I meant to post yesterday, but I was out celebrating my birthday. I'd rather not reveal my age today, but I will say that I'm old enough to realize that time is short and I must utilize and cherish every waking moment. And I have the best time doing just that.

My historian buddy Steve Fox , author of Transatlantic, and I browsed in the Wellesley Booksmith, and with the gift card Ken gave me, I bought a paperback copy of Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. I dipped into it last night and I was laughing hysterically within ten minutes. I just love the voice of the Ukrainian narrator, who appears to write English with the unguided use of a thesaurus.

One tidbit about Foer: In a recent New York Times article, I read that he has an office in a building a short distance from his home, but he doesn't use it for writing. Evidently he writes primarily in coffee shops and public libraries, with the hubbub of humanity swirling around him. So why the office? He says he needed a place where he doesn't write! Interesting...

Speaking of which: Going wireless has been such a boon for my writing. I'm definitely able to write and do related reading and notetaking more hours per day by shifting my work locations. I love being able to work throughout the house, and like Foer, I'm able to muster an uncanny force of concentration in coffee shops, which are my favorite work venue.