So, some may know that I love to read. My love for this activity was sorely put to the test this summer/autumn/winter since I embarked on/in?
a series by Diana Gabaldon. The series has 6 books in it and I congratulated myself for choosing a 'finished' series to get into. (i have a habit of finding series when only one or two books are written and then have to wait for each new installment - forgetting stuff between times!) anyways, this was an impressive looking collection of books on my shelf as the first book has about 900 pages (if memory serves) (and we're talking the paperback/pocket size edition!) and each progressive book got longer as the tomes went on. as i said, i was impressed to see these books sitting there. Then i started into the world of jamie and claire fraser - the books principle characters and traveled through time and space with them. What fun i thought, this is good rich stuff i thought.... then book 2, book 3.... getting a bit bored now but, i was invested y'know? went this far i'll be damned if i don't finish the books. while i was trudging through the story, other books came out - in series i'm also reading and waiting for installments of... i dutifully bought these books and filled up my $39 for free shipping in my
amazon.ca shopping cart as each book came out and subsequently ended up with a collection of about 30 'to be read' books before x-mas. (again i was impressed to see these all sitting spine backwards (my system to tell me it's not been read....)on the shelf since i knew i had some great adventures waiting for me!) still i was turning pages on each longer book by Gabaldon. She's an ok writer but, i think this will be the last time i attempt such a feat all at one time - whew! anyways, i finally finished the series (yippee! go me!) at the end of January roughly, and have since started on my waiting dust collecting new books with vigor. To the point that daniel has accused me of being addicted to my books. Now this might be possible i guess but they are just paperbacks mostly, a few hundred pages max. and light fast reading for the most part. I am going through about one a day outside of my household chores and working hours. upon thinking of daniel's comment i decided that there are worse addictions to have and I made him aware of one very important fact. Books are cheaper than cigarettes. (they also last longer but i said one fact so.... we'll pretend i didn't say that ok?) most of my paperbacks are under $10 whereas a pack of smokes is a little over that - before tax! i've decided that i no longer feel guilty about my pre-holiday book buying (i've bought none since!) and that even should i choose to return to amazon shortly as my pile goes down, i'm still spending my hard earned cash in a better way than him. so there!
In other news, i have also recently upgraded my photo software (iphoto) and purchased the
ilife suite of applications from apple. very cool. it has facial recognition software, gps capabilities to go with a digital camera that has this function (who knew!?) and some other cool functions. I'd previously been using the original version that came with my computer and the difference has been fun to learn! daniel i enjoying learning to play the acoustic guitar -sans guitar- from the lessons within garageband. kinda funny to see, but i admire his dedication to at least grasp the theory. Perhaps a guitar for some future gift cause i think a bf who can serenade one with acoustic melodies might be kinda ok! lol. next up is that i am thinking of acquiring apple's
iwork to be completely up to date. i wonder if the price will go down at all.... gotta love apple for making all their applications look like so much fun!
Speaking of apple, we - daniel and i - have become known for yet another simple but apparently too confusing thing here in forestville. ipods. so far our reputations include: video games and consoles, travel, internet, ebay, online shopping and now ipods. people come to us or call us with the most simple to complex requests or questions and most of the time we can help them. this week it's ipods. i have an ipod touch (thanks daniel!) and know how to load it up with games, music, applications ect. it's not hard, itunes makes it simple or it is for me anyways.... for others it seems to not be. i think i've loaded 3 ipod shuffles, 4 ipod touches and a few ipod nanos since x-mas. games, music, apps. whatever but for who knows what reason, my students and acquaintances and Jeremy's hockey teammates just can't/won't do it themselves. could this be a new career choice for me? the latest this week was Jérémy came to me with an ipod touch and asked me to put some games on it - "but no music please robin, papa will take care of that..." i was then told that i knew what kind of games a grade 5 boy would like and i could put what i wanted in the 'touch. ok i admit it, i put one album of music in it too since i knew it would be liked but it was just funny. ahhh forestville... with it's fear of change and technology! the kids are pretty comfortable with technology but often intimidated by it and with parents who know nothing and get upset if something goes wrong, they are kinda stunted until they find someone who will help them and show them how something is done. they do seem to all have a good handle on youtube though!
It's been chilly but not crazy cold here this week and between hockey tournaments i found time to take some winter pics. the trees are white with ice i think but it's only in parts of forestville, the higher elevated parts and it's cool to drive around and find a group of trees well and truly frosted.
For now that's enough i think but, as i get into yet another book, remember that reading is great escapism! (think about your friends who hate winter.... go buy them a great tropical fish book or something!)
cheers!!
