Month: October 2020

Office Update: Oct 2020

My office redo is coming along–not as nicely as I would have liked, mostly due to the fact an airline is holding my money hostage–I had to cancel a trip due to the pandemic and Delta Airlines won’t give me back my money. Thieves.

But I digress.

This book case is now behind the door.

I moved the printer into the office from the hall.

Did some more rearranging of books.

 

And brought in the white board I hope to hang at some point. I have used it several times.

 

I spent a lot of time here this summer, including a four-day virtual conference. It’s much more comfortable now than it was a year ago. More user friendly.

Thursday Thoughts: Spammed By My Phone Apps

Phone apps are a nice idea. When they work without bothering me, I love them. But there are a couple I had to remove from my phone.

If you are a phone app, rule number one is DO NOT SPAM MY EMAIL OR MY MESSAGE BOX.

There was one app that sent me between five and ten notices a day.  I tried unsubscribing. Didn’t work. Couldn’t curate what I got and what I didn’t want. Buh-bye.

And the constant begging to upgrade. I get they need to pay their staff, but maybe they wouldn’t need as much staff if they’d quit spamming me.

Thursday Thought: Multi-Tasking

While there is no such thing as multi-tasking (numerous studies indicate the brain can do only one thing at a time) a person can walk and chew gum at the same time. Those actions, as well as other “muscle memory” functions like typing  are the products of habit learning and are controlled by a different part of the brain.  Talking on the phone, reading email, listening to the news take place in the declarative memory learning area.

That said, a person can cook and listen to the radio at the same time, the same way a person can eat and watch television at the same time. Different parts of the brain are in use.

Maybe preparing dinner and listening to her family at the same time is a mommy skill.

In case you needed to know this. Because you missed a joke or the weather while stirring your eggs.

 

 

MJ Monday-Movies: Guardians of the Galaxy

Guardians of the Galaxy and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2:  This is a must see double header. I saw the first one in a movie theater and loved it. When Vol 2 came out on DVD, we all trooped to my nephew’s home theater for a double header, as my sister hadn’t yet seen the first one. It was an amazing experience.

Flash forward several months. My critique partners and I were enroute to a retreat in the woods when we learned at least one of our group hadn’t seen either movie. Out came the cell phones as we searched every Barnes & Noble, Target, Wal-Mart, Red Box etc. between where we were on the highway and our final destination looking for copies of both movies. As luck would have it, the Wal-Mart very near our destination had both. I purchased them and had another double-header night with my besties. I laughed as hard as  I had the first time seeing the films.

Action films sometimes bore me because they depend too much on special effects and bang-bang-shoot-em-up instead of plot. Guardians brushed against that threshold for me. But just when I would start to squirm and yawn, the boring stuff ended.

Solid plot, solid acting, solid humor, solid action.

Book Review-Karen Robards: The Midnight Hour

Image credit: tieury / 123RF Stock Photo

The Midnight Hour  is one of my favorite Robards books. It takes place in autumn, which always makes for a great, spooky setting.

Single mother Grace Hart  is having a difficult time with her teenage daughter, who has been newly diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. Although Grace is a respected judge in her community, her life hasn’t always been comfortable. She dreads her daughter repeating the same mistakes of her own youth, especially now when some excesses could be deadly to a diabetic.

And of course, isn’t that when the consequences of Grace’s misspent youth comes around to haunt her and her daughter.

Enter police detective Tony Marino, a single father who lost his own daughter to a deadly disease and who finds himself attracted to the lady judge even though he’s not sure some of the “pranks” upsetting Grace are as serious as she wants him to take them.

Great romance, great suspense, and a twist at the end you’ll think you should have seen coming.

This book defines what romantic suspense should be.