Wouldn't you know it. I finally get enough points to get the freebie I want on club.live.com and it sells out. They're now out of wireless USB joysticks (what I wanted), Vista software, and a couple other gizmos.

I suppose I could wait to see if they get restocked, but there's also the chance that the stock could deplete even more until all that's left are ringtones and T-shirts. So I cut my losses and grabbed some free headphones. My computer headphones are getting a mite threadbare, so it's not a complete loss.



I'm reading and quite enjoying a couple of books by Stanislaw Lem. Apparently he's one of the most popular SF authors ever, although he's almost unheard-of in the US. His eye for clever plotlines really is the best I've seen. Most short-story collections I've read are hit-n-miss, but he's thus-far batting 1000.

I'm rather surprised that he's the author of the glacial (at least the Russian version) "Solaris". It's surprising because the stuff I've read of his skews much closer to Douglas Adams than Arthur Clarke.

I'm also reading "Day of the Triffids". I always heard that the book was much better than the movie, so I gave it a shot. It's definitely one of those books that grabs you from chapter one and doesn't let go. Good fun so far.

I find that when I'm in review-writing mode, I do a lot of recreational reading, and the lighter the better. I think I just need to cleanse my palette.