3 posts tagged “books”

As we head into the T-day smorgasbord, I have a reading tip for y'all.  Just got this one in at the library.  Wins my award for best book cover of the year.

And indeed there's a chapter  entitled "Eating Snot: Socially Uncacceptable but Common. Why?"  Wonder if  the author got tenure for that?

It's late and I'm going to be a wreck tomorrow, no doubt.  Trying to get some coursework done so that I'll be free for the weekend when Big Sis comes to town and all the Sibs get together. 

Past week and half has seen Little One battling some infections and missing a fair amount of school.  First, about 10 days ago her school doctor noticed that she can barely hear.  When the Schmaz picked her up, she was running a fever.  Went to the doc, and he said he couldn't see behind all the gunk in her ear, but he reckoned she had an ear infection.  So, antibiotics and ear drops with a follow up appointment to flush out her ear in 2 weeks.  What he did not bother to notice was that there was something going on with her eye, even though Schmaz asked him at our request to look.  So, last Mon when she woke up with a super puffy eyelid, it was my turn to take her in.  Oddly enough I had to point out to him how terrible her eye looked.  He rather gruffly flipped over her eyelid to reveal some big white dot, which he said was an infection.  So, now an antibiotic eye drop.  His rough handling made LO cry and then he preceded to tell her she could stop crying now b/c it did not hurt.  Huh?  I'd been warned by a co-worker that this guy was lacking in social graces, and now I know what she was talking about.  In the future, we'll be requesting the other docs in the office, only accepting him in an emergency.  Things are looking better now, though her eye is still not 100% and she hasn't had her ears flushed yet.  But, she went back to school on Weds and has being doing well and is good spirits.

We also took her to school on Tues. to an all-school assembly where she got the academic achievement award for Feb. for her class.  It was very cool to watch how excited she was.

Meantime, I can't hear worth a darn.  Been taking ear drops too.  Tried to get an appointment with my doc b4 my scheduled physical this coming Fri.  No such luck.  Um, hello, this is worse than Germany.

More meet-ups with old friends these past two weekends.  Last weekend it was with the Kanuck, a guy I hung out with a lot when I lived in Munich, and his wife and kid along with some other friends of theirs who live in LA.  They are visiting from Jasper, which sounds like a really beautiful place and now we're thinking of going to visit them there b4 they leave for city living.  Anyway, it was nice to reconnect.  Last time we saw them, LO was just a few weeks old!  Might go out with them again tomorrow night after work, but it means driving to Fairfax.

Yesterday, we were in that very area visiting with MaGoy and his wife and daughter.  I know MaGoy from HS and we last saw each other at the 20th reunion.  Then I found him on LinkedIn and we started emailing.  His daughter is about a year older than LO, and they seemed to get along very well.  Met Mrs. MaGoy for the first time, and she is very amusing.  They live in a heavily Orthodox area, and she related how she has more than once been called over by neighbors to turn on lights and other appliances on Shabbat and even to drive home a woman from the hospital with her newborn baby.  Lots of crazy stories about growing up in Topanga Canyon, too.

Finally finished reading

"The Devil's Cup: A History of the World According to Coffee."  Very funny.  A must for any bean addict and/or history buff. 

Also been reading

"Chimes of Freedom: The Politics of Bob Dylan's Art" which Dr. B gave me.  Excellent reading and contextualization of the Bobster's early work.  Dylan would undoubtedly deny much of what the author claims, but this is as much if not more about how he is interpreted than what he intended.

Have also just picked up

"The Hidden Life of Girls," an anthropological study of how little girls interact.  Seeing as LO recently described to me the formation of cliques (her word was "groups") in Kindergarten, I thought it would be worthwhile to find out what she's going to be facing and maybe be better prepared.

And now to sleep, perchance to dream...

Today I showed my true lineage.  I took my laptop which had stopped working several months ago over to get  help from Radio Junkie on fixing it.  For months, it's been just sitting around, and I have not had any time to deal with it.  Anyone who knows RJ and has seen all the "to be repaired" items that clutter his life will understand why I say this reveals my true lineage.  I knew the hard drive was not dead, but I was not sure why it would not boot. Well, to make a long story short, after about 5 hours of taking it apart and testing all sorts of things, I still don't know why it won't boot.  So, today I pronounce it officially dead.  Which leaves me with three options:

1. do nothing (i.e. continue to share the other lappy with Better Half)
2. get a new lappy, so we each have one
3. get a desktop (there's a chance that MM will be offering some older ones to staff at a cut-rate price since they bought new ones this summer)

Number 2 would be nicest, but is also the most expensive (min. ca. $600, and who wants Vista?).  Number 1 is not such a good idea.  Sometimes we both need to be working at the same time.  Number 3 could be very economical, but space is at a premium around here.  Not sure which way to go.

Also pulled out my broken camp stove today.  Mind you, it broke in 2000 on a trip with Lil Sis in Italy.  Seven years that sucker has not worked.  And wouldn't you know it, this one I was able to fix.  Yay!

In the evening, ran out to Big 5 and bought a larger tent, an air mattress, and a cooler.  I am really looking forward to camping next weekend.

Just started a new book:  The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon. 

It's told in first person by a 15 year old austic boy.  Very interesting, as the author tries to really take you inside the head of this boy.  The last novel I read, about a month ago now, was the Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri.  I really enjoyed it.  Good story about the first-generation immigrant experience.