Ron's Info-Closet Annex

Woodman: I finished The Tin Woodman of Oz (1918) by L. Frank Baum on Thursday. It is by far the most philosophical of Baum's original 14 Oz books, and for that reason, many Oz fans do not like it, but it is my favourite. I hope to post a review and relevant excerpts shortly.

Lunch: Had a great lunch with my friend Chad Urso McDaniel on Thursday too. We really got into the conversational groove, and lost track of the time. I usually spend a few minutes browsing in the Elliott Bay Book Company, where we have lunch, but this time I had to dash back to the office.

Radio: RadioParadise.com is a great Internet radio station for intelligent rock. Marty thinks it doesn't rock enough, but I frequently listen to it on headphones at work. Radio Paradise plays lots of new stuff, so I'm constantly jotting down the names of songs to... uh, buy later. Best of all, it's listener-supported, so it doesn't have commercials. Hell, it doesn't even have pledge drives!

Gaming: An unusually good game night. Note: As I write this, this session report is unfinished. That's the way wikis are.

Barcharts: In helping Marty study for her GREs, I (re-)discovered a really cool set of study aids with the brand name of Barcharts, available from Barcharts.com. There are several manufacturers of "laminated study guides", but Barcharts seems to be the best, biggest, and most popular. Marty bought a few of them for math review.

I bought the aid on Comparative Religion. You would be amazed at how hard it is to find a clear, concise, neutral exposition of Buddhism's Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path online, not to mention the main talking points of the other major religions of the world. I also plan to buy the German Grammar and German Vocabulary aids, in my endless, somewhat quixotic attempt to obtain a reading knowledge of German.

Marty and I are going to sit down and read the Comparative Religion one together when her GREs are over; meanwhile, she has boosted her GRE math scores quickly, according to her computerised practice exams. I know most of that is due to her brains and hard work, but I think the Barcharts have helped.