Starting Over

Here it is, the last day of 2010 and I noticed that once again, I have been neglecting my blogging duties and haven't had an entry since August! Well, New Year's is the time for resolutions and starting new, or at least they say it is. 2010 was a good year. I was employed for the entire year and although I was still a contractor, I stayed at the same company, handled changes, new bosses, new duties and even got a new computer the last week of work. I went to my first Drum Corps show which was amazing. It was in Minneapolis, which was another first for me and I found the city charming. The show got rained out or rather violent stormed out, but the Corps I did get to see were fantastic and have made me a fan for life. I ate at several new restaurants, some good, some just so so. I turned 40. I picked up a guitar for the first time since college and began playing again. I stood in line at the Apple Store for the release of the iPad so I could be one of the first to have one. Met Derrick Rose on the same day. I reconnected with my brother whom I hadn't spoken to since I moved out of Florida. And, of course, I really enjoyed cooking with my oven! I'm not going to look back on regret on the fact that I didn't read all 100 books I was planning on reading or that I didn't blog every day or every other day about it. Can't change the past, just have to move forward.

So, since I made promises that I simply couldn't or didn't keep last year, this year I'm making no promises. Just a list of things I would like to do/achieve in 2011.

• I would like to be employed permanently. (Hopefully with the company I've been "contracting" for for 2 years.)
• I would like to learn a new song a week on the guitar. Meaning I will have to play every day and by next New Year's Eve have a repertoire of 52 songs!
• I would like to read more and watch TV less. I have an iPad and Kindle loaded on my iPad and computer so there is no reason that I can't download any number of books I would like reading.
• I would like to get in better shape. The plan is to join the YMCA and start out in the pool until my muscles are used to working out again. I want to lose weight, yes...but I would also like to simply be fitter.
• I would like to continue to cook new recipes and explore new restaurants.
• I would like to go to Minneapolis in July and see a complete Drum Corps show and especially stand in front of the horn line of Phantom Regiment to feel that awesome power!
• I would like to go to London in November, and if not...Door County for Thanksgiving or Jamaica for Christmas.
• I would like to write in my blog every day.
• I would like to get back on a horse at some point during the year. I miss riding every day and being around those gentle giants.
• I would like to take our St. Bernard, Harley on more walks, which would be good for us both.
• I would like to swim in Lake Michigan at least once during the summer.
• I would like to see another opera.
• I would like to go to a live sporting event, whether it be golf tournament, football game, baseball game or hockey game.

So those are just a few of the things I'd like to see happen in 2011. Let's check back in a year and see how many of them I accomplished. I'm stubborn, and when I set my mind to something, I can do anything!

Munchies and Monchichi's

Once again it's been awhile and I'm not even going to come up with excuses or promise that I'll write more often, because obviously I don't write as much in here as I'd like to or as I should. I suppose I should just write when the moment feels right and not worry so much about it.

It's hot here in Chicago, been in the 90's to upper 80's most of the past 4 days now and more humid than I think I ever experienced while living in Florida. I'm not complaining though, I've spent the weekend on the couch, watching golf, grabbing things for FarmVille on Facebook and having a severe case of the munchies. Yesterday I munched on several different boxes of mini cereals, some miniature Reese's peanut butter cups, a few Tootsie Roll pops, some Entemann's doughnuts and a pint of Ben & Jerry's chocolate ice cream. It's that glorious time of the month for me and my cramps were severe yesterday which for some reason, made me extremely hungry. Today, the munchies linger, but we're out of munching food and I can't decide whether or not to get in the car myself or send Eric to the store to get potato chips, Dove chocolates with caramel and some more ice cream! I know I shouldn't be munching on any of those things, but sometimes you just have to munch.

As for the Monchichi's--I don't know why but a few months ago when Eric was rubbing my legs after a long day at work, it felt so nice that I babbled something about monchichi's. Why that came up? I don't know. Then, of course, I had to sing the whole song for him, which he had never heard...and then proceed to show him pictures of the cute and cuddly little monkey children who suck their thumbs. I don't believe I ever even owned a Monchichi of my own. It's kind of weird how some things pop back into your head after so many years. Now"MONCHICHI!" has become an exclamation of pure joy around here, and sometimes we say sad, quiet, "monchichi's" when something hurts, accompanied by a pouting lower lip.

I'm just grateful that tomorrow the cramps will be gone, the munchies will be history, and hopefully I will come up with better ideas for my blog postings than this silly nonsense. Next weekend will be our summer weekend at Ravinia. Counting Crows on Saturday and Crosby, Stills & Nash and Sunday. That should be something to write about.

A Man Like Edward

I will admit that until tonight I had never seen any of the "Twilight" movies. I'm not really one to go to midnight showings of the latest flick and really don't want to sit in a theatre full of screaming teenage girls, even though I used to be one myself. I love the Harry Potter books and movies, but I have never been to a midnight release of those books and/or movies either. I didn't think I really wanted to see another "vampire" movie and thought Kristen Stewart basically had only one facial expression--bored teenager-- whether in the movies or in interviews I've seen on TV. I also believed that I would never see Robert Pattinson as anyone other than Cedric Diggory from the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire movie.

I have friends on Facebook who were planning on taking daughters, nieces and friends to the latest midnight release of the latest "Twilight" saga on Wednesday evening. I couldn't understand why they would subject themselves to that, especially if they had to work the next morning. But I can now, sort of, see where they are coming from.

Edward Cullen is an interesting character and a man we all would love to have in our lives. Whether teenager or older woman. He has good looks, a loving family that would accept us for who we are, he's polite to fathers, he can play sports, he is intelligent, he never sleeps, he drives a whole bunch of neat cars, he plays the piano, he lets us dance on his feet, he can take us to places we've never been before, and he watches over us as we sleep yet he cannot read our minds so he's never going to figure out what we're really thinking. Plus he will fight to keep us alive at any cost. He wants nothing more than to protect us. On the downside, he's got cold skin, and he is a bit moody and could kill us at any moment. I also think it would be tough for him to stay in one place for very long. I mean, he can't keep going to high school in the same town for years and years. I did really like the clever artwork in the house where they had a whole bunch of graduation caps.

The first movie was good. Took a little to get into, but once the action started I thought it was interesting and had some good plot twists. I almost hate to admit that I'd actually like to see the next two movies. I'd also like to read the books.

Those of you who have already seen all the movies or read the books please don't ruin it for me. I want to decide for myself if I should be on Team Edward or Team Jacob. Right now though, Edward looks pretty good to me.

Throwing in the Towel

Ok, that's it. I quit. My literary pursuit of the 100 most notable books of 2009 by The New York Times is over. I know I only read 10 books, but I only enjoyed one of them so I figured it was best to move on to books I do like. Now I'm not saying The New York Times doesn't know what it's talking about, and I'm sure the books all had their merits, but they just weren't my kind of reading. The last book, "Love and Summer" was hard to follow, didn't really have much of a story, and left you with characters who had unresolved issues/lives. One passage in the book did make me cry, but that was the passage about an old dog passing away. It was probably the best written passage in the whole book and that's not saying much. I think my tears were more due to the fact that I'm an animal lover, rather than the beauty of the writing.

So without further ado, I am now reading Jasper Fforde's latest book "Shades of Grey." I love Jasper Fforde. He has written a series of novels called the Thursday Next books which involve a woman who travels through time and helps various literary characters. It's part mystery, part comedy and is absolutely perfect for those of us who were English majors in college. If you haven't read some of the great novels of our time, you won't get it. "Shades of Grey" is a different novel, this is about people who live in a world of colors and their society is based on their colors. The main character, Eddie Russett is a "red" who is supposed to marry another "red" but then falls in love with a "grey" woman who threatens to break his jaw the first time she meets him. I am thoroughly enjoying this book and was laughing out loud just by reading the table of contents. I'm only a quarter of the way through the book, so I can't give a full review yet but I know I will enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed Fforde's other novels.

Yes, a part of me feels bad that I didn't make my goal. I didn't even come close to reading two books a week. And I even feel guilty about giving up, and perhaps there are some books on that list that I am truly missing out on. But as I believe I have mentioned before, I love reading, it is a great joy, a great escape, a great way for me to spend my time, and I simply wasn't enjoying the books I was reading. Reading shouldn't be a chore and that's what it felt like it had become.

So I'm happier and believe it or not, will probably get a lot more books read than I had originally planned.

UPDATE TIME

Wow, I guess time flies when you have a new iPad. I realize today that I haven't blogged since I got my new iPad almost 2 months ago and today Apple announced they have sold 2 million of them. I am enjoying my iPad thoroughly and really enjoying the new apps that are coming out specifically for the iPad. Downloaded the Weather Channel app this morning and it is really cool. Plus it was free which is always good. I've also re-discovered my Epicurious app, which has thousands of recipes and good reader/user feedback so I plan on using that a lot to see what new things I can come up with to cook this summer. I was using the iPad to catch up on missed episodes of "Lost" but ran out of time before the finale. I was disappointed in the finale but didn't really think that a show that left me with so many questions each week would possibly be able to answer all of them I've had for the past 6 seasons in just 2 hours. I've also been avidly using my iPad as an eBook reader. I am now on my 3rd book and really enjoying the layout, the fonts, the way the pages turn and the cute little bookshelf that will, I'm sure, be filled by the end of the year with books I have read.

So, brief reviews? First book I read on the iPad was "Half Broke Horses" by Jeannette Walls. It was a semi-biographical book about the author's grandmother. It was interesting. Her grandmother was a rough and tumble girl who grew up on a cattle ranch and had adventures learning how to fly and teaching at local Arizona schools. It was an easy read and I finished it in less than a week. I was entertained by a different view of the "wild, wild, west" and having spent my formative years in New Mexico could relate to the characters. I didn't like the ending, which kind of just dropped you, but I'd probably recommend the book.

The next book I read was "Family Album" by Penelope Lively. This book was about a family growing up in England. It revolved around their house which was called Allersmead. All the children had different stories, and some surprises along the way. There was a live-in maid who ended up having an affair with the father of the family, then she went away and brought the child back and they raised it as one of their own, but the kids always knew their "sister" was different. It's no "Brideshead Revisited" but it was ok.

The book I am currently reading, and should finish this week, is called "Love and Summer" by William Trevor. This book is set in Ireland and follows a few characters, but the main story is supposed to be about a young girl who was brought to be a bride of a much older widower who's first wife died in a farming accident. She ends up falling in love with a photographer who is a stranger in town and they have an affair. It's kind of like the Irish version of "Bridges of Madison County." Can't say I'm really enjoying it. I tend to read a couple of chapters here and there and then put it down for a few days. It's written in a way that is a little hard to follow and the editors did a poor job, as there are several spots where there are gaps in the words or major misspellings.

Today is Memorial Day and the official start of Summer! We're having a thunderstorm right now but they said those should be gone by 4pm so I can still grill. So, hopefully I'll find some more time to do some more reading this summer and try to find a book I truly enjoy. I did truly enjoy "American Rust" but that's one out of 6 from the NY Times list and I'm finding it difficult to pick new ones seeing that I am disappointed so far.

What else is going on? Eric and I have amended our Ravinia schedule and are now only going to four concerts. Steve Martin, The Counting Crows (who were not on our original list), Crosby, Stills and Nash, and Train. We went to our first art festival of the summer up in Barrington on Saturday and that was fun but surprisingly hot, so we didn't stay too long. The Printer's Row Lit Fest is coming up in a couple of weeks and I am really looking forward to going to that. Last year we took our St. Bernard, Harley and he was the star of the show. The downside to that is that I couldn't spend time looking at books because we had to keep answering questions about Harley. This year, Harley is staying at home. We'll also go to the Wisconsin State Fair in August to look at the animals and have some cream puffs, italian sausage and corn. We'd like to get some golfing in at some point, but we'll have to see what happens. I know I'll be grilling a lot, and perhaps this is my summer to perfect a fruit tart.

I will try to keep up with my blogging. I find when I blog I end up having a lot to say, so if I did it more often, my entries would be shorter.

Off to wait for the thunderstorms to end so I can do some Memorial Day grilling.

Thanks again for reading and providing me with positive feedback.

iWanted an iPad so iJoined the iParty

Last Saturday, on a cool, rainy spring morning in Chicago, Eric and I woke up early and headed to Skokie to the Westfield Old Orchard Shopping Center to stand in line for the latest of Steve Jobs' inventions, the iPad.

Now I have always been an Apple/Mac fan. I first fell in love with Mac's in high school when I was in journalism class. I used to wait in line in college when I went to the computer lab to use one of the 5 Mac's they had so I could type my papers. The first computer I got after graduating college was a Mac. Due to my financial situation later in life I was forced into buying cheaper PC's and using Windows. I remember the day Windows came out and I looked and said, "Well they are just copying Apple." I never liked Windows, never really liked Microsoft. Bill Gates is doing a lot of good in the world, but the fact that he got rich on a stolen idea, one that keeps needing updates and is prone to viruses...well, I'm getting off track.

When I was able and looking for a new laptop to replace my Gateway that was slowly dying, I bought a MacBook Pro. I got it home, had it out of the box, on and on the internet in less than 20 minutes. I had gotten an iPod back when I lived in Florida and was using it to listen to music while I worked out or go for walks, or just to dance while I did the dishes. My first iPod died before it's warranty ran out and I went to the Apple store and they gave me a new one. No questions asked. When I heard that the iPhone was coming out I had a different type of phone. I thought it was neat, but didn't really want one. I think they were too new. I was also happy with my Verizon coverage and didn't want to switch to AT&T. For my first Christmas with Eric, I got him the iPod Touch, engraved on the back because he too was a Mac Fanatic. I was afraid to touch his iPod Touch, but when I did, I really liked it. So, last October Eric and I bit the bullet and got iPhones. Our contract with Verizon was coming to a close, and I had heard about the new 3GS version and thought it was cool. I have been very happy with the iPhone, loved the Apps, loved that now my music, photos and phone were all together in one place. And although I don't get the best coverage from AT&T at work in downtown Chicago, it works well and I've never dropped a call.

Even though I am a huge Apple/Mac fan, I had never understood the desire to stand in a long line, camp out overnight if needed, and join the masses. I will admit I got gaga over the iPad when it was first announced, even before it was announced in fact. I was at work and watched Steve Jobs sit in his chair in San Francisco and show all the things this "tablet" could do. I wanted one then, but quickly squelched my desires, realizing that there were bills to pay and I already had an iPhone and a MacBook and those would be sufficient to do what I needed to do.

As last Saturday approached though, fate intervened. Eric had recently gotten a job after a long layoff so money was coming in and I had finally sold a saddle of mine (since I haven't ridden a horse for over 4 years now) so I got a check from that. That check was enough to cover the cost of a new iPad, two train passes for the month and groceries for the week and then some...so Eric and I spent an evening on the porch and decided we would go stand in line with everyone.

We called the Old Orchard Apple store on Thursday and was told that mall security wouldn't let anyone line up before 7am and was also assured that they would have plenty of iPads available. So we got up around 6am. Eric had a cup of coffee, and we went to Walker Brothers Pancake house in Wilmette for breakfast. We got to Old Orchard around 7:30 and I was happy to see that there weren't tons of cars in the parking lot. I had seen a story on the news the night before that a woman had lined up on Michigan Avenue on Friday morning so she could be first in line, so I was a bit worried.

When we turned the corner of the mall and looked at where the Apple store was, there was a small group of people. Mostly Apple employees standing around. They were setting up a table from Starbucks to give those of us standing in line free coffee, cookies, granola bars, water, and bananas. The Apple employees asked us if we had reserved an iPad, which I didn't know I could do until it was too late and probably wouldn't have done anyway since this was a last minute decision. We said no and they told us to stand in one line. The other line was for people who had reserved their iPads. We were about 6th in line which wasn't bad. As we waited, the lines kept growing as did the blue shirt wearing Apple employees. They all disappeared around 8:15 am though. I later found out it was so they could see the iPad for themselves for the first time and to get some training on it.

Most of the others in line were holding iPhones, or iPods and were discussing what they were going to do with their iPads. One gentleman was going to use it for two weeks and then give it to his wife when he stood in line in a couple of weeks to get the 3G version. A lot of people had already ordered iPads online, but since those weren't shipping until the 12th, they decided to get one on the first day and then sell it on eBay once they got theirs via UPS. It was a friendly group. A guy a couple of people behind us was on the phone with his parents who were standing in line in Atlanta to get their iPads, and since they were an hour ahead of us, they called him and told him all about it even while we were still staring at the black curtain they had over the store's windows.

About quarter to 9, I had to excuse myself to go to the restroom and as I stepped out of line, there was a big cheer as the black curtain was dropped and there were iPads sitting in the windows. I came back and everyone was taking pictures. We were taking pictures of the iPad, and the Apple employees were taking pictures of us taking pictures. Then they opened the doors and they all ran out and just like at the end of a hockey game or baseball game, they ran down the line and high fived all of us, yelling, cheering, clapping, taking videos, etc. Eric announced "It's kind of like a birthday party at Chili's." Then they all disappeared into the store again and lined up in the store. A few of them came outside and announced to us that they would let 10 people who pre-ordered into the store for every 1 person who didn't. I was hoping this didn't mean we were going to be standing there a long time.

I have to tell you this was a very smooth operation. When you got to the front of the line, someone asked your name and engaged in small talk until it was your turn. Then you were introduced to an Apple employee who took you into the store, past some more cheering, clapping employees, and helped you with your purchase. Our employee was Otis, who was wearing glasses without lenses in them. He was very nice...joked about what we were there for and when I said I wanted the 32 MB version he said, let me grab that before they are all gone. So he went to get that, Eric went to go pick out a cover for his MacBook, and Otis brought me the box and then took me over to the accessory wall to try and sell me more things. I did get a cover for the iPad but nothing else. We gathered our purchases and while Otis grabbed a bag to put it all in, Eric took a picture of me holding the iPad. We were out of the store and back in the car by 9:27am. It was a highly efficient, well run, very enjoyable experience. But something I suppose I've come to expect from Apple.

As a side note, as Eric and I were heading back to the car, a Maserati pulled up with Florida plates and out crawled Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls. He was going to go stand in line to get his iPad too.

After a trip to the grocery store, we drove home and I took out my new iPad. I was thrilled to discover that the first time I turned it on, it still had battery power of 97%. I plugged it into the computer and immediately transferred my iPhone apps and my photos over to the iPad. I also downloaded two apps I had seen on TV. Scrabble was one of those apps and the cool part of that app is that if you are playing with people who have an iPhone, they use the iPhone as their tile holder and then flip tiles from the phone onto the board on the iPad. Cool! But I have to say that the best app is iBooks.

Those of you who are my friends on Facebook, or are even followers of this blog know that I had been debating about getting a Kindle or some other eBook reader for some time. I had decided that it was too expensive and that I really didn't want to stare at a computer screen all day since I did it at work, and again for an hour or so when I got home. The iPad is the perfect eBook reader with their application called iBooks. After I downloaded iBooks, I was thrilled to look upon the screen and see my bookshelf with "Winnie The Pooh" sitting on it. I opened the book and was amazed at how you could turn the pages with your finger and see the print on the back side of the page. I downloaded a book from my list and have already read it, and have downloaded another one. (Review to come.) I do have to admit that it is nice to be able to highlight an unknown word and get a definition right on the screen. And it is also nice to get a book in about 5 seconds compared to waiting for it for 5 days from Amazon. I will never stop buying books at bookstores, but this electronic version is not a bad substitute. I also appreciate that Apple has put classics on iBooks for Free...so you can read "Pride and Prejudice" or "Alice in Wonderland" or "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare" at no additional cost. iBooks has promised that books that contain references to music will have links so you can hear the music and that they are developing books for the iPad that will have videos in them as well.

So I now have a device that I can use as a digital photo frame, a digital library, a music player, a Scrabble game board, surf the internet, read the newspapers, and even check my email. There are things my iPad does that I don't even know about yet.

So, I was the first on the train with my iPad, and I was the first at work with my iPad and although I wasn't first in line, I was glad I got one the first day.

Summer Vacation

Yes, I know that yesterday was only the first day of Spring. And yes, I know that we got 3 inches of snow here in Chicago yesterday. But it's never too early to start thinking about how Eric and I are planning on spending our lazy, crazy, hazy days of summer. I would love to go back to London, but it's expensive, and with the economy lately, not too practical. I'd like to go to Vegas since I've never been, but who wants to go to Vegas in the summer? Same with Florida. I have some good friends down there and it would be fun to take the ferry from Ft. Myers to Key West, but again, not in summer. Eric wants to take me to California and show me the LA that he knows and loves. He also wouldn't mind going to Door County but I don't want to be up there with all those other people during that time. I'd rather go there in the "off" season. We are going to go the Wisconsin State Fair again this year, but that's just a day trip.

So, we've decided to stick close to home and have a summer of music at Ravinia. Ravinia, when I was growing up, was the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO). My mother was going when she was pregnant with me, so I went pretty much 3 to 4 times a week every summer from before I was born until about 1992 when I graduated from college and moved to Wisconsin. I have seen some great acts. I have played frisbee on the lawn with members of the CSO. I have watched Jean Pierre Rampal swipe at a fly with his gold flute. I was there the night Harry Chapin was supposed to play and his brother played instead because Harry died in a crash on the way to Ravinia. I have done a sound check with the Little River Band. I have been there when a thunderstorm came out of nowhere and blew the sheets of music off the orchestra's music holders, causing the music to stop and everyone to leave their soaked blankets on the lawn and run for their cars. I have seen Chuck Mangione, Spyro Gyra and always enjoyed it when Preservation Hall came every year. I remember in my youth, Barry Manilow used to play Ravinia until he got so popular, kids would line up the night before and they stopped inviting him.

I think there is something so nice, so civilized about sitting out on the lawn with your blanket and a packed picnic dinner and relaxing to some beautiful music. Ravinia used to have benches that you sat on to eat, and then turned over to make an area to rest your back while you closed your eyes or gazed up at the stars and listened to Bach, Beethoven or Mozart. They used to let us bring torches that would keep the bugs away and would let my brother and I know where our parents were sitting after we were done throwing the frisbee around, or crawling on the sculptures, or standing in line for giant scoops of ice cream.

Ravinia has changed over the years. The pavilion is still there, the lawn is still there...but where we used to get fried chicken is now a big, fancy, two level sit down restaurant. The beer/wine gazebo is now another place for food. And the music has changed. Sure the CSO is there...for maybe 2 weeks now. Now the Backstreet Boys and Carrie Underwood are the big sellers. And now, the lawn sells out. How can that be? I remember when Preservation Hall would come and people would set up blankets and chairs on the pavement just beyond the lawn. It never sold out. I'm not picking on it, or saying I don't like it. Just saying it's changed.

Last concert I went to at Ravinia was Gordon Lightfoot. This had to be back in the early 1990's. It stunk. Gordon played only 45 minutes, and because I had taken the train, he played just long enough for all of us to miss the early train and have to wait an hour and a half for the next one. Gave us a lot of time to bitch about how awful Gordon was.

But, again, I'm willing to have another go. I think Eric and I will have a good time. Most of the concerts we have picked are on the weekends except for one on a Wednesday night. It will be nice to have someone to go with. It will be fun preparing picnic food and packing a blanket and setting up a Crate & Barrel table. I am looking forward to our summer of music and for those of you who are interested here's our lineup.

We are starting the summer off in June on the 5th with Vince Gill and then a week later Steve Martin on the banjo.

We are then going to skip the month of July because its usually hot and sticky and also because no one is coming that we are interested in seeing.

Next comes August where we are going to see the BoDeans who I absolutely love, Crosby, Stills, & Nash whom Eric absolutely loves and Poi Dog Pondering which is a great and very interesting Chicago band.

This will bring us to the end of summer, and the first week in September or the week before Labor Day. And who better to take us to the end of summer than the boys who wanted us to spend the endless summer The Beach Boys! We're also going to see Train because I have loved them since they started and I turned Eric onto them.

So that's our summer plan. A little picnic food, a little music, and all close to home. Come and look for us on the lawn if you want!

Another Whine Bites the Dust

Earlier this week I finished "The Anthologist" by Nicholson Baker. This was the next book on my list of the now 45 fiction books I am reading this year. Several years ago Mr. Baker wrote a book called "Vox." I remember this book because everyone said it was very controversial. It was about phone sex, which, as Americans, we're not supposed to talk about in public. I got caught up in the "ooohhh...giggle, giggle, we can't read that" baloney that the news was all atwitter about and bought it. I hated it. It wasn't really about phone sex. Or maybe it was, somewhat. All I know and remember is that I was upset that it wasn't as racy, or controversial as I thought it would be. It was also not well written and it is now hidden somewhere in my boxes of books and if I don't happen to find it, I will not be too upset.

So lets just say I probably went into "The Anthologist" with a little bit of pre-conceived, "I'm not going to like this" attitude. But I'm always willing to give an author another shot. Especially because this one was about poetry and I have loved poetry, and some poets, for most of my life. Well, I read the first chapter and made a face. Here we had Paul Chowder who had just lost his girlfriend because he was supposed to be writing an introduction to an anthology of poetry and he couldn't get himself to do it. She was tired of waiting for him to do it, or do anything in fact, that she moved out. So here was another book about another middle-aged whiner. He whined about being alone, he whined about not being able to write, he whined about having to travel, he whined about free verse. Well boo f*ing hoo. I whined because I kept reading the book. It was short, thank goodness, and I could read a chapter or two on the train in the morning and again on the way home. He did have some clever alliterations in there like thinking another poets work was a "firkin of flaccidness." But he also had weird parts that didn't really belong in the book like the time he ran into Edgar Allen Poe in the grocery store and asked him about The Raven. Not sure if this was a dream or if it was just a daydream or he actually thought he ran into Edgar Allen Poe. He also kept falling down and cutting himself, which of course, meant he had to call his ex to come take care of him. In the end, he wrote the introduction, started dating the ex again, and became a carpenter instead of a poet/teacher. Another ho hum ending to a life I really cared nothing about.

The next book in my list is "The Art Student's War." I haven't bought it yet, but I just received a free kindle download for my Mac, meaning I could read the book on my computer. I know, all my friends in publishing are screaming "NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" right now. I may try it out. It's cheaper than the actual book, plus, I spend enough time on my laptop that it would be just as easy to carry that on the train as it would the book. It's just an experiment. And I didn't have to buy a Kindle in order to try it out, so all in all, I'm only out $15, rather than hundreds. I have not heard of the author of "The Art Student's War" so I cannot go into this book with any prior ideas. That is a good beginning right there. Also, its about a woman, so hopefully no whining.

Change of Plans

So as some of you may have noticed, I have not blogged in over a month. I seem to be bad about keeping up with this, no matter how good my intentions are. I will pledge once again to try and keep up with it, because I enjoy writing and getting words out there is good for me.

Anyway, the reason for not blogging is that I have not been feeling all that well. Went to the doctor to find out that I had high blood pressure, but went back last month and without medication I got it down on my own. I was also having some dizzy spells and some headaches but those seem to be calming down as well. A couple of weeks ago I couldn't really eat which was good for weight loss, but bad for headaches. I seem to be back on track. I'm feeling normal, eating better, and I've lost 16 lbs which is good. I'm hoping all this is because I've been under some stress at work and am a little sick of winter. I need to see something green and hear some birds chirp soon.

One of the side effects of not feeling well has been that my book project has been put on hold. I finished "American Rust" which was absolutely amazing. It was well written, kept my interest, had interesting characters and it made me feel for what they were going through. Of the books I had read, this one was the best one so far. The author, Phillip Meyer was so descriptive, I felt like I was in that little run-down steel town and following along on the adventures of the characters. It did remind me of a John Steinbeck novel. A true slice of America and the hardships that happen every day.

I had started the next non-fiction book in my list, "The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science" and have gotten about a quarter of the way through it. It is well written and interesting, but I can only read a few pages at a time. The book is filled with information which is almost too much to take in. So, when I started having dizzy spells, I really didn't feel like focusing so hard on a book. I will admit I put it down and have not picked it back up yet. It is sitting on the coffee table waiting for me to stick it in my bag I take to work.

So now to my change of plans. I don't want to feel like I failed at my resolution, so I'm going to stick with reading the 45, well now 43, books on the fiction list. I figure I can get that done by the end of the year, it won't be as big a challenge for me and it will be something I enjoy more so will probably stick to it. Again, I don't want to say that I don't like non-fiction books. I just find that with things being busy at work and things also busy when I get home, I don't have time that the non-fiction books would require for me to truly understand them and enjoy them. If I had two weeks or more to read each book, that might be possible. But I want to give this resolution and the books a fair chance. In my mind, books are meant to be enjoyed and just right now, I am not enjoying the non-fiction books. Now that my health is back on track, it's time to get back on track with the reading AND the writing of the blog. I expect you, my friends and followers to help me keep this up. Keep asking about the blog, keep asking how the reading is going and I will be sure to let you know.

Back on Track!

So yesterday, after what seemed like weeks and weeks, I finished the first of the fiction books in my list of 100, "Amateur Barbarians." I hated it. It was one of those books that doesn't go anywhere, the book jacket and the little excerpt from the New York Times both lied to me. I was expecting a seriously funny, witty, or sarcastic book like the back of the book promised me, or at least one that was serious about its subject matter. As I told you, I had a hard time relating to the main characters and I felt even less connected to them when they had their "big epiphanies" or whatever they had. These two middle-aged men, who's lives were terrible and just got more so. There were no answers and as far I as could tell, they had try to make changes and ended up going to exactly where they were before they started their journeys. I didn't see them as "barbarians." The one man went to Africa to save his pregnant daughter and ended up staying, going on a pilgrimage of sorts, and then going back to his hum-drum suburban life to his kids who didn't respect or need him, and his wife who had a very unsuccessful affair with the other sad sack man in the story. The story jumped around and jumped around badly. Plus, the big things in this book, the trip to Africa and the affair happened basically 50 pages from the end of the book. There was a lot of masturbating which seemed unnecessary to me, and a lot of feeling sorry for yourself. We all have pity parties from time to time, but these men lived them constantly. Yuck.

So, now, basically I only have 1 day of leeway left for the rest of the 98 books I have to read by the end of the year. I got the next two books today. "American Rust" by Philipp Meyer is the work of fiction. I'm already concerned because they say he writes like Hemingway and Cormac McCarthy, two very "male" authors. I don't like Hemingway. If this is another "man" read, I'm going to struggle to get through it. I hope not. But I'll let you know. I'm going to take on the fiction book first this time.

My non-fiction choice is "The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science." This is another long book, but I believe will hold my interest more than the quantum physics book did. I will also let you know on this one.

So, no more procrastinating, no more delays. 2 books a week, 50 weeks left in the year. I will do this. I will not end up like the pathetic characters in "Amateur Barbarians." I do not want to go on this journey and not get anything out of it.

Cooking WITH an oven!

After living with Eric for almost a year, yesterday, we finally got an oven. It was a Christmas present from his Mom and although they wanted to get it the Wednesday before Christmas, apparently Sears was very busy delivering all the other appliances people got for the holidays and we were put on hold until January. It was worth it. Friday night, Eric's mom called and told us that it would be delivered between 8:45am and 10:30am. Friday night, surprisingly, Eric was the one who had problems sleeping. I was confident and happy and didn't want to get too excited, but knew exactly what we were having for dinner on Saturday night. My mother's pork chop and rice recipe! A recipe I used to make once a week and now hadn't had for probably over a year.

Around 9:30 or so, Eric went outside for a cigarette and to help his Mom unload groceries from her car. Just as he was closing the trunk I heard the "beep! beep! beep!" of the delivery truck backing up! Even though I had awoken with a horrible toothache, I had a big smile on my face. The delivery guy came upstairs to see how to negotiate the stairs and where the oven was going and then proceeded back to his truck. Eric looked off the balcony and said "It's in a really big box." I assured him that they would probably take it out of the box before they brought it upstairs, which they did. This new oven is stainless steel and had some protective plastic on it, so when they brought it upstairs and we first saw it through the back door, Eric looked at me and said "It's GREEN?" I assured him that no, it was not green, we do not live in the 70's. They brought it in and placed it in its position. Then they connected it to the gas, turned on all the burners, explained to us that we needed to run it for 30 to 40 minutes before we used it to bake off a protective coating and that was that. The oven was home!

Eric invited his mom up to see it and we all just stood around the kitchen in awe. Then we kicked her out and headed to the grocery store for things to put into our new baby. We got a very large take home pizza from Dominick's to bake for lunch and we also got all the ingredients for pork chops and rice. I had also spent the morning watching Food Network and Tyler Florence had a great recipe for panko crusted, rosemary and garlic chicken legs that could be baked in the oven. So we got the ingredients for that as well. Plus Eric's birthday is tomorrow so we got stuff to make him a German Chocolate cake.

When we got home, I turned on the oven and let it bake off its protective coating for the alotted time and then slowly slid the pizza in. After 20 minutes we had an evenly baked, perfectly golden pizza. Yeah! Plus, since it came in its own tray, we didn't even get the oven dirty! I was very happy.

I moved into Eric's with a lot of stuff. I had previously lived in a 3 bedroom house inherited from my parents with a full basement, a 4 bedroom house in Florida, and a two bedroom, rather large apartment in Lake Zurich. So downsizing to an older, smaller two bedroom apartment in the city was a little hard for me. Luckily the apartment across the hall from us is empty and I was able to store all my stuff that didn't fit, which is quite a bit, over there. After lunch Eric and I went across the hall and I began opening my pots and pans boxes to find all my casserole dishes, my baking dishes, my cake pans, my bread pans and the rest of the things I didn't need while I wasn't cooking with an oven. It was like finding old friends. I found my dish towels, my Cuisinart mini-prep, my good cooking utensils and my immersion blender so I can make fantastic soups. I was so happy and excited. We started to bring all this stuff over to our apartment and realized that we didn't really have a place to put it. However, my parents not only left me the love and the joy and the recipes of their culinary lives, they also left me their french bakers rack. We moved the small table that the microwave had been sitting on, went back across the hall and moved the bakers rack over here. It looks really good. I now have a place to put my pots, my dishes, AND some of the hundreds of cookbooks I have. It was almost like bringing in the new oven brought us a whole new kitchen. (We also found my refrigerator magnets and put those up). It now looks like it is a kitchen people use rather than a place people pass through on their way to the bathroom or the bedroom.

I practically sang when I put a pat of butter in the middle of my saute pan and it didn't slide to one side of the pan. I loved the smell of the pork chops and rice coming from the kitchen. It probably wasn't my best pork chops and rice, but it had to be one of the best times I had preparing it and eating it. Today the oven has been used to bake biscuits for breakfast and to make Eric's birthday cake. It will get a rest tonight when Eric gets taken out for his birthday dinner, but tomorrow, I can guarantee you I will be punching the button to heat it up, setting the timer and putting something inside it and smelling the wonderfulness that comes out of it.

I am truly happy.

As for my book progress, unfortunately I am still on the second book, "Amateur Barbarians." I really don't like it. The story doesn't interest me, the characters don't interest me and the man who wrote it, obviously doesn't know how teenagers talk because the scenes in the book with the younger characters are very poorly written. Also, this book was advertised as a book where two middle aged men's lives intertwine. Well, I'm about 50 pages from the end and they are only now getting intertwined. I will finish the book today probably and still don't have my next two yet so I am falling a bit behind on my goal. Ok...I am falling far behind on my goal. But all of you who know me, know how determined I can be and I will succeed. I'll let you know in the middle of the week how I'm doing.

10 Days In and There May be Others

Ok, so I am 10 days into my 100 books in a year, I should, mathematically, and in order to realistically finish, be on my third book right now, or maybe finishing my third book but I am not. I am still working on "Amateur Barbarians" book number two but the first fiction book on my list. It's a good book, I'm reading through it at a good pace, but have not finished it yet, due to not feeling so hot and one of my original passions--football. I will probably finish the book today and that is fine because I do not yet have the next two books on my list. The first one "The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science" is not available at any library, local or within short driving distance, and "American Rust" is not published in paperback yet, which seems to be the only way I can order it on Amazon. It will be released on Tuesday, which gives me plenty of time.

When I discovered that the non-fiction book was not available in any library, it made me wonder if I am not the only person in the Chicagoland area with this idea. Maybe others are planning on reading all 100 books as well, and if they are...then I am behind, for last Sunday was only the 3rd. Could it be that they read a book a day? Could it be that they cheated and started reading the day the list came out which was back in mid-December, one-week earlier online than in print? I'm not sure, or maybe I'm just paranoid but I am also not panicking. I am as determined to complete this goal as much as I was to finishing the first book I read or reading the 7th Harry Potter book in one sitting, or determining not to like the "Bridges of Madison County" and being pissed that I got sucked into it and cried. No matter if I am alone or in a group in my endeavor, I will succeed!

Now, back to "Amateur Barbarians". This book is a "guy" book. It's about two middle-aged men unhappy with their suburban, boring lives and trying to find some way to fulfill what is missing or to evoke some sense of excitement that seems to be lacking. These men's lives will intertwine, yet there has only been a hinting of it in the first 100 pages. This book has some incredible lines that make me stop and say "Wow. That was a good line" My favorite so far being "He tried to collect a coherent impression of himself from the shards of reflection he glimpsed in other people's sunglasses." But in between the good lines, it is a story that I really can't relate to. I'm not a guy. I can't relate to hoping someone notices my erection at a party, or going into the bathroom to masturbate at same party because the cat bit you and no one is sympathetic to your invisible fang puncture wounds. It's interesting and maybe that's what middle-aged men do. In my younger days, I know that my boyfriend at that current time (who was not Eric) would go into the bathroom with his friends to smoke weed or snort coke, pretending they were clever in hiding it. But men are not like women, they don't usually need to go to the bathroom in groups. I'll be interested in seeing how this turns out. I can't say I dislike this more than Hemmingway because so far, the testosterone seems to be lacking but it is, again, a "guy" book.

As I've said before, this is a good goal for me. Teaching me new things, opening my eyes to new experiences, new authors and books I probably wouldn't normally read. I feel this after only reading two books. Just imagine how I'll feel in six months!

99 books to read on the wall, 99 books to read...

Yes! Last night I stayed up past my bedtime and finished my first book. "The Age of Entanglement: When Quantum Physics was Reborn" was closed, probably for good. I did enjoy it, but wouldn't put it on my Top 10 list. Probably not even on my Top 50 list. It was interesting It definitely made me think--so much so, that my brain hurt. Towards the end of the book, one of the young physicists says that physics should be so easy that we can explain it to any junior high or high school student. I will admit that the author did a good job of that. There was nothing complicated about her approach, and you could always turn to the glossary if you needed help. The funny thing about the glossary though was that she defined every term in the book the first time she wrote about it, so you didn't really need the glossary. What really interested me about the book though was that all the physicists basically spent their lives arguing about the same thing, siding with one or another and then a few years later, changing their mind. Even today, the younger scientists, physicists, theorists, experimentalists or whatever you want to call them, are arguing with Einstein, trying to prove Bohr or Bell wrong. It doesn't change from decade to decade. Someone will always challenge what someone else says. Especially in a field like Physics where things aren't based in reality anyway. Working with particles so small no one can see them and then deciding what they are going to do while no one is watching is what these men spent all their lives trying to prove. I suppose, in a way, we are all "entangled" with each other. Even though it seems improbable that two items that have nothing to do with each other and will never cross paths, are somehow entangled with other items that will.

The author did try to add some interesting stories, taken from letters and, even in her own admission, made-up from several different sources. So the science was true, but the story surrounding it may or may not have happened. Just like quantum physics.

I am glad I challenged myself on this first book, but am also completely relieved that I now get to read a work of fiction. I started "Amateur Barbarians" this afternoon on the train and already devoured two chapters. This is more my style. More descriptions, more imagination needed and no glossary! This book should be a fast read. I don't believe I will make the 2 books in 7 day deadline, but considering I have to go to the doctor tomorrow, I may get more read than I thought. So, I'm starting a little behind in my goal, yet feel like I've already succeeded for not giving up on the very first book. And that will inspire me to keep going.

I will update you soon and if anyone wants a very slightly used copy of "The Age of Entanglement" I'd be more than happy to share.

Entangled Already

So it is January 4th and I still have 145 pages of my first book to read. I will probably not reach my goal of 2 books this week. I do have a little leeway, but as someone who likes to achieve my goals, I am getting frustrated that it may not happen. Am I breaking my resolution so soon? No, just having to take a bit more time. "The Age of Entanglement" is a little bit of a tougher read than I thought. I can't just read a page, or a chapter and then move on. It's causing me to think about what the author is saying, wonder about quarks and electrons and nuclei and all these famous dead scientists and physicists arguing about what reality is. On the train this morning, there was a passage about poison and a cat in a box and some atomic reaction that may or may not happen and how the cat was in the superposition of both life and death, depending on if the box was really a box in the first place. Ummmm......ok, come on, you have to think about that! Plus now, work has started back up and I have to spend 8 hours doing my job. My commute on the train is only about 20 minutes, which gives me a chance to knock out a few pages or a chapter, but not much more than that.

I probably could have or should have started with the fiction book, but I'm glad I gave myself a challenge. I will not back down. A couple of times Eric has said "if you don't like it, you don't have to finish it." It's not that I don't like the book, I am finding it interesting, I am just having a more difficult time than I thought getting through it. It's not that I don't understand what I am reading, I do...it's just that this book is one that makes you stop and ponder. But I cannot stop and I will not stop. I am hoping to be finished with this book by tomorrow night. I will let you know and give my full review at that time.

Let The Wild Rumpus Start!

2010 arrived today, not with a wild rumpus, but with a kiss and a hug and falling asleep before midnight. Eric and I watched the ball drop in Times Square though, so that usually means it's officially the new year, no matter where you are in the US. It was quiet in our neighborhood at the stroke of midnight. I could hear distant fireworks but no one was shooting off guns or yelling wildly or honking car horns. I like it that way. In my younger days I used to love to wait up and have a champagne toast, wear a silly hat, or as I did in Florida, jump into a pool sans clothing. Now I appreciate the quiet evenings at home, watching a movie or a football game or playing a game of Scrabble. I also appreciate not having to watch the Tournament of Roses Parade with a hangover.

So on this first day of 2010, I awoke with the sun. Usually I am up before the sun, so it was nice that we got up together today. Then I went grocery shopping, came home, watched the parade, watched some football, made some homemade chicken noodle soup, and began my resolution of reading the first of those 100 books I plan on getting through.

I had two choices. My fiction choice was "Amateur Barbarians" by Robert Cohen and my non-fiction choice was "The Age of Entanglement: When Quantum Physics was Reborn" by Louisa Gilder. I chose the non-fiction book because I figure you should always start the new year out with the truth. Plus, I was never big on physics, quantum or otherwise, so I knew I would struggle with this book and figured it would be a good challenge. I was a little concerned that the end of the book contained 100 pages worth of glossary terms and notes, but got over that after looking at the glossary and realizing that I knew more about physics and scientific terms than I had remembered. Living with my mathematician step-father for all those years probably had something to do with it.

I am two chapters into the book and am finding it interesting but also realize that I still am not big on physics. The book contains excerpts from letters, interviews and conversations between all sorts of scientists including Einstein and Bohr. It has charts and footnotes and the author is doing her best to keep it an "easy" read rather than making the reader have to stop and look up every other word in the dictionary. But for me, this is a book where I am only going to be able to read a chapter and then will have to put the book down, think on it a bit and then pick it up again. I don't think this is like "Harry Potter" where I can read it in one sitting, nor do I want it to be. Part of this resolution is to introduce myself to new experiences, new authors, new ideas, and to maybe learn something or a lot of somethings in the process.

So even though the "entanglement" is sort of a "wild rumpus" in the quantum world, I'm going to take it in quietly, like my New Year's Eve celebrations.