In my on-going quest to improve myself, I made a set of New Year's resolutions that I thought would be especially helpful and at least somewhat achievable. Don't ask me how they're going. I will simply stare at you blankly and recall the words of Sarah regarding why she doesn't make New Year's resolutions.
Nonetheless, one of the few that I HAVE managed to keep is my goal to read a book a month for this entire year. I had an e-reader app that I downloaded from Amazon specifically to read the book The Long Emergency (I'll review it here at some point, I'm sure) and I've downloaded a few other books for it as well.
Sarah has a highly unfavorable opinion of Amazon stemming largely from Amazon's refusal to facilitate payments to Wikileaks following their latest round of releases embarrassing the US government as well as a general disdain for the larger corporate giants. And while I share her point of view, I can be rather lazy and I tend to let expedience win the day, the expedient thing in this case being to continue using Amazon to download books as opposed to downloading Borders's app, sending them all my credit card information, hoping they don't reject my payment because I'm overseas and trying to buy the files electronically from a location too far from my credit cards' registered address (as deviantArt and iTunes have done), yada yada yada.
After careful consideration, though, I acquiesced and downloaded Borders's e-reader application (a free download, by the way). When I opened Borders Desktop for the first time, I was greeted with a happy surprise: five books that are part of the public domain are included with the application! When you download Borders's Desktop application, the file includes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,Dracula, Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, Grimms' Fairy Tales, and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
I thought this was a really nice touch on the part of Borders. I mean, yeah, the books are in the public domain, so they're not losing any money, but the Kindle app included zero books in its initial download, public domain or otherwise. As a result of Borders's generosity, I am now rereading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (unabridged, I might add; no hypersensitive politically correct editors have taken their red pens to this version). So, if you are in the market for an e-reader application for your laptop, check out Borders. Even if you've read all the titles they include, they are nice to have around.
Probably not what you were looking for as a second post, Corey, but don't you worry. I'll tell the tale of how Death and Coyotes got its name sooner or later. Ciao, all!
29 January, 2011
06 January, 2011
Introductions
Hi. My name's James. You may call me Jim, Jimbo or Jimmy if you'd like. I decided to create this blog as I was sitting here this morning, typing out an email to one of my very best friends in Philadelphia because a thought occurred to me: I really love the sound of my keyboard as I type. I mean, I seriously love it. I decided that it was time I write even more. And so I give you my second blog, dedicated to my thoughts and opinions on anything and everything that isn't related to either travelling (which is covered in Random Pictures of Nothing in Particular) or ecological issues (which will soon be covered in an as-yet untitled blog that I will found soon).
I'll sporadically post opinions here regarding sports, music, politics and just about anything else that crosses my mind that I decide I simply must share with the world. Comments are welcome of course, but don't be surprised if I don't engage in running battles. If it looks like I'm not going to be able to sway your opinion and you aren't going to be able to sway mine, I'll revert to the "agree to disagree" position and say no more. I'll respect your opinion if it's well thought and I'll ask you to do the same of mine and others'. Threats, name-calling and pissing contests will result in deletion of your post. Using naughty language will be tolerated; four-letter words are still words. But stringing a bunch of them together incoherently isn't really an opinion or much of a comment. If you're here I shall assume that you have some command of the English language and you should try to show that in your comments.
In case you'd like a some background on me, I'm currently residing in Spain although I was born and raised in Tampa. If you don't know where this is, download Google Earth and search Tampa, FL. The application is pretty cool and the town isn't half bad, although it's a bit provincial. I'd have been a lot more pleased with it if the citizens of the city had voted in favor of a tax to support light rail and mass transit initiatives but those sorts of things don't garner a lot of support in the South. Or the West. Still, I was disappointed; even Charlotte has started building a light rail system! But I digress.
I'm a fan of the Lightning, Bucs, USF Bulls, FSU Seminoles, NFL and college football in general and I'm starting to get the hang of soccer. And ice hockey. I LOVE ice hockey and miss it dearly. There's not much of a following here in Spain.
Musically speaking, I'm all over the map. I like just about everything but modern country and gangsta rap, although there are exceptions to the latter. I'm also itching to be exposed to different types of music, so if you've some favorites you'd like to share with me, hit me up in the comments section.
And last but certainly not least, I am liberal. VERY liberal. As in, I think the Democratic Party is Center-Right leaning. As for the Republicans...well, I'll let you do the math. You're not going to change that either, so don't try. Go ahead and call me a pinko commie bastard if you must; I'll wear that badge with honor.
But enough about me (for the moment, at least). Welcome and enjoy!
I'll sporadically post opinions here regarding sports, music, politics and just about anything else that crosses my mind that I decide I simply must share with the world. Comments are welcome of course, but don't be surprised if I don't engage in running battles. If it looks like I'm not going to be able to sway your opinion and you aren't going to be able to sway mine, I'll revert to the "agree to disagree" position and say no more. I'll respect your opinion if it's well thought and I'll ask you to do the same of mine and others'. Threats, name-calling and pissing contests will result in deletion of your post. Using naughty language will be tolerated; four-letter words are still words. But stringing a bunch of them together incoherently isn't really an opinion or much of a comment. If you're here I shall assume that you have some command of the English language and you should try to show that in your comments.
In case you'd like a some background on me, I'm currently residing in Spain although I was born and raised in Tampa. If you don't know where this is, download Google Earth and search Tampa, FL. The application is pretty cool and the town isn't half bad, although it's a bit provincial. I'd have been a lot more pleased with it if the citizens of the city had voted in favor of a tax to support light rail and mass transit initiatives but those sorts of things don't garner a lot of support in the South. Or the West. Still, I was disappointed; even Charlotte has started building a light rail system! But I digress.
I'm a fan of the Lightning, Bucs, USF Bulls, FSU Seminoles, NFL and college football in general and I'm starting to get the hang of soccer. And ice hockey. I LOVE ice hockey and miss it dearly. There's not much of a following here in Spain.
Musically speaking, I'm all over the map. I like just about everything but modern country and gangsta rap, although there are exceptions to the latter. I'm also itching to be exposed to different types of music, so if you've some favorites you'd like to share with me, hit me up in the comments section.
And last but certainly not least, I am liberal. VERY liberal. As in, I think the Democratic Party is Center-Right leaning. As for the Republicans...well, I'll let you do the math. You're not going to change that either, so don't try. Go ahead and call me a pinko commie bastard if you must; I'll wear that badge with honor.
But enough about me (for the moment, at least). Welcome and enjoy!
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