<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><rss xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:openSearch="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/" xmlns:blogger="http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008" xmlns:georss="http://www.georss.org/georss" xmlns:gd="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005" xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0" version="2.0"><channel><atom:id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5576215276590884086</atom:id><lastBuildDate>Sat, 14 Sep 2024 01:57:19 +0000</lastBuildDate><category>Politics</category><category>Barnes and Noble</category><category>Book Review</category><category>Fun</category><category>In the news...</category><category>Reading</category><category>Nook</category><category>Family</category><category>Review</category><category>Me time</category><category>NookColor</category><category>Action</category><category>Books</category><category>Autism</category><category>Diet</category><category>Movie Review</category><category>Parenting</category><category>Personal</category><category>Documentary</category><category>computers</category><category>BookCrossing</category><category>Food</category><category>James Patterson</category><category>MacHale</category><category>Movies</category><category>pescetarian</category><category>thriller</category><category>Coben</category><category>Commerce Bank</category><category>Customer Service</category><category>Evolution</category><category>FunniBonz</category><category>Gillian Flynn</category><category>Harlan Coben</category><category>Holiday</category><category>Move</category><category>Pendragon</category><category>Religion</category><category>Science</category><category>Space</category><category>Vegetarian</category><category>adventure</category><category>bakery</category><category>baking</category><category>hackers</category><category>journey</category><category>progress</category><category>security</category><category>weightloss</category><title>Casi&#39;s Blog Spot</title><description>Random ratings and rantings on the things around me.  Join me!  Say your piece.  Stake your claim.  There&#39;s plenty of room on this soapbox for all of us!</description><link>http://casibk.blogspot.com/</link><managingEditor>noreply@blogger.com (Casi K.)</managingEditor><generator>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>176</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5576215276590884086.post-806839768317404681</guid><pubDate>Sun, 16 May 2021 22:23:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2021-05-16T18:24:17.420-04:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">adventure</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">bakery</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">baking</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Food</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">journey</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">progress</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">weightloss</category><title>It&#39;s been a while...</title><description>I haven&#39;t blogged in a while. A looong while. Stuff happens, life takes over and BAM! time has literally flown by.  I was just reading &lt;a href=&quot;http://casibk.blogspot.com/2010/09/from-carnivore-to-pescetarian.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;this post&lt;/a&gt; from September of 2010. It&#39;s from when my daughter and I decided to go pescatarian. Here I am almost 11 yers later and I&#39;ve stuck to my guns. My daughter, however, had to give it up when she decided to major in Culinary in High School school. She obviously had to be able to taste her food so it didn&#39;t make sense for her to limit her diet. She did it for about 4 years though and that&#39;s a big ask for a 12 year old. She&#39;s still an amazing kid. Since then, she&#39;s graduated from Johnson And Wales University with an AA in Baking and Pastry and a BS in Food Service Management. She&#39;s starting her own bankery business called &lt;a href=&quot;www.whiskitallbakeshop.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Whisk It All Bakeshop&lt;/a&gt;. How cute is that? She has so much talent and is so creative she blows me away sometimes. 

&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWvC1NlDf5XMXeblWjvgCu663k-PYXF3H5GoznF-2dUBeFO3qI6NUuRHJ4GeGj_81ZD-GZuDrGjqquxicSeOwFzPFR58t5jOTROIpshz8LbZWzg1xw8RtoxeNAGbiKp3a6j6aImdYqZH8/s3024/IMG_9804.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; &quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; data-original-height=&quot;3024&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWvC1NlDf5XMXeblWjvgCu663k-PYXF3H5GoznF-2dUBeFO3qI6NUuRHJ4GeGj_81ZD-GZuDrGjqquxicSeOwFzPFR58t5jOTROIpshz8LbZWzg1xw8RtoxeNAGbiKp3a6j6aImdYqZH8/s320/IMG_9804.HEIC&quot;/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRlaQAIktt7FrCJwA_z7xFt20F6z_e6IMU-rkk_xTy9vJBf4xdREBch8rM2spAk2CaNas2BQDAv_rrv6AJt0Wa9uQgG123DLCH9yjgnp2YYXLjBHET2Tmo8_8opSrucKwZP81Gatx1wEM/s1024/IMG_9856.JPG&quot; style=&quot;display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; &quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; data-original-height=&quot;576&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1024&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRlaQAIktt7FrCJwA_z7xFt20F6z_e6IMU-rkk_xTy9vJBf4xdREBch8rM2spAk2CaNas2BQDAv_rrv6AJt0Wa9uQgG123DLCH9yjgnp2YYXLjBHET2Tmo8_8opSrucKwZP81Gatx1wEM/s320/IMG_9856.JPG&quot;/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPB5byyzkVjpcPo9291fXDzXbT3lwazcts0R5voDTtRPdduIttQVghePYXhZpY-moMPGOZr5zvIK1AwV8ZEmLa7Nw_-YB2zIqIp0bqlz1f1ZNDkedf5tLu271ZXsKhyphenhyphen007rzH4b3bkqDg/s4032/IMG_0217.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; &quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPB5byyzkVjpcPo9291fXDzXbT3lwazcts0R5voDTtRPdduIttQVghePYXhZpY-moMPGOZr5zvIK1AwV8ZEmLa7Nw_-YB2zIqIp0bqlz1f1ZNDkedf5tLu271ZXsKhyphenhyphen007rzH4b3bkqDg/s320/IMG_0217.HEIC&quot;/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

In the meantime, I&#39;m back on my on-again, off-again (over &lt;i&gt;so&lt;/i&gt; many years) weightloss journey. I&#39;m back at the on-again phase and doing pretty well. I&#39;m just tired of being the biggest person in the room and being so self-conscious about how I look all the time. The problem this time around is, of course, I&#39;m so much older that I was when it was quick and easy to decide to lose weight. I&#39;m peri-menupausal and in my 50&#39;s. But there&#39;s also no better time to decide to treat yourself right than &lt;b&gt;right now&lt;/b&gt;. Am I right? So here we are again. Water has become my new best friend (it&#39;s amazing how a lime wedge and a slice of ginger can transform your attitude about something that is otherwise so bland) and sugar is my mortal enemy.🚫 With a family histroy of obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes, I need to take this seriously. So, intertwined with my book journey, my (post-covid) travel adventures, and my daughter&#39;s baking busiess, I&#39;m going to try documenting as much about my weightloss progress as possible. I&#39;m hoping that writing about it, even if no one reads it, will help me stay on track and keep me honest.

Here we go...</description><link>http://casibk.blogspot.com/2021/05/its-been-while.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Casi K.)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWvC1NlDf5XMXeblWjvgCu663k-PYXF3H5GoznF-2dUBeFO3qI6NUuRHJ4GeGj_81ZD-GZuDrGjqquxicSeOwFzPFR58t5jOTROIpshz8LbZWzg1xw8RtoxeNAGbiKp3a6j6aImdYqZH8/s72-c/IMG_9804.HEIC" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5576215276590884086.post-8384130100474678210</guid><pubDate>Mon, 29 Mar 2021 21:18:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2021-03-29T17:18:02.347-04:00</atom:updated><title></title><description>&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45628475-parker-knight&quot; style=&quot;float: left; padding-right: 20px&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot;Parker &amp; Knight&quot; src=&quot;https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1557305254l/45628475._SX98_.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45628475-parker-knight&quot;&gt;Parker &amp; Knight&lt;/a&gt; by &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/11216272.Remington_Kane&quot;&gt;Remington Kane&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
My rating: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3835757474&quot;&gt;2 of 5 stars&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Awful. Sexist, horribly written, awful grammatical mistakes (so many sentences ended with a comma!). Who does that? Who edited that? I am just grateful I got through it and it is finally over. Moving on....
&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/3662255-casi-k&quot;&gt;View all my reviews&lt;/a&gt;
</description><link>http://casibk.blogspot.com/2021/03/parker-knight-by-remington-kane-my.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Casi K.)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5576215276590884086.post-2282997054620649588</guid><pubDate>Mon, 29 Mar 2021 21:15:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2021-03-29T17:18:34.513-04:00</atom:updated><title></title><description>&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54999576-the-unspoken&quot; style=&quot;float: left; padding-right: 20px&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot;The Unspoken (Ashe Cayne #1)&quot; src=&quot;https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1597695268l/54999576._SX98_.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54999576-the-unspoken&quot;&gt;The Unspoken&lt;/a&gt; by &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/52742.Ian_K_Smith&quot;&gt;Ian K. Smith&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
My rating: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3868591991&quot;&gt;3 of 5 stars&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
The story was pretty engaging. There were a lot of twists that kept me interested. I didn&#39;t love the main character so much. I felt like his off the cuff Shakespeare quotes and encyclopedia facts randomly tossed in to general conversation were unnecessarily condescending and felt forced and unnatural. The story about the priest, which had nothing to do with the main story, made an otherwise good guy come off as kind of a psycho, even though they tried to explain his past exeriences with bullies. And so many meals! I get that the guy&#39;s gotta eat but EVERY meal is described from appetizer to dessert. It&#39;s too much! If you can get past those little annoyances, the story itself was pretty good.
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&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/3662255-casi-k&quot;&gt;View all my reviews&lt;/a&gt;
</description><link>http://casibk.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-unspoken-by-ian-k.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Casi K.)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5576215276590884086.post-810158810931966706</guid><pubDate>Fri, 18 May 2018 22:19:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2018-05-18T18:19:22.500-04:00</atom:updated><title>Review: The Lying Game</title><description>
      &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32895291&quot; style=&quot;float: left; padding-right: 20px&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1497632504m/32895291.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot;The Lying Game&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
      &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32895291&quot;&gt;The Lying Game&lt;/a&gt; by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9013543&quot;&gt;Ruth Ware&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
      My rating: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2395748085&quot;&gt;5 of 5 stars&lt;/a&gt;
      &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
      On every soap opera, two or three characters share a secret. They have constant conversations about said secret, repeating it over and over until just the wrong person is lurking around the corner to overhear it and use it for leverage or blackmail within the next two or three episodes. This book is NOTHING like that. These four ladies REALLY know how to keep a secret. Even when they are discussing the past, we never really know what happened until it slowly unfolds throughout the story. The characters are distinctive and likable and we are able to see how their relationships developed and grew, and what time and this secret have done to make them who they are as adults. Its a great story that dispels bits of information at a great pace. I really enjoyed this one.
      &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
      &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2395748085&quot;&gt;View all my reviews&lt;/a&gt;
    </description><link>http://casibk.blogspot.com/2018/05/review-lying-game.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Casi K.)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5576215276590884086.post-5534321474586863684</guid><pubDate>Tue, 27 Feb 2018 01:30:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2018-02-26T20:30:36.745-05:00</atom:updated><title>Review: Origin</title><description>
      &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32283133&quot; style=&quot;float: left; padding-right: 20px&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1507308545m/32283133.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot;Origin&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
      &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32283133&quot;&gt;Origin&lt;/a&gt; by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/630&quot;&gt;Dan Brown&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
      My rating: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2206009680&quot;&gt;4 of 5 stars&lt;/a&gt;
      &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
      I enjoyed the book. The action leading up to the suspense was obvious but the &quot;big revelation&quot; was not... until it happened. Good story that kept my attention but I&#39;m not sure it&#39;s for everyone. Especially if those that are super-religious or kind of closed-minded. (Typical Dan Brown stuff.) If nothing else, you will undoubtedly learn something about art, an author, a famous piece of writing, or some form of architecture that you didn&#39;t know about before.&lt;br /&gt;
      &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
      &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2206009680&quot;&gt;View all my reviews&lt;/a&gt;
    </description><link>http://casibk.blogspot.com/2018/02/review-origin.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Casi K.)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5576215276590884086.post-1591792051395935660</guid><pubDate>Sat, 19 Aug 2017 13:58:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2017-08-19T09:58:05.361-04:00</atom:updated><title>Review: American Gods</title><description>
      &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30165203&quot; style=&quot;float: left; padding-right: 20px&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1462924585m/30165203.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot;American Gods&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
      &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30165203&quot;&gt;American Gods&lt;/a&gt; by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1221698&quot;&gt;Neil Gaiman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
      My rating: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2049695007&quot;&gt;4 of 5 stars&lt;/a&gt;
      &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
      I liked it, it was very visual and definitely kept my interest. But I&#39;ve read reviews of people reading this over and over again and I can&#39;t see myself doing that. At least I know enough to start watching the series. 
      &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
      &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2049695007&quot;&gt;View all my reviews&lt;/a&gt;
    </description><link>http://casibk.blogspot.com/2017/08/review-american-gods.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Casi K.)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5576215276590884086.post-8763390542141995135</guid><pubDate>Mon, 05 Sep 2016 16:08:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2016-09-05T12:08:53.817-04:00</atom:updated><title>Review: Finders Keepers</title><description>
      &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22453035&quot; style=&quot;float: left; padding-right: 20px&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1468705421m/22453035.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot;Finders Keepers&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
      &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22453035&quot;&gt;Finders Keepers&lt;/a&gt; by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3389&quot;&gt;Stephen King&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
      My rating: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1724148600&quot;&gt;4 of 5 stars&lt;/a&gt;
      &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
      Same type of suspense as the first story (which I enjoyed). No one develps characters as well as Stephen King (except maybe Harlan Coben). Definitely moving on to Book #3.
      &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
      &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1724148600&quot;&gt;View all my reviews&lt;/a&gt;
    </description><link>http://casibk.blogspot.com/2016/09/review-finders-keepers.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Casi K.)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5576215276590884086.post-1404479200427766404</guid><pubDate>Sat, 22 Aug 2015 05:55:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2015-08-22T01:57:13.613-04:00</atom:updated><title>Sailing on LightSail</title><description>We are sending our selfies to space on LightSail: A Revolutionary Solar Sailing Spacecraft.  The first successful sail concluded in May 
.  If you&#39;s like to back the next mission, you can do so on Kickstarter here: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/theplanetarysociety/lightsail-a-revolutionary-solar-sailing-spacecraft/description&quot;&gt;LightSail on Kickstarter&lt;/a&gt;

&lt;a href=&quot;http://content.screencast.com/users/casibk/folders/Snagit/media/16d06a19-c307-4ec2-8557-c9d449ef3651/08.22.2015-01.43.png&quot;&gt;&lt;img class=&quot;embeddedObject&quot; src=&quot;http://content.screencast.com/users/casibk/folders/Snagit/media/16d06a19-c307-4ec2-8557-c9d449ef3651/08.22.2015-01.43.png&quot; width=&quot;467&quot; height=&quot;321&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;</description><link>http://casibk.blogspot.com/2015/08/sailing-on-lightsail.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Casi K.)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5576215276590884086.post-2622774891045414798</guid><pubDate>Sat, 22 Aug 2015 05:18:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2015-08-22T01:24:53.583-04:00</atom:updated><title>A Visit to the Red Planet</title><description>My name will be on a microchip that will fly aboard NASA&#39;s Mars mission, InSight, scheduled for launch March 2016! The InSight lander will listen to the heartbeat of Mars to find out how the rocky planets formed. How cool!

&lt;iframe src=&quot;http://mars.nasa.gov/participate/send-your-name/insight/?action=getcert&amp;e=1&amp;pid=3&amp;cn=232398668196&quot; width=&quot;375&quot; height=&quot;153&quot; scrolling=&quot;no&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;</description><link>http://casibk.blogspot.com/2015/08/a-visit-to-red-planet_22.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Casi K.)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5576215276590884086.post-4039680142124491659</guid><pubDate>Sat, 25 Jul 2015 18:06:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2015-07-25T14:07:01.280-04:00</atom:updated><title>Guns With History</title><description>&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;Please take a moment to view this and please, please share it. &amp;nbsp;It may actually save a life.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;

&lt;iframe allowfullscreen=&quot;&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;270&quot; src=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/embed/1nAfWfF4TjM&quot; width=&quot;480&quot;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;

&lt;br /&gt;</description><link>http://casibk.blogspot.com/2015/07/guns-with-history.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Casi K.)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/1nAfWfF4TjM/default.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5576215276590884086.post-4157021256434698273</guid><pubDate>Sat, 25 Jul 2015 17:42:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2015-07-25T14:01:09.906-04:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Book Review</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Evolution</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Reading</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Science</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Space</category><title></title><description>&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22609791-undeniable&quot; style=&quot;float: left; padding-right: 20px&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1411351454m/22609791.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22609791-undeniable&quot;&gt;Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation&lt;/a&gt; by &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7373044.Bill_Nye&quot;&gt;Bill  Nye&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
My rating: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1293147392&quot;&gt;5 of 5 stars&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Loved this book!  It was educational, enlightening and entertaining.  Passing on to my kids.  I hope Bill Nye can keep them as engaged as he kept me.
&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/3662255-casi-k&quot;&gt;View all my reviews&lt;/a&gt;
</description><link>http://casibk.blogspot.com/2015/07/undeniable-evolution-and-science-of.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Casi K.)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5576215276590884086.post-4169642751157992151</guid><pubDate>Sat, 11 May 2013 19:00:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2013-05-14T11:10:21.001-04:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Action</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Barnes and Noble</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Book Review</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Books</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Coben</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Harlan Coben</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Reading</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Review</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">thriller</category><title>Six Years by Harlan Coben</title><description>&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15811568-six-years&quot; style=&quot;float: left; padding-right: 20px;&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;Six Years&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348406182m/15811568.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15811568-six-years&quot;&gt;Six Years&lt;/a&gt; by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/24689.Harlan_Coben&quot;&gt;Harlan Coben&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
My rating: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/553405227&quot;&gt;5 of 5 stars&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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If I could give this book more than 5 stars I would. It caught my attention from the first chapter and was twisty from beginning to end. I found myself gasping in surprise at the end of so many chapters. It is a true non-stop thriller with lots of laugh-out-loud moments and a lot of shocking revelations. If you liked Gone Girl, you will LOVE Six Years. &amp;nbsp;Read it. You will not regret it!!!&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
This is teen-friendly. &amp;nbsp;Okay for 13+ only because of the violence. No sex or excessively bad language.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/3662255-casi-k&quot;&gt;View all my reviews&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
</description><link>http://casibk.blogspot.com/2013/05/six-years-by-harlan-coben-my-rating-5.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Casi K.)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5576215276590884086.post-1010447435134522266</guid><pubDate>Tue, 20 Nov 2012 16:47:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2012-11-20T11:47:49.266-05:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Action</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Barnes and Noble</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Book Review</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Books</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Gillian Flynn</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Nook</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">NookColor</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Reading</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">thriller</category><title>Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn</title><description>&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8442457-gone-girl&quot; style=&quot;float: left; padding-right: 20px;&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;Gone Girl&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1339602131m/8442457.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8442457-gone-girl&quot;&gt;Gone Girl&lt;/a&gt; by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2383.Gillian_Flynn&quot;&gt;Gillian Flynn&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
My rating: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/450971285&quot;&gt;4 of 5 stars&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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Wow!  This was a &lt;b&gt;great&lt;/b&gt; read.  The story was non-stop action with a great writing style - both main characters are telling you their story from their perspective.  It was a true page-turner and I couldn&#39;t wait for the ending which was... meh!  The book was so good, though, so twisty and smart and unexpected that I would still recommend it to others.  But only 4 stars because of the weak ending. 
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(NOT kid-friendly. &amp;nbsp;Adults only!)&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/3662255-casi-k&quot;&gt;View all my reviews&lt;/a&gt;
</description><link>http://casibk.blogspot.com/2012/11/gone-girl-by-gillian-flynn.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Casi K.)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5576215276590884086.post-2566600676297793421</guid><pubDate>Sat, 29 Sep 2012 18:58:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2012-09-29T14:59:21.677-04:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Book Review</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">BookCrossing</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Books</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Reading</category><title>I finally got my BC stickers!</title><description>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Jfj30KKLL._SL500_AA300_.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;200&quot; src=&quot;http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Jfj30KKLL._SL500_AA300_.jpg&quot; width=&quot;200&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
The package from Book Crossing came today with my ID labels and the &quot;I&#39;m not lost&quot; stickers. &amp;nbsp;Yay!!! &amp;nbsp;I&#39;m trying to decide now where to leave my first book. &amp;nbsp;I have chosen &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/The-Kite-Runner-Khaled-Hosseini/dp/B008GRSRPO/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1348944151&amp;amp;sr=8-6&amp;amp;keywords=the+kite+runner&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;The Kite Runner&lt;/a&gt; by Khaled Hosseini. &amp;nbsp;It got &lt;a href=&quot;http://bestsellers.about.com/od/fictionreviews/gr/kite_runner_r.htm&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;rave reviews&lt;/a&gt; after its release as it was a &lt;b&gt;great &lt;/b&gt;reader but I had a lot of trouble with it (on an emotional level). &amp;nbsp;I prefer books that have action and magic and fantasy and murder and mayhem. &amp;nbsp;This book was expertly written but was more emotional than was comfortable for me. &amp;nbsp;(I usually max out at about the &lt;a href=&quot;http://bestsellers.about.com/od/bookfilmlistsbyauthor/tp/Nicholas_Sparks_Books.htm&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Nicholas Sparks&lt;/a&gt; level!) &amp;nbsp;And it&#39;s definitely NOT for kids. I&#39;m hoping someone that loves this type of story will pick it up, read it and love it.&lt;br /&gt;
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Since the day is a bit&amp;nbsp;overcast, I&#39;m hesitant to leave it outside on a park bench. &amp;nbsp;And I&#39;ve already been to the grocery store today (and dance class and GameStop and even our township rec center) so they are all out! &amp;nbsp;Maybe I&#39;ll take a quick trip to the mall and leave it on one of the benches. &amp;nbsp;In fact, maybe I&#39;ll do a few more and leave them on several benches. &amp;nbsp;I&#39;d be so thrilled if someone picked one up and logged it in within the next couple of days. &amp;nbsp;Ok, here goes...</description><link>http://casibk.blogspot.com/2012/09/i-finally-got-my-bc-stickers.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Casi K.)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5576215276590884086.post-8814596364884411004</guid><pubDate>Mon, 24 Sep 2012 02:22:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2012-09-23T22:25:26.144-04:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">BookCrossing</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Books</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Documentary</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Fun</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">James Patterson</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Reading</category><title>Ready to start Book Crossing</title><description>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://images.bookcrossing.com/bookplates/thumbnails/7ad0/7ad0cef6-302e-4be9-80f2-d5c1dba97b9c.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;162&quot; src=&quot;http://images.bookcrossing.com/bookplates/thumbnails/7ad0/7ad0cef6-302e-4be9-80f2-d5c1dba97b9c.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
Ok... I&#39;m all ready to begin. &amp;nbsp;I&#39;ve ordered my &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bookcrossing.com/labels&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;bookplates&lt;/a&gt; (I created some original ones ---&amp;gt;) and I&#39;ve gone through our overcrowded bookshelves and picked out the first 25 books that I&#39;d like to share. &amp;nbsp;They are all great books, mostly hardcovers, by great authors (and I didn&#39;t skimp on the quality!): Anne Rice, John Grisham, James Patterson, Terry MacMillan, Stephen L. Carter, Colleen McCullough, Mary Higgins Clark, Jeffrey Deaver, Dan Brown, Danielle Steele, Michael Baisden, etc. &amp;nbsp;I want to share books that I think others will read and really enjoy as much as I did. &lt;br /&gt;
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So I&#39;m excited to receive my labels. &amp;nbsp;As soon as they come, I&#39;ll start my journal entries and then happily release my books into the wild. &amp;nbsp;I hope this works and that folks pick up the books, log them in, read them and pass them on. &amp;nbsp;I really do! &amp;nbsp;I&#39;m trying to come up with a bunch of good, populated locations where I can drop off my labeled books: a bench at the mall, maybe a special trip to a Starbucks, a bench at the park (weather-permitting, of course!), my kids&#39; dance school, my hairdresser... And as I mentioned before, I also plan to send a few with my parents on their cruise next month. &amp;nbsp;I&#39;m especially excited to see where those books end up!&lt;br /&gt;
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We&#39;ll see how this experiment continues. &amp;nbsp;Stay tuned for more...</description><link>http://casibk.blogspot.com/2012/09/ready-to-start-book-crossing.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Casi K.)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5576215276590884086.post-8877573058447644903</guid><pubDate>Tue, 18 Sep 2012 19:04:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2012-09-23T22:23:15.507-04:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Action</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Books</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Documentary</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Fun</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Reading</category><title>I just joined BookCrossing.com (again!)</title><description>&lt;div style=&quot;border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;&quot;&gt;
I joined this website a few years ago upon recommendation of a friend.&amp;nbsp; However, I never became an active participant, probably because I didn&#39;t really understand the process or the purpose, and the site left my memory completely.&amp;nbsp; I recently came across it again during a boring Sunday afternoon while clicking on that wonderfully addictive&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stumbleupon.com/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;StumbleUpon&lt;/a&gt; button.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;a href=&quot;http://coffeecurls.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/book-crossing.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; hea=&quot;true&quot; height=&quot;200&quot; src=&quot;http://coffeecurls.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/book-crossing.jpg&quot; width=&quot;165&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;The idea of BookCrossing&amp;nbsp;immediately caught my&amp;nbsp;interest but when I went to register for an account, it told me that my email address was already registered.&amp;nbsp; Lo and behold... it was!&amp;nbsp; And now I&#39;m ready to get started.&lt;/div&gt;
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What is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bookcrossing.com/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;BookCrossing&lt;/a&gt;?&amp;nbsp; It&#39;s a wonderful way to share alllllll of those&amp;nbsp;books that are taking up room on the shelves of your home (or office or storage space or wherever) and are not being enjoyed (at the moment) by anyone.&amp;nbsp; (Honestly, I have some books lying sideways on the shelf.&amp;nbsp; It&#39;s&amp;nbsp;time to let them go!)&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;
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The basic premise is that you label your book with a unique ID number, register it&amp;nbsp;on the book crossing website and then leave&amp;nbsp;it in a conspicuous place&amp;nbsp;so that someone else will take it, log the location, read it,&amp;nbsp;and then continue to pass it on.&amp;nbsp; If readers are (hopefully) willing to log the&amp;nbsp;book in before&amp;nbsp;passing&amp;nbsp;it on to someone else, you will be able to see the journey of your book.&amp;nbsp; I &lt;strong&gt;love&lt;/strong&gt; that idea!&lt;br /&gt;
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So I&#39;m just getting started.&amp;nbsp; I&#39;m ordering pre-numbered labels and &quot;I&#39;m Free&quot; stickers and have a list of great books in mind that I plan to pass on.&amp;nbsp; I just need a few locations.&amp;nbsp; Work comes to mind, of course, since I work in&amp;nbsp;the home office of a large bank.&amp;nbsp; I don&#39;t go to Starbucks or fast food restaurants very often but they seem to be ideal locations as well.&amp;nbsp; I also plan to send a couple books with my parents on their cruise next month;&amp;nbsp;who knows where those books could end up.&amp;nbsp; I&#39;ll try to chronicle my books&#39; journeys here.&amp;nbsp; I&#39;m hoping that this turns out to be a fun and interesting experience!</description><link>http://casibk.blogspot.com/2012/09/i-just-joined-bookcrossingcom-again.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Casi K.)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5576215276590884086.post-2469372572075862866</guid><pubDate>Wed, 13 Jun 2012 15:24:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2012-06-13T12:14:56.260-04:00</atom:updated><title>Melissa Harris-Perry: The Politics of Black Hair</title><description>&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;Melissa Harris-Perry is joined by notable Black women to discuss politics, perception and appreciation of Black hair.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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Visit msnbc.com for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.msnbc.msn.com/&quot; style=&quot;border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; color: #5799DB !important; font-weight: normal !important; height: 13px; text-decoration: none !important;&quot;&gt;breaking news&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032507&quot; style=&quot;border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; color: #5799DB !important; font-weight: normal !important; height: 13px; text-decoration: none !important;&quot;&gt;world news&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032072&quot; style=&quot;border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; color: #5799DB !important; font-weight: normal !important; height: 13px; text-decoration: none !important;&quot;&gt;news about the economy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;a href=&quot;http://melissaharrisperry.com/&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;http://melissaharrisperry.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;-&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;Melissa V. Harris-Perry is host of MSNBC&#39;s &quot;Melissa Harris-Perry.&quot; The show airs on Saturdays and Sundays from 10AM to noon ET.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;a &quot;=&quot;&quot; href=&quot;http://www.curlynikki.com/&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;http://www.curlynikki.com/&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;-&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;A we&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;bsite that discusses and embraces natural Black hair and haircare products&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://saveyourdo.com/&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;http://saveyourdo.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;- The fashionable way to save your hairstyle while living an active lifestyle.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://casibk.blogspot.com/2012/06/melissa-harris-perry-politics-of-black.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Casi K.)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5576215276590884086.post-7697065695046028516</guid><pubDate>Sat, 02 Jun 2012 01:17:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2012-06-01T21:24:55.835-04:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Action</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Barnes and Noble</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Book Review</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">MacHale</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Me time</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Reading</category><title>The Blood</title><description>&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12837183-the-blood&quot; style=&quot;float: left; padding-right: 20px;&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;The Blood (Morpheus Road, #3)&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1329891708m/12837183.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12837183-the-blood&quot;&gt;The Blood&lt;/a&gt; by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/74046.D_J_MacHale&quot;&gt;D.J. MacHale&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
My rating: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/321213748&quot;&gt;5 of 5 stars&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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I love the way D.J. MacHale writes. He sucks you in, grabs hold of your emotions and doesn&#39;t let go until you finally see the words &quot;The End.&quot; &amp;nbsp;As a huge fan of his &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/machale-pendragon-series?store=ALLPRODUCTS&amp;amp;keyword=machale+pendragon+series&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Pendragon series&lt;/a&gt; (I even read the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Pendragon-Before-the-War-Series?store=ALLPRODUCTS&amp;amp;keyword=Pendragon%3A+Before+the+War+Series&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;three prequels&lt;/a&gt; which were not written by MacHale) I picked up Morpheus Road: The Light when it was first released, but kept pushing it back on my TBR list. Now I&#39;m glad I did because I didn&#39;t have to wait for the sequels to be released to continue the story; I read all three books back-to-back. Great series and, although much shorter than Pendragon&#39;s ten book series, I found it to be just as action-filled and exciting. &amp;nbsp;It&#39;s a little dark but very kid-friendly and the way The Light and The Black interlock is pure genius. If you&#39;re going to start reading Morpheus Road, you may as well pick up all three at once. I guarantee you won&#39;t want to stop after the first one!!&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Morpheus Road:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/light-d-j-machale/1100260572?ean=9781442413887&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;The Light&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/black-d-j-machale/1100211114?ean=9781442419889&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;The Black&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-blood-dj-machale/1107086455?ean=9781442452350&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;The Blood&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/3662255-casi-k&quot;&gt;View all my reviews&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://casibk.blogspot.com/2012/06/blood.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Casi K.)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5576215276590884086.post-3974528476908993870</guid><pubDate>Sat, 02 Jun 2012 01:00:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2012-06-01T21:07:01.488-04:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Barnes and Noble</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Book Review</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Me time</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Nook</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">NookColor</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Reading</category><title>Confessions of a Shopaholic</title><description>&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9416.Confessions_of_a_Shopaholic&quot; style=&quot;float: left; padding-right: 20px;&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;Confessions of a Shopaholic (Shopaholic, #1)&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327872404m/9416.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9416.Confessions_of_a_Shopaholic&quot;&gt;Confessions of a Shopaholic&lt;/a&gt; by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6160.Sophie_Kinsella&quot;&gt;Sophie Kinsella&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
My rating: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/330156704&quot;&gt;4 of 5 stars&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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Ok, first off, you can&#39;t take this book too seriously. Becky is admittedly annoying and careless. But the book is hilarious, easy reading, mindless fun. And sometimes it&#39;s nice to escape to someone else&#39;s problems every once in a while, even if her problems are self-inflicted.  I laughed a lot throughout this book.  And quite frankly, I liked Becky even though she doesn&#39;t make the best choices. I have the next Confessions book in the queue for the next time I need a quick, light-hearted read.  And with the way things are going in the world these days, that time may be coming soon. :)
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&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/3662255-casi-k&quot;&gt;View all my reviews&lt;/a&gt;</description><link>http://casibk.blogspot.com/2012/06/confessions-of-shopaholic.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Casi K.)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5576215276590884086.post-8954128866523041775</guid><pubDate>Sun, 13 May 2012 04:49:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2012-06-01T21:07:13.085-04:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">computers</category><title>7 Circle Management Tips That Will Increase Your Google+ Experience</title><description>For those of you that use Google+ (which is awesome, by the way, especially on the iPhone) here are some great tips as suggested by photographer and fellow G+er +&lt;a href=&quot;https://plus.google.com/105706178492556563330/posts?hl=en&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Billy Wilson&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;Many people complain that they won&#39;t circle someone who posts something in the&amp;nbsp;neighborhood&amp;nbsp;of 20 times a day, the good news is that with circles you can have someone circled and never see their posts. Here are some of the ways I keep my circles organized. Doing this as early on in your G+ experience as possible is recommended, since putting together and organizing a lot of people takes a lot of time.&lt;/span&gt;
&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;b style=&quot;background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;1. Create Circles for Content You Want to Consume:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;Not everyone I circle I want to see posts from, I have&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;proflinkWrapper&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;proflinkPrefix&quot; style=&quot;color: #999999;&quot;&gt;+&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a class=&quot;proflink&quot; href=&quot;https://plus.google.com/100000772955143706751&quot; oid=&quot;100000772955143706751&quot; style=&quot;color: #3366cc; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Britney Spears&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;and&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;proflinkWrapper&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;proflinkPrefix&quot; style=&quot;color: #999999;&quot;&gt;+&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a class=&quot;proflink&quot; href=&quot;https://plus.google.com/114055975301837030490&quot; oid=&quot;114055975301837030490&quot; style=&quot;color: #3366cc; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Paris Hilton&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;in my circles (see tip 7 why) but I never see a single thing they post because they aren&#39;t in my circles of content I want to consume. You also have a volume control on your circles if you like looking at your main stream.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;b style=&quot;background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;2. Divide the Content You Want to Consume Into Smaller Priority Based Circles:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;There are many people on Google+ I wouldn&#39;t mind seeing posts from, but some people I like to see more often than others. So I have a series of circles dividing people who I want to see content from starting with people who I don&#39;t want to miss and ending with a series of circles containing people I&#39;m not too connected with yet but still want to keep up with and interact with on occasion.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;b style=&quot;background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;3. Divide the People Who Produce Content You&amp;nbsp;&lt;i&gt;Don&#39;t&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;Want to Consume Into Circles:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;Doing this helps me remember why I circled someone, for instance I might love hanging out with a person but I find the content they post utterly annoying, so I put them into my &quot;People To Hangout With&quot; circle which is the circle I tend to select when doing a limited hangout.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;proflinkWrapper&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;proflinkPrefix&quot; style=&quot;color: #999999;&quot;&gt;+&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a class=&quot;proflink&quot; href=&quot;https://plus.google.com/100000772955143706751&quot; oid=&quot;100000772955143706751&quot; style=&quot;color: #3366cc; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Britney Spears&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;and&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;proflinkWrapper&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;proflinkPrefix&quot; style=&quot;color: #999999;&quot;&gt;+&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a class=&quot;proflink&quot; href=&quot;https://plus.google.com/114055975301837030490&quot; oid=&quot;114055975301837030490&quot; style=&quot;color: #3366cc; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Paris Hilton&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;are in my &quot;Celebrities Who Don&#39;t Interact&quot; circle and I mainly just have people like them circled to keep track of big names and when they are hanging out on G+ (see tip 7).&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;b style=&quot;background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;4. You Can Limit Which Circles Are Publicly Displayed on Your Profile:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;I don&#39;t really want to boast that I have a lot of mainstream celebrities on G+ circled so most of them are in circles that aren&#39;t publicly displayed. I find this to be a good measure to limit who&#39;s displayed since it will affect the &quot;IN COMMON WITH YOU&quot; box you find on people&#39;s profiles (found only on profiles with less than 14,000 followers). I don&#39;t want to look like I&#39;m following and supporting people I only circled just to organize and see if they might be hanging out (see tip 7). I&#39;ll give an example as to how &quot;IN COMMON WITH YOU&quot; works, on G+ I have&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;proflinkWrapper&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;proflinkPrefix&quot; style=&quot;color: #999999;&quot;&gt;+&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a class=&quot;proflink&quot; href=&quot;https://plus.google.com/111733475066156856788&quot; oid=&quot;111733475066156856788&quot; style=&quot;color: #3366cc; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Summer Holmquist&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;circled publicly, so if you have me in your circles and go to her profile page, on the right above where it tells you who she has in her circles it will say &quot;IN COMMON WITH YOU&quot; if you hover over that box and click &quot;View All&quot; and type &quot;Billy Wilson&quot; into the filter box I will come up as one of the people who you have in common with her. You can select which circles you have displayed publicly by clicking &quot;Edit Profile&quot; at the top of your profile page, then click the box that displays who you have in circles and you can select who can view this (your circles or public) and which circles will be shown. People will never know which circle you have them in of course, just that you have someone circled or not if you chose to show a particular circle.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;b style=&quot;background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;5. Create More Circles to Organize People:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;Even when I have someone circled I like to add them to more circles. For instance I have circles for people I enjoyed hanging out with, people who are artists, Canadians, scientists, musicians, photographers, Googlers; into technology, news; I know from Flickr or Youtube; people who have been on my show, and so on.... This way I&#39;m not just pigeonholing someone based on only one thing.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;b style=&quot;background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;6. Create Hangout Invite Circles:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;When you start a hangout that is public or a limited one to more than 25 people, they won&#39;t get a notification in the top bar or in chat. So it&#39;s a good idea to make a handful of circles with 25 people each that you really want to hangout with so they will be better notified that you want to hangout. It&#39;s best to mention you are hanging out in advance in a limited post so people are ready when you invite.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;b style=&quot;background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;7. Get&amp;nbsp;&lt;span class=&quot;proflinkWrapper&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;proflinkPrefix&quot; style=&quot;color: #999999;&quot;&gt;+&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a class=&quot;proflink&quot; href=&quot;https://plus.google.com/116805285176805120365&quot; oid=&quot;116805285176805120365&quot; style=&quot;color: #3366cc; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Mohamed Mansour&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&#39;s &quot;My Hangouts&quot; Extension and Make a Notification Circle:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;I want to know if people I enjoy interacting with are hanging out, and I also want to know if people like&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;proflinkWrapper&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;proflinkPrefix&quot; style=&quot;color: #999999;&quot;&gt;+&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a class=&quot;proflink&quot; href=&quot;https://plus.google.com/100000772955143706751&quot; oid=&quot;100000772955143706751&quot; style=&quot;color: #3366cc; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Britney Spears&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;ever actually do take the plunge into hangouts. By using&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;proflinkWrapper&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;proflinkPrefix&quot; style=&quot;color: #999999;&quot;&gt;+&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a class=&quot;proflink&quot; href=&quot;https://plus.google.com/116805285176805120365&quot; oid=&quot;116805285176805120365&quot; style=&quot;color: #3366cc; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Mohamed Mansour&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;&#39;s extension and connecting it with one of your circles you can be assured that if there&#39;s someone you want to hangout with hanging out, you will be notified.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;</description><link>http://casibk.blogspot.com/2012/05/7-circle-management-tips-that-will.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Casi K.)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5576215276590884086.post-3258905414818822698</guid><pubDate>Sun, 06 May 2012 22:46:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2012-05-06T18:54:06.958-04:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Barnes and Noble</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">MacHale</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Nook</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Pendragon</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Reading</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Review</category><title>Morpheus Road</title><description>&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8707554-the-black&quot; style=&quot;float: left; padding-right: 20px;&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;The Black&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327975367m/8707554.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8707554-the-black&quot;&gt;The Black&lt;/a&gt; by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/74046.D_J_MacHale&quot;&gt;D.J. MacHale&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
My rating: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/321213894&quot;&gt;5 of 5 stars&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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It was amazing how D.J. MacHale tied this second story in the Morpheus Road series to the first. The two stories actually run in parallel - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/light-d-j-machale/1100260572?ean=9781416965190&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;The Light&lt;/a&gt; is Marsh&#39;s story, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/black-d-j-machale/1100211114?ean=9781416965206&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;The Black&lt;/a&gt; is basically the same story from Cooper&#39;s perspective. I read these first two stories back-to-back and plan to start the third book, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-blood-dj-machale/1107086455?ean=9781416965183&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;The Blood&lt;/a&gt;, today. MacHale is a phenomenal writer. He has a true gift for storytelling. I highly recommend this series. Great for anyone 12 and over!!! (It&#39;s a little violent and a little spooky, but nothing that will give you nightmares!)&lt;br /&gt;
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(And if you haven&#39;t read his &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/machale-pendragon?store=ALLPRODUCTS&amp;amp;keyword=machale+pendragon&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Pendragon series&lt;/a&gt;, you are seriously missing out on some great writing!)
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&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/3662255-casi-k&quot;&gt;View all my reviews&lt;/a&gt;</description><link>http://casibk.blogspot.com/2012/05/black-by-d.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Casi K.)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5576215276590884086.post-79179933358726903</guid><pubDate>Mon, 09 Apr 2012 03:28:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2012-05-06T19:03:36.709-04:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Barnes and Noble</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Nook</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">NookColor</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Review</category><title>Memoir of a Mermaid Review</title><description>&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13450223-memoir-of-a-mermaid&quot; style=&quot;float: left; padding-right: 20px;&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;Memoir of a Mermaid: When, at last, he found me. (Book #1) &quot; border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1330916588m/13450223.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13450223-memoir-of-a-mermaid&quot;&gt;Memoir of a Mermaid: When, at last, he found me. (Book #1)&lt;/a&gt; by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5622645.Adrianna_Stepiano&quot;&gt;Adrianna Stepiano&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
My rating: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/298024841&quot;&gt;3 of 5 stars&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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For some reason, it felt like it took me a long time to get through this book. It&#39;s a good story but the writing style is more suitable for a much younger reader. The language slips back and forth between active and passive throughout the whole story, which drives me nuts. Also, the characters&#39; ages are hard to discern.  At first I thought Joseph was a teenager based on the way he reacted to Seraphin when he first met her (16?), then it turns out he&#39;s a top researcher with CORE (30?), then I find out he&#39;s still a college student (okay, 20!). And Seraphin says things that a normal 18-year-old would never say such as this: “Excuse me? How could I have told you? You and Nasani were nowhere to be found—telling us nothing of your whereabouts.” &amp;nbsp;Ugh - uncomfortable!&lt;br /&gt;
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The overall story line is cute, though, and I think teens would enjoy it. I wouldn&#39;t recommend it for adult readers, though.
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&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/3662255-casi-k&quot;&gt;View all my reviews&lt;/a&gt;</description><link>http://casibk.blogspot.com/2012/04/memoir-of-mermaid-review.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Casi K.)</author><thr:total>2</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5576215276590884086.post-4569095507555549199</guid><pubDate>Fri, 09 Mar 2012 03:05:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2012-03-08T22:08:14.956-05:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">computers</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Customer Service</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">NookColor</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Review</category><title>The Value of Good Customer Service</title><description>Over the last few months I have relied upon, and been impressed with, better than average Customer Service. In a world where even kids are becoming more jaded and people are out for themselves and commercial competition is always increasing, I&#39;m finding that companies are beginning to realize how good Customer Service can really make or break a business. Here are a few &lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #cc0000;&quot;&gt;great Customer Service stories&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt; that I&#39;ve recently experienced. &lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.boscovs.com/store/content/images/boscovs.jpg;pv8f4d5439bbfbbd4a&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;http://www.boscovs.com/store/content/images/boscovs.jpg;pv8f4d5439bbfbbd4a&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;I went to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.boscovs.com/store/homepage.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Boscov&#39;s Dept store&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;to buy a birthday gift for my 93 year old grandmother.  After spending a ridiculously long amount of time searching racks for just the right thing, I took it to the register to purchase. I asked the cashier if she had a box. She said no but I could take my items up to Guest Services, along with my receipt, and they would wrap my gift for free. &lt;b&gt;For free? Really??&lt;/b&gt;  I took my gift upstairs, was shown a selection of free and then paid wraps, had a wonderful conversation with the ladies that worked there while my gift was wrapped and ended up giving my grandmother a gorgeously wrapped gift for her birthday. That one simple gesture, which stores used to do all the time (I know because I wrapped gifts at &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamberger&#39;s&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Bamberger&#39;s&lt;/a&gt; oh so many years ago) simply made my day.  &lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;a href=&quot;https://store.n2acards.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/small_image/170x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/p/r/product-pic16gb_1_1.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;https://store.n2acards.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/small_image/170x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/p/r/product-pic16gb_1_1.png&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Another company with great Customer Service is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.facebook.com/nook2android&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Nook2Android&lt;/a&gt;. I &amp;nbsp;purchased an n2a card for my Nook Color which essentially turns my awesome e-reader into an even more useful mini-tablet. Now I can read my books, my email, play games, view my calendars, watch movies and videos, and I don&#39;t have to lug my laptop around when I travel. I purchased the card via &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/N2A-TM-Android-bootable-microSD/dp/B00533V56M/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1331260344&amp;amp;sr=8-1-spell&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Amazon.com&lt;/a&gt;. That was my first clue that this was a quality product as they have to abide by Amazon&#39;s guarantees. (They now sell them from &lt;a href=&quot;https://store.n2acards.com/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;their own website&lt;/a&gt;.) But the service with this company is unmatched. They have a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.n2acards.com/forums/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;public forum&lt;/a&gt; on their website and a very active Facebook page. If you ask a question or have an issue with your card, they are right there to assist, almost immediately. I haven&#39;t had any hardware issues with my card but I can see on their site where people have had issues and they simply say, &quot;That shouldn&#39;t be happening. We will send you a replacement.&quot; So far I have seen NO complaints about the card itself and tons of raves about the service. I have had a few questions and have gotten responses right away. &amp;nbsp;That rarely happens. Way to go &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.n2acards.com/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;n2acards&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;a href=&quot;http://thecellphonejunkie.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/us-airways-logo.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;105&quot; src=&quot;http://thecellphonejunkie.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/us-airways-logo.jpg&quot; width=&quot;200&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
My next &lt;b&gt;two&lt;/b&gt; examples of good Customer Service are regarding &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usairways.com/default.aspx&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;US Airways&lt;/a&gt;. I know - not many complements flying in the direction of the airlines these days but I felt the need to point these out. We have been looking forward to vacation all year long. We finally booked a seven night cruise on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.royalcaribbean.com/home.do&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Royal Caribbean&lt;/a&gt;. So excited! Then Hurricane Irene came and threatened to derail our dream. But US Airways stepped in. They posted on their site that if you were flying with them when Irene was scheduled to hit the area, they would waive their change fees and allow us to fly out on an earlier or later date. For a family of four, those change fees would have been $600.  I know its something that they kind of HAD to do but we are still extremely grateful.  So we moved our flight to the day before Irene was supposed to hit our area. Our plane was full but we took off and landed on time. We don&#39;t have to miss out on our vacation. Did I say how grateful we are?  &lt;br /&gt;
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We also experienced the dreaded &quot;lost luggage&quot; fiasco on our recent trip to Puerto Rico and subsequent family cruise. Three of our four bags made it from Philly to PR. My daughter&#39;s was the one that was missing. After our initial panic (we were headed out to sea the following day), we filled out the appropriate paperwork to file a claim for the missing bag. The glitch?  Hurricane Irene. Philadelphia is shutting down the airports. If we don&#39;t get the bag on the next two flights, we would have to wait for the storm to end and that could be days. So we went about our normal routine and checked into the hotel. Had some lunch, explored the town and hoped for the best. Later in the day, I logged into the airline website to check the status of the bag and, lo and behold, our case was closed and our bag would be delivered to our hotel BEFORE we left for our cruise. We got it the same night. We didn&#39;t even have to buy new pajamas. I can&#39;t tell you how grateful we were. Thanks again US Airways!&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;a href=&quot;http://img2.imagesbn.com/images/150180000/150186864.JPG&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;200&quot; src=&quot;http://img2.imagesbn.com/images/150180000/150186864.JPG&quot; width=&quot;126&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;My last example is regarding my beloved &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/nook-color-barnes-noble/1100437663&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Nook Color&lt;/a&gt;. &amp;nbsp;My power cord was giving me more and more trouble. I would have to juggle it and then set it in a certain position go get it to charge. &amp;nbsp;It became very frustrating but I really didn&#39;t want to purchase a new one since that cord was only three months old. &amp;nbsp;I somehow misplaced the original one that came with the device and subsequently had to purchase a new one. &amp;nbsp;Now I needed cord #3! &amp;nbsp;Then, of course, the inevitable happened... the cord stopped working altogether! No matter how precariously I balanced it on the edge of the step with the cord dangling to the right and touching the top corner of the front flap... &amp;nbsp;didn&#39;t work! (LOL!) &amp;nbsp;I emailed Barnes and Noble and sent them the order number of my recent cord purchase. &amp;nbsp;They sent me a brand new cord within TWO days! &amp;nbsp;I was so surprised to have gotten it so quickly. &amp;nbsp;My Nook is working just fine these days. &amp;nbsp;The quality of the cord feels much better so I think they must have improved on the design since my last purchase. &amp;nbsp;No more complaints.&lt;br /&gt;
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At any rate, I thought it would be nice to share some good news, for once. &amp;nbsp;Hope everyone is having similar positive and happy experiences. &amp;nbsp;:-) &amp;nbsp;Cheers!&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;</description><link>http://casibk.blogspot.com/2012/03/value-of-good-customer-service.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Casi K.)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5576215276590884086.post-2078110851795618721</guid><pubDate>Fri, 09 Mar 2012 02:26:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2012-03-08T22:06:32.488-05:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Barnes and Noble</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Book Review</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Reading</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Review</category><title>Angelfall: Penryn &amp; The End of Days</title><description>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.susanee.com/ANGELFALL-BrtCoverBlog.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;http://www.susanee.com/ANGELFALL-BrtCoverBlog.jpg&quot; width=&quot;211&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
I&#39;ve been reading a lot lately. &amp;nbsp;Maybe it&#39;s because I love my &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/nook-color-barnes-noble/1100437663&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Nook Color&lt;/a&gt; so much that I&#39;m always looking for new stuff to keep me occupied. Maybe it&#39;s because I can&#39;t stand all of the talking and commercials on the radio so I&amp;nbsp;indulge&amp;nbsp;in the virtually endless supply of &quot;free&quot; audio books supplied by my local library. &amp;nbsp;Maybe it&#39;s because sometimes its nice to just get away from my own life and live a fantasy or romance or adventure filled with unrealistic goals and unattainable desires (like having wings or magical powers). &amp;nbsp;In any case, when I get the chance, my nose is always in a book.&lt;br /&gt;
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The last book that I finished was called&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11500217-angelfall&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Angelfall: Penryn &amp;amp; The End of Days (Book #1) &lt;/a&gt;by &lt;a href=&quot;http://susanee.com/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Susan Ee.&lt;/a&gt; &amp;nbsp;It&#39;s a teen paranormal fantasy novel which I initially purchased for my 14-year-old daughter. &amp;nbsp;However, the premise of the book interested me so I added it to my TBR list as well. &lt;br /&gt;
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This book was so unexpectedly good! &amp;nbsp;It takes place right after the apocalypse. &amp;nbsp;However, it wasn&#39;t a giant orb from space or another Ice Age that caused earth&#39;s demise; it was angels. &amp;nbsp;(Interesting, right?) &lt;br /&gt;
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The title character, Penryn has a similar strength and sense of humor to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/maximum-ride-boxed-set-1-james-patterson/1102186851?ean=9780316182751&amp;amp;itm=11&amp;amp;usri=maximum+ride+boxed+set+%231&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Maximum Ride&lt;/a&gt; (from the James Patterson series). &amp;nbsp;However, Penryn is human; she has no wings and she fights every day to keep her mother and little sister out of harm&#39;s way - away from street gangs, rogue angels and other unknown entities. &amp;nbsp;She is very smart and trusts no one, not even her own mother (read it and you will see why!)&lt;br /&gt;
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I highly recommend this story. &amp;nbsp;However, there is one caveat. &amp;nbsp;The next book in the series is not due out until later this year (an&amp;nbsp;actual&amp;nbsp;publication date has not yet been announced.) &amp;nbsp;So if you enjoy this book as much as I did and look forward to the sequel, you may have a few months to wait. &amp;nbsp;I&#39;m drumming my fingers waiting patiently right now...&lt;br /&gt;
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Mom review: Mild violence and adult inferences. Recommended for ages 12 and up.</description><link>http://casibk.blogspot.com/2012/03/angelfall-penryn-end-of-days.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Casi K.)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5576215276590884086.post-3235690996844943379</guid><pubDate>Sat, 27 Aug 2011 03:39:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2011-08-26T23:39:55.382-04:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Barnes and Noble</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Book Review</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Nook</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">NookColor</category><title>The Undomestic Goddess</title><description>&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33722.The_Undomestic_Goddess&quot; style=&quot;float: left; padding-right: 20px&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;The Undomestic Goddess&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168462711m/33722.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33722.The_Undomestic_Goddess&quot;&gt;The Undomestic Goddess&lt;/a&gt; by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6160.Sophie_Kinsella&quot;&gt;Sophie Kinsella&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
My rating: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/197076679&quot;&gt;4 of 5 stars&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
I thought it would be corny... how can a supposedly brilliant lawyer not be able to get herself out of being a housekeeper?  But the story is funny and heartwarming and smart.  I loved the characters, even Trish and Eddie.  It&#39;s a light getaway and a perfect chick-lit style beach read.  &lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/3662255-casi-k&quot;&gt;View all my reviews&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
</description><link>http://casibk.blogspot.com/2011/08/undomestic-goddess.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Casi K.)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item></channel></rss>