Reading: Jane Goes Batty
I thought it might be kind of cool to review books here. I am a HUGE reader – always have been – and recently rediscovered Goodreads, where I have entered as much of my personal library as I can remember. It doesn’t count books I’ve read that I don’t own – I wish I could remember half the library books I’ve borrowed over the last 35 years. Every once in a while I’ll pick up a book to read only to find that hey, I’ve read this before…
Anyway, Goodreads does giveaways of books, sponsored by authors, publishing houses, and whoever else wants to share either a book they’ve read or a book that’s about to be released. I never win anything, but I put my name in for several books I thought sounded interesting, and I actually WON. Quel surprise. Part of the deal is that they’d really like it if maybe you’d kind of write a review, if you feel like it? So, I wrote a review. It’s not a very good review – the book deserves better – but I wasn’t sure how much to divulge. I need to read some of the reviews on Amazon.com and see if I can get some pointers…
Jane Goes Batty by Michael Thomas Ford
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I received Jane Goes Batty through a goodreads “first reads” giveaway – I never win anything, so I was just excited about that to begin with. I read the first book in the series while I waited for this one to arrive, and fell in love with the characters and the storyline – I only hoped the second book would be at least as good as the first. I wasn’t disappointed.
The second book begins right where the first leaves off – Jane’s book is a hit and Our Gloomy Friend is apparently nowhere to be seen. Byron is teaching Jane the tricks of the vampire trade, so to speak, just in time for her boyfriend’s mother to come for a visit. Several new characters are introduced, along with some familiar faces, and the book moves along at just the right pace. There are lots of chuckles and a few groans, but it’s all in all a very entertaining book. I’m really looking forward to the third installment in the series…
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Remember me?
I just started to log into the WordPress main page, and thought it very apropos that it should ask “Remember Me?” It’s been a while since the last post – I mean, here we are eight days into October and I have yet to post. I guess I haven’t felt very motivated to do so lately. Not that there aren’t important, weighty things to talk about, but I’m not the place you go if you’re looking for eloquent statements on the economy, politics, or anything else that’s happening in the world. No… you come to me for fluff.
So… who out there uses iTunes? *raises hand high* I’m a big fan – granted, I haven’t really tried any other music services, but I like the way they catalog my music and don’t see any reason to even try anything else. And now that they’ve come up with this Genius thing – which is, by the way, pure genius – I doubt I’d even look at anything else. I LOVE that I can select a song in my library, click a button, and it automatically pops up a list of other songs in my library that go great with the song I selected. I LOVE that it puts suggestions for similar artists and songs in the sidebar – in order to find new artists in the past that I might like based on my taste in music I’ve relied on Amazon.com, but that’s just not very efficient. Now it’s all in one place – found a song I like that’s similar to songs I already have? Just click the “buy” button and voila! It’s mine. I HEART IT SO MUCH.
Oh, and I bit the bullet and added to my iPod family. The 3rd gen iPod classic I have is kind of clunky and cumbersome to carry around when mowing or exercising, so I picked up a 1GB shuffle, in the new bright green. I planned to take it for its inaugural turn around the lawn lastnight, but it rained yesterday so I won’t be able to mow until Saturday. Maybe.
She’s here!
I’d like to introduce you to my new friend, Pearl. She’s lovely, small and slender, and deep, deep purple. So pretty.
They introduced Blackberrys at work a little over a year ago for those at the management level, and I thought at the time that they were going to become the most hated invention of all time. There’s nothing that burns me more at work than to sit in a meeting with someone — not least of all a one-to-one with my manager — and have them check their Blackberry rather than participate in the meeting. They vibrate to indicate a new message, and suddenly that new email is more important than the previously-scheduled meeting you’re currently attending. It’s incredibly rude, and I said I never wanted to be that connected to work. I still say that, and if they offered me one I think I’d refuse it. Work is work, home is home, and never the twain shall meet. I cherish the hours I spend away from work; I work only so I can afford to do the things I want to do, not because it fulfills me as a person or makes me feel somehow more worthwhile.
Anyway, a few months ago the powers that be decided to really start cracking down on internet usage at work. I have no problem with that; I spend far more time doing personal things online at work than I ever have looking up work-related items, and I’m the first to admit I could use that time more productively. To that end, they began restricting access to webmail like Yahoo and GMail. That was fine, until Twelve moved in at the end of September, and now I have about one hour a day to check various email accounts — 1 for personal email (including a bunny-related listserv), 1 for rescue (including a separate bunny-related listserv), 1 for the blog, and a couple of others. Whatever, it’s just not enough time. So at the top of my list of Reasons Why Amanda Needs a Blackberry is “Ability to check personal email while away from home.” The rest of the list:
- Ability to sync my work calendar and have it with me away from work. I am constantly forgetting whether or not I have an early meeting, and invariably show up 1/2 an hour later than I should have. No more waking up at 7:30 and thinking “Hey, did I have an 8:00 meeting?”
- Ability to get directions away from a computer. I could do this with limited capability on my previous phone, but this baby will use it’s GPS locator thingy to figure out the directions from where I am at the time, and it will tell them to me! How awesome is that?
- Ability to view and edit (with the addition of special software) Word and Excel documents. I keep track of mileage for rescue-related activities, and I am terrible about remembering to put it in Excel. For a long time I considered getting a pocket PC for that reason alone, but now I won’t have to.
- Multimedia capabilities — the Pearl takes fairly decent pics for a cameraphone, it’ll take video clips, it’ll hold music, and because it’s a Sprint phone I got the fancy PowerVision pack along with it so I can watch TV and do other nifty things. I don’t think I’ll be using this as a substitute for my iPod, but it’s nice to have the option to download mp3s.
- Ability to use as a modem if needed. If I should ever happen to be somewhere that wifi didn’t exist, I could connect the Blackberry to my laptop and browse away. I doubt I’ll ever need to use it that way, but again, it’s nice to have the option.
I spent a little time today getting acquainted with my new friend, and I’m duly impressed. I’m still curious about the Palm Centro, and I may take a trip to my local Sprint store to have an up close and personal look, but for now I’m content.
Filed under giddy, i want that!, nablopomo, reviews | Comment (1)
