Author: marionvermazen

I am a traveler, hiker, avid reader, Sun alumnus, computer geek, Spanish and French language student, knitter and genealogist. I am retired after working for almost 30 years in the Computer Industry. I live in Reno, Nevada with my husband Duke.

Angels Fall by Nora Roberts

Last night I stayed up late reading to finish Nora Robert's book Angels Fall. I don't read romance novels very often but when I do Nora Roberts is my favorite author. Angels fall is a Murder Mystery too. I used to read a lot of murder mysteries. I've read everything that Agatha Christie wrote. I have never read a Nora Roberts mystery before It turns out that this was the best murder mystery I have read in years. Maybe I'm rusty but I didn't figure out what was going on until Roberts revealed it.

For escapism and entertainment I definitely recommend Angels Fall.

Refuse to Choose by Barbara Sher

I just finished reading Barbara Sher's book Refuse to Choose on my Kindle. I have read Barbara Sher's other books like Wishcraft and I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was: How to Discover What You Really Want and How to Get It and really enjoyed them. Refuse to Choose is about people who have multiple interests and could never have just one passion.  That is me. Which is why I call myself a renaissance woman. I don't really like that label and I like the label Sher uses "scanner" even less. But I can't come up with a better one.

Sher does have some really good ideas about how to maximize your potential if you are a multi-facetted individual and I found the book very empowering. My only complaint is that she spends a lot of time talking about jobs for scanners and about how you shouldn't feel like a failure because you can't focus on just one thing in life. Neither of these things are issues for me. Like Ben Franklin I am no longer employed and I am exploring my multiple interests and loving it.

The other thing I loved about this book is that Barbara Sher has a very active Twitter community and a good web site. It makes the book all the more interesting.

This is my tenth book this year. Here is my list.

Snowshoeing at Northstar at Tahoe

My nephew and his room mate are staying with us while they ski this week. Up until yesterday they were catching a bus at the Peppermill to take them to the ski resorts. Yesterday I drove them to Northstar at Tahoe and I went snowshoeing while they skied. It was a beautiful warm day and there was still lots of snow. The lady at the snowshoeing and cross country skiing lodge took this picture before I started out.

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Northstar charges $25 for a snowshoeing day pass. I think that is probably why I saw very few people all day. After all, you can snowshoe free lots of places so why pay.

I made a five mile loop. Many of the trails had no footprints to follow so I was following the little yellow snowshoe markers and the pink flags. There were lots of them so it was easy to find the trail by standing at a marker and looking for the next one.It was fun too.

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There are two warming huts on the trails. I didn't stop at the caboose hut.
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But I did stop for lunch on a bench outside the Swiss Hut with a fantastic view of Truckee meadows. After lunch I read my Kindle for a while with the Sun warming my back. Such decadence!
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If you would like to see all of my pictures for yesterday they are on Flickr here.

25 Randon things

I very rarely do the things requested when I get tagged. But for some reason this Facebook meme grabbed my interest. Plus I am reading Refuse to Choose by Barbara Sher and one of her exercises is to make a list of the things you have done so here is 25 Randon Things about me. I have also posted this on Facebook.

1. I was a certified scuba diver but haven't dived in 20+ years

2. I had a general class amateur radio license and I know morse code.

3. I have a computer science degree from Iowa State University. I
worked in the computer industry for almost 30 years at Boeing, Sperry
Univac, Spectra Medical Systems, Digital Research, Ansa Software, Sun
Microsystems and Intuit.

4. At Digital Research I managed one of the first software support
organizations in the home computer industry. Our product CP/M was the
first home computer operating system for micro computers.

5. I had never had a job before I graduated from college and started as a software engineer at Boeing

6. I took all the required classes and passed the CFP (Certified Financial Advisaor) 2 day exam

7. I went to High School in Australia but graduated from High School in London

8. I know how to sail and have basic keel boat certification. I was a sailboat racer in college.

9. I'm into Genealogy

10. I studied French and Latin in School but now I am teaching myself Spanish

11. About a year and a half ago I started taking Yoga classes.

12. I have taken flute and guitar lessons but most recently I took several years of piano lessons

13. I have two wonderful daughters and one very cool grandson who is 2 and a half.

14. I love to read. I just got a Kindle. I have a goal to read a
biography of each of our presidents. I'd like to write a biography some
day.

15. I've climbed Mount Whitney.

16. I love to hike and snow shoe. I used to cross country ski.

17. I consider myself a renaissance woman because I have so many
interests and am always interested in trying and learning about new
things. My goal in life is to be interesting.

18. I joined a sorority in college (Delta Zeta)

19. Charlie Rose is my favorite TV show. I would like to start a podcast interviewing interesting people.

20. My guilty pleasure TV is watching Survivor.

21. I have a blog. I started blogging in September 2004. Blogging is something I love to do.

22. I love to travel. My favorite country is England. I have a long list of places I want to visit.

23. My Mom died in July 2007. I miss her. My Dad moved to Reno last
year to be near me. I spend about 24 hours a week as his secretary and
chauffeur. My parents were always marvelously supportive. They are the
reason I am who I am today.

24. I was born in Hibbing Minnesota and spent the first 12 years of my life in Bismarck North Dakota.

25. I met my husband Duke on Match.com We have been married for 5 and a half wonderful years

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

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I've had Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster on my bookshelf forever and have been meaning to read it for even longer. It is considered a classic. The 100 books in 2009 book challenge motivated me to finally read it and I finished it a couple of days ago.

Phantom Toolbooth is my 9th book this year. It is aimed at young adult readers. I enjoyed it very much The picture on the cover is Milo meeting the Watchdog. Milo is a young boy who is bored with life. He receives a gift of a toll booth and uses it to go on an adventure to The Kingdom of Wisdom. It is hard to explain the attraction of this book so I'll just include an extract. I love the word play.

Milo is in a land called Ignorance and has just met a bird that looks like a dirty floor mop.

""I don't think you understand," said Milo timidly as the watchdog growled a warning. "We're looking for a place to spend the night."
"It's not yours to spend," the bird shrieked again, and followed it with the same horrible laugh.
"That doesn't make any sense. you see————–" he started to explain.
"Dollars or cents, it's still not yours to spend." the bird replied haughtily.
"But I didn't mean————" insisted Milo.
Of course you're mean, interrupted the bird, closing the eye that had been open and opening the one that had been closed. "Anyone who'd spend a night that doesn't belong to him is very mean."
"Well I thought that by——-" he tried again desperately.
"That's a different story," interjected the bird a bit more amiably. "If you want to buy, I'm sure I can arrange to sell, but with what you're doing you'll probably end up in a cell anyway."
"That doesn't seem right," said Milo helplessly, for, with the bird taking everything the wrong way, he hardly knew what he was saying.
"Agreed," said the bird, with a sharp click of his beak, "but neither is it left, although if I were you I would have left a long time ago."
"Let me try once more," Milo said in an effort to explain. "In other words———-"
"You mean you have other words?" cried the bird happily. "Well, by all means, use them. You're certainly not doing very well with the ones you have now."
"Must you always interrupt like that?" said Tock irritably, for even he was becoming impatient.
"Naturally," the bird cackled; "it's my job, I take the words right out of your mouth. Haven't we met before? I'm the Everpresent Wordsnatcher. and I'm sure I know your friend the bug." And then he leaned all the way forward and gave a terrible knowing smile.
The Humbug, who was too big to hide and too frightened to more, denied everything.
"Is everyone in Ignorance like you?" asked MIlo.
"Much worse," he said longingly. "But I don't live here. I'm from a place very far away called Context."
"Don't you think you should be getting back?" suggested the bug, holding one arm up in front of him.
"What a horrible thought." the bird shuddered. "It's such an unpleasant place that I spend almost all my time out of it. Besides, what could be nicer that these grimy mountains?"