Okay, I've been meaning to post this for a while, so here's a run down of the programs that I use to rip, burn, and make CDs.

CDex: I use this program to rip my CDs (turn them into mp3 tracks). It's freeware, so that's always a plus. It's really easy to use and also accesses the CDDB (a database of thousands of CDs) which makes naming tracks really easy since it's done for you.

MP3 CD Converter: this is what I use to convert all my mp3 tracks back to .cda files (files that can be played in a regular CD player). I've been using this program for years and just love it. It's only $19.95 which is a hell of a deal.

MediaFace 4: this is what I use to create my snazzy cover and CD art. It's the only program that I've found that allows you to create a CD booklet. Since you can fold a booklet in half, you get a nice CD inside and outside cover using one piece of paper. This feature alone is why I went ahead and paid for the program. It's also only $19.95 and once you pay you have access to over 500 high resolution background that you can download. It's really easy to print both the CD covers and the labels for the CDs themselves.

So, if you held off from joining any of my CD exchanges before because you didn't know how to make a CD, now you have no excuse.

.: 256 words at 09:50 PM in Geeky Things, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (5) :.

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The Trials of Tiffany Trott by Isabel Wolff: another British chick lit book that I found to be occasionally uneven and ultimately a bit disappointing.

We first find Tiffany Trott on the even of her thirty-seventh birthday getting ready for her party. She's in a good mood since she's got a wonderful boyfriend and she's convinced that he's going to be asking her to marry him any minute now. Unfortunately for Tiffany, by the end of the party she receives the dreaded "we need to talk" call and Alex dumps her.

The rest of the novel is about Tiffany trying to find the right guy. She uses lonely hearts ads. She tries dating agencies. She even tries Eat 'N Greet single matches. She does find one eligible guy, but the fact that he's married and looking for a part-time girlfriend, really isn't what Tiffany is looking for.

For the most part I enjoyed the book, but I never found myself dying to get back to it and find out what was going to happen next. I definitely found the ending annoying, but I do wonder what Tiffany's going to do about the events that unfold in the last ten pages or so.

All in all, not the worst chick lit book that I've ever read, but definitely not the best. It does have some good, dry British humor, though, so that's always a plus.

(Finished on August 31, 2003 for Zuly’s Reading Room.)

.: 244 words at 02:05 PM in Zuly's Reading Room, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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Steven and I are going to a friend's house tonight for a little Labor Day bash. Should be about four couples there and Steven's making homemade pizzas and pina coladas. Yum! Everyone have a safe and happy Labor Day weekend!

.: 40 words at 06:07 PM in Daily Ramblings, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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Fluke Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings by Christopher Moore: another wonderful book by the author of Island of the Sequined Love Nun and Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story.

In Christopher Moore's newest book, Nate Quinn, a marine behavioral biologist is consumed with the question of why whales sing. Until the day, that is, that while out observing the whales he sees one with "Bite Me" written on its tail.

So begins Nate quest to find out exactly what the hell is going on. During this adventure, we meet characters that only Moore could bring to life this well - Clay, Nate's partner in Maui Whale; Amy, the luscious, brilliant research assistant that Nate has a thing for; Kona, the dreadlock-wearing, pot smoking white boy from New Jersey who speaks Rastafarian; Elizabeth (AKA The Old Broad) who supports the researchers. There are also the assorted people - like Nate's ex-wife and other biologists - that lets you know that you are definitely reading a Christopher Moore novel.

I always love reading one of Moore's books. No where else can you find a sentence like "Quinn felt like he'd just smacked a bag of kittens against a truck bumper" or learn a phrase like "action nerd." A hell of a funny book with a really interesting premise that's well worth reading.

(Finished on August 28, 2003 for Zuly’s Reading Room.)

.: 233 words at 11:27 AM in Zuly's Reading Room, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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Steven and I were watching this really great show on the history of video games on The Discovery Channel. They started talking about Tetris and I was literally shocked when Steven turned to me and said, "So, what are you supposed to do?" He has never heard of Tetris before tonight! How is that possible? How can you have never heard of it before now?

.: 65 words at 12:59 AM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (8) :.

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Today was the day to pick up cheap supplies for burning CDs. Office Depot is running a sale on Imation CDs - 50 80 minute, 48x speed CDs (regularly $25.00 or so) for $11.87, buy one get one free. That's 100 CDs for about $13 after tax. Office Max has 50 slimline CD cases (regularly $9.99 a piece) on sale for $4.00 which then comes with a $4.00 mail-in rebate making them free.

If you're running low on CD supplies, now would be the time to stock up!

.: 88 words at 03:28 PM in Daily Ramblings, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (3) :.

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Today I helped Steven make a copy of a CD for his car. We designed the CD cover and the booklet art, printed it, and put a CD together. I've been thinking that since I'm seeing a pretty big interest in the Burn It CD Swap, I might go through and list what programs I use to put together my CDs. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow.

.: 66 words at 11:10 PM in Daily Ramblings, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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Today not only happens to be the birthday of everybody's favorite Scot, Sean Connery, but it also happens to be both Michele's birthday and her first wedding anniversary. Happy birthday and congrats, babe!

.: 33 words at 08:48 PM in Love Notes, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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I came home to two dead fish in our aquarium - the black and the blue scale orandas. I swear, we can't keep a fish alive for anything. Damn.

.: 29 words at 06:03 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (4) :.

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House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III: one of Oprah's Book Club picks (though I didn't know if when at the time) and one of the most captivating books I've read all year.

The story centers around two main characters - Colonel Massoud Amir Behrani and Kathy Nicolo. Kathy is a former cocaine addict trying to recover from her husband leaving her eight months earlier. Due to a bureaucratic error, Kathy's house, left to her by her father, is seized and put up for auction. Behrani, who fled Iran four years earlier and is having a tough time finding a good job, takes the last of his family's money and purchases the house for a very low price. This is when the real trouble begins.

Kathy, naturally, wants her house back. Behrani sees this as a once in a lifetime opportunity to get his family's fortunes back on track and refuses to sale without at least tripling his money. Meanwhile, Kathy has become involved with a married police officer, Les Burdon, complicating both her life and his.

Immediately, this book grabbed me and wouldn't let me go. I felt sympathy for both sides in this struggle and couldn't imagine any way that this would work out well for anyone. I wanted everyone to get what they wanted, though that obviously couldn't be. I worried about all involved- epsecially Mrs. Behrani and Kathy - and feared what would happen to these wonderfully vivid characters.

Not giving anything away, I totally felt that the book had an inevitable conclusion once it began moving. I was completely drawn in and recommended this book heartily.

(Finished on August 25, 2003 for Zuly’s Reading Room.)

.: 283 words at 03:09 PM in Zuly's Reading Room, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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My best friend Jeanna e-mailed me today to remind me that The Museum of Fine Arts Houston is having a new exhibit - The Heroic Century. Included in the exhibit will be Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night, Claude Monet's Water Lilies, and Salvador Dali's The Persistence of Memory.

It's a hell of an opportunity to see many pieces that you'll never have the chance to see again, so if you live in Houston or are nearby, I would highly suggest making your attendance a high priority. The exhibit starts September 21st of this year and runs until January 4, 2004.

.: 105 words at 06:13 PM in Notable News, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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The Snow Garden by Christopher Rice: one of the most boring books that I've had the displeasure of reading in quite some time.

Set at one of the most prestigious colleges in the country, the book revolves around two freshmen, their friend, and the college professor that one of them is sleeping with. Since the college professor is married, the fact that he's sleeping with a student isn't a good thing, especially since it's a male student. The professor's wife ends up dead causing all kinds of suspicion to fall on him. The college was also the scene of a young woman's drowning twenty years earlier causing one to wonder what the parallels may be.

The Snow Garden is supposed to be this great psychological thriller and horror story, but I couldn't ever get into it. I found all of the characters either downright unlikable or uninteresting. Also found the way that people's past secrets were hinted about for over half the novel very annoying. By about page three hundred or so, the novel started picking up, but since the book is only four hundred pages long, that's quite a lot of pages to have to slosh through to get to any kind of interesting material.

(Finished on August 23, 2003 for Zuly’s Reading Room.)

.: 216 words at 07:52 PM in Zuly's Reading Room, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (9) :.

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I have gone totally crazy with this whole BookCrossing thing. In the last few days I have bought thirteen books to release or start bookrings/rays with. You can see what I've registered here.

If you like any of the rings or rays that I've started, go sign up and I'll add you to the list.

.: 56 words at 07:34 PM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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Well, I must be lucky in love, because I am having the shittiest card luck! I can't win a hand over at Pogo in gin and I just got outdrawn on like a motherfucker to finish in fourth place (one out of the money, mind you) in a poker tournament. Argh!

.: 51 words at 10:04 PM in Rants, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (1) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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Flowers from the Moon and Other Lunacies by Robert Bloch: the first posthumous collection of his work since Bloch died in 1994. These stories are from the late 1930s through the early 1960s. Many of them have not been anthologized before, so this is a chance to see one of the masters of the genre from his early days.

I've always enjoyed Robert Bloch's work (he's probably best well-known for being the author of Psycho and the story Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper) and was delighted to get this anthology of his early work. For the most part, I enjoyed the stories, though some of them seemed fairly obvious in their ending. Seventy years ago, though, I bet they really packed a punch.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good short story both for the excellent writing and the novelty of seeing older stories that influenced many of today's writers.

My particular favorites from this collection included Death is an Elephant, Question of Identity, Death Has Five Guesses, The Bottomless Pool, Flowers From the Moon, He Waits Beneath the Sea, Be Yourself, Black Bargain, A Bottle of Gin, Soul Proprietor, Satan's Phonograph, The Man Who Told the Truth, and The Night They Crashed the Party.

(Finished on August 20, 2003 for Zuly’s Reading Room.)

.: 220 words at 02:23 AM in Zuly's Reading Room, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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For the last few days I've been fighting the worst headaches. It's hitting me right now with renewed vigor. Why, oh why, must I suffer from headaches? Blah!

.: 28 words at 09:51 PM in Daily Ramblings, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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Inspired by all the bookrings/rays that I've joined at BookCrossing, I've decided to start my very first bookring for Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper -- Case Closed by Patricia Cornwell.

If you'd like to read this book, all you need to do is sign up and send me a PM (the link's on my bookshelf) about it.

I've already had six people sign up, so come join in the fun!

.: 75 words at 12:45 PM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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Splintered Bones by Carolyn Haines: the third book in the Mystery from the Mississippi Delta series and the best one yet.

We find ourselves again in Zinnia, Mississippi at Dahlia House, home of Sarah Booth Delaney, falled Daddy's Girl. Sarah Booth doesn't have a husband (the horror!). However, she does have a thriving private investigator business and a red tic hound called Sweetie Pie and a ghost from her great-great-grandmother's time to keep her company along with quite a cast of friends.

In this book, Sarah Booth needs to find out who really killed the husband of one of her old friends, Lee McBride. Was it Lee's daughter, Kip? Was it Lee herself (after all, she did confess)? Was it the handsome trainer Bud? The suspects are many since Kemper, the husband, was a real bastard and deserved to die.

I just love these books and devour them as soon as I get them. The people are so wonderful (how could you not love Jitty, Tinkie, Cece, and Harold?) and the book just so Southern. It makes me wish that I liked Jack Daniels and had a porch to sit on while sipping it. I really do highly recommend these books to lovers of both mysteries and the South. I just can't wait for the next one to come out in paperback.

(Finished on August 18, 2003 for Zuly’s Reading Room.)

.: 233 words at 02:35 AM in Zuly's Reading Room, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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I spent most of today updating my BookCrossing bookshelf to reflect the multitude of bookrings/rays I've joined. I must be insane to be on so many lists!

I also updated my To Be Read list over at BiblioBlog. I've come to the conclusion that if I quit my job and did nothing but read twenty hours a day, I still could never read all the books that I wanted to.

It was good going through my list, though. I found some books that I had forgotten about and plan on moving up my list of what to read next. I've still got to update my DVD list, but at least my books are a bit more orderly back here (read stacked in boxes), so that ought to make Steven happy. Ah, to have a library with floor to ceiling bookshelves. That would be heaven!

.: 145 words at 09:35 PM in Daily Ramblings, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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To the Nines by Janet Evanovich: the tenth in the Stephanie Plum series (you have to count Visions of Sugar Plums as part of the series).

If you're not familiar with who Stephanie Plum is, the answer is that she's probably New Jersey's least inept bounty hunter. She regularly blows up cars, her captures always include some element of mayhem, and she has some serious man issues in her life. She's also endearing, funny, tough, and a delight to read every time.

To the Nines finds Stephanie on the trail of Samuel Singh who's skipped out on a work visa. The clues to where he might be are few and far between and usually end up with someone getting killed. Stephanie's manged to pick up another psycho stalker as well. She's got to try and figure out how all these strange clues add up before this becomes her last job.

After I finished this book, I thought how "typically Plum" it was. I also thought how typical is not a bad thing when it comes to a Plum book. There was lots of love and sex with Joe. Ranger made quite a few appearances, so the sexual tension was pretty heavy throughout the book. Lula, a ho in a former life, was there in spandex and sequins, loud and lovable as always. Stephanie's family even managed to get more unbalanced.

These books are always good fun and the characters are wonderful. If you haven't read this series, I would recommend them as a great way to pass some time.

(Finished on August 15, 2003 for Zuly’s Reading Room.)

.: 269 words at 01:13 AM in Zuly's Reading Room, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (4) :.

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Today is the birthday of the always lovely and oh-so-talented Cis, so go and give her some birthday lovin'. Happy birthday, girl!

.: 23 words at 02:47 AM in Linky Love, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman: when I was in high school I read the most amazing short story ever that was about a murdered angel. It was in this great little anthology that I somehow misplaced and was never able to find again. About five years ago I came across the short story again in one of the ever-excellent Years Best Fantasy and Horror collections. Over the years the story has stayed with me, though never the name or the author. Imagine my delight when, while coming to the end of this amazing collection, I find it contained within.

Neil Gaiman has always been a favorite of mine through both his short stories and his novels (especially American Gods), so I can't describe how happy it made me that he wrote one of the best short stories that I have ever read (the title, by the way, is Murder Mysteries).

I simply can not recommend Gaiman, especially this collection, highly enough. Everything that he writes is pure magic. There's heartbreak, there's happiness, there's sorrow, and there's joy, but the most important this is that his stories always ring true.

Pick this up as soon as you can. It is not to be missed. Forgive me if this review seems a bit disjointed, but I am so excited that the title of that missing anthology was mentioned and I have been able to find it again.

Favorite stories of mine from this collection are Chivalry, The Price, Don't Ask Jack, The Goldfish Pool and Other Stories, Queen of Knives, Shoggoth's Old Peculiar, Bay Wolf, Mouse, Desert Wind, Babycakes, the aforementioned Murder Mysteries, and Snow, Glass, Apples.

(Finished on August 14, 2003 for Zuly’s Reading Room.)

.: 288 words at 02:43 AM in Zuly's Reading Room, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (3) :.

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The Burn It - Summer Edition swap really seems to be quite a success! I don't make it mandatory that you send me a thank you/finder's fee CD, but since I've received over twenty CDs, my guess is that most people sent theirs out. Here's a list of all the people that I've gotten CDs from already (* means they were in one of the two groups I was in):

• Alison*
• Nicole*
• Dave
• Pete
• Rod
• Sarah
• Tricia
• Amanda
• Christine
• Jonathan
• Emily
• Marc
• Ruthie
• Justin
• Dawn
• Kyle
• Sarah
• smash
• Don
• Aroon
• Brian
• Daphne
• KB

Thank you all so much! The next swap should be coming up towards the end of October, so keep an eye out for notices!

.: 121 words at 09:54 PM in Burn It, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (5) :.

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How to be Good by Nick Hornby: Hornby is one of my friend's favorite writers, so when I found this at a half price book store I picked it up. I'm certainly glad I did.

Apparently, this is one of Hornby's more depressing and less fun books, but I found myself enthralled nonetheless. Katie, a GP who likes to think of herself as a good person despite having an affair, is married to David, the Angriest Man in Holloway (that's actually the title of the column he writes).

Pretty soon into the book, David has a spiritual experience and decides to live his life the right way, the good way. He talks his neighbors into housing homeless children, he plans on how to redistribute wealth to those in need, he even talks his children into giving their toys away to those less fortunate.

The real story is Katie's struggle with how this makes her feel. Sure, she's against homelessness and for helping others, but why do all these good works make her hate David even more than she did? What he's doing is good - why's it driving her insane?

I was fascinated with how this book was going to end and what was going to happen to the people involved. It's definitely not a cheery, light-hearted book at all, but I enjoyed it anyway. Hornby's got a very easy to read style and his characters are very much real. Good book and highly recommended.

(Finished on August 12, 2003 for Zuly’s Reading Room.)

.: 255 words at 10:42 AM in Zuly's Reading Room, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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Somehow I've managed to get a crick in my neck that's just about making it impossible to turn my head to the left. Talk about fun! I think I'll play a bit more gin over at Pogo and call it a night.

.: 42 words at 11:04 PM in Daily Ramblings, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (4) :.

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You may remember last week when I mentioned that I found out that BookCrossing has a forum for bookrings, bookrays, and bookboxes, making it cheap and easy to get new books to read.

Today I went and updated my BookCrossing bookshelf so that you can see which rings/rays that I've joined. Most of these rings/rays are still open, so if you see anything that you want to read, you should be able to join the list too.

.: 78 words at 07:51 PM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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I was shocked to learn that Gregory Hines died yesterday. He was only 57. What a great loss.

.: 19 words at 04:37 PM in Notable News, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (4) :.

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We're off to have dinner somewhere (still undecided) and maybe find a local game to visit. Everyone have a nice Saturday night!

.: 22 words at 08:41 PM in Daily Ramblings, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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Today marks the one year anniversary of the day that Steven and I adopted Bella kitty from Christine.

I can't believe it's been a year already! Thankfully she's been potty trained in that time except for the occasional "my box isn't pristine, so I'm going to pee on the floor" incident. She's a wonderful cat and I love having her in our little family. Happy anniversary to all of us!

.: 71 words at 03:29 PM in Kitty Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (8) :.

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Russell and two members of his band - John, their singer and guitar player, and Greg, another guitar player - have been over tonight just hanging out, drinking, playing guitar, and singing. (You can see all the pictures Russell's been taking with my camera phone over at Neurotic Fishbowl Moblog. Some are quite silly.)

I can tell it's been good for Russell to have all of us around and I could listen to John sing for days on end.

I won another $50 playing poker too, so it's definitely been a nice evening. Shame it's not Friday and I can't be drinking and sleeping in tomorrow too!

.: 108 words at 12:54 AM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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Red by Jack Ketchum: justice is meted out by a wronged pet owner in this novel.

Jack Ketchum is know for his graphic and disturbing novels. I've only read one other of his novels - The Lost - and I definitely found it to be disturbing. Nothing positive happened in that book at all. With Red, however, I found it not to be nearly as heavy and really enjoyed reading it.

The Red in the title is Av Ludlow's old dog. While out fishing with Red, three boys come along and try to rob Av. When he doesn't have any money on him, they kill Red. The rest of the novel is about Av's quest for justice for Red's murder and the escalating violence that this leads to.

I certainly couldn't recommed this for all readers. It's definitely not a light book and the subject matter could be upsetting to a lot of readers. If you like horror novels, though, it's a damn good one. There's also a novella included called "The Passenger", about a kidnapped defense attorney, that I really enjoyed as well.

(Finished on August 7, 2003 for Zuly’s Reading Room.)

.: 195 words at 11:28 PM in Zuly's Reading Room, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (3) :.

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My brother, Russell, and his girlfriend of almost six years just broke up. Please keep him in your thoughts since it goes without saying that he's really upset.

.: 28 words at 12:42 AM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (5) :.

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Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel: what a wonderful book this was! It was very short (I read it in one day), but absolutely engrossing from the start. A fabulous mixture of love, romance, fairy tale, and recipes.

The book tells the story of Mama Elena and her three daughters - Rosaura, Gertrudis, and Tita, the youngest. When Tita turns fifteen she wishes to be married, but family tradition dictates that the youngest daughter must never marry and look after her mother until the day she dies. Pedro, the boy in love with Tita, in turn marries Rosaura so he can be near the woman he loves. This leads to all sorts of complications and events that no one could predict.

The novel has the same sort of feel as Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic. For example, the sadness of that Tita feels while cooking causes an entire wedding party to experience longing and unhappiness simply by eating her food.

I also enjoyed that included in each chapter was a recipe for the dish that was being prepared. I'm not a cook, but I found it fascinating nonetheless.

Simply put, this is a fairy tale of life in Mexico that anyone can relate to. It's simply delicious and should be read by all.

(Finished on August 5, 2003 for Zuly’s Reading Room.)

.: 224 words at 05:54 PM in Zuly's Reading Room, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (7) :.

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Brian's new CD swap The Quintessential Burn (inspired by my Burn It exchanges, btw) is ready to go! You can get the details and the dates there, so go sign up already!

.: 32 words at 11:44 AM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (1) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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I've mentioned Book Crossing, a read and release program for books, before, but today I found out that there is a forum where you can sign up for different bookrings. A bookring is just like it sounds - someone reads a book, sends it to the next person on the list, and so on. So far I've already participated in three rings.

What this means is there are free books to read for the asking! The only requirement is that you leave a jounal entry about the book and send it to the next person. This would be perfect for anyone who doesn't have a lot of money to spend on books. The forum for bookrings can be found here.

If you're not already a member, feel free to use this link to sign up and don't forget to add me to your friends list!

.: 147 words at 11:40 AM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (1) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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How to Murder a Millionaire by Nancy Martin: the first book in a new detective series featuring the BlackBird sisters.

When this novel starts out, we find that the Blackbird sisters - Nora (our heroine), Emma, and Libby - have been left the family estate, art, and furniture collections, respectively, by their parents who have skipped off to a nice sunny land to avoid paying back money they've borrowed.

This has left Nora with a $2 million estate tax (though why her parents didn't just let her live there while they were on "vacation" bothered me from the get-go), so the solicialite is forced to take a job at the local paper as a society column writer. Unfortunately, the family friend who owns the paper and got her the job, ends up dead pretty quickly. Nora decides to do some investigating of her own along with the handsome reputed mobster who bought some of her land.

For the most part I found the book a little far-fetched, but I still enjoyed it. I never really got into the characters as much as I would have like to, but I could see how over another book or two I could probably get into them more.

The book's definitely not as good as one of Janet Evanovich's or Carolyn Haines's female mystery series, but it was a pretty fun read. If you're looking for a breezy beach book that has the potential to work itself into a good series, this is perfect for you.

(Finished on August 4, 2003 for Zuly’s Reading Room.)

.: 262 words at 08:34 PM in Zuly's Reading Room, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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I finally finished my own Burn It CD today. They're about half way done burning and all the CD covers and booklets are printed, so I should be completely done pretty soon. If you're interested to see what music that I consider make-out music, keep on reading for my track list.

.: 182 words at 10:07 PM in Burn It, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (2) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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It seems that my Burn It CD swap has inspired Brian to start one of his own - the Quintessential Burn. It's quintessential because this burn is all about songs that you can't live without.

The program's not quite ready yet, but you can go and let him know that you're interested in participating. Sounds like fun!

.: 58 words at 03:54 PM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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Just a reminder, but if you're participating in Burn It - The Summer Edition, this weekend is the last weekend to work on your CDs. They're supposed to be mailed out by the end of the day Monday.

If you didn't get to participate this time, never fear. I'll do one of these in a few months for the fall (and I've already got the theme picked out!).

.: 69 words at 03:58 PM in Burn It, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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