The SoapBoxers

I mentioned the new group Love and Theft in the Country Corral on August 22.  I finally received my copy of the CD this week!  I sat down and gave it a listen.  Here is what I think of the songs on the disc. I’m more of a lyrics person, so the strength of lyrics has a lot of weight on the ratings.

Cheris	Song
	World Wide Open	Not a bad song, per se, but probably not the best song to put in the #1 track of a debut album.  Theme of the song is which road to travel down (which life choice to make).
	Runaway	I absolutely LOVE this song.  I haven’t been able to get it out of my head for weeks.  From a lyrics perspective, I’m a sucker for the “get out of town and make a new life for myself”.  The harmonies and instrumental strength really make the song stand out.  My scale only goes up to 5, but I wanted to give this song at least a 6.
	Dancing in Circles	The songs asks why people can’t get along, when we are all born brothers and sisters (in Christ).
	It’s Up to You	The narrator is warning a second person that their destructive actions are likely to cause broken friendships in near future.
	You To Miss	This is a story of love lost.  It doesn’t seem to have the instrumental strength of some of the other songs.
	Can’t Go Back	Another song with strong instrumental aspects and harmonies.
	Don’t Wake Me	A tale of newfound love – don’t wake me from the dream.
	Freedom	The first half of the song is considerably better than the second half (which is still pretty good).  Is freedom a good thing or a bad thing?
	Slow Down	In contrast to the songs which have the narrator racing off into new directions (Runaway and World Wide Open), this song begs to slow things down a bit.
	Me Without You	A solid song with the theme of “you complete me”
	Drowning	The songs has the theme of “I’m drowning without you”.  I really like some of the harmonies – they pushing the song’s rating up by a full Cheri.
Album grade: This album has a number of 2 Cheri and 3 Cheri songs.  However, I really like the top end songs (particularly Runaway) and the fact that this is a debut album make me a bit of an easier grader and allows me to award 4 Cheris.  I see a lot of upside potential for this group.  Perhaps their next album will be achieve a coveted 5 Cheri rating. Love and Theft is made up of Brian Bandas, Eric Gunderson, and Stephen Barker Liles.

Love and Theft World Wide Open

I bought this book off a discount table for $4. I had my doubts that Jimmy Buffett could write a decent novel, so I pushed it to the side. Months later, I stumbled across the abridged audio book for $1 and took the plunge. Now that I owned the work in two different formats and had invested a grand total of $5, I really had to make an effort to read (or listen) to it. So I popped the first tape into the player, and off we went!

I quickly realized that I was a fool to doubt Buffett. After all, Buffet tells great stories in his songs, most of which he writes himself. Is this really much different than writing a novel?

Having said this, the book doesn’t quite fit the mold of a traditional novel. You could easily chop the book into several novellas that would stand on their own with minimal ties to the other parts.

The central character is Tully Mars. Tully began his journey in Montana before he was forced to flee from the injustice of bogus criminal charges. At points in the book, he ends up in Alabama, Florida, Mexico, Cuba, and Belize (come on, go grab a map and find it). The core theme of the book is Tully’s effort to help centegenarian Cleopatra Highbourne find a rare fresnel lens for the lighthouse on Cayo Loco. Caya Loco is the “Salty Piece of Land” referred to in the title.

During the course of the book, we are treated to rather length flashbacks of recent (and not so recent) events in Tully’s life. Tully really would like to settle down, but the bounty hunters that his former employer sent after him make it difficult to stay in one spot very long. Tully eventually ends up as a fishing guide at a fishing lodge in Mexico, where he does manage a bit of a respite before being forced to move on once again, this time to the lighthouse on Cayo Loco, where he works to restore the lighthouse to its former glory, while also coordinating an effort to find the rare fresnel lens.

While Tully is the narrator of the book, many other characters have significant roles. The aptly named musician Willie Singer tells his own adventures to Tully in the long letters he sends. Willie is attempting to circumnavigate the globe in an old sea plane, while also attempting to locate a fresnel lens for Tully and Cleopatra. Singer is welcomed in some interesting ways on his stops – including being welcomed as the second coming of a mythical US Navy pilot who had crash landed at the same place decades ago.

Then, of course, there is Cleopatra Highbourne, the 101 year old caption of the schooner Lucretia. While Cleopatra is completely consumed by her goal of restoring the Cayo Loco lighthouse to its former glory – complete with the elusive fresnel lens – so that it can serve as her final resting place, she also regales Tully with the story of her life. Even at her advanced age, Cleopatra spends much of her time sailing on the Lucretia. She is no figurehead captain, but is the unquestioned authority on board the schooner.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg, though. If you like lighthouses, fishing, airplanes, or simply enjoy a good tale, you might enjoy this book. My only regret is that I listened to the abridged edition – now I’ll have to read the unabridged version in order to avoid missing any good parts.

A Salty Piece of Land (book)

Like most kids, I was fascinated by dinosaurs when I first learned about them. Unlike most kids, I never really lost the fascination. An entire family of beasts that science could tell us very little about! This left huge gaps for my eager young imagination to fill. In hindsight, this was a foreshadowing of what would become a persistent interest in the unknown. My favorite books have always been mysteries, dating back to Encyclopedia Brown and The Boxcar Children until my modern day fanhood of Lawrence Block and John Sandford. My favorite TV shows – by a wide margin – are Monk and Pysch. My favorite type of math? Algebra – I always enjoy solving for the “unknown.”

I read nearly everything I could about dinosaurs when I was a kid. For the parents out there – if your kids have a fascination with some subject, encourage it. A desire to learn more about a specific topic can bleed over into a general desire to learn. My early fascination with sports and dinosaurs encouraged me to read. The desire to read also helped improve my reading comprehension and made me a better student.

Here are some of the more interesting dinosaur books I have read:

• In the 1990s, I was exposed to Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park. The thought that we could manufacture living, breathing dinosaurs was very appealing to me – after all, who wouldn’t love to have a pet dinosaur in their back yard? It worked out OK for The Flintstones. I have read Jurassic Park and Lost Word multiple times, and have watched all three of the movies. Interestingly, Jurassic Park was my gateway novel to the world of Michael Crichton. Over the past few years, I have read a lot of his books.
• I nabbed a copy of Eric Garcia’s Anonymous Rex mostly because there is a dinosaur on the cover (well, a dinosaur tail, anyway). (Hint to book publishers – put a dinosaur on the cover of a book and I can guarantee that I’ll at least give it a glance). Anonymous Rex is one of those books that you will either love or hate. You will think that it is the dumbest book you have ever read, or you will find it incredibly funny. The premise is that dinosaurs never died out, and are in fact living among us. They wear disguises, of course – the finest latest human suits that money can buy. Garcia subsequently published Casual Rex (a prequel) and Hot and Sweaty Rex. I haven’t had a chance to read them yet, but I enjoyed Anonymous Rex enough that the other Rex books are definitely on my reading list.
• A recent find was a nifty little pocket reference guide from the Pockets of Knowledge series (published by DK Pockets), aptly titled Dinosaurs. I got a good deal on these and actually snapped up all the copies the store had. The book’s dimensions are small, but it’s really a pretty handy reference guide. Some of the book’s features include: a dinosaur classification chart, a list of major discoverers, dinosaur anatomy, information about the vareity of fossils found on each continent, and much more. It’s far from a comprehensive reference guide, but it packs a lot of information for a book that actually will fit in the back pocket of your jeans.

If you’re interested in these books, there are a couple of ways to obtain them. You can, of course, BUY them. If you choose to buy them, I hope you consider using the Amazon widget on the right side of the screen. When you buy by clicking on one of those links, I receive a commission on the sale – at no additional cost to you (the commission comes out of Amazon’s profits). Psst – Jurassic Park Adventure Pack is a steal – $15 for all three movies on DVD!

What’s the other way? Watch later in the day for a giveaway that will allow you to win Anonymous Rex or the Pockets of Knowledge Dinosaur book!

Anonymous Rex
DK Pockets – Dinosaurs
Jurassic Park – Book
Jurassic Park DVD combo pack All 3 movies!

The Mind of Bill James: How a Complete Outsider Changed Baseball by Scott Gray

A few chapters into this book, I noticed that I was a bit disappointed. I quickly realized the problem – as a big fan of Bill James, I had simply built up too much internal hype. Additionally, I probably had more familiarity with the life of Bill James than the typical reader. I took a step back and took a slightly different approach when reading the rest of the book – and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Many of you are probably clueless as to who the heck Bill James is. Bill James is the father of sabermetrics. There you go – you have your answer.

OK, OK. Let’s go a bit deeper into Bill James and sabermetrics.

The story really begins with the history of how baseball teams evaluate talent. For decades, scouts (using the “eyeball test” for a decent portion of their analysis) have been a cornerstone of talent evaluation, aided by historical stats such as batting average (for hitters) and earned run average (for pitchers).

While working as a security guard at the Stokely Van Camp plant (guarding the Pork ‘n Beans) James began writing a series of essays that took a closer look at various aspects of baseball. Sometimes James would take viewpoints that were contrary to prevailing theories; other times he would focus on things that simply hadn’t been studied in any great detail before. James sold a few copies of his first book. Writer Daniel Okrent read a copy and helped push James toward the mainstream. Today, many in the baseball establishment bristle at his name, but James has a large legion of followers. Other writers have followed in his footsteps, and today sabermetrics is well respected in many baseball clubhouses.

James’ analysis exposed some of the traditional statistics as being poor judges of a player’s talent, or of the player’s value to the team. Fielding percentage had long been used to determine the defensive value of a player. However, a player’s range can be considerably more important, as a player with good range can take away a lot of hits – and hit minimization is the true defensive goal in baseball. James also showed that, many times, a player who steals a lot of bases can be counter-productive – if he gets caught a lot.

James also point out the importance on context with statistics. A ballpark can have a considerable impact on a player’s statistics. James also developed major league equivalent, a formula for taking a minor league player’s statistics, adjusting for park factors and level of competition, and determining what the player could have accomplished in the major leagues.

One of the more interesting concepts of James’ work is the “relief ace”. It is his belief than many teams make inefficient use of their best relief pitcher by using him to close out games in the 9th innings. James would prefer that teams use their best reliever (which he refers to as a “relief ace”) a bit earlier, in a critical point in the game. He notes that each run saved in a tie game has eight times the impact of a run saved in a game with a three run game. In spite of this, many teams keep their closer on the bench in the 7th inning of a tie game, but bring him into the 9th inning of the next game with a three run lead in order to close the game. The relief ace concept makes a lot of sense to me – but it doesn’t seem to be taking hold in Major League Baseball.

This book tells us more about Bill James – showing us the living, breathing human being behind the formulae – with anecdotes from family life, college, the army (as a college educated dog handler), and the Stokely plant. Interestingly, it also shows us that James isn’t a guy who believes that numbers are the complete solution. Instead, the gist of his philosophy seem to be in keeping an open mind to new ideas, as well as taking a fresh look at old ideas to determine if they are still relevant today (if, indeed, they were ever relevant).

The appendix has some of James’ research (scratching the surface a bit), and Gray mentions several of James’ books during the course of this book. This book won’t make you an expert sabermetrician, but it will give you a good understanding of the origins of sabermetrics. The book is essentially one part Bill James biography and one part sabermetrics primer. The book has a good flow and is an easy read.

Scott Gray The Mind of Bill James

This article is about plugins for the WordPress blogging platform.  If you aren’t a blogger, this article may not be very interesting to you – you might wish to browse the archives instead (there is a link to the archives in the blue bar toward the top of the screen).

When I began blogging, I was using Blogger.com.  A friend quickly convinced me to move to a self-hosted WordPress solution.  I was a bit of a leap of faith, as I needed to do a decent amount of work to get the same look and feel I had on Blogger.  However, a few months later, I am very happy with WordPress.  The best thing about WordPress is its flexibility.  Plug-ins are a big part of this.  Today, I share some of my favorite plugins.

Comments

• CommentLuv– This is  my favorite plugin.  When a visitor leaves a comment, they can select one of their recent posts, and a link to this post will be appended to their comment.  The goal of Comment Luv is that subsequent readers will visit the commenter’s blog.  I’ve stumbled across some great blogs simply by clicking on the Comment Luv links.
• Comment Author Count–  This plugin displays the number of comments that a particular comment author has left over the time the blog has been active.  A rather simple idea, but still cool!
• Do Follow–  By default, WordPress appends a “no follow” tag to URLs within comments.  The effect of this is that the URLs are links are not counted by search engines such as Google.  The reason for this was the prevent spammers from leaving comments with bunches of URLs in an effort to boost the Google rank of their sites.  This hasn’t been proven to prevent spam (and, in fact, anti-spam plugins are probably a better option) and “do follow” negates the “no follow” tag.  So if you’re linking to things in your comments, Google knows about the links!

Look and feel

• WP-PageNavi–  I wasn’t impressed with the default page navigation in my theme (text hyperlinks).  Page Navi adds clickable buttons to quickly allows someone to navigate to particular pages.  Note: if you are viewing this article as the result of a search engine or receiving a direct link, you’re not going to see this in action.  Go to to front page to view the newest articles, and you’ll bump into Page Navi at the bottom.  I apologize to my RSS subscribers – there’s really not a good way for you to see this.
• Bunny’s Print CSS– If you have printed many blog articles, you may have noticed that the printed copies often suck worse than the Washington Nationals.  Garbage from the header, footer, and sidebars get printed, doubling the number of pages that get printed.  There are other plugins that allow you to present a printer-friendly version of articles to your viewer, but this can cause problems with search engine optimization.  Bunny’s Print CSS allows you to create a CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) that defines exactly what you wanted printing.  A few minutes editing the plugin’s default Print CSS, and I had de-crapified my printouts to a large extent.  I can still improve things, but they look a lot better.

Archives

Smart Archives– The nifty archives page that you can access view the navigation bar at the top of the screen is a product of the Smart Archives plugin, which rebuilds the page ever time a new article is posted.  For Smart Archives to work, yu must first enable the ability to write PHP code in your “pages” – use Exec-PHP for that.

Collapse

You may have notice the collapsing archives and categories widget in the left column.  You can easily browse articles by date or publication or by category.  If you want to simply read all my baseball articles, just click the box next to “baseball” and you’ll see a complete list, in reverse chronological order (newest first)

Ads

Ozh’ Who Sees Ads– At times, you may want to change the behavior of your ads, so that they are only show to certain subsets of your traffic (search engine traffic vs. repeat visitors, for example).  Who Sees Ads can do that – in fact, you can use it to optionally execute all kinds of code.  I plan to use it to restrict access to a giveaway that I am planning for Julyish.

Spam

Akizmet and  Spam Karma 2team up to fight spam in my blog.  So far, not a single spam comment has been posted to the site, and very few legitimate comments have been flagged incorrectly as spam.

This is not a comprehensive list of the plugins I use – but it’s definitely a list of some of the best!  Which plugins are your favorite?

If you’re a brand new blogger, you might want to check out my article, “10 Tips for Novice Bloggers”.  I ‘m fairly new to the game myself, but I hope I’ve learned a few things that can be useful to you.

This is the first in a periodic series of reviews of other blogs.

One of my favorite blogs on the whole, wide web is Jonna Wibelius’ SHEinChina.  I stumbled across it innocently enough.  Back in the old days (early 2009) when The Soap Boxers was on blogspot, I would check out the “Blogs of Note” and SHEinChina was featured one day.  I was hooked from the first day, and have been a daily reader and frequent commenter (to her credit, Jonna has not yet told me to shut up).

Jonna is from Sweden, but has spent a good chunk of her life living in other countries.  She currently lives in China, hence the name of the blog (by the way, the “SHE” stands for Seen, Heard, Experienced – it is not simply the word “she”.)  Jonna’s goal is to eventually speak  Chinese at a native level.

From my perspective, I actually get to learn about two countries when I read her blog.  Of course, China is the prevalent topic, but the expectations she brings from Sweden also teach me about Sweden.  She also has a worldwide audience and you can often learn a lot from the people who leave comments, as well.

What sort of adventures does Jonna experience?  Here are some examples:

• She has a recurring issue with exercise.  Specifically, the fact that she exercises regularly and tones her muscles.  This is really not the norm in China, and she has been told that she has “big” muscles.
• A Chinese wedding tradition is to have the bride and groom have pictures taken in costumes.  Yes, actual costumes, not just the wedding attire.  This is done before the wedding.  I had never heard of this, and honestly was a bit surprised.
• Tales of how laowai (foreigners) are treated differently (usually worse) by vendors – but also tales of how she is treated very well by other vendors.
• Photo blog posts (pictures that are worth 1000 words)

This is a small sample of topics.  Jonna posts nearly every day and covers a broad spectrum of topics.  Not only is the subject matter interesting, but her writing style also makes the blog very easy to read.

Jonna will be off to Finland for a couple of months this summer (before returning to China), allowing us to learn more about yet another country.

Check out SHEinChina at http://sheinchina.blogspot.com/

Update, July 11, 2009:  Jonna is joining the staff of The Soap Boxers.

Club Deli is located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  As the name may suggest, the main fare consists of deli sanwiches, although they always have two soups cooking (one of which is chili), as well as pasta.  Cookies are available for guests with a sweet tooth.

Customer service

I eat at Club Deli perhaps once every two weeks, and sometimes the gaps are even longer.  Nonetheless, the guy behind the counter always knows what I want – 1/2 a #17 (ham and swiss) on croissant.  The half sandwiches are a good size, expecially if you’re having soup with your sandwich.  When the sandwhich gets passed along to the gal who does the toppings, she usually knows the correct toppings as well – mayo, onions, salt, pepper, and a pickle spear on the side.  I’m not an exception, either – they remember these details for everyone in my group – quite impressive.  The guy who serves as order taker and meat and cheese provider often tries (jokingly) to convince me to change my predictable order to something different.  Nope – there’s no point messing up a good thing.

Quality ingredients

Many delis use meats and cheese that are pre-sliced.  At least one large national chain even has the meats in pre-measured quantities.  There is none of this at Club Deli.  When you order your sandwich, they slice the meat and cheese right there.  I’m particularly fond of the swiss cheese.  I’m a big fan of swiss cheese, and it can be hard to find in a lot of places, with many delis using provolone as their token “white cheese”.  The sandwiches cost a bit more than you would pay at one of the fast food sub places, but the fresh, high quality ingredients more than offset the cost difference.

The chili is flat out awesome.  There are hundreds of different ways to make chili, and the chili at Club is made precisely the way I like it.  If you’re ever at Club Deli, definitely give the chili a try – you won’t regret it.

Other cool stuff

You just might bump into a celebrity.  A few months ago, we were eating our lunch and college wrestling legend Dan Gable walked in.  Gable lost only one bout in college at Iowa State (in the national title match as a senior).  He then ran roughshod over the competition in the 1972 Munich Olympics en route to a gold medal.  He followed this up by building a college wrestling juggernaut at the University of Iowa (to the dismay of Iowa State alums).  Wrestling is not my favorite sport, but since Iowa has two great wrestling programs, I do pay attention to it.  Seeing a living legend was very cool.  Nope, I didn’t bug him for an autograph.

If you didn’t have a cookie earlier – or even if you did – you can buy some candy as you leave.  Toss a couple of quarters into the jar and snag some chocolate or even a Tootsie Pop.  Does anything chase down ham, swiss cheese, and chili better than chocolate?

People are often surprised when they find out that I am a roller coaster addict.  The image of an thrill seeking adrenaline junkie seems to be at odds with the mild mannered bookworm they see in front of them.  In fact, I grew up in fear of coasters.  Then, one time I was at an amusement park with my cousin, who is two years younger than me.  He was going to ride a roller coaster.  I didn’t want to show fear, so I mustered up the courage to ride.  The ride up the hill was incredibly harrowing … but a few seconds later I was hooked on coasters.

If you are a roller coaster addict, you must visit Cedar Point.  Cedar Point is located on a peninsula in Lake Erie, in Sandusky, Ohio. The Lake provides an absolutely incredible backdrop for many of the rides. Cedar Point features 17 roller coasters (more than any other park in the world) and a variety of other thrill rides. They have a wide variety of coasters. Whether you like wood, steel, standing, suspended, inverted, or even kiddie coasters, there is something you’ll like. I made my initial pilgrammage to Cedar Point in 2002, and returned there with my wife in 2005. I’m anxiously awaiting the day when my daughter is 48 inches tall. She’s halfway there, so it should just be a couple more years, right? Let’s jump right in and I’ll take you on a tour of some of my favorite rides at Cedar Point.
There are two Cedar Point coasters that I have not yet been able to ride.

• Top Thrill Dragster is tops on my “most wanted” list.  It opened in 2003.  In theory, we should have been able to ride it when we were at Cedar Point in 2005.  Unfortunately, it was closed both days, which really sucked.  The ride launches you 450 feet in the air and you reach a speed of 120 mph.  It looks absolutely awesome.
• Maverick opened in 2007.  It is “only” 105 feet tall, but it does have a 95 degree drop angle, the sharpest drop of any coaster in the park.  I don’t really have a good feel for how Maverick would ride.

Now I’ll take you on a tour of some of my favorite rides at Cedar Point.  These are in order of preference.

• Mean Streak – This is a mile long wooden coaster.  I am personally a big fan of wooden coasters, although my wife is not.  As the wood in the coaster has aged over the years, Mean Streak has gotten even more mean.  It’s definitely a bone jarring ride.  I happen to love a rough ride on the rails, so it’s definitely my cup of tea.  Also, the ride is 3 minutes long, and the lines are often short, because many people fear the Mean Streak!
• Wicked Twister – The best way to describe Wicked Twister is that it is shaped like a U.  You start at the bottom of the U.  You are launched 200 feet in the air – with a couple of nice twists toward the top.  Then you back down and get launched 200 feet up the other side.  Half the time, you’re going to be backward.
• Millenium Force –  The key element is the raw height, as the ride takes you 310 feet in the air and immediately drops you 300 feet.  You are carried up the hill – not launched – so it is a nice slow ride up the hill, and you have a great view from the top.  When you get to the top, you’re a football field (end zone to end zone) from the ground.  Pretty cool.
• Gemini – Gemini is 30 years old, tops out at 60 mph, is only 125 feet tall, has a meek 55% drop angle.  Why is it on my list of favorite, beating out rides such as Mantis and Raptor?  Because you race.  There are two tracks.  One track has the blue train and the other has the red train.  You race side by side, and you can never be sure which train is going to win the race back to the station.

I’ve only scratched the surface.  Check out Cedar Point’s web site for more details.  There’s also a water park (Soak City), but I have never set foot inside Soak City – simply because it would mean taking time away from coasters.

Are you looking for a place to stay while you’re at Cedar Point?  There are some nice on site options, but if you’re looking for a nice, quiet place, I would suggest  McKenna’s Inn, a bed and breakfast on nearby Catawba Island.  It appears that their web site needs a bit of work, but don’t let this fool you – this place is first class.  Not only are the facilities nice, but the location is great.  It is located on a private lane that ends at Lake Erie.  You are with very easy walking distance from the lake.

Dan Brown’s first foray into the world of entertainment was as a singer and songwriter. He released two CDs before turning his attention to writing – a very wise decision. His fourth novel made him a literary rock star. Perhaps you have heard of it – The Da Vinci Code.

There is some great news regarding Brown. His fifth novel, The Lost Symbol (formerly referred to as The Solomon Key) will hit shelves on September 15! Pre-orders are being taken on several sites, and I’ll be pre-ordering my own copy very soon. As is his nature, Brown is being secretive about much of the plot. It will feature cryptologist Robert Langdon and will be set in Washington, D.C. The jacket of The Da Vinci code holds clues to the plot.

Oh, yes. The other news. The movie Angels and Demons, based on the novel of the same name, will be in theaters on Friday. I doubt that it will come close to the success of Da Vinci Code, but spillover popularity should still turn it into a very successful film.

I’m a big fan of Brown’s work. Let’s do a mini-review of his previous novels.

Digital Fortress, 1998. Digital Fortress focuses very heavily on cryptography. A rebellious, genius programmer develops an uncrackable encryption algorithm and offers to auction it off to the highest bidder. This could be a huge problem for the United State government, which has just finished work on TRANSLTR, a computer capable of cracking any encryption algorithm known to man. It is imperative that the code not fall into the wrong hands. Unfortunately, the programmer dies – bringing into play the threat that his partner would publicly release the code if he should die. He is not the only person to die in a high stakes battle to control the code. Opinion: a reasonable understanding of computers makes the book more enjoyable, but it isn’t mandatory. There is a lot of action in the book that is unrelated to the technical issues.

Angels and Demons, 2000. Angels and Demons introduces us to world renowned cryptologist Robert Langdon. A dangerous weapon – a canister of anti-matter – is stolen from CERN and a scientist is murdered. The symbol of the mysterious Illuminati group – a group though to have died out long ago – is left branded on the chest of the victim. The head of the lab calls in Langdon to try to track down the missing canister. Langdon reaches the conclusion that the missing canister is connected to the election of a new pope. As Langdon races against the clock to find the canister, leading papal candidates begin turning up dead. Opinion: this is the prequel to Da Vinci Code, and is a pretty good book in its own right. It might come up a bit short of Da Vinci Code in some respects, but it does take readers on a nice tour of Rome.

Deception Point , 2001. Deception Point takes place in the arctic, where Rachel Sexton is sent to join a team that will analyze a meteorite. Evidence of life is contained with the meteorite – possible proof of extraterrestrial life. But Rachel soon realizes that things aren’t quite what they seem – and very soon, her life is in danger. Opinion: an interesting story with a good mix of science and politics.

The Da Vinci Code, 2003. Robert Langdon is once again awakened in the middle of the night to be informed of a grisly death, this time at the Louvre. A beautiful police cryptologist (Sophie) secretly informs Langdon that the police are not merely using him as a consultant in the case, but that he is the prime suspect. Langdon and Sophie make a tricky exit from the Louvre and elude the police. They combine forces in an attempt to solve the murder. As they put more pieces together, more complex puzzles appear. They eventually discover a truth that could rock Christianity to its core. Opinion: This is a great book, with clever ciphers and lots of twists and turns. It is, of course, a work of fiction. As a Catholic, I believe that the Catholic Church contributed to the success of the book and movie by attacking the book. Had they simply ignored the book – as they ignore many books that contain content related to the church – much of the furor could have been avoided.

The Lost Symbol	Da Vinci Code	Angels & Demons
Deception Point	Digital Fortress

In sharp contrast to the negative customer service experiences you often see on The Soap Boxers, today I happily regale you with quite possibly the best customer service experience ever.  I have purchased many items from Buy.com over the years (mostly electronics) and have never had a bad experience.  I have, however, had one great experience.

The story started, as many do, with the birth of our first child.  Soon after, I saw a keychain the held digital photos (produced by Coby).  These have exploded in availablity over the last year, but at the time, it was difficult to find them for a decent price, except online.

My wife and I each wanted one, so I hopped onto Buy.com and ordered two of them at $20 each.  They arrived shortly, and I went about the task of loading them with our favorite photos.  The software (Mac version) was a bit quirky, but nonetheless, I soon loaded the first keychain.  Then I grabbed the second one.  The computer wouldn’t recognize it.  I rebooted the computer.  I tried a different computer.  I unplugged it and plugged it back in.  I cursed.  Nothing seemed to work.  The product was defective.

I went online and very quickly found Buy.com’s information on how to return a defective item.  I printed off an RMA (return of merchandise) form from their website.  This gave me free postage to send it back.  Very cool.  I dropped the box off (I forget which shipping company) and waited for my replacement.

After a week or so, I noticed that there had been absolutely no change to my order status online – not even an indication that the return had been received.  I sent a quick email to Buy.com to ask about this.  I quckly received a reply that explained the various steps in the return process and explained why the item might still be in the return process.  At this point,  I was confident that the box hadn’t fallen off a truck somewhere in Nebraska.  I patiently waited for the replacement.

Before long, I received a perfectly functioning item as a replacement.  I was very happy with it and in fact recommended it to many friends, several of whom went out to Buy.com to buy one.  I was a very satisfied customer.

A couple of months later, I received an email from Buy.com, completely out of the blue.  They were reviewing their files.  Because they were unable to completely satisfy me (their words, not mine), they were refunding my purchase price.  Not just the $20 cost of the defective (and replaced) item, but the entire $40 order.  I must say that I was very surprised at this.  If Buy.com considered me to be an unsatisfied customer, they must set the customer service bar very high.