Yours Truly

Yours Truly
Janet Fauble at home

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Dubai World Cup

I have been waiting for this group of races which are from Dubai since last year. I really love this richest ticket in the world competition. It is mostly international bringing horses in from Australia, Southeastern Asia, Japan, and Europe, and a few American horses. It seems that since the track changed to Tapeta at Meydan, the American horses have not fared so well as when raced at a dirt track. I personally do not believe that the track is the reason for the losses, but everyone has to blame something. It is obvious to me after checking this year's entries out, and the manner in which they are raced that American racing leaves a lot to be desired when in competition with foreign horses. I love Australian horses, and the Japanese champion has caught my attention. This beautiful fun loving horse is named Gentildonna, and I am hoping that this gnetle female will win her race. She is adorable to watch as she enjoys racing so much, especially in Japan, so that I hope this trip will see her in the winner circle. I listened to some Europeans discuss the World Cup which they consider a weak field. If it is truly that weak, and one horse is definitely so good that he deserves to be favorite, then it will be a fairly easy race to play for winning trifectas and exactas. That means that any one of several longshots could surprise. But I am fairly confident that two American horses may do much better than thought, so that for American pools they will not be such longshots. The Europeans may cash in on them as they think very little of them. Odd how hometeams always think that their chances are best. I personally think that the Europeans may be half right. I hope that Trinniberg goes off on long odds and wins. I do think that he is fully capable of winning that particular race. Another American entry is used to the Tapeta since he races on it at Golden Gate so he may do better than the Europeans and others expect. However, I do see that he is only picked for third or fourth by most American handicappers. Interesting to note that while it is raced in Dubai, the locals do not bet on it at all. But the rest of the world gets in on the action, and one trainer from South Africa has as many as 13 horses in the running. I am sure that he will win something for sure. In this game, the trainers are who to study for the winning horses it seems to me. If I were an owner, trainer, and wanted to win this game, I would be sure to race my horses at Golden Gate to prepare them for their turn in Dubai. I think that many trainers should get half way serious about winning the richest pot in the world. Only one horse is entered that uses Tapeta in America...strange, isn't that? My belief is that entry from Golden Gate would at least prove that the surface does not impair the American horses. I think that Animal Kingdom is severely handicapped by a long layoff. I think that Dullahan has a chance but his post position makes it difficult for him at the beginning of the race. Royal Delta will have no excuses. But why on earth she did not do an exhibition at Golden Gate is more than I can say. I think that her racing interests should have let her win a few times at that track to prove that it is not the surface of the track but some other reason when she loses out... Oh, well, those are my thoughts. I will definitely be backing Gentildonna and a few other horses. I am hoping that either Dullahan or Royal Delta win the cup but I think that Hunter Light does deserve the win if he makes it, and for sure, he has been winning so much that if he keeps it up, he is a sure thing... So it goes.

Dubai World Cup 2013 schedule odds

Monday, March 25, 2013

Life's Mysteries

When I was young, we learned that with age comes wisdom. Well, I have lived long enough to realize a bit of the truth about that old adage. People used to always tell me when I was young, enjoy your youth while you can, never knowing what that meant, as we always want to be older and wiser, and do all the things that older people do...til too late, when we are old, and wake up to realize that the older folks were not what we really wanted to be after all...that must be pure wisdom. For the past few days, my childhood has been swimming around in my head at various times, meaning that I am remembering things about my mom or my dad, or some other relative, that I had long since buried and forgotten. I am seeing them as I saw them when a child, but now with the wisdom of old age, a bit better able to understand them when they pulled the various stunts that they did. I think that I am better able to evaluate and judge them now after they are gone than I had been when they were alive and well. We do forget things daily about the previous days, weeks, months, and years...but some incidents will return to plague us. I end up remembering why I would be so angry, disappointed, or hurt by something that one or the other of my parents had done when I was a child. I now look at it, and see the years since, and am able to better evaluate it and forgive it...if forgiveness is what is warranted. When I was a kid, money was everything We didn't have enough of it. We couldn't do this, we couldn't do that, because it all cost too much money. I never learned to play an instrument, except a tonette, which had been given to us free, and a piano, which my grandmother and mother both had had in their homes. But I was self taught...took two days or maybe just one of piano lessons, and said that is enough for me. Piano lessons means having a teacher who really makes you love what you are doing, or else, it just won't get done. My grandmother taught me the basics of handwriting, of playing the piano, and many other things, because she did take the time to spend with us. My mother had to work, and had no time to spend with either of us for anything. Although, she and my dad would go to all my brother's football games. So I think about them now that they are gone. I wonder where they went to in the world of spirit. My dad did not believe in the after life, thinks that when it is over, it is over, and my mother tended to believe and hope in Christianity, and believed as I do, in a smattering of a lot of things, reincarnation, Jesus, Buddha, and every other cockamamy cult group that offers something to the world. Eventually, after studying all the theories about life, religion, and cult groups, one arrives at one's own decisions and says the heck with all of them. I have the truth, and I know what it is, so don't try to sell me your stuff. So I am alternating between being one minute loving my parents and the next minute, angry and mad at them, as well, for believe it or not, it is our parents who give us the life we have, and who then help us to attain some useful lifestyle while dwelling on the face of the earth. My parents were far from perfect but they never let me forget that they had paid for my education, that they had provided for me, and that I should realize that they had loved me or they would not have done that. I in turn gave to them, but this outlet of self expression is not about what I have done for them but rather how I am coping with their death now, and remembering things and tidbits of the past. Mushroom hunting was one of those things. Ohio City Pride came up with a picture of morels today which made me remember going mushroom hunting in the woods in Ohio. I loved Morels...I wish I had a bushel. Ohio and Michigan have the best in the world as I remember...My mom and dad could find them so easily while my brother and I just fooled around looking at rotty old treetrunks. So Mom and Dad, whereever you are, yes, I miss you, and think of you all the time...thanks for giving me a childhood, good when it was hunting mushrooms.

Advertising and cellphones

Nothing has made heaven and hell more believable than hi tech tools have done. With something so simple as a smartphone, one soon learns the difference between heaven and hell....I have gone through Hell since purchasing my Samsung Galaxy 3 at Best Buy with Sprint as the carrier a while back. It is most irritating to have all these gadgets go bad on you, and I blame Best Buy now more than anyone. I don't like to badmouth anyone but the truth will out, and the truth is that Best Buy is the guilty party in this problem that I have been having with my Samsung. I will explain. Had I waited only one week or two, I could have had the phone free through T-Mobil a carrier that I had used with a Nokia basic phone prepaid style. I liked T-Mobil but when the HTC EVO cam out, only Sprint carried it, and thanks to all the advertising, I decided I must have one. I had never yet bought anything from Apple so I was not really interested in the Apple phones. I did wait for I Phone 5 to come out before I bought my Samsung as I had wanted to purchase it if I liked it, but having been spoiled by the HTCEVO I did not like the Apple I Phone 5 at first. It may be programmed perfectly but the size was too small for me. When one gets used to a video screen that does not need a magnifying glass to see the picture, one wants a larger screen, and as one ages, one needs larger print as well. So I liked the Samsung. I had asked a Sprint operator about HSN's offer of the Samsung with Sprint so she told me about Best Buy having a special of a saving of $100 if I went that day...stupid me...I went and bought it...to my ever eternal regret... But today Sprint did the best thing, and finally realized that the device that I had been sold at Best Buy was defective, so they gave me a new phone...Isn't that nice of them! At last, Sprint did give me a replacement phone, brand new, fresh out of the box, and I then realized why Best Buy had been guilty...the replacement phone that they had given to me for the first phone which up and died on me was not a fresh, brand new one, but an old defective one. I had not liked the way the girl had taken my defunct first defective phone and said to me, there, we now have a brand new phone, after she had taken all my data from it, and then she put it back on the shelf. I am sure that the replacement phone that she gave me was probably also one that had been returned to be put back on the shelf. At any rate, thanks to long time spent on Customer Service due to dropped calls and no connections, paying for nothing, I finally got some consideration, and compassion, and help. At last, i finally got a brand new phone right out of the box, and some advice from the technician...i appreciated learning a few new things about a very excellent, well programmed phone which has to be used to be fully appreciated. On top of all of this, I had had to purchase a phone from a different carrier in which I have had no problems whatsoever, no dropped calls, no difficulty with connections, all working as it should, in other words, Heaven. I hope that now that I have a new phone that all will work as it should. Already I have learned that it does function properly in my apartment as it should. It will probably all work out, but believe me, for a few months here, it was sheer misery and pure hell. Yes, indeed, there is Heaven and there is Hell. Don't ever doubt it.

Friday, March 22, 2013

One on One at Apple

Each time I have gone to the apple store I have had a different instructor or tutor, whatever it is that they are called. All are interesting, well informed, but unusually different in many ways. But most are boyishly young...yet they are in their twenties. It makes me wonder at when I was that age and starting my career of professional teacher. I bet I appeared the same to some of the old timers as these kids appear to me...young, very young. It is such a shock to me to realize how things have changed since I began my teaching experience in the early 60's. I am astounded when these young kids have no idea who Bobby Darrin is. I had seen a kid on a bus who reminded me of him and when I asked him if he had heard of him, he said no. Stunned me at how people only know who is making the news today. He had never heard of Mack the Knife at all. He was only 26. So that significant realization that I am on old fogey, real old fogey really got to me. Old age is such a pain in the neck with the body gradually doing nature's thing, shutting down, but it is hard on the mind to realize how much time has passed with only those who lived it capable of understanding it or remembering it. On that note, as I am writing this novel on Alexander of Macedon to show the influences in his life during his early years, I wonder at why it is that anyone should ever believe any of the historical writings at all, especially since they are written based upon hearsay and tales told so many years after the actual events. I am in the clubhouse now watching the news and using the free wifi. I had some trouble getting onto the clubhouse wifi but should not have as the computer should have retained that password. I ended up going out and asking some kids sitting poolside for help. They did help. Nice to have good neighbors. Back to the topic of one on one at Apple store, it is a service that I have paid to use, and I am able to use it as often as I need, which in my case, will be for the full year's service. The session only lasts an hour, and so far, the few who have been my advisors have been very helpful to me. I am beginning to understand apple and its word processing system. I have also downloaded Scrivener for a tree trial before purchasing it.

Phone Problems

This past week has been so annoying. I have to travel ten miles to go to the apple one to one program to learn how to use pages, and then the following day I had to go ten miles or further south to take my phone in to be checked. I had had way too many problems with this phone so this morning I had to contact Sprint again to complain about the fact that last night after having turned on some musical video the sound would not turn off when I turned the phone off. The phone is off, but the music continues to play. What the heck is that? I am reminded of the time when the camera had not worked so that I had to stop at the store to fix that but it came on there just fine. i am confident that this phone is jinxed. I have called and complained so many times that it is not funny. So finally the technician text messaged me and i texted back. I told her the problems and that I had also had a dropped call just calling into the store. She finally after hearing me out told me when she and the other technician will be in on Monday since I explained I have to take a bus there and I am weary of this phone problem So I decided on Monday as weekends are an hour wait on the bus lines. Sheer aggravation. i do not think that this phone can be salvaged or saved at this point. She said they will either trouble shoot it or give me a new device. i think that the latter would be preferable and I ready to change brands if I have to do so.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Where Have I Been?

The funny thing about taking these workshops and one to one sessions at Apple is that the instructors are probably the age of my grandchildren if I had any. I woke up with a big start today when I realized how times have changed in the world of education. I am learning how to do a word processing program on my new computer, and in the process I learned that today's children hand in their homework to their teachers through the computer. Imagine having to correct papers on a computer. It had never dawned on me that this was being done, and it left me utterly flabbergasted. I had paperwork galore whenever I had assignments that meant I would have to read and correct each and every one, so it came as a shock to me that professors and teachers alike are using computers to read and correct materials submitted by students. Proving how long ago it is that I was a part of the system, and how things have changed since. No doubt that I am ann old fossil. But I am ready to tackle my novel once again, getting a bit of a grip on how to work and operate a computer to enhance my writing experience. For starters tonight, I have begun a free trial with Scrivener's if it does get downloaded. I will check to see if it is on my group of apps and downloads. I am enjoying the apple experience but it flabbergasts me to realize how many things have changed since I first began studying on a computer myself. Positively unreal to think what changes will come in the next twenty years...Everything appears to be going to ebooks but again, as I am a part of a time period which cannot fully adapt to letting old books die, I still prefer reading paper books. I don't know if anyone is aware of it or not but now glasses are being made so that one can read computer material while wearing glasses, and another method is through a wristwatch. Crazy! Frankly, I am ready for the day when one only has to hit a button and all the material is flashed in front of your eyes without the use of any mechanical device...maybe it will be simply imprinted into your mind as you walk down the street. I honestly think that some of those experiences are happening already and have been for centuries in forms of dreams. Some people do have visions and can see things that others cannot and do not. So it is not very farfetched at all. Oh well, onward and upward. I will check to see if my Scrivener's trial has begun or not.

Monday, March 18, 2013

New shoes

Nordstrom's is a very nice store here in the Valley.  There is the main store featured at shopping malls with regular prices, but at smaller shopping outlets are discount stores.  I frequent the discount stores since I live on a fixed income, low budget, and therefore, have enjoyed good products at low prices.  However, I was spoiled by a pair of San Antonio Shoes (SAS) which I was lucky to purchase for a very low price.  If one goes to the local San Antonio Shoestore, that same shoe will set you back a pretty penny. I was set back this afternoon by a pair of shoes which are so comfortable that I simply had to have them. I had stopped at E&J's to see if they carried them, since their name had popped up on my search screen, but unfortunately, they did not carry my size or style.

Earlier, I had shopped at My Sister's Closet, a consignment shop, and walked around the store, trying to decide if I wanted to purchase a pair of Prada shoes which were a half size too large for me. I finally decided that I did not want the shoes so instead went to the E&J store to see what I could find there, and ultimately, ended up in the San Antonio Shoe Store on Thomas Road to find an entire group of great shoes, both sandals and walking shoes.  These shoes are the very best shoes anywhere, no matter what anyone will tell you. I wore my first pair out so that I finally had to throw them out, but they were the most reliable and comfortable shoe I have ever worn. I have liked many other shoes, and am breaking in a pair of Joseph Seibel which I had also bought at Nordstrom's many years ago. But unfortunately, I never wore them due to a bit of a pinch in the left shoe. My left foot is bigger than my right...the shoes are a bit narrower than they should be so I have been stretching them to make certain that I get some use out of them.  In fact, they resemble the pair of Travelers that I bought this afternoon at SAS.  So tonight, I finally am able to wear my Seibel shoes after this many years. They are like brand new, having never been worn.  So now I am ready for both, one black, and one bone.

Nordstrom has two Rack stores which are discount items, at great prices, especially when on clearance sales...and they also have a Last Chance store where nothing can be returned.  You better love it if you buy it at that big a discount.  All the discount stores are always busy and probably outsell the main stores.  People buy in huge quantities so that the store does place limits on number of shoes and other items that can be purchased in a single day. I once bought a $100 slip for a very low price, so the savings are that fantastic for name brands that are very over inflated.

I read in a Forbes article that the most top billionaires in the world come from the fashion industry. Low labor coupled with high prices have made many a mogul out of fashion designers.  So it does not bother me to take advantage of a great store like Nordstrom's making it possible for the low income and moderate income family to enjoy consumer goods.  The very high end rich continue to keep each other well heeled and in the money.  But the rest of us are in a kind of war zone fighting our way to save pennies and dollars.

But today I did my part in keeping the local merchant solvent for this day.  But these shoes are worth it. I read the comment that the bed and shoes are the two most important items in your life.  You spend half your life in one or the other.

As L'Oreal ads like to say I am worth it. My health and back are worth it.  Comfort is all I want in a shoe.  But guess what...next thing I did was to go into a wholesale store where all shoes are $10.88.  All platform shoes and excessively high heels....only certain kind of girls go for that shoe...the bags were all marked at $16.99 and there were a few good items there. I laughed when I told the guy I just paid $150 for a pair of shoes....Oh boy, part of that was taxes and the salesman actually apologized for the taxes. I remarked that that is a reason I would like to move to Las Vegas. I am paying excessive rates in the state of Arizona on sales taxes, and I would like to know where it is going anyway...The traveler cost $137 at the store. At E & J it might have been only $80 and I would not pay $90 for the Prada pair at My Sister's Closet...turned right around, and told the salesman My bank will think I am crazy. But the shoes last a long time, and are worth it...but oh boy, I am too much like Jack Benny for words...that price made me wince!  But I am worth it....I am sure.  

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Movie Review of Farewell My Queen

Farewell My Queen is Jacques Benoit's film version of the novel about Marie Antoinette's days in the Chateau de Versailles written by Chantal Thomas.  In the dvd that I watched the director explains how he came to film this vapid story of the response to the storming of the Bastille,which is viewed as the beginning of the end to the Royal Family and the Monarchy in France during the 18th century.

I will begin this review with my own response to this film as I have seen it twice now, and I do see that some editing has taken place on the film from the first time that I saw it in a local theatre most likely. I picked this up at the library to see the film again as I know that much is missed in first time viewings of any film.  I am opposed to the idea that this film suggests, that Antoinette was what her enemies claimed, a frustrated and pent up frivolous queen who lusted after women.  Her enemies have made many cartoons making her the "whore" of the Chateau, having her having been promiscuous with both men and women, including the Marquis de Lafayette, but in truth, none of these libelous statements about her have any foundation in fact at all. It is most probable that while she was sensationally extravagant and frivolous as a child, she changed in her mature years having come into motherhood.  She is much maligned during her reign as queen but none of these accusations ever deserves much merit so it is rather disappointing to see that this film capitalizes on these charges to make it appear that she was a woman who sought happiness with other women.  I frankly do not believe any of those charges since she had been raised so fiercely and determinedly in the Christian faith.

The movie begins with the young reader who seeks to entertain the frustrated Queen with story telling that satisfies her need for frivolity and escape from the dreary world of the boring court etiquette.

There is an attempt to make a strong contrast between the impoverished peasantry and the overly excessively grand and opulent court.  There is little doubt that a kind of callous lack of concern for the welfare of the poor makes the excesses of the rich and powerful court a mockery in good taste and common sense.

Marie Antoinette is portrayed by Diane Kruger, a beautiful woman who frankly does not seem a bit like the real Antoinette to me.  In my mind, the right kind of actress is necessary to portray this extravagant and haughty queen, and Diane Kruger fails totally as did Kirsten Dunst.  I do not see any real resemblance to the version of Antoinette that I have gleaned over time in either of these actresses.  Both are far too glamorous to ever approach the awesome image that Antoinette herself inspired in her friends and foe alike.

In an interview with the director whose commentary I did enjoy, he does explain that the two actresses are often compared a lot and that the movies are also compared.  Neither does justice to the French court in my opinion, but they do expose a kind of parody of the court itself.

In this film, the reader is the main character upon whom the movie rests.  She is very loyal to her Queen, and dotes on her, to the point that she even goes against her own desires by embroidering a special dahlia for the queen's inspection to place on a dress.  Because she is very close to the Queen, she comes to learn some of her secret desires regarding her fashion sense and her fantasies in reading and drama.

During this time, the Bastille has been stormed, threats against the  Chateau and its occupants become known to the court, and the King and Queen try to devise a means of escape despite the fact that the King himself seems not to believe himself in serious danger.  Antoinette had thought that she would be able to escape but is thwarted by her husband's intentions so that all that she can do is to encourage her closest friends to escape in disguise.  Since I saw the original film years ago, I notice now that some of that films scenes are not a part of this dvd.  Several of Antoinette's choice scenes are eliminated but a few remain to remind me that Antoinette had had a special regard for the young reader.  The reader is used by the Queen to help her friend Gabrielle escape with her valet and friends.  The reader becomes the foil to delude the  inspectors.

A great emphasis is made that the Queen loves Gabrielle in a lustful sense, so that the young reader eventually is pushed to try to rouse a sleeping Gabrielle to come to the Queen but she is out due to having taken drugs to sleep.  There is no reference to any love between the Queen and her husband at all, nor does one even realize that she has children except briefly.  The entire focus is upon her need for escape through story telling devices and fantasy, and her obsession with fashion and style. In fact, this movie only supports the libelous and slanderous cartoons that were distributed through Paris about her. It does not show her in a kindly light at all.

For that reason alone, I think that it is a piece of trash, and worth very little.  Its only value is in the set designs and the costumes, none of which are very elaborate or outstanding. Much is made about a green dress, discussing the meaning of green to point out that envy can only rise to a ceiling level.  It is a pointless bit of dialogue but being so near to St. Patrick's day, this wearing of the green only reminds me of a costume made for me by one of my students for my English lit class at GHS.  But that was for the English crown, not the French crown.  Interesting that it was made by an Irish lassie, by the name of O'Brien.

Jacques Benoit took me back to my first year in California with this movie when he discussed the two lead actresses in the film.  I have to like him for that since he says something in this film that a gentleman I met at a bar in Los Angeles said to me.  I am still wondering about this bit of trivia that I found in the features section.

Americans who visited the Chateau de Versailles during the American Revolution to obtain funds from the French King did defend the French Queen.  One in particular from Pennsylvania commented that he did not like the attacks against the woman.  The French hated the Queen during those visits, and many Americans did defend her.  Her reputation was so severe that many were repulsed by the expressions of antipathy against her.  It seems odd that the King did suffer a certain kind of disdain but he never quite endured the hatred that the Queen had suffered.  So it is interesting to see how modern day Frenchman view her.

This film should never been seen as anything but a piece of slander with little merit at all.  In fact, the authoress of the original story of this time period makes it quite clear that Antoinette's friendship was based upon affection, not lust.  I have not read this book to be honest, so I am only quoting from others about the book.

For the purpose of this review, I will say that I believe that Marie Antoinette was a loving mother, a kind friend to many, but she was frivolous, rude and thoughtless about the court's etiquette, about the older generation of women who maintained the French habits and customs, and was frankly a pain in the neck to those who were her guides and counselors.  She made too many enemies when she was young so that she had few defenders when she truly needed them during her many trials and tribulations.  Yet, some few were loyal to her, but most likely, were loyal to her position as Queen and its place in the court.  Rigid as it is, the belief in the Monarchy made many remain loyal to the old customs despite the revolutionary spirit of the times.

Thus, I found this movie totally lacking. I would love to see a real in depth look at Antoinette.  I guess the script needs to be written.  Farewell My Queen does not do any of the actors or actresses any favors.  Kruger fared better in Achilles as Helen of Troy.




Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Book Review / The Labyrinth of Osiris

The Labyrinth of Osiris, by Paul Sussman, is a surprisingly well written book about life in Israel and Egypt today, not yesteryear. But it does begin with a short introduction to the time when the British Egyptologists discovered great tombs.  The introduction to this novel is very misleading.  It would appear that a crime has been committed years ago during the British expeditions.  However, this introduction is very important to the developments in finding a lost gold mine which is rediscovered in the need to solve a modern day crime.

A very much disliked and feared female journalist has been found strangled to death in the Armenian quarter in an Armenian Cathedral.  The author uses a variety of writing styles in which we are in the mind of the murderer as he suffers through his ordeal of killing the journalist, and then takes us into the minds and thoughts of the detectives who are bent upon discovering the identity of the murderer.  In addition to that, we jump from one city to another while we meet another detective who is solicited by Arieh Ben Roi, the Israeli detective to help him in this problem.  We jump from simple case after simple case, later to find that all are intertwined in a way that neatly fits together to make sense of a variety of seemingly separate and disconnected situations.  However, in the end, they all fit together to make one simple picture.

There is the case of the Coptic Christians who believe that bias and prejudice from neighbors is causing their wells to become poisoned but the neighbors deny any involvement in the death of animals and vegetation due to the poisoned water.  The journalist appears to have been tracking the cause of young girls being kidnapped and shipped from country to country as sex slaves, some so young as to be pitiable.  This takes us on a journey through the red light districts of Jerusalem where we meet the whores and pimps who savage young girls.  One girl seems to be especially important to the case so that the detectives search for her to gain information.  The Armenian priest of the Church is falsely accused of the murder but is instrumental in helping to locate the missing girl who is necessary to solving the riddle.  The British archaeologist and Egyptologist is significant in that he has found a lost gold mine and has drawn a map of it, unbeknownst to any but the supposed victim of a crime which he had been accused.  The gold mine is located in the Eastern Desert of Egypt where it has lain for years undiscovered and unknown until recent times.  Khifali, the Egyptian policeman, has recognized the relationship between the possibility of the poisoning of the wells to be caused by the gold mine so that he is driven to find it.  In America, Houston, Texas, to be exact, the owner of the Barren Company, boasts that he owns more businesses worldwide than anyone on the planet, and is about to open a museum in Luxor, Egypt, the home base for Khifali, our Egyptian policeman.  So the story shifts from Jerusalem, seat of the original crime, to Luxor, Egypt, and to Houston, Texas, home of Barren Company.  The son is a seemingly worthless drug abuser and womanizer, a corrupt kind of vile contemptible creature who his father loathes. His sister, Rachel, has mysteriously disappeared and is nowhere to be seen until she emerges as a part  of a group called The Nemesis Agenda, whose mission is to destroy enemies they deem unworthy and guilty of crimes committed against society in the name of capitalism.  All these characters eventually come together in a variety of ways that keeps the reader engrossed and involved.  Somehow, it never falls apart, but slowly joins to make tons of sense, and at last, our crime is solved for the reader, but never for the public at large.  Disappointingly, the law is always outwitted and outplayed by the meaner, nastier guilty who have no compunction about violating  codes of law, whether murder, kidnapping, child molestation, or hatred due to bias and prejudice on race and religious grounds.  It is a nasty story in which the real world wakes to know that money talks, powerful people rule, and there is nothing that the ordinary joe can do about it.
However, hope is in the world of the free press...if a story is sensational enough, if the press is willing, and bold enough, truth can win out...

The book does end both happily and unhappily...won't be a spoiler, but it is not a quick wrap up with everything ending hunky dory...it ends...with a bit of hope.  Some of the bad guys do get their due...but it has twists and turns that make one think...there must be a lot of truth in all of this somewhere, which is one reason I like it and recommend it...

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Never Enough Time

Time simply speeds by and I never have enough hours in a day to accomplish all that I have to do. I am back to my work on solving the lottery game, and so I ventured to the Lottery office to pick up the most recent publications on the winning numbers of the game.  I am bringing it up to speed hoping that I can find a way to play it and win it in this month's drawings.

I have only begun using my computer from Apple that I bought. I attended another workshop today but something went awry while I was there.  We were supposed to begin at 3:00 but nobody came to tell us that it had begun after we had been directed to sit at a particular table to wait for the workshop to begin.  I finally got there, and two of us chose to stay while a man who had been waiting decided that we had missed too much so that he walked out of it. I stayed for a few minutes of the next planned workshop but not having planned for it I had to leave.  I have another workshop tomorrow. I learned things today that I have not yet been able to duplicate here at home and do not know why. I will try to find out tomorrow.

A very nice man sat next to me and helped me a lot.  I liked him very much.  His name was Richard and apparently he is taking a course from somewhere else to better learn the material.  He told me that he was taking a class that goes into much more detail on the areas that we are discussing. I notice that Michael only barely covers it so that we probably have to take another go round to get it down pat.

Apple is full of finger swipes and one must learn the exact finger swipes to make things work, and some are light and some are heavy. It is a problem at times.  I am either too light or too heavy but I am determined to learn it all.

I think that one must take the workshop program a second time or at least do a good one on one with a tutor who can help.  Tomorrow is my one on one so I will see. I am going to check on class schedules this week.

I am also thinking of going to do Ipic movie tomorrow to see whether it is worth it or not.  I want to see Argo and it begins there soon after my session ends.