Networking Site

Have you heard of LinkedIn? It's a professional networking site that allows you to connect with colleagues, friends, classmates, family, etc.

Over the past few months I received invites for this site and was hesitant to join since I started with Friendster and soon graduated to both MySpace and Facebook. So here's another email invitation and all I can think is - really another one? Another site to manage, password and login to remember. So I never joined.

Well about 1 month ago I learned that the site is legit (though they could offer a better homepage) and that its not so bad after all. You simply enter in your previous work experience - look for contacts or even easier import the contacts from your email (web or Outlook) and voila you are ready to go.

So take a chance - http://www.linkedin.com/home and then add me - Lyn Ledyard

W. Lamb - The First Hour I Believed

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So I finished another book - Wally Lamb's The First Hour I believed. The story revolved around Caelum, a high school English teacher bored and unhappy in his life and relationship. He harbors resentment towards his wife Maureen (a nurse at the same high school) for her extramarital affair.

As the story progresses Caelum must deal with the death of a beloved Aunt and ultimately the Columbine tragedy. Unsure as he travels back to Colorado as to whether his wife is dead or alive after the shooting. The rest of the book becomes about post traumatic stress, coping, addiction, and loss. Ultimately he moves back to his family's farm in Connecticut where Caelum Quirk begins to discover his family's history.

My opinion - not as good as my previous read authored by Lamb I Know This Much Is True. I wasn't too interested in reading fiction about Columbine. Maybe it was too reminiscent of 19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult (which is just a spin off of Columbine - the ending of the book isn't true to the Columbine story). Anyway...Columbine is the turning point for the main characters of the story but at this point I wasn't as interested in the story as I had been, but feel free to make up your own mind about :)

I'd give this one 2 1/2 stars. Needless to say I'll still read Lamb books - I've added his She's Come Undone to my list of books in waiting. For now I'll move on to The Sweet By and By....

Second Chance - by Jane Green

Second Chance by Jane Green

I just finished this book which is about 4 friends who haven't seen one another for almost 20 years. The reunion of course is bittersweet because one of their best friends (Tom) has died. As the story develops you peek into the lives of the characters: Saffron, Holly, Paul, and Olivia - their lives now and who they were way back when. What's interesting is you also get a glimpse into how the character's perceive the others lives to be.

I think if you're up near the 30 something crowd you can relate. You're reminded of how old friends are like comfy blankets near a fire place...it just feels right. It reminds me of my friends and how talking and being together is picking up where we left off.

I think this book will touch a cord for everyone....in that your life probably didn't turn out the way you anticipated - for better or worse. And on the upside of that your truest friends will love you no matter what.

Back to the Real World

So after our Utah road trip this past weekend I'm back to the daily grind. Our adventure started at 4:30 am March 12th as we left for Sandy, Utah. After hours of driving we made it to Zion National Park - the 1st stop on our tour de Utah.

How do I describe the site - it was like the Grand Canyon from a different perspective. If you've been to the Grand Canyon then you know you're at the top looking thousands of feet down. Well at Zion and Kolob Canyon (the parks we did visit) you're looking from the bottom up. It's a beautiful place with stunning rock formations that make you feel infantesimally small.

After taking lots of pictures we continued 15 north until we reached the Sandy Residence Inn. After a full night of rest we headed out to Snowbird Ski Resort for a full day of snowboarding. It's a wonderful little resort nestled in Little Cottonwood Canyon that requires little mountain driving to reach. I suffered a major wipeout which included some head over feet tumbling and I think my arm was pinned behind my back and drug underneath me. Needless to say there was crying and pain involved...but I sucked it up and continued on for the rest of the day. The next couple of days weren't so fun as showering, changing and life in general wasn't as manageable but I'm happy to report I'm mostly functional though I sometimes have to push/pull my arm into the position I want.

We wrapped up our 2nd day (March 13th) in Utah by taking the dogs to Mill Creek Canyon for a hike in dog friendly territory and then dining at Red River Steakhouse.

March 14th we drove out to Antelope Island for bison hunting (not literally) and to view the great Salt Lake. We did see plenty of Bison and it was like a scene out of national geographic - very worth the trip. For those of you who don't know the lake is so salty is supports no life forms other than brine shrimp!

After wrapping up at the island we headed to Temple Square to view the historic Mormon site. Dogs are not allowed on the property unless carried and theres no way we were walking around carrying a 30lb dog. So Elmond went in first and I took my turn. Unfortunately for me I was accosted by a couple Latter day saints who wanted to get me on a tour...come to church the following morning, or listen to the visiting orchestra that night. Thankfully I was able to meet Elmond at the opposite gate and book on outta there!!!!

That night we drove out to Park City - visited the site of the 2002 Utah Olympics and drive through the main town center where they hold the sundance film festival.

Sunday March 15th we visited BYU and Kolob Canyon. Salt Lake City is pretty much deserted on Sundays since no business transactions can take place - by law. We saw all the Latter Day Saints going to church carrying the Book of Mormon in a bible purse...quite an interesting scene.

Then we made our way to Vegas for rest and back to Cali on Monday March 16th. I'll be posting pictures later this week.

Oh by the way - somewhere along the way I finished reading Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult and completely lost my voice....even now I sound like some sort of monster.

Interested in the book Keeping Faith - http://www.jodipicoult.com/keeping-faith.html

Another one down -

The Gargoyle is a book about a man who suffers from severe burns after a horrible car accident. While in the hospital recuperating he meets a strange woman by the name or Marianne Engel. She tells him they met in a former life almost 700 years ago.
Most of the time I wondered is her stories true or is she psychotic. Sometimes you think - yeah this is going to be proven true while at other times you think ok they're taking her off to the loony bin.

It's a decent story - interesting and definitely different from other stuff I've read. I wouldn't say I was moved by the story nor is it one that I need to add to my ongoing book collection - but it was entertaining. I definitely learned something about burns....

Recommendations

So I have more recommendations for upcoming reads. Everyone knows I love to post them in Harper Collins which lets you read hundreds of pages online before you even get the book....







Those will all be on my upcoming list as well as those mentioned in previous posts. I basically gave up on "What was she thinking: Notes on a Scandal" because it was just too much to handle. It's what the movie Notes on a Scandal was based on. The book is just too graphic and descriptions of sexual contact with a young teenage boy is too gross for me....

I've not completely given up on the Monster of Florence but between that and Executioner's Song I can only handle 1 non-fiction book at a time (sigh). We'll be on a mini-excursion soon so there will be new pics to post....

The Memory Keeper's Daughter

I've just finished this book (fiction) - a recommendation from Stephanie :)

The premise is a doctor must deliver his twins in a blizzard. He learns his daughter has down syndrome and has her shipped off to a school for the mentally retarded while he tells his wife that she died at birth.

The story shows you how secrets destroy those who keep them and affect every aspect of their life.

I thought it was a good book - you wanted to get to the end to see how things were going to turn out.

I'm still trying to finish the Executioner's Song but have recently also started reading Gargoyle and that ones not too bad either.

Here's my lineup:
- The Executioner's Song
- The Gargoyle
- Keeping Faith
- The Brother of Jesus (c/o Shauna)
- The Hour I First Believed (read first 200 pages through Harper Collins but waiting for library loaner!)