2005 Hugo Nominees Part One - MacLeod's Learning the World

I am a long time fan of science fiction, and it frustrates me every year when the Hugo Award nominations come out and I have usually read an average of one of the nominated novels - and I usually have not even heard of many of them. This year was typical, in that I had only read George R. R. Martin's A Feast For Crows. This year I intend on reading the other four nominees as well. I have not read any books by any of the other four authors.

I am nearly finished with the first one I tracked down, Ken MacLeod's Learning the World.

This is a novel of first contact, which in the past has been so well handled in such science fiction classics as 2001 A Space Odyssey and Rendezvous with Rama.

A great star ship (with a name worthy of an Iain Banks Culture ship) called But the Sky, my Lady! The Sky! is on an epic journey spreading mankind through the stars. There are three sorts of people on the ship - the crew, the very long lived people who have been on the ship throughout its voyage of centuries and expect to make some nice profits because of that voyage (the founders), and a bunch of young humans who were specifically born to found a colony at the star the ship is approaching. The ship is larger than anything I can really imagine, and the engines are so powerful that they create new universes as they move the ship.

When a colony is founded, people live in domes and habitats which are diamond shielded in the asteroid belts and the various planets and moons. The habitats are filled with living plants, and after some time, the colony spreads out so much around the star that from a distance the star it surrounds actually begins to look green from a distance in space. After the colonists are dropped off and the colony is safely and well established, the ship takes up asteroids and other space debris to power the engines, then moves on to the next system.

In all of that time ,and after all of those systems, humans have not found any intelligent life...until now.

From the second planet of the intended star system (a world called Ground orbiting a star called Destiny), radio transmissions are picked up. Humans are not alone...

Meanwhile on Ground, a young astronomer sights what he thinks must be a comet. But it does not act in any way that any natural object would act...and in time it becomes clear that the bat people are not alone...

The book switches points of view from one chapter to the next - a human chapter, a bat people chapter, a human chapter, a bat people chapter...

The bat people are pretty close to early/middle twentieth century technology, with the exception of artificial flight (and since they can fly with their own wings, that makes perfect sense). They seem, in some ways, to be closer to us in outlook than the humans on the ship do. At least I was much more able to identify with the bat people than with the primate people.

The humans of that era are very peace loving, but the tensions of the first contact split the people on the ship into warlike factions.

The bat people are still in nation states. But the tensions of the first contact bring them together.

So far it is an enjoyable book. I like how all of the people (whether primate human or bat human) are just people. Sure, one culture and species is more high tech than the other, but they are still all just people. No one had God-like powers, and both of the peoples have a lot to learn from each other and teach each other.

 

***sigh***

Came home to puddles and streams of dog pee everywhere - AGAIN. I wish he would just pee in one place - that would be easier to clean up. You could just throw a couple of towels down to soak it up, then throw them directly into the washing machine. But he is a good old doggy, and knows he shouldn't pee in the house, even though he cannot control his bladder very well anymore. So instead of just letting go and making a lake of pee, he frantically runs around while dribbling, so there are streams of pee and puddles of pee everywhere. So you have to nearly crawl around on the floor to make sure you get as many drips and drops as possible. Yuck! Yuck! Yuck! And the thing is - you cannot even yell at the dog. He knows he was wrong, but he simply couldn't help himself, as he is so old. Aye yi yi.

I am on a mission tonight. One of my pharmacists was processing the outpatient chemo orders, and discovered that one of our patients will be having his first chemotherapy treatment on his birthday later this week. So I need to find some Happy Birthday stickers left over from when my kids were little, so we can plaster them all over his meds.

One of my friends just got back from Vegas. He visited with John, whom I have been so worried about since his father passed away in August. Jim said that John is as pale as I am (I am lamentably pale most of the time) and very skinny (and he was pretty skinny to start with). John will be back in town for a few days soon, and we need to feed that man!

Bill will be going back to school tomorrow. I do not want to think about it.

I am pretty excited about my NaNoWriMo story, which I will be able to start writing tomorrow after work. I have been spending a lot of my spare time thinking about it. It could be very gruesome, but I think that I will imply the horrible parts rather than directly describe them - that way readers can imagine the nastiness levels on their own.

very quiet night

Today was the high holy day of the year for people who work off shifts. That's right - it was "fall back", the end of daylight savings time. An extra hour of blessed sleep for us every morning! YAY!!

Tonight at work it was ridiculously quiet. It was like a major holiday night. It would be nice to have a medium night every now and then - enough work to keep things interesting without killing you. It usually seems to be one extreme (quiet) or the other (butt kickingly busy). I was tempted to use some vacation time and come home early, but managed (somehow) to stick it out.

Then I got home and the kids were both still up, so I had to chase them both to bed. Dan had apparently been out cold for hours (he worked way too many hours last week), and probably did not know they were both up so late.

I think Steven is nearly as happy to have Bill home as I am! He doesn't want to be away from his brother, so if big brother is staying up until 1AM eating milano cookies and watching football on TV, so will little brother.

I was so glad that Steven enjoyed the play so much the other night. I knew that Dan and I would - and hoped that the little guy would as well. I couldn't believe how good our seats were - a bit off to the side and five rows back from the stage. You felt as if you could just reach out and touch the actors if you wanted to. And yet these were among the cheaper seats in the theater! Some things do not make much sense, but I will not question our very good fortune. And on Friday night will be Julius Caesar.

Now it is time for a shower and bed.

lovely fall day

Today is a glorious day. I am sorry to be leaving for work in a few minutes. The sky is clear and bright, and the very strong winds and rain from yesterday have moved on. It is still a bit windy, but not bad at all. Dan and I took the dog for a long walk (more than a mile) today, though we really had to walk slowly coming back due to the poor elderly pooch being so tired.

Last night was great. I wish Bill could have gone, but it would have been impossible to get him a ticket without resorting to blood sucking parasites (scalpers). The play was just wonderful. Afterwards we ate dinner at an Ann Arbor college town classic, Pizza House. There were hundreds of people wandering around the campus area last night, most of them in pretty silly costumes. Being the Saturday closest to Halloween, there were a lot of parties going on. Midterm exams have also just finished, and yesterday was the homecoming football game for UM. Many many many reasons for partying!

After talking about various things today, I now can make reservations for going to Muncie in a couple of weeks to visit Bill on his birthday, as well as making reservations for Cleveland for that wrestling tournament where we can also go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I also have a long weekend in December and we might go see the stage version of A Christmas Carol up in Rochester, and tour the old auto baron (Dodge family) mansion at Meadowbrook Hall. The holiday decorations are supposed to be beautiful beyond belief there, and I have never had a chance to see them. That would be a wonderful day. We also have to try to get tickets for the Detroit run of Spamalot.

So I will try to take care of those things when I get home from work.

Royal Shakespeare Company ~ Antony & Cleopatra

Dan and Steven and I went to see the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Power Center in Ann Arbor tonight. I wish that Bill could have also gone, but the tickets sold out months ago, and I did not know he would be home this weekend, so did not get him one.

I have seen many of Shakespeare's tragedies and comedies on stage (alas, I have not had the chance to see any of his histories as of yet) but had never before seen Antony and Cleopatra. I had thought that perhaps this was not one of his better works, but that is definitely not the case. The play was wonderful, with many very funny lines and moments - probably the most funny of his tragedies by far. I now think that the reason it is so seldom staged is that you need one hell of an actor to hold his own as Antony if you have a good actress in the role of Cleopatra. If you do not have a top notch actor as Antony, the play would be very unbalanced.

Luckily the Royal Shakespeare had a world class actress as Cleopatra in Harriet Walter, and a world class actor as Antony in Patrick Stewart. In fact, many of the people in the supporting roles, such as John Hopkins as Octavius, Ariyon Bakare as Sextus Pompeius, Ken Bones as Enobarbus, Chris Jarman as Eros, and Golda Rosheuvel and Emma Jay Thomas as Cleopatra's hand maids were simply wonderful. In fact, I cannot point at a poor or even mediocre performance on the part of the entire company.

The set was very simple, primarily using lights against the back of the stage, which placed the attention right on the performances. And the performances, as I said, were definitely worth paying attention to.

The costumes were also fairly simple, which also added to watching the performances. And seeing Patrick Stewart scantily clad is quite nice.

I have always thought that the company in Stratford, Ontario to be the best Shakespearean actors in the world (no offense to Meadowbrook, various university productions, the Michigan Shakespeare Festival, or the folks at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater). I now have to revise my opinion.

The plays I have now been fortunate enough to see:

All's Well That Ends Well

Antony and Cleopatra

As You Like It

Julius Caesar

King Lear

Macbeth

Merchant of Venice

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Othello

Romeo and Juliet

The Taming of the Shrew

The Tempest

oh well

Last night the Tigers beat themselves again with nervous young pitchers and errors, and lost the World Series. I am sad, since the Tigers make it to the Series so seldom, and might not make it there again in my lifetime. That was one of the things we were talking about at work Thursday night - how none of us might still be alive to see the Tigers in the series again. And if they had not made so many errors and poor plays they might have been in every one of the games they lost except for the one against Carpenter, as there is no way they could have won that game against such a good pitcher. Also, if Kenny Rogers had started games one and five they would have had a much better chance - or at least they would have had a good chance to have won at least two games - and that was a poor choice on the part of an other exemplary manager.

But if they had to lose, at least they lost to a team which has not won the World Series in a long time (though they seem to go there fairly regularly) and that does make it better. It is always good for a league to spread around the wealth, so to speak, and to give teams from smaller cities and smaller markets without as much money to also get a chance to win championships. So I am very happy for the team and fans in St. Louis today. I hope they party hard for those of us in Detroit! One of my best friends from college lives in St. Louis, and I'm sure that Dave is feeling both sad (as someone who grew up as a Tigers fan and Michigander) and very happy (as someone who has lived in St. Louis for some twenty years now) today.

They probably would not have been able to play a ball game here tonight anyway. It has been raining all day, and we seem to be having fairly strong winds this afternoon. Very bad weather for playing baseball!

The main thing is, though, that if anyone had told Tigers fans that the Tigers would have been in the World Series this year before the start of the season, that person would have been laughed out of the room! While the regular season and the Series could have both ended a bit more happily, this season was a miracle. Period! And if anyone says otherwise, they can bite me!

It is good to have Bill home. He is glad to be able to eat home made food, glad to be able to talk blue state politics with people who despise both major political parties, and glad to be able to have what he calls intellectual conversation (though what is college for if not to have intellectual conversations?).

Tonight Dan and Steven and I will go see Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra starring Patrick Stewart, with the Royal Shakespeare Company. I am pretty excited about it!

depressing

Ah, the Tigers miracles have run out. It was a miracle that they had a winning season. It was a miracle that they made it to the play offs. It was a miracle that they beat the Yankees. It was a miracle that they won the Pennant. Down 3-1 they have very little chance to win the World Series.

Our young players are the promising bunch in all of baseball, but they have really bitten us on the butt in this series. I do not know if it is nerves or inexperience, but there you go.

I stayed an hour after work tonight. I was too upset to drive. Diane was kind enough to sit down next to me and talk to me for awhile about silly things until I was able to calm down enough to drive home. And since she had a million things to do, it truly was kind.

I saw them wheeling a rather large man into one of the ICU's tonight, wearing nothing but a towel over his groin area. I checked his weight, as I was curious, as I have not seen someone that large in a while. He was well over four hundred pounds. But seeing him nearly naked - it was no big deal. He was just a man, no more and no less. I do not understand why so many women stick their noses up in the air over things like weight. He was just a man - and  probably pretty nice to snuggle up with on a cold winter's night, too.

Being a Tigers fan really sucks sometimes. Well, most of the time, to be honest. Cubbies fans have their lovable losers. We usually just have stinking losers. This year, despite its downer ending, really has been a marvelous and wonderful thing.

Bill will be home tomorrow afternoon.

to do list

Over the next few days:

* box up and mail the birthday gifts for my sisters

* make hotel reservations for a night or two in Muncie, to go see Bill at his birthday next month

* make hotel reservations for our weekend in Cleveland next month

* mail the box to Danlo at the same time as the boxes for my sisters

* buy finch seed for the sock feeders

* make a reservation for Max to stay at the kennel when we go to Muncie and Cleveland

* try to get a bit more ahead in the home schooling lesson plans

* generally get the house more clean - every room other than Bill's needs to be cleaned

* find time to watch a few movies

* take the outgrown children's clothes to a charity (they've been sitting in the front room since August)

* tomorrrow must get a couple of pumpkins to put out on the porch, as well as Halloween candy

* shave my legs so I can wear a skirt or a dress to the Shakespeare play on Saturday night if I wish (I hate shaving my legs in the winter though I keep them perfectly clean in the summer)

* try to figure out what vacation time I need in 2007, as the once a year vacation derby rapidly approaches, when everyone puts in for all of their requests for an entire year all at once- I am thinking a week for camping in the summer, and maybe a long weekend so I can go to Chicago with Dan for a weekend of listening to music throughout River North, and then everyone's birthdays as usual

to cheer myself up

After that bad dream this morning, I need to cheer myself up.

So here are some good things in life:

* I know a lot of amazingly kind people. Perhaps it is because it is simply because I work in a hospital, so the people who work there (for the most part) want to spend their lives helping people.

* Bud just crawled, all purring and snuggly in my lap. Bud is the sweetest cat in all the world.

* The fall color is gorgeous right now. It has moved on from the yellows to the oranges and bronzes and reds.

* The Tigers did not lose a World Series game tonight. The game was rained out, but at least they have not yet lost it.

*  I am in the middle of reading my favorite Halloween story in all of the world, Roger Zelazny's A Night in the Lonesome October. It is marvelously charming, a story told by Jack the Ripper's dog, Snuff. I smile as I read every page.

* My older son will be home in two days.

* In three days I will be able to see Patrick Stewart on stage performing in a Shakespeare play.

* I only have one night left in this work week.

* I have some of the finest people in the world as my friends.

* In less than a month I might be able to go see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

* My favorite holiday, Halloween is in a few days.

* On Friday I am going to bake up a huge mess of macaroni and cheese for the kids. I love home baked macaroni and cheese.

* In a few days it will be NaNoWriMO, and I actually have a good idea for it this year. Perhaps I can even submit it for publication if it works out.

You know, this is actually starting to work! I am feeling a bit better now!

bad dream and weird mood

I very rarely remember my dreams. The few that I do remember are ones where I get woken up in the middle of the dream.

This morning I woke up in the middle of a very bad dream. I was sobbing and tears were running down my face.

I was at a party at a good friend's house. My former friend was there. I had known that he might be there, as the party was at the house of a mutual friend, but I had wanted to see my other friends more than I wanted to avoid him.

So there he was, talking to me and following me around to talk to me some more, and even trying to give me a hug, and all I wanted to do was  . He wasn't doing anything wrong (at that point in time anyway - he's done plenty of truly rotten things otherwise) - but he was up to his usual crap of pretending that nothing bad has happened, and that everything is just hunky dory and that if anything is wrong it is somehow all my fault and what could he have ever done that's bad anyway?

I walked out of my friend's house, hopped into my Jeep and drove away. I couldn't take him. His very behavior was yet another lie. And I cried my eyes out as I was driving, which is when I woke up.

I'm not sure why I dreamed of this man last night. God knows, I have shed gallons of tears over him and I do not want to shed a single one more. Maybe my dream self was just giving me a reminder that he will never apologize or even awknowledge all of the rotten things he has done and said and all of the lies he has told through either commision or omission? I will never get any closure from him. I will never get an apology from him.  All he will ever give me (if I let him) is more pain and more lies.

What the heck is wrong with someone who acts like that anyway? Why in the world would someone treat another person so badly and then keep acting like nothing at all is wrong?

The saddest thing is that I still care enough about him that if he were to apologize (though it would take a miracle for that to happen) I would probably be willing to try one more time to work things out. I know - I am a very pathetic person.

Anyway, I am in a very weird mood now, probably because of the bad dream. To cheer myself up, I called a few people - ones I know will not lie to me or treat me badly, and who are people who I thought might need some cheering up themselves.That has helped a litttle bit, but not as much as twelve hours of sleep will help if I can find time to slip it in.

still tired

I stayed up way to late last night. A friend lent me a dvd about a month ago, and I had not had time to watch it. So last night I decided to watch the thing come hell or high water, so I can finally return it to her. But that meant it was another 3:30 AM morning. At least this time staying up much too late was fun, as opposed to working on lesson plans! (I did that most of the day yesterday from the time I woke up until I went to work).

The cats are crawling all over me right now. I have the brush, and they are taking turns getting brushed, again and again and again. Greedy little beasties! But sweet soft purry little beasties, too!

Three work nights left, then the weekend. Bill will be home! Dan and Steven and I will get to see Patrick Stewart live on stage in a Shakespeare play!

Friday morning I will have to go on a major grocery shopping run. Since Bill went to school, we have found that our food budget has dropped more than half! So when he comes home, there is not enough food for him! It is amazing how much a 17 year old boy can eat!

Another wonderful pitching performance (though very controversial) from Kenny Rogers, and the Tigers came back to tie the World Series 1-1. Three games in three nights in St. Louis, starting tonight. The Tigers have got to win at least one of them! Though two or three would be much better!

tired tired tired

It's been a busy couple of days.

Yesterday I took Steven out for lunch and a haircut. Then we went grocery shopping. I was also on the phone with Bill a lot. He was registering for next semester, and he is all nervous about school right now.

He has hated his architecture classes beyond words since school started in August. I mean he despises them. Thankfully, he has the sense to get out of the program starting with next semester. But since he knew how proud Dan and I were that he got into architecture school - and one of the best in the US at that - he was insecure about dropping out and just taking regular classes. But with a lot of reassurance of our love for him and the fact that we want him to be happy - or at least not miserable - he finally had the gumption to do this.

So next term he will be taking two honors seminars, phys ed, speech, chemistry, and economics.

He was on the verge of coming home this weekend, but I pointed out that it is supposed to snow tomorrow, and that he will be home for a five day weekend (fall break) next week, so he stayed at school.

Today Steven was sick all day, I did laundry, and the Tigers lost - and lost horribly in the first game of the World Series. It gave me time to finish the huge book I have been reading though, as after awhile I simply couldn't stand to watch the game anymore.

end of the week

The end of my two day workweek has arrived!  It sucks, as I am somehow very tired. Perhaps my attempts to give up caffeine are not working? I did break down the last two mornings and drank some diet coke, though I have been very good about giving up power drinks.

Today I was in a creative mood, and composed some poems. I also thought of a plot for my NaNoWriMo story. I know it will not be novel length, but I will be very happy if I can get a good short story out of it, or possibly even a novella. One of the writers I have a great deal of respect for - Stephen R. Donaldson - has said that you must have at least two good ideas/inspirations to weave together to make your story. I want to set my story in a modern setting, in a mythical place, involving an invasion, and a vengeful being. So I am being inspired by the atrocities a few US troops have commited in Iraq, ancient Rome, the mystery novels I have been devouring the last year or so, and mythology. I will see if I can weave something together from these threads.

some new poems

I have been in a creative mood lately. Maybe I am pulling out of the low grade depression I've been in since Bill went to school. One can only hope, anyway!

This first one is just for fun. My sister-in-law writes poems like this sometimes, and this is the first time I have tried it. Composing it made me laugh!

Detroit Tigers

Dismal, dreary news daily

Economic ruin

Tradesman jobs lost - so many so many

Running out of options

Oh - so sad - so sad

In this border city

That has been so down for so long

 

Tigers begin winning

Involving our hearts

Gleeful, giggly, goofy fun!

Even losers can become champions!

Rock on boys!!

Sweet partying for everyone!

These others are inspired by places I have seen on vacations.

Dinosaur Bones at Rabbit Valley, Colorado

Embedded in the ancient rocks beside the trail,

Under the desert sun in a sere place

Where the heat sucks the air out of your lungs.

Remnants of a long destroyed world,

Hints of long extinguished life,

Found where only little green lizards

And curious tourists

Now walk.

Historic Wharfs at Salem, Massachusetts

Empty, quiet, lonely.

Where have your ships gone?

Where are your longshoremen and merchants?

A forgotten place, once bustling.

Zion National Park in the Summertime

Standing room only on the busses

Entire tour groups heading up the Virgin River Narrows.

Extended family groups eating ice cream on the Lodge's lawns.

Where is the wilderness?

a good birthday

Yesterday Dan took the day off of work, so we could be together on my birthday. The day started out with a few errands, then we drove to Dearborn in a pouring rain to visit the Henry Ford Museum.

We saw all sorts of very cool things there. While the classic car collection is huge, there are also a lot of very interesting historical things to see. We even got to sit in the Rosa Parks protest bus! Some of the other highlights included a life face mask and hand of Lincoln (the man might not have had a particularly attractive face, but he had beautiful hands!!), the chair Lincoln was sitting in when he was shot, the car Kennedy was riding in when he was shot, and George Washington's mess kit and folding cot that he used at encampments during the Revolution.

We ate lunch at the museum - and the food in the cafe was actually good.

Steven had his wrestling training at UM, so Dan and I went to our favorite Chinese restaurant in Ann Arbor while Steven was at Chrysler Arena. We had our first date at that restaurant way back in the spring of 1983. The food is still great there!

After dinner, we picked up Steven and then came home and had cake and ice cream.

Today I went back to work. I was grouchy and it sucked.

good news

Max just got home. He is soaked to the skin and cold, but he is safely back, the big doofus!

 

Thank God! Thank  God! Thank God!

well, plans do change...

Well, we ended up not going anywhere today. Steven just was not feeling well. He spent nearly the entire day sleeping in his bed or napping on the couch in the company of his cat Bud.

And that is OK, as it gave me a chance to take a nap myself this afternoon!

Our black lab Max is being difficult today. He is more than 13 years old now, and his continence has been slipping. He puddled on the floor again tonight. I do not intend to sound morbid, but when he passes away, we will have to recarpet downstairs. For now I just keep cleaning up his accidents with towels. I just let him out to pee, and he took off in the dark and rain. Dan is out looking for him with a flashlight. It is a very cold rain - cold enough that I am surprised it is not more snow. Max has been doing this lately - I am afraid that he is trying to slip away to die in privacy. He is in very good health considering his age, but he has been having lots of problems with his joints and moving. He in more than a year older than the life expectancy for his breed. I love the doggy, and I know he probably does not have much longer to be with us. Now I am completely depressing myself.

This morning the World Series tickets went on sale. I was online right at the time they were supposed to go on sale. I got booted out of the web site 6 times because my request couldn't be processed, then was finally allowed to join the line; was told I had a 15 minute waiting time which was more like 20 minutes - and by the time it came to actually order them there were no tickets left. And the scalper web sites are asking hundreds of dollars for standing room tickets and up to $10,000 for good seats - each. Am I a bit bitter about this? Heck yeah! Fans like me, who have been going to games for years, even when the team stunk beyond words, could not get tickets today - but there seem to be plenty of seats in the hands of scalpers, who are the scum of the earth.

Bill enjoyed his architecture school field trip to Chicago, other than that the President was in the same hotel for the same weekend. Needless to say, the security was extreme. Bill said that he and the other kids almost felt like hostages from time to time when Bush was coming in or out of the hotel. Otherwise they walked around a lot and saw a lot of buildings.

Dealing with ticket master this morning trying to get Tigers tickets gave me such extreme diarrhea that my butt has been bleeding all day. I hope the dog comes back soon so I can take a shower or bath and go to bed!

Dan has been a sweetheart today - so that is one good thing that happened today. He made me one of my favorite dinners (tacos with Mexican rice and refried beans and guacamole) and brought me home a beautiful birthday cake for tomorrow. And tomorrow he will be taking the day off so we can all go to Henry Ford Museum together (providing that Steven feels better) on my birthday.

another absolutely gorgeous fall day

Another breathtakingly lovely fall day. Crisp, clear - the leaves on the trees of our yard are yellow, orange, and russett - and they shine so gloriously in the sunlight!

Had a quiet day. One of Steven's friends came over to spend the day. I went shopping for a little while. I read a very good book in Jaqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs. And did tons of laundry!

One of the neighbors came over to tell us that we have a fox living in our yard. That would certainly explain why we haven't seen the wild rabbits that live (used to live?) in our yard in quite some time! Hopefully if we do have a resident fox, he or she will thin out the ranks of the numerous obese squirrels!

The next two days I think I will take Steven on field trips. Tomorrow a visit to the UM Botanical Gardens would be very pleasant. They have both woodland trails following a lovely stream and greenhouses, so depending on the weather there would be a lot to do there. On Tuesday I think that the Henry Ford Museum would be very cool! I have not been there since I was a child, but I think Steven would enjoy the huge automobile collection. Some of the things are a bit icky - they have the chair Lincoln was sitting in when he was shot by the assassin, and there are stains on the chair.

http://www.hfmgv.org/museum/default.asp

http://www.michigan.org/travel/detail.asp?m=4;4&p=G4648

 

 

answering an email

I got this in an email from one of Dan's nieces. You are supposed to pass it on to a bunch of people, but I do not like doing that sort of thing unless it is a particularly funny joke...so...

 

I know we're all busy, but take a break and have some fun!
>
>Four Things About Me.
>Things you may not have known about me...
>(and some of you know too much...)
>
>A) Four Jobs I have had in my life:

1. general dogsbody for a scientist at the UM Museum of Natural History

2. washing dishes in a dorm cafteria at UM

3. working for the state of Michigan in a hospital

4. working for the federal government in a hospital

>B) Four movies I could watch over and over:
>
1. Monty Python and the Holy Grail

2. original Star Wars Trilogy

3. Lord of the Rings trilogy

4. Space Balls

>C) Four places I have lived:
>
1. Lake Orion, Michigan

2. Ann Arbor, Michigan

3. Canton, Michigan

4. Ypsilanti, Michigan

>D) Four TV shows I love to watch:
>
(The problem with this is that I do not watch much television).

1. Mythbusters

2. Meerkat Manor

3. any good documentary on the History Channel

4. Dirty Jobs

>E) Been on vacation:
>
1. Colorado Rockies

2. Black Hills of South Dakota

3. Grand Canyon of Arizona

4. grand tour of Utah's national parks

>F) Four of my favorite foods:
>
>1. freshly baked bread

2. French sheep's milk cheese

3. wild strawberries

4. cherry cheesecake

>G) Four places I would like to be right now:

1. anywhere at all with my children

2. visiting my "brothers" - Fist in New York or Danlo in Albuquerque

3. northern Michigan to see peak autumn color

4. on a seacliff in Maine

soundtrack of my life

I got this idea from Murrin, whose blog can be found at http://anotherplace.buildtolearn.net/

 

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that’s playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool…

Opening Credits:

Lovesong by The Cure

Waking Up:

In Too Deep by Genesis

First Day Of School:

I Know You're Out There Somewhere by the Moody Blues

Falling In Love:

Wild Horses by the Rolling Stones

Fight Song:

Limelight by Rush

Breaking Up:

Free Fallin' by Tom Petty

Prom:

Eye of the Tiger by Survivor

Life is Good:

Beautiful Day by U2 (first one that makes sense)

Mental Breakdown:

Movin' Out by Billy Joel (second one that makes sense!)

Driving:

Red Hill Mining Town  by U2

Flashback:

Starseed by Our Lady Peace

Getting Back Together:

Dream Weaver by Gary Wright (this one might also make sense)

Wedding:

Shake Your Bon-Bon by Ricky Martin (having this on my playlist has come back to bite me on the butt!)

Paying The Dues:

Rocket by Def Lepperd

The Night Before The War:

The Thrill is Gone by BB King (almost too good to be true!!! LOL!!)

Final Battle:

Pinch Me by the Barenaked Ladies

Moment of Triumph:

Man in the Box by Alice in Chains

Death Scene:

This Love by Maroon Five

Funeral Song:

Shower the People by James Taylor

End Credits:

Love and Peace or Else by U2

a perfect and lovely autumn afternoon!

This afternoon we drove out to a little town in the Irish Hills to watch Steven play soccer, about an hour to the west, in a piece of the state covered with rolling hills and lots and lots and lots of little lakes. It was the most beautiful drive you could imagine. Despite the heavy winds of the last few days, there were still plenty of gorgeous fall leaves on the trees and bushes. The drive passed by farm fields, all golden and patches of woods in so many beautiful colors. It was just incredible!

And we got back home in time to watch the ninth inning of the Tigers game, and they won the American League Pennant in the bottom of the ninth. It is beyond words to see this team - so bad for so long - win a league championship. It is beyond words.  I had to keep wiping my eyes after that last home run!

What a great day!

And I even managed to get a bunch of laundry done.

quiet day

Had a quiet day today, and needed one. I did not get sick until tonight, which is great for me! And so far only a couple of desperate runs to the bathroom. I can deal with this.

The morning was spent sleeping in, then spending time with Steven. The home schooling is going well.

This afternoon I went grocery shopping. I probably will not make it to Trader Joe's or Whole Foods until Sunday, as the early Tigers games today and tomorrow (they moved the starting times of the games up by four hours to try to miss the worst of the cold after the sun goes completely down) are sort of eating into my time - though it is a very happy distraction!

Later afternoon was spent watching the Tigers win the third game of the American League Pennant series. One more win and the get into the World Series! Kenny Rogers, our starting pitcher was superb!!

And we did have a very healthy dinner tonight. Green salad, garlic bread sticks, and roasted vegetables with Italian seasoning, washed down by low fat milk. I am determined to take the time to prepare and eat healthy food over these five days, and to avoid caffeine (except in green tea, which I love too much to give up!). Maybe that will help me feel better!

time for a break

Yes, it is three in the morning. Yes, I have stayed up late once again to get lessons ready for Steven. We are moving and learning, so I suppose it is all going OK. We are so close to finishing The Iliad I can nearly smell the end. We are also very close to wrapping up our unit on the American Civil War. I can taste that ending coming. We are in our last unit of astronomy, working our way through our own solar system from the sun out, studying each major body in turn. We are on Venus, so we do have a ways to go there.

Since I have the next five days off from work, perhaps I can get further ahead with the lesson plans. That would be a true God-send.

How I need this time off work!

OK, time for a shower and bed!

Tigers win again!!

It was reportedly an ugly game, but the Tigers won it! YES!!! They now  have a 2-0 lead in the American League Pennant series! And now they come home for the next three games!

One of the Yankees pitchers died today in a truly bizarre accident. This guy was young, and left behind a wife and a little boy. He grew up in the very same San Gabriel Valley town where Dan grew up, and lived in the adjoining town - where one of Dan's stepbrothers and his wife and Dan's sister and her second husband and children live. I wouldn't be surprised if Dan's stepbrother might have known the man. They lived in the same small city and both were pilots of small planes. There is one airport near Glendora for small planes, and all of the people who use it seem to know each other.

I broke all of the rules at work tonight. We ran out of a very commonly used over the counter medication, so I just got in my Jeep and drove down the road to the nearest drugstore, bought it with my own money, and brought it in for our patients to use. If you run out of a medication, you are supposed to borrow it from another hospital, and use a cab for transport. Well, that seemed silly for medicine that costs $1.50 a bottle. You are not supposed to leave your duty station unless for an emergency or if you are going home sick. Well, chewable low dose aspirin is not an emergency, but we have a lot of elderly patients with heart conditions that take it daily. I just did not care. Sometimes rules are meant to be broken, and sometimes government red tape needs to be cut through. The patients have their medicine. I got to drive in the wind storm and rain at night and have a bit of an adventure. And I am out about $5, and do not care.

I am still sick. I am sick of being sick, too!

Tigers Win!

The Tigers won the first game in the American League championship series! YAY!!!

The weather looked gorgeous out in California - but when he teams get to Detroit later this week it might be below freezing, and spitting a bit of snow - or so the weather forecasters say!

Three night down for this work week. Two to go! I do not know how I got through work tonight - I was running to the bathroom all night long to have diarrhea. Yuck!  Throw in the dizziness and headache from the sinus pressure from the allergies, and I was a wreck!  I feel as if I have been constantly down, grouchy, and not feeling well for nearly two months now. This has got to stop!

Ways to start feeling better on my five day weekend:

* go to Whole Foods and Trader Joe's and stock up on very healthy (preferrably organic) food so the whole family can eat great and nourishing food over those days and nights!

* after the big frost, treat myself to an afternoon at an apple cider mill!

* after the big frost, take the dog out for a walk every day - good for both of us!

* watch the Tigers and feel good!

* make sure to get enough sleep! but not the insane amounts my body seems to be craving right now!

* drink more water and less caffeine!