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Book Blog

Many of you are familiar with my obsession fascination with a website called Library Thing (LT) - provider of my supremely awesome Blog Widget for Recently Read Books. In the true tradition of The Best Just Got Better, I signed up for a program they have called Early Reviewers. The deal is that publishers come to LT and offer up free copies of their books and LT goes through and "matches" the books offered to readers based on what's already in users libraries - sort of a smart selector for book reviews, "if you read x, you might like y". The selected readers then review the book and offer their review back to the publishers for publicity purposes all for the fair price of a free book that usually is not yet published. This past month I scored my first free book. Aside from a few political books in my catalog, I'm not certain how I matched to it but as I am always up for new (and free) books from any genre complaints were the last thing on my mind. The book is called Red Zone Blues (subtitled A Snapshot of Baghdad During the Surge) and is written by Asia Times journalist Pepe Escobar. It was a pretty decent book and I thought I might as well share my review here and if anyone else is interested in reading it, I'd be more than happy to pass it around (which is also true for any and all books I own so if there's something in my catalog that you want to borrow let me know - I'm working on adding an "own" tag to distinguish books that are in my actual possession versus ones I've borrowed from friends or the local library). Anyhoo, before I get too rambley, here's my Red Zone Blues Review:

Red Zone Blues: A Snapshot of Baghdad During the Surge is an insider's look at the past, present and future state of life, war and politics in Iraq. Parts of the book are highly critical of American foreign policy, yet Pepe Escobar focuses not on the US military, but on the Iraqi people. Stories are told of the leaders of the factions fighting for power as well as the heart-wrenching narratives from everyday people struggling to live within and around the war zone.

Each brief chapter of the book presents a different point about the conflict or current Middle Eastern politics. I found this format to be a bit distracting, as I had expected a more cohesive account. Although he warns readers that he is writing the "Blues" about the horrid state of Iraq (and constantly reiterates the popular idea that US occupation in Iraq must come to an end), Escobar could have provided his own suggestions or solutions to restoring Baghdad to stability. With the opportunity to present his own editorial, he instead chooses to remain amid the dismal facts and offers no hope for Iraq's future. Perhaps his stance is best summed up in a quote from one of his interviews stating, "[s]ome think it's better for the Americans to stay, otherwise there will be civil war. Others think they should leave. There is no united opinion."

Escobar's writing provided thought-provoking insights with every turn of the page. I most enjoyed the human perspectives and reading the interviews that Escobar, at times, risked his life to conduct. Whether or not readers agree with Escobar's views, I would recommend this book to anyone strictly for the factual information about US foreign policy and the current state of the Middle East. Red Zone Blues is an intense but satisfying book and the straightforward journalistic style will cause many Americans to evaluate, and possibly re-evaluate, their views on the war.

And I should add the disclaimer too that I'm still learning the ropes for writing good book reviews. My style and format tend to vary a lot but any feedback or polite critiques that people want to provide is more than welcome.

A Commuter's Rant

I'm not normally one to complain, but just take this as a blowing-off-steam rant. A little taste of my morning:

A ride on a CTA bus.
A 35 minute ride on a CTA bus.
A 35 minute ride on an overcrowded CTA bus.
A very bumpy 35 minute ride on an overcrowded CTA bus.
A very bumpy 35 minute ride standing on an overcrowded CTA bus.
A very bumpy 35 minute ride standing in heels on an overcrowded CTA bus.
A very bumpy 35 minute ride standing in heels on an overcrowded CTA bus without air conditioning.
A very bumpy 35 minute ride standing in heels on an overcrowded CTA bus without air conditioning in 85 degree weather.
A very bumpy 35 minute ride standing in heels on an overcrowded CTA bus without air conditioning in extremely muggy 85 degree weather.
A very bumpy 35 minute ride standing in heels on an overcrowded CTA bus without air conditioning in extremely muggy 85 degree weather with seated men that don't offer their seats to ladies in high heels.
A very bumpy 35 minute ride standing in heels on an overcrowded CTA bus without air conditioning in extremely muggy 85 degree weather with seated men that don't offer their seats to ladies in high heels and can't figure out how to open the windows.
A very bumpy 35 minute ride standing in heels on an overcrowded CTA bus without air conditioning in extremely muggy 85 degree weather with seated men that don't offer their seats to ladies in high heels and can't figure out how to open the windows so that you feel dizzy by the time you get to work.
A very bumpy 35 minute ride standing in heels on an overcrowded CTA bus without air conditioning in extremely muggy 85 degree weather with seated men that don't offer their seats to ladies in high heels and can't figure out how to open the windows so that you feel dizzy by the time you get to work but you're simultaneously so glad to finally be done with the "very bumpy 35 minute ride standing in heels on an overcrowded CTA bus without air conditioning in extremely muggy 85 degree weather with seated men that don't offer their seats to ladies in high heels and can't figure out how to open the windows so that you feel dizzy by the time you get to work" that you're able to put the dizziness aside and get on with your day.

If not me, why not you?

Okay so it's a pink vacuum cleaner and maybe that's not your thing, but it's pretty darn cool and they're giving it away for free! Let's see.... which one of these things makes it most attractive to me? It's a Dyson... It's Pink... It's supporting cancer research... It's free... Uh, yeah. I'll go with all of the above.

The Dread Pirate Brody's Real Name?

My pirate name is:

Mad Bess Flint

Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just a little bit. Like the rock flint, you're hard and sharp. But, also like flint, you're easily chipped, and sparky. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

So my original pirate name (back in '02 when only the fiercest of us had even heard of TLAP Day) was The Dread Pirate Brody (long story) but I guess Mad Bess Flint has a certain ring to it. Maybe Mad Bess Flint Brody works. Go ahead and take the quiz and let me know your own pirate name!

Happy Pirateering To All And To All A Sword Fight!*

*Yes, I just coined that phrase. Consider it my own personal trademark.

Because It Nev-arrrrgh Gets Old

HAPPY TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY!
http://www.talklikeapirate.com

The Dread Pirate Brody's Official Pirate Day Archives:
2006 (The Best of Movie Pirates)
2003 (Pirate Jokes)
2002 (The DB article that started it all)

I was a pirate before pirates were cool.

Another LOL

I'm always amazed at how many different things LOL can stand for. Any onliner will associate it with "laugh out loud" and my college crew will recognize it as the header of my old weekly/monthly email updates in which it stood for "life of Lisa", "Lisa on life" or "Lisa Online". I've often signed greetings to friends and family with "lots of love" and also had the St. Patty's day interpretation meaning "lots of luck". The abbreviation can represent Jesus as "Lord of Lords" or a spicy grandma who wants to be a "little old lady" looking for a new "lease on life". Regardless....

This past week I've made an acquaintance with a new organization that's commonly referred to as LOL: Locks of Love. Many of you know that I've been growing my hair out for a few years in order to take part in an interesting form of charity - and this week marked the day I "made the cut". Locks of Love is a nonprofit group that accepts hair donations in order to make wigs for children with hair loss (most people assume it's only for chemotherapy patients but there are also many genetic diseases and auto-immune disorders that cause baldness in young people). The donation guidelines are a little strict in that at least 10 inches of hair are needed to make the wigs so you can imagine that it's a pretty drastic change in my hairstyle. My mom treated me to a cut and color with her favorite stylist at Zano salon which was a wonderful experience. Any haircut that includes a neck and shoulder massage gets a two thumbs up in my book! So far I like my new look and it's been met with pretty positive reviews (assuming that "Oh my gosh! I didn't recognize you!" can also be considered positive) from family, friends and coworkers. I'm still getting used to having a much chillier neck but there's great advantages to going from 40 to 4 minutes in my necessary use of a hairdryer. To anyone with long hair that's debating making the chop, I highly recommend the experience! Check out http://www.locksoflove.org for more information.

A Vermont and Wisconsin Bithday

My birthday took place neither in Wisconsin nor Vermont, and although I have friends in the former and a teddy bear from the latter, WI and VT are meant a little more metaphorically in this case. Wisconsin as all midwesterners know is famous for cheese and no pancake lover will deny the association between Vermont and maple syrup. So in saying that I had a very Vermont and Wisconsin birthday I mean that it was sappy and cheesy - in all the best ways possible. I mentioned before that I had a really fun family party on Sunday. Unfortunately the Bears couldn't gift a birthday win for me but it was all in all a fun time hanging out. Monday was a really awesome time too. My coworkers surprised me with a candle laden coffee cake instead of our traditional Monday morning lab meeting bagels. Then around 1 Tony came to pick me up and not only did I have the joy of a half day off work, we got to walk around the U of C campus and visit Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House. Then we skipped over to the Science and Industry Museum and saw a really cool Omnimax show about Mummies, Pharaohs and Ancient Egypt. Yes, this is further evidence of what a supreme nerd I am because it was 110% educational and I loved it! (Hey, I warned you it was cheesy!)The really awesome part of the day too was that Tony took me out for a surprise dinner at Catch 35, a really fancy seafood restaurant. We'd both been wanting to go there for a long time and it was excellent! The food was supreme, the service was great and the fact that it was Monday night made for a very non-crowded romantic dinner. And as if that wasn't amazing enough, Tony had flowers for me delivered to the restaurant so that when we were seated at the table I noticed a card from him in the middle of the gorgeous centerpiece. What a guy, right? (Hey, I warned you it was sappy, too!) Hard to believe the years are flying by but if the birthday sets the tone for the year, I'm in for a wonderful time as a 27-year old!

Driving in Cars With Balloons

Wow! What a weekend! I had a super fun birthday celebration with my family today but I spent most of Saturday in the hospital. Don't worry, I wasn't IN the hospital, rather I was visiting my sister who was having a baby! She delivered a happy and healthy baby girl. She's quite the cutie, just like her mom. ;) I had an interesting time getting to the medical center though because I made the mistake of buying balloons ahead of time. Financially this was a wise move as party stores achieve the accounting miracle of making a profit while charging less than a third of what hospital gift shops deem reasonable. And balloons really are an ultimately ideal gift for a new arrival, but there is a slight issue in transporting them. I was too afraid of poppage to put them in the trunk (those who have ever seen the cluttered pit that is my car trunk will understand) so I designated the backseat as the bouquet containment area. I should probably explain that there were only two balloons but that one of them was a jumbo sized pink foot emblazoned with the phrase "It's a Girl!". (I'm not entirely certain why a foot is the new universal symbol for "baby" but it was a cute selection.) If you've never driven with balloons in your backseat, I'll explain that there are only two positions the helium filled atrocities will occupy: blocking the rear view mirror or obliterating your blind spot. And more often than not there will be multiple transitions between these placements as the trip progresses. And of course due to construction, ridiculously slow drivers, and a brush collection truck that was pelting my car with sticks I had to change lanes about eight times. That is, I had to change lanes about eight times while having pink mylar monsters flying between my rear view mirror and my blind spot. You can imagine me driving: one hand on the wheel, one hand on the turn signal and one hand frantically swatting balloons out of view. You're probably thinking that that doesn't add up - and you're right. Amazingly I avoided both accidents and traffic tickets but my inability to read the proper signage left me parked at the exact opposite end of the hospital complex from the Labor and Delivery entrance but I suppose I'll leave "Riding in Elevators With Balloons" for another time.

The Downward Dog Ate My Homework

I went to a yoga class at Lifetime last night. *waiting for laughter to subside* I'm serious. I, the queen of clutz, was learning to stretch, balance and breathe my way into the relaxation that can only come from transforming oneself into a human pretzel! Tony has still been having back pain from his car accident and with my copious amounts of joint problems (my knees and hips tend to do random impressions of popping corn), we thought yoga might be a good habit to start. So we ventured over to the health club - side note here: What happened to the 80's when you could go "exercise" at "the gym"? Now it's all going to "work out" at the "health club"... anyways - little did we know that "Fitness Yoga" would be much more the former than the latter. Gone were my previous experiences of gentle stretching and calming breathing. This was an all out kick-your-butt stretching and straining of muscles I forgot I even had! I knew it would be rough when we started with a sequence of four moves (that we returned to several times throughout the class). The first is Downward Facing Dog - a pretty basic move with your palms and feet flat on the floor and your butt up in the air with your arms and legs straightened so that if you strung a line between your elbows and knees it would be an accurate impersonation of the letter A (no comment on the fact that people were not designed to be shaped like letters other than I). It's not too difficult but when you focus on keeping your heels flat to the ground it provides a somewhat pleasant stretching to the shoulders and quads. From Downward Dog the instructor shifts us to Plank. In Plank you are on your toes with your palms still flat and arms straight but your back straightens so that you're essentially in the up position of a push up. Then comes Chaturanga. If you've never done yoga, fear the Chaturanga. Chaturanga means "Four Limbs" and comes from the words "chatur" meaning "four", and "anga" meaning "oh wow, I found my triceps!". Your hands and feet keep the same position as Plank but you bend your elbows and bring them into your sides and balance with your nose inches from the ground for an undetermined length of time (see painful picture at right, well, maybe it's not painful if you look like THAT but for us normal humans....ow!). Yeah, it's basically like doing the first half of a push up but you're supposed to be all slow and graceful and if you're like me and haven't really done push ups regularly since high school, it starts with a slow burning in the triceps and moves into all out agony by the eighth time through the sequence. The last pose is Upward Dog and it took all my reserve not to ask the instructor or fellow pretzel people, "What's Up, Dog?". Yes, it's pretty much a reversal of Downward Facing Dog, in that your back is arched with your chest up, hips lifted and head back, but a more appropriate title would be The Little Mermaid pose. Really, no one's done it better since Ariel and you can see from her expression (at left) that she's extremely excited to have been relieved from the agony of holding Chaturanga for too long. I suppose it's also saying something that I need to take flexibility lessons from a cartoon character...

The other thing I should mention is that Lifetime Fitness does a really cool thing when the weather's nice - they have Yoga Under The Stars by the outdoor pool. It was a nice evening and I thought this feature would enhance the relaxation aspect of the class but a more accurate name for it would be Yoga Under the Stars Obscured By Light Pollution or even better Yoga With Our Friends the Mosquitoes! I was doing pretty good with some of the other crazy balance moves we tried except it's quite difficult to stand in a position like the triangle (at right) and try to focus on relaxing and breathing when a mosquito and three of it's buddies are feasting their way up your ankle and around the circumference of your elbows! And then, since the insects were out in full force their predators joined us too - and really is there anything more calming than staring at a sky filled with swarms of bats?!??? Every time we hit Upward Dog I found myself fearing a face-full of guano. *Eeeeuuughhhh* But the bats left us alone and I suppose I've done worse then sixteen mosquito bites in a night. I'll keep you all posted into my further ventures of human pretzel-hood in the future but for now all I can say is: Beware the Chaturanga!

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

I can't remember the last time August has been this rainy. No...change that. Rainy would be okay. Stormy is more appropriate and explains why I'm not enjoying it. I've never liked thunderstorms and I've never understood people that find them relaxing. Loud noises, bright lights, drenched in 30 seconds - you might as well call a techno rave relaxing. I would blame my anxieties on my recent forensics class where they shared with us all the lovely pictures and beautiful details of what happens to people killed by lightning, but I think my dislike of severe weather goes back even farther. When I was little my parents used to have to tell my siblings and I that thunder was the sound of the angels in heaven going bowling (as my parents and their friends were on a bowling league this did provide some appropriate comfort - but I still recall being frightened by the sights and sounds of storms). You can imagine my displeasure at being greeted almost every day this week by forecasts of "Heavy Thunderstorms", "Scattered Thunderstorms" and "Isolated Thunderstorms". Not my cup of tea. Yesterday was probably the worst. Supposedly there were record numbers of felled trees and power lines. Traffic was screwed up royally and it was on my more than double its standard length of time bus ride that I got a glimpse of this:

I had never seen lightning strike the Sears Tower before. (I need to put in the disclaimer that I didn't take that picture, it's from WGN's weather site - you can pretty much bet that my camera was the last thing on my mind while witnessing it.) I'm sure strikes like this happen a lot but this was my first good view of the phenomena. To the storm lovers out there, I will admit that it was a pretty awe-inspiring sight but at the same time I was glad to be in a bus... far away.... and (most thankfully!) on the ground.

Thanks for your concern...

...but this was not me.

DM of the Rings

Perhaps I just needed a good laugh during a crazy rough week but this site had me cracking up big time. I guess that probably says a little too much about my nerddom with roots in D&D as well as LoTR... (Oh and maybe I should warn you that if you're asking what all the acronyms stand for, there's a good chance you're not going to be amused - but for those that recognize and admire the 20 sided di, by all means, click away!)

One Week of Impact

So my church is helping to sponsor a City of Lights Workcamp over in East Aurora this week. Students from all over the country are coming together to repair houses - fixing porches, building wheelchair ramps, painting - of residents in need. It's a pretty amazing event! There's an article all about it in The Beacon News and you can also read more about the project on Kirsten's blog. The whole thing reminds me a lot of a service experience that Tony and I helped out with in college when we took a trip to Memphis and did repairs on inner city houses there. Not only did we get to do some great work (bet ya'll didn't know I had drywall installation and roofing skills?) but I really liked how we got to know the homeowner (Mary) and how she would pray with us and talk to us while we worked. I hope this week is an equally fun time of growth for the students working in Aurora. What's really exciting too is that even though most of us working stiffs are stuck in jobs while all this great stuff is going on, this Saturday our leadership teams have put together a work day with two elementary schools in the community. We'll be paining, mulching, gardening, power washing and repairing fences. It should be an awesome day!

Tell Me A Story

I came across this article the other day and it seemed like one of those things that would make a great premise for a short story. It was an item that might belong in The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, a picture book by Chris Van Allsburg with imaginative drawings meant to inspire creativity. (In middle school we used to choose random pages from the book as short story prompts which started some of my best creative writing days.)

In hearing about the mystery woman in white, my imagination took off and I was instantly formulating a Stardust meets Little Mermaid meets Princess Bride fantasy tale of mystery, lost love and high adventure. I should have struck while the iron was hot and written something but I missed my chance. Today I read the follow up article and it came as a not so pleasant reminder that reality is far too eager to dispel imagination. Real life always has an explanation.