It was a very good year

2009 was a busy, eventful and life-changing year over here at chez sula. For starters, the location of "chez" (which literally means at the home of). It was one year ago today that DH and I finished moving all our stuff from the house I was sharing with messy college students into a cozy, historic apartment smack in the old town. We rang in the new year by spending our first night here. And how lovely it has been. Not just to have one's own place, but the location, the architecture, the windows and sunlight, everything. A great way to start 2009.


In April, I led a group of students, faculty and staff from our university on a one-week trip to Mali. Not only was it a great experience to be able to share the country I love with others, but I also got to re-connect with friends back there and visit DH's family. AND get back to speed on my language skillz (which apparently may go dormant but are not lost...happily).


The first half of the year also saw both DH and I busily working on our respective degree programs. It's important to note that in DH's country, there is only one university. When he attended classes there back in the early part of the 2000s, a series of strikes resulted in the entire academic year being canceled. So he ended up working and doing other things and wasn't able to go back and finish his degree. When we got the chance to come to the States and study, it was an unforeseen opportunity. He slogged through three years of classes in not his second, but his THIRD language, was often the oldest student in his courses, and worked a part-time on-campus job to boot. So when he walked across the stage at commencement in May and received his bachelor's degree (the first person in his family to do so) I was bursting-at-the-seams-proud. :)

Right after graduation, there was another trip out of the country for me...I was in Taiwan for about 10 days for my work. It was special in that I got to spend time with a colleague and friend who is from there and being with her gave me lots of insider scoops that I wouldn't have had otherwise. (Did I mention the all-u-can-eat sushi bar for under $10????) heh. But I missed my fiance and it was nice to come home again.

After two long years of part-time evening classes with no breaks for summer, I too got a chance to walk across the stage in August and receive my MBA. (Come to think of it, I guess I'm the first person in my family to get a graduate degree.) It was nice to finish the program, and I barely had time to catch my breath before my 30th birthday. Yet another mile-stone of sorts. heh.

Then it was full speed ahead to the biggest milestone of our lives...our wedding! Thankfully, I had a couple of very talented and giving friends who basically planned, coordinated, decorated and shepherded me through the whole process. The ceremony was held in the backyard of our good friends. The mountains and fields served as a cathedral unmatched in beauty. With a classic English garden at on end, guests were seated in four sections creating a circle which surrounded the ceremony site. Our families began the processional and walked in pairs to their seats in front of the garden. To the strains of a single violin, the wedding party processed through the garden paths and met one another in the center of the ceremony circle. During a moving interfaith ceremony led by our two ministers (husband and wife), we took our vows and exchanged rings. A djembe drum ensemble led the celebration as we left the circle as husband and wife.

Our reception was held under the trees in an open buffet style. Among the dishes served were roast lamb, plantains and a special African rice dish. After toasts by the best man and matron of honor, we enjoyed musical selections by a small gamelan orchestra, an instrument native to Indonesia (my childhood home). We cut the cake and then had our first dance to a song by a musician from DH's home country. Guests joined in the dance and much fun and laughter was had. Before the sun set, we changed into our best traditional African clothing and finished the evening by spending time talking with our friends and family.

As if that weren't enough for an eventful 2009, DH found a great job (in this economy no less) and started work shortly after our wedding. I began taking Spanish classes and applied to another graduate program for spring (hey, gotta keep busy). Then last week, we traveled down to Louisiana to spend Christmas with my parents and meet my mom's side of the family. I hadn't seen my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. since 2000...so it was quite fun to catch up with everyone and to introduce DH.

whew! Now that I look back on all that, I can sort of see why my blog has fallen by the wayside. Hopefully next year I can get back to reading more books and writing more entries. So that was 2009. This is a year I don't think I'll ever forget. Now onward to 2010!

Happy New Year to everyone who takes the time to stop by this little corner of the interwebs. :)

why do today what you can put off...

Whew. So, in typical fashion I have managed to procrastinate on a number of critical school projects until the last possible minute. Why oh why do I do this to myself? I had four projects to do, all needing to be finished this week. Finished one powerpoint the day before it was to be presented. I have no problems standing up in front of people and talking, so I WISH all my assignments were those, but noooo, I had papers to write. I've just finished a 10 page term paper as well as a 9 page essay take-home exam. I took off half a day from work just to get these put to bed. Tomorrow I have one more presentation but I finished those powerpoint slides last night. Oh well. It's done now. But I really have to figure out a better way to do this.

In the spirit of self-help, I have downloaded an audiobook from my library called "The NOW habit: stopping procrastination". Lol. Maybe I'll learn something.

Tomorrow I have friends visiting from out of town. They are here for the weekend and much frivolity will be had. Not to mention that I haven't seen my friend A in over 2 years and I haven't told her about my 70 pound weight loss. mwahaha. In fact, it was the photos from her b-day party that gave me the kick in the arse to join WW. So I'm kind of looking forward to shocking her. heh.

K, time for bed. I hope I will now have at least a teeny tiny bit more time for recreational reading. I'm getting very weary of boring school stuff. /whine

happy monday

How was your weekend?

Mine went by too quickly. I woke up bright and early at 6am on Saturday morning to go to the first session of one of my summer courses. It's being held every other Saturday for four hours at a pop. And is in a satellite campus that takes 40 minutes to drive to. oh joy. Just what you want to do with your Saturday morning. (Did I mention that I'm not done with my spring classes yet?) Anyways, that was Saturday morning. That afternoon, I had a team meeting with classmates from another course. Twas a good time...we ate jerk chicken at a local Jamaican joint. sooo tasty. Then my lack of sleep caught up with me and I actually started feeling ill - vertigo and stuff. Came home and crashed into bed at 6pm and slept all night. Saturday came and went without much fun being had. :(

Sunday, DF and I drove up to DC with another friend to see our first major league baseball game. The Washington Nationals vs. the Florida Marlins. Our friend had been given a set of tickets from someone else...they were in a great spot and quite close. DF had never seen baseball, so there was a lot of explaining about rules and such. He enjoyed himself but was annoyed at the vendors walking up and down the aisles and blocking his view as well as all the spectators coming and going (to the snack shop!) The great American pasttime...is it baseball or eating? I'm not sure. lol.


Take us out to the ballgame

And now for some truly exciting and actual READING-related news...

My BFF lisabea aka lb gregg aka super kewl author is gonna have a new book released very soon. You can read an excerpt here (careful, it's smokin') and then go buy it very shortly from here. As a sometime beta reader and general friend, I will cop to having had a sneak peak and lemme tell you, it's good stuff. More of the men in springfield and I'm going to want to move there myself, I tell you.

wednesday

I'm going to a Seder tonight! Nope, I'm not Jewish, but I do have an interest in other faiths particularly since the Exodus story is so common to my own faith (and even plays a part in DF's). Our uni is hosting the event and a local rabbi is presiding. I thought it would be interesting, so I'm off to eat matzo. And hopefully some of that yummy charoset.

In other news, I have a summer session class that (wait for it) starts this Saturday! ugh. I'm not done with spring classes yet!!! So I've gotta try to hustle through all my final projects and homework as well as buy a new book and get started on yet more homework. blech. Do masters students get senioritis? Cuz I'm feeling it. Just gotta get through these two summer courses and I graduate in August. woot! And I'm already considering what other courses I may take in the fall in another discipline. Because, hey, if you get free tuition for working there, you ought to take advantage.

I guess today is tax day, but I'm still not done. I don't know if I have ever turned in my taxes on time in my life. And I always get a refund, so it's silly to procrastinate in getting money back. But there you have it. This year I am going to file online with one of those free services. And instead of the 1040EZ, I'm gonna itemize! I feel like such a grownup. heh.

Lastly, I found this photo and it made me think of the recent Amazon censorship kerfuffle. Kinda funny...think of the children!!!

my many lives

Whew. Talk about taking a long break from blogging, eh? I feel guilty but it seems like each time I sit down with the intention to say something, I get pulled away by homework or something else. Work is busy. MBA classes are requiring lots of out-of-class work (wah!). Wedding plans...yeah, I ought to get started with those. Not to mention a friend of DF's visiting from France for four days (which was great fun but meant playing hostess and doing a lot of entertaining and cooking and stuff). So um yeah, the blog...

I'm gonna try to get back in the groove. Even if I don't have anything pithy to say. heh.


So, this being a blog supposedly having to do with romance novels...I read one recently! Scandal by Carolyn Jewel. Yes, I know, I'm late to the party but as they say, better late than never. Due to my busy schedule, I actually took the time to read this over the course of a week rather than in one fell swoop (my usual M.O. for book-readin') and it fit the pace of the story, I think. I enjoyed the attention to detail, the characters and the reformed-rake story being turned a bit on its head. It was heartbreaking in places and scorching hot in others. A very satisfying read. Thank you to Rosie for providing me with a copy. This is an author I'm going to keep a look out for.

In music news, my favorite band in the whole wide world released a new album. Yes, that band, the incomparable U2. Being the massive fan that I am, I can't be objective. It's the kind of album that is a grower, lots of interesting ideas and musical bits and bobs that are completely familiar if you've been listening to their 20+ year canon but that might seem random and odd if your only exposure is megahits like "With or Without You" or "Beautiful Day". In other words, I heart it! lol. My favorite song on the album is called Magnificent and you can listen to it here.

Lastly in the spirit of romance and stuff, I give you this photo of DF and I at the Cherry Blossom Festival in D.C. last weekend. Crowds of people, lots of wind, but we managed to keep warm. ;-)

one down, one to go

Wow, to look at this blog, you would think I'm a total slacker. No updates for 10 freaking days? eeeeeek!!!

I feel like I've been trapped in some sort of parallel universe. Getting up in the morning and reading my marketing book over coffee before hurridly throwing together lunches for DBF and myself and rushing to work. Coming home from a full day at the office and sitting right down to study until bed time. I'm not sure what exactly it is about this semester but it's been much more time-consuming than the previous two I took on this MBA path. A combination of lots of busy-work in the marketing class (not hard, just takes a lot of time) and really dense theory in the economics class. Last night after completing my marketing final in record pace, I came home and worked on another assignment for econ. That final won't be until Sunday night. So from today till then, I have to focus on memorizing four or five chapters of scintillating material on topics like unemployment, inflation and whatnot. Thrilling.

But on the positive side, I did get a new book in the mail (yay PBS!) and have been reading it in agonizingly slow increments as I find the time. This is a different way of reading for me. Usually, I sit down and devour a book in roughly an hour, maybe two. This time around, I'm just grabbing 5 or 10 minutes to read a chapter or two. So at least it will last longer. Which book? Ah yes, the incomparable Loretta Chase. The Lion's Daughter. I believe I put this on my wishlist after reading that Chase-a-thon over at Book Smugglers. Or maybe it was something else. I can't remember...just that I read that it was good and stuck it on my list and when it was available, the nice people at PBS asked me if I wanted it. So far it is entertaining. The heroine is teetering dangerously close to annoying, but she hasn't crossed the line yet so I'm happy about that. And the hero is funny and charming and reminds me a little of Rupert from the other book. Anyways, yay books. The cover makes me laugh.

(see why I haven't been blogging...I really have nothing interesting to say. lol)

In other news, DBF and I will be staying home this weekend instead of going on a four day vacation as we had planned. The long story short is that we had made some plans with a group of three other couples to go to the beach and rent two houses, go fishing, relax, etc. We're not super tight with any of said couples, but we are acquaintances and thought it would be a good opportunity for us to get out and see another part of the state...do something we normally would not do on our own. A week before the trip, we were asked by the couple who has been planning everything if we would mind not sharing a room (mind you, said room had two single beds in it, lol) because they are hosting a European exchange student who had marked on her application that she is a Christian. And they are Christian (pretty religious too, but we've always been able to live and let live in the past) and didn't want to offend her sensibilities. Apparently the idea of me and my BF, a couple in their late twenties that have been together for five years but aren't officially "married" sharing a room (again, with TWO SINGLE BEDS) might offend her. or something. Anyways, DBF was so not pleased to be asked this question. Highly insulted and really upset. At first I just thought it was silly and was inclined to shrug and say, sure whatever, just let them have their way. But now I see his point. We were supposedly equal participants in this venture, were going to be PAYING for the privelege of our sleeping quarters just the same price as everyone else. Out of all four couples, why would we be asked to split up just for the sake of some stranger's potential ease of mind? And they didn't even know if this student would actually CARE (she's from freaking france, I'm sure she's been exposed to the concept of unmarried couples) AND she was going to be staying in the other house anyways and not in the house where we were. Even though it was a "request" and not a demand, we felt that we wouldn't be comfortable now with the group, so we cancelled. ugh. It was a big freaking mess.

so yeah, no mini vacation at the end of the summer term. :( We'll try to come up with something that the two of us can do cheaply and funly (heh) before the end of August, but it won't include random 'friends'. *sigh*

forget reading

Well, I may not have time for reading or blogging in the mad race for the MBA summer term finish line. BUT I have found time to listen to an audiobook as I drift off to sleep in the evening. La Nora. This is her best, imho. Those Quinn boys are just fab. I'm partial to Phillip myself. Mainly because his book was my first NR read. But Cam and Ethan and Seth are all keepers too. What is so cool about these books is that while the romance between each brother and his woman is good and romantic and stuff, what's really great is the interaction between the guys. Miz Nora gets it right and it feels so natural and real. I luvs it.

So yeah. No books being read (except for that monster marketing tome on the sidebar). But at least there is some audiobook goodness to see me through.

The other end of this tunnel includes a quick trip to the other side of the country (yay San Fran!) and dinner, drinks and other hijinks with some of my blogging friends. I try to keep this in mind as I slog through the homework. It's like a carrot to keep me motivated.

You can run, but you can't hide

K, so I am back from my roadtrip, but if I thought that it would be a vacation from my crazy life of work and MBA madness, I was sorely mistaken. le sigh. I'm up to my ears in homework and of course I am putting off things like group projects that MUST be done in the next two weeks so that said weeks will be even more stressful. Excellent!

Anyways, here is a LOLcat to brighten your day/night. One day soon I hope to actually blog again. Might not be until MBA summer school lets out and I get one glorious month of freedom from class (not from work, mind you, but I'll take what I can get.) Oh and let's start the countdown to San Fran! woot!

economical studying

Economics = study of the use of scarce resources

My scarce resource of free time is being consumed today by the study of economics. A mid-term exam looms at 6pm tonight (yes, SUNDAY night, ugh) and of course I am a professional procrastinator. So today will be spent unplugged from teh intertubes as I attempt to cram five chapters of boring theory into my brain, ready to be unleashed in five essay questions.

booyah.

oh goodness

Well, it's 1:30am and I am officially done with my last project for school for this semester. A case study from hell for financial management class. I spent the majority of my time elusively chasing numbers and trying to re-arrange formulas and find answers to life's burning questions.
Like...

How do you calculate a firm's weighted average cost of capital when you don't have their expected rate of return on debt or equity?
How does one properly value a European firm whose financial statements are in their home currency but cross over into the Euro currency time frame?
Why the hell can't I find a goddamm SIMPLE formula to discount the expected future free cash flows?

In the end, I had to settle for a much more scaled back set of tables and spreadsheets and a lot more bullshitting and theorizing on the "qualitative" analysis. It's freaking 1:30am and I have to be at work all day tomorrow and this is due in class right after work. Better to have something to turn in that sucks than nothing to turn in at all.

I hope.

Why can't we read romance novels for credit? hmph.

so much to do, so little time

I find that the more things that are dumped on my plate, the more I procrastinate. Instead of rolling up my sleeves and diving into the fray, I tend to shy away from even beginning the simplest of tasks. Partially because I'm afraid of failure and my effed up logic is that if I don't start something, then the final product won't be a failure. Ha. Great logic that. Also partially because I'm probably just plain lazy. IDK.

Anyways, I have a big stack of deliverables in my work and school lives this week and I'm trying to find the motivation today to really knuckle down and get to it. Then perhaps that focus will carry over into my blogging life and I'll actually finish some of the reviews I'm working on. heh. All part of my master plan.

How do you push yourself to finish things that you don't really want to do? Any great tips for self-organization? Time management skillz? Let's hear it.

Man Love Monday - video quickie

heh.

Well, I had hoped to have a review of Master of Obsidian all ready to go for MLM. I got started on it, but life in the way of MBA finals week and other committments seems to have gotten in the way. And I really want to give the book enough thought and time to write a substantive review. Soooo.

Is it really any surprise that I default to another clip of my new boyfriend Captain Jack smooching it up with yet another one of the Torchwood guys? That Cap'n Jack...he sure knows how to kiss.



thanks to katiebabs for finding this one!

And now everyone must head on over to sarai's blog where she has written an excellent review of Josh Lanyon's book Fatal Shadows. It's her first time to participate in MLM, so go over and give her some luuuuurve!!! :)

I'm alive

So the last week and a half I have been pretty much absent. I had this big team project/presentation that I had to give on Thursday night for my Finance class. Last weekend I spent pretty much every waking moment buried up to my ears in spreadsheets and numbers. Between work this week and putting together the powerpoint for the project, I just haven't had the time to read, let alone update this poor blog.

But now I'm finished! yippee!

In the reading department, I am still working my way through the Kresley Cole book Captain of All Pleasures. It hasn't really been doing the trick for me. Nothing inherently bad about the book, just nothing all that special. It feels somewhat cliched and redux. That said, I did sit down with it for a good hour this morning and now that I'm in the last 3/4s of the book, it seems to be picking up (finally).

I've been looking over the e-books I snagged from Harlequin during their daily freebie giveaway over the holidays. Funny enough, one of the ones that I did read during the time I was working on my finance project was set in New York and the protags were supposed to be big finance execs. haha. It didn't really inspire me to keep studying. I also started one by Hope Tarr called Strokes of Midnight. This one seems promising. The writing is decent anyways and I'm not rolling my eyes after the first few chapters. I feel like categories are so hit or miss. I haven't really read them since my teen years, but I'm trying to dip my toe back into the waters. Sometimes short and sweet is all I have time for.

Watched another episode of Torchwood before bed last night. I don't care if John Barrowman is playing for the other team; I'd do him. He is purty. And although sometimes you want to slap Captain Jack for being such a cocky self-assured bastard, you want to hug him at the same time.

Manlove Monday Lite

I'm emerging from my cocoon of financial data analysis overload (don't ask...big MBA class project due next week, entire weekend spent manipulating numbers in spreadsheets and creating financial models, w00t).

Anyways, blogger buddy lisabea and I decided to hold an abbreviated version of our patended MLM ™. This week's entry will be short and sweet (at least on my end...I think hers will be longer and bettah). But hopefully still entertaining and fun. *g*

This is yet another short clip from Torchwood. That Captain Jack...he knows how to kiss teh mens! But rather than tender and romantic, this interchange tends towards the aggressive and violent. whoooeeeee, it's hot in there! All you Buffy fans will no doubt recognize the object of Jack's affection/aggression.



Happy Manlove Monday to everyone!

Here but not here

Wow. I really have slowed down my blogging. I think that's due to a couple of things. One, I'm back in MBA classes which take up my Tuesday and Thursday evenings (class) and chunks of my weekend (homework). Two, my job is hitting the busiest season of our year (college admissions) and by the time I get home, I don't feel like typing or thinking or anything. Three, I'm in a bit of a reading funk. Part of that getting home and being tired thing. Four, I've spent the last two weeks (has it really been that long) on a mega-glom of Doctor Who shows. Fantasy is so much better than reality. le sigh.

Anyways, I did read one new book this past weekend, The Spymaster's Lady by Joanna Bourne. Top notch book; loved it. Gonna try to review it properly soon. And I bought another JL Langley book last night, With Caution. I plan to settle down with that one over the weekend so as to have some new manlove to talk about on monday. lisabea, are we on for MLM this week?

Oh yeah, and I still need to complete my ballot for the AAR poll. I'm gonna do it. Every night I say that I will sit down and finish it. But then I get distracted. Thing is, I don't really read books the year they're published. Or at least not all that many. If you skim this blog, you'll find far more reviews of old books that I picked up at the library than any hot, current ones. What can I say? I'm cheap and the library's free. Besides, there's a lot of books out there and many of them, I've not yet read. *g* But yeah, I will complete my ballot. Because I vote! (and there's another thing that's been taking up my attention lately...politics. But I won't go into that here.)

As for Doctor Who...after starting in the middle of the series, I went back and watched season 1 in which Christopher Eccleston played the Doctor. I have to say, I wasn't expecting to like him as much as Tennant but I grew really attached to him. He's got an almost feral vibe. Very lean and rangy, dark and unpredictable. Funny too. I got all choked up at the end of the season when he 'changed'. *sniff* And then of course I get used to Tennant again (but still miss Chris) and get all comfy with him and Rose flying all over the universe battling Daleks and other evil whatnots. And then Rose has to leave. *sob* So here I am in the middle of season 3. Still hanging in there. Missing old characters but always up for a bang-up story in which the Doctor meets new challenges and manages to save the world yet again.

another week gone

Well at least it is Friday. Haven't really felt like blogging much this week. I did finish Chesapeake Blue by Nora Roberts and Vixen by Jane Feather and may try to write up some very brief comments on them this weekend. But to be quite honest, I'm still feeling a little blue about the previous entry's subject. I know, that's crazy. I didn't know the guy. But there you go. Makes me think about mortality and life and all that serious stuff.

Anyways, I'm also back to having my Tuesday and Thursday nights taken up with MBA classes. I'm studying Operations and Supply Chain Management as well as Financial Management. As boring as it sounds, there are moments of coolness, the times when I'm reading a textbook or sitting in class and I get an "aha" moment. What I'm really hoping for is to be able to take some of the ideas and apply them to my own job. I have a fair amount of flexibility and say-so in how my area is run, but I get so busy in the day to day tasks that I don't often take the time to step back and make a master plan for the year. This is something that I really have to do. I don't want to stay a worker bee, I want to move up in the world. Probably would be a good idea to develop some more organizational skills.

Oh, it looks like lisabea and I (and others?) will be resurrecting Man Love Monday, so stay tuned. I'm contemplating my contribution but still haven't settled on an exact topic. Most likely Emma Holly will figure into it though, since I'm a relative newbie to m/m anything. I'm almost worried that My Fair Captain will have spoiled me. Can they all be that good? Inquiring minds want to know.

K, time to go to work and be productive. See you on the other side!

(I'm posting white shirt just to cheer me up and make me smile. Nothing new to see here, but sometimes you just need comfort eye candy. le sigh)

mixing business with pleasure

As anyone who has visited my blog in recent times may have noticed, I have this little "thing" for the amazing BBC miniseries North and South. (um, also just a tiny "thing" for star of aforementioned series, Mr. Richard Armitage...ahem). So I was only a little surprised when I found myself working the movie into a final reflection paper I had to write for one of my MBA classes. The subject? Organizational Structure and Behavior. Basically, we learned a bunch of metaphors which help one describe an organization. And I used some of them to evaluate what I saw in North and South. Hey, who says you can't mix schoolwork with fun?

...In many ways, I feel as though that since I’ve had these metaphors pointed out to me, they are head-smackingly obvious. I see them everywhere now. For example, last week I was watching a BBC miniseries called North and South which is set in the British industrial revolution. As I enjoyed the film and reacted to the characters and plot, my thought processes of evaluating it included bits and pieces of the metaphors. I could see the cotton mills with their endless rows of looms and factory drudgery work – Organization as a Machine. Then there were the inevitable clashes between the fledgling unions and the factory bosses – Organization as a Political System. We see workers suffering from lung disease developed by the cotton fluff in the factory air – Organization as Instruments of Domination. The film also allowed the audience to see some of the complexity that went into the management of the factory as the boss tried to decide whether or not to risk the future of his organization on a speculative financial investment or hope that the downward trend of the market would reverse itself. His decision had ramifications for the continued existence of the company – Organization as Organism. Although we don’t think of industrial era bosses as particularly enlightened or values-led, this particular owner had his own sense of justice and fairness. You could obviously see how his internal moral values had a direct impact on his leadership style and on the entire company – Organization as Culture. These are just the metaphors that came to mind easily. I’m quite sure that one could find parallels to all of them. ...

I dashed off the final paragraph and emailed the finished paper to my professor before I could lose my nerve. So what say you? Crazy or what? lol. Anyways, after that horrid Accounting exam which I finished tonight, my finals are done. I'm celebrating with an extra large bottle of Corona. I only wish I didn't have to work tomorrow or one bottle might be two.

Final examination consternation

Yet another of the "you gotta love Africa" photo collection. I am currently attempting to study for my final exam in Accounting for Decision Making and Control as well as complete two papers for Organizational Structure and Behavior. Oh yeah, it's just as fun as it sounds. So the blog is kinda not operational for the time being. Wish me luck in MBA round one and I'll see you on the other side.

Let it snow (please?)

I'm back to my own house after a month of internet-less house sitting. And of course I'm finding this endless access to the time-suck known as the world wide web to be as addictive as ever. I haven't read more than one book since I got home and that's been all of four days...I should have finished at least four or five! lol.

Actually, what I really should be doing is paying attention to my two MBA courses that are about to finish up next week. Finals and all that. hmm. I feel like I've been skating by, paying just enough attention in class to keep my good grades but not going above and beyond to really dig in and get a lot out of it. Which is silly really because the whole point of getting the damn degree is to learn something. Gotta do better on this next semester. hmmm, mumble mumble.

The forecast is calling for an 80% chance of snow late tonite and tomorrow. Since this is Virginia and people don't know how to drive on one centimeter of snow, there would be a good probability that school (and therefore work, for me) might be cancelled or delayed. So I am rooting for the snow. C'mon...bring it on!
In anticipation of being snowed in, I went to Borders tonite and used my $5 in Borders Bucks towards the purchase of Anna Campbell's new book Untouched. Granted, I didn't read Claiming the Courtesan, but Sybil had some previews up for this book on her blog a while back, and I was intrigued. Also, it seems to be getting pretty good reviews, so I'm looking forward to trying a new author. And hey, with my discount, I paid all of $2 so even if I hate it, it won't be a total loss.

In other reading-related news, I recently came across my audio-book versions of Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber and Drums of Autumn. Granted, they are the abridged versions but I bought them for a steal at B&N years and years ago and they've been sitting in the boxes I left in storage when I went into Peace Corps. Fun to run across them now and give them a whirl. I love listening to audiobooks, especially at night in the dark when I'm trying to fall asleep. It's like having someone tell you a story at bedtime. Only problem of course is when the story is too engaging and you stay awake because you don't want to miss anything. Tonight I am going to be listening to Hidden Riches by Nora Roberts. My library just started having audiobook downloads (for free!) but their selection of romance audiobooks is pretty pathetic. Lots of Delinsky, Coulter and Macomber. I'm hoping that by checking out the few that are actually good, they will get good stats as to popularity and maybe they will add more to the catalogue. Go check out the selection and give me any recommendations that you might have.

If I could only get an audiobook read by Richard Armitage, I think my life would be complete. Can you imagine falling asleep to that sexy voice? Guaranteed good dreams!

I hope to awake to a winter wonderland...wish me luck!