Gemini Rising

It's been a LOOONG week ...

Well, it's been a long week. I am in training for 3 weeks so my hours are from 0700 am to 0330 pm. (thankfully we usually get out around 3!) Smile but with both Brent and I working day watch hours it's hard on us.

This is course is a POST certification for 911 Dispatchers. POST stands for Peace Officer Standard Training and so this is a basic course that all dispatchers in the state of California are encouraged to have. It's a course that I should have had when I first joined in 2000, but they didn't have it at the time.

Mind you, there's no easy way to get to downtown LA. Parking is limited and the premium spaces charge $8.00 a day! That said, a couple of my co-workers and myself decided to take the train. Smile

We catch the train in Santa Clarita. It's a 35 mile ride to downtown LA. From there, we walk about 3-4 city blocks to the downtown dispatch center where the classes are held. Taking the train offers three benefits: #1 - no parking fees #2 - save on gas #3 I don't have to worry about a traffic accident making me late.

While the metro system isn't as developed or as comprehensive as other cities, I can't complain. There's a route from house to work so I'm thankful for that.

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Well, Barack Obama just announced Joe Biden as his running mate. While I'm a tad disappointed it's not Hillary, I do think Biden is a strong pick and I'm hoping this gives the ticket some momentum. I have to admit I got a snicker out of McCain not knowing how many houses he owned. For me, it showed just how out of touch he is.

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Well, I've been watching the Olympics when I can. The diving and track & field stuff is addictive. I don't have much to comment on though. The Chinese do develop some very good athletes, but, IMHO, the 3 Chinese gymnasts in question are UNDER age. They just look underage. I have no respect for those who take steroids to enhance their performance and I have no respect for those who lie about their age. I have nothing personal against the gynamist. Hell, they're all talented. My issue is with the government who seemingly has no problem with lying about those three gymnasts' ages.

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Because of my work week I have had NO TIME to write. I hoping to find time this weekend. We'll see. When I take the train I have to get up at 3:30 am to get ready and leave at 4:30 then I'm off to the train station with my co-worker, Tom. We get there at 4:45 and the train leaves at 4:58. The train gets to work at 5:50 which leaves me with about an hour before class starts. I can't take a later train because it would get there too late. The good news is that the city will give me $50.00 for taking the train for a month. Smile

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I'll leave you with a recent book review from a book that has left such a good impression on me, I can't seem to stop thinking about it.

Steph

Book Review for: “Against a Crimson Sky”

By: James Conroyd Martin
ISBN: 0-312-32682-3
St. Martin’s Press
$24.95
4.5 Stars

“Against a Crimson Sky” takes a gripping historical look at the final partition of Poland (1795), it’s people, and tells the personal story of the Stelnickis. Martin uses a grand, sweeping style reminiscent of epic storytelling to paint a vivid picture of the era. “Against a Crimson Sky” is a book that can easily be visualized on the movie screen.

The story beings in 1794 shortly after the Russians invade Poland before the country’s final partition. Zofia Gonska is pulled from a river escaping death. Switching scenes, Countess Anna Berezowska-Grawlinska (minor Polish nobility) makes her way back home to Sochaczew after the Russian invasion of Praga and reunites with her lover, Count Jan Stelnicki. As Poland is finally taken over by Russia, Prussia, and Austria, Anna and Jan get married and start their family.

Zofia, Anna’s cousin, had previously tried to keep Anna and Jan apart. Now, she finds herself drawn to the peasant boy who saved her, Jerzy. Zofia though is like a bird that can’t stay still and the peasant life isn’t for her. She leaves Jerzy and returns to Praga, a town just outside of Warsaw, and gives birth to her daughter, Izabel.

Anna and Zofia make peace, yet Jan finds married life unable to satisfy his restless nature. When Napolean hints that he would return Poland to the Poles, Jan and his friend, Pawel, join the Emperor’s legion, leaving Anna to raise their three children, Jan Michel, Tadeusz, and Barbara. Anna, uncomfortable with the local magistrate, Dolinski, leaves Sochaczew and moves in with Zofia at Praga.

As Napoleon marches across Europe, Anna and Zofia, as members of Poland’s nobility, help to entertain various European dignitaries, including Russia’s Czar, Alexander, and even Napolean himself. Zofia is always in the thick of Polish intrigue while Anna prefers to keep her eyes on her boys who have gone to military school.

After years apart, Jan is reunited with Anna in Sochaczew as their boys join Napolean’s march into Russia. This time it’s Anna who leaves Jan to work as a nurse in Praga. As Napolean’s march into Russia holds the promise of a reunited Poland, will Jan and Anna’s marriage withstand another separation? The end of the novel is surprising and satisfying.

The book’s historical backdrop is intriguing and the supporting cast is not only dynamic, but strong in it’s own right. Zofia, Pawel, Charlotte, and Dolinski have their own interesting stories to share. Anna is a vibrant lead character in her own right and is a steady, grounding force during the turbulent times of the book. Anna’s nobility, whatever the situation, always shines through.

The pace is quick and the writing is sharp. The book is a sequel to “Push Not the River,” but stands on it’s own. For an exciting look at Poland’s struggles and the human condition in the face of war, “Against a Crimson Sky,” is a book that will keep the reader turning the page.