Posts from — December 2009

I did not become a reader until half-way through graduate school. A couple of reasons why were:

1. my addiction to television (which I’ve since overcome)
2. my lack of time (I had lots of homework until I finished grad-school coursework)
3. I hated reading because my teachers assigned crummy books that THEY thought I should read. They didn’t bother consulting me on the matter.

Now that none of these conditions apply, I thoroughly love to read. I choose what I want to read. However, there are a number of titles that I never read that I probably should read in order to be considered a learned individual. Therefore, 201o will be the year of the SUMMER READING LIST. I’ve consulted a number of different lists of great books, thought about titles that often come up in “JEOPARDY” questions, asked my wife, and consulted some of my students to compile the following list of 30 titles. The only titles that I eliminated from consideration were:

• titles that were incredibly long (I’ve budgeted 2 weeks per book). I’m sure that “Crime & Punishment” and “War & Peace” are great books, just not for this exercise
• books I’ve read already
• books where I saw the movie (regardless of how true to the book the movie is)
• books by chicks (sorry, Jane Austin, the Brontes, and especially Toni Morrison, were what caused my dislike of reading) The exception is “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley, but hey it’s a monster book. If it makes any of you feminists feel any better, I do plan on reading “Pride & Prejudice & Zombies” and “Sense & Sensibility and Sea Monsters.”

Without further delay, here is the list:

1. “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain
2. “Slaughterhouse Five” by Kurt Vonnegut
3. “Animal Farm” by George Orwell
4. “Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy
5. “Moby Dick” by Herman Melville
6. “Around the World in 80 Days” by Jules Verne
7. “For Whom the Bell Tolls” by Ernest Hemingway
8. “The Invisible Man” by H.G. Wells
9. 2 Shakespeare plays I haven’t read-TBD
10. “The Pilgrim’s Progress” by John Bunyan
11. “Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson
12. “Mere Christianity” by C. S. Lewis
13. “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkein
14. “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley
15. “The Hound of the Baskervilles” by Arthur Conan Doyle
16. “The Agony and the Ecstasy” by Irving Stone (this is for you father-in-law)
17. “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley
18. “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck
19. “Catcher in the Rye” by J. D. Salinger
20. “The Brothers Karamazov” by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
21. “The Prince” by Niccolo Machiavelli
22. “Swiss Family Robinson” by Johann Wyss
23. “Gulliver’s Travels” by Jonathan Swift
24. “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame” by Victor Hugo
25. “Robinson Crusoe” by Daniel Defoe
26. “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams
27. “Ulysses” by James Joyce
28. “Catch-22″ by Joseph Heller
29. “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie
30. “A Confederacy of Dunces” by John Toole

Well, today was an exciting day. It all started around 1:30 am on Sunday morning. Dianne began having some really strong contractions. Based on her past history of quick labors, we called our friend to come over and stay with the kids in the house while we went to the hospital. At the hospital, the contractions remained strong, but started to get farther apart. Even after walking laps around the labor & delivery floor, the contractions remained sporadic, and they sent us home around 7:00 am. Our friend went home, and we fed the kids breakfast. Dianne’s contractions continued throughout the morning and we made plans to drop our kids off at church to stay with friends for the day. I met a friend halfway to church and got back home as soon as I could. Good thing. Dianne was definitely in full-on labor. The contractions were very strong, but still around 9 minutes apart. Most hospitals  tell you not to come in until they are 5 minutes apart for a full hour, so we waited. They got to about 6 minutes, and I could see from Dianne’s face that we needed to go. There was no 5 minutes apart. Everything turned into one long continuous contraction. At this point, the car is running, the stuff is in there, and I am wondering if I am going to get Dianne to the car. She had a sensation like her water broke, and things start to move very quickly. While Dianne is getting into the car, I dial the hospital and tell them we are coming quickly, be ready. About a mile down the road, about 4 minutes from the hospital, Dianne informs me that the baby is coming. I suggest to her kindly that it would be a good idea for her to wait a few more minutes, but her water breaks en route. I get on the phone to 911 while in traffic at a red light. The operator asks if I need an ambulance, and after consulting the birth committee, I decide to pull over into the parking lot of the First National Bank. After pulling into a parking spot, I rush over to Dianne’s side of the car, and the baby was there. Everyone asked if I delivered the baby, but I really didn’t do anything.  I was just the only guy who was there to sign for the package. The ambulance arrived on the scene in about 2 minutes, and I let the professionals take over. Everyone got to the hospital in great shape. Mommy and baby are doing great. She weighed in at 7 lbs 8 oz.