Monday Moments - Exit Interview by Kristi Coulter

 Exit Interview - The Life and Death of My Ambitious Career by Kristi Coulter - is a fascinating  memoir. 

cover blurb - What would you sacrifice for your career?  All your free time? Your sense of self worth? Your sanity?

In 2006, the author Kristi Coulter left her cozy dull Midwest job to go west to Seattle and Amazon. Fast growing, new exciting  company. Turned out soul crushing. 

In a culture of fear,  she survived the chase, the visibility, the goal to try to gain a level 8 manager, and yet the goal posts kept moving. The money, the stock options kept her going until she couldn't recognize herself anymore. 

This book is well written, funny as hell, surprising, and very truthful. Kristi Coulter is obviously smart, driven, and very aware of the ridiculousness at times of female ambition in the reality of the working  world. She also gives quite a look at the Amazonian mammoth enterprise that is Amazon. I'm still gob-smacked. 

And I admit - I would never ever have been able to endure the path  she traveled. My personal credo - really doesn't play well with others, doesn't want to do meetings, just leave me alone and I'll get the work  done.  Whew!  Glad now  I'm retired. 

What's in Your Queue?

When I'm not at work, I am reading, swimming, and of course, sitting on my butt with the clicker. I admit to lacking concentration these days, so I do scroll more and can't seem to settle as well on a series.  So, what's in your queue?

I am very very excited for Hamilton the Movie this Friday.  I LOVED the stage production. I love the music.  Ray... dibs on the big screen.

Speaking of Disney Plus, Ray and I are plowing through the Star Wars movies in order. We both had missed some through the years and I didn't "get" a bunch of stuff. Now, it's making sense to me.
Our achievements:
I Phantom Menace
II Attack of the Clones
III Revenge of the Sith
Solo
Rogue One
IV  A New Hope
V  Empire Strikes Back
VI Return of the Jedi
VII Force Awakens
VIII Last Jedi
and one to go -   IX Rise of Skywalker
We've also watched Mandalorian and liked that a lot.  Aren't you proud of us?

I've also revisited oldie faves - Lady and the Tramp,  and Tangled

Netflix
The documentary Athlete A is superb - it's about the gymnastic scandal that affected all of those girls. Quite a tale and truly sad. As we cheered them on, the behind the scenes story was shocking.

Ray and I ripped through Ozark.  Now read that Season 4 will be the grand finale. Man, they are some evil people. I love Ruthie the best.

Will Ferrell's latest is really silly - it tickled my funny bone  Eurovision - Rise of Fire Saga. Iceland, music. He's Lars. Rachel McAdams is Sigrit. Worst singers ever to be in the competition. What could go wrong?

Hulu
Mrs. America - quite good.  Rose Byrne is great as Gloria Steinem. Cate Blanchett - icy cold as Phyllis Schlafly.

Just started Atlanta - I like Donald Glover.

Amazon
Started Upload - it's quirky weird. I find Amazon annoying to use - just not as friendly as Netflix.

So, how are you folks using your time?  Any major binge achievements?
I'll take suggestions.

Happy Wednesday. We're soaring to index heat numbers over 100...heck yeah, I'll be watching more television. Stay cool.

Ted's Story - Alimony Extra

I met Ted Ashley at Trinity Writers' Workshop. He wandered in, joined, and began to read his work for critique. His unique Texas voice and characters had me howling, and now his first story is on sale in Amazon Kindle.

Meet Old WhatsHisName and his long suffering wife Darlene. Ever the schemer, our hero's goal is to get rich and for awhile it looks like his new business could work. Read Alimony Extra to find out why poison ivy and counting on relatives is a bad combination.

http://www.amazon.com/Alimony-Extra-ebook/dp/B00E88VN3I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375798626&sr=8-1&keywords=alimony+extra

Wii: Whee, I'd Rather be Reading My Kindle

These people look so happy. They aren't teetering, wavering, or ready to collapse into a fetal position. Ray got us a Wii for Christmas, and yes, we need some fitness. Believe me, my little Mii tells me that anytime I tune in. With trepidation I step on the board, hear a groan, and am berated by an electronic voice for being shaky.

It's good for me. I'll look better and feel better when/if I'm called upon for a whirlwind book tour. However, if we're talking electronics devices, I'd rather press buttons on my new Kindle. Yes, I'm a proud owner thanks to Santa, and while I'm not giving up paper - the Kindle is darn tricky and I can understand how useful it is for portability.

My first download was my own book: My Zoo World If All Dogs Go to Heaven Then I'm in Trouble. It looks pretty good, so thanks again to Rich Ochoa , Sharon Owen , and Ann Summerville for self publishing and Amazon Kindle advice.

My reading queue keeps growing larger - how am I to fit in Wii activity?

No indolence, no laziness, but employ every minute in your life in active pleasures or useful employments - Lord Chesterfield 1752

E-Reader Epiphany

Price cuts for e-readers. It's war and I'm still in the paper world. However, I thought I'd comment on something I know nothing about.

I'm a late adopter on most technology. Gasp, I still don't own a cell phone and it's almost become a talking point of amusement to not have one. I will someday. I just don't choose to throw my money at some provider who's giving me the privilege of constantly saying, "Huh?", "What?", and "Call me back", or just hear a plain "click,silence". Did my friend fall off the cliff? Oh, it was just the black hole of Luna and I635.

Anyway, back to e-readers. As a writer, this is a huge, huge publishing conundrum. Should I write for the e-market? Or are the key dollars still in hardcore paper publishing? Tough to say and I've read a ton on the subject with no conclusions.

Amongst friends, some love, love, love their Kindle,et al and download everything. Others say, "It's great for a trip, but when home I stick with old fashioned sales from Half-Price Books or free material from the library." I personally do not like to download and read on the computer. I have not tried any of the e-readers, but the concept doesn't thrill me yet. I truly get tired of being on a computer all day at work. My desire to point and click is nil by 5 pm.

Other friends have e-readers and the novelty has worn off. They are back to tangible books. Another had a Nook, was excited to get her Nook, and after two weeks returned it - not so thrilled after the trial shot. And she's a super duper reader.

The jury is still out from what I understand. Pricing for actual e-books is still up in the air. Recording sales, piracy issues, and the whole cutting up the market segment pie is worrisome to publishers. Apple and the iPad lurk - appealing to younger market trendsetters, it can literally upset the cart.

I'm reading every article (on old fashioned news print) and seeing what shakes out. I just wish I'd bought Amazon stock and Apple stock a long, long, long, long time ago.