Kayaks and Craps

The holiday weekend in Vegas was fantastic. My co-pilot for the drive to and from Vegas, and my paddle buddy, was my coworker and friend, Steve. We left Saturday morning bright and early. We covered the long, boring desert drive to Vegas without much traffic, or at least less traffic than I expected for Memorial Day weekend, and arrived in Vegas pretty close to ETA of 3:30 p.m. It's a six hour drive. We did encounter amazing winds that were screaming across the desert flats and whipping up pretty thick sandstorms. We made a pit stop for lunch and gas at some desolate place in the middle of nowhere. When I opened my door, the wind instantly slammed it shut. We heard later that winds were estimated at 50 mph that day. All this wind did not bode well for our river trip on Sunday. Last year's kayakers encountered strong headwinds and had to constantly paddle. It was not a leisurely float down the river and folks who had been on that trip were not going to go through it again.

But luckily, Mother Nature was kind and could not have given us a more perfect day. We all met at a Von's grocery store in Boulder City at 7AM. That's early. It was a cool 60 degrees, but very clear and sunny, and almost no wind. Just a gentle breeze. We bought lunch and water, and then headed to the Hacienda Hotel & Casino just near the Hoover Dam where we met the outfitter. The outfitter drove us down a bumpy, rocky, narrow, and winding road to river level. We saw bighorn sheep along the way and we'd see many more when we were on the river. I had a very good eye for spotting them thanks to the practice I've had when visiting Susan out in the boonies. (Thanks Susan!) Our launch site was literally as close to the foot of the Hoover Dam that civilians are allowed. I've looked down the Hoover Dam a couple times, but looking up at it is completely different. It's 700 feet high and it just looms. We had a group of 30 people, which meant 15 two-man boats. We all launched successfully and set off letting the current and the gentle tailwind do most of the work. For lunch, we stopped at one of the several "beaches" and did a short hike up to a hot spring. The river water was 53 degrees coming out of the dam, so the hot springs and their jacuzzi hot temperatures felt great. After a leisurely lunch and water gun fight, we hopped back in the boats and continued on. The Colorado River has a lot of minerals and other things in it that make it very clear and very green. We were riding the part of the river that goes through what is called Black Canyon. We poked into a couple small caves where the lighting made the water glow emerald. We also played the fun game of how-many-kayaks-can-get-in-the-cave-and-then-turn-around. About six is the answer. We wore our PFDs the entire time and reapplied sunblock liberally. The temp never got above 82 degrees and I hardly broke a sweat. We really didn't have to paddle too much. Often, two or three boats would link up and we'd float down together sharing snacks, jokes, and other tidbits. We met a few people who were paddling upstream (why upstream, I have no idea. Don't they know downstream is less work?), but essentially, we had the entire river to ourselves. During the eleven miles we were on the river, we saw nesting cormorants, trout (huge!), lizards, ducks, the aforementioned bighorn sheep - some even right down at river level getting a drink, hawks, and swift-like birds. Our end point was Willow Beach in Arizona. Thanks to the fantastic conditions, we were about 30 minutes ahead of schedule. The outfitter took a bus of tired but happy paddlers back across the Hoover Dam to our cars. Almost everyone fell asleep on that ride back.

I actually didn't spend a dime on gambling. The weekend cost enough without spending money on gambling. We did walk the strip Saturday night and went in and out of a few casinos. The best thing we saw was a car that had been pulled over by two policemen on *horseback.* The LVPD was out in force Saturday night. I think there were police every block. They were in cars, on bikes, on foot, and on horse. How does one get pulled over by a horse? Of course, traffic was only inching along, so I guess it's possible.

The kayak trip has been an annual event for the past three years, but the trip organizer retired from Harcourt on Friday, so next year's trip is questionable. He said he wants to continue to organize a Memorial Day trip (he has family & friends that come too, so it's not just Harcourt people who do this), but it might be a white water raft trip. That's fine with me.

The drive home on Monday was just as I expected - copious traffic with unpredictable speed up-slow down pockets. Once we passed the 15 and 10 juncture, it was smooth sailing. All those Angelinos who clogged up the freeway went their way, and we went ours.

It was a very good weekend.

Continuing Life

Things here in San Diego have been gloomy. Usually the grey, constant marine layer doesn't happen until June - "June Gloom." But today is a gorgeous, clear blue sky day. Warm, too. I have the windows open, the music on, and laundry going. Tomorrow I'm going out to the Wild Animal Park with a friend from work. I've only been to the park once, with Susan about a year ago. Mom and Dad visited SD while I was in Chicago, and went to the park. They loved it. It is really fantastic and I like it better than the zoo even though the zoo is pretty cool, too. It is the San Diego Zoo after all. Not too shabby.

I'm also going to drive around and look at neighborhoods and houses. Mom and Dad totally surprised me by recently urging me to buy a place instead of continuing to rent. So I'm looking into things. I'm a little daunted by owning something as big as a house, but gotta take that plunge sometime. The state actually has several assistance programs for first time home owners and my salary is still low enough that I qualify for all of them. So that's something on my mind. My lease is up July 1, but I know that letter to renew will be arriving sometime very soon. Not sure what I'll do yet.

What else is new? Hmm. Not much. Susan sent me a huge book called ANIMAL published by DK for the Smithsonian Institute. It has sections for each animal class (Mammals, fishes, amphibians, etc.) and is chock full of photos and information. I've been looking at a section a night. Thanks for the b-day present Susan!

Summer movies are here but I haven't seen a one yet. Kayaking in Vegas next weekend. Robert Earl Keen is here on the Wednesday after Memorial Day. Looking forward to that, too. More later peeps.

Ashes and Snow

Over Easter weekend, I went up to LA. While I was there we went to what has turned out to be one of the most memorable art exhibits I've ever seen. The exhibit is called Ashes and Snow and features photographs of artist Gregory Colbert. The subject of each large-scale photo is people with animals. Animals such as elephants, cheetahs, hawks, lions, whales, apes, and more. When looking at the photos it's hard to believe they were not created in Photoshop or manipulated in any way. Nor are they stills from the three films that are also part of the exhibit. There are photos of women with lions, children with cheetahs, people with elephants, and a dancer with a hawk. In none of the photos does it look like the animal is attacking or dangerous to the human. As mom said, the animals look protective of the people. The photos are not labeled to titled, so the viewer can draw his or her own conclusions. Each photo has an element of the surreal and there is something mystical about the relationship between the animal and the human.

There are also three films that are of people and animals, too. Two are shorter and one is an hour. The films are sort of extensions of the photographs. Seeing the interaction on film completely erases any lingering doubts about the validity of the photos. One of my favorite sequences is of an Egyptian dancer with a hawk. The still photographs of her are stunning and then to see the film of the dance with the bird swooping above and around her is really amazing. The entire sequence is graceful and full of unexpected beauty, with just a touch of danger because you don't really know what that bird is going to do. The dancer keeps dancing as if she is completely unaware the bird is even there. That's actually how many of the people behave in the films. The people are sitting, walking, dancing, or whatever with the animals all around them but not directly interacting with them. And everyone - the people and animals - are so calm. In one part of a film, there is a boy/girl laying down on a sand dune with his/her eyes shut surrounded by panting cheetahs.

The exhibit space for this show is equally as unusual and also demands some of the viewers attention. The space is called the Nomadic Museum. It is constructed out of "152 steel cargo containers stacked 34 feet high combined with largely recyclable and reusable materials to form the structural elements." Really do click on the link above to see photos of this structure and the inside of the exhibit. Go to "Exhibitions" then to "Nomadic Museum" then to "Santa Monica Pier" to see what I saw. The interior of the space is dark and one can't help but whisper because it resembles a cathedral. The noisy ouside world completely disappears. It's dark with only the photos lit with spotlights. The photos are not framed, but suspended in midair by wires. The museum is built on the beach right next to the pier, but we weren't walking on sand. There is a boardwalk surrounded by black stones. Extremely minimalist decor.

The Ashes and Snow website doesn't list any more US dates yet, and the show has closed in Santa Monica. It is going to Japan next. I told my friends at work about this show and one of them did go up on the last weekend to see it. She was so glad she did. She took her husband, eight year-old daughter, and in-laws. All of them loved it.

It's really an exhibit that you come out of feeling like there is something different. Actually, the reentry to civilization in the parking lot at the noisy, neon, Santa Monica pier is somewhat jarring and an interesting foil for the calm, dark, peaceful experience. Walking among the evening crowd at the pier when we had finished, I felt like I had just been part of something extraordinarily special that they had no clue about. Yet, it was so close and all they had to do was walk across the parking lot to experience it for themselves.

Maybe the Nomadic Museum will come back to the US and all of you can experience it too.

Catching Up

Since it's been so long since I updated this, here is the down and dirty version of what I've been up to in the last month or so.

-Preparing for Texas Library Association & International Reading Association conferences
-Going to the aforementioned TLA and IRA conferences (they were back-to-back this year, lucky me) in Houston and Chicago
-made it through sales conference three days before leaving for Houston and had lots of fun hanging out with work chums both in SD and from NY
-Celebrated my 29th birthday on the road in Houston
-Visited Tom, Holly, and new baby, Ellie, in Houston
-Visited College Station for the first time in five years, by my calculation and recollection
-Attended my first game at Minute Maid Park with publishing friends on my birthday, Astors vs. Dodgers
-Easter
-Attended three Padres games so far this season and it's only the beginning of May
-Hanging out with friends
-Went to the Shedd Aquarium during my semi-free day in Chicago
-Visited the amazing photography exhibition, Ashes and Snow, in Santa Monica (review to come)
-Watched the entire Freaks & Geeks series
-Haven't had much energy to read, but I did just polish off the sequel to Twilight, New Moon. Vampires, werewolves, teen romance=so good!

It's been busy. But all is good. No colds, injuries, stress-induced breakdowns, or the like. I'm in the home stretch now. I am now turning my attentions to preparing for the American Library Association annual conference at the end of June in New Orleans. Should be a snap after the last two weeks.

I also am looking forward to a kayak trip in Las Vegas over Memorial Day weekend. Two nights in Vegas and a lazy float down a river. Should be nice.

Hope all of you are well and I'll write again soon.

It's amazing!

Just got this, and had to share it with you immediately!

Check out this guy as he juggles to the Beatles' Golden Slumbers and Carry that Weight. You have to have speakers because the juggling is set to the song.

Now a movie review

Two posts in two days? Can you contain yourself?

I'm actually so exhausted with work, that I thought I'd sit here at the end of the day and write my take of recent movie I've seen. As if you care.

First, The 40 Year-Old Virgin. Hmm. While this does fall into the crude humor genre, it has a surprising amount of heart. It's a strange mix of body/sex humor and moments of sincerity. Is this a good thing? I'm not sure. When I was watching it, this didn't really occur to me. I was actually pretty put off by the language and the stereotypical characters & situations. But the next day, I found myself thinking about it. That's always a good sign. Steve Carell really played the character brilliantly. He toes the line of making himself a cartoon of a sex-less, socially stunted, nerd - he collects action figures, tucks his pants into his sock when riding his bike, cooks elaborate breakfasts for no one but himself, and watches "Survivor" with his elderly neighbors. He's the polar opposite of Vince Vaughn in Swingers. But Carell keeps the character on this side of the line by making him a very sincere guy. His friends are the stock characters - guys who think they know the answers about sex and women and actually have it all wrong. I felt some of the minor characters completely gratuitous and two of them probably filled the quota for allowable utterances of the f-word. It was an assault on the ears. The supporting characters are actually pretty boring with the exception of Catherine Keener ("What's she doing in this?!" was my reaction to seeing her name on the credits) and the character actress who plays his boss at the electronics store. The ad-libbing she does is great. Watch the extra scenes to see it.

So while the 40 Year-Old Virgin is not the best movie ever made, it does have some surprises and really good laughs. Who wouldn't laugh at the chest waxing scene?

The second movie I watched recently is Walk the Line. Another hmmm. I liked the movie and didn't find it as slow as some of my friends thought it was. The acting by everyone in the cast was great, as was the production value. But the whole story felt a little empty to me. Like something was missing. I can't quite put my finger on what it was. Enjoyable and filled with great music.

The Da Vinci Code Update.
I finished the book last night. I predicted most of the outcome correctly. But I did think the Newton poem was clever. The last fifty pages or so was the best part of the book. I figured out where the Holy Grail was, but I'm a little surprised the author made it an actual place. I thought he'd make up some fictional place. It was easy to picture Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, and Jean Reno as the characters. I'm glad I read the book but I might have ruined the movie by knowing the ending.

To keep in the art mystery vein, I started The Lost Painting. I'm only on chapter seven and I'm hooked.

Let me know what you're reading and watching.

Book Report

Last weekend, I read a fabulous book, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. The main character is a 10 year-old girl, Lisel, who is living with foster parents in a small suburb of Munich during the early days of WWII. She cannot read but learns with the help of her patient foster father. She loves the words and she soon discovers that books are the one thing she cannot resist. She starts stealing books from Nazi book burnings, from the library in the mayor's house, and even from a grave digger. Meanwhile, a German Jew comes to hide in her family's basement. Lisel shares her books with him and together they find solace in the words.

The expected hardships and dangers associated with war are also part of Lisel's life - rations, air raids, and death. Zusak portrays daily life in Nazi Germany as "normal" because it was for that time. Lisel must join Hitler's Youth when she turns ten, public display of the Nazi flag is mandatory on Hitler's birthday, the abandoned Jewish neighborhood, "Heil Hitler" instead of "hello", and yet, Lisel and her best friend ride their bikes and play soccer in the street just like kids anywhere would do. It's normal life for them.

So what makes this book different from any other WWII novel? Lisel's story is narrated by Death. Readers meet Death on the very first page. Death is portrayed as an observer who only involves himself in people's lives when he must take them. He is a reliable narrator but Zusak humanizes Death just enough, that by the book's end, he's actually a slightly sympathetic character.

The Book Thief was originally published in Zusak's native Australia as a book for adults. It weighs in at 540 pages. Zusak's American publisher, Knopf (imprint of Random House), has decided to publish it as young adult, but quietly. This sort of thing happens quite often. The bestseller, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon, was originally published in the UK as a young adult book, but when it jumped the pond, it was published as an adult novel. The Book Thief is sophisticated, meaty, compelling, and solid. The author is going to be at ALA in June, and I'm going to haul this book and another with me for him to sign. Go read it!

Incidentally, Zusak's previous novel, I Am the Messenger, is also fantastic. It's completely different from The Book Thief. Set in Australia, the protagonist is a 19 year-old guy who makes his living illegally driving a cab. His ho-hum life is disrupted when he foils a bank robbery and anonymously receives a playing card in his mail - the ace of diamonds. Written on the card are three names of people he doesn't know. He must figure out what role he is to play in their lives. Part mystery and adventure, I Am the Messenger, is full of angst, love, family, humanity, and connection. Smartly written and a really good story.

Since finishing The Book Thief this weekend, I have finally begun reading The Da Vinci Code. Am I the last person on the planet to read this thing? I'm not quite done with it - probably have one more night of reading - and I'm not impressed. Sure, it's an engaging story but I'm finding some sloppiness in the storytelling. There are holes and far too many convenient coincidences. I think that parts of it are repetitious as if Dan Brown underestimates his reader's ability to remember things from one chapter to the next. I have found myself skipping those repetitions. I also am finding it extremely easy to predict plot points. I'm almost a little bored with it. I think it will make a better movie than book.

What?! Flying cows?

This has to be the most bizarre news story ever.

Snoopy, the bad novelist, would approve

This year's 10 winners of the Bulwer-Lytton contest, a.k.a. "Dark and Stormy Night Contest" (run by the English Dept. of San José State University), wherein one writes only the first line of a bad novel:

10) "As a scientist, Throckmorton knew that if he were ever to break wind in the echo chamber, he would never hear the end of it."

9) "Just beyond the Narrows, the river widens."

8) "With a curvaceous figure that Venus would have envied, a tanned, unblemished oval face framed with lustrous thick brown hair, deep azure-blue eyes fringed with long black lashes, perfect teeth that vied for competition, and a small straight nose, Marilee had a beauty that defied description."

7) "André, a simple peasant, had only one thing on his mind as he crept along the East wall: 'Andre creep... André creep... André creep.'"

6) "Stanislaus Smedley, a man always on the cutting edge of narcissism, was about to give his body and soul to a back-alley sex-change surgeon to become the woman he loved."

5) "Although Sarah had an abnormal fear of mice, it did not keep her from eeking out a living at a local pet store."

4) "Stanley looked quite bored and somewhat detached, but then penguins often do."

3) "Like an over-ripe beefsteak tomato rimmed with cottage cheese, the corpulent remains of Santa Claus lay dead on the hotel floor."

2) "Mike Hardware was the kind of private eye who didn't know the meaning of the word 'fear'; a man who could laugh in the face of danger and spit in the eye of death -- in short, a moron with suicidal tendencies."

AND THE WINNER IS...

1) "The sun oozed over the horizon, shoved aside darkness, crept along the greensward, and, with sickly fingers, pushed through the castle window, revealing the pillaged princess, hand at throat, crown asunder, gaping in frenzied horror at the sated, sodden amphibian lying beside her, disbelieving the magnitude of the frog's deception, screaming madly,'You lied!'"

I swear I've heard #4 somewhere else before. It made me laugh then, and it makes me laugh now.

What was I thinking?

Hey, I have an idea, why don't I go to Montana in the dead of winter? Sounds great! As I write this, at 9:12PM, the outside air temp is 3 degrees according to Susan's outdoor thermometer. Did you catch that - 3?? At what temperature does the liquid in an eyeball freeze?

It was gorgeous here today. Twenty-one when I landed, and I think the high was around 28, but beautiful sunny skies. It snowed a whole lot last night and the ski hill we're headed to tomorrow has around 20" of fresh snow. Weather conditions should be about the same.

More later if my fingers haven't fallen off because of frostbite.

The Weekend Is Going Downhill

I'm headed to Big Sky country this weekend. I'm going skiing with Susan and Pat at their neighborhood ski hill. Here's where we'll be: Teton Pass
I'm flying buddy pass in and out of Great Falls via Salt Lake. Here's hopin' the flights stay available for my return trip from Salt Lake. Flights are a little questionable.

Found this site today. I like the LiveScience site anyway, and then I found these science myths. If you are a fan of Discovery Channel's Mythbusters (and I know there are at least two of you out there), then you'll like these.

Olympic sized rant

The ice dancing costumes have compelled me to break my blog silence. Did you catch the ice dancing at the Olympics? What is up with the costumes? I know the theme was Latin dances, which can have a bit of color, sexiness, and passion, but does that equate gaudy? Almost every costume was a day-glo shade of orange, yellow, or red. And tacky, tacky, tacky. What was with the feather poof? And the leopard print with matching circa 1980 Jazzercise headband? I remember ice dancing costumes from a couple Olympics back that were flowy, less bedazzled, and covered up more. The flow of the women's skirts would accentuate the leg movements not distract. It's not just the women showing a lot of skin, the men also seem to think it's a requirement that they show off their chests. In some cases, at least on tv, it appears that some could use some more time in the gym and a bottle of tan in the can. Not that I am one to talk about tans.

Also regarding the Olympics: can the media let the speed skating "feud" go? Who cares if the two guys like each other or not? They don't have to like each other. I think each skater should just keep his mouth shut and not give the media any more fuel. Soon, the women's figure skaters will get all the attention and we won't hear about any other sports.

The media has also done a pretty good job at making some of the athletes pretty uncomfortable during interviews. Do we, the public, really have to hear that poor skier who fell talk about it again? Or that Russian pair who ended up winning the gold but all the interviewer wanted to ask about was that scary fall they had back at some other event months ago. Clearly, they didn't want to talk about it. The NBC people need to get a clue and be a little more sensitive to their subject's feelings. Sure, the falls and tragedies are dramatic, but it disturbs me that NBC is using these things over and over again to get ratings. Why not concentrate on the personal achievements and positive outcomes? Not the falls and negativity. Davis won a gold medal, but all that was talked about was what Hedrick said in response to it and their feud. Ug. Ted Ligety won a gold, but we all know Bode finished fifth. The games are supposed to be inspiring, uplifting, and positive. Even when Apolo got a bronze the other night, the after-event interviewer asked him if the Koreans teamed up on him. I thought his answer was smart, but even brining up that idea was poor form. He won a medal - why not talk about that?

Arg. One last gripe. All the commercials. Can't stand them. It is in serious debate if I will ever eat at KFC, drive a Chevy, have a VISA, or get All-State insurance in the near future.

Hurry! These babies will go fast!

Law and Order SVU Valentines.

Need I say more? I especially like the Ice-T card.

Classy!

Reading Recs

1. Feed by M.T. Anderson - Futuristic, anti-consumerism novel. Funny, tragic, and makes you go hmmm. Best first line: "We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck."
2. A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly - Historical fiction with a touch of mystery. If you liked "The Secret Lives of Bees" with the teenage protagonist, you'll probably like this.
3. Rats Saw God by Rob Thomas - A modern "A Catcher in the Rye"
4. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer - Vampires in high school. Very cool and entertaining. Not scary.
5. East by Edith Pattou - A retelling blending "East of the Sun and West of the Moon" and "Beauty and the Beast"
6. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson - Great character voice
7. Looking for Alaska by John Green - Extremely well spoken prep school kids. Have fun catching all the literary references.
8. A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb - Creepy but beautiful romantic ghost story
9. The Giver by Lois Lowry - one of my favorites
10. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray - Supernatural mystery set in British India and other locations

The above ten titles are all books I'd recommend if you are looking for a good meaty story but don't have a lot of time. All are quick reads. They are all also written for young adults, which means kids 12 to 18 years old. YA lit is hot, jump on the bandwagon.

Currently reading: Utterly Monkey by Nick Laird

Bad news for the whale shark

I know I've been posting a lot of science stuff on this blog lately. All the science stuff is very interesting to me, but maybe not to you, my reader. If that's the case, please just skip the next paragraph.

The world's largest fish, the whale shark, is getting smaller according to a report. Over Christmas, we visited the brand spankin' new Georgia Aquarium, which also happens to be the largest aquarium in the world. One of the main attractions at the aquarium is a pair of whale sharks. Whale sharks have a terrible track record in captivity, so I was enthralled and curious to see how the aquarium was going to keep them alive. (The aquarium trained them to eat before capturing them and they seeem to be doing fine so far. They were sent via UPS from Taiwain to Georgia, by the way.) I think my recent encounter with the whale sharks is why the article caught my attention. For the other four people with me at the aquarium, do you remember your whale shark fact o' the day? Their skin is only four inches thick!

Anyhoo. I'm in San Antonio now getting ready for the ALA Midwinter Meeting. Actually, I'm spending a few days ahead of the conference to-do with my aunt. We've been taking care of some conference-related errands I had to do, shopping (I have new James Avery baubles), and tonight we're going to the Spurs game. Tomorrow I officially start my conference work.

Take it easy.

Weird Science

The Drudge Report had some interesting headlines today that made me stop working. I had to read them. The first is about some scientists who have made glow-in-the dark pigs. There's even a picture of the little rascals glowing away. First, I wondered why on earth glow-in-the-dark pigs are necessary, but the article does give some good reasons. Even the pig's DNA is green. Weird.

The second interesting article is one about some anthropologists who think early humans were hunted by large predatory birds. Scientists had first hypothesized that the damage evident on these prehistoric skulls was caused by a saber toothed cat or something. But now they think it was caused by birds. That's a huge freakin' bird. Yikes.

And the third weird science discovery of today is that my cat likes to eat dry Cheerios. Go figure.

"Have you seen the weatha?"

After a New Year's weekend with rain, wind, and chill, it is now 80 degrees here. Ahhh.

Even though the weekend had horrible weather, did you see those people out for the Rose Parade acting like it wasn't miserable? I watched the parade on tv and I was amazed by how many people braved the conditions and sat through it. But what's even more amazing is the people who had to be in the parade. Those high school kids who were probably so excited to have been included in the parade and then spent who knows how long raising money for the trip, hours of practicing, had to slog through rain and wind in usually rainless Southern California. Stupid storms.

So hats off to the parade marchers and float riders, and to the crowd who stayed with them to keep them going. I know two people who went to watch the parade. Both said it was impressive that the floats held up so well and that the marchers almost always had smiles on their faces. One of them said she was soaked to the skin but her contingent kept yelling encouragement to the marchers and they would get waves and smiles in return.

I did watch the game Wednesday. I cheered wholeheartedly for Texas to beat USC. Gasp! I'm glad they won. Of course, I was wearing my A&M slippers the whole time.

I am soon off to San Antonio. It's another work trip, but I'm going a few days early to visit my aunt and go to a Spurs game.

Later chillins.

Mall Mayhem

Have you seen the malls lately? What is with people? Do we really need more stuff just because it's cheap? Do the crowds and mob mentality seem even worse this year to anyone? I had to drive by two malls on my way from LA to San Diego yesterday, and the traffic exiting for each mall was backed up for miles. Luckily, it was mostly contained to the right two lanes and didn't slow me down much. Today I went with a co-worker to the downtown mall in San Diego. She wanted to snag some post-Christmas decorations on sale, and since not much is going on here at the office, I went with her. The place was a mob scene. The parking garage was a like demolition derby with cars going every direction possible. Yes, I have participated in the after-Christmas sales before but in previous years, it didn't feel like a dangerous situation. In the short 30 minutes we were at the mall, I was hit by a stroller, whacked in the shins by shopping bags, and almost hit by an oblivion (click here for more about Oblivions or to find out if you are one. The holiday season is prime time for Oblivions. I think it's their mating season, too.) driver who whipped around a corner too fast. I think something about 50% off drives people into a frenzy akin to sharks smelling blood in the water. Dangle that little red sale tag in front of people and they'll eat up anything not nailed down. The two stores we went in were trashed. While my co-worker was after Christmas decorations she saw before the holiday but couldn't buy them because she had too many other expenses, is one of the post-Christmas sale mongers, she's not a crazy person and wasn't there to buy just anything on sale. I'm all for a good sale and will go to them just like everyone else hoping to get a good deal, but there should still be civility. When did going crazy factor in? It's really pretty gross to watch people buy, buy, buy crap they probably don't need. I think next week will bring some wide-spread buyer's remorse.

I did get some gift cards for Christmas that I can't wait to use, but I think I'll stay away until the new inventory comes in. My life is not worth a $30 cashmere sweater. Although, that's a really good price. For cashmere.

Exciting narwhal discovery!

I haven't written anything here in ages, but I felt so compelled to let you all know about the recent discovery made about the narwhal tusk. Aren't you excited????? Scientists discovered that the tusk (a large protruding spiraling tooth) has nerves that run from the core all the way to the surface. This is feature is unique to narwhals and allows them to use their tusk to "feel" the water and their environment. Since narwhals live in freezing Arctic water, they can probably feel the cold water. "Imagine the ice cream headache that narwhals must live with ALL THE TIME," as the author who e-mailed me this article wrote.

Enjoy the article and increasing your knowledge about the mysterious narwhal. What other narwhal secrets will be found out in the next century?

In other news, in case you thought I fell off the planet because I've been a lame-o and haven't updated this dang thing in months, I'm still here. I was in Pittsburgh for a conference just before Thanksgiving. It was an English teacher conference. I got to meet and/or hang out with authors such as Yann Martel (The Life of Pi), Robert MacNeil (formerly of the MacNeil/Leher News Hour on PBS), M. T. Anderson (YA author extraordinaire), Andy Auseon (super-talented debut YA author), Lynne Cox (Swimming to Antarctica), Nina Crews (amazing illustrator), Brian Collier (one of my favorite illustrators), Kathi Appelt (a popular Aggie author), and Han Nolan (award-winning YA author). I also heard Laurie Halse Anderson, Paul Fleischman, Chris Lynch, and Nancy Garden speak during the post-conference YA workshop I attended as a publisher observer and author escort. Yes, I'm name dropping, but it's the best part of my job and I like it. There were plenty of other fantastic authors there that I ran into or listened to, but it was weeks ago and now I can't remember. Duh.

After getting back from Pittsburgh (where it was 17 degrees one night!), I worked like mad to get ready for taking time off for Christmas. I am officially on vacation now and I won't be going back until the 27th. Woo-hoo! Mom, Dad, and I are headed to Atlanta to visit David & Allison at their pad. We'll celebrate early and then the three of us will fly back and be in LA for the 25th.

And that's what I've been up to the past couple months. Let me know that you're still alive and functioning, too. Have a Merry Christmas (or other seasonal holiday of your choice), Happy New Year, and look forward to more narwhal facts!

Weekend Report

Several things happened this weekend, none of which are earth shattering, though two really did move the earth.

1. Astros are in the World Series finally. Game One was a loss, but I'm just happy they are there playing. Any good things that happen in the next four or whatever games is just gravy.

2. I drove up to LA to pick up Hobbes from the vet. He's been boarded there for over a week, poor guy, and I went to get him out of jail early. He's glad to be home and is sleeping a lot.

3. While in LA, there were two earthquakes only 2 miles from Marina del Rey. (check this link for earthquake activity in SoCal: Insta Cali Map) They were only 3.1 and 3.0, which surprised me because they sure felt stronger than that. They were about seven hours apart. Both were short, but very jarring. Jolts. The whole condo creaked but no damage. I don't like earthquakes. I've now experienced about a dozen little ones, the biggest being the 6.? that happened about a year ago offshore of SD.

4. Drove back to SD on Sunday afternoon. Dreary day and chilly.

5. Currently reading THE HISTORIAN, a creepy vampire book. It's about a woman telling the story of her father telling the story of his mentor telling the story of Vlad Dracula. Got that? It's pretty good but it is repetitive in the storytelling method. The story progresses nicely, but it's how she tells the story that's repetitive. There is a lot of Eastern European history written into the story and I'm learning about the geography and history of that region. The author must have done an incredible amount of research. Now, those of you who know me probably don't think this sounds like my kind of book. I don't like scary or horror things. I've never read any Ann Rice or seen very many vampire movies. But this book is good. It has elements of the horrific in it, but it's more of a suspense or cat-and-mouse book than a horror novel. I also read TWILIGHT, a YA novel that happens to have vampires in it, though I wouldn't call it a vampire book. It's not scary at all and it's really about a girl (a mortal) who falls in love with a vampire, and vice versa. It's a star-crossed lover book starring a mortal and a vampire in high school. Very entertaining read.

6. I found a gas station in LA where regular was only $2.71. Yee-haw!

As you can see, I had a heck of a weekend.