The posting-from-a-laptop experiment continues, with moderate success. (As for yesterday… I just straight up forgot it was Monday. Not sure that is a good thing or bad, but it happened. So, here we are.) The only snag so far is the battery seems to be completely shot in my laptop. The rather obvious work-around for this situation is to… well… plug it in. OK, not that big of a snag, really. The actual FIX would be to replace the battery, but that ‘s an expense I don’t care to make, and it’s not really supposed to be replaceable anyway. (Which, considering the original price of the laptop, seems a bit ridiculous. It’s the world we live in now I guess.)
That was (another) down weekend. Donette’s sister and a few friends came up to visit on Friday, which was nice. I joined them for a tasty lunch at our neighborhood dive, and then they took off for Lake Tahoe to enjoy some cooler weather and the great scenery. Left to my own devices, I completed a fairly large amount of absolutely nothing. I did dive into a book I’ve been meaning to crack for quite some time. (Why that made think of the title “Arts & Crafts,” I am not entirely sure. I don’t think reading falls under either. Not important.) Anyway, a friend gave me this and several other paperbacks quite a while back, and I randomly picked up this one for my next undertaking. it is titled “The Summer House,” by James Patterson & Brendan DuBois. Anybody know why two authors are listed? I don’t, and it’s always made me slightly curious, if not to the point of actually researching it. I am under the impression that Mr. DuBois wrote the book, and paid a large sum to Mr. Patterson to put his name on the jacket. Could be way off, I just don’t know. Anyway… While I’m only about 150 pages into this one, I don’t think I care for it. I’ve liked most of the books in the stack, but not sure this one is going to work out. it’s written a little oddly, at least for me. (Or is it written normally, and I’m odd? No comments, please.) I don’t know enough about writing to even know what the term is for the style, but it annoys me. Briefly, it is about a team of four military investigators, trying to solve the murder of several civilians that was presumably committed by a team of Army Rangers. Each chapter is written from the view of a different team member. Not like first person, but… Something else. As I said, I don’t know what the term it. Chapter 1: Janey got in her car and started driving. Chapter 2: After Billy got to the crime scene he looked around. Chapter 3: Sgt Johnny boarded the plane to somewhere. Etc, etc. Heck, I’m not even sure why it bothers me, but I’m quite sure it does. I will slog through it though, like it or not. Early guess? The Rangers did not actually commit the murders, although they are involved at some level. The crime was committed by (haven’t come up with my guess on that yet) in order to keep (haven’t come up with my guess yet) in the political office of… Something. We’ll see how that theory pans out.
Otherwise, I didn’t accomplish much last weekend. Pruned the tomato plants, but honestly there’s not much to relate there. Took a 15-ish mile motorcycle ride to meet some friends for lunch, which is always fun. Last night, I went to the movies with a friend, which was superbly entertaining. Technically, since I’m a day late posting, that wasn’t a weekend event, but I need some filler material. I traveled ALL THE WAY down to the dreaded El Dorado Hills to see the somewhat new release, Bring Her Back. Unlike my current reading undertaking, this one gets an enthusiastic two thumbs up. Best movie I’ve seen in awhile, with the possible exception of The Outlaw Josey Wales. That one doesn’t really come in under the “new release” category though, so I’ll leave it off the list. I just find myself watching it every few weekends, and it never gets old. But I digress. Monday night’s cinematic event was likewise exceptional, if a slightly different genre. Maybe a little slow developing, but when it got wound up it really took off. At one rather memorable point, the entire audience (comprised of us and about 1/2-dozen other people,) audibly moaned, and the guy behind us says “uhhhh, I think I’m gonna puke.” Now THAT’S when you know you’re viewing a possible Oscar contender. Yep, great movie. After that, despite not having much of an appetite left, we crossed the strip mall for some sushi, which was quite delicious, and called it a Monday.
