Coffee, Rain & Books

I have a T-shirt that says that and I wore it all day yesterday.

It rained today.

Also, I didn't wake up until 1:30 today.  Not because I was tired or hungover or anything like that.  It seemed as though every  time I did actually "wake up" I could hear it pouring down rain.  Can't walk a dog in that mess. Especially not my dog. He's a diva dog!

So at 1:30, I finally jumped out of bed and proceeded to make a pot of coffee. I fed the dog, then took him outside where he peed but he wasn't going to do much more than that.  He turned right around and went back up the steps towards home, and no rain.

I sat down with my first cup of coffee and got back to reading Strangers In Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right by Arlie Russell Hochschild. A deeply depressing book I might add.  Perfect for a rainy day like today!

Bleecker thought it was a perfect day for us to do nothing more than drink coffee, listen to the rain, read books and snuggle on the couch.

Review: I'll Be Damned: How My Young and Restless Life Led Me to America's #1 Daytime Drama

I'll Be Damned: How My Young and Restless Life Led Me to America's #1 Daytime Drama by Eric Braeden
My rating: 2 of 5 stars



So, I picked this up because I used to enjoy watching Y&R back in the day. I liked Eric Braeden (didn't know that wasn't his *real* name!) on that show. He did a great job with the character when I was watching. But then, life got too busy to watch daytime dramas.

I enjoyed the first part of the book, his early years, where he came from and how he came to America. Yes, he's an immigrant!

But once I got 2/3 of the way through, I started getting bored. The name dropping was incredible and "I get" that he's an actor and he's met a lot of people but a lot of times, it was just a listing of people with no reason why he met them or under what circumstances.

I understand that being on a daytime drama (or soap opera) isn't considered the greatest gig in the acting world and so maybe he has to throw out some interesting names so that people know he knows actors outside the daytime drama world.

Heck, the guy was in one of the biggest movies ever, Titanic. Glad to know that one scene with him was in just one take. Holy moly.

I should probably NOT read the memoirs of actors.

**I DNF'ed this book...at 80% (Per my Kindle) because I just didn't give a damn anymore.

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Review: Black Ice

Black Ice by Valmore James
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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If you are a fan of old school hockey and liked the "fighting" aspect before "goons" took over, then this book is for you.  If you think anyone should be able to play hockey, this book is for you.  It is not overly melodious but it is to the point. It's heavy hitting but with reasons.  I thoroughly enjoyed this and I am not a big fan of memoirs/autobiographies.

Review: Welcome to Braggsville

Welcome to Braggsville by T. Geronimo Johnson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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Review: How To Be A Woman

How To Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I find her interesting. I think you have to "get" British humor in order to actually like this. I listened to the audio version of this and loved listening to her "read" her book. I quite liked her!

Oh and she made a lot of sense too!

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Public Shaming

Last year I read a great book by Jon Ronson called, "So You've Been Publicly Shamed." I highly recommend this to anyone wanting a presence on social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.  Here's the rub: I've never seen it happen, until this week.  Yes, I saw someone taken down. I don't know if this person will lose their job or not but the messages were, disturbing to say the least.

After reading the book, it really made me think about my public presence. Heck, it made me think about my private presence.  So from here on out, I can assure you that I will never tweet, post or send text messages that could ever get me in any kind of trouble. I will no longer speak in a public forum about those things which might incite the wrath of another person, even one just over hearing the conversation. Because we all know things can be recorded right?

So, how did this guy get it?  Well he signed up for one of those online dating sites. A girl messaged him and it escalated. Anyhow, the guy started calling her names and saying nasty things to her in messages. Guess what?  She started taking screen shots. Of all of the messages. And then she posted them. On the Internet. On Facebook. And it went viral. The person I saw that posted it, lives here in NC. This originated in Seattle, WA.

I caught the first hint of it on Sunday. It is now Tuesday and this guy was found, on Facebook and it was not pretty people.  Don't get me wrong, I don't think what he did was right at all.  I think he's a horrible person and I would never want to go out with him or someone like him so I am thankful that I saw this (not that I ever plan to go to Seattle but, just in case, it's good information). He worked for some kind of law office. Maybe he doesn't anymore. He's removed everything from his facebook profile because let's face it, if there's a bad picture of you, the viral world will find it and it will become a meme.

I don't know where it goes from here. In some ways I feel sorry for him but I don't. The book was something to read and it made me think. Seeing it happen in real time, unbelievable.

Watch it my friends.

Review: Someday, Someday, Maybe

Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I liked it. It was cute. The characters were believable.

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