Random (but not really)

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Brokedown Palace

Brokedown Palace (1986) Steven Brust

I don’t know how long it’s been since I read Brokedown Palace, but it was long enough ago that I didn’t remember any of the story, and I don’t think I’d yet read many of his books other than the first couple Vlad Taltos books. Which meant that there were plenty of pleasant surprise in store for me as I reread this book.

Read more about Brokedown Palace

Written by Michelle at 5:23 pm    

Comments (0)  Permalink

Categories: Books & Reading  

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Quizzy

At least I’m not a zombie.
(more…)

Written by Michelle at 5:15 pm    

Comments (3)  Permalink

Categories: Uncategorized  

Monday, March 13, 2006

Odds & Ends

It’s spring break here at WVU, so posting will be sporadic.

Not that I’ve been consistent or anything for the past several months, but still.

In the meantime, here’re some bits I’ve come across that might amuse you:

Current Earth Destruction Status (found several different places)
and
How to Destroy the Earth (I may actually have mentioned this before)

Hamster Tracker

And let me tell you, I know y’all have been jealous of our spring break travails in the past, but this year… just wait till you see the details!

Written by Michelle at 9:51 am    

Comments (0)  Permalink

Categories: Uncategorized  

Friday, March 10, 2006

YAY!

Michael has a job!

YAY!

The delay has been that he had to pass a background check. But they just called him to set his start date!

Written by Michelle at 3:08 pm    

Comments (5)  Permalink

Categories: Uncategorized  

Friday Time Wasting!

Hindu dieties!
(more…)

Written by Michelle at 12:03 pm    

Comments (0)  Permalink

Categories: Uncategorized  

Wednesday, March 8, 2006

Good Thoughts

If you have any spare good thoughts, please send them towards Akron. Michael’s grandmother apparently had a mini-stroke this morning. She seems to be doing okay, but will probably be in the hospital for a few days.

Written by Michelle at 8:51 pm    

Comments (0)  Permalink

Categories: Uncategorized  

Tuesday, March 7, 2006

Psst! Buddy! Wanna Buy a House?

So back to talking about Morgantown, I knew that Morgantown was more expensive than many other parts of the state, but I hadn’t realized how much more expensive.

The Morgantown MSA Economic Monitor shows Morgantown as having a higher cost of living index than Charleston, Martinsburg, or even Pittsburgh. Which completely boggles my mind, since I thought Martinsburg was suppose to have the hottest housing market in the state.

Apparently not.

Now all things considered, I’m not saying we’re up there with big cities or anything like that, but we do have a higher index than several very large cities, namely, Houston, Atlanta, Cleveland, and St Louis.

But check out the article, it’s very interesting.

Maybe we need to finish fixing our house up just a little faster…

Written by Michelle at 11:34 am    

Comments (3)  Permalink

Categories: West Virginia  

Monday, March 6, 2006

Random Quiz

I think unpredictable might be more accurate.
(more…)

Written by Michelle at 12:08 pm    

Comments (0)  Permalink

Categories: Uncategorized  

Sunday, March 5, 2006

Lots of de Lint

Michael’s been studying. Guess what I’ve been doing.

Moonlight & Vines (1999) Charles de Lint

The third (I believe) Charles de Lint short story collection, Moonlight & Vines returns again to Newford. Although it starts and ends with a Christie Riddell story, and there are plenty of appearances by the characters with whom we’ve become familiar, there are also new characters, some we’ll meet again, and some who seem to appear only this once.

Read More about Moonlight & Vines

Memory & Dream (1995) Charles de Lint

Memory & Dream is not my favorite Charles de Lint book. Partially, because I keep forgetting that it’s a novel and not a short story collection, so I pick up the book, start reading, and then think, “boy, this is a really long story.” Then I remember that it’s a novel, and I have to shift my expectations. It seems like a small thing, but it always throws me off, just at the point where I’m getting into the story.

Read More about Memory & Dream

Jack of Kinrowan (1995) Charles de Lint

Jack of Kinrowan is actually two books: Jack the Giant Killer and Drink Down the Moon.

In Jack the Giant Killer, the Seelie Laird of Kinrowan’s daughter has been stolen by the Unseelie Court, despite the fact that she was being escorted by the Gruagagh. And the Unseelie Court also has the Horn that controls the Hunt, so the Gruagagh–even if he were still trusted by the Laird’s court–is trapped in his tower and unable to help, while no one else has the power to help. Except, maybe, a Jack.

Read More about Jack of Kinrowan

Written by Michelle at 6:12 pm    

Comments (0)  Permalink

Categories: Books & Reading  

Documentary

Setting: Michelle, at the sink, washing pans and bowls after having mixed together a batch of chocolate shortbread. Michael, at the kitchen table, reading. In the basement, the dryer has just buzzed.

Michelle: Hark, from the wilds of the basement, the clarion call of the dryer.
Pause.
Pause.
Michelle: Man callously ignores the piteous cries of the dryer, allowing its sad cries to continue unabated.
Pause.
Michael: Man, sensing danger, gets up.

Written by Michelle at 12:54 pm    

Comments (0)  Permalink

Categories: Uncategorized  

Saturday, March 4, 2006

Growing Pains

The comments in the previous post got me started, and I realized that the subject deserves more than a small rant in the comments.

It’s a very strange thing, to be living in Morgantown these days. Those who live in big cities will probably have no clue about what I’m talking about, but I wonder if my experience is in many ways common to what many people in my grandmother’s generation experienced, as their small towns grew into these cities that they no longer recognized.

The first thing you have to realize is that WVU now has a student body as large–or maybe even larger–than the population of Morgantown when we moved here in 1972. And the population of the town itself has, at the very least, doubled since then.

This is all good and well, until you realize that Morgantown is still, at its heart, a small town, despite the fact we have four–no five–interstate exits, for two different interstates: I79 and I68. This leads to the problem of traffic.

Morgantown was never expected to get this large, and so the roads simply can’t handle the traffic. Too many small, narrow, winding roads. Too many multi-lane roads that bottleneck into two lane roads. Too many cars, not enough public transportation, and a climate and terrain that are unfriendly to walking and biking. Sidewalks that are in disrepair or non-existent, and aren’t cleared in bad weather. (Okay, WVU does an excellent job clearing their sidewalks, but WVU has three separate campuses, and you have to use city roads to get from one to the other.) Roads that are too narrow for bicycles and cars to use at the same time. (Especially with drivers who don’t follow speed limits in residential areas.)

Not to mention the fact that in Morgantown everything is uphill.

But of course even if you could walk, there’s hardly anywhere to live. The residential housing within the city limits continues to decline. Areas like Sunnyside and lower South Park–areas that are within walking distance of downtown–were ceded to the students years ago, and now most of the housing is owned by slumlords like McCoy 6. Family homes have been cut into apartments, and then allowed to fall into disrepair until they’re hardly fit for habitation.

Other neighborhoods–like mine–are on the margins, but it’s a battle that the family residences are losing. After all, who wants to live in a neighborhood full of trash, where loud parties last late into the night?

Who’s to blame? I don’t know. No one and everyone I suppose. After all, it would take a lot of money to widen the streets to alleviate traffic congestion. And there’s nothing you can do about the hills. And it’d take a lot of effort to drive out the slum lords. And even if you could, you’d probably have to raze Sunnyside and lower South Park to the ground, because most of those houses are simply in terrible condition after years of abuse and neglect.

Not that it can’t be done. I’ve seen what’s been happening in Baltimore, and the changes that have been made in the past few years are amazing, as slums are replaced with gorgeous new buildings–and homes. And Morgantown’s public transportation system has improved by leaps and bounds in recent years.

But it’s not yet enough.

What’s going to happen next? I don’t know. Things are going to keep getting harder until something is done. The question is simply how much harder are things going to have to get?

I hope not too much, because for all its faults, I love Morgantown. I love the mountains and I love living where even in the heart of town there are trees everywhere.

Because it is beautiful, this place I call home.

Written by Michelle at 3:54 pm    

Comments (0)  Permalink

Categories: Uncategorized  

The Hits Just Keep On Coming

And further on the Bad News front.

Jim is not renewing his lease for The Bookshelf in May. And he’s not sure when he’ll have another storefront.

Which means that there will be Zero used book stores in Morgantown then.

He is talking about an on-line presence, but sometimes you really have to see the book, y’know?

Written by Michelle at 12:29 pm    

Comments (4)  Permalink

Categories: Books & Reading  

Wednesday, March 1, 2006

Science Fiction Quizzy Goodness

I think I am far more “Deep Space Nine” than the results show, but I’m certainly willing to accept Serenity.

And plug my brain directly into a computer? I am so there!
(more…)

Written by Michelle at 11:45 am    

Comments (0)  Permalink

Categories: Uncategorized  

The Ivory and the Horn

The Ivory and the Horn (1995) Charles de Lint

The Ivory and the Horn is the second short story collection by Charles de Lint, and like Dreams Underfoot, is set in Newford, the mythical North American city, where mythical beings reside.

Read More about The Ivory and the Horn

Written by Michelle at 8:18 am    

Comments (0)  Permalink

Categories: Books & Reading  
« Previous PageNext Page »

Powered by WordPress