Great Book Recommendation

Work began at the ungodly hour of 6:00am. Who gets up that early?!? We were all here around 5:30am to get organized, and promptly at 6 the annual inventory count began. Once a year the whole company shuts down and we count every nut, bolt, bearing and roller in the entire place. With luck, it's a one day process. The company feeds us breakfast, lunch and (if necessary) dinner to help keep everyone on track. Our customers are less than thrilled about us being closed, but it's a necessary evil. We close our fiscal year 3/31.

I've been reading the most amazing book Dan gave me called "What Should I Do With My Life?" by Po Bronson. It may even be worthy of the Captain Canuck reading list. The book is, essentially, a collection of short autobiographies. He explores his premise, that "nothing is braver than people facing up to their own identity," as an anthropologist and autobiographer. He tackles thorny, nuanced issues about self-determination. Among them: paradoxes of money and meaning, authorship and destiny, brain candy and novelty versus soul food. Bronson’s stories, limited to professional people and complete with photos, are gems. They include a Los Angeles lawyer who became a priest, a Harvard MBA catfish farmer turned biotech executive, and a Silicon Valley real estate agent who opened a leather crafts factory in Costa Rica. I highly recommend everyone read this book - it is that good.

Ready to Re-Join the World

Well, I finally feel more like myself. I'm only taking pain meds at night to help me sleep. I'm ready to re-join the world! My only recommendation is if you know someone recuperating, forget sending flowers - send a maid service! It's hard to clean and do laundry when you feel like crap.

I go back to work on Monday. I was scheduled to return on Friday, but my boss thinks it's silly to come back on a Friday, so I'm off an extra day. I'm looking forward to going back - get a little more structure in my life. I can now recite the entire line-up of daytime TV by heart. I think I would make a lousy stay at home wife.

I do have some good book recommendations though. I read three great books while I was down. Size 12 Is Not Fat and Size 14 Is Not Fat Either by Meg Cabot. They were both lighthearted murder mysteries. Very good for mindless entertainment. The third book was Secret Confessions of the Applewood PTA by Ellen Meister. A little less mindless, but not much. Kind of Desperate Housewives goes PTA. It does get into their problems and how they deal with them a little, but overall a good read.

For those of you keeping score, Michael and I have again parted ways. Same problem as always. I thought since he came to me this time, maybe things would be different. Ultimately we ended up at the same place - an impasse. He's fine with dating me for the rest of his life - I'm not.