Good stuff, Maynard

If someone knows where that title quote comes from, please let me know. I've been using it so long, I no longer remember the origins.

1. I called a good friend from back East on friday after work. Within minutes of starting the conversation, all my crank from the day/week/wrong name debacle had drained right out. Just completely gone. Among other things, she told me about touring a trombone factory with her fiance. We're both in manufacturing (she's a Quality Manager), so it was interesting hearing about a process that really doesn't follow written instructions, or make all components to the same tolerance, and is more art than science. They make each slide and u-bend component to match each other, not to be interchangeable with other slides, so as long as you get a good combination, it doesn't matter if it's exactly the same as the horn before or after it. Huh. In semiconductor manufacturing, we make a million of the exact same thing week after week. If our finished goods aren't interchangable, we're in big trouble. Totally different mindset.


2. I finally got to my local UBS (used book store) while it was open and they have a TON of Romance!!! Sometimes you get used bookstores that don't deal in Romance. There's a place for them, just like there's a place for research libraries, but they're not much good to me. I read mostly fiction, and I don't want it to be full of depression and despair. There's enough of that going around without having to invent more. The proprietress was able to recommend some authors I haven't tried. I'm not sure if her taste is similar enough to mine (she loved a book that I remember as having 2 egregious errors on the first page), but for $25, I have 7 options that I didn't have yesterday. Maybe some of the authors and publishers won't make me cranky with their carelessness and I'll find a new favorite.


3. Jenny Crusie's blog. She writes about her writing process. Her inspiration and the tricks which work for her baffle me - I don't know how she even thinks to do what she does. Then she explains her thought process and the sun comes out and it's as clear as anything. Of Course one should figure out what fonts belongs to the heroine and the story! Doesn't everyone know that? (Trust me, it wasn't obvious to me either! Although I did leave my last job shortly after they started making us write our reviews in "COMIC" font. Really, not kidding.)
       Her moment of clarity involving the vocation of her next heroine is just a joy to read. It was a book she was working on that just didn't gel. The heroine had been a cookbook writer. JC put the story away when it went nowhere and wrote some other books including one with a cookbook writing heroine, wonderfully named "Cranky Agnes". So if this other heroine can't write cookbooks, what can she do? Read the vocation blog and find out how the new career made the book-to-be make sense.


4. I'm not convinced that Ca.scade automatic dishwasher cleanser is great at cleaning, but it is superior in removing food stains - my formerly handwashed white tea mug no longer looks like the inside of a Chinese restaurant teapot. Why do I bring this up? I have an old white enamel sink with destroyed enamel. Until it gets replaced, I don't want it to look disgusting. Soft S.crub doesn't do a thing for it, but I tried Ca.scade yesterday and it's now shining the bright white of freshly capped teeth.


5. I got up yesterday and it was too windy to go hiking. (It turns out weather in SoCal can cancel plans, who knew?) So I did my BodyRev Bootcamp workout instead. It's a challenging workout for me and I got it out of the way instead of obsessing all day about how I should exercise. Plus, I added an extra toe pushup. When warmed up, I can now do 6 consecutive toe pushups. Yay! I love being able to do pushups. Don't necessarily love doing them, mind you, but being able to do them makes me happy.


6. I had lot of good things for this weekend. That makes me happy too.