Happy long weekend - well sort of.



I'm working today, so my long weekend has been split up a bit. By far the biggest perk of being a public librarian (trust me, it ain't the money), is all the holiday time I get. A general rule of thumb - if the post office is closed, I don't have to work.



I've been remiss the last couple of weeks about not posting about my Detroit Tigers, who are now 22-25. This probably doesn't sound like much to you shudder Yankees fans, but trust me when I say that 22-25 is a big deal for a club that didn't win 22 games until July 8 last year. What a difference an off season makes huh?



I've said all along that my dream for the Tigs this year was to go 500, but now I'm getting greedy. Now I want a winning season. Patience Wendy, patience.



On the reading front, I'm working on smut. Bad Boys On Board is yet another Brava anthology - this time by Shannon McKenna, Donna Kauffman and E.C. Sheedy.



I've managed to finish the McKenna offering, and it has only reinforced my opinion that she's the one author in the Brava universe who "gets it." While the intellectual part of my brain knows I should abhor her uber-Alpha heroes, her sex scenes are so frickin' hot that my brain tends to go...um...south (so to speak).



I started the Kauffman story this morning and it's starting out to be another barn burner. Even better, the fantasy at the center of the story line is a classic - the ole' hot-sex- with-a-stranger-on-a-snowed-in-train. What's not to love about that?



Now to find more reading time....

Talk damn you, talk!



I have less than 100 pages left of Miranda Blue Calling by Michelle Curry Wright - and I can't wait until it's over. It's been an exhausting read.



Our heroine, Miranda Blue, decides to move to the middle of nowhere in Colorado after a series of relationship disasters. The plan is to live in seclusion and start her own business. Unfortunately for her, she moves across the street from a hunky distraction. Her widowed neighbor is immediately smitten with her and has spent the whole novel trying to win her over.



Mix into this the fact that the heroine's business is a telephone companion service for senior citizens, and the hero makes a living as a vegetable farmer - well it sounds cute doesn't it?



Too bad the whole thing is wasted on the fact that these people don't talk to each other! The heroine is pushing the hero away; the hero is lying by omission or misleading the heroine; and instead of talking to each other like adults they prefer to act like brain-dead teenagers. Ugh.



The author has provided background on exactly why these two are unwilling communicate but I still want to reach through the pages, and shake them until their teeth rattle. It's been so darn frustrating.



It's also going to make writing this review hard. I'm currently waffling between an "average" and "think twice" rating. I guess I'll just have to see how the last few chapters pan out.....

Three beautiful words can sum up my long weekend off from work:



Shirtless Eric Bana .



Need I say more ladies?



As for the movie, Troy, I had a largely ho-hum reaction to it. I thought it was merely OK and could have been better. But it did feature lots of sweaty men wearing skirts and wielding swords. Frankly there are worse ways to kill a couple of hours.



I came into the office early today for a meeting about our Little League parking problems on Saturday. The good news is that all parties involved were receptive to our plight. The next step is for the city to go to the Little League officials. Tickets and towing are our last option, and one I'm hoping we don't have to resort too.



As for reading, I'm still working on Miranda Blue Calling by Michelle Curry Wright. I rarely get reading done on the weekends, but I hope I can finish it up over the course of this next week.

Yeah - Happy Day Off To Me!



I got up at an obscene hour this morning (5:45AM when you don't have children is obscene in my book), so I've spent the morning puttering on the computer. Did a brief update at my web site, and added a couple of links to the Blogs I Read section over here.



On the agenda today - cleaning the apartment (yuck), doing laundry (double yuck), a few errands, and hopefully some reading.



I really shouldn't bitch about the laundry part. One of the first things we bought after the move out west was our own washer and dryer. I tell you, it's heaven. No more lugging laundry downstairs, no more being a slave for quarters, no more dealing with inconsiderate morons who leave their clothes in the machines for hours making it impossible for the rest of considerate people who don't do this to do our laundry.



But I digress.



The reason for the early wake-up this morning was a bizarre dream involving work. Anytime the members of N*Sync and Sting show up at the library in my dream world, I know I've been working to hard (I don't even like N*Sync! Why am I dreaming about them?).



Good news on the Little League front - via the chain of command I was able to get a meeting scheduled with some folks from the city for early Monday morning. I'm hoping they are receptive to our plight - but just in case, keep your cyber fingers crossed!

Long weekend here I come.



My new job requires me to put in 10 hour days, and I have to say it's fairly mind-numbing. The one trade off though is that every other weekend is a long weekend for me. That's right - Friday, Saturday and Sunday off. Can I get a WooHoo?



I finished up Unraveled by C.J. Barry yesterday, and after a very shaky start, the author manages to pull out a fun read. The silliness I griped about earlier gets reined in, and the author focuses more on the heroine's personal and emotional growth. As a general rule, I'm not a big fan of futuristics, but Barry is now on my short list of authors I "need to read more of."



TRR's esteemed editor sent me a Chick Lit novel in my last batch of review books. I'm still not sure if she was playing a cruel joke on me or not - but regardless I started Miranda Blue Calling by Michelle Curry Wright today.



I should state up front that despite the fact that I'm in the key demographic for Chick Lit, I can't stand the vast majority of it. The heroines come off as too indecisive and bubble-headed for my tastes. I also resent the misconception that all 20-something women think about are Jimmy Choos, cosmopolitans, losing 10 pounds, and trying to quit smoking.



That's just me though.



But Miranda Blue is starting out promising, even if I find the writing style a bit choppy (the author keeps jumping back and forth in time). Our heroine - yes, Miranda Blue - keeps falling for the wrong men. When she's on the receiving end of a punch by her latest beau, it literally knocks some sense into her. She packs her bags, moves to the middle of Nowhere, Colorado, and starts her own business - a telephone companion service catering to senior citizens.



Unfortunately for our girl, the rundown cottage she buys is across the street from our hero - a nice, sensitive widower who becomes taken with Miranda. Now all he has to do is figure out how to win her over - and stop her from running.



So far, so promising. Wright has me hooked with her unique premise. It's almost too clever - but lord help me, I'm buying into it so far.....

If anyone needs any proof on what is wrong with the state of mental health care system in the USA - just come to my library.



Go ahead I dare you.



It's a sad state of affairs really. I'm trying to remain good natured about it all - but it's hard to remain upbeat when you get a patron you know "ain't right in the head" and you can't reason with him at all. Today I had to explain that it wasn't the library's fault that the Yahoo Chat page wasn't working right. Honest! It wasn't our fault!



At least the Mad Russian hasn't demanded any more fax numbers for political heads of state.....yet.



But enough of my whining - let's talk about trashy romance novels! I'm currently working on Unleashed by C.J. Barry. As a general rule, I'm not much for futuristic/fantasy stuff, but Barry has a way of writing fast, fun plots that keep me turning the pages. If only she could pull it all together.



Our story finds the heroine slaving away at the computer one night when she answers a post on an online bulletin board. She is soon beamed aboard a space craft by the hero (the poster of the message), who needs her help in deciphering some hieroglyphics he's found on a planet far, far away.



Naturally it's not that straight-forward. The hero is stranded on this planet thanks to a defense system that shot his plane out of the sky. Then after he transports the heroine, the ship's systems go wacky and she's stranded there. There's also the Godzilla-like creatures inhabiting the planet, no replacement parts for the ship....and a band of bounty hunters after his hide. All that and an Earth woman who's making him think impure thoughts.



Unfortuately the story descends into occasional silliness. For instance, the heroine dubs the Godzilla-like creatures "Bobzillas" - because they remind her of her no-good ex, Robert. Puhleeze. But, when it isn't silly, it's been a fun ride. I'm already halfway through, and I've only devoted a couple of hours of reading time to it.

I hate Little League.



Correction - I hate Little League parents.



The library where I work is next to a park. Little League games are played on Saturday - which means the parents invade library parking (including staff parking) regardless of the fact that we have signs posted.



The parents have disregarded the notices we've placed on their windshields, and apparently chewed out the former branch manager so bad she was hestitant to raise a stink.



Well I'm younger and pissier.



On Monday I'm calling Code Enforcement with the city and demanding they put someone on duty here next Saturday to ticket any Little League parent who takes up any library parking.



We've tried asking nicely. We've given them repeated reminders. Maybe they'll learn when they're slapped with a fine.



Of course, this is all assuming I can convince the city to send someone down here to patrol the area. I have my doubts.