Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Cursed

No Red Sox fan should ever use the word "cursed", but whatever. I couldn't sleep last night, so at 2 AM I wandered downstairs to the tv and was surprised to see the Sox game in the 12th inning. Couldn't resist watching, plus Matt Holliday--who SHOULD still be on the Rockies--was at the plate for the A's, and I love watching the guy bat.

Sadly, the minute I tune in, it happens: a couple batters after Holliday and the Sox lose. I'm sure it's because I turned on my tv. I cursed them.

Other evidence I am cursed:

Saturday: I decide the family room carpet is disgusting. Book the cleaners to come on Monday.
Monday: Carpet gets spiffied up, looks brand new.
Tuesday: I decide to water the plants in the family room.
Immediately afterward: Dog decides wet dirt is the PERFECT place to bury her chew toy, spraying mud everywhere in the process. When I see her and tell her, "No!" she runs through it (and all over the carpet.)
Immediately after that: Discover vacuum cleaner is broken.

Now I'm waiting to see if bad things really do come in threes. (And I'm hoping that "plant dirt everywhere" and "broken vacuum" count as two separate incidents!)

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Perfect Ten


Ten strikeouts, one win. Thanks for making opening day rock, Josh! Made me soooo happy to see the Sox win the first one at home. Homers from Tek and Dustin Pedroia sealed it. Can't wait until I get to go to my first Red Sox game of 2009 when they play the Yankees at the end of this month.

In other happy sporting news, I took second place in my ESPN NCAA basketball pool (not bad, since I picked Memphis to win it all), and I will likely take third in my Geek Pool. Should find out about that one soon.

How about all of you? Were your brackets well-chosen? Are you amped for baseball? (Me, I honored the day by forking over $9.99 to get the MLB.com app for my iPhone. Next time I'm traveling, I can get the game day audio, live scores, and all the other info I usually miss!)

Yes, I'm a bit obsessive!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Wichita, KS: The Friendliest Place On Earth?

Ever been to Wichita? What do you think?

I spent the last three days hanging out in wonderful Wichita at the Kansas Library Association/Midwest Plains Library Association joint conference with my good friend, author Elizabeth Boyle. We gave a workshop to the librarians on using their romance collections to build patronage at their libraries through various displays, programming, teen advisory groups, etc. A HUGE thanks to HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin, and the Romance Writers of America for providing all kinds of swag, including fabulous tote bags and copies of Breaking Up (Is Hard To Do) and Elizabeth's brand new release, Confessions of a Little Black Gown. We had a great turnout and a lot of fun.

What Elizabeth and I couldn't get over? How NICE everyone is in Wichita! The guy working the desk at Enterprise Rent-A-Car was cheerful and informative when we arrived, even though it was ten pm and he was probably due to get off work. We kept talking about how nice he was...then everyone else we encountered turned out to be just like him! From the helpful folks at Walgreen's (who helped me find face wash after I left mine at home), to the smiling booksellers at the Maize Road Borders (where Elizabeth and I stopped by to sign stock) to the friendly waitstaff at River City Brewery, every single person we met in Wichita was exceedingly kind. Elizabeth and I decided that it's probably the friendliest city on Earth.

We also need to give a huge shout out to everyone at the Bradley Fair Barnes & Noble, located at 1920 N. Rock Road. Elizabeth held a booksigning there on Thursday night, and the staff went above and beyond to make it a fun, relaxing event. If you want an autographed copy of any of her books, or if you'd like an autographed copy of either Royally Jacked or Scary Beautiful, stop by the store and grab one! They have a ton of signed stock. If you're not near Wichita, but would still like an autographed copy, give them a call at (316) 315-0421. They can make arrangements to ship you whatever you need. (See, told you they were nice!) Huge, huge thanks to Brad, Karina, and Bob for organizing the event and treating us like royalty. We wish all bookstore employees were as friendly as you.



NOTE: If you're a librarian, Elizabeth and I will be giving our presentation again next month at the Florida Library Association's annual conference in Orlando, Florida. Introduce yourself if you're there! And if you're organizing a library conference and are interested in having us speak, just drop either one of us a line. Librarians are some of our favorite people, so we'd love to come and meet you!