http://www.thebwit.com.com Blogging what ever is on my mind en-us Over the holidays I jokingly told a family member that I would make them a mixed tape. This got a lot of laughs from the two of us. I didn't think about it until I just saw a commercial for one of those That's what I call music type cd's with all of the top songs at that point in time. And this got me thinking about the cds I used to burn. I would make cds with themes to them. Be it old school hip hop, top 40, classics, rock, etc... But now, thanks to iTunes, I don't do that much anymore. And I wonder if when my daughter is old enough, if the mixed tape will even still exist. Or if it will be something of the past. So do yourself a favor, and go make a mixed tape cd for someone you know. Who knows, it could make their day. Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:00:41 EST http://www.thebwit.com/review/Lost+Art+of+a+Mixed+Tape/ So this is book number two in the series. There are two others that I know about, not sure if the author is writing this series as 4 books total or not. But this book sets up the rest of the series. The story takes place about a year after the first book and has Kendra and Seth ending up at Fablehaven. Of course the world is going to come to an end unless they save the day. The basic idea is there is a powerful artifact hidden somewhere in Fablehaven, and they must retrieve it before the Society of the Evening Star does. From the beginning of the of the book I knew there would be an "inside man" who would end up betraying Kendra and Seth. And I was right in my prediction. I was also right with another assumption I had about some of the characters so that made me happy as well. But is this book as good as the first one? As a stand alone book I don't think it is. The first book was written to seem like the only book in the series. Yes there were clues that were left to be able to have more in the series, but it stood alone. Rise of the Evening Star does not have that luxury because at the end of the book there are still 4 other artifacts that need to be found. So I like to liken this book to about book 3 of Harry Potter. Book 3 was really where the series felt like a series. The first two books in Harry Potter read like a series of books, but in the end they didn't divulge much in the way as future story lines. Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:19:29 EST http://www.thebwit.com/review/Book+Review%3A+Fablehaven+Rise+of+the+Evening+Star/ Ok so I ordered something from amazon the other day. It got set via UPS and will be here tomorrow. Funny thing is it came to the main UPS distribution center for the area (at least I think it's the main one) which is about 30 minutes away from my house. So I figure, hey it might make it here today after all. Nope. Now the package has traveled about 20 miles further east of where it was, only for it to come back in my direction tomorrow. Isn't this the same company that found out by eliminating left turns they saved like a billion dollars on gas a year? Why send my package about 30 minutes away from my house, and then have it go an additional 20? Seems like a waste to me. Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:36:37 EST http://www.thebwit.com/review/UPS+and+a+Huh/ Ok so I just home and I am cleaning up my desk when I realize how cool the Apple packaging of the software I ordered is. I mean it's a tiny box, not bigger than a double cd case and it works just great. No wasted space, everything is nice and neat and compact. Gone are the days when you would have software packages that took up more space than a dictionary. It is a smart choice both from a cost perspective, and from an environmental perspective. Then I realized that other software I have previously bought from Apple came the same way. My iPhone, that too was neatly packaged. So good job Apple and kudos to you. Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:18:05 EST http://www.thebwit.com/review/Apple+Packages/ So I ordered a new piece of software yesterday afternoon from Apple's website. The email I got said that it was processed, but waiting to be shipped. Then today I got an email saying it was shipped and would be here by tomorrow (which is what I paid for). It got here today. 5 hours after I received the email detailing my tracking info and what not. Amazing. Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:13:21 EST http://www.thebwit.com/review/Apple+Ships+Stuff+Fast/ Anyone catch this show last night? The previews made it seem like it was going to be extremely awesome. But it wasn't. First the premise is that there is a solo, duet, and team dance for each of 8 countries. A representative from each country is on the judging board. The caveat is that they cannot judge their own country. On top of that, the judges don't get to say anything. Now the judges seemed to either be biased or just blind. There is just a single score that they give for an "overall" score. Not a technical score or a performance score, just a single score. Half of the dances that we saw got way higher marks than they should have. Half of the dances had dancers whose technique sucked. Now I could be wrong and their technique was awesome as that was how it was choreographed, but I highly doubt they wanted people to look like they sucked. Finally we were expecting each of the dances to be specific to that country. That is after all what this is about I thought. But no, we have Russians who are doing ballroom, more specifically they were doing a form of salsa. Last I checked Salsa came from Latin America. Oh yeah, and whomever the producer is needs to be fired. The camera shots were horrible. Why on earth are you focusing on an Irish Jig Dancer's face when they don't do anything from the waist up!?!?!? And who decided time length? Will I watch the show again? Of course. But I don't know if I will be able to sit through many more episodes if this is the quality that they give us. Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:49:39 EST http://www.thebwit.com/review/Superstars+of+Dance/ So part of my new years resolution is to read 24 books this year or 2 books per month. The first book I finished this year is Fablehaven by Brandon Mull. Fablehaven is a preserve for magical creatures. But the downside is that all magical creatures, good and bad, are allowed to live there. The book starts out with Kendra and her little brother Seth being forced to stay at their grandparent's house, which happens to be on Fablehaven. The grandparents are the caretakers of the grounds, but the rest of the family does not know the secret. Seth is the stereotypical character that drives you crazy. He is told one thing, and thinks that the person telling him is wrong. He constantly is screwing things up in the beginning all while doing other brave things to counteract the problems he caused. Of course in all of this commotion Kendra and Seth learn the secret about Fablehaven and even more problems arise. This book series is targeted at kids much like the Harry Potter series. But there is definitely something for adults in this series too. There are good lessons to teach little ones and the book is full of good discussions to have with kids. On top of that, Brandon Mull has a great way with words and the descriptions he gave made the book come to life very well. This book took me a little more than a single day to read, which is always a sign of a good book to me. There are 3 more books in this series that I am aware of, and will be reading/reviewing in the near future. Sun, 04 Jan 2009 10:16:48 EST http://www.thebwit.com/review/Book+Review%3A+Fablehaven/ So lately almost all of the Bluray DVD's I purchase have an extra dvd for digital copy. This is an interesting idea as it gives me a "free" copy to be able to play it on my computer or portable media player. The problem? The digital copy disc takes up space in the packaging, requires more packaging, and of course increases the overall cost of the Bluray DVD. Back when there were two formats, HD and Bluray, you rarely had to spend more than $25 on a new HD/Bluray movie. But now that the war is over, the cost of Bluray is around $33 a disc. WTF? So I say, get rid of the Digital Copy and drop the cost of the DVD by the $3 or whatever it is that it costs for this feature. Sun, 04 Jan 2009 09:54:05 EST http://www.thebwit.com/review/Bluray+DVD+and+Digital+Copy/ For the second straight year, the Chargers have beaten the Colts. They were the better team last night so they should get props. But I also want to call attention to something else. The zebra's on the field. They were horrible last night. Not just for the Colts, but for the Chargers too. I think the refs called more penalties in this playoff game than in any other play off game. I don't agree with all of them. The refs should just let the players play rather than have a say in who wins and who loses. Additionally I would like to call for a ban on Al and Madden to talk about streaks, stats, facts, figures, or whatever during a game. They have the uncanny ability to curse someone. Don't believe me? Before the game even got tied, Al and Madden were talking about the rules. And they talked about how they asked Dungey if he would change the OT rules to allow both teams a chance to score or if he would leave it the same. Dungey said he thinks it should stay the same because you have your defense to make a stand. Then Madden said, well we can ask Dungey about that after the game if he still feels this way. WTF? Did he really just predict that the game would go into OT, the Colts would lose the coin toss, and then subsequently lose the game? Yes. Yes he did. While I am on this subject I would like to bring an important figure to your attention. Did you know that 62% of teams who win the coin toss go on to win the game? That means that if the team correctly guesses a 50/50 chance that they then have a nearly 2 to 1 chance to win the game. That to me doesn't seem fair to either team. Both teams should get the opportunity to play both sides of the football. It's a team sport, it's about both the offense and defense and both teams in OT should have to show why they are the better team. I don't agree with the people who say it should be like college OT, but somewhere in between where it currently is, and where it is in college would be ideal. Sun, 04 Jan 2009 09:50:36 EST http://www.thebwit.com/review/Colts+are+out+of+the+playoffs/ The Little One, from hence forth to be referred to as TLO, has found out about standing on her tip toes and being able to reach further than before. She has taken this new found ability and decided it would be fun to pull things off the kitchen table like a banana peel, or things off of my desk like important bills to be paid or my mouse. She then likes to take said items if I am not watching and put them in her toy box. Thankfully I know where she puts them now, but the first time I couldn't find the mouse for my computer I was a bit annoyed to say the least. Sat, 03 Jan 2009 11:45:00 EST http://www.thebwit.com/review/TLO+and+her+amazing+reach/