A Room without Books is like a Person without a Soul

What Eleka asks for, Eleka gets. All the books that I have recently acquired, but haven't the time to read:

1. Between Two Worlds: Escape from Tyranny: Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam*
   - Looked Amazing!!
   
2. Black White and Jewish.
   - Given to me by my aunt...she loved it.
3. Bright Lights, Big Ass: A Self-Indulgent, Surly Ex-Sorority Girl's Guide to Why It Often Sucks in the City, or Who Are These Idiots and Why Do They All Live Next Door to Me?*
   - Looks Hilarious!!
4. The Doctor's Wife*
   So far, it's fabulous...I was able to start this one over the break.
5. Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight
   - My aunt loved it and passed it along
6. Hunger and Thirst
   - It's a novel that looked entertaining...we'll see
   
7. I Am America (And so can You!)
   - Duh...I would have to have this one!!
8. The Kite Runner
   -Another one from my aunt. :)
9. Mayada, Daughter of Iraq: One Woman's Survival Under Saddam Hussein *
   - Looked really good...and I finally bought it
10. Obsessive Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curie *
    - Who wouldn't want to learn more about her?!
11. On Hitler's Mountain: Overcoming the Legacy of a Nazi Childhood
    - A birthday gift from my aunt (noticing a trend yet? We read the same types of books...we can't help it!)
12. The Painted Veil
    - I have a rule: read book, then see movie....
    
13. Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid *
    - I've wanted this book since it came out. We'll see...
14. A Sense of the World: How a Blind Man became History's Greatest Traveler *
    - Charles Darwin and Sir Richard Francis Burton based their work on James Holman. What's not to like?! Incredibly intriguing....I'm weird...
15. Snow Falling on Cedars
    - Looked good...picked it up on a buy 2 get one free...or something along those lines...
16. Suite Francaise *
    - It's finally been translated to English...and it looks incredible!!
17. Three Cups of Tea *
    - I couldn't resist. This one is about a guy setting up schools for girls in Muslim countries to educate them better than their elders would allow. :)
18. Woman in Red *
    - It was $5 and it looked intriguing...so what the heck?!

That's not even all of them. It does include all of the newly purchased books that were mentioned in the last post. They are marked with a * so you'll know the difference. As you noted, my aunt has given me quite a few. I've given her just as many, if not more, over the year too. We do this. We buy books, read them, and then pass them along. We have very similar tastes in books and no one else in the family quite gets it.

On a side note: all the ones purchased in the last few weeks came to a total of about $63. Not too shabby, when you consider that the books totaled about $158. So almost got them for a third...roughly of course. :) DEAL!

Like Sands through the Hourglass...

...yeah, that would be more entertaining than sitting here without undergrads. It's my TA hours, and no one has come to visit me today. I think I'm going to start reading fun books here. I just bought 10 new books...I need somewhere to read them!

I was, however, just told that I have made the class "a lot less intimidating" in spite of the "horror stories." That's comforting. It means I'm doing my job, right? And the best part is that I've done this without talking to many people!! Sweet. It must be my presence that calms them. Who knows. Just wish they'd come see me...

It's a Mormon World After All!

So this is a picture of my cousin and his new wife. Nothing out of the ordinary to it, right?

WRONG!

You see, this picture was on one of the computers at work. I did NOT put it there. So someone else had to have put it there. But which coworker? Megan said she didn't do it. So I asked Taren. Apparently, cousin's wife is a friend of a friend of Taren's. Taren thought the pics were cute, so she downloaded them off of facebook. (And by cute, I mean, she liked the concept of the pics.) Don't get me wrong, I love my cousin and they are a cute couple, but I wasn't anticipating seeing them on my work computer.

Imagine sitting down to a computer that multiple users are on and seeing a picture of one of your family members there....a bit shocking, no? (Of course, this is Utah...and she is from PG...so there is a possibility of Utah coworkers knowing her...especially one from AF.)

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of the pictures. I think they're a bit too contrived. And poor wife seems a bit pained in some. I feel it is safe to assume that's because of the photographer and not wife's disposition. She's a really sweet girl, and I just think that the poses were not to her benefit some of the time. Which is why you should always find a GOOD photographer...one that'll work with you. :) But that's another post, for another time.

I should be the one behind the wheel

No, this is not a road in Utah, but it might as well be lately.

Yesterday, I was out driving around looking for ice melt. And I think I encountered EVERY stupid drive Utah has to offer. (Okay, that's a GROSS HYPERBOLE, but let it slide, please?) I'll start from the beginning:

I was annoyed with my roommates. (You need to know this because it sets up the mood I was in when I went out driving.) I head down the road, and decide that I don't want to wait for the light. I cut through a parking lot just to realize I should have waited for the light, because everyone is driving so DAMN SLOW that there isn't a break in traffic until the light changes anyhow. *sighs* Needless to say, I did get out across traffic and went on my less-than-merry way. I get to Macey's and pull into the middle lane to make a left hand turn into Macey's. I'm about 6th in line to make the turn. No one is turning though. The first car in line, finally braves the left hand turn after he already passed up 6 opportunities. (Yes, I was counting.) Car number 2, passed up about 10 choice turn options, and wastes more of my time and gas. At this point, roommate that isn't annoying me and I are beyond frustrated. I start watching the traffic to my right and decide to pull into it. I go up to the light that's is about 100 yards up and make a left turn with the light, and get right into the parking lot of the Macey's (using a left hand turn, shocking how easy it was!!) As we drive back to the Macey's roommate notes, that car number 3 has finally braved a left hand turn. Translation: I would have been sitting there still.

We find that Macey's is without ice melt, and decide to try the Albertson's just up the road. So I head out of the lot and I get onto a road that is a sheet of ice, I slid a bit. But! Being the excellent snowy weather driver that I am, I did not hit anyone and I got to the intersection to make another, left hand turn safely. This time I'm stuck behind Mr. White Truck. Mr. White Truck passes up about 7 good left hand turn opportunities, choosing to add to my annoyance and frustration instead of being proactive and placating me. Non-annoying roommate comments that two annoying roommates should steer clear of her, because her bad mood is NOT getting better because of all these really stupid drivers we've encountered. I agree. FINALLY, Mr. White Truck takes the leap of faith, and turns. I follow quickly behind. We travel along without incidence until we get to Albertson's.

As we're rounding a corner to get to the parking lot entrance, we watch as Mr. Four-wheel Drive decides that HE gets to make a right hand turn out of the left lane into the parking lot. This is much to the horror of me and non-annoying roommate and Mr. Hondo Civic that got cut off. Thankfully, no one is injured. We get into the lot, without further incidents. We even drove to Shopko and Ream's and didn't see too much more stupid. However, I did slide a bit in the parking lot of Ream's. Again, my stellar driving skills prevented injuries.

We decide to go home and not deal with anymore stupid for one night. Only to come face to face with more stupid when we get home. But this is not a blog about that...moving on.

I make a few phone calls and find that the ONLY places to find ice melt (remember, all these stupid encounters came about because we were trying to de-ice our driveway and parking lot at our place.) are Sam's Club and Lowe's. The ONLY TWO. So I head out, solo this time, to Sam's Club since they have the better deal. It was an uneventful drive, until I get to Sam's and try to pull into a spot. I had noticed that the car next to the spot that I wanted, had their back up lights on, but the weren't moving so I paid them no mind. Until they started moving, as I got right behind them and was turning into my spot. I honked, thinking they'd hear it and stop. They did not. I honked again and this time it was a prolonged honk. It still took them several moments to realize that there was a car behind them and that they should stop. 6 inches from my car. That's how close they came to hitting me. 6 inches. Seriously? I give up. And there's more snow on the way...