Now for the other half of my catching up...
I searched for WOK in general fiction but no such luck. So Tara picked one off the shelf randomly for me.
P.G. Wodehouse's "The Plot That Thickened" was the lucky winner. From the picture on the back of him, P.G. looks like a crazy old dude. So, naturally, I googled that shit and this is what I found:
http://wodehouse-bible.com/images/pg116.jpg
The story revolves around a complicated bid for marriage with other fun complicated subplots about a pearl necklace and work and some rather sinister fellows.
The main dude is Monty Bodkin. Monty Python is what I think of when I hear or read the name Monty. And this Monty has his comical moments. He's lazy, for one, and he's fallen in love with 'a beefy girl with large feet, who played on the All England women's hockey team' much to the dismay of a one Sandy Miller. Sandy is Monty's secretary who is head over heels for Monty but hasn't told him yet.
But
There was hope for Sandy
Gertrude's (the one with the bog feet) father Mr. Butterwick is requiring that Monty hold a job for a full year before he can marry his daughter. And, as mentioned, Monty is lazy so the chances of this actually happening were quite slim.
With a little bit of blackmailing, Monty manages to land himself a job with Ivor Llewellyn, a film tycoon from Hollywood. When Monty thinks he has the conditions filled after working for Ivan for a year.
Mr. Butterwick isn't much of a fan of Monty though so he does everything he can to put a stop to the marriage. And Sandy doesn't give up so easily either so she does her best to throw her wrenches in the wheels. There's also a problem involving Ivan's wife's pearl necklace.
I liked the way this one was written a lot better. It was a lot easier on the eye as well as being a whole hell of a lot funnier than any of the other books I've had so far this year. I would really suggest this one for a little bit of light weekend reading. It's not dense at all and the use of dialogue is quite fantastic in some spots. Or if you're not into Monty and gang, P.G. has written at least 75 other books with 3 collections. He's like the Nora Roberts of mysteries for old men I think.
Hahaha and looking at the picture on the back again, his glasses remind me of the gag old fart glasses we got my dad a few weeks ago for his 50th birthday.
As seen here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=168698&id=604610949#!/photo.php?pid=4389320&id=604610949
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Let's play catch up, shall we?
As you've noticed, I seem to be a little behind on updating about my exciting trips to the Peter White. You'll be proud to know that I have books from the last two weeks. I just haven't gotten to the writing about them part.
The last few adventures to the Peter White:
I am still going with fiction for a change, general fiction to be specific. Kind of.
They have some great books on tape. Perfect for long car rides home. Or if you get sick of the T.V.
And if you're out running errands and all of a sudden, both you and your roommate are going to pee yourselves, they have nice bathrooms!
Oh, and one of the librarians smiled at me! It's the little things in life, right? Usually they all seem to be slightly on the cantankerous side.
I guess Tara was having a Chinese food craving because the letters she picked the last two times were CHI and WOK. Every time we go to my house, we eat at China Wok. Some of the best in Traverse City, even though it's mall food. Jennifer Chiaverini was the lucky winner of the CHI search. And the book... The Christmas Quilt. It's one of nine quilt books by Jennifer, most of which are about Elm Creek Manor. The book centers around Sylvia Bergstrom Compson, who is the Master Quilter, and her friend Sarah McClure.
Sylvia is a bit of a Scrooge who doesn't want to decorate or do anything for Christmas because of some bad holiday memories. Sarah, on the other hand, decks the halls with balls of holly fa la la la la la la la la.
Anyway
On one of her searches for more decorations, Sarah finds an old, unfinished quilt started by each of Sylvia's previous family members throughout history. Sylvia attempts to piece the blanket together amidst family turmoil and personal angst. I didn't really like the way ti was written so I kind of had a hard time pushing myself to go further. The whole things seemed to be long paragraphs with shorter ones and some dialogue every now and then. It was dense and kind of quite boring. That and, since it's April, I'm not really in the Christmasy spirit. Actually, I'm not a super spirited person to begin with around Christmas. Shocker, right?
The whole theme of the book is that all different types of fabrics can be held together forever if sewn together with strong seems. Just like the bonds of family can be held tight with the bonds of tradition, faith, loyalty, and love. Maybe a little cliche but hey, every story needs a moral, right?
Life isn't like a box of chocolates, it's like a big old quilt from grandma there to keep you warm when you need it.
Ok, so maybe not, but it'd be a nice thought, wouldn't it?
The last few adventures to the Peter White:
I am still going with fiction for a change, general fiction to be specific. Kind of.
They have some great books on tape. Perfect for long car rides home. Or if you get sick of the T.V.
And if you're out running errands and all of a sudden, both you and your roommate are going to pee yourselves, they have nice bathrooms!
Oh, and one of the librarians smiled at me! It's the little things in life, right? Usually they all seem to be slightly on the cantankerous side.
I guess Tara was having a Chinese food craving because the letters she picked the last two times were CHI and WOK. Every time we go to my house, we eat at China Wok. Some of the best in Traverse City, even though it's mall food. Jennifer Chiaverini was the lucky winner of the CHI search. And the book... The Christmas Quilt. It's one of nine quilt books by Jennifer, most of which are about Elm Creek Manor. The book centers around Sylvia Bergstrom Compson, who is the Master Quilter, and her friend Sarah McClure.
Sylvia is a bit of a Scrooge who doesn't want to decorate or do anything for Christmas because of some bad holiday memories. Sarah, on the other hand, decks the halls with balls of holly fa la la la la la la la la.
Anyway
On one of her searches for more decorations, Sarah finds an old, unfinished quilt started by each of Sylvia's previous family members throughout history. Sylvia attempts to piece the blanket together amidst family turmoil and personal angst. I didn't really like the way ti was written so I kind of had a hard time pushing myself to go further. The whole things seemed to be long paragraphs with shorter ones and some dialogue every now and then. It was dense and kind of quite boring. That and, since it's April, I'm not really in the Christmasy spirit. Actually, I'm not a super spirited person to begin with around Christmas. Shocker, right?
The whole theme of the book is that all different types of fabrics can be held together forever if sewn together with strong seems. Just like the bonds of family can be held tight with the bonds of tradition, faith, loyalty, and love. Maybe a little cliche but hey, every story needs a moral, right?
Life isn't like a box of chocolates, it's like a big old quilt from grandma there to keep you warm when you need it.
Ok, so maybe not, but it'd be a nice thought, wouldn't it?
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
So to change things up a bit, this week I had my trusty number picker (a.k.a. my roommate) pick three letters so that I could get a fiction book. Since the dewey system only covers nonfiction, I thought it would be interesting to see what kind of fiction books I could find.
Drum roll please......
The book is Sims by F. Paul Wilson.
My first impression is that of the computer game. I was never a huge Sims fanatic because I didn't really like having to control them. But i was a huge fan of building extra sweet houses and awesome looking people. I always created the characters from the books I was writing because I'm a huge nerd like that. I'd do the cheat to get oodles of money, move them into my wicked sweet house, then get bored a little while later. One of my old roommates used to sit on the couch for weekends at a time playing. It seemed to keep her entertained but she was a rather sedentary being.
There's a big, red DNA strand on the front so I was kind of excited thinking that it was going to be about a pandemic or some sort of genetic abnormality like zombieism. On the second or third glance I noticed something looking out from behind the 'bars' of DNA. It's actually rather creepy because she or he either has black hands or is wearing black gloves. A very ominous sign.
It turns out it's about someone tampering with the few hundred genes that separate chimps from humans so they have bigger noggins, less hair, and can speak. It's set 'in the very near future' when genetically transmitted diseases are being fixed and humans are becoming too good to do manual labor so they pass it on to 'sims'. Sims, short for simians, are the genetically altered chimps that are kind of chimp and kind of human.
SimGen is the company that owns the chimp genome and is unleashing the creatures upon the world. But there is something sinister about SimGen. Cue thoughts of Resident Evil... Now
The good guy is Patrick Sullivan, a lawyer who wants to unionize the sims. I'm not one to give away the endings of stories so I can't tell you what happens. You'll have to find that out on your own. But it's exciting, I can tell you that.
The back cover does leave one daunting thought that I thought I should share. Ahem.
'Right now, as you read these words, some company somewhere in the world is toying with the chimp genome. That is not fiction, it is fact. Sims is a science fiction thriller that will come true. One way or another.'
Talk about creep.
It's not the kind of book I usually read but it actually wasn't too bad. If you like monkeys.
Drum roll please......
The book is Sims by F. Paul Wilson.
My first impression is that of the computer game. I was never a huge Sims fanatic because I didn't really like having to control them. But i was a huge fan of building extra sweet houses and awesome looking people. I always created the characters from the books I was writing because I'm a huge nerd like that. I'd do the cheat to get oodles of money, move them into my wicked sweet house, then get bored a little while later. One of my old roommates used to sit on the couch for weekends at a time playing. It seemed to keep her entertained but she was a rather sedentary being.
There's a big, red DNA strand on the front so I was kind of excited thinking that it was going to be about a pandemic or some sort of genetic abnormality like zombieism. On the second or third glance I noticed something looking out from behind the 'bars' of DNA. It's actually rather creepy because she or he either has black hands or is wearing black gloves. A very ominous sign.
It turns out it's about someone tampering with the few hundred genes that separate chimps from humans so they have bigger noggins, less hair, and can speak. It's set 'in the very near future' when genetically transmitted diseases are being fixed and humans are becoming too good to do manual labor so they pass it on to 'sims'. Sims, short for simians, are the genetically altered chimps that are kind of chimp and kind of human.
SimGen is the company that owns the chimp genome and is unleashing the creatures upon the world. But there is something sinister about SimGen. Cue thoughts of Resident Evil... Now
The good guy is Patrick Sullivan, a lawyer who wants to unionize the sims. I'm not one to give away the endings of stories so I can't tell you what happens. You'll have to find that out on your own. But it's exciting, I can tell you that.
The back cover does leave one daunting thought that I thought I should share. Ahem.
'Right now, as you read these words, some company somewhere in the world is toying with the chimp genome. That is not fiction, it is fact. Sims is a science fiction thriller that will come true. One way or another.'
Talk about creep.
It's not the kind of book I usually read but it actually wasn't too bad. If you like monkeys.
Monday, March 22, 2010
It's only natural
Well, due to an extremely wonderful amount of homework dumped upon me last week and weekend, I wasn't able to read any of the last book. I guess it just wasn't meant to be with that one. But I wrote a few damn fine papers, let me tell you.
BUUUTTT
I was able to get a new book. The new number is 675. Probably because I sang 867530 oooonnneeee to my roommate before we walked into the Peter White. We giggled a little at the book this week but it's all naturalness is a nice combo with the 'vegan' shoes that my roommate got last week. Too bad we can't eat that healthy (healthily?).
Anyway, I know you're all excited about the new book since you're all singing that song in your head right now. Drum roll please....
Deerskins into Buckskins: How to Tan with Natural Materials: A Field Guide for Hunters and Gatherers By Matt Richards
(note to the reader, I'm not the italics crazy one, it's on the book)
My very first impression of the book took me straight back to my dorm bathroom last year. Yes, this sounds odd, I know. One of my suitemates was big into hunting, she even kept a dead coyote in the basement freezer so that she could tan the hide. Anyway, her bathroom reading choices consisted of magazines full of make eyes (for all types of animals), thinks to mount heads and bodies on, furs, leathers, etc. You get the point. Then I thought of my friend Alex because even though he wasn't a hunter, he always smelled like campfires when I was with him. And since I live in the woods and heat with wood, my next thought was home. But I think that's enough thoughts.
There are lots of pictures in the book so that was pretty helpful. And exciting. I think my favorite is of the very hippie looking guy using his full body weight to try to pull the hide away from the meat. The captions for the process are as follows:
1) Getting a clean start: use finger tips and thumbs to separate the hide from the meat. Notice how clean and encased both the meat and hide are.
2) Once you've gotten a good start, grab the hide with your hands and pull. You can also push your thumbs, fist and elbows in-between the skin and meat to release areas that are sticking
3) Use your body weight to help pull
Also on this page:
There will be a very thin layer of meat that wants to come off with the hide. This is the muscle that the deer uses to twitch flies off of its back. Nobody that I know of eats this meat because it is so thin and membraney. It is easily fleshed off later, so most folks let it come off with the hide.
My favorite is the use of the word membraney. My handy spell check is telling me that it isn't actually a word.
My other favorite thing about the book is its use of bold for random things and underlining the things deemed special by the author.
For those of you who wish to know how to tan your hide (not your own personal hide of course. That would hurt) THE BASIC METHOD includes these steps:
Fleshing
Bucking
Graining
Membraning
Rinsing
Wringing
Dressing
Sewing
Softening
Making a smoking sack
Smoking
And voila! You have a tanned hide! Ready to be made into stylish choices such as pants or, for those of you along the more traditional line, vests with the always sexy fringe. Personally though, I would want the dress.
BUUUTTT
I was able to get a new book. The new number is 675. Probably because I sang 867530 oooonnneeee to my roommate before we walked into the Peter White. We giggled a little at the book this week but it's all naturalness is a nice combo with the 'vegan' shoes that my roommate got last week. Too bad we can't eat that healthy (healthily?).
Anyway, I know you're all excited about the new book since you're all singing that song in your head right now. Drum roll please....
Deerskins into Buckskins: How to Tan with Natural Materials: A Field Guide for Hunters and Gatherers By Matt Richards
(note to the reader, I'm not the italics crazy one, it's on the book)
My very first impression of the book took me straight back to my dorm bathroom last year. Yes, this sounds odd, I know. One of my suitemates was big into hunting, she even kept a dead coyote in the basement freezer so that she could tan the hide. Anyway, her bathroom reading choices consisted of magazines full of make eyes (for all types of animals), thinks to mount heads and bodies on, furs, leathers, etc. You get the point. Then I thought of my friend Alex because even though he wasn't a hunter, he always smelled like campfires when I was with him. And since I live in the woods and heat with wood, my next thought was home. But I think that's enough thoughts.
There are lots of pictures in the book so that was pretty helpful. And exciting. I think my favorite is of the very hippie looking guy using his full body weight to try to pull the hide away from the meat. The captions for the process are as follows:
1) Getting a clean start: use finger tips and thumbs to separate the hide from the meat. Notice how clean and encased both the meat and hide are.
2) Once you've gotten a good start, grab the hide with your hands and pull. You can also push your thumbs, fist and elbows in-between the skin and meat to release areas that are sticking
3) Use your body weight to help pull
Also on this page:
There will be a very thin layer of meat that wants to come off with the hide. This is the muscle that the deer uses to twitch flies off of its back. Nobody that I know of eats this meat because it is so thin and membraney. It is easily fleshed off later, so most folks let it come off with the hide.
My favorite is the use of the word membraney. My handy spell check is telling me that it isn't actually a word.
My other favorite thing about the book is its use of bold for random things and underlining the things deemed special by the author.
For those of you who wish to know how to tan your hide (not your own personal hide of course. That would hurt) THE BASIC METHOD includes these steps:
Fleshing
Bucking
Graining
Membraning
Rinsing
Wringing
Dressing
Sewing
Softening
Making a smoking sack
Smoking
And voila! You have a tanned hide! Ready to be made into stylish choices such as pants or, for those of you along the more traditional line, vests with the always sexy fringe. Personally though, I would want the dress.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
876
There wasn't actually an 876 so I ended up with 877. The 800's are literature, which made me a little excited. Maybe an actual fiction novel this time!
I did get what I'm suspecting is a novel of some sort. But. It's old. Waaaaay old. The first due date shown on the card is November 6, 1931. "The Satires of Juvenal"
It's a cool looking book, because it's so old. There are stains on the weathered black leather cover. The pages have passed the yellowing stage and moved onto being almost somewhat brown in spots. The corners of the hardcover have worn off their covering and bent inwards. It looks like it's been around and well loved. Which makes sense because it's been in the Peter White for almost 80 years.
My first impressions flipping through are that it's going to be a tough read.Decimus Junius Juvenalis was born 'about the year on Christ 38.' In my experience, texts this old can be the hardest to get through. I was in the honors program when I came to school (not enjoyable at all) and one of the first classes we had to take for that was The Origins of Western Values in Antiquity. If that sounds gross, that's because it was. We started at the very first known of written work and moved our way toward the middle ages making sure to stop at the ENTIRE Illiad in 6 days, Plato, and friends. I thought my brain was going to explode at times reading those so I have a feeling there isn't going to be much difference with this.
I'm trying to google more about him but I'm currently enjoying internet problems so that will have to be another post. Until then, I shall immerse myself in history. Ugh.
I did get what I'm suspecting is a novel of some sort. But. It's old. Waaaaay old. The first due date shown on the card is November 6, 1931. "The Satires of Juvenal"
It's a cool looking book, because it's so old. There are stains on the weathered black leather cover. The pages have passed the yellowing stage and moved onto being almost somewhat brown in spots. The corners of the hardcover have worn off their covering and bent inwards. It looks like it's been around and well loved. Which makes sense because it's been in the Peter White for almost 80 years.
My first impressions flipping through are that it's going to be a tough read.Decimus Junius Juvenalis was born 'about the year on Christ 38.' In my experience, texts this old can be the hardest to get through. I was in the honors program when I came to school (not enjoyable at all) and one of the first classes we had to take for that was The Origins of Western Values in Antiquity. If that sounds gross, that's because it was. We started at the very first known of written work and moved our way toward the middle ages making sure to stop at the ENTIRE Illiad in 6 days, Plato, and friends. I thought my brain was going to explode at times reading those so I have a feeling there isn't going to be much difference with this.
I'm trying to google more about him but I'm currently enjoying internet problems so that will have to be another post. Until then, I shall immerse myself in history. Ugh.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Fun Facts
I've learned lots of fun things from my big book of maps, and relearned some that I'd forgotten since I took AP European History in high school. The reading was a little dense, I think that's just how all history books are, but parts of it were interesting and there were a lot of cool maps.
Some things I didn't know or thought were interesting:
*Dublin was once a Viking ruled colony
*The Vikings also settled in Russia, not only just to the east
*Jamaica (since I was just there) was settled in 1509 by the Spanish
*Iowa had large coal deposits -- when I think of Iowa, I only think of corn
*Between 1945 and 1975, the population of Miami doubled
*The greatest number of immigrants who went into Canada were from Italy and Britain
*Toward the end of the Cold War in 1987, on top of the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., there were four other declared nuclear powers in the world, the U.K., France, China, and India
*In 1983, the life expectancy in Afghanistan was 45 years or less
*The Peoples of the African Congo were considered an advanced culture in the middle of the fifteenth century while the American Indians were considered primitive.
*In 1450, most of Russia and much of China were not known to the Europeans
A lot of what I found interesting had to do with the maps, which is hard to tell you about since I can't show them to you. I enjoyed this one a lot but it wasn't as interesting as the mob book, just because the mob is more interesting than history and was all new to me. My history teacher would be proud of me though because I actually remember some of what she taught me.
I'm hoping to have a chance to read more in the morning and tell you more fun things. If not, you'll have to wait and see what the next new book will be.
Some things I didn't know or thought were interesting:
*Dublin was once a Viking ruled colony
*The Vikings also settled in Russia, not only just to the east
*Jamaica (since I was just there) was settled in 1509 by the Spanish
*Iowa had large coal deposits -- when I think of Iowa, I only think of corn
*Between 1945 and 1975, the population of Miami doubled
*The greatest number of immigrants who went into Canada were from Italy and Britain
*Toward the end of the Cold War in 1987, on top of the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., there were four other declared nuclear powers in the world, the U.K., France, China, and India
*In 1983, the life expectancy in Afghanistan was 45 years or less
*The Peoples of the African Congo were considered an advanced culture in the middle of the fifteenth century while the American Indians were considered primitive.
*In 1450, most of Russia and much of China were not known to the Europeans
A lot of what I found interesting had to do with the maps, which is hard to tell you about since I can't show them to you. I enjoyed this one a lot but it wasn't as interesting as the mob book, just because the mob is more interesting than history and was all new to me. My history teacher would be proud of me though because I actually remember some of what she taught me.
I'm hoping to have a chance to read more in the morning and tell you more fun things. If not, you'll have to wait and see what the next new book will be.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
911
My number this week was 911. The Atlas of World History, Rand McNally style. It's pretty big and heavy so I've decided to keep this one for the two weeks and pretend like what I miss at the end of this week picks up again at the end of next week.
I think I might learn something useful this week and the book seems to be pretty well split between maps and writing so it's not too daunting to think about reading. The chapters are:
1) The Ancient World: The Beginnings of Civilization
2)The Ancient World: The Ancient Mediterranean
3)The Ancient World: The Classical Civilizations
4)The Ancient World: The Great Empires of Antiquity
5)The Ancient World: Empires and Barbarians
6)Heirs to the Ancient World: Religions and Civilizations
7)Heirs to the Ancient World: Land and Power
8)Heirs to the Ancient World: Trade and Aggression
9)Heirs to the Ancient World: Tradition and Innovation
10)The Age of European Supremacy: Europe and A Wider World
11)The Age of European Supremacy: The Eurasian Land Empires
12)The Age of European Supremacy: Colonies and Commerce
13)The Age of European Supremacy: Europe Divided
14)The Age of European Supremacy: The Ancien Regime
15)The Age of European Supremacy: The Age of Revolutions
16)The Age of European Supremacy: The Industrial Revolution
17)The Age of European Supremacy: Liberalism and Nationalism
18)The Age of European Supremacy: The Age of Imperialism
19)The Emergence of the Modern World: Rivals to European Supremacy
20)The Emergence of the Modern World: The First World War and its Aftermath
21)The Emergence of the Modern World: The Second World War
22)The Emergence of the Modern World: The Post-War World
23)The Emergence of the Modern World: The Far East Since 1945
24)The Emergence of the Modern World: Contemporary Society
25)United States Historical Maps
Wow, that took a lot longer than expected. They're all only a few pages long so it'll be easy to read through them each. I hope. History books tend to be some of the hardest to read, in my experience, so I guess it could go either way. But I'll give it a go and see where I end up. =)
I think I might learn something useful this week and the book seems to be pretty well split between maps and writing so it's not too daunting to think about reading. The chapters are:
1) The Ancient World: The Beginnings of Civilization
2)The Ancient World: The Ancient Mediterranean
3)The Ancient World: The Classical Civilizations
4)The Ancient World: The Great Empires of Antiquity
5)The Ancient World: Empires and Barbarians
6)Heirs to the Ancient World: Religions and Civilizations
7)Heirs to the Ancient World: Land and Power
8)Heirs to the Ancient World: Trade and Aggression
9)Heirs to the Ancient World: Tradition and Innovation
10)The Age of European Supremacy: Europe and A Wider World
11)The Age of European Supremacy: The Eurasian Land Empires
12)The Age of European Supremacy: Colonies and Commerce
13)The Age of European Supremacy: Europe Divided
14)The Age of European Supremacy: The Ancien Regime
15)The Age of European Supremacy: The Age of Revolutions
16)The Age of European Supremacy: The Industrial Revolution
17)The Age of European Supremacy: Liberalism and Nationalism
18)The Age of European Supremacy: The Age of Imperialism
19)The Emergence of the Modern World: Rivals to European Supremacy
20)The Emergence of the Modern World: The First World War and its Aftermath
21)The Emergence of the Modern World: The Second World War
22)The Emergence of the Modern World: The Post-War World
23)The Emergence of the Modern World: The Far East Since 1945
24)The Emergence of the Modern World: Contemporary Society
25)United States Historical Maps
Wow, that took a lot longer than expected. They're all only a few pages long so it'll be easy to read through them each. I hope. History books tend to be some of the hardest to read, in my experience, so I guess it could go either way. But I'll give it a go and see where I end up. =)
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
claque
On page 38, my favorite word was claque (klahk) a group of hired applauders. I don't think I'm ever going to need the term but I'll file it away into my random stupid knowledge pile and maybe one day it will win me a million dollars.
I'm going to the library again today, because as you hopefully know, it's Tuesday, I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do for next week. I might get two books today to cover next week when I'm going to be in Jamaica. It's still under debate in my head. Maybe if the first book is a really long one, I'll just go two weeks with it and take it with me. I'll let you know later what I decide.
And did you know that entree is not only the first dish of a meal, but also a right of admission? Now you do.
I'm going to the library again today, because as you hopefully know, it's Tuesday, I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do for next week. I might get two books today to cover next week when I'm going to be in Jamaica. It's still under debate in my head. Maybe if the first book is a really long one, I'll just go two weeks with it and take it with me. I'll let you know later what I decide.
And did you know that entree is not only the first dish of a meal, but also a right of admission? Now you do.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
422.44
I'm kind of excited about this weeks book but I'm not quite sure how to read a Frenglish book. "Je Ne Sais What?: A Guide to de rigueur Frenglish for Readers, Writers, and Speakers" by Jon Winokur, who also authored "The Portable Curmudgeon" that I want to find because I love the word curmudgeon. It's essentially a French to English dictionary full of idioms as well as other useful words and sayings. Totally helpful.
Only problem, I have no French background whatsoever. I've taken a year of German here at Northern, which has a zero percent helpful rate. Actually I think it has a negative effect because I pronounce everything with a German accent, as my roommate so kindly told me. She's taken three years of French so I'm gonna trust her judgement on that one. I've been to Europe, including Switzerland and France, but the only thing I picked up was 'What is...' in Italian. Granted the book gives pronunciations but my eyes still sort of skip over the French part and go straight to the definition part.
So I think I'm going to leave what I learn up to you guys. Give me a page number from 1 to 155 and I'll pick one saying or word from that page and learn it. Or try to at least.
Side note: I randomly opened up to a page and the first thing I stumbled upon was cache-sexe (kahsh seks) "hide sex"; a breechcloth or G-string. Now you all learned something new.
Only problem, I have no French background whatsoever. I've taken a year of German here at Northern, which has a zero percent helpful rate. Actually I think it has a negative effect because I pronounce everything with a German accent, as my roommate so kindly told me. She's taken three years of French so I'm gonna trust her judgement on that one. I've been to Europe, including Switzerland and France, but the only thing I picked up was 'What is...' in Italian. Granted the book gives pronunciations but my eyes still sort of skip over the French part and go straight to the definition part.
So I think I'm going to leave what I learn up to you guys. Give me a page number from 1 to 155 and I'll pick one saying or word from that page and learn it. Or try to at least.
Side note: I randomly opened up to a page and the first thing I stumbled upon was cache-sexe (kahsh seks) "hide sex"; a breechcloth or G-string. Now you all learned something new.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Google that shit
There are so many characters in this book and the author bounces back and forth in time so it's a little hard to follow, but I think I'm starting to catch on.
There are 22 bad guys, all of whom are Sicilian. For the life of me I can't keep track of who is who because they all seem to be related in some way to the main guy, Gaetano Badalamenti. He was the Boss of Bosses of the Sicilian Mafia for a few years in the 70's until there was an over throw or something and he moved to Madrid. I think. He decided he wanted to start trouble in the U.S. and set up a Heroin importing and money deporting operation called the Sicilian Mafia Commissione. His son Vito was his number one man outside the country and I think Salvatore Catalano was the main guy in New York. They shipped the drugs in, to the New York area as well as Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and cash only was shipped out to be laundered in Europe by the Mafia warlords. Since the men were all pizzeria and restaurant owners, the press spent no time at all coming up with the name The Pizza Connection. Also, the first suitcase of money that was uncovered, the money was wrapped in pizzeria aprons.
The book covers the entire year and a half long trial and the nearly five years of wire taps and FBI investigation that was reported to or by, it was never really made clear what was actual fact and what was speculation in some parts, the author Shana Alexander. There are pictures in the middle of the book and I have to say that Gaetano looks like what a Mafia Godfather should look like. He has big bishy eyebrows and black hair and a near scowl. I googled him to find his picture and got something a little better : http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://nndb.net/people/498/000045363/bada.gif&imgrefurl=http://nndb.net/people/498/000045363/&h=310&w=236&sz=26&tbnid=exanqKO5cKcOoM:&tbnh=117&tbnw=89&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgaetano%2Bbadalamenti&usg=__x1y7Im8HPwp1lGbxbLF6HW-Ulr8=&ei=XAZ6S7vIG8SInQes9fSLAw&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=5&ct=image&ved=0CB0Q9QEwBA
You can judge for yourself about whether or not he was a good fellow. I like that they listed his occupation as criminal. Made me giggle a little.
Most of the names of the important people I didn't recognize because the trial happened before I was born but Rudy Guiliani was the U.S. Attorney for the southern part of New York during the trial so he played a big role.
In an effort to try to get a quick recap of a slightly confusing book, I googled (My parents say 'Google that shit' all the time at my house) and found that Wikipedia had the best summary of events.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizza_Connection_Trial
It's all starting to make sense now. Yay!
There are 22 bad guys, all of whom are Sicilian. For the life of me I can't keep track of who is who because they all seem to be related in some way to the main guy, Gaetano Badalamenti. He was the Boss of Bosses of the Sicilian Mafia for a few years in the 70's until there was an over throw or something and he moved to Madrid. I think. He decided he wanted to start trouble in the U.S. and set up a Heroin importing and money deporting operation called the Sicilian Mafia Commissione. His son Vito was his number one man outside the country and I think Salvatore Catalano was the main guy in New York. They shipped the drugs in, to the New York area as well as Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and cash only was shipped out to be laundered in Europe by the Mafia warlords. Since the men were all pizzeria and restaurant owners, the press spent no time at all coming up with the name The Pizza Connection. Also, the first suitcase of money that was uncovered, the money was wrapped in pizzeria aprons.
The book covers the entire year and a half long trial and the nearly five years of wire taps and FBI investigation that was reported to or by, it was never really made clear what was actual fact and what was speculation in some parts, the author Shana Alexander. There are pictures in the middle of the book and I have to say that Gaetano looks like what a Mafia Godfather should look like. He has big bishy eyebrows and black hair and a near scowl. I googled him to find his picture and got something a little better : http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://nndb.net/people/498/000045363/bada.gif&imgrefurl=http://nndb.net/people/498/000045363/&h=310&w=236&sz=26&tbnid=exanqKO5cKcOoM:&tbnh=117&tbnw=89&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgaetano%2Bbadalamenti&usg=__x1y7Im8HPwp1lGbxbLF6HW-Ulr8=&ei=XAZ6S7vIG8SInQes9fSLAw&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=5&ct=image&ved=0CB0Q9QEwBA
You can judge for yourself about whether or not he was a good fellow. I like that they listed his occupation as criminal. Made me giggle a little.
Most of the names of the important people I didn't recognize because the trial happened before I was born but Rudy Guiliani was the U.S. Attorney for the southern part of New York during the trial so he played a big role.
In an effort to try to get a quick recap of a slightly confusing book, I googled (My parents say 'Google that shit' all the time at my house) and found that Wikipedia had the best summary of events.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizza_Connection_Trial
It's all starting to make sense now. Yay!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
345.67
The good news is, I read more of my last book before I returned it to the library. I was early for an appointment at Planned Parenthood to refill my birth control and stumbled upon the chapter about sex. I couldn't help but read aloud to my roommate. What we learned is that we are all living our lives by poor moral standards, both men and women, and that we need to shape up and quit coveting thy neighbor's wife. Personally, my neighbor doesn't have a wife so I don't think I'll be able to find that to be very difficult.
The new number for this week was 345.67. I apologize for not posting sooner but I've been having some medical issues then had to leave town so it's been a bit of a hectic week. The book closest to my number was The Pizza Connection by Shana Alexander. Written by 'America's finest court reporter' it chronicles the largest and longest running criminal court case to ever be held in federal court (in 1988). 22 Mafia defendents were accused of a $1.65 billion heroin smuggling and money laundering conspiracy that streched from Europe to New York to Brazil and beyond. I sound like a book blurb writer.
Anyway, there is a picture in the front cover if the book laying out the court room. It took three rows to seat all of the defendents because there were so many of them along with an equal amount of defense attorneys. I'm a little short on time this morning so I'll say that it starts by describing each of the bad guys then the court room then all of the bad things they did and the official things the judge did. I'll give you more when I'm back in Marquette.
The new number for this week was 345.67. I apologize for not posting sooner but I've been having some medical issues then had to leave town so it's been a bit of a hectic week. The book closest to my number was The Pizza Connection by Shana Alexander. Written by 'America's finest court reporter' it chronicles the largest and longest running criminal court case to ever be held in federal court (in 1988). 22 Mafia defendents were accused of a $1.65 billion heroin smuggling and money laundering conspiracy that streched from Europe to New York to Brazil and beyond. I sound like a book blurb writer.
Anyway, there is a picture in the front cover if the book laying out the court room. It took three rows to seat all of the defendents because there were so many of them along with an equal amount of defense attorneys. I'm a little short on time this morning so I'll say that it starts by describing each of the bad guys then the court room then all of the bad things they did and the official things the judge did. I'll give you more when I'm back in Marquette.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Epic Failure
It's been about five hours since my last post. Our grocery shopping is done. We are officially checked out of our old apartment. We fixed a few little things in the old apartment. We talked to the woman we are going to start babysitting for on Thursday. There are four more loads of laundry done and the last one is in the dryer.
I've read a paragraph more in my book.
I think tonight is going to wind up an epic failure on my part. The two chapters I have read include 'The Ten Commandments for the Twentieth Century' and 'The Supernatural Authority of Moral Law.' I've been informed in great detail what the ten commandments are, each of the versions, as well as why they are important to pay attention to. The book is written by a Rabbi, which wasn't what I was expecting when I picked up the book but I think it's cooler than if it had been someone of Christian background since that's what most people generally stereotype when thinking about the commandments. Hopefully by the time class starts tomorrow, I'll have made some sort of headway.
And the stupid boy next door dumped a load of my laundry onto the counter while we were gone checking out of our old apartment. We were gone for maybe an hour. The clothes were still warm sitting there when we got back. So I left him a note on the dryer he stole that said 'Thanks bud. You're a peach.'
I consulted my book, I have not broken any of the commandments by doing so.
Excuses
All of my dishes are done. My laundry is folded. My roommates laundry is folded. There are four more loads currently being done. The blankets in the living room are folded and the pillows organized. The grocery list is formally written out on a piece of paper. I'd sweep but we don't have a broom anymore and we never had a vacuum so I can't do that. Plus, we just moved into this place on Friday so I know it's clean. I'm finally out of legitimate, or not, reasons to keep putting of my book.
For some reason, I can't seem to bring myself to read a book about why I should live my life according to the Ten Commandments. My parents were both raised Catholic so I was baptized as a baby for their personal beliefs. Until I was about 10 we went to a Christian church so I was raised knowing all of the stories and ideas that came along with the Bible. We stopped going because my parents decided it would be better for us to make our own choices about what we wanted to believe or not believe. I myself have settled on agnostic and I'm not sure where my sisters fall along the line but I think they're both somewhere around me.
I don't have a problem with people believing what they want, as long as they don't try to impress their ideals upon me. In some ways, I find different beliefs to be very interesting. But at the same time, I've neevr really understood why someone would want to live their life based around a book that may or may not have been written with divine ideas from an all powerful, omniscient god. It just seems illogical to me, in the same way I'm sure it seems illogical to them for me to not believe. I've taken religious based classes on campus to learn more so that I can make informed decisions about what I want to believe in or not believe in and yet a 133 page book seems to be a more than daunting task. And I've already read the first two chapters.
So it's time to just suck it up and do it. There is something to be learned from everything and I am going to learn something from the book "The Ten Commandments for Today." I'm reading the rest tonight so by tomorrow hopefully, I'll know at least one new thing. Wish me luck.
For some reason, I can't seem to bring myself to read a book about why I should live my life according to the Ten Commandments. My parents were both raised Catholic so I was baptized as a baby for their personal beliefs. Until I was about 10 we went to a Christian church so I was raised knowing all of the stories and ideas that came along with the Bible. We stopped going because my parents decided it would be better for us to make our own choices about what we wanted to believe or not believe. I myself have settled on agnostic and I'm not sure where my sisters fall along the line but I think they're both somewhere around me.
I don't have a problem with people believing what they want, as long as they don't try to impress their ideals upon me. In some ways, I find different beliefs to be very interesting. But at the same time, I've neevr really understood why someone would want to live their life based around a book that may or may not have been written with divine ideas from an all powerful, omniscient god. It just seems illogical to me, in the same way I'm sure it seems illogical to them for me to not believe. I've taken religious based classes on campus to learn more so that I can make informed decisions about what I want to believe in or not believe in and yet a 133 page book seems to be a more than daunting task. And I've already read the first two chapters.
So it's time to just suck it up and do it. There is something to be learned from everything and I am going to learn something from the book "The Ten Commandments for Today." I'm reading the rest tonight so by tomorrow hopefully, I'll know at least one new thing. Wish me luck.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
...well kind of
I'm disappointed with the use of the Dewey Decimal System at the Peter White Library. There, I said it. I was going to try to be nice but it's out now.
My roommate and I decided that on Tuesday's we're going to come to the library to work on homework after class otherwise we end up watching Bones all day and don't get anything done. Which worked out really well with my blog idea. Or so I thought. My idea, or the idea I had help with, was to have someone pick a random number for me, get that book that matches that number within the system no matter what it is, and read as much of it as I could in a week. So with my number -- 222.22 -- I set out in the library to find it.
My understanding of the Dewey Decimal System was that it included all books, even works of fiction. Which is not the case in Peter White. So I did what all unsure people so, and Googled. And found the Wikipedia site that explained it. The literature books should be within the 800 range, which they arenn't. Instead, fiction is labled fiction on all the books and is in alphabetical order, mystery is another section, and so on. Reference and nonfiction are the two places I've found to be numbered. I haven't checked books on tape yet.
So, my random number guesses, supplied always by my roommate, will be limited to the ninfiction section. And based on the book for this week, within the nonfiction section the base idea for which books are which seems to be right. 200 is the religion section and the .20 section is the Old Testament.
This week's book is "The Ten Commandments for Today" by Robert I. Kahn. More on this later because my computer is about to die.
My roommate and I decided that on Tuesday's we're going to come to the library to work on homework after class otherwise we end up watching Bones all day and don't get anything done. Which worked out really well with my blog idea. Or so I thought. My idea, or the idea I had help with, was to have someone pick a random number for me, get that book that matches that number within the system no matter what it is, and read as much of it as I could in a week. So with my number -- 222.22 -- I set out in the library to find it.
My understanding of the Dewey Decimal System was that it included all books, even works of fiction. Which is not the case in Peter White. So I did what all unsure people so, and Googled. And found the Wikipedia site that explained it. The literature books should be within the 800 range, which they arenn't. Instead, fiction is labled fiction on all the books and is in alphabetical order, mystery is another section, and so on. Reference and nonfiction are the two places I've found to be numbered. I haven't checked books on tape yet.
So, my random number guesses, supplied always by my roommate, will be limited to the ninfiction section. And based on the book for this week, within the nonfiction section the base idea for which books are which seems to be right. 200 is the religion section and the .20 section is the Old Testament.
This week's book is "The Ten Commandments for Today" by Robert I. Kahn. More on this later because my computer is about to die.
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