Update: Humanity's Greatest Inventions

It has been almost five years since I have had cause to update this post, but the time has come.

As I sat here on the couch this evening thinking about how scandalously comfortable I was I realized that the main factor was my hooded sweatshirt- the hood of which is currently cozied up to my enormous heid. Lest you think that I am a recent convert to hoddies, I can produce multiple family members who can attest to the fact that I spent most of late elementary school and early middle school wearing the same navy blue, zip-front hoodie. I wore it so often that it was referred to as my "skin." Eventually, when I simply could not squeeze my adolescent body into it any longer, it was repurposed by my mother. She sewed hundreds of yellow napkins onto it and made my little brother a Big Bird costume for Halloween. Side note: I have a great mom.

Any-who, as far as I can determined from the vast resources of the internet, the hoodie as we know it was created by Champion in the 1930s (yes, that company) for workers in refrigerated warehouses. Whatever the case, it was invented and I own at least three that I can think of off the top of my- very warm and relaxed- head.

Humanity's Greatest Inventions

1. Air Conditioning
2. Pulled Pork (all varieties)
3. Fleece
4. Flannel Sheets
5. Velcro
6. Remote controls of all kinds
7.The computer
8. The internet
9. Gore-Tex
10. Soccer
11. Baseball
12. Stereo
13. The fountain pen
14. The printing press
15. The hooded sweatshirt

Update: Me and My Shoes

Normally I'd wait for a full year to pass before updating this list, but there's been quite a lot of "movement" in both directions, so I thought I'd get it up here and let you see what's been going on. As always, I'll include an obituary for those that are no longer with us.

Sneakers

Asics Gel Hyper-Speed 2 (white, lime green, and black): Only 6.6ozs each!
Asics Top Seven (navy and yellow): pretty understated for me.
Asics Top Seven (white, black reptile print, and orange): you wish you owned them.
Royal Elastics "??" (brown and green): hip, slip-on brown leather.
Converse All-Star Low Tops (Red): money.
Converse All-Star High Tops (Black): word.
Converse All-Star High Tops (Brown/Tan Leather): faux retro and lovin' it.
Converse One-Star 3/4's (Black suede): do/did I skate? BMX? Nope, I just rock.
Vans Slip-On (red, white, and blue): "Mod" symbol on the forefoot (vamp).
Zoot Ultra Tempo+: see earlier post.
Merrell Full Aproach: still waterproof but a little run down after two weeks in Scotland.
Salomon XA Pro 3D XCR (green, gray, black): As technical as they sound.
Puma Match (Red leather): with perforated Puma logo. Um, yeah.
Puma Kew (brown, orange, and gray): Cool exterior support system, almost a little "dressy."
Adidas Daroga (Grey mesh with red): sweeeeet.

Hiking

Montrail Vercors Hiking Boots: serious, serious equipment.
Nike ACG Hiking Boots: they won't die! And I mean that in a good way!
Adidas Zuperlimbs: lime green, black and safety orange...uh huh.

Soccer

Adidas AdiPure Turf: Replaced the turf shoes below.
Adidas Copa Indoors: classic.
Adidas Soccer Sandals (blue, silver, orange): comfy and convenient.
Adidas Dakkano Soccer sandals (black and tan): my dressy sandals
Valsport Furoclasses FG: silver and black.

Too beat-up to be seen in anymore, especially when...

Adidas Predator Absolion Control FG: Sure they are last year's model, but I can live with that when they are marked down by $75!

Kelme Embrujos FG: I think it translates to "magician" or "witch," either way...
Asics "Gel Duke" SG: never seen another pair in the U.S.A.
Nike Tiempo Premier SG: reliable transportation on rainy days.

Puma Aqua Cat Soccer sandals (red): the blue Adidas ones above aren't good enough to wear “out” anymore...

Shoes/Boots

Two-Tone Doc Martens (black/white): oh yes I DID!
Burgundy Wingtip Doc Martens: can be worn to work w/o losing my street cred.
Brown Nubuck Doc Martens: Work shoes that cleaned up well and will be used for “casual wear.”
Black, greasy, steel toe Doc Martens: Replaced the above as work shoes.
Buffalino Two-Tone suede (red/white): leave me speechless.
Dexter Two-Tone (black/white): dressy version...
Dexter Brown Pebble-Grain Wingtips: wore them to my HS graduation in 1987...
Dexter Cordova Wingtips: interview shoes.
Izod Generic Black Shoes: the white stitching saves them.
Black Cap-Toe Oxfords: every man needs a pair.

Other

Adidas Desmans: still wear 'em almost every damn day.

Tecnica Pac Mocs: very comfy, a steal at Sierra Designs!

L.L. Bean Main Hunting Boots: bought for function, not fashion.
Diadora Mountain Biking Shoes: not gathering quite as much dust.

A brief, crabby note.

The Latin phrase is et cetera, and it means, "and other things."

It is not "ek cetra," ex cetera," or even, "et cetra."

Also, learn what per se means before you start throwing it around in my presence.

Books completed thus far in 2010

Last year I read about three books a month, which was not bad considering a great many of them were 500+ pages, but so far this year I'm running a bit behind. Nevertheless, here's what I've finished off, not counting books that I began in 2009-

• The Vikings: A History by Robert Ferguson
• The Art of Noir by Eddie Muller
• 2066 by Roberto Bolano
  
• Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power by Robert Dallek
  
• Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold Story of English by John H. McWhorter
  
• The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

So, that's six books in about eight weeks- not great. Then again, there are two books here that are almost 1,000 pages long, so I'll cut myself a little slack. I'll also cut myself a little slack because since the beginning of the year there has been a lot going on in "real life" that has prevented me from reading as much as I might like (and from posting here, for that matter), the best of which is that my car was vandalized.

One note on the list so far: I bought the Zafon book because it looked "interesting enough for a plane ride" and it was cheap. Little did I suspect that it would be the best book I've read in a long time- or at least since I finished the Larsson books last year. He's written at least on other novel, and I hope many more than that!

Things I'd rather not know...

...I got the news today that one of my high school classmates passed away this past weekend after a year-long battle with brain cancer, leaving behind his wife and two kids.

Like I needed any more reasons to have to confront my own mortality.