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From a work standpoint, it was a pretty tough week, so not so many books done.

First was Osprey Campaign #17: Chickamauga: The River of Death. You know, it's hard for me to get past my prejudice about studying the American Civil War. As I kid, I was appalled at the South having tried to split away from our magnificent nation; older, I still found the South's stance on slavery as indefensible, so reading most books on the war...upset me? This book is no different in its way. However, if I could manage to view it dispassionately, it's a good description of the campaign. So, if you're looking for information on the topic, here's an option.

Next was Osprey Elite #31: US Army Airborne 1940 – 90, a pretty wide subject. The book deals with the formation of the units, their training, and the differences as the Twentieth Century continued. Not bad.

Finally, I read Champagne: A Global History. Books of this series varying pretty widely in quality. This was one of the better ones. It not only deals with the wines of France of the region, but sparkling wines in general, and a number of the regions worldwide that offer them. I thought this book was solid for a quick read about this tipple.

I expect a bit more available reading time next week, though probably not this weekend...

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This last week has been rough for a lot of reasons. A key one is that the clinics that I now work for had an inspection from Washington, DC, which delineated a number of areas in which we need to improve, at least a quarter of which are directly my responsibility. However, this being said, for an organization as young as ours, we had relatively few problems identified, and nearly all were minor! Still, it's stressful.

Earlier in the week, we once again went to the Food Truck Tuesdays on the south side of Montclair Plaza Shopping Center. As with such things, the food quality was variable. Mine was quite edible, but not memorable, which was unfortunate. My wife made a much wiser and tastier choice of the sandwich from the Cousins Lobster truck. Not bad overall.

Wednesday night we drove into Westwood in the early evening, and the last few miles of our freeway journey were on the northbound 405, the traffic of which, even as late as we went, was appalling! However, we found the place. When I went to school at UCLA in the 70s, the medical center buildings were complex and difficult to wander. Since then the buildings have been repurposed as the state's laws about earthquake standards would no longer permit their use that way, and so we went to the Ronald Reagan Hospital across the street from the old center, now in use as various schools, to see Todd there. He's been quite ill, and we spent a couple of hours hanging out and chatting, and brought him a book to read. Wandering afterwards we found a 24 hour deli and had a really late supper before heading home.

Thus are the highlights of the week; not horrible, but nothing to brag about. Everybody enjoy your end of summer parties this weekend!