I'm not really here. That is to say, this isn't a real blog... I was just updating the calendars for August and September, and then decided to update my Currently list, which led me to come here and enter some boring text. Really quite useless. Just too tired and too worried about good friends to have a real entry. Will attempt to do a real post tomorrow along with this week's SoS. Later gators.

I need to sleeeeeeeeep. So tired. And I didn't really do much today, but the heat was just unbearable and completely exhausted me. Here's hoping tomorrow is cooler. Anyways, like I said. Sleepy. But yet here I am blogging. I felt bad. I've been doing my usual neglectful routine. I suck that way. What can I say?

I've spent the last week being slowly driven insane by the new computer system at work. It's crap. No one likes it and when Linh asked me the other day if I liked anything about the new system, I honestly couldn't think of even one thing. Sigh sigh. Whatever. At least it hasn't crashed again. Yeah. We came up live on July 9th and 30 minutes after opening, down we went and down we stayed. Apparently someone screwed up our T1 line during the conversion process and it took them about a week to get their butts over to the branch and fix it. So we were up and down for a week. Wowee, was that fun or what?

Anyways... enough bitching about work. I saw "Pirates of the Caribbean" with Lucy last week. Loved it! Johnny Depp was absolutely hilarious and brilliant. And Orlando... mmmmm... yummy boy. Can't wait to see "American Wedding." Aly looks so pretty in it. I also want to see "Uptown Girls." Not a huge Brittany Murphy fan, but I adore Dakota Fanning, so I'm sure I'll be seeing it once it's out.

Okay... I'm just going to end up babbling if I don't go away. And I can't remember anything of significance that I had to say, so off to bed I go. I promise to attempt to return soon! Later gators!

Happy 4th of July to my fellow US residents! Okay, I'm only a day late... not too bad, right? I had a lovely 4th spent with Lucy, who completely rocks. We went to the movies and saw "Legally Blonde 2" and "Finding Nemo" (yes, for my third time... Lucy hadn't seen it yet), then came home and barbecued burgers, hot dogs and corn to eat along with chips and cherries, and yummy Bartles and Jaymes to drink. It was a blast! Our watching of the fireworks didn't go as planned (we were going to go to Ralph's place for dessert and to watch the fireworks show from the church on the hill right near here) because upon arriving home after the movies, we found that my brother, Bryan, had left Shasta (our dog - well, technically she is Bryan's dog, but she spends most of her time with Mom, Dad and I) here for us to watch, despite his promises to care for her, since he didn't allow her to go camping with Mom and Dad for the weekend. Sigh sigh. That's my brother.

Poor Shasta was SO scared when the folks across the street starting popping off small firecrackers. She was literally shaking and shivering. Lucy and I had to go to the house where she's dogsitting this weekend so she could feed the dog and the cats there, so we took Shasta with us. Normally, Shasta loves car rides and rides in the back, watching out the windows all the time. But yesterday she climbed onto the floor of the front passenger side at my feet and curled up in a ball and stayed there. She wouldn't get out when we got the other house, so I stayed with her while Lucy played with Scooter (the dog she is sitting) and Theo and Nancy (the cats). By the time we left it was well after sundown, so we actually did get a fireworks show on the way back to my house, as 280 was a great place to see the downtown fireworks show. We turned the music up to mute the sound of the fireworks for Shasta and got to see a good portion of the show since the freeway was so backed up. We got home and had to carry Shasta out of the car (not an easy task) and into the house, where she found her bed and curled up. We just stayed with her for a couple hours, having fun chatting and petting Shasta to calm her, getting her to drink water (she wouldn't at first). So while the night was not what we expected, we still managed to have a good time. Lucy is one of the best people to chat with and we could literally talk forever.

Today was not so good, thanks again to my brother, but I'm not going into details... I already ranted to Susan, who was kind enough to listen and talk it over with me. I love Susan!

I'm quite happy that I don't have to go back to work until Tuesday... and Tuesday isn't even "real" work, as we've got our annual inservice meeting, which I've been told will consist of playing games and having pizza and ice cream sundaes while discussing whatever we need to discuss. Whooo! This is due to the fact that the library system I work for is getting a computer system conversion over this weekend. We're closed until 12pm on Wednesday at which point we're all hoping against hope that IT will have everything up and running for the new system. *Fingers crossed*

Alright... I should just post last week's Seven on Sunday and stop babbling 'cause I'm probably being incredibly boring. So, here it is!

1. Do you consider yourself an avid reader? Why? Why not? Yes. I've always loved reading and done as much of it as possible. I only wish I had more time to read these days. Sigh.

2. What was the last book you finished? In one word, what did you think of it? Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. AMAZING. Loved, loved, loved it.

3. Do you prefer to read the book before it's movie comes out or after? Before, if possible. Though sometimes I'm introduced to a book after seeing a movie, so it just depends.

4. Has the movie ever been better than the book? "Minority Report" - though technically it's a short story, not a book, but whatever the case, it was crappy. Didn't like it all. Loved the movie though.

5. Hardcover or paperback? Library or book store? If it's something special, such as Harry Potter, etc - hardcover. Most of the time though, paperback. But the nice expensive paperbacks... I spend WAY too much money. As for library or store, both. I work at a library, so I check out tons of books there, but if it's something I want to keep, I'll eventually buy the book. And I also purchase lots of used books from library sales or used book stores.

6. Recommend three books to your visitors. Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City series, Cliver Barker's Abarat, and Nevil Shute's A Town Like Alice.

7. What are you currently reading? Re-reading Order of the Phoenix - though more slowly this time to savor it. And after that, probably Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code.

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EDITED AT 23:09: I can't believe I forgot to say this: THANK YOU to everyone for the feedback on the new layout! Everyone is so kind and I loved reading all the comments.