Live and Let Di

Thursday Thirteen (Vol. 70)

***WAIT - DON'T FORGET TO ENTER THE EXCITING OSCAR SCHMOSCAR...GIMME A BOOK! CONTEST***
***DEADLINE IS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 29 AT NOON***

For a little variety here at Di's Book Blog, etc., my 12-year old son Rory has written this week's Thursday Thirteen. This was surprisingly NOT a spontaneous topic. He is grounded from TV and computer until Friday and this was an attempt to soften up the parole board (me!) Some editorial comments were added my Mom herself.

1. She cleans up after me - and has from diapers to bandaids to cell phones and iPods.

2. She does enough reading for the whole family - yet they still feel compelled to interrupt me when I dare to try to read when they are awake!

3. She buys me stuff - luxuries like clothing and food!

4. She met my Dad - and married him despite all the warning signs.

5. She made me - something Mom has done that no one in the world can lay claim to...or would want to!

6. She gave me my sexiness - um, yeah, a little disturbing...but he was just trying to tell me what he thinks I want to hear.

7. Her music [insert sarcasm] is so NOT annoying - I still refuse to call my music "oldies"...but to my kids, Nirvana is oldies!

8. She fell in love with Toby - what's not to fall in love with?

9. She mentions putting Haley up for adoption every once in a while - he loves her, he just hides it well.

10. She gets Wal-Mart pizza - in the refrigerated section, every bit as good as delivery pizza and much cheaper.

11. She is the coolest Mom ever - he speaketh the truth!!!

12. She goes to more of my games than my Dad - only because Dad is traveling in order to keep a roof over our head, food in our tummies and pay the entry fees for whatever sport in which he is participating.

13. a) She doesn't travel.

13. b) When she does travel, my Dad and I get boys' weekend - my son the optimist...he comes by it honestly!

What would your child say about you???

Di

P.S. DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE CONTEST!!!

Gone Phishing?

***WAIT - DON'T FORGET TO ENTER THE EXCITING OSCAR SCHMOSCAR...GIMME A BOOK! CONTEST***
***DEADLINE IS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 29 AT NOON***

Does anyone think that the following might be an example of "Phishing?" Oops, I mean "phishing?" Why or why not?

If you still haven't made up your mind, look what came up when gullible gal clicked on the link:

Intrepid gullible gal blithely clicks, "OK:"

So she enters a fake social security number and password and all she has to do is give them a little information:

Be afraid. Beware. Never click on a link in an e-mail and give information. Especially if:

1. The e-mail lands in your Spam folder

2. Your web program beseeches you to check the certificate

3. The web address looks suspiciously unlike the web address of the company the e-mail proclaimed to be from

If you give information after all that, I think you kind of deserve what you get!!!

Di

And the walls come tumblin' down

***WAIT - DON'T FORGET TO ENTER THE EXCITING OSCAR SCHMOSCAR...GIMME A BOOK! CONTEST***
***DEADLINE IS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 29 AT NOON***

When the walls
Come tumblin down
When the walls
Come crumblin, crumblin
When the walls come
Tumblin, tumblin
Crumblin, tumblin down

 

 

Haley is SO grounded when she gets home. I told her to clean her room!!! This wasn't quite what I had in mind.

It's amazing what contractors who ACTUALLY SHOW UP CAN GET DONE!!! And...I'm not making this up...they worked through thunder and rain today!!!

Di

If I had a hammer...

...I'd still hire someone to build my house.

***WAIT - DON'T FORGET TO ENTER THE EXCITING OSCAR SCHMOSCAR...GIMME A BOOK! CONTEST***
***DEADLINE IS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 29 AT NOON***

It was with great excitement that I sent the following to my parents, my sister and several friends:

The house moving thing fell through. The guy kept missing deadlines and we got our permit, so we had to move forward. Dad...what is this machine called? I was calling it the big swiveling thingy with the claws. I'm thinking that's not the technical term.

My friend Marcy, who should TOTALLY have her own blog replied:

I am surprised that you, the most well read person I know, did not know the name of that thing...From the famous author, P. D. Eastman best known for his contributions to the Cat in the Hat series, namely "Are You My Mother?" I believe the baby bird refers to that large piece of equipment as a "SNORT" !!

As Marcy would say if she was on the receiving end of her e-mail, "I almost peed my pants!" How could I have forgotten this literary classic??? And how did Marcy remember? She's my age....her brain cells should be as disabled as mine!

And now for the REALLY weird thing....when I Googled, "snort are you my mother," my picture came up as one of the images!!!!

Di

Oscars Schmoscars...Gimme a Book!!!***CONTEST***

WIN BIG AT DI'S BOOK BLOG, ETC.!!!!

Good:

Better:

Best:

Who needs to get all dolled up in a dress that requires three weeks of starvation, a concave stomach and ribs that could cut glass? Who needs to worry about shoes that make you tower over your red carpet companion (are you listening Nicole Kidman?) Who really needs to borrow diamonds that cost more than the average mansion?

Win big here at Di's Book Blog, etc!!!! I have not one, not two, but SIX COPIES of My Soul To Keep by Melanie Wells to give away to deserving readers. My Soul to Keep was just published on February 5 and comes in very cool packaging that is consistent with the plot of the book.

On Friday, February 29 (because that's such a cool day, being that it only comes along once every four years), I will randomly select the winners from those who comment. People who suggested the title for the contest...Diane of Carp(e) Libris Reviews and Christine from What-a-Mother...have already received TWO entries to the contest. Christine slyly slipped her suggestion to me via e-mail because a) she thought people would think it was dumb; b) she is REALLY Diane of Carp(e) Libris Reviews!!! What do you think?

Here's how to enter:

1. Comment on this entry - say anything and your name will be entered ONCE in the drawing.

2. Make a funny, witty, interesting or thought provoking comment - dazzle me with your brilliance and your name will be entered TWICE in the drawing.

3. Link to my contest in YOUR blog - a linky will get you THREE entries in the drawing as well as my deep appreciation. (Be sure to let me know if you do this so I can give you the additional entries.)

Is this too complicated? I don't care...it's my contest and it doesn't require tuxedo-clad representatives from Price Waterhouse Coopers to tabulate the results. So, let the games begin!!!!

Di

Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself

Alan Alda is acerbic and sarcastic in the role of "Hawkeye" Pierce in M*A*S*H*, sincere and presidential as Senator Arnold Vinick on The West Wing and surprisingly candid and self-depracating as himself in Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself.

I read Alda's latest book during my sojourn in the psych ward in December. While I wrote in my blog of the absurdities and miracles I experienced there, Alda was providing a voice of stability and reason through his collections of essays and excerpts from addresses. Anyone who has followed Alda's acting career will realize that he is not one to rest on the laurels of his most famous character. You will not find him being Hawkeye in order to stay in the spotlight. Over the many years since M*A*S*H* left the primetime airways (only to reappear pretty much hourly on one channel or another), Alda has stretched as an actor and has taken risks by venturing into the world of publishing.

What comes across in Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself is that Alda is a man of honor, a man of deep thought and most importantly, a family man. The last point is corroborated by the IMDB trivia that, "He commuted from LA to his home in New Jersey every weekend for 11 years while starring in "M*A*S*H" (1972). His wife and daughters lived in NJ, and he did not want to uproot the family to LA, especially because he did not know how long the show would last." This is a man who has experienced great fame while staying with the same wife and living a fairly middle-of-the-road life. It is probably this quality that makes him so believable and approachable.

Alda seems worried, like so many of us are, about the state of our country. He has marched against the war. He has maintained a sense of humility. He lays open his thoughts and observations for our consideration without once coming off as preachy or condescending. I loved it and will keep it on my shelves for future reference.

Di

And the Oscar goes to...

Me...if I manage to pretend I care about the Oscars.

What I do care about is my new contest which is coming tomorrow.

It's book-related.

It's new. It's now. It's wow.

There are several prizes!

I haven't thought of a name yet.

Win TWO entries to the contest if you comment here and give me a suggestion of what to name it.

Di

Sometimes words cannot express...

This is from Charles and Hudson, a home improvement blog I have been reading in preparation for the next several months of house building. Does anyone detect a hidden meaning here? Or is it just me?

Di

Thursday Thirteen (Vol. 69)

I think I'm ready to have my own domain name. What do you think? I also think I need to rename my blog since it's become more "etc." and less "books." So now you have an exciting opportunity to help me:

Name That Blog!!!!

Please take a minute and LEAVE A COMMENT to let me know which of these possible names you like. Or, better yet, give me some names that I haven't thought of.

1. To Di For

2. Di Another Day

3. Live or Di

4. Never Say Di

5. Do or Di

6. Di Hard

7. Never Say Di

8. Let It Di

9. Di Trying

10. To Di for Love

11. Live and Let Di

12. First to Di

13. Til the Day I Di

OK...be kind. I might be coming down with something since my daughter and husband are both sick.

Di

Le Pettitte Prince

I can't resist blogging about something if it lends itself to a clever play-on-words or even better, a BOOK-related play-on-words. So, as soon as I found myself watching a live press conference with Andy Pettitte yesterday, I was cutting and pasting and blogging in my head.

For those who don't follow baseball, Andy Pettitte is a Yankee pitcher who testified to using steroids (specifically, HGH, Human Growth Hormone) once in 2004. In a deposition before Congress, he corroborated evidence that Roger Clemens too had used HGH. Clemens claims that Pettitte "misremembers." That's kind of like the grown up version of, "Did not!"

So, you can dislike Pettite for using steroids. You can dislike him for taking an icon down a notch (and maybe more.) But you can't dislike him for his behavior in the aftermath...which earned him my designation of "Le Pettitte Prince."

I know...the cutting and pasting is kind of lame, but you get the picture.

Pettitte humbly stood before the media who were clamoring for some dirt and accepted responsibility for his actions and begged forgiveness from team owners, team members and the baseball fans, saying, ""Whatever circumstances or repercussions come with it, I'll take and I'll take like a man and I'll try to do my job." Yes, you read it right.

No excuses. No denials. No anger. No evasions.No blame.

How refreshing.

How many times have we seen Bobby Knight berating the media for doing their jobs? How many sports heroes have fallen only to make self-serving excuses for their behavior? How many athletes have come to the podium with a huge chip on their shoulders just waiting for the opportunity to eat a reporter for lunch?

Andy Pattitte was a gentleman. Nay, a prince! And his actions and words should serve as an example to others both in and out of the limelight.

Di