Quiet.
August 4th, 2003
It's a little after 9 am. I've been up for a couple of hours now and have only just gotten around to making a cup of tea and settling down to the computer. Chris I hope is still sleeping. He's had several late nights this weekend and needs to rest up. Rollie is walking around the house meowing at the top of his lungs, and I have been alternately hissing at him to stop, fussing over him, and filling up his food bowl. Tia is curled up in her basket. She's good to sleep until noon.
It's Civic Holiday, which doesn't mean much to me at the moment as these past few weeks have been Civic Holiday All The Time. I was hoping to get my antique deck chairs painted today, but it looks like the rain we've had for the past two days is going to stay put for a while. I really should take some before pictures of them because when they are finished they are going to look really good.
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Chris and I went to Chapters on Saturday because I have read the first books for a lot of series and wanted to get the sequels. I went through every author that I currently know has series open and NONE of them were in at the store. I think sometimes I should just continue to order books online, because I know that they are in stock and will get to me. Going to the store, browsing, and finding nothing is very disappointing. I wasn't really in the mood to do a good browse either and pick up a couple new authors.
I have a love-hate relationship with that store as well. Sometimes the staff on duty are so clingy I feel like I am suffocating. I hate that they ask when I get to the counter if I found everything I was looking for. I usually just say yes, because the one time I said no it turned into a huge production with them offering to order everything I wanted into the store, and they checked the inventory anyhow (one memorable occasion it said they had one copy of the book in stock, but it wasn't on the correct shelf or someone had stolen it, but they couldn't order more until they found that copy because the computer wouldn't let them order new stock in until the inventory number was at 0. How silly is that?) and it was such a production that I stayed away for a long time.
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The shower doors have been installed and caulked, and sometime this week my father-in-law will come over and hook up the plumbing. Then all we have left is to get the floor done, put the toilet and vanity in, and get an electrician in to install the pot light and the exhaust fan. I think Chris will get that done on his holidays.
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We had lots of company over yesterday. Chris's parents came over so his dad could finish the caulking and permanently attach the shower doors. Shortly after they arrived, Weener came over to do laundry and hang out. While we were visiting, S came over and soon both computers were fired up and the stirring strains of Battlefield 1942 were pouring from the speakers. It's actually quite cool now that we have two fast computers and have networked them to share the DSL connection. Playing cooperatively on these kinds of games is so much fun because you can just yell over to the person next to you when something happens.
K came over as well briefly. He was trying to decide whether or not he should go to the hospital because he thought he got something in his eye like a piece of metal or something from work. It looked really red and inflamed. He didn't stay very long, I hope he's ok.
Approaching Kilter is on a little hiatus because I haven't been on the bike lately due to some knee problems.
Books I have Read Lately:
- Diplomacy of Wolves by Holly Lisle. I had read some of her earlier work and liked it, but I hadn't gotten around to buying this series until now. Her writing has matured a lot since her earlier work and I found myself quite deeply immersed in the story. She ends this one on a bit of a cliffhanger, but I forgive her because all the books are currently out and I don't have to wait a year to find out what happens. The main character, Kait is a diplomat with a terrible secret that actually saves her life. I found that there is a lot of parallel storylines being juggled, but you can almost see them weaving together towards the end.
- Mendoza in Hollywood by Kage Baker. I absolutely adore this series. The first two books are Garden of Iden and Sky Coyote. These books tell the story of The Company, which is a corporation from the future who recruits orphans from the past and turns them into immortal cyborgs who then work in the past preserving animals and plants which become extinct, rescuing historical documents that become destroyed, and collecting anthropological data from past cultures. It brings participant observation to a whole new level. This book is just as good as the first two, I heartily suggest you read this series.
- The Graveyard Game by Kage Baker. This 4th novel in The Company series departs a little from the previous three books. Mendoza isn't present, other than in spirit and some of the other Immortals are trying to find her. Dark secrets about The Company start to come to light, and the Immortals inexorably move towards 2355, when all contact from the future ceases. Why?
(All links go through Amazon.ca because of the affiliate program with The Usual Suspects. I spend so much time on there, that this is the least I can do.)