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Fourth day back at work. Hasn't been too bad though I'm yawning a lot by the evening. The harder part is getting used to this office chair, egonomic though it is, is not the same as the one i've been sitting in at home and also, sitting at the desk all day, both being a bit of a strain on my back even with standing up and stretching. It's getting better though. Just an adjustment.
It's nice to see everyone again but also a lot of change has taken place with reorgs and new incident tracking software to grapple with. My section is in transit to another group but they have no manager yet so my old manager is still my manager until such time. I have 16 vacation days to try to use up before the end of the year because they prefer we don't carry our limit of 5 over but unless there's a very good reason why not, our contract says we can. However, I've worked out to take a lot of Fridays off, a couple other days in November around the time our Corrie event night takes place, and some time over Christmas. I'll be on call one of the days but the 27th of Dec, a Friday after Christmas is not going to likely be any problems. Any requests can wait until Monday. I'll carry over a few days but use two straight away the couple of days after New Year's. It's all good.
Yes, our group is putting on a Corrie actor event on Nov. 12 so I'm volunteering that night as well as staying in the hotel overnight as it is a lot more convenient than trying to get back home late at night. Taking the next day off as well. If there are any Corrie watchers, the actor is Marc Bayliss who plays Carla's brother Rob Donovan. One of our committee members met up with him in Manchester last month and said he's going to be a great guest and called him "delightful". I figure it doesn't matter if it's someone that has only been on the show a short time, they still have good stories to tell about the show and the backstage life! I'll get to shake hands and have him sign my book and get a photo as well.
Speaking of books, here's a few more read.... Though I was off for 2 months, I didn't get nearly as much read as I thought I would. Out of my usual reading routine i suppose and was only reading in bed at night instead of taking advantage of the daytime as well. Now i'm back to work, I read on the commute both ways and at lunch as well as at night.
62 - Howard's End - E.M. Forster
I didn't like this one as much as i thought i would. I read A Room With a View and it was great but this one tended to wander off topic and off the storyline a lot which annoyed me. The story itself, very much about class distinctions in the early 20th C. was good. I'd like to hunt down the movie. I saw it years ago.
63 - Echo Year - Caspar Silk
This is about a British man who's living in France and restoring a villa who witnesses a hate crime committed by two young Muslim men against a Jewish temple. It throws him into a personal crisis and rattles him deeply. Meanwhile he's also dealing with his aged mother who has dementia, and a girlfriend whom he's neglecting as he tries to connect to the younger of the two men, a teenage boy really. He's trying to help the lad find a future for himself. Not a bad book, really. I think I got this as an early review copy through Librarything.
64 - Crime Beat - Scott Nicholson
A novella about a crime reporter who seems to be almost ahead of a spate of murders in a small town but whose reporting is boosting the sales of the newspaper astronomically. Is he the killer? His editor is wooing a big city reporting who is also covering the recent murders. The writing is tight and pulls you in, setting you up for the twist at the end.
65 - London: The Biography - Peter Ackroyd
I've been picking this up and putting it down on and off for probably a good 5 years! I was determined to finish it this year. It's a social history of the city of London, with chapters and all different aspects of life in the city as it was established and grew over the centuries. Crime, life, death, living conditions, theatre, architecture, markets, economics, strengths and weaknesses. I liked that it was easy to read. It didn't have the feel of a dry, history textbook.
66 - Sophia's Secret (A Winter Sea) - Susannah Kearsley
This book normally is known as A Winter Sea apparently. A present day historical novelist comes to Slean castle near Aberdeen to research her next book and gets pulled in to the story of Sophia who was one of her ancestors and lived there in the early 18th century during an almost-uprising of the Jacobites in 1708. Sophia's story comes to her in dreams, or while she's writing, seemingly inspired by her muse. Her story details all turn out to be true though there's no way she would have known most of them before she wrote them. We have Sophia's story, a love story with intrigue as Carrie is writing or dreaming bits of it and we have Carrie's current day storyline which also has a healthy dose of romance in it as well. Lots of well reasearched history lessons sometimes slows the story down a bit much but overall it's a good read.
67 - An Imperfect Witch - Debora Geary
Next in the Witch Central books, this story is about Lizard Munro finding her feet and growing up, trying to find her place in the world. She's no longer a street kid but she doesn't feel confident enough to take adult responsibility in many aspects. Meanwhile, Lauren is grappling with the spirit in the crystal ball that Moira has passed on to her, making it know who's the boss of it! While I did enjoy this book, it was perhaps not as much as some of the others. I don't really know why because both of the main heroines are favourite characters of mine. I wasn't disappointed, just ... when i finished it, I didn't sigh and think "Wow, another great one!" The book before this was like that. (A Lost Witch)
68 - London - Edward Rutherfurd
another of his "doorstep" big books about the history of London this time. He tells the history of an area with how it affects a handful of families and their descendants over the centuries. There's a good mix of history and character. As always, though, i find the last quarter of the book as it heads to the 20th century to be a bit less involved. He tends to gloss over the families and just gives it more history than dialogue and plot. I actually read this years ago so this was a reread.
It's nice to see everyone again but also a lot of change has taken place with reorgs and new incident tracking software to grapple with. My section is in transit to another group but they have no manager yet so my old manager is still my manager until such time. I have 16 vacation days to try to use up before the end of the year because they prefer we don't carry our limit of 5 over but unless there's a very good reason why not, our contract says we can. However, I've worked out to take a lot of Fridays off, a couple other days in November around the time our Corrie event night takes place, and some time over Christmas. I'll be on call one of the days but the 27th of Dec, a Friday after Christmas is not going to likely be any problems. Any requests can wait until Monday. I'll carry over a few days but use two straight away the couple of days after New Year's. It's all good.
Yes, our group is putting on a Corrie actor event on Nov. 12 so I'm volunteering that night as well as staying in the hotel overnight as it is a lot more convenient than trying to get back home late at night. Taking the next day off as well. If there are any Corrie watchers, the actor is Marc Bayliss who plays Carla's brother Rob Donovan. One of our committee members met up with him in Manchester last month and said he's going to be a great guest and called him "delightful". I figure it doesn't matter if it's someone that has only been on the show a short time, they still have good stories to tell about the show and the backstage life! I'll get to shake hands and have him sign my book and get a photo as well.
Speaking of books, here's a few more read.... Though I was off for 2 months, I didn't get nearly as much read as I thought I would. Out of my usual reading routine i suppose and was only reading in bed at night instead of taking advantage of the daytime as well. Now i'm back to work, I read on the commute both ways and at lunch as well as at night.
62 - Howard's End - E.M. Forster
I didn't like this one as much as i thought i would. I read A Room With a View and it was great but this one tended to wander off topic and off the storyline a lot which annoyed me. The story itself, very much about class distinctions in the early 20th C. was good. I'd like to hunt down the movie. I saw it years ago.
63 - Echo Year - Caspar Silk
This is about a British man who's living in France and restoring a villa who witnesses a hate crime committed by two young Muslim men against a Jewish temple. It throws him into a personal crisis and rattles him deeply. Meanwhile he's also dealing with his aged mother who has dementia, and a girlfriend whom he's neglecting as he tries to connect to the younger of the two men, a teenage boy really. He's trying to help the lad find a future for himself. Not a bad book, really. I think I got this as an early review copy through Librarything.
64 - Crime Beat - Scott Nicholson
A novella about a crime reporter who seems to be almost ahead of a spate of murders in a small town but whose reporting is boosting the sales of the newspaper astronomically. Is he the killer? His editor is wooing a big city reporting who is also covering the recent murders. The writing is tight and pulls you in, setting you up for the twist at the end.
65 - London: The Biography - Peter Ackroyd
I've been picking this up and putting it down on and off for probably a good 5 years! I was determined to finish it this year. It's a social history of the city of London, with chapters and all different aspects of life in the city as it was established and grew over the centuries. Crime, life, death, living conditions, theatre, architecture, markets, economics, strengths and weaknesses. I liked that it was easy to read. It didn't have the feel of a dry, history textbook.
66 - Sophia's Secret (A Winter Sea) - Susannah Kearsley
This book normally is known as A Winter Sea apparently. A present day historical novelist comes to Slean castle near Aberdeen to research her next book and gets pulled in to the story of Sophia who was one of her ancestors and lived there in the early 18th century during an almost-uprising of the Jacobites in 1708. Sophia's story comes to her in dreams, or while she's writing, seemingly inspired by her muse. Her story details all turn out to be true though there's no way she would have known most of them before she wrote them. We have Sophia's story, a love story with intrigue as Carrie is writing or dreaming bits of it and we have Carrie's current day storyline which also has a healthy dose of romance in it as well. Lots of well reasearched history lessons sometimes slows the story down a bit much but overall it's a good read.
67 - An Imperfect Witch - Debora Geary
Next in the Witch Central books, this story is about Lizard Munro finding her feet and growing up, trying to find her place in the world. She's no longer a street kid but she doesn't feel confident enough to take adult responsibility in many aspects. Meanwhile, Lauren is grappling with the spirit in the crystal ball that Moira has passed on to her, making it know who's the boss of it! While I did enjoy this book, it was perhaps not as much as some of the others. I don't really know why because both of the main heroines are favourite characters of mine. I wasn't disappointed, just ... when i finished it, I didn't sigh and think "Wow, another great one!" The book before this was like that. (A Lost Witch)
68 - London - Edward Rutherfurd
another of his "doorstep" big books about the history of London this time. He tells the history of an area with how it affects a handful of families and their descendants over the centuries. There's a good mix of history and character. As always, though, i find the last quarter of the book as it heads to the 20th century to be a bit less involved. He tends to gloss over the families and just gives it more history than dialogue and plot. I actually read this years ago so this was a reread.