Review Day

There are no spoilers in these reviews.

Eloquent Ruby by Russ Olsen:
I reviewed the prequel to this book, Design Patterns in Ruby back in 2008, but still have not learned how to program in Ruby. I know enough to survive in a foreign Ruby country where I could decipher the signs to find the bathroom, but not enough to speak fluently to the natives. In spite of this lack of knowledge, I was able to understand and enjoy this follow-up book, even though it's a little more Ruby-centric. As I said in my Amazon review, "Russ has a knack for distilling concepts to their simplest, understandable form while maintaining a breezy, friendly writing style that invites readers to share in his excitement about Ruby." It's definitely worth a glance if you do any Ruby at all in your programming job.

Final Grade: A-

The Office, Season 2:
Emerging from the shadow of the awful first season, the second season of The Office does everything right, and is funny from start-to-finish without relying completely on uncomfortable situations. Even though Dilbert did it first, every episode seems to find a fresh aspect of the workplace to mock while maintaining mostly likable main characters.

Final Grade: A

Only two reviews this week? I really need to start buying some expensive stuff before I lose the right to call myself an American. This is also the case for playing World of Warcraft -- the money you blow on your subscription or transferring your characters to your friends' servers is easily made back because you stop spending money in every other arena of social entertainment.