Tuesday, June 22, 2010

I Hate Drive-Thru

7:05 p.m. / 19:05

Back in my ice cream shop days, I much preferred to work the drive through window. Now days, I'd be fine if they closed all of them. My reasons:

  1. Popular fast food restaurants, such as McDonald's, have lines that can actually block traffic on the city roads. I pass two McDonald's on my way to work that sometimes have lines out into the street.
  2. You can get stuck in them. A lot of them are set up so you can't pull out of line if you have a need to.
  3. All those idling cars? Seriously not good for air quality. They really should close drive-thru's on ozone alert days.
  4. It's probably not much up against a Big Mac or a Whopper, but walking to the counter from a car is more exercise than sitting in the drive-thru lane.
  5. I haven't done a proper study, but I've never found much evidence that going through the drive-thru actually saves time.
I'm willing to make an exception for pharmacy drive-thru's.

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Sunday, June 06, 2010

Time

11:25 p.m. / 23:25

I've realized that more than anything else, time has become the big block to my blogging. Is it really any surprise? If you know me at all, then you know I don't get along with time. I've gotten better, and hope I'll continue getting better, but time management is not a natural talent of mine.

I think the problem here at A Work in Progress began with a lack of things to talk about. Then I just got out of the habit. At some point I began coming up with ideas again but I no longer remembered how to make time for writing them. Some weeks I'm surprised I get the laundry done. I used to blog and get the laundry done, though, so maybe I can learn again. No promises, though. I should be outside watering all the droopy front yard flower right now, as a matter of fact. See, there's all of these offline things that need doing.

I'd like to try and write about books some again, although that's harder than it used to be. When I first started blogging about books for my job, I thought I'd cross-post, but I realized quickly that would cause problems. When a book is good enough I have a lot to say about it, I'll probably say it on the blog I write for at work. So, probably that leaves me just getting to tell you what I'm reading.

So, right now I'm reading Hey Cowboy, Wanna Get Lucky by Baxter Black and The Redemption of Sarah Cain by Beverly Lewis. Baxter Black is a pretty funny writer. The book is about a couple of rodeo cowboys named Cody and Lick in the early 80's. It took longer than I expected, but I'm getting pretty into this book.

It's taking even longer to get into the Beverly Lewis selection. I don't read a lot of Christian fiction, but she's a big name in the genre and queen of the sub-genre of Christian fiction about the Amish. The movie based on the book, called Saving Sarah Cain, came into the library. It looked like it might be interesting and I looked up the book and found it was a stand-alone and decided to give it a try. It's about a rich Portland, Oregon real estate agent who's been named in her sister's will to be guardian of her sister's orphaned children, who've grown up in the Amish community of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Side Note: A lot of Christian fiction is series.

I like to read some Christian fiction every now and then because of how popular it is with the library patrons. In the past I've read one that was so dull I can't remember the title or the author right now, plus one by Karen Kingsbury (another big name) called Oceans Apart. I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it. It was very compelling, even if all of the religious aspects didn't line up with my personal beliefs. After that one, I read Quaker Summer by Lisa Samson and I really liked it too, but for different reasons. I found it more inline with my spiritual philosophies.

Before these two books, I read The Help by Kathryn Stockett. It's about black maids in Mississippi during the early 60's when the civil rights movement was... well, moving. It's one I strongly recommend. So far, I haven't talked to anyone who's read it and didn't like it.

So, yes, I'd like to write about books a little more. I've also thought about writing game reviews. Like reviews of board games, card games and party games. They would include things like how many people seems to be ideal for playing the game... possibly emphasis on games that are fun for just two people. I've been surprised the past two years or so at how hard it can be sometimes to find games that are fun with just one other person. I've also started hosting game nights once a month, which I think would help me keep me in game stuff to write about. I wouldn't cover video games, though. A friend of mine has that covered and then some with Crummy Socks, Pro Tip of the Day, Push Button B, and The Closeout Warrior. Also, I guess someday I need to do #100 of my 100 Things. When all else fails, I suppose can post pictures of my cats for people who are into pictures of cats.

So, here's to my great blogging comeback! Maybe.

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