Tag: Shopping

Culture Corner

Culture Corner – June 2014

Geoff W

2014 06-15 Finding Viviane MaierAlthough I skipped last month, this month’s culture explorations definitely make up for it. From my NYC trip which I wrote about last week and you’ll see a lot of pictures of below to my deCordova trip earlier this week and more I have planned over the next few days/weeks.

I’m not going to write much about the photo sets other than where they’re from and first impressions of the museums/experiences. I probably should’ve written this last week when it was all still fresh, but oh well. This first picture is of the postcard and ticket stub from the documentary Finding Vivian Maier. I’ve wanted to see this film for AGES and was very glad that the IFC was still showing it. It was worth every penny and made me even more excited about her as an artist. If you don’t know her story or her photographs I definitely recommend reading more about her above or at the Wikipedia page.

Click here to continue reading.

Updates

Lunch Break Interlude V

Geoff W

As I said in the last one, it never fails when you do an update or a recap something else comes along that is pretty cool and you have to share – such as the book to the right.

Now I am in a book buying ban, but I am not in a book ban 😀  When I went to get my haircut this past weekend there was a woman handing copies of Justin Cronin’s The Passage.  I assumed it was for World Book Night (a few days/weeks late), but when I asked she had no idea what I was talking about. She said these were giveaways to spread word about the next book in the series/trilogy released this coming October. I don’t know if this has been common in the past, but it feels like this might be where the book industry is heading. With the mass production of books and the rise of ebooks who knows.  It reminded me a little of Scholastic’s giving 525 copies of the Hunger Games trilogy to my work for our gala.  But hey, I’m not going to knock it – it did add another book to my to-be-read pile/list, but it didn’t cost me anything!

Click here to continue reading.

Updates

Lunch Break Interlude II

Geoff W

So it never fails that as soon as I post an update about what I’ve been up-to I realize there’s more to add! I could do a weekly recap or even stick to a monthly update – but I know I won’t.* Instead you get these random clumps of posts which are sort of like my personality – intense one minute and completely withdrawn the next. If you’re interested in my internal dialogue read the end of this post – if not just read the next two paragraphs 😀

I mentioned this in the April Update, but two weekends ago Tom and I took his nieces and met my sister to paint pottery.  Well, we were able to pick up our pottery this past weekend and the picture is to the left! 1) It’s a picture using Instagram on my new iPhone I got that weekend; and 2) it’s inspired by UNC – if you can’t tell from the colors. We went up for another reason, but I have to wait to post that picture.

We again stopped by the Used Book Superstore as they were having another great sale!(40% off all used books – and 50% if you used your own bag or didn’t need a bag.) I was very good and made a list of books to look for and only purchased three.  Michael Blakes’ Dances with Wolves for May Book Group and George Orwell’s 1984 and Aristophanes’ Lysistrata and Other Plays for my Back to the Classics and The Classics Club Challenges.

Other than that – I’ve just been chugging along.  I’m most of the way through Dogeaters by Jessica Hagedorn and am debating on what to read next. I really want to re-read The Hunger Games and Harry Potter, but think I might save those for summer reading by the lake.

Click here to read my aside…

Updates

December 2011 Update

Geoff W

I can’t believe it’s December. My birthday and my annual trek back to NC are in 12 days and it’s mind-boggling to think how fast the year has gone.

November felt especially short as I had a couple of days off and was out a couple of days at the beginning of this month, but on to the post!

Since the November update, I’ve joined another challenge, read two books (Friday Night Lights and I’ll Get There. It Better Be Worth The Trip.), and just last night finished Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. I’m starting to re-read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for the Somerville Books into Movies book group.

Aside from reading, I’ve kept busy with work (it’s the year-end fundraising season) and holiday shopping. I thought I finished shopping last month, but wasn’t and only have one last item to buy.

This past weekend Tom and I had his nieces for the weekend and we had a lot of fun. I mentioned it in a previous post, so I won’t go into too much detail. Let’s just say my birthday celebrations have already started even though I’d prefer to disappear. The two additions to our weekend with Tom’s nieces were the Somerville Public Library to work on an extra credit project for the oldest, and seeing Arthur Christmas, which was adorable! And to cap off the weekend we had dinner at Border Cafe in Cambridge with their parents.

Last week I mentioned buying more books during Small Business Saturday. I ended up buying five books and a mighty wallet (which is awesome – the link is the one I purchased)! Of the books I purchased, Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood, Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie, In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje, and The Color Purple by Alice Walker, are all either on my reading list or for a challenge next year. also purchased The Darcys and the Bingleys by Marsha Altman, and am incredibly wary because of my prudish sensibilities and the subject matter. I will read it, but didn’t read the blurb on the back before purchasing it and am not too impressed with the premise. A week or so before that, I purchased Austenland by Shannon Hale in order to get free shipping for a Christmas present. Who wouldn’t rather buy a book for $2 than pay $5 for shipping?!?

Updates

September 2011 Update

Geoff W

I have no idea where August, went, but we are entering the second week of September and I’m not ready to say goodbye to summer. Although I love fall, and winter is my all time favorite season, there’s just something sad about saying goodbye to summer. Perhaps this is a remainder of the many years I spent working at summer camps, or the time I now get to spend on an island during the summer, but it’s just sad to see it go. But on with the update!

On the blog front, I’ve started making a few minor changes. I’ve finally completed the About Me section with a section about Me and a section about The Oddness of Moving Things. I also purchased a domain (my first!) so if you visit the blog it’s now geoffwhaley.com instead of geoffwhaley.com! And if you actually read the blog on the site rather than a reader or subscription you’ll notice when I’ve finished a book because of the currently reading section at the top of the right column (thanks to Rob at 101 Books for having the idea first).

Over the past few weeks I’d made a real dent in reading the books I’ve collected over the past two years, but have now completely nullified that progress by stockpiling books for the upcoming fall/winter from various sources. Check them out below, neatly categorized into three sections, and the very last thing is an update on the cool Goodreads graphic found last month.
Click here to continue reading.