• Books - Clan: McTiVo - The Never-Ending Bloga

    Books | The Man With The Golden Torc

    The Man with the Golden Torc (Secret Histories, Book 1), by Simon Green I’m about midway through this book, and although I’m enjoying it, it’s an exhausting read. I got on to it because of a review I ran across on NPR.org recently, which compared it favorably to the The Dresden Files) books by Jim Butcher. Both series feature male protagonists who walk between the mundane and magic worlds, but Green’s anti-ish hero, Eddie Drood, is British, somewhat of a Bond fan, and fully human and not really a magic user, although he has magic golden armor. Butcher’s guy, Harry…

  • SABRE2th Tigress: Book 'em, Dano.

    Having An Off Day

    Friday, that is! I’m home for the day, which I scheduled off… God, about a year ago now, with the vague idea that I didn’t want to be at work on “Halloween Friday.” In years past, we used to make a much, MUCH bigger deal about decorating for Halloween and competing as teams and individuals for best concept, and in fact we used actually start building stuff or putting up decorations a week or more in advance. Not so much this year… a lot has happened, we’ve gone through a layoff cycle, we’re effectively between VPs until the new executive…

  • Health And Fitness

    The No White Death Diet Seems To Be Working Actually

    Some time in early August, I decided to 1) stop drinking sugary-sweet sodas 2) stop eating candy 3) start eating more healthfully and mindfully 4) start exercising at the health club at least 3 times a week. I’m not counting calories, although I’m paying more attention to portion size and varying things with more salads and vegetables than before. And I’ve lost 10 pounds – possibly 12, because I can’t remember if my starting point was 238 (ugh) or 236 (somewhat less ugh). Either way, good for me. I seem to have succeeded in making workouts part of my routine,…

  • Food, Glorious Food

    Carnivorous Feeding Frenzy de Brazil

    Oh well, another week or so goes by, how the hell did that happen? We’re working off a bit of a meat hangover here at Chez Geeque, because we met some good friends for dinner at the nearby Texas de Brazil in Schaumburg and ate a large quantity of delicious slow-roasted meat. We groaned contentedly when offered dessert, came home, watched Stargate: Universe and Numb3rs, and fell into bed. This morning we both moved very, very slowly and tonight for dinner – vegetarian! But it was a wonderful meal, and the setting and serving style lent a great sense of…

  • Hot Off The Presses

    Group Homes in Illinois

    Some disturbing facts in this article about an unlicensed adult group home. Meanwhile, the waiting list for a bed in a state-licensed home is 18,000 names long. Parents decry care at Deicke Home in Lombard for disabled adults — chicagotribune.com Disabled care advocates say the Deicke case provides an inside look at the risks of Illinois’ problematic and woefully underfunded adult-care system, where countless small, unlicensed homes provide much-needed housing but offer little relief to worried families. “They exist because the system in Illinois is inadequate and broken,” said Zena Naiditch, president and chief executive of Equip For Equality, a…

  • SABRE2th Tigress: Book 'em, Dano.

    Business Class vs. Coach Class

    It’s a tug-of-war between the “bean counters” and the “been counted (unworthy of an upgrade)”. If you’re not on your company’s VIP list, good luck with getting business class to Singapore… Cheaper business airfares still a tough sell in today’s economy – USATODAY.com Trying to lure business travelers back into more expensive seats, airlines have slashed business-class fares to foreign cities. Many business-class airfares to Europe this fall are 33% to 66% cheaper than a year ago, an analysis by FareCompare.com finds. While the cheaper fares are more attractive to cost-conscious companies, they are still a tough sell in this…