Thirteen People I'd Invite to Dinner if I Could

1. John Adams. I've been thoroughly fascinated with Mr. Adams, Dear Mr. Adams since reading "Those Who Love" by Irving Stone when I was a girl. Reading David McCullough's biography of Adams only reinforced my fascination with him, and I'd love to spend an evening talking with him about his view of the world, hearing about the American Revolution from someone who was so deeply involved, and finding out what he really intended for our government.

2. Mike Rowe. Let's forget about the fact that he's got a great voice that I could listen to for hours, and about the fact that he's seriously hot, even when he's swimming around in a vat of poo or crawling through poo, or doing any of the other things he does with poo every week on the Discovery Channel's "Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe." I'd love to have dinner with this man because he seems to have a terrific sense of humor, and there's something to be said about an intelligent man who can also make me laugh.

3. Steve Irwin, because even though I don't share the passion he had for crocodiles, I find anyone that passionate about something to be fascinating.

4. Lech Walesa, whose tireless work for freedom inspired Poland's eventual fall from the Iron Curtain. He had the courage to speak out at a time and in a place where speaking out simply wasn't done. For his efforts against communism, Walesa earned a Nobel Peace Prize, and was eventually elected as Poland's first president. In the 2002 Winter Olympics, when I saw him carrying a corner of the Olympic flag around Rice Stadium, I got tears in my eyes. I'd just like to hear what this man has to say.

5. Mary Todd Lincoln, who lost two children and a husband while living a very public life, and who lost a third son shortly after her husband's assassination. She was raised in the South, yet was married to the US President during the American Civil War. She may not have come through with flying colors, but the fact that she endured at all amazes me. I'd love to spend a couple of hours in her presence.

6. Queen Latifah, who has done it all, and continues to do it -- and do it well. She's beautiful, intelligent, and talented, and I'd like to hear what she has to say about a whole lot of things.

7. Elvis. Not because of the hips, or because of the music, or because of the fame. Actually, he's on the list despite all those things that eventually drowned out who he was and got the best of him. I'd probably prefer to invite Elvis the younger, because his true self was still close to the surface then, and because it's so incredibly depressing to spend time with someone who's self-destructing.

8. Maya Angelou, because she seems like an intelligent, grounded woman with a lot of interesting things to say. I love spending time around people with intelligence. Not necessarily education, although education is important. I'm talking about that deep, born-with intelligence that's present on a cell level. Ms. Angelou seems like one of those people.

9. My dad. One more dinner. I'd give almost anything.

10. Kurt Russell, just because he's about as hot as they come and I've had a thing for him for way too long to make a list like this and not put him on it. Besides, he's hot. And he seems well grounded. And he's hot. And he seems comfortable in his own skin -- which is hot.

11. Ellen DeGeneres. Because she can't open her mouth without making me laugh. She's a brilliant comedian, and I like her style. She is who she is, and she seems to find such joy in the small things she reminds me to do the same.

12. Victoria Holt because other than Carolyn Keene (who never actually existed) she's the first author whose books swept me away to far away places and who filled me with the desire to do what I do now.

13. Samuel Clemmens, aka Mark Twain. Not only one of this country's great authors, but a distant cousin (according to my grandmother, whose passion for family history is a

So I was in the middle of writing a new blog entry yesterday when my laptop crashed. Just like that. One minute I was typing away about the rest of my week in Dallas, and the next I was staring at a blank, black screen.

Okay, maybe it wasn't quite that sudden. I'd been fighting issues with my power cord for a couple of weeks, but I'd invested in a new one and the laptop had fairly hummed along the entire time I was in Dallas. The minute I got home, however, the troubles returned. Must be the "dry" heat.

Anyhoo . . . I called a Very Helpful Tech at CompUSA, told him what the computer had been doing, and waited for him to tell me that there was a very simple fix -- one that would take less than 30 seconds and cost me less than $20. Instead, he told me that the trouble appeared to be centered in the Whoojiggythingamajog on the Mother Board, and that I might as well just buy a new computer because that would be cheaper than fixing the one I had.

That was SO not what I wanted to hear yesterday. It's too hot to hear news like that, y'know? And I don't do well in the heat. I am a completely unapologetic creature of artificial comfort. Give me heat in the winter and A/C in the summer, and I'll muddle through, but I'm happiest when it's about 65 degrees out, with a slight breeze.

I live in a desert, where a large percentage of the population still gets through the summer months with the aid of a thing called an evaporative cooler -- at least that's what it's called if you're searching for parts online. In the real world, it's known as a "Swamp Cooler", with "swamp" being the key word in that phrase.

Swamp coolers operate by blowing air across water-soaked pads, and they only work when the humidity is very low. They also only work when the temperature is below 90 outside, and when the pads are clean -- all of which should help explain why, once again, I'm sweltering inside the place where I live, breathe, work, clean, and sleep. The particlates in the air from all the wild fires have made the air so dirty, swamp coolers can't work well. Even if they could, they wouldn't because it's been 100 or more for a couple of weeks now, and there's no end of the heatwave in sight. The poor thing on top of our roof grinds away all day and maybe -- maybe -- keeps the house at 85. CoolER, but not cool.

Which might not be SO bad if I could "glisten" like a lady, producing little more than a delicate sheen of dampness, even on the hottest of days. Unfortunately, I don't glisten. I don't glow. I don't even perspire. Thanks, Dad Luckily, I've learned that keeping a glass filled with ice at my side helps a lot.

Even though the temperature outside is clocking in at 108 today, I'll confess that I've hardly noticed the heat as I play with my new computer and try to figure out its new bells and whistles. Tonight, my daughters and I are going out to dinner at my favorite Thai restaurant, so we'll escape into actual air conditioning for a little while. The grandbaby too, even though she's still a little young for stir-fried beef and their one-of-a-kind egg roll. My son-in-law has been on TDY in Mississippi for the past 10 days, and they're picking him up at the airport around midnight, when the temperature has dropped to a cool 95 or so.

Brrrrrr.

Summer. Blah

I'm writing this from my hotel room at the Hyatt Regency Reunion in Dallas, where I've been since last Saturday. Because I'm currently serving on the Board of Directors of Romance Writers of America, I spent the weekend in meetings. I'm not going to whine about how long the meetings ran because we had some very important issues to take care of, but I will say that I don't do 3 am as well as I used to.

Not nearly as well.

Lunch today was with Presidents of various RWA Chapters, and the Literacy Autographing (450 authors strong, with proceeds going to benefit literacy efforts) is about to wind up any minute. I'm toddling off to make an appearance at the First-Timers Orientation, where those who've never been to an RWA Conference before can get a few tips on how to make it through the weekend.

After that, I'm free of "official" obligations for the rest of the evening, so I'm planning to drop by Parrino's Oven for a quick get-together with members from my local RWA chapter, and then, assuming I'm still on my feet, it's off to the annual Superromance Authors chocolate and wine party. I can't wait to see everyone again. We keep in touch online during the year, but nothing beats getting together face-to-face.

The Association's Annual General Meeting is tomorrow, and after that most of the hard work will be over. Well . . . most of it, anyway. There are a couple of workshops I'm hoping to find time to catch this year, but whether or not I'll actually make it remains to be seen. Not that I'm complaining. I've enjoyed being on the Board, and I've made some great friends in the process.

And there are always the recorded sessions of the conference workshops . . . right?