12.18.2012

'Tis the Season (for Muppets)



Just heard an instrumental Carol of the Bells and it made me think of this rendition.

 [sigh]

 I love the Muppets!

11.12.2012

Kindle Reading

When I first got my Kindle last birthday, I was ecstatic and cautious all at once. After all, I have an enormous pile of to read books that occasionally gets whittled down by me changing my taste in books and giving them away. My fear was that the impulse buying issue I have in bookstores that leads me to avoid them in the same way an alcoholic avoids bars would be free to deplete my bank account unchecked.

My fears were thankfully unfounded. I do impulse shop, but mostly from Pixel of Ink's free (or nearly free) daily listings. I prefer to visit the website rather than get the email notifications, mainly because the former has pictures and the latter, only text. I highly recommend it if you're in tough financial straits because you can get some good, well-reviewed (by readers) books in a decent range of genres (ie. not just romance).  I do have a pile of cool books I might end up reading, and a shorter pile of must reads, but they no longer take up so much space.  :)

My other big discovery was Instapaper. The site calls it, "A simple tool to save web pages for reading later." For example, say you're websurfing during your lunch hour and you encounter a neat, but very lengthy article. In the past, you might bookmark it for later, but you'd have to remember it was there and be on a computer to read it. With Instapaper, you click your "Read Later" bookmarklet and through the magic of computing, the article is sent to your Kindle via your Amazon account. That means it comes over wirelessly. Now they have iPhone and iPad and Android apps for those wanting to read it that way too. I've been using it for a couple of months now and it is super cool and very easy to use. I highly recommend it.

Now, if only I had more time to read...

11.10.2012

Blogging Breakfast

(I've been too busy to blog, but I'm determined to try and keep it up...)

To continue my blog's trend of posting yummy pictures, here's what my brekkie looked like this morning.  As usual, it was delicious.  :)

Mis en place (toasted sesame oil not shown)

Final product

10.24.2012

Blog Reboot

This isn't a true reboot (or would that be "reimagining?").  I've been tempted to do so and have been ogling Squarespace for a little while now.  But I'm not sure it's worth the expense for just a blog that has, for the last year and a half been mouldering in obscurity.  When I'm back into a good routine and feel better about having something that is linked to my full name, somewhere I can promote my activities (writing, architecture?), I'll probably look at Squarespace again, but right now, I think this will have to do.

I've been thinking lots about writing recently, especially since I went to Worldcon (Chicon 7) and have started watching The Story Board, a Google Hangout once a month, moderated by Patrick Rothfuss.  I have more to say on the subject of writing, but will leave it for another post, as I really ought to get back to things I'm "supposed" to be doing.  Also, so I have something in the bag to post about next.

And finally, I will do NaNoWriMo this year.  I considered writing with an audience (like this woman is doing) but considering how exploratory this year's effort will be, I think I'll simply blog about my progress and my discoveries during that progress.  A bit like an explorer's journal entry, rather than taking you on the excursions themselves.

Anyway, welcome back, dear readers and if you're a new reader, there's plenty of old posts here if you're curious what I'm about.

Enjoy!