Real original title, I know.  I worked from 1:30 to 9:30.  I was trained in guest services, for all of two hours, then left to my own devices.  It was fun doing something different.  Tomorrow I have a big date with Jeff and we are going to see Batman on the IMAX.  I am so excited.  Tuesday I am interviewing for a job down in alabaster.  I hope I get it.

I did one thing of note today.  I helped a customer who spoke more German than English.  Without me she might not have found what she was looking for.  I was really pleased that I could help her and the look on her face when I spoke German to her really made me feel good.  I know when I was in Germany I was always grateful when there was someone who spoke English to me, I like the thought that I could make someone else as grateful.

Before I get to the Justification I have a few things worth mentioning. Today at work Mrs. Buchanan came through my line. She was my 8th and 9th grade Drama teacher. It was really nice to talk to her and I told her what I’ve been up to. She’s still teaching at Liberty. She also had a new baby (new by about a year).

Also I’ve been pondering weddings. My maximum budget is $3000. Three-thousand dollars. For $3000 I could take a very nice vacation. A very nice one. Now which would I like more? Vacation or a wedding? When I consider the vacation option it just keeps sounding better and better. I’ll buy a nice dress, any color, get married at Annabella’s at Cedar Glen (a plantation that allows you to rent their very pretty courtyard for two hundred dollars an hour) with my parents and Jeff’s parents and sister. Wham, bam, thank you ma’am, go out for a nice dinner at Mikawa’s, and then spend whats left on a vacation to anywhere. One problem, I want to get married March 15th (a sunday) and Annabella’s only does the elopements thing Tuesday through Thursday. Mom says that the courthouse won’t do weddings on Sunday either, even by special request. I’m not sure what I’m going to do. I’ll look into this. And speaking of the wedding I am sick and tired of people giving me crap because I want to get married on the Ides of March. Other people can get married on New Year’s, Christmas, Summer Equinox, and 7/7/07 for whatever reasons they find auspicious and nobody bats and eye. I choose March 15th and people keep talking crap about it. And by people I mean supposed grownups. All of my friends blink once, then smile and go “That’s totally you.” I want to get married on the Ides of March, that should be enough of a reason. So leave me alone about my date!

Now on to my Justification.

Justification no. 44 - Cliffnotes “The Odyssey” - Homer

I feel that everyone should know the story of the Odyssey and who the characters are, but I also know that Homer is a bit much for most people. So I recommend the Cliffnotes version. You’ll learn the plot outlines, and the characters, without being forced to read all of the cumbersome greek epic. It will help you answer Jeopardy questions, and it will help you appreciate O’ Brother Where Art Thou? even more than you did before.

I didn’t accomplish much today.  I worked.  And that was about it.  I watched Psych, which was funny as usual and I was the only person in my family who appreciated all the 80’s film references in todays episode.

I also completed my 50 Books I Think People Should Read list.  And here it is in no particular order:

1.       Blue Sword – Robin McKinley

2.       Sackett’s Land – Louis Lamour

3.       Anne of Green Gables – L.M. Montgomery

4.       Call of the Wild – Jack London

5.       White Fang – Jack London

6.       The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald

7.       Hamlet – William Shakespeare

8.       Twelfth Night – William Shakespeare

9.       Green Rider – Kristin Britain

10.   Undomestic Goddess – Sophie Kinsella

11.   The Crocodile on the Sandbank – Elizabeth Peters

12.   Horatio Hornblower – C.S. Forrester

13.   Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl – Harriet Jacobs

14.   East of Eden – John Steinbeck

15.   To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee

16.   The Outsiders – S.E. Hinton

17.   A Wrinkle in Time – Madeline L’Engle

18.   Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte

19.   Grimm’s Fairy Tales (The originals) – Jacob and Wilhem Grimm

20.   Cliffnotes “1001 Arabian Nights”

21.   Death of a Salesman – Arthur Miller

22.   The Dragonbone Chair – Tad Williams

23.   Watership Down – Richard Adams

24.   The Big Over Easy – Jasper Fforde

25.   The Eyre Affair – Jasper Fforde

26.   Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll

27.   Lonely on The Mountain/ Treasure Mountain – Louis LaMour

28.   Desert Heat – J.A. Jance

29.   Anthem – Ayn Rand

30.   The Westing Game – Ellen Raskin

31.   Green Eggs and Ham – Dr. Seuss

32.   The Sneetches – Dr. Seuss

33.   Alarms and other Diversions – James Thurber

34.   Up The Down Staircase – Bell Kaufman

35.   Nancy Drew and The Secret of Shadow Ranch – Carolyn Keene

36.   Basilisk Station – David Weber

37.   March Upcountry – John Ringo

38.   Dragonsong – Anne McCaffery

39.   Stardust – Neil Gaimen

40.   Neverwhere – Neil Gaimen

41.   The Reluctant God – Pamela F Service

42.   User Unfriendly – Vivian Vande Velde

43.   The Giver – Lois Lowry

44.   Cliffnotes ”The Odyssey” - Homer

45.   Ice Station – Matthew Reilly

46.   Four Feathers - A.E.W. Mason

47.   The Foundling - Georgette Heyer

48.   Die For Love – Elizabeth Peters

49.   Sidney Portier A Spirtual Memoir – Sidney Portier

50.   Ava – Ava Gardner

My plan is to use posts where I have nothing else to talk about to justify my choices one by one.  So for now you just get to peer at the list and wonder why.

I’ve been reading a book on my Kindle called the Red Dairy.  Its a true story and this woman kept a diary everyday from 1929 to 1934.  Everyday.  For five years.  It’s amazing.  And it made me feel bad that I haven’t been updating.  I just feel that I never do anything intresting, anything worth posting about anyway.  Like today all  I did was work.  I was supposed to be a cashier but we were slow so I went over and helped in Grocery.  I bought some delicious Milano Orange and Chocolate cookies.  That was about it.

I am totally in love with my Kindle.  And I think that bibliophiles like myself have no reason to not like it.  A lot of reviews complain about the button placement, and say that they have problems hitting the buttons when they don’t mean to.  I have never hit the buttons without meaning to while reading.  I have hit them without meaning to while doing other things, shifting it in its case (more on that later), showing off the pretty backplate, basically shifting it around.  Now about the case, the Kindle comes with a plain black pleather case to stick the Kindle it.  The case looks like an organizer and the way the Kindle fits in it is weird.  Looking at it you think there is no way that the Kindle WON’T fall out.  But so far it hasn’t and I have been carrying it around quite a bit.  I wish they made prettier cases for it, but I’m fairly confident that some one will be making them shortly.  Those early reviews where people were talking about how ugly the Kindle is, were full of it.  The Kindle is elegant and simple.  Its easy to use, and feels like reading a book.  For me I think it will end up being worth the $360 I paid for it.

Bibliophiles beware, the Kindle just made the jump to the future of books.  Its ease of use shows the path that books are going.  I love paper and ink books, but ebooks are just so dang handy and space saving.

Mom and I are watching Numb3rs, one of my new favorite shows, so I’ve got to go.

I just got my Kindle in the mail yesterday.  My first impression is that it is very elegant.  Everyone who said that it was ugly in the reviews clearly had never held one in their hands.  It weighs about the same as a regular book and isn’t much bigger than one.  It fits in my hands easily and I didn’t have that much trouble hitting the buttons when I didn’t mean to.  I’ll write a more in depth review once I’ve had it a little longer, used it a little more.  Mom’s playing on it right now.  She seems impressed too.