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!

Stupid Website

Once again I've stayed up too late. Tonight I was working on my photo website. I decided to put up my Photoshop projects both recent and old. I thought it'd be good motivation for working hard on my current projects. Otherwise, I'd be the only one seeing them and I could just please myself. Now perhaps I'll think of a wider audience.

Earlier this evening I finished creating a photo album on shutterfly.com. When I bought my camera, I got three coupons for free hard cover albums and they expired today. I used one a few weeks ago to make an album for Joanna with photos of her family from a CD she sent me last fall. I hear it looks awesome. I was hoping to use Anne and Jordan's photos from their trip out here last month for the other coupons but I didn't get them in time.

Joanna's folks just got back from a trip to Alaska and had taken her camera so had plenty of great photos. She used one of the coupons for an album for them. I'm sure it'll turn out great.

I used the other one for me. I put photos of my folks and family, some old and some more recent. I can't wait to see it.

Optical Effects

There are a couple blogs that I enjoy reading occasionally that have white (or light) text on a black background. I think these bloggers do not read their own blogs much.

After reading for a few minutes, when I glance away from the screen, I suffer optical effects that obscure my vision. Maybe I'm just getting old, but it takes awhile to return to normal. I sure wish they would choose to a more reader-friendly format.

Lunch Today

A big green mug full of tomato soup warmed in the micro.
A whole wheat pita toasted in the toaster.
Two sticks of low-fat string cheese chilled in the fridge.
An apple from my snack bin.

Yummy!

Tonight's Art Project

So in Photoshop you're supposed to be able to recreate various painting techniques like oil painting, chalk and charcoal. Tonight I was working on adjusting a photo in preparation of applying the watercolor filter. Here's the original image (cropped).



I used the blur tool, hue adjustments and the cloning tool to de-emphasize the background and the distracting orange sleeve, to remove the lollipop stick from her mouth and to lighten her eye color (the filter made them completely black). Here's my final project result. Click on the image to see a larger size.

Photoshop Project

I checked out a book on Photoshop on Saturday and have been plugging away on it this weekend. I'm not much of an artist but here's a project from the Paintbrushes and Art Tools chapter. It was my first try and I thought it was so pretty.

Movie of the Week

Today I watched Mr. & Mrs. Smith. It was highly entertaining. I have to say I loved it. I think it would've made an awesome book. Do you think they'll make a sequel? Mr. & Mrs. Smith Go to Washington?

I didn't love the earthquake effect of a hand-held camera at the beginning when they were in Colombia. But after awhile I got used to it (or they stopped using it). And I'm not a big fan of extended fight scenes, especially hand to hand, but their fight scene was kinda what the whole movie was leading up to, so I didn't fast forward through it (though I was tempted.)

I'm not the biggest Brad Pitt fan but if he's going to be in a movie, don't you think it behooves him to take off his shirt more often? I'm just saying...

Photos on Mac.com

I may still post an occasional photo here if it strikes me but for the time being I'm posting my pics to my .Mac website. They had some nice templates for photo albums. I'd rather spend my time editing the photos themselves than the website.

Too Much

Oh! The hockey game just went into overtime. Both it and the A's game are on in HD tonight. It's just too much good stuff.

I'm taping the A's game and watching the Carolina/Buffalo game live. I don't particularly care which team wins. I'm going to be for the Oilers in the Finals anyway.

Shave It Off

I love hockey.

I love the hockey playoffs even more.
(Oilers win the West!)

But I do not love hockey playoff beards. They're just not attractive.

I don't blame the players. They're only growing them because it's the playoffs, not because they think they look good (I hope). So it's not reflection on them as individuals. I just wish they would do something else other than grow facial hair. It's getting so bad even fans are getting into it. Okay, some of those images are pretty funny.

One year the Sharks were playing the St. Louis Blues in the playoffs and instead of growing the traditional beard, the Blues players dyed their hair blond. Even one guy who shaves his head got into the action by dyeing stripes into his bushy eyebrows. It wasn't a good look. Plus they lost to the Sharks. I didn't see the blond hair the next year.

Cable Modem Crazy

The lights on the cable modem are driving me crazy. They're all flashy, flashy all the time. I've tried various methods of blocking them. First was a breakfast bar, but I got hungry and ate it. Now I have an empty bottle of ibuprofen lying on its side, but it likes to roll away. I think I may have to just put the modem on the floor out of my line of sight. I just can't have the flickery distraction.

Sounding Good

As I was putting on my shoes (getting ready to go out for my usual Saturday morning errand run) I was reading the side of my monitor box and I read "concealed speakers". Concealed pretty well. I didn't even notice! So I found the audio cord and plugged it in. Wow. No more listening to my iTunes or WKBJ on the tinny speakers of the CPU. I am so lucky.

My Friend Elizabeth

Elizabeth is getting married in less than six months. Will she be ready? Will she make it? Will she go bonkers in the meantime?


Only time will tell...

The New Set-Up

Here's a pic of how my home computer is set up.

Books I've Read This Week

I scored big at the library last Saturday and was in a reading kind of mood last weekend so I have several books on the list this week on Books I've Read This Week.

Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris (of Chocolat fame) is told in first person from two different points of view, both teachers at a private boys school in England. One is a long-time teacher and the other (partly told in flashbacks) a new young teacher who grew up just outside the school's gates and who worshipped its elite atmosphere growing up but was denied attendance by economic and social position. I greatly enjoyed this story. I have to say, first person is my absolute favorite but one big disadvantage is always having only one perspective. There's a great twist at the end that I wasn't expecting which made me want to go back and re-read the whole thing. I didn't but maybe I will some day. Now, please don't take what I just told you and read the end of the book first. That would just be cheating.

Another book told partly in first person is Tomb of the Golden Bird, the latest in Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody mysteries set in Egypt. Amelia herself is the main narrator with some sections told in third person from the perspective of her now-grown son, Ramses. This installment chronicles the discovery of the tomb of King Tut which is highly interesting but, for me, it's the family interactions that make this series a favorite. I even like the descriptions of their cats.

Have Your Cake and Kill Him Too by Nancy Martin and Bleeding Hearts by Susan Wittig Albert arrived on my hold shelf and I quickly consumed both. In Cake, we continue to follow the Blackbird sisters in their humorous attempts to find love and meaning in their lives in Philadelphia. Nora is trying to make sense of her pregnancy and who she wants as the baby's father as well as who may have done in a local millionaire estranged from his family. The mob, muffins and mayhem, what could be better?

In Hearts, China and Ruby investigate the suicide of a college student apparently connected to the powerful local high school football coach in Texas, and the theft of a potential best-in-show entry in a quilt contest. Ruby even breaks out the Ouija board to China's amusement and a neighbor's consternation. China discovers more about Ruby's mysterious current flame but may wish she'd been left in the dark.

I picked up two books by new (to me) authors: Ladies With Options by Cynthia Hartwick and Some Like it Haute by Julie K. L. Dam. Ladies is the first in a two book series that describes how some small town Minnesota church women, determined to save enough for retirement, made it big in the stock market in the '80s. You can't help but root for these ladies and their families as they attempt to make some dough and save their town. The second book, Ladies with Prospects, continues the story (and is on my hold list, of course).

Haute is a cheesy romance set in Paris during Fashion Week with overtones of reality TV. If you like Project Runway, you might like this book if you're not doing anything else worthwhile. It's short and fast and, though it attempts to be a mystery, there's really nothing mysterious about it.

Now I'm plugging through Their Noble Lordships by Simon Winchester in my attempt to read everything by this insightful author. In this book from 25 years ago, Simon explores the peers of the realm and their meaning to his world in 1981. He goes rank by rank, from dukes to marquesses to earls to viscounts to barons, describing selected individuals, the House of Lords and the design of heraldic arms (among other things). Again, I am surprised by how he can interest me in a subject I wouldn't necessarily find fascinating otherwise. I even found a mention of a possible relation whose barony is still active in Lincolnshire. Too bad Sallie and I won't be going that way in the fall.

Unread books on my shelf at home:
Sarum: The Novel of England, Edward Rutherfurd
The Rebels of Ireland, also Rutherford
A Crack in the Edge of the World, Simon Winchester
Guide to Mac OS X Tiger, Leo Laporte

Books on hold at the library:
Virgin Earth, Philippa Gregory (in transit)
Micah, Laurell K. Hamilton (11 of 25 holds)
The 5th Horseman, James Patterson (5 of 16 holds)
Definitely Dead, Charlaine Harris (8 of 13 holds)
Darcy & Elizabeth: Days & Nights at Pemberly, Linda Berdoll (2 of 2 holds)
Tool & Die, Sarah Graves (ready for pickup)
Nail Biter, Sarah Graves (due 6/8)
Ladies with Prospects, Cynthia Hartwick (in transit)
Sleep, Pale Sister, Joanne Harris (ready for pickup)

I hope I made up for a slightly lacking column on last week's books with this week's long-winded entry. Catch me next time on Books I've Read This Week.

Comcast Travails

I've feel like I've spent a lifetime on the phone with Comcast in the last 24 hours. Last night I couldn't get the cable modem to work. Turns out you actually have to turn the darn thing on. Who knew?

Today my MLB Extra Innings subscription wasn't working properly. I was getting two of the ten channels in but not, of course, the one that had the game on I wanted to watch (Detroit). So I called and the customer service rep said she was going to turn my box off remotely. Well, it didn't turn off and then she said the commands were backed up for 20 minutes. So I said forget it. I was going to be recording something (hockey). Wouldn't you know it after 20 minutes the box turned off anyway. Damn it.

The channels still weren't coming in so I called back and the rep said to turn off the box here. So I did, to no avail. She finally scheduled a service call for Sunday morning. I had to get up by 9. Yippee.

I tried the channels a few minutes later and sure enough they were coming in fine so something she did helped. But I had to call back to cancel the appointment and was on hold for a long time. Detroit was leading 3-0 when I started watching and now it's 3-2. Maybe I shouldn't be watching it after all.

Grey's Anatomy on Oprah!

Ooooo! I just found out that the stars of Grey's Anatomy are on Oprah. I'm soooo glad I'm home today!

Working at Home is Great

I have a bad sore throat and am coughing up dark gooey phlegm so I'm at home today. My eyes were almost glued shut when I woke up this morning. Yikes!

I had some stuff that needed to get out the door today so I'm working too. It's so great to have a ballgame on the telly while I'm working. I do love my comfy chaise and my tea on the side table. I may have to take a nap pretty soon though. I'm getting tired.

Online at Home, Sweet Home

Woo Hoo! I'm online at home!

More later, as my rice cooker just indicated the rice is done. Gotta go heat up my lentil stew.

Home Computer Update

FedEx should be delivering my monitor and trackball from CDW tomorrow. So I should have everything I need to set up at home tomorrow night. I drove over to the Comcast office Monday after work to pick up my cable modem and self-installation kit. Maybe I'll hook up the cables tonight so all I have to do tomorrow is install some software and plug in the Ethernet cord.

French Toast My Way

whole wheat sourdough bread
2 medium eggs
pinch of kosher salt
splash or two of fat-free milk
trans-fat-free margarine
1 t whey low
1/2 t cinnamon

Prep:
Slice your bread into 1/2 inch slices (I use four). Beat eggs well in a shallow dish (I use a deep dish glass pie plate). Add a pinch of salt and a splash or two of milk to loosen the eggs. Soak bread in dish, turning occasionally. While you're waiting, mix the sugar and cinnamon in small bowl and preheat a nonstick fry pan on medium. Preheat your toaster oven to 200º.

Cooking:
Melt a bit of margarine in your pan. You want it to sizzle a little. Lay two slices of bread in pan and cook for two minutes without moving them. (Soak your other slices of bread while the first two are cooking.) Flip and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on the cooked side (I use my fingers for better control). Cook the second side for a minute and a half and remove to warm in the toaster oven. Cook the other two slices the same way.

Enjoy!

Books I Read Last Week

I'd like to apologize to my faithful readers for the late publication of this column. I was so overwhelmed with joy at setting up my new computer on Friday that I completely forgot. I did read some last week and even more this week as several of my books-on-hold had arrived by my Saturday morning visit. But those will have to wait for the next column.

Last week I finished Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife by Linda Berdoll and read Promise Me by Harlan Coben, as well as skimming through Creative Digital Photography by Michael Busselle.

Mr. Darcy was okay. I think if I were more of a Jane Austen fan I'd have more of an opinion (one way or the other). I was glad it wasn't just a "lived happily ever after" story as it was not just peaches and roses for Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy after they got married. I liked it enough to put the sequel, Darcy & Elizabeth: Days & Nights at Pemberley, on my hold list.

Harlan Coben is one of my all-time favorite authors and his Myron Bolitar novels are right up my alley. Myron was a college basketball star at Duke but injured his knee before he got his break in the NBA. So he became a sports agent and has had various adventures involving his clients and odd friends in the previous novels. In Promise Me, Myron asks his new girlfriend's daughter and her friend to promise they would call him if they found themselves in trouble. Well, the friend did and he finds himself once again investigating after six years of relative calm in his life. I really enjoyed it as I do all Harlan's novels but it was over too soon. I hope he finds another situation for Myron in his next book. Not that his stand-alones aren't also good. Cuz they are.

Creative Digital Photography had some good stuff but was more about editing photos after you've taken them and scanned them than about taking photos themselves. It was interesting for me to see what kind of books are out there for when I have my computer set up and want to do some Photoshop work with the images I capture with my camera.

More next time on this week's edition of Books I've Read This Week.

Evaluation Reflection

Today was my annual evaluation at work. I receive written evaluations from two colleagues and my supervisor, and I fill out a self-evaluation form as well. Then my boss and I meet for an hour or so to discuss the written reports.

I've worked at the same place and for the same boss since 1993 so not much usually needs to be said. But it always feels good to read nice things from people you work with. And I like to confirm that my boss still thinks I'm doing an okay job. Plus it gives me a chance to talk about what I'd like to be different about my job.

Since 1993 I've had various responsibilities including bookkeeper, office manager, computer tech, desktop publishing designer, and database administrator. My job has evolved as I have and, as I've traded one responsibility for another, we've hired others to do what I have left behind, like being the office manager and the computer tech. I still help out with those things a bit but mostly I like my three-pronged approach, or as my boss said today, the tri-furcation of my job. I'm lucky that I have such a variety of tasks to do each day so I don't get bored of always doing numbers-crunching or writing database scripts or creating layouts. I might do all three in one day.

Say What?

I'm posting this from my new computer: a Mac Mini! Can you believe it? I finally broke down and got my own little machine. And, you better sit down, I'm actually going to get internet access at home. I know! I can't believe it either. I have to wait for my monitor to come in before I set myself up at home (I'm at work right now).

I'm loving the mini so far. Well, I'm actually love the latest Mac operating system, Tiger. I really need to install it on my work computer. I don't know why I've waited this long.

Well, I've got to get back to setting things up. Woo hoo!!

Hippies Rule!

Congrats to BJ & Tyler! I knew you could do it. Rock on!

The Frat Boys ran a good Race. I would've been happy if they'd won. They were only second because of the very last challenge. If it weren't for a little thing like a million dollars I think they'd feel good about second place.

Ray and Yolanda just need to learn how to read a map. Come on, people!

Kids on Parade

High Moon

Rodeo Parade

Here are some images from the rodeo parade on Saturday.



Swirl those skirts!



Little farm girl



Pretty white horses



Steppin' up



Band groupies hauling water bottles


Gotta love the purple balloons


Please keep your smelly cigars to yourself, thank you



This would've been more impressive had the horse been real

Moon Over My Apt

The Moon

Images From My Morning

Morning Traffic


Hummer's gas mileage getting too low for ya?
Gotta take public transportation, huh?


On the BART platform

Chris's Job Offer

I heard a rumor that Chris had been offered a job by his favorite band and come to find out it's Fuel, one of my favorite artists! I'm so lame that I didn't even know that Bret Scallions, their previous lead singer, had left the band. (I really need to find out what he's doing now.) Chris is, of course, under contract with American Idol so who knows if he'll accept or whether he'll try it out on his own. Either way, I'll be downloading it from iTunes.

Books I've Read This Week

When I left you last week I had begun The Virgin's Lover by Philippa Gregory. I thought I would like it but again I found myself not caring for her characters. I like the historical content of Philippa's books usually but this time it was more a soap opera but with no warmth. I couldn't wait to finish it.

Saturday morning I spent a little time at the library perusing the photography book section to see what training I might get for my new camera. I picked up The Complete Guide to Digital Photography by Michael Freeman, Creative Digital Photography by Michael Busselle, and How to Look at Everything by David Finn. I skimmed through The Complete Guide and, though it had some good instruction, it was written over five years ago so I think I may need to find some newer resources. How to Look at Everything is one of a series of books by David Finn including How to Look at Photographs and How to Look at Sculpture (neither of which I've read). The basic message is to open your eyes and mind to what is around you and be ready to capture it with your camera. I haven't read the third photography book yet. But I'll get to it.

Other books I read parts of this week include:
The Virgin Queen, Christopher Hibbert (I stopped once I got to the part that The Virgin's Lover covered)
Great Britain, Eyewitness Travel Guide (lots of illustrations and photos)

This morning I started Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife by Linda Berdoll. It picks up where Pride & Prejudice left off (I'm trusting the BBC miniseries on this as I've never read that classic) but is quite concerned with marital relations (let's leave it at that).

Books I have to return to the library tho' I've not finished them (shame!):
The Intelligent Traveller's Guide to Historic Britain (too many renewals)
The Complete Stonehenge (too many renewals)

Unread books on my shelf at home:
Sarum: The Novel of England, Edward Rutherford
A Crack in the Edge of the World, Simon Winchester
Creative Digital Photography by Michael Busselle

Books on hold at the library:
Virgin Earth, Philippa Gregory (1 of 1 holds!)
Micah, Laurell K. Hamilton (11 of 22 holds)
Have Your Cake and Kill Him Too, Nancy Martin (1 of 5 holds!)
The 5th Horseman, James Patterson (23 of 30 holds)
Promise Me, Harlan Coben (arrived!)
Their Noble Lordships, Simon Winchester (the website said it had arrived but it wasn't at the library, hmm)
Bleeding Hearts, Susan Wittig Albert (3 of 8 holds)
Definitely Dead, Charlaine Harris (13 of 13 holds)

As you can see I'll be waiting quite awhile for some of these books. It's really cramping my style having so many books on long-term holds because they only let you have 10 holds at a time. I could use 20 or more! I had to create an auxiliary hold list by bookmarking the pages of books I want to add.

I really need to get down to the San Francisco library and get a card so I can have more of a selection. My library's pretty limited in what's on the shelves.

And I need to keep reading! So see you next time on Books I've Read This Week.

Fire! Fire! Fire!

Oh, a fire tiebreaker in Survivor. How original!

The only original thing they could think of for the tiebreaker was to NOT FINISH IT! How rude! How annoying!

What? They think we won't watch Sunday's finale unless we don't know who the final three are? Like we're not addicted already a little cliff-hanger's going to do it for us?

Unnecessary. Unneeded. Un-American, I tell you.

Stupid Simon!

I'm laying the blame for Chris' elimination from American Idol all on Simon's shoulders. If only he would've been more positive, America would've voted for him. I voted. Why didn't you?!

Now my Chris is gone and so abruptly too. Thanks, Ryan, for just dropping the news on us with no warning. Were you behind schedule with Taylor's unexpected encore performance? So, what? Chris (and his fans) had to suffer?

Fried Grasshoppers, Yum

Last night my SF hippies went from last place in the Amazing Race to first. They even started with no money, and one of them had no shoes or pants. Two of the other teams gave them items of clothing and they were able to beg for money before they left Australia. They were the first (and only) ones to complete the Fast Forward challenge (a big bowl of fried grasshoppers & crickets) which sent them right to the Pit Stop, guaranteeing them a place in the final leg. Good on ya, boys!

Triple OT

I pity the poor hockey writers in the East who had to stay up to watch the Sharks lose in triple overtime to the Oilers last night. I pity the Sharks players and coaches and equipment staff more. Momentum is definitely on Edmonton's side now. To play for 42 minutes of overtime and lose will be hard for the Sharks to recover from. It's a really good thing they won the first two games. So not all is lost.

I expect this series will last a long time while Anaheim is in a position to sweep Colorado tonight and be sitting around waiting for their Conference Finals opponent. My preferred teams are losing in the second round. Colorado and New Jersey will never recover from being down 0-3. We'll see if they can even win a game. I thought the Devils were going to pull it off on Monday with that last minute goal only to see (the beautiful) Eric Staal tie it up with 3 seconds left. It was fitting that they lost in OT. And last night I could hardly watch the game (even tho it was in HD) it was so depressing. Where is the team that won 15 straight games. Is Brodeur injured?

Guest Spot

Your favorite sourpuss and mine made a cameo appearance on Gilmore Girls last night. Stars Hollow's town troubadour was "discovered" by a passing music big shot. Soon there were troubadours galore on the town's street corners and town square. One of them was a familiar face to 24 fans -- Chloe! Or rather the actress (and guitarist) Mary Lynn Rajskub. She even got a sourpuss look or two in when the town busybody asked her and the others to move along.

Pandora Rocks

Today Katherine turned me on to Pandora.com, where you enter your favorite musical artists and Pandora will custom-make a radio station for you with songs taken from their Music Genome Project which are similar to those artists. Give a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down to a song to help make a station just right for you. You can create more than one radio station and I would recommend doing that if you have wide tastes.

Click on the album art in the player to be sent to iTunes or Amazon to purchase tracks and albums or to find out more information. If you really like a song, you can add it to your Favorites list that you can view or print out later.

You can even add links for your radio stations to your blog! See my link in the sidebar to see what's playing at WKBJ. (not recommended for dial-up, sorry.)

Books I've Read This Week, Vol. I, Issue 8

Welcome to Books I've Read This Week. Last week I described a book by a new find of mine, Simon Winchester, and some Britain guidebooks. This week I finished Simon's The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary but found time to fit in only one other complete book: Memory in Death by J.D. Robb. I also read another chapter in my Historic Britain guidebook. Now I'm up to Elizabeth I. So I thought I'd start Philippa Gregory's The Virgin's Lover. I'm just a couple chapters into that now. I definitely like it so far.

The Meaning of Everything, like Simon's The Map That Changed the World, could've been awfully dry and boring and not worth my time but he makes me want to read on and on about these subjects that I would never have thought I'd be interested in. The creation of the Oxford English Dictionary was full of odd characters and I just couldn't wait to see what would happen in the end. It took 70 years from the initial discussions of making a new English dictionary to when it eventually was finished. There were many different editors and sub-editors throughout the years. Hundreds and hundreds of volunteers would read books the editors needed read and would send in pieces of paper with quotations on them. It was a fascinating way to create a dictionary and a very interesting read.

Memory in Death by J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts) was another sucessful installation in the slightly futuristic saga of Eve Dallas, New York City cop in 2059. In this story, Eve is visited by her abusive foster mother who attempts to extort Eve's filthy rich husband Roarke with threats to expose Eve's early life. She is subsequently murdered and Eve must investigate. I have to say, though I do love Eve and Roarke, my favorite character in these books is Eve's now-partner Peabody. She is the softer, more humorous side of the partnership and has grown from a green uniform cop to an investigator that Eve respects and depends on. I don't know how Nora Roberts writes so many books but there's not a one I have not enjoyed so I hope she doesn't stop anytime soon.

Unread books on my shelf at home:
Here Be Dragons, Sharon Kay Penman (I have to return this one. Someone else has a hold on it, dammit.)
The Virgin Queen: Elizabeth I, Genius of the Golden Age, Christopher Hibbert (I chose to read Philippa Gregory's fictional account first and then read this, possibly more accurate, history.)
Sarum: The Novel of England, Edward Rutherford (I've read this before. I'm not sure when I'll have time to crack this one open again.)
A Crack in the Edge of the World, Simon Winchester

Books on hold at the library:
Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife, Linda Berdoll (arrived)
Virgin Earth, Philippa Gregory
Micah, Laurell K. Hamilton
Have Your Cake and Kill Him Too, Nancy Martin
The 5th Horseman, James Patterson
Promise Me, Harlan Coben
Their Noble Lordships, Simon Winchester (arrived)
Bleeding Hearts, Susan Wittig Albert
Great Britain, Eyewitness Travel Guide

Not much movement on the hold shelf. People better start reading faster! Hopefully, I'll have more to report next time on Books I've Read This Week.

Hockey Playoffs

There's a highly unusual situation in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs this year. All four of the top seeds in the East made it through while all the lower seeds in the West won their first round series.

One result is that San Jose, the five seed, will have home ice advantage throughout the Western Conference finals (if they can get by Edmonton). Pretty cool.

Also, there are no teams in the Eastern or Central time zones left in the West (Detroit, Nashvile & Dallas all lost). This will make for much better travel schedules for the remaining teams. It's still far to Edmonton though.

Games start up tonight. The Devils play tomorrow morning but San Jose doesn't play until Sunday. I can't wait!

The Pulse of America

Back when I chose my favorite American Idol contestants, I had no idea that millions of Americans were making the same choices. Somehow I had the pulse of the nation because my top four are now the last four standing.

Who knew that America would vote for a prematurely-greying spastic Joe Cocker wanna-be?

Who knew that a shaved-headed hard rocker would make it this far in a pop competition?

Who knew that a big-eared, crooked-toothed shorty would wiggle his way into the hearts of America?

I didn't know but I sure hoped they would. The only one that's no surprise to me is Katherine. Her qualifications were present from the beginning.

It should be very interesting next week.

My Walk to Work

A sign near where I park.















Someone obviously didn't read the sign.

My New Toy

I finally broke down and joined the digital (camera) age. I figured I'd want a new camera for my trip to England in the fall. The last time I bought a camera was in 1987, right before my year abroad in Spain. And I still have it. And it works. I just never ever use it.

I'm excited about learning how to use my fancy new toy. It's a Sony DSC-H1. I bit fancier than I expected I would want, but I might as well learn a new hobby. It'll probably take me half a year to learn how to use it.

Amazon has been teasing me all week. Yesterday the case and extra batteries arrived. Then finally the camera and memory stick arrived today. I was pretty excited about it only to discover the batteries had to be charged up before I could stick them in camera. So I guess I'll take it home and play with it tonight. Maybe I'll have some pics to post later this week.

Audrey Who?

Where was Audrey last night? Did it take a whole hour to fix up her arm? Wasn't she concerned when they brought in Bill? Did I miss something?

All Dressed Up

Last week I got a $15 off a $15 purchase in-store-only coupon from a company whose website I occasionally shop at and whose store I rarely visit. I will be in need of fancy clothes half a year from now when I go to the wedding in England so I'm on the lookout for a travelable dress because it'll need to be packed in my suitcase for a few days before the wedding. So I decided to go to the mall on Saturday to see what they had and if there was anything for $15 I wanted.

I guess they don't really sell dresses at this place. The only ones I could find were really formal. Just not my style. However, I did find this great long dark brown cotton skirt. It has an elastic waistband that also ties in the front. The bottom edges are unfinished and it has an underskirt so it looks nice and full. It looked kinda wrinkly already like I could roll it up in my suitcase and it'd be okay.

So I picked it up to see what kind of top I might find to go with it. I found two sets of workable tops: 1) a wrinkly cotton weave off-white tank top with embroidered neck detailing that could go under a short-sleeved off-white cotton crocheted sweater, or 2) a 3/4-sleeve woven cotton v-neck blouse, with soft flowing collar, that poofs out right below ribbon detailing at the waist. I liked them both and I couldn't choose so I got both choices. I can always take them back if I decide I like one more than the other.

Immigration Day

There was talk about closing down for the day but since "we're part of the solution and not the problem" our management decided to allow us three hours of paid time off to join in the protests. I decided not to go but the office is pretty much deserted. Just me and my boss right now. I could hear lots of exciting things going on down on the streets though. They've moved on to the Civic Center area now, I guess. It's quiet down there. Not even the usual street musicians on the steel drums or sax. Maybe they decided to join the protesters. Lucky for me.

While I was watching the news this morning the traffic reporters were amazed at how few cars there were on the road. I kept expecting them to relate it to the fact that so many people weren't going to work or school today. But somehow they couldn't make that connection. I didn't notice that much difference on BART.

Sharks Are Through! Devils Are Through!

Both my teams were able to win four games in their first series before their opponents did, advancing themselves to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Devils made it look easy, sweeping the Rangers in four. They get to rest up while their unknown opponent is still fighting for their playoff lives. They could play anyone left in the East except Ottawa.

Similiarly, the revved up Sharks, by beating Nashville in five, could play anyone left in the West except Detroit. If Detroit makes it, that is. Edmonton is up on them 3-2. They play Game 6 tonight in Canada. Let's hope for a Game 7!

I was so happy to see Colorado win yesterday. Now normally I would not be cheering for the Avs but they were playing the hated Dallas Stars. Oh, it was so lovely to see Marty Turco and Mike Modano lose in five games. Ha ha ha! Nice try, Pacific Division champs. And I'm really rooting for Calgary tonight. Beat those Ducks!