Hail, Arturo!

I really like cataloguing the books that I read and usually write a brief review. Several years ago, I joined Shelfari and have tracked all the books I read there. A couple of years ago, I also joined Goodreads. (I forget what prompted me to do that, but I’m glad I did.) Then I tracked using both sites.

I recently got a notice from Shelfari that it would be merging with Goodreads. Fortunately, they offered a way to export all your info over to Goodreads, as well as downloading a file. I did that and most of my books transferred over, but there were over 40 books that didn’t. Not the end of the world, but it bothered me. Like I said, I really like tracking all the books I read!

I like having the record of it and to be totally honest, sometimes I forget if I’ve read a book, so it helps to be able to have a list handy. (A while back, I remember being all excited to read Game Change, until I got into it and realized, “Hey, I’ve read this already!” Mind like a sieve, I’m telling you.) I also enjoy having the ability to see what I thought of a book when I read it and what kind of a review I gave it. In Days of Yore, I kept a written journal (I still do that to some extent, just to make notes about books) and in prehistoric days, I wrote it all down on a yellow legal pad. My record-keeping was sporadic for many years, but for the past decade or so, I’ve been faithful about it.

I contacted Goodreads customer service and soon heard back from a representative, Arturo. He apologized for the problem and asked me to send him my file of books and he’d try exporting all of them on his end. A couple of days went by, but I heard back from him today. He was able to export them all! He sent me a link of the info and showed me via a screen grab of how to make sure the reviews were there. I checked and it’s all there. HUZZAH!

Arturo is my hero today. I thanked him profusely and asked if he had a supervisor who I could write to and tell what a great job Arturo did. Dealing with customer service can often be an exercise in frustration, but I am so pleased with this outcome. The problem was identified, he addressed it immediately, and was able to solve the problem. I appreciated his efforts and am happy at the results.

I haven’t heard back from him about contacting his supervisor, but I hope I do. If someone provides excellent service, I try to sing their praises to their supervisors. Not just because it can help them in their jobs, but because I remember what a boost it was in my own job to hear something as simple as, “Thank you. I really appreciate your help and you did a good job.”

So if someone helps you, be sure to let them know and go a little further, if you can, to let their supervisors know. It can mean a lot.

A not-so-lazy Sunday

Just a pretty picture from our place.

Usually Nutwood Sundays are pretty quiet days, but I kept a little busier than usual today.

I’ve been going to bed quite a bit earlier than normal (for me) lately, because with nice weather coming and longer days, I’ve been wanting to get up earlier. So I had an early (for me) start, made a quick trip to the grocery store for something I’m making for dinner (more in a moment), got a quick workout in (I usually take Sundays off, but not today!), dried a load of sheets and got those folded, got cleaned up, and then started working on tonight’s dinner. I KNOW! Busy busy busy!

I was going to do a food post about this dinner today, but it’s only partly done and won’t be finished until much later tonight. So tomorrow, you’ll get to read about this braciole, AKA Sicilian-Style Beef Roulade according to Emeril. His is the recipe I’m using. I’ve made it once before, and it was very tasty, so I hope this one turns out well, too. It doesn’t look very pretty, but as long as it tastes good, I’m cool with ugly food! Presentation is important, too, but if it doesn’t taste good, what’s the point?

Ken is back from his business trip, so I hope this will be a yummy meal for him. Me too, for that matter!

I’ve got some political stuff churning in my head, but I’m a little too absorbed in my current book to focus on that right now. I’ll get back to it soon enough...maybe too soon for some of you! [grin] I love Shelfari, because it lets me know when I’m “behind my pace” of last year, and Shelfari chided me yesterday for falling behind. Drat! The book is great, but it’s not a fast read (but oh, what an enlightening book...things really haven’t changed that much in almost a hundred years, and that’s really sad to me). I have the new Stephen King Dark Tower book on the way, so I’ll burn through that in no time and get back up to my usual pace. I’m not trying to compete against anyone other than myself!

Time to start the final phase of the braciole, and back to reading. Carry on, citizens!

Panic in the Library

I’ve really been tearin’ it up lately when it comes to reading. I track my books on Shelfari, and so far this year, I’ve read 30 books. In all of last year, I read only 21! I made a conscious decision to stop spending so much time online and get back to making time for reading. I may have overcompensated, because I’m not writing as much, and sometimes neglecting to get things done because I’m deep into a book and I just can’t put it down. I’m pretty much okay with that, though. When it’s nice out, I tend to put on a bikini and sit outside to read. (If it’s really hot, I sit in the shade. I get overheated easily.) I figure that I’d better be enjoying the summer, because it is starting to wind down. Winter will be coming soon enough! I’ve also been trying to get over to Shane and Matt’s once a week or so for some happy fun pool time (pictures will be forthcoming), and we’ve been having a blast just floating around in the pool, relaxing, talking, and listening to some fun new music. They’re so sweet to welcome me over so often!

Anyway, back to books. The last few I read were hard copies rather than Kindle versions. I like to change it up a little bit. I’m a wild woman, I know! So instead of leaving it on and draining the charge, I just turned it completely off. That seemed like common sense to me.

When I finished the current book I was reading (a hardback), I went back to the guest room to find another book to read. There is a tall shelf back there crammed full of books, ones that I haven’t read yet. I thought about a Jeffrey Deaver book, because he writes good crime thrillers. Picked up a Paul Krugman book, but I’m fairly sick of reading about the economic crisis. Considered a Jeffrey Toobin book about the Supreme Court. I have a multitude of books about Microbiology, but I wanted something a little less serious at the moment. In that light, I thought about Maureen McCormick’s autobiography (Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!), but that was a little too light. I decided I was in the mood for a good, creepy horror novel. And I didn’t have one on that particular bookshelf! There were a couple of Dean Koontz books, but he’s kind of Horror Novel Lite lately, and I wanted something really toothsome, so to speak.

I knew I had some good stuff on my Kindle, so I figured it was time to fire it up again. Although I hadn’t had it on in a while, I had ordered a couple of items, including some free books, and I figured I could get all those downloaded to my Kindle and put into the proper categories, then decide which book I wanted to read. I turned it on, and it was thinking and thinking...but it wasn’t syncing up to my new downloads. As I investigated, it appeared that it wasn’t connecting to the wireless network. I tried connecting manually, I did some troubleshooting, and I still couldn’t get it to connect. It recognized the network, but for some reason, it just would not connect.

After a little bit of frantic work, including a restart, I decided to let it charge fully, and I will go from there. As it charges, I find myself feeling quite anxious. Of course, I can already access the books that I have on there without having the wireless connected, so that isn’t the problem. Not having something work the way it is supposed to and always has bothers me quite a bit. I know I’ll get this resolved (there are still things I need to try, and I hear that Kindle tech support is outstanding), but in the meantime, I’m fretting. I don’t like to fret, but that’s what I’m doing. I’m currently resisting the urge to see if it has charged all the way yet, and wondering if I can sleep without resolving this.

I did have to laugh at myself as I was looking for a book to read. I was the literary equivalent of Springsteen’s “57 Channels (And Nothing On).” An entire bookshelf of books I haven’t read, ranging in topics from science to politics to thrillers, and nothing was striking me. Five crammed-to-overflowing bookshelves in the basement, but most are books I’ve read. I have no qualms about reading favorites again, but I’ve got so many others that I haven’t read yet!

As I write this out, it strikes me that if this is all I’m fretting about at the moment, I am a very lucky woman. I think I’ll sleep easy tonight, after all.

Shame on me

I'm so bad...I still haven't edited pictures from our Detroit trip! I'm going to stop mentioning it and stop feeling so guilty and just get to it as soon as I can. I'll post them ASAP, but today was tied up with shopping for our cookout on Wednesday and starting to put things together. The cucumbers are soaking in salt water at the moment, so I'm stepping away to make a quick entry. When I was at the grocery store, I found T-bones on sale, so guess what we're having for dinner tonight? That's right, chicken! I'm being silly--we'll have T-bones, baked potatoes, and a wedge of lettuce with blue cheese dressing. One of our favorite combos!

Hey, I got an award! A very big thank you to Lucy of What is Left of a Whole New Life for passing along the Bow Award, which she received from a nice gentleman from Greece. She had very kind things to say, including that she never knows what she'll find here when she stops by to read. I like that, because I don't like to be "defined," or put into any particular category. As with most awards, if I read you, feel free to snag this for yourself for a job well done. [curtseying] Thank you, Lucy!

One of the things that tickled me the most when talking to Mark was when we first met and stopped for breakfast. As we were getting to know each other over eggs and toast, Mark said something about how it was really interesting to meet us in person because in our blogs, he said, "Ken, you're so laid back, and you [he looked at me] are..." and he started laughing. I said, "Not?" It was so funny, and I looked at Ken and said, "I think I'm laid back, too...except when I get fired up about something!" I told Ken later that I really think I am a very laid back person, and it's just a few paragraphs out of my day that I might get fired up. Ken said, "But that's what everyone reads of you, so that's how they see you." Point well taken, and I want to reassure everyone that I don't bite, and I really am a pussycat. Except when I get fired up about something. Haha! The vast majority of my day is spent being cool as a cucumber (despite today's hot and humid weather), friendly, smiling, calm and relaxed. I’m chill, baby.

I stayed up a little while last night after Ken went to bed, and as I was sitting here, I heard a thump in the basement. A moment later, Sheeba came up from the basement with a mouse in his mouth! A good-sized field mouse, too, not one of the little gray ones. As soon as I looked at him and said, "Good boy!" he turned and went back downstairs. He did this four or five more times, apparently just showing off and/or enjoying his sport with the mouse. He finally made his way over to one of Ken's shoes and dropped Mousie into it. I'm not sure why, but that's what he does--whenever he catches a mouse, he drops it into one of Ken's shoes. I was able to pick up the shoe, take it outside, and dump Mousie out into the yard. I suppose he just found a way back into the house, but maybe he'll remember his trauma and stay away. Sheeba got lots of praise and a couple of treats. He really is a great mouser. I hate to see any animal hurt, but he rarely kills them, just drops them off for us to take care of and in exchange for treats. Who knows? Maybe he thinks he's giving us a treat!

I finally updated my Shelfari widget over there on the sidebar. That was overdue! I've made an effort to really get back into reading lately--I still keep up with magazines and Net content, but I've missed reading actual books. I'm trying to remedy that, and I've enjoyed it very much. I think I'm going to read one more from our shelf here at Nutwood, the latest Dean Koontz, then get back into the book club list. I’m still behind!

Off to the kitchen...the cukes are calling! O Danny Boy….

Being bookish

Sorry if I've been a little scarce today!

I ran some errands this morning, and I was pleased with my tank top score at Walmart! They had some clearance racks set out, and I browsed through them real quick. I got a few nice workout tank tops, including a Danskin one, for a really reasonable price--I even got one for $1! Can't beat that with a stick. I'm not sure if it will be warm enough in the workout area this winter to wear them, but they'll be great for spring and summer.

After some puttering around here (I still want to replant Mr. Lucky Bamboo), I settled in (as did Sheeba, on my lap) and read the next story in the new Stephen King book. Wow, I was enthralled! King has been accused in the past of writing weak female characters, and that's probably a fair criticism, but I think he started changing that several years ago. Jesse Burlingame in Gerald's Game was a pretty tough cookie, and so was Dolores Claiborne. In his story "The Gingerbread Girl," I think Emily is another brave female character.

I've also noticed that several people have their Shelfari bookshelf on their sidebar, and I kind of liked the looks of that, so I've put one up, too. I kept it small...I didn't feel like adding the ENTIRE BOOKSHELF of books I have to read! So I kept it at three for now. I made my bookshelf black. I think it fits in better with the decor of my blog, don't you? Ha!

I get headlines from our local paper every morning, and I was very disturbed to read about a recent robbery in our area:

Police investigate bra theft at mall

By DAVE STEPHENS
Tribune Staff Writer

MISHAWAKA — Police are looking for three shoplifting suspects who apparently needed some support.

Just after 7 p.m. Thursday, police were called to the University Park Mall’s Victoria’s Secret store, where the store manager reported one man and two women had walked out with 40 bras.

Police say the team apparently walked out of the store with two drawers full of bras. At $40 each, the bras mean a $1,600 loss in merchandise. The store manager was unable to provide detailed descriptions of the suspects to police.

That's really frightening. I wonder if they just got tired of hanging out at the mall? I'm sure our local police will stay abreast of the case. There was a tip that the bandits were seen stuffing their faces at Hooter's but it was a falsie. There was one witness, but she was unable to give much of a description other than all three thieves had "pastie" complexions. I'm sure when they catch these boobs, our community will find it very uplifting to have them separated from their life of crime.

Hee hee! How could I resist? Feel free to continue in comments, if you have a few gems of your own that occur to you!