When good authors go wrong

Still very hot here, and forecast is for one day of relief on Saturday followed by more heat. Final week of training for the bike trip, so I'll be testing out the hot weather gear again, and giving thanks to the scientist who invented the technical fabrics.

Last night I went to the mall. Stopped by Waldenbooks, met the new store manager who seemed very personable and enthusiastic. The store is still struggling to get back to the sales level they had before last year's fire in the adjacent store forced them to close for three months for remodeling. Three months is long enough to train your customers to shop elsewhere, and the newly remodeled store suffers from a poorly designed layout. They added two overstuffed leather chairs and a coffee table at the front to make a seating area, but this blocks access to the back half of the store, especially if there are customers waiting in line at the register. The center aisle was widened, but the side aisles are narrow, and end caps make them even more claustrophobic.

Purchased a Batman graphic novel to send to my godson at camp, and picked up the last copy of CURSE THE DARK. Came home and found SCARDOWN had arrived, though for some bizarre reason Amazon.Com had used an enormous box to ship the single paperback.

Watching: Caught pieces of "The Girl in the Cafe" on HBO this weekend, and was inspired to sit down and watch it from start to finish. I liked it, though I couldn't help comparing Bill Nighy's performance as the shy, repressed civil servant to his role as the outrageous aging rocker in "Love Actually." Also watching the series of Lance Armstrong specials that Discovery Channel has churned out in preparation for the start of the Tour.

Reading: Finally finished CAGEBIRD by Karin Lowachee. ( I wanted to like this book but... )

I am such a geek

I am reveling in my newest acquisition-- a pair of glasses specifically designed for wearing while working on the computer.

Yup, this is how I treat myself.

A couple years ago I had to switch from regular glasses to trifocals, and ever since then I've had issues with long hours on the computer. The problem is that trifocals have only a small section that is in correct focus for the distance of a computer monitor and it gets tiring trying to keep your head at the correct angle and your eyes focused through those specific spots.

Since my day job involves working on the computer, and I have this nifty gig where I'm a writer in my free time, the glasses had become a real issue. At times it was more comfortable just to take the glasses off and lean forward to peer at the fuzzy letters on the screen.

But now I have a new set of trifocals, a new set of sunglasses and a shiny pair of glasses specifically focused in for computer monitors that are 17-21 inches away. Cool.

Life is good.