Something to read at the Beauty Salon

I have mentioned that before purchasing a book for my Kindle I can download and read a sample - usually the first chapter of the book. I have enjoyed this feature and enjoyed a few books I might not have thought to read otherwise...

Yesterday I needed to kill some time with a head full of foil at the salon... Every woman has experienced one of these price-of-beauty moments when she wants something to take her attention away from that crazy haired, Bride of the Tin Man reflection in the the glass...

So I pulled out my Kindle. Hmmm I think it is time to start on Francine Rivers' The Scarlet Thread... I have really been looking forward to reading this one! So I begin reading. Hmm a boy named Alex, that was the name of the girl's husband in that OTHER book I read years ago. Hmmm that girl's dad gave her a hard time about her boyfriend too. Gee I guess some of these novels can get pretty formulaic. Except.... the names of these children sound really familiar. read a little more this so much like that other book - but those people live in L.A. not a sleepy town up north... Lucky for me Sierra's husband decided to take the job in Los Angeles before the sample of the book runs out. Then I knew for SURE. I'm so glad I didn't buy the book because I had read it a few years ago and just didn't recognize the name (blush.) Feeling a little old, now. It did give my hair dresser and I a good chuckle and something to chat about while she washed and trimmed my hair.

So from now on, no matter how SURE I am that I want to read a book... I guess I had better download and read the sample before buying. I find I have a harder time remembering library books because there often is no cover artwork to jog my memory.

I really want to read another book by Francine Rivers since I liked the first and second books in The Mark of the Lion Series so well. I enjoyed reading A Voice in the Wind more than anything I have read in a long time. I have heard praise for Redeeming Love, but it is not yet available for Kindle so it will have to wait. I've almost settled on The Last Sin Eater.

I've just complete the juvenile fiction books The City of Ember and The People of Sparks both by Jeanne DuPrau. They were both fun and I'm now reading The City of Ember to Ethan. Even though he is an avid reader on his own, He still loves being read to. I like to watch his excitement as the story unfolds, and it gives us so much opportunity for discussion.

Psalm 27:1

Today this song is running over and over in my head. I wanted to look up which verse it came from.

Psalm 27:1
"The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" (KJV)

Journal - Ignore

This one is for me. My blog is like my journal, it's where I do my journey so feel free to ignore this one.

So if you're not supposed to build a wall... what ARE you supposed to do?!

Then I get a Text from Lynda that says
"Have a blessed day Nahum 1:7"

Nahum 1:7
"The LORD is a good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him."

Ok I'll try that.

Tweeting & Scrapping - Big Picture Scrapbooking's: Everyone Can Write A Little

So I mentioned my failure to follow through on my first attempt at an online Scrapbook Writing class in my postHow writing Is Like My Cat, Emma, & how I failed at a Big Picture Scrapbooking Course. Yet here I am not very much longer down the road signing up for another class. Well I'm going to give it another try, I'm getting back on the horse. I need something to feel good about right now and creating usually does that for me so why not?

I'm downloading the pre-class & first week videos as we speak. Gonna download my videos, print my handouts & cut myself a piece of that Chocolate Silk Pie leftover from Mother's Day (It's comfort food, I make no apologies, today!) Thus armed I'm going to head upstairs to the big comfy couch and begin my journey.


I'm taking Everyone Can Write a Little by Cathy Zielske. "How Twitter or Facebook can make you a better journaler of the everyday. And, a cool digital hybrid album project to showcase your results." Well I'm already Tweeting on Twitter and connecting on Facebook so I'm already half way there, right? Well I hope so. As soon as I heard about it, it sounded like a class for me.

If you'd like to see Cathy's Video explanation of the class click here. The class begins, today, but registration will remain open until May 20.
Gotta run, I don't want to be late for class!

PS BPS Give Away Share a tweet for a shot at a random seat: comment before midnight pdt 5/19/09. - follow the link below.
http://bigpicturescrapbooking.typepad.com/scrap_big/2009/05/giveaway-in-140-characters-or-less.html

Verses of Encouragement

I needed encouragement, today so I went looking for some... I sought words that would make me feel courageous to act, but I was sent one that soothed the hurt in my heart.

Deuteronomy 31:23
The LORD gave this command to Joshua son of Nun: "Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the Israelites into the land I promised them on oath, and I myself will be with you."

Ezra 10:4
Rise up; this matter is in your hands. We will support you, so take courage and do it.

as soon as I had found those, my cell phone beeped and Lynda had texted me this one.

Jonah 2:2
2 He said:
"In my distress I called to the LORD,
and he answered me.
From the depths of the grave I called for help,
and you listened to my cry.

A great site looking up verses online, comparing translations, or searching for keywords:
http://www.biblegateway.com/

Found this site today, has an index to find encouraging verses for different situations:
http://encouragingbiblequotes.com/verseindexa.html

Recent Updates 5/13/09

I thought I'd mention a few things I've updated on the site, today:

I've added "verse of the day" to the top of my blog.
I added a "Song of the Day" playlist to the bottom of my blog, my intention is to add songs to it on those days when I have a particular song in my heart.

I am also adding a link to another podcast about The Shack to my post about The Shack: http://thefragranthand.blogspot.com/2009/04/shack-chapter-6-book-notes.html and I republished that article because somehow it ended up back in drafts (sorry about that.)

Love My New Kindle

So I have mentioned it in a few blog posts and been twittering about it almost non-stop since I got my new Kindle (a gift from hubby for my birthday). I've had some emails and Twitter messages about it... so I'm going to talk about it in more specifics... I have already figured out things to do with it beyond just reading books.

So I mentioned before that Kindle is an e-book reading device created and sold by Amazon. It has a large capacity and can hold over 1,500 books. I can read for up to 4 days on a single battery charge up to 2 weeks with the wireless turned off. At present Amazon says they have more than 270,000 books available for Kindle. But it isn't the fact that it's an e-book reader that made me want one, it was finding out the ease and convenience of how it WORKS that made the difference. Disclaimer: I have a Kindle 2, which works differently from original Kindle in many ways.

EASY ON THE EYES - INDOORS AND OUT
The Kindle screen is designed to be easy on the eyes, it uses a new technology called Electronic Paper Display so you don't get eye strain the way you do with a computer monitor. The screen is not back lit so it can be read outside in daylight. This was a HUGE plus, I spend a lot of time outside watching children play. I can read the Kindle screen just as easily outside in sunlight as I can indoors.
No scrolling, when you finish the current page you don't scroll down, Kindle has next page and previous page buttons located where your hand rests as you hold it, you don't have to move your hands to turn the page. I have found I can operate it in just one hand.
Forget your reading glasses at the office? Kindle lets you switch back and forth from 6 different font sizes if you want you can turn any book into a large print edition. (more on saving the eyes in the section about EXPERIMENTAL FEATURES.)

KINDLE HOLDS A LOT OF BOOKS
I travel to California to visit my Dad every summer, that is when I do the bulk of my reading... I usually stay too long to be able to bring library books and with tighter limitations on how much luggage I can bring, reading materials take up valuable packing space, even if I don't take any books, I come home with an armload of them. So the Amazon Kindle can hold up to 1,500 books and I remember reading that I can expand the memory with a memory card. Suitcase space problem SOLVED (at least as far as books go.)


INSTANT GRATIFICATION & TRY-BEFORE-YOU-BUY
Have you ever been at the doctor's office with a book and found you just weren't interested in that book that day? Or perhaps you bought a new book and you can't get into it. Or do you have new books you haven't read yet, but all you REALLY want to read is a new book that you don't own - book guilt. Come on I know I can't be the only one who does these things... the book delivery system was the #1 reason I wanted a Kindle. Kindle 2 uses the Kindle Whispernet, as far as I can understand the signal it uses to connect wirelessly to the Kindle Store. It is NOT Wi-Fi where you have to find a hotspot, it's more like your cell phone it connects wherever you are (I understand there IS a service area map somewhere -and I think I read that Kindle Whispernet is powered by Sprint's 3G network.) At present there is NO CHARGE for Kindle Whispernet, if you have a Kindle, you get Whispernet at least right now. So I want a new book, I click to go to the Kindle Store and I can browse or search available books. I can read an overview of the book, I can see an average rating, I can read reviews of the book by other customers but the really exciting thing is I can choose to download a SAMPLE (usually the first chapter) and read before I decide to buy. When I DO choose to buy a book I click BUY and it's charged to the CC I set up for my account and the book is downloaded to my Kindle in about 60 seconds. YES! I can buy a new book in the middle of a pedicure or in line at the bank and since I get my books instantly I don't need to buy them until I am ready to read them (hopefully) eliminating that stack of un-read books.

Kindle holds my place in a book and I can add bookmarks, clip favorite passages, and add annotations of my own.


PURCHASES BACKED UP ON AMAZON.COM
If my Kindle ever SHOULD get full, a record of the books I've purchased is kept on Amazon.com so I can delete them from my Kindle and retrieve them again later when I want them or if I get a new device (haven't gotten onto the specifics on how this works yet.)

There is a lot more than that, but those are the Kindle Basics. Now on to some extra stuff...

EXPERIMENTAL FUNCTIONS
These are technologies that Kindle is developing, they're in a separate section and I'm encouraged to give my feedback of how I like them and if I think they should continue to develop and offer these services...
Basic Web
So far I have used this to check local movie times on Fandango, check up on friends and send updates on Twitter, and to read blogs (text only - no ads!) It works best in Basic Mode - which is like using a phone with Mobile Web (I think I don't have the web enabled on my phone) - I had trouble getting into gmail to check my email, but will keep trying. I can add to my list of Favorites. The photo at the top of this post was when I was in Twitter, click the photo for a closer view.
Play MP3
I can upload music to listen to while reading or audio books from Audible.com this feature requires transferring data from a computer.
Text-To-Speech
This is that other eye saver I mentioned, Kindle will read my books TO me. It's an electronic voice, and it goes kind-of fast (even at the slowest of the available speeds) but it turns the pages as it goes so I can read along. I used this feature, rather than read aloud to my husband from the user's manual, today... and when I demonstrated it for Ethan (age 10), he wanted me to leave it running so he could listen to the whole book that way. There is a volume control and a headphone jack.

I'm sure there are a lot of things I forgot to cover but this is a lot already, let me know if you have any other questions.
Here is a link to a list of 25 "Kindle Hacks" thanks to Cliff over at GSPN.TV for sharing this link.


Here you can see even with the added bulk of its padded, protective cover the Kindle is still the size of a paperback book. The cover can fold back to hold easily in one hand, as seen in the photo at the top of this post.

How writing is like my Cat, Emma & how I failed at a Big Picture Scrapbooking course

About that writing class I took... the online scrapbooking one that I was so excited about.... "Telling Stories Deeply"... I never did it. Why would I do that?! I was really enthusiastic about it.. I downloaded all the materials... I went to the community board, introduced myself and looked around... I even did the preparatory list of possibly stories I might tell and printed out lessons 1 and 2,
but I never read them. (In my defense my back went out and I've been sick a lot in the last month... but none of these are truly a barrier to composition.)

Today the beginnings of something popped into my head, I opened up a word doc and quick as you please, had half a dozen sweet lines that captured something from my heart. Why am I like that? I think I am afraid to chase after things.

I am companion to, Emma, a very skittish kitty. We rescued Emma from a shelter, she is very friendly but also very shy. Even when she is dying for attention, if you approach her too quickly; or too noisily, or even LOOK like you are going to reach out to pet her; off she runs to hide under a bed or tablecloth or into one of the hiding places I do not know about. But let me be laying at my ease; dozing or watching a movie; and darn if that cat won't leave me alone! I can pitch her off my lap or grouch at her and she will not go away. It's all on her terms with Emma. I can coax and sweet talk her and persuade her to be cuddled if I really want to, but its a tentative, quiet cautious coaxing appeal.



I guess for me writing is like Emma. When I'm not looking for it, it lights in my lap and won't be ignored, but when I set out to pursue it I know it's to be a teasing business... I have to be soft and calm and coy, making my approach with peripheral vision. If I look straight at it, away it will bound into an unknown hidey hole, just like my shrinking cat.

I do have all the materials and I really do want to try the methods taught in the class... but I'm afraid to ruin this shy tentative relationship I have now. I don't know that I am ready to beat the bushes and search out under all the beds... perhaps it is better this way, at least it comes to me, even if its not on my terms.