Wow! WordPress really did it this time.

They totally overhauled the UI for this site. And it, at first glance, seems fantastic.

It seems they’ve fixed a lot of the little annoyances that were in the previous version of WordPress. As usual, very Ajax-y too.

Anyway, I’m currently reading about Hibernate because I want to start using it at work.

Sunday at 6:30pm is the only time I have to do research on how to better do my 9-to-9 job –

Well, I couldn’t read at any other time. I’m still working on finishing Super Metroid for SNES.

Jeez. Do I suck, or is programming just really really involved?

Anyway, in Hibernate Quickly, Nick Heudecker says:

Persistence

Data that oulives the process that created it.

Great def, and I just had to share it with ya. Seems like this is a great book so far. Amazon reviews only give it 3 stars, but Amazon reviews aren’t always accurate.

This book and Walsh’s DirectX book really get smashed pretty unfairly.

Anyway, anyway.

I saw a book about drying fruits and I started to read it.

Does that not just sound so incredibly colourlessly and fantastically boring?

Actually, it isn’t. AND, the book is in a SECOND EDITION!

Amazon.com has a lot of books.

However, there’s quite a few more resources that regularly offer better prices than Amazon:

• half.com
  Apparently this one has been around since 2002. I just heard about it today. Its really good though. I’m disappointed that I didn’t hear about it earlier.
• Thriftbooks.com.

  This one is pretty good. They’ll send you a dog-eared copy of that out-of-print-book for a rock bottom price.

• bookmooch.com.

  This is another one of those next gen web 2.0 projects that seems to be working out ok. I haven’t tried bookmooch, but it looks good and I may try it in the near or distant future.

• College book service
• alibris.com
• abebooks.com
• valorebooks.com
• biblio.com (uk)
• GetTextbooks.com is a great search engine for new and used books
• bookpool.com seems to have some books for discount prices
• International book exchange

Jan 27

@ 9:18pm, google says in response to the question

1 Canadian dollar = 0.994233 U.S. dollars

Yet, amazon.com and amazon.ca continue to have wildly different prices when it comes to the same exact books.

Compare:

• C in a Nutshell on amazon.CA – $35.25
  C in a Nutshell on amazon.COM – $26.37

  Canadians pay $8.88 more.

• Practical English Usage – $36.51 AFTER discount from $57.95 on amazon.CA
  Practical English Usage – $25.50 with NO discount on amazon.COM

  Canadians pay $11.01 more.

• Frank luna’s directX book, $44.07 on amazon.ca — discounted from $69.95
  Frank luna’s directX book, $32.97 on amazon.com — discounted from $49.95

  Canadians pay $11.10 more.

I’m sure there are quite a few more factors in determining prices than I am aware, but come on. $10 more to buy the exact same book, with the same isbn, when the difference between the Canadian and US dollars differ by LESS THAN A CENT??

It seems these prices are appropriate for a couple of years ago, not today.

Why are we paying so much more?

I didn’t know that

I’m currently reading Tuesdays with Morrie. I think its fantastic.

Massive wisdom. For those who don’t know, the book is a series of conversations that Mitch Albom has with his friend and mentor Morrie Schwartz as Morrie is suffering a fatal disease.

Here are some quotes from the book that I particularly liked:

Know you’re going to die, and be prepared for it at any time.

Don’t cling to things, because everything is impermanent

If you want the experience of having complete responsibility for another human being, and to learn how to love and bond in the deepest way, then you should have children.

Albom also says that America has become a “Persian Bazaar of self-help”. ha ha ha.

A few more quotes: p 127:

Devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.

You notice there’s nothing in there about a salary.

pg 127:

Mitch, if you’re trying to show off for people at the top, forget it. They will look down at you anyhow. And if you’re trying to show off for people at the bottom, forget it. They will only envy you. Status will get you nowhere. Only an open heart will allow you to float equally between everyone.

pg 149:

Is there some kind of rule to know if a marriage is going to work?

Morrie smiled. “Things are not that simple, Mitch.”
I know.
“Still,” he said, “there are a few rules I know to be true about love and marriage: If you don’t respect the other person, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. If you don’t know how to compromise, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. If you can’t talk openly about what goes on between you, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. And if you don’t have a common set of values in life, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. Your values must be alike.

And the biggest one of those values, Mitch?

Your belief in the importance of your marriage.

People are only mean when they’re threatened,” he said later that day, “and that’s what our culture does. That’s what our economy does. Even people who have jobs in our economy are threatened, because they worry about losing them. And when you get threatened, you start looking out only for yourself. You start making money a god. It is all part of this culture.