Reading list

I've been a reader all my life. I love reading. I love both finding out new things and traveling to different worlds.
Toward the end of my time out in Montana I wasn't reading as much as I used to. I brought the lack of habit back with me to Minnesota. But then a few years ago I started back up on a big reading kick. I mainly started to read over lunch at work.
I know some people say that you're not supposed to eat alone and you're supposed to connect and network over lunch. But I found I really enjoyed that 30-45 minutes of peace to myself in the middle of a hectic day. Reading was the perfect activity to accompany that time. And so I started reading a lot of books a half hour at a time. It soon made its way back home where I started reading before bed again.
I also started reading two or three different books at a time. One at work and one at home and then maybe some other one thrown in somewhere. The reason was simple: I didn't want to forget a book somewhere and not have something to read.
Since Junior High I mostly read fantasy. But a couple years ago Allison and I were at a book sale and I saw a bunch of classics that I had never read for $1 a piece. I bought a bunch of them and they got me on a classics kick.

So here is an incomplete list of what I've read over the last few years, not in chronological order. I think my favorite book is The Count of Monte Cristo. Just an amazing book

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe 
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, and A Dance with Dragons by George RR Martin (fantasy)
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (abridged) by Edward Gibbon
The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky
War and Peace by Tolstoy
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Books 1-7 of the Horus Heresy (SciFi series) -- I just finished book 7 today
Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
Texas by James A. Michener
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged, and The Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie (fantasy)
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Frankenstein by Mary Shelly
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Top o' the MOA to ya!

Looking towards St Paul from level 7 East parking at the Mall of America.
Even the top levels of parking are nearly full. Something is going on today but I have no clue what it is.

Lunch at Burger Moe's

Juicy Moe with fries and a Left Hand Milk Stout. Can't wait to get to the molten center.

RuneWars mid game

We've got tons of dudes on the board. Lots of recriminations are being thrown around. A good time is being had by all.

Start of game night - Rune Wars

I've played this once before and it was long and fun. Definitely looking forward to another go.

Cookie Break

I've twice been the recipient of some wonderful generosity over the last week. I always feels nice and makes me think about the fact that I could act the same way much more often than I do.

I had a great time during Con of the North. A couple of the games I played are new favorites. But the best part by far was really connecting with a couple of the guys I met there. We had a great time no matter if the game was good or bad. Or if we were doing great or poorly in the game.

Anyway, on the first day three of us headed down to the hotel restaurant/cafeteria where they had a taco bar set up. The food was okay, about what you'd expect when you hear the phrase "hotel taco bar". We had eaten our meals and were just sitting there telling stories about games, gamers, and life when the server comes by to ask if and how we want our check.

"Do you want separate checks?"
"Yes..." I started to reply.
"No, I'll take the whole check here," replied my new friend.
The other guy and I looked at him with surprise and asked "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, it's no problem."

So I had my taco bar paid for by a guy I had met 9 hours earlier. I was (we were) very appreciative and it just felt very nice.

Then, yesterday at work a co-worker was sitting at my desk helping me with something I'd hadn't done before when another co-worker pops his head over the cube wall and says:

"Come on, we're going to -----. Cookie break. I'm buying."
We paused our work and have him uncomprehending looks.
"I'm serious, let's go. Now."

So up we got, headed down the elevator, jaywalked across the street, and all picked out a giant cookie to eat. I had mine over the next hour and it totally ruined my dinner. Again, I was totally appreciative and happy to be connecting with my (still relatively new) co-workers.

It doesn't take that much to be "generous." You just have to do something nice and unasked for and maybe unexpected. If it is thoughtful it doesn't matter how small it is, the people you do it for will be appreciative and have a better day for it.

I love riding the bus

As noted in the title, I love riding the bus. I love not having to stress about traffic. I love zipping by the rest of traffic during a snow fall.
But you know what I don't love? The sound of other people clipping their fingernails. I can't stand it. So that's why I was not happy when the dude in the seat in front of me whipped out his clippers and started going to town before I got a chance to put my headphones on this morning.
When you're on the bus everyone else is pretty much a captive audience. Please, don't be a jerk. Take care of your personal hygiene at home.