Just did another redesign of the front page.
I couldn’t come up with a way to use the full page image and get rid of the boxes–which I’m starting to get tired of. But besides that, I’m pleased with the way it turned out, especially when it’s resized.
Feel free to check out the latest flower pr0n.
The daylilies by the driveway are blooming–tons of blooms, which makes up for the fact that they only bloom once. I still need to look up the cultivar–I think it’s candywine or something like that. But I really like the color.
Also, my hydrangea has finally bloomed! When I got it, I didn’t realize exactly how much water it would want. Jeesh! It’s as if the thing has no roots! Then last year, despite the constant watering, it still didn’t bloom. But this year, I’ve got gorgeous blue blooms, so I guess it has been worth the effort. (Of course the blooms are blue! This is West by God Virginia, land coal mines, clay soil, and acid min drainage.)
It’s a new fiscal year here in West Virginia.
Which means that I’m now making less money that I was last paycheck.
You see insurance changes occur July 1, which means that insurance increases or changes appear on the first paycheck of the month.
It’s at times like this when I wonder why I work at WVU. Yeah, 6 hours of free tuition are fantastic, but thanks to the economy tanking, raises have been near to non-existant since W took office.
Money isn’t everything I know, and Michael has gotten regular raises, but it’s still frustrating. Bills are paid out of checking–the account that my paycheck goes into; Michael’s paycheck goes straight into savings, and the morgtage and car payment come directly from there. All of which means that as prices rise while my pay remains the same, we are more likely to pull money from the savings account to pay bills than we were even a year ago.
It’s frustrating. We aren’t really spending more money than previous years, yet I keep having to dip into money that is supposed to go into savings. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not such a huge thing. We’re still accumulating savings–like I said, Michael is getting raises–but it feels like we’re falling behind.
I know that I shouldn’t complain. We have a home, a car, food to eat, books to read, no credit card debt, and money in savings. All of this is far more than so many people have. Yet still, the feeling of falling behind is unsettling.
Killing Orders (1985) Sara Paretsky
In Killing Orders V.I.’s bitter and unpleasant aunt asks her to look into a matter for her–securities have been forged at the church where Aunt Rosa works, and as everyone who had access to the safe is under suspicion, she is on leave from her job at the church. Worried, and wanting to clear her name so she can return to work, she bullies V.I. into looking into the case for her. But things aren’t nearly as simple as they seem, and soon one of V.I.’s friends is dead, attempts are made on V.I.’s life, and another friend is hospitalized, all for asking questions about securities fraud.
I’m starting to remember what frustrated me so much about these books.
Indemnity Only (1982) and Deadlock (1984) Sara Paretsky
I used to own the V.I. Warshawski series, but in a fit of pique–and shelf space squeeze–I sold them all. I recently decided that I wanted to give them another chance, which means that I needed to reread them, which means I had to find all the books again. Luckily, I’ve found most of them used.
The Last Templar (1995) Michael Jecks
This was an interesting book. The mystery was good, the story was good, and I quite liked the historical setting and the history lesson. The writing was, for the most part, very good, with one glaring exception. In this book Michael Jecks switches point of view abruptly and sometimes painfully. I was confused several times when I thought the point of view was one character when it had switched to the point of view of another characters.
I know that we go to Newport Aquarium every time we go to Cincinnati, but I really like it.
Only problem this time was that we went on a Friday afternoon. On a stroller day. Future note. Avoid summer Friday afternoons. Mornings early in the week are MUCH better.
Michael again managed to get some really gorgeous pictures at the aquarium.
No. Really. I couldn’t eat another bite.
Another trip to Cincinnati, another trip where we seem to spend the majority of our time in restaurants.
It was lovely.
We had dinner three times with Andy and Heather, in addition to having every meal with Susan. And for the most part the food was excellent. For some reason the food at Uno’s in Cincinnati seems better than the food in Morgantown’s. Of course the fact that Michael can get his Bianca (garlic) pizza might have something to do with it. And we went to Thai Café, of course. And we had a small dinner at Don Pablo’s, which has very delicious sweet cornbread (I need to figure out how to replicate it). And some excellent seafood at the fishmarket by Newport Aquarium. Susan and I both got garlic shrimp, which were excellent. One night we ended up at P.F. Chang’s, which was okay, but I’d just as soon have take-out from the Great Wall. Especially for the price.
And Graeter’s. We went to Graeter’s for ice cream four times, and brought home ice cream as wel–two pints for my parents (black raspberry chip and fresh peach) and one pint of peanut butter chip for Michael. Better yet, no one mocked me for only eating chocolate or strawberry.
I probably should subsist solely on salads and water for the next month to make up for the absolute decadence of this week.
And I got to shop in the kind of stores we don’t have at time, for the kinds of things I don’t necessarily want to mail order. We went to Sur la Table where I got a mortar and pestle and lemon oil and ceramic pie weights. I also saw a pink Kitchen Aid mixer. Now I’ve drooled over the cobalt blue Kitchen Aid before (clashes with my kitchen unfortunately) but pink? It was a nice enough shade of pink, but for me, pink is the color to wear to funerals. I also picked up some other kitchen odds and ends including an electronic scale to replace my current scale, at Bed, Bath, & Beyond, but most of my drooling was at Sur la Table. I could easily spend an obscene amount of money there, if given the chance. But I didn’t. And we didn’t even go near William Sonoma.
Which is too bad, because I didn’t find an 8″ sauté pan I liked.
Plus, I got to go to Wild Oats, Trader Joe’s, and best of all, Jungle Jim’s. Even trying to be good I spent just over $100 at Jungle Jim’s. Of course I did get two kids of beer for Michael. And a significant amount of chocolate. And some lemon lime English marmalade. And cheese. Lots of cheese. Thought we got a fantastic sharp cheddar at Wild Oats we ate with a loaf of bread and bunch of grapes for lunch. (It was dairy and fruit! It was all kinds of healthy!)
Books. Cooking Stores. Aquarium. Dinner with friends. What more could I ask for from a vacation?
(Pictures from the aquarium will be forthcoming.)
The Dust Jacket
3200 Linwood Ave
Bright atmosphere, with books on every surface, boxes of books were covered with sheets and cloths to create displays for book. The building was obviously originally a home that had doors removed and every room filled with bookshelves and books. However, stock was hardback books, collectible books, expensive books. Not for me.
Duttenhofer’s Books
214 W McMillan
Front of the store was hardback books and old books, but in the back were lots of science fiction/fantasy and mystery paperbacks. Found a number of mysteries I was looking for, didn’t find too many fantsy books I wanted/needed. However, the building was in not the nicest neighborhood, and whole place smelled strongly of cat pee, while the staff was either mute or afraid to talk to strangers. The cat was very friendly though.
Half Price Books
8118 Montgomery Rd
Tons of books, all categories. Place was well lit, clean, and neat, more like a traditional bookstore. Huge paperback science fiction/fantasy section and lots of mystery paperbacks. Books were well-organized and alphabetized, and anthologies were placed together at the end of a section, which I found very helpful. Found lots of books I wanted and was looking for, as well as plenty of books I wasn’t looking for.
As for new book stores, we visited Joseph-Beth, which was, as always nice, but didn’t see much that I haven’t found at home. Strangely, they have divided up their mystery section into different types of mysteries, like “cosy mysteries” so I had to search a bit before I could find some of the authors I was looking for. I picked up a new mystery, and a fantasy anthology. Unfortunately the fantasy anthology looks to be not at all what I want.
We briefly perused a Barnes & Noble, but their stock seemed to be the same as the new Morgantown store, so nothing was purchased.
As usual we’ve managed to spend more on books than anything else, so all is right with the world.
The Dragonstone (1996) Dennis McKiernan
This is a good book, but not my favorite Mithgar books. Unlike other books set in Mithgar, there almost no characters from other books. Aravan is mentioned in passing, the great dragons make an appearance, and Vanidar accompanies Arin for awhile, but mostly the characters in this book appear only in these books. Which makes this an ideal Mithgar book with which to start into the series.
This is wonderful!
(via Making Light)
I’m off this week. Small vacation.
We will return you to your regularly scheduled blogging next week.
If you’re bored at work, I suggest a perusal of my weblog.
ADDENDUM the First:
Blogroll. Not weblog, BLOGROLL. Jeesh.
So, my parents went to protest the President’s speech, and they were not arrested—in fact it doesn’t look like anyone was arrested, which is good. My mom said there was a good turnout, and that three protesters actually got in, turned their backs to Bush when he came in, and then walked out when he started talking. According to her—and to the radio—you could hear the protestors throughout Bush’s speech, which is pretty good, considering that he’s usually described as very isolated from protestors. And from what I heard on the radio, the cheers during his speech were half-hearted at best.
My mom said she knew tons of people there, including Dr I and his wife, and they had a nice time. Someone from the Elkins paper interviewed my dad apparently, but I haven’t seen any papers, so I can’t tell you if they got their pictures in any papers.
This morning on the radio I heard an interview with Charlene Marshall, who said she was disappointed in the speech. Which is pretty polite of her I think. I think when I see Gwen Marshall, I’ll have to ask her if she went with her mom, and what she thought.
I was pleased that WVU chose to allow protestors that close to the President. With all the hooplah over the “Free Speech” areas, I figured that WVU might just arrest anyone protesting on University property, but things went well and there don’t seem to have been any arrests, so I’m pleased.
Next time we see the Campus Cops who work at Health Sciences, we’ll have to ask them their opinion about the whole thing. I’m all but certain that every single WVU Officer was required to work, same for all the city police, sheriff department, and local state police. With all the overtime, I can only imagine what this did to already strained budgets.
I haven’t heard much more about Rove et al pushing Capito into a Senate run, but my Mom said she saw lots of pro-Byrd signs (one of the sings that I put up was BYRD 2006) in addition to anti-Bush signs, so despite the fact that they want to take out Byrd, it looks like he still has plenty of support, at least around here. Which is probably unsurprising, considering all the money Byrd has brought into this area and into this state. While it looks like National Guard units will be moved out of the state despite Bush lauding our Guard and Reserve units during the campaign. Though I figure South Dakota should be even more insulted. They voted in a Republican senator only to lose their base, and one of the biggest employers in the state. Gotta love the loyalty shown to those who supported Bush in the last election.
But really, I was glad to hear that the protest went well, and everything was civil. One of the things that I hate so much about the current political climate is the amount of bile and invective that are thrown about the political stage. Both sides are so polarized that no one is listening to anything the other side is saying, and many times with good reason. One of the many lessons I learned from the BBSes was that the more shrill and hostile you became, the more you were ignored. But actually listening to the other side, and conceding their good points made them more receptive to listening to what you had to say.
Not everyone of course, and not all the time, but I found that when true discussion happened, everyone learned, and everyone had their minds changed about some portion of the subject, even if it was just learning that those on the other side were not all hot head lunatics. And I ended up partaking in a lot of good an interesting discussions, learning a lot, and having my mind changed about any number of subjects. And we managed to talk about all the subjects you’re supposed to avoid: God. Religion. Abortion. Gun control. Sexuality. Free speech. The Death Penalty.
And I eventually learned and understood both sides of the issue, and saw that the arguments on both sides had validity. (In fact I can–and have–argued either side of several of those issues, solely for the sheer joy of debate.)
I really miss those discussions. I love Making Light, but often the discussion there is preaching to the choir. Obsidian Wings is nice, however at times I find the voices on the far left and the far right a little too negative. And too often posts are stated in absolutes, which leaves no room for discussion, for listening to what the other side has to say, and for addressing the problems of the other side.
Unless I am willing to accept that my opponents belief system has validity, then I am not truly willing to engage in debate, and neither side will get anywhere. Which is the point that American politics is rapidly reaching. As long as choruses on both sides shout down opinions they dislike, and brand those with whom they disagree as traitors, we will continue to accomplish nothing.
“I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
For me the idea of civilized debate has always come down to this. My opponent has a right to speak, and civilized discourse says that as long as both sides are being polite, I owe my opponent the respect of listening to what they are saying, because only then will I be able to convince them of the validity of my own argument.
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