Suprises!

For more proof that my mom is awesome (and psychic), I was having a bad day at work on Friday and when I got home a package was sitting on my doorstep which contained this:

It's a rosemary tree!

And then today, a package containing some little ornaments (and some garland) arrived. So I decorated my little tree listening to some Christmas music (so I'm getting a little more into the Christmas spirit)



It smells so good! And it really lifted my spirits.

DALE: I can't keep this up. It's not in my nature to care about others.


HANK: Uh-uh, this is too much. In high school you blocked for me, but I did my job too. I ran through the hole, setting Arlen High School's single-season rushing record, as you recall. But here I am blocking for you, and you're not even trying! I don't even know what game you're playing -- some kind of crazy tennis!

Back and Forth

The book for this week's review (which I read today in fact) is 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff. The book is a collection of letters between Helene, a writer living in New York searching for obscure book and famous titles of British literature, and the workers of Marks and Co., a secondhand bookshop, with most of the correspondence between Helene and Frank Doel (as well as Doel family). The letters were quite moving especially since Helene would spend some of her meager salary sending packages of food to the employees of the store (as well as a neighbor of the Doels) during the heavy rationing period of the post World War II. The correspondence occurs over the course of about 20 years. The letters are quite lovely, a times humorous or sad but always with an obvious passion for literature. The book has been adapted into a TV miniseries, the stage, and a movie starring Anthony Hopkins and Anne Bancroft (and Judi Dench as Frank's wife). I'm planning on watching the movie sometime (through Netflix) since the book is still very fresh in my mind.

How is a raven like a writing desk?

Because Poe wrote on both of them! The book for this week's review (and the source of the answer to the riddle from Alice in Wonderland) is "The Eyre Affair" by Jasper Fforde. This is the first book in a series about literary detective Thursday Next. Fforde creates an alternate universe where the entire population of England takes their literature very serious (there are groups that maintain the Francis Bacon wrote the plays of Shakespeare and thousands of people have legally changed their name to John Milton). Crimes of a literary nature (like forgeries of great works) are investigated by literary detectives like Thursday Next. The novel opens with the theft of the original manuscript of Dickens' "Martin Chuzzlewit". Determining the thief of manuscript leads to Thursday chasing a criminal mastermind who later steals the original manuscript of "Jane Eyre". As those who know me well, you can imagine that I love this book (and the rest in the series). The books are full of references to the classics (for example in the second book, Thursday become the protege of Miss Havisham from "Great Expectations"). The world that Fforde created is a good mix of quirky and serious that it isn't too outlandish and crazy. I discovered the second book in the series ("Lost in a Good Book") at a used bookstore in West Virginia (it is a publishing company's in house copy, I'm not sure how it ended up in a used bookstore in a small town in West Virginia). I have all the books in the series (there are 5 all together) but there was a bit a space between the second and the third one so I am planning on rereading the 2nd one before I start the third one (and the fourth and fifth).

Bent as a two bob watch

I had a great trip to Ireland and I got a chance to catch up on some reading so I can finally do a book review after skipping the last couple weeks. Lucy got me the book "Not All Tarts Are Apples" by Pip Granger for Christmas which I read on the plane (and the during the bus ride from Dublin to Clonmel). The book is about an little girl Rosie during 1953 London living with her aunt and uncle above there cafe. Rosie learns that a local "tart" is actually her mother when the owners of the cafe (who are not related to her) want to adopt her. But the family of her mother has some plans for Rosie which may require involvement by all her adopted family to make sure that Rosie is happy. I thought this book was very charming and full of interesting 1950s London slang (which I really want to incorporate into my lexicon!). And it really explored the idea of a non-traditional family in that most of Rosie family was not directly related to her, but lived in her building, were regular customers at the cafe, or people in the neighborhood that cared for her. There is a sequel (and 2 prequels) for this novel, but since Pip Granger is a British author, the paperback is not available through Paperspine yet, so I will have to wait for the prequels to be in paperback form.

Erin goes and goes

I drove home from Ashland on Friday night and mom kindly helped me re-pack my bag to include all the birthday goodies for Emmet's party and drove me to the airport for my Aer Lingus flight on Saturday afternoon. After a pretty good flight (only on screaming baby and I was able to get some sleep), my met my high school roommate Sarah (and her sister) at the airport in Dublin and we took a bus (and the subway) back to her house for an episode of Father Ted and a short nap before walking around her neighborhood. Then she took me to the bus that would take me to Clonmel (she even packed me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for the trip with lots of black currant jam). The bus ride was good (and I got to sleep for a little while). I was worried (only a little) about meeting Bridget in Clonmel but as luck would have it, she and Orrin (and the boys) were only their way back home and were right behind my bus! On Monday, Bridget and I visited Cahair castle and then returned home to decorate for Emmet's birthday party. I think that everyone had a good time (there were about 30+ kids!). So after unwinding a bit on Monday night (and watching a few episodes of The Office). Bridget dropped off Orrin at work and went to the Rock of Cashel (where I saw St. Patrick's Cross) and to Kilkenny castle (which was updated during the Victorian period so it really only looks like a castle from the outside, the only way you can really tell is the thickness of the windows). And today we went to Blarney Castle were Bridget, Silas, Emmet and I climbed the 127 steps to the top and Bridget and I kissed the Blarney stone! We also walked around the gardens of the castle (which were beautiful) and stopped for some gelato (and a patch for my bag) before heading to Cobh on the coast. Cobh was the last stop of the Titanic before it crossed the ocean (and sank) and an emigration point during the Great Famine. There is statue commemorating the first person to immigrate through Ellis Island who left from Cobh. This sounds like a lot, but we don't have too much planned for tomorrow morning, so we will relax a little bit.

And Bridget will be posting pictures soon!!

T- minus 3 days

In three days, I will be on my way to Ireland to visit my roommate from the Academy and Bridget (and family). I am really excited about going. I will be really busy at work for the rest of week so it will be really good to get a break from work (and not think about work or dream about it). I'm mostly packed (most importantly I've picked out the few books that I would bring with me). I even went to the post office to hold my mail while I'll be gone. I totally feel like such an adult now, you know making lots of preparations and making sure that I won't be behind at work when I get back. Add to that the fact that it is time for re-enroll in the benefits program at work and I am definitely not a student anymore.

HANK: I know I'll never love your feet as much as they do, but the way I look at it, you're like a fully loaded truck. The big tires are part of the package. You pay extra to get those really big tires. Now, why are you crying? You know how much I want a new truck.

Baby you can drive my car

This ad from the UK make me want cake and be really impressed at the same time:

Colorization

For the past few days, I have been watching a lot a black and white movies. I saw Harper (with Paul Newman) on Saturday (which is in color) but then I caught the last (really suspenseful) 15 minutes of the black and white thriller "The Spiral Staircase" with Dorthy Maguire and Ethel Barrymore. After that I watched "The Enchanted Cottage" with Dorthy Maguire. I have never heard of this movie prior to seeing it on TCM on Saturday night. It's about a scarred World War II veteran who finds love with a plain house maid. The play the movie was based on was commissioned by the British government after the end of World War I to create compassion for returning soldiers. And then on Sunday, I watched "Mildred Pierce" with Joan Crawford. I mostly just yelled got annoyed at the daughter Veda. And then Tuesday and Wednesday, I watched "Lady Eve" with Barbra Stanwyck and Henry Fonda and "To Have and Have Not" with Lauren Bacall and Humprey Bogart. And for this weekend (while I work on a baby quilt) I have "Dark Victory" (Bette Davis), "Kiss Me Deadly" (Mike Hammer film noir) and "I'll Be Seeing You" (with one my very favorite actors: Joseph Cotten).

HANK: We used to make movies all the time. Dale, you practically slept with that little camcorder.
DALE: "Practically?" I was going to be the next Zapruder. Except nobody shot a president after that. Nobody that knew what he was doing.

Laughter for one

I heard an interview with the guy who created Father Ted and he talked about his new show called the IT Crowd and I've been watching the show for the past week. This episode is my favorite and since the show is about 24 minutes long, I'll just post the funniest part. The show is about a woman (Jen) with no computer experience become the head of the IT department. In this episode, Jen has her period (for which she uses the euphemism Aunt Irma is visiting) which causes the two IT guys (Moss and Roy) to think that they share her symptoms. Moss sends out a email to every IT person he knows to see if someone else has this symptoms. And hilarity ensures.

Kings and Queen

I didn't do a book review last week because I was up in Ann Arbor helping Rachel prepare for her awesome Halloween party. But this week I do have a review of "The New Kings of Nonfiction" which is a collection of essays/articles edited by Ira Glass from "This American Life". I will admit that I skipped over some of the essays (I couldn't get into the essay and skipped the rest). But the articles that I did, I enjoyed a lot. The topics were quite varied from the SEC charged a 13-year old to 6 degrees of separation to an interview with Val Kilmer. I think my favorite essay was one by Susan Orleans about her interview with a 10 year old boy. Although the one about Val Kilmer was pretty good, Val comes off as both completely wacky at times but also totally normal. I really enjoyed Ira Glass' preface on why he chose some of the essays or more specifically the authors of the article. When I was younger, I would also skip the preface to book until I read this incredible preface to "Persuasion" written by Margret Drabble and since then I always read the preface (although sometimes after the book in case part of the plot is discussed in the preface). What I love with a good preface is an insight to the author frame of mind which often makes me enjoy the book more.

You have won a tiny Dundee

I was reading the NPR pop culture blog, Monkey See, about the upcoming Oscar nominations and how there is a possibility that more "popular" (read made a huge amount of money) movies may get nominated this year like "The Dark Knight" and "Wall-E" or as a super long shot "Iron Man". The blog linked to a couple other stories like on a the New York Times that pointed out that ratings for the past few years Oscar shows have been done and the highest ratings were in 1997 when Titanic won. And that the combined box office for the last five Best Picture winners (Babel, Crash, The Departed, No Country for Old Men and Million Dollar Baby) is was less that the last big box office movie to win Best Picture (The Return of the King in 2003). I think I would be more interested in the results of the Oscars if there wasn't so dependent on when the picture is release since a majority of movies hoping to vie for Oscar nominations are released between October to December. And since, apparently, members of the Academy have short term memory, at lot of performances and movies get overlooked that are released earlier in the year. Two examples of this in the past couple of years in Chris Cooper excellent role in "Breach" and David Fincher's "Zodiac", not to mention the great performances of Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo, Jake Gyllenhaall and Anthony Edwards in that movie. And there have been some movies that I didn't like that were nominated for Best Picture (i.e. Ghost).

"We are going to see 'The Flowers of Time' with Charlton Heston and Ethan Hawke. This is their third movie together. The first two went straight to video." - Peggy Hill

Quality of Life

This week's review (finally) will be about Lush Life by Richard Price (finally). It took me a while to finish the book mostly due to time rather that the quality of the book. It details the aftermath of the shooting of a young man on the East Side in New York City. The book examines the reactions of police, the other victims of the crime, the perpetrator, and the family of murdered man. It also touches on the politics associated with solving the crime (like timing a meeting with the press to get the best reaction). I really liked to book because it looked at the crime from so many different points of view. Richard Price wrote for the show "The Wire", which was written in a similar style. I think that this style of writing really sets him apart from other writers in this genre. I also liked Price's examination of the history of the East Side of New York City. Apparently, a good portion of immigrants lived in that area until recently when a larger majority of upper class people began moving to the East Side. Anyone who enjoys crime novels would enjoy this book (even though you know who did it from the onset).

Free Pass to Kooky town

I recently mentioned to my mom that I'm looking forward to when I can be completely inflexible and then it can be chalked up to : "I'm old to change" or "I'm just eccentric". Which has made me think about quirky famous people who make the weirdest things and no one seems to care. The video below is an example of 3 people who totally have a free pass to kooky town:

If you have seen any Coen brothers film, you know that they can really throw something from left field into a movie. Gwen Stefani is perhaps that best example of a person that is really eccentric (in music, dress, and influences) and people really don't care, probably because she is so confident in herself.

"Which is why so many people are suddenly allergic to peanuts. The peanuts are emitting toxins as an evolutionary defense mechanism. They're tired of being eaten, and now they're fighting back." - Dale

We let down the funky bunch

This guy at work looks a little like Andy Samburg (including the hair), so from now on, I'm going to be reminded of this clip every time I talk to him.




or this (watch Andy Samburg run away, it's hilarious):

I have feelings of ennui

Work has been really hectic (and stressful) for the last week and as a side effect, I have been neglecting my blog a lot. I haven't posted in about two weeks, so I'm going to try and post more often and do a book review this week. I will try to be better about posting. I think that I will let Andy Bernard express my feelings

Mind the Gap

These two topics are completely unrelated but I've thinking about both of them so they are getting squished together.

• I've been watching Mr. Bean on DVD and it is distributed by A&E Video which means there a a short promotional clip prior to menu which show David Suchet from Poirot and scenes from their excellent adaptation of Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth. And I realized that I miss the old A&E. The one that used to show PBS/BBC mysteries and Law and Order (including a "Kids Kill" marathon for one New Year's Eve) and made really good literary adaptions of Jane Eyre, Emma, Tom Jones and Horatio Hornblower. I am not digging the current A&E at all. I will still watch City Confidential or American Justice from time to time, but the rest of the shows are just crap like Criss Angel and Gene Simmons. And the their TV movies are few and far between and terrible. I watched the new Andromeda Strain which was just terrible (and strayed so far from the book that I didn't even watch the 2nd half). So seeing the clips from A&Es glory days (in my opinion) really bummed me out.
  
• The announcements from the Nobel Prize have been made throughout this week and the prize for literature will be made in the next few days. But there is little likelihood that an American writer will receive the prize because the permanent secretary for the association, Horace Engdahl, said that recent American writers are not deserving of the Nobel prize. He claims that ""The U.S. is too isolated, too insular. They don't translate enough and don't really participate in the big dialogue of literature. That ignorance is restraining." This of course has caused a firestorm in the American literary community. Not only are people upset about the insult to some of the great current writers like Joyce Carol Oates, John Updike and Philip Roth (I love his book The Plot Against America), but the Nobel committee has become more political in their choices, especially honoring writers how dislike the US (and I was reading the history of the Nobel Prize for Literature on Wikipedia and that article mentions that the committee strove to be more neutral during and after World War I). Last year's winner Doris Lessing said that the September 11th attacks were "neither as terrible nor as extraordinary as [Americans] think," and said of Americans that "They're a very naive people, or they pretend to be." There is a really great article at Slate.com about this issue (read it here!). I personally hold little stock in the Nobel Prize in any subject because of the lack of acknowledgment for Roslind Franklin's contributions to determining the structure of DNA (she had passed away before Watson and Crick won but she was barely mentioned in their speech) although I did get to hear a lecture from a Nobel Laurete while I was at Iowa.
  

PEGGY: Let's practice. I'll be Kahn. A-hem: You are a dumb redneck!
HANK: That sounds more like Minh.
PEGGY: Leave my wife out of this, hillbilly!

This makes me smile everytime

I love this commercial so much, it makes me giggle every time.

Conflicted

Today, sitting in my mailbox, were information packets about Ohio State University and Indiana University law schools. My older sister Rachel thinks that I would make a good lawyer and know that idea has begun to grown on me, hence the info on law schools. Both that packets were really informative and got me kinda excited about law school. On the other hand, I'm nervous about applying. I'm not saying that getting into grad school was really easy but applying to law school is much more intense and competitive. Not to mention that law school is a lot harder. I'm also nervous that everyone would be much smarter than me. And that the first day of law school is going to be like this:

Monsterous

The book for this week's review is the Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi. The book tells the story of the search for the "Monster of Florence", a serial killer of several couples in Florence over about a 15 year period. Mario Spezi is a crime journalist that covered the Monster killings for the onset and as a result is considered an expert on the crimes. Douglas Preston (an author of thrillers) moves to Florence with his family and learns (from Spezi) that the house that he has rented is near the site of one of the killings perpetrated by the Monster of Florence. Preston and Spezi decide to write a book about the killings and discover that the people of Florence have a short-term memory when is comes to the killings. And that was the most interesting part about the crime because it was never really resolved (not everyone was convinced that the murder was caught). It was interesting to hear about the investigation and how it was so obviously shaped by the people in charge. And how the Italian government (and the police force) can control the press (journalist can be charged for hampering prosecution through the press). But I did learn a cool Italian term. During one (of the many trials about the Monster of Florence), one of the friends of the suspect keeps saying that he doesn't know the suspect very well, they were just "picnicing friends" and to this day, this term is used to described friends that are involved in sordid doings. I enjoyed this book that explored a well know European crime that is not known very well in the US and apparently Thomas Harris borrowed some the details about the Monster of Florence for his Hannibal Lector novels. And this book made the news when Mario Spezi was arrested and jailed for crimes relating to the Monster of Florence (which just shows how sensitive to these crimes).

Wigfield Wigout!

This week's book for review is Wigfield by Amy Sedaris, Paul DiNello and Stephen Colbert. These same three people were involved with the TV show "Strangers with Candy" and if you have ever seen that show, that will prepare you for the type of dysfunctional humor in Wigfield. The story begins with a author (Russell Hoakes) receiving an advance for a book about the disappearing small town in modern America. As he attempts to write a novel containing 50,000 words (and burning through his advance) he stumbles upon a quasi-shanty town of mortuaries and topless bars at the base of a huge dam. The dam is scheduled to be destroyed and the town of Wigfield it so be flooded. So Russell goes around interviewing the people of the town and trying to help save the town. The town is beyond dysfunctional (ignoring the fact that there are 3 mayors for a town that is not actually a town) partially due to the defunct plutonium disposal canal that makes to ground temperature about 120 degrees (therefore pets and children are not recommended). I found the book hilarious but this may partly be due to the fact that I listened to the book on CD (and read by the authors) so part of the hilarity was due to delivery of the lines. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Strangers with Candy or the work of David Sedaris.

Review in two

This is my first blog post on my new fancy laptop that arrived on Friday afternoon (and Lucy and Vaughn arrived about 5 hours later). After finding out that I needed to charge the pump for the airmatress, Lucy and Vaughn stayed in my room and I slept on the couch. On Saturday, we went to Lehmans (in Kidron) and Lucy was impressed /overwhelmed by the size and selection of the store. Afterward, we have lunch a local Amish restaurant and then returned back to my apartment. Lucy worked on setting up the laptop while I worked on dinner (we had naan and chicken with tandoori marinade). She had some problems getting the internet figured out (included a evening trip to Wal-mart to get a wireless router and a call to my internet provider on Sunday morning) but she got it set up and now I can use my laptop any where in my apartment. During the times we could get Vaughn to actully sleep, we talked or watched season 4 of The Office, episodes of Dead Like Me or Portiot mysteries. Vaughn has been pretty good during the weekend although he has been going to bed much later that he should (he finally fell asleep about 10pm tonight) after waking up three times last night. I was able to get him back to sleep for a little while longer so I could make stuffed french toast for Lucy after their morning nap. Hopefully he sleeps better tonight and Lucy is hoping to time her leaving tomorrow so he is at his maximum goodness. Good Luck! I will be posing a book review tomorrow (I took a personal day at work so I could have some extra time with Lucy and Vaguhn in the morning).

PEGGY: Teach me to walk.
COTTON: You ready to hate me more than you ever hated anyone in your life?
PEGGY: I already do.
COTTON: Then we're halfway there.

Cheesetastic

This week's review (only one day late) will be about Blessed Are the Cheesemakers by Sarah-Kate Lynch. The novel is about two elderly cheesemakers (Corrie and Fee) in Ireland (County Cork) looking for two people to take over their business. And two such people arrive in the form of Kit, an American trying to recovery after the death of his wife, and Abby, Corrie's granddaughter returning to Ireland from the south Pacific after leaving her philandering husband. The plot was relatively simple and slightly predictable (and honestly not enough talk about actul cheesemaking). Despite this, these novel was not without its charms mostly due to the Irish characters (and the fact that Father Ted gets mentioned). I enjoyed the book, I didn't love it, but it was interesting.

Dust off your drug nicknames!

I had drug training yesterday at work and at the end of the training we played Jeopardy with the basic premise of how well do you know your drug lingo. One the my favorite running jokes on King of the Hill is Bobby's excessive knowledge of drug information due to drug prevention lectures at school (and sex ed lectures). And apparently, it's been awhile since my last health class because there were some nicknames that I did know (including that I didn't know what black tar heroin looks like which I think is a good thing).

HANK: Hey there, Bobby. I guess they found a cure for the cooties? Heh, heh, heh.
BOBBY: I don't know. What are cooties?
HANK: Well, when I was a boy, that's what they called the germs you got from girls.
BOBBY: Oh, you mean like chlamydia?
HANK: Huh?

BOBBY: I have to do all the work because Dad's new employee is a drug addict.
HANK: Now Bobby, Leon's a little slow on the draw, but that doesn't mean he's on drugs.
BOBBY: You gotta trust me on this. When you've heard as many former athletes lecture at your school as I have, you get to know all the signs.

HANK: Now, I know we've talked a lot about how you should never do drugs, but from now on you'll be taking medication after every meal.
BOBBY: So, do I smoke it or snort it?
HANK: It's a pill, Bobby.
BOBBY: So I guess I'll just pop it.

Serve the People!

The book for this week's review is "Serve the People" by Yan Lianke. The novel is set in China in 1967 after the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The story recounts an affair between the wife of a Division Commander in the Army and a house servant and ramifications of the affair against the backdrop of repressive Communist China. Due to the nature of the story, the novel has banned in China (and considered unpublishable) but found an audience due to excerpts and discussion posted online (and thus found an American publisher). The novel gives a really interesting inside view of Communist China following the Cultural Revolution. One of my favorite time periods to read about is post World War II, mainly the 50s and the 60s, since the end of the war really created a power vacuum in Eastern Europe (it doesn't hurt that I've had two really good teachers for classes about this period that I took at the Academy and Purdue). And I love reading banned books! Besides the sexual nature of the story, the Chinese government says the novel slanders the Army and Mao Zedong. It especially interesting to read a novel about China during the height of the Communism now in the context of China's increasing involvement in the world economy and politics (not to mention becoming a more capitalist society).

I'm hoping to read all of Richard Price's Lush Life this week, but since the novel it pretty long, I may be reviewing a previously read book, I'm thinking maybe Jane Eyre or Villette or possibly one of my favorite books ever Catherine Called Birdy.

People in Columbus must be losing their S

College football is certainly in full swing this weekend. I got the watch the Oregon/Purdue game (I've live close enough to Penn State that the Penn State game got shown on ABC). I was disappointed that Purdue lost (in the 2nd overtime) but they played a really solid 1st quarter (I was afraid that the game would not even be close). I saw that Michigan was beat by Notre Dame (I'm always torn which team to root for, but in the end I always want a Big Ten team to win, especially since Notre Dame insists on being an Independent for football but not any other sport). Since I live only about an hour from Columbus, lots of people from work are alumni of Ohio State (about 75% but there are 3 other people who went to Purdue). At about 4 yesterday, some people were talking about the Ohio State/USC game tonight. I will admit that I miss going to Purdue games with Lucy (or Bridget and Orrin). Sometimes it was annoying sitting in the student section with drunk people throwing water bottles (or worse). But one year Lucy and I had really good seats on the 30 yard line right behind the Purdue bench. There is just something so cool about thousands of people cheering (and sneaking in water or hot chocolate and not paying $5 for a drink).

HANK: Don't let them tease you too much. Remember, you're the mascot, not the placekicker.

2 for 1

I didn't write a book for last week so this week I am going to review 2 books. First up is Austenland by Shannon Hale. The premise of the book is an Austen addict attempt to overcome her obsession with Mr. Darcy by having one last hurrah at a vacation spot that recreates the Austen universe (including the manor house (a la Mansfield Park), costumes and a ball (a la every Austen novel except Mansfield Park). Now when I first heard about this novel I really wanted to read because I was curious if or how the author would work in some of Austen's themes and plot points. She did but not very well. There are a few subplots and the main plot line that are borrowed from Austen but the introduction of them is so clunky that it doesn't really work. And the are some subplots that are so obviously from Austen that you wonder why the heroine doesn't immediately recognize them (and is puzzled about what is going for several frustrating chapters). The dialogue between the hero and heroine that is supposed to be in the Austen universe doesn't have the same spark.
The second book (and first non-fiction book) is Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond (an evolutionary biologist). In this book, Diamond attempts to explain that dominant ancient civilizations were a product of environmental factors rather that any inherent intellectual or genetic advantage. It was really interesting because Diamond not only discussed topics like better land farming (like the Fertile Crescent) but domestication of local plant and species, geographic barriers (like the Sahara Desert preventing the spread of technologies from the southern part of Africa northward), infectious diseases (leading to decline of certain populations and the greater prevalence of diseases in groups with greater populations), and the willingness to adapt to new technologies (or be conquered). I never really thought in depth about domestication of local plants and animals but Diamond discusses that ancient peoples of Latin America and Australia were at a disadvantage because there were few local animal species that would be worthwhile to domesticate (or even could be domesticated). The book was really thought provoking (and well researched!)

You keep using that word

This scene from the Princess Bride totally describes an experience from work today. I've been working with this study director who keeps wanting to put in sentences/edits that don't make sense, specifically the term in lieu of in sentences. But today I wanted to check with him about an edit so I asked, "Do you mean taking into consideration the body weight losses in these animals?". He said "Isn't that what in lieu of means?" My response: "No."


"Your mother is a Spanish dictionary" - Peggy Hill

Movie Time

I spent time with some of my favorite cousins this past weekend and of course one of the movies that we watched together often was RAD and I have included a remixed trailer for your viewing pleasure.

Sock him one!

The novel for this week's review (slightly late!) is Winnifred Watson's "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day". The novel is about an out-of-work governess named Miss Pettigrew who is mistakenly sent to a singer named Miss LaFosse who is in need of a maid. Intially, Miss LaFosse's lifestyle clashes with Miss Pettigrew's ideals but Miss Pettigrew soon becomes indispensable to Miss LaFosse and her friends and viewed in this new light Miss Pettigrew decides to accept any new adventure that comes her way. It reminded me a little bit of Auntie Mame, it's never to late too start to live! live! live! The novel was first published in 1938 but went out of print at some point. In 2000, the novel was republished by Persephone Books, which is a publishing house that specializing in forgotten novels of the 20th century (mostly woman authors). I think that it is really cool that specialized publishers like this can thrive and introduce today readers to authors that would otherwise be forgotten ( and you can even suggest novels for the company to publish). Another really cool publishing house is Felony and Mayhem, which specializes in long ago murder mysteries usually from the UK, think more of Agatha Cristie than Mary Higgins Clark. I have a few books from Felony and Mayhem including two written by the wife of the former British ambassador to the United States. To read more about the books from Felony and Mayhem (and some from Persephone) you can visit this great bookseller called Bas Bleu (French for blue stocking which is a slang term for a woman who reads), they have really interesting books and gifts (including a useful reading pillow which I use every night when I read in bed).

Men In Film

Here is the really cool short of famous men in film (with beautiful cello music by Bach). I'm not sure if this is sad or not but I know almost all of them (once it got to James Cagney, there was only one that I could not name a film that I had seen the actor in). Although what is up with leaving out Orson Welles? Oh poor Harry Lime.

reboot

This past weekend, I drove home to celebrate Lucy's 27th birthday. But mostly it was an exercise cuteness for Ellis and Vaughn. When he is not spitting up, Vaughn is very smiley and just starting to giggle a little bit (we'll see if he starts giggling like his mother). And Ellis was pretty much obsessed with Vaughn. I would be feeding Vaughn a bottle and Ellis would be running around and every few minutes he would stop by the couch and say "Baby Vaughn" or "That's a baby". He wanted to hold Vaughn as well (which he did, but only when he was sitting) and hold Vaughn when Ellis was walking. Both of my nephews are getting so big! Lucy says that Vaughn is starting to outgrow his 3 month clothes (which means he can wear the awesome onesie I got for Lucy's baby shower!) and Ellis will need some fall/winter clothes in near future (so there is no chance I that will get him shorts that look like baby hot pants).

PEGGY: I was once one of the finest mothers in all of Texas, and now I can't even wipe a baby. And I have to watch those two, Cotton and Stupid, with their beautiful new baby that they don't even want!

Two Companions

The book for this week's review is Eva Moves the Furniture by Margot Livesay. The story centers on Eva, a young Scottish girl who mother dies during Eva's birth and she is raised by her father and his sister. When Eva turns six, she begins to see these two companions, an old woman and a young girl, who profoundly help shape Eva's life adding both positive and negative influences in her life. The companions allow for a novel that mixes the possibility of supernatural/external forces that effects choices the we make and our own internal forces or the question of free will. The prose is beautifully written and the plot is both heartbreaking and life affirming. I can't recommend this book highly enough as it is thought-provoking and memorable.

And I am older than:

I am younger than:

Going for Olympic Glory in Shorty Short Shorts

The 2008 Summer Olympics started on Friday. I love the Olympics probably because I remember staying up late watching the gymnastics all-around in 1992 with Lucy or in 1996 when my cousins and I were obsessed with the gymnastics (for several reasons, including that we like to make fun of John Tesh who had no idea what was going on and we thought that Tim Dagget looked like Pee Wee Herman). So I watched women's volleyball and swimming during the weekend and I stayed up to watch the prime time coverage on Monday including the swimming finals and coverage of the men's gymnastics final. Does anyone else think that the IOC/FIG should just get rid of the men's floor exercise (although Lucy does do a hilarious impression of a male gymnast during a floor routine)? It is totally pointless and the moves that they use to transition between tumbling passes and the least masculine moves ever. Not to mention they men perform the routine in really short shorts that just look ridiculous. The high bar and the pommel horse are way more interesting and the men get to maintain their dignity by being allowed to wear pants ( one of the American gymnast had chicken legs that were super pale, he looked like Hank Hill).

HANK: What's it gonna be, doctor? Whirlpool? Deep-heat massage? Or are you just gonna tell my son to play through the pain, because I'll support that.

Finally...

For anyone who has every seen the episode of The Office in the second season where Michael accidentally grills his foot on a George Foreman grill by attempting to have bacon ready to eat in the morning, you will be pleased to know that there is a prototype for a Wake n Bacon Alarm Clock. Just place a strip of frozen bacon in the clock the night before, the bacon starts cooking about 10 minutes for the alarm goes off and ta-da cooked bacon.

LUANNE (on Ritalin): Welcome home. I cooked you brunch and I tuned your car and I fixed your mower and I ate the brunch.

Twilight is a no go

Let me preface this review by stating that I enjoy the occasionally children's/teen novel. I love the Harry Potter series and enjoy Artemis Fowl series (the first book of which accompanied Lucy and I on our trip to Europe and was read at least four times in total, once aloud to Lucy in hostel in Brussels). So please don't think that my dislike for the book "Twilight" is due to a dislike of all books in this genre. The reason that I read "Twilight" is because there was a lot of comparisons in media between Harry Potter and this novel. The premise of the novel is a romance between a teenage girl and a vampire. And I hated it. The plot was not very interesting or compelling and the characters were rather one-dimensional or at least they did not give the appearance of any depth (or maybe didn't interest me enough to want to think about any hidden depths). The "heroine" was a bit to much damsel in distress for me (I swear there is a reference to her being klutzy) and has some self-confidence issues and the "hero" seemed a bit to prissy and a milquetoast. And occasionally the dialog bordered on teenage melodrama. I rather reread Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl, A Wrinkle in Time or any of the several hundred better written novels for children/teens.

Robert Mitchum Continues to Terrify Me!

In a previous post, I mention that watching Robert Mitchum in The Night of the Hunter freaked me out to no end. Well tonight I watched Cape Fear (the good one with Gregory Peck) and I don't think I have ever be so terrified of a movie villain. He is so creepy because he kind of lumbers along and look a little drunk so you have no idea what he is going to do. I enjoy thrillers, but I hate when the hero has a gun and then hesitates to use it when they are being threatened. I'm just saying if a man is threatening to sexual assault your daughter and you have a gun would you a) run towards him and get into a physical altercation or b) shoot him in a way that will incapacitate him?

HANK: In case I'm incapacitated for any reason, do you know how to revive a man's heart with a downed power line?
BOBBY: No.
HANK: Well, there's really no wrong way to do it.

More Examples of My Nerdiness

A week or two ago, I thought it might be nice to have a set (of at least four) of mugs for visitors. So you may ask what kind of mugs did I get. Jane Austen mugs of course. Each mug has a quote for a Jane Austen novels (one from all six novels and a second quote from Persuasion). I thought about putting a picture up of all the mugs so everyone could guess what mug goes with what novel, but two of the mugs have the source novel listed.

During one of my visits back to the farm when I was living in Iowa City, my aunt, my mom, Lucy, Rachel and I went shopping for a wedding dress for Lucy. My aunt asked me what I liked about Iowa and the first thing I said was I liked that Iowa had a deposit on plastic, glass and aluminum so there was a lot more recycling than in Indiana. There is no deposit in Ohio by there is a conveniently located drop-off for recycling. They accept almost everything that can be recycled except they only accept no. 1 and 2 plastics. So now when I see that something is a no. 5 or 7 I get upset because I can't take it to be recycled!

PEGGY: Bobby, I'll have you know I consider myself one of the great environmentalists of our time.

MR. McKAY: Propane just perpetuates the whole culture of backyard barbecues. Paper plates. Plastic forks. Meat!
HANK: I've sold three grills today using those exact words, but with a more positive attitude.

7 months younger than Fraggle Rock, 1 year older than the Muppet babies!

Today is my birthday, and I turned 25. I can't believe how old I am! Okay, I'm not that old I know. I had a pretty uneventful birthday, I watched some movies, took out my recycling, went to the library and worked on two quilts (I finished piecing the top for yet another baby quilt, but this one is for a friend). My mom and sisters sent me a certificate for a class at the local YMCA and some clothes for a class (it will most likely be a yoga type class). And my mom sent me one of her cast iron pans (already seasoned! And the perfect size for cornbread!) filled with a birthday scotcharoo (thanks to John and Jen for bringing the pan to me). The scotchroo went great with the roasted chicken and potatoes (roasted with sage, garlic and rosemary, so delicious!). Bridget and Silas sent me a birthday card (designed by Silas) all the way from Ireland and Carol sent me a lovely card as well. Thanks everyone for you birthday wishes!

BOBBY (watching a dryer): Let's get this one. It's like watching TV, only the show is about wet clothes.

Review No. 2

For this week's review, I going to discuss the book "I Was Told There Would Be Cake" by Sloane Crosley, which is a collection of essays in the similar vein of authors like David Sedaris or David Rakoff who write essay about their own (and by extension their families) neurosis and idiosyncrasies. I enjoyed a majority of the essays, they weren't as funny or outlandish as those by David Sedaris but also none were as sad as some of his essays. The majority of the essays in the book are about single life in New York like balancing jobs that don't really go anywhere, moving to a new apartment, and dealing with possible illnesses. There are a few essays that I really identified with about growing apart from friends from high school and feeling guilty about spending less time with some of your friends. I know that there are some days when I feel like I haven't made an effort to stay in contact with people that I spent time with everyday in high school or shared interests with in college. Overall, the book was quite enjoyable and I recommend getting it from the library (maybe not buying it).

Don't worry, I won't be posting only book reviews, there will be a regular post in the next few days!

My Favorite Jane Austen

As I have mentioned before, Jane Austen in one of my favorite authors ever. And while "Pride and Prejudice" is her most famous, it is not my favorite book. My favorite Jane Austen book is her last book "Persuasion". The story is about Anne Eliot, the middle daughter Sir Walter Eliot. The story opens with, after years of financial mismanagement, the Eliots have decided to rent their family home (rather than retrench or cut back on expenses) to Admiral Croft who has returned home (very wealthy) from the recent Napoleonic Wars (this is on of the few novels of Jane Austen that mentions the wars that occurred during her lifetime). Sir Walter and his favorite daughter Elizabeth(the eldest), both of whom are extremely snobby and concerned about social position, and leaving to live in Bath (and take Mrs. Clay with them, the daughter of Sir Eliot's solicitor and friend of Elizabeth who hopes to marry Sir Eliot) leaving Anne to finish preparing the house for Admiral Croft and his wife before visiting her younger sister Mary (a hypochondric) who lives with her husband and children near her (Mary's) in-laws in a house called Uppercross Hall. Is it here at Uppercross Hall that Anne meets and befriend the Crofts and is reunited with her former finance (who happens to be Mrs. Croft's brother), Captain Fredrick Wentworth, also made wealthy by his involvement in the Napoleonic wars. Eight years before, Anne and Fredrick had been engaged (he was a poor naval officer at the time) and Anne was persuaded (hence the title) by her neighbor (and friend of her mother who had passed away in Bath, causing Anne to dislike spending time in Bath) Lady Russell to refuse Fredrick and break the engagement. I don't want to go to in depth with the plot because I don't want to ruin your enjoyment of the book. The reason I love this book more than something like Pride and Prejudice or Emma is because it incorporates so many recurring themes in the other novels and presents those themes very well. When I took a class about Jane Austen, we often discussed how Austen presented ideals that were common in the evolving middle class, namely marrying for love and not money and determining a person's "internal" worth. I wrote a paper about how the heroine often creates a "family" that personifies these ideals. I think that the family that Anne constructs for herself (specifically because her own family is not very supportive) is one of the best representation of this family with middle class ideals. The dichotomy between the haughty and snobby Eliots (Walter and Elizabeth) and the Crofts (and Fredrick) makes this very clear. On one hand there are the Eliots who are unable or unwilling to change despite that they are destroying their very way of life by refusing to live within their means and on the other the Crofts, who have built their lives based on their own skills. And I think that Anne is the most mature and well drawn Austen heroine. She is aware that she was persuaded wrongly to refuse Fredrick and she remains constant to him even though there may be little hope that he returns her affection. Anne is somewhat of an anomaly because she is oldest of all Austen heroines (at 27) and she is not described as a great beauty or outgoing (like Elizabeth Bennett or Emma Woodhouse), in fact is it often mentioned that Anne has lost her "bloom". And the same is true of Fredrick Wentwoth. He is not extremely handsome or overtly charming (like Darcy, Mr. Bingley, or Henry Tilney), he is much more reserved (like Anne) but as the reader you are never really in doubt of his feelings or motivation. I highly recommend this book to any Austen fan or anyone who enjoys novels set in the 1800s or who enjoys an interesting love story.

This is the first of my weekly book reviews, I will try to review a book every Friday (or during the weekend). I am hoping to do a mix of some of my favorite books and books that I have recently finished. I have recently joined Paperspine (which is like Netflix for books) so hopefully I will get a wide range of books read and reviewed (if you are interesting in starting Paperspine, let me know and I can tell you more about it).

From Mundane to Exciting

My weekend has been full of both mundane and (slightly) exciting. The mundane being the usual dropping off my recycling and paying some bills. But there were a few exciting things that I did this weekend. On Friday after work I went to Target to pick-up a few things and decided to go the Meijer to get a few groceries for the weekend. And now I am in love with that Meijer! It has a really good selection of international food include AeroMint bars from the UK which I love. Then on Saturday, I went to Lehman's for the first time. Firstly, the store is huge! Secondly, they have all sorts of things at the store from kitchen needs to hand tools. And they has so beautiful reproductions of stoves and refrigerators. The store is about 30 miles aways so I won't be going every weekend, but it would definitely be a place that I would take visitors. Today, I haven't done anything too exciting, I did make a cheesecake in the new springform pan I got at Lehman's. But it's still chilling so I haven't tasted it yet.

DALE (speaking into a tape recorder): Survival diary update: I have been drinking dewdrops found on the forest leaves, and I have been eating mushrooms and moss. Mostly mushrooms. My rabies has taken a turn for the worse. I am starting to hallucinate. When I close my eyes, I can see strange characters running around chasing colorful geometric shapes in a dark and infinite limbo. I have stopped closing my eyes. I fear I am going mad! (Dale's stick house collapses) Survival reminder: need hammer and nails. (Dale notices that his tape recorder has no batteries) Also batteries for tape recorder. (Dale throws his tape recorder away and speaks into a pine cone) Also need new tape recorder.

Because my nerdiness knows no bounds!

One of my favorite books is The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. I bought my copy from Shakespeare and Company bookshop (it is stamped with the store name) in Paris during my senior year of high school. Every time I think about that book it reminds me of the summer before college, living in the little house and building our new house, reading the book and listening the The Invisible Band CD by Travis over and over again. My local library has a very good selection of books on CD (I listen to them at work), so I thought that I would see if they had a copy of The Woman in White on CD. But when I checked the catalog, the library only has one Wilkie Collins book (the still very good book The Moonstone, but that book it not as good as The Woman in White). So what did I do? I bought a copy of The Woman in White (from Amazon for about $6) for the explicit purpose of donating it to the library. Because I love this book that much. I am thinking about doing a weekly book review (on Fridays), so let me know if anyone would enjoy this or if I should just keep my opinions to myself!

HANK: I am a finely tuned ex-high school athlete. I spent four years holding guys like you upside down over toilets.
CANE: I don't care how many guys you held in the men's room, you still can't beat us.
HANK (to his friends): What do you say, you want to teach some punks a little respect?
BILL: Yeah!
DALE: Very little!

Admitted foolishness

I watched the first 2 seasons of Lost religiously, I mean every week, no talking, subtitles on so I wouldn't miss anything. And I would watch the summer reruns just so I wouldn't forget anything. Then came a big chunk of time between the 2nd and 3rd seasons and I forgot all the important stuff. Then the producers announced that they have decided that when the show was going to end and I thought great, I can just wait for the last season to come out and then I can watch all the seasons in a month long extravaganza. But when I went to the library on Monday, there it was the first season crying out "Watch me, you know you miss me! You know you want to!" And I did, I checked it out, and then instead of stretching it out during the week, I watched the whole thing on Saturday and Sunday. Damn you JJ Abrams, I'm hooked again! The library has seasons 2 and 3 as well which means once season 4 comes out (and I watch it) and I can be all caught up in time to watch the ending of the series on TV (there are two seasons left, with 17 episodes each, airing with no repeats). And honestly, I forgot how good the show was and how groundbreaking and innovating the structure of the show was when it first aired. I mean at this point it has so permeated popular culture, it's hard to think about what it was like way back in 2004 when it first aired.

HANK: You've got to think long-term, Bobby. Auto shop is where boys become the men that girls will want when they become women. It worked for me.
PEGGY: The proof is in the pudding. And I am that pudding.

Reunion rap-up

So, as mentioned the blogs of my family members, over the 4th of July weekend, I attended our family reunion. I had worked a few extra hours early in the week so I could leave work a few hours early on Thursday and Mom and Lucy (and Vaughn of course!) were nice enough to drive a little out of their way to pick me up and we got to drive through the Amish country together to Aunt Carol's house. I shared a room with Lucy and Vaughn the first night, but then I had a room for myself (I know how extravagant!). I had a wonderful time with everyone (and all the babies, there were 5 all together!). It rained almost everyday, but it was nice to sit out on Carol's porch in the cooler weather (even though there were a lot of mosquitoes!). I rode back to Ashland with Rachel and Bridget (we were only slightly smushed in the van until we dropped Orrin off the airport). But all in all, it was nice to have a few extra hours of visiting time with them, and the babies were quite well behaved. And then I will be heading to the farm next weekend to celebrate Silas's 3rd birthday!

PEGGY: I am field-tripping in an hour and I can't remember any good songs for the bus. What does that John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt do again?
BOBBY: He goes out, people shout. Not a lot more is known about him.

That guy!?!?

That is what I exclaimed when I saw the end of "In the Heat of the Night". Since I've watched so many episodes of Law and Order and read so many Agatha Christie mysteries, I can usually pick up on certain clues and at least have an inkling of the ending. But not with this movie, even so I enjoyed it. I like Sidney Poitier at lot, but I must say I enjoy him more in movies like To Sir with Love and Lilies of the Field than The Defiant Ones and In the Heat of the Night. I also finally saw the PBS adaptation of Mansfield Park, which was better than the BBC Adaptation of Persuasion, but not as good as the Andrew Davies adaption of Northanger Abbey (or Pride and Prejudice). I couldn't believe how much Mansfield Park got compressed (to only 1 and 1/2 hours!). Of all Austen novels, Mansfield Park is my least favorite mostly because I think that Fanny is the hardest heroine to like. And I also have problems with Edmund (the hero), he kind of a milquetoast and completely obvious to that fact that Fanny is in love with him. This plot device sometimes drives me crazy which is odd because some books that I really like have that as part of the story ( for example Roger and Molly in Wives and Daughters and David and Agnes in David Copperfield). But that could be because the secondary characters are more interesting than those in Mansfield Park (which is another reason that Mansfield Park is my least favorite, the secondary characters in that book are boring and not very likable).

"The clock radio smells like my Game Boy, but it tastes like my library card. I wonder if it smells different when it's on?" - Bobby

Weekend gone by

This past weekend, I visited Rachel, Trey, and Ellis mostly to be a companion to Rachel while Trey was at a networking function for most of the weekend. I helped Rachel run errands (and reign in Ellis) on Saturday and then we met Trey downtown for a delicious dinner at a place that specializes in Central American cuisine (I had some really good tamales with excellent guacamole). And then Rachel and I watched a movie while Trey put Ellis to bed. We also watched episodes of the Simpsons from the first season (back when the show was still really funny and well written). Since I have moved, I've been looking for a nice sized table for my sewing/guest room. On Sunday, Rachel took me to Ikea (the first time I'd ever been there) and helped me pick out both a table and a really nice chair (that is really comfortable, which will be nice when I am quilting on the frame). i finally finished putting it together (I broke down and purchased a screw gun, my arm got tired) so here a picture of my swanky new set-up:















The trunk to the right of the table is the trunk that I found at a garage sale over Memorial Day weekend that is now full of quilting fabric (and the plant is basil, this room gets some really good sun during the day).

DOCTOR COLE: Just have your office send over your worker's compensation forms, and I'll sign off on them.
HANK: Worker's comp? Do I look like a hobo to you? No, sir, I am not going on welfare.
DOCTOR COLE: If you insist on working, I'll write you a prescription for pain medicine.
HANK: Whoa there, Dr. Feelgood, I work at a propane dealership, not Woodstock.
DOCTOR COLE: Then I'm sorry, but all Western medicine can really offer you are drugs and nothing. But some people have had good luck with yoga. I hear there's a studio over in McMaynerbury.
HANK: Yoga? Isn't that a cult?
DOCTOR COLE: The group that rented the space before them was a cult. That's probably what you're thinking of.

Someone please explain to me

It is getting pretty hot here and as a result a strange phenomenon that I never understand is back: men driving without shirts on. Where are they going? They obviously are not going to any business or running errands. So does the heck are they doing or going? The only thing that I can think of is these men are just driving around for fun which is another thing that I don't get. It could be that living in a very small town where driving down the main drag lasts for about 3 minutes (5 if you really want to slow down) has led me to missing the appeal of cruising.

HANK: Boomhauer, where'd everybody go?
BOOMHAUER: Yeah, man, I tell you what, man, I took Dale to the dang ol' truck... muffler fallin' off, man, ain't got no brakes, sparks flyin' everywhere... I told him, man, you wanna fix that thing, use dang ol' duct tape, man.
HANK: What? They took Bobby to Snapz?

That fact is only increasing my contempt

I've been really stressed the past two days at work, trying to get a report finalized and mailed to the client. I finally got it done today, but not without much gnashing of teeth. The report was not mine, I was finishing it for a writer who has since transferred back to the department he came from (he in fact had never finalized a report and his supervisor was really busy, so there were several of my co-workers finishing the writer's work). For about 5 minutes, I was worried that I wouldn't get the report done today, but fortunately one of my co-workers knew exactly how to fix the problem (and he asked me if this was a report that belonged to a writer who left which led to the comment that was used for the title). One good thing about this mess was now I know how to fix this problem in the future.


"Do it, you monkey boy! I'm the boss of you!"-Jimmy Witchard

Exciting Weekend

This past weekend, I drove three hours to Ann Arbor to celebrate Memorial with Rachel and family and my parents. We all went to some garage sales on Saturday, where I got this really cool trunk, a picture, and some quilting fabric. And then mom and I helped Rachel (and Ellis to a lesser extent) clean and organize some of her stuff downstairs. Then on Sunday (when Mom, Dad, and Trey were on their back from the hardware store) Lucy called to let us know that Vaughn was on his way, and only 11 days early!! He looks so cute in the pictures on her blog, but I want to know where are mother/baby pictures? So after hearing about my newest nephew and spending lots of time with Ellis and everyone else, I headed back to Ashland on Monday afternoon. The drive to Ann Arbor is not too long (and according to Rachel, I will be making this trip monthly). And now I can't wait to meet little Vaughn Charles!

BOBBY: I hope Grandpa treats the baby better than he treats you.
DIDI: Oh, he will, Bobby. Until the baby crosses him.

Movie Reviews

Last Saturday I went to the movies to see Iron Man, which I really enjoyed. I've just recently started to like Robert Downey Jr.'s movie, and he was really well cast in the role. But as much as I enjoyed that movie, it was not the best movie I have seen in the last week. That would be the BBC adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South. The novel is about a woman who moves with her family from the agricultural south to the industrial north and gets involved in the struggle of the millworkers. I've read Wives and Daughters and really enjoyed the novel, so I figured I would like North and South and I was right. It was really well acted and the cinematography, especially the scenes in the mill, was really beautiful. Right after I finished the movie, I wanted to watch it all over again. And I wanted to start reading the book immediately. Even more, I am willing to try reading Charlotte Bronte's Shirley, which also takes place with the backdrop of a cotton mill. I took a class at Purdue all about the Bronte sisters and I read all the books except for Shirley. Try as I might, I just could not get through the last third of the novel (but that was probably due to the fact that I thought that the story had come to a successful conclusion but Charlotte did not a tacked one another 150 pages although I did learn the about Luddites, which is a reference I like to use from time to time). So next time I'm at the farm, I will have to remember to bring it back with me.

"Hank, this is hard. And Bill's not carrying my share of the load." - Dale

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers (and mothers to be) that I know and love (and there are a lot of them!). You all are amazing!

PEGGY: It is my day -- I should be able to do anything I want.
HANK: Not anything. You can't kill a man. Then you'd go to prison. And with that attitude, they'd put you in the hole.

HANK: Peggy's just not like you, I guess. You devoted your whole life to raising me, and let's be honest, you loved every second of it.
TILLY: Well, actually, I took odd jobs as often as I could, just to get out of the house. Don't you remember the year I drove a taxi?
HANK: No. Wait, I remember one year you had a yellow car.

Many apalogies

I know I haven't posted in a while, I really don't have a good excuse other than I am sick, but that is just this week. Last Thursday, I went to the This American Life event in Mansfield which was great. There were clips from the upcoming season of the TV show (on showtime) as well as outtakes from the first season and stories that never made it on the show and a question and answer session at the end of the show that was really interesting. But what I didn't except was that a girl from work was there. We both didn't except to see someone that we knew so that was a nice surprise. We chatted before the show started and we talked about how much we both like listening to NPR and podcasts (and she recommend this great podcast called RadioLab which I started to listen to today, and it was really good). Then on Friday after work, I drove home to the farm to celebrate Mother's Day a little early (with Rachel and family). I had a nice weekend at home, even though we worked the cows and Rachel and I mucked out the goat stall. And I got to spend lots of time with Ellis (and he was so tired, it was very easy for me to put him down for a nap/bed). On the downside, I think he gave me his cold. But I don't feel so bad now, earlier this week I had a sore throat and I felt really tired. Work is still going pretty well, it's a little more intense over the next few weeks because I have a lot of stuff due (and a few of the studies that I am writing up are a bit more interesting because the is some actual toxicity in the study unlike the previous studies I worked on).

"All his dreams from now on are gonna be about leaving. And then some high school guidance counsellor is gonna tell him to follow his dreams. Then how will he end up? A fruit pie salesman with a whoopie cushion living in Wichita Falls." - Hank

Extra points to who ever can identify the source of the title of this post!

Some poems for your Monday

This Is Just to Say by William Carlos Williams

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

And spoofs of the poem:
Variations on a Theme by William Carlos Williams
by: Kenneth Koch

1
I chopped down the house that you had been saving to live in next summer.
I am sorry, but it was morning, and I had nothing to do
and its wooden beams were so inviting.

2
We laughed at the hollyhocks together
and then I sprayed them with lye.
Forgive me. I simply do not know what I am doing.

3
I gave away the money that you had been saving to live on for the next ten years.
The man who asked for it was shabby
and the firm March wind on the porch was so juicy and cold.

4
Last evening we went dancing and I broke your leg.
Forgive me. I was clumsy and
I wanted you here in the wards, where I am the doctor!

"Yeah, I'll get them to do something nice for each other! That's even better than my plan of turning them both against Luanne!" -Bobby

Reviews

Today, I went to a place that I thought no longer existed, the discount theater. That's right, there is a dollar theater in Mansfield. So today, I saw Penelope which was pretty good. I recognized a lot a British stars, besides Richard E. Grant, Lenny Henry (from Chef!) and Nick Frost (from Hot Fuzz! and Shaun of the Dead (the heavier set guy) so that to me is the mark of a good movie. The theater isn't to far away, and the movies that are shown there are a better good selection of big budget movies (like National Treasure 2) and more independent movies (like Penelope and Be Kind Rewind). There is a second theater is Mansfield as well that shows first-run movies and there have a lot of special events (like Met Opera showings and a This American Life live event (which I am going to!). And tonight, I watched the Turner Classic Movie Essential: The Night of the Hunter. I don't think that I like Shelly Winters (but that could be the result of the movies of hers that I have seen, like Patch of Blue where she plays a horrible woman). But Robert Mitchum scares the crap out of me, because of this movie, and because I have the parts of Cape Fear where he is particularly menacing (if you have seen this movie, you know what I am talking about!). I liked the movie, but it made me cry because I just felt so sorry for the little boy John.

PEGGY (singing):
Fan Fair can be Fun Fair,
But if you don't wait your turn in line,
Well, that's unfair!

Future Plans

So I decided that I would start swimming a few days a week for some exercise (and stress-relief). For awhile, I thought that I wouldn't be able to find a pool in Ashland (I thought that I would have to drive to Mansfield and I couldn't figure out if I could actully use the Ashland University pool). But then I remembered that I could look for a local YMCA. And it turns out that there is one not to far from my apartment. And even better, there is open adult laps swims everyday from 6-7:30 am and 5-6pm, which means I can swim right before/after work. So next week, I am going to get my membership and start swimming. I am really looking forward to it, especially since there is already lap swims scheduled for people so I don't have to try and avoid kids playing.

BOBBY: Dad, I know what I want to do with my life. I can be a motivator. All I need to do is find a field where I have no potential. Hm. I'd make a terrible dam-builder.
HANK: Why don't you just try to be good at something?
BOBBY: Don't try to motivate a motivator, Dad.

Few and far between

I know that I should post more, I have been meaning too, really. I'll play catch-up a little bit by blogging about last weekend when I went to my aunt Carol's house for Easter. I had Friday off from work so I drove to her farm, and I went the "back-way" on route 250 which was a very nice scenic drive. My cousin Jacob and his wife Jessica (who I never met before Easter weekend) over for dinner on Friday night (we had some very good chicken enchiladas). And then my cousin Elizabeth and her husband Rob and new baby Robert came to Carol's on Saturday afternoon and we all had fun making food for lunch on Sunday and holding the baby! And we decorated eggs on Saturday night (which I haven't done in a few years) while waiting for Rachel and family to arrive at the farm. They arrive a little after 10:30 and I helped them all settle in and kept Scout with me in my room. Then on Sunday, we had a very nice meal (for which I made apple pies, scalloped potatoes, and cinnamon rolls). And I headed back to my apartment in the late afternoon, driving back on the interstate which was not a bad drive back either. I want to thank Carol for her wonderful hospitality over the Easter weekend and I will be sure to visit her often (including to coming to help bake/decorate cookies for the famous cookie walk after Thanksgiving).

"You're the lead monkey on the back of this ostrich." - Buck Strickland

Making up

Okay, so I am making up for lack of posts by having two posts in one day. I heard a book review of a book about a Cleveland radio station (the Buzzard) that played a major role in introducing new rock and roll artists. And as a result this was in my head all day:

"Why don't you have the girl turtle fall in love with a boy turtle. See then the song it about something." - Hank

Everyday grind

I know that I have been lagging in writing post, but I assure you all that this is not due to being overworked, but lack of inspiration. Work is going pretty well, my 30 day review last week went fine and I think that the workload will start increasing a little bit in the near future (which is fine by me, I'm getting better/faster at writing reports.) I'm getting used to the hours as well (I'm actually home about 2 hours earlier than compared to grad school hours). In the evenings I mostly work on Lucy's baby quilt while listening to music/an old This American Life episode or watching Law and Order. So there is nothing to exctiing happening to me other than getting into a routine at work. But I will be heading back to the farm for Lucy's baby shower in a few weeks!

"I am a twelve year-old boy! I am this child's nephew! I cannot do this. I cannot do this! If anyone makes any dinner, I'll eat it, but that's it. All I'll do is eat!"-Bobby Hill

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Make sure you wear green and kiss an Irish person!


(I promise a full post soon!)

Some Sidewalk Chalk

I was watching CBS Sunday morning (I love Charles Osgood's bowties) and there was a story about an English artist named Julian Beever. He draws 3-D pictures on the sidewalk, but the pictures are only 3-dimensional when viewed through a camera. And here are some pictures:

If you want to see more you can visit Julian Beever's Website.

"Heck, Peggy, why don't you make the art? It can't be very hard. I mean, even the people who do it for a living don't seem very good at it." -Hank

The good thing about living in a complex with kids

someone gets to enjoy a snow day:

The little red things are roses.

"Mr. Hill, it's Hugh Jimmerson. My heat's gone out. I've tried wearing turtlenecks, but they make me look French."

Happy Bicentennial!

This is the 200th post to this blog! I can't believe that I have made that many posts and there are people who read it! I thought that for this post I would talk about two of my favorite things, my family and Jane Austen. As some of you may know, PBS has been airing the complete Jane Austen on Masterpiece every Sunday. In my opinion, the series got off to a rocky start with a poor adaptation of Persuasion, but improve greatly with a stellar Northanger Abbey (but I didn't see Mansfield Park but I heard it was not so good). But now the series in the best section with the great A&E/BBC version of Pride and Prejudice airing the last three weeks and next up will be the delightful Emma (also from A&E/BBC). So even though I have seen this version of P and P too many times to count, I watched it again. Watching it is bittersweet, because although I enjoy the movie a great deal, it makes me miss my mom and sisters. Of all the times that I have seen P and P, only once have I seen it without one member of my immediate family watching it with me. And being alone here in Ohio (and feeling a little lonely), I was happy to watch it, but I teared up more that once (including at the end, when I was also sad that it was over).

""I didn't know it was loaded" is not an acceptable excuse. "I wasn't there" or "I never met those people" are better excuses. When I was your age, I used to get so excited about hitting the target that I'd run right out onto the range. That's how I lost this thumb, and later, this eye. If it weren't for the NRA safety guidelines which I eventually accepted, I'd be a stub standing here before you."- NRA INSTRUCTOR

This is what I think about at work

Every time I read a protocol that has a section about resorptions (in terms of fetuses) all I can think about it the episode of "The Office" when Dwight talks about resorbing his twin in the womb (and now having the power of both a full grown man and a baby).

PEGGY: Hank, do you think I'll turn into one of those women you see at the Mega Lo Mart who wears white stretch pants and doesn't tuck in her shirt any more?
HANK: Not for many, many years.
PEGGY: Oh, so you've thought about this.

Gimme Six!

So my first week at the new job went pretty well. Reading the SOPs is boring, but I have been doing more relevant work. And next week I am attending 3 pre-study meetings (including one for a study I will be analyzing/writing the report). So that is exciting but kind of nerve wracking because I have no idea what I am supposed to do beyond having the study protocol read for the pre-study meeting. The department supervisor said I did a good job with the formatting test that I finished on Friday. I must say it is so strange to not have something to work on in the evening (homework, reading etc.). But now I have plenty of time to quilt and read for pleasure (right now I am rereading Northanger Abbey). And I read a little bit during my lunch break (I bring my lunch to work everyday, it reminds me of elementary school). Another nice thing about work is is that I can listen to my iPod often (so I get to keep listening to podcasts). And while I was listening to an NPR books podcast, I heard about this really interesting book about a six word memoir (for example "Like Charlie Brown, not as popular."). SMITH magazine collected six word memoirs from lots of people (both famous and not) . And you can read some of these submission by clicking here. My favorites are "brush with death, comb with life" and from Stephen Colbert: Well, I thought it was funny.

(From Hank's permanent record)
- Fourth grade: Kicked out of chorus for refusing to sing "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?"
- Ninth grade: Told debate team to "shut the hell up."

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! And Happy James Taylor Day!!!

DALE (to his turtle): C'mon, I'm not leaving without my kiss. I can wait. I can destroy you.

First Impressions

So yesterday was my first day at work. It went pretty well, I got to meet all the people in my department, who all seemed nice. And it met my direct supervisor (who interviewed me) and she is very nice and helpful (and she is slowly easing me into the work). The past two days I have been reading SOPs (standard operating procedures) and putting together my training manual (including organizing it, my favorite section title "Guidelines for Describing Anomalies") I'm in the Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology group (DART for short). And the company has lots of toxicology related seminars that I can attend (and many that look really interesting). I do get President's Day off next Monday so that is good. Well, I'll keep you all updated as the weeks progress.

LUANNE: Okay, we wave this sign around, and Jeff Gordon sees it. He comes up to us in the stands and is so taken by our charms that he asks one of us to marry him.
PEGGY: Well, honey, it probably won't be me. I have got a ring on my finger.
LUANNE: Yeah, and big feet.
PEGGY: I'm only ignoring that because a man is on fire.

Dispatches from Ohio

Yesterday, mom and dad moved me into me new apartment in Ashland. I have a nice sized two-bedroom apartment in a complex about 5 mins from work (and not to far from the university and downtown). I got internet installed (obviously). I plan on exploring Ashland (and a little bit of nearby Mansfield) at little bit this weekend (mostly finding the post office, the library etc.). My apartment is nicely furnished (all I really need is a sewing table). I will have some pictures posted soon.

PEGGY: The Thai food was Tammi's idea. The notion of taking it out was mine.
LUANNE: You know, someday I would like to travel through Thairabia and see those pyramids.

Each Brand New Arrival

Here is my surprise from the barn tonight!
Frappie had two little kids today, both female. Here is a picture of them nursing:

(The black one is in the back, so you might not be able to see her) They are not named yet, but we are open to suggestions.

PRINCIPAL MOSS: Teacher's statement...response from the parents...okay, looks like all our ducks are in a row. Peggy, you're fired.
PEGGY: But the Dooleys forgave me!
PRINCIPAL MOSS: Let's see -- there's nothing in here about forgiveness. There are procedures for administering legal spankings, which you violated at every turn, and there are procedures for terminating a teacher, which I followed to a T.

Finished!!!

I finally finished quilting Rachel's quilt. I have to put the binding on still, but that is the easiest part (mostly because my mom sews the binding on for me!!)

KAHN: She blinded me with science... doo, doo, doo! She blinded me... WITH SCIENCE!
HANK: Pretty good job, Kahn. I've never heard that song with only one note before.
KAHN: Yeah, it all about rhythm.

KAHN: Look how easy it is to get into this country. I can't believe I had to learn the Bill of Rights. When am I gonna use that?
DALE: You'd be surprised, Kahn. I take the fifth on a daily basis.