2026 Reading Challenge Update

I'm pretty happy with how things are going. My aim was to read 24 books this year. I've read 19; I'm seven ahead of schedule, and I'm working on another three or so. I've read each month, so Goodreads has given me an 'achievement' bookmark for each one. There are 174 days left. Here is what I've read so far, in reverse order:

1. Supervisor, Manager, Leader: The Basics of Being a Boss by Mike Kraus
2. Knock 'Em Dead 2016: The Ultimate Job Search Guide by Martin Yate
3. 101 Great Answers to the Toughest Interview Questions by Ron Fry
4. Can I Recycle That? A Guide to Better Recycling and How to Reduce Single-Use Plastics by Jennie Romer
5. The Inspired Houseplant: Transform Your Home with Indoor Plants from Kokedama to Terrariums and Water Gardens to Edibles by Jen Sterarns
6. House Plants for Every Space: A Concise Guide to Selecting, Designing and Maintaining Plants in Any Indoor Space by Green Interior
7. The Lifelong Gardener: Garden with Ease and Joy at Any Age by Toni Gattone
8. The Official We Do Not Care Club Handbook by Melani Sanders
9. Painting in Watercolour: Practical Techniques and Projects for Beginners by Wendy Jelbert
10. All These Ghosts by Silas House
11. I Need a Job!: Be Noticed. Land the Interview. Get Hired. by Gary Burnison
12. CV Handbook: A Curriculum Vitae Owners Manual by Will Coghill Behrends and Rebecca Antony
13. The Everything Guide to GLP-1s: Lose Weight, Build Healthy Eating Habits, and Achieve Lifelong Weight Management by Kayley George
14. What Color is Your Parachute Guide to Rethinking Interviews: Ace the Interview and Land Your Dream Job by Richard Nelseon Bolles
15. A Good Apology: Four Steps to Make Things Right by Molly Howes
16. On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World by Danya Ruttenberg
17. Why Your Resume Isn't Working: And How You Can Fix It Now by Wendy D. Steele
18. Unmasking Adult Autism: Embrace Your Autistic Identity, Overcome Executive Dysfunction, and Empower Your Neurodivergent Self by Neuro Nurture
19. Camouflage: The Hidden Lives of Autistic Women by Sarah Bargiela

Five more to go. Let's see if I can go beyond that. Hopefully! I've got two works of fiction I'm working my way through (these are almost all non-fiction). One is The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown. The other is Mrs. Lilienblum's Cloud Factory by Iddo Gefen. I'll be happy to add those to the list, as I do non-fiction much more easily than fiction these days, alas. I don't know why.

Not only did I

get it all out to the Dumpster and Rosie recycling containers, I hit my daily activity level goal, for the fourth day this week (Sunday was the game, Monday was spent away from work and the trip from the parking lot to the medical centre) according to my phone. I went to plug it in for the night, and realised that the step count was 4,995. I was five steps short of my 5,000 step goal. So I unplugged it and walked down the hall with it a couple of times. Now it says 5,024. I can tick it off my Habitica dailies list. Is it scary that I do what my phone suggests? Or that I sign into my laptop with my face? I'm not sure the marriage of human and technology is always for the best. I'm not a Luddite--I'm actually an avid adopter of technology, but I use it knowing I have no privacy, and I'm not entirely sure I'd set up a Smart Home, if I had a house, because frankly, having my very home hacked scares me a bit. I don't think I'm paranoid to think of that scenario at all, you know.

Ah...

So Friday wasn't too bad, really. Work was much calmer than the rest of the week, and we worked at a steady but relaxed pace. I left at 5 pm and went and got a friend who had taken a bus to an appointment that didn't happen (but I was more annoyed at that than he was), and we went and got another one, and I dropped them off and came on home, and I stayed up till (get this) almost 11 pm (although I was just heavy-lidded and falling asleep quickly). The rest of the days this week have mostly been about 8:30 pm as far as bedtime, I've been exhausted (to the point that while I met my goals the other day on Habitica, I fell asleep before checking off the boxes, and woke up 10 minutes after the start of a new 'day' (which I've got set at 2 am), so my little avatar took damage--and so did everyone else I game with. I felt so bad. It's just been hard to get everything done that needed to be done lately.

This morning I called A at 6:30 am, picked him up at 7:30, took him to work, got a couple of cheese and egg biscuits and a parfait at McDonald's, and came back intending to go back to sleep. But I laid in bed from about the time I got home (8:30 am) till about 9:30, and decided to go ahead and get my day going. I went to Costco, intending to get some light bulbs and a couple of other things, and spent more than I meant to, but everything I got was quite useful. Well, maybe not the cheese bagels and tomatoes, but they're yummy nonetheless. Then I went to the library, where I sheepishly turned in most of the books I had (most of which were overdue, including one of two interlibrary loans I'd gotten for a friend, who'd taken off the papers that have all the information on them that the ILL department uses. I had most of it to give them. It so embarrasses me that he does that, and I know they're not happy with me. He wants to see the covers. I tell him not to do it. He almost ripped the cover off one, because they changed how they do it, so instead of having two sticky labels, they wrapped the cover in a piece of paper that was carefully taped. I am beginning to think that should they ever let me borrow again, I should remove them myself, carefully. The man mangles anything he tries to remove (paper from a notebook, or my favourite, the DVD envelopes from Netflix, which we just leave to me now). Anyway, I apologised, left the other books in the book drop, and slinked away without mentioning in any way that I am, indeed, a librarian. And with all the overdues, I checked later after everything got checked in, and I owe $6.30, which is actually less than I expected. The interlibrary loans are $1.00 a day. One was still before the deadline, but one was due the 25th. :( I got it from him on the 26th or 27th, but I literally was just too wiped out to take them back during the library hours, and didn't just want to dump them in with the papers just sitting inside the books. Also, they had a 'read off your fines' thing going on through the 31st, and while I planned to do that, I just decided I was too tired. So I'll happily pay the fine.

Speaking of public libraries, I have an interview about an hour's away up the interstate on Friday afternoon, and got permission to leave work at noon so I can get there before 2 pm. I'll probably come home, change clothes, and go straight up there. It's Owen county. My dad's family, the Duncans and the Cobbs, have lived in the Owenton area for generations. I'm interested to know more about the library. I never visited the library there as a child; I don't know much about it, actually, and I should educate myself on it before I go. I also need to e-mail a confirmation that I will be coming.

I went to the grocery a little while and got some veggies for a tray for the game, some cheese, some crackers, and some dill dip, so I'm good for the game tomorrow. And I spent four hours today doing the notes. I came back and collected the trash and recyclables from various containers and some horizontal surfaces, and I now have quite a load to take out. I had to take a break, though, before actually taking the bags outside, as my back was bothering me. Mainly I've been doing better with my back, although that workout on Thursday made muscles in my lower back and buttocks scream, because they apparently didn't know they were supposed to do anything. I didn't make it to the gym at the complex today (there was a pool party going on early afternoon that was intriguing, but too many people for me, I think, being a shy introvert who would have stood around, not eaten hamburgers or hot dogs, would have had to slather on a ton of sunscreen, and gee, talk to people). It's not my thing. I am glad the complex did that sort of activity, though. I wish they'd have a yard sale. They did that every year for several years while I was at Speedway and working on Saturdays. Now I could participate, and I have plenty of stuff that needs to go, if I can part with it.

Okay, as much as I hate to admit it, those bags of trash and recyclables are not going to take themselves out. I should get up and do that, so they're taken care of and I can tick that off my busy day list.

Wow...

This gives music education a whole new meaning. In a place where a violin is costlier than a house, these children make beautiful music on instruments made from other people's trash. Kudos to the project, and the people making such a difference in these kids' lives.

I hit a wall, after a very productive day

On Saturday I:

1. Bought three bookshelves and cleaning supplies.
2. Brought the electronics that I've had in the walk-in closet for so long out to the living room next to the CRTs.
3. Worked on the living/dining area.
4. Picked up A and took him to have his hair cut.
5. Brought him to my house and we loaded the car to the max.
6. Took the electronics to the proper recycling centre; boy they were efficient in unloading the car! I had to promise that I was a resident of Fayette County, show my ID, and that I wasn't a business The only thing they missed was an old phone. But I've found some small things that need to go that I can take later in the week.
7. Took A to the pharmacy.
8. Was treated by A to lunch. We went to Chipotle, which neither of us had been to. It was okay, about like Qdoba but louder, and I didn't see queso on the menu. But the veggie burrito was good, and the hot sauce was hot, but a little thin; I kept getting it on my shirt.
9. Took A by a store to get a paper.
10. Took him home.
11. Rested for about forty-five minutes.
12. Worked on the living/dining area to the point where it is almost finished. There are just a few things left.
13. At three, called to say that I would not be finishing my tasks in time (long story, let's just say I was supposed to finish the house by Saturday night, due to some stupid words that had accountability and responsibility attached to them).
14. Continued to work, turning to the bedroom. Put together two shelves that stack on one another (the other had been set up in the living room). That brings the total to four shelves of that type which I can configure separately or together.
15. Set the DVR to record 'Doctor Who'.
16. Put stuff that was in front of the closet on the bed; unloaded books from the closet to the new shelves. Became terribly disillusioned to realise that in truth, I needed another two shelves to get all the books that were on the closet floor onto shelves, and nowhere (except the closet itself) to put them. I'm already breaking rules of using space. The one is impinging on my computer space, and the two in the bedroom are partly in front of a painting.
17. Felt overwelmed by it all and curled up in a ball in a small space available on the bed for a few minutes.
18. YKWIA called and we talked for awhile. I won't be playing in the game tomorrow, so I can work on the bedroom. It's going to take more than one day to go through those closets. Fortunately I have a couple of days off next week, so hopefully I can get everything finished (plus the game notes) by next Saturday.
19. By this point I was in so much pain I could barely move. It's not just my SI joint/back. It was my shoulder, knees, back, feet--you name it. So I basically cleared off the bed and just dumped things into the floor, and then went ahead and took my nightly meds, which include an anti-inflammatory (naproxen), a muscle relaxer, a medicine for nerve pain, and pain medicine (plus Pepcid to counteract stomach issues from most of them). I usually just take a half-tablet of the pain medicine, because it's a type that has made me itch and loopy in the past (I actually have it listed on my allergy list, and they gave it to me anyway). I decided screw that, I'd rather itch than be in pain, so I did take a whole pill. Then I tried to get comfortable and laid down. That was five hours ago. The only part of me that's hurting at all right now is the SI joint. Not too bad. I wouldn't want to rely too heavily on the medication, and I only take it during the night, when I'm not going to be driving, meaning days have been a bit painful, although I've discovered that if I don't overdo it I can supplement the naproxen with a little acetaminophen while at work and that helps tremendously. And the PT is going well. I'm really trying to get things done without overdoing it; I lifted very little of what went in the car today, for example. I did load the shelves (25 lbs each) into the cart at the store and from the cart to trunk, but A brought all three out and into the apartment. He lifted several very heavy things, like CRT monitors and three computer towers plus old vacuum cleaners. I'd been saving stuff for awhile, until I could get to the centre. Thank you, A, for all your help!

Another reason I like my cell phone carrier

T-Mobile Recognized with Supply Chain Awards for Recycling

The EPA estimates about 90 percent of cell phones end up in landfills or are disposed of improperly, posing potential harm to the environment.

Since 2008, T-Mobile has been bringing customers together to take positive action and help the environment with our handset and accessory recycling program. Anyone can drop off a cell phone (any make, model or carrier [emphasis mine]), batteries, accessories or netbooks at any T-Mobile retail location in the U.S and have it recycled free of charge. Also, cell phone collection bins have been placed at Bellevue, Wash., colleges, city offices and T-Mobile’s corporate campus for convenient drop-off.

Since the program began, we have recycled more than 950,000 cell phones, and the benefits are substantial. Because cell phones contain precious metals, recycling not only conserves these materials, but also helps prevent pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that for every 1 million cell phones recycled, 35,284 pounds of copper, 772 pounds of silver, 75 pounds of gold and 33 pounds of palladium can be recovered. In addition, T-Mobile has saved enough energy to power more than 185 U.S. households with electricity for a year. By 2014, T-Mobile’s goal is to recycle at least 1 million cell phones per year.

I came home and just crashed

I got home around 8 pm, put my purse down, and went straight to bed--do not pass Go, do not collect $200. The good news is the blower is out of the apartment. The bad news is that the smell of wet carpet and clothes still hits you the moment you walk through the door, despite an Airwick plug-in air freshener.

So this morning I went to the bank before work and picked up $30 in quarters for laundry, in case I can salvage anything in the closet. Only one box was soaked; the rest are dry but were in proximity in a closed space. So the idea was to wait until the laundry room was relatively deserted and do a lot at once. Hence the fact that I am now up. I took out the recyclables that were in the hamper that fits in my granny cart. Now I'm eating a couple of peanut butter and spreadable fruit sandwiches and drinking a Diet Coke to fuel my activity. I'm also about to work on game notes, since I'll be up for awhile. Wish me luck.

Tomorrow I'm actually off from the store, eating with friends at an Indian buffet. Of course, that means I can't wait until the last minute to do notes. So, here I am, awake, feeling a little overwhelmed by all I have to do.

Most importantly, I have to get the soaked clothes out of the house without having an asthma attack. I think a garbage bag and the granny cart are going to be pressed into service.

Okay, time to go get active.

I'm a little bummed, even though I know it's going to get better

I'm home by five, meaning there wasn't enough work to keep me there the whole time again. Monday was the first time in awhile. I figure I'll have to use 10-12 hours of vacation time just to get the 70 hours for the pay period (it's supposed to be 80). The good news is I talk to the director of another department about helping them out to make up my time tomorrow, so I might be working on that come Monday, or at least training for it.

Our payroll clerk called me today to let me know that there was a mistake entering my vacation time last pay period, so that I was paid at the library rate rather than the data entry one. That means $30 will come out of my cheque. I'm not really annoyed with it or anything, I'm just trying to make my rent. I think I'll enough for that and some left over, if I use the vacation time, but I had hoped to make a payment on my taxes, and that may need to wait until the middle of September instead. I just hope I'm working the full 40 hours a week by then.

I came home and channeled some of my frustration into gathering up some recyclables to take out. I have enough for my old laundry hamper and a copy paper box, easily. I need to go through some of it to see what needs to be shredded. I'm just happy we have recycling containers at my apartment now. I'll take them out later tonight.

I remember reading about this in 'National Geographic'

But this New York Times slideshow is very, very good at showing what happens to First World's castoff computers when they reach Africa...

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/08/04/magazine/20100815-dump.html

PS to the New York Times: Putting an ad in the middle of of slideshow is just tacky and annoying.

(Thanks to @JoelJohnson for re-tweeting the link from @dylan20)

For more, here's that National Geographic piece on hi-tech trash:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/01/high-tech-trash/carroll-text

A really nice day, kind of lucky even

I took an earlier bus over to the bank (it's just about two blocks, but that way I don't have to walk in the bicycle lane on Richmond Road; there's no sidewalk for about half of it). The bus overshot my stop but let me off a little ways from it, and on my way I ran into a former co-worker who offered to wait for me and then take me to work. The teller went ahead and cashed that $10 cheque despite the fact that I didn't have that much in my account, so I had something to eat on today. Fortunately I get paid tonight and tomorrow night. I got to work almost a half hour early and decided to wait to clock in and just have breakfast, which instead of my normal Pop-Tart was a bagel, cream cheese, blackberry preserves, a banana, and blueberry yoghurt. As a consequence I ate lunch later than usual. I sent off the request to have those cheques re-sent. I got quite a bit done for the library, including some more cataloguing and shelving. It occurred to me about 20 minutes before it was time for my break and then transferring to the data entry job that our book vendor is running a special 22% discount on one book order until July 31st, which is almost upon us, so that's on the agenda tomorrow.

After work I took the bus home and stopped by the library, where I discovered I missed an e-mail on a book hold and had been charged a fee. I'm usually good about getting my holds; this one had a fairly long queue and I guess I missed the e-mail. So I paid the fine and had them renew my books, which all come due this week (there are three; just because I have a Kindle doesn't mean I'm spurning libraries). Actually, I also managed to read one poem and short story by Poe and another short story by Conan Doyle, in between lunch and bus rides. I love being able to read on the bus, although I have to keep a sort of kinetic sense of the turns to remember to stop when I need to.

Oh, and I noticed on the walk home that our apartment complex has added Rosies to the dumpster area (Rosie is the name of our city's recycling container). Yay! It's an incentive to straighten up and get some of the paper I'm drowning in out of the house.

I must remember to call my doctor's office tomorrow and cancel or reschedule Thursday's appointment, which I can't make due to the new schedule. I also need to decide whether to go to a friend's on Wednesday or Friday; I'm leaning towards Friday, as I have that project to finish. I've done the research for most of it, and some outlining, I just need to go online and start typing. I'm going to start that in a little while.

Hope you had a nice day, too.

I'm proud of myself

I got all of the recyclables over to Good Foods Co-op, rather than procrastinating and leaving them in my car until I had to move them or some such. I didn't know drink cases weren't recyclable, though, so I have a bag of some of them to go to the trash. I think I have a small storage container that would serve as a recycling bin so I could just empty it when it gets full, rather than putting them in bags. I also got some other errands done as well, all in about an hour and a half, with enough time to blog between jobs.

I'm working 30 hours at the store this week (starting today, through Wednesday--that's our schedule week for some reason), making for a total of 50 hours. Certainly doable, but I'm used to about 35-40. I'd really like to get more done on the notes and the house. I'm considering taking off at the hospital to get more done. Fortunately I have plenty of vacation time (over 25 days; you should see my sick time...we don't touch it unless we're sick more than three days, so I've used it once for a flu; I have 94 days extended illness leave. That's good, though, if something came up, like Gods forbid I found out I had cancer or had to have surgery or something liek that. They buy back your sick leave after 500 hours, but since I'm only part-time I don't accrue that quickly. I'm over 353, but not likely to hit 500 for a few more years at least. :) Anyway, I could use the money from working so much at the store, and I'd still get paid at the hospital if I took time off for fall cleaning.

Speaking of which, I recycled a whole lot of journals today as part of our clean up of the storage areas. (Ones I'd weeded and weren't taken on BackMed, the list for exchanging journal issues). First I had to go find my book truck; it had wandered off. I have a few more boxes of books to find a home for (I cannot bring myself to throw away books, even if they're recyclable, and anyway, these are in good condition; I just don't have a need for them) and about a third again as many journals to recycle. That leaves my space pretty neat and orderly. (And I put a sign on the cart so people wouldn't move it around. We'll see if that works, hah!) I discovered that a big trash bin (4 feet by 5 feet, I'd say, and about 4 feet wide) full of journals does not roll well on carpet. I really worked up a sweat! That's why I'm leaving the rest for tomorrow, but it shouldn't be as bad.

Anyway, that's what's going on in my life. Oh, and I had to put my piercing earrings back in my ears because my left ear's hole is trying to close up again. I'd left it in about 6 weeks last time, but haven't worn earrings for about three months. Obviously I need to invest in some post earrings (most of mine that are intact in terms of pairs are French hook ones).

I'll probably blog tonight if I'm not too tired. As always, thanks for reading.

A nice day so far

First of all, I slept until 2:30 this afternoon, giving me 12 hours' sleep. I apparently needed it. I dreamt of a bridge that went to a friend's family home. It was a nice size, about 8 feet wide and 14 feet tall to the timbered ceiling (yes, it had a ceiling, read on), and it was stone or light brick, with space on either side for displays. It was covered with a cedar shingle roof. The neighbours had tried to take it over, so we were arranging their plants artistically along the way. It was over a small ravine. It had all sorts of jars and a small lab or gardening bench where things could be mixed or pots planted. Okay, so it was a little weird, but very real, and I woke up several times and went right back into it.

After I finally did wake up and stayed up, I got ready, took Cerys out, and then headed to Hamburg. No, I don't normally do that, as it seems like the world's largest strip mall (okay, we're not a big city, there probably are others, but it's not laid out well at all and I'd almost prefer a super mall to what they did with the remains of a farm). I went to Backyard Burger for breakfast/lunch. Yes, you're wondering, a vegetarian (or pescatarian, actually) in a burger place? But they have a garden burger combo that has the burger cooked on its own George Foreman grill. Yay. I went ahead and transferred some addresses into the new planner while I was at it.

Then I went to Half-Price Books. It's a treasure trove of books, CDs, DVDs, computer programs, even vinyl records, all half the original price, plus a decent clearance section as well. They have a nice selection of various types of all of the above, including roleplaying books. I must mention that to our gamemaster--especially both old and new White Wolf titles. I got a couple of Julian May books (I did not have the Nonborn King or the Plicocene Companion, and I enjoyed that series quite well when I was young. I think I have the other two that begin it. There were a couple of paperback mysteries, one by Ellis Peters (not a Cadfael book, but from another series, but it sounded interesting) and one by Barbara Michaels (who is the same as Elizabeth Peters), a book on growing orchids, an astrology text, and a hoodoo one. Plus I got a 25-disc set of radioplays of Sherlock Holmes with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce (my favourite Holmes and Watson), and a landscape gardening CD that allows you to do both 2-D and 3-D planning, ages plants throughout the season so you can see how they'll look together, and you can do the platts and elevations. I'll need that this winter. All told I made it out of there pretty cheaply. There were many more I'd have love to have had. There was even a history of cannibalism--you don't see that every day. The books were in really good shape for the most part as well. They buy books, too, which I may keep in mind because I have a few duplicates (I think I bought one Anne Perry book three times). They have a really nice Judaism section. I considered getting an encyclopaedia of Jewish myth, mysticism, and magic as a gift (it is after all between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur), but decided the person I would have given it to knew it all anyway.

Then I went to Kroger and stocked up on grocery staples. I went ahead and got three of those 99 cent canvas bags where they give you a rebate off for using them. I really don't need any more plastic bags--my cubby hole where I keep them is full, and since I don't have a cat box anymore, I should probably just take them in and recycle them or give them to Good Foods. I came home and cleaned out the refrigerator of some frightening things and then put the new stuff in. Now I'm blogging, of course. I'm going to put my foot up for a little while and then go do notes for the night and do some laundry. I didn't get much done on the house (I'd like to have it in good shape by Wednesday, when both the exterminator and carpet cleaner come.) It's not too bad, but the bathroom needs to be cleaned, dishes need doing, and a little picking up wouldn't be amiss.

That's all for now. I guess we could entitle this 'How I spent my Saturday off'. I didn't go into the store once, not even to get a drink. I'll probably write later tonight--I have a few things saved up to blog about that are library-related. In the meantime, I hope your weekend is going well.