This Sucks!

It really, really, really sucks!  I bitch and moan about obsessing and those around me bitch and moan about me obsessing and then I start this blog to share my obsessing and what happens?  I stop obsessing!  I expected something else to pop-up by now but it hasn't.

As soon as I have something new I'll be back.  In the meantime, have a great holiday!

Can't Decide

Just finished an audio book by AM House titled "This Book Will Save Your Life".  It's fiction.  It's odd.  And I'm not sure if I liked it or not.  I'll check back in a day or two and let you know if I make a decision.

Have any of you read this book or any others from AM House?  Let me know what you think, I'd like some opinions and/or recommendations.  Thanks.

Tell Me a Story cards: illustrated cards that can be arranged into endless tales Boing Boing

Another boingboing.net post. I think I've already said that they are one of the most awesomest (I know it's not a word Jen!) blogs in the webiverse but it's stuff like this that keeps me coming back.

Tell Me a Story cards: illustrated cards that can be arranged into endless tales Boing Boing

DIY Book Scanners Turn Your Books Into Bytes | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

Ok, so it's still about books but I'm not obsessed damn it! This is just too cool to not post. I could completely see making this and scanning all of my kids school books, which I know there will soon be a ton, and putting them on an ereader. Imagine, no more heavy backpacks for the kids to carry and tweak their backs over. That's what I would use this for. I'll have to mark this as a future project.

Also, if you've never visited http://www.instructables.com/ you are missing out. There are thousands of awesome projects there, you'll surely find something fun to create on a weekend.

DIY Book Scanners Turn Your Books Into Bytes | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

Huglight Boing Boing

I had bookmarked this awhile back and finally took a look. I like the idea, just don't know how comfortable it would be. At least the light wouldn't be in your eyes.

Huglight Boing Boing

Unconventional Children’s Books | Kid Crave

Like my good buddy Derek always says, "he he".

Unconventional Children’s Books | Kid Crave

So done

Yep, books are done for the time being.  I've just finished listening to Superfreakonomics, which along with Freakonomics, is now two of my favorite books.  Now I have to decide what to listen to on the way home.

I've been wondering what my next obsession will be and I think I'm going about it wrong.  Usually an obsession starts on it's own and spirals out of control before I have any idea it's happening.  Trying to blog about it from the start almost mutes it out.  So, until the next snowball becomes an avalanche I'll bring up some past items that have more than consumed 2 weeks of my life.

• Elongated coins; Some people call them pressed pennies, I call them the best souvenir in the world
• Media PC; This came up just prior to the books and while I'm still tinkering it's not full fledge
• Geocaching; A hobby where you get to hunt for treasure?!
• College; I'm always stuck between uselessness and dreams of grandeur
• Blogging; All of you are lucky I'm still here, or maybe it's the other way around
• Religion; I'm not religious but I find the topic fascinating
• Goggle; I love me some Goggle
• Tech in general; Just cause
• Music: Only good music
• Gardening; I plan a lot but never execute.

If you have a topic you want me to explore, whether stated above or something new, let me know.  I'm game for anything.

Ray Bradbury's ode to the library that raised him, which just closed Boing Boing

BoingBoing.net is one of my favorite blogs and I wanted to share this post they had. Goes back to what I said the other day, visit your local library. Because if you don't someday nobody will be able to.

Ray Bradbury's ode to the library that raised him, which just closed Boing Boing

O1 - Books; Done?

And as quickly as it starts it's done.  I think.  I'm still reading and listening to books, even helped a coworker find a rare book for his mother for Christmas the other day (used AddAll and found the book on Abe Books).  But I think I'm done obsessing about this topic for the time being.  Books are a common topic for me so as things pop up I'll revisit the topic.

So what's next?  I really don't know.  I've started organizing a lot again so it's very possible that might be the next topic, we'll all just have to wait and see.

O1 - Books; eBooks

Electronic books (eBooks) have been around for a long time, but it seems that now everywhere you turn you'll find either eBooks and/or eReaders.  Traditional bookstores and publishers are finding that it is more profitable to sell an eBook then to by stock, pay for shipping, and keep a store operational.  While traditional books will likely never go away entirely the eBook wave definitely makes sense.  Wouldn't it have been great if every college book you ever needed to purchase was on one device and if you were a savvy lad or damsel you'd "share" your electronic texts with fellow classmates?  Or when you decided to switch from Stephen King to Oliver Wilde all you had to do was click a button?  Or instead of asking a big box bookstore to order a book you could just download it from the shiny do-hickie in your hands?  If none of these apply then stop reading now.

First an foremost, where does one find eBooks?  Pretty much everywhere.  A quick search will bring of thousands of legitimate and illegitimate sites.  Personally I like Google Books a lot.  Google has millions of books available for free and many more books where you can read a chapter and decide if you want to purchase it or not.  I've found a ton of interesting books through Google Books an highly recommend this to anyone that likes eBooks.

Of course there are the torrent sites out there as well, like what I mentioned in the audio book post, but remember, authors need to eat too!  Look for creative common books and if you like the author buy their work.

As for reading eBooks you have a few options.  If you feel comfortable sitting at your PC or with your laptop on your lap then there really isn't much more needed.  Most eBooks are in PDF form so Adobe Reader will work fine.  Personally I like a program called STDUtility.  I haven't found a format that this program won't open.  A big plus is if you like comics, STDUtility will open CBR and CBZ formats.  And best of all it's free!

As for eReaders there are a ton on the market and you have to find what is best for you.  I found this guide the other day which helped me narrow down my choices.  While I haven't purchased anything yet I really like the idea of the Entourage Edge.  I use a tablet already, my main PC is an Acer TravelMate C310, but I like the idea of a dual screened tablet the size of a netbook that has an eInk screen.

Another eReader I like is the Spring Design Alex.  In my opinion the color screen on the bottom of the Alex for searching, linking, and referencing items in an eBook seems more practical then what is included with the Nook.  Here is a video of Alex in use.

Both the Edge and the Nook use an Android OS.  I already warned you I love Google!  Also, for me it is important to have the ability to play audio books if I want, which both will let you do.

If you choose to go the main stream route and pick a Nook, Kindle, or Sony eReader you're still in good shape.  The nicest thing about these 3 is that their connection is paid for by B&N, Amazon, and Sony respectfully.

And one more thing that I should have mentioned earlier and has nothing to do with eBooks; visit your local library.  If you haven't been to your local library in a long time stop in and wander around, you'll feel like a kid again.  Trust me.

O1 - Books; Audio Books

I enjoy audio books. A lot. Don't get me wrong, sitting down with an tantalizing page turner is awesome but in reality, when working a 9 to 5 and trying not to totally ignore your family when you at home, there's not a whole lot of time to spend engulfed in a great novel.  My solution has been audio books.  My commute to and from work is 35 to 45 minutes each way and if I dedicate that driving time to a particular book I can be done with it usually in a week or so. Also, a good portion of my day has to do with coding and support for a system our collectors use.  During this time I can easily listen to an audio book, but I find when I have to create requirements for new projects I can't concentrate on both the book and my work at the same time.

There are many places to find audio books, both for sale and for free.  If you are interested in audio books for purchase Audible has the best selection with, in my opinion, the iTunes store a very close second.  If you are looking for free audio books there are plenty of sites out there but personally, and I'm sure I'll get flack for this, I like to go the torrent route.  Personally I like MyAnonaMouse.net.  It is invite only but you can request an invite from their site and after answering a few questions you're well on your way to expanding your digital library.  If you're not a torrent fan LibriVox is another incredible alternative.

If you like to listen to audio books on your iPod then you will want to have the book in MPEG-4 (M4B) format rather than MP3.  In M4B format you can utilize the bookmark functionality of the Ipod, with MP3 you will lose your place in you leave the track you are on.  If I download a book in MP3 format I use MP3 to iPod Audio Book Converter (catchy name) to change the file(s) to M4B.  It takes a little time to convert the file, about 30 to 40 minutes depending on the book, but is well worth it.  The program is free to use and does just this one function great.  Another great function is that you can combine individual files to make one huge file.  Perfect if your audio book has a ton of tracks.

And I know I mentioned DropBox before but this is another great way to always have a book everywhere.  Drop an audio book you'd like to sometime read into your drop box and the next time you forget to take your iPod with you to work you'll have a book waiting for you.

Disclaimer; I just want to make it known that anything I ever download is either creative common or public domain.  I fully recognize that pirated material is illegal and would not recommend downloading pirated material to anyone.


My next post will be about eBooks and eReaders, which there is a huge amount of information to share so I'd like to dedicate a whole post or two it.

One last thing, I forgot to mention in my last post DailyLit. This is an awesome site where you subscribe to a book and each day another chapter is emailed to you. You can increase the frequency and skip ahead if you want as well. Definitely check this site out.

O1 - Books; Social Sites

Busy day yesterday, had a few non-work items to take care of and then attended the annual holiday party for work, so my apologizes for not getting a post up.

As I mentioned in the last post I wanted to cover some of the social sites I've found relating to books.  I have already mentioned that I like to stay up to date with my library and the libraries of my friends on Goodreads.  Another cool thing about Goodreads is that you can join groups based on where you live, authors you like, subject matter, and just about anything else you can think of.  Not everyone has the exact same tastes so it's nice that you can join multiple groups based on everything from location to favorite author or style.

A fun site I found about a year ago when researching geocaching is BookCrossing.  Don't worry if you don't know what geocaching is, I'm sure I'll obsese about this again soon! (If you'd like to know more about geocaching now a great site is geocaching.com)  At BookCrossing you register a book you would like to give away and you release it into the wild.  The objective is that someone will find the book where you left it, read it, and leave it somewhere else.  That next person registers that they found the book and where they left it, then the cycle starts all over again.

Even a quick search on About.com returns many more social sites for book lovers.  If you've used any of these or any other book related sites please let me know in the comments.

O1 - Books; Keeping Track

A few months ago I was at Bookmans looking at the Kerouac books and I couldn't remember if I already had a title or not.  I wanted to pick it up anyway but as many of you know returning a used book to a used bookstore doesn't usually work out so well.  At that moment I realized I had a true problem on my hands and while I may have left the bookstore with out any books I didn't leave empty handed, I had a mission.  A mission to find a way to track what I had and what I wanted.

My first attempt to solve this dilemma failed miserably.  I tried pen and paper. I tried an Excel type spread sheet. Realistically trying to log hundreds of books this way became ridiculous real quick.  So I turned to my trusty friend Google and googled (I love saying googled instead of searched, search is so Yahoo) for a way to track my books and I found the following on MakeUseOf.com.


I tried the sites mentioned in their post and decided that Goodreads served my purpose the best.  Personally I think the site is very easy to navigate and the social aspect of the site is a lot of fun. You can share your reviews with others, get updates from friends, even send updates through Facebook.  If you decide to register and you enjoy this blog please feel free to add me as a friend on Goodreads (or Facebook for that matter).

But back to my initial reason for searching out and finding Goodreads.  I now track what I own, what I haven't read and what I still want to get.  From a mobile device I am able to login to my account while I'm at the store and update any of my "shelves" with future purchases or items in my bag.  While I still wander the store for hours it's not because I can't remember that book by that guy that I read an article about in some magazine, it's because I want to.

If you're not interested in joining another site there are two other apps that I use from time to time in a pinch. Evernote is a great way to, as their site says, "Remember Everything".  I use Evernote when I hear about some random author or subject and want to research more before I commit myself to purchasing anything.  My other little helper is Dropbox, perfect for saving, editing , and syncing lists in various places as well.  Both have free and pay options and soon enough you will all see that I am a cheap.

Tomorrow I'll write about some interesting social "things" I've found concerning books.

First Obsession - Books

My current obsession has to do with books.  Realistically this started a long time ago but has came back with a vigor about a week ago, so I have a lot of information to share over the next few days.

We read a lot in my house.  My wife has her degree in English and when I first met her she told me, and I quote, "I enjoy good literature."  Not "I like books" or "I read a lot"; she enjoys good literature.  And she's a great writer as well even if she doesn't write as much as she should.

My daughter is 6 and the most prolific reader in our house. She's reading at a level well above her age and easily completes a full chapter book each day.  Because of her age her vocabulary is not as advanced as her mother's but she's getting close.  When she doesn't know a word we always have her look it up in her Macmillian Dictionary for Children, but more and more she's borrowing our Webster to look up words not in her dictionary.

My son is only one and a half, and while he used to literally consume books (they make great teething rings) he's beginning to copy the rest of the family, sitting with us and pretending to read.  Every word is either "E" or "O" but he at least understands the concept.

And lastly there is moi.  I wish I read more but I do read a fair amount and my taste is very eclectic.  But before I get deep into my recent research and many, many tangents I'd like to state a few quick rules I follow;

1. Read multiple books at the same time.  Some people argue that it's too difficult to follow the multiple lots and charcters at the same time but I've found it's a lot like watching different T.V. shows one after the other.  You don't muddle the stories together and you're guaranteed to stay interested because you don't feel forced to finish something just to move on to the next book.
2. Keep at least one book everywhere.  I keep a book in my car (near the drivers seat in case I get stuck in really bad traffic), in my computer bag, on my desk, random rooms in the house, and yes, even the can.  I'm not a proud man but I am honest.
3. Use bookmarks you like.  Sounds dumb but you'll appreciate keeping your place with something aesthetically pleasing.  I personally like the rug bookmarks but I've been known to use scraps that the kids have drawn on as well.  I have not bought from this site before but I like what they have and I use similar bookmarks.
4. Listen to audiobooks while driving.  I keep a handful of audiobooks on my iPod.  Only once did I forget to load more than one book to my iPod and that happened to be the day I finished my book with another 20 minutes left in my commute home.  OTA radio is pure torture.
5. Last but not least, exchange books.  While I enjoy taking books I don't intend to keep to the used book store (I like Bookmans; huge selection and I can always find a Kerouac I haven't read) nothing is more exciting then passing a good book to a friend and receiving one back from them.  It might turn out to be a dud but every once in awhile you read a gem you never would have picked up for yourself.

There are may more insights I want to share about this topic but realistically if I post them all this minute you would have no reason to return!

First post ever.

Some day I'll look back at this first post and say "Wow, that first post really sucked"!


I believe before I add any real content to this blog you should know a little about me and what I intend for this blog to be.  I'm a pretty normal guy, work for a finance company as a business analyst, have a wonderful family and like many other people in the world these days have an upside down mortgage and way too many bills.  But life has never been better and I'd never ask for things to be different.

This blog will likely be about none of those things I just mentioned.  I also don't intend to regurgitate all the great things I read on the plethora of blogs I personally subscribe to.  Yes, I will mention and link to them but not without adding my own comments to the posts.  All of us have read too many blogs where content is blatantly taken from very skilled writers and researchers with no credit given; I will not let this blog be one of the many.

So what will this blog have?  I shall answer you since you asked so nicely.  I truly do have difficulty focusing on anything for more than two weeks, which makes for great entertainment for those that know me.  And since I'm aware of my malady I try to consume as much information as possible before I burn out and move to the next obsession.  Oh, almost forgot (which makes this statement even funnier!) I usually forget 88% of what I learn during my cram sessions, although I do have moments of clarity where I blurt out random bits of useless knowledge in an attempt to appear intelligent.  A regular Cliff Clavin I am.

So the answer is that this blog will keep track of my obsessions and hopefully be extremely entertaining in the process.  One favor though, no complaining if an obsession last more or less than two weeks.  It's a long standing joke my wife has placed on my soul, not scientific fact.

Hope you all enjoy,

Pung