Update

Dilbert and the Way of the Weasel by Scott Adams

Yep it's Dilbert in a book. Incredibly funny in parts, incredibly lame and drawn out in others. In general I find Dilbert somewhat hilarious though and if you've ever worked in an office setting chances are you will be able to see yourself and coworkers in his comic strips and other rantings.

3 Stars

Weekend in Paris by Robyn Sisman

I loved the descriptions of Molly's first impressions of the city of Paris and the fact that she visited alot of the same places that we went (ie. Jardin du Luxembourg). My experience in the city was in spring and not in what I'm guessing was fall when she was there. The actual story was pretty lack lustre. Yes I know it's chicklit but I still have standards. I can think for myself and would like to have some figuring out to do rather than just waiting for her to figure out the guy is a jerk or meet her father.

3 Stars (only because it is in Paris)

In other news, I got my new car!! I love it. It is so much fun to drive and has a million different fancy things. Man is it nice to have a car with "fancy things" i. power locks... this car however has so much more than that.

My experience at Crowfoot MINI was amazing and if you ever are in the market ask for Divina she is the best. She knows her stuff but isn't pushy in the least. I had a not so good experience with another sales person there buit Divina rocks.

I did sell my Cobalt which was a little bittersweet since it was a good car to me. Really nothing was wrong with it I just wanted more. Oh and I found it! lol

I am going skiing this coming weekend which I am pretty pumped about, should be fun. Plus I made a bunch of progress this past week on my course material. I did about 2 chapters a day. Hopefully I will be ready for my exam when May 2 gets here!!

Snowflower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

This was a great book and very eye opening. Some parts were hard to read (ie. foot binding) but overall the story is of the powerful friendships that Chinese women would form with one another. This is an amazing story of friendship while still describing the life of rural China. A great book!

4 Stars

Car News...

It is with mixed feelings that I announce that I have sold my car. It has been a great little car to me but I want more. I took it through the car wash one last time today and it felt oddly nostalgic.
But in other news!! I bought a new car. A 2009 MINI Cooper and I get to pick it up on Thursday! Is it practical? Heck no! But that's what I have Ian and his Mazda3 for. :)

It will look something like this:

Yep I'm pretty stoked. It is so much fun to drive and corners amazingly. Yes I spent a bit more than I should of but oh well such is life!

Earthly Joys by Philippa Gregory

A slow start and a slow ending but a pretty good middle. Definilty not one of her better novels! It's told from the male perspective which is just fine. The only problem is the dragging at the beginning and the end.

I got quite caught up in the family dynamic and I was quite grateful that it wasn't as smutty as some of her others (ie. Wideacre trilogy or Wise Woman)

3 Stars

Misleading Advertising/Promotions

I am a graduate from the School of Business, I have a Management degree. I do understand the basic concepts of advertising and even the psychology of the consumer and blah blah blah. What annoys me to no end is the bait and switch tactic that leaves you feeling totally screwed.

A good deal is advertised so you go for it...oh you happened to choose the exception to the rule not the deal. But the idea that you are pulling the consumer in with one price associated with another product is ridiculous! Yes I read the fine print, numerous times but your fine print is misleading and refers to other fine print.

Also if the fine print is in relation to an asterisk next to something...don't you think it should be on the same page of the brochure???

Thankfully I am consumer savvy enough to realise that if a deal is too good to be true it usually is. It was. It annoys me nonetheless.

Something a Little Different

I am participating in a challenge on GoodReads that is intended to get you to read genres you wouldn't necessarily otherwise. It has worked! So far I have managed to squeeze something from my collection into one of the categories but this one was sitting on Ian's shelf and I gave it a shot.

Maus I: A Survivor's Tale My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman

Why is this not my thing? Well to begin with it is a "graphic novel" which is in my opinion a glorified comic book. Yes it has more substance than Betty & Veronica or Archie & Jughead, but it is a comic book nonetheless.

The storyline is a man (the author?) interviewing his father to write a comic about his time in Nazi Germany. This book involves his father and mother running from the Nazis and tells of what life was like during Nazi occupation and once Jews (of which he is one) start being shipped off to the concentration camps.

Ofcourse it is somewhat disjointed since it keeps flipping back and forth from his father telling the story to the author and father and what they are actually doing (ie. going to the bank). This is the first ina series so I am sure that the other talk about life in the concentration camps and after as well. I won't be reading them to find out. Maybe if Ian had them on his shelf as well I would give them a shot since they are a super short read, but he doesn't so i will have live in wonder.

Another thing that bugged me about the book is how it was cutoff so severly. Yes I know this is a series but shouldn't there be some sort of closure? Or is it just a good number of pages? I digress...

My weekend

I went to a workshop on saturday to help me prepare for the first exam I need to write to get my CHRP (Canadian Human Resources Professional) designation. I was glad I went since it really helped me narrow in on the other things that I should focus on studying for the upcoming exam that is May 3 or 4th.

Sunday we went skiing and it was amazing. The hill had about 24cm of fresh snow and it snowed all day so powder galore. My legs are certainly feeling it today but that is a good thing. It was awesome!

I also did a bunch of reading as you can see below...


Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz

This book is set circa WWI and tells the story of a woman whose sister dies. As the book progresses the circumstances surrounding such become more and more suspect.

I didn't care for the storytelling style of jumping around from point of views and also periods in time. The story itself was pretty good though.

3 Stars


If I Am Missing or Dead by Janine Latus

In order to read this book you need a pretty strong stomach for domestic violence. It is the memoir of Janine Latus whose sister was murdered by her abusive boyfriend. Reading the book though you see that the family history is quite troubled and Amy (the murdered sister) is not the only one who is subject to horrific abuse. This book was absolutley riveting and horrifying (in a repulsive sort of way) all at the same time.

4 Stars

What I've been up to...

Today was my first day back at work after a wonderfully relaxing Jamaican vacation. Unfortunatly the last day consisted of an extra four hours of sitting in the Montego Bay airport waiting for our delayed flight and resulted in us not getting hom until after 3am. Suddenly I am not feeling like such a chicken for booking off the extra day. I needed it to sleep in, do laundry and grocery shopping (yes that really did pretty much take the whole day).

But the great thing about the trip is I got a ton of reading done. So here are my reviews and yes I have given up on numbering them since I can never remember what number I am on and I am too lazy to look it up, I think I am around book 15 of the year.

Rhett Butler's People

A "sequel" to Gone With the Wind that tells the story from the perspective of Rhett rather than Scarlett. I actually really thoroughly enjoyed the book. The book stays true to the original charachters and storylines and I thought it was great finally getting a glimpse into the mind of Rhett Butler. No I am not saying this is the Rhett that Margaret Mitchell had in mind but a pretty realistic (ie. true to GWTW) one still if you ask me.

4 Stars

The Curious Incident of the Dog at Night-time

Christopher is an autistic 15 year old boy who lives with his parents. The dog of a neighbour is killed in an incident of foul play and Christopher investigates. I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I fell in love with Christopher and was rooting for him and holding my breath as I read some of the mishaps that occur on his adventures in London.

4 Stars

The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible

This book was pretty good. It definitly points out some of the more seemingly ridiculous rules in the Bible/jewish law. I am pretty sure that many of these laws were never intended to be taken literally but it is entertaining to read about AJ experiencing them.

The book was a lot different from what I expected and I was somewhat disapointed in how he seemed to "give up" on the new testament. Yes I understand you are Jewish and therefore the Old Testament is more comfortable for you but I still felt a bit ripped off. That being said the complete immersion in the Old Testament was pretty funny and that is enough to make up for it in my eyes.

3 Stars

Shoe Addicts Anonymous

Yes this book truly is as fluffy as the title makes it sound. But hey what is a beach vacation without a good fluffy book?

I loved the book for the quick read, engaging characters and all the hilarious mishaps in the book. If you are looking for nothing serious and a good escape from reality then this is the book for you! I will add that I was annoyed by the ending though.

3 Stars

Interview With the Vampire

Boring! I thought the movie was bad, the book was only marginally better. Oh well live and learn, at least I had entertainment on the plane ride home.

2 Stars

It's official!

We are going to Italy! We booked the flights today. I have been watching the prices and the have been pretty static. I decided I would take a look today and Air Canada's price had jumped $700! I ♥Expedia ☺ Their price had dropped $700, so we got a great deal on flights, flying into Madrid and then out of Rome.

We are going to be spending 2 and a half weeks there but we are not going to really start planning in earnest until after we get back from Jamaica. (we leave one week tomorrow Eeeeeeeeeeeeee)

I went skiing yesteday with Kelly and we had a great day. The weather was beautiful and there weren't too many people on the hill so we got in a ton of runs. Too bad they don't have more snow, but it's not horrible. I will definitly need to get my skis waxed at the end of the season since the bases are in pretty rough shape. Kelly and I are going again next week so hopefully the snow just dumps on them this week! It is our 2nd free day on our Sunshine cards (our 4th time out) so hopefully it snows and bunch more and we can make it to our 3rd free day (7th day).

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire

This book's premise has so much potential. Although, I did glimpse a little of it in the pages of this book, for the most part it fell flat. I don't know why I expected otherwise after reading another of Maguire's books an not liking it you would think I would have learned my lesson.
The writing style is disjointed and somewhat hard to follow. I also felt like I had missed large parts to get background on issues or other happening which is frustrating.

1 Star

MS Supercities Walk 2009

I am participating in the MS Supercities Walk again this year (Year 3 for me). I have even talked Ian into joining me so I won't be walking by myself :)

It takes place on Sunday June 9th starting at Prince's Island Park here in Calgary. I have a fundraising goal of $500 which is a pretty big goal for me but I think I can do it. You can check out my page (and make a pledge if you wish) here. You can also make your pledges in the form of cash or cheque, I can help you out with that!

Yes this is a shameless plug and plea for money but it's a good cause that I think is worth every penny!

Movie Reviews

City of Ember

This wa s a pretty good movie. Its target demographic is considerably younger than my 26 but it was still enjoyable even if it wasn't deep.

For some reason it was decided that the planet earth would be unihabitable so this city was built in the middle of the earth (Ember). It's now 200 years later and supplies are running low. The story focuses on 2 teenagers trying to find a way out.

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

I thought this was a really good movie. Nothing serious, nothing that requires any thinking but quirky, enjoyable and relatable. It's a teen romantic comedy without the "American Pie" style humour. It's a good deal more realistic than that and takes place for the most part on one evening.

Nick has broken up with his girlfriend of 6 months, Tris and he is devastated. She has moved on with another guy and loves rubbing it in his face but is really jealous of him showing interest in anyone else as well. It's a good bit of entertainment.

9. Tiny Dancer by Anthony Flaco

This is the story of a young girl in Afghanistan who is in a terrible accident which results it horrific burns all over her body. Eventually an American soldier (stationed there post 9/11) notices the girl and his brother-in-law happens to work as a doctor at a burn clinic in the US. So the Zubaida ends up going to the US for numerous surgeries.

I was disapointed in the book since I was hoping that the focus would be more on Zubaida and her struggles and less on the beauracracy of NGO's and the US military.

2 Stars

Movie Reviews

Burn After Reading

I had heard that this was a hilarious movie and when the cast included Brad Pitt, John Malkovich, George Clooney among others I thought it would be great. I was expecting big things.

The movie started out pretty disjointed and while some pieces started to come together it never really gelled for me. There were a couple oneliners that were funny but all in all it was dumb.

Babel

I guess we were stuck on a bit of a Brad Pitt thing this weekend. This movie I thought was good. I had a few different storylines that came together in the strangest of ways but it definityl held my attention for the full 2 and a half hours and really made me thing about various things. Terrorism, Americans travelling abroad, the US/Mexico border security, self esteem, self worth and sexuality.

8. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

I appreciated the style of writing in this book. It didn't make me feel like the author was out for shock value and nothing more. That being said it would have been interesting to have a glimpse into some of her emotional reactions to the situations in her upbringing. I can accept that to a certain degree she would be desensitised, I still would expect a reaction to any number of the things that occur. The only real emotional reaction you get are the children standing up for their own family and then the events that eventually cause them to move to New York.

3 stars

Waiting

So it's 11:17 on my saturday morning. Our TV was supposed to be delivered between 8-11 and well I am the queen of impatience when it comes to things like this. Is it really that hard to show up in the alotted window of time? Really? I don't think it is. You give us this time slot for a reason and now here we are still waiting! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...............

Tonight after our new TV arrives we are going to settle in for some DVD watching...reviews will follow.

So in the mean time I will tell you all about our trip we are going on in March. We booked it! One week at an all inclusive in Jamaica! Should be heavenly. Since we booked last minute off one of the cheap last minute sites so we got a wicked deal too!

***UPDATE***
So I finally gave up on waiting, left Ian alone and went grocery shopping. By the time I returned we had the new TV. It is great and we both love it. My only challenge is going to be convincing Ian that he doesn't need to be playing video games on it all day every day...

Passchendaele

Michelle and I watched Passcendaele last night and although it was a good movie, it was not at all what I had expected!!

A lady I work with had said her husband thought there was too much love story in it but in my opinion that was completly over shadowed by the graphic war scenes. The story also went a lot differently than I was expecting. The story other than when they are at war takes place in Calgary. It was neat to see bits of familiarity on the big screen!! It's a truly Canadian movie and a good one too...

The movie kind of depressed me in a way since it just really made it hit home how completly senseless war is, nothing is accomplished. But I suppose I could rant on that one all day.

We get our new big screen LCD this weekend so we will be watching a couple more movies so stay tuned for the reviews :)

7. Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

This book contains some "children's" fairy tales as translated from the ancient runes by Hermione Granger, with commentary from Dumbledore.

I would have a hard time reading these stories to young children however since I am not sure that the language or subject matter is appropriate even if the morals are. I suppose this is why the stories were written for wizard children.

It was a quick read (leass than one hour) and thoroughly enjoyable. Although likely less enjoyable if you are not familiar with the Harry Potter series.

3 Stars

6. Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich

What can I say? I love Stephanie Plum. The sheer hilarity of the antics and completly wacky situations she gets herself into are great. I find her to be a wonderful breath of fresh air and a break from reality. Really who can be serious all the time?

The book starts with Grandma running away...to Atlantic City...you can see this is going nowhere good.

I'm not a big "chicklit" fan but for this series I make an exception. This is the first of the between-the-numbers novels that I have really enjoyed. I see there is a new one out "Plum Spooky" hopefully it is more of the same and not the drivel of the Christmas and Valentines' Day ones.

4 Stars

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

This movie was very long! (butluckily it didn't seem long) Luckily I knew that before hand so I rationed my liquid intake for the entire afternoon before going!

The movie was excellent and really made you think. Brad Pitt (always a favourite of mine) plays the main character in a very convincing way. This movie brings out the full gamet of emotions. The main themes I take away from it are living in the moment and that age doesn't matter, nothing lasts forever. I can definitly see why it was nominated for best picture.

5. Gone With the Wind

5 Stars

*****SPOILERS****

****DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON"T WANT ANYTHING GIVEN AWAY****



I think this may very well be my favourite book of all time. I could read it over and over again (and have). Each time I reazd this book I glean something new. I see way more of myself in Scarlett than I am proud of. I hold a huge soft spot in my heart for Rhett and I despise Ashley Wilkes. However, sometime eachtime I read this book I still have a part of me hoping and wishing for a different ending and that Scarlett makes different choices througout. It breaks my heart that Scarlett ends up alone but really she has no one to blame but herself. Ashley is a spineless ninny and I can't believe she doesn't realise it until the Melly's death and the breakdown of her 3rd marriage. But I could go all day on this point so I'll leave it at that.


I do think the book idealizes the Old South and glamorizes the lifestyle. But the reality of it is that slavery existed in that time period and is abolished through the book. I do think that Margaret Mitchell portrays slavery in a fairly realistic light. Some like Mammy, Pork and Uncle Peter choose to stay working with the families they have grown to love as their own, others strike out on their own. Before criticizing the book too harshly for its historical inaccuracies the important thing to remember is that this is a work of fiction. It is not meant to be an educational textbook on the Old South and as such should be appreciated for what it is....

What a Day!

Today at work was insane. A major crisis popped up and it pretty much ate up my whole day on top of the three meetings I also had scheduled. Oh and I moved offices today. Which is good because I finally have a window but bad because it made a crazy day even crazier!

My VP really appreciated my hard work though since he gave me permission to go out for a nice dinner and expense it! Oh and my manager is buying me a coffee tomorrow nice!

I finally get home and get 2 pieces of bad news. Ian's sister miscarried and his Stepmom may have canceer. So those both served to put a real damper on my day!! More than a damper really, it sucks! Thoughts and prayers to both!!

Car search

The lease on my current car expries in 4ish months and the car is not worth near what I would have to buy the lease out (thanks to our dollar skyrocketing and car prices dropping) at so I am turning in the car and BUYING something else. I am in the first step of looking at cars right now and I know I want a small car not a Chevy Cobalt (my current car) or a Mazda3 (Ian's car - that I don't like driving as much).

I have much higher standards this time around since I know I will be spending a little more money than last time (which was the bare minimum) and actually getting some features. Right now there are four cars I am thinking of Toyota Yaris, Nissan Versa, MINI Cooper and Chevy Aveo (only in the running because I still love my dealerships convenience factor!). All are good on gas, all will be pretty much in the same price range by the time I add on the options I want. So the search has begun (sort of)...

The Tudors

I rented the first season of "The Tudors" this weekend. The first episode I wasn't too thrilled with but the next couple have grabbed my attention. While it isn't my favourite show, maybe I'll also pick up the second season once I am finished with this one.

We went over to Katie & Chris' place friday night and I saw Katie had the DVDs and we started talking about them, which peaked me interest. We had a great time having dinner and playing games. They have a great new house with the most amazing kitchen I am totally covetting the kitchen right now!!

Bride Wars

I saw this movie a couple weekends ago...

It's a cute movie about 2 best friends who end up getting engaged and through an error of the wedding planner the weddings are booked for the same day at the same venue. It is truly heinous yet at the same time hilarious the things these girls do to eachother. You can tell that they are best friends because I don't think that anyone else would be able to hurt you like that since they wouldn't know you well enough. It's not the next great drama or anything but it is a great, light hearted romantic comedy. Good for a girls night out, but it's a rental -- not a theatre must in my book!

2009 Book Reviews

I've decided that for 2009 I'm going to keep a log of the books I read and my reviews on my blog as well as Good reads. So these are the ones I've finished already, I will add posts under the label as I finish them with my comments and a rating out of 5 stars at the end.

1. The Wise Woman by Phillipa Gregory

This is the author of The Other Boleyn Girl and I have read a number of others by her as well. I can say that she needs an outline (ie. real person's life) to base her story around or else things fall off the rails and become smutty fast!! The main problem I had with this book though is it's complete lack of a coherent storyline.

2 Stars

2. Her Last Death: A Memoir by Susanna Sonnenberg

I had high expectations for this book and I'm not sure why. It's like when see a commercial for a movie and all the good parts are in the commercial. I feel the same way. Almost cheated.

The child of a famous person bragging about how horrible her childhood was and what a trainwreck her mother is. Yeah no thanks. It was still a somewhat entertaining read, likely because it was mercifully short and it didn't seem too whiney until about 2/3 in.

2 Stars

3. Prisoner of Tehran by Marina Nehmat

Wow! I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I was expecting a straightforward retelling of the harrowing events. This story is much more. It is heartbreaking, uplifting and really makes you feel for Marina. I don't feel like she sensationalised her experience as happens with many memoirs. This was one of the best books I have read in a long time. It is definitly one that makes you think about real life issues.

I feel like I have a much better understanding of some of the issues after having read this book. I have a renewed appreciation for the desperation that people feel to escape these situations and their home countries during politcal turmoil and religious persecution.

5 Stars

4. I Am Hutterite by Mary-Ann Kirkby

An amazing story! The book is educational in the descriptions and stories of life on the colony and then adjusting to "English" life after. It's a great story of how a family can overcome adversity amd really stick together when times get tough. I know way more about the Hutterite lifestyle than I ever did before and I have a much better appreciation for them now.

Growing up in Southern Alberta you see/hear alot about the Hutterite colonies but I can't say I ever actually knew anything about them other than you can recognize them by their clothes. I found this to be a very powerful story!

4 Stars

New for 2009

I'm not much on New Years' Resolutions. I'm pretty sure I made some last year but I have no idea what they were now! 2008 was a good year though! My wedding, Tara's wedding, Chicago, Vegas, Cruise, a new niece...

For 2009 I am trying a bit of a different challenge. I am going to read at least one book by an author whose name begins with each letter of the alphabet. I have a huge TBR pile and I thought getting through that alone would take care of most of it but as it turns out I read alot of "m" and "s" authors. I already have an "x" and a "z" lined up and that take care of the really tough ones. I'll be tracking my reading over at goodreads (I actually cheated and started with my end of December books for the challenge though).

My other major passion is travel and we have some of that on the go for this year too. Looks like Italy in September and somewhere hot and beachy in March (booking a last minute all inclusive). Now that I have 5 weeks of vacation plus 8 flex days to be used every year I don't have to worry about taking time off. Pretty much I can do whatever I want so it's great!