What I'm reading: May 2013

Don't you think having to give yourself insulin shots at the age of 7 - after you've learned to light the gas stove and sterilize the needle! - would make you tough?

In her unapologetic memoir, My Beloved World, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor gives us insight on how she became the first Hispanic woman on the Court. Despite a difficult home life, she realized she had sources of "deep happiness" within her - she was loved unconditionally by her abuelita, her grandmother. You don't need to be a woman, a minority to be inspired, heartened by the honesty of her story.

And when you look beyond the story of the Nuyorican girl from the Bronx who now is on SCOTUS, you also see her mother, Celina, who escaped Puerto Rico by joining the US Women's Army Corps, started as a telephone operator at a hospital, went back to school, became a registered nurse, and eventually the emergency room supervisor at the same hospital.

Only in America? And only if you're tough, passionate women.
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OK, yes. The theme of this blogpost is a recurring one: passion. Also toughness, drive, competitiveness.

I'm always thinking about things I'm interested in that library patrons might find compelling as a library program. I moderated a recent panel discussion featuring 18 and 19-year old entrepreneurs, 2012 graduates of Kalani High School - go Falcons! - all of whom turned their leadership in HS robotics into 4-year full ride scholarships to University of Hawaii Manoa, where all of them are majoring in engineering. Grant Takara, Eric Teshima and Carson Wong are the owners of Bristlebots LLC, which makes educational robotics kits. They spoke confidently and well about their business. I'm going to be watching what they do in the future.

On their evaluation forms, people wanted to know more about investing, marketing, and crowdfunding. So I picked up The Kickstarter Handbook: Real-life Crowdfunding Success Stories. There's an interview of Matt Haughey, creator of crowdsourced news site MetaFilter!!! Reason enough to read this!

What I'd like to do a program with folks who've already done this: Gida Snyder of Naked Cow Dairy, Kathy Sills of Aloha Pops, Bryan Silver of Team #3008 Kalani Robotics.

Does anyone out there in cyberspace think this is a good idea?

Otis has left the Neighborhood

We hadn't seen Otis, this pug with personality, in quite a while.

Here's when we last saw him, and when we first met him.

He and his owners have moved to a different neighborhood, the elderly lady who fed the cats has passed away, and others have taken over that chore.

We'll miss them all!

Not about books! Favorite Bath Washes

When it comes to fragrance, I often enjoy it more in the shower instead of in the forms of eau de toilette, eau de parfum, lotion or cream. I'm not a fan of soap - bars that melt in the shower, no thanks. My skin is really dry, and I prefer body washes that come in flip-top bottles. If you like girly florals, these aren't for you, but here are two of my current faves:

Nuance Salma Hayek Prickly Pear Hydrating Body Cleansing Gel. Phew, that's a long name! I have that bottle next to my laptop right now, as I need to refer to it. The wording on this gel says it's non-irritating, not tested on animals, paraben and sulfate-free. Allergy-free? Hmm. With passion fruit, rice bran oil and aloe - these ingredients are about halfway down.

How does it smell? Clean, green, faintly fruity. It has a unique texture - clumps of aloe-like gel that work up to a moderate amount of lather. A pleasure to shower with, and affordable at 10 ounces, about $6 on sale at CVS. I like it so much, I bought a second bottle!

Tocca Cleopatra Body Wash with olive oil, honey and calendula. The top notes are grapefruit and cucumber (which is really faint to me) and also a bit of floral. The texture of this is really thin, but a little goes a long way.

If you don't like the remains of a slick on your skin, you won't like this - I love it! And after rinsing, the fragrance remains. Pricey at 8 ounces for $18, but you're worth it! Available at Sephora. It's luxurious, it's from Italy! If you really want to spoil yourself, get the body cream - so yummy. Tip: the EDP smells different.

What do you like to clean up with? Bubble bath? Ivory soap?

Topless Neighbor Sighted

However, in the cooler weather of a Hawaiian winter, she's neither topless nor bottomless. She's even been seen wearing glasses! Since she's an older lady, we conclude that she was fed up with the heat/humidity of summer in her apartment which affected her judgment. Based on our keen sense of smell, she is still hitting the kimchi. Hard.

February 2013 Reading

I finished Amy Jo Martin's Renegades Write the Rules. I learned two things from it: 1) Twitter can become one of your communities 2) You can give someone a chance to engage, but they often don't. See pp. 149-151. In my case, a business I felt did not fulfill its contract with me did not follow through.

I'm reading Sir Terry Pratchett's Dodger, about a Victorian England street kid who becomes involved in something much bigger than his usual activities. The writing is splendid - just carries you along - such a pleasure to read good writing! And he meets Charles Dickens in the first few pages! I recommend it! BTW, I love Sir Terry's eyebrows; may he rest in peace.

Side note: so many friends, relatives have passed away in the last several months. A longtime family friend and a fellow librarian at the end of last year. My aunt early this year. Some lived a good long life, others an unexpectedly shortened one.

Have you lost anyone special? What are you reading?

January 2013 Reading

Finished "Salvation of a Saint" by Keigo Higashino. Kusanagi is sort of a Columbo who needs help from academic Yukawa. Low key murder mystery police procedural. I could see where it was going right away, but still enjoyed it. Read it! I'll be returning it on Monday.

Still reading "Renegades Write the Rules" by Amy Jo Martin, who uses social media in her PR work. She's not the best writer - in fact, I'm tempted to edit her writing! - but the name-dropping is interesting. We'll see if I finish it.

What are you reading?

Read this book

If you like books written by smart people. Anthony Myint and Karen Leibowitz, of Mission Street, were in Honolulu in September to talk about their book at indie Kaka'ako bookstore R&D. I didn't get to their book talk, but I did borrow the only copy of the book in the public library system.

It's the story of the son of immigrants. His parents wanted more for him than they had, and while he went to college and worked in market research for several years, he wasn't happy. He went on a trip around the world to experience different food and cultures. When he came back to America, he worked as a line cook, but he didn't forget his father gave food to the homeless. They were among the first to popularize food trucks and probably the first to do popups - dinners at established restaurants on their dark nights. And they admit social media was a big part of communicating who they were and are. Recipes? I would make the panna cotta and jicama pickles!

This is the book. This restaurant no longer exists, but they have a mini-empire that includes Mission Street Chinese in both SF and NYC. The NYC outpost, helmed by Danny Bowien, just won an Eater award. Commonwealth and Mission Street Bowling club are also part of the group.

While they were in the 808, Myint collaborated with Prima Kailua and Whole Ox Deli to do two popup dinners. I'll write about this on my other blog, Lives to Eat. Soon, I promise!

When we left that dinner, folks in line for the second seating asked us how it was. "Fabulous!" The best part is that Mission Street donated $10 from each dinner to GreenWheel Food Hub, an initiative to bring SNAP electronic food stamps to farmers' markets. In fact, they have started doing this at the Wahiawa market. So terrific!