I can quit whenever I want

Showed great restraint today. Did not find nearest HP dealer after work to get a fix. Went home and worked on my shameful backlog of unfinished reviews on Book Barker.

Honestly, seeing all those copies at work on hold for other people hasn't bothered me. Yet.

I read a Barnes & Noble copy for a few hours

No real spoilers below, unless you're an ultra-purist. But you've been warned.


Chapters Finished: 5
Death Count: 3

This is going to be a tough one. But we knew that.

Hopefully my Amazon.co.uk copy will come Friday. Godspeed, international mail!

keeping my head above water

I went to the Minnesota Zoo this month for the first time in many years. Maybe I shouldn't say "many"- after all, the zoo only opened in 1978, and old-school St. Paul natives like my mother still refer to it as the "New Zoo." It's bigger than it used to be, so lucky for me I had an expert guide (you know who you are). Having taken large groups of young children to the zoo several times, he was well-qualified to keep me from wandering into the wolf enclosure, running in the gift shop, etc. It was a warm Saturday afternoon, and when we got to the Bactrian Camels, I was more than a little surprised to see this:


Camels like to stand around in the middle of ponds? Who knew? Well, anybody who's been to the zoo more recently than I have, I suppose. According to the Zoo's website, Bactrian Camels are "reportedly" good swimmers. Does this mean that no officially licensed zoologists have ever seen one swim, and they are relying on the tales told by the Mongolian tribesman who have shared the Gobi desert with the camels? Ah, the beautiful moonlight camel swims; few who have been fortunate enough to witness them shall ever forget the beauty, the serenity, the buoyancy of these hearty beasts of burden. When you think about it, with those giant reserves of fatty tissue permanently attached to their backs like God-given water wings, I should hope they're good swimmers.

Seeing them standing there, only their necks and humps visible, I felt a certain kinship. Between settling into homeownership and the bills that go with it, and the many-faceted craziness of a summer at the public library, I feel like I've spent the last few months in a similar mostly-submerged position, much busier than is comfortable as a norm. It's not more than I can handle (God help me- and often, please), and like the camels I've waded here by choice and would do it again. Unlike the camels, I'm not up to my neck in nice, cool, relaxing water. I think I need to find some soon, preferably off in the North Woods somewhere.

When winter comes, I wonder if camels rise above it all and go skating?

Accio Deathly Hallows

Counting the hours until Harry Potter 7 is released? From Brotherhood 2.0's Hank Green comes just the song for you:

oh yeah? recognizeTHIS!

Hi everyone, who/where-ever you are.

I'm back. But my computer no longer recognizes my camera when I try to hook it up, so I can't yet share any fun photos of what the heck I've been up to in the last, oh, 3 weeks. The peaks I've climbed, the minivans I've sat in, the camels I've seen standing around, half-submerged. It's all trapped on my camera. Stories are coming, eventually, but I'm a child of the 21st century: I need visuals!

By the way, at first I typed "child of the 12th century." What would I need then? Dirt? A motte and bailey?

rambling West

In precious few hours, I'm off to Colorado for a week of family camp in the mountains with Katie, Jav, Lucy, and Jav's parents. Our motley crew of mostly Fischers are bound for Rainbow Trail Lutheran Camp in a rented minivan. Yes, that's right, I've volunteered to accompany a 15-month-old child on her first 16-hour car trip. Besides that excitement, there are many mountains to be climbed and much relaxing to look forward to. I hope.

Maybe I'd better pack now. Yes, excellent idea...

'Til July 9, grace and peace!

from the far corners to my wall

As I looked at my newly assembled Wall o' Music, it occurred to me how many parts of my life are represented on it. One of the vertical instruments (the zhalika- spelling uncertain) was a gift from a college friend who traveled to Russia; the other from a friend who traveled...somewhere far and/or wide. I forget where now. The pan-style flute and the qena in the red case I bargained for in Peru after grad school; the book is the Pocket Book of Great Operas, gleaned from rejected donations to the St. Olaf music library when I worked there. I thought it might be of use in my opera class. It wasn't, but it's still a nice decorative item. The LP's are from an estate sale in Olympia.
Hopefully, the WoM will eventually be dominated by a modest but decent little piano. For now, there's a music stand and my oboe case.

As I was unpacking and decorating the place, I made a conscious effort to include no meaningless clutter. Any objects sitting on shelves would either be consumable (candles, etc.), functional (speakers, metronome), or have personal significance. It turns out that these guidelines still left plenty of stuff to fill up my shelves. In the interest of reminiscence and possession justification, I'm going to begin a blog mini-series called "Objects of My Affection". Hopefully it will be interesting to people beyond myself, and hopefully some of you will see a few familiar faces. In the faceless, inanimate sense of the word. If there is such a sense.