Did you know that “The Riyria Revelations” series is self-published? I had no idea until I saw this article yesterday.

That is completely awesome. It’s a great series. Unfortunately it looks like we’re going to have to wait for book 6, which will now be released as part of the re-edited and published-by-an-actual-publisher book 3. You know what? I’m ok with that — it’s so great to see someone create something so great and succeed through this sort of hard work and determination.

If I get stuck in California because of snow in California, I will LOL.

I’m pretty irritated with Apple these days, so have started looking around for non-Apple hardware. I’ve already picked up an Android phone (everything I need in a phone, turns out), but am looking for a replacement for my laptop (which I’m in the market to upgrade now anyhow). I probably won’t bother replacing (or upgrading) my iPad since I just really don’t use it that much.

Right now the soon-to-be-released Samsung Notebook 9 is looking pretty good. Are there other non-Apple laptops I should consider?

Love coffee? End up in Mountain View a lot and think you have to suffer with hotel swill or the weird burnt crud at Starbucks? NO LONGER. Go here:

It is, as the kids say, teh yum.

Where I’ve been camped at HQ all day. For whatever reason the tumblog features of this woo theme aren’t working. Drag.

Finished two books while traveling yesterday — the last bits of Crown Conspiracy and all of Avempartha.

These are the first two books the six book “Riyria Revelations” series by Michael Sullivan — good, solid pulp fantasy in the grand tradition of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Sullivan’s world has some depth, however, and the episodic tales are significantly more complex than you might initially think. The stories draw upon thousands upon thousands of years of history, and I suspect it’s all leading towards a…well…a revelation that will likely be one of the turning points in that history.

Great characters, well written, fast-paced, and altogether fun so far. Recommended.

My weblog has been languishing somewhat since the advent of Twitter and Instagram and the like, and I’ve decided that’s just wrong. To fix this, I’ve updated the theme to make it more Tumblr-bloggy and life-streamy.

Part of my new toolkit includes the handy “Express” iPhone app by the good folks who create Woothemes (which are pretty neat). This is my first (non-test) post using that app and the new theme. Let’s see how this all goes.

This is my standard method for cooking salmon for a weeknight dinner. It’s fast and crazy easy — start to finish is about 40 mins, including prep time. You can do a bunch of different variants as well, but this is what we’ve had the last few times. This version feeds 2, but the math is pretty straightforward.

Ingredients

• 2 salmon filets
• 1 lemon
• 12-16 cherry tomatoes
• olive oil
• fresh ground pepper

Equipment

• 2 sheets of tin foil, each large enough to fully & loosely wrap a filet
• Baking sheet

Method

1. Heat the oven to 375.
2. Lay the two sheets of tinfoil out on the counter, and pour a bit of olive oil in the center of each.
3. Place the salmon skin-side-down on the oil.
4. Grate fresh pepper over the salmon — not a whole lot.
5. Slice the lemon so you have 8 slices, not including the end bits. Put 4 slices across the top of each bit of salmon.
6. Slice the tomatoes in half and put those on top of the lemon slices, cut side down.
7. Carefully fold the tinfoil up to contain everything, and tightly seal the edges so steam and liquid won’t escape. It’ll end up as a sealed packet with air inside over the salmon.
8. Place these on the baking sheet and cook for 25 mins or so — the salmon should be opaque all the way through. I tend to err on the side of slightly overcooking these, so don’t worry about it too much.

And that’s it. If you want to get fancy you can toss in a sprig or two of tarragon, or maybe a couple of basil leaves. Serve with steamed spinach or a salad.