July 2009 Archives

In chronological order:

• The Cater Street Hangman (1979)
• Callander Square (1980)
• Paragon Walk (1981)
• Resurrection Row (1981)
• Bluegate Fields (1984)
• Rutland Place (1983)
• Death in Devil's Acre (1985)
• Cardington Crescent (1987)
• Silence in Hanover Close (1988)
• Bethlehem Road (1990)
• Highgate Rise (1991) - June-July, 2008
• Belgrave Square (1992)
• Farrier's Lane (1993)
• The Hyde Park Headsman (1994)
• Traitors Gate (1995) - read July, 2009
• Pentecost Alley (1996)
• Ashworth Hall (1997) §
• Brunswick Gardens (1998) §
• Bedford Square (1999) §
• Half Moon Street (1998) §
• The Whitechapel Conspiracy (2001) §
• Southampton Row (2002) §
• Seven Dials (2003) §
• Long Spoon Lane (2005) §
• Buckingham Palace Gardens (was Africa Passage) (2008) §

† = acquired, but not yet read
§ = unowned

I had a very nice birthday today.

I picked up a two and a half dozen donuts from Uncle Joe's to take to work, and ate my cinnamon roll with raisins in the car on the way. I treated myself to a steak and shrimp plate fro San Sei for lunch, and then met Carole and Justin at Chili's for a nice, low-key dinner. (Justin and I combined our 'big' birthday dinner last Wednesday at Ruth's Chris.)

Lindsey Davis' series on the informer (private detective) Marcus Didius Falco and his lovely wife Helena during Vespasian's reign in ancient Rome.

• The Silver Pigs (1989)
• Shadows in Bronze (1990)
• Venus in Copper (1991)
• The Iron Hand of Mars (1992)
• Poseidon's Gold (1993)
• Last Act in Palmyra (1994)
• Time to Depart (1995)
• A Dying Light in Corduba (1996)
• Three Hands in the Fountain (1997)
• Two for the Lions (1998)
• One Virgin Too Many (1999)
• Ode to a Banker (2000)
• A Body in the Bath House (2001)
• The Jupiter Myth (2002)
• The Accusers (2003)
• Scandal Takes a Holiday (2004)
• See Delphi and Die (2005)
• Saturnalia (2007)
• Alexandria (2009) †
• Nemesis (June 2010) º

† = acquired, but not yet read
§ = unowned
º = not yet released.

My notary commission expired in March, and I've been meaning to complete the mail-order training manual for months now. I finally finished it up during lunch today, and mailed off the completion certificate.

The training company will mail me the final certificate that will allow me to sign up for the actual test. After that is fingerprints, a background check, a new bond and seal, E&O insurance, NNA membership — none of which is a big hit individually, but when you put them all together it totals up to a lot of time and money.

It has always made me wonder why so many people want to become notaries.

My boss had this word puzzle today:

What's black when you buy it, red when you use it, and gray when you throw it away?

Answer: Charcoal

Use your mouse to highlight the text in the black box.

The Sunday Philosophy Club is a series of books by Alexander McCall-Smith, featuring Isabelle Dalhousie as a philosophically bent amateur detective in Edinburgh.

• The Sunday Philosophy Club
• Friends, Lovers, Chocolate
• The Right Attitude to Rain
• The Careful Use of Compliments
• The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday
• The Lost Art of Gratitude †

&dagger - Scheduled for release on September 22, 2009.

I've started reading Alexandria, the new Falco book that I got from Amazon UK.

My trip report for CFR 2009 is posted on this TCFJR entry.

When I got back from CFR, I found that Carole, Justin, and Jeremy had been working hard to get the bedrooms rearranged. Carole and I moved from the back bedroom to the southwest corner, and the adjacent room became the den. Justin moved to our old bedroom.

During the planning for the move, I said I wanted to have a recliner in the den, so I'd have a place to read and maybe watch a little TV. As a surprise, Carole had bought a recliner while I was gone on my trip, and Justin and Jeremy set it up. It's just about perfect — overstuffed, medium brown micro-suede fabric, and it rocks and reclines.

It was a fantastic surprise!

Since my sinus augmentation surgery last December, Carole (more) and I (less) have noticed that I wheeze more than before. I finally got around to visiting an ENT to have it checked out.

The ENT was nice, a new junior member of a long-standing practice whose founder is now concentrating on his plastics work, which by all accounts is very lucrative, based on amount the numbers in the waiting room on a late Friday afternoon.

In the examining room, I gave the doctor a brief description of my symptoms, and was a little surprised that she did not know what a sinus augmentation was. We talked some more, and I gave her a pretty full rundown of my migraine history. After some more pokes and prods, we finished up, and she gave me her recommendations.

She said it looked like I had some allergy problems, and she gave me a prescription for Nasonex, and told me to pick-up some OTC Zyrtec. Next, she had me sign two records requests: one for details on my sinus augmentation, and another for details on my sleep study. Even though I told her that I was happy with my current migraine treatment protocol, she seemed anxious to work on it, and ordered a CAT scan of my sinuses and a new sleep study. A CAT scan is no big, but I wasn't happy about the sleep study.

After talking it over with Carole, I decided to hold off on the CAT scan and the sleep study. I've lost about 25 pounds so far on my new diet, and intend to keep going indefinitely. If I took those tests now, they would be useless in a few months if I continue to lose weight at this rate. The tests are expensive (mostly to my insurance company, but also out of my pocket), and the sleep study is an enormous pain in the ass.

I tried the Nasonex, but really didn't like the weird taste in my mouth and the nasty drainage into my throat. For now, I'm taking one Zyrtec at night, along with my Melatonin. I'm going to make an appointment with Dr. Liao for August after I get back from WFO, and I'll discuss the ENT's recommendations with her before I make any hard and fast decisions.

I watched most of Hancock. My buddy Gail removed my needle and wrapped my arm.

Originally a serial in the The Scotsman newspaper, Alexander McCall-Smith's series is a light-hearted and compassionate look at life in and around an apartment building in Edinburgh.

• 44 Scotland Street
• Espresso Tales
• Love Over Scotland
• The World According to Bertie
• The Unbearable Lightness of Scones