I would check off the following boxes of jobs that I would like to have: ER triage, air traffic control and programming the NFL Schedule. I thrive in an environment where the pace is fast and each one of these jobs has that. Since I have absolutely no aptitude in science, the ER triage job is not being offered to me any time soon. Thus I love watching ER and medical shows. I still miss Chicago Hope. (Okay, I confess that I had a wicked crush on Peter Berg.) I also like reading books about the medical profession.

There's a new memoir just out for those of you who, like me, also enjoy reading about medicine. It's called HOT LIGHTS, COLD STEEL: Life, Death and Sleepless Nights in a Surgeon's First Years by Michael J. Collins. It details the challenges that are faced by an orthopedic surgeon during his four training years at the prestigious Mayo Clinic. I like the way this book focuses on Collins' humanity as well as his growing talent as a surgeon. He starts out green and ends up a pro. His writing is engaging and the tone is endearing. You'll yawn with him through sleepless nights, sweat the life threatening challenges and embrace his tales of his wife and growing family. I closed it wanting to meet Collins. If I break my arm or leg, I want him to be my doctor.

Last year I discovered a new author named Charles Martin, who wrote a book that I was crazy about called THE DEAD DON'T DANCE. His second book WRAPPED IN RAIN will be out in March and it solidified my feelings about him. I started it Thurs night and it kept me company on my flight from Nashville to home on Friday. I finished it yesterday morning and immediately saw that there is no sophomore slump for Martin. He is a writer who writes emotion so the story wraps around you and then it tucks away somewhere inside you and stays with you. The plot goes like this. Two brothers grow up with an abusive father and they are raised by a nanny/housekeeper who keeps them on a course that is steeped in "doing the right thing." It's billed as Christian-based fiction, but let's just say that the message does not get in the way of the story. It just works. VERY worth exploring.

Yesterday and today I found myself on the couch giving into a cold that sapped my energy this past week. I read THE BITCH POSSE by Martha O'Connor what will be coming out in May. In it, three high school girls form a trio in Holland, Illinois back in 1988 and forge a partnership that will haunt them in the years to come. It's egdy, dark and very unnerving. These women each have a story, which will follow them in the decades to come and chart the course that she lives on. I can see why people are excited about O'Connor and have been giving this one attention.

Off to pluck another book from my towering "to be read" pile. More to come....

I spent last week in Nashville at a trade show for the Christian Booksellers Association. I stayed at Gaylords Opryland Hotel, a sprawling hotel where walking from one end to the other constitutes a major workout. They actually said their fitness center is not very large as they feel everyone works out just walking around.

It was not my favorite hotels for one reason. I loathe manufactured fun. This is why my children will someday be seeing a therapist since they have never been to Disney World or Disneyland, and will not get there on my watch. I hate places where the fun is programmed to happen.

Opryland houses gorgeous indoor gardens under an atrium. Palm trees, beautiful foliage and wonderful flowers fill the hotel. Sounds nice, right? Well, it would be if they did not then take it over the top. There were waterfalls all over the hotel, which means there was a constant whoosh whoosh whoosh noise that just made me crazy. I was having a meeting on a bench near one waterfall that was programmed to whoosh on a system that I could not time. The woman I was meeting with and I kept jumping every time the water shot up. I felt like I was at Bellagio in Vegas, minus the choreographed Frank Sinatra tunes. (In case you are wondering, Vegas is another manufactured fun place that makes me crazy.) Then there was a boat road through the "river" in the hotel where folks were paddled along by a guide who pointed out fish, flora and fauna. I love boat rides in the real outdoors, not the manufactured outdoors!

The hotel rooms were dark, the hi-speed Internet cord was short and there was no outlet behind the desk to plug in a laptop. I decided this is a better vaca hotel than a business hotel!

All this said, they had a feature I loved the concept of. If you dialed extension 102 they would answer the phone "Consider It Done." Whatever request you had, they wanted you to know you could "Consider it Done." It got me thinking how nice it would be to have a "consider it done" button for every aspect of your life. Considering how long most of us spend on hold and then doing battle with the cable, cellphone, other utility companies, as well as insurance companies, banks and doctors, think how nice it would be to hear "Good morning, and thank you for calling and consider it done." Though I did not request brighter light bulbs, an extension cord, or a pin to close the drapes in my room that were open that little sliver where the lights outside my window made me feel like I was living on an airport runway, I liked knowing there was someone standing by to fulfill my every whim. For the record, they got A for wakeup calls since I was unable to figure out how to program the CD alarm clock in my room!

Did lots of reading while I traveled, which I will explore in the next Blog entry.