Nod Over Coffee

A picture from my snowy morning drive.  It's a little nondescript, but it does show the white stuff we woke up to. 

After a week of pillar-to-post, I'm hoping to either do absolutely NOTHING tonight...OR go see "Love in the Time of Cholera."  It all hinges on how I feel after I go do an hour of cardio.

Yesterday, I stopped at the library after taking my father to yet another appointment.  I had a whopping $69 fine.  Turns out that I forgot to return four books.  I rushed home, brought them back (they had somehow missed my last trip) and still had an $18 fine.  That's when it occurred to me:  Time is flying by far too quickly this fall.  I had taken those books out in September and was able to have them for four weeks.  Those four weeks came and went, with me oblivious to the fact. 

While I was there, humbling paying my fees, I walked past the new book shelf and took out three books that I can't wait to dive into:

Infection:  The Uninvited Universe by Gerald N. Callahan, PhD
The Blue Death:  Disease, Disaster and the Water We Drink by Dr. Robert D. Morris
Pontoon by Garrisson Keillor
Merle's Door:  Lessons from a Freethinking Dog by Ted Kerasote

Expect some blogging about those -when time stops flashing past me and I can breathe, snuggle on the sofa and read.  I still have to start Donaldson's The Fatal Revenant, but I know I need a couple of days to immerse myself in the world he has created and forget about real life.  That isn't happening until AFTER December 1st and the wedding.

The other day at the gym I ran into someone who was carrying with them The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson, which I read a few months back.  It's about London's cholera epidemic and John Snow, who rooted out the cause.  He's the pioneer of surgical anesthesia.  It was a fascinating book and this was the first person I'd met who read it.  Turned out we'd read a few similar things - Flu by Gina Kolata amongst them (1918 flu pandemic, well-written, engaging book). 

There is another book by Steven Johnson that I'd like to read, Emergence:  The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software.  Wait:  if I keep writing about books, this will no longer be random, it will be a blog about my reading plans.  Since I'm feeling in an abandoned, random sort of mood, I have to nip this in the bud and change the subject. Now.

Aside from that, my day has been random - my art kid who has a crush on me was singing Taylor Swift's, "Teardrops" and changing the words...while hiding under the table.  And no, I wouldn't hug him in spite the serenade.  He asked as always. I think he thought I'd really like his emphasis on the "she's the kind of flawless I wish I could be." Oh yeah, that'll get you an A... IF you do your homework and turn in your reports.

I purchased two cases of de-alcoholized White Zinfandel for the wedding AND it counted towards my Giant Eagle gas perks, even though the cashier didn't think it would.  Yippee.

I'm also stocked up on Scruples Twisted Curl Defining Creme, the magic potion to beat all magic potions.  Now if my daughter does the brave thing and cancels the hair appointments which my friend put back on the books (since I'm somehow completely lame and unable to extricate us), I will have to find a way to order it online or another salon that carries it.  How do you spell wimp? G-l-y-n-i-s.

That's it.  I've sat.  I've rested.  Now I must get in some cardio and even maybe yoga.  I'm actually feeling like I might want to go see that movie instead of reading about infections, deadly water and such.

To be truly random, I just HAD to include this One Minute Hamlet from Famous Last Nerds:

AND the Godfather in One Minute: