Finished almost all my payment authorizations today, to my immense relief. It looked as if I had more than I did because some of them had two notifications. I also did this year's Ethics Training and filled out my disclosure form.

Also spoke with someone in Rhode Island about a delayed payment. It was the same temperature there as it was here.

I am at present finishing dubbing off the final two What's My Line? episodes that I saved from the nightly recordings. One of the shows took place on Bennett Cerf's birthday and he was playing it to the hilt, including popping one atrocious pun. The other had Ed Sullivan as the mystery guest. For whomever still thought Mr. Sullivan was dour and stiff (despite those charming encounters with Topo Gigio!), this WML dispels it for all time. At first Ed holds his nose closed to disguise his voice. Then he says jokingly to John Daly, "If they wear masks, I wear mask, too," and he puts on a caveman mask (looked a lot like Alley Ooop). Arlene Francis eventually guessed who he was; by then the audience and John were both in hysterics.

Incidentally, one of the panelists was John Payne (Fred Galey from Miracle on 34th Street). Some of the guest panelists are not good players, but Payne was quite sharp.

I think I now have the DVR down to things I still want to watch (Little Miss Sunshine, the two My Family Christmas specials, Ballet Shoes with Emma Watson) and things I want to dub off (Private Screenings: Child Stars with Margaret O'Brien, Dwayne Hickman, Jane Withers and Dick(ie) Moore) and FDR: A Presidency Revealed).

I still had an Amazon $25 gift certificate burning a hole in my desk :-) , so today I pre-ordered the newest Maisie Dobbs novel, Among the Mad. I also purchased the Aureole "Christmas Wishes" album. Aureole's Christmas music came up often on XM's "Holiday Traditions" channel and I fell in love with its ethereal style. I needed $2.25 to reach the $25 (and the free postage rate), so I ordered the newest "Ghost and Mrs. McClure" mystery, which I didn't realize was out.

I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with this series. I like the main characters, the "Ghost and Mrs. Muir"-like combination of a modern-day widow who co-owns a bookstore with her aunt and the ghost of a tough 1940s gumshoe who is tied to the bookstore because he was killed there. One of the reasons I bought the first book is that the book purportedly takes place in Rhode Island. Oh, the author drops a few locations: our heroine's late husband was the scion of a wealthy Newport family, she talks about driving between Newport and Jamestown, and once in each book there is a comment about people dropping their "r's." But I like a regional book to have a flavor of the region it takes place in and I get precious little here. The supporting characters are all New England WASP-y stereotypes instead of the ethnic groups who actually populate Rhode Island (Italians, Portuguese, growing numbers of Hispanic and Asian) and there's no mention of local customs or foods that really ground a good regional book.

I made the mistake of wandering about ABE Books as well and found a Gladys Taber book I don't have and actually haven't read, When Dogs Meet People. I've been a fan of her Especially Dogs since I was in junior high, so this sounds as if I will enjoy it as well.

I've got some HiPoints I can cash in, so I may have another book ordering opportunity soon. :-)

Labels: books, television, work

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