Geekmas 2017: The system works.

December 15th, 2017: departmental Christmas potluck lunch and Secret Santa gift exchange.

  - Sid

Geekmas 2019?

 

 

 “You’ll want all day to-morrow, I suppose?” said Scrooge.
“If quite convenient, sir.”
“It’s not convenient,” said Scrooge, “and it’s not fair. If I was to stop half-a-crown for it, you’d think yourself ill-used, I’ll be bound?”
The clerk smiled faintly.
“And yet,” said Scrooge, “you don’t think me ill-used, when I pay a day’s wages for no work.”
The clerk observed that it was only once a year.
“A poor excuse for picking a man’s pocket every twenty-fifth of December!” said Scrooge, buttoning his great-coat to the chin. “But I suppose you must have the whole day. Be here all the earlier next morning.” 

Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

In the process of doing research for this year's Geekmas posting, I was pleased and excited to see a new William Gibson book in the "Inspired by your browsing history" section of my Amazon.ca home page.  I thought to myself, "Yep, that's going RIGHT onto the Books part of the gift list.  Maybe more than once, I can make it look like a joke if I ask for it twice."

However, I was disappointed to realize that Agency was being released on the 25th of December. I'm a big fan of Mr. Gibson and his work, but seriously, Bill, who releases a book on December 25th?   Would you not want to catch the Christmas shopping crowd?

...no, wait, December 25, 2018!  2018??

THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE FOR ADVANCE PURCHASING OVER 13 MONTHS IN ADVANCE????

I can't decide if that's ridiculous or impressive - perhaps both. Regardless, I'll confess that I did wonder if I could have it delivered on the 25th of December, there is an option at the lower right that asks, "Want to receive this the day is comes out?"

I was actually a bit relieved to discover that Amazon doesn't deliver on Christmas Day - after all, it is only once a year, Mr. Bezos. 

  - Sid

Mirror mirror.

 

“After this, it’s a whole new chapter for Discovery.”

Captain Lorca: Into the Forest I Go, Star Trek: Discovery 

For the most part, I've enjoyed the first nine episodes of Star Trek: Discovery, and I was pleased to discover (no pun intended) that they'd been extended to a second season.  Regardless, I feel that I should make something clear to the producers of the show now that we've seen the mid-season cliffhanger:

IF YOU SHOW ME ONE ALTERNATE CHARACTER WITH A LITTLE GOATEE NEXT YEAR, I WILL DROP THIS SHOW LIKE A HOT POTATO, GOT IT?

Understood?  Splendid.  I just wanted to make sure we were all clear on that.

Thank you.

  - Sid