Tuesday, March 31, 2009

I Read It!

This being the fifth Tuesday of March, 5 Minutes for Books is hosting a carnival called I Read it. The idea is to talk about something you've read they recommended.

I wasn't even thinking about that when I read Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little, but it totally fits.

It's the last day of summer vacation, and Moxy Maxwell still needs to read Stuart Little. There will be a test on it tomorrow, the first day of 4th grade. Will she buckle down and get it read? Or will she find any way she can to distract herself?

Being a procrastinator myself, I can totally relate. In fact, I found some of her observations pretty funny.

The book is aimed at kids with extremely short chapters and black and white photos in place of illustrations. I read it in about an hour, but an early reader would need longer to finish.

About the only thing I didn't like was the way Moxy manipulated her younger sister and a neighborhood friend into doing some hard work at one point. Realistic? Probably. Good role model? Not at all.

Still, I am glad I read this book and plan to read the sequel at some point.

Monday, March 30, 2009

My Mystery and Science Fiction Weekend

Normally, I talk about mystery around here. That's because the majority of what I read and watch falls into that category. But I enjoy a good science fiction tale, too. And this weekend broke down perfectly into the two categories.

Saturday was my mystery day, and that basically consisted of three book signings.

Up first were two at Mystery to Die For. Lisa Lutz was funny as always. And I was thrilled to hear she is editting a fourth Spellman book. I'm actually currently reading this book and loving it.

I had an hour break, so I went out to Border's and bought the 3rd season of the Muppet Show. Yep, another coupon. I'd called around and discovered they had it. Cell phones are wonderful for that kind of thing.

Then came Sue Ann Jaffarian. She was signing her fourth book, but I'd just read her first one this year. I got 2-4 signed. Now, to find the time to read them (especially since none of them are on my Spring Reading Things List.)

After that, I drove from Thousand Oaks to Westwood for the launch party for Harley Jane Kozak's new book.

Between these signings and other books I bought, I spent way too much. I have got to stop spending money so I can afford to buy the books I will buy at the LA Times Festival of Books coming up in 26 days. (Not that I'm counting or anything.)

Sunday turned in Science Fiction day. It started with church, however. Sunday School was a picnic in the park. It was fun as long as we were throwing the Frisbee around or playing whiffle ball. But when we stopped doing that, the wind made it very cold.

When that was over, Josh and I headed to Johnny Rockets for lunch and then we met up with Joe to see Monsters vs. Aliens. The three of us were laughing the hardest in the theater. We loved it!

When they movie was over, they headed to church and I ran home for an hour or so. But then we went to Joe's to start watching Babylon 5. I've been wanting to watch the series again all the way through, and Josh has never seen it. (Yes, this is a different Josh then the former roommate who got me hooked on the show in the first place.)

The irony is, this was supposed to be an at home weekend where I hung out and did very little. You can see how that worked out for me. And I wouldn't change a moment of it. But there's always next weekend, right?

Friday, March 27, 2009

A Week at a Glance

I only worked two days last week. Of course, I started out the week in Palm Springs. But Thursday night, I came down with a fever. It never got above 99.5, but I spent a miserable night trying to sleep. I called in sick Friday morning, only to have my fever break around 10:30 or 11. But I stayed home and napped.

I'm glad my fever broke since that meant I got to spend some time with Donald and Heather. They were down for their anniversary. We had Round Table Pizza and played a round of golf at Mountasia. Loads of fun.

Of course, that weekend, I spent playing ultimate frisbee, another reason to be thankful my fever broke.

But that wasn't all I did. Saturday night, I came to see the play the college is putting on. I thought there was going to be an alumni event before hand, so I got here earlier than I needed to. But the play itself was lots of fun. They did The Happiest Millionaire. Lots of laughs.

I actually put in five days of work this week. Sat in on some budget meetings. Spent two days getting letters ready for those who have outstanding payroll checks. I'm going to mail them Monday so hopefully they will get them during the week and not forget about it over the weekend.

About the only excitement this week came Wednesday night. I went over to my friends Kurt and Kellie's house. Kellie fed us a great dinner, Kurt and I hit the hot tub for a little while, and we watched Lost together. I hadn't seen them since their son was born, so it was nice to spend some time with the three of them.

Tonight, I have Bible study. Haven't been for a few weeks, so I'm really looking forward to it.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

How to Not Sound Like a Spammer

Right now at work, I am working on contacting people who have outstanding checks that are over 3 months old trying to get them to either cash them or let us reissue them so we can clear out our records.

One former student I needed to contact now lives in Mexico. Since she has an e-mail adress listed, I thought that would be a cheaper way to contact her.

Then I stopped.

How can I word the subject line so it doesn't sound like/get routed to the spam folder? I wasn't so worried about the contents since I saw let us know and we will cut you a new check. I mean, I'm not asking for any information from her.

I'm not sure I really succeeded since I started the subject line with "Outstanding check." However, I did mention her time as a student here at the college.

If I don't hear anything back, I guess I will send a letter to Mexico and try to reach her that way.

Still, it was pretty funny when I typed my first subject line and realized how I would react to it.

Mini Review: Kilt Dead

Welcome to the first of my mini reviews for the books I am reading for Spring Reading Thing. For those new to my blog, you can follow the link to my full review at Epinions.com.

The first book I read this Spring was Kilt Dead by Kaitlyn Dunnett. This book introduces us to Liss MacCrimmon. She's been making a living as a Scottish folk dancer, but after a career ending knee injury, she finds her life at loose ends. When her aunt needs to leave for three weeks, Liss agrees to return to her home town of Moosetookalook, Maine to temporarily run her Scottish Emporium.

Unfortunately, the day her aunt leaves, Liss finds the body of the elderly neighbor in the stock room. When the police begin to suspect her, Liss decides she must investigate to find the killer herself.

I loved the characters in this book. Liss and her reaquainted friends were fun to spend time around.

Which is a good thing because the plot moved forward very slowly. I'm not saying I saw the ending coming, because I didn't. But there wasn't enough plot or sub-plots to sustain the number of pages in the book.

I will probably give the sequel a try at some point, but this book wasn't the fun start to my Spring reading I had hoped for.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

St Pat's Hat 2009

This past weekend was the annual St. Pat's Hat Ultimate Frisbee tournament put on by LAOUT. Of course, I signed up. This year, every team had a potatoey name as well as a color name. I was on team Pie and Mash, ie. Leprechaun's Gold. All the other teams were a shade of green, but we were yellow. Running out of green colors?

Saturday, it was grey and overcast all day. We had a fifth round bye, which meant four games in a row.

I almost quit after the first point I played that day. Why? Because I scored. As I figured, I was only good for that one score. But I had fun playing the rest of the weekend.

We won three of our four games on Saturday. The third one was hard fought. We came back from way behind to win. The fourth game was a blow out. I think the final score was 11-2.

I'd played with a couple of my teammates before, but most were new to me. It was great because we seemed to gel right away. People were harder on themselves than each other, which always makes things more pleasant as well.

Anyway, with our record, we got a first round bye on Sunday. That meant I could go to church and Sunday School (instead of just church). It was nice to be at my home church again after a couple weeks out of town. I took my ultimate clothes with me, changed in the car, and made it down in time for the kick off of our first game.

Sunday's weather wasn't as pleasant. Yes, the sun was out for a few hours (although we wound up under a dark cloud for the later part of the day). But a hard, cold wind was blowing. It made passing harder and frankly wasn't that pleasant to be outside in.

Our first game was against the first team we played on Saturday. We actually beat them by a greater margin than we did on Saturday, which moved us on to the semi-finals. And in the semi's, we played the team we had lost to on Saturday. That was a hard fought game that went back and forth for a while before we pulled ahead and won.

That's right, my team made the finals! The only other time I've been on a team that made the St. Pat's Hat finals, I wasn't able to make it on Sunday.

We had been ranked 4th after Saturday, and our opponent in the finals had been ranked below us. We took an early lead and held it the entire time. We did give up several points in a row at the end, but the final score was still 13-8.

We won!!!!!

Yes, I had a huge smile on my face for a couple hours. And I had an awesome snag in the finals, too. One of those snags I can normally only do in warm ups. And I didn't mess up too badly when I was in.

It really helped that we picked up another woman on Sunday, and a very talented woman at that. We'd been on a Summer League team together this last year, so it was good playing with her again.

I found out there's a pick up game there Saturdays at 2:30, so I am going to have to start going. That field is closer than the one I've been going to in Pasadena.

Anyway, after the game, several of us went out to Pizza. That turned out to be more expensive than I thought it would be since it was a fancier restaurant than I was picturing, but it was a splurge well worth taking. I got an individual pizza with everything on it (and I do mean just about everything). It was absolutely delicious.

My Nightstand - March 2009 Edition

Yes, I need to be in bed, but I'm still up so I am going to do this month's What's on my Nightstand.

I'm actually finishing up my first book for the Spring Reading Thing. Should finish it on my lunch hour (assuming I don't fall asleep from staying up so late). That's Kilt Dead by Kaitlyn Dunnett. I really like the characters, but the plot moves slowly. Yes, I will probably pick up the next one.

After that will be The Ironwood Tree, the fourth of the original Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi. Then comes The Dog Days of Charlotte Hayes by Marlane Kennedy. Yes, I am on something of a kid's book kick right now, why do you ask?

(And if you want to see everything I am reading for the Spring Reading Thing, check out this post.)

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Word Association for March 22nd

Yeah, I'm actually doing this on Sunday this week!

  1. Studio :: Apartment
  2. Meetup :: Internet
  3. Ostrich :: Head in the sand
  4. Jokes :: Silly
  5. Estranged :: Spouse
  6. Random :: Ramblings
  7. Slap :: Face
  8. Hotel room :: Expensive
  9. Inscribe :: Autograph
  10. Polar :: Opposits

Friday, March 20, 2009

Spring Reading Thing 2009 List

Well, Spring is officially upon us today, and that means it is time for the Spring Reading Thing hosted by Callapidder Days. In this post, I will be listing a crazy long list of books I plan to read over the next three months. As I finish them, I will post mini reviews here in addition to my regular reviews at Amazon and Epinions. (And in case you are wondering, some of these will be doing double or triple duty for the various reading challenges I am participating in over at J. Kaye's Book Blog.)

Shall we get to it?

My Current Read (I'm just a chapter into it):
Kilt Dead by Kaitlyn Dunnett

Carry Overs from Spring 2008:
Mosaic: Pieces of My Life So Far by Amy Grant
Murder in Grub Street by Bruce Alexander

Carry Over from Fall 2008:
Slay it with Flowers by Kate Collins

I am determined to get these three read if for no other reason, I am sick of seeing them on my night stand.

New Books by Favorite Authors:
Tenth Stone by Brock and Bodie Thoene
The Dog Days of Charlotte Hayes by Marlane Kennedy
In a Gilded Cage by Rhys Bowen
Too Rich and Too Dead by Cynthia Baxter
Sucker Punch by Sammi Carter
A Talent for Murder by R. T. Jordan
Burn Notice: The End Game by Tod Goldberg
Killer Cruise by Laura Levine
Mr. Monk and the Dirty Cop by Lee Goldberg
A Night at the Operation by Jeffrey Cohen
Revenge of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz
Docketful of Posey by Diana Killian
Exposure by Brandilyn Collins
A Date You Can't Refuse by Harley Jane Kozak

Other Books on My List:
Mayhem in Miniature by Margaret Grace
Double Minds by Terri Blackstock
Bookmarked for Death by Lorna Barrett
Homicide in Hardcover by Kate Carlisle
Resort to Murder by Carolyn Hart
3rd Degree by James Patterson
The Ironwood Tree by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi
The Wrath of Mulgarath by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi
Shark Island by Joan Druett

Believe it or not, I do feel like I am leaving some books off the list. :) As a result, I reserve the right to add to the list at any point during the next three months.

Edit:

Yep, I'm adding a book before I even make a good dent in this list. But I decided to read it for multiple reasons like in honor of a recently deceased friend and because the author will be at UCLA for the LA Times Festival of Books.

Murder in the Marais by Cara Black

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Word Association for 3/19

Really getting this in late this week.

  1. Sunburn :: Ouch!
  2. Aquarium :: Fish
  3. Otter :: Swim
  4. Awesome :: God
  5. LOL :: Very funny
  6. Accordion :: Polka
  7. Hot Pocket :: Sunday Lunch
  8. Grandstand :: Band
  9. Shaved :: Head
  10. Upgrade :: Seat (like on an airplane)

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Palm Springs Weekend

I just love the sound of that title, don't you? Or am I just making you jealous?

This last weekend really was fun and relaxing. The only problem was it wasn't long enough.

I left work at noon on Friday. And immediately got distracted. See, I had gotten an e-mail from Borders with a coupon for 40% when you buy two DVD sets. Since I still needed Seasons 2 and 3 of the Muppet Show, I went to the Borders in town. No dice. Same in Pasadena. But I stopped at a random store along the way and found they were having a DVD clearance. All DVD's were 50% off. So I stocked up with season 2 of the Muppets (they didn't have season 3) plus the Pirates trilogy on Blu-Ray and the first season of Columbo, which I have been assured I need to see.

All this got me to Palm Springs later than I had intended to get there. But I still got there in time for dinner.

Saturday, we just lazed around the trailer. Went for a swim in the pool. They keep it so warm at the trailer park where Mom and Dad stay. It's one of the reasons they love it there.

Sunday, we headed up to Yucca Valley to visit with my friends Stephen and Natalie. That involved going to the church where Stephen is the pastor in the morning, time spent in Joshua Tree while they had a church pot luck, then games and dinner at their home. We stayed pretty late and had a fantastic time.

Monday was more swimming, then into Palm Springs for some miniature golf. Dad and I tied, so it was a good game. Last time we played, I lost by a mile.

Yesterday, we actually got up in time for a swim before I left to come home.

As you can see, it was nice and relaxing. Honestly, I wish I were still there.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

1st in the Series Challenge

So, I just learned about the fun challenges that J. Kaye is hosting over on her book blog. And I just couldn't pass them up. Fortunately, you can use books for more than one challenge, which will be very helpful when Callapidder Days starts Spring into Reading next week.

Up first is the 1st in a series challenge. Basically, you have to read the first book in a series. The goal is to read 12 of them during the year.

Since I can go back and count books I've already read in 2009, I'm ahead of the game.

Books completed:
1. Too Big to Miss by Sue Ann Jaffarian
2. A Mind is a Terrible Things to Read by William Rabkin
3. Murder in Miniature by Margaret Grace
4. 1st to Die by James Patterson
5. The Field Guide by Tony DiTerlizzie & Holly Black
6. Wake Up Little Susie by Ed Gorman
7. Murder at the Academy Awards by Joan Rivers and Jerrilyn Farmer
8. Kilt Dead by Kaitlyn Dunnett
9. Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little by Peggy Gifford
10. Murder in the Marais by Cara Black
11. Still Life by Louise Penny
12. Death of a Cozy Writer by G. M. Malliet

2nds Challenge

So, I just learned about the fun challenges that J. Kaye is hosting over on her book blog. And I just couldn't pass them up. Fortunately, you can use books for more than one challenge, which will be very helpful when Callapidder Days starts Spring into Reading next week.

This challenge is for those authors you have read but not gotten back to read again. The 2nds challenge requires you to read the second book by an author. It can be the second in a series or a stand alone as long as it is the second you have read by that author.

Completed (Links take you to my reviews at Epinions):
1. Fearless by Robin Parrish
2. 2nd Chance by James Patterson
3. The Seeing Stone by Tony DiTerlizzie and Holly Black
4. The Dog Days of Charlotte Hayes by Marlane Kennedy
5. Too Rich and Too Dead by Cynthia Baxter
6. Shark Island by Joan Druett
7. Burn Notice: The End Game by Tod Goldberg
8. Murder in Grub Street by Bruce Alexander
9. Slay it with Flowers by Kate Collins
10. Mayhem in Miniature by Margaret Grace
11. Curse of the Holy Pale by Sue Ann Jaffarian
12. Mind Over Magic by William Rabkin

Support Your Local Library Challenge

So, I just learned about the fun challenges that J. Kaye is hosting over on her book blog. And I just couldn't pass them up. Fortunately, you can use books for more than one challenge, which will be very helpful when Callapidder Days starts Spring into Reading next week.

The final challenge I am going to participate in is the Support Your Local Library Challenge. For this one, you choose the number of books you will read from the library and then try to hit that goal during the year. Since I get so few books from the library right now, I am going to pick the lowest goal of 12 books.

Finished:
1. The Field Guide by Tony DiTerlizzie & Holly Black
2. The Seeing Stone by Tony DiTerlizzie & Holly Black
3. Lucinda's Secret by Tony DiTerlizzie & Holly Black
4. The Ironwood Tree by Tony Di Terlizzie & Holly Black
5. The Wrath of Mulgarath by Tony DiTerlizzie & Holly Black
6. Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little by Peggy Gifford
7. Mark's Story: The Gospel According to Peter by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins
8. The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary
9. Shark Island by Joan Druett
10. Click Clack Moo by Doreen Cronin
11. Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Jumping Frogs by Donald J. Sobol
12. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Word Association for March 11th

Good thing I can do the word association at any point during the week, isn't it?

  1. Mourning :: Funeral
  2. Approval :: Budget
  3. Lotion :: Chapped Hands
  4. Perspire :: Excercise
  5. Language :: Watch Your!
  6. Defection :: Cold War
  7. Play :: Stage
  8. Graphic :: Novel
  9. Spicy :: Food
  10. In love :: Married

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Disney Birthday Weekend

I might recover from this last weekend eventually. It was tons of fun, but I could barely function yesterday.

After work, I headed south to spend the weekend with my parents in their trailer. They found a trailer park about 10 minutes from Disneyland. That's much better than the hour I'd have to drive if I were at home. Due to an accident, a trip that can take as little as one hour took two and a half. Believe me, I was ready to be there when I got there. After dinner, my parents let me open my birthday present. Then we went to bed.

Saturday morning we were up and going early. Despite a the set back of the parking lot where I planned to park not being open, we managed to get into Disneyland at openning where we met up with Angelique. The park was crowded, but we still managed to get in everything we wanted to do. In fact, around 11 we decided we were done for the day and all headed home. After all, we lost an hour thanks to day light saving time this weekend. That didn't help with how tired we all were.

We did get to go through the reopened Sleeping Beauty Walk Through. They did a really good job with it. Several of the scenes look like the old ones from the walk through recreation on the recent DVD release. And some of them include some pretty cool effects. I'm glad to see that piece of history come back.

We also went through the new Small World. They've added Disney characters throughout. I'm not that big a fan of the changes, although some of them were pretty seamless. Still, there was no need to include them. Not that I will let it stop me from going on that ride. I loved it as a child and I still love it.

Sunday, we got up and going again. The destination this time was CA Adventure. I had to wait in a line to get my free birthday ticket. Since we already had 2fer tickets, I went with a pass that's good for one park at some point during the next year. Now, I just need to plot my return trip.

The park didn't seem quite as crowded although it was certainly still popular. We started with Soarin' Over California, my mom's favorite ride. From there we went to Toy Story Midway Mania. Mom and Dad proceeded to ride Soarin' a total of four times. Angelique and I didn't ride it quite that many, although I did make it for three of them. Since that's how many we rode it last year, I think I may have created a monster. :)

The only down part of the day was that my friends Ryan and Charis didn't get to join us like we had originally planned.

We left at 10, when the park closed. But I decided I wanted to get a mug I'd seen on Saturday, so into the World of Disney store we went. By the time I found and bought it, it was close to 11 by the time we got back to the trailer and just after midnight by the time I got home. I had to do a little unpacking, so I crashed into bed around 1.

So, two days on my feet followed by very little sleep. Do you see why I was exhausted yesterday?

But I'd do it again in a heart beat.

The funny things is people have been asking if I was sick because I sounded stuffed up. Not sure what it was, because I felt find. I'm sounding better today, so I don't think I caught a cold after all. Phew!

Of course, being out in the cold weather for two days might have had something to do with it. I was wearing my sweatshirt for most of both days. The afternoons were pleasantly warm, but the rest of the time was cool if not downright cold after it got dark.

Friday, March 06, 2009

Redecorating

I know I'm probably the only one who looks at the right side of my blog, but I've been playing around with it all week.

It all started when Blogrolling finally came back on line. While my blogroll has been up, the ability to add or subtract anything has been frozen for six months or so now. When they relaunched it, they gave us two options. Either A) we could deal with small banner ads at the top of each page until we click a link to get rid of them of B) pay a yearly fee. When I signed up they were great because they were the only site that would organize your blogs for you in a simple non-HTML process. Now Blogger will do that for me for free. So why pay or put up with the ads?

So Wednesday night, I took the time to import all my old blog list into Blogger service. The only problem I have with Blogger's service is that it takes up too much room. So I've reordered things a little to make it easier for me. In an attempt to cut down on space, I did turn off the option to list when the blog was last updated, but after a couple days it is already driving me up a wall. I'll probably turn that back on next week.

Part of the reason for posting this is, if I used to link you and you can't find your blog now, let me know. It was an accident, trust me.

Not having the blogs in alphabetical order will drive me crazy if I am looking for someone in particular, but it is so nice if I just want to read new posts.

And I've added a ton of friends whose blogs I've been meaning to add for months (much longer then the outage). Now I have even more blogs to feel the need to keep up with.

Not much else going on in my life. It's been a quiet week, but I am about to make up for that. Two days at Disneyland for my birthday with friends and family. Is it tomorrow yet?

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

That's Responsibility?

So, a week ago, I actually had hope. I heard President Obama talking about how he was going to trim the Federal Government's budget whether it made him a one term President or not. And I thought to myself, "Maybe we've actually got someone who will balance the budget and truly cut spending."

Then I heard the details.

Despite the cover which declares it is "Responsible," it is anything but. See, in the first year, he's proposing a $1 Trillion deficit. Over the next few years the deficit will decrease until it is around $500 Billion about the time President Obama is up for reelection. Then it starts to go up again. A decade from now, it will be around $800 billion. For one year!

Now I'm not even going to get into the ins and outs of whether his numbers are realistic or whether the savings are truly savings. I'll let those who are read it better deal with that.

But how can continually borrowing hudge amounts of money be responsible? I'd like to try this for a few years. I'll just spend money on whatever I want. Then, when the bills come due, I'll just borrow to pay for them. That works in the real world, right?

The only responsible thing for our government to do is actually cut spending to match what they actually take in. And pay down the debt. There is a finite supply of money. And if we keep spending money like we are, we will cease to exhist as a nation.

I have been thinking of this quote for several months. "When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic." Thanks to Mike Janke, I remember it was from Benjamin Franklin. But it is accurately depicting the outcome for our nation.

And before anyone jumps on me, yes I know that Bill Clinton actually managed to balance the budget. As much as I didn't like him as President, that is one thing that made me happy. And one reason I was getting frustrated with President Bush was how imbalanced the budget was getting.

Now, if only we could get truly responsible people in office things would be so much better.

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Happy Square Root Day!

Yes, I had to have it pointed out to me, but today is 3/3/9 and 3*3 = 9. I'm a geek, but I find stuff like that fun.

This weekend was productive but fun at the same time. I started with fun on Friday night. My Sunday School class got together and had a game night. Apples to Apples was included at one point, and we were laughing so hard. It's nice to work on building relationships with people on a different level.

Saturday, I never left the condo. Well, I did leave it to go for a two mile run at one point, but that was about it. Brennon and I tackled the garage. There's still way too much junk down there (most of it mine), but you can actually walk from one end to the other again, which is good since I needed to get some stuff out of it this week.

That night, I hung out with Brennon, Josiah, and a friend of theirs. We started out by watching Prince Caspian. I hadn't seen it since it was in the theaters, but I still really enjoyed it. Then we wound up down at the pool and hot tub. It was nice, except for the fact that I tweaked my shoulder. It was beginning to get better, but now it is bothering me some again. Not as bad as a month ago, but it is still frustrating. At this rate, I may never get back to working out.

But the weather was wonderful this weekend. It was in the 70's on Saturday and 80's on Sunday. I wish that was the prediction for this coming weekend.

Anyway, Sunday we only had one church service followed by a potluck lunch. Got to hang out with some members I don't see that often (and some I do), which was nice. Then Joe came over and we watched Speed Racer. Again, I hadn't see it since May, but I enjoyed it just as much the second go around.

In between all that, I also got everything of mine off the DVR! At the beginning of the summer, I recorded some movies I figured I'd get a chance to watch. Wrong! And there they've been sitting for months. A week ago, I was down to four and decided it was time to get them all watched. Of course, I've got stuff on there again, but it is so nice to have a couple of recent TV episodes instead of four movies. Even better, I've written but not posted reviews. Spacing them out one a week, I could probably last until May without having to watch another movie.

And a quick public service announcement. 5 Minutes for Books is discussing fondly remembered kids' books and hosting a contest. Check it out.

Monday, March 02, 2009

Word Association for March 2nd

Time for more Word Association.

  1. Pain :: and Suffering
  2. Lego :: My Eggo!
  3. Trooper :: Police Officer
  4. Flicker :: Pictures
  5. Character :: Funny
  6. Determined :: Resolved
  7. Wing :: Bird
  8. Control :: Issues
  9. Automatic :: Pilot
  10. Yeah :: Agree