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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.
- Inaugural :: Speech
- Pledge :: of Allegiance
- String :: Theory
- Trot :: Walk
- Fitness :: Center
- Cinder :: Block
- Edge :: of Sanity
- 31 :: Days
- Blue :: Skies
- Leather :: Chaps
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).
- Citizen Kane (1941)
- Casablanca (1942)
- 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.
- Gone With The Wind (1939)
- Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
- The Wizard of Oz (1939)
- The Graduate (1967)
- On The Waterfront (1954)
- 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.
- Singin’ In The Rain (1952)
- It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)
- Sunset Boulevard (1950)
- The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
- Some Like It Hot (1959)
- Star Wars (1977)
- All About Eve (1950)
- The African Queen (1951)
- Psycho (1960) – Another movie I have no need for in my life.
- Chinatown (1974)
- One Flew Over The Cukoo’s Nest (1975)
- The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
- The Maltese Falcon (1941)
- Raging Bull (1980)
- E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
- 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.
- Bonnie And Clyde (1967)
- Apocalypse Now (1979)
- Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939)
- The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
- Annie Hall (1977)
- The Godfather Part II (1974) – See #3.
- High Noon (1952)
- To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
- It Happened One Night (1934)
- Midnight Cowboy (1969)
- The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946)
- Double Indemnity (1944)
- Doctor Zhivago (1965)
- North by Northwest (1959)
- West Side Story (1961)
- Rear Window (1954)
- 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.
- The Birth Of A Nation (1915)
- A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
- A Clockwork Orange (1971) – Another movie I don’t think I’ll get and would prefer not to watch.
- Taxi Driver (1976)
- Jaws (1975)
- Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1937)
- Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969)
- The Philadelphia Story (1940)
- From Here To Eternity (1953)
- Amadeus (1984)
- All Quiet On The Western Front (1930)
- The Sound Of Music (1965)
- 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?
- The Third Man (1949)
- Fantasia (1940)
- Rebel Without A Cause (1955)
- Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)
- Vertigo (1958)
- Tootsie (1982)
- Stagecoach (1939)
- Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977)
- The Silence Of The Lamb (1991) – No. Just… no.
- Network (1976)
- The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
- An American In Paris (1951)
- Shane (1953)
- The French Connection (1971)
- Forrest Gump (1994)
- Ben-Hur (1959)
- Wuthering Heights (1939)
- The Gold Rush (1925)
- Dances With Wolves (1990)
- City Lights (1931)
- American Graffiti (1973)
- 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.
- The Deer Hunter (1978)
- The Wild Bunch (1969)
- Modern Times (1936)
- Giant (1956)
- Platoon (1986)
- Fargo (1996) – Watched enough of this to know that… I don’t find it funny, just disturbing. No redeeming qualities for me.
- Duck Soup (1933)
- Mutiny On The Bounty (1935)
- Frankenstein (1931)
- Easy Rider (1969)
- Patton (1970)
- The Jazz Singer (1927)
- My Fair Lady (1964)
- A Place In The Sun (1951)
- The Apartment (1960)
- Goodfellas (1990) – Goes along with The Godfather trilogy, in terms of not needing to watch it.
- Pulp Fiction (1994)
- The Searchers (1956)
- 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.
- Unforgiven (1992)
- Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner (1967)
- 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.”
“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?
- The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
- Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
- His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
- The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
- To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
- Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
- 1984, George Orwell
- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
- Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
- Catch-22, Joseph Heller
- Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
- Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
- Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
- The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
- The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
- Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
- Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
- Captain Corellis Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
- War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
- Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
- Harry Potter And The Sorcerers Stone, JK Rowling
- Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
- Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
- The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
- Tess Of The Durbervilles, Thomas Hardy
- Middlemarch, George Eliot
- A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
- The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
- Alices Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
- The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
- One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
- David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
- Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
- Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
- A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
- Persuasion, Jane Austen
- Dune, Frank Herbert
- Emma, Jane Austen
- Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
- Watership Down, Richard Adams
- The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
- The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
- Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
- Animal Farm, George Orwell
- A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
- Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
- Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
- The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
- The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
- Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
- The Stand, Stephen King
- Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
- A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
- The BFG, Roald Dahl
- Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
- Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
- Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
- Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
- Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
- Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
- A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
- The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
- Mort, Terry Pratchett
- The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
- The Magus, John Fowles
- Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
- Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
- Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
- Perfume, Patrick Susskind
- The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
- Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
- Matilda, Roald Dahl
- Bridget Jones’ Diary, Helen Fielding
- The Secret History, Donna Tartt
- The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
- Ulysses, James Joyce
- Bleak House, Charles Dickens
- Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
- The Twits, Roald Dahl
- I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
- Holes, Louis Sachar
- Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
- The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
- Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
- Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
- Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
- Magician, Raymond E Feist
- On The Road, Jack Kerouac
- The Godfather, Mario Puzo
- The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
- The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
- The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
- Katherine, Anya Seton
- Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
- Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
- The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
- Midnights Children, Salman Rushdie
- Three Men In A Boat, Jerome K. Jerome
- Small Gods, Terry Pratchett
- The Beach, Alex Garland
- Dracula, Bram Stoker
- Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz
- The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens
- Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz
- The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks
- The Day Of The Jackal, Frederick Forsyth
- The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson
- Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy
- The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13 1/2, Sue Townsend
- The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat
- Les Miserables, Victor Hugo
- The Mayor Of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy
- The Dare Game, Jacqueline Wilson
- Bad Girls, Jacqueline Wilson
- The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
- Shogun, James Clavell
- The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham
- Lola Rose, Jacqueline Wilson
- Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
- The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy
- House Of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
- The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
- Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett
- Angus, Thongs And Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison
- The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle
- Possession, A. S. Byatt
- The Master And Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
- The Handmaids Tale, Margaret Atwood
- Danny The Champion Of The World, Roald Dahl
- East Of Eden, John Steinbeck
- Georges Marvellous Medicine, Roald Dahl
- Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett
- The Color Purple, Alice Walker
- Hogfather, Terry Pratchett
- The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan
- Girls In Tears, Jacqueline Wilson
- Sleepovers, Jacqueline Wilson
- All Quiet On The Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
- Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson
- High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
- It, Stephen King
- James And The Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
- The Green Mile, Stephen King
- Papillon, Henri Charriere
- Men At Arms, Terry Pratchett
- Master And Commander, Patrick OBrian
- Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz
- Soul Music, Terry Pratchett
- Thief Of Time, Terry Pratchett
- The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett
- Atonement, Ian McEwan
- Secrets, Jacqueline Wilson
- The Silver Sword, Ian Serraillier
- One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, Ken Kesey
- Heart Of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
- Kim, Rudyard Kipling
- Cross Stitch, Diana Gabaldon
- Moby **** , Herman Melville
- River God, Wilbur Smith
- Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon
- The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
- The World According To Garp, John Irving
- Lorna Doone, R. D. Blackmore
- Girls Out Late, Jacqueline Wilson
- The Far Pavilions, M. M. Kaye
- The Witches, Roald Dahl
- Charlottes Web, E. B. White
- Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
- They Used To Play On Grass, Terry Venables and Gordon Williams
- The Old Man And The Sea, Ernest Hemingway
- The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco
- Sophies World, Jostein Gaarder
- Dustbin Baby, Jacqueline Wilson
- Fantastic Mr. Fox, Roald Dahl
- Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
- Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Richard Bach
- The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery
- The Suitcase Kid, Jacqueline Wilson
- Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
- The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay
- Silas Marner, George Eliot
- American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
- The Diary Of A Nobody, George and Weedon Gross-mith
- Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh
- Goosebumps, R. L. Stine
- Heidi, Johanna Spyri
- Sons And Lovers, D. H. Lawrence
- The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
- Man And Boy, Tony Parsons
- The Truth, Terry Pratchett
- The War Of The Worlds, H. G. Wells
- The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans
- A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
- Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett
- The Once And Future King, T. H. White
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
- Flowers In The Attic, Virginia Andrews
- The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
- The Eye of the World, Robert Jordan
- The Great Hunt, Robert Jordan
- The Dragon Reborn, Robert Jordan
- Fires of Heaven, Robert Jordan
- Lord of Chaos, Robert Jordan
- Winters Heart, Robert Jordan
- A Crown of Swords, Robert Jordan
- Crossroads of Twilight, Robert Jordan
- A Path of Daggers, Robert Jordan
- As Nature Made Him, John Colapinto
- Microserfs, Douglas Coupland
- The Married Man, Edmund White
- Winters Tale, Mark Helprin
- The History of Sexuality, Michel Foucault
- Cry to Heaven, Anne Rice
- 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.
- Equus, Peter Shaffer
- The Man Who Ate Everything, Jeffrey Steingarten
- Letters To A Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke
- Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn
- The Vampire Lestat, Anne Rice
- Anthem, Ayn Rand
- The Bridge To Terabithia, Katherine Paterson
- Tartuffe, Moliere
- The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka
- The Crucible, Arthur Miller
- The Trial, Franz Kafka
- Oedipus Rex, Sophocles
- Oedipus at Colonus, Sophocles
- Death Be Not Proud, John Gunther
- A Dolls House, Henrik Ibsen
- Hedda Gabler, Henrik Ibsen
- Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton
- A Raisin In The Sun, Lorraine Hansberry
- ALIVE!, Piers Paul Read
- Grapefruit, Yoko Ono
- Trickster Makes This World, Lewis Hyde
- The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
- Chronicles of Thomas Convenant, Unbeliever, Stephen Donaldson
- Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
- The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon
- Summerland, Michael Chabon
- A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
- Candide, Voltaire
- The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More, Roald Dahl
- Ringworld, Larry Niven
- The King Must Die, Mary Renault
- Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein
- A Wrinkle in Time, Madeline LEngle
- The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
- The House Of The Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne
- The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
- The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
- The Great Gilly Hopkins, Katherine Paterson
- Chocolate Fever, Robert Kimmel Smith
- Xanth: The Quest for Magic, Piers Anthony
- The Lost Princess of Oz, L. Frank Baum
- Wonder Boys, Michael Chabon
- Lost In A Good Book, Jasper Fforde
- Well Of Lost Plots, Jasper Fforde
- Life Of Pi, Yann Martel
- The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver
- A Yellow Rraft In Blue Water, Michael Dorris
- Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder
- Where The Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls
- Griffin & Sabine, Nick Bantock
- Witch of Blackbird Pond, Joyce Friedland
- Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of NIMH, Robert C. OBrien
- Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt
- The Cay, Theodore Taylor
- From The Mixed-Up Files Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, E.L. Konigsburg
- The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster
- The Westing Game, Ellen Raskin
- The Kitchen Gods Wife, Amy Tan
- The Bone Setters Daughter, Amy Tan
- Relic, Duglas Preston & Lincolon Child
- Wicked, Gregory Maguire
- American Gods, Neil Gaiman
- Misty of Chincoteague, Marguerite Henry
- The Girl Next Door, Jack Ketchum
- Haunted, Judith St. George
- Singularity, William Sleator
- A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson
- Different Seasons, Stephen King
- Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk
- About a Boy, Nick Hornby
- The Bookmans Wake, John Dunning
- The Church of Dead Girls, Stephen Dobyns
- Illusions, Richard Bach
- Magics Pawn, Mercedes Lackey
- Magics Promise, Mercedes Lackey
- Magics Price, Mercedes Lackey
- The Dancing Wu Li Masters, Gary Zukav
- Spirits of Flux and Anchor, Jack L. Chalker
- Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
- The Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices, Brenda Love
- Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace.
- The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison. (I tried, in college, for a class, but never made it through, and ended up dropping the class)
- The Cider House Rules, John Irving.
- Enders Game, Orson Scott Card
- Girlfriend in a Coma, Douglas Coupland
- The Lions Game, Nelson Demille
- The Sun, The Moon, and the Stars, Stephen Brust
- Cyteen, C. J. Cherryh
- Foucaults Pendulum, Umberto Eco
- Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson
- Invisible Monsters, Chuck Palahniuk
- Camber of Culdi, Kathryn Kurtz
- The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand
- War and Rememberance, Herman Wouk
- The Art of War, Sun Tzu
- The Giver, Lois Lowry
- The Telling, Ursula Le Guin
- Xenogenesis (or Liliths Brood), Octavia Butler
- A Civil Campaign, Lois McMaster Bujold
- The Curse of Chalion, Lois McMaster Bujold
- The Aeneid, Publius Vergilius Maro (Vergil)
- Hanta Yo, Ruth Beebe Hill
- The Princess Bride, S. Morganstern (or William Goldman)
- Beowulf, Anonymous
- The Sparrow, Maria Doria Russell
- Deerskin, Robin McKinley
- Dragonsong, Anne McCaffrey
- Passage, Connie Willis
- Otherland, Tad Williams
- Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay
- Number the Stars, Lois Lowry
- Beloved, Toni Morrison
- Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christs Childhood Pal, Christopher Moore
- The mysterious disappearance of Leon, I mean Noel, Ellen Raskin
- Summer Sisters, Judy Blume
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo
- The Island on Bird Street, Uri Orlev
- Midnight in the Dollhouse, Marjorie Filley Stover
- The Miracle Worker, William Gibson
- The Genesis Code, John Case
- The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevensen
- Paradise Lost, John Milton
- Phantom, Susan Kay
- The Mummy or Ramses the Damned, Anne Rice
- Anno Dracula, Kim Newman
- The Dresden Files: Grave Peril, Jim Butcher
- Tokyo Suckerpunch, Issac Adamson
- The Winter of Magics Return, Pamela Service
- The Oddkins, Dean R. Koontz
- My Name is Asher Lev, Chaim Potok
- The Last Goodbye, Raymond Chandler
- At Swim, Two Boys, Jaime ONeill
- Othello, by William Shakespeare
- The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas
- The Collected Poems of William Butler Yeats
- Sati, Christopher Pike
- The Inferno, Dante
- The Apology, Plato
- The Small Rain, Madeline LEngle
- The Man Who Tasted Shapes, Richard E Cytowick
- 5 Novels, Daniel Pinkwater
- The Sevenwaters Trilogy, Juliet Marillier
- Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier
- To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
- Our Town, Thorton Wilder
- Green Grass Running Water, Thomas King
- The Interpreter, Suzanne Glass
- The Moors Last Sigh, Salman Rushdie
- The Mother Tongue, Bill Bryson
- A Passage to India, E.M. Forster
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky
- The Phantom of the Opera, Gaston Leroux
- Pages for You, Sylvia Brownrigg
- The Changeover, Margaret Mahy
- Howls Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones – I saw the animated version, I’m guessing that doesn’t count
- Angels and Demons, Dan Brown
- Johnny Got His Gun, Dalton Trumbo
- Shosha, Isaac Bashevis Singer
- Travels With Charley, John Steinbeck
- The Diving-bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
- The Lunatic at Large by J. Storer Clouston
- Time for Bed by David Baddiel
- Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
- Quite Ugly One Morning by Christopher Brookmyre
- The Bloody Sun by Marion Zimmer Bradley
- Sewer, Gas, and Eletric by Matt Ruff
- Jhereg by Steven Brust
- So You Want To Be A Wizard by Diane Duane
- Perdido Street Station, China Mieville
- The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Bronte
- Road-side Dog, Czeslaw Milosz
- The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje
- Neuromancer, William Gibson
- The Epistemology of the Closet, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
- A Canticle for Liebowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr
- The Mask of Apollo, Mary Renault
- The Gunslinger, Stephen King
- Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare
- Childhoods End, Arthur C. Clarke
- A Season of Mists, Neil Gaiman
- Ivanhoe, Walter Scott
- The God Boy, Ian Cross
- The Beekeepers Apprentice, Laurie R. King
- Finn Family Moomintroll, Tove Jansson
- Misery, Stephen King
- Tipping the Velvet, Sarah Waters
- Hood, Emma Donoghue
- The Land of Spices, Kate OBrien
- The Diary of Anne Frank
- Regeneration, Pat Barker
- Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald. On my bookshelf waiting to be read.
- Dreaming in Cuban, Cristina Garcia
- A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
- The View from Saturday, E.L. Konigsburg
- Dealing with Dragons, Patricia Wrede
- Eats, Shoots & Leaves, Lynne Truss
- A Severed Wasp – Madeleine LEngle
- Here Be Dragons – Sharon Kay Penman
- The Mabinogion (Ancient Welsh Tales) – translated by Lady Charlotte E. Guest
- The DaVinci Code – Dan Brown. Also on my bookshelf waiting to be read.
- Desire of the Everlasting Hills – Thomas Cahill
- The Cloister Walk – Kathleen Norris
- The Things We Carried, Tim OBrien
- I Know This Much Is True, Wally Lamb
- Choke, Chuck Palahniuk
- Enders Shadow, Orson Scott Card
- The Memory of Earth, Orson Scott Card
- The Iron Tower, Dennis L. McKiernen
- The French Lieutenant’s Woman, John Fowles
- The Four Feathers, A.E.W. Mason
- The Jester, James Patterson
- Cry the beloved Country, Alan Paton
- The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
- The Stranger, Albert Camus
- Deathscent, Robin Jarvis
- Memnoch the Devil, Anne Rice
- My legendary girlfriend, Mike Gayle
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – Phillip K Dick
- Bored of the Rings – Harvard Lampoon -I didn’t know this existed, but I might find it funny.
- The Pelican Brief – John Grisham
- Schild’s Ladder – Greg Egan
- Excession – Iain M. Banks
- One For The Morning Glory – John Barnes
- The Manchurian Candidate – Richard Condon
- A Death in the Family – James Agee
- Fup – Jim Dodge
- Girl Soldier by Faith J H McDonnell and Grace Akallo – I’m about a third of the way through and it’s fantastic
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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.
- 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.
- This week I’m grateful for the weather, which was significantly better than the previous weeks.
- Chocolate (duh) is the most delicious thing ever.
- Sunny fall days inspire me.
- I’m most happy when I am well-rested, among other things.
- And all the roads we have to walk along are challenging in their own way.
- 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!
 Home sweet home... it's amazing how inspiring a sunny day in the middle of fall can be!
 Obligatory Starbucks run. But this almost never happens - Starbucks in the cup holder in my car!
 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).
 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.
 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.
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 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.
 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.
 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.
 My camera is very good at taking sunbeam pictures. I like it.
Clue
Clue
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 A slightly different view of that waterway.
 I think this one might be my next desktop wallpaper.
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 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.
 Not exactly the type of picture you expect to be able to take in an urban area. I love Minnesota.
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 This is my other nominee for desktop wallpaper. I'm undecided.
 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.
 Is that... yes, it is, the skyline! Is that giving you any hints?
 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.
 More skyline
 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.
 The sun kept going behind clouds and then coming back out, so this one I took because it was sunny.
 Another zoom picture, and I didn't quite capture what I wanted to, but oh well.
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Clue
Clue
 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.
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 Why yes, that is me in the shadow.
 College brochure, anyone?
 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.
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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.
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).
 This one didn't seem to show the perspective enough,  so note my glasses sitting in the top left corner.
- Las Vegas :: Nevada
- Linus :: Larraby
- Struck :: Hard
- Movie :: of the Week
- Anxious :: Feeling
- Bandit :: the dog
- Picks :: This Week’s
- Lasso :: Cowboy
- Dinner :: Tonight
- Bargain :: Bin
I am sadly addicted to these. I realize that this is quite possibly the lowest quality ever. I don’t care. They’re yummy.
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).
- Illicit :: Affair
- Go :: Daddy
- Jacket :: Denim
- Blow :: Harpoon
- Coach :: Team
- Effort :: -less
- Leadership :: Beacon
- Snore :: Snooze
- Fearless :: Cat
- Network :: Administrator
that made me laugh today…
 For the guys  For the neurotic pet owner
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?
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thankful
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