I'm reading Hammered, by Kevin Hearne. Swords, sorcery, an old Irish druid, all the world's pantheons of gods made real.  Pure escapism.

My laptop is toast. I picked up some kind of virus, and now all I get is the blue screen of death.  It was time for a new one anyway as it was 8 years old. And I get my longevity bonus this paycheck, so there's that. A new cheap-o laptop, and tires.  So much for saving anything.

I made Korean Ribs off Stephanie O'Dea's slow cooker website, and they were pretty yum. I also made her cream cheese chicken, and there were no leftovers from that, either. Wicked good, both of them.. I'll make both of them again.

Today I've got official unit fun at work, and I get to bring chips and dip. It's cheaper by far than bringing them the ribs or the cream cheese chicken. Or any of the other things I've whipped up in the past. Ziti!

Reading The Cinderella Deal, by Jennifer Crusie.  It's a romance, and I'm only a few pages into it.  I expect pure fluff.  I deserve mindless candy.

I went over to a friend's house this evening to work on my six board box.  For those of you not historically minded, this is a small box made from 6 boards (no, really, six) and was made throughout Northern Europe during the Medieval era. Barry and I knocked it together a couple of weeks ago, put the first coat of enamel on it a week ago, and I sanded it and put the final coat on it this evening. This is my first effort at woodworking and it's pretty crude.  If I have a chance I'll post a picture.  Now that I know the skills required I can pick up some really nice wood and make a second box to practice my skills. And then...  A house!  Or maybe a car!

I've been trying to get everyone to buy their ebooks through the library click through thingie so the Nashville library will get credits that enable them to buy more books to lend. I have only my own self interest at heart, of course. What, you think I pay for all the books I read? I'd go bankrupt.  Nope, I check them out from the Nashville PL, and I do it the lazy woman's way, online.  Or busy woman's way, because we all know everyone has endless time to drive across town, find parking, and browse the collection.  (This is your PSA for the evening. Go buy an ebook, and do it through the library link.)

Speaking of libraries, we have a Carnegie Library just down the street from us. Now, that's a piece of history.

Just finished The Kingdom by Amanda Stevens, and now I can't decide what to read.  I've got four really good books checked out and I can't make up my mind.  You, dear reader, are going to have to live in suspense until the next time I post.

Monday was blah as usual. It was sunny and clear, and hot.  Not as hot as it'll be in August.

I spent the weekend with Mom in Knoxville, just hanging out. We went shopping for clothes and groceries, and I think we spent the rest of the time reading. We did drive all over Knox and Blount Counties, and over into Oak Ridge.  I ran out half a tank, but she needed to be away from the four walls she stays in for a while. It was a good weekend.

I got a little knitting done, but not much. And no sewing.  I have to stay home this weekend and get some sewing accomplished or hand in my license to operate a Singer. I've got so much I need to get done. Not that that's repetitive.

See how boring my life and writing are?  I must let out my inner Stephen King!  Or Mark Twain! Or whoever's in there.

Reading Without Warning by John Birmingham. I do love the post-apocalyptic stuff, mostly because I can close the book and go back to reality. 

I suppose I wouldn't survive the type of cataclysmic event he writes about; I'm almost 60, I'm too comfy in my nice modern electrically powered life. I can drive anywhere, I can buy pretty much what I need to live.  I have a nice comfy middle class existence with a civil service job I go to every day. In short, I'm cannon fodder. 

Anyway, I'm off to Mom's today, for the weekend.  We'll do a few meals out and some shopping. I'll have dinner with the girls (Bonnie and Nancy) Sunday before I come home. A nice, relaxing weekend.  I'll get the oil changed, pick up four or five boxes from the storage to go through. Next week, I've got RUM stuff to get done, class schedules to call for, maybe a new form to test if the IT folks have it done.

Reading The Kingdom, by Amanda Stevens.  It's turning out to be a scarier ghost story than I really like. More on the order of horror than supernatural.  Not so much to my taste.

Dinner with the Wayfarer crew last night went very well, as dinner with friends often does.  We met at the Anatolia, a Turkish restaurant on White Bridge Road.  Mixed reviews on the food; I enjoyed the heck out of my mixed grill (lamb chop, chopped lamb, chicken and beef kabobs and a vegetable kabob) but most of the other folks chose pasta or chicken pot pie or some variation on American cooking, and thought they were ho-hum.  The consensus was, the grilled dishes were the best.  I've never understood the logic behind going to an ethnic restaurant and ordering American food. It kind of misses the whole point of the ethnic experience, and you're not ordering food prepared with the cook's strengths, if you know what I mean.

I do sympathize with people who don't like the particular ethnic food and want something else to choose from, but jeez, don't complain about it when it isn't to your taste. Duh. I think we'll pick a Cuban restaurant next time. And the usual suspects will think the food is boring because they'll order American dishes. 

Home last night to sleep, and I didn't even turn on the TV.  I picked up a book.  I feel so self-righteous and enlightened.  *snort*

Still reading A Discovery Of Witches.  I rather like the story, in spite of the vampires. I've made it to page 569; it doesn't suck.

Kind of a gray morning here.  I think it's supposed to be warm today (easy guess in June in Tennessee, eh?) and sunny later.

Spent the evening last night at Grace and Dave's, just sitting around and talking. Jay made it over, and heraldry was discussed; Stanzi needs a pennon, and Waldryk has commissioned Dave and Jay to do it.  He emailed Dave with the specifications, asking for what we figured out was a heron as a supporter, but what came through as a herring. Damn you, Autocorrect!  But of course, he has to draw it with both the heron Waldryk asked for and the herring too.  If I ever merit a supporter on my device, I think I'll ask for a herring.  It'll go with the parrot.

*sigh* To work, because, well, my employer won't pay me if I'm not working.

Weekend

Currently reading: A Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harkness.

This has been a remarkably lost weekend; I think all I've done is lie around and read.  And eat.  I did walk the dog. And start a sock on size one needles. Oy.

It's CMA fest week here, with all the attendant tourists and traffic problems.  I've been avoiding going through downtown because of the way traffic has bee rerouted. The festival ends tonight, thank heavens.  Bonnaroo has been going on downsouth as well, and I've successfully avoided getting caught in that traffic mess, too.

I feel another lost day coming on...  I think I'll just lie here and read.  Yeah, that's the ticket.  Read, and knit.  And eat.  And walk the dog.

Currently reading The Lords of Finance: The Men Who Broke The World, by Liaquat Ahmed. I can hear my father's voice in the narration, oddly.  I've reached the point where the market is about to crash, and it's edge-of-your-seat reading. Well, if you like history.

I was home from work sick today; migraine. More due to stress at work than anything else, as we're about to move the office back downtown. I like being downtown.  I don't like moving.

Ingdom A&S over the weekend, and there were any great entries. It's odd; I can't get the cursor to go back to the beginning of this page to correct Ingdom to Kingdom.  No matter where I tap on the page, it highlights the first paragraph. Next time, I'll ditch the tablet and go to the laptop.

No real plans for the week, just work, fighter practice tomorrow, continuing to pull the warp I'm working on, and going to Mom's over the weekend. Dinner with friends Wednesday night, maybe at the Smiling Elephant on Franklin Road.  I dunno.

interesting discussion of corporate interests, the MBA, and Citizen's United, in the "Felony Interference With A Business Model" thread over on Making Light. They talk a lot about the late 20th century idea that someone with no experience in a business can walk in and run it, and the effects on thepublicgood of those people who do it. I particularly liked the comment about the toupee, and how MBAs are like them; go read it yourself, I'm not going to digest it for you. The MBA they discuss is the HBS, but it applies to any MBA.  I'm reminded of Ahmed's discussion of the experience levels of her four lords of finance.