Day 65: Euler. It's pronounced like "Oiler."

What I'm reading today

The Dragon Factory (2010, by Jonathan Maberry) - I finally finished this book. Don't judge. It has 133 chapters plus an epilogue. Was it an entertaining read? Sure. Did it wow me like Patient Zero did? Not really. Like I said in the previous post, the characters are all too perfect, and that makes them predictable. There were no surprises at the end of the book, and after 450+ pages, the plot wrapped up rather abruptly. There was an attempt at a twist regarding one of the villains, but if you were paying attention 200-some pages ago, you already figured it out. I do stand by my previous statement that Maberry knows how to write combat in a way that is engaging and vivid. But again, the characters are too perfect. Superman is flawless, and that makes him boring. Joe Ledger, the Jack Bauer character in this book, is Superman. There are a few more titles in this Joe Ledger series, and maybe I'll check out one more, but first things first: Dune online book club starts very soon.

What I'm doing today

Solving - The problem with Project Euler, is that when you solve one problem, you get that itch and you can't stop with just one. And many times sequential problems are related, so a solution for problem n might provide some insight into a much more difficult problem n+1. Since I did 70 yesterday, I took on 71 today, and it was pretty simple. I think it took me about 15 minutes from start to finish to solve this problem, because I saw the trick right away. Then I decided to try 72 as well. I haven't figured it out completely yet, but I'm close.

Assembling - The new baby's dresser arrived today, and at the first hint of free time, I dove into putting it together. I don't remember the brand name, but it was from Norway. Let me tell you, these Norwegians do not give a crap about your personal free time. This thing took almost three hours to assemble. And on top of that, the thing weighs a ton. But that's good though, because I know it's well designed and sturdy. I'm just glad we didn't get two.

Composting - I still have a lot of lawn work to do, and when my neighbor with the perfect lawn was out mowing today, I ran over and called dibs on his grass clippings. He happily donated a huge bin full of grass clippings to my cause. I took about a quarter of what he gave me and started a new compost batch, and I put the rest away to be used for mulching the garden and covering brown patches when I reseed parts of the lawn in a few days.