Snow Day #2

Not so much snow day as 'very windy and cold day.' But, hey, whatever, I'll take it. I have been extremely productive today as I have organized the front hall closet, cleaned the downstairs bathroom (including under the sink), pick-uped the kitchen, began to start to clean the living room, and tried to get some stains out of the family room carpet. And it's not even noon yet. And I did some of it while listening to Pottercast with Duff. Brilliant. The second half of my day will consist of homework and work. Hopefully I am just as productive in those tasks as I was this morning. I had pancakes for breakfast and now I will find something equally as delicious for lunch. And then, I will carry on and watch Project Runway. Excellent. Excellent indeed.

"In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there
lay an invincible summer."

A Note from George Carlin

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways , but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness. We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things. We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less. These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...

Books of 2007

Here is a list of all the books I read in 2007 (in opposite order):

Beloved-Toni Morrison
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man-James Joyce
The Perks of Being a Wallflower-Stephen Chbosky
Tess of the d'Urbervilles-Thomas Hardy
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows-Jo Rowling
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason-Helen Fielding
Bridget Jones's Diary-Helen Fielding
Catcher in the Rye-J.D. Salinger
Things Fall Apart-Chinua Achebe
The Slightly True Story of Cedar B. Hartley (Who Planned to Live an Unusual Life)-Martine Murray
The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream-Barack Obama
The Things They Carried-Tim O'Brien
Nickel and Dimed-Barbara Ehrenreich
Ethan Frome-Edith Wharton
The Great Gatsby-F. Scott Fitzgerald
Pride and Prejudice-Jane Austen
How Soccer Explains the World-Franklin Foer
Into the Wild-Jon Krakauer
Of Mice and Men-John Steinbeck

The ones in bold are the ones I would recommend to anyone at all. I liked nearly all the books I read, but those are the ones I really enjoyed.

Hello 2008!

Here's to hoping it's a good year, filled with joy and happiness.