Riffday: taking it slow

I'm feeling the need to post, but I don't really have anything to say (will start up more interesting posts again next week), so this will turn into a Riffday post, even though I just posted one earlier this week.  But I'm just riffin', it's all I can do today.

1.  The procedure-which-shall-not-be-named that I had done earlier this week was no problem to get through, and I felt fine Wednesday night.  But yesterday I was wiped-- headache-y from the drugs, tired, and a bit sore in the middle if you know what I mean.  Not exactly in pain, just tender.  On the plus side, I wasn't hungry, which made three days in a row of not eating much food.  It makes me a little bit disgusted that I'm happy about that.  All that blather about "I'm not in this to lose weight, I'm in it to be more healthy" is just bullshit sometimes.  *sigh*

2.  I haven't tried my new drug yet so can't report on it.  I thought it was better to wait to start it until I recover from the-procedure-which-shall-not-be-named. Maybe tomorrow.

3.  Another in the series of observations about e-readers:  I've discovered another downside to e-readers, which would apply to any of them, I think.  I can't remember the books.  I was going to review several that I read over the break, but when I pulled out my Kindle and looked at the list of names, I couldn't remember what a single one of them was about.  If I had a book with a picture on the cover, I'd remember.  So.  I know I told some of you I'd post some reviews, but I'm going to have to change my method to do it.  Eventually it will happen, in the place where these things happen.

4.  We live in an area with very hard water, with a high mineral content.  We have a water softener, but it can only do so much.  So we used to go through a coffee maker about every year or so.  And once I quit drinking coffee (other than the occasional decaf), we ended up throwing out half a pot of coffee every day after Dean was done.  So a couple of years ago, on a whim, I bought him a Keurig for Christmas, which makes a single cup of coffee at a time.  We love it.  It makes great coffee, and it also makes tea (peppermint! chamomile!) and MadMax uses it for hot water for hot chocolate and various other things that need hot water. 

So why am I telling you this?  Because I can't think of anything else to tell you about, mostly, but there is something new:  a couple of months ago, I discovered a decaf that actually tastes as good as regular coffee.  It's like a miracle.  I had to wait till Dean ran out of his favorite before I could order more, but our new shipment came bright and early this morning, and I'm sitting here sipping Tully's French Roast Decaf and I am happy.

5.  I'm reading Moby Dick.  You hear the most awful things about it.  I arranged my entire undergraduate career as an English major to avoid having to read it because I'd heard it was so boring.  But then I did read it in [my first shot at] grad school, and I loved it.  It's fascinating.  It's next up in this class on the novel, and I'm about 50 pages in.  I still love it.  I don't know why people think it's so awful.  It's not a quick read, and you probably don't want to take it to the beach, but after you get past the setup, what's not to like?  great story, great characters, narrator with a snide sense of humor.  and we're spending three weeks on it, so I don't even have to finish it by Monday.  yay.

6.  My thesis, on the other hand, is not going so well.  It's not going badly, it's just that it's too easy to forget about it.  I meet with my thesis adviser* occasionally, but other than that, I'm on my own.  I need somebody to force me to do it.  I'm making progress, but it's going far more slowly than it should be.  (at this point, I'm just reading, haven't started writing yet, although I have the 18-page paper I wrote last semester as a starting point.) (*I think it should be "advisor" but Blogger is telling me that is spelled wrong.  whatever.)

7.  Shower update.  They're actually here!  Tile is being installed!  I think they will be done putting the tile up today, and then Monday or Tuesday the plumber will come and hook everything up, and then I will paint, and then the carpenter will come back and put up the trim, and then we will have two bathrooms!  The end is in sight. 

I was going to blatantly steal the 7 Quick Takes idea from Debbie, but I have an 8th, so oops.  8) 95% of my books are in boxes over at the storage unit.  Dean won't let me have them until we finish unpacking all the other boxes.  He is wise, that Dean.  He knows that once the boxes of books get here, I will spend hours arranging them to the neglect of everything else.  There's so much to consider.  Type of book, era, author, frequency of use, color and size and how they look on the shelf, how much I love them... it's endless.  And far more important than whether or not dinner is made, don't you think?

9.  Well, this just goes on and on, doesn't it?  MadMax takes his drivers test tomorrow-- he doesn't get his official license then, but if he passes it, and then logs (50? 90?) hours of driving with one of us in the car, THEN he can get his license.  We are both ready for it to be over.

Ten?  can I think of another?  nope.  Have a nice weekend.