Ok, my initial reactions to my new book Nook. I like it a lot, as long as I am using it with books downloaded in the proper format. This would be the standard format for readers. PDF files of some of the older books that are straight scanned don’t work too well. I haven’t found a way to enlarge pictures, so some of the text is not readable. I was wishing for a magnifier function.

I now have over 100 different books loaded on the machine and I get to pick my way through to see which ones I will keep. It will play mp3 music files, and since I can actually save my plays in that format, I could use this in place of my recorder. I could set it up to read a script and play the audio at the same time.

More to come as I find out more about it…

I was looking at getting an e-book reader for some time. I’ve been loading old classics on to my computer and reading them from the screen. There were a couple of problems with this. The first was that if I wanted to take the book with me, it meant that I had to have the book on the laptop and the laptop with me. The second was that the laptop was not conducive to late night reading in bed. I would just do other things on the laptop. Can’t do that with a book.

So, I picked up a Barnes & Noble Nook reader. It had some advantages over the other readers that I really liked, so I decided to get one.

I will give a full review after I’ve had time to go over the ins and outs of the device. I will say that I am very happy with the service. I happened to get a bad device. It just would not turn on after I turned it off. The people at Barnes & Noble were wonderful in 1) trying to find out what was wrong with the device and 2) making sure I left the store with a working device today. I’m certain that the problem with my machine was a fluke, but it was handled in a very professional and friendly manner. My hat is off the the Barnes and Noble crew.

I have my first book loaded on the machine, So, I’m now going to settle back and read a chapter or two.

I got up early this morning when I didn’t have to. The dog decide to bark at something, he usually sleeps in late. But I got up and around, checked my email, the news and my blog. Not much happened since last evening on the blog, so I went to get some other things done. I come back in 1/2 hour and the site is blocked. Good April Fools prank, but I couldn’t find the back door. Oh well, I had things to do.

Laundry check, dishes check. Pick up daughter, oops she was still in Fort Wayne. Check
Movie with friends Check. All told a very good evening.

Tomorrow I’ll may write about my new toy. But I may be busy with it instead.

Thank goodness.  I would hate to think that one of our annual April the 1st glitches actually stuck!  I love April Fools Day!  I got the three co-workers today.  I got the boss although she promised that I would  need to find another place of employment if I had.

Because I had to work this morning, I recorded The Price is Right.  Not something I usually do but since inheriting the microphone, Drew has had brilliant shows on April first and today was no exception.  Last year, “Mimi” served as a model on the show.  This year, she was the new “Executive Producer” and promised to keep an eye on the host to see if he made any mistakes.  She was very helpful in particular with his trouble with names.

A few of the games were hysterical:  In Plinko Pat had to determine the correct number for a Snuggie (sorry, not $50+), a Club (one of those anti-auto-theft devices), a chia pet, and (what else) THE CLAPPER!  She only missed on the snuggie and ended up winning $11,000.

Pick-a-Pair saw Pat needing to pick the two grocery items that were priced exactly the same.  Halloween ready to bake cookies, Christmas Ziploc containers, St. Pat’s Day garland, Valentine conversation hearts, New Years party poppers, and Count Chocula.

And finally, the showcase saw Pat and Pat going for two fabulous showcases. And not to spoil the surprise, but…. PAT WON!  Of course, they both could have gone over.

Did you know that residents of the Midwest and the Great Lakes region are to expect one last hurrah from Old Man Winter with two feet of snow expected?

APRIL FOOL’S!!!  Have a good one – And BE NICE!!!

I made chicken for dinner and thought that it would taste good with some salsa on it. It did, but I put on a bit much. Now I’m paying for it. Up late at night waiting for antacids to kick in. You can’t put it back in the jar after it hits partially cooked chicken. And it was the good stuff too, lots of heat.

Ahh, the joys of aging. I still like all the spicy stuff, but it doesn’t like me as much as it used to. The cast iron stomach seems to have some rust.

On another note, I miss my laptop. Even though I got the tower up and running again, it was so easy to have the laptop with me wherever I wanted to be. I have an old machine going, but it is very, very, very slow. I think it is slower than my internet connection. I do have it loaded with a full version of Unbuntu Linux at this time, maybe that is pushing it a bit. I wonder if it would work with the netbook version of that OS. I may have to try it and find out. I need to get a list of USB or other wireless cards that work with Unbuntu or Puppy Linux. I have two old laptops that I have installed Linux on and only 1 wireless card that works. The newer of the two laptops has an internal wireless, but Linux doesn’t like that one either. I even tried a backdoor way that was supposed to allow the use of the windows drivers. No go. I guess for now I share. I really can’t use two laptops at once can I?

Okay then, here is the first of a round of posts based on the yearbooks I have sitting around.  Let’s start with some kids of whom I actually have memories beyond just their names.  It has been quite awhile since my junior high years so unfortunately my memory won’t take us as far as I’d like…

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The guy above would be none other than my best friend in my intermediate years.  Sorry C, but I hadn’t met you yet and beside, you were still a tyke in 2nd or 3rd grade at this time.  J and I were practically inseparable.  Unfortunately after 7th grade he moved to live with his dad.  I never met his dad, but I was jealous to hear how he had an Atari with a ton of games.  Well, I had an Atari too, but not so many games.  One time our boy scout troop was away at camp and we were trying to live Indian style (hey, political correctness was not the behemoth it is today so we didn’t use the friendly Native-American term).  Anyway, most of us wore breechcloths- no I don’t know what tribe(s) used breechcloths instead of pants.  While most wore them over shorts, J and I didn’t! 😯

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This guy started off disliking me in 6th grade for some reason.  He would call me something then run away, and I would chase after him.  Eventually we became friends.  We used to hang out at the teen center through this time and in high school.

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This is someone else who started of as sort of an enemy in elementary school.  As in the last photo though, T and I became friends.  He lived in an apartment by the railroad tracks with his mom.  There was one time I invited him over, then went into my back yard to climb a tree.  That was the time I fell down 12 feet to the ground from a lower branch.  My bones must have been made of rubber because I broke not a single one, though I was dazed when he arrived.

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Someone likes striped shirts… These two weren’t friends with me, but were best friends themselves.  They belonged to a different boy scout troop, one that met at a nearby church instead of the junior high.  At least their troop didn’t fold like ours…  The first one above told me at one time in 4th or 5th grade that he could be friends with anyone.  Then I asked if we could do something at his or my house sometime.  He was “busy” on each day I proposed.  I guess I wasn’t a part of “anyone.”  Together, the two of them shared the names of an famous cartoon duo.

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He wasn’t a friend of mine either, but for some reason I wanted to imitate this guy in 8th grade- I have no idea why.  He must have been new to the school for 8th grade, as he isn’t in the other two yearbooks.

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I wrote something rude on this guy’s 8th-grade photo, though I don’t remember crossing paths with him.  I do know we were in the same music class in 8th grade, and one of the assignments was to take a rock song, find the lyrics and discuss them after playing the song in class.  I chose a song by The Police.  He chose one by Iron Maiden.  After that Iron Maiden was my favorite band.

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This one was in cub scouts with me I think- I’m pretty sure it wasn’t boy scouts.  He was someone with a similar personality to mine, which is to say introverted.  However, we didn’t become good friends though I’m sure we did hang out together occasionally around this time period.  A few years ago I subbed for his mom in near-urban district.  I remember picking up a book in her room and thinking, “hey- this is the book we used in 7th grade language arts with all the stupid sentence diagramming.”  I opened the cover and there was his name.  I just have to wonder why he never turned the book in at the end of the year…

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I do not have fond memories of this guy.  He lived in the house behind ours and a couple over.  I wrote something rude about him in my 8th grade yearbook, but not on one of the main photos.

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This is another one of whom I have less than happy memories.  In fact, I guess he was sort of my nemesis.  He came up with a creative unpleasant nickname for me based on an incident at shower time after gym class.  Not one of those “you’re growing up and your body is changing” incidents, but nonetheless, I am not going to share…  He ticked me off enough that a couple of times I had him on the ground punching his face.  He is the only one I ever had a fist fight with.  Thankfully I never saw him again after junior high.  Oh, I wrote something rude on his 8th-grade photo too (smart-***).  I guess I was just mean that year. :/

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The only girl this time around, she lived about a block from the school.  She makes my memory list for this reason- one time my friend J and I decided to walk to an arcade in the next town over, about four miles away.  Afterward, we walked back and we had an amazingly stupid idea to hitch a ride back.  Her mom was the one who picked us up- J knew it but I didn’t.  Oddly enough, she did not report this back to our parents.

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Well, that’s it for now.  I’ll see what other memories I can dig up for all of you for future posts. 🙂

As March comes to a close, I need to reflect or dream about the first part of April and the coming Major League Baseball season. While I have followed the spring exploits of my favorite team, I can’t really get excited about spring training. Until this last week of spring training, we hardly ever see a complete starting lineup. There are a variety of minor league prospects, players past their prime and those with little or nothing to offer all trying to get the the 25 player roster. Those that have it made are just getting loose for the coming season. Some good ball is played, but as it is often said, it doesn’t count.

Next week the real games start. I will be following every score. Grumbling at losses or poor play. Feeling aggravated when a star player is hurt or not doing well. Cheering for every win.

So if you follow baseball, this is the time of year you’ve been waiting for. If you don’t, your time will come. 😉

My promise to myself. I’m going to go to at least 1 major league game this season. I don’t know when or even where, but I will do it.

And to my fellow old-time tangenteers, Good luck to your teams, until they play my favorite team. 😉

Go Tigers.

Well, I received an email last Friday. It was a request for my ‘acting’ ability. I have been on a self imposed hiatus from theater, so I didn’t think I would be doing any sort of acting in the near future. I was wrong. I will be the understudy for one of the actors. He can’t do all of the performances, so I will do the one he will miss. I’m just lucky it is a small role with very easy dialog. I get to be a love struck honeymooner. I’ve done that role once in real life, I think I can handle it. I played that role for 20 years.

This will be a little different. It is a dinner theater with audience participation. I’m looking forward to it. The audience will be sitting around and in the middle of our acting. Should be fun. The character I have doesn’t have too much interaction with the audience, but I do have to be aware of where they are located during my various scenes.

I will have to get some information as to the cost of the performances. Should be interesting.

I recently came across this neat story in an article about volunteerism:

There is a story about a man walking along a beach.  He notices that the starfish have washed ashore and will soon die in the baking sun.  Then the man sees a young child picking up the starfish, one at a time, and throwing them back into the ocean.  Noticing the hundreds of starfish and the small size of the child, the man says, “Son, you will never be able to save them all.  What you are doing will not make any difference.”  The little fella looks at the man, picks up yet another starfish, and tosses it back into its saltwater haven.  “Matters to that one.”

I think this is a cute story that very effectively describes the fears that many people have about volunteering – their heart may be in the right place when they want to help, but then they begin to have doubts, like “I’m just one person, what could I possibly do to help?”  or  “I don’t have a lot of time, so I probably just shouldn’t bother committing to anything.”  The bottom line is, if you have any extra time at all, as little as one hour a week, and you’d like to help others, there is a place in your community that could use and be grateful for your volunteer work.  So if it’s something you’ve been thinking about doing, let go of your insecurities, find someone to answer your questions, and find a place that suits your interests where you can pitch in and lend a helping hand at the same time.  Your calling might be at a food pantry, nursing home, animal shelter, community theater, hospital, senior center, community service agency, delivering for Meals on Wheels, etc – the list goes on and on.  If you really want to take the time to help others and give back to your community, don’t let excuses run your life –  just do it!!  If you really can’t find anywhere to volunteer in your community, try contacting your local churches to see if they have any community programs for which you could volunteer, or perhaps a family in need of some helping hands; you never know what you may find!