Mind blowing experience

Tonight I had the opportunity to hear the Director-General of the Iraqi National Library and Archive, Dr. Saad Eskander, speak. It's absolutely incredible what this man has faced and gone through just to try to bring the truth to the people. To try to do what all librarians and archivists do, to keep information open and free to those who seek it. The building has been burned 2 or 3 times, looted 4 or 5 times by several different groups of people (Americans and British included), targeted for bombing, and employees threatened and killed. I didn't realize that Simmons is part of a program that helps train Iraqi librarians and archivists in the United Arab Emirates. I'm quite proud to be part of such an institution.

It's the little things...

that sometimes aren't so little.

I realized that since starting grad school I've been spending a shit ton of time sitting on my ass in front of this computer. Who knew. The result however is that I began to notice that our $30 office chair from the evil empire was just not sufficient support for those long days staring at a monitor.



Yes, it rolls nicely with the slant of the floor and I think I might be doing some sort of inadvertent core/ab muscle exercises to keep from rolling into the closet while I type but by the end of the day my legs and back really hurt. So...

I got a new chair!



I will admit there was a bit of sticker shock involved. Who knew that in order to get a decent, ergonomically correct chair one would have to shell out a buck fifty?!? My new chair has a great mesh back and at least three more inches of padding in the seat than the other one. The curve of the back hits me perfect for lumber support and it doesn't tilt back and make me wish my arms were longer in order to type. Although I still find myself squinting at the monitor a lot more, I think that might have something to do with either eye strain or getting older, don't know yet.

Anyway, I was amused that I was so chuffed with my new chair and actually took pictures and wrote about it. It's a really cool chair.

More catch-up book reviews

Okay, I'm going to do 2 books in one post this time. The idea behind these two was that I was finally going to read the books that a couple of my favorite childhood movies were based on; "The Last Unicorn" by Peter S. Beagle and "The Never Ending Story" by Michael Ende

I read "The Last Unicorn" first. I don't own this one on DVD yet but it's on my Amazon wish list , so if you're looking for something to get me for X-mas or my birthday...

It was a very good book and I was surprised at how true to the book the movie stayed. There really wasn't a whole lot of difference as far as my memory serves. I think the movie left out the whole curse against the town where the King lived and his "son" being part of the curse that would be his downfall thing... They also left out the very moving plight of Schmendrick and his battle to do "true magic" and his destiny as a very powerful wizard. It was pretty deep and I really appreciated the connections one could make with Schmendrick and trying to succeed at something in your own life. There are a few reviews out there that don't understand why this is considered a "classic" and I'm inclined to side with them. While it is a very good book and one worthy of reading I'm not sure I would classify it as being part of the children's or fantasy literature's cannon. But then again, we debated this to death in my undergrad, what really is the good of a cannon in the first place? Who's to say what's good or not or really worthy of reading? I say this book is worth reading, it won't take you much time and it is enjoyable. I think it would be a good book to read out loud with your kids as well.

Next, "The Neverending Story". I've always liked this movie, something about skipping school and hiding out in the attic to read really appeals to me. (go figure) I always cry when Atrau's horse dies and I wanted a headdress like the princess with the gem on my forehead. :) What I didn't know was that the book was originally written in German and translated to English. I thought that was very cool and a little noticeable while I was reading as some of the sentences I thought could've been constructed a little better, now I know why. I have never seen the second (or third, is there a third?) movie. I'm not big on sequels. Most of the time (but not all) I think they ruin it by trying to capitalize on the popularity of the first one. What I've learned now though is that the first movie is only the first part of the book! Now I want to see the sequel to see if they do the rest of the book. It was very interesting to read the part of the story that I hadn't known about. A little Gulliver's Travels-esque in the second part, which I liked.

I know these reviews are pretty shitty but I read these books while I was still in NC so we're talking before June 1st. They'll get better as I get to the books that are more recent. At least I hope they do anyway...

I Finished Something!

It's been a while since I've finished any sort of project that I've started. My track record hasn't been that great. Either I've run into some sort of road block and given up, lost interest or just run out of steam. But all hail the small project!
Baby Booties!!
Scott's sister Wendy had a little boy on October 13th, Alexander, and I actually managed to knit 2 pair for him.



Then (well, it might have been a little before, I don't remember the exact date) Leilani had a little girl, Lakiya, and I knit her a pair as well.



It's a fantastic pattern, Saarjte's Bootees that I had originally found on Craftster.org. It's hard for me to remember to post my crafts here as I normally just post to Craftster.

Anyway, I also made cards to put in the packages before I mailed them out but only managed to take a picture of the one going to Chicago Land.

First time for everything I suppose...

I could be wrong, but this is the first time in I can't remember when that I have had to put down a book and just stop reading it because I didn't like it. It wasn't disgusting, offensive, scary, or anything like that. I just didn't like it. It just didn't do anything for me. I felt bored reading it. Not bored in a US History text book kind of way but more like an episode of Iron Chef America that I've already seen. And it wasn't like the plot of the story was familiar or anything, it totally wasn't. I haven't seen the movie, but that's why I was trying to read it. I like to at least try and read the book before I see the movie. They're usally better anyway. So, I haven't figured out yet what it was I didn't like, but I know I didn't like it whatever it was. I've moved on. In fact I've got a lot of bitchin' and praisin' to do. My whole excuse for starting this blog was to write about the books I'd read. Figured it might keep me in practice now that I don't have Dr. Gastle and Dr. Debo to make me do it. Speaking of which, I need to write one of them and ask why my life is suddenly hell and I'm having to learn APA instead of the MLA that I've finally come to know and love? Why does the rest of the world hate it so? Humpf.



"Everything is Illuminated" by Jonathan Safran Foer

Back Log

So, the reason I started writing this blog in the first place was to bitch about a book. Now I have a shit ton of books to bitch about and I've fallen behind. Damn.

I went back and looked and after I read the Terry Goodkind books (last one in that series coming out this month yo!) I read "The Fairy Godmother" by Mercedes Lackey. Why, you may ask did I go and do that? Well, I joined a swap at Craftster (which by the way is the bestest site on the planet and everyone should visit and revere) where we sent our partner one of our favorite books and a craft to go along with that book. I sent my partner Patricia McKillip's "Riddle Master" trilogy. I loved that trilogy. Highly recommend it. The Lackey book... not so much. It was cute, but it really didn't challenge me. I also found myself not liking the voices she gave to her characters. It seemed like the way they talked and what they said didn't match who they were or when/where. Anyway, I'm sure there was much more I was going to say about the book but I've gone and forgotten. See, that's why I have to hurry up and catch up on all my books, I'll forget if I wait too long.

I. CAN'T. WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so excited I could pee. I just hope they don't change it too too much from the book. I have a feeling they will leave out a bunch of the "religion bashing" and the Dante's Inferno references but hey, it's a movie. My guess is the kids that read the books didn't get those either. It also sucks because I'm still pissed at New Line for being dickheads about the whole Peter Jackson/Hobbit thing and was determined never to see another of their movies again. Oh well, maybe just this one. Thank you Emilie for making me read these books (what? 2 years ago now?).