This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave - Elmer Davis

Take a moment today to remember America's veterans.

What Board Game Are You?

You Are Chess

You are brilliant and shrewd. You can often predict what people will do in the future. You thrive in complex situations. You deal with contradictions well. You can have many streams of though going on at your mind at once. You keep track of things well. You are very patient. You have lots of endurance, even when your energy dwindles

What Board Game Are You?

Yep this is me (if I do say so myself).

“Well, it all started when I figured out that the janitor at my high school was the Angel of Death...” from Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff

from the back cover: Jane Charlotte has been arrested for murder. She says she’s a member of a secret organization devoted to fighting evil. She say’s she’s working with the Department for the Final Disposition of Irredeemable Persons-aka "Bad Monkeys." Her confession has landed her in the jail’s psychiatric wing and earns her countless hours of poking, probing, and questioning by a professional. But is Jane crazy or lying? Or is she playing a whole different game altogether?
I wasn’t planning on buying a book - just browsing I told myself - when I was drawn to the bright yellow book titled Bad Monkeys. It was a interesting read. Written in a conversational tone the book’s fast pace led me down twists and turns with a truly satisfying, yet unpredictable ending. If you are looking for something different then do as Christopher Moore, author of A Dirty Job wrote, "Read it, memorize then destroy it. There are eyes everywhere."

"If you are false to yourself, I think, other people find it easier to be false to you." from The Forgery of Venus by Michael Gruber

from Publisher's Weekly...Starred Review. Bestseller Gruber (The Book of Air and Shadows) probes the boundaries between sanity and madness in his outstanding sixth novel. Talented Chaz Wilmot, who makes a modest living as a commercial artist in New York City, can't say no when Mark Slade, his former Columbia roommate who now owns a downtown gallery, offers him $150,000 to fix a ruined Tiepolo ceiling in a Venetian palazzo (the ceiling had essentially collapsed, so it wasn't a restoration job exactly but more like a reproducing job). Once abroad, Wilmot gets sucked into an increasingly bizarre world where his own identity is confused and the art he produces may be a forgery but is genuinely magnificent. Is Wilmot crazy or is he being manipulated in a grandiose scheme linked to unrecovered art stolen by the Nazis? Gruber writes passionately and knowledgeably about art and its history—and he writes brilliantly about the shadowy lines that blur reality and unreality. Fans of intelligent, literate thrillers will be well rewarded.

My Take: This was a fascinating read. The author expertly draws you into the story and doesn't let go. I highly recommend it.

Has any one read Gruber's bestseller The Book of Air and Shadows?

Technology... is a queer thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ~C.P. Snow, New York Times, 15

Woke up Sunday with no internet service. I waited until Monday after work to call the cable company and after pushing 1 or 2 and saying yes or no or continue I finally pushed 0 for the operator/customer service - as in a real live human! For once I wasn't treated like a MORON and they actually BELIEVED me when I said I tried everything and let me pick up a new modem today.
As far as NaNo goes I haven't written a word. A bit under the weather. I won't go into the gory details, but all I can manage is work and then fall into bed when I get home.

Did you vote today? I'd have to be dead not to vote. Have you ever seen Iron Jawed Angels with Hilary Swank? All mothers should sit down and watch this with their daughters.

NaNo NaNo

No - it's not from Mork & Mindy. NaNo are more specifically NaNoWrMo stands for the National Novel Writing Month. From their website http://www.nanowrimo.org/ National Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

Though I took the pledge, I'm planning on 25,000 words - hey, I know my limits. I'll be working on Love By Design. I'll post my progress. Wish me not only luck but more importantly that the words flow freely.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Yes, folks it snowing here in the lovely Catskills and it's not even Halloween yet. YIKES!

What you don't believe me? Here is a picture I just took from my back deck. The leaves are still on the trees for goodness sake!

And I had such high hopes for global warming.