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Jan. 4th, 2017 11:52 amYou know I love to read, I post regularly about the books I've read. I belong to a nice group of enthusiasts on Goodreads as well and I've been thinking of doing a reading blog. New Year, New things, so I started one. I know I'll be putting reviews there. I'm not a great reviewer, not like some people i read on various sites where they manage to sound all professional and analytical and such. My reviews tend to say what the story's about in general, maybe then I might mention if the characters were good or not, if the story kept me interested. I don't go into things like symbolism which, frankly, goes right over my head unless it's blatantly obvious that "this" really means "that". But it doesn't matter if it's not in depth and professional sounding, the review is whether I like the book and why. Anyway.
I think i would probably write about the types of books i like, authors and series I like, various reading challenges, various other book related things like Canada Reads, the annual tv competition featuring books by Canadian authors and sponsored by other Canadian celebs who defend the book they sponsor in the bid to see which book will win the Canada Reads competition. It's quite interesting, I watched some of the debates for the first time last winter. Apparently, also, it gives the nominated books a real boost in sales.
I also see various reading Top 100/N lists that might be interesting to blog about. It's not like i'm going to write every single day. I don't do that now with my travel blog but i thought i'd give it a go.
It's called Reader At Large. We'll see how it goes.
New Year's Eve was nice, we had booked a boutique hotel downtown, planning to go to the free event at City Hall - music and later fireworks. They do keep the busses running extra late on NYE but I thought it would be a nice treat not to have to worry about extra crowded busses trying to get home. It wasn't too cold, either, not like some years when it's positiviely arctic! We checked into the hotel early evening, then went to a nearby Thai restaurant which we both really enjoyed. Hung out in the room for an hour or so and went to the Grand Parade square at City Hall for the music etc. It was nice, lots and lots of people there and it got a bit closed in after awhile so we found a spot that wasn't quite so claustrophobic. They had a structure on either side of the stage, one was a ship and one was a lighthouse with digital designs and things projected on it which was nice. I was disappointed with the fireworks. For all the publicity about Canada's 150th birthday this year and extra funding for these kinds of things, they lasted about 5 minutes. I thought they were going to be "bigger and better" than ever and they sucked, really. A bit of sparkle and that was it.
Breakfast at the hotel was continental. IT was fine but we did get a bit confused. They had a few cereal jars but no bowls that we could see and the man working in the dining room didn't seem to know what a cereal bowl was and had to go find out. Came back and said there were none so Graham asked how people were supposed to eat their cereal? He wasn't really snarky but it had to be asked lol The guy went back to the kitchen again and did bring out a few bowls that looked like rimmed soup bowls. I spotted a few bowls the size of a teacup near where the fruit was and I don't know if that's what they intended for use for the cereal or not. Weird.
The other problem that the hotel had was that they had no hot water but we were warned the day before when they called. I guess they were giving us the option to cancel but we didn't. We just washed with cold water and had a shower when we got home. Holiday weekend and I suppose the plumber couldn't get parts until the shops opened up again! Must be a nightmare for the hotel staff to have something like that happen. It was out of their control but they did give us 15% discount on the room!
I cooked a turkey dinner on New Year's Day which is the first time i'd done that since the 80s. We managed to find a fairly small bird, about 7 pounds or so. Anything larger wouldn't have been very practical for two people and we have no room for guests since my dining room table is covered with computer and recording equipment. We eat in the living room, me at my desk and him at the coffee table which we've got covered to keep it clean. The dinner turned out ok though the turkey was done before I expected it to be so there was a bit of a scramble with the veg! I also made soup from the carcass which was nice. I love turkey soup.
Monday was the holiday in lieu of NYD being on a Sunday and we undecorated and took the tree down, did laundry, (made the soup), puttered and tidied a bit. Back to work now. It used to be such a long haul to Easter but we now have a holiday in mid-February which, oh lucky me, i might have to be on call through work since I think they're running the tax bill processes and since my coworker left, I'm the one there for the application support. This week i'm also helping support another tax process which went a bit south last night so we're figuring out how to start from where it left off and go forward. I haven't heard anything so it must be working at the moment. I'm really not familiar with the processes so it's a bit scary really though the tax bill weekend will be more so. It's an interim bill, so there is less complicated processing which might mean it won't be too bad. Or it will.
I think i would probably write about the types of books i like, authors and series I like, various reading challenges, various other book related things like Canada Reads, the annual tv competition featuring books by Canadian authors and sponsored by other Canadian celebs who defend the book they sponsor in the bid to see which book will win the Canada Reads competition. It's quite interesting, I watched some of the debates for the first time last winter. Apparently, also, it gives the nominated books a real boost in sales.
I also see various reading Top 100/N lists that might be interesting to blog about. It's not like i'm going to write every single day. I don't do that now with my travel blog but i thought i'd give it a go.
It's called Reader At Large. We'll see how it goes.
New Year's Eve was nice, we had booked a boutique hotel downtown, planning to go to the free event at City Hall - music and later fireworks. They do keep the busses running extra late on NYE but I thought it would be a nice treat not to have to worry about extra crowded busses trying to get home. It wasn't too cold, either, not like some years when it's positiviely arctic! We checked into the hotel early evening, then went to a nearby Thai restaurant which we both really enjoyed. Hung out in the room for an hour or so and went to the Grand Parade square at City Hall for the music etc. It was nice, lots and lots of people there and it got a bit closed in after awhile so we found a spot that wasn't quite so claustrophobic. They had a structure on either side of the stage, one was a ship and one was a lighthouse with digital designs and things projected on it which was nice. I was disappointed with the fireworks. For all the publicity about Canada's 150th birthday this year and extra funding for these kinds of things, they lasted about 5 minutes. I thought they were going to be "bigger and better" than ever and they sucked, really. A bit of sparkle and that was it.
Breakfast at the hotel was continental. IT was fine but we did get a bit confused. They had a few cereal jars but no bowls that we could see and the man working in the dining room didn't seem to know what a cereal bowl was and had to go find out. Came back and said there were none so Graham asked how people were supposed to eat their cereal? He wasn't really snarky but it had to be asked lol The guy went back to the kitchen again and did bring out a few bowls that looked like rimmed soup bowls. I spotted a few bowls the size of a teacup near where the fruit was and I don't know if that's what they intended for use for the cereal or not. Weird.
The other problem that the hotel had was that they had no hot water but we were warned the day before when they called. I guess they were giving us the option to cancel but we didn't. We just washed with cold water and had a shower when we got home. Holiday weekend and I suppose the plumber couldn't get parts until the shops opened up again! Must be a nightmare for the hotel staff to have something like that happen. It was out of their control but they did give us 15% discount on the room!
I cooked a turkey dinner on New Year's Day which is the first time i'd done that since the 80s. We managed to find a fairly small bird, about 7 pounds or so. Anything larger wouldn't have been very practical for two people and we have no room for guests since my dining room table is covered with computer and recording equipment. We eat in the living room, me at my desk and him at the coffee table which we've got covered to keep it clean. The dinner turned out ok though the turkey was done before I expected it to be so there was a bit of a scramble with the veg! I also made soup from the carcass which was nice. I love turkey soup.
Monday was the holiday in lieu of NYD being on a Sunday and we undecorated and took the tree down, did laundry, (made the soup), puttered and tidied a bit. Back to work now. It used to be such a long haul to Easter but we now have a holiday in mid-February which, oh lucky me, i might have to be on call through work since I think they're running the tax bill processes and since my coworker left, I'm the one there for the application support. This week i'm also helping support another tax process which went a bit south last night so we're figuring out how to start from where it left off and go forward. I haven't heard anything so it must be working at the moment. I'm really not familiar with the processes so it's a bit scary really though the tax bill weekend will be more so. It's an interim bill, so there is less complicated processing which might mean it won't be too bad. Or it will.
