I’m so behind… behind on reading my favorite blogs, and definitely behind on posting. And my “currently reading” section is wrong. And I still have not rebuilt the “what i’ve already read” page. Things are a bit busy here, at work and at the casita di hodi. I’m “packing” for the move. And by “packing” I mean, picking things up and setting them down 6 inches from their original spot, realizing the it’s just entirely TOO overwhelming and I’d better take a nap. At work, I had to finish my two Big Reports. Two, because we’ve decided to give other evil duties to EvilDeb. And I will have to turn around and start working on them again in a week and a half, in order to get them done early. Before my sabbatical. Which is in… . EIGHTEEN DAYS!! Holy Cow! That is so great. Really great. Can’t wait. But the next 18 days, with the packing and the moving and the big reporting are going to be busy. Forgive me in advance. I’m sure you’ll hear more than enough from me once my sabbatical starts.
There are 4, and only 4, approved social outings over the next few weeks. And two of them have already taken place. Louise and I have been spending a lot of time in books stores, recently. Oops… well, see, there you go. Even now, I have to stop writing in order to go to a meeting. And by stop, I mean, type with great discretion during the boring parts. NO!! that’s not true. I wouldn’t do that. So… um, anyway. We’ve been hanging out in bookstores, as is our wont. Last week we went to two book signings/readings. Last Wednesday, we saw Jonathan Stroud, author of The Bartimaeus Trilogy. The second book of the trilogy, The Golem’s Eye, just came out. I was not familiar with these books, but Louise was, and she was very excited to see that he was visiting. So I put the first book, The Amulet of Samakarand, on hold at the library. [I hope I spelled Samakarand right.] These are children’s fantasy books, about magicians. Consequently, the audience was half full [or half empty, depending on how you think of it] of children in the grades 4 to 6 range. Very enthusiastic children. It’s then that we learned of yet another occupation for which Louise is not ideally suited. Author of Children’s Books. For she would have to interact with children at some point. And that really would never do. Jonathan Stroud, however, is a very patient and charming man, who did quite well with all those kids. He’s british, did I mention that? He drew on a poster size pad of paper a great deal, as he went, explaining things, which was fun. And kids were asking questions of the “remember that one time, in that part with the monster and he had his claws out and she screamed because she was scared of demons? yeah… that part was SCARY!!” ilk. And he very patiently, and encouragingly, would respond with answers of the “Was it? Oh good, because that’s exactly what I wanted it to be. Scary!” ilk. I kinda liked the kids, I thought they were cute. Because I used to be one of them. I mean, we were all kids, but I was that bookish kid. Complete with glasses. There was one exception. That was the curly headed kid who’s determination to be in the front row was strong indeed. Unfortunately, he was not seated in the front row… Louise and I were. But he just kept scooching up and scooching up, until he was sitting right at Louise’s elbow. And she has adverse reactions to the proximity of children, you know. And he kept turning to explain things, about the books, to his mom/ guardian/ court appointed keeper in a very loud and inconsiderate voice. I blame her, the keeper, more than him, because she should have informed him that was rude and shut up right quick before the mean scottish lady goes postal and rips his curly head off his neck. She could have done it, too. She’d just had coffee. Louise has this great face, it’s her “Perfectly Pleasant I Am So Annoyed” face. If you didn’t know her, you’d think “my what a perfectly pleasant young lady, although she looks to be in a bit of pain. still, what a lovely, pleasant, pained expression.” If you know her, you know it’s her “I”ll Perfectly Pleasant your ASS, you annoying [insert type of annoying person here. child. brat, etc.]” face. As long as you stayed outside of arm’s reach, you’d probably be ok. Unless she squints her eyes. Then you’d better run. All in all, I’m looking forward to reading the book.
So that was the first of the four approved social outings. The second was last saturday night. Again, in a bookstore, Louise and I went to hear Clive Barker speak. His second book of Abarat just came out. And oh what a delightful, charming, funny, talented, british man. Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, he’s gay as well. [which we knew]. But is there anything more irresistible to a girl than a charming, funny, talented, british gay man? Oh, maybe a charming, funny, talented, british gay man dipped in chocolate. Perhaps. But add to it special unique Clive Barker traits, and it’s no wonder Louise and I were so happy. Exhibit A: he spoke of what a homebody he is, how he only leaves the house twice a week. First, to buy dvd’s. But wait… it gets better. Second, to buy COMICS!! Be still our hearts. Louise indulged her inner fanboy and spoke to him directly. He told her that she had a lovely accent, told her she should never lose it. She’s still blushing today. When she asked him where his scouse* accent had gone, he said, with a souse accent, “it fucking well comes out when I go home, or drink too much.” An animated discussion of delightful accents ensued, and I was so sad I had no delightful accent to share. When I get drunk, my accent goes all Oklahoma on me. Just absolutely nothing delightful about that. I had nothing to contribute. But he still shook my hand and thanked me for coming. Louise and I have declared it “One of our better Author Appearances” to date, and will always make a point of seeing Clive whenever he’s in town. Louise and her delightful accent. Bitch. Oh, I have a picture of Louise and her true love, Clive, I’m having a bit of problem with my camera. Look for picture soon.
Ok, that’s it for now. My third approved non-packing social outing is this Wednesday, when Louise and I will go to an author signing/ reading with Susanna Clarke, author of “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell..” And then we will eat at PF Chang’s. I am looking forward to this a great deal, and I have my copy [the black cover] all ready for a’signin’. Oh, hey, look… another British author. I sense a theme. Oh well, Christopher Moore is coming to Seattle soon, and he’s American! Boy Howdy. I think. He is, isn’t he? Oh god, he’s probably secretly Canadian or something.
*A scouse accent would be heard coming from the mouths of those who reside in Liverpool.

Wow, isn’t that a milestone. 500 posts. To celebrate, my mt-bookqueue plug-in stopped working completely. I have no idea what changed, unless it was on Amazon.com’s web services side. I tried and tried to figure it out. I spent hours. Literally. I did. Hours. It drove me nuts. I was like a bulldog with a bone… or some other kind of tenacious animal with a really strong jaw and a lot of determination. Then I updated MovableType to the new 3.1 version. Yay! Fun. Looks great, but didn’t change my plug-in issues. I scoured the web, looking for another plug-in that would work with mt-amazon, and I could not find anything. Finally I decided, screw it, you know what? I’m going to rebuild my book page by hand. I won’t use any dumb plug-ins so I won’t have to worry about their dumb XML parsing errors. With the html tag shortcuts I can add to Ecto, it’s a snap. The only thing is, it’s going to take forever to rebuild that “what I’ve already read page.” 4.ev.R.
All I have to say is THANK YOU ECTO!! Because without that program, this rebuild would really suck ass.
So now I’ll get back to reading

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Look at that… done by hand! Lovely!
PS: I don’t know why, but right now I have to approve all comments before they publish. I thought I turned it off, but it still seems to be working that way. Sorry. I’ll try to figure that out. Later.

If you are anything like me, if you do three things in a row at work, without stopping, it’s time to take a well deserved break. Three things in a row? Good gods, nobody is meant to do that many things in a row, without a nap!
I’ve read most of Christopher Moore’s books, and enjoyed them very much. In fact, I would have to say that Lamb is on my list of favorite all time books. I loved it that much. It made me laugh out loud, which is sometimes hard for a book to do. Anyway, I found out he has a webpage and a blog. Although the blog is really more of a BBS posing as a blog. I’ve added it to my list of blog links to right. It’s delightful.
I’m not sure if I have updated you on the poker games that have been going on, here at work. If you remember, a few weeks back, I was set to play poker at lunch, Texas Hold ‘Em. I had never played before. The regular players are me, Anastasia, Lloyd, Mr. Fisher and The Manager. [Yes, I know The Manager’s name, I’m just trying to be all covert and shit. And Mr. Fisher just sounds cool.] Anyway, you could certainly tell I had never played before, because in the space of an hour, I had lost all my money. Or should I say my “money.” We start out each game with a $1000 in chips. Anastasia has real authentic casino poker chips. And in less than an hour… I was flat busted broke. However, I watched some of that Celebrity Poker on the Television, and practiced my iPoker, and I swept the next two games! The winner!! #1!! Unfortunately, the last game was an exhibition game, and did not count in the tournament, but I still won! And like the nice Mr. Loaf says “Two outta three ain’t bad.”

Sunday night I only got two hours of sleep. Not unusual for me. What was unusual was how poorly I handled it yesterday. I was so tired, I was weary. It was like I’d just taken a Benedryl or something. I could not keep my eyes open. I attended a training class until 12:30 and then a meeting after that [I was lying on the floor doing that one] and then I am not sure I accomplished much else. I tried. But I fell asleep at my desk twice. I told Evildeb that I was going to drive to QFC [grocery store chain] to get some stuff I needed.
Evildeb: Why are you going to QFC, why not the Fresh Market [small Fremont market that has since been purchased by small local chain. It has a different name, but we still call it the Fresh Market.]
Jodi: Because I’m too tired to walk up the hill. I can’t do it. It’s too much effort. See? I’m so tired, I’m using my whiny voice.
Evildeb: I noticed that.
Jodi: And look, my head is tilted to the side, because I’m so tired, I can’t hold it up straight.
Evildeb: Either that, or you are just really cute.
Jodi: Bwahahaa! [I mustered the strength to laugh out loud at that because it was so unexpected.]
Which reminds me, I have to tell you the nicest compliment I’ve received in a long long time. I walked up to M-Roo and Anastasia the other day, and did something to make Anastasia laugh. It’s not hard, she laughs freely and often, which is why we like her. Anyway, I don’t know what I did, but I made her laugh, and she said to me that she hopes she still knows me when we are really old. How old, I asked. 80-90, she said. I thought about it later, and that was a really sweet thing to say. It made me feel all warm and sunny inside.
Since I have not been doing much lately, I’ll just have to fill you in on my books and audio books. I’m listening to the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” books in my car, as read by the author. And they are delightful. I read them a long long time ago. And it’s wonderful to hear them read out loud, Douglas Adams is very very good and it and it makes me sad because he is gone. But damn he was funny. So the happy definitely outweighs the sad. There was just something about him, as Zaphod Beeblebrox, yelling shut up to Eddie the Computer… it just killed me. It’s one of your more enjoyable audio book listening experiences. Most enjoyable, I’d say, since I listened to either Jim Dale’s “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” George Guidall reading “American God’s” or Neil Gaiman reading “Coraline.” God bless RecordedBooks.com and my local library. George Guidall is now one of my favorite readers. I’ve only listened to one of the books he’s read. But I trust him, and I know he’s good. Another one I love is C.J. Critt, who reads the Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich. Jim Dale, who reads all the Harry Potter books, is of course British. And he did such a horrible, unsavory Professor Umbridge, I found myself getting angry just thinking about her. In my humble opinion, Books that are recorded by Recorded Books are higher in quality than other audio book lines. There are exceptions, the Hitchhiker books and Coraline, for example, read by the authors. But, the quality of voices and character is just higher on a Recorded Books recording. “Mirror Mirror” being the exception. Of course.
So… yes. That’s it. If you can’t find a good audio book at the library, go to recordedbooks.com, because they let you rent them there. So… that’s nice. Aaaaaand, I got six hours of sleep last night, so that’s better. Oh, and I’ve quit doing the riddles on the riddleplanet website, because I was obsessed and could not stop. Even at work, I’d have cryptograms jotted down in my notebook, trying to figure them out doing meetings. It was not good. And finally they annoyed me so much with their riddles that were not proper riddles, I decided it would be best if I quit cold turkey. I did, however, purchase a book of logic puzzles. Because working the one in contest 1 reminded how much I enjoy them.
Well… there you go.

Louise and I were talking earlier this evening, before I left work. We were discussing the grand opening of the New Seattle Public Library’s main branch, on May 23rd.
Me: we should go to that.
Louise: oh yes, we should. Because we are just that book geeky. [Louise breaks into her Milton impersonation] The ratio of books to Louises is too big.
Me: [bringing my hands up to hide my face and breaking into my impersonation of… well, me being a tard] yes, but i don’t like the people. i like the books!!
Louise, laughing: How come everyone I am friends with does a good fake tard impersonation?
Me: faux-tard?
Louise: yes, exactly.
Me: because you are a faux-tard magnet.
And then I realized I have just made up the best word ever!! Or at least the best word in quite some time. And, what’s even better is, it sounds like a photoshop filter. “Oh sure, that’s a good picture of him now, but look what happens when we run him through the faux-tard filter.”
And we were serious about going to the grand opening of the new main branch of the Seattle Public Library. Because we really are that book geeky. And library geeky, specifically.

Ok, all you überblogs, I’ve logged your [except Liloo’s] little xml syndication links in my handy NetNewsWire Lite and so now you [except Liloo] can’t make a move without me knowing. Nor can you post any links to any bunnies performing the exorcist in 30 seconds weeks before me, without me knowing it. Happy, Romy? Besides, I’ve got to keep my eye on Lonnie. I’m desperately waiting for him to start the WTF Episode 23 story. Or become a librarian. Whichever comes first.
Sorry those of you who are not über, or don’t yet know you are über, just had to get a little admin business out of the way. And that being said, I really don’t have that much more to say. I’m making very little progress on my bookclub book Five Quarters of Orange because, so far, it’s been a whole lot of recipies. French recipes. But I am sure it will get better. I can’t make myself finish Lamb, because I know how that story ends and I don’t want Joshua [aka Jesus] to die!! Sorry, no happy ending for Jesus, I’m afraid.
Oh, but I did get official “buy off” from management to plan a Team Building “Lunch” at the Cinerama on June 4th, the day the new Harry Potter movie comes out. It’ s one of those “lunches” that lasts a few hours and is comprised of popcorn, soda, and maybe a hot dog or nachos. mmmmm… TASTY!! I’ve seen the last two Harry Potter movies at just such a team building “lunch.” It’s a tradition. See, traditionally, when I really want to see something, I plan a “lunch.” That’s the way it works. That’s why there were no “lunches” for the second and third LOTR’s movies. That’s right… I’m saying it… I didn’t like the first LOTR movie. So sue me.
You know what I need to see? Van Helsing. A: Hugh Jackman B: Vampires C: vampire slayer-fu and D: Hugh Jackman.

remember we talked about this a while back. And I couldn’t remember any books that did it? It’s Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. That’s the book. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. was set using Adobe Garamond, a 16th Century whooseywhat font, redrawn by Richard Slimbach in 1989, who, by the way, is Louise’s hero. Anyway, there you. Except for, maybe, the part about Louise, that’s what it says in the back of the book.
it’s been driving me nuts for over a month now. whew.

I think that Christopher Moore’s Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal is going to end up being one of my favorite books. Or one of those books I push off on to people, insisting that they read it. Like I’ve recently been doing with Good Omens, like I’ve always done with Wicked and Last Days of Summer. If it’s been awhile since I’ve pushed Last Days of Summer at you… considered yourselves pushed. Go read it, it’s delightful. Anyway, I’ve been reading Lamb quite slowly, and the only reason I can think of, for that, is.. I know the end and I don’t want to get there. It makes me both want to go see the Passion of Christ, and more certain that I absolutely do not want to see it, at the same time. sigh… poor Jesus.
And the probably with listening to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, in my car is, it’s taking a gazillion times longer to listen to, than to read. Consequently I am completely caught up in the world of Hogwarts, I’m desperate to see the new movie, and I’d sell Evildeb’s soul to find out when the sixth book was coming out. If she had one. And right now, I am completely obsessed with how horrible that nasty Delores Umbridge is… I cannot remember ever hating a character as much as I hate her right now. Oh she’s awful. You see, if I were reading, this whole thing would be over with in a matter of days. 24 hours to read the book, and a couple of days to break away from the influence of it. But it’s taking weeks to listen to it.