2015

Not even sure I should be titling this a 2015 blog, but here goes.

I have decided that I am not a blogger. I love twitter, I love facebook but I don't love blogging. I think it is a few reasons:

• I'm too busy
• I am happy to share my opinion when asked, but just putting stuff out into the void seems a bit pretensious
• New tools have already supplanted the reason I relaunched this blog

So, the reasons.  I'm too busy.  I love my job at UB. I work on a computer all day long. I'm not doing a lot of generic computer work in my free time.  I have freelance jobs too, so again, when I don't have to be on a computer, I'm not being there anymore. So blogging fails the free time test.

I'm happy to share my opinion.... but not just being opinionated.  I'll share fun stuff on twitter (follow me at (@cpd623)  and hang out with my friends on facebook, but that stuff is way more personal than what I want to share on a blog. Maybe I'll change my mind again, but maybe not.  I'll keep this active, but more like monthly than weekly or daily.

New tools. I love Pinterest for my book tracking. I managed to pin 52 books last year and I've started the same goal for 2015. I don't need to blog about them anymore cause that is faster.

I'm always open to new ideas, work requests, professional contacts etc. If you'd like to work together, find me on LinkedIn. 

Wow.

Today is a wow day. It's a weird snow day in Buffalo where half the city is being blanketed and the other half has nothing.

Seriously.

This is a view down Genessee street in Cheektowaga. To the left is the storm, to the right is sun.

Tomorrow the snow band might move north, but we'll never get as much snow as the southtowns.

Also WoW, how long since I last blogged. I guess I'm not very dedicated to it. I tend to blog more when I have free time and there is very little of that in my life at this moment.   I've been blessed to be very busy lately and that is the important thing.  I have managed to read 50 books though, only two more for the goal this year. Glad I got ahead of that when I did!

Wishing for all to stay safe and warm and dry.

May was a whirlwind

So hello June. In fact I'm late on the hello part since today is June 3.

No books read since my last post. Grateful I got ahead on the year-long goal when I had the chance. Between the family funeral, getting Peter home from college, Maggie's end of SHA activities, Pete's birthday and a weekend in Richmond, VA with Matthew for the East Coast Volleyball playoffs, I lost the month. Totally.

Update on the projects... um, the dress is still not done. Have totally reworked it. I begin to understand why couture costs so much. I am literally hand stitching part of it now to fit her properly. I hope it is wearable when done but I now afraid that it will be a tortured piece of fabric when finished. I'm not sure I'm a candidate for Project Runway anytime soon.

On the plus side of that not being finished, I will have a legitimate excuse to sit in the cooler basement while working on it.

Starting to read Rebuilt and planning to read "12 Years a Slave." Looking for history recommendations. I find those easier to read in spurts and that appears to be my life for the next few weeks as we prep for two graduations this month.

May flowers

Had fun visting Mischler's Florist at the end of April to get flowers for the front yard and the diaconate luncheon. Primroses were on sale and they were gorgeous.  The rabbits have enjoyed all of the ones I planted in the front yard, so I hope they rebound OK. Daffodils are blooming so we have some color all around.

I was able to share the daffodils with my Uncle Steve before he passed last weekend. They really did brighten up the room. We lost him on May 4, which was odd considering the Big Bang Theory episode last week about Sheldon coping with a death on Star Wars Day. I'm not really sure I want to start finding clues to my destiny in random tv episodes, but that hit awfully close to home.

With his illness and the diaconate needs, I really have had no time to read or do any other activities around the house. I really need to finish Maggie's dress too. Time is slipping away.

Three more books under the bridge though. The most fun was Red Shirts by John Scalzi. I love that concept from Star Trek and it was a brilliant take on the idea. Also read The Alloy of Law from Brandon Sanderson (a mistborn book) which was OK and the Druggist of Auschiwitz by Dieter Schelsak. It was a sad take on the "medical" side of the concentration camp.

Happy April

Spring has finally arrived in Buffalo! I've seen tons of robins and the tufted titmouse bird is back calling "peeter, peeter" over and over again. Makes me miss my son...

I managed to stay pretty healthy all winter until the weather changed and now I'm lucky my coworkers haven't tossed me on my ear with my coughing in my cube. I was not the first to get sick around here, but after years in a hospital setting I am super sensitive to making people sick because of my illness.

You would think getting laid low by a virus would help the book reading efforts but sadly no. I just keep sleeping!  The updates for this cycle are both from the diaconate weekend. We finished Mary's Song last weekend and I read Contemplative Prayer to get ready for a discussion about a theological reflection. Got some other Merton books out of the library and I am looking forward to reading them when I can stay awake.

Work has been amazing though. We had the best social media around Accepted Students Day at #ubuffalo this year. Just amazing. It felt like Christmas I was having so much fun. Plus I'm getting a bit more into marketing efforts and that feels so familiar. I love web content but sometimes it helps to step out, see the big picture and then go back in and figure out how best to tell the story in the individual areas.

Books and Work and NCAA

Update on the reading (three more done). Am tracking all of them on this Pinterest board cause I'm lousy at the running count ! It says 21 so far, so I'm well ahead of the goal. I am sure real life will stop me at some point LOL.

• 700 Sundays by Billy Crystal
• The Blessing by John Trent
• League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions and the Battle for Truth by ESPN reporters

I tried to read a Rex Stout mystery but just could not bring myself to sort through the old-fashioned language and sexist attitudes. I know that noir literature is like that but I just was not in the mood.

So, next I'm going to read the Divergent series. We have a rule in my house that you are not supposed to see a movie until you have read the book. As Maggie points out regularly, I have not held Matthew to that standard all the time. But he was a baby when we started reading Harry Potter and I wasn't going to stop him from enjoying those movies. However, I am enforcing that rule with the Hunger Games, Enders Game and Divergent. So, now I have to read those books!

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Off Peak Update
I am in the process of launching some new initiatives for the Tri-State Consortium including surveys to help with their research, an experts roster and expanded LinkedIn options. I'm excited to work on their materials because it is such a great way for me to connect all of my marketing and highered experience.  Plus, it helps me to start new projects because it keeps me current. I find sometimes that we just let things ride until we are forced to change. By continuing to expand my skills, I can bring new ideas to work and vice versa. Grateful for these opportunities. 

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Just a note about the NCAA.  Boy, the brackets are broken. I don't recall any other tourney where there have been so many upsets. But the basketball has been amazing to watch. I love March Madness !

Another snow storm

Buffalo had another snow storm yesterday. As my friend Arlene said on facebook "You know you are from Buffalo when everyone is complaining that ONLY 14 inches of snow and 30-40 mph winds and 1/4 mile visibility is hardly a blizzard and doesn't measure up to our standards."

I have to agree that it was never a blizzard yesterday, but thundersnow was a new experience. 

Got to finish reading The Monuments Men while home and had a mini movie marathon with the kids. Watched Red 2 and Despicable Me 2. Both were Christmas gifts we have not had any time to watch. Also did a bunch of computer work and got organized to try to make a spring dress, while Pete worked on the kitchen some more. I think we need more days off like that. Totally random where you are up and moving (both Pete and I went to work) but as the city shut down we both came home at noon and were energized to get some things done. Quite a gift actually.

Have two mysteries to read and two more kindle possibilities. We'll see how I do this weekend. 

18 books finished so far in 2014.

A blur of a month

So, after the excitement of the hospital visits, I had the pleasure of sharing the flu with my kids. Well, they probably shared it with me. So, I'm a bit concerned that today is March 11 and I feel like I've missed all of March to date.

On the plus side, the weather is still super cold so I don't think I'm missing much LOL.

Book update. I've started a Pinterest Board to help me track my books and I did manage to read a few while under the weather.

I read The Sports Gene by David Epstein. He quoted Outliers quite a bit so that was interesting. Peter brought it home over break and I swiped it for a few days.

I also skimmed Hunters of Dune and all of Sandworms of Dune so I'm calling that one book to be honest. Very repetitive at the start but I did like the ending a lot.

Read through the Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks. World War Z was much more interesting, but his ideas are creative.

Total count for year is 17 complete in week 11. Doing pretty well so far!

On deck are: The Monuments Men, 700 Sundays and League of Denial. I also have a few mysteries to read but I'm not sure I'm interested in those right now. We'll see.

February Break

Not the week/ month I expected to have but a couple of days sitting as a hospital visitor really boosted my reading.

Last entry I had finished 7 books. Since then 7 more (Blink, Altered Carbon, I will fear no evil, Stranger in a Strange Land, Starship Troopers (last 3 by Heinlein) Fever Dream and Cold Vengeance by Preston/Child)

I hit the library and picked up two mysteries, two of the newer Dune books and downloaded 2 more to my kindle. We'll see how many I finish now that things are "back to normal."

Reading update

So at least I'm going to blog about the books :)

Managed to read around/during the volleyball tournament this weekend. The last time I blogged I was reading Kenobi by John Miller and Necromancer by William Gibson. Yesterday I finished Tipping Point and started David and Goliath.

Total count for the year is 7 completed (still on track for a book a week)

As I only skimmed The River of Doubt, I'm not including it in my count for the year.  I was disappointed with that book. I ended up reading the beginning, part of the middle and the end. Nothing made me want to read every page.

On deck is Altered Carbon (recommended by co-worker Mike Conroy, I will fear no evil by Heinlein and Blink by Malcom Gladwell (totally working my way through his books on my kindle!


Of course, the Olympics are going on in Sochi, I have to do the taxes, I have a lot of work to do for Off Peak and the kids have winter breaks coming up. But I can always find time to read :)

PS: Watched World War Z. Disappointing after the book although I did see some pieces that were similar. I just don't understand why they had to change it SO MUCH! 

Reading in 2014

My life flies. Totally on full speed in this phase of my life between working, kids, family needs and sports.  But, at the same time, I can always have a book tucked in my purse for five minutes of downtime. I'm going to keep track of the books I read this year in this blog. Perhaps it will get me to blog more often :)

Since January 1, I have read:

World War Z by Max Brooks
2 b r 0 2 b (short story by Kurt Vonnegut)
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein
What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell
War Wives by Helen Bryan

Am currently reading:
Kenobi by John Miller
Necromancer by William Gibson

On deck:
The River of Doubt (Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey) by Candice Miller
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell

And as long as I was reviewing my Kindle to check out the author names, I took at look back at 2013. I think the Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis was one of my favorite books last year. Freakonomics was also pretty interesting. And I'm pretty happy I'm on track for at least one book a week in 2014.