Good heavens. I went to the gym tonight. And yes, it did feel good. And the 20 minutes on the ellipse machine helped stretch out hurty arm.
I am looking for small rewards to help encourage such activity--non food, no clutter, and costing less than $5. Any creative suggestions welcomed.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Sunday, January 22, 2006
More Books Read
- Anyone But You--Jennifer Crusie
- In the Fold--Rachael Cusk
- The Girl With The Long Green Heart--Lawrence Block
$197.49 Later...
And I am the owner of the 3 books I need for my 2 library school classes this semester. Holy cow. They were only available new, and I was late buying them. I think that the $75 for the health Information resources text scared off registrants, and that was how I was able to get into the class. All I can say is that $75 for a text to take an online only class still beats the $150 in gas and parking plus books and tuition that I pay normally.
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Book Update
In no particular order, books I've read so far this year:
- The Gutter And The Grave--Ed McBain
- The Jinx--Jennifer Sturman
- The Partly Cloudy Patriot--Sarah Vowell
- Flirting With Pride and Prejudice--Jennifer Crusie, ed.
- Betsy and Joe--Maud Hart Lovelace
- Witch Way to Murder--Shirley Damsgaard
The Company She Keeps-- Mary McCarthy
From the Department of Best Descriptions....
"He had the true American taste for argument, argument as distinguished from conversation on the one hand and oratory on the other. The long-drawn-out, meandering debate was, perhaps, the only art-form he understood or relished, and this was natural, since the argument is in a sense our only indigenous folk-art, and it is not the poet but the silver-tongued lawyer who is our national bard. "(217)
"He had the true American taste for argument, argument as distinguished from conversation on the one hand and oratory on the other. The long-drawn-out, meandering debate was, perhaps, the only art-form he understood or relished, and this was natural, since the argument is in a sense our only indigenous folk-art, and it is not the poet but the silver-tongued lawyer who is our national bard. "(217)
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Witch Way to Murder--Shirley Damsgaard
I admit it, I took this out of the library because based on the plot summary I was 95% sure it would annoy the piss out of me. I don't know why I do this sort of thing, picking up books with high probability of cuteness, reading the blogs of people I think are annoying and ridiculous, getting involved in conversations that I know will just end up with my stifling an urge to go off. I enjoy torture, I know. However, way to go Shirley Damsgaard! She's constructed an engaging little mystery here.
Ophelia is a librarian in small town Iowa. Her grandmother Abby is an Appalachian transplant who has got "the gift"--second sight, intuition, herb lore, the whole package. This runs in Abby's family and has landed on Ophelia, who will have no truck with it. Things are okay until a charming stranger who claims to be a salesman comes to town, a rash of fertilizer thefts start, and a body turns up in Abby's backyard and Ophelia's suppressed gift starts making itself known as they investigate what's up (besides the meth problem) in their small town.
Here's what I thought would annoy me:
1) The librarian thing. I've got a rant stored up, but man--hardly anyone writes a depiction of a librarian that doesn't cling to the emotionally frigid, afraid of the world, over-the-hill bitch stereotype. Ophelia is like that, but there's a reason for it other than her job: she's got an aspect of her personality, the witchy side, that she doesn't understand or trust so she try to hide it and overcompensates by being super practical and logical. She's also lost someone she cares about to violent crime and she's not dealt well with it, and knows it. But she gets up every day and works at her small town library (also well-depicted) and tries to live her life as best she can.
2)The witch thing. Okay, I roll my eyes at the paranormal a lot. Too much exposure to pagan rollplayers. But by having Abby be an older woman who comes by her ways out of tradition works. it also rings true that while Abby is quiet about what she does because her community wouldn't understand, she is true to herself and her traditions.
Ophelia is a librarian in small town Iowa. Her grandmother Abby is an Appalachian transplant who has got "the gift"--second sight, intuition, herb lore, the whole package. This runs in Abby's family and has landed on Ophelia, who will have no truck with it. Things are okay until a charming stranger who claims to be a salesman comes to town, a rash of fertilizer thefts start, and a body turns up in Abby's backyard and Ophelia's suppressed gift starts making itself known as they investigate what's up (besides the meth problem) in their small town.
Here's what I thought would annoy me:
1) The librarian thing. I've got a rant stored up, but man--hardly anyone writes a depiction of a librarian that doesn't cling to the emotionally frigid, afraid of the world, over-the-hill bitch stereotype. Ophelia is like that, but there's a reason for it other than her job: she's got an aspect of her personality, the witchy side, that she doesn't understand or trust so she try to hide it and overcompensates by being super practical and logical. She's also lost someone she cares about to violent crime and she's not dealt well with it, and knows it. But she gets up every day and works at her small town library (also well-depicted) and tries to live her life as best she can.
2)The witch thing. Okay, I roll my eyes at the paranormal a lot. Too much exposure to pagan rollplayers. But by having Abby be an older woman who comes by her ways out of tradition works. it also rings true that while Abby is quiet about what she does because her community wouldn't understand, she is true to herself and her traditions.
Flirting With Pride & Prejudice--Jennifer Crusie (editor)
First book read in 2006, and what a great way to start my reading year! Okay, so it's a continuation of 2005--The Year of Jane Austen, but really--is there ever enough Jane Austen? The answer is no. Matter of fact, there should be more discussion of "What Would Jane Austen Do?"
2005 was the year that I finally read Pride and Prejudice and actually got it. It helped that Genevieve and I saw Bride and Prejudice earlier in the year, and that Netflix has the 6 hour BBC miniseries available. I also read The Jane Austen Book Club, which I think I'll pick up again sometime, and just last week I dragged Audax to the new Pride & Prejudice.
Anyway, Benbella Books has a line called Smart Pop consisting of essays and treatises on various aspects of pop culture. They've got a Buffy Book, one on Alias, one on Firefly (Damn! And here I've been avoiding the heartbreak of Serenity! Will I break?) and the His Dark Materials trilogy, among others. Frankly, it was the stroke of genius in getting Jennifer Crusie to serve as editor that sold me.
The essays are from a variety of writers--Jane Espenson, Karen Joy Fowler, a couple of professors, some of the better know chick-lit authors-- and address various P&P themes and mores. Plenty of thought-provoking stuff here. The one piece I think that should have been excised is a short story by Mercedes Lackey which really has nothing to do with P&P, and I will acknowledge my fantasy hatred here. But the best bits are "Times and Tenors", tackling a comparison of film versions of P&P (although the book was published before the most recent adaptation came out, which gives it a dated air for a collection that went to press in mid-2005), Jo Beverley explaining the economic realities of the time in "Gold Diggers of 1813," Lawrence Watt-Evans' piece "A World At War" explaining why there's not much talk of war in the novel, and all three essays in the "Jane As Universal Social Commentator" section.
Now take the "Which Jane Austen Character Are You?" quiz and report back! I'm Elinor Dashwood.
2005 was the year that I finally read Pride and Prejudice and actually got it. It helped that Genevieve and I saw Bride and Prejudice earlier in the year, and that Netflix has the 6 hour BBC miniseries available. I also read The Jane Austen Book Club, which I think I'll pick up again sometime, and just last week I dragged Audax to the new Pride & Prejudice.
Anyway, Benbella Books has a line called Smart Pop consisting of essays and treatises on various aspects of pop culture. They've got a Buffy Book, one on Alias, one on Firefly (Damn! And here I've been avoiding the heartbreak of Serenity! Will I break?) and the His Dark Materials trilogy, among others. Frankly, it was the stroke of genius in getting Jennifer Crusie to serve as editor that sold me.
The essays are from a variety of writers--Jane Espenson, Karen Joy Fowler, a couple of professors, some of the better know chick-lit authors-- and address various P&P themes and mores. Plenty of thought-provoking stuff here. The one piece I think that should have been excised is a short story by Mercedes Lackey which really has nothing to do with P&P, and I will acknowledge my fantasy hatred here. But the best bits are "Times and Tenors", tackling a comparison of film versions of P&P (although the book was published before the most recent adaptation came out, which gives it a dated air for a collection that went to press in mid-2005), Jo Beverley explaining the economic realities of the time in "Gold Diggers of 1813," Lawrence Watt-Evans' piece "A World At War" explaining why there's not much talk of war in the novel, and all three essays in the "Jane As Universal Social Commentator" section.
Now take the "Which Jane Austen Character Are You?" quiz and report back! I'm Elinor Dashwood.
Who's Sorry Now?--Jill Churchill
Yes, there's a murder in this cozy mystery, but it seems to have nothing to do with the actual plot. No one seems to care to investigate the death, because they're all a-tizzy about getting the new mail station built, learning about physical anthropology and getting the new deputy settled in. Talk about a character driven series!
Blood Memory--Greg Iles
What could be worse than being a brilliant forensic odontologist with a borderline personality, a drinking problem, and an inconvenient pregnancy who has begun having panic attacks and blackouts? That would be reading a 764 page novel narrated by such an unlikeable and unconvincing character. Thank heavens I realized after page 50 that I had better things to do and skipped to the end, where the plot revelations were summed up and proved to be what I expected.
Sunday, January 01, 2006
Happy New Year!
Best wishes for a prosperous, happy and healthy 2006!
If you have already backslid, do not fear. Not only is tomorrow another day, but the Year of The Dog begins January 29th!
Here at Kerry Enterprises we are continuing our goal that we seized on a few months ago: to become more engaged in life and less of a bystander. This will take may exciting forms this year, some yet to be determined.
If you have already backslid, do not fear. Not only is tomorrow another day, but the Year of The Dog begins January 29th!
Here at Kerry Enterprises we are continuing our goal that we seized on a few months ago: to become more engaged in life and less of a bystander. This will take may exciting forms this year, some yet to be determined.
"I Promise I'm Not Running The Local Meth Lab Here, Tim!"
Some of you know about the problem I've been having with my medical reimbursement account. To whit, figuring I was all kinds of screwed up I put $700 in for 2005 only to find out what I was going to spend it on was unneeded. And I am never sick. So after going to Dr. Julie several times and getting glasses and a tetanus shot and physical therapy, I still had at least $200 left in the account. Actually since stupid benefits management company is holding up on reimbursing me for $100 of PT co-pays that they claimed I submitted inadequate documentation for (and yes, I am arguing with them about that), the total amount is somewhere between $200-275. And try getting a medical appointment in the month of December. Not happening.
So I wandered over to Target yesterday with a shopping list. I was grabbing the big boxes of Claritan, Cortaid, the 200 count Aleve, the ibuprophen, anything I could get my hands on. No generics for me, baby! But then it occurs to me that holy crap, I am going to get into trouble. Even if I'm not buying the stuff with psuedoephedrine (for which you have to take a little card over to the pharmacist now), a woman with several hundred dollars of cold medicine in her basket is going to be suspicious. Uh oh.
So I get to the cashier and I start babbling. I'm explaining this all to the the teenage cashier, who doesn't bat an eye. All he asks me for is my date of birth, because under the new rules only the young can be tweakers. Okay. The woman behind me is listening to my tale and she says that she thought I was just being responsible and stocking up.
It was $301.19 of OTC medication. I didn't even know you could spend that much at once. I put it on my credit card but I could have whipped out the hundred dollar bills and no one would have commented. Whatever I have extra after covering my reimbursement will be returned.
Of course I return home to find a check from the reimbursement people for $56.99. And a letter from the health insurance people asking for more details on my need for physical therapy. It's never simple for me.
So I wandered over to Target yesterday with a shopping list. I was grabbing the big boxes of Claritan, Cortaid, the 200 count Aleve, the ibuprophen, anything I could get my hands on. No generics for me, baby! But then it occurs to me that holy crap, I am going to get into trouble. Even if I'm not buying the stuff with psuedoephedrine (for which you have to take a little card over to the pharmacist now), a woman with several hundred dollars of cold medicine in her basket is going to be suspicious. Uh oh.
So I get to the cashier and I start babbling. I'm explaining this all to the the teenage cashier, who doesn't bat an eye. All he asks me for is my date of birth, because under the new rules only the young can be tweakers. Okay. The woman behind me is listening to my tale and she says that she thought I was just being responsible and stocking up.
It was $301.19 of OTC medication. I didn't even know you could spend that much at once. I put it on my credit card but I could have whipped out the hundred dollar bills and no one would have commented. Whatever I have extra after covering my reimbursement will be returned.
Of course I return home to find a check from the reimbursement people for $56.99. And a letter from the health insurance people asking for more details on my need for physical therapy. It's never simple for me.
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