Reading: Margaret George, Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles and The God of Small Things

Viewing: through my prescription sunglasses

Moving: 30' on the elliptical trainer, level 15, with 2 2-lb. handweights, average heart rate 147

Learning: certainly not why my heart rate fluctuates so.

25 January 2000: Books

Someone mentioned the new hybrid gas/electric cars today at work, which led to a conversation about alternative fuel, which led me to say how beautiful windfarms are in sharp contrast to fossil plants. My coworker waxed vituperative, which surprised me, but here's why: windfarms are, sensibly, built where there are strong prevailing winds. Before windpower, migrating raptors used such places as stopovers. But the birds can't figure out how turbines work, how to avoid them, how to hunt amongst them, and so windpower is killing raptors, already threatened by so much else, in droves.

It was late in the day when he told me that. "Thank you for depressing me so thoroughly," I told him, and searched at Audobon for information. In the four minutes before my bus, I found nothing, but I'll keep looking.

Other avian observations, of a more benign sort:

• Tonight "ABC Nightly News" showed footage of New York City being snowed on. A seagull struggled against the frigid wind. Meanwhile, in Denver, a cockatiel secure on his mother's knee immediately looked up at the television and kept a close eye on that other, larger bird until it went away--and then resumed preening. Blake had to have noticed the flapping movement more than the mostly white bird against a mostly white background.
• The peculiar way a cockatiel walks makes snowboarding its preferred winter sport. People teach Amazons to ride bikes. I don't think this should be too much of a stretch, except that both cockatiels I've known have been scared sillier of snow (when brought by the handful inside).
• A cockatiel's favorite side of the desk is to the right of the monitor. This is solely because that's the side he's not allowed on, with the scanner and the computer on the floor underneath and the things that can't be chewed on kept on that side to leave the left side free for roaming and destruction. Except of course the left side, because permitted, is dull.
• Blake does not like the "quack" Mac error sound. He popped out of his box to look around when he heard it. For the same reason, I cannot listen to "Put Your Lights On" from the new Santana because it has a sound like a cockatiel just in the next room with whom Blake must with more and more urgency attempt to communicate.

I'm going to try to keep the exercise page up to date so I can see how I'm doing and if I'm doing anything at all. DEDBG's sister ALBF and her suitemates had a chart they kept by their front door for that lovely harassment cum mutual support that's such a key ingredient of a successful exercise program. DEDB and I had one in our room that summer. She kept entering long walks and runs and I kept doing nothing, so I guess I didn't learn much from that. Then when I was at Hateful, Inc., four years ago I kept a record to see how much I improved, not because I needed the reminder. Now I want both a reminder and a progress chart.

Beth linked to the School Library Journal's list of their 100 most influential children's books of the 20th century. I like that they discussed their methodology, and then I mostly liked the list. That must mean that it's a good list, since I have such impeccable judgement.

Onward.