archives

Wait, what’s the date?

That’s right, today is the first day of my sixth year of employment at the state. In other words, I’ve been here 5 years! I now earn more vacation time, which is exciting. Lots of changes potentially coming up in the next year, namely that will be retiring (date still TBD).

In other calendar-related news… Happy Halloween! dressed up as “young Chuck Norris” based on an SNL Digital Short. I did not dress up, because we don’t do that here. I think we’re carving a pumpkin tonight when I get home from class though.

It’s hard to avoid thinking about Christmas already, though I’d prefer the season not start so early. But Macy’s has had their stuff up for a few weeks now, which has me thinking about gift ideas and so forth. Here’s my Christmas-in-the-works list:

  • For Grandma (‘s side), knit scarf
  • For Grandpa (‘s side), figure out some sort of gift that he would enjoy – what does a 94 year old man want?
  • For and , figure out gift
  • For , wait for return email about proposed gift idea
  • For and , have no idea
  • For , pick out something cute. Also, find or make ornament to continue that tradition left by our aunt (note: discuss with first to make sure she’s OK with that).
  • For , come up with idea (wanna suggest something?)
  • For , go to [store] and pick up [stuff] and then convince to help [in an undisclosed way so as to not give away what my awesome idea is]
  • Decide if “let it snow” home decor idea from Macy’s really would be cute
  • Christmas cards… need I say more?
  • Make Christmas cookies and perhaps peanut brittle, decorated pretzels, or something else equally fun (note that I still haven’t successfully made apple crisp this fall, but hopefully Christmas baking will not fall behind because of this), and bring some to Christmas Eve in Illinois.

Conveniently, I think that and I decided (perhaps unofficially) not to do gifts, or just do stockings, or something like that.

Anything else calendar-related? Um… not really. You might have noticed a few subtle changes on the blog. Hopefully, there will be something more visible within a week or so.

Unconscious Mutterings

  1. Inaugural :: Speech
  2. Pledge :: of Allegiance
  3. String :: Theory
  4. Trot :: Walk
  5. Fitness :: Center
  6. Cinder :: Block
  7. Edge :: of Sanity
  8. 31 :: Days
  9. Blue :: Skies
  10. Leather :: Chaps

Movie Meme

Like the earlier book list, bolded are the ones I’ve seen…. (From AFI’s top 100 movies). I’m eliminating the 3 the original poster added as well as the idea to add 3 of my own to the end. I also italicized the ones I intend on never watching, just to emphasize that I will never complete this list (to be fair, there were a whole bunch I’d prefer to never watch, but thought that it could happen some day and I wouldn’t die, so I tried to be very cautious about what I said I’d never watch, as one tends to have to eat things like that).

  1. Citizen Kane (1941)
  2. Casablanca (1942)
  3. The Godfather (1972) – I have no need for this in my life. Any pop culture references (where I would find the only value to lay) can be explained by boys who have seen this movie.
  4. Gone With The Wind (1939)
  5. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
  6. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
  7. The Graduate (1967)
  8. On The Waterfront (1954)
  9. Schindler’s List (1993) – I’d prefer to not watch this, but I suspect that at some point it will be my duty as a Social Studies teacher to do so. If I can get by without, however, I will do so.
  10. Singin’ In The Rain (1952)
  11. It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)
  12. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
  13. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
  14. Some Like It Hot (1959)
  15. Star Wars (1977)
  16. All About Eve (1950)
  17. The African Queen (1951)
  18. Psycho (1960) – Another movie I have no need for in my life.
  19. Chinatown (1974)
  20. One Flew Over The Cukoo’s Nest (1975)
  21. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
  22. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
  23. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
  24. Raging Bull (1980)
  25. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
  26. Dr. Strangelove (1964) – I’d prefer to not watch. I don’t think I’ll get it. At all. But we own it, so, you know, I could accidentally watch it.
  27. Bonnie And Clyde (1967)
  28. Apocalypse Now (1979)
  29. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939)
  30. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
  31. Annie Hall (1977)
  32. The Godfather Part II (1974) – See #3.
  33. High Noon (1952)
  34. To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
  35. It Happened One Night (1934)
  36. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
  37. The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946)
  38. Double Indemnity (1944)
  39. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
  40. North by Northwest (1959)
  41. West Side Story (1961)
  42. Rear Window (1954)
  43. King Kong (1933) – I tried and only got about 10 minutes in before the quality was too much, or rather, lack of quality. I’ve seen the new one, and that’ll have to be good enough.
  44. The Birth Of A Nation (1915)
  45. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
  46. A Clockwork Orange (1971) – Another movie I don’t think I’ll get and would prefer not to watch.
  47. Taxi Driver (1976)
  48. Jaws (1975)
  49. Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1937)
  50. Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969)
  51. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
  52. From Here To Eternity (1953)
  53. Amadeus (1984)
  54. All Quiet On The Western Front (1930)
  55. The Sound Of Music (1965)
  56. M*A*S*H (1970) – I’d prefer not to. The television show annoys me. What is there to make me think the movie will be different?
  57. The Third Man (1949)
  58. Fantasia (1940)
  59. Rebel Without A Cause (1955)
  60. Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)
  61. Vertigo (1958)
  62. Tootsie (1982)
  63. Stagecoach (1939)
  64. Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977)
  65. The Silence Of The Lamb (1991) – No. Just… no.
  66. Network (1976)
  67. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
  68. An American In Paris (1951)
  69. Shane (1953)
  70. The French Connection (1971)
  71. Forrest Gump (1994)
  72. Ben-Hur (1959)
  73. Wuthering Heights (1939)
  74. The Gold Rush (1925)
  75. Dances With Wolves (1990)
  76. City Lights (1931)
  77. American Graffiti (1973)
  78. Rocky (1976) – Again, would prefer not to, but we own it. I have seen Rocky IV though. Or was it V? I don’t remember, nor do I really care.
  79. The Deer Hunter (1978)
  80. The Wild Bunch (1969)
  81. Modern Times (1936)
  82. Giant (1956)
  83. Platoon (1986)
  84. Fargo (1996) – Watched enough of this to know that… I don’t find it funny, just disturbing. No redeeming qualities for me.
  85. Duck Soup (1933)
  86. Mutiny On The Bounty (1935)
  87. Frankenstein (1931)
  88. Easy Rider (1969)
  89. Patton (1970)
  90. The Jazz Singer (1927)
  91. My Fair Lady (1964)
  92. A Place In The Sun (1951)
  93. The Apartment (1960)
  94. Goodfellas (1990) – Goes along with The Godfather trilogy, in terms of not needing to watch it.
  95. Pulp Fiction (1994)
  96. The Searchers (1956)
  97. Bringing Up Baby (1938) – Tried unsuccessfully several times to watch this, but it was just awful. I wanted to like it, but it just didn’t work for me. Wrong Hepburn, perhaps.
  98. Unforgiven (1992)
  99. Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner (1967)
  100. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

So my tally then, is 31 watched and 8 never watching, a bunch of “should watch” and some “never heard of its.”

A Bookish Meme

“Here (in the extended entry) is a little summer reading list. Bold what you’ve read, italicize those you’ve started and not finished, add three of your own to the end, and post.”

, you might like this, since you were talking about reading some more classic books… perhaps a place to start?

  1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
  2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
  3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
  4. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
  5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
  6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
  7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
  8. 1984, George Orwell
  9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
  10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
  11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
  12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
  13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
  14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
  15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
  16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
  17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
  18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
  19. Captain Corellis Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
  20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
  21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
  22. Harry Potter And The Sorcerers Stone, JK Rowling
  23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
  24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
  25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
  26. Tess Of The Durbervilles, Thomas Hardy
  27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
  28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
  29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
  30. Alices Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
  31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
  32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
  33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
  34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
  35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
  36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
  37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
  38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
  39. Dune, Frank Herbert
  40. Emma, Jane Austen
  41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
  42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
  43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
  44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
  45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
  46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
  47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
  48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
  49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
  50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
  51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
  52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
  53. The Stand, Stephen King
  54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
  55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
  56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
  57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
  58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
  59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
  60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
  62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
  63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
  64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
  65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
  66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
  67. The Magus, John Fowles
  68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
  69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
  70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
  71. Perfume, Patrick Susskind
  72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
  73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
  74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
  75. Bridget Jones’ Diary, Helen Fielding
  76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
  77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
  78. Ulysses, James Joyce
  79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
  80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
  81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
  82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
  83. Holes, Louis Sachar
  84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
  85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
  86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
  87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
  88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
  89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
  90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
  91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
  92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
  93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
  94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
  95. Katherine, Anya Seton
  96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
  97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
  98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
  99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
  100. Midnights Children, Salman Rushdie
  101. Three Men In A Boat, Jerome K. Jerome
  102. Small Gods, Terry Pratchett
  103. The Beach, Alex Garland
  104. Dracula, Bram Stoker
  105. Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz
  106. The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens
  107. Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz
  108. The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks
  109. The Day Of The Jackal, Frederick Forsyth
  110. The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson
  111. Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy
  112. The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13 1/2, Sue Townsend
  113. The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat
  114. Les Miserables, Victor Hugo
  115. The Mayor Of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy
  116. The Dare Game, Jacqueline Wilson
  117. Bad Girls, Jacqueline Wilson
  118. The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
  119. Shogun, James Clavell
  120. The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham
  121. Lola Rose, Jacqueline Wilson
  122. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
  123. The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy
  124. House Of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
  125. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
  126. Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett
  127. Angus, Thongs And Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison
  128. The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle
  129. Possession, A. S. Byatt
  130. The Master And Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
  131. The Handmaids Tale, Margaret Atwood
  132. Danny The Champion Of The World, Roald Dahl
  133. East Of Eden, John Steinbeck
  134. Georges Marvellous Medicine, Roald Dahl
  135. Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett
  136. The Color Purple, Alice Walker
  137. Hogfather, Terry Pratchett
  138. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan
  139. Girls In Tears, Jacqueline Wilson
  140. Sleepovers, Jacqueline Wilson
  141. All Quiet On The Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
  142. Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson
  143. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
  144. It, Stephen King
  145. James And The Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
  146. The Green Mile, Stephen King
  147. Papillon, Henri Charriere
  148. Men At Arms, Terry Pratchett
  149. Master And Commander, Patrick OBrian
  150. Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz
  151. Soul Music, Terry Pratchett
  152. Thief Of Time, Terry Pratchett
  153. The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett
  154. Atonement, Ian McEwan
  155. Secrets, Jacqueline Wilson
  156. The Silver Sword, Ian Serraillier
  157. One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, Ken Kesey
  158. Heart Of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
  159. Kim, Rudyard Kipling
  160. Cross Stitch, Diana Gabaldon
  161. Moby **** , Herman Melville
  162. River God, Wilbur Smith
  163. Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon
  164. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
  165. The World According To Garp, John Irving
  166. Lorna Doone, R. D. Blackmore
  167. Girls Out Late, Jacqueline Wilson
  168. The Far Pavilions, M. M. Kaye
  169. The Witches, Roald Dahl
  170. Charlottes Web, E. B. White
  171. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
  172. They Used To Play On Grass, Terry Venables and Gordon Williams
  173. The Old Man And The Sea, Ernest Hemingway
  174. The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco
  175. Sophies World, Jostein Gaarder
  176. Dustbin Baby, Jacqueline Wilson
  177. Fantastic Mr. Fox, Roald Dahl
  178. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
  179. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Richard Bach
  180. The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery
  181. The Suitcase Kid, Jacqueline Wilson
  182. Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
  183. The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay
  184. Silas Marner, George Eliot
  185. American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
  186. The Diary Of A Nobody, George and Weedon Gross-mith
  187. Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh
  188. Goosebumps, R. L. Stine
  189. Heidi, Johanna Spyri
  190. Sons And Lovers, D. H. Lawrence
  191. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
  192. Man And Boy, Tony Parsons
  193. The Truth, Terry Pratchett
  194. The War Of The Worlds, H. G. Wells
  195. The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans
  196. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
  197. Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett
  198. The Once And Future King, T. H. White
  199. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
  200. Flowers In The Attic, Virginia Andrews
  201. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
  202. The Eye of the World, Robert Jordan
  203. The Great Hunt, Robert Jordan
  204. The Dragon Reborn, Robert Jordan
  205. Fires of Heaven, Robert Jordan
  206. Lord of Chaos, Robert Jordan
  207. Winters Heart, Robert Jordan
  208. A Crown of Swords, Robert Jordan
  209. Crossroads of Twilight, Robert Jordan
  210. A Path of Daggers, Robert Jordan
  211. As Nature Made Him, John Colapinto
  212. Microserfs, Douglas Coupland
  213. The Married Man, Edmund White
  214. Winters Tale, Mark Helprin
  215. The History of Sexuality, Michel Foucault
  216. Cry to Heaven, Anne Rice
  217. Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe, John Boswell – You know, I kept reading the title and thinking it was about Unicorns, which made for a much more interesting book.
  218. Equus, Peter Shaffer
  219. The Man Who Ate Everything, Jeffrey Steingarten
  220. Letters To A Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke
  221. Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn
  222. The Vampire Lestat, Anne Rice
  223. Anthem, Ayn Rand
  224. The Bridge To Terabithia, Katherine Paterson
  225. Tartuffe, Moliere
  226. The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka
  227. The Crucible, Arthur Miller
  228. The Trial, Franz Kafka
  229. Oedipus Rex, Sophocles
  230. Oedipus at Colonus, Sophocles
  231. Death Be Not Proud, John Gunther
  232. A Dolls House, Henrik Ibsen
  233. Hedda Gabler, Henrik Ibsen
  234. Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton
  235. A Raisin In The Sun, Lorraine Hansberry
  236. ALIVE!, Piers Paul Read
  237. Grapefruit, Yoko Ono
  238. Trickster Makes This World, Lewis Hyde
  239. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
  240. Chronicles of Thomas Convenant, Unbeliever, Stephen Donaldson
  241. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
  242. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon
  243. Summerland, Michael Chabon
  244. A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
  245. Candide, Voltaire
  246. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More, Roald Dahl
  247. Ringworld, Larry Niven
  248. The King Must Die, Mary Renault
  249. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein
  250. A Wrinkle in Time, Madeline LEngle
  251. The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
  252. The House Of The Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne
  253. The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
  254. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
  255. The Great Gilly Hopkins, Katherine Paterson
  256. Chocolate Fever, Robert Kimmel Smith
  257. Xanth: The Quest for Magic, Piers Anthony
  258. The Lost Princess of Oz, L. Frank Baum
  259. Wonder Boys, Michael Chabon
  260. Lost In A Good Book, Jasper Fforde
  261. Well Of Lost Plots, Jasper Fforde
  262. Life Of Pi, Yann Martel
  263. The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver
  264. A Yellow Rraft In Blue Water, Michael Dorris
  265. Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder
  266. Where The Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls
  267. Griffin & Sabine, Nick Bantock
  268. Witch of Blackbird Pond, Joyce Friedland
  269. Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of NIMH, Robert C. OBrien
  270. Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt
  271. The Cay, Theodore Taylor
  272. From The Mixed-Up Files Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, E.L. Konigsburg
  273. The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster
  274. The Westing Game, Ellen Raskin
  275. The Kitchen Gods Wife, Amy Tan
  276. The Bone Setters Daughter, Amy Tan
  277. Relic, Duglas Preston & Lincolon Child
  278. Wicked, Gregory Maguire
  279. American Gods, Neil Gaiman
  280. Misty of Chincoteague, Marguerite Henry
  281. The Girl Next Door, Jack Ketchum
  282. Haunted, Judith St. George
  283. Singularity, William Sleator
  284. A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson
  285. Different Seasons, Stephen King
  286. Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk
  287. About a Boy, Nick Hornby
  288. The Bookmans Wake, John Dunning
  289. The Church of Dead Girls, Stephen Dobyns
  290. Illusions, Richard Bach
  291. Magics Pawn, Mercedes Lackey
  292. Magics Promise, Mercedes Lackey
  293. Magics Price, Mercedes Lackey
  294. The Dancing Wu Li Masters, Gary Zukav
  295. Spirits of Flux and Anchor, Jack L. Chalker
  296. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
  297. The Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices, Brenda Love
  298. Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace.
  299. The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison. (I tried, in college, for a class, but never made it through, and ended up dropping the class)
  300. The Cider House Rules, John Irving.
  301. Enders Game, Orson Scott Card
  302. Girlfriend in a Coma, Douglas Coupland
  303. The Lions Game, Nelson Demille
  304. The Sun, The Moon, and the Stars, Stephen Brust
  305. Cyteen, C. J. Cherryh
  306. Foucaults Pendulum, Umberto Eco
  307. Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson
  308. Invisible Monsters, Chuck Palahniuk
  309. Camber of Culdi, Kathryn Kurtz
  310. The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand
  311. War and Rememberance, Herman Wouk
  312. The Art of War, Sun Tzu
  313. The Giver, Lois Lowry
  314. The Telling, Ursula Le Guin
  315. Xenogenesis (or Liliths Brood), Octavia Butler
  316. A Civil Campaign, Lois McMaster Bujold
  317. The Curse of Chalion, Lois McMaster Bujold
  318. The Aeneid, Publius Vergilius Maro (Vergil)
  319. Hanta Yo, Ruth Beebe Hill
  320. The Princess Bride, S. Morganstern (or William Goldman)
  321. Beowulf, Anonymous
  322. The Sparrow, Maria Doria Russell
  323. Deerskin, Robin McKinley
  324. Dragonsong, Anne McCaffrey
  325. Passage, Connie Willis
  326. Otherland, Tad Williams
  327. Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay
  328. Number the Stars, Lois Lowry
  329. Beloved, Toni Morrison
  330. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christs Childhood Pal, Christopher Moore
  331. The mysterious disappearance of Leon, I mean Noel, Ellen Raskin
  332. Summer Sisters, Judy Blume
  333. The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo
  334. The Island on Bird Street, Uri Orlev
  335. Midnight in the Dollhouse, Marjorie Filley Stover
  336. The Miracle Worker, William Gibson
  337. The Genesis Code, John Case
  338. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevensen
  339. Paradise Lost, John Milton
  340. Phantom, Susan Kay
  341. The Mummy or Ramses the Damned, Anne Rice
  342. Anno Dracula, Kim Newman
  343. The Dresden Files: Grave Peril, Jim Butcher
  344. Tokyo Suckerpunch, Issac Adamson
  345. The Winter of Magics Return, Pamela Service
  346. The Oddkins, Dean R. Koontz
  347. My Name is Asher Lev, Chaim Potok
  348. The Last Goodbye, Raymond Chandler
  349. At Swim, Two Boys, Jaime ONeill
  350. Othello, by William Shakespeare
  351. The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas
  352. The Collected Poems of William Butler Yeats
  353. Sati, Christopher Pike
  354. The Inferno, Dante
  355. The Apology, Plato
  356. The Small Rain, Madeline LEngle
  357. The Man Who Tasted Shapes, Richard E Cytowick
  358. 5 Novels, Daniel Pinkwater
  359. The Sevenwaters Trilogy, Juliet Marillier
  360. Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier
  361. To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
  362. Our Town, Thorton Wilder
  363. Green Grass Running Water, Thomas King
  364. The Interpreter, Suzanne Glass
  365. The Moors Last Sigh, Salman Rushdie
  366. The Mother Tongue, Bill Bryson
  367. A Passage to India, E.M. Forster
  368. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky
  369. The Phantom of the Opera, Gaston Leroux
  370. Pages for You, Sylvia Brownrigg
  371. The Changeover, Margaret Mahy
  372. Howls Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones – I saw the animated version, I’m guessing that doesn’t count
  373. Angels and Demons, Dan Brown
  374. Johnny Got His Gun, Dalton Trumbo
  375. Shosha, Isaac Bashevis Singer
  376. Travels With Charley, John Steinbeck
  377. The Diving-bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
  378. The Lunatic at Large by J. Storer Clouston
  379. Time for Bed by David Baddiel
  380. Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
  381. Quite Ugly One Morning by Christopher Brookmyre
  382. The Bloody Sun by Marion Zimmer Bradley
  383. Sewer, Gas, and Eletric by Matt Ruff
  384. Jhereg by Steven Brust
  385. So You Want To Be A Wizard by Diane Duane
  386. Perdido Street Station, China Mieville
  387. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Bronte
  388. Road-side Dog, Czeslaw Milosz
  389. The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje
  390. Neuromancer, William Gibson
  391. The Epistemology of the Closet, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
  392. A Canticle for Liebowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr
  393. The Mask of Apollo, Mary Renault
  394. The Gunslinger, Stephen King
  395. Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare
  396. Childhoods End, Arthur C. Clarke
  397. A Season of Mists, Neil Gaiman
  398. Ivanhoe, Walter Scott
  399. The God Boy, Ian Cross
  400. The Beekeepers Apprentice, Laurie R. King
  401. Finn Family Moomintroll, Tove Jansson
  402. Misery, Stephen King
  403. Tipping the Velvet, Sarah Waters
  404. Hood, Emma Donoghue
  405. The Land of Spices, Kate OBrien
  406. The Diary of Anne Frank
  407. Regeneration, Pat Barker
  408. Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald.  On my bookshelf waiting to be read.
  409. Dreaming in Cuban, Cristina Garcia
  410. A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
  411. The View from Saturday, E.L. Konigsburg
  412. Dealing with Dragons, Patricia Wrede
  413. Eats, Shoots & Leaves, Lynne Truss
  414. A Severed Wasp – Madeleine LEngle
  415. Here Be Dragons – Sharon Kay Penman
  416. The Mabinogion (Ancient Welsh Tales) – translated by Lady Charlotte E. Guest
  417. The DaVinci Code – Dan Brown.  Also on my bookshelf waiting to be read.
  418. Desire of the Everlasting Hills – Thomas Cahill
  419. The Cloister Walk – Kathleen Norris
  420. The Things We Carried, Tim OBrien
  421. I Know This Much Is True, Wally Lamb
  422. Choke, Chuck Palahniuk
  423. Enders Shadow, Orson Scott Card
  424. The Memory of Earth, Orson Scott Card
  425. The Iron Tower, Dennis L. McKiernen
  426. The French Lieutenant’s Woman, John Fowles
  427. The Four Feathers, A.E.W. Mason
  428. The Jester, James Patterson
  429. Cry the beloved Country, Alan Paton
  430. The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
  431. The Stranger, Albert Camus
  432. Deathscent, Robin Jarvis
  433. Memnoch the Devil, Anne Rice
  434. My legendary girlfriend, Mike Gayle
  435. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – Phillip K Dick
  436. Bored of the Rings – Harvard Lampoon -I didn’t know this existed, but I might find it funny.
  437. The Pelican Brief – John Grisham
  438. Schild’s Ladder – Greg Egan
  439. Excession – Iain M. Banks
  440. One For The Morning Glory – John Barnes
  441. The Manchurian Candidate – Richard Condon
  442. A Death in the Family – James Agee
  443. Fup – Jim Dodge
  444. Girl Soldier by Faith J H McDonnell and Grace Akallo – I’m about a third of the way through and it’s fantastic
  445. We Could Almost Eat Outside by Philippe Delerm and Sarah Hamp – about halfway through, but you can only read a page or two at a time.  Doesn’t really excuse the year-plus that I’ve been reading it.
  446. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen – one of the Austen books not on the list already, but I think it’s the best one.

Looks like I have a lot of reading to do, if I actually wanted to accomplish this list.  I don’t, however.  But good to know if I ever make it through my collection of books, there’s plenty more out there.

TGIF – Blessings

  1. What’s special in your life right now?  I’m getting a lot of blog love this week, and that’s pretty special to me.  Dorky perhaps, but there ya have it.
  2. What’s your best experience in school? This semester, it was when my Econ professor asked me during a break if he could hand out my paper to the class as an example of a good paper.  It was also pretty cool last week when my Geography professor recommended a book to me.
  3. What’s the nicest imperfection of your partner? I’m not sure about ‘imperfection,” but in the realm of “not always as expected” could go the idea that he is not your traditional macho male with the sports and loud bodily functions and inappropriately scratching onesself and so forth.  He is much more subtly macho, in that he does “manly things” like own power tools (that he can use correctly without danger to life and limb) and can fix stuff and other less-obvious-but-still-stereotypical things.  Hope I didn’t just make him blush or anything.
  4. What’s the coolest invention ever made? Ever?  That’s kind of a big idea to take on.  How about the coolest thing I’ve come across this week?  That would be self-laminating tags; we use them at work to label our rental equipment, and they’re so easy and obvious but amazing and have made my life so much easier.
  5. What’s the best gift to leave humanity long after you’re gone? No footprints, in an ecological sense.  I realize this is impossible, but I will consider it my last gift to the earth to be cremated and not take up space that could be used for much better things.

Followship Award*

I need to clean up some bookmarks I have scattered about Firefox, and figured that I could follow ‘s example and just post a bunch of them at a time.

  • Seven Financial To-Dos for New Couples – from Motley Fool, a pretty good article. and I have done good on this list except for writing wills, power of attorney, etc. Well, the name change thing is slow-going, but that’s not my fault. I’m still waiting for the DMV to get me my new Driver’s License.
  • Men: Want More Sex? Do The Laundry! – from CBS, an interesting article that originally sparked an idea to write about gender roles in marriage etc, just as a philosophical piece, but I never got around to it. Oh well.
  • Pushing Five O’Clock Shadow Back a Few Hours – from NYTimes, an article I thought might be interested in. I don’t think I have that many guy readers, so I’m not sure how helpful this will be to anyone else.
  • Finding the Perfect Exercise Routine – I’m beginning to think I’ll never have the time to even fully read this article, let alone attempt exercise. Wishful thinking, I guess.

I’ve also amassed a pretty good list of recipes to try. I can’t vouch for any of them, having not tried them, but maybe with all our collective power we can get some evaluation going….

  • Recipes for Lunches – from the Pioneer Press , to help parents deal with packing lunches for the school year, but helpful to all, I think
  • Grilled Chicken with Roasted Garlic-Oregano Vinaigrette and Grilled Fingerling Potatoes – from the Food Network, the newest addition to my list of recipes to try
  • No-Knead Bread – after getting rid of my bread machine during the big move, recipes like this could come in handy. Maybe I should try this weekend… but there’s all that homework to do. I think the key is having recipes that allow for long cooking times where I can get other stuff done, or minimal prep time, or… something. I do know, however, that we don’t have yeast, so that could be a problem.
  • Two recipes from Average Betty that I’m not sure will want to eat, but could be good at a party or something.
  • 25 Dark Chocolate Deserts – to make up for any Tex-Mex meals that might have to suffer through.
  • Chocolate Milkshake Recipes – to celebrate Chocolate Milkshake Day, which I missed celebrating (in my defense, I was on my honeymoon), but I think could probably be celebrated any day of the year.

Whew! Now I just have to re-organize what’s left, but you don’t have to suffer through that.

And, my apologies, but I am now going to attempt half-a-dozen memes, because that’s how I’m feeling today.

*We watched 30 Rock last night and Tina Fey’s character got a Followship Award for being a follower.

Friday Fill-In

  1. The last good thing that came in the mail was for me, a reimbursement check from my flex spending account; for , my Victoria’s Secret catalog.
  2. This week I’m grateful for the weather, which was significantly better than the previous weeks.
  3. Chocolate (duh) is the most delicious thing ever.
  4. Sunny fall days inspire me.
  5. I’m most happy when I am well-rested, among other things.
  6. And all the roads we have to walk along are challenging in their own way.
  7. As for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to maybe finishing Episode III of Lego Star Wars (if I can convince to play again) , tomorrow my plans include sleeping in and too much homework and Sunday, I want to sleep in (but I think I should go to church), and try a new apple crisp recipe!

It’s kind of like a scavenger hunt, only not

home

Home sweet home... it's amazing how inspiring a sunny day in the middle of fall can be!

starbucks

Obligatory Starbucks run. But this almost never happens - Starbucks in the cup holder in my car!

starbucks2

That's because I went to Starbucks in Eagan (at the Transit Center, which I didn't fully utilize), instead of the one downtown in Macy's. Because I didn't go to work (well, I drove by and stopped outside while a co-worker brought down some boxes and loaded up my car, but that hardly counts).

new_main

The view of downtown from New Main on Metro State's campus. We had just gotten done staring into that sun for an hour while a presentation was made and a fairly interesting panel discussion was had. But on the bright side (ha!), as someone was introducing the award recipient, a bald eagle flew by the huge wall of windows that we were all staring at. That was cool.

new_main2

A view of Metro State's campus from New Main.

And here’s where the mystery begins…. Let me explain how this will work. Below are 40 (yes, 40) thumbnails of pictures I took after class on Tuesday. Clicking on each one will bring you to the large version of the picture. When you think you know where I was, note the # of the picture you’re on and include it in the comments with your guess (for example, the picture below is entitled “mystery1.jpg” so you’d say “I think you were at the Mall of America, and I only needed 1 picture!”). Understood? I’ll include my regular witty comments as we go, and for those of you who don’t feel like playing, there will be clues along the way (links you can click on to get more information, which you can also click on once you’ve made your guess officially in the comments). Now, no cheating! Let it be known that I get a report daily of what links are clicked on and how many times, so I’ll know. And don’t go Googling for the answer either.

mystery1

...

mystery2

Yes, some of the pictures look very similar. So sue me. I didn't fully capture what I wanted to in this one, but I did have to stand atop a stone fence and was nearly blown off (it was very windy on Tuesday) and into the ravine. So I stopped trying to get a better picture.

mystery3

The sky was so amazingly blue - perhaps it seemed that way simply because for the two weeks prior, it had rained almost every day. But Tuesday, couldn't have asked for better weather.

mystery4

Hmm. This is a huge clue. Of course, I don't expect anyone to guess it from this. I lived in St Paul proper for 5 years (the longest of anyone I know) and didn't even know this place existed until Tuesday.

mystery5

My camera is very good at taking sunbeam pictures. I like it.

Clue

Clue

mystery8

...

mystery9

A slightly different view of that waterway.

mystery10

I think this one might be my next desktop wallpaper.

mystery11

...

mystery12

...

mystery13

...

mystery14

Doesn't this look like Wisconsin? Or northern Illinois? Did I mention that I used the Google Maps Pedometer and from where I parked my car I walked in a loop and didn't go further than half a mile.

mystery15

Not exactly the type of picture you expect to be able to take in an urban area. I love Minnesota.

mystery16

...

mystery17

This is my other nominee for desktop wallpaper. I'm undecided.

mystery18

This one didn't fully capture the river like I wanted to. You can't really tell, because this only shows the one big curve, but really the river snakes along, back and forth, for quite a ways.

mystery19

Is that... yes, it is, the skyline! Is that giving you any hints?

mystery20

I was trying to be artistic. I don't think I got there, but I like this shot nonetheless. It'll probably show up on my desktop as wallpaper in the winter. It'd probably make a very nice framed art pieced, were I so motivated.

mystery21

More skyline

mystery22

Yes, the skyline gets a little fuzzy, since I tried to use the zoom on my camera and it's not the world's greatest camera. But you get the idea. A great place to go if you have a high-megapixel camera and want a shot of downtown.

mystery23

The sun kept going behind clouds and then coming back out, so this one I took because it was sunny.

mystery24

Another zoom picture, and I didn't quite capture what I wanted to, but oh well.

mystery25

...

mystery26

...

mystery27

...

Clue

Clue

mystery30

Now this might give it away if you're familiar with local artwork or recent additions to the scene. I didn't take a picture of the very controversial piece, however.

mystery31

...

mystery32

...

mystery33

...

mystery34

Why yes, that is me in the shadow.

mystery35

College brochure, anyone?

mystery36

Of course, there were swings, and of course, they had to be photographed. No, I didn't play on them. It was starting to get late and I was cold. I don't think you can tell from the picture, but there was another playground below to the left, with more swings.

mystery37

...

mystery38

...

mystery39

...

mystery40

...

Well? What do you think? I have several sites to link to that give the history of the area, etc, which I’ll post in the comments in a few days.

Busy

Well, I was hoping to get a very clever post up today (or at least a pretty post) with pictures I took yesterday. But, alas, I just finished editing them and I have to leave work now or I don’t get dinner. So, I’ll leave you with these instead:

and I made shish-kabobs (I have no idea how that’s officially supposed to be spelled and I don’t care) on Sunday. What was amazing? We used the big plate. The platter we got for our wedding. We had no idea how big it was. And what was even more shocking, we used it for just the two of us! (I mean, after all, the platter lives with the cookie sheets, if that helps you understand how big it is.)

So I took some pictures to prove it (click for large versions).

big_plate

This one didn't seem to show the perspective enough,

big_plate2

so note my glasses sitting in the top left corner.

Unconscious Mutterings

  1. Las Vegas :: Nevada
  2. Linus :: Larraby
  3. Struck :: Hard
  4. Movie :: of the Week
  5. Anxious :: Feeling
  6. Bandit :: the dog
  7. Picks :: This Week’s
  8. Lasso :: Cowboy
  9. Dinner :: Tonight
  10. Bargain :: Bin

Sigh

I am sadly addicted to these.  I realize that this is quite possibly the lowest quality ever.  I don’t care.  They’re yummy.

Well that certainly puts a cramp in things

KathyHowe wrote this beautiful piece of prose today:

I talked to my dad today. He’s wondering when I plan to get married again. Once again I am reminded I need to speak slowly to the elderly. I reminded him that it was my cervix that was removed. Not my brain.

I thought that was beautiful.

However, there will be no such beautiful blogging from me.  The guy who facilitated my blood donation maimed me, and I am currently unable to use my left arm without pain, or fear of opening up the whole that stubbornly refused to clot.  And typing with one hand just isn’t conducive to long, poignant blog entries.

So instead, I’ll leave you with this cute cat picture (not my cat).

Unconscious Mutterings

  1. Illicit :: Affair
  2. Go :: Daddy
  3. Jacket :: Denim
  4. Blow :: Harpoon
  5. Coach :: Team
  6. Effort :: -less
  7. Leadership :: Beacon
  8. Snore :: Snooze
  9. Fearless :: Cat
  10. Network :: Administrator

Two Shirts

that made me laugh today…

For the guys

For the neurotic pet owner

What was that song again?

One of the most interesting wedding gifts we got was “the ugly lovebirds.”  There was a whole poem and everything, but the gist of it was, “here’s some ceramic birds you have to put on display in your house for a year.  or else.”  They were anonymously given to us.  They’re not actually all that bad, truth be told.

The strange thing?  We’ve got a silent auction going on today at work for charity, and there’s a matching (though perhaps slightly smaller) ceramic bird there.  I almost bid on it.  But what would we do with three?