Hot, Hot, Hot!

In case you don't live in Omaha or surrounding areas and haven't checked the weather lately, it is friggin' hot here. Christian calls me "Junior Meteorologist" when he asks for the weather updates, which is a good nickname because I read weather blogs about fronts and air masses. Maybe I missed my true calling.

Anyway, today when coming back from the groomer (for the dog, not me) I noticed our True Green Man was lying on our steps. At first I thought he was sitting, but no he was sitting/laying back on the next step. I put my car in park and raced up to him, frantically trying to retrieve my cell phone. These large purses make an emergency call difficult because they tend to "eat" my phone. If you ever call me it will ring several times and just envision me saying, "crap, crap, where is my phone." Back to the story...I was just about ready to dump my whole purse on the ground when the man sat up. I sort of jumped and said "you need water, don't move." Let me tell you he looked terrible. I was really worried and brought out two huge glasses of ice water. After giving him a long winded lecture on heat stroke and water intake I realized he probably thought I was crazy.

Not much else going on other than the heat. Stay inside and sit in front of a fan.

Later

The Need to Read

In the last 6 months I have reacquired my need to read. When I was a kid my mom used to sneak into my room to catch me reading late which she always said was a hard thing to punish. My dad would complain about the Waldenbooks purchases and my mom would tell him she couldn't get me books fast enough. He said to take me to the library. This is a great idea, but I had read almost all the books in my age range at the neighborhood library. I would search the shelves for a new young adult fiction book. Sometime between junior high and high school this need to read evaporated. Well, it is back with a vengeance. The problem is I have a difficulty putting a book down once I am hooked.

My current recommendations:

On Beauty by Zadie Smith
If you liked Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections you will enjoy this novel looks at academia through the feuding Kipps and Belsey family. Full of flawed characters you will love to hate.

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
For years I have said I don't like science fiction. When this was selected for my book club I was a little hesitant, but wow is it amazing. A story of an expedition led by a Jesuit priest to an alien land is full of suspense. The details in the alien culture are amazing. The narrative is difficult for some readers because it jumps from present day to the past, but hang tight because it will start to make sense. Russell asked questions about religion without preaching. Her characters wonder how can one can live in a world where God cannot be trusted to end pain. Along with the religious themes the book explored the concept of first contact with another land.

A Mighty Heart by Mariane Pearl
The story of kidnapping and killing of journalist Daniel Pearl was very difficult for me to read. The intense pain and lack of control Mariane captures in her writing is palpable. It is so unreal to me that in a country so filled with people they came so close to finding him. Her strength was and is still amazing to me.

Of course I cannot end this post without a shout out to Harry Potter. I have so enjoyed the story and will miss the anticipation of another. If you are one of few that hasn't read the books. Do it...

Obsession

I have always loved the end of a weeknight drama..."Next on." It creates the end of your seat suspense that everyone needs to stay tuned in. This is the reason that I should never be allowed to have access to an entire season of any show. I have had two such experiences (Grey's Anatomy Season Two and Weeds Season One) in the last year that have both confirmed my lame life and led to many a sleepy workday.

The most recent TV obsession: Brothers and Sisters
Days that it took me to watch the entire season on the ABC website: 4
Number of episodes: 16
Time of each episode: 42 minutes
Look on my face when alarm goes off in the morning after not enough sleep: priceless (actually this is pretty much everyday, but you will have to visit my husband's blog for any stories about my annoying snooze habits)

Now I have to give a shout out to ABC for the amazing ability to watch your show online with only three short commercial breaks, however, they should have thought about the hazard this may cause to people like me.

Description of such hazards:

• Trying to wash your hair with shaving cream.
• Feeding your dogs the wrong food or in some cases feeding one dog twice while the other dog says, "What the..."
• Sending emails to incorrect people on Microsoft Outlook. Remember, if there are two such people with the same first name it will send the email to the most recently send Tom instead of the one the Tom that you intended to send the email.
• Knocking over an entire 20 OZ bottle of Diet Mountain Dew on your keyboard and then trying to clean it up with a towel your office mate cleaned up urine with (I work with dogs, OK!).
• Wearing the wrong bra with the wrong shirt in a cold building. Gals, you know what I mean here.

As you can see, I would recommend against this obsession. I have seriously thought about attending my own twelve step program, but I think I will just stick to avoiding the free downloads and staying away from the TV rental section at the Blockbuster.