The Great Hot Tea Experiment

As anyone who has read a post here knows, I hang out at Mobile Read a lot.  Well, there's a thread in the Lounge area now called, "What is in your cup" .  And it seems that what is in a lot of people's cups, is tea. 
I've been trying for years (yes, I mean that literally) to find a hot drink for wintertime that both smells and tastes good, and doesn't have a million calories per cup.  I'd tried hot tea and didn't like it. I'm a southern girl, iced tea is my thing!  Hot chocolate has two problems for me, 1. I don't actually like chocolate that much and 2.  those aforementioned calories.  Hot spiced cider is good for about two cups, then I don't want any more.   My normal drink, winter and summer is diet Dr Pepper.  But again, that's not real warming in the middle of December in the Midwest.  Soooo... I decided to try hot tea again.  This time though, I went with the new(er) flavored green teas.  In the past, the hot tea I had tried was just plain Lipton's (black tea), and I could never seem to get it sweet enough.  This time, I bought Pomegranate Cranberry green tea (still from Lipton), and an actual tea kettle.  All I can say is:   YUM!  It smells great, it tastes great, too, and it's hot and warms me from the inside out. Even the smell makes me smile.  So, with that being an unqualified success, back to MR I went with the news.  Only to find out that Lipton is considered the bottom of the (tea) barrel. 

Soooo...Google being my friend, I found the Adagio Tea site (http://adagio.com)  They have EVERYTHING.  Even tea bags.  When I get money again, I'm going to place an order, but in the meantime, I went back to the Evil Empire and bought more flavored tea bags (still Lipton), in Mandarin Orange and Bavarian Wild Berries flavors.  I think I'm set for a while... and I hereby pronounce the hot tea experiment a success! 

Another rambling food post...

It's been an interesting week for recipes in the blogosphere.  First, Riley Adams posted a recipe for cornbread stuffing (dressing, I'll get to that in a minute), on Mystery Lover's Kitchen, mentioning that you can use "sweetened mix"  or not.  Well, then Cleo Coyle, whilst promoting the blog post on her  Facebook,  mentioned that the comments were causing some little discussion....(which they were, with the Southerners in the crowd advocating that cornbread is not supposed to be sweet, and the Northerners saying that's the only way they'll eat cornbread is sweetened...).  Those comments caused me to add another friend to Facebook, for the express purpose of exchanging dressing recipes *laugh*.  Love it when I make friends in author's comments...

Now, in Texas we have a saying. "Cake is sweet, cornbread is NOT!"  I brought it with me up here to Illinois, where Chris's favorite cornbread mix is *wince* ... Jiffy.  Oh. My. GAWD.  Jiffy is not cornbread, folks, it's cake with a cornmeal base. Anything that has a recipe for blueberry muffins on the box (which Jiffy does), is wayyyyy too sweet to be called cornbread. 

Then there's the stuffing vs. dressing debate.  Stuffing and dressing are the same thing, basically, it's the cooking method that differs.  With stuffing you put it inside the bird, dressing is cooked completely separately.  I've never stuffed a turkey in my life.  I learned dressing from my mom, who always cooked it separately.  I don't suppose it'd be *bad* exactly, but... I've just never done it that way.  Not sure I've ever eaten it that way, either, come to think of it...

Then Julie Hyzy got into the debate with, of all things, pumpkin pie.  She says, and I quote,

What would Thanksgiving be without pumpkin pie?

Well... for me it would be just fine. Give me the turkey, the stuffing, more stuffing, some veggies, more stuffing, potatoes, and top it all off with stuffing and I'm a happy (and well-fed) camper.

 She's definitely got a way with words! (Quite appropriate, considering what she does for a living, *laugh*).   I had to tell her that Chris definitely agrees with her - and me, I can take or leave pumpkin pie, myself.  However, also like Julie, I adore the smell of it.  On a separate but related note, I also adore the smell of fresh coffee, but I won't drink the stuff under threat of death.  

Also this week, I've had an imaginary alcoholic (at least I think it's alcoholic, the exact ingredients have never been established) beverage named after me!  Over at Mobile Read, there's a section called the Lounge. And in this Lounge, there is a virtual bar.  And in this bar, is a gibbon bartender named Adrian, and the signature drink is called a ZCD (for Zany Carter Deluxe...if you've ever read Heinlein, you'll get it).  Well, up until this week there have only been three variations:  The original, a Zany Carter... the aforementioned ZCD, and a ZCD Patricia (with chocolate).  Now there is *drum roll please*.... are you ready?  A ZCD BombShel!   I originally named it a Cranberry Spice Zebra ZCD, but the owner of the virtual bar renamed it, *laugh*.  I have to admit I like his version better!  So now, I shall live in infamy at Mobile Read... 

Philosophizing...

..which in this case is just going to be a three dollar word for "rambling on". 

A friend and I got to talking about food tonight.  Now...it seems like I've always cooked. I know I haven't, but I did start "early" I guess...when my dad died and mom went to work, she needed a hot meal in the evenings, so I took over making dinner after school.  I consider myself a good "country" cook.  Not gourmet, but good country food...chicken fried steak, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, casseroles.  Anyway, during the conversation, we got to wondering about how much the reasons you learned to cook influence what kind of cook you become. There are those who learn to cook to keep from starving, and there are those who learn to cook because they like to eat.  The two are really different things.  I like to eat.  But I was raised around good food...my mother was an excellent cook, and so were both local aunts.  My aunts on my dad's side, while we didn't see them as often, were wonderful cooks too.  My dad gardened (the man had a green arm), and fished, so we always had fresh vegetables, and usually fresh fish in the summer, too. 
My friend says that those who learned to cook to keep from starving usually only know how to make a couple of things really well, and rely on packaged foods and microwaves for the rest. They don't really enjoy eating, maybe because they never got in the habit of having "good" food at home. Maybe their moms didn't cook, maybe they came from a single parent family where no one had time.
I was the type of child that you couldn't "fob off" when I was hungry, by handing me a package of chips or a candy bar. I never did like junk food much, even as a teenager. I'm still like that. When I'm hungry, I want a meal.  I get tired of fast food pretty quickly, too, and want my own cooking. 
But I think again, that's because I learned to cook because I liked to eat.

What kind of cook are you?  And what do you think of my half-baked (pun intended) philosophy?  

October reads

When September ended, I was in the middle of  Rita Mae Brown's first in a new series,  A Nose For Justice.  I enjoyed it just as much as her other two series.  Different setting, same type of situations, maybe more of an emphasis on environmental concerns.

As for the rest of the month:

Misspelled - Julie E. Czerneda, Ed.  - This had me absolutely in hysterics.  Funniest thing I've read in a LONG time.  It's a collection of short stories, about what can happen when a spell gets mis-cast.  5 stars, highly recommended.   Not necessarily cozy though.  If you don't like magic in your reading, skip it.

Loose Ends - Terri Reid.  One of my friends on Goodreads was looking for this.  It caught my eye because it's set in Freeport, IL...which is about 30 miles from where I live.  I contacted the author, and she not only wrote about Freeport, she lives there.  We're planning on a meetup one day.   Anyway, aside from the familiar setting, it's a REALLY good book.  5 stars, highly recommended

Tree of Life - Elita Daniels:  Not cozy.  This reminded me of Lord of the Rings.  It's what I call "high fantasy" where there's another world, and elves, and magic.  Found this one through Mobile Read.  Excellent read for fantasy lovers.

Mama Does Time - Deborah Sharp.   Midnight Ink (publishers) made my month when most of their titles finally showed up at Books on Board.  I had been wanting to read this series FOREVER, but refuse to buy Amazon's Topaz format, and also didn't want to buy the paper book.   So when it showed up, I grabbed and devoured.  Just as funny as I thought it would be... another highly recommended. 

Fundraising the Dead - Sheila Connolly:   This one has an intriguing backstory that I found out about after I read the book.  The author actually worked in a historical institution in Philadelphia, while a janitor was making off with some of the artifacts.  The FBI agent on the case has written his autobiography titled "Priceless"  that mentions that case.   Anyway - loved this,  loved the history involved... my husband said the way I described it reminded him of "National Treasure".   Highly recommended. 

Plaster and Poison - Jennie Bentley:   I've enjoyed all of this series, this is the third book.  Looking forward to the next one.  Highly recommended.

Pinned for Murder - Elizabeth Lynn Casey:   Again, third in a series.  Tori and her sewing circle have gotten to be old friends, and I was anxious to see what they'd been up to.  I wasn't disappointed. Highly recommended.

Elvis and the Memphis Mambo Murders - Peggy Webb:   A hoot, as always.  LOVE this series!  Highly recommended.

Garden Spells - Sarah Addison Allen:  Not cozy.  More magic - so if you don't like it in your books, skip it.  This reminded me of Practical Magic. 

And this brought me to the 26th, when three anxiously awaited titles were released. I dropped everything, and read:

Side Jobs - Jim Butcher:   Collection of short stories about Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard.  Contains a followup to the cliffhanger in the last book, Changes.   I needed a Dresden fix, so I was pleased with the book, but if you're hoping for answers about Harry's fate.... you won't find them here.

Cat Coming Home - Shirley Rousseau Murphy.   I adore this series.  Matter of fact, the first book I bought for my first ereader was one of this series,  Cat Deck the Halls.   Anyway, another excellent entry; but if you don't like "woo-woo" in your mysteries, you won't like this.  The whole series is based on cats that can both understand and speak English, due to being descended from an ancient Welsh tribe of cats with this ability.  Suspending disbelief is essential.  But again, I LOVE them, and highly recommended.

Currently reading Soulless by Gail Carriger.  Not cozy -  would you believe steampunk/paranormal?   It reads like Amelia Peabody with werewolves and vampires... good stuff!! 

Will they or won't they?

The rumors are, Barnes and Noble are unveiling a color Nook on Tuesday.  The evidence I've read has been pretty convincing, not to mention a post at Mobile Read from a B&N employee that lays out his reasons for thinking a color Nook is in the works.  Now CNET has posted a link to a page on the B&N website for a screen protector for a color Nook with an image. 
The buzz at MR is mostly positive, although for the rumored price, the screen almost would have to be LCD, which is bad in terms of battery life.  No one even has rumors about that, though, so I guess B&N could pull a rabbit out of a hat and surprise everyone.  Amazon is apparently worried, since they announced their version of B&N's LendMe feature this week.
Now here's MY take.
If the picture at CNET is the real deal, or even an artist's rendering of the real deal, it's a pretty gadget.  But it's not going to be, nor is it intended to be an Android tablet.  That, in my opinion, has been the reason for the epic fail of both the Pandigital Novel and the Augen The Book.  Everyone expected them to be a mini iPad, and they were never intended to be that. They were intended to be ebook readers, and only ebook readers. Period.  I myself love the brightness and color when reading on an LCD screen.  Not to mention the eye candy of having my cover art in color, but even I will admit that LCD battery life is definitely not optimal, especially since those of us who have e-ink devices have gotten used to a week or more between charges. That being said, I'd love to see B&N pull a rabbit out of a hat and shock everyone, especially Amazon.  I don't know how exactly that's possible, but I would really love to see it.  Amazon left standing with their pants down, holding out their version of LendMe...well....for the record here:  
LendMe is useless.  You can loan the book ONCE, and only ONCE, EVER, for a period of 14 days.  And that's it, for your lifetime.  
LCD or not, there will be some takers.  Even though I'm thoroughly in love with my Sony, and now don't even want a Nook (at least not without a hefty list of changes),  I'm intrigued to see what happens on Tuesday. 

My new best friend...OneNote

...well, at least my new best friend in software!  My friend Danae kept trying to tell me that Microsoft OneNote was the best thing since sliced bread.  I never had time to really look at it, so I never got into using it...until the last week or so.  She was right. OneNote ROCKS!

I've now got all sorts of notes set up in a new notebook, with sections for book releases, new music releases, website logins, contacts, to-do lists, shopping lists, and a calendar. 
You can "tag" entries....for example, on my book release lists, I use the little checkbox icon. When I get the book, I check the box.  MUCH  nicer than the x's I was using at the end of the line.  What can I say, it satisfies my inner child - the one who loves eyecandy in her software!  Then if I've also read the book, I can double tag it with another icon - I'm using a star.
You can create "stationery" for your notebook pages as well. I made a customized page for my Music section, since there wasn't one in the predone page templates.

Here's some screen shots of the books, music, and to-do (calendar) pages:  As you can see, each section of your notebook can be a different color, and you get tabs in each section too, for pages.  I'm having fun with this!

OMG Someone IS Listening!

I have been griping and moaning for over a year now about Midnight Ink (publishing imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide) and their apparent ignorance of ebooks.  There were a few at Amazon, but ALL of them were in Topaz. (Don't get me started on Topaz...).  Then a very few started showing up at Barnes & Noble; which was great, but not ideal (.pdb STILL sucks, and regardless of the media hype, B & N has NOT switched everything to ePub).  I've posted pleading posts on their Facebook page, and I've mentioned it to the authors every time I've had opportunity.  Apparently, someone finally listened!

Because today, I was looking at my wishlist on Books on Board, and did a search for one of Midnight Ink's authors on a whim...and the books were there!  Very excitedly, I searched the author list from their blog, Inkspot..and found MOST of the titles!  This means I can buy that Vicki Doudera book that I've been lusting after for MONTHS but refused to buy in Topaz!  I can get decent copies of  Sue Ann Jaffarian's Odelia Grey series!  And the Joanna Campbell Slan scrapbooking mysteries! 

Now...if I can just find an email address for Laura Childs' publisher.... *evil grin*.

Found the boots!

While they're not precisely ankle boots, (they're midcalf),  they're cute, and a little kicky.  The heel is right (not stiletto, I have a horror of breaking those off), and not too high, but high enough to be dressy. 

Since the site uses Flash (so I can't lift the image and post it), and I'm too lazy to get up and go take a picture;  here's the link:
Rosa Strappy Boot

I came home and put my insoles and gel-pac ball-of-the-foot cushions in them and they're actually pretty comfortable.  I wouldn't want to run a marathon in them, but I think they'd get me through an out of town shopping trip without making me cry.  I'll count that as a success.

Feminine details

As anyone who knows me can tell you, I'm not really a girly-girl.  But I get in these moods....where makeup and nail polish, a new hairstyle and new clothes sound soooo good.  Been there recently, as a matter of fact.  Fortunately for my disposition, this time around I've actually been able to indulge.  Well, except for the makeup, which Chris hates and so I very seldom wear.   But I've started trying to keep my nails done - I love the "unusual" colors that have a hint of fun in them... like denim blue to match my work shirt, but I also love the more traditional coppery tones for autumn.  I've found the Pure Ice brand at Walmart has lots of luscious and fun colors!  And at 2 bucks a bottle, it's an affordable indulgence...

My hair and I have an ongoing battle going.  I like it long (I look completely stupid with short hair), but Chris likes it even longer, *laugh*   And while I like being able to pull it back for work, I also want to be able to wear it down and it not be completely boring.  I'm also really bad about just getting lazy and letting it go...and go...and go...before I'll get frustrated enough to do something, and then when I want it done, I want it done RIGHT THEN.  This doesn't usually work out so well, as my "RIGHT THEN"  usually isn't timed right with when salons are open or we have money!  However, this time it worked out and I'm sporting a pretty new hairstyle.  Still long, but added sideswept bangs and a side part.  Easy to maintain, and looks like I put some work into it, even though I didn't.  And the top is still long enough I can put it up.  Success!  Now if I can just keep it colored...

I was raised in Texas by a Southern mother.  She didn't go as far as the whole "no white shoes after Labor Day" stuff, but she had certain ideas of a bare minimum for a wardrobe.   I had let it get to what she would have considered desperation point: I owned two pair of jeans that fit, one pair of work pants, and one pair of ragged sweatpants that fit right.  And my t-shirts were mostly either stained or had a hole somewhere strategic.  Lucky for me, I have a husband who thinks that clothes are a necessity, not a luxury, and also knows that if left to my own devices, I won't buy anything. So, with his encouragement, I've fixed the wardrobe problem very nicely.  For example, I went to go remedy the sweatpants problem...and came home with not only two pair of sweatpants, but two long sleeved t-shirts to match, plus a grey ombre drapey cardigan - and that was only the first stop that day!  The complete haul, as of yesterday has been (besides the aforementioned):  two long sleeved thermal knit shirts, one in terracotta, one in a pretty sage-y green;  two pair of jeans that fit,one in black and one in faded stonewash, one pair of khaki cargo pants for work (and can also be worn for other things),   one black ruana, in crochet, and a new pair of work shoes.  I've also been trying to combat my Scottish soul's penchant for all black and gray stuff, because it doesn't stain and it all goes together...but I get tired of looking like I'm perpetually on my way to a funeral! 

Anyway, for a change I'm feeling rather well put together... still looking for a pair of ankle boots to go with weekend jeans though...

September Reads

The Shelfari trick worked!  Regardless of the wonky widget, I did manage to keep track of what I read all month! 

 

Anyway...here we go...

 

Madelyn Alt - A Witch in Time:  One of my favorite series and I loved this last one.  The chemistry between Marcus and Maggie finally caught fire.  Five stars. 

 

Isabel Wolff  - A Vintage Affair:  This is one of the few times that B&N's hype got me.  Really enjoyed the book though, and the vintage clothes setting is always a hit with me.

 

John Levitt - Dog Days:  Not cozy.  Urban Fantasy series similar to the Dresden Files.  Loved it.

 

Amanda Lee - The Quick and the Thread:  Wonderful start for a new series... really  enjoyed it!

 

Simon R. Green - Ghost of a Chance:  Again, not cozy but urban fantasy. I liked a short story I read from his Nightside series, so when I saw a new series debut I had to try it.  It wasn't as good as I was hoping. Not bad, but too gory for my taste.  I had to skim some at the end.

 

Betty Webb - The Anteater of Death:  I adore this series!! 

 

Heather Webber - Deeply, Desperately:   What can I say?  Five star read, simply AMAZING.  Loved, loved, loved it

.

Jim & Joyce LaVene - Wicked Weaves:  First in the Renaissance Faire series, and I'll read the others, because I really enjoyed this one.

 

Hannah Reed (Deb Baker) - Buzz Off:  Loved it, can't wait for more of Story's ...well, story, LOL.

 

Simon R. Green - Something From the Nightside:  First in the Nightside series.  Enjoyed this one more than Ghost of a Chance, and will probably get around to the rest of the series.

 

Jana DeLeon - Trouble in Mudbug:  First in the Ghost-in-Law series.  I have not laughed so hard in a LONG, long time. I absolutely LOVED this, and can't wait to read the other two. HIGHLY recommended.

 

Betty Webb - The Koala of Death:  Yep, love this series, LOL.

 

Wendy Lyn Watson - Scoop to Kill:   Anything set in Texas gets points with me, but this would be a great series even if it wasn't for that.  Loved it.  Oh, and Wendy's a brat....read the book and you'll see what I mean.

 

Miranda James (Dean James) - Murder Past Due:   Another 5 star read...really enjoyed it and looking forward to the next installment.

 

Sheila Connolly - Red Delicious Death:  Soooo glad this series isn't done  yet, because I'm thoroughly enjoying them!!

 

Cleo Coyle - French Pressed:  All of these are really good - slowly working my way through the series.

 

By now you're probably wondering if I like EVERYTHING I read.  Unfortunately, no.  I had one book this month I couldn't even finish, regretfully.  I say "regretfully" because I really wanted to like it.  I started Alexander Campion's "A Grave Gourmet" right after I finished "Trouble in Mudbug"....and either it was too big of a shift, or I wasn't in the mood, or what, I don't know...but I still haven't finished it.  I've picked it up a few times, but I just can't get into it.

 

Current read is the new Rita Mae Brown - "A Nose for Justice".   This is the first in a new series.  I can see similarities between this and her other two mystery series - the tone is the same.  However, a whole different setting in these (Nevada as opposed to Virginia), and different subjects.  I'm enjoying it.

 

Veddy Interesting...

Found this on Nate the Great's ebook news blog, The Digital Reader. Nate is also a Mobile Read member, of course.  Here's the link, and then my take on it:  http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2010/09/23/amazon-planning-ahead-for-a-switch-to-epub/#comments
I haven't used the KindleGen tool,  but apparently it's meant to make conversion of files easier for people who are interested in publishing their books on the Kindle platform.  Now, it seems that instead of letting the author choose to leave out the source file when compiling the .prc file,  that option has been removed, effectively bundling the epub source with the .prc output.   What does this mean, you ask?  Well, according to both Nate and the original source of the news,  it *could* mean that Amazon is preparing to support epub.  Nate's logic makes sense to me, (if you read his entry, he can't figure out any other reason they'd change that option).  However, at this point I'm not sure if I want him to be correct, or not. 
My first reaction was, "Oh, hell yeah!!!  Epub at Amazon!  No more being locked out of books I want because Topaz is a pain in the butt to strip and convert!"   But then I thought again.  If Amazon switches to epub, I think you can effectively say goodbye to everyone else's epub ebookstores.  Like it or not, Amazon IS the 800 lb. gorilla when it comes to content again, even after last summer's squabbles with MacMillan and the more recent falling out with Penguin.  Even with the Agency Pricing Model saying you can't charge less than the publisher's set amount for an ebook, there doesn't seem to be anything that says you can't charge MORE...and a lot of ebookstores are doing just that.  But we all know Amazon won't....they'll charge exactly what the publisher says they have to, and not a penny more...and then they'll watch the competition vanish.  I don't see this as a good thing.   Plus that, if all that happens, and another round of Publishers vs. Amazon takes place, we'll all be left high and dry, and this time with no other choices.  At least with this round, we could still buy epub formats at B&N and the Sony ebookstore while Amazon and the publishers were playing "chicken".  As an ebook addict, that's not a place I want to find myself. 

Weekend musings

First up... yes, I know the Shelfari widget is still weird.  I'll probably end up taking the darn thing off, as it ONLY shows up in Internet Explorer.  Annoying, but apparently no one has a fix for it.  However, Shelfari *is* working for it's intended purpose, which was to help me keep up with what I've read this month.  Guess I'll have to use Shelfari for that, and Goodreads for everything else.  Seems counter intuitive, but whatever works, right?

 Saturday we went back to Bolingbrook to pick up my new glasses.  This is the first time I've had the antireflective coating on a pair.  I can't tell much difference, to be honest, except that these seem to pick up finger smudges badly.  But then, I haven't tried driving at night with them yet either.  I was also on a mission to see what ebook device displays were in the area, so we stopped at Bolingbrook's Best Buy. They said they'd just redone the store layout, and after a bit of confusion on the part of the clerk, we found that they have the Sony and the Nook display side by side...but no Kindle 3's in sight.  However, I did notice an odd bit of empty space next to the Nook kiosk, so I'm betting when the store gets K3's, that's where they'll be.   We came back through Dekalb, (which seems to be our route of choice these days), and stopped at Target, which did have the new K3, or at least a demo of it.  It's a lot smaller than I thought, and the texture felt odd.  Since a few people at Mobile Read have K3's now, and all say the texture is smooth, I wonder if they put something on the demo units to help them survive a bit better?   And of course, since we were next door, we stopped in a B&N. 
That's where the story gets good.  One of the "hidden" reasons I wanted a Nook was for the accessories.  Hey, I'm female, ok?  So they had this gorgeous leaf green leather cover with a quote by Martin Tupper that says, "A good book is the best of friends, the same today and forever" stamped on it. I've also liked the attachment system of the Nook covers ever since I saw them.  Well, this is the first time they've had one of the Tupper covers actually in the store - so I tested it with the Sony.  It works!  The Sony is a tad shorter than a Nook, so there's some space at the top, but that doesn't bother me.  And even though the elastic at the top doesn't go down very far, the Sony stays put, even if you turn it upside down and shake it.  When I told Chris I'd been drooling over that cover for months, and he saw how secure it held the Sony, he bought it for me.  Yes, I am spoiled *happy smile*.  I also bought a matching Mighty Bright booklight (yes, they come in green). 

In other news (still ebook related, though)... I seem to have found a bug in Calibre.  It's being fixed as I type this, but I was pretty darn amazed that I actually reported something that turned out not to be me making a stupid mistake!  It seems that in release 7.18, they "broke" something that keeps count of the books on a Sony Reader.  Remember I was so thrilled because Calibre showed me what was already on the Reader so I didn't add duplicates?  Well, suddenly, Calibre started showing (2 books) for some entries.  I knew there was only one book on the Reader for those entries, so I posted about it at Mobile Read, and sure enough...it's a bug.  So now I'm looking forward to the next release of Calibre, and that being fixed, even though it's more of a nuisance than anything earth shattering. 

What I've learned from reading fiction

Over at Mobile Read, the question was posed, "What did you learn from fiction that you hadn't expected going in?"  Well, I was thinking about it, and realized just how much I've learned over the years I've been reading fiction.  I also realized that a good chunk of my success in Trivial Pursuit stems from reading one author. One author, you ask?  Yep, one.  Here's a list off the top of my head (as posted by me at Mobile Read).

I now know amazing bits of trivia about vintage clothing, jewelry making, archaeology, egyptology, Munich, needlework, the history of Virginia, forensic anthropology, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the layout of the Oriental Institute in Chicago, witchcraft, ghosts, Revolutionary war history, the study of the occult, politics, scuba diving, landscaping, architecture, Bonnie Prince Charlie, and rose rustling.

The author is Barbara Michaels/Elizabeth Peters.  If you don't believe me, start at the beginning with "Sons of the Wolf" and just keep reading.  You'll learn it all, too. 

Sound off!

Okay, I've had it.  This is just ridiculous.  So they want to build a community center that contains a place for islamic worship (NOT A MOSQUE!)  two blocks and around the corner from Ground Zero. (here's a map )  Why is this even being argued about?  What are we going to do, rope off a mile radius from Ground Zero in Manhattan?  Riiiight.  In a city where every metric centimeter is valuable real estate, that's about as likely as the Easter Bunny coming in November. 
This has absolutely nothing to do with the national tragedy that was  Sept. 11th, 2001.  It has everything to do with hysterical media making mountains out of molehills, and gullible people who are too lazy to do their own research falling for it hook, line, and sinker.

Keeping up

How do y'all keep up with what you read?  I belong to Cozy Mystery Korner, a Yahoo group dedicated to discussing cozy mysteries.  The in thing seems to be to keep up with what you read during the month and then post a list and your comments at the end of the month.  I tried it... and can't remember what I've read during the month well enough to do it!  This month I'm trying a new strategy though.  I signed up for a Shelfari account, and I'm only putting in it what I'm currently reading as I go.  I tried to get the widget to work on this blog, but all I get is a line of text - no idea what I'm doing wrong, I'll fool with it some more later, maybe. 
On a different subject:  Some really cute tubes came through one of my groups today.  I've always been a sucker for "four seasons" type graphics and these were adorable.  So I did something I haven't done in a while.. made some sigtags.  I kept it simple; the graphics didn't need much enhancing, they were pretty cute as they were. Here's the "Fall Wreath" one. 

Further reflections on ebook readers

As I mentioned in the last post, I bought a Sony Reader this weekend.  What I didn't mention was that until this weekend, Sony was a distant third for a contender in what I thought I would eventually purchase.  After nearly a week of loading it up with books and finding out the ins and outs of how it organizes things,  I'm kicking myself for overlooking Sony as a contender for ebook reading for so long.
To start with,  I never have been a big fan of Amazon.   But I really liked the look of the new Kindle 3, even enough to contemplate locking myself into Amazon for buying ebooks.  Now admittedly, Amazon is still the 800 lb. gorilla when it comes to selection, or they are now...but this last year what with all the pulling content from different publishers has got me spooked.  I'm not saying it was all Amazon's fault, matter of fact,  I was on their side in both instances, but it still left me gun shy.  I don't want to be locked into one bookstore if something like that happens again.
I've liked the form factor of Barnes and Noble's Nook ever since it came out.  The only thing I didn't like and couldn't get past there, was the way they differentiate between content bought from B&N and content you sideload onto the device.  The B&N content you get the cute little coverflow on the bottom LCD, everything else, you don't.  To be fair, I can see why they do it that way - they've got to make it enticing to buy from their own store.  But as a consumer, I just don't like it.
So, I'd been obsessing for months over "could I stand it or could I not and would I regret purchasing it" about both the new Kindle and the Nook. 

I've never been crazy about the looks of the Sony Readers.  And every display model I've ever seen in stores only reinforced that, as they tend to get beat all to hell and look pretty rough. I guess I'd look pretty rough too, if I was strapped to a display with industrial strength zip ties and everyone who came along had to touch me....ewww, okay, never mind, let's not go there!  But anyway, it doesn't make for an informed decision when you're looking at purchasing one. 
What I didn't know about Sony Readers though, until I got one, is just how neat of a gadget they are.  I also didn't know my last month or so of painstakingly adding all my books to Calibre was going to pay off in spades when I got one!  Yes, Sony Readers play very nicely with Calibre.  To the point I never even bothered to install the Sony software... I simply started loading the SD card up using Calibre.  It put them on the Reader in Collections, which turned out to be by series, which is perfect for me, because the vast majority of what I read is..well...series.  And when the Reader is connected to Calibre, it shows me what's already on the device, so I don't add duplicates. 
A few other neat features - handwriting support with a stylus:  this means that yep, I can get authors to autograph it!  It remembers where I left off reading and which book - I know, most ebook readers do that, but Calibre's ebook viewer is just a tiny bit flaky with that, and remember, that's what I've been using almost exclusively for book reading since March.  Any ePub with Adobe DRM (or unDRM'd, because let's face it, the second I buy an ebook the DRM comes off... I want to be able to catalogue it in Calibre, and Calibre doesn't support any form of DRM),  will work on a Sony, as will .pdf, .rtf, and .lrf.   Since I'd already settled on ePub as my format of choice months ago, it works out great for me.
Sony is more expensive than either Kindle or Nook right now, and from statements that have been made to the press, they don't seem to be in a hurry to change that.  For me, the advantages have already been worth the price difference that I paid (and remember, I got last year's model at a discount), but that might not be true for everyone.

All I know is that from being a distant third in my lineup of choices, Sony has gone to being number one with me.  When it comes time to replace this, guess where I'll look first?

Too much anticipation...

...will make you do unplanned things.  Like impulse purchasing. 
I've had a bad case of gadget lust for months now.  Part of it stemmed from us being on such a tight budget all summer, due to having two car payments at once.  Well, now that my car is paid off, (Hallelujah!)  there's a bit more wiggle room.
You would think that the new phone would have cured the gadget lust, but ohh noooo....y'all know me better, don't you?  No, I've been looking at and comparing ebook readers again; since the price drops and the new Pearl screens, I've been really tempted to go for a Nook...or even a new Kindle *gasp*.
Well, I was talking to Chris about the new crop of Sony Readers this morning.  I found out that the Sony Stores had floor models of the new ones in, and I wanted to see one up close and personal.  However, that led to Chris looking at the outgoing models, and finding out they were on clearance - and available closer than the nearest Sony Store - which is halfway across the state from us.  Illinois isn't that big of a state, but still....
Anyway, we went to go look at the older model (a 600),  thinking it'd be that or a Nook for me.  It ended up being the Sony, and now that I have it, it's charged, and I've been loading books onto it, I'm glad.  I love the collections feature, and I love that it treats sideloaded content exactly the same as it does things you purchase from the Sony Reader store.  The screen isn't the crispest out there, but it isn't awful, either.  All in all, if you find one on clearance at a good price, I'd say grab it. 

Texas girl seeks brisket...

As all of you know, I'm a native Texan.  As all of you also know, I now reside in Illinois.  I like Illinois (at least for nine months out of the year....winter goes on entirely too long up here for my taste).  However, grocery stores and butchers here think that all brisket must be corned.  What's a Texas girl to do?  Well,  I do have one customer who has taken pity on me, and when they make a smoked brisket, he and his daughter always bring me some.  But it's barely enough to whet my appetite...
So, I did find a reasonably priced piece of plain brisket today in our local corner grocery store.  I took a deep breath, and decided to treat myself. (22 dollar hunks of meat aren't usually in my grocery budget).   Not having a smoker, however, and being short on time to smoke a brisket for 12 plus hours, it's going to have to be the crockpot route.  It won't be *as* good, but I'm hoping it'll be at least acceptable to my taste buds.
I'm *loosely* using Pioneer Woman's braised brisket recipe, here:  http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/brisket_baby/   but of course I've taken some liberties.  I reduced the soy sauce,  omitted the garlic (because I was out), and increased the liquid smoke.  It's marinating in the fridge now; and I'll crockpot it (instead of bake it), probably tomorrow or Sunday.  May the gods of Texas food be with me....

What's for dinner?

There's a few lines from one of my favorite Barbara Michael's books (Be Buried in the Rain), that have stuck with me. The first one is where the main character is stuck taking care of her elderly grandmother who has had a stroke, in rural Virginia, and without a car.  She's lamenting about cooking meals every day (something she isn't used to, as a student),  and she wails, "Chicken and beef and pork and fish, chicken and beef and pork and fish...."    as in that's all the choices there are. 

At the change of seasons, I start to agree with her.

It's too warm for autumn and winter food, and not warm enough for summer food, like salads, not that Chris will eat most salads anyway.   Last night's meal was stuffed chicken breasts, mashed potatoes, and gravy.  Well, it was supposed to be, anyway....it's currently in the fridge, cooked but untouched.  Neither of us felt like eating it.  I bought hamburger with the half formed notion of meatloaf, but Chris is kind of lukewarm about meatloaf,  so I think I'll morph that idea into hamburger steak.  It'll use those mashed potatoes I made last night, and we haven't had that in a while.  Even Chris admitted it sounded good, and since he usually has no opinion at all about food,  I took that as a rousing endorsement. 

And now, for something completely different:  I just finished Isabel Wolff's "A Vintage Affair".   Really good read, I thought.  I seem to be in an odd place mentally with  my reading just now, instead of sticking fairly close with my favorite Cozies, I'm venturing out into fantasy, steampunk, and general fiction.  I've been browsing the ebookstores and finding some interesting stuff.  Oh, and that other line from "Be Buried in the Rain" that sticks? 

"Again, Melissa.  Every year you come back .  .  .  the same day, the
same place .  .  .  I burn your clothes.  Not once, but every year.

Every year I dig the grave .  .  .  Why won't you and your bastard brat
stay where I put you?"

See why this is my yearly Halloween read?

Work in progress

Ok, here's what I have in the Urban Fantasy library at the moment.  I'm not done with it, as I still haven't decided if I'm going to continue to add everything with a ghost, witch, vampire, werething or zombie in here, or if I'm creating another library for the less urban, less gritty, and more fluffy stuff.  You'll notice I've rearranged the columns a bit - I read by author, so I moved that to the first position, and I added a "Read?" column to show if I've read it or not.  That's going to take some work, as I didn't start with it and now need to go back and fill it in.  I also didn't get as OCD with adding the publication dates with these, so I'll have to go back and edit most of those, as well.  But it's coming along nicely.

This just in....

I GOT AN A IN MANAGERIAL ACCOUNTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Final grades were posted today... I nearly died of shock. Chris is bringing home McD's to celebrate :)

In other news:   I'm finding I'm highly picky about my paranormal/urban fantasy books. While adding them to Calibre, I'm finding out I have acquired a bunch of stuff I bet I never read.  I still haven't decided what I'm going to do with the paranormal fluff romance stuff. I just started adding all the urban fantasy type first, and when I'm done with that I'll figure something out.  I'm up to 51 authors and 210 books in the Paranormal Library....and I'm on the M's in the folder.  Lots less than Cozies, for sure.

I've been fighting an acute case of gadget lust, ever since the prices came down on the Nook (I know, but it drives me crazy not to capitalize it) and then the new Kindle 3 came out.  I want BOTH!  I don't need either one of them,  and I'm still trying to talk myself out of getting one.  HP also is making my dreams come true by announcing a tablet with WebOS.  I'm telling you, if it's halfway decent hardware (and it should be) and they let it have access to the WebOS app store,  it should be a KILLER ebook reader.  I'm still thrilled with both Popelli Reader and pReader....between the two I can read nearly every format out there.

So, the dilemma....get a Nook or a Kindle 3 now (well, with Kindle 3 as soon as they're back in stock, anyway), and then be mad when the WebOS tablet comes out and I'm lusting for it, or wait until the WebOS tablet comes out and then decide if I want that, or whether I'd rather have a Nook or a Kindle 3?  Decision, decisions....

Calibre redux

Are y'all sick of reading about Calibre yet?  Other than the fact that no one can seem to agree on whether or not the name is supposed to be capitalized, that is, including me.  Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't, and I can't see that a definitive agreement has been reached among the good folks at Mobile Read, Calibre's unofficial home.
Anyway,  I let my brain recover for a few days, and have now started on my Paranormal/Fantasy books.  The whole genre thing is causing me some OCD anxiety though.  It seems I have two fairly distinct types going: Straight urban fantasy, like the Dresden Files and Kim Harrison's Hollows series, and then the lighter, funnier, more romantic and/or sexy stuff....Annette Blair's Melody Seabright series, and the various Mary Janice Davidson series.
I've already set up multiple libraries in Calibre (I didn't want to use tags, more OCD), and right now I have the main one, named the default "CalibreLibrary" , which is the one with all my Cozies in it, and one for Paranormal named "CalibreLibraryP".   The question is should I split further and separate the lighter stuff from the urban fantasy?  I haven't decided  yet, and if I do that, since I've already started putting the UF stuff in "CalibreLibraryP"  what am I going to call the other category?  "CalibreLibraryPR"?
According to Kovid, version 7.15 of Calibre, due out this weekend,  is supposed to simplify multiple libraries even more. I'm looking forward to seeing what he's come up with this time.
Another neat thing:  Li'l Bit (the Asus T91MT that is my main reading device, for new readers here), is great, but has limited storage space.  What I had been doing was copying books over from my desktop onto an 8 gig SD card and using Calibre's (I know, I know...) ebook viewer to read them on Li'l Bit.  Well, I discovered that if I point the Calibre install on Li'l Bit to the folder on the desktop that contains the Calibre library (ies), I can access everything through our home network that way, without having to put anything on Li'l Bit to take up more room, and I can also still switch between libraries.  This only works if I'm at home and in range of our wireless router, of course.  But that's no different than having to load up an SD card for any other reader when you know you're going to be traveling. 
Even with Li'l Bit, and even though I said I was never going back to a device that only handled limited formats, I find myself wanting both a Kindle 3 and a nook (now that one I know isn't supposed to be capitalized, but it still offends my grammarian's soul).  Now that the prices have come down so much, it is financially feasible,  and the reason for both is that there are still some things you can't get anywhere but at Amazon, due to publisher's not realizing (or more likely, not caring) that they are damaging their author's sales by not making those ebook releases as widely available as possible.   There still really is not a good "all round" reader that handles all ebook formats and is reasonably priced.  What I'd actually like to see is a tablet in the 7 - 9 inch range running WebOS.  There are two ebook reading applications for WebOS, that have all the features and format capability to make a tablet form factor ebook reader running those a dream machine.

My brain is fried....

...but all 199 authors, 221 series, and 1093 books in my Cozy folder are entered into calibre.  I'm probably missing a few here and there that I'll deal with later when I remember they're missing.  Ever since Chris upgraded my hard drives, I've been finding here and there books I missed moving over from the "backup" I put on his machine.

The new phone arrived, and it is wonderful.  I had noticed with the BlackBerry that I was actually avoiding calling places that had numerical options (press 1 for English), or calling my voice mail (because I'd have to enter the passcode).  The Palm Pre Plus is a definite improvement with that!  The touchscreen dialpad is larger, more responsive, and MUCH easier to use.  I'm also liking WebOS.  I've installed a couple of apps - I paid the $1.99 for Popelli Reader, and so far it's handled everything I've thrown at it, which at the moment includes txt, html, lit, and mobi files.  I was also glad to find my familiar Weather Channel app for WebOS. 

I was wrong, however - while the Pre Plus has playlist support, you can't make playlists on the phone, like I could with the BlackBerry.  That is, you can't unless you "jailbreak" it by enabling Developer's Mode and install what they call Music Player (Remix), which is a beta app. that basically took WebOS's music player and redid it the way it probably should have been in the first place.  I'm not brave enough to tackle this, so I'm waiting for Chris to do it. 

BlackBerry vs. Palm WebOS

  Here's a confession. Although I've loved the BlackBerry O/S,  I can't say I've enjoyed the Storm 2 all that much.  I hate the SurePress technology on it, and using the browser is an exercise in frustration with a touchscreen phone. Or at least with this particular touchscreen.  When I had to confess to Chris that I refused to try to do anything using the Storm 2's browser,  he said, "Well, then it's time for you a different phone." 

As I told Chris, I don't even need a browser on a phone, but I was seduced by the other smartphone capabilities and storage.  I personally think a browser on a device with such a small screen is just asking for frustration and temptation to throw said device across a room.  Add BlackBerry's SurePress to the mix and ...ooops. (No, I haven't thrown the BlackBerry across any rooms. But I can sure see why someone with less patience and more money would).

Since we have been needing to add another line to our plan anyway, so Jay can have a phone again,  today spontaneously became phone shopping day.  I was going for something that had the music, camera, and calendar capability of a smart phone, but not necessarily the web capability.  And something that I liked the looks of and the form factor.  And that of course, had ebook reading capability.  Well - you can have two of those, or you can have all three of those, but you can't leave the web browser out of the mix, apparently.   I explained to Chris that since they don't make said device, that as long as he doesn't expect me to USE the web browsing capability, if we could just find something I could type on, (along with aforementioned music, camera, ebook, and calendar capability) I'd be happy.  Unfortunately, BlackBerry doesn't make anything that fit the bill.

Soooo....Sometime on Tuesday, Fed Ex should be delivering a Palm Pre Plus.  Why did I go from BlackBerry to Palm, you ask?   Well....I'm female. I love the looks and form factor of the Pre Plus.  AND...bonus here....There's an app. for Palm WebOS called Popelli Reader -  http://www.precentral.net/homebrew-apps/palm-reader-ebook-reader  that apparently reads almost EVERYTHING - which is more than you can find for BlackBerry, and so that makes me very happy.  The Pre Plus also comes with a 16 gig SD card (as did the Storm 2), so I'm good with storage for both music AND books.  The music player, hopefully, isn't awful, because that's the one facet of it that I didn't get to test.  I do know it has playlist capability, which is important to me.  We'll see how it goes...

Progress report

I'm fairly sure no one cares about this except me, but here it is anyway:   I'm up to 122 out of 213 authors in my Cozies folder.  Careful readers will notice that that's three more folders than last time - that's because I acquired some new books and new authors.  I found out I don't have quite as much in Paranormal as I thought, only 133 authors in there.  I have a few more big collections to add - M.C. Beaton and Diane Mott Davidson come to mind - but I'm over half done with Cozies.  Once this is done, the Library can be exported to any computer I wish, then just point Calibre to it.  Updating across two computers might be a pain, but I do like having it all organized, with covers and series information. 

Steeped in Books

Well, here it is, new release Tuesday for August.  With releases like Heather Webber's second in the Lucy Valentine series, "Deeply, Desperately" and Cleo Coyle's ninth outing in the Coffeehouse series, "Roast Mortem", I'm in Cozy Mystery nirvana.  Not to mention the latest in Nevada Barr's Anna Pigeon series, "Burn". 

Three more weeks, and my last accounting class will be OVER.  I've managed to pull B's in the other ones, if I can just haul out of this one with another B I'll be happy.  And relieved.  One thing I've discovered is, I'll never be an accountant!


My latest project is entering all my ebooks into Calibre - the best ebook management/conversion/viewing software out there.  Developed by Kovid Goyal, who I'm proud to say I know via the forums at Mobile Read, Calibre is freeware, and is constantly being developed and improved.  Unfortunately, my ebooks are in such a mess that to avoid having a million duplicates that I'd have to go in and weed out later, I'm having to enter things one folder at a time.  At least this gives me a chance to see what I'm missing, so I can put it on assorted wishlists at the various ebookstores.  Right now, I'm on author 56 out of 210 in my Cozy Mystery folder, with at least that many more in my Paranormal genre folder, and then assorted anthologies, thrillers, novels, YA, and science fiction to go.  I think I might be at this for awhile.  After I'm done, though, I can export this database and use it with any install of Calibre on any other machine, which will be handy.  I have to admit it's kind of fun and addicting, adding all the series metadata and covers.  Here's a screenshot - I'll keep posting them as I make progress.

April

Okay, so what *was* it with new releases in April anyway?  There was a list of new releases a mile long, just in my preferred genre of Cozy Mysteries, and from what I could tell, Paranormal looked just as bad.  Did the publishers decide that everyone would have tax refund money back so they could buy books?   And if that was a part of the decision,  the whole "Publishers vs. Retailers"  war with the agency pricing model made even *less* sense (if that's possible), because it has had the result of making a lot of those new releases impossible to get hold of in ebook!   What's that you say?  I can buy the paperback or hardback instead?  Sorry, Publishers, there were good and sufficient reasons for me to go "all ebook all the time" and I'm by no means the only one.  Get your act together and stop being afraid of new technology, and get those new releases to the retailers.  You're only hurting your customers and your authors...both of which, need I remind you, are the reason for your very existence. 

Paper or Plastic?

Thanks to Barbara Bretton for her thought provoking Earth Day question on Facebook; "Which is better for the environment, paper or plastic?".
It seems there is some controversy going on, because paper uses trees, and plastic hangs around landfills forever.
Barbara's commenters got off on a tangent about cashiers and baggers giving them the "stink-eye" and the heavy sigh when they ask for paper, so I endeavored to explain why that is, and  then I thought, "Why not make a blog post out of it?".  Here's my answer to Barbara and her commenters, and then we'll get into the rest of the post:. 

From the other side - Paper is WAY harder to deal with when you're bagging than plastic. The stores don't give you any framework to sit paper bags in, like the holders we have for plastic, and that's why you get the "stink-eye" and the heavy sigh when you ask for paper. As a cashier, when I don't have a bagger available and you ask for paper, it slows me down getting to the next customer, and these days, I'm on a timer. If I don't get to the next one fast enough, it's a demerit on my record. (This is becoming standard operating procedure in most chain grocery stores, btw.) I care about the environment, but I care about my job more.
The bring your own bags, though... most of them have a loop that slides right over the tab on our plastic holders, so we can make them stay open. That makes them easier and faster than paper, and a lot sturdier than plastic, so we don't have to double bag heavy loads. And it can't be argued that 'bring your own" bags are better for the environment than either paper OR plastic.
My personal opinion is that the stores should stop offering bags at all. Offer the "bring your own" style at checkout for purchase if someone forgets theirs, but have that as the only thing available. 

While I was thinking about this, I also realized there's one other big thing I would change if I could about how most grocery stores do business.  Our local Aldi store has a "deposit" method for carts.  The carts are all chained together, and to unchain them, you must insert a quarter into a little plastic slot, which unlocks the chain on the other end.  You get the quarter back when you return the cart and plug the chain into the slot. I think this is brilliant.  I've been sent out to get carts in snow, ice, slush, lightning, rain, blistering heat, and freezing cold.  Carts are left in parking spaces, where they roll to the far edges of the parking lot, and sometimes clear out onto the street.   With a system such as this, customers would have to return their cart to the store holding area to retrieve their quarter, making my job a lot easier, and probably saving my company a bunch of money in the long run. 

 

 

Where do they come up with those ideas?

I was browsing through the chick lit section at the online bookstore, half awake, and not really paying attention to the blurbs I was reading other than to think occasionally, "Oh, that looks interesting...."  when a description caught my eye.  I'm still shaking my head over this one:

  Nice by Jen Sacks - here's the blurb:

"First there was Clay--it just sort of happened.
Then there was Pete--he was becoming way too attached.
Ben, well, he totally had it coming.
And then there was Sam...

Grace is nice to a fault. She never picks fights, and doesn't like to criticize or hurt people's feelings. Problem is, the men in her life never seem to take a hint. And she just can't bear to tell them outright when she isn't interested. So she kills them. A clean break--no messy emotions, no heated arguments. But someone is onto her. His name is Sam, and he and Grace, with one very dangerous thing in common, make a killer couple. It's a match made in heaven-as long as they can both survive the relationship..."    Ummm ok.. Dent his ego or dent his head? 

I was still shaking my head when Chris got up and he asked what I was thinking about, so I told him.  He kind of snorted and then asked, "Is there anything we need to talk about, dear?"  *grin*.   I think he thinks I read wayyyy too many murder mysteries. 

I think we've all been in places where we might have *liked* to kill an ex love interest that just wouldn't take no for an answer, at least if going into the Witness Protection Program and disappearing forever just wasn't an option.  Love the idea about what would happen if someone actually *did* do it, though.   And was smart enough to get away with it...

Oooops?

No, I did not drop off the face of the planet, things just got a little hectic, as usual.  Between school, work, and Chris, my life sometimes feels like a tornado in progress. 

Lots of things going on - I'll try to make a short list here.  Last Sunday, Chris and I attended the Deadly Divas tour at  the Bolingbrook Barnes & Noble.   Heather Webber, Denise Swanson, Marcia Talley, and Sara Rosett were in attendance, unfortunately, Elizabeth Lynn Casey had to miss this tour.   It was a blast!  I had been talking to Heather via Facebook and blog comments about it for a couple of weeks, so she was forewarned about me being there.  I also warned her about my new strategy for autographs: Since I've more than likely already bought the ebook, and since Li'l Bit has handwriting recognition,  I just have them sign a new document in Paint that I can save as .png.  Then I can make a neat wallpaper with all the autographs, or insert them into the ebook files.  Heather was also kind enough to sign my ARC of Truly, Madly that I got through the Firstreads program at Goodreads.   The picture that Marcia Talley took with her iPhone of Heather signing Li'l Bit turned up on her blog on Monday, which I thought was pretty darn cool! 

Won blog commenter of the month for March at Elizabeth Lynn Casey's blog - I had my pick of prizes, but chose an autographed copy of the first Sewing Circle Mystery, Sew Deadly.  Received it and it's in a place of honor on my ARC and autographed shelf on my desk.  I'm going to have to slow down on winning these, though, that shelf is getting close to full!  I have titles on there from Julie Hyzy, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Kimberly Frost, Sheila Connolly, and of course Elizabeth Lynn Casey. 

Details E-Publishing is taking off.  Julie Hyzy asked me to format three manuscripts for her, and Lorraine Bartlett asked me to do a few for her, as well.   I hope to have all those done and back to them at the end of day, Sunday. 

I get spring break from classes - basically a week and a half off, since week 8 is super short for these classes.  Next session is the long-dreaded Accounting 2 and Database Management.  I may drop off the planet again for the duration. 

Everything old is new again...

I love the smell and taste of fresh baked bread.  Last spring I got on a baking kick, and started making our bread from scratch - no bread machine, kneading, rising, kneading, and baking.   But then real life in the 21st century reared it's ugly head and I found I usually didn't have time for what is usually about a six hour process.  So - with an unexpected gift card from Walmart, we bought a bread machine.  It's still about a three hour process, but other than mixing the ingredients the first time and checking the dough to make sure it isn't too dry, it's mostly set and forget. 

This morning I decided I was missing fresh bread. Something about spring-like weather makes me want to cook. So I threw the ingredients in the bread machine.  The house will smell like fresh bread and fresh air today - and I'm not seeing a problem with this! 

BlackBerry vs. BlackBerry

I've had two BlackBerry Curves in a row.  I got the first one because up until then, Chris and I had had matching cell phones (first Razrs and then LG Envy 1's).  Then he decided he wanted more net access than what the Envy could give him and made the jump to BlackBerry.  I fell in love with his, so we got me one off eBay.  That one I loved, but the screen was glitchy.  So, when it came time for me to upgrade via our provider, I just went for another Curve.  Recently, Chris went to a BlackBerry Tour, and that was the impetus for me to start looking to see what was out there other than a Curve for me.  I waffled back and forth for a long time - I wanted more screen real estate for (what else?) reading ebooks, but I wasn't at all sure about a touchscreen interface.  We text a LOT, and I need to be able to type at least fairly quickly on any phone I have.  Then once I decided I could deal with a touchscreen (due in large part to me being so happy with Li'l Bit's touchscreen), it was down to which operating system. Stick with the known and loved BlackBerry O/S or jump to Windows Mobile on an HTC phone?  I really hate to admit it, but Amazon made the decision for me by releasing Kindle for BlackBerry before Kindle for WinMo.

So, today was it. We went and got me a BlackBerry Storm 2.  It has BlackBerry O/S 5.0 on it, which is the latest and greatest.  There are some changes to the known and much-loved (at least by me) media player interface.  BlackBerry had me at hello with that.  My first one replaced my mp3 player instantly.  The changes in 5.0 actually make some tasks easier, so I'm a happy camper.  I'm also finding that my fears about the touchscreen on such a small area were largely unfounded. Or maybe it's just because I have such small hands.  Whatever the reason - I can see me getting LOTS of enjoyment out of this gadget, and not only for it's main purpose of cell phone.

Oh, and something I find funny? It comes with a 16 gig (yes, GIG) SD card.  That's half the capacity of the solid state drive in Li'l Bit....

Quirky

We have a Siamese cat.  For those unfamiliar with the breed, they're supposed to be the one with the most personality.  I can attest to this.

Our Siamese is named Sinatra. He was named when I got him (for Old Blue Eyes, you know...).  He's probably about five years old. 

Last year, I got hooked on the TV show Glee.  This is pretty unusual, I don't watch a lot of TV.  But Glee well and truly had me - problem was, I work most evenings, so I had to usually wait and catch it on Hulu.com the day after it aired.  Sinatra figured out that I was going to sit still for an hour to watch it, and I wasn't going to be typing, either, so he became a Glee fan.  When he would hear the theme music, he'd come jump on my lap, make me hold him so he could see the screen too, and stay there til the show was over. 

Well, cats don't understand TV seasons, so he's been missing his Glee fix.  Tonight it became so obvious what he wanted (he jumped on my lap and took up his "Glee" pose), that I finally went to Hulu and played the last episode for him.  He purred and purred.   Good thing Glee starts again next month...

Misc. and Sundry

This post is probably going to be one huge mess.  I haven't posted in a week, because not much interesting is happening.  I finished the second Orchard book, Rotten to the Core, and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I so love both Sheila Connolly's series (the other one is the Glassblowing series under the name Sarah Atwell).   I just checked Fantastic Fiction to make sure I had the name of the second book correct, and I see there are two more Orchard Mysteries upcoming this year, one in October and one in December.  Sheila must be one VERY busy lady!

Chris and I made a rare trip to Sterling, for Bath and Body Works.  We both love their "Lay It On Thick" shea butter cream, and I'm addicted to Moonlight Path everything, as well as the aromatherapy Energize with Mandarin and Lime.  So we stocked up on all that, taking advantage of a few sales.  We also decided to wander around in Penney's, not intending to actually BUY anything, but ended up with a new outfit for me that Chris picked out.  He says I have his grandmother's taste in clothes, so I told him "Fine, YOU pick something you'd like to see me wear!"  He did.  Black knee length flirty skirt, white tuxedo shirt, and long black vest. By the time we took into consideration clearance sales, plus another 20% off for using the Penney's card, we got the outfit at something like 70% off.   Basically, it's a woman's version of a tux, but it looks fantastic on me.  I told him that from now on, he gets to pick all my dress clothes.

This week's big book release:  Alan Bradley's second Flavia Luce novel "The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag".  

New Book Release Tuesday!

Ever since I figured out that new book releases are usually on Tuesdays,  and plus I'm off work on Tuesdays, it's fast becoming my favorite day of the week.

Released today:
 Jessica Conant-Park and Susan Conant "Cook the Books"  fifth in the Gourmet Girl series.
Sheila Connolly "Red Delicious Death"   third in the Orchard series.
Jennie Bentley "Plaster and Poison"  third in the DIY series.
Victoria Laurie "Ghouls Gone Wild"  fourth in the Ghost Hunters series. 

Those four I bought... Also released today:
Dianna Orgain "Motherhood is Murder"
Jenn McKinlay "Sprinkle with Murder"

Released yesterday:
Joanne Fluke "Apple Turnover Murder".
Barbara Allan "Antiques Bizarre" .

I bought "Apple Turnover"  because I'm a big Joanne Fluke fan.  Even though I'm planning on going to her signing this coming week and will end up buying a hardcover then for her to autograph,  I bought the ebook for just plain reading convenience.  I am probably every author's dream reader when I do that...

Patience is a virtue

...or so they say.  Myself, I have none, so my opinion doesn't count.   Today I definitely don't have any, and it's resulting in a grouchy Shel.   Our DSL connection has been going out every 24 hours or so.   Thursday night I spent an hour on the phone with tech support, to have the guy tell me it's probably the modem.  Chris and I made plans to go to the nearest Comp Usa/Tiger Direct store to pick one up.  But then, it went out again last night while Chris was home.  HE got on the phone to tech support, and must have put the fear of something in them, because at the moment I'm waiting on a Saturday tech call.  Chris is convinced the problem is somewhere either in the box on the side of the house or on the pole, both of which would be the company's responsibility.  He's also determined that if he doesn't get a satisfactory answer to the problem, we're switching internet providers.  This doesn't exactly make me happy, as the only other high speed provider here is Comcrap, soon to be known as Xfinity.   I have several deep seated philosophical differences with Comcrap, but since both Chris and I do school online, a reliable internet connection is a necessity - and the DSL isn't doing it. 

The other thing I'm very impatiently waiting on is the new book releases for March 2.  Tuesday can't come quickly enough for me at the moment...

Kudos (and a rant)

Kudos to Kim Harrison, author of the Rachel Morgan "The Hollows" series.  This is one of my favorite paranormal series.  Kim is one of the many authors struggling with how to balance what her fans want, and what her publishers decide in regards to timelines for releasing ebook versions of her books.  Unfortunately, Harper-Collins made the decision to delay the ebook release of her newest title, "Black Magic Sanction" for two months after the hardback release.

So, why kudos to Kim, you ask?  Because she's set up a whole page on her blog for comments from her fans who want to share their opinions on that decision by her publisher.   Kim had less than no say in the publisher's decision, although I'd be willing to bet she'd have preferred her fans that choose to read in electronic formats to be able to have the book at the same time as the hardback release.  But she's willing to listen to the ranting from her fans, like me, who can't get their hands on the book until April 6th, even though she had nothing to do with the decision process, and is taking the flak that should rightfully be directed at Harper-Collins.

My own opinion?  Harper-Collins would have gotten the same money from me for an ebook version priced the same as the hardback if they'd released it on the same day.  To be blunt about it, they screwed Kim out of sales in that critical first week that might cost her a spot on the bestseller lists.

Macmillan did the same to Heather Webber during the "late unpleasantness" with Amazon.  Those Kindle "buy" buttons for Heather's new release, "Truly, Madly", were gone during that crucial first week, and to add insult to injury, Macmillan didn't distribute the book to any other online retailer so her fans could have gotten it elsewhere.  They screwed Heather out of sales figures that might make the difference on whether the series is continued or not.  And I'm betting they aren't going to take their own actions into consideration when making that decision, either.

The other issue here is:  I choose to read books in electronic format (ebooks).  I see the delayed release of ebooks to be nothing less than discrimination by publishers because of my preferred delivery method for reading material.   I wonder if  a lawyer might want to look at it in that light?  There'd be a hell of a lot of participation in a class-action lawsuit on those grounds...

Ooohhh!! Author Goodies!

A few weeks ago, Elizabeth Lynn Casey, author of "Sew Deadly" and the upcoming "Death Threads", asked for Facebook friend's opinions on promotional materials.  She got some good suggestions, and mentioned that some of the items were mailable, and if we would like, to send an address and she'd send us some of what she chose.  I might not have been first in line, but I'm betting I was pretty darn close to it!  I got some very sweet replies to my initial email enclosing my address, and in the process, she pointed me to her blog, which I now follow, and told me about Printer's Row Lit. Fest in Chicago - which I'm planning to attend assuming the stars align correctly and Chris doesn't have to work that weekend. 

Anyway, today an envelope arrived in the mail from an address I'm not familiar with - containing author goodies from Elizabeth!  A magnet, a bookmark, and a signed bookplate!  How cool is that? 

Spring Fever

I may be acclimating to wearing less clothing in lower temperatures, but one thing I can't seem to get over is Spring Fever hitting way way too early for Illinois.  We have at least another month of cold/snow/rain/slush/yuck.  It's currently 28 degrees F. here, and what do I want to do?  Open the windows!  It is sunny, and of course the sun coming through the glass is warm, but I know the second I open that window it's going to be FREEZING.  Doesn't stop me from wanting to do it anyway, though.

The cats have Spring Fever too.  They're back to yowling at the front door wanting out on the enclosed porch every morning when we get up.  We keep telling them it's still cold, but they just give us those feline stares that seem to say, "And so what if it is?  It's all your fault, fix it!". 

Another symptom of Spring Fever for me is wanting to start Spring cleaning.  NOT a good idea, when everything outside is still snow-covered, and every time we come in from outdoors, dirty snow comes in too.  I'm craving baby lettuces, and radishes, and green onions, and lots of veggies - mostly the stuff that it's way too early for here. 

Hurry up, Spring!!  My patience weareth thin...

Not a lot going on...

We didn't get the foot of snow they were predicting.  The roads are perfectly clear, and it's above freezing out.  I just did errands in sweatshirt and jeans, no coat.  I can tell that this Native Texan is acclimating to Illinois more and more - I had to turn off the heater in the Tracker and roll the window down today!  I think if it gets above 40 degrees anytime soon I'll take the Tracker down to the car wash and at least rinse some of the road grime and salt off. 
Got refunded last month's insurance payment, because we switched companies right after I paid the old company.  Which means I bought a couple of books!  
I got "Sink Trap" by Christy Evans, and "A Slice of Murder" by Chris Cavender.  I wouldn't have gotten "A Slice of Murder" if I hadn't had Rewards money at Books on Board, because the darn thing went from $7.99  when I added it to my wishlist to $15.30!   I ended up getting it for $8.30, but it blew most of my Rewards doing it.  Oh well.  I've noticed a lot of stuff on my assorted wishlists having huge price jumps.  Another piece of fallout from the Macmillan/Amazon fuss, I'm assuming.  Dont even get me started.
I have to work tonight, 5 - 10.  Not particularly looking forward to it, but it's a lot better since the CSA from hell left.

Today's news

The cold is to the stage where it feels like my sinuses are filled with sludge.  This is, however, a definite improvement over my nose running constantly, so I'll take it. 
We are under a Winter Storm Warning.  They're calling for up to a foot of snow - this on top of whatever we already have out there.  It's been steadily snowing since about 5 p.m. and my driveway is fast disappearing.  I'm really not looking forward to having to get out in it tomorrow.
Finished up both classes for this session.  I got an A in one, and probably a high B in the other.  Not too bad, though I'd have liked A's in both classes, of course.  Next up is Business Law and Critical Thinking.  Nine weeks until they expect me to do the impossible - the session where I have Accounting 2 and Database Management at the same time. 

Meet Li'l Bit

Before I introduce y'all to my newest companion; a bit of background explanation is in order here. I'm a geek, and I read ebooks.  The reason I went to all ebooks, all the time (well, most of the time, anyway, unless something just flat isn't available in ebook, and there are still some holdouts - a pet peeve of mine),  is a disastrous move from Texas to Illinois five years ago that resulted in me leaving an extensive book collection behind because of lack of money to ship them.  When I heard about ebooks, the sheer portability is what sold me, even more than the shiny new gadget factor.  I'd never have to worry about moving boxes of books again! And I'd never have to worry about lack of space for more shelves, either.  That last wasn't a huge concern, even though we live in a small house - Chris has told me from the beginning if I wanted the walls lined with bookshelves, all I had to do was say something and out would come the saw and wood.  But it's still a nice convenience factor. 

So, last year at tax time, Chris bought me an Astak EZ Reader.  I got a deal on it, it was a model that the company had ordered for the Consumer Electronics Show to display the device with colored shells.  Due to being a Mobile Read member, I had an inside contact in Robert Barry from Astak.   An EZ Reader is like a Kindle or a Nook or a Sony Reader.  It's an e-ink device, solely for reading ebooks and listening to audiobooks with.  I did extensive research and got lots of opinions from the fantastic people at Mobile Read before I made my decision.  And once I got it, I loved it!  2009 was quite a year for dedicated ebook reading devices.  Two different versions of Kindle came out, Barnes and Noble announced the nook, and  Sony announced and implemented a whole new line up of their Sony Readers.  Even the EZ Reader line got some upgrades, and switched to supporting a different DRM format.  The big problem with most e-ink devices is that they only support one or at the most two of the DRM'd formats.  If you want to read everything DRM'd, you'll have to use a PC.

Another huge feature of note about most dedicated ebook reading devices such as the Kindle, the nook, the Sony, and the EZ Reader/Pocket Pro is that they all use e-ink technology.  This is a technology that mimics ink on paper, and is not backlit.  In other words, you still need a light to read on one of these devices in a dark room.  Supposedly, e-ink is easier on your eyes than LED backlit LCD screens, but I have to say that personally, it makes no difference to me.  This technology (so far), only displays black and white.   Several companies such as Mirasol and Pixel Qi are working on this, but no devices on the market at this time have that technology.  The other big differences are that e-ink screens can be read in direct sunlight, and they get incredible battery life.

So, why, after all that, did I end up this year with an Asus T91MT convertible netbook/tablet? 

Well...I'd been looking at the Archos 9 tablet for awhile.  Drooling over it is closer, *laugh*.  I really liked the idea of being able to read every format natively, even without removing DRM, and I also liked the idea of a color screen for reading comics.   LCD vs. E-ink has never bothered me, as I've said, I personally can read on anything without a problem.  I very seldom need to read in direct sunlight, and battery life isn't much of an issue for me, either.  Every comfortable place to sit in this house is near enough to an outlet that I can plug in if needed.  I *might* run into a problem if we ever go on a long car trip, but since I don't know of one of those in my future, I'll cross that bridge if I need to.
But - the Archos 9 kept getting delayed (it was supposed to debut October 22, coinciding with the release of Windows 7), and it only comes with Windows 7 Starter Edition, which lacks several key touchscreen features.  It also got a price increase along the line. 

In November, Chris ran into a deal on an Acer Aspire One netbook.  Little workhorse, 11.6 inch screen, 2 gigs of RAM, 250 gigs of hard drive space.  He bought himself one, and then I tried it.  Decided on the spot that it would work admirably for an ebook reader, and was a ton cheaper than the Archos 9.  We went back and got me one, too.  And even though I loved the netbook, and it made a pretty good ebook reader, I found I still wanted a tablet form factor, or at least the option of one.  So, back to the drawing board.  

Chris and I researched, and debated, and researched some more.  Tax time came again, and it was decided that we'd sell my netbook and get me some sort of tablet.  It came down to the Asus T91MT for less than $500.00, or the Gigabyte 1028T for right at $700.00.  The Gigabyte had better hardware, but the Asus had multitouch and a lighter price tag.  The deciding factor was when I called over to the Tiger Direct store in Naperville and found that they had them.  To Naperville we went, *laugh*.   I've now had Li'l Bit for about two weeks, and I'm still discovering all it can do.  I installed an 8 gig SDHC card for book storage, and installed Calibre for ebook viewing.   Works like a charm. I can put it in tablet mode to read with, or swivel it into netbook mode for surfing.   I have color, and the ability to read any DRM'd format out there without converting hassles, if I so desire.  Christened "Li'l Bit" by Chris,  here's my new reading machine.

And here she is, in action, tablet form, running Calibre's ebook viewer.

News of the day

Well, I just found out some pieces of news that probably aren't as exciting to anyone else as they are to me.

Number one:  Nevada Barr's newest Anna Pigeon mystery will be released August 3, titled "Burn".
Number two:  Paint Shop Pro X3 is finally out.  They're offering it for $69.99 through the Corel website.
Number three: Handwriting recognition on my Asus T91MT (named Li'l Bit, for future reference) works like a dream.  I found this out completely by accident, I've had the device over two weeks now and never managed to play with that feature.  But I needed it to write down a phone number earlier, and didn't want to go find a piece of paper.  (Next post is a review/brag on Li'l Bit).
Number four:  The cold I've had since Wednesday night seems to have about run its course.  I think the worst of it was probably yesterday - now it's to the nuisance stage.
Number five:  I've just added my work-in-progress list of new book releases for 2010 as a new page. Look to the right to find the link.

Why am I reading three books at once?

...and am I getting the most out of any of them by doing it this way? 

In my typical backwards fashion, I'm going to answer the second question first and tell you that I don't have an answer!  Considering that I'm fighting a cold while attempting to keep up with the plots of three books, I suspect that the answer is probably "no". 

The "why" is a little easier.  I received my ARC of "Truly, Madly" from Goodreads last week.  I love Heather Webber's other series, and I've been hearing about this new one with Lucy Valentine for months, so I was eager to start it so I could post my review on Goodreads, which is requested if you win from them.  The day before "Truly, Madly" arrived, though, I had already started 'Town in a Blueberry Jam" by B. B. Haywood. I didn't want to just abandon that one...so then there were two.  And THEN... Dana Stabenow's 17th Kate Shugak novel, "A Night Too Dark" was released before I had time to finish either of the other two books.  Anyone who knows me at all knows that that one wasn't going to wait over two seconds from the time I got in my hot little hands.  So, that's why I'm currently reading three books at once. 
At the moment, all I can tell you is that "Truly, Madly" is a delight, and that "A Night Too Dark" had me laughing so hard last night that Chris (who was in the shower at the time) thought something was seriously wrong with me.  Once I convinced him it was all Dana's fault *evil grin* he was content to finish his shower and let me laugh.  

I'm not good at book reviews.  I know what I like, but as for critiquing writing styles and plot strategies, no thanks.  So y'all will probably hear about what I'm reading and what I like or don't like about it, but please, by no means take it as a definitive review!

Reflections

....on reading, technology, crocheting, cats, and life in general.  I don't guarantee regular posts, nor do I guarantee entertainment (other than my own).   But maybe, just maybe someone will find something worth reading once in a while.