Happy New Year!

Judging from our fortune cookies tonight, it should be a good year. Russ got 2 in one cookie - "You will have many friends when you need them" and "You will soon get something you have always desired". Mine was "You will be traveling and coming into a fortune".

Good fortune to you in 2009.

A world sprinkled with glitter

Every so often, there's a moment that makes me appreciate even the things I've been complaining about. This morning's walk was one of those moments. It was cold, but I have a clothing system that works down to about zero, and it was 7 or 9 this morning, depending on where you look. It was snowing again, but most of the sidewalks had been shoveled after yesterday's snow, and not much had fallen yet, so walking was not difficult. It was still dark, but the streetlights shining on the fresh snowfall made everything sparkle.

I did just walk around the neighborhood, and then through the woods, but it was beautiful and quiet. Did not see any people, animals or traffic, just me and the dog in a glittery world.

Shopping is almost done and I only work until noon today. Days are getting longer and it will definitely be a White Christmas. Best of all the whole family will be together this evening.

Happy Christmas Eve!

Cold and snowy Minnesota

This morning I put boots on Bravo and walked just to the fire station and back. We had 2-3 inches of fresh snow, and it was -8, plus wind chill. (Yes, that's Fahrenheit.) Actually it didn't feel too bad except when I was facing in to the wind - because really only a small section around my eyes was exposed. Bravo was funny about the boots. When I put them on in the house, he acted like he couldn't walk in them. Then he just bounded around when he got outside.

Tomorrow it's supposed to snow again. Starting in the afternoon, which is when I leave for Wisconsin. I don't have a hotel yet - I'm going to wait and see how bad the weather looks and then decide how far I'll drive. Hopefully, it won't be too bad...

Decadent comfort food

I probably shouldn't have had dessert today, but I decided to splurge when I saw the menu (and I did have just a salad for lunch). The dessert was "Warm Chocolate Chip Lava Cookie".

It was at least as yummy as it looks, but I should have had someone to share it with. Oh well, it was my reward for doing some Christmas shopping today. And anyway, there really wasn't much of anything else on the Red Lobster menu that I wanted....

Other than that, I enjoyed having temperatures above freezing. Walked the dog this morning, and went to the dog park this afternoon.

Sunrise, Sunset

So everyone knows the winter solstice is on December 21st. But probably not everyone knows that the earliest sunset and latest sunrise are not on the day of winter solstice. So some details for Minneapolis courtesy of TimeAndDate.com:

Earliest sunset is at 4:31 December 6th through 12th (the website doesn't give the seconds). According to WGN, that day is December 8th for Chicago, with sunset at 4:19:46. I was surprised, that Chicago has an earlier "earliest sunset" than Minneapolis, since they are farther south, but I guess it has more to do with the fact that they are on the eastern side of the Central Time Zone.

Shortest day is December 21st - 8h 45m 56s, 1 second shorter than December 20th, and 3 seconds shorter than December 22nd.

Latest sunrise is 7:51 am December 27th - January 7th.

To round out the summary, let's look at the other end of the spectrum:

Earliest sunrise is at 5:26 June 9-21, 2009.

Longest day - according to Time and Date . com, both June 20 and June 21 2009 come in at 15h 37m 06s. June 19 and June 22 are both 4 seconds longer.

Latest sunset is at 9:04 June 22-30, 2009.

For Karis, I tried to come close to the times for Beloit: shortest day in Madison is 8h 59m 36s, and in Chicago it's 9h 07m 53s. I'd guess Beloit is somewhere in between. Of course, you'll be home on the actual shortest day, but in the meantime, your days are slightly longer than here.

For those in other states, Richmond, VA (closest I could come) has 20 minutes more on the shortest day, but almost an hour less on the the longest (9:34:12 and 14:45:29). Dallas Texas has more than an hour extra on the shortest day and almost an hour and 20 minutes less on the longest day (9:59:26 and 14:18:50).

And now it's time for me to go back to work. I for one am looking forward to a later sunset very soon. The rest of you are probably asleep by now.

Walking through woods on a snowy evening*

It snowed yesterday. Right at rush hour. Took me over an hour to go 3 miles, just because people were all traveling at the same time, all going quite slowly, and all had only a few routes available to cross 494. After I got to Highwood, past the backup, everything moved freely and I went to pick up Chinese and get gas. I did not appreciate the snow last night.

This morning, when I walked the dog, the sidewalks hadn't been plowed. And those by 86th were in snowplow wake, making it even harder to walk. It was really slogging progress, and we didn't go very far before I was entirely too tired to go any further. I did not appreciate the snow this morning.

When I got home, there was the faintest sign of the setting sun still on the horizon, which encouraged me to get out and walk Bravo again. The sidewalks in our neighborhood were all shoveled, but I decided not to go up to 86th again, in case the city hadn't gotten to those yet. So I walked down to the nearby woods. There hadn't been much traffic, but the snow really wasn't very deep. Aside from the snowplow mounds at the entrance and exit of the path (where my foot sank in and I got snow in my boots since they weren't hard yet), it really wasn't bad walking.

In the woods, it was quiet and beautiful. And with a nearly full moon and all that fresh white snow, it was plenty light enough to do without my flashlight. Bravo and I enjoyed the night (sights for me, smells for him). I finally appreciated the snowfall.

*with apologies to Robert Frost.

3 days in Obamaland

Just got back from 3 days in Chicago. It hadn't occurred to me that this is an exciting time to be there. But on Monday, Obama's press conference with Hilary Clinton took place at the Hilton where we stayed last year and the year before. Monday night we walked by the Federal building and it was surrounded by what looked like police cars, but they had "Homeland Security" on the sides. One of the cab drivers pointed out to Russ where there was a lot of activity on a nearby street - where Obama's headquarters was located. And today as I left, some of the streets were blocked off. I assume it was due to traffic coming in for today's press conference announcing the Commerce Secretary. That press conference was at the Hilton again.

This year, though, we were staying at the Palmer House. None of it actually inconvenienced me. In a way, I wish it had. It's not very interesting to be saying "I was a few blocks away" and "It was nearby, but I didn't know anything until it was all over". Having trouble getting out of your hotel, being checked by the Secret Service - that would have been interesting. A few days of being inconvenienced would have been kind of exciting. After all, I didn't really have to be anywhere at a particular time.

But I imagine people trying to get around Chicago might get a little annoyed.

Bravo portrait

I don't have a lot to say today, but I wanted to post this photo of Bravo, taken today at the Carver dog park.

Bravo didn't meet any dogs he wanted to play with, but he did find a little girl who loved him. And I spent a few minutes talking to the owners of a Great Dane while I rubbed the Dane's ears and he leaned against me. He was just a comfortable size - his back falling at the right place to make petting him very easy when standing next to him. I think Bravo is a little intimidated by dogs that much bigger than he is. His favorite part of the visit was when we were out all by ourselves on the back side of the fenced area. He really likes racing through the tall grasses and following almost-indistinguishable paths.

Tournament

The Hwa Rang Do tournament yesterday was scheduled to have kids competing in the morning, adults starting about 1, finishing about 6 and party starting at 7. Yeah, right. Adults didn't start too terribly late - maybe 2? But the competition went until about 11:30. I got there at 1, went home about 5 for an hour or so, and finally left at 10.

HRD devotees are very proud of the variety their particular martial arts style includes. And this tournament certainly showcased a wide variety. Jason competed in pretty much every category.

Weapons form. Jason did a terrific form and placed second out of about 14.

This is from his open-had form. The only event in which he did not place (but then, he will tell you forms are not his strong suit).

Sparring. He took second in a really close championship match.

Grappling. It was amusing because both of them were smiling. This was the championship bout, and it was a rematch from last year. Brett won last year, Jason took it this year. With the same ankle lock.

This is fighting with (bamboo) swords - wearing gear reminiscent of samurai. Jason took second. I believe he's on the right, but it's kind of hard to tell.

This is the multiple sword event. Jason (on the right) has 2 short swords while his opponent has one short and one long. He won this match. I left after that, but I understand he took 3rd place in this, and in the event that followed, where he fought with the same type of staff that he used in the weapons form.

I have to end with one of the medal photos since Jason made quite a few trips to this stand. And by the way, he and Russ built the stand for tournament last year.

Tomorrow I'm taking the day off for no apparent reason, except that I have to use up some vacation time before the end of the year.

The power of blogging

I came home from work yesterday to find an email from the BBC. They'd seen my blog and wanted to know if they could talk to me on their World Have Your Say "conversation show" (I guess that's "talk radio" in Brit-speak). The email had arrived at 8:30, and the show was on at noon my time, so of course I missed it. But wow! How else would I have even been contacted if I didn't blog?

Anyway, the topic was "whether the fact that Obama won the US election means we live in a more equal world", according to the email. On the website they unfortunately changed it to the more succinct, but rather silly, "Has Obama created a more equal world?”.

My response: The election indicates that we have at least moved beyond the Bradley effect, where a highly qualified candidate found that people "just couldn't bring themselves to vote for a black man". We did see that a majority of American voters could bring themselves to cast a vote for Obama despite his darker skin. But note that the election was still cast in terms of race. And as the soldier in Doonesbury said "he's half white, you know". And he was raised in a white family. In Hawaii, which does not seem to me as if it would be a center of Black culture (but I may be wrong on this - unfortunately not that familiar with "real" Hawaii.) Given the mess we are in after 8 years of Bush, with the opposition a 72-year-old cancer patient who makes reckless choices such as... no, I'm not even going to go there again. Anyway, I would have expected the popular-vote to be the landslide the electoral vote was, instead of less than 7%.

So yeah, we're further along than we were in 1970 in terms of race. And having an African-American family in the White House is GREAT! But I think we can all agree that Obama is an EXCEPTIONAL man. And in 1960 the big news was that another EXCEPTIONAL man had been elected despite the fact that he was a Catholic. Have there been any Catholic presidents since Kennedy? We have never elected a President who was not Christian. Or who was female. Or Asian. Or homosexual (at least as far as we know). And in day-to-day life, women get paid less, more blacks go to jail, most homosexuals cannot get married. There are plenty of inequalities to go around.

All that being said, I am "cautiously optimistic". I do think we are moving in the right direction in terms of tolerance, at least, for a variety of differences.

Enough being serious. I hope the Obama girls enjoy their puppy. I hear it will be a shelter dog, which is really cool. I saw a post where someone suggested they should get an Alaskan Malamute bitch. That made me laugh.

And this morning I was walking in the snow. Not sticking to the roads, and will soon change to rain, I'm sure, but for now - it's snowing. Bravo went racing around like a nut-case more often than usual as a result.

Have a great day, everyone!

The GOOD and the bad of the election news

So overall YEA!!!! Democrats took the White House and extended their majorities in Congress. And the first African American President! Restores a little of my faith in America.

The bad:

My Senate race is too close to call, which means the nasty brawl between Franken and Coleman will continue. The ads in this campaign were almost overwhelmingly negative, and they were also ubiquitous. Made me glad that I watch most TV from recordings, so I didn't have to listen. Original results have Coleman ahead by less than 500 votes out of nearly 3 million. So there will be an automatic recall and it will be weeks if not months before the result is final. D**m you Independence Party! Once again, your candidate stole our votes!

California voters chose to end gay marriage. And 2 other states also chose to define marriage as between a man and a woman. I feel very sad for all those committed couples who no longer have the choice to make their commitment in such an open, public, recognized manner. I do have hope that the tide will turn eventually, as there are indications that kids in high school and college are much more tolerant. But for now, there is still inequality. Obama's stand on this issue also disappointed me - he said he did not support gay marriage, but thought they should have equal legal rights. Geez, you'd think that if anyone understood the soul-destroying implications of "separate but equal", it would be Obama.

GOOD again, though:

Victory for the pro-choice side! We have a pro-choice President and pro-choice gains in Congress. South Dakota defeated an abortion ban for the second time - this one included more exceptions, but the voters still said no. California defeated a parental-notification measure. And to me, the most important win was in Colorado. That initiative would have defined a fertilized egg as a person, and could have made many forms of contraception illegal. Would have made me very sad if my former state had not rejected that extreme measure.

As I said, definitely a celebration moment. I can't expect all the races to go the way I think they should. But all the states where I have lived - Virginia, Colorado and Minnesota - are blue this year! And Virginia and Colorado have been quite Republican in the past.

I hope that Obama didn't wake up yesterday thinking Oh no, what have I done! Though with the issues facing him, I wouldn't blame him. Still, I have confidence that the calm, disciplined, thoughtful, strategic approach that helped him run such a perfect campaign will help him work with Congress to bring us solutions. Dave Letterman certainly spoke for me last night when he said, "I think I speak for most Americans when I say, anybody mind if he starts a little early?"

Voter stories

I just saw a news report from polling places here in Minnesota. They said one woman came in this morning and said her daughter-in-law was in the car, 5 centimeters dilated and wanted to vote. She got curb-side service.

Clinton and McCain

So much of my mail these days consists of campaign flyers. I usually flip through on the way from the mailbox to the house, and immediately toss them all in the recycling bin. Today, though, it was dark by the time I got home (grumble, grouse), so I had to bring them inside. And one caught my eye.

It was a tribute to Hillary Clinton, with a picture of her and John McCain on the front, and a statement about how she had cracked the glass ceiling. Inside, the photo was of McCain and Palin, with text linking her views to McCain's and promising that HE would make sure "Hillary's efforts are not forgotten". And on the back, a quote from Joe Biden, saying that Hillary "might have been a better pick than me" for VP.

So let me get this straight: I am supposed to think that McCain is more like Clinton than he is like, say Bush, right? And that since he picked a woman as his running mate while Obama passed over Clinton, he cares more for women's issues? So obviously, if I supported Clinton, then the logical person to vote for is McCain.

Yeah, right. We all know that the main reason he picked Palin was because he thought it would get the Clinton vote. Palin, with her right-wing, conservative Christian, pro-gun, anti-choice views, her pride in "being a maverick" and her inexperience in any political arena with a population larger than 700,000, is not anywhere close to Clinton by any measure. Being female is about all they have in common, and I am insulted that McCain and the Republicans believe I should consider that sufficient.

Beta portrait

As promised, here is a photo of the pastel portrait of Beta (clickable for a larger view).


My friend did this in "payment" for keeping her dog while she went on a long trip. That was some years ago, and I did not actually do it for payment. J was a really nice little dog and the kids and I (and Beta) enjoyed having her. But I am still very happy to have this portrait, and looking forward to getting it framed and hung on a wall. I just need to figure out which wall...

Halloween and other piffle

So I am posting this on my lunch hour, and I am not at home. I am sitting in a Brueggers and using my laptop, just like all the cool busy people. Of course, I had no real reason to need to do this. But I have a laptop and I can!

Halloween blew up into a real issue at work. An email came out yesterday saying that anyone who had children trick-or-treating could leave at 4 today. I thought I'd be a smart-ass and replied that my daughter was trick-or-treating, so I thought I should leave early. Even though she's in college in another state. So then my manager talked to the VP and he said maybe they should just not let anyone leave early. And then my local boss talked to my manager and ... it was just suddenly a big issue. A later email came from the President saying essentially the same thing, though, so it's not like my region can just change a Home Office rule.

I didn't mean it to be a big issue - it wasn't that important to me. But I do think it is discriminatory, and contrary to best HR practices. After all, when they say we can leave early for Christmas holiday, they don't limit that to just the Christians. Oh well, I guess it will blow over.

Jason came over last night and borrowed a white shirt and tie so he can dress up "as something really scary - the Geek Squad!" The amusing thing is that he borrowed the tie from his sister. She still had a plain black tie from her Saddle-Seat competition days. She has also taught some of the boys she knows to tie them. It amuses me.

It's a lovely day today, so maybe I'll sit out on the front porch to hand out candy. The last time I remember doing that was the year before the Halloween blizzard. I'm VERY glad we don't have to worry about 3 feet of snow this year.

Nothing much going on this weekend. Russ has a meeting most of the day on Saturday. I do have plans to take my new picture of Beta to be framed. I'm so excited about that. It's a pastel portrait from a photo - my friend did a really good job and he looks awesome. I'll have to take a photo of it to post. I had totally given up on ever getting the portrait, so it was quite a shock when she left a message that it was done.

And since it's supposed to be a really nice weekend, I am looking forward to long walks, and possibly a dog park...

Happy Halloween!

7 more days

We've gone from that beautiful fall on Saturday to snowflakes on Sunday, 40 degree highs, 28 and frosty when I walked this morning.

And now it's only one more week to the election. Yes, as my acquaintances recently said, I'm tired of this election. Tired of the leaflets stuffing my mailbox and especially all the negative ads on TV. However, an acquaintance also said "I don't know anything about [candidate] but I would never vote for him because of all the leaflets he sends me". My response - don't vote, then.

Ok, if you are a party-liner, yes, I support you voting for your party's candidate. I may not like your party's candidate, but I understand voting on party lines. But you should still know something about your party's candidate, or at least your party's philosophy. If you're going to vote, know why you are voting.

And voting for the independent candidate because you don't like the party candidates' ads - well, I don't think that message will get to the candidates, but at least it's a reason. I don't like the negative ads either, and I take all of the allegations (on both sides) with a very large grain of salt. But I think elections are extremely important, and worthy of thoughtful decision.

By the way, that response of "Don't vote"? That's what I SHOULD have said. What did I actually say? A couple of party-bashing statements. That when I get the RNC robo-calls, I pick up, set the phone down on the couch, and wait until it asks me if I want to make a call - because I figure that if I just don't pick up, the RNC doesn't have to pay for the call. That I can't imagine voting for a 72-year-old cancer patient when it would put that nut-job "mavericky" colossally inexperienced and unfit-for-office Sarah Palin a heartbeat away from the Oval Office. Both are true, but unlikely to change anyone's mind. When I get annoyed at other people's attitudes, I tend to say either too much or too little. Or both.

And by election day, it will be light during my morning walk! Yea! But dark by the time I get home from work. :-(
Short days make me sad. Good thing I don't live any farther north.

Dog Park

It was a gorgeous fall day today. Bright blue sky, perfect temperature, just a little wind.


I decided it was a great day to go to the dog park. I have recently found that the park district has set up off-leash areas at several parks. I went to Bryant Lake last weekend, and Carver today. Both were fully fenced, with a double-gate entry system to foil escapees, and a small-dog section available. Bryant is much smaller - about the size of the Bloomington park we'd been using, but nicely laid out. Carver is huge - about 27 acres, I think it said. Mostly grass land, but there is a hill in the middle, and they've mowed paths through the grass. Bravo just loved it, yet he didn't want to be too far out of my sight.

We started walking around the park with a younger Golden and his owners. About halfway around, I had lagged a little behind and Bravo was around the bend, and ahead of the other two people. When he spotted me coming around the corner, he got quite excited. He did his little racing-around-in-circles-at-full-speed thing, and got both the Golden and a Great Dane to chase him. He can be FAST when he goes all out. After that, I continued to be behind the mother and daughter who were with the Golden, and Bravo kept running ahead, and then checking back to be sure I was there. It was quite cute.

After one circuit, though, Bravo decided we were going to leave. This has been his habit at the other dog park, as well. Today he actually got out into the exit area when another dog was leaving. I had to go get him, and then we went walking some more, while I took more pictures.


He found a tennis ball along the trail, and I threw that for him a bit. And when we got back to the entrance, I made sure that I took him well away from the gate to put on the leash. And that he waited nicely to be invited through.

Hope you all enjoyed the day, too.

Mankind in its infancy

Guest blogger Russ is back...

For no apparent reason I recalled today that I've heard somewhere that
"mankind is in its infancy". I don't know why it occurred to me, but I was
struck by how much that phrase explains. It explains all the yelling, all
the fighting, the inability to settle disputes, the selfishness, the
recklessness and, above all, why we make messes and don't seem to have the
ability to clean them up ourselves. Now, please don't think I'm being sexist
by referring to "mankind". I am being literal. I think womankind is much
farther along in its maturity. I think of womankind as the responsible teen
age baby-sitters for mankind and it's a shame they're not in charge more
often.

Big Read redux

After I posted the book list recently, it was bugging me that I couldn't find anything about it on the NEA and Big Read websites, as noted in the source. I did some more searching today. At first, I found only copies of the list on blogs with similar attributions. Finally, a comment on one of the blogs led me, not quite directly, to this article from guardian.co.uk. Apparently, the list was compiled in March, 2007 with input from "The 2,000 people who took part in the poll online at worldbookday.com [and] nominated their top 10 titles that they could not live without." So perhaps that explains why there are some anomalies, like Chronicles of Narnia plus The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

No, Karis, reading does not make you a nerd, but perhaps the need to track down such details does. Not that being a nerd is a bad thing...

In other news, I just heard from Jason, and he is back in the US. Apparently they had a great time, and only a very short bout with intestinal difficulties (less than a day). I hope to find out more this weekend, and he says there will be pictures at some point...

Bravo and the park

Bravo here. I wanted to tell you all about this park near our house. It has a really big green thing and a playground and other stuff. Julie takes me up there sometimes, but not very often. A long time ago (Julie says it was months ago, whatever that means. I don't really do time well), we went up there and since there was no one else around, she let me off lead. She doesn't do that very often, let me tell you.

Well, I ran across the field and there was a fence and a BIG patch of dirt and right by the fence there was a box with a ball next to it. Naturally I picked up the ball. It was different from the ones at home, though - heavier and not at all squishy. But still, it was a ball and I'd found it and I was going to have a lot of fun with it! Except, of course, Julie took it away from me and left it there. She can be a real spoil-sport sometimes.

Then not quite so long ago, Julie let me run at the park again. As soon as I got off lead, I went straight to the box and looked for the ball she made me leave there. I sniffed all around the box, but couldn't find it anywhere. Julie was really surprised that I found the same box so fast! So then she called me and we went to where there was another space completely surrounded by a tall fence. I'd seen a place like that before, and it had been covered with tennis balls. This one didn't have any balls inside the fence, but I did manage to find one under a tree nearby. It was nice and light and squishy, just right to chomp on. Julie threw it for me a few times, and then I carried it all the way home.

This morning we walked in that same park again. But this time, I didn't get to go off lead. And there were no balls to be found anywhere. Found balls are my favorite thing! Well, except food. And getting to meet new people.

New toy

I haven't been posting much lately. But for the last several days, I have an excuse. On Tuesday, I my laptop arrived! No, I didn't really NEED a laptop. But my Dell desktop was pretty old (I checked - we got it in 2001). It was making funny noises, especially at startup, that made me worry about the hard drive. And it was slow! The last straw was when Jason checked it out and found out the memory was at 512MB, and it was MAXED OUT, and the processor was running at under 1 GHz. Of course, I do have a Mac desktop as well, that I was actually using for most things. But I liked my Windows version of Quicken, and I had one or two other programs that had no Mac equivalent. Yes, I could put Windows on the Mac. But frankly, I just wanted a laptop. My excuse is, now I can do the bills while watching television, so it won't be such a horrible chore.

Anyway, it's a shiny new Dell with 3 MB RAM, 2 GHz processor speed, and a 250 GB hard drive. (Well, not actually shiny on the outside; shiny in the Firefly sense. I got the blue color. Which is a little dark, but it's cool that it looks different when it's in the light.)

And I've spent tons of time this last week getting it set up. Loading the programs I want or need (which does not include most of the programs that were on the desktop, actually!) Transferring data from the old Dell and the Mac. Which was easy from the Dell (I had an external hard drive to use), but much more difficult from the Mac (couldn't connect the external drive too it, and for a long time, couldn't find it on the network). I'm proud that I was able to do all of that on my own. Of course, my tech support person was (IS) in Nicaragua, so I had to either do it myself or wait. And I don't do waiting well.

Now all my photos and music are nicely organized on the new computer. I have all the programs I need, and most of the ones I want, set up and ready to go. And have tried out all the important ones. I'm still using the Mac, but it is fun to play on the computer during commercial breaks, or like now, just sitting on the couch with the computer on my lap.

Yes, it was self-indulgent and unnecessary. I don't care. Another instance when I am not acting like an adult. (Oh yeah, I haven't actually posted the entry about being an adult yet. Maybe soon. Not sure it's ready for publication.)

I'm having fun with it. It's a new toy!

The Big Read

Saw this on Deb's blog, and of course I had to do it.

“The Big Read is an NEA program designed to encourage community reading initiatives. Of their top 100 books, they estimate the average adult has read only six.” (I couldn't find the list at either of these links, but I just copied and pasted this.)

The idea is to mark in bold the ones you’ve read.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible - parts if it
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare - Most of the comedies and tragedies, some of the histories
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis - the first 3 or so
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

So there’s my list. I've read 53, and parts of 3 others. Some of them (like the Austen novels) I have read multiple times.

I do think it's strange that they list "complete works of Shakespeare" and also "Hamlet", and "Chronicles of Narnia" and also "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe". I have never heard of some of these books, and don't want to read some of the others, but I've added quite a few books to my "to-read" list. Just what I needed - as if it wasn't already a really long list!

Elect Obama -- I need a break

I started this post a while ago, and decided to hold it until shortly before the election. So here you go:

I was having a small political exchange with a friend, and she came up with the slogan that furnishes this post title. It perfectly expresses how I feel after so many years of "43" in the White House. We need a break from the war in Iraq. We need a break from the handouts, favors and tax breaks for big business. But most of all, we need a break from the endless attacks on our freedoms and rights - the right to choose, the rights of gays, the right to privacy, etc. We need someone in the White House who does not believe that torture is a valid interrogation technique, or that 9/11 justifies random intrusions into our privacy. And we need someone who will appoint Supreme Court Justices who will uphold those rights far beyond a White House term or two.

I also find it interesting that Senator Obama, in the prime of life, chose a running mate who has knowledge and experience, while Senator McCain, a cancer patient past retirement age, chose someone who is basically window dressing. The idea of Sarah Palin a heartbeat away from the White House scares me senseless. And the idea that some women see this as a reason to vote for the Republican ticket horrifies me.

Some of the best articles I have seen on this election are on the website of Elizabeth George, one of my favorite authors. She has written a series on various topics that are well-thought-out and thoroughly researched. I read the first few some time ago, and just read her article on being Pro-Life, which was excellent. (A definition of Pro-Life that I can support, as opposed to those people who call themselves Pro-Life, but are actually Anti-Choice.) I look forward to reading the rest of them. She is far more eloquent than I could ever be - I think you will enjoy the articles, and would be glad to hear your comments on them.

Eva

I am reading a very intriguing book called Eva, by Peter Dickinson. I found it via a booklist that is posted on Robin McKinley's blog. (Peter Dickinson is Robin McKinley's husband.) Robin and her blog readers have all posted to this booklist. WARNING: if you like fantasy, you are liable to find hundreds of books to interest you on this list. You may never dig yourself out of the pile of books-to-be-read...

Anyway, back to the book, which was written in 1988. It is set in the future, when the world is grossly overpopulated, and there are very few animals left. Eva is very badly injured in an automobile accident, and to save her, they implant her consciousness into the body of a chimpanzee.

I haven't gotten very far in the book, but there are a wide variety of themes here: the definition of "self"; ethics of medical experimentation, especially on animals; corporate sponsorship and exploitation (yep, that's how they paid for her treatment); etc. I'm looking forward to finding out how these themes develop.

We interrupt this blog for a political message

Yes, I voted in the primary yesterday. I can't say that I am truly excited about Al Franken, and I'm not exactly sure why not. So I guess I need to learn more about his stance on issues.

In the meantime, however, I have to plug my district's terrific candidate for the House, Ashwin Madia. Yes, he's a lawyer, a Marine, and a former Republican. BUT he saw the light on the party issue, and while in the military, he successfully defended a homosexual man against discrimination. He has served in Iraq. He's a fiscal conservative and a social liberal. He's pro-choice and supports full GLBT rights including marriage. His top issues:

• End the Iraq war responsibly
• Create and implement solutions to global warming
• Balance the budget
• Expand access to health care
• Renew federal commitment to education
• Safeguard our fundamental freedoms

That might not be the order I'd put them in, but I can't argue with those goals. I'm looking forward to voting for him in November, and I'm really hoping we can move this district back to the Blue side.

You may not be able to vote for him in the general election, but you can vote for him now:

J-Street PAC is having an online contest. People can visit a website and vote for their favorite house challenger. The candidate who receives the most votes will receive a check for FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS. Please click this link and vote for Ash. Then send the link to some of your friends and ask them to vote for Ash.

Bravo's latest obsession

Bravo is now obsessed with tomatoes. I discovered this one day when I realized he'd been out for quite some time while I played on the computer, and he hadn't yet appeared on the deck asking to come back in. Usually this takes only a couple of minutes - 5 at the most. So I went out to look for him and found him digging at the fence line. Apparently, a squirrel had been eating a tomato and left it in full view on the other side of the fence. Fortunately, our neighbors had installed edging, so the only damage was a little depression on our side.

A couple of days later, we found he was digging a little to one side of the first location. Yes, there was another tomato looking very tantalizing on the other side of the fence. And then yesterday, he had a new location and I realized that the neighbor's tomato plant is right next to the fence. It seems Bravo didn't really notice them until they turned bright red. Though since he is supposed to be color-blind, perhaps it is their scent as they ripen that he notices, rather than the color. In any event, it is driving him crazy to see (smell) them practically touching the fence, and the spaces in the chain link are too small for him to bite them.

The neighbors came to sell gift wrap for the school tonight, and the mom said that Bravo could have the tomatoes. I'm not sure that's a good idea. Russ doesn't think he'll like them, but I'm not so sure.

So now I watch him when I let him out. He always goes directly to the fence, and if he appears too intent, I bang on the door or make my "admonishing" sound. He stops immediately. Though he usually moves behind the tree, then, and I can't tell if he's digging or not. If he is, it can't be much, because I don't let him stay out too long. OOPS, he's still out - I'd better go let him in!

Barn visit

Now that Karis is back at college, I wanted to go out and see her horse this weekend. I was trying to decide when I should go. It's too hot in the middle of the day, and I didn't really want to have to go to the far end of the field to catch him, because it's a LARGE field. So I decided my best bet would be to get there close to dusk, since I was sure they'd have to come in by then - you wouldn't want to go get them in the dark.

Therefore, I set out this evening right after dinner, about 7 pm. When I got to the barn, I saw one of the mares being led in, so I thought, great, I'm right on time. Lark wasn't in his stall, so I got his grooming box and lead rope and walked out towards the fields, figuring they'd be at the gate because they'd all be coming in soon. The stable owner was out there. She told me she'd just LET THEM OUT because it was such a nice night, so I could go TRY and catch him, but she didn't think it would be easy. Oh yay, I thought. But I'd come all the way out, so I figured I'd go get him. He was in approximately the same place as in the picture below from about this time last year (though earlier in the day, obviously):


As I walked out, I whistled. The other two chestnut horses looked up and moved toward me a little. But not Lark. He stayed there grazing. I called and called. He didn't look up. Finally when I was just a few yards away, he did come to me - probably knew I had a peppermint. So it wasn't really hard to catch him, I just had to walk a long way.

That decided what I would do with him, though. Since I didn't want to find my way back in the dark to let him out, I didn't have time for more than grooming. I did a pretty thorough job, though. Picked his feet, brushed out his tail, put Cowboy Magic in both the mane and the tail. I love the fact that his tail is shorter now - it's really staying in great shape. When I was done, I gave him the apple I'd brought. He totally slobbered ALL over my hands. What a messy eater!

So then I took him back out. When I brought him through the gate, I thought for a minute I had made a really bad mistake, because he made a movement as if to run off and I hadn't yet taken the lead off. It would NOT have been fun to try to find him out there in the dark, to remove the lead before he tripped on it. Fortunately, he did wait for me - a little impatiently - and I got to see him run back down the hill to his friends.

All in all, it was a satisfactory visit, even if it didn't go as planned. Of course, I forgot to take out the fly spray and horse treats I'd bought at Fleet Farm on the way home last weekend. Maybe next time I'll remember...

Farmers Market

Today, Russ and I decided to go to the Lyndale Farmers Market. We'd been to the Bloomington one, and I'd been to the one in Beloit, but we were totally unprepared for the scope of this one. The first clue was how hard it was to park. We got lucky, and only circled one and a half parking lots before we were in the right place at the right time. And only a block and a half away.

The first section surprised us a little, because it was mostly clothes, sunglasses, jewelry and decorative items. Almost the first thing we saw was a gorgeous iron bench that I really wanted to take home. If we ever get around to extending our porch, it would look lovely there. And it was quite comfortable and reasonably priced, too. But we didn't succumb to temptation. Not this time.

After that section, there was row after row of gorgeous fruit, vegetables and flowers. The smells were wonderful as well. Made me wish I could cook. Though a lot of it came in quantities that were too large for just the two of us. We bought: Raspberry Blues jam, local honey (from Jordan Minnesota - hope that's local enough), eggplant so Russ can make eggplant parmesan, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries because Russ wanted to make blueberry soda, corn, and garlic. Oh, and a banana chocolate chip muffin that I ate right there.

We didn't stay quite as long as I would have liked, and a bit longer than Russ would have liked, so it all worked out pretty well. I was surprised to find that it is open every day during the season (until mid-November!). May have to go back...

It does remind me of the first time we went to the Bloomington Farmers Market. It is really small in comparison, and doesn't offer a ton of variety. The most memorable thing to me was the watercolor exhibit. You see, the market is on the east side of the City Hall building, and parking is on the west side, so the easiest route is through the building. After we bought a few things at the market, we wandered into the exhibit from the Transparent Watercolor Society of America. There were some nice pieces, but to my surprise, my favorite was a still life. Which is NOT usually my favorite art form. But this one just spoke to me. It was of silver bowls and luscious red cherries. In fact, you can see it here. Isn't it gorgeous? It's the first still life I can recall wanting to own.

As I write this, I am listening to the classical music I have downloaded into iTunes. And wondering why I haven't been playing this music - or other music - in the hours and hours I've been spending on the computer lately...

On a final note, I had to laugh at this quote that I ran across on Robin McKinley's blog (speaking of the hours and hours I spend at the computer - much of which is reading back entries on her blog):

Ever notice that 'what the hell' is always the right decision?
-- Marilyn Monroe

Olympics and other games

I've been sucked into watching a LOT of Olympics. Again. Every time - both summer and winter - I think there isn't going to be much I want to watch. And every time, I end up spending hours watching stuff like track. Of course, I admit I do fast forward through quite a bit (what's Tivo for, after all?). And sometimes I have it on in the family room while I read my email, etc. in the kitchen. But I also watch more of it than I thought I would.

I do wish prime time would show just a little more variety. I'd rather watch highlights of the shooting, or just a couple of minutes of the open water swim, or the kayaking, than endless preliminaries of track events. I saw just a glimpse of the archery early on, and thought that was quite interesting. I do realize there's a lot more than prime time. I've recorded a lot of the Oxygen shows (largely equestrian and gymnastics so far) and I have watched a little of the online coverage (mostly dressage and a little fencing). But even though the commentary often annoys me, without any commentary at all, you have to know a lot about the sport to enjoy the online coverage.

Anyway, yesterday I let the Tivo run and went out with Bravo. After we picked up library books, we went to a park and wandered through. Past the playground (lots of kids calling "doggie", but no petting), past the tiny kids in huge helmets at football practice, up to the frisbee golf field. Decided that was too dangerous to walk through, so we turned around.

Then we paused on a hill overlooking several courts for a sport I did not recognize. Long narrow dirt courts - 6 of them. Several had games going on. They threw a little white ball out in the middle, and then seemed to be trying to get close to it with larger colored balls. Is this bocce? I had no idea, but we watched for a while. Bravo was interested, looking very regal with his ears up and following the movements.

But what really interested him was the tennis court. Two men were playing. And they had left dozens of balls all over their court. (I don't think Bravo noticed the bucket of balls at the back.) At first he continued walking, but every time the closest guy hit the ball, he'd turn and start toward it. Finally he stopped and just stared. He stayed that way for several minutes. I guess he thought the fence MIGHT dissolve so he could go get those balls. Or one of them might somehow get past the fence. It COULD happen. Finally, I asked him if he was ready to go, and he immediately turned and came away. I could just see him shaking his head and thinking "what a waste". I mean, he's not a REAL tennis ball nut. (Our first dog Jenny was, and he's NOTHING like that. She would chase tennis balls until she dropped from heat exhaustion. Literally. He reserves that sort of intensity for squirrels.) But he LOVES to hold them in his mouth. (And chomp on them. Or tear the covers off.) Two balls in the mouth are even better. He's tried for three, but that goal still eludes him. And there were ALL those beautiful, bright green, quite new tennis balls. Just sitting there! And no one had put a mouth on them to feel that luscious give of a fresh springy ball in strong jaws. You could see, he thought human games were weird.

Here's another gull picture. I like the reflection in the wet sand.

Life's a beach

I had a great weekend in Philly when Karis and I went to visit my sister and her husband. We shopped a little, drove around a lot, watched a lot of movies (mostly on DVD). And for the finale, we spent the last day on the beach. I took tons of seagull pictures, and I thought this one turned out quite well. It's not retouched at all, honest.

Card-carrying or not?

The other day, I was flipping through the junk mail and realized that one of the envelopes was from the ACLU. So I opened it and was reading through it and suddenly realized - I am not a member of the ACLU. WHY???

I mean, one of my favorite quotes is from The American President where Andrew Shepherd says, "For the record: yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU. But the more important question is why aren't you, Bob? Now, this is an organization whose sole purpose is to defend the Bill of Rights, so it naturally begs the question: Why would a senator, his party's most powerful spokesman and a candidate for President, choose to reject upholding the Constitution? If you can answer that question, folks, then you're smarter than I am".

What's wrong with me that I did not join this organization? Sometimes, I feel that I have failed the version of my self that grew up in the 60's and went to college in the 70's. Though I suppose I have not betrayed that self as much as some others of my age group. At least, I'm not a Republican (shudder!).

So, now I am a member of the ACLU. Not card-carrying - but only because I have not yet gotten a membership card.

Yes, Russ, you are a member, too.

Why aren't you, Bob?


I thought this was an appropriate photo: the interior of the dome in Thomas Jefferson's Rotunda at UVA.

Airline Chicken (by Guest Blogger Russ)

Russ is in Houston for a convention. He emailed me these notes and I offered him a guest blogging gig. So here it is:

7-26-2008

The Restaurant here in the Crowne Plaze Houston Downtown is the Brazos Restaurant and Bar. They have a nice business as a stand-alone restaurant in Houston. I just ordered a chicken dish from room service. It looked very tasty to me. I’m sure you’ll agree that it looks like something I would like. It was chicken, stuffed with prosciutto, leeks and smoked provolone cheese topped with a light sage butter. The very strange thing is that it is called “ Airline Chicken Roulade”………. Why would any restaurant name a dish Airline anything? Will they give me only plastic utensils to eat it? Do they send someone who will sit next to me and spill some on me? Exactly how is this dish “Airline Chicken”? I will investigate.

7-28-2008

I had lunch in the hotel restaurant and one of the waiters was very knowledgeable. Airline chicken refers to the cut. It is a breast with some wing attached. Here is an explanation from a really interesting website I found, foodtimeline.com. It has all kinds of historical stuff about food. Ever wonder what the Vikings ate? I bookmarked it and I don’t bookmark very many sites. Here is the quote:

According to the National Chicken Council "The term "airline chicken breast" first became popular in the 1960s when major commercial airlines included full service meals on air flights that were of sufficient length/time to serve such meals. Airlines required a relatively small breast portion for a number of reasons and kept part of the wing on to give a presentation that made the serving portion appear to be bigger than it actually was and also to give it a certain differentiation from the non-airline breast. It was and still is a relatively costly product. My guess is a chef on PanAm or similar top airline developed the concept and other airlines quickly followed. Few, if any, domestic airlines still have "meals" that include "airline chicken breasts." Some caterers have this type of product for special occasion events. The Council adds: "The term "airline chicken" goes back a long way. It used to be called a "hotel cut.""

Now aren’t you glad you found out that there is a National Chicken Council?



Julie again. Today Russ attended the largest sit-down banquet the Hilton ever held. 2500 people. And they served ..... Airline Chicken.

I guess it's a Texas thing? Or a Hilton thing?



My photo today is from our trip to Washington DC. I saw this girl in the National Gallery, admiring a banner for an exhibit of artists' representations of the Bois de Boulogne.

Books, books and more books

My book-buying is getting seriously out of control. Earlier this year, I got a Barnes and Noble gift card and used it to buy several books, just as the whim took me, without knowing anything about them other than what I read on the jacket, the first few sentences, and a sample page from the middle. (That's my standard technique for evaluating a book. I'm usually not disappointed when I use this method. However, sometimes I am seduced by a title or concept, and then it's a coin toss whether I will actually like the book or loathe it.)

Since then, I've made a few more forays into book stores - while waiting at the airport, when browsing at the Train Station in DC, when in Denver because I HAD to visit the Tattered Cover when I had the chance.

(Digression -- I LOVE this book store. The comfy couches, all the hand-written notes recommending books... I would seriously spend a lot more money on books if I still lived in Denver. And I really like supporting independent bookstores. I've made a vow that I need to spend more time - and money - in independent bookstores. It's been just to easy to visit the local Barnes & Noble or order online. There aren't that many independents around any more, and the closest one - I think - is Magers & Quinn in Uptown, where the parking is a bit problematic. End digression.)

Then earlier this week, our washing machine was broken, so I went to visit Jason to use his machine, and we walked to Uncle Hugo's to buy books and get insulted. Seriously. The guy behind the cash register was obviously a geek (well, it is a science fiction / fantasy bookstore) with very few people skills. I tried to make conversation, but was treated to condescension and mockery. Jason says he insults everyone, so it's not just middle-aged women. It is almost a setback in my determination to patronize independents. Or at least, that independent. Though he did a great Schwarzenegger impression (I'll be back). And I got several more Robin McKinley books, which makes me very happy.

Anyway, today I went to the library to pick up a book on hold. I love to find books through LibraryThing or friend's recommendations, or just browsing in bookstores, and then reserve them at the library from my computer and wait for them to be ready for me. I've been using the library to trim down the amount I spend on books. Though lately, it doesn't seem to have worked very well.

And today the Friends of the Library were holding a book sale. $1 for hardbacks, 50 cents for paperback. And I came home with 10 books, several of which are very thick, and most of which I would not have bought if they hadn't been so inexpensive. I only spent $6.50. (You math geeks can figure out how many were hardback and how many were paperback on your own.)

But the thing is, the stack of books I own but have not yet read is now about 2 1/2 feet tall. And I may be missing a couple that are tucked away in my bedroom, or in the luggage from my last trip. Oops, I forgot the McKinley books from Uncle Hugo's, so that makes it nearly 3 feet tall, or over 30 unread books. Plus I've been re-reading all my Heyers, and have only gotten through about 10 of the 30 or so I own. Besides those I own, I still have two books out from the library, and 10 on my requested list.

Edit: I just scanned finished scanning the newly purchased books into LibraryThing, and went to put them on my shelves. There was room for only 1 or 2. I NEED MORE BOOKSHELVES!!!

Well, I just think of it as an excuse to read instead of wasting my time doing housework. After all, I've already PAID for those books. And if I DID do the housework, it would just need to be done again in no time at all. Isn't rationalization wonderful?

Here's another photo from yesterday's foray to the lake at sunset.

Golden days of summer

What a beautiful evening it was. Blue sky, warm but not scorching. A great day to be a teenager at the lake with your friends. And a great day to walk your dog down by the lake, and remember to bring your camera.

I've been working on making a life list. I'm certainly not ready to make it public yet, but one thing I would like to do is brush up on my photography. So I'm hoping to post photos here more regularly. If I can remember to take my camera with me...

Comments, criticisms and suggestions are welcome.

Warm, polite, intelligent and funny

Russ was just watching a biography of Steve Martin. They say he is actually quite shy and quiet. He has found a clever solution to the demands of autograph-seekers: he will hand them business cards which read: "This certifies that you have had a personal encounter with me and that you found me warm, polite, intelligent and funny." (I verified the wording here.)

I think that is terrific - and also warm, polite, intelligent and funny. So if you were to steal his idea, what four adjectives would describe how people found you?


Here's another photo that I meant to post some time ago - taken in Denver in April. I had forgotten there were pelicans at Cherry Creek Reservoir.

Dark and twisty superheroes

Russ and I went to see Hancock today. It's gotten some pans from critics, but we really liked it. For me, the main character pretty much has to sell me on the movie, and Will Smith has never disappointed me. (Not that I've seen all of his movies.) Yes, it takes a while to get the backstory on Hancock, and you could argue that it isn't totally consistent. But the character came to life.

He's one of those "dark and twisty" superheroes, as Meredith Grey would say. Like Spiderman, or Christian Bales' Batman. Even at the beginning, when he's a drunken bum causing almost as many problems as he solves, Smith lets you see that there is loneliness and despair underneath.

I liked his reluctant progress toward rehabilitation. Jason Bateman and Charlize Theron were terrific as well. The relationship between the three of them was interesting and well developed. But Will Smith sold me on the film. Of course, I have to admit I'm a sucker for the "wounded hero".


Photo for today: a magnolia flower from the trip to Charlottesville last month.

Stormy weather

After a few days of beautiful weather, we had a huge storm today. The sky was black and it rained so hard that you could hardly see houses on the other side of the street. I timed things quite well - I left work about 12:20 and came home for lunch, arriving seconds before the bottom fell out. During the worst part of the storm, my co-worker called from the office and said the power was out - and it is really dark in that office, with only a few narrow windows on 2 sides and cube walls in the middle. Even now that the rain has stopped, the power is still out, so we've been given permission to go (or stay) home. Yea for free half-days!

I'm really enjoying reading Robin McKinley's blog. I could have guessed she was a horse-lover from the way she writes about them, but her tales of riding kind of make me wish I had Athena back and could try dressage. Except of course for the horrendous cost. I think I will keep living that dream vicariously.

Here are my results for what kind of music I am. I'm not entirely sure how well this describes me. Feel free to let me know what you think. And if you take the quiz, do let me know your results.

You Are Classical Music

You are a somewhat serious person who enjoys studying subjects deeply. Art of all kinds interests you, and a good piece of art can really effect you emotionally. You are inspired by human achievement, and you appreciate work that takes years to accomplish. For you, the finer things in life are not about snobbery - they're about quality.

What Kind of Music Are You?

Car, Connections, Quizzes

Well, good news - sort of - about my car. The A/C blower was working again today. I took it in to the shop and they thought it might need a new ignition module, but had a fairly simple way to test to see if that is a problem in case it happens again. So they just kept it for the day and did routine maintenance. And ordered a part for the back-seat problem.

I just got distracted for a minute there. On Deb's blog, I found in her library a book by Patricia Wrede that I had never seen before. That led me to Amazon, and their list of "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought". I scrolled through some, and found this book by Robin McKinley - and then I found Robin McKinley's blog. She blogs about horses and bell-ringing and other interesting stuff - though her footnotes are very hard to follow.

I really like the books I've read by these two authors, and look forward to some new ones. Yea for rambling connections that lead to other connections...

Here's a quiz I stole from Deb. Sometime, maybe I should steal from other people...

The Road Trip of Your Life

You see companionship and loyalty as what's most important in life. You live life at a fairly leisurely pace. You take time to enjoy the sweeter parts of life, even when you're busy. You're willing to take a few risks in life. You may not take the road no one travels, but you're happy to take the road less traveled. You are able to find a fairly healthy balance between work and play. You work when you need to, but you never let yourself burn out. You could have owned an indie bookstore or boutique in another life.

The Road Trip Test

A relaxing weekend

Hooray for long weekends! I'm not really ready to go back to work, but I have quite enjoyed doing not much of anything this weekend.

Highlights:

1. Several walks with Russ and Bravo. And one today with just Bravo to the gardens by Lake Harriet.

2. Wonderful meals cooked by Russ, including Sticky Lemon Chicken, bacon & eggs, a traditional hot dogs and chips meal on the 4th, and this morning, pancakes with yummy homemade maple syrup from Jason and Gaea.

3. Books - read Tanya Huff's Summoning the Keeper and a biography of Georgette Heyer, and now I'm re-reading one of my favorite Heyer books.

4. Had lots of fun obtaining and arranging Flair on Facebook.

5. Dropped by North Star to see some of the horse people with whom I spent so much time in the past. Had a very nice chat with one of Karis' friends.

6. Spent some more time working on my LibraryThing catalog - and still have tons to load.

One unfortunate thing though - I have a couple of problems with my vehicle. The latch on one of the seats is broken - the one I use most often to allow Bravo access to the back. And then this afternoon, the A/C stopped working. Just the front fan, though - the one in the back still works. And it was a long drive back from Lake Harriet at 93 degrees. So now I have to get it to the shop this week.

Here's a photo of the fountain behind the Lake Harriet rose garden. I would have liked to jump in - it was really hot out there. (As always, clickable to see it larger.)

Internet overload

I've been thinking about how many different Internet sites I have now.
- I started with Picasa, which I do still update - sometimes.
- After I bought my Mac, I made a site on mac.com, but I don't update it anymore.
- Then I started blogging here - and that's a bit sporadic lately
- I found out about LibraryThing and started cataloging my books there, but I still have a lot more to add
- And there's GoodReads, where I keep track of books I borrow from the library and other people.
- I got on Plaxo because of my internet provider, but have no idea what I want to do with that
- Now I've gotten involved in Facebook, too, and have been spending way too much time working with the special applications there (like Flair!)
- And I recently created a Second Life character - just to try it out. Slow going, so far.

So I have a website, a blog, 2 book catalogs, 2 networking sites, an avatar -- and 2 email addresses (not counting my work one). And this keeps me at the computer at home - apparently until midnight on days like today - when I work on a computer all day long. Maybe I was wise back in the 80s when PCs first became popular -- I refused to do much with them because I spent my work day programming on a mainframe and wanted to do other things in my non-work hours.

Right now, I think I'll go read. Good night.

Tanya Huff

I've started reading Summon the Keeper by Tanya Huff. I've read some of her short story collections (Relative Magic and Stealing Magic) and really enjoyed her writing. She is very good at characterizations, and her plots and humor really draw me in.

If you enjoy fantasy, I highly recommend her writing. My family will tell you that there must be something special about an author who can get me to enjoy stories about assassins and vampires.

This book is the first in a series about Keepers, whose job it is to plug holes in the fabric of the universe. The heroine and her cat arrive at a B&B and get stuck there monitoring the gateway to Hell in the furnace room. No assassins or vampires in this one. Yet.

If that isn't enough to get you interested, here are my favorite quotes so far:

"I've said it before and I'll say it again, evil has no imagination. Probably why so much of it ends up in municipal politics."

"Your father's likely to be worried about you being in such proximity to the hole in the furnace room."
"There's really no need to tell him about Hell, Mom."
"He's teaching in the public school system, Claire. He knows about Hell."

Hail and Shakespeare

Yesterday Russ and I decided to take Bravo for a walk in a nearby neighborhood. As we parked, we noticed there was a very dark cloud off to the west, but it looked as if it could just skip over us, so we decided to continue walking. Of course, in about 3 blocks, it started to rain. We considered running back to the car, but again, there just the one cloud, and we figured it would be over soon, so we huddled underneath a tree in the park. Well, it POURED. And then it HAILED. I don't believe I'd ever been out in hail before. It wasn't more than pea size, but still, it HURT. The storm didn't last terribly long, but of course we were totally drenched. Intrepid souls that we are, we still took our walk. And it was a nice neighborhood, but I was really glad to get home to a hot shower and a cup of hot tea.

I'm a little unhappy with B&N right now. I ordered some bargain books from their website. When they came, most of them were fine, but one book was missing, and I had a book about WWII instead of the humorous murder mystery I expected. I went to my local store, and they did have the bargain book I wanted, and were willing to make the exchange. But since I had only paid $3.49 online, and the book I was returning was priced at $4.98, they charged me an extra $1.48. Now 1) the book I was returning also showed a cover price of $4.98, and 2) I had already paid for the book I was getting. But it seemed too much effort to cancel the transaction and deal with returns by mail, so I paid it. I wonder - if I had just returned the book saying I didn't have a receipt, would they have just made the swap at face value?

Then last evening, I went to The Cromulent Shakespeare Company's production of Love's Labour's Lost. It was a free production in the park, and they did a really good job. Of course, there were the usual issues with outdoor events - noise from other people in the park, planes overhead, and at the end, several very loud sirens on the nearest street. But they didn't let any of that phase them, and I enjoyed the play very much. The weather report still said scattered showers, but this time my luck held and there was no rain.

All in all, it was a fun day yesterday!

Blogthings quizzes

Quiz day! I thought these were fun.

You Are 30% Boyish and 70% Girlish

Even if you're not a girl, you're very feminine. You're in touch with your feelings, and your heart rules you. A bit of a emotional roller coaster, one moment you're up and the next you're down. But no matter what, you try to be as cute and perky as possible.

How Boyish or Girlish Are You?

Not sure how accurate that was, thought the emotional roller coaster is often part of my life.

\ Your Personality Profile

You are dependable, popular, and observant. Deep and thoughtful, you are prone to moodiness. In fact, your emotions tend to influence everything you do. You are unique, creative, and expressive. You don't mind waving your freak flag every once and a while. And lucky for you, most people find your weird ways charming!

The World's Shortest Personality

Moodiness and emotions again. Maybe that does describe me. Not so sure about the creative and "freak flag" parts.

Better chocolate?

An article in the Star Tribune today says that Mars Inc has funded a project to analyze the cocoa genome. A process they say will "help battle crop diseases and even lead to better-tasting chocolate".

I'm sorry -- better tasting chocolate? I'm not sure that's possible, or even desirable. I have trouble enough resisting it now...

Now if they could remove the calories and keep the taste and the heart benefits, that I could get behind.

Mosaic meme

I copied this from Deb, who copied it from several other people. Deb's was so pretty I had to try it. The rules are:

• type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr search.
• using only the first page, choose an image.
• copy and paste each of the URL’s into the mosaic maker over at FD’s image maker.

The questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you attend?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your Flickr name.

Here's what I came up with (clickable for a larger version).

Credits:
1. Hi Julie!, 2. Untitled, 3. Everything is in Bloom, 4. llibreria - bookstore - Amsterdam, 5. pierce brosnan, 6. Gravity, 7. Totaranui, 8. Bad News Ice Cream, 9. I See You, 10. Last day in Paris, 11. Running ahead of oneself, 12. Liffey Sunset a la Nokia

I really like it - but if I could change one thing, I would re-arrange the photos so the colors balanced better.

Celebration