Travel

Due to popular request, I've updated my travel page with trips from the past year and a half. (And links to descriptions, where available.) I also updated the maps.

Hugo Update: Forever

When we last heard from my project of reading the Hugo-award winning novels, I was at #22. I recently added #23 and #24.

I looked at the list of novels and decided to read the most recent one I hadn't read. That would be Forever Peace, by Joe Haldeman, the 1997 winner. But I knew that Haldeman's The Forever War had won the 1976 Hugo. Thinking that FP was the sequel to TFW, I decided I needed to read them in order.

Well, I was wrong, but that didn't matter. Forever Peace was another novel on the same subject as The Forever War, but in a different setting. The subject was war. I enjoyed them both, although The Forever War suffered from a goofy idea of what life would be like in the early 21st century. Forever Peace suffered from being too much of a cyberpunk novel -- I don't buy the whole nanotechnology hype.

On the other hand, TFW is the only SF novel I've ever seen that sets a section in the adjacent town of Hyattsville.

Down to #21

Despite two recent trivia outings, I've dropped to #21 on the Santa Fe Cafe's NTN rankings. Check out Christina at #48, though!

Unfortunately, our last experience at "the Fe" featured rather disappointing food. I guess we'll give it another chance when the students clear out for winter break, but we may have to look for a new location.

Dubious Achievement

Well, with the NFL season winding down and the Redskins all but eliminated from the playoffs, I have the question of what to root for. There's beating the Cowboys and the Eagles and hurting their playoff hopes (or positioning). There's going out on a winning note -- if the Skins run the table, they can avoid a losing season.

But I'm rooting for one sort of odd achievement. How about a Patriots-Seahawks Super Bowl? That would mean that the Skins would have beaten both of the Super Bowl teams -- a feat last achieved in 2000...by the Washington Redskins (8-8). OK, and the 2000 Titans (13-3). Still, the Titans had something else to root for that year...they were Super Bowl contenders in their own right. So I asked the questions: How often have teams beaten both Super Bowl teams, and have they ever been worse than the 2000 Skins?

The answers: 11 and yes (thanks to pro-football-reference.com).

The complete list:

• 2000 Skins (8-8)
  
• 2000 Titans (13-3)
  
• 1996 Cowboys (10-6)
  
• 1993 Dolphins (9-7)
  
• 1986 Seahawks (10-6)
  
• 1985 Dolphins (12-4)
  
• 1981 Browns (5-11)
  
• 1980 Cowboys (12-4)
  
• 1980 Chargers (11-5)
  
• 1979 Chargers (12-4)
  
• 1978 Rams (12-4)
  

Thanksgiving in North Carolina

Looks like I've been a little lax in posting recently. Let's correct that with a couple of pictures from our Thanksgiving trip to North Carolina. The first is of Christina and myself with our nephew, Luke.



The second is of me playing Magic: The Gathering with our nephew, Witt (and with Copper).

Xpu Ha

The last excursion we took from Cancun included a stop at the Xpu Ha Palace Resort. There's been a proliferation of "eco-parks" on the "Riviera Maya" south of Cancun. One of these, at Xpu Ha, failed and was bought out by the Palace Resorts corportation. They've turned it into an all-inclusive resort. Based on the few hours we spent there, I can recommend it with the following qualifications:

• You have to enjoy the idea of an all-inclusive resort.
  
• It's a relatively isolated location.
  
• It's great if you're looking for nature, but not necessarily a natural environment.
  

The best part of the resort for us was the snorkeling, both in the freshwater area and in the coastal lagoon.



An example of how it's not necessarily natural is the coastal lagoon. There are amazing quantities of absolutely stunning fish there. There is, however, a supply of fish food which brings them there. You're encouraged to feed them -- some other guests were annoyed that the fish were biting their hands when they went in carrying fish food. Duh.