I want to write a full blown review on Boneshaker, but I’m not passionate about my thoughts on this book. It was a good read and an enjoyable read. I really loved the setting and the world that Ms. Priest painted in this story, but I neither loved, nor hated this book. The characters were excellent. The writing was excellent, but the plot fell a bit flat for me. It was a little more predictable than I would have liked, but her ability to immerse me in the world and her characters was more than enough to make up for that and keep me turning pages, instead of allowing me to put the book down. I had a lot of fun reading this book.

It could be that I just wasn’t in the mood for this for this sort of fiction and if I go back and re-read this book at another time, I will enjoy it a lot more and I could write a more in depth review at that time.… [Read More]

Mini Book Review: Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

I waited six years for this book to come out. That’s right, six years.

The reviews were just glowing prior to its release and after having read this book, they make me wonder if any of those reviewers have actually read A Game of Thrones, which is far and away a better novel than A Dance with Dragons can ever hope to be. Still, there is hope. I will not blow smoke up someone’s behind over this novel. If you are a fan of the series, you should read it. This is a climactic piece. There are so many storytelling elements that get put into play here that you will find yourself slogging through chapters that you would normally skip, simply because you know there are pieces to the puzzle inside. Overall, this is a good entry into the series, but I am not going to sit here and tell you that it was the best book I’ve ever read, because simply put, it wasn’t.… [Read More]

Book Review: A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin

I don’t normally do music reviews, but I love Evanescence and I’ve been waiting for their new album for months, ever since I heard “What You Want” a few months back. I really, really loved 2003’s “Fallen” but I was so unimpressed with “The Open Door” that I didn’t even bother to buy it. I really felt like “The Open Door” relied too much on the success of “Bring Me to Life” and didn’t bring enough originality to the party. Even if this album was a flop for me, there is one thing about Evanescence that cannot be denied. Amy Lee has an incredible vocal talent. I don’t care who you are, if you disagree with me on that, go get your head examined. Her vocal talent should always be the showcase of an Evanescence album, that and it should always have a drummer that really enjoys his job and that powerful, throbbing bass or a piano thrown in there for some additional auditory interest.… [Read More]

Music Review: Evanescence

We were shown an Android phone. My husband considered it briefly for our teenage son and I took one look at him and shook my head and said “No. I don’t want to have to deal with you getting frustrated over supporting the thing.” The salesman stood behind my husband and caught my eye and gave me a knowing smile.

That really said it all for me. I am told that a certain carrier’s Android phones suck, but to be honest, I have said similar things when looking at Blackberries or WebOS devices at other carrier’s stores and gotten a similar reaction. To me, that says that Android isn’t “better” than iOS.

Heck. It’s not even cheaper, most devices we saw were priced well above the 199$ it will cost you to get an iPhone.

I probably won’t understand the appeal of Android, ever. I suspect I will be using an iPhone until someone comes out with these cool wafer thin touch screen phones that fit in your wallet right next to the one dollar bills in the bill slot.… [Read More]

At the Phone Store Last Night…

The Apple Store employee had seemed a little disappointed, my husband said, that he did not need to activate the device for me, but Apple’s process for activating devices is so easy, and always has been. You plug it in, you open iTunes. You register and you name your device. Then you do your first sync, which can take a while, especially in my case. I have the white, 64GB wifi only iPad 2. And I loaded it with 33GB of data on the first sync, mostly TV shows that I am actively watching, but also all of the universal apps that carried over from my iPhone app library, which is quite extensive. So, my first experiences with the iPad 2 are much like my first experiences with any iOS device, and this is a good thing. I knew exactly how to get it going, I knew how to activate it myself.… [Read More]

My First Weekend With iPad 2

I am, by nature, a writer. It is what I am. It is what I do and it is what I love.

When I’m writing, I feel alive. I feel connected with the world around me. It’s my lifeline. I live a very boring existence, I have a family, I have a couple of dogs that do hilarious things, but generally speaking, my life is dull. I’m okay with that, but sometimes, the boredom gets to me. That is when I most need to create. I need to let the creative monster inside me out to play and romp in ways that I can’t allow it to do in my every day life. So, I choose my canvas carefully and I begin to lay down a swatch of color. Whole worlds and sceneries appear before my eyes, usually in my sleep when I’m feeling my worst. What comes out on the other side of it, leaves me feeling better than I did before I went to bed that night.… [Read More]

A Thousand Words Before Breakfast: Why I Participate in NaNoWriMo

The only decent thing I have written all day… and it turns out to be… a Poem.

You have no idea how not thrilled I am by this… but I do rather like the poem and so, you may find it here.

Who?… [Read More]

Who?

As I type this, I am in tears.

I have seen photos of my children that I had been trying to find for months. I have found photos of a dear friend who has passed on, that I did not even know I had.

I am in awe at how much of my life I have recorded on “film”, I am so moved by seeing the past three years of my life in pictures in front of my face… that I can’t stop crying and I will likely run us out of kleenex and use up a couple of rolls of TP before I’m done writing this article.

I had no idea how much of it I’d actually captured until I sat down to play with iPhoto 11 this morning. There were pictures of our road trip to Seattle. Pictures of my husband and I going to buy my MINI Cooper.… [Read More]

How Faces Changed My Life in 20 Minutes.

I really feel that I owe an explanation to every human being that sees me out in public over the course of the next week or two. I have a horrible bruise on my left arm. It goes around the entire inside of my arm and across the top of it. Right now, it is a yellowing gray… it’s awful. It looks like someone tried to break my arm in half.

That’s because someone did and it was, of course, my dog.

Mugen and I went to a park earlier this week. I sat down at a picnic table to eat some lunch and was using the remains of a hamburger to bait Mugen into ignoring the squirrels and paying attention to me. This worked for a while. We were having a good time, and this was good practice for Mugen since his CGC test is coming up in 3 short weeks.… [Read More]

Confirmed! Squirrels Plot to Destroy Humanity 1 Person At a Time.

As many of you may remember, my experiences at Northwest MINI last summer were nothing short of a nightmare. I was in tears when I finally made it home. I couldn’t even complain while I was at the dealership because I was so angry that I was afraid I’d go postal on the staff there. When I got home I emailed a scathing letter to the lovely man who sold Viola to me… and he vowed to make it right and suggested that he would take care of my car personally or that I could go to Seattle MINI when it opened this year.

Hubby suggested we try Seattle MINI when it was time for Viola’s warranty service inspection.

He even drove her over for me.

They got my car in this morning. They knew that he’d driven from Spokane. They had a loaner car ready and waiting for him. They took what is traditionally a 6 hour job and turned it into a 2 hour job, but by no means did that mean they cut corners.… [Read More]

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