WoooWoo!

I'm getting a free copy of Jeaniene Frost's ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE to review*. Free books rock!

*Guess I better read HALFWAY TO THE GRAVE. It's been sitting in my TBR pile since it came out. (g)

Oh man, it just hit me that I'm going to have A LOT of time for reading very, VERY soon. YAY. :)

Bleep Bleep

Yep...heart is still working. I'm officially alive, though I feel like sh*t. (g) For the record, I REALLY hate finals. (Have I said this before?) Buuuuuttt!!!! Official countdown to graduation is 11...erm, make that _10_ days!!!! WHOO-WOO!! I'm so excited. :)

One final down...one sit-down final, one take-home final, one 20-30 page paper, and one negotiations journal to pull together. Life is going to get A LOT better at about 4PM Thursday afternoon. That sit-down final will be finished as well as my paper. (Well, if everything goes well. To quote Tim Gunn, "It's time to make it work." (g)) After that, I can phone in the rest of my assignments. Life will be so sweet. (Plus I can probably get back on some sort of writing schedule!) That's definitely the best part of it all.

Off to bed.

How I Celebrated My Birthday

Technically, the celebration began last night. I got home from work around 10 and discovered my little Bailey pup had peed in my bed. ROFLMAO. DUDE, that's so wrong and led to my doing laundry WELL past midnight. I'm not sure what happened with her. When Chloe was a pup (I say pup, but they were both about 2 when they had their incidents), she peed on my newly washed and made bedding. I think both dogs were frustrated with me. Chloe because I was doing laundry at the time and couldn't play with her upon demand...and Bailey beause I've been gone so much. I don't think she's grown any more accustomed to my new work schedule than I have. After all, since we adopted her last year, I've been home every night, etc. Now she's acting funny around me....*SIGH* I didn't even get mad at her. Hopefully she'll be okay soon.

Oh the fun of being a dog owner. (g)

Anywho -- hopefully today will go much better. I'm going to be working on my lit paper this afternoon, and then we're (my family and I) going out to dinner at the restaurant of my choice. I haven't decided where yet, but it will come in due time. Then it's back home for cake.

Pretty tame night, but alas, that's what happens when your birthday falls during finals. (g)

Thanks to everyone for their birthday wishes! :)

Dance Break!

The last class...of my last year of law school...just ended.

*blink*

It's over. No more lectures...no more Socratic method...no more trying to pay attention when I have 5 IM windows blinking at me. No more solitaire to stay awake...

No more.

*EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE*

Quick Halloo!!

I only have a minute, but wanted to let y'all know I'm still alive. I've been super busy (not to mention sick) and haven't had much computer time. It's ALMOST over, tho.

Official Countdown: 16 Days Until Graduation!!!!

*happy dance*

Radio Silence

Sorry I've been so quiet. Finals are fast approaching and I'm a bit overwhelmed by school work and the new job. :P Truth be told, I work almost every night, and trying to squeeze in study time is proving a challenge. To add to that, I'm doing a "speed read" of CRIME AND PUNISHMENT for my lit class. Heh. Good times. Unfortunately, that means very little time for anything outside of school and work. :)

Oh well...can you believe I only have _21_ days until graduation?! OMG. I'm so excited. Just need to gut it out a little longer. I can SO do that.

Hope all of you are well! Back to C&P.

Happy Tax Day!!

*Blinks*

What?? You're not celebrating??

I'm the worst. I realized last night that I still need to do my forms...blah. Oh well...that's why they give you until midnight. LOL. And yes, I'm ashamed to say I've turned in my taxes that late before -- handed them off to the guy standing outside, in fact. I hope to finish this afternoon -- EARLY. :)

I Think I Found My Calling

Yesterday, I happened by the study window and saw a Boston terrier in our driveway. She was all harnassed up, but her owner was nowhere in sight. As we live on a very busy street, and she was headed that way, I called her into the house. Thankfully she came trotting on in. LOL. My dogs weren't too happy with the interloper, but I shut her in the laundry room to divert any impending yipfests.

Luckily, this time the rescue went rather smoothly. I called in her ID number and discovered Sally lived a couple of houses over -- granted, across said BUSY street. I walked her over and handed her off to her papa.

If this writer/lawyer thing doesn't work out...perhaps there's a job for me in animal rescues. (g) That's three this week...wondering what other pooches will wander into our yard...

Happy Ending!!!

My uncle checked up on Lucy and her sister today. The good news is that the owners claimed them about a half hour after they were picked up!!! *happy dance*

Apparently, the two got loose from a home here in Lincoln -- get this, though. They live about _three miles_ from us...good grief. That's a long distance for two dogs to travel--along some very busy streets. EEE. I'm so glad they made it to us safely.

And I'm also happy to report that the family had already been calling in about them, long before they were turned in. In fact, they were on the phone with the shelter when the two arrived.

Oh man, I love happy endings. :)

The Great Dog Chase

WHAT an afternoon. LOL. My dogs started yipping up a storm about an hour and a half ago, and my uncle and I came out to discover two dogs in our yard. One looked sort of like a Great Dane -- big and white with black spots. Not sure what kind it was, but it was big. The other was a poodle of some type... Anywho, my uncle and I are pretty adamant about picking up strays. These two were NOT having it, though. LOL. We tried for the leashes and that wasn't happening. Then we tried treats, which definitely got their attention. That is, until Bailey, a.k.a. Miss Attitude, decided to push her weight around. All twenty pounds of it. She got in the Great Dane's face and barked her little head off. She's lucky to still have a head, folks.

Anyway -- these two obviously were related. Where one went, the other followed. The poodle was a little less skiddish, but every time I got close to catching her, the dane would bark her head off...then off they'd go down the street. We followed them for about a half hour...freaking out and suffering small heart attacks every time they'd run out into the road. Several other people tried to help catch them, but man...that dane was a toughie. Eventually they holed up under this empty house. They couldn't get out of there without going past us, so we basically caged them in and waited for animal control. A half hour later we're still waiting and the dogs are getting restless... Yeah, they tried to take off again. That's when Jen had to get down to some serious business.

We had a bag of treats and a cup of cereal some nice lady was kind enough to give us. I tapped out a few and walked away... repeating this several times until they started getting closer and closer. Eventually I got them to eat some out of my hands. Made a grab for the Dane, but her collar slid right off. Damn. Jen starts over.

Eventually, when the poodle was close enough, I managed to get a name and phone number off of her collar. Lucy's phone number was no good, tho -- that is, unless the people were lying. (Hey, it happens) We also got their vet and rabies license number off of the dane -- once again, address on file was no good. AAARGH. Anyway, by this time, they were getting pretty used to me. I led them over to the car and in they both went. ROFL. Did I mention it was POURING rain the entire time this was going on?? Not only was I soaked to the skin, but now we had roughly 120-150 lbs. of wet dog to contend with. :)

We took them home and let them loose in the garage. They scarfed down a few cups of food and then...only then...did animal control show up. Almost a good hour after we called them. Poor pups. The dane was a beautiful dog...and the poodle was SO sweet (once they got used to us). I'm sad to see them sent to the shelter and pray their family shows up to claim them. Sigh. I really hope this isn't a case of the owners abandoning them on a random street corner. Seems to happen a lot around here.

But at least they're safe and out of the rain.

Whoot!

This message is the very first with my new keyboard! Yay! My keys are all nice and textured again. No more of that glossy, caved in feel... I can actually SEE the letters now. Woohoo.

(It's only a matter of time before I jack 'em up again, but for now...I shall enjoy being able to see and feel what I'm doing. :)) And now I can type away on the ole' wip to my heart's content. If only I wasn't working so many hours now!!! Ack. (g)

My Church!!! *cries*

I kid you not -- someone ran their mini-van through the side door of my church!! I don't know all the details, nor how this will effect their business and my book-buying opportunities... but OMG!! Sacrilege!!!

(Link removed -- it died.)

Dude, I soooo could've been standing RIGHT there, waiting for my favorite caramel frappacino... I almost went yesterday, too -- as soon as I heard Maureen Johnson's new book was out.

No, I haven't gone to the site yet...not sure I'll be able to keep myself together.. *sigh*

ETA: I'm very happy to report that my church is up and running. Not sure they ever closed down, actually. Instead of a wall, they have boards...but hey, the books are okay. :)

WHISKEY SOUR by J.A. Konrath

This book was recommended to me (waves at Carrie) while I was doing my agent search. It IS sort of similar to FI, so I thought it might be an interesting read -- to see if FI might be something his agent would want to handle. HEH. Of course, I'm getting to it long after it will do any good. LOL.


WHISKEY SOUR by J.A. Konrath
Mystery


Brief Synopsis: Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels is your typical hard-boiled police lieutenant. Her boyfriend has left her because she's never around, she suffers from an on-going case of insomnia, and her social life consists of playing pool with a guy she once busted. To put it mildly, she is her job. And with a name like that, of course she enjoys her liquor.

When a serial killer calling himself the Gingerbread Man begins killing young females and dumping their bodies in various trashcans around the city of Chicago, Jack is put on the case only to discover that the guy has his sights set on her.
Mayhem ensues.

Okay, I went in thinking this would be along the lines of Evanovich and/or FI. And it was to some extent. Overall, though, I must say I found the humor a bit lacking because I couldn't disconnect my working knowledge of the criminal justice system from the way it was presented in this book. To put it more succinctly, the author tried to put humor in the oddest situations.

My biggest gripe would be the way the FBI were portrayed. LOL. Although funny, it just wasn't believable due to how far the author pushed it. The two agents in this book were portrayed as your basic Dumb and Dumber who put too much stock in the Vicap computer. Their profiles of the Gingerbread Man were _ridiculous_, but not nearly as ridiculous as their complete faith in them. There was one point they were both convinced TGM was a horse lover and wanted to stakeout animals of the four-legged variety, believing that would lead them straight to him. I mean, COME ON.

Coupled with other weak characterizations, this book was a bit superficial. All I know about her partner is that he likes to eat -- All I know about _Jack_ is that she's seriously depressed and burned out. She's humorous, yes, but with a grittier, wry humor that has a tinge of sadness beneath it all. I know they're in Chicago, but I never got a good feel for the setting...

The mystery with the Gingerbread man was _okay_.

All in all -- I'd say this book was enjoyable, though a bit predictable and shallow. I'll likely read the sequels, but I doubt I'll rush out to buy them anytime soon.

Buy or Rent? Eh, either -- I gave the book a 3/5, so it's your choice.

Ups And Downs

Well, I'm making good headway on FI, but not nearly enough. I'm plowing ahead, though...so soon, very soon.

The bad news? Well, I went out and got a job today. LOL. With graduation approaching, I realized my money is going to completely run out. (Okay, I knew this already, but it finally HIT home in a big way. I have all the optimism in the world about my employment options after graduation, but a job search may take a little more time than my meager bank account will support.) So, alas...I put in my app, and bam...I'm an employed stooge once again. IOW, I'm back to waitressing. (g) It's a steakhouse, which is cool...one that plays a steady stream of country music, which is even cooler. Best part? The uniform -- jeans and a t-shirt! Woohoo. And the really good news is that I made the decision and was hired within about an hour. Hey, I've got skillz. (VBG)

Unfortunately, that means my schedule is going to be even tighter as I move toward finals. If I disappear from the net, don't be completely shocked. Because not only will my schedule be superass busy now, but I busted my laptop tonight. (YAY) Well, it's not that dire. But a couple of keys are officially broken -- including the space bar -- and well, we all know the Geek Squad take _forever_ to fix anything at Best Buy. It's not the best system, but thank God, my 'puter is still under warranty. I DO have my old laptop (not sure if you're familiar with that diaster -- it basically PHYSICALLY fell apart, meaning the screen is hanging on to the keyboard by a HAIR...literally.) I've rigged it against my desk -- so at least I can continue to write in the evenings. Notes at school will be by hand (egads!!!) and I'll have no internet escape mode in the middle of class. That is unless my uncle allows me to borrow his laptop. Not counting on that.

Oh, and there's that little matter of some of my scenes being saved in Word 2007 format..when this computer has Word 2000. Hmmm, I have a feeling that's going to be a major problem. LOL. Oh well, I'll check it out. I've loaded everything on to my portable harddrive...and well, I can always use my uncle's desktop if desperation sets in. (heh)

So yeah -- crazy day! (g) I have a feeling I'm going to feel the urge to rip my hair out in the next 39 days. That's all I have left until graduation!! (woohoo!)

Coolest Hit, Ever!

I love looking at my sitemeter -- just to see the interesting places people are from. One hit today is by far the coolest:

Casablanca, Morocco!!

Here's looking at you, kid! (g)