Like Magic

Book Review:  The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Barker

3.5 stars

Accidentally walking through a portal to a parallel universe, being ensnared and englamoured by the Fey--who really do not want anything good for you at all--being rescued by the wizard version of a particularly misogynistic Mr. Darcy, trying desperately to learn enough magic to stay alive and get back home...it's still better than graduate school for the protagonist of this story!  

It has a similar feel to the Deborah Harkness All Souls trilogy, and I thought it was not as good as the first one but better than the latest (last?) one in that series.  [Hah, I just noticed that Deborah Harkness provides the quote on the front cover!]

I also think this one was not as good as City of Dark Magic, a book I read a couple of months ago and enjoyed a lot.  I saw on that Amazon page that there is a sequel out called City of Lost Dreams that is now in my library queue.  (Nice to see an immediate, concrete pay-off to writing these reviews on my blog.)

What to Wear When Learning SQL Server -- Wednesday, 10/8/14

This was Day 1 of a 3 day, all-day training session to support the launch of our new data visualization portal in January.  Spent the morning being chilly in the training room and writing SQL queries on the snapshot of the mirror of our big-ass database.  After lunch (in my office), I put on the black moto jacket I'd worn in to work that morning in the high 30s temps.  Spent the afternoon being less chilly, still writing SQL queries.  (These pants look wonky in this photo, but they're OK, and more importantly, they are super-comfy.)

We discovered all kinds of weirdness with our database that our consultant/trainer would have to deal with that evening.  It was not quite like magic...or maybe it was.  Difficult, quirky, and operating according to principles that we don't really understand, yielding unpredictable and frustrating results?  If that's magic, then it was just like magic.

* Grey/maroon striped button up shirt (thrifted, Kohls)
Grey wide-leg pants (thrifted)
Grey leopard wedges by Cole Haan
Grey big ball necklace (Macy's)