recommended reading

when it comes to reading, i'm what i'd call a "binge reader". once i get started in a good book, i can't put it down. this weekend i even made us late to a social event because i just HAD to finish the book i was working on :)

in fact, it was such a great book that i wanted to recommend it to you all here - it's called "April 1865: the month that saved America" by Jay Winik. it's non fiction, about the final month of the Civil War with portraits of the major players woven into it. it covers Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox, President Lincoln's assassination, and so many critical events in our nation's history. the reconstruction of the United States was not a forgone conclusion after the Civil War, and this book made me really appreciate the greatness of our leaders at the time.

i learned a whole lot from the book (did you know the succession process for the VP to take over if the President dies is not actually in the Constitution??), but it's not a heavy read necessarily. it's about 380 pages and i got more invested the more i read. if you're looking for a good read over the holidays, i'd highly recommend it!

now, it's time for a novel - on to "The Help" for book club!

we (meaning alex) know someone (sorta) famous!

last night, alex got his first interview with an actual professional football player for his blog! he spoke with none other than W&M's own Derek Cox, starting corner back for the jacksonville jaguars! alex knows derek from his days as the student-athletic-advisory-council vice-president (derek was the president) and they've kept in sporadic touch since graduation.

although derek has NO idea who i am, i'm a big fan of his and love seeing someone i (sorta) know on TV. we watched his first start ever against the indianapolis colts last year, when he picked off peyton manning in the end zone on their first drive. we happened to be in Indy at the time, watching the game with my extended family, who are all big colts fans, and we LOVED rubbing that in :)

any famous or sorta famous people in your lives??

view from the top!

last weekend, alex and i took a last-minute, spontaneous trip to our nation's capital to see friends, and we had such a blast! we got to relax, play games, watch football, and just generally enjoy everyone's company :)

as an added perk, we got to take several special tours, including the Dome of the Library of Congress! located across from the Capitol, the LOC Dome gives you a great view of the city and the National Mall. i took this shot with my phone, so it's not the best, but here's an idea of what we saw:


alex, who is afraid of heights, was a real trooper, particularly on a windy day, until i started getting closer to the edge to take a picture of the flame on top of the LOC Dome - then he was less than pleased :)

pick a persona!

since i spent most of my days at a desk in front of my computer, i find it pretty easy to get bored with my surroundings. thankfully, someone brilliant at Firefox has found a way to help me combat that - they created "personas" which are basically banners that run across the top of your window, and they have all kinds of themes and colors.

whenever i'm feeling the need to a change of scenery, i change my persona, and then change the colors of my gmail to match. today, i'm trying out a new one:


and i can't decide how i feel about it. it's really bright, which i like in theory, particularly as it's getting dark outside so early, but it might actually hurt my eyes to look at it all day. what do you think? what tips do you guys have for making "desk life" more interesting?