It's a Mystery

Do you read mysteries? I don’t, as a rule. Oh, I’ve read some of Clancy’s books and “The DaVinci Code,” but normally I read more works by female authors like Barbara Kingsolver and Amy Tan and Christina Schwarz. I’d just finished reading Schwarz’s “So Long at the Fair” when a friend who reads and reads and reads constantly (when he’s not on the golf course or singing in a chorus somewhere) gave me a Vince Flynn book. It’s called “Term Limits” and turns out that it's Flynn's first novel. Well... I whisked through that mystery/ spy fiction/whatever you call that genre in a couple of days last weekend, up at our cottage. I knew that The Man Who Reads Mostly Sports Pages And Computer Journals would find it interesting, so I picked up two more of Flynn’s books at the library. The Man is now into his second of Flynn’s books, while I am rereading Schwarz’s book. But I am now much better informed about weapons’ systems and assassins and political intrigue. So I’d suggest you stay out of my way; I know many ways to “take you out.”

It seems to be a bit risky to print such stuff on-line. I had no idea that everyone can get into anyone’s website and read and comment on anything. Did you happen to notice the comment that was left on my blog about the Bed Whose Name I Shall No Longer Put In Writing? How did that customer representative guy find me? One of my cousins wrote to me that she always wondered how all these computer nerds make a living. Now we know about one of them. He works for the company that makes That Bed.

I am hoping that simply using the word “bed” will not be adequate to peak his interest, or anyone else's, but how about the word, “assassins?” Scarey thought, isn’t it?

I asked The Engineer I Live With if he could explain to me how this hacker got into my blog. He said, “Watch me,” as he turned on Google. The Man typed in “Sleep Number Blog” and 498,000 entries came up. Really. That was the number. “That would take some time to search,” he said. So My Live-in Computer Whiz added a few other words to narrow down his search. He didn’t succeed – at least not in the amount of time for which I had the patience to watch his computer screen. (Is there anything more boring than watching someone else working on a computer? Well... Maybe golf on television, but not many things.)

I wonder if such computer hacking is used by The Bad Guys - or the CIA (who may, or may not be, bad guys, depending upon whose novel you read)? Is it used in any of the recent spy fiction? I’ll have to ask my big-reader guy who introduced me to Flynn’s work.

Meanwhile, if I totally disappear from this earth, you might start your search for me at the CIA or the FBI. They just might be interested in anyone who uses the word “assassin” in their blog.

Stirring the Pot
(Gee, they might even be interested in someone who uses the word “Pot”.)