After a blissfully hum-drum day at work, I shuttled off to my temporary single dad duties. Kate had a soccer game in Polk City. On the ride home from Ma and Pa Snyder’s house, Kate reminded me at least three times she had to bring after-game treats.

Polk City is tucked up north and well out of the way for us. That meant a pit stop at Hell on Earth, the lobotomizing experience we all know and love as “Wal Mart.” Now, I assumed, foolishly, that the Ankeny Wal-Mart could not muster the kind of IQ-lowering enhanced interrogation techniques that the south side store does so spectacularly. I managed to swear in front of the kids only a couple times as the Amazon checking us out remarked on poor quality of our fruity snacks.

Kate’s penultimate soccer game for the season proved to be worth the ordeal. Her team struggles, despite their improvement and determination. They’ve lost every game so far, and they have gone scoreless in about half their matches. Today, they put up a hell of a fight, went into the half leading 1-0 and ended up in a tie after a bizarre penalty kick that shot over the poor 10-year-old keeper’s head.

Trish, mom to Kate’ s best pal, and I did more yelling and fretting than any grown up should do for a bunch of fifth and sixth graders. “I think I’m going to have a heart attack,” she mentioned to me at the half. “You and me both,” I replied with a smirk.

I grew up on little league, slow pitch, baseball, basketball and football. You know, meat and potato sports of the good ol’ Midwest. I’m a die hard NFL fan, and love my Hawkeyes, too. So, it’s a little strange for me to holler at the top of my lungs to the left defender to cover the goal on a corner kick. I’ll be damned if I’m not on the edge of my fold up nylon chair for each girl out there as they dribble the ball up the field. Now if they could only pass a bit better …

I’d teased Kate and Riggs before the game. Pancheros was in their future. So, we dined like royalty. For those not in the know, Pancheros is a made-to-order burrito place on the order of Qdoba and Chipotle. But, those places? Mere shadows on the cave wall. Food for plebes and riff raff! Pancheros is ambrosia. I have been going to Pancheros since 1993. It started as a single restaurant in 1992 in my home-away-from-home, Iowa City. In a bid to keep me sane and well fed, they franchised right as I moved back to the Des Moines area (they’re in bunches of states now, too). I have spent birthdays there. I bring the food home for Christmas, for christ’s sake! Watching them prep food inspired several of my own cooking tricks for Mexican grub.

The secret is the tortilla, which they press from dough as you order. It is divine, and I never want to know the ingredients or nutritional values of that glob of delicious stuff. Shuddup and eat it, I say. It makes all that soccer dad mania almost palatable.

It makes his books challenging reads. I’ve read Foucault’s Pendulum, but not his most famous work, The Name of the Rose. Eco’s approach is often to zero into a European period and locale, detail it obsessively, and invest into his work clever meanings and explorations of meaning. The Island of the Day Before is an exploration of the early 17th century and the baroque. Which means the prose itself is deliberately baroque and not for casual, sleepy eyed reading.

I read a handful of brief reviews, and many were disgusted with this book. Perhaps I shouldn’t have let it color my reading, but I’m delighted so far. It’s clever, complicated and funny, and I’m eager to see if he can maintain interest given the protagonist is stuck on an abandoned sailing ship and unlikely to leave it  (he can’t swim). Fortunately, the flashbacks remain engaging, and the ship a mystery.

Eugène François Vidocq

In my recent review of Sandman Slim, I was unaware of the historical figure of Vidocq. Eugène François Vidocq is the father of criminal investigation, i.e. the grandpa of detectives, and creator of the French Sûreté Nationale. Kadrey’s cleverly including Vidocq to liven up his Chandler-esque fantasy.

Read all about Eugène François Vidocq on Wikipedia. Great stuff.

I love discovering stuff like this in books. Wish I had realized while reading to catch the good references (I’m remember some already, including the bit about him creating the Sûreté!)

Here’s to interesting times in 2011.

Forbeck’s actually an acquaintance of mine from my other life as a game designer and hobbyist. I’ve met him a few times, and he’s an exceptionally nice guy. I’m looking forward to reading his stuff!

And the winner is ... Kindle

I spent the day shopping with my son. He’s only 6, and recently discovered the joys of reading, mostly Captain Underpants. He reads the series over and over again, giggling his head off every time. I’m proud to say he was probably more interested in the ereaders we examined at Best Buy than me. I’m not as proud to say he figured out how to use the Barnes & Noble Nook before I did.

I’ve been researching various devices recently. It really took that trip to the store to handle the devices, mash all the buttons, and especially see the displays to get a real sense of how they match up.

I prefer the Kindle, although the Nook Color has me very intrigued, especially for reading any graphic novels or comics.

But Kindle wins on too many fronts. The current design is much more intuitive to me. I figured out I could change font size and even weight and width in about 3 seconds. That feature alone had me sold — the store display model showed Alice in Wonderland at its medium size, which I found far too big. I was turned off until I found the text settings and reduced the type to the smallest size. That was a key feature for me.

The e ink displays are startling, though I think I’ll need some kind of light for night reading in bed. Given recent experiences with my Droid X (where I may be able to read those color comics anyway), I’m amazed by Kindle’s battery power claims.

I now follow a bunch of strangers who are really excited about Internet technology and social media. And, that alone is pretty interesting to me. It’s part of my profession, and how I spend far too much leisure time. But, along the way, I get glimpses of far more interesting things. What people are like. What they’re doing. What they’re passionate about.

None of that’s particularly new. What’s new is that they’re right here in flyover country trying to get together with like-minded souls to make the most of their home town. I find it hopeful. Even a little inspiring to get discover some new things for myself.

Denver was fantastic, and so were The Police. I’ve been a huge, huge fan for over 20 years. Never thought I’d see the day they reuninted and went on tour.