Guest Blogger - Diggity Dog

Hi! I'm Diggity Dog, a guest blogger from Flax Hill. I have my own blog, Travels with Diggity Dog. I'm trying to visit all of the United States. My friend Jane was nice enough to let me visit with Auntie Nettie and her family as they were travelling all over the country. On this trip, I got to visit lots of places and do lots of things. Want to see?

Places I visited

Apparently, Arizona has some detractors.
Note the bullet holes.

These people don't seem friendly to my kind!

I just don't have enough "dog years" to qualify to live here.

I also had fun in St. George, Utah.

Swimming with the fishes

I'm sorry. Am I too heavy?

Why, oh why, am I not waterproof?

Hey buddy?

Don't push my buttons!

I made lots of new friends.

Why is Grumpa Max hiding? I just want to bring him the "Good Word."

(You'll understand later.)

Chewing the Fat with Amber
Whoa Nellie! Important Pow-wow

Sniffing Around with Tippi. Who says dogs and cats can't be friends?

Me and My Rockman
I took in lots of Nature.

Is it a tree or a cactus?

Look at the size of that tumbleweed! My Canyon Ranch adventure Catching some rays
I even went "Native!" When in Utah ...

I converted on this trip.

Now I'm a missionary. Here I am trying to convert some friends.
I did lots of other things too!

Biking Gambling in the local gas station
Watching the Chronicles of Narnia
Learning to play the guitar

Joining a band

Going trekking, now that I'm a "native."

I didn't have so much fun in the Cactus Garden

OUCH!

I even snuck along on the "Visit to Manland"

Riding the 4x4

Excuse me? I'm not your cub!

Ride 'Em Buckaroo!

Nevada Necessity!

When in Nevada, it is necessary to go to a casino. You have to. It's a rule!

You also have to go to the Buffet!

But now I don't feel so good!

Looking forward to California!

I was supposed to fly back to New York with Auntie Nettie, but her parental units went on to California and I hitch-hiked with them. Pictures tomorrow.

stay tuned ....

FREAKING AWESOME

Can I just say how much I love the Big J? LOVE it. LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

Not only do I get Fridays off in the summer, at least 7-9 of them, but this time because July 4th is on a Friday, we get Thursday, July 3rd off. Today, my love affair with corporate America just increased a tiny, tiny bit.

We had a "birthday" lunch outing scheduled today that turned into the whole department going to picnic in Central Park (all of us! -- that never happens)! After a glorious hour and a half of basking on the lawns, we didn't want to come back, but we forced ourselves. Upon returning, the senior manager who ate with us (another first) decided that we should all leave .... at 3:00 p.m.

FREAKING AWESOME.

(Not to gloat or anything, sorry other folks. But after over a decade in the %#@%*(& trenches, my heart is being healed by small acts like this!)

OUT OF HERE!

WEEEE Four day weekend, here I come!

Word of the Day - Scrouge

Today I've finally learned the official word for the heck that is my commute on the subways, thanks to my daily reading of Shelf Awareness, an e-mail newsletter for the book trade (i.e. librarians, book sellers, publishers, etc.)

From the new book:
Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages by Ammon Shea ($21.95, Perigee, 9780399533983/0399533982, June 3, 2008)

Scrouge (v.) To inconvenience or discomfort a person by pressing against them, or by standing too close.

"For passengers on modern transportation everywhere, this word has tremendous and unfortunate resonance. It falls firmly within the category of words that one wishes one did not have occasion to use on a daily basis but are fascinating nonetheless." - Marilyn Dahl


I love reading this e-mail every morning. Not only do I find out about very cool bookstores, but I can find out about new publications from my favorite authors, learn about media appearances, and occasionally score Advance Readers Copies or Galley Proofs of new books before they are published. I took about seven of these ARCs on vacation with me, and have enjoyed passing them along to family members and colleagues to help introduce them to new authors. You get to read a book BEFORE it hits the bookstores, so you can be in the "know." The only drawback about the e-mail, it introduces MORE books for me to add to my ever increasing To-Be-Read list.

RIP - George Hammond/Don S. Davis

Just got some very sad SciFi news. I feel like I've lost a grandpa. (Look, if you spent as much time watching SciFi and Stargate as I have over the years, you'd be upset too.)

Stargate's Davis Is Dead

Gateworld reported that Don S. Davis, who played Maj. Gen. George Hammond on SCI FI Channel's Stargate SG-1 for seven seasons, died June 29 after suffering a heart attack. He was 65.

Citing Davis' wife, Ruby Fleming-Davis, the site reported that a family memorial will take place in a few weeks during which Davis' ashes will be scattered in the ocean; fans were asked to make memorial donations to the American Heart Association.

Davis left the regular cast of SG-1 in 2003 because of a medical condition that restricted his workload, but he made several guest appearances on the show and its spinoff, Stargate Atlantis.

A native of Missouri, Davis had a 26-year career that included many roles on TV series, notably Maj. Garland Briggs on Twin Peaks. He met SG-1 co-star Richard Dean Anderson on the set of MacGyver, on which he worked as a stunt double for actor Dana Elcar. *

Davis' final Stargate appearance is in Stargate: Continuum, the upcoming straight-to-DVD movie. He will also appear in the films Vipers, Woodshop and Far Cry.


*Which explains why I always thought that it was strange that he looked like Pete from MacGyver.

Auntie Nettie Reads A LOT - 2nd Quarter

This is the second installment of the Reading List for 2008. I do read a lot, though the list is a little shorter than usual for June. I've been doing some other things -- like vacationing, travelling, sleeping, and crafting. {The latter is a whole other blog posting that I haven't gotten around to doing yet, projects for 2008 are 42 and counting though!}

As a reminder: I'm not going to say what I've enjoyed or not, to overtly make recommendations, or to link to major on-line catalogs or retailers. This is just a list. I am posting this for me. There may be trends and themes, but they do not represent all of my interests or wholly represent me. The trend may shift considerably in the next few months.

The one thing that I did notice this quarter is that I have no qualms NOT finishing a book if it doesn't capture my attention in the first 30-50 pages (roughly one period of commuting time). Nothing against the authors or their works, but life is too short, and my list of books to read and things to do is too long to spend it reading things that I have to struggle to finish. Being forced to read stuff in high school English and certain sections of my college major totally soured me on being forced to read stuff that I didn't absolutely enjoy.

Go forth and read, my readers.

Reading list for April 2008
Grave Peril, Book 3 of The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
Summer Knight, Book 4 of The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
Death Masks, Book 5 of The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
Blood Rites, Book 6 of The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
Dead Beat, Book 7 of The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
Proven Guilty, Book 8 of The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
White Night, Book 9 of The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
Before Green Gables; The Prequel to Anne of Green Gables by Budge Wilson
Dragon Harper by Anne & Todd McCaffrey
The Outlaw Demon Wails by Kim Harrison
The Archivist by Martha Cooley
Duplicate Keys by Jane Smiley
Small Favors, Book 10 of The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich
Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder

Reading list for May 2008
The Commoner by John Burnahm Schwartz
Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
Life on the Refrigerator Door by Alice Kuipers
Coyote Dream by Jessica Davis Stein
The New Yorkers by Cathleen Schine (didn't finish)
Bright Angel Time by Martha McPhee (didn't finish)
High Noon by Nora Roberts
Harrowing the Dragon by Patricia A. McKillip
Almost Heaven by Marianne Wiggins
Dead Ex by Harley Jane Kozak
Cooking Up Murder by Miranda Bliss
Blood Brothers by Nora Roberts
The Hollow by Nora Roberts
Ladies of Liberty by Cokie Roberts (didn't finish)
The Aviary Gate by Katie Hickman
The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
The House at Midnight by Lucie Whitehouse
The Island of Eternal Love by Daina Chaviano

Reading list for June 2008
Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father by John Matteson (didn't finish)
The Man Who ate the 747 (didn't finish) by Ben Sherwood
The Seduction of the Crimson Rose by Lauren Willig
Seeing Me Naked by Liza Palmer
Secrets by Jude Deveraux
The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry
The Host by Stephenie Meyer (3 times in one week!)
The Diagnosis of Love by Maggie Leffler
From Dead To Worse by Charlaine Harris

Currently reading Light of the Moon by Luanne Rice

Storytime with Amber and Auntie Librarian

One of the best days I had on vacation was when I got to go to storytime at the local library with Amber and her Mama. As a librarian, this little excursion made me very happy, though I did stick out like a sore thumb, being camera happy and sans-child. Oh well. What's the Auntie Librarian to do?

Here's the rock star eating en route to the fun.

Amber liked playing with the animals. Here's her panda friend.

She did get a little shy, and didn't go and sit on the mat with the other kids. I didn't care. The easier to film her that way.

After storytime, Amber and Mama went and selected some new books. Here they are in line to check-out at the Big Desk. She's such a big girl!

St. George has this great communal area near the library, filled with sculptures, gazebos, and fun fountains. Who doesn't like to splash in the water? Especially if they are Aquarii?

For ONCE, Amber held still enough for me to take a non-action photo. Here she is curled up with a good book. I'm so proud!

The End!

Blogs and Twittering

You know you've been spending too much time in cyberspace, surfing blogs and looking at people's Twitter comments*, when the first reaction you have to the extensive graffiti in the restrooms in Grand Central is:

Someone really must have wanted to be twittering.

... where twittering happens, old style!

* Yes, Krippy. I mean YOU! (and Sleepygoat and MooshinIndy!)