More Books and A Great Cover

As I mentioned earlier this month there are a whole lot of books coming out that I am excited about, and a new one came across my desk today. The title of the book is Tell Me Where It Hurts and it is written by a doctor who works at Angell Animal Hospital in Boston. As many of you who read this blog know the very kind and compassionate people at Angell have saved Bob and Tipsy from eminent demise on a number of occasions so I hold this wonderful place and the people who work there in the highest regard. I skimmed this book which was also chosen as a Discover Great New Writers selection by Barnes and Noble and I am very excited and I am sure that it will be a great book for animal lovers. Guess I need to add this one to the pile as well. And the best part is the cover of the book is adorable, and you know how important adorable covers are when it comes to selling a book!

And while we are talking about covers, the cover for most David Sedaris books are iconic. They are great and memorable, about a month ago the artwork for the cover of his new book that is out in June, When You Are Engulfed in Flames came out and... well I hate it. I think it could be so much better and I am disappointed in how it came out. When they changed the title to When You Are Engulfed in Flames from All The Beauty You Will Ever Need I pictured a brightly colored eye catching cover. Instead we get a dull skeleton. I am still going to read the book, but man I wish they cover was nicer. I mean really it just doesn't catch my attention.

And I guess while I am ranting and raving about books I should include this as well. You need to read the Book Thief, it is the most amazing book I have read this year. Yeah yeah it is written for Young Adults but it is truly an amazing story, and I don't cry for books but I cried twice with this story. Seriously, this is one of the best books I have read so far this year, and I have read some Cormac McCarthy already this year.

Finally, I am not going to include a picture of it because I am tired of finding them and moving them around so they look nice in this blog post, but Augusten Burroughs A Wolf at the Table is coming out next Tuesday, we got copies into the store today, I am very excited but the box is taunting me. Darn strict on sale dates!

And to make up for...

the aforementioned crappy sandwich, after my meeting I went upstairs and bought myself some vanilla ice cream. It was good and it made me feel better. Don't judge me!

I Hate Lettuce

I haven't posted in such a long time because April is end of year at my job, I have been so busy, and so crazy that I haven't even had a chance to read my favorite blogs in over a week. Today is not much different, but this issue is important and I felt a need to write about it (to make me feel better).

The issue at hand is the fact that I HATE lettuce. I know you can all make fun of me but I really hate it, and the fact that it is common on sandwiches is a problem for me. So much so that when I order a sandwich I am always sure that I repeat (at least once) that I would like said sandwich with NO lettuce. Therefore, when I get a sandwich with lettuce I am very disappointed and I will bring it back and ask for another that does not have lettuce on it. Usually my friends at ABP know that I don't like lettuce and i have made it a habit to go there for lunch (usually 3 times a week). Today, because it was nice, I went across the street to Cosi to get a sandwich, I was kind of on a tight schedule, but I figured that I had enough time to grab a sandwich get back to my office and eat it before my meeting.

I ordered and the woman who took my order even repeated back to me the NO LETTUCE part, I took this as a good sign and when I got my sandwich a few minutes later I walked back to my store grabbed a bottle of water (answered a page) and went to my office to eat. I unwrap the sandwich and notice a string of shredded lettuce, SHIT, I exclaim as I open the wrap my sandwich is housed in, my buffalo chicken is covered completely in shredded lettuce and I have 10 minutes before my meeting now. I attempt to remove as much as possible and then eat the chicken (without the tomato I asked for) but I kept chomping into the crunchy leafy water strings that was the shredded lettuce in my sandwich and I gag. I'm serious lettuce makes me gag. I ended up throwing out half of my sandwich and munching on the chips they gave me that I was going to throw out. It made me VERY VERY MAD!

Yes, I really hate lettuce enough to post on my blog about it!

Overwhelmed By Books

Well for some reason my reading has slowed down, I used to finish a book every two weeks but now it is getting closer to three weeks. Maybe the train is running quicker, but I doubt that. I am currently reading The Book Thief, it is a Young Adult book and you can all laugh at me for reading it but it is an amazing book about a young girl in Nazi Germany. From page one you are hooked, especially as you realize that the narrator is death. I can honestly say that it is one of those books (like Shadow of the Wind) that you are hooked from page 1. I still have about 300 pages left (200 pages in) but I already know it will be one of my favorites this year.

Now this is the problem, as my reading has slowed down, the new books coming out that I want to read has sped up. I mentioned in a previous post that David Sedaris and Augusten Burroughs both have new books coming out (and I can't wait). Plus I have a shelf full of books that I haven't read, and on my bookstore floor there are books that are begging for me to buy them.

Such as Mary Roach's Bonk, she wrote the book Stiff about the curious lives of cadavers and now her new book is about the curious coupling of sex and science. She is incredibly intelligent and makes taboo topics fun to read about. I highly recommend Stiff and I will probably recommend Bonk once I have read it.

Another book that is calling my name is a book called Beautiful Boy, it is by David Sheff. His son was addicted to crystal meth at a young age, this book describes his journey through his son's addiction and how he dealt with it. The son (Nic Sheff) who is now "recovered" has also written a book about his experience (this is one that I have a problem with) but I don't want to read the fathers book.

Ah, so many books, such a slow reader, so little time!

Why?

This may be a simple question, and a completely random post... but, I just want to know why my cream cheese costs more than my bagel?

I was in a bit of a binge mode this morning, I haven't had a bagel with cream cheese in months and now that I am down to my goal weight (and somebody even called me ripped this weekend) I wanted to treat myself to some carbs. So I ordered myself a bagel with cream cheese, not cream cheese with a side of bagel and noticed that my bagel was $0.95 and the cream cheese to put on the bagel was $1.05.

It just doesn't make sense to me, and I threw out half of the cream cheese anyway. Why is cream cheese so expensive?

Seriously...?

1) I am walking up the aisle today with money for one of the cashiers. The store is pretty busy because it is lunch time and I am politely navigating around people when an older foreign man full on pushes me out of the way. Seriously...? When did pushing people become appropriate. I didn't say anything I just kept walking.

2) This afternoon I come up the escalator to answer a page to customer service, I get to the top of the escalator and see a Frisbee flying in the air, headed towards a customers head. It hits the customer in the head, knocks over one of my signs and lands on a table of books. I look over to see where this projectile had originated from and note that it was from the hands of a four year old. I cant blame him but I can get pissed at the mother who let him do this and continues to shop with her back turned as the child runs for the Frisbee. I am way ahead of him so I apologize to the customer for this mom's misbehavior and grab the Frisbee before the child can and walk away. Once again... seriously...?

What a day!

Purple Tracksuits, 39 Degrees, Peacocks, Jaguars, Bitchy Betty, and Other Fun

So I was gone for a week, I was in Florida. I went to Tampa, Fort Lauderdale (2) Pompano Beach, Boca Raton, and Miami. I was all over the place looking for the warm weather (which seemed to elude me for a few days) and just seeing people that I had not seen in a while. So here are some of the highlights and low lights (we all know the low lights are the most fun) of my trip to Florida last week.

Purple Tracksuits
The night before my trip (Easter Sunday) I stayed at the Doctor's house because he is much closer to the airport and it is a lot easier to catch a cab where he lives. I had to be at the airport at 6:00 in the morning so the closer I was the better. I woke up early, mainly because Annie (the dog) threw a rope at my head because she wanted to play catch. I was on my way, and amazingly I was early to the airport. It was early but I was excited about my trip so the adrenaline was pumping and I was wide awake. I got the gate about 45 minutes before take off and had time to sit down and begin reading from Heat. I love reading in airports and on the plane, I know so do a lot of people but I just find it comforting and a way to block out all the other crazy people on the plane. So as I sit down and begin reading heat a woman in a purple velor tracksuit sits down next to me and begins asking me questions. I peer over my book and answer a few but she continues. (Seriously, cant she tell that I am not interested in talking to her.) After a few minutes I excuse myself and go to the bathroom then relocate to the Starbucks in the terminal. I sit and read some more until they began boarding my flight. As I walk back to the gate there is no sign of the purple tracksuit lady, I am happy until I board the plane, and guess who is sitting next to me! Ah yes, that gd Karma thing is a bitch! I sit and I immediately pull out my book and try to read, pretending like I don't hear her first few questions but when I realize that this will continue the whole flight I cave in and begin responding. I placed my book on my lap hoping that she would get bored hearing about my uneventful life, but alas she did not and the entire time on the plane we chatted. I wanted to finish my book, I barely started. Damn purple tracksuit lady (i never even got her name).

39 Degrees
It was cold in Florida, not really cold, like Northeast cold, but it was chilly. The first morning I woke up there it was 39 degrees in Tampa. I got in the car and drove South. I am serious. I got in the car at 6am and drove South four hours to Fort Lauderdale. I wasn't warm there either it was only about 60 degrees. We didn't go to the beach we did some shopping and had some lunch. It also rained two of the days I was in Florida. Mother Nature doesn't like me very much.

Peacocks
I can't say that I have seen a real Peacock before, I mean I kinda know what one is supposed to look like, and I watch the peacock network all the time, but a real one I have never seen. Well, as I was driving into my parents neighborhood I saw a real one. I didn't know what it was until i was about 4 feet away and it spread its tail feathers. They really are pretty animals. Although dump, it did not more from the middle of the road, I had to drive around it.

Jaguars
I have never seen one before, and I am not sure that I actually saw one, what I do know is that I saw an animal that looked like a huge black cat on the side of Alligator Alley when I was driving down to Fort Lauderdale. I did not stop to inspect it closely, but it looked like a Jaguar to me.

Bitchy Betty
"Recalculating" she screams as I apparently drive past the exit she wants me to get off at, "recalculating" she yells as I get off the highway to get gas. "Recalculating" she spits venom as she says this. However, I was indebted to Bitchy Betty because she was the only thing that helped me get around Florida, otherwise I would have been perpetually lost and may have never made it back to Boston.

Other Fun Stuff
I had a great time, and it was good to see friends, and I got to spend a day at the beach and a couple days at the pool. I had never been out in Miami, it was nuts but we had such a great time. I was a vacation that I desperately needed and I am glad that I took it. Now its back to the grind, but I have another vacation in July. Thank goodness!