Epic Roadtrip: Day 1

June 30, 2012
With the best intentions we planned to be on the road by 6am. I'm not a morning person.  And we were up late with last minute prep and of course the keys got misplaced. But the dogs got a good walk. My Zoe knew something was up and tried to make a break for it and almost made it to the car.  Damn dog is getting too smart for my own good....

You know, it takes what seems forever to get out of LA County, let alone California. After getting some required coffee we finally got on the 5. It was after rush hour, thank goodness. We had to pull over a few times. Pluto isn't quite a car dog yet and wasn't too happy. A few potty breaks later and we were finally making good time.

Pluto is a lover. There is only so much doggy love I can take, so I practically jumped at the chance to drive until my eyes fell out. Luckily, we made it to the Grand Canyon before that happened. We made it in about 4/430 (surprised me, I did the speed limit the whole way! Cruise control). That gave us enough time to get settled, have dinner, and still make sunset at the Grand Canyon.

We stayed until full dark and played with Google Sky Map to pick out constellations. The moon was so bright though that even at 1030 it was hard to see more than the brightest stars.  Still, it was more stars than I've seen since I was a kid living in Mojave.

We ended the night driving back to our hotel without hitting any deer or elk and adding camping in the Grand Canyon to a bucket list. There is so much to do there! It helped that we talked to some people who were camping for the whole week.



Pluto making friends while we wait for the stars to come out.
It was pretty dark, so I couldn't focus my phone correctly.

Photo Friday: Dog

June 29, 2012
Road Trip time!

 Read all about the trip from Pluto's point of view over at The Adventures of Squiggly Dog.

Pin It

Photo Friday: Words

June 22, 2012




These were all taken with my phone at the Cars Land Opening weekend.

Check out more Photo Friday Words submissions

Pin It

Book Review: Dead Beat by Jim Butcher

Dead Beat (The Dresden Files, #7)Dead Beat by Jim Butcher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Quick impression: Good one liners for Thomas. Some of Harry's jokes are getting old. Great character development of Butters (with plenty of encouragement by Harry). And, of course, Sue. This one should have made it into the TV series.

When I first started this book, I thought it would be a continuation of Harry's relationship with Thomas established in Blood Rites, and given that Thomas is having trouble adjusting to not being wealthy ... well, I thought he was the dead beat in the title. It took me a couple of chapters and re-listening to a few sections before I got it. I suppose that's one drawback to listening to the book instead of reading it.

So, if you like zombies and vampires and sexy demons who play mind games, and of course listening to James Marsters, I highly recommend the audible version. I think the last Dresden book I actually read was Storm Front, so I imagine that the print version of Dead Beat is just as fast-paced as the audio.

I see lots of people, six and seven books in, still complaining about Harry's old-fashioned chivalrous attitude towards women. Some find it condescending. I find it endearing. Harry knows that he's old-fashioned and that his attitude isn't PC, but he accepts that flaw in himself and we should too. Hell's Bells, he's finally learned to let Murphy and Susan take care of themselves and let them have his back. The series wouldn't be as good if Harry didn't have some very huge flaws that he works through in each adventure.

Now on to Proven Guilty.

View all my reviews

Pin It
Enhanced by Zemanta

Photo Friday: Clothing

June 18, 2012
I should have bought this shirt when I had the chance.



For more awesome photos of clothing, check out Photo Friday.

Raising a tech-savvy daughter

June 13, 2012
I'm not a big fan of infographics, but this one resonated with me for the sheer fact that it's true for me and my daughter. Yes, she's 10 now, but even though both of my kids have had access to a computer since they were born, only she really tries to be like me -- or at least more digitally and technologically savvy than her older brother. My son just looks at me and says "Mom, make it work".

My daughter likes knowing the ins and outs of her phone and would rather I show her how to do it than brush her off or do it for her. She's used my d80, has her own digital camera, has had a flipcam for 4 or 5 years now (but prefers to use my zi8), carries around my "purse dell", has my hand-me-down Aluratek eReader and has been hinting that she wants an iPad. Her phone, Nintendo DS, and/or an old-fashioned book are *always* with her. She's recently started carrying a purse for all of these items. My son... does not take after me nor Bio Dad. Let's just leave it at that.

I don't think that this is truly saying that moms are more tech-savvy, but, we certainly know how to use the tool to connect to the communities that matter to us. 

Moms: The True Technology Power Users
Courtesy of: Online Schools

Pin It
Back to Top