Fifth Stage

[tracker7]

I could do with more days like yesterday.  Had three main options for the day - lay around the living room, go to a party in Knoxville, or go look at something cool.  The last option was the big winner.

I picked up elalyr and tegyrius and off we went to the Air Force museum in Dayton.  I hadn't been in a few years, and the last trip was very very short, so we headed out reasonably early and got there in time for a leisurely walk around.  Lots of good stuff to see, of course - some old familiar exhibits, and a few new ones, like an Avrocar!  The missile/spacecraft tower was open, and rather eerie for me, at least.  The big surprise was placed in an almost innocuous location - tucked along one wall in the Cold War hangar was an honest-to-God MiG-29.  It's a good-looking aircraft, and as Elalyr noted, the information on how this particular plane came to be in the museum's collection was conspicuously absent.

After the museum, some shopping.  Big-ass mall on the northeast side of Cincy for a visit to the Apple store, then over to Jungle Jim's.  Holy cow.  Where to start with this?  It's a grocery, but calling that is like calling Tiger Woods some dude that plays golf every few weekends.  An entire wall of cheeses.  30 linear feet of honeys.  Produce I'd never heard of before.  Aisles set up for goods from other countries - one country to an aisle (or alcove).  Dear heavens, the seafood counter.  Look, if you're in the area, and consider food to be more than just fuel for an organic engine, go.  Set aside a few hours to just wander around.

I slept late today.  Got up around 9:30, played Civ 4 for a while.  Watched The Atomic Cafe.  Watching football.  Writing some.  Will do laundry soon.

Almost finished reading Altered Carbon, and I have really enjoyed it.

Comments

[tfbretz.livejournal.com]

According to Wikipedia, the Mig-29 at Wright-Patterson is one of a squadron purchased by the US from Moldova, basically so they wouldn't sell them to Iran or a similar "rogue state."

[tegyrius]

When Kentucky becomes a rogue state, we're totally stealing that MiG-29.

[tracker7.livejournal.com]

Ah-so. The information plaque mentioned that the plane had served in a Moscow air defense unit for a while, but that was all of the service history.

It's a good-looking airplane.

[skiriki.livejournal.com]

Curiosity in me forces to ask "did they have anything from Finland?" in Jungle Jim's. :)

Oh, and the Atomic Cafe is awesome: duck and cover!

[tracker7.livejournal.com]

I think Jungle Jim's had a largish alcove for Norway, Sweden, and Finland. I'll make a note to look when next I go.

I loved The Atomic Cafe. Splicing together bits from newsreels and education/propaganda films with no added narration was brilliant, and there was a lot of scary stuff there.

[xer0rules.livejournal.com]

What did you think of Altered Carbon? I loved the premise of it and the book was really excellent, but I really felt like his writing took a real juvenile turn in the middle there for a bit.

I don't want to go into specifics, since I'm not sure how far into it you are.

I will read the other Kovacs books though at some point.

[tracker7.livejournal.com]

I liked the book a lot, and found it to be really well-written. I liked getting just enough hints about some of the social aspects of "sleeves" - particularly the young soldier coming home in the body of an older man of a different race.

I may not have noticed the turn - care to elaborate? I finished the book last night, so fire away.

The city library has Woken Furies available, but Broken Angels is listed as missing. I enjoyed AC well enough to buy another book from Morgan.

Fair warning to other folks - we may get spoilery here.

[xer0rules.livejournal.com]

The part that really struck me as just awkward writing was the scene where Kovacs was seduced by Bancroft's wife. It just struck me as being bolted on and unnecessary and the word choice was juvenile.

Other than that, I thought it was a really good book.

[tracker7.livejournal.com]

Oh. That. Yes.

When I saw that coming, I winced a bit. And a bit more as I read it.

[xer0rules.livejournal.com]

It was just a really awkward section in the middle of the damn book that really needed not be there.

[metallian.livejournal.com]

That Jungle Jim's sounds pretty freakin' sweet. I could get into some financial trouble at such a place.

[tracker7.livejournal.com]

We intended for this to just be a quick stop by Jungle Jim's. We left with a resolution to bring ice chests for the next trip, as there were plenty of perishables that we couldn't bring home.

www.junglejims.com, for a tease.

[metallian.livejournal.com]

Oh, the cheeses! And an Amish Section!

It does, however, seem like exactly the sort of place that can't survive the loss of its founder. Big, cool, independent places like that often seem to crumble one way or another when "the main man" retires or dies. :/

[tracker7.livejournal.com]

There's a good-sized Amish community in the southern part of the county I grew up in. They run a great little grocery store.

The employees we saw on our visit really seemed into the job, so hopefully the store will be around for a good long while. It's sure come a long way from a roadside fruit stand.