Books I've Read 2010

Books in bold are ones I've especially liked:

1. The Penelopiad, Margaret Atwood
2. Futurama: The Time Bender Trilogy, Matt Groening
3. Interview With a Vampire, Anne Rice
4. Her Fearful Symmetry, Audrey Niffennegger
5. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
6. Serenity, Vol. 2: Better Days, Joss Whedon
7. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon
8. Shades of Grey, Jasper Fforde
9. Heat Wave, Richard Castle
10. The Help, Kathryn Stockett
11. Confections of a Closet Master Baker, Gesine Bullock-Prado
12. A Widow For One Year, John Irving
13. If You Come Softly, Jacqueline Woodson
14. Shiver, Maggie Stiefvater
15. If I Stay, Gayle Forman
16. Scarlett Fever, Maureen Johnson
17. Marcelo In The Real World, Francisco X. Stork
18. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
    
19. Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World, Tracy Kidder
20. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
21. The Clock Without a Face, Eli Horowitz
22. Day After Night, Anita Diamant
23. The Shipping News, E. Annie Proulx
24. Prodigal Summer, Barbara Kingsolver
25. Little Bee, Chris Cleave
26. The Red Pyramid, Rick Riordan
    
27. Wizard's First Rule, Terry Goodkind
28. Stone of Tears, Terry Goodkind
29. When You Reach Me, Rebecca Stead
30. The Swan Thieves, Elizabeth Kostova
31. Monsters of Men (Chaos Walking, Book 3), Patrick Ness
32. Blood of the Fold, Terry Goodkind
33. Will Grayson, Will Grayson, John Green & David Levithan
34. Beautiful Creatures, Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
35. The Necromancer (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel: Book 4), Michael Scott
36. This is Where I Leave You, Jonathan Tropper
37. Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex (Book 7), Eoin Colfer
38. Superior Saturday (Keys to the Kingdom), Garth Nix
39. The God of Animals, Aryn Kyle
40. She's Come Undone, Wally Lamb
41. Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins
42. Only the Good Spy Young, Ally Carter
43. The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee, Sarah Silverman
44. The Maze Runner, James Dashner
45. The Mockingbirds, Daisy Whitney (ARC)
46. Incarceron, Catherine Fisher (ARC)
47. Reckless, Cornelia Funke
48. How to Talk To a Widower, Jonathan Tropper
49. The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver
50. The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd
51. It Is Right to Draw Their Fur, Dave Eggers
52. Knives at Dawn: America's Quest for Culinary Glory at the Legendary Bocuse d'Or Competition, Andrew Friedman
53. Serenity: The Shepard's Tale, Zack Whedon
54. The Scorch Trials, James Dashner
55. Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris
56. The Color of Magic, Terry Pratchett
57. Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout

Books I've read: 2009

Books in bold are ones I've especially liked:

1. Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman
2. Owl in Love, Patrice Kindl
3. Lock and Key, Sarah Dessen
4. The Two Princesses of Bamarre, Gail Carson Levine
5. Vegan Virgin Valentine, Carolyn Mackler
6. The Singing, Alison Croggon
7. Inferno, Robin Stevenson
   
8. Special Topics in Calamity Physics, Marisha Pessl
9. City of Glass, Cassandra Clare
10. The Last Days, Scott Westerfeld
11. Guyaholic, Carolyn Mackler
12. Alanna, Tamora Pierce
13. In the Hand of the Goddess, Tamora Pierce
14. The Woman Who Rides Like a Man, Tamora Pierce
15. Lioness Rampant, Tamora Pierce
16. Trickster's Choice, Tamora Pierce
17. Trickster's Queen, Tamora Pierce
18. The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson and the Olympians), Rick Riordan
19. Impossible, Nancy Werlin
20. Brisingr, Christopher Paolini
21. The Sorceress (The Secrets of Nicholas Flamel: Book 3), Michael Scott
22. Revelations, Melissa de la Cruz
23. The Forest of Hands and Teeth, Carrie Ryan
24. Watchman, Alan Moore
25. The Arrival, Shaun Tan
26. Wintergirls, Laurie Halse Anderson
27. A Homemade Life, Molly Wizenberg
28. Pretty Monsters, Kelly Link
29. Good Girls, Laura Ruby
30. Queste (Septimus Heap, Book 4), Angie Sage
31. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
32. The Knife of Never Letting Go, Patrick Ness
33. The Secret of Lost Things, Sheridan Hay
34. Kiki Strike: The Empress's Tomb, Kirsten Miller
35. Along for the Ride, Sarah Dessen
36. Heroes of the Valley, Jonathan Stroud
37. Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins
38. People of the Book, Geraldine Brooks
39. Light on Snow, Anita Shreve
40. Three Junes, Julia Glass
41. Nation, Terry Pratchett
42. Secrets of My Hollywood Life: On Location, Jen Calonita
43. The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown
44. Commencement, J. Courtney Sullivan
    
45. Secrets of My Hollywood Life: Family Affairs, Jen Calonita
46. Secrets of My Hollywood Life: Paparazzi Princess, Jen Calonita
47. The Boy Book, E. Lockhart
48. The Treasure Map of Boys, E. Lockhart
49. The Van Alen Legacy, Melissa de la Cruz
50. Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover, Ally Carter
51. Liar, Justine Larbalestier
52. Forest Born, Shannon Hale
53. Interworld, Neil Gaiman
54. Fire, Kristin Cashore
55. Vendetta, Chris Humphreys
56. The Ask and the Answer (Chaos Walking, Book 2), Patrick Ness
57. Front and Center, Catherine Murdock
    
58. Sacred Scars (A Resurrection of Magic, Book 2), Kathleen Duey
59. The Overlord Protocol (H.I.V.E.), Mark Walden
    

From the internets!

Here are two things from the internets that you must see.

First, a comprehensive list of problems solved by MacGyver. And second, well, let's just let this one speak for itself:

Raytheon Red is soooo last year

So I was manning my employer's table at a career fair during a regional meeting of the Society for Women Engineers this afternoon. As a participant in the meeting I was entitled to one of the gift tote bags that were handed out. Along with the standard crappy pen, notepad and lens cleaner, I was dismayed? amused? bemused? to find this:

For those of you who are slightly confused, it's a pretty silver gift bag with sparkly bead dangles and, inside, nail polish and lipstick. Both in "Raytheon Red."

It seems to me that if we are to be taken seriously as female scientists and engineers, possibly our organizations should arrange for other gifts? My employer had me handing out small computer tool kits that the women who stopped by to talk with me were thrilled to get. Just saying.

Not enough alcohol, part II

Continued from here:

1. Guy whose name I can't even remember
   
2. Guy who kept touching my hand
3. Guy with two kids
4. Guy who thinks science is sexy
5. Guy who wrote me from Kosovo
6. Guy who wanted to compete to see who knew Vermont better
7. Old guy who swears he's only single because he was busy getting his PhD
8. Guy who offered to help me get my butt in gear
   
9. Guy who hates all Arabs (and made sure I knew within our first ten minutes together)
10. Guy who asked me to go to Mexico with him sight unseen
11. Guy who had an unfortunate name
12. Guy who wanted to see a "clear, honest picture" of me before telling me about his research as a history grad student
13. Guy who made me eat Pad Thai after I told him how much I dislike it, who is the same guy who was upset I don't wear heels, who is the same guy who asked me (twice) to take advantage of him while he was drunk, who is the same guy who insisted he walk me one block to my car, who is the same guy who made me wait 10 minutes while he washed his dishes before walking me one block to my car, who is the same guy who asked for a ride the one block from my car back to his apartment
    
14. Guy who didn't talk
15. Guy who offered to fly in a helicopter up from Delaware for a date with me, who is the same guy who called me three times in the space of 15 minutes at work (and no, I never gave him my phone number)
16. Guy who asked to practice massage on me for our first date
17. Guy whose profile says "...I'm the guy that doesn't have the white infront of his face....The white is in use to protect the innocent. This is all I have for the moment, but I will have more."
18. Guy who took the time to write a (very nice) kiss-off email.
19. Guy who quickly became obsessed with the idea of my dating other guys.
20. Guy who was so nervous he couldn't really talk, but did manage to say I looked like a librarian (flatterer!).
21. Guy with a hair fetish.
22. Guy who wasn't exactly local.

And that's where this'll ends, folks. Because the guy who wasn't exactly local is local now. Who knew this whole online dating thing would really work!

Not enough alcohol in the world

As you all may or may not know, I'm single. Shocking, I know. You'd think someone would have snatched up this bookish, geeky Chemist by now, but alas, no one has. Everyone I've talked to (and who have talked with my parents) claims that, nowadays, the best way to meet people is on one of these online dating sites. I beg to differ. Here is a partial list of guys who have been in contact with me. Don't worry, I've only actually met some of them in person (those lucky souls are indicated in bold).

1. Guy whose name I can't even remember
   
2. Guy who kept touching my hand
3. Guy with two kids
4. Guy who thinks science is sexy
5. Guy who wrote me from Kosovo
6. Guy who wanted to compete to see who knew Vermont better
7. Old guy who swears he's only single because he was busy getting his PhD
8. Guy who offered to help me get my butt in gear
   
9. Guy who hates all Arabs (and made sure I knew within our first ten minutes together)
10. Guy who asked me to go to Mexico with him sight unseen
11. Guy who had an unfortunate name
12. Guy who wanted to see a "clear, honest picture" of me before telling me about his research as a history grad student
13. Guy who made me eat Pad Thai after I told him how much I dislike it, who is the same guy who was upset I don't wear heels, who is the same guy who asked me (twice) to take advantage of him while he was drunk, who is the same guy who insisted he walk me one block to my car, who is the same guy who made me wait 10 minutes while he washed his dishes before walking me one block to my car, who is the same guy who asked for a ride the one block from my car back to his apartment
    
14. Guy who didn't talk
15. Guy who offered to fly in a helicopter up from Delaware for a date with me, who is the same guy who called me three times in the space of 15 minutes at work (and no, I never gave him my phone number)
16. Guy who asked to practice massage on me for our first date

I figure I'll continue to add to this list from time to time for your collective amusement. After all, I should be getting something positive out of this experience (I mean, besides free vodka gimlets. Mmm, they make the crazy much easier to swallow and then promptly reject.), so why can't you too?

Random internet stuff

Random stuff from the internets:

• "Scientists for better PCR" music video
• The next board game I'm going to buy
• PBS is showing all of the movie versions of Jane Austen's books, and we get to vote on which leading man is our favorite! Ah, PBS, educational as always. Now who will I choose...Hot Guy from MI-5? Or Ye Olde Classic, Mr. Darcy? Decisions, decisions.
  
• Shannon Hale interviews Libba Bray
• If you liked the idea of Buffy Season 8 in comic book form, you'll be thrilled to know that the same thing is happening with Angel
• Friend C found this for me, and I have to say, she was dead on that I want to do this to a future room in my future house
  

Boltzmann's brain

This is why I love physics so much.

Resolution #1

There are these two guys at work who go to the gym together every day and both had asked me multiple times this past fall to start going with them. Of course I wanted to -- it's been a good nine years since I've been in really excellent shape, but I remember what it feels like, to know that I could ask my body to exert itself for hours at a time, to jump, to spike, to dive for a ball, and it would react appropriately, often knowing what it is I wanted to do before I thought it.

Here's the thing, though: I'm a fundamentally lazy person and I *hate* (HATE!) going to the gym. It's boring, it hurts, it's no fun. Plus, the guy I'd be working out with, A, is known as a total hard ass when it comes to exercise (he makes his pick-up basketball team do suicides after their evening games). But I realized that this was exactly what I needed, someone to force me to go and push myself even when I didn't want to (which is basically every single day).

I started going to the gym with these two guys this week and I have to say, A's been great. We agreed that he would go relatively easy on me to start with, while I got back into a routine. He was the captain of his university's track team and is *excellent* at motivating me to push a little harder even when I'm ready to stop. I love it. I do best with this type of exercise -- going to the gym, running, doing a lot of conditioning -- when there's someone there telling me what to do every step of the way, and A is filling that role grandly.

I lost about 20 pounds in 2007 through no real effort on my part other then apparently being incredibly stressed and cutting waaay back on my consumption of take-out (it helps to be strapped for cash). The last time I weighed this little I had just finished my first semester playing for my college's volleyball team. My goal for this year is to maintain this weight and get back into the best shape of my life. And, if I have any say in the matter, end up looking something like this. Yeah, that should only take about a month. Aherm.

The coming year, 2008 edition

Goodbye 2007, hello 2008.

This is me being ready to start a new year. Don't get me wrong, 2007 wasn't all bad; there was the great, two week vacation to Bar Harbor and the Maritimes; the promotion; many reminders of how wonderful my friends are. And on the flips side, the ending of an almost five year relationship.

What does 2008 have in store for me? Who knows! My life is definitely a clean slate at the moment. I have a great, steady job that will continue to give me the flexibility, both in time and money, to pursue whatever I decide to pursue this year. I have supportive friends and family, a great place to live, health insurance -- there's a lot to be thankful for. I wouldn't mind finding a new hobby this year, or maybe a great place to volunteer some of my free time and meet even more great people. Maybe a little romance?

I'm looking forward to the following books coming out:

• Into the Dark, Peter Abrahams (March 25, 2008)
• Unaccustomed Earth, Jhumpa Lahiri (April 1, 2008)
• Inkdeath, Cornelia Funke (April 7, 2008)
• Suite Scarlett, Maureen Johnson (May 1, 2008)
  
• The Battle of the Labyrinth, Rick Riordan (May 6, 2008)
• The Magician, Michael Scott (June 24, 2008)
• Superior Saturday, Garth Nix (July 1, 2008)
• Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox, Eoin Colfer (July 15, 2008)
• The Singing, Alison Croggon (September 2008)
• Paper Towns, John Green (September 2008)

What are you all looking forward to this coming year? And what future publications are miss ing from my list (I'm talking to you, C!)?

God has a gold tooth

And apparently this is just the first episode...I can't wait to see what they do with the other holidays!

Part trois

My next two gift ideas for your beloved bibliophile are ones that I can neither condemn nor condone. They need to be labeled:

WARNING: Some books were harmed during the making of this gift

If that's something you can stomach, look no farther than here and here. If you cannot, please, for the love of god, avert your eyes.

The holiday season is upon us, part deux

Second in my series of holiday gifts for that special bibliophile in your life.

The holiday season is upon us

Here's "the perfect gift" for the bibliophile who has everything:
And since the label is pretty much illegible in this picture, it's a perfume called "In the Library" and is described on its website as "English novel taken from a Signed First Edition of one of my very favorite novels, Russion & Moroccan leather bindings, worn cloth and a hint of wood polish."

People think I'm crazy

People who know me well know that I have certain completely irrational and random fears: swimming in deep water when I don't know what's under me; throwing up; grating my skin with a cheese grater; being in a plane crash; insects; insects feasting on my flesh; me being inside my house when it explodes from a massive gas leak; somehow cutting my eyeballs...I'll stop here to keep from further embarrassment.

Well, one of these fears has been realized: tonight my grip on the Parmesan cheese slipped and I grated my thumb and pinky on my right hand.

I have a few things to say about the matter:

1. Ow.
2. It won't stop bleeding.
3. Ewwwww.
4. OW.
5. It wasn't quite as awful as I had imagined, though it is pretty awful if I stop and think about it for too long.
6. See numbers 1, 2 and 4.

And since you were wondering, I was using the "extra coarse" grater.

Seriously, though, I should just sit quietly on my couch not touching anything for a few days. Last night, after finally finding the time to get my humidifier ready for use, the (full) water tank slipped out of my hands, fell to the floor and shattered, flooding my bedroom with about 4 gallons of water. The sound of water pouring down into my heat vent (and realizing that my feet were soaked) pulled me out of my did-what-I-think-just-happened-happen reverie, and I spent the next half hour using every extra bed sheet and towel I own mopping up the mess.

Please add "bed falling through rotted-out hardwood floor into basement while I sleep" to my list of irrational fears.

So it's no surprise that all of my equipment only started working today as soon as I left the lab, and that when I came home tonight I made like the Romans did with Rabbi Akiva. The pinky is oh-so much worse off than the thumb. I actually have ice on it trying to get it to stop bleeding.

Apparently the universe thinks that getting a PROMOTION and an excellent raise is adequate to balance out all of the above insanity, and I have to say that I'm inclined to agree.

Please excuse me while I wrap myself up in padding and sit in the middle of my couch watching TV. I can't even risk finishing my book for fear of unnatural papercuts or freak spontaneous combustion of ink.

New camera edition

How I love you, November, with your cool, crisp days and your extra hour of sleep! To celebrate, I headed out this morning to get myself a special breakfast treat at my favorite local bakery, Bread and Chocolate:

Now doesn't that look delicious? Especially since it was taken on my new camera, to be referred to hereafter as The Best Birthday Present Ever. I've been having a great time getting myself acquainted with all of TBBPE's features and exploring the limits of its 12x optical zoom.

This afternoon I'm going to see my favorite opera, La Boheme, with my family, and will finally have the opportunity to use the opera glasses I inherited from my grandmother. They were not originally hers, but as she had been the recipient of almost all of her family's things, I'm not sure who they belonged to originally. They are beautifully inlaid with mother of pearl, and from my pokings-around on the internets, it appears that they date back to sometime in the second half of the 19th century and are French.

I'll let you all know it goes! This will be my first time going to the opera State-side, so I'm excited to finally be able to read an understand the subtitles accompanying the performance (the majority of my other opera experiences were in German and Czech speaking countries).

Dancing bird

No, really, this bird dances! I'm not saying he has the best taste in music, but he's certainly a better dancer than I am.

Something very strange happened on Friday morning as I was getting ready for work. I heard my upstairs neighbor creeping down her stairs to the front door carrying a recycling bin. She then proceeded to replace the recycling bin on the curb (that had recently been emptied by the trash people) with the one in her hand, and creep back up to the second floor. Seriously. I watched the entire thing from my dining room. This is strange for several reasons, and not just the ones you may be thinking of:

1. My upstairs neighbors don't recycle. They have never recycled. They've been here almost a year and not once have they put any plastic or glass bottles on the curb, no food containers, no paper goods. Nothing.
2. The bin marked "apartment 2" is sitting outside with all of the trashcans. They are in apartment 2, therefor I just assumed (wrongly) that if the mood ever struck them, their bin was sitting there waiting for them.
   
3. Apparently we have had three recycling bins all this time and I didn't know it: one I've been using that stays in my apartment (unless it's out being emptied like it was on Friday), one that sits outside, and apparently the one they've been storing upstairs for god-knows-what purpose. Three bins for three people! But only one of us actually recycles.
   
4. It begs the question, what are they using the bin for? And why did they feel the need to switch? Is there something wrong with the one they left out there for me? Is the plastic laced with mouse poop? Were they using it for some sort of science experiment? Is it safe to bring into my home?
   

Check under the cushions

You may not have noticed, but I have gone missing. Well, I was missing. I'm back now. Maybe. You see, I've been doing my best couch potato impersonation. Rather, I've been thoroughly documenting the most comfortable spots and positions on my new sofa. OK, I've gotten sucked into TV land. It's just that I needed to get caught up on Heroes before season 2 starts. And while I was waiting for Heroes season 1 to come out on DVD, I thought I would re-watch Alias season 3 for the first time since it was actually on (and boy, I hated that season at the time, but it's really, really good). And then I just had to re-watch season 4 because maybe it wasn't as much of a train wreck as I remembered (and if you skip the vampire episode -- don't ask -- it actually isn't. So far).

Insert assembling various meals, sleeping, shuffling off to the supermarket and seeing various friends, as appropriate. Oh, and work.

It's possible you now understand the nature of my fixations. Nothing -- nothing! -- can stop me. Except possibly the need to not get fired, which is why these "episodes" are spread out over multiple weeks, instead of concentrated into a few short days.

But really, it's quite problematic this time as I am very, very behind on my book reading. There's really quite a backlog. Literally, there's a stack 10 books high (4,421 pages worth) on my desk, three of which need to get back to the library, one of which I've been waiting and waiting for for ages, and one of which I'm supposed to be reading with B. Not to mention the one that I was supposed to have read for my book group in August. And I'm not counting the 30 other books I told myself I had to read before I was allowed to buy any new books. So there is actually pressure. I even have magazines and mail piling up as well. I'm trapped by paper!

That being said, I have three disks down and three more to go before I've made my final decision on A3, and I have two more H disks to get through as well.

Why no, my life hasn't suddenly taken a turn for the uninteresting, thank you.

The Bibliophile needs...

Taking a page from my friend J's livejournal, I googled "[The Bibliophile] needs" and came up with these helpful suggestions:

• [The Bibliophile] needs to have blush that is very bright and colorful
  
• [The Bibliophile] needs Some Good Thoughts
• [The Bibliophile] needs to refer to Web sites, manuals, and a variety of documentation
• [The Bibliophile] needs more caffeine
  
• [The Bibliophile] needs help when she enters Manhattan's meat-packing district to help three transvestite hookers find out who murdered one of their friends-- and whether one of them might be the next victim
• [The Bibliophile] needs your prayers
  
• [The Bibliophile] needs Netflix friends
  
• [The Bibliophile] needs to set her sights a little higher
• [The Bibliophile] needs to choose between two guys
  
• [The Bibliophile] needs more time for herself and more attention at home
• [The Bibliophile] needs your help

Well now. I think that pretty much says it all.