Forget the health food.

Mollie Sugden

According to the BBC, Mollie Sugden has passed away.

(I don't know if the photo will work. It's showing up as a red X on this &^%$#@ computer.)

The Pickwick Papers (Oxford World's Classics)

Charles Dickens

It was extremely long (the book is 1,000+ pages), but a really enjoyable story, as most Charles Dickens books are.

In case you don't know the premise of the book, it's a collection of tales and stories supposedly collected during the travels of members of the Pickwick Club; namely Mr. Pickwick and his friends, Mr. Winkle, Mr. Snodgrass, and Mr. Tupman. And as they travel, they have their own various adventures.

Some parts were hilariously funny, some more thought-provoking. One of the most moving sections was when Mr. Pickwick let himself be put in debtor's prison rather than pay a court settlement lodged against him for a completely ridiculous breach of promise suit. The Dickens family spent time in debtor's prison, and you could tell CD had no fond memories of it.

When he pointed out that criminals convicted of heinous crimes are fed and clothed and housed, but debtors are left to starve and rot, you couldn't help but think that there's something wrong with the system.

Anyway, I enjoyed the book thoroughly, and the audio performance was also pretty good. The reader, Walter Zimmerman, did an acceptable job most of time. He's an American, so the narrative bits were read with an American accent. I don't insist that books by British authors must be read in a British accent. I don't suppose his accents for the characters were entirely authentic, but I'm not a Brit, so I wouldn't know. It did clang, however, when he read a British character to say "to-MAY-to." I thought he could at least have got that one right.

When I was working downtown about fourteen years ago, I started going to a dentist who was also downtown, and I've been seeing this same dental practice ever since.

I have no complaints about the work. My only issue is that every couple of years, he brings a new "junior" dentist in and you have to get used to someone new. (I think he has a mentoring program for young dentists who are completing their training, or something like that.)

Anyhow, I discovered that the dentist I really liked, who left his practice a year ago, has joined a new practice, and their office is three floors up from mine. So not only would I be back with a dentist I was comfortable with, I don't have to take a half a stinking day to go downtown for an appointment. I can just run up the stairs.

My question is, do I need to let my old dentist know that I'm jumping ship, or can I just not make any more appointments with them and let them figure it out on their own?

Suddenly in the last month, the Widgets webpage has been automatically popping up in my browser, and automatically switching me over to the browser from whatever other program I'm in. It's extremely annoying, especially since last night it happened when I was in the middle of a fight in Lord of the Rings Online, and by the time I was able to switch back over to the game, I was dead.

I've emailed them for help, and they're working on it, but it takes them days to reply.

I've also been having trouble lately with my internet connection needing three or four tries (and resetting the connection) before it can find the webpage I'm looking for. I don't know if it's connected or not.

Ugh!

I'm so sorry to be neglecting my Vox, you guys! But I simply haven't been browsing the internet the way I used to, so I don't check my sites as frequently.

I was home sick yesterday (not piggie flu...something I ate disagreed with me) and it was dang boring. I didn't feel bad enough to wallow in misery, but I didn't feel good enough to get up and actually do anything interesting.

So mostly I lounged around the house until my back was stiff and my hip numb from the inactivity.

I'd be in trouble if I was ever bedridden.

And today I'm having a hard time working up enough impetus to get any work done. As if I need an excuse to be lazy...

On another subject...a few notes on pronunciation.

I live in the state of CoLLLLLLLorado. Not CoDorado. We were named after the red color of the rocks and soil, not a fish. And someone is avaiLLLLLLLLable to help. Not AvaiDable.

Get it right, people!

(Yes, being sick makes me grumpy, too. :P)

I was talking to my boss this morning, and she mentioned that there has been a nearly-confirmed (they're 70% sure) case of swine flu in our office. She couldn't tell me who, because of HIPAA laws, but she said that those who had come in contact with him had been notified. Since I hadn't heard anything, that means I wasn't one who was in contact with him. But she said he'd been in her office, and I do visit her fairly regularly.

So she said if I felt feverish or anything, I was to go immediately to the doctor to be tested. Naturally, I immediately started checking to see if I felt warm or achy. I guess there's a little hypochondriac in all of us.

But I feel fine. I mean, apart from being dog tired from staying up too late playing LOTRO, and headachy from still sleeping with a comforter. It's still chilly the first part of the night, and I guess I don't move around enough to kick the covers off when it warms up after the sun comes up.

1. Being insanely busy at work, and a lazy bum at home, is not conducive to keeping up with one's blogging responsibilities...
2. The salad I had for lunch must have had strong onions in it, because I'm still tasting them. Bleh! (Anyone want to kiss me?)
3. I should have had pizza at the Division meeting, but I worked through that lunch because we had a deliverable due. Then I would have tasted like garlic. (The kiss offer is still open!)
4. Apparently I am at least half 17-year-old boy, because I can NOT get my butt off Lord of the Rings Online at bedtime. Last night I shut it down at 1:30 a.m., which is the earliest I've been off in a couple weeks. Eek!
5. I forgot to wear my step counter today! Oh noes! But I've been up and down the stairs and corridors all day, and I took a 30 minute walk this afternoon, so I'll do a little more walking when I get home tonight and just give myself a flat 10,000 for the day.
6. Speaking of multi-player games, I appreciate the higher level players who come to help, but I wish they would "help" and not just do it for me. When they blaze in and kill everything in sight, and ten seconds later it's over, that's not very fun. It's like someone "helping" you with a crossword by filling in all the answers for you.
7. My back hurts from standing over the production room counter stuffing binders. Owch! I need to join Allie and Zoey in sawing logs on dee cowshe.

Ooh, a brain

And my list of things I need to get done today.

Now where did I leave my motivation?

And why did I stay up so late last night?

Show us which baseball team you'll be cheering on this season.

Same one I cheer on every year.

Roxlogo

A meme after my own heart!!! (via Morgat, who got it from Purplesque and Little M)

1. How often do you use your public library and how do you use it?

A lot and a lot a lot. I don't go often just to browse the shelves, but I am a demon with the reserve system. I love and adore the ability to order books through the Prospector system (other library systems in the state and nearby states) and the Inter-Library Loan system (any library in the world). If the Denver Public Library doesn't have the book I want, I can generally find it somewhere, and they'll deliver it to my local branch.

2. Has the coffee shop/bookstore replaced the library?

Not for me. The point of a coffee shop is to sit around and putz, and I can do that at home without the caffeine. And I'm trying really hard not to buy a lot of books because I don't have room for them. If I find a book in the library that I really love and know I'll read over and over, that's when I go the bookstore. And for me, shopping is something you go and do and get it over with so you can go home. No time for putzing.

3. Did you go to the library as a child? Do you have any memories of the library?

Heck, yeah! I was in church when I was a week old, and I daresay I wasn't much older on my first trip to the library. My most prized library memory is when Mom deemed me old enough to keep my library card myself instead of her keeping it in her wallet. We'd go to the library every Saturday, and I'd check out a tall stack of books, and by the middle of the week I'd read all of them and all of the books my sisters had checked out, too.

4. Do you like sleek, modern, active libraries or older, darker, quieter, cozy libraries?

I guess I'm nostalgic for the old days, but if sleek, modern libraries will get people in the door, I'm good with that, too. It's what's on the shelves that matters.