Sitting here watching The Today Show. Couldn't miss Vince Gill and Amy Grant. I was a big Vince Gill fan back in the 90s but he kinda fell off my radar screen. Actually, I don't listen to music as much as I used to since I started listening to books in the car. That was my music time. But, I did order Alison Krause's new CD as I enjoyed the concert so much. Saw the coverage on the fiasco about Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's concert in Louisiana. Some woman grabbed him by the crotch and then another pulled a ring right off his hand. He literally stopped the show and had security search the area. Some how it ended up on the floor near the stage. Yeah - after the woman who pulled if off his hand dropped it. Faith didn't take too well to the woman fondling her husband and gave her a piece of her mind. She is one feisty woman!

Speaking of feisty women, I would have to add Gail Giles to that group. She was a hoot to listen to at the YALSA Preconference at the ALA Conference in DC. She didn't pull any punches about the difficulties of being a teen. Clearly she goes for the edginess of adolescence in her books. I finally read What Happened to Cass McBride? Very interesting book as it leaves you rethinking who is the victim, the girl in the box buried under the ground or the older brother of the suicide victim who put her there. And, rethinking just how deadly words can be, inflicting wounds that never heal over. Cass acknowledges she is a bit on the shallow side - she chooses the guys she dates dependent upon what they can do for her to build her college application content! She knows which guys to date to be voted Prom Queen, etc. She know what has to be done to keep in her father's good graces. He is as cold and slick as the black metal and glass furniture in their almost all white house. Cass is terrified but know she has to use her ability to manipulate a person and cause self doubt to get herself out of the box and in the process finds out the abuse that occurs in her abductor's family. Perhaps he is the victim after all. Gail has a way of going for the jugular and she does so again with this book. A great book to booktalk and can't wait to add it to my presentation notes. :-)

I think I may be seeing light at the end of the vertigo/headache tunnel. After going to the ear, nose, and throat specialist and not being able to get the symptoms to kick in while I was there, and being told I would have to wait at least 3 weeks to get in for the battery of vertigo/balance battery of tests, I was at wit's end. I woke up on at 2 a.m. Monday in so much pain that I was in tears. Decided to give up on the medical approach for now and went to a chiropractor. I was tired of being handed prescriptions for the symptoms and pain, with no "fix" in sight. I had great luck with chiropractic care back in Alaska and called for an appointment. I think it was fate as the closest one to us is Dr. Steven Book! How appropriate, a doctor named Book for a librarian. :-) A look at my MRI films from back in 2005 when I had headaches and numbness in my right arm and doing a new set of x-rays, the problem is in the same area of my neck. Always thought I was a bit "twisted" - now I know for sure I am! My spine literally turns to the right as it reaches my neck. The twist is causing the bones to pinch a nerve. So far so good - I am moving my neck much better and the headache pain is easing. And, though I have my fingers crossed, it is seems to be helping with the vertigo as well. In reality, he is doing pretty much what they did in physical therapy back in 2005, along with manipulation. I get a 1/2 hour massage later this a.m. before he tries to work on my neck for a bit. After basically losing my summer to the pain and vertigo I am frustrated as my lucid/awake moments were spent grading and interacting with my summer school students. So here it is less than 3 weeks before Fall semester starts and I have to get two courses online, both with new textbooks so I have my work set out for me. And there went summer 2007 for Ruth! I am trying to get myself psyched for Fall here in Kentucky with the beautiful color and cool weather when Steve and I can go on long walks - there are walking trails everywhere here in Lexington. They put one in right across the street from us that we haven't even explored yet. I miss being able to walk without worrying about falling on my face due to the vertigo!

All for now. Want to get a bit of work done before I head out to the chiropractor. Hopefully it will give me enough relief to get through the weekend.