Steven and I are going to a friend's house tonight for a little Labor Day bash. Should be about four couples there and Steven's making homemade pizzas and pina coladas. Yum! Everyone have a safe and happy Labor Day weekend!

.: 40 words at 06:07 PM in Daily Ramblings, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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Fluke Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings by Christopher Moore: another wonderful book by the author of Island of the Sequined Love Nun and Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story.

In Christopher Moore's newest book, Nate Quinn, a marine behavioral biologist is consumed with the question of why whales sing. Until the day, that is, that while out observing the whales he sees one with "Bite Me" written on its tail.

So begins Nate quest to find out exactly what the hell is going on. During this adventure, we meet characters that only Moore could bring to life this well - Clay, Nate's partner in Maui Whale; Amy, the luscious, brilliant research assistant that Nate has a thing for; Kona, the dreadlock-wearing, pot smoking white boy from New Jersey who speaks Rastafarian; Elizabeth (AKA The Old Broad) who supports the researchers. There are also the assorted people - like Nate's ex-wife and other biologists - that lets you know that you are definitely reading a Christopher Moore novel.

I always love reading one of Moore's books. No where else can you find a sentence like "Quinn felt like he'd just smacked a bag of kittens against a truck bumper" or learn a phrase like "action nerd." A hell of a funny book with a really interesting premise that's well worth reading.

(Finished on August 28, 2003 for Zuly’s Reading Room.)

.: 233 words at 11:27 AM in Zuly's Reading Room, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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Steven and I were watching this really great show on the history of video games on The Discovery Channel. They started talking about Tetris and I was literally shocked when Steven turned to me and said, "So, what are you supposed to do?" He has never heard of Tetris before tonight! How is that possible? How can you have never heard of it before now?

.: 65 words at 12:59 AM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (8) :.

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Today was the day to pick up cheap supplies for burning CDs. Office Depot is running a sale on Imation CDs - 50 80 minute, 48x speed CDs (regularly $25.00 or so) for $11.87, buy one get one free. That's 100 CDs for about $13 after tax. Office Max has 50 slimline CD cases (regularly $9.99 a piece) on sale for $4.00 which then comes with a $4.00 mail-in rebate making them free.

If you're running low on CD supplies, now would be the time to stock up!

.: 88 words at 03:28 PM in Daily Ramblings, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (3) :.

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Today I helped Steven make a copy of a CD for his car. We designed the CD cover and the booklet art, printed it, and put a CD together. I've been thinking that since I'm seeing a pretty big interest in the Burn It CD Swap, I might go through and list what programs I use to put together my CDs. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow.

.: 66 words at 11:10 PM in Daily Ramblings, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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Today not only happens to be the birthday of everybody's favorite Scot, Sean Connery, but it also happens to be both Michele's birthday and her first wedding anniversary. Happy birthday and congrats, babe!

.: 33 words at 08:48 PM in Love Notes, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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I came home to two dead fish in our aquarium - the black and the blue scale orandas. I swear, we can't keep a fish alive for anything. Damn.

.: 29 words at 06:03 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (4) :.

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House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III: one of Oprah's Book Club picks (though I didn't know if when at the time) and one of the most captivating books I've read all year.

The story centers around two main characters - Colonel Massoud Amir Behrani and Kathy Nicolo. Kathy is a former cocaine addict trying to recover from her husband leaving her eight months earlier. Due to a bureaucratic error, Kathy's house, left to her by her father, is seized and put up for auction. Behrani, who fled Iran four years earlier and is having a tough time finding a good job, takes the last of his family's money and purchases the house for a very low price. This is when the real trouble begins.

Kathy, naturally, wants her house back. Behrani sees this as a once in a lifetime opportunity to get his family's fortunes back on track and refuses to sale without at least tripling his money. Meanwhile, Kathy has become involved with a married police officer, Les Burdon, complicating both her life and his.

Immediately, this book grabbed me and wouldn't let me go. I felt sympathy for both sides in this struggle and couldn't imagine any way that this would work out well for anyone. I wanted everyone to get what they wanted, though that obviously couldn't be. I worried about all involved- epsecially Mrs. Behrani and Kathy - and feared what would happen to these wonderfully vivid characters.

Not giving anything away, I totally felt that the book had an inevitable conclusion once it began moving. I was completely drawn in and recommended this book heartily.

(Finished on August 25, 2003 for Zuly’s Reading Room.)

.: 283 words at 03:09 PM in Zuly's Reading Room, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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My best friend Jeanna e-mailed me today to remind me that The Museum of Fine Arts Houston is having a new exhibit - The Heroic Century. Included in the exhibit will be Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night, Claude Monet's Water Lilies, and Salvador Dali's The Persistence of Memory.

It's a hell of an opportunity to see many pieces that you'll never have the chance to see again, so if you live in Houston or are nearby, I would highly suggest making your attendance a high priority. The exhibit starts September 21st of this year and runs until January 4, 2004.

.: 105 words at 06:13 PM in Notable News, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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