Byebye Lich King!

Woo!  FINALLY killed the Lich King today.

FINALLY.  The summer slumps really hit us hard, we should have had the bastard down weeks ago, but today we succeeded.  Woot!

Haven't been posting much as there hasn't been much to report.  I've been taking a bit of a breather from the non-stop reading.  We got a silly game from GameFly - Lego Harry Potter.  We've played nearly all of the previous Lego games, they are usually very amusing and fun to play as a duo.

Other than that?  Nothin' much yo!

Take a look, it's in a Nook, a reading rainbow...

Yeah so I missed another day.  Sue me.  I have books to read.  Today I finished the first book in the Black Jewels series by Anne Bishop, Daughter of the Blood.  This is the sort of book I simultaneously love and hate to read.  It draws me in and rides my brain, doesn't let go until it is good and ready. 

When forced to drag myself out of these sorts of books, I wander around in a daze, as though reality is the fiction, not the book world I have been consumed by.

 

Aiiiieee!

Oh noez it is almost midnight!

Uh.  My day.  Was uh.  Boring. :(  Raided in WoW, wiped a bunch on stupid stupid evil Sindragosa, and that was about it.  Watched a lame movie with the hubblemonster. 

This is why I don't post some days people.  My life is BORING!

The Nook ate my brain.

Hello absolutely nobody!  (Or rather, hello K. and E.  Possibly D.) 

So yeah.  I vanished.  My bad.  Been reading a bit.  Finished To Say Nothing of the Dog (really good!), after which I read Remake, also by Connie Willis.  Then I broke into Elizabeth Ann Scarborough and read Song of Sorcery, Unicorn Creed and Bronwyn's Bane.

Not sure what I will read next as I am taking a break to spend some time with my husband.  He was here before the Nook after all. ;)

The Nook has landed.

So I finally got my Nook yesterday!  Which would be why I forgot to post twice.  I was too busy fiddling with it.

Isn't she purdy?  Well, the box anyway.  I'd read reviews in which the writer's Nook was trapped in a horrid plastic box that required instructions to remove, but thankfully mine did not.  A very easy to open paper box with the Nook and a cord in it.

 Oooh there she is.  At this point I pulled my new toy out of the box, peeled off the protective sticker on the touch screen and put it right into the cover I'd purchased.

My preciouuuussssss.  I ended up waiting for it to fully charge before I actually used it as the charge cord was annoyingly short.  But it didn't take long at all to figure out the settings and get everything arranged as I liked.  I read most of Robin McKinley's Spindle's End on it yesterday, and then decided to try out library books.  I'm about halfway through To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis.  I'm pretty darn happy so far.  The only complaints I have are that the touch screen gets smudgy, which is kind of unavoidable, but still drives me crazy when I notice it.  And that there is definite screen glare if you angle it directly at a light source, as seen here:

Also in regard to the touch screen, I can see why some people have said it is harder to 'sink into the book and ignore the device' when reading on a Nook vs a Kindle.  At certain angles you will be reflecting things on the touch screen, such as your face, while trying to read.  So far these remain minor annoyances however, and I think being able to borrow library books and increase the memory outweighs them as of now.

I've spent many hours reading on it with zero eyestrain, on a sofa, in a chair, in bed, etc.  And am in love with it really.  I can use the cover I bought to stand it up on a table while I eat or just to rest my arms.  It's heavy enough and the cover is rough enough that I can lean it against a pillow and it will stay put.  All in all it's really lovely to be able to set down my book and keep reading.  I'm very happy so far.

Well that didn't take long.

I've already missed a day of posting.  Whoops.  I was kind of caught up in a book or two yesterday and forgot I never posted!  I suppose I shall have to post twice today to make up for it.


Well today's post, oddly enough, will be about reading!  Digging through the basement the other day to fill out my library meant finding lots of old gems that I loved when I was younger.  After staring at the stack for a bit I decided I'd start in on them before my Nook got here, finger cramps be damned!


I started off with Bellwether, by Connie Willis.  My husband and I picked this one up on a whim many years ago, as the author is local.  It's about a woman who studies fads, not because she likes them, but out of sheer curiosity about how and why they happen.  And perhaps how to stop them.  A quick read at 243 pages, I enjoyed this second read as much as I did the first, which was quite a bit!  Amusing, interesting look into the chaotic world of fads.

I followed this one up by another quick read - The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley.  This one was a favorite when I was a young girl, so I was a little nervous as sometimes those old favorites don't hold up well into adulthood.  But I have to say I probably enjoyed it nearly as much as I did as a girl.  The main character is a strong willed young woman who dislikes going to balls in fancy dresses and much prefers swordplay and horseback riding.  My kind of girl.

Then I just had to read another Robin McKinley book we had lying around, this time Rose Daughter.  It is a re-telling of the classic Beauty and the Beast tale, and I must say I enjoy her version very much.  The characters are all interesting and likeable in their own ways, and the ending was more satisfying to me than most versions of the story. 

All in all I've been having a fun time reading, now if only my Nook would get here I might be able to start on one of the 160+ free classics I downloaded for it the other day!

Still no Nook.

So, my Nook has been in the area for several days now and has still not been delivered.  I did some googling and found many complaints about Barnes & Noble having shipping problems. :(  I wish I'd realized this before I ordered, I would have waited for the local store to get the version in that I wanted.  Ah well.

Now I get to wait until at least Monday.  In the meantime I am scouring my library for all the eBooks they offer, and trying not to lose my tiny little mind. 

Activision/Blizzard renounces real name forum change

Well I'll be damned.   They actually listened.  Either to us, their lawyers who probably argued against it, their employees who probably argued against it, or their wallet.

They've still lost a lot of my trust.  I'm sure I will resubscribe because I still love the game, and I want to play a Worgen and a Goblin, but... I'll be keeping a closer eye on the direction they are heading.  I hope this actually taught them a lesson, and they will think long and hard about sharing their player's real life info from now on, but we shall see.

wtb [Nook] pst

So, the tracking for my Nook delivery finally updated around 3:30PM, and joy of joys it was in this State! As of 10:30AM. Wow, that's some laggy tracking info there peoples.

Sadly it has not turned up at my doorstep or in my mailbox yet. Hopefully I will get my hands on the durn thing tomorrow. With my luck it will turn up 30 minutes before my last WoW raid and I won't even get to play with it for hours.

Yeah, I'm raiding tomorrow. I canceled my account, but it doesn't run out for a few weeks yet, and I don't wanna leave anybody in the lurch. Plus this way I can say goodbye to everyone. I don't hold out much hope that ActiBlizzard will change their minds at this point.

I really hope to be wrong. I want to play a Worgen darnit!

Goodbye WoW.

Well I decided not to wait for them to make it worse. I canceled my WoW subscription.

If they actually pull their heads from their asses and decide not to go forward with this RealID bullshit I will no doubt come back. After all, I was really, REALLY excited for Cataclysm and checking my account for a beta invite at least three times a day.

Somehow I doubt it though. They seem pretty convinced they are too awesome to ever be wrong about anything.

I kinda feel like barfing. I've been playing for five years and have met some really wonderful people in WoW. But I honestly feel betrayed. When you sign up for something with your legal information, you trust them to keep that information safe.

And now they are forcing us to give it away if we want to communicate at all. They always talk about how they love to get feedback on the forums and get an idea of what the players think of things, and now this? They clearly don't want MY feedback. Or the feedback of anyone else who guards their privacy.

Epic Fail.

Hoooly shit. Blizzard loses their minds.

So there's a new feature coming up for us World of Warcraft, Starcraft, etc., fans! Posting on the forums will be done under our legal names instead of character names!

BEST IDEA EVER RIGHT? I am filled with unspeakable rage over this. I will never be able to use the forums again, both as a woman, and someone who is careful with her RL info. Yes, I'm sure if someone did enough digging they could 'find me' despite my care. But I'd rather not make it REALLY EASY for people to do so, yanno?

Especially the sort of impulsive scum that inhabit the World of Warcraft.

"Oh but this will reduce the amount of forum trolls!" Riiiight. Sure some of them might not post anymore, but they will sure as shit be sitting back reading. And they will simply find a new way to get their jollies - tormenting people in the real world.

Great idea Bliz. This is the first time in five years that I have seriously considered canceling my account. If I was an active forum user I would absolutely do so. And if this goes any further? Ventures into an "I can't opt out of this." area? I am GONE.

Nooktastic!?

Soo we actually ended up going today... er, it's after midnight isn't it? Okay we went out to play with ereaders yesterday. Played with the Nook for a while, then hit up a Target to find a Kindle to toy with. Sadly they were without!

So we came home, did some more research, and decided to take the plunge with a Nook WiFi. The availability of the ePub format means being able to get books from the library, which is a big bonus for me. I think the other deciding factors were the ability to replace the battery and expand the storage capacity. I know Kindle batteries supposedly last for ages, and you can 'replace' them by sending your Kindle back and paying $80 for a different one, but I just prefer being able to buy a battery off the shelf and put the durn thing in myself. And expandable memory may become a must once I start raiding Project Gutenberg as well as reacquiring my paper library in digital format.

Speaking of paper libraries, we realized we have no idea how many books we own or what they are. We just have shelves of them in the basement. Looking for solutions we stumbled upon GuruLib.com, which is totally free and has an impressive array of methods for adding your books, movies and music to their easy-to-use online database. I signed up right away and so far I'm pretty darn happy! You can see my (currently tiny) library here.

I really like the ability to keep track of loaned and borrowed books as well as give descriptive names to remind you where the book is kept.

Creepily sturdy fish

Okay, these fish are freaking me out man. They can survive practically anything!

Yo

And so I venture into the land of blogger.com! Not sure what I think of it yet really. Dislike this posting screen, dislike the designer.

I'm trying to get back in the habit of writing a bit every day, which unfortunately means obnoxious, inane blog posts.

I've been thinking about ereaders lately, waffling mostly between two of the leaders - the Kindle and the Nook. I really love the idea of being able to read one-handed without getting finger cramps. Love the idea of having tons of books in one place, love the thought of being able to set down my book without figuring out where on earth I managed to lose my bookmark this time, and so on. Might make me sneeze less too, if they don't have the horrid new-plastic smell. That is probably worse than book dust.

I'm quite torn between the two, so the plan is to head out on Tuesday, hit B&N and Target to get my hands on both of 'em. Then decide if either is really worth the money. It's not even the initial cost... it's the book purchases after! I'm a little nervous about the instant gratification factor. It will be harder to resist buying a new shiny book every five minutes if I know I could be reading it right away.

We'll see if I even like them, a friend said the Nook was hard on her eyes, I'm hoping I don't have the same problem. I guess we'll find out on Tuesday, if the stores actually have functioning models to play with.