#((a bit like randall; really! i imagine she learned that doing this got her nowhere; keeping her struggles to herself))

[theheadlessgroom]

@beatingheart-bride

"We are," Doreen replied with a smile, as she began to cut into her catfish. "We briefly considered Florida, I toyed with the notion of us moving into my family's summer home there, but...I just don't think it would work out, us moving there. I'll miss it, and I'll miss my home here in New Orleans, but I think it'll be a fresh start for both of us, we're looking forward to it."

"Have you told anyone else about your engagement?" Susannah asked, as Edward nodded, "My father knows, and Belle knows. Of course we would want both of them at the wedding, but I get the feeling they'd like to do more than that..."

"We're thinking they both may try to follow us out to California," Doreen elaborated. "We don't object to the idea, of course, it's just...surprising, I suppose!

I quite love the idea...Mr. Henshaw has always been so kind to me, and Belle, well...she's more of a mother to me than my own, and so to have them both by our side as we start this new chapter in our lives...it means the world to us."

A softness had crossed Doreen's face upon saying this, and Susannah couldn't help but smile softly, her eyes beginning to glisten a little as she wrung the skirts of her dress, saying, "W-Well...I think it's going to be a-a very packed carriage then, because, w-well..."

At this, Edward's eyes widened, the beginnings of a smile tugging at the corners of his lips as he looked from Susannah to Philippe, asking, "Are you...thinking of moving to California too?"

[gettingagriponthings]

Reading Through the First Half of 2018

The reading of books (beyond news and long-form journalism), has become a critical part of my adult life and is integral to the way I order my mind. Reading helps me formulate my opinions, create a sense of solitude, learn specific technical knowledge, and entertain myself. I enjoyed reading as a child and spent more than my fair share of time ripping through Hardy Boys mysteries, getting creeped out by the slimy details of the latest Goosebumps novel, reading YA biographies of so many great Black soldiers, engineers, and thinkers, and soaking in every detail of any book on soccer or drawing I could get my hands on. But my appreciation for reading as a dedicated and intentional practice grew significantly after I graduated from college. I learned that it’s actually not something many adults spend a great deal of time on (Pew Research), and is something that can serve to significantly distinguish and shape an individual. Reading books gives one a chance to form their own mind by directing their thinking, rather than having their brain completely subject to the whims of the loudest noises of the outside world.

In 2014 I worked on the first Congressional campaign for Don Beyer, who is now my representative in the US House (VA-08). In the general election campaign I ended up in the position of Deputy Finance Director, and found myself shut in a room with the candidate for several hours a day making phone calls to ask people for money. I learned many things from this experience, perhaps chief among them was the fact that Don was an incredible reader. He seemed to know at least something about everything, and had read an incredible number of books over the years. He could easily isolate the most important ideas from each book and use them effectively in conversation, while accurately citing the references. And in addition to this great historic recall, he was always reading something new, just about a book a week, and this was while he was running for congress (which, if you didn’t know, is an extraordinarily time-consuming pursuit). This showed me just how much importance he placed on the practice of reading and on the pursuit of new information.

For the last few years I’ve set reading goals for myself at the start of the year, and have recorded my progress on Goodreads with their annual “Reading Challenge” feature. I highly recommend using Goodreads if you enjoy books! For 2018 I set a goal of completing a total of 40 books (35 last year, 25 the year before that, 52 next year!). I’ve kept good pace and have reached the halfway point just before the middle of the year. I wrote a post about my 2017 reading at the end of last year, and was considering doing the same for 2018, but breaking it in half seemed like a much more manageable task. There are many books that I start but never finish, and some really big books that I may break into two or three spurts throughout the year - but here are the 20 books I’ve completed so far in 2018:

Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius - A Christmas gift from my girlfriend, I sought this book out because of the amazing amount of recommendations I’d seen, particularly from people in the technology and finance worlds. An emperor of Rome, Aurelius was an extremely powerful and thoughtful person. This book is essentially a compilation of his journals as emperor and includes his thoughts as a Stoic philosopher, as a leader, and as a man. Highly recommend to anyone looking for some words of wisdom or who has found herself in the midst of a seemingly uncontrollable situation.

“Men seek retreats for themselves, houses in the country, sea-shores, and mountains; and thou too art wont to desire such things very much. But this is altogether a mark of the most common sort of men, for it is in thy power whenever thou shalt choose to retire into thyself. For nowhere either with more quiet or more freedom from trouble does a man retire than into his own soul, particularly when he has within him such thoughts that by looking into them he is immediately in perfect tranquility; and I affirm that tranquility is nothing else than the good ordering of the mind.”

Hedge Funds: An Analytic Perspective, by Andrew Lo

The Underwriting, by Michelle Miller - Not my normal reading fare, but one of my most memorable selections of the year. A totally trashy, salacious novel about the IPO process of a fictional Silicon Valley dating app unicorn written by a Wall Street and Bay area veteran. If you don’t want to take the time to pick up the book then you should check out her infamous blog Why San Francisco Really Is That Bad, which caused a huge stir when she released in anonymously in 2012.

Getting to YES: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, by Roger Fisher & William Ury

Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson - A reread. I first read this book when the paperback edition was initially published in 2013.

Principles: Life and Work, by Ray Dalio

Tribe of Mentors, by Tim Ferriss

Charlie Munger: The Complete Investor, by Tren Griffin - Charlie Munger is an irreverent and original thinker, a brilliant investor and businessman, and a voracious reader. While little knows beyond the world of of finance, he is a giant within it. He’s the Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. This book distills his investing ethos and describes his famous “mental models” mainly through Mungers own quotations, which are well worth the price of admission.

“You've got to have models in your head. And you've got to array your experience—both vicarious and direct—on this latticework of models. You may have noticed students who just try to remember and pound back what is remembered. Well, they fail in school and in life. You've got to hang experience on a latticework of models in your head.”

The Hard Thing About Hard Things, by Ben Horowitz

Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader, by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli - After I reread the Isaacson, book I was hungry for a bit more information on Jobs, particularly his time in the wilderness with NEXT. I sent a Tweet out communicating as much and immediately received a response from my Jobs crazy colleague who recommended this book and other, and subsequently brought the book into the office for me to borrow. This did not disappoint. It may eclipse, but definitely rivals the Isaacson book as the definitive Jobs biography in my opinion.

Surely You’re Joking Mister Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character, by Richard Feynman - A pretty amusing book by and about the life of an extremely interesting character. Ranges from his experience designing the bomb at Los Alamos to his experience as an amateur bongo player. Highly recommended by a lot of smart people.

Flow, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

eBoys: The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work, by Randall E. Stross - Not the biggest crowd pleaser on the list, but if you are particularly interested in venture capital, this is a must read. A 2000 business biography of the founding and early days of Benchmark, this book goes in depth on the personalities around the table, the details around their decisions, and even their responses to investments gone bad. An absolute must for any VC junkie.

aol.com, by Kara Swisher - Love Swisher, so when I came across this at a used bookstore, I snapped it up.

Measure What Matters, by John Doerr 

Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas From the Computer Age, by Paul Graham - Paul Graham’s essays, more than the work of any other individual, are responsible for my love of startup culture and tech investing.

Inside Steve’s Brain, by Leander Kahney

American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History, by Chris Kyle - If you’ve seen the Clint Eastwood movie then you should maybe take the time to read the book. It’s relatively short, simply and clearly written, and has next to nothing to do with story of the movie. A lot of really interesting technical information about military practices and weaponry.

Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit, by Chris Matthews - Bobby Kennedy is a personal hero of mine, and I also loved Matthews’ book Hardball, which I was assigned to read in high school, so I knew I had to read this when it was published late last year. An excellent option if you have never read a book on RFK and want to try and get a good overall picture of the man. 50 years on from his death, I imagine there are many people for whom this new book was perfect. I’ve read a number of books on RFK and the Kennedy family and didn’t get much new information from this, but I did still enjoy reading the more personal perspectives and reflections offered by Matthews.

A Sense of Where You Are: Bill Bradley at Princeton, by John McPhee - I listened to an episode of the great podcast The Axe Files that featured Senator Bill Bradley. In the discussion they mention this book. It profiles Bradley when he was still just a college student and basketball player. I knew a little bit about Bradley as he has been a great mentor to my boss, and I was extremely intrigued by the idea of a book written about someone so early in his life. The book is all about basketball and through the sport gives a good bit of insight into the standout student athlete and who he would come to be.

“He went on to say that it is a much simpler shot than it appears to be, and, to illustrate, he tossed a ball over his shoulder and into the basket while he was talking and looking me in the eye. I retrieved the ball and handed it back to him. ‘When you have played basketball for a while, you don’t need to look at the basket when you are in close like this,’ he said, throwing it over his shoulder again and right through the hoop. ‘You develop a sense of where you are.’”

[dlybookeviewblog]

Cowboy Games by Audrey Randall

My Review *****5*****

What an amazing quick read, I love love love this book! What an amazing author Audrey Randall is.  I've got say it's another steamy book!

Meet Lana

Lana shakes her head as she says“Frack! This can’t be right!” Lana immediately tapped on the GPS screen on her funky little rental car. When Lana pulls up to the side of the deserted Montana road, Lana suddenly stopped and couldn’t help but take a look at the natural beauty outside. It definitely  would have seemed more awe-inspiring if she hadn’t felt so lost and alone. Around hundred miles from the nearest hint of civilization recognized by Google Maps was not the best place to be lost. Lana’s over active mind suddenly began to imagine that there are animals waiting to eat her. Out in the open forest or other worse fates. Other fates that Lana had seen on the news back home in Berkeley. Lana decides to pull out her phone when she noticed that she had no bars. This wasn't good

Lana groans and shakes her head again “Frackity frack frack frack! Oh for the love of Zelda!” Opening the car door, Lana stepped out to see whether it was possible that she could get any bars at all. A small part of her knew that it wouldn’t make the slightest bit of difference to the situation. But it didn’t stop Lana from trying. No more bars appeared on her phone. This then led Lana to make the only conclusion that she would now have to trust the GPS. It was either trust the GPS or turn back and head home. Since Lana  now knew there was nothing but a run-down gas station which was fifty miles behind her. Lana figured that her bladder would rather she try to move forward.

Lana knew that she'd been taking a huge risk traveling out here. Lana was going to meet her longtime online friend. Lana's online friend was known as Solar Cowboy. Even now, Lana couldn’t believe that she had trekked way out to the middle of nowhere just to meet this person. Who in their right mind ever did that? Lara berated herself for what seemed the hundredth time within the last hour.

Lana had met a lot of people through The Celestial Prophesy gaming circuit. Only a few that she had connected with like Solar Cowboy. In Lana's case not in the romantic sense, but as a true kindred friend. Lana had never met him before,It's not like it really didn’t matter. When Lana had told him of her and her best friend/ teammate, Steph’s plan. Steph and Lana plan to make a camp for very underprivileged girls to help learn coding and experience life. Solar Cowboy had suggested that Lana consider his Montana ranch. Solar Cowboy had played up with how the girls could learn to ride horses, even learn to lasso, and code all in one week. When Lana had finally mentioned it to Steph. Steph had loved the idea. So, here Lana was in the middle of nowhere to scope out this ranch. Would Lana ever find the ranch?

“Great idea, Lana. A world-class idea to come out to the middle of nowhere only to meet a guy you really don’t know. Have you asked or thought to yourself what if he’s an ax murderer?” Looking over her shoulder at the long dusty road she had traveled on. Lana's bladder kept on insisting that she move forward toward hopefully to find a bathroom. If Lana didn’t find any signs of civilization soon, she knew she would be squatting for sure.

Finally getting back in the car, Lana huffed as she had now resigned herself to trusting the car's built in GPS that Lana hoped had been upgraded in the last year. “I should have downloaded the directions on my phone before you left. I'm such a big dummy!” Lana pounded hard on the steering wheel with her palm. Just before she pulled the mustang back onto the desolate dusty highway.

Meet Jesse

Jesse was shaking his after he asked “What the fuck are you doing, Cody?” Jesse couldn’t do nothing but laugh as he watched his seventeen-year-old brother Cody; race around the house as he was throwing things this way and that. Jessie still laughing at Cody as he said“Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the cleaning, but why now? What’s your rush?”

Cody stopped and looked at Jesse like he had horns growing out of his head as he said “She’s coming!” Cody let out almost a loud boyish squeal as he loaded up his arms with clothes and so much more other random junk that had been lying around the place.

Jesse followed his brother’s crazy mad dash into their bachelor-pad like kitchen. Jesse very rarely understood his younger brother. Cody had always been a geeky kinda guy. With Cody preferring to spend most of his spare time on his computer; rather than riding out on the the range with Jesse. So many times Jesse felt bad for Cody. Cody had been born in the totally wrong place. Cody would have been so much better suited in the Silicon Valley, rather than their hometown of Somewhere Valley, Montana. After the sudden and quick death of their parents when Cody was fourteen. Jesse had hoped that he and Cody could find ways to try and bridge their gap of personalities. There had been no such luck.

Cody starts getting frustrated especially when he looks at the time“Fuck! She’s almost here and it looks like this?” Cody whined.