Android Nook & Kindle

As I do have books at the Nook and the Kindle, I downloaded the apps for my Android phone.

Nook by Barnes & Noble

It's not very intuitive for turning pages since I got use to using FBReader and iReader. It would be ideal if it used the Volume/Ringer Up and Down and the track ball to assist in turning the pages. I needed to swipe right to left turn to next page and the other way to go backwards. Tapping works but not consistently.

The formatting of the books are inconsistent. I opened one book where on some pages it was single spaced and other pages are double spaced. What's up with that. In another book, you see light line borders around the paragraphs. Not all links work. Not all books have chapter links.

You do get NOOK FOR ANDROID QUICK START GUIDE. I thought it might quickly tell me how to navigate around a book. It does not tell you anything. It's promotional thing.

This program needs a lot more work before I might use it.

Kindle by Amazon

The page turning controls are the same as the Nook. At least the problems I found with the Nook do not exist with Kindle for Android -- formatting and chapters links.

It's good that Amazon kept the functionality of Kindle for the PC, iPad and Android consistent.

Thumbs up for Amazon.

One of these days, I'll do a quick review of Borders ereader app. Hopefully, the program stays around as the store fronts are slowly disappearing.

Bottomline for me... I'll be converting my books to a consistent format using Calibre and find that one ereader app that I like. I'm still playing with the apps. It may be a different app depending on the platform -- pc, iPad, Android. It will not be Nook or Kindle as they don't like books from other sources.

Murphy Tried to Keep Me in Atlanta

I flew into Atlanta Tuesday night to attend meetings in Alpharetta the next several days. The last time I was here was for Dragon*Con last September.

After I landed, I went hunting for the car rental bus. No bus no more. I was surprised with ATL's new rail system to get to the car rental area. Very neat.

After three days of meetings and getting to know team members for a new project, we were all ready to finish up as early as possible on Friday. The Alpharetta office always talks about the bad downtown traffic that was between them and the airport.

Pics found in the Ladies Rest Room of Bucca diPeppo. I was told that the Gents had pics of little boys going.

Surprisingly, I got to the airport in an hour. I was wondering how long I was going to spent in Atlanta as the traffic signs were up about a slow down due to an event in downtown Atlanta. It was slow, but it kept moving.

I took advantage of the check-in kiosks at the car rental rail station while waiting for the next train that shows up every 90 seconds to 2 minutes. The kiosk gave me the option of taking the 4:15pm flight, but I decided to stick with my 5:30. When I got to the terminal, I was sad to see my 5:30 was delayed an hour. As I didn't want to spend more time at the airport, I decided to change to the 4:15.

When I got to the gate terminal, I checked the monitor again. Delta cancelled the 4:15 flight *argh* The line was long at customer service, but I got on it anyway. While waiting, I called my travel department to find out if I was still booked on my original flight. She said "Yes, and you're checked it". I got off the line, checked the monitors to find the gate for the 5:30 which is now taking off on time and headed to the gate.

As I was walking to the gate, I see these nifty machines around the terminal. If you miss your flight, scan your boarding pass and it will print a new boarding pass with your new flight. I decided to scan my cancelled boarding pass to see what it would give me. I hope it was the 5:30pm flight. Nope, it told me I was confirmed for a 8:15pm. I hunted for the boarding pass I printed at the car rental rail station and scanned that. Yep, Delta ensured I was only on one flight, and sadly, it was the 8:15pm. I even checked the website on my phone. When I changed to the 4:15, it cancelled my 5:30 seat. So much for the info from my travel department.

Now I need to spend time around the terminals until 8:15. I read the newspaper, did some sudoku, bought two pairs of earrings, had dinner and even finished watching The Book of Eli. There was Wifi but you need to pay for it. I miss Phoenix and Jacksonville airports. I could have used my phone as a modem, but I forgot to put the necessary software on my pc. Note to self, remember to put software on pcs.

With no status on Delta, I was awarded the furthest passenger seat from the cockpit. As I sometimes do when I board and I have the window seat, I start snoozing after I settled in and am bored with watching people board. I did hear this lady talking to her car service to inform them that we will arrive early and the flight attendant letting passengers know that one of the toilets was not flushing. I awoke a bit later to learn we're still on the ground. So much for arriving early. The mechanics are trying to fix the toilet. The captain comes on 15 minutes later to tell us to deplane -- take all belongings with you, we would like to fix the plane with no passengers on, hopefully the flight will not be cancelled. It is 9:15pm. To appease the passengers, Delta gave out $6.00 meal vouchers.

I'm hoping they fixed the plane or at least find us a different plane. I really want to get home tonight. I do know, if they can't fix the plane, they will need to provide accommodations as it's a mechanical difficulty and not Mother Nature. At 9:45pm, the Red Coat gave us good news that we got new equipment, and after cleaning and restocking, we will be boarding again. Yippee!!!

I don't know when we took off, but I did finally get home at 1:45am Saturday. 12 hours traveling. I bet all my teammates who lived further than me got home before I did.

Murphy tried, but failed. I'll see you, Atlanta, again in July, maybe. If not, definitely in September for Dragon*Con.

For anyone who travels with their dog, the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport has a dog park.

Count Me In for the "No DRM" Camp

I never had problems with DRM (Digital Rights Management) ebooks.

I've been reading ebooks since 2005 when a co-worker showed me her Treo. I had a Sony Clie then, and they both had the same operating system -- Palm OS. 5 years of reading ebooks with no problem.

I started worrying when Palm decided to come out with a new operating system in 2009. Palm said new OS will still run old programs. This did not sound good. Hopefully, Palm or its software developers would come up with something better as I would not be changing my device for another year.

It's a year later. Palm is not doing good. It was being trounced by iPhone and new Android devices. Latest scoop, Palm has been acquired by HP. Who knows what's going to happen? No worries, I've jumped Palm ship. Instead of trusting Palm, I was hoping the owners of eReader and Mobipocket would come through with software on the Android platform. iPhone is not in my future because of carrier and poor NYC service area.

What really pushed me to not become a fan of DRM was the acquisition of an iPad last month. Yes, I wrote that I was not going to get one, but I have one. Since I had over 600 ebooks that were DRMed eReader (.pdb) and Mobipocket (.prc), I wanted the ability to read them on the iPad. I had to de-DRM the books in order to convert them into another format that could be used on the iPad.

After the iPad acquisition, I got a new phone -- an Android one. Mobipocket did not come through on Android. eReader did. Regardless of these two vendors, I was able to find a reader software that enabled me to read my DRM books -- iReader. I'll still be testing other software until I find one that I'm totally happy with.

Another ebook headache -- I've not been able to buy any books from my preferred vendor, Fictionwise. They are waiting for their distributor, Ingram, to iron out the agency-model pricing with the publishing houses. There goes the idea of acquiring books from a single place as I've not been able to buy a book for two months nor download some of my purchased books. In the meantime, I'm buying from other vendors. I still need to read and am no longer purchasing physical books.

Regardless, the books I buy belong to me. I do not want to be locked down on which device or format I'll be reading my books. Nor do I want a vendor to control where I get my books and where I can read them either. I'll be de-DRMing all my books so I can convert them into any format to read on any device I want.

This customer is QUEEN!

My new adventure is working with Calibre, library management software, to load and convert my ebooks that are constantly growing. I also need to figure out what device has what :)

Bon Jovi, I and 64,000+ Others

I got hooked on going to see Bon Jovi when I got free tickets to his HAVE A NICE DAY tour in 2006. This will be the third concert of his I've gone to. The second one was the free concert he did at Central Park last summer.

We headed to the new stadium as soon as Pointy got home. Lots got there before us as we wound up in Lot K when I wanted to be in A-E. As we walked to the stadium entrance, the skies decided to open up. Lucky, I made sure we had rain gear with us. It delayed the start of the concert as Meadowlands Stadium did not want anyone to get struck by lightning. In the meantime, Pointy and I ate our sandwich while we waited.

Lightning warnings passed, and they let Gavin DeGraw start his set at 7:20. Yes, it was still raining. Jon must have had an in with someone upstairs as it ended when Gavin's set was over. Jon and crew came out at 8:00.

Bon Jovi ended the concert with KEEPING THE FAITH and some great fireworks to end the song. I guess we made enough of an uproar for him to return to give us the last three songs. The show ended about 11:45pm.

Here's the set list:
BLOOD ON BLOOD - NEW JERSEY
WE WEREN’T BORN TO FOLLOW - THE CIRCLE
BAD NAME - SLIPPERY WHEN WET
WHOLE LOT OF LEAVIN' - LOST HIGHWAY
BORN TO BE MY BABY - NEW JERSEY
LOST HIGHWAY - LOST HIGHWAY
WE GOT IT GOING ON - LOST HIGHWAY
HAVE NICE DAY - HAVE A NICE DAY
WHEN WE WERE BEAUTIFUL - THE CIRCLE
SUPERMAN TONIGHT - THE CIRCLE
CAPTAIN CRASH - CRUSH
BAD MEDICINE W/ BAD CASE OF LOVIN YOU - NEW JERSEY
IT’S MY LIFE - CRUSH
LOVES THE ONLY RULE - THE CIRCLE
LAY YOUR HANDS ON ME - Cross Road
MAKE A MEMORY - LOST HIGHWAY
BED OF ROSES - KEEP THE FAITH
NEVER SAY GOODBYE - SLIPPERY WHEN WET
SOMETHING FOR THE PAIN - THESE DAYS
SATURDAY NIGHT - Cross Road
SLEEP WHEN I'M DEAD - KEEP THE FAITH
WORK FOR THE WORKING MAN - THE CIRCLE
WHO SAYS YOU CAN'T GO HOME - HAVE A NICE DAY
KEEP THE FAITH - KEEP THE FAITH
ALWAYS - Cross Road
WANTED - Cross Road
LIVIN' ON A PRAYER - SLIPPERY WHEN WET

Observations:
* Poor deer got hit :( (It was still there the next day when I drove into the city.)
* Men really do go on the side of the road.
* Some tailgaters were taking up multiple parking spots.
* Males were coming out of the bushes. Guess they couldn't wait on the Porta-Johns lines.
* Why? Why did they have more Male checker lines than Female checker lines?
* I did not have to use the plastic bottle caps in my pocket.
* Pointy wonders why new toilets did not have sensors but the faucets did?
* The Droid Incredible has an amazing camera. The fuzzy pics were from Olympus camera which I forgot to fully charge. The rest of the pics are from the Incredible.

Judy, next time, remember to bring the extra poncho and possibly a towel to wipe the seats dry.

Here are the pics from Bon Jovi The Circle Tour concert if you interested.

New Phone, Current Plan - I WIN :D

I was scared. I thought I had to change my mobile plan.

I took the plunge and got the Droid Incredible. When I was completing the online "paperwork" to switch my phone, it told me I had to add a data plan. No data plan, no phone order. The thing is my current phone plan has the data part in it already. Was the company going to add an additional charge to my current plan. This would mean I would be charge for data access twice. Would it mean I would have to change my current phone plan, too?

The online chat rep came on and asked if "it" could help. I asked it my question and it said "Yes". I would need to change my plan as my current plan is no longer offered. Okay. I want the new phone so I'll change my phone plan, too. The online "paperwork" would not let me change my phone plan and phone at the same time. What numb skull thought of this great idea? I would need to submit two different orders.

Well, whatever numb skull it was, you have my gratitude.

I was going to submit another order to change my phone plan, but I was unsure whether I needed to do it immediately. I still had to wait for the ship of the Droid and my Palm Centro still needed the current plan. If I did submit the order, when would Verizon make the change? I hate bills that contain pro-rate charges.

I decided to wait until I got my new mobile bill. I did not get charged the extra data plan! I still have my current plan! Someone in the back office, or else smart programming, figured out my current plan has the data part in it and did not need another data plan added to my account.

Why am I so happy?

My current plan is cheaper than the new stuff. It would have cost me $10.00 more a month if I switched my plan.

New phone, current plan -- I WIN :D

Computer & Electronics Recycling

My county had a Computer & Electronics Recycling Day on Saturday. I knew I had a 36" TV to get rid of. I'm sure there were other things that could be recycled. A hunting I went around the house.

The HP Laserjet III that just takes up room as it's never been hooked up since I moved in had to go. I'm spending more time in my office and need that space for something else.

There was the VHS machine which had a tape stuck in it. I tried getting it out and gave up. Pointy's BF got it out, but it was still broken. Recyle!

I found my very first cell phone. Here are all the cell phones I've own.


The far left one will go to recycle center. The next three plus Pointy's cell phones will get mailed to a facility that will re-purpose the phones for military use. The last one is my new phone, Droid Incredible, to replace my Palm, next one over. I've not decided what I will do with my Palm yet.

Pointy's BF helped me moved the TV into the car. For the life of me, I can't remember how I got that heavy sucker into the Ikea entertainment cabinet. The rest of the equipment got loaded and away we went.

The County had a great set up. Lots of guys there that unloaded all the items out of the car for you. We did not have to step out and help at all. I guess it only made sense so we don't sue them for hurting ourselves there. The unload team took the items to the appropriate area where another team organized, packed and loaded them into the trucks. The town police were out to direct traffic. The flashing lights were a good idea. It told me I went to the right place.

We even got a reuseable shopping bag for participating in this event. That's a nickel for each bag we use for our groceries.

Main Street Electrical Parade

Starting in June, the Magic Kingdom Park at the Walt Disney World Resort will be presenting Main Street Electrical Parade instead of SpectroMagic parade during Summer Nightastic!.

I don't remember where I first saw the Main Street Electrical Parade. It might have been in Disneyland or possibly the Magic Kingdom in the 90's. I definitely caught it a time or two or three while it was at Disney's California Adventure. I'm glad I caught it again last year before it got packed up and shipped to the Magic Kingdom this year. Here are the pics to memorialized a night in August 2009.

If you want to compare the Main Street Electrical Parade and the SpectroMagic Parade, here are the pics I took in October 2009.

From an excerpt from Disney's Backstage Pass, May 2010, here's how the Main Street Electrical Parade came to be.

Just imagine the collective brightness in store for Magic Kingdom Guests like you when the grand and glorious Main Street Electrical Parade returns beginning June 6! Just hearing the strains of "Baroque Hoedown" floating through the Walt Disney World air gives shivers of joy to many of us.

Some wonderful things are also the simplest

Simply put, the Main Street Electrical Parade is a nighttime procession of memorable Disney scenes with beloved characters set aglow with millions of twinkling lights. And it began as a simple observation of Disney Legend Robert Jani, who was Creative Director of Walt Disney Productions.

"Bob was sitting in his living room, watching the twinkling lights on his Christmas tree," recalled Forrest Bahruth, Show Director, Walt Disney Entertainment. "He took his glasses off and on and thought, 'It's more interesting without my glasses because the light diffuses.'

"He began unstringing the lights on his Christmas tree, made a circle and a square, made a couple of flowers. His wife came in and said, 'What in the world are you doing?' He said, 'I'm just thinking about something.'"

A new kind of entertainment

The Main Street Electrical Parade evolved when Bob and his creative and technical team were thinking about performing the daytime parade at night. "In the early days there was no system for that," explained Forrest. "It turned out that the cost of lighting the existing parade was similar to creating a brand-new parade. So he and his team came up with an entirely new kind of Disney spectacle: a parade that makes its own light."

The Main Street Electrical Parade became a sensation, lighting up the hearts of Guests at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, Disneyland® Resort in California and Disneyland® Paris. The parade even made special appearances at the Super Bowl in Miami, and even on the streets of Manhattan (to dazzle the usually unflappable New Yorkers)!

It's also personally significant to Gene Harding, Show Producer, Walt Disney Entertainment. "This parade was my first job when I started as a Disney performer in 1985," he recalled. "When it came back in 1999, I was on the production team."

It's back again for the first time

Now when it returns as part Summer Nightastic!, the Main Street Electrical Parade will combine memorable elements that Gene and millions of Guests love, plus several new features making their Magic Kingdom debut.

"The parade will now begin with a completely different lead float, featuring Tinker Bell in a hot air balloon along with four of her pixie friends," said Gene. "From there, Tinker Bell's pixie dust will sparkle throughout the entire parade."

Parade fans can look forward to the familiar twinkling train, the giant drum heralding the parade title and the delightful Alice in Wonderland section–with Alice waving from a mushroom, the Caterpillar, a butterfly and the whirling snails, fireflies and turtles.

Next up you can relive the ballroom sequence from Cinderella, and giggle at her "dysfunctional family" of stepsisters snarling at the crowds. Peter Pan, Wendy and the Never Land friends are next, plus some foes: Captain Hook aboard his ship and Mr. Smee rowing behind.

A new mine is yours to enjoy

"We had the Snow White portion of the parade in Florida before, including Dopey's train," added Gene, "But the diamond mine was a California feature. Both the mine and the entire Pinocchio section are making their debut in Florida, including a funhouse float, 'cigar store' and the Pleasure Island boys." After waving "hello" to Pete, perched atop Elliott the dragon, the shining, shimmering American flag float brings the Main Street Electrical Parade to a patriotic finale.

"The parade has the same charm we all remember, but new developments in design and technology have been added here and there," said Gene. "We've added luminescent panels, upgraded the sound reproduction and the synchronization between floats. In a sense, you'll experience it in a way unlike you could before."

But it's still the Main Street Electrical Parade we know and love. "When we can create something that really engages our Guests for generations, that's absolutely magical," said Forrest. "It's like a classic 'E' ticket Disney attraction."

Are you wondering what Disney's California Adventure Park will be showing at night now that the Electrical Parade has been shipped to Florida? Yes, there is something wonderful in the works. I hope to get out there to catch it's summer debut -- Disney's World of Color.

iPad as an Ebook Reader

I was waiting for reviews about iPad, especially as an ebook reader device. After reading what these folks have to say, iPad will not be in my future.

Will Apple's iBookstore be Publishing's Waterloo
The iPad: A Hella Long Journal and Review
10 hours with the iPad: Why the iPad Is Not a Kindle Killer

I'm happy with the equipment I have now. The iPad, Kindle, Nook or Sony eReader does not offer me anything I need beyond what I have now. As I like traveling real light, my Palm Centro is my ebook reader device of choice. I am currently researching a possible replacement for the Palm Centro as there are new phone choices out there.

What are your thoughts about the iPad? Is it in your future?

Movie Marathon

It's been a wonderful weekend. The house was all mine. I don't get the place to myself very often. I decided it was going to be movie weekend. I also had a hankering for fish filet since I saw the commercial last month and the promotion was going to end on Sunday.

I started my movie marathon not with a movie but a series I needed to finish as I've kept my friend's DVDs long enough. I finished Dexter Season 1 two months ago. I cut work early on Friday and plopped Dexter Season 2 into the player. I stopped about 4am at Season 3 disk one after 3 episodes.

I didn't ask for one, but my brother gave me a wake up call at 10:30am. As it was a bit too early for filet of fish, I cleaned my bedroom a bit and a quick vacuum, an hour's worth.

Destination: McDonald's for two Filet of Fish and a large chocolate milkshake. Yummmmm.I don't know why, but I should get out of the house more often. It was warm enough for me to drive with the windows down and I was only in a t-shirt. I loved my drive to McDonald's. The roofers were banging away on some of the roofs in my section. I guess others had leaks besides moi. Kids were out. Walkers were walking. Dog walkers were following their dogs. Golfers walking the many greens in the neighborhood. Forsythias, everywhere, were a beautiful yellow. I even saw daffodils here and there. Soon, the landscaper will be putting blooms around the section markers. Spring is surely here!

After yummm lunch, I continued my Saturday movie marathon finishing up Dexter Season 3, 2012 and Precious. I got an early night -- 2 am :)

8:30am Sunday. Why am I up this early? I thought I would take a bathroom break and jump back into bed. Not. I headed out to McDonald's and got me a Egg McMuffin, Hash Brown and coffee :)

I wanted to continue my movie marathon, but my DVD player did not want to work. Instead I hopped on the internet to catch up on the past two days. I also put in a load of laundry which was created from my quick cleaning yesterday. Idiot me finally figured out what's wrong with the DVD player. In computerese, I had a picnic -- problem in chair not in computer. I needed to hit the "PLAY" button; I took for granted the autoplay of a new disk. Woot! Next up was Hurt Locker, Law Abiding Citizen, Where the Wild Things Are, and New Moon (background movie really while doing other stuff).

Since my sis was not here, I had to water the plants, take care of the recycling/garbage and wash the dishes in the sink.

I didn't just watch the boob tube all weekend. Alexis Morgan's DEFEAT THE DARKNESS and Joss Whelan's BEYOND THE NIGHT kept me company during movie breaks. Hopefully, I'll finish these books this week. I did find a craft project that I could do while watching my movies. Just need to sew a seam to complete it. It could possibly be the first project I completed in I don't know how many years.

Movie recap...

Dexter: I'll have to place a Netflix order to catch up on the rest of the Dexter seasons. No, I do not subscribe to the premium movie stations.

2012: Do you think the heads of states have a plan for Dec 21, 2012?

Precious: YOU decide what you want to make of your life. Go, Precious! I might look for Sapphire's PUSH next time I'm at the library.

Hurt Locker: Don't know why we're still over there if we're not wanted.

Law Abiding Citizen: I knew Gerard Butler was in the movie but did not know he was the "bad" guy. He plays a good one.

Ninja Assassin: All that flying blood and body parts.

Where the Wild Things Are: Imaginary friends can help you figure things out. I'm going to do a quick read of this next time I'm at the library or bookstore.

New Moon: The wolves have better bods than the vamps. Alice: "As soon as you put the dog out." Did you ever noticed that Bella never really looks at Edward when she talks to him, especially the scene where she stops Edward?

Corporate Games

Yo-Yo.

Tug-A-War.

Don't know which one. Let's say "Tug-A-War".

Given the recession, all companies have analyzed their workforce to see if they can get better efficiencies with less people. My company also had an initiative to remove layers so the customer, internal and external, has less layers to move through when it comes to getting satisfaction. This could mean laying off more people and re-organizing the lines of business.

At the same time, the company continued to look at other businesses it can get into to generate more greens for the coffers.

Last August, I was informed I will have a new administrative manager. Darn! I really wanted to be laid off. Okay, no problems. I'm a low maintenance employee. Tell me where I need to go, what the client needs done and leave me alone to do it. I'll yell if I need anything.

In November, I find out via an organization announcement that I was moved back to my old administrative manager. The managers are generally good about contacting you before any org announcement. Well, someone dropped the ball. I emailed both managers and asked who do I report to. Old manager replied "You now belong to me". New manager gives me back the name of my old manager but then follows up with another to say call me and let's talk.

Under the new manager, I would have had opportunities to work on the new line of business instead of continuing what I'm doing now and hope that new clients will add adventure to the project. The adventure has totally worn off on my current project by a year and it's still going on.

This month, my manager calls me and asks how would you like to work on the new line of business. It means moving back to the other manager.

*Arghhhh! silently* Sure! I'm more than happy to. Though, when the move is final, I may need to return to current project to help them in a pinch. No problem. More than happy to go back and help.

Since all my administrative manager changes have been done by them, I did not think I had to do anything. It would just happen magically. It had every single time.

New manager contacts me. Oh, no! I have to complete a freaking job posting to move back.

Why did they not leave me where I was in August!

I hate paperwork! Especially when it involves a resume. The last resume I had was 16 years ago. Though the company has made me maintain a company resume for clients. I hope they like the company resume. That's what I used.

Limbo, that's the game.

I completed the posting two weeks ago. Not a peep except for "did you post".

New manager contacts me today. I thought it was an interview. Nope. It was just to explain what the new position encompassed, when training will occur, getting lots of materials sent to me and I belong to new org on Monday. I had to remind the new manager that I'll be needed by my current project until they are ready to release me.

Yeah! New stuff to learn. I was tired of the old stuff.

I will be putting in OT the first couple of weeks juggling my current project, which wants attention now when it didn't several weeks ago, and new training at the same time. Am I nuts because I'm excited!?!?! Maybe no time to play on the internet.

Though I really wish to be laid off so I can go find myself. Crossing everything for next re-org. Doubtful as I read Asians are the least likely to be let go.

Shiloh Walker's Upcoming Release - BROKEN

Author of The Hunter series, Shiloh Walker has a new book coming out next week, Tuesday, March 2, 2010.

BROKEN

Shattered

Quinn Rafferty is working as a bounty hunter and bail bondsman in St. Louis when a new neighbor catches his eye. He’s tempted by her beauty—but he knows from experience that anyone desperate enough to live in his building is damaged goods. Besides, he has his own soul to mend before he can worry about anyone else.

Desperate

Sara Davis is on the run, but not for the usual reasons a woman goes on the lam. She’s not an abused wife, and she’s not a criminal. But she does have a plan for her future. And as much as she finds herself attracted to her gruff, tough neighbor, she can’t risk telling him the secrets she’s hiding. There’s just too much at stake.

Driven to desire…

But Quinn must get closer to Sara when she turns out to be the target of his new missing persons case, and he discovers that there is something more complex and dangerous to her than he thought. Now, both Quinn and Sara will have to expose their true feelings—as well as their fragile hearts—if they hope their love will survive…


EXCERPT

He opened the door—

And stopped dead in his tracks as somebody all but fell into his arms. Somebody…a woman. And not Theresa.

He caught her just above her elbows, automatically steadying her.

“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice soft and low.

Then she lifted her face and Quinn found himself gazing into the biggest, brownest eyes he’d ever seen in his life. Feeling a little dazed, he studied her face while she stammered out another apology.

Quinn barely heard it.

He was too busy staring at her mouth. A very pretty mouth, a cupid’s bow mouth slicked with deep, vibrant red. Under his hands, he could feel silken smooth skin and unable to resist, he stroked a thumb along her inner arm.

Her skin was soft, soft and warm. He was also pretty sure she had the creamiest, most flawless skin imaginable. Her shoulder-length hair was a shade caught between blonde and brown, nondescript, but for some reason, he found himself thinking about tangling his fingers in that hair and holding her head still while he kissed that red-slicked mouth.

Well, hello…

Read the rest of the excerpt here…

Did you get enough? No? Shiloh has been offering snippets here:
Broken... Random Snippet #1
Broken... Random Snippet #2
Broken... Random Snippet #3
Broken... Random Snippet #4
Broken... Random Snippet #5
Broken... Random Snippet #6

Go buy the book by March 6 and you could win a Nook. For details, go here. Good Luck!

We Are The World - Now and Then

NBC debuted We Are The World 25 for Haiti before the 2010 Winter Olympic games opening ceremonies.

When I heard it, I was not that thrilled with it. I posted on Facebook that this would need another listen. Maybe it will grow on me.

I later found out that the broadcast was only 3 minutes of the full video. Here's the official one. I like this version a lot better.



Here's the original.



Old or new? I sitll like the original. Yes, the new one grew on me. I like the new except for the guy (Jamaican?) who sounds like an out-of-tune warbling bird or some animal (time slice 3:14, 6:31 and 7:03). Only good part from him was at time slice 7:41-7:55.

Jay-z felt We Are the World should not have been remade.

How do you feel about the remake?

Turkey Hill Moose Tracks

FoodTV did an Unwrapped episode on Peanut Butter and showed the making of Turkey Hill's Moose Track. Well, it worked. I added this to my next grocery store shopping list. I was lucky that Turkey Hill was on sale -- 3 pints for $5.00. I brought Moose Tracks, Chocolate Mint Moose Tracks and one of my favorate flavors, Chocolate Mint.

Moose Tracks is vanilla ice cream with swirls of fudge and minature peanut butter cups (lots tinier than the ones you get from Hershey).

I had a serving last night and today I finished it. I tried it once and will not buy it again.

The vanilla ice cream was nice, creamy and soft. It was easy to scoop out. I did not need to leave it out at all.

The fudge swirls were hard. They weren't really swirled through the vanilla ice cream but were solid ribbons of chocolate. Like a glob of fudge here and then there.

If the fudge swirls and vanilla ice cream was the same consistency, I would like it more. It did not look like the carton picture.

Peanut butter cups were okay.

This was something I could not leave out to soften. It may have soften the fudge, but I think the vanilla ice cream would be soup.

I think I have a hankering for some Reese's Peanut Butter cups :)

IMAX Experience

I was totally blown away. The size of the screen was not what I expected. I had to confirm my expectation on the internet. The IMAX CEO says it's just not the screen size.

My brain said my first IMAX experience was a museum. Problem... can't remember which one and where. I think the trip involved a bus. My next one was at the Lincoln Square movie theater complex. Both of them were nature related, I think. Both screens were humongous. I think it was 3 or 4 stories tall. My last one was when I decided to take my Mom, older sis and baby sis to see Happy Feet. Boy, those penguins were really larger than life ;)

I saw Avatar two weekends ago in 3D. I loved the beauty of it and wanted to try it in IMAX 3D. I checked the theater listings and found one not too far from me. Now, I don't need to go into NYC.

Today's IMAX experience was a disappointment for me. I was expecting the humongous screen, and it was not. The experience was not any different than my original viewing of Avatar. Yes, the screen was a bit bigger, but I did not get what I wanted to feel. I think I got that size screen in one of the movie theaters in NYC because I'm sure I experienced Star Wars on that size screen. With the real humongous screen, I thought I would feel like I was on Soaring Over California or Circle Vision of China.

As I caught the matinee showing both times, the only difference in price was $1.00 -- $9.00 vs. $10.00. I was not required to return the glasses, but I had to return the IMAX glasses.

In my opinion, the other theaters have fake IMAX. Once you've experienced the humongous screen, the retrofitted movie theater IMAX screens just don't cut it. This ordinary person, moi, would not notice the other things mentioned by the IMAX CEO about the rest of the IMAX experience.

Now I know if I want the "real" IMAX experience is to double check theaters that have the humongous screen. Or I'll just head on into New York City where I know I can find the real thing.