Books I've Read This Week (June 30)

When I left you last week I had just started "P" is for Peril in my quest to read all Sue Grafton's alphabet mysteries in order. I succeeded. I finished "S" is for Silence by Tuesday evening and now have to wait along with the rest of her legions of fans until "T" comes out next year. It will be a long wait.

These books are so unique. I don't know of any other mystery series that takes place in the '80s. I like how Kinsey is stuck in the pre-cell phone and internet era. Her life and work would be so different if she didn't meet people face-to-face. She certainly wouldn't get into as much trouble!

Things Kinsey and I have in common: single, live alone, like living alone, live in California, no pets, no plants, eat the same things all the time, don't wear make-up, don't wear dresses (she has to sometimes but doesn't like it), don't like having people tell us what to do.

I wasn't sure how to move on from a singular diet of books of such quality but Joanna had recommended the Miss Julia books by Ann B. Ross so I tried the first two in that series: Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind and Miss Julia Takes Over. I think I should've read something else. These books generally annoyed me. I gave it two books worth of a chance though since they were so highly reviewed. I didn't mind the stories so much or the characters, it was the writing of the dialect. They take place in the South so the author decided she had to write the dialog with the usual interruptive apostrophes and misspellings. I'd rather not have to muck my way through it.

On to another new cozy mystery I had picked up, Moving is Murder by Sara Rosett. I'm about half way through this "Mom Zone" mystery. The main character is a new mom who just moved with her Air Force husband to Eastern Washington and is immediately immersed in a murder investigation. She has highly evolved organizational skills picked up from her numerous moves as she and her husband have been transferred from base to base. There are moving and packing tips at the end of each chapter. So far it seems rather boring and unbelievable. I mean, who wants to read about babies crying all day and who would believe the murder victim was killed by wasps in a paper cup? I'll finish it to find out whodunit but I don't believe I'll be reading another selection from the Mom Zone.

Unread books on my shelf at home:
Sleep, Pale Sister, Joanne Harris
The Fan, Peter Abrahams
The Memory of Whiteness, Kim Stanley Robinson
Site Unseen, Dana Cameron
One Grave Too Many, Beverly Connor
His Majesty's Dragon, Naomi Novik
Even Vampires Get the Blues, Katie MacAlister
Predator, Patricia Cornwell
Gone, Jonathan Kellerman

Books on hold at the library:
Virgin Earth, Philippa Gregory (due 7/18)
Micah, Laurell K. Hamilton (in transit!)
Darcy & Elizabeth, Linda Berdoll (2 of 7 holds)
Danse Macabre, Laurell K. Hamilton (5 of 19 holds)
The Art of Detection, Laurie R. King (10 of 17 holds)
Dark Tort, Diane Mott Davidson (33 of 33 holds)
Miss Zukas and the Library Murders, Jo Dereske (1 of 1 holds)
Miss Zukas and the Island Murders, Jo Dereske (ready for pickup)
Don of the Dead, Casey Daniels (ready for pickup)
If You Could See Me Now, Cecelia Ahern (ready for pickup)

Well, it's been a rather unsatisfactory second half of the week. I'm hoping my choices will get better. We'll see next time on Books I've Read This Week.

To the Max

I've sporadically followed the career of Belorussian tennis beast Max Mirnyi with some interest in the past few years. He's not the best or most popular player so it's not often I get a chance to see him play. He's had most of his success in doubles play (six total Slam titles) which rarely sees the airwaves in the U.S. I like his serve-and-volley style of play which brings him to the net a lot. His long arms, yoga discipline, and doubles training gives him a definite advantage in close.

Today he was set to meet the No. 8 seed American James Blake in the first match of the day on Centre Court at Wimbledon. I set my DVR for 5am knowing that ESPN couldn't help but televise that match-up. I was right and got to watch the first two sets before heading to work this morning. Max took the first set and Blake came back in the second. I had to avoid any sports websites and radio all day so I wouldn't accidentally discover the result.

As soon as I got home tonight I picked up the match in the third set. Blake won 6–4 but after that Max could do nothing wrong and Blake nothing right. I couldn't believe it but Max and his big serve won the 4th set 6–1 and then swept the 5th set 6–0. He's set to meet his current doubles partner Jonas Bjorkman in the fourth round. I'll be praying to the ESPN gods that they'll cover that one. Please, please, please.

Discovering the Tour

I thought I should read up on the Tour de France and recent cycling news tonight on the eve of the Prologue tomorrow in Strasbourg. I had to skim the "Operation Puerto" doping scandal articles. It's just too depressing that Jan, Basso and Vinokourov are out this year. We knew it wouldn't be Lance this year but surely it would've been one of them.

Anyway, I checked out my usual cycling websites for RSS feeds to add to my Safari lists and found that the Discovery team has been publishing video podcasts (they call them webisodes) for the last month and a half. So I downloaded them all into my iTunes. They sure are fun. All the behind the scenes stuff with the riders is really great. I wish they had closed captioning though. Some of their accents are kinda hard to understand. If you're a Discovery team fan, you should definitely check out these Race2Replace shows.

The Discovery guys have a good shot at some glory in the Tour now with the favorites and loads of others out of the race. I can't wait to get up early tomorrow to see what happens.

A Swap of Brothers

Well, the Angels did it. Jeff was sent down (or rather, designated for assignment) and Jered was brought up. I wonder how Jered will do in the big show now that he's been exchanged for his brother. You have to think that it will affect him.

It will be interesting to see where Jeff will end up. LA has 10 days to either trade him or they have to release him. He's getting paid too much for most teams to have much interest. Especially with his performace this year. The Angels will end up having to pay most of his salary anyway.

I guess I'll be watching Jered pitch Monday against the Mariners instead of Jeff. Makes me very, very sad. I'm glad I have the Tour, the World Cup and Wimbledon to distract me.

My New Tooth

The clock on my computer at work read 12:52pm when I was scanning my electronic calendar and saw my dentist appointment was to be at 1pm. Oops! I called the office but the phone kept ringing and ringing. Just my luck the receptionist was out at lunch. Eventually the machine picked up and I told it I'd be there a little late.

I climbed up the hill to Post St. and was there by 1:10 according to the computer on the front desk. They weren't ready for me anyway. Eventually someone came to get me and I settled in the mechanical chair awaiting the replacement of my temporary tooth. I was glad to get rid of it—the bump on the back was starting to annoy me.

Almost two hours later and I was back at work with my new tooth. It took them forever to grind off enough to get my bite right. Then the dentist decided to take a bit off a lower tooth since the new upper tooth was longer than the old one had been and he didn't want them hitting each other too much. Luckily, he could do it without shooting me up with anesthetic. Don't you hate getting over the numb?

It's amazing how close to real the crown looks. It matches my other yellow teeth perfectly. Can you tell which tooth is porcelain?



I like the new tooth. It's nice and smooth and fits just right. But it still has a big bump on the back. My tongue will just have to get used to it.

Word Games

I was next-blogging tonight and happened upon someone who had a fun word game, Match Up, in their sidebar. I've always liked vocabulary tests so I played a little while then thought why not share it with you all. So I added both Match Up and Hangman to my blog too so we can all work on our word skills. Scroll down and take a look. Can you get five out of five correct? Don't you love playing the Wheel at home without that annoying Pat Sajak?

Thanks to The Free Dictionary for helping us keep our brains working. Go visit them and see what other interesting tidbits they offer.

Weaver Woes & Wins

My favorite pitcher isn't very good. He's got okay stuff and can get guys out, but he's not been very successful this year. He's fun to watch though. I try to catch every game. I love seeing his fastball move all over the place. And I can't get enough of him dropping down, submarine-style, to throw a breaking ball at 80 mph while the batter stands there looking. He gets all fired up when he's not doing well too. I like seeing him get passionate about the game. I think that's better than looking like you don't care.

Tonight he started against the Colorado Rockies and was taken out in the 3rd inning after giving up 6 runs on 9 hits, including a home run. Ouch. The Angels defense was not much help either. So Jeff has double-digit losses against only three wins. I bet the booing Angels fans are wishing he'd swap places with his brother, Jered, in Salt Lake. When Jered was up a few weeks ago he won his first four starts in the bigs. In his most recent start for the Bees this week, he shut out the A's Triple-A squad, striking out a club-record 14 batters and giving up only two hits after starting with five no-hit innings. He's a stud.

Tour de France Prep

The Tour starts on Saturday so it's time for me to start my own Tour preparation: getting up earlier. No more lounging around in bed until 8:00. OLN will be starting their coverage at 5:30 every morning which leaves me no time for sloth. I figure if I start tomorrow morning getting up a half hour earlier each day this week, I'll be ready for my 5:30 wake up call on Saturday. On the other hand, I could sleep in until 6:00 and fast-forward through the commercials. That may be a better plan. See? I'm slacking already.

What's Better?

1. Fresh ripe strawberries
2. Extra innings
3. Aroma of chicken simmering in marinara sauce
   
4. Becks' bending goal vs. Ecuador
   
5. Kinsey's latest intuitive leap
   

What's More Annoying?

1. Loud pounding bass line from next door
2. Moldy nectarine pit
   
3. Marcelo Balboa ranting about Becks
   
4. Endless repetitive tune from ice cream truck
5. Lingering taste of dental adhesive from temporary crown
   

Books I've Read This Week (June 23)

Is it Friday already? After being out of commission part of the week, it doesn't feel like it's time to again take stock of the Books I've Read This Week. Let's see if I did any better than last week.

I have to admit to returning three books to the library unread this week: A Crack in the Edge of the World by Simon Winchester, The Rebels of Ireland by Edward Rutherfurd, and James Patterson's The 5th Horseman (which I was complaining about earlier). I just ran out of steam with Simon's books, I guess, and I never felt like getting into a Rutherford book. I'm more into mysteries than historical fiction right now, but I'll read those two later, never you fear. So on to the books I did read. And it's not all Kinsey Millhone adventures, though there are plenty of those too.

I started out the week with the most recent Temperance Brennan mystery, Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs. Jumping on Dan Brown's coattails, Cross Bones blends the usual forensic anthropology and murder mystery with conspiracy theories and alternate histories of Jesus and his family. Tempe and Ryan head to Israel on the trail of bones and, yes, more bones. There was some interesting DNA science involved in trying to match sets of bones with each other according to mitochondrial DNA which is passed down through the mother. But I didn't enjoy this particular book as much as some of her others. Perhaps it was a little too much out of Tempe's usual environment.

Next were a set of two books by a new author for me, Peter Abrahams. I found the second, Behind the Curtain, on the new book shelf a while back and when I checked the stacks to see if my library had the first, Down the Rabbit Hole, I saw several other titles by him. So I was really hoping to like his writing because there's nothing better than discovering a new author who's written a lot.

Down the Rabbit Hole introduces us to 13-year-old Ingrid Levin-Hill, her football-playing older brother and their hometown of Echo Falls, somewhere in New England. Ingrid hates her name and secretly calls herself Griddie (which I personally think is even worse). She plays soccer, acts with the local drama group and, like any good sleuth, sticks her nose in where it doesn't belong. Following the teachings of her hero, Sherlock Holmes, she gets her culprit in the end and on the way interacts with some great interesting characters like her ornery grandpa, her new dog, and the sympathetic chief of police. I was excited to read more about Ingrid and her companions in the second book that was equally entertaining. These two books are good examples of why you shouldn't shun books just because they're classified as Young Adult.

By the time I was done with Ingrid, "K" is for Killer had arrived at the library so I could read Kinsey stories the rest of the week. I'm just now starting "P" is for Peril and only have three more after that, so I'm starting to mourn already. Last night while I was reading "N" is for Noose, I accompanied Kinsey on her travels around the state of California with my newly downloaded Google Earth. She lives in fictitious Santa Teresa which is based on the real-life Santa Barbara and Sue Grafton includes real towns and highways in her descriptions. I loved that you could see Santa Barbara fogged in!

Unread books on my shelf at home:
Sleep, Pale Sister, Joanne Harris
The Fan, Peter Abrahams
"Q" is for Quarry through "S" is for Silence, Sue Grafton
The Memory of Whiteness, Kim Stanley Robinson
Moving is Murder, Sara Rosett
Site Unseen, Dana Cameron
One Grave Too Many, Beverly Connor
His Majesty's Dragon, Naomi Novik
Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind, Ann B. Ross

Books on hold at the library:
Virgin Earth, Philippa Gregory (in transit, I'm giving up. Eliz, can I borrow yours?)
Micah, Laurell K. Hamilton (9 of 24 holds)
Darcy & Elizabeth: Days & Nights at Pemberly, Linda Berdoll (2 of 7 holds)
Danse Macabre, Laurell K. Hamilton (5 of 16 holds)
Miss Julia Takes Over, Ann B. Ross (ready for pickup)
The Art of Detection, Laurie R. King (17 of 20 holds)
Dark Tort, Diane Mott Davidson (38 of 38 holds)
Miss Zukas and the Library Murders, Jo Dereske (1 of 1 holds)
Miss Zukas and the Island Murders, Jo Dereske (in transit)
Don of the Dead, Casey Daniels (in transit)

So, I think I accomplished quite a bit even with losing a couple days of being too sick to even read. I'm going to miss Kinsey when I'm done with "S" is for Silence but I'm looking forward to exploring the collection of new mystery authors awaiting me on my shelf. Maybe I'll even find one who will become a new favorite. I might tell you next week on BIRTW. Happy Reading!

I Should Be There

I should be San Francisco today. Yes, it turns out that I'm probably feeling well enough I could've been in the office today but that's not what I'm talking about.

My favorite pitcher, Jeff Weaver, is starting this afternoon against the Giants at AT&T Park. So I should be there. But I'm not. I didn't even plan to go before I got sick. I should have gotten a ticket immediately when I found out he was starting in this series. I don't often have the chance to see him pitch in person.

But it's a good thing I didn't. Besides the whole sick thing, it's way too hot to be sitting out in the sun today. And, for some odd reason, FSN decided to televise a weekday day game. So I can be at home in front of a fan, do some projects for work, and watch Weaves lose to the Giants.

Stomach Update

I didn't want to leave you on pins and needles worrying about my health so here's a bit of an update.

The tea came back up so I went back to bed. I slept for a couple hours but when I got up my system was still trying to clear itself out (read: dry heaves). I watched a little England/Sweden then tried to eat half a breakfast bar and some water. I was able to keep a little bit down though not without fighting for it.

I couldn't keep my eyes open at the half so I went back to bed. I slept another couple hours and am now still feeling quite tentative. I may just stick with water for the rest of the day.

p.s. Who is Owen Hargreaves and where has he been all my life?

Home Sick

WARNING: not for the faint of stomach

I'm home sick today. I was feeling okay when I went to bed last night but I woke up at 4am and heard a car horn bleeping (I hope it wasn't mine). I tried to get back to sleep but decided to go to the bathroom first just so I wouldn't wake up an hour later having to pee. I'm glad I did cuz once I got to the toilet I started feeling umm...unsettled. And I gave back my part of my supper. It wasn't pleasant and I can hardly believe you're still reading this.

I went back to bed and woke up again around 8, made another visit to the bathroom and gave back the rest of my supper. I was not feeling well at this point. I decided to try some tea and see if that would settle things down. It's not working very well. Every half hour or so I feel like I need to throw up again but there's nothing left to come up. And the last time things got pretty liquidy from the other end.

Soooo...I'll be staying home from work today and staying close to the bathroom.

A Plastic Tooth

My old tooth is gone. My new tooth is ordered. My current tooth is plastic. Yes, plastic. I'll only have it for two weeks so I hope it stands up. It feels really weird.

But then everything feels odd right now. My anesthetic has not yet worn off. And I'm hungry but I'm worried about eating with my lip still numb. There's no one else around to see me eat, but I'd rather not be messy if I can hold out another hour. Until then I can't be assured of full feeling in my mouth area.

A's Win! A's Win!

For those of you too sleepy to stay up for the end of the five-hour A's game: Good news! The A's got themselves out of some sticky situations in extra innings and finally beat L.A. 5–4 in the 17th on a bases-loaded walk to Bobby Crosby scoring Marco Scutaro from 3rd. Good eye, Bobby!

What I liked most about this game was the dugout. Those guys were into the game. The starter, Kirk Saarloos, was out there supporting the team in his post-game sweatshirt. The A's closer, Huston Street—who had given up the Dodgers' tying fourth run in the 9th inning—was still there cheering and rolling a rally ball in his hand. They didn't seem to care we were only one inning short of a doubleheader. They were just having fun.

Of course, it helps that tonight's game became the A's ninth win in a row. And their June record is now 13-2. Can you say "hot"? (and I'm not talking about Ellis either) Go, A's!!

A Book I Might Not Read

Today I started The 5th Horseman by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. I commented on the first four books previously and was surprised then at mistakes in the description of their San Francisco setting. As I began this fifth book I soon discovered a similar problem. On page 10, I read this sentence:

I met Yuki and her mother, Keiko, in front of Saks in the upscale Union Square shopping district out by the Golden Gate Panhandle."

Now I've worked in San Francisco for over 10 years but I've never lived there. I also don't do a lot of exploring in the City. So if you live there and can tell me this location description is true, I'd appreciate it (and be very, very suprised). Because unless there's another Panhandle I don't know about, it's not anywhere near Union Square.

Then the authors continue with "the three of us headed up Maiden Lane toward Grant Avenue." Come on. I went on Google Maps and figured out that Maiden and Grant are almost three miles from the Panhandle. Who are your researchers? Do you think your readers don't mind that you are so careless with the facts? Surely you have someone reading your proofs who is checking these things! I've about had enough of your shoddy writing and editing. I'm so not going to read this book.

Books I've Read This Week (June 16)

I waited to write this week's BIRTW until I finished Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris tonight. It would've been embarrassing to report that the only books I read the entire week were Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone mysteries. Last week I read "A" and "B" and, that's right, this week I read "C" all the way through "J". (Don't bother using your fingers to count. That's eight books.)

I could've read more but "K" was not on the shelf when I made my auxiliary library trip on Tuesday. So "L" through "R" are sitting on my shelf here at home hoping to get read sometime real soon. As are plenty of other books that really deserve my attention. I'm sure I'll get to them eventually but there's something about reading a series in order one right after the other. Of course, you do uncover some inconsistencies that way, but nothing major. I think I'm getting to the place when I left off reading them before because I don't remember Kinsey meeting her mother's relatives.

I've been trying to pick a favorite Kinsey book so far but they're all running together for me right now. One thing I like in general is the variety of locales in the series. Sometimes the investigation is centered mainly around Santa Teresa and other times Kinsey gets to travel further afield. I won't go on and on about these books as I'm sure I'll be talking about them again next week.

On to the only other book I read (today), Definitely Dead. The latest adventure of Sookie Stackhouse, telepath and barmaid, takes us to Shreveport for a fancy date with a new beau and to New Orleans for not-so-fun run-ins with the vampire Queen. My favorite, Erik the Northman, has only a small role in this book, sad to say. Bill shows up too (and not in a very favorable light either). Near the end, Sookie makes a new friend who promises to be a fun addition to the usual cast of characters in following books. This series and Charlaine Harris' Shakespeare series are inevitably good reads.

I told you last week I was reading A Crack in the Edge of the World by Simon Winchester. Well, let's just say that one's been put on my own hold shelf of sorts. I'll get back to it soon, I promise.

Unread books on my shelf at home:
The Rebels of Ireland, Edward Rutherfurd
The 5th Horseman, James Patterson
Sleep, Pale Sister, Joanne Harris
Cross Bones, Kathy Reichs
Behind the Curtain, Peter Abrahams
The Fan, Peter Abrahams
"L" is for Lawless through "R" is for Ricochet, Sue Grafton
The Memory of Whiteness, Kim Stanley Robinson
Nail Biter, Sarah Graves
Moving is Murder, Sara Rosett

Books on hold at the library:
Virgin Earth, Philippa Gregory (still in transit. sure. fine. whatever.)
Micah, Laurell K. Hamilton (9 of 23 holds)
Darcy & Elizabeth: Days & Nights at Pemberly, Linda Berdoll (2 of 6 holds)
Danse Macabre, Laurell K. Hamilton (5 of 14 holds)
"K" is for Killer, Sue Grafton (in transit)
"S" is for Silence, Sue Grafton (check shelf)
Site Unseen, Dana Cameron (ready for pickup)
One Grave Too Many, Beverly Connor (ready for pickup)
His Majesty's Dragon, Naomi Novik (ready for pickup)

I almost added Janet Evanovich's Twelve Sharp to my hold list today. But when I saw it had over 113 holds on it already I decided to not clog up my list anymore than it already is. Even with thirty books in the system, it could take three months to get a copy. I guess I have a couple books on my hold list right now that have been there that long. I'm just not sure I need to add another. Maybe I'll change my mind. You'll have to see next time on Books I've Read This Week.

Words I Had to Look Up

Here is a list of words I looked up while reading recently:

saphenous: relating to or denoting either of the two large superficial veins in the leg

flinders: small fragments or splinters

anomie: lack of the usual social or ethical standards in an individual or group

arnica: a plant of the daisy family that bears yellow daisylike flowers (a preparation of this plant used medicinally, esp. for the treatment of bruises)

effusion: an instance of giving off something such as a liquid, light, or smell (medicine: an escape of fluid into a body cavity)

pronate: put or hold (a hand, foot, or limb) with the palm or sole turned downward

tautology: the saying of the same thing twice in different words, generally considered to be a fault of style (logic: a statement that is true by necessity or by virtue of its logical form)

How many did you know?

Definitions are from my Oxford American Dictionary Widget (gotta love that Tiger).

Broken Tooth

Yesterday I had an apple for lunch. It was crunchy and delicious. But afterwards I kept feeling like I had some peel stuck between my top right front tooth and the incisor beside it (7 and 8 in the chart). I absentmindedly picked at it the rest of the day until I just couldn't stand it anymore. So last night out came the floss and I went to work.

I thought the peel would slide right out but there seemed to be something in the way so I tried again; the floss strands separated and I felt something loosen. Uh-oh. Quickly I grabbed my mirror and sure enough the corner of my tooth was coming off. There was no apple peel after all. The tooth had cracked and my flossing had only made it worse.

My usual dentist recently left my health plan and I haven't tried finding a new one. Today I had to. I did a search for those near my office and called one whose office is in the same building as my old dentist. I didn't want to have to go wandering around. They had an opening at 3:45; I would have to try to keep that corner attached at least until then.

I carefully ate breakfast and then lunch and the corner was still hanging on. I walked up to the dentist's office, filled out the paperwork, sat patiently through the X-ray and then the dentist came to chat. He told me the various options, completely leaving it up to me to decide. How was I supposed to know what was best? composite resin? porcelain veneer? crown? He gave me some papers to read about the options and left.

When they asked me to sign saying I understood the options and fee schedules I said I had some questions. The receptionist (dental translation technician?) came in and was talking about how veneers are rather fragile and can break and you need to cut up your food and never bite into apples ever again. I was shocked. I needed something more durable than that, I thought.

So I signed up for a crown and will be getting one on Monday. I have to wait with the corner of my tooth hanging off in the meantime mourning the loss of my natural tooth. Even with a crown, they tell me, I may not be biting into many crunchy apples in the future.

More from Kinsey

Kinsey is dressing up for a funeral in I is for Innocent wearing, of course, her favorite all-purpose black dress. She discusses her choice of footwear:

I slipped my feet into a pair of black flats so I could walk without hobbling. I have friends who adore high heels, but I can't see the point. I figure if high heels were so wonderful, men would be wearing them.

You go, girl.

Favorite Kinsey Quote of the Day

Kinsey was visiting Francesca in I is for Innocent and had this to say about the stables:

The air smelled faintly musty, a blend of straw, dampness, and the various by-products of horse butts.

Gotta love those horse butts. Thanks, Sue Grafton.

Book Overload

I did a bad thing last night. I finished Sue Grafton's H is for Homicide and knew that I had reserved "I" a few days before. So I checked my library record and, sure enough, it was in already. Now Mondays and Tuesdays my branch is open until 8. And it was only 7. So out I went.

That in itself was not bad. What was questionable was that I went into the mysteries stacks and proceeded to put all the rest of the Sue Grafton books in my bag. Evidence below:




How am I ever going to read all those books?

Catching Up With the A's

I spent most of the day with a headache and I'm falling asleep reading so I'm going to bed early tonight. Well, as soon as I catch up with real-time in the A's game. I'm only 17 minutes back right now. Luckily in baseball there are a lot of slow areas to fast-forward through if you don't care to listen to the announcers. I'll catch the end of the game on the radio.

The A's are on a real hot streak right now but I haven't bought into it yet. I'm still expecting them to lose every night. I should try to be more positive. Some of their regulars are injured (including my favorite, Mark Ellis) so you'd think they can only improve in the weeks and months to come.

I'd really like to see them beat the Mariners tonight. I have to admit to liking all the other AL West teams (for various reasons) so the Ms are the only team I can really root against in the A's division.

I'm all caught up so I'm off to bed. Go As!

On My Way Home

On the platform of the BART stations, as you're waiting for your train, occasionally they announce over the PA and the displays when the next trains will be. I can take trains from two different lines so I don't have to pay attention to any timetable. I know a train I can ride will come along every 5 or 10 minutes with the trains from the other two lines in between.

Tonight when I reached the platform around 5:15 I was shocked when the displays announced the next train to arrive (one I could ride) was 13 minutes away. There was a delay right during the highest commuting times. Yippee!

When my train finally pulled up, it looked pretty full already but I was one of the first ones in so I wasn't pressed too closely to my fellow travellers. And I must be having good karma cuz two stops later, a guy got up to exit and I got a seat. Good thing too as I'm reading a hardcover and you know they're not the easiest to read while standing and holding on at the same time.

There are several routes I can take driving from the BART station to my house. At one point I can go either straight or right. There's no left turn lane at this intersection so when there's a long line in the left lane I normally take the right turn option to avoid getting caught behind slow vehicles turning left. That's what I did today. Might not have been the best choice.

A couple intersections later traffic was really heavy. I didn't think that much of it since it was around 6 and there are a lot of cars on the roads at that time of day. But then I saw the flashing lights and the fire truck. The right lane ahead of me was blocked and a sheriff's bubble-top was blocking the left turn lane facing me. I was glad I was in the left lane and I made it through with not too much delay. I hope whoever it was is okay.

Later I crossed under the highway and then drove parallel to it for a few hundred yards. Boy, I'm sure glad I didn't take the highway option home. There were flashers and ambulances up there too. It looked like traffic was down to one or two lanes. People sure weren't getting home on time for dinner tonight.

Coldplay on Conan

Ooooo. I just saw an ad for Late Night while watching the Stanley Cup on NBC. Coldplay is on a repeat tonight so I might just have to tape it. I don't normally like live music—no one seems to be able to sing in tune anymore—but Chris is usually really good. And how can I resist them in HD?

Cup o' World Cup

I'm going into work a little late this morning so I can watch the first U.S. game in the World Cup. My Comcast guide doesn't say it but they added ESPN2HD just in time. Soccer sure is purty in HD.

I taped the Australia/Japan game and watched some of it while I was eating breakfast and waiting for the U.S./Czech game to come on. It was kinda boring until the last 10 minutes when Australia finally put some goals in. They were down 0-1 then Tim Cahill scored two in a row. They ended 3-1. Boy, those Socceroos were excited.

I'm watching the U.S. game a bit delayed cuz I decided to take a shower first. They're now down 0-1 and just had a great chance but Claudio Reyna hit one off the post. Darn! So close. Oh, now the Czechs are up by two. I didn't really expect the U.S. could beat the Czechs but I'd like to see them give a good effort.

I'm so tired of hearing about the "good run in the 2002 World Cup." Give it a rest already! So they made the quarters four years ago, how about describing this game? How 'bout some info on the current players?

Okay, start of the second half. Oooo. My favorite U.S. player, John O'Brien, is in. I'm not sure if I like the current long hair or the 2002 cropped hair. Hmmm...I'm going with the short hair. John, please cut it off.

Three to nil now. I think I'll put my shoes on and head to BART. We'll see how they can do against Italy on Saturday. In the meantime, it's all about Edmonton tying up Carolina tonight. Go Oil!

Dahlias from the Farmers' Market

I never knew how much I liked dahlias.
These just had amazing color.
Click on the pic for more dahlia images.

Pics from the All-Staff

A hands-on kind of meeting?
Click on the pic for more from the all-staff.

Email Reminders & RSS

If you're like me and you sometimes forget to go visit your favorite blogs, Feedblitz provides an email reminder service for us slackers. I set up this blog so you can subscribe through FeedBlitz if you need a kick in the pants to come read about my life. I tried it out and it sends out an email every morning if I've put up new stuff the previous day.

Just click the link Subscribe via FeedBlitz in my links list and enter your email address. You'll get an email you'll need to respond to in order for your subscription to become active. Then just sit back, relax, and know you'll always know if I'm keeping up.

Or if you've joined the RSS universe, you can add my Atom feed to your feed reader. I'm using Safari to keep up with my favorite blogs. It has a cool feature where I can add feeds to my Bookmarks Bar folders and it goes out and checks for new content for me. All I have to do is just click once to get all the latest posts. (if only Safari supported more Blogger features I'd be a happier member of the blogosphere!)

What I Bought at the Market

Today I ran my usual Saturday morning errands: farmers' market, Trader Joe's and the library. Even with chatting online and having breakfast, I got an early start. I was out of the house by 9:30.

My first stop was the bakery stand where I bought a whole wheat sourdough boulet. Then I bought a couple baskets of organic strawberries. Very tasty. Then I picked up a few white nectarines. I got them quite firm so it'll be a couple days til they're ready for snacking.

While I was filling a bag of organic baby arugula, baby spinach and baby sweet lettuces, the entertainer of the day, a male singer/harmonica & guitar player, was singing a song about being an orphan child and how he'll get to see all his relatives in heaven. It was rather depressing and really just a chance to sing "brother, father, mother, sister" over and over again. (Sorry if you know and love this song)

Next was a search for garlic. It's not in season yet but I'd rather buy it at the FM than a grocery store. I finally found one guy from Half Moon Bay who had some, so I bought a head. I had spotted some amazing flowers and had some cash left so I went over and picked out two bundles of dahlias: one a deep red and the other a deep pink. So pretty.

So with those things purchased I headed over to TJs to fill out my weekly needs: milk, beans, stock, yogurt, bananas, etc. There was a little one in line at the check-out who was very excited about her yellow balloon. I didn't have anything nearly so special in my own cart.

The library opens at 10 which is why I wasn't on the road any earlier this morning as I was up at 8. I arrived at 10:20, dropped off my returning books, picked up my holds and perused the new books shelf for any interesting titles. I quickly moved on though. I have enough unread books here at home.

Books I've Read This Week (June 9)

Hi again. I'm glad you're back for another Books I've Read This Week. This week I read two Sue Grafton stories and one mystery translated from the Swedish.

And today I started Simon Winchester's A Crack in the Edge of the World about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. He starts by describing the other seismic events around the world in the year that led up to the San Francisco quake. It was highly reminiscent of the events nearly a century later that culminated in the Sumatrian tsunami in 2004. Crazy earth.

While reading Susan Albert's blog recently, I was reminded of Sue Grafton's alphabet series and the fact that somewhere along the way I had stopped reading them. But I can't remember which was the last one I read and it's been long enough that I wouldn't necessarily remember the earlier books anyway. So I started at the beginning, A is for Alibi. You know how I need to read things in order!

I actually checked out two compilation books that have three books each in them. And, man, are they heavy. I thought I'd look for a couple of the stories in paperback too so I could continue the series and not be dependent on just reading at home (we all seen that hasn't been too successful lately). I found only B is for Burglar but I'll look again tomorrow. So I finished A and B this week and will move on to C this weekend (and maybe more). I do enjoy her protagonist, Kinsey Milhone. I just forgot how much.

I haven't knowingly read many books translated from other languages. I wish I wouldn't have known it when I read The Princess of Burundi by Kjell Eriksson. I felt super-aware of it the whole time I was reading and it was rather distracting. Perhaps it was because of that that I felt the story was not very enjoyable. Or it might have been because it took place during winter in Sweden which made me feel cold and depressed. Or maybe it really was slow-moving and disjointed. So, despite the really cool names of the author and translater (Ebba Segerberg), I didn't think the book was all that cool.

Unread books on my shelf at home:
The Rebels of Ireland, Edward Rutherfurd
The 5th Horseman, James Patterson
Sleep, Pale Sister, Joanne Harris
Cross Bones, Kathy Reichs
Behind the Curtain, Peter Abrahams
The Fan, Peter Abrahams
Three Complete Novels (A–C), Sue Grafton
Three Complete Novels (D–F), Sue Grafton

Books on hold at the library:
Virgin Earth, Philippa Gregory (in transit, it must be lost)
Micah, Laurell K. Hamilton (10 of 24 holds)
Definitely Dead, Charlaine Harris (ready for pickup)
Darcy & Elizabeth: Days & Nights at Pemberly, Linda Berdoll (2 of 6 holds)
Nail Biter, Sarah Graves (due 6/26)
Danse Macabre, Laurell K. Hamilton (5 of 13 holds)
The Memory of Whiteness, Kim Stanley Robinson (ready for pickup)
Icehenge, Kim Stanley Robinson (1 of 1 hold)
G is for Gumshoe, Sue Grafton (ready for pickup)
Down the Rabbit Hole, Peter Abrahams (ready for pickup)

I also am still working through my Photoshop book. I need to do some more lessons in that this weekend. It's good to have so many options to fill my time. I'll let you know next time how much I got done in Books I've Read This Week.

Action Hero

Go to quizfarm.com to see which action hero you would be. Here are my results:



You scored as El Zorro. Zorro is the bane of the corrupt officials of Old California, a Spanish Robin Hood, a cavalier caballero who robs from the rich, gives to the poor, and always leaves his trademark "Z" behind as a reminder that when the people need him, he will always appear on his black stallion.

A Plethora of Pens

Usually I get back to my desk and am frustrated to find my favorite pen missing, but this time I was pleasantly surpised to find three of them clustered together and one of a slightly more inferior style close by. How did this happen? Has my pen karma turned around?

I'm so particular about this specific style of pen that I have our Office Manager slip me a couple boxes each time she orders them. I keep them in a secret place in my office so I'm never without one. I love them.

Rice is Cooking

Ooooh. I can smell the rice cooking in the rice cooker. I missed my daily portion of lentil stew at work today so I'm having it for supper with rice.

We had an all-staff meeting from 11 to 3:30 with lunch included. It was really good Mexican food. I ate three black bean shrimp tacos! The meeting was okay for awhile until we hit a topic I'm tired of hearing about which coincided with that dreaded afternoon energy lull. I found my eyelids getting really heavy around 2:30. Poor Elizabeth was trying hard to pay attention and I kept talking to her. I was a bad meeting participant.

I was so proud of myself that I finished two books last night. Two, you ask? Well, one was the first in a huge hardcover compilation of three books so it was too heavy to haul on my commute. So I was reading one on the road and one at home. Luckily I found the second of the three in paperback so I could move on to that one today. More details tomorrow in BIRTW.

Film of Dreams

I was joking with Joanna last night that she was going to have nightmares after a particularly rich meal out. Well, it was me with the vivid dream this morning. (and I had a rather innocuous black bean burrito for supper!)

(do do loodle do, do do loodle do)

I was attending the showing of a friend's film in an old timey kind of theatre. I was late so was sitting way over to one side where I had a bit of trouble seeing the screen. But it was exciting to be at a film premiere anyway.

I wasn't the last arrival though. No. A couple came in even later than me and sat in my row. In fact, who came and sat right beside me but Steven Spielberg and his wife. The famous film director sat to my left and showed me this big bag of amateurishly wrapped presents, saying that they had received them at an event they had just come from. By this time the film had started and the sound was quite loud where we were sitting so I didn't quite catch what he was saying. I thought he was telling me to open them up.

So I started unwrapping the presents. The first one was some camping gear, like a camp chair in a nice bag and a ground cloth. I don't remember what else I unwrapped but it was all pretty nice stuff. The Spielbergs weren't too happy with me though because, it turns out, they were supposed to pick just one present to open and give the rest back. It seemed quite odd and a bit crazy to me but after all...

It was just a dream.

Sure is nice...

to be able to listen to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. In the past when it was televised by a different network I had to mute the sound.

It was really annoying because I love the sounds of hockey—the click-clack of skates and pucks and sticks. But what was even more annoying, and the reason I was forced to mute the TV, was the then play-by-play voice of hockey on ESPN, Gary Thorne. I loathe him. I loathe his voice, his smarmy attitude, his cloyingly saccharin laugh.

I was so concerned when OLN took over televising the NHL that they would hire this guy that I emailed them. I don't know if they listened to me, or perhaps thousands of others also voiced their concern, but happily OLN & NBC hired the excellent Mike "Doc" Emrick who also does the play-by-play for the New Jersey Devils. And he's working with John Davidson, another quality hockey voice and personality. They even have Mark Messier during the final series. And he's looking good!

Now if they would only replace that horrible sideline reporter woman. But at least she's not Gary Thorne.

Congratulations, Zander!

I got a call today at work that made my day and confused me at the same time. My ten-year-old nephew got straight As on his most recent report card. Woo hoo! You go, boy!

However, his teacher also wrote on his card that he's not trying his hardest. Now where I come from, getting an A (he also got two A+s) is as good as you can do. If they think he's tried his hardest, are they going to give him an A+++? Or maybe, like in some high schools where you can take college credit and get higher than a 4.0, they'll let him get straight As and start on his high school 4.0?

I say, if you think he's not trying hard enough and yet he's still doing superior work, give him harder work to do and see how he does then.

Seriously

After I write this I'm going to shut down the computer and read a book. Seriously. This damn computer thingy is really cutting into my reading time. Whose idea was it to introduce that WWW whatever into my quiet life? I've about had enough of RSS and myspace.com and iWeb. I'm thinking about boycotting all electronics for the next 24 hours. I'm not sure how I'm going to do any work, but who cares? I'll at least get some books read.

p.s. The database changes I figured out last night worked like a dream. Well, a really really slow dream. But they work!

Database Decoder

I rushed home tonight to watch the Stanley Cup Finals. I forgot they started today so I hadn't set my DVR (I know! What kind of fan am I?) and then I thought they started at 4. They didn't. I got home at 5pm just in time to hear a horrible rendition of the national anthem. I don't mind so much if the singer screws up the Star-Spangled Banner. It's a horrible song anyway. But to massacre O Canada is just sacrilege. You'd think for the Finals they could find someone who can sing in tune. Anyway, I'm getting off track here. I really came to talk about working on the contacts database at home.

After talking to Elizabeth and Steve today about a report they wanted, I realized that I was going to have to take the database offline to create new fields to get the information we wanted. And it might take me awhile to figure out the new system. So, instead of forcing the whole office to do without the database for a long period of time, I thought I'd take it home and figure stuff out in the comfort of my own home sans the interruptions that usually come my way at work.

So I zipped the almost 250MB's worth of databases and copied it onto my iPod Shuffle and off I went. I spent over 3 hours working on it tonight. (I'm glad I ate some supper before I started.) I think I have it figured out though. We'll see tomorrow when I set it up on the live database at work. I'll let you know how it goes.

Oh, and the Oilers lost and I'm bummed.

Fun With the Sun

I was making sun tea this evening on my kitchen windowsill. The sun doesn't actually beam directly there until almost 7 but it's enough to get a nice jarful. The tea jar is so pretty with the sun shining through it that I thought I'd take some pics of it. While I was doing that, I noticed that the edges of my Brita water tank were acting as a prism so I took this shot as the rays passed through the tank and onto a white bowl.



To see more shots I took, visit the Nature page on my photo website.

More Neighbors

My goal today was to get some cooking done for my lunches this week. As I posted previously there's a nice breeze today so I had my kitchen window open too. But not for long.

Yeah, you guessed it, more crazy neighbors. This time it was the people downstairs. First, their baby was crying unceasingly while the rest of them were having a ball. There was one lady whose laugh was so annoying. She would not shut up. And they kept closing their door or their car door over and over again.

At my apartment building most of the apartments are on the 2nd floor with the cars parked below. Normally it's great cuz you don't have to worry about stomping on top of a downstairs neighbor's head. But whenever someone closes their car door, it shakes the whole building.

I should move to the country.

Neighbors

I left my balcony door open last night to cool this place off. It's not that hot but it's hot enough. So this morning while I was making my breakfast I kept hearing this man's voice. It wasn't talking but it wasn't quite singing either. And it was loud.

I thought maybe it was coming from the parking area in front. But the sound got stronger as I went into my living room. I went over towards the balcony and sure enough it was coming from that side. I sneaked a glance out the screen door and my neighbor was out on his balcony with his headphones on singing or at least as close as he could come with his grunting and humming. It was so ugly I had to close the glass door.

There's a nice breeze today so I checked an hour or so later and he was gone so I reopened the door. A little while later I started smelling smoke (and not the barbeque kind). Yup, my neighbor's out there smoking so I had to close the door again. I hate him.

Movie of the Week

Last night after I put my computer to sleep, I stuck The Day After Tomorrow in my DVD player. I was pleasantly surprised.

I expected it to be way over the top. It wasn't.
I expected it to be highly manipulative. It wasn't.
I didn't really expect to love it. I did.

Certainly there were some scenes that were pure gratuitous special effects (LA tornadoes) but I thought it was very well told. The love story between the teens didn't overshadow the love story between the father and son. The science was there and respected, not ill-used as just a convenient plot device. I highly recommend it.

It reminded me of the excellent in-the-near future novels by one of my favorite authors, Kim Stanley Robinson, about global warming and abrupt climate change: Forty Signs of Rain and Fifty Degrees Below. If you're looking for a realistic view of what our scientists, politicians and we will face sooner rather than later, read this trilogy (third book yet to come).

Gmail Chat Away

My sister-in-law and I email each other a lot. Sometimes it's almost like instant messaging. I've tried to get her to use a chat program like AOL Instant Messenger but she claims that every time they've tried installing it, their computer crashes. I find it hard to believe. And my brother's a computer guy too!

When I was cleaning out my Gmail inbox last night (I usually download my Gmail to my Mail program), I saw that Gmail now has a chat feature and you don't need any software. Yippee! Our problems were solved. I sent her an invitation and when we were both logged into Gmail today, we tested it out and it was great.

Of course, it's not as cool as iChat or Fire (I like being able to change the font color and size), but it's really good for what it does.

Fun with iWeb, Not So Much With iMovie

I think I'm not cut out to be a filmmaker. I tried playing with iMovie today and it was just too much. I think I ran into trouble when I just started adding clips and photos indiscriminately. I needed to be telling a story and I had nothing. Maybe I'll go back to it if something inspires me.

I'll just concentrate on my Photoshop lessons and on gradually reducing the number of books on my library shelf. I didn't feel like reading again today. I'm not sure what's wrong with me. I even cleaned my kitchen to avoid it. Well, it really needed it! It got pretty bad while I've been sick and then recovering my energy.

Tomorrow should be cooking and reading day at my house. I need to make planned-overs for lunch at work this next week. I'm thinking...um...lentil stew! I know, I'm in a rut.

When Your DVR Lies to You

Tonight I was scheduled to be watching the Angels game (which started at 4) on my DVR while it was taping the A's game in HD from 7 to 10. I would watch the A's game when I was done watching and fast-forwarding through the Angels game. A pretty good plan, I thought. However, my DVR box lied to me. Again.

The A's game was not on in HD on channel 720 after all. It was only on the regular FSN Bay Area channel 40. So had I not checked to make sure it was recording properly (that's another post for another day), I would've had three hours of some show on jockeys (and I don't mean the shorts) and probably a food-eating contest or two.

Luckily, I was able to switch over to FSN and am now happily watching the A's barely holding on to a 1-0 lead in the 6th inning which was actually played two hours ago.

I like my DVR. I really do. I just don't like all the lying!

Books I've Read This Week (June 2)

Welcome again to Books I've Read This Week. I was sick last weekend and wasted the whole three day weekend not reading. Alright, I did create my photo website and practiced my Photoshop skills, but really, what's a vacation without a few books finished at the end of it?

Here are the books I managed to read this week: Leo Laporte's Guide to Mac OS X Tiger by Leo Laporte and Todd Stauffer, Dead Man Running by Rett MacPherson, and Ladies with Prospects by Cynthia Hartwick. And I'm still working on SAMS Teach Yourself Adobe Photoshop 7 in 24 Hours by Carla Rose and Their Noble Lordships by Simon Winchester.

I figured I should bone up on the new operating system (nicknamed Tiger) on my new Mac Mini so I checked out Leo Laporte's Guide to Mac OS X Tiger. It was very helpful and made me think I should get a book like it for my personal computer library. I also need to get a good in-depth manual on Photoshop. SAMS Teach Yourself Adobe Photoshop 7 in 24 Hours has been a great way to get a thorough training in the various tools and techniques available in Photoshop but it's not exhaustive and I think I should have a reference in case I need more help. I'm on Hour 12 so I definitely have lots more to learn before I'm done.

Dead Man Running is a Torie O'Shea mystery by Rett MacPherson. Torie and her family of five live in a small town on the banks of the Mississippi just south of St. Louis. She is the town's historian and genealogist for hire who likes to stick her nose into things and ends up figuring out who dun it. I found Rett because she's in Laurell K. Hamilton's writing group and I ended up liking her mysteries for their insight into genealogy and the interplay of the town's kooky characters. Torie herself is a bit annoying but tolerable.

You may remember last week when I read Cynthia Hartwick's Ladies With Options about those clever Minnesota Methodist millionaires. I was happy to find her sequel, Ladies with Prospects, on my hold shelf on Saturday and read it greedily this week. In this second book we have a different narrator but just as fun a story about surviving the internet bust of the turn of the millennium and, again, saving their town whether the residents wanted to be saved or not.

With all the excitement of my computer and with being sick and all, I just made it to the barons in Simon Winchester's Their Noble Lordships. I may have to call it quits on this book and take it back tomorrow. I'm just not that interested anymore.

Unread books on my shelf at home:
The Rebels of Ireland, Edward Rutherfurd
A Crack in the Edge of the World, Simon Winchester
The 5th Horseman, James Patterson
Sleep, Pale Sister, Joanne Harris
The Princess of Burundi by Kjell Eriksson (who could pass up that author's name?), translated from the Swedish by Ebba Segerberg (again with the name!)

Books on hold at the library:
Virgin Earth, Philippa Gregory (in transit STILL! where's it coming from? England?)
Micah, Laurell K. Hamilton (10 of 23 holds)
Definitely Dead, Charlaine Harris (2 of 9 holds)
Darcy & Elizabeth: Days & Nights at Pemberly, Linda Berdoll (2 of 5 holds)
Nail Biter, Sarah Graves (check shelf)
Danse Macabre, Laurell K. Hamilton (5 of 5 holds)

Please email me or leave a comment if you have any recommendations for books I should read. I shockingly have four open slots on my hold list right now. I've decided to slow down a little since my list of unread books at home is a bit embarrassing. Hopefully it'll be shorter next time on Books I've Read This Week.

Midnight Baseball

I'm not getting enough sleep. Our local sports talk station, KNBR, broadcasts San Francisco Giants games and every night at midnight they rebroadcast them. Now you have to understand, one of my best memories of growing up is going to sleep listening to baseball on the radio.

I was a country music fan when I was in junior high in Michigan. I loved The Oakridge Boys and especially their bass singer, Richard Sterban. You all remember Elvira, right? Giddyup, ah um bop, ah um bop, a mauw mauw? Well, anyway...I would listen to this great country station from Wisconsin and in the evenings, when the signal was the best from across the big lake, they broadcast an interview show and talk to great country entertainers like Barbara Mandrell and George Strait. Ah, bliss. Well, it all came to a screeching halt one early spring evening.

You see, this particular station also broadcast the Milwaukee Brewers games. And I was soon to find out that baseball took precedence over country music. My evening interview program was subplanted by Bob Uecker and the 1982 Harvey's Wallbangers. Which, it turned out, wasn't so bad.

For those of you non-baseball fans, you might remember Ueck from the Miller Lite commercials. You know...I must be in the front row. Or maybe from Mr. Belvedere? Well, he was certainly an entertaining voice on the radio and I was soon hooked. I became a Brewers fan.

Sallie was living at home at the time and she caught baseball fever too. And we were both surprised to discover that my mother was a closet baseball fan and had been since she was a girl. It was a synergy that could not be stopped. We soon found ourselves tuning to the Game of the Week on Saturdays and even making annual trips to Detroit for games when the Brewers were in town (they played in the American League then and there was no interleague ball).

I spent many an evening listening to games on the radio when the signal was strong enough to make it across the water, many times falling asleep before the last out. So when KNBR started their Midnight Baseball replays I soon started staying up just to go to sleep to baseball. It's really cutting into my beauty sleep.

Precedences

Tonight I didn't turn on the computer until I had finished my book. I've been neglecting my reading. It sure takes awhile to finish a book when I'm only reading it on BART!

So last night I didn't work in Photoshop and tonight I'm just reading a bit about masks. I've suspected for a long time that masks would make my Photoshop life a lot easier. My suspicions have only gotten stronger the more I'm reading. I'd love to start experimenting but I really don't want to be up until midnight again. Masks might have to wait until the weekend (meaning tomorrow!)

Spelling Bee

Ooooh. The National Spelling Bee is starting and I have to go to work. Good thing I'm recording it and can watch when I get home tonight. The final rounds are on ABC tonight too. Don't forget to watch!