How could I have missed BloggerCon? I can't, I just can't believe I missed it. And it's all because I've been working from morning 'til night and haven't had a minute to keep up with all the blogs I enjoy. One thing is sure, I won't miss the next one.

I had the best time late yesterday afternoon, grabbing the time to hang out with some of my new book finds. "The Girl With the Blackened Eye," (it's actually online!) an O. Henry-Award-winner by Joyce Carol Oates in her new collection, I Am No One You Know, packs an emotional wallop. (Sorry, but I can't think of any way to describe it that isn't a metaphor for the title). Selected for inclusion in The Best American Mystery Stories 2001, it's about a grown woman who, for the first time, tells the story of her abduction by a serial murderer when she was fifteen.

And into last evening, I started reading The Long Summer: How Climate Changed Civilization by Brian Fagan. The first chapter describes climatic shifts during the fourth and last major stage of the Ice Age and how it affected human populations, particularly Cro-Magnon Man and Neanderthal Man in Europe. Absolutely rivetting. I love the blend of science, history, archeology, and technology. Fagan's writing unravels the complexities beautifully. A wonderful evening it was!

Now, for the week ahead, if I can just figure out Word 2002's Styles and Formatting features for an assignment due on Tuesday. I actually had to go out and spend money on a Word 2002 manual to demystify it for me because I find the Word packaged help so difficult to pull apart. I mean, you can't look at two pages at the same time with this online stuff! So annoying. Yes, I'm perpetually technologically challenged.