Books, Entertainment, and Money: Triple Threat!
Here are a couple of things about my life worth noting.
* * *
One of my resolutions for 2007 is to read at least twenty books: ten for professional development, and ten for leisure. I'm hoping to alternate them; on Saturday I finished Islamic Imperialism by Ephraim Karsh, and immediately started Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy. One thing I've been very happy about is that the first few months of my professional life have afforded me more time to read, something I was grossly ineffective at as a university student.
At any rate, since I tend to organize things when I get bored or have impromptu time on my hands, I put together a list of some of the books that I want to read in the next year. Here are my lists, as they stand right now. First, my list for professional development:
The Battle for the Falklands by Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins
The Royal Marines by Julian Thompson
The Making of a Legionnaire by Bill Parris
Imperial Grunts by Robert D. Kaplan
Guests of the Ayatollah by Mark Bowden
Islam: View from the Edge by Richard W. Bulliet
The Age of the Caliphs by Bertold Spuler
Globalized Islam by Olivier Roy
Orientalism by Edward Said
What Went Wrong? by Bernard Lewis
Hizbu'llah: Politics and Religion by Amal Saad-Ghorayeb
Ottoman Empire and Islamic Tradition by Norman Itzkowitz
Some of these are books that I was supposed to have read in university, some are books that I've picked up under various circumstances, and others are books I've heard of by reputation alone and want to evaluate for myself. I'm guessing that there are several (the penultimate entry, for example) with which I will have very strong disagreements, but I've always been a proponent of having both sides of every story in order to get a more comprehensive understanding of the world.
As for leisure reading, some of these are fluff, and several are books that I started previously and just never finished.
Gifts of the Jews by Thomas Cahill
Doctor No by Ian Fleming
U2 at the End of the World by Bill Flanagan
Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13 by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
So, I'm curious, since this is such a diverse and fascinating crowd: what books are you folks reading right now, and what books do you folks have on deck to read?
* * *
I placed an order on Amazon early this morning. I got three items.
Touch Down by Stephanie Schneiderman
MI-5 Volume 4
The Life of David Gale
I saw Stephanie Schneiderman in 2002 when she opened up for one of my favorite artists of all time, the great Chris Isaak. I bought her current CD at the time, having really enjoyed her set; I waited for about two years for her to finally release another album that had one of my favorite of her songs, "All Gone", on it. When I was a DJ on college radio, I actually made a concerted effort to get her to come do a set in our studio, but it sort of fell flat. At any rate, I've heard the album on her website, and I'm looking forward to actually having a copy of it, even though a lot of her songs seem to be much better live than in produced studio mode.
As long-time readers will know, the BBC drama Spooks, broadcast in America on A&E as MI-5. I've seen a grand total of most of one episode of the fourth season, so I'm absolutely stoked about being able to watch the fourth series (ten episodes; unfortunately, the Brits don't do a twenty-something episode season like we do), along with the first three series' that I already have.
Finally, an anonymous former commentator on this blog has been bugging me to watch The Life of David Gale for quite a while now, so I went ahead and snagged a copy since it was only ten bucks.
* * *
I tend to think a lot about money. Money math happens to be the only math that I have any sort of skill at, and I've always enjoyed counting and keeping careful tabs on how much money I have. Although I enjoy a fairly comfortable lifestyle, I tend to be somewhat simple and frugal in my tastes.
Having received one of the three W-2 forms I'll receive this year, and knowing that the other two will be minor, I've been running some preliminary figures on what my taxes will look like. Of course, I don't trust myself to do my taxes, at all, so I'll be taking them to a bookkeeper, along with receipts, pay stubs, and anything else I can come up with. If I get any money back, my plan is to invest it into a retirement fund of some sort, and start a tradition of doing that annually.
I've also always been a saver. Sure, I can go into spending mode every now and again; I've been known to send gifts without occasion, just because I saw something that a friend would like. I love buying field gear, movies, music, and other wacky items like my hammock chair or my Utilikilt (which April will remember with a sadistic grin, as she was there when I purchased the latter item). Even so, I have this uncanny ability to stash money, even when I'm not making that much of it to begin with. In my current job, I work long hours, which has a double effect: a nice paycheck, and very little time or energy with which to spend it. I have several goals for my money right now.
First, I'd like to return to the United Kingdom for a week or two during the course of 2007. I have friends in Sussex who I'd like to visit, as well as friends in Orkney. There are a few pieces of field gear I'll need to procure before I'm ready: an Arcteryx Echo Pack, another pair of Crye Precision Field Pants, and possibly an MP3 player. I'll also need a BritRail pass, and a few other items that I can't think of at the moment. That's one thing I'm saving for.
Second, I'm in the market for a Dell laptop. My current desktop machine dates to 1998 and my current notebook dates to 2000; both still work great, but they're obsolete and they've been obsolete for several years now. For less than a grand, I can get a system that more than covers my personal computing needs. On the other hand, forking over that kind of money isn't something I do lightly, so I'll have to feel fairly financially comfortable to make it happen.
Third, and perhaps most important: I need to start saving up the money required to move. Since the beginning of my tenure at my current job, I've known that I would hold this position for a limited amount of time. Tomorrow will be my nine month anniversary of having started, and I plan to go to another job, whatever it may be, at any point between twelve and twenty-four months after moving to Zoo Station. Even with a theoretical new job, moving to take that job requires money, and aside from having an emergency cushion for things like sudden, catastrophic vehicle repairs or emergency airline tickets to Salt Lake City (hey, it could happen), a comfortable movement cushion must be established before one can seriously look into finding another job.
Essentially, I have my work cut out for me, but for various reasons I'm not too worried about saving up a comfortable amount of money in the next few months. Between wages and what will hopefully be a sizable refund of money that's rightfully mine from the government, I hope to have some of these goals accomplished by the middle of the year. I went into 2007 loaded for bear, and ambitious to the core; I'm excited to be getting a jump on things from the very beginning of the year.
* * *
Right then, time for bed. Stay tuned, folks. By the way, to anyone who's reading this: are there any other security, intelligence, military, or international policy issues that you'd like to see me address? The recent posts about Iraq and North Korea have really envigorated me, and I want to keep up the momentum of doing that kind of research. If you have any questions for me, feel free to post them in the comments, and if I think they're worth investigating and researching, I'll go ahead and get started.
Okay, bed time.
One of my resolutions for 2007 is to read at least twenty books: ten for professional development, and ten for leisure. I'm hoping to alternate them; on Saturday I finished Islamic Imperialism by Ephraim Karsh, and immediately started Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy. One thing I've been very happy about is that the first few months of my professional life have afforded me more time to read, something I was grossly ineffective at as a university student.
At any rate, since I tend to organize things when I get bored or have impromptu time on my hands, I put together a list of some of the books that I want to read in the next year. Here are my lists, as they stand right now. First, my list for professional development:
Some of these are books that I was supposed to have read in university, some are books that I've picked up under various circumstances, and others are books I've heard of by reputation alone and want to evaluate for myself. I'm guessing that there are several (the penultimate entry, for example) with which I will have very strong disagreements, but I've always been a proponent of having both sides of every story in order to get a more comprehensive understanding of the world.
As for leisure reading, some of these are fluff, and several are books that I started previously and just never finished.
So, I'm curious, since this is such a diverse and fascinating crowd: what books are you folks reading right now, and what books do you folks have on deck to read?
I placed an order on Amazon early this morning. I got three items.
I saw Stephanie Schneiderman in 2002 when she opened up for one of my favorite artists of all time, the great Chris Isaak. I bought her current CD at the time, having really enjoyed her set; I waited for about two years for her to finally release another album that had one of my favorite of her songs, "All Gone", on it. When I was a DJ on college radio, I actually made a concerted effort to get her to come do a set in our studio, but it sort of fell flat. At any rate, I've heard the album on her website, and I'm looking forward to actually having a copy of it, even though a lot of her songs seem to be much better live than in produced studio mode.
As long-time readers will know, the BBC drama Spooks, broadcast in America on A&E as MI-5. I've seen a grand total of most of one episode of the fourth season, so I'm absolutely stoked about being able to watch the fourth series (ten episodes; unfortunately, the Brits don't do a twenty-something episode season like we do), along with the first three series' that I already have.
Finally, an anonymous former commentator on this blog has been bugging me to watch The Life of David Gale for quite a while now, so I went ahead and snagged a copy since it was only ten bucks.
I tend to think a lot about money. Money math happens to be the only math that I have any sort of skill at, and I've always enjoyed counting and keeping careful tabs on how much money I have. Although I enjoy a fairly comfortable lifestyle, I tend to be somewhat simple and frugal in my tastes.
Having received one of the three W-2 forms I'll receive this year, and knowing that the other two will be minor, I've been running some preliminary figures on what my taxes will look like. Of course, I don't trust myself to do my taxes, at all, so I'll be taking them to a bookkeeper, along with receipts, pay stubs, and anything else I can come up with. If I get any money back, my plan is to invest it into a retirement fund of some sort, and start a tradition of doing that annually.
I've also always been a saver. Sure, I can go into spending mode every now and again; I've been known to send gifts without occasion, just because I saw something that a friend would like. I love buying field gear, movies, music, and other wacky items like my hammock chair or my Utilikilt (which April will remember with a sadistic grin, as she was there when I purchased the latter item). Even so, I have this uncanny ability to stash money, even when I'm not making that much of it to begin with. In my current job, I work long hours, which has a double effect: a nice paycheck, and very little time or energy with which to spend it. I have several goals for my money right now.
First, I'd like to return to the United Kingdom for a week or two during the course of 2007. I have friends in Sussex who I'd like to visit, as well as friends in Orkney. There are a few pieces of field gear I'll need to procure before I'm ready: an Arcteryx Echo Pack, another pair of Crye Precision Field Pants, and possibly an MP3 player. I'll also need a BritRail pass, and a few other items that I can't think of at the moment. That's one thing I'm saving for.
Second, I'm in the market for a Dell laptop. My current desktop machine dates to 1998 and my current notebook dates to 2000; both still work great, but they're obsolete and they've been obsolete for several years now. For less than a grand, I can get a system that more than covers my personal computing needs. On the other hand, forking over that kind of money isn't something I do lightly, so I'll have to feel fairly financially comfortable to make it happen.
Third, and perhaps most important: I need to start saving up the money required to move. Since the beginning of my tenure at my current job, I've known that I would hold this position for a limited amount of time. Tomorrow will be my nine month anniversary of having started, and I plan to go to another job, whatever it may be, at any point between twelve and twenty-four months after moving to Zoo Station. Even with a theoretical new job, moving to take that job requires money, and aside from having an emergency cushion for things like sudden, catastrophic vehicle repairs or emergency airline tickets to Salt Lake City (hey, it could happen), a comfortable movement cushion must be established before one can seriously look into finding another job.
Essentially, I have my work cut out for me, but for various reasons I'm not too worried about saving up a comfortable amount of money in the next few months. Between wages and what will hopefully be a sizable refund of money that's rightfully mine from the government, I hope to have some of these goals accomplished by the middle of the year. I went into 2007 loaded for bear, and ambitious to the core; I'm excited to be getting a jump on things from the very beginning of the year.
Right then, time for bed. Stay tuned, folks. By the way, to anyone who's reading this: are there any other security, intelligence, military, or international policy issues that you'd like to see me address? The recent posts about Iraq and North Korea have really envigorated me, and I want to keep up the momentum of doing that kind of research. If you have any questions for me, feel free to post them in the comments, and if I think they're worth investigating and researching, I'll go ahead and get started.
Okay, bed time.
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