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Good grief, It's cold outside today!
Even so, i decided not to hibernate and I went to the gym. Yes, on a Saturday. That's mainly because I've avoided it for the most part for a couple of weeks, I think i've only managed to go twice in those two weeks. Bad me. Ever since I gave up having a trainer, it's been more difficult to get myself to the gym. At the end of the work day, it's so easy to say i'm tired and i want to get on a bus and go home. I can't do that. I feel better when I go to the gym and it's good for my BP and my lower back. Those are my main motivations after all. So off i went today, did 20 minutes cardio spread over three different machines and then a bit of weights.
Picked up a package at the post office on the way home and a few groceries and when I got home, I wrapped all Graham's Christmas presents because I want to get them in the mail this week to make sure he gets them in time. And it's G's birthday today. Poor guy had to work this morning. . Now i've caught up on recorded telly, Constantine, Gotham, Big Bang Theory and Grimm.
Going to see the new Hunger Games movie, Mockingjay Part 1 tomorrow. That does annoy me and I blame Harry Potter. Wasn't that the first one that made two movies out of the last book? Or was it the Twilight ones? I'm not including Lord of the Rings where they made three movies out of one book. I didn't really like the first of the two part Harry movie that ended the series. I found it really slow and dull but the last movie, the second part of the final book, was good. Lots of action. They just seem to pad them so much and you feel like they're just doing it to suck more money out of you. Never mind, we've gone to the other Hunger Games movies so we want to see it through to the end. (Mom, Sister and I).
82 - Zodiac - Neil Stephenson
Learn more than you ever thought you wanted to know about environmental activism and issues. Sangaman Taylor zips around Boston harbour in an inflatable zodiac tracking down toxic spills among other things. He stumbles on a conspiracy to hide a major spill coming from a big chemical company and his life is in danger.
83 - The Prisoner of Heaven - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Apparently not the first book about these characters or their family. Takes place in the late 50s in Barcelona and also in a jail back in the 1940s. A stranger comes to the bookstore owned by Daniel Sempere's family and he's got a secret. Daniel's friend Fermin in intricately involved in the stranger's past and we are taken back to Fermin's past in prison. The two men's past does connect. Apparently The other two books are not directly related to this story but are about similar characters that appear here and also tell some of Daniel's father's story. The book was good and can stand alone if you haven't read the others, which I have not. Very well written / translated and a good story.
84 - Whispers in the Sand - Barbara Erskine
Most of her books incorporate the past and the present and knit in some sort of other-wordly aspect. This is similar. Anna takes a cruise on the Nile and has her great grandmother's diary that was written during a similar cruise in the mid 19th century. Anna has a mysterious glass bottle that was given to her Great Grandmother, Louisa and it's causing a lot of trouble because it's been enchanted by a nasty spell. There are ancient Egyptian spirits and a ghostly snake. The story is really good, both Anna's and Louisa's though you do want to smack Anna and the two men that are hovering around her once in awhile. They're a bit annoying and Anna doesn't seem to have a lot of sense at times. The main problem I have with this book is the ending which leave things hanging. I really hate that.
85 - The Mosquito Coast - Paul Theroux
A man takes his family away from America to the jungle in Honduras. He's certain America is going to come apart at the seams and he wants to go back to the simple life and start "civilization" over again. He's an inventor, he's selfish and a bit of a bully when it comes to his family. He has them completely under his thumb. He plans to build a huge machine that will make ice that will amaze the native Indians in Honduras, bringing civilzation to them but it all goes horribly wrong and after, he gets out of touch with reality, pushing his family further and further into danger. It was a good book but it was frustrating to read because nobody ever stood up to this man, the force of his personalty has them all to intimidated to question him, especially his wife who, as another adult, should have known better at times. The book is narrated by his oldest son, 14 at the time of the story. Still, it's a good story. I downloaded the movie that they made of it in the 80s with Harrison Ford as the father. Not really who I would have cast. He had some aspects of "Father's" presonality but wasn't quite up to it when Father was more deranged, later in the movie. He seemed to always have that Han Solo smirk on his face that was off putting.
Even so, i decided not to hibernate and I went to the gym. Yes, on a Saturday. That's mainly because I've avoided it for the most part for a couple of weeks, I think i've only managed to go twice in those two weeks. Bad me. Ever since I gave up having a trainer, it's been more difficult to get myself to the gym. At the end of the work day, it's so easy to say i'm tired and i want to get on a bus and go home. I can't do that. I feel better when I go to the gym and it's good for my BP and my lower back. Those are my main motivations after all. So off i went today, did 20 minutes cardio spread over three different machines and then a bit of weights.
Picked up a package at the post office on the way home and a few groceries and when I got home, I wrapped all Graham's Christmas presents because I want to get them in the mail this week to make sure he gets them in time. And it's G's birthday today. Poor guy had to work this morning. . Now i've caught up on recorded telly, Constantine, Gotham, Big Bang Theory and Grimm.
Going to see the new Hunger Games movie, Mockingjay Part 1 tomorrow. That does annoy me and I blame Harry Potter. Wasn't that the first one that made two movies out of the last book? Or was it the Twilight ones? I'm not including Lord of the Rings where they made three movies out of one book. I didn't really like the first of the two part Harry movie that ended the series. I found it really slow and dull but the last movie, the second part of the final book, was good. Lots of action. They just seem to pad them so much and you feel like they're just doing it to suck more money out of you. Never mind, we've gone to the other Hunger Games movies so we want to see it through to the end. (Mom, Sister and I).
82 - Zodiac - Neil Stephenson
Learn more than you ever thought you wanted to know about environmental activism and issues. Sangaman Taylor zips around Boston harbour in an inflatable zodiac tracking down toxic spills among other things. He stumbles on a conspiracy to hide a major spill coming from a big chemical company and his life is in danger.
83 - The Prisoner of Heaven - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Apparently not the first book about these characters or their family. Takes place in the late 50s in Barcelona and also in a jail back in the 1940s. A stranger comes to the bookstore owned by Daniel Sempere's family and he's got a secret. Daniel's friend Fermin in intricately involved in the stranger's past and we are taken back to Fermin's past in prison. The two men's past does connect. Apparently The other two books are not directly related to this story but are about similar characters that appear here and also tell some of Daniel's father's story. The book was good and can stand alone if you haven't read the others, which I have not. Very well written / translated and a good story.
84 - Whispers in the Sand - Barbara Erskine
Most of her books incorporate the past and the present and knit in some sort of other-wordly aspect. This is similar. Anna takes a cruise on the Nile and has her great grandmother's diary that was written during a similar cruise in the mid 19th century. Anna has a mysterious glass bottle that was given to her Great Grandmother, Louisa and it's causing a lot of trouble because it's been enchanted by a nasty spell. There are ancient Egyptian spirits and a ghostly snake. The story is really good, both Anna's and Louisa's though you do want to smack Anna and the two men that are hovering around her once in awhile. They're a bit annoying and Anna doesn't seem to have a lot of sense at times. The main problem I have with this book is the ending which leave things hanging. I really hate that.
85 - The Mosquito Coast - Paul Theroux
A man takes his family away from America to the jungle in Honduras. He's certain America is going to come apart at the seams and he wants to go back to the simple life and start "civilization" over again. He's an inventor, he's selfish and a bit of a bully when it comes to his family. He has them completely under his thumb. He plans to build a huge machine that will make ice that will amaze the native Indians in Honduras, bringing civilzation to them but it all goes horribly wrong and after, he gets out of touch with reality, pushing his family further and further into danger. It was a good book but it was frustrating to read because nobody ever stood up to this man, the force of his personalty has them all to intimidated to question him, especially his wife who, as another adult, should have known better at times. The book is narrated by his oldest son, 14 at the time of the story. Still, it's a good story. I downloaded the movie that they made of it in the 80s with Harrison Ford as the father. Not really who I would have cast. He had some aspects of "Father's" presonality but wasn't quite up to it when Father was more deranged, later in the movie. He seemed to always have that Han Solo smirk on his face that was off putting.