Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke

Rayleen said that Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke was one of her favorite books of last year on the podcast Books Unbound. I trust Rayleen because she is full of good recs. (The other host, Ariel, just spent an entire episode waxing poetic about how great she found The Hobbit, so while I respect her as a business person with some hustle, her reader credibility is very low with me.)

This book is told entirely through Slack messages at a New York-based public relations firm.

Gerald has been uploaded into the firm's Slack channel. His body is just sitting in his apartment, but Gerald's consciousness is in Slack. Gerald asks his co-worker Pradeep to help him figure out a way to return to his body. 

Meanwhile, the rest of the company thinks this is a bit Gerald is doing to be allowed to work from home more. Also, there's a crisis with a dog food company that has to do a recall because Pomeranians are dying. (Not Pomeranians!) Two employees are knockin' boots and destroying office furniture and another employee is hearing howling all the time. What is happening at this company?

There's a running joke about a dusty stick emoji that is exactly like the potato emoji in my office chat. My boss went to Nova Scotia on vacation and came back with fudge made with potatoes. From that moment on, whenever someone brings treats back from vacation, we all use potato emojis. It's HILARIOUS to me, but even as I'm writing this, I realize it's not funny. ANYWAY.

Will this whole Slack thing be dated someday? Probably? Will it still get to the heart of office culture and politics? I sure hope so. 

I thought this was snort funny, clever, and unique. I loved every word.  5/5 stars

Lines of note:

what is a workplace but a cult where everyone gets paid, really? (page 67)

LOLOLOL. This is the second time in a month I've read a book that suggested my workplace is a cult. 

and my only reminder that humanity isn't just this overwhelming 
cacophony of noise and drudgery but like
something worth returning to (page 216)

Sometimes we all need to spend some time focused on what is worth living for, right? 

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Do you have running jokes in your office chat? Is your job really a cult? 

What I Spent: February 2026

As a reminder, my husband pays the "big bills" like mortgage, phone, car, and electricity. I pay for groceries and the pets and that somehow evens things out.

Fitness ($20, <1%) - This was my trampoline class. #noregrets

Eating out ($27.19, 1.3%) - I had lunch with Sarah and I ate ice cream once. 

Entertainment ($51.18, 2.4%) - Hold on to your pants, people. I bought an audiobook, an ebook, and paid for my Spotify subscription this month. I bought the audiobook for my IRL book club or I would never have been able to read it and I bought a new release ebook. Who am I?

Cars ($64, 7.3%) - Gas a couple of times.

House ($84.40, 3.9%) - New sheets. We haven't used the new ones yet because we're still using our flannel sheets, but I think my husband might want to switch soon. 

Personal care ($113.47, 5.2%) - Eyeliner, shampoo, sponges. It takes money and work to look like an average Midwestern lady.

Gifts ($124, 5.7%) - A couple birthday presents and some greeting cards.

Bills ($158.83, 7.3%) - Home and car insurance.

Pets ($299.25, 13.8%) - Food, food, food. Why do they eat so much? They're not fat. I don't think.

Savings (350, 16.2%) - Better than a kick in the teeth.

Groceries ($869.33, 40.2%) - Food, food, food. Why do we eat so much?

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I rarely buy books, but I purchased two in February. Have you recently made a purchase for something you rarely buy? 

February 2026 Accountability Buddy

Sunday, February 1
30-minute leg workout (Caroline Girvan - Epic day 37) - I used two five-pound weights for this. I found the reverse plank lifts impossible unless I used both legs, so that's something to work on. I could probably go heavier, but I'm really working on form with my bad leg. 

15-minute yoga for legs, hips, and hamstrings

Monday, February 2

30-minute yoga video in the student union at lunchtime

Tuesday, February 3

10-minute posture improvement video

10-minute office life stretch - I don't know if I'd recommend this since you don't hold the poses long enough to get a good stretch.

45-minute body blast class at the community center after work

Wednesday, February 4

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime*

20-minute gentle yoga stretch in my office towards the end of a day of endless sitting

Thursday, February 5

30-minute yoga video in the student union at lunchtime

30-minute shoulders & triceps (Caroline Girvan - Iron day 7)

10-minute posture improvement video

Friday, February 6

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

30-minute stretch for back and hips - Look, I gotta be honest. I found this was nearly impossible for my shoulder. I mean, it did get at my hips, but the real reason this video was uncomfortable was my shoulders. 

Saturday, February 7

60-minute hike in the woods with Dr. BB

Sunday, February 8

25-minute shoveling - it was not much, maybe a half inch to an inch - but it needed to get moved off the driveway and sidewalk because it was hiding ice underneath

30-minute low impact full body cardio workout

30-minute fluid yoga flow - This was more challenging than I would normally do. I did some modifications. 

Monday, February 9

30-minute yoga video in the student union at lunchtime

Tuesday, February 10

10-minute posture improvement video

45-minute body blast class at the community center after work

Wednesday, February 11

20-minute gentle yoga stretch in my office at lunchtime

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

Thursday, February 12

30-minute yoga video in the student union at lunchtime

60-minute Zumba class before dinner

Friday, February 13

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

Saturday, February 14-Sunday, February 15

Days off

Monday, February 16

30-minute yoga video in the student union at lunchtime

Tuesday, February 17

45-minute body blast class at the community center after work

Wednesday, February 18

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

15-minute bedtime yoga - I wanted to get in some strength training today, but it wasn't meant to be. 

Thursday, February 19

30-minute yoga video in the student union at lunchtime

Friday, February 20

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

15-minute cardio - Happy Dance - this might be called "Happy Dance," but it did not make me particularly happy 

15-minute full body dumbbell workout - very effective

Saturday, February 21

30-minute total body strength with dumbbells

Sunday, February 22

I was walking Hannah this afternoon when my upper back began complaining in a big way. I don't know what I did to it, but I tried to use yoga to fix it.

30-minute yoga stretches for upper body 

Monday, February 23

30-minute yoga video in the student union at lunchtime

Tuesday, February 24

30-minute yoga stretches for upper body  - This one again. My upper back and shoulders are a problem, so I did this at lunchtime in my office. 

35-minute no jumping tabata workout - perfect workout for staying in the fat burning zone

Wednesday, February 25

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

35-minute full body HIIT and strength training - I'm so sweaty. Sheesh. 

Thursday, February 26

30-minute yoga video in the student union at lunchtime

30-minute trampoline class after work - I'd never done this before. It was fun! I was super amazed at how little my bad leg hurt. I think I will want to do this again in the future. 

Friday, February 27

Day off

Saturday, February 28

30-minute full body yoga for flexibility and strength 

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*Our local healthcare organization does free stretch classes virtually three times a week. Sign up here! It's free. It's fun. She has the sign-up through June, so you can basically register for half the year at one time. We regularly talk about candy and what's for lunch. It's a delightful break in the middle of the day. You do not have to have your camera on. 

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Total: 24/28  (85.7%) days doing thirty minutes or more

Cardio/strength: 13 days
Yoga: 16 days

Short stretch classes at lunchtime: 7 days

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When's the last time you tried a new fitness class? 

What I Read: February 2026

2/2: Raybearer (Raybearer #1) by Jordan Ifuenko (library audiobook narrated by Joniece Abbott-Pratt, 2020) - The 4.31 Goodreads rating is bizarre. The worldbuilding was okay, the character development was nil, and the main message seems to be that the best way to handle a bad emperor is with a good empress instead of no empire? I feel like I'm either misreading this or I'm going insane. 2/5 stars

2/3: Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Wartime Sarajevo by Zlata Filipović (library audiobook narrated by : Dorota Puzio and Janine di Giovanni) - Apparently I got the abridged version, which explains why this was so choppy. Zlata began her diary as just a regular 11-year-old girl living in Sarajevo and going on vacation, but her entries end up reflecting life in a war torn city, demonstrating food shortages, the death of friends, and the fear of the future. I'm glad I listened, but I wish I had the unabridged version. 3/5 stars

2/4: The Secret Life of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry (library ebook, 2023) - Such an interesting premise! During Operation Pied Piper in WWII, children in major cities of the UK were evacuated to places that were less likely to be bombed. After the declaration in September 1939, over eight hundred thousand children were remarkably evacuated in just four days. In the end, over three and a half million children were relocated. Historians  estimate that up to 10 per cent of children in the UK were fully or partially raised by people other than their biological parents during this time. This book posits that a pair of sisters is sent to a rural area and then one of them goes missing. It's also not nearly as interesting as the premise. 2.5/5 stars

(I am writing this on 2/5 and honestly feel like I am 100% in a reading slump. Maybe I don't like books. Reading is something I used to do. Something better swing my way or maybe my entire February Books Read post will be these three subpar books.)

2/7: Ms. Demeanor by Elinor Lipman (library audiobook narrated by Piper Goodeve, 2022) - Jane gets arrested for having sex with a co-worker on the roof of her New York City apartment building. She ends up on suspension from her job under home confinement. She meets another person under home confinement in her building and things go from there. I liked this so much more than I thought I would based on that first chapter. There is so much character development here. 4/5 stars

2/10: Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language by Adam Aleksic (library audiobook narrated by the author, 2025) - Technology adds to and changes language and the internet and social media are no exception. Aleksic and I have differing views on whether these changes are always good, though. Also. I cannot stress this enough. He is an influencer and he reads his own book and hetalksveryfastandnever TAKES abreakexceptto SCREAM atyoueveryonceinawhile. I found his narration stressful and confusing and I hate YouTube. #oldladyout 3/5 stars

2/13: Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone (library audiobook narrated by Alex Finke, 2025) - I absolutely loved this grief + romance novel all in one. Huge thumbs up. 5/5 stars

2/20: In Memoriam by Alice Winn (library ebook, 2023) - Books about war are sad, did you know? 4/5 stars

2/20: The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (library, 1920) - CBBC book club. Look, I didn't get it. I didn't love it.  2/5 stars

2/20: The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, translated from the French by Alison Anderson (audiobook I purchased narrated by Barbara Rosenblat and Cassandra Morris, 2006)  - I wished for all these characters to figure it out and start thinking about someone other than themselves when all of a sudden I cared. There was some sort of sorcery in this novel. 4/5 stars

2/21: Sing Anyway (Moonlighters #1) by Anita Kelly (library ebook, 2021) - Novella about love at a karaoke bar. I needed a palate cleanser after a series of tough books and this one provided just that. Not great literature, but sometimes you just need a love story. 3.5/5 stars

2/21: Arrow's Flight (Valdemar: The Arrows Trilogy #2) by Mercedes Lackey (library, 1987) - Our young Herald is in training, but it turns out that she does not have full control of her Gift. How is she going to get out of this?

2/23: The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren (Wren James) (library audiobook narrated by Lauren Ezzo, 2018) - Gripping tale of a young girl alone in a spaceship. Her link to Earth is cut off, but there's another spaceship approaching helmed by a young man named J. How's all this going to shake out? I was invested from the first page because could you even imagine being alone in space? Without so much as a dog or cat? There were some fan fic passages I did not care for, but they did serve an important plot point, so I can't complain too much. There were too many Britishisms for me to believe this child was raised by Americans who worked for NASA, but who knows what happens when all you're left with is YouTube videos for five years? 4/5 stars

2/24 Arrow's Fall (Valdemar: The Arrows Trilogy #3) by Mercedes Lackey (library, 1998) - Valdemar's back, baby! 5/5 stars

Total: 13 books
Average star rating: 3.4/5 stars

DNF:

Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson - Someone recommended this because I like books about shipwrecks and stuff. This one is about two scuba divers who found a wrecked WWII U-boat sixty miles off the coast of New Jersey. Unfortunately, the author's hero worship of those two scuba divers was super hard for me to listen to. I'm sure they're great guys, but I was more interested in the historical mystery at play. DNF at 2%. 

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Did you DNF anything last month? 

CBBC Week Five: The Age of Innocence Wrap-Up

Past discussions:
Week One, chapters 1-10
Week Two, chapters 11-18
Week Three, chapters 19-26
Week Four, Chapters 27-34

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My notes

Last week, J asked if people put this much work into a face-to-face book club. The answer, at least for my book club, is no. I'm lucky if people in my book club actually read the book, let alone look things up from it. They certainly don't prepare questions. BUT. It's a different vibe. I usually do prepare one or two questions just to get us talking about the book and then the conversation goes where it goes. It's different in an online space because the conversation is less likely to meander, although I like it when it does go places I don't expect when I read the chapters. 

Anyway, my process for reading a CBBC book is basically the same as any other book for me, but a bit more extreme. I read with a pen in hand and mark down all the things on a piece of paper as I read - major plot points, character names/descriptions, lines of note, things I need to look up, hats. And then when I work on my post, I use these notes. Basically, if I miss something in my post, it's because it didn't make it into my notes!

I thought you just might like that little inside peek into my process. 

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What were your overall thoughts on this book? 

Here's what I think: This is not my jam. I do not understand human nature enough to have people just not say what they think. I think Archer was  lame character to focus on. 

However, I do feel like this book sets a tone that is hard to ignore. The claustrophobic feeling of how constrained choices were was palpable. You really get a feeling for elite New York in the 1870s. I also realllllly enjoyed Wharton's descriptions of the locations. You can tell that Wharton was a designer (remember how her first book was non-fiction work on design and architecture called The Decoration of Houses (1897) that she co-authored with Ogden Codman, Jr.?). I feel like that background came shining through in The Age of Innocence.

But, I'll allow that I probably missed the point of this one. Stories of poor little rich people annoy me almost as much as stories of famous people complaining about being famous. 

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Pop culture:

Last week, Jacquie wrote a comment about a movie adaptation of the novel.

This movie was a 1993 Martin Scorsese joint that earned Ryder earned an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe for her performance, as well as an Oscar for Best Costume Design.

Other adaptations include a 1934 film directed for RKO Studios by Philip Moeller, numerous stage adaptations, and an homage in an episode of Gossip Girl.  There's also an upcoming period drama miniseries for Netflix based on the novel. The cast is led by Kristine Froseth, Ben Radcliffe, Camila Morrone, and Margo Martindale.

Diane turned me on to a book called The Innocents by Francesca Segal that is a modern retelling of the novel. I will admit that the first Goodreads review made me snort.

Did I miss any other major nods in pop culture? 

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TAoI questions to ponder:

As always, discuss as few or as many of these questions as you like. 

1) Who is the innocent in this novel?

2) What role do minor characters – for instance Julius Beaufort, Mrs. Manson Mingott, the Van der Luydens, Newland’s mother and sister Janey – play in this novel?

3) Edith Wharton’s original title for The Age of Innocence was “Old New York.” Which title do you think is more fitting? 

4) How are Ellen and May alike? How are they different? 

5) Throughout the novel, Wharton references a number of artistic works—the opera Faust, the Cesnola Antiquities at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Chippendale furniture in the Lannings’ home, to name a few. What role in the story do these references play?

6) Is it moral and honorable to protect others at the expense of one’s happiness? Is duty to one’s community more important than duty to oneself?

7) What scene from this book will stick with you? For me, it's pathetic Archer sitting on a park bench talking to himself in Paris. 

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Most iconic line:

Typically I do a poll here, but I'm just going to ask you instead. What do you think the most iconic line from the book is? 

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That's a wrap on winter 2026 CBBC! Thanks for joining and participating. 

2026 F.I.G. Collective - Week Four

Elisabeth challenged us all to find gratitude in February, so she created the Finding Joy in Gratitude Collective. Here are my FIGs for last week.

Sunday, February 22
Food abounds in our house! I made a trip to Costco to get some treats for a book club I was hosting, but it turned out that book club was a bust. But now I have all the treats! And while at Costco I stocked up on lunch items, so I was able to prep all my lunches for the week. I am grateful that we have all the food we need. 

Monday, February 23
Me and my dog. Look, I love her so much. Does anyone have the idea that maybe I'm obsessed with her? Because I am. 

Tuesday, February 24

Look at this view of the river from my walk with Hannah Bezoar this morning. I feel so grateful to live in such a beautiful place.

Evolution of the nickname:

Hannah

Hannah banana

Hannah b

Hannah bees

Hannah bezoar

Wednesday, February 25

My colleague had an MRI and there are no visible signs of cancer! Woot! Great news. She still has to have surgery and they'll do some biopsies, but if all goes well, this will soon be a blip in her life. 

Thursday, February 26

Let's talk about Mousegate. Last week, my friend T gave a presentation at my work. When she left, she accidentally took the university's computer mouse instead of her own when she left. She'd been going back and forth about how to pick it up when I said I would just grab it right before I left for the day and return the university's mouse first thing the next morning. We exchanged mice in front of the community center and T was delighted that I saved her so much time. I'm grateful I was in the right place to help her out. 

Bonus: I went to a trampoline class for the first time. It was so much fun. Yay for a new type of fitness class and even more yay for it being so much more gentle on my bad leg. 

Friday, February 27

I had a presentation at a conference at work. It went well. Whew. That's done and it checks a goal off my list for the year! Woot woot!

Saturday, February 28

We went to Michigan to see one of my friends from high school for his birthday. Yay for a reliable dog sitter (a constant F.I.G.) and yay for hanging out with people who truly understand and know me. We were playing a game that required us to make up descriptions for drawings other people had made and most of my captions were taken from Bon Jovi or Bruce Springsteen lyrics (shot from the heart, Tommy used to work on the docks, I've got the night on my side, won't you be my pony boy?, and hell, a little touchup and a little paint) and the friend I've known the longest (HI TABETHA) knew. She knew what was going on. Such a lovely way to spend a snowy winter night. 

And that's a wrap on my F.I.G.s for this month. What is something you're grateful for today? 

The Arrows Trilogy (Valdemar saga) by Mercedes Lackey

 Valdemar saga (in chronological order of the world, not order of publication):

The Mage Wars
The Last Herald-Mage
Collegium Chronicles
The Herald Spy

Family of Spies 

Burning Brightly

Vows & Honor

Alberich's Tale

Take a Thief

The Valdemar saga by Mercedes seems vaguely never ending. It's been since March 2025 since I visited Valdemar, so it seems like it's time for me to get back at it. The Arrows Trilogy begins with Arrows of the Queen. 

Talia is an abused daughter of the Holderkin, a patriarchal Borderland sect that allows girls only two choices: get married around thirteen, often as a third or fourth wife, or go to a religious sect. Talia dreamed of bigger things and was always hiding books she was reading about Heralds and magic. One day, after she ran away with a blowup with her family, a white horse she recognizes as a Companion, noses her and she finds herself leading it back to the Collegium. She is Chosen by Rolan and has become one of the highest ranked leaders in Valdemar. 

(This is basically the same book as Foundation. However, this was one of the first Valdemar books published in 1987 and Foundation wasn't published until 2008, so Foundation is really the book with the repeated plot. There really is a difference in reading these in publishing versus chronological order.)

Once Talia gets to the Collegium, she is nervous and shy and nearly gets killed because she's too afraid to make connections. Her Gift is Empathy and THAT IS A WEIRD GIFT (but it's absolutely not if you've read it in chronological order *sigh*). Talia gets the Heir Apparent Elspeth to stop being a brat. Oh, and she has a strange attraction to that Herald Dirk.  That's the book.  3/5 stars

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All pages come from The Complete Arrows Trilogy omnibus (published 2015)

Line of note:

"I feel like somebody's been using me for pells!" (page 140)

Hat mentions: None

Something I continue to be uncomfortable with, but don't know what to do about: The introduction to the omnibus contains the line "I made my first professional sale in 1985, to Marion Zimmer Bradley..." Lackey's continued mentions of Bradley as a professional mentor make me feel sort of gross. Bradley's involvement in child abuse makes some of the storylines in her books a bit too real and I can never tell if my writing about these books somehow makes me complicit in her legacy. *gnashes teeth*

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Up next we have Arrow's Flight. Talia's Heraldic training cannot be complete until she rides circuit with an experienced Herald. She and Herald Kris go off to the Borderlands to administer justice. Kris is Dirk's best friend and that's awkward. They get snowed in and it becomes clear that Talia has not been properly trained and she has no control over her gift and she can start projecting emotions like crazy and that's no good. This would ruin the reputation of the Collegium if it got out that they were sending untrained Heralds out in the world, so Talia and Kris set out to fix it. 

Meanwhile, they help a village with a plague, another with bandits, and stop a raping rapist from raping. By the time they return to the Collegium, no one needs to know how badly off Talia had been. 

The pacing was off in this book. It's definitely a second book in a series and Kris and Talia wandering around the Borderlands lasted way too long. And they were snowed in for a MONTH. Crazy. 3.5/5 stars

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Hat mentions:

...someone beckoned them on by a smile or a wave of a hat. (page 466)

Thing I looked up:

ustil greens (page 474) - I think this is a fictional vegetable.

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Last, but certainly not least, we have Arrow's Fall. The queen's heir is near marriageable age and the king of nearby land has asked if she will consider his son. Talia and Kris are sent to figure out if this would be a good match. Once they get there, intrigue happens. 

THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD. I've read (counts) a couple dozen of these Valdemar books and this is the one I could not stop reading (but I had to because LIFE GETS IN THE WAY OF MY READING AND THAT IS SO RUDE).

Ahem. 

Solid plot that pulls together threads from the last two books. Makes proper reference to other longstanding issues in the kingdom. The pacing is solid. Every chapter break made me want to keep reading. 

There is a lot of violence, physical, sexual, and emotional, so that's something to know, especially if you're reading this thinking that the YAness means it's pretty clean. I mean, there's no swearing, but it specifically talks about rape and the aftermath. 

5/5 stars 

Is the reading rut over?

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One of the prompts for the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge this year is "a book about a horse or with a horse on the cover." Companions aren't really horses. Do you think I can still use these as books for that prompt?