Since I last blogged:
*I shoveled a lot of snow. A Lot.
*I finished stringing xmas lights though I haven't quite figured out how to plug them in without having to use an indoor outlet (could let a little more cold air into our already chilly apartment).
*I spent an evening playing board games and drinking beer. Strangely, this involved a lot of singing. A Lot.
*I attended Bryan's office holiday party where I somehow persuaded a table of 8 strangers (plus Bryan and his sister Colleen) to make utter fools of ourselves dancing in front of the other 50 people attending the party who watched and pointed from their seats.
*Received a hug from the DJ after said party for helping him get engineers and "finance people" on the dance floor hopefully securing for him a fat tip from the CEO (who had told the DJ, "this isn't a dancing crowd")
*Met the Sports Guy from ESPN, Bill Simmons, at a book signing and watched as Bryan and Gary swooned just a little. Discovered that BS was 5 years ahead of me at Holy Cross and that we were probably at our respective class reunions at the same time. For some reason, this was a cool fact.
*Bought and put up a xmas tree. Tipped over this tree 3 times (yes, all the way over) while attempting to put lights around it. Put the tree back up and got the lights on. Decorating to follow.
*Finished my top 100 albums list. This year's top ten (according to me):
Aenima - Tool
Not a Pretty Girl - Ani DiFranco
Pearl - Janis Joplin
Under the Pink - Tori Amos
The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle - Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band
Grace - Jeff Buckley
OK Computer - Radiohead
Nevermind - Nirvana
Are You Experienced? - Jimi Hendrix
Reckoning - REM

I wanted to give a quick plug to a few books. My book group at work just read First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung and everyone agreed that it is one of the most compelling memoirs they've ever read. Ung's story begins when she is 5 years old and the Khmer Rouge comes in to power, forcing all citizens living in the city (Phnom Penh) to evacuate with whatever they can carry. Ung is one of 7 children and this story tells of her family's fate during the 5 years of Pol Pot's rule. From the title, the reader knows that not everyone in Ung's family survives, but her losses go beyond family members: the innocence and joy of childhood are systematically stripped away. Ung draws the reader in with her candor, and the melodic and engaging way that she uses words to paint the stark reality in which she found herself at such a young age. A quick, if emotional, read.

I'm currently reading The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of The Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester, and I'm enjoying it. The two characters alluded to in the title are James Murray, the editor and driving force behind the original OED, and W.C. Minor, an American physician who contributed thousands of entries to this dictionary. The reason there is a story here: in some kind of psychotic breakdown, Minor shot and killed an innocent man (who was "out to get him") in England, and was convicted and sentenced to the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, from where he sent these entries. Murray accepted the entries for 20 years before arranging to meet this prodigious contributor - this is when he discovers that Minor is a "madman". The most interesting part of the book for a nerd like me is the description and study of the making of a definitive English dictionary. One of my favorite observations by Winchester is that early writers like Shakespeare and Spenser had nothing to consult when writing - they essentially "made up" or put into practice so many words because there was no reference work for them to consult. As a librarian and frequent checker of many, many reference books/databases, this fact amazes me. The book is a quick read and is interesting though you have to be interested in language and the history of locking that language into place to really appreciate the story.

And lastly: Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger, the author of The Devil Wears Prada (which I haven't read). I am listening to this book on CD during my commute and while completely predictable and probably shallow, it's a very fun listen and I'm enjoying the look inside the world of celebrity PR and the vapid, self-indulgent characters mocked by Weisberger. Eliza Dushku reads the book and does a good job with the main character and an appallingly bad job with any foreign accents, but I'm even enjoying that for some reason. Maybe it's because I'm not listening xmas carols on the radio.

And just to make sure everyone's paying attention, Christmas is next week! Wow.