What a Lovely Halloween Day

What Makes a Good Husband?

Wow, Tom Scavo, that's impressive. I never expected something so thoughtful from something like Desperate Housewives. Watch about 2 minutes, from 34:00 to 36:00.

This clip brings up one of life's possibly unanswerable questions: What makes a good husband? Tom and Lynette have been married for probably 20 years (fiction, I know). Has he figured out in all those years what makes a good husband? Does what makes a good husband change over that time? Maybe what was important when they first started out isn't what's important so far down the line.

I have no idea what the answer to this question is. My best guess is that it's different for everyone, in every marriage. People (and, I presume, marriages) are like fingerprints; no two are exactly alike. But it's interesting to think about, nonetheless.

When is it going to stop raining?

Seriously, this is ridiculous.

Dinner

By the way, Patak's Tikka Masala sauce is delicious.

A Walk in the Park

Yesterday morning, I got up early and met my friend L for a walk in Forest Park before she went to work. It was lovely -- we got to see the sunrise, have a cup of coffee (or hot chocolate, in my case), and catch up. It wasn't too cold, which I had been a little worried about; it's been a soggy and cold couple of weeks here. But it was a lovely morning, and we even found someone who could take our picture!

Sunrise over the Trees

The Art Museum

The Fall Colors

L and me in front of the Museum (I'm wearing my new green vest!)

What I'm Reading Now -- Lush Life

I don't read much in the way of mystery novels; I'm just not typically crazy about the whodunnits. This one is a bit of a genre-buster, though, in that the reader knows who killed the guy right from the beginning. What I suspect will make it an interesting read is that you get to learn about all the characters through the eyes of the detective investigating the murder, so it's a little bit less like your standard caper fiction. Or at least so it seems. I'm about 40 pages in, and I'm enjoying it so far.

It's set in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and there are a lot of location-specific references. They're fun, but would probably be more meaningful if I knew the area better. It's also more dialogue-heavy than a lot of the books I've read recently, so there's lots of cop slang and other character-specific language that I have to get used to. But so far, enjoyable. And it's the first adult book I've read in a while, so I think that's a good thing!

Breaking Dawn -- Take 2

Yes, I finally finished Breaking Dawn. Who knew it could take so long to get through such an easy book? But I've been quite busy in my personal life, so I'll give myself a pass.

My thoughts are these: the end was a little bit anticlimactic, but still enjoyable. The writing definitely gets better throughout. If what you're looking for is easy-to-read romance/fantasy/escapism, these books do the trick. If you want anything more heady than that, steer clear.

What I'm Reading Now -- What I Know Now

Haha, that makes for a funny post title.

Anyway, my mom's friend J gave me this book when I passed the bar. It's a collection of letters from some truly amazing women -- Madeleine Albright, Ann Curry, Noor Al Hussein, Phylicia Rashad, Beverly Sills, and Trisha Yearwood, among many others -- to their younger selves. I'm reading it one letter at a time, so I've only covered the introduction and the first handful of letters, but they are really great.

One of the things that the editor points out in the introduction is how open these women were, regarding some of the more personal and private moments in their lives, and she's right. Maya Angelou, for example, talks to her younger self who left home in September 1945, just months after graduating from high school, and caring for her 2-month-old son.

It's some pretty good stuff, and was a wonderful gift idea.

Scholar Shop

J and I went to the Scholar Shop on Saturday. For reasons I don't really feel like explaining, we were there for about 30 seconds. However, I totally want to go back and actually look for clothes (and I have some stuff to donate). And it's all for a good cause!

Apple-Picking

J, L, and I went apple picking! Okay, so it was a while ago -- weekend before last to be exact. We drove out to the Eckert's Farm in Belleville. But I didn't have any pictures, so I was waiting to post about it. I have the pictures now, so there they are!

Us with the giant pumpkins

L and me with the baby pumpkins

L in the apple orchard

Me, L, and J in the apple orchard

The view

J and I used about 1/3 of the apples we bought to make an Apple Crumble Pie -- delish! We'll probably make another one, along with an Apple-Cranberry Streusel. We made that once before, and it was quite tasty!

Halloween

Or could I rock this look? What do you think?

Halloween

Could I be Olive Oyl?

My Office!

Vest

This is my vest, but it's not the right color. Mine's green, like the one below.

Turns out, life isn't all that interesting

I'm finished with school. I have a job -- two, actually. I'm rowing in the morning before work, and sometimes at night too. And that doesn't leave much time for other stuff to happen. So my life isn't all that interesting, when I don't have any free time.

I do have this coming weekend off from my bookstore, though, and I have some fun stuff in store. Catching up on Mad Men; a study party with K; a monster shopping trip which will include Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Crate & Barrel, World Market, and Trader Joe's; and pumpkin picking! Hopefully I'll get some fun pictures of that!

Although one fun thing has happened. Today S and I went shopping on our lunch break, and I got a fun fuzzy vest :-) I'll try to get a picture of it soon, so you can see it!

You can't be serious.

Remember my earlier rant about buying airline tickets online? Well, things have definitely taken a turn for the worse.

Today, I spent two hours - TWO HOURS! - on the phone with six people from Delta and two people from the bank before I could buy my plane tickets for Thanksgiving! Really, how complicated can it be?

First, I can't choose my seats. Any time the "pick your seats" window opens, the window with my reservation in it closes. Not cool. So then I call the Delta customer service number. I explain my problem to Delta Agent 1. I get transferred to Delta Agent 2. We fix the problem

Second, the Delta website said that my billing city did not match my billing zip code. It gave me 4 options of cities to choose from. When I put any of them in, the website told me that my billing address was not correct. What?!? I mean, really. My hands are tied.

So then I call the Delta customer service number. I explain my problem to Delta Agent 3. I get transferred to Delta Agent 4. (Is this sounding familiar?) We can't fix the problem.

Third, I call the bank. Bank Agent 1 is not clear what the confusion was with the address, but we seem to fix that problem. However, he notices a pending charge on my account for half the cost of the tickets (read: the pending charge was for the cost of 1 ticket, but I was supposed to be getting 2). So he transfers me to Bank Agent 2.

Seven hundred and sixty-eighth, Bank Agent 2 calls Delta Agent 5 and conferenced me in. Bank Agent 2 was showing an approval code from Delta, meaning that the charge for the one ticket had been approved. In order to release the charge (and the money in my account), Bank Agent 2 needed Delta Agent 5 to tell her what the approval code was. In order for Delta Agent 5 to send the release form to Bank Agent 2, Delta Agent 5 needed Bank Agent 2 to read her the approval code. Holy ****. Seriously??? It was like watching a slo-mo showdown.

Then it's on to Delta Agent 6. He and Bank Agent 2 work it out to release the charge. That's great. At least now I'm not being billed for a ticket I don't actually get to use. So then Delta Agent 6 tries to complete the purchase, and...no dice. Apparently the reservation code (the code in their system for Montego Bay, which is where the reservation originated) is not verifying for some unknown reason. Never mind that they do thousands of reservations a day, of course mine doesn't work for some reason.

We get off the phone. Delta Agent 6 thought he fixed it, and called me back. We go through the whole credit card and billing address rigamarole again. Nope.

Delta Agent 6 is supposed to call me back tonight or tomorrow.

Two hours and twelve minutes....