Sweet Revenge by Diane Mott Davidson

Goldy Schulz is a caterer, who also happens to solve crimes in her spare time. Its her busy holiday catering season this time and a former District Attorney is found dead at the local library. Stirred on by one of her former clients, Goldy begins unofficially investigating.

I have read almost all of Davidson’s books. I think they are an enjoyable light read and I also enjoy reading the recipes that are included. I have yet to make anything from the books, but its on my (long) list of things to do. The thing that always strikes me as interesting about these type of murder series, is that no one seems fazed that the same person keeps stumbling across bodies. I guess that is the nature of fiction, it doesn’t always have to be believable in real life, as long as the author is able to make the reader suspend disbelief.

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie

Minn Dobbs is a slightly chubby actuary who is not looking for love after her boyfriend dumps her. Little does she know that she is going to find it anyway. This is my 3rd read of this book. I remember the first time I had read it, it caught me from almost the first page. I think part of the reason I like this book is because the heroine isn’t your typical drop dead gorgeous woman. She has brown hair, has a weight problem according to her mother and she’s an actuary. She sounds a lot like me, except I’m not single. I also like that Minn doesn’t just fall at the guy’s feet, in fact, she actively tries to stay away from him. That is where a lot of the humor of the book comes in. After reading this book, I became a fan of Jennifer Crusie.

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Chloe Does Yale by Natalie Krinsky

Chloe takes us through her junior year at Yale, where she writes a sex column for the student newspaper. Its funny though, because not once does Chloe actually have sex, though she does engage in some sexual behavior. “Wink wink” While I did enjoy this book, this was my second read; I felt it could have been better. The end leaves something to be desired, as we find out who Chloe’s secret admirer is, however, the resolution is written into a short epilogue. Don’t get me wrong, I like a good epilogue to wrap things up, but I felt this story could have been taken further. I felt like the character of Chloe was never fully developed. Maybe because the author would include Chloe’s columns as part of the story, but a lot of what was in the column was never fully discussed. Somehow it made the story feel not quite fleshed out.

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It: No Schedules, No Meetings, No Joke--The Big Idea That's Already Transforming the Way We Work

Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It: No Schedules, No Meetings, No Joke--The Big Idea That's Already Transforming the Way We Work by Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson

Hands down, one of the best books I have ever read. The authors pioneered a program at Best Buy called, “Results Only Work Environment.” After implementing the program, they discovered that if managers treated their employees like adults, then productivity went up. What a novel concept! (sarcasm here)
This book articulated everything I had ever felt about working in corporate America. I used to think I was crazy when I thought to myself, “Why should my boss care how long I am at work, as long as I get my work done”. Well, that is no longer the case. Now I know that I am not the only one who thinks that my employer should, “pay me for a chunk of work and not a chunk of time.”
Now all I have to figure out is how to get my company to start a program like this.

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars.

Book Reviews

Probably my favorite thing to do is to read books. I love reading almost to the exclusion of everything else, except maybe food. :) Anyway, if I could find a job where I read books for a living instead of spreadsheets, I would be in heaven. So, in light of that, I am going to start posting reviews of the books I read. Heck, maybe even the movies I see.

Weaker Sex

Who is the weaker sex? Men or Women? Even in today's enlightened world, there are still guys out there who think women are the weaker sex. Some of my husband's family members and I were discussing the presidential race and my husband's cousin had an interesting observation. He observed that our country and the world at large is not ready for a female president. He believes that we aren't ready for a woman president because he believes that a woman president would be perceived to be weak by the rest of the world. Therefore, he concluded that terrorists would be more likely to attack our country if we have a woman president. I feel this is crap. Number one, other countries have woman leaders. Number 2, women are not the weaker sex, despite the propaganda of men. When a man can carry a baby in his body for nine months, then give birth and with little to no recovery time, immediately start caring for an infant, then I will consider them the stronger sex.

Who knew?

So, I fell down the stairs at my sister's house this weekend. Apparently, I injured my tailbone. I didn't go to the doctor or anything, because it didn't seem that bad. But, :), my a** hurts when I go to get up from sitting. Great.

I did some internet research, (thank you, www.webmd.com), and it turns out, tailbone injuries take a long time to heal. Considering I spend most of my day sitting on my hind end, this is not what I wanted to hear. Who knew?

Customer Service

Has customer service gone the way of the dodo? I went shopping at the big mall on Saturday with my sister and my 2 children. It seemed that almost every worker we encountered had no customer service skills? Or at least, they couldn't seem to work fast to save their lives. My son has no patience for sitting still and hence, at the checkout counters he gets upset if we sit there too long. Of course, we manage to get the slowest moving checkers. Don't they realize that I don't enjoy the sound of my child having a tantrum and that the quickest way to get him out of the store is for the checker to hurry up? Maybe they enjoy hearing the screams of a small child, but I sure don't.

What you mean he don't eat meat?

Don't get me wrong, I fully support a person's right to eat what they want. However, I do have a question for the vegeterians out there. What is the purpose of a cow, chicken or pig if not to be eaten? If you believe, or even ifyou don't, that everything in the world has a purpose, what is the purpose of a cow if not to be eaten. If we didn't eat cows, would the world be over run with them?

March 10, 2008

Daylight Savings Time-ugg. I don't mind falling back, but springing forward is kicking my butt. My rugrats schedules are all thrown off and so is mine. Just when I was beginning to enjoy the sunrise peeking over the horizon in the mornings on my way to work and "bam," back to the dark mornings.

J has been a complete hellion. Temper tantrums at every turn over nothing. Pretty soon he is going to be put to bed as soon as we get home from work if this keeps up.

So, my random thought of the day...

Bears have got the right idea...eat and get fat all summer and then sleep all winter. Granted, you have nuts like my brother-in-law shooting at you, but all in all, not a bad deal.