Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Analyze THIS

A columnist for the National Review, Tevi Troy, analyzes the books that President Obama took on vacation, and concludes that "they may constitute the oddest assortment of presidential reading material ever disclosed, for a number of reasons. First, five of the six are novels, and the near-absence of nonfiction sends the wrong message for any president, because it sets him up for the charge that he is out of touch with reality." Within that group of fiction were some mysteries, prompting the comment, "there is also the question of genre. The Bayou Trilogy has received excellent reviews, but it is a mystery series. While there is nothing wrong with that per se, not every presidential reading selection is worth revealing to the public."

Toward the end of the article, Troy says, "This year’s list suggests that Obama needs to consider the messages sent by his reading more carefully." I suppose that might hold some water if he was reading something like, I don't know, Mein Kampf, maybe, but selecting an armload of literary fiction doesn't seem to me to send any message other than he was looking for something interesting to read on vacation. I suppose the argument could be made that presidents never truly go on vacation, but everyone, even presidents, need a break once in awhile; I don't think that means that he's "out of touch with reality," which makes him sound in he belongs in a rubber room.

I wonder what could be deduced about me by analyzing the last half dozen books I read?

In the last couple of weeks, I've read:

The list is all fiction, pretty heavily weighted toward zombie fiction ("My Life as a White Trash Zombie," "Home Improvement, Undead Edition," and "Countdown," although "Home Improvement" isn't exclusively about zombies, since it includes stories about other creatures such as vampires, shapeshifters, and ghosts.

The rest of the books are in the dreaded mystery category, "The Missing Ink" being set in a Las Vegas tattoo parlor, and the Grabenstein series, taking place on the Jersey shore, chronicling the adventures of an Iraq War veteran, now policeman, and his young sidekick. "The Missing Ink" is a cozy, the Grabenstein books are, I suppose, police procedural, and "The Shop" is a thriller about a paid assassin trying to unravel the reasons for his recent assignments--he never asked questions before, but it's all beginning to seem a little too strange.

My mind doesn't really work this way--when I read that article it seemed like it must be satire, but sadly, I don't believe it is. But anyway, if I was going to analyze myself based on that reading list, I guess I'd have to say, since it's all fiction, that I'm out of touch with reality. I suppose the zombie fiction indicates that I identify with the oppressed undead minority, and that I am looking for ideas on stockpiling supplies for the upcoming apocalypse.

Maybe the police procedurals would point out that, while I'm basically law-abiding, I also look for ways in which I can put one over on policemen, particularly those on the Jersey Shore, and "The Shop" could mean nothing other than I'm planning a politically-motivated murder and need to find out how to keep it a secret. Oh, and of course the tattoo shop cozy indicates that I secretly wish to either work in a tattoo shop or to be tattooed.

What a crock.

In other news, my shellac French manicure just hit the 2-1/2 week mark, and still looks almost perfect. It's starting to show a little wear at the tips, so I made an appointment for Saturday to get it re-done. Three weeks is pretty darn good, I'd have to say, considering all the typing I do. Sort of in that same vein, I've got an appointment tomorrow with the hand surgeon who did my trigger thumb release a couple of years ago.

I've been having some pain that I think is probably carpal tunnel (I'm not a doctor, but I play one on tv); last week the pain was awful, but of course, just like a car that won't make that noise when you see the mechanic, this week it's almost non-existent. But using that same analogy, if I cancel the appointment, I'm sure the pain will come back. I figure it doesn't hurt to have her look at it and let me know what she thinks, although it will cost me a $50 co-pay. Oh well.

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Sunday, August 14, 2011

Twelve things I love

In no particular order or genre:

  1. Pizza Hut Thin & Crispy Chicken Supreme Pizza - My favorite pizza. Chicken breast, red onions, green peppers, and mushrooms.

  2. Adam Lambert. I never watched American Idol, and only discovered him after the show was over. There's just something about him. He's adorable, of course, but it's also his personality. He's (or at least he seems to be) sunny, happy, and helpful, just a nice young man. Okay, a make-up wearing, glammed up young man, but he seems to be pretty together, and has a great voice and stage presence.

  3. The way Aveda Shampure smells. Unfortunately, it isn't moisturizing enough for my hair, but Bob uses it, so I get to smell it by proxy.

  4. O.P.I. nail oil. I have the driest cuticles on the planet, so I use this stuff constantly. It improves the look of my nails instantly.

  5. Chris Grabenstein's John Ceepak series. I'm halfway through this (so far) six book series about an Iraq war veteran who is a policeman in a Jersey shore beach town. He lives by a code of ethics, will not lie nor tolerate lying, and quotes Bruce Springsteen lyrics when he's stressed. I'm currently reading Hell Hole, the fourth installment.

  6. Seanan McGuire's October Daye series. I can't wait for the next installment, "One Salt Sea" next month. October "Toby" Daye is part fae, part human, she spent 14 years as a fish after being spelled. She's understandably reluctant to get involved with magic again, but she keeps getting pulled into circumstances where her help is needed. She's sort of a flawed knight errant; she keeps getting into trouble, but she never gives up.

  7. My Built NY neoprene iPad sleeve. It's actually a sleeve for a small laptop, but I felt like the iPad sleeve that they make was too small. I got it for an unbelievable price--less than $6.00 plus shipping.

  8. Oikos Greek Yogurt. I love the chocolate and caramel flavors--dessert that's actually good for you.

  9. Clinique 3-step system (bar soap, clarifying lotion, moisturizing lotion). I've used Clinique for probably 30 years, and can't imagine putting anything else on my face.

  10. Vera Bradley bags. I know that the Vera Bradley bags aren't really stylish except on college campuses or with grandmas, but I love them. My current pattern is Simply Violet, a deep purple background with ivory paisleys. It's discontinued, so I was able to buy a few pieces at a discount. It's less busy than some of their patterns, and the dark color seems easier to keep clean.

  11. Design Seeds. LOVE this site. What a great idea.

  12. Kindle app on iPad. Love the iPad, and love the Kindle app, although now that they aren't allowed to sell books from within the app, it's less fun. And I love how, if I end up standing in line somewhere like the post office, and decide to read a little bit on the Kindle app on my iPhone, it syncs up to where I stopped reading on the iPad.

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Sunday, July 24, 2011

What I did on my summer vacation

I took a week off from work last week, with absolutely no plans other than to "sleep late and go to lunch." I almost never use all of my vacation time, except when I end up in the hospital, so I decided to just take a week even though I didn't have any place to go. I just wanted some time to hang out, take care of a few things at home, and have some time with no obligations.

I packed up a bunch of books and sold them to Half Price Books ($62 worth), packed up a box to send back to Amazon (if you check on the book page, there are certain books that they will accept, and pay you in gift cards--I had a little over $20 worth), visited a couple of bead stores, got my oil changed, and that's pretty much it, except a lot of reading and sleeping late.

On Monday I drove out to Martin City to visit a wholesale bead shop, and on Tuesday I drove downtown for a working lunch, and afterwards wandered around Crown Center for awhile, but for the most part I stayed close to home. I checked out the new Trader Joe's, I fixed a broken drawer on my dresser. I had lunch at Chili's, Chipotle, Noodles & Company, and Sweet Tomatoes. I stayed up late and rented two movies from iTunes ("Unknown" and "The Lincoln Lawyer," both of which I enjoyed). I read seven books:

  • You're Next - Greg Hurwitz
  • Moon Child - J. R. Rain
  • A Small Fortune - Audrey Braun
  • When Will There Be Good News? - Kate Atkinson
  • Started Early, Took My Dog - Kate Atkinson
  • In The Dead - Jesse Petersen
  • Rock'n'Roll is Undead - Rose Pressey

And I played a LOT of Pocket Frogs.





It was a good week.

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Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Wheezy

Since sometime last winter, I've had a cough that just won't go away, along with wheezing that comes and goes, but is loud enough for Bob to hear, and which sometimes keeps me awake at night. I kept thinking it would get better eventually, but it just didn't, so I went to the doctor. He gave me a chest x-ray and two courses of antibiotics that didn't do anything, so I went back, and he gave me a breathing treatment and steroids, and it worked! It got better for a couple of weeks, then came back.

I called for another appointment last week, and he didn't have anything available until the end of the month, so I made an appointment with a physician's assistant and saw her yesterday. She asked me about asthma, which I have never had, but my mother does.

So I've got another batch of steroids, a different antibiotic, and an inhaler. I asked her if she thought it was asthma, and she said, "I think there's an asthmatic component to it," whatever that means. We'll see, I guess. She said if this doesn't work, then I need to see a specialist. It's exhausting. I really hope it works.

I looked at Oprah's Summer Reading List yesterday, but out of a couple dozen books, there were maybe only two that held any interest to me at all. I know I've said this before, but I read for relaxation, for enjoyment, and I read almost exclusively fiction. I don't apologize for the books that I read, and I'm not defensive about it. In the limited free time that I have available, if I'm going to sit down and read, I want to read something fun. One of my fondest memories is on one of our trips to Mexico, I toted along Stephen King's Cell, which had just come out, and spent several afternoons by the pool reading it, and it was perfect.

"Fun," for me, means fiction in several genres--paranormal mostly, some thrillers and police procedurals, some "women's fiction," maybe a little "chick lit." I also like short story anthologies, mostly paranormal. Here's my summer reading list:

Read so far since June:

On the "to read" list (queued up in the Kindle app):

New and Upcoming Releases from my wishlist:

Geez.

So, I've read 77 books so far in 2011. If I read all of the books on this list (47), that would end up 124, but I'm sure I'll come up with some new ones between now and the end of the year, and I probably won't read all of the anthologies, I just like to have them to dip into in odd moments.

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Thursday, June 16, 2011

Lots of reading and a little drama

Here's an interesting article from Kristine Kathryn Rusch about bookstores. I remember when I could go to a big chain bookstore and find an author's complete backlist, and I remember when that started to not be the case. It used to be that you could go to B&N or Borders and count on finding pretty much anything you wanted, but no more. It happened to B&N first, but now it's happened to Borders as well.

I used to spend hours at the bookstores--it was one of my weekend rituals to go to Borders and spend a couple of hours looking at books, discovering new writers and being reminded of favorite "old" ones. Now the big bookstores are more giftshops and less bookstores, and unless you want one of the half dozen current bestsellers, it's a pretty sad experience. I don't even go to the bookstores anymore. I do all of my book shopping on Amazon, both electronic and paper. It's not that I necessarily prefer it that way, but it seems like it's now the only way. After a few trips to the brick-and-mortar bookstore and walking away empty handed, I just gave up on it.

My local library is now offering ebooks; they only have a handful, but I'm sure that will increase. I enjoy reading on the iPad so much that I've pretty much stopped going to the library, also, except for checking out craft books and things like that. I find that I'm not much interested in reading fiction in paper anymore. It's so much easier to have my entire library on the iPad or Kindle, and not have to worry about returning a book.

I imagine I'm spending more on books now than I used to, but at some point I decided that was okay. I don't have a lot of indulgences, and I tend to think of books as necessities anyway.

My booklist for this year is testament to the fact that I've been reading more than ever -- at mid-June, it's up to 62 books.

Part of the reason for that is that I hurt my back toward the end of May. It was one of those things where I didn't do anything in particular--I was taking a shower actually--but I just suddenly got an excruciating pain in my lower back. It was all I could do to hobble out of the shower and gingerly lower myself onto the bed, then just lie there trying to figure out what to do. It was mid-afternoon on the Sunday before Labor Day, and Bob was working until 7:00. I figured if nothing else, he'd be back then.

Fortunately, I had the iPad upstairs next to the bed, and my phone, so I just tried to stay as still as possible, read, sleep, and wait for Bob to get home. He called when he got off and started home, like he always does, and I told him what had happened, and asked him if he could bring me something to eat. He brought tacos, and I was able to sit up and eat them, but I definitely wasn't going anywhere.

I spent the whole day Monday in bed, and decided to stay home from work on Tuesday also. By Wednesday I was functional, but still not 100%. We had planned to go down to the Lake of the Ozarks that next weekend, and I was taking Friday off, and by Thursday I was feeling pretty good, so we went ahead with the plans. We drove down on Thursday night, getting in pretty late, and went to bed. On Friday morning when I woke up, I could barely get out of bed. I don't know if it was the long drive down or the hard bed, but the pain was back.

I ended up sleeping on the couch the rest of the weekend; I don't know if the bed was the problem or not, but I was afraid to risk it.

I'm still being pretty careful of my back, but it seems to be okay now.

Bob's out of town this week on his annual fishing trip to Minnesota, and I've been trying to take good care of myself and get a lot of rest. Dinah and I have just been hanging out in the evenings, and going to bed early to read or play Scrabble online.

I hadn't expected to hear from Bob all week--there isn't any cell reception where he is--but he called on Monday to say that he was on the way to the emergency room. He had been trying to take a hook out of a fish, the fish jerked, and he drove the hook through one of his fingers. I'm sure that's not the first time it's happened, but this time it was bad enough that his doctor friend who is with him didn't want to risk taking it out himself, and said he needed to go to the hospital. So they were driving in to town to get it taken care of.

After seeing a doctor and getting the hook removed, he said they were going to go buy him a rubber glove so that he could continue fishing. It was, after all, only the second day of the trip.

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