Audio Books I have purchased and read in 2005!

Yes, dear reader, today I present to you a list of the titles I have purchased from Audible.com, downloaded, and listened to in my car via my iPod. This wonderful odyssey began with a gift certificate from my wonderful, smart, beautiful, talented, diverse daughter, Theresa Nelson.

Here are the titles I have read, and my brief evaluation, beginning in December of 2004 and right up to the title I downloaded today:


Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates by Tom Robbins
I read Still Life with Woodpecker and Even Cowgirls get the Blues years ago. This guy (Robbins)is offbeat to say the least. That's why I like him. Like some other authors, he's not afraid to say the F-word and I like that in a book movie or television (HBO). If it's censored in any way, I lose trust for it. It's that simple. This book is a romp with unexpected surprises and many changes of location. On a scale of 1-10, it's a 6.

The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty
This book, my first purchase in 2005 is my favorite. The hero is a fat, depressed, bumbling, alcoholic who is carried along by a strange series of events. As he travels across America on a bicycle, a wonderful adventure unfolds. If you read one book this year (and I don't think this is available any other way than audio (p.s. Ask me about how to get ahold of this book) READ THIS BOOK. Rating: 10

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
I generally don't like "Science fiction" books but this one is a keeper. The husband is a "time traveller" who is magically transformed to random periods in his life uncontrollably. It is poignant and romantic and mostly interesting.
Rating: 8

The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown
Well, if you read, you kinda hafta read this book. There was just so much Buzz about it. I'm glad I did. Rating: 7

Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen
This was the first of several books by this author that I read this year. He definitely has a formula that works for me. He is funny, outrageous and keeps things moving with characters that I really like. I will read everything this guy has published by the end of this year as long as it's over 8 hours (one of my rules for book purchase). Rating: 8.5

Double Whammy by Carl Hiaasen
Didn't I tell you I like this guy? I read two of his books back to back. Rating: 8.5

The Human Stain by Phillip Roth
This book was so forgettable. I can't remember any details from last March. Rating: 3

Second Glance by Jodi Picoult
This one has a supernatural component to it. I bought it looking for something romantic. You will note that I frequently searched for romantic novels in my quest for the perfect romantic novel. I didn't find it here. Rating: 4

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
This one was exquisite! This is another MUST READ. It's the story of a young girl who lives with a cold, abusive father in the south and who runs away with her big, fat, black housekeeper to an exciting adventure that lands her in the home of a woman who raises bees. Rating: 10

What Comes After Crazy by Sandi Kahn
Ok. This is part of my quest for romance. This book is what I imagine sells well with women. It is overly dramatic and just way too "female" for me. Yes, I know the "female" reference is poor. I just don't know how to describe it better. I see myself as having a highly developed feminine side but this book makes me wonder whether I'm full of doody? Doodie? Duty? Doodee? How DO you spell that? (Ass-product!) Rating: 4

The Fourth Hand by John Irving
I have read The Word According to Garp and The Hotel New Hampshire, two of my favorite novels of all time, by this author. This novel did not disappoint. It is quirky and the story is one you would not imagine in a million years. It also has plenty about sex, this being a quality endearing to me. Rating: 9

Where the Truth Lies by Rupert Holmes
Have you heard of the "Pina Colada song"? Well this guy not only wrote and performed that, but he also wrote this. I don't remember it well. It was another unsatisfactory attempt to find "romance". Rating: 4

Echoes by Danielle Steele
Lookin' for love in all the wrong places.........actually, this wasn't the wrong place. This author is a good storyteller and I'll probably read more by her. I think I've read other Steele novels before but they are just "eye fodder" and pretty pedestrian. Rating: 5

Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence
Ok. This guy is literary giant. He wrote "Lady Chatterly's Lover" for cripes sakes. I'm lookin' for love and I had to plow through, like 28 hours, of this thing. All without one mention of a vagina or anyhing. Sorry kids. Your old man is, well, like that. Rating: 1

Ain't She Sweet? by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Love for sale! Sweet, juicy Loooooove for sale! Uh, what movie did that come from? Anyway, the quest for love hit a homer here. This was a great page turner, it was funny and it was romantic. Bravo! Rating: 8

Skin Tight by Carl Hiaasen
My third read by this author and he succeeds again! Skink! A reccurring character, is a winner. How can you not love a guy who relies on road kill as his main source of meals? Rating: 8.5

Match Me If You Can by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Yeah, you guessed it. I've found another favorite author. This book about a woman who is challenged to find a wife for a famous sports agent is romantic without being formulaic. I loved it! Rating: 9

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
This guy was dead for many years before his mother convinced anyone to publish this jewel. Talk about quirky! I have come to hate these "romance novels" where the men are all these tall, dark, handsome, well-muscled, emotionally unavailable, detached creatures who do no wrong except keep themselves totally emotionally separate from their lovers. Is this what women want? I guess it's no surprise that I don't have groupies stealing my underwear.....
The main character of this book is epic. I loved this book. Rating: 10

Stormy Weather by Carl Hiaasen
Looks like my fourth book by this author. I may have to begin reading his shorter works but I'll hold out for more like this as long as I can. All his books take place in Florida and are not only hilareous but keep you guessing. I'm really on a roll here.....Rating: 8.5

A Delirious Summer by Ray Blackston
This is what you call "payback" for a guy who likes sex and the f-word. The main character in this book is so chaste that he doesn't even kiss anyone for the first 4 hours of this "romance". Um, Ok. You CAN have romance without sex.......or can you? Well maybe you can. Mine involves sex....sooner than 4 hours. Seriously, this book would be great for someone much holier than me. I kept waiting for the guy to boink someone and lets just say that he doesn't have a penis or else he doesn't know where to find it? Sorry again kids. Maybe not reading dad's blog is a good thing? Unfortunately, this is what's behind the green curtain (obscure Wizard of Oz reference.). If you want to read a book about "romance" where kissing is the sexual "end of the line", read this book. Used dishwater! Rating: .5

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
I picked this book because it was on the top of the Audible.com Fiction list for a long time and because the religious-oriented reading group here at St. Norbert is reading it. After the first couple hours, I wasn't sure I wanted to read more. It was so painful. The way that the hero treats his faithful, unconditionally-loving, servant and boyhood companion, it was genuinely painful to read. I shied away from this book for a long time because I didn't think I wanted to read about Afghanistan. I was wrong. This book has the potential to make you a better person. This book should be a classic when it has had more time to be "discovered". Rating: 10

The Delaney Christmas Carol by Iris Johansen, Kay Hooper, and Fayrene Preston
OMG, this is what I get for looking for "romatic" books. I will never waste my time or money on a book from one of these authors if I can help it. This book is a Christmas past, Christmas present and Christmas future trilogy about characters who are part of the "legendary Delaney family". Excuse me while I barf! The man-heros are all rich, powerful, aloof people who get what they want. They CONQUER their female objects rather than "fall in love" with them. Oh, but the women are so happy to be bedded by someone so RICH, MUSCULAR and DETACHED.
I haven't vomited in more than 18 years but this book pushed my limits. Rating: 3

Toxic Bachelors by Danielle Steele
I'm currently listening to this. It's so predictable. Maybe I'll stay away from this author.....?
Temporary but maybe permanent rating: 4

Villages by John Updike
I've read the Rabbit Run! series by this author back when I used to read paper books. This book promises to be "very sexy". I told the Audible.com search engine that I wanted to "get intimate" in "more than 8 hours". Rating: ???? This will be my first book of 2006. I have purchased the Audible Platinum account (24 credits for the price of 20) and look forward to another year of "wanting to be in the car to listen to my book".
Thank you so much, Theresa, for making my commute productive again.

Happy 2006 everyone!

Ciao, babies!!

We have moved!
Well, Ok, we didn't change houses, we did, however, change bedrooms. Yesterday, we moved from the northwest bedroom (one window facing north) to a southeast bedroom. This is the bedroom that Geoff occupied during the past year since he graduated from UW-Milwaukee. He is officially moved into his new residence at 1234 Monroe Street in Oshkosh and is ripping it up so that he can make it his own.
The old bedroom was a little bigger than our new bedroom but it's negatives included being about 5-10 degrees cooler than the rest of the house and just always so dark and dreary. Further, it still has the purple (YES, I said PURPLE) walls that it had when we moved in in 1976 and even though we had some plumbing done about a decade ago, the toilet and sink area still have the primer that the carpenter left on the wall and the enclosure for the sink has never been stained. While having a toilet and sink right in the room (oh there is a nifty shower curtain to provide "privacy") is convenient for when your "old man" bladder needs relief at 3 a.m., it's not so hot when wifey decides to take a monster dump just before bedtime and the whole room reeks. That poupourie spray just doesn't cover the damage caused by a major poopfest. Now, of course, when I take a highly ceremonial POWERDUMP, it smells like little baby rose petals, doesn't it? MmmmYaaaassssss! Uh, huh!
Our new bedroom has many advantages. It has windows to the east and to the south so it has much better light. It has been newly painted by Geoff last year. It has new carpeting. It has a new ceiling fan/light that Geoff installed. And, most important, it is about the same temp as the rest of the house in the winter. We'll really start to appreciate this when it gets down in the single digits and lower outside. In the old bedroom, you HAD to keep your arms under the covers. It was just a couple degrees above "see your breath". That's not really bad for sleeping. It IS bad for getting dressed and the little electric space heater that we used really didn't do a whole heck of a lot to help.
Last night, after we moved our stuff into the new bedroom, we moved the kitty tree that Theresa and Robin made and gave to us into the old bedroom. The two kittens, Bernoulli and Napoleon, instantly took to it. They located themselves up on the top level and stayed there for hours even though we kept the door open. But they only spent one day and night there.
Tonight, Geoff came home after work and picked up the two kittens. They will live with him in Oshkosh. We will miss them in some ways and are relieved in others. No more attacks on the corn plant. I wonder if it will even survive. No more climbing in the Christmas tree for Nappy. No more cat fights between Smokey and whichever one of them she could corner. But also no more darling little purring machines. No more cute wrestling with each other and racing around the house a million miles an hour. Now it's just George and Liz and two old dogs and two old cats.
Yes, I did say two old cats!
I brought Murry in last Wednesday. First, I took her in the basement and cleared an upholstered rocker off for her. I made a litter box out of a cardboard box and a garbage bag. She began using the litter box right away. Liz was concerned and rightly so, that she might have some disease or fleas so she asked me to put Murry in a room where the other cats could not have contact with her. I did so, putting her in with the water softener on the south end of the basement.
But tonight, with the kittens gone, I moved Murry up to our old bedroom. It how has a TV, a treadmill, a bed and a toilet and a sink. Murry has a nice place to sleep on a couple of pillows on the bed which has been covered with a plastic sheet just in case she turns out to be indiscreet with her pee-pee habits.
I have made an appointment at the veternarian for next Saturday so we'll find out if Murry is a) really a girl and b) healthy and maybe even get an idea of how old she is. Then maybe she can join the rest of the pets as a regular housepet with all the rights and privileges of the Possley household.
Liz and I have no special plans for New Years Eve although we'll probably have an early feast of shrimp and go to bed early. It's not such a big deal to stay up until the new year anymore.

That's it for now. Happy New Year, everyone!

Ciao, babies!

Photos from my Treo 650 phone:

This is my beautiful wife taken on the river boardwalk in Sheboygan, Wisconsin


This is the first tree on the St. Norbert Campus to change colors in the fall. It is right in front of the Todd Wehr Library.


Chelvan, my former co-worker and golf buddy on the 9th hole of the Garden Course at Wander Springs looking into the sunset.


A beautiful rainbow taken on I-43 on the way to work one morning:



Leaves falling from a small maple near the Fox River behind Burke Hall on the campus of St. Norbert College.


There's a new geek in town! This is Francis Beaumier, my new Macintosh Geek and soon-to-be Lab Consultant Manager.


This is the only chapel on Lax Chapel Road. I am very curious about its history.


This is Spanky. He shared my office as my student employee for 4 years. We had more good times in that office than I can count.


This is Smokey. She sleeps here all day.


This is Napoleon. I call her Nappy. She loves to climb the Christmas Tree.


Elizabeth, Master of Science in Instructional Technology (computer science emphasis)


Isn't she cute?


And finally...my nephew, Nick in his Mr. Hanky, the Christmas Poo shirt with is closed-eye Santa-mom.

Graduation photos and Christmas photos

This was a busy weekend. Saturday, Liz graduated from Cardinal Stritch University with a Master's degree in Instructional Technology. Saturday evening, we exchanged gifts. Sunday, we went to mass, had a nice ham dinner and then moved four vehicles and one trailer's worth of stuff to Geoff's new house at 1234 Monroe Street in Oshkosh. Enjoy the pictures. They are pretty much in the reverse order of the weekend starting with three pictures taken at Geoff's new house. Ciao and Merry Christmas, Babies!