A different hat

Today I put on my realtor garb and went to what is referred to as a Realtor Marketplace. It's where vendors (mortgage companies, title companies, home inspectors, pest inspectors, etc) get together and give freebees away to realtors. In the past we used to get some good stuff. Calculators, and such. Economy has hurt everybody and today was just a mass of pens, a couple of chip clips, sticky notes. I really did just go to stock up on pens. My supply was running low and drying up. I arrived at 9 and was on my way home by 9:42. There's a free luncheon but I wasn't in the mood to fraternize with all those realtors.




I finished "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson. It took me a couple of chapters to get into it and then I didn't want to put it down. The author is Swedish and the setting was Sweden so other than not recognizing places it was a great read. The main character is a journalist who was trapped by a libel conviction and headed to prison for a few months. He's hired by one of Sweden's most well known industrialist to figure out who killed his niece 40 some years ago. He's currently jobless and other than the time he'll spend in jail he figures he can do some investigation. He ends up hiring a young pierced and tattoed punk prodigy to help him do his investigation. A great combination of a murder mystery, family saga, and financial intrigue.