The Story of Forgetting: wonderful book

The Story of Forgetting: A Novel by Stefan Merrill Block

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is an EXCELLENT book. Written so well, I can hardly believe it's from a first-time author who is so young. The voices were authentic and you could see the settings, they were so well described. I flew through this book, just because it was so good I didn't want to stop. After you read it, check out the author's website for insight into why he wrote it, and how.


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Great book review

Downtown Owl: A Novel by Chuck Klosterman

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
This story of midwest small-town life in 1983/84 was like walking out of my high school memories (or walking back into them?). He had (almost) everything just right for the period, from fashion to though processes. I loved it. Only 2 things stuck with me that seem like today not then: 1) someone says "whatever" one time -- I don't remember this back then. 2) twice "hook up" is used and that was not a 1980s phrase. I liked the characters and loved the ending.


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Book recommendaton: Paper Bag Princess

The Paper Bag Princess by Robert N. Munsch

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
My new favorite kids book. I highly recommend for any mother of a girl, AND for mothers of boys. Explain to your boy that he can't be the boss. Girl power!


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Smart Women, Smart Use of Time?

Today I took time off of work to attend a State of Illinois-sponsored conference titled, Smart Women, Smart Money. The registation promised sessions on balancing career and family, starting/growing your own business, women breaking the corporate glass ceiling and getting into senior management, and more. Well, I got there and the event program had completely different topics. The first 30-minute session was a woman from a private for-profit insurance company who told us how to save HER company money (choose generic drugs, know which prompt care clinic to go to before an accident happens, other common sense stuff, but not exactly on-topic and oh-so-biased). After that there were two breakout sessions and I attended one that was about fattening your finances through the internet. We were told how to see if a site was "secure", remember to switch passwords ...and not much else. I decided that this was not a "smart" way to use my time, and time is money! So I left and spent some of the day on my own, thinking about our investments and taking some long-due action to increase our savings and decrease savings. Smarter use of time!!

Faculty and Staff Campaign Begins

We just launched our 3rd annual Faculty and Staff Campaign at UIS. Over 40 volunteers across campus will be talking to their colleagues about the importance of employee giving at UIS, and will encourage their colleagues to make a gift. Our theme is "Oh, the places we'll go" but overall, every year, we try to remind everyone it's about: Your Interest. Your Choice. Some employees give to their own department, but many do not---and it's all okay. What matters is that you give to what matters most (at that moment) to you. We'll have fun this month, I know.