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todayiamadaisyThis week's knitting update is half a week late, which is to say that I've had no time for knitting. This last week I have been writing an essay about What Is Strategic Project Management And Why It Is A Good Thing. But knitting weather is coming. I now need to put on a cardigan on to go outside in the evenings. Chilly!
Rest of the week update: Mostly essay writing, to be honest.
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Here is a list of recipe titles generated by a computer. Completely Meat Chocolate Pie. Yum.
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Around this time last year, my mother called the tree man to come and trim the trees. He's been her go-to tree man for a few years, both for this house and when she was out of town, and has been reliable. He said he'd be here in a week.
He was not.
It turned wet quite early last year, so my mother put the matter aside and said she'd forget about until spring. She called him again last September. He'd be there in a week, he said.
He was not.
That put my mother into procrastination mode, because she didn't want to call him again, but she nor did she want to go the hassle of finding a new tree man. Still, after a year, some of the trees are getting out of hand so she had to do something. She tried another tree man. He said he'd be round that afternoon to do a quote.
He was not.
That was last Thursday. She rang again on Monday, and left a message. He hasn't got back to her, so that's him crossed off the list. She's just called the next name in the phone listing and had to leave a message there too. You wouldn't think it would be so hard to get trees trimmed.
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And this is also late: March books read
* The Fox and the Star - Coralie Bickford-Smith (2015) ★ ★ ★ ★
This was a children's book I picked up in the library because the cover was lovely. As are the illustrations, it turns out. The story is about a lonely fox whose only friend is a star. I found it a bit of a downer, to be honest. A beautiful downer.
* Economics of the Undead: Zombies, Vampires, and the Dismal Science - Glen Whitman & James Dow (eds) (2014) ★ ★ ★
This is a collection of essays by economists about how the existence of zombies and vampires would affect the economy, using examples from popular fiction. What if vampires were voted into government? (With their long-term outlook, they might be more prepared than humans to take action on climate change.) How would a market for blood work? Should you insure against zombiefication? The best essay is the last one, which looks at the use and symbolism of natural and standard clocks and calendars in Bram Stoker's Dracula, which almost made me want to reread that. Almost.
* The Next Pandemic: On the Frontlines against Humanity's Gravest Dangers - Ali S. Khan (2016) ★ ★ ★ ★
I did not know that plague, as in bubonic plague, was still a thing. It is. You can still get it. I mean, it's unlikely. But imagine if you did. What a story you'd have to tell.
Ali S. Khan is an epidemiologist who spent twenty-five years at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In that time he was on the ground at all the big public health emergencies, like Ebola, SARS and anthrax, and at some of the less exciting ones, like outbreaks of gastro on a cruise ship. I enjoyed the longer chapters of this book, in which he goes through the logistics of arriving in the middle of an outbreak and setting up shop and the difficulties of dealing with different governments and NGOs and populations. The shorter chapters weren't as meaty and I found them chronologically confusing.
If you take nothing else from this book, remember to spray disinfectant first over any rodent droppings you may have to clean up. I learnt that in the monkeypox chapter.
Rest of the week update: Mostly essay writing, to be honest.
Here is a list of recipe titles generated by a computer. Completely Meat Chocolate Pie. Yum.
Around this time last year, my mother called the tree man to come and trim the trees. He's been her go-to tree man for a few years, both for this house and when she was out of town, and has been reliable. He said he'd be here in a week.
He was not.
It turned wet quite early last year, so my mother put the matter aside and said she'd forget about until spring. She called him again last September. He'd be there in a week, he said.
He was not.
That put my mother into procrastination mode, because she didn't want to call him again, but she nor did she want to go the hassle of finding a new tree man. Still, after a year, some of the trees are getting out of hand so she had to do something. She tried another tree man. He said he'd be round that afternoon to do a quote.
He was not.
That was last Thursday. She rang again on Monday, and left a message. He hasn't got back to her, so that's him crossed off the list. She's just called the next name in the phone listing and had to leave a message there too. You wouldn't think it would be so hard to get trees trimmed.
And this is also late: March books read
* The Fox and the Star - Coralie Bickford-Smith (2015) ★ ★ ★ ★
This was a children's book I picked up in the library because the cover was lovely. As are the illustrations, it turns out. The story is about a lonely fox whose only friend is a star. I found it a bit of a downer, to be honest. A beautiful downer.
* Economics of the Undead: Zombies, Vampires, and the Dismal Science - Glen Whitman & James Dow (eds) (2014) ★ ★ ★
This is a collection of essays by economists about how the existence of zombies and vampires would affect the economy, using examples from popular fiction. What if vampires were voted into government? (With their long-term outlook, they might be more prepared than humans to take action on climate change.) How would a market for blood work? Should you insure against zombiefication? The best essay is the last one, which looks at the use and symbolism of natural and standard clocks and calendars in Bram Stoker's Dracula, which almost made me want to reread that. Almost.
* The Next Pandemic: On the Frontlines against Humanity's Gravest Dangers - Ali S. Khan (2016) ★ ★ ★ ★
I did not know that plague, as in bubonic plague, was still a thing. It is. You can still get it. I mean, it's unlikely. But imagine if you did. What a story you'd have to tell.
Ali S. Khan is an epidemiologist who spent twenty-five years at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In that time he was on the ground at all the big public health emergencies, like Ebola, SARS and anthrax, and at some of the less exciting ones, like outbreaks of gastro on a cruise ship. I enjoyed the longer chapters of this book, in which he goes through the logistics of arriving in the middle of an outbreak and setting up shop and the difficulties of dealing with different governments and NGOs and populations. The shorter chapters weren't as meaty and I found them chronologically confusing.
If you take nothing else from this book, remember to spray disinfectant first over any rodent droppings you may have to clean up. I learnt that in the monkeypox chapter.