Two presents

Another gorgeous day!

There wasn't much work at the lab today, so I took off an hour early. That was my first present, and what a treat THAT is! I knew I'd better enjoy it while I could, because Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are probably our busiest days in the ol' Micro lab. I don't think I'll be leaving early the next few days!

My second present was in the mailbox when I got home. Cousin Shane had told me he was sending me a birthday present, so I knew that's what it was. (My birthday was in August, but for various reasons, we just haven't been able to get together for a while.) When I opened it up, I was delighted and touched to see that he'd gotten me the DVD of "Elvis," better known as the "68 Comeback Special." I don't feel like finding the post in the archives, but I had raved about it a while back, and Shane, bless his heart, got that for me. He's such a cool cousin--I'm so lucky to have a great cousin like Shane! :)

From the Cruel Irony File: Every once in a while, Sheeba has a slight barfage problem. I don't know if he eats too much out of boredom while we're at work, or if he eats a bug, or what, but sometimes we'll have to do Barf Detail. Poor little guy, he barfed today--on the dresser, a little bit on one of my T-shirts laying there, and a whole bunch on--here's the cruel irony part--one of Ken's Notre Dame hats. I know I feel kind of sick watching the games lately, but gee Sheeba, isn't that a little much? Et tu, Sheeba?

We're gearing up for my pal Jillian's online book club! The two of us were practicing a bit with the Google group, so we can figure out the posting, etc. The reading doesn't commence until Nov. 1st, so I should have time to finish my current book before then. I'm reading American Mafia by Thomas Reppetto (it's nonfiction). Like most people, I have a bit of a fascination with the Mafia, but pretty much all I've read about them is their involvement in Vegas (which is no longer true, from what I've heard). I'm not very far into it yet, but already I'm learning that there are a lot of misconceptions about it. It's not some kind of ancient Sicilian brotherhood--it's actually fairly new, and the structure of the Families is a relatively American thing. Interesting stuff! They also include the picture of Bugsy Siegel's corpse, after he was hit for not being able to account for the bosses' money. I've seen it before, and it's not a pleasant picture. But then, it's not a pleasant organization!

Oh, I was talking about our book club. A lot of these should be really interesting--I was reading some synopses on Amazon yesterday. But I know the one I'm dreading the most: James Joyce's Ulysses, topping the charts at Number One with a bullet! I read a snippet, and I don't know if I'll be able to make any sense of the book at all. I have a feeling I'll be saying, "Why, exactly, is this one of the greatest novels of the 20th century?" It looks a little crazy. Okay, it looks a LOT crazy. I do read a lot, but I like my books to have some cohesiveness.