Old Isn't Always Bad - Why I Still Own and Use Dinosaurs

I've already established that I'm a dinosaur - I don't mind that. I'm old and so are dinosaurs, and I've always loved them since I was a small child. I'm a bit of a dinosaur electronically too. Although I operate a lot of different computers for work and for home, nothing is more recent than Windows 8, several are still Windows 7, and I'm still working with Win98 at the shop because that's what our semi-broken inventory program requires. 

The computers that run my shop are Win98 and I have 
two of them. They're chugging along, not as well 
as they used to, but still there. The inventory program 
itself has developed quirks over the years, and we have 
various work-arounds that we do. But it still functions, and 
the thought of re-entering 50,000+ items into a new 
program? No. No way. Not going to happen! 

My Email is also a bit of a dinosaur. Although I use Gmail on my Android phone, on my computers I run AOL. Yes, the same AOL that sent discs through the mail for each update for years and years. Billions and billions of them, more than likely. But I like AOL because it has some features I haven't found on any other email program yet. Primary of these features is the ability to delete mail, but get it back if needed. That's been a real life saver sometimes. I get hundreds of emails in an average week, and every once in a while I'll hit DELETE when I don't mean to. That single feature has more than paid for itself over the years. 

DH still uses the stock photos for Windows 7 as his 
splash screen for his home computer. I, on the other 
hand, have a file of photographs - Egyptian monuments, 
glaciers, Hubble photos, etc - that I use as a rotating 
background splash screen on mine. 

I love old fashioned crafts - although I'm not doing any beading right now, I have done a lot of it over the years. I also sew, and lately I've been getting back into my fiber arts - weaving, spinning and now (with my new knitting machine), knitting. I'm having a lot of fun with my crafts, and that's really the important thing because if you have spare time, you want to spend it doing something you consider worth the time. 

My laptop runs Windows 8 which has this screen 
as a default. I like it, but I only see it long enough 
to get to my next screens and start work.

The thing is - all of these dinosaur computers I operate
are on and operational every single day. (Except I
don't turn on the shop computers on Sunday.) They
might be old, but they still work and they're still
something we depend on daily. 

And of course, there are books - hundreds and thousands of books that I've read or that I have on my electronic TBR list. I stopped buying physical books, with a very short list of exceptions, several years ago. I buy my books electronically, usually on Barnes & Noble's Nook format, very rarely on Amazon's Kindle format. My preference for B&N also makes me a dinosaur, but with 1900+ ebooks in my NookBook library, I'm not switching over to a different format now. . 

My phone is also a bit of a dinosaur, 
although not quite as much as my 
computers are. I use a Google 
Pixel 2. It's paid off, and I've been thinking 
about upgrading, but it still seems to 
work fine, and I'd rather save the 
money for a bit longer. So I'll stay 
with it at least until next year. 
I use a standard splash screen 
choice on it. 

To wrap this exploration into prehistory down, there's room for dinosaurs in this world. Not everything needs to be cutting edge, it just needs to work well and work properly. My computers might be old, but they do exactly what I need them to do. My Email program and my ebooks format are old, but they work exactly the way I want them to. My crafts might be old fashioned, but I can make beautiful things and make myself and other people happy with them. My phone still manages to connect me with the people I want to talk to and disconnect the spam. It's also a wonderfully entertaining device with my puzzle games and my ebooks at my fingertips. 

All things considered, being a dinosaur really isn't too bad. Have an excellent Monday and I'll be back tomorrow. 

I'm Addicted to Reading

I've often said that I'm a reading addict, and as I moved my unread 2018 books onto a new listing and counted up the books I read during last year, I was a bit astounded. I guess I do always have my nose in a book! LOL. I read Nook books on my phone, and I almost exclusively buy e-books because they only take up virtual space. I guess you'll get an idea of why I insist on non-physical reading materials now. My grand total of e-books read during 2018 - 139! I also listened to more than 8 audio books, and read a variety of magazines, newspapers, and various articles (not counting surfing and researching on the internet and jumping down that rabbit hole). I've already started my 2019 TBR list of books. 

I didn't read TJ Klune's "Into This River I Drown" in
2018, I read it years ago and re-read it and re-read
it again and again. In 2018 I listened to the audio
version,  and loved it. I wept as much as the first
time I read it. 

It was a year of wonderful offerings by some of my favorite authors, and there's something so satisfying in getting a release notice about a new book in a series I've been enjoying. I have approximately 50 e-books that I carried over to my 2019 list. I already finished the first of my carryovers yesterday, starting the next in the series last night. I usually don't have that large of a carryover, so I'd better try and get caught up! 

For an outstanding audio book series, start with
"The Lightning-Struck Heart" by TJ Klune. There
are four books in the series, this is the first one,
and the rendering by Michael Lesley will have you
laughing (and crying because you're laughing
so much).  

I mention audio books because I really enjoy them too. I've learned that there are certain narrators I adore - their individual talents at separating character from character, adding appropriate sound effects, and generally making the words come alive are above the pale. Two that immediately come to mind are Greg Trembly and Michael Lesley. Both of these men are so talented, and anyone who can make the ending renditions of title, author, sound effects used, etc. interesting to listen to are talents with a capital T. 

The Broken Earth series - a trilogy - was a set
of books that I recommended to all of you last
fall. It was outstanding and worthy of the
many accolades it has been given. 

I never start the year with a reading goal - my only goals stretch to books that I know are in the process of being written, not to an end number. When I was young and my schools and local libraries did reading contests, I always won. They got to the point where they requested that I not participate "officially" so that others could win. I was pulled from a book into class roll call many times. Books suck me into their worlds and my happiest times are days when a book and I are joined in new worlds and adventures, with munchies and a beverage nearby and a comfortable place to sprawl. 

The basic story of my life since I first learned to read back
in the days of stone tablets and chisels. Once introduced to
the written word and the imaginations of authors, there
was no looking back. 

May you read something that catches your imagination today - book, magazine or audio book. May you expand your world and exercise your powers of inner vision through the words of others, enjoying that small piece of escape from the world as a whole. Sometimes escape is a necessary evil in today's tense and angry landscape. Enjoy your Friday and I'll return tomorrow. 

Round and Round - An Ongoing Unresolved Problem

What to do when Customer Service tries and tries and still fails? That's the position I'm finding myself in with one e-book that's refusing to actually enter my library - for months! It's a saga of its own, deserving of a small ship with tattered sails in the midst of a turbulent ocean. I can see the small vessel, I can look over the hull on the crest of the wave before being thrown into the trough once more, and I'm heading toward the lighthouse, but it's a very slow thing.

It's a rough ocean I've been trying to sail. Since early in the year
I've been trying to resolve the problem with this one book. Sure
I could buy it in Kindle format, but I prefer Nook format and
the other 40+ books I have by this author are in Nook format.
It's ugly to have to switch back and forth. 

I must preface this saga by also telling you that I own more than 1200 e-books for my Nook device, and I love them. I'm reading them or checking things out with them daily. Out of the many computerized things I own and use, I think I use and love my Nook e-reader application the most. Throughout my life I've always had my head in a book, and switching over to e-books didn't change that. But I'd like to be able to read this one book, and it's frustrating to the max.

Discover ended up replacing my card three times
over the past 18 months because of possible hacking.
I use that card for my Nook Book purchases,. 

I pre-ordered the book in December last year. It had a February release date. Between the time of my pre-order and the time when the book was actually released, I had to change the credit card linked to my account because of a hack that resulted in my CC company sending me a new card. It shouldn't have been a problem. There was a valid credit card linked to my account. Apparently that doesn't work with a pre-order, though.

The book became available and the automated system tried to charge the old card number, which of course was a bad account number. After I tried to download it unsuccessfully, I phoned the customer service line and spoke to a very nice woman who went through the process of getting the new CC number and doing something or other on her end. Finally she told me that everything was fine now, to go ahead and load the book (which had now been appropriately paid for) in an hour or two after the system did a standard reset.

Nope. Still didn't work.

We're trying everything to knock that original messed up purchase
out of my account and tell the system that I haven't already
bought the book. But it's not working! 

Since Spring I've been trying to get this resolved. Yesterday I had some time, and one of the two Nook Specialists was on at my local Barnes & Nobel store, so I went over there to buy an anniversary gift for my hubby, and to talk with Taylor. Taylor and I tried everything. We went in on my phone, we went in on the store's computer, we talked on the phone with several layers of the store's Customer Service dept - we worked up the chain of command. Every time we thought we had it resolved and I tried to purchase the book, it told me I had already purchased it and wouldn't allow me to "purchase it again". ARGH!!!

I returned home and Taylor and the Customer Service people continued working on it. After several calls back and forth, I finally told Taylor to continue working on it but that I had to get dinner on the table for my family and call it a day. He'll be talking with Phil about it today and maybe, with the two of them working on it, within a day or two this might be resolved. It's such a simple thing - I just want to be able to purchase and download the book into my library. I want to actually read it! (What a concept - to read a book!)

I love having an entire library available to me at the touch of a finger, yet
small enough to fit into the back pocket of my jeans. Ebooks are one of
the best things to come out of the computer revolution. 

I think I'll take some of my frustration out in the water today. It's Thursday, so tonight is Project Runway night. New York Fashion Week has been going strong and I've seen some of the collections from former winners such as Christian Siriano. I am thrilled to see more women of varied sizes on the runways of many more designers. Bravo! As for Project Runway itself - I have no idea who will win Season 16, but I do know that Tim and Heidi MUST separate the Twins. Maybe tonight will be the night? Summary tomorrow and detail of the winners and losers on Saturday. Have an excellent day!

Another Year, Another Book

I buy and read a lot of ebooks, and I'm always looking through reviews within my chosen genre to get ideas of what ebooks I want to read next. To succeed in actually reading each of my ebooks I keep a list by title which I check off as I read them and move along to the next title. I rarely read out of sequence, although there are exceptions to that rule (a couple of authors I'll jump for).

I read on my phone, but also on my Nook. DH got me a new
Nook Reader for the holidays, so now I have one with up-to-date
software again. My old Nook was from Christmas 2010. I read my
non-fiction on my Nook and fiction on my phone. 

In 2016 I read a total of 230 ebooks on my list.and I'm carrying over 43 purchased but unread (or purchased as pre-published) ebooks to 2017. Yippee! I do love to read. I have a couple of post-it notes on my desk regarding other books I'm hunting down - not all books are easy to come by, especially if the author has self-published. I always have a book on hand - usually on my phone.

I've had times when I'm quietly wiping tears from my
face in the middle of a restaurant because of a book.
Haven't you? 

Books are my best friends - there when I'm happy or sad, ready to pull me into a different life in a different place. They teach me, scold me, inspire me. DH enjoys books too, but not to the extent that I do. Nonetheless, two book lovers together can accumulate a LOT of books. Yesterday we spent some time in our library getting some of the culled paperbacks back onto the main shelving and boxing paperbacks to sell. Next Sunday I'll try to resolve the final few boxes of paperbacks so that I can take the last grouping of books to Half-Priced Books, sell them for what I can get, and be done with it all.

I also took a couple of hours of time yesterday and did a thorough
vacuuming of the house. It was really needed and a lot of work,
but the house looks so much better now. I'll try to dust on Wednesday. 

That will leave the smaller bank of bookshelves to deal with, as well as starting on all of our hardcover books. Oy! No rest for the weary. But in the end, it will be well worth the effort - the house is already looking much better. I hope all of you had a wonderful New Year's Eve, Day and Day After. Today I return to the pool and to work, and I'll also take the time to register for my Bead & Button Show classes. Although I wanted to switch my vacation and go to Vermont to meet Dawn and others in July, I got totally guilted by customers and friends about missing the Show, so I'm going back to Milwaukee again this year instead. I found five classes that will be fun to take and I'll register for them at noon today. Have a wonderful Tuesday and welcome back to the grind!

Back To the Grind - Santa Claus Has Left the Building

It was a wonderful holiday - three days off from the gym, lots of great food and lots of sleep. I think that last one was the most necessary thing, but all of it was really good. Santa was very kind to me this year - I got repaid for my coat and two swimsuits I had ordered to have in reserve, and I also got an updated Nook Tablet 7" (my old Nook reader was 5+ years old and had some issues). Although I do most of my reading on my phone, I want to bounce back and forth between books I'm using for research and my regular reading for entertainment. Now I can do that easily. I ordered a cover and screen protector for it on Sunday and it should arrive in a few days.

I wanted the Nook Tablet 7" because it was pretty inexpensive,
but would work really well for what I needed. This one isn't
one of their really pricey tablets, this guy was less than $50. 

Was Santa good to you? I am always so blessed by that kindly old man. Monday was DH's birthday, so he had more presents to open for that, and he had a bit of cake to celebrate too. Total of my three-day indulgence was a three-pound weight gain, but I'll be back in the pool today and every other day this week.

I've been eating one piece of Candy Cane Pie every night since
Christmas Day, but yesterday DH ate his square of birthday
cake instead. He was happy, I was happy, a win/win for both. 

Our friend Matt was admitted back into the hospital on the 23rd with a fever. As of yesterday, the doctors still haven't determined what is causing it. We were going to go and visit him on Christmas Day, but the roads were a skating rink with freezing rain. Very bad. So we waited for Monday instead and it was a much safer trip there and back. It's such a bummer to see him in the hospital again, but his oldest daughter was able to come up for an extended trip from her job/school in Iowa so seeing Grace again was a real plus. Crossing fingers that he gets to go home again soon.

The Bead & Button Show classes are open for browsing
and normally I'd be all over it - post-it notes throughout
the catalog and decisions being made. The idea is boring
me this year  - that's so unusual. This is a trip I take every
year that I usually LOVE. 

Bead & Button Show registration opens in a couple of weeks and I'm still not sure that I'm going this year. I keep angling toward going to Vermont to see several LJ friends instead, but I'm quite torn on this. I guess I'll take another look through the class catalog and see if there is anything at all of interest to me. Last time I looked through, it was pretty much a bust for me, but it's also a business trip and the only chance to see old friends that I get each year.

I did get my fill of "A Christmas Story" on the 24-hours showing. I caught bits
and pieces, but managed to catch all of the important bits throughout the day.
I just love this movie! 

I hope you have a great Tuesday. It's nice to be back into my routine again. Those three pesky pounds will be off before I know it! Enjoy your day - it's the first day of my Four-Day End Of The Year Sale and I'll be working hard!

Thoughts About Books

I'll be dragging by the end of the week. It's hot and my brain won't stop whirling enough to allow me to sleep with ease. It's unusual - both in the heat and in my inability to get quality sleep time, but the fact that I do or don't sleep doesn't change my schedule. I'll just have to live with it.

I wish we had room for a library's worth of shelving
and books, but we live in a house, not a huge building. 

DH and I dove back into deep housecleaning yesterday, continuing the library project I had started two years ago. While he resumed cleaning up the hardcover books and years of magazines that we no longer think we need to keep (as well as lots of paperwork because we seem excellent at generating paperwork), I moved my boxes to the den and resumed entering paperback books into my book catalog. I have a lot of books still to do, but almost 1500 of them are already cataloged and boxed into a rough alpha order. Once I've got the rest of the paperbacks cataloged, we can examine the listing and choose which books we want to keep and which to sell or recycle. I want to get rid of more than half of these. I need my house back and I read e-books now, not paper.

There are so many available ways to read electronic books. I
read most of mine on my phone with either the Nook app
or the Kindle app. DH prefers to read his on his tablet. Although
a dedicated reader is still an option, it isn't necessary any more.  

I know many people who have tried e-readers of various brands and don't like them. I thoroughly understand the glorious feeling of opening a book's cover and feeling the paper beneath my fingers as I turn pages of a printed book. There is a special bond that exists between a reader and an author through the printed page. But the ability to change the size of my typeface, change the background intensity, change the typeface to one I find more readable, and, most importantly, minimize shelf space for the additional 1000+ books that I have at my fingertips in electronic form trumps the paper book for me in most instances.

Craft books such as Linda Darty's "The Art of
Enameling" are essential for me to have in
paper. Her book has been traveling with me for
the past week as I work out what I want to do
for my next major project. 

Of course there are exceptions. Crafting books, although available in e-form, are really difficult for me to work with on screen. I keep my notes and syllabi from past workshops in the pages of books that I refer to again and again when I'm trying to design a larger project. Art books - books of types of art as well as books about artistic exhibitions - need to be in print. Looking at the paintings and sculptures on a small screen doesn't resonate with me as much as on paper.

We've agreed that any physical books we buy have to be
agreed upon by both of us. I broke the rule once this
year for Alexander McQueen's amazing exhibition
catalog, but usually we agree. 

So we'll still have physical books - hundreds of them. But it is my hope that what we keep are tomes that we have vetted and that one or the other of us will feel are worth their physical presence. There will be some difficult decisions, but we'll benefit from this organization and culling in the long run. Here's hoping you're staying cool and comfortable and that you got a good night's sleep. Have a wonderful Monday.

Promises and Machines

Yesterday's snow advisory hit around us, but missed the Cities. We got snow, but less than two inches at the shop and less than three at home, all of which had been shoveled early. Although it snowed for more than five hours, the last few hours just melted away from shoveled surfaces, so today's foray to the street with the garbage can won't be fraught with dangerous ice and snow. Yeah!

Fortunately we were spared by this weather warning. I did have to shovel, and
we're back into the cold now, but it could have been MUCH worse. 

On Saturday my credit card terminal at the shop shifted from 'healthy' to 'on life support'. I was on the phone with tech services five times, we downloaded software and tried this and that fix, finally settling on a method that would get us through a few days while we purchased a new terminal on Monday morning.

I'm supposed to be getting this baby for the shop. And, of
course, it takes a smaller roll of thermal paper, so the
supplies I bought a month ago are useless. It's lighter, it
conforms to all of the new regulations, and it's smaller.
We'll get used to it (if it ever arrives...)

Great idea. I phoned and got a new terminal ordered and approved at 7:30 am on Monday morning and it was supposed to have been shipped to me overnight. Well, Tuesday arrived and no terminal! Call me unhappy. If it arrives today, I'm going to leave it in its box until Thursday because I'm not in the shop on Wednesday so I won't be there to troubleshoot the learning experience that a new CC terminal will entail. I did send an Email out to my service associate this morning asking "Where's my terminal? Can you give me a tracking number for the shipment?", but of course won't hear back from them until after I've pounded out some of my frustration in the pool.

I do a lot of miles on the Matrix recumbent bicycle. I love their
virtual programs that have me riding through the mountains of
Washington state or along rough park pathways in British Columbia, Canada.
I usually do at least six miles on the recumbent before turning to the treadmill
to round out my non-Drowning Guppy days. 

On the good news front, I managed to run/bike almost nine miles yesterday morning and today is a Drowning Guppy day, always one of my favorites. So things could be worse ... like ...

Eventually I'll get used to the new app, and I'll set up bookshelves which
I really have been wanting. But I HATE having to get used to new software.
Right now the books are organized by title, and I want them organized by
author. I can't find where it will let me do that and it's damned frustrating! 

There was a software update to my Nook application on my Android phone yesterday. It really messed things up. I finally found how to find my books in 'most recent' order instead of just alphabetically, and it will allow me to set up virtual bookshelves which will be great in the long run, but it's not very intuitive and is rather stumbling. The new page size for reading is nice, though. Still, I sent them a very caustic email immediately after updating. I have almost 800 books on my Nook and having them suddenly reorganized was annoying. Then having it tell me I didn't have a book open when I was in the middle of one was even more annoying. Argh!

The Machines are taking over! 

Sometimes the machines are winning and I'm losing. Happy Wednesday to all!

Happy Monday! - Recapping My Sunday

Sunday was a really nice day for DH and me. We went out for breakfast, and then spent almost two hours shopping at Barnes & Noble books. We picked up one of our favorite British shows on DVD (at least a few seasons of it) for a good bargain, and DH got the cookie cookbook he's had his eye on. I had a coupon for a good price on any e-book and purchased the last one in a series I've been steaming my way through (JD Robb's "In Death" series). I'm totally entrapped by the series and am reading them through in order, but I'm only allowing myself to buy four at a time. With book #40 coming out next month and my reading #9 now, I have lots of happy reading ahead of me.

I'm totally addicted to JD Robb's "In Death" series. Once I started reading
them, I pushed all of my other books to the back of the pack. I'll catch up
with everything eventually, but I'm having fun with murder mysteries in
a future, semi-dystopian New York City. 

I've heard from a few other friends out there who will be doing NaNo this year and have sent out appropriate friend requests. I spent a bit of time trying to work on the cover of my novel. I've seen it in my head from day one several years ago, but I had never actually worked on making it real before. I decided to play with photoshop a bit and make it happen. It's turning out easier said than done, and I think I have to review using layers before I really get it nailed, but it's at least in the working stage.

I work in Photoshop for my photo and design work and I love the program. Layers
are always tricky, though, and I need to merge several layers to get the image
and effect I want for my book cover. It's at least fun, but it is taking time away
from my other projects. 

I also entered the next phase of my beadwork project while watching DH's Minnesota Vikings pull out an overtime win. The project is actually starting to look like something and I'm quite pleased about that. The real challenge will be the bottom shaped drop and I'm riding by the seat of my pants on that. I'll have to squeeze some of it in alongside NaNo to get it finished on time, but I'm quite determined that I won't miss the deadline this year.

This is one of last year's Toho Challenge pieces. This necklace by Alyx
Alyxander was one of my favorites. I was unable to finish the challenge
because of the death of my father-by-marriage, so I'm quite determined to
finish this year's challenge on time. 

After an afternoon of football, we took a quick run to Target. Certain essentials such a toothpaste, toilet paper and paper towels were purchased along with miscellaneous munchies, soup and yogurt. Returning home we ordered pizza and I picked up a Barnes & Noble giftcard for DH on my way to pick up dinner. He wanted a few more books, but had brought his balance down to <$10 so wanted more. Hey - you give me money, I happily buy for you. Easy.

Since I finally got DH to read on his tablet, he's finally reading a lot again. He really
missed reading, but the text in paperbacks was too small and  too blurry for his
comfort and he had to put the books away. Reading e-books had brought it
back for him. 

After eating, he loaded the new card into his account and bought his books, I worked on my beadwork again for a while, and we ended the night watching an episode of Inspector Lewis on DVD. All in all, a really nice Sunday even if I did eat too much pizza.

I know other parts of the world just don't understand our love affair with pizza, but
it's good - really good! I ate way too much last night, but I don't regret it. 

Here's hoping you all had a good weekend and that your Monday will be fun and fab.

Glue and Books - What I Spend My Time With

Time is often not my friend, but today things totally got away from me. Good things, though, even though it means a short blog post today.

I'm using "Stickles" brand glitter glue this year. It features an ultra-fine
applicator tip and has great consistency with the glitter. I guess it's
worth the long dry time. 

Yesterday was a day of catching up and experimenting with the next stage of my Holiday Cards. I redesigned the interior and printed out a test page to check out today, I also tested a new technique that I want to use. I can't believe how long it takes to dry! I'll have to leave the cards spread out across the downstairs work tables for more than three hours before things properly dry! Maybe I'll see if a hair dryer might speed things up, although with my luck, the hair dryer would only cause the paper to warp.

Heidi and Tim are getting down to the last few designers now.
We're through the chaff and into some serious talent for Fashion Week. 

I'm way behind on my beta work, and I haven't written anything for several weeks. That's really not like me at all, but I've had my thoughts focused on my novel for NaNo and haven't wanted to pull away from that mind-set. I do have to get a chapter done for my friend in Germany, however, so maybe I'll work on that while watching Project Runway tonight.

I got into the Kingkiller Chronicles a year or so ago and loved the
first two books. Auli is an interesting character and I look forward
to re-entering this universe once more. 

Got a pre-release notice for Patrick Rothfuss's newest entry into his Kingkiller Chronicles. "The Slow Regard of Silent Things" tells the story of Auli, one of the adjunct characters in the first two novels in the series. I've pre-ordered the NookBook and can hardly wait for it to make it to the top of my To Be Read pile.

Eric's newest book proves to be amusing and unusual, just
like his previous books have been. WARNING: Eric
writes M/M slash, so this is not a living-room coffee table
book for the kiddies to flip through. 

I also got a release notice for Eric Arvin's latest book, "Wave Goodbye to Charlie". He had a video on his Facebook channel to trumpet the release and it is good to see him doing so much better. For those of you who don't know, Eric almost lost his life toward the end of last year and has been struggling back since then. It's been a very long haul and a difficult time for everyone, but his sense of humor seems to have survived intact and I'm very grateful for that.

I love reading. I'm just finishing up "Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years
of Pilgrimage" by Haruki Murakami. LOVE IT!

Time to plug pictures into this baby and call it a day. Have a great Thursday, all!

Adventures in Phone Land

Verizon Wireless (which happens to be my cell phone carrier), was running a fabulous sale over the weekend offering 50% off smartphones and some accessories. My own phone isn't up for renewal until September, but DH's phone was an antique and I had been trying to get him into the store to look at other possibilities and upgrading for quite a while. We actually ended up there yesterday and my bank account will take a while to recover - LOL.

I've had phone service with AT&T and Sprint, but I've been
happiest with Verizon. I'll want to upgrade my own phone in
September, but it was nice to get DH into the modern era and
into a smartphone. 

DH has serious hearing loss and having a phone that has a good speaker is essential to him. We wandered between various Android devices trying to hear them and he ended up finally choosing one based on sound, even though the screen resolution wasn't quite as good as some of the Droids. He's happy with it, though.

He ended up with a Moto X phone instead
of a Droid. I love my Droid, but the sound
was much louder and more clear on the X. 

An unexpected bonus was the offer of a tablet computer for $0 and only $10/month added to our plan. Since I had to change plans anyway with the addition of the second smart phone, we took advantage of this too and we now have a tablet with a detachable keyboard. I'm still trying to get this operating the way I need, but it won't take too long.

The Verizon Ellipsis 7 Tablet was free with the purchase
of a smartphone, so adding that to the bundle was a
no brainer. 

DH wants to read books on the tablet, so after depositing the various electronics at home, we went to Barnes & Noble and he bought a gift card to set up an account for NookBooks (no...I'm not letting him use my account. He has to use his own!). We moved over to Old Chicago for a fabulous pizza and beer dinner and then went home.

Old Chicago is one of my favorite places to eat. DH had
pizza and a Leinie's Summer Shandy and I tried Wild Orchard
Hard Apple Cider. Both beverages were perfect for the day. 

DH (with much guidance on my part) got his B&N gift card loaded and chose and purchased two books. Of course, this is a new account, etc, and they didn't immediately become available for him to download, but I'm hoping they'll show up today. I did load the Nook reading app onto his phone and I'll get things loaded on the tablet today as I continue to try and get it operational the way we will need. The tablet is being stubborn.

B&N gift cards are my favorite presents because I'm
always reading e-books. DH is hoping that the ability
to resize fonts and change brightness on the screens
might be the perfect solution to his reading problems as
his eyes grow older. 

So, my bank account was hit hard between the phone, the tablet, the keyboard, the various screen protectors, the phone charger for the car, and the Otter phone protector and carrier for him. Additionally, since I changed to a different (and more expensive - unfortunately) plan, next month's bill will be massive! After that it will settle down, but I'll have all of the various activation fees coming through on my next bill.

Next month's bill won't be pleasant. The things
I do to make DH happy...LOL. 

Happy anniversary, honey, a couple of months early... I hope all my friends have a wonderful Monday.

Ruts and Writing - A Discussion of Routine and References

The holidays are finally over, but routine is escaping me. I know that to be successful with my writing, my art and my business, I need to have a fairly strict routine. I need to write every morning, I need to work a regular schedule, and I need a predictable life. Predictable schedules may sound boring to my readers, but I thrive on them. Right now, it's as if I'm living in the end of 2013 without having moved on to 2014, yet the calendar is rather emphatic - time has moved on but I'm still bouncing over the ruts in the road.

Ruts in the road can stall anyone. To get around
them requires careful skill behind the wheel. 

I know this is temporary, but it's really bothering me that I've only written less than 1000 words in my novel over the past two weeks. There are very good reasons for it, but it's bothering me because my characters got left at a very bad part in their plot and they are screaming at me to get moving onward to a more exciting town and year in their lives.

My poor characters are stuck in one of the most boring
parts of their plot, and I haven't had the time to finish
that segment and get them moving once again. 

I was finally at work yesterday, after two days off, and we were happily busy all day with in-store and mail orders getting pulled, processed, and packed. One of my school district teachers placed a large order just after Christmas and it's looking like we finally were able to get a final decision on some items so that I could run a final invoice through to submit to her purchasing department. I should be getting the final go-ahead on this on Monday and it should be in the mail on Tuesday.

Wouldn't we all love a job like this?

I need to stop reading so much Janet Evanovich and get back to reading my "how to publicize your novel" and "self-editing for writers" books. They may not be as much fun as reading about the crazy life of Stephanie Plum, but the more serious books actually do teach me quite a lot. The problem is, I love reading the novels, but the do-it-yourself and how-to-improve books are a much slower and less enthralling read. If anyone could actually write a book on a serious topic that was as enthralling as good fiction, they would be set for life.

There are twenty books in the main Stephanie Plum series now, and
I have most of them on audio. I decided to buy a lot of them when
there was an e-book sale and I've been reading my way through them
again. So funny!

So I'm looking at my messy desk (yes, the clean desk I had a few months ago is once again ridiculously messy) and the books that surround me on all sides. Above me I have Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style" next to my two copies of Beatrice Potter's "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" - one in English, the other in Egyptian hieroglyphs. To my immediate right are my copies of Tolkien's "The Silmarillion" and "The History of Middle Earth Index", along with six reference books dealing with places that my original characters pass through in my novel. The maps detailing their journey are on walls in the next room with the master within reach of me here at my desk.

I love my hieroglyphic edition of Beatrix Potter. My
BFF Sharon bought this for me for Christmas several
years ago and I treasure it. 

To my right on the floor are more reference materials along with catalogs from museum exhibitions. Behind me are technique books for metal and jewelry techniques. Looking around me I suddenly realize why my Nook and my e-reading apps on my phone are among my best gifts ever. I have almost 500 books on my Nook alone, not counting fanfic, and it has saved a lot of trees as well as allowing me to not have more books taking up my space. I love books, but over time I've realized that not all books need to be physical and that there is a definite place for e-books. Now to continue writing my own contribution to the library of cyberspace...

Willing to Take a Chance on a Book?

So I'm a voracious reader, I always have been. Having my NookColor has been a blessing because I can carry hundreds of books with me at any time and read them either on my Nook or on my phone or...sometimes...on both. But I'm throwing a question out to those of my friends who also read at every opportunity. You know who you are. You're the one who always has a book in hand when you go to the restroom, or when you're standing in line to check out at the grocer or convenience store. You're the one who is just as happy curling up in a corner than being in the middle of a group of people. You're the one who would carry a book to the top of a mountain hike and, while everyone else was throwing stones into the tarn at the top, you'd read while experiencing the sun, sounds and grandeur.

I love this reading burro in a rocking chair.

So...have you ever been pulled into reading a book that you almost put down many, many times but was drawn back to again and again? I'm talking about a book that drives you crazy to read it but that you can't leave behind and have to keep reading? I'm in the midst of one of these now and I'm grinding my teeth about it. The author had a really distinctive way of writing. Short, choppy sentences or fragments of sentences. Lots of descriptive allegory going on and on and on. Lots of times when I would have sighed deeply but killed my darlings, leaving long passages edited out if it was my book.

A good book will not only light your imagination
but will make the shadows just as interesting as the bright places.

But it's not my book and it's not my vision. And even though in some ways it is driving me crazy to read this book, in other ways it is like balm to my soul and a view into the story line as well as the author's thoughts that is spotlighted in interesting, ever changing ways. The author's words illuminate not with a bright light that shines out like a beacon, lighting all of the dark corners. No, this light is pulsing, showing different portions of the room of the author's mind each time and even the shadows are interesting.

I know you're wondering what book this could be, and I'll warn you right now that this is not going to be the book for everyone. This is, in the middle of everything else, still gay literature, and some might even consider it pornographic. I guess my own definitions don't encompass that word often, especially relating to writings, but I'm finding this book is pulling me in and if you're willing to step out of your own comfort zone, it might do the same for you. So...I'm introducing you to "Into This River I Drown" by TJ Klune. You may love it, you may hate it, but I don't think you'll forget it.