The recent post on the heat reminded me that I'm moving and I really need to plan out what's happening with my pigs. They're coming with me on the 2 or 3 day drive to Texas, and while they're going to be in their travel cage in the back seat, I'm concerned about them being comfortable.

I'm going to make sure to tack up some towels so they're in the shade, and they already have a wooden house (I'm also thinking of picking up a marble tile). They also tend to get extremely nervous on car trips and often refuse to leave the hidey house until we've reached our destination, which is what I'm most concerned about.

We'll be taking breaks every once in a while to switch drivers or go grab some food at a drive-thru so the pigs aren't alone in the car at any point, but that's only going to be like every 4 or 5 hours. I don't want them to get dehydrated, and they won't necessarily come out every time to drink we stop because, well, you know how they are. All this makes me nervous as to how stressful the move is going to be for them.

Would I maybe be better off shipping them via plane? Or is that more risky, and I'm just being overly cautious about the whole thing? Do you think they'll eventually calm down after a couple hours on the highway and come out to investigate if hungry or thirsty enough? What else could I do?

Also, I usually have them on fleece. Will that be too toasty on their butts for the duration of the trip? Is carefresh better when it comes to that?

#18 - Blood Debt by Tanya Huff
Urban fantasy
330 pages

This is the last of a series (although apparently there's a spin-off series that has a couple books that my friend plans to lend to me) so I wouldn't suggest hopping right into it. Having said that, they're fun books, well written for the most part. I prefer Huff's incarnation of vampires more than many other authors, mostly because it's not all about sex.

#19 - Fifth Business by Robertson Davies
Canadian lit
238 pages

Even though this is a Canadian classic, I wasn't expecting much. I've read one other Davies book in the past, and I wasn't that impressed. But I am so glad that I read this one despite my misgivings, because I loved it. It's easy to see why it's assigned to so many high school english classes. And it's good enough that I might have even been able to overcome the fact that it was an assigned book, had I been forced to read it in high school, too.

#20 - Madhouse by Rob Thurman
Urban fantasy
337 pages

This is the third in a series, although when my friend borrowed it because we were on a train with nothing else to do, she not only loved it, but rushed out to order the other books as soon as we got home. I agree with her. It's engaging and Thurman has a definite sense of sarcastic humour that shines through in the narrator, Cal.

#21 - The King Must Die by Mary Renault
Historical novel/Myth and legend
353 pages

This is a retelling of the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, but from a realistic point of view. She uses historical evidences from Crete to explain the different elements in the legend. And she weaves a wonderful story in the process. The back cover describes it as a spellbinding, and I must agree. I'm really afraid that I'm making this come across as a dry book, but it really was anything but.

#22 - The Pact by Jodi Picoult
General fiction
496 pages

This was a really quick read, considering it was almost five hundred pages. I wish there had been more flashbacks to the lead up to the death, since those were the parts I liked the best, but I really liked the way that Picoult kept me in justifiable suspense, waiting for her to reveal just what had happened the night in question, whether it was a suicide, as was claimed by the main character, or a murder, as the prosecutor's office was claiming. The payoff was worth it, too, when it could easily have been a letdown in the hands of a less skilled author.

I woke up this morning with a mullet and 4 dogs. It looks like I'm already infected with THE GAY, so if you haven't already had it, you probably shouldn't kiss me. I've also been sexually harassing myself for hours now by staring at my own breasts.

Clearly, we're all doomed.

My keyboard went stopped working yesterday, so I wasn't able to write about my absolute joy over the supreme court ruling. I suspect it's a high that will be followed by a low, but this is how change happens. It's a process. I couldn't be happier about this ruling! Some good news was really needed, and this is excellent news. It feels like so much around us is moving toward constriction, away from the heart, and this is a cool breeze of love to get us by.

I heard today that county clerks are scrambling to change the wording on marriage licenses to be gender neutral. I'm hoping that it's for all licenses. It would feel complete in a way to have our own marriage license to be gender neutral.

As we get closer to our wedding, my passing-for-hetero privilege is weighing on my spirit, and it's on my mind quite a bit. It feels like I'm committing a betrayal, as though it is of no consequence to me because my partner is a man, when there is a piece of me pulling to refrain from making it legal until we all can. A lot of thought has gone into this decision (you may have noticed my 2.5 year engagement). All I can say is that settling either into either side of my sexuality brings up interesting and complicated issues of identity. It wasn't so complicated when I was dating, but settling down and then marrying, it's intensified. I believe it would be equally complicated if I had ended up with a woman.

So, I feel both honored and relieved to be married in a time where we can all (at least in my California bubble) enjoy the same rights and privileges. It moves me deeply that I can can think back to all the people I've loved, men and women, and know that we're all a part of a movement towards equality. And it's beautiful to share this expression of love and devotion with people who have so desperately wanted this for so long, and who can now enjoy it as well. I'm honored.

New tour dates, stretching from the East Coast to the West Coast (US and Canada) have been added to the tour schedule today! Check out the Official NKOTB site for the new listings. Tickets for the new shows will be going on sale starting May 30, 2008. Check the official site for details on when tickets in your area will be going on sale.

Does anybody else find it easier to get around to writing scathing reviews than good ones? If I read a terrible book over the weekend, I can't wait to get on here on Monday and tear it to shreds. If the book was actually pretty good, I inevitably put it off until Friday. Maybe this is why authors are so frightened of critics. Scorn is SO much more fun than praise.

Anyway, here are three pretty good books.

The first was The Harlequin's Dance by Tom Arden. It's fantasy of the sort I like: low on people turning into unicorns and high on human interaction. The story follows a crippled boy living in a castle with his invalid mother and his evil aunt (she's very like the aunts in Saki's stories, if you've read them). The boy is supposed to be special somehow, so we follow his growth with eager anticipation, waiting for him to come into his destiny. Meanwhile, in the background, bad things are happening. This crazy-religious guy is convinced that, by cutting off crippled bits, he'll separate crippled people from evil (which is pretty crappy for the kid, who's learning to walk with crutches). This fat little boy kills cats for no reason and, later, turns on his friends. A girl growing up in the forest pursues a wood-tiger, and an army of blue coated soldiers marches in and starts picking on the gypsies. It's vaguely reminiscent of George R. R. Martin's gigantic books but, since there are only, maybe, three main characters, it's a lot easier to follow and, probably, isn't going to end up being so goddamn long (it's a series, but my library only seems to have the first book). Highly recommended for people who like serious fantasy (as opposed to fluffy fantasy).

The second was called Human Resource by Pierce Askegren. This one was sci-fi, and also pretty serious (once again, more human interaction than aliens and moon-lasers). It takes place on the moon, which is neat, and is mostly from the point of view of (though not in first person) a guy who has been transferred to a post reasonably high-up in a major corporation on the moon. Most of the book is about how much he hates being on the moon, but there are other weird things going on in the background, like a woman that everybody really really likes for no apparent reason. It's the first book in a series and definitely doesn't stand alone well at all, but the writing was pretty good, so I'm going to have to defer judgment until I've read more of the series (if I get around to it).

The third was a Dr. Who book. Which I bought after (I kid you not) an hour's discussion with the guy who works at Borders that I always hunt down when I have nerd questions and, later, another woman who works there that he waved over about Dr. Who and Torchwood (the shows) and which books were worth reading and why nobody seems to ever like the Doctor's girl-sidekicks until they're gone. I left with a whole list of old Dr. Who episodes I was supposed to watch, an order to keep watching Torchwood, even though it won't start to be good for a while, and Dr. Who: Forever Autumn by Mark Morris. The whole point of flagging down my nerd-source was to find out if any of the Dr. Who books were worth reading (I had a coupon and wanted to use it on SOMETHING) and this one, they agreed, was the best.

It wasn't really very good, but I'm not entirely sure that I wasn't being swayed by either trying to envision it as a TV show or my overwhelming distrust of everything that is, or can be construed as, fan fiction. (I don't like fan-fiction because it isn't TRUE. This may sound very weird, and I mostly acknowledge that it's a preference as based in logic as my refusal to eat meat wrapped in another kind of meat (chicken wrapped in bacon? ick) but anything written in a particular author's universe by anyone except the author or someone designated by the author feels to me to be "just writing stories". I understand the author herself is "just writing stories" but, well... it's just one of those things). Anyway, back to the book. Some of the Doctor bits were very good; he acted in ways I'd expect the Doctor to act, but I just couldn't get away from wishing I were watching it as a TV show instead of reading it as a book. Because the books aren't allowed to delve too deeply into Interesting Things (it's probably important for the show to stand on its own), the book just felt like an extra-long and not particularly enlightening show. Don't know if I'll read any more, but I won't hold it against you if you do.

I completed earlier this week a graphic novel by Warren Ellis called Scars; it's a police novel with a bit of horror of a rather visceral sort. Not my typical cup of tea.

Book:   Down & Out in Paris and London
Author:  George Orwell
Genre:  Historical Fiction
Pages:  213
Rating:  3.5/5 stars

A stark look at poverty in Paris and London at the turn of the 20th century.  Orwell does a fantastic job of describing what it is like to survive with only a few shillings to your name.


Book:  Menachem's Seed
Author:  Carl Djerassi
Genre:  Science Fiction
Pages:  192
Rating:  2/5

The widowed Melanie Laidlaw is the director of a foundation that supports research in reproduction.  Menachem Dvir is a married nuclear engineer living in Israel.  They meet at a conference and are immediately drawn to one another.  Djerassi explores the themes of scientific ethics, sex, and nuclear proliferation in this novel about the dilemmas that advancement of science places us in.

This book had a lot of potential.  Djerassi's writing style is good, but he weaves too many divergent themes into a novel and barely skims the surface of any of them.  I picked this book for my Book A Month challenge theme because one of the themes was the Melanie's desire to become a mother and the lengths that she went to achieve that goal.  This theme could have made a great novel, but instead it was compromised by the other avenues that Djerassi chose to explore. 


Next up:  The Warden

18/50 books read

6600/15000 pages read

(x-posted) 

Now that the weather is hotting up for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere I thought it was time to post a timely reminder about hot weather and guinea pigs in light of the tragic news on Guinea Lynx of two poor piggies passing away from heat stroke because they were hiding in their pigloos. While these piggies were travelling in a car at the time, the air conditioning was on, and it's very important to remember that guinea pigs are often not capable of making the smart decision to move out of an area where it is too hot for their health.

The problem with pigloos is that they are made of plastic with only one entrance, they are not breathable and the ventilation is very poor. The heat gets trapped inside along with the heat the guinea pig is emitting herself. While this very system helps keep the piggie warm in cold weather, the effects in summer can take a heavy toll on the piggies health. Heat stroke can strike extremely quickly and is an incredibly fast killer. In light of this most recent story I have removed all pigloos from our cage as a precaution. I have left in wooden and cardboard houses as safer options.

Please remember that the room your guinea pigs are in should have a stable temperature range of 65 to 75 degrees F (18 to 24 degrees C). Higher than this and your pig is in danger of heat stroke. Guinea pigs cannot sweat! They have no way of cooling their bodies down themselves like we do. Have you ever seen your guinea pig sprawled out with both back legs sticking out? This is a sign of them being hot. And guinea pigs really prefer NOT to be hot!

So how do you keep the room cool? Firstly, if you have AC then definitely use that! Windows being opened is also good. But there comes a time when those may not be enough, so hopefully the following tips will help :)

• Ice packs or frozen water bottles are a life saver - literally. Have several of these in your freezer and put at least two at a time in the piggie cage, wrapped in a light towel for their safety. The pigs can then sit as close or as far from these as they like to help keep themselves cool. I have one girl who delights in sitting right on top of them!
• Make sure to change their water bottles daily! This is important all year round but especially in summer as the water will go stale and yucky faster which discourages the piggies from drinking and can encourage dehydration.
• See if you can find the insulating covers for water bottles, these help keep the water cooler for longer.
• Marble tiles are fantastic for putting down in the cage. They stay cool no matter what and the pigs love to lay down on them to cool off. Other flat stones can also have the same effect, so have a good look around for something that stays cool that your pigs will enjoy.
• Keep the cage out of direct sunlight! It sounds obvious but it's one of the easiest ways of keeping the heat down. Draw blinds or curtains, move the cage, put a shade up, anything to keep the sun out of the cage.
• Provide lots of shady spots. Pigloos are out but cardboard boxes with lots of doors, wooden houses turned away from the light, hammocks they can hid under, shades put up outside the cage are all in.
  
• Fans - you can use a fan to circulate the air in the room but it is important not to direct the breeze directly on to the cage as guinea pigs are very susceptible to upper respiratory infections, the number one cause of which are drafts. Having a fan at the other end of the room to circulate the air is a safe way of keeping the room cool. You can also put a frozen water bottle in front of the fan to encourage the circulation of cooler air.

I would also encourage everyone to buy a little digital room thermometer for their piggie room. My partner and I got one and were shocked at how often we had previously let the room get too cold or too hot. Humans have a much wider range of comfortable temperatures so it's harder for us to fine tune ourselves to that 65-75 range the piggies need. A thermometer is a great way of keeping on top of things and gives great peace of mind :)

I hope this has been somewhat helpful!

http://www.guineapigcages.com/location.htm

 

Anyone seen this? Ok, just posted it because I thought it was cute. Especially the Davids!
Love the ending.

Did anyone else catch Syesha's lip synching on Wednesday night? During her song, at the very end, she smiles after singing her final note, however, the note is still playing as she's smiling. Lipsynching? Do they play the track while they sing their goodbye song? Back up singer? I can't figure it out but it's bugging me!

Watch at the very end!

So, I posted these waaaaaay back in my David A community, but I thought a lot of you people here would find this interesting.

So, I forget how, but I am pretty sure I stumbled across <a href="http://www.ilike.com/user/David_A758">David A's account on iLike</a>.

Reasons I believe it's really him:
- Songs were first added in mid-July, week or so before he even auditioned.
- One of his friends is Mietra, the girl on the show Ryan made a comment about David going to prom with.
- He has songs by his mother on there, included some of his own original songs.
- He has Tiffany Evans's songs on there (the girl who beat him in Star Search), plus former American Idol contestants.
- He has all of his favorite artists that he's mentioned added on there.
- Because it's "David A" and not "David Archuleta," they're not the "same person" on that site.

ANYWAY, I'm posting this because I think he has a huuuuuuuge variety of favorite artists/songs on there and you might be surprised.

That is, if it's him. Which seems very likely.

Under the cut. :)