Carolina. In May of that same year, I narrowed my definition slightly to be those parks that have public facilities and for which attendance records are taken. At the time, there were 40 such parks (another has since joined their ranks, for a total of 41 as of this writing).

On Saturday, October 29, after over six years of park visits, I finally completed my goal!

My final state park visit was at Hammocks Beach State Park, the only park with ferry-service to its primary land parcel, Bear Island.

One question I'm often asked when sharing my love of state parks with others is: which park is your favorite? This is a really difficult question to answer, as every single park in our state has something unique to offer (which, incidentally, makes visiting them all so worthwhile). That said, I thought it would be fun to rank some of the state parks from the viewpoint of my favorite park pastime: hiking. In this post, I'll provide a breakdown of my favorite parks to hike in for all three regions of our state: mountains, Piedmont, and coast. I'll also post a list of my least favorite parks for hiking.

Best of the Mountains

North Carolina is blessed with terrific mountain state parks. Here are my favorite mountain state parks to hike:

1. Gorges: The westernmost park in our state, Gorges is my favorite mountains park. It has a particularly beautiful visitor's center, and though the hikes are very challenging, they offer some of the most beautiful scenery in the state as a reward.
2. Stone Mountain: Hiking up the giant granite dome is one of the most enjoyable things to do at this fantastic park. Views from the top are great, especially on a clear day, and several waterfalls can't be missed!
3. Pilot Mountain and Hanging Rock: These two parks are a tie for me. Both have challenging, but rewarding, hiking trails, fantastic views, and lots to do. Regardless of the season you visit, there's always something fascinating to see.

Best of the Piedmont

The Piedmont area of North Carolina is typically very heavily forested, which makes for some great spots to walk in the woods. Here are my favorite Piedmont parks:

1. Eno River: Easily my favorite Piedmont state park (probably because of its proximity to where I live), Eno River has the best network of diverse hiking trails. For an area that has so many people, this park offers a terrific slice of solitude.
2. Raven Rock: A popular park with some great trails to interesting geological features. The staircase down the namesake cliff is quite lengthy, so come prepared for a climb!
3. Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve: This small park is a hidden gem. The hiking trails here are very easy, winding through a very unique long-leaf pine forest. Underbrush in this forest is nearly non-existent, which means you can see a long ways through the stands of trees. Definitely a park not to be missed!

Best of the Coast

Some of the most unique state parks in North Carolina are located along the coast. Here are my favorites:

1. Jockey's Ridge: Walking up the tallest living sand-dune on the east coast of the United States is something everyone should do. Just be sure to have your shoes on in the summertime: the sand can get quite hot!
2. Goose Creek: Tucked along the Pamlico River, this park has an impressive boardwalk system. Strolling these boardwalks makes for some terrific sightseeing, and provides a glimpse at what natural life is like in the swamp along a river. Another hidden gem!
3. Carolina Beach: Have you ever hiked in a forest at the beach? You can do so at this state park, where you'll also find carnivorous plants in their native habitats. Keep your eyes peeled for Venus fly-traps and pitcher plants!

Honorable Mention

Of all the state parks I've visited, I had more pure fun at Merchants Millpond than any other. Canoeing in the millpond there is a delight, especially on a comfortable day. You'll see plenty of wildlife (including alligators!) and you won't want the experience to end. This park has good hiking opportunities too, so it's win-win.

My Least Favorites

Three state parks truly stand out in my mind for least impressive hiking opportunities:

1. Pettigrew: With only one hiking trail (and a poorly maintained one at that, at least when I visited), this park isn't for hikers. If you like boating, however, you'll love the lake at this park, which happens to be North Carolina's second largest natural one.
2. Lake Waccamaw: Again, this is primarily a boater's paradise. Hiking here is difficult (the trails aren't very well maintained), and the hike isn't very interesting.
3. Singletary Lake: This park is only open to large groups, so hiking here is a challenge. The trails that are offered, like many lake-centered state parks, are fairly short.

I hope you've enjoyed this round-up of my visits to various North Carolina state parks. I encourage everyone to visit them all, as it's a great way to see our beautiful state!

I've been meaning to post about this for a while now, because this product is as close to black magic as I've ever seen, even though I know the theory of how it works. My wife and I picked up a Brown Sugar Saver from Sur La Table while at our local mall a few weeks ago. We had a container of brown sugar that was literally as hard as a rock. Various metal implements were unable to pry the concrete-like material from its container, so we decided we'd give this a try.

The Brown Sugar Saver is simply a piece of terracotta pottery; nothing more. You soak the small medallion in a dish of water for 15 minutes, remove it, blot it dry with a towel, and place it directly in the container with your brown sugar. We did this, and in the morning found that our brown sugar was just as soft and pliable as it would be had you just opened a fresh bag of the stuff! Needless to say, we were really surprised. It only cost $4, and has solved an annoying problem that I've lived with for far too long. I highly recommend this thing (you can buy similar ones in a number of places).

Let me get the crux of this review out of the way: the car buying service offered by the North Carolina State Employees' Credit Union (of which I am a member) rocks. Before I get to the details, allow me to provide a little background.

I've been driving a 1999 Mazda Protege since June of 2000. The Protege is an extremely reliable car, but mine was really starting to show its age: rust was visible in a few places, the pin stripes on the side were flaking off, and the car had gotten quite loud on the road (the wind and road noise were pretty unbearable). Having talked about getting a new car for a year or two, I finally decided to take action. In searching for a new car, I had a few essential criteria:

• It should be a four-door sedan
• It should have a quiet and smooth ride
• It should be a step up in quality from my Protege

I ended up test driving five vehicles, all in the same size and price class: the Honda Accord, Hyundai Sonata, Mazda 6, Nissan Altima, and Toyota Camry. All of these vehicles have their own strengths and weaknesses (e.g. the Mazda 6 was the sexiest on the outside, but had a rather loud and "active" ride), but I was able to whittle it down to two cars: the Altima and the Camry. I ended up choosing the Camry (though it was admittedly a tough choice; the Altima is a pretty nice vehicle).

Once I knew what I wanted, I started looking at local dealers' prices. My dad reminded me that our credit union had a car buying service, so I looked into it, mostly out of curiosity. Their process typically works as follows:

1. You select the make, model, and year of the car you're looking for.
2. You select the color and options you're interested in.
3. You provide some contact information and submit.

Once the credit union has your information, they'll look for a car that most closely matches what you asked for. They'll then negotiate a price for that car, and will let you know what that price is. The turnaround time for this entire process was only two days (I submitted the request on a Monday and had a quote the very next day). My primary goal was to get an anchor price that I could use when negotiating with the local dealers.

The quote I received for the car I was interested in was way less than I expected it would be; nearly $5500 off the sticker price! Not only that, but they offered me nearly double what Carmax would have given me for my Protege! Needless to say, I was stunned at how competitive the deal was. Car shopping is an intimidating process and the negotiation phase was something I wasn't looking forward to at all. This service shortcut that headache altogether!

I decided to not even bother trying to negotiate for a better deal elsewhere. I'm sure there are people who could have gotten a better deal, but I decided that my time and efforts were worth something, and SECU's offer was very tempting. The car was delivered to my local SECU branch (they can deliver to your house, if you so desire), and most of the paperwork was handled for me. I essentially drove to my bank and swapped cars with the driver who delivered it (after signing the requisite forms, of course).

All in all, I would definitely use this service again. I'm so impressed with how easy it all was, and it took the most frustrating aspect of car buying out of the equation completely. If you're a member of a credit union, I highly recommend checking out this kind of service if it's available. It just might be the way I handle car buying from now on.

Back in 2009, I reviewed the original Torchlight. Now that the sequel is out, I thought I'd post a few brief thoughts on it as well. Note that I've only played the single-player aspect of this game so far (oddly enough, that's the kind of gaming I prefer). In short, not only does this game blow the original out of the water, it comes close (in my opinion) to doing the same to Diablo 2, which is my favorite action-RPG of all time.

The Good

Bigger Maps

The maps in Torchlight 2 are so much larger than in the first game, that it's ridiculous. There are tons of places to explore, including some sub-dungeons that are completely optional! Make sure you explore every nook and cranny; you might otherwise miss something awesome.

Level Randomization

The randomization of each level is mind blowing. I currently have five characters I'm playing (I've finished the game with two of them so far), and in every play through I've seen something different. And I'm not just talking about level layout; I've actually seen different set pieces every time I've played! Finding new stuff is always a thrill.

Great Graphics

I've seen lots of people complain about the look of this game, but I love it. Sure it may look "cartoony," but that's part of the charm. It's different. And it runs really well on my aging computer, which is always a plus.

New Classes

This time around there are four new classes to play. Although they share some features with the original game's classes, for the most part they are all unique and different. How you play each will change drastically, depending on the build you develop over time. There's a ton of re-playability right here alone! As of this writing, I've completed the game with the Berserker and the Engineer. I'm currently playing as an Embermage, and will try out the Outlander (which looked to be the weakest class) last.

Cheap

It's still only $20!

The Bad

No Respecs

Unfortunately, you can only respec the last three skills you've earned at any given time (for a price!). This makes it very easy to paint yourself into a corner with a lousy character build. Being able to respec all of my character's skills would be great, so I could try different builds on the fly. Hopefully someone will improve this situation when the modding tools are released.

Weak Story (Again)

The storyline in this game is pretty weak (as it was in the first one), and isn't as clear as it should be. I wasn't expecting much, though, so this is a minor gripe.

The Verdict

Torchlight 2 is a fantastic game, and has more fun-per-dollar baked in than any other game on the market. At only $20, the only question worth asking is why wouldn't you buy this game? A+

Last night, I finished reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values, by Robert Pirsig. What a thought provoking book! It's essentially an introduction to philosophy, by way of the story of a motorcycle trip that a father (the author) and his son take across the country. The narrative bounces between events of the actual trip and a series of Chautauquas on the author's nagging question: "What is Quality?" His explorations of what Quality is and what it means for each of us is very intriguing, and has given me some new insights into what I should be striving for in my life.

That said, this book isn't the easiest read. It's clearly a volume that warrants a second (and perhaps, third) reading. So much food for thought is presented to the reader, that it becomes difficult to digest. Approach this work with an open mind and with an eagerness to learn. Anything less and you may find yourself bored from the start. If you're willing to read through it, however, I can guarantee that this book will leave you pondering the same questions that have haunted philosophers all these years.

One other, similar book that I'd like to mention in passing is The Mind of the Maker, by Dorothy Sayers. I read this particular title before reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and found it equally as intriguing. This title is an even more difficult work to get into, but there are such gems embedded within it that the work is worth the effort. Although Sayers's work focuses primarily on creativity and the art of creating, it inevitably ends up treading over some of the same territory that Pirsig's work does. Quality, it turns out, is at the root of everything; very intriguing stuff.

For those who live under a rock, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was released ten days ago. I'm already nearly 70 hours into this game, and there's still a ton of stuff I haven't done. That said, I figured I'd post a few quick thoughts about this game. In short, this is easily one of the best games I've ever played.

There is simply too much to do in this game. You could spend all day making potions, crafting items, enchanting items, or simply exploring the world, all without ever starting a single quest. I found myself completing many of the "miscellaneous" quests long before I joined any particular faction, or started along the main quest line. There are still giant chunks of the map that I have yet to visit, which is incredible given that I'm so far in.

The game's graphics are outstanding; head and shoulders above Oblivion's engine. I'm really impressed with the draw distance, and every dungeon, cave, and mine has a unique feel (fixing one of Oblivion's few failings). It's also silky smooth on my system, running on the "High" detail level. Story lines have been interesting so far (though the Thieves' Guild seemed a little weak), and I'm loving the Dragon Shout abilities. Blasting an enemy off the top of a mountain is so incredibly fun.

I do have a few complaints. The user interface on the PC is pretty terrible, though I'm hopeful that a mod will come along soon to fix that. Voice acting is good, but some of the voices are reused way too much for my liking. Perk points (a new way of leveling your character) are too rare. Give me 2 or 3 points per level, not just 1! Finally, as is usual with this type of game, there are still quite a few bugs. Another patch is coming after Thanksgiving, which should hopefully smooth out some of the rough spots.

If you like role playing games, and you enjoyed the previous Elder Scrolls titles, you'll like this title. It's an instant classic in my opinion, and has taken its rightful place in my "best games of all time" list.

Having recently completed Portal 2, I thought I'd share a few thoughts on the experience. As usual, I played it through on the PC, so my review comes from that vantage point. I have yet to try the co-op portion of the game, so my thoughts are limited to the single player experience.

The Good

Writing

As usual, the writing from Valve is top notch. The dialogue in Portal 2 is really funny and Stephen Merchant is outstanding as Wheatley, the personality core. If for no other reason, you should purchase this game for the hilarity alone.

The Story Arc

Though I found the overall story a little predictable, the execution is well done. Lots of back-story on Aperture Science and GLaDOS is uncovered, providing some really neat "aha" moments.

New Puzzle Elements

Several new puzzle elements have been added to the mix including light bridges, lasers, and various forms of physics paint (the latter of which I found really entertaining). These all added interesting twists to how you ended up using your portals.

Look and Sound

The graphics and sound in the game are stellar, as usual. I really felt like a part of the world while playing through the game.

The Bad

Loading...

Load screens are way too frequent in this title. This is a problem Valve needs to solve first and foremost for their next game. Each of their games has always been heavy on load screens, but this was ridiculous. I'm guessing this was a limitation forced on them by the gaming consoles which they support.

Console-itis

Valve has always delivered top-notch PC experiences, but here the console-itis bleeds through. The menu system is clearly designed for console controllers, and game engine options were surprisingly anemic. Very frustrating.

Too Short (Again)

The first Portal suffered from an incredibly short gameplay experience, and Portal 2 sadly has the same problem. I finished the game in about 6 hours, which is pitiful compared to the 20 or 30 hours or so it took me to play through Half-Life 2 the first time. My hope was that this game would have been much longer.

Single Solution Puzzles

Most, if not all, of the puzzles in the game have essentially one single solution. Portal allowed the player to come up with various solutions to the game's puzzles; but here, each puzzle is designed with one solution in mind, which was a letdown.

Gripes aside, this is a game everyone should play. It's a whirlwind of good game design, with hilarious writing all the way through. I give it a solid 4 stars.

Yesterday, I finally finished reading the Lord of the Rings series for the first time. I can finally scratch them off my list of shame! As I did for the previous two books, I thought I would provide some brief thoughts on each.

The Two Towers

I found it interesting how this volume told two stories in separate chunks (books 3 and 4), rather than interleaving them. The first book follows the adventures of Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, Merry, Pippin, and Gandalf, from beginning to end. The second follows Sam, Frodo, and Gollum. In the movie adaptation of this book, the stories are intertwined, helping to remind the viewer that various events are happening in parallel. Telling each story in its entirety in the novel was much more rewarding from a reading perspective. I never lost track of what was going on during each story, and I found them that much more engaging. It's interesting that Peter Jackson decided to move the scene with Shelob into the third movie, since it really happens at the end of the second novel. Again, this was a top notch novel, which I enjoyed cover to cover.

The Return of the King

To me, this book differs more from its movie adaptation than the previous two. In the book, the army of the dead is used to gain ships for Aragorn and company: nothing more. They are released from service after helping the company obtain these ships. In the movie, the dead travel with them and fight Sauron's army with the company. I think I prefer the novel's version here. Likewise, I prefer the ending of the novel over the movie. How could the film's writers have left out the scouring of the Shire? When Frodo and company return to the Shire, they find it in ruin. This was a key scene omitted from the movie, much to the movie's detriment, in my opinion. Novel for the win!

Now for a few final thoughts on the series as a whole:

• It boggles my mind that Arwen is a bit character in the novels. Having seen the movies before reading the books, I guess my vision of her importance was tarnished. She barely has any speaking lines in the books, and is left out of the second story altogether.
• While I enjoy Peter Jackson's movie adaptations of these books, the novels (as usual) far exceed them. Key elements were left out of the films: interacting with Tom Bombadil, several scenes with the Ents, and the scouring of the Shire (along with the deaths of both Saruman and Wormtongue). I guess it's hard to beat a book.

Back in December of last year, I made the decision to ditch my land-line telephone and go wireless only. I decided to pick up a smart phone, and chose the Motorola Droid: both because of the Verizon network (with which I was relatively happy) and because it wasn't an iPhone. Now that I've had an opportunity to play with it for a few months, I'd like to share some thoughts on the device.

Droid Hardware

Seeing as this is my first smart phone experience, I don't have anything else to compare it to, but the hardware is solid. It feels well built, looks nice (in a utilitarian sort of way), and works very well. The phone is heavy, which can be a minor annoyance. I like the fact that I can use either a physical or virtual keyboard, though the physical keyboard is a bit tight. Oddly enough, I find myself switching between the keyboards pretty frequently; sometimes I'll use the physical keyboard, while others I'll use the virtual one. Automatic word prediction, a feature I enjoy using, only works with the virtual keyboard, which probably explains why I bounce between the two (depending on how much I need to type).

The external speaker sounds great, which is a plus when I use the speaker phone. Equally as good is the display, which has vivid colors and incredibly crisp text. The touch screen is decent, though I can't help but feel that it's not quite as good as it should be. I sometimes have a tough time getting it to pick out exactly where to click, especially on crowded web page designs. Scrolling can occasionally feel laggy, but it has a nice inertia to it, which I appreciate (I hear that Android 2.1, which has yet to be released as of this writing, improves scrolling responsiveness). Fingerprints are obviously an issue on a touch screen, and a minor annoyance, but I've learned to live with them. Storing the phone in my pocket surprisingly helps keep the screen clean!

The battery has been nothing but a problem since the day I got this phone. Sometimes, I can get two or even three days of battery life out of a single charge (depending on my usage), while other times I get less than a single day. Occasionally, the battery will drain itself for no apparent reason. Several software bugs involving the battery are also still lurking in the OS; the charge indicator will report a values of 5% or 15% at random times. Plug the phone in, and the indicator resets itself. Hopefully this problem will be worked out in Android 2.1.

Wireless reception is a mixed bag. Signal strength is terrific in the car and outside. In my house, I get decent signal (between 2 and 3 bars). At work, and in many big-box stores, I get absolutely no signal whatsoever. My signal at work is so bad, that I essentially can't answer calls without walking out of the building (and I sit so far from a door that I can't make it outside before my voice-mail picks up the call). This annoys some people to no end, but I don't know of a decent way to deal with the problem, short of getting a new phone number via Google Voice, a solution I'm not terribly interested in.

Wi-fi support is terrific, as is the built-in GPS (which I'll come back to in a moment). Rounding out the hardware is the camera, which is nice, but something I haven't made much use of. The 5 megapixel resolution is a bit much in my opinion, as resulting images are too large for uploading to the web (I had to grab a free app to resize images for posting purposes).

GPS Navigation

The Droid comes with free turn-by-turn navigation via Google Maps. This is my first experience with a GPS navigation device and I absolutely love it. Google Maps navigation has been updated several times since I got the phone, with some terrific new features, including pinch-to-zoom, improved search results, and more. Navigating at night is convenient with a night-mode (on-screen graphics are dimmed to avoid being so bright), and drive time estimations are typically quite accurate. Being able to get real-time traffic reports is another great feature that has come in handy a time or two. The navigation software will even reroute your directions if you drive off course, which can be quite handy in the right situations (a missed turn, for example). I picked up a weighted, friction dash mount for using it in the car (I didn't want a suction cup on the windshield), and so far so good.

Software - Android OS

I'm pleased with the Android operating system. User actions have a nice feel to them, and I think the layout is clean and efficient. Again, I have nothing else to really compare this to. Changing the phone's settings can be a bit of a bother. There are loads of menus and sub-menus, and it's hard to remember where certain settings are stored. There are places here where some additional polish would be welcome. For example, it's super easy to set my phone to silent mode on the unlock screen; but when I'm actually using the phone, I have to navigate through several menus of options to make that change. This kind of inconsistency, especially for something so common as a silent mode switch, is bizarre.

As a developer, I'm impressed with how Android works behind the scenes. Applications are actually collections of code chunks. In other words, there's no "main" function like your typical computer program. I won't go into why this is the case here, but suffice it to say that these design decisions make for some interesting capabilities.

Software - Apps

A number of terrific applications are available for Android, though the library is currently much smaller than the iPhone's software library (though, to be fair, the iPhone has been out for far longer). I routinely use several apps:

• WeatherBug for forecasts (this app has the cleanest look of all the weather apps I've tried, which is saying a lot, considering how terrible the WeatherBug website is).
• Either Twidroid or Seesmic for Twitter access, depending on my mood.
• Shopping List Plus for grocery lists. Not a perfect app, but it lets me say so long to pen and paper!
• Wapedia for accessing Wikipedia articles (I can't find a decent link for the app itself).

Concluding Thoughts

So far, I'm happy with the decision to switch to wireless only. Although I occasionally miss the clarity of a land-line telephone, I find this wireless phone is good enough for the little amount of talking I do. Having a phone that's capable of doing other tasks for me (managing my calendar, my shopping list, catching up on Twitter, etc) is great, and I don't see myself going back.