First national review in PAGES

Hot off the presses is my first national book
review in Pages magazine. Can’t link to it yet because the September/October is not posted on the Web. It's just a little back-of-the-book piece though it is third of 17 such reviews. Woo Hoo! Pardon me while I squeal in delight over this national piece. It was a tough book, too: "The Equation That Couldn't Be Solved," by Mario Livio.

Although I’m giddy at my latest clip, I’m nearly speechless about the Hurricane Katrina disaster. I’ve seen the images and read the stories and as much as I would like to turn away, I can’t seem to bring myself to do so. I’m trying to imagine what it must be like for the residents of the Gulf Coast and I’m left with no words.

Our esteemed President appears to suffer a similar affliction. His lack of compassion reared its ugly head again in his speech last night. He can’t seem to control the small muscles around his mouth that would prevent him from ridiculously grinning during the country’s worst catastrophe.

The New York Times called it “one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday, especially given the level of national distress and the need for words of consolation and wisdom.”

My heart aches for the people affected and it longs to do something to help, beyond writing the obvious check. Ryan told me this morning that his teachers said six students from New Orleans will be joining the seventh grade next week at Bay Middle School. I’m glad our little community is reaching out.

Finally today … why is it so difficult to book a flight with another person? Jill and I have just spent the past 12 hours haggling with Continental Airlines in our effort to plan a flight to Vegas together in October.

After her many phone calls (because we reserved seats under her hubby’s name yesterday) and the realization that this morning the price went up another $30 each, we finally managed (with the help of a lovely woman via phone) to finalize our reservations at the price we reserved yesterday. Good thing we didn’t wait any longer. Methinks the fuel crisis due to Katrina and the Middle East will only make prices higher.