Books!

Sue and I had a nice day out today, but unfortunately now her stomach is bothering her, so she's off to bed. Hopefully, she'll be feeling better tomorrow...

Here's some photos of our day out!

Sue with NYC in the background, at a park on the riverfront in Hoboken...

Hey, this looks like our Christmas Card!

I think this guy was practicing for something, or he was just waiting for a big gust of wind to come along and take him away...

With my loss of hair, I think I'm going to just start combing it straight back...

We hit a restaurant called The Pita Grill for a late lunch. It's a natural food place that we haven't been to before. I found it ironic that the natural food place had Z100, a top 40 radio station cranked WAY up, so we could listen to music with no human/natural interaction in it.

Then, we hit Barnes & Nobles in Hoboken. It's a smallish store, but not that bad. I had a $50 gift card from my mom, so I knew it was time to load up on a few pounds of book. Here's what I got... (with links to the books on Amazon, a delicious irony!)

• Redemption Ark, by Alastair Reynolds. A good SF writer I've gotten into recently. I hope to enjoy this one...


• Cell, by Stephen King. I'm always up for a good zombie book... And yes, Brian, it's now out in paperback!


• Spider Kiss, by Harlan Ellison. An old novel that's just back in print from a really terrific writer.


• The Planets, by Dava Sobel. In my look at the Science section of the store, this one jumped out at me. I've heard good things about it, and I recall enjoying "Longitude," one of Sobel's previous books.


• The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova. Recommended to me by a reader of this very blog! Honest! Don't tell me I never listen to you all!


• The Ghost Map, by Steven Johnson. A non-fiction book about a cholera outbreak in London in the 1850's. It seemed interesting to me, I'm always looking for some good non-fiction out there.


• Fragile Things, by Neil Gaiman. A collection of short stories and other work, by a writer of uncommon goodness. I recommend pretty much anything he's written for those of you out there who are looking for good writing.

I also got World Changing: A User's Guide for the 21st Century from Sue for Christmas. I have been breezing through it, and it's a good book to read for a few minutes and then put down. It's a compendium of ideas on how individuals can take action to make the 21st Century a better place to live for us and our descendants. I think it'll be my gift of choice for people coming up during this year...

And, I'm reading World War Z, by Max Brooks right now (also a gift from Sue!). It's a fictionalized (HA!) account of the War against the Zombies that happened back, oh, back then! Don't you remember it? It's a good read so far, I'm sure I'll continue to enjoy it...

But, let me recap the last week or so. We did Christmas dinner here with Sue's family and my mom. It went quite well, Sue was really the driving force behind the dinner, so full kudos to her for that work. On Christmas Eve, I was over at my Dad and stepmother's place for the traditional gathering there.

We had gotten some bad news, that John Grant, one of our family friends, and an old neighbor of ours, had passed away earlier in the day. He had had MS for at least 24 years or so, so he hadn't been healthy for awhile. John was a good guy, who I always enjoyed talking to. I mowed his lawn when I was in junior high/high school for some money, and looked forward to our chats afterwards. He'll be missed by us, and by many of those who he connected with throughout his life.

Yesterday, I went to the NJ State Archives in Trenton, and got some more info on some of the side branches of my family tree. It's harder now to find information on my direct ancestors, as I've tapped most of the "easy" sources of facts. I'll have to keep digging though, and see what turns up with these side lines, the siblings and descendants of my direct ancestors. It continues to be fun, so that's really what it's all about. I found information on my Coulson, Jameson, Graves, Riepe, and other relatives. I was trying to make a connection with some ancestors on my mom's side, but my guesses on what to follow up on that side have been coming up zeros recently. Gotta keep plugging away.

The day after Christmas (I'm jumping around a lot here, I know), Sue and I went down to see my family who we hadn't seen together on Christmas Eve or Day. It was a good time with everyone, visiting my grandmother, my Dad and stepmother, and my Mom. Then, we met up with my friend Brian for some good Chick-Fil-A eats, and a movie (Night at the Museum, a fun movie for kids).

I even have a photo to prove it!

Don't worry, Sue's not eating chicken, she got a salad!

After the movie, we went back to Brian's house for a bit to hang out with him and his sister In. A good time was had by all.

I should also mention that Sue got me the Clerks II DVD, and we watched it on Wednesday night. Good times.

NP: Magma - Theusz Haamtaak