Hunger Games

I'm back!  Whew, last week was not a fun one.  And now we have a houseguest (Auntie Kate), which means that this week involves tourist-y activities, plus visits to JoAnn's and my having to cook honest-to-goodness meals.  Somehow, Auntie Kate does not get excited about cheap pizza.

What?  That thing at the top of my post?  Some nice lady from BlogHer gave it to me.  But now I'm confused - I could have sworn Twinkies went out of business a few months ago.  Didn't they?

My mother never bought Twinkies.  I always thought it was because we were Jewish, because all my goyische friends had Hostess products galore in their kitchens - Ringdings, Twinkies, Yodels...

Oh, wait, I think we had Devil Dogs once.  But I didn't like them.  Mostly, we had Stella Dora and Entenmanns.  We lived 4 miles from an Entenmanns outlet store.  I know!  It was almost a fairy tale childhood.

I think I'm rambling here.  In short, it's a good thing that I'm not being paid to endorse Hostess, considering my limited life experience with their products.  I'm just being paid to slap some code up there.

I sort of like the picture, though.  It's cute.  And now I'm hungry.  Free samples would be nice...

[Entenmann's image: DrJays]

Yet Another Homeschooling Fail

Australia has states!  7 of them, to be precise.  Who knew?  Not me, that's for sure.

They have names, and everything!

In other news, I ponied up the $8.50 and started reading The Hunger Games last night.  In retrospect, I should have saved it for next week, AFTER finishing up my yearly work contract.  Because it is VERY DISTRACTING.  I think I finally went to sleep at 2 AM.  That is stupid behavior for a responsible adult.  Which, apparently, I am not.



[Australia map: I Love Charts]

Should've Bought A Kindle...

Having read the sample chapter of Anne Lamott's overpriced new book on my Nook, I can say that it looks great.  But I'm not going to pay 13 dollars for something I can't even share with someone else.  I'll wait for the paperback, buy it, read it, and then give it away to a lucky reader.  That is, if there are any of you left by then who hasn't gone ahead and bought it on your own e-reader.

And, just by the way, that amazing thing where, as a Nook owner, I am supposed to be able to "share" the ebook I am reading with another Nook owner?  Yeah, right.  Apparently, none of the (admittedly few) books I've bought qualify to be "shared."  I feel ripped off.  Meanwhile, if I had bought a Kindle, I could have read the Hunger Games for free tonight and buying it would have cost me only 5 dollars.  The Nook wants $8.50.

My advice?  Buy a Kindle.  My other advice?  Don't bother asking for an e-reader for your birthday if you can't afford to buy books.  I mean, unless you like to read only the first chapter of the latest book.  Then go right ahead.

You know, I'm thinking that some of us are just not cut out to be early adopters.


[Cartoon credit: Fluffy Links]

This Is Where A Sense Of Humor Would Come In Handy

A long time ago, I mentioned how great it was that the boys' Scout troop has an annual mulch sale as its fundraiser.  Unlike with cookies, say, or gift wrap, dads are willing to get their hands dirty with the mulch thing, leaving us moms/wives to our leisure as they spend the weekend loading trucks, unloading trucks, corralling not very motivated boys into lifting 25-pound bags of landscape cover, etc.

Maybe wearing a frilly apron would make me feel better

One would wonder, then, how I managed to be drafted last June into the role of Troop Hospitality Coordinator - a role which includes, among other things, making sure that these hardworking men and boys are fed well and often during delivery weekend.  Was it temporary insanity that made me agree to take on the job?  Was it the assumption (tragically false, as it turns out) that the mulch sale always occurs in April -- that is, after my yearly 31 March contract deadline?  Or maybe I thought, as I stood there in the rain and the cold last year while dropping off a platter of grapes and string cheese and pitying those poor women hunched over the campstoves trying to heat up the food, that the weather couldn't possibly be that bad again.  I mean, what were the odds?

What were the odds, indeed.  You can find me this extremely rainy Saturday attempting to heat up donated chili and macaroni w/cheese over pots of boiling water on camping stoves, while praying the wind doesn't expose me to the elements by blowing the food tent over.  I'm not sure if that is irony, or simply cosmic payback.  Either way, I'm not liking it much.

[Woman cooking image: Zuuzs]

Disgruntlement R Us

May I start by saying that the weather here is ridiculously warm for the first day of spring?  I'm thinking it just might be the end times.

Also?  Larry informed me that his management retreat (yes, another one) is scheduled for MY BIRTHDAY.  And, believe me, he did not look nearly sorry enough when he told me that.  "You can have your day off another day," he said (almost blithely, I might add).  Excuse me - haven't we been through this before?  Methinks I'm going to grab an entire birthday weekend, thank you very much.

Sheesh, what am I, anyway?  Chopped liver?

That's a Jewish joke, so I'm not sure if it makes sense to goyim.  But it sure does make us Hebrews crack up.

Where was I?  Oh, yes, I was questioning the value of my very existence.  Who says this blog is all froth and no substance, anyway?

Why is this guy so happy about overpriced ebooks?

But, on the happy side of life, Anne Lamott's new book came out today!  The electronic version costs 13 dollars, however.  Why?  Is it all that paper they aren't using?  All that shipping they aren't doing?  Oh, I know!  Maybe it's to pay the rent for the warehouse where they store all those pixels.

What happened to 10-dollar ebooks, anyway?  And don't tell me there are tons of free ebooks out there.  I've read them already.  On paper, actually, way back in the dark ages when we actually had to turn the pages...




[Nook image: Digital Trends]